Looking for a Job? Don't Do This.......

 Recruiting with some candidates can be amusing and a train wreck at the same time. There are some that I have so desperately wanted to give some friendly advice, but that would not be appropriate. But it would be a crime for no one to learn from the mistakes of those good intentioned but clueless job seekers, so I'm sharing a list of the most useful offenses, but nonetheless, the ones that have entertained me the most. Learn and do not repeat.....

Don't use an answer tone. The answer tone must die! You know, when you call someone and music plays until the voice mail message picks up. The normal ringing sound that has been around since the beginning of telephone history is just fine. As a human resources professional its not often that I get to deliver good news. I'm generally happy to call an applicant,(which is the result that every job seeker wants to happen), to begin the selection process. 


What makes my smile turn upside down is being insulted by the lyrics of a answer tone. And don't take this to say that your jazz, gospel or classical answer tone is anymore appropriate. That would be an incorrect assumption. Keep in mind that the interview process starts with the first phone call and the image you create by using an answer tone is not a positive one. Rule of thumb...turn the answer tone off during a job search search.

Don't include a headshot. This trend must end. I'm not sure why it started but its a horribly bad idea. Unless you are applying for job as a model, actor, Hooters waitress or something similar, a photograph has no place on your resume. Really? These resumes may not go to the bottom of the pile, but they are not taken seriously. Just to be clear, adding a photograph adds no value to your resume. The human resources professional that will screen your resume is concerned with something called KSAs: Knowledge, skills and abilities, not the quality of your photographer. Please, please, omit the photo. Thank you.

Don't use urine that does not belong to you for drug tests. Sounds like common sense, but it actually happens. Taking a drug test is very common place in today's employment landscape and is a contingency to getting and keeping most jobs. What should you do if you think you might not pass the test? I have no idea. But one thing not do is borrow urine from a friend. Drug test administrators are hip to this game and have methods to prevent uhm....contraband urine. The common sense reason is that the friend, the one you want to borrow urine from, might not pass the test either. So you might just be better off using your own.

Don't answer your phone during an interview. This may sound like Job Hunting 101, but sadly this happens way too often. Unless someone is DYING there is no good reason to answer your phone during an interview. This rule still stands even if the person conducting the interview leaves the room for any length of time. Updating your Facebook status during the interview or while waiting for the interview to begin is not a move that is going to impress the socks off your potential employer. Better yet to keep the temptation at bay, its a good idea to leave your phone in the car.

Don't become verbally violent if you are declined for a position. No one enjoys getting rejection letters or emails. There is a correct way to respond; either no response or a general thanks for the opportunity letter. An effective way to get on the "do not hire list" and possibly get yourself a retraining order is to call and get all "Mel Gibson" on the human resources professional. The recruiter with may have used the terms external customers in regards to candidates, but this is not to be confused with being an actual customer that is purchasing a product or service. Speaking up and throwing a fit might get you a discount or free dinner when you are an actual customer, but throwing a fit about not be hired will not get you hired. Its a risky tactic...I don't suggest it.

The list of candidate don'ts could fill a book, but these are my favorites. While I hope that you shared a laugh, my greater hope is that you will learn from the mistakes of candidates past and not repeat them. Especially if your goal is to get hired and not be the comic relief for the recruiter and all of his or her friends.


Have any memorable recruiting stories of your own? Leave a comment, I'd love to read about it.

Employment Verification: Getting the Information You Need

For potential employers, completing an employment verification for a new hire is a logical step in the hiring process. However, obtaining an useful employment verification can be a frustrating process.


Past employers are hesitant to release detailed information, the information that is most important to new employers such as performance history and disciplinary history. If you're lucky most will only release generic information such as employment dates and position title. To make matters more challenging, the ability for new employers to probe and ask follow-up questions is decreasing as many companies will direct requests for employment verification to automated phone systems.


If by chance you are able to make direct contact with a human resources representative when attempting an employment verification, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of obtaining some useful information.


1. Be considerate of the persons' time. HR professionals are busy and responding to requests for employment verification are not at the top of the to-do list. This is especially true if the employee has already left the organization or has announcing their resignation. The needs and demands of current employees will take priority. To compensate for this factor, be courteous and to the point with your inquiry. Ask the HR representative for no more than ten minutes of their time and get their acceptance before you proceed with the employment verification. Remember to thank the HR representative for taking the time to speak with you.


2. Know what to ask. Employers are rightfully tight lipped when it comes to providing information regarding employees. If the employer representative says the wrong thing, the company could could be slapped with a defamation of character lawsuit.  Preparing an employment reference form or checklist which includes information that employers are likely to provide, will help guide the conversation.


3. Offer alternative methods to respond. The timing of your phone call might not be the best time for the human resources representative to speak with you. Alternatively, offer to  mail, fax or email the employment verification form so that it can be completed at a more convenient time. If you elect to send the employment verification form by mail, including a self addressed and stamped envelope will increase your chances of having the employment verification  returned.


4. Follow-up. HR professionals are usually inundated with mail, emails and phone calls. If your employment verification request has not been completed within seven business days, don't take it personal. Simply follow-up with a quick reminder via email or phone. Don't over do it though. If you have followed up twice with no response, it can safely be assumed that there will not be a response. At this point, you would want to proceed with your normal hiring procedure as not to loose a great candidate. 


With these simple tips your future employment verification attempts should yield increased results.

Job Fairs Part II

Suffice it to say that my opinions about job fairs haven't changed over the past few days; even so, job fairs are not going away anytime soon.


The previous installment gave job seekers some practical insights into the shortcomings of job fairs and how to make the most of their job fair experience. While job seekers have an option to attend job fairs, in most cases HR professionals do not; its part of the job.Even though there are plenty of downsides to being tasked with working a job fair, and I will share my top peeves, if done right, the situation can be played to your advantage. But first, let's explore some of the reasons why job fairs suck for HR professionals:


1. The wasted time. Getting approval to attend the job fair takes time. Rounding up promotional items for the job fair table takes time. Dealing with the job fair organizer takes time. Setting up the day of the job fair takes time. Working the event could take ALL DAY.  Sorting, filing and otherwise dealing with the tons of resumes you will be left will can take DAYS. If time really is money, a regrettable amount of each has been wasted for a dismal return on the investment.


2. The no job opening factor. Lets face it, no one wants to be the recruiter that has to explain 1000 times that your company is currently not hiring. While you might meet some really great candidates, chances are slim that if an opportunity actually becomes available that the candidate will be contacted or that the candidate will still be available or interested. The "we'll retain your resume for six months" routine doesn't bode well with candidates and could possibly be a bad reflection on the organization.


3. Quality of candidate pool. Job seekers seem to be catching on to the down falls of job fairs as overall participation levels are declining. For the recruiter that actually has a job to fill, the candidate you want could have very well decided to save the gas and search for a job in their bunny slippers over the internet. In addition, job fairs are not prime sources of passive job candidates. Passive candidates typically shy away from having their job search witnessed by potentially thousands of people due to the risk of being found out by their employer.


If you absolutely must go the job fair route, here are a few tips to turn the event to your favor.


1. Know your organizations future hiring plans. If your organization is planning to add a new division in a few months or a key employee is planning to retire, use the hours that you will spend at the job fair to your advantage. This will be a prime opportunity to survey the talent market for those positions and make some contacts of potential candidates.


2. Grow your network. Make an effort to collect contact information of top candidates and add these individuals to your LinkedIn network within 24 hours. There are several reasons to do this.

• Always keep your career in mind. If this is a top notch candidate, you never know where this person is going to land or how expansive their network might be. The person looking to you for a job now, might be a key contact for your next opportunity, so keep in touch.
• Shifting the focus back to your organization, it never hurts to keep tabs on in-demand talent. Building a relation with candidates that you may want to consider in the future will make it easier to sell a opportunity to them later. You will also be able to learn more about the person's interests and make a more successful placement.

3. Get overly organized. If you have opportunities that you are currently recruiting to fill, there should be a separate box for each position. Even if you are not recruiting for an open position, something still has to be done with those resumes. Prepare boxes for the various departments/functional groups in your organization and immediately sort any resumes received into the most appropriate grouping. This will save a substantial amount of time when you return to the office.

4. Be proactive. You're already committed to this job fair for the day, so make the best use of the time. Be prepared to conduct a phone screen type assessment of candidates that meet the qualifications of open positions. This will allow you to deliver pre-screened, qualified candidates that are ready to more on to the next step in the recruiting process to the hiring manager immediately.

5. Accept online applications on the spot. Instead of just advising candidates to apply online for available positions, bring a laptop capable of supporting application submissions with you. This serves two main purposes. First, the applicant isn't instantly turned away or left to try to find a computer with internet access to apply for the job (not everyone has a computer and internet access). Second, you will spend less time performing data entry into your applicant tracking system. Just make sure to follow all ADA accommodation requirements as it relates to application kiosks.  

6. Go virtual. A new type of job fair is slowly emerging-the virtual job fair. Many local government employment agencies are offering virtual job fairs as an alternative to the traditional format. Virtual job fairs are time and cost saving and have the potential to yield better results. Candidates that would not typically attend a traditional job fair, will be more likely to boot up their computer and participate in a virtual job fair. As a human resources professional, you can carry on with your busy day at the office and receive resumes in your email box. 

Give these tips a try to make the best out of your next job fair.

Job Fairs Suck: Part I

Yes I said. I know its shocking, no one actually says that out loud. I think most would agree under conditions anonymity that they have at least thought it. 


I've had the privilege or unfortunate experience of being on both sides of the job fair table. It really doesn't matter what side you're on, the person walking around with 100 freshly printed copies of their resume or the employer representative tasked with putting on a good face for the company, its an utter waste of time. We're talking hours of my life that I'll never get back. Lost on a pointless exercise of hand shaking, paper passing unproductive, pointless waste of energy. I've never seen or heard of anyone landing a job at a job fair or finding a fantastic candidate at t job fair. I suppose its possible, but highly unlikely. I'd rather have a root canal than step foot in another job fair.


Now that I got the general dislike that I have about the concept of job fairs off  my chest, we can get into why they suck so much. Just to clarify, there are three parties involved in the whole job fair circus; job seekers, employers and the hosting organization. There are only two losers in this set up; the job seekers and the employers. The hosting organization wins because it earns money for planning, convincing employers to pay to participate and wooing in job seekers with hopes of finding employment. 


So why do job fairs such for job seekers and employers? Glad that you asked. 


Job fairs suck for job seekers because:


1. Job fairs give false hope. If you're unemployed, stuck in a job that sends you  into panic attacks or need to earn more money to make the rent, those advertisements for job fairs sound better than a Golden Ticket to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. You pull out your best suit, prepare enough copies of your resume to wall-paper the venue and set off confident that you'll find a new job. You might even stand outside to get into the venue in poor weather with the scores of other job seekers. All of this to be told to apply online for open positions or worse yet that there are no open positions.


2. Many employers participate in job fairs even if they are not currently hiring. It seems like common sense, if an employer participates in a job fair, there must be jobs available. This is not true. In many cases employers will participate in a job fair because its good marketing, they want the company name and log on the marketing material, they have participated every year for the past 50 years or somebody's friends is the coordinator of the event. There are a thousand reasons why a company would set up a table at a job fair and not have one single job to fill. In the event that the company is hiring, be prepared to be told to apply online. Most employers no longer accept paper resumes and applications until you arrive for an interview. If they do, that means an actual human has to enter your information into an applicant tracking system, and well no HR professional, no matter how junior, is going to sign up for that voluntarily. 


3. The contacts you make will not likely be useful. There is a misconception floating around that human resources is control of the hiring and firing within an organization. While it is true that human resources manages the process from an administrative standpoint, human resources does not hire or fire anyone except human resources employees. With that being said, at job fairs you will probably encounter very junior human resources personnel at job fairs. Human resources professionals at the executive or management level, with any amount of influence that could be of benefit to you, do not attend job fairs. Its not a good use of their time. The contact that you really want to make is the hiring manager for the position you are interested in perusing. Unfortunately, hiring managers rarely if ever even know that a job fair is going on nevertheless attend one. Your time would be better served searching LinkedIn or networking in some of other way.


4. Jobs above the clerical or entry level position are rarely sourced at job fairs. Entry and clerical level jobs are usually the jobs of choice for job fairs. If this is the type of job that you are looking to land, you might fair slightly better. For those seeking management, professional or other skilled positions, it is highly unlikely that those jobs will be advertised. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that as explained in reason number three, junior level human resources staff usually attend job fairs. These will typically not be the human resources staff tasked with recruiting for professional and management level positions. Secondly, these types of positions are generally recruited for through other means more geared toward this level of employee. 


5. Job fairs distract you from finding a job. Preparing for job fair takes energy. The energy spent preparing for the job fair could have directed to other more productive and efficient job search methods. There is also a tendency to slack off on your job search because you plan to meet 300 employers at a job fair. In addition to wasting mental capacity, job fairs waste your actual physical time. The time spent at a job fair cannot get recaptured, its lost. 


These are the top reasons why job fairs suck in my opinion. But if you insist on attending one anyway, I can't let you completely waste your time. Job fairs can suck less for job seekers if:


1. You are strategic. This means planning and doing some preparation PRIOR to attending the job fair.

•  Locate a list of the attending organizations and review their website. Determine if the company has any positions that you are interested in and apply for those positions. 
• Make a note of the jobs and job numbers or codes for each job that you apply. 
• When you attend the job fair be armed with this information and only stop by tables of those companies that you have submitted an online application. 
• Use this time to follow-up and inquire as to your status. Try to get a contact name as well, such as the hiring manager and follow-up with that person the same day of the job fair.

2. Collect business cards. Collect as many business cards as you possibly can. This includes cards of other job seekers as well. Immediately when you get home, search for the contact on LinkedIn. The point here is to build your network. That individual person may not be a good resource for you right now, but you never know how far their network extends and when a person in their network may be a good contact for you.


3. Don't waste your time mass distributing your resume. You'll notice a box under the table. That's where the resume is going to end up. Most recruiters keep a "hot file" of top candidates. If your resume goes in the box, its forgotten. If you have successfully completed tip one, then you should only distribute resumes if one is requested.


4. Stock up on office supplies. I mean really, I couldn't leave this one out. 


Tomorrow, Its all about  human resources professionals that have to attend these things. I'll tell you why it sucks to be you on job fair day and how you can make it suck a little less.