Jeff

Interviewing in The Heat. Interviewing in the Cold.

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Looking at the weather forecast for this week, I was reminded that I have not spoken with you in a long long time about how to cope with weather extremes.

You are kidding yourself if you do not acknowledge that you can be affected by the weather. After all, extremes of heat or cold are known to cause people to feel uncomfortable. Even if you are not affected, often the people you are interviewing with are.

How do you cope with the weather? How do you arrive at an interview ready to put on a good performance?

Both men and women have discomfort associated with their wardrobe during summer months Each is expected to dress appropriately for an interview with women in stockings and a medium heeled shoe that is in good copndition; for men and women both, a professional image is the key; for men interviewing for most positions, a conservative suit with a white or light collared shirt and a conservative tie with well shined shoes with laces is still appropriate.

If you are in a profession that lends itself to more casual tire, rarely are “extreme wardrobes appropriate for a first interview.

In winter, dress appropriately for the cold with your business attire beneath it. If your overcoat would allow you to audition for a polar expedition, remove the coat when you arrive for the interview while you are in the lobby so that it is not the first thing people see.

Arrive a few minutes early whether it is hot or cold and wait in the lobby so that you have a chance to cool down if it is hot or warm up if it is cold and regain your focus for the interview ahead.

No one wants to shake hands with someone who is perspiring profusely or discover that they are shaking hands with an icicle. It is a distraction that can cause you to lose an opportunity.

© 2010 All rights reserved Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

No B. S. Job Search Advice: The Best Way to Apply to a Job Ad

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Every day, people use job boards to apply for jobs. Job boards are a semi efficient ways for companies to communicate with people outside their organization about opportunities.

I describe it as semi-efficient because companies think they are spammed with resumes that in no way fit what they are looking for.

So people screening resumes start to become numb to all the responses.

How do you cut through “the noise” and get to the person who is hiring for the job?

Build your LinkedIn network.

I have 3300+ people in my immediate network and often if I want to contact with someone, I send a note to someone in my network asking who I should get in contact with and can they introduce me to them.

Another way is being in LinkedIn groups that relate to your work and your target organization. For example, if you want to connect with someone with Capgemini, there’s a group on LinkedIn for Capgemini alumni.

Do you work in corporate HR? Join one of the many groups for corporate HR professionals.

Do you work in Europe and trying to connect with someone there? You’re probably familliar with Xing. The same strategy applies there.

None of this work?

Only give it two days and then join Jigsaw and pay $1 to find the name.

Doing “the end run” or “the back door” is not difficult in these times. Cut the line where you can and you’ll wind up with many more interviews.

P.S. If we aren’t already connected, send a LinkedIn connection request. My public profile is here

© 2010 all rights reserved.

Three Things You Must Do Every Time You Submit a Cover Email

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In days of old people sent cover letters– pieces of parchment paper that were, in fact, clipped on top of their resume.

Sometimes people try to replicate that by attaching a second file with their resume to their emailed submission and naming it something like “cvrltr.doc” and expect the recipient to open the file and read it.

1. The first thing you need to do is not attach a separate file but, instead, use the message area of your email as a cover letter. No one opens a second file but if you place the exact same message in the body of an email, they will read it before opening your resume.

2. Use the cover email to make a case for how you fit the role that you understand to be open. You can do that in three paragraphs. The first paragraph explains why you submitted the resume (ad on a website; a recommendation from someone who works at the firm. Be specific and identify the job you understand is open)

The second paragraph summarizes how you fit the job (as I undertand it, you are looking for someone with x type of a background; I have x+y amount of experience doing exactly that for your direct competitor).

3. Ask for the interview. This is where most people err. They forget to ask for the meeting or fail to say something like, “Would you have time on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the position and my qualifications?”

Asking for the meeting is often a missing component of the cover email an, in many jobs will positively separate you from yo9ur competition.

Do these three things with every cover email you submit and you will create a great a great impression and a halo that will benefit you when you interview.

© 2010 all rights reserved

Ask The Big Game Hunter: How Should I Send My Cover Letter?

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Q. Jeff, how often do people open cover letters? What can I do to get my cover letter read?

A. Implied in your question is that you have attached your cover letter to your email as a separate file just as you did your resume. If you do that, I can give you no advice about how to get it read because, frankly, I refuse to read a second attachment and go right to the file that suggests it is the resume.

Even if I make a mistake and open the wrong file, I immediately close it and go to the next one–the resume file.

BTW, don’t enclose a file that suggests that it is a reference list and send it to a 3rd party recruiters; your references will not be called except to source for job leads or late in the search when they are legitimately needed for references. Why risk annoying a reference?

Instead of emailing a separate file, use the message area of the email that you are attaching your resume to send a cover letter. Most people I know do read those so you can get your message across there.

© 2010 all rights reserved.

Twitter Job Search

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Although LinkedIn gets all the attention in job hunting, Twitter can be very useful, too. It can help by giving you a relatively noise free way to build connections with business leaders, HR professionals, recruiters and others that help you “cut the line” and give you an advantage in your job search.

Here’s how to use Twitter to do that:

1.Join Twitter if you are not already a member (Duh!)

2. Choose keywords that are relevant to what you do. You can use Hootsuite or any other tool like it (Tweetdeck and Seesmic come to mind) to create streams to track each keyword or phrase.

3. Get in the mix.

Initially, get noticed by a key figure by engaging in a discussion or answering one of their questions, rather than send a direct message to them.

Who are these people?

People who have large followings, people who have relevant job titles for your profession or who are senior professionals at firms you want to work for. You can find out who many of these people are via Klout and WeFollow.

Retweet some of their posts to your friends and followers.

Comment positively on things they say or politely point out things they may have missed in their thinking.

Develop a relationship, don’t just simply follow them and ask them if they will hire you. Would you do that?

So make some time to set this system up.

Like creating any social media job search strategy, it may not help you with your job search this time. But may be the key to your next two job changes.

© 2012 all rights reserved

Get Some Klout!

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As more and more companies and individuals consider the importance of social networking, there is a movement to measure social influence as a measure of a candidate’s power.

Klout is the leading website for measuring social influence. What it does is link to your social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, your WordPress blog, etc.) and has an algorithm that allows them to generate a number.

I will tell you that there is a lot of debate about the accuracy of the number they generate. I will however tell you that although there is debate about the validity of the middling number, there is now question that those with high rankings are very influential.

What this means is that if you are someone in sales, marketing, SEO, web design, public relations or other fields, you need to be looking for ways to beef up your presence and influence online.

© 2011 all rights reserved.

Applying for a Job

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© 2010 all rights reserved.

Evaluating Recruiters

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The former hiring manager was appreciative for the advice he received.

“I have never received such coaching in my career,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” I replied.

“First of all, the questions you taught me for the interview were terrific and well-received. Then, you gave me info about the people I would meet with and what to expect from each.”

“But most of all, your manner just calmly told me to relax and deliver the goods during the meeting. As you can imagine being out of work as long as I have and not getting many interviews and believing that this one was so important, your information and your manner relaxed me and gave me confidence going into the in-person meetings. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

So this is article is not to toot my horn but to point out one of the differences between recruiters.

Many can “prep you (prepare you)” for the interview with speeches that sound reminiscent of something like a movie script (Go out there. When you meet them, look them square in the eye. Offer a firm handshake and don’t turn down the offer if they make one until we speak and I have a chance to beat you up and make you take the job).

Very few can give you useful tools to perform well on the interview. Even fewer are skilled enough to know what to say to someone to put them into the best frame of mind for a phone or in-person interview.

Many recruiters are little more than high pressure salesmen with little more than a passing interest in what is right for you and what will help you get the job you want.

I confess, I am paid by companies, rather than people so, ultimately I focus on filling positions EXCEPT when I coach someone in my Coaching program. There I spend time with someone to teach them what they need every step along the way.

When you evaluate recruiters, pay attention to what they say AND what they don’t say. You will learn a lot about them.

© 2013 all rights reserved.

Respecting Recruiters Part 2

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I previously wrote an article called “Respecting Recruiters.”

It began with me saying that I strive for excellence, not perfection. No matter what I do, there will be people who will criticize and complain that I am incompetent because I have failed to find work for them, even though they are not paying me to find work for them (employers are paying me to find new employees for them) and even though I try to communicate with everyone with advice, tips, and information.

This Friday, prior to the holiday weekend, I received a resume of someone I was interested in but because I was leaving for the weekend, sent a quick note asking a few questions. I had a lot to take care of before going away.

The response I received was, “Call me.”

Now I must admit, I was annoyed. How tough is it to write why you’re looking for a job, what your compensation was and where you’ve been on interviews.

I wrote back saying my day was complicated and could he respond.

The response told me a lot about the person– “If u don’t have time to call instead of text cause your day is complicate . What company will do business with you. Not me.”

I presume he was using his phone to text a reply so I am not concerned about spelling.

It was the disrespect for another professional.

I don’t know what your experience is with other recruiters; from what I hear, few have good experiences to report.

What I do know is that this person let me know how disconnected they are from reality (Drop everything. I am important. Your schedule doesn’t matter. Only I do) and these are qualities my clients loathe when hiring leaders.

© 2011 all rights reserved.

Respecting Recruiters

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I strive for excellence, not perfection. No matter what I do, there will be people who will criticize and complain that I am incompetent because I have failed to find work for them, even though they are not paying me to find work for them (employers are paying me to find new employees for them) and even though I try to communicate with everyone with advice, tips, and information.

Given that on a given Monday morning, I walk into about 100 – 120 new resumes emailed to me plus items I need to follow up on (guesstimate how long it takes to just follow up on those messages before I start with anything new).

I work with a research team that uses software and other techniques to find people to fill jobs. They make mistakes. The software makes mistakes.

DUH!

I received a fascinating email this week I thought I would share with you.

“I’m sick of your repeated, misguided communications to me. Stop already, mrbiggamehunter. I consider you a jerk and a legend in your own mind.”

Checking my system, this was the first time we had communicated with this person, the first time we had received a message from this person, had found their resume on a job board as someone actively looking for work and, amusingly enough, the person was a corporate recruiter.

Suffice it to say, we won’t be on one another’s Christmas card list.

Recently, another emailed me that he wished I die. Excuse me? Wishing death to me because an email was sent to them . . . or maybe because I was unsuccessful finding a job for them. I wrote poilitely asking what might have happened that had offended them but received no reply.

What do you expect of recruiters?

Do you spam them with resumes that do not demonstrate a fit for what they are looking for and expect that they will call you anyway? Do you expect them to check in with you every day with what is going on even though you aren’t paying them for your time?

What do you expect from recruiters?

I’ll tell you what you can expect . . . If your experience is vaguely close to what a client of theirs is looking for, they will try to introduce you to their client, coach you through the interview, try to help you earn as much as you can so that they can earn as much as they can and try to persuade you that the job fits your needs.

That does not give you permission to be nasty and criticize them if they make a mistake.

After all, if you had a manager who did that to you, wouldn’t you leave? If you had a spouse who treated you in that way, would you be happy?

As someone who has been working as a recruiter since 1972, I still make mistakes. I fire corporate clients, not because they make a single mistake but because of patterns of bad behavior.

Don’t be an ass and expect things of recruiters (perfection) that you yourself don’t provide in your work. We’re trying our best, just like you are.

© 2010, 2011all rights reserved.