No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio – Page 57 – Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter's Blog

Another Job Search Lesson from “The Godfather”| No BS Job Search Advice Radio

August 17, 2017November 23, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter offers another pearl of wisdom from “The Godfather” to teach you about loyalty to your employer.

[spp-transcript]

Do you really think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

You Have to Disclose a Conviction | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 22, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses telling the truth about a conviction on an employment application when you apply for a job.

[spp-transcript]

I want to have a candid conversation with you. If you are someone who has a criminal record, dealt with the rest and talk with you about how to complete applications. I’m reminded of this by recent story from someone who represented for job who told me about a conviction he had years ago and the recent arrest or he accepted a plea deal even though he said he wasn’t involved with what was done, but got caught up in the events and his attorney advised him to accept the plea and know that within 6 months to be expunged from his record.

Now, he’s up for job and has to complete an application and is asked the question, “Have you been involved with a dishonesty that has not been expunged from your record yet?” My advice to him was to disclose it. Write a lengthy explanation for what occurred. Don’t line.

Why? It’s very simple. This is a firm that, like many, does background check and, in doing a background check, if they for the inconsistency with what you told that, namely, you have been involved in such an episode, the reality is that America hire you. If they find that out after you’ve been hired there going to fire you.

I’ve been involved with way too many circumstances where companies have found the outpost employment than a reference, a college degree, a whole host of things are falsified. The criminal stuff is always the most egregious to employer.

Imagine for 2nd you were hired for job and they find out a few weeks after you join that you were involved with some version of crime. They let you stay on board and while you are a stockbroker, for example, you still grandma’s life savings or trade them down to nothing. A lawyer get someone from the firm on the stand and goes, “You knew he was a lawyer and this is what happened! You tolerated.” Your insurance company won’t pay. There out the money. They just can’t accept the fact that someone who lied to them is on board.

In other words, you don’t want to be greeted by security at your desk, holding a box for you have all your stuff and escorted out the door. How do you explain that to your family? How do you explain that you kids or the friends or the parents that you got fired because you lied on an application?

Don’t do it.

If they’re not going to hire you, better off not to get fired after 2, 4 or 6 weeks and have the same result that you’re out of work. Except, that’s worse. After all, how do you explain that to the next employer.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

“You Don’t Have a Lot of Experience With . . . | No BS Job Search Advice

November 21, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to respond when an interviewer says, “Gee, you don’t seem to have a lot of experience with . . . “

[spp-transcript]

Today, I’m going to talk with you about 1 of those tough interview that is actually designed to rescue you. The question is (it’s actually more of a statement, then the question) goes something like this… They are staring at your resume, looking very seriously at it and say

Gee. You don’t seem to have a lot of experience with…

If it is something specific like a specific type of technology or some aspect of accounting or engineering. You can kind of get slammed. For example, in tennis, you can hit an overhead and immediately defeat your opponent. There’s no retaliation for it. That’s what they’re really begging you for at this point. If you respond by saying, “It’s true. I don’t have a lot of experience with…” You’ve shot yourself in the foot and can kiss the interview goodbye. You’re not getting the job.

It is like an earlier video that I did about the 2 dirty words of job interviewing. The 2 dirty words are “only,” (as in ‘I’ve only done this’) and “light”(as in,’ I have laid experience with…’). It says, “I don’t know anything about this. Can we go on to something else?”

Here, with this question, they’re giving you an opportunity. Take it. Tell them exactly what you know and what you’ve done. Why you claim the experience. For example, a movie using IT example, “Gee, you don’t seem to have a lot of experience with C#.” At this point, you would talk about how you got your training C#, how in previous jobs. You did work with C#, you work very closely with the manager you reported to so that you have very good insights. So, even though it’s not 10 years of experience with the technology, you have good underpinnings and solid experience with it. You talk with him about what you’ve done. Yada yada yada.

If you are in accounting, you talk about how you work with your manager on certain functions and were able to deliver things on time and within budget. And, yes, you had some support, but, there was a lot of support.

Basically, what you are doing is taking the opportunity to talk about what your training is, talk about your experience, speak with confidence and certainty about what you’ve done, looking him square in the eye, not backing down and hitting that overhead slam back at them and winning the point.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you really think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

The Easiest Stupid Résumé Mistake to Fix (VIDEO)

November 20, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses the stupidest resume mistake people make and how easy it is to fix it.

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you about 1 of those stupid resume mistakes that people make time and time again. It is incredibly frustrating. It is so avoidable. It’s ridiculous that people don’t avoid doing it more often.

Here’s how to fix it. Ready? Spell check your resume.

This should go without saying, but it is not done. You think your resume is perfectly typed. Sometimes you have “fat fingers.” Sometimes, you just don’t know how to spell the word. Just spellcheck your resume.

I saw a statistic recently. One spelling error can cause a resume to to be rejected. Personally, I wouldn’t do that; I would investigate the person more thoroughly but I’m wondering where else this person got sloppy.

I know clients to think the same way that I do. They’re not necessarily going to reject someone, but they will put that person through a bigger meatgrinder of an interview because they want to make sure that sloppiness is not part of the pattern.

After all, this is where you are trying to create a great impression. If you’re consciously trying to do that and you are not spell checking your resume, what’s going to happen when you are not consciously trying to create a great impression?

Again, take a minute. It isn’t hard. All word processing software has.

Spellcheck your resume. It’s a stupid resume mistake. If you don’t.

Last week, there was not a day they went by where I didn’t have 5 to 10 resumes that had spelling errors in them.

By the way, if there is unique language in your field (for example, in information technology or engineering) and our products and services that are unique to your field, visually check the spelling just to make sure. Sometimes in misspelling the term, the misspelling is a correct word but not the word that you want to use.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you really think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

The Three Jokes of Recruiting |No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 19, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter uses the three jokes of recruiting in order to teach an important lesson about job hunting.

spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you about the 3 jokes of the recruiting business.

The 1st joke is, “How can you tell a job applicant is lying to you?” The answer is, “Their lips are moving.“

What’s the 2nd joke?

“How can you tell a client is lying to you?“

“Their lips are moving.”

The 3rd joke is, “How can you tell he recruiter was lying to you?” You guessed it – – their lips are moving.

When you basically translate it, what is being said is that everyone is posturing for advantage and the best outcome. Everyone is exaggerating to some degree.

For you as a job hunter. You have to remember that the company may be talking with you about this great opportunity for you to advance when in most cases, what they really want to do is is hire the 4th drone in the 3rd cubicle on the 5th floor of a particular building. You are not particularly important to them.

You may be important to that particular manager, but that manager, when times get tough, may not be they are any longer than you are.

In terms of the recruiter, the recruiter is posturing to engender trust in you. That’s because if you are unsure you may trust their words and allow yourself to take a job.

Now, if we were talking about an investment advisor and they were saying, “Trust me. Give me $50,000. Yeah. That’s the ticket yeah, trust me with the money.” You would be very hesitant. With the recruiter, you need to take your time before giving away your trust.

Finally, I understand that you are trying to get the best of the deal possible and you are trying to position yourself well. Everyone is kind of like 8-year-olds who are visiting their friends’ parents. Invariably, the 8-year-old is on good behavior over there, right? Well, everyone is on good behavior as part of the search process.

Your goal is to get the best information that you can in order to make a good decision for yourself. It’s not to be a good boy. It’s not to be a good girl. It’s to get the best information possible so that you can make a great choice, so that your career advances and you can get to where you want.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Ending Your Interview | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

September 30, 2017November 18, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman,The Big Game Hunter explains how to act and speak during the last few minutes of your interview.

[spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

Learn to Speak “Civilian”

November 2, 2017November 17, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter speaks to those men and women separating from the military and encourages them to communicate in as way that the civilian workforce understands.

I want to speak with those of you who are separating from the military and have a direct conversation with you about looking for work in the civilian sector.

[spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

Turn It Up! | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 16, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter shares some of his observations about working with recruiters and applies it to job hunting.

[spp-transcript]

In my career, I’ve trained a lot of very successful recruiters. I’ve also trained some people who have washed out. I put my best effort to try to help these people. But, when push comes to shove, ultimately, the onus falls on them to follow through a lot of the coaching that I give. Often, the biggest failure is around effort.

Most people (including job hunters in this) say they want to do a hard days work and they want to put in. Best effort. They want to be successful BUT when you examine what they do, they are not working as hard as they think they are. That is true of job hunters, too.

How People Find Jobs

For you as a job hunter, statistically, people are finding work in a number of ways. Consistently, statistics show, the job boards fill between 3% and 4% of all positions. Recruiters fill an additional 20% to 22%. I’m going to combine the numbers because some recruiters use job boards to find candidates. And I will add a little more than that. So, let’s assume that 30% are filled by job boards and by recruiters.

70%, though, is filled as a result of networking. In a recent statistic that I heard, 70% that of those jobs (70% of the 70%) or filled as a result of a network connection to someone that they didn’t know at the beginning of the job search.

Here’s the point. You are not working as hard as you can to find people to connect with and develop a relationship with in order to become 1 of those people in the 70%. What you need to be doing is putting in a “Max effort.” You need to try that much harder, to operate at a much higher capacity than you are now. I’m not saying to work like a maniac. You need to have some fun and there, too. At the end of the day, you need to kick it up some notches. You need to put yourself out there with some people you are not really talking to yet. You need to track these relationships so that, in this way, you remember your conversations, what your commitments are and follow-up… Stuff flows along those lines… When push comes to shove, you have to kick it up. Some notches.

Again, it’s not who applies to the most jobs on the job board. You are swimming in the lake with a lot of hooks out when you’re swimming in job boards. There is a lot of competition with other fish in their for that hook. You want to be out there swimming in streams and rivers that have hooks out there, but not a lot of fish there. This way, you are able to swim up and be able to connect with the organization. In addition, you need to be able to come in with a referral from someone you know.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

Why Are You Making So Much Money? | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 16, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer this tricky interview question, both when times are good and when economic times are not good.

[spp-playlist]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

Tough Interview Questions: How Do You Handle Office Politics?

November 15, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer the tricky interview question, “how do you manage office politics?”

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you today about 1 of those tough interview that are designed to baffle you, make you reveal things that you would prefer not revealing! Ooooooh!

So dramatic!

Today’s question is, “How do you handle office politics?“

Politics in the office usually translates into 2 people have different opinions about how to do something and the other person’s opinion was chosen. The other way is “credit grabbing.” Let me address both of these.

The 1st 1 with their 2 different opinions.

“I try not to get involved with office politics, but the fact of the matter is we all compete. For some people, office politics is that they lost the disagreement over how something should be done. It happens. My opinions are good, but sometimes, someone else’s are better. I have an opportunity to learn from what their thought process was and there is nothing to be bothered or troubled about.” You can then continue by saying, “But, sometimes, office politics can mean someone is credit grabbing Or trying to take control of the situation, that doesn’t really belong to them. There, I try to get support from management to sort things through. After all, we could argue and fight and, what’s the point of that? Management not as an idea of who they want to handle things. Maybe I didn’t understand my side, but maybe they didn’t understand their site. So let’s get that sorted out as quickly as possible before the office starts taking sides, before really becomes problematic.”

That’s how it address the kind of question. I don’t really think it’s that hard. I think it is pretty logical, but you have to address both situations in answering the question. So, again, in the 1st situation, you start off by saying, “Office politics often means 2 things. Number 1 is 2 people have a disagreement over which of their ideas is best. Management chooses the other person. Someone thinks it’s politics. I don’t see it that way. I see it as that. There were 2 good ideas. Management chose the one that they thought was best, and I have something I can learn from that.”

The 2nd one is, “I would try and sorted out with my colleague but, if I can’t, I go to management.”

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you?

You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes