Marketing Headhunter.com: JOB INTERVIEW TIP: "Know your sh*t and go with the flow."

SEATTLE, WA - Ecommerce recruiting is a pretty cruel business: I will handle 120 searches this year, and for even the searches I don't close, there is only one winner – and everyone else goes home with a T-shirt. Just like the Final Four.

Naturally, all of my losing candidates want to know how to improve their game for the next time.  What could they have done differently?  What could they improve?  What did they do wrong that they shouldn't do again?  Was it something they said?  And so forth.  After all, I work with the ecommerce industry's best and brightest, and these folks aren't used to losing.

"You had me at hello."

I don't think I have ever closed an ecommerce search in which the winning candidate didn't have great chemistry with the hiring manager.  I honestly can't remember even one time.  However, I can remember lots of times when a less qualified candidate got the job over a highly qualified candidate.  And in every one of those cases, the winning candidate had great chemistry with the hiring manager.

You can't force good chemistry.  In fact, trying to force chemistry almost always makes it worse.  All you can do in a job interview is know your sh*t and go with the flow.  And even if you have GREAT chemistry with the hiring manager, that doesn't mean that some other candidate's chemistry won't be better.

Which brings me to the point of this post:

It is my humble opinion that there is no point trying to be too analytical about why you didn't get a particular job.  Trust me, if the hiring manager had wanted you to have it, you would have gotten it.  That's been my experience.

Certainly you want to prepare for your job interviews.  Look at the client's website in GREAT DETAIL.  Research the role, the company, the industry, and its customers.  Understand how you will make the hiring manager's job easier, and by all means know ICE-FREAKING-COLD how the company makes money and how YOU can help the company make money.

Have a teachable point of view on the work that you do, and be prepared to talk candidly about your failures and what you would do differently if given the opportunity to live those moments over.  Anyone can talk about how great they are.  It takes real self-awareness to discuss one's own limitations in a way that's frank, yet not too self-effacing.

Beyond that, there's really not much else you can do, and there's certainly no accounting for chemistry.  I learned a long time ago that some people think I'm awesome, and some people think I'm a total jackass.  Certainly, I've had my moments when whichever side of that argument you're on, you'd be 100% right.

Whatever.  I believe it was Thoreau who said that "In a world of many minds, there is no reality."  You'll get the job next time.  Very few people are in transition forever.

via marketingheadhunter.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Are You Insulted By Your Job Title? - Careers Articles

I think it's time we changed the term "politically correct." It sounds so stuffy. How about "socially relevant"? That makes more sense. When it comes to job titles, they've been evolving for decades -- and while it is fun to watch 'Mad Men' on television and get all retro, I'm sure most women are glad they've gone from "my girl" to "secretary" to "executive assistant."

The job title tide began to turn sometime in the 1970s with the advent of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), but became most prevalent in the '80s and '90s when waiters and waitresses became servers; garbage truck drivers were suddenly sanitation engineers; mailmen morphed into mail carriers; secretaries became administrative or executive assistants, and so on.

Ten years into the new millennium, what's next step in this linguistic evolution? Will sanitation engineers become recycling operatives? How about swapping out server for ambulatory sustenance facilitator? Where do we start to draw the line? (Maybe the Twitter revolution will actually help shorten job titles!)

Here are several job titles which were deemed drab or demeaning (and in some cases downright sexist) by society, and what they are now:

Old Title	New Title
Babysitter	Nanny
Barman	Bartender
Butler	Personal Assistant
Delivery Boy	Courier
Entry-Level	Jr. [Insert Grandiose Title Here]
Fireman	Firefighter
Freelancer	Contractor
Garbage Man	Sanitation Engineer
Housewife	Stay-at-home Mom
Intern	Apprentice
Maid	Housekeeper
Mailman	Mail Carrier
Networker	Web Communications Specialist
Nurse	Health Care Specialist
Payroll Clerk	Human Resource Specialist
Policeman	Police Officer
Salesman	Sales Associate
Secretary	Administrative Assistant Executive Assistant
Soda Jerk	Barista
Stewardess	Flight Attendant
Waitress	Server

via jobs.aol.com

Remember you are NOT your job.

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Resumes and Age Bias: To Date or Not to Date? - Careers Articles

Every day I talk to people who are concerned about putting their full employment or graduation dates on their resume. The concern is that by showing a full chronology or revealing a graduation date, hiring managers will "do the math" and figure out how old you are. Once they have this information, they may decide you are "too old" for their open position.

Does age bias exist? Absolutely. Does that mean you should omit information that would help them decipher the length of your career history? Not really. Here's why.

• Omitting dates forces the reader to come to their own conclusion. Let's say you are a job seeker in your late 40s and you decide to only report your career chronology back to 1998, when the reality is you've been in the workforce since the mid '80s. In addition you don't include your graduation date. The person reading your resume will come to one of two conclusions: a) you are in your 30s and just didn't include your graduation date (unlikely) or b) you are significantly older than your resume suggests and you have omitted the graduation date or early career experiences to mask this fact (likely). So now you have called more attention to the very thing you are trying to hide and potentially given the hiring manager the impression that you are much older than you actually are.

Chopping off a section of your chronology is misleading and potentially damaging to your candidacy. Let's assume that you leave off certain telling dates and you are granted an interview. You show up for the interview and it is obvious to the hiring manager that you have been working well before 1998. What do you think is going on in that hiring manager's head? Probably the fact that you have been less than up-front about your career history and you were trying to "put one over on them." Not a great way to start out a relationship. And what if you have worked for the same company for 25 years? Are you going to chop off 10 or more of those years because you are afraid your experience dates you? If you end up being selected for the position and the hiring manager does a reference check to confirm previous employers and dates of employment, the facts won't match up and you could end up with a rescinded offer.

Strategies to use

So how do you work around the age factor?

• Be transparent but be strategic. Create a very brief section on the resume that says Early Experience or Additional Experience. Include one or two sentences that explains your early chronology. For example, you might write something like "held a series of customer service positions for companies X, Y, and Z between these dates." Or you might write "10 years experience in retail sales." With this strategy you are being transparent, but you aren't calling a great deal of attention to your earlier history or dedicating too much space on the resume to these experiences.

Include information on the resume that proves that you are current in your approach to job search. An easy way to show that you are keeping up with best practices in your job search strategy is to include your LinkedIn URL in the contact section of your resume. This shows your reader that you are familiar with the importance of online technology in a job search.

Gaining job interviews is really about gaining trust. The resume is frequently the tool that is used to gain that trust. By showing the reader that you have the competencies and past successes that make you a strong fit for their open position, you increase the trust and "likability" factor and improve the chances of getting called in for an interview. If you omit key information about your background, it is unlikely that you will make it to the second round of interviews.

If the hiring authority truly has an age bias, there may be little you can do to change their way of thinking. Perhaps that's unfortunate, but it is also the reality. If you are concerned that age bias may be a factor in your search, consider targeting companies that tout themselves as best places to work for older workers. Check out AARP's annual surveys on these companies and start building relationships with companies who brand themselves as great places to work for people over 50 rather than chasing after companies that don't embrace this demographic.

via jobs.aol.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Top Job Sites for Executives - The Career Doctor Blog

Deborah writes:

Can you tell me some of the top job sites for executives?

---

The Career Doctor responds:

Sure. Here you go:

• 6 Figure Jobs: Portal for $100K+ jobs.
• hundredK.com: Center for $100K+ job search and recruiting.
• futurestep: A Korn/Ferry company providing outsourced recruitment for middle management professionals.
• BlueSteps.com: Online global community of senior executives and career-management service that provides executives with exposure to search firms.
• ExecuNet: Membership-based executive referral network.
• NETSHARE.com: Membership-based organization that provides executives with $100K+ job listings and networking opportunities.
• RiteSite.com: Helps senior executives contact and build relationships with 485 retained executive-search firms.
• Executive REGISTRY: $100K+ jobs via executive recruiters.
• TheLadders.com: Online community catering exclusively to the $100K+ job market and offering online job-search resources and content for the $100K+ job seekers and recruiters.
• FENG: Networking group for financial executives
• MENG: National network of top-level marketing executives
• CIO.com: Serves chief information officers and other IT leaders and provides technology and business leaders with insight and analysis on information technology trends and an understanding of IT’s role in achieving business goals.
• LinkedIn: Online network of more than 40 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing more than 150 industries.
• CEO Express: Business portal for executives.
• Boardroom Insider: Insights on governance, boards of directors, and the 21st Century boardroom.
• InSide Job: Facebook application to connect candidates with jobs.
• RIFProofing: Three-part, seven-step process specifically designed to help people identify the skills, experiences, and accomplishments that may otherwise go unrecognized.
• Candidate’s Chair: Practical guide to job search and networking built from candidate experiences.

via careerdoctor.org

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

7 Suggestions to Creating a Resume That Will Get Recognized Electronically | EmploymentDigest.net

Now a day, resumes aren’t first viewed by the secretary of the hiring manager or the HR rep. In all actuality, they may not even be viewed by a person at all. Many businesses today are now using different forms of technology to screen the hundreds and thousands of resumes they receive daily. What they intend to achieve with this procedure is to shuffle out any candidates who do not meet the requirements that the company or job requires. Here’s the choker; you may be fully qualified for the position you sent your resume in for. But because you didn’t have keywords on your resume that the computer program recognizes, you lose out on any possibility for an interview.

Below you will find 7 tips that we feel could aid you in getting the recognition your resume deserves.

1. Know what key words to use. HR reps and hiring managers will utilize applicant-tracking systems/programs where certain keywords will be searched for. It’s best to look at the job posting itself, and try to use the same or similar language you see there. Use words that are most prevalent to the job, but keep you shining like a competent professional.

2. Use different styles of a key word. Some tracking programs focus on particular words and how often they are used- in every sense. So if you’re applying for an accounting position, try using accounting, accountant, and other variations of the word.

3. Be wise with your key words. Some electronic resumes allow for particular sections to hold key words. Yes- it will get you resume recognized more quickly than others. However, if and when an actual person reads it, they may toss it in the slush pile because it doesn’t read well.

4. Ensure you list a generic job title. By doing this, it allows for the tracking programs to fit the title to the job. By listing business analyst instead of process improvement specialist, the program will be more familiar with the generic listing than the actual one

5. Use at least nine key words. Any less than that and you may find your resume passed over. Any more than that and you’re going over board. It’s good to list your skills this way, and can paint you in a competent picture a reader can value.

6. Be sure you use the right format if asked to paste your resume in a website text box. By saving you resume as a plain-text file, it ensures proper formatting takes place when pasting, and makes your resume readable and professional.

7. Obvious, but needed… follow directions. Check over the site your submitting your resume to and be sure you follow all their criteria.

Becky Mease has been writing as a non-biased professional for http://Financejobz.com providing the latest news and information that pertains to the finance and accounting employment world. The creators feel that her inexperience ensures that all her pieces are vastly researched and informative. They provide the reader with a full understanding of the content, without compromising the professionalism.

via employmentdigest.net

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

3 Out of the Box Ways to Grow Your Network and Land Your Next Job | JobMob

Keeping tabs on what your friends and contacts are doing is a fundamental step in your job search. Although LinkedIn is great for leveraging 2nd and 3rd degree connections, you’d be surprised how helpful your 1st degree friends and acquaintances can be towards building the influence you seek.

Tools such as Gist, for example, sync all of your online networks with your e-mail, Google Calendar and more to build a dashboard of all the people and businesses you are associated with.

You’d be amazed at the quantity and quality of the companies you are connected to just from your friends and address book!

Creating an overview of these relationships can be an instrumental step in planning your job search and networking strategies.

With this information, you are sure you discover contacts that might have just the leverage you need to point you towards a job opening.

Staying on top of your contacts

Whether they are interviewers, colleagues you are networking with, or just friends, it helps to know more information about these people and what they are up to.

Rapportive, an app for Gmail (eventually to roll out for other e-mail clients as well), is a highly useful tool that imports basic information for all of your e-mail contacts including current and previous job titles and links to their Social Media profiles.

Rapportive simply helps you get to know the people you are in touch with better. You’d be surprised how many people you interact with who you’d be interested in knowing more about and deepening your connection with.

This tool automatically imports this information right into your inbox, building your network easier than ever.

With deeper connections, your relationships will surely prove more fruitful both in your immediate job search and down the line as well.

Watch the News

Keeping tabs on what is going on in your field of work is another way you can rise above the rest.

1. Just knowing the recent trends and news in your industry is important in presenting yourself as a knowledgeable and well-read potential employee.
2. More outside the box, companies that recently got funding, won new contracts, were bought out by local firms, etc. often immediately go into hiring mode. Even if such a company does not have an available position at the moment, you’ve still made a new contact.

The fact that you were eager and interested in a particular firm could certainly help open doors in the future.

In the local Israeli market, I highly recommend reading business news sites such as Globes as well as regular news sites such as Ynet’s English News (check the headlines at the bottom of the homepage) that often carry stories about interesting trends or companies  in various sectors.

LinkedIn also recently launched a feature that enables you to follow companies of your choice and subscribe via email to find out about the latest hires, company news, and more.

Meetups, Tweetups, and beyond

The third way to become a job hunting rock star is to attend events in your field(s) of interest.

Whether it is a local meetup group or a nationwide conference, getting out there in the real world is a great way to meet people who share the same experience and expertise as you have (not to mention learning a thing or two).

In my personal career, I have met people at events large and small who would later become my future boss, business partners, clients, colleagues, and friends.

Some helpful sites to find out about upcoming events in your niche and networking related opportunities in Israel are:

• the Israel Venture Capital’s comprehensive calendar covering conferences on a wide variety of topics
• my company’s calendar of Internet and Tech related events in Israel
• Meetup.com
• and Linkedin’s events listings.

You might also consider organizing your own event such as a “meetup”, “tweetup” or volunteer program to make connections with others and present yourself as a leader in your field.

There is no magic formula when searching for work. I can, however, attest that these tips have helped me immensely in building my network over the years and landing jobs that sometimes were never publicized at all. Even if you are not actively looking for a new job, when you grow your connections and stay on top of what is happening around you, you are building towards your future success.

About the Author

David Corman is the Internet Marketing Manager at J-Town Productions Ltd., a Jerusalem based Web Consultancy helping companies and non profit organizations succeed on the Internet. He is an avid reader of JobMob and loves helping people acclimate to life in Israel, especially in their job search. Follow David on Twitter @davidcorman.

This article is part of the 4th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest. If you want David Corman to win, share this article with your friends.

If you like this article, you’ll also enjoy 37 Ideas to Grow Your Job Search Network Right Now.

Subscribe to JobMob via RSS or email and follow me on Twitter for more ideas on how to grow your job search network.

--Jacob Share

via jobmob.co.il

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Art Williams-Just Do It! - Career blog - Position Ignition - taking you to the next step in your career

Here is the famous ‘Just Do It’ speech by Art Williams, the billionaire insurance executive. Although it’s clear he's primarily addressing American citizens and inhabitants, there’s a message here for all of us. Whatever your objective, stop procrastinating and take the necessary action!

Sometimes, including in careers transition, the action does not have to be big. It can be as simple as starting to write a plan, or calling up a useful connection to see how they are. Furthermore, taking action doesn’t have to mean doing things really fast. This can actually be counterproductive, especially when it comes to something that acquires a targeted approach such as career change or job hunting. A slower pace of activity can actually be more effective if you’re taking the time to really be clear on what you’re doing.

If you’ve decided it’s time to take action in terms of your career, but you’re not sure what to do or how to do it, drop us a line or explore the rest of our website to see how we can help you ‘just do it’!

via positionignition.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal