Month: July 2014

Post-Interview Letter: Follow Up the Interview With a Letter That Will Get You the Job.

Post-Interview Letter: Follow up the interview with a letter that will get you the job.

Often people pay little attention to sending a thank you note to the person who interview them.  If you are not sending thank you notes and not getting invited back for an interview, there may be a connection between the two.

It is courteous to send a follow-up note to anyone who has spent time helping you with your career or with your career change. I have seen instances in which hiring managers have decided to pass on an applicant who had not followed up with any type of post-interview correspondence.

Some people recommend sending a handwritten letter. I have not seen a handwritten note in a few years. The problem with using paper to send your note is that most hiring managers are set up to use electronic mail and filing.

I see people attaching a letter to an email. Sending a letter as an attachment is kind of like gift-wrapping a gift-wrapped box of fancy candies. The extra gift-wrap is somewhat redundant and a bit inconvenient, since the candy is already in a gift-wrapped box. So trying to create more attractive formatting by using an email attachment for a follow-up letter may just in fact just be inconveniencing the recipient: an email is mail.

Attachments do have their purpose, but I see them more commonly for resumes, contracts, and presentations. The email content serves as the cover letter for the attachments. You might want to consider sending examples of your work as attachments to your thank-you note.

Whatever method you choose for your post-interview correspondence, you want to make four points.

Express your appreciation for the time and interest the person has shown you.
Express your desire to get the job.
Summarize the skills that you have which will enable you to contribute right away.
Create a call to action:  for example, ask when you can reconnect.

SAMPLE FOLLOW-UP LETTER

Your information

Street address
City, state, zip
Phone number
Email address

Date

Contact’s information

Name, titles
Company name
Street address
City, state, zip
Phone number
Email address

Dear Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss

Subject: (optional)

It was fantastic to speak with you on Tuesday about the Name of the Position at Name of the Company.

I really want this job.

You did a great job explaining the responsibilities of Name of Position.  I have attached examples of work that I have done that show my experience in these areas of responsibility.

  1. A presentation I gave to XYZ Company from raw data
  2. A presentation that I created and have tailored for team members to present to their clients
  3. A presentation featuring tables and graphs that show my graphic presentation skills and my ability to give attention to detail

For the past six years I have taken raw data based on product categories and consumer demographics, consumer conversions, repeat sales, new product-introductions, and even raw data from shipments and used the facts to create executive-level presentations for multiple teams in different departments.

As you and I discussed, I will call on Thursday.

Best regards,

Handwritten signature

Typed signature

Turn Your Career Worries into Career Plans.

I used to think that a certain amount of worry was productive.  I saw myself focusing on things that might happen.  I was being vigilant.  I was anticipating problems.  Business people need to anticipate problems to reduce risks.

Everyone experiences a moment of uncertainty from time to time.  However, making a practice of worrying is painful and, for me, counterproductive.  Career worries distract me from my work.  They drain my energy.  They make me less engaged with my co-workers.

When I am worrying, I am not finding a solution to anything.  What happens when I worry is that a painful idea comes into my mind my and begins to draw my attention.  Eventually another idea will come along and push the thought away.  However, the thought that was the subject of my worrying will return in my mind.  My tendency is to roll the idea over in my mind with the notion that I will find some solution to whatever is on my mind.  Instead of a solution, I find that the same work worries just loop in my head.

Planning is different from worrying.  When I am planning, I may be dealing with the same subject that had been causing me to worry.  However, when I am worrying, I am living inside my head.  When I am planning, I take the idea out of my head and put it on paper.  Alan Stock, Lifehacker, writes, “Take Stock: Evaluate Yourself.”

  • I write down my options and resources.
  • I begin to determine if the problem is worth my attention at all.  I discuss the problem with my wife or with friends who help me see the issue for what it really is.
  • I start to create a solution.
  • I can list steps to working on a problem.
  • I can see my options instead of just running the same painful idea through my mind.

Just by putting things on paper, I take the power out of worrying.  I find relief from the pain of work worries.  Sometimes I forget that career worries are not career solutions.  However, after enough pain, I take action.  I want to have fun in the world around me and not live in my head.  I try to avoid career worries through creating career plans.

Turn Your Career Worries into Career Plans.

If you have a job, increase your value to your company.

  1. Take on extra work.  Ask your supervisor for ways you can help with projects.
  2. Before you leave work every day complete one extra task.
  3. Build your skills by meeting with co-workers and learning what they are doing.
  4. Take skills development courses outside of work.
  5. Let people know about the additional things that you are doing.
  6. Enroll in a local college or online college program and get a credential or certificate.
  7. Get an MBA or MS or other advanced degree.
  8. If you do not have a degree, take an accelerated degree program for people who have jobs.

Give yourself additional security by secretly looking for another job.

  1. Update your resume.
  2. Review connections who can help you.
  3. Talk with your friends who can keep your discussion confidential and who can help you with your career plan.
  4. Limit your job search efforts to after work hours or on vacation days.

To turn your career worries into career plans take action.  Get out of your head and into the present moment.  What you think is a matter of your choice.  Think about your success and create a plan to make your success a reality.

5 Elements of A Career Change

5 Elements of a Career Change: Below are common tools and suggestions others have found helpful in making an effective career move.

Suggestions on writing a resume

Here is what you put into a resume and the order in which you put this information.  If you replace this
information with your information, you will have written a resume.

Your name
Street address
City, State Zip
Phone
Email address

Rule 1: Never refer to yourself in the third person in the body of the resume.
Rule 2: Use factual accomplishments and not subjective opinions of yourself.

  • Example of a fact:  exceeded assigned sales goal by 30%
  • Examples of opinion; goal-oriented, creative, tenacious, strategic, honest, loyal:  For a person to
    use adjectives about themselves puts human resource people to sleep

Objective:  This is optional and often redundant.  Your resume has the objective of
getting you interviews with an employer who sees a match in your location, your compensation, and your
experience and that employer’s needs.  It is conventional to state an objective here but you can probably
find a better use for the space.

Employment History (Most recent job first)

Company Name, Location, and Period of Employment (From to)
Most recent title:

  • Use bullet format.
  • List things you have accomplished.
  • Do not waste space on your just giving a job description.
  • List things that showed you made a difference.
  • Include increasing sales, reducing costs, promoting people, saving time, increasing productivity,
    etc.
  • Employers and recruiters search their databases for specific words.
  • List successes with specific industry words or functions.
  • Include the actual name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.
    g, Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market
    Insights, Innovation), etc.

Next List Previous Titles at this company and again bullets on successes:

  • List your have accomplishments.
  • Do not waste space on your just giving a job description.
  • List things that showed you made a difference.
  • Things you have accomplished include increasing sales, reducing costs, promoting people, saving time, increasing productivity, etc.
  • Companies and recruiters search their databases for specific words.
  • Include the actual name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.g., Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market
    Insights, Innovation), etc.

Then include Previous Companies going back in time from most recent.

Education goes next after you have listed the first job you held after college or in your career:  Part-time or vacation jobs held while in school are sometimes not listed except as a bullet to the education experience.

Do not put references or salary information on your resume.

When you have completed your resume, please send Jay Wren a copy.

Suggestions on writing a cover letter

Your Name
Street Address
City, State Zip
Phone Number
Email Address

Date

Name of person receiving your letter
Company Name
Street Address
City, State Zip

Dear First Name:

(If you come recommended by someone, list that person’s name here).  Name of person referred me to you.  I am writing to apply for as position as a (fill in name of position) with your company.  My resume is attached.

In my resume, you will find a record of success in (list competencies)

When may I interview with you?

Best regards,
Your Name

Suggestions on interview preparation

Here is what you can do to have a better interview.

1) Prepare an agenda for the interview, things you want to cover.
2) Research the company.  Find articles on the company and use information from these articles in your interview presentation.
3) Research the job and be prepared to talk about how your skills fit the job.
4) Review your skills and the information in your resume.
5) Be upbeat and positive about the world, the way you might be on a Friday afternoon.
6) Take with you extra copies of your resume, a typed list of questions, and paper and pen for notes.
7) Bring examples of your work that show your skills and successes.
8) Be factual about the work you did and the work others did to make you a success.
9) In the interview, listen to the questions you are asked and be sure that you understand the question before answering.  If the question is too broad to enable you to give a good answer, ask the interviewing to help you understand better what he or she is trying to learn.
10) Be positive when you talk about your current company, your boss, and your job.  Emphasize that you are looking to make a change to get more of what the company interviewing you has to offer.
11) Write stories of your successes as preparation to discuss how you can contribute to a company’s business.

12) Interview Preparation Outline:

Candidates have found that the following outline is effective in getting the job.

In using this type of outline to prepare for an interview, a person will have anticipated and practiced how
to handle many of the questions and contingencies that may arise in a job interview.

  1.        WHY I AM INTERESTED IN WORKING FOR YOUR COMPANY
  2.        WHAT I BRING TO A COMPANY IN YOUR INDUSTRY

III.        MY PLANS FOR DEVELOPING YOUR BUSINESS

  1.        WAYS THAT I CAN ENSURE THAT THIS HAPPENS
  2. WHY I AM INTERESTED IN WORKING FOR YOUR COMPANY
  •        The reputation of the company as customer-based marketers
  •        The long history of success of the company
  •        The glamour of sports entertainment
  •        The opportunity to work in an environment that enables me to use the promotional and marketing
    tools I have developed for my career
  •        The commitment to respecting and honoring their employees with programs
  •        The opportunity to work in the field of my choice:
  1. WHAT I BRING TO A THIS INDUSTRY
  •        Creatively and enthusiastically use the knowledge I gained in college to make the organization
    more successful
  •        Have a range of appropriate skills
  •        Have developed marketing strategies to include customer service, pricing, and product selection

III. MY THOUGHTS ON SALES OR MARKETING PLANS

  •        Does it present value to the customer?
  •        Does it create the correct brand image?
  •        Does it reach your target customer base?
  •        Does it make a buyer out of your customer?
  •        Does it create repeat customers?
  1. WAYS THAT I CAN ENSURE THAT THIS HAPPENS
  •        Identify target customer
  •        Identify the image that my company wants to project
  •        Create that image
  •        Create promotion to reach target customers
  •        Tell them why they want to spend their money
  •        Create an impression to make them want to come again

Suggestions for a thank you letter:

Your name
Street address
City, State Zip
Phone
Email address

Date

Mr. /Ms. Interviewer
Name of company
Street address, City, State Zip

Dear Mr. /Ms. Interviewer:

Thank the person for meeting with you.

Express your impression of the company.

Express your interest in the job.

Best regards,

Your name

Tools and Tips Summary

  1. Reference material
  2.  Work your network by making a list of every possible contact you have ever made in business and
    contact these people for ideas and opportunities.
    3.  Ask for referrals of every person you contact.
    4.  Lay out your goals as specifically as you can, but be aware that the more flexible you are in terms of
    money, location, and opportunity the more opportunities you will have available to you.
    5. Contingency recruiter or retained recruiter?  In practice, how a recruiter is compensated is not nearly
    as important as what contacts he may have.  Typically, retained recruiters are conducting searches where the salary is above $750,000 and involve “C” level managers.
    6.  Be organized.  Make a list daily of your contacts, what you discussed what action you have taken and what action needs to be taken.
    7.  Read the want ads in the local newspaper, national publications, and especially trade journals. Become an expert on what is in the job market.
    8.  Before approaching a company directly, research it thoroughly.  How is it structured?  Bottler, distributor, direct, or broker sales?  Public or private?  Do you have a referral to get your foot in the door, etc.?  Who are the key managers for the job you are seeking? To whom do these people report?
    9.  Prepare for an interview the same way you would prepare for a major sales call, business review, or planning session where you are the key presenter.
    10.  Follow up on contacts you have made.
  • LinkedIn
  • Manta.com
  • Trade Journals
  • Cost of living and compensation information

There is more than One Way to Get a Job.

There is more than One Way to Get a Job.

I read a great deal about getting a job through direct referrals.

However, some career coaches recommend that you limit yourself to a dozen companies where you really want to work and use a direct referral to get into those companies.  Companies still use several sources for finding job applicants.

  • Recruiters
  • Job boards
  • Company websites
  • Newspapers
  • Trade journals
  • Internet want ads including newspapers and Craigslist
  • Social Media
  • Press releases and other methods

There are many opportunities that you will never find through your network alone.

I do recommend that you pick companies that really interest you.  I also recommend that you try to network into those companies directly.  Companies use direct referrals.  As a contract recruiter, I have recruited for companies that also paid a referral fee to their employees for direct referrals.  Direct referrals come into the company with a solid reference from a person the company knows.  A company can evaluate the value of the referral based on the company’s knowledge of the person making the referral.

I do not recommend that you have exhaust your network resources before you to turn to other resources for a job.  If you really need a job, contact and build your network daily.  However, also use the other resources on a daily basis.

One way to search for jobs is to use Google or Bing.  These search engines will pick up opportunities that are on job boards, company sites, recruiters’ websites, or many other places on the Internet.  You will only need to spend a few minutes a day searching through job search engines to find opportunities.

I created the website Jay Wren Jobs.  The website has a job board.  In addition, I built a custom search engine that will help you find a job.

If you really need a job, use all your resources.  Make your job search as much of a full-time job as you can.  Good luck with your search.  Finding a job is not easy for everyone.  However, as you use more resources, you will find more opportunities.

Status Board

Status Board

One of the tools for organizing a job search is a status board.

Using a status board is a great way to track on-going projects.  Status boards come in all types of formats to fit the purpose.  When I was a Navy officer, there were at least four status boards on the bridge of the ship.  Each one was different and served different purposes.  Some were on Plexiglas®.  Some were printed.

I have used a basic status board throughout my career as a corporate recruiter.  For me, using a spreadsheet makes the process easy.  The mock-up below is a brief illustration of what a basic spreadsheet status board might look like.  In this case, the example is an illustration of using a status board to manage a job search.
Status Board

As you can see, a status board is different from a calendar.  The purpose is to give you an overall view of what you are doing across all activities.

This tool becomes even more useful when people are working on teams.  Each team member has a copy.  When the team meets to discuss the activities for the day, the members add notes to update their status board.  Literally, all the team members are on the same page.  In my search firm, team members used a simple form similar to the one above to manage dozens of activities.

As team members go through the workday, they update their copy of the status board to prepare for the next day’s meeting.  With the sharing features of online documents, it is now possible for teams to work on the status board from different locations.  What you will see is another person changing the status board as that person works.

There are apps for status boards. Many of these digital status boards are more really organizers than status boards. For example, Google Now for Android and Morning for iPad give you updates on news, weather, sports, commute, traffic, shopping, events nearby, and reminders, and not effective for project management.

Why You Should Never Accept A Counter Offer When You Resign

Why You Should Never Accept a Counter Offer When You Resign

Counter offers are risky.  The reasons you resigned seldom goes away if you stay.  In addition, when you met with your boss to turn in your resignation, you showed your boss that you have been disloyal by interviewing for another job.

However, your boss cannot afford to lose you at the time that you are resigning.  Companies prefer to lose people based on the company’s timing.  This concept is easy enough to understand.  Your company is in the middle of work project that could fail if some people leave at the wrong time.  You are one of those people.

So, what happens during a counter offer?

  • You go through a standard process to keep people aboard until the company can throw them overboard.
  • Your boss asks you the reasons that you are leaving.
  • Your boss shows understanding about your frustrations.
  • Your boss promises to make adjustments to keep you on the job where you are currently working.
  • You may receive a pay raise or a promise of a pay raise.  Remember that you forced the pay raise by trying to resign.
  • Your boss may even may promises to improve things as time goes on.
  • Your boss gets the details of your job offer and shows you the flaws in going to the new company.
  • You feel pressure from the counter offer process.  You become indecisive.  Even if your company does not offer you a pay raise or change any of the conditions that have made you unhappy, the company pressures you to stay.
  • You begin to waver in you decision.

As a recruiter, I have had applicants go through so much stress, they have cried.  I had one manager who was going through a counter offer that was so stressful he called me at 2:00am.  He was in tears.  He was still in tears later that day when he called me to say that he had accepted his company’s counter offer.

He stayed with the company he wanted to leave.

Seven month later, he was out again interviewing with another company.  Nothing changed after he accepted the counter offer.

He hated where he worked.  He needed to get another job.

Unfortunately, his boss saw him interviewing at the St. Louis airport and the poor guy did not know that his boss had seen him. The guy turned in a daily report that showed that he was making sales calls.  The report was false.  His boss knew that the report was false.  His boss had seen him interviewing at the airport.  At this point, his current employer no longer needed him.  The same boss who had talked him into staying seven months before fired him.

So he lost the offer from the company that wanted to hire him. The company that gave him the counter offer had fired him.

He was unemployed.

Many people feel pressure when they resign.  You can reduce the pressure. When you resign, make the discussion short and to the point.  Just be polite.  Say that you are leaving.  The reasons are strictly business, but they are the confidential information of your new employer, and you can’t discuss them.  Then head out the door and keep walking.

Companies Use Social Media for Hiring

Companies Use Social Media for Hiring.

  1. Companies use social media to find job candidates.
  2. Companies use social media profiles to weed out weak candidates.
  3. Companies use social media to terminate workers who break company policy on what workers can say and write in public.

Candidates who get high marks as job applicants often market themselves with a polished public profile on social media.  These candidates list their accomplishments. They include a profile picture.  The candidates who are successful in using social media to advance their careers make positive statements about themselves, about situations, and about other people.  Candidates who get high marks avoid conflicts with other people on the Internet.

Companies want to hire people who will focus on the job.  Companies do not want to hire people who can create tension in the workplace through open discussions about politics, race, religion, gender, or any issue in conflict with company policy. These types of people create distractions for other workers, take the focus off the function of the company, and can damage a company’s public image.

Discussions of politics, race, gender, or religion put readers in a position to take sides.  These discussions affect the unity of teams.  Companies want to hire people who will inspire other people to focus on the job.

In social media, however, people have varying points of view.  Using social media to promote your career requires you to focus on polished information that will attract everyone to read what you have to say.  Not everyone is going to read what you have to say when you write about polarizing issues.

College applicants face the same evaluation process. College applicants can get low marks for posting links to controversial websites, or writing about political, religious, gender, or racial issues.  Even if the admissions department agrees with the applicant’s point of view, colleges and universities avoid negative or polarizing points of view that can cost an institution money and damage its reputation.

However, I continue to see social media posts from educated professionals who apparently just have to make statements that polarize people with different points of view.  Making the mistake of treating social media as a soapbox is easy to do, but certainly not always wise.

Job Search is a Numbers Game

Job search is a numbers game.

Contacting more people will increase the likelihood that you get a job.

In terms of numbers of prospects or shoppers, getting a job is similar to running a retail store. If the store has no shoppers, the store will have no sales. If shoppers line up out the door, the store has greater odds of selling products and services.

First, you do the job search basics.

  • Write a terrific resume.
  • Write a template for a great cover letter.
  • Polish your online profile.

Creating the job search numbers game

Begin connecting with people who can hire you and with people who can connect you with people who can hire you.
The best contacts are the people you already know. Start by making a contact list of these people.

As you contact people, ask those people for names and contact information of other people who can help you.

After you have written your list of people you know, go to membership sites to add the names of other contacts to your contact list.

Make a list of companies where you would like to work. Build this list from your industry knowledge, from recommendations of people in your network, and from job listings, which you find on job boards.

Before you apply for a job on a job board, review your contact list for people you know at the company.  If you do not know anyone at the company, research names of people who work at the company.  Your application is more effective if a person recommends you for a job.  Try to get a direct referral from a person at the company.  Many companies pay employees for referrals. Direct referrals will give you more credibility than applications you make online.

Job Search is a Numbers Game.

Continue to contact as many people each day as you can. Put the numbers in your favor. Remember that your contacts are like retail shoppers to a retail store. The more contacts you make will increase your chances of getting a job.

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