How To Hire Like Google And Facebook: Evaluating Candidates Beyond Their Technical Ability

In a previous Forbes post, we considered the disconcerting reality that even in the midst of an unemployment crisis, employers across industries are still unable to find the talent profiles they need. How is it possible that even highly educated candidates are unable to find skilled work when millions of open positions go unfilled? Evidence indicates that this talent gap is not due to the absence of technical skills, as one might expect, but rather to the absence of “soft skills,” or what we’ll call 21st century skills, in prospective candidates. These primarily refer to interpersonal and general analytic abilities like teamwork, empathy, leadership, negotiation, adaptability, and problem solving.

As we discussed, this is useful information for students and educators, but lessons from this research could be of particular benefit to employers, as well. The problem is that 21^st century skills are very difficult to assess with any kind of rigor, especially before one can evaluate a candidate on the job. Can a candidate think innovatively? Collaborate with other team members? Assimilate feedback and coaching? Will the candidate be adaptable to new environments and successfully integrate with teams? It is very difficult to reduce these questions to discrete qualifications and quantifiable metrics in the same way we assess recognized degrees and numerical grades.

Certainly some approaches exist. For example, businesses have used “type”-based personality tests for decades in attempts to measure the soft skills of prospective candidates, assuming that certain personality types would correlate with high performance. One example is the Jung Typology Profiler for Workplace™ (JPTW), which purports to measure qualities such as “Power” (leadership potential), “Assurance,” “Visionary,” “Rationality,” and so forth.

Despite the promise of measuring key skills, the reality is that personality tests have serious methodological flaws and lack the statistical reliability to predict performance among prospective employees. For example, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a closely-related profiler to the JPTW that also has its origins in Jungian typology from the early 20th century. The makers of the MBTI clearly state in their ethical guidelines that “It is unethical, and in many cases illegal, to require job applicants to take the Indicator if the results will be used to screen out applicants.” Because of their shared methodological limitations, the same restrictions should apply to the JPTW.

It’s clear that we need 21^st century methods to assess 21^st century skills. Unfortunately, that seemingly simple idea proves to be much trickier in practice than it is in theory.

Tools for talent development do not work for pre-employment screening

Part of the problem is that many companies are using the wrong tools for the job.   There is a fundamental difference between tools intended to develop existing teams and tools used for pre-employment selection.

For developing existing teams, there is evidence that “type”-based  personality tests can help managers better develop and deploy the talent they have already hired. For example, Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 is a tool that helps individuals understand and describe their own talents, and is commonly used by managers to understand and capitalize on the strengths of those they hire. More importantly, it is methodologically sound, and its reliability and validity are backed up by clear evidence.

For example, Facebook uses StrengthsFinder in a clever way to deploy talent efficiently. Regardless of the job openings they have available, Facebook simply hires the smartest people it can find, then uses StrengthsFinder results to understand their talents and create a job tailored to the candidate.

One might naturally assume that the same type of test that helps identify and develop strengths in an existing team could also be used to assess suitable candidates for entry into that team. In the words of Gallup, “Absolutely not… A development-oriented assessment such as StrengthsFinder is markedly different from selection tools because its purpose is not to assess whether an individual is suited for a particular job or role. Instead, it aims to provide talent insights for developing strengths within roles.”

Personality tests cannot be used for the same purpose as pre-employment selection tools because they simply can’t perform the key function: predicting employee performance. For example, two people who have the same set of innate strengths (according to a personality test) could have widely varying job performance. And of course, two people with a completely different set of strengths could do the same job equally well.

Pre-employment selection tools can predict employee performance on the job

Many pre-employment selection tools succeed at predicting performance because they have a completely different design than talent development tools like personality tests. Instead of seeking general traits and preferences, selection tools are tailored to a particular job in a particular organization, and are statistically calibrated to provide reliable predictive results (i.e., candidates who score highly on these tests also tend to perform well after they’re hired). In addition to the StrengthsFinder development tool, Gallup also offers these pre-employment selection tools, which include analytic services to confirm the validity and predictive value of the measures for candidate screening.

Pairin, Inc. is another organization that seeks to combine the personality test approach with specialized testing (for specific jobs, values, culture, etc.) as part of a pre-employment selection system. Using the Job Pairin System, employers can assess the presence of around 100 coachable/changeable behaviors such as emotional intelligence, leadership, attraction of followers, and even character.

A new spin on the behavioral interview

While services from Gallup and Pairin provide strong, evidence-based methods, the debate on using metrics to assess 21^st century skills will certainly continue. For good or bad, it is unlikely that the traditional way to measure 21^st century skills – the behavioral interview – will be unseated anytime soon. (Behavioral interviews are those that include situational questions like “Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure.”)

Certainly, behavioral interviewing has problems of its own – for example, canned and otherwise disingenuous responses are all too common. While most companies still use a behavioral interviewing approach, those with top hiring practices are able to mitigate these issues. First and most importantly: skilled interviewers are often able to weed out rote responses by probing on the details of the situation discussed. This can help get the candidate “off script” and thus generate better insights about their true personality.

The behavioral questions themselves can also be written in a way that yields better insights. For example, Teach for America includes tough questions like “What would cause you to want to dropout of Teach For America if you were chosen?” Questions like these, for which the “obvious” answers might not be the best, could evoke a wider spread between canned responses and those that show more nuance and self-awareness.

As another example of innovation, Google also uses behavioral interviews, but structures them in a way that allows HR to perform analytics and prove that certain responses reliably predict employee performance.

Beyond the interview

Whatever method companies use to assess 21^st century skills in prospective employees, it’s important that they reflect on the key principles behind the assessment approaches. Findings from research on 21^st century skills provide an extremely valuable lens through which companies can view all interactions with candidates. Consider: What can you teach a new hire on the job, and what can you not teach? With information now abundantly available to us, almost anyone can learn basic Photoshop skills, for example, via online seminars. But what about skills like adaptability and empathy – can they be taught on the job?

via How To Hire Like Google And Facebook: Evaluating Candidates Beyond Their Technical Ability – Forbes.

How To Hire Like Google And Facebook: Evaluating Candidates Beyond Their Technical Ability

7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You

To secure that dream job, you have to think like the person making the final decision. What is going through the manager’s head when they select candidates? This is a list containing the 7 most common reasons people get hired. Use it wisely now and do let me know if you have any questions on any of the reasons.

1. A great resume

Sometimes an average candidate can be hired thanks to a brilliant resume. Your resume is your first impression and you only get one shot at this. Pick a template relevant to your industry, look at other people’s resumes, have them look at yours, get help from experts etc before you send anything out. Remember that your resume has to be updated consistently and it is a living document.

2. Your online personal brand

Personal branding is my personal favorite. Social media and networking has quickly become the preferred method of communication, and you will be found online by your potential new employer. By tailoring what information is available, you can turn social media into a positive when looking for a new job.

Make sure your public profiles are employee friendly and up to date. Establish yourself as an authority online by either starting a blog, moderating a forum or jut being active in a Linkedin group for instance. Get recommendations on your prolife and these will serve as the old school resume references. Social media and online branding will take you a fair bit of time and effort but you don’t really have a choice so my best advice is to embrace it.

3. The right skills and experience

In this economy, you will struggle to find someone willing to hire a candidate that needs training. Think about it, would you want somebody shadowing your work and asking questions for the first 6 months? Or would you want somebody that knows the score and gets busy contributing to your targets from day one? Having the right skills and experience is more important than ever and unfortunately not something you can work on overnight.

4. Staying power with the business

This is crucial as employers want people that stay in their company and work their way up the corporate ladder. This makes them useful (and useful means hard working). Employers will look for people who have multi-dimensional personalities, meaning they can work in different departments, projects or even locations one day. Your longevity with the business and personal characteristics will be the deciding factors here.

5. You get on with people

This is significant as the employer will want you to enjoy spending time at work, thus you won’t mind the occasional/weekly/everyday late night. By having a sense of belonging to the people at work, you are likely to enjoy it more and be less susceptible to other job offers. And in general our ability to work well with lots of different people is a critical key to your success over time within any company.

6. You can bring home the bacon

A classic WIIFM case where you either make money or save money for the company. Any manager has a budget and they want a way to either increase sales or reduce costs. You being able to do one of these will be music to their ears. If you can demonstrate and project how much you will put on his or her bottom line, they will be very tempted to hire you. So your job will be to present your exact plan for doing this and leave it with them. In the end you would be doing them a favor and helping them hit their numbers.

7. Positive attitude and enthusiasm

The business world is full of moaners and the last thing a hiring manager wants is another union card wielding sinker on their team. If you are able to lift the moods of your intervierwers by way of charisma, humor or any other magic, you stand a lot better chance of being considered for the next round. Everyone is attracted to happy and positive people and if you lack experience and skills, this could be your trump card. By staying positive and radiating enthusiasm long after you landed the job, you can inspire others and demonstrate that you are promotion material.

via 7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You.

7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You

How Glassdoor Gives Candidates an Inside Look at Employers

Many different integrated apps have tried to introduce recruiting and job finding into Facebook, but none have been entirely successful. I was invited to one I had not heard of before – Glassdoor – and it seemed interesting so I tried it. I will now review this app and website – a new way to find jobs and leave feedback on past and current employers, anonymously.

Glassdoor was voted the ‘Best Employment Site 2012’ by the Webby Awards, and is touted as ‘a free inside look at jobs and companies’. Employees can leave anonymous salary information, reviews, interview questions and photographs from current and past employees. Think TripAdvisor for jobs – if you are considering a job offer from a particular company you probably want to check out what others think of it.

Activation

Whether you are invited to join Glassdoor (as I was) or you search for the app via Facebook, a connection page first appears, where you can alter profile visibility. As with all apps, you can set the visibility as ‘Public’, ‘Friends’ or ‘Me’ – which may be useful if you have current employers or colleagues in your ‘Friends’ list. This automatic connection to your Facebook profile allows Glassdoor to use your original Facebook profile information (such as schooling and jobs) to create a separate Glassdoor profile (you can change/delete this information later on).

A typical Glassdoor profile lists only ‘Work Experience’, ‘Education’ and ‘Connections’ with current job title under your name and uses your current Facebook profile picture (so make sure it’s a good one, as you can’t change it!). The profile information is linked back to Facebook-type pages for each company (to be discussed later).

Profile Completion

Once signed up, I had a 60% complete profile with a ‘Basic’ membership. The first important step was to complete my profile with Glassdoor giving me a list of tasks to do, each with a percentage that would total 100% when all three were done. My three tasks were ‘Add current city’, ‘Invite 3 friends’ and “‘Like’ or ‘+1’”. The ‘Add current city’ was an easy option in the Profile, with drop down suggestions for town names and locations.

The ‘Invite 3 friends’ option was annoying. This is done through a page where you are invited to ‘Include’ a certain amount of Facebook friends (either ALL of your Facebook friends, or all of your colleagues from school, University or a workplace), with the idea that the more friends you have, the more connections you will have. The invite window (a “private” request) is not very helpful either – you cannot remove people – so you cannot choose specific people to invite to the app.

The Like or +1 element of the profile is a clever marketing tool for the company’s social pages. You have to complete both elements – liking the Facebook page and +1 the company on Google+ to gain the added 10%. Once you ‘Like’ the company, it will appear on your profile page, enticing your friends to sign up. This will allow Glassdoor’s presence on both sites to increase.

You are then asked to write a review/salary/interview post or upload a workplace photograph to grant yourself an ‘Unlimited’ membership. There are two types of membership on the Glassdoor website – the ‘Basic’ membership and the ‘Unlimited’ membership.

The website states that “all new members automatically get a Basic Membership with 1-month of access to everything posted by our community.”  However, no payment is needed for unlimited membership (as the site is financed by large ads on every page), as it “only takes a minute” to upgrade. “Simply give back to the community by posting an anonymous inside look of your own — remember, your posts are anonymous.”

The wording is extremely casual and friendly, and shows a sense of applying to a younger generation – maybe graduates or people looking for their first job. It is also a crucial point that everything is anonymous – no matter whether you are posting a positive/negative report, you will never be found out.

Connections

The front page of Glassdoor boasts the bold sentence: “Most jobs are found through an inside connection. Each friend that joins Glassdoor allows you to see more connections at more companies”. The main aspect of Glassdoor is the more people you add (who then accept), the more connections you will have, and also access to a higher number of companies will be granted. However, people have been getting annoyed at the app requests on Facebook (as a simple Twitter search of ‘Glassdoor Facebook’ will show), as not everyone may be looking for a job at the time you invite them!

Writing a Review

When you write a ‘Company Review’ or post a Salary, you are asked to select between Current or Former Employer. If your employer is not yet listed, you are asked to enter some details (website, type and number of employees (from drop down menus), and the Headquarters City).

Once submitted, a new form appears (with again a reminder that it is anonymous at the top) and the user can rate a number of elements of the job, as well as give ‘Pros’, ‘Cons’ and ‘Advice to Management’ as well as whether you would recommend this employer to a friend, and where your job prospects are looking for the next 6 months (up or down). Next to each submission form is an important ‘Message to Our Community’, a sign that fairness and good quality is crucial to Glassdoor.

When submitting a photo, the rules outline that a “behind-the-scenes look” is needed and the user is informed that they may upload 10 photos. All content is reviewed before being posted on the site – a simple way to ensure that people cannot tarnish a company or the website itself.

The website is then split into four sections – ‘Jobs’, ‘Companies & Reviews’, ‘Salaries’ and ‘Interviews’, with a separate blog.

Jobs

‘Jobs’ lists available Jobs in a certain area, with change range and date posted. Each job links to the Company Overview, Reviews, Salaries and Interviews of the company posting the job – and these elements are extremely detailed (the Review has an average rating from all posts).

Companies & Reviews

Under this section, there are the ‘Featured Companies’, with the ‘Most Popular Companies’, ‘Best Places To Work’ and ‘Companies and Reviews By Industry’. Each company is given its own page on the site (which they can edit to describe the company’s missions/morals and other details), and a link to its Facebook and Twitter feed. Everything about this website is based around sharing – sharing information on companies, sharing connections with your Facebook ‘friends’, and sharing your use of the site.

Salaries

The ‘Salaries’ part of the website is the one which may be the most problematic – for two main reasons. Firstly, people may lie about their salaries, either directly (to sound as if they earn/have earned more) or indirectly (mistakenly inputting the wrong salary).

Secondly, current employees of the company could use it to look up other people’s salaries (either for the same job title or the same company), and this could cause friction in the workplace and even complaints (if someone was secretly earning more than you, but doing the same job). This is the section that Glassdoor have to take care with the most, to ensure it does not cause more harm than good.

Interviews

Interviews are listed by job and company, with the most popular from both in separate tables. Interviews are also tagged, with the most used tags in a chart at the bottom of the page. When an interview question is clicked on, it can be answered, tagged or commented upon. This is useful for interviewees (to prepare) and interviewers alike (as they can change the questions they ask, in case it becomes a very popular post on the website).

Is Glassdoor useful for job seekers?

Yes. It is an extremely handy tool which people can use to choose the right company and job to apply for (by using the reviews and salaries section). However, it needs to be handled with caution – rogue posts (both positive and negative) may have passed through the system, and it should be used with a pinch of salt.

Is Glassdoor useful for employers?

It is more necessary than useful for employers. Again, the posts should be taken with a pinch of salt, but may be needed to improve work ethics at the company, and fairness in terms of salaries, as well as changing interviews to make sure that every candidate passes the interview easily.

Pros?

There are many different pros for Glassdoor:

• This website is one of a kind – there is no other major site where you can review your company, post your salary, photos and interview questions, all anonymously.


• Reviews are always checked before they are posted to ensure for a fairness, with guidelines clearly set out so as not to allow any malicious posts.


• Glassdoor uses prizes to get people to write anonymous reviews or salary posts – in this case I was offered the chance to win a free iPad in return for a post – so you may receive a really good prize for writing 100 words.


• It is extremely difficult to find negative reviews – there is no lowest rated company chart etc. This makes it fairer to companies to ensure that they are not brought down or trash talked.


• It has a clear layout, with easy navigation and titles, and an interesting design.

Cons?

• The ‘include’/invite friends element is the main con. Sometimes with these apps, you don’t want to include all your friends (such as bosses/fellow colleagues which you may have in your Facebook friends). A quick Twitter search of ‘Glassdoor Facebook’ brings up a lot of frustration about the app requests sent by friends.


• You cannot change your picture (say if you want a different photo to your Facebook profile picture).


• The website is coded in HTML, and could be made to look slicker and smoother.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Glassdoor is an interesting website with many pros and cons. It works in terms of ‘connections’, so is extremely similar to LinkedIn. Is it trying to be a better LinkedIn or just a simpler LinkedIn (that anyone can connect to), with the added anonymous review elements? I feel that Glassdoor is extremely useful for first-time job seekers (as well as employers), but is more aimed towards the Facebook generation, who like to share a vast amount of information – as it easy to use with its casual language, prizes and large graphics.

via How Glassdoor Gives Candidates an Inside Look at Employers.

How Glassdoor Gives Candidates an Inside Look at Employers

This Is Exactly How Recruiters Go Through Your Resume In 6 Seconds

In many cases, your resume is the first thing a hiring manager sees from your job application. It serves as their first impression of you. Therefore, it is without a doubt that your resume is a large determining factor of whether you’ll get that call for an interview or not. Assuming you meet the job qualifications, the next thing you want to focus on is how your resume is presented.

Your might fill up your resume with all the amazing things you’ve done since you were born, but in actuality it only take six seconds (that’s right, you heard me) for a recruiter to look through your resume. So what exactly are they looking at in those six seconds? Surely that’s not enough time to read through all of your duties from your previous job or the loads of volunteer work you’ve done? Well, you’re right, it isn’t. Check out the video below to find out exactly what recruiters look for when reading your resume. That way you’ll know precisely what to highlight.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW to SEE VIDEO

As the video suggests, remember to keep your resume concise and make sure that your current and previous work experience, your education, and your name are clearly and logically located on the page.

This Is Exactly How Recruiters Go Through Your Resume In 6 Seconds.

This Is Exactly How Recruiters Go Through Your Resume In 6 Seconds

Absolutely Everything You Need To Find a Job [INFOGRAPHIC]

You want to find a job, so what do you need?

College Atlas have all the answers in their infographic below!

Takeaways:

• Make sure you resume is up to date.


• Clean up your Facebook profile – remove offensive and add good quality postings.


• For every 100 resumes you submit, on average, you’ll get 10 interview opportunities.

via Absolutely Everything You Need To Find a Job [INFOGRAPHIC].

Absolutely Everything You Need To Find a Job [INFOGRAPHIC]

Why Companies Go Beyond The Resume And Hire People Via Social Media

The last time John Fischer sought resumes for an open position at his company, StickerGiant, he received more than 200 — a list that took precious time to condense to interview-worthy candidates. Today, StickerGiant uses online surveys to find the best and weed out the rest. Indeed, companies are using a variety of tools—chief among them social media platforms—to move beyond resumes to match the right people with the right jobs.

Resumes are not obsolete, but the concept of them has changed tremendously, said Josh Bersin, principal of Bersin by Deloitte, a human resources research firm owned by Deloitte Consulting.

“Now your resume must be online, and linked to your LinkedIn LNKD +1.87% profile, which you have to make sure is always current.”

And because there’s so much data available about people on the Internet, companies are mining job candidates’ social media footprints to find out about them, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and assess whether they’re a good cultural fit. Bersin noted that a number of startups–including Gild, Reppify and TalentBin–aggregate information about people via their social media profiles for recruiters to use when seeking talent.

The way that companies recruit can itself be a test of potential employees’ savvy in specific areas–including social media. For example, when Enterasys, a network infrastructure firm in Boston, recruited for a social media marketing position last winter, it posted the listing solely on Twitter. The firm promoted the position via tweets, and accepted applications only from candidates who tweeted their interest using the hashtag #socialCV. In addition, candidates had to have more than 1,000 active Twitter followers.

These criteria enabled Enterasys to quickly narrow down the field and hire “an award-winning social strategist.” Vala Afshar, Enterasys’ chief marketing officer, said the experience convinced him that Twitter recruiting is the way to go: “The Web is your CV [curriculum vitae], and social networks are your references.”

Optimizing resumes with online insights

If your company isn’t quite ready to hire someone via Twitter, don’t worry. There are plenty of organizations that still use the on-paper CV as a primary method for evaluating potential employees. But to reduce the woes that hiring managers like StickerGiant’s Fischer faced–too many resumes from under- or over-qualified people–Bersin of Deloitte’s Bersin recommends that companies ask all applicants at least one open-ended question that must be answered in long form.

“A good [question] will hone in on a person’s real work experience,” he said. “Like, ‘Describe a work experience in which you were successful: Why did you succeed? How did you do it? And how did you measure that success?’ The answer will tell you a person’s capabilities, experience and his or her interest in the position.”

Looking at it from the perspective of potential employees, Bersin recommends that job seekers spend as much time on their Internet presence as they do on their resumes.

“Recruiters are going to look at your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profiles, so you have to think about all those as your marketing tools,” he noted.

While jobs in communications, marketing or social media may benefit most from a candidate with a star online presence, taking the time to craft a digital profile for recruiters can benefit anyone in any industry. As proof of social media’s power in the job search in an increasingly connected world, Bersin described a recruiter scouting for an engineer who worked at nuclear power plants and was familiar with the failure of the Fukushima power plant in Japan after it was hit by the tsunami in 2011. He searched LinkedIn’s forums and found someone who had started a chat on that exact issue. The person obviously had some good qualifications, but it was his interest in the topic that made him the recruiter’s top candidate.

Social media do’s and don’ts

To effectively leverage social media in your job search, there are some things you should do and some things you definitely shouldn’t do.

Do set up accounts on the major social networks: Twitter, Facebook, and, especially, LinkedIn. Also, follow the companies you want to work for in the future.

Don’t let your accounts sit idle. It’s not enough just to establish presence on these sites; potential employers will be looking for productive activity on these sites, as well–ask questions, make comments, share. This is especially true for fields in which social is heavily leveraged and valued.

Do ask for people to write you references on LinkedIn, and write references for others yourself.

Don’t forget that everything you put online stays there–somewhere–and that anyone from prospective employers to former bosses and coworkers can find and see it. Questionable photos, potentially offensive comments, criticisms against current or former employers, etc., will come back to haunt you.

Not so long ago, employers and potential employees relied almost solely on resumes to, respectively, fill positions and demonstrate the ability to fill those positions. Today, a company’s Twitter presence could be the thing that attracts the next employee, while that blog you’ve been writing faithfully could be the thing that gets you that dream job.

via Why Companies Go Beyond The Resume And Hire People Via Social Media.

Why Companies Go Beyond The Resume And Hire People Via Social Media

Startups Tackling LinkedIn, Onboarding, Hourly Hiring, Resume Screening, Interviewing

You know those short summaries at the top of LinkedIn, where the person describes themselves and what they do? Like this:

Connecting Talent With Opportunity At Massive Scale

or this:

The “Mad Scientist of Online Recruiting” – Specializing in Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding & Social Recruiting

or just a simple:

Public Relations Director, Human Resource Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Well, a new tool will help companies and employees put those summaries together. It’s just one of many new technologies in the talent acquisition field. Read on.

Brand Amper is a creation of Jason Seiden, whose previous company was called Ajax Workforce Marketing. This new company, and new tool, he says, “takes employees through the process of reconciling their profiles.”

What he means by that is by having employees put together a summary of themselves and perhaps their company or their role in it on LinkedIn, and in shortened form on Twitter, it gives employees a bit of a blueprint for who they are and how they’ll be posting and tweeting and updating and sharing. “This is the key to the kingdom,” Seiden says. It’s not just a summary for a LinkedIn, but a proverbial “elevator pitch” summarizing their work/life.

This Brand Amper tool is one of many that’ll be unveiled at an event this month in Las Vegas called the HR Technology Conference & Expo. Some of the tools have been written up on ERE, but some of the new hiring tools you may not have heard of include:

Wonolo,”to fill hourly/daily jobs on-demand.”

10Rule, to figure out what’s driving your top 10 percent of performers, and help you hire people like them. I just talked to a healthcare company who’s been piloting 10Rule, and is quite pleased with the results its getting.

Xperiocity, for “high-performance onboarding.”

MosaicTrack, to look through resumes and predict who’s going to fit your jobs and culture. Something uncommon: Its pricing ($177/month) is clearly listed on the home page.

DaXtra, also making resume-search software.

Great Hires, to keep track of who’s interviewing who, and when, and how it went. Among its customers: Intuit. A recruiting leader at Intuit tells me its Great Hires pilot is working well; people can jot notes into the app after an interview, and can even quickly “pivot” if a candidate would not be good for the job they were interviewing for, but would be good for another job. Whether Intuit adopts the tool more permanently may depend on how well it integrates into other parts of Intuit’s hiring process (for example, whether it would work smoothly with employee assessments) throughout the company.

Meanwhile, I’m hearing that at least one and maybe two major applicant tracking systems are working on creating a tool like Great Hires.

Startups Tackling LinkedIn, Onboarding, Hourly Hiring, Resume Screening, Interviewing – ERE.net.

Startups Tackling LinkedIn, Onboarding, Hourly Hiring, Resume Screening, Interviewing

What To Know Before Negotiating Your Job Compensation Package

It seems like there’s hardly a story line the media in the U.S. like better than a degree-holding 20-something living at home while working full-time in the local coffee shop. All of these boomerang kids, the reports seem to say, will most definitely not be alright.

But what about all the recent grads who were lucky enough to secure a full-time position or likely will soon? There’s no shortage of professionals and how-to-succeed books encouraging employees to negotiate for a better starting salary or benefits, but in this employer’s market shouldn’t a 22-year-old just be happy he or she has a serious job offer?

Recent college graduates take note: according to Rose Ernst and Tara Wyborny, the National Delivery Director and Recruiting Leader, respectively, of G10 Associates Program, a post-grad program which helps recent grads gain valuable career skills, there’s always room for negotiation – as long as you’re smart about what you’re negotiating for and how you go about it.

First things first, make sure you have the job. Jumping into negotiating your benefits during the preliminary interview indicates to the hiring manager that you’re not concerned with the right things – namely, how you can help the company.

“When you’re in your first interview with a company, it’s not the right time to ask about the health care they provide or the 401k,” said Ernst. “It’s presumptuous.”

Instead, wait until you you’re in your final interview or have been offered the job – or at least have a sense that you’re in the running — to ask for a benefits summary.

That way, you can compare it with other jobs before accepting anything, without seeming entitled. And comparison is key – there are many benefits that employers are not required to give but very well may beyond just your base salary that you’ll want to take into consideration.

When it comes to health care and starting salary, large companies typically have set plans and starting rates that are usually non-negotiable (smaller companies have more wiggle-room).

But vacation time, tuition reimbursement, additional free training, parking subsidies, mass transit subsidies, phone subsidies and home office expenses are all things that can be negotiated for, as long as you’re “in a position of power” in the negotiations (i.e., if you have a few other offers on the table you can use to leverage yourself, or particularly valuable skills or experiences).

“If you’re being offered $50,000 at a company without a 401k match contribution and $40,000 at a company with an employer match, that makes a difference,” Ernst added.

Just as when beginning your initial job search process, educating yourself on the ins-and-outs of various 401k and health care policies before you see the benefits summary for your prospective company is recommended.

While the hiring manager will usually go over the benefits package with you, don’t be afraid to ask them to do so if they don’t.

“Get to know how these plans are structured, what these different things are, so you’re not completely wide-eyed when someone’s going over it,” Ernst suggested. “Honestly, it can add up.”

And when you are at the negotiating stage in the hiring process, don’t make demands that don’t fit into the company’s culture. Instead, have a collaborative conversation.

“I’ve experienced it first hand, I wouldn’t say it’s common but you definitely want to be careful how you phrase requests to change your compensation or benefits,” Wyborny said. “They’re really excited to get you in the door too, but they expect you to assimilate to their work culture.”

Ernst also suggested that those entering the job market educate themselves on their paychecks and understand the up-front expenses of the job search.

Moving to a new city, the wait period before the first paycheck arrives and a new work wardrobe are all things that need to be taken into consideration when starting a job. Additionally, medical deductions typically don’t kick in until the second month of employment, according to Ernst, which catches many new hires off guard.

Talking to someone who started in a similar career in the same city is a great way to educate yourself on upfront expenses.

And if you think you deserve a higher salary, Wyborny said to make sure you know how to leverage yourself – knowing comparable salaries (“not from Glassdoor, somewhere reputable”) will ensure that you come in with the background knowledge that the hiring manager will respect.

“Don’t come in and say ‘I have a ton of student loan debt so I need you to pay me more,’” added Wyborny. “We understand there are financial pressures, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pay you more.”

Ultimately, Ernst said it’s up to each individual to know what’s important to them, what they can expect from an employer and how much they value themselves.

“You won’t get everything you want, but you won’t get anything you don’t ask for,” she said.

via What To Know Before Negotiating Your Job Compensation Package.

What To Know Before Negotiating Your Job Compensation Package

What You Ought to Know About Resume Writing

Just how important is your resume?

The answer, depending on whether you ask an employer, a career search professional, or someone recently hired, can range from almost irrelevant, to a matter of career life or death. In any case, you want it to optimize it so that it helps with the networking that obtains most jobs.

Your resume is similar to a college application essay – it could help attain your career ambitions. You need to be very careful in composing it, but also realistic as to a resume’s limitations. This article has some tips on making your resume work for you most effectively.

What your resume can do for you

This writer believes that a resume’s reasonable accomplishments include the following crucial tasks:

• introduce you in your absence, either by mail, internet, or in the friendly hands of a contact,


• remind your interviewer of your uniqueness after some time has elapsed since a meeting or phone call


• serve as a prompt during an interview,


• Document qualifications that you might not bring up in conversation.

What your resume will not do for you

However, your resume may not be the determining factor in your hiring (or lack thereof). After, all, people usually hire people whom they like, and who make them feel comfortable. It is almost impossible to discern that sort of personal compatibility via a paper or online resume. Human beings were evolved to interact face to face. No technology yet replaces the act of breathing the same air and examining each other in the flesh to find out if we get along with someone.

Furthermore, while this may seem unfair, it really isn’t. Working closely with people whose deep values and personality or habits are violently at odds with yours is like a really, really bad date 50 weeks a year. So let us just accept that employers need to find out more about you than a resume will reveal, through some sort of interview or other mode of personal information gathering.

But how do you get that interview?

Arriving at that point could require a resume, even if sent over the transom by a friend! Everyone should have one. This is relatively new phenomenon. When this writer first hunted for employment, back when mastodons roamed, resumes were reserved for professional positions. These days, many college application packages ask for one. Any substantial job opening, even in the trades, may require that you submit one. Even volunteer positions sometimes demand one.

For example, this writer is currently helping a Canadian-Asian lady to develop a resume for a hospital volunteer opening. Her day-care background is not obviously relevant. However, from the perspective of the volunteer coordinator (her prospective ‘boss’), a resume will succinctly demonstrate her people skills, and a job history that excludes ax murder. For some ideas on what else to document on your resume, check out CNN’s site.

Networking is still your main job-hunting tool

The main entree to successful employment is still usually some sort of contact, a personal connection between you and the individual doing the hiring, as documented in their 2011 study by Right Management. You should therefore be exploiting every source of contacts that you possess.

Your college placement office will have lists of alumni, organized by industry. A subset of these long-suffering and loyal alumni may have agreed to accept contacts from fellow graduates and even conduct mock interviews with you. They may be willing to pass your resume on to other employers. Use these with discretion and be considerate of their time. Consult your placement office for guidance on networking politely and effectively or take some tips from Forbes staffers.

Any organization memberships from high school, college, or beyond, that are reputable, are another source of potentially useful connections. Here are some possibilities:

• Rotary Club International,


• Toastmasters,


• Scouts,


• Future Teachers of America,


• local historical society

…the potential list is endless.

These affiliations should be briefly listed on your resume. They can provide an ‘in’ with your reader, even if you did not do your homework ahead of time and determine that your interviewer is a past champion oarsman or philatelist, or whatever, just like you.

Avoid overly controversial organizations, unless you are certain that your prospective boss shares your views. The local ASPCA is neutral, the Aryan Nation is not, just to choose some extreme examples. LinkedIn offers some very useful thoughts on mentioning religious affiliation.

Ramp up the interest

Reading resumes can be unutterably boring. This writer once shared a train with a junior executive doing a first cut on a stack of C.V.s four inches thick. Between Washington and New York, she needed a stiff drink, and a chatty seat mate to distract her from the task of discarding potential policy wonks.

So find ways to make your experience sound intriguing without fibbing:

Find some unique job feature, even if it involved asking, “Fries with that?” Note whether it was the sole fast foodery in town, or part of a cluster; independent or franchise.

As another example, this writer once included “market research on competitor activities” on a resume after her boss asked her to discreetly go check out the prices and service around the corner. Sounds more interesting than merely reporting, for example, “completed copying and printing jobs”, doesn’t it?

If you walked dogs, did you specialize in large, small, or obese pooches?

Rivet your reader’s attention but be realistic

Use your resume to enhance your networking efforts and represent you. If you and the employer are a good match, a well-composed resume will help them figure that out. If you are not a good match, a resume is not going to help at all, no matter how slick. Optimize it, but remember its limitations!

via What You Ought to Know About Resume Writing.

What You Ought to Know About Resume Writing

5 Tips To Uncover Company Culture

The culture of an organization is incredibly important when you are making a job switch. It becomes imperative if you have lived through the challenges of working for a company or two that were not fits.

Have you ever taken a job thinking the company culture was “A” but it was really “X”?

To clarify, an organization’s culture encompasses several elements.

• How do they treat their employees?

• What is management’s motivators?

• Is it only the bottom line or is there more?

• What is the work ethic?

• What are the expectations for your time?

• Is it standard that many employees work weekends or do people enjoy life outside of work?

I’ve had a few clients live this reality. They accepted a job offer thinking the company culture was inline with their goals, only to discover after being in the new job 6 months to a year, that they mis-read the culture.

Many times we will ride these situations out to see if it will get better.

Sometimes it does. More often than not, nothing changes and the decision to part ways becomes obvious.

How do we avoid not making this same mistake again and again?

Here are five strategies to help you be prepared and open your eyes to see the culture of an organization.

1. Research

Research is an integral part of your interview preparation. But when it comes to company culture, look at the press releases and the website with new eyes.

Some questions to think through; how does the company represent itself? It is formal, casual, or in-between.

Check sites such as Glassdoor.com. This is a good resources to find out what former employees are saying about their former employers.

2. Network

Ask about this organization to individuals in your network that have either worked there or had business interactions with the company.

Vendors and partners of a company can tell you their take, an outsiders perspective, on the company. That is invaluable.

3. Ask

Ask questions in the interviews. I do suggest asking culture questions but only after the first interview. The first interview can be too soon.

Here are some questions you can ask but be sure to do so in a conversational manner. Remember an interview is a conversation with a colleague.

Be relaxed but get to what you are there to do – sell them on you and uncover the fit. Uncovering the culture is absolutely necessary for your success and for the success of this new working relationship you will have with this company.

Possible questions to ask (I would suggest asking them in your own words):

• How would you best describe the culture of this organization? Of our department?

• What do you see as the pros and cons of this culture?

• What makes this a great place to work?

• What could be improved?

• What makes the department I would be working for so successful?

4. Observe

While you are at the offices interviewing, watch how people act, respond, and interact. Try to meet as many of your future co-workers as possible.

Be in the offices and get a sense of the pace, how the office is organized and decorated. This will give you a sense of what the company finds important.

5. Decide

After you have gathered all that you can discover and observe, decide if this is a fit for you. The only way you can decide is to know what is important to you.

What are you “must-have’s” in any position? What do you need in a work environment? There are external and intrinsic must have’s.

Here are some areas to get you thinking: commute, colleagues, professional development, honesty/integrity, appreciation, hard work, salary, quality content, time off, respect by colleagues, and so on.

So there you have it: research, network, ask, observe, and decide. Uncover the culture so you know if this is a fit for you.

via 5 Tips To Uncover Company Culture | CAREEREALISM.

5 Tips To Uncover Company Culture

The 10 (Resume) Commandments

I’ve helped many companies with the recruiting process, and as a result I’ve seen a lot of resumes in my day: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Some resumes have been way too long (9 pages?!), some contain irrelevant information, others include glaring grammatical errors, and others have had misspellings of tools supposedly used for years (e.g., one candidate called Code Warrior “Cold Worrier”), etc. It breaks my heart to see some of these resumes, because all I can think is: you’ve ruined any chance you had, buddy, and it could have been easily helped. To better your chances at getting your foot in the door for that opportunity you have your heart set on, I’ve compiled a list of basic resume rules…no, commandments, that you should adhere to when submitting a resume as a working professional.

1. Thou shalt not submit a resume longer than 2 pages. If you think you need to go beyond 2 pages, then you must learn how to write more succinctly. You aren’t Steve Jobs nor Stephen Hawking to warrant more than 2 pages, hate to break it to you. A resume should be a succinct presentation of who you are as a professional, not a PhD thesis. You send me anything over 2 pages, you will lose my attention and that’s not something you want to do to a potential employer. To give you a better understanding of what’s the focus on a resume, I suggest you read about heat maps for resumes. Only then will you be convinced that more is NOT better on a resume.

2. Thou shalt not use cliches such as “team player”, “hardworking”, “dedicated”, “detail-oriented”, “problem solver”, or other cliches to describe thy self. Using these cliches will result in me seeing you in a not-so-positive light, because it screams that you are using words that you think I want to hear. Tell me: would anyone REALLY describe themselves as lazy, hates working with people, not dedicated, not detail-oriented, and unable to solve problems? No, so don’t use words and phrases that describe the obvious. You might as well use “shows up for work”. Stand out in the sea of generic resumes. If 500 other candidates are also “hardworking, detail-oriented team players”, why should I pick you over those other 500? Don’t be afraid to speak in your own voice.

3. Thou shalt not use poor grammar. How old are you to still be shamefully confusing “its/it’s”, “you’re/your”, “too/to/two”, or “there/their/they’re”? Brush up your 4th grade English skills, otherwise your lack of attention to details will show as a red flag to potential employers. You are an adult: learn to spell like one.

4. Thou shalt include a summary or profile section up top in place of the objective, which is obsolete. You must be able to succinctly describe yourself, your professional interests and your professional fortes within a few sentences. Make those few sentences count! This means not including your favorite hobbies such as brewing beer, basketweaving, and playing the flute during poetry slams. Save that kind of content for the Interests/Activities section that should only go at the very bottom of the resume, if on the resume at all.

5. Thou shalt not include irrelevant work history when applying for a specific type of position. For example, you should not include work history for your role as a cashier at the Piggly Wiggly back in high school when you are applying for a UX Designer role. No one cares, as proud of that job as you are. Save that precious real estate on your resume for relevant skills and experience, like wireframing and prototyping.

6. Thou shalt not include the filler statement “References available upon request”, for if thine potential employer wishes to acquire references, then references shall be obviously requested. Save that precious resume real estate for valuable experience/skills/responsibilities/interests/etc.

7. Thou shalt not include personal information such as marital status, age, race, religion, or gender. You being able to perform duties as a project manager, for example, should be independent of any of those irrelevant things. This is work, not Match.com.

8. Thou shalt not name thy resume something generic such as “resume.doc” or “asmith1.pdf”, for when potential employers are filtering through tons of resumes a week, they shall not be able to easily find thy resume from the hundreds of others in the queue. Again, lack of attention to detail will only frustrate potential employers. Help me help you by doing me a favor and put your first and last name and the word “Resume” into the title of the document (e.g., Carolyn Vo Resume.pdf). You will earn both a virtual high five and extreme gratitude from me.

9. Thou shalt submit thy resume as a PDF to allow for consistent rendering and readability across all platforms (e.g., Windows or Mac, mobile or non-mobile). The last thing you want is for your resume to look like absolute garbage with mangled fonts and overlaid text for a potential employer. Just because a document looks good in Microsoft Word doesn’t mean it will also look good in Google Docs or Apple Pages. PDF is the only consistent format across all major platforms.

10. Thou shalt include links to any sites that are relevant to thy background or the job (e.g., online portfolio, LinkedIn profile) to give thy future employers more information about who thou art, what thou art about, and any capabilities thou may have. If you’ve decided to include a LinkedIn link on your resume, make sure you’ve already updated your profile completely; otherwise do not include it. An empty/incomplete LinkedIn profile is completely useless and meaningless. If you’ve decided to include an online portfolio of your work, again, make sure you’ve already updated your portfolio, for you will be judged on what you make available on the Internet. For example, don’t include a link to a Flash-only portfolio when you are applying for a front-stack developer role, for this will serve as a strike against you in the eyes of the potential employer.

via The 10 (Resume) Commandments | LinkedIn.

The 10 (Resume) Commandments

3 Sneaky Ways To Research A Company

When you apply for a job, it’s important to do your homework on the company. Otherwise, when you get an interview and your interviewer asks, “So, what is it about us that drew you to our company?” you aren’t left stumped or jobless.

Not only that, but it’s important to figure out if the company is a place YOU would enjoy working for. So, before you send off that resume, check out these sneaky ways to research a company:

1. Learn About The People Who Work There

Most companies have a staff page on their website. On this page, the company will list some, if not all, of the employees at the company. Here, you can get names (and sometimes contact information) of people who you’d be working with if you got the job.

How to learn more:

• Check out their LinkedIn profile to see what kinds of work/projects they do

• Get a conversation started (Here are some tips for doing this appropriately!)

• Request an informational interview. (Find out how to prepare!)

Warning: Don’t be creepy or demanding when contacting these people! Simply reach out to them in a professional manner, introduce yourself, and tell them you’re interested in learning more about the company and work environment. If they respond, go you! If not, move on and leave them alone.

2. Find Out What They’re Sharing Via Social Media

These days, everyone is on social media – including employers. Look them up on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and so on.

Look closely at what they’re tweeting, posting, or filming. This is a great way to get a feel for the company’s values. When browsing the social channels of companies, ask yourself these questions:

• What events are they promoting?

• What articles are they sharing?

• How are they interacting with their followers?

Take note of anything that jumps out at you. If something fascinates you, mention it in your cover letter or interview.

3. See What The Employees Are Saying

Ever wished there was a place that rated companies based on how much people like working there?

Well, now there is!

Sites like Indeed and Glassdoor are great places to learn about a potential employer and how people like working there.

With these sites, individuals can comment on the company, culture, work, benefits, and more. Not only that, but they can rate a company based on how much they like working there. You can also learn more about salary and past interviewing experiences!

According to Indeed.com’s Employer Branding Survey, 83% of job seekers said their decisions on where to apply are influenced by employer reviews. So, before you apply for a job, make sure you do your research.

Doing a little research can go a long way in your job search. Don’t be lazy – Learn more about your dream company now!

via 3 Sneaky Ways To Research A Company | CAREEREALISM.

3 Sneaky Ways To Research A Company

How To Write Career Documents To Influence Your Reader

We use writing skills to engage, inspire or persuade people in our personal and work lives. In a career transition or active job search, writing skills are under sharp scrutiny.

Each transition task, whether it is completing self-assessment exercises, creating a resume, crafting a cover letter or preparing additional marketing tools requires focused writing – one that is targeted, has meaning for your reader and clearly outlines your value to the potential opportunity.

1) Strategy – focus and purpose:

Why are you writing? – The purpose of your writing must be clear. Is it request for a networking conversation? Is it to apply for an open position? Is it to share research information with a decision-maker in your target company? Give the reader a reason to read your letter!

What do you want the outcome to be? – The clearer the intended outcome, the more effective the writing. A reader typically asks, “Why am I getting this letter and what do you want me to do with it?” Invite the reader’s curiosity with compelling reasons.

Who is your audience? – Different readers make different meaning from the same piece of writing. Is it someone from within your field of expertise? Or is it someone who will not understand the terminology used from your field? Or will your writing reach people beyond your intended audience? Understand your audience and tailor your writing in content, tone and language to meet the needs of your audience.

2) Style – organization and design:

Decide on the content – Research the opportunity first. Second, identify and prioritize information according to importance and value to reader. Is your paragraph organized around one main idea? What kind of supporting statements can elaborate or explain your main idea? Are you using active verbs to engage the reader?

Match the style to the document – Understand industry writing standards for your document. Each document, for example resume, cover letters, memos or addendums have unique writing attributes. Can a reader find information easily where s/he expects to find it on the document? Are profile statements or headings clearly identified? Have you emphasized your main ideas using italics, boldface or underlining as appropriate?

Organize the information – Each document is typically divided into separate sections. Select information carefully for each section so that your writing flows quickly and easily. Use examples, charts, numbers or tables as appropriate to inform and persuade your reader.

3) Impact – return on investment factor:

Value offered – The employer has a current and potential need. Can you solve business problems now and in the future? Use information and language that is future focused and clearly links your skills to the deliverables in the opportunity. Make a business case for hiring – What will you bring immediately? Why are you the right fit? How will you be productive and engaged in the employer’s culture?

Create a picture – Use succinct examples to create a visual image of your success stories in the reader’s mind. Pay attention to the tone of your letter. Is it personal, courteous and positive? Does it clearly communicate benefits to the reader?

Follow-up plan – Close strongly. Revisit your purpose and share a proactive follow-up plan with the reader. When will you call to schedule a time to talk? What else can you do to invite curiosity? Ask for the sale!

Keep the communication simple, specific, conversational and inviting. Above all, keep it error-free.

via How To Write Career Documents To Influence Your Reader.

How To Write Career Documents To Influence Your Reader

14 Ways To Research Company Culture

My friend and I were talking recently about how to research company culture before you start working there. In the past, we’ve both been burned by companies that looked good on the surface but eventually turned out to have a terrible culture of one sort or another.

Honestly, if it was fool-proof, people wouldn’t be suckered into it as often as they do. And since my friend and I (and others) actually work in HR/recruiting, we should know better than anyone how to unearth this stuff, right?

A Mindset Change Is Required

All too often, when we’re looking for a new job, we become blinded to the negative and would move over even if the hiring manager promised to kick us in the kidneys four times a day. I understand when you have no job that it’s important to take what you can get, but never settle for working at a company with a poor culture (or if the culture really isn’t “wrong,” but you just don’t fit in anyway). You’re giving them skills and experience that they can’t get from other candidates, and they’re trading that for money. Don’t forget employment is a two way street!

Think about it. For many of the questions below, there are no “right” answers. Everyone appreciates different things about specific working environments, and what may appeal to you actually repulses others. Consider what the ideal work environment would be for you, and filter the responses through that. Oh, and several of these methods will require you to ask unorthodox questions of the hiring manager or recruiter, but it’s the price you pay if you’re going to be serious about finding the right culture fit for you.

14 Ways To Determine The Culture

1. Ask to interview an employee or two on what they enjoy about working there.


2. Ask for a walk-through of the office-listen for laughs and look for smiles; that says a lot about the work environment.


3. Ask about previous people who held the position if you are replacing someone-find out what they did right and what they could’ve done better.


4. Look at sites like Glassdoor.com for reviews by current or former employees.


5. Keep in mind that there are “pockets” of culture within individual departments, so the overall company culture could differ from your specific work area-that’s why it’s important to try to do things like #1 and #2 above.


6. Ask what sorts of behavior are rewarded and which are punished.


7. Ask how (or if) news that affects the company is shared-does everyone learn of it at once or is it distributed to managers to trickle down to employees? Are they transparent?


8. Find out what sort of events the company holds for employees-is it a once a year Christmas party or are there monthly opportunities to celebrate with co-workers?


9. Ask if there are known slackers in the office and try to find out why they are still around (good luck with this one, but if you get a straight answer, you will have a leg up)


10. Ask about how difficult it is to get attention or funding for new ideas and initiatives-are they a “we’ve always done it that way” type of company?


11. Ask what the company’s overall mission/vision is. If a random employee can tell you (at least in general terms) it could signify a strong, unified workforce.


12. Ask about the dress code and other abrasive policies/details that,while palatable at first, can end up chafing you down the line.


13. Find out if the company offers any sort of reimbursement or support for training, seminars, or college tuition. If they value smart employees who work to better themselves, they probably will.


14. Ask how previous employees who committed ethics violations were held accountable. (General terms are fine to protect any guilty parties, but do they even care about ethics in the first place?)

So, what other ways do you know of that a candidate can use to discern a company’s corporate culture before deciding to take a job?

via 14 Ways To Research Company Culture | CAREEREALISM.

14 Ways To Research Company Culture

30 Second Screening: Will Your Résumé Survive?

 

Anecdotal evidence consistently suggests that many recruiters and hiring managers spend less than 30 seconds on the first reading. Will a Summary or Profile section help your résumé to cut through?

I hear many opinions both for and against the idea of including a Summary or Profile section at the beginning of a résumé. Some recruiters say they ignore them because they are usually fluffy motherhood statements that add no real substance to the document. In most cases I would agree with that, because the Summary is often a rather bland, generic section containing rather tired over-used résumé-speak.

On the other hand, if well written, the Summary (I personally prefer to call it a Profile) can be a powerful way to get the reader’s attention and differentiate yourself from other candidates. This should help to sustain a high “strike rate” surviving the usually brutally brief first screening.

There is plenty of good material around on what the Summary should include – hard skills, soft skills, range and depth of experience, industry background, key strengths and so forth. No argument with any of that but if you are not careful it can end up looking a bit generic, just like other people with a similar background. All this adds up to a “ho hum” reaction from your target reader and a real possibility that they will assume the rest of the résumé is of limited interest and only skim read it.

So what can you do to grab ‘em and hold ‘em?

 

The 2-line value proposition

Take a leaf out of the book of professional marketers and develop a crisp, differentiated brand statement that clearly articulates your value proposition in no more than two lines.

Think of well-known brands. Copywriters communicate the core message of the brand and its main attributes instantly. They know that on a billboard, in a magazine advert or on TV, they have only a few seconds – in some cases less than a second – to grab and hold your attention.

What if you took the same approach to the first two lines of your resume?

Take some time to think through what it is that really sets you apart. You may have more material to draw on than you think.

For example:

• Review 360 degree feedback and performance reviews you have had and look for the positive commentary and strong results


• Reflect on what your referees will say about your strengths and personality


• What do you think you are known for (positively of course!) in your organization and even within your industry?


• Think through the evidence for how you have delivered value in your career; focus on the most recent 5 years


• Try to articulate what motivates you deeply; what’s really important to you, professionally

Work on weaving this crucial information into a 2-line statement that clearly indicates how you will add value in a new role and organization. Be prepared to draft, edit and re-write several times – it’s worth it.

via 30 Second Screening: Will Your Résumé Survive?.

30 Second Screening: Will Your Résumé Survive?

7 Ways To Sniff Out The REAL Company Culture

You read the job description and get so excited. It is exactly what you want in your next career step. You talk with the recruiter and everything seems aligned. You prepare for the interview, you ask good questions and you get good answers, you think you got this nailed. It is as good as it seems, then you start and, a month later, you realize that it isn’t what you thought it was and you feel trapped.

You can’t quit after a few months because you don’t want to be a job hopper. You regret your decision and wish you had done things differently. So, how do you know what it’s really like to work somewhere? Here are some ideas to help you identify the real company culture before you accept a position.

1. Ask a LOT of questions

I’ve said it before and I will say it again; ask a lot of questions! Ask scenario-based questions about career paths and culture and then you need to be sure that the interviewer can back it up. Ask them to tell you stories about top performers at the company and why the company considers them a top performer. Ask about what characteristics are rewarded and revered in the company. But be sure you ask!

2. Listen to the answers & probe

Asking is simply the first part of the equation, because then you need to listen and trust your gut. Does the answer seem genuine? Do they have no stories to back up their claims? Do they seem like authentic stories? And finally, do you think these answers and stories are aligned with what you want? If the answer is maybe, probe deeper with the interviewer. If you don’t get anywhere after you attempt to probe a bit, and it remains a maybe… then it’s a no. Maybe is a “no” because you cannot afford maybe.

3. Study current and former employees

Take some time on LinkedIn. Study the company page and the people who are working for the company. Are they frequently promoted? Do they demonstrate a career path? DO they quit and come back? This can tell you a lot about the company culture and can also inform the awesome questions you have to ask.

4. Connect with current employees

Use your network to talk with people who already work there. Ask them the good, the bad and the ugly. These conversations can help you shape an understanding of the company culture from an insider’s point of view. Ask them questions about what’s important to you when you join a new company.

5. Connect with former employees

Similar to the idea above, talking to former employees is equally important. These people can tell you why they left and if they would ever consider going back. The information you learn from former employees should also inform your questions. Keep in mind, companies do change and the reason this person left may no longer be an issue. So, be sure that you are mindful of that as well.

6. Read reviews, but don’t ONLY read reviews

Sites like Glassdoor and Indeed are awesome to get some insights, but I always caution that these sites can sometimes cloud your point of view. Keep in mind; people who write anonymous reviews of things are often either horribly disgruntled or shilling. If you want to read reviews, read the ones that are middle of the road. Don’t read 5-stars and 1-star. Read 3-star reviews and then either ask your network to validate or just take it with a grain of salt.

7. Follow them on social to see how they respond

Social media has forced brands to more openly communicate with candidates and customers. Some companies do an amazing job of telling you about the culture on their social media channels. Others don’t. The companies who do not share a lot about their culture, you should study how do they treat their candidates and customers. You can use this information to see what it might be like at a company, and to see what is important to the brand before you join it.

Changing jobs is a big decision. Figuring out your fit is so important so that you don’t end up filled with dread and regret or the dreaded “job hopper” label. Carefully considering a company’s culture is critical in your career because getting it wrong is too costly.

via 7 Ways To Sniff Out The REAL Company Culture | CAREEREALISM.

7 Ways To Sniff Out The REAL Company Culture

Resumes Are Messing Up Hiring

While we are surrounded by a wave of new disruptive technologies and apps, HR still hasn’t improved how it evaluates the prospective workforce. Traditional hiring processes that revolve around CVs are no longer sufficient – they don’t pinpoint the right qualities demanded of leaders today, and their dated criteria obscures many talented individuals from even hitting the radar.

There is nothing inherently wrong with resumes – they highlight applicants’ past achievements and experience. But while CVs are good at showcasing formal skills, they’re not very useful for identifying values and behavior. Resumes generally don’t distinguish between skills (knowing how to do something) and competencies (doing it really well and with great reliability and ease).

Sam Mead, co-founder of London-based start-up, Saberr, which specializes in workforce science, reiterates this problem with CVs – and by extension, the now ubiquitous application systems. They only show the eligibility but not the suitability of a candidate. And while resumes can match an applicant’s skills to the role, they are poor at predicting how well the applicants will interact with the company’s culture and future colleagues.

CVs have led recruiters to focus too much on grades, university reputations, and prior work experience. The problem with these hiring criteria is that they’re biased toward applicants from more wealthy backgrounds. These families usually have better connections and networks, can provide better education opportunities, and can afford to pay reputable universities’ tuition fees. In addition, children who have grown up in the upper echelons of society are also much more used to the social norms that guide successful “acceptable” behavior.

This process is no longer reliable; it has turned income inequality into career opportunity inequality, and recruiters are losing opportunities to tap a wider talent pool. As much as they claim to be interested in taking in talent from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, the practice of using resumes to select candidates can exclude those who can’t afford education or taking unpaid internships. Very often, they end up in lower-paid jobs with limited future prospects. So the better jobs tend to stay in the hands of those from wealthier backgrounds. A recent study in the UK, for instance, shows that 3 out of 4 judges, 2 out of 3 doctors, 3 out of 4 finance directors, and 1 out of 2 chief executives come from fairly well-off families.

What can be done about this?

Companies truly interested in hiring people from diverse backgrounds must abandon the conventional practice of filtering by résumé. Recruiters must seek proof of competencies to find the most promising candidates, those capable of becoming sense-able leaders with skills needed to succeed in a rapid-moving, interdependent world.

New tools and hiring processes can help recruiters find more diverse talent pools and reach candidates who may have previously been excluded from consideration. If hiring companies pay less attention to skill- and history-focused résumés and focus instead on the socio-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral traits of applicants, those from economically underprivileged backgrounds would have much broader job prospects. This garners higher professional effectiveness and also distributes and diversifies the social strata of labor.

And more companies can use smart data to improve the recruiting process. Some are already paving the way, with examples ranging from large multinationals like Coca-Cola, which uses data-driven strategies to increase innovation in its Atlanta HQ, to start-ups like Seedcamp, which uses psychographics (the study of personality, interests, etc.) to identify teams with the greatest chance for success, to tech companies like Kestral in Australia, which identifies the strongest performers through team optimization processes.

Successful placement also greatly depends on “fittingness,” so recruiters need to take other off-resume elements into account. Saberr pays attention to applicants’ core values and specific behavioral traits, in order to create a metric mapper – the main element of their data-driven HR Strategy. Using algorithms to process fundamental values and behavioral compatibility, as well as diversity, the company predicts how strong the interpersonal relationship between the applicants and the potential employer can become. The company does this by administering a survey for applicants and the employer, which maximizes the potential match, and by looking at soft skills and moving away from more conventional credentials or past experiences. The algorithm allows the company to “project” how the new hires will fit into the environment.

Large technology corporations like IBM are also helping build “social businesses” to determine fittingness (which IBM defines as the “ability to create more effective work experiences through social collaboration and digital experience”) by harnessing the power of social media and an individual’s web presences. And companies like Quid in San Francisco are using semantic analysis to analyze and visually depict where the most attention, creative energy, and financial resources are being spent online. While private equity investors and advertising firms are the primary users of this tool, it has huge potential for the recruiting profession, because it could allow staffing executives to see where candidates are devoting their professional energies.

While many privacy questions still have to be sorted out, the likes of Saberr, IBM, and Quid point to the future of human resource acquisition and development, through their use of smart technologies that help predict prospective employees’ behavior and their integration into the work community – something resumes can’t always do. These game-changers are helping organizations embrace talent wherever it surges, transforming the way companies recruit and source the workforce.

via Resumes Are Messing Up Hiring – Terence Tse, Mark Esposito, and Olaf Groth – Harvard Business Review.

Resumes Are Messing Up Hiring

Why You Should Think in Reverse to Find a New Job

Sometimes you can achieve a breakthrough by thinking in the opposite direction. Take 7-Up, for example. It became hugely popular in the ‘60s by branding itself as the Uncola. 7-Up went in the reverse direction from other soft drink companies, who were competing with Coke and Pepsi in the cola market.

Or how about the Volkswagen Beetle? Back when Detroit was pumping out big, fast, hot muscle cars, VW was selling the small, slow, ugly Beetle. They went in reverse — and found huge commercial success.

Success in your job search might be right around the corner, if you’re willing to do the opposite of what the hordes of other job seekers are doing. Here are two examples of “reverse thinking” that could help you find a job faster …

1) The Reverse Personal Commercial

You may have heard that you need to develop a “personal commercial” about yourself when networking — a sort of 30-second advertisement, like: “I’m a sales manager with 11 years’ experience, who’s looking for a job at a Fortune 500 company.”

The trouble is, if every other job seeker has a commercial like this, you may find it hard to stand out when networking or attending a job fair, for example.

Well, here’s a new take on that idea, adapted from “The Little Black Book of Connections,” by Jeffrey Gitomer.

It’s called the “Reverse Personal Commercial,” strategy. And if you follow it, you can engage more people while networking. All you have to do is ask questions, instead of spitting out a canned “commercial” from memory.

The questions that make up your Reverse Personal Commercial might go like this: “Hi, my name’s Fred. Say, how many (insert your field here) companies in Minnesota do you know that are growing? What companies do you know that need to improve their (insert your expertise here)? Who do you know that I should be talking to?”

Now. Why do questions work? They’re hard to ignore — they force listeners to pay attention. Plus, questions let you gather valuable data, so you can quickly tell whether or not you’re talking to someone who can give you a job lead.

So, I have two questions for you:

What questions could you ask about your industry and your expertise that would engage listeners?

Whom could you meet and try your Reverse Personal Commercial on today?

2) Reverse Engineer the Job Posting

Reverse engineering is taking an object apart to see how it works, in order to duplicate or enhance that object. When you reverse engineer a job posting online or in the newspaper, you can see how the mind of an employer works, which will enhance your job search!

According to career expert Carole Martin, hiring managers put a lot of time and effort into writing job postings that list the qualities and skills of their ideal candidates.

In other words, the typical job posting is a wish list. If you can match its language in your resumes and cover letters, you’re much more likely to get called for an interview.

Here is an example, provided by Martin, of desired traits found in six job postings for the position of Executive Secretary:

“Confidential” (used in all six postings)

“Ability to proofread and edit” (used in all six)

“Organized, attentive to detail” (used in all six)

“Excellent written and verbal communication skills” (used in four of six postings)

Do you see a pattern here?

If you’re applying for an Executive Secretary position, you need to highlight the above traits in your cover letter and resume … so long as they apply to you, of course!

Bonus: You can use these same words in an interview to make it sound like you’re a natural fit for the position. After all, you’ll be speaking the same language as your employer. So get busy reverse engineering today!

via Why You Should Think in Reverse to Find a New Job.

Why You Should Think in Reverse to Find a New Job