STOP Interviewing With Your Eyes Closed

If you’re not asking a version of the question “What are top 3 things I’ve got to do in this position to be successful” in the first 5 minutes of the interview – you might as well shut your eyes and put your hands over your ears – the effect will be virtually the same.

Without a specific list of what defines success, you’re “flying blind” as the metaphor goes for pilots.

How do you know what to talk about?

What points will the hiring manager be most interested in?

Not understanding quickly what defines success allows the hiring manager to trap you into a box-checking discussion of the job description. Very few candidates can survive box-checking (more about the syndrome of box-checking against the job description in the next post).

Without extracting the performance criteria for the job from the hiring manager, the interview is a worthless exercise in futility. Giving examples, sharing skills, articulating your knowledge on box-checking job description criteria posed by the hiring manager (which is the tribal methodology of most hiring practices) leads to interview failure over 95% of the time.

You cannot possibility meet this unattainable list of silly, inane, inconsequential, and irrelevant criteria for the job. It’s almost like failing to interview before the interview really starts.

Once you know what the “REAL” criteria for success in the job is – then you can tailor your answers around that criteria.

Let’s take a real example (names have been changed to protect the innocent):

Bob is being interviewed by Mark for a position as Chief Financial Officer. In summary form the job description is:

12-15 years of experience in a technology-oriented business

CPA and a BS in accounting or Finance – MBA preferred

Good understanding of international accounting, GAAP, Tax Planning, Banking Relationships

Ability to supervise and develop the staff in accounting/finance

Put budgets, forecasts and special analysis together as required

Candidate should be self-motivated, multi-tasker, high initiative and a strong team player

Good systems skills are important

You get the idea – it’s a laundry list of experiences, skills, attributes, and activities. However – it’s NOT the job – in fact, it has NOTHING to do with the job.

In this form of the tribal interview, the questions go like this:

Do you have a CPA?

Have you had experience with international accounting?

How strong are your systems skills?

And so on until you fall asleep!

Let’s take our imaginary candidate Bob and have him pose the “What are the top 3 things I’ve got to do to be successful in this job over the next year” question.

The CEO thinks for a few minutes, remarks that no one in the interview process has yet asked that question and proceeds to describe the following three objectives:

1. You need to identify specific strategies in the next 60-90 days to lower our costs by 10% over the next 12-18 months.

2. Our budgeting/forecasting/analytical systems and processes are out-dated and need to be revamped over the next 6 months.

3. We need to convert our existing old disjointed, hodge-podge, home-grown systems to a new ERP comprehensive system within the next 9 months.

Based on knowing this information, would the interview be different? Would Bob structure his responses differently given what he now knows is important to the CEO?

Are you praying that the traditional shotgun approach to interviewing by spraying the hiring manager with as much information as possible will work – or would a more laser-focused approach be better?

Have you had an opportunity to download the FREE Chapter from our Job Search Workbook on Phone Interviewing?

Have you read the Chapter in the workbook on preparing for an Interview?

Have you gone through the exercises in our Job Search Home Study Course on Interviewing Techniques?

Finally, have you downloaded the FREE Audio Programs Brad and I have posted on our website from our weekly Internet Radio Talk Show regarding interviewing?

Have you signed up for our webinar on effective phone interviewing?

How can you get better at interviewing if you’re not taking advantage of best practice information on how to interview effectively?

Barry

PS – Jump into our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to pose your questions about interviewing.

Hope and Luck are NOT Job Search Strategies

Why do so many candidates rely passively on hope and luck to end their job search?

This is not like spinning the roulette wheel in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Our life is passively dictated by what number comes up.

You cannot afford to be passive in your job search. The risk of being passive is a job search that takes 2X-3X longer to complete. We’ve documented in a previous blog article the painful cost of an extended job search.

You don’t want to see your savings account evaporate, you don’t want to wonder how you’re going to make the mortgage payment next month, and you don’t want to network since talking with people who ask “How’s it going” trigger a set of painful emotions you’d rather not face right now.

So, instead of playing the victim from a reactive angle – how about starting to play the proactive angle. STOP waiting for the phone to ring and start doing the best practices in your job search that makes the phone ring off the hook with job leads, referrals, and interview requests.

Where to start you might ask?

The place to start is with a frank appraisal of your job search. What are doing wrong, what’s working, what can you improve?

We’ve developed a widely popular tool called the Job Search Plan Self-Assessment. Thousands of candidates have completed this self-assessment and shared the results with us. The stats are both depressing and insightful about how most candidates conduct a job search. As the title of this blog posting suggests, most job search strategies are based upon hope and luck.

Our self-assessment tool is a one page scorecard that zeros right in on whether your job search is effective. Overcoming many of the classic job search mistakes and errors is the only way you’ll ever reduce the time it takes to find a great opportunity.

Do you know what the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes and Errors are that limit job search effectiveness? Brad and I did a radio show on this subject. You can download it from our FREE Radio Show Library. Have you assessed the effectiveness of your Job Search Plan. We did another radio show on this topic built around our FREE Job Search Plan Scorecard.

Barry

P.S.: Don’t forget to join our Job Search Discussion Group on LinkedIn where we facilitate a wide variety of Job Search Discussions, ranging from overcoming job search mistakes to winning the phone interview.

How To Shoot Yourself In The Foot While Conducting A Job Search

I think the best way to shoot yourself in the foot while in a job search is not having a structured, formal, repeatable job search methodology or process. In the case of a job search HOPE and LUCK are not a process.

A methodology has a series of steps, that when followed, increase the probability of a desired outcome. This also implies that when a step is skipped the probability of the desired outcome is less. There is only one thing worse than skipping a step in a methodology, and that is not having one at all. Unfortunately, we find that most candidates don’t have a real methodology. Most tend to have a little of this and a little of that and candidates are easily distracted. The results tend to be no methodology.

Our job search workbook, “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” is a 5 step process for making you a sales person during your job search. After all, when you are in a job search you are in sales. There are 5 basic steps in the sales process that are a good outline for a job search.

1. What is the product or service? Before a sales person can sell a product they must know all about the product. This not only includes the facts about the product, but what makes this product better than the competition, what makes this product unique, how the buyer will benefit from the product, and often a SWOT analysis is performed. Since you are the product in a job search have you addressed all of these issues?
2. Once step one is completed it is time to identify the customers and put together a marketing plan. Not everyone may need or want your product. In fact, your product probably is not right for everyone. So you must identify the high potential customers. Those that have a high probability of not only buying your product, but also can afford your product. Why waste time meeting customers if they don’t fall into one of these categories? In a job search we call this, “networking with a purpose.”
3. Now that high potential customers have been defined and identified, every sales person needs marketing materials. Marketing documents, regardless of the form, strive to get to the customer’s underlying motivation. Often this requires multiple marketing materials and multiple formats. Regardless of formats, most marketing documents are about the customer, not the seller. Is your resume a marketing document? Is it about the buyer or all about you?
4. Sooner or later every sales person has to make a sales presentation to get the sale. Top salespeople have this down pat. They rehearse, they anticipate questions and practice the answers, they know what the buyer’s objections to the product are, and have thought through how to overcome them. Finally they have studied the competition and know exactly why their product will better meet the customer’s needs. Obviously, this is the interview for those in a job search. Would you be considered a top sales person?
5. Finally top salespeople know how to follow-up and close the sale. This is the most difficult part of any sale. It must be done tactfully, in a manner that engages the customer without bugging them and continues to overcome issues as the process continues. For candidates, this is all of the additional interviews that take place as you move through the hiring process.

These five steps are the basic steps in an search process. Just like the sales process, there is a lot more that goes into each step. Top salespeople spend an enormous time training, preparing and practicing each step. Top candidates do the same.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group for a lot more help with developing and enhancing your job search methodology. CLICK HERE to join the group.

Our job search workbook, “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” is based on the five steps outlined above and goes into great detail on each step. We will send you the book to review for just the cost of shipping $5. CLICK HERE to read more. Readers have rated this workbook 4.5 stars out of 5.

I encourage your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

How To Become Employed With 9.8% Unemployment

9.8% unemployment is the national average. For many states, it is even higher than 9.8%. I live in California and the number has hit double digits. This is true for many other states as well. Regardless of the rate, anyone actively in a job search knows these are difficult times. There is hope, and I believe opportunity, for many of those looking.

We have a very active job search coaching practice. The problem with many candidates we work with is, they come to us too late. They are usually out of work for an average of 4-6 months. They then expect us to be able to help them find work quickly. Sorry, we are good, but can’t work miracles, and nobody (not even us) can get you employed.

ONLY YOU CAN DO THAT.

But we can help you learn from your mistakes. The biggest problem we find with candidates is that they really don’t have a targeted, very focused approach to their search. Their fear of possibly missing an opportunity is so powerful that they often don’t see the forest for the trees. Our biggest challenge is to help get the candidates focused like a laser beam on a target and then drive to that target. In many cases this is a monumental task.

As the employment numbers get worse, successful candidates must become more and more focused. Companies today aren’t looking for a jack of all trades. They want the king or queen. If you aren’t targeted and highly focused, then it is difficult to land a position.

You have to have a bull’s-eye on the target so you have something to aim at. What is your bull’s-eye?

Here are some suggestions to help you get focused.

1. Take a step back and think if you were a specialist at something what would it be?
2. Write out a complete and very thorough job description. Most of the candidates we talk with can’t do this.
3. Make sure your Linkedin and other public profiles are focused on you as a specialist. Most profiles are generic, vague and cover every possible job function within the person’s discipline.
4. Identify a specific target list of companies, people, recruiters and service providers that can lead you to your target.
5. Identify those connectors that can put you in touch with those in number 4.
6. Identify three or four networking groups that align with your industry, functional expertise, career level, and become very active in those groups. Serve on or chair a committee, get on the board, take a leadership position and become well know in those groups.
7. Consider serving on non-profit boards. These boards will not only make you feel good, but they often have great contacts and you can demonstrate your leadership skills.
8. Build a network of 100 people that know you and your background so well that they can refer you with confidence. I use the 5 call rule. If a recruiter from 2,000 miles away is conducting a search in your geographical area  you will be referred within 5 calls.
9. Don’t ignore your unemployed peers. They are out looking for positions 8 hours a day. The employed aren’t spending any time doing this. Who do you think is more likely to come across a position that is right for you first?
10. Have the right networking tools to do the job. This includes a bio and networking business cards. Not a resume and business type business cards.
11. Finally, network with a purpose. Don’t try to meet everyone on the planet. You will only get burned out networking with little to show for it. Meet only those that can advance you toward your target. Be polite and  help others when necessary but pre-screen people before spending time with them.
12. Use Linkedin to find people and the connectors you need. This is why it is so critical to build your contacts beyond 500.

I don’t mean to imply that doing these things will guarantee you find a position right away. I do believe if you don’t do them you will be in-transition a lot longer than if you do. Having a general, shot gun approach will definitely extend your job search.

Be sure and join our Linkedin Job Search Networking group. This is important. CLICK HERE to join.

Evaluate your job search effectiveness with our Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. Find out what you are doing right and what you need to tweak in your job search. As always it is FREE. CLICK HERE.

Please let us know your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Resumes have only one purpose

We were working to fill a VP Operations position. A candidate we had known for a few years was out of work and we believed he was a good fit for the position. While we were talking on the phone, the candidate mentioned the VP Operations position had been open for a while and he had submitted his resume but never heard back. We explained the company had tried filling the position, but was unsuccessful, so they decided to retain us to conduct the search.

When we met with the hiring manager we mentioned the candidate’s name. The hiring manager pulled out a file from the drawer and sure enough there was the candidate’s resume. It became clear why the hiring manager hadn’t gotten back to him. The resume was generic and very general. It did not address any of the specifics of the job. We worked with the candidate and developed a resume that highlighted his accomplishments that tied directly to the position. It was easy to get him the interview, now that the hiring manager could see how well he fit the needs of the job.

He ultimately was offered the position and accepted. Had he taken the time to revise his resume the first time, he would have been successful.

Remember, always align your resume as closely as possible to the accomplishments the company is looking for. A specific resume, for a specific job, with specific accomplishments, that are directly linked to the needs of the position will always beat out a generic resume.

We have extensive resources available to you that will help you with your resume. Our audio library has a one hour free audio file “Why Traditional Resumes Are Worthless.” We also have numerous articles on the homepage of the career blog that discuss in great depth how to get your resume noticed.

Right now you can also get Complete Resume System for $39.95 plus shipping. Others charge up to $250 and The Ladders can charge up to $700. Our comprehensive job search workbook is also available to review for just the cost of $5 shipping and our complete home study course can be reviewed for just $14.95 plus shipping. These tools have extensive information on resumes, templates to develop an effective resume, examples of what a winning resume looks like, four resumes that didn’t get noticed and why they missed the mark, and resume do’s and don’ts, just to name a few tools available. All for less than many will spend at Starbuck’s in a week.

Your LinkedIn Profile as an Expanded Multi-Media Presentation of Your Resume

I’ve posted a Slideshare Powerpoint file through LinkedIn as a demonstration of one small aspect of how you can improve your personal brand and visibility on LinkedIn. Do you STAND OUT among a crowd of “me-too” profiles?

Here’s the actual Slideshare link to view or download the presentation. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to do a voice-over narration of this Powerpoint as an additional test. You can do this too.

I’ll be adding audio and video files to my LinkedIn Profile to demonstrate how you can leverage simple tools on this wonderful service to dramatically improve your job search. Take a look on slideshare at some of the other Powerpoint and Video files other job seekers have posted.

Employers and recruiters (including Brad and I) would love to hear you talking about your expertise and accomplishments, view a video of you answering interview questions, and be able to download a powerpoint presentation about your job achievements. Imagine LinkedIn as an expanded multi-media platform to enhance your traditional resume.

The funny thing is that less than a tenth of one percent of all job seekers are using all the available tools on Linked for their job search – and the tools are available for FREE – go figure!

What a shame!

Try it – look at my profile or Brad’s profile on LinkedIn. Look at some of the profiles of the masters of job search personal branding and job search networking. I’ll feature once a week a candidate who is truly leveraging LinkedIn for their job search – for each person selected every week, they’ll get a FREE copy of our book. Would you like to throw your profile in the ring to try and win a FREE copy of our book, This is NOT the Position I Accepted. Be the first to volunteer!

In the meantime, if you would like to start taking months off your job search, start taking the initiative to improve your LinkedIn Profile as a small step forward.

Barry

P.S. Don’t forget to take the Self-Assessment of your LinkedIn Profile by using our FREE scorecard for assessing your LinkedIn Job Search Profile to determine your effectiveness of being found by recruiters, human resources, and hiring managers.

P.P.S. Brad and I also did a broadcast on our radio show about this LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment Tool and how to most effectively improve your visibility.

Job Search and LinkedIn – Is Your Profile Visible?

Your profile is like an on-line resume. If you’ve not taken the time to develop an in-depth profile on LinkedIn, you might be invisible to the searches that recruiters, human resource professionals, and hiring managers are conducting searching for people JUST LIKE YOU.

I recently dedicated one of our weekly Internet Radio Shows to this subject. Studies show that over 95% of all recruiters, human resources professionals, and hiring managers are using LinkedIn as a PRIMARY tool for finding and sourcing top talent.

All our past Radio Show Broadcasts are available in our FREE Audio Library.

1. Is your profile powerful enough to stand out on LinkedIn and grab someone’s attention in a search, let alone even fall into the search parameters? Are you beige – do you fade into the background? Are you making your job search much more difficult by being invisible?
2. Let’s do a check-up on your LinkedIn Profile:
3. Do you include all your significant projects from prior jobs?
4. Do you include all your major quantifiable results and outcomes?
5. Is every leadership role, committee chair, group membership listed?
6. Have you identified all your skills and competencies and then backed them up with concrete examples in your LinkedIn Profile?
7. Have you loaded short PowerPoint Presentations through the Slideshare Application to convey your successes and accomplishments?

If you’re interested in the complete checklist for determining if your LinkedIn Profile is complete and capable of being found in a search to fill an open position, you can download our 8-Point Success Matrix for your Job Search LinkedIn Profile. This is a self-assessment scorecard for job search networking that will immediately indicate whether your LinkedIn Porfile is effective for job search and being visible to recruiters, HR managers, and Hiring Managers.

MOST IMPORTANT for your job search on LinkedIn: You’ve got to make it very easy for people to contact you by including your email address and phone number. As an executive recruiter, if you make me hunt on-line for how to contact you – I’ll just give up and move on to the next candidate.

Check out my profile or Brad’s profile. Join our LinkedIn Group for Job Search and check out the profiles of other great candidates that have already gone through this exercise.

Review our book titled “This is NOT the position I Accepted” – there’s a wealth of great information about leveraging yourself on-line and becoming visible. Our Home-Study Job Search Kit has audio programs, templates, the workbook, and a variety of tools to help you begin to improve your visibility in searches by hiring managers searching for people JUST LIKE YOU.

All these tools that LinkedIn makes available as part of your profile help you to become visible in the searches that recruiters, human resource professionals, and hiring managers conduct to source and find candidates. STOP being invisible – STAND OUT on LinkedIn for your job search.

Barry

Do you stand out in your job search on LinkedIn?

I recently wrote a blog post for our Hiring and Retaining Top Talent Blog titled “A Baker’s Dozen of Techniques for quickly finding top talent on LinkedIn” When you review this list of the best practices of how employers and recruiters use LinkedIn to find top talent, are you guilty of not using all the tools LinkedIn provides for personal branding, networking, differentiating yourself from the competition?

Next Steps: Listen to our Home Study Job Search Course and work through the exercises to learn how to network on line and leverage LinkedIn, explore the FREE audio recordings of our Internet Radio Talk Show on using LinkedIn in your job search, or join our LinkedIn Discussion Group and focus on the topics related to using LinkedIn to “stand out”.

Tell us about a few of the stories of how you’ve landed a job or received a great job lead based on one of the Baker’s Dozen of Best Practices?

Barry

photo credit by Jill Murray

Your Job Search Questions and Answers

On Friday from 9 – 10 AM PDT we often conduct free “Candidate Open Forums.” These are conference calls open to all of our candidates, in which we discuss topics and answer questions directly from you – our candidates. Unfortunately, we are limited to 50 people on the line at one time, so often we can’t get to all of the questions submitted ahead of time via email.

We believe these are important, so from time to time in this blog we will discuss the topics and questions we, 1) don’t get to during the conference call, 2) are asked over and over again (so these are probably on your mind too), and 3) just consider important for you to know.

Remember, we are retained executive recruiters so the answers and thoughts come strictly from that perspective.

1) Chronological vs. functional resume? Easy answer –  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, use a functional resume. In my almost 30 years of recruiting I have never had any recruiter or hiring manager support the functional resume. I have also been on many panels where all of the panelists agree to NEVER use a functional resume. Functional resumes just scream out,”Try to figure out what I’m trying to hide.” See our free audio file on resumes.

2) How do we overcome negatives such as age, turnover, time between jobs, etc? We believe you address them head on. If you have a negative, avoiding it doesn’t make it go away. We have a blog entry “Preemptive Strike” which you should also consider reading. If you have a negative item, you should bring it up straight away, discuss it openly and then whatever happens, happens. Don’t assume, “They didn’t bring it up so it must not be a problem.” They didn’t bring it up because they already settled it in their mind. You need to preempt any preconceived ideas before they come into play.

3) What is the best method and frequency for following up on a resume? For us, as recruiters, we prefer via email or one of the social media forums, Linkedin or Twitter. Recruiters have reduced staff just like many other companies, while the number of calls from candidates has skyrocketed. It isn’t possible to call every person. Email allows us to reply late at night, on weekends, or even while waiting in the lobby of a client. I can’t do that with phone calls. Regarding frequency, if in fact you are dead on perfect,  then after two weeks send a follow-up email.

4) With so many top level executives in the market, how do you differentiate yourself from the pack? This is the 64,000 dollar question. We believe the best answer is to have a very compelling resume which is targeted specifically to the position. A generic, one size fits all resume will not differentiate you. That is what “generic” means. In today’s market our clients and therefore recruiters, are seeking very specific backgrounds. We are not looking for the proverbial, “Jack of all trades,” we are looking for the, “King or Queen for a specific role.”

5) Is negotiating with the employer different today due to the economic situation, and if so how? There is a difference given today’s market. For example, most companies will not relocate today especially in a large market area. Also, companies tend to be closed to severance agreements. If you aren’t working, they figure there is no reason to give an agreement and they are in control. You have to pick your issues and know where to compromise. This is all part of the pre-planning process for a job search. What issues will you compromise on and which ones should you dig in your heels?

This is enough for now, check back regularly for more Q&A.

We realize not everyone will agree with these answers and that is healthy. So if you don’t agree, or wish to comment, we encourage you to do so. Just click the link below.

We offer a wealth of free resources to anyone in a job search. To see what is available to help you simply CLICK HERE.

Job Referrals – Do you base them on luck and hope?

Do you get enough job referrals in your job search?

Are you willing to roll the dice on your network?

Is the quality and quantity of job referrals based more on hope and luck than a consistent and focused effort on ensuring you’ve got the right network in place to deliver the outcomes you absolutely must have?

When was the last time you gave your network a check-up?

One of the services we offer is a Networking Assessment and Strategic Networking Plan to measure the strength of your network and recommend solutions. Through this service, we’re stunned by the lack of proactivity and initiative in a job search by candidates to continually tweak and improve their network.

Here are a five key questions you should be asking yourself about the quality of your network. We’ll discuss these 5 questions about your network and much more in our weekly Internet Radio Talk Show on Monday June 8th at 11 AM PST on LATALKRADIO.com. Join us for an hour of an in-depth discussion around “Generating Job Referrals in your Job Search“.

1. Do I have a large enough network to generate the referrals needed for the type of job I’m interested in obtaining?

2. Are there a significant number of hiring managers in my network who hire for this type of position?

3. Is there a significant number of people in my network who know on a 1st degree basis the hiring managers who would hire for this position?

4. Are there trusted advisers in my network who provide services to my ultimate boss that might hear of opportunities and make job referrals (One example might be a advertising account manager selling advertising services to the marketing promotions manager who would be your direct boss at a consumer products company. Another example might be the CPA auditing a company who is working directly with the Controller who might be your potential new boss?

5. Are there a large number of people in your network who are not competing directly with you for the position, but might hear about the job opportunities due to their proximity to the type of work you’re interested in obtaining (For example, the engineer in the R&D function might be aware of a product development role in marketing or the materials specialist role in the supply chain department).

Try ranking yourself on these 5 core questions about the strength of your network on a scale of 1-5 (1 being you’re a long way from completing your job search and  5 makes you a rock star in networking). Which one of these 5 components of an effective network should you spend time developing.

Are there gaps in your network that you should be focused on filling?

I hope these questions stimulate your introspection about the quality and strength of your network to generate good job referrals.

Barry