Jeff – Page 429 – Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter's Blog

Brand Yourself to Avoid Being Laid Off

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

As someone who has spent several years building a brand that offers me an advantage, I am quite aware of how easy it is to develop a brand these days.

Why is it important to build a brand? It can help you avoid being laid off and help you find a job more easily.

Here are some ways to create space in peoples’ minds that will give you an edge.

1. Become the resident expert in something or some skill. Being an expert causes people to regard you highly (It may also cause you to become “stuck” but that’s a topic for another day)

2. Become a resource for one and all. Becoming a connector for one and all makes you valuable to people. If losing you means losing contacts that are needed, it is less likely you will be fired.

3. Constantly build your network. Two years ago, more than a year before the. world economy collapsed, I wrote that the labor boom times were about to end and that you needed to have your network in place. For a job search, 22% of jobs are filled by recruiters and 6% by job boards. How do you think the rest are filled? Your network! Building your network leaves you well prepared.

4. Use the social networks to make your brand ubiquitous. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Xing . . . even groups using Ning allow you to make people aware of your experience and knowledge. Becoming an expert is as easy as posting some messages from time to time.

5. Create content. Many years ago, when a friend was trying to advance his career, I encouraged him to write articles for trade magazines and become a speaker. He was an AVP with a bank at the time and within ten years was hired as a partner at a large professional services firm. Today, blogs, ezines and online groups make becoming an online celebrity and/or resident expert much easier.

Blog about how to best do certain things. Post in groups on LinkedIn. Just remember that if you blog something “humorous” that someone could interpret as being “stupid” or “risque,” it can come back to hurt you.

For example, the proprietary trader (or prop trader) whose online message that he had lost a lot of money and was looking for a system that would be better than what he traded by, was refused an interview that would have exposed him to their secret trading models because they found his message via Google.

6. Help people with endorsements. Too many people have developed a closed mindset where they refuse to help people with testimonials, particularly on sites like LinkedIn. People there who ask me for testimonials often don’t know me and I certainly can’t vouch for their work or performance.

I will write something supportive of those I can actually vouch for . Try to help your current and former colleagues, subordinates and friends, even if it means just writing about their character.

The Best Way to Look for a Job

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

If you are like most of my subscribers, you are actively looking for work. In social work language, you are “in crisis” in that you can only remain out of work for a very finite period of time before dire consequences occur.

And, in fact, you picked the worst time to be looking for a job, not because of the economy but because there is a bias in the recruiting profession and among corporations about “active job hunters.”

The bias that exists is that people who are out looking for a job are not “the best” people– a firm chose them for a layoff and held on to “high achievers,” their better talent, their “stars.”

Given what you know of yourself, it is pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?

But this isn’t just “agency nonsense” but part of the beliefs of people on the line and in corporate HR.

I am sorry to say that I was part of the creation of this “Myth of the Passive Candidate” thirty or so years ago at a time when I could not afford an advertising budget and needed to differentiate myself from the bigger agencies that were spending tens of thousands of dollars every week.

I would market myself to firms and say, “I don’t just try to locate the best candidate who is reading ‘The New York Times’ on Sunday looking for a job. I try to find the best candidate.”

That distinction worked wonders for me and, as I taught others about its power it became part of agency culture and ingrained in corporate thinking even though times have changed and firms release superior talent all the time.

What can you do?

Not a heck of a lot.

But after you find work,I want you to shift your mindset.

You see, most people who have found a job think they don’t need help.

“I have a job I’m happy with. Leave me alone. I have work to do.”

Some people respond to recruiters with emails that seem to be yelling.

“How did you get my email address, you spammer (Uh, you left your resume up on a job board. I found you using Google or a research-oriented website)!

And then the next crisis hits and these people contact the same recruiters they have yelled at and expect them to have forgotten the rudeness (you think we don’t log that behavior in our applicant tracking systems).

What I want you to do in the future is think of yourself is always looking for work.

While President Clinton was President, his staff used the term, “the continuous campaign” to describe how they were always running for office and could not afford to become, “fat, dumb and happy.” They needed to always be selling the voters.

I am not suggesting that you keep your resume up on Monster and other job boards. In fact, take them down immediately!

I am telling you that LinkedIn, Twitter, Xing (if you are outside the US), Facebook and Doostang are the playpens of companies and recruiters who are looking for “passive job hunters.”

So regularly update your profile and treat it like a resume with quality keywords that describe what you do professionally.

If you receive an email or phone call from a recruiter or an email from a recruiter from a firm, treat them with respect and listen to what they offer.

Evaluate the recruiter what the recruiter has to offer. Ask questions. Answer their questions. Remember, they may record their experience of you in their tracking system so sell to them. Create a great impression.

Then make a decision as to whether to continue discussions.

DO NOT CLOSE THE DOOR WITHOUT LISTENING!

Offer a referral if you know someone who might be qualified and you aren’t interested.

Whatever you do, remember that the likelihood of your job lasting until retirement is small and it is better to look for a job when you have one than when you don’t.

Four Simple Steps to Better Resume Results

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

Is every job description you read the same? No.

Is every job you submit your resume to the same? Of course they aren’t.

If all these job descriptions are different, why do you submit the same resume?

Every day, people send the same generic resume out as though each position was identical and each employer was attempting to hire identical skills and attributes. Too often, the results they receive are like the broken watch that is right twice a day-hit or miss success.

They list their name, address, phone numbers and email address, list an objective, education, and chronology of experience with dates of employment. The resume includes some successes or accomplishments. This is their resume.

In the days prior to computers when changing a resume required you to re-type different versions, this made sense. Today, when computers allow you to customize, spell and grammar check documents so easily, you are missing out on opportunities and costing yourself money by being lazy and not tailoring your resume for each opportunity you are interested in.

Here are several steps that you can do to improve your resume and get better results.

1. Each employer will be interested in different attributes of your experience. They often indicate it by the items they describe in their job ad. Emphasize the experiences that you have that relate to the skills being sought and the functions you will perform in the job they will ask you to perform. If you are applying for a staff position, emphasize your staff experience and minimize your management experience. If you are being hired to be a leader, write about your recent leadership.

2. Employers are more interested in recent work, rather than work you did many years ago. Use more space in your resume to highlight recent experience, rather than things you did before George W. Bush became President.

3. Like setting a goal where you make them specific, measurable, achievable within a specific period of time, describe your successes or achievements concretely. Reducing costs is a nice start but it is more powerful to describe something as reducing operational costs globally by 2%. Increased departmental sales by 27% resulting in… You get the idea. Use action verbs wherever possible

4. Ask someone you trust to critique what you’ve written. Too often, people believe that they can do everything by themselves without asking for help. Ask a friend in your industry to critique what you’ve written to insure you’re on target and aren’t missing the mark. You can also order a resume critique from me.

When you go to a restaurant and order a meal, you have the expectation that it will be prepared in a way that will please you and be presented on the plate beautifully. Writing a great resume requires that you be the chef and prepare a meal that is both visually appealing and tastes great too!

Preparing for a Final Interview

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

Recently, a colleague of mine sent a job applicant I referred to him to a final interview with one of his clients and cc’d me on his confirmation note.

Although he was going to speak with him to prep him for the interview, I took this as an opportunity to offer advice to the job hunter.

This is what I wrote:

This may be obvious but in my many years of doing recruiting I have learned to never forget to remind people of even obvious details before they interview; after all, people are often distracted from their work days and forget to do obvious things.

The reminder I have for you is that there is no such thing as any interview being a formality; each one, particularly a final interview, is a chance to “sell” your ability to help solve their problems and help them feel good about hiring you.

Even when you aren’t, always think and act like you are competing with someone else for a job; after all, even when you aren’t, you are competing with the idea “that there is someone else out there better.”

Jeff

Big Company Person Interviewing at a Small Company?

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

This week, a friend referred someone to me who used to work at a global firm with a few thousand people on staff and offices around the world.

I asked him where he had been on interviews and what he liked and didn’t like about the places he had interviewed with.

“Well, I met with a small firm a few weeks ago, a family trust with about 20 people working for them. I thought it went well but I didn’t gotten a call back.”

He talked to me about the interview and spent some time talking about how well he handled the question about whether he would be OK working with a small firm. He said they seemed to be a little apprehensive.

He told me about the very logical way in which he answered the question (after all, he is an auditor) and that he thought he had impressed them with his answer.

I told him that the recruiter who had scheduled the interview had not done a good enough job dismissing their legitimate concerns about working at a “big company guy” adjusting to working at a small company. “If he had,” I continued, “they would not have raised this as a subject or used it as the basis for rejecting you.”

“A job interview is an exercise in theater. The person who does their job well, the person who may be performing the exact function best for a competitor may not be hired because they just don’t interview well enough to inspire confidence that they can do the job or fit into the corporate culture.

“In this case, what you should have done when asked about working for a small company is put a big smile on your face and brighten your eyes and say something like, ‘I’m dying to work at a smaller organization! Every organization has politics and ways things are done so I know I’m not walking into a place where none would exist. In big companies you just have it coming at you from so many different directions that I am looking forward to a chance at a smaller firm.”

And the key is in the acting . . . in behaving in a way that is congruent with their notion of how someone who really wants to work at a smaller firm should behave.

A little “acting” can go a long way in a job interview to make people believe that you are excited about an opportunity (that you know little about) and that you are passionate about what you do.

The Best Little Job Interview Differentiator: What Makes You Different?

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

Most interviews begin with a fairly traditional question:

“Tell me about yourself and what you have been doing professionally.”

They may not use those exact words but they ask you an open ended question that is designed to be answered in 30-45 seconds.

It sounds something like, “I’ve been in the business for X years; for the last Y years, I have been working for RTW where I have been responsible for blah, blah that resulted in the firm (making or saving) $2.4 million dollars. Before that, I was part of a team that worked on such and such for Blue Horseshoe Corp where I did this and that that resulted in their (making or saving) $1,250,000.

Mentioning the money almost always gets their attention. Otherwise, you give them an answer that leaves them thinking, “So what?” I’ve interviewed 25 people already who say much the same thing).

But I can assure you that none of them have used this new tactic I’ve developed and it works like a charm.

So for your next interview, I want you to be armed with the best little differentiator. So let me repeat the answer to “Tell me about yourself” with one little twist.”

“I’ve been in the business for X years; for the last Y years, I have been working for RTW where I have been responsible for blah, blah that resulted in the firm (making or saving) $2.4 million dollars. Before that, I was part of a team that worked on such and such for Blue Horseshoe Corp where I did this and that that resulted in their (making or saving) $250,000.

But I suspect you’ve heard similar answers from a lot of people you’ve interviewed but what makes me different is that …………..

What can you say?

I stepped into a situation that was behind schedule and over budget and delivered it ahead of time or on time and back on the new budget.

I worked for a boss that had left my last three predecessors running for the exits and was able to tame him/her and make him/her happy.

Get the idea?

You offer up a success you had and that becomes the basis of the conversation instead of a simple review of your resume and experience.

NOTE: You have to be prepared to answer questions about this success and not make up your answers on the fly.

Job Search Lessons from the 2011 World Series

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

The two teams that played in the Word Series this year, Texas and St. Louis played more than 170 baseball games this year, not including exhibition/pre-season games.

That’s a lot of work!

There were a lot of teams that played almost as many but only one champion. Here are a few things I noticed about them.

1. Practice helps you prepare for your time in the spotlight. These teams don’t just arrive on game day and play. These men prepare for years for their time in the limelight. If it’s true for athletes, why are you just showing up for interviews and “winging it?”

Were you so good at your job that people looked at you and said, “Heah! let’s make him senior management!” Of course, not. Interviewing is a skill like any other that can be learned through practice and repetition.

And practice is preferable to interviewing and losing an opportunity you want because of lack of preparedness.

2. There are times you’re going to fail. Learn from it fast. Move on.

The Series was an emotional rollercoaster. You get so close to winning a game when the other team makes a clutch hit, the game ends and you’re going to go home and then return to the ballpark the next day.

You are going to experience disappointment. There are interviews you are going to really want and not get and jobs you really want and someone else will get . . .maybe even someone you work with now.

Is there something you can learn from it? Maybe, yes. Maybe, no.

But you still have to get over it and go on to the next chore of your job search and do well. Don’t lose out on the second opportunity because you are disappointed with losing the first.

3. Get coaching. The star catcher on Texas was traded to them. Why? The manager of his previous team, a former catcher himself, didn’t think he played defense well-enough. Texas saw that he could hit and made a few changes in his mechanics and are very happy with him.

Don’t do this by yourself. Hire a coach to help you.

4. Don’t get psyched out.

Fans love to imagine stars in their lineup. The one great star in this year’s World Series was Albert Pujols and he had a pretty bad series. Instead, these were two teams of good players, not great players, who believed in themselves.

You can win your next interview if you do all the little things that make a champion a champion and don’t think you can coast your way into the “Professional Hall of Fame.”

Hitting a Brick Wall in Your Search?

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

I ran the New York Marathon in 1990 and discovered what in meant to hit “the wall” while running the race. Somewhere between crossing over into The Bronx and running through Harlem, I couldn’t think clearly, my feet started to shuffle, I started to cry thinking that I was going to finish the race. I immediately realized I was in trouble. I hung on to finish that hot day with heat stroke . . . but finished running 26.2 miles on a day where it was 78 degrees out (extremely warm for a marathon).

People often find the wall during their job search, too. They are not getting results, things are falling apart and they are back at feels like square one . . . again.

If that ever happens to you, here are a few things you can do.

1. Refocus your search

OK. You’re back at the beginning. What worked? What didn’t? Who could you ask for advice or information? Where did you drop the ball and let something fall between the cracks. Stir up the pot with everyone you know or are connected with and make things happen again.

2. Practice.

I have said it to you and others many times. You don’t interview as well as you think you do. Many of you talk about what you’ve done and not what you’ve done that relates to the job being filled. Don’t know how to improve? (Shameless plug coming!).

Order a copy of “The Single Best Question You Should Ask on Any Interview.” Order a copy of someone else’s book (Click “Bookstore” on the top toolbar). It’s smart to fix what’s broken. You’re being pennywise and pound foolish not to (Let’s see. My book is $9.99. Someone else’s might cost $20. I won’t spend $20 to improve my interview skills even though each week I am out of work it costs me how many thousand dollars?)

3. Network better.

Circle back to your connections and see who else you might contact. When applying for a position, see whether any of your LinkedIn connections will introduce you to a hiring manager. Ask them if they’ll introduce you to someone with more information. Go to a network group meeting or a trade conference in your field. Work the room.

4. Take a break

I know this is counterintuitive and I sometimes struggle following my own advice about this. Then I remember coaching I did with a former employee many years ago. She would commute to NYC from the Jersey Shore getting in early and getting home late. Eat a slice of pizza. Make some phone calls at night. Fall asleep and then do the same thing the next day. She came into my office in tears. My advice? You’re working too hard. Ease up on yourself and you’ll get better results . . .and she did.

5. Hire me to coach you

No matter how much you read and how much you try, no matter how many times you’ve changed jobs, you are an amateur doing battle with a bunch of pros. It’s like visiting the IRS without a lawyer or an accountant. You’re screwing yourself.

Hire me to coach you.

Feeling cheap and don’t want to spend the money?

You’re entitled to make that mistake.

I can do a full critique/makeover of your entire job search.

Don’t have the money?

Schedule time to ask me questions.

Whichever you do, don’t be a fool and do nothing, fumbling away opportunities you can’t afford to drop.

There is an old joke about a poor man who begs G-d to help him win the lottery. This goes on for months. Suddenly, lightening and thunder erupt from what was otherwise a sunny sky and a booming voice that only he can hear says, “Meet me half way and buy a lottery ticket.”

When you are the problem, you need to change to become the solution.

Get organized and don’t waste referrals from people.

Improve your interview skills.

Add some fun to your life. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Take a walk. Go for a hike. Take time off with your family. Go to the gym and work out.

Get help.

NOW!

Second Interview Secrets

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

You received a call from someone, spoke with them for a few minutes and they have invited you to come in for an interview with HR. Yippee! Well, passing the initial phone screen means little more than that you said all the key words that were in the job listing and that you did not sound like you were a mass murder . . . you are not particularly close to getting hired.

And you went to the firm’s offices, met with Human Resources and, a day or two have passed, and you have been asked to come back for another interview, Yippee!

But the fact is that all that has happened is that you were not rejected based upon superficial criteria and the potential employer is not so shallow to turn you away as to reject you based upon a superficial chat with HR.

To me, the second interview does not start when you speak with the first person from the department or business unit you would work in that has been asked to evaluate and assess your experience, competence and character.

To me, your second interview begins when you have completed meeting with that person from the department or business unit and been invited back to speak with someone else. That person may be a peer to the evaluator but it is another meeting.

What is their plan?

That’s easy . . . It’s usually one of three things.

a. You did well at the first meeting,

b. You did OK but they have some lingering doubts about you and need to investigate further, or

c. They did great and want to see you a second time to confirm their great impression of you.

How can you tell the difference?

That’s hard to say. Some second interviewers do nothing to let on their firm’s interest in hiring you. But there is one trick to knowing that they are really interested . . . The more they talk, the more they like you and spend time “selling you.”

What are they trying to find out at the meeting?

The simple answer is, “More.” They want to get more of you– more of your knowledge, more of your personality, more trust of you. Sometimes, it almost seems like the interview repeats the first. That may more reflect failings in the interviewer, that person may not know any more than the first person about how to interview for the job.

Here are a few things you can do before the meeting:

1. Find out who you will be meeting with and what their role is

So you get the call or email asking to come back for another meeting. Confirm the data and time and ask, “Who will be on my schedule and what is their role with the firm?”

The employer may only respond with a name. Immediately go to LinkedIn and/or Google and search for the person or people by name and company name. You’ll find out their employment history, what their function is, how long they have been with the firm, publications they’ve written, speeches they’ve given, sometimes their home address and phone number (don’t call or write them). You’ll learn more about the employer and their taste in employees from knowing this.

From LinkedIn, you may also find people you know who are connected with this person and may be able to give you advice about them or put in a call and provide you with a proactive reference. What can be better than having a friend, former colleague or subordinate call up a manager and say, “I understand you are going to be interviewing Buddy Miles. He’s really good.”

“How do you know I’m interviewing him?”

“He contacted me for advice and tips about you in anticipation of meeting you.”

And if you are asked at the interview why you contacted them, you tell them about trying to be well-prepared before starting any project and doing your homework.

2. Refresh your memory about the questions they asked and what they seemed interested in.

Often doing a review will give you clues about what they were interested in particular and possible areas of concern. Once you know the areas of concern, you can adopt a strategy to ease their worries and make you the winning candidate.

3. Put together a “brag book”

A brag book is a compilation that consists of a discussion of what the company does, the department does, and why you would be a terrific fit for them.

Preparing a brad book gets you prepared and focused for your meeting.

4. Prepare great questions for the meeting

One of the measures of the intelligence a candidate possesses is the questions they ask. Here’s one that is far better and much more sophisticated than, “Tell me about the job.”

The question is, “Let’s say you hire me and join your firm. A year has elapsed and I haven’t done just done a good job—I’ve done a great job. What would I have done or accomplished during that year that would result in you writing the most glowing review of an employee’s work that you’ve ever written.”

You do two things with this question:

a. You make them think of you as an employee performing the job

b. You find out what to aim for in the way of a great performance

Armed with all of this, you are ready to turn a second interview into a victory lap around the track.

And if you meet the department head or leader of the function, notice if at some point they seem to be doing all the talking for a while. Doing all the talking is a signal of their interest–The more they talk the more they like you.

Practice Speaking

May 9, 2015 by Jeff

For many people, interviewing is not a natural act any more than going on a blind date is. You are asked a bunch of questions about your work. You answer them. They ask a bunch more; you answer them. You’re graded on your performance (you receive a job offer or not). Yet interviews are predictable processes and as such can be planned for

What does an employer want to know about you?

1. Do you have the skills to do the job that needs to be filled?

2. How will you fit in with my company?

3. If I hire you, are you someone I will need to worry about?

How does this get determined in an interview?

1. By asking questions about what you have done and how you did it or decided it should be done.

2. By asking behavioral questions that will give an employer a sense of the scope of your experiences

3. By asking concrete questions to ascertain your knowledge

4. By observing your body language or physical response to questioning
to observe whether it is consistent with a successful person.

The fourth way (observing body language or physical response to questions) is particularly interesting because it is not skill or experience based and is completely subjective and emotional. AND it is part of the decision process.

And want are firm’s trying to find out about you? Leadership. Honesty. Trustworthiness.

You can practice with a friend or family member but they may not be much better than you. So how do you practice you presentation and get immediate feedback in order to improve your presentation and demonstrate these attributes?

Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) offers people an opportunity to practice how to speak throughout their program. Whether you answer extemporaneous questions off the cuff for 1-2 minutes in Table Topics (“It’s warm! It’s summer! People start to go to the beach and spending time outdoors. Tell us about a time you had fun at the beach, Jeff.” Notice that you only find out when you will speak at the end when you hear your name) or by doing actual 4-6 minute speeches, Toastmasters offers concrete opportunities to get used to being “on the spot” as happens in an interview. It also gives you an opportunity to observe others and learn from them and from the evaluations that are given.

There are Toastmasters clubs throughout the world.