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Apologies for the radio silence here; life has gotten crazy wonderful busy with a lot of balls and deadlines in the air. I have been blogging, but in a different place… for NBC Universal’s new website Life Goes Strong.
I apologize, I know that sounds pretty harsh, but it’s true, there is something creepy about third-person resumes, and lately I’ve gotten a run of them. They say things like “Ray is a talented designer who has built three companies” or “Mr. Johnson has twenty years of experience as a widget maker.” You know, like someone was writing an article about them for a magazine, only it’s not a magazine, and it’s not an article or a brochure or anything like that… it’s a danged resume. And I know that you wrote it yourself, Ray and Mr. Johnson, or at least oversaw the process of it, so when it’s written in the third person, it is just plain creepy, like crazy talk.
The other day I was talking with a good friend who was a very successful and talented mortgage broker until the crash of the mortgage and finance world, when he had to scale back the business to a fraction of what it had been, and lay off almost all of his staff. He was concerned that some of them weren’t finding other jobs, because in his area of California, people who have mortgage jobs in their background are considered untouchables for other types of work. Their skills could surely be transferred to other types of jobs, but they weren’t getting the chance.
It’s been a while since I blogged, which in one way is a really great news. I’ve been very busy with my executive recruiting assignments for start-ups, and that is a good sign for the economy, I think. When new companies are hiring, and people are investing their time and money into new ventures, growth is happening. Start-ups blossoming are like the daffodils showing the early signs of an economic spring. Sorry, that’s a little schmalzy, but it’s true.
I wanted to share a little about gossip in the workplace. It’s really a killer, you know.
When you’re on the hunt for a new job, networking is everything. You never know where the lead for your next job will come from. The woman sitting next to you on the plane, the friend at a cocktail party, another job-seeker you meet at a networking event… any one of these people might be the link to the job you’re dreaming about.
Hi Leslie, I am talking to this company that I am very excited about, but I’m not quite sure how to answer this question. I told the company in my cover note that “I’m fine with market rate for the job” but they are insisting on me giving them a specific range of my salary expectation before the interview. What I care most about is getting the job, and the salary really isn’t important to me. Also, I don’t have a sense of what is a standard range for this kind of position, since it’s a little different than what I’ve done before. Any suggestions on how to address this would be very welcome!
I got a question today from someone wanting to know how to handle references, so I’ve put together a little FAQ about it.
I don’t need to be psychic to tell you that a telephone interview is in your future. It’s pretty hard to avoid really. Telephone interviews save a lot of time—and therefore money—as a first step in a hiring process. Phone interviews help recruiters, agencies and companies screen candidates for skills and experience requirements, and are invaluable when hiring people in other parts of the country or the world.
The other day, I posted something on Facebook in frustration about clueless cover letters, and got a lot of follow-up questions from people, so I decided to give a little glimpse inside my recruiter’s mind so you can see what I’m thinking when I review resumes to select candidates. I hope it will help. It isn’t hard to have your cover letter stand out, because honestly, a lot of them just pretty much suck.