Average is the new bad

It's a simple fact. Since the Dot Bomb recession we have been asked to do more with less and that trend has only accelerated since "The Great Recession". My take is that there is solid hiring pressure in the marketplace, but the ability and desire to "pull the trigger" has been stunted by an amazing lack of visibility / confidence in economic growth moving forward.

What that means to employees, recruiters and businesses alike is that average simply won't cut it. Survival itself will be based on the ability to deliver results that have a meaningful and tangible positive result on the bottom line.

Why inaction is deadly in the talent war.

It seems that recruiters are regularly fighting to get companies to move on strong candidates in a timely fashion. Our industry regularly "loses" good candidates because the client company couldn't or wouldn't move quickly enough.

Many times the delay is because the hiring manager is already buried with other work, and has to make the difficult decision to keep digging the hole, or take time out to evaluate people who may or may not be able to help him dig faster. It is a tradeoff with no certain payoff. However, in economic times like this, it may be simply that the need exists, but the "visibility" on economic improvement is murky. There is never a simple answer as to why a hiring entity would not move with a sense of urgency on good candidates. Whatever the reason, the old adage that "People only change when the pain of changing is less than the pain of staying the same" proves true.

Here are some reasons that you may consider as you evaluate the delays in your hiring cycles.

1. Candidate enthusiasm diminishes the longer you take between the introduction of the opportunity and the end of the interview cycle - Striking while the iron is hot is never more evident than in the hiring process. Timely action combined with clear indication of interest will keep an "A" player interested in you. Beware, however, of appearing too desperate.
2. Believe it or not, even in this economy, you have competition - There are many companies that currently are in a talent acquisition mode, and even more that are taking a "topgrading" approach to replace low performers with top performers.
3. Delays cause unnecessary anxiety - No feedback is often times worse than bad feedback as the imagination generally creates only negative scenarios as to why the process has stalled, which may not reflect your actual interest level.
4. An "A" candidate is likely evaluating you as much as you are evaluating them - Delays and poor communication will likely reflect as indicative of your management style to a strong candidate with multiple opportunities.

Remember to keep the process moving and provide the candidate with feedback on where they stand in the process and you will minimize the chances of lamenting "the one that got away".

Employers - Jealously guard your "brand"

Candidates are just like you and me. When we have positive relationships with vendors in a marketplace, we may tell a friend, but if we have a negative experience, we WILL tell everyone we know.

Web 2.0 has exponentially increased the speed and ferocity of the transmission of good and bad news.

In the old days, we had user groups and web sites like f***edcompany.com. Now we have thousands of ways in which word of mouth has been accelerated. Sites like twitter, Linked In and Facebook have eliminated the marketing filter that used to protect brands from negative publicity. As you all know, in the 21st century, customer and consumer feedback is direct, rapid and sometimes bloody. This is the same with the consumers of your employment brand. Be VERY aware of how your approach impacts your candidate base and strive for a strong, positive experience for preferred candidates and declined candidates alike.

Learning Curve, Earning Curve

Read an article today in Infoworld titled "Are you too old to be a techie?" The gist of it was about age discrimination in IT. In the 25 years I have been recruiting in the IT arena, I have never run into overt discrimination based on gender or race, but I regularly run into age discrimination. You rarely hear a direct request for under 30, but I often hear feedback about a candidate along the lines of "too experienced", or "not enough runway". There are a million code words that basically say the same thing.

We value youth over experience. Why?

• Cheaper (in the short term)
  
• Able to work longer hours (in the short term)
  
• More likely to be fully absorbed by their professional development (less likely to have outside obligations that would limit becoming fully enmeshed in technology)
  

How can the older worker combat some of these biases? As workers mature in the marketplace, their earnings curve generally continues to ascend, while often their learning curve flattens out. When the gap between the learning curve and the earning curve is large, the very real potential for pain (layoffs, stuck in dead end job, etc.) is at its greatest.

One way the older worker can combat that is to make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that their learning curve keeps pace with their earnings curve. The older worker MUST combine their depth of experience (invaluable) with a constant refresh of what is valid in the marketplace. If they do not, they run the very real risk of becoming "unemployable" in the industry.

Interview Strategies - The requirements analysis

Sales pro's call it "spilling your candy in the lobby". You are sitting in front of the interviewer. After a quick review of your resume, she says the dreaded question.... "Tell me a little about yourself". Your pulse increases, sweat glands are on high alert and your synapses begin firing like it's the 4th of July. 20 minutes later, your interviewer's mouth is agape, her eyes glassy and that 10% of our brain we are purported to use has dropped to about 3%. You just shotgunned your entire history and committed interview Hari Kari.

You both could have been saved if you had known this technique - The requirements analysis. Generic, open ended questions like this are common in interviews. They are a jumping off point for meaningful discussion, not an invitation to data dump. The best way to handle something like this is to turn the question back to the interviewer. For example "Well there is so much to tell (smile). So I don't spend time on unnecessary detail, may I ask you a few questions first?"

At this point, you should be asking about job and challenge specifics. Your overall objective here should be to find specifically what your customer (potential employer) is looking to buy (hire to solve their problem). You should focus on things like:

• Job description - Because you likely already have a general idea, it is good to restate what you know and ask if there are any other components that you have missed. Any answer gives you further detail on what your prospect is "buying".
• Tools - again further clarify buying criteria using the technique above.
• Pain - I love this one. Any open position causes pain for the employer. Lowered productivity, further stressing of already stretched resources, etc. Ask what the impact to the company of this position remaining open has been.

Once you have a DETAILED idea of what the customer is looking to "buy" (experience, tools, unique challenges) then you have the detail necessary to give them specific examples of how you have been successful in similar situations in the past. You are selling what they are interested in buying. Your requirements analysis has given you the road map to solving your customer's problems and you have become the "aspirin" to their pain.

"Productize" your skill set!!

Quick, you are in an elevator with someone who tells you they are looking for sharp people within your industry. You have 5 floors to make an impression! Can you do it?

The sales and marketing pro's among us recognize this scenario as the classic "elevator pitch". You have 2 minutes. Make your audience WANT to buy. But what happens if you are not a sales person, never been a sales person or tremble at the mere mention of the word (see previous post "The 'S' Word")? You'll remain unemployed or underemployed unless you are surrounded by people who can sell on your behalf.

Every day, I work with people who have trouble coming up with an answer to one of my basic questions. "What do you bring to the table that can make an immediate or near term impact on a new employer's profitability?" Have you ever thought of that? If you are not contributing to your company's profitability, you are detracting from it. If you are not contributing to your company's profitability, you are expendable (and probably sooner rather than later).

I suggest every job seeker take a few minutes to develop a FAB sheet. FAB stands for:

• Feature - This would be a skill or specialization that you possess that makes you of value to the career marketplace. It is what makes YOU marketable.
• Accomplishment - This is how you have applied that skill in a real world experience. It is how you have made money, saved money or changed a process to impact your previous employers bottom line!
• Benefit - This is how you tie your features and accomplishments into how you can solve your prospective employer's pain.

This process doesn't need to be painful, in fact it should be no more than 4-6 bullet points for most people. Know your FAB points. Write them out and practice saying them out loud in front of a mirror (silly sounding and your family will think you are nuts, but it is extremely effective) until you own them, and the next time someone asks why they should hire you, knock 'em out!

Tips for Job Hunting in an Uncertain Market pt. 1

Daily, in my search firm, I see growing numbers of people across the country actively seeking new employment. There is no way to sugar coat it; we are now in the midst of the second significant recession in less than ten years, and perhaps one of the worst in our lifetimes. What can you do to gain greater visibility for your job search?

The first thing you should do is aggressively grow your network. Don’t let pride stand in the way of asking for help. Alert your network of your situation, and ask for any help and referrals they can offer. At the same time, do something to add value to those in your network. Share a lead (others will need them too) or volunteer for a non-profit or charity. People are more likely to help someone who adds value. The motivational guru “Zig” Ziglar is famous for saying that you can get whatever you want in life, if you just help enough people get what they want first. Make that your mantra.

Expanding your network is easier than ever. Now is the time to build your network online. Through vehicles such as LinkedIn and Facebook (among others), you can now reach back to long lost contacts and bring them back into your network, dramatically expanding your reach.

LinkedIn is my favorite business networking tool, and I will focus on that today. Let’s say you hear that there is an opening for a marketing associate at Random House, but you do not know anyone that works there. You can join the thousands who send in their resume into a corporate database, or you can be a bit more proactive. Here is what I suggest:

First, if you haven't done so already, build a LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com. After you have created your account, find the search bar at the top of the main page. To the right is an “advanced” link. Click on that link. On the left hand side of the advanced search page you will see a box for Company. Type in “Random House” (or the company you are targeting) and keep the option for “current & past”. Next go to the location drop down menu (just above company) and select the option “located in or near”. Type in 21157 (or the zip code for the location of the company you are targeting), and the search brings up 74 people who either currently or previously worked for Random House.

As you build your contacts in LinkedIn you will find that often someone you know is friends with someone who is at your target company. IF you know someone who is “linked” to the person you are targeting, you can send a request for an invitation. If you don’t know anyone, you now have the name and title of someone who may be able to help you get in the front door, and who may even get a referral bonus because of it (people helping people!). Send your resume to their attention in a hand addressed envelope for immediate attention. Give it a try! You have nothing to lose and a new job to gain.