Career Coach Office Hours: August 5 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues. 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
Misconceptions College Grads Have About Job Hunting
02:38
If someone’s resume is not getting any bites when applying for jobs, what are some things that they can do in order to make it more appealing to potential employers, such as tailoring it to each position? Well, that’s the big one, of course– tailoring it for the position that you’re applying for. But the other thing is, why do you think you’re applying? Like, why aren’t you networking your way into organizations to get interviews, instead of applying for jobs. When you’re applying for jobs, you’re dealing with the black hole. You’re dealing with situations where you’re one of many fish trying to jump onto the hook, you’re going about your job search like an amateur does, Professionals are using relationships to get in the door and you can be doing that no matter what level you’re at, by networking with people, connecting with people developing relationships with people that will afford you opportunities to be interviewed for jobs, instead of applying through the black hole. Why are you going that route? Now to continue by answering your actual question here? What are some things that you can do in order to make it more appealing to potential employers? Well, one thing is what are you doing to stand out professionally to create a brand or an image for yourself that allows you to cut the line to get to the front? Even when you’re applying for jobs., they’re going to go to LinkedIn to look at your profile to see if there’s congruence between your resume and your LinkedIn profile. They’re going to be going on to Google to see what they can find about you. If they can’t find anything, you’re pretty well average to them. So the idea is, what can you do to stand out? How can you differentiate yourself and the first thing is to present yourself as a subject matter expert for your area of expertise. That can involve writing, being interviewed for podcasts, creating video, podcasting itself. There’s lots of different ways to differentiate yourself so that you stand out from others. That’s not about the resume. It’s about the ancillaries to the resume. They help you distinguish yourself from other people. That’s between tailoring your resume and doing these things that will help a lot.
05:11
When you’re in job search mode, are you initially focused on generating quantity or quality of applications? Applications? I’ve got a problem with that because that means you’re applying for jobs and you think bulk application is good. And you’re now questioning it and thinking quality is better. So the question is, are you a commodity or an individual? If you’re a commodity, then you apply for bulk. If no one’s ever heard of you before outside your organization, you’re a commodity. You’re ordinary. And thus, you might as well apply for things, because there’s nothing unique about you. And thus, it’s important to develop those unique qualities in this job search and job search beyond that, that will help you.
06:06
I got a question here from Kim. How do you stand out if you have no experience and a college graduate? Great question. And as you know, it’s hard. Now, first question is your GPS, the school you chose to attend. If it’s a Three Guys Mail Order, university, not going to be particularly good? If you have a degree from Stanford, a little different, right? If your grades are 1.8, not good. If they’re 4.0, 3.7, much better? Can you be introduced by faculty into an organization? Can you be referred by someone? This isn’t about your resume. It’s about the relationships that the individual who refers you has that will allow you to
differentiate yourself from all the other people? And in terms of a data analyst role, which is her follow up observation. Grades? Projects? Have you done side projects? Have you done anything while in school that allowed you to do data analysis work, not just simply taking courses. Again, faculty can sometimes provide introductions to people because they know people who you don’t. Also think in terms of people who went to your school before you who are already in the workforce, who might be willing to introduce you. And again, you don’t have to know them. You just need to know that they went to your school, and were in the same program as you. So reach out to them through LinkedIn. And you can do ‘Hi! I just graduated from Hey, same school as you. How did you find your position? How did you get connected into the organization? You know what the program was like? I graduated with a 3.7, 3.2, whatever it was, and who do you know in data analysis that you might be willing to introduce me to? Is there anything I can be doing to help you. Develop relationships, don’t just simply apply. Connect with people so that you widen the net beyond simply the companies that are advertising in order to get your foot in the door somewhere for an interview. If we were talking about dating, and I believe job search is very much like dating., if we were thinking from a dating perspective, how would you try and widen the scope of your relationships, to get introductions to people? Statistically, LinkedIn says that 85% of positions are filled as a result of networking. Within that, most of that is going to be filled as a result of introductions to people your network knows who you don’t. So you want to network with individuals already in the field. Do informational interviews with them to talk about the field. How they broke in. What it’s like to break in? What you would do? Have them get to know, like, trust, and respect you and see if you can start cultivating a relationship with people now who will help you. It’s important that you really put an effort in now, because with the job market starting to slow and LinkedIn says this is the eighth consecutive week that they’ve had fewer hires than previously. So It is as I expected, the market is slowing down. And you want to be in a situation where you have more people selling your services. Network to people . Do informational interviews. And if you’re not sure how to do an informational interview, I’ve got a course through TheBigGameHunter.us, it’s pretty inexpensive, that will help you. Kim, I hope that helps you? I really do.
Recession-Proof Your Career With Your Current Firm
10:31
What is the number one answer you get from the interview question, ‘Why was there a gap in your employment?’ Here’s the current one, ready? You may recall in 2020, the economy shut down globally. 10s of thousands of people in my city were laid off. And nationally, millions lost their job. No one was hiring. Firms were trying to figure out how to stay open during the pandemic. Thus, there’s a gap in my background caused by the pandemic. Once things started to open up again, I started to reach out to people and eventually found something. I consider it a great miracle that I found something even though I was out of work for six months.’ That is now a typical answer to why there’s a gap in your resume. And that they ask the question is ridiculous. because it suggests that they’ve forgotten. Can’t forget this kind of stuff. It’s incredible that this happened, and we’ve all gotten through it to the other side. And obviously, a million plus people in the United States didn’t. So I’ll simply say what’s important for you is to say it in a way that’s credible, so that they believe you.
12:02
What point should an executive coach or a leadership coach most focus on? I think part of the answer to this is the lies we tell ourselves and the assumptions that we make. We think we know the way the world operates. And we have a worldview that we look at from our previous experiences. That makes sense AND your interpretation of events may not be accurate. So often, when I hear people talk about something, I’ll ask, ‘How do you know that,’ because they’re making an assumption about the way things are and I want to understand their logic system that brought them to that conclusion. So the thing I may work on is their decision making, their interpretation of data to come to certain conclusions. Sometimes, it’s as Zig Ziglar used to say, their stinking thinking. But I want to understand why they made certain choices and whether there’s a possibility that their interpretation of events might not be the right one.
13:28
Why is it that I get the interview, but not the job? Well, your resume is doing a better job than you are because you’re getting your foot in the door, but you’re not convincing them. I’ve said this many times when firms hire competence is only one thing they look for. They look for self confidence, character, chemistry, maybe a little bit of charisma because charismatic people always do better than those without charisma, that you care, that they can connect with you– Because ultimately, they want to trust you–trust the person that they hire. If they don’t trust you, you’re not going to get hired. So why is it that you’re getting the interview, but not the job. You’re not inspiring confidence that you’re the solution to the problem they have. That may be because you’re not giving your answers in a way that allows them to feel confident in you. I have a course called The Ultimate Job Interview Framework that will prepare you for interviews and it’s extremely good. So again, it’s available at TheBigGameHunter.us/courses, and order the course. You can buy it or rent it and take it. Learn. Practice. It does make a difference.
15:09
Why should a leader have a coach? Because they need to talk to someone. They need to have someone that they can open up to. They need advice. They need to be able to sort out situations with someone who can help them. That’s why the leaders have coaches. They’re not always right. They know they’re not always right. They make lots of mistakes. And as I referred earlier, they sometimes have a case of stinking thinking that needs to get sorted out and put away. So I’ll just simply say, if, if you’re an executive, I coach. If you want support around your leadership, I coach. Visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us. Schedule time for a free discovery call. schedule time for coaching. I’ll obviously charge for that. Find out about my courses, books and guides–there is a lot there.
16:18
Should you agree to a trial assignment when interviewing for a job? When I hear the term trial assignment, it’s a tryout. It’s an audition. There’s no commitment. I wouldn’t quit a job for that. I wouldn’t suspend my interviewing for that. And I would make it clear to them. ‘You know, I’m not resigning my job to take an audition with you.’ And if I am not working, ‘I’m not going to stop job hunting until such time as you commit, because a trial is not a commitment.’ So if you’re not working, why not? Why not? If it’s going to interfere with your job search, then I might be reluctant. and I might say no to it. But I would start off with ‘I want you to understand that I can’t afford for you to figure out whether or not I’m qualified to do this job. I would think interviews for you would tell you that. And once you’re telling me that you’re going to give me a trial. , that’s not a commitment. So I’m going to say yes, I can start on Monday. I’m going to take calls and interviews about other things until you make the offer official for a full time position.’
17:49
Can a person be trained to be a good leader and leadership skills be learned? Yes. No little girl or boy is trained to be a leader. They’re not born leaders. What they are, are people who learn through their experiences how to lead and how not to lead. Most of the time, it’s about how not to lead because most people have this ridiculous notion that to be bossy is leadership. It is not what leadership is. What leadership is, is the ability to inspire people to do great things. So, yes, it can be learned. It is always learned. As such, you will make mistakes in the course of your work and you will learn from those experiences. That will help you become better. So I’ll just simply say, yes, people can be trained to be a good leader.
19:02
How do I politely decline my job application that has been accepted? So if I’m understanding this correctly, you applied for a job. They’ve invited you in for an interview and you want to not interview with them. So I would just say, respond back and tell them, ‘Thank you for the invitation but I’m going to stay where I am,’ or ‘I already have another offer that I’m going to accept and thus, I’m not going to start a process. I’m already in a position where I’m going to be joining a firm.’
When You’ve Been Made Redundant, Fired, Laid Off, RIF’d
20:55
Why does a recruitment agency call me twice within a month without offering a job as they used to do? I don’t know about what they used to do. But I do know that whoever called you the first time didn’t record the contact in their applicant tracking system so that a second person would know that you’ve already been in contact with them. So why does that happen? Sloppiness on the part of the recruiter who doesn’t follow a protocol and leave a note about the conversation the two of you had. As for offering a job, I’m not sure what you mean about offering a job. My thought is it’s possible that you’re thinking that they’re going to share a job description with you and thus the second one? Well, the second one isn’t going to necessarily share if they don’t think they’re going to earn a fee internally with you. So they may have just bowed out gracefully. Or they’re rookies and they’re updating their database and someone else didn’t record an answer. That’s certainly among the reasons why that might occur.
22:18
How long does it typically take to find another job (like writing resumes, cover letters, going through rounds of interviews and finally receiving and accepting an offer) if one is already working full time? How the heck would anyone know the answer to that? You’re not telling us the work that you do. You’re not telling us your compensation level? You’re not telling us anything. You’re just asking the question, ‘how long does it take to find the job if I’m already working?’ There’s no way of knowing that. We don’t know if you drive a golf cart for a living. We don’t know if you’re an industrial engineer. We don’t know anything about the work that you do. Without that, I can’t help you.
23:08
Can I run a successful startup without good social or leadership skills? Yes, there are plenty of jerks who run startups. There are plenty of jerks who own
businesses. There are plenty of people without social or leadership skills who run businesses. It doesn’t mean they’re any good at it but yes, they run businesses. So anything is possible. Do not limit yourself, just because you have the belief that you can’t do it. Put yourself out there and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.
24:08
Why is it important to use websites to help prepare you for job interviews? I don’t know that it’s necessarily websites. I think there’s a lot that you can learn without doing mock interviews with another person. And you need to practice. You should do mock interviews. They will help you perform at a higher level than not doing them. So, hustle. Get yourself out there. Do things that allow people to get to know, like, trust, and respect you and get a sense of your competence. It does make a difference.
24:56
Why do poor senior leaders never get fired? Because there aren’t a lot of people who are more senior than them to fire them. And, AND what makes you think that they’re poor senior leaders? Seriously, what makes you think they’re poor senior leaders? Because you don’t like their work? You don’t think they’re getting the results they’re supposed to get? I don’t know, but you do? Senior leaders do get fired. It takes a long time for them to find work again, I’ll just say, Don’t make assumptions that they’re doing a bad job. They may have been brought in by management to do exactly what they’re doing. So I’ll just simply say, your assumptions may not be valid.
26:02
What is the best way to get your recruiter to negotiate a higher salary? Now, when I see questions like this, they may not be able to deliver at the time of negotiation on something new or on something better. Because, well, there’s lots of reasons. But the big one is, the firm says no. That’s it in a nutshell. The firm says no. So what’s the best way to get your recruiter to negotiate a higher salary? Easy, just say to them, ‘I’m not going to take the job unless the firm comes up with X number of dollars, Y number of dollars, and leave it at that.
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpiMlhnQTSA[/svp]
The Changing Power Dynamics in the Labor Market
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
My courses are available on my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses The courses include ones about Informational Interviews, Interviewing, final interview preparation, salary negotiation mistakes to avoid, the top 10 questions to prepare for on any job interview, and starting a new job.
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