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“I’ve been finding people jobs since 1973, and have helped thousands of candidates find great career opportunities. Let me help you too!”... Tony Beshara

"I've been finding people jobs since 1973, and have helped thousands of candidates find great career opportunities. Let me help you too!"... Tony Beshara

Job Search Solution Blog by Tony Beshara2023-06-12T09:52:10-05:00

…..so, you need to take a test as part of the interviewing process

Let’s spend a few moments on the subject of testing. This would include all kinds of psychological, aptitude, and intelligence tests. Since 1973, I have seen candidate testing ebb and flow in popularity. Believe it or not, it seems to ebb and flow depending on the economy. Testing of job candidates can become very expensive, so it is one of the first things that companies stop doing when the economy gets difficult.

Be prepared for what I call the paradox of testing. Every company that has ever used testing as a part of its selection process is going to tell every candidate that, at most, the testing only accounts for 25 percent of the final decision. Don’t believe a word of it! Whatever kind of test is used, from grapho-analysis to psychiatric interviewing, is a qualifier that you must pass with the minimum standard arbitrarily set by someone or some group in the organization, or you aren’t going to go further in the interviewing process. Whether hiring authorities or companies will admit it or not, the test becomes a binary, black-and-white, proceed-or-go-home qualifier.

So, when a hiring authority tells you something like, “Oh, by the way, we have some psychological (or aptitude, or skills, or intelligence) testing you need to do as a candidate, but don’t worry about it. Everybody who comes to work here has to take it and it doesn’t really account for much more than 10 percent (or 25 percent, or 50 percent) of the decision,” don’t believe a word of it! Testing becomes the gate that has to be passed through before you can be considered as a viable candidate.

Testing objectifies the hiring process. When, supposedly objective tests decide on your viability as a candidate, no hiring or interviewing authority involved in the process of hiring has to have their butt on the line, has to take a stand on your candidacy, or has to run the risk of being the only person who likes you and wants to hire you. Now, a hiring authority is still going to have to make a decision in choosing someone to be hired. But the convenient thing about testing is that it also functions as a cover-your-butt issue. If hiring you turns out to be a mistake, but you did well on the company’s battery of tests, the hiring authority can turn to everyone else and say, “Well, she did well on the testing!” It is just another way of passing the buck of responsibility. The tests become a qualifier, screening out tons of candidates so no one person has to, and it’s convenient and easy.

Please don’t tell me that testing is stupid and it doesn’t work. Part of my graduate studies—admittedly almost 50 years ago— included extensive studies about testing. I can make the case that testing will never measure passion, commitment, focus and, in general, “heart,” the real things that separate a top performer from an average one. But, as you know, the people who manage companies don’t really care what you or I think. If somebody sells a company on the idea that any kind of testing will help them hire better people and they invest thousands, and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars in their testing, they’re going to use it—no matter what.

Does the testing work? Well, it certainly creates an environment of homogeneous people. Being included or eliminated in the interviewing process by a testing procedure is just as valid or invalid as any of the other crazy reasons by which you may be included or eliminated. And it’s like the old joke of the guy that snaps his fingers to keep the pink elephants away. Since he keeps snapping his fingers and no one sees any pink elephants, this system works. If companies never hire anybody that doesn’t do well on whatever kind of testing they have, they never really know how valid it may be.

My gut— and it is only my gut—tells me that the companies that use any kind of testing don’t have any more or less success or turnover than companies that don’t. But, hey, what do I know? They ain’t asking me my opinion, and they don’t care. If they invest in testing, claim that it gets them better employees, and so on, then I guess it does. (I worked with a company five or six years ago that hired a CEO. They had a succession of three CEOs in three years—all miserable failures. They hired a candidate of mine, and after a couple of weeks on the job, they discovered that she hadn’t taken the company’s testing. They gave her the tests, and the tests indicated that she would not be successful. Well, they certainly couldn’t let her go over that, so, as with a lot of stuff that goes on in businesses, nobody said a word and just let it be. She was not only one of the most successful CEOs the company ever had, but grew the company 115 percent in four years. When the company was sold, she, as well as the major stockholders, made millions of dollars. The company is now a division of a major corporation and, guess what—they still use the testing to qualified candidates before they hire them. Go figure!

How to Take Tests

First, whatever you do, don’t bitch and moan to the prospective employer that testing is a lot of nonsense. In some cases, it very well is, but if a prospective employer does it as a routine part of the selection process, your opinion isn’t going to matter. If you voice your negative opinion too much, you’ll be eliminated for that reason alone. So, just decide to take the test in stride and resolve to do the very best you can. And, don’t say something stupid like, “Oh, my God, I’m absolutely awful when it comes to tests.” This may be true, but for goodness sake, don’t tell that to a prospective employer.

Second, before you go to take the test, get lots of rest, eat a good meal, and relax. Do the very best you can. Look at it as a challenge. Take it in stride. Trying to prepare for it is hard. Do not be over analytical and agonize over each answer, nor be flippant about the answers that you give.

While not as prevalent as they used to be, there are still some companies out there that test candidates with a face-to-face interview with a psychologist or psychiatrist. If this kind of thing is involved in your interviewing process, approach it the same way as you would approach a paper-and-pencil or computerized test. Be thoughtful of your answers. Be consistent in your answers and, for goodness sake, don’t try to read into every question what the interviewer is trying to get at. That’s a losing proposition. Don’t become belligerent, challenging, or argumentative with the interviewer.

No matter what you do, no matter what kind of test you’re given, whether it be multiple interviews with the psychologist or psychiatrist, written essays, multiple-choice intelligence, character, or personality, do not try to outguess the test! Don’t sit there and ask yourself what they are trying to find out when they ask that question? Because if they’re trying to find out “that,” then I will answer “this” so that they will think “that” of me, you will be finished! You can’t outguess them.

If you are going to be given a computerized test, psychological test, and the like, you might want to go online and practice with tests that you can buy for yourself. Tons of intelligence and psychological types of tests are available on the Internet for very reasonable prices. Some even give feedback and corrective advice. Studies have shown that practicing these kinds of tests make you better. You’re not likely to be able to do this with psychological or personality tests, but you certainly can with math or intelligence tests. So, practice when possible.

 

By |November 15, 2019|Job Search Blog|

…yea for Kyle

Want to know why some people really get ahead in life and many people don’t? Well here’s an example.

Kyle has been a very successful aeronautical engineer who made it in sales a number of years ago and has made a whole lot of money. He has had to change jobs for some very good reasons and it’s clear that he has been successful in just about every place that he’s ever been.

I call one of my clients Thursday morning and she says, “Well, the best I could do would be to be able to see him this afternoon right after lunch, because I’m absolutely covered up for later today and all of tomorrow.” I called Kyle and he says, “I’ll make it happen.”

Now the vast majority of candidates that I work with would have given me all kinds of excuses as to why they couldn’t make a 1 PM interview when I called them at 9:30 AM. “You just can’t expect somebody to be able to make an interview that fast… Besides I’m really busy… Tell me all about it first and then I’ll decide if I want to go… Blah, blah, blah.” Kyle didn’t even ask much about the job or the opportunity. He just said that he would figure out a way to get there.

One PM passes and at about 1:30 PM my client calls and says, “Kyle isn’t here… What’s up?” I called Kyle and it goes to voicemail. It doesn’t seem to be like him, but I call my client and explain to her that I’m at a loss. About 2:45 PM, the client calls and says, “Well, he made it for only about a half-hour, but get this. He was in a car wreck and had his son come pick him up and get him here for the interview. He was a half-hour late, but he made it. He left his cell phone in his car and that’s why you couldn’t reach him. He’s now going back to his car to get a tow truck and get the car off to get it fixed. I want to hire this guy. In all the years that I’ve interviewed, I’ve never had anyone that committed to showing up to an interview. He made no dramatic excuses. He didn’t whine and moan, he just stated that he had unfortunately been in the car wreck but he made it! His track record is stellar, and I can see why”

I don’t know if I ever remember a candidate going the extra mile like that. Most of the time I would’ve gotten a call from the candidate (sometimes in a whiny voice) saying, “I can’t make it to the interview because I was just in a car wreck (woe is me!)”

Kyle makes a whole lot of money and has for most of his career. I mean, lots of money. He’s extremely successful and will continue to be.

It’s pretty clear why. I’ve gotten him to other interviews and everybody else has felt exactly the same way.

By |November 9, 2019|Job Search Blog|

….”What Am I doing wrong?”

I go through this conversation at least once a day with everyone from a two-year experienced candidate to a 30 year experienced candidate and the conversation goes something like this:

“I just can’t believe it… I’ve been looking now for four weeks (… five weeks… three months… six months… one year) and I can’t seem to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I’ve rewritten my resume at least five times. I finally paid somebody $1500 to rewrite it and to give me some ‘coaching’ because they said they knew where the so-called, hidden market was… I just can’t believe it. I’ve only had two or three interviews and one or two of them blew me off pretty much immediately. I’ve called just about every friend I have at least once… ex-bosses… people who told me that I wouldn’t have any problem finding a job, but of course, they didn’t have any openings or didn’t know of any openings. I just must be doing something wrong. My spouse (… girlfriend, boyfriend, ex-spouse, ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, mother, father, cousin, rabbi, priest, pastor… all tell me that I’m a wonderful person. But I’m beginning to doubt how wonderful I am. And all those years of working my tail off and being told what a wonderful asset I was… What’s wrong with me… What am I doing wrong?”

Well, the fact is you are probably not doing anything terribly wrong (I’ll get to that in a minute). Just because you’re reading and hearing that unemployment is low, the market is still very tight. For every one of you, every employer is able to interview five or six people… if you can get the interview at all. It is still very hard to get interviews, no matter how good you are.

All those people who tell you how wonderful you were for all those years needed to do that so you could keep working for them and, you probably were doing a wonderful job. But getting a job and doing a job are two different things. And just because you had a wonderful, fantastic career full of accolades and praises doesn’t mean that lots of people are going to want to interview you and hire you.

Getting to the interview is the biggest problem that most people have. If you follow everything that I’ve written in my books and this blog and my online Job Search Solution program you know that the biggest challenge is even getting an interview. It’s not as easy as everybody always thinks it is. They think that all they have to do is stand up and say “Hey world… Here I am… When do you want to interview me?” And when that doesn’t happen over an even relatively short period of time, whether you’re still employed or out of work, you become convinced that they just don’t know a good athlete when they see one. You become convinced that it’s them that are just plain foolish for not responding to your resume (… just one of the 160 others that they’ve received).

Most people aren’t aware of how much work a person has to do to simply get an interview. They’ve been comparing themselves to their peers and these people know they are a fantastic worker. But that has nothing to do with getting interviews and performing well on those interviews. They get shocked that the process is so difficult and challenging. Then when the reality hits them, they have no idea what they’re doing “wrong.”

They just simply weren’t prepared for how hard it is.

 

By |November 3, 2019|Job Search Blog|

…..more practical spirituality

 

Start a prayer /intentions list

As you can probably tell I’m a real big fan of praying.  I don’t just believe that it works. I absolutely know it works. But on this particular issue of having a prayer or intentions list you don’t have to believe in prayer to make it work. The purpose of this is for you to pray for or pass along positive intentions to specific people. It is a form of giving. After all, you are a person who wants to receive; so in order to receive, you are going to have to give and this is one of the ways of doing it.  It is great to begin this list with people whom you care for, maybe close members of your family or friends. However, it is also a great value to pray for or pass along good intentions to people you don’t know. You might even want to put people on this list that you perceive as your “enemies.” Even praying for people who society deems as “evil” reaps a positive benefit for you.  So, start a list today.  It certainly doesn’t hurt to have this prayer list posted at home so the whole family can see.  Encouraging them to add people’s names to the list merely increases the positive return.  It is a great habit for everyone to get into, and it is easy.

Prayer

I don’t claim to be an authority on prayer, although I do it a lot. Regarding changing jobs, there are two things about prayer I might enlighten you about; and then you can take it from there. First of all, I’m reminded about the story of the fellow that prayed every night to win the lottery. He got down on his knees and every night he asked God to help him win the lottery. This went on for a number of months and every night he got on his knees and said, “Dear God, please, please, please, let me win the lottery!  I deserve to win the lottery… please, please, let me win the lottery!”  After a number of months, his plea became even more passionate. Finally, one night when he is reciting his prayer, a roll of thunder came out of the sky and a booming voice said “You first have to buy a ticket!” The point of the story is that simple praying without doing all the necessary things that it takes to get a job isn’t going to help your prayers be successful. Without massive amounts of activity, the kind that I am recommending in this course – all the prayer in the world isn’t going to help you.

Prayer: Without action is useless – (with apologies) St. Paul

The second thing about prayer that I find essential and successful is to pray for guidance in the process, not necessarily for a specific outcome. Praying specifically for a good job or a certain job doesn’t seem to be as effective as praying for spiritual guidance and help in the process of finding a job. There is a slight difference in praying for the process as opposed to praying for a result. If praying for a result, say a particular job, and the job does not come about for one reason or another it’s too easy to believe that prayer failed. Contrarily, if you pray for help and guidance in the process of finding a job, the effects seem to be more real.

God grant me the serenity to except the things I cannot change, the courage to change things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

…Thy will be done

Meditation

 If you are not a practice meditator… start. Along with prayer, but different, it’s one of the most mystical things you can do. Unfortunately, it takes a very short time to learn meditation, but a very long time to really experience its effects. Having said that, most people will get a lot out of meditation in the very beginning.

I’ve been meditating since the early 70’s… every day. It calms the emotions, focuses the mind, and alleviates tension and simply balances just about everything mental, emotional and spiritual. Its greatest value in a job search is that it helps center all of the challenges one experiences.

The long-term value of meditation is that it quiets the ego. And when you come down to it, one of the most foundational aspects of looking for a job is dealing with the highs and lows that the ego experiences.

Volunteer

This is a tremendous way to get “out of yourself” and really help other people. Now, I’m not recommending that you volunteer while you should be interviewing. However, there are plenty of opportunities in the evening or on weekends to volunteer. There are hundreds of volunteer organizations that help people who really need assistance. You need to be doing this. Help people who cannot help themselves. Find any kind a volunteer organization that might take advantage of your skills and volunteer. This is a form of giving and asking nothing in return: serve food at the soup kitchens, build homes for Habitat for Humanity, visit old people in hospitals, children in hospitals, etc. If you’re not a joiner or can’t fit volunteering into your schedule, you (just yourself) can organize to do things like pick up trash on the street, clean up your alley, or mow and trim the lawn of an old person in your neighborhood.

Seek peace

Your life is going to be stressful enough just looking for a job. As I mentioned in one of the previous chapters, I would recommend staying away from newspapers (other than to look at the classified ads), negative people, violent movies, television for the most part, etc. I recommended in a previous session to seek solitude and quiet especially in the morning; but throughout the day doesn’t hurt, either. Seeking peace and solitude also allows you to really focus intensely on all the activities it takes to find a job.

“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light,

and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”

-Mohandas Gandhi

Let go

You know all that stuff that you cleaned out – Your trash, attic, closet, office, car, etc? Well, give it all away! In fact, anything you can give away to someone who probably needs it more than you is a way to build spiritual credit. Streamline your life and give away what you don’t need.  Learning to give anonymously is truly a great experience. The “feel-good” you get in giving even a modest gift, without anyone knowing who you are, is tremendously gratifying. I personally have $5 gift certificates to one of the fast food chains in the console of my car.  When a street person at an intersection asks me for a hand out when I have stopped, I will give them a $5 gift certificate. It is a really good feeling and it only cost $5. It’s also very instructive to my children.

….more next week

By |October 11, 2019|Job Search Blog|

Practice Spirituality

In my experience people do a number of things while looking for a job that have reinforced the spiritual side of their brain. In fact, these activities and practices help them find a job with less emotional stress than most other people. There are all kinds of additional things that a person can do, but here are some very important ones.

Be grateful.

I mentioned in the previous chapter about waking up every morning with an attitude of gratitude. I hear you say, “But Tony, you don’t know the troubles that I’ve got.”  You are right. I don’t. However, just as Norman Vincent Peale stated many, many years ago, “The only people that don’t have problems are dead.” Be grateful. Just try it. You may think I’m crazy, but it works! Even if you have to try to convince yourself over and over and over to be grateful, do it! Fake it if you have to! Affirmations like “thank you”, “I really appreciate the situation that I’m in”, “ I have so much to be thankful for; I’m so blessed,” feed the spirit.

Be nice.

Sometimes it is really hard to be nice to people, especially when are you in stressful situations. Even when you are emotionally hurting, it helps to go out of your way to be really nice to people when you don’t necessarily feel that way. I’ve known hundreds of employers over the years that purposely kept candidates waiting in the reception area just to see if they were going to be nice to the administrative personnel (what we used to call the secretary). I can’t tell you the number of candidates over the years that did not get hired because they were rude to the support people in the organization where they were interviewing. These same people turn on the charm and come across as nice as you can imagine in the interviewing process. However, they lost out because they were not nice when they didn’t have to be. So, it may not necessarily be your nature to be an outgoing nice person, but do it anyway.

Create flow.

Get rid of the clutter in your house, your garage, your office, your closet, your car, in any space that you occupy. Get rid of all those old clothes in your closet that you hope to fit into one day. If you haven’t used it or worn it in the last year give it away. Create open space in your life and where you live. You will be amazed at the energy that will be released by getting rid of clutter

Practice Forgiveness.

There are a few things that are as spiritually uplifting as forgiving. First, forgive yourself for all the stupid things you have done to yourself and others. Make a small list, it won’t be hard…then accept and let go. Contemplate the lessons you learned. Then begin to forgive other people who might have transgressed you.  So make a list of all the people that you can remember whom you have transgressed. Even if the transgression was an accident, call, write, or email those people and ask them for forgiveness.  At the same time make a list of all the people that may have transgressed you. Call them, write them, or email them and forgive them. Don’t expect a return call or letter or email. That’s not the point. Your spiritual growth depends on your ability to forgive others and seek forgiveness.

This is especially true if you’re a job seeker. Forgive all those people that you feel haven’t treated you well. Make a list of all of the people who told you they were going to call you back and then didn’t, those who even said they were going to hire you and didn’t or those that lied to you about other stuff. Then, forgive them all. You may not understand all of the problems that they even created for themselves, but you can’t do anything about that. Forgive them.

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet left on the heel that crushed it.

-Mark Twain

 

 

….more next week

By |October 5, 2019|Job Search Blog|
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