No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio

Targeting Your Résumé

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the importance of targeting your résumé when you submit it to an employer.

 

[spp-transcript]

I want to give you some advice about your resume. I’m not talking about the generic resume you put up on a job board for people to contact you about. Then resume should be as large and broad and inclusive as possible, particularly with regard to the last 10 years of your career or your most recent work experience.

Why?

Because it’s most likely would be hired based upon the last two positions (to be clear, I’m not talking about consulting assignments because those could be much shorter); think in terms of four or five years.

So in this resume in needs to be full, encompassing, particularly with regard to the last five years of your career.

With the resume that you are submitting to the employer directly, you can’t send that resume. Why? Because it carries a lot of extraneous things that this employer won’t care about.

Remember the 80-20 rule? 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients?

What you want to do with your resume is focusing in on the elements of your experience that fit what this firm is looking for.

If you’re applying for a job based upon online listing, you have the roadmap right there! If you have referral to someone who’s hiring, and someone who is told you about this position, well, they know about the job you can ask them about it.

Then, tailor your resume to what’s important this firm and minimize (I didn’t say eliminate) the other stuff. Why? Because they don’t care. What they care about is what they are trying to find in the way of an employee.

Remember, when you meet with them didn’t want to talk about what you’ve done. They want to talk about what you’ve done that matters to them. They want to talk about your relevant experience for the problem they have that needs to be solved by hiring someone.

If you start by focusing your attention on that, I can assure you that you are going to get more interviews.

[/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

Describe Yourself in One Word

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter prepares you with the best way to answer this question.

 

[spp-transcript]

SUMMARY

Here’s today’s tough interview question. It’s the one that’s designed to make you say, “Huh! That’s tougher than it sounds.”

The question for today is, “pick one word that you can use to describe yourself.”

Boing!

Some people might choose hard-working. Some might choose successful or leader. There’s no one right way to answer that question. The idea very simply as what are the qualities that this firm might look for in hiring someone for this job?

For example, if your mathematician using their computer science as part of your work, you might think of meticulous or thorough as being the right word. If you are going for an executive position address this question, you might use the word leader.

The idea is to think of the attributes in advance that someone might prefer in an individual in the role the true interviewing for.

If you’re an administrative assistant, would leader fit? I don’t know. You know the kind of role the trip going for with that really describe what a firm is looking for? For and administrative assistant to the executive in your organization, it might be the right word. If you’re part of an office pool, it probably isn’t.

Again, think of the qualities that are necessary for the work that you do and for the organization that you are working for in the kind of position that your interviewing for. That’s the key to answering a question like this correctly.

[/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

How to Dress for an Interview

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the importance of appearance on income and offers suggestions about what you can do.

[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

Don’t Steal

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains why you should not steal from recruiters.

 

[spp-transcript]

You probably don’t think of it this way but let me clear it up. When you see an ad from a recruiter and refers to a job online and you say to yourself, “hey I know that firm is! I think I’ll contact them directly,” you are stealing. You’re taking information that you learned about and using it for your own purposes.

I also want you to understand it’s not the smartest move in the world. Why? The recruiter has a relationship with this firm. They know more than you about the organization. They can handle your schedule. They can help you tailor your resume based upon the job involved and the relationship with the firm and what they may know about the job apart from what has been advertised.

Why would you go around them? To save the firm money?

It costs you so much more because 95 times out of 100 people to get the job that they apply to directly without the coaching of a recruiter.

Foolishly, you think you’re doing the company a favor. In fact, you’re hurting yourself and you are stealing. You are stealing that information to use it for your own purposes without any consideration for the impact on the other person.

Be considerate.

Be kind.

I talked to a friend of mine who is a recruiter with another firm who told me about two instances where people saw one of her postings and went directly to a client and the client dismissed these people and told her the story about them because it was real clear that these people had come to them based upon seeing the advertisement.

Let me summarize by saying, “don’t do it.” What do you get out of it? Do you feel good about it? Do you feel good that you were tricky and are better than the recruiter?

Or you’re going to get back a recruiter that you don’t even know for all the things that happened to you at the hands of recruiters?

Stop it. Seriously, be considerate to everyone that you meet professionally because you don’t know when it will come back and either help you or hurt you.

Help you because you are considered to the other person or hurt you because you acted obnoxiously.

[/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

You’re Kidding Yourself

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter points out a common misconception people have when they think about recruiters.

 

[spp-transcript]

Recruiters. Very charged topic. When I look around at people and their opinion of recruiters, they are universally criticized, complained about and thought poorly of.

Part of it stems from the fact that you have a misconception about who the recruiter works for. Most people think that recruiters work for them; it doesn’t work that way.

If the will, how much you paying for that service? And you think you’re working for you?

The fact of the matter is that recruiters are hired by organizations to fill jobs. If you fit the requirement do you think you’re going to get on the phone and call companies and say, “hi! I’ve got this great candidate! You’ve really got to talk with them! They are terrific! Best person I’ve ever spoken with! Sorry, you don’t need someone like that?”

And may call after call on your behalf trying to market you the companies.

It doesn’t work that way. Recruiters work with organization that defined a need for a person with a certain kind of background and go out and find. They are paid for that service. To do that they need to find someone like you.

I say like you because it may not be you. It may involve someone with a different set of skills. Even if you have the same skills as the firm is looking for, do you think they’re only sending in one person? Of course not!

They are going to send it is many is the client will let them submit in order to ensure that they collect the fee. By sending in a lot of people the recruiter is hoping to encourage them to make a choice of one of the candidates.

Why do they do this? Because they want to earn a fee.

They are not relying upon placing you and you don’t fit. What they care about is referring someone… Anyone… Will satisfy the client and being hired by, then work 90 calendar days and receive a check from the company.

Recruiters need to look out for themselves because you are not going to pay them anything! This is not social work; this is recruiting. Unless they refer someone who is hired, a contingency third-party recruiter will not be paid.

Why do you think they are any different than you in looking out for their own interests? Respectfully, when you think the recruiter is working for you you are deluding yourself.

Yes, to earn their fee, they have to find someone who fits the role the client to specified and will work there successfully for 90 calendar days.

Why do you think this person is any different than you in looking out for their interest?

At the end of the day if it is not you, they are hoping that it is someone else that they are representing. That way, they will make a substantial chunk of money.

So don’t kid yourself and think that recruiters are working for you. As many of you know they aren’t and that’s a fact

[/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

Why Are You Interviewing for This Job???

by

On this show, I explain how to answer this question in a way that allows you to hit a home run with the interviewer.

 

[spp-transcript]

Today I will do one of those tough interview questions there designed to make you quaking your boots… Stammer out an answer… And generally look foolish.

These questions are so difficult. They just require a few seconds of thought.

This is a fun one and gives you a great opportunity to sell yourself hard… Unless you’re unprepared in which case you will sell like a dope.

So today’s question is, “why are you interviewing for this job?” Or, “why did you apply for this job?”

These translate into, “why are you sitting in my office and why am I talking to you?”

This is a great opportunity to sell yourself into the role. Speaking in a crisp sort of way because people associate that style of speech with self-confidence. You can’t speak as though you’ve never given it any thought or have no degree of certainty. You really have to sounds certain with your answer because, remember, part of what an employer is looking for is someone who can inspire confidence that they are to the solution to a need.

The ability to speak with certainty is critical when answering this question.

The answer the question, said with certainty is, “I understand the position is for such and such. What I understand your organization is about is that it’s a leader in its field or an organization with great adaptability or a place where people with talent in advance…” You have four or five different criteria in quick succession.

You continue, “that’s exactly what I’m looking for. You see my background with such and such would fit in nicely with what you are looking for. From the standpoint of what I bring to your organization, I bring a lot of driving passion for what I do, a determination to be successful, I play well with others but not to the point of subjugating a good idea and not trying to advance the idea.”

“I work well with others but not to the point of letting myself be pushed around. Ultimately what you will have is an individual with a strong belief in themselves, a determination to excel. I work well with others but not to the point where I push them around or let myself be pushed around will work hard to make you look good.”

So the idea, again, is to give yourself a commercial for why you are fit for the role and how you ever tried to be successful, your passion for what you do (you demonstrated to how you answer the question) because it’s not just what you say that counts is how you tell your story that will come out in the interview.

And you can really bang this one out of the park if you take a few minutes to think in advance as to how you’d answer the question.

[/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.

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

Posting Your Résumé on the Web

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the importance of not just uploading a resume to job boards but suggests a free alternative that allows recruiters to find your resume for free.

[spp-transcript]

SUMMARY

A lot of people use job boards. They shouldn’t be the only tool in your quiver but their great tool.

Here’s another tool to use.

Instead of just putting your resume upon a job board, why don’t you set up a website purely for your reume? You can use a service like wix.com and creaEte a one-page website (wix allows more),keyword optimized, SEO optimized so people can find it through Google.

Wix is free to there’s no excuse for a financial standpoint not to do this. All were talking about is taking your existing resume and putting it up on the web for people to find it for free.

Now if you make changes to your resume and other places, you will also need to change it on wix.

You know about LinkedIn and making sure your profile is set up well so that it is also keyword and SEO optimized. You need to do the same with your resume on wix or any other site you put your resume on.

The only cause that you will have is if you want to get your own domain. Otherwise they will issue one like jeffaltman.wix.com (that is not my real address. If it is a website is up your accident). That address is fine but you wait may want something specific to you and your taste. It would cost $10/$14 to get a custom domain.

Since you are giving it out to anyone it doesn’t matter if you have your own domain or not.

[/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.

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 Stories to Answer Interview Questions

by

Stories aren’t just for bedtime.

Here, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the value of stories when you interview and suggest a format for your stories to create the best impression with an interviewer.

[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.

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 Purpose of a Phone Interview

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses the purpose of a phone interview from the employer’s perspective and from yours.

 

[spp-transcript]

SUMMARY

I’m going to discuss it from both sides.

Your site is easy – – your purpose is to get to the face-to-face interview. In almost every case I’ve ever heard of, no one is hired on the basis of a phone interview. There are some exceptions but they are very rare.

The employer’s perspective is, (1) to confirm that what piqued their interest about your background is actually true and that you have relevant experience. So they may have some questions about whether your experiences relevant; there may be some things causing them some concern.

They may also be looking for confirmation. In other words, they may see your background as a great fit and they’re trying to confirm that.

In fact, what they can confirm is a couple of pieces of objective information that may come through subjective questioning. That may sound contradictory, but the questions that they use to evaluate someone involve some degree of subjectivity.

The other thing that they can evaluate is your energy level. Do you have passion, excitement, zeal for what you do? How does that come across in your voice? Do you speak in a slow, methodical, monotone manner that puts people to sleep? Do you demonstrate a degree of enthusiasm and excitement?

Then on your side of it, how do you demonstrate that you have some passion for what you do? How do you demonstrate that they don’t have to worry about you and that you do fit the role?

If the call is coming out of the blue from a corporation, not a third-party recruiter, I want to encourage you to say something like, “I’d like to speak with you. Can we schedule a time later in the day to talk?”

Then you can reference your notes about the job and background check the individual on LinkedIn, and before you jump off, say something like, “before we jump off, would you tell me a little bit about the position please?”

For the call that is actually scheduled, you start the conversation (remember, scheduling can come from a third-party recruiter), “I spoke in the Jeff Altman about the position and he gave me a brief summary, but I want to get your take on the job. Would you tell me about the position and as you see it and what I can do to help?”

That way they’re going to start off by talking about the position as it currently is (remember, jobs often change from the time that the job description was developed and no one ever goes back to modify them. This helps you avoid using obsolete information on your interview).

As a result, when they continue by asking you, “tell me about yourself,” you have the best information possible at the beginning of the conversation so that you can talk about what you’ve done that matters to them and not just simply talk about what you’ve done. You can tailor your answers to make those points.

Remember: the purpose of a phone interview is either to screen you in or screen you out.

They don’t want to waste time with someone who isn’t a fit. They want to confirm that you have the right background or get answers to a few basic questions that gave them hesitancy.

[/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. Will

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

Handling a Phone Interview From Out of the Blue

by

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains what you should do when you get a phone call from someone who wants to interview you from out of the blue.

 

[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.

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