Job Search

Don’t Fill A Resume, Create It!

August 7, 2015 By Katherine Burik

Seth Godin, noted marketing expert, has a fascinating blog, Create a vacuum, don’t fill it.

Seth points out that it is “tempting to sell with bullet points and an overwhelming amount of data.” But it is not the data that sells. It is the story that sells.

Finding a job is about telling your story in a compelling fashion that makes your story compelling.

I have a number of clients right now in the midst of their job search. In their struggles they reached out to me. A look at their resume showed lots of bullets describing what they did in their last jobs. The titles match the jobs they seek, sort of. But the resume and their LinkedIn pages are bland, lifeless.

Nothing about the paper matches the fascinating individuals I spoke to. Nothing about their personality or stories leaps out to even intrigue potential employers. And they are stuck. I believe selling themselves “with bullet points and an overwhelming amount of data” is related to their stuck job searches.

I find a correlation to running my own business. We had a website with lots of information, tons of bullets to prove how smart, experienced, and energetic we are. But none of that matters unless I connect with someone. Until I connect with someone I am just one in a million other folks with websites and bullet points.

I am nothing without sharing my story. My story is more than a website, more than a bunch of bullets. My stories demonstrate what I can do for you.

We added a marketing expert recently who showed us how to make our case more compelling. We changed our website to highlight the stories. We helped hundreds and hundreds of people over the last eight years. Now the website shares our stories. Now people begin to take notice. The reaction has been immediate. Go figure.

Job search is marketing. In the same way that bullets and information on my website did not show me off at my best advantage, my clients will only attract attention when they share their stories. The stories are compelling. The stories make the difference.

How are you describing yourself? Bland bullet points of information? Or does your resume and LinkedIn profile tell the story of how you solve problems or fill a vacuum. What story are you trying to tell?

Do you need help improving your Resume? Ready to up-level your resume?

If so, check out our Resume-In-A-Box tool. This easy to follow, do it yourself, resume upgrade tool will help you improve your resume.

Attitude impacts Success

July 14, 2015 By Marta Goertzen

“You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations.” – Zig Ziglar

I was born with this annoying optimism. It comes naturally. I never remember a time when I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t deal with what was in front of me. Ok, maybe that divorce was pretty icky but I came through on the otherwise convinced I can do anything.

People tease me that everything I encounter is “the best!” with an exclamation point on it!!

We live in complicated times. Jobs are tough to get, tough to keep. Achieving career goals sometimes takes a back to seat to keeping this job. We can’t special order the situation in which we find ourselves, but we can control how we respond.

Attitude is everything. With a positive attitude, I can climb a mountain. I can tackle any challenge. I can make lemonade out of lemons.

I insist on dealing with life on my terms now. My career is my own now – to take in whatever direction I want to go.

What about you? Do you allow the situation to influence your attitude? Or do you remake the situation to suite your future? Take your job to the next level and really own your career. What would you do if you could do what you want? Once you can answer that question, you too will remake your situation with a positive attitude.

What does your LinkedIn profile say about you?

June 23, 2015 By Marta Goertzen

Photos are a very personal reflection, pun intended.

Some of my Facebook friends change their profiles daily. I don’t. I have the same profile photo on Facebook for years. It reminds me of that wonderful trip to Prague with my daughter in 2009. My LinkedIn photo is a professional photo taken a few years ago too. I like both photos. But what do these photos say about me?

There is some science behind what makes a great social media profile. I found some interesting articles leading to PhotoFeeler. Evidently there is a principal called self-enhancement bias, the idea that we look at our world through our own personal rose colored glasses that twists what we see into something we want to see. According to an interesting article, “3 Scientific Reasons You Choose the Wrong Profile Photos”, we imagine that we are perfectly objective but other people are not because our own clear judgment is an illusion.

The three reasons we choose the wrong profile photo are:

We apply our own background information to the photo but other people don’t have the same information. They judge a photo on different standards.
We’ve spent our entire lives looking in mirrors. We see the mirror image, not the actual image. Other people might like the actual image better but it looks like of funny to us.
We apply feelings to our own photos. Other people don’t see the feelings or the flaws that we see. Other people just see the photo.

PhotoFeeler offers a way around our own personal bias. You get unbiased feedback from members who vote on whether your photo does what you intend it to do. For LinkedIn, you want your photo to show you as competent, likable and influence. You might want something else for a Facebook and Twitter profile photo.

So I decided to sign up! I submitted a general business photo that I like and my professional LinkedIn profile photo to be rated to see whether a professional photo makes a difference.

I had to earn the credits to get other people to evaluate my photos. It takes a minimum of 10 credits to get 10 people to vote on each of your photos. You earn credit by voting on other people’s photos. I elected to vote on business photos but you can vote on social photos and dating photos too.

Getting credits is easy and demonstrates how other people will vote on your photo. I looked at the photo that flashed on my screen and simply clicked on whether the photo portrayed the person as competent, likable and influential on a four point scale. It takes just a few minutes of clicking to rack up enough points to launch my own evaluations.

I launched my evaluation then I went to get a cup of coffee. When I came back to my computer I already had some results.

Interesting. Both photos tested positively (it is possible to get a negative result!) but the professional photo tested higher on all three points. Both photos show about the same level of Likeability. PhotoFeeler says that is because I show teeth when I smile which is more open and friendly. But check out the big differences in Competence and Influence from the professional photo! Wow, that is a big difference!

This is what I learned from this exercise:

Use a professional photographer to get an image that viewers will find appealing. It is worth every penny.
Have an idea of what impression you want to leave. Know what brand you represent. Then get a profile photo that supports your brand.
There is always something to learn on the Internet if you open your eyes and look around.

I would love to hear how your photo rates. Go to Photofeeler and get your photo evaluated. Let’s compare results!

Why won’t they call me back?

June 16, 2015 By Marta Goertzen

Recently, a few clients have complained about the lack of response from employers. This is what I hear:

I don’t know what happened. I responded to the ad and then I called a few times but no one calls me back.

Or this variation:

The recruiter said she would get back to me on Thursday. I followed up every day for the last two weeks but she never returned my phone call. What is going on?

These comments are not unusual. We have a lot of confused job seekers out there. A few experiences like that can make a job seeker think there is something wrong with him or her. I must be too old, too different, too unqualified, too whatever.

Likely something else is going on. Here is what I know for sure:

People filling jobs are over-worked – too much to do in too little time. It is easy to eliminate follow-up or even responding to resumes. It is not personal. They just don’t have time.
There are more applicants than job openings. This labor situation leads companies to think they have the upper hand. They don’t have to respond to candidates or even be polite if they don’t want to. They can always find another candidate.

They aren’t calling you back because they don’t have to. They can find plenty of candidates. They don’t need to talk to you on your time schedule. If they want to talk to you they will call you.

So the question becomes how to get a response under these circumstances?

My advice? Don’t rely on job ads to find a job. People filling jobs are over-worked and there are more applicants than job openings. The odds are stacked against you.

It is not likely you will land your next job from the job ads, much less get someone to call you back. Submit your resume to job ads in the off chance something good happens but don’t spend so much time or energy on that avenue of job search. You cannot control or even influence the folks at the other end of the job ad.

Instead, make yourself a real person instead of a random resume.

Your goal is to find a job. You will find your next job through people, not through job ads. Get out there and meet as many people as you can who 1) already perform the job you want, 2) are the boss of the job you want, or 3) know someone in the first two categories. Odds are, these folks will return your call. They can steer you to opportunities where you won’t be a faceless one in a hundred.

Announcing the Interview Doctor Talent Exchange!

June 11, 2015 By Marta Goertzen

What if there was a better way to make a match between candidates and companies?

What if . . .

Some of the greatest ideas start with the question “what if . . .”

We are all familiar with the current state of the job search process.

Candidates toss their resumes into a big black hole as they wander around in the dark. Companies post job descriptions and think they are recruiting online. Only by sheer luck does a company find a candidate that comes close to their needs, all the while confidently assuming they are “talent acquisition” experts.

What if we could show you a way for companies and candidates to find each other based on characteristics that are important to both parties? What if we applied some science to what is currently random chance? Would you be interested?

Such a tool exists today!

We are excited to announce The Interview Doctor Talent Exchange, a portal to a candidate / opportunity matching service. We have partnered with WorkFountain, a company that offers ground–breaking matching technology that will connect your company with the talent you need to grow your business and connect talented candidates to opportunities they never dreamed existed!

Why are we doing this?

We are not recruiters. We are job search coaches. We just want to help. We coach companies to organize their job searches better by understanding the competencies required to be successful in the job. We coach candidates to answer interview questions by building their stories around those same competencies.

When we saw how the WorkFountain matching technology offers a competency based match in exactly the way we have been advocating, we could not resist partnering with WorkFountain. The cost is so affordable that everyone should register today to see what opportunities are out there for you.

What are the fees for using the Talent Exchange?

Posting your job opening costs just $39!
Internship postings are always free to candidates and companies!
Candidates can always use the Interview Doctor Talent Exchange for free!

Get started today at www.InterviewDoc.workfountain.com

Learn more about how this works on our website.