Posts Tagged ‘Rules of Job Hunting’

For the last 6 months I’ve been working out in the gym, initially I got good results, saw an immediate improvement and thought by the time it comes to my holiday I’ll be in great shape.

It’s holiday time and I’m in better shape but for the effort I’ve been putting in, not as good as I would have hoped. I’ve been working hard, my commitment has been good, and I’ve been doing the programme I started out with 4 times a week for 6 months.

So why haven’t I reached my goals? That is what I just asked the trainer in the gym. The answer he tells me is simple ( I wish he told me 3 months ago, I guess I should have asked) my body has been conditioned to the workout and because there was no variety my progress has basically stopped ( what is that saying about the definition of madness being doing the same thing every day and expecting different results!)

This got me thinking about job hunting. I speak with a lot of candidates every day, some of them have been looking for a job for a long time.

Why? They are good candidates, have good experience and are very employable.

Have they fallen in to the same trap as I did in the gym, doing the same thing every day, and getting the same results.

Why not try something different, be creative!

Alec Brownstein needed a job as a copywriter.

This is how he did it

Google Job Experiment

Will this approach work for everyone? I don’t know, but it worked for him

Why not try one thing different / creative in your search this week

Written by Richard Morgan at Remit Resources

Over the last few weeks I have been advertising for an IT Manager for a small Microsoft Gold Partner based in South London. For the right person it’s a great opportunity, £45,000 salary, new technologies, plenty of project work and the opportunity for progression.

They have been pretty specific about their requirements and needed someone that has worked for a small IT solutions company with 4 areas of experience that were a must (without these they would not consider the candidate)

I set these out pretty clearly in the advert, they were:

• Leadership – Managing a team of around 15 staff, between 10 – 12 will be field based. Organising and motivating the team to ensure the “face of IT” is functioning well and delivering first class service

• Service Delivery – They operate in a competitive niche were they have carved out a great reputation and compete with far larger organisations. The way they have done this is through the quality of their service, as they expand they need to continue and improve this service and need someone that can implement improvements and structures.

• Client Management – Someone to get very close to their clients, building great relationships to understand their business, identify any issues in advance, retain their business and ultimately expand and develop the services being provided.

• Project Management – Working closely with the business to deliver multiple projects on time and against budget. Understanding what can be done (and also what can’t!). This is project management for someone who has managed large numbers (dozens) of small projects at any one time, often only 1 week projects, rather than someone who is used to managing large global projects.

I also made the point that it would be a real advantage to set out, in a covering letter where there was a match in experience.

We had 979 unique applications for this role, how many covering letters addressed this point? 1! Yes only 1 candidate.

Now, it may be I can’t write clear ad copy, maybe I should read every CV in detail and call every candidate to discuss the role in detail, but I didn’t (nobody would – it would take over 16 hours without a break to even look at 979 CV’s for one minute) Is that fair, probably not, is it reality in today’s market, yes!

Of the 979 candidates, guess who got the job (congratulations again Rob)

Was he the best candidate for the job, yes I think so. Amongst the 979 candidates were there plenty of others who could have done an equally good job, I suspect so.

The point is, personalise your cover letters and write a fresh one every time for every job. Look at the requirements, think how you match them and set this out, in pretty straightforward normal language in an email.

Most people can’t be bothered, they either don’t write covering letters at all or they have “standard” cover letters that by changing the job title and “topping and tailing” they kid themselves are tailored for the specific role.

It takes a lot more work, but what do you think will lead to getting the right job, sending out 300 applications (or applying for the same job over and over again) or writing specific application setting out very clearly how you match the requirements

I know which option I would be taking!

For a SME what have these statements got in common?

• We are recruiting direct!
• We don’t use recruitment agencies!
• Recruiters don’t understand us!
• We can’t afford the fee!

Simple, they all mean that the business is wasting money!

I understand that is a sweeping statement and pretty blunt but in this market (at least in my business) every £ of cost counts.

Just ask yourself a couple of questions

How much is one hour of your time worth?

Multiply that by the number of applications you get, phone calls from candidates, pre-screening, providing feedback, arranging interviews, negotiating job offers and then factor in that you may not be making the right decision anyway or selecting the best person for interview.

Then add the cost of advertising, across different platforms to make sure you get the widest choice of the right applicants.

What total do you come to?

If you are a Business Owner / Director, Senior Manager or a Consultant then it will add up to a lot more than a recruitment fee.

In these economic times, using a recruitment company is one of the best uses of your corporate spend.

This will allow you more time to build your own business and train your own people.

Not convinced?  Then you are not working with the right recruiter!

Build a relationship, work in long term partnership and make sure the recruiter has a stake in making sure only the right people are hired ( We provide a 12 month guarantee on every candidate , we also like to work exclusively!)

Richard Morgan at Remit Resources

One undeniable fact today is that for most jobs there is a lot of competition. 

Many good candidates, people that are very capable, will undoubtedly feel their fair share of frustration, disappointment and rejection. Plenty of times when they were a “very close second” or “pipped at the post” for a job.

Not much that can be done?

Well, there is! Make a diary note to get back in touch with the recruiter, about that position, a couple of weeks later.

When you are job hunting you are up against lots of other job seekers, some out of work, others looking for a change. Whatever their reasons, after the offer has been made and the job accepted, plenty can still (and does!) go wrong.

The candidate may get a better offer with another employer, they might receive a counter offer (increase in salary) from their existing company, another position might open up. 

If this happens, it isn’t fair to assume that you will get called, but if you follow up you are showing your enthusiasm and pro-activity.  You are also showing that you want the job, want to work for that specific company and believe in your own capability to do the job. Often your details can get lost under a mountain of other CV’s. One telephone call from you can result in additional interviews and possibly a job offer. If you are re-interviewed, often the process is shortened because of your prior interviews with this company.

Does this work, yes! in the last 6 weeks I have placed 2 candidates that made follow up calls. One was to replace someone that accepted a counter offer, the other when the employer opened up another position exactly the same. Would I have called the candidates? Probably, but quite possibly not! 

It takes a bit of effort, but its worth it. It’s also a lot easier following up with recruiters who you’ve already built rapport than only making cold calls for new jobs.

LinkedIn has over 65 million users and is recognised as THE place for professional networking online, it is a very powerful tool with very obvious benefits including (not only) getting your next job.

With any network of this size one of the challenges is accessing the information that is relevant to you and with the new “follow company” tool LinkedIn just made this a lot easier.

It’s a simple tool (the best ones normally are) and allows you to have real time, business intelligence on specific companies, in your niche that employ people with your skillset.

The advantages to this are enormous.

E.g.  If you are a Software Developer with skills in ASP.NET based in Reading it is possible to search for other people with ASP.NET in Reading, identify who they work for and then follow those companies.

• You can be updated in real time when someone gets promoted or leaves the company.
• You know specifically what skill set that person had.
• You will know the name of that persons manager.
• You will know what the managers interested in, what groups he’s a member of, what questions he has answered.

With this information it is then easy to make an approach to the company to see if they would be interested in meeting up. (Give yourself a chance and write a personalised cover letter every time) )

It also works if you have arranged an interview through a recruiter, just think of the information that is available to help you engage with the interviewer!

One further point, this isn’t a scientific one, when I’ve been looking at the companies that I am interested in and have followed those companies I notice that there are other recruiters using this tool but there are very few job hunters.

What is the best way to spend a day of your job search?

Sending off another 100 CV’s a day (This isn’t giving you the best chance of finding a job, its spam!)

Chasing all the recruiters that are terrible as they never give you feedback (They can’t give feedback to hundreds of applicants – should they, possibly – will they, probably not –that’s the world we currently live in. It is possible to make the shortlist for every job you apply for )

I know what I would be spending my time on.

Give it a try, commit to it and you will get an incredible advantage.

99% of other job hunters will not do this.

There are articles in the press about the job market “picking up” and whilst I’m sure this is true, it is also true that there is still a huge excess supply of good candidates for most roles.

This got me wondering if candidates are really aware of the sheer number of competitors for each position and, if so, how to make the shortlists for these roles.

To set the scene, I have just finished shortlists for three different IT roles, a Senior Project Manager, IT Manager and a Helpdesk Support Analyst.  The unique number of responses for these roles was 634, 616 and 1132 respectively

The challenge of making a 5 person shortlist is obvious.

There are steps that can make the chances significantly better.

Personalised applications – When you receive over a thousand applications, which one initially stands out, the one addressed “Hi Richard” or the one addressed to “To Whom it may concern”, “FAO HR” “Dear Sir or Madam”, “The Hiring Manager” etc. Often the advert will show the name of the recruiter, if it doesn’t it will always show the name of the agency, go on line and find the name of the recruiter or alternatively give a quick call and ask who is recruiting for the specific role.  Does this guarantee success, no! If you don’t do this does it mean you won’t get a call back, no! (Especially if your CV looks perfect for the role, these days though there are lots of CV’s that, on paper look good for a role) Does it give you a slightly better chance of a call back, yes! In this market every little edge makes a difference

Tailored CV’s / Cover letters – I understand that if you are not in work you will be sending out dozens of applications (often a lot more) some of these you will be sending “on the off chance” and maybe don’t fit the criteria 100%. I understand that, will you get shortlisted, probably not, but it’s worth a go! What about the jobs that do look a good match? Spend a little time tailoring your CV and a cover letter, think about what the recruiter wants to see, and ultimately who the hiring company want to employ. If the role asks for someone who has worked for an IT services company dealing with SME’s and has managed field support teams of 10, if you have managed this type of team then highlight it, in the CV and in a Cover letter. Don’t have standard cover letters, write them for each application. Does it take time, yes! How many of your competitors will bother, not many!

Telephone calls – Everyone says it is important to follow up with a telephone call, it is! But what is the best approach. Some try calling 10 times a day, checking to see if an application has been received, could you tell me a bit more about the role. In an ideal world that would be fine (apart from calling 10 times a day, that’s stalking!), you would get through to the recruiter they would confirm receipt of your CV, go through it in detail,  provide feedback, talk you through the role and so on. This isn’t an ideal world, no one can do that hundreds of times for each job, now some will argue (not you I’m sure) that recruiters should do this, often they are the same people sitting complaining about no feedback, that recruiters are terrible, they never return calls (trust me they are returning calls, just not yours!) The way to make these calls is simple be relevant, concise and engaging. Rather than call with the opening line “I just wanted to call to see if you received my CV” or “Is the job still available” why not have a few sentences about how your experience relates directly to that required in the advert. (Similar to what you would say in the cover letter) Or be creative, why not leave a message saying “I just wanted to tell him one thing about that role”, if you are original and engaging you will get call backs (remember the 60 Second Rule )

LinkedIn follow ups – I think it is fair to say that most recruiters use LinkedIn and most recruiters like to build big networks on LinkedIn (5 Tips for using LinkedIn ) Why not send them an invitation to connect? Once you are connected you’ve got another method of communication. Its different to a contact through telephone or email, not many people are doing it and it might give you an edge.

One very important, simple and often overlooked tip – once you have engaged the recruiter and shown that you have the skills for the job, it isn’t difficult to work out what the first couple of questions are going to be, have the answers ready. Think about what you are going to say in advance and practice. It’s not easy to ad lib when the pressure is on!

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

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