90% of recruiters fall into one of two categories, they are either retained or contingent. The difference is significant and a candidate should know the difference so that they know what to expect from each. Granted there are other types, but they are few and one rarely encounters them.
Since September of 1980 I have been an executive recruiter. I still run an executive search firm, IMPACT Hiring Solutions. For the first 13 or 14 years I was a contingent recruiter and since then have been a retained recruiter. Having worked both sides of the street, I will explain the difference and why it is so critical as a candidate that you know which type of recruiter you are working with so you can properly set your expectations. I hope this will reduce some of the frustration in dealing with recruiters. I know it will not eliminate it.
As a starting definition:
1) Contingent recruiters get paid when the candidate starts working. Until then they are working for free. Think of them as a 100% commission sales person. No sale no income.
2) Retained recruiters get paid by progress in the search. This payment stream varies by agreement between the company and recruiter, however, as a general rule it is the first third of the projected fee to begin the search, the second in some period of time usually 30 – 45 days, and the final third when the person starts or in some agreed upon time frame. The retained recruiter is guaranteed, if not all of the fee, at least two thirds regardless of whether a person is hired or not. Much like a lawyer or tax accountant, the fee is independent of the results.
One is no better than the other and both serve a purpose and market. Either type of recruiter can be professional and unfortunately unprofessional. There is no rule that guarantees that you will get a highly skilled and professional recruiter with either type, anymore than you can with a lawyer, accountant, counselor, or any other profession. There are good and bad in all professions.
So what should you expect from each of these and how does this differ in the real world and the day-to-day workings of each type of recruiter?
First some ground rules: 1) This is “Recruiters 101” so I will not be able to cover every aspect and every situation. 2) This is an overview, so I will be discussing generalities. There are exceptions to everything. 3) Unless otherwise specified, I will be assuming a professional recruiter and not the flakes that are out there. 4) Don’t confuse recruiters with career counselors or coaches, resume writers or outplacement consultants. There is a big, big difference in all of these. 5) When possible I will try to contrast the two to help you understand what to expect from each.
Contingent Recruiters
Since they are basically 100% commission sales people, closing the sale is critical and so is time. When a company uses contingent recruiters, most of the time they engage more than one. Depending on the discipline and geographical area, that could be up to 10 recruiters working the same position. The company is also attempting to fill the position so the recruiter is not only competing against other recruiters but also the company.
Time is critical to contingent recruiters. The first recruiter to get the resume to the company is considered the recruiter of record and the one that will get the fee if that candidate is hired. Since candidates send their resume to multiple recruiters, having an inventory of candidates is critical. A good contingent recruiter wants active candidate’s resumes on file so that the minute a company calls with a job opening the recruiter can email resumes before another contingent recruiter working with the same candidate can. This makes them the recruiter of record. From a candidate’s perspective, don’t send your resume to just any recruiter if you don’t want it sent out to companies without your knowledge. Contingent recruiters don’t want to take the time to call or email you, wait for a return call or email, to find that while they are waiting some other recruiter emailed your resume to the company.
Over screening resumes is the worst thing a contingent recruiter can do.
Contingent recruiters may or may not meet the company and hiring manager. This is not a requirement for contingent recruiters. Some will and some won’t. I always met every candidate before sending them out to a company. They may not have even been to the company, or ever met the hiring manager, so as a candidate you may not be able to expect all of your questions about the company, position, and future boss to be answered.
Retained Recruiters
Since retained recruiters get paid regardless of the outcome, they aren’t as driven by time as much as match. Retained recruiters generally have much longer guarantees so it is very important that the candidate is successful. For example, we have up to a year’s guarantee.
Retained recruiters are expected to be very selective. This is frustrating to candidates that think they are qualified, but the retained recruiter isn’t impressed. A big mistake candidates make is that they assume retained recruiters are looking for qualified candidates. Retained recruiters aren’t looking for qualified candidates. The company can do that on their own. Retained recruiters are looking for exceptionally qualified candidates that the company can’t find. As close to perfect as we can get.
Most retained recruiters have a very close working relationship with the company and hiring manager. They generally have spent a fair amount of time with the hiring manager, they should have a complete understanding of the position, and know what type of personality works well in this culture and with the hiring manager. Also, most retained recruiters will have an extensive screening process before the candidate moves on to meet the company.
A candidate should expect to be one of 4 or 5 candidates presented to the company for any one position.
The retained recruiter is not competing against other recruiters or the company. They know that if the candidate fails, this may be the last time they work with the company. Generally, they have a long relationship with the hiring manager and that is the person that hired them.
That is Recruiters 101, I welcome your thoughts and comments.
For more, join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. CLICK HERE to join.
To learn more about the retained executive search process CLICK HERE.
If this was helpful to you then please pass it on to others. Consider emailing it to your network, updating it on your LinkedIn or Facecbook status, or mentioning it on Twitter. The more you help the better.
I write a weekly column for the Orange County Register newspaper. Many of the questions readers ask are ones I’m asked on a regular basis, so I thought it might be helpful to post the questions and answers on the blog. You are welcome to comment, disagree, add to the discussion, ask your own questions or add your suggestions. Keep in mind that the reason to do this is to be helpful to others.
Question: I’m getting job interviews but not receiving offers. Is there anything I can do to change that?
I assume from your question that the interviews are with companies, as opposed to recruiters, and that they are in-person rather than phone interviews. In addition, the company has seen your resume prior to interviewing you. This means that your resume is working. Companies, maybe even recruiters, like your background, experience and skills enough to want to meet you. So I wouldn’t change a resume that is working. The problem then is most likely your interviewing skills.
My guess is that you have not done enough preparation in this area. When I coach executives with this issue, the first place we start is by videoing the person while I interview them. I suggest you try this. People are amazed how different they look on video from how they perceive themselves. For example, some studies indicate that as much as 70% of communication is nonverbal, i.e. body language. When you review the video what is your body language saying? How are you sitting in the chair? I know candidates always think they are looking the interviewer in the eyes when answering, however, often the video reveals something different. You will hear exactly how you communicate in your own words. How often do you use the word “like” or “UH” to connect sentences? Do you actually answer the question asked or the one you want to answer? Seeing yourself in an interview may solve your issues.
Question: Should I reply to job ads that don’t identify the employer? Do recruiters post ads for non-existent jobs to solicit resumes?
If you are unemployed you should respond to all job ads for which you are qualified. It shouldn’t matter if the employer is identified. However, if you are working caution is required. Many employers don’t want to be identified when posting ads for a variety of reasons. The company may not want people just showing up in the lobby to apply. Others prefer not to let their competitors know they are looking to hire someone or the position may be confidential and the company doesn’t want their employees to know. I wouldn’t let this discourage you from responding if you are unemployed.
It is very likely that recruiters do place ads for non-existent jobs. On the surface this sounds like a bad thing, but it actually is a good thing for people actively looking for position. When a company contacts a recruiter with an opening, the recruiter may have only a few minutes or hours to submit your resume before the company selects the ones they want to interview. If your resume is already in the recruiter’s system they can do this. It may take days to write the ad, post the ad, you read and reply to the ad, and then the recruiter screen your resume. By this time the company may already have a short list of candidates and you missed out. Recruiters that recruit in a specific functional area know they need to have an inventory of talent at the ready. Being able to present your resume within minutes of a client’s request is a good thing for candidates.
Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. 6,000 other people are benefiting from the discussions and articles. CLICK HERE to join, it is free.
Turbo-charge your search in 2011 by evaluating its strengths and weaknesses with our FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard. This will help you and your accountability partner get your search started out right. CLICK HERE to download your scorecard.
Need a great cover letter? A free sample cover letter that has proven to get you noticed is on our Web site for you to use with your resume. CLICK HERE to download yours.
If this was helpful, then please help others by forwarding it on to your network, posting it on your Facebook page, Tweeting with the link, posting to your Linkedin groups or status update. Let’s all do everything we can to help those looking for employment.
Here’s a little promo clip for the KABC Radio Los Angeles broadcast on Job Search January 16, 2011 from 3-5 pm PST. The pre-recorded show will air on the Los Angeles Station and be syndicated to other ABC Radio affiliates across the country.
Once the show airs, you can download it from the KABC radio station or their iTunes Podcast Listing.
Great panel – great discussion – great questions (okay I’m biased since I participated). It’s still an excellent program that all job seekers should tune into.
This segment was about whether the job market is starting to come back with observations at all levels of employment trends.
Brad and I are back after a month-long sabbatical where we’ve been working our hearts out preparing for 2011. We’ve got so many initiatives underway, including a couple of new e-books, an entire on-line learning university, a job board for $100k plus job seekers.
A lot of people tend to think of December as a down month, a month to kick back, relax, take time off, not work very hard. For Brad and I, this was a very busy December and we’re excited about the job market and hiring possibilities in 2011.
What is Hard Work?
Onto the real blog subject – what is hard work?
Candidates claim they have a high work ethic.
Employers desire candidates with a high work ethic.
Why do I want to tackle this subject? It came up in conversation with my girls HS basketball team the other day. We were discussing why we win sometimes and why we lose.
I told the girls that most of the teams we play are evenly matched with us in skill. Sometimes we win because we play with a higher work ethic than our opponents, and conversely sometimes we lose because we have a lower work ethic than our competitors on the basketball court.
Is Hard Work the same as Work Ethic?
How do I define work ethic – I define it as outworking those around you. Those around you could be your co-workers, your teammates, the opposing team, a project team – any group of people who are competing with you for attention, rewards, recognition, influence, promotions, more money, more playing time, etc.
Many of these other people are smarter than you. It doesn’t matter. In the end, outworking others will usually trump pure intelligence and educational background every time. It’s not what you bring to the table in a game or at work – it’s how you apply it in getting results.
Usually the people who have a high work ethic, or who outwork their peers have a variety of traits that support and reinforce their ability to outwork everyone around them. These traits include being proactive, showing initiative, working longer hours, being the first one to turn on the lights in the morning, and the one who turns the lights out at night, doing more than you’re asked to do, going the extra mile, anticipating what needs to be done, and bouncing back from set-backs and adversity with renewed energy.
Who works hard and who doesn’t?
I’m going to suggest that less than 5% of the population has a high work ethic or demonstrated ability/desire to outwork those around them. I’m not referring to workaholics nor am I referring to compulsive disorders. These top achievers simply work harder than everybody else.
The other 95% of the population is satisfied or complacent with being average or mediocre.
A few tough questions about working hard
Where are you on the spectrum from complacent to “outwork everyone”?
Could you offer examples and illustrations in an interview to demonstrate how your work ethic/ability to outwork others – is head and shoulders above your peers? Do you stand a chance of getting a job in a tight job market if you can’t demonstrate these traits?
Perhaps this blog has challenged your conventional thinking about the term work ethic – where most people associate work ethic with the willingness to work long hours – which is a small element of outworking other people.
Here’s my throw-down challenge to all job seekers:
Make a list of 100 job search activities you could be doing – but are not doing now in your job search. If you’re doing 2 things in your job search, what are the 98 other ideas out there as best practices, strategies, and tactics?
Are you stuck at 10?
Perhaps, you couldn’t list 25.
There are hundreds of things that need to be done in a job search to make it effective. If you’re not working on at least 100 separate tasks or activities, you’re probably doomed to fail in your job search.
Let’s define job search failure:
It’s taking way too long for you to find a new job
You have no light at the end of the tunnel other than to cross your fingers and hope for the best
You’re about to take any job – just to have a job – who cares if it’s a good job?
The last real interview to which you were invited was over 2 months ago.
You’re doing the same thing over and over – hoping for different results (Benjamin Franklin’s Definition of Insanity).
I challenge you to post your list in the comments to this blog posting. Let’s run a contest. We will give away a FREE copy of our Job Search Book, “This is NOT the Position I Accepted” to the first job seeker that can list 100 separate job search activities that everyone should be working on to conduct an effective job search.
One job search activity most people don’t do is prepare for a phone interview. The vast majority of candidates never make it past the initial phone interview. How can you do all the painful tasks leading up to a phone interview – and then blow it because you were not prepared.
One of our most popular downloads is the FREE Chapter of our book, titled “How to ACE the phone interview”. I insist every candidate I interview read that chapter before I talk with them about one of my executive search openings. This chapter should at least double the percentage of times you get invited to a face-to-face interview from the initial phone interview. You can obtain the FREE Chapter on Phone Interviewing by clicking here.
Here’s the question that was posed in the LinkedIn Discussion Group:
Just curious, what specifically could a job search coach instruct a talented executive to do that they don’t already know how to do themselves? Maybe the talent level of the executive plays a big part!
I’m going to assume that I did a terrible job making the point in my blog posting that in most cases, executives need a job search coach to help them conduct an effective job search.
Here’s my first recommendation (which by the way I suggested in the previous blog article):
Let’s now assume you’ve taken the assessment and like most executives, your job search is only about 40-60% effective. This translates into the fact that if you had conducted an effective job search in the first place, you could have found a role most likely in 6 months – instead it’s now a year later and you find yourself back at square one with no real prospects.
What Can a Job Search Coach Do For YOU?
The next step is to determine if a job search coach can do something for you that you can’t do for yourself. A job search coach (such as the work Brad and I do with executives) can help in two fundamental ways:
The job search coach can provide specific recommendations, techniques, and strategies that you are either not aware of OR are not effectively executing.
The job search coach can hold you accountable to the multitude of job search tasks that must be completed daily and weekly to find a great opportunity quickly.
Let’s take a specific example to bring the dialogue down from 40,000 feet at a generic level to a precise illustration. This example is one tiny element of an overall effective job search:
One of the many tasks I do with my clients in job search coaching is to review the capability of their existing network to generate an abundance of job leads and referrals. One tiny element of this assessment/evaluation and improvement involves breaking down all your network contacts that you track (in ACT, Outlook, Goldmine, LinkedIn) and putting them in specific buckets.
Trusted Advisors as Networking Contacts
Let’s zoom down and get more specific in terms of one of the buckets or categories:
Trusted Advisors selling services to your future boss.
These Trusted Advisors are high level professionals who have a deep trust level with their clients – and their clients share lots of information, make requests, give and receive referrals in areas that have nothing to do with the Trusted Advisors’ functional expertise.
Why are Trusted Advisors an important networking contact “bucket” or category for executive job seekers?
Keep in mind that the hidden job market is roughly somewhere between 70-85% of all executive jobs (depending on where you get your information). At a minimum, 70% of all jobs you might be interested in are NOT published on job boards or advertised in the newspaper. Imagine what happens the next time a Trusted Advisor calls on a CFO and the CFO says “We’re looking at hiring a controller, who do you know?”
You want to be that referral.
Before that referral to you gets made, there are many steps to go through – including being able to identify the Trusted Advisor in the first place.
Unfortunately, less than 10% of all professional service providers could be tagged as a Trusted Advisor.
One of my tasks as a job search coach is to help guide you to identify the majority of trusted advisors in your geographic area that are selling services to your future boss. We’re just talking identification at this stage – we haven’t even moved to discussing the process of introduction, engagement, nurturing, and generating job leads and referrals from this specific networking “bucket” or category.
If I am a Trusted Advisor working for a payroll processing company and I suggest to the CFO that he/she should speak with you about their current controller opening – you’ve got an instant interview based on the strength of that Trusted Advisor Relationship. That’s the value of networking with not just anyone who sells services to CFOs – but rather networking with those who have the added credibility of being a Trusted Advisor.
I see from looking at your profile that you are a Controller. Let’s assume one of the titles for your future boss will be CFO. Who in your city or community sells payroll processing services to CFOs at the size of company you might be interested in joining? Now let’s expand our list to who are the top trusted advisors selling benefit programs, 401K processing services, temporary accounting services, CPA (tax and accounting/auditing) services, banking professionals? The list probably has 20-25 categories. You should have in your network the top 3 people for EACH of those categories.
The Value of a Job Search Coach
So, now let’s return to “what’s the value of a job search coach?” Here come some tough and introspective questions:
Have you done this assessment of your network for trusted advisors?
Have you made dramatic gains over the last 30 days in adding to your network these trusted advisors?
Do you have the 60-75 trusted advisors in your network that are selling high level services directly to CFOs?
Could you build this component of your network on your own within the next 30-60 days?
Have you gone through an exercise to identify who the very best, well connected, influencers are in your local community selling services/products to CFOs?
Who is missing from this bucket of network contacts?
What’s your precise strategy to connect, engage, nurture them – and ultimately get them to open up their rolodex to you for job leads and referrals?
Could you come up with a detailed plan to connect, engage, and generate numerous hot referrals on your own from Trusted Advisors?
Have you even thought about how this is one of numerous high value activities and tactics in your job search?
Do you have a specific written plan that you follow daily/weekly to build the “trusted advisor” bucket of your network?
Have you established metrics to measure the effectiveness of this networking strategy and do you have corrective options and back-up plans?
Have you established daily and weekly “stretch” goals for yourself around building your network with trusted advisors?
Who is holding you accountable to hitting those goals and objectives every week? What’s the pressure, consequence, reprimand if don’t hit the goals. Do you have someone giving you “tough love?”
That’s a lot of detail and work to build your Trusted Advisor Network – and it’s only one small component of an overall effective job search.
Imagine a job search coach walking you step-by-step through hundreds of similar activities, tactics, and strategies.
The number one problem in whether to use a job search coach, such as myself or Brad, is that most executive job search candidates are “unconsciously incompetent” (see my previous blog posting on this subject by clicking the link here) – you don’t know what you should be doing to conduct an effective job search.
I would be willing to wager a bet that most executive job search candidates have not even considered this as a strategy, or if they have – there is confusion over how to get started (unconsciously incompetent).
How many other powerful and impactful job search strategies are you MISSING because you’re too proud to admit that maybe someone with the right expertise could offer a lot of value to you?
I couldn’t pretend for a moment that I could do your job as a Controller – why would you believe that you could do the job of an expert in the area of job search coaching?
I don’t mean for this to turn into a personal selling message. Whether it’s me, Brad, or some other job search coach – the key point I would like to end this message on is that for most executives it is critical to hire a job search coach to help you navigate the changing job search landscape in one of the worst job markets since the great depression.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I just presented to one of the largest gatherings of job seekers in the Los Angeles area. The program was sponsored by the Catholic Arch Diocese and Interfaith Council.
Thousands of job seekers showed up who were desperate, not sure what to do next, and had been our of work for 6-12 months or more.
I don’t know about you – but I couldn’t handle being out of work for a year – and the bad news is that the job market will likely stagnate or get worse before it starts to turn around. It’s likely to be a year or more before we see a significant improvement in the job market.
Difference for coached/non-coached job seekers
This morning I started to think about what is one of the key differences between the executives I’m coaching in their job search, and those who showed up for the job search conference titled HOPE WORKS!
The key difference is that the job seekers I’m working with are getting coaching and the others are not. Allow me to be more specific:
Almost every executive candidate we have agreed to take on to conduct job search coaching has found a job within 90 days. By the 30 day mark, they are getting numerous leads, referrals, and interviews scheduled. In addition to real job opportunities, they are typically deluged with temporary and consulting opportunities. By the 60 day mark, they have a continuous stream of abundant job leads, referrals and opportunities. Their pipeline is full to the point of overflowing and they are overwhelmed with the response from their expanding network.
These candidates who are being coached have hundreds of job search tasks and activities and the combination of all those best practices is yielding great outcomes.
Conversely, the candidates not using coaching are floundering, frustrated, and not sure what to do next. Many have actually lost hope and have taken themselves off the job market.
Why are you not using job search coaching?
So, why are you not using coaching to help you in your job search?
I don’t mean the soft kind of career coaching that helps you figure out what you want to be when you grow up – I’m talking about the nitty-gritty, hardcore, focused effort around finding a great job in your specific niche.
You’ll invest in coaching for your kids piano lessons, baseball, basketball, and math tutoring – but you’re unwilling to invest in yourself to find a great job quickly.
I don’t get it.
I don’t see the logic.
Many of you might say “I can’t afford job search coaching”
Keep in mind the cost of effective job search coaching is inconsequential compared to the lost income of not being employed for another 6-12 months.
Let’s break it down into simple math. Let’s assume you earn $120k per year. If you go another 6-12 months without landing a job – which is very likely unless you’re generating at least 2-3 interviews a week right now – you’re going to be out-of-pocket $60-$120k in savings. Can you afford to do that?
What would you invest in yourself if you could cut that time in half and save $30-$60k?
It’s nothing more than a cost/benefit equation.
Okay – there is one huge issue bigger than the cost – picking a coach that has the proven ability to help you find a job within 3-6 months at the executive level.
Most job search coaches are useless – they don’t understand the process of networking, leveraging social media, blitzing an opening, having multiple strategies, and circumventing HR and recruiters to get to the hiring manager. As one example, most job search coaches tell you that it’s important to network, but they can’t walk you through step-by-step the 50 different things you have to do to generate an abundance of job leads and referrals.
Has this been your experience or frustration?
Self-Assessment of your job search
If you would like to see firsthand the value of good job search coaching, take our FREE Job Search Plan Assessment which you can download by clicking here. If you’re not hitting in the top 90% on your self-assessment, you desperately need job search coaching to accelerate and improve your job search plan. If your current job search coach is NOT covering everyone one of these issues, it’s time to make a change.
EVERY SINGLE DAY that goes by in which you don’t substantially improve your job search techniques, strategies, and tactics – means that you can basically add another week to the length of your job search. For example, if you HAVE NOT made huge leaps forward in your job search over the last 5 days, you can count on your job search taking another week tacked on to the end of 6, 12, or 18 months.
How many weeks are you going to add onto your job search, before you decide to invest in yourself like your parents did when they hired coaches/tutors for you when you were young, or like what you do now with your children.
STOP
STOP being in denial about how hard it is to conduct a job search!
STOP thinking you have all the knowledge to conduct an effective job search!
STOP thinking you have the internal discipline to stay focused on conducting an effective job search all by yourself!
STOP thinking in terms of fees for a job search coach, and start thinking about minimizing your lost income!
If you’re seeking a $100k or above level job, you owe it to yourself to find a great job search coach and immediately cut in half the time it’s going to take to find an outstanding career opportunity.
Recently, I was the keynote speaker for a large job search conference where there were roughly 1000 participants who had been trying to find a job for 6 months to a year or longer.
Very few job seekers in the entire conference were conducting an effective job search, and many had lost hope in terms of finding a new job.
The theme of the job search conference was JOB SEARCH HOPE. My opening remarks were along the path that HOPE comes from conducting an effective job search. A lack of HOPE stems from not knowing what to do next in your job search.
I proposed to the attendees that there are hundreds of job search activities that everyone should be working on daily and weekly in their job search. Unfortunately, many of the participants were stuck with one or two activities, such as calling on a couple of network contacts or answering job board ads. Many had put their proverbial “job search in one basket”. Have you made this mistake?
Why didn’t they know about all the other job search activities that could be doing – activities that would overflow their daily capacity and generate an abundance of job leads and referrals.
I call this the job search unconsciously incompetent syndrome.
If you’re a fan of Steven Covey, you’ll recall he puts forth a 2×2 matrix in “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. In this 2×2 matrix, Covey puts Consciousness-Unconsciousness on one axis and Competency-Incompetency on the other.
One of the intersections is the Unconsciously Incompetent – translated to a job search – it means the job seeker is not aware that they are incompetent – they don’t know what else is available, possible, or useful. How can this be?
The job seeker has not taken the time to:
Research best practices in job search
Read job search blogs from well-known experts
Purchase job search books from outstanding authors
Download FREE materials from job search publishers
I’m confused.
Maybe you could help me.
Why wouldn’t you devote every opportunity possible to exploring how to conduct a better job search?
Most job seekers are still conducting their job search as if it’s the last recession 5-10-20 years ago.
Why do most job seekers believe they can “go it alone”, they don’t no stinking help from someone else, or “no one can teach them new tricks”?
I am shocked to my core, that most job seekers are unconsciously incompetent in their job search – in spite of extraordinary material available that is either dirt cheap or FREE. Much of this material could help the vast majority of job seekers to cut their job search time by 10%, 25%, or perhaps even, 50%.
I’m looking for your comments to help me understand this dysfunctional syndrome of ineffective job search.
I’ll close with this thought – until you make the committed effort to “master” a job search through learning what it takes to conduct an effective job search – you’ll be stuck between luck and wishful thinking.
A lot of my ideas come from personal experience. Some directly as a part of my 2007 job search experience, some from my 18 years as a hiring manager and some that originate in life and remind me of either of those two.
Here is an example of the last one from this morning.
I woke to the sound of a beeping smoke alarm. Now if this has happened at your home, you know that it likely is a battery issue. And you know how frustrating it can be to stand under each detector waiting for it to beep.
That way you know which battery to change. Before you pull your hair out.
Not only is it annoying to wait. It is also incredibly inefficient.
And job seekers are making these same mistakes. Every day.
Job seekers have two major problems. They wait for others. And they act with a surprising lack of efficiency.
Having been there, I know. And meeting with 10-12 job seekers a week, I see it. So today my goal is to alert you to the problems. And then point you to some resources to help you solve them.
Problem #1 – Job Seekers Are Waiting
Just like my waiting under each smoke detector for the beep, job seekers spend too much time waiting. Waiting for others to impact their search.
In my experience, successful job search isn’t about waiting. It’s about taking action. And while there are times in job search when patience pays off, generally you are rewarded for constant and smart activity.
Problem #2 – Job Seekers Are Inefficient
Most job seekers I meet with don’t have specific goals. They act with impulse. And do what feels right each day. They apply for jobs even if not qualified, they socialize at networking events and, while they have a profile on LinkedIn, they don’t actually use the tool for what it is intended.
So set goals for your job search process. Monthly, weekly daily goals to keep you focused. And measure your ability to stay on track.
If you are on LinkedIn, use it to find key people in your extended network who work for your target companies. Don’t have target companies?
Someone asked me once: “what can I do to get my resume noticed?” My answer was to apply for jobs for which you are really well qualified.
As a hiring manager, I paid attention to resumes that included jobs, companies and experience and accomplishments that fit my needs (i.e. the job description). So while there are great things you can do to improve your resume and cover letter, nothing is better than being a good fit.
Career networking is essential in today’s job market. It is the single biggest reason I see some people landing new jobs and others struggling. But it’s not just career networking. It’s career networking with a purpose . It is specifically identifying who you need to meet and acting with purpose to find them online and at events you attend locally.
So if you are looking for a boost in your job search success, stop waiting for others and begin working with goals and a sense of purpose.
It will increase your confidence. And will stop that annoying beep
About the author:
Tim Tyrell-Smith is the founder of Tim’s Strategy: Ideas for Job Search Career and Life, a fast growing blog and website. Tim is also the author of: 30 Ideas. The Ideas of Successful Job Search. Download the book and other free tools at http://www.timsstrategy.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimsStrategy
Does the process of applying for a job feel like you’re trapped in a Rodney Dangerfield Comedy Skit?
I ran a recent blog article on Hire and Retain Top Talent Blog raising the question of whether hiring managers and human resource staff “mistreat” job applicants. The response was an overwhelming admission of guilt.
This blog article was sparked by a post I read on the About.Com Human Resources Blog. The primary point that the blog author, Susan Heathfield, makes in her post, is that candidates deserve a response and they deserve the right to know where they stand in your hiring process. They especially deserve the right to know on a timely basis if you reject them.
I am amazed at the number of employers who don’t have the courtesy to tell applicants they didn’t get the job, employers who are rude and inconsiderate to potential future employees during the interview process, and employers who are not responsive in returning emails or phone calls to applicants.
Have employers lost their manners?
Do employers feel a sense of superiority in that they can get away with mistreating job applicants in this job market recession?
Have a large percentage of employers simply forgotten the golden rule of dealing with people “Do unto others as…”
When you can’t get an employer to call you back after they’ve conducted a phone or face-to-face interview,
What’s your worst horror story of being mistreated by employers – either the hiring manager or someone on the HR staff?
After the “mistreatment” how did you feel about the company? What were the words you used to describe this employer to your your friends and business contacts?
