1. We're not really looking for a job for you.
Recruiters spend their time focused on the next assignment, the next client and candidates for the job search at hand. Recruiters work for the client company, not for you, the job seeker. Disabuse yourself of the notion at the recruiter is working for you.
2. We're not your agent.
Although you may think recruiters will serve your interests exclusively, they will not conduct a job search for you nor will they find job opportunities for you. Typically the candidate [you] is a distant third in the order of importance behind the client company and the recruiter.
3. You're not the most wonderful candidate they've ever seen.
The initial telephone conversation will seem like the best conversation you've ever had. The recruiters will play to your ego and strongly indicate that they'd be thrilled to work with you. Just email that resume in and you're on your way to that dream job. [No effort on your part required.]
4. The actual number of candidates under consideration for a position.
Recruiters receive an inordinate number of resumes every week, perhaps 200 - 1200 or more. They're not going to say that you're one of 659 candidates...so don't hold your breath. If you don't hear back, your resume entered the data base zone from which one rarely returns.
5. We won't return your phone calls after the initial contact.
After that first contact call everything is sweetness and light. You're primed for the follow-up call with all the particulars for the eagerly anticipated interview, but it never comes. You wait and wait until you begin to doubt your sanity and question your own abilities.
6. Your salary history and pay requirements will be held against you.
No one wants to waste time, and recruiters are certainly no exception. Salary information and compensation history are used to disqualify candidates rather than screen them into the selection process. You may quickly remove yourself from consideration with one inept response, if you provide specific, detailed salary information.
7. We may try to lower your expectations, so we can place you and earn a fee.
Hey, we're only human. A guy's gotta make a buck! True, but what about you and your income level. Resist the attempt to "talk" you down a level because the job market is terrible or because it's a great company for advancement, etc, etc. Know your value and stick with it. If you do, the recruiter will lose interest in you fairly quickly, and you'll be free to negotiate your own package.
8. We won't disclose how many searches we're conducting right now.
Recruiters are great at multi-tasking and, with computer support, are able to handle a substantial number of searches simultaneously. However, they don't want to scare you off with the truth. [Either too many or too few searches] So you'll blissfully think that the recruiter will have time for your questions and be happy to take your calls or answer your emails.....NOT!
9. Send us your resume at your own risk. We'll likely be sending it to a number of companies as a trial balloon.
Your resume is a confidential document and must be treated as such. If the recruiter doesn't provide a written confidentiality statement for you, insist, in writing, that your resume must be treated as confidential. Also, indicate that your resume may not be sent to any company without your permission in advance. Protect yourself at all times!
10. We may request a listing of your top ten target companies and harm your chances of ever connecting with them during your search.
This is a technique that's used on the unsuspecting to save time and lessen the recruiters work. Unfortunately if you comply and provide a list of target companies, the likelihood of you making a connection with your top companies is now remote at best. The recruiter will have tainted the water by the time you come along to drink from the well.
Comments welcomed....
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Taking Charge After A Job Loss
Your Initial Challenge: dealing with disorientation
When interviewed on Larry King Live on CNN, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher was asked what she missed most after leaving her government position. Did she miss power, influence, control? No, she answered with one word – “structure”. Larry King followed up and asked Lady Thatcher what she meant by that. She answered that her life before the sudden transition from government had been completely organized. Her activities were planned to the last detail. Ministers and aids scheduled her days. Her’s was a 24/7 job.
When former President Bill Clinton left office, he too experienced a similar sense of disorientation and loss of structure. Both these individuals re-organized their lives through the discipline of writing their autobiography. Over time each re-structured her/his time and life. Both Lady Thatcher and former President Clinton were faced with a significant transition in their lives, and both dealt with change in a positive way.
Handling your transition successfully
When a job loss occurs, we are literally thrown into a transition mode. Individuals react to transitions in a various ways…denial, anger, frustration, relief, acceptance. We recognize that an employment relationship has ended, and we’re uncertain about our next steps. We’re often disoriented and distracted…unfocused and confused. We tend to seek refuge in comforting places and things…and avoid thinking about what just happen. As a result, some of us begin to drift, lose focus and energy, and get down on ourselves. Others get energized through exercise, hobbies, daily rounds of golf, travel…anything except looking for that next job. People, by nature, are great at avoiding unpleasant situations and tasks. And job search ranks high on the list of activities to be avoided.
Taking charge of your life
After a job loss happens, we ask you to think of this moment as an opportunity to reassess your direction, your contributions, performance and career. Think of your separation from the usual work routine as a special gift of time. You’ve worked diligently everyday for 8, 10, 12 or more hours, plus commuting time, and now those hours have been returned to you. How will you react to this gift of time? Will you say, “woe is me” or will you take charge of your time and your life. You now have an opportunity to re-structure your time and begin a focused, well-organized job search.
A practical approach to organizing your job search
If you find yourself struggling with managing your time during a job search, you’re not alone. The good news is that it’s possible to re-gain direction and considerable control in your life by taking a few simple but effective steps. Here’s what we’d suggest:
1. Buy and use a calendar [day-timer or contact management software]
2. Allocate your search time appropriately over a 30-40 hour week
3. Limit your use of the Internet each day
4. Devote the bulk of your time to getting out and connecting with people
5. Prepare a list of people you know.
6. Prioritize your list
7. Allocate time every day to connect with those people
8. Make a list of target companies for which you’d like to work
9. Network into those companies through your people contacts.
10. Choose a date certain by which you will be re-employed
How do people usually look for work?
Actually the question should be phrased, which are the most effect ways people use to find new employment opportunities. Most of us become bogged down in responding to newspaper ads and Internet postings. We especially rely on recruiters or other passive resources to “ find” a job for us. Unfortunately we tend to over look the most obvious sources of job leads….family, relatives, friends, former co-workers. In other words, people we know who could provide information and guidance that would lead to increased visibility in the job market and get us considered for possible opportunities.
“Strangers don’t get hired.”
The most effective way of finding a new job is still networking. Somewhere between 75% and 90% of employment opportunities are still found through connecting with people and getting yourself known. Targeted networking, when done well, will help you become known…a “friend”, so to speak. You’ll develop significant new relationships with people who can offer information, advice, and guidance relative to your career choice or job search. In essence, you’ll come to a new organization “pre-qualified” and will likely be able to skip the usual preliminary screening interviews. This will enable you to leapfrog over the competition directly to the hiring manager.
Putting it all together
Recognizing that the most effective way to move a job search forward is through networking with people and understanding that time is your primary resource, it’s essential to ask yourself how will you effectively organize your time to your advantage. We’ve found that allocating your time each week into compartments or sections can be an effective way to manage your time.
A workable timeline
Some time each week should be assigned to schedule planning, Internet research, networking, advisory meetings, interviews, and follow up activities. Also leave sufficient time for personal renewal and family. Our clients have found that planning the coming week’s activities on Sunday evening seems to work well for them.
Your new workweek
Mondays should be devoted to responding to Internet postings and researching people and companies. Networking telephone calls begin in earnest on Tuesday and continue through the balance of the week. Also networking lunches and breakfasts, advisory meetings and connections are usually planned for Tuesday through Friday. Interviews may develop at any time, but always schedule them according to your own schedule. Some time each day should be designated for research and Internet surfing, but don’t get trapped into spending more than about 10 % of your time in Internet searches. Since the majority of jobs are found through networking, that’s where the bulk of your time needs to be spent.
Contact management
Also, we strongly recommend you use your personal organizer to keep track of your appointments, your telephone calls and your next steps. You’ll need to have contact information at your finger tips [names, company names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses] as well as information on when you called or emailed, the purpose of the contact, the status of each contact and when you’ll follow up with the individual. Your contact management efforts are time consuming but extremely important to the success of your search.
In conclusion…
A disorganized job search effort will result in a less than successful search. Considerably more time, your greatest and most precious resource, will be spent on search activities when one fails to manage time or to organize a search effectively.
When interviewed on Larry King Live on CNN, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher was asked what she missed most after leaving her government position. Did she miss power, influence, control? No, she answered with one word – “structure”. Larry King followed up and asked Lady Thatcher what she meant by that. She answered that her life before the sudden transition from government had been completely organized. Her activities were planned to the last detail. Ministers and aids scheduled her days. Her’s was a 24/7 job.
When former President Bill Clinton left office, he too experienced a similar sense of disorientation and loss of structure. Both these individuals re-organized their lives through the discipline of writing their autobiography. Over time each re-structured her/his time and life. Both Lady Thatcher and former President Clinton were faced with a significant transition in their lives, and both dealt with change in a positive way.
Handling your transition successfully
Taking charge of your life
After a job loss happens, we ask you to think of this moment as an opportunity to reassess your direction, your contributions, performance and career. Think of your separation from the usual work routine as a special gift of time. You’ve worked diligently everyday for 8, 10, 12 or more hours, plus commuting time, and now those hours have been returned to you. How will you react to this gift of time? Will you say, “woe is me” or will you take charge of your time and your life. You now have an opportunity to re-structure your time and begin a focused, well-organized job search.
A practical approach to organizing your job search
If you find yourself struggling with managing your time during a job search, you’re not alone. The good news is that it’s possible to re-gain direction and considerable control in your life by taking a few simple but effective steps. Here’s what we’d suggest:
1. Buy and use a calendar [day-timer or contact management software]
2. Allocate your search time appropriately over a 30-40 hour week
3. Limit your use of the Internet each day
4. Devote the bulk of your time to getting out and connecting with people
5. Prepare a list of people you know.
6. Prioritize your list
7. Allocate time every day to connect with those people
8. Make a list of target companies for which you’d like to work
9. Network into those companies through your people contacts.
10. Choose a date certain by which you will be re-employed
How do people usually look for work?
Actually the question should be phrased, which are the most effect ways people use to find new employment opportunities. Most of us become bogged down in responding to newspaper ads and Internet postings. We especially rely on recruiters or other passive resources to “ find” a job for us. Unfortunately we tend to over look the most obvious sources of job leads….family, relatives, friends, former co-workers. In other words, people we know who could provide information and guidance that would lead to increased visibility in the job market and get us considered for possible opportunities.
“Strangers don’t get hired.”
The most effective way of finding a new job is still networking. Somewhere between 75% and 90% of employment opportunities are still found through connecting with people and getting yourself known. Targeted networking, when done well, will help you become known…a “friend”, so to speak. You’ll develop significant new relationships with people who can offer information, advice, and guidance relative to your career choice or job search. In essence, you’ll come to a new organization “pre-qualified” and will likely be able to skip the usual preliminary screening interviews. This will enable you to leapfrog over the competition directly to the hiring manager.
Putting it all together
Recognizing that the most effective way to move a job search forward is through networking with people and understanding that time is your primary resource, it’s essential to ask yourself how will you effectively organize your time to your advantage. We’ve found that allocating your time each week into compartments or sections can be an effective way to manage your time.
A workable timeline
Some time each week should be assigned to schedule planning, Internet research, networking, advisory meetings, interviews, and follow up activities. Also leave sufficient time for personal renewal and family. Our clients have found that planning the coming week’s activities on Sunday evening seems to work well for them.
Your new workweek
Mondays should be devoted to responding to Internet postings and researching people and companies. Networking telephone calls begin in earnest on Tuesday and continue through the balance of the week. Also networking lunches and breakfasts, advisory meetings and connections are usually planned for Tuesday through Friday. Interviews may develop at any time, but always schedule them according to your own schedule. Some time each day should be designated for research and Internet surfing, but don’t get trapped into spending more than about 10 % of your time in Internet searches. Since the majority of jobs are found through networking, that’s where the bulk of your time needs to be spent.
Contact management
Also, we strongly recommend you use your personal organizer to keep track of your appointments, your telephone calls and your next steps. You’ll need to have contact information at your finger tips [names, company names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses] as well as information on when you called or emailed, the purpose of the contact, the status of each contact and when you’ll follow up with the individual. Your contact management efforts are time consuming but extremely important to the success of your search.
In conclusion…
A disorganized job search effort will result in a less than successful search. Considerably more time, your greatest and most precious resource, will be spent on search activities when one fails to manage time or to organize a search effectively.
If we feel ourselves drifting through the search process or if we seem unable to get started with a search, it’s time to focus on a few small steps to get you headed in the right direction. In essence, we urge you to create your own new structure, organize your “gift” of time to suit your new schedule and circumstances. Since time is of the essence, make the most of it and re-direct yourself toward the next phase of your career.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Your Career, Your Life
A practical approach to making one of the biggest decisions in your life
Certainly one of the biggest decisions facing students, recent grads or even mid-career changers is a choice of a career. Some of us just stumble into a career, others are born into one, but most of us are faced with the daunting challenge of finding our way into a career. We are often perplexed with finding the right path and finding out how to make the “best” career decision for ourselves. In short, we may feel disoriented even though we’re well educated, have a degree from a fine institution of higher learning and are ready to take on the world.
So, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Some of us seem to know the answer to that classic question instinctively. At age six or seven some kids seem to instinctively “know” they want to become a doctor or an engineer. But most of us are clueless about career choice and how we’re going to get there. As that great American philosopher and former baseball player, Yogi Berra, once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else”.
Most people around the world concentrate on earning a living and survival. They don’t have the luxury of a long socialization period as we have in the US. They’re not troubled by career decisions. They perform work that’s available and they’re able to do. Simple but stultifying [certainly not a satisfying life style].
Those of us who are blessed to live in the US, for the most part, have an opportunity to make choices in our lives. The purchases we make, the debts we incur, the college we attend, where we vacation, where we live, how we live and many others are all examples of life choices. We obsess over quality of life issues, quality time concerns, managing stress, extreme makeovers and more. So naturally we’re overwhelmed with possibilities and multiple choices in our lives. Career decisions, therefore, just become another one of those many vexing options that present themselves in our lives.
Where am I going, and how am I going to get there?
Formulating career options usually begins in high school and continues into college years. We choose a college, we select a major subject and off we go! But to where? Graduation….that’s my goal. Get that degree, get those grades. Then on to graduate school. Great! How did I get here and where am I going. I’m not sure is, more often than not, the answer we hear.
A practical approach to making career decisions…
If you find yourself asking those questions, you’re not alone. The good news is that it’s possible to gain direction, a sense of purpose and meaning in your life by taking a few simple but powerful steps to gaining control over your choice of careers. How?
By asking focused questions, seeking advice and guidance, acting on your instincts and doing what you enjoy and are interested in.
Using the following proven approach to making contacts with people effectively can change your indecision into success. Through target marketing contacts, you’ll significantly improve your market knowledge, gain insights into the world of work and gain perspective upon which you can reasonably base career decisions.
So what’s the answer, oh Master?
Combining targeted networking techniques with your career decision-making process will result in significantly improved career choices.
Defining terms
Targeted networking is a focused communication activity that, when used effectively, utilizes people contacts to gain information about potential careers, industries, companies, jobs and people.
Networking is also a self-marketing technique that centers on developing relationships and sharing information. It’s not a series of one-way communications; rather it’s a dialogue, a sharing of insights, information, referrals, and leads. Targeted networking is powerful tool as well as a critical career/life skill that everyone should develop and dedicate themselves to over the course of their lifetimes.
Specifically…
Targeted networking is an art that enables an individual to:
o Build effective contacts and relationships
o Get answers to questions about careers
o Acquire relevant information to help make informed career decisions
o Help avoid making poor career decisions
o Gain personal visibility
So…what’s in it for me? Why should I network?
Well, you don’t have to network, but you may regret not connecting with people who can influence and guide you in career choices, support you with your decision making and position you for employment opportunities you never dreamed of. So what do you have to lose? Try it, you might like it!
Certainly one of the biggest decisions facing students, recent grads or even mid-career changers is a choice of a career. Some of us just stumble into a career, others are born into one, but most of us are faced with the daunting challenge of finding our way into a career. We are often perplexed with finding the right path and finding out how to make the “best” career decision for ourselves. In short, we may feel disoriented even though we’re well educated, have a degree from a fine institution of higher learning and are ready to take on the world.
So, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Some of us seem to know the answer to that classic question instinctively. At age six or seven some kids seem to instinctively “know” they want to become a doctor or an engineer. But most of us are clueless about career choice and how we’re going to get there. As that great American philosopher and former baseball player, Yogi Berra, once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else”.
Most people around the world concentrate on earning a living and survival. They don’t have the luxury of a long socialization period as we have in the US. They’re not troubled by career decisions. They perform work that’s available and they’re able to do. Simple but stultifying [certainly not a satisfying life style].
Those of us who are blessed to live in the US, for the most part, have an opportunity to make choices in our lives. The purchases we make, the debts we incur, the college we attend, where we vacation, where we live, how we live and many others are all examples of life choices. We obsess over quality of life issues, quality time concerns, managing stress, extreme makeovers and more. So naturally we’re overwhelmed with possibilities and multiple choices in our lives. Career decisions, therefore, just become another one of those many vexing options that present themselves in our lives.
Where am I going, and how am I going to get there?
Formulating career options usually begins in high school and continues into college years. We choose a college, we select a major subject and off we go! But to where? Graduation….that’s my goal. Get that degree, get those grades. Then on to graduate school. Great! How did I get here and where am I going. I’m not sure is, more often than not, the answer we hear.
A practical approach to making career decisions…
If you find yourself asking those questions, you’re not alone. The good news is that it’s possible to gain direction, a sense of purpose and meaning in your life by taking a few simple but powerful steps to gaining control over your choice of careers. How?
By asking focused questions, seeking advice and guidance, acting on your instincts and doing what you enjoy and are interested in.
Using the following proven approach to making contacts with people effectively can change your indecision into success. Through target marketing contacts, you’ll significantly improve your market knowledge, gain insights into the world of work and gain perspective upon which you can reasonably base career decisions.
So what’s the answer, oh Master?
Combining targeted networking techniques with your career decision-making process will result in significantly improved career choices.
Defining terms
Targeted networking is a focused communication activity that, when used effectively, utilizes people contacts to gain information about potential careers, industries, companies, jobs and people.
Networking is also a self-marketing technique that centers on developing relationships and sharing information. It’s not a series of one-way communications; rather it’s a dialogue, a sharing of insights, information, referrals, and leads. Targeted networking is powerful tool as well as a critical career/life skill that everyone should develop and dedicate themselves to over the course of their lifetimes.
Specifically…
Targeted networking is an art that enables an individual to:
o Build effective contacts and relationships
o Get answers to questions about careers
o Acquire relevant information to help make informed career decisions
o Help avoid making poor career decisions
o Gain personal visibility
So…what’s in it for me? Why should I network?
Well, you don’t have to network, but you may regret not connecting with people who can influence and guide you in career choices, support you with your decision making and position you for employment opportunities you never dreamed of. So what do you have to lose? Try it, you might like it!
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