CM Access

Imagine that headline! Or if you saw this in your inbox: “We’re looking forward to meeting you. Please bring a certified check for $200 for the time the interviewer will spend with you.”

I don’t think very many people would be happy with either scenario.

This article on Inc.com talks about a website called Notchup.com that is setting up a system for passive job seekers (those not actively applying to jobs posted on job boards or telling everyone they know they’re looking) to be paid when asked to interview with hiring companies.

The argument is that companies looking for the A players in their market are struggling to even get people to listen to their offers. So throw them a couple hundred bucks to listen to your pitch and maybe they’ll be that much closer to joining your team and bringing more success to your organization.

The nay-sayers claim that passive seekers will become serial interviewers and only go on appointments to gain pocket-cash. They’ll be “psychologically” turned OFF from considering the position because they’re only there for the money.

I am not so sure anyone would be willing to make up excuses to leave the office during the business day to go and listen to an interview, AND get paid for it, if they’re NOT still willing to listen attentively to what’s being proposed.

I also think that, when I work with and meet people everyday who would pay employers to interview them for informational meetings, just to get some knowledge and start a new professional relationship, maybe there are other things that need to change before companies start forking over money to interview candidates.

The article mentions that guest columnist for Inc.com Joel Spolsky recommends companies find good interns, and treat them so well they don’t want to leave. You’re then able to train them in YOUR methodology and values, and they grow with the company, instead of throwing away millions in a high-turn-over world when you hire someone who’s simply out of the highest bid. Why is this concept so hard to conceive?

It seems a bit like Notchup was getting some cheap PR from Inc.com. I bet you’re going to go look at the site, right? Isn’t that what they’re hoping? Isn’t it half the battle to just get a top-level candidate in the door to consider the options?

Technorati Tags: paid to interview, hire young, passive candidates, try something new, cheap public relations

Back to finish my very educational post about the information that recruiters are getting, and how it applies to you, the job seeker, as the other side of the process coin. You’re both hoping for the same result: to fill an opportunity that will ultimately help both parties (company and employee) succeed. This article from Adecco highlights recruitment best practices and I’ve begun explaining how the information is like understanding what your enemy (in a very broad generalization) knows.

so to continue:

Communication. It’s essential to take the time to communicate consistently with everyone involved in your recruitment process…It’s essential to have buy-in from the people who will be working with the new person on the key skills and other characteristics this person should possess.

You better think to ask about what the backgrounds and personalities of the other team members are, if it’s not brought up to you in the interview.

…It’s very important to help your recruiter understand your needs. Whether it’s an internal recruiter in HR or from a recruitment firm, the more information you share with the recruiter, the better a job they can do for you in identifying high potential candidates.

Many recruiters are not trained to understand what goes on in every department in a company. A technical recruiter who gets put into a creative recruiting role won’t be fully equipped to qualify certain design skills, or marketing strategy case studies. This is why talking directly to a hiring manager is always your best tactic. You can figure this information out by being a good salesperson, researching, and practice.

Recruiting is marketing. Every point of contact builds a brand, and recruiting is no exception. As you post jobs, interview candidates, and introduce them to your company, it’s an opportunity to help build your company’s reputation….Also, we can never forget the impact that word of mouth has in the workforce today, so always put your best foot forward with recruits.

I won’t get on a soapbox here, but this last part is absolutely true for recruiters and hiring managers to understand. And unfortunately, many don’t and won’t change their practices to improve the negative experiences candidates have. So my suggestion here is to be an informed job seeker: talk to other candidates about their experiences with applying to certain companies, and share your own experiences through conversation (online or other).

Job seekers unite! No company is perfect for every person, and no position fits every skillset, so in order to make the best teams and help everyone be successful, step back and think about how you can really assess if it’s right for you–and if not, then for who that you know might it be a better fit?

Technorati Tags: networking, recruiting process, hiring manager behavior, job search strategies

Let us think of the job search and career path process as a game of strategy, involving precise timing, strategic positioning and occasionally defensive maneuvers to protect your own survival.

Then, we can identify the involved parties:

you, the job seeker, are on the offensive, trying to break down the impenetrable walls of the enemy fortress: your ultimate job within in a thriving company that protects its own resources fiercely.

me, the recruiter from an agency, is the strategic ally who plays both sides for the altruistic benefit of all involved.

and the hiring manager is the general of the army of corporate Human Resources and departmental henchman. They’re not really fighting against you, take this with a grain of salt please! They’re just trained to resist change, especially to personnel.

So here’s an article I found that is addressing recruiting practices for hiring managers (the generals) and what they should be utilizing to go about the process in the best possible way. This might help you, the job seeker, to understand what you’re up against, since most hiring managers are NOT doing these things.

Start at the top. Take a close look at the top performers in your organization and determine what the key characteristics are that enable them to succeed. Incorporate these into your job description.

If the hiring manager of your target needs to be told that this is important information, then you are ahead if you ask them when speaking with them. This is valuable for you to be able to assess your own fit as a team member, and for showing your intelligence and interest in the company and the team.

Look ahead. As you begin hiring for a position, consider what success will look like a year from now for the person you hire. What will the person need to have accomplished to be deemed a success? Which key stakeholders will play a role in this person’s career at the company? How will this person fit culturally with these stakeholders and the rest of hte core team?

If the hiring manager hasn’t included these items in the job description, then you have every right to ask these questions. And chances are they havent. And you should. All job descriptions start to sound the same after a long while, because companies outsource their recruiting, or in-house recruiters aren’t trained to know the nuances of each different role in a department and aren’t able to look beyond the quantifiable skills.

Clarity. Have a clearly defined job description at the onset. Avoid being generic….Quick turnover happens as a result of a lack of clarity around what a job truly requires.

Here’s where you should notice that many job descriptions are vague because no one puts time or energy into truly understanding what the day to day requirements are versus the long-term objectives. And you should be aware that your resume needs to be targeted. If you have the same catch phrases and generic format, you’re causing as much trouble as you’re experiencing. Again, the more information you can get about a job before sending your information, the more you can ensure that it’s perfectly relevant. When dealing with the landmines of unclear descriptions and missing pieces, you could be wasting your time and need to think about redirecting your efforts.

this is probably more than enough to read for today. keep your eyes peeled for part 2!

Technorati Tags: Counter Intelligence, Job search war, hiring manager generals, generic resume, interview questions

My coworker and I were just discussing the new LinkedIn feature to include a photo of yourself on your profile.

We were discussing how this can be seen as the perfect next step in a “complete” profile, but also how it might be a deterrent to someone contacting you, or you reaching out to connect to someone else. And, if you know your contacts face-to-face, do you really need the photo to remind you what they look like?

Would a photo put someone off? What if your photo isn’t the best representation of you? Or if you have changed visibly in the recent months or years, what purpose would it serve?

Although, if you’re seeking a job outside of your local area, and speak with someone over the phone for first round interviews, perhaps the link to you LinkedIn profile is a more professional way to share what you look like than sending a huge .jpg file, or worse, a resume with your head shot!

What do you think?

Oh, and I also wanted to mention a really cool new site we found: Kijiji I found out it’s a part of the eBay network, but it’s basically a prettied-up Craigslist. Superneat!

Technorati Tags: Craigslist, Kijiji, LinkedIn, online profile, professional, photo, eBay, opinion, photo on resume

Ever wonder what it’s like to be the person conducting an interview, instead of just the person showing up on time? Surprisingly, even those who’ve been employed for a while might not have had the opportunity to interview potential new employees for their team. But, companies are increasingly realizing the need for the right people to be hired, not just anyone, and that involves having a more thorough interview process.

A good friend of mine recently went through this process, and provided me an interesting story about his first experience on the other side of the table.

“I never realized when I was looking for a job myself how important it is to evaluate the fit for the position from anything other than just ‘please hire me and give me a chance’. It’s really the best time to ensure that the position for which you are applying is really a good fit.”

I’ve said time and time again that you have to really have your ears and eyes open at the interview to assess if it’s really a viable opportunity. Don’t just take the first thing that comes along because if you leave 5 months later, you’ll have some ’splaining to do!

“This candidate interviewed first with the head of our unit, who explained the big picture of what the group does and what his role would be. After this, a project manager took over, perhaps explaining in more detail. When I entered the room, the PM said ‘This is my coworker, he actually does the job you’re interviewing for, so he can explain better than I can.’ I thought it was really valuable to be able to walk this candidate through a typical day for me, rather than just selling him on the company. I went out of my way to highlight the worst parts of the job on the assumption that it was better for him to learn about them now rather than after he had accepted. Too often a candidate would accept a position only to quit three weeks later.”

My friend was also able to more accurately assess the right personality and background, since the management may not understand that a particular educational skillset might be insufficient for the effective accomplishment of the project. ie. a technical background for a proprietary software application position might be detrimental because the person would come with expectations apart from the product’s functionality.

Just a final note of my own: this process is not unique-many large companies are more likely to have multiple rounds of an interview, involving multiple team members, in order to more thoroughly assess a match. It’s important to consider how you conduct yourself in each case, and trust your own instinct: if you’re not getting a positive vibe from one of your interviewers, maybe you should take a step back and assess if it’s the kind of opportunity you really want.
And if you’ve never sat on the other side of the interviewing table, and know how important it is to get the RIGHT person in your office, look into doing some mock interviews. It will help!

Technorati Tags: interviewing process, interview

This guy, Bob Nelson, contributed a column to the business journal, and I guess he’s credible since he wrote “Management for Dummies” and “1001 Ways to Reward Employees”, and he is the president of Nelson Motivation Inc. out of San Diego (insert Anchorman quote here).

Let me share his ideas for what hiring managers should be looking for when hiring:
He says that you should hire candidates that are:

I just feel like this is such a crap response. Maybe it’s because I’m admittedly a very grey-area person, very subjective, and see that most situations are unique and deserve a perspective and context of their own. This goes for people and positions–they each deserve their own consideration. But Mr. Nelson’s suggestion to hire “smart, hard-working, and responsible” candidates seems to be nearly unattainable.

First, who decides what is smart and what isn’t? How to you quantify it and compare one candidate to another? IQ tests? For book smarts, which he says are less important than work smarts. I think a good interviewer should be able to get to the real heart of these matters.

It’s not about having someone say “hire someone responsible and with a good attitude.” Who in their right mind wouldn’t? It’s a matter of figuring out how to interview, to get to the real information about behavior and personality. That might have been a more helpful article, Mr. Nelson.

Technorati Tags: hiring, personality, character, management

short answer: yes.

long answer: No doubt about it. The way you present yourself is inextricably linked with the way you manage your identity.

I’ve talked about why it’s necessary to maintain control over your online identity–your web presence needs to speak to your skills, personality and goals. This may be easier for designers who can showcase their samples, but we’ll continue to explore how marketers, copywriters, and even account managers need to harness Web 2.0 technology to create a branding YOU campaign for career management. It’s really no longer about the periodic job search. It’s about building a network, keeping your ear to the ground for growth opportunities, and always proactive about accomplishing career goals.

But more to today’s point: your physical identity and appearance are a big part of your career management. OK ok, so you always hear “dress nicely for your interview, make sure your handshake is effective…” blah blah blah. But many times this is hard to know unless you talk to the proper resources, right?

I recently met JoJami Tyler, who is a professional image consultant. Definitely the kind of person you want to have in your network! But if you’re not able find someone near you, check out her blog here, and her website, here. She can answer questions about your personal brand, how to dress for media engagments (definitely a plus for PR folks!) and even closet organization–which most of us could use!

Who wouldn’t take a few pointers about how to manage your professional image? You could even explore how to solidify visually that identity you’ve been working to build virtually! (and no, she doesn’t do Second Life image consultation!)

PS She is trying to make time to come to CreativeCamp 3–great opportunity to learn what she is all about! Be there to share!

Technorati Tags: JoJami Tyler, professional image, identity, career management, networking, organization, Cafe Glam, Mode Image, CreativeCamp

I feel like one of the most difficult things about job searching is not knowing.

“did they even get my email resume?”
“how many people am I up against?”
“why didn’t they choose me?”

That’s why working with a recruiter can be a really big help when you’re interviewing. We’ve worked to build relationships with the hiring managers, so we can generally find out a lot of details that aren’t available to the masses.

But the other thing I feel can really help in the process is doing your homework, researching, preparing, and talking to people. Take control of the process. Be proactive. Take the initiative to learn about a situation. Don’t just take a back seat. Knowledge is power, right?

Here’s a GREAT article from MSN Careers about interviewing. Once you’ve done all the preparation, and got the interview, the work isn’t over! You need to be very conscious of how your actions can be interpreted. Like this article says, “Information abounds regarding what you should say in an interview. But it can be just as important to realize what not to say. It is also imperative to note that what you say say can be communicated through both your words and actions.”

And this may seem like common knowledge, but you’d be surprised how few people follow through: follow up ANY and EVERY interview with a thank you note. Email a quick note within 24 hours, and handwrite a note and mail it within 48. It doesn’t have to say anything earth-shattering, just be sincere. They spent their time, and you spent yours–a thank you note acknowledges that fact and ABSOLUTELY will set you apart.

So in this world of job searching, in this “Candidate’s market” as the industry is calling it, be sure to take control and possession of your search. You should always be thinking about how to ensure you’re in the most rewarding, fulfilling, challenging (in a good way) and positive situation you can be in. There are great opportunities out there-you just have to know how to get them! A little bit of work on your career throughout the year can be an effective way to stay in control.

2007 is going to be a great year, so let’s go, fight and win!

I wanted to put some tips and recommendations for those of you looking to prepare portfolios for interviews with clients. This has been something a lot of designers and copywriters ask me about, but as CareerHub’s post says (and I second!), it’s not something that should be exclusive to the more creative professions.

An IT professional can showcase a project status report from a previous project. A financial executive can submit a deal sheet. A human resources executive can offer a benefits vendor analysis report. Operations professionals can develop a list of customer retention strategies and their success rates. Sales executives can prepare a presentation with graphs and charts to identify various metrics associated with business growth.

Basic rules of thumb for a portfolio (using the creative industries as a guide):

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Try it out-and as always, ask questions if you have them!

Technorati Tags: portfolios, Coroflot, CreativeHotlist, CareerHub, LinkedIn, blogging, Jeremy Aaron Anderson

It’s Voting Day 2006!

I was looking around the ‘net last night for a proper voting guide, because I don’t believe in just punching numbers or circling random names. (Unless it’s the office NFL pool…I just don’t have time!) And as I started to get into figuring out which candidates are supporting what sides of the various issues, and what district they’re running in…I got completely overwhelmed.

I was more than aware of how much I don’t know about current politics, and especially local politics. And I realized, how many people approach their job search the same way?

“I’ll go to the polls, figure out who looks decent. There’s bound to be some info there while I’m waiting in line. I’ve seen the commercials on tv. I’m sure I’ll figure it out somehow. I’m just one vote anyway, how could one little vote matter?”

Does this sound like you? Are you also the person who says “well that job looks good, I think I’ve heard of that company, and it’s just a production artist position, nothing special.” You send your resume and hope for the best.

Chances are, you don’t really hear anything, and if you do, they are requesting a phone interview. Same questions, same answers, how tired and routine!

Politics can seem that way too. “same game, different players” But who are the ones that stand out? The ones that really impress you and inspire you? The players who you are proud to have on your team?

Simple: the ones that do something different, put in a little more personal effort, the ones that talk to you on your level, and explain how they are going to make a difference, little by little.

This is how we should approach our job search and career development. Put in a little more time to know who we’re contacting, and why, and be confident that we know enough to make an informed decision. The internet offers so many convenient ways to enhance and broaden our knowledge of industry, potential employers, and your competition. Are we truly using it to our advantage?

We need to learn how to make an impression on our constituents. We need more than just the hiring manager to vote for us to join the team: the team members, the inferiors and superiors, and those who realize that each and every person has an impact on the outcome, no matter how minor the position may seem. We need to be the “perfect choice” for the opportunity, like every candidate works to convince us they are the perfect choice for district 43 representative.

Even if you’re overwhelmed at how little you know, that’s a great starting point. Prioritize. Plan and strategize, and take action. Once we know what issues are important to us, we can start to make a difference, little by little.

[Here’s a quick link to something I thought was very insightful!
Penelope says voting is good for your career.]

Technorati Tags: Voting, Career Development, Job Search