Day: May 18, 2015

Are You an Adult Elephant?

by

In this video, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter uses the story of how baby and adult elephants are trained to encourage you.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.

Follow him at the Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit my website, http://www.TheBigGameHunter.us to sign up for a complimentary subscription to No B.S. Job Search Advice Ezine, pay what you want for my books and guides to job hunting and watch hundreds of other videos about job hunting and hiring.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Listen to Job Search Radio, No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio and No B. S. Hiring Advice Radio in iTunes and other podcast directories and apps.

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me a question via email, chat or phone ? Reach me via PrestoExperts or Clarity.fm

 

 

When A Company Wants to Give You a Written Test

by

 

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses the mistake many experienced job hunters make when interviewing with a company that gives a pre-employment test.


—————————————————————————————————————————–
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.

Follow him at the Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit my website, http://www.TheBigGameHunter.us to sign up for a complimentary subscription to No B.S. Job Search Advice  Ezine, pay what you want for my books and guides to job hunting and watch hundreds of other videos about job hunting and hiring.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Listen to Job Search Radio, No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio and No B. S. Hiring Advice Radio in iTunes and other podcast directories and apps.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me a question via email, chat or phone ? Reach me via PrestoExperts or Clarity.fm

Things You Must Remember in a Salary Negotiation

by

On this show, I talk about preparing to negotiate salary.

 

Who says job hunting has to be so hard?

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been helping people find work by recruiting, providing great information and coaching without any BS for more than 40 years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.                  

Visit http://www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGamHunter.us

Want to ask me a question via email, chat or phone ? Reach me via PrestoExperts

No B. S. Job Search Advice: Changing Up

by

I often like to write from my own experience when I write for you. This article is no different.

It stems from my decision to launch a new podcast show on WebTalkRadio.net.

You see, I have been doing recruiting for more than 40 years. After recruiting for this long, I started to feel a stagnant in my work.

All day long, I read resumes off a screen who in no way fit what my clients are looking for, speak with a few people (two weeks ago, I arrived on Monday to more than 168 resumes; by the end of the day, I had recrived another 138; of all those resumes, only two fit what my clients were looking for).

Out of the blue, I received an invitation to do a new podcast show where I interview guests about different elements of job search. I hemmed and hawed about doing it and decided to go forward and do it.

It has completely invigorated me again.

As much effort as I put into so many things that seem secondary to my primary work as a headhunter, I apparently need a change of pace from time to time and do related things creatively.

My coaching practice has blossomed; I have become a PrestoExperts career and job search expert fielding requests for my thoughts regularly.

All of which has helped to help me make my work more enjoyable.

What can you do to “change up” your work or “change up” your job search to make it more interesting like I’ve done with.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that one week into a job change that you abandon tried and true methods. You need to sharpen your skills.

But for those of you who are “grinding along,” finding a way to add to your game with something a little different may make all the difference to you like it has to me.

© Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, Inc, Asheville, NC 2013

No B. S. Job Search Advice: Making Difficult Decisions

by

Sometimes, salary negotiations are complicated by one party or the other changing terms from the time the original discussion occurred to the time the final offer is ultimately made. That happened to me recently and I think there is a good lesson to take from it.

I was recently contacted by the President of a radio syndication firm about doing a regular podcast show on his network. He had spent time listing to my current show on BlogTalkRadio, plus visited my website and thought I offered terrific content and wanted me to do an interview show on his. He went so far as to discuss waving his usual fee for coaching to entice me to join.

A few days later, as I reviewed the contract and had another followup conversation with the network, the coaching fee was back included into the agreement and I became angry and frustrated. I started to investigate alternatives. I considered walking away. Then, I did something different for me.

I said, “I need to re-think this and call you tomorrow.”

I spent time talking with my wife and sitting quietly. I thought about my modest success with BlogTalkRadio and whether having a real professional coach me could make a difference with show quality and with syndication.

I called the next day and reviewed the reasons for the change and reviewed the terms again in minute detail. After all, my trust had been shaken.

Then I agreed to move forward with the deal.

For me, someone who is a recruiter who does things to help people and receives additional exposure for it, doing a podcast show with a network like this coached by a big name in radio offers a big opportunity for me to learn and improve. So I shifted my thinking and signed on.

Sometimes, you need to park your ego at the door and put aside your emotions to think analytically about your choices. Sometimes, as I did, you need to take a time out and gather your thoughts to do that.

That’s OK. As a matter of fact, it’s smart to do it. Doing so, in my case, allows me to syndicate the show to a very large following, obtain sponsors and earn some money from the project.

And, don’t get me wrong, if something else changes I walk.

© Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, Inc, Asheville, NC 2013

Deciphering The Pattern

by

When the United State elects a President, the country does not seem to be interested in nominating let alone electing someone who works at a university.

Instead, the country seems to choose people who went to good schools, are lawyers, became involved in politics, rose to US Senator or Governor prior to their nomination.

When a government agency hires a social worker, the agency usually hires someone with a degree in social work who has worked in an agency providing similar services to a population, maybe the person is bilingual (Spanish-English is the norm in the US but to serve other populations, a different second language may be necessary), has a certain number of years experience and is willing to earn a certain amount of money.

If you work in technology and are at a project manager level, for example, an employer tries to hire someone who is at a project manager level and has experience where they have risen through the ranks from developer to project manager, has worked with technology, managed certain numbers of people, have worked for certain organizations where they achieved certain objectives. Perhaps, they achieved certain certifications. This is a simplification . . . you get the idea.

If we go back in time, they attended certain schools to have the opportunity to be hired by their first employer. They obtained certain grades in order to be considered for these jobs or companies. Along the way, they interned or worked part time at particular businesses . . .

There are patterns that you can discern in how companies choose people for particular jobs. Even now as an accomplished professional, you need to look at the patterns your target employers use to hire people and lay the foundation for the job change after this one with this one.

How does this opportunity jive with where you want to be in three years? 10 years? In your career?

One of the things that recruiters are taught by their clients is not just what skills they want to hire but what experiences they are looking for and, thus, what firms to target who develop people that they hire.

You want to make CFO with a certain type of organization, find the pattern and follow it.

CTO or CIO? Do the same thing.

There are exceptions but that’s what they are.

Exceptions.

It’s always easier to get where you want by swimming with the currents than against them.

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. , Asheville, NC 2013

Exhilaration!

by

 

Most people live pretty ordinary lives.

Most people do pretty ordinary work.

They may delude themselves into thinking they are important to their employer. In fact, the only time they re seen as being valuable is when they give their notice to change jobs. Management isn’t prepared for their departure and tries to persuade them to stay.

Many people are their own worst enemies.

They give themselves permission to be mediocre and blame others for their professional failures.

In fact, it is the willingness to allow yourself to be a good homogenized citizen of American business and American culture that is causing you problems.

Is it any wonder that many are not happy in their work?

Is it any wonder that American employees work in ways that show little difference than factory workers in the late 19th century. Work has made conveniently boxed by people working in boxes (cubicles). Is it any wonder that the boxes are eventually moved to the curb to be picked up by the sanitation workers (government)?

Then the people working in the boxes blame others for what has happened to them.

They are, in my opinion, mistaken.

Many of you have fallen into a trap that tries to convince you that if you are good girls and good boys, you will get raises, promotions and the chance to do good work. That if you follow the rules everything will turn out OK.

Folks, many of you have made a mistake, but one that can be corrected. Some of you have turned out OK, but for many many people, the strategy has been one sold to you by people in authority to convince you to be nice docile workers.

It is important for you to take control of your careers and of your lives. No one else is responsible for them, no one else is to blame if they don’t work out.

It is important to think about what serves you and your families, what you really need to know in order to be successful, what allows you to standout from the mediocrities mascarading as your co-workers and correct the mistakes you made that caused you to accept the terms and conditions demanded of you by.

For many of you, being rebellious and taking charge is the way to go now. Drop out of the system and learn what you need to do something that has meaning for you, rather than be another cog in the system.

That will require you accept responsibility for your mistakes regularly.

Freedom, that is exhilarating!

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2013

Maybe It’s You

by

When you arrive at my website, you are greeted with these words, “Who said job hunting has to be hard,” and then I begin to take you though the many things you need to know to find work.

There are job leads, both mine and access to others, there are places to post your resume, information galore about job hunting . . . yet people often find it difficult to find work. Why?

For a while we could point to the job market there were very few jobs available and a lot of people looking for work yet some people were finding work even in the worst of times.

Now the economy is finally picking up again yet people are using the same complaints about the economy. “the black hole, recruiters and ridiculous employers to explain their lack of success with finding a new position.

A few months ago, a friend asked to coach his nephew who had been doing work away from his profession for two years and now wanted to return to it. We spoke several times and he was able to find a new job.

I met a woman in my town in late July who had moved to Asheville and needed to find job in order to stay. She explained she had a wedding to attend and didn’t want to start looking for work for two weeks.

Asheville is an incredibly tough place to find work with little local industry restaurants, tourism and hospitals yet she found work in a few weeks when everyone told her she should plan to move back home to New York.

How did these unemployable people find work so easily?

Great coaching is part of the answer but the other part is the willingness to do what was necessary to find their next job. Once they had an idea of how to market themselves they executed the plan doing what was needed to find their next position.

To paraphrase someone I know, “Is the reason you are having a rough time finding a job because it’s tough out there or because you believe it’s tough out there.”

 

© The Big Game hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2013

Beyond Job Search Tactics

by

Since starting to write about job hunting many years ago, most of my attention has been directed toward the tactics of finding work. I’ve explored better ways to write a resume, get more interviews, network, interview better, negotiate a higher salary for yourself, work with recruiters, a host of topics that help people find work.

In addressing these specific topics, I have neglected one subject that it is critical when looking at a job choice.

That topic is whether your work nourishes your soul.

Maybe it’s a sign of my getting older that I realized this gap in my teaching or just an inherent wisdom that has been ripening as I have started to become involved with life coaching (Keep an eye out for the announcement of “No B.S. Coaching Advice,” the ezine, YouTube Channel, the website and the coaching practice” in the next few months. Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter on Facebook has already been changed).

I believe it is important to evaluate your professional choices in the context of your core beliefs and not just money, location and work.

Will you be doing work that excites you, fills you, helps you grow or is it just “bloodsucking dull?”

Do you get a sense of meaning from your work or is it another example of being, “the third drone on the fourth floor of the information processing factory.”

I know these are “First World questions” and that if you don’t have a job, can’t pay your bills and are at risk of losing your apartment or home things you probably can’t afford to consider.

Yet, at the end of the day, it is important to remember that each choice we make has a consequence and that you can do work that helps you expand or contract emotionally.

It is important to remember that your work can help you personally flourish or, like a vampire, eat you up from the inside.

Don’t neglect this part of your evaluation when deciding upon a job offer.

And to be clear, I am not telling you which is “the right choice.” I am encouraging you to make conscious choices, awake to the consequences to any decision you make.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2013

Networking Works

by

Imagine receiving a call or email where someone says, “My name is Jeff and we met two years ago at a conference you attended. You told me about you’re background and we’re now trying to hire someone with you’re experience. Do you have time to meet with a few of us tomorrow evening?”

The person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest or work the hardest, although those are great ideas to have. People get ahead by being alert to opportunity. Sometimes those are internal to a firm. More often, they are external to your organization.

Thus, you want to put yourself in the position of being found, being remembered as an expert. Networking puts yourself in the position of being remembered or re-discovered by a potential employer who you may have met with previously or may have observed you present at a group or meet at a cocktail party.

It also gives you an advantage over your competition because your capabilities can be vouched for by someone that knows you. This advantage can be the difference between success and failure when you interview.

Recently, a friend was approached about a Director’s position with a large firm by someone who met him three years before at a conference; they had spoken for about 20 minutes and maintained some light contact over the years. Two interviews later, she was hired into a new position and was told, “We spoke with others but you were always the front runner in my mind because I already knew you and wanted to hire you.”

 

So, you have a choice when you think about networking–be an absolute stranger to a firm and be evaluated and worked over on lots of interviews or be the candidate who is the frontrunner who everyone is evaluated against.

© 2012 all rights reserved