PHIL NORTH’S Get a JOB! Blog

Don’t get your job search advice from the DOG! Ask the HR Guy!

Ringback Music and Recruiters

So this is another quick post to outline something that really really drives me nuts.  I hate most ringback music on cell phones.  I don’t like a lot of cursing and I’m not really into the rap scene.  That being said, I know that this is a free country and I’m nut a supporter of banning or forcing others to comply with my opinions on music et al.  

BUT I am a recruiter and if I call your phone and am offended by your ringback music, well…. I’m going to hang up and not call back.  

So here’s a top tip.  

If you’re looking for work and you really like to express yourself on your cell phone don’t shoot yourself in the foot.

• Change your ringback for a few weeks while you’re looking for work.  Your friends will give you a hard time but hey you will have a job and they won’t.
• If you do change your ringback choose something that won’t offend anyone!  Classical! or how about a telephone ring?
• If you can’t handle the ridicule from friends try a prepaid cell phone!  I like Net Ten but that’s just me…  Use it just for your job search.  $30-$50 should get you through the search and you can keep your self-expressive ringback for your friends!

Go out there and get that JOB.

Sorry to the guy I just called about his resume…. you should read my blog.

Job Hunt Tip!

Here’s a quick tip of the day for your job hunt.

As a recruiter I’m happy to take calls from candidates. You never know when you’ll get connected with the next corporate rock star! But here’s a pet peeve of mine. If you found a phone number or email address for me and then contact me about a specific job opening that I have. Don’t ask me how to apply. Why are you calling me if you haven’t taken the time to fill out the application? I can’t speak intelligently to you about your experiences and history and I can’t take official notes of the conversation until you’ve applied! So help me out!

Take some time, fill out the application, attache your resume and then call me. This way I can look you up in the system and in 30 sec. we can have a profitable conversation.

As a sub tip even if I don’t have a postition open that you want to apply for apply to something else so that you’re info is in the system. This is a pain in the butt for me as I then have to decline you from that position but it’s also much easier for me to put you on the fast track if you’re that rock star candidate that I’ve been looking for.

Good hunting!!

Do You Expect a Call From a Recruiter?

So here’s the question for you as a job seeker: do you expect a recruiter to call you when you apply online, send your resume, or when you leave a voicemail?  If someone other than you fills a position that you applied for, do you expect a nice decline letter or maybe a phone call?

I think that you deserve some kind of communication from the company in all these situations.  You may not really want this communication.  There will probably not be anything of value to this communication, but if you’re qualified for the jobs that you apply to, I think that it’s fair to expect something.

Reasons that recruiters and companies don’t communicate with candidates:

•    The candidate is not qualified and was declined in the initial review of the resume.
•    Some candidates are psycho and take it personally when they receive a decline letter.  Most of these people apply to jobs that they aren’t qualified for and then go ballistic when they don’t get them, possibly resulting in a restraining order—more on this later.
•    Recruiters are sometimes lazy and or don’t have time to decline everyone properly. It’s hard when you get 500+ applicants a day.
•    The biggest reason they don’t communicate with people is to avoid the sticky situation of being asked why they weren’t selected for the role. If the recruiter says the wrong thing there, it’s really bad. Sometimes it’s safer to just not say anything.

Reasons that recruiters and companies do communicate with candidates:
•    You are an amazing candidate and you presented yourself very well and the recruiter doesn’t want to damage future opportunities even though you didn’t get the job.
•    There is a growing viewpoint that candidates have a “bill of rights” that says that you deserve a response to all communication—honestly, though, this is not cost effective for most organizations.
•    They want to network, network, network! You may not be what they’re looking for, but you may know someone who is what they’re looking for.

Reasons that you don’t want to hear back from me:
•    You didn’t get the job. Do you really want to deal with that for the 500th time, or do you want to focus on the positive and keep working at the behaviors that will get you a job?  If you were one of my top three candidates, I would have called you back. Move on, and if I do call you next week it will be a pleasant surprise.
•    If you get emotionally charged and or have anger issues, you don’t want to hear me tell you that we have filled the position. If you’re this kind of person, you will probably get upset and mess up a good networking opportunity. It’s probably a win-win if we don’t have to have that conversation.

Reasons you do want to hear from me.
•    Network, network, network! Connect with everyone you can and build a network of people who know of you.  You will find that jobs aren’t that hard to come by if you have the right connections.  I’m always willing to network with people!
•    You didn’t get the job, but I have another opening that is even better!
•    You got the JOB!!!!

So here’s the deal when you contact a recruiter. You must keep your cool at all times.  If you can’t deal with rejection, don’t call me about a job or advice on how to get a job! You’d be better off spending your time networking. If you apply for jobs, you will get some kind of rejection.  Look yourself in the mirror and repeat, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me!” five times for every rejection and eventually you’ll believe it, then you’ll get a job.

Give me a couple of days to return your call or email.  I generally get back to people in 24 hours but sometimes I don’t have any new information for them and I am waiting on hiring managers to return my calls.  Give things time to marinade. Don’t call more than once every three to four days, but if you’re serious and QUALIFIED then keep calling every three to four days.  Never show frustration if you leave a voice mail.  Just be cool, like you’re calling a long lost friend.

“Hey Phil,

This is John Smith.

It’s been a few days since we’ve talked about your open XYZ job.  I’m the guy from Texas with kids the same age as yours.  I know that it’s really busy for you right now, but I’m very motivated and would be honored to work for your company.  Give me a ring when you get a chance or have an update.

Thanks for all that you do, you can reach me at 777-777-7777, again it’s John Smith at 777-777-7777.”

The next time you call, mention something that you saw in the news about the company. The time after that, mention how a new philosophy in your specialty can make a difference from the company. But every time, keep it positive, thank the recruiter, and say your phone number twice.

This is called drip marketing and it works over time.

So keep moving forward with reasonable expectations.  Executed disciplined positive behaviors and go get your dream job!

Why do they call this a “JOB HUNT?”

I’ve been thinking about why we call searching for a job a “hunt.” I wonder who first came up with the idea that landing a job was similar to downing an 8-point deer or like a lion catching a gazelle?  Then I started to thing about how the action of hunting for prey is similar to hunting for a job. PLEASE DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING A GUN OR A LION WHILE HUNTING FOR A JOB! NEITHER WILL HELP!
So the similarities really are there. How does a person or animal go about hunting for food?  They have to be smarter than their prey.  They have to surprise them, using cunning and trickery, and basically not doing what the prey expects them to do.  You see, the really big deer or gazelles have been around for a good number of years—that’s how they got so big.  They’ve seen hunters come and go—the ones who were foolish and did just what all the other hunters did. Those hunters each sat up in a tree with a coffee mug and some binoculars and waited.  Every now and then they would look around, but generally they just waited.  The deer and the gazelle knew that they were there, but they chose to avoid these lazy hunters.
So which hunters got the deer? Well, they were the ones who set up the perfect situation.  They got a few of their buddies to go for a walk, giving them specific instructions how to make a 2-mile-wide circle and then converge inward toward the hunter to spook the deer out into the open.  They used the newest technology, including GPS and cell phones. These hunters had all the right skills to do the job, having practiced and studied. Importantly, they made themselves look right and smell right so that they didn’t offend the deer. There was no way out!  That deer was just plain outsmarted.
Now, it’s time to start the hunt!
1.    Stop sitting around staring at your computer all day long. Go to work! ACTION IS THE FIRST STEP TO SUCCESS!
2.    Don’t be so full of yourself that you try and go it alone.  It’s so much harder that way, and unless you’re the best in the world at what you do, you’re not good enough to do it this way.  Join LinkedIn and find or make friends with people who work at the organization you’re targeting. Network to find your “hunting buddies.” Influence them to help you!
3.    Be skilled and talented at what you do. Don’t apply for jobs beyond your experience or abilities.  This wastes everyone’s time and is depressing for you. I’m okay if you stretch it one step up, but if you made $50k last year, you really don’t need to apply for a $250k job. Use all of the tools available. Network on Twitter or FaceBook. Don’t just call a company and ask if they have any openings. Go down there with a box of doughnuts or whole wheat bagels and introduce yourself!
4.    Make sure that your tools are good—your resume and presentation.  Have your friends conduct practice interviews, buy a new shirt, and for heaven’s sake go easy on the cologne/perfume.
5.    Finally, be cunning and sly and smart. Don’t lie, cheat, or steal, but do things that are unique and in line with who you are to stand out from the sea of others whose resumes look just like yours.
Best of LUCK in you job hunt!

“New Twitter App Helps with Job Search”

Hey All,

Here‘s an article over on PC Magazine about a cool app for Twitter users to help you find a job.  Check it out!

TwitterJobSearch.com claims to be the “social media job search engine” and allows people to search for jobs in twitter feeds simply by entering keywords in the search engine.

Thanks Brian B for the tweet.

The Art of the Cover Letter

Cover letters are completely worthless in my opinion. I’m a high-volume recruiter and I honestly don’t have time to read cover letters.

That being said, they probably don’t hurt. In fact, I do notice if there is a cover letter even though I don’t read it. There are some recruiters and hiring managers who do read them, though, and for this reason alone you had better have one attached to every resume.
The question, then, is what do you put in your cover letter? Should it be long or short? Should every one be individualized and unique, or can it just be a form letter? Just like getting resume advice, if you ask 100 people, you’ll get 100 different answers. All I can say is that I work with these things every day, so here is my best recommendation based on my experience.

Content:

1. I subscribe to the KISS system—Keep It Simple, Stupid! Keeping it simple here means keeping it short.
2. Every resume should start with a 30 second elevator pitch or the Career Summary. This is a great start for your cover letter.
3. Every cover letter should be personalized and individualized.
4. Do everything that you can to address the cover letter to the right person (Dear Sir or Madam is a last resort due to desperation).

• The easiest way to find out this name is to call the office where you plan on applying. Be kind and ask the receptionist for some direction and help. Quickly explain that you are preparing your resume for ______position and how much you admire the company and that you want to stand out from the crowd etc… ask if she/he can advise you who you should address your application to.
• Very few people do this and it could be the one thing that differentiates you from the masses of applicants.
• This also gives you a name that you can ask for on follow-up calls.
• If you can’t get the hiring manager, it’s ok to settle for the HR person/ Recruiter.

5.  Keep it quick and to the point, as most people don’t have time to read fluff.

Example


Dear Mr. North,

I am interested in a Civil Engineer position with ____firm name_________. I have followed _____firm_____ for some time and admire the reputation that you hold in the industry. My skills and experience described below would lend themselves well to the open position (even if there isn’t an open position listed, just assume that there is one).
As a licensed EIT, I have developed a passion for _________. I have a proven ability to manage all aspects of project development from conception to completion, utilizing both individual and team resources. My current firm has consistently recognized my high productivity levels as both a leader and an individual contributor. (It’s okay to adjust this “career summary” section to use “I” statements.)
I would like the opportunity to meet with you and discuss the specifics of the position. I can be reached at 888-888-8888.

Regards, Sincerely, or other professional salutation,

John Doe

Resume Attached

And that’s it! You’ve just presented a good pitch while not wasting anyone’s time. Best of luck and let me know what you think?

Get an answering machine (or equivalent) so when a recruiter calls you get the message!

Get an answering machine on 12seconds.tv

Top Ten things that will kill your chances with a recruiter (I guess this works with dating too.)

TOP
10

photo by Kriston Lewis

Yes, I have personally seen candidates do all these things.

10) There’s a difference between being confident and cocky.  Confident is good. Cocky is bad. If you don’t know the difference you’re probably cocky.

9) Bathing in cologne or perfume before an interview

8) Not showering before an interview

7) Bad mouthing your former employer…Really just being bitter and angry in general is a bad thing for most employers.  Maybe this would be different if you wanted to be a bouncer though.

6) Sex doesn’t sell in HR.  No I don’t want to see any part of your_______.  Please wear cloths that cover you to the interview.  By that way I’m not your dear, sweetie or dude.

5) Inappropriate email addresses like tohot4you or 666girl etc….

4) Applying for a $36k a year job when last year you made $300K (happened last week) and more commonly applying for a $300k a year job when last year you made $36k…. classic college kid behavior.

3) Calling a recruiter more then 3 times a day and not leaving a message. (I had a guy do this last week!) Otherwise known as stalking.

2) Cell phone ring back music that is vulgar or otherwise blatantly offensive to anyone who might be calling YOU about a JOB.  Come on change it from EMINEM to Bach or Mozart until you find a job!  What’s more important to you?  Your friends giving you a hard time about your ring back or your friends giving you a hard time about sleeping on their couch and being broke.

1) Having your mother call the recruiter for an update on your employment chances….

I had a lady call once that just couldn’t understand why we weren’t interested in hiring her son.  She called the day before to verify that we had received his resume and application.  During the conversation she told me that she had filled out the online app for her son but that he was a very hard worker and a self-starter…  She also wanted to know about the process and when her son could expect an interview.  My standard response has always been the same.  I’m sorry I can only discuss a candidate’s status with the candidate.   If he would like to call me I’d be happy to discuss his options. He called a few days later.  We didn’t consider him for the position.

One Surefire Way to Get a Company To CALL YOU!!

Welcome to Episode #1

I was talking to a friend of mine today. He was surprised by a unannounced layoff on Monday! I’ll talk more about layoffs in another post, but he was wondering how to get a company that you’re interested in to call you. Okay, so he wasn’t really wondering, but I told him anyway and he graciously listened to my unsolicited advice. I thought that it was the next natural step to share that advice with all of you!

Since I’m on an honesty kick, I have to clarify the title. . . this technique will probably work about 50% of the time.

So let’s say that you’ve identified a company that you would really like to work for. They may or may not have a position open but if they did you would be qualified to fill it. (It is estimated that nearly half of people who are hired are hired before their position is posted. I find this to be truer with smaller companies and especially those without government contracts.) So what do you do? You could just walk in the front door and ask the receptionist to point you in the direction of the HR department, but there may be an easier way.

What if you could find the email address for the CEO? Would you be willing to send your resume to him/her directly? I suggest that you do, and here’s why. Unless the company is very small or you are a C level job seeker then the CEO doesn’t have time to deal with your resume and isn’t involved in hiring for the position that you’re applying for. In fact he/she probably won’t even look at your resume. He/She will simply hand it off to the Director of HR. Here’s the cool part though. In today’s world no one communicates very well—especially at the senior levels—and because of STUPID politics everyone jumps to assumptions.

The Director of HR gets this email from the CEO with a resume attached. The HR person doesn’t know if this is the CEO’s nephew or someone the boss met on the last plane ride. All that the Director of HR cares about is following up on this resume so that if the CEO asks about it, he or she will have an answer as to what happened with it. Beyond that, if the CEO hands your resume down the line, you automatically get a political stamp of approval even if the boss states that he or she doesn’t know who you are.

Step by Step

1. Pick a company, job, and location where you want to work.

2. Research or guess the CEO’s and the director of your intended division’s email addresses:

a. Check the corporate website or corporate financial filings to find the names. Most corporate emails are the first letter of the first name followed by the last name @ company domain. Example: pnorth@bigcompany.com

b. There are lists posted out there with contact information that are sometimes expensive but could be worth it. Most universities have memberships with these paid lists so find someone in school to dig it up for you.

3. Draft a nice polite email to the CEO stating what you are interested in and how much you admire the company and other such flattering stuff. Be sure to ask for something! (I suggest asking for an meeting to discuss how your abilities meet a need in the company). Have a friend read over the letter first and then send it away.

4. Wait a week.

5. If you haven’t heard anything, do the same thing—only this time send your email to the director of the department that you want to work for. They hold almost as much political power as the CEO.

There you have it. This should work until a lot of people start to do it. The real key is to be realistic about the position that you are seeking and please make sure that you’re qualified. If you’re just out of college, it’s probably not right to ask for the Senior VP of Finance role at GE.

I wish you the best of luck and let me know how this turns out!

Phil

Welcome Video

The Get a Job Blog on 12seconds.tv

Powered by Wordpress | WP Premium theme by PSD to XHTML
Copyright 2009 PHIL NORTH’S Get a JOB! Blog. All rights reserved