The Perfect Fit

How To Get Your Resume Read!

I heard it again today, “I’ve applied to 300 jobs in the last month.”

WHAT????

Why would anyone waste their time like that? Sounds to me like this person was simply doing the “Click and Go” dance with his computer. I certainly understand the desperation that comes with the economic climate we all live in today, but I’m concerned.

If a job seeker would just sit back for a few minutes and consider a plan of action, concerning the goals for the day and write it down, then the day’s efforts might be a little more fruitful! More focus would be given to the list below and less work would be done with better results.

Not all recruiters search the same way for potential candidates. They don’t post job descriptions the same way. They don’t read resumes the same way. They certainly don’t communicate the same way, which is often to the disadvantage of an excellent candidate. They all have differing levels of concern for things like ethical values, integrity and credibility. Some recruiters are educated and some are not. Some have common sense and some don’t have any sense at all.

I can’t begin to tell you how any other recruiter will process your resumé, even if I think I know them. What I will tell you is how I process resumes, and what I expect before I receive it from you. These tips should help you, by giving you the best possible chance at getting an interview…if you are honest with yourself as you prepare your resumé!

Reason #1.
You’ve given me what I want by reading the job description COMPLETELY! If you haven’t, why would you apply? Would you only read what stands out on a medicine bottle, only to find out later that there are side effects (in the small print) that may adversely affect your health? The health of your personal economic stability depends on reading completely.

If you are just posting resumes everywhere, hoping one will stick; you’re wasting YOUR time. Give me what I want by writing a short and concise cover letter. It should include a short summary of your experiences that “MATCH” the job description. If they don’t match, DON’T APPLY! If a job description is short and vague, contact me and ask for any clarification I can offer.

Make SURE you are qualified before you apply. You’ll save yourself a lot of precious time by focusing on the importance of being qualified. I don’t currently work with clients or other recruiters that will accept a candidate that has skills that are “transferable.” You are either qualified to the specifics of the job description, or you are not.

Can You Afford To Turn Down A Job Offer?

It depends . . .

There are lots of reasons to jump on a particular opportunity, and probably an equal number which would suggest, you should keep looking. 

You have to be happy doing whatever it is you're doing professionally, or your work, your employer (and their clients/customers) and yourself will inevitably suffer.  Possibly all three.  It seems obvious that if you're employed, you should always be looking for that next opportunity for career advancement.  It doesn't necessarily come around very often, but when it does, you should be open to hearing about it and ready to pursue it (see "Are You Ready For Your Next Career Opportunity?".  If you're unemployed, the thinking will necessarily and understandably be different.

If you are unemployed and have the emotional and financial wherewithal to keep looking, I would suggest that if there's any doubt about whether you're going to like the job, keep looking.  Marketing and advertising opportunities are slowly increasing.  If you're unemployed, you should be working every day to identify those opportunities that will excite you and reward you professionally (it's a full time job to find a full time job).  You accomplish that by networking with friends and colleagues and online research (not "just" job boards!).  If you're unemployed, have you given enough thought to what you actually want to be doing and who you want to be working with/for?

It's amazing to me how many people actually take the time to research whether or not they want to work for a particular employer (not as many as you'd think).  Rather, (especially if unemployed) they will fire their resumes off based on a job description, without knowing anything about the employer.  I realize this changes if someone is unemployed, but if the position ends up not working out, permanent damage could be done to your career path. Why would you take a job you don't like or really want?  The point is you should be job searching proactively, not reactively.

You should be able to describe (at least to yourself) the sorts of positions you're looking for, and understand why they appeal to you.  Similarly, you should know why something isn't right for you.  The better you're able to describe that to yourself, and those who are trying to help you network and identify opportunities, the better off you're going to be.

Social Media Can Propel Your Career Growth

While that headline seems ridiculously obvious, apparently not everyone gets it yet.

It's amazing to me how few marketing professionals really take advantage of the possibilities that social media provides.  These are the people who are supposed to be learning how to utilize social media for the benefit of their clients.  I have to wonder if they're qualified to give that advice, when they apparently don't have any idea how to use it themselves.

I'm in the preliminary stages of conducting a search for mid-level designers and Sr. level account people with packaging experience.  I've just found two potential designers, and one account person that I wanted additional information on, beyond what's already in our database.  Neither designer had a portfolio online (that I could find), and neither had provided me with portfolio samples when they originally contacted Bishop Partners.

My first step was to go to their LinkedIn profiles.  While all three had LinkedIn profiles, they were not detailed enough to be of any real value.  Only one of the three had a personal email available. One of the designers had a dead link to a Creative Hotlist portfolio, and the other had an Etsy portfolio page with nothing on it!!  Between the three of them there was only one LinkedIn recommendation.  These "professionals" are missing an opportunity to be "found" for a potential career opportunity.  Believe me when I tell you, I'm not the only person searching.

The point is, if you're going to spend time on professional social media (LinkedIn, Plaxo, any number of others) do yourself a favor and add some detailed information that tells the reader what you've accomplished, what your passions are and why/how you're adding value to your employer and/or your clients, your community, etc..  You should have recommendations.  When you're complimented by a client, co-worker or boss, ask that person to "put it in writing for you" (and add it to LinkedIn for you).

I know you've heard this before, but headhunters and employers really do use online resources as means to identify specific professionals for job opportunities.  The better "face" you put on your online social media efforts, the better it will be for you.  Make it easy to be found by detail (and keywords) in your profile.  I think letting the public see a gmail or hotmail account is a reasonable thing to do.  If you're going to network, allow (help) someone to contact you.  A weak effort is almost worse than none at all.

In 2009, Internal Hires Dominated. Will It Continue In 2010?

Im finally climbing back in the saddle after missing almost a full week due to some very nasty chest cold!   In catching up on some professional reading, I can across a blog posting from John Zappe called, "Internal Hires Dominate Job Filling in 2009".  That sounded interesting so I read further.  You can see the blog posting here. Here's what I found:

"The ninth Source of Hire report from CareerXroads is out and it shows the CareerXroads impact of the U.S. recession on hiring patterns over the last few years while offering some encouraging news about hiring in 2010.

The white paper’s top-line findings show that, on average, 41 of the nation’s larger companies filled just over half their vacancies in 2009 by internal transfers and promotions. This is the largest percentage since CareerXroads first reported the data in 2002.

For 2010, however, 48 percent of the participating companies expect to hire and hire robustly. The prediction is for 29 percent growth in hiring. Only 10.8 percent of the surveyed participants expect to higher fewer workers this year. Compare those percentages to the Source of Hire report issued last year at this time. Then, 100 percent of the companies predicted they would hire fewer workers.

Recession boost internal hiring SOH 2009 (Source of Hire) “The spike in internal movement is a strong artifact of the recession and suppressed many other sources of hire,” says the report, authored by Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders and principals in the recruitment-oriented CareerXroads consultancy. “Expect internal movement to fall to more normal levels in 2010.”"

The free white paper is posted to the CareerXroads site, you can download it here.

I didn't realize that more companies don't hire from within more consistently.  I have to wonder why.  You'd think that it's a perfect way to reward employees for doing excellent work.  It's exactly the kind of opportunity premier employees expect.  It's one of the best ways to retain those top performers.  In addition to whatever their function skill set is, they have the added benefit of "institutional knowledge" and expertise in whatever their vertical category is.  I would think all that would combine to make internal hiring much more of a "best practice"!

In the discovery process of every search we conduct, one of the first questions is "Are there potential internal candidates who should be considered for this position?"  If there are, we put them through the same interviewing process as the external candidates we also identify. 

As I discussed in my recent post "The Same Company For An Entire Career?" there is value in longevity with the same employer.  While I certainly understand that in some cases there are not appropriate internal candidates, and in other instances, there's a need for "new blood" or thinking, management too often doesn't "take a chance" with a promotion.  The thinking is "Well, that employee's never done that before," and so they're passed over.  My experience is the premier performers raise their game to the necessary level . . . it's how they grow and feel that professional satisfaction of an upward career trajectory.

It seems the recession caused what I consider to be an obvious benefit . . . It's strange most employers don't agree and won't continue the process.

I wonder how many times you've either been the victim of an external hire, or you saw a colleague passed over for someone from the outside, who isn't at strong an employee as your colleague? 

The Same Company For An Entire Career?

I attended a seminar this morning presented by the St. Louis Business Journal, "The New Economy".  Michael Forster, Managing Partner of Sandberg, Phoenix & Von Gontard and Doug Mueller of Mueller Prost PC were the presenters.  The discussion centered around what businesses can/should be doing as we move (slowly) out of the recession.

While much of the discussion dealt with business operating methods and protocols, there were times when issues affecting employees were discussed.  Actually, it was more like how employees affect businesses.  I was struck that there was no mention of the need for programs to support (if not assure) employee retention. 

I've written previously in this blog about how employees have a responsibility to themselves to find appropriate training and grow professionally (The Workplace Has Changed . . . Have You?).  Hopefully, employers are supporting (and paying for) that effort.   I've also talked about the need for the retention of premier employees (Are you Being Taken Care Of . . . Or Taken Advantage Of?)  Employees need to grow in their careers, and employers should want to keep those employees who consistently do that.

There was what I considered to be an interesting observation made by Mr. Forster.  He suggested that in the "new economy", we had to behave more like in the "old economy".  He talked about the need for dedicated hard work for everyone, no matter what you do.  Hard work like in the "old days".  Hard work like our parents and grandparents talk about.  Interesting . . . that seems to fly in the face of theories of accommodating the newest generations X & Y. 

Further, it was suggested that the development of "real expertise" is being eroded by automated systems, and the reality that employees no longer stay with one company long enough to develop or enhance that company's specific expertise.  Another interesting point.  Think about how few people in the workforce now rise through the ranks from the bottom to the top of the same enterprise.  Can you think of any?

Obviously, innovation in any business creates advantage.  Innovation will be essential to fuel the "real" growth of the US economy.  I'm not talking about getting back to where we were, I'm talking about significant, job creating, lifestyle enhancing, growth.  Innovation is the result of happy, experienced employees. 

It seems like the way things are going, we are not on a track to have many of those!

Think about how your existing job and career might change if you decided you were going to become the CEO of your company.  You wouldn't let those little "issues of the day" bother you.  You'd find better ways of doing things.  You wouldn't take "no" for an answer.  You'd become Indispensable to your employer . . . and in so doing, become immeasurably more valuable ("Are You Indispensable Or Vulnerable?").  If all that happened in the longer term, you'd get promotion after promotion. You'd rise through the ranks, until you reached the top.  Interesting . . .

Do you really have a career strategy to reach career goals, or are you just looking for what you perceive to be a "better job" . . . ?  Are you expert enough to innovate?

Just curious . . .!

Companies Should Send Candidates Thank-You Notes, Too

That's the headline in a recent Ad Age article.  Sub-Head, "It's a Great PR Move for Prospective Employers".  I completely agree with Paul Gumbinner, the author of the Ad Age article. Paul writes,

"After an interview, it's surprising that only about 60% of candidates send a thank-you note (an even smaller percentage sends them after visiting with a recruiter). Aside from being an expression of good manners, a short note expressing interest can go a long way toward promoting a person's candidacy.

Of course, much has been written about thank-you notes in terms of job seekers. But I wanted to tackle something that, to my knowledge, has not been suggested before: Interviewers should send them to candidates, as well.

I would like to propose that this should be the policy at every advertising agency."

It should be a policy at every single employer, period . . . not just agencies.  I know most job seekers would say, "Hey, how about a simple acknowledgment of my interest in your company?"  It's extremely annoying to me that the vast majority of employers (75%+ ?), don't even bother to acknowledge receipt of a resume or inquiry.  Most employers are a black hole for resume submissions and as such, are committing PR suicide.  I've written about this previously with "Screw You, Candidate!"

In the near future, skilled employees are going to be at a premium.  Once you factor in their experience, career goals and fit with an employer's culture, they will be even more limited.  Yet, companies don't take the opportunity even acknowledge an interested candidates' resume.  They should thank every single applicant and treat each one with respect.  Respect is the foundation for retention and for hiring.  If respect exists in a corporate culture, so does employee retention.  You can't recruit someone with disrespect!

Respect (obviously) even goes beyond retention and recruiting.  It shouldn't exist for self-serving reasons.  It should exist because it's the right way to do things . . . everything.

Yesterday, I tweeted the article "Respect: A Key Ingredient for innovation".  The Innovation Tools blog goes on to state:

"Respect is a key ingredient for successfully bringing a new creation to market. In other words, innovation. At the highest level, senior managers should have respect for both the future of the organization and for the people they are responsible for guiding.

The senior management team needs to be seen by the troops as having their best interests in mind, and not just pumping up the stock price. If the senior managers are viewed within the company as being self-serving and unconcerned about the long-term success of the firm, the creativity and focus needed across the company will not flourish."

Why is a lack of common sense, civility and respect so much the norm?  Is it laziness, selfishness or (heaven forbid) expense?  Do employers consider themselves to be "too busy"?   How many of you will ever work for a company who never bothered acknowledging your interest or failed to treat you with respect?

Art Auction For Heart And Haiti In St. Louis

I just found out that a former employee of mine Julie Campbell,  who owns The Three Sinks art gallery in Webster is planning an art auction this coming Friday.  Here's all the info . . .

"Three Sinks Gallery is hosting a benefit event, St. Louis Artists Benefit for Haiti, with proceeds donated to the American Red Cross and the relief effort in Haiti.

Twenty-five artists have donated work to be exhibited at Three Sinks and previewed here on Facebook. 100% of the proceeds of the event will be donated to the American Red Cross. A silk-screen art t-shirt will be available for purchase online and in the gallery. This limited edition t-shirt will be significant to the heritage and plight of the Haitian people.

The exhibit will be held at Three Sinks Gallery, and will be available for viewing from January 25th through January 30th, 2010. A cocktail reception and silent auction will be held at the gallery from 6 to 9pm on Friday January 29th, 2010.

This event is in conjunction with Finale Fridays, a new happening occurring on the last Friday of each month and designed to give visitors a chance to sip, shop and stroll through unique Webster Groves establishments.

Location: Three Sinks Gallery - 8715 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves MO 63119"

I hope you'll make every effort to attend.  Further, I hope you'll pass this message along to your friends/colleagues and your social network.  Let's get the word out on this auction and help Julie raise some serious money for the victims of the Haitian earthquake!

A partial selection of the art along with additional information can be found on Julie's Facebook page.

Marketing Headhunter Gets Smarter with Twitter

I'm starting to embrace Twitter more and more enthusiastically, as I use it more and become comfortable with it.  I'm an advocate of continuing education and staying abreast of industry news, trends and new ways/ideas for doing something.  I'm finding Twitter to be extremely helpful in that pursuit.

I still read about six or eight trade and professional publications a month.  That has always been my way to know what was going on, hear about new ideas and the like.  I'm starting to find that the lead times for publication make that media almost dated by the time it's published.  Even weeklies like AdWeek and Ad Age print content that I've already seen or actually read through with all the electronic updates I now receive.

I created my Twitter account maybe two or so years ago with the username @HeadhunterBob (I encourage you to follow me!).  I had no idea what to do with that account for the longest time, yet I kept having people follow me.  I couldn't figure it out, I'd never sent one tweet, yet I had followers!

Over the past few months, I've started tweeting more frequently and I'm feeling very good about that for two reasons.  One, I feel like I'm "giving something back" . . . I've been told that followers appreciate the content of my tweets and enjoy reading many of them.  Second, I read more . . . a lot more.  I now read articles from literally scores of sources, including blogs, and articles of others I follow on Twitter.  It's enlightening.  I feel like I have a much better idea of what's going on, much sooner.

I'm sure you know that Twitter now integrates with the LinkedIn update box in your profile.  You can send tweets right from LinkedIn!

I tweet about issues related to recruiting, employment, employee retention, employer culture, marketing and advertising trends, etc.. In short, content that should be of interest to most in our marketing/employer/employee communities.  There are several other applications that have grown up around the world of Twitter, that I've found very useful.  I'd like to share some of those.

The most important is probably Tweet Deck.  Tweet Deck pushes the tweets of those you follow.  On Twitter.com, you have to refresh the page to see new Tweets.  Tweet Deck also allows you to follow several of (your own) accounts at the same time, as well as notifying you of any "direct tweets", or mentions of your username.  It's flattering to be "re-tweeted" and Tweet Deck tells you when that happens.

TweetChat is an application that lets you use the #(hashtag) to find people to follow in particular categories of interest . . . in my case, marketing, advertising, media, etc..  Twitter itself has an advance search capability that isn't so easy to find (you could look for users in your city).  If you'd like to tweet a photograph, use Twitpic.  Twellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people who matter to you.

The last tip I have goes beyond Twitter.  It's a preferred method for shortening urls.  The reason it's preferred is that bit.ly tracks the number of times a particular url that you've sent has been clicked.  It's very cool and far superior to tinyurl, for example.

Go to Twitter, create a username and profile and get out into the Twitterverse!  It's fun and you'll actually learn something!

For those of you already using Twitter, do you have any stories of it's benefits?

The Workplace Has Changed . . . Have You?

The recession has caused fundamental changes in the way Employers look at their employees, and how employees are responding.  Employers have had to make difficult staffing decisions at every level of their organizations.  The reality in many cases what that expenses had to be cut, or the business would be in jeopardy.  It's no surprise that the expense of labor is significant and laying an employee off has immediate cost cutting benefits.

Furloughs, cutbacks in hours/days per week and pay (also benefit) reductions became methods with which employers were able to keep some employees, but at lower take home pay for the employee.  While this is understandable, and for some preferable to losing their job altogether, the result is the same . . . employees no longer relying on one employer.  Employees have to find supplemental income to maintain their income levels.  Trimming the pay might keep the employers' doors open, but the cost to employees is high.

Many employees are looking for "second job" options.  The ability to work remotely has helped move that trend forward and it's not going to stop.  Employees will work second "retail" jobs, freelance, or start a company, in order to make ends meet . . . at least in the short term.  They don't want to be in a position of being vulnerable to one employer's decision about their employment.  Those with more experience, might very well decide to start a business of their own.

Entrepreneurship has never been stronger.  According to BusinessWeek quoting the Kaufmann Foundation:

"A crop of potentially groundbreaking companies is emerging from the wreckage of the Great Recession. No question, some will blow up, and others will fail to reach their potential. But the downturn has done little to dampen the entrepreneurial spirit. During the first half of this year (2009), angel investors financed 24,500 new ventures, 6% more than during the same period last year, according to the Center for Venture Research. The overall amount of money going into startups has declined, but the figures suggest that this year will see the birth of roughly 50,000 companies with enough promise that someone is betting money on them. "It may be that this is the best time to start a company," says Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship."

There's another study conducted by the Small Business Administration (SBA) “Nonemployer Startup Puzzle” that came out in December 2009.  It concludes there is "a correlation between job losses and startups of single-person businesses (called “nonemployer businesses”).  “Nonemployer start-ups follow and are heavily affected by a state’s unemployment rate.”  In other words, there are more startups when unemployment is high."

My point is the workplace has changed, and will continue to change.  Employees who are not continuously working to improve their skills will become obsolete.  The onslaught of information and the way it's being delivered has never been more overwhelming.  It's essential for employees to stay alert to new thinking, new technologies and better ways of doing things.  They need to work to be top performers and indispensable to their employers. (See Are You Indispensable Or Vulnerable)

SEO Training At Buzzhound in St. Louis . . . Superb!

I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on SEO training yesterday.  It was presented by a new local company called Buzzhound.  I was looking forward to the training for two reasons.  I thought I would be able to put additional knowledge to work for the benefit of my website, this blog and in general, my online marketing efforts.  Additionally, I thought it important to keep up with the principles of online marketing.  It's obvious that online/digital marketing is a huge growth area for the future of marketing and advertising.  SEO is fundamental to and the foundation of every company's online presence (or certainly should be).  I want to stay as current as possible.

It took less than 15 minutes for me to be impressed with the presentation and to realize that the two presenters were experts on their topics.  I assumed that would be the case.  What I wasn't sure of, is how they would present the materials.  I wasn't sure how complex the material would be or if I had enough basic knowledge to be able to take advantage at all.

The presentation was incredibly well organized.  It was presented in a straightforward, simple and logical way.  Each of us was given our own computer, already set up with all the documents, tools, links, etc. that we'd be using during the day.  It was slick, it was efficient . . . and it was effective!

It was obvious from the conversations with the other eight participants that they were as excited as I was to be "finally" reaching a level of understanding about how SEO works.  What's more important, is that I believe every one of us walked out of the event with a clear idea of how to improve each of our own websites.  There were some marketing professionals in attendance as well.  It was obvious that they were excited about what they were learning and how they could take that knowledge and add value to their clients.  They mystery of SEO was removed.  We were able to see "behind the curtain" and realize that there are simple tools available to help a website's SEO.

I was also impressed with how organized the presentation was and the support materials we were able to take back to our offices.  Buzzhound provided all of the tools used for key word development, website page ranking and overall site "health", analytics and more.  I think part of the real value of the workshop was having the ability to see someone using these tools.  You can read and/or hear about this stuff ad nauseum, but to see how simple it is to use the tools made all the difference.  In fact, SEO concepts are not all that complex or difficult to understand.  The presentation made sense, so it was easy to learn and understand the material.  The Workbook we all left with has even more detailed than the presentation itself.  I know I'll be able to successfully refer to it for answers, when I have questions later.  Buzzhound even gave us a jump drive with the documents we created during the presentation and the tools/applications and links we used for the tools.

I want to recommend this training.  I think every professional company should send (at least) one person to this workshop.  I think the money spent is well worth the value received.  I don't know how anyone can be serious about enhancing their web presence, or marketing communications without starting with SEO.  It's the most fundamental essential, after having a website at all!