Career Coach Office Hours: November 1 2022

Career Coach Office Hours: November 1 2022 | JobSearchTV.com

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

I answered questions about job search, hiring staff, management, career transition, as well as workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays on LinkedIn or YouTube (Job Search TV channel). You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too.

Stupid Career Branding Mistakes: Who Knows About You?

03:37

Do cover letters make your application get more recognition? You know, it depends. Let me explain. If you send it as a separate attachment with your resume, no one’s going to open the separate attachment. If you put it in the body of the email if you’re emailing a resume to someone and you do it in such a way that it makes the fit clear for the role, then yes, it has the potential because before someone pops the resume open, they’re gonna see your cover letter in the body of the email. So it might just simply say, ‘I’m forwarding my resume to you for such and such position. I was referred by so and so. Let me show you how my background fits up with what I was told you were looking for.’ Flush left are the skills and requirements and functionality for the position. Flush right how long and how recently you’ve worked with it. And thus what you’re doing is matching up your background with what they’re looking for. That helps. And you close it out very simply by saying ‘I hope to hear from you soon and I’ll follow up in a day or two if I haven’t.’ Very simple. The third place is in an applicant tracking system. Now in an applicant tracking system, the way you get recognition there is you do Same thing, as I just told you to do with the body of an email, but you’d make it page one of your resume. Why? Because what you’re doing is stuffing the resume with keywords, all you’re doing is moving the resume down and making page one the cover letter. And thus, flush left is what they’re looking for, which are keywords, right? Flush, right, how long and how recently. Then the resume repeats a lot of those keyword terms as well. So the applicant tracking system software believes that you have a lot of experience with it because it’s on page one. And it’s later on in the body of the email. These things are not that bright. So make the fit obvious. That’s the way you get someone’s attention, but not in an attachment. No one cares about attachments. They will go directly to the resume, and will wind up ignoring your cover letter. Now Sumit, post a message

 

06:05

I feel fed up with my private job but don’t know what to do. I just want to get married and live with family. Oh, I feel so bad for you. Sumit, that’s a tough position to be in. And I’m not sure how I can directly help. I do know that there are people who care about you who can and they’re local to you. You can talk with them. I’ll also say if you need a recruiter, I might be able to refer you to someone but I don’t know if they’ll have any jobs, or whether they will be able to help. But the long andthe short of it is you can find another position. You can wind up getting married, you can have the life that you want if you don’t allow yourself to be discouraged. And if you start doing this and doing things to take action to change things I know you’ve been visiting with me on office hours now for a while and asking questions. Thank you for trusting me to do that. And you have to keep going forward because otherwise, you stay where you are. It may be frustrated. It may feel difficult at times. But this is what you’ll need to do. And if you’ve got more specific things you want to ask, just put it in the chat, I’d be very happy to.

 

07:45

How do I write a follow-up email after a phone interview? Well, you don’t do it 10 minutes after you get off the phone. You wait a day or two. And you just very simply say, because again, remember, they’re not just talking to you, although you’re just talking to one person. They’re talking to 10 or 15 people a day. So you start by saying ‘I did a phone interview with you on Tuesday. And let’s assume this is Thursday. ‘I did a phone interview with you on Tuesday for a position doing such and such. I haven’t gotten any feedback yet. When do you think I might hear about the next steps? So two sentences. Really that simple. Do it as a text. Do it as an email. However you’ve been communicating with that firm, that’s what you do. You communicate in the same manner that they’ve been communicating with you. And you’ll get your answer, if not the first time, the second time. So if they don’t respond on the first message, you send another one a day and a half later. And follow up again. The second one might say something along the lines of. ‘I haven’t heard from you. I sent an email to you on Thursday. It’s Friday afternoon, haven’t heard back. Just want to make sure you are okay. I haven’t gotten feedback. Just let me know about the next steps’ or something along those lines. That allows you to pursue this without being obnoxious. And if they’re not back to you after that, let it go. They’ll get in touch when they’re ready to get in touch. And they’re giving you information by not responding. You may not like it, but they’re giving you information that will help you understand where you stand with them.

How Long Should You Stay in a Job You Hate?

09:51

How are online resume writers compared to traditional recruiting companies? They’ve got separate jobs. Resume writers write resumes. Recruiting companies are employed by companies to find people to fill positions. They may tailor a resume to demonstrate a fit for a job. They evaluate and assess people as to how they fit the jobs. Resume writers don’t fill positions. They write resumes. Traditional recruiting companies fill positions. They don’t place people in jobs. They don’t find a job for you. That’s not what they’re hired to do. They’re hired to fill a position on behalf of the corporation that’s asked them to find someone for them to fill a job. So it’s comparing foi gras with a peach. They are different types of food. They’re both very good as they are. But the long the short of it is they’re different. So I can’t make a comparison except to explain that they have different functions.

 

11:42

What’s the first thing employers notice on a resume? Well, the first thing is your name because it will tend to be on the top with a lot of white space around. They may notice a phone number, or city state zip. And that becomes the first thing their eye will go to because theirs white space around it. From there, they’re going to scroll down, and they’re going to start skimming for keywords. You’ve indicated the job that you’re applying for, you’d forwarded your resume for, and they’re going to start skimming for that. If they don’t see it in a few seconds, what they’re going to do is, in Word, hit Ctrl F. I think it’s Command F on a Mac.  If I’m wrong, I apologize. And they’re using the Find feature in order to find particular terms in your resume. So let’s say just for the sake of argument, the dominant thing that they’re looking for is a particular programming language. I’ll just say Java, for the sake of argument. They’re doing Ctrl F and entering Java to see if it appears somewhere on the resume. They’ll look for currency of the experience. They’ll look for experience that demonstrates the fit. If they don’t find it, they’re gone. They’re going to import your resume into their applicant tracking system and wait for another day to get back in touch with you. Because if you don’t have relevant experience, and don’t demonstrate it early enough in the resume, they think it’s old, and they’re not going to be interested in talking with you about that particular job. It’s really that simple. So whitespace makes your name standout.

 

14:01

Do HR recruiters look down on those who do not have a four-year college degree? Some do. It used to be far more prevalent than in the past, but some have gotten smarter and have started to realize that people sometimes for personal reasons, weren’t able to complete school but have relevant background. So sometimes, not always. Some do. Some firms do. I remember when I still did recruiting there was a firm I’d done work with that would not talk to anyone who did not have a master’s and it didn’t matter what their experience was. If the person did not have a master’s, they would not be interviewed. Go figure. Google has stopped fixating. I’m sorry I was I was about to point to the wrong firm. There are firms that are no longer fixating on the degree. They focus on the relevant experience and what your real knowledge is, but they are not the majority. The majority of firms do focus on degrees, and will reject people who don’t have a four-year degree. I think it’s foolish. And I speak as someone who’s got a Master’s, got a lot out of my master’s. My undergrad was, frankly, worthless. It was a bachelor’s in political science. Woohoo. It really qualified me to do a lot, right? And, yes, some firms will look down on those without an undergraduate degree.

 

15:42

How do you respond when an interviewer asks why another company didn’t hire you after interviewing with them previously? They never contacted me. So if I’m understanding the question correctly, let’s say you’re on an interview, and they say, ‘so where are you under consideration?’ I’ve submitted my resume to so and so. I’ve interviewed at such and such.’ And let’s say you mentioned three places that you interviewed with. And then they say, ‘why didn’t they hire you?’ Well, they chose someone else.’ ‘Why did they choose someone else?’ ‘They thought their experience was a little bit more relevant. I got great feedback from them. But you know, some people will work for a little bit less, some people, some organizations will want a little bit more experience. Some will want experience with a competing firm to theirs, because they think that experience is more relevant. But generally, I got great feedback. So it wasn’t a question of poor performance on interviews,’ which is really what they’re trying to find out. Whether you suck at interviewing, but you don’t. And you just make it very clear that they chose someone else that they thought had more relevant experience. And if they press you, you respond by saying, ‘Isn’t that what you would tell a firm? Tell someone who you were turning down. Would you really go into all the details of the rejection?’ And if they say, ‘Yes, we would. ‘You’re a distinct minority. Go online. You’ll see most firms don’t do that. I wish they were different. I learned from them.’ But that becomes a real smooth way of knocking down someone who’s trying to badger you into confessing where your deficiencies are professionally, when none may really exist.

Tough Interview Questions: What Is Your Greatest Success?

17:49

How important are LinkedIn profiles and CVs when recruiters are looking for candidates? I’m going to say CVs and resumes. The answer is how are they going to find you otherwise? Seriously, how are they going to find you if you don’t have a resume or a CV? You don’t have it on a job board, right? You don’t have a resume or a CV? Where do they find you? A referral, that’s about it. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, how do they find you? They can’t search for you amongst the 855 million people on the platform. So you have to be referred. Now the statistics are that most positions are filled as a result of referrals. And why would you cut off your nose because even though you may get referred for a job, a firm is going to say, ‘Can we see a copy of your resume? ‘We know that Jeff told us that you are qualified, and might be a great fit for this job. But we’d like to know about your background.’ You need the resume. If you don’t have the resume, you know, say I haven’t updated my resume in three years. Maybe you can just look at my LinkedIn profile and confirm that my background will be relevant for you.’ One or the other you need something and avoiding not having a resume, then winds up putting you in a position of a disadvantage because you become the weird person. Do you really want to be the weird person to individuals? Seriously? Do you want to come across as we’ird?

 

19:50

Can you use LinkedIn ads to promote your profile as a job seeker? Yeah, and it’s very expensive. LinkedIn is one of the more expensive social media sites. If you think you could do this for five cents a clip, you’re mistaken. It’s more like $25 for a bundle, and more like a few $100 for a bundle. So it could be like $25 per click. So it’s an expensive way to go. And you can do it. I don’t know anything about you and your background but if you’ve got money to burn, someone will take a flyer on contacting you. And maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t work. But it is an expensive way to go. You’re better to be magnetic and draw people to you than to advertise at that kind of expense.

 

20:56

How do you tell an employer that you regret accepting their offer? Wow! You don’t. Don’t tell them that. You just start going elsewhere and looking for something at another organization? Because otherwise, all you’re doing is offending someone. They’ll turn around and say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ Seriously, Are you telling me you’re quitting? Because we want people who are committed to our organization? I’m not going to fire you. But are you quitting?’ And that puts the onus back on you? What do you hope to get out of telling them that you regret accepting their offer? At the time you resign, you can tell your hiring manager, ‘this isn’t the job I was led to believe it was.’ ‘How so?’ Well, he told me such and such. That’s not the case. It’s a different kind of situation than that. As a result, I didn’t sign up for this. And I don’t want to be working here any longer, I found something else. My last day is going to be such and such. I wish you very well. But this is not what I’d signed up for.’ And leave it at that.

 

22:28

What does it mean when the interviewer starts the interview by saying, Sorry, I’m interviewing for a lot of positions. What position is this one for? Does it mean they’re already not considering me? No, it doesn’t mean that. It means this hiring manager, this interviewer . .  .actually, it’s an interviewer. So it’s a screener in HR. They’ve got too many jobs on their plate, and they’re confused and fried. All it means is they’re so busy and so frazzled and doing too much that they’re not sure. And they’re asking you to guide them because you know what job you applied for, right? So tell them the job. ‘I was looking for this developer role with the firm.’ ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember.’ And then they’ll go right into it. So it doesn’t mean that you’ve been rejected. It doesn’t mean that you’ve been turned down. Nothing along those lines. Don’t sweat it. Hopefully you impress that guy.

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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. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us

He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.

I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) 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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