December 2009 - Eat Your Vegetables

Following up with my previous post about non-traditional resume help, I had also given a few pointers to friends about interviewing. I’ve distilled them here:

In this economy, there are tons of people out looking for jobs and willing to take anything. If you are a senior person, and you apply for a junior position, you probably won’t get the job. Employers are savvy about this, and realize once the economy gets better, you’ll probably leave as soon as you can for a better paying job.
And you should, (if you got the job!)! Companies lay people off all the time; it’s a business decision. You and your family should be your number one business. Think of it as a business decision that is good for you and your family!
Remember that the interview is for both involved parties. You should be interviewing your new company, boss, position, growth potential, quality of work/life balance, etc. See how they treat you during the interview process. Did they offer you bathroom breaks, sometime to drink or eat?
Are the people interviewing you qualified to assess your skills and/or qualifications? If your hiring manager is not knowledgeable in your skill set, there will be some frustration around expectations. I was recently asked to interview a candidate for a Cisco Network Engineer position. I know nothing about the technology, I was brought in to evaluate the guy’s personality. But I was able to asses his ability to learn, lead, personality, and if he could get the job done if given what he needed. I would not have been able to gauge his technical skills. I was upfront and honest about this.
If you get pre-screened by HR or the recruiters, they’ll ask you what you make now or what you made before. DO NOT give them a number until it comes down to an offer. If you give them a number, and it’s lower than the range for the position, they’ll give you that. You can always say, “Before I give you a number, I want to learn more about the position. Until then, it’s hard for me to give a number that I think is appropriate…” or something along those lines. If they press you for a number, I would give them a number around 10% above your current or last salary amount. Don’t tell them, “I’d like to make, $XZY.” Instead, make it a definite statement, “I am looking to make $XYZ!”
Remember, if you get an offer, to consider the total benefits package; vacation, sick time, work at home policy, breaks, insurances, etc, commute, along with the salary. Work is not just about making a salary. It is also about these things, too.
Vacation is always a negotiation-able. While HR says, “Nope, our standard policy is two weeks” you can always work out a deal with the hiring manager. Just get it in writing from them in case you move under a new boss or he moves out of their position.
Sometimes, a severance package is also something you can negotiate for. “Since I was laid off at my last job where I was at for twelve years, I would feel more safe if some accommodations were made if I was to be let go within my first six months while I am here.”
When you get an offer, ALWAYS say, “Thank you. I need 24 hours to think about it.” If they say, no, then you don’t want to work for them. You do need to think over every offer and at least sleep on it and talk it over with the family. Be sure to get back with them either way by the time you committed to.
Be prepared to ask questions or do the interview yourself. Some people just aren’t good interviewers. One guy I interviewed with when I was being interviewed was clearly uncomfortable so I began asking about his family, kids, etc and we talked for the whole hour about that sort of stuff.
This is a good one, but kind of scary. When the interview is over, ask them if they have any reservations on hiring you. This might catch them off guard, but otherwise it will throw the door wide open for more discussion if there is any concerns. The interviewer might say, “Well, as a matter of fact, I am a little concerned about your lack of experience in XYZ…” This gives you, as the interviewee, to specifically address this. In this case, maybe you answer, “While I haven’t done XYZ, I have done ABC which is the same skill set…” who knows. But if this guy was worried and the interview ended and it never came up, it could hurt your chances when the other candidates are considered.

I hope you find these helpful. These come from mypersonal experience as well as some other job finding groups I belong to. If you have more ideas, I’d love to hear them!

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of proofreading of resumes from people who are close to me. I really love helping people I care about since there are only a few things someone can do to really make their resume stand out among the sea you get, especially in this economy.

I’ve been a hiring manager for many years and since I was laid off in 2007 I had the pleasure of going through the interview process many, many times. I would be hard pressed to call myself an expert, but I am surprised at how much people don’t generally know.

When I got laid off, I had been at the same company for more than 12 years, and I didn’t have much of a network, social or otherwise, to speak of. As I’ve said before, before it was called social networking, it was called, “managing your online presence.” Social Networking sounds a little cooler, but the premise is the same.

A couple of things became really clear to me when I was laid off. First, I was way off on how much I thought people were connected or dependent on the Internet. I assumed, incorrectly, that everyone was “connected” and “online.” There are a ton of people who don’t have broadband internet, who don’t use email for business, etc. It was a real eye opener. Second, not everyone is ready or wants to be connected. Who wouldn’t want to drink from this magical fountain, I thought? Hmm, not everyone, that’s for sure.

Don’t get me wrong, this IS changing as broadband gets cheaper and more accessible, (yes, not everyone can get broadband believe it or not).

I was talking about resumes, wasn’t I?

Okay, let me get back to my point bout being a hiring manager. Listen to this very carefully. You’ve heard it before, but hear me now:

Your resume is your first and sometimes only impression you have to make on the hiring manager.

Especially, in this economy, there are many many qualified, top quality candidates out there. The problem is, most of them have sucky resumes. Yup, I mean it. For every open position I post, I might get close to 100 resumes to review. As a hiring manager, I might want to do phone interviews with 10 of them, and bring in maybe four or five for actual face-to-face interviews. How am I supposed to weed through the stack? Believe me, I have my methods; I can smell a baked resume, (recruiters love to bake resumes), and as hiring manager I alway try to see life from the candidate’s point of view. I’m often willing to overlook some of the minor glitches in a sucky resume if I can find some way to relate, but if I can’t… I’m on to review the next one.

Now, in this post, I’m not going to tell you the do’s and don’t of the resume. There are plenty of resources out there so I’m going to give you the highlights as I call ’em.

If you got laid off, and some sort of engagement with an outplacement agency is part of your severance package.. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!!! It will be extremely valuable. They might have a resume workshop, give you a chance to network, etc. You never know. I took advantage of it. I have talked to many people who decided to blow it off. I think that was short sighted. It helped me tons and my I think my resume is pretty good and truthful.
You got to be truthful. Find some examples online of resumes that match what you do. You’d be surprised what you can find. Personally, I don’t think there is ANY shame in finding a resume example you like and cut and pasting your info into it. Make sure it is YOUR info in the example’s format.
Make a text version of your resume. Be it Notepad on Windows or Textmate on Mac, copy n’ paste your resume into your favorite text editor and make sure it formats well. Many sites and recruiters require this. Have it ready beforehand.
Keep your resume on Google Docs so you can get a copy anytime, anywhere you can get a Internet connection. You never know when a lead might come through.
Consider having a chronological (traditional) resume and a functional one. Google the difference.
Consider non-traditional places to look. When I was looking for a job, Craigslist was pretty active. They say 80% of the jobs are “hidden” and you have to network your way into them.
Go to networking events.
This was actually pretty cool and I still use it. Print up some business cards with your personal info on it. Consider these your “Calling Cards” and carry them with you. Link to your website, provide your email address, phone number, and an elevator pitch. Give them out to anyone who might remotely seem like they might be able to help you find a job.

I also got a slew of interviewing tips I might share in the next post.

What other tips do you have? Please share them!