Tuesday, November 27, 2007

How Do You Want Someone to Contact You?

The job market, by definition, is competitive. You compete with people for interviews. You compete with people to get their attention? By the time you are hired, you have fought off many challenges. Many more than you will ever be told about.

So why don't you put a telephone number on your resume?

You don't want to receive a call at work? OK.

How about one at home? No, huh.

And your cell phone? Don't want to run up your minutes. I see.

How do you expect someone to evaluate whether you are worth interviewing? By your resume alone?

how do you expect the interview to be coordinated between the various parties? Oh, you are available at 12.15 for 30 minutes.

No phone number. No interview. It is as simple as that. Figure outa way to let people comtact you and then stick with it.

Personally, with a young child at home, I don't work 24x7 so I rarely make evening calls to screen someone. I save those for scheduling interviews, debriefing interviews and presenting job offers.

Maybe you'll find a beginner who will call at night . . . but then you'll complain about the poor service you receive.

And it all started off with not putting your number on the resume.


Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

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Saturday, November 24, 2007

What Kind of Job Will You Be Asked to Do? A Reminder.

I like to distill things into simple ideas in order to help people see things more clearly. That is how I came up with a simple model for determining what you will be expected to do when you join a new firm.

In my way of thinking, employers ask people to do one of three tasks in a new job:

  1. Manage people who do stuff.
  2. Do stuff.
  3. Think about how things could be done better.

Most jobs have a certain amount of each as part of their description; however, the weight of the job will emphasize one component or another.

So when you are interviewing for a job where you expect to manage and the employer is spending most of their time talking about “doing stuff”, how much managing will you be doing.

If you interview for a job where you expect to be “thinking about how stuff can be done better,” and they talk about managing staff or “doing stuff”, how much planning or thinking do you think you’ll actually be doing?

Do you think you’ll be happy doing what they want you to do?

I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t accept such a position if offered; in fact, many people will strengthen their credentials and make them stronger candidates for better firms if they do.

However, I do want you to make a conscious choice and not be surprised as so many are.

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

Plus

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Perspectives from Hiring Authorites

When I sit down to wrote a column, I try to instill the idea of looking at every thing from a hiring authority's perspective--what is it that your behavior communicates to them that will affect their decision about you.

Here are a few that I have compiled over many years:

One client has us ask potential employees to go to their website to learn about their business. The often tell me about people who lie about reading what is on the site and then tell them about experience they have that would help them immensely--experience in fields that have no relevance to their business.

Where do you see yourself five years from now? Apparently doing work that doesn't fit with what the business the employer does. Not too smart.

How about being taken for lunch by an employer, confirming a date, time and place well in advance, and then trying to juggle everyone else's schedule because you need to be back for a meeting . . . or trying to move three other people to meet much closer to you so you don't have to travel. Smart move, huh?

How about arrival time? Does arriving a few minutes early to complete paperwork seem like good sense? Apparently fewer people think so, preferring to arrive late instead. Then, the lateness is compounded by not acknowledging it or explaining it with something as simple as a call in advance (there was an accident that is delaying me a few minutes) or an explanation (I'm sorry I was a few minutes late; I was detained at a meeting that was called by someone I am supporting; it usually lasts 45 minutes; today it ran close to two hours because of a few problems that had occurred).

Have manners become unimportant?

Everything you say and do at an interview sends a message to an employer about what they can expect from you as an employee.

Has your behavior been sending the right message?


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

Plus


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Friday, November 09, 2007

Lead or Follow: Both Strategies Work

I receive a call from a man who I helped find a Director's job for in the late 90's. He had been CIO for a firm for 5 years and when the company was packaged for sale by a private equity firm, the firm slashed costs which means that he and a number of executives were fired.

He has been in outplacement since the middle of the summer with some of his former colleagues, some of whom are fairly close to landing positions with portfolio companies of other private equity firms. As a result, some of them have started to speak with him about joining them in their new firm.

And, despite the fact that networking doesn't come easily to him, it sounded like being dependent upon others to find a job to have one of his own was sitting uneasily with him.

I said to him, "It seems like your search methodology is to be the puppy that follows the owner. Have you considered working to aggressively create some options of your own?"

Is that your strategy? Waiting for someone else to find a job to bring you along?

You have to do your own networking and your own search work to find your next job. I provide access to a lot of sites to post your resume at www.jeffaltman.com including convenient and easy to use Careerbuilder links, plus more than 40 sites to post your resume to.

Are you on LinkedIn? Connect with me and get access to over a thousand of my contacts there.
How about Xing? Or some of the networks on Ning?

Do you know former colleagues from your last job? How about people from your children's school? Your church, temple, synagogue, ashram or mosque?

There are so many venues where you can aggressively pursue your search, too and not just be a puppy.


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

www.jeffaltman.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to




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