When you are the applicant, you don’t give a lot of thought to the job description, other than do you meet some of most, or all of the criteria that they are looking for in that next perfect candidate. Now keep in mind that if you are reading it on the company website, or a job website, chances are the recruiter and internal staffing person at the company have not had any successful internal candidates and now need to open the job pool. Also, employee referrals probably have not garnished terrific candidates. Have you ever noticed that some job descriptions are super lengthy, full of wordy “stuff” that probably no one really can prove? If you are the owner of a start up company then you might have the luxury have actually writing the job description of the new staff member you want to add to the team. So why am I talking about job descriptions? Well, it is really important in the job search process and the resume writing exercises.
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If you REALLY want the job, then you are going to memorize the job duties/requirements and then rewrite your action statements from your current job and the past jobs so they reflect that you have ALL of the things they want out of that person. If the hiring manager wants ______ (insert any transferable skill) then you better darn well demonstrate that you meet or exceed that skill. You action statements should be results oriented. Meaning, you say what you did, how you did it and what was the result.
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Example: ” – Demonstrated excellent client relationship skills by increasing new business development 200% (1.2K annually) by effectively growing clientele base utilizing referrals and willing to recommend.” Of course this is a sales type of example, but you get the idea of a well written action statement that is guaranteed to get some results (like an interview). [job description might have asked for “cold calling” or some prospecting skill/technique and this action statements meets/exceeds that requirement.] This is what you will do for every requirement and then find a place in the resume where you did it. Part of the screening process is to ensure candidates at least meet the minimum requirements. The “nice to have” skills are what get candidates to the final round. So now that I shared this little bit of info with you, go back and look at the last job you wrote. Line up where you showed on the resume that you exceed every requirement. How impressive is your resume now? Btw, no one cares what you did 20 years ago. It is not current or relevant anymore. Sure you learned to type then but how fast do you ten key now in addition to typing?
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As a reminder, if you are doing the job now, using those skills, you keep it in first person tense. If it is an older job, you put it in past tense. Hire, not hired. At all costs do not write in first person. “I did this. I did that.” No. No. No. Action verbs that show you can use a thesaurus effectively. There are already websites that write about good action verbs. Use Google if you can’t figure them out on your own. They don’t do actual career fairs like they did in the 80’s and 90’s, but if they did, you as a candidate could get a really good idea of what type of competition you are up against. Like, oh snap HE looks like a lawyer. SHE looks like a business executive, as you look at your “good” jeans and black athletic shoes. I sat in an office of candidates once, looked at what I had on and realized I was in the wrong place. Under-qualified but over ambitious. Save yourself the grief of thinking you will get a job you aren’t qualified. That HR person or screener many time are just looking to see what skills you have and ensure you can do the job. Your dazzling personality has to shine when you get that phone call for the first interview.
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Career Coaching
Check out the livestream feed from Denver! Yesterday it was smokey and 99 degrees, and today it is 34 degrees and raining in the metro. Up in the high country (the mountains) they are experiencing snow! So if you were praying for some cooler weather and precipitation also, our prayers have been answered. If you can see the video, it is a shot from what appears to be Bronco Stadium, at Mile High Field, overlooking I-25 traffic and the downtown skyline. As I a writing, the lens is kind of blurry due to the rain so I can’t say for sure.
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So the post today is about career coaching, and I think that this actually should be something that is used with high school students at an early stage. I’m not a high school teacher, but I was a college professor. Having a background in sales and marketing is super advantageous when looking for a job. So how do you choose a career when you are young and impressionable? My favorite question as a kid, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Hmmm, good question right? How the F would a five year old know the answer to that? Well, I suppose your parents could have your career trajectory all planned out for you, but for the rest of us, it was a — fly by the seat of my pants — kind of moment, and I just made something up everything I was asked. If you have kids, did you encourage the talents shown by your little students and introduce them to someone who is actually doing it? Because no one in their right mind is going to say, “Gee, I think one day I want to be a middle manager sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen all day.”
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So for years I have had the idea of doing something with all the human resource knowledge that I have acquired over the years and put it to good use. Sure I talk with individuals and help them along, but nothing on a large scale magnitude. I am pretty sure there are a lot of HR professionals who read these blogs. I did start a manuscript years ago, but I would rather just publish on my website to my readers, rather than doing an e-book or hardcopy. Why? Well, you can always load my blog on your phone easily and take me with you to read later. And it is SFW (safe for work). Although I am going to divulge some secrets from the industry that you won’t hear anywhere else. These are some things you need to know, and remember.
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Human Resources is NOT your friend. Wait, what? They are always so nice. Uh huh. We are trained to be nice. We smile at you when we recruit you and we smile at you when you sign your separation notice. We, as in HR, are here for the owner and the shareholders best profitable interest. We are here to mitigate risk, and assess talent to make money for the company. When you F up, we are here to performance manage you so we can fire you later. Yep, seriously, that is how it works. And when you file unemployment and try to sue us, we are there to show documentation that we are in the right and you are just a bad employee. Wow, that is quite a bit to take in — isn’t it?
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When I was in college, I was involved in the American Marketing Association. I actually was an officer and was in charge of fundraising and finance. Both of these roles are super important in the corporate world. We had a big name speaker, which I can’t remember now, come to campus to teach us all about the “hidden job market”. It was kind of a big deal. Looking back, there was some nuggets from that seminar. If you are an HR person, you know what I mean, and if you are not — then I am going to shed some light on the subject. If you are looking for a job in your field, I strongly encourage you to interview someone who is doing it now, as an active job. Why? Well, there is a lot of hidden wisdom here and when I worked with my college students, I made them, interview 3. 10 questions that included what they liked, loved and hated about their current profession. It was just for information and to determine if this was an actual fit for the individual. Hey you want to be a nurse? Did you know you have some shitty situations, and until you get those little letters behind your name, you will have to pay your dues. While not usually suggested for the interview, it is a really good idea to know what your entry level to high level manager salary is going to be. You need to be able to translate what $15 an hour is annually, and know the reverse. So when HR calls and says we would like to extend an offer of $25,000 a year, that is actually only $12.02 an hour. Hmmm, not so appealing now. Take the annual divided 2080, which is the number of hours worked a year. Now keep in mind, HR usually is not the key decision maker and when you balk at it or sit in silence, know that they can’t and won’t just up the offer. You will need to thankfully accept the offer and let them know you will give them an answer in 24 hours. Now, you should have the email, and business card of the person who decides your salary. Talk to that person.
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I am not going to go over information interview protocols, as I am sure they are dozens of articles already out there. Keep in mind that at some point in your in person discussion, you may spark the interest of your interviewee. Like, as in, he/she may see the talent and potential in you and may want to recruit you at a later date. DO NOT take or give this person a resume at this point. Why? You will lose trust. You said you were there just for information and you secretly were trying to get a job. So inform him/her that you don’t have it, but you would be happy to talk about some of your most recent wins/achievements … now. Example: “As you know I am a big blogger with thousands of readers, and writing is sort of my thing. I’d really like to work for an editorial group like yours one day. A lot of your core goals and objectives align with my own, such as ______.” So you get the idea. You will be much more effective talking to someone in person, rather than having them read a bunch of very well written action statements. Like what you say? How about “High performing sales manager who consistently met or exceeded sales objectives and is the top performing in the region.” Yes, well, now this is very nicely well written claim, can it be proven? Besides, you are much more charming and convincing in person that a black and white piece of paper.
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So practice on some of your friends and coworkers (from other departments) and see what the answers are. Who knows you might learn something from that person, or maybe he/she will help you look for new jobs that haven’t been posted on the internet.
