Happy Halloween everyone!
Hope you have a great night, whether you are Trick-or-Treating, giving out candy, or heading out to a party.
Have a Safe and Happy Halloween!
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Gradversity Quick Tip #18: Stop Mumbling
Interviews can be very stressful and it’s not uncommon for a candidate to become anxious during this process. Unfortunately, some people tend to mumble or speak quietly when they are nervous.
As a job candidate, this can be an interview killer. Employers are looking for strong, confident candidates and appearing nervous and anxious will not help your cause.
To combat this, take a few deep breaths and remind yourself of the reasons that you got the interview in the first place. By doing this, you are more likely to have a successful interview.
Are Jobs Really Hidden?
The short answer is no, jobs aren’t ‘hidden’–at least not on purpose. They are simply the ones that are not advertised or do not yet exist.
How can a job not yet exist? Simple. A soon-to-be-created job is one that is developed after you meet up with a hiring manager at, say, a trade show or industry association.
Believe it or not, the majority of job seekers do not know how to ‘find’ jobs other than at the traditional sites such as CareerBuilder, Monster, etc.
These days, only an innovative and aggressive approach will help ferret out those jobs and get hired.
Readers, what are YOU doing differently to find a job? What changes have you made to locate both JOBS and HIRING MANAGERS?
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Gradversity Quick Tip #17: Learn To Sell
Regardless of what people tell you, finding a job requires sales skills. You need to be able to pitch yourself to a company in order to land a position.
One thing to keep in mind is that it’s not just about selling your skills. You also need to sell an employer on your fit with the organization, as well as your overall value (your skills relative to your required salary).
And finally, remember your ABC’s: Always Be Closing! Treat an interview as an opportunity to “close the sale” and you will be more likely to land the job.
The Layers of Social Networking
I was reading an amusing piece today called A Blog is Your Home. Twitter is Happy Hour. And How You Can Make Friends With Authors. While it seems to bill itself as an article on the various layers of social networking, it’s really about building and maintaining relationships.
I don’t want to spend too much time re-hashing what the author has already written, but I think that it would serve to reiterate two important points about networking.
- There is more than one way to network online
- Regardless of what method(s) you use, you need to keep in contact with the people in your network.
This all ties back to my recent article The Three Best Ways To Contact Your Contacts and why it is important to work towards maintaining your relationships.
Feel free to share any thoughts/comments on the comment board below!
More Online Reputation Management Advice
CAREEREALISM has a great post up called You WILL Get Googled…Are You Afraid? with advice on how to manage your online reputation. This article fits very well with a post I wrote a few months ago called Fixing a Damaged Online Reputation.
Among the great advice in this piece…
Collect a list of professional portfolio items that you can share, and post them on the appropriate sites. For example, if you have developed Power Point presentations, load them onto SlideShare.com with your name all over it. If you wrote articles, then publish them on eZineArticles.com. If there are videos of you, put them on YouTube.
I agree completely. It’s best that you take control of your online reputation and shape it before someone else can (either intentionally or unintentionally).
This piece is really worth a read. The author is dead-on talking about how the majority of employers will Google (or Bing!) job candidates. Take this advice and don’t let the Internet get the best of you in your job search!
The Three Best Ways To Contact Your Contacts
Anyone who has recently tried to find a job knows the importance of networking. The modern job search is as much about who you know as what you know.
Assuming that you already have a solid and growing network, it’s important not to lose track of your contacts. Keeping in (reasonably) frequent contact with them will help ensure that they don’t feel used if you need their help in the future.
So what is the best way to keep in touch with your contacts? Here is my list (in order of preference):
- Phone: Many people avoid using the phone and prefer to use email instead. However, nothing can replace the personal touch of a phone call. You don’t have to use it every time, but regular conversations help to establish a stronger connection with your contact.
- Email: This is an excellent way to keep in contact with the people in your network. However, it should never be your primary method of maintaining the relationship.
- Social Network: With the rise in prominence of many social networks (including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…), you may be able to use these tools to keep in touch with your contacts. However, like email, this cannot be the only way you communicate.
Ultimately, you will use more than one method for maintaining your relationships. Just ensure that you use every channel available to you in order to avoid making your contacts feel as though it is a “one-way” network.
Off Topic (Welcome Cashton!)
This is completely off topic for this site, but what the heck…
I just wanted to take a second to congratulate my good friends Jared and Jordan on welcoming Cashton James Cole into the world yesterday at 9 lb, 3 oz. I got a chance to visit him today as the hospital and he is the cutest kid I have ever seen. He also happens to be my Godson!
Congratulations to both of you! Hopefully we will see a Cashton Facebook page coming soon!
How To Find A Hiring Manager’s Name
I want to give a shout out to Debra Wheatman who has a great article posted on CAREEREALISM called 7 Ways to Get A Hiring Manager’s Name. This is something that everyone needs to know but is often overlooked by job seekers.
Among her lesser known tips:
Have access to a powerful tool like Hoovers? If you do, you are in luck. Hoovers has the names of people in virtually every company you can think of, as well as those companies you have never heard of.
Great advice! Check out the full story here.
Johnny Taylor’s Resume Advice Video
A while ago I got an email from someone who was working to promote Johnny Taylor’s new book The Trouble With HR. They sent a link to a video with one of his resume tips and asked me to check it out.
Not having any idea who Johnny Taylor was, I decided to check out his website. Apparently he…
is quickly becoming one of the most sought after keynote speakers in the world. Audiences from the United States to Australia all agree that his speeches are deeply inspirational. His enthusiasm is contagious, and his delivery is dynamic.
Interesting. I guess I will let you be the judge. Regardless of what you think of the delivery, it’s good advice.
Here’s the video.
Want to pitch me? You’ve got one shot…
Sigh…
My main goal with this site is to share job-search resources with anyone who visits. That being said, I’m going to take a minute to rant about one of my biggest pet peeves.
Two or three times a week I hear from someone who wants me to feature their site or service on Gradversity. I don’t mind being pitched. Actually, I enjoy it. And while I can’t promise that I will feature everything that comes my way, I do my best to review what I’m sent.
The problem is, many of the pitches I see fail miserably.
Why? There are two reasons:
- The pitch doesn’t immediately grab my attention and let me know how it will benefit job seekers
- The site or service is flawed.
Today I visited a site that was originally pitched to me a few months ago. They were even nice enough to include demo login credentials so I didn’t have to waste my time signing up. Things we looking good until…
I logged in.
Not only did I have a difficult time navigating around the site, but I actually got errors. Apparently the site does not play nice with Firefox.
Needless to say, the site (which will remain nameless) will not be profiled on Gradversity.
So please, for the sake of my sanity (and your future success), make sure that your pitch is bulletproof before you send it out.
This has been a public service announcement from Gradversity. Thanks for listening.
Interesting Take On Personal Branding
Hmmm…
I just finished reading Why Personal Branding Doesn’t Really Work by Jason Unger (as seen on Brazen Careerist). He has an interesting take on Personal Branding. He writes that it isn’t worth the effort because no one person can be defined by a single element in their life.
Let me just say this up front: I think personal branding is a sham. The idea that you can have one thing that consistently defines you in all contexts of your life is ridiculous.
Not sure how I feel about this. I can see both the positives and negatives of personal branding. I’m going to have to put some thought into it…
Anyone care to share an opinion?
7 Things Employers Are Looking For
There are a number of things for job seekers to consider when looking for work. However, it is important to be aware of what employers look for in each candidate. The following is a list of the most important elements that employers consider when hiring a new employee.
- Attention To Detail: This starts with your application and flows through to the work your will do. Having a keen eye for detail puts you ahead of the competition.
- Ability: If you can’t do the job, you won’t get hired. Know yourself before you apply.
- Education/Experience: These two elements are often used as qualifying factors to trim down the applicant list. This doesn’t mean you can’t get hired without the right mix, but you may face an uphill battle convincing the employer.
- Initiative: Managers love employees with initiative. If you can anticipate what needs to be done (and start before being asked), it will going a long way towards a successful career.
- Communication Skills: This is often overlooked by candidates, but it appears on almost every job posting. Discovering that a candidate’s written and verbal communications skills are lacking will often derail their application.
- Fit: This is one of the intangible elements that can make all the difference. Hiring employees who fit with the corporate culture makes the entire team more productive.
- Confidence: Confident people are more persuasive, more likely to take calculated risks, and can command the respect of those around them. These types of candidates make employers swoon.
While this isn’t an exclusive list, ensuring that you “match” as many of these elements as possible should increase your success rate in the short term.
Dealing With Rejection
Every job seeker has to deal with rejection at some point. It’s a fact of life. Over the course of my Entry Level Job search, I was rejected by well over 50 companies. Some were kind enough to respond with a rejection letter or email, others just pretended that I didn’t exist. Regardless, it can be a difficult thing to face.
If you are in this situation, reading How To Deal With Job Rejection might help. It’s one man’s thoughts on how to come to terms with the inevitability or rejection.
In his own words:
Much like love, getting a job is about making a good match. You, the candidate, must match the job better than anyone else the company considered. Precision matters here. If you’re not a strong enough candidate, they won’t hire you because you won’t be able to do the job. If you’re too strong a candidate, they won’t try to hire you because you might want too much money or you’ll leave at the first opportunity.
Don’t let rejection get to you. Just pick yourself up and carry on. Job hunting is more of a marathon than a sprint.
Improve Your Presentation Skills
At some point in your life you are going to have to give a presentation. You may not enjoy presenting, but you can certainly take steps to improve your presentation skills.
Take a look at How to Give a Lousy Presentation. It walks through a series of tips that will teach you how to give a better presentation by avoiding common mistakes.
It’s worth a read.
Don’t Quit Your Job Without Another One To Move To
Unless, of course, you are independently wealthy.
But for the rest of us, we need to work to get by. So when I read Don’t Call Off Job Search Until An Offer Is In Hand, it made me think about one of my personal rules: Never quit a job without another one lined up to take its place.
While this article focuses on putting your job search on hold while you are unemployed (and expecting an offer), it also applies to those of you who are looking to move on to your next position.
I think that the author summed it up best with:
Never take anything for granted. The deal is never complete until its signed, sealed and delivered.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Gradversity Quick Tip #16: Cold Call
If you find a job that you really want, but lack any “inside” connections, try cold calling. This involves calling a company’s main line and asking to speak with either the hiring manager or human resources.
Many times you will be brushed off by the receptionist, but if you do reach the right person on the other end of the line, be short and sweet. Make sure that they know who you are, why you are calling, and re-iterate your interest in the position. Make your pitch in no more than 30 – 45 seconds.
It doesn’t always work, but it can sometimes allow you to get a leg up on other candidates.
Is Your Resume Presentable?
Presentation is your first impression. Much like when you meet someone for the first time and you know that they’re forming their first impression of you. Of course we always hope it will be a positive one and it is the same principle with your resume. The presentation of the document is the reader’s first impression. You can either delight them and encourage them to learn more or you can turn them off and make them run in the opposite direction.
After completing approximately 400 resume evaluations over the past 10 days I noticed a very tragic pattern. Executives were using resume layouts and formats that were elementary for their level of expertise and experience and entry-level and professional job seekers were using resume formats from over ten years ago that use objectives and two inch margins.
Shocking I know!
How is it that out of 400 job seekers only two people had somewhat decent resume formats and presentation strategies? Lack of education and information is my diagnosis.
Here is the remedy folks: DO YOUR HOMEWORK! I am going to provide you a quick checklist to compare your resume to and see if it would hold up to the standards of today’s job market.
- Resumes longer than 2 pages for professionals or 3 pages for Executives will not work. How much information do you really think a recruiter can read in that initial seven second review? Certainly not three pages worth of information.
- The first third of your resume is the most important. If you are not utilizing an introduction/profile that contains a professional branding statement, industry specific keywords, and a career summary that highlights your value proposition you will get lost in the stack of every other boring resume recruiters receive.
- Do not use more than one font on your resume. Use the same font for the entire document. Using different fonts screams **MISTAKE**. And also that you pay absolutely no attention to the details.
- Do not use different font sizes on your resume in another place other than your header. Using a size 12 font and size 11 font in your professional experience section will be a red flag.
- Please, please, please do not utilize 1 inch margins. That is like waving a flag that says hello, I’m writing a college term paper versus applying for a professional position within your organization.
- Do not use more than one type of bullet. Using different bullets throughout the resume especially in the same section (namely professional experience) just seems disorganized and tacky. Streamline your approach, be consistent not confusing.
- Watch your page length and spacing. Again, 1.5 spacing or double spacing seems juvenile. We are not in high school we are in the corporate world and a VERY competitive job market. There are no excuses, now you know.
- Attractive formatting is everything when you are trying to land the job of your dreams or just any job for that matter. Do your research! Don’t just go to the sample resume sites out there check out professional resume writing samples from actual professional resume writing services. Compare your resume to the samples you see and then you will know right off how you measure up. If your work is significantly different then a professional’s work chances are you could probably use some help.
This is not an all inclusive presentation/format list and does not include advice about any issues other then resume formatting. This is just a checklist to see if you are on the right track or not. If you’re not, which in my experience seems to be most of us then get help! Either get out there and research what you’re doing wrong and find ways to make it right or hire someone who can. This isn’t just your resume people, it’s your career and your life.
Global resume authority Jessica Hernandez of Great Resumes Fast is a former HR Manager who partners with professional- and executive-level candidates to create authentic, branded resumes and cover letters.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
See A Posting You Like? Apply ASAP!
I was reading Four Tips to Help You Stay Sane on Your Job Hunt over at Today’s Workplace and one of the tips caught my eye.
It was:
If you see a job posting that interests you, apply within 24 hours.
I couldn’t agree more.
Given how stiff the competition is these days, you can’t afford to linger. Even if you are the “perfect” candidate for the position, the employer may find a candidate who is “good enough” and fill the position right away.
Don’t linger when submitting job applications. It might cost you the job!
The Winners Of The Gradversity eBook Contest Are…
The time has come to announce the winners of the Gradversity eBook contest!
Congratulations to:
Jeffrey Zelaya (@JeffZelaya)
Casey Bolt (@KCBolt)
Lisa Atufunwa (@lisaatufunwa)
They have each won a copy of Overcoming Gradversity and have been notified via DM.
Didn’t win? Don’t worry! For a limited time you can get Overcoming Gradversity for 20% Off!
Look out for the next contest starting soon!
When All You Hear Is Silence
There’s a very interesting article on CNBC called The New Job Search: Lots Of Interviews—And Then Silence. For me, it epitomizes the frustrations that many people feel.
One of the things it highlights is that the downturn in the economy has allowed employers to change their hiring practices:
“Hiring managers are increasingly prone to shopping,” said Todd Safferstone, managing director of the Corporate Executive Board, a research company. “The perception is that there’s lot of great talent out there, and even if the person across the table is great, there might be someone else even better.”
The article goes on to explain the new challenges that are being faced by job candidates. They include multiple interviews, longer hiring cycles, and extended periods of silence.
This does not a happy job search make.
So what can you do to help counteract this? You need to make sure that you do everything in your power to “WOW” the employer. Make them believe that you are the best possible candidate for the job. And on top of that, you need to make them understand that while you are really excited about the opportunity, other employers may beat them to the punch, so to speak.
Your resume and cover letter need to have a clear value proposition, your interviews must be memorable, and you need to personally follow up on every opportunity you have.
Job searching is always difficult, but never impossible. Keep up the pressure and good things will eventually come your way.
Last Chance To Enter The Gradversity eBook Contest!
If you haven’t done so already, tomorrow (October 11th) is your last chance to enter the Gradversity eBook contest!
To enter:
- Follow @gradversity on Twitter
- Tweet the following message: “Just entered to win the Gradversity eBook! Follow @gradversity and retweet to enter. http://bit.ly/YTcrm”
Don’t miss out! Enter Now!
CNNMoney’s Best Jobs In America
Interesting…CNNMoney has listed the Best Jobs In America.
Not sure I agree with all of these, but there are certainly some great jobs on the list.
What you do think?
Poor Language Results In A Longer Job Search
I read an article today about annoying words and phrases that people use everyday. You know, some words are just annoying outlines the negative effects that these words and phrases can have.
Apparently, “whatever” is the most annoying phrase, but there are many others.
For instance, the article offers an excellent example in Caroline Kennedy:
“You know” was the second most annoying phrase.
That phrase was spotlighted last winter, when Caroline Kennedy was being considered for the U.S. Senate seat from New York, vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In a televised interview and in an interview with The New York Times, Kennedy used the words so much she was ridiculed by the New York media.
So what does this mean to you? It means that you have to be careful in how you use your language, especially during interviews. Pulling a “Caroline Kennedy” can help ruin what might have otherwise been a positive first impression.
For more on this, see my previous post How Your Language Can Ruin Your Job Search.
How One Man Found His Dream Job Through LinkedIn
Wow. I’m impressed. It’s not every day that someone lands a job through LinkedIn AND provides a step-by-step review of how they did it!
The article I’m referring to is called How I Found My Dream Job Using LinkedIn by Avril David and was posted on Forbes.com. It outlines his job search from start to finish and shows how LinkedIn can help.
I think my favorite part was how he got around to improving his LinkedIn profile:
After researching a list of relevant companies, I decided to send an unsolicited e-mail or two to the human resources department at my first-choice company, in hope that they were maybe, possibly, fingers-crossed, hiring for a position that wasn’t posted on their Web site. That yielded zero result, so I somewhat indifferently checked my LinkedIn network, on the off chance that the unfinished profile I had created four years ago could be of any use to me. Turns out it could.
And boy, was it helpful…
I conducted a LinkedIn search for the company and discovered that one of my former co-workers, a direct connection, was connected to someone there through previous work experience…As you can guess, since I wrote this article, the former co-worker graciously introduced me and even praised me (hallelujah!) to the person at my first-choice company. Two days later, I received a phone call inviting me to schedule an interview. A week and a half later, I was hired.
This just goes to show how powerful networking can be. Done right, it can open all sorts of doors.
Is your LinkedIn profile up to date?
Updating Your Resume Style
Great post over at Keppie Careers called Does your resume need to grow up? It’s an eye opening piece about ensuring that your resume style is current enough to get noticed by a progressive employer.
One particular quote caught my eye:
Many job seekers fail to move their “Education” section to the bottom of their resume once they have a position and enough experience under their belt (and no specific reason to keep Education on top). A few still list their high school diploma, even when they have a bachelor’s degree.
Wow. This just highlights the importance of updating not only your experience and education, but also your resume style.
Check out Does your resume need to grow up? It will help show you the importance of keeping your resume style current.
Gradversity Quick Tip #15: Follow Up
These days it’s not enough to just apply to an open position. You need to take the extra step to ensure that you get noticed. This is why following up is so important.
Following up can take many forms: phone calls, emails, or even hand written notes. This gives the employer an extra reason to look at your application. You can also be sure that your strongest competition is also following up.
Don’t handicap your application before it gets off the ground. Follow up with the employer to help improve your odds of landing the job you want.
Win A Copy Of Overcoming Gradversity!
The Gradversity Twitter contest has finally arrived and I am giving away three copies of Overcoming Gradversity. All you have to do is enter for your chance to win!
How do I enter the contest?
There are two steps to entering this contest:
- Follow @gradversity on Twitter
- Tweet the following message: “Just entered to win the Gradversity eBook! Follow @gradversity and retweet to enter. http://bit.ly/YTcrm”
Can I enter more than once?
Absolutely! You can enter once per day for the duration of the contest. Just ReTweet the original message to enter again!
How long does the contest last?
The contest starts October 4th and lasts until October 11th at midnight EST. I will be announcing the winners on October 12th. Winners will also be notified via Direct Message over Twitter.
How will you pick the winners?
The winners will be chosen through a random draw.
What if I don’t win?
Don’t worry, Overcoming Gradversity isn’t going to disappear! You can still find it here.
So enter the contest and check back on October 12th to see if you have won!
Good Luck!
Brand It, Sell It, and Win It – What Makes You Different?
I have heard this statement over and over again “Find a need and fill it.” Most people use it to describe opening their own business, creating a product or service, or selling something. Today I’m applying it to your job search and your resume. Find what the employer needs and sell them on how you can fill it. Specifically how you can do it, how much better you can do it than everyone else, and why they should give you a chance. This principle applies to your resume AND your interview. So let’s figure out what makes you different.
I often tell job seekers to think about what makes them unique. I generally ask what their three biggest strengths are and what their biggest weakness is. They can answer those questions honestly because I’m not their interviewer. Then I ask what one career accomplishment they’re most proud of. Typically these questions give me a starting point to assess what the client feels they are best at and it is a good point for you to start at too.
After I address strengths and weaknesses I like to review resumes using the challenge, action, result format. Not in the typically resume writing way you may see on some samples but I like to know in each place you were employed what were your major challenges, how did you address those challenges, and what happened as a result of you addressing them? These simple questions provide me with measurable accomplishments. Measurable accomplishments lead to unique qualities, and unique qualities bring me to (drum roll please) **Your Professional Brand**.
When I think back over my career as an HR Manager I think about my most notable achievements. I reduced employee turnover from 50% to 12%. I decreased the amount of time it took to pre-screen, interview, hire and train new employees from 3 weeks to 1 week. I decreased grievances by 50%. All of these points saved the organization’s I worked for immeasurable amounts of money. It also speaks volumes for what I can accomplish for an organization. If you think about major expenditures in the human capital market turnover and on boarding are the largest. I am a unique candidate in that I can implement processes and systems that inherently reduce a company’s output and increase their revenue. This becomes my value to a company and therefore my professional brand; how I market my skills to potential employers.
This is why it is vitally important that you do some soul searching (and career searching) for that matter. Dig deep back into your memory and start asking those tough questions. Those questions will help you figure out ‘who you are’ and how to brand yourself so prospective employers will see your worth and the value you can add to their organization. In this economy it’s all about value-added. So go get ‘em tiger – show them what you got.
Global resume authority Jessica Hernandez of Great Resumes Fast is a former HR Manager who partners with professional- and executive-level candidates to create authentic, branded resumes and cover letters.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Funny Job Interview Ad
I love it!