Monthly Archives: November 2013

Our client gave us a great job description and requirements of what he was looking for… he told us that the most he was going to pay for the job was $60,000… we referred number of candidates none of whom he was really excited about…

We explained to him we had an excellent candidate who really didn’t have as much experience as he wanted but he really had a lot with other experience that would more than make up for it… after two three-hour meetings with her, he told her he wanted hire her… he told her he was going to call her the next morning with a formal offer…

When he called, she preempted the conversation by saying she wanted to come over and actually talk about the offer face-to-face and of course negotiate… when she got there, he explained that he wanted to make an offer to her of  $65,000 … $5000 more than what he really wanted to pay… and he emphasized that to her…

According to both of them there was a long moment of silence and she said, “I’d love to go to work you, I’m perfect for this job and you are perfect for me and let me explain why you need to pay me $85,000…” she then proceeded to show him  charts, documents and projections as to how she could make the department good enough and bring the job to the level where the $85,000 was fair… it took her 20 minutes to lay it all out and, according to our client, in a logical and, above all, convincing way… She had convinced one of the administrative people to give her yearly budget for the department and using that with some pretty heavy statistical analysis and projections, she showed our client how she was worth $85,000…

He hired her… at $85,000… the lesson?… prove your value!

In last week, I heard three, very professional, very experienced, apparently intelligent professionals give me these answers:

“Well it was just time to go…”                                                                                                             “My boss and I agreed that it wasn’t working out…”                                                                “I’d rather not discuss it…”

I could go on and on… and I only interviewed 12 candidates this week… over the years, I’ve heard the most unbelievably stupid things that people say when they are asked this question… it’s hard to believe that people don’t think before they come up with a reason as to why they are leaving their present employer or why they left their previous employer… They don’t seem to comprehend the idea that any employer interviewing them is going to imagine somewhere down the line the candidate will be leaving them for the very same reason that the candidate gives for leaving his or her present or past employer..

Please, please, please you gotta  remember that a prospective employer is looking for just as many reasons not to hire you as they are looking for reasons they should hire you… in fact, they are more sensitive to the reasons they shouldn’t hire you than they are to the ones that indicate they should…

Ask  yourself, “does this sound like a really good, solid, reasonable business reason for me to leave my present or past job?”… Whatever you say, it’s gonna be heard as, “this candidate is going to leave me for the same reason…” if the reason is even the slightest bit questionable, the candidate is not likely to be considered for the job…

so, even if you don’t know why you were let go in your last position or it is embarrassing to tell people the reason, you’d better come up with some solid, business reasons for your departure… anything that raises an eyebrow will likely eliminate you… even if you got fired, come up with a good business reason as to why it made reasonable sense…

they can be so misleading..to the point that folks won’t read your resume because the titles are either misunderstood or aren’t comenserate with the level of position the resume reader is looking for…

Remember, your resume is not really “read”… it is initially scanned… resume readers have, on average, 118 to 120 resumes  they are reviewing per posting, so they begin by scanning the names of the companies that are on the resume, what the company does and your titles… if they like what they see, they may read the resume in more depth… if they don’t like what they see, they delete the resume or throw it away…

So, make sure that your title on the resume is commensurate with the job you’ve had… candidates tell me all the time, “but my company’s title is vice president”… I don’t care what your company’s title is, you don’t want your title to eliminate you from being considered for an interview… so, if you are a salesperson that your company has given you a highfalutin title of “VP” change the title on your resume to” salesperson”… if your company gives you a title of  “customer care strategist” when what they really mean is that you are in customer service, change the title to  “customer service”

I can’t tell you the number of candidates I’ve worked with over the years who felt compelled to write down the title of the job their company gave them only to be eliminated by resume reader who thinks, for instance, “we aren’t looking for vice president… we’re looking for a salesperson … and throws the resume away… lots of companies for instance, give their salespeople or other non-managers vice president titles to make folks feel good… don’t fall prey to this…you are trying to get interviews not impress

I suggest this kind of thing when a job seeker “dumbs down” their resume… just because you’ve been president or vice president of an organization doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t go to work for another four and a lesser job…

so don’t let  titles get you eliminated…change them to fit the situation