Career Coach Office Hours: March 22 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
I answered questions about #jobsearch #hiringstaff #management #leadership #workplace issues and anything work for that matter. jJoin me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays and put your question into chat. You can also email questions to TheBigGameHunter(at) gmail.com and put the phrase “Office Hours” into the subject line and I will answer it on my next show. #careercoachofficehours #careercoaching #careercoach #jobsearchtips #jobsearchadvice #interviews #hiring #managingpeople #leadershipskills #linkedinlive #linkedinlivestreams
Interviewing for a Contract or Temp Assignment
00:00 Intro and Coffee Toast
02:20 Is it a good idea to use an employer from a job irrelevant to the one you’re applying for as a reference?
03:37 Why are some companies finding it hard to recruit and hold on to staff at the moment?
05:48 A recruiter for an executive position told me that while I was a good candidate, the panel found me to be too casual. What are some tips to ensure that this does not happen again in future interviews?
07:49 When do you reject a connection request in LinkedIn?
09:46 How do I tell a recruiter that I am the one asked to contact him via WhatsApp?
12:05 How do I get a job in the US from India
14:23 Do I need to update my resume when not looking for a job?
16:32 How can we know in 5 minutes if we should hire someone?
18:22 Which are the highest paying jobs?
20:07 Is it bad to ask the interviewer what they like least about working at the company?
22:28 You are the team leader in your marketing team. One of your team members presented his idea but somehow you find it lacking. How would you tell your team member that his work needs improvement?
24:41 What is your career story, Jeff?
26:39 Is it ok to remove some experience from your resume?
27:05 Do I have to ask questions in an interview?
29:01 How can a leader be able to understand what followers and other people are thinking, in order to improve their own work or leadership skills?
31:47 Outro
The first question for today is, is it a good idea to use an employer from a job irrelevant to the one you’re applying for as a reference? It’s not ideal. Ideally, you want it to be able to provide a reference of someone who can vouch for your work and provide a testimonial on behalf of your ability to solve a particular firm’s problems, right? You know this, that’s why you’re asking the question, but sometimes you can’t. And thus, what you do is the best thing that you can do. Someone who can attest for the quality of your work, your capability, the fact you care about delivering good work. And that could be enough for some employers, they’ll ask about your work ethic, your motivation, how they how you were managed at this job, that someone have to sit on you to do things, they won’t be able to answer specifics about how your background fits this role. But they can deal with your work ethic in the course of answering questions. So ideal No? best you can do. And by all means do it and move on. Okay.
Why are some companies finding it hard to recruit and hold on to staff at this moment? Well, there’s a couple of reasons. So first is recruiting staff. And that starts off with a million people died. And they’re not available anymore. And many, many more. Well, they left the job market through retirement. I believe the numbers are something like a million people died in the United States, I’m going to give us centric answers. million people have died in the United States and 2 million have retired. It’s 20 million people not in the workforce. That’s a lot. So then there are people who are, shall we say underrepresented in the market, they’ve given up, they’re taking part time work, they’re tired of fighting. So a lot of organizations are trying to hire these missing people from the job market that existed in 2019, beginning of 2020. So that’s why it’s hard to find people now retain them as different. Retain them may deal with the job that they’re doing, whether it’s worthy of them whether it’s something that interests them. Sometimes people take a job because they take a job and it’s the best that can be done for them. So taking anything, even though it’s just the paycheck that’s on them. Some people take a job. And the job has been misrepresented. They’re told one thing and it’s something else, or shall we say, an employer doesn’t disclose things to them? That they really should? That’s on the employer that’s on the job, Hunter. There’s different variables here. So there’s a lot of reasons why people are not our companies are finding it hard to find people and keep them. I’ll simply say, if you’re an employer, it isn’t hard. It really isn’t that hard to keep people. And that’s for another time, I’m not going to go into it.
A recruiter for an executive position recently told me that while I was a good candidate, the panel found me too casual. What are some good tips to ensure that this doesn’t happen again in future interviews, etc. So a recruiter told you this was a good way to let you down. Let me first give them credit. They told you something. A lot of recruiters just ghost. I know for years, that’s what I did. So I apologize if you were affected by me. I didn’t know any better. So I apologize. But that they told you you were too casual. How do you deal with that? Now, I wasn’t in the room with you to know if that was actually true. But this seems to have resonated for you. So how can you appear not casual, you sit forward in the chair, you speak with your hands, you use gestures to connect with people, you look in your smile, but you’re not seated backward in the chairs, though, it’s a vacation day for you. You sit forward, lean into the conversation, use your hands to communicate and make eye contact with everyone. Where appropriate, you smile, you appear energetic, it seems like casual is the opposite of energetic, too laid back. And thus they perceived you as not caring, because that’s really what casual is, he didn’t seem to care. So appear like you care more. And thus, you’ll do better and avoid these kinds of situations. And, you know, even interviewing for an executive position, I’ll assume you are one yourself, you know what you like, and you didn’t deliver that you’re laid back and more respect, respectful to the panel? That’s what they interpreted?
When You’ve Been Made Redundant, Fired, Laid Off, RIF’d
When do you reject the connection request on LinkedIn? I know what I do. And I’ll just simply say, if someone looks like they’re going to be selling to me right away, if they’re going to be in a situation where there are people who are marketing to coaches all the time, and there are people who see my face and they think I should be planning for retirement that they want to sell me insurance. A lot of sales professionals, I don’t accept connection requests from because the next message is, Hi, we’re connected, buy something from me. It’s a waste of my time. I’m not going to buy something from an absolute stranger. Oops, sorry. I dropped my mouse. I’m gonna pick that up in a moment. It raises the question. But fundamentally, I don’t want to be sold to anyone else. I take connection requests from because I can help them and they can help me. I can learn from them. They can learn for me. It’s good for everyone.
How do I tell the recruiter that I am the one he said to contact? How do I tell the recruiter learn the one he said to contact him via WhatsApp I’m not sure I understand this question. I think what they’re saying is you message this person and ask them to contact you through WhatsApp. And you want and they don’t seem to realize that it’s if I’m understanding your question correctly, it’s a weird situation for me. So I’ll just simply say you contact them through different means. And you just let them know. Hi, you know, it seems to be some confusion. And I’m the person who asked you to contact them through WhatsApp. This is my number to me a call? Or should we schedule the time? And I’m doing great
How do you get a job in the US from India? So, the short version of answering this question is the US government limits the number of people who are on visas who would need a visa to enter into the US and find the job. Thus, the easiest way to get a job in the US from India, or almost any place else is to be hired by a firm that will bring you to the United States on a visa. I don’t know what your background is or what your skills are. But that’s the easiest way to do it. And obviously, this has gone on technology for many years. It goes on in other fields as well. But start off trying to identify a firm that’s global in scope, who can bring you in for an assignment in the US and keep you working in the US honest consulting assignments. So this way, you have the legal right to enter. After that, I always encourage people find the immigration attorney to represent your interests. And I see you’re an IT person, this fits in perfectly perfectly. So find a consulting firm willing to hire you and bring you to the US on a visa. Ideally, an H-1b, some firms will try and bring you on b1, which is not ideal, because it’s a business visa that really does completely tie you in to that employer. An h1 B visa allows you to change jobs in the US. You want to get sponsored for permanent residence.
The h1 B visa is a better one for that. But you’ll ultimately need an immigration attorney to represent you, the firm’s immigration attorney and get you into the states but then represent the employer, not you. So that’s really the best way to go about doing it. I hope that was helpful to you.
Do I need to update my resume when not looking for a job? You don’t need to update it, but you should. Even if you’re not looking for a job. Opportunity may knock. You’re welcome. I’ll just simply say You are welcome. Opportunity may knock on your door and give you the opportunity to explore something else and a firm will ask for a resume and you’ll have it prepare. So I always encourage people update your resume every three For four months, there’s something new that you’ve done. During that period of time, you want to create a master document of all the things that you’ve been doing. That allows you to keep it up to date, in case you’re contacted. Afterall, the person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest, or work, the hardest of all, those are great qualities to have. People get ahead by being alert opportunity, sometimes their internal, more often than not directs turn. So having a resume ready to something good to do. Also, there’s going to come a time where you’re going to have a review done. And keeping your resume up to date allows you to keep fresh and available information that might be necessary for your review. Remember, your manager may change jobs or departments and not be the person reviewing. Often people get nervous and scared at times like that. Because they’re going to be critiqued by someone who may know them for three, four weeks, who’s basically going to say, you know, I really don’t know enough about you, I can really review you in six months. And that’s going to affect your race. So you’re better off keeping your resume up to date. So this way, you’re not blindsided. So this way, you can have a conversation about what you’ve been doing, and not freak out not be scared or nervous. You have a document that allows you to be prepared for that meeting.
How can we know in five minutes if we should hire someone? That’s a great question. And the answer is, you can’t. Let’s get practical about this. You can’t find out in five minutes. Whether a person’s even competent, you can still observe to some degree, whether they’re self confident. You can’t tell if they have character, whether you have chemistry with them, whether they’re charismatic, whether they care about their work, and whether you trust them in five second minutes. Asking this question indicates that you really don’t know how to hire if you’re looking for such a shortcut. Because none exists. It’s like should I marry my wife or husband for five minutes, you need to get to know them. And although job search marriages end in divorce, too, you don’t want to make it that easy for people to one of the worse you were you to want to divorce. Take time, you cannot find that in five or 10 minutes, whether you really should hire them. Because that’s not even enough to do a skills evaluation for most jobs. So sorry, I think you’re a jerk asking that question. Because you should know if you’re interviewing someone, you can’t figure that out in five minutes.
I’m gonna pause for a second and go, which is the highest paying job? There’s no way to answer that question. Sorry. There’s no way to answer the question. Though. The people who are wealthiest own their own businesses, they built them to a large organization. Wealth doesn’t come from salary, it comes from investments, invest in real estate, if you’re in the United States, I suspect you are because the previous question you asked, highest paying job, not a useful question for you. How can you create wealth so that you are successful? That’s a better question to ask. And in the US, the answer was real estate. And in other parts of the world, that may be something different. It doesn’t have to be one of those hot companies, or those hot situations to become wealthy. So that’s the best one. Good. He says he’s investing a lot in the US. Like I said, real estate is a great way to do it. Because you have rental properties, that where people are paying your mortgage for you. And thus, and I say that you’re investing in equities. That’s fine. I’m not a financial adviser. I’m not going to represent myself as one. I have an amateur his opinion. Good. You’re investing and good luck. I’m sorry, I can’t be more specific. Keep doing what you’re doing if you’re getting the results you want. And remember, it’s over the course of time wealth.
Is it bad to ask the interviewer what is the least thing that they like, in the company? And this person who asked the question said, the manager told them not to ask that question. Respectfully, I disagree with that manager. I think the good response at that moment is say, and why not? Especially if they asked what your weaknesses were, you want to know what you’re stepping into? And thus, as someone who’s considering an opportunity with a firm, asking them, What do you like about the organization? There’s always a rough edge of the firm FRR? Not everyone’s here forever. And yes, sometimes they leave for organizations, other organizations, and many times they leave because they’re unhappy and go to other organizations. So what sort of friction Do you run into in this firm is what I’m really asking what could be done better? So that this way, I’m not surprised. Surprises are never good. And if they find that an offensive question, they’re telling you something, they’re telling you that they don’t want to tell you what the problems are in the organization. And that’s not a good thing. You want to have complete transparency from people who are interviewing you. And the honesty of being able to say, you know, sometimes it’s hard to get things thought, like in my job, for example, I’m not great at hiring, and they need to get better, and they don’t have the supportive resources to do that. That’s one answer. Every hiring manager has their version of something like that. That’s not perfect. So by all means, keep asking, and you can say to them, what’s the problem with me hearing that answer? And they may say, Well, that’s not a good question. They asked in an interview, why isn’t that a good question? Shouldn’t I know what I’m stepping into? The good, which you’ve been telling me about? But also the bad and the ugly and the mediocre? So and keep asking. It will serve you. Don’t quit on that question. It’s a good one.
Here’s a scenario: you’re the team leader in your marketing team, one of your team members presented their idea, but somehow you found it lacking in some respects, how would you tell your team member that their work needs to be improved? I would start off by understanding how I would like to be told, like if you were being critiqued by your boss, well, how would you like them to tell you that the work wasn’t good enough? Would you want them sing your works? This is sticks. Of course. You don’t want to be abrupt or rude, you wouldn’t want them to be abrupt and rude. And thus, you shouldn’t be that way as well. I might pause for a second and say, did you take this into consideration? Did you take this into consideration? Or that? I’m not seeing evidence that you did. Because if you had, I think he might have incorporated some of those ideas into what you presented to me. I’m not saying these things. That’s one approach, where you’re offering up things that you think they missed, and offering them the opportunity to say, I did consider those. This is why I didn’t find them particularly helpful. Notice, you’re making suggestions, you’re not sounding dictatorial. I think I missed about such and such. That’s not useful. You’re just going to get a defensive response. Did you consider this? Did you consider that? Always think about how you if you were the employer, would you as a manager would want to tell be told by your boss? Exactly. How you would be back up? How would you deal with your manager want to be told that you could have done better and once you have a connection with that, then you have your answer.
What’s your career story? Well, it’s on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. I started in recruiting back in the stone ages worked in search for more than 40 years. before transitioning into career and leadership coaching, and in doing so, I filled a lot of positions. I have more than 7000 videos on YouTube about job search, hiring, management, leadership, a whole bunch of other stuff. Like I said before, job search tv.com on YouTube, my podcast, no BS job search advice radio, is number one in Apple podcasts for job search with more than 2300 episodes over more than 11 years. I’m someone who, because I worked in search, I have a real world perspective on job hunting, that makes things a lot better for folks. Because it’s not a fearful it’s practical stuff. So there’s a lot at my website, the big game hunter.us, I have books on Amazon, I have courses that are available. There’s just a lot that I created in the way of content. Plus I do one on one coaching. I write– I believe eight books and guides on job search and one about hiring. So I create content for YouTube, books, blogs, a lot of stuff I create. And I’m not 24 In case you haven’t noticed. So let me go back to questions. That’s a thumbnail.
Changing Careers–Career Metamorphosis
Is it okay to remove some old experience from your resume? So for example, most employers really care about the last 10 years. Most employers don’t care about things that are not relevant to your background that may proceed 10 years. So if it’s a year ago, you’re hiding something it needs to stay on the resume. If it’s more than 10 years back, you can simply say prior experience was as a fill in the blank for such and such firm, where I did this and that and this and that. And with so and so or I did this and then this all told that was for about five years. You’re just not wasting space on irrelevant information. You’re summarizing it telling people what your background was what you did things along those lines. And from there, they may probe, but you’re not wasting valuable real estate on it.
In an interview is it required to have questions of the interviewer? Required? No. Wise? Yes. Employers want to hire curious people. And thus, if you’re not asking questions, they don’t think that’s a good thing. So, if they say “so do you have any questions for us,” most of you don’t know my approach to interviewing where I have someone asked a specific question at the beginning of the interview about the job. So most of you when they say do you have any questions for us, you’ll ask about the job, minimally, you should do. And then from there probe about the job and ask, you know what their expectations of you will be after 90 days, and after a year, and a specific line, which I have for that in the course of my courses, and different blog posts. But you should have a minimum ask about the job and what their expectations of you will be.
How can a leader be able to understand what followers and other people are thinking to improve their own work or leadership skills? Now, the hard thing with this is many staff people are reluctant to be honest with their manager. And thus when the manager says so what do you think, you know, how am I doing their impulses to say either great, I think you’re doing a great job, rather than saying the truth. The truth may be generally I think you’re terrific. But there’s a rough edge for improvement. I think you need this immediately. They know their manager Got to whether they’re back straightened, and be ready for criticism. No one likes to be criticized, you don’t like to be criticized, they don’t like to be criticized. So how can you create that connection that they’ll tell you the truth starts off with creating that connection, so that they’ll tell you the truth. Most people don’t take the time to do that. And even if you do, it’s hard for them. So what I would say is periodically, you should make a habit of asking your manager for feedback. And you can say, you know, you can send it to me through an address that doesn’t link to you in some way. So, you know, here’s a Gmail account, log in, give it to everyone, have them send you a message from that account, with feedback for you from time to time. This is the concept of the 360. But with subordinates, that’s a problem with peers and internal clients, it’s easy. All you have to do is periodically send them a note saying, I want to get feedback from you from time to time about how I’m doing. If you think it’s critical, that’s fine. If you think it’s good, that’s fine. I just want to know where I stand with you and what I can be doing better, and what you think I’m doing well. So that’s really how to do it, and how not to do so that you get honest feedback throughout our throughout front of the people and throughout the organization.
Are You a Teacher Feeling Burned Out?
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYZVBf_6AzU[/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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