I already sent it.

I had two people in two days’ time ask me for help with their job searches after they’d sent their resume to a company. They wanted me to call the company directly to pitch them because they didn’t get a response from sending in their resume. This happens often, the black-hole of resumes - no response from emailing a resume. It goes into a virtual pile of paperless resumes. 

Sadly, I can’t help. Once you send a resume you are considered a "prior" by human resources. This means that I basically have no claim to your resume anymore as my candidate; you become the company's. Occasionally, if they are a client we’ve been working with for years and if they’ve over looked you, they are fine with us presenting you. However, if we don’t have that relationship and you are in their system – they don’t want to talk to me let alone pay a commission.

Recruiters work for our clients. As much as we try here at TAG to help every candidate possible (the person applying for the job) we can’t. Our client, the company, their needs come first. We find and fill what they need. It’s one of the rough edges of recruiting. I’d love to start a candidate coaching/teaching division one of these days so we can help out people a bit more, but Dave prefers to stay focused on recruiting – which is fine. He’s still here working daily so we try to stick to what works for him.  

So, we recruit and work to find the proper candidates for our clients. If you do need help on your own, this blog is a good place to start! 

Cringe worthy pictures on LinkedIn

Ugh – what is happening to LinkedIn? Lately when I go on it, I cringe, waiting for whatever tasteless picture pops up in my feed. Being a recruiter, I am connected to a lot of people, professional people, but, I’m starting to worry about some of these "professional" people.

Last week the first picture that popped up was an XX, a larger guy with without a shirt. Right after that, a cow jumping on a trampoline and then a silly math problem to answer. Today, it was a dead dog – I saw that horrible image twice, then a girl in a bikini and the final straw that sent me complaining to customer service was a girl in a top that was showing her nipples. Really, is that image okay at work?  If that was put up in the break room would that be acceptable? Maybe at a bra or lingerie company, but not at most professional establishments.  

There is a lack of professionalism happening on LinkedIn. Getting a point across can still be tasteful and professional. I don’t want a bloody, dead dog picture to interrupt my day at work. I see enough bikini clad gals and topless guys at the beach when we go surfing. Can we please keep it a bit more professional? I wonder what will be up there next? 

Recipe For A New Job

This Recipe works for getting a new job. It’s worked over and over again for candidates I’ve worked with over the years. If they worked The Recipe they all got new jobs. One of them, DJ,  got a job for 100K more than he was making at his prior job. The Recipe works.  In fact it works so well that I repeat The Recipe so often I decided it needs to go up on my blog. Now I can just say, “Go to my blog.” 

1. Your resume must be unique and tailored to the job your want to find not the job you have now.

2. The top ½ of your resume is your real estate – treat it well and put all the stuff you do that corresponds to the job you want up there. Use bullets of info – don’t use sentences, it’s old fashioned – go with short bullets of information. 

3. Stop going to networking meetings where there are only unemployed people. You can get more done in 15 minutes on social media sites talking to employed people – network there and meet people you don’t know but need to.

4. Snail mail (USPS) your resume to the hiring manager, not HR. Find the name of the person on the net. Also, mail your thank you follow up notes. No one gets mail anymore so it’s become a novelty, which makes it interesting. 

5. Join a non-profit that is out of your normal network and has a great board of directors. Then, participate.  You’ll meet good people and broaden your network.  

6. While you are at the networking meeting, the grocery, the mall, talk to anyone within 2 feet of you.  Strike up a conversation.  They might know someone that needs to hire you.  

Now start cooking! 

NETS Meeting

Last Thursday I went off to Corpus Christi Church in Aliso Viejo to a NETS meeting to speak about networking. I had a great time at the meeting explaining how recruiters network – which is how we work - and meeting a group of very nice people.

NETS is a good group because it’s not too big, the people get to know each other, and they help each other out. This group is truly committed to one another and helping people transition through their careers. I think if we all participate in a good group similar to NETS, it would open up our networks tremendously.

Plastic People

I’ve been working for a plastics/foam company searching for a Sales Manager, so my work these days revolves around what I call my “plastic people” search. Plastic people make me think of hunting down my kids little Lego people around my house. Consequently, I am now hunting around the Western United States for a “Lego” for my client. I can’t get the image out of my head – I’m around Legos often! The good part of this is that it keeps me smiling even when on a harder-than-it-sounds mission to find the perfect candidate for my client. To also better serve my client, and quite frankly to satisfy my own curiosity, I went on an internet research binge to learn more about foam. I started with Wikipedia and typed in foam. This is what I got:

A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping many gaseous bubbles in a liquid or solid. A foam is normally an extremely complex system consisting of polydisperse (A collection of objects is called polydisperse or polysized if they have a broad range of size, shape and mass characteristics.) gas bubbles separated by draining films.

It goes on from there, but it’s so technical that this is definitely not the blog for that particular subject. Although, if you know of a blogger specializing in said topic, please let me know as it might lead me to the right candidate for this job!. Most of the guys I’ve talked to (very few women seem to be attracted to foam; I’ve only talked to one,) pretty much fell into foam. They are not academic tech types who specialize in foam. They do not have degrees in chemistry or biology. Most of them happened upon the industry and learned on the job about their product.

I’ve learned about foam too. I've learned it’s in pretty much everything - cars, airplanes, couches, computers, phones, medical devices, TV’s, buildings, etc. Some of it is so specialized that before I call a sales rep, I have a bit of research to do on what type of foam they sell. The point of my foaming at the mouth message? (O.K. I couldn't resist saying it.) Sometimes something that seems so simple really isn't, it’s quite complicated and the search process can become quite complicated too. However, this can be the most fun and interesting part of the job as well. One thing is for sure, I will never look at all of those little Lego people scattered about the floor of my house the same way again either.

So off I go through the recruiting maze armed with new information and some silly images to keep me smiling while searching for the perfect plastic person.

Taking my own advice - get out of your own network!

Last Friday I decided to take some of my own advice and get out of my normal work and social network. I RSVP'd for the Chapman Woman in Film Conference. What a great conference for women in general, and what fun it was learning about the film industry.

I majored in Communications/Public Relations. When I graduated from Chapman, I thought I’d never use the skills I learned in school recruiting. I was wrong. My classes taught me how to write and market. In the past, recruiting was all about talking and networking face to face. Now with recruiting becoming an on-line profession with more written communication than verbal all those classes with Janell Shearer and Veston Rowe came in handy. So going back to my roots was a good thing. I reconnected with some people I have not talked to in years and connected with some new people. Getting out of your normal network does work!

Tapped Out!

A sick kid on Friday, the Dad off at football commitments all weekend, a football award celebration leading to a trip to Chuck E. Cheese (or as we fondly call it Chuck E Sleaze), a long hike through a nature preserve has found me on Monday morning, pretty darn tired. When my co-worker actually told me I need to eat more chocolate, you know I’m dragging.

So, I’m sitting here looking out my window at the mountains (yes, I have a great view here) thinking what should I do to combat being tired? I’m not in the mood to chat - which is what I do for a living – and just plain cranky. I went on Facebook for a few minutes – stalling my day - and now I thought why not write about it. We all have cranky days, days that we need to spend recovering and re-energizing ourselves. Sometimes it’s best to embrace the crankiness and run with it. It’s like yelling a good old expletive when I hurt myself – it just makes me feel good to whine a bit when I’m this tapped out!

Bug Smasher

Today I was interviewing with a Director of Sales and a bug was flying around. It was a tiny moth type of bug and it was bugging me. (Couldn't resist, sorry.) Without thinking, I smashed it. Pow, right out of the air. I think the Director will always remember me as the recruiter/bug smasher. He was nice enough to give me some Purell so I didn’t have to go down the hall to wash hands. Thanks Director! Sometimes we do things without thinking. Smashing a little bug is funny and I don’t think too harmful. Other things I’ve seen people do during and interview can turn people off. 

Other stuff not to do:

• Chew gum
• Cackle at the interviewer, laughing good, cackling not so good
• Eat candy
• Answer your cell phone or office phone
• Tell too many personal stories – what will we talk about later?
• Adjust your clothing
• Pick at body parts – eyebrows, nails, noses – gross.
• Apply lipstick
• Putt your feet up on the table/desk
• Spill coffee all over the person interviewing you
• Smash bugs

Customer Service???

Customer Service. I Wiki’d it: Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.

My customer satisfaction got tested today. I had a bunch of charges on my credit card from Snapfish for a service/product??? So, I called customer service last night and after over 20 minutes stuck on hold, I hung up – had to go get the kid.

Today, I was on hold for 10 minutes, got transferred 4 or 5 times. I lost track off all the people I was talking to and finally got to someone named Monica. I suggest if you ever need help at Snapfish just call her at the Consumer Affairs department - 1-866-829-8484 instead of the main customer service number – that number was a nightmare. Go straight to Monica and avoid all the middle men who seem to be some where in a call center far, far away.

After much discussion about this “Value Pass”, which I never ordered, asking them for proof that I ordered the service, which they did not have, I got my refund.

Am I satisfied with the result? Yes. Would I use them again? I’m not so sure. I didn’t like being signed up by them for something I never would use. I order cards once a year at Christmas and being signed up for a monthly "value pass" for product that I use yearly, not so cool. Do the pictures look cute that I’ve ordered? Darn right they do because my kids are cute. I know, I’m biased about that. So, in December will I use them again despite the customer service nightmare? We’ll see? Check back with me then.

Running under the yellow flag

While chatting today with a great CFO, Bruce R., he mentioned how companies are holding back during this depression/recession. During his search process he’s been offered several jobs but with no monetary incentive to push the company forward and drive revenue. He’s been seeing employers cautiously, cutting salaries, and thinking short term by undercutting salaries, which does lead to resentment and people leaving for more money when they can.

He had an interesting analogy revolving around NASCAR. During NASCAR racing when there is an accident the official yellow flags the race – the cars are under caution and need to be careful while driving the track. Bruce thinks there are lots of companies running under caution and believes it’s the wrong time to be cautious.

It’s time to crank up the business and take an aggressive posture. Don’t let the recession dictate how you run your company.

Go to green and come home first under the checkered flag!

The Handshake

What’s in a handshake? Should it be wet noodle, limp fish, or an iron grip? Is there a happy medium for a good handshake? Of course there is. When shaking hands, you are portraying your self-confidence, friendship, power, status, and self-worth. Your handshake says a lot about you. Make it firm but don’t squeeze the life out of the hand you are shaking. A good handshake bridges the gap between you and the other person. It should be a warm greeting, not a power play or an intimidation factor.

• Your handshake should be firm but gentle. Men -- firm does not mean squeeze the hand like it’s in a vice grip.

• Palms should touch, but not be compressed together. Again, don’t flatten out their hand until they are saying ouch.

• If you have sweaty palm syndrome, wipe your palms in your suit jacket/pants pockets, casually, before you shake hands. You can keep a dry Kleenex in your pockets to help dry your hands.

• The encounter should be long enough to make contact but not too long, usually two or three quick shakes or a quick count to three.

Shaking hands is a salutation, treat it as such. First impressions do matter – the handshake, the polished shoes, the clean shirt, well groomed hands. Make sure your handshake is part of the package that makes a great first impression.