Be Prepared For That Next Interview

A job search is much like a cable news show,  you have to get your point across in sound bites. You often don’t have time to give a detailed answer. Candidates need to get comfortable with doing this.

Think about all the times during your job search when you are required to give the famous, “30 second talk.” Many times during the interview process you have a short period of time to answer the question or give your introduction, you use bullet points on your resume and even your business card,  and all of these require you to express yourself in just a few words.

This is one reason why a job search is so difficult. Not only is it very difficult to speak in sound bites, but most candidates are not prepared on how to do it. This technique takes practice. This is not a case where you can just wing it. How many times have you left a meeting, only to realize you didn’t give a great answer to a question, didn’t get your point across as well as you would have liked to or thought, “OOPS I forgot to say ___.” This happens mainly because the candidate hasn’t taken the time to really get prepared.

A job search is not the time for on-the-job training.

It is our experience that candidates wait too long to understand this point. You can’t wait and hope you will do just fine. First off,  “just fine” in this economy doesn’t cut it. Secondly, in this economy, there may not be a second chance for months.

As part of our job search coaching programs, we spend a lot of time preparing candidates for these short sound bites.  Although frustrating for candidates, we have seen these sound bites pay off so many times, and we have to continually reassure the candidates of the need to prepare for them.

Candidates need to spend more time preparing and less time running to networking meetings, coffees, and one-on-ones until they are completely prepared. We find that candidates waste  excellent opportunities because they were not prepared on how to communicate in sound bites. I get calls weekly asking how best to do a do-over because the candidate believes they missed an opportunity.

There are rarely do-overs in a job search.

To learn how to speak in sound bites consider:

1. Write out what you want to say. Then wordsmith it until it is less than one minute.
2. Get help. This is a difficult task that takes experience. Don’t be afraid to invest in some professional help.
3. Take the known items and the comments or questions, such as your introduction, elevator talk, the question,”Tell me about  yourself,” or “So, what do you do?”  Most of you know these, since you have been asked them many times during  your search, and convert them into short sentences that get the point out in less than one minute.
4. Practice them. Go to people in your network and test them. This is like any marketing campaign.
5. Once you have the answers for these then add one more set of comments and answers. Having two different sound bites is always a good thing.

Take some time to step back and get prepared. I know every candidate wants to jump into a job search as soon as possible. The problem is this jump is often in the wrong direction.

Like most things in life, if  you do the ground work, get prepared, and do some planning things go a lot better.

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 8 Matrix Job Search Self- Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resource link.

I welcome  your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Why is hiring a job search coach so unusual for most executive job seekers?

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.

Barry Deutsch

PS – Once again, you can download the FREE Job Search Self-Assessment by clicking this link. If you’re not conducting an effective job search, perhaps now is the time to consider investing in a job search coach before you waste another 2-3 months.

2 Major Job Search Problems You Can Fix This Week

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.

Waiting for:

–   recruiters to find them a job
–    a job search engine to return a relevant result
–    the blind resume blitz to turn up a hidden job

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

How To Find The Hidden Jobs Before Recruiters and Others Do

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

Have You Fed Your Recruiter Today?

Recruiters need nourishment too.

Like the little fake babies they give to middle-school/junior high students to carry around, feed, clean, and nurture for a few days – if you don’t take care of it – bad things happen.

Your recruiter relationship is exactly the same!

Brad recently wrote an excellent blog post about why you don’t get your calls returned from recruiters – here is another key reason (huge hot button for me):

Recruiters need nourishment too.

What have you done to nurture, feed, support, and provide love to your recruiter relationship?

If you’re not going to go out of your way to build and sustain a relationship with a recruiter, why should they invest the time and energy with you?

If I get a CFO search, the first group I look at to see if there is a qualified candidate is my inner circle of deep relationships. I’ll only turn to referrals, cold calls, and other networking strategies if my immediate network doesn’t contain the ideal candidate.

Are you an ideal candidate in any recruiter’s network?

Let’s assume for a moment you’ve been referred to a recruiter that you’ve been trying to build a relationship with for years. Finally, the recruiter takes your your call based on the referral and the relationship starts. Let’s also pretend that at this exact moment, the recruiter does not have an assignment that matches up with your background.

What do you do to ensure your background and capabilities stay in the forefront of the recruiter’s brain? How do you get your name to pop up every single time an appropriate search crosses the recruiter’s desk?

Classic networking techniques is the correct answer.

What do master networkers do to build relationships?

• Send articles of interest to the recruiter
• Make appropriate referrals on possible assignments or with potential candidates on other searches
• Send information about yourself to the recruiter – your latest blog posting, a copy of a particularly insightful article you wrote for a trade journal
• Offer to grab a cup of coffee together
• Refer other candidates and hiring managers to the recruiter

I could count on one hand the number of times a candidate has used any of the above tactics with me.

Relationships are not based on sending a piece of paper to a recruiter. If you want your calls returned, it’s time to start developing a deep and meaningful relationship.

I am convinced that one of the major reasons so many executives have been out of work for so long is that they refuse to accept the importance of relationship building in networking. Mass mailing resumes and responding to hundreds of job advertisements is a worthless and useless waste of time.

Is it any wonder why the people in your network are not referring you to great opportunities?

Is it any wonder why you don’t have an abundance of job referrals and leads?

Is it any wonder why most recruiters will not return your call?

Why are you not engaged in relationship building activities? What’s your fear?

I cannot understand why most executive candidates stink at relationship building activities in networking. Hundreds of books have been written on this subject. Numerous blogs are published on the subject. There is an overwhelming number of webinars available in how do build relationships in networking.

Help me to understand the dilemma. Why are most executives who have been out of work for a long time period unwilling to engage in relationship building with recruiters?

Barry

photo credit flickr

P.S.: Are you part of our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group? If not, your missing one of the most dynamic job search discussion groups on LinkedIn. Get your job search questions answered now from other job seekers, hr professionals, and recruiters.

Effective Networking Step 3 – Stop Meeting People

So many candidates misunderstand effective networking. They really don’t even understand networking. Many think networking is all about meeting people. The more you meet, the better the network. This is one of those misguided themes that lead many people to frustration.

Effective networking isn’t about meeting people. It is about meeting the right people. I have written on this before.

One hundred of the right people in your database is worth  more than 1,200 people who can’t help you.

A common misunderstanding that I hear all of the time from candidates is, “Networking is about helping others.” I do agree with this and believe it is important. However, this isn’t the main reason for networking. The fact is, you are networking to help you. This is why most people (95%) stop networking once they land a new position.

Here are a few tips to help you effectively network with the right people:

1. Do some research on the types of people you want to meet and why you want to meet them. This could be by function, industry, service providers, or associations. This list should be comprehensive. Don’t waste time meeting people unless they meet this criteria or are no more than 1 degree removed from this list.
2. Research how to meet the people on this list. Identify who they come in contact with, ask people who they might know on the list, attend meetings consistent with these people’s background or industry. Focus like a laser beam on meeting these people.
3. Network with a purpose. You should always ask yourself, “Why do I want to spend time with this person?” What’s in it for you? If nothing, either don’t waste the time or at least do it around your schedule and location.
4. Do your research before meeting a person. Look at their contacts on LinkedIn, identify who they are connected with that are on the list from #1, bring your list of people that you want them to introduce you to, prepare what questions you have for them, be prepared to open your contacts to them and make a referral to help them, and understand why  you want to spend time with them.
5. Have a plan to keep in touch with them to develop a relationship. In the meeting, probe to identify their interests so you can engage them later around these interests.
6. Ask them to bring their contacts with them to the meeting and you should also bring yours. This way you can help each other on the spot. The effectiveness of additional referrals drops significantly after the meeting. This is why you are meeting, so take full advantage of it.
7. Stay focused on your list. Don’t stray from it. These are the people you have identified as the people that can best help you find a job. Instead of wasting time with those that can’t help you, spend the time focusing on how to connect with those that can. This is far more valuable.

The best way to effectively network is to meet the right people. This sounds so obvious, however, I have discovered like many things most candidates “know this” but don’t actually practice it. If they did, then I and many others wouldn’t be writing on it so often.

I find over and over again those candidates that stay focused on meeting the right people not only find a job faster, but also enjoy networking more than those that just meet people. I believe this is because they see results.

Expand your online network by joining our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group of 5,300 members and growing. There are many articles and resources in this group to help  you. CLICK HERE to join.

You can also download free cover letter and thank you letter examples. These have both been proven to be very effective. CLICK HERE and then scroll down to the What’s New Section at the bottom.

I welcome your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Building An Effective Network Step 2 – Online Social Media & LinkedIn Profile

Step one of effective networking focused on the offline networking process. It discussed why so many candidates receive such little value from networking that most just give up. I understand why this happens and hopefully the 4 steps started to change how most candidates approach networking.

Online networking is becoming more and more an effective way to connect. I personally don’t believe it is even close to as effective as offline networking, but one has to make sure that this base is covered. Just like the offline networking that we described in Step 1, it too must be covered effectively. Just doing it for the sake of doing it will not be any more effective in your search than meeting a bunch of people and going to a lot of networking meetings just for the sake of doing it.

There are very few things one can do poorly and expect anything other than poor results. Yet, this is what many of the candidates I encounter expect given their networking process.

Online networking takes effort. It is much more than just filling in the blanks on your LinkedIn profile and then hoping a recruiter or hiring authority will see it and think, “WOW, what a great person, I need to contact them now.”  I recently conducted a small poll asking approximately 500 people how they would rate their LinkedIn profile. To my surprise, most were completely honest and rated it poor to below average. A few rated it good and one or two rated it excellent. Of those that rated it good and excellent, four made the mistake of asking if I agreed and wanted my opinion. Don’t ask me for my opinion if you don’t want a complete answer. When I finished writing my assessment of their profile, all agreed that their profile needed work and was incomplete and therefore ineffective.

Here are some things to consider when building an online network and how to fully utilize it:

1. Limit your expectations. LinkedIn and other social media sites are not a silver bullet for finding a job. They are definitely an important component, but don’t over rely on them. Offline networking is still at the top of the list when searching for a position.
2. I cannot stress enough that you need to make sure that you not only have a complete profile on LinkedIn or Google, but also make sure it is compelling. This is your home page. Make sure it demonstrates that you are the expert in your field. Do an analysis of your competitors just like companies do. Review other profiles in your functional area. See what they have to offer. How does their profile compare to yours? If you looked at both profiles, which person would you contact first? Be objective.  CLICK HERE to get a FREE checklist to building a compelling profile.
3. A profile is meaningless if you still aren’t findable. What steps are you taking to make yourself findable? (Part 3 in this series). How sure are you that if my team of recruiters was searching for you that they would find you? This is what counts.
4. Once they do find you, how difficult is it to connect with you? This is a major issue. Most candidates don’t understand the process LinkedIn uses to connect people. If we aren’t connected at the first level and you don’t have your contact information displayed on your profile, LinkedIn makes it difficult to connect with you. In addition, the way their system works it can take days to make contact.
5. Have you Googled your name and reviewed what shows up? Most have done this. Do the results link the person Googling you back to your LinkedIn profile? This can be a problem if you have a common name. Bob Smith, Jane Jones, Mark Roberts may have hundreds of names show up. It can take a long time to find you.

Online networking is a good thing,  however, it is often over relied upon by candidates. Too many candidates believe that if they build it, people will just find them. This is just not true. I wish it were, as that would sure make my job easier. You have to work your profile. You have to get it out into the marketplace.

The good news is few candidates do this. If you do, you will be the one that gets the call.

You can get our Create a Powerful LinkedIn Profile To Find a Job webinar package. This includes all of the slides and the audio recording. The audio is an hour and a half and there are more than 30 slides that will walk you through step-by-step and show you exactly how to build a compelling profile. CLICK HERE to read more.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. 5,300 members are there for you to connect with. CLICK HERE to join.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Effective Networking Requires Planning – Step #1

The key word in the title is “effective.” Anyone can network ineffectively. The sad part is that most people I meet do ineffective networking. What is sadder is that they get frustrated or burned out and often give up.

The common belief  I hear from candidates about networking is generally all about meeting as many people as possible. Networking is not about meeting people. It is about meeting the right people.  Granted, most candidates are out meeting a lot of people. If meeting a lot of people is their goal, then most are achieving it. However, for most, the reason for networking is to receive job leads or referrals that will lead to job leads. Many candidates, if not most candidates, aren’t achieving this goal at the level they would like to.

I believe this is strictly a result of lack of planning. The 6 P’s are something to remember, “Prior proper planning prevents poor performance.”

Planning takes time and research which is something few are willing to do when entering the market. I’m not saying many don’t think extensively about all the options, but thinking isn’t planning.

True planning means more than thinking. It involves action. It involves writing. Research isn’t thinking, it involves work, testing, and change if the research doesn’t prove effective.

Networking planning means preparing the tools you need to effectively promote yourself. Some very basic tools you need are:

1. Networking cards, not business cards. Too many people go to Vistaprint online and get the free cards. Like most things that are free in life, you get what you pay for. These are fine when you go to an interview, but worthless for networking.
2. Develop a networking bio. Don’t use your resume.
3. Most don’t have any networking plan written out. I have tested this in the last month prior to writing this. I have asked all of the 43 people I have met over the last month to bring a copy of their networking plan to our meeting. Six had something to bring and three of those looked like they made it up for our meeting. At least that is a start.
4. Few had identified a thorough list of people, companies, organizations and trusted advisers they want to meet. You need a specific list by name.

Just doing these four things will greatly improve the effectiveness of one’s job search. I know this for a fact, because the three people I’m counseling on their job search have done these things and have seen dramatic changes in their referrals.

Try implementing these four steps for starters. Then we will move on to Step 2 – effective social media networking. By the end of this series, I hope to help you become highly effective at networking.

For more information on effective networking, check out our many free resources.  CLICK HERE to review and download the free resource that is best for you.

Join our Job Search Networking Group on LinkedIn. This is one of the best free resources for some of the best articles on the topic of job search. CLICK HERE to join.

Start by assessing how effective your job search is by downloading our free 8-Point Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. This will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to assess how effective your job search is.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad

Job Seekers and Warren Buffet

I am currently reading the book, “The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life” by Alice Schroeder. It is an interesting biography on Warren Buffet’s life starting as a small child.  Some of the more interesting parts highlight what influenced his thought processes about everything from money to how he treats people.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but as I was reading it two sentences stood out. To me, these two sentences explained exactly why so many candidates stay in a job search so much longer than need be. I have known this for a long time. The candidates I work with one-on-one in our job search coaching programs often start out the same way.  I interview and speak with hundreds of candidates a month. It use to surprise me the number of people who acted this way. Not any more, I just accept it. I don’t understand it, but I do accept it.

When Warren was a teenager he read the book, “How to Make Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Just about everyone has heard of this book.  His biography addresses the impact this book had on him. How it “honed his natural wit, above all it enhanced his persuasiveness, his flair for salesmanship.” Obviously, this one book influenced him so much that decades later he still remembered it and gave it credit.

It was  the two sentences before this which stood out and relates to the vast majority of candidates I encounter. Alice Schroeder writes, “Unlike most people who read Carnegie’s book and thought gee, that makes sense, then set the book aside and forgot about it, Warren worked at this project with unusual concentration; he kept coming back to these ideas and using them. Even when he failed and forgot and went for long stretches without applying himself to the system, he returned and resumed practicing in the end.”

This is what grabbed my attention. As soon as I read it, I thought this is exactly what most candidates do. This is exactly why so many candidates spend so many extra months searching for a new positions. They read a book, attend a webinar,  read a blog article or listen to an audio file and think, “Gee, that makes sense, then set it aside and forget about it.”

Few, my guess less than 10% do as Warren did. Read the sentences again. Does anything stand out to you as it did me? What did Warren Buffet do different than all the others?

I see this constantly.  People will return our job search workbook with a note, “Already know all this stuff.” At first I was stunned. When we wrote the book we spent an extensive amount of time identifying the mistakes candidates continually make. We  then worked extremely hard to provide solutions  to those mistakes. So it struck me as strange, that so many people knew all these mistakes, but just kept making them. How could this be?

I’m sure the many other excellent authors of books on this subject have experienced the same thing.

So I decided to test if it was true these people really did know all this stuff. I started doing some follow-up. I would call the person and ask for feedback. As I got bolder, I became more direct. I started asking very specific questions of those that “already know all this stuff?” For example, I would ask:

• Since you already know the only three things which can be measured during a phone interview, what do you do to properly prepare?
• As you know, there are only three types of questions asked in an interview. How do you identify which type of question is being asked and how do you prepare for each type of question?
• Of the ten most important questions to ask in an interview, which ones in your opinion were most helpful and of those which ones do you use most often?
• How long have you been using the cover letter we recommend and what has been your experience with this style?
• How often have you found yourself in anyone of the 5  positions in the Circle of Transition and how do you handle it? This could be really helpful to other candidates?
• How is your networking business card different from your interviewing business card?

It didn’t take long to discover these people may have read the book, but unlike Warren Buffet, they didn’t embrace the ideas with “unusual concentration.” Instead it was, “Gee I already know this stuff.”  When in fact, from their answers, they had no idea what mistakes they were making and how the book provides solutions.

Warren Buffet read Dale Carnegie’s book over and over again. He referred back to it time and time again. He practiced regularly. When he failed it was back to the book. That is what made him unique. He didn’t just know it all, he implemented the concepts. He didn’t blame the book when things went wrong, he adjusted and tried again.

I know from the one-on-one job search coaching we do, when we get candidates to stop knowing everything and start doing things the right way, they find job leads that eventually lead to offers and employment.

Although it might appear as an attempt to sell our book it really isn’t. There are many great resources available to candidates. Many are 100% free. It is positively an attempt to get candidates to stop saying, “Gee, that makes sense, but I already know it.” It is positively an attempt to get candidates to learn from Warren Buffet. To get candidates to refer back time and time again to excellent resources. To re-read the books, re-listen to the audio recordings and to take this advice to heart with “unusual concentration” as Warren Buffet did.

I have discovered the reason there is so much written for job seekers is because job seekers need so much help. If candidates did everything so perfectly there wouldn’t be a need for all the books, blogs, articles and webinars.

The next time you read anything designed to help you in your job search don’t let your first thought be, “Gee, I already know that.” Rather force yourself instead to ask, “Good advice. How am I implementing that in my job search?” Attack it the same vigor and “unusual concentration” as Warren Buffet.

Try this approach first and you will find yourself gainfully employed a whole lot sooner.

OK, now this is a blatant attempt to sell you a book. You can get our job search workbook to review for free. Just pay the $5 shipping. For details on this offer CLICK HERE.

Test your job search effectiveness by downloading our free Job Search Plan Assessment Scorecard. Find the strengths and weaknesses in your job search. Then attack the weaknesses with “unusual concentration.”  CLICK HERE to download.

For a FREE example of a cover letter that recruiters, HR and hiring authorities  like and will get your resume read, CLICK HERE.

I welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Why Your Skills & Experience Don’t Matter To Recruiters

The title is true. It just isn’t true all of the time.

I can’t count the number of times I have heard from candidates, “I have done all of the things for your position.” or how many times I get a cover letter that goes into a lengthy explanation about “how perfect” they believe they are  for my search.

One question, “If you are so perfect for the position, then why didn’t you get it?”

Skills  and experience will only get you so far in the hiring process. At some point, usually much earlier than most candidates realize, these begin to diminish in importance.

What begins to increase in importance is your qualifications. This encompasses a lot more than skills and experience. Otherwise, why go through the interviewing process? If skills and experience were all that mattered, you would be hired just from your resume.

For example, let’s say that I received your resume and started reviewing it. At this point, skills and experience are 100% of my screening process.  Once, I have read your resume and like what I read,  I will then pick up the phone and conduct a phone screen. I don’t like to call it an interview, because quite frankly I’m in a screening mode more than an interviewing mode.

At this point, your skills and experience may now only be about 75% relevant. During this phone interview, it is true that I’m interviewing you on your skills and experience, but that isn’t all. There is so much more to a phone screen that it took a whole chapter in our candidate job search workbook to cover it all. This chapter is so important that we offer it for free for everyone to download. CLICK HERE if you want to download it.

If that goes well, the next step is going to be a face-to-face interview. Now your skills and experience are at best 50% relevant. Since I have read your resume and conducted a phone screen, I have a really good feel for whether you meet the minimum criteria or not. The interviewing priorities shift. There are so many issues I’m screening on to decide if I will send you out to my client that I can’t list them all.  This took too many chapters in our job search workbook to properly cover and with the depth needed, I can’t possibly go into all of them, but here are a few.  I’m interested in much more than just your skills and experience. I’m also interviewing for how professional your presentation is, how well you can communicate, whether or not you can withstand probing questions on your background, do you have the facts on your accomplishments, do you answer questions in vague generalities or can you get specific, and even how strong or weak your first impression was.  I’m paid to make value judgments regarding  how well you will fit with the company, if you are prepared for how my client will interview you (are you prepared or just winging it) and whether or not you will embarrass me once you are in front of my client. It only takes once in a recruiter’s career to have a client call back and complain that the candidate wasted their time, before the recruiter improves their screening process.  These are really the basic things I’m screening on in our in-person interview. Only about 50% pass this interview.

That means half will never meet the hiring authority. Even though they have the  experience and skills required, they may not be qualified.  Now of this 50%, some will turn out to not be a good match, and often the candidate will agree. Usually, that is less than 10% of the total people I have interviewed in-person.

I can assure you it works about the same when you are interviewing with companies. The only major difference is that as the interviewing process progresses the percentage of reliance on skills and experience decreases even more.

For some senior level positions that require more than 4 or 5 meetings, this percentage may dwindle down to as little as 10% or less.

As the interviewing process moves forward, the hiring authority has already come to the conclusion that the candidates have at least the minimum skills and experience to do the job. Otherwise, they would have been eliminated.

What I’m trying to stress in this article is that candidates rely too much on their skills and experience to the detriment of what is important at different points in time during the hiring process. It isn’t always about your experience. At some point the question is, “Are you qualified?”  It is more about your personality, behavioral issues, managerial style, communications, professionalism, professional presence, assertiveness, etc. that really matters.

These are the things most candidates take for granted during the  hiring process. I have encountered so few that grasp these at the actionable level. Many reading this article will be thinking to themselves, “I know all of this.” That is the point of the article and the frustration. You may know all of this, but what are you doing about it to ensure that you pass?

How are you preparing?

How are you improving your ability to succinctly communicate your accomplishments?

What tangible things have you done to become a salesperson? After all, in a job search you are in sales.

Have you ever video recorded yourself in a mock interview?

What unique and probing questions do you ask in an interview that demonstrate that you are an insightful person?

How do your questions differentiate you from all of the others that ask the same questions?

How do you use your voice to communicate effectively?

I could go on and on. I’m not implying that every person needs all of these. I am implying that every person needs some of these.  The question is, what do you need in your search so that as the percentage shifts from skills and experience to your personal qualifications that you continue to excel?

Test your job search effectiveness by downloading our free Job Search Plan Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE to download.

For a FREE example of a cover letter CLICK HERE.

For a FREE example of a Thank You letter CLICK HERE.

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