Career Coach Office Hours: July 5, 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
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. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays. #careercoachofficehours #careercoaching #careercoach #jobsearchtips #jobsearchadvice #interviews #hiring #managingpeople #leadershipskills #linkedinlive #linkedinlivestreams
Career Coach Office Hours: June 21, 2022
03:45
Is it bad to apply to many different jobs? So I’m not sure what you mean by many different jobs. Different including types of jobs, different meaning different jobs at the same firm? Like lots of jobs in general? Like what do you mean by that? I’m going to take a stab at a couple of these. And I’ll just say that if you’re talking about different jobs at the same firm, like the different jobs altogether, well, their software allows a firm to mark you as a serial applier and just remove your resume from consideration. So yes, in that instance, it’s not a good thing. If there are multiple positions for which you’re qualified and you know it’s of a similar type, like for example, a developer job, an engineering job and accounting job, if there are multiple positions with identical qualifications being sought, or very similar qualifications being sought, it’s not a bad thing at all. If anything, I would encourage you to do it. I would also send the message saying, ‘you know, I’ve also submitted my resume for these jobs because they look kind of similar. But I’m going to defer to you people to figure out where you’d like to start the process.’ This way, everyone knows, there are no surprises, you’re not sure, you’re looking for them for guidance. Now, if it’s lots of jobs in general, I’m going to start by saying, ‘Why are you applying for jobs at all?’ After all, it’s called the black hole. You’re applying all the time. You’re putting yourself in this situation, where you’re being a supplicant, instead of using your network to try and get in touch with people so that you’re able to land something, instead of just spamming your resume to all these places? Is it bad intrinsically? No? Is it? Is it successful most of the time? No. You spin your wheels a lot. And that causes you annoyance and anguish, and frustration. That’s why people call it the black hole. So you’re better off yes, applying for jobs, that’s fine. But not doing that exclusively. The statistics are networking fills far more positions than recruiters or applying for jobs combined. So don’t spend all of your time just applying for jobs. Don’t just spend all of your time waiting for recruiters to get in touch with you because you sent them a resume. Do more networking to people and organizations that you’d like to work for.
Recruiters Are Not Your Friends
06:55
Is it opportunistic to leverage the interests of other companies have shown in recruiting when it’s time to negotiate for a raise, even when you plan to stick around anyway? Okay, so I want to zero in on the word ‘opportunistic,’ because you use it as a negative. Why is it a negative to take advantage of your leverage and use it to your benefit? I don’t see any reason for that. That’s what employers do. They try to increase sales by using leverage to drive prices up, right? Employers make business decisions about what serves their interests. Why are you any different? And thus, the use of the word opportunistic is the problem, because I read that as you’re seeing it as a negative. So other companies have shown interest in recruiting when it’s time to negotiate for a raise, even though you want to stick around longer. No, no. Employers may turn around and say, ‘well, you should test the mark and then what do you do? You respond to that firm? They’re basically telling you, you don’t have a future with us. Okay. And that’s okay because to me, it’s better to know that they don’t really value you than to pretend like they do this. Employees, people, in general have a habit of thinking of their value far more than an employer does. I remember years ago, I was working with a person who worked in database administration at a financial firm. And there was a pattern that was very clear–they would give raises up to a particular point and then stop. And he was frustrated about it. And I said, ‘Why are you frustrated?They’re making a business decision, and you’re not the first person that they valued at less than this salary? Once you hit that point, they just as soon have you leave and then hire a less experienced person. They’re just not courageous enough to tell you directly. So is it an opportunistic to leverage the interest other companies have shown to you when it’s time to negotiate for a raise? No, not in the least. You should do that. You should look out for your interest. They don’t. They’re supposed to look out for their interests. You’re supposed to look out for you and yours. And people have this goofy notion of being a responsible and devoted employee and they’re not devoted to you. Come the next recession, you know, they’re going to lay off people. And they’re going to do it because it’s in their interest. Same thing has to be for you. You’ve got to look out for your interests as well so that in this way, you don’t hurt yourself.
10:28
If someone is interviewing for a job, what does an interviewer think of a candidate who’s currently unemployed, but as only had that job for less than a month? They think this is something to investigate. Now, the first reaction is, is there a pattern of this? If there’s a pattern, they think of you as a job hopper, which is not a desirable quality. They they start wondering, what’s causing you to change jobs at this time? What can we do differently than all these previous firms to keep you in place, and they don’t think that’s possible? However, if this is a one time aberration, well, you can explain it to them and say, ‘Look, I’m not a job hopper. But the position was represented to me in this way. And that’s not the case. If anything, they withheld something very significant from me. And I’m now in a bind. And I don’t want to stay still, and be caught bla bla, bla, bla, bla. Once they see it’s not a pattern, they’re curious about why its shown up this time, and are going to be curious as to how you answer that to see if you’ve just gone out of your gourd, or they can understand it. So you have to explain it to them in a way where you don’t seem weird, or annoyed or pissed off. You have to just explain it casually so that they get it.
How Do I Follow Up on an Application When I Haven’t Heard Back for 2 Weeks?
12:13
Is it rude not to answer the why should we hire you question during an interview? What’s the alternative for you? Are you going to sit there in silence? I don’t think that makes sense. I don’t think strategically it works. So is it a problem for you to just not answer the question. Let me give you a way to answer it. I used to do recruiting for the New York Times in technology, not as an employee, but as a third party recruiter. And they would ask the question, ‘so why do you want to work for us?’ And the correct answer was, ‘why do I want to work for you? Why wouldn’t I want to work for you? You’re this leader in the field, great reputation. . . And, you know, they wanted to feel flattered. Like they could close you at the back end. So all I was telling people to do is feed their ego. You don’t have to believe the bull. But they want to get conned. They want to be lied to. And it’s stupid on their part. I’ve never been a believer in this question. And the reason is, again, frankly, it’s hard not to lie to them. And I’m a believer, you never ask a question that encourages the other party to lie to you. That’s true for you, as a person who’s interviewing for a job. And you’re asking people, if you’re asking the hiring manager, why this job is open, they’re going to tell you someone left for a better opportunity. And my joke about that is always– the better opportunity . . . not working for you. Hmm.’ Don’t say that, please. But, you know, unless you go deeper, you don’t know the truth. What made it a better opportunity and suddenly hear about the superior job? Or they may say, ‘I don’t know.’ Okay. They don’t want to tell us the truth of it. So just recognize there’s a message in certain questions, there’s a message in certain behaviors that they do, and that you do on interviews that get interpreted in particular ways. When someone asks the question about why should we hire you, I say that’s the wrong one. Why do you want to I spoke about why do you want to work for us? Why should we hire you? To me, the correct answer is, ‘I don’t know. My hope would be you’ve figured out that I know the material that you want me to know. And I’m qualified to do this job and solve the problem. But why me versus the other 20 people you’ve probably talked to? I don’t know. I clearly have a track record of being successful and effective. But I don’t know who the other people are, what their backgrounds are by comparison. I just know what my track record of success is, and how I’ve helped organizations, as I’ve explained to you previously, make more money, save money, improve productivity, whatever it is, but make them feel like it was a dumb question. So I apologize. I offered up the wrong question as part of the answer, so sorry, I made a mistake. But hopefully I could fix it for you.
15:55
Can a job interviewer detect a great introvert, that might be the best candidate? When companies hire, extroverts are advantaged in most situations, except those that involve profound analytical skills. I’m going to repeat that. When companies hire, extroverted candidates are advantaged for most positions, except those that involve extreme analytical skills. As a result, like for example, if you’re working in quantitative analysis, as an introvert, as an analytic personality type, that’s where you have the most profound advantage, because your personality is one that’s very analytical in nature. Often, and that demonstrates introversion in the course of conversations, and there, there’s a certain expectation that an analytical person, an introvert, would be superior. So, in general, can they identify a great introvert that might be the best person? Remember, roles that involve interacting with other people might not be the best place for you, as an introvert to be effective, even though you may have other skills that may make you very qualified, and maybe the best person, but you can’t ignore the soft skills for certain roles. So can they detect it? Very easily, very easily. And normally, your ability to listen in an intense level, at a deep level, and hear what’s said and not said gives you an advantage over a lot of introverts. So just recognize (Thank you, Terry, I appreciate the thumbs up) it gives you a big advantage in those situations. So use that advantage. Hear what they have to say. Connect with the interviewer in your way. Because when firms hire, they look for competence, self-confidence, character, chemistry, maybe a little bit of charisma, because charismatic people always do better than non charismatics. They know that you care. Introverts care, of course. That you can connect, you have to show your ability to connect with people on interviews, and thus they trust you. So for those of you who have seen me before, you know, this is one of the things I believe in very strongly, because I’ve just seen it happen time and time again. Where the ability to connect is the missing link for many introverts. And as long as you’re wondering about hiring, you have to remember that human interaction is a big part of what makes people most successful professionals.
Answering Behavioral Interview Questions The Right Way
19:08
Why don’t recruiters usually hire the best candidates? I have to break this down into two parts. Number one is recruiters don’t hire people. Hiring Managers hire people. That’s why they’re called hiring managers. So recognize that a hiring manager is the one who makes the decision. And if you don’t impress upon them, you’re not getting hired. So let’s go back to the recruiters hiring the best people. There’s an assumption that you know better than they, who they should be hiring, and what they should be hiring. I’m going to repeat that. There’s an assumption in there that you know better than they, what they need, and you don’t. So in terms of the best candidate, now, you may not be the best candidate, even though you think you’re a terrific candidate. And thus, don’t believe your own BS. Seriously, don’t believe your own bull. You think you know, you don’t. It’s really that simple.
20:51
So, how, as an interviewer, can you detect a candidate that prepared too well, such that your evaluation of them would be an overestimation? Well, references are one place where you can find out about someone who’s overstating what they’re competent that I think. Usually during the interview, people can smell BS. And thus, as you talk about the work that you’ve done, I would hear things when I did interviewing of job hunters that just were insane. They just really overstated what they could do, or I could smell it. And when I dug in a little bit deeper about their role, responsibilities, accomplishments, maybe the technology that they used, who they interacted with, and over time you get to know the firms and who does what, at what level. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. You’ll learn and discover that people exaggerate. So I’ve said many times, how can you tell if an applicant is lying to you? Their lips are moving. How can you tell a hiring manager is lying to you? Their lips are moving.And of course, how can you tell a third party recruiter is lying to you? Their lips are moving. Everyone is posturing to present themselves in the best possible light. As a result, you have to assume that everyone’s exaggerating what they’re capable of and your job is to dig in deeper to see what they really know, to see what they really accomplished. And as an interviewer, I wasn’t even technical. I was a third party recruiter who learned over the course of time, how to evaluate and assess. Over the course of time you’ll learn how to spot BS. It’s why the podcast is No BS Job Search Advice Radio, because I don’t want to give BS like I would listen to BS from Job Hunters and from employers alike. So how can you tell? You’ll learn; you develop instincts, you learn to smell it, you learn to recognize it, because you’ve spoken to other people and have a sense of what their capabilities are, who work at the same firms. Or you get this person who works at a tiny firm, and they’ve done this huge work. And they’re part of a free person department and they’re claiming far more than they’re ever possibly could know. So, again, instincts, learning, it takes time. If you’re talking to a rookie recruiter, you can fool them. But when you get to their client, you won’t.
23:48
How do we report if a staffing agency said something wrong or hid something from me? Let me decipher the question. (Alison, good to see you. Wonderful. Of course, you can ask a question and just put it into the chat. By all means happy to answer it). So how can you report someone (and Allison, I’m going to answer this one and then circle back to you). So how do you report that they said something wrong or hid something from me? Now the mistake you made is not asking the question during the course of the interview to clarify, or at the time of the offer in order to confirm it. That’s a mistake, a mistake on your part. And thus, all you have to do is in the interviews, when you get the offer, you would ask the hiring manager you’d ask HR, ‘you know I spoke with Rhona Recruiter or Ronnie Recruiter and they told me such and such. Is that true? And if they say, ‘did they really say that?’ Yeah. Or this is what I heard them say, is that true? No. And thus you’ve outed them, and thus have an opportunity to have their client call them. And of course, they’re going to deny they ever said this. But, you know, ‘oh, no, we’ve never say something like that.’ Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. But that’s how you heard it. That’s how you took it. And your job is to look out for your interests and get clarification. So by all means, get clarification so that this way, you’re not stuck in terms of reporting post-employment, you sit down with your manager, or, and you sit down with HR and you say, ‘you know, before I joined, the recruiter told me such and such. I didn’t hear it from from the firm. I heard it from such and such recruiter. And they may call the recruiter while you’re in the office. And that, (by the way, Allison, just put your question in chat. Don’t wait for me to stop, because I may never stop. So just put your question in). So, you know, I’ll just say, talk to them. Talk to them, and tell them what you experienced so that in this way, that’s how you reporting them?
FEELING DEPRESSED About Your Search? Struggling? Feeling Fatigued?
26:37
I’m at a crossroads in my career. Right now. I’m leaving my current job and exploring new opportunities. I already have a job offer after sending out my resume less than two weeks ago, in the sales department. I also have other interests in more technical positions. And when talking to other companies, I have have to make a decision in two days. How do you weigh the costs and benefits of accepting a job? And no, Allison, it’s not something specific just to you. Other people have this experience as well, where they have a choice to make, and they’re not sure. So how do you weigh it? Here’s a process I want to encourage you to think. Ask yourself and write down the answer to this question. What’s most important to you in a job or in an organization? What will you need to see or hear to believe it’s a good choice for you? Now, when you answer the question, you can make an enormous list of– I don’t care how long it is– make up an enormous list. And then from there, once you have that long list, and maybe 100 things on the list, the next step in the process, I want you to prioritize the most important ones, let’s say the top 5–1-2-3-4-5 with one being the most important; five being the least of those five. And this is going to help you decipher what makes the most sense for you. Again, for you, not for someone else. For you. And I’ll just say that’s the launch point because for many people, they discover that they’re being mesmerized by a salary, or a compensation plan, or the reputation of the organization but the job is not one that suits them. So you start off there with what’s most important to you in the next job or organization. The next thing is to go to another level and to ask yourself, what will I need to see or hear to believe that they can actually give it to me? Because some firms will talk with big promises. And they’ll give you the idea that ‘Oh, we’ve got to, you’re gonna make you’re gonna make a boatload of money.’ That’s sales. Of course. We’ve got a great opportunity here. You can earn up to $100,000 a year, your first year. And you don’t ask the follow up question. How many people have done that their first year? And when you’re interviewing with the team that you might be working with. You’re not asking, ‘what’s it really like working here?’ ‘There’s always some version of institutional friction. Like, what she liked to work for, and what sort of institutional friction will I run into once I’m on board? Because I believe that surprises are rarely good. I’d rather know beforehand what I’m stepping into. So these are a couple of places to start off with that, I think will help you figure out whether one situation is really good, because it sounds like you’re ready to have a sales offer in two weeks. And then, with the . . . there’s always money as a factor. But you’re not going to be there for 40 years. You can’t think in terms of pensions, or other ancillary benefits. Start off with the job. Start off focusing on the job and whether it really suits you. You know, for someone who’s a nervous personality, who has anxiety, sales is not always a great avenue. But if you can control it, you can make a lot of money. Sales is very difficult. (I know Allison by the way. And thus, I’m trying to guide a specific response into general and switch back and forth between the two). But the long and the short of it is you need to be able to sort out what’s right for you. What you value. What gives you meaning in the work? Is it selling a product or service that you don’t really care about? Is it doing a different type of work that you really do but doesn’t pay as much? I don’t know that answer. But you do. And that’s really your launch point here for figuring it out. And if you’ve got more to add to this, by all means, add it into chat. I’ll address it.
31:38
What do we need to remember when we face an interviewer to get a job? Easy! The big one is, number one, they’re not your friend. They are there to evaluate and assess you vis a vis, a position they have available. They don’t care about everything you’ve done in your life. They care about what you’ve done that matters to them, and what they need to have solved. And thus, don’t fall prey to their friendliness to lower your guard and reveal things about yourself, that could cause you to be disqualified. Again, your job is to connect the dots between your background and what they’re looking for. and in doing that, you’re going to have an opportunity to make it easy for them to want to hire you or not. But the thing to always remember is they’re not your friend. They’re there to evaluate and assess you so that in this way, they can make a good hire for them. And you have to ask questions to figure out whether this is the right opportunity for you. So I’m going to pause here and unless someone else wants to add something in the chat,
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-EpipJgk[/svp]
6 Tips for Successful Job Search Networking
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.
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.
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