Kaye Monty

There have been a lot of articles written about helicopter parents.  While it is great to have a parent who is involved with their children’s life, there is a fine line between being involved and being too involved. Regardless if you are a recent graduate or an experienced professional, you should utilize your network for job leads or business opportunities.

In my personal opinion, this should be limited to an introduction.  Parents are generally biased and will sing praises about their children.  You need to start developing your personal brand as a professional.  What does it say about your professional image?  Acceptable behavior include but not limited to the following:

• Introduction to contacts in the industry
• Insights into the daily life of (fill in the blank) professional

I was reading an article by Eileen AJ Connelly in The Examiner on my way to work.  It was talking about scams targeting job seekers.  Scam artists post fake job postings and ask job applicants to enter their credit card info for details about the job.  The article suggested that job seekers visit the following sites to learn more about job scams:

• http://www.ftc.gov
• http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com
• http://www.ic3.gov
• http://www.ic3.gov
• http://www.bbb.org

 HKARcarde and @Gartenberg are hosting a tweetup.  For those who do not hang out in twitterverse, this is an event where twitterers meet.  The invitation is usually sent via Twitter; however, invitations do cross over other mediums. For example, I attended a tweetUp where I met a former colleague who did not even use Twitter.  He was a self-proclaimed fan of LinkedIn but heard about the tweetup through LinkedIn Groups.  Mashable had a great post on what to do and not to do when hosting a tweetup in case you are interested in hosting one.

Here are some answers to questions that I have encountered about tweetups:

Do you have to be on Twitter to go to a tweetup?

No, you do no have to be on Twitter to attend a tweetup but it does help that you share some common interest with the other twitterers.  

What do people do at a tweetup?  

You interact with other people through, hopefully, interesting conversation, food and/or drinks.  The conversation is live and not via tweets.  Some people might tweet about the tweetup.  Live tweets are a pretty good way to vicariously be at an event.  I once followed tweets at the last Six Nations Championship match for England vs. Ireland.  People at the event were tweeting live.  Although that was not a tweetup, the concept is the same.

Here is the link to the event which is on Monday, June 8 from 5:30 – 7:30pm at 303 Second Street South Tower on the 9th floor in San Francisco.  Hope to see you there!

Update:

Links to Hill and Knowlton AR team’s blog and Michael Gartenberg’s blog about the event.

You have spent hours tapping your network for job leads and scouring the internet for job openings.  All that hard work pays off and you land an interview on the phone or in person.  An unexpected event comes up that you must attend happens to fall on the same time as the interview.  What do you do?   You have to ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the event something that can be rescheduled?
• Will I risk losing my current job or getting written up if I miss this event?
• Will they suspect that I am job hunting if I skip the event?
• How much do I want the job and is it worth skipping the event for this job?

You spent hours tweaking your resume and cover letter until it is just right. One sure way to ensure that your resume gets put in the rejected pile is to say that you want to work for “ABC Company.”  I think that it is great that you want to work for  ABC but we’re not ABC.  In fact, we’re ABC’s competitor.  If you are going to personalize your resume and/or cover letter, then please make sure to proofread it at least once.  Even if you use spell check, I recommend that you have one or two people proof read your resume as well.  There are certain things that even spell check can not fix.

A friend and former colleague has been on three interviews with a company.  The inevitable question, “How much were you making at your last position?” was asked.  It is the 600 pound gorilla in the room.  People know that the question will come up but they dance around the question for as long as possible.  My general philosophy is to ask that question up front.  In the 13+ years that I have been recruiting, salary can be a deal breaker.  Why wait until the candidate has gone on 3 interviews only to find out that (s)he can not accept a salary less than X amount.

There are various stages during the interview process that candidates may be asked reveal their salary information:

• Application process – Some applicant tracking system can be designed to ask all candidates pre-screening questions before their resume can be submitted.  Salary could be one of those questions. Employers have been implementing more automated screening tools due to the influx of resumes.
• Interview stage- Human resources professional have different philosophies of bringing up the salary question.  Some prefer to ask the question up front.  Others prefer to wait during the 2nd or 3rd interview. There are some who wait until right before the offer stage.
• Application form – Every employment attorney and recruitment book/class that I have encountered recommend that company’s require applicants to complete an application form.  There are numerous reasons why an application form is important from a legal perspective.  One of them is the candidates are asked to list their previous employers including salary history.

Candidates are sometimes reluctant to discuss salary during the early stages of the interview process.  I respect that some candidates do not want to be ruled out simply because of salary.  As I mentioned earlier, you can not ignore the 600 pound gorilla in the room forever.  My friend did not want the prospective employer to stop considering her because of her salary which she suspected is higher than they can afford.  Here are your options when faced with the salary question:

• Be up front - Tell the prospective employer exactly how much you are/were making.
  
• Provide a range - Provide the prospective employer a ballpark idea of your previous salary.   You can give a salary range if you prefer.  You can also give a salary range you can live with if they should extend you an offer.  I recommend reviewing your finances to determine the minimum amount of money that you need in order to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.  Add all the other things that you need to keep you sane and use that as a starting point.
• Be flexible and negotiate - If you suspect that this figure might be on the high side, then make sure to mention that you are flexible.  (But make sure to mean it otherwise it is a colossal waste of time on everyone’s part if you have a set figure in your mind that is non-negotiable.)  You can always negotiate other things into your offer if the employers can not provide you that magic number. A lot of people negotiated stock options during the dot com days.  Sales people will sometimes negotiate their commissions and/or perks such as a car/parking allowance.  I suspect in today’s economic climate, people might go as far as negotiating severance or retirement packages.  The sky is the limit as to what you can include during salary negotiations.  Keep in mind that just because you ask, does not mean that you will get it.  You will not know unless you ask.

There has been a lot of news coverage about the swine flu that has spread from Mexico into the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.  As of Sunday, April 26, 2009, there have been 20 reported cases in the United States.  As human resources professionals, you should review your emergency preparedness plan whether it is a flu pandemic, earthquake, hurricane or tornado.  BLR recommends the following steps:

• Tap into resources – SHRM has sample crisi management policies.
• Test your plan – Conduct fire drills and button up any holes.
• Provide training – Provide basic training to employees such as first aid and tips for effective handwashing.
• Update plan – Business conditions change so your plan should be edited to meet those changes.

If you are a recruiter, then you are most likely waging the never ending battle against spam.  The spam which consumes about 97% of email according to a study by Microsoft rather than the meat in a can variety.  As much as I love a good spam musubi, I hate email spam.  My blog has been flooded by spam which means that I have to spend several minutes sorting through legitimate comments versus spam from online casino.  Not only is spam bad for the environment, it just sucks up time.  Time which I do not have and would prefer to do something more productive.

Recruiters are prone to spam because we post jobs that require us to leave a reply to address.  We can direct candidates to an online applicant tracking system (ATS) which forces candidates to register and submit their resume.  A well designed ATS makes it very easy for candidates to apply online.  A poorly designed ATS is incredibly cumbersome that you candidates just give up and move on to the next job posting. Unfortunately, not all companies can afford to have an ATS so they manually go through every resume.  This exposes them to posting resumes online.  

Even if you have an ATS, you still have to post your resumes to niche sites.   Others leave you exposed to the spammers of the world.  What can you do?

• Unique email address – I worked for a company that assigned a unique email address to each job.  The system administrator had to create an email address everytime that I opened a job.  This might be great for a small company but could be cumbersome for a larger company unless they gave administrative rights to the recruiter to add/delete these email addresses.
• Anynomous email addresses - Some sites such as Craigslist provide you an anonymous reply to email address.  If they do, then take advantage of this option as it is an easy solution.
• Break up the email address – Some professional organizations send email job blasts to members on a weekly basis.  Instead of listing your email address, you can list it as yourname (at) yourcompany (dot) com.  This seems to deter some spammers for now although it confuses some of the administrators managing the email lists. 

The articles out there about the economy and jobs are bleak but every now and then there is a glimmer of hope.  Business Week’s Liz Ryan wrote that there is still a talent war.  Even though there are a lot of candidates competing for that elusive job opening not every applicant is a qualified job seeker.  When it is an employer’s market, more job seekers than job openings, employers can afford to be more selective.  This means that job seekers need to make sure to put their best foot forward at all times.  I was reading another blog that echoes Liz Ryan’s point about what employers are looking for in the ideal candidate.  Employers are not only looking to hire hardest working employees but also the smartest.  This does not necessarily book smart but employees who make an impact.  These employees are the problem solvers who can look at the bigger picture and come up with creative solutions.  

As a job seeker, you need to take stock of how you made an impact in your previous jobs.  Even entry level candidates can make an impact.  You do not have to come up with solutions to ending world hunger.  Creative ideas can be as simple as increasing attendance at an event because it demonstrates your ability to solve a business problems or objective.  Remember to come up with facts to support your statement.  ”As a result of my idea, we increased event participation by 10% and raised an additional $500 for the event compared to the prior events,” are much better than simply indicating that you had more participants.

As an employer, behavioral interviewing can help identify the top performers.  This style of interviewing asks for specific examples of how candidate reacted to a situation in the past.  You ask a simple question such as, “Tell me about the time when you led a project.”  You can ask follow-up questions about how they dealt with a conflict, pressure or deadline.  It gives relevant information especially if they will be applying similar skill sets to the job.  I never did like the hypothetical questions that some intereviewers would ask.  People have different ideas of how they see themselves and what they really are.  However, looking at what people have done in the past will most likely show what they will do in similar situations in the future.

I participated as a guest interviewer at the University of San Francisco’s Speed Mock Interviews 3 weeks ago. Think of it as speed dating but the goal is a find a job not a soul mate.  Candidates should prepare for a job interview; however, some candidates prepare a little too much.  A job interview is a conversation.  It is the opportunity not only for the interviewer but also for the candidate to find out if this is a suitable fit.  Think of it as a first date.  The conversation should flow both ways.   Preparing for the interview should entail recalling anecdotes that highlight your fit for the job opening.  It is not an open invitation to memorize and prepare a canned response.   A conversation with your soul mate will come naturally and unrehearsed.  Good chemistry with potential colleagues and managers may make the difference and help you land the job.  

Below are a few interview questions that I have personally encountered time and time again over the years.  I also find that they are flexible in that you can repurpose your anecdotes to answer other interview questions.  

Tell me about yourself?  

Think of this response as your 30-45 second elevator pitch. If the CEO of your dream company/dream job asked you this question in the elevator, what would you say?  This is your opportunity to describe your personal brand by providing a sentence or two that highlights your greatest strength including concrete example of your greatest success.   

Editing your elevator pitch to 1-2 minutes can help you answer other questions such as “What unique experience or qualifications separate you from other candidates?” or similar questions.

Describe a typical work day or typical work week.

The interviewer is trying to assess how much of your work experience relates to the job opportunity.  Review the job description and map it to your previous experience.  They are not asking for a minute by minute account of how you spend your work day or work week.  Describe the type tasks that you perform such, “As a public relations intern I compiled press kits, created media lists, organized events, conducted research, drafted media pitches etc.”  It is much better than saying, “I get in, make my coffee, check my email, etc.”  

If you are on the cusp between a staff position and a mangerial position, then this is the time to mention the more strategic components of your job.  This will give the interviewer a sense of scope of your responsibility.  

You can expand on some of the items that you described to answer questions such as, “In what ways do you raise the bar for yourself and others around you?” or “Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond to get a job done.”

Tell me about a difficult/stressful situation and what you did to overcome it?

Keep your response professional and provide examples in the workplace.  If you are new to the workforce, then cite examples from school. There is no need to go into detail about the fight that you had with your frenemy or a flaky babysitter.  The interviewer is looking at your problem solving abilities in resolving conflict or stressful situations. Try to give concrete examples of your successes.  How much money did you save the company?  How much revenue did you generate? How many more people attended the event?  How much time did you save?  How many customers were you able to retain?  Do your research to try to come up with facts and figures.  It is much better to say “event participation increased by 300% as a result of my efforts” versus “there were a lot of people at the event”.  

Describe your greatest weakness.

The interviewer is looking at your ability to recognize your weakness and steps that you have taken to improve yourself.  Your ability to turn a negative into a positive also gives some insight into your creative thinking.  Everyone has a weakness.  A candidate who can not provide a response to this question will raise red flags.  

Describe your greatest strength/accomplishment.

Review the job description and describe an attribute that ties back to the job opportunity.  Try to provide an anecdote that emphasizes your strength.  This will demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the job.  I would recommend that you come up with 1-2 more examples of your strengths/accomplishments.  The interviewer could ask you to give additional examples.  You could also recyle the response to answer other interview questions.  Items worth noting are your ability to work in a team, solve problems, handle conflict, motivate team members etc. 

If you think of a couple other examples of your greatest successes, then you can provide responses to questions such as “Why should we hire you?” ,”Explain how you would be an asset to this organization” or “Why do you think you would do well at this job?”

Do you have any questions?

The interviewer asked you questions, now it is your time to ask questions.  It does not matter if you already asked the question to the previous interviewer(s).  Ask the question again because each interviewer will provide a different perspective.  Ask how you will interact with them when you get the job.  Find out what they like about the company.  Put some thought about what you want to find out about the job opening.  Candidates who do not ask questions send a message that they just do not care.  Ask meaningful questions that shows that you really thought about the opportunity and how you can add value.  It will also show that you truly understand the responsibilities for the position and can hit the ground running.   Using the speed dating analogy, would you go to a first date and not ask questions to find out more about your date?