You hear "You're being let go" - now what? Time to dust off and update the 'ol resume, draft a few versions of a cover letter, scour the job boards, apply online, and connect with and leverage new and existing contacts.
Raise your hand if you've caught yourself saying or emailing something like, "Hello Mr. Hiring Manager. I’m calling about the open sales position that is posted on your website. I have over 10 years experience in sales, account management, and territory management in the manufacturing industry. Based on the job description, I’m a perfect fit and know I would bring value to your team/organization. Can I send you my resume for review and call you next week?"
When you call or email a networking partner, hiring manager, recruiter, or HR rep, they know you need something…a job. In order to shift the power, you must demonstrate that a company needs you. How do you do that?
Don't ask for anything. In today's job market, you have to give to get. Ask questions, do your research,
offer solutions. Due to the economic downturn, companies' hiring practices evolved. Organizations are inundated with 100s of resumes for each open position, so how do you avoid falling into the applicant black hole?
The prevailing prejudice of hiring managers today: "You are just like all the other candidates, competent but nothing special. Good, but not great." What significant skills, knowledge or competencies do you possess? How can you help a company save money, make money, or increase efficiency/productivity? Most importantly, how are you presenting that information to decision makers?
If you don't have an online career portfolio, get one. Based on my experience as a job seeker and hiring manager, a resume if not enough. With CareerScribe (
http://www.careerscribe.com), you can share your story in the most provocative and disruptive ways in order to differentiate and distinguish yourself:
- personalize and share your story in the "About Me" section
- document your accomplishments in the "Career Tracker"
- disrupt hiring prejudices by presenting your solutions in a 1-3 minute video where a hiring manager can experience your communication skills, presentation style, behavior, and personality
Jobs exist because problems exist. When you find a company with a problem, invest the time to create and present your solution(s), and I guarantee you'll get some attention.
GOOD LUCK!
So we've all heard it by now - the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over the same way and expect different results. Yet we all do it.
So after running and doing weights for two years, I haven't seen much of a change in my physique in the last twelve months. But I had been doing the same thing, thinking eventually I'll see different results. Duh. Time to try something new.
So I went to an orienteering meet with a friend this weekend (pause while you all google 'orienteering'). I didn't have the right gear, so I had to invest some time to put toghether the assets I would need to succeed. Then asked my friend a MILLION questions about what to expect, so I would be mentally prepared. Finally, I showed up. Deep breath....
I loved it! What a great workout, escpecially since I was so distracted by my self-preservation insticts to notice the stinging nettles and sweat in my eyes. You know, the thought of trying someting new is often far more fear-invoking than actually DOING something new.
So if you have blasted out 100 resumes with little to no success, are you going to continue a process that has not yielded the result you want, or will you spend the time to create your free online portfolio to improve your Indianapolis job search? And if it seems overwelming, ask us questions, a MILLION if you need to. We're hear to help you succeed (and I promise, no stinging nettles!).
Yesterday I had the unpleasant experience of realizing I set Alarm #2, instead of Alarm #1 on my clock. So 5 seconds after the alarm went off, and I realized it's already 7:30am, when I have an 8:00am meeting, that's 30 minutes away.
The dreaded nightmare of oversleeping.... only to be outdone by the nightmare of showing up to class, and there's a big test that you haven't studied for.
Then the panic and questions set in :
How did this happen?
What could I have done differently?
So now what?
How do I avoid this ever happening again?
All great questions, much like the questions one asks themselves when they find out they are losing their job. This scenario has been playing out all too often over the past year as professionals realize they've made mistakes in managing their careers, and they aren't prepared to market themselves in a competitive job market.
There isn't anything you can do now to change the past, but you can deal with the situation at hand as best you can, and look for better ways to market yourself, such as free online portfolios. Online employee screening is becoming much more popular as a means of candidate sourcing, so if you don't have a professional presence online, you are likely being overlooked for some opportunties.
More importantly, recognize there are habits and skills you can be developing now, so that you aren't in this situation again. Begin developing a career portfolio, and maintain it routinely so you can avoid the panicked feeling of waking up late for your meeting.
When I coach clients through the task of finding new employment or moving ahead in their career, my first question is, "How are you unique?" Very few job seekers answer that question well. And I'll admit, it's tough; we spend so much time trying to fit in to the organizations we belong to, being unique rarely gets a second thought. But as a candidate in the market for a new or better job, it should be your first thought.
Every step of the employment process is potentially fatal - a rotten resume lands you in the trash can, a poorly executed interview drops you from consideration, lackluster follow through and ill managed salary negotiations thwart even the best of candidates. I'm stressed out even writing about it! What is a job seeker to do?
How about thinking and acting like a unique candidate. Present a resume in a non-traditional format - CareerScribe Profile - and start off on the right foot. Embed a resume that laughs at medocrity, shoot a video that screams, "I can think, act, and perform in a way that will bring in a profit," and proactively reach out to potential employers with enough included information to earn an interview. Online emlpoyee screening and applicant tracking sytems are time consuming and often fruitless. Give them something to really sink their teeth into.
And while CareerScribe can't hold your hand in an interview, it can buy you some confidence. Your potential employer, who is focused on effecient and quality hiring, has already met you through your video introduction. That dreaded first impression has already been made, on your terms, so you can relax and foucs on demonstrating your value and expertise.
Don't just send off your resume (yawn) and hope for the best. Send your career profile and knock their socks off when they begin candidate evaluations. Good luck!
If you check out the following link, you'll learn where you could move to quickly find a job:
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/where-struggling-americans-can-find-a-fresh-start.htmlI'll give you a little cheat sheet. The top 5 places for growth, safety, good schools, etc are in Alaska (brrrr), Utah (hot), Washington (rainy), Nebraska (flat), and Iowa (I get corn rash). Now I'm sure the inhabitants of these locations are enamored with their landscape and weather, but as for me, I'd like to stay right here. So if I were looking for a job, I'd have a choice to make - tough it out in the competitive market I'm in, or learn the 100+ words for snow or get a giant tube of Cortaid.
So I'll stay here and tough it out. But to be succesful at that, I'm going to need to stand out the vast sea of job seekers. MY FIRST ACT as a job seeker would be to create a free online portfolio at CareerScribe.com. My Indianapolis job search will be more successful if I can supply employers with more than just a resume. Remember, being noticed is the hardest part of being a candidate. So quit reading this blog, and create your professional portfolio at
www.careerscribe.com!
Have you ever met someone who lacked the experience, but made up for it in enthusiasm, professionalism, and drive? Those candidates are often some of the best hires, but they rarely make it through applicant tracking systems. Level the playing field for quality candidates and ask for CareerScribe Profiles.
Candidates in the Indianapolis job market know how tough it is get in front of the decision makers, especially if they lack one or two qualificaitons. Perhaps there is a sales person who misses the "3-5 years of experience" by 6 months, so your applicant tracking system omits them. But a tenacious, driven rep who is a little green is usually preferred over the guy with 10 yrs of experience in beating the system. On online career portfolio that includes video will help you include those candidate who lack some skill/experience without spending the time, energy, and money to bring them in for an interview.
So I really want to know...do you prefer experience or enthusiasm? Your comments are requested!
It's seems that it has become more and more acceptable to arrive late to a meeting.
I am as guilty as the next person, maybe more, when it comes to showing up on time.... all the time. I find myself easily distracted by "one more call", "one more email", etc. I may have started out with every intention of being 10-15 minutes early, but that last call or task I decided to take on, always seems to make me 3-5 minutes late.
Most of the people I talk with, seem to be ok with being 5-10 minutes late for a meeting, but there are certainly a number of more traditional/"old schoolers", who will significantly devalue you, if for no other reason than you arrived late. This especially seems to be the case in the Indianapolis job search market.
So here are the rules I've established :
1) If you're going to be late, even 1 minute, call or text message the person you are meeting, and let them know you're running a few minutes behind. In return, the person you are meeting should wait with no hard feelings.
2) If you are running more than 10 minutes behind, call and text message if they don't answer. Also send an email because most seem to get emails instantaneously on phones anymore. Be very apologetic, and don't make excuses. Give the person you are meeting the option to reschedule, and expect it if you are running more than 15 minutes behind.
3) Finally, if you are the one waiting, and you haven't received any calls, texts or emails from the person you are supposed to be meeting with. Wait for 10 minutes, try calling them and leave a message. Anything over 15 minutes late, you are free to go with no guilt on your part.
NEVER be late to an interview. Being on time speaks to enthusiasm, organization and planning in the candidate evaluation process. Interviewers will use this to screen employees.
Of course.... I'm writing this blog while I'm waiting on someone that is now nearly 30 minutes late with no call. I think I'll leave!
Just like candidates are trying to get themselves singled out. CareerScribe has been doing the same. With all the innovation in quality hiring and career management, CareerScribe has constantly been put into a small club of sites that revolutionizing the way HR works on every side of the equation. Since no one else has been doing what we do, it's easy to see why we are getting a lot of attention.
Check out this latest blog. After viewing our product and meeting our people, he obviously gets it.
http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2009/06/new-site-for-you-to-check-out.html
Check out even more press in our
news and events section.
I had to share this. People are going to great lenghts, both good and bad to get noticed in today's job market. With an overwhelming candidate pool, companies are posting less jobs because of the impossible-to-manage volume of applications (another area CareerScribe helps, but I digress).
Eric in Austin, TX decided he would standout in a very very expensive way. I'm not sure how familiar you are with billboard advertising, but it's not cheap. Eric decided he would create an online presence, himself, since he's an IT guy, and market it...big time.
No targeting and it's more a PR stunt than anything probably, but hopefully he gets a job. Instead of focusing on a quality online portfolio or targeting jobs that really make sense for him and sharing information in a rich and meaningful way, he bought a billboard.
I hope he finds this blog and contacts me. We at CareerScribe would love to help him market himself, get a great job, and save an annual salary in marketing costs.
I am totally hooked on technology. That's right, hooked. I am not a techie (in fact, I majored in English largely to escape the continually morphing and encroaching gadgets, software, and the like). But now I can appreciate the amazing difference technology, once one embraces it, can have on the quality and efficiency of life.
Those college friends who would have otherwise been scattered like seeds in the wind - Facebook.
Keeping up, in real time, with the latest and greatest - Twitter.
Sharing pictures for download and print on demand (because Grandmas demand it!)- ShutterFly.
Getting intimate access to the daily thoughts and struggles of thought leaders and corporate gurus - Blogging.
And, duh, managing one's career with an easy to use, innovative, and sharable application - CareerScribe.
Do you think that it's strange that you'll manage your friendships (that you would have otherwise let dissolve) with a fervor, but let your career flop around like wet cardboard? Get online, create your free professional portfolio, and get noticed during candidate evaluations. You agonized for hours over which photo to use for your facebook profile, perhaps you should direct some of that energy into managing your career!
For awhile now, I've been telling professionals that doing a good job managing your career is like dieting and excercise. No one can argue that you should be doing it, but unfortunately, our educational system is only now starting to incorporate(require) students to learn some of the very basic skills/habits, such as maintaining a career portfolio as a routine.
State workforce development offices are starting to recognize the importance of these skills. Realizing it's only a bandaid to provide resume services and certain types of training. These things may help the person at the time, but you're not equipping them with skills to help them throughout their career. Professional portfolios are the way to go when it comes to candidate evaluation.
The bad news is, like dieting and excercise, many of the career management skills and habits being taught to professionals with 5-10+ years of experience, likely won't stick. The employment pool has been so negatively reinforced with their habits, i.e. "I only update my resume when I'm unhappy or been told I'm going to lose my job", that it's very tough to unlearn that way of thinking, and realize the good career management habits can be fun. Documenting your successes and accomplishments, which ultimately creates more value and can help you further your career, should be fun. If you own a house, doesn't it make you feel good when the house has been freshly painted, you've planted flowers, mulched and just mowed the lawn? All these things add value, and you feel that inside.
Hopefully, the current employment market issues will translate into long term changes to our education system and the services our tax dollars provide through regional workforce offices.
I'll admit, I hesitated for a moment to join twitter - but I'm glad that moment has passed. I'm following Chuck Gillespie, and I recently viewed a tweet that stated, "Amazed at how orgs worry about their applicant experience ten times more than employee experience. Why?" (http://crgillespie.wordpress.com) OMG, LOL!
But it's true, right? Firms wine and dine potential, but neglect assets? You'll knock yourself out to create a quality hiring process, spend countless hours screening potential employees, and endure long meetings to discuss candidate evaluations. But once you have found your golden boy, he's just another cog in the works.
Create an experience that's meaningful and lasting for candidates on both sides of the process. Those who want in should create a professional portfolio through CareerScribe so your evaluation is effecient and successful. Once that candidate is on board, they utilize that same application to create an on-going talent mangagement system that allows you to easily recognize and promote high performing employees. In the end, you're creating an environment that's attractive to people inside and outside of your organization.
Tweet, tweet.
I have never met a manager who looked forward to a layoff. Unfortunately, it's an all too common occurrence these days. Every manager searches for the kindest words, right approach, or best justification when delivering the news, but it's tough to find anything that feels adequate. Losing a job has been likened to going through divorce, and managers know what hardships may lay ahead for ex-employees. But many employers are doing their best to soften the blow.
Career coaches and outplacement firms are contracted by employers to aid recently severed employees in getting a leg up on other job seekers. Professionally written resumes, interview coaching, networking strategies, and professional document creation are typical components of the service. Good start, but something is missing - a comprehensive, on-line, value driven, accomplishment laden, job preference identifying career portfolio.
Consider using outplacement/career coaching firms as partners in a layoff, and ask them to include CareerScribe in their curriculum. An on-line professional portfolio will go a long way in helping candidates obtain their next position, and will be a permanent asset to them. As previous employees move forward in their search, they can use these career portfolios to present immediate value and stand out in candidate evaluations.
As a previous career coach, I can tell you those services are the hope and motivation that is absent for so many job seekers. Including CareerScribe brings tangible value to a much needed, and greatly appreciated, service.
I attended an unconference today sponsored by Catalist Jobs (catalistjobs.com) where experts (including our own Jeff Bockelman) spoke to candidates regarding strategies to a successful job search. So I was curious, does the information being given to your potential candidates match up with what companies are saying they want?
yes and no.
There was a consistent message of uniqueness, creativity, and professionalism in the tone and content of today's speakers. And companies say they want a stand out candidate to fill the position. But are companies utilizing opportunities in candidate evaluation, beyond just an applicant tracking system, to screen employees and get the result they are looking for? Not unless they're using CareerScribe.
A resume is a good start, but it's just a start. If someone handed you a yearbook and asked you to pick a spouse, you'd laugh, right? But you'll get about as much info from a yearbook as you will a resume. A general understanding of the person, but hardly enough info to make a smart commitment. Ask for more.
Ask for a professional portfolio through CareerScribe. This online employee employee screening tool brings you a giant, efficient step forward in the commitment of hiring an new employee, teammate, bottom-line impacter!
Give candidates the (mutually beneficial) opportunity to present themselves in a unique, creative, and professional way.
Here's some copy from the official press release. Nice.
ExactTarget, which plans to hire more than 100 additional new associates this year, will initially use CareerScribe to evaluate technical candidates for its Solutions Consulting Group.
“We’re excited to be working with ExactTarget and to provide them with a powerful method that will considerably reduce the amount of time spent evaluating and pursuing the most qualified candidates,” said Jeff Bockelman, founder and president of CareerScribe. “I know from experience how much time can be invested during the first round of the hiring process. As a professional recruiter, I spent hours upon hours interviewing individuals who I knew within the first few minutes of meeting were not going to be right for the position. That is one of the reasons we founded CareerScribe.”
In addition to recruiting resources, CareerScribe’s platform also provides companies with tools to simplify the performance management process for their current employees. Employees can catalogue their current skill sets, goals and track day-to-day accomplishments via CareerScribe’s exclusive CareerTracker tool. The tool provides employees with an online career journal to highlight major career accomplishments, upload supporting documents and store the information on visual timelines. At the end of the year, the journal provides both employees and managers rich documentation on accomplishments, making data compilation for performance reviews easier.
“CareerScribe provides yet another resource for us to leverage to build our team,” said Todd Richardson, ExactTarget’s vice president of human resources and risk management. “The technology gives us additional tools to interact with candidates across the country.”
As I was reading the entire internet, I came across an interesting article on msn.com from CareerBuilder.
The article was about how you should format your resume and put certain keywords in there that will help you be found. They weren't suggesting you lie, but they were highlighting a serious problem with their software.
They search resumes. As we know by now, things have changed and we are not our resumes. CareerBuilder obviously agrees with this. How did they fix it? They decided, let's help our users make our search better. Instead they should be telling people to use tools that help them market themselves better. Using tools like virtual portfolios in their job search allow companies improve candidate sourcing without relying on keyword tricks.
Quality hiring has been a hot topic for companies since the dawn of time. Many are using sophisticated tools to help with their online employee screening. Candidates need to realize this and start using the same tools to better define what they want and what they have to offer.
Resume "keywords" aren't going to cut it.
I recently was involved on a panel for the local HR association, and was pleasantly surprised by the level of interest they seem to have in social media and the future of candidate sourcing.
I've experienced a lot of apprehension on the part of HR professionals in recent years to the uses of social spaces, video job interviews, etc. to screen employees. Many have used it for quite a while, many are just beginning to use it more, and still many act as if it is just a passing fad.
Concerns about discrimination claims seem to top the list of concerns around the risks of such tools and processes, but I feel the issue is one more of fear. Fear of change, fear of new technology and processes that have seemed to take place overnight. Just 5 years ago, no one was talking about videos, tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn. Let alone the cataclysmic changes that have taken place in the past 6-12 months, which have forced millions of people into the web social world.
3-5 years might as well be overnight in the HR world, when many of the recruitment processes and underlying fundamentals have remained essentially the same for 20 years.
However, I have seen many positive things in the past few months that lead me to believe the HR profession will embrace these changes as a whole. However, there will always be a pocket of people praying it all goes away!
So I was reading my yahoo email and this teaser caught my eye:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090506/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_world_s_best_jobPretty amazing. In short, this guy submits one of 35,000 video applications to be the "caretaker"of an island off Australia and write a blog to promote the area. Skill assesments included swimming, eating, and relaxing. I'm now consdering a change in career - Professional Relaxer.
Seriously, though, how in the world do you fill the best job in the world (this lucky Aussie will pull down six digits this year)? It's hard enough to fill jobs here in the Indianapolis area with all the hopeful applicants who apply.
In a phrase, ONLINE EMPLOYEE SCREENING. Notice the story does not indicate that resumes were requested, but online videos were mandatory. This Queensland organization knew whoever they choose needed to represent them well, be well spoken, have a great personality, and strong writing skills. And make sure you check out the picture of this guy - obviously there were not looking for just another pretty face!
That's why CareerScribe is such a great choice when you consider improving your process for quality hiring. Asking candidates to complete their free online porfolio, which gives you the opportunity to conduct candidate evalutations earlier in the process, can make your hires quicker (fewer face to face interview with dud candidates), more in-depth (you already have good understanding of their background, expectations, preferences, etc), and ultimately more successful (better information, better hiring success).
So even if your open position does not require long hours by the pool, it is
someone's "best job in the world." Make sure you find them - the right person, not just a warm body.
I saw this great article about folks looking for a job leveraging the power of a video job interview.
Check it out:
http://bit.ly/JbRQRHere's a quote from the article.
“Of all the 55 or so applications we received, Ryan's was the only one who had a video resume attached,” says Jossie Orense, who was an assistant to the dean at the time he applied for the job. The video resume definitely helped get him in the door, she says. “It was our first time to ever receive a video link, we were curious about what he had to say.”
The time for sharing video as a position / candidate evaluation tool is certainly at hand. Now add to that the ability for candidates to share their online
professional portfolio with prospective employers. It really changes much of what we know about conducting a job search, for the candidate and for the company. And for candidates ... it's free.
Here's a final quote from the article, “I can’t say I got the job because of it, but I think it made me seem more legit."
No question about it.
So, I just met with a client who is now using CareerScribe in three distinct ways.
Numero Uno | Candidate Evaluation
Despite the current economic conditions, this company is hiring. Lots. There method prior to CareerScribe was quite conventional. Lots of resumes. Hours of phone interviews, most ending without enthusiasm. They are now working alongside their current applicant tracking system to invite all promising candidates to connect with their open positions via CareerScribe. Now they've got 5X the information on all interested candidates and plan to review the candidates' professional portfolios as a team ... before the synchronous phone call.
Numero Dos | Intern Assessment
This organization is actively employing interns over the summer and intentionally giving them a comprehensive, working tour of the organization. Their asking all of the interns participating in this program to build their profiles on CareerScribe. This will give hiring managers throughout the company a deep sense of the interns' accomplishments and where they may fit best in the company in the long run.
Numero Tres | Internal Performance
One group within the organization is asking all of their individual contributors to track their accomplishments on a week by week basis in CareerScribe. At the end of the year, the manager will have all of the detail and insight necessary on each individual.Performance reviews and merit increase conversations will be very informed.
Wow. Pretty Cool.
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