Ask The Big Game Hunter

Can I Apply for Another Job Now If I’m on a Contract?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trw434XeE6k[/svp]
The assignment will end in a few months. I don’t want to be unemployed when it is over.

[spp-transcript]

Can apply to another job right now, If I’m on a contract assignment? The assignment I know will end in a few months. I was wondering how early can I apply for another job so I will not be unemployed when the contract ends?

This is the dilemma of being a contractor. You know you’re making decent money but all good things come to an end. The same is true with full-time jobs; I’m not here to debate that. I I will answer this question.

So, number one, do the terms of the contract specify what happens if you leave now? Almost all contracts for IT professionals and other professionals allow you to break the contract with two weeks notice, three weeks notice, four weeks notice, some version of notice. So read the terms of your agreement to find out clearly.

Now what I read there was that the assignment is due to end in a few months. There is a difference between two months and four months in the answer.

So if it’s four months, I suggest waiting for a little while, maybe three or four weeks, and then starting. If it’s two months, act now.

If it’s three months, probably now because job hunting takes time and the statistical probability is that you are not going to find the job instantaneously. Let me define that for you.

You send out a resume in the seas part, the earth opens up. I hand reaches up to you and says, “ Here my child. We have a job for you.” It doesn’t work that way.

Usually, you go on multiple interviews over the course of some period of time (usually two months but it can be longer) and the result winds up being that you need to start now if you need something in two months or three months. Four months, you wait a little bit because you know it takes time.

Employers usually want to interview multiple people before choosing someone and you want to get the lay of the land too so that you have a sense of what’s out there that fits your needs and will pay you the money that you want and deserve.

So, again, the answers I always are, “It depends,” because there’s always missing information two answer more explicitly. So again, 2 to 3 months. Start now. Over three months, wait just a little bit so that you benchmark it to 2 to 3 months

[/spp-transcript]

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

It Has Been a Year Since Graduation and I Don’t Have A Job

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7qB0kRcacc[/svp]
What do I do? Try another field?

[spp-transcript]

The question for today is, “it’s been over a year since I graduated college and I can’t find a job in my field. What should I do?

The original question was from a graphic designer who has been on 20 interviews so far and is nothing to show for. They are thinking of taking a job as a sheriff or a car salesman (I think you’re being sarcastic here). They are wondering what to do.

Your resume is obviously good enough because you’ve gotten 20 interviews. The problem breaks down to you don’t interview well and need to learn how to answer interview questions effectively.

If you want to give up, that’s your prerogative but you will be learning the habit of giving up, instead of trying to fix the problem.

How do you learn how to interview well? There are lots of ways. I will do a quick commercial for myself and JobSearchCoachingHQ.com where I have curated information from around the web that I and others have created, where you can watch, listen to or read great information that will help you find work.

But, if you want to give up, go ahead!

You can also do Google searches, YouTube searches, look on job boards sites for information and, from they are, practice it. Practice how to answer these questions more effectively.

Have people observe you so that you get their input on how to interview because, at the end of the day when you’re going for a graphic design job or any job, you will have to interview… And you’ve already demonstrated that you don’t know how to do it well.

By the way, let me back up for second. I believe a person can dissect their own job search and where it is breaking down very easily.

If you are not getting interviews, focus on the resume. If you are getting interviews in not being invited back for second interviews, focus on your first interviewing skills. If you are being invited for second interviews but not getting offers are invited back for thirds, focus on your skills for second interviews and where it is breaking down. If the offers are coming in low you are not making them, “fall in love.”

If you are getting job offers but they are coming in low, there are things that you are doing where you’re leaving them with doubts and causing them to say to themselves, “Screw it. If he takes it great. If she accepts, fine.” They’re not in love with you.

That’s the way you dissect your job search.

For you, you are getting interviews so the resume is okay. Get better at it; you will get better results.

[/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

 

How Do I Find a Job Without a Resume?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyrVRz4eC8g[/svp]
I was asked this question on Quora and thought to be a good way to encourage you to think creatively.

[spp-transcript]

The question I was asked was, “How do you find a job without a resume?” I think the answer comes down to two ways.

If you are very inexperienced and looking for a job, let’s say, in retail or a job at a fast food restaurant, you don’t need a resume. They may ask you to complete an application but the idea of a formal resume is not important.

However, if you are in a professional discipline, how do you find the job without a resume? The answer comes down to, “Why would employer want to talk to you without you following the convention of you submitting your resume?”

I think the answer is clear. They had a particular need and you have the experience they are looking for. How do they know that?

Perhaps they have seen your LinkedIn profile. Perhaps you referred to them by someone who knows your work and is a strong proponent of it. Perhaps they saw you speak at a group were you are the expert on stage, presenting on that situation.

Being the expert in the field changes the rules because, “the rules,” are designed for the average individual– the one who is compliant. There is no reason to bend for them. If you are seen as the expert, you have opportunities that other people don’t have.

How do you present yourself as an expert? I gave one example earlier – – you are up on stage at a conference and are presenting.

Here’s another. You have written about this subject for years. Books are a business card for a lot of people. After all, when you think about it, what is a book telling us? Is telling us that you have knowledge and expertise on a particular subject that makes you different than other people. Pretty simple.

So if you want to be found, If you want to be sought after, If you want to avoid the resume trap so that when they call you up and say, “Jeff, we would like to talk with you about an opportunity with a client of ours.”

“Great. Let’s talk!”

“Do you have a resume?”

“No. I don’t have resume. You know about my background. You reached out to me, remember? Look, you found me on LinkedIn (or saw me speak or read my book), and time to write a resume. I have a full plate ahead of me.”

That’s the easiest way to do it.

[/spp-transcript]

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

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

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

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

 

[spp-transcript]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[/spp-transcript]

 

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

I Was Late Because of The Application

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmQKhCQJ1EM[/svp]
There is a lengthy reason for why the interview started late and the application was a big part of it. Should I be worried?

[spp-transcript]

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

How Do I Stay I Contact With My References During A Long Job Search

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Q. References are important. How do you stay in contact with them?

[spp-transcript]

So the question is, “My job search is going to be a long one. How do I stay in contact with my references?”

This is an interesting question. So much of it reveals a lack of confidence on the part of the job hunter.

Now we don’t know what a long job search is to this job hunter but let’s accept this on face value. They know is going to be a long job search because they are a beginner or perhaps have antiquated skills that make them less marketable.

So first of all you’re going to need to do work to prevent this from being a long job search. There are skills you will need to learn or relearn in order to avoid it from taking as long as you fear. After all, you don’t want to be like a feather in the wind blowing from place to place. You want to be someone who is desirable marketable and is in command of your situation.

The next step is to stay in contact with your references on a limited basis, not an abusive basis. You write what seems to be a personal note instead of a BCC or bulk copy to a lot of people. Instead, copy and paste an individual message to individual people. It can be the same message but give the illusion that it is a personal individual message.

The subject line can read something like, “status update.”

The body of the message could read something like, “I’m not at a point in my search where I feel like I’m close to anything. I thought I would just ask you to keep this in your mind and if you hear about something that makes sense for me, reach out and let me know about it or give the recruiter my contact information to reach out to me directly.”

Send a note to them every 4 to 6 weeks – – that’s fine. You have to mention who your interviewing with of the number of firms you spoken with unless, of course, the person you’re writing to has contacts there or is a former employee.

Tell them you’re not at the point where you think you’re getting an offer but just wanted to stay in touch with them so that in case they do their of something they should feel free to reach out to you

 

[/spp-transcript]

 

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

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

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

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn

How Do You Attract the Attention of Recruiters From Top Tech Companies?

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I will answer this from the perspective of a recent grad as well as the vantage point of an experienced professional.

[spp-transcript]

SUMMARY

I’m going to answer this question from the perspective of a new grad as well as a very experienced worker.

Here’s the sub-question was asked: I’ll be graduating with my Bachelor’s degree by next year and I want to get into software engineering. I did not go to a well-ranked school for computer science. I’m looking for some ideas of how to attract recruiters.

I’m going to address this in a few parts. The first part is I didn’t go to a great school.

How do I attract their attention?

The answer is it’s probably too late. What you are going to need to do is to invest some time and do some great work that’s noticed in order to get into that organization.

Why? Because they are not there to satisfy you. They have established criteria for hiring and you don’t meet it. Early in your life, you may decisions that are impacting you now – – you chose not to study all the time, hanging out with friends was more important to you than getting an A in that course. Maybe your fear got the better of you at the time you took that standardized test.

Whatever it was, the result was you can get into that great school that these firms believe is a good benchmark for success with their company.

They are trying to find exquisite talent for the organization and that is and you. You are a stretch at best, probably a loser from their previous experience.

You may not believe this but I’m not being critical of you. They just develop these formulas that are proven and over time as the new will be successful in your organizationAnd it’s not the person who went to the “C” school. They are not there to make you happy; they are there to solve a problem. They are not doing social work. It’s business; not personal.

You’re going to have to up your game and instead of doing mediocre work that caused you to be in this “C” school, you are going to have to up your game. You can do that in your next job, you can do that in projects that you do on the side that get noticed. However you do it, the going to have to step up your game so that they want to notice you.

For the new grad who hasn’t played big yet, you got work to do too. Had you come from a name school, it would have been easier because you come with that brand that the school has the creates an impression before you even walk in the door. The school you went to also has a and it rubs off on you too.

If you attended Stanford, they have a positive halo around them but you still need to deliver the goods. “Positive halo” means that they have a positive experience with previous graduates who come to work for them. You need to find alumni from your school who have been successful at their organization and see if they will provide you with entrée to the firm. From there, it is having a positive LinkedIn profile that causes them to want to reach out to you.

Speak to your career services office to see if they can set you up.

Summarizing up to this point, working with alumni who already work at the firm, using career services to be introduced and having a profile that makes them want to reach out to you, Reaching out to HR and hiring managers.

Lastly, for the experienced person, if you have done great work, if you are marketing yourself beyond simply doing your job, being in your silo, doing your tasks

. . . If you are out promoting yourself (After all, your career is part of what you do and marketing) . . . After all, you know these firms because they branded themselves from a career standpoint, right? You have to follow their example and brand yourself and market yourself outside of the cube you work in. Your LinkedIn profile is a small piece. Your public persona, Where you put yourself out, Where you can connect with these people who work with these firms, Speakers from these organizations– Can you get introductions to them when you see them?

The big thing though is making sure that the world knows about you.

I’m going to repeat that.

Making sure that the world knows about you and doing it consistently.

[/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

I’ve Only Been at This Job for 6 Months

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What are good reasons to give the interviewer for why I want to change jobs?

[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

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Profile In a Way That Will Attract Recruiters

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but without making my boss think I’m job hunting?

[spp-transcript]

Today’s question is, “How do I write my LinkedIn profile in a way that will attract recruiters but not give my boss reason to think am looking for a job?”  The original question says but without making my boss think I’m looking for a job. S

So this is very easy question for me and let me just point out that the question involves a couple of parts.

The first part I will address is really the second part of the question – – without making my boss think I’m looking for a job.

To do this, you have to turn off notifications () this assumes that you’re actually connected with your boss on LinkedIn; if you are not connected to them, there is nothing to worry about.

Let’s assume that you are connected. You have to go to the privacy settings and turn off notifications to them. In this way, your boss is not notified of an update to your account.

Next, back to the profile itself and how to attract recruiters. So the way to attract recruiters is by thinking of LinkedIn as a search engine. You optimize your profile for that search engine to attract customers.

The way to do that is to think of SEO and, in your particular case, I want to research keywords that describe what you do and how do you do it.

  1. Look at open jobs on LinkedIn for positions of what you do.
  2. Look for common terms that are used. Don’t just think that because you use that language other people it. Rather, firms may use different language. Research on LinkedIn the job openings and research and on Indeed and SimplyHired for job openings for what you do. You’ll start to notice is that there are certain common threads to all the descriptions and what you’re looking for. What are the common terms used. Let’s say you look at 10 job descriptions and six of them use the same terms or descriptive phrases. Start incorporating those terms and descriptive phrases into your profile particularly in the summary area and in the description of more recent work.
  3. Make it easy for people to reach out to you by including your phone number and email address in the summary area of your profile. Recruiters love that because they don’t have to use an inMail to reach out to you you’ve made it easy for them to actually contact you rather than just having a better profile                                    [/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. Will

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

I’m Afraid That They’ll Find Out I’m Looking!

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Q. What do you do if you are afraid your employer will know you’re looking for a job?

 

[spp-transcript]

This comes from a variety of situations where I have been coaching people 

Who are concerned that their current employer is going to find out that they’re looking. I see this also showing up on tv on the show, “Better Call Saul.” She was about to give notice when her boss found that she was interviewing with a competitor. What do you do to head this off?

The first thing is that if you are posting your resume on a job board paid to make it a blind resume; by that I mean a resume with no name on it, no address and your email is obscured. On one site, email addresses appear as lots of letters and numbers at their domain name. Contact request by employers and recruiters are sent to you by the site for you to respond. This means your employer never knows that that is you on a website wanting to be contacted about job opportunities.

Take out the name of your current firm and call it a major such and such, like Major Bank or Major Tech Firm– you get the idea.

Look at the text describing the background and make sure there is nothing revealing there to help them figure out that you work for their company. For example, take any acronyms that are unique to their company or any department names that might reveal who you work for.  Instead, describe it generically.

[/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.

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