Month: August 2016

Is This All There Is?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfCBEYawFkg[/svp]
In this personal video, I encourage you to use your life wisely.

 

[spp-transcript]

This video is real simple one. It’s a reminder. For many adults, I see that, time and again, they stopped experimenting with different things. They are in a rut and they don’t realize it four years.

They get up in the morning, go to work, come home, and a couple of drinks (if you are younger, smoke a joint), you watch TV, you go to sleep, repeat again.

You do that Monday through Friday, maybe Friday night you go out, Saturday you catch up on some errands, Sunday is variable depending upon the number of things… It’s a lot of repetition of the same things without a lot of thought for what you are doing anymore because she’s developed the habit that will cause you to wake up one day and ask yourself, “Is this all there is?”

Is my life all about doing the same repetitive things over and over and over again?

I have done videos before about this. I think one of them is called, “The Box” and “The Box Part 2,” (I know I’ve written articles about this) where I point out that you have been conditioned since the time you were young to behave this way.

After all, from the time you were little, you are brought to school, put it in desk, told to shut up and do what you told or else you wouldn’t get into a good college. Once you got into college you were told to shut up and do what you were told or else you will get a good job. Once you got that good job, you were told to shut up and do what you are told or else you might get fired. And one day you wake up in your fire anyway and start to wonder, “Is this all there is?”

For a lot of you, that is the big question. Is this all there is?

It doesn’t really have to be that way I’m not going to ask you to divorce your wife, husband or get rid of her partner and/or kids. I’m not can ask you to quit your job today.

There is a way of working with a coach to play bigger and get out of that confined space that you are in and get out of that confined space that you live in (the box) and enjoy life more.

If you are interested in me being your coach, I would love to help you. Email me at JeffAltmanCoach@gmail.com. I would love to work with you. But at the end of the day, the important thing is waking up and realizing that your life is going to and for you at some point. You may not think it’s coming soon, but your remember those voice, you really here this voice reminding you that a lifetime is not a long time. We like to think of ourselves as being immortal, but life has a way of showing us how foolish we are to hold on to that belief about ourselves.

Don’t be foolish. Use your time wisely. Let me coach you or get someone else to coach you but let’s get rolling because, at the end of the day, I want this life to be worthwhile for you.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been coaching people to play their professional and personal games BIG for what seems like 100 years.

For more No BS Coaching Advice & encouragement, visit my website.

Ready to schedule your first coaching call?

The Way Résumé Lies Are Exposed

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter tells a story from his own experience about exposing a job hunter in a resume lie and why you should do the same thing.

 

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you today about a new way that employers are finding resume inconsistencies. No, I’m not talking about them going to the LinkedIn profile. I’m not talking about them looking at Facebook. This is a point-blank way that people are getting exposed. Let me tell you story from my own experience.

I received the resume from someone recently and, as is my practice, I went to my database, my applicant tracking system to see if I already have contact with them.. I found their resume in my system, I looked at it and the one that I received from the person. Right before I parsed it, I noticed that there was something a little different about the dates. A few months have been added on here and a few months of been taken off there for a few jobs.

Normally, I would delete this person’s resume but I decide to call the and give them a chance. After all, people sometimes make mistakes. They don’t keep the world resume and they work from memory.

As I was qualifying him, I asked him about. There was a brief denial that he changed dates. I confronted him one more time and asked him, “how do you think these other dates got into my system? Do you think were manually typing things or are we parsing information from your own resume? I can assure you, were not typing resumes”

There was silence for a few moments and then he fessed up.

Employers are not going to give you that chance. If they hire you and find those inconsistent dates, they are just going to fire you. If they look at your resume and then find it in their applicant tracking system with something different, they are just going to delete the new resume.

Just be aware that you can’t lie like you used to. I’m not talking about reference checks. Reference checks can be faked. But if your resume doesn’t match up with what was in their applicant tracking system they are just going to leave the new resume and never tell you why.

If your own efforts or the efforts of other recruiters are going to land the resume in an applicant tracking system and an employer or a recruiters office, the lie can be exposed some years in the future. Don’t change your resume to cover up gaps. They are just going to be found out.

[/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 Great Tool for Job Leads

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses an underutilized tool for job leads.

 

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you about a source for job leads that is extremely underutilized. Let me preface this by saying that there is intrinsic bias in job hunting that is propagandized by the media and by the government and that’s a bias toward large companies. After all, large companies are much more stable than small companies. Yeah right.

Yes, small companies go out of business. Large companies go out of business. Both lay people off. In the current economic environment there’s been no security beyond the skills and individual brings AND there is no security in that those, too.

So, when all is said and done, you only have yourself to rely on. Don’t be a sucker and fall for the propaganda about big companies. They do a great job mortgaging themselves; the media supports that marketing but they are no guarantee of your security.

In finding work, you want to find organizations that will value you properly, where you can learn what you need to in order to continue to be marketable.

Everyone knows about the Fortune 500 or the Forbes 500 list but one of the list is completely underutilized and overlooked is the Inc. 5000 list. This list is a list of small companies that are going through huge growth.

Does that mean there is a job for you there? No, of course not any more than the other lists that I mentioned are guarantees to have jobs either.

One of my beliefs is that when you swim with other fish, employers can pick the fish they want. If you swim where there aren’t a lot of fish present, you look much more prominent there and that’s one of the things you need to do. Put yourself in the position of being a huge fish to them with great skills and small firms are an underutilized target for job hunters.

So don’t ignore the Inc. 5000 list of the top small businesses. Do find this list; it’s available and a great tool for job hunters. Once you identify a firm in your state or in your locale, you can go to LinkedIn or to Google searches, not just to see if they have a job for you but who you might be connected with that these firms who might be able to provide an introduction or perform an informational interview and talk with you about the organization, the kind of things that they do and where you can help.

[/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

Is It Really Easier To Find a Job If You Have One?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhB-pw52RNs[/svp]

A great question and a belief that everyone takes for granted . . . but is it true?

 

[spp-transcript]

Is it really easier to find a job if you have one?

Great question! That’s one of those old saws, old beliefs that people have but I think it may not be entirely true.

Usually what people mean by this is that you avoid the bias that employers have about a person being out of work. That’s only a piece of it. The other variable is that, if you are working, you have advantage because you feel freer to turn down an offer you don’t like and you can negotiate harder because you already have something.

To me, this is a 1950s mentality – – you know, work hard, get promotions, get ahead – – there really isn’t a part of the lexicon anymore. These days, people get ahead by being alert to opportunities. Sometimes those are internal to the organization; most of the time they’re external.

So, finding a job when you’re ready have one stems from the myth that passive job hunters are better and more valuable than active ones (I can shred that belief system and two seconds because I helped to create the myth of the passive job applicant years ago. That’s not the purpose of this video).

1. From your vantage point, you’re a more desirable person based upon that myth that passive job applicants are better potential hires than active ones.

2. You can associate harder if you have something currently because the next employer is always fearful that they might lose you to the current situation.

From the time standpoint, however, it’s hard looking for a job we already have one. The wear and tear of bouncing from interview to interview while you’re trying to do the job, looking for things and networking while you’re working full-time is physically hard. Emotionally it’s hard, too, and that is in taking into account when people make that trade statement.

So is it easier? Is it harder? The answer, like with so many things, is yes and no.

[/spp-transcript]

 

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 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 http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

Opening Your Facebook Privacy Settings

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the value of opening your Facebook privacy settings to public view.

 

[spp-transcript]

Let’s talk about Facebook privacy settings for a moment. No, I’m not going to be scolding you to set your privacy settings so that you can’t be found. In fact, I want you to set your privacy settings so you can be found.

Why? Because LinkedIn is only one tool that recruiters and employers are using to find talent for their clients, to network with people, to do their job.

My philosophy is that the person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest work the hardest although those are great qualities to have. The person who gets ahead tends to be the one who remains alert to opportunity; sometimes those are internal to organization; most of the time the external.

If there are things that you are doing on Facebook that are drawing positive attention by employers or recruiters or others, why not make it easy for them to find you and talk with you about it?

One of the things that you should do is make it clear from you work. But your job title in. Make it obvious what profession you’re involved with. You don’t need to do it to the same degree you might on LinkedIn.

However, Facebook’s search can be used by recruiters and others for networking and hiring.

You may say to yourself today, “I don’t want to be annoyed by these people.” That’s your prerogative. Yet what I want to remind you of is that what they are trying to do is to reach out to you about an opportunity that they perceive may be superior to what you currently have. It may pay you more, and get you closer to home, improve your quality of life, give you access to training and skills you don’t have etc.. What’s the problem? You’re going to field a question through Messenger? This is such a big problem?

And if you say no to it, what did it cost you? A minute or a minute and a half of your time? What’s the big whoop?

Open up your privacy settings. Let recruiters be able to find you even if you are not actively looking for a job. Make sure your employer is listed because they are brand may help you. Make it easy for people to locate 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.JOIN NOW BEFORE THE PRICE INCREASE ON SEPTEMBER 5TH.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Should I Submit a LinkedIn Profile or Resume When I Apply?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RuOpwS_3lw[/svp]
People submit LinkedIn profiles, Indeed.com resumes, Monster resumes or their own resume when they apply for jobs?

 

[spp-transcript]

Should I apply for a job using my LinkedIn profile or resume? Posted resume to this equation.

In other words, should I use a fixed static way of responding or something that might be dynamic?

If you see a position or find out about a position and decide to apply for it, what’s going to happen?

You send your LinkedIn profile in response. Does your LinkedIn profile demonstrate your fit? Does it demonstrate your fit and represent you fully for this position? No. It’s a static document.

How about indeed.com? No, because it is not tailored to the specific of what the company is looking to hire.

Why does that matter?

Because usually the generic resume or typical LinkedIn profile does not go into enough detail to demonstrate fit for the job. Why would you think they would care about that?

Indeed is even worse because they strut about your ZIP Code from every resume forward. That’s worse because whenever recruiter is searching for someone for a position, we all start our service that people local to the area where the job this. We search by ZIP Code because that’s the most precise. We don’t search by city and state. We can’t search by area code because the numbers are portable.

For example, I now live in North Carolina and have a mobile phone with an area code for what I lived on Long Island, outside of New York City. You can’t expect the firm to contact you because they’re not simply searching for a particular skill. They are searching for someone with that particular skill who is in a particular geographic area without ZIP Code, we are unlikely to ever find you.

[/spp-transcript]

 

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 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 http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

Job Search Branding Lessons from Your Local Supermarket

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supermarketJeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses career branding classes that you can find in your local supermarket.

 

[spp-transcript]

I want to give you an example of how effective branding can be. It’s one that you are familiar with in your personal life and I want to use it as a metaphor for why you should be doing branding in your career and your professional life.

When you go to the store and buy laundry detergent have you ever in your entire life picked up the container of detergent, turned around and said to yourself, “Hmm. I think the combination of chemicals in this detergent will do a better job of cleaning my laundry then these chemicals will.”

No. You’ve never done that once in your entire life. You put that laundry detergent because you’ve always bought that laundry detergent, or because there was a coupon, or it was cheaper… Anything other than the fact that it would make your wash cleaner.

Job hunting can be much the same thing and you can become the preferred hire for an organization by creating a brand for yourself as powerful as the detergent makers make for theirs.

Coffee. Starbucks coffee or another brand of coffee? How did Starbucks become so powerful? It’s more expensive. Oh! It is a better coffee! They created an experience for you at the store and you want to take that experience home with you.

Item by item things that advertisers are doing to create a brand image in your mind to advantage themselves over competitors. The organic apple versus the nonorganic Apple. It’s healthier. That’s the brand that they have.

Item by item, there are things that are been done to create an impression in your mind that it is better to work for versus another one. You’ve been trained and conditioned to do this.

In job hunting, branding takes a lot of different forms. It’s all the things that you do online they create an image that allows you to be the expert. If you do public speaking, to our hat a seminar, if you work with the firm that is recognizable… Let me give you an example – – Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft versus three guys starting up in their basement.

How about Goldman Sachs versus another financial institution? On and on and on there is an image that firms try to create from an employment perspective that you can create for yourself from a job search perspective, from a career perspective that can advantage yourself over your competitors so that when you are found and reached out to, you’re the person that they believe can do the job, you’re the perceived expert walking in the door versus the supplicant hat in hand begging for the job.

Always put yourself in the position of being the expert.

[/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.JOIN BEFORE SEPTEMBER 5TH AND AVOID THE PRICE INCREASE.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

The Effect of Practice | TheBigGameHunterTV

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLimXkumY8Q[/svp]

We all know the practice makes perfect, so why don’t job hunters practice? Here, I make the case for practicing your interviewing by telling the story of a chiropractor trying to find the job.

[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 are 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.