Career Coach Office Hours: April 29 2022 | JobSearchTV.com

Our first anniversary! YAY! I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays and put your question into chat. You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too. #careercoachofficehours #careercoaching #careercoach #jobsearchtips #jobsearchadvice #interviews #hiring #managingpeople #leadershipskills #linkedinlive #linkedinlivestreams 03:27 Can silence help you negotiate a pay raise? 07:59 Why do employers prefer recruiting new software developers instead of giving raises to current staff, as they're improving? 09:41 How do you close an interview that takes a longer time? 11:30 How can I tell if a job posting is put up on the internet only to collect resumes? 13:19 If your current company gives you a counter offer matching your new job offer, is it wise to stay? 16: How can I learn how to hire people? 19:30 Should you continue looking after you accept an offer? 20:58  When are the best moments to talk about salary for the position? 25:00 Do you look for a higher salary or better title when you change a job? 30:42 Do companies hire people having 90 days notice period? 31:50 How helpful are online job networks and apps for finding a job? Researching Salary 03:27 Can silence help you negotiate a pay raise? I believe it can. And the way I do it. And the way I teach people to do it is let's say you've gotten a job offer. And the offers come in a little bit low. And they've said "good news! We're making you an offer. It's for $5000, $10,000 less than what you asked for . . . whatever the number is. And then what you do, Sit quietly. You can be on the phone, you can be on Zoom, you can be in person doesn't really matter. But you sit silently for about a five count. And then you say, "Huh?" And again, you sit in silence. Now that communicates something to them, quite obviously. They know you're not happy. But you're not saying "WHAT?" You're not getting indignant. You're not pleading or begging. You're communicating with them through the silence that you're not pleased with their offer. So there's no arguing there. And then from there, what you can do is "I'd like to think about it for a few days and get back to you." And they know they're in trouble. "Can I see all the offer material, the information about the benefits and vacation policy? Could you email that to me, please? And could you send over a copy of the offer letter, just in case I misheard something there." And you give them a little snigger and "Can I get back to you the day after tomorrow." And you're gonna leave them uncomfortable?   05:13 And they may say, "Well, what are you thinking?" I'd like to think about it for a day or two before speaking. Let me circle back to you the day after tomorrow." If it's a Friday, you can say, "Can I circle back to you on Monday?" "Well, but what are you thinking?" " I'd like to circle back to you."   05:30 Really keep it that simple so that in this way, you're not saying anything rash, and you're letting the silence do the work.  So can silence help you negotiate a pay raise? Can it help you negotiate a higher offer? Yes, now I'm gonna treat this now as a pay raise. Now, if they say "good news, we're giving you a 5% increase." You can sit there and go. "Huh. 5%. "Yeah, 5%, it's a 5% increase." "5%. Okay, and then you walk off, and if they know you're not happy, "what's wrong. Isn't 5% good"    06:21 "Now, we both know, as of the most recent report, inflation's at eight and a half percent, which means you've got to earn 11 In order to breakeven. So at 11%, 5% is a big cut. By the way, the reason it's 11%, and not eight and a half percent, is the government takes a cut on your increase again, right?" So you lose approximately a third between federal, state, local taxes, Social Security, this is what it costs you in the US. So, yes, it's a painful thing. And you just sit there quietly.   07:05 And they know you're not happy. So it doesn't mean they necessarily respond, it's possible that they'll come back to you in a day or two, and try and get your more because they know you're not happy. Remember, sometimes what silence does is flips the pressure on to the other person, so that in this way, they feel it necessary to respond to your silence. Will this work every time? No, nothing works all the time. But having coached people in lots of different roles, it's effective. You don't put your foot in your mouth, you don't go into attack mode, because as soon as you attack, you lose.And if necessary, you start looking for something else that gets you above inflation. The Top 10 Salary Negotiation Mistakes 07:59 Why do employers prefer recruiting new software developers, instead of giving raises to current staff as they're improving? Often they do give raises to current staff as they're improving. Unfortunately, the work becomes repetitive. Why do they hire from the outside? Well, they sometimes need additional people, not different people. So number one is you're hiring additions to staff, because there's more work than the existing staff can handle. The second reason they do it is frankly, they're expecting a certain amount of turnover. So they're anticipating that and moving through it by getting people into the queue. Also, you start getting too expensive for their budgets. So they need to get less experienced people, less expensive people than their existing staff. And fourth, if salaries are pretty common across the board, because information's out there pretty readily. Well, they can't attract people by giving them the same money that you're getting, because it's about the same money that they're currently getting. So they've got to give them a raise in order to attract them. Those are the primary reasons why they pay more for people from the outside. They interviewed less experienced people from the outside and all the other stuff.   09:41 How do you close an interview that takes a longer time? So let's say you've been scheduled for 30 minutes, that's now 40. Now you have a choice to make there. And the choice is, it's going well and do you have time? Are you feeling distracted by the amount of time that it's taking. Do you have an appointment to go to? Well, the simplest way to do this is to say, "you know, when I was asked to schedule this time, I was told the interview would be about 30 minutes. And we're at 40 right now, and I've got a meeting in five minutes. So I gotta bring this to a conclusion. If you'd like, we can use the next minute or two to schedule a follow up conversation so we can continue the interview. Can that work for you?" And then you start reaching for your phone, to take it out so that, in this way, you're indicating that you're set and you're ready to schedule the appointment. And they may turn around, "Oh, I was just enjoying this so much. I just, I was just chatting. This wasn't really the interview," or something along those lines. So from your standpoint, the easiest way to do it is to call attention to the fact that, you know, the interviewer is running long and thus, you have someplace else to be. someone else to talk to . . .  something along those lines.   11:29 How can I tell if a job posting is just a way of collecting resumes? Well, I don't think there's a way to really check that. After all, it's not like you can go into their system, it's not like there's a signal that they have, that indicates that that's the case. You can tell more at the interview by whether they dig in deeply and treat it as a real interview. But I always point out to people, what's in it for an employer to do that? Because they;re collecting resumes,? That doesn't make a lot of sense. Frankly, it's a waste of their time to. And it's a waste of a lot of people's time if they do that. If they're just collecting resumes. Now, no point in that. You know, it's not like companies need to have conversations or post ads to collect resumes. They're getting spammed with resumes, so heavily, if anything, they want fewer resumes. So, at the time of the interview, you sell yourself aggressively. You talk about what you can do that solves their problem, meet their needs, all that sort of stuff. And then from there, let it go, frankly, there's no way you can ever tell. And it's unlikely that they're really doing it because it really wastes their time   13:19 if your current company gives you a counteroffer matching your new job offer, should you stay>? Is it wise to stay? Okay, this reminds me and. I apologize if this offends anyone. It reminds me of the abused spouse whose wife, husband or partner promises to do better. "This is the last time. I'm so sorry. Please don't go. I'll do better. Really. And in this case, all they're doing is matching the other offer. They're not improving upon it, it's equal to it. And you had to put a gun to their head to get in. So in hostage situations, you can wind up promising anything. And then the hostage situation ends and they go back to the way they were previously. So there's nothing in it for you to stay. Money may have been only one of a series of reasons why people left or why you wanted to leave. Have they addressed the other factors too? Probably not. And as a result, you wind up in the situation where all they're doing is matching the money. They're not moving ahead. This other firm acted with good intention and you're letting them down. They did nothing wrong. Your current employer did. Why are you rewarding them with loyalty when they haven't shown any to you. Now, if you said a 10%, increase a 15% increase over what the other offer was, I'd have to think about that for a little bit, and see what other factors were involved. But the long and the short of it is start planning on moving on to something else. Your current firm doesn't need to be rewarded for their bad behavior Stupid Salary Negotiation Mistakes: Being Too Grateful" 16:11 How can I learn how to hire people? Well, there are lots of different ways. Let me give you the basics of how to hire effectively. Number one is on a skills basis, identify the skills needed to do the job that you need to have done. That should be pretty obvious. Number two is determine questions that are going to allow you to evaluate whether people have the knowledge needed to do the job you need them to do. That should seem pretty obvious. And if once you've determined the requirements, if you have other people involved with the hiring, make sure that they understand what's needed, and how to evaluate the way you want them to be evaluated. Next, from there, recognize you cannot evaluate for fit, unless you are applying a standardized test, industrial psychology test of some sort, that allows you to assess the personality and matching with the people within the current organization. And you need to administer that test every time you hire, because the way people are on staff now, and you, are different than the way they'll be at the time of the next hire. People learn and grow, right? So they change, they adapt, their needs change and adapt. So, you kind of have to put the staff through this and you through this every time you hire in order to figure out whether someone fits, might complement the staff in a particular way. And by that I mean, they have a different way of looking at things that reflects a blind spot within the staff. And if this is starting to sound complicated, it is. Take a course, Take multiple courses,. Start watching videos on YouTube, I've got a book, "You Can Fix Stupid: No BS Hiring Advice," related to hiring, that'll pique some of your ideas. And there's much more. Look for other books, look for other courses, ask your HR department for a course that they can recommend for you and that they pay for it. It's important that you do this and you'll learn this skill because if you act like an amateur and learn through trial and error on hiring, you're going to have problems at some point. Really, you're going to have problems and the impact of that it's going to affect your performance, the performance of other people on the team and your ability to deliver for your organization. You're wise to be asking this question. And I'll just simply say, take the time and learn.   19:30 Should you continue interviewing after you've accepted an offer? I know what HR organizations want me to say. And I suspect you know that too. They'll want you to say "Oh no, you've made a commitment." But what about if the organization has misrepresented a position to you? Your protection against this is to continue interviewing. I normally say for 30 days. Sometimes I'll say 45 and no more than 60 after you join the new firm, in order to ensure that you're not trapped in a bad situation, have shut down your options, and left yourself in the lurch if a hiring manager misrepresents an opportunity. Why would they do that? Well, they're trying to fill a position, and what I know from statistics is 30% of new hires leave within six months. Catch that number 30% of hires leave within six months, with the result being if you're in that situation, you feel like the job was misrepresented to you, the company isn't having you do what you expected to do. It's not the job you expected. So, I would just say your protection is to continue to have conversations after you join a firm. Okay? Data-Driven Assessments and Culture Fit 20:58 When are the best moments to talk about the salary of the position? Now, I want to start off with my assumption about salary negotiation. Salary negotiation starts from the moment they ask you a question about compensation. So, in some parts of the country, they can ask "what are you making?" And in most parts of the country and all parts of the country, they're allowed to ask, "So what are you looking for?" Now, that's the question where you're really starting in negotiation. They're starting with any question about salary. Your job is to defer and deflect. And the way you do that is by saying, "You know, it's hard for me to talk about what I'm looking for. All I've seen is the job ad. All I've seen is a job description that may or may not be accurate. I haven't met my future boss, I don't really have a sense of what the demands or expectations are of the position. Haven't met my team yet. Can we come back to that a little bit later?" "But I need a number. I can give you a number now., and by the way, what's the salary for this position?" "Well, I asked you first." "Yes, and I'll get to that. But what's the salary range for the position?" At which point if they start trying to bully you, you've got a message from them. You may not like that message, but they're giving you information that I think is useful. They'll eventually cave, just stick with the, "what's so difficult about telling me the salary range for the position?" And they'll tell you. At which point, and I stand by what I said.  I know next to nothing about this job, except what Rona or Ronnie, the Recruiter said, except what I read in the job description. I haven't met anyone, really. So let's circle back to that later." And thus, you're deflecting, and now you know, the salary range. So at the time they were asking you about your compensation, or what you're looking for, that's the time really to bring it up. And on your side, you don't want to get pinned down to a number, because they take that as being the number. So for example, if you say 150 to 175, just for the sake of argument, they hear 150 as being viable. They don't hear the 175 because that's what HR departments and screeners do. They always listen to the lowest number, right? So from my vantage point, don't get pinned to a number. Defer, deflect, circle back to it when they ask again, after you know more so that this way, you don't get into harder arguments later once they've heard the first number. Now they're going, "But you said 150.  How did this change?" I learned more about the job. And I learned that this is a harder job than what the ad said. "Yeah. but you said . . . " Once you get where I'm going with this, right? So as soon as they raise money, defer and deflect. Then, from there, if they start pinning you down, you start asking again. So what's the range for this position? Great. I'll circle back to you once I know a bit more. Certainly before you make the offer, let's have this conversation. And that's the way you handle it. Small Mistakes, Big Consequences 25:00 Do you look for a higher salary or better title when you change positions? Oh, let's see. Now, I believe the answer is yes! You look for a higher salary and a better title when you change jobs. And if it's a question of one or the other, these days, you have to bring money into the equation. You cannot ignore the financial side of this because inflation is stripping the value of your income. And like I said, eight and half percent, right now that translates into you have to earn 11%, just the break even, just to break even with what your previous spending power was. So don't just sit there and be taken advantage of. If they ask you why you're asking for a 20% raise, "because inflation is at 11. And just to breakeven, you know, I need to earn 11. And I'm not going to change jobs for 11, I need to make more than that. And as a result, I just want to call into account, if you're looking for me to lead an organization, and you give me a title that doesn't reflect that, I can't join for that, because I don't have the institutional authority to be able to actually lead without the title. After all, what SVP is going to listen to a senior manager who they disagree with. They pull rank right? Now, if we're talking about two staff positions, well, that's different. If you're going from one staff position to another, at least get a senior title, go for a senior title that differentiate yourself from the newbies, from the new employees. Go for a senior title, and more money. Last time, I noticed you're not independently wealthy. You need to get an incease.  And the result is unless you get that increase and the improvement in title, you're out of luck. 10 Ways to Advance in Your Career 27:24 When they've made a salary offer, after the silence, could you ask if there's a sign on bonus? Absolutely. And that to me is I would come back to them after the day or two and make that one of my opening questions. I don't believe you deal with the salary question. First, I want you to have a list of questions that you've been asked them, one of which would be about sign on bonus. But as you know, a sign on bonus just deals with the circumstances in the current job change. It doesn't deal with them over the course of time. So let's say they came in $5,000 light and they say, "and we're gonna give you a $10,000 sign on bonus." Great. And your next raise is predicated upon your base salary, which well, if it's a 5% raise, if it's a 10% Raise, you're behind on inflation. So my concern about that is inflation is increasing these days. And with inflation, comes reduced purchasing power. So I want to make sure that you're not left in the position where you have to change jobs again. And you can say to them, "Look, right now inflation's at 11%, eight and a half percent is the headline, right? But for me to just break, even I have to take care of taxes too, which brings it up to 11. I don't want to feel compelled to change jobs again so readily when you give me a five or 6% raise next time, and inflation is still high. So I just assumed go for the salary now. And is there a way that you could see your way clear with sign on bonus as well?" I'd approach it that way. Because again, salary's a piece of this. Sign on is a temporary salve like a bandaid on top of a wound, that doesn't leave the real issue addressed. So that's my concern about doing that. But I wouldn't have that conversation during the call where they extend the offer. I want the silence to do the work for me and make them nervous that they might lose you. After all, HR will normally extend the offer. The hiring manager is going to go "so what do you think? When's she going to  going to be starting? When's he going to be starting?" And they have the say "I don't know." "Well, get'tem. " "I don't want to start this over again. So it's terminology. There's pressure to move this forward, and to be more accommodating. That's why the silence is so effective. It makes other people put pressure on the institution to adapt and respond to you without saying, "What? This offer's awful. I can't do this. You got to make it better." You don't have to do that here."  So, give it a day or two, circle back, make the question about sign on a part of it. But don't just settle for the sign on because that's only a temporary solution. And I don't see any evidence of inflation stopping anytime soon. I'm sure you're the same way.   30:50 Do companies hire people having a 90 day notice period? Not in the US. Not in the US. in Europe, that's much more common. But in the United States? No. So if you give your employer 90 days notice, they're asking the new firm to wait for three months before you can join. How many firms do you think are going to do that? They've got a need now, they're going to keep interviewing, because they can't trust that you're actually going to join right? Now, if this is about a visa, and they know about the visa needing to be transferred, that's different. But if we're just talking about a straight resignation? Not going to happen. It just won't happen in the United States.   31:59 How helpful are online job networks and apps for finding a job. They work. Everything works. Everything works in job search and really does. However, the problem is they never works as frequently as we like. And statistics are that most people find their job as a result of networking, not through a job board, not through LinkedIn or anything like that. So online job networks and apps for finding a job are all part of the equation. Now you can be in a group and develop a presence and reputation within a group as a subject matter expert. By all means, do that. As someone I interviewed for my YouTube channel, told his story, he joined a forum and was noticed by the owner of a business in the US and he was in one of the Baltic states, who hired him on to staff. And he's working remotely for them now, all because this person noticed them online. So yes, it can work. But it never works as often as we like. Now LinkedIn, terrific. absolutely terrific. Is it the only way? No, of course not. LinkedIn is a network that facilitates relationship. It is not per se the firm that's hiring you. So in facilitating relationships, you have to do something to create relationships. You can do that on LinkedIn. It's kind of like the US Postal Service, or a fax machine or an email with doing things to facilitate relationship. The Postal Service does not get you a job, right. Email does not go out and get you a job. So it's different. And it helps.   [svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shIV24xtzO0[/svp] There Are Stories And Then There Are Stories! ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2300 episodes. Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us My courses are available on my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses I do a livestream on LinkedIn, YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) and on Facebook (on the Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter page) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30 minute show. Classes On Skillshare https://thebiggamehunter.us/Skillshare Freelancing or hiring a freelancer: fiverr.com https://thebiggamehunter.us/fiverr. or Freelancer: https://thebiggamehunter.us/freelance To set up your freelance business correctly: incorporate https://thebiggamehunter.us/incorporate Connect with me on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/thebiggamehunter Watch my videos on YouTube at JobSearchTV.com, the Job Search TV app for fireTV or a firestick or Bingenetworks.tv for Apple TV, and 90+ smart tv's. Thinking of making a career change and need some ideas that fit you. CareerFitter offers a free test and if you want more you can upgrade for the paid version.https://thebiggamehunter.us/Career We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator.   https://youtu.be/UXT6dfH5GJk