In the Business of You

In my last post, “What Might be Keeping You from Receiving the Interview Phone Call”, I shared some of the main reasons candidates can miss the mark with hiring managers when it comes to their resumes. Today, I’m assuming that you did get the interview call…and want to provide some tips to help you prepare to have an interview discussion that will make a “wow” impression upon the hiring manager: Preparation. Use the vast amount of resources available to you (Internet, libraries, people in your network, etc) to help prepare for your interview by learning as much as you can regarding the company (e.g., history, products & services offered, rank in their industry, management team/philosophy, recent news items…) and your interviewer (LinkedIn, Google, etc). The more of this knowledge you are able to incorporate into your interview discussion, the more impressive a candidate you become – because the vast majority of those submitting resumes invest little to no time doing such res

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

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? Improve

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 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 o

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 o

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 “

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: 1. Start by “d

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 pos

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 th

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 mo