It’s not networking – it’s an information interview

by K B , updated on November 11, 2020

There is so much fabulous advice out there about the value of networking to find a job. Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers is running a series of excellent posts on this.  This one’s on questions to ask people when you meet them for an “information interview”,  which is where you arrange a coffee (or the like) with someone working in your chosen field and ask them questions about what they do. Kind of like a reverse job interview. Many jobs drop out of this process. While you are not asking your target directly for a job, you are letting them know you are interested.

Miriam’s questions to ask include:

  • What are your biggest challenges? (Or those impacting your field/company/organization?)
  • What is the best (and worst) part of your job?
  • What would you do differently (if anything) if you were starting over in your field?

I’d also add:

  • How did you break in? (good for if you’re considering changing careers)
  • What advice could you give someone like me? (You then get to mention a few things about yourself)

As far as I can see these are nice, simple, and I think easy to ask questions. Yet in my experience most people would rather have their teeth extracted (without anesthetic) than initiate an information interview.

Here are some of the best (or worst) excuses I’ve heard, and as I can’t help myself, I’ll counterpunch each one with why you should go ahead and just do it.

“I’ll sound desperate.”

Many people associate interviewing people about their job, when they are looking for a job as somehow sounding needy and desperate. They think that the other person will think they are looking for a job. I’ve made this sound as complicated as the thought process behind it, which is what happens when you over-analyse. The whole point of an information interview is that you are looking for a job, but you are doing it in a proactive, intelligent and sincere way. If you ask the questions we’ve suggested and genuinely listen to the answers, you will impress the person you are meeting. The question of what you are looking for will inevitably come up.

One thing to remember about these interviews is not to put the person on the spot and ask for a job, as that’s not the premise of the meeting. If you launch into a major spiel about your skills you will not get quality information back, and in fact you may ruin your credibility as you’ve been dishonest about the point of the meeting.

“Most people will not want to see me.”

Yes some people won’t. Some people will be too busy. Some people have a whole lot going on, that they don’t have time to help. Yet there are many people out there who are innately helpful, and/or who know the value of networking. I was surprised about how many senior managers and CEOs whom we interviewed for our book, What do employers really want?, actually welcomed direct contact from potential employees. At least 20 out of the 25 managers we interviewed said they were open to a cold approach.

For the employers who said they didn’t want contact, none of them took it as an insult that someone would want to find out about them, or want to work for them.

“I won’t know what to say.”

That’s where some research comes in. That’s what Google and websites are for. And that’s what these interview questions are for. Take typed questions, and points you’d like to discuss. Pull them out. You may never use them, but it will give you confidence knowing they are there.

“It sounds too hard.”

Information interviewing isn’t too hard, but it is hard to start, and it is easier if you start off by asking for someone you know for an introduction with your target or for them to pre-empt your contact. You can then also find out the best way to contact your target, by email or phone. Some people prefer one over the other, and if you do use a phone, try to sound polished.

“I don’t know where to start.”

Friends, family, friends on friends is a first easy point. After that, there’s www.linkedin.com. I don’t look any further than this nowadays. It’s a bucket of resumes and business cards. The point is to make a start. People do know people, and people will refer nice people.

“It won’t work.”

Yes it will. I’ve spoken to many people who’ve changed their career this way, including some of my clients. One person, a middle manager in manufacturing, changed his career to become a financial planner through information interviewing. This was after he had been rejected about 10 times applying for this same role through recruitment agencies.

“It will take too long.”

True it takes time. But I actually think it’s a more intelligent way to find a job than going through a sometimes strange sales spiel from a recruitment consultant. You get closer to the heart of what it’s like to work for an organization, and the best and worst part of a job. Otherwise, you’ll often find out the worst part when you start on the job, and by that time it’s too late.

There is a lot more too this process than just asking questions. Have a read of Richard Bolles’ book “what colour is your parachute?” . It’s all about “information interviewing.” This book has been phenomenally successful, most likely because it works.

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Little white resume lies that leave a BIG BLACK MARK

by K B , updated on November 11, 2020

Here’s the second part of an article that appeared in www.recruiterdaily.com.au on what recruitment consultants should scrutinise when they look at your resume. The first part is covered in my post don’t fly the resume red flag.

In the article, Organisational Psychologist from Adaps Joshua Wood says recruiters should scrutinise whether you as a job seeker:

–  inflate the importance of your role on your resume

–  embellish your achievements on your resume

–  have been completely upfront about your reasons for leaving a role

–  are misleading with the dates on your resume to confuse the recruiter about the length of your tenure

–  have actually directly managed staff or were only acting in that role

–  have exaggerated revenue figures on your resume

–  are vague about study, certification and degrees on your resume

–  have changed the academic dates on your resume to cover up failed subjects

–  have exaggerated your previous remuneration

Wood also suggests that recruiters watch out for subtleties in your language which can hint at embellishments on your resume. For example: did you initiate a project or were you managing a project? Did you resolve a problem or research the issue?

He also suggests that recruiters watch out for exaggerations on candidates’ career summaries or profiles, as these are relying on their perceptions of themselves and therefore harder to define than responsibilities.

One of my favourite resume exaggerations is easy to spot. It’s where you may write “client management”, instead of “customer service” for a role at McDonalds. Read this on top 10 resume mistakes where I talk about appropriate language.

Just as big a problem, I think, is where candidates talk down their achievements, strengths or responsibilities. Using the same example, you may say that you have excellent customer service skills, where in actual fact you were managing client relationships.

If you’d like help with your resume, subscribe to the blog and I’ll give you a free resume review

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All action and no talk – the definitive list of action words for your resume

by K B , updated on November 11, 2020

Take action with action words for resumes

A resume is one place where you need more action and less talk! Confused? I know this is counter-intuitive but if you use more action words on your resume, you can use fewer descriptive words, and then show more action. You make your resume instantly more powerful.

Now I’ve made that abundantly clear 🙂 I like words on resumes that spell action as using them helps me eliminate my first least favourite resume pest – the passive voice!

This list has some excellent action words for resumes.

(You’ll notice this list of resume action words does not contain my second least favourite resume pest, the word “liaise” I’ve never understood the purpose of that word on a resume. People don’t liaise, they consult, coordinate, organize, manage and so forth. The only purpose of “liaise” is for a “liaison”, and for a liaison, whether you want more talk and less action or more action and less talk, is completely up to you!)

Assist
Able
Action
Analysis
Achievement
Accomplished
Advanced
Conduct
Consult
Committed
Conducted
Contributed
Coordinated
Develop
Deliver
Design
Defined
Diversified
Devoted
Distinguished
Encourage
Earned
Enhance
Evaluate
Examined		 Extended
Facilitate
Formulate
Fulfilled
Forecasted
Generated
Gained
Gathered
Gave
Headed
Hosted
Identified
Implemented
Improved
Improvised
Influenced
Launched
Lobbied
Maintained
Managed
Marketed
Maximized
Mediated
Modernized
Motivated		 Negotiated
Observed
Obtained
Operated
Organized
Originated
Oversaw
Participated
Performed
Pioneered
Planned
Prepared
Presented
Promoted
Provided
Published
Pursued
Quantified
Ranked
Received
Recommended
Redesigned
Reengineered
Reorganized
Represented		 Restructured
Revised
Safeguarded
Secured
Selected
Specified
Spearheaded
Standardized
Strengthened
Structured
Suggested
Superseded
Supervised
Targeted
Taught
Tested
Trained
Transformed
Transcended
Unified
Upgraded
Validated
Valued
Wrote

If you’d like more talk on whether your resume has the right balance of talk and action, subscribe to the blog and I’ll give you a free resume review.

For more information on resumes read:

Why a career objective on your resume is important
How long should a resume be?
Seven things you don’t know I know from reading your resume

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Don’t fly the resume red flag!

by K B , updated on November 11, 2020

Does your resume have red flags? If you are not getting any interviews or being grilled at length by a headhunter, it could be that the way you have expressed your experience on your resume rings alarm bells for the recruiter.

Have a read of this  interesting article from www.recruiterdaily.com.au which appeared in my inbox this morning. Don’t miss these warning signs on resumes.

It’s straight from the horse’s mouth. The article quotes insights from Adaps Organisational Psychologist, Joshua Wood, who conducted research involving 50 recruiters at 35 organisations looking at how experienced and inexperienced consultants approach resume assessment.

He suggests that recruiters consider the following as warning signs on a resume:

– You do not have the months listed on your resume. 2005 / 2006 can mean two years or six months

–  Your resume shows lots of movement between jobs. If your resume lists a succession of short term permanent roles you may have an underlying problem of not knowing what you want, being difficult to manage, getting bored easily or being ineffective in your roles

–  Your resume lists contracts but shows a lack of repeat work with the one organization or agency, or you are not being extended or requested back. This, again, may indicate an underlying problem

–  Your resume shows no evidence of career progression

–  Your resume contains poor spelling and grammar

When I was a recruiter if I saw evidence of the above on your resume, I may still have telephoned you. But I would be verifying information I found on your resume and seeing if what you said sounded plausible from what I knew about the industry or company. I would also question you carefully in interview and perhaps asking those questions in a reference check.

If you have any of these issues, it doesn’t mean that you are a poor employee. Indeed you may have a good explanation.  For example, you may have chosen contract or temporary work, or that’s the type of employment arrangement typical of your industry. I’m thinking IT here.

Before you send out your resume, try to think objectively about what it may say about you.

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Get to the point! Write within government selection criteria word limits

by K B , updated on November 11, 2020

That’s it! You’re cut off. You’ve used up your word limit!

Often in online applications many government departments now limit the number of words or spaces you can use in your selection criteria. I think it is to save their spending on headache tablets. When I have sat on government panels and saw a “War and Peace” type selection criteria, I used to mark that person down on communication skills. Yes that’s a bit harsh. But if you think about it, a good communicator engages their audience.  They understand the point of a question, and they think of the most powerful way to answer that question. They may only make the point once.

So how do you answer government selection criteria with word limits? This is often harder than answering a selection criteria with no limits, as every word counts. Here are some insider tips on how.

Make sure you understand the role

That means when you answer the selection criteria, you are giving examples at the right level and not wasting your space with irrelevant examples.

Make sure you understand the what the selection criteria is asking

Call the convener, if you are in any way confused. Often selection criteria are vague, have double ups, or are repeated.

Bullet point your achievements and examples to demonstrate your experience

Here are some examples of what I mean:

My ability to communicate effectively with a diverse range of stakeholders can be demonstrated by the following examples:

–  For the past six years I have convened contract review meetings with my contracted suppliers. Through clear communication and regular meetings, I have ensured that we consistently maintained costs within budgets

–  As a result of my professionalism and strong communication skills, for the past three years executive management have selected me to represent our team at community forums

–  I have built positive relationships with our internal stakeholders. In my recent performance reviews my Leader has ranked me as “performing at a high level”

Don’t fluff about with too many words

Have a look at this post on action words for resumes. Try to choose just one of these to describe what you do. If you really struggle with this, write out what you want to say without focusing on the word limit, take a break then go back and delete words.

Use the active rather than the passive voice. This is instantly more powerful and you will find you have more words to play with.

Don’t be afraid to get professional help when you need it

There is a real art to writing selection criteria, so do not tear your hair out if you are finding it tough. Read here for things you need to know before you apply for a government job.

You may only need to get professional help once to see how it’s done.

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Should we all stop going to recruitment consultants?

by K B , updated on November 11, 2020

I’d say so, if you look at the numbers.  Most people will tell you that 80% of jobs are not advertised. That’s the hidden job market. I’ve never found the source of this research, although talking with clients, friends and colleagues, most will say that they heard about their job some other way, even if it was advertised. So the number rings true.

However, I came across this statistic the other day, which floored me. ABS research says that in November 2008, 5% of employed people found a role through a recruitment agency/ labor hire firm. Check it for yourself here.

That’s just 5%! And that 5% includes labour hire, which are the agencies that send people out to industrial type jobs for a day, week or month etc. The proportion of other professionals finding roles through recruitment agencies is actually lower, at 4%.

So why is it so low?

Here are a few reasons that spring immediately to mind, although I am sure there are more:

– Technology has enabled many large employers to use their own online screening tools and to employ a recruitment agency as a back up, or for more specialist positions

– Even with preferred supplier type agreements, it is expensive for an employer to use an agency. Agency placement fees can range from 10% to 25% plus of the candidate’s salary

– For many reasons, and this is a whole other blog post, the recruitment process an employer follows using a recruitment agency, is quite prescriptive. If an employer tells a recruiter they want someone with 3.5 years experience speaking Mandarin, who is a marine biologist and who has climbed Mount Everest, then that’s what a recruitment consultant will advertise. It may not necessarily be the person their employer client needs.

– It’s often difficult to get to see a consultant, even if you have the perfect experience. See this earlier post on the silent treatment

–  Sadly, and again for many reasons, the recruitment industry has a poor reputation. Some employers are reluctant to use agencies

What does this mean for you?

Don’t take your failure to find a job through a recruitment consultant personally. The numbers alone are against you. There are exceptions to this rule but what this statistic really says to me, is that if I was looking for a job, I’d be devoting about 5% of my time to looking for a job through an agency.

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