holidays coming up..don’t be fooled, lots of hiring goes on then…
candidates often tell us that there is little hiring done around the holidays…simply not true..December is traditionaly one of our best months for placements…companies are geting ready for a new year and need to hire..
if you really need to find job…i mean, r-e-a-l-l-y need to go to work don’t go out of town for any of the holidays…the quickest way to turn off an employer or a recruiter is to get somone an inteview the week of thanksgivng or christmas and to hear the candidate say, “well, i’m going out of town for the holiday’s and can’t interview!”
we think, “well, this candidates isn’t that motivated…not that serious about finding a job”…we have to work with candidates that are motivated…so tell your family that you will come visit after you find a job..
we have even experienced candidates getting higher starting salaries because the employers are in better “Christmas” moods during the holidays…
we hear it weekly…candidate gets into the finals of the interviewing process…is told they are a finalist…will have their references and credit checked…
then, oh my, the candidate reveals that they have “bruised” credit…this can be everything from very, very bad credit to poor credit…
in these difficult economic times, it is not suprising that many people’s credit is “bruised”…slightly to very badly..
these days, employers are more prone to check credit on most candidates, even if the position is not a financial oriented job….it use to be that a candidate’s credit was checked only when the job had to do with financial positions…i.e. where money was involved..
these days, though, hiring authorities have a hard time checking references with previous employers, who, more often than not, adopt a “we don’t give references of any type” policy…so, they resort to other objective reports like criminal records and credit reports…
the assumption is that, if your credit is poor, you are a poor employee…
it does no good to argue this issue…if you have bruised credit, best assume you will be eliminated from most any financially oriented job…we even had a candidate lately who was eliminated from an insurance adjusters position because of his poor credit…
we recomend not sharing a poor credit issue unitl you find out that your credit will be checked…(by the way, you can’t refuse this being done without immediately being eliminated from contention)..
once you are informed, tell the hiring authority that your credit has been bruised and ask him or her if that will be an issue…you might share with them the reasons for the situation…we had a candidat a few years ago whose identity was stolen and she was still “recovering” from a poor credit issue through no fault of her own…
some hiring authorities may be able to work with you if they really like you…sometimes they may not have any choice depending on company policies..
you want to be sure that, if you find that a credit report will be reviewed and you have had challenges, the employer does not find out from the credit report itself…especially if you are told that the report will be part of the screening process…
if an employers thinks you are withholding information from him or her, you won’t get hired…
your voice mail on your cell phone….make sure is says somethng like, “this is (your name) leave a message and i will return your call.”
why?…well, when people calling you hear a simple number like “214-823-9999…leave a message at the tone” they don’t know for sure if it is your cell phone…and many people ..especially potential employers…are reluctant to leave a message on a voice mail this way…
three years from now, one of those hiring authorities may pull your resume out of the file and try to call you..they won’t know if you still have that number or not…if they get simply “214-xxx-yyyy ..leave a message” they won’t do it
sooooo, record your name on your voice mail…you are missing some great calls
two weeks ago, one of our candidates got a verbal job offer…$150,000 plus commissions, etc…start date, end of november..maybe december…maybe the first of the year (..almost 3 months away)
i said, “that’s really strange….doesn’t make sense…” …i told him not to trust it…he should keep looking and not stop..he marginally agreed…but he was convinced he had found a job
friday, they call him and tell him the position has been put on hold..we feel so badly for him but there is nothing anyone can do.
lesson: don’t count on anything in this job market…until your butt’s in the chair (…and even then) …don’t stop looking for a good opportunity… keep interviewing…even if you get a written offer…once you start a job…and have been there a while, then shut the process down..
