September 2013

This entry constitutes my 100th blog post and October 19 will mark a year since I began this effort. It is said that it takes about a year for a blog to gain momentum and, indeed, this one has, which is significant considering all the other stuff out there. It demonstrates there are growing numbers of individuals who recognize that the standard practices used to find work are increasingly ineffective, especially if you are a standout individual, a go-getter, to use a term. How can you get noticed if the current hiring regime has no interest in you, at least during the initial stages of most hiring processes? You’ve got to step off the well-worn path, tread upon by legions of others, who aimlessly shuffle along waiting for something or someone to do their thinking for them. Not so, for

So what do you do, you personally, when you search for a job? Most people wake up one day and they start reading online job postings at whatever website shows the most listings, as though that is going to matter. They spend time staring into their monitors or screens like Goldilocks looking for the one(s) that are just right for them and send resumes in the hopes of being noticed, contacted and told, “…you’re just what we’ve been looking for!” Hmm, how often does that happen? What about networking? Some people are big believers in networking and, indeed, it is a good way to go about a job search activity, but the whole trick to networking is that you already have a network of people with whom to interact, which means you were already a networking sort of person. The entire

For almost as long as I’ve been a headhunter, when I speak with someone I might represent, assist and coach, the first question I ask is why they are looking for a new job; what are the motivating factors? I want to learn about their priorities and if they are reasonable, realistic and can provide me a documented track record of success, I’ll often take on their cause and assist to varying degree. If money is their primary or only reason, I rarely take them seriously. I believe that if money is a higher priority than is the actual opportunity, they have their priorities bass ackwards. To be clear, what I am suggesting is about more than money, but if we are talking about money and tying it to priorities, we can use it to illustrate my point about priorities,

Often people fail to consider all that is involved when conducting a real job search. Don't fool yourself with the wide misperception suggesting that with thousands of jobs posted online you can spend a few minutes per day surfing the net, send resumes and voila - you can get a good job. A rather silly assumption, eh? A lucky few find good jobs that way but they are the exception and not the rule. Why would otherwise smart individuals rely on those long odds for success? Without being insulting, unless you have a plan you aren't serious. And relying on others or the Internet to get you a job is not a plan; and neither is the panacea of sending digitalized resumes all over the place. You're responsible for getting your own job, what are you actually doing for yourself? Do you

After posting my last blog, I was called out by a middle-senior manager working in an administrative capacity, who suggested I am being provocative, picking on and ridiculing companies and especially human resources with regard to their hiring practices. For the record I am not, quite the contrary although, what I am categorically against is the creeping fungus that is lethargy, apathy and especially atrophy as a consequence of expediency and supposed time-saving methods for hiring and evaluating job seekers. I am likewise admittedly critical of individuals who think they can obtain, much less deserve, a job by doing little more than sending a few, or a lot, of emailed resumes and assume they are deserving of a job more than others who actually make an effort. If we’re honest with each other, we have collectively gotten lazier for one

Generally speaking, the purpose of my blog is to provide advice for job seekers to assist them in gaining a better result from their efforts. There is a sad trend taking place right under our very eyes. Hiring practices are increasingly discounting that which defines us as people and employees. While hiring processes are evolving and processes becoming more technical in nature, interaction and communication among the parties involved is devolving. It is ironic that most companies go to great pains to emphasize and trumpet their mission statements that claim their purpose, their mission is to produce things, or provide services meant to help people, improve lives or make the world a better place or whatever high-minded and lofty set of values they claim to stand (or hide) behind. Yet hiring practices that are becoming more and more disconnected from human

Many times I’ve been asked, “I don’t know which is better or worse, to take a job, any job in order to avoid gaps in my employment or should I hold off and wait for the job I want? What’s better, to look like a job hopper to avoid gaps in my employment, or wait until I find the job I want, regardless of the gap in my employment history?” Good question, the answer depends a lot on your own personal situation. If you are already currently working, unless you absolutely hate your job and can’t take another day of it, do not leave one job until you have another to which to go. I’ve written about this in more detail previously, but please don’t use a lame excuse of, “Well, I don’t think it is professional or honest to

In any personal relationship, it’s all hot and passionate at the beginning for a while, but then as most often happens at some point in time things evolve, settling into a routine where people sink into their comfort zones and back to their true selves. And this is when you hear things such as, “I remember when you used to at least try…” or “You used to buy me flowers…” I often compare work environments and situations with our personal lives because I can get my messages across more easily. Another primary reason is that most of us spend as much time at work with our employers and co-workers as we do with our families. Some of us spend more time away from home working than they do at home, so my correlation of the two is not so strange then,

No, I did not say winners I meant whiners. Nothing kills the mood or your chances in a hiring process more than a whiny-butt baby complaining about how unfair the world is, and that you cannot seem to get a break. And yet it would surprise you as to how many people do this and never realize what they are doing to themselves by bad mouthing and criticizing current or former employers, while in the presence of potential future employers during an interview. For that matter, valuable time spent complaining in general terms is no better. It can be a slippery slope to use the opportunity of an interview to vent, even if the rapport with the interviewer is good. They may smile and let you ramble on for entertainment value but you won’t be getting a call back, regardless of