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Fine-Tune Your Recruiter Connections - Jobs In The Money

For many job-seekers, working with search firms is an emotionally laden topic. We asked recruiters and career counselors for some do’s and don’ts to help you make the most of opportunities these agencies can offer.
The first step is to understand their role in the hiring process. If you believe the recruiter’s mission to “help you get a job,” you hold a misconception that could leave you feeling disappointed and betrayed, even when recruiters properly goes about their work.

“A lot of candidates will contact a recruiter, and think that recruiter is working for them. They assume they are the recruiter’s client. In reality, the recruiter is working for the employer, because that’s who is paying the fee,” says Benjamin Normann, vice president at the Weatherly Group, a New York executive search firm that includes investment banking, private equity and hedge funds among its major niches.

Only 10 percent of all jobs are found through search firms, says Kate Wendleton, president of The Five O’Clock Club, a nationwide career counseling network. So, instead of relying heavily on either recruiters or advertised job openings, she advises putting more effort into researching and contacting potential employers on your own, and networking.

Recruiters stress the importance of open, candid dialogue. They say they will need to know where you applied, your specific career interests and needs, current and required compensation, willingness to relocate, and any other factors that will affect your decision if you receive an offer. For example, does your spouse have final say over where you can go?
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Three Reasons People Change Jobs - from Lifehack

In teaching others about Managing with Aloha, I spend a good amount of time on Ho‘ohana, the value of worthwhile work, explaining how you can still work with intentional focus on certain things which are important you, even though your present job may not be the one you think of as your final career choice.

We recently considered this here at Lifehack.org in this article: Create Your Best Life at Work with One Question. The question was, “What’s in this for me?”

There are several reasons that people change jobs, restlessly seeking the one they can both live with and work within. Based on my personal experience, these are the three significant ones:

We change jobs because:

1. We didn’t select the right job for us in the first place.
2. We don’t get along with our boss.
3. We don’t feel a connection to those we work with.

The solutions for each of these are in our circle of influence. We have choices, and the only questions are a) if we will own up to how we ourselves can effect the change necessary to break out of the on-the-job rut we may find we are in, and b) if we are willing to do the work it takes.

This is not a comprehensive how-to listing, but in the spirit of Lifehack.org and the proverbial “20 that gets you the 80,” here are a few thoughts and suggestions.

To get the Right Job

This is the biggie in my view, because if this is the problem for you, reasons number 2 about your boss, and number 3 about your co-workers are a moot point. On the other hand, if you love your boss, and you love your co-workers, they become traps that keep you in the job that may be wrong for you— remember you can convert your relationships with those people to friendships, and move on.
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Getting What (You Think) You’re Worth - Forbes - Tara Weiss

What a relief! The grueling task of finding a job is over. You received an offer, and the company presented you with your starting salary and benefits package.

But wait. Before you hastily agree to the terms and sign on the dotted line, do some homework to find out if you’re being offered a competitive salary. If not–or even if you need a few thousand dollars more to cover the rent–negotiate. It’s something recent grads are reluctant to do since they’re often grateful just to be hired. After all, it’s not as if they have a wealth of on the job experience. It’s great to be appreciative and enthusiastic, but don’t forget: not only can you negotiate the salary of your first job, you should.

Here’s one reason why: “It’s no different than how we play poker,” says Michael Ball, founder of Career Freshman, a California-based company that teaches employers how to manage recent graduates. “Employers are not coming in with their full hand. They’re always coming in a few thousand below what they have to cap out at. There’s always more wiggle room.”

In Pictures: Negotiating Your First Salary

Chris Susco, vice president of compensation at Salary.com, says negotiating often results in “about 10% improvement on the initial offer.” He recommends saying something like “Based on my understanding of the job, the company’s needs, and the skills and experience I bring, I feel I’m worth $5,000 more than what you’re offering me .”

Susco advises students to make employers aware of the work and internship experience they’ve had in the past, recommendations from professors and former employers, and details of extracurricular activities, to show the strong potential they have for success at the company.

If the thought of negotiating for a few thousand dollars more makes you queasy, consider this: Annual raises are usually a percentage of your salary. “That incremental negotiation you do at the front end continues to pay you back when it’s time for a percentage raise,” says Ball. It goes on from there, especially if you’re at the company for several years.

That’s particularly true for women. Among employees who work full time and are one year out of college, females are making only 80% of what their male counterparts earn, according to a new study by the American Association of University Women.
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Putting a face to a resume

Fallon Rechnitz set her video-capable digital camera on a stack of books. She then hit the record button and spoke for about 30 seconds, instantly producing a video resume she plans to send to potential employers.

Rechnitz is at the forefront in the hunt for employment. Video-resume services are only starting to emerge on the Internet, and the 22-year-old Arizona State University senior believes the visuals can give her a leg up after graduating this month.

“I feel like my personality is what really seals the deal and if they can see my personality, I’d get a better chance of getting the job,” said Rechnitz, who is applying for news positions with television stations in Arizona.

The job search has come a long way since the days of printing resumes on high-quality, linen paper and stuffing them in matching envelopes. Employers typically accept electronic versions of traditional resumes these days — many now require them — while incorporating their own research of applicants’ social-networking personal profiles.

“You lose a little bit of formality. You, as a candidate, lose some of the distinction you might have had from a resume that looked good and matched well,” said Brad Karsh, author of “Confessions of a Recruiting Director.”

To stand out, some job seekers are turning to online services such as WorkBlast.com and ResumeBook.tv, or posting their clips on a video-sharing site like Google Inc.’s YouTube. No longer limited to mailing video on tape or a CD, they are e-mailing links directly to employers or adding them to traditional resumes.

Kevin Epps, 49, said he was getting interviews for more senior positions after posting his video resume late last year. (None turned into job offers, but, in a twist, the Las Vegas company that produced the video, Harrington Reed Inc., wound up hiring him.)

Some video resumes, such as Rechnitz’s, show a candidate speaking directly to a camera, while others are mock interviews. Some blend in visuals of related work or extracurriculars, such as playing the piano.

Many employers welcome the chance to see a candidate before committing to an interview. Laurine Sargent said she wished she had video clips accompany the roughly 60 applications she received for a recent opening at her Phoenix-based real-estate firm.

“After a while, [resumes] would become hypnotic,” she said. “Everybody today knows to say the right things they know employers are looking for.”

She said she invited a dozen candidates for interviews and might have cut that in half had she seen their presentation skills ahead of them.

Others, however, remain skeptical, worried about the time it would take to view all the video and the potential for discrimination based on race, age and other factors that wouldn’t be apparent strictly from a traditional resume.

“Employers have told me for years that they will throw a resume in the trash if it has a picture attached or included,” said Shirley Rasberry, the career-services director at Texas Christian University’s business school. “They want to be sure there is no chance of being accused of any kind of discrimination. So a video resume would have the same effect.”

Job seekers also open themselves to looking stupid, and not just by choosing weird or inappropriate e-mail addresses.

“It’s almost like handing a job candidate a loaded gun,” said Scott Erker, a senior vice president at the human resources consulting firm Development Dimensions International.”You can be quite casual when in fact you want to make sure you’re tops in professionalism.”

He said many video resumes come across as auditions for “American Idol.” Because the concept is relatively new, he said, applicants don’t have good role models and turn to what they see on television for inspiration.

Job seeker Aleksey Vayner was mocked last year when his seven-minute video resume was widely circulated online. It shows footage in which he claims to lift 495 pounds in weights, serve a tennis ball at 140 m.p.h., ski as a national qualifier and break a stack of seven bricks with his hands. He was seeking a job in investment banking.

Patricia O’Keefe, assistant career director at the University of Denver, said neither employers nor students have brought up video resumes, and the university has not been pushing them. She favors waiting until employers resolve any issues related to discrimination.

Tyler Redford, chief executive of ResumeBook, acknowledged employers and career centers have been skeptical, and fewer than a third of its users have posted a video resume.

But Redford and other supporters believe discrimination could occur at the interview stage even without video resumes, so that alone should not deter job seekers.

As for concerns about the time it takes to view all the video, “it’s a matter of where you work it into the process,” Redford said. Employers could save time overall, he said, by reviewing video before asking the finalists to travel for interviews.

Even if an employer never sees it, producing a video resume could help a job candidate prepare for the interview and boost self-confidence, said Tim Apolito, a University of Dayton instructor who has been helping criminal justice students prepare video resumes long before YouTube and online services came around.

Some advocates believe video resumes may make sense in certain fields like broadcasting, marketing and theater — the ones where job seekers are already asked to send in portfolios of past work.

Unlike a portfolio, though, a video resume merely shows how one performs in front of a camera.

“A resume is really a marketing piece but not necessarily showing the scope of your work,” said Julia Overton-Healy, director of Mansfield University’s career center.

Nick Murphy, operations manager with WorkBlast LLC, said video resumes are not meant to replace other job-search tools, nor are they limited to professions in which employers deal directly with the public.

“Even people who are hiring software coders, [they] are going to sit in a cubicle somewhere,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to learn a great deal about people and their personality and their potential with the company.”

IT Managers Face Crunch in Filling Open Positions

Last month, Timothy Ramsay, assistant vice president of computer and network services at the University of Miami, filled a security manager position. But it took a yearlong search and a 30% increase in pay over the original offer.

Ramsay said the search was so difficult because of increased IT hiring activity, particularly in hot job areas such as security, database administration and project management. Salaries also have become a big issue in South Florida, where housing prices have soared. The university is now studying across-the-board pay increases for workers in IT and other departments to help them deal with the region’s high cost of living, Ramsay said.

But the hiring crunch that he experienced isn’t limited to South Florida. The IT job market is improving nationally, according to several recent reports on technology employment trends. At the same time, though, it appears to be getting harder for employers to recruit people to fill the job openings they have.

That’s partly because the increased demand is creating competition for IT workers, and partly because some employers are seeking people with a range of skills that may be hard to find. For instance, Ramsay said the University of Miami was looking for someone who had policy and administrative skills, a technical background in security with certifications, and the ability to address key issues such as identity management.
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Retaining mature workers a solid strategy [Canada Focus]

Replacing experienced staff can prove costly to employers

Eradicating mandatory retirement began as a human-rights issue, but, over the next decade, keeping older workers in harness beyond retirement age is likely to become an issue of economic survival for a society facing growing skilled labour shortages.

By 2015, 48 per cent of the labour force will be between the ages of 55 and 64. Within 30 years, Canada will be an aged society, with a projected median age of 45 and quarter of the population past 65.

There just won’t be enough young people around to fill all the vacancies. Immigration likely won’t be able to keep up, either, even if we do streamline the process.

Skilled workers are becoming an international commodity - other industrialized nations are also struggling with skewed labour-force demographics caused by Baby Boomers moving into retirement.

One report by the Canadian Management Centre says North America could use an extra three million leaders in the 25-to-44 age bracket.

Raising the employment rate for older workers is critical to soften the blow of a shrinking labour force, says the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which foresees “major consequences for economic growth, public finance and living standards” in countries with aging populations.

“It’s a serious issue in Canada,” says Barbara Jaworski, president of the Workplace Institute, (www.workplaceinstitute.org) based in Toronto. The institute sponsors the annual Mature Workforce Summit (scheduled Nov. 6-7 in Toronto) and develops the list of the 50 best employers for 50-plus Canadians.

Retaining and attracting mature workers will allow some businesses to maintain productivity and stay competitive. For others, it will be a matter of keeping their doors open, says Jaworski, author of Kaa-Boom! How to Engage the 50-Plus Worker and Beat the Workforce Crisis.

But it requires a change in mindset.

More companies are developing recruitment strategies for hiring young employees than are looking for ways to retain and attract older workers, according to the 2006 Merrill Lynch New Retirement Study, which polled 1,000 U.S. companies.

It wasn’t all that long ago when downsizing cut swaths through careers of experienced middle-aged workers, jettisoned by companies intent on reducing overhead by hiring younger, cheaper employees.

Today, those same companies “can’t understand why they can’t find resumes from the same quality of people as they were able to get a few years ago,” she says.

The federal government recognizes the need to act, and got a start with two changes in the recent budget. The first change allows employers to pay a partial pension and benefits, thus encouraging phased retirements. The second increases the age limit to 71 from 69 for converting registered retirement savings plans - an incentive for older Canadians to continue working and saving for that long retirement.

The government also recognizes older workers face barriers and is looking for other policy changes that can address the issue. A federal expert panel on older workers is meeting with governments, labour representatives, academics, employers and industry across the country to identify challenges facing older workers.

This summer, the panel will submit a report to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development with recommendations for policies for attracting and retaining older workers.

Older workers have a lot to offer - and a lot more productive years in which to make contributions.

Baby Boomers are living longer, healthier lives and redefining retirement. At the age of 65, Canadian women can expect to live another two decades - and men another 16 years. But Boomers also are more likely to have entered the labour force later than other generations and are more likely to have experiences that shrink the retirement nest egg - things such as divorce, single parenthood, parenting later in life, having to reboot a career following downsizing, multiple employers or career changes.

And many of them do want to continue working past retirement age, according to projections from a 2002 study for Human Resources and Social Development, which polled Canadians who retired between 1992 and 2002.

A third of those polled said they’d retired due to ill health. Another third said they were ready to hang up their spurs - with health care, social assistance and education workers least likely to want to continue working.

The remaining third were healthy and willing to continue working - if conditions were right. Those conditions included reduced work schedules, part-time employment or flexible schedules and increased salary.

Prime candidates for extended work lives include those whose financial situations had deteriorated following retirement; people with higher education and well-paying, engaging occupations and immigrants.

There is no template for attracting and retaining older workers, says Jaworski. “Each organization is different based on the individuals they employ, the business they’re in - it can even be different from one department to another.”

But a strategic plan would include succession planning, training, flexible work arrangements, adequate pay and benefits, end-of-career planning and support.

Few companies have developed those strategic plans, according to a 2005 study of workers in 700 Fortune 1,000 companies done by Towers Perrin for the American Association of Retired Persons.

The study showed mature, large companies to be at greatest risk from the demographic shift, due to their hiring history - rapid growth through the 1970s, followed by downsizing in the ’90s that left them with few mid-career employees today. Leadership, sales and technical positions will be the hardest to fill.

The cost of losing older workers is high. Replacing an experienced worker can cost 50 per cent or more of their annual salary and the cost is higher in jobs requiring specialized skills, advanced training or extensive experience - all more likely in 50-plus employees.

Employers often complain the generation now entering the workforce lack core competencies - which can be counterbalanced by older employees. Many 50-plus workers have experience, dedication, focus, stability and enhanced knowledge.

They have perfected critical thinking skills over decades of work life. They have depth of knowledge, honed interpersonal skills and understand the older customer base.

They’re also more motivated than younger employees, says the Towers Perrin research, and are more willing to invest discretionary effort.

So it makes good business sense for businesses to hire older workers.

But what about the would-be retirees at the receiving end of all this attention?

A quick peek across the border could cause concern about issues that can affect Canadian Boomers on both the Freedom 55 and Freedom 75 retirement plans - erosion of retirement age can threaten pension and income security programs.

The U.S. banned mandatory retirement before age 70 in 1978 and got rid of the notion altogether in 1986.

While this was going on, eligibility for social security benefits rose to age 67 from 65 and the rate of unionization dropped to 12.9 per cent in 2003 from a shade over 20 per cent in 1983.

Offsetting that is the fact we have a different society. Canada has a stronger social security net, including health care, and the labour movement is stronger here than south of the border.

Human-rights legislation offers us some protection against age-related discrimination in hiring, promotions and job security.

Competitive hiring will ensure access to training, equitable pay for experience and benefits for older workers, once the penny drops in corporate offices across the land.

The talk now is about growing freedom for older workers. Some of us may want to retire early; some may want to cut back hours or ease into retirement; others may want to die in the harness.

But will the economic impact of growing labour shortages take away our ability to choose? Are some Baby Boomers heading for careers as octogenarian wage slaves?

Job seekers use video resumés, even if some employers aren’t ready

Fallon Rechnitz set her video-capable digital camera on a stack of books. She then hit the record button and spoke for about 30 seconds, instantly producing a video resumé she plans to send to potential employers.

Rechnitz is at the forefront in the hunt for employment. Video-resumé services are only starting to emerge on the Internet, and the 22-year-old Arizona State senior believes the visuals can give her a leg up after graduating this month.

“I feel like my personality is what really seals the deal and if they can see my personality I’d get a better chance of getting the job,” said Rechnitz, who is applying for news positions with television stations in Arizona.

Brave new world: The job search has come a long way since the days of printing resumés on high-quality linen paper and stuffing them in matching envelopes. Employers typically accept electronic versions of traditional resumes these days — many now require them — while incorporating their own research of applicants’ social-networking personal profiles.
Advertisement

“You lose a little bit of formality. You as a candidate lose some of the distinction you might have had from a resumé that looked good and matched well,” said Brad Karsh, author of “Confessions of a Recruiting Director.”

So to stand out, some job seekers are now turning to online services such as WorkBlast.com and ResuméBook.tv, or posting their clips on a video-sharing site like Google Inc.’s YouTube. No longer limited to mailing video on tape or a CD, they are e-mailing links to employers directly or adding them to traditional resumés.

Seeing re sults: Kevin Epps, 49, said he was getting interviews for more senior positions after posting his video resumé late last year. (None turned into job offers, but in a twist the Las Vegas company that produced the video, Harrington Reed Inc., wound up hiring him.)

Some video resumés, like Rechnitz’s, show a candidate speaking directly to a camera, while others are mock interviews. Some blend in visuals of related work or extracurriculars such as playing the piano.

Many employers welcome the chance to see a candidate before committing to an interview. Laurine Sargent said she wished she had video clips accompany the roughly 60 applications she received for a recent opening at her Phoenix-based real-estate firm.
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Job seekers Guide and Interview Tips – A review of the Best Job Interview Success Sites Online

Having been in the labor market some years ago, I had always encountered some difficulties in getting myself that actual lucrative job I wanted, having done a lot of research for my quest I eventually cracked the code a job seeker could use as a guide that exposes any jobseeker or anyone preparing for an interview. I have taken my time to locate and review the Best Job Interview Success System Sites Online.

Interview Guides

After careful research I found that this will prepare you for your interviews with the Complete Interview Guide. You’ll quickly learn how to answer questions like a pro so that no matter what an interviewer asks you, you’ll be calm, cool, and confident. Answers to tough questions and follow-up questions, handle tough situations, interview thank you’s and follow-up, and 3 practice interviews. For supervisory jobs, their Complete Interview Guide plus their exclusive Supervision Interview Guide Reviews answers to the toughest supervision questions. They have bonus of over 400 possible supervision interview questions covering experience, knowledge, supervisory situations and managing subordinate supervisors. In a summary Interview Guides offer the following for downloads…

•Complete Interview Guide

•HR Professional Interview Guide

•HR Professional Supervisor’s Interview Guide

•Supervision Interview Guide

•Interviewer’s Question Bank

Sample Resumes Online

Most of the resumes and cover letters available to you in books or on the Internet are the same old documents, barely reworded and resold to people everywhere as the best resume or cover letter.
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Job searches go beyond the Internet

Web-based resources bring an accessibility to finding work, but may not be the best place to start.

“The online process is the way to get your resume out there,” said Ellen Anderson, assistant director of Career Services. Usually, this step will be followed by a face-to-face interview. Depending on what a person is looking for, some niche Web sites may be more effective than others, Anderson said.

“I haven’t found very many people who have found their dream job on Monster[.com],” Anderson said.

Anderson recommends more focused search engines. Some Web sites tailor searches toward certain types of careers. Dice.com, for example, focuses on technology, computers and engineering fields. Monstertrak.com specializes in helping college students find jobs.

Daniel Doty, manager of Acher Alignment, has not fired people from online job search engines.

“I probably wouldn’t be interested in that because I’d want to talk with the person face to face,” Doty said.

When a person starts a job search, they should have a plan of action already in place, said Career Services counselor Robert Norwood.

“Avoid preparing for a job search when you should be conducting a job search,” Norwood said. “Job search materials [such as] resumes, references and a job search plan, should be in place before the job search is scheduled to begin. Once the job search begins, follow the job search plan, evaluate the plan’s effectiveness and if necessary modify the plan to improve the results.”

Specific skills tailored for a certain job, flexible hours and articulation are three of the things manager David Galica, director of operations at Snare Systems, looks for when hiring employees.

“They need to know how to talk, and most people don’t,” Galica said.

For example, Galica’s employees need to be able to explain technical computer issues with both himself and any customers involved.

“I always encourage job seekers to think about what makes them more qualified [than another candidate],” Anderson said. “The resume is such a critical part of this. The more ways you approach the job market, the more quickly your search will be effective.”