every counselor/coach/recruiter in the world tells a candidate to follow up with a “thank you” note as well as a note as to what the candidate can do for the company..
well, our candidate thought he had a lousey interview so he didn’t follow up with the note..
well, the hiring authority thought the guy was great..couldn’t understand why the guy didn’t follow up..
when the candidate found out that the hiring authority really liked him, he was motivated..wrote the note….too late, the hiring authority thought about it…decided to go after someone else..
LESSON:…follow up…always follow up with a thanks!
one of our candidates “rewrote” her resume…left off a three month short gig at a company 2 years ago…she has had too many jobs and figured it would be better to do that..
well, she forgot to “update” her resume on linkedin…so, one of our clients got it…went to linkedin to see what he could find out about her…found the “old” resume and decided not to persue her..
lesson: keep your resumes consistent..don’t shoot yourself in the foot
i referred one of my candidates to a company…he knew the V.P. of sales, the guy he was suppose to interview with…they had worked together before..
my candidate didn’t like the guy and told me he really didn’t want to go on the interview…after down right cajoling him, i got him to go…”you never know what might happen,” i said
well, he got to the interview and the V.P. marched him into the CEO’s office and the CEO started interviewing my candidate for a positon they had just thought about creating..
it was on the same level as the V.P.’s job…
you never know about what kind of postion you might be interviewing for…go on every interview you can..
dave calls me from kansas…thanks me for the information on how to negotiate…says he got the offer he wanted and followed my advise exactly…got $20,000 more in salary than the company wanted to pay…PLUS a car
good job dave…no matter how great the coach can draw up the plays, they still have to be executed properly..
one of our candidates today whose “healthy” ego became too big lost a great opportunity
the hiring authority of our client company purposely makes candidates sit and wait at least 20 to 25 minutes after the interview is suppose to start..
he does this to see if the candidates are nice to the admininstrtive personel at the front desk…he want to see if the candidates engage with the admins in a nice way…
after the formal interview, he asks the administative personel if the candidate was nice…cold…grumpy, etc….he makes much of his decision on how the candidate treats these folks…
our candidate’s ego got the best of him…he was cold..grumpy..impatient and not engaging…in fact, he was down right rude to the admins… but, boy!…when he got into the formal interview, he was as nice as he could be…
dumb…dumb…dumb…moral: be nice to everyone..especially when you are interviewing…you never know if you are going to be “tested”
Michael Jordan stated: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted with the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again all my life. And that is why I succeed!”
in order for your job search to be successful, you best expect lots of “failures”…failures to get interviews, to do well in some interviews…to get offers that you want..
in fact, that is part of the deal…even the best candidates have to get 12 interviews to get an offer…even one they may not like…and these are candidates with exceptional experience and credentials..
so…you have to expect misses…it is part of the “game”… in fact, if you follow my mentorship, you realize that the “misses” are simply steps toward successes…
keep shooting…get as many interviews as you can…sell yourself as hard as you can…remember what Zig Ziglar said many years ago..”a big shot is simply a little shot that kept on shooting!”
we spent a week in Ireland…Chrissy’s ancestors are from there…I’ve never been a big traveler, but going to europe reinforces how lucky we are in America…our free enterprise, our economy…inspite of all of our faults, we are so fortunate to be here…
..candidate has been out of work for three months…we get her an interview and she says she is going on vacation for two weeks???
vacation from what..?
most employers would think that the priorities are out of sync here….and they are right!
had a candidate that was an employer of mine who hired people from me…four years ago, he was interviewing candidates and, as many employers do, didn’t really communicate with all of the candidates he interviewed.. in fact…he was rude to them…telling them he’d call them, then never do it…telling them they were good candidates but never following up with them..
now everyone is busy, but it is courteous to do what you say you will do…many, many hiring authorities don’t do this..in fact, it is one of the biggest complaints we hear, that the hiring authority said they’d be in touch then don’t..
well, one of the guys he treated this way is now a hiring authority…i presented the man ..the original one that was rude to the new hiring authority…he laughed and said there was no way he’d interview him because he’ been so rude four years ago…
what goes around…comes around
we are at Wake Forest this weekend…our youngest son is graduating from there…it made me think about how getting good grades in college can really makes a difference in your future…
now, many of us, like me, got by in undergrad with C’s…we still did OK, because we work hard…
BUT, it sure makes a big difference if you can show folks that you are smart..yes, even, “book smart”…common sense has to be there…but being smart sure helps you in life…and employers love it..
so when interviewing, even if you have been out of school for a few years, if your grades were really good, let the hiring authority know you did well in school…
if you didn’t do so well in the first year or two of college and did well in the last couple of years …or you had good grades in your major, but your overall gpa wasn’t so hot…don’t hesitate to share with a hiring authority that you did well in those situations…
if your grades in college were not that hot, whatever you do, don’t justify poor performance…something like, “My grades were not as good as I would have liked. If I had it to do over again, I would have studied harder,” works well. Then emphasize working hard at “other” things, like a job during school, or social activities, i.e. fraternity, sorority, organizations, politics, etc.
You will never be able to make reasonable excuses for poor grades, so don’t try.
If your kids or someone you know is starting college, tell them that Tony said that few things take the place of being smart…you can open many more doors in your career with good grades…
…i’m often criticized for my fat finger typing and apparent abhorant spelling…it is OK when you own the company,..
IT ISN’T OK ON YOUR RESUME..make sure you have your resume proofed and read by a few folks…it isn’t fair, but employers will often eliminate a candidate because of poor grammer and spelling mistakes..
and you can’t say, ”Well tony beshara doesn’t spell very well either”… tony beshara has a good job that he loves…not a good excuse..
p.s. don’t write your resume late at night when you are tired
…great candidate..she decided that she should tell potential employers that she was pregnant..
two of the companies she spoke to loved that she told them..said that they had lots of moms there and she would fit right in..one of them is strongly considering her..
two of the companies she interviewed with quietly said very little, but “passed” on her…never said a word as to why..but we all know why..
here was our rational..if she didn’t tell them and she went to work..left to have the baby and didn’t come back to work, which is always possible, that firm most likely would be very upset with her…
no matter what anyone says, it can really put a company in a very awkward position if they hire someone who leaves to have a baby in six or seven months…especially if they are a small firm that depends on every employee..
if a candidate who becomes an employee puts the company in a real pinch like this, the people in the company may really resent her not telling them…so, the right thing to do is to “treat others the way you’d want to be treated”…don’t suprise folks…
..one of our candidates says she is 2 months pregnant…still needs a job, as she is unemployed…
asked us if she should tell people when she is in the interviewing process that she is pregnant…
an employer cannot ask if a candidate is pregnant…but a candidate can offer it if she wishes…
what do you think she should do???
i’ll tell you what we advised her later…what do you think?
…my candidate last week was perfect for the job…she goes to the interview…things are going great…until…she starts talking about how she has been under paid and she is now going to make up for it by being sure she gets paid “what she is worth”…
the hiring authority, naturally, asks her what she thinks she is “worth”…she tells him $20,000 more than what she is now making….
interview went south after that….
don’t ever, ever, ever talk about “what you are worth” until you have established your value to an employer…
…today one of my candidates got called by an employer i sent him to a month ago…the candidate called him as the employer told him to do…candidate called the guy close to 25 or 30 times over two or three weeks…never got a return call
frankly, i and you know that is rude…i kept telling my candidate to kepp calling…don’t take it personally…these hiring folks will tell you that hiring is a priority but not call you back even though they say they will…rude, rude, rude
well, today, out of the blue, the hiring authority calls the candidate, tells him that he’d like to see him tomorrow and talk about an offer…never apologizes or acknowledges his never returning the calls…nothing..
well, the job is a good one..so, my candidate is going to go to the interview tomorrow and talk to the guy…
lesson…never take it personally…we won’t know why the employer didn’t return the calls, but the job is still good one and the candidate should consider it…
…the saturday inteviews…well, the CEO brought her six year old to the office with her…while she interviewed…
even worse…one of our candidates, who had his daughter for the weekend..(he’s divorced) couldn’t find a baby sitter on such short notice, so he took his eight year old daughter with him to the interview…with crayons and all…instructed her to wait in the reception area of the company..
between the CEO and this candidate, they talked about kids most of the time…very little about his qualifications, etc.
the other interviews didn’t go much better…it is hard to get someone’s attention when they have their six year old with them doing anything..
try not to interview on a satruday morning…stay home with the kids and watch power rangers or something like that!
Hiring authority insisted on interviewing tomorrow morning…she is looking to replace her controller and doesn’t want the whole office to know it, so she decided to interview four candidates tomorrow…
I have never liked Saturday interviews…too casual…just isn’t business…we’ll see how it goes…
I guess it is better than no interviews…but it is still not the best environment…
we’ll see…
my candidate got hired…in the second and third interviews he asked great questions:….”what is my competition like?…what do i need to do to make it clear that i am your best candidate?…are there any concerns about my experience that i need to make clear?… what, in your eyes, might be concerns about hiring me?…what, in your eyes, are my greatest strengths relative to this job?”
he asked strong, hard, confident questions..he wasn’t afraid to lose…he got hired!
one of my candidates has been waiting three weeks for an offer he was told he was going to get…it was not my client, thank goodness…but i kept telling him to keep interviewing…but he wouldn’t listen…it was his dream job..
he has been calling the hiring authority every three or four days…has a start date and has been told, “no problem”..
well, today he found out that the hiring authority is going to be promoted…good for him..bad for my candidate..
they are going to wait on hiring…either promote from within or hire a new manager from outside the company..
sadly, the hiring authority knew this was a possibility a month ago, but wanted to hedge his bet, that if he didn’t get promoted he would hire my candidate…he was dealing to what was best for him and not the candidate..
lesson: don’t believe a damn word about “we are going to hire you”..until you get an offer letter..
my candidate is devastated…
one of my candidates who studied my on line program …www.thejobsearchsolution.com
he is one of four finalist for a V.P. of the West for a company..he goes into the executive interview with the CEO, the Exec. V.P. and two other V.P.’s…he makes a presentation of what he would do in the first 30-60-90 days with a plan modeled after what the program taught him…
he gets the job…turns out he is the only candidate that did anything like that….$180,000 base and with bonuses he will make $400,000…not bad for simply following instructions
…one of my candidates got hired today by an employer i sent him to…………eight months ago…the candidate kept calling the employer even after he had been eliminated…not too often, but every two or three weeks…the employer never did call the guy back…but, timing is sometimes everything…when my client’s first hire resigned after eight months, my candidate just happened to call and……he got hired after one meeting…
you never know…don’t hold your breath…but hang in there
candidate today..goes to a thrid interview..he was doing great..unitl he gets to the end of the interview and he says..”i’m very interested..where do we go from here?”
that is so totally weak…weak, weak, weak….he should have said, “this is a great opportunity for both of us …what do I need to do to get the job?”
he has been eliminated…don’t ever, ever, ever leave an interview without asking, “What do i need to do to get the job?”
i got an interview for one of my candidates that i have known for a number of years…he is very picky and the kind of job he needs is very hard to find..
when i told him about the interiew, he started giving me this stuff about..”well, i know them…i wouldn’t work there…they know me…i don’t want to go…i don’t think they can afford me..it doesn’t sound right” blah..blah..blah…
i threatened him that if he didn’t go, i wouldn’t get him any more interviews…i shared with him that he is a pain in the butt and that he needs to go on any interview he can, because he is hard to place and kind of people that would hire him are very hard to find…
he went…
he starts work for these guys monday…$143,000 salary plus commission that will put him at $300,000 the first year… a $20,000 HIGHER base than he was making..
LESSON: ..go on every interview you can get…you really don’t know “them” like you think you do…what a job “sounds” like has nothing to do with reality… don’t make a $143,000 mistake
you remember the guy who lied on his resume..well the #2 candidate who was told “no” two weeks ago is now being hired…Lesson: hang in there..just because you came in second or third …don’t give up…you never know…
everyone’s #2 or #3 is someone else’s #1…always keep the doors open..
it happened again today…oh, my goodness..this is soooooo sad..
a candidate i placed started his job last week..the company finally got around to checking his background and found that he lied about having a degree..they fired him on the spot..
since 1973, i have never understood why people lie …especially about something so easy to check..
DON’T LIE..it is dumb…dumb…dumb
If you can’t explain it simply,
you don’t know your subject.
- Albert Einstein
Most of the books, articles written about how to get a job are written by theorists who have not actually helped get people jobs!
Interesting! It would almost be funny - this part about people writing books about how to find jobs not having much, if any, experience in finding people jobs - if above mentioned books, articles didn’t waste so much of their readers’ time and money!
My day-to-day responsibilities are solely concerned with finding people jobs.
What are my qualifications? I have been successfully finding people real jobs for over thirty years. After receiving a Ph.D. in Higher Education from St.Louis University, I bagan to forge a career working outside of academia - in the real employment world.
I have personally placed more than 6,000 people and am adding to that list every day. I have personally met and interviewed more than 24,000 people of all professions and services. I have worked with more than 21,000 different companies; many of which have hired candidates from me while some did not. The firm that I now own has been in the placement and recruitment business since 1952. I joined the organization in 1973 and bought it from the founder in 1989. We are the oldest placement firm in Texas and certainly one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the Southwest. Since its founding, the firm has helped more than 100,000 people find jobs. We have developed surefire techniques that help people find new jobs and new careers.
This blog will explore specific challenge of finding a job in changing economy. The following are just some of the aspects I will explore:
-How a recessionary market impacts your personal job search or employment change
-The psychological dimensions of finding a job in changing economy
-How to start taking action immediately
-The things that really count: interviews
-What to expect from potential employers; how 97% of the companies in the U.S. approach hiring - surprises abound!
-Searching for a new job while presently employed
-The delusion of resumes
-The importance of practical spirituality
-The telephone interview
-How to manage the initial and all follow-up interviews
-Meaningful supporters and mentors
-How to deal with being fired and laid off
-Negotiating the highest pay
-How to start a new job
….and many other issues.
If you want practical, highly useful and informed information on how to get quality, high paying employment to better your life, then step inside…
Let’s get started!
