What Hiring Managers Want

Going to a job interview has to rank rather high on the scariest things you'll ever do list. It doesn't matter how much you read about etiquette, your sure to come away wondering if you did and said the right thing.

A report from the Society for Human Resource Management offers the following advice to job seekers.

• Don't say things like "this is my dream job". According to the report, hiring managers hate that. Maybe they're afraid they won't live up to your dreams, more likely they'll think you're just a suck up.
• Don't skip the thank you follow up. Be sure to get a business card from everyone involved in the interview, then send a simple thank-you email--that's the preferred (and faster) method.
• Don't bug them with phone calls, but it's acceptable to call once. If you're the anxious type, try not to call more than once a week.
• Be sure to clean up your Facebook and Twitter posts. It's becoming normal procedure to lookup candidates, even before granting an interview.

When asked about expected hiring 26% of small companies (100 employers or less) and 24% of medium sized companies (100-449 employees) said their organization is likely to increase staff during the fourth quarter. Only 11% (500+ employees) said their employers are more likely to maintain staff levels. So your odds are better at finding a job with a smaller organization.

Hey Mom, Dad, get a Free Education!

Maybe you've always wanted to go back to school to boost or change your career. But in this economy putting out money for college can seem like a risky idea. Just holding on to your current job might be tough enough. Well here are two opportunities that might interest you:

1) Project Working Mom...and Dads too! This is a scholarship program by eLearners.com. The program offers a full scholarship to working moms, and this year dads are also eligible.

"We launched Project Working Mom as a response to staggering statistics indicating that working moms are an underserved population that simply need to overcome the obstacles of time, money and confidence to achieve the education they need to improve their lives," said Helen MacDermott, content director for Project Working Mom. "But in today's economy, we realize there are plenty of dads who are also in desperate need of financial aid and deserve a chance to tell their stories, too."

Scholarship applications are open until April 30, 2009, scholarship recipients will be notified and posted here in May 2009. The fund has over $2 million to offer free-ride online degrees.

2) Women Higher Entrepreneurship Learning Program (HELP) This one is for women only. It is offered by Leeds School of Business and Deming Center of Entrepreneurship at University of Colorado in Boulder. This program is entirely free and entirely online. It is a resource center web site that offers virtual training and regional networking to facilitate and support entrepreneurship and micro enterprise development for women. It is comprised of 6 online courses covering Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Marketing, Bookkeeping & Accounting, Financing New Ventures, Team Building and E-Commerce. While not a degree program recipients who successfully complete will receive certificate from the Deming Center, Leeds School of Business at University of Colorado at Boulder. This is an intense program with assignments and projects.

Education is always a good investment. To make it easier to afford search online or check out this site that has a database of online degrees and scholarships.

Your Job is Not Recession Proof

Hey, good news--No job is safe.

Google "Recession Proof Career" and you'll get tons of websites that will give you: 8, 10 or 7 ways to protect your job, standout at work, develop your skills, use social networking, etc. Much of it is great advice, but the truth is that no one is immune to the economy.

So why is this something to cheer about? Because it means this is your chance to play around with a variety of jobs. To make it now you've got to start thinking outside the job and DIVERSIFY your career. The new career model won't leave you stuck in a cubicle.

Isn't everyone always droning about how they hate getting up in the morning to do the same old thing? Go to the same old job? See the same old people?

Well if you haven't been forced out of the rut by layoffs and closures, the best way to recession proof your career is to mix it up. Now is your chance to enrich your life and start bringing in income by playing around with different things.

Some ideas for additional income sources:

• Open an eBay shop


• Start consulting


• write a blog
  
• sell your crafts


• get a second job that doesn't consume your brain


• launch your own business (this might seem crazy, but if you don't need a lot of start up money this is a good time to play around with your business model)

The key is to think of your income source as you would an investment portfolio. Put all your prospects into one investment (your job) and if it goes under you are screwed. But if you diversify by having several income sources, you've always got something that will bring in cash.

Does taking on more work make you tired just thinking about it? Look at your life. What do you do when you come home? Can you squeeze in a few extra hours? Stop surfing the web and open your online job.

Through diversification you'll add more depth and excitement to your life. Remember those old 60s tv shows. The dad went to work, the same job everyday. Didn't you feel sorry for him?

Long gone are the days when you worked for one company and retired with a comfortable pension. And gone are the days when your 401(k) was your ticket to a charmed retirement. Even early retirement buyout deals are in the past. Now even offering health insurance is a burden for many companies.

Sure some industries will fare better than others, but for most there is too much that is out of your control. If you are in sales you might be working extra hard, but if your buyers aren't able to make it work on their end it will effect you. If you work for a large company you can't do much about benefit cuts.

Jump in to new opportunities, but as always be cautious about get rich scams and anything that requires you to dump money into it.

3 Moves to Career Moves to Make Now

I guess anybody can be surprised by a layoff. But really in times like these only the completely ignorant would think that there job is layoff-proof.

Actually the people who don't get laid-off are probably the ones that understand that anyone is dispensable. These people know that while the rumor mill isn't usually 100% correct, there is often some truth in what's whispered behind the cubicle. They also make it there business to know at least a little about the company's performance.

But I was a bit surprised today to read PsychCentral's post by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. naming 7 Ways to Cope with a Layoff. And so if the rumors are twirling and there's hard talk about profits. I propose that you do steps 4,5 and 6 before the cut happens.

4. Take Stock in Your Finances and Budget

If you aren't working toward ridding yourself of debt and living within your means you're just putting your head in the sand. And that includes paying attention to that failing 401(k) and protecting your nest egg.

5. Take Care of Insurance

Without a doubt the biggest bummer about being unemployed is the loss of health insurance, especially if you have a family. COBRA isn't a solution either. It's extremely expensive. Start researching options and paying attention to your junk mail. If you find a plan you like keep it in your back pocket...just in case.

6. Hit the Classifieds

Everyone knows that the best time to look for a job is when you aren't looking. There's a lot less pressure and if you get interviewed you won't emit desperation.

IF, and I really do not wish this on anyone, you should be downsized then definitely take a look at the other 4 steps (Keep Your Emotions in Check, Get the Information, Regroup and Reframe, Don’t Give Up Hope). But taking care of 4, 5, and 6 will make these other steps a heck of a lot easier.

Friday Encore: Multi-tasking will ruin your career

Friday Encore features a past blog posting that I thought you might not want to miss. Okay, call it a repeat if you want. When necessary the post may be updated with new information or data to keep it relevant. The following was originally posted March 17th, 2008.

Multi-Tasking Will Ruin Your Career

We’ve all said it during one or another job interview, “I’m a really good multi-tasker.” But, multi-tasking is the ADHD of the career world and that’s not good. If you’re trying to juggle many projects at one-time chances are you’ll produces less than stellar results for all.

The simplest example that we can all relate to is talking on the cell phone while driving. Mythbusters even tested it and found that driving while talking on the cell phone is even more dangerous than drunk driving—also something you shouldn’t do simultaneously.

Studies have been proven that multi-tasking is dangerous for your career. And it’s also not so healthy for your stress level. Switching between answering emails, phone calls and getting stuff done can actually leave you deeper in the weeds. If you’re talking on the phone while reading email and scanning through a report you’ll be too scattered to make intelligent decisions.

You’ll get more accomplished if you put a little zen into your work mojo. That is being present and mindful will help you focus on the tasks at hand. By allowing yourself to dedicated attention to a task you’ll accomplish more in less time.

photo by chotda

5 Tips for Real Time Management
1. Email: Set aside 15 minutes to answer email. To ensure that you don’t miss out try scheduling this for 3 times during the day: first thing in the morning, just after lunch and an hour before leaving.

2. Block out work time. Block out time each day to focus on your work. No meetings or coworker drop-bys.

3. Speaking of drop-bys…we all know they can big time suckers, but it’s also important not to be viewed as anti-social. Manage your time with drop-bys by politely telling them you only have 5 minutes or so to spare. Then be sure to stick to it and not let your time be stolen.

4. Schedule phone calls. Set a time to make and receive calls. Use your voicemail message to let callers know what time you’ll be at your desk to return and receive calls.

5. Expect the unexpected. Don’t plan your day so rigidly that you’re totally thrown off when something comes up out of the blue.

What Chocolate Taught Me About Dressing for Success

Yesterday I was running a bunch of errands with all 3 kids in tow. (Read: crazy mom) The final stop was the Verizon store where I had to trade my son’s once again not working Chocolate phone. I don’t even get angry at Verizon for this lame piece of junk because my son chose this crappy phone knowing that a tin can and string works better than this thing. But it looks “cool.” Verizon doesn’t give us a hard time when we have to trade for the third time (under warranty) because they also know that it is junk.

So what makes this a story worth telling is the customer service guy (let’s call him William) who performed the routine swap of transferring data to the new phone. The first thing anyone would notice about him were his clothes. This was business casual taken right from a men’s fashion magazine. He wore neat navy trousers, a striped shirt, some sort of print tie and a sweater tied around his shoulders. Really I haven’t seen that since the 80’s. It seemed a little silly and might draw people to make conclusions about his sexuality. But once he started talking all was forgiven because he’s German and you know those Europeans always have different dress standards. Not to mention that I don’t really care one bit about whom he is spending his time with outside of our brief encounter.

But William’s neat attire also spilled over into how he approached his job. Typically Verizon personnel offer very good service. They have to because everything else about cell phone companies is ridiculously aggravating. But William went beyond nice. He was more than courteous. He was gracious and polite. As my 4-yr-old was completely out of control and had to be removed from the premises I felt like a sloven peasant, but William showed me the respect of royalty.

When the transaction was over I politely thanked him. Then he came out from behind the counter pointed to the bottom of the receipt to “a very brief survey of about 15 seconds regarding my service today. I hope that you will give me a 9 or 10 because everything below is just no good.”

The career/life advice that William shows us is simple:

Treat everyone with respect. You never really know what impact one person may have on your life. Plus, if you treat others respectfully they will respect you.

How you dress reflects how you feel about yourself and others. This too goes along with respect. Colorado is notorious for casual dress, but that doesn’t mean you should let it all go and forget good grooming.

Ask for what you want. William’s politeness and good service didn’t come without a price. He wanted me to pay for that by taking the time to do a survey that would look good for his career—and he even told me what rating to give him.