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» Advice for the Job Seeker,
Start with the Basics.
First, you need a resume. Preferably one that takes
more than a half hour to produce. After you have one, send
it to three people you trust who have done a lot of hiring,
and ask for their feedback – tell them to be very critical.
Modify after you get the feedback, then do it again.
If you have no idea where to start, get some samples from friends,
preferably ones who do a lot of hiring.
Some thoughts about resumes:
•
Resumes will never get you a job, but they will keep you from
getting a job. The goal of a resume is to get you an interview.
Don't put anything in a resume which would give you a “no”.
•
Resumes should be short and interesting. Nothing is worse to
a hiring manager than a stack of long boring resumes. Eliminate
extra words.
•
Resumes for experienced job seekers have a certain form – typically
reverse chrono. Stick to the form. Check spelling. White space
is good. Colors and graphics are bad.
•
Word documents are expected. Check in advance how it looks
when saved as text – sometimes people do that. Some jobs
sites require a text resume. After you've iterated into a resume
you like, maybe create a text version which is a little cleaned
up for these situations.
•
Describe what you've accomplished and how. Use verbs. Be specific.
Emphasize creativity and problem solving skills. Lists of projects
are more interesting and illuminating than lists of skills.
Avoid an alphabet soup of “capabilities” without
context. You want to mention as many technologies as possible
(sometimes people are looking for a particular skillset, and
if you don't appear to have it, they'll treat you as a “no”),
but do it in the context of projects you've done.
•
Emphasize projects and experience related to the job you're
seeking. For example, if you are looking for a position as
a network engineer, stress network stuff, if you're looking
for a position as a programmer, stress that. You may be applying
for two kinds of jobs so you might want to have two resumes – sub-optimal
for you, but better for your chances of being hired. Great
experience doing non-relevant things is not usually a plus.
•
Since you've run your own business, you want to indicate the
projects you've done and the companies you've done them for… If
there’s a business you don't want them checking on, you
could mention it euphemistically (“a leading women’s
clothing manufacturer”).
•
Related to the previous – be clear about what you're
looking for. This is the way people figure out if you're a
match for their position. If you give a mushy description you
won't match anything. If you're looking for two different kinds
of positions, you might need to have two resumes stating two
objectives.
General stuff:
•
Give one phone number – preferably your cell – which
has an answering machine. The recording should confirm that
it is you.
•
Give one email.
•
Give your street address. People want to know where you live
because they want to assess your commute. They can't ask about
this, so anticipate. { If you talk to a company far away, you
should volunteer whether you're willing to move or discuss
the commute. }
Objective:
•
Again, it is important to be clear about what you're looking
for. You might have more than one goal – that’s
okay – but it is easiest to have one goal to describe.
For any one company / recruiter / contact you have to pick
one objective and stick to it.
•
Practice explaining your goal in a few sentences. You're going
to be saying this a lot, you should have it down.
•
Practice explaining your situation. Why are you looking for
a job, etc. This plus your goal is going to be your standard
spiel for every phone call, so you want to have it down.
•
Know how much money you want/need to make. Be clear about this
in your own mind. People are going to ask about your salary
history which of course for you will be tough to give, so you'll
have to give them something instead.
Staying organized:
•
Looking for a job is a job. Like any job, organization is helpful.
There are two ways to find jobs, 1) via websites and recruiters,
and 2) via your personal network. Posting your resume on Monster
and the others is essential. Do it. All prospective employers
and recruiters are going to be checking these sites.
•
Make a list of all your personal contacts who might possibly
be a lead for a job. Use a spreadsheet, paper binder, whatever.
For each contact, keep track of the next thing you need to
do for that contact. Send them an email? Call them? After you've
contacted someone, update the “next thing you need to
do”. If you asked Ms. Z to check her rolodex, then the
next thing you need to do is call her a week later to follow
up. Sometimes a lead is run into the ground, then there is
no “next thing”, but most of the time you can always
call after a while to check in.
•
As contacts give you other contacts, add them to the list.
Keep track of the relationship. It is much more powerful to
say “Ms. Z suggested I call you”.
•
As you get emails, save them and log them.
•
As you get phone calls, log them.
•
As you do interviews, log them.
Approaching contacts:
•
Unless you know there is an open position for which you may
be a candidate, it is always better not to ask for a job directly.
Instead, describe what you're looking for and ask if people
can recommend someone you should talk to. If they have a matching
need, they'll definitely jump in with interest, but if they
don't then they don't have to turn you down (which is easier
for both of you).
•
If people give you contacts, make sure it is okay to use their
name. It is powerful to say "Ms. Z suggested I call" as
long as it is okay, because Mr. X is very likely going to call
Ms. Z before getting back to you with interest.
Emails:
•
Some of your prospecting and communicating will be done with
email. Make sure your emails go out formatted, plaintext emails
are ugly. Spell check and reread. The goal of an email is to
get to a phone call, keep them short and punchy.
• Be super careful not to clone an email and forget to change
the salutation or company name. I've done this and man is it
embarrassing. Measure twice cut once.
•
Don't treat an un-replied-to email as a rejection. It is really
easy to ignore an email compared to a phone call. If you don't
get a reply to an email, call.
Phone calls:
•
A lot of your prospecting is going to be done over the phone.
If you have a choice between sending an email and calling,
make the call. If you can't reach someone, then leave a message
saying you're sending them an email, send them an email, and
call back later.
•
It is really helpful to call your own machine and give your
spiel, then listen to it. (Painful, too!) In an hour you can
tune this into something you're proud of – then it will
improve as you use it from there.
•
Smile. There is research that shows that people who smile while
talking on the phone come across friendlier. I know it sounds
hokey but there it is.
•
Walk around. People generally think better on their feet.
Interviews:
•
Interviews are super critical.
•
Smile. Right away. Research shows that the first five seconds
of every interview are the most important.
•
Be yourself. Yeah, everyone says that, but it's true. Don't
try to be the person you think the interviewer is looking for,
just be you. Remember most interviewers are nervous, too, they're
trying to do a good job of interviewing.
•
Practice. If you can, get someone you know to “interview” you,
and give feedback. Try to anticipate tough questions (“what
happened to your consulting business”). Don't interview
with the company you really want to work for first, practice
on some you don't care about as much.
•
Learn. After each interview, critique yourself. What went well?
What went badly? What would you do differently?
•
Learn as much as you can about a company before you interview
there. Obviously visit their website and stuff like that. One
trick someone told me which really works is to call a receptionist
and ask her all about the company. If she’s new, ask
her to transfer you to someone who’s been there for a
while. If they ask just tell them the truth, you're interviewing
there tomorrow and you want to learn as much as you can ahead
of time.
•
The worst kind of interview is when the interviewer spends
the whole time talking about themselves or their company. Then
they don't learn anything about you. Try to derail this by
interesting relevant anecdotes about you. If they are off talking
about their great code management system, tell them about one
you used. Or whatever.
Mental attitude:
•
Looking for a job sucks. It is hard work and very discouraging.
You have to get through 100 “no”s before you get
to a “yes”. Give yourself credit for persistence.
Celebrate little accomplishments. Try to do stuff each day
which moves the whale along the beach – phone calls,
emails, web surfing, practicing your spiel.
•
Leverage friends. Call them, tell them how you're doing. Hang
out. Be honest. We've all been there, we all know it sucks,
it is helpful to share. Don't get down on yourself - your friends
will help you with this.
Good luck!
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