In the Business of You

Just finished opening week for the major league baseball season. My hometown team, the Cleveland Indians, has thus far won three games and lost three. They've done some things very well and others…let’s just hope the poor play in the losses was the result of “jitters” and can be corrected quickly. As a fan, I was encouraged by how much better the team played last season than the previous year, but there is always room for improvement. Every player, no matter how well they perform, can always improve on part of their game. And thus it is the same with employees – we can always be working to sharpen up/improve some part of our skill set, no matter how wonderful we think we are. With still so many people submitting resumes for job openings (several hiring managers in my network have recently advised that they continue to receive “hundreds” of resumes for any one job posting), interviewers need some questions that will help them screen out candidates from consideration. ...

Recently I was interviewed for an Internet radio program on LocalJobNetwork.com and asked how hiring managers want candidates to answer questions related to why they should be selected over other applicants.  I believe that this remains one of those questions that candidates really dislike tackling and struggle with because there seems to be no real right or wrong answer. What I suggested to the interviewer and program host, Tim Muma, were some paths to take, which might have a much higher chance of impressing the person asking the question: Do not focus on the negative – Hiring managers don’t want you to bash other candidates – about whom you most likely have little to no knowledge. What interviewers really want to hear is the “WHY” - those specific reasons why you are such a great fit for the position, their team/group and the organization. The quality of your answer in this regard will be the result of how well you can “connect the dots” from your skill set to the...

There is a popular exercise program that has been out on DVD for a while called P90X, that displays the words, “Bring it” at the beginning of the first disk of the set.  This is done to establish the tone for what the instructor, Tony Horton, is going to put you through as you perform each of the suggested exercises.  And, the key is not so much the exercise itself, but the energy that Horton tells the listener they need to bring to really make the program produce the desired results. Understanding human nature the trainers promoting such programs quickly disclose that, “individual results may vary”, with the knowledge that only a small percentage of those who start the process will have the commitment and energy necessary to accomplish something meaningful. How true…not only for exercise or diet programs, but also for the many challenges that come out of searching for and landing a new job. In just the last few months, I've run across an increasing number of ...

Recently, I attended the NFL game between my Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills.  There were 71,000+ people in attendance and the majority of those fans were wearing something (hat, jacket, jersey) with the team’s colors (brown and orange).  Let’s say that someone that knew me was also at the game and decided to text to advise, “Hey, Mike…heard you were at the game…I’m here too”.  I would text them back to ask, “Great, where are you?”  If they responded with something like, “I’m wearing a brown hat”, that does not really help me find/see them…since probably 70% of the fans might also be wearing brown hats.  If they add, “Oh, also…I’m standing up”, that bit of additional information does help, but I still have little chance of finding my friend among  the 40,000 or so people who are standing up and wearing brown hats.  If my friend adds, “I’m eight rows up, on the 50-yard line, north side of the field, and next to the Browns’ mascot, who is walki...

A couple of weeks ago I witnessed an “interview implosion”, which was painful to watch.  Yet, this squandered opportunity could have turned out very differently, had the candidate just put in some prep time prior to that discussion. Because I happened to arrive fairly early for a breakfast meeting, I wound up being one of only five people in this particular restaurant thus, overhearing the discussion (which turned out to be a job interview) from one table over was inevitable. As it turned out, I had a front row seat for an interview regarding a Research/Analyst position at a local venture capital group. The interviewer was in his mid-to-late 40’s, while the candidate was no more than early 30-something.  Both were dressed in shirt and tie, with the interviewer being very professional in his appearance and the candidate…well, that is where the problems began.  The candidate’s dark tie was sticking out from underneath the collar of his white shirt and was...

Over the past several weeks, I've had one-on-one meetings with dozens of job seekers in regard to their resumes. I often ask, “Why are you here today to meet with me? What do you wish to take away from our meeting?” Most often the response is something such as, “I am not getting many interviews or being eliminated early in the interview process and want to figure out where is, for me, the weak link in that chain.” What I continue to find is one of the most common issues/problems with candidates…They are providing me/the hiring manager (in the resume or during an interview) with a lot more information than is relevant for the position, or spending all of their resume space or interview time relating what they DID vs. what they ACCOMPLISHED, and that is not how to communicate the “wow” factor and why they may be my ideal candidate. What you DID relates to tasks, your ACCOMPLISHMENTS tell me about what outcomes were produced as a result of your actions. And, hiring ma...

Tough question…but, it shouldn't be. Although there is no “one and only” expert when it comes to the nuts and bolts of putting together a strong and effective job search strategy, there are a whole lot of folks out there giving advice that ranges from “not really accurate” to horribly wrong. The frustrating part for job seekers is that they often hear presentations by or have one-on-one discussions with people (describing themselves as career experts) who may speak about similar topics, but provide sometimes wildly different advice. Unfortunately, this wide range of advice/opinions not only confuses the job seeker, but often adds significantly to their already high levels of confusion, frustration, anxiety, and diminishing feeling of self-confidence and self-worth. For example, during a recent networking event co-sponsored by my company, one of the attendees (who has been in transition for several months) told me that she had attended a presentation at a local job seekers g...