The Resume Reconstruction Part I - Get rid of your Objective

Ok, so it’s been ages since I’ve blogged but honestly, it’s been a great 6 month break.  Much needed.  I feel refresh and energized to start blogging again so I hope you’re ready.  I’ve got a bunch of content lined up so it should be fun again...which is always important for me.

Quick update on me before this weeks topic….we are settled quite nicely out here in CA.  It’s farking expensive but the weather, availability of most everything and live at the Mothership it’s hard to complain.   I’m still a boy of the 603 but the 408 isn’t so bad.

With that, I’ve been talking to a lot of recruiter friends (nod to referrer!) and have come to a conclusion...it’s time for a resume revolution.  The whole state of resumes is terrible.  The entire thing is just messed up.  Most of them don’t tell the right story and get good candidates rejected without any conversation.  So, for me, that tells me it’s time to just nuke the whole approach and start fresh.  Let’s start at the top and take a look at the “Objective”.

Honestly, I’ve probably read about a million of these things and for the most part they all suck.  The objective of your resume is to get you a job (or the job).  Period.  End of story.  The objective really isn’t to get you a rewarding and challenging position that blah blah blah blah blah…..it’s to get you the job.

True story, I’ve received SEVERAL resumes where the objective has resulted in an instant reject.  I mean, instant.  Sending a recruiter that says “To find a role at WRONG COMPANY” will get you rejected immediately.  Last one I saw was looking for a role at Amazon….that’s great, I love Amazon but um, I don’t work there.  Trash.

Alright...so I’m not a big fan of just complaining so in lieu of an Objective what should you do?  Here are a few options.

1) Don’t stress it.  Start your resume with your best attribute (Education or Experience) so when a recruiter or manager sees your resume it JUMPS to their attention.  This is always my preference on a resume.

2) Start with a summary of skills or experiences.  I don’t love this to be honest but if you’ve got a bunch of skills/experiences that an employer will really value than sum them up, show them off and then dig into the details later in your resume.

Make sense?  I hope so, my big issue with resumes right now is that they are filled with junk and don’t truly show off what makes a person exceptional….so over the next few posts we’ll blow it up.  I leave on vacation this week but will be posting from parts unknown….until then, enjoy the week

Five signs your career is undergoing the zombie apocalypse…

I had a fantastic conversation with my boss this week joking about how shows like “The Walking Dead” are kind of a funny analogy for work.  Well, we were laughing but it’s probably not that funny if you are in a dystopic professional state...but hey, no one said this blog is for SERIOUS advice.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how when you sense the zombie virus is invading your career….it’s time to run.  So, to help you out...a few signs your career may be going zombie:

You wander around aimlessly - It’s probably time to find a new job is you find yourself wondering around from task to task and not really engaging your brain.  What are you doing?  What are you looking for?  Work is a chance for you to use your brain and exercise your smarts.  You’re probably in a culture or company that doesn’t value thought if you find yourself aimlessly staggering through your day.

You eat brains - This one is important.  You are no longer to accept good ideas or engage in real conversations...basically, you eat brains.  You laugh, but it’s true.  We’ve all meet with someone who just says no to everything, never adds what we should do...and just destroys the conversation.  Zombie Brain Eating Coworkers...get a new job.

You take weapons everywhere - Well, not literally but you get the point.  If you find yourself always getting ready for battle or an ambush at work...not good, beware.  You really want to work in a place where you can debate issues on their merit and have a robust conversation...not have to bring your weapons to keep you safe from the brain eaters.

You’re constantly overwhelmed - Ok, so did you see World War Z?  The scene where the zombies totally overwhelm Israel freaks me out….crazy.  Anyway, a lot of companies with bad cultures have this kind of crazy non-sensical hoard mentality where one person gets infected with an idea….and boom, everyone goes nuts for it.  Bad corporate cultures are like cults or zombie infections…..bad ideas dominate and overwhelm anyone who gets in the way.

You’re friends keep disappearing - This one is kind of obvious.  In all of these shows/movies people die.  Friends just kind of go away or get left behind.  It’s time for a job change when all of your friends are quitting or leaving.  Attrition is the dirty secret companies don’t like to talk about...some attrition is healthy and good for the organization but bad companies have unhealthy attrition rates because people realize it’s not a great company.  If you notice friends disappearing….start looking around.

Ok, that’s it this week.  Obviously just a funny blog but the point is really serious.  Bad companies or bad cultures are just not cool and rather that fight the zombies...run and find a place you can settle down a bit and really grow your career.

Final note, if people at your company ever dance like the zombies in the Thriller video…..you should stay there because that dance is just amazing.

It's not just a recruiting problem...

I’ve been totally slacking with the blog lately, my bad.  Big topic this week, and it’s one I’ve been wanting to write for a while.  

You hear a lot about companies or hiring managers who complain about their recruiting team and how they can’t find the right people.  Well...maybe, I mean sure..some recruiting departments suck but a lot of the time it’s a company wide issue but its much easier to just blame the recruiters.  Why take accountability when you can just thrash the recruiting folks?  It's easy, that's why. However, the truth is recruiting is a company wide project, everyone needs to be all in or you all fail.  It’s that simple.  Here are my quick thoughts on what each person in the company needs to do in order to successfully recruit...leaving out the recruiters of course because um you guys just do your job.

Hiring Managers -  So, these guys are key.  If you’re a hiring manager you've got a huge job to do here.  You need to respond quickly to resumes and be decisive.  If you meet someone great..hire them..don’t play games, hire the person.  Another key way to contribute as a hiring manager is to help sell candidates and close candidates on joining the team.  The last one, and this is important...hiring managers need to be engaged.  They need to listen when the recruiters push back on the process or decision making process.  Recruiters and managers are partners in hiring.

The rest of HR - The rest of HR play a huge role in recruiting.  The biggest, and frankly the hardest is attrition.  HR absolutely needs to focus on making sure people are leaving out back door as fast (or faster) than the recruiting team can hire them.  A lot of HR teams don’t like to hear that but it’s true.  If you have high attrition, you could have greatest recruiting team on earth and you’re still screwed.  HR also can focus on compensation, benefits and all the cultural stuff to make a company attractive.  Like I said above, it’s a team effort and HR/Recruiting are the essence of team so make sure you’re truly supporting each other.

Interviewers - Ahhhh, the interviewers.  Honestly, probably the most unappreciated piece of the recruiting puzzle.  Hiring Managers, HR and Recruiters can all do their job but if the interviewers are late, disrespectful, uncalibrated or just plan bad…….everyone fails again.  As an interviewer you've got pretty clear responsibilities.  Be prepared, be positive and make sure you give the candidate a great experience.  When you’re done, give prompt and decisive feedback to the recruiters so they can hire great people.

Executives - For senior leadership it’s pretty easy.  Stay engaged.  Don’t float above the fray and assume hiring will be easy.  Get into the process, talk to candidates, review resumes and generally do the things you’d have done before you became an Exec.  A lot of exec are “too busy” to interview or give timely feedback….I call BS.  If hiring and recruiting is a priority...get it done or delegate the authority to someone who can and will meet the companies hiring objectives.

The moral of the story here is simple.  Recruiting and hiring is a company wide project.  It’s not just the recruiters who are responsible for hiring...sure, we carry the heavy load but if the rest of the company can’t convert the pipeline to hires….you lose.  It’s that simple.

Avoiding the awkward "Thank You" letter

I’ve been blasted this week hence the lack of tweets and blogs…...but here I am!  This weeks topic is kind of a funny one but really if you’re looking for a job it’s not funny at all.  It’s about the awkward interview or meeting follow up.

Now, before I get into this….NONE of these examples are from people who’ve interviewed w/ me recently.  Been talking to a lot of people and it’s not cool to talk out of school.  Ok?  Ok.

We all know that the post interview follow up is really important.  To me, it doesn’t really matter if it’s email or a written letter...you’ve gotta follow up and say thank you for the interview.  No brainer right?  Well...unless you send a really uncomfortable follow up.  What does that mean?  Here are a few examples:

Spelling the persons name wrong - Do I need to even say anything else here?  Right

Using the wrong pronoun - Um yeah.  Referring to a he as a she, she as a he….whatever, not the kind of thing you want to screw up.  I’ve seen it.  #fail

Emailing the wrong address - Nothing takes the wow factor away than having someone else forward you the “thank you” note.  If you’re going to email, make sure it’s to the correct address

Assuming you’ll get the offer - Confidence is great, arrogance is annoying.  Your thank you note is just a thank you….that’s it, nothing more.  Don’t assume anything just be nice.

There are a million other things you can do wrong here so just play it safe.  Send a polite and timely follow up….nothing more, nothing less and wait to hear about next steps.

More soon, I’ll try to pick up the pace.  And, as always good luck out there...

Why recruiting is harder than you think...

I write a lot about recruiting tips and tricks and little nuggets I’ve learned over the years.  Here is one I don’t usually share...recruiting is a REALLY hard career.  It’s amazing if you’re into it, even better if you’re good at it.....but it’s hard.  No joke, it’s harder than it sounds and here are a few reasons why:

Sell the candidate, sell the company - Recruiting has a lot in common with Sales, tons of grinding and prospecting to find business (or candidates if you’re a corporate recruiter) so you spend a ton of time of time on the phone.  No big deal, the phone is fun.  The challenge is this....you are ALWAYS selling.  Sell the candidate on the role.  Sell your client on the candidate.  Sell the compensation.  Sell the benefits.  Negotiate the agreement. Sell, sell, sell. You’ve got to have that mindset from the start.

Most recruiters don’t last - Little know fact, most people who start a career in recruiting are out of recruiting within 3 months.  If they make it past that...maybe two years but most people get worn down over time because all they do is hammer the phone when the get started.  What they don’t realize, great recruiting is more than just hammering the phone...but when you first get started you usually can’t see the forest from the tree.

The numbers don’t lie - My first boss in recruiting taught me many lessons, this one has really stuck.  “If you play baseball and hit .300 you’re an All-Star, in recruiting if you hit .200 you’ll do really well...but what that means is 80% of the time you’ll fail.  Hiring metrics, pass thru rates, submittal numbers etc etc don’t lie......recruiting is a game of failure and how well you can keep your eye on the wins....and the wins will come.

Most of the tools suck - Yeah, I said it.  Most of the tools you'll use suck so when you pull a report...that data sucks too.  Recruiters are many things, great tool builders....meh

You’re always on the chopping block - Look, hard truth here.  Recruiting is always the first function to feel a slow down.  We are the ultimate cost center.  Not only are we expensive...but we hire people who are at least as expensive as we are and add to the bottom line.  So, when revenues are down or the market crashes who gets laid off first?  Recruiters go.....sad but true.

It’s always a hiring problem - Final hard truth but it’s something you’ll find at most companies.  Companies always blame recruiting.  Attrition high?  Hire more people.  Miss revenue?  Recruiting didn’t hire enough sales people.  Expenses too high?  Recruiting over hired and drove up expenses.  Can’t hire enough engineers?  The candidate pipeline is too small.    Honestly, I’ve seen all of these examples in real life.  What’s funny, is it’s almost never JUST a recruiting problem.  Sometimes it is sure but usually it’s a bigger issue about the culture or the way the company operates it’s just easier for everyone to point at us recruiters than it is to say there is a culture or management problem.

There are a million other things that make recruiting hard but this is just a quick short list...for those of you getting started or considering a career in recruiting I hope it helps.  My blog can be a lot of puppy dogs and ice cream and I wanted to make sure I keep it real.  I love recruiting and will probably spend my entire career doing it but don’t think it will be easy.  Chances are you’ll work longer hours and have more ups/downs than most of your friends......but that’s ok, we can handle it.

Don't fill the role, hire the talent

Ok, this blog is a request from a friend....and honestly, these are usually my favorite blogs to write.  The topic....how do you balance the urge (and need frankly) to hire great talent as opposed to hiring the great resume.  This is one of those age old topics and honestly, I think separates a great company or team from a crappy one.  Let me explain the two schools of thought on this:

“Hire the Position” - some may call this old school, or whatever....the idea is that you have an open req and you look to fill that req.  Looking for 3-5 years experience?  Great, don’t deviate from the plan and look for someone who can fill that slot on your team.  

“Hire the Talent” - I guess this is new school?  It’s basically the opposite, you try to find the best talent you can and evolve your team around that talent.  For a sports analogy it’s “find the best available athlete”.

Make sense?

Awesome, here’s my take.  In order to build a great team you have to look beyond the resume and trust the raw skills...aka hire the best available athlete.  Honestly, it’s a no brainer.  In today’s workplace things change so quickly that the “role” is likely outdated six months after the person starts....so why bother?  True story, I’ve been involved in a few searches in my career where we say we want “X, Y and Z” in a candidate.  Invariably, what happens is we realize that X is a product of their environment, Y is something that you can’t learn and Z is something you need to learn internally........game set match, you’ll never find a perfect fit and you have to start looking for the best person you can.

Amazing leaders identify great talent and then evolve their team to maximize that persons skills....and then....ahem!  And then those great leaders coach, mentor and grow the talent so that their skills/experience actually matches their potential.

That’s about it, next time you’re looking to fill a role on your team try to look beyond the job description and focus a bit more on hiring the best person you can....trust me, you’ll be happy you did.

Avoiding a Culture Trap

Ok, I’m back...been a crazy few weeks between Thanksgiving and the end of the year rush.  This weeks blog, is a special request from a friend and former colleague.  The question is...when looking for a new job (or taking a new job) how do you do a good job during the interview process and avoid a bad culture.

There are a bunch of things you can do, in no particular order:

Glassdoor.com - I’m not a HUGE proponent of this site, too many sour grapes for me BUT you can get a bunch of information here.  The key...do your homework here, get a few themes and then use the other tips to verify.  So...get info from Glassdoor.com but don’t live/die by it.

Trust your network - The best data comes from people you know/trust.  What you want to do is take the information you got from Glassdoor.............and cross reference it with trusted sources.  If you don’t know anyone directly at the company, use LinkedIn to ask someone you know for a referral.

Ask - You know, ask about the culture in your interviews.  Sounds silly right?  Well, if you ask EVERYONE you meet what the culture is like at a company you get similar answers from everyone.  If not.....yellow flag.  If you get crazy answers....red flag.  Lots of candidates shy away from “culture” questions during the interview process but really you should ask.  Companies screen out for “culture” fit all the time....why don’t you do the same?

Fix it - That’s right, you find yourself in a tough culture.  Do what you can to fix it.  TOUGH STUFF to be sure and not for everyone but depending on your role, in many ways it’s your job.  You won’t accomplish this over night, it’s a long term play but if you are a superstar employee...you can impact change across the whole organization.

That’s it this week, good luck out there...hopefully these “fiscal cliff” talks end soon and we can all focus on creating more jobs.