Job Search Articles and tools

LINKEDIN TIPS–PERSONALIZE YOUR URL,NAME, INVITATIONS

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 22 FEBRUARY 2018.  Following up on our Jan. 25 article about the differences between your resume and your LinkedIn profile, here are four tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn. Personalize Your URL When you join LinkedIn, you will be assigned a unique, but clunky, URL (Uniform Resource Locator, aka web address). It includes your first and last name and nine numbers and letters. For example, the URL for one of the thousands of people I found on LinkedIn named John Smith is https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-smith-3375a713b. Your LinkedIn URL should be part of the contact information on your resume, and a personalized URL looks better than the one you are automatically assigned. In addition, you can use your personalized URL to advertise your business or specialty: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexfreundcareercoach, for example, or https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirejohnnemo. Personalize Your Name If a prospective employer likes your resume, the typical next step is to look for you on LinkedIn, to learn more about you.  If your resume includes your LinkedIn URL, no matter how clunky, it is easy to find you.  But if your resume does not include your LinkedIn URL, finding you can be a challenge. We all think that we are one of a kind, but we likely share our name with many other people. For example, I found that there are 189 people in LinkedIn named Daniel Goldstein and 316 people named Benjamin Cohen. How likely is it that a prospective employer will take the time to sort through many profiles to find yours? These numbers are dwarfed by the number of LinkedIn members with more common names.  For example, I found 2,426 people in LinkedIn named Thomas Jones, 4,341 people named Tom Jones, and 62,465 named John Smith. To find a specific Daniel Goldstein or Benjamin Cohen, it is possible to search within LinkedIn by state or other descriptor, but not every prospective employer can be assumed to know how to do this. Finally, you can distinguish yourself from all the people who share your name by using your middle name, a middle initial, and so forth. Personalize Your Invitations To grow your LinkedIn network, you will want to invite people to connect to you. LinkedIn provides the generic text with an offer to let you customize your invite and the advice that “LinkedIn members are more likely to accept invitations that include a personal note.” If you are inviting someone who knows you reasonably well, a personal note may not be necessary. If, however, you met 10 people at a conference last week and are inviting each of them to link to you, a personal note may help refresh their memories when they see your name. For example, you might say: “I enjoyed meeting you at the [name] conference last week and discussing [topic] with you.” Use Capital Letters to Format Your Profile  Relative to Microsoft Word, LinkedIn offers few options for formatting your text. In Word, you can bold, italicize, or underline text to make it stand out.  In LinkedIn, by contrast, you can do none of those things. However, you can use CAPS to set off sections of text.  For an example of using CAPS in this way, please watch John Nemo’s 18-minute video on how he reformatted the LinkedIn profile of Tom Ziglar, son of super-salesman Zig Ziglar, at http://linkedinriches.com/tz/. Bottom line: You can get more from LinkedIn by personalizing your URL, invitations, and name, and by using capital letters to format your profile.

LINKEDIN TIPS–PERSONALIZE YOUR URL,NAME, INVITATIONS Read More »

YOUR RESUME VS. YOUR LINKED IN PROFILE

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK, KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 25 JANUARY 2018.  Your resume and your LinkedIn profile are both intended to interest a potential employer in hiring you, or at least in interviewing you. Both recount your work experience, education, and related information. But they differ in four significant ways: First, your resume should be tailored, or customized, to a specific job opening. In contrast, your LinkedIn profile should cover all of your relevant education and experience.   Your resume should focus on the aspects of your education and experience that most closely align with an employer’s needs, as put forth in the job description. This means that you may need to revise your resume for each job vacancy. (See “How to Customize Your Resume” in the Dec. 28, 2017, issue for more on this topic.) Second, your resume should be one or, at most, two pages. (See  “Resumes – Part 1 in the Dec. 14, 2017, issue for more on this topic.) In contrast, your LinkedIn profile is essentially a resume without space constraints. Of course, even though LinkedIn does not impose space constraints, you still need to make every word count. Third, in your resume, you have control over how you portray promotions, or other changes, within one organization. In contrast, on LinkedIn, you cannot control that. On LinkedIn, if you have been promoted, or otherwise moved within a company, each new position is portrayed as a stand-alone new job. Therefore, if you were promoted three times in 10 years within your company, it will appear that you had three different jobs. And, if an employer does not examine your resume carefully, you may appear to be a job-hopper. In contrast, on your resume, there are two ways to make clear that you moved within the same company, which are illustrated in the nearby chart. In Example 1, the company name and your total tenure there are bolded, so that time at one company is easy to distinguish from time at another company, while the dates of your stints within the company, although flush right, are not bolded. In Example 2, your total tenure at the company is shown flush right, while the dates for your stints at jobs within the company are indented from the right.  Looking like a job-hopper can turn off a potential employer, who may be reluctant to hire and train you for only a short stint. Either of the two approaches shown in the examples below can help avoid this appearance. Fourth, on LinkedIn you can attach documents, video clips, or other material. On your resume, while you cannot attach documents, you can provide useful links. For example, if your employer is not a household name, you can include a brief description of your employer’s business and the URL for its web site. Similarly, if you wrote a particularly noteworthy article, you can include the URL for the article. Example 1 Grayson’s Furniture Stores 2011-Present Asst. General Manager, Jacksonville, FL ($350M sales/year) 2013-Present Branch Manager, Charlotte, NC ($120M sales/year) 2012-2013 Branch Manager, Fayetteville, NC ($70M sales/year) 2011-2012 Smith’s Furniture Stores, Tupelo, MS 2008-2011 Promoted rapidly through series of increasingly responsible management positions, based on strong financial, operating, and team building performance. Example 2 Grayson’s Furniture Stores 2011-Present Asst. General Manager, Jacksonville, FL ($350M sales/yr) 2013-Present Branch Manager, Charlotte, NC ($120M sales/yr) 2012-2013 Branch Manager, Fayetteville, NC ($70M sales/yr) 2011-2012 Smith’s Furniture Stores, Tupelo, MS 2008-2011 Promoted rapidly through series of increasingly responsible management positions, based on strong financial, operating, and team building performance. Bottom line: Your resume and LinkedIn profile both convey important information about your qualifications for a job, but to make the most efficient use of them, it’s helpful to know how they differ.

YOUR RESUME VS. YOUR LINKED IN PROFILE Read More »

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR RESUME

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK, KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 28 DECEMBER 2017 one standard resume and use it to apply for diverse jobs, you’re wasting your time. Instead, it is now widely accepted that you must carefully customize your resume for each vacancy. At a Job Assist workshop in 2013 (available at http://JobAssist.org/resources/resumes/), we presented an actual announcement for a nursing job and illustrated how a hypothetical candidate could analyze her suitability for the position and craft the appropriate resume for her application. You can follow a similar four-step process to determine your suitability for a job and customize your resume, thereby increasing your chances of getting an interview — the next stage of your job search. Sample Qualifications Matrix Required Qualifications Your Applicable Education and Experience B.S., Nursing B.S., Nursing, Montgomery College Maryland State license 223344 4 years’ nursing experience 4 years’ nursing experience at Holy Cross Hospital, including 1 year in Pediatrics and 2 years in Maternity Desired Qualifications Your Applicable Education and Experience 2 years’ supervisory experience 1.5 years’ supervisory experience in Maternity Experience with dialysis None Step one: Find a job you’re interested in and well-qualified to do. This should be obvious, but many people submit resumes for jobs even if they are not well-qualified. Uploading your resume to a job-search site and clicking “Send Resume” on any job that closely matches your interests without knowing anything about the company or the details of the job is not a good strategy. In response to the large number — and frequent unsuitability — of applications, employers increasingly use applicant tracking systems (ATS). These systems sift through many resumes to find the few that best meet the employers’ criteria. Step two: Analyze the job’s requirements and your relevant education and experience. To help applicants do this, we developed the Qualifications Matrix, a pretentious name for a simple, two-column table you can see in the accompanying illustration. In the left column, you list the job’s requirements, distinguishing required qualifications from desired (but not required) qualifications. In the right column, you list anything in your education and experience that meets these requirements and would help convince an employer that you are qualified for the job. Step three: Decide if you should apply. After completing the matrix, decide if you should complete a resume and apply for the job. The rule of thumb is that if you have solid credentials in two-thirds to three-quarters of the requirements, it is worthwhile to apply. Employers sometimes “shoot for the moon,” listing an unrealistically large number of requirements. They may not find anyone who is strong in every area and may end up hiring someone who has solid credentials in six of eight areas. But when they put together a vacancy announcement, they may have little incentive not to ask for everything on their wish list. Moreover, you may have some wiggle room on requirements, depending on whether your resume is evaluated by a person or a machine. For example, the employer may want two years of supervisory experience, but you only have one and a half years. If a human evaluates your resume, one and a half years may be close enough, but if an ATS evaluates your resume, there is less likely to be wiggle room. Step four: Incorporate the results into a customized resume and apply. Simple enough. Good luck! For Further Reading Online: “How Do I Get Employers to Stop Labeling Me as ‘Overqualified?’” by Alex Durand (12.2017) “Why Aren’t Big Job Boards Working for Me?,” by Nick Corcodilos (10.31.17) “The Importance of Applicant Tracking Systems: An Interview With Talent Tech Labs,” by Ryan Craig (4.28.17)

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR RESUME Read More »

RESUMES – PART 1

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 14 DECEMBER 2017 In this issue, we begin our discussion of resumes by addressing two issues: What is a resume? How long should your resume be? At the outset, it is important to note that a great resume is not an end in and of itself. It is a means to land an interview, the next stage in the process of landing a job. What Is a Resume? A resume is brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience. A related document is called a curriculum vitae (CV), Latin for “course of one’s life.” A CV is a brief written account of one’s career and training. It may sound like resumes and CVs are quite similar and, in fact, their basic purpose is the same: to convince a reviewer that you are well qualified for a specific position. CVs are generally appropriate only if you are applying for an academic or scientific position, however, so we will not discuss them further and will focus on resumes only. Keep It Short or Go Long? There are two schools of thought. Some say that a resume should never be more than one page. Others say that a resume can be two, or even three, pages. Celebrated career coach Lisa Rangel (www.ChameleonResumes.com) advises that your resume generally should not exceed one page unless you have 10-plus years’ work experience. At that point, a two-page resume is okay. On the other hand, Karla Miller, who writes The Washington Post Magazine’s Work Advice column, advises keeping it to one page whenever possible and spotlight “only your best and most relevant accomplishments.” She quotes Lauren Milligan, a Chicago-based resume writer, as follows: “No one has ever gotten an interview off the second page of a resume.” In my opinion, the length of your resume should depend largely on whether it will be evaluated by a person or by a computer program (typically called an Applicant Tracking System or ATS). Your resume is more likely to be reviewed by a human for a vacancy posted by a small organization or one that is expected to attract few applicants. It is more likely to be evaluated by an ATS for a vacancy posted by a large organization, one that is expected to attract many applicants, or one posted on a job board like Indeed.com or Monster.com. If a person will be reviewing your resume, you should work to boil it down to one page. Because people are busy, or like to think they are, providing a solid one-page resume shows respect for their time. A reviewer who wants to know more about you can consult your LinkedIn profile for more details. (These profiles will be covered in a future issue.) On the other hand, if a machine will be reviewing your resume, you should focus on making sure to include all the key words important to the position, and worry less about length (key words are usually explicit in the vacancy announcement). Applicant Tracking Systems  Between email and job boards, computers have dramatically reduced the cost of submitting a resume. However, because submitting a resume is so easy, people submit many more resumes. Reviewing a large number of resumes can cost an employer a lot of staff time. Not surprisingly, computers can also be the solution to this problem. As Karla Miller notes, “An increasing number of employers are using applicant-tracking software to winnow hundreds or thousands of applications down to a qualified handful.”

RESUMES – PART 1 Read More »

INTRODUCING CAREER CONFIDENTIAL

A picture containing tennis, person, green, blackboard Description automatically generated

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 26 OCTOBER 2017. This is the second is a series of articles about online resources, especially free resources, that can help in your job search. Peggy McKee founded Career Confidential in 1999. According to her LinkedIn profile, her website has provided free assistance to more than 1.5 million job seekers. It also claims she has helped over 21,000 clients in 90 countries, coaching over 1,000 individuals via Skype or recorded phone sessions through such issues as transitioning to a new career field or preparing for executive-level interviews. She provides a great deal of free advice through webinars, articles, downloadable reports, and e-books. For a fee, she also offers podcasts, coaching, and other services. Some of her free material may be found on her company’s web site, careerconfidential.com, and on her LinkedIn page, linkedin.com/in/peggymckee (a good resource for relevant articles). The examples below are but a small sample of her offerings. I encourage you to explore the two websites above. Webinars McKee offers a wide variety of webinars. “Why Online Applications Are Killing Your Job Search” and “60 Minutes and You’re Hired!” are two of her recent ones. Although her claims about what you will learn seem rather ambitious to me, she does provide a lot of valuable information. In “Why Online Applications Are Killing Your Job Search,” she promises to teach why you must stop applying online for jobs, how to get interviews faster than ever, and how to find the right person to contact at any company. In “60 Minutes and You’re Hired!” she presents the best ways to present yourself to your (hopefully) future boss, answer salary questions, and avoid weak language that keeps you from advancing. You can find a list of upcoming webinars at careerconfidential.com/training-webinars/. Articles McKee’s LinkedIn page includes links to over 140 articles. Here are three articles from 2017 that I’d recommend: “Job Interview Tips: 3 Opportunities to Make a Great Impression in the Interview” “How to Stay Motivated in Your Job Search” “3 Simple Things You Can Do to Strengthen Your Resume” Downloadable Reports McKee offers a variety of downloadable reports. Just be aware that you may have to listen to a lengthy sales pitch before you are able to download the report. Here are just a few examples of the reports available: “How to Write Attention-Getting Cover Letters” “How to Answer Interview Questions: 50 Tough Questions – Answered” “Guide to Getting a Job Over 50” E-books Finally, McKee has several e-books available on Amazon.com and elsewhere. Some of these are free; for others, there is a small cost. Here are two examples: Perfect Interview Answers: Answers for the Top 3 Tough Interview Questions (no cost) How to Ace Your Phone Interview ($2) The bottom line: Peggy McKee offers a great deal of information about your job search, much of it for free. I encourage you to explore both her company’s website and her LinkedIn page to gain a full appreciation for what she has to offer.

INTRODUCING CAREER CONFIDENTIAL Read More »

PICKING THE RIGHT EMAIL ADDRESS AND HEAD SHOT

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 14 SEPTEMBER 2017. To get a new job, dozens of things need to go well for you. However, your approach to two seemingly insignificant items may make the difference in whether you land the job. Email Address Email addresses seem innocuous. We all have at least one. What could be wrong with an email address? Believe it or not, an email address can work against you in two ways. First, some people use email addresses that reflect their hobby or other preferences. I could cite some doozies, but I don’t want to embarrass their owners. For your personal email, it’s fine to use, for example, backnine2017@xxx if you’re a golfer. But for job search and other business purposes, your email address should be business-like. Second, some email addresses reflect a favorite sports team or something similar. But your favorite team may be someone else’s least favorite team. Let’s say that your email address is GoYankees2017@xxx. If the person receiving your email is a Boston Red Sox fan, that email address will not help your chances. Headshot Many people have one or more photos of themselves in cyberspace. If you are searching for a job, you almost certainly should have a LinkedIn account and, as part of your profile, you should have a head shot. In addition, many people have photos linked to their email addresses. For a LinkedIn head shot, there’s no question that the photo should show you dressed appropriately for your profession, and it should not include extraneous or distracting images —  no kids, no beach scenes, no pets. Almost exactly two years ago, I noted that a client’s LinkedIn head shot showed him and his toddler. When I suggested that he change the photo to a more professional (less personal) picture, he initially resisted. That led me to pose a question to Caroline Ceniza-Levine, a New York-based career coach and the co-founder of www.SixFigureStart.com. “One of my ‘clients’ (I’m a volunteer) is looking for a policy analysis job in DC. His LinkedIn head shot shows him and his toddler. I suggested that a shot of him alone is better because the people he wants to work with may construe him as too family-oriented, not willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, and pass him over. He responded that having the kid in the picture adds a touch of levity. What’s your reaction?” Ceniza-Levine answered:  “I agree with you — no to the toddler.” He later changed his LinkedIn head shot to a more standard photo. He got the job. Was there a connection? Who knows? But in a highly competitive job market, why take a chance? For a photo linked to an email address, there’s a difference between those appropriate for personal and for business purposes. For personal emails, if your hobby is raising guinea pigs, for example, it’s okay to show you with your favorite guinea pig. But for your business email, the same rules apply here as for LinkedIn photos. Nevertheless, the sky is not the limit even for a photo linked to your personal email. You should expect a prospective employer to scour the web for anything and everything about you. Thus, if the photo linked to your personal email account is too far “out there” (for example, you’re wearing a toga or chugging a beer), it may count against you. (For more on the issue of your web presence, see my March 2, 2017, Kol HaBirah article “When Your Interview Really Begins.”) The Bottom Line For-job search and other business purposes, you need to project a professional image, including an appropriate email address and LinkedIn head shot.

PICKING THE RIGHT EMAIL ADDRESS AND HEAD SHOT Read More »

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR FEDERAL JOBS

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 24 AUGUST 2017. Understanding the federal hiring process is the first step in the process of applying for a federal job. These two for-profit companies provide webinars, trainings, online guides, and other services to those seeking federal jobs. Some of these services are free, but others require payment. Both companies offer email sign up lists for updates on new resources. Resume Place Kathryn Kraemer Troutman is the grande dame of federal job search. She has specialized in federal resumes since 1996. Her website is www.Resume-Place.com. According to the website, the company produces an average of 1,500 resumes a year and the website gets 15,000 visits a day. Troutman’s website includes tools to help construct federal resumes, accomplishments (using the CCAR — Challenge, Context, Actions, and Results — format), and cover letters. The website also features completed sample resources — such as federal resumes and accomplishment statements — and blog posts. Blog topics for 2017 include: “How to Get In On the Hiring Free-For-All for Border Patrol Agents” “Federal Employment Programs Offer Enticements to Students and Recent Grads” “What You Need to Know About Jobs in the Trump Administration at 117 Days” Among Troutman’s many books are “Federal Resume Guidebook—Writing the Successful Outline Format” (sixth edition) and “Creating Your First Resume: A Step-by-Step Guide to Write Your First Competitive Resume,” both published in 2016. This past May, Troutman recorded an informative interview with Mike Causey of Federal News Radio, entitled “Is it time to update your federal resume?” Federal Job Results Corliss Taylor Jackson is the new kid on the block, having started her company in 2007. In her 10+ years at the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Health and Human Services, she worked her way up to a GS-15 Human Resources Manager position. Her website is www.FederalJobResults.com. Jackson presents free in-person workshops in the DC area, but most are in Northern Virginia; workshops in Montgomery County are rare. She also presents free webinars on federal hiring and related topics. For example, in August, Jackson presented three 30-minute webinars: “Hiring Freeze Lifted — Five Steps to Take Now,” “Ace Your Next Interview,” and “The Senior Executive Service (SES).” In addition, she provides a substantial amount of on-demand content on her website, including a list of agencies that are not covered by www.USAJobs.gov, and about two dozen educational videos. Two of the videos are free: “Why Work for the Federal Government?” and  “Cracking the Code to Your Federal Job Search.” The other videos, at $4 each, cover topics specifically related to federal jobs, as well as topics of more general interest. Federal job topics include understanding the federal resume format, navigating USAJobs.gov, and security clearances. General topics include cover letters, LinkedIn, and networking. Last year, Jackson published a book titled “Cracking the Federal Job Code: Top Secret Tips for Today’s Federal Job Seeker.” The Bottom Line These web sites offer a lot of content, and it is worthwhile to explore both of them.

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR FEDERAL JOBS Read More »

THE IMPACT OF VETERANS’ PREFERENCE ON FEDERAL HIRING

WRITTEN BY EDITOR ON 03 AUGUST 2017. The good news for job seekers is that the federal government is hiring again. But two cautionary notes are in order. First, the federal government’s hiring process remains lengthy. Second, military veterans receive preference in hiring by law, which makes it more challenging for non-veterans to secure a federal job. An official of the Office of Personnel Management (the federal government’s human resources agency), testified in 2016 that such preference is part of a larger effort “to honor veterans for their service and sacrifice in defense of our Nation, including assisting them in re-entering civilian life and finding employment.” The data in this article are drawn primarily from a November 2016 report from the Office of Personnel Management. Unless otherwise noted, they relate to 2015. Please see below for a link to that report and a note on methodology. Veterans as a Share of Total Employees While veterans comprised 31 percent of total employees, the proportions ranged widely from one agency to the next. Seven federal agencies accounted for 82 percent of federal employees: Defense (678 employees, 47% veterans); Veterans Affairs (366 employees, 33% veterans); Homeland Security (187 employees, 28% veterans); Justice (115 employees, 25% veterans); Agriculture (97 employees, 12% veterans); Treasury (91 employees, 11% veterans); and Health and Human Services (85 employees, 7% veterans). Veterans as a Share of New Hires From a job seeker’s standpoint, the share of new hires who are veterans is even more important than the share of total employees. Overall, veterans accounted for 33 percent of all new federal hires. Again, there was a wide variance between agencies. At the high end was Defense (48%) and at the low end was Health and Human Services (9%). Three small agencies of local significance were the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (28%), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (27%), and the Social Security Administration (SSA) (39%) Possible Reasons for Differences Among Agencies in Hiring of Veterans I did not find any convincing explanations of the wide divergence among agencies in the percentage of their total employees and new hires who are veterans. However, some possibilities include differences in the transferability of skills from the military to civilian agencies, agencies’ cultures, and agencies’ diligence in implementing veterans preference. Bottom Line If you are not a veteran, your chances of landing a federal job (other things being equal) are far better at agencies that hire a smaller share of veterans. A note on methodology: The Office of Personnel Management’s most recent annual report on the hiring of veterans was issued in November 2016. This report, entitled “Employment of Veterans in the Federal Executive Branch,” may be accessed at https://www.fedshirevets.gov/hire/hrp/reports/EmploymentOfVets-FY15.pdf. The years cited are federal government fiscal years (October 1 through September 30). The report covers all 15 cabinet agencies and nine other agencies. It does not cover the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and certain other agencies.

THE IMPACT OF VETERANS’ PREFERENCE ON FEDERAL HIRING Read More »

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW JOB!

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 20 JULY 2017. If you’ve just landed a new job, congratulations! Whether you’ve been looking for a month or a year, you must be relieved. Not to burst your bubble, but this job may not be your last. You may again be searching at some point in the future — later rather than sooner, you hope. Here are four steps you should take soon to repay the kindness others showed you in this job search and to pay it forward to others who may be looking for a job. Say thanks. You got the job, ultimately, because of what you offer. However, it is likely that many people helped you along the way. Jon Simmons, a contributor to the job search site Monster, suggests that you go on a “thank-you tour.” He says, “You didn’t get this job alone. It took a village. So be sure to thank everyone involved with helping you get hired,” he writes. Certified resume writer Melanie Brassfield explains the flip side, in a different article: “There is no faster way to burn bridges within your professional network than to neglect thanking the people who helped with your job search journey.” These include people who made time for informational interviews, passed along information on openings, gave you information about your target company and helped you network with people who already work there, helped with your resume and LinkedIn profile, conducted mock interviews with you, or served as references. Thanking them serves two purposes. First, showing gratitude is the right thing to do. Second, sharing the good news will make these people more willing to help if you are looking again. Update your LinkedIn profile. Once you’ve settled into your new job, update your LinkedIn profile and keep it updated. This will inform your network about your new position. Even if you are not actively searching for a job, it will be easier for recruiters and others to find you if they are seeking to hire someone with your skills. This is called stealth or passive recruiting. Keep track of your accomplishments. With the passage of time, the specifics of today’s big “win” at work — a major project finished, a suggestion implemented, etc. — may be forgotten or become blurry. Regularly keep track of your “wins.” This information will provide the raw material for your next resume and for updating your LinkedIn profile. It will also be helpful in preparing your end-of-year self-assessment. I suggest adding this to your calendar for a specific day each month. Pay it forward. Just as others helped you land this job, you should make time to help others in their job search, in the ways noted above. Again, not only is it the right thing to do, but it also broadens and deepens your network, which could help in your next job search. For further reading: “Here’s what to do after getting a job offer” by Jon Simmons, May 2017, https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/what-to-do-after-your-first-job-offer-0517 “5 Actions You Must Take After You Accept a Job Offer” by Melanie Brassfield, September 29, 2016 http://www.gijobs.com/actions-you-must-take-after-you-accept-a-job-offer/

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW JOB! Read More »

VIDEO (SKYPE, ZOOM, ETC.) INTERVIEWS

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK  FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 22 JUNE 2017. In the previous issue, we discussed phone interviews, and today we move on to Skype interviews. Skype interviews are increasingly used to vet candidates. Crystal Chen says that her company, Coursera, “uses Skype for a good 90 percent of our first-round interviews.” Perhaps this is an extreme example, but it is likely a herald of things to come. To convey the complexities, Chen says that a Skype interview is “like being on TV, except you’re filming, directing, and acting in this role.” The basic rules about preparing for an interview are the same whether it is conducted in person, by phone, or by Skype, but following the medium-specific tips below can make your Skype interview more successful. Setting Make sure that you will not be disturbed during the interview — by people or pets barging into your room, or by noise from another room. Have a neutral background that will not compete with your attire. Soft but adequate lighting is also important. Harsh lighting can make you look washed out. Equipment Have the right equipment. Chen suggests: “Don’t rely on the built-in microphone unless you want to sound like you’re in a bat cave. Get a dedicated microphone and test it out.” Michaela Gianotti adds that using a headset will help your audience “hear you more clearly and with less distracting background noises.” Similarly, make sure you have a solid internet connection, because a dropped call distracts from the interview and may reflect poorly on you. Lisa Rangel of Chameleon Resumes suggests: “Test yourself by filming yourself answering some sample questions.” It’s good to have a backup plan in case your internet connection fails you. Options include a landline, cellphone, or Google chat. Rescheduling the interview is a last resort. Attire “Avoid standing out,” advises “Ace Your Interview” author Lisa B. Marshall. “You want them to remember what you said, not what you wore.” As Rangel notes, “Prints and patterns can overpower the screen and make it hard for the interviewer to watch you.” She also suggests: “Full dress for the call.” That means dressing head to toe, not just head to waist. Wearing your comfy Hawaiian shorts with your collared shirt and suit jacket is fine — unless you need to stand up for any reason. Marshall provides extensive suggestions, especially for women, on colors, makeup, and jewelry. Body Language You want to keep your eyes on the camera, not on the view from your screen. Chen quotes a tip from Paul Bailo, author of “The Essential Digital Interview Handbook,” for helping you appear to be looking right at the interviewer: Download a photo of the hiring manager, print it, and make a hole in the photo to allow the camera lens to see through. “Now you can look at the photo, which makes it more human to conduct your digital interviews,” says Bailo. Moreover, make sure your body language expresses that you’re engaged. “As you’re communicating, lean forward,” suggests Bailo. “This will show interest and concern and will engage your audience. It will also convey eagerness and willingness to listen.” Just be careful not to overdo it. “Even more so than in an in-person interview, avoid excessive physical movements.” “Put on your best newscaster face,” says Rangel. “You have to be a little more animated and expressive than you would in person to convey your enthusiasm.” Additional Tips You should have all backup materials (job description, cover letter, resume, etc.) readily accessible on your computer, so that you don’t need to riffle through a stack of papers to find something. Also, turn off all notifications, so that you won’t be disturbed during your interview. Bottom line: Check out everything ahead of time: the background and lighting, the microphone and computer connection, your attire, and your “look” on camera.

VIDEO (SKYPE, ZOOM, ETC.) INTERVIEWS Read More »