Employee Referrals

Have you ever gotten a job interview/offer because someone you knew, recommended you? A friend, relative, prior co-worker, classmate, … someone who likes you, and wants to put their reputation out on the line for you? Having that employee recommendation, even if they don’t know your work performance, is key to getting great jobs. I am sure you have heard the phrase “It’s all who you know.” And this is true in any situation. An employer would rather hire someone with a little bit of background history that can be verified, rather than none at all. As I have mentioned in the past, some of those letters of reference or actual phone calls, might not be as truthful as employers would like them to be. Some of them all sound the same.  ______ (insert name) is hard working, loyal, dedicated, trustworthy, oh and an Eagle Scout! He coaches little league and is an outstanding choir member in the church. <rolls eyes> Gosh, that sounds just perfect. When can you start? No. Those letters are so fake it’s not even funny. I think it is expected that every employee act like a boy/girl scout. Strong work ethics, team player, gets along well with others. And if you’re not, then you need to start acting like it. We all know, not all employees are model employees. I can think of a few I’d fire in a heartbeat. IF you are giving that recommendation, please do not tell anyone that candidate is going through a divorce, a bankruptcy, or anything that might accidentally hurt his/her chances. Employers hear those things and they cringe.

*

As a recruiter, we are looking for “talent”. There is a show called “America’s Got Talent”. If you haven’t seen an episode, you should check it out. Look at what those people can do and compare your own skill/talent. See there difference? Some things like typing super fast is a skill. Gotta say, going through hundreds and hundreds of resumes for ONE position, and you quickly start screening candidates out very quickly. Impressive skills and talent is what we are looking for in these marketing brochures of candidates. HOWEVER if just one of those resumes comes from a well liked employee, say manager or above, that resume will get more than a 10-20 second review. If there are gaps, or questions, those are sometimes overlooked. Why? Employee referral. And as I have mentioned in the past, when you get someone hired, you are the current employee, will get a monetary bonus added to your check, usually after 90 days. I can attest that I have received thousands in employee referrals. I would find an candidate at Best Buy and then I would tell them to put my name on the application, and I would spell it correctly, and tell them they would have a much better chance of getting hired if they say they knew me. Okay. Cool. So they just met me. They still knew me. 😉 And when they were asked HOW they met/knew me, they always said, “Mutual friends”. I could always say, “He seemed like a good guy.” You can’t place negligent hiring practices on someone who just said “He seemed like a good guy”. If HR didn’t ask the right questions, or do a drug test, that’s on them, not you. So, do you have a buddy or friend who you just LOVED working with daily? Yeah, me too. Go find him/her and see if he/she can get you a better job.

*

If you have started your LinkedIn.com profile, you can start connecting with those professionals you have met in past positions and see what they are up to now. Whom have you kept in touch with from college or grad school? All the people I kept in touch with are in very different fields/industries. Terrific, if you got a job there you wouldn’t be in the same department, but you’d be great lunch buddies. I will do another article/blog on LinkedIn.com. Until that time, do NOT use that profile to apply for jobs … yet. Your employment profile is like building a house. You achievements and skills are the foundation, since that is what is important. Can you do the job and how fast can you do it? If you are still working on them, think to yourself, “Is that impressive?” Fluent in 4 languages. Yes, impressive. You have a social media following already? Impressive.

 

For those of you who are students, I always loved asking what the candidate’s G.P.A. was in high school and college if applicable. And then I would ask WHY. Verifiable. Don’t lie. If you are a nerdy brainy bookworm like me, … now is the time to brag about it. If they ask you to sell something, think about the strategy you are using, and don’t use price. I can sell it cheaper. No. It might be a luxury item they want you to sell, like cruises or diamonds. “I have a large network of professionals who are friends who I know will support my endeavors with a new company.”  You’re hired.

 

Loading

Shout Out!

There are a few YouTube channels/personalities that I watch and learn from on a rather regular basis. And as you all know I am not paid by any sponsors, so I am not influenced by someone giving me something to say something nice. My YouTube runs through my Amazon Firestick, which I have split to 4 large screen tv’s in the mancave. Super cool when it is movie night. So my version does not show like or comments, or even how many subscribers that person has.

*

Okay I won’t beat around the bush. One of my favorite channels is “illuminaughtii“, aka Blair. I hear “Blair” and I think Gossip Girl. Totally not her, but she is hilarious. She investigates multi-level marketing companies and digs up all kinds of truths that would make you cringe. I learn new stuff all the time. Btw, she HATES MLM’s so if you are in one, buy from one, signed up for the discount, then you might not want to watch. She does drop the F bomb a lot, and her latest video on Qanon explains quite a bit. I highly recommend you head over and look her up and watch a few of her informative documentaries.

 

*

ColdFusion is another channel really worth watching. It is more of a company “why did they fail or succeed” channel. The fall of Nokia. The Google+ billion $ mistake. How Crackberry was destroyed by …. yep, you guessed it. The iPhone. Fascinating, yet worthless, Jeopardy trivia for you to entertain yourself.

*

Have you heard of “Ben Shapiro“? I guess he has millions of followers and he built an entire radio podcast/website show around his … uh, republican point of view. I’m not quite sure how I stumbled upon his channel. BUT I was a registered republican for most of my life, so some of the things he talks about I totally agree. Now, I of course, will never buy any of his products, NOR will I entertain the idea of using his recommendations. Why? Well, I just saw him recommending My Pillow. Gross. Plus, he fucking readings from a script, and no one has ever said, “Ben — you. talk. too. fucking. fast.” It’s not like he actually knows who I am or will ever read my blog/website. I’m not saying go subscribe, but go check it out and see if you learn something from a different perspective. If I remember correctly, his undergraduate degree was from HARVARD. I know, right? LAH DEE DAH. I personally think that college degrees are a little overrated. Wait, I have an MBA. Yeah, but honestly I really knew most of the stuff they taught … my undergrad is in business marketing. I did like project management and some of the HR classes.

*

CNN. Do you watch and get your news from CNN? Or do you watch FOX. There is also another channel called “TYT”.  They are “The Young Turks”. I had to turn CNN off for a little while. All they can talk about is impeaching the former President Trump. How about we just unplug and go into sleep mode for the next few days. Although I just want to point out when Trump said “dead people voted”, my response is, “Yeah FOR YOU. dumb ass.” Oh, and don’t forget the thousands and thousands of old nursing home republicans that died because of COVID. #CNN if you are listening, I am so sick and tired of you playing the same video of the officer yelling as he is crushed in the door. We get it. Stop playing it. In fact, I am instructing all my readers to give it a break and do something creative with their time, rather than sitting in front of the tv, monitor, iPad, or smartphone. Hey look at me! I’m creating new blogs every day because my readers have been asking for new content. How is your blog/website coming along?

*

ZoneOfTech is another really good channel. The dude has over a million followers and all he does is review Mac products (mostly) and actually any type of tech gear he happens to be interested in at the time. He is from the UK so he has a cool accent. As a member of the “Cult of Mac”, I have learned a lot on product reviews and product launches. Yes, still loving my apple watch. The SHOP app tells me immediately when my packages hit the front door. Coolest feature next to text and calls on my wrist.
*
If you have Disney+, like the millions of the world, then you might be aware of a new exclusive series called “WandaVision”. I am in the Marvel group on Facebook so before I started watching I read all kinds of comments. Enough for me to wait for at least 5 weeks of episodes that were available all at once. Episode 6 is available as of now. So if you haven’t seen it yet, or you are waiting for the whole season to be available, I won’t spoil it. However, I will give everyone a little background/inside comic book information. Wanda and her twin brother are the children of Magneto. She has the power to warp thought, into reality. In this new series, …. the “time” of when it is going on is kind of important. It starts out looking like “Bewitched” and is viewed in black and white and there is a studio audience, just like the tv show. Weird, but okay. So at first you might think she has traveled through time?? No.

`

Thanos has snapped his fingers, and half the world is dead. Vision is dead. The Avengers have not traveled through time to fix anything. Using her powers, and those absorbed by the MIND stone when she destroyed it, she creates a “dome” like bubble around a “perfect” community/home. In doing so, she has also trapped hundreds of humans in her bubble, and they are brainwashed to play along. So if that isn’t enough for you to take interest, Kevin Feige from Marvel, has thrown in some cool fun personalities. The “Bad Mom’s” … really bad mom, is in it. I can’t remember her name. Sorry. The Asian dad from “Fresh off the boat”, and the weird astrophysicist, Kat, from Thor. Each episode is a different time frame. The 50’s-60’s/black and white era, the 70’s, the 80’s. The episode that released today is a Halloween episode (I know, weird timing), so you can’t really tell the era. Shout out to #marvel for the retro costume for Wanda. I love it. I used to say Wanda looked like the pink/red Playboy bunny (in the comics). So … knowing these things, makes the show more enjoyable. If you just sit down to it, and have never watched a Marvel movie, or read a comic book, you are probably going to hate it. A lot of people really didn’t like watching black and white shows, and some people (like me) are so tired of the 70’s and 80’s. So knowing that, could you skip 1 & 2 and start on 3? Well YEAH! But it is only 39 minutes or so, and there are worse painful things to be watching. Like the uprising over in southeast Asia. The first two shows aren’t that bad, and if you like the Bad Mom’s actress, you will like the first episode. I know, it was really confusing to me too, and when started the pilot, I shut it down and said “Oh no. I don’t have time to be confused.”

*

Shout out to my new favorite steak restaurant, #Gallaghers in Las Vegas, in the New York casino. Years of visiting Vegas, and gazing into their perfectly cooled glass cases of dry aged premium beef, I finally was able to taste what rich people eat. Dude, it was $50 for my New York strip. Yeah, I’ve never paid that much for one piece of steak in my life! I think $30 is the most I’ve splurged, and that was during Denver Restaurant Week. It was absolutely delicious and everyone should go there at least once. I’d be perfectly happy if they did room service with Gallaghers. But I doubt it as you have to have reservations a month in advance. Remember you drink for free at the slots, so do you REALLY need to have a drink with that steak? I did and it was an $8 Budlight. Oh well. They didn’t give you salt or pepper. And I had to ask for crackers for my oysters, which they charged me a $1. Nice.
Loading
wordfence