“optimistic (people) are more likely to create their own luck”

This was a great quote I read in a #BNET article yesterday, and yes it had me up all night thinking, “What if all job seekers behaved this way?” Now before you take major offense, stop and think about your attitude and approach to finding a new job. You don’t have to be a displaced worker. No, all job seekers from Executive level to college grads fall into my post. Most people I connect with, literally dozens on a daily basis, for the most part don’t allow for much work, optimism and even fun in their job search. Many people tend to put in little effort and have an unrealistic expectation that “HR” or a “Headhunter” will just pick their resume out of a sea of paper/emails/HRIS profiles and, wah-lah I am hired.

The problem with this false expectation is that people don’t realize just how many OTHER people are looking for a new job or looking to change jobs, so any great employment brand or true recruiting professional is inundated with 100’s (if not thousands) of applicants each day. To that end, those who are bitter or show less than pleasant attitudes, lazy in their application or follow-up, or allow their inner emotions to control their outer attitude to the people coordinating the effort on their behalf, well you get to see the delete key.

Yes I said it; selection is at an all time high!

So how do you navigate this challenge? First start by preparing mentally, that finding a job is real work. You have to develop and execute a strategy; the right tools, a plan for using those tools, network, network, network and follow-up to show you are different from the 300 others who sent a mass LinkedIn message or email (see my previous post on “Don’t Send Your Resume to 50 Recruiters at a Time!”).

As you work through this challenge, be overly optimistic, positive and even contagious with those whom you interact. The receptionist where you dropped off your resume or met as you went in to interview, the recruiter who you have talked with three times about the job (if they are any good), peers that you network with and all the new people you meet while you are on this journey. Put in your mind each morning that you will show a smile and have a great attitude and follow-up, even if not selected for the job. Heck, many times the first person who is selected does not take the offer…are you number two in line?

Also prepare yourself each day on the amount of time and energy you will invest on your job search. I highly caution you not to make it sporadic or from the hip. Calendar out the times each day you will look at your job search agents, alerts, job boards, the people you are following on LinkedIn or the Ladders. See what is new and relevant to your background, move on from those opportunities that are not! Have a well developed and written resume, one which you can tweak to the job you are applying for and speaks to you being a fit for this need.

OK, enough of my rant for the day. After all, I may just get you on the line 3 times as we work through your next career opportunity! But as we do, expect for me to put some work back on your plate to ensure we are making the right match. For as my grandmother would say if I took too long of a break from chopping wood in Alaska, “It’s not going to get done by itself honeyboy, you have to get off your toosh and put some effort into it.”

Good luck in your job search, but take the time to do it right!

Chris

For questions or help on this and many other ideas on how to make your career search more effective contact the staff at The Wellington Group @ info@twgrecruiters.com  or visit The Career Store.

OK job seekers…this one is for you! Here is a quick tip to help you stop some bad habits we are seeing in the World of Work or avoid them and put yourself ahead of the competition when it comes to applying to a job either with a professional recruiter, staffing company and even the Human Resources department.

Here is the scenario…

Jane sets out this weekend to apply to all the jobs that she has been finding on-line or through some sort of job alert strategy she has in place. She amasses all the individual email addresses and even the “apply to” or “hr@” and attaches her resume, ready to send. Jane hits send, with all 50+ contacts copied, CCed. See, she has put some very valuable time into perfecting her resume or has perhaps hired a professional to write her resume. So she is very proud of it and is sure that when all these people see Jane’s email, her week will be full of calls. Right?

Wrong! Here is the problem. While she did all the right actions to find a new job; set up alerts, targeted her niche and areas she wants to work, gathered contact email information or apply to email address, etc. She did not put in the extra effort to send an individual email to each contact or job opportunity. Instead, she mass emailed the entire group, hoping it would be seen.

Unfortunately when you do this, the recruiter seeing it hits delete as they feel you are just reaching out for anything OR that you applied to competing recruiters, the hiring company, etc. The ATS system, HRIS tool or even Outlook on the receiver’s end sees this as spam and tucks it away into a neat little folder or completely abandons the email message into the black hole of the internet. Jane’s resume is never really looked at by anyone, and she never does actually “apply to” a job for it won’t go through the system with this approach. Ouch right? Below are some tricks to avoid this from happening.

How should you send out your resume?

1. Send to one contact, recruiter or job opportunity at a time
2. Take the time to make sure your resume summary, bio or intro talks to the job and company you are applying
3. In your email, write a brief summary of why you for that job; skills, experience, education, etc. Bullet point out the critical areas is most ideal
4. Select the “read receipt” option before you send, at the least you know if someone did view your resume
5. Follow-up with a call within 24 hours to ensure your resume was able to be seen, many times it may get bumped out of the tool, dumped into spam, over-looked, or even deleted without review

Take the few extra minutes and put some thought and time into each resume you send out or job you apply to, put yourself ahead of the competing job seekers. After all, you have done this much work and a couple minutes more here and there to better your chances can’t hurt.

Good luck with your job search!

Chris

For questions or help on this and many other ideas on how to make your career search more effective contact the staff at The Wellington Group at info@twgrecruiters.com  or visit The Career Store.

What is the predominate first step in this day and age of interviewing with a potential new employer? The telephone! Call it whatever; Prep-call, Pre-interview, Phone-screen, Telephone-interview, Video-interview…etc. The simple fact is that it has become easy and cheap for companies to hold telephone interviews or even video (like Skype) interviews before bringing on-site or in-person the final round of people.

With that said how are your telephone interviewing skills? Are you preparing well, in a location of minimal distractions and ready to sell yourself? Below are a few quick tips to help you better prepare for that next telephone interview.

Telephone Interview Tips from The Recruiting Guy:

• Have a copy of your resume and the job description with you on the call or video call. In addition, have a note pad and a couple of pens ready as well for points of interest and questions during the call, and to capture any name(s) and contact information for follow-up thank you note(s).
• Thoroughly review the job description and any associated information you have about the job for which you are being considered. Write out any areas you have of strength, add in some specific examples in case you are asked to elaborate. For any areas you are not sure about or are “rusty” do your research or decided how you are going to respond (so it’s not off the cuff). Example, “I don’t know that particular piece of email software, BUT I would love the chance to put my computer skills to work and learn about it quickly.”
• Do your homework on the company. Check out their website, fan pages on social media, latest 10k reports or other financial reports, the management team close to the job (if not the person interviewing you) by reviewing their LinkedIn or ZoomInfo profiles. What do you have in common?
• Write out the questions you would like answered by the interviewer. REMEMBER, this is an initial interview in most cases so don’t control the time with your questions, be specific and brief.
•  Prepare for the right phone presence. Even though you are not in suit on the other side of the desk with this person, be mindful of your personality, tone, enthusiasm and articulation of both questions and answers.
•  Take or make the call in a place of minimal distractions and if possible on a land line and not a cell phone. You want to ensure all information is promptly communicated in a professional manor with no dropped calls or noisy background traffic.

In many cases the telephone interview is your first, and can be your last, introduction to a company. Use this time and opportunity to prepare well, and to put your best effort forward! This is the chance to “sell yourself” and the skills, knowledge and experience you bring to this job and the company.

Good luck with your next telephone interview!

Chris                                                                                                                

For questions or help on this and many other ideas on how to make your career search more effective contact the staff at The Wellington Group @ info@thewellington-group.com or visit The Career Store.

…ring, ring

Me:  This is Chris

Jeff:  Chris, this is Jeff Smith, man how are you?  I need your help!

Jeff Smith is calling and needs my help?  I immediately get into my normal excited state knowing that something great is coming.  Either he needs to hire a new team member or perhaps has a client that can utilize the support of my team for their hiring needs or recruitment training.

For years Jeff was consistently a top competitor when we worked together at the same company, relentlessly trying to outperform each other in a very positive but “A” player sort of way. Not just making the President’s list but getting the shiniest trophy and most time with the CEO and other Sr Managers.

Me:  Jeff how can I help you? What is going on with the greatest global sales manager I know?

Jeff:  Nothing good, I was just released (from Fortune 225 Company) last week…

Wow, not the call I expected from Jeff. How will they manage the millions in revenues he has brought in over the years?

…Pop, pop, pop CK is sending me instant messages.

Me:  Hey CK, what’s up, how hot is your desk right now?

CK:  Not so great, I need your help.

Me:  Can you give me 5 and I will call you, where are you in the US today?

CK:  At home, not sure I can talk right now.

Ok, if CK is IMing me and needs my help then we must get ready to put a new staff member on her team or she has a project she needs us to help recruit on which they have sold. After all, she is 300% above budget for the year and the last hire we made produced revenues in her second week! CK is the top GM for her niche and is great about not only hiring, training and managing her people but also the strongest operations manager I know.

Me:  Ok, must be swamped how can I help?

CK :  Need a job, and a few minutes tonight to help me walk through where I might have gone  wrong

Me: Job? Did you quit lol

CK:  No Sir, they cut my entire staff 30 minutes ago, including me and replaced us with a support team from home office

If you have not clued in yet, the two examples above are “A” players in their industries and have been released from their respected (well not by them any longer) companies. See, I am writing to bust a myth I keep hearing and reading about from various periodicals, organizations and “people in the know;” Talent Management, SHRM, NAPS, SalesDrivers, News Paper Writers and Editors, Employment Gurus, Trainers, and Business Coaches. The myth which seems to persist is that “A” players don’t or are not being cut nor impacted by the current economic conditions. WRONG!

Ridiculous I say, spend a week on my phone or in my email and I can show you hundreds of “A” Players who have been impacted over the last 20+ months now, and it continues. For definition, an “A” Player is someone at that top 3-10% level in any company, any skill set and in any industry. Some are only known internally in large-mega organizations while others are known internationally or industry wide. It has long been a myth, and more so true with the current economic conditions, these people just don’t get released, laid-off, downsized, or whatever your terminology is for them losing their job while still being at the top.

So why do the top 10% of any job category get impacted?
Too expensive – Top 10% performers generally receive compensation rates commensurate to the level of their performance. One way companies perceive they can impact the bottom line and make true reactionary decisions is to cut the most expensive people and replace them with technology, jr-level home office support or in some cases they do nothing with the expectation that it will not negatively impact the company’s revues or client retention.

Marginalized business – Many companies and some industries operate on such low margins that any blimp on the economic cycle creates major cash-flow and credit issues, so the top just have to go and more jr people or senior management get handed business or jobs the “A” players worked so hard to attain.

Poorly supported region or geography – Lack in upper management leadership or true “out of site out of mind” support for a region that may be profitable but not large enough or unknown to senior management is likely to get the axe.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) – As we have seen in all industries, the consolidation has created duplicate roles or left individuals and their projects totally unsupported or not needed as the new company has a different vision and/or resources.

Person was miss-hire to begin with – Some of these cases are truly a miss-hire and the company was overly ambitious or sometimes exceedingly lucky to gain the addition of an “A” player in their industry. The company has just not been able to keep pace with this individual and in many cases their production has lead to cash flow, product production or servicing issues for smaller companies

Why this blog piece? I thought it was important to highlight the reality behind the unemployment numbers as we continue to hover around >10% in the US. These 8 million or more impacted are not all the bottom performers of our workforce, nor just hourly, nor retail or manufacturing, nor in outdated industries. In fact, many were high-earners for their employers that for some reason or another their organization just could not “afford” to keep that individual onboard. So I caution, before over-looking the unemployed take a minute to truly study this individual’s background and track-record. After all, unemployed is not, and should not be a four letter word when hiring for top talent!

UPDATE: Jeff went on to take one of three offers, running the West coast Division of another fortune company. CK is managing a new company that has a unique service offering, adapted to the changed economy we now love.

Chris

To hire The Recruiting Guy as a speaker or trainer visit The Recruiting Guy or contact The Wellington Group @ info@thewellington-group.com.

Ok people, we were all given a “proper” name or at least one much longer or more formal than the one in which we go by, send out emails with and answer to when called. So why is this important in the World of Work? Just like in my previous post, “Is Your Resume Format Hurting Your Job Search,” there are some challenges with not knowing and following how modern technology(s) and recruiters work so you can take full advantage of these systems. More so, you don’t want the little items such as what I rant about below to be the cause for not getting the job! While I am sure my mother had good reason to give me such a grand name as Christopher Clyde Wellington (Wellington came from my adopted Alaskan family), if I don’t use this across the web, in my emails or even in answering the phone how would the recruiter or HR person looking for me, well know it is truly me?

The biggest challenge lies with modern HRIS or ATS systems (you know, that “system” many recruiters and all HR people say you need to apply to). The platform has advanced such in the past few years to more accurately capture or “parse” the information off your resume in a very automatic, non-human operation. The computer has evolved as has the software, but it still can’t call Christopher Clyde Wellington just Chris. No, now when the recruiter goes into the system to look for me, well I am just not there. Truth be told I am there just not as Chris. This is much more of a problem when people use their middle name, nickname, family name if not from the US, etc.

The same holds true for social media profiles and being found on the web. Today’s recruiter, even some in corporate recruiting jobs, use social media more and more for their primary recruitment tool, or to find you on the web. But it’s impossible to truly swim through the sea of Christopher’s if I am known only as Chris. Besides all the fun people will have in “reviewing” and sharing my given name (thanks mom), it does not help my personal branding efforts, a critical component in this modern era of high visibility.

So what happens in this situation? Again if you have been following my blog posts, trainings or web articles you will know recruitment has evolved to a lazy, speed game in my opinion. Instead of seeking out why Jonathan J Weeber is not in the “system” the recruiter or HR person will tend to move on to the next candidate they can find. So what if Jonathan goes by Luke with no Middle Initial* on the internet nor in his email, next! If you are Jonathan J Weeber but go by Luke Weeber, have Luke Weeber on your resume, job boards, social media profiles, and so forth.

In short, don’t try to get overly fancy and presumptuous on your resume. Throw out the old-school rules of having the formal name given at birth (or after) and go by what you are called on a daily basis so that your resume and the social media profiles can allow you to be found in the current sea of competition. After all, you will have plenty of time to write out that more formal name, over and over again, on all the mandated paperwork and internal hiring documents ONCE YOU LAND THAT NEW JOB!

Good luck and keep working at it!

Chris

*One side note, careful using your Middle Initial on your resume. Most applicant tracking systems and even major job boards are still struggling with this extra name field and as such so are the recruiters and HR people using them.

^{To hire The Recruiting Guy as a speaker or trainer visit The Recruiting Guy or contact The Wellington Group @ info@thewellington-group.com.}

Now, yes now is the time to get proactive for the upswing in the economy and the coming job market. As we headhunters know, companies are hiring again and new positions are being approved daily. And this is not just a US based movement but an international lift to the global World of Work.

Great news right? Yes, but with so many people either out a of job, in a temporary or “quick fix” job or looking to change jobs you better be ready for the competition! One of the best ways to get noticed quickly on the web in our current technological times is with an internet resume. What the heck is that?

An internet resume is quite simply a way for perspective employers and professional recruiters to find you quickly and easily on-line. More than just a LinkedIn or Twitter account, having a true-to-form resume existing on the internet, outside the mainstream jobs boards, can help you get noticed instantly and more efficiently. Without getting too technical or giving away all my trade secrets, it’s like typing in your name, experience and a company you have worked for and WHAM the internet delivers your resume right to my computer screen.

Some great examples of internet resume building and hosting resources are Google Resume, Visual CV, Resume-Builder and getmyonlinecv.com. For a little more time and investment into your future you can build your own custom site like my friend Scott Corwin has done. As I mentioned above, your internet resume should be outside a pay-to-play job board or niche network and more public so you can be found. Thus, Google, Yahoo, and personal URLs are great places to build, house and control your internet resume.

Need help developing that perfect resume, no problem as the internet has you covered. Many sites and services like CVTIPS and iProfile exist with ideas on formatting and keyword building to help make your internet resume even more attractive to current technology. Or, you can always visit us at The Career Store to receive expert advice from Linda Gutin and others on the team.

So get busy and get your resume online. How else am I supposed to find you for that next great career opportunity? Good luck. 

Chris

For questions or help on this and many other ideas on how to make your career search more effective visit The Career Store or contact The Wellington Group @ info@thewellington-group.com.

Interesting post and news this week on Monster.com and Microsoft Office Online, “Four steps to your next job,” creating a new partnership to help the active job seeker. In the example they start to cite a specific individual’s pain and launch into this combined marketing program. A suggestion is made to utilize the Microsoft Office templates to help develop your resume. Now, unlike many of my peers or other resume writing service providers, I am not opposed to this and thus writing a negative post. Nope, I think it’s a great idea if you have no resume to work with and/or can’t afford or are unable to seek out help.

Living in “the land of resumes” as the electronic age has provided to HR and recruiters alike, I can tell you that a resume DOES make a difference in your job search. Having just the right ingredients, as Greg Miller has pointed out in previous posts, makes all the difference in the world. Too much and it’s usually overlook, not enough and it’s overlooked. I say equally important are the style, format and key selling points.

Take for example sales people which I work with on a daily basis as one of our key niche areas. When a client looks to our firm to help hire a true sales professional they are looking for a resume and candidate profile that speak sales. Duh say most of you. Duh is right but how come I still see what accumulates to the hiring manager or client as a non-professional? No stats or highlights on their successful sales career, recent accomplishments, numbers, ranking related to peers or their industry, deals won, and so forth. What happens is a lot of time spent with me or my team in creating a separate document or re-writing their resume to reflect these highlights that all VP of Sales or CEOs are looking for in true professionals!

As I wrote about in both ATS issues and resume formats, having a very complex format or even the new Office 07 .dox can be detrimental if the recruiter or hiring authority on the other end is not able to open it. That’s it, game over, done. Well not quite as if you get your career coaching from me, follow-up, follow-up, follow-up! Would you rather start with a tool which helps your job search or a template which might inhibit it?

In short, templates are a great tool and how I got my first job as a recruiter coming out of the military with no resume (boy that was a sad resume), but I strongly suggest seeking guidance in some fashion to help put you ahead of the pack. The best templates are those with simple and standard formatting. The templates I would stay away from have text boxes, rows, columns, etc.

Good luck in your career search!

Chris

For assistance with your resume from The Wellington Group staff visit The Career Store or Get in Touch.

OK I SAID! Now that I got that off my chest let me point you to the root of my angst. Recruiting, like any other profession, has it s own social media / networking sites where we all get to share insight, tips, tricks and yes even humor. One such site is ere.net. The post getting all the attention today was “Bullet Point to the Head” by Matt Charney.

Matt’s post was very well written and very much on target. Just look below the article at all the comments. Everything from “I can relate” to “no, that is not me.” In my years of living as a professional recruiter I have seen his comments in-action more times than not. Too much perceived work on a recruiter or even HR’s desk so they have to fly through resumes as fast as they can, learning tricks to skim and weed-out in what they feel is an expeditious manner. Why, because they are lazy.

Don’t believe me, ok. But here is a true fact. Most large HR groups, Staffing Firms and Professional Search Groups receive so much resume traffic they have to hire staff just to filter and scan or purchase software to totally remove the human component. I can remember weeks at Manpower where we might receive 5,000 applicants. In addition to this the recruiting publications are now telling HR and Talent Manager they NEED to automate. Check out the latest Talent Management article on “Make HR Happy.”

On top of this, many of today’s recruiting demographic has the technology / MTV curse of “if it’s not instant it’s not worth my time.” So, they expect every candidate to have a resume laid out in a similar fashion with all the goodies at scan level in 2.3 seconds. The trouble is that many professionals are great at their jobs but not with working on their resume (see my previous post on 8 Musts for an Effective Resume). Lazy recruiters are grab-and-go, great recruiters are diamond miners, polishing off the mud to find the sparkle below…many times at their own expense.

What is the solution? I think the bump we hit in the economy helped create some of the cure, causing recruiters and HR to transform their skills or try performing it from the unemployment line. The other solution, better management of both corporate and third-party recruitment practices. Accountability to the primary goal, recruitment and review with the intention of uncovering the best talent for the right job.

Chris

To hire The Recruiting Guy as a speaker or trainer visit The Recruiting Guy or contact The Wellington Group @ info@thewellington-group.com.

Leveraging the New Internet and Social Networking for your Career

It was not that long ago that the World Wide Web was only cool for chatting and checking out various static pages, job boards and some blogging for those looking to make a change in their careers. What happened? The WWW truly went worldwide and is now in the homes and on the laps of many of my beloved remote Alaskan family members. Now they can see the latest jobs we are working on, harass me real-time on Facebook, and even apply to my tweets on Twitter.

If you think your networking skills are a bit rusty, I am willing to bet that you may have very little or no internet social networking experience. Not to worry… you are not alone. Many of the clients I help are in the same spot: mid to late career professionals who have rarely had to present a resume, let alone now having to navigate the complexities of the latest in internet resources. The big question is, Where do I start?” Staying true to form, I will say “it depends.” It depends on: Where are the people in your industry hanging out, where is your personal network lingering these days on-line, who is hiring in your career niche and where are they putting their money and time on-line?

Before just jumping in and making real work of trying to be on every social networking site, job board and reading all the latest blogs, first sit down and try to answer the questions just asked above. Chances are good that you will find niche communities, groups and recruiters (internal and headhunters) on very specific sites or part of specific groups. In a short amount of time this can give you more exposure to a larger group of people than sprinkling yourself all over the web, taking hours at a time to monitor. Better yet, just start with your personal network and see where that takes you. People like to help other people and nowhere is this more evident than on the internet.

Here is another trick that a highly trained recruiter will be looking for…your resume or career highlights posted on various independent web pages, or key words from you on the profile(s) you do build on these sites. Take some time to build a thorough career profile on the sites you decide to be part of, as string searching the web will get traffic to your profile, thus putting your in-demand skills in front of the world.

For assistance with your Job Search or Resume from Chris Wellington and others on the staff visit
The Career Store or Get in Touch.

First and foremost, this blog title and piece are based on the tried and true principals of Napoleon Hill in his 1937 book titled Think and Grow Rich.

As a consummate learner and researcher, I am always intrigued to find nuggets of information which to both share with jobseekers / clients and apply in my practice. This information caught my eye as many of his suggestions from 1937 still hold true today, but seem to be lacking in numerous resumés we receive, from new grads to seasoned executives!

“Eight Musts for an Effective Resume”

1. Education
2. Experience
3. References
4. Photograph
5. Apply for a specific position
6. State your qualifications
7. Offer to go to work on probation
8. Knowledge of your prospective employer’s business

While some of these principals may seem odd or “old school” I view them as genius. Education, Experience, References, Qualifications and Applying to a specific position with a resume that matches the employer’s needs or the job description are all crucial to setting yourself apart in the current sea of competing candidates. Going to work on Probation is great for new grads and may be stated in your Cover Note or in the resume. Employers may not take your up on the offer, but they will love the commitment.

Most HR Professionals and Professional Resume Writers would tell you not to post a picture on your resume, and I agree. Current ATS systems, HR tracking tools and OFCCP / EEO regulations may present an issue with this type of information. What I do suggest however is putting a nice, professional picture on your social media sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook. People want to work with and hire people, the more true and real you can be the less “mystery” of your candidacy becomes for that hiring manager or recruiter.

I will suggest you go to the library and check out this book and use it as a tool or guide for your career search. After all, your resumé in many instances is THE FIRST IMPRESSION of you to that new potential employer or to the recruiter with the job opening.

Good luck in your career search!

Chris

 For assistance with developing your perfect resume or cover note from the TWG staff visit the Career Store or contact The Wellington Group @ info@twgrecruiters.com.