December 2013 |
Transition-e-news Volume 3 Issue 89 |
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Transition Insight
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Holiday Job Hunting: Don't put your resume on the shelf and don your dancing shoes …
by Dan Moran - reprinted with permission "Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Yup — it is here — the "official" holiday season. . The time of the year when parties abound, there are presents to buy and the time of the year when no one finds a job ... Wrong! And so wrong especially this year! Every year I get on the same soapbox after hearing over and over again ... "... I am going to lay low until after the New Year... ". Not a good strategy for sure, and this is why I thought I would visit this again with some tips you can use starting today. 2013 is SOOOO Different: Diffusing the Myth The true fact is this: Companies continue to hire during the holiday season but job hunters quit looking. As a recruiter and corporate human resources executive job openings continue during December just when many job seekers put their resume on the shelf for the holiday season. There is no statistical proof that there are fewer new job openings in the month of December versus other time of the year. In fact, many say it is just the opposite. Hiring isn’t driven by a calendar, it is driven by need. This past week, the week of Thanksgiving, the job market normally gets a bit quiet on the Monday — Tues — Wed before the holiday. Not just year. In fact, the market jumped 14% in that week — unheard of. There is confidence in the market, perhaps fueled by the stock market, and employers are now hiring strong. To put your resume on the shelf for the season makes no sense; there are good jobs in the market right now. Many companies want to tie up loose ends — and that means hiring In many companies, hiring actually heats up in December as managers and business owners have money left in their budgets and want to spend their budget rather than potentially losing it. Still others want to tie up loose ends before the end of the year — and this includes filling open positions. Many are also surprised to learn that the holiday season is also a popular time for people to give their notice and move on, to get a fresh start in a new job for the New Year. The result — more job opportunities for others. So I hope you get the message. Six Tips for Your Holiday Job Search So, before you buy into the myth, put your resume on the shelf and don your dancing shoes, consider the following actions: 1 — Use holiday events as networking opportunities — Every event, party, children’s school function, gathering etc. is an opportunity for you to network, make a new contact. During the holidays there are generally more events — and more opportunities! This past week Vikki and I went to five networking events ... and next week it continues. 2 —Volunteer and make new contacts — Get involved with a charity or group during the holiday season. Often the pillars of the community either attend or help at these events and for you, which means an opportunity to make great contacts — and give back to the community at the same time. 3 —Rather than holding back on search activities — heat up your actions — While I hope I have enlightened you to keep the search activities going, others still won’t and there will be less competition and fewer candidates giving you a better competitive opportunity. 4 —Close down loose ends — contacts, follow-ups, applications — What better time of the year to close down your "to do" list of contacts and follow-ups and tie up you own loose ends. 5 —Make yourself flexible & available and keep in contact — What is miserably frustrating to a recruiter is the inability to get in touch with potential candidates who "check-out" during holiday weeks. They just don’t check their email and messages go unreturned. Stay connected! 6 —Set goals — celebrate wins — visualize success — You may have heard the expression "You cannot manage what you cannot manage". In career & job search, it is critical that you set goals, and set daily actions to achieve your goals, especially when outside factors — like holiday activities — can be distracting. I utilize the Get Hired NOW! methodology with my clients which focuses on goal setting, drives results through doing simple and planned actions every day, and celebrates the achievement of goals. As an idea, set a goal for making X-number of networking contacts this holiday season — and celebrate when you hit your goal! Keep the pressure on and take advantage of less competition in the market as some will just not take advice and hang it up for the season. You can win! |
Veterans: How to Avoid 5 Fatal Job Fair Mistakes
By: Sultan Camp, recruiter Orion International It never fails. I'm at a job fair looking for high—performing, motivated professionals to place into great opportunities with our Fortune 500 client companies. Yet I walk away every time shaking my head in disbelief at how many seasoned officers and NCOs blow their chance to get hired. Here are five fatal mistakes most military job seekers make at career fairs, and how you can avoid making them: 1 — You Have No Idea Why You're Here — Most folks think the key to job fair success is to "dress smartly and bring lots of resumes." Well, what if I told you that you don't go to job fair to get a job? To go a little further, DON'T BRING ANY RESUMES!!! You're probably a little shocked right now, because this flies against everything you've been told in your transition. I'll ease your inner conflict and tell you that job fairs are an absolute must on your to do list, but not for the reasons you think. (As for the resume thing, we'll get to that in a bit.) One of the critical first steps of your job search strategy is to have a targeted list of companies. Before you invest your time and money to attend a job fair, you must have a sense of what industries and companies can utilize your skill sets and have opportunities in your geographic preferences. Many folks disregard the smaller companies they've never heard of before. This is a HUGE mistake! You should actually target and start off with the smaller companies. Why? Well, let's get to the basics of business. Job fairs cost a lot in terms of money and time away from the office. If a smaller company is willing to invest that level of commitment and resources to a job fair, it's far more likely they have an immediate vacancy they're trying to fill. Even better, there's a very high probability that a hiring decision—maker will be present at the booth. Another mistake many job seekers make at a job fair? They wait in the long lines at the front of the fair to speak with the "big box" employers. Instead, be smart and start at the physical rear of the job fair and work your way forward. Here's the strategy behind this: Some of us recruiters don't want to pay the big bucks to get the prime real estate at the front. We're typically twiddling our thumbs, because everyone is bottlenecked up there. Your reward for taking this approach is that you get more one—on—one interaction time, while your less—informed competition is wasting precious networking opportunities standing in line to talk to someone who generally doesn't have any authority to hire them. Your win. You may be wondering why I said you weren't at a job fair to get a job. Well, your reason to attend a job fair is to grow your professional network. If, in the process, a genuine connection is made, that's serendipity at work and you've become the one—in—a—million job fair hire story. Always remember this so you stay focused on your reason for being at the event. 2 — You Can't Tell Me What You Can Do for Me — Let's imagine for a moment that you're watching TV, and a commercial comes on that looks like a resume (and sounds like one, too). How long would it take for you to change the channel? Likewise, you have about 10—15 seconds to give me a reason to continue listening to you. You have to craft your elevator speech towards the positions you know my company is typically hiring for, while at the same time expressing how your skills match. And please don't give me the "I'm a transitioning...yada yada." That tells me that you haven't done anything with your elevator speech since you practiced it in a transition course, and it "sounded good" to someone who has never hired or placed someone in years — or possibly ever. There's no substitute for hard work here. That's why focus is important. In 2013, in the age of smartphones, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to tell me about what my company does and how you can add value to my clients and customers. You should be seizing on the opportunity to use all of your branch of service's outplacement resources to test drive your elevator speech before you even get to a job fair. Those professionals will provide you with frank, candid feedback. Trust me, your friends and family will tell you that your elevator speech sounds great, but my fellow recruiters and I have to mentally check out when you tell us you're a "leader" and that you can "manage." We recruiters don't like dealing with generalities. So, how do you engage our attention? Lead off with your technical skills — such as your degree, certifications and hard skills — before you even think about talking about the transferable ones. Take it from me, save sharing your transferable skills until I'm really interested and ask you to elaborate a little more about yourself after your 10—second promo. Please don't wing your elevator speech. If you do, you're likely to be tuned out. 3 — Are You TRULY Ready to Transition? — Ditch the uniform, already! I know this may rub some the wrong way, but you already know I'm here to give you information that works, not flatter your ego. I'm pretty confident that you're trying to make a good impression, but here's why a uniform is a bad idea: Employers want to envision you as a part of their team. Also, wearing your uniform may sink your job search ship before it even sets sail. One reason is that you risk being perceived as unprepared. Which demonstrates more effort? Simply putting on a service dress uniform or donning an interview—ready suit? Believe it or not, I see many candidates treat the job fair as some type of marginal event where they think a uniform or slacks and a shirt are "good enough." The lesson here is that I ALWAYS remember the candidates with the polished, professional image. Another reason not to wear the uniform is that it allows the prospective employer to disqualify you before even hearing your elevator speech. Recruiters who are fellow veterans can immediately tell by looking at your uniform whether or not you're retiring, how much salary you're currently making (i.e., whether they can afford you or not), and some have even said it creates doubt as to whether or not you're truly ready to hang the uniform up. 4 — You Sound Like the Other 200+ People I Spoke with Today — A very good friend of mine is also a recruiter. I walked up to her once during a job fair we were both attending, and her immediate response was, "How can I help you?" She'd become so "punch drunk" by the hundreds of job seekers who'd walked up to her that day that she barely recognized me by the time I stopped by. If your approach is along the lines of, "Here's my degree and my military experience; now you figure out if I'm a good fit (then hire and train me)," you're in effect saying "me, me, me" all day long. (Hint: This is NOT a good thing.) Now, I know firsthand, having facilitated the Transition GPS Course, that the instructors explicitly stress that this "me, me, me" technique is the worst way to work a job fair. But I guess the vast majority of graduates think they don't have to give much thought about how to differentiate themselves from the standard job seeker. How do you accomplish this? You can do this by extending your hand, giving a firm handshake and telling me your name. Then ask mine. Then ask me briefly what my actual position is with the company, as I may not even be a recruiter. Once that's out of the way, acknowledge the fact that my time is precious, hit me with your 10—second elevator speech and ask if your skills are a match for my company. (Which should be "yes," if you've done your homework and identified the companies that are a good fit for you.) If you're told "no" or "apply on our website," don't take offense; it effectively gives you honest feedback that you haven't stimulated enough interest. Instead, ask the person what type of folks the company typically hires, so that if you have any sharp people in your network, you can refer them. Trust me, the quickest way to stay in a recruiter's or hiring decision—maker's mind is to send exceptional candidates their way. Once your conversation has ended, thank them graciously with a smile, ask if they have a business card and determine if it's OK to email them. Once you leave the job fair with all of your new contacts, email each of them and use the subject line "Thanks...and a cup of coffee?" Thank them in your message for the time they took to speak with you, and offer to meet in future to learn more about what they do and the company. I can tell you that 95% of the people at job fairs will not do this. But you should also take it a step further. In the email, note that you saw the person's LinkedIn profile and ask if it's OK to connect with them on there. You can also look that person up on Twitter and start following them (if they have a professional profile). Because two out of three job seekers are effectively using all three big social media sites to find their next job, many less—qualified people are getting hired as a result of more—qualified candidates still stuck in the "resume & cover letter" age. Just by adding one person, such as me, to your network, you've increased your professional contacts by over one million connections. 5 — You're Downright Scared to Talk Salary — Hopefully, you already have an idea of what you need to know about salary and are prepared to have some answers when asked. You may try deflecting or redirecting when I ask you "How much are you looking to make?" by saying something along the lines of "I'm more interested in learning more about the job..." But understand that you're essentially speed dating at the job fair. Most companies are aware of their current needs and have to determine whether or not you're going to be a match for those positions in terms of skills, location and salary. Your answer to the salary question shows us how prepared you are, because it shows you understand the norms for the company or the industry and location. I often chuckle inside when I ask the money question and a job seeker's answer has nothing to do with the position's range, but is strictly in tune with what that person is making in terms of their military salary. Once again, the fatally flawed thinking of "me, me, me." Just like the popular dating sites out there, we recruiters are truly trying to match you up with your skills, location and salary preferences to create a win—win situation. But understand that, at the end of the day, all of us are specialists looking to fill very specific positions, so don't get annoyed or frustrated if there isn't a match. Instead, say to yourself, "There isn't a match today," and use it to your advantage by making us your wingman. That way, if we do come across someone who's looking for a candidate with your background, you're the first person we think of. One Final Thought and Suggestion — Remember when I told you not to bring a resume to a job fair? Well, if after your elevator speech and subsequent conversation you've really connected with us and we ask you for it, offer to email it to us recruiters. Better yet, for hiring decision—makers, send it via FedEx or UPS with tracking, then call about 30 minutes after you get the delivery notification. That's how you leave a game—changing and job—creating impression. Have your eyes been opened to any job fair mistakes you've been making? |
Write Resumes From A Perspective Greater Than Yourself
By Rachael McDermott I love steak. I've been known to put away a whole porterhouse — and for a 5' 4" petite woman, it's quite the sight. Mr. Civilian Chick gets a huge kick out of it. But it can't be some lame cheap cut of beef that's previously frozen, tough and lacking flavor. I'm talking corn-fed, dry aged prime steakhouse steak that you can sink your teeth into and leaves you wanting more, MORE until you've polished off the whole thing and need to be rolled home to ponder the depth of your gluttony, sloth and whatever other deadly sins you've racked up. But this isn't my point. My point here is to discuss how to give your resume that same bite, that je ne sais quoi, that substance and impact that will pique an employer's interest and leave them wanting more. Ok, no one's resume is really THAT earth shattering. But they can be enhanced and deepened by taking a higher level, bird's eye perspective of yourself. Create depth through new heights if you will. Our individual understandings of ourselves can be so limited that it's useful to seek out greater perspectives for clarity on our significance in a larger scheme. Wow, I just went from gluttony and sin to deep thoughts all at once! When creating your resume, take some time to step out of yourself and write from an outside perspective. Imagine how a general, your commanding officer or even your team mates view your role. They'd take a bird's eye view perspective and see how you fit into the unit's overall operation and successes. Imagine your commanding officer briefing his commanding officer on what you did. He wouldn't present all the minutia of your day-to-day tasks that are in your official MOS description. Similarly, when my boss briefs her boss on a career fair I organized, she focuses on the overall results and how the event's success fits into the office's goals (e.g. encouraged participation and built relationships with many new employers that are of strategic significance to the university, impacted over 50% of the student body by increasing student participation, etc.). This isn't to say that you shouldn't also include your duties. Of course you should as they might reflect those keywords, skills and experiences from the job description that are essential to getting your resume past online application systems. But also remember to include achievements and impacts that show the scope and scale of what you did. In order to help you with this, here's a few key things to remember:
I'm sure you understand your military job. But think of how you'd explain it to your grandmother to make sure it is clear and easy enough for civilians to quickly grasp what you did.
Remember, resumes aren't meant to cover every single, solitary thing you've ever done. Just showcase highlights to get an interview, where you can elaborate on details. Cut down on the minutia! |
Why don't more veterans consider careers in nonprofits?
By: Ron Rutherford This was the topic recently in a LinkedIn group devoted to Veteran employment I belong to. Seemed like a fair question, giving veterans a broader range of options for careers. However, it was interesting to see the responses. Some veterans were already working in a non-profit organization (NPO) and wanted to share their experiences. But, the majority of those responding to this question felt non-profit work was not for them. Usually, they cited pay, working conditions and/or lack of skills to work in a non-profit as the reasons they would not want to pursue. It is important to understand just what it means to be classified as a non-profit. A non-profit is an organization that reinvests surplus revenue back into the organization to achieve its intended goal, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends. Designation as a non-profit does not mean the organization cannot make a profit. Rather, the organization has no owners and that 'profit' will go towards the purpose of the non-profit, not the people operating it. Another trait for a non-profit is it is usually 'cause' related. A NPO does not usually make material things, like cars or computers or appliances. Instead, it may take in those items, refurbish them and then sell them to fund the true 'cause' of the NPO. Most think of non-profits as charities, like Goodwill Industries, The Salvation Army, The American Red Cross. Did you also realize non-profits include most colleges and universities as well as many hospitals? There are more than 1.6 million NPOs registered in the United States alone. Many are small, localized efforts. But some are huge, like the $38 Billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or the $14.8 Billion Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Small NPO's and many NGO's (non-government organizations) use volunteers or a 'raise-your-own support' staff. This means the organization calculates what you'll need to live on and then you petition family, friends and other groups to 'sponsor' you to do this work. This is the usual portrait of a NPO worker; Someone basically 'begging' for funds to work long hours for a cause. Fortunately, this is not the case with a growing number of NPO's. As an example, the Gates Foundation top-5 executives all have annual salaries exceeding $400,000 and The Nonprofit Times Salary and Benefits Reports the median salary for U.S. Executive directors is $60,000. As far as job growth - According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), social and community service managers are projected to experience a 27% rate of job growth between 2010 and 2020, considered faster than the average. Currently, nearly 57% of jobs in the nonprofit sector are in healthcare and the BLS indicates that health educators are projected for the highest job growth at 37% between 2010 and 2020. Non-profit work isn't for everyone — just like retail, or construction, or being in the military. However, it is one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. Economy and jobs are available for review. |
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