Career Coach Office Hours: April 19 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
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Standing Out on an Interview
Today’s questions are:
Is software development really a dead-end job after age 35-40?
Why do many people think that management consultants are like scammers?
As someone looking for a job, is it better to tell recruiters that you still have a job or not? How would a typical hiring manager view a resume of a job candidate who has worked at 10 different companies?
How many candidates does HR typically interview?
Why is failing to send a thank you email after an interview a mistake—one that can lose you a job you were about to get?
Why are the LinkedIn recruiters poor at matching jobs when LinkedIn is a great matching tool?
How do you tell a new employer you’re interviewing for that you’re leaving your current job because of the work environment… For example, we see you’ve been with your company for only a year, how come you’re wanting to leave? My reply: The work environment doesn’t allow for me to collaborate with others, have the flexibility like most, and be able to have an opportunity for growth.
Interview Like an Expert: Learn an Interview Framework That Makes a Difference
02:08
Is software development really a dead end job after age 35 to 40? No. But to stay in a developer job after 35 to 40, you start bucking up on different biases that people have and different expectations people have about where you should be professionally. So you should start transitioning into lead roles or manager roles at some point during this period. And you can always go out and do consulting so that, in this way, you’re getting a higher rate than you might as an employee. Eventually you’ll have to circle back to industry and start thinking about developing the skills that will put you into leadership if you go the contract route. But, no, it’s not a dead end. By age 40, you can go another five years or so as we record this, but if you want to do something more, you’ve got to transition in some way. Some people transition out of the field entirely. Some people start transitioning into software management. Whatever it is, there comes a point where to make more money, you’ve got to improve the numbers or change what you do and not just simply code.
03:38
Why do many people think that management consultants are like scammers? I saw this question a few minutes ago. I thought to myself, “is there a punch line behind this?” Obviously, these are not people who know what it’s like to work as a management consultant in any way, shape or form. The ones who are scammers are not real management consultants. The real ones do incredible work for their clients. They’re not perfect but who is these days? The result winds up being that the notion that consultants are scammers is ridiculous. The idea that management consultants are scammers is ridiculous and reflects on the person asking the question, not on the profession. You don’t understand what a management consultant does. And thus you think of them because you don’t understand it, as being a problem. They aren’t. They do world class work. And some are better than others just like in any other field. So scammers? Absolutely not.
Inconsistency in Resumes
04:52
As someone looking for a job is it better to tell recruiters that you still have a job or not? Well, let me start off with LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a preference for people who are working. The algorithm doesn’t recommend people not working as much as it does people, or as highly as people who are working. Their belief is that employers, third party recruiters want to see people who are working. And thus, it will favor those people. Now, in terms of talking with recruiters, if you’re not working, lying to them, you may wind up getting caught. Is that the way you want to present yourself? You can present yourself as not aggressively looking for work. So if you are working, the truth is you may not be aggressively looking for work. They may reach out to you trying to recruit you for a job, have them ask if you’re out there looking, “I’m not actively looking but for the right opportunity I’d consider things.” “Can I get a copy of your resume?” “Sure, it’ll take couple of days to update it. But I’m sure I can get it to you by day after tomorrow at the latest, the day after that,” which gives the illusion that you’re updating your resume. So don’t always appear eager, as though you’re jumping through hoops because you’re aggressively looking for work. Always play the hand as though you’re not actively looking, that they’re reaching out to you, they should be selling you on the opportunity. And thus just take advantage of their bias about passive job applicants. Let me just explain what I mean by that. Passive job applicants are people that recruiters don’t believe are actively looking for work, that they need to recruit for the right opportunity and that’s going to cause them to change jobs. That bias I helped to create many years ago, because I could not afford at that time print advertising. I thus created this nonsense that basically said, “I’m the person who finds the best person, not the best person who reads the the job ads in the New York Times on Sunday,” which was the place of choice back in the Stone Ages. So from a standpoint of what they prefer, passive applicants, ones who will change for the right opportunity are considered preferable. Recruiters sometimes sell these people to clients as being you’d never see their resume because you’d never see them their background. They’d never see your ad.” So fundamentally, what you need to do is deal with that bias, by promoting yourself as not actively looking for work. Now, if you’re out of work, you can’t pull this off. If you are working, you can. You can’t really pull it off, because at some point, you’re going to fill out an application. An application is a legal document, and as a legal document, when they contact your previous employer and they find out that you’ve been out of work for five months and you said you’re working and not aggressively looking for work. They smell BS, maybe they don’t extend the offer. Maybe they do but you lied on the application. And that becomes grounds for termination. So is it preferable not to indicate that you’re out of work? Yes.
08:48
How would a typical hiring manager review a resume of a job candidate who’s worked at 10 different companies? So the first thing I have to ask is that 10 companies over what period of time? 40 years? Well, right off the bat, they’re gonna consider you an older professional. If it’s 10 companies in five years, well, they may wonder if you were doing consulting during that period of time or temping. And try and sort that out. And you should make it easy for them to know that. Don’t make them ask you. Are you consulting during the last three years when you have seven different employers? Or is this just an awful job history? Because that’s the way that they think about it. So with a typical hiring manager, how would they view a candidate who’s worked at 10 different companies? A consultant. They think that, maybe you were a consultant during this period of time, but you should not make them wonder this for themselves. You should make them. You should give them that information in your resume, and don’t make them work to get it.
Why Have You Had So Many Jobs?
10:02
How many candidates does HR typically interview? So the answer is as many as they need to. So they, they don’t want to interview 150 people; they don’t have time for that. They’ll use software, they’ll use their own review tactics and techniques to identify resumes that might have backgrounds that fit a role that they’re recruiting for. Five people, 10 people tops, they’re not going to go above that, at least in the first cut. They go through the first round, they go through 10 backgrounds, no one fits. They may add some more in or they may go back to the the manager to identify what a tighter fit would look like, or what will be a looser fit, that they’d find acceptable. But they’re not gonna interview 100 people. They’re gonna interview a finite number, and then let it go from there.
11:08
Why is failing to send a thank you email after an interview, a mistake, one that can cost you a job you were about to get. That doesn’t happen all that often. Usually, managers will think to themselves, “Ah! He was busy,” or they won’t even notice that you didn’t send a thank you letter. But they’d like to see one. So a thank you email that basically says, “Thanks so much for making time to meet with me today and discuss the opportunity you have with (fill in the name of the of the company). , I just want to reiterate a few points that came up in the interview.” And then you list some of the attributes that you have that fit the role that they’re trying to fill. And “I’m eager to hear from you about next steps. I do hope I’m chosen.” Whatever it is, say something that indicates you’re excited and think you might be a terrific asset to the organization. Keep it simple.”
12:14
Why are the LinkedIn recruiters poor at matching jobs when LinkedIn is a great matching tool? The answer is what do you think they’re using to do this poor matching? Seriously. What do you think they’re using? They’re using their LinkedIn’s search algorithm, and then they’re using it and it is not returning great results. So what they next do is they mass inMail invites to you. “I’m doing a search for a client that’s looking for someone with such and such background. I saw your profile (even though they haven’t), and was wondering if youmight be interested in a role like that. If so, message me back; let’s schedule a time to speak (or some other way that basically reaches out to them, and indicates you’d like to talk to them). So the long and the short of this situation is that they are not so bad at matching candidates or people with jobs. LinkedIn is. As a result, sometimes the fuzzy logic in LinkedIn doesn’t do a great job of identifying people for them. That’s what’s going on.
Doing Research for The Interview
15:03
How do you tell a new employer you’re interviewing for that you’re leaving your current job because of the work environment? For example, we see this next part, the first part of this next sentence isn’t clear. I’ve been with the company for only a year. Why are you wanting to leave? His answer was or her answer was, “the work environment doesn’t allow for me to collaborate with others, have the flexibility like most, and be able to have an opportunity for growth.” I would say it as “My current firm, they like the work that I do so much, they want me to stay in the job for the rest of my life. That’s not for me. I want to learn, I want to grow, I’d like to get ahead. That’s where I’m really looking for an organization. And as good a job as I’m doing., there doesn’t seem to be much upside for me. So I’m trying to identify other situations that fit me as well. And that’s the way I’d play it. So 16 minutes and change on Jeff Altman. Hope you found this helpful. Visit my website, the big game hunter.us where I have a ton of the blog to help you also connect with me on linkedin@linkedin.com forward slash i n forward slash the big game hunter. Have a terrific day and be great. Take care
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL7wUdibufk[/svp]
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
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