Interview Checklist – Are You Really Ready to “Wow” Me?
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Just a few days ago I had dinner with a long-time friend who is the Marketing Director for a large non-profit organization. When I asked regarding what was the most frustrating part of her job, she immediately replied, “hiring new people”. She went on to relate how 400 resumes were received within two hours of posting an opening for a Marketing Assistant. When I asked how many of the 400 resumes she felt were good enough to warrant a call for an interview, my friend responded, “less than 10…and a few of those are borderline”. This is today’s reality for hiring managers.
Regarding the most common reasons why she did not select a resume to be added to the “short list” of people to be called for interviews, I was told the following:
No results – Bullet points that read like a laundry list of duties and responsibilities rather than specific examples of accomplishments and “how” those results/outcomes were accomplished. You cannot just tell me that you can do something well – you must prove it by using specific examples demonstrating exceptional outcomes.
Lack of metrics to quantify stated accomplishments – Telling me that you “increased client satisfaction” packs no “punch” unless you quantify that claim with some sort of metric (percentage increase on client satisfaction survey scores, percentage growth in referrals from existing clients, dollar or percentage increase in repeat sales…etc.)
Poorly written and/or formatted – Resumes that contain grammatical or spelling errors, bullet points that are not clear and need to be “interpreted” (by the way, hiring managers have neither the time nor the patience to figure out what you are trying to tell them in your resume), formatting that makes it hard on the eyes to read (font size and style, too many lines used as separators, margins that are too small or too big, etc). I would strongly suggest not using acronyms that only you and your former co-workers understand/recognize – remember, you are trying to engage & “wow” the hiring manager, not confuse them.
Word file saved in the wrong format – The vast majority of businesses who use Microsoft Office software still use MS Office 2003 – not 2007 or 2010. The 2007 & 2010 versions' default is to save Word files in “.docx” format, that cannot be opened with MS Office 2003, which uses “.doc” (unless the hiring manager/HR recruiter has downloaded and installed a file converter tool from Microsoft). Use the "Save As" function to save the Word file in ".doc". If a hiring manager cannot easily open your uploaded or attached file…they just move on to the next resume submission and yours is deleted – they have no interest in searching for, downloading and installing the conversion tool from the Microsoft website. Make it easy for me to open the file containing your resume. You can also send it in “.PDF” format, as pretty much everyone has Adobe Acrobat Reader on their PC’s.
Resume not customized for the position being sought – the more generic your resume sounds, the less skilled you appear. You are trying to convince me that you are “the one” to fill my open position. Remember - the hiring manager’s objective is to find “the best person available”…someone who is going to make them look great to their boss. If a hiring manager sees a resume customized for their open position, you’ve already made a positive impression by demonstrating that you understand the need to focus on the skills and requirements as noted in the job description. The frustrating reality is that only a very small percentage of submitted resumes are what would be considered customized (based upon my own experience and my discussions w/dozens of hiring managers and professional recruiters) – which means those written in that manner have an excellent chance to be added to the list of calls to be made to schedule interviews.
Incomplete work history – This one might be the most frustrating for job seekers. A number of folks have told me that they have been strongly encouraged to only include work experience from the last 15 years on their resumes, nothing beyond that. Although I recognize that there are definitely two different “camps” on this issue (i.e., include no more than the last 15 years vs. show everything), I am a strong proponent of the “show everything” side. And, I have yet to find a professional recruiter or hiring manager who has told me that they wanted candidates to show only a partial work history. Most of these people have told me that, if they find out a candidate who (from the resume’s work history) appears to be in their mid-30’s – is really in their late 40’s or 50’s, they begin to wonder “what else is this person hiding from me/not telling me?”. As mentioned in my posting from last month, “Tips for the More Experienced Job Seeker”, better to be honest up front and find out that a company/hiring manager might discriminate on age – than to wind up working for such an employer.
The good news is that all of these problems/issues are correctable…and easily so. Yes, there is a greater investment of your time required to develop that “killer” resume, but – aren’t you trying to convince me that you are that one out of 400 other candidates that I should hire? How impressed would YOU be, if you were the person hiring this Marketing Assistant, and found documents that were vague, poorly written, formatted in such a way to appear “pretty” – but contained little to no real content and contained a lot of bullet points about what candidates “did’ rather than what they actually accomplished and “how” they did so…?
As you write your resume, put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager who wrote the position description for the job you are seeking (pretend that your job depends upon the success of this particular hire). Are you (the hiring manager) - going to be “wowed” enough to move you (the candidate) to the next step and schedule an interview? Until you are, don’t submit the resume – because it will most likely wind up in the pile that will receive a “thanks, but no thanks” letter.
Create a “wow” perception that will become the hiring manager’s reality.
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What Might be Keeping You from Receiving the Interview Phone Call
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Just a few days ago I had dinner with a long-time friend who is the Marketing Director for a large non-profit organization. When I asked regarding what was the most frustrating part of her job, she immediately replied, “hiring new people”. She went on to relate how 400 resumes were received within two hours of posting an opening for a Marketing Assistant. When I asked how many of the 400 resumes she felt were good enough to warrant a call for an interview, my friend responded, “less than 10…and a few of those are borderline”. This is today’s reality for hiring managers.
Regarding the most common reasons why she did not select a resume to be added to the “short list” of people to be called for interviews, I was told the following:
No results – Bullet points that read like a laundry list of duties and responsibilities rather than specific examples of accomplishments and “how” those results/outcomes were accomplished. You cannot just tell me that you can do something well – you must prove it by using specific examples demonstrating exceptional outcomes.
Lack of metrics to quantify stated accomplishments – Telling me that you “increased client satisfaction” packs no “punch” unless you quantify that claim with some sort of metric (percentage increase on client satisfaction survey scores, percentage growth in referrals from existing clients, dollar or percentage increase in repeat sales…etc.)
Poorly written and/or formatted – Resumes that contain grammatical or spelling errors, bullet points that are not clear and need to be “interpreted” (by the way, hiring managers have neither the time nor the patience to figure out what you are trying to tell them in your resume), formatting that makes it hard on the eyes to read (font size and style, too many lines used as separators, margins that are too small or too big, etc). I would strongly suggest not using acronyms that only you and your former co-workers understand/recognize – remember, you are trying to engage & “wow” the hiring manager, not confuse them.
Word file saved in the wrong format – The vast majority of businesses who use Microsoft Office software still use MS Office 2003 – not 2007 or 2010. The 2007 & 2010 versions' default is to save Word files in “.docx” format, that cannot be opened with MS Office 2003, which uses “.doc” (unless the hiring manager/HR recruiter has downloaded and installed a file converter tool from Microsoft). Use the "Save As" function to save the Word file in ".doc". If a hiring manager cannot easily open your uploaded or attached file…they just move on to the next resume submission and yours is deleted – they have no interest in searching for, downloading and installing the conversion tool from the Microsoft website. Make it easy for me to open the file containing your resume. You can also send it in “.PDF” format, as pretty much everyone has Adobe Acrobat Reader on their PC’s.
Resume not customized for the position being sought – the more generic your resume sounds, the less skilled you appear. You are trying to convince me that you are “the one” to fill my open position. Remember - the hiring manager’s objective is to find “the best person available”…someone who is going to make them look great to their boss. If a hiring manager sees a resume customized for their open position, you’ve already made a positive impression by demonstrating that you understand the need to focus on the skills and requirements as noted in the job description. The frustrating reality is that only a very small percentage of submitted resumes are what would be considered customized (based upon my own experience and my discussions w/dozens of hiring managers and professional recruiters) – which means those written in that manner have an excellent chance to be added to the list of calls to be made to schedule interviews.
Incomplete work history – This one might be the most frustrating for job seekers. A number of folks have told me that they have been strongly encouraged to only include work experience from the last 15 years on their resumes, nothing beyond that. Although I recognize that there are definitely two different “camps” on this issue (i.e., include no more than the last 15 years vs. show everything), I am a strong proponent of the “show everything” side. And, I have yet to find a professional recruiter or hiring manager who has told me that they wanted candidates to show only a partial work history. Most of these people have told me that, if they find out a candidate who (from the resume’s work history) appears to be in their mid-30’s – is really in their late 40’s or 50’s, they begin to wonder “what else is this person hiding from me/not telling me?”. As mentioned in my posting from last month, “Tips for the More Experienced Job Seeker”, better to be honest up front and find out that a company/hiring manager might discriminate on age – than to wind up working for such an employer.
The good news is that all of these problems/issues are correctable…and easily so. Yes, there is a greater investment of your time required to develop that “killer” resume, but – aren’t you trying to convince me that you are that one out of 400 other candidates that I should hire? How impressed would YOU be, if you were the person hiring this Marketing Assistant, and found documents that were vague, poorly written, formatted in such a way to appear “pretty” – but contained little to no real content and contained a lot of bullet points about what candidates “did’ rather than what they actually accomplished and “how” they did so…?
As you write your resume, put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager who wrote the position description for the job you are seeking (pretend that your job depends upon the success of this particular hire). Are you (the hiring manager) - going to be “wowed” enough to move you (the candidate) to the next step and schedule an interview? Until you are, don’t submit the resume – because it will most likely wind up in the pile that will receive a “thanks, but no thanks” letter.
Create a “wow” perception that will become the hiring manager’s reality.
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Tips for the “More Experienced” Job Seeker
Friday, November 12, 2010
Perception is everything, as the saying goes, and that applies to many things – including job seeking. Let’s talk about how to use your age, if you are 45+ years old, to your advantage when seeking employment.
Many of the people with whom I’ve done transition coaching have fallen into the trap of feeling that being “older” was something of a curse when it came to seeking employment.
Not so! And here are some tips/strategies for you to consider using to get past the fact that you
are older:
Don’t apologize for your age, just present specific accomplishments rather than how long you have been working. The adage of “you’re not older, you are just wiser” is the key. You are not
“old”, you are experienced!
Talk results, not years of service by discussing how you successfully handled the multitude of challenges thrown your way and how that ultimately benefited current or former employers (i.e., what impact did you have on their bottom line – More sales? Reduced expenses? Improved operational efficiencies?). Remember, hiring managers are judged by the results related to the people they bring into the organization - thus, they are seeking someone with a solid history of strong accomplishments.
Keep your eye on the ball by focusing on the opportunity at hand. Don’t feel compelled to ramble on about ALL of the different experiences you’ve had (what you did for an employer in 1988 is of little interest. Hiring managers are only concerned with what you have actually accomplished in the last five to ten years, and only about those skills that directly relate to the open position). Unless you are applying for a position that requires you to wear a dozen different hats, stick to what you are best at doing – that which differentiates you from the competition.
Act like you have “been there before” by talking with the hiring manager in terms of your being able to make an immediate impact upon their group/division/company’s bottom line. The key is to demonstrate that you have a solid history of consistently exceeding expectations as a result of your thorough knowledge of the job/industry and the ability to successfully apply that knowledge.
Show that you have a global view of the industry and an understanding of how the position being sought interacts with others within the company. Prove to the hiring manager that a candidate with only a few years of actual work experience would not have as deep an understanding of the industry as do you. Such global thinking is critical to making good judgments/decisions. Again, remember that the hiring manager wishes to bring someone on board that will ultimately make them look good to their boss!
As they say, “it’s all in the presentation.” Tell your story with a resume focused on accomplishments that reflect a solid history of strong performance. Then seal the deal by using the interview to provide, with passion and confidence, specific examples of your ability to make a significant impact with the company.
If you don’t concentrate on your age…neither will the hiring manager.
Here are a couple questions for you…If you knew/could tell that the hiring manager/company DID discriminate based upon age, would you really want to work there? Don’t you really want to be working for an employer that values your talents, abilities and skills, regardless of your age?
A couple of days ago I turned 56 years young. “Fifty-six and fabulous”, I keep telling my children. I don’t apologize for my age, I’m proud of it.
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Tips for Networking Effectively – It’s Easier Than You Think
Monday, November 1, 2010
Although the general consensus is that most jobs are found via networking, very few job seekers actually understand (or are comfortable executing) what it takes to do this effectively.
When I ask of those with whom I do job search coaching, “How many people are in your network and how often are you speaking or communicating with them”, they admit that little to no time has been spent working their network. A significant percentage even claim they have no networking contacts, which is most often incorrect.
Bottom line for making networking work is to help those in your network help you. That’s basically it…really.
Here are some time-proven tips that any job seeker can use to vastly improve their chances of finding good opportunities and landing an interview:
Networking is Communication – with family members, friends, neighbors, business associates, clients, club members and yes, even all of those baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey or swim parents. You don’t need to create a network the day after you are laid off, because you already have one! Start with your existing network and grow it from there.
Don’t Start Your Conversation – with someone new to your network or someone with whom you have not spoken to in a while with “I just got laid off and need to find a job”. This is the equivalent of one person telling another, “My girlfriend/boyfriend broke up with me and I am looking for a wife/husband.” What would your reaction be if someone said that to you!
First get acquainted/re-acquainted and then, when the conversation turns to you and, “What do you do/what are you doing now?” tell them your story.
Tell Your Story Effectively – by providing everyone in your network with the following information: What do you love to do, What type of position are you seeking, For which of the companies that offer such positions do you want to work (email your network contacts with a list of your top 10 or 20 target employers and update this list as necessary). With this knowledge, those in your network can do a much more effective job of assisting you. This is the “help me help you” concept.
Stay in Touch, Follow Up – with phone calls, in-person meetings, emails, social networking (e.g., LinkedIn and Facebook). After you have made the initial contact to advise everyone in your network of your current status, follow up with them at least once every three to four weeks. Provide an update. Don’t ever assume that everyone in your network is up-to-date regarding your job search activities. Let them know with whom you have interviewed and your impressions of those interviews. Keep a log (an Excel spreadsheet is great for this) of the contacts made with the people in your network.
Use Social Networking Tools – such as LinkedIn and Facebook to create an online network that has access to your profile (LinkedIn’s format is far more conducive to this than is Facebook). You can also use LinkedIn to help you research who works where and who in your network might know the key personnel. For example, while typing up this posting, I stopped to go onto LinkedIn and did an Advanced People Search. I entered in the name of the first company that came to mind and found over 1,000 employees of this organization (a large manufacturer in northeast, OH) who had LinkedIn profiles. The second person in the listing just happened to be the corporate HR manager. I quickly found that one of the folks in my network was directly connected to this person. So, if I wanted to, I could contact that person in my network and ask them to introduce me to the corporate HR manager of this large manufacturer (or pass along to him my resume). That took me about 2 ½ minutes.
Give to Get – by volunteering. This could be volunteering to do anything from being a little league coach (each team consists of about 12 players and that is at least 12 parents coming to the games, along with maybe grandpa and grandma, uncles, aunts, etc.) to being on the board for a local non-profit agency/organization. Not only do you get a great feeling by helping others through volunteering, but you are exposed to a whole lot of folks who just might know the president or HR manager of one of the companies on your target list of employers.
Networking is like customer service. With so few people really doing it well, it is not that difficult to stand out from the crowd.
During a presentation to a group of business owners regarding differentiating themselves, professional sales trainer, coach and author, Marvin Montgomery suggested, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it”. A simple, but powerful statement. Lots of people on shore in sight of the boat – difficult for the captain to make out one from the other…except for those making their way to the ship.
With the large amount of candidates for virtually every job opening, you will need the power and resources of your network if you want to significantly improve the chances of having your resume find its way into the hands of a hiring manager, who may have a stack of 300 - 500 resumes to sift through on his or her desk.
While proofreading this posting, I received an email message from one of my business contacts. He sent me a resume for a person he knows who is seeking a job as a tool and die maker. My contact asked if I could pass along this person’s resume to the people I know who own manufacturing companies in northeast Ohio.
Networking does work!
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Telling Your Story Effectively During an Interview
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
A powerful resume is only the first step to getting your foot in the door. Okay, you got noticed and now you are scheduled for an interview. We all know the saying, “you only have one chance to make a great first impression”. So, what do you do to “nail” the interview?
Let’s face it; most hiring managers are going to take the opportunity to fill a new or open position with the person whose skill set, image and presentation are the closest to the criteria established for their ideal candidate.
How do you convince your interviewer that you are “the one”…that person?
You do so by structuring your answers to their questions to focus on what you have accomplished and how
you did so…NOT by providing a laundry list of job responsibilities while at previous employers.
Because of its proven effectiveness, most companies today use behavioral interviewing, which focuses on the premise that the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in similar situations. One of the most effective methods for navigating through such an interview is to use the STAR method (Situation or Task, Action and Results).
- Situation or Task – Provide an example of a specific situation/task in which you were involved that resulted in a positive outcome
- Action – Discuss specific actions that you took related to achieving the desired outcome
- Results – Provide the measurable results related to the direct outcome of your actions
For example, let’s say you are asked the following question by the interviewer:
“Give me a specific example which clearly demonstrates how you are able to work effectively with a wide variety of individuals.”
A non-STAR answer – “I think it’s a good idea to know how to deal with different personalities, and I can do that. I have been a team leader in the past and completed many big projects successfully.”
Congratulations, you’ve just told me nothing about how you are going to be able to apply your skills to the challenges of the position you are seeking and produce exceptional results at my company. I have no perspective on the actual scope of any of your “big” projects and telling me that they were successfully completed means very little without specific metrics to back up your claim. And, I have no clue as to your ability to consistently “bring it” to my team if I hire you.
I have done many hundreds of interviews during my career with most candidates’ answers sounding like the one above. I did not hire any of those people.
Answer using the STAR method – “(Situation / Task) I was asked by the company president to lead a project team consisting of representatives from different groups within our organization, to design and launch, within six months, a new widget that could help expand our current product offerings. (Actions) Selecting a very diverse group of employees, I put together a team consisting of twelve individuals representing the Design, Fabrication, Marketing, Sales, Operations and Customer Service departments. I established an environment that promoted creativity and effective collaboration among individuals, allowing my team to realize a powerful synergy from the combination of their unique talents. (Results) The new Power Widget was launched five months later and within the following year it was responsible for a 20% increase in our overall widget sales and a 5% increase in total market share. For this effort I was recognized by the president with the company’s ‘Outstanding Team Leadership’ award and promoted to vice president.”
A candidate who delivers an answer like this is going to get my attention…especially when they deliver it using good eye contact, body language that exudes self-confidence and the right degree of passion that makes it all very believable.
Interviewing is a lot like dating. Think about it…what is the real purpose of the first interview (date)? The objective is to get a second interview (date). Not unlike two people using an online dating service, the interviewer and interviewee can use the Internet to do quite a bit of research about each other – including a look at photographs, prior to actually meeting. During the initial discussion there is normally a mixture of general “get to know you a little better” questions and tougher “are you really who you say you are”, more detailed inquiries. This first meeting is used to determine if what was written about each other (LinkedIn, Facebook or Match.com) seems legitimate. Ultimately, both parties are trying to determine if the person with whom they are speaking is “their type”. A very important part of this process is figuring out if the other person will “get along with my group of friends”/future co-workers.
Interviewers love asking the “give me an example of a time when” type questions – the STAR method will help you to focus on demonstrating how your past performance indicates that you are “the one”…the ideal candidate which they are seeking.
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Give Yourself an Edge – Build a Job Search Project Team
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
For most of us who have been laid off at some point in our careers, the full-time job of finding a new job can seem pretty daunting. There we are “all of a sudden”, by ourselves, sitting at home challenged with the task of figuring out how to convince some hiring manager that they should make us an offer.
One of the biggest mistakes made at this critical juncture in the job search process is that the person in transition feels that they need to accomplish this by themselves. Not true! There are a host of valuable resources available to job seekers that they often fail to use.
Think of your job search as just another special project to complete (you know, “other duties as required”). Since no one person does everything for their employer, each winds up playing a role in the overall scheme of the company’s ability to successfully do business. The job search process should be considered no differently than a project worked on while employed. Such projects normally (officially or unofficially) involve a team of people with different talents who combine their respective skills & resources to achieve the desired objective.
How can you apply that same concept to your job search? Contact former co-workers, clients, vendors, family and friends and let them know that the best way to help would be to allow you to tap into their expertise/skill sets to assist with the following phases of your job search project:
Marketing
- Formatting, editing and overall professional look for your resume
- Social networking setup, content & usage (LinkedIn, blogging, etc.)
- Business cards that look professional & serve a purpose
- Development of a one page Executive Profile for networking purposes
- Arrangement with a professional photographer to take a high resolution digital portrait
- Brainstorming regarding written communication and personal branding strategies
Coach/Mentor
- Helps you determine, “what you want to do” going forward
- Keeps you on track during the job search
- Provides “voice of reason”
- Provides honest, candid feedback (doesn’t answer questions with, “Awesome, dude”)
Relationship Manager
- Assists with development of target list of potential employers
- Schools you on how to network & build relationships effectively
- Facilitates some introductions & creates or finds solid networking opportunities
- Gets you comfortable using the consultative approach for your interview discussion
- Works with Marketing to develop a strong positioning statement for use when networking
- Helps you develop effective follow up strategies for networking and interviewing
Research/IT
- Keeps you from being your own worst enemy regarding technology
- Provides guidance regarding use of technology to facilitate effective research (company information/online forums, LinkedIn advanced searches, development of professional & effective email e-signatures, information regarding interviewer/hiring manager, etc.)
- Works in conjunction with the Coach and Relationship Manager to convince you that staring at a PC screen for hours every day is not an effective job search strategy
Training
- Presentation skills (using and reading body language, inflection of voice, incorporation of the consultative approach to selling yourself as “the ideal candidate”)
- Interviewing practice (everything from a great handshake to excellent delivery of your message)
You may feel that, “I don’t need anyone to help me with putting a resume together, using LinkedIn or preparing for an interview”. Well, maybe not. But, if you are not in that one or two percent of all job seekers that can really do all of these tasks very well by themselves, then you will most likely find that building such a support team elevates your “game” from getting just a few responses to being called for interviews and receiving offers.
If your boss had assigned you a special project, the successful completion of which was synonymous with your continued employment, would you “go it alone” or put together a team of highly skilled people to help in the effort?
Here is another plus to building a job search support team – If, during the interview, the hiring manager hears about the process you led/coordinated/managed to “bring in the talent necessary to get the interview and close the deal”, what does that say about you? How many of the other candidates do you think have done the same thing? What a great way to demonstrate to a hiring manager that you have “stayed in the game” even though you are in transition.
Trust me - that can be a “wow” for the hiring manager, which is used as part of the process to determine the candidate selected from among the finalists for a position.
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What Can You do for Me - The Harsh Reality of Hiring Decisions
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Right now there are 32 NFL training camps in session across the country and they all have something in common. Head coaches and General Managers will soon begin cutting players to bring their team rosters to the league mandated maximums. Who stays and who goes is based mostly upon one thing – management’s perception regarding, “Will this player help our team win games?”
Coaches use the training camps and pre-season games to determine which players put their team in the best position to win. Frankly, there is little difference – conceptually – between this process and that which is used by most hiring managers.
If you believe that hiring decisions are made based mainly upon what is reflected in your cover letter and resume – you are mistaken. Hiring managers are ultimately concerned about themselves. Much of what a leader is judged upon has to do with the people they bring into the organization and how effectively they are able to develop that talent. Bottom line – will that “player” help the “team” win.
You’ve all heard that good leaders seem to have a knack for surrounding themselves with people better/smarter than they are. Thus, when a position becomes open or is created, a hiring manager looks to fill it with the “best player available”.
In the world of job searching the real question then becomes, “Can I present myself as the best candidate for this position?”
Here are some ideas to consider as you put together your strategy to become the “best player available”:
-
Find some way to clearly differentiate yourself early in the process.
Most often this will come as the result of the candidate doing a lot of research about the targeted employer and incorporating the results into their cover letter, resume and interview answers along with coming up with something unique. For example, a candidate for a district leadership position within a large banking company visited all of the branch locations over which he would have control. For his visits, he posed as a small business person seeking to open new accounts. Using the results of his visitations, he put together a report that described his methodology, recapped his experiences, identified weaknesses/opportunities for improvement and included a detailed six-month action plan for resolving the identified problem areas. He presented the report at his first interview and was told that no one they had ever interviewed for any position had ever done something of that nature. He had an offer three days later.
-
Demonstrate how you will be able to apply your talents, skills, expertise and experience to help the company grow, become more profitable, increase its operational efficiencies or resolve outstanding issues.
During a recent presentation at a local job seekers group, one of the members made a comment to me that exemplified this concept. He stated his approach is always to demonstrate to hiring managers that he “is the aspirin for their headache”.
-
Ensure that the content of your cover letter, resume and interview answers delivers a consistent message
commensurate with a value proposition that clearly conveys how hiring you will benefit the prospective employer.
-
Fully commit to the effort.
In the current buyer’s (job) market, hiring managers have taken “being selective” to a whole new level. Not only do they now normally receive hundreds of resumes per open position, but many of the candidates have experience levels that may far exceed the manager's expectations. Understand that not every candidate is a good candidate for each position…and, that might include
you
-
Get over it…!
Don’t waste your time on opportunities that are not realistic for you. Focus your time, your energies and your “A” game on the positions for which you can be the best player available.
If you have some time in the next few days…tune in to one of the local sports talk shows on the radio. Listen to how the hosts and their guest analysts break down different NFL players’ talents, skills and performance and the chances of their making it onto the final roster. You’ll find, especially if you have been a hiring manager in the past, these conversations are not dissimilar from discussions that take place every day within the walls of “corporate America” when deciding which candidates to hire.
That said, don’t allow the reality of how hiring decisions are made to take away from the momentum of your job search…to the contrary – use this knowledge as motivation to make yourself the most desirable candidate for your dream job!
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Customizing Your Resume & Opening the Door for an Interview
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
One of the most common frustrations I hear about when speaking to job seekers groups is the lack of response to submitted resumes. I remember one individual telling me that he submitted “a hundred resumes online for different postings”. When asked by me if he had uploaded the same resume for each of the 100 positions, his answer was a definitive, “yes”. I then told him that he had answered his own question regarding why no one had responded to those online submissions.
Unless you take the time to customize your resume for each desired position, the chance of being noticed in a stack (or e-mail Inbox) of possibly hundreds of submissions is likely to be pretty dismal.
It is relatively simple to customize your resume for each job – the tough part is getting yourself to invest the time necessary to do it right.
Here are some quick tips that should help you make your resume a lot more noticeable amongst the competition and open the door for an interview invitation:
- Start by “dissecting” the description for the desired opportunity. You are looking for the skills and experience mentioned throughout the position description (e.g. time management, attention to detail, ability to build relationships,…etc.). The more often those items are repeated, the more important they are to the hiring manager (who probably wrote or had input for the description).
- List the skills determined in step #1 and then determine for how many of them you can provide a good example of your proficiency.
- Spend some “quality time” on the Internet and do as much research as you possibly can about the organization to whom you are applying. Company websites are the natural place to begin this process. You should also “Google” employee forums, stock analyst reports, press releases or general news items about the prospective employer.
- Using the S.T.A.R. (Situation or Task, Action and Results) method, develop the bullet points for your resume that demonstrate how you applied each of the requested skills within previous positions to produce exceptional results.
- Incorporate into your bullet points some of the “intel” you gathered from the research performed in step # 3. For example, if you learned that ABC Company is very proud of its development of a work environment/culture that enables employees to be entrepreneurial, then your resume content needs to demonstrate how you have flourished in such an environment and/or how you have enabled former co-workers/subordinates to do likewise.
The real trick is to position this information in such a way as to grab the attention of the resume screener or hiring manager as quickly as possible. Think of when you go to purchase a new book. For those potential book buyers who do not have a specific title or author in mind before they enter the store, most will read the book jacket and use that “teaser” to determine if they are interested enough to continue reading and consider the purchase. If they are not, the book is promptly closed and returned to the shelf. Trust me; pretty much the same methodology is used when a hiring manager pulls a resume from the “rack”.
The resume’s “Career Summary” provides an opportunity to make a great first impression with the reader. I strongly suggest following the “Career Summary” with six to nine, one to two word bullets that list your areas of expertise (which just so happen to match up very well with the skills as listed in the respective position description).
Now that you have “told me” what you supposedly are capable of doing, it is time to prove it. This is the job of your accomplishment/key achievements bullet points. Writing these bullet points, using the S.T.A.R. format, allows you to tell a convincing story about what you have accomplished in the past (and “how” you did so) and does much to create some excitement for the hiring manager about what you will be able to accomplish - if brought into their organization.
The reality is that a hiring manager might dedicate 30 – 45 seconds to your resume, unless they feel you “seem to have the skills/expertise I’m looking for”.
Is your resume going to prompt a hiring manager to consider “buying the book”?
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Starting Your Job Search at Square One
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Over the last month, I have had conversations with a number of job seekers – ranging in age from the mid-20’s to mid 50’s – who asked me basically the same question, “Where do I go from here”.
Most of the individuals were in transition, with two in positions that they did not like and from which they were planning an exit strategy to some “greener grass”. To a person, these folks were having difficulty deciding just what they wanted to do in their next job/career.
I asked each of them to go through the following simple exercise to help determine a possible career direction:
- Create a list of “What you love to do/are passionate about doing” and “What you would rather not do”. Come back the next day and add to your list…Doing this over the course of three days should provide you with more than enough information about yourself to go to the next step.
- Determine which positions/job types would allow you to do as much of what you love and as little of what you don’t love as possible (if you struggle with this, use online job boards to research various position descriptions to learn about their respective "required duties & responsibilities"). Go through this list and cross out the job titles in which you definitely have no interest pursuing.
- Using online job boards, type in the job/position names as the keywords in a search and see which companies offer them. From this "database", create a list of desired employers that you wish to target.
- Share this information with your network. Find out which of these people may have direct or indirect connections with your targeted employers. You can also do an Advanced Search on LinkedIn and find employees in a particular company who have profiles. You might be surprised in regard to just how many of those employees are a second or third level connection to you.
At this point, you know What you love to do, Which jobs will allow you to do the things you love, Which companies offer those types of jobs and Who in your network knows someone at those organizations.
Now it is time to develop the cover letter and “killer resume” that stands out from the hundreds of others that may be sitting on the hiring manager’s desk. You cannot, I believe, develop a strong resume or network effectively without first starting at “square one”.
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Standing Apart from the Crowd
Friday, July 16, 2010
Differentiating yourself from the other candidates for your “dream job” has a lot to do with communicating to the HR recruiter, resume screener, interviewer(s) and hiring manager “how” you applied your skills, talents and experience to produce exceptional results.
That’s right… exceptional results . Hiring managers are mostly concerned with how well you would perform on their team, in their department or group. Will you be “the one”… the hire who will evoke a “Wow, bringing in that new person was a terrific decision!” from the hiring manager’s peers and boss?
Hiring managers rely heavily on your ability to prove to them that you actually performed in the past as well as you claim you have…and this is where you have the opportunity to stand above the crowd - by focusing on specific examples of your accomplishments (What you did, How you did it and the Outcome or Results of your actions). Your prospective new boss does not care to read or listen to generic information about you that sounds more like a position description than a validation of your outstanding performance with previous employers.
Remember…as the hiring manager, I (normally) have only ONE position to fill…and most likely hundreds of resumes from which to select my “ideal candidate”.
Before you send me your resume, take an honest look at it and ask yourself, “Would I interview this person?” If so, “why”? If not, “why not”? If you have interviewed and hired people in the past, put on the “hiring manager hat” again and become your own toughest critic.
Here are a couple of key criteria that hiring managers look for during the resume review and interviewing process:
- Is the resume customized to focus on the skills/abilities/talents that I (the hiring manager) included in the position description as “required/desired/preferred”?
- Does the candidate come across as believable? Credibility is earned as a result of using examples of very specific situations that demonstrate the candidate’s ability to apply their skills to produce strong results. During the interview, good eye contact, body language and message delivery are key components of demonstrating self-confidence and thus, credibility. Don’t look up at the ceiling when answering questions…trust me, the answers to the interviewer’s questions are not up there! It is OK (and preferred) for a candidate to show some passion during an interview. There is a terrific synergy that is created when you blend the logical part of your answer, which is “in your head”, with the passion for what you love to do – which is in your heart.
- What does the candidate really know about my company? Researching a company is easy...company websites normally contain a good amount of information regarding the history, culture and vision of the organization along with recent news articles about them (press releases, links to articles from various media outlets or YouTube video messages/flash video clips). You can also Google for news about the company, employee forums, and reports from stock analysts…etc. Incorporating such information into your cover letter and responses to the interviewer’s questions does much to help differentiate you within the candidate pool. Hiring managers very much appreciate a candidate who has “done their homework”.
The bad news is that the vast majority of job seekers do very little of what has been discussed here. This bad news is actually good news for individuals who are willing to invest the time and effort necessary to provide themselves with the tools needed to stand out from the other candidates. Seize the opportunity to prove that you are “the one”.
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Are You "In the Business of YOU"?
Friday, July 2, 2010
As a hiring manager for over 30 years in both large and small companies, I have interviewed hundreds of candidates and reviewed many thousands of resumes.<
One of the most important things to keep in mind in any job search is that YOU, the job seeker – whether you are in transition, looking for that first job or employed and seeking the “greener grass” – are the CEO of your job search. YOU are the product being sold to the prospective employer and YOU are accountable for all actions taken (or not taken).
Over the last couple of years I have presented a program called, “Using Tools & Resources to Tell Your Story Effectively and Stand Apart from the Competition” to a number of Job Seekers groups in Northeast Ohio. I have also provided one-on-one consultations to nearly 300 people regarding their job search strategies.
This “In the Business of You” blog is a way to stay in touch with the growing number of people in my job seekers network and a place to post the latest and most relevant job search techniques. It will cover topics that include everything from building a job search team, resume construction, networking, and interviewing to negotiating terms of an offer.
I was laid off almost ten years ago after working twenty-five years for the same employer (sound familiar..?). I quickly learned that being the CEO of your job search does not mean you are in this alone. Just like any CEO, you seek out the resources that can help you most effectively accomplish your goals. I hope you will find this blog to be such a resource in your job search.
I welcome and highly encourage feedback and look forward to your questions and opinions.
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