You wonder why you weren’t hired

Many job seekers have asked me why a position is re-posted after they applied, especially when they didn’t even get an interview. Mary said that there are many reasons that happens.

• Perhaps as they reviewed candidates, none of them quite fit either the structure of the organization or the position.
• Perhaps background checks or reference checks didn’t work out.
• Or perhaps their top candidates declined the position.

The value of the right fit to the hiring manager

One of the bullet points we have in my HR director’s resume (Mary) says:

Collaborated with department managers to build understanding of the value in selecting the best qualified candidates and continue recruiting until the right fit is found for the position.

Mary trained the department heads on how to evaluate prospective candidates and not settle for someone just to fill the position. The “right fit” will add value to the organization and be an asset in growing the organization. The wrong fit could be problems down the road.

What can you do to make you the right fit?

Mary and I discussed the many things that job seekers can do to improve their chances of being picked.

1. Read the job description. Make sure that you actually CAN do the job and don’t apply to jobs that you are clearly not qualified to do. Mary used the example of a person in retail applying for a high level IT position. She had no technology experience. It wasn’t entry level. The job description clearly defined both the qualifications and what the position would entail.
2. Incorporate those Key Words from the job description into your resume and cover letter so that you come up as a match.
3. Make sure your resume is filled with accomplishments and quantify those accomplishments so that HR and the hiring manager understands that you can DO the job.
4. When you apply online, make sure you have first created your resume so that you are putting real content into the application. Write the traditional resume first and then use a text resume for applying instead of just filling in the blanks on the application. Directions for the text resume: Click here.
5. Research the company and the position. If you are called for an interview, you need to able to show them that you understand the company and what they need for the position.
6. Prepare for the interview. When you come to the interview, have a battery of additional accomplishments to share in the interview to demonstrate that you fit their needs.
7. Make sure you are not carrying baggage into the interview or into the background check. If you trash talk your old employer in the interview or even with people who could be providing the reference, you will blow your chances to be the one chosen. Attitude matters!

If you follow these suggestions, your job search will be on target and you will become the right fit for a new job much quicker!

Stuck in your job search or just ready to move on from your existing position? Julie Walraven can help you find a new career! To find out how, Click here!

Photo Credit

Image by laverrue

I have a client right now in the preliminary stages of being interviewed by a major news network. We chatted about how to present yourself to media. The advice I gave her though is the same advice I would give you in an interview coaching session.

Let’s go over a few key points on your physical image:

• Dress the part. Too often people fail to remember that they are creating a first impression. Dress appropriately. For my client, I reminded her that you need to choose clothing that not only fits well but colors that compliment your skin color. On television, the cameras notice everything. But even in person, if you pay attention to what colors make you feel better or make your eyes shine, perhaps this is what you should be wearing. When WAOW-TV came to visit a few weeks ago, I changed from my red fleece top to a green blazer. The blazer looked more professional and I could more easily hide the microphone. I would never wear a brown blazer though because I would look all washed out. Every person has different colors that they look better in, wear that to the interview.
• Check your make-up. Ok, this is mainly for the ladies. When you are on camera, you need to enhance your makeup to let the camera pick up your features better. However, if you do the same thing for a job interview, you will probably overdo it.
• Watch your perfume or cologne. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t wear any these days mainly because in the summer, I attracted bees and some scents were giving me headaches. You don’t want to have the interviewer end up with a migraine because you overdid the perfume or cologne.

What about the image you are projecting?

• Be cautious when you talk about former employers. I always advise clients not to burn bridges and the fastest way to burn one is to launch into a dialogue listing the faults of your former employer. The new hiring manager is wondering how long it will take you to speak badly about them.
• Use the same caution in talking about politics. In an ideal world, you would only want to work for people whose politics match yours but since this is reality, assume that you run the risk of offending someone if you start venting about politicians, policy, or government actions.
• Review your accomplishments before the interview and make a note of them so that you can quickly recall something to interject into the conversation when they ask a question like “what are the top 5 contributions you  made during your career?” Take the time to quantify the accomplishment with accurate numbers. Melissa Cooley, The Job Quest, did a good job of explaining this here.
• Sound like you know what you are talking about. Do your homework on the company before you get to the interview. Make sure you know the product line, review who is in charge, and check out the past revenues.

image by viZZZual.com

Resume writers have many tools used for information gathering and targeting the resume. Without those tools, your resume is mundane. How can the employer see how you would be an asset to the company if your resume looks just like every other resume in the database?

In 2012, Design Resumes is adding a new tool. We added our communication-style analysis or DISC assessment to every package, including our Re-Entry Basic Package.

BONUS for 2012 – Each Re-Entry Basic package includes your choice of behavioral assessment (Executive, Management-Staff, Career Success Insights, Sales, Customer Service, Interviewing Insights, and more)  will help you define your strengths and weaknesses, identify your communication patterns, and clarify your value. The assessments are a tool to help you position yourself for even greater success in your next position and identify why you might be blowing interviews.

The assessment, report, and accompanying consultation allows me to get a thorough grasp of the client’s personality, strengths and weaknesses. Using assessments has helped build value into the resumes, helped address potential pitfalls in the client’s work style that could hinder the job search, and helped build confidence into job seekers who were struggling with self esteem issues.

Clients ranged from people who had taken assessments in the past to others who found it a totally new process. Since assessments are now often a part of the interview process, this also lets the client experience an assessment in a safe environment before facing one in an interview.

In addition to using the reports for my clients, several businesses found the process to be advantageous to improving the interaction between their team members. Henry Yach III asked if I would meet with his team and complete assessments on a core group and himself. He left this review on the Google map to Design Resumes.

Julie has been a great help to our business over the past year. We had Julie work with our team facilitating DISC assessments, which are personality profiles. Each member of our office team met with Julie individually and then Julie followed up and came to our business to meet with the group as a whole. We found the information gathered to be very helpful in working together as a team and Julie did an excellent job showing each person’s strengths and how we could use that to serve our customers better. We continue to use Julie for many other services she provides. I would recommend Julie to anyone! Thank you Julie! ~ Henry Yach III- Yach’s Body & Custom, Inc.

Henry’s team was already nominated for the Chamber of Commerce Small Business of Year Award that they later won before I worked with them but Henry’s commitment to excellence continues to drive him to find new ways to serve his customers better.

The value to the client

The value to the client is evident as they recognize their value while also seeing the challenges that their communication style may be creating in the workplace. From the Checklist for Communicating to the Ideal Environment, clients get a grasp of what direction their job search should take and what specifically they are looking for in a new position. A client whose ideal environment reads “freedom of movement” will probably not like a job in a small cubicle.

Whenever I review assessments with clients I ask, “Does this sound like you?” Sometimes I don’t even have to ask  because the client is already shaking his or her head in amazement. One returning client bought a new package with an assessment included. As he read the General Characteristics section, a narrative identifying the basic natural behavior an individual brings to the job, he kept saying, “Julie, this is scary! How does this thing know so much about me?”

Suddenly he saw why he was not happy in his current role and why his desire to change careers was so strong. As we reviewed and discussed his report, he became more and more joyful as he felt convicted that his desire to move from manufacturing to the health care field was confirmed.

The value to the resume writer or career coach

As I discuss the report with the client, I can ask questions I might not have thought of previously. Suddenly, I have a grasp on areas that challenge the client and can now help him or her devise strategies to overcome their weaknesses. Their new resume (which is the foundation of the job search) now reflects the personality of the client as well as depicting their accomplishments and makes my job as a resume writer easier. The strategies we develop to target their job search now have a direction and sense of purpose that fits the individual client.

image by Rob!

I can’t tell you how many clients come in with resumes that are clearly created from the templates you find in Microsoft Word. It’s a beginner’s mistake. It is easy to assume that since Word is the top of the word processing software applications, the templates should be just what you need for your job search.

When I tell new clients that I start every resume with a blank page, they sometimes look at me funny. I believe that because the job seeker is unique, their resume needs to be created to fit their talents, accomplishments, and past experience. I do this best with a new document that uses the features that the job seeker and I select for their resume not a template created in mass as part of a software package by people who probably don’t write resumes as their career.

What’s even more scary? Bad Career Center Advice!

A client of mine who went back to school came in with the instruction book from his career center. Every example comes right out of those same templates. The format is boring, the content is boring, and the advice is totally unwise for today’s job search. And yet the career center is demanding this templated resume to be submitted for student’s to pass their classes.

In this case, my client was already getting job offers and interviews from his former resume. He went back to school as a non-traditional student after being downsized. We recreated his resume to match his new goals in school and he was ready to start using it. Unfortunately, we had to redo it one more time to meet the career center objectives which included shrinking his value-infused resume from a 2 page to a 1 page resume because “that’s the rule.”

I need their version of the resume to pass the class

When I told him that I didn’t think he was getting the right advice, he said, “I know but I need their version of the resume to pass the class. Let’s just do it for them. I won’t ever use it.”

Sad, huh? I know there are some great career centers throughout the United States that offer cutting edge services to their students and employ certified professional resume writers and career coaches to craft the direction of their programs. But this one doesn’t.

When the goal of an educational institution is to create new workers, the career advice has to match the goal. The handout is dated September 2010 but this information is included:

First, the likely possiblity that the shrinking labor pool of employment-ready personnel may create worker shortages during this decade.

Wrong job search crystal ball

I don’t know what crystal ball they are using but I don’t see worker shortages in the near future. Did they look out the window? Even in our own community, the global recession is still creating havoc with the recent loss of more than 1000 jobs in just two companies.

If the advice you are getting says your resume MUST be one page and you need an objective statement, go find someone who teaches cutting edge job strategies because you aren’t getting the right advice. Your resume must answer the question, why should I hire you? Your job search can’t be based on online only strategies. Your first assignment as a job seeker is to figure out your accomplishments in your past positions, your past education, and other experiences. Your second assignment is to define the network that will help you find a new job.

Where is your job search advice coming from? Make sure that you aren’t getting advice that would have been ok in the 1980′s but falls short in 2012.