Month: October 2016

The Two Magic Words to Use in an Interview & The Story Behind The Story | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

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I discuss how to prepare for your interviews, how to improve your resume, and the two magic words to use during your interviews.

 

[spp-transcript]

Let’s talk today about preparing for an interview.  This tactic can also be used for improving your resume dramatically. But, at a minimum. If you haven’t done this before and had just been sending out resumes, it is the gold that will help you excel on your interviews.

Here’s what you did.  You go back to your resume and go bullet point by bullet point and ask yourself the question, “What’s the story behind this statement?”  I made the statement that I did such and such.  What’s the story, what events occurred?  Put in you, talking to a friend or family member about what it is that she did and how you went about doing it as well as what you stepped into at the time.  Prepare yourself with the story behind those facts.

This is an approach that works extremely well and resumes and will help differentiate you from the competition in your resume.  After all, if you just lay out a resume as if it were job description (I do this. I do that.  I am part of a team that does this or that.),  Your resume becomes boring.  But if you put some life into it by giving some texture to it, by contextualizing what you did and giving a bigger impact at your organization, it has enormous results and you will get many more interviews.  When you tell the stories behind the story on your interview, you will stand out from the competition.

I also want to teach you the 2 magic words to use on your interviews to really differentiate yourself.

I’m sure you’ll be asked about what you did and how you went about doing it on your interviews.  You’re the 2 magic words to use on your interviews:

“For example.”

Then you talk about what you stepped into.  Those 2 words, for example, go a long way to allowing people to see you for what you did and what you accomplish at your previous organization.  It allows you to speak freely about what you’ve accomplished and doing it in the way that audiences love– stories. People love stories.

[/spp-transcript]

 

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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

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

The 10000 Hour Rule and Job Hunting | Job Search Radio

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More than eight years ago, Malcolm Gladwell released the book called, “Outliers: The Story of Success.” Among the many great points he makes, he popularized the notion of the 10,000 hour rule. On this show, I utilize the 10,000 hour rule to make a point about you and being a job hunter.

 

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk to job hunters and say something that will give you what I think is a Homer Simpson moment. You’ve heard of the 10,000 hour rule, right? It takes 10,000 hours of focus concerted effort under the advice and tutelage of the teacher in order to be an expert.

When you start job hunting, you have exactly how much experience? Think about it. You have exactly how much? And you putting how much effort into preparing? Writing your resume. What do you know about writing resumes? You may have read a bunch of them but how much experience you actually have writing one? Judging by what I see from people, somewhere near zero.

How about interviewing? How much interviewing have you ever done? I doubt it’s anywhere near 10,000 hours and then you wonder why you don’t get results.
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Maybe it’s about networking. You have the LinkedIn profile that doesn’t get results or maybe you don’t even have a LinkedIn profile and wonder and wonder why no one is calling you.

Salary negotiation! That’s the one. But you don’t really have a lot of experience with that either and wonder why you don’t get results.

Let me ask you a question. If you could go to a website and get answers to all the critical interview questions and get advice from a master, without be helpful to you? I’m sure it would be.

I recently launched JobSearchCoachingHQ.com, and inexpensive site, with over 400 pieces of content including all my books and guides the job hunting, lots of videos, a bunch of podcasts, articles that I’ve written, curated so it is really good, available to you on the site for one price.

Plus the ability to ask me questions when you’re stuck with something

. You may think your friends, family, former managers know what they’re talking about when they speak with you but stop and think for a moment. How many jobs have they ever filled?

You may say your boss or former boss interviews a lot of people and certainly they should know. Trust me. When they’re on the other side of the desk, they stink up the joint and if you don’t believe me, point blank you’re wrong. I interview people who are hiring managers and they are awful… But they give you advice.

It’s time to stop giving other people advice about what they should do and take some for yourself.

Figure it out. When you write that resume how much experience that you have? Three hours over the course of 20 years? You don’t know what you’re doing. You think you do but you don’t know what you’re doing.

Again, JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is my site with advice for job hunters good anywhere in the world (you have to speak English to understand me, of course). There is a lot of great material there and you’ll get your questions answered by me and were building the community there were other people will be able to chime in and offer you advice.

Again, JobSearchCoachingHQ.com

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

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

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

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com 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 There Any Type of Person You Would Not Work With? | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer this complex question, “Is there any kind of person you would refuse to work with?”

 

[spp-transcript]

Today, I want to talk with you about 1 of those tough interview questions… And this 1 is a tricky one. So I want to spend a little time answering it.  The question is, “What kind of person would you refuse to work with?”

I know if I were asked that question, I know there is certain personality types that come to mind based upon certain people I have worked with in the past.  However, you can’t initially talk that way.  You can come to that later on, but initially you have to say, “You know, I am not the CEO of this firm yet, I want you to understand, that the firm hires people for the best of their abilities.  Other certain types of people have more difficulty working with?  Absolutely!  2 types come to mind right away.  Know it all’s and liars.  They are really hard for me to work with because know it all’s talk down to me in a very patronizing way.  I don’t think I have to explain myself with liars.  But, at the same time, I have to trust that this organization is doing its best to staff.  So, if I rented the difficulties with people like this, I would go to try and create situations where we can air our differences and have someone adjudicated.  In this way, my difficulty or their difficulty doesn’t become damaging to the work at hand.  That there is someone there who can manage it if we just can’t get along.  I am not an argumentative sort. But, like I said, I have trouble with lawyers.  I have trouble with no withdrawals.  Many people do.  That’s probably how I would handle.  At the same time, I trust that the firm is trying to hire people to the best of your ability and I’ll work with anyone.”

That’s the way I would answer it, starting off by acknowledging that you work with anyone, but that there are 2 personality types that you would struggle with and that you will look for an intervention. If it became so difficult to work with this person.

[/spp-transcript]

 

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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

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

Squeeze Bottles

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dXd1LRORKA[/svp]
What does a brownie with ice cream and a job interview having common? By the way, I like chocolate ice cream.Put your preferred flavor in the comments area.

brownie

[spp-transcript]

 

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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

Is It OK to Add a Recruiter on LinkedIn After An Interview?​ | Job Search Radio

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I love this question. It shows that the person is thinking and trying to use a new relationship to build your network. But the question is a little unclear. Agency recruiter? Corporate recruiter? I decided to answer both.

 

[spp-transcript]

Today’s question is, “Is It OK to Add a Recruiter on LinkedIn After An Interview? Whether You’ve Gotten the Job or Or Not“

Great question. One thing I don’t know is whether this is an agency recruiter corporate recruiter. I’ll take the time to answer both. Let me start with agency recruiter.

Why are you waiting until after an interview???You can do that right at the beginning.You’ll get access to their connections and, of course, they’ll get access to yours. But let me let you in on a secret.They probably have far more connections than you so you benefit far more by the request and they do. They may pick up a small incremental addition. Using myself as an example, I’m someone with over 16,00 1st level connections. I only start adding LIONs (LinkedIn Open Networkers) and recruiters In the past few months. Most of my contacts are with “civilians.” You know, people who are employed in organizations looking for work or who are successful in organizations.

For me, I pick up very little from you you pick up a lot for me. Reach out to agency recruiters all the time in the market area that you work. Do not delay.

Corporate recruiters. Reach out to corporate recruiters. Julie after the interview, whether you get the job or not. Reach out to the hiring managers you talked with after the interview whether you get the job or not. For the hiring manager, you can say something like, “I enjoyed speaking with you. Whether you choose me or not, I would like to stay in touch.“

It’s a real simple, human message. Do the same thing with the corporate HR recruiter. Send the same type of message.

“Thanks for taking the time to speak with me today. Whether you advance my candidacy are not, I would like to stay in touch. After all, you never know where we might run into one another again. Perhaps we can help one another.”

It’s a nice approach. So, by all means, reach out to recruiters. You don’t have to wait to connect with agency recruiters. With hiring managers and corporate recruiters, yes, wait until after you meet with them. That’s the perfect time.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

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

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

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com 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

What Would a Co-Worker Who Doesn’t LIke You Say About You? | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer the tough interview question, “What would a co-worker who doesn’t like you say about you?”

 

[spp-transcript]

Let’s talk about 1 of those tough interview questions that’s designed to blindside you.  This is not 1 of those hedge fund questions that firms ask.  You know, brainteasers.  This is just 1 of those standard interview questions that shows up from time to time and I want to make sure you’re prepared for it. Here’s the question:

“How would someone who doesn’t like you describe you?”

Boing!

For most people, that is a shocker question.

  1.  It’s hard of the think of people not liking you in the workplace.
  2. How do you explain that to the interviewer?
  3. You cannot use the pat answer (Everyone likes me.  There is never a problem with any of my coworkers.)

There is always someone who will have had a disagreement with you. Here’s a way to play it, and it can be done in more than one direction.

For example,  you are working with someone who is somewhat analytical.  You can say, “That’s a great question!  I haven’t really thought of that!” (Remember, interviewing can be an acting job as part of answering questions). So you want to appear as though  you have been taken off guard even though you have a way of answering the question.

So, again, you start off by saying, “That’s a great question!  I ever really thought of that!”   Then you take a moment  and continue by saying, “I know with a coworker who is somewhat analytical  and wants to look at a problem from a lot of corrections, they may find it uncomfortable to deal with someone like me who likes to charge right in and is able to figure things out on the fly,, to be able to move things along.” That’s a great answer in a sales role.

OR

You can also say, “For those who like the charge right in, I’d like to look at a problem from a few different directions  to ensure that we don’t unintentionally cause harm.  Along the way or do things that would be completely ineffectual.  I would rather take a moment to evaluate things before taking action.  After all, all of us are time stressed..  So I would rather do something one time extremely well and repeatedly do things to correct mistakes.”

Again, you can answer the question in both directions, but the idea is to never diminish the question By saying, “I have never had a problem with anyone at work.” No one will believe it,, they will just think you’re lying to them and you’ll hurt yourself on the interview.  On the other hand, if you acknowledge difference  and explain how you function, that can go a long way toward winning 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 after representing so they collect their payday.

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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

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

Should I Hide My Dates on Employment?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ZOLlPujiQ[/svp]
I recorded the answer earlier but the audio didn’t work. Since, I lost the original question I’m working from memory. The follow-up to the question involve the individual experiencing anxiety and leaving jobs for that reason.

 

[spp-transcript]

Should I hide my dates of employment?

I misplaced the original email I received but, as I recall, this person seems to be a student and would take on jobs while they were in school And would quit when they start to feel anxiety. “Too much on their plate,” is how I tend to interpret anxiety at this stage in life. I divided the question into 2 parts: The 1st 1 is, “should I hide my dates of employment.”A good or average interviewer is going to think that (1) You are hiding something (They are right.  You are hiding something) and (2) they are going to follow up by asking you the actual dates.

Thus, you are better served by providing the actual dates and offering explanations for why you left.  For example,you might list all the firms that you work for ( this assumes that this is while you’re in school), listing all the dates that you were employed in these various jobs, Then underneath it say something to the effect of, “I would leave when my school requirements Became more of a priority. Rather than do my job halfway and get mediocre grades, I focused on school but needed to earn a living so I would work and quit when my schedule became too overwhelming.”

That becomes an easy way that you can explain it. If my memory is right about this anxiety issue, the more important thing for you is not interviewing for jobs with the work will make you anxious. How do you do that? There are a number of ways.

Do informational interviews about the field of work to find out that this is something that can provoke you. You don’t need to have anxiety.  When I think of anxiety I think of “overload.” Your circuits are fried. Rather than putting too much stress on the system, you modulate the stress.

Now, to be clear, I don’t think it’s possible to have a stress free life. However, what you can do is work in professions that interest you, motivate you, cause you to get excited about going to work and that usually is the kind of stress that people can handle. A lot of organizations will ask you to expand from your comfort zone which is a good thing.  You will learn to handle more and do more things.   You don’t want to spend the next 40 years of your life doing the same thing, do you? Of course, not!  You’ll learn to handle more and, thus, find that There is things that cause you anxiety may dissipate.

Get supports in place, whether it’s a counselor, a coach and/or a therapist so you have a way of sorting things through as things come up for you. After all, life is not without challenge.  In that challenge, you are likely to feel some anxiousness. As a result, is it better to have someone that you are working with than not.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

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

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

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

Always Be on the Prowl. Always be Look for a Job. | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

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job-search-newspaper1_0

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains the importance of being in continual job search mode instead of lurching from one job search to another.

[spp-transcript]

 

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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

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

Should You Follow LinkedIn Recommendations for Getting More Profile Views? | Job Search Radio

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LinkedIn often tells you to take certain actions to get more profile views. Should you? Are they a waste of your time or something actually worth following?

 

[spp-transcript]

LinkedIn often sends out messages that says things like, “Getting more profile views will help you get found for the right opportunity. Fill in the type of professional that you are… You will get more views by taking some of the steps below.” They include adding a particular skill under your profile, adding a summary or connecting with a particular person or following a particular company. The question is should you for the follow the strategy even though it may seem stupid to you?

The fact of the matter is, you will get more profile views if more people notice you. In their recommendation of following a particular person, often that’s a gateway because this person is being followed by a lot of individuals themselves. Thus, it opens up your network much more broadly.

They are right. Having a summary does improve your rankings. People with summaries, especially if your job hunting, and in your contact information (a phone number and/or email address or minimally an email address while you job hunting that forwards to your real address) goes a long way toward improving your contacts.

Adding a skill or a company to follow or a particular person will also help.

“But I don’t know this person!”

Connecting with people who are not relevant to your business is a good idea because the number of connections you have affects how many people, including those that are relevant to your business will see your full profile and how many you will see when you search from your account.

File the LinkedIn recommendations and do make those connections as well as follow those firms and fields they point to. At the end of the day, what will happen is you will wind up coming up in the rankings hire, be connected with more people. The person they recommend will have tons more connections that you have and that will help you come up higher in first and second level connections.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

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

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

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com 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

Asking for Directions

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One of the great stereotypes of the 20th century was that men don’t ask for directions when they are lost. How many arguments occurred in the car between a couple, trying to figure out where the next turn was and he not been willing to pull into a gas station to ask the attendant?

It must’ve been a woman who came up with the idea for GPS and, if not, certainly the GPS app on a mobile phone. How many relationships were saved with those inventions?

Difficulty asking for help is not unique to men. Women have the problem, too.  The fact is, both genders seem to find it preferable to figure things out on their own without help or assistance, even though it is harder, takes longer and is often met with failures along the way.

We all know that asking for help from someone who actually knows what they are talking about is a useful, though underutilized shortcut. Why is it so damn hard to ask for help?

Continued

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2016

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

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

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

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

Get encouragement at NoBSCoachingAdvice.com

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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