Article Title: Resumes with a confidential company as your employer…
Author Byline: Medical Sales Recruiter
Author Website: http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress/2008/09/24/resumes-with-a-confidential-company-as-your-employer/

I can see where you might want to keep the name of your employer confidential when you are submitting your resume to a recruiter (usually there’s some kind of fear factor involved because it can be a small world).

Please don’t bother.

Just so you know: it’s my job to find anyone, anywhere, and I do it well. I don’t even need Facebook. So if I were interested, I could find out where you work. But, I am a very busy medical sales recruiter, placing candidates every day in great careers in medical sales, laboratory sales, biotechnology sales, pharmaceutical sales, clinical diagnostics sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, DNA products sales, cellular and molecular products sales, surgical supplies sales, hospital equipment sales, medical device sales, and all other aspects of healthcare sales, service, marketing, and management. Which means, I don’t have time to do that kind of homework. And there’s no way I’m presenting you to one of my client companies without all the information available, so your withholding of it might be what knocks you out of the running. Or at least slows your progress down.

I am known for my sensitivity and confidentiality. Your secret is safe with me.

So save me the time, and increase your odds of success.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Article Title: Business Lessons from the 29th Olympiad
Author Byline: Philip Aust
Author Website: www.searchlogixgroup.com

Even if you are not a sports fan, it’s been difficult avoiding NBC’s unprecedented coverage of the 29th Olympics in China. Despite the fact that many skeptics wondered if NBC was crazy transmitting 3,600 hours of Olympic television and webcast coverage, the peacock network has struck gold. This Olympics’ Nielsen ratings have far outpaced the viewership of the previous summer Olympics in Greece, and its numbers are second only to this year’s Super Bowl. These Olympics have not disappointed for a variety of reasons; here are just two.

First, the Beijing Olympics remind us of the value of competition. Although a few select events have been won easily by a dominant individual or team (see Usain Bolt in the Men’s 100 Meter Dash), the victor has often been unknown until the last seconds of most events. Arguably the most enduring image of this Olympics is Michael Phelps, the winner of eight gold medals in Bejing, celebrating with his teammates when the U.S. Men’s swim team came from seemingly certain defeat to out-touch France at the wall in the 4 x 100 Men’s freestyle relay. In short, competition affords its participants the ability to definitively measure one’s performance.

Second, the Bejing Olympics remind us of the value of cooperation. Name any other event in existence today where 202 nations meet and follow the same set of rules for two weeks. You can’t. As Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the French enthusiast that helped resurrect the modern Olympic Games, stated in 1896, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part” (Uschan, 2000, p. 8). Indeed, each Olympiad provides a snapshot of what can be accomplished when nations choose to agree, rather than disagree. (As a reminder, these events occurred against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Georgia.) In short, cooperation is the foundation of progress.

Competition and cooperation: Two reasons why these Olympics have drawn a record-breaking audience and two powerful tools for any CEO or manager focused on increasing company production and profits in these challenging economic times.

About the Author:

Dr. Philip Aust is a professor at Kennesaw State University (KSU). He teaches Organizational Communication Audits, Leadership, Training and Development, and Research Methods in the Department of Communication at KSU.

Dr. Aust’s research focuses on leadership in organizational, group, and interpersonal contexts. He examines emerging leadership perspectives, messages associated with productivity and task quality, and leader performance. He has authored and co-authored book chapters and articles published in such journals as Communication Studies, Basic Communication Course Annual, and Communication Teacher.

Dr. Aust regularly conducts communication consultations for profit and non-profit Atlanta-based companies. He has worked with over 25 companies in the last three years.

Email Philip: philipaustpr@searchlogixgroup.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Article Title: Interview Road Kill - “I Haven’t Done it, but I Can Learn”
Author Byline: Phil Rosenberg, President, reCareered
Author Website: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

OUCH…I can feel your pain. Your interview ended with those words. The fat lady sang.

Employers realize you can learn if you’ve been in the workforce for a while, or if you’ve graduated College. Of course you can learn. It’s even a bad answer for an entry-level job candidate.

But today, employers don’t want someone who can learn, they want fast solutions to problems. If you can learn, you might have a future with the company to solve new problems, but to be hired you’ve got to demonstrate that you’ve already solved that problem. Employee turnover averages 18 months, and technology changes every 3-4 years – is it any wonder employers look for people who already have the skills to solve today’s problems?

Instead, could you reply “Sure, I’ve solved similar problems!”, and go on to give a close example. Instead, most candidates turn into a “deer in the headlights” and say “I can learn”.

Anticipate problems the company has through your research, before you even craft your customized resume. Read press releases, SEC reports, articles, blogs…and gain an understanding of the companies challenges and problems. Show how you can solve them before you are even asked and you’re a leading candidate. Say “I can learn” and you’re road kill.

TIP: Remove the phrase “I can learn” from your vocabulary. Don’t say it to recruiters, nor to family or friends. Just don’t say it….ever.

Many job seekers describe themselves in a resume as a generalist, attempting to attract a broad number of opportunities. That’s nice – but it doesn’t work.

Yes, this used to work, and it’s how everyone over 30 learned how to job hunt. But it’s 2008. And in 2008, employers want subject matter experts who have direct experience in solving specific problems.

TrackBack: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/02/interview-road-kill-i-havent-done-it.html

Phil Rosenberg
President, reCareered
Email: phil.reCareered@gmail.com
Blog: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Article Title: How to “rig” CareerBuilder and other job boards
Author Byline: Phil Rosenberg, President, reCareered
Author Website: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Many take it personally, getting angry or depressed.

But it’s also your best weapon to landing interviews…

LOVE THE PRE-SCREEN:

Computerized pre-screens are a necessary result of the number of resumes that CareerBuilder and other job sites flood companies with. But pre-screens give you a job seeker a HUGE opportunity to stand out from the crowd, if you know how to “rig” your resume.

So how can you get an Unfair Advantage? Do the same thing that SEO experts do to websites – game your resume to show up near the top of searches. It’s a technique called Resume Search Optimization, and the idea is simple.

Use the same words as the job description. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But you’d be amazed at how few job seekers use this simple method. It pretty much like when you figured out in High School that the more of the teachers vocabulary words you used in your papers and essays, the higher your grade was.

Why do so few job seekers use Resume Search Optimization? There’s a few reasons:

* Takes time – To use Resume Search optimization effectively, every resume must be customized
* Contrary to what you were taught – Still today, colleges, including the nations top universities, still teach career skills and resume writing the same way they did 30, 40 , 50 years ago (Static resume, general skills, printed on paper, customized cover letter).
* Misinformation – Many job seekers feel they ARE using Resume Search Optimization, by customizing their cover letters. What these career changers don’t realize is that computerized pre-screening strips your cover letter, and discards it. Recruiters rarely see your cover letter, and they aren’t included in resume searches.

Try Resume Search Optimization with the next 10 resumes you send. Make your resume detailed, and make sure to use the employers words. Please email your success stories to phil.reCareered@gmail.com.

If you’d like more information, a free 30 minute resume consultation, or information about reCareered’s new Teleseminar series, just email your resume to reCareered at phil.reCareered@gmail.com, and we’ll schedule a time to talk.

Trackback: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-rig-careerbuilder-and-other-job.html

Phil Rosenberg
President, reCareered
Blog: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Article Title: Your Biggest Job-Search Problems
Author Byline: Kevin Donlin
Author Website: http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php

If you’re looking for a job and haven’t found one yet, by definition, you have a problem.
There’s something standing between you and employment.

What is it?

Surprisingly, when I ask most job hunters what their #1 job-search problem is, they answer, “I don’t know.”

Think about that. How can you solve a problem if you don’t know what it is?

So, the first step is to define your biggest job-search problem. Only then can you solve it effectively.
Here’s how ….

1) What’s Your Biggest Job-Search Problem?
What’s the one thing which, if you could fix it, would quickly result in your getting your ideal job, at your ideal salary?

Write all the possible problems down on paper without censoring yourself.
Some examples:

I send my resume to employers … and nothing happens
I can’t get past HR gatekeepers and meet with hiring managers
I’m getting interviews, but no job offers

After you write down all your problems, rank them in order, from big to small.

Now, choose your biggest, most-frustrating problem.
Congratulations! You’re ready for …

Step 2) How Do You Solve Your Biggest Job-Search Problem?
Heh. That’s a trick question.
Why?

If you actually wrote down your #1 problem, you are halfway to solving it already.

That’s because when you outline a problem in writing, you demystify it. Defined on paper, a problem loses most of its power to frighten. It’s like turning on the light after a nightmare — there’s nothing scary under the bed when you get a clear look at things.

So, with most of the fear factor gone, you can now solve any job-search problem by restating it as a question, with the help of one word: How.

To illustrate, here are the problems from earlier, restated as questions:
How can I make sure employer get my resume?
How can I get past HR gatekeepers and meet with hiring managers?
How can I turn more interviews into job offers?
Now — on paper, because that’s the only way to think clearly — let’s brainstorm possible solutions …

Problem: How can I make sure employer get my resume?

Possible solutions: Let’s define “send my resume.” For most people that means email. And email is about as reliable as the pony express.

So, you need to know if your email was received and opened.
The simplest way is to pick up the phone, call the employer, and say: “I’ve been having some trouble with spam filters. Could you verify that you got the resume I emailed you yesterday?” Here, spam is your friend — I’ve met several job seekers who turned such a phone call into a long conversation that led to an interview. Try it.

Or, try a free email notification service like MSGTAG (www.msgtag.com), or search Google for “read receipt email” and “delivery receipt email” for other solutions.
But why limit yourself to email? Let’s brainstorm further …

Why not differentiate yourself by printing and sending your resume (with cover letter) to the decision maker by postal mail?

Find their name by calling the employer and asking for the correct spelling of the person in charge of your department — that’s likely your future boss. You can also find names at www.jigsaw.com and www.zoominfo.com.

Bonus: Make contact with people at your target company and ask them to walk your resume into a manager’s office the same day you submit it by email. This can start a conversation among executives that pushes your name to the top of the pile.

Problem: How can I get past HR gatekeepers and meet with hiring managers?

Possible solutions: Why not go around the gatekeepers?

Instead of going through HR and hoping to make it to the next security checkpoint, start at the top by contacting the person you want to work for — they can then call down to HR and put you on the interviewing schedule.

In any case, strive to meet someone at your target employer. You may already know someone there. Or, someone they know may know someone.

Online, you can make contacts at LinkedIn.com and Facebook.com.

Offline, call the five most-successful people you know and ask, “What would you do if you were in my shoes?” This simple question instantly engages listeners and can produce a slew of solutions for any job-search problem — try it.
Problem: How can I turn more interviews into job offers?

Possible solutions: Job interviews are like golf swings. No matter what you’re doing wrong, others have faced the same problem — and solved it.

As in golf, you need to identify what you’re doing wrong, then practice new techniques. You’ll likely find the answers from a book or a coach. Amazon.com is full of the former. The latter can be found by Googling “job interview coach” for helpful links.

Now, go out and make your own luck.

Kevin Donlin is Creator of TheSimpleJobSearch.com. Since 1996, he has provided job-search help to more than 20,000 people. Author of 3 books, Kevin has been interviewed by The New York Times, Fox News, CBS Radio and others. His latest product, The Simple Job Search System, is available at http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.