No Wonder Job Seekers Are Confused: Part 3

This is the third post in a series refuting an article in Bloomberg Business on: "Five Out-Of-Date Job Search Tactics". (You can feel free to weigh in using the Comments section below, and check out yesterday's post on "Creaky Cover Letter Language" here.)

They say: (Saying) "Here's Why You Should Hire Me" is out-of-date.

Last Friday night, on the ABC show, "Shark Tank," all five "Sharks" (potential investors) made an important point to the gentleman pitching his company, Salespreneur. (Dave Greco)

Daymond John asks the pitchman (who is supposedly a master salesman) to "sell me this pen." The guy does so, for about 20 seconds, but quickly turns his attention to asking for an investment. Daymon John interrupts him and asks him again to finish his "pen pitch." He does, but forgets to ask for the order! The sharks were quick to point this out to him. 

Not only is the third point in this the Bloomberg article confusing, but it's also missing an important distinction for job seekers. Companies need great employees just as much as employees need jobs. It's often been said that interviews are a lot like dates -- you're looking for a "match." In the interview, the interviewer is getting to know the candidate better, especially how the prospective employee will "fit" into the company. But it's not a one-sided conversation. The job seeker is also assessing the interviewer and the company. If that's not done by sussing out qualifications (on both sides), what's the point?

Which leads to the next statement in the article. I agree with this: "People get hired when a hiring manager believes, intellectually and emotionally, that the person sitting in front of him or her can do the job."

But then the whole rest of the section is about how job seekers shouldn't "grovel and beg" for a job? What? Since when is presenting your qualifications "groveling"? In surveys of pet peeves of hiring managers, not once have I read, "Applicant presented his/her qualifications and then asked for the job." 

In more than 15 years in the careers industry, I've read hundreds of books on the job search. The author claims that "tons of job-search books and articles (nonetheless) encourage job-seekers to grovel and beg." Funny, I've never once read about that in a job search book.

I've also never seen a book with an idea that a thank you note to follow up to an interview should include "10 reasons you should hire me" -- but a cover letter that matches up the job requirements with the applicant qualifications  can be quite effective. I certainly don't equate that with "mewl(ing) and beg(ging) for a job."

And what about this line: "We never, ever want to construct lists of reasons an employer should hire us." First off, the use of "always" and "never" in an article are usually a red flag -- flexibility is required when considering tactics in a job search. (While I wouldn't recommend mailing a single shoe to a job interviewer with the cheesy "I wanted to get a foot in the door" line, the fact is, the tactic has worked for at least one job seeker. As Justin Bieber says, "Never say never.")

I agree that "If the reasons to hire don't come through in an interview, you've already missed the boat." But I'd also say that if the job seeker walks out of an interview without expressing sincere interest in the job, that's a missed opportunity. Companies want to hire people who want to work for them. (If they don't ask for the next step in the interview process, that's a missed opportunity too.)

Tomorrow: "Endless Bullets."

No Wonder Job Seekers Are Confused: Part 2

Here's the second blog post in a series I'm doing to refute the ideas in what I believe is a misguided article: "Five Out-Of-Date Job Search Tactics" from Bloomberg Business. (You can feel free to weigh in using the Comments section below, and read the first post in the series here.)

They say: "Creaky Cover Letter Language" is out-of-date.

Okay, I agree with them that you shouldn't address a cover letter to "Dear Sir or Madam" -- and I prefer finding the hiring manager's name (when possible), but sometimes that just ISN'T possible. So "Dear Hiring Manager" is an acceptable substitute, or so is my suggestion -- simply leaving off the salutation entirely.

Contrary to the author's opinion, it can be difficult to find a hiring manager's name. Without the hiring manager's name, you're usually sending it to HR anyway, so addressing it to "Dear Hiring Manager," isn't going to offend the HR person. They know that ultimately the best resumes will be forwarded to the hiring manager (decision-maker).

Of the five "out of date" tactics, I probably have the least objection to this one (and I offer an even simpler alternative -- no salutation -- but I don't think the simple line "To Whom It May Concern" is going to kill a job seeker's chance of an interview if the resume and the rest of the cover letter is solid, and they have the right qualifications.

Tomorrow: "Here's Why You Should Hire Me."

No Wonder Job Seekers Are Confused: Part 1

I came across this article on another career professional's Facebook status, and my first thought (which I tweeted) was, "Just read a career article from a major, mainstream business magazine that was completely off base. It's no wonder job seekers are confused."

I wondered if I should even draw attention to the article, because it would increase attention to yet another presumptuous, prescriptive article that is going to confuse job seekers. But I think it's important for us, as career professionals, to reinforce the idea that there are lots of opinions about what does and doesn't work in the job search -- but even huge media companies endorse some stinkers.

(My colleague, Julie Walraven, of Design Resumes, does the same thing in her blog post today: "Point - Counter Point: Is the Resume Dead?")

Here's the article: "Five Out-Of-Date Job Search Tactics" from Bloomberg Business. In a series of blog posts, I'm going to offer my rebuttal to each of their points. (You can feel free to weigh in using the Comments section below.)

They say: "Dedicated resume paper and envelopes" are out-of-date.

They say not to use any kind of special paper or matching envelopes in your job search because "Dedicated-use resume paper is a 1980s artifact."

Brought to you by the same people who find online applications "more efficient" are the folks who suggest you use "plain white bond paper" when you *do* print out a resume to bring with you? Yikes. Have you heard of the importance of first impressions, people?

How do you stand out today? Go the extra mile.

If everyone else is applying online, follow-up with a paper resume in person or via mail.  Sure, the 16-year-old temp employee ("Jennifer," I call her) may not care (LOL, BFF -- BRB!!!*) but the hiring manager (as long as they're over 25), probably will appreciate the effort.

While I agree with the author that content is king, ugly resumes aren't effective either. Horizontal lines absolutely have a place on resumes ... even for non-creative types. Is she serious?!?!

Rather than being out of date, dedicated resume paper and envelopes can help you stand out from a sea of job seekers.

[Addition: This article, "Is The Paper Resume Dead?" appeared in online in Wall Street Journal's Career section on Jan. 25, 2012. The answer is: It's not.]

Tomorrow: "Creaky Cover Letter Language."

* Jennifer is more versed in text messaging than text resumes ... LOL = Laugh out loud; BFF = Best friends forever; BRB = Be right back)

Is Your Search Optimization Strategy Working?

You may have heard a lot about SEO. (I've written about it before a couple times on this blog.) It stands for "search engine optimization" and is important to the algorithms that can put your resume writing website at the top of the search results page on Google or Bing or leave you at the bottom. Here are some ways to measure if your efforts are getting noticed.

You first need a basic understanding of SEO. When people search the Internet, they use keywords or phrases to find what they are looking for amongst the hundreds of thousands of web pages that have been created. If you've ever looked in the upper left-hand corner of your search engine results, often certain words return millions of results. For example, this search for "Resume Writer" on Google returned 3.8 million results. Yikes!

No one bothers to go through all of those. They rarely look beyond the first or second page. So that is where you want your web pages, content, videos, and blog to appear, in order to be found by those who are looking. (And here's another trick: Don't try to rank nationally for "Resume Writer" -- instead, try to rank for "Resume Writer (Your Area of Expertise or Geographic Area)" -- i.e., "Resume Writer Baltimore" or "Resume Writer Elementary School Teacher.")

You have to do some work first. SEO is not an exact science. But, you can use keyword programs (for free) to help you find out which have the highest amount of competition and which are underused. From there, the trial and error begins. Some recommend using one keyword per web page to see which ones are drawing the most traffic for you. Also be sure that your website is registered with the major search engines.

Some Ways to Measure SEO Success:

• Backlinks. These are the external links that link back to your website from other places. You can create backlinks by using the resource box when submitting content to article directories, bio boxes when guest blogging, as well as signature lines on forums and places like that. (You can also get a backlink by becoming a member of BeAResumeWriter.com -- there are two member directories on the site -- one for free members, and one for paid members -- that can provide a backlink with high authority.)

• Traffic metrics. How many unique visitors do you have compared to returning visitors? What you want are unique visitors because these are new faces that are being drawn in by your marketing strategies. You can also look at revenue generated against visitors at any given time. You can find out your traffic by using Google Analytics. This free program gives you lots of information to calculate your SEO success. Test your keywords for at least three months to get an accurate picture of whether or not they're working.

What you ultimately want is for people to buy from you. You want that conversion from casual visitor to customer. It is essential that you include a call to action on your website pages that will compel the reader to make that conversion. You can track this metric as well.

Help your prospective resume clients find you online by maximizing your efforts at "Search Engine Optimization Success."