It has been a month since CTIA (the biggest wireless convention in the US) and I am finally caught up from the week I took away from my recruiting desk. Not to say I was not recruiting while I was there and also of course doing business development, but traveling to Las Vegas did nothing to fill the current open jobs I was engaged in.
The main thing I noticed at this CTIA was the renewed optimism. [Read the rest of this entry...]
It amazes me how many times while calling a perspective job candidate, that I call someone in the middle of a meeting, or inappropriate time at work.
You would think in this world of technology that can make an unmanned space vehicle go to Mars, a sheep genetically grown from a test tube and Dick Clark still look the age of forty when he is actually one hundred and ten, that they could create a way for job searchers to have their phone calls go somewhere before their cell phones.
Now with gmail, hotmail, yahoo mail and other free email services, people have handled the problem of receiving email at work from headhunters and companies. In addition, with so many people today only having a cell number, how can one receive those inappropriate calls at work? [Read the rest of this entry...]
I have often run into situations that this statement is true. The act of interviewing like dating can make candidates as well as interviewers act in irrational and even down right crazy ways. Candidates lose perspective and take everything way too personally and interviewers totally lose sight of what is common courtesy and sometimes even common sense.
Here are some real life examples:
A candidate was interviewing for a development job. She was living on one side of the Country and the job was on the other side of the Country. After two very good phone screens, the recruiter working with the candidate followed up with the company to see if they were ready to fly her out for a face to face. Instead to the recruiter’s surprise, the hiring manager said he had already left the candidate a message that they wanted to make her an offer.
Now you would expect her to think what great news! “They love me so much after two phone screens they want to make me an offer!”
Well think again…
Okay, so you posted your resume on every job board. You applied to 50 different jobs posted on company websites. You sent your resume to a Bazillian “Resumeblasting” services. But, still there you sit watching Judge Judy on the WB with little to no firm job prospects. Perhaps it is time to look“Beyond the Job Boards” and use some unique methods of job sourcing previously known only to recruiters.
As a recruiter we are introduced to many training methods in finding new clients and potential candidates. There is a whole industry built around training recruiters. As many recruiters have a high percentage of their income based on commissions, so effective tools for recruiting is essential.
Recently I attended a webinar like no other. This took many of the methods recruiters use & put it into a way that applies to the job seeker including:
Here are ten simple rules to writing an effective resume. Violation of these rules can cause pain, heartache, cramps, irregularity and even worse…
You won’t get the interviewed for the job you want!
1. Style & Font are least important: If I help someone “tweak” their resume and the style is OK, I try not to change it. (Style meaning what kind of bullet points they use or whether they block things off with lines, etc.)
OK, so you have been laid-off, downsized, riffed, let go, fired or maybe you even quit. Before you rush to put your resume on Monster, Careerbuilder, Hotjobs, Dice or Florida Alligator Wrestler Jobs, or all of the above, take a minute and ask yourself a question:
What job do I really want to do? Well, Bill Gates isn’t handing over controlling interest of Microsoft and Bono hasn’t mentioned he is looking for a replacement at U2, so those choices may be gone, but there are certainly others.
Leaving your job is a very destabilizing situation, and depending on if you have money put away or are given some kind of a severance, can even be a threat to your survival. But no matter what the case is, it is a time of transition that is for sure. Now during a time of transition, why not do a little reflection. Dig down deep and see what you really want to do.
It is Critical when you do your first phone screen with a company you know your goal in doing the phone Screen, and also what the goal of Human resources is, as they are totally different.
Your goal is simple, to get a second interview!
You must speak on the phone again with a potential decision maker or in person with a peer of the hiring manager or directly with the hiring manager.
Your phone interview is not to get the job. You may be many steps away from getting the job, and if you get too far ahead of yourself, you may never make it to another interview. Walk through the interviewing process a step at a time.
