Positively Passionate

One of my favorite things about working in recruiting and coaching is that I learn something new just about every day. A longtime client taught me to look beyond the raw skills and experience in a candidate and focus on their passion, their desire to do well and their love of their chosen field. He also validated something I always knew but cannot hurt to have reinforced, interviews need to remain positive at all times.

Let's start with passion. Three candidates interviewed with this hiring manager for an engineering position. All were reasonably similar in their educational background, types of companies they had previously worked for, years of related experience, certifications and software packages, etc. Salary expectations were about the same as well. Two of them were very efficient and competent on their interviews and highly professional. The third was all of the above but shared success stories from their past as well as how much they love their work and how they are constantly researching ways to improve how they perform on the job. At the end of the interview, this person was the only one who asked for the job and ultimately did get hired.

Positive interviews are very critical to getting a new job. No one wants to hear that you despised your prior manager, hated your co-workers, disliked the old fashioned furniture in your office, felt your company did not spend enough money on computer upgrades,etc. What they prefer to hear is what you accomplished at the old job, how you coped with the limitations thrown your direction, and how you made the best of what you had to work for. Even when times were better and their was a shortage of available candidates, employers hesitated to hire people who came across in a negative way.

Everything I have written today might seem obvious to you but I assure you hiring managers will scrutinize you closely. Remain 'Positively Passionate' at all times and you will improve your chances exponentially. Good luck!

Anticipation....

Carly Simon and Heinz Ketchup made this song famous a long time ago but I keep hearing it in my head all too often. Currently, I am searching for a contract recruiter for one of my clients which has given me the opportunity to chat with many contemporaries in the last few days. Just about every conversation has migrated to how slow the decision making process has become for even short term positions.

To candidates, all I can say is it takes more time than usual right now to get a job offer. If someone is dragging there feet and another company offers a job, do not delay very long. Call the first company, tell them you have an offer and, if you do not get a quick and firm offer, take the other one before it is gone.

To hiring managers, I understand the hoops you have to go through to get an offer approved but remember that good things do not last forever. Also, even though many people re unemployed, take a realistic look at the pool of candidates you are working with and see if you could afford to lose your top person. Candidates cannot and will not wait forever so do your best to speed up the process.

Actions of several consultants working for me, a few candidates, and even a few hiring managers, got me thinking about the word integrity over the past several weeks. To me, integrity means never deviating from being honest, reliable, dependable, hard working, and trustworthy. I have seen so many people deviate from those standards of late that I really starting questioning whether or not I understood the true meaning of integrity!

Numerous dictionary sites all have basically the same definition and here it is: adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

Look at yourself in a mirror and decide if you fit the definition of integrity. If not, the time has come to fix this and fix it fast before others notice your flaws!

Interview Processes

Employers seem to have very unique ideas on how to make hires. From personal experiences and the comments from colleagues, I have a collection of stories that could fill volumes! For today, just a few will have to do.

Many years ago, I was placing entry level computer programmers with a client who asked to see about 5 candidates. After the interviews were done, the employer chose the one I felt was less likely to be hired. Why? The manager had a huge saltwater fish tank that he was struggling to maintain and this programmer used to manage a fish shop and would be able to assist him!

A colleague sent a candidate to an interview a few years back, urging the person to take an extra minute when selecting her interview apparel as she had heard before that this individual showed up dressed neatly but a touch to casual. After the interview, the candidate reported back that the hiring manager wore a Grateful Dead T-shirt, bluejeans and flip-flops!

Predicting the mood or tempo of interviews is not easy. My best advice is to be prepared for the unexpected at all times!! PS: Feel free to share your stories with me!

Memories

Some people remember their child's first spoken words. Others remember their first date. Some remember very special events. Others remember everything and those are the ones to be mindful of!

Even though I have pointed this out in various ways before, a fairly recent conversation compelled me to go there yet again.
***** DO NOT IRRITATE HIRING MANAGERS OR HR REPS (or both) DURING THE HIRING PROCESS! *****

It will come back to haunt you again and again. Should a company turn you down for a job, move onward to the next opportunity. Continuing to call the company that rejected you will only serve to create hard feeling which will travel with the hiring party to wherever they go next. Reacting in a positive, gracious manner to go when participating in the search process!

ETC.

• Attention candidates: Do not list a skill on your resume if you have never used it at work or at least had some formal training!
• Attention hiring managers: No matter how rough the economy is, you still will get what you pay for!
• Those with full time jobs need to be happy with what they have right now.
• Those who are collecting unemployment checks need to think twice before rejecting employment offers.
• Prospects for lower unemployment rates in August are still in doubt as far as I can tell.
• Prospects for recent grads hedge on how aggressive they are in the search process.

Details

Yesterday, I had an interesting chat with a hiring manager I had never spoken with before at one of my longtime client companies. The department she manages deals with statistics and data so even the slightest error in a report could be devastating and cost a ton of revenue.

One error on a resume is enough for her to rule out a candidate without speaking to or meeting with them. This is understandable as perfection is the key to her division's success and she cannot take chances. After we spoke, I started reviewing resumes on her behalf and was disappointed with the results. One individual quite obviously misspelled thier name, another forgot to leave a space between their first and last name, and another one neglected to give an area code for their phone number.

Would you hire any of these people?

Make Sure Your Shoes Fit!

No, I am not making a fashion statement with the title of this entry. The TV show What Not to Wear would fail if they tried to get me to conform to their guidelines! What I am talking about is not sending out your resume in response to a job posting if it does not fit. Countless times, I receive resumes for a specific job that make absolutely no sense. Why would some who has sold pharmaceutical products the past 20 year, for example, send their resume to a job requiring a machinist with 10 years of programming CNC machines? Sending resumes that do not fit are a waste of your time. The days of collecting resumes for future openings are long gone. Hiring managers and staffing firms are only concerned about what is on their desk at present. Please stopping wasting every one's time, including your own, by sending out resumes without looking to see if you are a viable candidate.

Resume Error

"a young 59 year old, happily married white male with 3 children"

This statement began a resume which I recently received and left me scratching my head. For many years, I have taught classes on job search skills and individually advised thousands of job seekers. Basic rules including never divulging things that could influence a decision maker before they even meet you!

Stating your age is one of the fastest ways to get eliminated from the candidate pool. Even though they should not, many hiring managers have preconceived age requirements. Many people are gun shy of married parents, fearing that family (as it should) will come before the job. On the other hand, some managers prefer family-oriented people and will eliminate singles from the group. Finally, there are those out there looking for people from a specific race or nationality (as illegal as that is) and you might just eliminate yourself.

As I have said before, a resume is your personal marketing brochure! Use it to demonstrate all the great skills and experience you have, not to eliminate yourself!

Dear Hiring Manager

The following is a message I want to send to all decision makers at companies of all sizes and types any where and everywhere on behalf of all the hardworking unemployed folks out there waiting for a chance to help your organization:

Dear Hiring Manager;

Your company posted a job opening over 2 months ago for a professional with five years experience in my field. Since I have about ten years of most of the required skill sets, I sent you my resume, emailed a follow-up one week later, left you a voice mail the next week, and finally received a one line email stating I was overqualified. When I tried phoning again, your assistant told me that with so many people out of work you saw no need to hire an over qualified person. As you saw in my cover letter, my last employer went bankrupt over 18 months ago. Rather than collect unemployment, I have taken a series of part-time jobs somewhat related to my field. The chance to re-enter my industry is much more critical than the pay rate right now. If you have been unable to hire the perfect candidate for the last two months, please consider at least meeting with me to see if perhaps I would be suitable for the open job.

Respectfully,
Available to Work