Category: Charting Your Career for Success

There are 4 job search myths that can prevent you from finding the perfect job.

Myth #1 Interview Skills

Let’s debunk the myth that interview skills are not important.  If you believe that you only need to show that you are qualified to get a job offer, you are going to lose job offers to the competitive field of qualified applicants who also have job interview skills.

Interview skills are similar to negotiation skills.  Effective negotiators know how to present their material.  They know how to listen to and understand questions and objections from the buyer or hiring manager.  They know how to ask for the order or the job offer.

Developing and practicing interview skills can help you get jobs offers that more qualified applicants may miss out on.

I have additional articles on developing interview skills under the topic heading Interviewing.

Developing and strengthening skills is important to becoming more effective at doing nearly anything.  Developing mental skills strengthens the effectiveness of a person to learn and perform mental tasks (Scholarly Journals on Skills Development).

Myth #2 Job Boards and Job Search Websites

The belief that job boards and job search websites are useless is a myth.  It is intuitively obvious that job boards and job search engines work.  If they did not work, hiring companies would stop using them.  If they did not work, job boards and search engines would have disappeared.

Some Statistics: People who say that there are no statistics to support the value of job website are not looking very hard.

• Indeed.com gets 150 million unique visitors a month, Alexa traffic rank: U.S. 80th, 23, 128 sites linking in.
• Monster.com gets 100 million unique visitors a month, Alexa traffic rank: U.S.  319th, 18669 sites linking in.
• CareerBuilding.com gets 100 million unique visitors a month, Alexa traffic rank: U.S. 458th, 15,003 sites linking in.

Myth #3 Resumes

The myth that resumes are no longer necessary is simply not true.

There is a popular notion that you can replace your resume with a case study of the business of each company for which you apply.  A case study of a company’s business is terrific for a presentation at a job interview.  However, if you want to get an interview, you need a resume.  Hiring managers and recruiters do not want to deal with a nonconformist when they are trying to tie job experience and employment qualification.

Myth #4 Income

The myth that you should never disclose your income can ensure that you never get a job interview.  Nearly every hiring manager in any company in the country has a pay range in mind before the manager posts a job.  People who are going to try to be clever and not share their income are going to reduce the number of companies that will read their resume.

Does your company have a policy about your keeping your income private?  That same company required that you disclose your income before they granted you an interview.

Employment references are an important part of the job-seeking process.

Generally, companies will ask for professional references.  These are people with whom and for whom you have worked.  They often include former employers, co-workers, vendors, buyers, and people you know through business associations.  In addition, companies may ask for personal references.  These people are your neighbors, friends, professors, college, volunteer groups, and other relationships outside business.

Always ask a person’s permission before listing that person as a reference.

By doing so, you are treating your references with respect.  You are creating a positive relationship your references.  You are helping your references prepare to represent you when employers call to learn about their experience with you.  You help your references help you in a positive and supportive way.

Provide the references when the employer requests them.

Do not include your references with your resume.  Your list of references is confidential business information.  Only give the list of references to employers where you have an interest of employment and where you have a likelihood of employment.  Typically, job seekers give references through email.

The following format for a list of references is simple.

This format makes it easy for you to create a list of references.  The format is also easy for the hiring company to follow when checking your references.

References
Your Name
Your Street Address, City, ST ZIP Code
Your phone
Your Email

1. Reference name
   Relationship with reference
   Location of relationship (company name, volunteer group, etc.)
   Reference title
   Dates of relationship
   Street Address
   City, ST ZIP Code
   phone
   email
2. Reference name
   Relationship with reference
   Location of relationship (company name, volunteer group, etc.)
   Reference title
   Dates of relationship
   Street Address
   City, ST ZIP Code
   phone
   email
3. Reference name
   Relationship with reference
   Location of relationship (company name, volunteer group, etc.)
   Reference title
   Dates of employment
   Street Address
   City, ST ZIP Code
   phone
   email
4. Reference name
   Relationship with reference
   Location of relationship (company name, volunteer group, etc.)
   Reference title
   Dates of relationship
   Street Address
   City, ST ZIP Code
   phone
   email
5. Reference name
   Relationship with reference
   Location of relationship (company name, volunteer group, etc.)
   Reference title
   Dates of relationship
   Street Address
   City, ST ZIP Code
   phone
   email

Why Do You Want to Work for Our Company?  This question is helpful for you to know before you go to the interview.

1. Preparing to answer this question will help you prepare to discuss the opportunity with the company. 

If you know enough about a company to explain why you want to work for the company, you will have a much more meaningful conversation during the interview.  You should never go to an interview without first knowing the job description.  Other things that you should know include the company products, as much as possible about the company culture, and the history of the company.

2. The question will help you prepare to discuss how your skills match the job.

By knowing why you want to work for a company, you can explain why the company should want to hire you.  The information that you put together in preparing for this answer help you understand what ways your skills and experience match the requirements of the job.

3.  It will help you show that you have an interest in the hiring company and not just any job at just any company.

To the hiring manager, interviewing an applicant who has a genuine interest a company raises the level of interest that the hiring manager has in an applicant.  It reflects positively that you have evaluated other companies.  The fact that you show that you are interested in the specific company, you are showing the hiring manager that you are a candidate worth the time it takes to interview you.

4. It will help you show hiring managers and interviewers that you appreciate their time by taking your time to research the opportunity and prepare for your interview.

In researching your answer to the question, you will be able to show how much you value the opportunity to interview for the job.

“Why were you fired?” is one of the most difficult questions in interviewing.  How do you prepare your answer?  How do you deliver it?

Write down and rehearse your answer.

Do not let a bad case of the nerves and poor interview preparation allow you to trip over your words.  Rehearse your answer so that you can give a short, clear reply.  Test your answer with people you trust.  Get comfortable with your answer so that it makes you look confident in your ability to go forward with success in your next job.

Discuss your answer with your references.

Discussing your answer with your references is helpful in at least two ways.  First, you want your references to give an answer that is consistently with your answer to this question.  Second, your references may help you prepare an answer that is honest, unemotional, and make your firing nothing that should prevent you from getting a new job.

Stick to the truth.

Telling lies can catch up with you through reference checks and backgrounds checks.  Even worse, if the hiring company does not discover that you lied until after you have started to work for the new company, you might find that you are being fired again.

Structure your answer to show how you will be a great hire at you next company.

Being fired from a job does not mean that you do not deserve to get a job where you are interviewing.  If you were fired, because your last company was laying people off, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Understandable the reasons you are being fired

• A new boss came in and replaced everyone with people from his or her previous company.
• The company shifted its business model and eliminated jobs for your skills.
• Your boss was highly skilled but had high turnover, because he or she is a micromanager.

How to write a resume: having a resume is an essential part of getting a job for most people.  I based the information in this article on two sources.  The first source is the hundreds of resumes I have read as a corporate recruiter.  The second source is the feedback I have received from hiring managers, staffing managers, other recruiters, and from interviewing hundreds of applicants.  These are suggestions only, but the layout is a working format.  If you replace the information below with your information, you will have written a resume.

A resume is similar to a job application.  When you complete a job application, you will need to list the jobs you have had, where you performed those jobs, and when you had those jobs.  Therefore, you will find it useful to have your resume with you as you complete job applications.

Related Articles
Resumes for Managers
Resumes for Recent College Graduates

CONTACT INFORMATION
Your name
Street address
City, State Zip
Home phone
Cell phone
Email address

OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY
Stating an objective or a giving a summary at the beginning of the resume is common practice.  Stating an objective or providing a summary is optional.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 
There is no sentence structure in a resume.  The wording in a resume is simply a series of statements of actions and accomplishments.

For example, this is a sentence: I doubled the company’s sales in 6 months.
This is resume wording: Doubled company’s sales in 6 months.

The history in a resume is just a list that includes employment periods, performance, skills, responsibilities, accomplishments, and education.

(Most recent job first)
Company Name; company Location,   From –to
Most recent title, Location, From – to

Use bullet format.
•        List things you have accomplished.  Do not waste space on your just giving a job description.  List things that showed that you made a difference in the positions you held.
•        Use facts—for example, exceeded assigned sales goal by 30%, reduced costs, promoted people, saved time, increased productivity, etc.
•        Employers and recruiters search their databases for specific words, so list successes with specific industry words or functions.  Include the real name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.g., Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market Insights, Innovation), etc.

Then include Previous Companies going back in time from most recent.

More Career Article
Building Professional Relationships Everywhere
Are you a card collector?

EDUCATION
Normally, education goes at the bottom of the resume.  People who have recently received an educational degree or credential that alters their employability might consider putting education at the top of the resume.

Other items that might go at the bottom of the resume are awards, extra skills, volunteer work, or perhaps some relevant college employment.

HOW TO SHORTEN YOUR RESUME FOR READABILITY
Hiring managers only spend seconds looking at each resume.  They are going through stacks of resumes, often in documents that they have to open one at a time.

Avoiding the following items might make the difference as to whether a hiring manager reads your resume.

Objective
Summary
Hobbies
References
References available on request
Compensation
Long paragraph formats
Long-winded discussions of core responsibilities
Too many details on jobs with well-known functions
Details on jobs that date back in time
Paragraph formatting
Third person reference

Why Did You Quit Your Last Job?

If you are unemployed, a common job interview question is why did you quit your last job.  The answer has value to the interviewer for several reasons.

Your answer can help the interviewer know whether the type of job you are seeking is available at the interviewer’s company.  Your answer can also help the interviewer evaluate your integrity when the time comes to conduct reference checks and background checks.  The way you answer the question can help the interviewer draw conclusions about the way you view work and view your role in the workplace.

There are a number a valid reasons people quit their job.

• Safety issues can make jobs undesirable.
• Commute costs or commute distance are sometimes overwhelming.
• Job stress can create the necessity for finding a different job.
• A change in a person’s home life can force a person to have to find a new job.
• A challenging work relationship with your supervisor or co-workers can make you want to find a new place to work.

Quite often people lose a job for reasons beyond their control.

• Companies run into difficulty and lay off people.
• Automation can create changes in the numbers and types of employees a company has.
• Companies move offices, retail locations, or manufacturing facilities to new locations, cutting local jobs.

Prepare thoroughly on how you want to answer the question on why you left your job.

Write out a solid, brief answer.

Try your answer out on several different people.  Of course, different people will have different views on how to answer the question.  Based on the discussions you have with other people, you will find that these people ask you questions about your reason for quitting your job.  Include these questions and your answers to these questions in your thinking about why you quit your job or lost you job.

In the end, you will need to select an answer that works best for you.  Thoroughly rehearse your answer.   How you answer why you quit your job can help you move on to getting an offer for your next job.

How to Cancel and Reschedule a Job Interview

Knowing how to cancel and reschedule a job interview is an important part of the job interview process.

Having to cancel a job interview can cost you the opportunity itself.  Before you can return for a rescheduled interview, another applicant might fill the job.  Additionally, frustrated hiring managers who now have a hole in their schedule may not even grant you the opportunity to reschedule.

Cancel Immediately

Failing to cancel until the last minute will only make you appear flakey or disinterested. The more lead-time you provide when you cancel an interview and reschedule it, the better is your opportunity of rescheduling another interview. Certainly, call to reschedule as soon as you know you have a problem making the appointment.

Cancel and Reschedule in the Same Call

When you call to cancel an interview, ask to reschedule during the same call.  You may not have another opportunity to speak directly with someone to reschedule the appointment.

Emphasize your continued interest in the job. Remember to state how much you still want to have the opportunity to interview for the position.  Ask the hiring manager or recruiter what time would be another good time for them.

Valid Reasons

There are valid reasons to cancel and reschedule an interview.

1. Work conflicts with your current employer can create a need to reschedule an interview. When rescheduling an interview because of a work conflict, you don’t need to be specific about the details of the work conflict.
2. Health is certainly a valid reason to cancel and reschedule. Some interviewers will not be happy to greet a person who has symptoms of a cold. If you have a cold, you might call to let the interviewers know.  You can offer to come to the interview, but say that you felt you should let the interviewers know about your condition.
3. Personal conflicts do arise. Let the person know that you regret having to reschedule. Sharing details of the situation are not always necessary and perhaps better avoided.  For example, a death in your family or among your close friends is certainly valid reasons for rescheduling. However, you don’t need to say who died.