Job-hunting has never been a walk in the park, and these days, it’s even harder. You’re staring down the barrel of double-digit inflation rates, and unemployment statistics are showing numbers that have never been higher. How do you get a job, then?
Well, you treat every minute that you’re unemployed like you still have a job, and you do: The job of finding yourself a job.
First things first, take a hint from the old adage, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” Right now, the job you have is…none. Dress every day in the clothing you’d show up in if you had the job you really want. You’re showered, shaved, hair fixed, and nails clean. The reasons for this are simple – you’re looking for a job, and your job right now is as Employment Professional, the person for whom work will come soon. There’s another big reason for being dressed professionally at home; you’ll be less inclined to fall into really bad habits, including sleeping too late, lolling about on the sofa watching TV, cruising the Internet for anything not job search-related, goofing off when you should be getting a job. Not saying you have to wear a suit every minute of the day, but getting up in the morning, brushing your hair and teeth, and getting out of your sweats is a good place to start.
Looking the part serves a couple other purposes. You’ll feel better if you’re looking better. Right now, your self-esteem might be a little low or a lot low, and taking care of your appearance will go a long way towards making you feel a little better about yourself in general. Confidence is key when searching for a new job.
Okay, so you’re dressed up and nowhere to go? Wrong. Take a left at the kitchen and head straight for your computer. You’re going to be performing a huge number of tasks, so maybe stop at the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Is your resume in order? Is it updated with your most recent info, professionally presented and edited for content and spelling, on good stock and ready to send by itself, or with a good cover letter and references? Do you have your references lined up? Do you know your salary requirements, in case those are requested? If you don’t have all this ready, open up your word processor and knock that out.
Now, get online and go to every job search site you can find and plaster your resume everywhere. Anyplace that sounds remotely like something you’d be interested in, make sure you’ve researched the company and position, and have a cover letter ready to send directly to that company, every detail specifically tailored for that employer.
Get on all the social networking sites you can find. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn…Get the word out to friends, family and previous business associates that you’re seeking employment. Make sure your contact information is up to date, and you’re easy to find.
Be persistent, network, treat yourself and your current position with respect, and you’re sure to land on your feet.
With the current state of the economy, jobs are a bit more challenging to come by. For this reason, it is more important than ever that you have a properly planned resume. A poorly planned resume can result in missing out an interview, which can be devastating in this market.
If you are an older job seeker, avoid putting certain dates on your resume. There is no reason to tell an employer how old you are, but if you mention on your resume that you obtained your bachelors degree in 1975, the interviewer will be able to do some quick math and determine that you are very likely in your 50s. Employers are legally not allowed to discriminate based upon age, but there would be no way of knowing that an employer had done so if you don’t get the job. Instead of putting dates on your resume, simply put facts. For instance, list what degrees that you have, not when you obtained them.
If you are an older job seeker, only list relevant information on your resume. For example, if you are a computer programmer, no one cares about how great you were with DOS back in the day. Listing all of the years of experience that you have with DOS only gives hints to your age. Instead, highlight all of the relevant experience that you possess. If you are in the field of technology, generally only the last ten to fifteen years of your experience is truly relevant to your employer. Focusing on the achievements that you have had in this time frame makes you look incredibly marketable while avoiding any possibility for age discrimination.
If you are a younger job seeker, play up all of your experience, but leave your high school and college graduation dates off of your resume. There is no reason to give your interviewer a reason to write you off based upon your youth. As with the older job seekers, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against you, but if you don’t get the job, there would be no way for you to know that you were discriminated against. Be certain that you mention all of the clubs that you are or were a part of, especially if you held an office or leadership position within the clubs.Play up any volunteer experience that you have.
All job seekers should focus on listing their skills and accomplishments on their resume as opposed to simply listing their job responsibilities. Being a cashier does not sound like it would have much relevance when applying for a management position, but you can show how being a cashier brought out your abilities to multi-task and manage large sums of money responsibly if you play up those skills on your resume. Be sure to remember that your potential employer wants to see how you, your personality traits, your knowledge, and your skills will enable you to be an asset to their company. If you explain how you will be an asset to the company in your resume, then you are much more likely to grab the attention of recruiters, land an interview, and get a job. Don’t give the HR staff at your dream job any reason to write you off before they’ve even met you.
Recently, I was at the Career Directors International Empowerment Summit in Orlando, Florida.
While I learned lots of interesting things, probably one of the most surprising for me was the talk on Federal Jobs. Barb Adams, the President & CEO of CareerPro Global Inc., taught us what agencies were hiring and how the Obama Administration is growing government. There are plans to expand services for many agencies and fund new programs including expansion of of the FDIC and SEC. There are thousands of jobs available for financial, lending and banking job seekers. Even more at the highest levels of government that are looking for CEO, CIO, & CFOs. You can find these jobs at www.usajobs.com Here are some tips you need to know that I learned from CareerPro Global:
The government will be hiring over 293,000 mission-critical jobs in the next two years in over 2,000 different departments, agencies and career fields. (Woot!)
More than 40% of the 1.6 current federal employees will retire within the next 5 years. (hint: thousands of open jobs)
Thanks to the Obama Administration and the Stimulus Plan, more federal positions are opening every day to manage grants and contracts associated with these projects.
Obama Stimulus Plan will create 5 million new green jobs by investing in biofuels and fuel infrastructure, manufacturing new technology, and green technologies.
Department of Defense has 3,000 open jobs for Admin positions and 1,000 for IT (cyber defense and security).
According to Barb, the government is looking for “new blood” and are hiring new employees at the Upper-Level grades starting at GS-11 and above. What’s more, the SES is looking for new leadership outside of government walls with strong core executive competencies. According to Obama’s budget, it will increase the number of civilian employees in the Executive Branch to more than 2 million workers— for the first time since President Clinton took office in 1992.
Lastly, did you know that federal jobs will pay up to $60,000 in student loans?
What are you waiting for? Go here to find the job and go here to have CareerProGlobal write your KSA!
The movie Legally Blonde showed Elle Woods, a young woman wowing Harvard Law School with a video résumé outlining her unique and interesting talents. While video résumés are still not the norm, many wonder if the best way to differentiate themselves from others is to use video instead of the traditional paper résumé. While an effective video résumé can help a person seeking a job or slot at a prestigious college, there are definite pros and cons.
Job seekers are accustomed to making themselves look good on paper but it is harder to make yourself look good on video. Paper résumés make your case before you walk into the interview. It is easier for a recruiter or interviewer to forgive any fidgeting in person because your paper résumé has already told them that you have the skills for the job. If the interviewer has to sit through a video with several minutes of rambling dialogue, accompanied by nervous tics, and the sound of traffic or air conditioning in the background to be able to hear your skill set, you may not get to make your case before you lose the interviewer’s interest. Since video résumés are still new, there is no real standard set yet as to how these résumés should appear and how information should be presented. It can be easy for applicants to go wrong.
Additionally, video résumés pose a risk to companies that paper résumés do not, legal risks that have caused some companies to discard all résumés that are accompanied by videos. When some companies these days black out names on résumés to avoid potential race or gender bias among those who review résumés, video résumés open employers up to potential claims of race, gender and age discrimination—even how the applicant looks in the video résumés, in some instances, can clearly cause more problems for the applicant than they solve.
Additionally, if companies are reluctant on a legal basis to view the video résumés sent to them for specific job openings, such companies do not go to online video hosting sites to view video résumés in the hopes of somehow finding the perfect person for their job. They are even less likely to search online when it means sifting for job candidates amongst films of people’s pets and music videos.
However, technology has changed much of how people search for and get jobs, and as online video becomes more and more ubiquitous, some companies are changing the way they handle video résumés. Job listing sites have combined forces with social networking sites, and online résumés in such venues are often combined with video résumés. Sites that specialize exclusively in hosting online and video résumés make it far more palatable for employers and recruiters to search for résumés.
Some companies have popped up to help interviewers and job seekers make the most of this new technology. These companies help applicants put together a professional, edited video. Some have contacts with specialized areas of the job field – engineering firms, non-profits, etc. – and can send your video résumé to companies interested in such résumés. Many employers are opening up to video résumés because in some cases they serve as the “first round” of interviews, saving the company money and time.
Properly used, video résumés can be an excellent format to showcase job experience as well as polished communications skills. There is still a novel aspect to video résumés so making still shows a willingness to embrace new technology and think outside the box. As long as applicants understand a company’s résumé submission policies, as well as ensure that their video is professional and in a venue a potential employer may frequent, it increases the chances this new form of résumé can help and not hinder their chances of finding employment.
This was from a call I took yesterday. The conversation went something like this:
Caller: “Hi, um, my name is Bob. I want to know about your resume service and when you can finish it. Because I need it soon.” Me: “Hi Bob. Well, let’s skip to your most important question. How quickly do you need it?” Bob: “I need it by tomorrow. I saw a job position I want to apply for at Johnson & Johnson and the position closes tomorrow.” Me: “Oh! Tomorrow. Has the position been open a while or did you hear about it from someone?” Bob: “I heard about it through a buddy of mine who works there. It’s for Regional Sales Management position– my dream job with my dream company. He told me about it awhile ago, but I didn’t really think about it much until last night when we met for a beer and he reminded me it was still open. But it closes tomorrow. He said to send my resume in to the HR person sometime in the morning.” Me: “Well, it’s 4:30 in the afternoon and I leave my office in an hour and a half. I won’t be able to do it in that amount of time…”
We talked for a little bit more and Bob even emailed me his resume. It was pretty bad (think Microsoft Word’s basic resume template… lots of white space, left-aligned, bullet-ridden and worse, hadn’t been updated since 2001).
The thing that got me was that he had known about the position for a month, assumed he’d have time to fix up his resume, then consequently forgot about the position, and was now in an all-out panic. We’ve all done it with one thing or another–putting off something we really shouldn’t have, and then regretting it later.
I felt bad for Bob because I knew his chances of getting the job with the old resume were slim to none. Worse, when he started talking about his experience and his excellent accomplishments I thought he would have probably had the chance. He said he was going to work on it himself and hope for the best.
So, the moral of the story is UPDATE YOUR RESUME TODAY. Don’t wait until your dream opportunity passes you by.
There are die hards out there who still insist the best way to get a job is the old fashion way– newspaper ads and word-of-mouth. While I agree on the word-of-mouth (a.k.a. networking) point, let’s face it, the reality of finding a “career” through a newspaper ad is slim.
So, if you are still unfamiliar with social marketing/networking and online branding/profiles, I will give you the 101 basics on how to get started online with fast results. 1. I know I sound like a broken record here, but join LinkedIn. LinkedIn will open doors for you that you never thought possible. Originally started as a professional networking tool, LinkedIn is now being used by employers to seek out job seekers! How do they do this? They type in the keywords of candidate characteristics in the search box. If their words match up with the keywords on your profile, guess what? You have officially become a contender. You can also research companies online, network with employees that WORK at that company and look for current job openings. Utilize LinkedIn as much as you can. You will be amazed at the results you get. 2. Join Twitter. If you are an entrepreneur, have a small business of some sort or are a job seeker, Twitter is a wonderful way to connect fast with all sorts of people. You build your network by following others who in return, follow you. It sounds strange at first until you get going. I created my profile in November, but didn’t see the value of Twitter until the following January when I started really connecting with colleagues and job seekers, plus all sorts of other interesting folks. You can spread the word that you are job searching. The bigger your “follower” list is, the more people will know this and keep their eyes and ears open for you. I just read a great post about a college grad who got a job within just a couple of weeks of joining Twitter. Read it. Then join Twitter. 3.Facebook is a great way to connect with lots of people and get a little more personal with them. With the option of adding pictures, videos, quizzes and applications, you let the other person see more into your personal life–if you want them to. Many companies have their own Facebook pages that you can research. Again, another great networking tool. 4. Another one I think everyone should do is to set up a Google profile. It is a basic profile with facts about you on Google. You will be able to control, or at least add to, what people see when the ‘Google’ you. Put up a professional picture and add a little bio. It adds to your online presence.
There are also Naymz, Plaxo, Ning, Ecademy, and many, many more.
As with anything, there are a few rules to keep in mind when doing your online networking. NEVER ever say anything you wouldn’t want a perspective employer to know. Remember that hiring managers ARE GOOGLING YOU and an unsavory post on any of your networking sites may come back to haunt you. And PLEASE do not post any pictures that you wouldn’t want your Grandmother (or an employer) to see. Be smart. Keep it professional.
I was listening to a client recently tell me how she is in this job that she hates. The boss is horrible to her and she now has ulcers, which she (and her doctor) suspect comes from the job stress. She doesn’t want to quit because she is afraid of not being able to find another comparable job.
Even in this tough economic climate we’ve been faced with this past year, there are times when you have to JUST SAY NO and walk away from a job. Speaking from an experience back in my early 20’s, I can tell you why…
Recently laid off from my pharmaceutical sales job, I found an ad in the paper with the words “Sales Representatives Needed” screaming out at me. Not that I even liked sales. I didn’t, but at the time, I didn’t know what else I would be good at, so I stayed with it.
I arrive at the meeting place, a hotel lobby, around 6:00am and met the DM and two other reps. They start talking about what entrance they thought they’d be able to get in through. A small warning bell went off in my head, “Why can’t we just use the front door?” I ask naively. They all sort of looked at each other and chuckled…”new kid”. “They don’t let us in the front door, they don’t like ‘solicitors’ so we find our own way in” chuckle, chuckle, wink, wink.
We get on the road and head over to this company that manufactures chemicals. The DM insisted we sneak in through the back door that says,’Authorized Personnel Only’. I didn’t like this one bit. First, OK, I am a very polite person… I like to be invited places, not sneaking in to a place–especially potential clients. The only time I ever tried to “sneak” in anywhere was a Def Leppard concert when I was a teen–and even then, my good manners told me it wasn’t the right thing to do. But I digress.
So, short of skin tight black spandex from head to toe, I felt like I was on Mission Impossible (hear the theme song in your head?) creeping through the side entrance and hiding behind boxes until we could “come out” of our hiding spot. Seriously. Keep in mind that I am in a skirt, pantyhose, high heels, and a brand-spanking new white blouse. I didn’t think that I would be slinking around oily plant floors when I dressed for my new job that morning. That is how unethical these people were. Slinkers. My new word.
Now I am thoroughly embarrassed, hating these slinkers, and wanting to leave, but with no ride and not really knowing where I was, I was stuck–and with them for the entire day.
We try to act as if we belong as we brazenly come out from our hiding spots and waltz along the shop floor.
Until we are stopped by the shop superintendent, who didn’t want to hear what we were trying to sell, utterly disgusted that we snuck in, and marched us out the front door. I was very happy and nodded to everything he said, giving him my very best, ‘this is my first and last day of this awful job and I’m chalking this up as a terrible experience, sorry to bother you’ look.
This went on with 4 other “prospects” who all kicked us out. I was SO happy when that day was over.
I have never quit a job without another one lined up. In fact, I’ve never NOT worked since I was 15 years old. But in that instant, I knew I was never coming back. I had been listening to my instincts tell me from the minute I got there that it was all wrong, it wasn’t the job for me, that I would be miserable there. For once, I didn’t stick it out. I didn’t say, “OK, see you all tomorrow!”. I left. It was the best feeling in the world and I was so grateful to not have to go back.
So, my point is this: if you go to a job that makes your skin crawl, that goes against everything you believe in, or you are getting treated poorly, LEAVE.
I am the first to think, “desperate times calls for any ole’ job’, but there are lots of other jobs out there that are less painful and cause much less stress. Think of your mental and physical health if you are going to a place of work that you despise. It’s not good for you. I am a firm believer in the mind+body connection. If you are miserable, your health will start to deteriorate and THEN how are you supposed to work?
Recently, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with a smart, straight-talking recruiter, Peggy McKee.
Peggy McKee is the owner of PHC Consulting. Her firm specializes in matching medical and laboratory sales reps/candidates with companies, and does so with great success. Despite the economic downturn, Peggy’s company has flourished and she’s had to hire additional staff to meet the placement demands. With her strong understanding of the medical sales industry, interviewing and hiring, she’s helped develop teams of top sales talent for laboratory service companies.
Having my clients in mind, I asked Peggy several questions about her recruiting process, what is important to her regarding hiring the right candidates, her thoughts on résumés, and more. I’ve wanted to “officially” interview a recruiter for a while because of the number of questions I get from my clients about what recruiters look for. Our conversation went something like this: EK: “Peggy, where do you find your candidates? Do they come looking for you? Do you recruit them? How does it work?” PM: “40-50% of candidates come straight to my website (www.phcconsulting.com). The other half is split between referrals, direct soliciting and social networking. “ EK: “Are candidates are expected to pay you?” PM: “Absolutely not. Candidates should never pay a recruiter. Companies pay the recruiter for the placement. That’s how it works.” EK: “It seems like I remember way back when some candidates had to pay the recruiter a percentage or a fee for the placement. I’m glad to know it’s not like that anymore… at least not with all recruiters.” EK: “So you use some of the professional and social network sites to find talent?” PM: “Definitely. I use LinkedIn and Twitter to find candidates by typing in keywords, names, titles, searches, groups, etc.” EK: “And you’ve had good luck going that route? I’ve heard LinkedIn is really a great platform to find top talent. I tell my clients about it all the time.” PM: “Yes, I use it all the time and love it.” EK: “OK, let’s talk résumés. Do you have any pet peeves? What are your likes and dislikes? What do you like to see or not see?” PM: “Well, I want to see 3 things: how can you make me money?… how can you save me money?.. and how can you save me time? This is what the client wants to know, so this is what I look for. I don’t like to read long paragraphs. I prefer bullets. I like to see experiences and accomplishments. Love to see numbers, rankings, percentages, etc.” EK: “Just bullets? Ugh. Boring. I tend to stay away from just bullets. It looks like a grocery list. Numbers are great. Especially in sales résumés… definitely a must.” PM: “No, I like the bullets. Paragraphs are too long. And yes, numbers are great and show me what they are capable of doing. “ EK: “OK. What about cover letters?” PM: “I don’t like them, but I have to add that if you are going to write one BE BOLD! Don’t worry about “expectations”. Write something interesting! EK: “I agree. Nothing worse than a canned cover letter. Make it as authentically YOU as possible.” EK: “Any last thoughts about the résumé or cover letter?” PM: “Have your references ready. Bring them to the interview. Have a clear and focused objective on your résumé so we don’t have to guess. Be ready to answer “tough” questions at the interview. Don’t shy away from them. Be honest.”
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Peggy was so fun and enlightening to talk to that I look forward to continuing this conversation and bringing you more insight.
In the meantime, if you want to get in touch with Peggy McKee and help her celebrate her 10th year in business, you can go to her website or visit at www.phcconsulting.com.
the best way to get a job is the old fashion way– newspaper ads and word-of-mouth. While I agree on the word-of-mouth (a.k.a. networking) point, let’s face it, the reality of finding a “career” through a newspaper ad is slim.
