In This Market You Need An Edge. This Might Be That Edge.
Some candidates will enter the job market with the desire to learn everything they can about the best way to conduct a job search. Many will use outplacement firms, attend a webinar or two, read articles on interviewing or resumes, and begin networking. All good stuff.
However, I believe they leave out one of the most valuable learning tools for a job search. All of the above is important, but what about the other side of the hiring process which is understanding a job search from the recruiter’s or company’s perspective?
Why not read about the hiring processes companies use? Seems to me this would add a lot of value to one’s search. I ask candidates to start reading and researching articles and books written for hiring managers. There is an enormous amount of information on the Internet that will help you understand exactly what the company is thinking and how they want to hire.
Many, if not most companies today use some form of behavioral interviewing. There is a wealth of articles, videos, and blogs dedicated to this topic. Just Google “behavioral interviewing” and over 309,000 results come up. You can discover nearly the exact questions you will be asked in an interview. It is as close to an open book test as you can get, yet few candidates take the time to do this. It is like trading stocks with insider information.
Our book for hiring managers, “You’re NOT The Person I Hired,” goes into great detail how companies should implement an effective hiring process. It details what questions to ask, how to probe deeply, what other sources to use to help with candidate selection, how to write a job description that aligns with the real job, and much more. So far over 10,000 CEOs and key executives have this book on their book shelf. Just reading this book alone will help prepare you for the best way to prepare for an interview, how to align your resume with what the company needs, how to prepare your references, and much more. All you need to know is what the company is going to do and then plan accordingly.
The best defense is a good offense. Understanding exactly how companies do their hiring is one of the best ways to prepare yourself for a job search.
Reading everything you can about how to conduct a search is important. Focusing on how companies hire and learning their methodology is also important. Take the time to prepare yourself for their hiring methodology. You will see a big difference in your results.
You can obtain a copy of our book, “You’re NOT The Person I Hired” from our website if you’d like. There are many good books, blogs, articles, videos, and resources in the market for you to take advantage of. In this market you need an edge over your competition. Every little bit helps. I encourage you to consider coming from the recruiter’s or company’s perspective.
For more on conducting an effective job search, take a look at our audio library. All of the recordings are free to either download or stream. CLICK HERE to review the titles.
I welcome your comments and thoughts.
Brad Remillard
Tags: Career Planning, Interview Questions, Interviewing, Job Search, Job Search eBook, Job Search Preparation, Recruiters, Resume, Resumes
Face-to-Face Inteviewing, Interviewing, Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation | bradremillard July 12, 2010
About the Author
Brad Remillard is a founding Partner of IMPACT Hiring Solutions, co-author of "You're NOT the Person I Hired", and "This is NOT the Position I Accepted". Brad is an award-winning international speaker, retained executive recruiter, and expert on hiring and retaining top talent, and executive job search.
