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The Red Rider BB Gun & Your Career
“A Christmas Story” is a classic holiday movie that we have all loved to watch (over and over again I might add) during the holiday season. Most people know the line ” You’ll shoot your eye out kid!” almost instantly.
So how does your career relate with Ralphie and the Red Rider BB Gun? Watch the video and let me know.
The Red Rider BB Gun & Your Career
“Here is my resume, now what?”
I received an email last night from one of my followers asking me the proper way to follow up on a sent resume. Read this story and see if it makes sense…if you want additional information on proper follow up, be sure to check out this recent post, Proper Interview Follow Up.
I have enjoyed reading all of your interview guru posts and emails. One of my favorite posts most recently was the ‘Pitch the Cover Letter and Get More Response’.
Right now I happen to be looking for a change and I guess I may be in that boat. I don’t think I have the capability to pitch that cover letter that was in your sample. I had a friend (a business owner) submit my resume to an associate small business owner of his, whom I know to be hiring. I definitely think I am fit for the job but a quick resume forward may not do justice. I hope that it would have gotten extra attention considering who it came from, but how can I guarantee that he looks at that and is able to recognize what value I can bring to their company? Can I follow up with him separately, or do I stay out of it since I did not initiate the submittal. How long should I wait if so?
I personally think that this is a common question…my response is outlined here. I would think I would need a little bit more information from to fully say but no matter what…YES, do contact the person directly.
First clarifying question is how long ago was the resume passed along to “your friend?”
Did you follow up with “your friend” to see if he even passed along the resume yet?
I would check with “your friend” to see where your resume is at this point. If he has not passed along, make sure he CC’s you on any correspondence. If he has not passed it along yet, ask if he can no only send an email but put in a phone call first. So say we are past that at this point and the prospective business owner has your information. I would give it any where between 3 – 5 business days before reaching out after he has received your resume before reaching out.
I would put in a call to him and introduce yourself. I would suggest that you have a “script” or agenda of something to say before you call. This is an opportunity to introduce yourself and potentially a couple of quick points on why he should be talking to you. i.e. % increased, % decreased, $ saved, $ earned, took something from XX to YY. Keep it to NO MORE THAN 45 seconds. Time yourself, practice your pitch. If you need help with the script, let me know. You are calling him at an unscheduled time so have an expectation that he will not have but only for a couple of minutes, especially as a business owner. Goal of the call: Introduce yourself and attempt to get a scheduled time to talk about his company strategies and hiring needs. The purpose is to get a scheduled call and not get a job offer at this point. Make sense?
Be prepared to leave a voicemail too. If you do get VM, keep it short and do not read your entire script. Something like…this is (name), we have a mutual friend in (name) and he recommended that I contact you regarding the how I could possible be a part of your company and help you achieve your business objectives. When you receive this message, please give me a call at (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Then, follow up with an email. This is important as statistics say that you increase the response rate by 60% when using both sources. Even more improved odds if you can ping him on facebook, twitter or linked in.
Have you experienced any similar follow up situations?
5 Reasons Counter Offers Can Ruin You
I decided that I would dedicate Post #100 on the new blog platform The Interview Guru Blog, to be something special. A topic near to my heart is the Counter Offer.
So is accepting a counter offer good or bad? I have always heard that it is bad but it seems so enticing. There are so many more reasons which are laid out from a previous post (Should I Accept a Counter Offer) however here are some additional thoughts that aren’t necessarily laid out in that post.
• If you are with a company less than two years, the counter offer tends to be in the form of money. Money in a variety of forms too. It could be more base, a bonus, a commission structure, paid benefits (ie. healthcare, 401k, etc.) If you have been with a company longer than 2 years the counter offer tends to be more EMOTIONAL (ie. the promotion, the title, corner office, etc)
• The vast majority of accepted counteroffers do not work out well. Statistics show that 85% of those who accept a counteroffer end up leaving, voluntarily or involuntarily, within one year.
• Entertaining a counteroffer after accepting another job can appear threatening. The hiring company may feel their back is against a wall and a level of trust breaks down.
• Certain job communities are very tight and word gets around about people accepting counteroffers. Hiring managers talk. Make sure you understand the potential risk to future jobs within the industry.
• Conversely, by rejecting a counteroffer, both the original hiring company and the one making the counteroffer (your current company) will probably respect you more for sticking to the original agreement. This is spite of the fact that the other company loses out in this instance.
For more information on Counter Offers, follow the American Tale of my friend Wendall here.
Counter offers are said to be career suicide. In my profession, I see people’s careers from a 10,000 foot view and am not as emotionally involved in specific situation. Counter offers almost NEVER work out in the long run. Have you ever accepted a counter offer? Known someone who has? If so, good or bad experience in the long run?
I wish you much success.
The Good News of the Unemployment Rate
Unemployment is almost becoming a swear word. Nobody likes it. It is a word that has been used too much by the media over the past year but frankly, it is still very real. Especially for those that have a big “E” on their backs. I did find the following article pretty interesting that is worth sharing…check this out.
In the November Trends Magazine (www.trends-magazine.com) they broke the unemployment numbers down by education. The results help to explain the misalignment in numbers of unemployed versus the inability to find good talent.
Here are the numbers:
Total Unemployment= 9.8%
College degree or higher= 4.8%
Some college= 7%
High school diploma= 10%
No diploma= 15%
In our business, we deal almost exclusively with college-educated people. Not every position requires a degree, but it’s fairly rare for us to identify a client need where college is not highly preferred. As such, the pool of candidates we’re fishing in is highly employed. 4.8% employment is close to maximum. About 3 years ago, the rate for college educated was 3% and that was a low point. So the economic ‘crash’ has rendered an additional 1.8% of college-educated people unemployed. Still a lot of people, and still not acceptable, but the reality of finding talent in a 4.8% unemployment market is difficult.
Robert Half survey results find that 47% of managers felt there was a shortage of qualified applicants. A 4.8% unemployment rate substantiates that survey.
Trends Magazine speaks to the macro-economic realities of our economy and how our education system has not well-prepared the next generation of managers. where mental skills are more in demand than labor. There is a huge shortage of engineers right now and it is projected to get much worse. The current unemployment stats paint a pretty poor picture for anyone who is a laborer.
The talent market is very thin, and has been thin for the past 2-3 years. It will get much worse over the next 10 years, starting in 2010. With the stock market resurging, the 401K accounts of baby boomers will be returned to levels that will provide comfortable retirement and they will return to their retirement plans they had constructed prior to the Great Recession. So what exactly is the ‘good news’?
Talent right now is affordable. The quality people who are employed are nervous. They’re looking for stability and a chance for advancement. Their current employer has gone through multiple RIF’s and everyone is nervous about the next one; will I have a job and if so what will my career path look like in a down-sized version of the company? That talent is available, affordable and open to solicitation.
That window will close in the next 6 months. Once the economy is perceived as growing, the talent market will shift immediately to increasing salaries, signing bonuses and a series of counter-offer attempts to keep existing talent. The next 5-10 years will be a slugfest for talent as the pool of talent for senior positions is rendered dangerously thin by sheer virtue of the exodus of the boomers.
Thanks for reading. Yes it had a little bit more of a “For Recruiters Only” tint to it but a good article regardless. Things are looking up. I just posted a survey (Take the Survey HERE —> LinkedIn) which I would appreciate your thought. The survey asks, “In your honest opinion, Is the Economy Improving?”
Much Success!
Interviews DO NOT Pay the Bills
My friends…getting an interview is a great thing. Congratulations!
But the question is not if you are getting interviews but what have those interviews gotten you? Does that makes sense? The goal of your resume is get you an interview. The goal of an interview is to get you a job offer. The goal of a job offer is to help you pay your bills but ultimately to satisfy your career appetite.
I have been approached by a particular Creative Director to assist with a job search who in my opinion has some great creative skills and a top-notch portfolio. She has been actively interviewing week after week which she has landed on her own merit and effort. If I am following her activity correctly, then she has had seven interviews in just 4 weeks on the job market. That is actually very good progress for anyone. I asked her the bold question… Good job on landing these interviews, how many offers are you getting?
I ask this because I see people day after day get very excited about scheduling an interview. Interviews DO NOT PAY THE BILLS! Please do yourself a huge favor and invest just as much time in preparing for your upcoming interview as you will searching for interviews or actually interviewing. Take at least one hour in preparation! If you don’t feel that you have one hour to invest, then find 30 minutes, or at least 15! This really is a huge deal because believe it or not you are in more control of the process than you believe. I am sad to say that my Creative Director friend probably blew the chance to have 7 offers by now. That is right, if she would have prepared better and more effectively for those interviews then she could potentially be working the job she really WANTS versus a job that she may have to settle for.
Please prepare and you will be glad you did.
I would love to hear your preparation success stories.
