SeattleRecruiting.com

What Did You Do For Your Interview?

Harry Joiner republishes one of his more popular posts, where he describes in detail the lengths a candidate went to in preparation for a job interview.  It's astounding the depth of what this guy did, and it made me wonder what all of you are doing to prepare for your job interviews.

Not enough, is the correct answer.  This is just a taste.  Read the whole thing.

The candidates who deal with these ever-changing marketing and integration challenges are freaking brilliant. But they're clever, too -- and there's a difference.

Example: Three weeks ago I put a candidate in play for a VP of Marketing role with a large multichannel retailer. His first phone interview with the VP of HR was in six days, so I sent the candidate a massive pile of market research on the industry, the company, and its competitors. That's standard for me.  I even offered to set him up on phone calls with industry analysts and vendors who know things about the company -- which he gratefully accepted. That's standard too.

But then he took it a step farther: That night, my candidate Googled several of the company's products to see how they placed in the organic search rankings. Satisfied that all of the queried products appeared on page one of the Google rankings, he proceeded to enter my client's site through their Adwords landing page in the paid search area of the Google results.

Jobster And Facebook: Astounding Results

I may not like Facebook's banning of Harry Joiner, but the employment application Jobster is running on the Facebook platform is nothing short of amazing.

1) Jason Goldberg has been announcing the results of the project over at Jobster Blogs, and it seems like a pretty cool application.   For companies that have little idea of how to reach college students (and more - remember that 25+ is the majority age at Facebook) now have an application that allows the students to communicate directly.

In other words, businesses can now use Facebook for recruiting purposes.

2) The Results.

In addition to signing up over 40,000 users on Facebook, Jason has announced the results of applications for companies that have signed up for the recruiting package.  Long story short - hundreds of applicants for each company, and the companies are some heavy hitters.  Nike, Verizon, GE, Boeing, AOL - these are companies well-versed in recruitment, and the product is making a difference.  These are highly- targeted knowledge professionals, and getting a few 100 of them in their social networks is a big feat.

I'm really, truly amazed. 

Now, I've had less than kind things to say about some of Jobster's action, and I just recently scolded Facebook for not being inviting enough to professionals, but this is a big step for both companies, and it's only fair that we recognize it as such.

My fellow recruiting bloggers should be looking into this - there's a big story here, and it might be the final breakout Jobster needs to break that profitability barrier and shake off the startup label.

Time will tell.

The Best Time To Ask For Money: Up Front

Recruiters won't like this story, but it's an interesting one for candidates who broker their own deals.  Free Money Finance has a post that was in the Carnival of the Capitalists, and talks about goosing your salary with a simple question.

Here's a tidbit I found in Money's July issue regarding what to do when you are given a job offer:

Nearly 60% of hiring managers leave room to negotiate in their initial offer to a candidate.

As such, Money's conclusion is to "ask for more."

Can you make it a little more?  That's sometimes a tough question to ask, and it can backfire.  Some managers (more than 40%) make an offer and expect it to be accepted or declined as is.  If you really need the job, it might be best not to ask, but then again, do you really want to work for a guy who would fire you over a perceived slight? 

I've found this to be an excellent strategy when negotiating for price on electronics, cars, and software, but it makes sense that if you're looking for work, asking for a little more is best done when the company has signalled an interest in you.  Obviously the scope matters, as $1,000 on a $150,000 salary matters less than $10,000 on a $60,000 salary, but even if you are making $150,000 a year, would you willingly turn down $5,000 in cash (say if you stayed there 5 years)?

This is maximizing your lifetime earnings, as the more you make now, the more companies are willing to pay you in the future, so there is a lot of merit in asking for more.

I find that most people make their mistakes in the way and in the time they ask.

1) Recruiters:  If you're working with a recruiter, the two of you should have worked out what you are going to ask for.  The time to ask for more money with a recruiter is before the final offer.  Why?  Because you now face two gauntlets.  The recruiter may begin worrying about your intentions if you ask for more money at the wrong stage.  If he has another candidate waiting in the wings, you might find yourself "withdrawn" for being unreliable, with no reason given to the hiring manager.

Is that fair?  No.  But the recruiter has a lot of experience dealing with candidates, and they only get paid if you start - so asking for more when their job was to deliver you at a certain salary means you are no longer working with your recruiter.  So how do you handle it?  Establish a range with the recruiter of what is a fair salary, and if the work, or the environment is not what was promised, the time to ask for that upper range is after an interview and before the offer comes.

This gives you reasons why you should ask for more, which allows the recruiter to communicate with the hiring manager.  If you're just asking to ask for more, the recruiter didn't do the job they were paid for in discussing this with you ahead of time. 

And no you can't have some of their fee.  It's not your business what their fee is, and every time a recruiter cuts his fee to get you on board, he lives to regret it.

Jibber Jobber

The importance of jobseeking tools is a modern economy can not be stressed enough by industry gurus.  If you plan to work anymore in your life, you're going to have to know how to get a job.

To help with that, I'm going to do a few things.  First, I'm writing a book on jobseeking.  It's called Shooting The Rapids, A Guide to Surviving Unemployment.

Much of the book will actually be written and posted among my various local recruiting blogs, and when it's done, I'll compile it into a single document that I'm going to self-publish.  Utilizing the network of contacts I've built up in the last few years, I hope to have a cutting edge book that truly describes the best ways to find a job, handle unemployment, and best prepare you for the working world?  Sound fun?

The second thing I'm going to do is start working more closely with recruiting bloggers who focus on the jobseeker.  The first of those people is Jason Alba, who runs JibberJobber.com, a jobseeking software and process that has received rave reviews.

Jason has been mae a guest author here at SeattleRecruiting, and  while there are no expectations, he is welcome to chime in at any time.  I will be talking about him, and will feature his software in my book.

So be prepared - content is going to start flowing into this blog.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

-Jim Durbin

For Job Seekers: A Bird In The Hand

Geroge Blomgren continues his excellent series on tough situations for job-seekers, asking what you should do if you have a job offer and a time to start, but the opportunity to interview for that most excellent job that you really want.

The key to the Tough Situations series is George asks other bloggers to answer the question, and gets several responses for his posts, which means you get people like Zoe and Gretchen from Job Syntax and Louise Fletcher from Blue Sky Resumes answering your questions.

That's a recipe for success.

JobSyntax hosting Technology Jobseeker Chat

Gretchen and Zoe, the principals of JobSyntax, are offering free advice to technical job-seekers on ways to best stand out in a job search.

These aren't just two recruiters, but two informed, well-connected, and smart ladies who started a company to take advantage of the experience they learned as Microsoft recruiters.  Whether you're in Seattle or not, this call promises to be worth your time.

The time is Tuesday, October 10th at 10 am pacific time.  Check it out.

Review of Indeed's Salary Search Tool

I have to admit - I'm not a big fan of the Salary Search.  I've seen salary surveys, and played with the tools online, and laughed (internally, of course), when candidates showed me how their skills showed they should be getting twice what they were earning based on a salary calculator they found online.

So it is with trepidation that I look at Indeed's Salary Search.

I like the explanation.  The come right out and tell you how to use the tool.

They are in Beta.  That means improvements, and that's a positive - a tool that will improve as you use it.

They take real time information based on postings....Well, it sounds like a good idea, but companies aren't forthcoming about their salaries (and they also almost always lowball what they would offer).  This one has promise, but I'm not sure I buy it.

Geographic tools.  Good.  Useless without them, as regions like "The Midwest," or "Southern California," are too big to break down.  What's the price difference of Riverside versus Santa Monica?  Des Moines versus Chicago?  Exactly.

Comparison:  Fun, but relevant? 

I took them up on the blogger vs journalist salary comparison.   Advantage:  Blogosphere!

I was a recruiter in LA when everyone else was in the industry. Looks like I made a bad financial choice. Of course, how many actors in LA are actually making $52,000.  Does that include tips?

How about a lawyer in New York versus a Mob Boss in Atlantic City?  We'll call that one inconclusive, but funny nonetheless.

Same job, but do you really want tell your kids you're a politician for only $2,000 more?

Speaking of politicians in D.C.  Let's go to the thesaurus and see what a game of semantics will do.

And finally, who makes more, me or Jason Davis? 

It's a fun tool, but only time will tell if it really works.

Don't Be Dumb As a Pile of Bricks? Get a Business Card.

Few people bring smiles to a recruiter's heart as much as Tiffany from Magic Pot of Jobs.  She says the things many of us think but are afraid to say.

In this case - what do you do if someone you're talking to is three eggs short of a carton?  Or as dumb as a pile of bricks?

But lest you think that Tiffany is all snark and no help, check out her post on the necessity of business cards.

One of the things I recommend to people for networking purposes is to always, ALWAYS ALWAYS carry business cards.  It’s a simple way to be prepared for unexpected connection opportunities.  But what if you don’t have a job?  Or what if you’re looking for a new one?  Or maybe the person you met is really more of a personal contact and you’d prefer not to use your job’s card?

Well, duh, get personal cards printed.  It’s so cheap to do it that there’s really no excuse not to.

I collect business cards the way crazy old women collect cats.  I have boxes and boxes, just in case whatever I'm doing in the future changes, and in the worst case scenarios, a business card introduction (I'm looking at your card that I picked up when we met a few years ago), is still better than a cold call.

For candidates, business cards are important because they suggest "effort" - something in short supply among the unemployed.  If you've taken the time to get business cards, recruiters automatically assume you're going to make the effort to get to the interview, consider the job, and possibly be a placement.

And of course, there's that other problem - most of us have terrible memories, especially with the amount of information we take in these days.  A business card let's us file you away for future reference, and may jog our memory at just the right time in the future.

The Power of Association

CM Russell writes in Secrets of the Job Hunt on how to find associations to help you in your job-search.

Professional Associations are a wonderful way to get noticed, but as a commenter points out, the time to join groups is when you don't need a job.  Nothing quite sours a business relationship like asking for help of every person you meet because you need a job.

That dynamic is why so many networking groups represent groups of unemployed people looking for work and not willing to help each other for fear of losing out.

User groups and tech networking events fail because those with information or hiring ability don't want to be besieged with requests.  An association, however, gives you the opportunity to get to know members before you need a job.

And it's possible your company may spring for it.