CAREER PRO TALK

Basic Twitter Tips for Job Search and Jobseekers

People, companies and even non-profit organizations that peak your interest should be those that you follow on Twitter. Craft who you follow around your professional interests mostly and your do-good volunteer work as well. 

Your profile on Twitter can be a combination of personal and professional but if you are looking for a job you should promote your professional style, capabilities, professional and volunteer interests before you promote your highly personal style. Just like Facebook and the more social of the social networking sites it is simply too tempting to blurt out about something you "feel" vs. think about something that may be of value to someone else. 

I tend to recommend a style of sensible humor, informative posts and personality twist posts that show your personal but more professional style - especially when you are in a concerted job search. It's okay to promote your capabilities but begging for a job or complaining about anything including the job search process should be eliminated. Just demonstrate your professionalism and professional thought process with a personal edge. My favorite graphic designer contributed these thoughts to mine on basic Twitter Tips for Job Search and Jobseekers.

Make sure your posts and 140 character blogging focuses on your professional side. Jobseekers should display basic background or customize it in a professional way. 

I welcome more additional ideas to our blog here but I at least are some very basic tidbits on the path you should take on Twitter as it relates to job search. 

1.     Always be professional, don’t bash current/former employers or co-workers

2.      “Tweet” about positive things

3.     Follow interesting people who help add credibility to your brand

4.     Companies have Twitter accounts just for posting job openings, i.e @ATTjobs

5.     If you want to gain ‘followers’, pick a public profile

6.     A private profile means you select who can/cannot follow you, but it also means your professional-related tweets won’t been seen by the ‘public’

7.     Remember, nothing is private online

8.     If you need to send someone your e-mail or phone number, send a direct message

9.     Develop a professional bio on Twitter and include your web site

10.  Ensure tweets are well-written and everything is spelled correctly

(Image from http://www.smashingmagazine.com) 

Golden Parachute Tarnish or Varnish - A Brief on Executive Pay

There seems to be a lot of talk today about executive pay, bonuses and some of this conversation has turned quite nasty. Nobody minded as much when things in the economy seemed to be chugging along but now it's different. 

I just read a survey of directors on corporate boards who say U.S. companies need to change the programs as an almost direct result of our current recession. Most workers would agree it seems. 

The consulting firm Watson Wyatt states:

- 70 percent of directors expect executive pay opportunities to decline during the next two years

- 68 percent of the directors are not concerned or moderately concerned about the retention of high-performing executives

- 63 percent of outside directors stated that U.S. companies should modify executive compensation programs to adapt to economic realities

The survey report, Effect of the Economy on Executive Compensation Programs: The Board View, also says 6 percent of companies plan to make salary reductions, reduce long-term incentive award levels or target bonuses in the next six months. Another 48 percent of companies are entertaining serious thoughts about reductions within six months. 

This downward trend now is being supported by some legislative movement that is only proposed for now. According to Steven Miller in SHRM's HR Magazine, the survey members or a majority of directors doubt the proposed legislation will significantly impact improving executive pay for performance with its potential "say on pay" or "golden parachute" limitations. 

Despite these proposed changes and legislation what does seem to be happening is that executive boards will hold management more directly accountable for their performance. In that way I do wholeheartedly agree with Ira Kay, the global director of compensation consulting at Watson Wyatt. 

But I would also add that the trend away from what the public perceives as overcompensation at the top will be popular fodder during any recession or economic downturn. This is also a major public relations and personal branding opportunity for C-level executives to win loyalty from their employees and even customers.

The Opening - Job Search Balancing Act - Be Active, Not Aggressive

If you have ever been on the interviewing side of the table, you understand the basic differences between “active” candidates and “passive” candidates. Attitude and behavior become a balancing act. 

An active job seeker is looking for a job, whether he’s out of work or ready for a change; he’s posted resumes and is seeking opportunities, even if it’s confidential. A passive candidate isn’t actively looking but would consider a good opportunity. She has a job and probably isn’t posting resumes or scanning job openings.

Active job seekers are becoming more assertive than ever in a time where unemployment is soaring over 10 percent nationwide. But too much aggressive activity can be a turnoff to hiring managers already burdened by dozens, even thousands, of resumes.

Even if you’re on an active search, it’s wise to adopt some tactics that make passive candidates appealing to employers – and to make sure your activity doesn’t cross the line into aggression.

Consider the predicament of “Jeremy,” a very active job seeker:

“I answered every advertisement and called people back,” Jeremy said. “I stepped on a lot of toes along the way, but that’s how I’d sold my wares as a medical-software sales executive. After a recent layoff, I threw caution to the wind. I was going to let everyone and anyone know I was available.

“I suppose I did everything but stand with a sandwich board in midtown Manhattan to get myself out there and exposed. As a top salesperson, I wasn’t going to be passive at all. I guess I took active job seeking a little too seriously.”

The result? Bruised toes among potential employers and no real leads.

So what did he (and other super-aggressive job seekers) do to hurt their job search? Sell instead of brand.

Think about what kind of reputation you are building with those who may see you or your resume. How are you branding yourself? How are you known?

Play Your Role - Job Search Balancing Act - Part 2

Categorize yourself by answering yes or no to these short statements first:

• The Plasterer – I have plastered my resume all over the Internet and responded to just about every lead I can find that remotely matches my qualifications.
• The Aggressor – I have sent many unsolicited resumes to companies and hiring personnel asking for an interview and letting them know about my talents.
• The Seeker – I have posted the fact that I am looking for a job everywhere I can, including multiple postings on my LinkedIn account stating this fact.
• The Raging Bull – If I know a company is hiring, I will call and try to talk to the hiring manager. I will get their name and get my resume into their hands somehow, some way even if it means offending a few people.
• The Frustrated – I have made it clear to my references, to hiring authorities and even to people I don’t know that I am frustrated with the process of job search, especially if I don’t hear back from a lot of applications I have sent.

“I guess I was all those things especially the bull,” Jeremy said. “But if you are too aggressive, you’ll probably turn a lot of people off along the way. When I slowed down and started branding versus selling myself, I did better. When I took a more quietly confident posture, it seemed like I got more interviews.”

Here’s how he describes the ways he cleaned up his act. Notice how much it sounds like the quiet confidence of a passive candidate.

“It’s like I started getting interviews, or at least more responses, when I started being more specific,” Jeremy said. “I sort of slowed myself down to speed myself up.

“I hired a career coach, had my resume professionally prepared and started asking myself some key questions about how I wanted to be perceived by hiring authorities and the marketplace. I just touted what I could do for companies and listened to their needs. I put relationships and their needs before mine.

“In short, I acted like I did when I was employed and a bit more confident.

“Believe me, I was still pushing it, but like a duck on water. I appeared confident and careful, but my feet were still paddling hard. I used a little Dale Carnegie I guess. This tactical change worked.”

Here are the new roles he played to land a job:

• The Surgeon – Instead of blasting his resume out, Jeremy carefully and rather surgically posted his well-written and powerful new documents to key Web sites and catered each resume to the job requirements.
• The Specifier – Never again did he send his resume without finding out whether it was OK. He only sent a resume if he had a name and at least some permission to send it.
• The Brand – He concentrated on building value, helping other job seekers, and contributing his advice on professional sites through volunteer associations and to his employed and unemployed friends. In other words, he stopped selling and started branding. He stopped loudly proclaiming he was looking for a job on sites like LinkedIn.
• The China Shop – He stopped wrecking potential contacts and burning bridges to put his materials into hiring manager’s hands. He stopped offending people and started treating them, including the hiring manager’s executive assistants, with kid gloves. No broken glass.
• The Optimist – Despite his setback and worries about his job, the lousy macro headlines and unemployment numbers, he focused on contributing positive thoughts to his references, friends and hiring managers. Who wants to hire a negative person? It doesn’t work in sales, and it doesn’t work in selling yourself.

Seemingly nonstop bad news about employment figures can get anyone down. It can drive job seekers into behavior and tactics that may be deemed too aggressive and inappropriate. Passive candidates can appear more attractive to a potential suitor not because they’re employed but because they’re pitching a softer sell.
So what can we learn? If you desperately need something, resist the urge to do just about anything to get it.

As Jeremy put it, “I didn’t just run up to my wife-to-be when I met her in college and ask her if she would marry me. I barely got her to marry me anyway!”

Whether you are in an active search or not, take note of the lessons above to become more attractive to your potential suitor.

How Job Search References Can Derail Your Career - part one

Grapevine's speak, don't they? 

Reference checks can confirm or deny the value of a job seeker to a potential employer. They can be the difference-maker in employment. When it comes to references, do sweat the small stuff.

For a real-life illustration of a reference’s importance, consider “Alex’s” example:

“Alex Partain” thought his resume and interviews went well with a Fortune 100 technology company. Even in a recession, he blew past most of his friends and secured seven interviews, including final-stage interviews at five companies. Information security positions pay well over $100,000, and with a solid background in the very latest in information security, why shouldn’t the offers flow? But what happened next left Alex in the lurch, confused and looking for answers.

“I honestly could not believe it,” Alex says now. “I got a serious wake-up call about references. It probably cost me thousands upon thousands of dollars in terms of months lost. I lost out on every single interview I had secured in a mere month. It wasn’t until a third-party recruiter ferreted out the facts about my references that I found out what was going on. What was happening was basically my own hand-picked references were not prepared properly, did not give me glowing reviews and hurt me. But all in all, it was more my fault then theirs. I did not prepare them or myself.”

The North Carolina-based executive job seeker found out some ugly truths about references.

Here is what happened. He gave his two weeks’ notice, but left his company two weeks before one of the company’s most important engagements. He provided his references the proper notice they needed to prepare a quick, positive paragraph on company letterhead and write a sentence or two on LinkedIn. But that wasn’t all. Mr. Partain left his current company with a bit of a cloud over his head. “My colleagues never received a current resume from me,” Mr. Partain says. “That was a mistake. I also left them a little short on a key project. That left my key references a bit angry.”

After Mr. Partain hired an employment-law attorney who checks references, he found out three cold, hard and interview-busting facts about his reference. A few lessons follow in the next post.

How Job Search References Can Derail Your Career - part two

Fact #1: Unprepared references can unknowingly discredit your work on projects

His first and key reference talked glowingly about his work but then undercut him by challenging his work on a key project. “My own CIO at my company actually disputed two facts on my resume! When one of the reference checkers called, they found out that I had given him an old version of a resume,” said Alex.

“He really did not know that I handled the fix of a very large financial intitution in the way I did. So he said that I had not participated in the IS Manhattan Based Project as it was called. He suggested that – and it ended up looking like – I lied on my resume without saying explicitly that I lied. To my own discredit, I never gave him a copy of my new resume, and because I was in such a rush to bail out of the company, I just did not communicate what I actually did in the last part of my tenure.”

Lesson: Do not assume anything.

Closely coach and counsel your references to ensure you both agree on what will be said if someone calls. Get agreement on key achievements and resume points. Make sure you take time to copy the reference on your latest resume.

 Fact #2: The impression a reference leaves will be reflected upon you.

The third-listed reference was just totally lukewarm, monotone and even said “I have no comment” a few times during the reference checkers interview with him. Though in person the reference was like a comedian, a really dark humor, funny and fun guy – he was a total dud to a reference.

Then he told a bad joke about Alex and said, “I can tell you he didn’t kill anyone while he was here,” and that was it.

Some references never even returned the employer’s call when Alex listed home and work numbers instead of cell phone numbers. One number went to another senior manager on the West Coast, who had essentially lost our on a promotion to Alex seven years ago. The guy said, ‘You don’t want to know what I think then? I could tell some things off the record.’ But upon follow up he said, ‘No comment,’ and reluctantly gave up the right number.

Lesson: Obtain written references and contact information.

As a foundation to your overall reference plan, get written references. As an option, you can offer to write the recommendation as long as they agree with the information and essentially sign off on the reference letter. By doing this, you have a proactive way to combat a reference who is less than prepared, distracted or unenthusiastic on the phone.

Remember to get permission from your former human resources department to provide you with your employment evaluations. In fact, you can – and probably should – find out exactly what your current and former employer’s reference policy is. Written information can be a powerful testimonial and may negate more lengthy phone calls to your current references.

Also, ask your reference how they would like to be contacted – at home, by cell or by e-mail.

Incorrect phone numbers will waste time and hurt your credibility. Even with a correct phone number, if a reference calls and does not respond quickly it can hurt you. It shows they may not care enough to respond quickly or give you high marks. Silence can be deadly here.

 Fact #3: If it’s a legal issue, investigate legal avenues.

Frustrated, Mr. Partain sought the advice of several attorneys, but nothing that was said about him was essentially false or malicious. He didn’t have a grounds for a lawsuit or the time or money to pursue it. Instead he corrected his own mistakes and actions. “I am not going to even say that hiring an employment-law attorney is right or wrong or hiring a reference-checking service is the way to go. I do know I would not have been so hasty in drawing up my references. And I shouldn’t have assumed that my references would do what I wanted them to do.”

What can you do if you feel your references are derailing your career options?

Lesson: Use preventative medicine.

If you truly feel that your background and job search is being compromised by knowingly misleading, malicious or false information, then you may want to hire an attorney or consider legal action. First choice is always to contact your former employer and reference and try to resolve any bad blood or issues up front, before you start your interview processes. Consider all your options but start with preventive reference medicine first: prepping references with current resumes and getting written references and contact information.

Aggressive lawyer letters may silence your references completely and shave important time off of your job search. A lawsuit could tie up lots of time and resources you may not have during an earnest job search. And what if a so-called bad reference’s statements are justified? Before a lawsuit, find out what you and your reference agree on.

Lastly, make sure you review a few questions your references might want to know. Focus on some of the following topics with your references so you agree:

• start and end dates of employment
• the reason for leaving
• salary
• positional responsibilities and achievements
• work ethic
• communication skills
• team focus
• promotions
• willingness to re-hire
• general strengths and weaknesses

Do what you should do to anticipate how important references become in your search. They are important. Silence and mere neutrality can be fatal in the world of references. Your investment of time, energy and preparation for interviews should not be derailed by bad, lukewarm or silent references. Do what Alex Partain should have done. Don’t get off track during your next, critical career move. Ride the rails. Be proactive and prepared when it comes to references.

The Dilemma of Multiple Voices, Outplacement As It Is and The Complications of Job Search

I read many insightful articles. Hopefully I have written a few over 17 years. Recently I read some articles published by The Wall Street Journal and other publications devoted to job search insights. 

Unfortunately most article insights do not go far enough to provide the kind of detailed, one on one coaching someone needs during a job search. They can't. It's not really the writer's problem. I have written four nationally published articles for The Ladders recently and many, many more for my career services colleagues and in many other publications. I get emails from people opening their hearts, commenting or giving me their story. I know I might have raised certain questions and not solved them. I pitch in. But to me search can be a complicated field, a Tower of Babel.

Articles can't cover much. Add spousal tension, market destruction in certain fields and other problems like rabbit punching ego blows and search gets real complicated real fast. At least that's one way I see it. In search so many voices sound like screaming fans. You are the player on the field. Do you hear them? Can you distinguish the one voice that makes sense? The raw truth about search is about listening to your inner voice. Some call it the Holy Spirit. Call it what you want. But listening to or having someone distill what you need to do or to define the clear voice remains paramount. And difficult. 

The refrain of insights by well meaning friends can even be empty at this tough, often depressing time. And advice columns cannot solve problems. It's like listening to CNBC and forming a coherent financial plan. It's a bit like listening to political talk shows and clarifying your political viewpoint. It's point, counterpoint and darn confusing. 

In fact the behind the scenes truth during the haste of a new job search sometimes hurts and does not help jobseekers. It's a panorama of confusing, well meaning opinions. I am often debunking myth after myth and creating the jobseekers individual search plan based on everything I can muster in 17 years of doing this and it just hasn't gotten that much easier. 

And the world can be set especially against the short cut focused or jobseeker who is not careful. 

For example, most recruiters complain to me about being overwhelmed by jobseekers screwing up their brand in these ways: 
1. Poor resumes - not targeted, not professional 
2. Poor phone skills, follow up skills or etiquette in initial email communications 
3. Overly aggressive behavior when communicating by phone or email after sending the resume and cover letter 
4. Lack of research on firm or even recruiting firm when engaged in screening interviews 
5. Unrealistic pay or compensation expectations 

It's always helpful to have a bag of tips when jobsearching but the truth is there is a lot of stress, tension and problems that people face or even create for themselves during search. 
Stress and pain often reveal how we handle crisis. Many of us can handle a no when it is given against our company or a product we may represent. Most people in search do not know the journey to yes and the response to no during this time. 

Now that all marketing focuses on you it becomes even tougher. Clients who demonstrate great search behavior use this time of stress to Invest in Themselves, Stay Focused During Crisis, and get a Third Person Perspective on their own situation. Try doing that on your own or without a powerful go to network that you have established over many years of giving yourself away. 

Some clients are given outplacement services. Even those services as they are delivered today often fall short. One client at a local corporation reported that the first three weeks of his outplacement program he received nothing but a packet of information. He was also pushed to sign an agreement not to sue the firm he formerly worked with last. It was the third week that he received one on one coaching. His outplacement program with a national firm ends in 90 days. How much personalized, one on one, individual attention can he possibly expect? 

Those who are out of work and do not receive outplacement often have to face the fact that they have not adequately built relationships that they should have done before they needed it. Loyalty to the company and the relationships built around that may not pay off in a time of transition. But effective networking starts NOW and for most it should have been a campaign built on relationships for many years. Difficult searches take very concerted efforts, discipline and calm focus. 

It's hard. It's complicated. If you have easy answers or transition quickly then quickly and often count those blessings. If you don't have easy answers you are not alone. Try to distinguish the voices that will help you. 

Employment Law and Your Rights

How Employment Law Affects Hiring

A Brief – The Burden of Laws Intended to Protect Weigh on Employers and Influence More Than You May Think

In recessionary times and in better economic times most hiring decisions are governed by many rules and regulations. It’s the law folks. The law governs much of our behavior in all areas of our life. Employees might forget how much hiring decisions are based on existing law. Let’s review at least some of the pervasive some law that permeates almost every hiring decision made. Let’s also take a moment to look at the new media trends that you may not know about. If you really want to have an edge in understanding the laws that govern hiring practices, then educate yourself on some of the weight of law that drives hiring.

A larger overview of the law could make anyone cringe, much like the scene from the movie The Devil’s Advocate where Al Pacino plays the timelessly scary devil attorney himself (Milton), and explains to Keanu Reaves (Kevin) why the devil himself chose to be in law. He explains ominously in the movie – It gets us into everything. Unlike the sinister motives outlined in the movie, most employment law developed years ago and amended continuously until today was meant to protect us, protect people with disabilities and to encourage employers do the right thing. All heavenly intentions, right? 

But the fear of the law and the burden of the law on employers remains great. Here’s primer of what employers think about before they can consider you for employment.

Be thankful for the law that governs hiring but know the burden too that influence employers large and small. The sheer amount of information staggers the mind. Here the briefest of brief overviews of the burden or the influence of the law on all these hiring areas:

Proper Job Descriptions and Advertisements

The Interview Process – Legal and Unlawful Questions

Discrimination and Harassment Rules

Job Applicant Skill, Medical, and Drug Testing

Running Background Checks and Credit Checks

All Employment Contracts: Provisions; Noncompete Agreements; Terminations and more

Hiring of Independent Contractors

Hiring Immigrant Workers

Hiring Young Workers

 According to William Joseph Austin, Jr., a preeminent employment law attorney with North Carolina based Ward & Smith P.A. points out that we live in a regulated society and adds: No exception is made for the employment relationship, beginning with recruitment, applications, interviews, background checks, and hiring. 

According to the EEO, the Federal laws prohibiting job discrimination are:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;

the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;

the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older;

Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments;

Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government; and

the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

 Mr. Austin goes on to point out that EEO laws, both federal and state, impose a deep and abiding constraint on employer discretion in the entire process. Mr. Austin also notices and points out that Job-seekers are protected on the basis of such an ever-growing list of classifications, characteristics, traits, and conditions that no employer can afford to undertake seat-of-the-pants recruitment and hiring. Careless employers could pay a high price.

 According to Title I of The Americans with Disabilities Act, it prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations. The ADA’s nondiscrimination standards also apply to federal sector employees under section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, and its implementing rules.

Martin Luther King, My Dad and How I Was Brought Up

November 6, 2008 I had the opportunity to give a keynote talk to one of my important volunteer groups called the Business Advisory Council. That day the original keynote speaker from NC State University was called away on some racially charged graffiti and anger associated with those issues on campus. Remember the election happened two days before.  

So the keynote to this great group called me. 

I just wanted to share this article with you. It’s part of what formed my dad’s opinion on people. 

We were brought up by my parents to see people’s unique qualities not their differences. 

In this talk I also added two other stories - my brother’s Canada Man story and my son’s reaction of What are white and black people? I will explain these stories in another blog entry. The bottom line is we were brought up not to label people by race but the content of their character, their service and their humanity. We need that lesson today. 

But let me focus on my dad's experience with history in the 50's when there were many different impression of MLK. 

This is the background foundation of what I read in this talk:

First Rites - http://tinyurl.com/7gld2t 

It’s a real glimpse into what formed my dad and how we viewed others.

 

Recruiters - Recessions - Reinvention

You can read a lot of insight into this post about third-party recruiters, recruiter behavior and more during recessions. Some people wonder why recruiters can earn placement fees from companies during recessions or high by historical standards unemployment figures. 

Since the recession started about a year ago we have seen a lot of recruiters face difficult circumstances in placing candidates in parts of the financial and banking fields. Forget automotive industry - that's terrible. 

But that does not mean third-party recruiting stops during historically high unemployment. Other fields like sales, technology, accounting and related opportunities may remain hot and needed even during a rash of layoffs and unemployment figures rising. Here are a few reasons why recruiting by third party recruiters can thrive in bad economic times: 1. Third party recruiters often niche. That means they focus on very hard to find candidates and match them for the company. For example, forensic accounting, auditing and tax accountants still are in high demand. That may not surprise you. But also people with hard to find technology skills may be very marketable now. Additionally, people in sales who bring in new revenue and who have a book of business to bring to a new company may be close to recession proof. 2. In one instance over the last month the president of one of the largest banks whose home office is in Raleigh, NC said directly to me: "John, I find that this may be an unprecedented time where we can locate and hire top talent from our competitors." So this person who is in a field that has taken a huge hit still feels he can find and hire top talent. 3. You can read most leadership books like "Good to Great" by Jim Collins or "The Dip" by Seth Godin or others. Soon you find out that setbacks are merely setups for great comebacks. This is the time, an opportunity for you and for companies to set themselves up to prosper. One key way is to get the right people on your company bus. Another client of mine received a raise this past quarter and his company made record profits in the energy sector. What did they do? They did a 4% layoff. When I inquired why he said that it was a convenient time to get rid of "some dead weight" at the company. Believe it or not but a recession can be a good excuse to reinvent your team. Is it fair? You may not think so but it happens. Companies clear the decks to set the stage for growth. What do they want? They want or should want the best players on the field. A recession may be a time to find that talent. So there you have it. If you are not the hunted and most placeable candidate during this recession then what are you doing to follow your personal brand, your worklife mission? By niching properly and following a most marketable path you can do a lot to stand out and potentially recession proof your career a little bit more.