No B. S. Job Search Advice Radio

Deciding Which Offer to Accept

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the questions to ask yourself and potential employers in order to decide which job offer to accept.

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Let’s talk about making the decision where to join. I want to concede— money is a factor the money shouldn’t be the only factor.

If you didn’t do it at the time you began your job search, it’s important for you to sit down and ask yourself this question, “What’s most important to me in the next job or organization? What do I need to see your here to believe it’s the right place for me to join?”

Once you have your answers to that, I want you to prioritize the three or four things that are most important to you. Then figure out what questions you can ask the employer to figure out whether they can provide it for you.

From there, you’ll probably need to have a little bit of give-and-take with yourself. After all, firms are not going to change the way they are doing business to accommodate one single individual.

Doing this helps you get clear so that you don’t make decisions with rose-colored glasses on, you know what I mean – – that view of the organization as though it’s perfect. Beware of what you’re stepping into so that maybe you can negotiate some changes in the offer or circumstances or maybe you can’t. At least or clear about it.

There’s are questions, however, that tends to be overlooked including:

“Where can I do my best work?”

“Where can I really thrive?”

I’ll speak from personal experience. It’s so important to be in an organization where people ”get you.” You want to be the place where people get you, support you, and encourage you, give you atta boys and atta girls that support you in your times of triumph and support you in your times of struggle.

As someone who worked in organization who didn’t get me, I woke up one day and asked myself, “why is it that so many people respect what I do and the people I work with struggle to really see what I’m able to do?” Once I saw that dichotomy, I was able to break away and do different things.

I’ll simply say that’s my story and you’ll have your own version of it. I’ve learned that it’s so important to choose an organization where you can thrive, excel, achieve and really grow and not just be another cog in the machine we you are robotically doing the tasks assigned to you without feedback, respect, support and other things.

Make sure you take that into the equation—“ Is this a place where I can really thrive and do my best work?”

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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

Body Language Won’t Get You Hired

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter encourages you to NOT overemphasize your body language preparation when you interview.

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I think a lot of job hunters spend way too much time focusing on body language. It’s as though if they mirror the body language of the interviewer, that person will just simply turn around and magically hire them! Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact of the matter is, whether you mirror the body language, mirror the speech of the interviewer, or doing the tricks people think they are learning to manipulate an interviewer, you’re not going to get hired.

I can tell you what won’t get you hired from body language. And that is if you are in an interview and you make some ridiculous gestures to copy the interviewer, that is to get you hired.

Frankly it’s gross.

You can mirror body language to your hearts content but the fact is if you can’t answer questions, you won’t be hired.

You can sit with your arms folded in front of you and get hired. And I want to encourage it because even the most beginner interviewer looks at that and views you as being shut down, closed off, detached… Nothing complementary about that.

I encourage people to speak with their hands as long as they are not so demonstrative that they are flashing all over the place. If anything, if you speak with your hands, and you use them as emphasis points, never go across the middle of the your chin. Do nothing to cross the facial line.

When all is said and done, what is going to get you hired is whether you can answer questions well and demonstrate enthusiasm, power, passion and self-confidence. That more than anything is going to get you hired.

There are a few little tricks I’ll give you:

The first one is that when you shake hands, use a firm handshake but make eye contact with the interviewer. A smile on your face when you shake hands goes a long way toward breaking down the walls between you and the interviewer.

I know culturally with some people, who are raised to be polite, and not make eye contact, this is US-centric advice. Different cultures and different nations have different beliefs.

If you are interviewing in the US, I contact, firm handshake and a smile on your face goes a long way toward starting the interview off well.

Some people believe you should be sitting upright and leaning slightly forward like an obedient schoolchild hoping to be called on in class. I don’t encourage that. I prefer that you sit comfortably in his seat with one leg crossed over the other properly (you will know what I mean by that), and confidently answering questions.

From there you can use your hands to confidently emphasize points as you answer questions.From there you can go point by point by point pretty easily. You should try to stay away from your face and eliminate distracting gestures because they stop listening and start watching what you’re doing. By not paying attention, they tune you out.

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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 Biggest Negotiating Lie Employers Tell

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, explains the biggest lie employers tell when they negotiate a job offer with someone.

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This is going to be a relatively short video but one of the more important ones for you to listen to because of the layout very simply one of the prevailing tricks employers use in order to hire people.

That’s the use of the term, “permanent position.”

Firms use the term like you to have a job for life and the fact of the matter is, I want to have you to this loud and clear, there are no permanent positions anymore.

Your only usable to an employer for as long as they need you and is long as they can afford you. Period.

You can do a spectacular job for that firm but they can’t afford you, if the economy craters, and they need to lay off people who are going to be a potential target.

Don’t kid yourself anymore when you hear the term, “permanent position.” It’s a full-time position. That is they want to hire your full efforts from 9 to 5 and beyond but it is not I repeat NOT a permanent position.

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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

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

The Best Ways to Get An Interview

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses the most and least effective ways to get a job interview

Today, we talk about the best ways to get an interview. Let me give you a context.

If you want to be referred to a product or service, you’ve done some research and you’re ready to make some choices, often, what do you do?

I’m not talking about flipping a coin, of course. You talk to friends, colleagues, business associates… People that you know and trust and rely upon. Then you make a decision.

In interviewing, you can do much the same thing. Let’s say you’re about a job opening. What can you do? Friends, colleagues and associates who you might know who can provide you with an introduction to the hiring manager.

Let’s work with the assumption that not everyone that you know is going to know something about the firm you are interested in. Why not just go to LinkedIn? Why not see if there is someone you can connect with who can provide you with an introduction? After all, many of these people get employee referral bonuses for recommending someone to their firm was hired.

Then I can simply do you was silent because you asked him for it. Yet the demonstrate that you have experience, knowledge, and skills that are suitable but let’s assume that you do. Do you think it’s better to go into the great abyss of the applicant tracking system or be referred by someone who already works there or contact the hiring manager yourself?

The second and third choice are clearly best in the likelihood of you getting through directly to the hiring manager but it’s hard and you have much greater chance of getting through if you are referred by someone who already works there.

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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

Only Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations from People You Know

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter encourages you to only ask for recommendations from people you know.

Have you ever received a message from someone overseas who asks you to recommend them on LinkedIn?

I have and I receive them all the time. For me, it is infuriating and for you, you should be embarrassed.

Do use a recent example, what do I know about your work as a shipping clerk in Pakistan that would cause me to recommend you? Do you think people can figure out pretty quickly that this is a phony recommendation?

I do.

I will not help game the LinkedIn system by giving fake recommendations and it says a lot about you that you have to reach out to someone like me and others to get recommendations from us.

Only asked for LinkedIn recommendations from people you know. They are the ones who could write textured and detailed and nuanced recommendations that will reveal something about you that an employer will care about.

What can I say about this person in Pakistan?

“He’s a really good guy!”

Do you think that would be helpful or, do you think someone reading it with think of you and me as being liars?

I know the answer that and so do you.

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Do you really 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 and 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 jobhunting, 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

Get Creative. Get Interviews

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses some creative ideas for getting more interviews.

The show stems from an interview I did with Abby Kohut for “Job Search Radio.”

She cited a few ways the job hunters are getting interviews. They sound a little corny but I can see how they work. They obviously don’t work all the time but, when they do, you get a leg up.

She says that may work 50% of the time. Let’s say she’s exaggerating and they only work 30% of the time. Want to try?

These are creative ways to have organizations take notice of you because you want to stand out and get your foot in the door.

Let’s say you want to get an interview with someone and they’re just not responding to you at all. What you do is buy a cheap shoe or pair of shoes and mail one of them to the hiring manager and say, “you want to get your foot in the door.”

Another tactic she suggested to someone who was doing a career change was to send an egg timer to the hiring manager and that he get as much time with the hiring manager as sands and the timer.

The interview, of course, went longer than the timer and he was obligated to put on a good performance at the beginning of the interview, and it worked. Is now a VP with the firm.

The point of all this is that it is important to think creatively at times in order to get an opportunity

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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

Become Memorable on LinkedIn

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter suggests an easy way to become more memorable on LinkedIn as well as being yourself easier to connect with. 

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

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

 

There is Nothing Permanent About a Permanent Position

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Every show tends to have actionable advice to help you with job hunting, but this one is a “strategic show” focused on your mindset in your career.

[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

Forget the Elevator Pitch

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter encourages you to “ditch the pitch” and substitute something better instead.

Why?

Have you been ever on the receiving end of an elevator pitch?

I have . . . a lot of elevator pitches.

They are awful.

Here, I explain my thinking.

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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

Is It Worth It?

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses a call he received from a job hunter about resigning a position so they could check a reference.

In it, I discuss receiving a call from someone through LivePerson (now PrestoExperts.com) who was kind of torn.

There are two elements to is the scenario she painted for me.

She described how her perspective employer wanted to do a reference check with her current employer . . . and that she had lied about her salary.

Here, I offer a solution for what she should do.

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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