communication Archives - Page 4 of 5

don’t play not to lose..play to win

our candidate made it to the finals…after four interviews, he made it to the last two interviews…

he is a dynamic guy…aggressive, assertive, bright, witty and really knew how to sell himself…he had a great track record..frankly, he was perfect for the job..

but as he got closer to the final interviews, he started thinking about how well he was doing in the process and then started thinking…”i’m doing so well…better not screw up!”

so, instead of interviewing the same way he did to get to the finals, he toned down, didn’t want to take any chances, quit being aggressive, assertive, bright, witty and, unfortunately quit selling himself….he was afraid to loose..

well, he didn’t get hired…

lesson…dance with what ‘brung ya…keep doing what you did to get where you are…don’t alter your interviewing style when you get to the finals…

By Tony Beshara|2008-09-03T21:47:41-05:00September 3, 2008|communication, interviewing, job search strategies|

“my business on the side..”

candidate thinks that he wants to communicate he is an entrepenure, so he tells the hiring authority that he has a business on the side…that is very successful, he adds…

now, if you are trying to hire someone to work really hard for you, whose money do you think the candidate is going to protect first…your’s and your company’s or his???

if the business is so successful, why would one look for a job?

pleeeeez…if you have a business on the side you will kill your chances of getting hired by telling an employer about it

…on top of that …you’ll look stupid!

By Tony Beshara|2008-08-28T21:26:10-05:00August 28, 2008|communication, interviewing|

goatees and beards

i know that many will say that i ain’t “with it” or an old fuddy-duddy…BUT…men (..women too, i guess) who grow or keep goatees and beards while job searching, should rethink the decision..

employers are prone to ..even subconsciously..question a candidate’s viability if the candidate is wearing a goatee or beard more than those that are clean shaven..

don’t ask me why…and you can claim all you want that it isn’t fair …but there is a tendency to think that people are covering up “something” when they grow at goatee or beard

and the truth is, they are…they are covering up…. their face..

studies have shown that there is a slightly subconscious, distrustful, negative feeling toward candidates with goatees or beards…it is very subtle, but nonetheless, there…and, as a candidate, you simply don’t need even a subtle negative feeling toward you

it doesn’t matter if your wife, girl friend, mother, etc. think you look great with a beard…unless they want to hire you, get rid of any facial hair during your interviewing process..

you can always grow it back after you find a job…

By Tony Beshara|2008-08-25T21:18:02-05:00August 25, 2008|communication, interviewing, job search strategies, psychology|

bluffing….no, no, no..

candidate goes into “negotiations” for the job offer…first thing she says is, “Just so you know, I have two other offers.”

hiring authority says, “Oh, great. With whom?”

she stammered and stuttered…she was obviously bluffing

she blew the “negotiation”…

lesson: don’t tell a hiring authority that you have another offer unless you really do…and if you do, tell them who it is with…don’t look stupid by bluffing..

By Tony Beshara|2008-08-18T21:51:19-05:00August 18, 2008|communication, interviewing|

thoughts on references

lately..and these things come in streaks..we have had a “rash” of lessons as a result of references for our candidates that have caused problems or cost the candidate the job..

over the next few blogs, we are going to discuss them..

last week, one of our candidates gave a previous peer as a reference…when the hiring authority checked this reference, the reference giver said that he had not worked with the candidate in over a year…!!!

the candidate had told the hiring authority that he had left his last job last month…so the hiring authority jumped to the conclusion that the candidate was lying about when he left his last job…

we eventually cleared the misunderstanding up…it was true that the reference hadn’t worked with the candidate in more than a year…because the reference was moved to a different department of the company…the employer didn’t hear that, because the reference didn’t make it clear..

remember, hiring authorities are afraid of making a mistake…they will be fearful of the smallest issue or misunderstanding..

make sure your references are “reading from the same page”.,.it took a whole day of calls to other people that worked with our candidate to clear this up…

call your references before they are called by the hiring authority…share with them what the hiring authority is going to want to know…

By Tony Beshara|2008-08-11T07:41:22-05:00August 11, 2008|communication, job search strategies, resumes|

follow up…no matter how long and how many times it might take

my candidate kept following up with the hiring manger, even though they hired someone else…

the hiring authority and my candidate really hit it off, but my candidate just didn’t have anywhere near the experience they needed…but boy they hit it off..

my candidate asked the hiring authority if he could call him back from time to time…of course, the hiring authority agreed…

so at least once a month the candidate called the guy…heck, my candidate was still looking for a job and he figured until he got one he ought to call everyone that might eventually hire him…

seven months later, he got hired by the company..they liked him so well they “created” an opportunity for him

never quit following up…no matter how many times it might take

By Tony Beshara|2008-07-24T21:58:56-05:00July 24, 2008|communication, employers, job search strategies|

odd first impressions…tone it down a bit

you never know how candidates are perceived…

one of our candidates who is a very successful sales person goes to an interview…the hiring authority loves her, but is concerned about her motivation..

why?…well she had, according to him, a four carat diamond ring on (…really only two) and drove a brand new mercedes and wore at least a $500 outfit (…how does he know?)

…he wondered if she was motivated???…oh, brother

the truth is that she was able to afford these things because she is one hell of a sales lady…she also has two kids in college that she supports..

now, i might agree that when you combine the ring, the car and the suit, the hiring authority might have been put off a bit…

lesson:..tone it down a bit…dress professionally, but not over the top..

By Tony Beshara|2008-07-23T22:03:12-05:00July 23, 2008|communication, interviewing, psychology|

always, always, always follow up!

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 lousy 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!

By Tony Beshara|2008-07-15T22:05:26-05:00July 15, 2008|communication, interviewing, psychology|

common sense

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 pursue her..

lesson: keep your resumes consistent…don’t shoot yourself in the foot

By Tony Beshara|2018-07-25T13:39:06-05:00July 10, 2008|communication, resumes|

be nice to the administrative personnel

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 administrative personnel 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 administrative personnel 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”

By Tony Beshara|2008-06-16T22:08:40-05:00June 16, 2008|communication, employers, interviewing, job search strategies, psychology|