I’ve got a story for just about everything at work; my first employee relations issue as an HR Representative, my first foray into the world of passive candidate cold calling, and my most annoying encounters with job seekers. The latter is probably a larger topic of conversation among recruiters than you believe. I think that those that I might classify as annoying just don’t realize that they are being annoying. So, I have a little advice for those on the job hunt. You would think that much of this is a “no brainer”. In fact, this is stuff that we encounter every day and maybe stuff that you don’t think about.

1. If I left you a message to schedule an interview or discuss a position and you’re calling me back; if you don’t reach me, please leave a message. DO NOT repeatedly call me and not leave a message. I have caller i.d. and can see that you called.
   Psst- If you engage in the above behavior you’re heading down the road to being a stalker. Blocking your number and calling doesn’t work either. I still know it’s you.
2. If you’re on the job search, inform the people that you reside with, or those that might answer your phone that you are engaged in said search. I might call you from a number you don’t recognize. Being greeted with “who’s this!” or a grunt is not my idea of a good conversation starter.
3. Technology is great. We rely on it. Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean you have to use it. My recruiter friend, Dana, tells me daily about the fantastic ringtones she hears when she calls a candidate for interview. “Baby Got Back” is more information than we need to know. Consider changing it while you’re looking for a job.
4. While we’re on the subject, email addresses could be updated as well. I’m more likely to call or email DanaHarris@freeaccount than HotMamaDana@freeaccount. There are many free email sites and you can always have your nice email forwarded to your naughty one. I’ll be none the wiser.
5. Regardless of the job market and demand for your particular degree or skill set, if you act entitled, you’re not the candidate for my organization. Be proud of who you are and the great work you do, but be humble as well. No organization owes you anything. Period.
6. The market has been tough and many people are desperate for work and even willing to do work that they would consider below their level of expertise, status, or skill. Don’t act desperate or beg for a job. Even if you are willing to do anything, don’t say so. Please don’t grovel. It’s unbecoming.

So, the next time you get the urge to call a recruiter five times within a ten minute period, remember my advice. And before you expect a return call, make sure your ringtone isn’t loaded with lyrics that drop F-bombs.

Last week, I drove all the way from Lombardy Road to good ol’ Lombard, Illinois for the Chicago Talent Acquisition Summit.  Though I’d prefer to withhold this useful information & remain more knowledgeable than the rest, my experience dictates that I share my words of wisdom (or lack thereof).

• Just because it was okay to wear jeans to ERE’s Social Recruiting Summit in NY, does not mean jeans are standard dress code at every somewhat-social-media-related conference.  Oops!
• Jobs2Web is about company branding, getting your jobs out on the web and search engine optimization. I’d advocate learning more about them, stealing some of their ideas, and partnering with your webmaster to implement those fancy whozits and whatzits on your website ASAP.
• Beware of your surroundings before setting down a filled-to-the-brim, metal water jug or you might knock someone’s coffee off the table and onto their laptop.  Double oops.
• Even while more social-centric sites try to steal their thunder, LinkedIn stays aligned with their mission statement and focused on the strategic initiative to create professional networks and connections. LinkedIn’s philosophy of sticking with what they do best could bode well for Facebook too! Maybe you guys should hang with the social/personal and avoid the professional? I’m contemplating my breakup text message to Mark Zuckerberg, but have yet to thumb it into my QWERTY keyboard.
• During lunch, I talked to a few women who were equally excited about evolving technologies and the possibilities of social recruiting. They literally whipped out a pen & paper and started taking notes. If you or your thoughts are interesting enough to elicit a response such as this, you should probably bring your business cards everywhere you go.
• SimplyHired explained one of their fabulous product offerings: region-specific & skill-specific Twitter accounts that will tweet your company’s job. HINT: Your entire pipeline is following those postings
• I hope people did not drive away from that conference thinking that posting your jobs on your Twitter account equals social recruiting. If you are an employer just pushing out job posts (What Social Recruiting is NOT), you are already behind in the social media sphere.
• Smile at the people who work at the tolls and keep the receipts if you’d actually like to be reimbursed for your business expenses.

I think job seekers and employees in general can learn a great deal from our current winter Olympians. The article One big lesson from the Olympics for your job search! has several great comparisons between the Olympics and job searching. The article focuses on the fact that both Olympians and job seekers are waiting for that one particular big moment, and when it arrives, some nail it and others crumble. Being prepared is the key, but I think you can take it a step further to say that how someone handles the moment after crumbling is just as important.

If anyone saw the race on Saturday night where Apolo Ohno earned a bronze in the short-track 1,000-meter final, I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. Ohno was on track to speed by everyone, when contact with one of the other skaters caused him to lose all his momentum. I thought he was a goner for sure until acting in his typical “Ohno-ness”, recovering from the misstep, speeding back up and crossing over the finish line for the bronze medal. It wasn’t until his interview after the race that I realized just what kind of a person he is. While he could have thrown the other skater under the bus for coming into contact with him, he talked about how he understands the sport and knows what he’s getting himself into. Although this was Ohno’s 7th Olympic medal, as well as the medal that broke the tie with former Olympic record holder Bonnie Blair, his grace and dignity during the interview continued to inspire me.

On the flip side, consider Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer. On his way to a gold medal in the 10,000-meter race, Kramer made an incorrect lane change because of his coach’s instructions and was automatically disqualified. It was a very rare mistake and clearly his coach’s fault; however, Kramer basically threw a tantrum after being DQ’d, blaming and yelling at his coach while pushing him away. He chose to handle the situation with anger and blame rather than showing class and focusing on trying for gold in his next race.

From an employer standpoint, while many top job seekers, just like Olympians, may be similar in their qualifications, it’s never a bad idea to probe into one’s ability to manage a slip-up.

Expanding upon that, a few lessons can be learned here by everyone:

1. No matter what the cause of the error, don’t blame others.
2. Handling blunders in a sophisticated, poised fashion never goes out of style.
3. You can always get back up from a misfortune and go for the gold (or the bronze… you get the idea)

How do you bounce back from big moment blunders? Do you take the easy way out like Sven Kramer? Or do you remain poised like Apolo Ohno and come back even stronger than before?

Image credit: Wikipedia

Sometimes I feel like I am in a movie looking at a speeding clock.  Where minutes feel like seconds, and the day rolls by like a lunch break.  I grab a piece of paper and quickly jot down my “to do” list.  Yes, I am a list maker, but we’ll get to that later.  Have you ever lain in bed at night, trying to relax, only to find that Father Time has gotten the best of you again?

In this day and age, everything happens in sound bites or megabytes.  The phone is ringing. Which one? Cell phone, landline, or did my Blackberry just go off? Meetings, conference calls, webinars, interviews, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – it can certainly be overwhelming and figuring out the technology and navigating through these resources as a recruiter can be time-consuming. Speaking of which, should I Tweet the world to let them know I’m blogging right now………..nah that will take too much time.    It’s so busy that my New Year’s resolution was to make sure I put breathing on my daily calendar.  Where is that fresh young kid who once looked forward to the sweet sanctuary of Friday Happy Hour?    Nowadays, I look at that same calendar and think to myself, Friday is coming too soon – I still have so much to get done.  Many people reading this will think, there is no way she believes that Friday arrives too soon, but when you enjoy your career as much as I do, being busy is a good thing.

For years I felt pretty good about my time management skills and my ability to prioritize my day, however, after realizing how many emails I send out at two o’clock in the morning I’m forced to take a fresh look.  I’m starting to believe there must be a better way. How can I be more efficient, and accomplish everything I want, and more importantly, need to get done.   As I mentioned earlier, I am a list maker, I make lists for everything, groceries, household chores, errands, and of course job responsibilities.  For all those fellow list makers out there – who doesn’t get that feeling of personal satisfaction when crossing something off “the list”?  However, the frustrating part for me is that I rarely complete the list and it carries over into the next day.  Maybe I need a shorter list or maybe I need to be more realistic with my priorities and goals for each day.

Or maybe by making a list all my problems will be wished away.

1. Delegate – Sometimes our need for control or belief in our own abilities, hinders our ability to see that people around us have strengths that might be better suited for a given task.  Instill trust in those around you and everyone will grow as a result.
2. Don’t procrastinate – Move things that are a priority that you dislike the most to the top of your list and like a Nike commercial, “Just do it!”
3. Block out time – When you have been recruiting for awhile, you have a pretty good idea of the time frame needed to do specific tasks.  Set aside 2 hours for follow-up calls and emails to your list of priority candidates/clients and don’t allow interruptions.
4. Is there a better way? – Ask yourself this question as you go through your day. Because if you don’t adapt someone else will.

See I feel better already, and although someone wise once said attitude is everything, I prefer the motto that nothing in the world is more valuable than time.

Image credit: eogez

Scene One: Winnie the Pooh with dark sunglasses is smoking a cigarette by the window. Man with a girls’ soccer uniform on is playing beer pong. Woman with cheetah ears and tail is dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Scene Two: A woman with Uggs on and a colorful scarf appears in the doorway. A girl follows with high-waisted jeans, a turtle neck and sweater vest. I thought to myself, that woman is clearly having a mid-life crisis and I’ll totally lend my September Glamour magazine to this fashion-deprived girl.  I try to act natural but almost strain my neck for further analysis.

When unfamiliar people enter a room, no one is quite sure how to behave or what to say. Facebook—a previously, purely personal place (say that ten times fast)—became a professional place overnight. Employers who infiltrated the social network discovered negative comments about their companies or less than glamorous photos of their Employee of the Month.  Obviously, hoopla regarding scandalous pictures and rude wall posts are not ideal for PR. The resolution was (and still is) to publish articles regarding an “appropriate” Facebook profile, create company policies about YouTube use, and talk about guidelines for proper conduct online.  As a result of this, employees and candidates are afraid to be themselves in online communities because they could get fired or may be disqualified from a position.  Being a social media strategist has not exempted me from this fear.

As though riding the line between young adulthood and full-fledged grown up isn’t difficult enough, I have all these “social media experts” sending me mixed signals.  I read an article from Mashable that recommends to Be Transparent and Authentic. Be Human. while on networking sites. Then, the elephant in the room whispers (and the next blog post reads) “be real BUT DO NOT SAY THAT”.  So I take this dichotomous advice:  I mock my sister on her wall and post a funny picture of us together. I think twice: What if my co-workers interpret this as insensitive and immature? I leave the picture and delete the comment. Basically, I end up being this filtered, watered-down version of myself.

Employees and candidates should not be judged by or simplified into a tweet or status update.  While companies should monitor their reputation by using sites like SocialMention.com and setting up Google Alerts, companies should not condemn employees for being real and having a social life outside the office.  While recruiters should reach out to candidates via several social media sites to strengthen the connection, recruiters should not pour over blog comments for minute signs of an irresponsible candidate.

Pictures, posts and profiles are (mis)interpreted.  I find that the situations I over-analyze or misunderstand often have a very logical explanation…

Scene Three: Ali sticks foot in mouth. Weeks after the Halloween party, I discovered that the mother-daughter pair was actually dressed as each other. How clever. They were actually invited to the party, too.

Looking for a new job? Landing interviews but not offers? Apparently, your resume has caught many peoples’ attention, so why aren’t you closing the deal and getting that offer you deserve?

Could be…….Negativity. When you talk yourself up by putting others down, it damages the perception others have of you.

Here’s a story about yours truly.

I had a job that I didn’t like anymore for a variety of reasons. One of the largest, was my direct manager. I was looking for a new job. I hadn’t interviewed in a couple of years. Let me rephrase that, I hadn’t been the one to sit in the candidate seat for a few years. I landed an interview at a good organization and was excited. I scheduled it for the end of the day so I didn’t have to skip out on work and planned to bring a suit along in the car and change on the way there. Oh, I had it all planned, right down to accepting the job offer they were surely going to extend.

The morning of the interview, my work cell phone rang. It was my father. He called to tell me that my older brother had died. Pause for a moment and let’s talk about what this post is NOT about. It is not about my loss; who, what, when, where or how. It’s about getting through an interview and remaining positive.

I had to make a decision about my interview. I had eight hours to get myself together and do the interview, or could call and try to reschedule. I wanted the job badly and my grieving brain was not well functioning. I opted to do the interview. My thought process went as follows: if I call and tell them I need to reschedule I need to give a reason. How do I tell them without losing my marbles on the phone or revealing my family drama. So, I opted to do the interview.

BIG MISTAKE.

I pulled it together, dressed up in my suit, and went to the interview. Because I was so unfocused, I spent most of my interview talking about how ineffective my current boss was. I thought I was being professional. I wasn’t in the state of mind to have a sensible conversation about belly button lint, let alone how I would be a fantastic addition to their team. As I walked out the door, I thought about spilling it and telling them that I wasn’t at my best because of the situation with my loss. But even in that state of mind, I knew it wasn’t a good idea. I knew when I walked to my car that I wasn’t going to get that job. Acceptance is part of the grieving process.

Everything I said about my boss was true. Very true. But it made me look bad. The interview was about me, not him. I made it about him.

How would this have gone if I had opted to reschedule? I likely would’ve landed that job. As a recruiter, I’ve had candidates reschedule an interview for a variety of reasons. Had I called to say there was a death in my family and I needed to reschedule, it would’ve worked out just fine. And they would’ve understood my situation. They’re human, too.

How to address the bad manager in an interview: don’t avoid the questions – answer directly and honestly. Here are some options I should have elected to use that day:

• I’m ready for a change and it’s not available in my current organization.
• My manager doesn’t have the opportunity to give me more challenging projects.
• We don’t have the same goals in mind.
• I’d like an opportunity to utilize my entire skill set and learn more in the process.

I was a Wendy Whiner during my interview. And it cost me a job that I wanted. If you’re not familiar with Wendy, I recommend renting some Saturday Night Live seasons around 1982 – 1984.

In today’s job market, more and more organizations are conducting phone interviews to screen candidates before they get to the face-to-face interview. This delivers better qualified candidates to hiring managers and cuts travel costs for bringing candidates on site. I have been doing phone interviews for the last three years and find it amazing what can happen during a phone interview. Here are some “do’s and don’ts” based on my experience.

DO
• …ask the recruiter to contact you back at a more convenient time that will work for you, if you are not prepared.
• …make sure that you are using a land line or cell phone that has a great connection.
• …find a quiet environment free from background noise to conduct the interview.
• …keep a copy of your resume in front of you with a pen and paper.
• …listen to the questions that are being asked and take a second before answering.
• …ask the recruiter to repeat the question if you don’t understand it. You want to communicate effectively and truthfully.
• …have notes jotted down on your great past achievements.
• …smile while you are talking. This will present a much more positive image of you to the person on the other end of the conversation.

DON’T
• …eat, drink or smoke during the call
• …babble. Answer the questions but don’t tell your life story.
• …put the person that you are speaking with on hold to answer the other line.
• …order fast food at a drive thru. This is one of the best that I have ever had. The person actually put me on hold to order their food. Very rude.
• …interrupt the person asking questions. Wait until they are finished speaking.
• …bad mouth your past employers. This is very inappropriate and makes me wonder what you will say about our company down the road.
• …ask about salary at this time. We are still deciding if you are even qualified for the position.
• …ask “How did I do?” at the end of the interview. The best question to ask is “What is the next step?”

Most phone interviews last about an hour, and a successful phone screen could lead to a face-to-face interview, so do your best to prepare yourself and move on to the next step!

Photo credit: bitzcelt

Where do you recruit qualified candidates from? I look at a candidate’s experience, salary level, where they are at in their career and their location or ability to relocate.

Since the economy plummeted, candidates have been more likely to relocate from depressed areas that have a higher unemployment rate. Michigan, for example, is hurting with the nation’s highest unemployment rate of 14.7% as of November 2009. New hires are also relocating from Illinois, Ohio, California, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, all states with above average unemployment numbers. Meanwhile, candidates in states with below average unemployment rates are staying put. North Dakota and Nebraska currently boost the smallest percentage of unemployment rate at just over 4%, followed by Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming and Texas.

I have also noticed that candidates on the East and West coasts are less likely to take a position in the Central U.S., unless they are trying to move back home or have had it with the traffic. For example, the median salary on the east and west coasts for IT professionals and project managers is between $70-100K. Central states are paying these positions a comparable salary. So what is the incentive for them to move? What can recruiters do when salary isn’t enough to lure people away from the coasts? Candidates seem more likely to move if they’re offered a more robust package that includes relocation expenses, tuition reimbursement and a hiring bonus.

If you’re having trouble finding qualified candidates in the current market and your hiring manager decides to open relocation, check out those states with higher unemployment rates. You may be surprised by what you find.

Have any feedback or additional tips on recruiting in a recession? Please post your experiences in the comments below.

One page, two page, or *gasp* MORE?  Do I list an objective?  Education or Employment first? How closely do recruiters look at my resume?  What does it really say about me?  After all, it’s all about ME! 

In his recent blog post, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it”, Rich Dematteo addresses the topic of resume length and receives several interesting comments from his readers. I agree with Rich.  Brag about yourself.  Don’t be shy.  Get my attention!   Personally, length of a resume doesn’t matter to me, unless the content is garbage.  You have about 2 seconds to grasp a recruiter’s attention with your resume.  Recruiters are people.  Yeah, I know sometimes we’re called a few other things that are not appropriate to discuss at this time.  But, as many options as there are for resume formats, there are even more recruiters’ opinions.  But I’ve got one, and I like to share. 

Hints:

• Use spell check.  I’m not an English major, but probably should’ve been.  That aside, with all the technology available, most programs do it for you and can check your grammar, too.  If you can’t even spell or abbreviate your job title correctly, you’re out.  Do not pass go, do not collect a paycheck.  I’m serious.  Ask anyone that’s looked at a resume or application for an Assistant Manager.  Really!?!
• No experience? List your education loud and proud and include any activities you’ve been involved in.
• Lacking the formal degree?  Tell me about your great experience and save your high school diploma for the end.
• Balance the page so that it’s pleasing to my eye.  Don’t use 8pt font and expand your margins to nothing just to put it on one page.  Conversely, don’t use 16pt font to make your resume two pages long because someone told you .   

What matters to this recruiter is that the information is logical, easy to follow and pertinent.  So, if you need two pages to share 20 years of experience, by all means, please do so.  I’ll be reading it.  Be warned though, if it’s a formatting nightmare, my attention span just decreased and I’m moving on to someone else. 

What about your thoughts?  Have you helped someone fluff a resume to make it longer, chopped it to bits to make it a “desirable” one pager?  What do you prefer and why?

During my sophomore year of college, I was using my procrastination skills to avoid an English essay when I logged onto Facebook to stalk a few of my favorite people. When I logged on, I was mortified to discover a “News Feed” on the main page that publicized all the content I posted and all the actions I was making in real-time. Panic set in: Oh no, was Adam (i.e. cute guy from Econ 101) going to know that I had his profile page open for almost ten minutes during lunch?!?

Amidst this momentous (and slightly traumatic) event in the lives of Facebook veterans like myself, I could never had predicted what I’d be doing just few years later. Ironically enough, it is now my job to be on Facebook and carry out the social media strategy for my client. Good thing Mark Zuckerberg promised us that no one would ever know how long you were gazing at someone else’s profile and I decided not to deactivate my account. However, Facebook and I almost broke up a few years later when I called my mother for our weekly phone conversation. She started by saying “So I was on Facebook…”

WHAT!?!? You were on WHAT!?!?

Discovering that members of my family, teachers and potential employers are on Facebook has been slightly disturbing to me. It felt like my friends and I were part of this fabulous and exclusive club when suddenly my mom pulled up in a conversion van to take me to church. However, after attending ERE’s #SocialRecruiting Summit in NYC, I finally recognized that people of all ages are using Facebook and won’t be leaving anytime soon. My arrogance had to be put aside when I transitioned my account from purely personal to appropriately professional.

I realized that the growing popularity of Facebook creates fresh and more valuable content generated by people with more diverse opinions, backgrounds and experiences. Perhaps their contributions can give me something to think about? They are utilizing Facebook to see pictures of their friends’ weddings, “meet” their newborn grandchild for the first time and catch up with their best friend from high school. FamilyLink enables sisters, brother-in-laws, and second-cousins-once-removed living across the country to stay up-to-date with each others’ lives. New users and new features remind me that Facebook allows me to share and gather information with individuals I would seldom or never connect to, which also helps me do my (really awesome) job. I am a recruiter in the Midwest looking for candidates in countries I’ve never even been to via Facebook.

So I bit my lip and accepted my mother’s friend request. My most recent status: Yes, I am now friends with my mom on Facebook. To all my friends, please be sure to post inappropriate pictures of me and swear profusely on my wall. Thanks.