A Difficult Lesson That You Must Remember

Did you notice this story last week?


"Radio Shack CEO Steps Down Amidst Resume Questions"

RadioShack Corp.'s embattled president and CEO, David Edmondson, resigned Monday following questions about his resume's accuracy.

Leonard Roberts, RadioShack's chairman and Edmondson's predecessor as CEO, said the move was necessary to restore the company's credibility.

"One of the most important things we have as a corporation is integrity and trust and we know we have to restore that back to the public," he said.

Edmondson said he took responsibility for the errors. Separately, RadioShack said it would hire outside lawyers to investigate errors in Edmondson's resume, including claims that he earned two college degrees for which the school he attended has no records.

My father is 92 and owned a business in The Bronx Terminal Market. Six days a week, he went to work, first as an employee, then as an owner after he bought the business from his boss at a time when it might have gone under. He eventually retired a few years ago, selling the business to two of his managers.

Abe Altman taught me a lot through his words and through his actions. The first lesson of life, he told me, is tell the truth. A man has nothing more than his reputation. When he loses that, who can believe him.

Dave Edmundsen held that position for more than eleven years yet when a Fort Worth paper exposed the fact that he did not have the two degrees he claimed on his resume, his job disintegrated almost overnight.

I remember many years ago, a person I placed at a bank, a person I warned to coplete the application accurately because his new employer would do a thorough background check, wa escorted out by security on the first Friday after he joined. his offense? Lying about a degree. At another company, it took 45 days, but they caught the lie abouta conviction. The sad thing was that it was for a civil rights protest; they would have hired him regardless but were compelled to fire him for lying on their application.

Why is this so important? Simple. Applications are legal documents. If you commit a crime, like embezzle grandma's life savings, while in the employ of a company and they know it, what do you think that will look like in court (Your honor, the company knew Mr. So-and-So was a liar and they still kept him on board. They should be punished for hiring someone like this and putting them in a position where they could steal).

Oh, yeah, don't you think the employer's insurance company would be thrilled abouta decision to keep a known liar on board.

And sometimes, we don't remember the exact date we started a job ten years ago . . . or the salary we earned 15 years ago. If that occurs, put the expression "approx" (for approximately next to the item. This way, they will know that you had no intention to deceive anyone.

So listen to your parents . . . or to my father, Abe Altman, and don't lie. Do you really want to be escorted out and explain to your kids, family and friends why you were?


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

© 2006 all rights reserved.

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

If you would like to subscribe to Headhunt Your Own Job, Jeff Altman’s free job search ezine, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman. While you’re there, you can read other job hunting or hiring advice, search available technical and non-technical positions and sign up to receive a daily digest of positions we’re recruiting for.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

Posting Your Resume on Job Boards

A few weeks ago, I got a call from a client telling me that they wanted me to keep an eye out for three senior technology managers with particular skills.

"Expansion," Iasked.

"Nah, " we spotted their resumes on Monster. Look up these three people and you'll have the job description."

True story.

If you are currently working, why are you revealing your identity when you post your resume on the major job boards? If you work for a large company that is trying to hire staff and is advertising for staff, they may have also purchased a license to search the resume data base to search for new staff.

How do you think your employer will respond when HR calls them and says, "Sharon is looking for a job."

Too often, I see people put their jobs at risk by posting their resume with full contact information on the large job boards. Blind your name and make your dissatisfaction harder to identify.

Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing

jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman While you’re there, sign up to receive a daily digest of jobs emailed to you as we learn of them and my free job searchzine, Head Hunt Your Own Job.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

Job Search Lessons the 2006 Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is a game but, like sports in general, it offers useful life lessons that we can take with us . . . if we only look below the surface. As I watched the game, I saw a number of things. How many did you see?

1. As I pointed out last year, winning is a team effort. That was never more obvious than this year when the Steeler offense was going no where for most of the first half and the SeaHawk offense was moving the ball almost at will. All of the focus prior to the game was on the offenses and, in particular, the match up between the quarterbacks. But Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger started horribly, piutting pressure on the defense. Seattle moved the ball against the defense but could not “seal the deal” with points as John Madden said diuring the game.

In his post-game comments, Coach Cowher spoke about the team effort that went into winning, in particular the coaches who put in an enormous effort all season long to adapt to the chages that kept occuring all season long.

Who are your coaches or are you trying to do everything by yourself? Champions take coaching
from the staff who are able to look at their performance and offer good advice that the pro adapts to. Wouldn’t that be helpful in your career planning?

2. Excitement is a great motivator; fear isn’t. Pittsburgh came out “jumpy” and unsettled. Penalties and poor execution on offense and on the defensive side of the ball almost put them ina big hole. Fortunately for them (but unfortunately for Seattle), each time Seattle moved the ball, the Steeler defense would hold. Pittsburgh scored right before the half making the score 7-3. Seattle had dominated the play through most of the half but was trailing.

When you interview, it is OK to be excited but arriving fearfully can cause you to make mistakes that can cost you the job you’re well qualified to perform. You don’t execute well on the interview and you go home to explain what happened. It’s a horrible feeling.

3. Critical mistakes will keep you from winning. Seattle arrived as a team who had not turned the ball over for several weeks and left as a team that dropped passes, threw a critical interception, fmbled at a critical juncture, committed costly penalties that cost them 14 points (or enough to win).

4. Try not to be predictable. The team that runs the same plays over and over again will be defeated. Pittsburgh buried Seattle with an end reverse becoming an option pass touchdown to Hines Ward. In their playbook all season, they only ran the play once all year.

5. Planning for next year started 72 hours after the teams left the field. That should be true oof how you start planning for your next career move. As someone once said, the person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest and doesn’t always work the hardest . . . although those are great qualities to have. The person who gets ahead is the one who remains alert to opportunity. Sometimes that’s within an organization; sometimes it’s outside of it.


Good luck! Can’t wait for next year’s game. Giants vs. Indiana. That would be fun!

Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To subscribe to Head Hunt Your Own Job, Jeff Altman’s job search e-zine, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman enter your email address in the subscription box and lick to subscribe.. While you’re there, sign up to receive a daily digest of jobs emailed to you as we learn of them and read additional job hunting or hiring tips.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

Job Search Secrets from Before the Super Bowl

Job Search Secrets from Before the Super Bowl

Every year, 30 teams coming to training camp in August to prepare for their season, They will play 4 or 5 exhibition and 16 regular season games to determine which teams will meet in the playoffs in “one and done” elimination for the opportunity of playing in The Super Bowl. What lessons can we take from these athletes and their experiences that we can apply to job hunting?

First of all, being a great athlete is no guaranty of being successful. Professional sports are littered with great athletes who have never one a championship. As a result, it’s important to remember to surround yourself with a great team. A team you can excel with and a coach (boss) who can be a good leader for you and others.

You will play the way you practice. Teams don’t just “show up” on Sunday. They practice and practice hard in order to develop their skills within a system. They work hard to be victorious. How do you prepare for your job search? Do you just “show up” at the interview, “feel out” the interviewer, “wing it” and expect to win? Do you actually prepare yourself for interviewing with that particular opponent (interviewer) by learning about the firm? Have you ever Googled the name of the interviewer to find out about their background?


Each game has a certain number of plays you will be in for. Play hard on every down and execute your responsibilities at 100%.. Each interview will consist of a fixed number of questions. Some of them may seem stupid to you or repeat questions you’ve been asked on several other interviews. Your job is to execute the plays by answering questions with accuracy and with passion for what you do.

You won’t be perfect on every play. You will even loose some important games. Great teams learn from their defeats. They practice in order to get better. They work hard to become excellent. They may lick their wounds for a while but they know there is a next play and next game in order to go to the playoffs. This kind of resilience is important for you as a job hunter.

After all, not every resume you’ll send out will result in an interview, let alone a job. When you don’t get a job you really want, do you collapse into a cocoon for a week or do you find out what went wrong and what was right in order to learn from the experience? Champions watch film of their games to analyze their performance. What do you do after an interview to review?

Take coaching. Some people interpret coaching as criticism. In some respects, that’s tue. Being told how to improve is a criticism, but it is also a suggestion for how to be excellent (and for you managers, perpetual criticism without praise results in your staff tuning you out).

The poet, Rumi, writes:

Pray for a tough instructor to hear,and act and stay with you.

Don’t get your opponent riled up. Being controversial draws attention to yourself and awakens the dragon. Dragons are always safer when they are asleep than when they are awakened. Don’t gove the interviewers any reason to be critical of you.

Ah, yes, there’s one more.

Your time as a champion is fleeting. Someone will always be there trying to take your crown. Enjoy every moment of life. Life is fleeting and one day, you’ll die. When you look back, do you want to have regrets about how you’ve used your precious time on this planet or at the end, do you want to acknowledge that you’ve used all of your energy well

Jeff Altman

Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.sayhi.to/JeffAltman While you’re there, sign up to receive a daily digest of jobs emailed to you as we learn of them and my free job searchzine, Head Hunt Your Own Job.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).