Recruiter's Couch

Harry Chapin was not wrong when he sang about his life being circular and everything going round and round.  It’s been my experience that you really have to be nice to everyone because you just never know when you will be talking to your neighbour’s best friend.  You make one unkind remark and all of the sudden; no one on the street is talking to you.

This is especially important in the world of work, which is, frankly, a tighter and more fickle community than your neighbourhood block.

In my line of work, this is especially true.  After all, everyone is a candidate sometime and should be treated with respect and dignity.  Today’s candidate is tomorrow’s hiring manager.

But this is true in other spaces as well.  Your manager and colleagues are future references or current recommendations on your linkedin profile.  They are also great sources of information about what’s happening in the industry/space/company.  By the way, this is not an invitation for gossip, it’s a reminder to keep your eyes and ears open for the information that might lead to the next opportunity.

We are not perfect.  There are days when we are not in the mood to be friendly (blame the moon!) and there are days when we over react to a situation or lash out in anger that’s unrelated to the situation.  It’s okay.  It happens but own up to it as soon as you can.  That’s where a good reputation comes from.  People will remember that you came forward and dealt with the issue in a way that was clear and authentic, not that you threw a temper tantrum in their office.

You have probably already seen the signs on your neighbour’s lawn.  And you have probably rolled your eyes about living through another election campaign.

But wait!  The campaign presents a great platform for people who are looking for new opportunities.

1.  If you are unemployed, volunteer with one of the campaigns.  They can always use help especially during the day. You will meet some cool people and maybe even learn some new skills.  You can do this if you are employed too – it’s just harder to juggle your schedule but you will enjoy the same benefits.
2. Go to an All Candidates Meeting.  Sit beside someone you don’t know.  You may have to opportunity to introduce yourself.  Typically people who go to All Candidates Meetings are engaged and interesting people.
3. If you go to an All Candidates Meeting, ask a question of the candidates.  That’s what they are there for.  Here are some suggestions:
   1. As an unemployed machinist, I have some concerns about the future of my industry in Ontario.  Could you comment what your party is doing to support it?
   2. What are your plans for job creation?  I was laid off two months ago and I am finding things very discouraging.
   3. My son is in university and is not sure he will get a job when he graduates.  How will your party tackle increasing the jobs for young people?

There are lots of other questions you could ask but these get your message out to the candidates and to the audience at large.  People have a lot of respect for someone who is willing to stand up and ask the big questions.

Bring your business cards because it may turn out that there is an audience member looking for someone just like you.

So you sent in your resume and now you have an interview next Thursday.  Now what?  Don’t just pace and eat chocolate – get constructive.

1. Get a haircut.  Don’t wait until the day before – those funny tan lines will give it away.
2. Research, research, research.  Not just on the company website but newspapers, trade magazines, linkedin – the whole nine yards.  Find out what’s been happening lately – awards, new projects, new executives.
3. Layout your clothes to make sure you have everything you need including shoes and socks that are clean and neat.
4. Think about what you will need to bring with you and what you want to put it in.  You can go with a briefcase, folio or satchel.  I would avoid a huge purse or backpack – too distracting.  It looks like you are sleeping over, not just there for a meeting.
5. Print several copies of your resume on nice paper. Gather any reference letters, articles, awards and make copies of them, too.  When you offer a copy of your resume to the interviewer, you can also offer some of the other material.  It makes you look organized and accomplished.
6. You might want to have a nice pen with you too.  It adds an extra bit of polish when you whip it out to make notes.

I hate to point out the obvious but don’t bring:

• Your dog
• Your Timmie’s medium double double (even if it’s still warm)
• Anything that rings, beeps or buzzes

Remember that an interview is just a conversation about a potential shared future. Take a deep breath and enjoy it.

You may have missed it but Anderson Cooper dissolved into a fit of giggles the other night while broadcasting live.

He was delivering his nightly Ridiculist monologue about Gerard Depardieu and his plane/urination/bottle/no bottle incident when he just cracked up all together and lost it.

After several minutes of wiping his eyes and putting his head down on his desk, he managed to compose himself, finish the monologue and get to a commercial break.

So here’s the question:  should he be fired for non-performance or at least written up?  I am sure his job description does not include giggling.  It might not forbid it, but it’s probably not what they had in mind when they hired him to anchor the evening time slot.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you push the boundaries of your job.  Creating the Ridiculist feature meant that there would be an opportunity for humour or at least, substantial eye rolling.  When he got the go ahead from his boss, there must have been some awareness that this behaviour could occur.

Think about when you volunteer to sit on the social committee or lead the United Way campaign at your company.  At some point, some manager will mutter something about when you will be going back to your regular job (“you know, the one they pay you for” will likely be the phrase) but stick to your guns.

Doing activities outside your normal scope are where new opportunities come from.  You get to work with different people.  You get to work towards a different (and sometimes more meaningful) objective and sometimes, as Anderson Cooper can attest to, you can have some real fun.

We have read lots of articles about weird interview questions.  What kind of farm animal would you be (beware the rooster!) and what character would you be in the board game Clue.  Some of the questions are frankly, ridiculous and I’m not sure how any of them can be interpreted in any meaningful way.

I thought about this during my conversations with candidates this week and this set of interview questions came to mind.  These questions may never get asked but if you spend some time digesting them and reflecting on them, you may come across as a more calm and confident candidate in your next interview.

• Have you ever had a near death experience?  How did it affect you?  Did you make major changes in your life as a result?
• What was the last app you got?  Free or Paid?  (this is a bit telling – the last app I got was a free fart machine app for my Blackberry Torch)
• Soft Ice cream or hard?
• Mac or PC?
• What was your last donation? (yes, kidneys count)
• How much money would you need to live the life of your choice?
• Describe your ideal birthday party.

I’m not saying that you will be candidate number one, but as one of my good friends used to say “A life unexamined is a life not worth living” and if you are in a time of career transition, you can probably afford to set aside some time for reflection.

An avid follower of  Recruiters Couch wrote to me this week to tell me that he had, after two years of searching, found his next job.  He wanted to share some of the things he had learned and so, this week, I turn it over to him.

After a redundancy from a major corporation two years ago, I began the search for my next career step.  With a complacent economy in 2009, a rocky recovery in 2010 and a slow start to 2011, I recognised it would be harder to find the next career step, but failed to realise the biggest challenge would be myself.

Unlike some candidates, I found it easy to reassure myself that re-employment was inevitable with my diverse skill set and outgoing personality.   Harder to do, was avoid hitting those pesky traffic cones (okay, and a few pedestrians).

Here is a list of my best (hard learned) advice:

1. Leave.  That’s right, get out!  Jump on a plane and go.  Anywhere.  Now!  Redundancy is tough, celebration is easy.  Recognise you have a great opportunity to travel and take it…. You deserve a couple of weeks off before you start your search. [I did get this bit right (several times)!]
2. Find your most honest advocate (and it’s not yourself!).  Trust, listen and learn from them – even when their advice is contrary to what you believe, try it.  You may be shocked by the difference their advice makes. [I hit about seven traffic cones before learning this lesson]
3. An out of control driver, inevitably crashes their car (in a big way!).  Try to convey control over your career path and a logical flow to your career.  [Five more traffic cones and a concussion!]
4. Good bones + great accessories.  Make your cover letter and résumé as easy for the recruiter to say ‘yes’ – echo key skills / characteristics from the job description in both, with matching accomplishments from your employment history. [One traffic cone, many drafts
5. Run, don’t walk from bad recruiters.  I had the best result with recruiters who shared my professional designation and treated me like a valuable commodity.  Request another recruiter or change firms if you are not feeling ‘the love’. [Two pedestrians and innumerable expletives]
6. Speed date.  Invite relevant key resources at your ‘ideal’ companies to coffee (search LinkedIn; ‘follow’ their company while you are there). E-mail a request for 15 minutes to discuss their careers and what has made them successful. Take notes, don’t ask for a job! [Invaluable advice to avoid six traffic cones]
7. Wherever possible, never settle.  I understand if you need to take something ‘in the interim’ – just don’t tell your employer (or recruiter) this and promise to follow your dream as soon as the opportunity arises. [One swerve into oncoming traffic, quickly corrected]
8. Finally… Ethics, professionalism, reputation, sanity.  If your new career is failing in any of these areas, resign before your career becomes the collateral damage of your employer’s car wreck. [One nasty four car collision avoided]

Today, I am happy to report I am about to embark on the next step in my career, in a role I am excited to take.  I hope you will find my advice valuable in avoiding your own traffic cones and please be nice to the pedestrians in your career search!

This weekend, I discovered MoonPies.  I was in Connecticut and had a lunch date at Cracker Barrel.  The store attached to the restaurant had all kinds of neat candy and treats but the MoonPies just spoke to me.  Turns out, they consist of two graham crackers with marshmallow fluff sandwiched in between and then the whole thing is dipped in chocolate – kind of a cross between a Jos. Louis and a Wagonwheel.

I brought the box in for my recruiting colleagues to try.  No had ever seen them before.  They pored over the box and the packaging.  It took only minutes for them to figure out that MoonPies don’t have to be eaten plain but can be heated in the microwave for an “out of this world” treat.  They can also be frozen in to a lovely summer snack.  Or laid out under ice cream with bananas and chocolate sauce for a dessert worthy of two spoons.

This is a great example of what we do best.  We don’t just read a resume at face value.  We are always trying to figure what skills are transferrable and where a candidate’s experience will be most valued.

If we take those event planning skills and introduce them into a proposals department, suddenly we have a Proposal Coordinator.

If we take a pulp and paper process expert and stick him into a nuclear planning group, we might get a really good Process Improvement Lead.

I could go on and on but the bottom line is that a MoonPie is not always a MoonPie.  Sometimes it’s a banana split.

Even though Harry Potter is a rising star in the wizarding community, he needs to give some serious thought to his career options.  Curse throwing and hot wand skills will only get him so far.

First of all, he needs to finish high school.  It’s going to be pretty tough to sit though classes and exams after all the excitement of recent events but it will be critical for his future career goals.

He also needs to learn to channel some of that anger into something more productive.  Explosive tempers rarely get the results you want in the workplace.  Also, bewitching your manager for a performance review is probably not allowed under the Employment Standards Act.

Harry is going to have to figure out to spell out his skills and experience in terms of transferable skills.  How else will employers identify if he can fit into their team?

So take heart, wizards everywhere.  There is a place for you. You just have to find it.

Say you are at a cocktail party and you meet the boss of your dreams.  You have a great conversation about your industry and your ideas to move it forward.  The evening finishes with the boss pressing his business card into your hand saying “let’s keep in touch”.

Score!

You drive home feeling awesome and ready to take on the world.  You are already plotting the next conversation and when it’s going to happen.

Boss of your dreams has a slightly different experience.  He goes home and googles you while it’s still fresh in his mind.  The first thing that comes up is a facebook link. Clicking that leads to your profile with an image of you in little tiny shorts in someone’s kitchen with a drink in your hand.  Hmmmmm.

The next link is the online photo album from your community golf tournament.  There are lots of pictures of you with the other golfers.  There must have been a lot of toasts because you seem to be raising a glass in all of them.  Hmmmm.

Suddenly that great impression you made has evaporated.  Maybe you are not next divisional leader material after all.

This is the new reality.  Your digital trail follows you everywhere.  You need to be proactive and protective of how you look online.

1.  Google yourself.  Type “first name last name” into google, yahoo and bing and see what comes up.
2. Your linkedin profile should be the first result.  If it isn’t, make sure your profile is completed. That should help.
3. If you are on facebook, then it will be near the top of the list too.  Take a look at your profile picture and the info on your home page.  Is it appropriate for someone like boss of your dreams to see?  Make sure the rest of your profile is private, only viewable by friends.
4. To really make your digital reputation work, it’s nice to have some links that go to professional associations, alumni, volunteer or community group activities too.

So, look yourself up.  What do you see?  Is it what you want other people to see?  If not, get to work.  Replace the image of you in little tiny shorts with one of you shaking hands at a conference.  It will be worth the effort.