Advising your job candidates - A recruiter's responsibility

While many of my earlier blogs were about networking and job search skills, I'm going to shift some of my focus to working with your recruiter.  Here is an article I found interesting. 

"Earlier today, I heard someone giving some short instruction on how to get a job. Usually when I hear these types of lectures, speeches or talks, I walk out frustrated that people who clearly don’t know what they’re talking about, can’t stop talking. This time, I found the advice I refreshing and frankly, spot on. So I thought I would share it with my recruiting colleagues out there as they struggle to prepare candidates for interviews or for actually getting a job offer.

The advice that I found so dead on was basically this: When you walk into an interview and essentially tell a Manager that you’re willing to do anything, you’re just making more work for them. However, when you walk into an interview and tell a Manager what you want to do and what you can do well…you’re simplifying their lives. Bottom line, don’t rush in saying you’ll do anything and expect the Hiring Manager to jump for joy that they have to find something that fits. No, go into an interview ready to tell a Hiring Manager what you’re great at and how you can do it for them. Make their jobs easier by reducing their expected management overhead.

It got me thinking: when we prepare candidates for interviews, do we really take the Managers’ end goal into consideration? I know we always consider the job, the needs and the skills involved; but do we sit down and consider the Hiring Manager themselves? Do we as Recruiters give our candidates the insight they need to help erase someone else’s problems? Are we advising candidates on the interview strategy that actually works?

• Identify the Problem: When prepping candidates for an interview, Recruiters should pay just as much attention to the Manager’s situation as they do to some of those fun soft skills we always focus on. What do I mean? If you know a Manager is hiring an Admin because he/she is extremely disorganized, then share that with the candidate. Make sure they come right out and tell the Manager that organization and order is a specialty of theirs; that they can bring order and streamline operations for them. If a Manager is looking to fill a position because they keep having to re-write a faulty piece of software? Make sure you send your candidate in ready to address that problem. Managers hire because they have problems to solve; sometimes bad ones, sometimes good ones, but problems nonetheless. Give your candidate the tools to make the problem go away.

• Know What You Want: Sending candidates into interviews ready to help Managers and sell their ability to do a great job is awesome. It will get you most of the way there. But candidates can’t be one dimensional; if they are they won’t get the job. So make sure your guy (or gal) can clearly define what it is they really want to do. Managers aren’t blind and whether we always like to admit it, they know their business better than we do. A candidate that can’t clearly define what they want to get out of a job will be seen as disingenuous and static. Make sure your candidates know that they need to be able to share a piece of themselves with the Manager. They need to be able to speak about their own skills, desires and plans. It will help forge a level of trust as well as detail the candidate’s match for the job.

• Know the Manager: Not literally! Of course, I’ve had this happen before. Once it was good, once it was a disaster. Yikes. As a Recruiter, you need to make it your business to know your Hiring Managers. You need to know their interview style, their personality and how they close interviews. Why? Because Managers aren’t always great interviewers and candidates may need to take a strong hand in driving the interview in the right direction. Taking the time to understand the manager and the folks doing the hiring is an invaluable tool to successful recruiting. If you send a candidate in with the foreknowledge that a Manager doesn’t ask questions or won’t really create chances for the candidate to display their skills, the candidate should be able to anticipate that and know to work it in to the conversation. Also, if you’ve got a Manager that lets interviews slowly and awkwardly grind to a halt…a prepared (and good) candidate will be able to end the interview professionally.

At the end of the day, our job is to give Hiring Managers the candidate that can do the job best….and to give the candidates the ability to showcase that ability for the Managers. It’s a fun little balance isn’t it? Interview strategy isn’t all about wearing a suit, bringing a resume and showing up on time; most of the time it’s about being able to anticipate and communicate the precise and individual needs of the hiring team. If you arm your candidates with this knowledge, they will have a full opportunity to demonstrate their skills."

Networking Tip by Jason Alba

One of my favorite speakers and masters of networking is Jason Alba.  He always gives an interesting story or tip.  Here is his latest on networking re: the art of giving to get fulfilled.  See if this works for you.

Yesterday I shared a post I wrote about my first networking meetings as a job seeker.

 

It made me think about my biggest mistake trying to “network.”
For a long time I didn’t get much out of the meetings, until I changed something.
My mistake wasn’t that I didn’t have business cards, or that my 30 second commercial was as bad as everyone else’s.

My mistake was that I went to those meetings with the wrong purpose in mind.  I was hoping to get filled, and get questions answered.  Week after week I went, hoping to get. And I didn’t get as much as I needed, and I felt unfulfilled.  Then, I realized I should go to those meetings and GIVE. I listened for opportunities to give leads, or introduce contacts. I looked for chances to help, and strengthen, and encourage.

When I switched from hoping to GET to wanting to GIVE, the meetings, and the results, completely changed.  I finally looked forward to going to those meetings.  I made more meaningful contacts (since I was a giver).  I always left feeling fulfilled.

And I started to get more. I got leads, and ideas, and encouragement, in a way that I wasn’t getting before.  I don’t know what your mistakes are right now, but if you are networking to GET, I encourage you to take a few months and concentrate on GIVING, and see how that goes… see what’s different.
For me, it made all the difference!

THe Golden Rule Guy - John Fox

I always try and do a small promo for those presenters at our Riverton networking meeting for those who no longer attend but still want to see what is being presented.  I was not able to attend but John provided me a copy of his presentation and a link to his blog for those that want to follow him.  Attendees truly enjoyed the message.  Writing a blog is not easy and my sincerest thanks go to those who try and help others, not just themselves.  I have not kept up my networking blog to gain notoriety or new members.  I don't even respond to any of the comments.  There are those that indicate one must be so connected to make a profit, I choose not to do so at the present time because much of my material is a summary of things I find on the web which I feel can help those in job search. 



The Golden Rule Guy
Honesty Today, Hope for Tomorrow
View The Golden Rule Guy's profile
Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/TheGoldenRuleGuy
Blogs --
The Golden Rule Guy, http://thegoldenruleguy.blogspot.com/Helping Others Seeking Work, http://foxmancommunications.blogspot.com/
Bible Based Coaching, http://biblebasedcoaching.blogspot.com/
Email -- thegoldenruleguy@gmail.com
Twitter -- goldenruleguy
Phone -- 801.755.8874** The Golden Rule is considered the gold standard for human conduct. **

John & Lynn Fox
Home - 801.966.7981
Cell - 801.755.8874
Email - redandsilverfox@gmail.comhttp://thegoldenruleguy.blogspot.com/

Using Google for job/career searches

Here is a post that I thought was helpful to job searchers:



Using Google to do a job search can make finding your ideal career less time consuming once you know how to search. If you Google “careers” or “jobs,” you’ll end up with more results than you have time to sift through–and it may overwhelm you.

The key to making a Google career search work for you is to narrow down your job search to those jobs you know you definitely want, and then choosing the right search terms that will get you more targeted results.

One way to get targeted results is to use correct and specific job titles. However, for a Google search, you also want to use the most commonly used version of a job title to get the best results. For example, searching “customer service associate” or “sales associate” may not get you the results you want, but searching “customer service representative” or “sales representative” may get better results. Try both versions of your preferred job title and see which one works best.

In addition to using correct and specific job titles when using Google for career searches, you also want to use a specific location in your search parameters, be it where you currently live or in another geographic location. If you’re looking for a job in Buffalo, west of New York City, you would enter “western New York.” This will bring up results pointing you to jobs in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and other cities in the western New York region. The more targeted your search parameters, the more targeted your results.

In the same fashion, use the specific employer names if you have a certain employer in mind. Don’t use abbreviations, initials or shortened versions of the company names, unless it’s a government agency like “IRS”, “UPS” or “USEPA”, which most likely will bring up results pointing you to directly to those agencies’ sites. Using job description terms like “submit your resume”, “submit your application”, or “apply here” in a Google career search can help you find results on the types of jobs many companies have posted.

If you’re a novice to doing a search using Google, career browsing may involve a bit of a learning curve. However, it’s not a learning curve that’s hard to get through. Usually the results of your first search will help you refine your second search. You keep refining your searches until you eventually learn targeted searches that net you more results in a shorter amount of time.
Note that you will come across both corporate career sites, recruiting firm websites, and job boards – even other job search engines like Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com. Make sure that you have a number of tightly crafted resumes and cover letters prepared for each different type of position and type of site that you are applying to.

When searching for a new job and applying to lots of different open positions, the key is an approach of nuanced quantity – make sure that each application that you submit is targeted and personalized for the exact employer (audience) that you are reaching. However, you can’t let this stop you from submitting a solid quantity of resume applications consistently over time. In times of high unemployment, you must play the odds and get in front of a lot of employers. Just be sure that when you are tailoring your resume and letters according to different positions, that you don’t make mistakes or address the wrong party – it’s easier than one might think to make mistakes! Good luck out there!

Recruiters must look out for the Client

The good, bad and ugly about Recruiters.  Here is an article from Recruiter extraordinaire, Miles Jennings, about some of the reasons why recruiters are not always the applicant's friend.  They work for the client and are under the gun to get quick results. 


Being a good Recruiter requires the confluence of many diverse skills. There are all sorts of ‘hard’ qualities one needs; attention to detail, industry expertise, focus and drive. There are also plenty of ‘soft’ skills you need; perception, intuition, savvy, and an ability to form relationships . But what about some of the bad habits recruiters pick up along the way…and are they really that bad after all?
I was recently talking to a new Sourcer fresh out of college that will be working on my recruiting team. She had lots of questions regarding the job, how to succeed and how to sound like she knows what she’s talking about…before she really does. I love her already. I spent the afternoon talking to her about some of the positive things she can do now and some of the things that will come with time. It got me to thinking; there are a number of people who would think the skills and talents she’ll be picking up along the way are actually bad qualities. I don’t. I think they’re survival tools that allow successful recruiters to wade through a sea of resumes without getting pulled under. Here’s what I mean…

• Discarding Resumes by the Pile: Have you ever noticed that new Recruiters will spend a lot of time with every candidate? Even the ones with tough resumes? I have. Over the years I’ve sat down with all sorts of Newbie Recruiters and one thing they all have in common is their insistence on focusing on resumes that are covered in red flags; giant chunks of missing time on the resume, tons of short term jobs and often retirees (sorry) who have been out of the job market for 5 years. I hate to say it, but my daily routine is to bypass those resumes and move on to someone who is easier to place. I know that’s mercantile, I know that’s cold but I also know how to make placements and it’s not by choosing hard to sell candidates. A sign of a good Recruiter and a skill that develops over time is a certain cold disregard for ‘difficult’ resumes. It helps a Recruiter wade through the piles and stay on the most efficient path to success.
• Not THAT guy again: How about that candidate who has a fantastic resume…but you know that nothing ever works out for him. You see his resume all the time, but there’s some negative association in your head. Sometimes you know exactly where it comes from, though still other times you’ve forgotten what exactly put you off, but you know there’s something. It sounds ridiculous. “I can’t place that guy because somewhere in my head I remember that at some time in my career I may have had a difficult time with him?” That’s actually a terrible habit and sometimes it can cost you placements. On the other hand, most of the time it’s going to save you a lot of trouble, difficulty and stress. Over time Recruiters pick up a fantastic perceptive memory…we remember candidates; their names or their resumes, especially if we stay active in the same market. A crucial skill of any Recruiter is to learn from past experience. If a candidate was bad once, they’ll probably be bad again and opening the door to the same problems you’ve had before is a quick way to lose hours of a productivity.
• Cutting ‘Em Loose: Telling people they didn’t get the job isn’t really easy and frankly, it shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, that’s where a lot of recruiters get themselves tripped up. When people avoid giving bad news they do a lot of harm; the candidate is left with false hope, the Recruiter is constantly fielding follow-up calls and eventually the Recruiter will gain a reputation for not getting back to people. So a good bad habit we pick up over time is the ability to drop the bad news bomb on someone within a 90 second window and moving on. Yep, that sounds bad. It definitely sounds like something other people and professions would call a bad habit. Not so for Recruiters. Being able to follow-up with a candidate, delivering bad news and then moving on is life blood for us. We simply don’t have the time to dance around subjects with candidates and at the end of the day, it’s cruel to the candidate. So with time, all good Recruiters will learn to drop the bomb; professionally, but quick and clean. Then they’ll move on to the next one.

There are plenty of qualities that might seem cold or unfeeling to people from other walks of life, but they’re not Recruiters. They’re not racing the clock to find the best person faster than anyone else out there. That’s our job. That’s our world. Recruiters are about speed, precision and persuasiveness. Cutting the dross and maintaining a steady clip closes deals.

Blasting your resume

This was an interesting post from Recruiter.com.  Read the last paragraph - none of these services are affiliated with Recruiter.com and the validity of the service is not vetted - since the message comes from their websites.  I am not a user of any of these services and would welcome feedback from any of my followers whether the service is cost justified.

Post:

If you are looking for a new job, you are probably applying to a huge amount of jobs online and emailing your resume to any recruiter and employer that you can think up. Employment sites, job boards, niche sites, social networks, recruiting firms – there are too many career resources out there to count!
If you’ve been on the job hunt for a long time, you might be asking “Is my resume going into the garbage?” The scary thing is, that perception may not be far from the truth.
Applicant tracking systems are the computer technology that employers and recruiters use to keep track of thousands of resumes and open jobs. When your email your resume to employers and recruiters, you are very likely doing little but submitting your resume into one of these large applicant databases. There might be millions of other candidates!
It’s not surprising therefore that job application has become somewhat of a numbers game. You need to get your resume to a lot of recruiters and employers by properly keywording your resume and then distributing that resume into as many databases as possible. Job search is still about creating a very highly quality resume, social media presence, and strong brand statement; however, a certain level of quantity is required.
Applying manually to jobs and emailing resumes to recruiters directly is a lot of work… How do you email your resume to a huge number of people and get your resume into the hands of a lot of recruiters all at once? Fortunately, there are a number of resume services for just that – resume distribution services that can be a valuable job search tool (kind of like mass marketing meets job search.)
Here is a quick list of ten companies offering resume distribution. Note: the summary has been taken from their websites. Use this list to check out some of the top resume distribution companies on the web.

1. ForwardYourResume: ForwardYourResume.com is the only major resume distribution review website that does not accept advertising or free services. We have been on the web since 2001 and have helped 100′s of job seekers connect with recruiters, hiring managers and companies looking for talent.
2. GorillaBlaster: GorillaBlaster.com, a powerful and innovativeresume distribution tool, helps Job Seekers gain visibility and get exposure with Corporate Employers and third party Executive Recruiters.
3. JobsByFax: Get 10+ employers calling you to interview in the next 72 hours. You Choose From Our Database of 3,626,344 Direct Hiring Employers
4. MyResumeAgent: myResumeAgent makes even the most challenging job searches easy, reducing the time job seekers spend on traditional methods of marketing their skills and experience by up to 78%
5. ResumeArrow: Using ResumeArrow, you will reach recruiters looking for people with your qualifications and whose positions may not be advertised through traditional channels.
6. ResumeDeliver: Resume distribution is an effective way to find a job. Put your resume in the hands of thousands of targeted recruiters and hiring companies that have current job openings. They are waiting for your resume now.
7. ResumeExposure: The Best Method to Land Your Ideal Job. Proactive resume distribution to a recruiter’s email inbox is up to 20 times more effective than simply posting your resume to a job board then hoping someone finds it. High quality Recruiter database.
8. ResumeRabbit: Post your resume on up to 86 of the top job posting sites now! Our resume posting features save you over 60 hours of data entry time. Find top jobs, specialty jobs, high paying jobs quickly with our fast resume posting service.
9. ResumeSpider: Be Seen by Recruiters and Hiring Managers. Resumespider matches you with companies that are looking for people with your skills, in your chosen locations and industries. Once matched, your resume will be emailed to these companies each month.
10. ResumeZapper: By coming to ResumeZapper.com you have just taken the first step in proactively taking control of your career. Now more than ever we’re all hearing the talk of recession, rightsizing, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions etc. The people who get ahead in today’s corporate environment are those that proactively take control of their careers!

Companies that offer resume distribution services vary in the scope of their recruiter database, and their methods for distribution. In general, look for resume services that can email your resume to a large network of employers and recruiters, and offer the recruiters targeted distribution. Although resume distribution is the “quantity” part of your job search, it still pays to make sure you find a quality service to email resumes for you, and that the company has a high level of customer service and support.
If you do end up using a resume sending service, hopefully it will provide job leads for years to come, as your resume should end up in the applicant databases of thousands of major employers and recruiting firms. Best of luck to you in your job search!
Please note that Recruiter.com has assembled this list as a simple resource for job seekers. It does not imply any association to any of these sites, nor does it advocate any of these sites in particular. No affiliate links are used in this list, but of course any of the companies listed here may have an existing or future business relationship with Recruiter.com. Of course, when you are searching for a job, the last thing you want is poor service and high costs – so make sure that you examine every career resource available to you to make an informed decision!

John Boyd's Illustrated Guide to Selling You Part 1

John Boyd’s Illustrated Guide to Selling You Part 1 - The principles of attraction, relentless resourcefulness and creativity

Where are you in your job/career quest?  It took John Boyd 7 years to distil his ideas for his book and he gave up several times.  He credits his wife, Karen, and friends with their support in the process.  Never fail to give others their due credit for your success.   Being a successful sales professional, John knows the skills to properly sell a product.  In finding a job – the product is you.  I’m going to start with one of his concepts and illustrations (fly fisherman properly baiting and casting his line to attract the fish) and compare it to finding a job or opportunity.  You can’t force the fish to take the bait but with proper skills and techniques mentioned in his book, you can get more fish to bite.  To assist me in learning to apply the concepts of John’s book, I’ll compare it to starting a business as a headhunter or talent manager in a later post. 

John’s presentation stressed several key principles:  Relentless Resourcefulness and Consistent Creative Action.  Some people are more successful in finding their next opportunity because their skills are in hot demand and they have good attracting talents.  In the next blog I’ll talk about one skill that is often overlooked – the power of optimism and how one can learn to be more optimistic in the face of adversity.

John talked about Admiral Stockdale, prisoner of war, who never gave up, never passed on information or took the easy way out to avoid continuing deprivations and infliction of pain as others did appearing before the camera and reneging their allegiance to the US.  Every motivation speaker touts Victor Frankl, another prisoner of the Jewish concentration camp, who was relentless in his desire to have meaning in one’s life.  While we may not be prisoners of war, we do face challenges in life that test our mettle.  John indicates that life has it zigzags and we should focus on the end or long term goal (i.e.  ride out the business or other life cycle).  When John was exhausted from a serious 5-week hospital stay with a 6 year old son, he noticed a piece of paper on the hospital elevator:  “In the end everything will be okay; if it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”  These people never gave up because they had a vision of tomorrow’s improvement.

What are you doing now in your commitment to Relentless Resourcefulness?  How are you adding to your network of influential connections?  How do you identify those who are positive about life, who are experts or passionate in their field you’re pursuing, who you can help so they are looking out for you?  Do you have an engaging elevator speech?  Are you networking with hiring managers or those with connections to people you should know and grow?  I’ve indicated in other blog posts and training seminars how to grow your network and how to build warmer connections on LinkedIn.  While LinkedIn helps you identify people you need to meet and network with, it doesn’t take the place of in-person networking.  John provides the principle of asking proper questions. 

Good networking questions might include:  What do you like about your current job?  What are the challenges/pain points that keep you up at night?  Where do you see your industry going in the next few years and how can I assist in that effort?  John indicates that we should sometimes throw out our powerpoint presentations about “me, me” and do more informal listening to the hiring manager’s or vendor screener’s challenges.  Get your potential hiring or vendor manager or networking partner to talk about their passions, their challenges, and their dreams.  In a job interview, do you have prepared questions that address these concerns?  What are your favorite questions?

How are you consistently acting creatively?  How are you being relentlessly resourceful?  How are you learning and growing in your journey with a spirit of optimism?  See next post.

John Boyd's Illustrated Guide to Selling You Part 2

John Boyd’s Illustrated Guide to Selling You - Part 2 - The principles of Optimism & Flow

In John’s presentation he talked about how one confronts adversity.  Those who do so with optimism are most successful in life, in job interviews and in their working lives.  Optimism oftentimes trumps good skills.  Why?  Because the hiring manager wants someone who can engage the work group and team to newer and greater heights.   Someone with a “can do,” optimistic attitude trumps someone with a “did do” past if it was not relevant or without engaging others.  Optimism helps in one’s consistent creativity.  Make your problem solving skills an example of creative engagement.

The customer service representative, who constantly confronts a negative caller and says to him/herself that this person must be having a bad day without internalizing the hostility, is most successful.  John indicates that we will often lose that important/dream job and shouldn’t beat ourselves up, blaming ourselves for our responses, blaming our age, maturity or lack thereof, or blaming other things we have no control over.  Do a quick review after any important encounter of what went right and what to avoid the next time.  Make each interview or meeting a learning episode.  John quotes, Peter McIntyre: “Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.”  He indicates we should give our ego a “time out” as you move to take risks to reach your goals.  When hiring managers sense that your ego is in check, you will be able to build more trust.  So rid yourself of these paralyzing ego risks:  rejection, embarrassment, and failure.  Remember what talents you have going on:  “You are a child of God.”  You have the potential of doing great things and acquiring wonderful gifts.  You will never be given a challenge greater than you can overcome.  Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” only made him stronger and more resolved to succeed.

In order to improve our optimism scores for life and adversity, we should recognize those triggering events that bring us down.  We should apply cognitive therapy by acting as if you are … (successful, resourceful, engaging, positive in light of adversity).  We should also learn how to talk back to our negative dialogues that continue to flow through our brain.  Maybe we should be our best creative “spin doctors” when it comes to creating positive images of where we need to be.  Exercising to just lose weight is difficult unless you can see yourself thinner, more attractive in your body/clothes, or able to be more confident in a presentation or special event.  Have a positive mental image of success on a job, of success in a consulting gig or just success in your church or community service. 

How are you creating your dream job or life?  What will you look like and how will you add value in the process  when you realize your dream?  How are you maximizing your strengths while correcting your deficits (e.g. getting additional training or education, providing volunteer service, taking toast master classes, etc.)

If you know that you’ll only have success 10% of the time in your calls, don’t beat yourself up 90% of the time.  John speaks about killing ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts).  To be a great pest eradicator, one must be able to recognize the varmints.  My wife’s talk about gophers was a great example of ANTS.  We lived in California and had gophers in our yard.  She at first felt these were cute little critters that she could encourage their departure by flooding, by traps, by stink bombs.  Talking to an old gardener in the neighborhood, he indicated she had to confront them not as pesky pets but as poisonous varmints to be killed, eradicated, and exterminated.   Sometimes we face sins, adversity or challenges of our own making, as cute pests.  Kill ANTS (gophers) wherever you encounter them.  Replace these negative thoughts with positive thoughts, positive action and move on.

On the other hand, John indicates that once we decide that we’re successful only after working  70 hours a week, give yourself a vacation from stressors, base your pricing/value proposition on the contribution to their bottom line, and think in terms of hourly rate contribution by shifting less productive/value contributory tasks to others. 

How are you recognizing when you are in the negative zone or in the positive zone – in the“flow.”  Read Daniel Pink’s book, Drive - see my LinkedIn profile of books I’ve read/recommended.  Drive talks about purpose, about flow, about what drives people and organizations to succeed.  It’s an engaging book about people engagement when centered on purpose.

John Boyd's Illustrated Guide to Selling You Part 3

John Boyd’s Illustrated Guide to Selling You - Part 3 -The principles of Taking Action and Motivation

John’s book provides a SMART guide to Selling oneself.  While the acronym might be forced in some areas to spell SMART, the principles are still appropriate.  After describing these 5 principles, he provided in his presentation the ABCs of conquering adversity. 

SMART indicates:

S = Speaking (communicating) The subheadings in his book include the magic of human interaction, human connections of trust, making direct contacts with your 10-second elevator pitch, managing and growing your connections, building trust via engaging questions, showing humility .  His examples are helpful in growing relationships of trust and mutual value

M= Move   To be a successful salesperson you have to maintain consistent (proven) activity, staking you claim, taking risks, giving your ego a break, and avoiding some of the pitfalls like playing too safe, learned helplessness, overcoming resistance to change, failing to diversify your portfolio and value proposition.

A = Attract  As mentioned previously, we can’t persuade someone to buy our product without attracting them first.  Develop a crafts person attitude (or as Gerber calls it in E-Myth a franchise-like perspective), create your vision, your value proposition, and create more choices and/or leverage more opportunities.

R = Relax  You’re not in a hurry, humanize the organization & hiring manager, ride out the cycle, embrace change, challenges are opportunities, see the big picture, create solutions, do your best with things within your control, and have patience – stars must be aligned at times.

T = Test  Here is where John provides examples of testing assumptions, searching for solutions, creative problem solving, negotiation.  Never be afraid to ask and always counter offer.   These assumptions and principles are best for those selling a product but they have some application if that product is you. 

ABC of confronting adversity

A = Adversity will always be with us to help us grow

B = Our Belief structure whether tied to optimism or not

C = Consequence of our concerted actions or inactions

D = Dispute – being the lawyer disputing negative thoughts and replacing them with positive thoughts

E = Energy = being in charge of our destiny and getting positive emotional strength from visioning, recognizing when we’re in the flow, relentless resourcefulness and creative consistency.

I liked John’s presentation and book because it was simple to read with good illustrations.  After knowing the concepts, you remember them better when recalling the illustration.  Well done John.  What I found missing was the application of the principle to some job situations.  Some of the examples were too simplistic for those looking for jobs or opportunities in a high unemployment context where employers are not just adding employees without considering the bottom line.  The employee is supposed to be engaged, energetic, loyal but in reality the companies are not reciprocating to train, develop, coach and  inspire.  Reviewing a list of the top 10 jobs with employee discontent was surprising to find so many managers and directors of IT, Marketing, Product Engineering.  If the hiring managers of the teams that are critical in the growth of companies and their profitability are dissatisfied, it’s no wonder employees have a challenge finding jobs.  It seems like the corporate culture needs a jumpstart in some of the employee engagement, purposeful work and growth opportunities. 

My next networking post is to apply these same principles to an opportunity I’m pursuing in talent management.  In preparing for this opportunity, I’ve studied many blogposts and recruiting/headhunting suggestions.  Some are pretty familiar but others need further exploration for the transitioning professional.

How to get your resume past the ATS filters

This is an article I received from one of our networking members about applicant tracking systems (ATS) and how they can screen you out unless you pay attention to these rules.  Expert resume consultants already know these steps but most applicants do not.

 

Resume

The 24-Step Modern Resume

Resume Checklist: Follow these best practices to ensure your resume gets through the spam filter, applicant tracking system, and to the recruiters and hiring managers.

September 6, 2010

By Lisa Vaas

ShareThis

FILED UNDER: Results-Oriented Resumes, Resume Keywords, Resume Submission.

What’s the difference between a computerized ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and a black hole?
Not much, if you don’t know which aspects of your resume give you a good ranking vs. what makes these software programs choke.
The people who work with these tools say it best: “[They’re] a wonderful tool (if utilized correctly) for recruiters and hiring managers; however, they can be a black hole for the applicant if their resume is not accurately targeted to the open position with appropriate keywords and/or highlighted experience,” according to Laurie M. Winslow, principal at Talent Innovations Group Inc. Winslow has worked with a slew of vendors’ ATSes over her 20-plus years in human resources, as an executive search consultant, an in-house corporate recruiter and as a career coach and professional resume writer.
TheLadders spoke to ATS vendors and people like Winslow — the professionals who use this technology — to unlock these mysterious black boxes to figure out how they handle your resume. We also spent time with these pros to figure out how your resume gets handled by other computer systems, including e-mail security screening.
Use this list to ensure your resume gets where it needs to go and that it receives as high a ranking as possible, optimizing your chances of getting an interview.

Checklist

1. Do not apply to a company multiple times if the positions do not match your experience and skills. Recruiters notice multiple submissions, and it reflects poorly on a candidate if he or she applies for jobs that aren’t a good fit.
2. Don’t send your resume as an attachment. To avoid getting caught by security scans, paste it into the body of the e-mail.
3. When e-mailing a resume, keep exclamation marks out of the subject line and body of the text.
4. When e-mailing a resume, don’t use words in the document or headline that could be misinterpreted by spam filters. For example, use “graduated with high honors” instead of “graduated cum laude.”
5. Include a professional or executive summary at the resume top, followed by a list of bulleted qualifications and/or achievements.
6. Customize the professional/executive summary and bulleted list(s) with keywords that match a given job.
7. Make sure the keywords in the executive summary and bulleted qualifications and achievements replicate those in the job posting.
8. Keywords alone aren’t enough. State-of-the-art ATS technology relies on contextualization as well. Frame keywords with descriptive material that demonstrates experience and familiarity with the subject.
9. Do not use abbreviations such as “Mgr” instead of “Manager.” It is unlikely that the ATS has been programmed with a list of abbreviations to stand in for keywords.
10. Avoid misspellings. A misspelled keyword is a keyword that the ATS will miss, lowering your ranking.
11. Use standard capitalization, not all lowercase or full capitals. Improper capitalization annoys recruiters.
12. Fill in all the information requested by an online application process, even if it’s listed as optional. Recruiters often sort by optional information to filter out applicants, and filling in all fields will ensure you don’t erroneously get caught in a screening filter.
13. Fill in all information requested by an online application process, even if it’s included in your resume. This information can be used to filter out applicants before a hiring manager comes to the point of opening the resume itself.
14. If you’re being referred by an employee, make sure the ATS knows it, because it’s smart enough to care and will rate your resume higher.
Career Advice from TheLadders
• Getting to the Point Gets the Job
• The Right Search for the Right Job
• An Introvert's Guide to Resume Self-Promotion
• What Employers Really Think About Functional Resumes
15. If the ATS offers options, opt for uploading your resume instead of cutting and pasting. This feature often parses information and saves it in the optimal format, ensuring the cleanest presentation.
16. To avoid choking an ATS with a highly formatted resume, make sure your resume is in a clear, concise format, with your contact information located at the top instead of in the header or footer.
17. Do not include graphics or logos on a resume; they can garble the information the ATS processes.
18. Respond within 24 hours after hearing back from a company.
19. Keep an eye on spam folders. Filters are so sensitive today that they can recognize e-mail that’s automatically generated — a category which both spam and follow-up e-mail generated from an ATS program can fall into.
20. Adhere to instructions provided in follow-up e-mail. If the follow-up e-mail lacks a phone number but directs you to respond with your availability, respond via e-mail, not by calling. This will likely get you the fastest response.
21. If you receive an automatically generated rejection e-mail, immediately contact the recruitment office of the rejecting organization or a sympathetic administrative assistant — anyone who can advise you as to the best way to replace the resume currently in the ATS with one containing better keywords and phrases.
22. When reapplying after an initial rejection, tweak executive summaries and bulleted lists of key skills and achievements. Don’t alter your work history elements.
23. When reapplying, don’t try to use a different e-mail address from the one you used on your first try. This isn’t enough to avoid a duplicate record in advanced systems such as Taleo, which use multiple candidate identifiers, so make sure to follow Step #21.
24. Once your customized resume has been resubmitted, contact the appropriate recruiter (or sympathetic administrative assistant) and request that your updated resume be reviewed for the open position.

Lisa Vaas covers resume writing techniques and the technology behind the job search for TheLadders.