Great article on Phone Interviewing from Glassdoor
As someone who works with candidates globally, the vast majority of our interviews/screenings are done via phone and I could not agree more with this recent article I saw on Glassdoor: 12 Things to Never Do During A Phone Interview September 3, 2018 Posted by Julia Malacoff These days, phone interviews are an unavoidable part of the job interview process, and for good reason: They save everyone involved time and effort. But that doesn’t mean that phoners require zero energy on the part of the candidate. Yes, you should spend more time preparing for an in-person interview, but many companies treat phone screens as the official first round of the hiring process. That means candidates are expected to go into them prepared with as much information about the company, position, and their own skills and strengths as possible. We asked HR pros about their top phone interview pet peeves, they had no shortage of advice to offer. Apparently, it’s quite easy to mess up your phone interview. But here’s the thing; it’s also not hard to come across well if you keep some key things in mind. 1. Never Take The Interview Somewhere Noisy It might seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised what interviewers say they can hear in the background of their phone interviews—everything from barking dogs to screaming children. “Prepare for the interview by securing a quiet space in advance, even if it means escaping to your car parked in the garage,” advises Chere Taylor, founder of Fulcrum HR Consulting. “If you can lock your home office door, by all means do it. We’ve all been there and sometimes things just happen, but the more time spent anticipating what could go wrong, the better prepared and organized you will appear to the interviewer and the greater likelihood of success.” That doesn’t mean that if your washing machine beeps once in the background all hope is lost, but the more effort you put into being in a quiet place, the more focused you’ll be. 2. Don’t Talk About Your Personal Life …Unless you’re directly asked a question about what you like to do in your off hours. “The point of a phone interview is to focus on getting to know a candidate’s professional experience and goals,” says Mckenzie Roark, campus talent specialist at Lithko Contracting. “A recruiter is trying to qualify them to see if they are the best fit for a role, and learning about their personal life doesn’t help. For example, when asked where you see yourself in five years, we don’t want to know that you hope to be married or that you want to buy a new house. That is nice but that isn’t relative to anything professional.” 3. Resist The Urge to Multitask It might be tempting to cross something off your to-do list while on a phone interview, but recruiters and hiring managers can easily tell if your attention is elsewhere. “My number one pet peeve is people who decide to multitask while on the phone interview,” says Dan Krupansky, Talent Acquisition Manager at PrimePay. “I have heard candidates washing dishes, making lunch in the microwave, going for walks, letting their dog out, and grocery shopping during the interview. I even had one person use the bathroom and flush the toilet while speaking with me.” Needless to say, this doesn’t reflect well on your level of interest in the position you’re interviewing for. 4. Skip The Money Conversation To put it bluntly, it’s simply too early in the process for you to be the one who brings up salary expectations. “Chances are if a candidate is participating in a phone interview, this is the first time they have talked with the company, and the first call isn’t the appropriate time to talk about ‘what’s in it for you,’” says Justina Strnad, the Talent Acquisition Manager for Shiftgig. “Trust me, if you are a great candidate and make it to next steps, the hiring team is going to be very transparent about what’s in it for you later on!” 5. Never Put Your Interviewer On Hold Phone interviews don’t take that long, and there probably isn’t anything else going on that is really truly so urgent that you need to pause your interview. “Do not put me on hold to take an important call that just beeped in,” advises Jeremy Payne, head of people operations at Remote Year. “I am your important call. If you are expecting extremely urgent news (like information about a family illness), be sure to preface that in the early minutes of the interview, so the recruiter is aware of the situation and so you can work with them to reschedule if that interruption does occur,” he says. 6. Never Skip The Q&A “After wrapping up a phone interview, it is typical that the interviewer will ask the candidate if they have any questions. I can’t stress this enough: ALWAYS ask questions,” says Roark. “If we have had a great phone interview and then we wrap up and they don’t have any questions for me, it pretty much ruins the whole interview. It tells me that the candidate is uninterested in the role, which in reality, might not be the case at all,” she notes. But surely, if you’re interested in a job, you can think of something to ask your interviewer. 7. Don’t Be Late It seems basic, but surprisingly, a lot of people are late to phone interviews. “About a quarter of the people with whom I schedule phone interviews aren’t on time,” says Sophie Cikovsky, who handles U.S. recruiting for Infinite Global. “While this bothers me personally, it’s also indicative of someone who isn’t very detail-oriented,” she explains. “In order to identify this early in the hiring process, I started asking all candidates a few years ago to call me as opposed to calling them at an agreed upon time. That way if I hear from them at 1:13pm or 12:49pm instead of our
When should I get a career coach?
When your job search is going well, you probably don’t need outside, but if you encounter any one of the following, then a coach can guide you through… You need a coach 1) When you don’t know where to start. If you were just laid off and you’re feeling depressed and anxious. A coach can give you techniques to cope a schedule of activities. Keep you motivated and on track. 2) When you are changing fields e.g.going from finance to pharma or profit to nonprofit. A coach can guide you to building a new network how to approach people learn about a new field and meet people. A coach can help you figure out what to say and practice what to say during a network event or private meeting. 3) When you are answering ads on the internet and not getting responses. Only 10% of job seekers actually get a job from answering job postings. A coach will show you 4 ways to find a job and how to crack the hidden job market. 4) When you have an offer and want to negotiate for more vacation days, a higher salary, or better benefits. A coach will practice how to negotiate by asking for small things you don’t really care about and get “nos” before asking for bigger things to get “yes.” 5) When you have to choose between two offers. A coach will go over the pros and cons to help you make the right decision. The coach can write the letter declining one offer and the letter accepting the other offer. Next career workshop starts September 17, 6-8 PM in Midtown. Register here: https://geffencareers.wufoo.com/forms/q16mk1480byl3hz/ Once you register you will be given details on the location. (c) 2018 Amy Geffen All rights reserved — GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com
5 Ways to combat “Your Overqualified”
Often when a more experienced (read “older” “seasoned” “late career”) professional finds a job opening, they can do the job, they get an interview for the job, and then, the interview thinks or says “You’re Overqualified”. Well, there is no such thing as overqualified. What they usually mean is one or more of the following. And here is how to handle their objections: 1) This is too low level for you – You have had other higher level jobs with more strategic responsibilities. Why would you want this job? Make sure your resume highlights appropriate level skills. Remove higher level skills. 2)Your salary requirements will be too high – We don’t want to pay you what you used to get paid. Of course not, You need to show that your set of skills is directly relevant to this job. You need to show that you know the marketplace and the salary for this position is not the same as your previous job because the responsibilities are different. Say that you are flexible and open to discuss a salary for this job. 3) You’ll be bored and leave in less than a year – Not if you address this during the interview. Come up with stories about your accomplishments that are directly related to the challenges posed by this job and how you solved those problems. Demonstrate how excited you are to tackle those kinds of problems for this company. 4) You’re older than your manager (in fact, probably old enough to be the parent of your manager.) How will you handle that? Describe a situation where you worked with stakeholders of all ages, diverse backgrounds, ethnicities etc. You got buy-in from them and this is how you handled it. 5) You don’t have the passion or energy to do this job. Well, we know that isn’t true. You wouldn’t be sitting in front of the interviewer going through the motions if you didn’t want this job. You know can do this job. You are passionate about the company, its mission, and the challenges faced by the person who will take this job. You need to show your passion and yes, use the words “energy” and “passion” in your conversation. You need to say “I want this job.” Bottom line is this: there are lots of interviewers who are prejudiced against older, more seasoned, professionals because they want to go for the younger, cheaper version of you. Your job is to convince them that you are the right person for the job and you will stay in the job and get results. (c) 2018 Amy Geffen All rights reserved To unsubscribe from this blog, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. FREE workshop Friday August 17 12-1:30 at SIBL, 188 Madison Avenue on “Finding the Hidden Job Market”. Ten week workshop starts September 17. Register here (Ten weeks $450.the best investment you wil ever make in your career) https://geffencareers.wufoo.com/forms/q16mk1480byl3hz/ — GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com
5 Ways to combat "Your Overqualified"
Often when a more experienced (read “older” “seasoned” “late career”) professional finds a job opening, they can do the job, they get an interview for the job, and then, the interview thinks or says “You’re Overqualified”. Well, there is no such thing as overqualified. What they usually mean is one or more of the following. And here is how to handle their objections: 1) This is too low level for you – You have had other higher level jobs with more strategic responsibilities. Why would you want this job? Make sure your resume highlights appropriate level skills. Remove higher level skills. 2)Your salary requirements will be too high – We don’t want to pay you what you used to get paid. Of course not, You need to show that your set of skills is directly relevant to this job. You need to show that you know the marketplace and the salary for this position is not the same as your previous job because the responsibilities are different. Say that you are flexible and open to discuss a salary for this job. 3) You’ll be bored and leave in less than a year – Not if you address this during the interview. Come up with stories about your accomplishments that are directly related to the challenges posed by this job and how you solved those problems. Demonstrate how excited you are to tackle those kinds of problems for this company. 4) You’re older than your manager (in fact, probably old enough to be the parent of your manager.) How will you handle that? Describe a situation where you worked with stakeholders of all ages, diverse backgrounds, ethnicities etc. You got buy-in from them and this is how you handled it. 5) You don’t have the passion or energy to do this job. Well, we know that isn’t true. You wouldn’t be sitting in front of the interviewer going through the motions if you didn’t want this job. You know can do this job. You are passionate about the company, its mission, and the challenges faced by the person who will take this job. You need to show your passion and yes, use the words “energy” and “passion” in your conversation. You need to say “I want this job.” Bottom line is this: there are lots of interviewers who are prejudiced against older, more seasoned, professionals because they want to go for the younger, cheaper version of you. Your job is to convince them that you are the right person for the job and you will stay in the job and get results. (c) 2018 Amy Geffen All rights reserved To unsubscribe from this blog, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. FREE workshop Friday August 17 12-1:30 at SIBL, 188 Madison Avenue on “Finding the Hidden Job Market”. Ten week workshop starts September 17. Register here (Ten weeks $450.the best investment you wil ever make in your career) https://geffencareers.wufoo.com/forms/q16mk1480byl3hz/ — GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com
I have just been laid off – what do I do?
You’ve just been laid off…and are feeling lost, angry, upset…don’t panic. Here are some steps to take. 1) Take care of your emotional needs: Take time to mourn the loss of the job, the office, the co-workers. But don’t take too long. A week or two is plenty of time. Don’t go away for three weeks or a month and say you’ll start looking when you get back. 2) Take care of your financial needs:. Make sure you file for unemployment insurance. Create a budget – If you have not saved enough for 6 to 10 months of expenses, you will have to take close look at your budget, your fixed expenses such as rent and utilities, and cut back on wants or luxury items. 3) Take stock of your human capital: Assess your strengths and weaknesses – what are you good at? What do you like to do? What successes did you have on the job? 4) Brand yourself – pitch, cover letter and resume. Let them reflect the best skills you have to offer and your accomplishments that distinguish you from the rest of the pack. 5) Get professional help…whether it is a job coach, a therapist, or a life coach. You need someone to lean on, learn from, and help launch yourself during this difficult period. Don’t forget to take care of yourself…get some exercise. Go for a walk, meet your friends, eat your favorite dessert (just not every day) and treat yourself to a massage or haircut or a movie. FREE workshop Friday August 17 12-1:30 at SIBL, 188 Madison Avenue on “Finding the HIdden Job Market”. (c) 2018 Amy Geffen All rights reserved To unsubscribe to this blog, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRiBE in the subject line. GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com
How to use LinkedIn for your Job Search
Do you think LinkedIn is only for your profile? Or only for networking? Well it’s both and more. See the five ways you can make the most of LinkedIn. 1) Use your profile to highlight your skills and accomplishments. Key words will get you noticed. All search firms, recruiters and HR managers are using LinkedIn to search on key words. 2) Expand your network – Just don’t find people and ask to connect to them. Start with your first level connections and ask them to introduce you to their first level connections. 3) Find jobs – Yes jobs are listed on LinkedIn. But don’t depend on answering them only online. Research the company and find out the person most likely to hire for that position and write directly to that person. 4) Research your interviewers – Find out about the people who will interview you. Where have they worked? What schools did they attend? What are they passionate about? See if you have anything in common with them. 5) Research the companies where you would like to work. Learn about their values and mission. And then search on the company to find out people who work in the company. Make your LInkedIn profile work for you by using key words in the to 140 characters and by highlighting your accomplishments in your summary. — GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com
One-Touch Networking (and the worst networking notes ever)
I’ve been the recipient of some great and many terrible networking notes. The ones that I usually ignore involve asking me for… A job outright. (I’m not hiring right now.) A physical meeting. (I struggle with making time for my own lunch most days.) Twenty minutes of my time. (Whenever I am asked for twenty minutes, I seem to end up being the subject of a very pushy sales pitch.) A referral to a person who can help them. (I’m always reluctant to subject my contacts to complete strangers.) A referral to anyone! (These notes require too much work – “Out of my thousands of connections, who should I send you to?” Also, see point above.) Bonus: I also receive notes calling me “Dear Sir.” Once in a while, I’ll receive a very beautifully written, well-researched, well-meaning note with one of these “asks.” I always respond to those because I understand how much work went into writing them, but I do not respond positively. I politely reject the sender and let them know why I can’t help them. I always feel very bad for doing this, especially when I get detailed “cover emails” and copies of resumes. I know hardworking job seekers spend a lot of time studying their contacts’ LinkedIn profiles and tailoring their notes. Even when I feel like I’m being mass-messaged, I have a lot of respect for people trying to network. They are usually smart, sophisticated professionals that happen to be the victims of the resume “black hole” – online application systems – and want to supplement their application activities by networking. These professionals are miles ahead of other candidates in that they’re at least trying to tap into their network and the hidden job market. And while the approach of reaching out to folks on LinkedIn is far better than just applying online, often, the only response job seekers will get to their outreach is something like, “Thanks for your note. Please apply for this job online.” And the reason this happens is that recipients of these notes are busier, smarter, and warier of connecting with strangers than ever before simply due to the sheer number of bots and scammy people out there. According to a survey by Radicati Group, in 2017, the average professional was getting 121 emails a day – and opening only a third of them. So, in order to stand out, not only must our emails be heard above all that noise, we also must delight our contacts and make them fall so hard in love with us that they have to refer us to the jobs we want. But this is impossible to do with just a single email, or what I like to call One-Touch Networking. As a result, the notes that people send out often do not get responses because they overwhelm the recipient (“this is too much work for me to deal with right now”) and make it difficult for them to respond immediately and positively. I’m sure most people wish they had the luxury of answering each and every note they receive thoughtfully. If like me, you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a note like the ones above, most likely, you’ve done what I have been guilty of doing – move on to the next pressing email in my inbox. The Restless Job Seeker Sending follow up after follow up to recruiters, applying to countless jobs online, and looking at profile after profile for networking research are not bad things to do, but they’re certainly very time-consuming. Even though 40% of all hires are referrals, only 7% of applications come in through referrals. When only a third of all sent emails get opened, it becomes very easy to become discouraged by the crickets your networking may be getting. There are a lot of external factors at play preventing passionate, driven job seekers from efficiently and systematically getting interviews, like… Recruiters have evolving priorities. The people you reach out to can’t always refer you. Because the job market is so saturated with candidates, even the best-on-paper candidates get responses to only about 10% of the jobs they apply to online. As a rule, the job seekers I work with are willing to do whatever it takes to get to their goals because they are doers. And they’re brave for always putting themselves out there, gritting their teeth, and sending out their resumes consistently, night after night, to company after company. Yet I think that’s one of the reasons the hiring world is so broken right now. We’ve become addicted to acting. We’ve become addicted to instant gratification. And when we don’t get that gratification, we don’t stop and question what we’re doing. We keep acting. When you’ve become sick of your toxic workplace culture or when your bills are piling up, it’s impossible to sit on your hands and not act. But let’s take a quick break from acting and think outside the box. We know referrals work. Referred applicants are three times more likely to get hired. How can we systematically and easily get referred for jobs we’re actually excited about? Here’s my solution – take the pressure to mindlessly act OFF, not just from ourselves, but from the people we’re networking with. Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture can help identify patterns and better ways to network. Furthermore, giving people room to breathe actually encourages them to be helpful. The reason for that is we make it easier for them to say “yes” when the requests we send don’t make our contacts feel pressured. This sounds counterintuitive, but it really works. To demonstrate, here’s an example of one of the best networking notes I have ever received: Here’s why I like this note: It’s very easy for me to act on it. All I have to do is copy and paste. I’m not asked to get on the phone or meet anyone face-to-face. It isn’t vague. It doesn’t
5 Tips to Stay Motivated in Your Job Search
Getting stuck? Depressed? At a loss? Here are some ways to keep yourself on track and focused throughout your job search. 1. Make a plan. Stick to a schedule. Every day make sure you eat right, get a good night’s sleep and get some exercise. Don’t sit at your computer all day without a break. For example. Monday do research on companies, salaries and job descriptions. Tuesday send emails directly to companies and hiring managers; Wednesday make calls to get meeting Thursday and Friday go to networking events, informational meetings, and interviews. 2. Find a buddy – someone you can check in with once a week to remain accountable. Discuss what did you do last week? What will you do this week? How many hiring managers did you email? How many companies did you call? How many networking events did you attend? How many meetings did you have? Who did you follow up with an email or phone call? Your buddy might be a friend, relative, or a career coach. 3. Do at least one thing each day. to move your job search forward. No matter how lousy or unhappy you feel, make sure you do at least one thing each day. 4. Make a poster or chart with 99 “no’s” and one “yes.” Hang it on your wall near your desk or computer. Each time you get a no, a turn-down, or no answer from a letter or resume, cross off another “no.” Expect to get a lot of “nos” in your search. Each “no” gets you closer to “yes.” 5. Make time to have fun. Each week make sure you do something for yourself whether it’s meeting a friend for lunch, going to the movies, or a hike, or swimming. But don’t spend day after day avoiding the real work it takes to get your next job! Remember a job search is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are not working you should spend 30-35 hours a week on your job search. Your job search IS your job. GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com
How to conduct your Job Search
Resume or Linkedin Profile? Answer ads or call my friends? There is a simple, comprehensive way to conduct your job search. The five-step process was pioneered by the GetFive organization. First – Assess your skills and decide on a job target. You need to choose a job target which includes a job title, geographic location and industry. Once you have a job target or two or three, you can work on your resume. Second – Create one resume for each job target. If you want to be a Project Manager or an Event Planner you really need two separate resumes.. You really don’t need to re-write the whole thing. The first half of the first page includes your job target or title, key skills and top accomplishments. You can easily change those key words and accomplishments for a different job target. Do not include a photograph or references or personal, informal description of you. Third – Linkedin Profile until you have selected your job target. If you have two or more job targets, then you need to make your Linekdin page broad and all encompassing. Make it passionate. Include key words and accomplishments. Hiring managers and search firms are all using key words to troll for candidates on LinkedIn. Don’t say you are “open to new opportunities”. That just says you are unemployed. They will find you.. Do include a photo – better make it professional, not a selfie. Do include three references – NOT endorsements. Include a personal, passionate summary that is written in the first person. Fourth – Make a list of all your contacts, your personal network and professional network. With a job target and a resume you can make a list of companies where you want to work and then send out direct emails to the hiring manager at the company. Ask for a meeting. Make the call. Focus on one thing at a time. Don’t spend more than 10% of your time on answering ads on the Internet. Do something each day to move forward with your job search. Spend your time each day on talking to your network, going to networking events to expand your network, writing directly to companies, calling hiring managers to get informational meetings. Remember, a job search is a marathon, not a sprint. Come to my workshop, August 17 at SIBL, 12-1:30 on Finding the Hidden Job Market. www.geffencareers.com
Why should I Move On from My Current Job?
Fortunately, you are employed. You’re getting a salary and benefits. But it is just not working for you. How do you know when it is time to leave your job and find something else that will make you feel productive, satisfied and put food on the table? 1) When you’re bored out of your mind. The job is so easy you can do it with one hand tied behind your back. You need more challenge, stimulation. You have asked for additional or more challenging responsibilities, but it has not happened. 2) Not treated properly – Your boss or colleagues are not civil or professional. They use abusive language or overwork you. They have no empathy for you or your family situation. You did not get the raise or promotion you know you deserve. 3) Not fun any more – You used to enjoy coming in to work. You loved the work and the camaraderie. It is just not working for you any more. 4) Can’t get out of bed – to face the day. If you literally have trouble getting out of bed because you can’t face the work or the office or your colleagues. If you are dragging yourself to work each day, then it is … 5) Time for a change – It doesn’t mean you are going to quit without another job. It means you need to start your job search before you get too bored, or too de-motivated or too abused…that you really feel like quitting. You say to yourself, how can I quit? You need a job. Yes, you do. So the time to start is now. Before you get so bored, depressed, angry or fed up that you feel like quitting. I am not asking you to have the courage to walk out. Just saying that you need to take steps to change your current situation. FYI Career Workshop starts June 4…Register here: https://geffencareers.wufoo.com/forms/q16mk1480byl3hz/ (c) 2018 Amy Geffen All rights reserved — GEFFEN C A R E E R S www.geffencareers.com