Tuesday, May 22, 2012

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SCORE?

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SCORE?


Just when you thought all you needed to GET THAT JOB TODAY was a visionary marketing strategy, an outstanding sizzley resume and killer interview skills, here comes a new social media site that that is gaining credibility- and job seekers need to pay attention.

IT'S CALLED KLOUT

It gages how much sway we have in the on-line world. Who or how many are listening or being influenced by us.

It works on a series of algorithuims based on our engagement with linkedin, facebook, twitter and google+. But from what I am reading, mostly facebook and twitter

So who cares right?

WELL, HERE IS PERHAPS WHY YOU SHOULD CARE.

KLOUT SCORES MAY BE USED FOR HIRING

I heard just last week that some companies are using these scores to gage job seekers, as well as for employee reviews.

In an article written by Wired's Seth Stevenson he found a few folks who claim, pretty disturbingly, that they were turned down for jobs despite being very qualified because their Klout scores were too low, For reference, Justin Bieber, with 18 million Twitter followers, has a perfect Klout score of 100 and Ron Conway, venture capitalist and Silicon Valley angel investor, scores 48—a point higher than the Aflac duck.

According to Seth, he says “It seems shocking that any company would weigh job candidates using a metric that rates the social networking influence of a guy who actually helped get Facebook and Twitter off the ground as roughly equivalent to that of an insurance company's mascot”, but that's what veteran branding consultant Sam Fiorella told Stevenson had happened to him when he was up for an executive position at a "large marketing agency" in the spring of 2011.
Fiorella claimed his not-very-influential-at-all Klout score of 34 doomed his candidacy. And that's not just guesswork on his part—the agency's recruiter pulled up Fiorella's score in his presence and "cut the interview short pretty soon after that," he said. The job eventually went to a candidate with a Klout score of 67.

SCARY HUH?







Monday, May 21, 2012

LIAR, LIAR YOUR PANTS ON FIRE!


 LIAR, LIAR YOUR PANTS ON FIRE!

As the employment market shrinks and becomes more competitive, studies have found rampant lies (mini fibs)? on resumes among job seekers.


DON’T DO IT!
Screening out liars is one of the major functions of today’s Recruiters, HR, and Hiring Managers

BELOW ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ONES

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATES: Many companies will confirm university degrees and technical certifications in their background checks.

EMPLOYMENT DATES: Don’t try to stretch your time to cover up gaps. While excluding months isn’t a lie, tacking on additional years employment to your resume is a big lie that can be easily caught by a basic reference check.

 TITLES: Don’t embellish to give yourself fancy titles. This lie is easily caught by a reference check – companies can and will give your official title as part of the reference process.

 CRIMINAL RECORD: Criminal background checks will uncover felonies . An increasing number of companies are using outside companies to do criminal background checks, even for non-financial jobs.

SALARY: Salary inflation can be caught by a thorough reference check – often using a service specializing in salary confirmation.

PROFESSIONAL LICENSE : Companies may confirm licensing with the appropriate state agency as a part of their background checks.

Today, companies don’t even have to do extensive background checks to catch you lying on your resume. That’s why over 90% of companies search social media sites like Linkedin, Facebook and Google as a part of their hiring process. Social media inconsistencies uncover a large percentage of resume lies.

You can thank your friends for that – because on social media, you’d also have to lie to all your friends. Do you think that when you put on Facebook that you “graduated” from Harvard in 1990, that you wouldn’t have 10 of your buddies crying “BS”? Or that you suddenly got a CPA?

THE TRUTH IS MORE POWERFUL

If you are applying for jobs you are qualified for, rather than lying to try for jobs you aren’t, then the truth is more powerful than lies. I’m not just referring to the truth about you – but if you can get to the truth about what’s happening inside the company, then you can express your experience to show you’ve solved similar problems, met similar goals.

When you can get to the truth inside the company and can adapt your resume to what’s happening about the company, your resume will be much stronger than lies, and you don’t have the risk of getting caught in resume lies.



Friday, April 20, 2012

OUT OF XANAX? TRY THIS FOR YOUR JOB SEARCH INSTEAD

A close friend recently sent me an article listing the 10 things you should give up to be happy. It's great advice! So let's read closely and see how incorporating a few of these statements into our job search could just be the kick we needed. Remember what I always say: Your thoughts become your words and your words become your actions.
  1. Give up the need to always be right
  2. Give up on blame
  3. Give up your self-defeating self-talk
  4. Give up your limiting beliefs
  5. Give up complaining
  6. Give up the need to impress others
  7. Give up your resistance to change
  8. Give up your fears
  9. Give up your excuses
  10. Give up the past
Are you starting to see a trend?
Tune in to the DEB AND DAVE radio show LIVE on www.blogtalkradio.com/debdave Monday April 23 and listen to us as we offer ways to challenge your job seeking thoughts.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

HOW TO HANDLE THE SECOND INTERVIEW

HOW TO HANDLE THE SECOND INTERVIEW

You rocked the first interview and followed up with a great thank you note. Now it’s time to meet the other team members- possibly the whole department for the second round.

Do you feel you have covered everything in the first interview? What do you really want this department to know about you?


Try to remember all the questions you were asked, did you tell all that you could? Now is the time to go over all your answers. PRACTICE your stories again. Add details that you may have skipped, because chances are you will be asked the same questions again.



This is the time to introduce that all important 30/60/90 day plan to demonstrate just HOW you will advance the department within that time-frame.



It's important to keep all the notes you have made from your previous interview preparation, as it will help to remind you of the most important points to reiterate during the second interview. Take another look at your job description and at all the points you made in order to


sell your sizzle.

The Department is determining if you are the best candidate.
So your challenge is to set yourself apart, show your uniqueness, let the employer know that you are a great match for the position and that YOU have what it takes to do this job.

It is important that you leave them with something to make you memorable.


And never let them see you sweat.