No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio

Dealing With the Emotional Side of Job Search- No BS JobSearch Advice Radio

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter speaks about the emotional toll job hunting can take and what you can do about it.

[spp-transcript]

I thought I would do a show about the emotional side of job hunting because most of what I deal with in the shows involves tactics… Strategies… Things along those lines. There’s an emotional side, and emotional toll that comes with job hunting.

A lot of people come home from work and develop procrastination skills.

“This is hard.”
“I’m too tired.”

Or maybe you’re not working because you’ve lost your job and you start spending a lot of time staring at the refrigerator and what’s in it.

Or suddenly you start drinking or getting high in different ways.

I just want to point out that these are common and maladaptive responses (bad responses) to your circumstances. You are far better off doing two things:

Getting coaching advice to help you with your job search or working on the emotional issue that’s causing the anxiety or depression that’s causing you to take out your fears in these kind of ways.

You’re not good to any employer if you walk in with a hangover. It’s not that they’re going to know that you have a hangover but you’re just not going to perform well on your interviews. United to get job so easily if your pantsuit doesn’t fit you properly.… If your blouse or shirt opens in inappropriate places.… It just doesn’t work.

Better to spend time on a treadmill if you are out of work or if you are working. Better to spend time on a crosstrainer. Better to spend time doing meditation, rather than acting out from your frustrations/fears/depression rather than in ways that are going to hurt you. And they will hurt you unfortunately.

No one really talks about this stuff but I see it all the time in my work as a headhunter and as a coach. I talk to people who are panicked (and understandably so). They are down to their last dollars. They are becoming frightened. They are talking to be because they are hoping that I can find something for them quickly and I can’t.

Companies have their own timeline and it’s not like you can pressure them into acting differently because they don’t care about your circumstances; they are trying to hire the best person for themselves.

Work on the emotional side of you looking for work. If you are working and you’re procrastinating about looking for work, if you’re not doing the kind of things to develop your skills or network properly, to post your resume on job boards, to respond to ads, to contact recruiters, what’s that really about? What are you frightened about that’s keeping you from doing that? What’s at risk for you to take the appropriate steps to act in the right way?

Lord knows, you don’t want to be in your current job and there is a fear of going to the next one. You need to solve that in order to break free. Unfortunately, it takes some time and take some effort.

I happen to do coaching but if you want to contact someone else, that’s certainly fine. I have a lot of videos that deal with tactics and strategies… That can help you break through some things but fundamentally this is an emotional issue. I trained as a therapist for a lot of years, practiced for a lot of years, I can help you.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

A Creative Way to Use Facebook for Job Hunting

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses a creative way to use Facebook for job hunting.

[spp-transcript]

This is a creative tip and I say it’s a creative tip because it is an underutilized one. I know with Google, you are used to seeing advertising around the page and I’m sure you’ve noticed that Facebook does the same thing.

Facebook is remarkably inexpensive and terrific way to promote yourself. For you people in a creative field, why not do a campaign on Facebook. It’s very inexpensive; you can choose the demographics of who the ad is displayed to. You can run campaigns for a few dollars per day and put your impressions in front of people, perhaps link it back to a website or page on Facebook where you can promote yourself and your capabilities.

Creative ideas like this for creative professionals go a long way toward helping you stand out from your competition. Don’t just go for the conventional route. Look for ways that you can reach out to individuals who might be a position to go, “how. That’s a great idea!” Click through to you and then be interested in meeting with you.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

The Format of a Perfect Cover Letter

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses how to create a perfect cover letter.

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you about effective cover letters, getting to the point very quickly and demonstrated (if you are submitting your resume for a role) that you fit the job that you are applying for. Here’s the basic format of a cover letter:

Paragraph/Sentence one: I’m forwarding my resume to you because I understand you are trying to hire for a (fill in the blank). That can be the job title with some of the details of the position. For example, a software engineer with C++ in a pharmaceutical environment. I noticed a few major points of in the description; let me show you how a matchup.

Then you go through the requirements of the job, as well as the functionality of the position and how you match up. Next, you set up columns. Toward the left, you have a requirement; for example, C++. To the right, you have how long and how recently he worked with it. Again, let’s say it C++, you might write, “four years. Current.” The line might have the next point of the requirements. The next line would say, “three years. Current.”

Eventually, you get to the functionality that they are asked to perform. Again, you do the same thing.

Thus, in your cover letter, you’re making the case for how you fit the requirements and functionality that the company is asking for and that you will be performing. From there, you have to make sure that some of these points, if not all these points, or mentioned in your resume because if it is inconsistent, it will cause the employer to hesitate. This is where resume tailoring comes in handy.

Again, the format is very simple: I’m forwarding my resume to you because I understand you’re trying to hire for such and such. This is how my background matches up with what you’re looking for and what you be asking someone to do. Flush left. Flush right.

If you conclude by saying something to the effect of, “I look forward to hearing from you and meeting with you to discuss the opportunity with you,” or “I’ll follow up with you in the next few days if I don’t hear from you.” Something along these lines that ties the bow. Then you sign it.

Now, to be real clear, you don’t send this as a separate attachment. Put in the body of your email because no one wants to open up a second file with a know your resume is there. Laid out right in front of them so that when they open up the message and, trust me, will read it

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

Did the Firm You Interned With Offer a Job to You?

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter answers one of those tough interview questions, “I see you interned with a firm. Did they offer you a full-time position at graduation? If not, why not?”

[spp-transcript]

I have another one of those tough interview questions, this one geared toward fairly recent grads.

“I see he interned for (fill in the blank). Did they offer you a full-time position after graduation and, if not, why not?”

The correct way to answer this is to say, “Yes, I interned for them and did a great job for them. On graduation, I’m sure you realize that the economy has cratered and decide to cut back very dramatically on their internship hires. So, no, I wasn’t offered a position but no one else was offered a full-time position with them. I’m sure have great references from them and if you like I can put you in touch with firm you to verify that.”

That’s really is complicated as you need to be. Acknowledge that you did intern there, that you weren’t there for a position, as a matter of fact no one was offered a position there, that you great references and that you be happy put them together with them at the right time.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

Mojo. Swagger. Attitude. Whatever You Call It, Show It!

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Whether you call it mojo, swagger, or attitude, make sure you show it on your next interview.

[spp-transcript]

This is a show about Mojo… Swagger… Attitude… Whatever you want to call it.. Whether you are a leader, executive or a staff person, firms buy into it. Often when you’re out looking for work, and on your turf and don’t feel completely confident, you feel like you want to feel about the other person… Mistake.

What you need to do is deal with the other person as you presuppose them today. After all, 95 times out of 100 when you meet people in the social situation your instincts about them right. Don’t waste time feeling out of the people; just go right into trusting your instincts about the other person.

As you walk into the interview, shake hands assertively with someone. I’m not talking about one of those ridiculous handshakes that almost seem like someone is pumping water from a well.

I’m talking about a firm confident handshake. An assertive manner about yourself (Being assertive is not rude or obnoxious. It’s just confident, certain and decisive).

We think about certain actors or actresses and how they carry themselves in front of the , a have “IT.” You want to have “IT” and show it. You want to have that great handshake, a great smile in your face, as you talk you don’t want to seem concerned or worried or like you are wondering. What you want to be doing is speaking confidently and with certainty about the subject.

At the end of the day if they choose someone else, it makes no difference because someone is going to hire you. You have to conduct yourself with that belief. Someone is going to hire you. It’s just a question the right firm finding you and you demonstrating your skills in a way that makes sense to them.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

More Phone Interview Tips for Job Hunters

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter offers more phone interview tips for job hunters.

[spp-transcript]

Although I have done videos about, about phone interviewing I want to cover a couple of additional points.

I’ll simply say that you already know that you need to be in a quiet place for the conversation. But there are some fun things that you can do that will help you really excel in a phone interview.

When the interviewer calls, you thank them for making the call, and they say, “I’ve looked at the job description, but can get an idea of what it is that you’re looking for from me? This way, you make sure you’re on the same page as the interviewer.

Often, from the time that the position description has been created until the time that you actually interview, the job has evolved a bit, although the job may read one way on paper, in actuality, the screening for something a little bit different. So always take the time to explain what it is that they are is the looking.

Another subtlety is, ask them, “How long do you expdo you expect we will be speaking?” You can simply say that I just want to make sure that I have that amount of time in my schedule. When they are scheduling the interview and ask, “Can we speak at 1 o’clock?”

“Terrific! Ihow much time should I set aside my calendar?” Just get an idea of the amount of time that you will be talking to them.

Listen to the question. I can’t tell you the number of times where people start to get off on these long tirades and I hav call them a tirade because, after a while, I have no idea what they’re talking no recollection of the question. I have gone so far as to ask them, “Do you remember my original question?”

So try to to stay on point by answering the question in 45 seconds or less. If you have to go to a minute, so be it. But try to keep your answers to about 45 seconds in length and listen to what they’re asking you.

Along the way, you may want to sound like you are thinking about your answer and being all reflective. It is acting that you are doing. They can’t see that you have notes out in front of you and that you’re jotting down some things. Another thing I’ll mentioned to you is try using headphones. If you have access to headphones, use them. I find that being hands-free when I do my radio show and when I do my calls all day long is extremely helpful. It just allows me to use my hands, I’m not going to develop a crick in my neck that’s going to wind up hurting during the course of my conversations. Use headphones if you can.

Finally, at the end of this, you might ask them, ” so what’s going to happen next? When do you expect I would hear back about next steps in the process?”

That gives you a sense of timeline. Again, nothing I’m talking about is to be done in a way with it sounds like you’re anxious or nervous. Everything is, again, about the acting of the part. So you might just simply say, “Thanks for calling. When do you think I might be hearing back about next steps in the process?

“Well, I have a number of people to speak with.”

Oc ourse, you have a number of people to speak with! I am just trying to get a feel for the timeline that you folks have.”

“I expect to get back to you in a week to 10 days,” or “I expect I’ll call you tomorrow about scheduling an in-person interview,” or whatever it is, just get a sense of timeline. Then, concluded by saying,”I’m andI just want you to know how interestws I am in this role. I do look forward to hearing from you about next steps of you. I would love to continue further.

Firms find it much more appealing when they are being pursued. One of the things that hiring managers, in particular, hate is when they have to extend an offer that is going to get turned down. So, you want to express interest because, often, frequently, it’s a differentiator when hiring managers are deciding which person to make the offer to.

They have two individuals; they like them a lot; they both quite capable. The thing that puts it over the edge for you can be very simple –they think you are interested.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

A Creative Idea for Marketing Yourself on LinkedIn

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses a creative and clever idea for marketing yourself on LinkedIn.

[spp-transcript]

I just saw a great instance of a creative use of QR codes on LinkedIn. You know how you normally encouraged to put a photo in on your profile page? Someone used a QR code.

It could be in use a little bit better because what the person did is replicate the summary area of the LinkedIn profile but then they directed people to a page where the resume was. Very smart utilization! And it is something easy to do.

There are a lot of apps and services that will help you create a QR code. In another video, I suggest that everyone had their resume online using a service like wix.com.Wix is a free service; you can post anything that you want there. But your resume up there because they were recruiters out there who are trying to find resumes on line.

Give them a free vehicle to find it. This way they don’t have to contend with the job boards and the tens of thousands of dollars to find people. That is is about simply about third-party recruiters, that’s about corporate recruiters as well.

So create a page on wix.com for your resume; they use a QR code on LinkedIn that directs people to their resume from the LinkedIn profile.

I suspect (I haven’t looked at this carefully, yet) that instead of substituting for the picture, there are places where you can upload images onto your profile and then direct people to your resume homepage.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

Stop Hitting Your Head Against the Wall

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter speaks to those who are finding it impossible to find work and offers them a suggestion that will help.

[spp-transcript]

For some of you, you been hitting your head against the wall in your job search now for what seemed like an eternity. Your getting no results. And by the way, an eternity is not a week. But this can apply to you as well during the time that you are searching. But this is really a tip for the long-term unemployed. For folks who are just hitting their head against the wall. And this could be true of veteran individuals and it’s certainly true of people who try to launch – – graduated school – – and just not getting anywhere.

What can you do? What can you do in the face of all this mounting pressure that you’re feeling to find work? All the the lack of results that you’re getting. What can you do? The answer is create your own job.

Creating your own job can be as simple as, if you’re a writer, you start doing freelancing. You market yourself as a freelancer. You blog. You do a variety of different things that help other individuals through your efforts. Through that, you are going to publicize yourself. People will find your the web. You will mobilize yourself to get out and about in completely different ways so that, when all is said and done, people are going to learn about you.

I found with one person I was speaking with yesterday, she wound up with offers based upon her writing and her blogging and a variety of other things that she was doing. The same can happen for you.

You may be a marketing person. You may be a salesperson. You can still teach others to sell and market. You can still write about some of your ideas along these lines. You can pick up freelance work in your local community or around the country… or for that matter around the world.

Do you have to get the highest rate imaginable? No. You just need to work and, through the working, to build relationships and develop the skills and efforts that are going to be very helpful to you. So don’t just simply look for big companies to hire you. Don’t just simply try and knock on doors of small companies and say things like, ” Hi! I am a fast learner. I can learn anything you give me to do.” No one cares.

What they care about is can you give the results that helps them based upon what they need. Starting your own firm, creating your own job, starting your own small business, marketing your skills and talent – – I’ve seen it help so many people land work during this “great recession/depression” everyone referred to it as.

So don’t just settle. Promote yourself. Create effort. Pick up freelance work. There are online sites like Upwork, for example, to help you find work. Get out there.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

Start at the Top

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter encourages you to do what headhunters are trained to do — start at the top.

[spp-transcript]

This is one of those classic tips. It’s absolutely timeless. I’ll talk with you about how I’ve been trained as a recruiter to give you a sense of why I’m suggesting this.

I’ve been a recruiter for more than 40 years and, again, no disrespect to HR, I was always trained to circumvent HR– to try and go directly to hiring managers, to go the top of the organization and work my way down from there, to have the management of that organization, the management of that function, tell HR that they want to work with me, rather than have HR decide that they wanted to work with me.

Why was that important? Because HR is …the term as a gatekeeper, but it’s a really a misnomer. Human resources is designed to to shield hiring managers from decisions and to save them time. Some are exceptional, but they tend to be the exceptions. Most are average, they are overworked, overwhelmed and have too much on their plate and very rules driven. Discernment is not their strong suit; again, no disrespect to HR, but recognize that the typical day for HR professionals may involve interviewing X number of people, returning phone calls, trying to get a clearer picture of what a particular hiring manager’s doing, writing reports on the interviews that he or she did the previous day… on and on and on with a lot of drudgery.

It’s hard to maintain the sense of life and not become a bureaucrat. In contrast, the hiring manager has a vested interest in bringing on the best talent, not that HR doesn’t, but they are measured in different ways. They’re critiqued in different ways versus the hiring manager who was exceptional talent.

My encouragement to you is to do like what I was taught – – start at the top work and your way down. If you are a marketing professional, contact the CMO over the organization. If you are a salesperson, contact the head of sales of that organization. If you work in IT, contact the chief technology officer or the CIO of the organization.

Start at the top and work your way down. Make sure that you understand what it is that you’re asking for when you contact them and don’t just simply wander in your like a jerk, completely unprepared because all that you do is waste then is waste your time and theirs. A simple thing to say when contacting them is, ” I understand that your organization might benefit from. I’m an individual who’s been doing this for X number of years with so and so. I’d like to speak with you about what I’m capable of. Can we schedule time to do that? What would work best for you?” It’s that simple.

It was three, maybe four sentences in total. You want to rehearse this so it sounds natural and NOT rehearsed. Natural but not rehearsed.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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

Using a Proper Handshake or Bow

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the importance of using correct body language at the beginning of your interview.

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you about body language today and a very simple piece of body language that some people in the US get tripped up on.

I’ve spoken about the smile; I’ve spoken about the positioning of yourself in a chair during an interview but they were but, today I want to about the handshake. If you are born in the US, you understand that in the US a handshake is firm that you and maintain eye contact while you are shaking hands. If you’re from other cultures, that would be considered rude; but if you are interviewing in the US that is the appropriate thing to do.

So I want to encourage you to practice the proper handshake if you are not US born and if you are US born and interviewing outside the country, remember, culturally, it may be different. You may not be interviewing with an ex-pat working abroad. You may be interviewing with someone local who is used to, we say, a milder handshake.

In some cultures, the appropriate thing is not a handshake. It’s a bow. if you’re US-born, you have no experience with this. It’s the equivalent of someone being foreign-born and shaking hands in the US. You have to learn to bow. I can’t do that because different cultures do it differently but wherever you are, if you are interviewing with someone who’s expecting a bow, because you are interviewing in and other country (that is a non-US country), you have to come to someone to practice with.

This is an example of one of those “practice ahead of the interview” kind of things I talk about with regularity and being rude and not bowing, being rude and not shaking hands properly, will hurt you in the interview because it will temporarily distract the interviewer from paying attention to who you are or what you can give them.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell 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 is there to change 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