Why You Aren't Getting Hired - Excelle

Trouble finding a job?

Hamsa Ramesha | Excelle

Frustrated by unemployment?

Job hunting is tricky business. Getting hired is a subtle mix of the right qualifications, enough experience, interview chemistry, and a dash of luck. Assuming you’re making all the right moves and avoiding the really obvious job seeker mistakes, there are a few points to consider that could be your ticket out of unemployment.

Get out of your job search rut and back in the game by fixing these five mistakes you might be making:

1. Job Description

Read it. Do you meet every qualification listed? If you think you can get away by not having that extra few years of experience or make do without the requested higher degree, think again. Job descriptions are a baseline for hiring managers. With so many job applicants, recruiters are naturally going to pick the best of the best, and that means you’ve got to meet every single one of the job requirements, at the very least. But that doesn’t mean you should give up, either. If you find yourself not meeting a certain job requirement time after time, do something about it! Nothing shows dedication like taking action.

2. Word Play

It’s not enough to have a clean resume free of grammar and spelling errors; you’ve got to go that extra mile. No matter how amazing your resume looks, everything lies in the words. If the hiring manager has to decipher your resume jargon, don’t expect a call back. Phrase your resume with the right keywords. Use powerful words that imply action and sell your experiences by highlighting specific achievements and accomplishments. The right keywords are your key to getting your resume on top of the pile.

3. Job Search Tactics

Browsing through the classifieds? Going through Human Resources? Looking at company websites for job leads? One reason your job search may have hit a dead end is because your methods are outdated. Get with the 21st century and go online! The right social network can connect you directly with the job you want. Use Twitter to find jobs in your field and LinkedIn to maintain your connections. Spread yourself out and try something new — you never know which method will work!

4. Not The Right Fit

There is no perfect recipe to getting hired. You could do everything right — dress your best, arrive on time, and come fully prepared — and still not get the job. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of personality or a clash with the unstated corporate culture. At this point, qualifications don’t matter. It’s the sad truth — and completely legal. One consolation: It’s not you, it’s them.

5. Lady Luck

You’d think if you did everything right you’d be guaranteed a job. But job hunting isn’t always like an equation where the right steps will guarantee you the right answer. Lady Luck can play her hand and leave you in the dust. The position might go to another, equally qualified, candidate, or the timing will simply be off. Family restrictions may prevent you from taking the job or the company simply can’t afford to hire you right now. The best thing you can do in a situation like this is thank your contact for their time and keep that relationship alive. You just may be the person they call for their next opening!

6. High Expectations

It’s one thing to stay positive about your job outlook, and another to have false hopes about your prospects. Are you aiming at jobs out of your league? Expecting a certain salary range or health benefits? We’d all love to work at our dream job, but we take the job that’s good enough — because it is. Ask yourself what you’re willing to give up to get a job. Be honest with yourself. Changing your mindset can broaden your job search results drastically. You may find yourself on a regular payroll faster than you think!

via excelle.monster.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

How to Write a Cover Letter That Captures Your Future Boss’ Attention!

The key to writing a cover letter that is sure to capture the attention of your future boss or company is to write it yourself. I’m pretty sure that after reading that first line, you’re already debating to yourself that you’re not a writer and you do not have a clue on what to write. Don’t be too hard on yourself, because everything that is needed to create a good cover letter is right there in your head – you just need to know how to tap into that hidden gift.

Know what you want

The first thing that you need to do before writing your cover letter is to know what you want. Here are some good questions you should be asking yourself before you apply for a job:

- What type of job or industry to do I want to work in?

- Why do I like that job or industry?

- Do I have the skills for the job?

Once you know the answers to these questions, writing a cover letter and even answering your interviewer’s questions will be incredibly easy for you, because you aren’t confused and you have given enough thought to what you are doing.

Know what you’re selling

Any good sales person will tell you that you cannot promote a product that you know little about. Now, what exactly is it that you are selling? Yourself, of course! You are trying to convince your prospective employer that you have what they need! Yes, you may know a lot about yourself, but your buyer doesn’t! This is precisely why you should tailor fit the product (you) for the buyers (your future employer). You can do this by reading through the job description intently and ensuring that your resume is updated.

Personalize It!

Once you have figured out what you want and what it is you’re going to pitch to your prospective employer, it is now time for you to write. You can refer to templates and samples so you know what flow or format to use. The important thing is that you are conveying the message that you want to send to your employers.

Get a second opinion

Even if you are a brilliant writer, it’s still important for you to get a second opinion or another’s opinion when it comes to the work you have done. This is why you should have a friend or relative who is good at writing have a look before thinking of mailing it out.

They will not only help you with the spelling and grammar, but they can also provide you with their opinion regarding the mood and tone of the cover letter. By Chris L Maloney – view samples here.

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• Your Resume Should Look Like a Marketing Brochure – Five Tips to Improve Yours
• Write a Resume For Results – The Cover Letter is Critical!
• Put Some fever in Your Cover Letters
• Cover Letters – The Icing on the Cake
• Brand It, Sell It, Win it – What Makes You Different?
• Cover Letter No-No’s
• Great Cover Letters Are More Effective With Deeper Research
• 7 Cover Letter Mistakes You Make When Applying Via E-Mail

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via employmentdigest.net

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Entrepreneurs and Personal Branding | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

On my personal blog I wrote an article about how my entrepreneur friend has struggled in the job search. She wore a lot of hats at her old company and her resume demonstrated that. Unfortunately, companies aren’t looking to hire an “entrepreneur.” They are looking to hire a “sales manager,” “business development manager,” “marketing manager,” and so forth.

I feel a lot of entrepreneurs, myself included, struggle to develop their personal brand when applying for a job. While entrepreneurs feel they need to list every accomplishment and everything thing they do – it’s just quite simply not relevant when applying for a specific job. Therefore, I’ve created a list of items any entrepreneur must do to help develop their personal brand.

Developing your personal brand

1. Pick a desired skillset and stick with it.

You’re an entrepreneur. You’ve been involved with 15 to 20 different projects at your company. Now, it’s time to pick the task you enjoyed the most and begin making a career out of it.

Think about what you excelled in at your company. Think back to your success at the organization – where did you have the biggest impact? And most importantly – what did you enjoy doing? You’re an entrepreneur – you have fun in business. If you’re going to be switching away from being your own boss to having your own boss – make sure you choose a job function you enjoy.

2. Have your resume focus on the specific skillset you chose.

After reflecting on your life as an entrepreneur, you decided that you are a sales professional. You enjoyed all the other disciplines, but realized that your best contributions to your business was in sales. Great! Now your resume should focus on all your sales accomplishments.

You can have one bullet point containing all of your other entrepreneurial activities at your company. After that, the rest of your bullet points should be related to your sales work. Talk about creating a sales plan. Talk about how you managed the sales process. Talk about what you looked for when you hired other sales team members.

This is the part of the process where the prospective employers see that a large part of your entrepreneurial success was due to your sales skills. They begin to see how your sales skills can explicitly benefit their organization.

3. Begin a blog.

You’re an entrepreneur! You enjoy building things. Here’s another project to start: a blog on the certain skillset you choose. For this example, if you are going down the route as a “sales professional,” it’s time to start writing a blog about running sales in a startup. Talk about the different challenges you faced. Talk about the experiences of running a startup’s sale organization.

Your blog will serve as the first way you rebrand yourself from “entrepreneurial superstar” to “entrepreneurial sales superstar”. By writing blog articles that demonstrate your sales acumen, you will begin to shed the image that you are an “entrepreneur who wears many hats” and begin to develop the image that you are “an entrepreneur, who is used to wearing many hats, who succeeds at sales.”

4. Update your social media profiles.

You should update the descriptions on all your social media profiles to reflect your new sales professional personal brand. Your Linkedin headline should reflect your new brand, saying something along the lines of “Experienced and entrepreneurial sales professional.” Your Twitter handle should make mention to your previous life as an entrepreneur and your new life as a sales professional.

On Linkedin, you should request recommendations that mention your specific skillset. If a prospective employer is on the fence about you, they will go to your Linkedin profile for more “clues” about you. If they go on to your Linkedin profile and see a couple of recommendations that explicitly mention your skills in sales – that could be the factor that tips the scales in your favor.

On the other side, if they go on to your profile and see people recommending you for everything BUT your sales skills, that could cause some doubt.

5. Write a case study or guest blog article.

As a final way to establish credibility on your chosen niche and to further establish your personal brand, you should write a case study detailing a specific sales story/example at your startup and how you overcame any obstacles. If you are guest published on a well known sales blog, it’ll help establish your credibility. On your resume, you can include a section on your published work. This would count as third party validation of your abilities.

In the end, you’ll always be branded as an entrepreneur. But, if you are serious about working for someone, you need to be able to prove you can focus on one or two specific job functions and you’ll need to be able to demonstrate how your history as an entrepreneur puts you above others who have may have more experience performing their one or two specific job functions. Working on your personal brand will get you to that level.

Guest Author:

Ben Cathers is a young entrepreneur and author who successfully built three different internet startups before he was 19.  Ben is the author of Conversations with Teen Entrepreneurs and was named in 2005 by CNN as a member of “America’s Bright Future.”  Ben has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, FOX News, ABC News, CBS News, Yahoo! Internet Life, The London Sunday Times and in over 40 different publications.  Ben maintains a blog on social media and entrepreneurship at BenCathers.com and is on the advisory board of BranchR.com, ZepFrog Corp and iGot2Know LLC.

via personalbrandingblog.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Beware of the Too-Long Resume - Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters Tips Blog

Resume is too long. While there is no consensus among employers and recruiters about resume length, most feel one page is too short. Maureen Crawford Hentz, manager of talent acquisition, development and compliance at Osram Sylvania, Boston MA, particularly disdains “abbreviated or ‘teaser’ resumes” that urge the recruiter, “for more information, call me.” Many recruiters believe that two pages is about the right length; for some, three pages is the outside limit that they will read. “If the resume is longer than two pages, it needs to be well worth it,” noted Hentz’s colleague at Osram Sylvania, Harlynn Goolsby. Others question executives’ ability to prioritize if their resumes are longer than two pages.

Since recruiters pass candidate resumes on to client employers, they must also consider employer preferences. “Most of my clients profess that they are too busy to read anything lengthier — thus, I deliver what they require,” said Chris Dutton, director at Intelligent Recruitment Services and Owner, Intelligent IT Recruitment, Manchester, UK. Recruiter opinions about resume length have been colored in recent years by the growing practice of reading resumes on a computer screen rather than printing them. Resumes that might seem too long in print are acceptable on screen.

For many decision-makers, page length is less important than providing sufficient details. “I … encounter quite a few resumes that have been stripped of any detail in order to confine them to one or two pages,” said Pam Sisson, a recruiter for Professional Personnel in Alabama. “My immediate response is to ask for a more detailed resume. A resume that’s three or four pages but actually shows the qualifications and experience necessary for a position is much preferred, in my opinion, to one that has cut out all the substance to meet some passe idea of a one-page resume.” John Kennedy, senior IT recruiter at Belcan, agreed: “Resume length is of very little importance so long as the information is accurate, verifiable, and pertinent to the position. If a candidate has 20 years of experience directly relating to the position being applied for and that experience is verifiable, it should be listed even if the resume goes four-plus pages.”

via resumesandcoverletters.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

5 Easy Steps to Finding Passion | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

Many people, particularly as they accumulate years of work experience, find they have a growing desire to put passion into their life and career. My observation about why this takes place is that as we grow in life experiences a lot of the excitement or “newness” diminishes. We simply have been there and done that enough that our threshold for what will rock our world continues to go up. It’s increasingly harder to get that same level of excitement.

As we recognize that this element of excitement is missing, it can trigger us to go in search of something we can feel passionate about. We often look around us seeing others in careers that bring them incredible joy – something they are passionate about – and we want that same feeling for ourselves. We remember how it feels to have something in our lives that consumes our thoughts and makes the hours flow quickly. The biggest issue with going in search of your life and career passion is: HOW do you discover your passion?

All too many people think that your passion just comes to you like a thunderbolt from the heavens. In other words, we think for some people it just magically appears. This leaves the rest of us to feel unlucky because the magic hasn’t happened. Finding your passion is something we all have access to. It might seem magical, but it is simply a process, like most things in our lives, and requires turning off the TV and taking some actions.

Here are 5 simple steps that will lead you to your passion:

Start first with what you already know you’re interested in. Sit down and write out a list of all the things you have some interest in trying, but never have. Your whole process requires self honesty and it starts here. Don’t list anything just because of someone else’s interests. If you aren’t genuinely interested, don’t list it. It’s also important to create this master list as it will live on perhaps for the rest of your life. As you try things on the list, you may eliminate some and add others.

• You must realize that this is a discovery and experimentation process. You need to proceed with a certain playfulness and curiosity. You are going to try these things, probably for the first time, and you have no idea how they will turn out. In fact, you need to assume that while you may enjoy many of those activities, most of them will not turn into a passion.
• Because most of the activities you try will not turn into a true passion, you need to develop self-patience with no self-judgment. Have fun with the process. Be open to new discoveries. You will find your passion, just be patient and trust the process. Don’t criticize yourself if it doesn’t happen immediately.
• You do not need to limit your list to only things that seem related to a job. When you find a passion, you may well be able to turn it into an income opportunity, if you choose.

Make goals. You can’t just make a list. You have to take action. Like all great goals, they have the characteristics of 1) being specific 2) having a time for completion 3) and are actionable. A bad example: I will solve world hunger. This goal is missing all of the key characteristics. A good example: I will enroll and take glass blowing classes starting no later than Sept 2010. Setting goals for your drive to passion means you will hold yourself accountable for making something happen in your life.

Get curious and go in search. Your biggest asset on your quest to find passion is to get curious about your environment and what other people are doing. Ask questions. Let one thing create a thread to others that you continue to follow. There are an unlimited number of things out there that people are doing and others who are inventing more things to do. Surround yourself with people who are passionate about the work they are doing or with people on a quest like you. Having others in your life, who are excited about life, will drive your process forward. It’s great to have daily doses of inspiration.

Record your results. To get the most out of your exploration, you need to spend time in introspection. You need to think about each action you take and your reactions to them. This will help you understand what works for you and what doesn’t. What you learn about yourself as you move forward will help inform your next steps. Consider keeping a discovery journal. If you do best debriefing your actions by talking, consider asking a person who is also going through a quest for passion to help you. You can ask each other deep probing questions and deepen the learning.

Repeat. Don’t try something just once. Give any new endeavor a chance to capture your interest by getting past the new start up roughness. Continue to move through the steps exploring, experimenting and learning until you discover the passion you are looking for.
Discovering something you can feel passionate about will greatly enhance your life and career. It is not magical nor is it difficult, but it does take effort. As long as you stay open about the possibilities and continually entertain new things, you will find the passion you want in your life.

Guest Expert:

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran is a Career Coach and expert on helping her clients achieve their goals. Her programs cover: Career growth and enhancement, Career Change, Retirement Alternatives and Job Search Strategy. Want to discover specific career change strategies that get results? Discover how by claiming your FREE gift, Career Makeover Toolkit at: http://CareerMakeoverToolKitShouldIstayorShouldIGo.com/

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via careerrocketeer.com

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How do I handle lack of education in my resume? | ResumeToReferral.com

There are strategies for overshadowing lack of education in your resume, like going with a combination resume format that highlights the broadness and depth of your knowledge and skill set relevant to the position and company. If you’re lucky, hiring companies will backburner educational requirements in place of equivalent work experience.

Advanced and continued education are a necessity these days; so for those lacking good education, there’s no better time than the present to remedy the situation. Think of it this way. If you’re being overlooked for prime jobs due to a lack of education, expect additional side effects too, like lower starting salaries and fewer promotions. So, do something about it. Look into company-sponsored education, less expensive community colleges [if you’re paying out of pocket], and pursue grants, work study programs, and low-interest student loans.

via resumetoreferral.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Personal Branding Interview #2: John C. Maxwell | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

Today, I spoke to John C. Maxwell, who is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 16 million books. You should also read my previous interview with John from early 2009. His latest book is called Everyone Communicates Few Connect. In this interview, John talks about why everyone communicates but few connect, some ways to connect with your audience, his five connecting principles and practices, and more.

Why does everyone communicate but few connect?

I believe that most people are more concerned about getting across their point of view, trying to be heard and understood. To connect you have to do something counter-intuitive: focus on the other person and try to understand their point of view.

What are some ways to connect with your audience?

First, listen. One on one, I’ll ask questions and listen to the other person’s answers to get to know them. Even when I prepare to speak to a group, I still ask lots of questions to find out what my host and the people care about. At the event, I pay attention to what’s happening in the room. Sometimes how I’m introduced will give me clues to what would add the most value to the audience. Also, it’s amazing what eye contact and a smile will do to help you connect, whether with an individual or a group. Eye contact helps me gauge their response in the moment, and a smile lets people know I care about them.

What are the Five Connecting Principles? Which one is the most crucial?

1. Connecting increases your influence in every situation.
2. Connecting is all about others.
3. Connecting goes beyond words.
4. Connecting always requires energy.
5. Connecting is more skill than natural talent.

The most important principle is #2: connecting is all about others. Just recognizing this truth will make a huge difference in a communicator’s ability to connect. The biggest single step you can take in growth as a connector is to change your focus.

What are the Five Connecting Practices? Which one has been the most important in your own career?

1. Connectors connect on common ground.
2. Connectors do the difficult work of keeping it simple.
3. Connectors create an experience everyone enjoys.
4. Connectors inspire people.
5. Connectors live what they communicate.

Connectors live what they communicate. I believe that the greatest disconnect is when a speaker’s words and actions don’t line up. You can be eloquent and persuasive and be sharing a great message. But if the audience senses that what you say and who you really are don’t match, you lose credibility and the audience disconnects.

How can someone whose just entering the workforce create change?

It probably won’t surprise you that I believe the best way to initiate change is to CONNECT.

But think about it: Change within an organization begins with the people. So your ability to communicate and connect with others is a major determining factor in increasing your influence. And increasing your influence with them is your way of making change happen.

Some tips:

Be prepared to expend energy on connecting. It’s not something you can do when you feel like it or when it’s convenient. Also, we go back to focusing on others. Focusing on yourself or your agenda isn’t connection; it’s manipulation. Finally, look for common ground. By finding where you’re similar, you can begin to build a bridge.

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John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 16 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP and INJOY Stewardship Services. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and audiences as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Football League, and ambassadors at the United Nations. A New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was named the World’s Top Leadership Guru by Leadershipgurus.net. He was also one of only 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com’s 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies. His latest book is called Everyone Communicates Few Connect.

via personalbrandingblog.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal