Do you smoke? Do you know how it affects your career?

Why do companies post executive jobs on job boards?

Are you really overqualified or do you just not know how to work the system?

Can you learn to interview better?

Do you know a proper metric for a good Job Search Engine (NOT job board).

Here’s where you can find links to research tools.

Fed up with recruiters who misbehave?

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Browse the site for other articles to help you refine your job search.

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I wore my jeans to interview

’cause that’s what they all wear

My job coach told me not to

but I really didn’t care

.

I waited in the Lobby

what seemed a very long time

no one offered eye contact

a wall I sought to climb

.

I thought I was invisible

worst fears of the night

no one took me seriously

could it be the coach was right?

.

Next time there was an interview

I definitely suited up

The receptionist’s eyes told me

my apparel said, “not pup.”

.

The next advice I passed on

with an even worse result

I gave too much information

from childhood to adult

.

I saw the eyes glaze over

no way that she could listen

I kept on giving bio

though I knew I’d blown my mission

.

They asked me about money

and I evaded an actual answer

she glared at me with venom

as if I’d promised her cancer

.

Coach told me to give a number

and not negotiate sans offer

but I argued most effectively

imagining an empty coffer

.

The interview ended quickly

and I was not called back

I guess I didn’t listen

my future looked quite black

.

Why did I pay her money

and then not take her heed

if I knew how to do a job search

I’d have a damned job already.

Original Poem by Rita Ashley, Job Search Coach

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What does ‘overqualified’ really mean?

Few comments by employers are as demoralizing to candidates than, “We like you but you are overqualified for this job.” Read why employers tell you you are overqualified and what you can do about it.

READ MORE.

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Why executives should avoid being part of the herd

Would you use the lottery as your investment strategy?  Are the odds appealing?  Do you feel lucky, well, do you?

That’s exactly what you do career-wise when you submit your resume to random recruiters and recruiter groups; play the job-search lottery.

Recruiters post appeals for resumes every where from LinkedIn groups to Craigslist.  They frequent sites trolling for resumes to add to their stash.  Do you have any idea how they use them?  Do you know what happens to your contact information?

Chances are the job you want is local. Chances are the recruiter representing the company you want to work for is also local.  Why then, would you seek representation of random recruiters in distant locations, perhaps even distant countries?  And why would you seek representation along with a herd of others from across the country?

Doesn’t it make more sense to stand out from the crowd with personal contact?  As a hiring authority yourself, were you not always more interested in people to whom you were introduced rather than a faceless resume that found its way to your desk?  Who would you invite for an interview?  Someone who made the effort to find you, learn about your company and the opportunity or someone who simply sent in a resume through a random recruiter?

Hiring authorities tend to spurn unsolicited resumes submitted by recruiters; and that is what most of the cattle-call recruiters do.  They collect resumes and submit them anywhere they know there are openings.  They don’t necessarily have the job search, they are playing the placement lottery with your resume.

While that seems appealing at first blush, it is actually quite damaging to your search.  Once a resume lands in a company through a recruiter, whether the company invited submission or not, no other recruiter and certainly not the individual, can submit credentials.  You are effectively locked out of any jobs from that company because they chose not to deal with that recruiter.  And there is no way for you to stand out from the crowd; in fact you rarely know where they have sent your resume.

Once a recruiter has your resume they retain the right to earn money if you are placed where they present your credentials.  That is why some recruiters submit your resume to various job boards with their own contact information instead of yours.  You have lost control over your resume and wound up in the hands of someone who knows neither how to represent you nor how to represent the job opportunity.

If you are a sales executive the affects of bad representation are doubly damming.  You are expected to get to the right people with the right message.  What message do you send when a recruiter unknown to the company slings your resume about?

Why run the risk of being shut out, ignored or scammed when there are recruiters who actually have searches for jobs for which you qualify?   Don’t take the line of least resistance, you are not a lazy executive, so don’t be a take-the easy-way-out candidate.

The good news is, there are many reputable recruiters who do not engage in such opportunistic activities.  Learn to connect with the right recruiters.  There are many types of recruiters and the ones you want are established, respected by their clients and typically, looking for you through their network.  Learn how to be found.  No matter how compelling your resume, without an introduction, the best recruiters will ignore you.

Executives: Retain control over your resume; send it not to cattle-calls or any public forum. Participate, network but don’t expose your resume.  Use your LinkedIn profile to attract attention.

Ready to deconstruct your job search?  Use Job Search Debugged to remove the obstacles.  Learn how to vet recruiters to connect with the one that will place you.

Time to revitalize your network?  Read Networking Debugged to improve your results.  Learn how to connect with the right recruiters.

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DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number two

“Your brand is the promise you make to employers on what you bring to them.” Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand and Content at Microsoft.

All the noise in the media on personal brand can lead you to think creating and maintaining your brand is an arcane art. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are books and webinars dedicated to the proposition that personal brand requires expert guidance, there is much you can accomplish on your own, free.

How do I discover my Brand? It pays to ask people, “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of me in the workplace?” The answer may surprise you. Your brand may be completely different from what you think it is.

Examples: George P. believed he was seen as the go-to guy for all things technical both within his company and on the street. Turns out, he is perceived by most as a person who simplifies technology so it is accessible to anyone. That is not only a rare characteristic; the trait is highly desirable in most IT organizations. Once he accepted his brand he was able to revise both his elevator pitch and the accomplishments section of his resume and he distinguished himself from all the other highly competent technology professionals with whom he competed for key jobs.

Lorelei T. knows she is a brilliant technical marketer.  She is able to get products into the hands of the customers in record time.  She brands herself as an effective marketer who gets products to market quickly. After she queried her references she discovered she was most valued because she was able to keep communications between marketing, sales and development open and crisis free.  Lorelei’s actual brand was more valuable to prospective employers than the one she believed.

The brand statement is a concise description of the essence of your brand. Whether Paul H. is heading sales, creating alliances or running a company,  he connects with people and makes them feel part of the team. Paul is Senior Vice President of Partners and Alliances, but he doesn’t position himself as a Vice President. Instead, he positions himself as a successful senior executive and relationship builder; an important attribute for success in his role. His brand statement is “Community Builder.”

Many executives feel they need to conform to business norms when they go to work. But this prevents building a brand. In the world of work, those who stand out succeed, so put your brand on everything you do. Whether you’re making a presentation, in a meeting or writing a report, ask yourself how you can connect your brand to every situation.

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

For other resources, click here. Return soon for more installments on personal branding…or better yet, join my blog.

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DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND  PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number one

“Your personal brand happens whether you shape it or not. If you are out in the world at all, you are known for the qualities you project and the qualities external audiences believe are true of you. Your choice is simple: own your brand, or let the external audiences own it for you.” Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand and Content at Microsoft.

Exposure is the lynchpin of your search: If you are a six figure executive or technology leader, your job search is a massive marketing campaign.  The more people who know about you and your talents, the higher the probability you will be invited to compete for jobs.  Exposure is what your digital job search is all about:  Maximum exposure for your brand.

Your brand is what you want hiring authorities to know about you distinguishes you from the competition.  Your job is to ascertain what your brand is currently and what it should be to attract the attention of employers.

In their book, Career Distinction William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson state, “Personal Branding is so powerful the Fortune 500 Companies-firms single-mindedly focused on their corporate brands-are helping employees build their personal brands.”

Personal branding is not a fad or an option.  People make hiring decisions based on many factors but their preconceived notions and expectations often determine who they will even consider.  Mark Lindstrom, author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling book, Buyology summarizes, “We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them.   …companies plant instant shortcuts-or brand bookmarks-in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.”

Here’s how personal branding works for you. While personal branding is unavoidable, the more control you assert over it, the more likely your personal brand will be an asset in your career.  People  automatically form mental associations and create labels to recognize you. Labeling happens automatically because that is the way our brains are wired.  Take control over those labels and you create a personal brand.

The more you advertise, the more people know about your special expertise.  It behooves you to create a marketing plan to accomplish your branding program.

What is Your Brand? Your personal brand is how others define you in the workforce.   Are you a Ferrari, built for speed or a Volvo, built for safety?  It is unlikely you are both.  How do you describe yourself?   How do others describe you?  What does your performance review consistently point out?  How do others introduce you?  Your answers to these questions are keys to your brand attributes.

“If you’re really smart, you figure out how to distinguish yourself from all the other very smart people walking around with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and well-polished resumes. Along the way, if you’re really smart, you figure out what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself — you create a message and a strategy to promote the brand called ‘You’” Tom Peters writing for Fast Company.

Know what distinguishes you from your peers. When you define your peers and their attributes and how you are different from them, you can rise above the competition.  The competition is defined as anyone who might be hired for a given position that precludes your being hired.  Competition, therefore, includes hiring no one and leaving the job undone or shared by current employees.  To rise above all competition, you must articulate what you can do or provide that no one else can.  Your band must be so compelling that it precedes you, introduces you and annihilates the competition.

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

For a step-by-step guide to improve your job search networking:

For a complete guide to a job search tune-up:

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Based on responses to recent blogs and LinkedIn threads I wrote, I learned there is a lot of anger and vitriol directed at recruiters.  When I was a recruiter, I was a valued member of the business community who worked with investors and executives to build their companies and departments.  They consulted with me, dined with me treated me with respect. We worked together on boards, forums and industry events.

When I hear horror stories about how some recruiters behave and conduct their business and the resulting anger their behaviors provoke, I am disheartened.

Folks in job search mode need the best resources available; that includes recruiters known to be reliable, honest and effective.  Considering the hundreds of recruiter-bashing comments I read, I decided to help folks make a good effort to weed out the good from the bad and suggest a few warning signs to help  avoid getting involved with a recruiter who will not help you cross the finish line.

Good recruiters are part of the business community and how you treat them may have an affect on your opportunities.  Always be courteous regardless of your interest in the job they call about.  Statistics vary but the estimated range of executive level placements made by recruiters is between 25% – 35%.  Learn to spot the good ones.

Ask these questions:

1. Is this a search you have been invited to conduct?
2. Who is your contact within the company?
3. Have you worked on behalf of this company before?
4. What sort of searches?  When?
5. What part of my experience tells you I’d be a fit?
6. Do you have a job description?
7. What will you do with my resume?
8. What is the name of the hiring company?
9. What is the name and contact information of your company?
10. Will you supply references to me?
11. May I see the job description with which you are working?
12. Is there a charge to me for your services?

Notice the kinds of questions the recruiter asks.  Is she fishing?  Are his comments too general?  Does she understand the job description and how your background relates?

Warnings:

1. They ask names of your bosses or direct reports
2. They charge for representing you
3. They ask for personal information not pertinent to the job
4. They have no idea what you do

If you are not satisfied with the answers, be polite and end the conversation.  If you are satisfied and want to proceed get the basics.

Your best protection against disreputable and inexperienced recruiters is to avoid the job boards; their favorite hunting grounds.

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Last week I asked four people if they gathered their LinkedIn email addresses into their main address book.  Not one knew that was an option.

In case you have not stumbled on the tool to accomplish the export, take a look at this:

Go to the contacts page and find the export tool in the lower left corner.  Simple instructions pop up and the deed is done.  Because it duplicates what may already be in your address book you may want to create a new category before you import.

This is a nice feature that makes it easy for you to contact your LinkedIn connections directly; no longer do you have to depend on LinkedIn to deliver messages or respond using their services.  It is especially nice if you want to broadcast a message to a subset of your connections.

LIONs, those LinkedIn members with as many as 30,000 connections can also use this tool.  (LinkedIn limits connections to 30,000.) One wonders at the avaricious behavior of those determined to be “open networkers” and who acquire names like children acquire baseball cards and my little ponies.    Is this a game?  Is someone keeping score about who has the most names? It certainly isn’t a real network because it is impossible truly to connect to so many people.  Why do they do it?

I asked a few connections with a large network to notify job seekers about companies that are hiring.  I created a blog and a website with listings.  I don’t make money from either and there is no downside.  The lists are simply my way of giving back.  Not one of the large network connections even responded to my request.  They will be removed from my contact list.

Removing them will be a minor blip on their numbers.  They no longer have access to my first and second and third degree network which is only about six million or so.  But at least I know I am no longer facilitating those who do not understand quid pro quo.

Not all highly networked entries will be removed.  There are certain employment based individuals who have a large network because they interact in some way with their connections.   But their presence begs the question, why do people want to acquire random names?

One reason may be is that they sell those easy to export email addresses.  Yes, LinkedIn users, you may have volunteered your contact information and other important data to multi-level marketers, phishing scams and all manner of International not-so-nice Internet scams.  Let’s hope you used your free email account rather than your personal one.  Gmail and Hotmail, for example, have terrific spam catchers and you certainly will need one if you connect to LIONs whom you don’t know.

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