April 2014

Although I am a headhunter, a direct-search recruiter for many years, I am at heart a sales guy. As such I try to demonstrate to job seekers that when you are interviewing you are selling; you are selling the concept that you, as an individual, are a solution to the needs of a company that is considering you for a job. Your resume is your product marketing brochure and you are the product and for the company seeking to hire, just like a purchaser of goods and services, their goal is to find the best deal possible. This is part of what human resources, on behalf of the hiring managers, seeks to accomplish; to hire the best solution (person) at the best lowest price (salary). Demonstrating to them why you, as a job seeker, are the solution to their need

As a part of any interview, you’ll be asked to answer questions about the details of your experience, accomplishments and suitability for whatever position you are seeking consideration, along with evidence with which to validate claims as stated on your resume or CV. Although, no matter how well you might prepare, inevitably there will be a circumstance during which you won’t have an answer or at that moment lack the proper information to back up your claim. How you handle this kind of situation is very instructive to the interviewer, who might later become your boss. Incidentally, this same situation when turned around can also be useful to you as an applicant, when considering the suitability of a person interviewing you, as your future employer or boss; they too have an obligation to be forthcoming and provide you with the

Periodically updating and having a resume ready or nearly ready to use at any given circumstance is a good idea in the current economic climate. My own thinking is that people should always be at least passively looking for a job regardless of their situation; and by passive, I mean simply keeping your ears open, being receptive to consider opportunities – that’s all, no big deal. I’ve written other blog entries that discuss it more fully but, even then, it’s simply a short blog entry, my book provides more detail. The same goes for references, don’t wait to be asked for them before you start scrambling one step behind where you should be; that’s what the zombies do, reacting with no forethought – and as is their nature, zombies don’t take my advice because it means having to think one

For many years I have advised people that, until they have a signed offer letter in their hand with an agreed-upon start date, they don’t have a job offer. Anything less is just a piece of paper or an email with little real value to you. That doesn’t mean it is of no value, it may be communicating an intention thereby making it a letter of intent, something hypothetical around which to base further substantive conversation by placing words into context. If it is sincere, it is a step in the right direction – but let’s get one thing straight, it is not a job offer. If it sounds as if I am splitting hairs I’m sorry, but when you are contemplating a decision that impacts you and your family – in this current job market and sluggish economy, all