Why The Last Seven Resumes I Reviewed Failed

Cover Letter, Job Search Mistakes, Resume, Thank You Letters

Sometimes I just don’t understand what candidates do or don’t do. This is frustrating because so many times I’ve heard from candidates, “I already know that.”  The problem is that candidates think they know it, but in reality either don’t know it or just don’t do it.

Let’s take the example of resumes. Not necessarily my favorite topic, but one that is important. I often review resumes for candidates and I do this strictly from a recruiter’s perspective. Most of the resumes I review are for senior-level executives, many with graduate degrees. I am so often amazed that these senior-level executives expect to be hired, especially in this economy, when they can’t even put together a resume without errors.  Why in the world would a CEO or president expect them to put together a board presentation? The CEO or president would be completely embarrassed.

The following are some common mistakes that I see on a fairly regular basis. I know you don’t need to read these, because these would never happen to you, so consider reading them for all of the other people that need help.

1) Spelling errors. I’m not referring to the obvious ones that a spell checker picks up. I mean the ones a spell checker doesn’t pick up and require proofreading by someone else. Words such as grow not grown, its or it’s, to or too, you’re instead of  your, using the instead of that, using and instead of or, and finally, a lot is two words.

2) Grammar, punctuation or formatting errors. Common problems are overuse of commas, no periods at the end of sentences, capitalizing some words and not others, capitalizing too many words, inconsistent format, phrases that just end, mixing plural verbs with a singular subject, and punctuation marks should go inside quotes and outside parentheses.

3) Incorrect use of words. Neither and nor, either and or, accept and except, lose and loose, a and an, are some mistakes I commonly find.

As a recruiter, I would be embarrassed to present these resumes to a client. What does this say about the executive if they can’t put together a resume without common errors? Don’t they have these proofed? What kind of presentation would they make, what would their reports look like, and how many errors would be in a white paper? One has to ask themselves these questions when reviewing a resume with these types of errors.

I am by no means an English major, and I sure have made many mistakes writing articles. I know this because people seem to get pleasure out of pointing out my mistakes. I have learned a lot from these comments. However, a blog article is not a resume. There is a big difference in the two. If I were submitting this article to Fortune or the WSJ, I would pay to have it professionally edited.  Like it or not, a resume has to be perfect. That is the standard. I didn’t set the standard, I just live by it and you should too.

Please help yourself. Take the time to have others proof your resume. Invest in a professional to edit it. Don’t DOUBLE check your resume, TRIPLE check it, and then check it one more time just to be sure.

Remember the golden rule, when in doubt check it out. Here is an excellent site to use to check http://www.grammarbook.com/english_rules.asp

Since all of the people reading this article never make these mistakes, one has to wonder (not wander) why I wrote the article.

One final point, these same principles apply to cover and thank you letters.

I hope this helps all of those other people that make these mistakes.

I welcome your thoughts and comments, even those that will surely point out errors in this article.

If this was helpful to you, please help others by posting it to your LinkedIn groups, Facebook page or Twitter.

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

If you would like to know if your job search is fully utilized and you are doing the right things, download our free Job Search Self- Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resource link.

Brad Remillard

7 Reasons Recruiters Screen You Out

Face-to-Face Inteviewing, Interviewing, Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation, Recruiters

I know from all of the comments I receive, the tweets on Twitter, and the comments on blogs and articles about recruiters, that one of the biggest frustrations with candidates is about recruiters. On a daily basis I read, how mean recruiters are, how people claim to be qualified for a job don’t get past the recruiter, how people with years of experience  get weeded out by recruiters, and of course, the black hole resumes go in when candidates send them to recruiters.

First, let me clarify that I’m not trying to justify bad behavior by some and maybe even many recruiters. Every profession has them, some more than others. There are even bad doctors, engineers, pastors and so on. The purpose of this article is to clarify for candidates what recruiters do and why, to help reduce the frustration. I hope by understanding, although maybe not accepting, it will make it easier on candidates.

Recruiters don’t really care if you are qualified, have years of experience, or have all the right skills, knowledge, and certifications. Obviously these are required. You must recognize that many candidates have these for every job. Recruiters don’t get paid  for finding candidates with these traits. I can tell you as a recruiter for 30 years, and one that still makes a living as a recruiter, how much I wish this was the case. If  it were the case, I would be writing this article sitting on my yacht, instead of my patio.  We get paid only for finding hireable candidates.

I learned this in my first year as a recruiter. I would ask the client if they liked the candidate and many times they would say they did. I would ask if they thought the candidate was qualified and they would reply, “Yes.” I would even ask if they thought the candidate could do the job and they would reply, “YES.”  These were all good questions that lead me to believe the candidate was going to get hired, only to find out someone else got the job other than my candidate. Why? How could this be? I was just as mad, frustrated, and upset as the candidate.

The answer was simple. One day I was venting my frustration to a much more experienced recruiter who informed me that I wasn’t asking the right question. He said those are all nice things to know, but those aren’t what I care about. The question I should have asked was, “Is the candidate hireable?” Now that question has a completely different meaning. It is what I and the candidate really wanted to know.

So what is hireable? Well, as one justice on the Supreme Court once said, “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.”  So much of what is “hireable” is subjective by both the recruiter and the hiring team and is hard to define. The following is my best shot at trying to define it. This is by no means an all-inclusive list. Again, it is designed to simply help candidates better understand, with the idea that understanding helps reduce frustration.

1. The candidate has all of the requirements to do the job. This is a given.
2. The candidate is neither under qualified or over qualified. My experience is that candidates accept the under qualified, but rarely accept the concept of over qualified. Either one makes a candidate not hireable.
3. Presentation. I have written extensively about this. Recruiters care a great deal about how you present yourself. I don’t just mean physical presentation. I mean the complete package of presentation skills. Your presentation skills start the minute you answer the phone for the first time.
4. Communication skills must be appropriate for the position. This just happened to me recently. I was doing a search for a communications person in a PR firm. One candidate had all of the right qualifications on paper, a good background, good schools, but constantly used the word “like” in just about every sentence. One would expect a person in PR communications to know better. Sorry, but not hireable from my point of view. My client would question my judgment if I recommended them for a communications position and they couldn’t communicate properly.
5. Style is important. Granted this is very subjective, but this is why companies are willing to pay recruiters thousands of dollars. They trust our judgment on this issue. If the style of the candidate doesn’t match that of the hiring manager then the candidate may not be hireable. It doesn’t mean that  the person isn’t a good person, it just means that they aren’t the right person.
6. Fit is another highly subjective characteristic that determines hireability. If your personality isn’t going to meld with that of the hiring manager or the company’s culture, then you aren’t hireable for this position. Not everyone is the right fit. I interview candidates all the time that tell me they left the company because it just wasn’t a good fit. I know recruiters do their best to make sure this is aligned. Nobody benefits if the candidate doesn’t work out because they can’t adjust to the company.
7. Listening and answering the questions. This is part of communication, but needs special attention. Every recruiter is assessing how you listen and answer their questions. Recruiters know this is an indication of how you will perform in front of the client. This is the point at which most candidates eliminate themselves. They don’t answer the question asked, their answers are so vague it is impossible to know what THEY did, or they ramble on in hopes of covering everything. As a result, I would not only be embarrassed to present you to my client, but worse, my client would be upset with me for doing so.

From my position as an executive recruiter, these are just the top seven things a candidate must excel at to be hireable.

Is your resume not getting noticed by recruiters? Try using this sample cover letter. Candidates tell us this cover letter has tripled their response rate from recruiters. CLICK HERE to download this sample cover letter.

For a lot more on this topic, and other job search related topics, join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. It is a great resource for career experts and discussion. It is free. CLICK HERE to join.

Is your job search going as well as  you thought it would? Is it moving slower  than you expected? If it is, then download our FREE 8-Point Job Search Assessment Scorecard. It will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your job search. CLICK HERE to download.

If you liked this article, please share it with others on your Facebook page, other LinkedIn groups, or with your contacts.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad

Is Your Job Search Focused On Employment or Employability?

Interviewing, Job Search Mistakes, Networking

My experience from speaking with tens of thousands of candidates over the last 30 years as an executive recruiter is that most candidates focus like a laser beam on employment. Finding that next job is all they think about.  Not bad, but I have found that those that find a job fastest focus on employability first.

Changing the focus will change your search. When candidates focus on only finding a job, they often lose sight of why they are employable. This focus changes how they interview, where they look, the process for finding a job, and ultimately leads to accepting the wrong job, which results in returning to the job market sooner than expected.

Focusing on employment can also lead to desperation in a job search. Download a FREE copy of the “Circle Of Transition” CLICK HERE. This shows up in the interview as fear, poor body language, lack of energy, incomplete answers or rambling answers. It impacts the job search as candidates try to demonstrate how they can do everything, in every industry, and regardless of whether they are a 10% or 100% fit for the job, they scramble after it. This only dilutes their search, sends them on wild goose chases, increases the many highs and lows of a search, and in the end gets the candidate no closer to getting a job.

Instead, what if you changed the focus to employability? This will alter how you view yourself and what you have to offer. It starts the process of realizing you have value, you are good at what you do, the company will be better off because they hired you, your boss will look better to their boss for hiring you, and you know you can and will do a great job.

Employability is about what you bring to the party. It is about focusing on what makes  you better than others. What is it about  you that this employer can’t live without? Every person they interview will probably have the same skills and experience to do the job, so why should they hire you?  It puts you in a position of strength.

Employability will expand your job search, not reduce it. It may eliminate some of the long shots that frustrate many candidates and at the same time it will increase the exposure to positions that have a higher probability of success.  I firmly believe one of the main reasons candidates we coach find jobs faster than most is because we work to change their focus to employability and away from employment.

Employability will help you create a job where jobs don’t yet exist. My last article was about finding the true hidden job market before others and recruiters. Employability helps you to not only tap into the hidden job market but it gets employers thinking about why they need you and your unique set of skills and experiences. Employers start to think about how much better they will perform with you on board. They begin to realize the solutions to their issues of growth, expansion, cost reduction, process improvement, etc, isn’t inside company. You become the savior to these problems. Employability turns you into a solution rather than just another candidate applying for a job.

Focusing on employability is much like what a CEO of a public company said to me many years ago. He said, “The focus of many public companies is the stock price and hitting the quarterly numbers. That will never be ours. We focus on building great products, innovation, customer service, and high quality. If we do that, the stock price and quarterly earnings will take care of themselves.”

If you focus on employability, employment will take care of itself.

To help you focus on employability be sure to download our free radio show recordings. They are in our candidate audio library. CLICK HERE to enter the library.

To validate whether or not your job search is effective, we have put together a job search self assessment scorecard. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. This free download will help you identify weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to download your free copy.

Tired of sending resumes and hearing nothing back? Try this cover letter. It has proven over many years to increase responses from recruiters and companies. Download a sample by CLICKING HERE

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

How To Find The Hidden Jobs Before Recruiters and Others Do

Cover Letters, Job Search Mistakes, Marketing, Networking

What does the term “hidden job market” mean to you? Where do you think this hidden job market exists? How do you tap into this hidden job market?

To many candidates, I believe the “hidden job market”  means those jobs not listed with recruiters or posted on the Internet, either on a job board or a company’s website. Candidates tend to think that this means that HR or a hiring manager may be networking to fill the open jobs. HR or the hiring manager may be contacting trusted advisors, past employees, friends and family, or trying to fill the job by word of mouth. It really isn’t blasted out for everyone to find. It takes some digging, networking, and even some luck to locate.

If this is what you think  of as the “hidden job market,” I believe that you are completely missing the real hidden job market.

Good recruiters know that once a job opening hits the streets, in any form, it is no longer hidden. It may be harder to find than jobs  posted on the Internet, but they aren’t hidden. In many cases the jobs are hidden in plain sight. Just having a good network of people will help you find these.

The real hidden job market takes time and, as Julie LaCroix of Power Connections preaches with her clients, “research” to find the true hidden job market.

Hidden jobs are the jobs that haven’t been posted, haven’t been circulated, and in fact may not even exist. Hidden jobs are the jobs companies are anticipating hiring or thinking they may need in the next couple of months. These are the jobs that a growing company knows it will need to hire, the positions that a company expanding into new markets needs, the jobs that a company just moving to the area will be hiring, or the jobs that if the right person came along they would create a position. The hidden jobs also include those positions that become available because some quits, retires, or is fired. This is the true hidden job market.

I started recruiting 30 years ago and this was part of Recruiting 101 training. For years I read the section “People On Move” in our local business journal. I would call the company that the person left to see if I could present them with a candidate. I wanted to engage them before they put it out on the street, or in those days, the newspaper.

Candidates waste too much time conducting worthless networking, going to meetings, coffees, lunches, and so on. Sooner or later they get burned out on networking. Most will let this often meaningless activity occupy 75% of their time.  For most, this is a lot of time with little or no results to show for it.  Julie makes a great point that instead of spending 75% of your time networking,  change the mix to 50% of your time spent doing research to find the hidden job market and 25% networking.  This is such a great concept that I wish I could take credit for it.

Julie was a Wall Street recruiter for almost a decade and she knows this from personal experience. One more reason I believe that the best coaches you can work with in your job search are current or past recruiters. Recruiters live job searching. That is what we do. After 10 years we are as good at what we do, as you are at what you do.  If  you are ever going to pay someone to help you with any aspect of your job search, my recommendation is always find a person that was a SUCCESSFUL recruiter. They know the tricks of the trade just like Julie.

Here are some suggestions to help:

1 .Subscribe to your local business journal. This is a must. Read it weekly for tips on what companies are doing in your area.  This is research. You will discover companies that discuss how they are rapidly growing, sales are increasing, or you might read about a company looking to outsource in China. A company may announce that they are opening a new facility in your area, or many will reveal in their articles new systems they are implementing, expansion plans in Europe, the need for new distribution facility, and so on.

These are all great tips that you should take advantage of. These companies are going to have a need for a person with your skills and experience. This is your chance to engage them before they go to market and hundreds of other candidates start contacting them.

2. Don’t forget the People On The Move section. Most companies don’t hire from within. Often because they are too small to have people in place ready to go if someone leaves. Also, few companies can fill a position within the two or three week notice period given by the departing employee.

3. The business journals will discuss the hottest industries in your community. Then you can do some simple research in your community to find businesses in these industries.

Now you can send these companies a targeted letter introducing yourself and how your experience will benefit them as they tackle these issues. You are ahead of the hiring curve,  not behind it as most candidates are.

The other great benefit to the method is that you are not competing against 500 other resumes received, 300 candidates sending emails, 100 candidates searching for connections on LinkedIn or 50 candidates calling the hiring manager or stopping by the company.

You have the exclusive on these hidden jobs.

Consider changing your strategy to 50% of your time researching the hidden job market and 25% networking.

Would you like to know if your job search is effective? If you would, then download our free Job Search Self Assessment Scorecard and rate your job search. This will also help you find any weaknesses in your job search so you can fix them. CLICK HERE to download.

If you need to make sure that your Linkedin profile is outstanding and compelling, our LinkedIn Assessment will definitely help you. It is free to download. CLICK HERE.

Finally, cover letters can be tricky. We have a sample cover letter that is proven to align your background with the job. Recruiters and HR like this style as it makes their job easier. CLICK HERE for your free sample.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Your Skills and Experience Don’t Matter In An Interview

Face-to-Face Inteviewing, Interviewing, Job Search Mistakes

I know most candidates don’t believe this, but there is a lot of truth to this.  There actually is something much more important in an interview than your skills and experience. The sad part is that most candidates rarely focus on this aspect of the interview.

Do you know the three most important words in any job search?

I have asked this question to probably thousands of candidates. Less than 1% can get even one right.

If you thought: qualifications, experience, skills, or industry knowledge, you are completely wrong. Those may be important, but they are not the most important.

The three words that will more often than not get you the job over someone else are, presentation, presentation, presentation. Yes, getting an offer is mostly about making a good, make that a great, presentation. A good presentation was adequate when unemployment was at 4%, but not now with unemployment at almost 10%. Now it needs to be great.

In our book on how to conduct an effective  job search, “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” we have a whole section dedicated to this topic alone. That is how important a great  presentation is. Many qualified people don’t get the job. Usually the one that does get the offer is the one that made the best presentation.

Since the recruiter or the hiring manager has already reviewed your resume before asking you in for an interview, and in many cases they have also conducted a phone screening interview, they already know you are qualified. Therefore, when a candidate is invited in for an interview, the recruiter or hiring manager has already determined that the candidate has the qualifications for the position or they wouldn’t invite them in for an interview. This means that just about all of the candidates are equal when the face-to-face interview begins. It is the presentation at this point that carries them the rest of the way.

Think about it on a scale of one to ten. Let’s presume that in order to get invited back for the next round, a candidate has to get to a score of at least 8. Since all of the candidates are starting at zero while standing in the lobby waiting for that first face-to-face interview, the candidate that makes the best first impression can jump up 4 points on the scale and the interview hasn’t even started. Now during the interview they only need 4 more points to get asked back. Contrast that with those that don’t make a strong presentation and they have to do double the work of  the first candidate in order to get asked back. If one makes a negative first impression and drops to -2,  then the mountain they have to climb is just too great and they will never be asked back.

There are a lot of moving parts to making a great presentation. Most are obvious, but some will take time to master and others will require getting expert help. The importance can’t be overstated.  Here is a test to determine whether or not you are making a great presentation, if you are getting interviews and not getting the job, my experience of 30 years tells me  that your presentation is lacking. Since you are getting interviews your qualifications and resume are working. That means that something is going wrong in the interviewing process. 90% of the time it is your presentation.

Here are some suggestions to help out:

1. Be open to the fact that this might be your issue. Don’t just assume that it isn’t. If things aren’t working, then change something. If  you are closed minded on this then you will continue to struggle and be frustrated.
2. Get some very candid help. Identify someone that you trust to be open and honest with you, maybe a recruiter, and ask them about  your presentation. I met a great candidate lately with outstanding experience. He has been getting numerous interviews, but kept coming in second. I can assure you it is his presentation. In our interview he never asked for any feedback. He never asked how the interview went or  if there was anything he can improve.  If asked I’m glad to assist.
3. Invest in an image coach. This is a small investment compared to not getting a job. Take the candidate I referred to above, an investment of probably less than $500 would have meant tens of thousands of dollars to this person by landing a job. An image coach will really polish your presentation. They work on just about every aspect of a great presentation. This sounds so silly, but it even includes how you walk, sit in a chair, shake hands, make eye contact, how to use body language, facial expressions, hand movements, and so much more. All of this sounds so trivial, but collectively it plays a major role.
4. Script out your answers. Script is just a fancy word for write out your answers to the basic questions you know you are going to be asked. This is one of the most important things that I require when I’m doing job search coaching with an executive. Writing these out helps you to prepare so you aren’t winging it in the interview. It also allows you to practice, so now you demonstrate confidence. Finally, it prepares you so that you are succinct and focused when answering questions.
5. Practice in front of a mirror or video yourself. If you have never done this, it is an eye opener. You will see how you sit in the chair, hand motions, how your voice projects, mannerisms you don’t even know you are making, many of which may be down right annoying. This is a powerful exercise that very few candidates ever do.

Presentation, presentation, presentation are the most important words in any job search.

Take full advantage of the many free resources we offer on our website. For example, we have an extensive audio library for you to download free files, our chapter on winning the phone interview has been downloaded by over 3,000 people, and our sample cover letter that makes you stand out has been downloaded by over 2,500 people. These are just a few of the numerous free resources we offer to help you reduce your time in search.

Also don’t forget to join our Job Search Networking group on LinkedIn. This is a very active group with lots of excellent discussions and resources. CLICK HERE to join.

Please take full advantage of all the free resources we have to offer. It is our hope to help you reduce your time searching for a new job.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Is Your Job Search Stalled?

Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation

In a recent survey, over 50% of executive and managerial candidates currently conducting a job search have been out of work for over a year. Why is your job search taking so long? In this radio program, Brad and Barry talk about the most important elements of an effective job search. Are you ready to assess what is working and what is NOT working in your job search? Your success in finding a new job is NOT about 1 or 2 big wins, it’s all the little details of effective execution.

To download this radio show CLICK HERE.

Are You Effectively Using LinkedIn in Your Job Search?

Job Search Mistakes, Networking, On-line Social Networking

LinkedIn is the most effective online tool for professional networking. However, most executive and managerial job search candidates under utilize the power of LinkedIn for the their job search. In this radio program, Brad and Barry discuss the various elements of creating a powerful and effective strategy that incorporates LinkedIn as a key component of your job search. Can you be easily found by recruiters, HR professionals and hiring managers?

To download this radio show CLICK HERE.

Avoid the Trash Can with Compelling Cover Letters

Cover Letters, Job Search Mistakes, Phone Interviewing

Cover Letters make a big difference determining whether your resume goes into the trash can or lands in the “call for phone interview” pile.

Jim Kukral, in a recent blog article mentioned he was reading an article in the June 2010 issue of Inc. Magazine where Jason Fried, the founder of 37 Signals – a popular software company, talked about their screening criteria. I also saw the article, but thought I would give Jim the credit since he’s the first I’ve seen mention it.

Jason mentioned that the company first looks to the cover letter that tells a story about the person much better than the traditional resume. Take a moment or two and read the whole article. More and more hiring managers are focusing on the importance of the cover letter.

This is a must read article RECONFIRMING what we’ve been saying all along that you’ve got to include a cover letter with your resume to GRAB the attention of a recruiter, HR pro, or hiring manager. Sending resumes without cover letters or using a standard form will net you the trash can.

Don’t be a trash can magnet.

Here a few other articles we’ve published on the importance of using a cover letter:

Cover Letter + Great Resume = Job Interview

Does anybody read or care about cover letters?

You can even download a FREE sample cover letter by clicking here. This has been one of our most popular downloads.

We provide a step-by-step cover letter tutorial in our job search workbook “This is NOT the Position I Accepted.” Discover how to construct a powerful cover letter that increases your selection for job interviews by 30%, 40%, or 50%.

The sequence goes like this for most recruiters, HR professionals, and hiring managers:

1. First and Primary Step: Attention is grabbed by cover letter
2. Second step is to take a quick look at your resume
3. Third step is a quick web search by googling your name
4. Fourth step is an invitation to a phone interview
5. Fifth Step is an invitation to a face-to-face interview.

How to interview is IRRELEVANT if you never captured their attention in the first place with your cover letter.

Once you have captured their attention, another one of our very popular downloads is the free chapter in our workbook, titled “Winning the Phone Interview”. Don’t get to the stage of being phone interviewed – only to hear the deadly phrase “don’t call us – we’ll call you if we’re interested.”

You can download the FREE Chapter on Phone Interviewing by clicking here.

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group which is rapidly becoming one of the most vibrant and dynamic job search forums on the Internet.

Don’t Blame Me For Your Job Search Lack of Success

Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation

In one of my recent blog posts, I suggested that if your job search is now moving past one year, in most situations your job search is ineffective. You can read that post about job search failure by clicking here.

From my perch regarding ineffective job searches

I was deluged with hate mail.

It’s not my fault that your job search is taking so long.

I sit up on this perch and everyday talk to a lot of candidates and hiring managers. I’ve been doing it for 25 years. This is the 5th or 6th major recession and job market depression I’ve been through.

I’m sharing with you hard, quantifiable facts and information based on surveys, research, and talking to hundreds of unemployed candidates on a weekly basis.

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that if you’re still conducting a job search after one year, you’re not doing everything you could be doing to conduct an effective job search.

A number of candidates got indignant and upset that I could make such a suggestion.

Prove me wrong about your job search effectiveness

Then prove me wrong!

• Take our FREE Job Search Self-Assessment. Download the Job Search Self-Assessment by clicking here.
• Absolutely no obligation to buy a single thing.
• It’s FREE! Thousands have used this self-assessment to improve their job search.

If you’re not hitting 3’s (the top score) on almost every item, then you’ve still got a lot of room to improve. If you can honestly score yourself as 3’s on every item, I’ll stand corrected on whether you’re conducting an effective job search. I acknowledge that there are always “exceptions to the rule.”

However, in most situations, if 100 candidates were to complete the self-assessment, one out of ten – less than 10% – are conducting a job search that might be categorized as adequate or minimally effective.

In this job market – which has been compared to the Great Depression – and doesn’t seem to be getting any better – you can’t get by conducting an “adequate” or minimally effective” job search.

If you want to complete an executive or managerial job search in less than one year – you’ve got to take it into the top 10% NOT bottom 10%.

Once again, I’m going to go way out on a limb and suggest that the vast majority of unemployed candidates I’ve interviewed for executive search assignments in the last year and with whom I’ve conducted a brief survey – they are conducting at best barely adequate job searches and at worst completely ineffective job searches.

Don’t be conducting a job search after 18 months

But don’t take my word for it – take the FREE Job Search Assessment yourself and discover whether there is room for personal improvement in your job search. If you don’t think we’ve covered all the bases on the assessment or some of the categories are not appropriate – fire off a comment.

We’re always looking to improve based on feedback. Would you make the same comment about your job search?

I don’t want to see you still conducting a job search after 18 months. Brad and I want to help you bring your job search to a close right now.

However, you’ve got to be willing to move past all the excuses and explanations and do the things required to kick your job search into a high state of effectiveness. Are you up for the challenge?

Doing the same thing for the next 6 months that you’ve been doing for the last 12 months will mean that we’ll be having this conversation again when your job search is at the 18 month point. Don’t let this happen to you.

Here’s my offer to you – if you’re at an executive level and you’ve been conducting a job search for at least one year, complete the Job Search Self-Assessment and send it back to me. I’ll review it and check out your activity level on-line (you have to send me an invite on LinkedIn to do this) and give you a quick assessment and recommendations of how you might improve your job search.

Are you game for a “check-up” OR would you rather make excuses and explanations for why your job search is not working?

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group. Discover all the best practices that combine to make an effective job search.

Why Are You Still Unemployed a Year Later?

Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation

You’re still unemployed because your job search is ineffective.

I don’t accept the excuse “it’s a bad economy and that’s why you’re still out of work.”

It’s not appealing when you play the victim and adopt a LOSER mentality.

Common Frustrations of Conducting a Job Search

Yes of course – the bad economy does make job search more difficult.

Yes of course – there are fewer jobs available than when it’s a thriving job market.

Yes of course – employers are taking longer to make a decision and slowing down the hiring process

Yes of course – most recruiters have nothing to work on – so your phone is not ringing.

Yes of course – in a down job market – most employers are box-checking waiting for the perfect candidate who fits every item on their job description: “You’ve only got 7 years of  food service distribution experience into Mexican Restaurants with greater than 50 rooftops in the NW region of the country – Gee whiz, we need someone with 8 years of experience selling to chains with more than 65 rooftops.” Many employers are nitpicking the details of your background – not focusing on whether you can achieve their desired results.

I know all these problems. I’ve seen candidates face them in 5-6 recessions over the last 25 years and not one of the issues related to job search frustrations is different today than it was in 1985.

However, the process of conducting a job search has changed dramatically and the vast majority of candidates DO NOT GET IT or are IN DENIAL over how to conduct an effective job search.

Allow me to share a few recent examples to drive this point home:

First Proof YOUR JOB SEARCH IS INEFFECTIVE

A few weeks ago, my partner, Brad Remillard, ran a survey on LinkedIn regarding length of time currently unemployed executives and managers have been unemployed. In an unscientific survey/poll of executive and managerial candidates, Brad discovered that over 75 percent of those currently unemployed had been unemployed for approximately one year.

Frightening. Unimaginable. Shocking. Frustrating. Incomprehensible.

I just cannot understand how anyone – unless they have a bottomless pit of money – or their spouse is the significant bread-winner – can survive for a year without working.

I hate to be the harbinger of bad news – but prepare yourself for a job market that’s close to crashing again – as if it couldn’t get any worse. We could be 18-24 months away from a job market recovery.

I digress – let’s come back to WHY YOUR JOB SEARCH IS INEFFECTIVE:

Second Proof YOUR JOB SEARCH IS INEFFECTIVE

I just finished an interview with a candidate for one of my National Account Sales Manager Searches. Before I started interviewing the candidate (let’s pretend his name is Bob to protect the innocent), I asked him some questions about his job search (an informal survey I am conducting with EVERY candidate whom I interview).

Little bit of background first: Bob has an outstanding proven track record of success for a position in area that I am recruiting for. I would suggest that there are probably at least 20-25 of these searches going on at any time. Some are being done directly by the company through traditional advertising, some are being conducted by recruiters (such as yours truly), and some are in the “hidden job market”– no recruiters and no advertising – just good old classic networking and referrals.

Every response that Bob gave me to my questions about what he was doing on his job search to find a new job was very similar to the candidates I’ve spoken to since the start of this year. Let’s peg that overall number at roughly 500 candidates based on 20-25 candidates a week.

I’ve got a dozen examples of why Bob’s job search is ineffective. It’s not one thing that’s leading to job search failure – it’s the fact that he’s not doing all 12 things effectively.

Here’s my small, itty-bitty, and trite example that is reflective of his overall job search failure:

I asked him what has he done on LinkedIn to create a compelling profile. He thought he had done a good job. I viewed his profile and it was far from compelling. In fact, I’d give it “D”. Obviously, he has not invested the time to create a compelling linkedin profile for job search.

I then asked him how many times does it show that his background has appeared in search results (about half of what the number should be weekly – he’s getting in 12-15 search results – should be 20-25).

I asked him how many times his profile had been viewed (again half the recommended volume – he’s at 5-7 and it should be 10-15). Obviously, he’s not optimized his LinkedIn Profile to appear in searches by recruiters, HR professionals, and hiring managers.

I asked him if he’s active in groups, Questions/Answers, status updates – his response was basically inactive. Obviously, he’s not using the multitude of FREE tools that LinkedIn provides for job seekers to enhance job search networking and referrals.

This is one small element of an overall effective job search – but indicative of all the other things he should be doing and is NOT doing. It’s unfortunate that he’s been out of work for almost a year – his job search should have been over in 4-6 months if he had conducted an effective job search.

Would You Like To Be Part of Our Research Study?

We are going to undertake a research study using the Key Elements of our Job Search Assessment Tool which follows the format of our Job Search Methodology. (You can download the Job Search Assessment Tool for FREE by clicking here).

One group will be those unsuspecting candidates that I interview and ask questions about their job search – we’ll correlate their length of unemployment with their job search effectiveness.

The second group – for which we need volunteers – are those executive level candidates (VP title and annual compensation of at least $150K) who would like to go through an intensive FREE course and coaching program of using our Job Search Success Methodology. We’ll track the time it takes you to find a new job using our approach.

FREE Job Search Course and Coaching Program

This FREE course and coaching program will be an abbreviated version of our formal executive job search coaching program.

My hypothesis is that those who are willing to invest the time and energy in our job search methodology will see a 50% reduction in the time it takes to find a new job.

If the average length of time to find a job in your given profession, industry, or geography is one year – you should be able to reduce that to 6 months or less using our methodology.

DON’T RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU’RE NOT SERIOUS ABOUT FINDING A GREAT JOB QUICKLY

This is an intensive, rigorous, focused approach to job search. You’ll probably spend 60-80 hours a week on the process. You’ll be held accountable for completing assignments and tasks or you’ll be dropped from the course if you cannot keep up with the pace OR you’re not motivated to find a great job quickly.

Not everyone will be accepted into this free course and coaching program. We will only take the first 25 applicants that can pass a rigorous screening interview with high standards for excellence, commitment, stick-to-it mentality, initiative, and focus.

If you’re interested in being part of this select group, write a comment to this blog post and I’ll follow-up with you.

Barry

If you would like to be considered for this FREE course and coaching program, there are a couple of homework assignments first (I’m already donning my professorial hat):

Download the Job Search Assessment by clicking here

Download the FREE Chapter on phone interviewing in our Career Success Methodology by clicking here.

Download some of the FREE Audio Programs in our extensive library by clicking here.

Then decide if you want to raise your hand and be considered for this exclusive and elite FREE coaching program.