Job Search Articles and tools

PHONE INTERVIEWS

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 08 JUNE 2017. If a prospective employer likes your resume, he or she will likely arrange to interview you. Increasingly, that interview will be conducted by phone. Phone interviews are a double-edged sword for the person being interviewed. They can be easier for you because you don’t need to travel to another location and they allow you to take notes in a way that face-to-face interviews don’t. However, body language can be difficult to read if you can’t see who’s on the other end. The basic rules about preparing for an interview are the same whether the interview is conducted in person or by phone. But there are key differences about your conduct before, during, and after the interview that can make your phone interview more successful. Seven of these are explained below. In the next issue, we will cover Skype interviews. Use a landline. If you are using a cellphone, the quality of your reception — and theirs — may vary. Using a landline increases the chances that you can clearly hear their questions and they can clearly hear your answers. Use your cellphone effectively. If you must use a cell phone, avoid background noise. For example, avoid being interviewed when you are shopping or walking the dog. If you receive a call from an interviewer while you are in such a place, check the caller’s number and, if the call is from an interviewer, let the call go to message and follow up later. Dress up, stand up, and smile. Even though the interviewer can’t see you, you are more likely to feel “businesslike” if you are dressed up, rather than wearing pajamas. Also, your voice will sound better if you are standing up and smiling. Avoid interruptions. Make sure that other people — and pets — will not barge into the room where you are being interviewed. Similarly, make sure that your noisy washer and drier, people in another room, and outside music will not be heard during the interview. Have materials at hand. You can spread any materials you may need in front of you, such as the job description, your resume, letters of recommendation, and your notes about the company. (You can’t do this in an in-person interview.) Use short, crisp answers. Because you can’t observe the interviewers’ body language, for example, to see whether they are fidgeting, use shorter answers than during an in-person interview. In answering any question, try to craft an answer that lasts no more than a minute and a half, then ask whether they would like to hear more. Find out who is on the other end. If more than one person is interviewing you, at the outset, try to get each person’s name (and note their distinctive voice) and email each of them a thank you note. For further reading: Allison Matthews, “Phone Interview Tips: 19 Keys to Landing a Second Interview,” Dec. 9, 2016. https://hired.com/blog/candidates/19-phone-interview-tips-get-hired/ Lisa Rangel, “Executive Phone Interview? 10 Important Techniques to Land the Offer,” Oct. 23, 2015. http://chameleonresumes.com/2015/10/23/executive-phone-interview-10-important-techniques-to-land-the-offer/ Caroline Ceniza-Levine, “How to Ace Your Next Phone Interview,” Dec. 2, 2014. http://time.com/money/3597332/ace-phone-interview/ Rhona Bronson, “Why Not to Pick Up the Phone When Unemployed,” May 16, 2014. http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2014/05/16/job-search-success-phone-strategies/ By David Marwick for KempMillJobAssist

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SAGE ADVICE ON CHOOSING A CAREER

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 18 MAY 2017 Your choice of a career can have life-long implications. This is true whether you are a high school or college student preparing to enter the workforce, or an experienced worker considering switching to a different field. In addition to the conventional information sources that are available to help guide such choices, gerontologist Dr. Karl A. Pillemer offers a novel set of data on choosing a career. He asked his “experts” — nearly 1,200 seniors (at least 65 years old, and often 80 or 90 years old) — what they would recommend to the next generation regarding choosing a career and five other areas. He summarized his findings in “30 Lessons for Living—Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans,” published in 2011. Dr. Pillemer used several techniques to collect information from nearly 1,200 seniors. Among other things, he conducted interviews (averaging about 20 minutes each) with a randomly-selected sample of 314 respondents (whose average age was 74). He also conducted interviews (typically lasting one hour or more) with a non-random sample of 240 others (whose average was 81). He sought information in six areas — marriage, careers, child rearing, aging, avoiding regrets, and remaining happy despite setbacks. In each of these six areas, he consolidated his results into five findings — a total of 30 “lessons.” Here are his findings, garnered from these “experts,” along with my comments. 1.) “Choose a career for the intrinsic rewards, not the financial ones. The biggest career mistake people make is selecting a profession based only on potential earnings. A sense of purpose and passion for one’s work beats a bigger paycheck any day.” Agreed, in part. This conclusion may demonstrate 20-20 hindsight. At age 70 or beyond, people may wish they had chosen a career that provided more satisfaction. But when they were starting out, or when they were mid-career, the pressure to pay the mortgage, day school tuition, and other expenses may have swayed them to choose bigger paychecks over more satisfaction. 2.) “Don’t give up on looking for a job that makes you happy. According to the experts, persistence is the key to finding a job you love. Don’t give up easily.” Agreed. Switching jobs, and even careers, is far easier today than it was in previous generations. His “experts” entered the workforce 45 to 70 years ago. 3.) “Make the most of a bad job.If you find yourself in a less-than-ideal work situation, don’t waste the experience; many experts learned invaluable lessons from bad jobs.” Agreed. In my experience, you can learn something from every manager or co-worker. From the good ones, you can learn what to emulate. From the bad ones, what to avoid. 4.) “Emotional intelligence trumps every other kind. Develop your interpersonal skills if you want to succeed in the workplace. Even people in the most technical professions have their career torpedoed if they lack emotional intelligence.” Agreed. Being technically adept is necessary, but not sufficient, to succeed. Don’t be “smart in the classroom but dumb on the playground.” 5.) “Everyone needs autonomy. Career satisfaction is often dependent on how much autonomy you have on the job. Look for the freedom to make decisions and move in directions that interest you, without too much control from the top.” Agreed. Relative to the past, modern management theory emphasizes the importance of autonomy for workers at all levels.

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THE RIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS AND PROFILES CAN HELP YOUR NEXT JOB FIND YOU

Job Search Articles and tools, LinkedIn and Other Social Media / May 4, 2017

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 04 MAY 2017. Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook are an increasingly important tool in any job search. As a job seeker, you can publicize your past successes, sign up to receive alerts about relevant jobs in your area, and check out people who work at a potential employer. As an employer, you can check out prospective employees and look for candidate who may fit your needs — even if they are not looking for a job right now. This is called stealth or passive recruiting. What is stealth recruiting? For example, if an employer wants to hire a chef in the Philadelphia area who speaks French, he has two choices. First, he can advertise the vacancy and receive a large number of applications, perhaps hundreds, from people who meet or nearly meet his requirements. Because the cost of submitting an online application is so low, applicants don’t seriously consider whether they are well qualified, and therefore an employer may receive many applications. Dealing with this flood of applications can be time-consuming (read: expensive) for an employer. An employer who has premium access to LinkedIn, on the other hand, can comb through LinkedIn members’ profiles, even if they are not currently seeking a job, to find the relatively small number of people who clearly meet all of the job’s criteria. This allows the employer to avoid the time and expense of screening so many applications. The following four recent articles — three on LinkedIn and one on Facebook — are well worth your time: 1.) “7 LinkedIn Hacks That Will Help You Get Noticed by Recruiters,” by Marguerite Ward, published March 2017. “If you maximize your LinkedIn profile, you may not be looking for your next job; it could come find you.” This advice comes from Suzy Welch, a best-selling management author. Welch’s seven suggestions will not surprise those who are diligent about maintaining their LinkedIn profile. But for the casual user, they can make the difference between being found and not being found by a recruiter. For example, include your location. “Recruiters screen by location,” Welch says. “Leaving your location off leaves you out of the running for a lot of jobs.” Also, include your education. Adding your school(s) makes it more likely that hiring managers and former classmates will find you in searches. 2.) “Older Workers Rebuild Professional Networks With the Help of LinkedIn,” by Mary Kane, published March 2017. Kane focuses on Mark Stein, a communications professional in his late fifties, who, through no fault of his own, needed to find a new job. Social media platforms are not only for the younger generations. Kane cites a Pew Research Center finding that 21 percent of LinkedIn users are 50 to 64 years old, and another eight percent are 65 and older. She details how Stein dramatically improved his LinkedIn profile and made LinkedIn a part of his daily job search routine. He set criteria for notification of job openings and used his connections to learn more about those openings. Using those connections helped him land a job. In one way, your age can be an advantage — after decades in the work force, you (potentially) have a massive network. Kane provides specific suggestions on how to activate your network. 3.) “3 LinkedIn Updates You Need to Know About for 2017,” by Sara McCord, published March 2017. McCord explains three new features recently rolled out by LinkedIn. They are intended to help users connect more easily with other users, make it easier to navigate someone’s profile, and connect better with recruiters. 4.) “Will Facebook Make Looking for a Job Easier — Or Just More Social?” by Willam Arrude, published April 2017. Arruda discusses the launch of Facebook’s job board and its implications for passive recruiting. As Arruda notes, Facebook’s reach is astounding (1.9 billion active users), about six times as many as Twitter (about 320 million). It remains to be seen, he concludes, how effectively Facebook will help connect employers to the right applicants and whether it will be an efficient use of time for recruiters and applicants. My own two cents: Facebook may not “get it right” from the outset, but that much brainpower is sure to improve the product over time. By David Marwick for KempMillJobAssist David Marwick is KempMillJobAssist’s workshop coordinator. He studied economics at George Washington University and worked as an economist for George Washington University and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

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WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT

Job Search Articles and tools, Resumes and Cover Letters / April 7, 2017

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 07 APRIL 2017 Let’s say you saw a job opening last week that appealed to you and you submitted your resume. It’s safe to assume that you’re not the only person who applied. Perhaps 10 — or 500 — other people also applied. Therefore, it is critical that your resume stands out. To do so, it’s important to demonstrate the contributions that made you stand out in your previous and current jobs. What you accomplished in the past can help the employer assess what you can contribute in the future. Here are two ways to think about defining your those contributions. First, in every job, there is a way to distinguish the top performers from the rest. How can you demonstrate that you were a top performer? Second, if an employer is interviewing you and other people with similar resumes, how would you convince that employer to hire you over the other candidates? In some cases, your contributions are easy to define and quantify; for example, increasing sales or reduced costs. In other cases, your contributions may be harder to define, much less quantify; for example, strengthening a company’s brand or improving relations with a key client. Defining Your Accomplishments Ira Ziff and Robyn Barsky’s web site (see below for the URL) recommends putting the accomplishments in your resume through two filters: a results filter (What did you accomplish?) and an importance filter (Who cares?). For the results filter, ask yourself whether you accomplished any of the following or similar results. Did you: Contribute to decreasing costs? Contribute to increasing sales or profits? Contribute to an increase in market share? Contribute to an improvement in customer/client satisfaction? Enhance a company’s brand’s image or reputation? Strengthen the operational capacity of a team or an organization? Help transform a system/process, team, or project? Support management and/or better decision making? Change expectations and/or perceptions about something? Mitigate any risks for a department, employer, or client? Uncover or reveal vulnerabilities in a process, product, or service? Help resolve a problem? Then, ask yourself why this result was important and who benefited from it (for example, your team, division, or company). This is the importance filter. CAR Statements An excellent way to explain your contributions is through “CAR statements.” CAR stands for Challenge (what challenge were you facing?), Action (what action did you take?), and Result (what result did you achieve?). (Such statements may also be called CCAR statements — Context, Challenge, Action, and Result — or STAR statements — Situation, Task, Action, and Result). Here are examples from three fields: Nursing: Improved HCAPS scores from 6 percent to 14 percent over six months by piloting hourly nursing protocols and establishing new patient pain management standards. In this example, the Challenge was low HCAPS scores (6 percent). The Actions were (a) piloting hourly nursing protocols and (b) establishing new patient pain- management standards. The Result was a notable improvement (to 14 percent) in HCAPS scores over a short period of time. Marketing: Developed reading program and marketing partnership with Fortune 50 retailer, enabling the firm to gain significant goodwill and resulting in sales of 16,000 tickets. In this example, the implicit Challenge was developing ways to (a) generate goodwill for the firm and (b) sell tickets. The Action was developing a reading program and marketing partnership. The Results were (a) goodwill for the firm and (b) the sale of 16,000 tickets. Finance: Reduced proportion of overdue balances from 20 percent to 12 percent over nine months by using Excel to analyze characteristics of late payers and develop new approaches for such firms. In this example, the Challenge was a high proportion (20 percent) of overdue balances. The Actions were (a) analyzing the characteristics of late payers and (b) developing new approaches for them. The Result was a significant reduction (to 12 percent) in the proportion of overdue balances. CAR statements are not only the backbone of a strong resume. They can also be powerful selling points in an interview. For further reading: Material on defining your “so what?” may be found at Ira Ziff and Robyn Barsky’s web site. Go to www.GetWhatYouSet.com, then click on “resume + pitch.” Sample resumes for various professions may be found at http://chameleonresumes.com/executive-resume-samples/ Dan Butcher, “8 Tricks for Showcasing Accomplishments on Your Resume,” June 1, 2016, www.news.efinancialcareers.com David Marwick is KempMillJobAssist’s workshop coordinator. He studied economics at George Washington University and worked as an economist for George Washington University and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

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WHEN YOUR INTERVIEW ‘REALLY’ ENDS

Interviewing, Job Search Articles and tools / March 16, 2017

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 16 MARCH 2017. Just as your real job interview begins well before your formal interview, which we discussed in the previous column, so too your interview does not end when you leave the interviewer’s office. Rather, your real interview continues through your follow-up actions. At a minimum, you don’t want to burn any bridges by being pushy. Beyond that, through the steps listed below, you can improve your chances of being hired. Confirm next steps. Before you leave the interviewer’s office, you should ask about the next steps in the hiring process and the timing of those steps. If you have not heard from the company within the stated time frame, it is okay for you to contact the company and ask about it. It is very important that you respect the time frame stated by the company and do not appear pushy (examples: calling to check in before the agreed-upon date, or calling frequently). Thank-you notes. You should write a thank-you note to everyone who interviewed you. While hand-written notes were once the standard, emails are now the norm. They should be sent within a day of your interview. Between the U.S. Postal Service and a company’s mail room, snail mail can take days to make it to the intended recipient and the hiring process may have advanced quite a bit by then. Emails, on the other hand, arrive almost immediately. Thank-you notes can serve three purposes: You thank the interviewer(s) for meeting with you and reference one or more points you discussed. You restate, briefly, why you think you are a good fit for the job. If you did not respond well to a specific question, you can provide a better answer. For example, “When you asked me about x, I wish I had mentioned y.” Response to a rejection. Even after a company informs you that they picked someone else for the opening, all is not lost. You should craft a letter which: expresses your thanks, again, for the opportunity to interview with that company, briefly restates, again, why you think you would be a good fit, and expresses that if a similar opportunity becomes available, you hope to be considered. If the candidate who was hired turns down the job and the company does not want to start the search process from the beginning (which entails a new batch of resumes to review, candidates to interview and other time-consuming tasks), they may pick you to fill the vacancy. Bottom line: Your interview continues even after you leave the interviewer’s office. For further reading: “Five Real-Life Examples of Job Seekers Hurt or Helped by Their Thank-You Notes,” by Caroline Ceniza-Levine (Forbes.com) “Why Bother with a Thank-You Letter?” by Alex Freund (www.landingexpert.com) “I Had My Interview. Now What? five Post-Interview Tips” by Kristin Sherry (LinkedIn) “The letter to write when you don’t get the job” by Lisa Vaas (www.theladders.com) David Marwick is KempMillJobAssist’s workshop coordinator. He studied economics at George Washington University and worked as an economist for George Washington University and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

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WHEN YOUR INTERVIES ‘REALLY’ BEGINS

Interviewing, Job Search Articles and tools / March 7, 2017

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WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 02 MARCH 2017. Your interview for a new job does not begin when you sit down with your prospective employer’s hiring manager. That’s your formal interview. Your real interview includes everything a prospective employer can learn about you before your formal interview. Cover letter and resume. Expect an employer to review your cover letter and resume with no tolerance for typos and jargon, and to compare these documents for consistency. To protect yourself, you should carefully review these documents. Even better, have two other people review these materials–one, an expert proofreader; the other, someone who knows your industry. Social media. Expect an employer to check your social media– such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter– and to “Google” you. To protect yourself, you should scrub all your social media, to make sure there is nothing potentially incriminating for an employer to find. This includes Googling yourself first and fixing anything that could be a problem. For example, one client learned– for the first time–about a second cousin with the same name who had very different “cultural” tastes. Credit history. It’s likely that the company will check your credit score and/or credit history. An employer may reason that if you are not responsible with your own money, you may not be responsible on the job. Behavior while waiting. Expect your behavior before your formal interview to be noted. Expect your interviewer to ask the admin person about your behavior while waiting for the formal interview. Did you appear agitated? Were your phone calls loud or argumentative? Were you rude to the receptionist or others? An extreme example of this kind of vetting was practiced by Zappos, a shoe company known for its positive company culture. The company chairman explained how it made sure that hires were not only good cultural fits but also good people. “A lot of our job candidates are from out of town, and we’ll pick them up from the airport in a Zappos shuttle, give them a tour, and then they’ll spend the rest of the day interviewing,” he said. “At the end of the day of interviews, the recruiter will circle back to the shuttle driver and ask how he or she was treated. It doesn’t matter how well the day of interviews went, if our shuttle driver wasn’t treated well, then we won’t hire that person.” Bottom line: Your real interview starts long before your formal interview. For further reading: Louis DeNicola, “Why do some employers check your credit history?,” 03.29.16 https://www.creditkarma.com/article/why-some-employers-check-credit-history-1014152 Max Nisen, “Tony Hsieh’s Brilliant Strategy for Hiring Kind People,” 11.22.13 http://www.businessinsider.com/tony-hsieh-zappos-hiring-strategy-2013-11 Pauwels Consulting, “What (not) to do while waiting for a job interview,” 05.20.13 https://www.pauwelsconsulting.com/job-application-tips/what-to-while-waiting-for-a-job-interview/ David Marwick is KempMillJobAssist’s workshop coordinator. He studied economics at George Washington University and worked as an economist for George Washington University and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

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INTRODUCING CHAMELEON RESUMES

Job Search Articles and tools, Other / February 16, 2017

WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 16 FEBRUARY 2017. From time to time, we will highlight sources of free online information that can help in your job search. Although these sources are typically for-profit ventures, to interest people in their services they provide some information for free. Today’s focus is Chameleon Resumes (www.chameleonresumes.com). Lisa Rangel is the company’s founder and managing director. Her free services include webinars, “cheat sheets” on resumes and LinkedIn, an e-book, weekly podcasts, and a blog. Although she states that executives are her target, there is much of value here for executives and non-executives alike. Webinars Rangel provides periodic webinars on writing resumes and using LinkedIn. The webinars last about an hour. If you sign up for an online seminar but then can’t watch it live, you can usually get a link to view it for a couple of days afterwards. You can learn about upcoming webinars by visiting www.chameleonresumes.com and clicking on Events. Warning: Rangel typically provides only a few days’ notice before these webinars. “Cheat Sheets” on Resumes and LinkedIn The resume “cheat sheet” includes pithy comments about various sections of the document, such as contact information, summary, work experience, education. Similarly, the LinkedIn “cheat sheet” explains the importance of having a professional photo and a complete profile and details the amount of available space for various fields and the more effective content for those fields. http://resumecheatshTheeet.com/ http://linkedinprofilecheatsheet.com/h e-Book “99 Job Search Tips from an Executive Recruiter” (available at http://bit.ly/16ClDsA) explains how your LinkedIn profile can help hiring managers find you, how you can find your own job leads, and how you can use Google to avoid bad employers. Weekly Podcasts Earlier this year, Rangel started a series of weekly podcasts, about 10-12 minutes each, on the theme “Pretend You’re Fired Today.” The premise is that even though you could be fired with little or no notice, you are not prepared to start searching immediately for a new job. Be proactive, not reactive! Topics so far have included: Pretend You’re Fired Today: My Story Behind the Podcast Executive Resume Trends in 2017 Finding Keywords to Optimize Your Resume How to Write an Achievement-based Resume Recruiters Will Love Tips to Write a Powerful CIO Resume Blog Posts Rangel frequently adds blog posts to her website at http://chameleonresumes.com/blog/. Recent blog posts include: Is Your Resume Readable on Mobile Devices? Frequently Asked LinkedIn Profile Questions Answered Common (But Important) Resume Questions Answered 7 Ways Recruiters Will Attract and Hire Talent in 2017 To learn more about Lisa Rangel, visit her LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisarangel. Job Search Nuggets are provided by KempMillJobAssist. Please direct questions or comments to the author at DMarwick@JobAssist.org.

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IT’S NOT (ONLY) ABOUT YOU

Job Search Articles and tools, Overall Approach / February 2, 2017

WRITTEN BY BY: DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 02 FEBRUARY 2017. POSTED IN FINANCIAL Introducing Job Search Nuggets provided by KempMillJobAssist, an all-volunteer organization formed about 12 years ago by residents of Kemp Mill to help their neighbors find jobs. The nuggets will include advice on job search topics, highlight free online resources, and answer questions of general interest. Please send questions and comments to DMarwick@JobAssist.org. “A company doesn’t care what you want. They want to know how you can meet their needs.” –– Lisa Rangel, founder of Chameleon Resumes Having a realistic perspective on the job market, especially about why a company posts a vacancy, is vital to success in finding a job. An unrealistic perspective can lead to frustration–– lots of applications, but no job offers. Let’s begin with two basic questions and answers. The first question is, why does an employer advertise a vacancy? An employer advertises a job opening because the employer has a mission to accomplish and needs someone to help accomplish it. The second question: why do you, job seeker, want to fill that vacancy?Possible answers could vary; maybe you want to earn additional income, use newfound skills, or advance your career. If your qualifications closely match the employer’s needs, the employer may be interested in speaking with you and possibly in hiring you–– but, to be blunt, the employer usually does not care why you want that job. Below are three typical mistakes by job seekers who are, to be delicate, less than fully qualified for a position and an employer’s likely response to those rationales. For the purposes of the example, this job seeker is applying for a position in the field of gerontology. What you say: “I have a lot of skills, and I’m sure you can find a role for me in your company.” What the employer thinks: If you haven’t made the effort to identify how you can help me fulfill my mission, please don’t expect me to take time from my busy schedule to figure it out. What you say: “I’ve always been interested in gerontology.” What the employer thinks: Your interest in gerontology is admirable, but I see little evidence in your resume that you are well qualified to work in the field, and I want to hire the best-qualified person available. What you say: “I don’t know much about gerontology, but I’m a quick study.” What the employer thinks: Why would I pay you to learn about gerontology when there are other candidates who already know about it? In short, when you make your case to an employer, always remember: It’s not about you. (For further reading, check out “Work Advice: No, temp agencies do not exist to find you a job” by Karla Miller for The Washington Post, January 19, 2017.) David Marwick is KempMillJobAssist’s Workshop Coordinator. He studied economics at George Washington University and worked as an economist for George Washington University and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

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