What Does It Mean When The Recruiter Isn’t Returning My Calls or Emails? (VIDEO)

November 26, 2016 by Jeff

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvCs5PFdf0[/svp]
If I’m a job applicant and the recruiter I’m working with stops returning my calls and emails, what does that usually mean?

[spp-transcript]

The question for today is:

If I’m a job applicant in the recruiter. I am working with stops returning my calls and emails, what does that usually mean?

Well, let me pose a different scenario. If you are going out with someone and they stop returning your calls, texts and emails, what would that mean?

You know what it means. Who are you kidding? You just don’t like it.

Here is what often happens. Job hunters have this mistaken notion that recruiters work for them. They don’t. They work for employers who pay them. You aren’t paying them anything, right? You have to get this notion out of your head that you are working with them. You aren’t working with them. They are trying to fill the positions. Your background either fits or it doesn’t. When they have something that makes sense, they will be in contact.

You can drop them a message every once in a while (that doesn’t mean daily) to say, “I just wanted to let you know that I’m still available. If something comes up.”

Often, what job hunters do because they are “working with the recruiter” is nag and pester the recruiter.

Understand you are getting a message in the behavior in much the same way as in a dating scenario, if someone you were going out with stop returning your calls, you will get a message from that that they didn’t want to talk with you, right?

So, you know what it means. You just have to adjust.

Some people will say you have to work with a lot of recruiters. I have no idea where you are, geographically, or where you are in your career. For most people who do not have unique skills or are not at a leadership level, yes, you do have to connect with multiple recruiters. Recruiters are not pounding on doors to persuade employers to speak with you. That isn’t how the business works.

They are hired by employers and give them requirements for positions that they need to have filled and, if they find the right person, they will be paid for that. They are not getting on the phone to make 100 phone calls to companies just for you using a call was that they have prearranged so that whenever someone walks in the door they call 100 people every single day.

No. They are filling jobs. They are not “placing people.”

Let’s assume that you are a relatively inexperienced person, you do need to be contacting multiple people and, more importantly, you do need to be contacting people who graduated from the school that you went to and learn how they got there current job and whether there might be something of their employer that might fit you. You are trying to work with multiple recruiters and responding to ads. Networking to people that you don’t already know and doing informational interviews, networking, going to networking groups, telling everyone that you know repeatedly that you are looking for work…

It’s not enough to just simply tell them one time, you have to say it multiple times and the people are reminded that you are looking for job. After all, when someone has a cold, do referred your doctor to them? Probably not. People need constant reminders to refer you to things that they care about.

Back your original question. It probably means that they don’t have anything for you right now and leave them alone.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you really think employers are trying to help you?

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

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

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

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com 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.”

Another Job Search Lesson from “The Godfather”| No BS Job Search Advice Radio

August 17, 2017November 23, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter offers another pearl of wisdom from “The Godfather” to teach you about loyalty to your employer.

[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.”

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

You Have to Disclose a Conviction | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 22, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses telling the truth about a conviction on an employment application when you apply for a job.

[spp-transcript]

I want to have a candid conversation with you. If you are someone who has a criminal record, dealt with the rest and talk with you about how to complete applications. I’m reminded of this by recent story from someone who represented for job who told me about a conviction he had years ago and the recent arrest or he accepted a plea deal even though he said he wasn’t involved with what was done, but got caught up in the events and his attorney advised him to accept the plea and know that within 6 months to be expunged from his record.

Now, he’s up for job and has to complete an application and is asked the question, “Have you been involved with a dishonesty that has not been expunged from your record yet?” My advice to him was to disclose it. Write a lengthy explanation for what occurred. Don’t line.

Why? It’s very simple. This is a firm that, like many, does background check and, in doing a background check, if they for the inconsistency with what you told that, namely, you have been involved in such an episode, the reality is that America hire you. If they find that out after you’ve been hired there going to fire you.

I’ve been involved with way too many circumstances where companies have found the outpost employment than a reference, a college degree, a whole host of things are falsified. The criminal stuff is always the most egregious to employer.

Imagine for 2nd you were hired for job and they find out a few weeks after you join that you were involved with some version of crime. They let you stay on board and while you are a stockbroker, for example, you still grandma’s life savings or trade them down to nothing. A lawyer get someone from the firm on the stand and goes, “You knew he was a lawyer and this is what happened! You tolerated.” Your insurance company won’t pay. There out the money. They just can’t accept the fact that someone who lied to them is on board.

In other words, you don’t want to be greeted by security at your desk, holding a box for you have all your stuff and escorted out the door. How do you explain that to your family? How do you explain that you kids or the friends or the parents that you got fired because you lied on an application?

Don’t do it.

If they’re not going to hire you, better off not to get fired after 2, 4 or 6 weeks and have the same result that you’re out of work. Except, that’s worse. After all, how do you explain that to the next employer.

[/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

How to Change Careers Part 2

November 21, 2016 by Jeff

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp_nNtpLDow[/svp]
This is my 2nd video in the series about changing careers. Grab a pen and paper or your iPad and be prepared to do some homework.

[spp-transcript]

This is the 2nd in my series of videos about changing careers after all, some of you, like me, have gotten to a point professionally where it feels like time to start looking at other alternatives.

I don’t care what your age is. Whether you are a geezer like me or someone much younger, you just come to realize that this is not fulfilling work that you’re doing and you just want to do something else but are not clear about what you want to do.

Today, we are going to answer some questions that will help you with your evaluation of alternatives. After all, if you are not sure about what to do next, I want to help you instigate your mind in order. Start thinking in new directions.

This is a homework assignment I’m giving you. It is a series of questions that will help cultivate your thinking about what direction to take.

“What do I enjoy regardless of the opinions of others?” I think this is a great opening question that allows you to stand out from the influence of others that I certainly know I am influenced by. “
“What would I love doing enough that I would do it for free?“
“If I had to teach something, what would I teach?”
“What would I do that makes me lose track of time?” It makes you get into the flow when you are doing a bunch of stuff.
“What do people typically ask me for help with?”
“What makes me feel great about myself?”

These are the starting questions for this part of the process. So far I’m giving you 6 questions. Let me add a few more.

7. “Is there a cause that you really believe in or feel strongly about?”

8. “What are your favorite thing is that you have done in the past? What are they that you have done now?”

9. “What has occurred in the past that you don’t want others to go through?”

When all is said and done, I want you to connect with yourself in doing this process. I want you to really think about it, explore and “feel stuff.”I really think that is the way to go here. Take some time and review.

[/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.”

Learn to Speak “Civilian”

November 2, 2017November 17, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter speaks to those men and women separating from the military and encourages them to communicate in as way that the civilian workforce understands.

I want to speak with those of you who are separating from the military and have a direct conversation with you about looking for work in the civilian sector.

[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

Do Job Boards Matter? | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 14, 2016November 13, 2016 by Jeff

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses whether you should be spending time in your job search with job boards.

[spp-transcript]

Today, I want to talk with you about whether or not you should be applying for jobs using job boards.

There is an article that I saw online that poses the question, whether job boards matter anymore. The article includes data from the corporate perspective using this 1 firm’s model. What they say is that people found their job listings, 38% found them through corporate websites, 35% through social media links, 23% through an email campaign, 4% throughout the links. Interesting data if you are trying to hire. Let’s break down the data.

They talk about how 61% of social media visits and 95% of social media applications were in the 1st 7 days. In other words, they were able to get out the message a lot quicker using social media. They got more applications more quickly using social media.

Social Media

From the job hunter perspective, social media is a great way to find out about “stuff.” It’s a great way to find out about jobs and companies….It is a great tool when you are job hunting
.
However, I also want to say the job boards are a terrific tool, too. You can call that job board Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice or whatever! You can call it LinkedIn because that has because LinkedIn certainly advertises jobs in a variety of ways and I’m talking about a job board feature here.

All these job boards are going to be morphing fairly soon and aggregating jobs like Indeed and SimplyHired do.

The relevance to you is that despite all the hype in the recruiting world is around LinkedIn, the fact of the matter is that people are ship finding jobs to job boards. They are finding jobs through networking too much higher level. But, yes, they are finding jobs for job boards.

Yes, it is a tedious process. There are a few things that make it better. For example, I did a quick demo with someone at monster.com for a little utility that they have called BeKnown. That operates on Facebook. Once you register on monster and come over to Facebook to look for jobs, what you will notice is that on some of the jobs a picture starts to appear on someone that you are connected with on Facebook who works for that firm or has worked for the firm.

This is the idea of using your network to finesse your way into an organization, having an advocate supporting you in order to get interviewed. They obviously can’t get you hired, but may be able to get in touch with the hiring manager and provide an employee referral that might result from the introduction and earn a commission and, you, an interview and the job.

The Data o Networking is Overwhelming

My advice to you is to use all the tools that are available to you. After all, they all work. As Dave Opton of ExecuNet said on “Job Search Radio,” the statistics are very overwhelming, that the way that 70% of people find jobs is through networking. 70% of the 70% find jobs as a result of introductions to people that they didn’t know at the beginning of the search.

Catch that one. 70% of the people find jobs through networking. 70% of the 70% (or 49%) found a job as a result of someone that they didn’t know at the beginning of the search.

Anything that you can do is going to help you find work. Networking. Job boards. Friends. It all works. Don’t drop anything from your arsenal because job boards and recruiters fill a certain number of jobs, even though networking feels far more.

Just keep working the job boards. Keep working. The technology that’s available to you to find out about leads (like the agents that will deliver leads from job boards to your inbox).

[/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.”

The Job Market October 2016 | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

November 7, 2016 by Jeff

This is my report on the job market for October 2016, as released on November 4, 2016. It is not a political statement. It is simply to report to offer This is my report on the job market for October 2016, as released on November 4, 2016. It is not a political statement. It is simply to report to offer information about the job market in the US.information about the job market in the US.

[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.

Beneath the Surface

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.

Ahead

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 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

How to Change Careers Part 5

November 24, 2016November 7, 2016 by Jeff

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNevguSsr6U[/svp]
This is the next video my series about changing careers. I’m sure this is not what you would’ve expected.

[spp-transcript]

This is part 5 in my series of how to change careers. It is a little atypical and I’m going to start off the story about myself.

After a while, I started to realize how conditioned I had been to think in certain ways and do certain things. From the time I got into school as a little kid until the time I graduated, the system was conditioning me to think in certain ways and do certain things.

The classic thing is being brought to school as a little kid and learning that what you are supposed to do is shut up, do what you’re told, regurgitate a bunch of things or else you will get into a good college. Eventually, you get into the college and you get the message that you’re supposed to shut up, do what you told, regurgitate a bunch of things or else he will get a good job.

The habit that I was conditioned into was to take direction, do what I was told (What a surprise! I’ve been told this since I was little and the message got through.), not thinking for myself in some ways about what would make me happy.

I got pushed through the system and,, I want to be clear, I got a lot of good stuff out of it, but my heart’s passion has it been the kind of work that I’ve done for so many years and what I had been conditioned to do.

As part of this exercise that eventually led me to coaching, I start to think, “Let’s go crazy! Tell me some unrealistic things I might try to do.“

That’s what the next homework assignment is going to be. Be unrealistic. Write down a few things for yourself that in no way, shape or form. Do you think you could possibly do.

This is part of a liberation process because often the conditioning that you have received causes you to think small in self-limiting ways. Once you start thinking about it, you might actually be able to do some of them. It might take some practice and you might not be an expert. The 1st time you do it. You might need to get training but it is the sort of thing, that when you were a little might of love doing, but discovered that you weren’t a good enough pitcher to pitch for the Yankees.

Don’t worry if it’s realistic. Think while. Go crazy! Write down the sort of things that if your friends heard about it, they might tease you. Remember, these are true for you and the reaction is their “stuff.” Don’t let their opinions rule your life right now. You are trying to figure out what is going to excite you in your life right now and ignite your passion and your career. That’s the most important thing right now.

Maybe it’s something that you did when you were little. I have a friend who decided he wanted to run a scuba business in the Bahamas. He left his job to do scuba. Maybe that’s your thing. Just write down 3 things (and if you write down 5 or 10 or 50, that’s. Even better).

[/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.”

What Are You Known For?

November 6, 2016 by Jeff

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPPFLqkY5_w[/svp]
When people develop their careers, they often abdicate their career planning to employers and take advice from friends and family who are well intentioned but want you to be “safe . . . ” whatever that means these days.

Instead, in this video, I offer one thing you need to do to advantage you for opportunities within your firm AND outside your firm.

[spp-transcript]

In talking with you today, I want to give you a metaphor for using a restaurant, for example. Have you ever bee n to a restaurant that you never been to before, walked in, and asked the waiter, “What is it that this restaurant is really known for? What is your signature dish?” You can see the smile appear on the waiter or waitress his face as they describe this dish that they think is spectacular.

Have you ever been to a resort to a particular part of the world. And, before booking the trip, ask yourself, “What am I going to do here? What is this part of the world really known for?” Isn’t known for diving? Isn’t known for great theater? Whatever it is, you are looking for the signature item for that location.

As a career professional, you are mapping your career. When you are thinking of joining the next organization, you need to be prepared to talk about that thing that you are known for, the quality that you really excel at, the thing that when your boss is talking to their boss, they can say, “What Jeff is really good at is…” They can answer it.

When you’re going on the interview, there is something that you did, I can call it a “hero story,”where you stepped into a situation and you really stood out from everyone else.

If you are just going to recite a litany of roles, responsibilities and the whole bunch of stuff that you’ve done, you are going to come across as being ordinary.

However, if there is that one thing that you have invested blood, and guts, and effort for, that you are known for in your organization, where your boss will go to bat for you internally, where the next organization is going to think, “Hmm. We really need someone like this,” you will have a way of standing out from all the other people who are saying, “Sure. Bring it on!“

Invariably, what gives you an advantage in job hunting is your branding. This is a form of branding. Where, through time and effort, you can stand out from anyone else.

Catch that.

Where you can stand out from anyone else.

I want to remind you that most people make the mistake of keeping their heads down and doing a great job and forgetting to tell people about it. They try to do the “cool approach.” They tried to use false modesty in what they talk about but you have to go “big” with this.

I’m not saying to take out a billboard somewhere, but you have to make sure that everyone knows what you have accomplished– what you set out to do, the challenges that she faced, and how you went about persevering and succeeding. If no one knows, what’s the point? People need to know.

What advantages you is the signature dish, where people think to themselves, “Ahhhh! The beef Wellington.” “The vegetarian (fill in the blank).” Whatever it is, it is extraordinary and you have done fabulous work . You have testimonials on LinkedIn profile and you can reference this. You have done this in an organization. We helped turn it around or gotten into a strategic role with this firm where the money was invested in growing this line of business.

The administrative stuff like the accounts receivable system, is boring. You are a commodity. No one cares.

Look for situations where you can turn around something or join an organization or lead an organization where money is invested because they are growing something significant.

[/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.”

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