Tag Archives: interview

Inefficiency Hinders Your Job Search

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Getty photo 23Most if not all job seekers reach at some point a heightened level of frustration with their job search process. It’s easy to understand, and it might be justifiable to blame the complex and convoluted job search process. It’s difficult to improve efficient and speed up the process. Loosely explained, efficiency is output over input and is expressed in percentages. The question before job seekers is whether they’re getting the expected results based on the amount of time and effort they’re putting into their job searches. In most cases, the answer is disappointing. So, what to do to increase efficiency?

In the world of investments, the most important factor for success is to know the right asset class allocation. Translated into the domain of job search, it means knowing how to determine the amounts of time and energy to devote to various job search activities.

Networking

Networking with people is by far the most effective job search activity. Sixty to 80 percent of people land their jobs through networking, and therefore, that’s what job seekers should spend their time on. For many, Networking is difficult and uncomfortable. And for those who don’t know how to be effective at it, networking represents a frustrating task with little results. For others, networking is second nature, and getting leads and referrals is merely a continuation of what they’ve been practicing their entire life—and not only when they need a job.

Applying for Jobs Online

Online job application is also an important aspect of the job search. Certainly, one cannot expect to win the lottery without buying a ticket. In the same way, one needs to apply for a job in order to be considered for it. On one hand, online job boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder sound appealing. On the other hand, sending off endless numbers of résumés into the black hole of applications can be a great way to boost your frustration level and waste your time. A better way is to search within SimplyHired or Indeed by using specific keywords you’re interested in and job locations you’re open to. The best tool is LinkedIn, where you can see exactly who posted a job and whom you might know at that company. Thus you can be much more strategic about your application.

Additional Advice for Increasing Your Efficiency and Your Success Rate

  • Be specific in your résumé. Applicant tracking software is looking for specific keywords.
  • Customize your résumé to the specific job you’re applying for. Recast your résumé to specifically show how your subject matter expertise solves the hiring manager’s problems.
  • Use as much as possible the target company’s own language. In other words, your actual words must match a lot of the words in the employer’s job description. Cut and paste the employer’s language from the job description to use in your résumé.
  • Make your résumé faultless. Reviewers have no patience for less-than-perfect résumés because there are thousands of other applicants they can look at who submit perfect résumés. Grammar and spelling count. Fonts, formatting, and lined-up tabs and columns count. Regarding that formatting issue, better practice is to unformat the résumé, reset everything flush left, and use no special symbols or software-specific indentions (such as in the bulleted items you’re reading here!)—instead opting for simple hyphens and word spaces to set off your displayed lists of accomplishments in your job history.

The Interview: Why Wasn’t I Chosen

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What is your gut tellling you?From the interviewer’s vantage point, the selection process is about availability and choices. That principle applies to many things the rest of us do, too, throughout the day. For instance, isn’t it interesting that when a group of people dine together in a restaurant, some of them make their menu decisions within a few seconds, yet for others it takes an embarrassingly long time—and they’re still not perfectly happy with their decisions. The same principle applies to interviewers: I remember being interviewed years ago for 20 minutes and receiving the job offer on the spot; that was unusual at the corporate director level. At the other extreme, I heard of a person who was interviewed for a secretarial position by seven people over two months’ time—after the candidate had already worked in that department for three months as a temporary employee.

To sum up, it is impossible to predict the outcome of a job interview because we simply don’t know what the interviewer’s decision-making process is. How often has a job candidate walked away glowing from an interview, with that feeling of having aced it, and yet the job offer never came.

At times candidates speculate about the best time of day to schedule a job interview—if given a choice. Early morning—before the pressure of the day builds up—might be good, but the interviewer might not be fully awake yet. Maybe just before lunch. But then, maybe after lunch would be better. How ’bout near the end of the day? There are no clear-cut answers because each case is individual and unique.

A recent National Public Radio program interviewed Wharton and Harvard business school professors who discussed the results of a large, 9,000-subject, 10-year study of interviewing. The investigators concluded that what matters is the candidate’s performance relative to those interviewed earlier. In their analysis, they also talked about a phenomenon called the gambler’s fallacy—a theory that says there is a mistaken notion that assumes that the odds of something with a fixed probability increase or decrease depending on recent occurrences. In other words, if you interview after two or three inferior candidates, your chances are better. This also works in reverse.

From my vantage point as an interview coach, I know that the only way to beat the odds is to prepare well and practice mock interviewing. Practice makes perfect.

Communication While in Transition

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free_2789878Disclaimer: My professional background is not in the field of communication, but I still have some opinions.

Certainly, the cliché “It’s not what you know but whom you know” is often true. However, when people are in transition, I would add “but while in transition, who knows you is more important” because you are the one who needs a job, and if people cannot find you, your job search will be unnecessarily prolonged.

I categorize communication in general to occur on three levels: The lowest level is daily chitchat. We chitchat with people we know: family members, friends, and perhaps others we communicate with occasionally such as other job seekers. Communication with job seekers is superficial, though, because its only objective is to get connected.

The second level of communication involves passing or receiving relevant—or sometimes less relevant—information. For example, the news on television. This type of information is intended to inform and is often given a spin to dramatize it and keep viewers glued to the TV, but when the excitement is at its peak, we hear, ”And now this commercial.” Of course, that’s how television stations—which, after all, are businesses—generate revenues. In most cases, though, we commit this type of information only to short-term memory. Nobody remembers news from two weeks ago.

The third level of communication has to do with ideas. This is what attracts me. I’m interested in other prominent people’s or experts’ ideas. It’s where we can learn about and understand the Big Picture.

So, how is all of this relevant to people in transition? Well, you want to be viewed as an expert, and you want people to be attracted to you. When they check you out, you want potential employers to consider you an expert in your own professional field. The way to project that image is to communicate—sporadically—with those connected to you. Be aware, though, that every time you do communicate, your writing had better be of value to them. Given a little time, your connections will learn that when you send them a piece of communication, it is indeed worth their while to spend the time to read it.

A good communicator while in transition knows to use social media to advantage. On one hand, certainly you should connect with many people; on the other hand, you must connect with prospects who could help you into your next job. Remember: What’s important when you connect with others is that they be willing to share their networks with you. The power of networking is not vested in the person you communicate with so much as it is in the person’s connections. You never know whom they know!

How to Deal with Your Stress While in Transition

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Physicians and psychiatrists have proved that there is a positive correlation between stress and illness. People in transition experience various and variable levels of stress. And such stress is not a stand-alone issue but is compounded by other stressors. One study identified three types of life stresses: chemical, physical, and attitudinal. All together there are 43 sources of stress that can cause about 80 symptoms. Of course people have in their lives multiple sources that cause manifestations of compound symptoms.

With regard to chemical impact on the body, the study found coffee drinking, excessive consumption of sugar and salt, regular consumption of various prescription drugs, nicotine alcoholic beverages, air pollution, and even quality of water to be offenders. Physical stressors might be overweight, lack of exercise, excessive commuting, and sedentary lifestyle.

For the sake of this blog, I want to focus on the attitudinal and, more specifically, the emotional stressors and associated symptoms. Examples of stressors associated with being in transition are problems with sleep, inability to relax, heightened levels of frustration, potential for affecting relationship with spouse, adverse effect on mood, and feelings of hopeless and depression. And most people have a combination of such stressors. In terms of symptoms, people in transition might feel depressed or moody, get angry easily, gain or lose significant amounts of weight, go through bouts of insomnia, feel overcome with fatigue, lose ability to concentrate, and experience anxiety, worry, shyness, and isolation. So the question is, how to deal with all of those?

Clearly, ignoring the symptoms is not the answer. Hoping they’ll go away is only wishful thinking. Moreover, doing nothing can cause severe and long-lasting medical consequences. Unfortunately, there is no one answer that fits everybody. Women, for example, like spas, massages, and yoga more than men do. Theater, a movie, or dinner with friends or family may appeal to others. Some would even go for acupuncture and find in that a source for reducing stress. I like walking, which I do almost seven days a week. I walk outdoors when weather permits, and indoors on a treadmill otherwise. Occasionally, I also benefit from a Japanese healing art for stress reduction called Jin Shin Jyutsu. And I have an advantage when it comes to that, for my wife has been a practitioner for over a dozen years. Visit www.jsjmonica.com to see more about it.

Can’t Find a Job? Do You Know Why?

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Getty photo Growth, evolution, changes. Technology may be a wonderful thing, but it has negative elements—especially if you’re in transition and looking for a job. Why? Perhaps you don’t know how to conduct a contemporary job search. Well, that may not be true, and don’t blame yourself.

The résumé

Two decades ago, applicants would submit their IBM Selectric–typewritten résumés to companies’ personnel offices when applying for jobs. Today, applicants modify and tailor their word-processed résumés to include many of the keywords they pick up from job descriptions themselves because applicants know that companies’ applicant tracking system softwares rate those keywords high when hiring managers make queries. Regrettably, in the current economy, the job market is literally flooded with résumés to the point that résumés are clogging up the system and overwhelming the people making searches. One study pointed out that a company’s applicant/candidate search surfaces way too many very qualified applicants because all of the applicants’ résumés have the right keywords—which causes yet another problem: yes, the computer mechanically selects résumés based on skills and keywords, but the hiring manager is looking also for a good fit into the company’s culture. And that’s the reason companies conduct multiple interviews.

The interview

If you’re asked to come in for an interview, it means you had sufficient keywords to convince the hiring manager that you have the skills to do the job. But now comes the second test, which for some is more difficult. In the next hour or so, during that interview, you have to convince the interviewer(s) that in addition to a skill set, you have the personality traits to make you a welcome employee in their organization. For example, you show your passion and excitement for the job and the work; you’re an excellent communicator; you have a pleasant demeanor; you’re not argumentative, opinionated, or abrasive; and you possess all the qualities of the ideal candidate. It is hoped that the interviewer’s boss would comment favorably on your selection and that your future peers and subordinates would praise you in your absence. This is a tall order, because all of the other candidates of course have good skills too; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been selected for interviews.

So, what’s the key to success? There are two answers: (1) prepare for the interview by practicing, practicing, practicing mock interviewing with an experienced interview coach, and (2) learn how to be an actor. In fact, while interviewing, you are an actor onstage, and those interviewing you are watching you perform and judging you based on that performance. With proper and adequate preparation, you should be able to outshine your competition. Good luck with the offer—and congratulations on being a good student and open for new and helpful ideas.