November 2016 – Page 8 – Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter's Blog

Activating Your LinkedIn Network | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 5, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman. The Big Game Hunter explains how to quickly activate your LinkedIn network of connections.

[spp-transcript]

I want to give you a tip, today, about how to get your LinkedIn network activated I notified that you are looking for a position. I don’t claim credit for this 1. I have seen a number of people do this and I think it is a very smart idea.

Let’s say you were laid off in May, in whatever year you are listening to this podcast. What you do is get a job on your profile and list your job title, the company you are at, “now available.” Maybe use the phrase in transition. I like the term now available better because in transition is 1 of those catchphrases. Now available is not a catchphrase.

But the phrase, “Now Available,” in the job title and LinkedIn will broadcast the message to everyone that you are connected with to let them know that you are looking for work. Some people will respond to congratulating you because they are not really paying attention. But a lot of people will be notified and then you can follow up with them and speak with them further.

[/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

Change is Coming | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 5, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter encourages you to anticipate change and get support now.

[spp-transcript]

This is going to be a quirky podcasts for me and an important one for you. Most of the time, I talked about how you can tactically deal with job hunting – – I help you with resumes, I talked with you about how to handle interview questions and negotiate salary, a whole host of things related to job. On this show, I want to go “bigger picture.”

The bigger picture is that, when you find a job now, most of you make the mistake of thinking it’s all over. I’ve got my job. Yippee! I’m done.

What you need is someone to work with you over the course of your career who is someone you can bounce ideas off of. Someone who can give you advice about how to handle professional situations.

You know. A coach. You may think you have that person place, but you really don’t. That’s because you never call upon them. You never reach out to them for advice. That’s what I want to talk with you candidly right now.

If you think your professional circumstances are safe now, you are mistaken. Change is clearly a part of our life landscape. Let me give you perspective for my career.

I started off in recruiting in 1972. At that time, you deliver the resume by US mail. Then, he progressed to the messenger delivering resumes in your local city. He used the messenger service. Then you hired your own messenger. Then, this great thing happened – – the fax machine. The fax machine is limiting the job of the messenger, just like the messenger cost jobs at the post office. Now, obviously, we use email.

Now, we do recruiting, not by waiting for resumes to arrive in our inbox through the mail, not by waiting for fax, waiting for it to be emailed. Now, we are finding people aggressively online using a variety of different tools where we can research people online and find them.

When push comes to shove, in that simple illustration, I probably talked about 9 or 10 different changes, all of which cost jobs. In doing the research, you are impacting jobs at job boards. When job boards came around, did anyone use a fax machine anymore? No. It’s built into the software or PCs and we never use it anyway

the point I’m trying to make is that, in your career, you’re going to need to anticipate the changes in your career. You will need to be proactive in order to position yourself in a way that allows you to stand out from others. This isn’t simply about branding because branding is only one aspect of it. You have to anticipate that the firm you are working for. Could go out of business tomorrow. With the change.

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking, “That can’t happen to me. I work for Megalopolysis, the biggest and most important firm in the field.”

Didn’t the recession teach you anything about safety, at firms? Lord knows, there were millions and millions of people throughout the world who thought their jobs were safe and their careers were well positioned because they work for good firms. These people all went up out on their butts. People at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns before that… We can go through all sorts of firms where people did great work and, through no fault of theirs. The sand shifted under their feet and they wound up being out of a job. Painfully out of a job.

My encouragement for you is to get someone to sit and talk with.

I’m available and, yes, I do charge for the service but we can do it through LivePerson.com we are a 10 minute session may cost you less than $50. We can get a quote acquainted and set up something quarterly where we talk. You need someone to bounce ideas off of you has the experience that I have, is a subject matter expert around job search, who does career coaching for many many years. I want to help you.

You need a trusted advisor to work with to ensure that you don’t wind up losing going forward. Reach out to me through LivePerson.com where I am a job search and career coaching expert. I’ll be happy to answer your questions. Happy to set up a schedule where we can work together for many years so that you are well-positioned going forward in your career and you don’t get caught short.

[/spp-transcript]

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.

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.”

The Job Market October 2016

November 6, 2016November 5, 2016 by Jeff

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uMrgVeOvBI[/svp]

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, and his views on the job market.

“I have been blogging about the job market in the US and around the world since August 2001.”

What I write is not designed to be political or critical; they are my observations and sense of where we are and where we are going.

This is my report on the job market for October 2016, as released on November 4, 2016.

Early in the report, I misstate the headline unemployment rate. I should have said, “It went down to 4.9% from 5%.”

[spp-transcript]

Let’s talk about the US jobs report for October, 2016 that was released on November 4th.

The good news is that there were 161,000 new jobs created and that the headline unemployment rate went down to 4.9% from 5%. Even the U6 rate, which includes people who want to work full-time but are only able to find part-time jobs, declined to 9.5%. Private sector jobs increased by 142,000, of which professional services were 43,000, healthcare was 31,000, government, 19,000. There was a decline in manufacturing jobs of 9000. The labor force participation rate is it 62.4%

Generally, on the surface, it seems like a decent report for the US economy post-2008 . . . Actually it is a typical one. Now, let me go beneath the surface, because, when you start digging into the report, there are some interesting stuff there that doesn’t get reported on the news that most people watch, listen to or read.

Part-time jobs with the biggest component of the growth. Understand, that government revises its report, even on the fly. Part-time jobs deleted increased by 430,000. Full-time jobs went down by 103,000. When we think of the word, “job,” we think of full-time jobs. When the government uses the word, “job,” it defines it is someone who worked for at least one hour during the course of the month.

Thus, it seems like what we are doing is creating an “uber economy,” with most of the jobs being created, being part-time positions.

The GDP seems to have grown at its slowest rate in 8 years. 94 million people are not working. There were 238,000 people who had jobs, but couldn’t go to work, because of Hurricane Matthew in the southeast.

Construction jobs increased by 11,000 jobs. Retail slowed down which was surprising, given the holiday season coming up.

In the last period of time (I think it’s an 8 year period), 1 million new jobs were created that employ women and the government reports that 1 million went to foreign workers. One third of students are unable to make payments on their student loans.

I am mentioning all of this stuff because the rosy picture the government tries to paint isn’t the reality for most of us. People seem to be working 2 or 3 jobs in order to pay their bills or not pay their bills so late. So the Labor Department report becomes a mediocre report when you dig below the surface and adequate one when you stay on the surface.

I’ll simply say that for you, as a job hunter, you need to keep your head up and not down. My belief is that we are going to be having a recession, probably next year. It could be the year after. That is because recoveries don’t go on forever. They do eventually come down. According to the government, this recoveries been going on for 8 years which is a long recovery. It is a mediocre one from a jobs and economic perspective but a recovery, nonetheless.

Ask yourself, “How long do you think this will go on?”

My encouragement to you is to make sure that your skills are up to date, that you are doing your networking now and not waiting until the very end where it is too late, you are getting involved, making sure that you are learning what you need to in order to make sure that you are marketable in case, and that you are not just simply focused on your job. You are thinking of herself as the CEO of your own business where you are responsible to the shareholders which are your family and yourself,

[/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.

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.”

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.

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.”

Job Search Lessons from Game 7 of the 2016 World Series

November 5, 2016 by Jeff

The World Series ended in spectacular fashion with a Game 7 between two teams representing franchises with lengthy absences from being World Champions. A game that started with the Cubs up early and tied with a home run against Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman, a game delayed by rain and won in extra innings made for a thrilling and heartbreaking night for the two teams and two cities.

I want to focus on two different lessons from the game and how they relate to job search and business, in general.

After the game, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester was asked about “the curse” the Cubs lived under for 108 years until their win.

Continued

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.

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.”

Advice from The Godfather” About Negotiating Salary | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

December 25, 2017November 4, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter uses a memorable quote from “The Godfather” to offer advice about salary negotiation.

[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.

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

Body Language Mistakes | Job Search Radio

November 4, 2016 by Jeff

Things can wrong fast if you make any (or all) of these mistakes.

[spp-transcript]

Body language is often misunderstood by job hunters who think this is a way to hypnotize people into hiring them for jobs are not qualified for (Follow the pen. You are getting drowsy and drowsier). It doesn’t work that way.

Your behavior is either congruent and emphasizes the points that you are trying to make or in-congruent and, as a result, you turn off people. In one example, I might be speaking very calmly yet flailing my arms. I want to highlight a few of the behaviors you might engage in so that you become aware of them and don’t shoot yourself in the foot and damaged candidacy.

The 1st one is fidgety. Have you ever spoken to some of his just bouncing around, all over the place, and they are just driving you crazy! Fidgeting is a turnoff. Be conscious of when you might do it and stop! If you are feeling nervous, It is better to use your hands to emphasize points, but never block your face.

The next one is what’s called in the business pointing or chopping– – Hard, demonstrative gestures that really wind up exaggerating what you are saying versus emphasizing things with your hands. Never go across your face with your hands under any circumstances. You shouldn’t use your hands to frame your face (There are very few circumstances where someone can get away doing that). Instead, keep your gestures lower if you’re going to use your hands to emphasize points. Don’t do the strong aggressive things to emphasize what you are saying and risk turning people off by feeling threatened.

Your posture needs superior confident. Rather than sitting in a chair hunched over, slumping over in the chair looking bored and disinterested, or the reverse, appearing to cocky, looking as though you don’t have a care in the world sitting with one arm over the back of the chair and treating the person that you speaking with as though they are an idiot, be aware of your posture because both extremes can be costly.

You don’t want to break eye contact and just talk every which way; you always want to appear as though you are maintaining eye contact. In doing so, you can’t look like you are staring. People who appear to be staring are received as though they are crazy. No one wants to hire a crazy person who is staring at them.You know, like the one who never looks like they are going to blink.

If the person is profoundly ugly, talk to just the right or just the left side of their face. Most people will be able to tell that you’re not looking them in the eye.

The last one I’m going to bring up is keeping your arms folded. The way keeping your arms fall that is interpreted is that you are closed or withdrawn, or, if you are overweight it is hard to sit in the chair, I know, there is a tendency to fold arms in front of you. Instead, keep your arms in fern of you or to the sides, framing your body. That will go a long way toward dispelling what could be a misinterpretation of what you are communicating.

Again, being hired will be because you’ve done this, but because you have the skills to do the job and have created trust and rapport with the interviewer that you are the solution to what they are looking for. However, if your behavior is a turnoff, there is no way you’re going to get the job.

[/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

Please give “Job Search Radio” a great review in iTunes. It helps other people discover the show and makes me happy!

A Bird in the Hand . . . | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 3, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter tells you a cautionary tale to remind you that a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.

[spp-transcript]

I want to tell you a cautionary tale, give you a warning, however you want to think of it they came from her recent experience with the job hunter. This was a person moving to a new city. He bought a house with his wife, wanted to move to the new location, contacted me because I have a client there, I had a position he was well-qualified for, all sorts of good stuff.

The interview with my client and is about to get an offer. The head of the department that he is meeting with his traveling, so. The job offer can’t get signed off on right away. In the meantime, unbeknownst to me until the last 2nd, he has received an offer from another firm. I contacted him to let him know that my client is about to extend an offer. My contact with that firm gets in touch with him to let them know that he’s getting an offer. All they have to do is get one last signature. They expect to have it signed off on imitator to.

Let Me Fast-Forward

The applicant asked me about my client and whether they are reliable.

“They took the time to call you to let you know this was going to happen. I don’t know this person to be a liar. I would say it is going to happen.“

I gave him my best judgment.

I also want to say I didn’t know he had another offer until after this. He emailed me on a Friday evening to say that based upon what you’ve heard from the HR person is going to turn down the offer he has and wait for my client.

The horrible thing that happened is that the head of the department decided not to sign off on the offer. Now, this person is out of a job and cannot recover that other job offer. He has to find something and he is moved to his new city. He has no income.

Consider that a lesson. What you do instead is 1 of several things. To be clear, I did not ask him to turn down that other offer.

The lesson here is that a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

The way to handle that situation is:

Accept the offer and set the start date a week further out. In this way, you can install a weeks time for my client to have come back. If my client hadn’t, he would have gone off to that original job. Then, if my client came through, he could have made another decision if you thought that made sense. Not my choice. His choice.
Stall the acceptance of the original offer and try to wait for my client. If pressured, ultimately accept, delay the start a little bit… You get the idea.

You don’t turn down offers based upon a hope, awaiting in the prayer.

What you do is turn down offers when you actually have something, not necessarily what in writing, but have the oral offer, when you being told that the offer will be put in writing, etc.. Not before then. Especially in situations like this where he was going to be stranded without a job at the time working really needed to be positioned.

Again, my advice is a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Stall as long as you can. Delay starting as long as you can if that other offer is the preferred job.

If it isn’t the preferred job, it doesn’t matter! In this case, it was. The money was going to be significantly better. The work was going to be significantly better. You get the idea.

You don’t turn down something for the hope that something will come through because, as happened here, sometimes it doesn’t.

[/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.

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

Use A Surrogate | Job Search Radio

September 3, 2017November 3, 2016 by Jeff

To me, this has been an awful political season the United States. Between the primaries in the general election, we have witnessed attacks and revelations by all the candidates that are absolutely miserable. In the past, politicians haven’t been a part of this, preferring instead a different way to attack their opponents.

There are often better ways to handle things than badgering a hiring manager.

[spp-transcript]

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.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Please give “Job Search Radio” a great review in iTunes. It helps other people discover the show and makes me happy!

A Cute Salary Negotiation Tip | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 2, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses a cute tactic he uses when negotiating salary for someone.

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you today about a little salary negotiation tip that came to me a while back. I use it from time to time when working with clients when the candidate is about to get an offer and I am negotiating salary on behalf of the client.

I found an interesting thing. Every once in a while, instead of using an expected round number that ends in zero or $5000 like $80,000 or $85,000, I pick a different kind of number.

I might say something like, $87,500 or $112,200.

Things that are a little irregular.

Why?

Because it is not a number that they are used to hearing so it gives them reason to think, instead of instantly responding with EA or née. In those cases, it’s May because firms always try to push down the amount. It is very rare that someone increases the amount.

He gives them reason to hesitate. And, as a result, we get into an actual conversation, rather than knee-jerk reactions.

Try.

That you are asked what salary you are looking for, try saying something like $122,200.

“How did you come up with that number?”

“Well, I did some research on the web. I took a look at the value for what I do and found that this was the mean for the range that you are looking.”

“What was the range?”

Of course you can come back and say, “$117,000-$125,000 per year.”

When all is said and done, making them hear an unusual number causes them to deal with you differently than everyone else..

Don’t fall into the predictable pattern. Try doing something a little bit different.

When I’m asked to submit a consultant, I’m asked what rate I charge for the person. I don’t say, for example, “$100 per hour.” I will say $”$101.75 per hour for this person.” He gives me a little room to negotiate, of course. Again, it is a different kind of valuation then just say $100.

[/spp-transcript]

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.

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

How Are Recommendations Viewed on LinkedIn?

November 2, 2016 by Jeff

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY4nVlIkF48[/svp]
How are recommendations on Linkedin viewed by recruiters/prospective employers?

Given that there is no way to determine the authenticity or sincerity of a recommendation what trust value is assigned to the various recommendations while sourcing profiles?

[spp-transcript]

How are recommendations on LinkedIn viewed by recruiters and prospective employers? Given that there is no way to determine the authenticity or validity of the recommendation, what trust value is assigned to the various recommendations that appear on profiles?

Great question!

I want to start by pointing out references are really no different and how are references looked at? They are looked at like a final verification. References have the same issue that’s being questioned about LinkedIn recommendations. I have had people try to pass off bogus references to me and you can just smell them a mile away.

So how are recommendations viewed? They may be looked at at several times during the process.

They can be looked at when people are sourcing on LinkedIn. Personally, I will read some and know pretty quickly whether or not the person really knows them. It’s pretty easy to spot. 1 of those, “Hey endorse me and I will endorse you” references that were prevalent a while back. I get those requests all the time from India and, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not in India so I have no way of judging someone who is working there. I don’t comply with those requests because, what am I going to say? She’s a really great person? He’s a really good guy? Those are really useless recommendations so why bother? What good is it going to do? Why would they believe me, in the US? You can look at the recommendations and break them down to one’s work, whether someone really knows the person, whether what is said is very thin , or whether there is substance there

We ignore thin references. The substantial ones provide a story in them about how you were the hero gets a higher weight in my mind.

Another way that they are look that is for quantity, as well as quality. For example, I have hundreds of recommendations from people who had been kind enough to write about my work, whether as a headhunter, or now as a coach, videographer, podcast or and the like. When you see hundreds of recommendations for someone verses 4, doesn’t that have a meaning for you? They look at it for quantity and, when they are pleasantly surprised by how many they find there, they will like that more.

How are LinkedIn recommendations look that? The same is references.

I mentioned that we would look at a couple of ways that they are look that. They are also look that when a company and its hiring manager are not sure. Maybe they have done an interview and the just not sure about something , they will go back into the work recommendations and see if there is something that speaks to them to confirm the bias or opinion that they have.

Lastly, they may use them as a reference substitute. I don’t expect to have that happen very often.

Clearly, during the sourcing process, they are looking at the quality of your recommendations, as well as quantity. During the process, to a lesser degree, they will look at them to confirm something or some opinion that they have about you and your work.

[/spp-transcript]

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.

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.”