Monthly Archives: February 2014

At least three or four times a week, I personally, have a discussion with a potential candidate who has been self-employed or been the president of or managed their own business. Most everyone of them is astounded and, in many cases, downright mad when I explaine to them that they’re going to have a very hard time finding someone to hire them.

Their reasoning is illogical. They figure that if they’ve been successful in running a company or running their own business, they are going to make a stellar employee and just about any company would love to have them. They are blown away when I explained the facts… that most companies don’t to hire someone who has been in their on business because:1. they don’t want someone working for them who is even going to think saying, “wow, when I ran my own business we did it this way…” 2. They don’t want to always been the boss and it is not “reported” to anyone…3. They don’t want to hire someone who’ll might wake up one morning and decide they don’t like the job and go back into business for themselves.

Every candidate has a number of “risk factors.” These are factors or experiences in their background that pose “risks” to an employer. Things like short stints on the resume… being out of work for a long period of time, being fired etc. are all risk factors. Most hiring authorities are trying to eliminate as many of the risk factors in each candidate as they can. Put another way, they want to hire the candidate with the fewest risk factors. What candidates have to understand is that having owned or run your own business is a risk factor in them that the hiring authority may not have with other candidates. In other words the candidate who is owned or run their own business in competing with other candidates with one more risk factor than most of the other candidates. Since the hiring authority wants to minimize “risk factors” he or she simply passes over the person who is owned or run their own business. It’s that simple!

I’m not going to say that people who have run their own business never get hired by other people, because it does happen. But this factor will is very difficult to deal with and overcome. Next week, I’ll share with you the best way to deal with this concern that the hiring authority will have.

At least three or four times a week, I personally, have a discussion with a potential candidate who has been self-employed or been the president of or managed their own business. Most everyone of them is astounded and, in many cases, downright mad when I explaine to them that they’re going to have a very hard time finding someone to hire them.

Their reasoning is illogical. They figure that if they’ve been successful in running a company or running their own business, they are going to make a stellar employee and just about any company would love to have them. They are blown away when I explained the facts… that most companies don’t to hire someone who has been in their on business because:1. they don’t want someone working for them who is even going to think saying, “wow, when I ran my own business we did it this way…” 2. They don’t want to always been the boss and it is not “reported” to anyone…3. They don’t want to hire someone who’ll might wake up one morning and decide they don’t like the job and go back into business for themselves.

Every candidate has a number of “risk factors.” These are factors or experiences in their background that pose “risks” to an employer. Things like short stints on the resume… being out of work for a long period of time, being fired etc. are all risk factors. Most hiring authorities are trying to eliminate as many of the risk factors in each candidate as they can. Put another way, they want to hire the candidate with the fewest risk factors. What candidates have to understand is that having owned or run your own business is a risk factor in them that the hiring authority may not have with other candidates. In other words the candidate who is owned or run their own business in competing with other candidates with one more risk factor than most of the other candidates. Since the hiring authority wants to minimize “risk factors” he or she simply passes over the person who is owned or run their own business. It’s that simple!

I’m not going to say that people who have run their own business never get hired by other people, because it does happen. But this factor will is very difficult to deal with and overcome. Next week, I’ll share with you the best way to deal with this concern that the hiring authority will have.

• On average, 1000 in 1500 individuals view a job posting.
• Between 200 and 275 of these people will begin the application process or send a resume.
• Between 150 and 180 people will complete an application…
• 90 to 110 of those resumes or applications will be scanned by an ATS or some type of human screener …who may or may not know what they are looking for.
• 20 to 25 resumes will be sent to a hiring authority.
• 4 to 6 candidates will be invited to interview.
• 1 to 2 of them will be invited back for subsequent and final interviews.
• 25% of the time the “search” will start all over because the hiring authority doesn’t feel he or she has seen enough quality candidates…or doesn’t like what he or she has seen and the process starts all over again.
• Of the remaining 75% of the time, one of the finalists will be offered the job and 80% of those finalists will accept. 40% of the time, the first candidate offered the job turns it down, then the second candidate is offered the position. If that candidate does not accept the job…which happens about 20% of the time…the search starts all over again.

So, based on this reality, what are a candidate’s odds of getting hired by submitting a resume to an online job posting? Very, very, very slim…about 1 in 375 to 400.

Remember, when it comes time for them to make an offer, they really, really want you and so you’re in the driver’s seat. The minute you start thinking this, you’re just “thought” yourself out of a job. When organizations go to make you an offer, it is true that they do want you, but you better be sure that they’ve got two or three other people right behind you that they could easily want just as much in a heartbeat. The difference between you, the person they want to make an offer to and the number two candidate is so very slim, you can’t even afford to think this way. So, negotiate in good faith but don’t think you’re any kind of big shot, driver seat.

Target the top 10 companies you would like to go to work for and focus everything you can to get an interview with them. This myth has been around for a number of years and I’m still amazed that people given any kind of credibility. What if those 10 organizations you have “targeted” don’t need to hire anybody… or they have no use for any kind of experience you’ve got. This is the height of solipsism…that you are the center of the universe… the only thing that matters. I already have a problem if you are only targeting  those top 10 companies… but try targeting may be 500 or 600, because that’s how many it’s going to take in order to get a job…

Regarding any advice you get about finding a job… consider the source…

Tell the interviewing authority that you need more money because… and then state the reason why you need more money..And then pack up your briefcase and leave because you’re not going to get hired. I can’t even imagine that anybody would ever, ever, ever instruct anyone to do something like this. Never tell an interviewing or hiring authority what you need… They don’t care what you need. Now they might care what you want based on their desire to hire you, but even then it’s in the light of what they want. I can only imagine that the reasoning behind this is used to communicate to the hiring authority what  is necessary for you, economically, to take the job… so! Just don’t do this. Negotiate from what is fair and reasonable to do the job… but never from what you need.

When negotiating a salary always wince at the first offer… You aren’t buying a car here… this is not a piece of real estate… you’re not buying a rug from a Persian rug dealer. 99.99% of the hiring authorities I know would literally laugh at a candidate who winces when he or she was made an offer. If the first offer is a reasonable offer, accept the offer. If it’s not, ask the hiring authority if there is any room to negotiate. Be serious and calm but for goodness sake don’t wince  or make a stupid face.

In an interview, don’t tell people you are looking for a job…but simply exchanging information to see if there is mutual interest either now or in the future. Oh brother! This dumb advice comes from “career counselors” who think it’s advisable to act coy, cool and ‘superior’ to the idea “applying for a job.” I had a candidate one time that read this stupid stuff and didn’t tell me he was going to do it in the interview. He told our client that he “really wasn’t looking for a job, but…” the clients stood up and said, “then why are you here wasting my time?” End of  interview! This kind of approach is supposed to set you apart from those that are desperate to find a job and be one of the few people above the fray who might choose to bless the halls of the organization you are interviewing with and work there. Stupid! While a candidate like this is acting erudite, another candidate who is really looking for a job is getting it.