reinventjen

The game is called “Nail the Interview”. Click here to play.

The goal is to nail the interview and get offered the job. It has some great tips throughout and allows you to save your game at any point.

Have fun!

I guess the interview must have gone well after all. I got an offer, and I accepted. Yes, I am no longer unemployed.

The position is a good transition for me to “reinvent” my career. I previously worked in automotive finance and will stay in that industry, but in a marketing-related position. I will be working in what you might call a “start-up” environment (pursuing new growth opportunities) within a well-established company, so it will be very exciting to develop the position over time.

Of course, as we went through the process of extending and accepting an offer, the topic of salary and benefits was discussed. Money talks can be stressful - I know I’m not quite comfortable with the “negotiations” just yet.

I found an interesting article on how to handle the money issue and negotiating pay. I felt my offer was very reasonable, (and as I said, I’m not terribly comfortable negotiating pay - something I should probably work on) so I accepted the offer without countering.

I wish I had found this article before my phone interview with the HR recruiter. Her last question was about my salary expectations - she wanted to make sure we were in the same ballpark. I think I answered the question okay, but next time, I should be more confident. One friend says to be careful even filling out employment applications that ask for previous salaries. He feels you may not get HR’s strongest offer if you divulge this information too soon. Or you could be passed over if the company feels they will not be able to afford you.

I don’t know what the right answer is in handling the topic of pay. But I do think reading articles like this one and practicing what you plan to say helps.

Here is another great post from the Secrets of the Job Search blog.

He talks about telling a story in your interview. I especially like his answer for “Tell me a little about yourself.” I had always answered this question by simply going through my past job experiences. But that can be so boring and so predictable. Take this opportunity to tell them about who you are and what makes you uniquely you. The interviewer can always ask follow up questions about your experience.

I wrote a post earlier about Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford. It was so inspiring for me. And it appears many other people feel the same. If you just Google “Steve Jobs Stanford”", you get hundreds of hits. I recently found the audio/video of the speech. Whether you read the speech or not, it is really worth it to hear the words straight from Jobs himself.

Click here. If you have iTunes, then click “Get speech video here”. For those of you who don’t use iTunes, you really should, but if you don’t, click on the audio format for the audio (no video for you!).

I haven’t written in a while. I actually got an interview last week, and I was too nervous and afraid of jinxing myself if I wrote before I heard anything.

I interviewed for two and a half hours with three different people. It was grueling, and I was exhausted - mentally and emotionally - when I finally left the office. One of the interviews used the “behavioral based” method. If you have ever experienced a behavioral interview, you know how difficult they can be.

The purpose of a behavioral interview is to 1) wear you out; 2) see how you perform under pressure; 3) see if you can think on your feet; and 3) gain insight into how you handle difficult situations. For example, the interviewer may ask “Tell me about a time when a project you worked on didn’t go like it should have. What did you do about the situation?”.

So, you have to quickly go through your Rolodex of experiences and think of a time that fits this scenario. The best way to answer these types of questions is with the STAR approach: You have to describe the situation or task (ST), explain the action you took (A), and then give the final result (R). It’s not easy. I think with this kind of interview, practice makes perfect. While I certainly wasn’t perfect, I know by practicing and role-playing before the interview, I was much better prepared.

Here is a link to a listing of some good behavioral interview questions. Practice your answers and try to use the STAR method.

Good luck and knock their socks off!

I really enjoy reading the Hiring Revolution blog. It consistently has insightful, thought-provoking posts. In fact, today, I saw an article by Erin Meuller called “Transferable Skills”. And let me tell you, that’s what I’m banking on…that employers will see my transferable skills and believe I have a good foundation and can learn the rest.

She says, “Enter the need to look beyond the first layer. To begin, try to define and seek out transferable skills. Someone who has marketed to similar target audiences is a good place to start. The right attitude and potential internal culture fit is also key to most successful employees.”

With so many people looking to make a career change, it is not only important for the candidate to clearly communicate cross-over skills and describe how she “fits”, but it is also important for recruiters and hiring managers to be willing to consider someone who may be “outside the box” just a bit.

So, thank you, Erin for your encouragement. I know you were probably speaking more about same-industry, different-field scenerios. But I think it works for even bigger changes, too.

MSNBC.com published a great interview with former editor-in-chief for Monster.com, Doug Hardy, who shares his advice for a strong job search.

Day 2 of TheLadders’ SeekWeek Webinars was about “Managing your many faces: What to say about yourself and where.”

The focus of this program was on personal branding, from the resume and cover letter to having an online presence.

A personal brand is important because:
-Credentials are not enough
-People pay more for brands (Tide is more expensive than the store brand)
-Technology has raised the bar (It’s even harder now to stand out)
-You want recruiters to seek YOU out (you have to be visible)

There were three speakers: Deb Dib, President of Executive Power Group, Kirsten Dixson of Bradego, and William Arruda, President of Reach Communications. To view the archive of the presentation, click here.

The speakers focused on 5 steps in branding yourself for the job search:

1. Know your brand: It is important to know your VPs (Vision, Purpose, Values and Passions) when establishing your brand, which is also your reputation. Determine what attributes describe you (visionary, rainmaker, outspoken, charming, etc).

2. Put Your Brand in Context: You have to know your audience, which can be hiring managers, recruiters, companies, and industries. You also have to know about your competition - what do you have that is the same as your peers? What is different? Then perform a gap analysis to determine what unique benefit you bring that makes you irresistible to others (besides your looks, of course).

3. Express Your Brand: After you have established your brand and completed the gap analysis, you have to design your “marketing materials” (resume, cover letter, etc). With regards to resumes, it was suggested the document begin with an executive summary that includes your brand statement. This catches the recruiters’ eyes quickly and hopefully entices them to read the rest of the resume more carefully.

(Note: I revamped my resume based on their comments and suggestions. I’m really happy with it and hope to get favorable results.)

4. Build Your Brand in Bits and Bytes: Google yourself. It is important to be visible, and one way is by “being found” on the Internet. Some suggestions included starting a blog or creating an online portfolio.

5. Exude your Brand - Get the Job you Deserve: A brand must be Clear (precise message), Consistent (across all channels - resume, cover letter, bio, etc) and Constant (always visible to the target audience).

In addition to these 5 steps, there were also tips on “collateral” material like resumes, cover letters, bios, resume addendums, executive summary, etc. For more information, link to the webinar.

In an earlier post, I mentioned TheLadders is hosting job search-related webinars all this week. If you missed the live version, you can view an archive.

I listened to Monday and Tuesday’s sessions. The topic on Monday was “Recruiters Speak! Insider perspectives on recruiting today.” Three professionals gave insights into how their recruiting process works.

Sarah George of Wachovia said they receive between 62,000 and 65,000 applicants per month. To handle this huge volume of resumes, Wachovia has instituted an electronic system to screen out candidates who are not the best qualified. So beware of the “Resume Robot” that can disqualify you before human eyes even see your resume.

George also explained that the Wachovia culture plays an important role in the hiring process - candidates go through multiple interviews to ensure they are a good “fit” in the company culture. I have to commend them for that. It has become rather clear during my professional experience just how important culture is to a company. The culture has to be healthy, and in order for it to remain healthy, it must be nurtured and carefully guarded. Hiring the wrong candidate can adversely impact the culture.

Kent Burns of MRINETWORK (executive recruiting firm) offered some very valuable advice. Here are his Top 10 Reasons candidates don’t move forward in the hiring process:

1. Poor Resume Development (typos, grammar): You must articulate your VALUE.
2. Lack of Energy: Let them see your passion!
3. Answers are not specific: During an interview, give examples of concrete situations where you exhibited a trait.
4. Weak Value Proposition: You must differentiate yourself.
5. Can’t Build a Bridge: Bridging the company’s requirements and your skills, so they see the match.
6. Not being a “Businessperson”: You have to show you understand the business. Have an economic mindset. You can show your acumen through carefully crafted questions.
7. Can’t Articulate Desires: Know your mind; know what you want.
8. Poor Questions: It’s so important to ask good questions. Write them down so you don’t forget!
9. Not Closing: Sell and close the deal!

I found a lot of value in Kent’s Top 10 List. It was point-on. I think for me, right now, building that value proposition is critical. And then articulating it as best I can in a resume that will be scanned by a hurried recruiter/hiring manager for about 10 seconds. I have to grab their attention. And quickly.

I’ll be posting more on what I learned…so stay tuned!

Jason Goldberg on Jobster’s blog had some great tips for the online job search.

Goldberg describes Job Search 2.0 (a reference to the new buzzword Web 2.0 which alludes to the online revolution taking place on the Web).

There are online job search tools where listings from hundreds of job boards are searched and presented for you on one site. One I use quite often is www.indeed.com. In an earlier post I mentioned Bloglines as a feed service to help track any new entries. It’s been great for wading through the huge volume of jobs posted every day.

I only recently found some of the other tools mentioned in Jobster’s blog, so I still have a lot of work to do! But, I will definitely be using his advice and incorporating these 8 Tips into my job search plan. I hope you find them helpful as well.