Career Coach Office Hours: August 19 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays. 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
Watch this video to avoid another interview mistake.
04:53
if your LinkedIn profile was shared with a job poster, does this mean the poster will look at your profile? Now, probably they will. But it’s not a guarantee. They can take one look at it and see that you’re in a different part of the world, and they’re not going to be interested in relocating you. They will not hit page down to find out more about you. Is it likely they will? Yes. But there’s no guarantee of it. After all, by the time you applied, by the time it was shared with them, they may have already seen 25 people and be bringing people back for second interviews. And thus, they’re not going to be in contact, or it’s less likely they will be in contact. So the long and the short of it is no guarantee. Probable, but no guarantee.
06:04
Are tattoos and piercings a legit reason not to hire someone? I’m going to key in on the word legit. It’s not a protected qualification under any federal, state or local law that I’m aware of. If it is, they can’t discriminate for that reason. In some parts of the country, I believe hair or hairstyle is no longer a legal reason to turn someone down. I forget what states that involves. But it’s the notion that African American women in particular, have hairstyles that in the white world are considered unconventional, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the long the short of it is, is a legitimate reason? Well, if you’re in a public facing role with fairly conservative people, if you’ve got a tattoo on your arm, I might consider covering it up. If you have a piercing on your nipple, I would consider making sure it doesn’t pierce the clothing so that it’s obvious that you have such a piercing. If you have a tattoo on your face, or a piercing on your face, you’ve probably caused yourself a problem vis a vie that kind of organization. However, there are many organizations that don’t care. And thus, you know, one thing you can do as you talk to people, and they’re scheduling you in for an interview. If you’re talking to a screener, one of the things you might ask them is ‘Out of curiosity. I’ve got a tattoo on the my left cheek. I don’t mean butt cheek, I mean facial cheek. Do you think that’s going to be a problem? If it is, my feelings won’t be hurt. We part as friends we’ll move on and neither of us needs to waste any time.’ And they may say ‘no, not at all. It’s more about what you know and that’s the kind of firm you want to be associated with.’ There may be better industries for you than some button up industry. But is it a legit reason? Yes, in certain types of roles, it is a legit reason. Is it stupid? Well, normally people who are asking the question, who have tattoos, piercings or whatever it is they’re asking about think that they are stupid. But to the firm hiring, it isn’t. They have a legitimate reason not to bring on someone who has those characteristics. So that’s my best answer for you.
Recruiters Are Not Your Friends
09:00
Can non alphas make good leaders? This is a fun question because this can go into gender questions because many women are not alphas. And many women make great leaders. And the notion of an alpha being the only kind of leadership is a remarkably immature thought. Leaders inspire confidence and their people work hard for them. It’s not because they’re yelling and screaming and making demands. It’s because they’ve been well selected. They’re inspired to do great things and the leader knows how to light the fire within them so that they want to do stuff. So can they make good leaders? Absolutely. Depending upon the culture of the firm, some firms don’t want to hire what you might call an alpha. They want to hire effective people and what makes someone effective in their culture may not be an alpha. So, yes, of course, they could make good leaders. But the question is, can they make a good leader for that organization?
10:14
Now, I’m just gonna remind you that I’m taking questions about job search, hiring, management, leadership, career transition, or any advice you may need about a particular workplace issue. I’m happy to take your question from chat. Okay. In addition, visit my website for the scheduled time for a free discovery call a coaching session, to visit my blog, which has more than 12,000 searchable posts, find that about my courses, books and guides, there’s just a lot there to help you. Okay. So with that, let me go to the next question, which is,
10:57
How do you establish thought leadership? Now, this is a multi faceted answer I’m going to give. And, you know, part number one is, you actually have knowledge about this area of expertise. Number two, is you’re willing and able to share. Number three is you have a degree of wisdom about you, and people trust you. And number four, is people know about you. After all, you could be the wisest, most knowledgeable person in the United States today, but if no one knows it, you’re invisible. So being a thought leader requires visibility, and requires people knowing about your expertise, putting a crown on your head as the expert, and if no one knows that, well, you’re not going to be able to be a thought leader without followers. Leaders require followers, and you don’t have any. So you need to have people following you in order to be effective.
12:21
I’ve heard that there are many trick questions in interviews such as, what type of conflicts have you been involved in? How would you cope with these kinds of questions? Well, part of the reason you think it’s a trick question, is you think that there’s some kind of magic to this. Now, since to you, you don’t instantly know the answer, I would pause and go, ‘Ah, great question,’ And buy yourself a few seconds of time. And thus, how do you cope with this? Well, you answer the question. You help them. You talk about a situation from your past where you had to deal with a conflict. If you’re at a staff level, you tell a story, using the acronym STAR– situation or task- action- result. If you’re the manager level above, you use the acronym SOAR–situation– obstacles– action– result, and you tell the story using the relevant acronym so that in this way, you hit the basic talking points that they’ll want to know about you. Also, I’m gonna mention, it’s also not just what you say that matters, but how you express yourself that does. You’re a performer on the stage. People are trying to get to know, like, trust, and respect you. And thus, what you’re able to do is carry yourself in a particular way so that people trust you. More than anything, that will help you stand out and talk about the kinds of conflicts or any other kinds of story answer question.
14:20
Why do effective and influential leaders focus on direct communication? Oh, I know! I know! because that’s how they became effective and influential leaders! They focused on direct communication. There’s no magic to this. You know, what firms want to do is people bring on, people who inspire confidence that they are the solution to a need of firm has. They’re not just there to bring on nice people for the heck of it. Something needs to be accomplished. Thus, what people need to do is be a direct communicator. Focus on that. Doing that and explaining in a way that people will understand what you’re communicating. Well, that’s how you become effective and influential. So hope you found that answer helpful.
15:27
What companies have unfair hiring practices? Well, I don’t know what you mean about unfair. They ask a lot of questions. They try to figure out whether someone’s qualified and know what they claim to do. What is unfair? You’ve got to explain that to me, because so often, people interpret unfair as being they asked me tough questions that I couldn’t answer. So that’s really the differentiator. It’s your ability to evaluate assess people for a variety of attributes. And thus, for you, don’t think in terms of unfairness. Seriously. Don’t think in terms of unfairness. Think in terms of making them fall in love. No love? No money. No, honey. Okay?
Misconceptions College Grads Have About Job Hunting
16:32
How should we assess talent when hiring? Oh, my. So that’s the basic question, how should we assess talent when hiring. To do that, everyone involved in the hiring process has to get clear about the skills being sought and get clear, and on the same page of what they’re going to evaluate for in the way of a baseline so that everyone’s asked the same questions and you’re not in the position of being perceived as biased. So everyone gets certain questions, in order to verify they have a person that has baseline knowledge that would allow them to appear effective and successful in the job. Now, once you have that, many of you have heard me say this before from the job hunter perspective. Now let’s look at it from the employer side. They want to know that you’re competent, self confident, have character chemistry with the team, maybe a little bit of charisma (charismatic people always do better than non-charismatics) that you care, that they can connect with you because ultimately, they want to trust the person they hire. No trust, rarely will you be hired. So that’s what they’re really looking for when they assess talent. And that’s what you should be looking for when you evaluate for talent.
18:16
Is it really harder to get a job or are people more selective about which jobs to pursue? Well, I think frankly, it’s a bit of both. And we start off with, why are they selected? Why has the market changed so that fewer people are interested and available in jobs? Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that. But it starts off with is it harder? Yes. The economy is slowing down. And despite the federal jobs report, those jobs include not just white collar workers, but blue collar and no collar workers who are working part time or have taken on a second job. The Federal numbers, well, the federal jobs numbers as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics include part time jobs, second jobs, camp counselors, this was a report from July. The numbers are huge. 533,000 people were hired, but not all full time. And what we do is we think of a job as being a full time position. It isn’t. What it is, is a reflection of the market. And thus, it allows you to discern what makes sense for you. So is it harder to get a job if you’re a white collar worker in the United States? It is harder to get a job because the economy is slowing down. Firms are rescinding offers or some firms are rescinding offers,. Some firms are canceling job requirements. So, yes, it’s slowing down a bit. Thus, you’re in a situation where there are fewer jobs, at least fewer full time jobs. So it’s important to network and to find work. Let me repeat that. It’s important to network in order to find work. To do that, you have to reconnect with people from your past, reconnect or connect with absolute strangers in your current life. Networking fills far more positions than job ads. So that’s the long and the short of it . And I hope that was helpful too.
Interviewing for Young Adults/Recent Grads
21:02
Why would a recruiter block me after interviewing me on Skype? Well, they blocked you because you’re a pain in the rear. At least that’s what I’ll tell you is the case. You’re probably a pain in the rear. They’re looking for someone with confidence, self confidence, character, chemistry, maybe a little bit of charisma, because non charismatic people, well, charismatic people always do better than non charismatics. So the short answer is, what they’re trying to do is figure out let me back up, I got lost in a tangent. It’s harder to find the job. Period, there are fewer jobs that are full time, there are many jobs that are part time or second jobs. So that’s the fact of it, at least in the white collar labor market in blue collar or no collar areas. There are plenty of jobs. However. However, that’s probably not you if you’re on LinkedIn. So don’t sweat it, just go out there, network your way to something better. Okay.
22:23
When a recruiter asks, ‘Are you talking to other companies,’ is the best best answer ‘no,’ no matter what,? No, it is not the best answer. Sometimes you’ve been contacted by them. They recruited you, persuaded to go on interviews and now you’re being asked, ‘Are you on other interviews?’ And the correct answer, the best answer was would be, ‘No, you contacted me about this job. So I’m not aggressively looking for something. So why would you think I’ve got other things going on?’ That throws it back at them. Now, if you applied for something, and, you know, they’re asking you this question, there’s a different answer for that. That answer is, ‘yeah, I’m talking to a few firms. Two or three seem interested in me. We’ve been on a couple of different interviews together. I get the idea of their interest. And yeah, I’m talking to other firms.’ ‘Well, why are you interested in us vis a vie those firms?’ I’m still learning about yours. I don’t know enough about the opportunity. I don’t know about my manager, the people, the nature of the work. I’ve just read a job ad. So why would you think I’m instantly interested? Because I’m sitting here opposite you? It doesn’t work that way.’ So I’ll just simply say, what you can say to them is that if you’ve applied for a job, and just let them know, you, ‘I’m talking to some other firms. They appear interested, I’m interested in this opportunity. However, I’m not prepared to commit to this organization. I need to know a lot more.’ ‘Oh, what else do you need to know?’ ‘I’m on a first interview with you. I just read a job ad. I haven’t met my boss, haven’t met the team, have no idea really what the work is and what their expectations are going to be. That’s four major things there before we get to compensation.’ Screeners, the recruiters at the front end, who are going through your background, tend to ask these kinds of questions. And there’s a degree of intimidation that goes on with the questions that you shouldn’t fall prey to. What you need to do is throw it back at them like I just did. So that If you’re not in a position where they think they can bully you, or intimidate you, and get their way with you, they can’t. They shouldn’t, they shouldn’t even try. But they all do this.
25:21
What should you ask on phone interviews? So there are questions you can ask at the end of the phone interview, just like you do with the end of an in person interview. And thus, question number one is, ‘let’s say to hire me, and I come on board, what would your expectations for me be, let’s say the first 30/60/90 days?’ And thus, you’re getting an idea of what they’re going to expect of you in the way of work and in the way of deliverables when you join. And then the question after that is, ‘let’s say you hire me and I come on board. It’s a year from now, and it’s time to give me my first raise, my first review. I’ve done a great job. What will I have accomplished during that year, that will make you think that way? There’s also other questions as well. But the long the short of it is focus on the work. Focus on their timeline for next steps. So that this way, you know when to expect to hear from them, good or bad. And also finish up by asking whether they have any questions about you being qualified.
26:43
Should you say I really want this job at the end of an interview? No, it sounds too desperate. Desperation is not a good quality in dating or hand-grenades. So what you can say is, ‘I really appreciate you making time to meet with me today. After our conversation, I thought about it. And I’m really interested in this role. I do hope to hear from me by early next week, about next steps.’ Keep it simple. Never sound desperate, being desperate isn’t a good way to present yourself in dating, or in job search. Don’t come as desperate.
27:35
What are some reasons why hiring managers might trash the resume of qualified candidates? Easy, very easy. You don’t meet the basic qualifications. So they hit the delete key. You’re also in their database, not their personal one, but the corporate one, the applicant tracking system. Your resume has been parsed into it, and thus they can get in touch with you in the future. But what makes you successful, what will make you effective? What would make you have your resume trashed? Well, what will make them trash your resume is that you don’t appear qualified. Or there are behavioral things that you’ve done that look problematic, like, you’ve changed jobs a lot, poor oral communications, you’re out of the country, a lot of things like that will cause them to reject you summarily.
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZlqfylUP4[/svp]
Finding The Career That Fits You
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 2400 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management or support with a workplace issue. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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