I get a lot of questions about recruiters. The most often asked question is who the recruiter works for. The short answer is the recruiter isn’t working for you.

While, someone who’s out of work recently told me it’s cruel to say this, it’s true.

Retained and contingency recruiters work for the one who pays them. And that’s the employer.

Retained recruiters are paid a fee to find candidates and are generally paid whether the employer hires them or not. Contingency recruiters are paid only if the employer hires one of their candidates. Their fee is a percentage based on the candidate’s first year salary.

Read more

Personal branding is a popular concept promoted by marketers, public relations specialists and, more recently, career professionals. Countless articles have been written on the subject. A recent Google search turned up about 353 million results.

Still, questions abound.

• What is a personal brand?
• Why is it important?
• How do I develop one?

While there is no pat answer, there’s substantial evidence that a strong personal brand can boost your job search and positively impact your career.

What A Personal Brand Is

Your personal brand is how others perceive you. As entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk notes in a 2019 article about personal branding, “Your personal brand is your reputation. And your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.”

Read more

Do one thing every day that scares you. — Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s not easy to step out of our comfort zone and do something that scares us.

But, the only way to make those scary things less scary is to step up and do the things we’re afraid of.

I speak from experience.

Although most people wouldn’t know it, I’m an introvert. I used to be one of those who stood alone at networking events too shy to introduce myself. Two decades later, chatting with strangers is pretty easy.Read more

One of the issues often raised when a group of job seekers gets together is the question of age discrimination.

Several years ago,  I was invited to be a guest at Platform to Employment a program that was developed by The Workplace to address the needs of the long-term unemployed.

Originally launched in Connecticut, the program has had such great success that it was expanded to ten other cities in early 2014. You may have seen it featured on 60 Minutes.

Several days before my visit, I received a list of questions that the group was hoping I could answer from the recruiter’s perspective. Not surprisingly, a number of the questions addressed the problem of age discrimination.

Here are a few of the things I learned while working as a recruiter.

Read more

The biggest mistake you can make with a virtual interview is not taking it seriously. In the past, phone interviews were used primarily for screening. A recruiter or human resources associate called potential candidates to get basic information: are they still looking, do they meet the essential qualifications, do their salary requirements fall in the employer’s range, etc.

They also screened for basic communication skills. Can this person carry on a conversation?

If the candidate passes the initial screening they were invited in for an interview.

Virtual interviews, even for local candidates, was becoming more common when I was a recruiter almost 10 years ago. When COVID hit virtual interviews became the only option.

And it looks like virtual interviews are here to stay.

Interviews 2022

Today, candidates will likely have have several virtual interviews before being invited for an in-person discussion.   

• A screening interview – with a recruiter or HR associate
• A longer interview with senior HR personnel
• A phone or Skype interview with the hiring manager’s assistant or someone else on the team
• A phone or Skype interview with the hiring manager

While these steps are a generalization, the point is that you should expect to have 2 to 3 video or phone interviews before meeting anyone in person.

Read more

Welcome to 2022

Yes, the last two years have been challenging to say the least. But the job market improved in 2021, and 2022 is expected to be even better.

Now that the holidays are behind us, it’s time to kick start your 2022 job search.

Not tomorrow.

TODAY!

Get Your Resume Recruiter Ready

Yes, the economy has made a comeback. There are more jobs out there. That’s great news if you’re looking for a job.

The bad news is people who have been hunkering down, staying in jobs they didn’t like for the past 2 years are now actively looking. So, the pool of candidates is more significant.

Make sure your resume is recruiter and employer ready. That means creating a resume that highlights your achievements.

Read more

Despite our seemingly 24/7 business culture, most job seekers think you can’t find a job during the holiday season. Even looking for work from Thanksgiving to January 1st is widely considered a waste of time.

This is a big holiday myth.

HUGE.

I say that from personal experience.

In 2006, when I was still working in corporate, my phone rang just as I arrived home from our company’s holiday party. Although I had applied for a few positions, I was shocked to find that someone from HR at one of them was calling to conduct a screening interview.

The conversation went well and a few days later someone else called to set up a face-to-face interview with the hiring manager. The interview was scheduled during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Read more

The Great Resignation and an improving economy, which has turned passive lookers into active jobseekers, have increased competition for open positions. That means, if you want to find a new job, you may have to work harder than you have in a decade.

Sitting at your computer responding to ads won’t cut it. You need a multipronged job search plan.

These 7 job search strategies work if you work them.

#1 Make a list of target employers, companies where you would most like to work. See who you may be able to connect with at those businesses by sharing your list with friends, family, and former colleagues.

#2 Check the career sections of your target employers for open positions. According to Glassdoor for Employers, ads on job boards get an average of 250 applications, cited in Inc.  So it’s likely you’ll have less competition when applying directly through the company’s website.

Read more

All career professionals, particularly resume writers like me, say that you need to focus on your achievements. The best way to stand out from your competition is to demonstrate your value to employers. That’s true.

But even the most compelling resume won’t get you far if it’s not compatible with ATS (applicant tracking software system). Because important content, like your name and email address, may not be seen by recruiters and employers.

ATS Don’ts

While ATS systems are getting smarter all the time, and some are better at reading documents than others, your resume should be formatted to be read by most of them. Here are a few things to avoid.

Headers and Footers

Many ATS systems don’t read heads and footers, yet I still see resumes with the person’s name and contact information in the header. Headers are a suitable place to put your name and the page number. Footers on the second page are an excellent place to put your name and contact information if the printed pages are somehow separated.

Read more

You never know when you’ll find yourself unexpectedly out of work. It’s happened to me more than once.

I had a variety of full-time jobs while earning my BA. I’ll never forget the day I lost the job that paid all my bills, including rent. Since I was the company’s bookkeeper, I knew the business was struggling.,

But when they gathered the staff and told us they were closing the next day, I was stunned. Each of us would receive a few days of pay.

I quickly landed a restaurant gig, but other employees, some married with kids, weren’t so lucky.

The average severance is 1 or 2 weeks for each year worked. If you’ve been there for 5 years that’s 5 to 10 weeks.

In September, however, 34.5% of the unemployed had been out of work for 27 weeks or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation.

While you can’t predict the future, you can take steps to shorten your job search if you do find yourself suddenly unemployed.

Read more