Category Archives: Uncategorized

There has been a recurring theme in interviews this week.  People are looking for jobs for the rest of their lives.  “I just want somewhere I can settle in and work until retirement”.

Guess what?

Employers don’t care about that.  They want to know what you are going to do for them, not what you want them to do for you.

There is no problem with wanting stability and a place to grow and develop.  But keep that to yourself.  When a hiring manager hears the word stability, they jump right to complacency and obligation.

You want to describe what you bring to the role, your energy, your desire.  That’s what they are interested in.

It is fine for stability to be on your list of job criteria but when you are interviewing with a name brand company and you are asked why you want to work there, stability is not the best answer.  You want to talk about their top ranking, out pacing the competition, innovative facilities.  That’s the good stuff.

You might even want to re-calibrate your definition of stability.  If you have just finished at a high growth company or an organization going through big changes, starting at a “stable” company may be the worst thing for you.  When you are still on-boarding four weeks in, you might be ready to poke your eyes out with a fork.

So think carefully about what you are really looking for in your next role.  Then think equally carefully about the things that make you so well suited to that role.  That list is interview gold.

There was really good post on LinkedIn this week by Laszlo Bock, one of the VP’s at Google.  You can read it here. He said that the way to make your resume stand out from the rest is to quantify your successes.  He had some solid examples that really illustrated how powerful this is.  He did not point out how hard it is to do.

It’s easy if you have a job that is measured in numbers.  If you are in sales, for example, you can point to year over year growth or an increase in new customers.

It’s trickier if you are in Human Resources or Graphic Design.

It’s not really harder; you just have to think of your activities in a different way.  Mr. Bock works with engineers and as a rule; they are pretty quick to “run some numbers up the flagpole”.  Those of us, who are firmly rooted in art or words, have to think a little more.

Here is the process:

• Think of activity or responsibly you want to describe.
• Start with an action word.
• Decide what part you want to get specific about: the quantity or the speed
• Can you find statistics within your industry or company or work group to figure out where you rank? Can you say you were in top percent or top ten?
• If you are not at the top of the pile, did you improve from the last quarter or year? That makes a good story too.

The idea is go from soft gooey statements to factual phrases that make the reader understand that you know what you are doing and can demonstrate it in a concrete way.

Compare these statements:

Went above and beyond to support my team and its deliverables.

Stayed late one night each week to process incoming tasks enabling my team to complete 100% of our projects before the deadline.  This had never been done before.

It’s better isn’t it?

This really is a good exercise.  Identifying your success in such a specific way will not only make your resume better.  It will also give you stronger examples to use in an interview.  Definitely a win win situation.  Thanks Laszlo!

Panel interviews can be pretty intimidating.  The upside is that you get to see a group of your potential colleagues in action.  It is also an efficient way to move the interview process along.

When are you booking the time and place, try to find out who will be on the panel and what they do. It will give you some insight into their point of view.

Ask if there are any standard questions or scenarios you should be prepared to discuss.  This might be classified but it does not hurt to ask.

Get your examples ready.  Think about the things you have accomplished that will resonate with the group.  You don’t want to be groping in the back corners of your mind when someone says “Tell me about a time when you rescued a failing project.”

Prepare three or four questions for the panel.  Write them down.  Take them with you.

Plan to arrive early so you can settle down and stop sweating before the interview begins.  You can loaf around the corner or in a coffee shop.

Warm up your voice.  Either call a friend or find something catchy on your iPod.  You want to arrive at reception with a voice that is strong, clear not a phlegmy mess.

Use a solid handshake to greet each of the interviewers.  Jot down their names (on the page with your questions).  That way you can refer to them by name during the conversation.

Make eye contact and look for signs of comprehension and connection with each panel member. Don’t just focus on the person who asked the question.  You want them all to be roped in to your compelling story.

When you leave, shake hands again.  Make sure to let them know that you enjoyed talking with them and that you appreciate their time.

Take a few minutes to jot down your thoughts and feelings about the meeting.  You want to be able to refer to them later on.

Now you can just sit back and wait for the feedback.  I am sure it will be great!

You need to have a fresh and up to date resume ready at all times. This is an essential part of career management. Even if you are thrilled and satisfied at your job, your resume should be current.

It is a bit like a business card. You would never go to a meeting with an old business card, would you?

If you only work on your resume when you feel like your job is not working out, those negative vibes will show through. Updating it when you have just finished a big project or hit a milestone will have a far more positive tone.

Top Five Tips

• Use a clear font that’s not too fancy. Fancy fonts get mangled by resume reading software.
• Give us a brief idea of what your company does and how big it is. We need to understand the scope and scale of where you did what you did.
• Try to keep each role or position to three or four bullet points. If you have been in a position for a long time, break the bullets into categories with subheadings.
• Put the year that you graduated. Hiding it does you a disservice. We are going to figure it out anyway.
• When you think you are finished, read it backwards. This is the best way I know to find spelling or grammar mistakes.
• Keep the current version in a cloud drive (Google docs, Dropbox) so that it’s accessible anytime.

So, get out your resume and get to work. Be prepared for it to take a couple of sessions to whip it into shape. It’s a bit like going to gym. A bit of a pain in the neck, but totally worth it when you are done.

We all know that lying on your resume is wrong.  Employers use all kinds of services to verify things like education and employment so don’t even think about making that stuff up.

Lying about your age falls into the same category.  Leaving off experience so that your age is not obvious is not going to work. Employers are going to know that you did not start out as a supervisor.  No one does.  That will just make them wonder what else you left off.

We see resumes with no graduation date all the time.  Trust me. We are going to do the math anyway.

Here is the biggest problem with age-evasion: even if we do get sucked into believing what you want us to believe, when you show up for an interview, it is going to fall apart.

Watching someone’s smile disappear at the beginning of a conversation is not the best way to start.  In fact, it’s pretty hard to recover from that.

Your resume should tell your story.  It should be crisp and give a clear picture of your path and your success.  You can certainly summarize the parts that are less relevant or that are early in your career but don’t leave them off all together.

It’s like a big dating game.  Hiring managers are looking for potential employees who fit their needs.  Experience, education, achievements and salary all have to align to get to the next step.

If you leave out entire chapters of your career, how can we help you find the right match?

If you are like most people, you have not taken a look at your LinkedIn profile for a while.  There is a reason for this:  we are too busy looking at other people’s profiles.

Think of it as getting ready for fall, just like you used to buy fresh pencils and binders.  Set aside 20 minutes this week to hit the edit button and take stock of what the world is seeing.

Let’s start from the top:

Does your picture still resemble you?  If it features your grade eight up-door it’s a badly lit selfi, it’s time for a fresh one.

Do you have a new title or responsibilities?  Let people know – you will be amazed at the messages that roll in after you do a job or title change.

Any new courses or certificates?  Those really add credibility to your experience.  If you put the time and effort in to learning something new, it should be reflected in your profile.

Are you doing any new volunteer activities?  They can be work-based or community-based.  It all counts.

Remember you are doing this so people can find you and learn more about you.  And not just recruiters like me (although it’s good for us to find you) but also peers, neighbours, and anyone else who might benefit from what you know.

In large companies, people don’t use the company directory to find out about their fellow employees, they go to LinkedIn to get the whole story, not just what’s in the directory.

So keep it fresh and real.  You never know who will land in your inbox!

Now that the bitter winds of winter are a distant memory and patio season is here, the temptations are everywhere.

• One Dilly bar or two
• Patio or office
• Golf course or sales calls
• Comfy shirt or pressed blouse
• Resume or romance novel

Don’t get sucked into thinking that hiring stops for the summer.  It doesn’t. Sure it might take longer if decision makers are away on vacation but the hiring process carries on.

In fact, networking can be even more powerful now. When you call someone and invite them for lunch, they are more likely to be free and willing to get out of the office for a while.

Meeting folks while at the cottage or on a stay cation is pretty easy too. The last time I was at a resort in cottage country, I made it my goal to meet one new person each day. I came home with three new connections and a business lead. Awesome.

You can do some surfing to find industry events and conferences taking place in the fall. Beat the rush and get approval now. You will look pretty motivated and forward thinking in the process.

But most of all, pay attention. Check out postings and take calls from recruiters. At the very least, you will know what’s going on in the marketplace.

You might find that  LinkedIn and  Prosecco make a great pair. But only one….. Drunk job apps are about as effective as drunk dialling – no way to start a relationship.

I overheard two women talking on the train this morning.  They had bumped into each other and were catching up.  One of the women said that she had been with her firm for 24 years.  The other asked if she still liked it.  “Well, not really but I don’t really like change.” was the response.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Just as you watch out for opportunities for your friends and partner, keep an eye out for things you should do or try.  24 years in a single company is okay if you have changed roles and responsibilities but 24 years in one role will be a problem if that ever role ends.

I talk with lots of candidates who are terribly intimidated by the job search process.  If you have not looked for a job for a long time, it can be pretty hard to get your head around where to start, let alone networking or interviewing.

Career management is like going to the gym.  Let’s face it:  no one wants to go to the gym, but you feel a lot better after you do.  Twenty minutes three times a week will pay big dividends.  You can spend 20 minutes updating your resume, trolling LinkedIn for new connection or looking at postings.

Don’t get complacent about your career.  You spend more time at work than you do anywhere else.  You should feel like it is the best place for you and your skills and if it’s not, than get started on your “career workout” plan.

This morning was a bit of a slow start for me.  I needed some warm up tasks to get into the real work of the day so I spent a few minutes touring around Facebook while I sipped my coffee.

I came across this video (http://youtu.be/tDlRHUdn7wQ and was blown away.  Clark Little is a professional photographer.  His speciality is shooting the inside of waves.  When the enormous breakers come crashing down on a tropical beach, he is likely to be under the thing taking pictures.

The images are breathtaking and it was a neat find this morning but as I thought about it further, I thought about it as a career choice.  He did not wake up as a four year old dreaming of this.  He kind of stumbled in to it as a teenager and grew along with it.

I bet wave photographer was not on his parents’ minds either.  Imagine that dinner table conversation.  “Sorry, dear.  You want to do what when you grow up?”

But clearly, his family and friends provided support to him along the journey even thought they could not predict with certainty that he would be successful enough to earn a living.

I think we owe this to our kids, nephews, nieces and friends.  There are lots of career choices that we cannot imagine – either because they have not been invented or because our experience is just too narrow.

We need to stop being discouraging and get on the cheerleading bandwagon.  Clark Little is proof that careers can be created and develop into a successful and satisfying living in a very short period of time.

I was trying to coordinate an interview with a candidate and it was getting difficult because she was travelling and I was up to my eyeballs in meetings.  We gave up on finding time to meet in person and decided to get together on Skype instead.

It was terrific – really a very good substitute.  True, I could not tell if she had sweaty palms or had bad breath.  I could, however, see that she was prepared and professional.  I could hear the enthusiasm in her voice and got a good idea of her presentation style.

I have to admit that I am pretty comfortable with the whole video thing.  Since my sister moved away, we use Google Video Hangouts to “visit” pretty regularly.

I don’t think Skype interviews are a trend.  I think they are here to stay.  Sure, there might be techno glitches and hardware malfunctions but they are, on the whole, easier to schedule and way cheaper to get to.

Helpful Tips

• Do exactly the same preparation as you would for a face to face conversation.  Research, iron your shirt and get a haircut.  Don’t skimp on this.
• Take a selfie the day before.  Sit where you will be sitting, stare at the camera and then take a picture.  Look at the background.  Make sure there is no distracting stuff.  You don’t want to find out that you did not get the job because your fine delicates were hanging in the corner of your image.
• Slow down your talking and your listening.  Unless there are blazingly fast connections at both ends, there can be delays.  Wait for the other person to finish speaking, pause for a moment, and then launch into your witty response.
• Don’t just stare at the image on the screen.  Sometimes look into the actual camera.  It feels a bit like you are making eye contact on the other end.
• Find some friends to practice with.  Start with casual conversations to get used to the medium and then move into asking each other questions.  This will help it to become more familiar and less intimidating.
• One final tip:  you can tuck some notes down by your keyboard.  It’s easy to glace down to remind yourself about a bit of your experience or a question that you wanted to ask.

When you start to feel pretty comfortable with Skype, you can work it into your cover letters/emails.  Include your Skype address and let people know you are available to talk on Skype at their convenience.

You will look pretty contemporary, maybe even hip. Skype on, my friend, Skype on.