To follow or not to follow – tips for Twitter job hunters

by K B , updated on November 8, 2020

Sometimes I love Twitter. I love it because it buzzes so much with people, ideas and connections, kind of like a networking event on steroids. People pop up, answer a question, crack a joke or two, then they move on. But at times I loathe Twitter for exactly the same reasons. It is so easy to get lost in all the chatter, and to think you’re making worthwhile connections, when you’re not.

As a business owner I’ve experimented with Twitter for the past nine months or so. I’ve wanted to keep a conversation going as it’s an easy platform to keep connecting with people who may help my community. I look for people who may have interesting ideas I can share; people who might add to the conversations on my blog; and people who might in turn share my ideas.

It’s been a learning journey. Along the way I’ve become much more discerning about whom I’ll follow for conversations. This post is aimed at Twitter relatively newbies and people who may want to use Twitter to build connections to find a job. If you’re a Twitter sophisticate, as I know many millions are, and you have some better ideas for my readers about conversing in the Twitterverse, I’d love to hear them,  on Twitter or otherwise.

Here’s what I look for when I look for people to follow.

I take a look at people’s bios. I pass on the network marketers, crystal healers, cliché peddlers and herbalists and focus on people who have similar interests to me. It is very easy to go down the path of thinking “I’ll follow that. They sound fun. That could be useful” but my advice is skip it. I’ve found when I have moved away from my fundamental interests, I’ve had way too many spam type direct messages land in my inbox and a twitter stream that’s clogged with useless junk.

I look for plenty of @ signs, and preferably a few @ signs where someone is sending out others’ information rather than only a conversation between two people. I also look for RTs. If someone is a sharer of other people’s stuff I’ve figured they may well share mine as well.

I look to see acknowledgments and “thank you’s”. That tells me there is a person behind the tweets who may want to talk to me.

I look to see how sophisticated the tweeter is. By this I mean if they know how to use hash tags or shortern URLs. I’m guessing if they use these simple tools, they’ve probably spent some time working out how Twitter can work. I also check out whether the tweeter lists people. That tells me they are likely to be sorting their conversations into some sort of order.

I look for a link back to a blog or a site that’s updated often. I do this as I am looking for interesting stuff to share with my followers or comment on, again as a building block for a relationship.

Finally I look for a person tweeting, rather than a machine, and someone who may make me laugh. All this tweeting does have a point. That’s to turn online connections into offline conversations and beyond.

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Can someone please give this man a job!

by K B , updated on November 8, 2020

How to find a job in Australia – part 1

I, a skilled migrant, like many other people moved to Australia looking for new challenges and a better quality of life. I arrived a few months ago, full of hope, highly motivated an eager to start a long a promising career.

Like many of skilled migrants I started my job hunt through internet sites, companies, recruitment agencies, job boards. You name it! I started writing resumes, cover letters, looking for a first chance here, there and everywhere.

I picked up the phone and called recruiters. After a couple of weeks I got my first interview. How exiting! I had to be sure my suit was clean and ironed, as well as my shirt. I spent some time deciding which tie was the perfect match and of course I polished my shoes so they shone like a mirror.

So, there I was, outside the building 30 minutes before the appointed time. I had to be on time and wanted to have some spare time in case something went wrong. I just can’t avoid thinking about the worst case scenario. I’m a Risk Manager.

The interview started well. The person in front of me asked questions about my background. She asked about the places I had worked for before and not so relevant questions about my experience. Again, I, full of enthusiasm answered all the questions. She said she will look for a suitable position for me but I never heard back from her.

I tried to call but she never answered any of my calls. What went wrong? Am I a bad candidate? My experience is not relevant? These and other questions were pumping through my head. Maybe I was so enthusiastic that this recruiter thought I was childish, not serious at all.

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 1

Being enthusiastic is good. Showing too much enthusiasm not. It might give the wrong impression.

Round two!

I kept doing the same, internet, telephone, resume, cover letter. Then I got a second interview! This time I toned down the enthusiasm. I explained to the recruiter (who, off the record, wasn’t very friendly) that I was open for any role in my specific sector as my skills would fit. But she said “You should know exactly what you are looking for. There’s no use for me to interview you if you don’t know what you want!”  Ouch! I think the last time I felt like crying was when I was about seven years old.

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 2

It is fine to be open to any role. But still being specific at the interview would help (even if it’s with a recruiter who might have different suitable roles for the same candidate).

I kept on looking for a good job and responding to job advertisements like crazy. I applied for many jobs within a week thinking. “Of course my academic background, skills and experience would be very useful for any organization. They will read my CV and will call me to make an interview appointment”. After a couple of weeks the telephone almost had spiderwebs all over it. Not one single call! Can’t tell the same about my inbox. Every day I could read two or three emails, and in a funny way, I could read the same in almost every one of them:

“Dear XXX

Thank you for your interest in the XXX position at XXX and for your application.

After careful consideration, I am sorry to advise that your application has not been successful on this occasion. We received a number of applications from candidates whose experience more closely matched our client’s requirements.

Please do not hesitate to contact us in the future if we advertise a position that is of interest to you. Thank you again for your application.

Yours Sincerely,

XXX”

Something must be wrong I thought. So I start thinking about my approach strategy. I looked for advice from anybody. I started working on very specific applications, and of course, making it unique for every position and sending it to a “person” not through a website.

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 3

Peter Drucker once said: “My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions”. That means, nobody knows everything, especially about job hunting techniques in a foreign country. Ask some questions!

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 4

Job applications (resume and cover letter) have to be specific and tailored to each job opening.

Phew… so much still to learn. I started this new approach, and it worked! I even got a call from the same agency I had my first interview. Not with the person I had the interview with, but from another girl, really friendly, who by the way I have not met in person yet. She got a job for me! And she organized an interview for me directly at the company, with the Area Manager. Great! Just what I was waiting for! I prepared for the interview, did a lot of research about the company, although I knew the company already, a major Swiss investment bank, and the role, exactly the same I performed back “home” for another investment bank.

The interview went extremely well. I knew all about the duties and even more. The manager told me they were just looking for somebody on a three month contract because they needed “an extra pair of hands,” nothing fancy.

A week after the interview I got a phone call from the girl at the agency “sorry that I have to deliver bad news. They think you are too overqualified for the position since they just need an extra pair of hands for equities operations and you have proficiency in equities, fixed income, derivatives and FX but they don’t need that much”. Again, my whole enthusiasm and motivation vanished in a second (I recovered it of course). What could have happened? Was I sent to the wrong interview?

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 5

There is a big difference between Recruiters and Consultants. Some people working as a recruiter might not even know what the advertised job is about. See this post for more detail.

I called another person at that agency. He said he would put me forward for an interview at the company after showing me the job description. But I never heard from him again. I called him many times, no answer. Could it be that he had been swallowed by earth? Seems so, but I don’t think so. Anyway, I knew this position existed in that company and it was suitable for me. So I prepared a great cover letter, tailored my resume for that specific position and just before sending it, I reviewed it again. Something was missing. Of course something was missing! Who should I address the application to?

I dressed up, shiny shoes, nice tie, everything was perfect. I went all the way to their offices. When I entered a girl approaches me and asks “Can I help you?”  I say “Hi, I saw on your web page you have a XXX position open, I would like to apply for it but would like to know who should I address it to?” “That would be me!” she says. Amazing! So she gave me her business card. I said thank you and left after a really small talk. The next day I send her my job application, of course everything addressed to her, Name, position, business address, perfect! The following day she called me to schedule an interview.

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 6

Make it personal! Use a name. People feel flattered if they receive a personal letter, and it also shows some research about the company. It shows that you want the job.

I was exited about the interview. I prepared myself and I must say I think I did well. Showing enough enthusiasm, a positive can do attitude, talking slowly and straight to the point, asking a lot of questions about the company. Everything went beautifully. The next day I got a call to make an appointment to do a test at the office. I passed that. The next step was a presentation. I spent the whole week I had working on that. It was my chance to blow their socks off and get the job! They were amazed after the presentation, and they told so. A couple of days after I got a call from them:

“What you did was really amazing! We can see you are really committed with excellence and can go way far beyond expectations, but” oh-oh! A “but” is never good “you are too senior and overqualified for what we need right now”. Come on! Not again! I said I could start at a lower level, I really don’t mind going a couple of steps backward since I am new in this market. I would prove I can do more with time and get more responsibilities. I tried to negotiate something but as they said, they felt I was “too good for them”.

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 8

A job interview and the job per se are like a relationship. If I like a girl I would ask a lot of questions about her, what she does, what her plans are?, if I like the job I have to show I like it and have to show my interest. But then, there’s lesson nine.

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 9

You can’t win them all, and sometimes there’s no explanation. Carry on and never give up!

Back on the job hunt I saw an advertisement, read it carefully and prepared all my documents. I debated about whether to send it since in the requirements was clearly stated: “experience in an Australian company fundamental”. I decided to give it a go, I already had the “no” so why not look for a “yes”. And yes it was! I got the interview with the recruitment consultant (she was definitely a consultant) who by the way, committed to helping me find my first job since she understands I am a skilled migrant looking for a first opportunity.

She put me forward to an interview with the company, directly with the manager that would have been my boss. She even said we, the manager and I, would surely get along really well since we are in the same level, she made a pause and said: “maybe you are a little bit above her”.

The interview went well. I could feel that, and believe me, after so many interviews you learn how to feel those things. I even closed the interview saying I would really love to be part of the team and start immediately. A week later I got the feedback which was read to me by the consultant:

“XXX is really charming with a positive can do attitude, really motivated and motivating. He has an amazing academic background and working experience. He would definitely add a lot of value to the company and will go beyond expectations, but this time we will not proceed on hiring him”.

So am I good or not? What happened? There was something wrong for sure, but what?

How to get a job in Australia – Lesson 9 (again)

You can’t win them all, and sometimes there’s no explanation. Carry on and never give up!

Anyway, there is nothing to do other than keep on looking for a right position and stay hungry! And stay looking foolish! I had another interview a couple of days ago, with a new recruitment agency, and will be put forward for two roles with two different companies. I really hope I can give you good news this time.

However, there is so much I have learnt through all this time, and even if I have not landed in a great job yet, I know I will very soon. The the knowledge I have acquired is a plus and something I would have not had in any other way. I am really happy to share it and help others in their hunt.

Sincerely,

Mr. John Jobhunter

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What to do if you don’t have referees

by K B , updated on November 8, 2020

If you’ve been out of the workplace for a while or changed jobs a lot you may have trouble supplying recent referees. You may even be concerned about the type of reference you’ll receive. Many people have had bosses they don’t trust and jobs that are just rubbish. First step, don’t panic. I get this question a lot. There are ways upon ways around this little dilemma. Here are few things that I know have worked.

How hard have you looked for them?

 

At the risk of sounding like my Mum did when I said I’d lost something, just how hard have you really looked? How many people are on Facebook now? Is it 500 million? How many degrees of separation are there? Six, five, four? Think Google and think laterally. Then proceed with caution. If you do decide to approach someone who may know someone on Facebook, just be respectful of their privacy and don’t demand that they help. Not everyone likes to be approached this way.

Alternative referees

If you can’t provide a reference and the recruiter seemingly won’t budge, be helpful. Don’t let the conversation stop there. Explain why you can’t supply referees and skip the BS. Good consultants are not silly and will have heard a variation of the excuses you can think you can get away with. Ask the recruiter to ask the employer what they would accept as an alternative. I’ve heard job seekers who have provided recent performance reviews. I’ve heard other people negotiate a longer probationary period.

There are alternatives as well. Some employers still will accept character references from other areas of your life such as teachers, lecturers, clients, customers, colleagues, suppliers and referees from voluntary work or sporting teams.

How to and when to bring it up

State that you have no referees at the start of the recruitment process you risk sounding defensive. This is the last impression you want to create. At the end of the interview explain your dilemma. Explain also the work you have done to find your referees. You don’t want the recruiter to think you are covering something up.

You may not be asked for a reference

Recruiters and employers will not tell you this, but it happens a lot. I was once hired by a recruitment consultancy who did not ask me for a reference. If you impress during a job interview and the employer is really keen (or desperate) to take you on, the question of references might not come up. You’ll just be hired.

One place I worked took me on quickly but then put into my letter of offer that my employment was subject to successful reference checks, which they never undertook. We both got busy – I did a good job and my employer forgot the whole reference issue.

I once recruited for a small business. The owner insisted I didn’t do a reference. She said they were rubbish. Watch this clip for a funny take on how people get around this question. It’s a plug for their business, but funny just the same.

The thing I’ve found in my years as a recruiter is that if an employer wants you badly enough, they’ll find a way to take you on, references or no references.

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No Gurus please! How to write a personal brand statement..

by K B , updated on November 8, 2020

Before you write blog posts for the masses, before you apply for those positions, before you even set up your LinkedIn profile there is one thing you should do – craft your very own personal brand statement.

Your bio, elevator pitch and any other descriptive text about you will invariably start out with your personal brand statement.

What is a personal brand statement?

Your statement is 1-2 sentences answering what you are the best at (value), who you serve (audience) and how you do it uniquely (USP). It sums up your unique promise of value. Your personal brand statement is distinctive to you and you alone. You could liken it with a tagline, strapline or even a catchphrase that product brands will have.

The personal brand statement is not a job title. A job title is what others will try to classify you with, what employers and others want you to be to fit you into a corporate setting. You deserve better than that.

It’s also not your personal mission statement, career objectives or even life purpose. These are much more long-term concepts intended to guide you through life and not aimed at marketing you to anybody.

A personal brand statement is memorable, punchy and solution oriented. As opposed to simply saying “John is a boiler man”, why not “John keeps families warm through bespoke heating installations”, To be continued…

Why do you need a personal brand statement?

How many times have you been asked what you do? Do you feel like people really understand what you do or is it merely pleasantries? I bet you can tweak what you say and leave a lasting impression with that person, an impression that might just lead to business one day.

Just being another hairdresser or plumber is not going to allow you to stand out. When you don’t stand out, you will have to compete against everyone else on price which isn’t a great situation to be in. To be successful in today’s economy you have to specialize; you have to choose a topic and master it. Your statement will clarify exactly what you do, how you do it and for whom. By communicating this, you and your target audience will know exactly what you are capable of.

How do you write a personal brand statement?

Start with listing your key career or business attributes on a piece of paper. Once the list is complete, take a good look at it and pick out the ones that make you unique. These will form your unique selling points, or USPs.

Look at your unique values and key attributes and you should be able to develop a 1-2 sentence brand statement, answering these three questions:

What value you provide (what problem do you solve)
How you do it uniquely (your USPs)
Whom you do it for (your target audience)

Remember to be clear on the value, don’t confuse anyone with any fluffy terms that don’t mean anything. Furthermore, what makes you unique in one place may not be unique in another, e.g. big cities will have lots of specialists and experts in certain fields, small towns only one and that makes him or her unique to that location.

Target your audience

Whom are you aiming your services at? A particular industry, geography, age demographic? Try to stay somewhat focused on a sector of the market and don’t spread yourself too thin. The reason personal branding has become critical for business and career success is that nobody wants to buy from the person that does everything for everyone. Look at what target audience would benefit the most from your services and zero in on this.

Stay authentic

When writing a personal brand statement it’s easy to get carried away and putting down what you’d like to be one day. The old “fake it until you make it” approach does carry some merit but don’t overdo it. Never call yourself a guru, ninja, samurai, expert or even thought leader unless you truly are one. Only your audience can determine whether you are an expert and you will know if that is the case. The aim of your statement is to inform and inspire the reader, not to scare them off with fancy titles.

Make it punchy and memorable

Using technical or big words could alienate your target audience. You want a seven year-old to understand and be able to repeat what you do. Whenever you introduce yourself at a networking event, stay punchy and memorable. Ideally you will want that person you were talking with to tell other prospective customers what you do – this will cover a lot of ground, trust me.

Keep it reasonably short

Less is more as they say. Your ability to describe exactly what you do in one sentence says a lot about your introspection and professional focus. In some cases you have to take up two sentence but always aim for one. I will give you a special dispensation to write more if you have done more things in your life than  Tim Ferriss.

It ain’t cast in iron

You will soon find that you are going to tinker with your statement after it’s written up. It’s easy to change it but just don’t get carried away and change it every week. On the flipside, some people will never look at it again. Even though it’s time consuming, your personal brand statement should be revised at least once a year to reflect changes and advancements in your professional career. In order to be effective, it needs to stay current.

Example brand statement

Back to our Scottish boiler man, here’s an idea for a statement:

“John keeps families in Edinburgh (target audience) warm (value) through bespoke heating installations using only the most advanced German boilers (unique)”.

This clearly tells you what John does, for whom and gives you an insight into how. I would say the statement is memorable, I for one think of a family keeping warm and snug over Christmas all thanks to the fantastic boiler man John.

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Finally it’s your turn to start looking at your statement. Don’t put this off, you’ll find that it’s a wonderful marketing tool that you are going to use over and over. Most people haven’t really thought about their statements so you will stand out with an effective one. Over time I would think personal brand statements will be part and parcel of any successful career or business.

Do you have a personal brand statement? What is it?

Jorgen Sundberg is a Personal Branding Consultant based in London. He helps sales people, entrepreneurs, business owners and executives to create, build and promote magnetic brands to attract more business online.  After 7 years of marketing people in recruitment, he started Personal Branding UK and he blogs at The Undercover Recruiter and JorgenSundberg.net. You can connect with him on Twitter @jorgensundberg.

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Yes you can find a job via Twitter – A top consultant tells you how

by K B , updated on November 8, 2020

There are lots of great blog posts around now about how to use Twitter and other social media to find a job. I’ll link to some of the better ones at the bottom of this post. Twitter I love. Used productively it’s a fascinating and friendly little job hunting tool and it’s one you can use in both bold and subtle ways.

One job seeker @EllisonHR used Twitter boldly to find a job with her dream employer, Deloitte. She stated her intention. She blogged about how she and Deloitte could be one. Her Twitter followers in the HR, recruitment and social media community encouraged her and gave her ideas about how to market herself. She must have impressed Deloitte with her networking, enthusiasm and innovation because they’ve just offered her a job. (Read Ross Clennett’s post on Ellison’s journey.)

Would they have offered her a job anyway? While I can’t speak for Deloitte or Ellison, maybe not. It’s incredibly difficult to demonstrate that you’re a good cultural fit or have networking nous as a piece of paper navigating your way through several screening tools. For Ellison, Twitter, her blog and a bit of imagination provided a platform for her ideas and talents.

So what do employers and recruiters look for when they interact on Twitter? The clever ones are not just there to tweet about what they eat.  For some deeper insight I spoke to Greg Savage this week. He’s a highly successful recruitment leader and is now the founder and CEO of Firebrand Talent Search. He’s used Twitter as a tool for over a year now. Last time I looked he had a following of 5582 people and had tweeted 5511 times.

Greg runs a global business. As an employer and recruiter he uses Twitter as a branding tool and to tap into a market of passive candidates. By default and design he’s cultivated followers who are recruiters, designers and marketers. When he’s been actively recruiting he’s changed his status on LinkedIn and tweeted out a message. In doing so he’s filled jobs directly and saved massively on paid advertising or headhunters’ fees.

So what are Greg’s tips if you’re looking for a role using Twitter? “Do not look desperate” says Greg. He’s placed people who have taken time to build a relationship with him and had intelligent conversations. One new hire had his own business when he began talking to Greg via Twitter. He wasn’t looking for a job, but when he was in the market, he’d developed enough of a relationship to start talking about where he could fit in.

Also watch your Twitter handle suggests Greg. He’s seen one applicant whose handle was an obscene joke. Greg replied back and said I’m not really sure if you’re serious or not. He never heard back. “Because of the familiarity social media breeds, some people have lost a sense of the right way to use it” he says. “I had one candidate whom I invited to email me directly. Instead he kept tweeting me questions”. While this person may have been a fabulous tweeter, they still needed to show that they could communicate as a consultant where it counts, either face to face or over the phone.

If you’re applying for a role you can expect that Greg and other tweeting employers will look to see what your tweeting about. They’ll respond to a nicely written bio, a face not an “egg”, a link to a website or LinkedIn profile and some sensible sharing among your online conversations.

One of the biggest things to think about, is that the way that you interact online can be very telling about your mastery of the medium and your ability to build relationships. If you’re looking to build an online relationship with Greg and any other employer or recruiter:  read Greg’s tips on who he’ll follow.

Also read: The Twitter Job Search Guide – by Susan Britton Whitcomb, Chandlee Bryan and Deb Dib.

Miriam at Keppie Careers provides a social media job hunting guide from a series of experts, and writes often on the topics of social media and your job hunt.

The Undercover Recruiter features some exceptionally good writers on the topic of tweeting for jobs! 😉

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Are you in the hands of a recruiter, or a consultant?

by K B , updated on November 8, 2020

I get a lot of emails and comments about job seekers’ frustrations with both recruitment consultants and the recruitment process itself. The comment from Leah Gibbs on this post is typical. Candidates often complain that recruiters will pigeon hole them into a particular position, or that they are not able to convince a consultant about their suitability for a role.

Bronwyn Murphy, principal of BJ&M Consulting and trainer to the recruitment industry, says there is a big difference between a recruiter, and a consultant. Here she asks those in the industry what they are. If you’re reading this as a job seeker and struggling to get past the recruitment gate-keeper, her questions will be illuminating. There will be a big difference in the service you receive from a consultant, compared to a recruiter.

Recruiter or Consultant. which one are you?

Let me start by saying there are differences between being a consultant and a recruiter. You can be both or one or the other.  Neither one is better than the other but issues occur when you call yourself a consultant but deliver your service as a recruiter.  Anyone who has attended my training sessions or even broached the subject of recruiters with me over the past (almost) two decades in this profession will have heard me say  “If you are going to call yourself a consultant, act like one!”

Here are a few characteristics that define a good recruiter and a good consultant.

Recruiters:

– Take job orders

– Fill jobs

– Write job advertisements

– Find candidates

– Conduct interviews

– Undertake reference checking

– Negotiate placement

– Schedule and manage times for meetings and interviews between candidates and clients

– Liaise with clients and candidates over feedback

– Keep in touch with candidates and clients until the guarantee period is over

– Attend to a whole lot of administrative tasks

– Manage database and data integrity

– Work quickly

-Work in a transactional manner

Consultants:

– Have an in-depth understanding of the market place they work in

– Have knowledge of the candidate expectations

– Act as a resource to their candidates and clients

– Work with the client to develop a job brief

– Can give advice based on their knowledge of the market pace

– Have a wide network of professionals that they can use as candidates or clients

– Are active within these networks to give services and advice as required: that is give as much, if not more, than they receive in knowledge and assistance

– Have advanced skills in interview techniques, negotiation and reference checking

– Can pickup and understand subtle nuances

– Have high emotional intelligence and acute instincts

– Enjoy helping people

– Find satisfaction in a job well done and strive to be of service to all

– Give feedback and solutions to clients and candidates

– Work fast

– Offer solutions

– Pre-empt any issues

– Work tirelessly to resolve issues

– See their role as long term and ongoing

– Provide good value to their networks clients and candidates

– Work proactively

– Build long term relationships

Now be honest, which one are you?

Bronwyn Murphy is a coach, trainer in recruitment skills and tender writer for the recruitment industry. She also specialises in performance management, process engineering and QMS Auditing in the recruitment arena. You can find her website here:  www.bjmconsulting.com.au

Bronwyn would tweet @luddite if she knew how to use Twitter.

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