Author: gcapone

Interview Recording Assessment

I’m continuing this week with the interview recording from the administrative assistant I started last week.  The question in this recording is:

Tell me about a time when you helped a coworker improve their performance.

Listen to the Interview Answer(Time 1:37)
This is interview was recorded and posted with the permission of the job seeker.

The answer is in two parts – the initial answer and the follow up.  The initial answer was pretty good.  She described the situation and the actions she took well.  I thought the description of the 360 feedback was great.  This answer also gave her the opportunity to talk about the person she supervises.  Many admin assistants have little to no supervisory experience.  Highlighting that she manages someone in this role demonstrates leadership experience and shows that she was successful enough to be put in a lead position.  All of this is good.

The thing that is missing is whether she was successful.  My follow up question addressed this by asking what success she had had with this.  Her answer focused on providing more details about the situation.  She did indicate that there was improvement but it wasn’t clear how much improvement was made or the benefit to the company.

A much better answer would have included specific results.  Did the person she coached perform better after the coaching?  What feedback did they receive from others in the office?  The coaching process started with a 360 feedback exercise – results of a follow up to this would be great to discuss.  If there wasn’t a follow up, then the comments of one or more people in the office would help.

The key is to show a hiring manager success.  Telling them that you were responsible for something doesn’t mean you were successful.  You have to give examples to stand out.

Examples of Resumes that Link to a LinkedIn Profile

In yesterday’s article, I outlined pros and cons of adding a link to your LinkedIn profile to your resume.  This got me thinking and I decided to take a look at what some job seekers are doing.

I did a quick search of 585 resumes and found four job seekers that mentioned their LinkedIn profile on their resume.  Of these, two of the people put the link on both their cover letter and resume.  Here are the examples, with names and contact info masked for confidentiality:

Job Seeker 1 – From the cover letter:

You may read recommendations from my past employers at http: //www. Linkedin.com /in/name

Job Seeker 2 – From the resume heading:

First Last, 123-456-7890 / 987-654-3210 (cell)
## Street Ave.  name @ emaildomain.com
City, ST 00000  http: //www. Linkedin.com /in/name

Job Seeker 3 – From the cover letter heading:

First Last
name @ emaildomain.com
http: //www. Linkedin.com /in/name

Job Seeker 3 – From the resume heading:

First Last
name @ emaildomain.com
Cell: 123-456-7890
http: //www. Linkedin.com /in/name

Job Seeker 4 – From the cover letter signature:

Sincerely,

First Last
123-456-7890
http: //www. Linkedin.com /in/name

Job Seeker 4 – From the resume heading:

First Last
Home: 123-456-7890
name @ emaildomain.com
http: //www. Linkedin.com /in/name

My personal preference is the first listing where the profile is included within the cover letter with a reason why it should be viewed. 

LinkedIn and Your Resume

I read an interesting question on LinkedIn today…

“Would you put a link to your LinkedIn profile on your resume?”

There have been a lot of good answers posted by LinkedIn users – some advocating and some discouraging this.  I think it really depends on your resume and your LinkedIn Profile. 

Your Profile

LinkedIn is essentially a social network – except that it focuses on careers.  A profile on LinkedIn is similar to a resume, but the content is slightly different.  You can be much freer about what information you include and how you describe it. 

You can expect that a hiring manager will Google your name while you are being consider, so there’s a good chance they will see your profile anyway.  Just realize that this will be well into the hiring process.  Many hiring managers will only put forth this type of effort once they are seriously considering making an offer.  If you want your profile to be read early in the process, before interviews start, then you need to link to it.

What Value Does the Profile Offer to Your Resume

LinkedIn profiles have several pieces of information that may compliment your resume.  The most obvious are the recommendations.  Users can write recommendations for co-workers.  This allows a hiring manager to read what is essentially a reference check long before they normally would conduct references.

Another benefit is seeing the connections you have.  This can be particularly helpful for business development professionals where the largest rolodex wins. 

The LinkedIn Answers is a place where you can answer questions asked by others.  Having a strong track record of answering questions in a field may demonstrate expertise.  I wouldn’t set out to answer questions just to highlight on your resume, but if you have a passion for participating in the discussion, it may help.

Finally, your profile personalizes your resume.  Profiles usually focus much more on an individual’s interests and motivations than a resume does. 

Why Shouldn’t I Add My Profile

First, if you have an incomplete or poorly written profile, don’t highlight it. 

Second, are you going to leave something off your resume that is more valuable to make room for the link?  If so, skip it.

Third, what message are sending with your profile?  Is it creating a complimentary message to your resume and cover letter?  Make sure it’s helping you in your search.

Bottom Line: Don’t add your profile unless it’s a really big selling point for the position you are pursuing.  If you’re not sure, leave it off. 

How Should I List It?

I see several ways of putting a Linked In profile on your resume.  You can place the link in your contact information at the top of your resume.

Your could place it at the end of the resume under a heading indicating what you want to highlight.  For example, after the last section of your resume, add a section titled “Recommendations” and place the link under it. 

You could put the link in your cover letter, highlighting the information on your profile that you want the hiring manager to read.  For example, you could call attention to the recommendations and provide the link.

Finally, you could imbed the link within another section in your resume.  For example, if you had a great recommendation from a former boss on your profile, you might attach the link under that job. 

Conclusion

For some job seekers, adding a link to their resume could be beneficial.  For most, I wouldn’t do it.  Make sure your profile is really good before doing this and have a clear plan for why you want to include it.

Check out the discussion on Linked In:  http://www.linkedin.com/answers/using-linkedIn/ULI/299873-11341068

I have close to 2000 direct connections on LinkedIn.  Feel free to send an invitation to me ([email protected]) if you want to link.

Falsifying Education

A resume of very strong manufacturing job seeker came to my attention recently.  The candidate looked great, but I didn’t recognize the school they attended.  I’m not an expert on every school out there, so I use several research tools.  In a few minutes, it was clear this school was not reputable.  First, it’s not accredited, and second it awards degrees without requiring any course work.  Just write a check and they mail a transcript and degree.

With an explosion of educational opportunities, it’s no surprise that a number of diploma mills have cropped up.  If you’re not familiar with diploma mills, they are companies that issue degrees without requiring a single class.  Some go so far as to offer overnight delivery of a degree – someone that didn’t graduate from high school can obtain degrees all the way through to a PhD in a matter of days.

Many of these programs market themselves as life experience degrees – degrees awarded solely based on the life experience of the individual.  The requirements are less than stringent.  Colby Nolan is a cat that received a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA from a diploma mill. Unfortunately, Colby is not alone – there a number of cats, dogs and other animals with degrees.

The job seeker I was assessing had a resume that looked great.  With the complete fabrication of their education, there is no way to trust the job seeker.  Unfortunately, if they are lying about their education, I have to assume they could be lying about everything in their background.

Now it may sound tempting to go from a high school grad to an MBA overnight, but it’s a fraud.  States are cracking down on this, with a number having already passed legislation criminalizing the use of an unaccredited degree to obtain employment (or even a promotion in some cases).  Additionally, the tools to check the validity of a degree are getting better and faster – it’s only takes a minute or two to check.

If you are looking to enhance your education, check the reputation and accreditation of the program.  This isn’t difficult to do, but you do need to know where to look.  The diploma mills often claim accreditation, but from accrediting bodies that either don’t exist or have standards as low as the diploma mills.

There are a lot of resources you can check.  Two that I like are:

Council for Higher Education Accreditation:  www.chea.org
State of Michigan: list of schools the state will not recognize – http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Non-accreditedSchools_78090_7.pdf

I’ve run into a number of job seekers that made the mistake of getting a fake degree.  A few were able to use the degree to get a better job (although the odds of this go down as background checks get easier).  This didn’t help in the long run though.  With the lie, they end up stuck, unable to leave because the lie continues to be uncovered – and very bitter every time they are discovered.

Offer Time: Don’t Do This

One of the mistakes I see from job seekers is changing their compensation expectations during the interview process.  It’s as if there is salary inflation causing their worth to go up over a period of weeks.  I noticed this long before I became a recruiter – I made this mistake early in my career and it cost me a great opportunity.

The Company’s Perspective

When a company interviews a job seeker, they want to make sure that the individual will accept an offer if they extend one.  For this reason, hiring managers are very complimentary during the process.  Many will even discuss things like, “when you’re on board, you’re going to be very successful fixing this,”  with “this” being some major problem. 

This type of language is polite and in the company’s best interest.  They want the job seeker to feel good about joining the company.  Receiving compliments during an interview does not mean the hiring manager is going to want to hire you.  All it means is that the hiring manager is being polite and is trying to insure that you want the job – in case they decide to hire you.

The Job Seeker’s Perspective

Job seekers should feel proud that they are being courted.  Unfortunately some make the mistake of assuming that they “have the job” and forget to continue to sell themselves.  Worse, some job seekers interpret every compliment as an indication that they should expect a higher salary.  This is the mistake I made and the mistake I’ve seen other job seekers make.

Most companies have salary guidelines for each position.  Large companies will have salary ranges and guidelines for how different experience levels affect the placement in a range.  Although it’s not completely scientific, there is often a lot of analysis that goes into setting salaries. 

My Mistake

Now lets look at a real life example – the mistake I made early in my career.  I was being considered for a position that was in many respects, absolutely ideal.  It was a significant promotion over my current role.  It had a great opportunity for advancement.  It was in a much better location (and had paid relo).  It had a better compensation level.  Finally, the type of work was closer to what I wanted to do than my job at the time.  But I didn’t get the job – and I was the one that caused it to fall apart.

When I started the interview process, I was told the compensation range (I was working with a recruiter and they filled me in).  The bottom of the range was above my current comp and acceptable to me.  In the first interview it was clear my experience was less than they wanted (remember this would have been a big promotion for me).  There were other skills that made me an attractive candidate, but experience wasn’t one of them. 

Through the interview process, everything went well and I demonstrated enough potential to get an offer.  Unfortunately, every time I heard that I would be very successful with them, that I would have a good chance of getting promoted quickly and that I would be a key part of the team, I concluded they were getting desperate to hire me.  All of this made me conclude that they wouldn’t offer the bottom of their range, they would offer something higher.  I started expecting an offer around the mid-point.

The Offer

When they made the offer, it was below the bottom of the range I had been told at the beginning – not by a lot, but definitely below the range.  This was justifiable since I really didn’t have the experience for the job and would have to grow into it.  The problem was that I didn’t think about that until it was too late.  I was so convinced they would offer a figure well above the bottom of the range that I was actually shocked by the offer.  My reaction, immature and arrogant, led to the offer being pulled.

In hindsight, the offer was good, the opportunity was phenomenal and the company wanted me.  And yet, I didn’t get the job.

It was an important lesson.  First, no matter what I thought of the offer, I should have reacted positively.  Second, I should have recognized that when they complimented me, they were being polite and when they said I really didn’t have as much experience as they wanted, they were discounting my salary.  I did the opposite of these. 

Bottom Line:  React positively when an offer is made.  You can assess the value after the call.  This doesn’t mean you don’t negotiate the best deal.  Just don’t let emotions dictate the result. 

Recorded Job Interview

For the last month, I’ve been posting recordings from an interview with a transitioning military officer.  This week, I’m making a shift to another job seeker – a professional administrative assistant.  Top-notch admin assistants are unbelievably valuable to the companies and executives they work for.  This individual has some great experiences, but has never been trained to interview effectively.

This is the first question from the interview:

Tell Me About Yourself

Listen to the Answer

(Time 1:08)
This is interview was recorded and posted with the permission of the job seeker.

Like many job seekers I’ve interviewed, this individual didn’t see the point of the Tell Me About Yourself question.  It’s not designed to find out about an individual’s personal life.  It’s intended to get picture of the professional’s background, experience and potential.  (By the way, I’ve heard how many dogs and cats job seekers have as an answer to this more times than I can count – it has yet to persuade me to hire someone or put them in front of a client.)

After her answer, I had to ask the follow up question, “Walk me through your career progression” to get at the information I was looking for.  Even with the answer to the follow up question, the job seeker missed a great opportunity to highlight why she should be hired.  This answer was a list of facts about what roles she had held.  This is the time in an interview that she should be highlighting her best accomplishments and why she is successful.

Another problem with this answer is that it’s way too short.  This candidate has done some great things in her career but the entire question, answer, follow up and answer took only a minute and eight seconds.  The amount of time she spent on her current role – a position she has held for several years, was two seconds.

One last note about this answer…  The job seeker starts by saying they are a “full adult.”  This may seem like a very odd thing in an interview, but it’s a result of the misconceptions that surround admin assistants.  It stems from the stereotype that admin’s are teenagers right out of high school doing menial hourly work.  The truth is far from this.  Good admin assistants are not kids and the work they do is not menial.  Many executives will say that a good admin assistant is the most valuable member of their team.  It unfortunately most don’t get the respect they deserve.

Unusual Interview Settings

The vast majority of interviews will be in a similar setting.  An individual’s office or a conference room with one or two interviewers and the job seeker.  This is typical and what most job seekers expect when the go for an interview. 

It’s not the only format used, though.  Hiring managers have a wide range of motivations to deviate from the standard.  The first step is knowing what to expect.

Off-site Interviews:  When companies replace key managers, they often don’t want the employees to know of the change until they have found the replacement.  They do this to maintain stability in the organization during the change.  Because of this, early interviews are often conducted at an off-site location.  This can be a hotel lobby, a private meeting room, another companies office such as a law firm the company uses or a recruiting firm’s offices.  Most of these locations will provide a private setting conducive to an interview and shouldn’t differ from a traditional interview setting much.

Lunch Interviews: Some hiring managers will schedule interviews at a restaurant.  This could be a breakfast, lunch or dinner, although lunch is most common.  If you have a full day of interviews at a company, one of the interviews should be a lunch interview.  There are two big differences between a lunch interview and a standard interview.  First, there are constant interruptions when you need to order, get your food and have your plates cleared.  Second, there’s a couple extra phases to the interview – ordering and eating.  When you receive your menu, find a safe pick on the menu quickly.  Often the hiring manager will pick a location they frequent and not need to look at the menu long.  After ordering, the interview will be most similar to a standard interview, since there are few distractions for the next 5-15 minutes.  Once the food arrives, the interview will slow so you both can eat, but it won’t stop.  Prioritize the interview over the food.  Good preparation should help avoid problems caused by distractions.

Facility Tours: Often, a facility tour will be part of an interview.  In large facilities, such a manufacturing plants and distribution centers, it can take upwards of an hour to walk the facility. The tour becomes an interview.  In a production facility, don’t touch anything and be careful.  It’s an unfamiliar environment and you haven’t been through the safety training – don’t find out where the hazards are by getting hurt.  During the tour, pay attention to the environment but focus on the interviewer. 

Open Office Interviews: Some interviewers will choose a setting that has activity and traffic.  Either they meet with you in their office and keep the door open with people coming and going, or they meet with you in an open area, such as a bullpen.  This environment can be intimidating since you don’t know where the next distraction is going to come from or who is listening to the interview.  The key is to stay relaxed.  Don’t let the distractions throw you off your game. 

Airport Interviews:  When the hiring manager travels a great deal, they may propose a first meeting at an airport during a layover in the city where the job seeker lives.  Ideally, you will find a quite, low traffic area for the interview, but often, this endsup being in a noisy restaurant.  Usually, this will be the first face-to-face interview.  The goal of the hiring manager is to learn a little about the job seeker’s personality and assess a few key skills.

There are a lot of other settings for interviews.  Don’t let an unusual setting sabotage your next interview.  The key is to prepare thoroughly.  Have a clear idea of the message you want to deliver and the details from your background that you will discuss.  You don’t want to be thrown a curve that you can’t hit in an unusual setting with a lot of distractions.

Do you have any examples of unusual interview settings?  Please email me or post a comment with your experiences.

3 Reasons to Have a Specific Objective

I received a resume recently from a pharmaceutic sales rep.  What I liked about the resume was the objective.  It was very clear and concise.  I knew exactly what the job seeker was looking for.  Here’s the entire four word objective statement:

GOAL: Pharmaceutical Sales Representative

There’s no ambiguity here.  If I was looking for a Pharmaceutic Sales Rep, I’d know this candidate is interested and I could focus on assessing them.  I like specific objectives – either in the cover letter or on the resume for three reasons:

First, a specific objective statement ensures that you are considered for the position you want.  A general objective forces the reader to decide what job is best for you.  Usually, they will assume you want a position similar or identical to your current role.  If you want a position that is different, you may not be considered for that role if you aren’t specific.  This is especially important if you are changing careers. 

Second, a specific objective shows decisiveness.  Hiring managers don’t want someone wishy-washy that can’t make a decision.  Failing to be specific creates an impression that you can’t be decisive. 

Third, many hiring managers screen resumes with a specific position in mind.  Stating your objective  may help you get a more thorough look.  If your objective is specific and matches the company’s needs, the hiring manager should look closely at your background to see if it supports your goal.  With a general objective, your resume will probably only get a quick scan.  You are relying on the hiring manager to see something in that scan that catches their attention and causes them to want to read more closely. 

Now some job seekers try to write their resume and cover letter to be very general.  The idea is to make their background applicable to as many jobs as possible.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t work.  Hiring managers don’t read your resume with the goal of finding a job for you.  They are focused on their needs and that means finding the best candidate for a specific position. 

Skip the B.S.

When you are looking for a job, you need to market your background.  You need to highlight your accomplishments and sell your strengths.  Your resume and cover letter together are a sales brochure for you. 

The problem comes in when the boasting and hype go too far. 

I received a resume from a job seeker that was over the top.  From the start of the cover letter to the end of the resume, a long stream of hype and exaggeration followed. 

All you need to read is the beginning of the cover letter to get an impression:

WARNING: This is not your typical Cover Letter!

I know, I know, it is a bit taboo to venture too far from the norm when it comes to the traditional cover letter, but I am not the average or the norm when it comes to my desire to excel and succeed beyond the status quo expectations of an executive leader. I prefer to push the envelope and charter into under developed territories and raise the bar to new heights, previously thought to be unattainable.

This cover letter immediately put me on guard.  My first reaction was to think "Warning, this resume needs to be thrown away immediately."  Worse than this, I knew I was in store for a ton of B.S.  This made me very skeptical of every claim and forced me to doubt most of what I read.

The job seeker doesn’t have a bad background.  In fact, they seem to have a good track record with a good company.  It’s tough to tell how good the track record really was because the cover letter and resume had a lot hype but not much substance. 

Bottom line:  Keep your text professional.  Make yourself sound good, but don’t mimic an infomercial with a screaming host…  “and if you hire me today, I’ll be the greatest employee you’ve ever seen.  CALL RIGHT NOW AND I’LL DOUBLE THE OFFER!  I’ll give you not 40, but 80 hours of highly productive work per week.  Hire me now – I’m not going to be available for very long!”

Seven Things You Need to do Before Submitting Your Resume

Before you send out your next resume, there are seven things you need to do:

1. Check the content

Do you have all the information on your resume that you need?  Is the important information easy to find?  Need more information: Read my post on resume content

2. Customize your resume to the job

Make sure you customize your resume to the job requirements.  The first screening step companies go through is to reject job seekers that don’t have all the skills they consider critical.  If you fail to list a skill or experience that is critically important, the odds are that the hiring manager will assume you don’t have what they are looking for.  The next step for your resume is the trash bin.  Make sure your resume clearly shows your experience with each job requirement.  Need more information:  Check out my post on how to customize a resume

3. Spell check

Too many job seekers shortcut this step.  Make sure you spell check your resume before sending it.  Often, job seekers spell check a resume after the write their first version, but fail to do this after every revision.

4. Have your resume assess by a professional

Do you know how your resume is perceived by hiring managers?  Hire an expert to review your resume.  Many job seekers spend so much time on their resume that they can’t step back and assess it objectively.  An impartial expert can help you fine tune your resume and give you a competitive advantage over other job seekers.  There are a variety of services that provide resume assessments – some are free, while others require are fee based.

Palladian offers a thorough resume assessment service, where we examine 61 resume attributes and provide specific written feedback that will help you improve your resume.

5. Write a quality cover letter

A strong cover letter will help make a good impression.  Spend the time to develop a good cover letter, or if you aren’t a great writer, hire someone to write a cover letter for you.  There are a number of services that do this.  Check out my research report on cover letter best practices to learn now to write a cover letter that is better than the ones your competition uses. Email us to get the report:  palladian at palladianinternational dot com

6. Check your voice mail message

Make sure you have a professional sounding voice mail message.  If you’re successful and the company calls you, you do not want to have an unprofessional or offensive message that you recorded for your friends.

7. Check your Facebook page

Do you have a public social networking profile?  If so, review the content.  It’s common for hiring managers to google the name of a candidate.  If you publish information about yourself in a social networking site, make sure the information won’t hurt your career.  You can either edit the site, or restrict access to only your accepted friends.