Improve your chances of being found online

In today’s world of web 2.0, hiring managers and recruiters are spending more time using social media outlets to find talent.  Applying to ads online and posting your resume on the job boards may net you some interviews but what you really need to do is increase your chances of being found thru as many online channels as possible.  Not only will you be found more, but most managers will research your background online before deciding to even call you in for an interview.   What if they can’t find anything about you online?  What does that say about you?  Implement these strategies and you will increase your chances of being found online as well as improve your professional credibility.

Join the big three: Linkedin, Twitter & Facebook

It’s no secret that hiring managers and recruiters are using social media sites to find more talent.  Creating accounts on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook is essential to increasing your chances of being found online.  Creating profiles is only the start.  In order to truly make these tools work you need pay attention to the basics:

• Complete your profiles 100 %.  Include as many details about your professional experience and include every skill that would make you relevant for the type of work you are looking for.
• Connect to all of all of your contacts on Linkedin 
• Ask as many people as possible to write a reference for you on Linkedin.  Go beyond the 3 references that Linkedin suggests.  Include as many co-workers, previous and current managers, clients, even college professors or classmates.
• Follow anyone of importance on Twitter, especially people in your industry.
• Control the content on your Facebook account.  Nothing should be rated R or worse.  Potential hiring managers could view this. 

Get Active online:

One way to improve being found online is to be active in the social media community.  You need to think like a hiring manager or a recruiter.  If you want to be found you need to hang out where these people do on the web.  Become an active participant within your profession online and not only will you be found, you will gain more credibility within your industry.

• Join groups on Linkedin that are local to your city and industry or skill set.  You should also search for groups that are related to jobs and job search advice as well.
• Become fans of companies on Facebook, especially ones you would be interested in working at.
• Endorse people you know on Linkedin.  This is a great way to get your contacts to write a recommendation for you.

Start talking!

It isn't called social media for nothing.  The great thing about using social media is that everyone gets to share their ideas and opinions online.  You don’t have to wait for an interview to share things you know.  Get out there and speak your mind.  Communicating thru social media puts you in direct contact with other people who share your interests in your profession to include many hiring managers. 

• Join in group discussions on Linkedin.   Others in the group will read your commentswho and most likely check out your complete profile.  Don’t be afraid to start discussions as well.
• Comment on Facebook posts, especially industry related posts.
• Search for industry related blogs and make comments.
• Tweet about topics that would interest hiring managers in your profession to include exciting interviews you’ve been on, but keep company names confidential.

The more active you are online the more you increase your chances of being found by people who you would be interested in working with.  Creating an online presence does take some time up front, but once you’ve established yourself it’s really not time consuming at all.  Take a few moments at the beginning and end each day and you will be surprised how fast your presence will grow.  Be careful though, because every action you do online can and most likely will be viewed.  More to come on that topic later in the week.

Commuter discrimination: it's real!

Watch out if you are interviewing for a position that will appear to involve a long commute (anything over 1 hour & 15 minutes). Employers sometimes look at where you live and factor the length of your work commute into their decision. And many recruiters use a zip code radius or other geographic screening techniques to zero in on only candidates within a certain distance from the company.

While this is not necessarily a fair thing to do, it does happen. Here's what you can do about it...

Understand what goes through a hiring manager's mind...

• "This guy is going to have a hell of a commute. I don't want to deal with someone that will frequently be late because of traffic."
• "She'll have an hour and half commute. I don't want someone that is going to get burned out because of their long days and quit 6 months later to find something closer."
• "He says he doesn't mind a long commute. I don't believe him."
• "She'll have to take two different subway lines to get here. Her start time is going to very unpredictable."

Control the (mis)perception of your long commute

• Get in front of this. Bring it up first. Don't assume that because the manager didn't mention it, that they aren't thinking about it. They are. And most of the conclusions they are jumping to will end up being negative.
• Clarify what the commute will be. This shows that you researched this and have fully thought it through and that you know what you are getting into. You may also end up correcting the hiring manager's perception of how long the commute really is.
• Don't be unrealistic. Don't give best case scenario of what the shortest possible commuting time would be. The manager will feel like you are trying to cover this up or, worse, that you are in denial.
• Provide proof. Talk about other jobs (you held for a long period of time) that also involved a long commute. This will show that you are familiar with this routine and managed fine with it.
• Explain how you leverage this situation for work. If you take public transportation, talk about how you can use that hour long train ride to jump on your laptop or ipad and get some work done. Or if driving, that you can put your cell phone on hands-free and take care of important work calls.
• Highlight your mobility. If you are in a position to change your location and move, tell the hiring manager this. If they believe you would consider moving closer to the company if you got the job, they will be far more confident about hiring you.
• Omit location from your resume. If you live far away from the job, consider leaving your town/city off your resume and only introduce this information when it is absolutely required. This way, your perceived commute cannot factor into the resume screening stage and will only be raised during a phone or physical interview (in which case, you'll have a chance to discuss this).

This is a small point. But unfortunately, it can make a big impact on the hiring manager's decision to hire you. If you feel you may be subject to potential commute-discrimination, take control of the situation and prevent this from being an issue.

5 reasons not to accept a counteroffer

Congratulations!  You’ve accepted a new job, given notice to your manager and are a few days away from starting the next chapter in your career.  Then out of knowhere you get called into the VP’s office and she and your direct manager make you what seems to be an honest and sincere counteroffer, and now your starting to feel conflicted.  What should you do?  DON’T TAKE IT!!!  You may not be aware of this but the majority of people who resign get counteroffers.  Most of the people who end up taking counteroffers are no longer with that company 6 months later.  If you're thinking about accepting a counteroffer please consider these 5 reasons why you shouldn’t take it.  It will save you time and potentially save your career.

1. The corporate band aid.  Counteroffers are made to keep you around long enough to find your replacement.  How can they pay you more money now than before?  They can’t.  Companies have corporate budgets and they stick to them.  They may offer you a $5,000 dollar raise but that is only to keep you around while they find your replacement for less salary.  Do the math.  If they can find your replacement within the next 2 months they really only spent an extra $800 dollars and didn’t lose any downtime.
2. Trust factor.  Even though you accepted their counteroffer the company will always look at you as a potential flight risk.  If they ever need to downsize, your name will likely be on the top of that list.
3. Buyer’s remorse.  Your manager is likely to feel like he’s already overpaying for your skill set.  Because of this you’ve put yourself in an unfair situation come review time.  Since your manager probably expects more because of what they are paying you it’s unlikely you will get a fair review or a raise.
4. Alienation from co-workers.  The news that you were interviewing and unhappy will leak out to your peers and the other managers at your company.  Because of this other employees will interact with you differently.  Some people may feel if they associate with you the company will think they are looking as well.  Plus nobody wants a quitter on their team especially on a mission critical project.  You run the risk of not getting picked for any future high profile projects. 
5. Burning bridges.  If you leave your company professionally you won’t burn any bridges and will have great references for the future.  However, you will burn many bridges at the new company if you accept that counteroffer.  That company spent a lot of time interviewing and then stopped their hiring process when you accepted the job.  By accepting a counteroffer this company needs to start a new hiring process which could cost them months in lost productivity.  Burning that bridge could cost you in future job searches, which the odds makers say will be in about 6 months.

If you receive a counteroffer your first instinct needs to be to say no thanks.  It may seem like the safe route to take it because it is known verses unknown.  Think about why you were so excited about the new company.  Remember they are ready to give you everything you want in a job opportunity right from the start.  Your old company wasn’t able to accommodate you until you told them you were leaving.  In almost every case a company isn’t going to change their philosophies just because one employee gave notice. 

Help your recruiter help you to find a job

Most of you reading this have probably used a recruiter at some point in a job search and some might even be using one (or more) recruiters right now to help you find a job.  Lots of people have had positive results using a recruiter, others have had mixed results and unfortunately, some have had very poor results using recruiters.  Whatever your experiences have been, the case for using an effective recruter is strong. The first step is no doubt finding a good one! But past that, a successful job search will also require you to make it work.

Here are a few tips that you can use to actually help your recruiters help you get a job.

Work with recruiters that specialize in your profession:

Sounds pretty obvious right?  Well let's define "specialize".  For example, there is a big difference between someone who claims to specialize in technology recruiting and someone who only places .Net developers, or someone who claims they recruit in the finance and accounting fields, vs. some one who only places hedge fund traders.  The more specific the person is in their industry, the more they will understand about your background and understand the types of jobs you are interested in and qualified for.  These types of recruiters tend to know about jobs that are not advertised and typically have relationships with not only human resources, but also the hiring managers at the companies they are working with.  A lot of these "specialty recruiters" work directly with the hiring managers and can get you face to face interviews with the decision makers very quickly.  Think of it as VIP status for interviewing.

Work with recruiters that are local to your marketplace:

Work with recruiters that are local to the cities you are looking to work in.  This doesn't mean a recruiter from Seattle can't find you a job in Miami.  But, odds are that you are in better hands with a local resource.  Chances are that a local recruiter has met with the companies they will try and get you interviews with, and can provide you with helpful tips about the company's environment and the manager's background, or hot buttons he is looking for in his next hire. It's also highly likely that he or she will be able to meet you face to face and this will help your working relationship. Which brings me to this next point.

Suggest a face to face interview:

The reality is most recruiters recieve more resumes than you can possibly imagine.  The trick is to make sure you leave a positive lasting impression beyond a piece of paper.  The best way to do this is to meet the recruiters you are working with.  Not only will they remember you but they will know how serious you are in your job search.  In fact most recruiters work harder for those they meet than those they don't because they make a better connection that becomes more personal.  Just make sure you treat the meeting like an interview.  Don't treat this as a chore.  Interview to impress this person.  Don't complain about your job search or talk about how desperate you are (even if you are desperate).  It's your job to make sure everyone you talk to is impressed by what you have to offer including recruiters who are going to help you.

Think like a recruiter:

Do some homework for your recruiter.  Put together lists of companies you feel would be a good fit for your background, as well as a list of companies you would be interested in.  Recruiters will take that research and put it to work by trying to represent your background to those companies.

Understand that recruiters also have a reputation to protect in the marketplace.  The best recruiters out there get a lot of inquiries from candidates looking for a job.  I understand that it can be annoying or seem rude that they don't call you about jobs or return your calls.  Suggest a time once a week where the two of you can speak.  Beyond that let the recruiter know that you want full feedback from interviews and even resume submittals.  While it is true they are also at the mercy of the companies for feedback, some recruiters hold back on specifics because they don't want to hurt a candidates feelings (Yes! recruiters do have hearts).  Tell your recruiters that you can handle all feedback because you want to use that to get better.  And don't shoot the messenger! The last thing a recruiter wants to do is deliver bad news.  If you feel the feedback is inaccurate then offer some work samples that can prove your knowledge or skills.  Most recruiters will take your feedback and work samples to clarify a potential misunderstanding.  This could lead to a second interview and potential new job for you. 

Understand the relationship:

You are using them to help you get a job.  Recruiters will use you to try and fill the jobs they are working on.  Try not and take it personal if a recruiter doesn't call you back right away.  They most likely don't have any news for you and are putting their focus on trying to find opportunties for you and all the other candidates they are helping.  My first advise would be to not rely on one recruiter to get a job.  You should be searching for job opportunities and networking for connections, as well as using other recruiters to help you find a job.  In fact the more interviews you get the more marketable you start to become.  These relationships should be a 2 way street and should grow stronger based on each others ability to help each other out.  When a recruiter delivers interviews for you they should be able to provide you with valuable information that can help in the interviews.  Likewise you need to do your best to prepare and present yourself to the best of your abilities everytime a recruiter gets you an interview.  

So there you have it.  Working successfully with recruiters comes down to first finding a good one, and then putting your best foot forward to help that recruiter help you.  Like Jerry Maguire said to Rod Tidwell, "help me...help you!!!"

Spamming Your Resume = Desperate

I recently received an email from someone forwarding his resume along with the one line message "I'd like to interview with your company." My first thought was "Hey, that's flattering. He wants to interview with us. Maybe I should check out his resume!" But before I got a chance to do this, I noticed that he had sent this same email to 60 other people at the same time. Yeeaaa...maybe not. 

Seriously....what was this guy thinking?

I realize the job market is tough for some people. But blindly spamming your resume to hundreds of people with some catch all message is an absolutely awful idea. Can you imagine if a woman looking for a relationship sent her picture and profile out to 80 guys with the simple line "I'd like to go on a date with you?".  Well...actually, that's a bad example. She'd probably get a good response. My point is that you won't.

Here's the harsh truth of what this action says about you to a potential employer:

• "I believe spamming is a good thing. So much so that I even do it myself!"
• "I don't care what kind of job it is, I'll take anything I can get."
• "I'm just too damn lazy to send separate, customized emails out."
• "As you can see, I'm totally desperate. If you're interested in hiring me, I'll take the lowest offer you'll make me."
• "Hey, I'm the kind of guy who believes that if you throw enough stuff on the wall, something is bound to stick."
• "I've tried every other way to get a job...this is my last resort."

OK..I'm done venting. Now let me be a bit more helpful by making some suggestions on how you can market yourself the RIGHT way (and avoid coming off as being overly desperate).

Marketing your resume

1. Research your target: I know...this is a lot of work. But it will pay off. Put together an excel spreadsheet of local company names that hire for your skill set. This should be easy to research. Just do a relevant search on the job boards for the last 12 months so that you pull back current as well as past openings. Remember, we are looking to target people who hire for your skill set, not solely jobs that are open right now. Next add in contacts and notes on what type of people they hire for. Try to get about 20-30 names compiled. If you don't have a contact name, you can go on LinkedIn and research this to target the right person. The company website may even list department heads for you. 
2. Customize your emails: DON'T DO MASS EMAILS!!! Send separate emails out to each contact. To make this less of a chore, create a customizable template that thoughtfully introduces yourself, describes your core competencies (don't bank on the fact that they will open your resume) and asks them who you can follow up with to inquire about employment at their company. 
3. Go public: Most recruiters will use data mining to find resumes on the web. Is yours fully accessible or is just stuck on your desktop at home? Attach it to your blog, professional networking page or register it with a resume database. You can also "tweet" your resume or even provide it as a link to any article you publish or work-related publication you were involved in. Just remember that it needs to be attached to a public page on a website in order for a search engine to find it.
4. Keyload your resume: Now you need to help people find your self-published resume. First, figure out what type of keywords are most common for your skill set and make sure your resume is chock full of them. Best practices for SEO suggest that you should have 3-7% of your resume content be primary keywords. Use a site like www.textalyser.com to evaluate the lexical and phrasal make up of your resume. You might notice by analyzing your resume that your top skill is not listed very much. And you'll need to correct for this.

Sorry to offend those who make a habit of spamming their resume out (especially the guy who emailed me this morning!). But it's important people know that they will shoot themselves in the foot with this approach and that there are far better ways to get the word out on your background.

Keeping your job search confidential

You've decided it's time to look for a new job but you don’t want your current company finding out.  No problem.  You don't need to be a trained secret agent to conduct a confidential job search but you need to think like one so you don't blow your cover. 

Here are some tips you'll want to be aware of while you are running a confidential search and building a profile on any of the major job boards:

• Create a new email address to use for your confidential search.  This way your email won't have your name or your company name in it.
• Don't make your name or address available on online profiles.  Same goes for your resume if attached.  Some people create a confidential profile but forget to take their name off their resume.
• Be aware of confidential postings.  You never know if the job you are appyling to is your own company.
• Edit your company name on your resume (this is the most common search term used to try and find people that are looking to leave. Instead of saying the company name, describe the company "Fortune 100 Financial Company" , "Top Management Consulting Firm" , "Major Online Retail Company" ).
• Make sure that the rest of your resume provides as much detail as possible. Sometimes the anonymity of a confidential profile can be a turn off to employers. So try and humanize yourself through all the other categories of information you can provide to offset what you have concealed.
• Always alert your recruiter. Most recruiters will actively "market" your background to prospective clients. If you don't want the word out on the street that you are looking, ask them to not use your name or company when pitching your background and to only disclose these details if there is bona fide interest in an interview.  You should also request they don't blindly send your resume to companies without your permission.
• Always provide references upon request and do not offer them upfront. One phone call and they will get all the details they need on who you are.

When applying directly to a company you should feel comforatable to reveal your personal information since your resume and application will be kept in a private database.  But there are still a few things to pay attention so you don't blow your cover.

• Always supply your home number or cell phone.  Do not give out your work phone or you will put yourself at risk of answering a recruiting call in front or your boss or work team.
• Never search for jobs while at work.  Likewise, never use your work email even when applying directly to companies.  We all leave our email up on our computer and you never know when someone might walk over to your desk and catch a glimpse of your inbox or what you are browsing online.

Follow these steps and you should be able to conduct a successful confidential job search.  What other tips have people used?  Anyone ever had there cover blown?  How did you handle it?

Managing unemployment gaps on the resume

Gaps that don't get addressed on the resume will turn into "black holes" if you are not careful. If you have any extended periods of time when you were unemployed, control the perception of this with honest explanations.

Large unemployment gaps of any more than 6 months are going to raise a concern. Unfortunately, documenting the reason for the gap on the resume itself isn't such a good idea. But you do want to have an explanation ready if you get to a phone or in-person interview.

Here's how to manage this situation when speaking with a potential employer:

Be proactive in bringing up your unemployment gaps

Bring this explanation up whether you are asked about it or not during the interview. If you don't, most hiring managers will jump to their own conclusions (most of which will not reflect well on you).

• They assume you were having a hard time finding a job and that no one wants to hire you.
• They assume you were lazy and not looking very hard to find a new job.
• They assume you were being too picky up taking a new job.

Keep in mind that you are interviewing with a human being (who may have been in this very same position at some point during their own career). Most managers will completely understand  the underlying circumstances to why you may have been out of work for an extended period of time.  If you aren't defensive or insecure about it and can get in front of it, you can prevent the "sad sack" stigma from forming.

Don't use a poor job market as your sole excuse for being unemployed

Don't use the last recession as a "catch all" excuse. First of all, in some industries, the job market has improved and this condition doesn't really apply any longer. Secondly, it sounds really whiney. A tough economic climate certainly factors into the equation. But make sure to provide a more detailed explanation and context for why you've been out of work. Reference the tough economy, sure. But also be clear about any of the other factors involved in your time off work:

• Being selective (taking time to find the "right" story and not just jumping at the first offer you get)
• Relocating (taking time to relocate family due to a partner's need to move for their career)
• Caring for family  (taking time off to care full-time for a loved one)
• Medical issue (taking time off to recover from a pregnancy, serious injury or illness)
• Personal goals (taking time to climb Mt. Everest, go on an African safari, visit family overseas)
• Educational goals (taking time off to attend full time classes or an important certification program)

Don't be tricky about employment dates

By all means, don't try and obscure the facts by using only a year (without a month) in your dates of employment in hopes that they won't know when the actual dates began/ended. It's completely obvious what you are doing. And if they are interested in you, they are eventually going to ask and find out that you were laid off in January of that year. So putting down that you worked there through "2010" makes you look a little shady. 

Just be honest about your unemployment gap

Yes, even in the instance where you got laid off and took advantage of that situation to take 2 months off to ride cross country on your Harley with your best friend. And, hey, if your explanation is less interesting than this and the fact of the matter is that you left or lost your job and just couldn't get another one for a long time, tell them that too. Just make sure to explain that the reason it took so long is that you wanted to take your time and make the right decision and didn't want to just jump into the very next thing that presented itself. At least this way, you can come off as being somewhat selective and focused on the big picture.

Remember too that in being honest, you will humanize yourself and demonstrate some good qualities:

• Loyalty (to care for your family)
• Teamwork (in relocating for your spouse)
• Personal ambition (to be brave enough to pursue a life goal)
• Integrity (to not just take the first job you get offered, but really hold out for the right fit) 

Highlight any job or industry related exposure you had

Make sure to highlight any training you took, networking events you attended or any small project work you did that relates to this role. If you can explain that this hole wasn't a complete wash and that you haven't been "out of touch" from the industry, this will help.  

Bottom line, the manager just wants the truth. Provide a sufficient explanation for why you were unemployed (without getting into the hairy details) and speak about this briefly and comfortably. Remember, a contrived and spun version of why you've been out of work will come across as just that. And most importantly, deal with this the right way and quickly shift the emphasis off your unemployment gap and onto your applicable work experience!

Will admit...a time & place for video resumes

Read my prior post on why I caution against using video resumes. Anyone trying to convince you that a full video version of your resume will help you stand out from the crowd has likely never actually been a recruiter (and probabaly also runs a website that promotes video resumes!).

But now you're going to hear me talk about how video can actually be somewhat useful. I don't want to come off as flip-floppy...so let me be clear. I DON'T believe in full video resumes as a substitute for a traditional resume application but I DO beleive some portions of video can be leveraged as a supplimental sales tool if you use it for the right sections of information.

Consider using video for only certain "key" parts of your background. This will animate and humanize the facts and also let the screener elect to view this if they want to (as opposed to forcing them to watch this if a video resume is all you provide).  You can easily attach a video file to any traditional word resume for areas you'd like to emphasize with this alternative medium. The key is to pick areas of your background that are "meaningful" and will benefit from being communicated on a more personal level.

Here are a few examples of where video can help:

Video a demonstration

Let's say you were a key architect in developing a new product or solution. Doesn't matter if this is a physical product, an online product or service product. If you developed it, a video of you discussing this is a great idea. It's a super opportunity to show off your enthusiasm for the concept and your level of expertise in developing it. Your video could be you using the product physically, touring the features of it online or even drawing a schematic on a whiteboard and walking through how it works. 

Video an excerpt from your job history

Everyone has that one "great" moment in their work history. This could be the largest implementation you've ever done, a project that saved the company $X dollars, a watershed product breakthrough or your highest sales performance. This accomplishment is something you could video yourself talking about. Lead off by saying "I'd like to take the opportunity to briefly tell you about one of my accomplishments at work that I'm most proud of..."

Video your objective

This is another great area to video. Reading a cliche objective is boring. In fact, I tend to advise people to blow this off altogether and save the valuable space on their resume for more important things. However, if you personalize this message with video and use this short clip to communicate your passion for the industry, commitment to your work and strong drive and ambition, then this could be a slam dunk idea. Just be careful not to be so specific that you shoot yourself in the foot with what you say. Keep your statement clear and sincere. Read this great post on crafting objectives here. I'd probably say something like "My career objectives are simple...work hard, be part of a stellar team and accomplish something meaningful and important for the company. Job titles, responsibilities, salary, hours are all important. But finding a company and culture that gets me excited to come to work everyday is my main objective."

Video any human interest stuff

Do you have a video clip of you finishing a marathon, doing stand up comedy (provided it's clean!), speaking at a seminar, being interviewed by a local news station because you ran into a burning house to save your neighbor's cat? Then under "personal interests", attach this. Just make sure to only include video clips that communicate POSITIVE and RESPECTFUL qualities that an employer would be interested in (in other words, leave out the clip of you banging out Bon Jovi at the karaoke bar). And even though these are important moments that define who you are, I'd also stay away form attaching anything too personal (ex: fishing with your son, your wedding vows).

So bottom line here...I'll admit that a little bit of video works if done well. Just pick the right things to emphasize, make sure to present yourself as well as possible and keep things brief and to the point. Also, always show your video first to a trusted friend to get their opinion as to whether or not it is worthy of attaching to your resume. Only include this if you are certain it will help you attract employers!