The Ultimate Interview Secret

The job is already yours.

How many interviews would you say it takes to secure a job? 1, 2, 5000?  The truth is that when it comes to securing a job, the interview doesn’t end until your last day at the company.  Everyday that you engage with an employer is an interview day.  And given this logic, your first “interview” is also your first workday.  This is a secret that  successful interviewees know and apply daily.

The reason companies hire is because they have a problem and they are looking for a solution.  Interviewees who understand this start working for the company as soon as they find out about the opportunity.  The first thing they do is ensure that they understand the challenges of the organization.  Next, they determine if they have the skills or access to the skills required to bring about a solution.  If they do, they will work to communicate to the decision makers that they have a means to ease the pains that the organization is feeling.

Once they are brought in for the interview/first day they begin to consult with the interviewer.  They use this opportunity to demonstrate their ability to listen, engage, and problem solve.  But more than this, they make sure this first hour or so of work shows that they are already adding value to the company.  If they do this successfully, they will be asked to return and it will continue on until a point in time when either the employee or the employer determines that they’ve gone as far as the relationship will presently take them.

You see, the idea that you need a company’s permission to work for them is a fallacy.  By working for any particular industry, you are automatically working for every organization operating in that industry.  When you move on to a different company, it is ideally because it provides an opportunity to make a greater contribution to your industry of choice.  The more value you add to your industry, the more in demand you will be and the greater the reward will be over time.

The mistake that many candidates make is to think that they cannot contribute unless someone hires them.  But the people who find opportunities the fastest are those who are always looking for ways to contribute to their industry.  They volunteer.  They create blogs.  They participate in online discussion groups.  They start online communities.  They even start their own companies. 

Candidates with this mindset have the goal to contribute to their field to the maximum of their ability.  And because they’re passionate they will do this regardless of the number of doors they have to walk through before they start getting paid for their services.  This is the Secret of empowered interviewees and now it’s yours.

To learn more interview success tips, join us for our upcoming webinar on December 9th at noon.  In The Anatomy of the Interview Process, we will discuss:

• Phone ettiquette
• Interview Preparation
• The Recruiter Relationship
• Managing Company Expectations
• Navigating the Interview Process and more…

Our presenters will be Sr. Recruiter and Author of “366 Tips for a Successful Job Search”, Cynthia Wright and JCSI Candidate Relationship Manager, Pedro S. Silva II.  We look forward to your participation and welcome your feedback.

How To Overcome The Need For Closure

Do you see a connection?

This isn’t the first time that the subject of closure has come up on the JCSI CareerAssist blog.  In a previous post entitled Handling Non-acceptance, we told candidates not to focus on the things that they cannot change.  Sometimes you will not know why you were not chosen for a specific position and you will need to rely on assumptions to move forward.  Then in Managing Your Emotional Investments In a Job Search, we encouraged our readers to keep interviews in perspective.  Being attached to every opportunity can be mentally and emotionally draining and can rob you of a true opportunity when it comes around.

In this post, we are going to assume that the advice in the above mentioned posts didn’t quite stick.  Intellectually you understand that rejection isn’t personal.  You can even see how the concept of leaving the interview at the interview would reduce some stress.  But at the end of the day you still find yourself waiting by the phone to hear back from a potential employer unable to breathe until they let you know one way or the other.  If this sounds like you or someone you know, then read on.

In order to make sense out of the need for closure, it may help to know that our brains are actually wired to see relationships holistically.  As the shapes above show, we tend to see things in wholes instead of individual parts.  Most people would describe the shapes as a circle and a square with missing pieces  rather than a bunch of disconnected lines.  This is known as Gestalt Psychology.

Translated to the job search, this means that when we speak to someone about an opportunity we are going to automatically expect it to come “full circle”–pun intended.  When it doesn’t, our brains tell us that something is missing and this is considered a psychological threat.  What happens in many cases is that we assume that we have somehow caused the “missing” piece by lacking in some way.

In order to overcome this, we must be able to see the stages of recruitment as “whole-parts”.  Based on the Whole Part Whole (WPW) Method used in some sports training  and other modalities, the participant is trained to see that each component is a whole within itself.  An example from basketball would be that while the ability to shoot free throws are a part of a game, the ability to shoot free throws is also a skill on its own.  In other words, an interview is part of getting a job, but it is also just an interview.

If you are following this logic, then you can see how “leaving the interview at the interview” is possible.  This is accomplished by:

• Seeing the whole.  The big picture.  In other words finding a job. 
• Gaining an understanding of how the parts relate to the whole. These are considered “whole-parts”. Phone Screens, phone interviews, f2f interviews (how many rounds?), etc.  Ask your recruiter for more information.
• Focus on developing your skills in each “whole-part”. Phone presence, f2f interview skills, follow-up skills, etc.
• Approach each “whole-part” as a singular event.  An interview serves its purpose in real time without being seen as making or breaking the opportunity.  The goal is to have an excellent interview experience.
• When reviewing the event, keep it in perspective.  Don’t think how you can stop losing opportunities. Concentrate on developing your “whole-part” skills.
• Realize that it all comes together in the end.  If you excel in your “whole-part” skills then the whole picture will eventually come together.

As you can see, overcoming the need for closure is more about what not to do than it is about doing  some technique.  The key is to keep the “whole-parts” in perspective.  By seeing the “Whole-Part Whole”, closure is integrated into the process as it moves step by step.  Seeing the process this way reduces stress by releasing candidates from carrying the burden of their entire futures into every recruitment engagement.

Creating a Job Search “A-Team”

If you or anyone you know has been on the job market for any length of time, you will understand that for most people the hardest part of the job search is staying motivated throughout the process.  Traditionally, we are taught to work for rewards.  At the completion of every action, there is an almost inherent expectation of some sort of feedback.  This can come in the form of money, recognition, or even constructive criticism.  All of which we receive from a job.

Once the job is removed from the dynamic, the context of work will take on a whole new meaning.  When you are seeking full-time employment, finding a job is your job.  For many, the longer they are on the search without receiving feedback relative to the work they do, the more diminished they feel.  It can be equated to working on a project for your employer and never hearing whether or not you are on target.  This is a situation that most workers detest and often leads to disengagement.  But what will be the result of disengaging from one’s own job search?

In his book, Who’s Got Your Back, bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi, encourages his readers to break free of the “go it alone” mentality that is prevalent in our society and to establish what he calls, “Lifeline Relationships” to help build success.  The idea behind his message is simple.  Identify a  few trusted individuals with whom you can freely express yourself and enlist them to help you sustain accountability in achieving your goals. 

When applied to the job search, this group could be part of what is called a “Job Search Work Team”. This concept based on the Pierson Method by Oliver Pierson has been employed by industry leader Lee, Hecht, Harrison for over a decade with great success.  Furthermore, according to www.highlyeffectivejobsearch.com this method is scientifically proven to speed up the job search.

This is why forming your own team for your job search can be a perfect solution to help you achieve your mission.  To illustrate how these teams can work for you, we’ll use the example of the 80’s TV show, The A-Team.  The main lesson to learn from this show is to build a team with diverse skill sets.

• John “Hannibal” Smith- The Planner.  This character was the one who began with the end in mind and figured out a way to get there.  Having someone like this on your team is essential.
• B.A. “Bad Attitude” Baracus-The Mechanic.  Inevitably you will run into snags in your plan and when you do, you will need someone who knows how to take what’s broken and either fix it, create a work around, or completely “build a better mousetrap”.
• Templeton “Faceman” Peck-The Image Consultant.  When interviewing for most jobs, it is very important to dress the part and turn on the charm.  Having someone who has an eye for such things can be vital to interview success.  This is the person you’d want to perform a mock interview with.
• H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock-The Dreamer.  When things don’t go according to plan, you can’t easily conceive of a work around, and your charm isn’t opening doors, you need an out of the box thinker who simply supports you without condition.  They don’t believe in impossible and can smile while the whole world is frowning.
• Amy Amanda “Triple A” Allen-The Insider.  To round out your team, you are going to need someone who is connected or at least knows how to follow a trail to decision makers.  Having someone with the investigative flair is always helpful because if they don’t have an answer, chances are they can connect you to someone who does.

Now imagine how much easier your job search might go if you had such a team working with you.  As you already know, networking is often plays a very important role in a job search.  This post encourages to take it a step further and and go from networking to team-working.

Planting a Resume Garden

Many candidates are not told this, but how they distribute their resume can contribute greatly to the response they receive from prospective employers.  To demonstrate this I will use the analogy of a garden to show your resume’s relationship to the job market.

In this example you should consider each copy of your resume as a seed with the potential to grow your ideal job.  The soil is represented by the places where your resumes end up, such as companies, organizations, job boards, and applicant tracking systems (ATS).  The sun’s equivalent will be the human eyes that will actually see your resume and determine how far it will go through the cycle.  And lastly, the job market itself will play the role of the weather conditions that can either facilitate or threaten your resume’s chances of fulfilling its potential.

Now, if you’ve ever tried to start a garden,  you know that it is not an easy task.  There are so many things to consider before you even start that the thought alone keeps most of us from ever taking on the task willingly.  It’s not as simple as deciding that you want some pumpkins or tomatoes and then throwing some seeds in a field (job board) and sitting back and waiting for the harvest (plenty of jobs to choose from).  You have to think about the type of soil available and whether or not it can sustain the plant.  You also have to consider the amount of sunlight and water that the plants will need to receive.  Lastly, you must understand the plant’s growth cycle so that you know when to plant them and when you can suspect a harvest.  And all that’s before you even consider dropping the first seed (resume).

Once you determine that you can manage the conditions necessary for growing a sustainable crop, you have to go about preparing the land itself.  This takes a lot of work as well.  You have to make sure that there is proper spacing between the vegetation so that each crop can get its fair share of nutrients.  It’s also necessary to separate certain plants from each other because they stifle each other’s growth.  In other words, you cannot rely on having your resume mixed in with a bunch of other resumes and you can’t overload a company with a truckload of resumes hoping one will slip through.  Think of how that will reflect upon your personal brand.

It is not until after you have taken these considerations and made the necessary preparations that you are ready to plant the seeds.  When planting the seeds you must make sure to plant them deep enough in the soil so that they can take root and not get flooded out by rains or picked up by birds or other creatures.  i.e. Try to get a referral or work with a recruiter (professional gardener) to increase your chances of resume survival.  Once all of this is done you have made it to the hardest part of planting a garden–waiting.

Perhaps your ultimate goal with this garden was to be able to make your own salad.  That’s the image you have in your mind and it is what motivated you to do all of the work in the first place.  Now that you’ve planted your seeds, you may find yourself getting a little anxious.  That’s because after all of the work that you’ve done you’ve finally come to the part that you have absolutely no control over.  Depending on the plant’s growth cycle and other conditions, you can spend several weeks maintaining the surrounding area to keep it free from, weeds, rodents, and bad weather and never see a single sign that anything is happening under all that dirt.  All you can rely on is the fact that you did everything that you were supposed to do.  Such is the case with your resume.

The main point that you should take away from this is to value your resume if that’s what you expect others to do.  Consider hiring a professional to review your resume to make sure that the seeds you are planting are good.  And once you’ve done that,  do what you can to give them the conditions they need to make it to harvest time.  That’s the way to plant a resume garden.

Discovering Your Transferable Skills

One of the most difficult, yet most valuable discoveries one can make on a job search is figuring out how to apply their transferable skills to a new opportunity.  This particular ability is especially helpful for people wanting to make a career change or those looking to enter the job market for the first time.

A transferable skill is any ability–whether it is a natural talent or acquired skill nurtured through employment, schooling, etc.–that can be used in multiple situations.  A perfect example would be the wax on, wax off  technique taught to Daniel-San in the 1980’s movie The Karate Kid. 

Throughout his training, Mr. Miyagi had Daniel performing all sorts of tasks, that to the untrained eye appeared to be focused more on the janitorial arts as opposed to martial arts.  Yet when Daniel left the Karate Championship with trophy in hand, it was very clear that  waxing a car, sanding a floor, and painting a fence had other uses beyond what can be seen on the surface.  That’s the power of understanding transferable skills.

As an empowered job seeker, it is up to you to look at the talents and skills you have developed over the years and determine where they can be used most effectively.  Undoubtedly, you are going to come across positions where you can employ your transferable skills.  However, unless you figure out how to draw attention to those skills, you will likely be passed over by an employer for other candidates whose acronyms match the job description.

Therefore, if you are serious about leveraging your transferable skills in your job search, you are going to have make an investment in marketing them–whether it is with time or money.  Here are a few tips on how you can do that:

1. Hire a professional resume writer.  When your career path matches the logical progression of a job description connecting the dots is easy.  But if you are trying to get from point A to point B via point D with a short layover in Z then you are going to have to paint a picture that a hiring manager can see. 
2. Build relationships with recruiters. Every star has an agent.  That should tell you something.  But not every person with an agent is working.  That should tell you something else.  With the obvious exception of having talent for them to market, the relationship you have with good recruiters can make the difference between getting your foot in the door and having it slammed in your face. Plus, their wide array of knowledge about the job market will help them to better see how your skills can be transferred.
3. Spend time on your online profiles.By building a complete online profile, you are giving employers the opportunity to see you multi-dimensionally.  Sites like Linkedin allow you to attach blog posting, slide presentations, and book lists so that visitors can get a clearer sense of who you are and what you have to offer an organization.
4. Volunteer to work on projects. You know you can do the work.  You just need your chance to prove it. Well, you can always do it for free.  This way everybody wins.  You get the experience and the person or organization that you  volunteer for gets a product or service that they are in need of for a price that they can afford.  Everyone wins.

These are just a few ways that you can discover, apply, and market your transferable skills.  Just remember that any action that you have mastered can be repurposed or reapplied to meet other needs.  Your task is to figure out how.  Good luck.

Rules of Engagement In a Job Search

In military terms, the Rules of Engagement determine when and how much force should be applied to a given situation.  The amount of force applied varies with increasing intensity depending on the level of resistance that the troops are coming up against.  An example of how to respond to a level 3 resistance according to the US Marines’ ROE goes as follows:

Level 3: Resistant (Active). The subject initially demonstrates physical resistance. Use compliance techniques to control the situation. Level three incorporates close combat techniques to physically force a subject to comply. Techniques include: Come-along holds, Soft-handed stunning blows, Pain compliance through the use of joint manipulation and the use of pressure points.  

The Rules of Engagement are designed to create a degree of consistency and order in a situation with the potential to go out of control.  When used appropriately, these rules allow soldiers to leverage a situation with the most agreeable outcome–which is to avoid or minimize injuries and casualties on both sides.  When not mastered, however, these same rules can increase the risk of hesitation when action is required or misread cues may lead to the use of excessive force when it is uncalled for. 

At this point, you may be thinking that this is great information if you are ever in combat, but perhaps not so useful in your job search.  However, if you have ever done any sales–and we all have in some way–then you may recognize the relationship between ROE and techniques for overcoming objections.  Herein lies the connection to your job search.

If you didn’t know it already, the day you enter the job market, you’ve also entered the world of sales.  You are putting your skills and talents on the market and you are asking for a certain price.  That’s sales.  As soon as you start selling, you find that objections are a natural part of the process.  Objections are resistance.  And when you come to resistance, you will be best served by having your own Rules of Engagement.  Otherwise, what could be simple objections can turn into a pattern of rejection.

To help you along we’re going to offer some suggestions on how to develop your own ROE.

1. Look for patterns. If it walks like a duck…  If you notice the same objections repeatedly, add a new dimension. Change your response. You may not get the results you were looking for, but it won’t be what you’ve had in the past either.
2. Question your reality. Many people see filling a position as the final destination, when it’s actually the starting gate.  If you realize that you or your interviewer thinks this way, this is a good time to ask about where the company is headed.  Like the Marines’ “Come Along Hold”,  a well placed question can shift the direction of an interview.
3. Go on the offensive. The job market is a game.  That means there’s an offense and defense.  Realize that you are interviewing because the company is trying to go somewhere and they are looking for people to help them get there. They are looking for people who will get on the field and play.

Creating your own Rules of Engagement will help give you a sense of where you are in an interview and what you may need to add to the setting in order to keep engaged.  All ROE are as unique as the person or group applying them, so you have to create rules that fit you best.  Just remember that these rules are guidelines that the other party is not aware of.  So stay conscious that the operative word in ROE is ENGAGEMENT.  Following ROE is meant to help you stay engaged and not to replace it.  That means engage the person, not the rules.

Managing Your Emotional Investments In A Job Search

What are my chances?

You just walked out of your third interview with XYZ Company.  It ended with lunch at a fancy restaurant with the CFO, a Director, and a manager.  Everyone was smiling as you shook hands and said farewell. And to top it off, the last thing that the CFO said to you was, “We’ll be in touch.”  You’re feeling pretty good.  In fact, you feel great. Based on the number of interviews and the reactions from the people you’ve met so far, you feel that you can safely say that the odds are in your favor. If anyone asked, you’d say that you have about a ninety percent chance or better of getting this job. 

Does this sound familiar?  Have you ever had that feeling of “almost certainty” only to find yourself “totally disappointed” at the outcome?  If so, you have something in common with most job seekers.  What you’ve just experienced is the result of gambler’s fallacy.  To put it simply, gambler’s fallacy is the belief that increased occurences = increased likelihood of a particular outcome.  For example, most job seekers believe that the more interviews you get, the closer you are to getting the job. 

This makes sense if you’re using pass-fail logic like we’re taught in school or what’s reinforced in video games.  In those scenarios, if you get a certain number of points you automatically move to the next level. This is not the case when you are going for a job.  On the job market, it doesn’t matter how many interviews you have or how many people you meet. Until you sign an offer letter, your chances of landing the position will always be 50/50.  You will either get a name plate for your new cubicle or you won’t.  Any thought otherwise is purely based on your degree of emotional investment.

The truth is that when six people are going after only one job, only one person is going to get the “A” so to speak–unlike in school or on a video game where anyone can make the grade.  Because most people never meet the others who are interviewing for the same position, they tend to only consider their own efforts using the above mentioned logic.  As a result they are more likely to look for signs of approval from those they interview with since they cannot gauge their position by looking at the other candidates.  This leaves the door open for the gambler’s fallacy to enter and consequently, a disproportionate emotional investment is usually made.

So, why do we consistently make these inaccurate emotional investments when it comes to job opportunities?  Well to paraphrase H.L. Mencken,  we do not often get pleasure out of certain ideas because we believe they are true.  We believe ideas are true because we get pleasure out of them.  In other words, we get caught up in these beliefs because it feels good to believe them.  Like imagining what we would do if we won the lottery, imagining landing that job feels exciting and liberating.

The problem is that emotional investments are beliefs and we all know what happens when beliefs are shattered.  To get a sense of it, just think about how we respond to the news that one of our heroes has turned out to be very human.  We feel devastated.  The same thing happens when we find out we didn’t get that job we thought we were so close to snagging.  That’s why it is especially important to remember to not fall for the gambler’s fallacy.  Some other ways to manage your emotional investments when on a job search are to:

1. Focus on the elements that you can directly influence.  You can only  influence areas such as preparation, your online and in person networking, the amount of research you do on the company, your training and other education, etc.
2. Leave the interview at the interview. Unless you videotaped your interview, it will only deteriorate in your memory as time goes on.  The best use of your energy at this point will be to continue developing yourself.  If you are called for further interviews you’ll be ready.
3. Determine your own gauges for success/progress. You cannot rely on getting the job as  your gauge of interview success.  There are simply too many factors beyond your control. Instead, choose something that is solely determined by you such as listening more, asking more questions, or getting less nervous.  By doing this you will always be on the lookout for where you are improving rather than where you went wrong.

The job search can be a challenge in any economy and the above considerations will always apply. When you make the appropriate emotional investments, you remain empowered throughout your job search and that offers the best ROI you can find on the market.

Listen Attentively Respond Accordingly (LARA)

Are you hearing what I am saying?

We are trying to start a new job search acronym that we hope goes viral and transforms interview rooms across America and maybe the world.  That acronym is LARA.  It stands for Listen Attentively Respond Accordingly and you can say you heard it hear first–unless you’ve heard it elsewhere.  If you did, please let me know because I googled it and was shocked not to find it somewhere in the first five pages.

I’m shocked because with all of the job tips out there, I believe that this one should be at the forefront of every candidate’s mind when they sit down for an interview.  After all, we are supposed to be in the age of communication.  We have all of the tools necessary to deliver a message, but they’re  all pointless if they are not received and no feedback is given.  Keeping LARA in mind can help prevent that.  Try it and see.

The next time you’re in a conversation make sure you’re doing your best to really listen to what the other person is saying.  If you’re not clear, ask for clarification and then respond to them in a way that conveys that you understood them and have given your answer some thought.  If this isn’t a common practice, you will notice immediate differences in people’s responses toward you.  You may also notice that there are a lot more barriers to communication than you may have been aware of previously.

The number one barrier you should be mindful of is assumptions.  As noted in the Breaking Down Barriers… article by  Aysha Schurman, “Effective communication can never take place if someone is busy making assumptions.”  However, there is a catch 22 when it comes to job interviews.  After all, a job interview is generally nothing less than a conversation based entirely on assumptions with the job description serving as an assumption checklist.  As a result, by not employing LARA, there can be an increased likelihood of miscommunications.  As a job seeker trying to get noticed and get hired, it usually falls on you to reposition the conversation so that your interviewer sees beyond the job description. Here are a few ways to do that:

1. Address the major assumptions up front.  This creates a space for LARA to be effective.  Until they are addressed, assumptions will prevent meaningful value-added conversation from taking place.
2. Introduce new information into the dialogue.  This gives everyone involved something to move on to after the “assumption checklist” is completed.
3. Create your own assumptions with a well managed social media presence. If your profiles are reviewed, you can almost guarantee that your interview will be personalized rather than a standard plug and play format. (To learn more attend our free upcoming webinar.)
4. Develop well thought out, open-ended questions that address the organization’s future in their industry. This is your chance to be the interviewer and demonstrate your ability to think strategically. This is LARA’s place in the sun. If you ask questions they never considered, they just may have to hire you to come up with an answer.

When it’s all said and done, full communication does not occur until what has been transmitted is received and confirmed through feedback.  Consider LARA to be the operator in this scenario.  As all of us have undoubtedly experienced–in job interviews and in life–there are times when what you believe you are saying is not what the recipient hears.   By employing LARA you can take command of the conversations you participate in and keep them on track.

What Goes Around

In a market where 5 people are going after one job and consumer confidence continues to seesaw, achieving stability is going to take a little assistance from a lot of people.  As a result organizations like jobangels have emerged in response to this need.  Their organization has grown tremendously in a very short amount of time because they realize that–like the recruitment cycle shows–what goes around comes around.

Working in the recruitment field we get to see a lot  that people on the job market don’t get to see. And because JCSI’s operational structure is set up differently than most companies in our industry, we very often get to see more of the innerworkings of our client’s recruitment process than some of our contemporaries might.  When we partner with companies on a particular project, there are two things a candidate will know for certain.

1. The company that hired us is commited to finding someone to join their team within a certain window.
2. When you speak to someone from JCSI, we are contacting you on the direct authority of the client. (i.e. connecting with us is connecting with the client when we approach you about an opportunity)

This is important information if you are visiting this blog for job search insights because much of the information we provide here, in our webinars,  and other media is not simply an observation of the job market at hand.  Much of what we offer here is based on the continual feedback we receive from the clients we serve.  They tell us what they are looking for and we share that knowledge with the people we speak with and the visitors to our different sites and networks.

When times get tough, we know that small acts can go along way.  You never know when just one sentence, post, or tweet can make the difference in how someone approaches their job search or an interview.  They may not even remember where they picked it up, but it’s great to think that something we offer to the people we connect with may make the difference in whether they land that next position or not.

We consider these Small Acts of Recovery and it’s something everyone can contribute to.  It’s what makes social media the information powerhouse that it is.  People sharing what they know for the benefit of their friends, followers, and connections.  So if you have a Small Act of Recovery you’d like to share, we’d like to hear from you.  Just tweet us at @careerassist and include the tag #smallacts or visit the JCSI facebook page to share your thoughts.

Get Noticed, Get Hired

Has anyone seen a Granny Smith apple around?

Saying that the job market has changed is an understatement.  Everyday we talk to people who have come up short using the tried and true methods of ten years ago.  Meanwhile success stories continue to emerge about people tweeting their way to their dream job or being discovered on their blog.  Now of course this won’t be everyone’s experience, but there is a reason why this is becoming a growing phenomenon.  These people have figured out that the people who get noticed are the ones who get hired.

Of course, there are lots of ways to get noticed and not all of them will land you a job.  Some of them may land you somewhere else.  But that is not what we are working toward.  So we are going to talk about how to get noticed in the ways that provide positive results and why it’s your job to make yourself known.

Let’s look at the picture of the apples above for example.  You see very clearly that in that whole pile there is only one Granny Smith apple.  Why?  Because it is at the top.  Now imagine if that same Granny Smith was at the bottom of the pile where it could not be seen.  If you were that apple, is that where you would want to be?  Our point exactly.  There are so many people on the job market that have exactly what employers are looking for, but they are hidden.  They are buried beneath so many other applicants, that the recruiters and hiring managers are looking right past them.

Did you know that a poll was taken on the biggest frustration of job seekers and it wasn’t that their weren’t enough jobs?  It was the lack of response they get from employers.  They aren’t getting noticed and it is disappointing.  However, you have to imagine that if there are hundreds of people applying for the same job, it can be very easy to get lost in the crowd if your application looks just like everyone else’s.

So if you want to stand out in this job market you are going to have to learn to:

• See yourself through the eyes of a hiring manager
• Overcome limiting beliefs that keep you invisible
• Integrate your online and real world presence for maximum exposure
• Add value to those following, friending, or visiting your profile
• Build a whole person image of what you have to offer

Of course we can’t go over all of these points in one blog posting, so we are offering a free webinar entitled, Get Noticed Get Hired: Presenting Yourself In a Transparent Job Market. In it, we are going to offer information on all of the topics above and explain the philosophy of why making yourself visible helps you begin working with your potential employers before a job is even posted.

As recruiters, we see both sides of the fence very clearly.  Our job is to make it easier for good people and good companies to find each other.  So keep visiting our blog to learn more about how that is done and join us on this and other webinars.  We look forward to your participation.