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Browse published articles attributed to Marc DeBoer, with full-archive search.
Let's call a spade a spade, being unemployed can be quite stressful. Nothing ever prepares you for being unemployed which makes it harder to deal with. However, with the right attitude, you can navigate out the unemployment waters. Part of that navigational knowledge requires knowing how to deal with LinkedIn. Here are a few tips to help you out.
In my former life as a recruiter, I have seen hundreds of thousands of resumes and of them, no resume was the same. Long ones, short ones, some as big as your head (for anyone who remembers the lovely bunch of coconuts song)! Even with all these different kinds of resumes, all of them had the same consistent resume mistakes. What most people needed was a resume review, but they are either too scared to do it or they feel the friend who looked it over was good enough.
...but what you can do for your employer! We have all heard President Kennedy's most famous speech and you know it's about our country not employer. However, let's consider this for now. What if every CEO across the world said this; Ask not what your employer can do for you, but what you can do for your employer. What would happen? Honestly, I do not know! But, I do know that regardless if it is asked or not, it's something we should be challenging ourselves with.
With the holiday season right around the corner, we have some job searching and interviewing tips for you to stay off the naughty list. rn[space20] - Don't Post Any NYE Facebook Pictures: New Year's Eve is a very fun time for all of us and there is nothing wrong with going to a great party. What we caution you to do this year, however, is to restrain yourself and friends from tagging you in any photos. These can be found by prospective employers and immediately put you on the naughty list. The same goes for YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, MySpace, and Google+.
I felt it was time for a controversial article, so here we go. What's the deal with recruiters? When I say recruiters, I mean headhunters. There are so many questions and controversy surrounding them and I felt it was time to address this.
It does not matter where you are in your life; mid-career or seasoned, employed or unemployed, director or entry-level. We all need to know how to launch a successful job search in order to find our next job. Before we describe our steps, we must first help you understand you! Think of yourself as a product or service. Every product or service you can think of has a brand behind it. Some of the world's best brands are McDonald's and Disney. You know exactly what they look, what they do, what they sell, etc. We can continue on, but you get the point.
It does not matter what kind of job you want or the industry you are looking, just about every interview is the same. The interviewer asks a few questions about you and you ask a few about the company and you are hired based on a gut feeling. When hiring anyone, there are no facts to go off of, it really is simply a gut feeling. If we know this is the case, how do we increase our chances?
I've been noticing a trend with many of my clients when discussing interview tips, tricks and secrets; they all want to figure out how to tackle questions related to their skills. Now, without a doubt, you must be prepared to discuss your background and experience, that's a given. I want to put that aside for right now and discuss passion and how it relates to interviewing. It's Your Passion, Not Your Skills, That Get You The Job
When you get an interview call after applying to hundreds of jobs out there, your elation is natural. You research about the company, its work culture, and prepare yourself for the interview. You also talk to people to find out how to crack the interview. You also read blog posts on the same. Some of the questions job seekers fail to ask themselves before getting down to preparing for the interview is: what do the interviewers want from me? What is he/she looking for?
We have discussed on our website the importance of social media in your job searching efforts through avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. What we haven’t discussed yet are the important implications that they all can have on your career, both good and bad. Whether we like it or not…or agree with it or not…the social media world is here to stay.
It does not matter where you are or what job you are looking for, every person can use an advantage when searching for jobs. The best and easiest advantage is knowledge. We review 5 common job searching problems to help you take a second look at your job search strategy so you can maximize your chances of landing the job of your dreams.
If you have not read our section on employment verifications, please do so here. We give good insight into understanding what they are and how they can affect the offer process.
Remember the days when you could write a resume and send it to all of your potential future employers? When you could just walk in with your resume on nice cotton paper? Well…times have changed and you should not be thinking of that anymore. You now need to be thinking of, "How can I get past the Applicant Tracking Software?" First, we must state that there any many answers to this question such as networking, but today we will simply focus on Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) and your resume.
When you get an interview call after applying to hundreds of jobs out there, your elation is natural. You research about the company, its work culture, and prepare yourself for the interview. You also talk to people to find out how to crack the interview. You also read blog posts on the same. Some of the questions job seekers fail to ask themselves before getting down to preparing for the interview is: what do the interviewers want from me? What is he/she looking for?
That's right… You should be pinging your resume every single day, but do you even know what pinging even means? According to Wikipedia, it is, "… an XML-RPC-based push mechanism by which a weblog notifies a server that its content has been updated." Does that make any sense? In layman's terms, it is the equivalent of you saying, "Hey, I'm over here. Come look at me!"
As winter is fast approaching so follows the recruiting slow-down season. Most job seekers do not realize that winter is the slowest season for recruiting in most companies. We must note that we are not including traditional seasonal hiring; including retail employees, Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas stores, etc... This is from the full-time employee perspective.
You applied to the job and were offered a chance to interview in person. You couldn't be happier! Then you find out Hurricane Sandy is coming your way with bad weather. All throughout the world, weather hinders peoples ability to get to an interview.
Everyone always has questions about what interview questions they will be asked. In today's job market, that is a great thing! Hiring managers and HR professionals want candidates that are fully prepared and are giving the best interview possible. We tallied our top five interview questions that are asked in various interview types. However, it is important to note, that all questions are asked differently. By this we mean, "Tell me about yourself" versus "How would you describe yourself to a stranger?". Two different questions, but both looking for similar answers.
For some reason, the thank you note has lost its style, its pizzazz in today's world. As with any thank you in life, a thank you letter can go a long way, but people have forgotten how to send a thank you letter. Seeing that it is Thanksgiving time, we thought it would be appropriate to discuss the thank you letter. Lets try and bring it back with the tips below. rn[space5]
If you have not heard this song yet, please click here. This song was released in July of 2012 and is already a world-wide sensation. It has hit the Guinness Book of World Records for most likes for a YouTube video and has over 350+ million views.
You want a new job or you are in transition, either way, how you can find a new job if no one can find you? It’s simple, you have to put yourself out there in order to be found. People believe that if you simply have a good LinkedIn profile and apply to a lot of jobs that it will click after a while, but that could be furthest from the truth. If people do not know you, why would they want to hire you? Increase your chances by taking the time to increase your online reputation in your professional industry.
My high school teacher once said to our economics class that "We only have one first impression when meeting someone so why not make the most of it?"
Interviews can always be a bit stressful and that is okay! It means you really want to do well and that is the first step to having a good interview. Below, are some tips to overcome the interview jitters. Night Before the Interview: - Interview Prep: Be sure to do some interview prep prior. You can visit our site for interview prep or interview with a friend, family member or neighbor!
Today's job market is really tight out there. Job seekers are trying every tactic possible to give just the slightest edge against other job seekers. What you may not realize though is that those very tactics could be hindering your job search efforts. Job seekers need to learn the recruiters brain in order to get the job they want and job seekers must now wrangle with ATS systems. We explain them in a prior article.
Have you ever wondered why you do not hear back from recruiters? Well to answer that question, there are many aspects of the recruiting/interviewing process that we must understand. As with anything in life, there are needs and wants. For example, I need to eat food; I want a new car. With recruiters, they need a candidate, but want a great candidate. With job seekers, we need a job, but want the job of our dreams. Job seekers, however, may not always have the luxury of time to be picky, while the recruiter can wait months to find the right candidate.
As an ex-corporate recruiter, I have more stories about candidates tha I would ever be able to write about . Maybe one day, Bill Cosby will say, "Candidates say/do the darnedest things". We want to share with you today a few stories that stick out in our minds to this day. While we will not share any identities, the reason for this article is because this is NOT the way you want to be remembered.
Did you know that 75% of hires in the United States are made by referrals? This means somebody you know knows somebody who is involved in the hiring process or can at least get your resume to the right person. The question is then, how many people do you know? Hiring managers and recruiters hire new employees from referrals because they are coming recommended. They trust the word of their current employee that who they are referring is a hard worker and become an asset to the company.
WHAT!? Yes! We are serious; you should be drinking at work. Water that is. :-) There are a few reasons why you should be over at the water cooler drinking. It is believed that water will improve your concentration, provide better mental and physical efficiency and a greater level of productivity. These are all great things because it means you work harder.
Are you getting interviews, but no offers? You have to stop, think and ask, "Is it me?" It may be and you do not even know it. Knowing your interviewing habits may seem tough, but with some practice you will be able to spot them. You simply need to make yourself aware of them, improve on them, and get back out there. Below, we have listed some of the bigger habits that are seen in the majority of interviewers.
No matter what kind of job you are interviewing for, there is a high probability that you will be asked the question, "Tell me about yourself". The common belief by most people is that this is hardest question to be asked in an interview. Why? Because there is no definitive answer to it. It is a question that you must practice and be prepared for.
"If I had a million dollars put into my savings account and I didn't have to work anymore, what incentive would I have to work for your company?" Wow. What a bold interview question; I agree! I honestly believe that only someone who is practically guaranteed to get the job should ask a question like that or unless you won the lottery the night before. :-) This got me thinking however, are you asking the right interview questions to your interviewer?
At some point in our lives, we all have to write a resume. Unfortunately, no one ever teaches you how to do it. What I would like to discuss with you are 4 supercharged resume words to help your resume get the attention it deserves. Word selection within resumes can make or break your chances of landing the interview! Without further ado... Spearhead - Enhanced - Consolidated - Executed Spearhead
Sometimes it can feel as if the hiring process is this vague, ambiguous, mystery of a process. Because of that, the rumor mill has been spinning hard producing hiring myths. I want to talk to you about 5 hiring myths that most people believe, but fortunately, are not true! Hiring myths done MythBuster style! Hiring Myths Myth #1: Resumes should only be one page:
I was talking to a prospective client yesterday and he asked me, "How do I make myself memorable in an interview or when networking?" We discussed a variety of tactics which will surely help him out, but there was one that stood out. We were talking about a specific chapter in How To Win Friends and Influence People; "Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language." Let's discuss.
It's guaranteed to happen to all of us at some point in our interviews; we get asked about our salary expectations and if you were not coached on how to answer the question, you can immediately disqualify yourself. The salary question can be very tricky because you don't want to say something that is too high or too low. So, what do you do? Luckily for you, I've put together a few ideas for you. How To Discuss The Salary Question In An Interview
It happens to everyone and you are definitely not alone; interview nervousness. The way I always looked at it was if you're not nervous for an interview, then you really don't care about the job. If you are nervous about the interview, that shows that you really care and it's something important to you because you want to do your best. How Do You Overcome Interview Nervousness? Preparation
Do you remember when you were being let go, fired or reduced? It probably felt like the worst day of your life or maybe even unfair and unjust. The reaso I say this is because I recently watched a movie, Up In The Air, and it had a great a quote in it. George Clooney plays the main character and when he fired someone he would say, "Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's *because* they sat there that they were able to do it."
Have any of you read Glassdoor's Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions? If not, I have copied in the questions below. Glassdoor compiled the top 25 weirdest interview questions for 2013. I want to talk to you about the questions and strange interview questions in general. - “If you were to get rid of one state in the US, which would it be and why?” - Asked at Forrester Research, Research Associate candidate. - “How many cows are in Canada?” - Asked at Google, Local Data Quality Evaluator candidate.
Wait! What? Don't ask for the job? Yup! It's annoying and no one likes it. What do I mean? With our job market still recovering back to its normal levels, there is an enormous amount of people who are still unemployed and we all know what they want. J-O-B-S! That's obvious, but then why shouldn't they ask for the job then?
As a college student or recent graduate, it can be intimidating trying to find your first job. One would think, in today's market, entry-level job seekers stand no chance... and that couldn't be further from the truth. As entry-level job seekers, you will make mistakes and that's okay. You can only read so much valuable information on websites, books and from networking. Making mistakes is a good thing because you will learn from them. Entry-Level Job Seeking Mistakes To Avoid Here are 3 mistakes that you can easily avoid today to help keep you on the right track.
We all ask ourselves this at some point in time, "Do I need resume help or not?" Why do we ask this? Because we all go through career changes in life and we want to land that next job. However, let me ask you this? If you wanted to have a procedure done, would you go to a doctor or do it yourself? If you needed a new roof on your house, would you hire a roofer or do it yourself? So, why is it different with resumes? Why are you trying to do someones else's job in which you're not trained for? Why are you writing your resume yourself?
I feel that it is time to reveal the secret to having the best interview possible. Now, everyone has their own methodology for interviewing and that is great! I would encourage you to add this interview secret to your arsenal of interviewing techniques that you are already using. What is the best way to interview? This is a tactic that every person can use no matter what profession, industry or level you are at. It is a tactic that some of the highest level executives use consistently.
I've been noticing a trend with many of my clients with whom I help to improve their interviewing skills; they think the interview is about themselves! They believe that they are doing all the talking and answering all the questions so why wouldn't the interview be about themselves? My response to each person has remained consistent, "You must learn to flatter the interviewer." At the end of the day, people will hire people that they like and trust. Here are some tricks to do just that. Learn To Flatter The Interviewer
Defining your brand for the interview can be tricky. When you sit down, you know who you are and what you can offer, yet how do you know that is the "right" brand to present in the interview? Or maybe, you've heard about all this branding talk, but don't even know what it means. Well, let's discuss...
I had the opportunity to speak with a VP of Human Resources and I would like to share with you something I learned; her pet peeve with the lack of interview/job/company research. The interview research you do or don't do, can make or break your chances of landing the job.
Are letters of recommendation still used today? In some cases, yes and in others, no. It depends on your level of experience and the type of job you are applying too. In today's world of high volume recruiting, recruiters are turning to LinkedIn for recommendations. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. It does not really matter the form of recommendation that you have as long as it speaks positively and highly about you. The majority of all job seekers will need recommendation letters so you should learn how to tackle them. Tips for recommendation letters
We are always focused on how to land a job that we will read any book or blog on it, but what about how not to get a job? What I mean by this is that we focus so much on how to do the right things, but never an emphasis on how to avoid the bad things.
Have you ever been to a networking event to realize that the conversations you're having are very short? Or do none of your contacts, friends, family, etc seem to want to help you? That's because no one wants to network with you! Why? Because you're a stingy networker; you only think of yourself. Networking is a two way street and if you're going down a one way road, you will lose the networking game. Here are some ideas to get rid of that mindset and to flip your networking around.
Job searching is the most important part of......finding a job! That's right, ground breaking news. Since we know this obvious point, than why do people spend so little time on it? Many people feel that because they either have good experience or a good degree that any company will give them a job. While in a few rare cases that is true, for the masses, it is not. Because of that, I want to share a story with you that I am going through currently and help shed some light as to why you need to start your job search yesterday.
There it is. You see it in your inbox. The subject is titled "Interview Request". The sender is from a recruiter with the company you just applied at. Your heart starts pumping, you are excited, and you feel a sense of relief. You have sent hundreds of resumes out and finally have received a response. You click on the message and it reads: [space5] Dear (You),