Archives 2006

The Resume-Interview Connection

Back in the 1950’s, a Time magazine reporter interviewed a world-famous pianist about his work. The reporter asked: “What’s most challenging about playing the piano?” The pianist thought for a moment and replied: “I do OK with the notes, but the spaces between the notes give me lots of trouble.”

What he meant, of course, was that he was very competent at the mechanics of playing the piano, but found the subtlety and nuance of making music, getting the “spaces between the notes” right, a continual life-long challenge.

Job seekers are getting great advice today from a variety of sources about pursuing career opportunities. The total job search process is well-documented in terms of how to perform discrete steps such as drafting a resume, preparing and using cover letters, using job boards on the internet, etc.. While mastering each of the steps is important, it doesn’t necessarily enable a job seeker to address the “spaces between the notes” of the Job Search process. Good mechanics may not be enough to get to the job offer.

Here’s a summary of some key issues to address to be effective in working on those “spaces between the notes.”

Understanding the first steps taken by the employer is vital for the job seeker, so let’s begin there.

Job Specifications: what the company wants
When a position becomes available in a company, the HR function and hiring manager review and reach agreement upon the criteria for selecting the right person. Job specifications define requirements such as education, work experiences, industry background, skill sets and technical proficiencies, which may result in eight to ten criteria for the hiring decision. The specifications, in turn, drive all phases of the selection process, such as resume screenings, evaluation of job fair candidates, interview assessments, etc., through to hiring of the final candidate.

The job specifications are readily available to job seekers in ads, postings on company web sites and other sources. The order of presentation of the specifications also demonstrates what is most to least important and may suggest possible tradeoffs and areas of flexibility as well.

The challenge of the job seeker is to get at the “spaces between the notes” by effectively addressing the job specifications at every stage of the selection process: the resume design, the phone screening interview and the job interview. Consider the following:

Resume Design: send a clear message
A resume screener searches for candidates who match the specifications. A strong, focused resume that captures three or four core competencies plus related accomplishments allows the screener to make multiple connections with the job specifications. The resume screener doesn’t need to know all that the job seeker has ever done; instead, he/she is looking for the match between the specs and the background outlined in the resume.

Some key points:

Core competencies are the key skills of the job seeker, those skills that are performed well, with subject matter expertise, supported by solid accomplishments.

Core competencies should be evident throughout the two-page resume.

Every job seeker has one set of core competencies, so one resume should be used, mixing and matching the presentation of the core competencies to improve the correlation with job specs as needed.

If the core competencies match up well with the specs, then the process moves forward.

Phone Screening Interview: get “on message”
Recruiters contact those prospects that appear to match up well with the specs to determine if they are viable candidates. Like resume preparation, there are abundant resources available for how to handle this step as well, but some key points to improve performance are:

Recruiters ask questions because they don’t know what the answers are. Respond to the questions asked, avoid using questions to segue into other areas.

Comments about career, job roles and responsibilities are most effective if the job specs are used to drive the details.

Core competencies should be presented using the priorities of the job specifications as script direction. Any shortcomings versus the specs should be addressed by citing other, comparable achievements.

Finally, close the call with a summary of core competencies and state a strong interest in a meeting to discuss the opportunity.

All other considerations being equal, the job seeker who stays “on message” by presenting his/her core competencies in terms of the job specifications will get the opportunity to interview for the position.

Interview: talk about the specifications
Interviewing job seekers enables a company to evaluate the candidates, test their own expectations and find the “best fit” to effectively meet their hiring goals. Consider some key points about job interviewing:

The job specs provide a “road map” for content. Use the specs to share details about career, job roles and responsibilities that connect to the specs.

Listen to the Interviewer and answer the questions asked.

Be prepared to ask a few solid questions that demonstrate knowledge and comfort level with the job specifications, which will illustrate that you “walk the talk” when it comes to the company requirements.

A final point: ask for the job!

Summary

Today’s job seeker is on a steep learning curve to successfully launch and sustain a career search process. But focusing upon one’s career, skills, abilities and goals is not enough. The key issue to address is the company goals and job specs. At each step of the resume/phone screen/interview process, the job seeker is challenged to integrate the job specifications with his/her core competencies, fully demonstrating the connectivity between their skills and company needs. Doing so effectively enables the job seeker to get the “spaces between the notes” right and greatly increase the potential for success in the interview/selection process.

Holidays shouldn’t freeze your job search

Thanksgiving is next week. Thursday, so

It’s time for my annual warning to job seekers: Don’t halt your job search during the holidays. You might miss out on something good.

This advice is especially important for those who are unemployed. If your job search efforts stall, you could miss out on a job lead or a job offer. In addition, your lack of progress could lead to feeling upset and maybe even depressed as the old year ends and the new year approaches.

Contrary to a common assumption, December is often an active hiring month. Many companies conduct job interviews during November and December. They keep the hiring process going during the holidays for several reasons:

• December is the end of the fiscal year for many companies. A manager might speed up the hiring process to use funds from the current year.

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• Some managers will have received a budget allocation for a new position for 2007. If the position is important, they want to interview now so the new employee can start as early as possible in January.

• Many managers want to tie up loose ends before the end of the year. If an unfilled position has been ignored for several months, they’ll give it full attention now to avoid getting off to a poor start in the new year.

• In some industries the workload declines during the holidays. Managers use the slack time to interview candidates. They make job offers in December that take effect in January.

Thomas J. Wacker, vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, urges job seekers to keep working at it.

“It’s important to keep momentum into the holidays,” he observes. “Taking a vacation from the job search between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day means missing opportunities. Some jobs are filled during that period, and the hiring process for others is too far along by the time January arrives.”

Wacker adds, “Smart job seekers realize that many of their competitors take the holidays off. They take advantage of that to compete for jobs against a smaller pool of candidates.”

Of course, some companies in certain industries might not do any hiring during the holidays. If you’re getting few responses to your inquiries, use the holiday period for further research on the companies that interest you.

Also keep in contact with the people in your network. Don’t assume they’re too busy. Some might be involved with end-of-the year deadlines, but others might have more time to talk or meet with you because many of their co-workers are gone and they have fewer meetings, client transactions or other demands on their time. Offer to take them to breakfast or lunch.

Accept as many invitations to holiday events as you can. They provide opportunities to continue networking in social settings. Be prepared to interact with people you already know and with people to whom you are introduced.

Wacker advises, “Act like a politician. Meet lots of people. Create a good impression.”

Before you meet with others socially, be sure your “elevator speech” easily falls off your tongue. Be prepared to describe your career and your job-search goals as succinctly as possible, conveying this information in only as much time as you would have to speak to someone on an elevator. Social events are not an appropriate time to conduct lengthy discussions about your job search.

If you are employed and looking for another job, you might not have as much time as usual for job-search activities because of holiday events and other holiday responsibilities. If you need to limit your job-search time, set priorities.

You might need to set temporary limits on making new contacts, but don’t ignore those you have already met. Keep in touch with them. Follow up on the leads you have collected. Write thank-you notes.

No matter how busy you are, or think others are, when you have an interview scheduled make it a priority to call the people in your network to learn about the company and its culture in preparation for the interview process.

If you are unemployed, you could be looking forward to a break from job-search tasks during the holidays. It’s fine to give yourself a break, but don’t totally neglect your search. A few hours here and there can keep your search moving. It will be easier to pick up the pace in January if there haven’t been large gaps in the process. And you’re more apt to avoid the post-holiday blahs.

Employed or unemployed, if you are going to be out of town during the holidays, be sure to give your schedule and contact information to prospective employers. You don’t want to miss out on a good job because you can’t be contacted.

Eat Turkey, Find Job

With the recent unpleasantness on the job boards (examples: rate hikes, NASDAQ reporting issues and the Monster Job Board scam) you may not think it¡¯s a good time to take action in your job search. You may be wrong¡­

Even before Halloween started, stockings and Santa hats could be found at local retailers. Now, with Thanksgiving just days away, the holiday spirit is taking over and people are envisioning feasts of turkey, Dallas Cowboys football, long lines at movie theaters, and perhaps even midday naps. It¡¯s safe to say that as the holidays approach, thoughts of the job search can subside. Many people are simply under the impression that companies stop looking for new employees during the holidays. This isn¡¯t the case:

¡°Contrary to a common assumption, December is often an active hiring month. Many companies conduct job interviews during November and December. They keep the hiring process going during the holidays for several reasons:

*December is the end of the fiscal year for many companies. A manager might speed up will have received a budget allocation for a new position for 2007. If the position is important, they want to interview now so the new employee can start as early as possible in January.

*Some managers will have received a budget allocation for a new position for 2007. If the position is important, they want to interview now so the new employee can start as early as possible in January.

*Many managers want to tie up loose ends before the end of the year. If an unfilled position has been ignored for several months, they¡¯ll give it full attention now to avoid getting off to a poor start in the new year.¡± (From JS Online)

Many suggest that the holidays serve as a key search time for unemployed candidates. While this is true, the holidays can also provide quiet candidates with the chance to see what the market has to offer for the upcoming year. It¡¯s also a time when that dream job might not have been picked clean by hundreds of other candidates:

¡°A job search at this time of year might be a bit different, but you can use holiday parties and other potential candidates¡¯ belief that it¡¯s not a good time to hunt for a job in your favor. Add in that the unemployment rate is the lowest since 2001, and it¡¯s a good time to look around.¡± (From the Chicago Tribune)

Hey, we want everybody to eat well, enjoy time with their families, and go back for thirds on pie. But we know that quiet and active candidates never know when the job they need or want is going to surface, so we say welcome the holidays and keep the search going. The two things don¡¯t have to be mutually exclusive.