Stop Your Job Search Until 2010 – Dumb Move

I get this all the time from candidates I’m working with in our job search coaching program. It usually starts with, “The holidays are  here and nobody is hiring during this period.” or “Why look now? I will wait until the new year. It is time for a break.”

As succinctly as my mild manner can put it, DUMB MOVE. Sorry to yell, but that is what this attitude is. So let’s call it dumb.

In almost 30 years in the search business I have weathered 4 recessions, including this one. In every recession, including this one, I have active searches underway. I have filled many searches and started many searches during the holiday season. You don’t want to be left behind. For example, I will be starting a VP of Sales search today. Do you think I will wait until the new year to start the search process? NO WAY. I will be actively sourcing, interviewing and presenting candidates to my client as quickly as I can find them.

If you put  your search on hold until 2010 I will probably not find you, not consider you, and by the time you reactivate your job search, I’ll already have candidates going through the hiring process. That means only one thing for you, you are probably going to end up in the backup group of candidates.

Let others put their job hunting activity on hold. You should continue yours, as aggressively as always.

5 reasons why you should:

1) If everyone else puts their search on hold, then there is less competition out there for you, making it easier for you to be discovered.

2) As stated earlier, the hiring process doesn’t stop during this period. It may slow, but it doesn’t stop. You only need one job opportunity. Don’t let that one opportunity pass you by.

3) Why stop the momentum you have built up? This by itself is a good reason not to stop your job search activity. Why on earth would anybody want to restart a job search? It is hard enough work to begin with, so let’s do it twice. Are you serious?

4) Use this time to establish momentum going into the new year. If you think hiring will wait until the new year, fine. Doesn’t it make sense then to proactively get a jump on this hiring activity? Why would you want to be reactive? Being reactive is rarely a good job search strategy.

5) This is a great time to re-evaluate your job search. Take a look back on 2009 and do some objective analysis of what worked and what didn’t work. Use this time to get help. Read some books, listen to CDs, engage an expert. Every process needs to be analyzed. The key is objectively. If you can’t do that, then get someone to help you. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. Download our tool, Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard, to  help with this analysis. It is FREE and a good place to start. CLICK HERE to download  yours.

This is the time to put your ego aside and listen, learn and adapt.

Don’t put your search on hold during this holiday season. Instead use this time wisely to out-smart the competition, get a leg up on the competition and be proactive.

Another tool to help you is our skills assessment worksheet. This is a good time to take an inventory of your transferable skills and put a plan together to get whatever skills you may be lacking. CLICK HERE to get your free skills assessment. Scroll to the bottom to the What’s New Section.

Finally, join our Job Search Networking Group on Linkedin. Over 3300 members have joined. This is an active group with a wealth of resources, discussions and articles to make sure your job search stays on track. It is FREE to join. CLICK HERE to join.

I welcome your thoughts, feedback and comments.

Brad Remillard

Job Search Stalled? Do What the Pros Do.

I was reading a golf magazine recently and a particular article caught my attention. It was about what one of the top pros on the PGA tour does when he gets stalled or in a slump. He simply goes back to basics. He goes back to when he first started playing golf to review if one of the 4 basics of golf have changed. He indicated most of the time this fixes the problem.

Your job search may need the exact same thing. If your search is stalled, not attaining the traction you want, or the level of traction you were getting isn’t happening now, going back to the basics may be the ticket.

Like golf, there are basics in a job search that get out of alignment. What once worked, isn’t any longer. We often blame something or someone else. Anyone who plays golf knows this and always blames the equipment for the problem. It is never operator error. If only just getting a new putter or driver would fix the problem. It rarely does, but at least it’s fun to try new equipment.

Rather than blame others it probably makes sense to first look at, “have you changed” or “have you picked up a bad habit along the way without even know it.” Chances are these have a higher probability of being the problem.

So let’s take the search back to basics.

1) Start with you.  After 3 or 4 months in a job search most candidates have gotten so much input and help they no longer know what is right and what is wrong or what they were doing well and what wasn’t working. It all starts to blur together. It may be time to stop getting input from all of these sources.

I recommend limiting your input to a few select people/experts. Preferably to those that have knowledge in the specific area of your search. By now you should have identified the experts you trust, those that have given you honest and often tough advice, those that excel in job search knowledge and/or someone that brings a unique talent to your party. For example, if you need help in selling yourself, find a sales trainer or expert in sales and ask them to help you. Try to develop  a  “Personal Advisory Board.” Some may want to be paid, but most will not.

2) Focus on what isn’t working and what is working. For example, if you are getting interviews but not the offer, chances are your resume and networking is working and your interviewing skills are what needs to be fixed. On the other hand, if you are no longer getting interviews and once were, chances are your marketing plan or networking plan needs to be looked at or redone.

Don’t waste time trying to fix what isn’t broken.

3) Evaluate the fundamentals of your search.

A) Take a look at your preparation. Consider videoing yourself, review what questions to ask in an interview, how do you prepare for an interview, have you identified the right companies and people, are you relying too heavily on the Internet, etc. This list could go on and on.  You need to be objective.

B) Has your resume changed? Has it gone through so many version changes it no longer really reflects your abilities and accomplishments? It could also be the opposite problem, it is too generic and doesn’t really sell you. It is not properly marketing you. Maybe you should talk to a marketing or sales expert for help.

C) Is your marketing and networking plan still effective or has it gotten outdated? Go back and identify more company targets, especially if your geographic requirements have changed. Make a serious evaluation about how you are networking and who you are networking with. Consider some new networking groups to get involved with, reestablish some old connections, and identify new connections that are focused in the area you need.

Stop meeting people for the sake of meeting people and comparing whose business card stack is highest.

D) Conduct and video a mock interview. Take a serious look at yourself on video. How do you come across, what is your body language saying, how do answer the question, do you actually answer the question asked or what you think they asked, do you have eye contact, etc. This can be key to those getting interviews and not offers.

Consider getting back to basics. Take a fresh start on your search to re-energize it.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. The topics, discussions and articles will be a good place to start. Over 3300 people have joined. It is free and should be a major resource during your search. CLICK HERE to join.

Download our FREE Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard as a place to start. It will help you identify your search strengths and weaknesses. CLICK HERE to download your scorecard.

I welcome your thoughts and encourage your feedback and comments if this was helpful.

Brad Remillard

Cover Letter + Great Resume = Interview

This is the winning formula for getting interviews. There are exceptions for personal referrals and networking contacts, but often even with these they will first ask for a resume.

It has been my experience recently that many candidates “know” this formula intellectually but few convert from the knowing to “doing.” And that after all is the key.

I’m currently conducting a search and as one might expect the number of resumes received is almost overwhelming. I spend my weekends and nights just trying to empty my inbox.  Not an easy task. About 65% of the resumes I receive have cover letters. Most to some varying degree give me the standard, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Once in a while one will stand out so I take the time to read it. I particularly like the two column format as it quickly aligns their experiences with what I’m seeking for my client. (If you want to get an example, a free sample is available, just CLICK HERE).

These types of cover letters can get me very excited to actually read (not scan) your resume. The problem is too often the rug is pulled right out from under my high level of excitement.  Simply put the resume sucks. There are many reasons for this, but regardless, this person had me and other recruiters,  hiring managers and HR professionals right where they want them. They overcame one of the biggest issues with resumes, getting the resume read not just a 10 second scan. Only to disappoint the reader. What a tragedy.

In this example the formula was: great cover letter + average or below average resume = trashed resume.

Anyone who has been following Barry and I know we have written extensively that in this economy it is greatness that counts. Good only works in good times. Greatness works all the time, but is positively, absolutely, a  must in bad times.

A great cover letter with an average or below average resume, is like a bad book with a great dust cover. It is still a bad book.  How many times have you sat in a movie theater watching an upcoming movie trailer, then gone to the movie and it was really bad? Remember the excitement about waiting for the movie to come out, the excitement as you sat waiting for the movie to start, and then the disappointment when the movie was so bad you walked out.  A great movie trailer doesn’t make a bad movie better.

A great resume starts with understanding how a resume is scanned. Start with the basics:

1. Your contact information including a phone number. Sounds pretty basic to me. For some reason many candidates are starting to have only an email address on the resume.
2. Basic information about the companies you worked for (unless they are household names), such as sales, number of employees, and what the company does or the industry.
3. Basic information regarding the scope of your positions. Number of people supervised, basic duties and responsibilities, if multi-location, international, functional area managed, etc.
4. Education. When appropriate additional certifications or courses that enhance your marketability.
5. Company ownership. Is it a public company, owner operated, private equity owned or something else?
6. Some bullet points that directly align as closely as possible to the two column cover letter you included.
7. Bullet points that include results in dollars or percentages as to the impact on the department or company.

These are basics. There are more that will get your resume from good to great. At least review your resume to verify you have met the minimum.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. Over 3200 members. CLICK HERE to join.

Download a free sample cover letter – that is the first step. You still need a great resume. CLICK HERE to get the FREE cover letter.

Are You Responding To Job Descriptions Masquerading as Job Advertisements?

Over 90% of companies post their entire job description or some modified version of it as a job advertisement.

Why?

• Is it because they don’t want to take the time to write a real advertisement?
• Is it because they’re taking the easy way out – posting something that was downloaded off the internet in 1999?
• Is it because they think the job description is the job?

As you probably know, Brad and I teach workshop for Hiring Managers and Executives on improving their hiring effectiveness. Over 35,000 Managers and Executives worldwide have seen this program, titled “You’re NOT the Person I Hired”. One of the key recommendations in this program is STOP posting job descriptions masquerading as job ads.

Job Descriptions DO NOT define the work to be done. Job Descriptions are worthless as a predictive tool to measure or evaluate success. Finally, Job Descriptions focus on the wrong criteria for hiring. Using Job Descriptions both for defining work and advertising for potential employees leads to multiple mistakes and errors we’ve identified in our research of the Top Ten Mistakes in Hiring.

If you’re responding to job descriptions and wondering why you don’t get call backs inviting you to interview – wonder NO MORE!

You’re not getting call backs because you’re not being evaluated on your ability to help the company – instead you’re being evaluated on whether there are words and phrases on your resume allowing a recruiter, human resource admin, or hiring manager to “box-check” whether you should be called.

BREAK this dysfunctional cycle right now and raise the number of invitations you receive to interview for an open position.

Here are some ideas to break this cycle:

1. Find the Hiring Manager on LinkedIn and contact them directly to ask your questions about what someone in this role would need to do to be successful.
2. Offer 4-5 major accomplishments for the functional job in your cover letter – such as finance, marketing, operations, sales. Every job has these 4-5 core elements.
3. Ask questions in your cover letters and correspondence: If you’re applying for a controller role, you might ask “Are you satisfied with the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of your monthly closing process?
4. Publish a blog article on your key accomplishment in the functional area for which you are applying. Send the hiring manager the link to the article.
5. Keep firing off emails seeking additional information. If they haven’t called you yet – do you really care if they think you’re a pest? Worst case is they’ve already decided not to call you and whatever you do will not change their impression. Best case is that one of your letters, emails, LinkedIn notes, or Tweets changes their impression of you.
6. Create a marketing campaign that has a goal to be granted a phone interview. Put on a full court press. What are the top ten things you could be doing to grab the attention of the hiring manager?

STOP being passive in responding to job descriptions masquerading as job advertisements. Break this tribal cycle that has gone on for generation after generation. The vast majority of candidates answer ads and pray the phone will ring. STOP waiting – force the phone to ring through the campaign or blitz attack you put on the hiring manager to convince them to speak with you about the job.

Check out our resources of how to get an interview, including our Resume Kit, our FREE Audio Programs from our Internet Radio Show, and our paradigm-shifting book, This is NOT the Position I Accepted.

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group and join the conversation on how to get an interview, especially when you’ve responded to a job description masquerading as a job advertisement.

Resume Do’s and Don’ts

Every person that has put together a resume knows the basics, no spelling errors, limit to two pages, chronological format, use keywords and so on, but there are other basic issues that candidates do and don’t do that  have a big impact on getting their resume noticed. By getting noticed I mean read and ultimately you get a phone call or email.

Lets all agree there is only one reason for a resume, and that is to get an interview. That is it — PERIOD. A resume isn’t to get you a job, it isn’t a networking tool, it isn’t a bio and most important of all a resume  isn’t ABOUT YOU.

A resume is about the person reading the resume. If the only purpose is to get you an interview, then the resume better stand out so they take the time to read the resume. Standing out doesn’t mean gimmicks, highlighting or other tricks that only make you look desperate. Standing out means they see what they are looking for and want to read on and ultimately engage  you.

I believe candidates need to realize how people review resumes or take a step back, be very objective, and think about how they reviewed resumes when they had a stack of 100+ resumes sitting on their desk.

I know for me it starts with the 10 second review.  I’m looking for a few box checking items or points and if they are missing, or aren’t a fit, I move on. For example:

• If my client isn’t going to relocate, and you are from out of the area, you are gone.
• If I’m searching for a VP of X and you are a VP of Y you are gone.
• If for whatever reason you have to have experience in a specific industry and you don’t, or haven’t at least worked in an industry that is a close fit, you are gone.
• If my client is a small entrepreneurial company and you have only worked in very large companies you go into the “B” pile.
• If you have had 8 jobs in the last 8 years chances are you are either gone or in the “B” pile.
• If the scope of your positions don’t align with my client’s you are gone. For example,  if I’m searching for an International X and all your resume discusses is domestic, I think you know what is going to happen.

A recruiter, HR person or hiring manager can determine these in 10 seconds or less. Once all of these fundamentals are box checked then I’m going to take the time to read the resume in more detail. It is here that the rubber meets the road. This is where the resume needs to be about my client, NOT YOU. It is here that I’m making the decision of whether to pick up the phone and call you or not.

So it is critical under the “do” column of “Resume Do’s and Don’ts,” that you meet these basic screening issues or at least in one fashion or another address them.  For example, if you are open to relocation and willing to pay your own relocation expenses that should be in the cover letter. This could help level the playing field with local candidates,  if other points on your resume are compelling. You may go to the “A” or  “B” pile instead of being eliminated.

Under the “don’t” column of  “Resume Do’s  and Don’ts,” you need to make sure that when the person gets to the reading stage of your resume that you don’t discuss  irrelevant issues or accomplishments. This is the time to stand out, differentiate yourself and hit a home run.

The biggest “don’t” is don’t try to get by with a one-size-fits-all resume. These resumes are so generic it is impossible to know exactly what the candidate actually did. The bullet points don’t include results and are so vague the reader could change the name at the top and the resume would be like all the rest.

Don’t regurgitate the duties, tasks and responsibilities of the job in bullet point format.  Most companies will not consider you a great hire if all you do are the very basic duties of the job. Your bullet points should demonstrate the exceptional work you have performed. The resume bullet points should sing out loud and clear, “Here are the benefits to you if you hire me.”

Change  your perspective on the resume. Stop thinking of it as a resume about you. Start thinking of it as a marketing document or advertisement. These are generally about the targeted audience and designed to get their attention.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group along with over 3100 others. Exceptional articles and discussions are all free. CLICK HERE to join.

To help  you build a great resume, we have a put together our “Complete Resume Writing System.” Everything  you need to make sure  your resume is compelling and about the reader is included. Candidates spend hundreds of dollars on resume writing  services when they don’t have to. Our Complete Resume Writing System is available for just $39.95. CLICK HERE to at least see if it can help you. It will save you hundreds.

Resume Do’s and Don’ts – Radio Show

Knowing how your resume is screened will help you understand why you do or don’t hear back from recruiters, HR or hiring managers. These are not the basic do’s and don’ts such as spelling, grammar, or formatting.  You already know those things. We are discussing the practical application of the most common mistakes candidates make that result in their resume getting screened out. Most of these mistakes are so easy to fix, so common sense and so obvious one wouldn’t think it would take a whole show to discuss. We give you insight into what our clients tell us, their actual screening methodology and what you can do to get past the 10 seconds resume screening 90% of the time.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group along with 3100 other LinkedIn members. To join CLICK HERE.

You can download for FREE a Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. This will help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in your job search so you can identify what  you need to tweak. This will help you conduct the most effective job search possible. CLICK HERE to get your free assessment.

To download this and past radio shows in our audio library –  CLICK HERE

How NOT to Differentiate Yourself From Everyone Else

As candidates become more and more desperate in their job search they often turn to desperate measures that more often than not hurt the candidate. One example of this is with the resume.

Lately we have been noticing an increase in resumes that contain some sort of gimmick or strange presentation to get noticed. This is not necessary. If your resume is focused, well presented, and easy to read, it will get noticed – at least by us.

If your resume has a lot of highlighting, gimmicks, smells like perfume, or is on bright colored paper, all that is saying to the reader is, “I’m desperate.” Companies today don’t want to hire desperate people. They still want to hire the best and the brightest.

The best ways to get  your resume noticed and read is:

• Have a good cover letter. Download a free sample from our Web site. CLICK HERE.
• Have an easy to read resume. Use bullet points instead of long paragraphs, make sure it is not over crowded, has white space, 12 point fonts, two pages,  and does not have a lot of abbreviations, functional or industry jargon.
• Make sure vital information used for screening stands out such as,company description and industry, title, dates, organization, number of people managed, scope of responsibility, etc.
• Pleasing to the eye.
• Well organized and laid out.
• Highly recommend chronicle not functional.
• It should be as targeted to the position as possible and that bullet points address what the hiring manager is looking for. NOT a generic one size fits all.

There are probably more and feel free to comment and add  your ideas. Just don’t try and stand out by using desperate gimmicks and tricks.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group along with the other 3000 members. The group contains extensive articles and discussions on conducting a job search. CLICK HERE to join it FREE.

Please download our free sample cover letter to make sure your background aligns with the job needs and stands out. CLICK HERE to get your copy.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

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.

Don’t Underestimate the Power the Four “A’s” Have On Your Interview

In a previous article, “Leveraging the Power of the First Impression Helps You Win the Interview” we discussed just how critical (not important, critical) the first impression is to the interviewing process. One of the suggestions was to understand the most important points known as the four “A’s.”

These four “A’s” can dramatically impact the interview before the interview even starts. That is powerful.

Each of these must be integrated into your interviewing style and come off as if they come naturally to you.

• Appearance – This is not just how you dress for the interview, it is much more than that. It includes your body language during the interview, how you sit in the chair, the appearance of your resume and cover letter, the appearance of any materials used during the interview, eye contact, and I hate to say it, but it does include physical appearance.
• Assertive – This is mostly about how you project yourself during the interview. Please take note, the word was not “aggressive.” There is a big difference between aggressive and assertive. Most interviewers respect an assertive person and dislike aggressive people. Do you come across as confident, do you answer the question with a strong voice, do you engage the interviewer during the interview, do you ask probing questions or just sit there and answer questions, do you mirror the interviewer, does your body language and voice have a strong presence?
• Affable – Are you friendly, outgoing, easy to communicate with, engaging and even have a sense of humor? Does the interviewer feel comfortable talking with you, are they relaxed and feel at ease, do you have some conversational questions to bring up on the way from the lobby to the interviewing room, do you engage in casual conversation and are you building rapport with the person the second they lay eyes on you?
• Articulate – How well do you communicate? Do you listen to the question? Are your answers sharp and succinct? Do you have proper language skills, syntax, avoid using the word “like”, proper sentence structure and use of verbs? Do you ramble in the interview to make sure you hit every point in your background or are you able to quickly get to the point? This can be one of the easiest of the “A’s” to master. It takes practice and rehearsing, and you will probably need a coach to help you with this one.

On the surface, as you read these, they seem so obvious. Most are thinking, “I already know this stuff.” This may be true, but I think the purpose of the four “A’s” is to highlight in a very simple way some of the key issues many candidates take for granted. As a result they don’t work on mastering them.

There are a lot of dynamics happening at the same time during the hiring process. The more you can master, the better your chances of getting the green light.

Join our Job Search Networking Linkedin Group. There are over 2700 members and an extensive supply of resources for you to tap into. CLICK HERE to join. Membership is FREE.

We have numerous free downloads on our Web site to help you in your search. Sample cover letters, audio downloads from past radio shows,a transferable skills list, Linkedin Profile Assessment Matrix, and our Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. All can be downloaded from our home page. www.impacthiringsolutions.com.

Every Monday at 11 AM PDT listen to our radio show from anywhere in the world on www.latalkradio.com channel 2.

Leveraging The Power of the First Impression Helps You Win The Interview

First impressions are so important in the initial meeting that one would not be too far off base if they argued the most important part of the interview. First impressions set the tone for the interview and often determine the types of questions, length of the interview, and ultimately the outcome. Making a strong first impression is often the deciding factor in who makes it to the next round. If the candidate makes a strong first impression they are immediately liked by the interviewer. This candidate just moved up the point scale towards the next round and they haven’t even been asked one question. On the other hand, if the candidate makes a weak first impression, the candidate starts out in the hole. This hole if often so deep  that no matter how well they answer the questions, the interviewer cannot overcome their first impression. In fact, they may have decided right in the lobby that this person isn’t getting the job.

Tips to making a strong first impression:

· Good eye contact.

· Remain a comfortable distance from the person.

· Firm handshake – even if you think you have one ask someone who will be open and honest. Many don’t, so don’t assume you do.

· Strong introduction coupled with a smile, a strong handshake and eye contact. Practice this introduction.

· Have a couple of conversational questions prepared in advance to engage the interviewer.

· The most important of all are the four “A’s.” A VP of HR at Rockwell Corporation gave us these. They are so important more than 25 years later we still remember them.

1. Appearance

   
   

2. Articulate

   
   

3. Affable

   
   

4. Assertive

Bring these four to the first impression and you will move up the scale – not down.

Study after study reveals that likability is the single most important factor used when determining who ultimately gets the job. Underestimating this is a failure of many candidates. Those that make a strong first impression will often do better in an interview than candidates with better experience.

Join our Job Search Networking Linkedin Group. There are over 2700 members and an extensive supply of resources for you to tap into. CLICK HERE to join. Membership is FREE.

We have numerous free downloads on our Web site to help you in your search. Sample cover letters, audio downloads from past radio shows,a transferable skills list, Linkedin Profile Assessment Matrix, and our Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. All can be downloaded from our homepage at www.impacthiringsolutions.com.

Every Monday at 11 AM Pacific time listen to our radio show anywhere in the world on www.latalkradio.com channel 2.

I welcome your comments and thoughts

Brad Remillard