…i can’t believe it
..top flight candidate…successful everywhere he has ever been…earned close to $1 million a couple of times…
goes to an interview i get him and call the receptionist “sweetie“… unbelievable…cost him the opportunity for the job..
twenty years ago, that would have been OK…not great, but OK…but it won’t work today..
never, ever be condescending, flirty, cutesie…anything but business…what a screw-up
…spring break
..one of my candidates has been out of work for three months…i get him a very rare inteview and he tells me he can’t go because he has to go on spring break with his kids..
they are planning a trip to san antonio for a week and he just can’t go….
now, keep in mind that he is almost broke..or so he says…desperately needs a job….and he is missing an interview to go on spring break….
can’t he join his family after the interview…or go down and come back for it???
where did our society get this attitude…maybe that is why he has been out of work for three months..
i’ve been doing this since 1973 and have seen ’bout everything…and am pretty understanding about most things
but i will never get this approach to finding a job….
i know i’m old…but when i was a kid, “spring break” was Good Friday, you got off from school so you could go to work at your part-time job…
….those on linkedin
interesting…one of my candidates invited me to join his connections on linkedin…i did..
his boss, also in my candidate’s connections, saw that my candidate added me…his boss confronted him as to why he would all of a sudden invite a well known recruiter into his connections…i.e…”you looking for a job?”
my candidate was a bit stunned…his boss had a point..
so, best think about who is in your connections..or maybe, when you add them..
…changing the titles on your resume
the titles of “account manager…regional manager…vice president…director..” and we can go on…can all be misleading..
can’t tell you the number of times that one of my candidates is passed up for an interview because the hiring authority misjudges their duties and responsiblities because of the candidate’s title…
any time the word “manager” is in the title you run the risk of being overlooked as an individual contributor because, after all, you have been “managing” other people…
lesson: don’t hesitate to change the titles on your resume if they are not very clear as to what you have done…
don’t give me that, “well, tony, that was (is) my title and i can’t help it if it keeps me from getting an interview”… unless, of course, you don’t want to get many interviews…
i’m not saying to lie..i am saying to make sure the titles on your resume help you get the interviews you need…
…doing something for the less fortunate
i know things may not be going so well for you…in a lousy job..not making enough…or out of work for a long time…having to file bankruptcy…can’t even get good interviews…
along with being grateful, praying and listening to positive stuff try doing something for someone less fortunate than you…and yes, there is someone…probably lots of “someones” who are less fortunate than you…
find ’em…do something for them..completely outside of yourself..listen, really listen to their problems and, for a moment, forget your own..
volunteer …and if you don’t think you have time for that..you really do and you know it…you can go to the soup kitchen and feed the hungry one hour a week..
clean up the alley…there are thousands of things you can do…the more you do for those less fortunate, the more will come back to you in other ways
…keeping motivated
when the news sucks, like it does, and you are either out of work or anxiously looking for a job while you have one, it is easy to get down…some even get depressed
so many folks today have never had to look for a job or haven’t seen such a difficult job market..
the first thing to do is to take massive action toward looking for a new job…but one of the most important things you can do is to read motivational books, listen to motivational tapes and CD’s, pray, feed the spirit and stay around positive people..
the world is a negative place…blame adam and eve or anyone you wish, but the world is simply negative…there is much joy, beauty and awe, but life on this earth is plain old difficult…even in the best of times…we are born crying and childbirth is painful
we have to be constantly “overlaying” the negative…one of the downsides to “job search groups” is the principle of “confirmation bias”…we look for things to confirm our bias…so if we are sad and poor we look for others that are sad and poor, then justify our thoughts and feelings by saying, “see, everyone is sad and poor”..
so, constantly overlay the negative…your car radio should be loaded with tapes and CD’s…quit listening to the (bad) news.. be reading tons of positive books…be around positive, up beat people…stay motivated, emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally…this takes a lot of work to do, but it really makes a difference
