TLSS - 2011 Blog

10 Easy Steps To Thrive During A Job Phone Interview

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Job-hunting often starts at the phone interview. To get the job, you need to present yourself well over the phone - say the right things, mind your tone, and be confident overall.

Companies save time by pre-qualifying your interest and expertise frequently use phone interviews. The following are some recommendations to ensure your next phone interview is successful for you.

Isolate Yourself
Phone interviews place you at a disadvantage because you only have one tool of communication, your voice. The interviewer's impression of you is shaped by all the sounds coming through the phone. Insulate yourself from distractions and background noises. Do not have your phone interview when you are surrounded by a lot of noise like an outdoor café at a busy intersection. If the call is on your cell phone make sure the caller can hear you clearly.

When the phone interviewer first contacts you, make sure it is comfortable for you to talk on the phone for at least 20 minutes. If it's not convenient, recommend scheduling another time for the call.

Schedule the Phone Interview
If you can not speak comfortably when the first call arrives, ask the interviewer if you could schedule a specific time for the phone interview. Be sure to define who will call who. It is recommended that you offer to call the company. This ensures you are fully prepared and in a situation where you can speak without interruptions. Schedule the phone interview just like you would any face-to-face interview.

Stand Up
During the call standup, walk around and smile. All these things make a big difference in the projection and quality of your voice.

What's Next
At the conclusion; ask the interviewer about next steps and timing of their hiring process.

Get Face-to-Face
If you are interested, ask for a face-to-face interview. Remember that your objective (during the phone interview) is to secure a face-to-face interview. You will be most effective discussing your background and assessing the company in a face-to-face meeting.

Prepare Your Responses
Phone interviews follow a similar pattern of questioning with the purpose of screening you out of consideration. Below is a list of questions most phone interviewers ask. Write down and practice your responses.

- Tell Me About Yourself.
- What do you know about our company?
- How did you learn about this position?
- What is our current salary?
- What are your compensation requirements?
- Why are you looking for a new position?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- Do you have any questions?

Questions You Ask
Questions are your primary tool of influence with an interviewer. Questions help you direct the conversation and assess if the company is right for you. Here are some questions to ask during a phone interview.

Opening Questions:
Questions you ask at the beginning of the phone interview.
- What is your position with this company?
- How much time would you like to speak on the phone?
- What position are you considering me for?
- What are the key things you'd like to learn about my background?

More Questions:
Questions you could ask in the middle of the interview.
- What business imperatives are driving the need for this position?
- Describe the three top challenges that I'll face in this job?
- What are the characteristics of people who are most successful in your company?
- What are the key deliverables and outcomes that this position must achieve?

Closing Questions:
Questions you ask at the end of the phone interview.
- What additional information would you like me to provide?
- What concerns do you have at this point?
- When is the best time to follow up with you?

Best of luck on your next interview. It is the most important moment in your search for a better position.

External vs. Internal Recruiting: Who Does It Better?

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

It has been debated many times, but the question of whether recruitment is best done with internal or external resources can only be answered at an organizational level, based upon a cost-benefit analysis.

When doing this analysis, consider which method of recruitment scores higher on the following metrics:

Quality of hire
Time to fill
Culture fit
Candidate experience/impact on EVP
Cost

It’s time to take a close inspection of each of these areas.

Quality of Hire

Most internal recruiters, at least in medium- to large-sized companies, rely on Web-based systems to do the initial screening and culling of applicants. They lack incentives, and also lack penalties, for how well they recruit. With external recruiters, there are often no metrics in place at all, other than time to fill. If metrics for quality of hire are clearly tracked and compared between internal and external recruiters, it can help identify the best recruitment model for your business because you will be able to tell who is providing the highest-quality candidates.

Linking recruiter pay to quality of hire is a critical step in ensuring that recruiters make solid recommendations to line managers, who ultimately make the hiring decision. Agency recruiters can be measured based on client feedback and the number of times roles have to be re-filled at no charge to the client, which can happen if the wrong hire is made and if the client organization does not have a formal way to measure its recruitment suppliers on this metric.

If you use a hybrid model, consider measuring and comparing both your internal and external recruiters on the quality of new hires. After implementing such a metric, measure them upon their first placement, at six and 12 weeks, again at six months, and then at regular intervals.

Time to Fill

Jobs can often be filled faster by using agencies (particularly within specialized industries) because they have large applicant pools. Good recruiters will always have warm candidates they keep in touch with.

Often, when external recruiters are pre-screening and presenting "STAR" candidates, it’s internal recruiting teams that hold the process up. It’s not necessarily their fault, as priorities sometimes change, putting recruitment on hold, or as role requirements are revised, but it speaks to a core challenge facing the recruitment community today.

One key reason recruitment is delayed is that budget for a role has not been approved prior to beginning the search process. As everyone knows, you shouldn’t go to market until you’re certain you need to fill a role and that money is available to do so. It seems that many companies still retain search firms, spend money on advertising positions, and start seeing candidates without a confirmed internal agreement. This has a decidedly negative impact on both the brand and the relationship with any candidates you have engaged if you withdraw from the process.

A second reason for delaying the process often has to do with how companies operate internally. While a new role may be budgeted, conflicting schedules, agendas, or priorities can mean delays in seeing candidates, or extending the number of interviews or assessments beyond what was originally planned.

Not only does this increase cost and time to fill the role, it also antagonizes candidates and may mean you secure the runner-up instead of your preferred applicant, or worse, you’re left with no suitable candidate at all, forcing you to begin the process anew.

If you’re using agencies that have pre-screened candidates for you, move those candidates through the internal process, make decisions about individual applicants, and follow up quickly. Given the shortage of "STAR" candidates in the market, this should be a given.

The need for speed in recruitment, to manage costs and to fill roles, especially empty ones, must be balanced with the need to find the best candidate for the role, considering all aspects, including culture fit.

Culture Fit

Internal recruiters will be able to articulate and respond to questions about what it’s really like to work in your company in a way that external parties won’t. External recruiters will never know your business as well as your own staff, try as they may, because they don’t work in the organization on a day-to-day basis, experiencing all its nuances and political challenges. As a result, many organizations think that recruitment can be done better by an in-house team who know and live the corporate culture and understand stakeholders best.

In the model where external recruiters are placed on-site, they work with your teams every day, but they are still removed from the employee experience to a large degree. For them to hire for culture fit is a particularly difficult task.

One way to track success in this area is to measure culture fit, and there are a number of ways to do that. Compare success rates between your internal and external recruiters to see who is making better assessments of culture fit.

Candidate Experience/Impact on EVP

Every time you go to market under your own brand or someone else’s, you send messages about your organization to potential candidates. How you do this could impact the way your firm is perceived by candidates, so understanding the impact of what you do is important.

If you use blind ads through a recruitment firm, you won’t build or add to your own brand recognition. Any external agency efforts to co-brand or represent your business must be handled correctly or the brand can be damaged. For example, if external recruiters don’t respond to candidates, or not quickly enough, people will forever tie that response to your brand, leaving a negative image in their minds about your company.

Pointing would-be employees to agencies through your careers website makes an impression on candidates about your organization, good or bad. Investments in a career website are better realized if you make the effort to engage with candidates directly at some level. This direct communication puts you in control of your candidate pool and is particularly helpful when there are jobs in the pipeline that haven’t been advertised yet.

Cost

A decision to use an outside agency must incorporate cost consideration. Cost is determined not only by the invoice you receive but also by the soft cost of time saved. Time is one item nobody has enough of these days. What is the cost to your business by not focusing on your daily needs but rather on reviewing hundreds of resumes? It is important to find an external company that is fair in its pricing and agreements. There is a new option available that allows you to save money and time. One should remember that not all staffing companies do it the same way and to select the recruitment firm that best fits your needs and budget. Whichever company you choose, or if you use both internal and external recruiters, the most important things to remember are that you need great people for your company, you need them now, and you want to spend as little as possible to get them.

Great candidates don’t need your job. Making the process as smooth as possible will go a long way to building relationships with candidates for the long term. "STAR" candidates often have multiple offers, and will move on if you can’t make decisions quickly enough, even if they would rather have worked for your firm.

By delaying the process, canceling searches, and not replying at all, you are sure to damage your employer brand and your reputation in the market.

For a better option check out http://texaslonestarstaffing.com/employment-agencies/employers

Recovering From a BIG Interview Mistake

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Oh, to be able to turn back the clock or eat one's words. Interview mistakes are not only embarrassing, they are potentially costly. Recovering can be tough -- but not impossible. Consider these ways to limit the damage:

Apologize

"People are more willing to forgive than we might think," says Marc Dorio, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Job Interview." He notes that owning up and uttering a genuine "please forgive me" can be quite disarming. "It demonstrates character, and an interviewer may be impressed by that. After all, it will show that as an employee you will be honest and admit when you make a mistake as opposed to hiding it or making excuses."

Dorio also recommends stating what you learned from your goof. For instance, if you are late to an interview, after your apology you can add, "I now know I need to allow more time when driving into the city on a weekday."

Don't dwell on the mistake

If an expletive accidentally pops out of your mouth or you make some other faux pas, save self-chastising for later and get back on track. "The candidate should apologize quickly and move on with answering the question," says Linda Matias, owner of CareerStrides.com and author of "201 Knockout Answers to Tough Interview Questions." "He should not apologize and then stop talking, because the mistake just lingers in the air. Dwelling on this fumble, or any other fumble, will bring extra unneeded attention to the situation."

Slip-ups in presenting information can be handled in a similar fashion. "If a candidate says something and instantly regrets it, he should make an attempt to make his position clear," Matias says. "He should not wait until after the interview to address the issue. That said, he should not harp on a mistake. Making a quick statement such as, 'Let's backtrack for a moment' and then going on to provide a clearer statement works well."

Think on your feet

While panicking may be your gut reaction, remaining calm in the face of a mistake may allow you to salvage the situation. Running late? Show you value the interviewer's time with a call to inform her, apologize and ask if the meeting can be rescheduled. Confuse the company or one of its products with a competitor? Quickly utter an "I'm sorry -- of course I know that you produce X" and then get on with how you will market X using your experience in the field.

Suppose you accidentally appear at an interview without your portfolio or list of references. What can you say that excuses such a lapse? John Scanlan, assistant director of the career services center at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, says you might try something like, "I don't have my portfolio (or list of references) today because I wanted to talk to you first about the specific skills and accomplishments that are most important to you. This way I can customize it to illustrate more effectively the sort of skills you are seeking."

Don't assume it's too late to act

Noticing an error in the moment can be horrific, but recognizing a mistake after you've already left the interview can make you feel hopeless. Yet Scanlan notes that the situation sometimes can be rectified. "If you feel you made a bad impression, committed some grave error in judgment and/or somehow offended an interviewer, one strategy is to address the problem in a thank-you note. But be sure to state the issue positively as opposed to simply reminding the interviewer of your gaffe."

Adds Matias, "If the candidate regrets something later, and the mistake is a biggie, then he can mention the situation in a follow-up letter. He can write, 'I would like to readdress the question you asked regarding ...' Then, simply re-answer the question. This is a strategy I use with my clients, and it has been very successful."

Prepare

The easiest way to deal with a mistake, of course, is not to err in the first place. Researching the company beforehand can eliminate the embarrassment of not knowing what it produces or who its biggest competitors are. Practicing aloud the answers to likely questions can build confidence and help you remember pertinent information and names. And don't hesitate to confirm an appointment, ask for the spelling of someone's name or request clarification of procedures. Better to look detail-oriented and responsible than to make a preventable blunder.

Beth Braccio Hering researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues for CareerBuilder.

America's Job Act Summary - What are your thoughts?

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT

1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow

Cutting the payroll tax in half for 98 percent of businesses: The President’s plan will cut in half the taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, targeting the benefit to the 98 percent of firms that have payroll below this threshold.
A complete payroll tax holiday for added workers or increased wages: The President’s plan will completely eliminate payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll by adding new workers or increasing the wages of their current worker (the benefit is capped at the first $50 million in payroll increases).
Extending 100% expensing into 2012: This continues an effective incentive for new investment.
Reforms and regulatory reductions to help entrepreneurs and small businesses access capital.

2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America

A “Returning Heroes” hiring tax credit for veterans: This provides tax credits from $5,600 to $9,600 to encourage the hiring of unemployed veterans.
Preventing up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, while keeping cops and firefighters on the job.
Modernizing at least 35,000 public schools across the country, supporting new science labs, Internet-ready classrooms and renovations at schools across the country, in rural and urban areas.
Immediate investments in infrastructure and a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank, modernizing our roads, rail, airports and waterways while putting hundreds of thousands of workers back on the job.
A New “Project Rebuild”, which will put people to work rehabilitating homes, businesses and communities, leveraging private capital and scaling land banks and other public-private collaborations.
Expanding access to high-speed wireless as part of a plan for freeing up the nation’s spectrum.

3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.

The most innovative reform to the unemployment insurance program in 40 years: As part of an extension of unemployment insurance to prevent 5 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits, the President’s plan includes innovative work-based reforms to prevent layoffs and give states greater flexibility to use UI funds to best support job-seekers, including:
- Work-Sharing: UI for workers whose employers choose work-sharing over layoffs.
- A new “Bridge to Work” program: The plan builds on and improves innovative state programs where those displaced take temporary, voluntary work or pursue on-the-job training.
- Innovative entrepreneurship and wage insurance programs: States will also be empowered to implement wage insurance to help reemploy older workers and programs that make it easier for unemployed workers to start their own businesses.
A $4,000 tax credit to employers for hiring long-term unemployed workers.
Prohibiting employers from discriminating against unemployed workers when hiring.
Expanding job opportunities for low-income youth and adults through a fund for successful approaches for subsidized employment, innovative training programs and summer/year-round jobs for youth.

4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family

Cutting payroll taxes in half for 160 million workers next year: The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last year to cut workers payroll taxes in half in 2012 – providing a $1,500 tax cut to the typical American family, without negatively impacting the Social Security Trust Fund.
Allowing more Americans to refinance their mortgages at today’s near 4 percent interest rates, which can put more than $2,000 a year in a family’s pocket.

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan. To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

Estimated Costs:

Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow $70B

Cut employer payroll taxes in half & bonus payroll cut for new jobs/wages $65B
Extend 100% expensing in 2012 $5B

Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America $140B

Teacher rehiring and first responders $35B
Modernizing schools $30B
Immediate surface transportation $50B
Infrastructure bank $10B
Rehabilitation/repurposing of vacant property (neighborhood stabilization) $15B
National wireless initiative 0*
Veterans hiring initiative n.a.

Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs $62B

UI Reform and Extension $49B
Jobs tax credit for long term unemployed $8B
Pathways back to work fund $5B

More Money in the Pockets of Every American Worker and Family 175

Cutting employee payroll taxes in half in 2012 175

TOTAL $447 BILLION

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/factsheet-obamas-jobs-plan-2011-9#ixzz1XThM68uz

The Cost of Hiring a New Employee

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500

One of the reasons that cash-strapped businesses hesitate to start hiring, even when they need employees, is due to the actual cost of hiring. It's easy to forget that an employee, in terms of cost, means more than just the salary which can be substantial all by itself. But add in the cost of recruiting, training and more, and the dollars start growing.

The Cost of Recruiting
The cost of simply finding the right person to hire can be hefty. Business advisor, William G. Bliss names various, potentially high costs in the process of recruiting alone: advertisement, time cost of internal recruiter, time cost of recruiter's assistant in reviewing resumes and performing other recruitment-related tasks, time cost of the person conducting the interviews, drugs screens and background checks, and various pre-employment assessment tests.

Not every new hire will demand the entire process, but even an $8/hour employee can end up costing a company around $3,500 in turnover costs, both direct and indirect.

The Cost of Training
Recruitment is just the first step in the process; once the right person is in place, businesses need to provide adequate training so the new employee can do the work and start producing for the company. Training turns out to be one of the costliestinvestments a company can make. In a report from Training magazine in 2007, companies spent an average of over $1,200 annually per employee. In 2005, employees spent an average of 32 hours per year on training. And those aren't necessarily only new hires who would not only require the same on-the-job training and continuing education as current employees, but the additional hours and cost of orientation and initial job training.

Entrepreneur and consultant, Scott Allen defines a simple way to understand training cost: "Calculate the cost of both structured training (including materials) and the time of managers and key coworkers to train the new employee to the point of 100% productivity."

The Cost of Salary + Benefits
The obvious cost of a new employee - the salary - comes with its own bundle of side items, as well. Benefits range from the minor - free coffee - to the major such as gym memberships, life insurance, disability coverage, dental plans, tuition reimbursement... the list goes on. According to Joe Hadzima, a columnist for the Boston Business Journal and lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management, the salary plus benefits usually totals "in the 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary range." Hence, the salary plus benefits package for a $50,000/year employee could equal $62,500 to $70,000. (Focusing on salary may be a mistake. Find out which benefits have the highest long-run payoff.

The Cost of Workplace Integration
Another seemingly minor point shouldn't be overlooked; workplace integration, from assigning the new hire a desk to fitting him or her onto the right team of peers, can be costly. Businesses are looking at more than simply providing a computer and an ergonomically designed desk chair; there's also the cost of physical space as well as software, cell phone, travel and any special equipment or resources required for the job.

The Break-Even Point
So all this investment leads to increased production, hopefully, at least that's why businesses make the investment. But it can take a while for the cost to get covered and companies to see a return on their investment. According to the Studer Group, "A survey of 610 CEOs by Harvard Business School estimates that typical mid-level managers require 6.2 months to reach theirbreak even point.

Bliss breaks down the productivity scale into three periods: during the first month or so, after training is completed, new employees are functioning at about 25% productivity, which means that the cost of lost productivity is 75% of the employee's salary. The level goes up to 50% productivity for weeks 5 through 12, with corresponding cost of 50% of employee salary. Weeks 13 -20 usually bring the employee up to 75% productivity rate, with the cost being 25% of employee salary. Around the five-month mark, then, companies can expect a new hire to reach full productivity.

The Bottom Line

According to Eric Koester of MyHighTechStart-Up, "estimates range from 1.5x to 3x of salary for the 'fully-baked' cost of an employee - the cost including things like benefits, taxes, equipment, training, rent, etc." Hiring a new employee isn't a decision that should be taken lightly, as it doesn't fall lightly on the company budget. But without workers, there isn't much work done. And that's the bottom line for businesses; even though the investment may make the company accountant cringe, the potential in return on a good new hire continues to make the investment worthwhile.

Job Seekers Need help

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Jobs Seekers Need Help

In July 2011, there were 1,023,172 people unemployed in Texas. By comparison, that is roughly 50% of the entire population of people living in Dallas TX. Ok that may not be a fair comparison. How about 284,032 people unemployed in the DFW area alone? That equals almost the entire population of a city like Arlington.

There is little doubt as to why most unemployed people are finding it difficult to locate a job equal to or better than what they lost. Job seekers need help.

We have some quick pointers on how to help you locate and GET your next job.

This list is from our years of experience in the industry and come from observations seen through our daily efforts.

1) Your resume ONLY gets you an interview. So BEFORE your interview consider the following:

a. Prepare – do research on the company

b. Be willing to do anything they need – not just the job you want

c. Be EARLY and not just on time to the interview

d. Dress to impress regardless of the job you are applying

e. Communicate enthusiasm and not desperation

f. Answer all questions honestly and openly

g. Follow up – thank you email and phone call

2) Be willing to accept LESS pay and MORE responsibility

3) If a job offer comes, remember that is NOT the time to negotiate pay or benefits

4) Keep your thoughts focusedon opportunity for growth and not position offered today

5) Do not compare your current unemployment check amounts to offered pay to make decision.

a. Benefits run out

b. The longer you are unemployed more difficult it isto find work

6) Networking – most jobs are not posted (get out of the house – that is where the jobs are located)

7) Volunteer – it is a great way to connect with people and shows your willingness to help when needed. (Hospitals, Schools, Chambers of Commerce, Food Bank, etc.)

8) Stay focused – you should work harder and longer finding a job than when you actually get the job. It is not uncommon to work 60 hours a week researching, networking, interviewing, etc.

9) YOU do NOT know everything – you may need help

a. Attend training for job seekers

b. Hire a professional team to help you with resume writing, interviewing, job search, marketing and using technology like linkedIn.

c. Many positions are not posted and are only obtained through professional relationships that they have with companies.

d. Most money spent looking for work is tax deductible

10) STAY POSITIVE – tomorrow always brings new opportunities if you go find them

10 Worst Things to Put In Your Cover Letter

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500

It's never too early to make a bad impression.

A cover letter or introductory email is often the first thing a potential employer sees when reviewing a job applicant. It's the first opportunity to impress recruiters and hiring managers and, therefore, the first opportunity to disappoint them. Everything from copy mistakes to inappropriate jokes in a cover letter could derail an application.

Here are the top ten worst things to put on a cover letter:

1. Next to Nothing

While writing something that's too long is a common cover letter mistake, what can be even more damaging is a cover letter that's too short.

Bruce Hurwitz, President of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing, Ltd., a New York-based staffing firm recalls a cover letter he received a few months ago for an entry-level IT sales position. It read simply, "Here's my resume. Call me. [Phone number]."

"I cracked up," Hurwitz says. "This person had only just graduated with a Bachelor's degree. It was ridiculous."

A good cover letter should be somewhere between 200 to 250 words, Hurwitz says, and should answer the question of why a recruiter should look at the resume. "The key is to highlight one success," Hurwitz says. "For example, 'I successfully increased sales 500% over two years, resulting in increased, sustained revenue of $25 million.' Once I read that, I look at the resume."

2. Criticism of a Prospective Employer

Thumbtack.com, a San Francisco-based site that connects customers with small business services, asked potential employees to submit in their cover letters feedback about their website. One candidate, a contender for an entry-level position in April, didn't pull any punches.

"The engineering of your site looks lazy and ineffective," the applicant wrote, proceeding to describe the color scheme of the site as "disconcerting to my eyes."

Needless to say, he was not considered for the position, though not before the hiring manager got in some laughs around the water cooler at his expense.

"We forwarded the cover letter to our managers sort of as a joke," says Sander Daniels, co-founder of the site. "It was the most caustic feedback we received. But we responded kindly to him -- we didn't suggest any improvements to him in approaching other employers. We don't see it as our role to counsel failed candidates."

Daniels observed that while many strong candidates turn in well-written cover letters, some have let the demand for engineers get to their heads, as Silicon Valley romances them with six-figure salaries and other job perks.

"Maybe they think they can get away with it -- but in our company, culture is a very important factor." Daniels says. "Even if Facebook's best engineer came to us, we wouldn't hire him if he was a jerk."

3. Personal Stories

While employers are sometimes interested in personal stories, especially if they give some idea about work ethic, it's best to save these stories for the interview, says Lindsay Olson of New York-based Paradigm Staffing, who specializes in recruiting communications and marketing professionals.

"I think my favorite of all time was the salesperson who poetically told me about how he decided to run a marathon, climbed to reach glaciers to have a taste of pure water, ran at heights of 5,000 meters in Peru, and biked down the world's most dangerous road and survived (over 300,000 have not)," says Olson, of a candidate who was applying for a business development position at a recruiting firm in June last year. "All this in his opening paragraph."

If you are asked in an interview about your hobbies and adventures, be prepared with a strong answer, says Olson. "What a [job candidate] likes to do outside of work might show how they are in their job," she says. "As a hiring manager, what you don't like to hear is, 'I just like to sit around at home and read books all day.'"

4. Awkward Language

Rachel Levy, director of marketing at Just Military Loans, a Wilmington, Del.-based personal loan service for military personnel, got a letter last week from a candidate who seemed to be expressing lukewarm interest in an IT analyst position.

"My name is xxx. I am pretty interested in the IT analyst position at Just Military Loans," the letter began.

Levy says she sees many applications, especially for IT jobs, to have grammatical and other language flaws. "What I've noticed is that there are a lot of people applying to these jobs, for whom English is a second language," Levy says. "So the connotations of certain words and phrases may not be clear to them. Which is fine, but they should get someone to help word their intentions correctly."

In this case, Levy thinks the applicant meant "very" instead of "pretty," but she'll never know because that applicant didn't get an interview.

5. Someone Else's Words

Frank Risalvato, a recruiting officer for Inter-Regional Executive Search Inc., is deluged with cover letters from different candidates that all obviously use the same template from the same career coaches.

"Some of these [cover letters] we see are very obviously not written by the individual," says Risalvato. "We get 15 to 20 of these a month, and it sounds disingenuous and insincere, seeing these cover letters from Seattle one week, Chicago another, and it's all the same style."

Some career experts also warn against the tired stand-by opening lines in a cover letter. "Opening a letter with a passive and clichéd statement such as 'Enclosed please find my resume highlighting my experience and skills that would help your company to grow and succeed,'" is a no-no, says Ann Baehr, certified professional resume writer and president of New York-based Best Resumes. "It's best to use something catchy and more specific such as, "If your company could benefit from the expertise of a hard-charging sales producer with a flawless record of success for closing tier-one Fortune 500 prospects in the healthcare technology market and capturing millions of dollars in revenue, please take a moment to review the attached resume."

If you're uncomfortable with that approach, make your cover letter unique to you with insights about the company you're applying to, advises Darrell Gurney, Los Angeles-based founder of career coaching site Careerguy.com and author of Backdoor Job Search: Never Apply For A Job Again!.

"Put in a note saying something like, 'I've been following your company's progress in the last year and in February and I noticed your company was mentioned in the Journal of such and such,'" Gurney says. "That's the amazing thing about the Internet. You can spend 15 minutes online and look like you've been following them for a year."

Gurney reminds applicants to do their full research on the company if they do get called in for an interview after.

6. Irrelevant Experience

As noteworthy as an impressive Girl Scout cookies sales record may be, it's not worth trumpeting that experience when trying to break into a field like software sales. Rich DeMatteo, co-founder of Philadelphia-based Social Media Marketing firm Bad Rhino, remembers a candidate who did just that when he was working as a corporate recruiter at a software company.

"I was recruiting for a software sales position and one candidate was sure she was qualified because of her success selling Girl Scout cookies when she was a young girl," DeMatteo says. "I think she was young and didn't realize how important it is to state the right experience. Younger applicants tend to reach for skills, and try to find them anywhere in their life."

Some candidates take it even further, acknowledging they have no relevant skills, but pushing to be hired anyway.

"I read one for an IT analyst position that says, 'Although my qualifications do not exactly match your needs, the close proximity to my home is a big bonus for me,'" Levy of Just Military Loans recalls. "You have a lot of underqualified people just out of college just throwing resumes at the wall, and hoping something sticks."

DeMatteo suggests trying to focus on specifc sales figures or experience in relevant projects. "A lot of sales, for instance, is numbers-based. Stick to that."

7. Arrogance

It's one thing to promote yourself favorably in a cover letter, but watch that it doesn't degenerate into overt bragging.

This is especially true when it comes to ambiguous skills, says Jennifer Fremont-Smith, CEO of Smarterer, a Boston-based tech startup aimed at helping IT applicants improve their resumes.

"People claim to have things like, 'superior Internet skills.' What does that even mean?" says Fremont-Smith. "I saw an application from a Web developer about a month ago where he described himself as a 'rockstar in design tools,' and an 'expert in developer tools.' That kind of inflated language doesn't really tell your employer much about your skills."

Fremont-Smith recommends carefully personalizing your cover letter to the employer and listing the most relevant of skills for the job you want, and why you want it. "The cover letter is the place to tell your story about why it is that you're the right person for the company," she says. "It's about really crafting a narrative that answers the question of why the employer should talk to you."

8. Wrong Company Name/Wrong Cover Letter

Talk about mistakes that are easy to avoid.

"The biggest mistake I see on a regular basis is that candidates either misspell the name of the company or get the name wrong," says Gary Hewing of Houston-based Bert Martinez Communications LLC. "If it's a small misspelling like 'Burt' instead of 'Bert', I'd be willing to overlook that. But the big, unforgivable mistake is when someone copies and pastes a cover letter without the name or address to the correct company. That, to me, is someone who's lazy and not paying attention."

Hewing says sometimes it's hard to tell if a cover letter was meant for a particular job, even if the candidate got the company name and position right, if they talk about disconnected experience without explaining themselves.

"We're a sales organization, but at least twice a month, we'll get a cover letter with someone talking about their banking background instead of sales," says Hewing. "It's a complete disconnect to the job description and it doesn't even explain if the candidate is seeking a career change. It tells me that they're just not paying attention."

9. Cultural Preferences

Job hunting is often compared to dating: It's about finding the right match; and success hinges on staying cool under pressure and masking anxieties to appear confident instead of desperate. But a few candidates take the dating analogy too far, subjecting hiring managers to long lists of personal likes and dislikes in cover letters.

"This one guy wrote the first part of his cover letter talking about his interests like it was an ad for an online dating site," Olson of Paradigm Staffing says, about an applicant trying for a PR job. "He likes all types of music, but 'never got into country.'"

While potentially charming to a possible mate, those tidbits are not helpful in a cover letter.

10. Jokes

Breaking the ice with humor isn't necessarily a bad idea, but jokes in cover letters are usually a turn-off for busy employers, say recruiters. It might be better to save them for the interview, if they are to be used at all. Olson recalled a candidate for a communications executive position who rubbed an employer the wrong way with an off-color joke.

"She decided in her interview, for some reason, to compare kids to Nazis," says Olson. "She thought she was being funny, but the interviewer happened to be Jewish and didn't think she was very funny."

Recruiters agree that it's best to stick with tried-and-true unfunny, but effective conventional pitches about your education and work experience.

"The thing with trying to be chummy and funny is that you lose credibility," says Gurney of Careerguy.com. "It looks desperate. And the worst thing you can do in job-seeking is looking desperate or needy."

What Makes a Great Team

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500

To have a great team, there is no surefire recipe for success. A combination of solid leadership, communication, and access to good resources contribute to productive collaboration, but it all comes down to having people who understand each other and work well together. Not every team needs that one superstar player to excel. Having the right mix of trust, ambition, and encouragement among your team members is crucial. Here are ten characteristics you should seek when recruiting to create a great team:

1. Mutual respect. Knowing each other’s accomplishments and work experience plays a key role in relationship development, the catalyst for a strong team. Before a new team begins work on a project, have them meet for an extended period of time to establish familiarity and to bond. Inevitably, those six degrees of separation that connect us all will take shape and your team will discover common ground and mutual connections. As the teamwork progresses and conflict arises - an unavoidable part of collaboration – the team that has respect for each other will be able to move past conflict towards resolution and, ultimately, completion of the goal.

2. Specialization. Just like a team of athletes working together in different roles to win the game, good teamwork comes from members combining their specialized talents to achieve an end goal or resolution. While one may excel at writing, another may boast superior organizational skills, while another is great at presenting to decision-makers or the art of rhetoric. Figuring out who works best where will come naturally as the team spends time together, but it’s important not to suppress individual talents. Allowing each person to make their own unique contributions will lead to less conflict and a superior outcome.

3. Establishing objective. If the goal of the project, whether small or long-term, isn’t clear from the beginning, many hours will be wasted in frustrating meetings that go nowhere. The very first step should be to describe a clear outline of work and the projected end result. Change is always necessary along the way, and this is where our next tip comes into play.

4. Adaptation. Being flexible is a key trait of any team player. Confronting and resolving crises, rushing to meet deadlines, or picking up the slack for an absent or dismissed colleague are all problems that require adaptation. If someone on a team is unable to change gears and refocus, odds are more issues will arise to further complicate the workflow process.

5. No finger pointing. When a big mistake is made, it’s easy for members of a team to find a scapegoat or individual to lay the blame on. This will only lead to distrust and low morale. It’s possible that if one person keeps making critical mistakes, they should no longer be a part of the team, but that is not always the case. The entire team should accept the responsibility for the mistake and move forward to correct it and make sure it doesn’t occur again.

6. Admission of failure when necessary. This tip can go hand in hand with number five. If the desired outcome of a project has setbacks or is predicted to be a complete disaster, it’s better to admit failure and start over rather than giving up or presenting a flawed product. A good team will roll with the punches, recognize that each step is essentially an experiment, and stay positive even when facing serious setbacks.

7. Patience. Working with others requires the most the most difficult trait of all: patience and tolerance. We all strive for it, but few people are truly unflappable. Patience will keep a team motivated and allay conflict.

8. Delegation of duties. A capable leader will know one of his most important jobs is to delegate responsibility. One or two team leaders should never be saddled with all the grunt work. Instead the workflow should be spread out evenly and each person given a reasonable amount of projects and adequate access to resources.

9. A natural-born leader. As noted earlier, a team doesn’t need a superstar to excel. But they do need a self-assured, trustworthy, ambitious leader that keeps morale high and knows when to rally the troops. A good leader will listen constructively, act as a mentor, monitor the quantitative and qualitative results, provide consistent feedback, and maintain a good rapport with all team players.

10. Competitiveness. A healthy dose of competition is fuel for inspiration. When you’re working on a team, all your cards are on the table, so it’s easy for people to become jealous or possessive of each other’s attributes or contributions. And this motivates others to work harder and develop even better ideas, because it makes people ask themselves, if he came up with this, can I create something even better?

* original post by America's Job Exchnage

The Silver and Gold of Recruiting Technology

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Attend any recruiting conference these days, and you’ll find the sessions on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook jammed and the sessions on anything else all but deserted. We live in a culture that adores the next big thing, but that fascination can undermine our performance. It causes us to move on to the new, new stuff before we’ve learned how to master the old, new stuff. As a consequence, we never achieve the requisite level of expertise in any stuff to do our best work.

I recently did a survey of the social media habits of recruiters in some of America’s largest employers. One of the questions I asked the 79 percent that said they were using such sites was Why did your organization begin to use social media sites?. Here are the top two answers:

35% To improve the efficiency and/or effectiveness of the recruiting team.
29% To demonstrate competency in the latest recruiting techniques.

In other words, while many were motivated by the desire to improve their performance, many others were simply keeping up with the Joneses. Social media are hot, and they didn’t want to appear “behind the times” or “out of date” or “old fashioned.”

And, that’s fine. Obviously it’s important to stay at the state-of-the-art in one’s field. But doing so shouldn’t prevent us from continuing to hone our expertise with other tools. Those that were new two or three or – gasp! – ten years ago, but are now considered ancient. If they work well – and many still do – then they’re worth using well.

Today, it’s social media, micro blogging and mobile apps. We want to be sure we know what they can do. Yet, many of us still haven’t learned how best to use the tools we already have. Traditionally, it’s been early adopters who focused on the former, while mature adopters concentrated on the latter. Today, those two roles have blended into a single experience that generates all of the excitement of discovery, but none of the results of refined practices.

What are these old, new tools? They include (but are not limited to):

Blogs,
Professional networking forums,
Intranets for employee referral,
Corporate career sites,
Search engine optimization and marketing, and
Job posting on both job boards and social media sites.

Although there are many examples of the expert application of such tools, there are even more instances where they poorly used. There are recruiting blogs that are so stilted with bureaucratic language, they turn off even the most active job seekers. There are job postings that are so boring they would put a comatose person to sleep. And, there are corporate career sites that are so impersonal they make candidates feel more like widgets than humans. And, that’s just a few of many examples.

What’s not being done well, however, can be improved. We just have to adopt a more balanced approach to our professional development. Absolutely, it’s important to invest the time to stay at the leading edge of recruitment technology, but that commitment should be no greater than the time we allocate to deepening and enriching our capability with the tools we already have. Indeed, I think the Girl Scouts have it right. As they put it, we should “make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.”

original post by by Peter Weddle

Don't let your job search shake your confidence

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500

I recently spoke with someone who was getting job interviews, but the interviews were not resulting in job offers. Although he had a strong work history and a solid resume, he was starting to wonder if he lacked the skills necessary to land a good opportunity - his confidence was shaken. He asked me if I thought his lack of confidence could be affecting his job search.

His question is so common, and I'm willing to bet most of us have found our self-confidence shaken at some point in our careers. Confidence is a funny thing. Too much of it puts people off; too little can hold you back. So, how do you put confidence to work for you as a job-search skill, particularly when you've been in the job market for a while, which can be tough on anyone's confidence?

Worrying about what people think or dwelling on the negative can steal your confidence, but you can get it back. Job searching takes time, and everyone has experienced rejection at some point in their career, so try not to personalize it. To help balance that, develop a network of positive, energetic and enthusiastic people.

Here's another reason to stay confident: Nothing kills your charisma faster than low self-confidence. In his book "The Laws of Charisma," Kurt Mortensen said confidence builds trust, so you want to project confidence to those you meet as you interview and network, because trust is an essential part of building a relationship.

Pay close attention to your tone of voice and body language. There are two ways you may unknowingly communicate a lack of confidence. You also can communicate a lack of confidence with the words you use to describe your situation and your goals.

Practice answering questions with a trusted friend before an interview and ask for their feedback. Are you projecting a confident image? Do your answers communicate your strong belief in your skills? Believing in yourself is so important. If you don't believe in the skills you have to offer, why would an employer?

It is alright to act confident even if you don't feel that way, and you can do this by focusing on the needs of other people - predominately the interviewer - rather than your concerns about your own skills and abilities.

Here's another idea: Review your accomplishments and keep focusing on what you can do rather than what you feel you can't do. As you talk with people, you can identify the skills employers in your field are looking for and focus on those.

Attending a good networking-support group also is very helpful. This is one way to get that positive feedback I mentioned earlier. Staying in touch with your friends, also is extremely important to your confidence lever. You don't want to isolate yourself. Remember, you are the same person; only your job status has changed.

* (Original Post By SFGATE.com)

Cash Flow....Stopping the Leaks

Fri, 28 May 2010 23:00:00 -0500

There's something you can never afford to forget when you are running a business -- cash is king! Simply put, cash flow is the money flowing in and out of your business. If your business takes in less money than it spends to produce and sell goods, it suffers from poor cash flow. Whether your business is a multi-billion dollar empire, such as Bill Gates', or a tiny mom-and-pop convenience store on the street corner, you have to realize that cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. In my dealings with small businesses, I have found that so many are concentrating so hard on their actual business practices, whether it is installing sprinkler systems or selling customized promotional items, they are overlooking the intricacies of the financial side of their business. Small businesses that have limited financial training or are procrastinating on working on their books are having problems staying alive. Did you know that 63% of new businesses don't survive six years -- and many work-at-home people fail within 6 months! The primary reason is bad cash management. So the big question is:
How do you manage your cash flow effectively? Here are some easy tips I found when doing some research on the subject.

Fast Collection
In your business, you should collect money as fast as you can. How? Try these four things:

Try to speed up customer orders by having them fax their orders to you.
Send out your invoices the same day goods are shipped, not a week or two later.
Indicate on your invoice when payment is due, specify the interest penalty for late payment and enforce it.

Deposit Checks Fast!
This seems obvious, but it's extremely important. Here are some suggestions I found for getting the fastest availability on deposited checks.

When shopping for the best bank, ask the bank for its "availability schedule" and visually scan it to be sure you're receiving availability of two days or less. Each bank has its own availability schedule. Availability is the number of days until you can use the money deposited by check as cash. For example, a $1,000 check deposited today and assigned a one-day availability can be withdrawn as cash tomorrow.
Always deposit checks the same day they are received. Don’t hold checks until the next day because you lose one day's float. Key point: you can lose three days of float by not depositing Friday's checks until Monday.
Don't deposit checks in a bank's ATM or use the Night Depository since you have no evidence that you actually deposited the checks you said you did. Remember, you only receive a receipt that shows the time and dollar amount on the deposit at the ATM, and you get no receipt at the Night Depositor. For real convenience, look for a bank that has remote deposit capabilities. This is one of the best features of my bank!!!! When I receive a check from a customer as payment on an invoice, I can make my deposit while sitting at my desk by using the scanner and remote deposit software provided to me by my bank. It doesn’t get any easier than that!!!!
Ask your bank about its deadline for receiving availability on deposited checks. Some banks may require a deposit by 3 p.m., even though the bank is open to 5 p.m. This means that any checks deposited later than 3 p.m. are considered to be deposited the next day! Make sure you make this deadline, otherwise you lose one day's float.

Have a Super Tight Accounts Receivable Policy
Many people think it is no big deal to neglect accounts receivable until bills are collectible. This is bad cash flow policy. Here are some really good tips I found for handling accounts receivable:

Check the financial health of a new customer before offering them credit. One way of doing this is by using a rating service, such as Dun & Bradstreet (1-800-234-3867).
Ask a new customer for five business references and don't neglect to call them.
Don't offer too generous discounts, such as 3% for payment in 10 days. A better rate is 1.5% cash discount. It costs you less.
Charge a "late fee" to customers who pay late.
Follow up on late payers with phone calls and letters. This might seem a little extreme, but the first letter should go out the very day the amount is one day late! After 30 days late, start this sequence:
send out a letter from your attorney
turn over the account to a collection agency
use a collection attorney
Don't send out new merchandise if bills remain unpaid. Remember that bad debts hurt your bottom line! Be vigilant and try to get at least periodic payments from slow payers.
Instruct your bank to automatically redeposit "returned checks." Ask your bank if they offer Return Item box service. If they do, then use it to redeposit your check and charge back the bank return item fee to your customer.

Having receivables and payables out of synch is often a silent killer of small firms. Their owners are too busy selling their wares and managing other parts of the business to devote any time to financial analysis. These seven steps may be tough, but they can make the difference between a positive cash flow month and a sluggish month for your business.

Disburse Your Money Slowly
Just the opposite of collecting at the earliest possible moment, you should never pay an invoice a day sooner than you have to, unless you get a discount for doing so. A lot of people believe in staying ahead of bills and paying them as early as possible, but that's just poor cash management. You want to keep your money in your hands as long as you can. Here are five suggestions to slow down your disbursements:

Pay your invoices on the last day they're due, not before.
Try to mail your payment on Thursday or Friday to pick up a few extra days mail float over the weekend.
Use business credit cards for travel, lodging, meals, and small expenses for yourself and your employees. With credit cards you typically don't have to make payment until 25 days after receiving the statement.
Don't issue advances to employees.
Many small businesses neglect to reconcile their monthly bank statements or assume that the bank never makes a mistake. Banks DO make mistakes, and you have to stay on top of your finances to control your cash flow. If you are one of those people who simply can't stand to balance your check book, then you should use a bank who offers standard account reconcilement services.

Inventory is Not Cash
Every item you have sitting on your shelf should eventually be transformed into cash in your bank account, and the sooner the better. As long as it's inventory, it's basically dead weight. If it is not moving, you're not having cash flow. Here are six recommendations to minimize the cost of your inventory:

Attempt to forecast what you expect to sell per day, week or month as accurately as you can.
If you are dealing in more than one item, determine which item accounts for 80% of your sales. Then minimize ordering the other items that are selling poorly or infrequently.
Determine how fast you can get inventory, once you order it. Try to order as late as you can. Some companies can use "just-in-time" inventory. This enables you to receive your order the day you need it.
Determine your order quantity and don't order too much inventory just to save a few pennies. Is it really a savings if you can’t sell it?
Shop around and make sure you are getting competitive prices. Do this every year. There are always new vendors popping up who may beat the prices you have been accustomed to paying.
Develop a policy for determining what is obsolete inventory, and how you can get rid of it. The best way to get rid of dead inventory is to sell it for whatever you can get for it, even if that's only 10 percent of what you paid for it. At least it will generate cash flow.

Don't Forget Continuity Sales
Once of the most exceptional ways of controlling and improving cash flow into the future is by employing something called continuity of sales or services. Continuity sales are simply a contract to purchase products or services on an installment basis for a fixed period of time.

That may sound complicated, but it actually is easy. The best example of a continuity sale is a magazine subscription. 12, 24, or 36 issues delivered each month for X amount of dollars. The bigger the subscription, they better deal you get. The publisher gets more money up front, and the customer gets a better deal in the long run. Continuity can apply to almost anything. For example, let's say you own a dry cleaning business. Design a monthly deal to clean 5 shirts or blouses per week for set amount of money. By getting people to pay for the entire month up front, you will gain a lot of fast cash flow. You'll trade a discount for getting business, but you'll ensure a steady cash flow for months to come.

You can structure payments for continuity sales a variety of ways, but it's best to go for complete payment up front. Why? Because the discount is based on a customer's commitment, and they'll be a lot more committed with their money on the line.

In conclusion, a small-business owner should always have an idea of what monthly sales are, what the expenses have been for the month, how quickly clients are paying, etc. Programs such as Intuit's QuickBooks, M.Y.O.B. Accounting and Peachtree First Accounting make it easy to track cash flow, but a business owner has to commit the time to enter the information and analyze it. The whole point of monitoring cash flow is to catch small problems before they turn into migraines. Here are some "hot buttons" to watch for:

Sales. What are your company's sales today, for the week and for the month? Are they up or down compared to the prior month and to the same period last year?
Bank balance. How much money does your company have in the bank?
Receivables. What's the amount due to your company by its clients? How old are your invoices?
Payables. How much does your company owe and when is it due? How do your payables mesh with your receivables?

Too many self-employed people neglect their cash flow until it is too late to recover. And it can happen to anyone. When most people think of poor cash flow, they think of a company with declining sales. But poor cash flow can happen to a business with sales bursting through the roof. In fact, fast-growth companies are especially vulnerable. They have to stock up on inventory and pay for employees while they await customer payments. You could go out of business while waiting to get paid. Don’t let this happen to your business. It doesn’t matter how good your company is at the type of business you conduct, if you don’t pay close attention to cash flow you will fail.

Solutions To Four Common Job Hunt Dilemmas

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:00:00 -0600

Finding a job in today’s market can present quite the dilemma. It can be even harder for job seekers without a college degree or with a questionable work history. Roadblocks like these are all it takes in today's highly competitive job market to screen job seekers right out of consideration for a job before they've ever scored an interview. It’s pertinent for job seekers to be aware of their personal roadblocks and learn how to downplay them on their résumé.

Look at your résumé as a personal marketing piece. You get to select the information that will use to “sell yourself” to your next employer. You're not required to reveal every little blip in your background or bend over backwards to make sure a potential employer knows about your weaknesses. Don't ever lie, but approach these challenging areas with creativity and keep your focus on the employer's needs and interests rather than on any problems you see in your own background.

Below are some potential roadblocks and some suggestions of how to handle them.

Dilemma No. 1: I'm afraid the employer will think I'm too old.

The current economic situation has caused many older workers to delay retirement or seek lower-level jobs than the ones they previously had. These particular job seekers often worry they'll be eliminated immediately because employers think they're too old for the job. To avoid broadcasting your age on your résumé try:

Eliminating dates of college/high school graduation.
Avoid any dates in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
Shorten your experience by leaving off early jobs (eliminate the first five to 15 years of experience).
Provide the last 10 years of experience, with dates, and then summarize prior experience under a subheading such as "Prior Professional Experience."

Dilemma No. 2: I don't have a college degree.

Certainly, a college degree gives job seekers an advantage, but it’s not everything! The key is to emphasize work history, skills and confidence and downplay lack of a degree. Some ways to downplay the lack of education are:

Eliminate the education section of your résumé altogether or
List the education you do have, including high school and any college courses taken. Some college is viewed more positively than no college at all. If you've taken some college courses, here are, a few examples for listing your education on your résumé:

1. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA -- Studies in Business and Economics (full-time 3 years).

2. COLORADO COLLEGE OF MINES -- Completed 50% of requirements toward Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Add a section under the Education section called "Professional Development" and list any professional seminars you attended, licenses and certifications you have received through past jobs, and computer software programs you are proficient in using.

Dilemma No. 3: I'm worried employers will suspect I'm a job hopper.

A "job hopper" is an individual who has had a series of short-term jobs with a handful of employers. Job-hopping tends to make employers doubt everything from the candidate's behavior on the job to their ability to make a long-haul commitment to an employer. In today's highly competitive job market, these doubts are all it takes to cause an employer to reject a job seeker before he or she has ever scored an interview.

The following are tips for presenting a more positive appearance:

Consider eliminating one or more of your jobs, but make sure that doing this doesn’t leave a big enough gap in employment history that it will cause questioning. If the gap is too large, you will end up spotlighting the very thing you are trying to downplay.
If there were circumstances out of your control that caused to your short tenure, consider adding a brief explanation, such as "Merger with Megacorp eliminated all regional sales offices in spring 2009," or "Sales unit dissolved when software was discovered to be unready for market." Usually, it is advised that you should not explain reasons for leaving a company in a résumé, but sometimes a brief statement such as these can immediately eliminate a negative reaction.
Concentrate on finding job opportunities by networking, where a personal referral can get you in the door. Then you can “Wow” the interviewer with your capabilities and provide reasons for the short tenure of your recent jobs.

Dilemma No. 4: I performed poorly in my last job.

For those job seekers who made a complete mess of their previous job, or weren't in it long enough to make an impact on the company, creating a powerful résumé may seem impossible. To sidestep this problem, job seekers need to skip their excuses and try to find one or two success stories, and include them without a lot of elaboration. Point out what you did accomplish and learn. For instance: "Laid the groundwork for a successful career in real-estate sales through intensive prospecting and community relationship-building." Don't mention that you didn't sell a single piece of property.

Keep in mind that problematic issues may come back to haunt you after the initial résumé screening. You have to be prepared to answer questions about such situations on the first phone screen. Prepare and practice your explanations so that they are short, nondefensive and as positive as possible.

*Excerpted from "Sales and Marketing Résumés for $100,000 Careers, Third Edition" by Louise Kursmark.

Social Networking: Helping or Hindering the Job Seeker?

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:00:00 -0500

Social networking is extremely popular. Everyone is doing it, whether it’s on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Yahoo 360 and/or others. But guess what? Did you know that prospective employers use these sites to check out who you really are? Social networking is a great way to make connections with potential job opportunities and promote your own personal brand. So job seekers must make sure they are using these sites to their advantage by exhibiting a professional image and emphasizing their qualifications.

Many job seekers seem to be aware of the fact that hiring managers are using these sites to get a truer feel for who a prospective employee really is. And what better way to do it? By reviewing these sites, they can see who your friends are, how you relate to them, what you do in your spare time, etc. Eighteen percent of employers said they found content on social networking sites that encouraged them to hire the candidate. Some examples include:

The profile provided a good feel for the candidate's personality.
The profile supported candidate's professional qualifications.
The profile showed that the candidate was creative.
The candidate showed strong communication skills.
Other people posted good references about the candidate.

However, many job seekers are doing the opposite and not being careful at all of the content they're posting online. Thirty-five percent of employers reported that they have found content on prospective candidate’s pages that caused them not to hire the candidate. Some examples given included the following:

Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information.
Candidate posted content/pictures of themselves drinking or using drugs.
Candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients.
Candidate showed weak communication skills.
Candidate made discriminatory comments.
Candidate shared confidential information from previous employer.

Don’t let your social networking page(s) eliminate you from obtaining that dream job you have been looking for. Be Smart!!

Here are five tips for job seekers to keep a positive image online:

Clean up “digital dirt” BEFORE you begin your job search. Remove any photos, language, content and links that can work against you in an employer's eyes.
Keep gripes offline. Keep the content you post focused on positive things, whether it's related to professional or personal information.
Be selective about whom you accept as friends. Don't forget, others can see your friends when they search for you. Monitor comments made by others and consider using the "block comments" feature. Even better, set your profile to "private" so only designated friends can view it.
If you're still employed, don't mention your job search in your status updates. There are multiple examples of people who have gotten fired as a result of doing this. And, a potential employer might assume that if you're willing to search for a new job on your current company's time, why wouldn't you do so on theirs?

Interviewing Tips

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:00:00 -0500

With unemployment being so high right now, I did some research to find some really good tips to help with the interview process. Here are some of the things I found. I hope you can put them to good use and they can help you.

Tip 1: Plan Ahead- Do a little homework! Research the company and the position if possible, as well as, the people you will meet with at the interview. Look the company up on the Internet. Read about them, learn some of their internal acronyms and use them in the interview. This shows that you truly have taken an interest in the company and what they are all about. Check to see if there is a “Career Opportunities” section of their website. Here you will be able to find all the requirements they want an applicant to have. Then review your work experiences. Be ready to support past career accomplishments with specific information targeted toward the companies needs. Have your facts ready!

If you know the name of the person that you will interview with, look to see if they have a LinkIn profile and read what their peers have said about them. Then mention in the interview that you did this and you really were impressed with what you read. Doing this small thing will really impress them!

Tip 2: Role Play- Once you have finished studying, begin role playing (rehearsing). You can do this with a family member, a friend, or in the mirror. Here are some questions you may be asked. Read through them and prepare your answers based on your past experiences and what you learned about the company from your research. Try to keep your answers to the information your new employer will want to know. Write down your answers and practice, practice, practice. Remember, you want to keep it relaxed and conversational…not like you memorized your answers. By practicing your responses to some of these questions, hopefully you will not be taken off guard if asked one of them.

Sample Interview Questions:

1. Tell me about yourself. Hint: Try to keep this answer to about 2 minutes.

2. What are your career goals and how would this position fit your career goals?

3. What do you consider to be your strengths?

4. What are your weaknesses?

5. What would your former co-workers say about you?

6. What would your former boss say about your work ethic?

7. Tell me about your most significant professional accomplishment to date.

8. Tell me about a professional failure you have had and how did you handle it?

9. Do you work well under pressure and deadlines?

10. What motivates you?

11. If hired, what do you expect to accomplish in your first year here?

12. Where to you expect to be, in your career, in 5 years? 10 years?

13. What did you like about your last job?

14. What did you not like about your last job?

15. What do you expect from your supervisor?

You may be asked if you have any questions for the interviewer. Always take the opportunity to ask some questions. This shows a deeper interest on your part. Here are some sample questions you may want to ask.

1. What are some of the long term objectives you would like to see accomplished this job?

2. Why is this position open?

3. How often has it been filled in the past five years? What were the main reasons?

4. What would you like done differently by the next person who fills this position?

5. What are some of the more difficult problems that one would be faced in this position and how should they be handled?

6. What type of support is there for this position in terms of people, finances, etc.?

7. What advancement opportunities are available for the person who is successful in this position, and within what time frame?

8. What significant changes do you foresee in the near future?

9. How is one evaluated in this position?

10. What accounts for success within the company?

NOTE: These questions are presented only as interviewing guidelines. They are meant to help you prepare for the interview. Some questions may or may not be appropriate for your interviewing situation.

Tip 3: Eye Contact- Maintain eye contact with your interviewer. This shows respect for your interviewer, shows that you are interested and are confident in yourself.

Tip 4: Be Positive- In particular, avoid negative comments about past employers, unless specifically asked what you disliked about your last job/company. This will only give the interviewer the impression that you might be a difficult employee to work with.

Tip 5: Adapt- Listen and adapt. Be sensitive to the style of the interviewer. Pay attention to those details of dress, office furniture, and general decor which will afford helpful clues to assist you in tailoring your presentation. Watch his body language. Body language can tell you a lot. If the interviewer is leaning slightly forward in his chair, he is being very attentive to what you have to say. If he is leaning slightly back and/or seems distracted by items on his desk, he is not interested in your answers. You will then need to adjust your body language, tone of voice, etc. in an attempt to gain his attention and impress him.

Tip 6: Relate- Try to relate your answers to the interviewer and his or her company, particularly when expressing your career goals and professional accomplishments. Focus on achievements relevant to the position.