CareerFood

Negotiate?

I always get asked this question by candidates... "Should I negotiate the offer?" , and my response is always the same..."It depends".

There are a lot of issues that go into negotiating an acceptance offer and a salary and benefits package. Company culture, the position and duties, your previous experience and skill sets all play into how much, if any at all, you should negotiate. My general rule of thumb is that negotiating just to negotiate, is never a great idea. With some companies/positions it is expected that you would negotiate, while others start with their best offer. The keys are to have a complete understanding of the situation and be knowledgable about the process.

A lot of people say negotiating is an art, and there are a lot of great articles & books written on negotiating job offers.  If you are in the middle of a job offer negotiation or just want to brush up on your technique here are a few resources that I have seen lately to help navigate the process...

Fracat...Everyone Can Negotiate

Quintessential Careers

The Quick Interview and Salary Negotiation Guide

Body Talk

So you got the interview and you can talk the talk, but is your body in sync? Here's a great article on what your body language is saying during the interview.

Not only do you need to be aware of your body language, but matching and mirroring the interviewer is always a great technique. Here's a primer.

Happy Interviewing!

Let's Open The Old Mail Bag

Actually it's not really a mail bag...more of a folder in my email program...but I think Mail Bag sounds better.

We though we would do something a little different this time and answer some of the mail/emails we receive from job seekers. Here goes...

Dear CAREERFOOD,
I've heard that I should not have an objective on my resume. Is this true?
Barb S.

• Well Barb...I agree, I think objectives are useless. Everyone knows that your "objective" is to get a good job and a good salary. Instead of an objective I always coach job seekers to have a Profile or Summary. Here you can list some hard hitting facts and give the reader a road map to what they can expect in the resume. With the average reader only looking at resumes for 20-30 seconds, don't waste their time on an objective!

Dear CAREERFOOD,
I have a phone interview in 2 hours. What is the best advise you can give to succeed in this type of interview.
Roger K.

• First off Roger, I am not a big fan of phone interviews. It is hard to build rapport and get immediate feedback like you can in a face-to-face interview. So your only objective in a phone interview is to insure you get a face-to-face. Also the best tip for a phone interview is to stand up. If you stand during the interview you will find that you have more energy and your voice will project better, and believe me this comes across on the other end. Good Luck!

Dear CAREERFOOD,
I have recently received 2 offers. Both are great companies with slightly different roles. The pay is comparable for both. What should I do.
Kevin L.

• First off Kevin, Congratulations! When I work with job seekers who are evaluating multiple offers there are several methods, the old Ben Franklin, Pro's and Con's, work-life balance, etc. However the best piece of advice I can give is too evaluate both positions as if you were unemployed and just starting off your career. Which one will allow you to do the things that are most important to you? Which one can you see yourself still doing in 10 years. Money, benefits. perks and titles are all great but nothing compares to a passion for what you do!

That's all for now...

I Like This Guy...

because he tells it like it is. Check out the latest on email etiquette.

Writing Better Resumes or...

Bang! Bang! 20 Bullets, I'm Dead You're Dead!

This is long over due because the whole "Bullet Point Thing" has been stuck in my craw for some time now. Everyday I get dozens of resumes with way too many bullet points listed under each and every previous job. Dozens and dozens of bullet points informing me on everything from filling in for the manager when he/she is out sick to attending weekly staff meetings.

OK, Listen up! Hopefully this is the last time we need to cover this. Two Rules...

Rule #1 - Less is more

• bullet - a heavy mark, sometimes in the shape of a bullet (but more often a boldface dot), that is used to indicate an item of special interest or some special features on a page of copy. Barrons

So it would seem you should use bullets to highlight areas of special interest or things you want the reader to focus on. You knew this already because you took a resume writing class or bought that book that told you bullets are much better than writing long boring paragraphs no one will ever read. Right? What they forgot to tell you is when you use 20 in a row, they loose their effectiveness!

Rule #2 - Don't be a Fancy Pants

Unless you're trying to get a job at a flower shop, monogram store or graphic studio save the fancy script and curly cue bullets. It's distracting and sometimes even annoying. Circles, squares, etc. are preferred on business communications and should be on resumes.

I can't guarantee following these two rules will get you the job, but I will guarantee you will have a more professional looking resume that will get more consideration.

All you managers out there...Listen Up!

So now you've been trained and have no excuse for bad hires...

Stolen from Recruitment Views. Check it out.

So You Want to Make 100K...

Well you're in luck. There are a lot of legal great ways to do it. Forbes has a new article about surprising jobs that will put you over the 100 grand mark. Recruiting.com gets the credit and added a few more to the list.

In case you haven't seen anything that stikes your fancy, here are a few more...

• Construction Superintendent
• Insurance Agent/Broker
• Auto Dealership Manager
• Timeshare Salesman

Colleges are Destroying the American Workforce!

Well that's not exactly what they said... I was paraphrasing.

However, the people over at the Herman Group who put out the weekly Herman Trend Alert seem to think our skilled trades are suffering from "an over-emphasis on high school graduates going to university".

1st Reaction
WHOAA! What are you saying here? We shouldn't encourage everyone to go to College and continue their education? That's just wrong! That flies in the face of everything I hold near and dear! It's exactly this kind of attitude that is reason why the good ole U.S of A. is getting its tale kicked in math and science! Deep Breath. Serenity Now.

2nd Reaction
HMMMM?

3rd Reaction
You know what, this actually makes pretty good sense. What's wrong with encouraging young men and women who show interest or aptitude in these areas to go to a trade/professional school or enter an apprenticeship program. Do you know what a Construction Superintendent makes? Or a Master Electrician? Sounds like a pretty good living to me.

Two things to make this work:

1. Buy in from the High School educators and administrators, including more emphasis on career counseling and aptitude/interest profiling &:
2. Increased awareness to capture those college dropouts, the ones who go to community college or a university and decide it's not for them.

Bottom line...skilled trade doesn't mean ditch-digging.

Aristotle Said it Best

I was speaking with a candidate (and friend) yesterday and discussing the lack of results in their job search. I'm not getting any call backs, I'm not getting any second interviews, If i could just get someone to look at my resume, etc. etc. etc.

Listening to my friend expound on the reasons why she was not getting better results, I remembered a great quote from Aristotle...

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit."

ME: "What are you doing to change?"
HER: "Excuse me?"
ME: "You heard me...What are you doing to change? You're not getting results, you're job search is going nowhere, so what are you doing about it?"How are you changing your resume to get better results? What are you doing to get better at interviewing? What new and exciting ways are you using to get in front of hiring managers?

The same thing = The same results

What are you going to do to achieve excellence??

Color Coded Candidates

I can see the possibilities now...(thanks to Scott)

Save time and money with our new Color Coded Candidates system. No more wasting precious time calling candidates who are never going to give you the time of day. With our revolutionary new system we virtually do the recruiting for you!

red bracelet...not interested
blue bracelet...I'll hear what you have to say
green bracelet...ready, willing & able