..download my resume…go to my linkedin profile
i get candidates that send me a cover letter, telling me how good they are…fair enough..bu then, instead of attaching a resume, the want to get fancy and tell me to go to their website and download their resume…or to go to their linkedin profile and view their experience..
DON’T DO THIS….hiring authorities and guys like me who get 100 resumes a day, don’t have time to go to another website or to a linkedin profile and download information…there are simply too many resumes..
now, a few years from now, when there are more jobs than people…and it will come.. ( i remember the mid 70’s, late 80’s, late 90’s when people could get a job without a resume) you can tell hiring authorities and recruiters to download your resume or go to your linkedin page…but for the foreseeable future, send your resume the traditional way..
the other day i got a “power point resume”…a well put together power point presentation…unfortunately, it did not contain the candidates contact information and it was a mess when i printed it out….don’t do this either
…DWI’s, bankruptcy, misdemeanors and felonies
not a week goes by that some candidate represented by our firm reveals one of the above just about the time they are going to get a job offer from one of our clients..
most of the time, these issues stop the offer..sometimes they can be worked around by the hiring authority and the company…but they are always problems
unfortuantely felonies are almost always insurmountable…in professional positions, only once in 36 years have i had a company hire a candidate with a felony in their recent past..
the empathetic part of me realizes how sad this might be…but the business side of me realizes why companies can’t run that risk..
now there are some jobs that a felony may not make a difference…our firm doesn’t know where they might be..
DWI’s and misdemanors can often be explained and overlooked by some firms…but it is hard…i suggest people get an attorney to find out how, if enough time has elapsed, these records might be removed from a persons public background..
if you aren’t sure of what is on your record, run a background check on yourself…for around $40, you can see what most employeers will find..identity confusion other odd things do happen…you need to know..
if there are some of these issues in your background, i’d recommend discussing them with the hiring authority if you think you are going to be a finalist for the job opportunity..
don’t be angry or try to justify how you were “wronged”… it won’t work…be remorseful, appolgetic and have an “how can we work this out” attitude..
if a company simply can’t work around the issue, be graceful and understanding…
banckruptcies are a bit different…some companies don’t care..others might…we had a banking client that refused to hire one of our candidates because of a previous bankruptcy… they really wanted to hire the candidate but they had just fired an officer for embezzlement…they couldn’t take the chance
as with the other issues..if you think it will have an impact on your getting an offer, bring it up toward the end of the interview cycle..
….explaining the ‘stop gap’ job
this is tricky…when you have taken a stop gap job and it dragged on longer than you ever intended…like six months or so, you are now going to have to explain it to a hiring or interviewing authority
do this carefully and humbly…
do not justify the job flipantly by saying something like, “hey, i had to do something to put bread on the table…can’t blame me…now the market has changed and i can do better…i’m ready to leave”
that tells an employer that you would do the same thing to them…when the market gets better..no, no…
the way you explain it is like this, “well, i never intended for this job to last so long…it was meant to be a stop gap to put food on the table…however, the people were great and very nice and it seemed to go on a longer time…”
“it really isn’t a career for me and it has dead ended pretty fast…i am not growing personally…they are aware of my situation and understand that i really need to get on with my career with a very challenging opportunity as this one..”
say it humbly..then drop it…ask a new question
…so stupid you won’t believe it
…good candidate..looks like a good track record…i placed him 10 years ago…looks like he has done well since..
he calls…i get him three interviews…one of my clients really likes him…brings him back for follow up interviews…he does well…going to the regional VP for final…
one of the interviewing authorities decides to find him on linkedin…fair enough…my candidate has two differentplaces that he has worked at in the past two years listed on his linkedin profile than is on his resume…
this is so dumb, i couldn’t even make it up…but it is true..
obviously, they drop him…so do i…even after 36 years of doing this, i still find people doing things that is simply can’t believe
…clueless
we had a candidate today that simply casually walked off her job ’cause she just didn’t like the environment…or maybe it was the boss…or maybe she said didn’t like the people she worked with an more…she gave no notice…just told her boss it wasn’t working out and she was leaving..
at any rate, she had been there two years and figured it was simply time to go…left the job as casually as you and i would go to lunch…oh, well…
that was six months ago…she has since been evicted, loosing her car, moving in with family…beside herself about not being able to find a job..mad, angry, upset, sad and depressed
where are people’s heads…do they think that it can’t happen to them…she can’t believe she simply casually walked off that job…she even tried to get it back…now, why would someone hire another back who walked off the job…
…too late for her, but in this market you can’t be that clueless…
…terry mcdonald got a job
…terry…the last guy i worked with on the dr.phil show…see the video on the blog pages…well, he got a job on friday…nine months almost to the day after being out of work..
terry kept trying…went after everything that moved…kept interviewing and inteviwing..setback after setback…but he kept trying …
he simply followed the instructions in the Job Search Solution Program….and kept doing what he needed to do and got a job…OK, less money than he was making a few years ago…but he go a job..
lesson: …it’s out there…the job you need..you need to keep trying and trying and trying…but it’s there
don’t quit…don’t ever quit…
