Are You an ‘Aspirin’ or ‘Vitamin’ to Employers?

By J.T. O’Donnell
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121009124325-7668018-aspirin-vs-vitamin-which-job-seeker-are-you?_mSplash=1

Yesterday, in a group coaching session, I had a heart-to-heart with one of our new members. She explained, in spite of glowing recommendations and lots of supportive friends and family telling her how great she is, deep down, she questioned if they were all lying to her. Why? She’s been looking for work for 18 months and can’t seem to get anyone to interview her, let alone, hire her. I asked her what qualities she was showcasing when she networked and met with potential hiring managers. She said, “I share with them all the important ones, like the fact that I’m resourceful, upbeat, hard-working, organized, and efficient.” To which I said, “Those sound like vitamins to me.” And employers don’t buy vitamins today. They buy aspirin. Let me explain…

You Get Hired to Alleviate Pain

There is only one major reason a candidate gets hired for a job: The hiring manager has a problem and the candidate is seen as the one that can solve it the best. Which means your goal as a job seeker is to showcase how you will be the hiring manager’s aspirin for their pain. Being “resourceful, upbeat, hard-working, organized, and efficient” are all qualities hiring managers naturally expect from an employee. They are like vitamins, they keep future pain away. However, it’s the aspirin which stops acute pain – and, my friends, makes aspirin always perceived as worth more to the employer.

Translation: You need to differentiate from all the other vitamins (a.k.a. job seekers) out there by showing how you solve problems to alleviate a hiring manager’s pain. In short, BE THE ASPIRIN!

Here are three steps you can take to do that effectively.

Step 1: Identify the Symptoms

To start, you need to look at what problems hiring managers in need of your skill sets are having today. This requires some research. You must figure out what is causing the need to hire someone, and more importantly, what will happen if they don’t find the right person to alleviate the pain. Once you do that, you can start to tailor your personal brand to showcase how you solve those problems.

Step 2: Be Proactive in Dispensing Your Aspirin

The next step is to reach out to hiring managers directly to inquire if they are currently experiencing these types of problems. You want to start a dialog around their pain so you can introduce the fact that you are the aspirin. Think about it: If you are the one who reaches out about the pain and has the solution, don’t you think the hiring manager is going to be inclined to check out what you have to offer?

Step 3: Keep Your Aspirin Within Arm’s Reach

Even if the hiring managers you speak with aren’t currently in pain, they most likely will be at some point in the future. Your job is to stay in touch with them regularly so they remember you are the aspirin. The goal is to use a simple job search technique that lets you share some value with them on a small scale as a way to showcase to the employer your pain-relieving skills. It’s the ideal way to earn their trust so when the pain finally hits them; you are the first person they contact.

Struggling to Determine What Pain You Relieve? Get Help

If you feel like you are struggling to determine what problems you solve for employers, then I strongly suggest you get some help. Knowing what pain you alleviate is vital to being able to identify employers who will appreciate you. The alternative is to blindly apply to jobs and hope they see you as the aspirin – a long shot at best. Why not get clear on your value and start showing employers your true abilities as a problem-solver. Not only will you find being the aspirin to their pain a real confidence-booster to your self-esteem (who doesn’t like being the aspirin?), you’ll also increase the chances they take you up on your offer to make them feel better.

10 Foolish Résumé Mistakes That Could Cost You the Job

By: Jeanette Mulvey, BusinessNewsDaily Managing Editor
Source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2286-resume-mistakes.html

Foolish Mistakes

Creating a résumé may seem relatively simple, but you might be surprised by some of the things hiring managers say are big no-no’s on résumés. They say they see these mistakes all the time.Here are their tips on how to avoid making a fool of yourself the next time you send out a résumé.

Too many details

Details you can leave out, according to Nancy Shuman, chief marketing officer at Lloyd Staffing, include multiple phone numbers (one is good, preferably a cell with a professional sounding greeting), reference names and contacts, salary by position, and addresses of companies or schools. Shuman said employers can always ask for this data later.

Distracting facts

“Know the line between good information and too much information,” said Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs, a job service site for finding flexible employment. “I once had a candidate apply for a job, and listed on his résumé under ‘Awards & Honors’ was ‘Pig Wrestling Champion – multiple wins in the large pig division.’ This information, while it did most definitely differentiate the candidate, wasn’t in the least related to the job at hand, and was more of a distraction than a positive addition to his application.”

A photo

“Many people make the mistake of adding a photo of themselves to their résumé, thinking that their good looks will help get them an interview,” said Brooke Bakalar Sloane of marketing agency GolinHarris. “However, a company legally cannot consider your picture in determining whether or not you are qualified for a position, and thus many companies immediately discard résumés with photos.”

Foolish fonts

“Using Comic Sans, Papyrus or any other cheesy font screams ‘I don’t know what I’m doing,’” said Garry Polmateer, principal, information strategy company, Red Argyle.

Cute email addresses

Inappropriate or “cutesy” email addresses, are a no-no, say Kyra Mancine and Stacey Bershod of catalog company QCI Direct. “Get an email address that is professional to put on the top of your résumé,” they write. “Seeing ‘loverboy22@hotmail.com’ or whatever is not going to win you any points in the job search.”

Odd hobbies

“Don’t put strange hobbies or interests on your résumé,” said Kevin Spence, president of Career Thoughts, a career guidance website. “There are better ways to show off your individuality. I once had an applicant who mentioned on his résumé that he was a marionette and knife collector. Those may both be legitimate hobbies, but my ‘serial-killer alarm’ went off. He may have been qualified for the position, but he didn’t get a call back.”

Elementary school

“I don’t think you should put your elementary school on your résumé,” said Elaine Simon, assistant manager at EFA Diamonds. “Of course, I am interested in any college degrees a candidate may have, as well as any vocational training.”

Too much blank space

“I’m not saying to make it so wordy and crowded that it looks like a newspaper, but having a résumé that is only half a page tells me that you don’t have enough job and/or life experiences,” said Brenna Smith, founder and CEO of SheNOW. “Even if you’ve never had a job, you should at least have volunteer work, extracurricular activities, leadership positions, etc. Don’t submit a résumé showing only your objective and education.”

A second page

“One should not have a second page unless it’s simply listing references or is something that provides an example of what the résumé itself references,” said Sean Smith, president of advertising agency Third Street. “If you can’t get your résumé down to one page, it sends a message that you lack the ability to communicate in a succinct manner – which is becoming increasingly crucial in our bullet-point, social media world.”

“….a note from the keeper of the IB alumni blog….I’m not sure I really believe this to be true. Someone with 20+ years of work experience may not be able to fit all the details on one page”

Careless inaccuracies

“Take great care to get work dates, titles and responsibilities consistent and correct,” advises Patrick Lynch, president of career consulting firm The Frontier Group. “I have seen clients who have had inconsistencies between their résumé and LinkedIn cause them issues when interviewing. I have also seen the worst-case scenario where a job offer was rescinded because one of the candidate’s job titles was not corroborated by their past employer.”

Approach Your Job Search Like a Salesman

by Maro Onokpise

Sales is one of, if not the hardest professions that you can ever get into.  I’m dating myself here, but I remember when I was a kid, we would get visited by the Encyclopedia salesman.

I know some reading this might be wondering what an encyclopedia is.  For the novice, it was basically an alphabetized bounded paper version of the internet.  Regardless of what line of sales you are in, it can be equal parts challenging and rewarding.

There are endless books on the topic of selling or how to become a better salesman.  As someone that’s worked in sales for a number of years, sales comes down to relationship building.  People buy from people they like.  As a job seeker you are always in sale or marketing mode.  What you’re selling is yourself and what you can bring to a potential employer.  If you haven’t worked in sales before, this is going to feel a little uncomfortable at first, but with a little practice and repetition you’ll get the hang of it.

Here’s how you can approach your job search like a salesman

Think Really Big

Whether you’re attending a job fair, interview or networking event, you have to approach each meeting confident that you are the one that they need.  You are the individual that is going to help them solve a problem that they have.  The best sales people are the ones that work closely with their customers to highlight pain points and offer solutions to help them.

Be a people person

The difference between the job seekers that land jobs quickly than anyone else is they have a knack of building rapport just as easy as taking their next breath.  Good salespeople go out of their way to know their clients.  They send a follow up email or call to check in once a week.  You can do the same thing.  Keep in mind that your rapport building are the building blocks to lead you to a job opportunity.  When you follow up with a potential employer, talk about anything else other than job opportunities.  You may be in sales mode, but it shouldn’t be overt. Be different.

Be honest

There are going to be instances along your job search where you’ll be asked a question that you may not feel comfortable answering.  Regardless of the answer, you should be 100% honest.  Being honest from the beginning will help you in the long run.  The trust that you build will be priceless as you establish yourself as a person of integrity.

Related Post: The Best Way to Answer “Yes” to Have you Ever Been Fired?

Sweat the small stuff 

Great sales people have the same drive and passion for all of their accounts regardless of how big or small they are.  Put the same emphasis and enthusiasm in ALL job opportunities that come your way.

Refuse to Lose

Go all out and make it difficult for a recruiter or hiring manager to turn you down for an opportunity.  You have to be aggressive and show the organization that not hiring you is a huge mistake.

Keep things loose and fun

Searching for a job or changing careers is hard enough as it is. Treat your job search like a sport and make sure that you are the best damn athlete on the field!  Then and only then will employers ask if you can play on their team.  The best athletes of our time seem to be having the most fun.  They make it look effortless.

Related Post: From Job Search to Employment in 10 Steps

Source: http://jobtrakr.com/2012/02/06/approach-your-job-search-like-a-salesman

5 Questions You Should be Asking Your Interviewer

By Maro Onokpise

The part of the interview that could determine whether or not you’re going to move on in the process or not is when the interviewer asks you if you have any questions.  I’ve been hearing from a lot of hiring managers and recruiters that they are amazed at the amount of people that don’t have any questions.

This is the opportune time to make one final impression on a potential employer. Unfortunately, a lot of job seekers aren’t taking advantage of the last 5-10 minutes of the interview to stand out.  The key to a great interview isn’t always about how well you answered questions, a lot also has to do with the questions you ask.

I have to draw a distinction between asking relevant questions and asking questions just for the sake of asking them.  You may not get the opportunity to ask as many questions as you would like, so it’s a great idea to have some questions prepared that you can refer to once that time comes.  To get clarity around the role that you’re interviewing for, and to give you the best chance at success, you’ll want to get answers to the following questions:

Why is the role open?

Is this a newly created role or has someone left or been promoted.  It’s always interesting to hear why a role has become available.  If it’s due to someone moving up within the company, that’s a great sign of what could be for you.  If the previous employee left the company all together, you probably should find out why so you have a better idea as to what you’re getting yourself into

What challenges does the interviewer see in the role?

It’s a good idea to get the interviewer to talk about the challenges versus the problems with a position.  It shows that you are looking at things with a positive lens.  Some challenges may be structural, while others may have to do with a gap in abilities and the responsibilities of the position.  Either way, it’s best to find out which if you plan on succeeding.

What are the firms expectations

If these haven’t been covered during the course of your interview, ask this question directly.  In addition to the long term success of the role, you want to find out what the firm plans on doing to stay ahead of the competition.  I’ve worked at places where we relied on our name alone and stood by while our biggest competitors innovated and ultimately took market share.

Be careful how you pose this question.  The interviewer may not know the answer, and you don’t want to scare them off.  Use this opportunity to see how the company defines success and what success in this role means to them.

What are the priorities?

You need to have a firm understanding of what your priorities are.  If anything major is going to go wrong, it’ll probably go wrong within the first 90 days on the job.  Get an idea as to what their onboarding process is and if you will have to travel for any initial training.

Are you the right person for the job

If you feel that that the interview is going really well, this the question that you want the answer to!  Don’t ask this question too directly.  If you ask too directly, you could get a vague answer.  You need to express your interest and enthusiasm about the opportunity and ask if there are any reasons that would prevent them from moving forward with you.  Hopefully there aren’t any, but if there are any reservations, you want the opportunity to show the interviewer that you are more than capable of doing the job.

Source: http://jobtrakr.com/2012/01/25/5-questions-you-should-be-asking-your-interviewer/