Successful job seekers understand the importance of mindset when searching for employment.  A beneficial mindset can set into motion events which open doors while a non-beneficial mindset prevents a job seeker from seeing opportunities right in front of them.  Below are a few tips on shifting your paradigm so that you maintain a mindset of success in your job search:

Self-Perception

How a job seeker views themselves is critical in projecting the right amount of confidence when going on interviews or networking. While it’s understandable that remaining unemployed for extended periods of time can erode self-confidence, job seekers must work on reminding themselves of their professional value.

Passion

Doing what you love is important in creating the right mindset. Job seekers who are looking for jobs which they truly enjoy communicate that enthusiasm to employers and recruiters.  This is why it’s so important that job seekers pursue only those jobs which they really want. 

Fight Helplessness

The belief that you have no power over your circumstances is self-defeating.  Successful job seekers understand that they have the power to make changes in their life and they act on that power.  We’re not just talking about “positive thinking” we’re talking about positive action.  If job seekers want to increase their chances of finding employment quickly, they must take actions that get them closer to their goal.

Productivity is about getting things done and done effectively – and if you’re lucky, done fast.  But how does a recruiter increase their productivity?  The answer may be surprising:

Get Specific

It’s not enough to say “I want to make more sales calls” you must get as specific as possible.  “I want to make five additional sales calls per day,” is a real goal that is measurable.

Get Realistic

So many of us set unrealistic goals and then become frustrated when we fail.  “I want to make 500 sales calls in one hour,” is an impossible goal to reach.  Instead, a recruiter should set a goal they know they can reach.  And once they reach it, they can always raise the bar.

Write It Down

Don’t depend on your memory for setting and accomplishing your goals. Write your goals in a place where you will see them every day.

Take Baby Steps

A close cousin to being realistic, taking baby steps allows you to break your goals down into everyday actions you can take.  If you want to make 20 sales call a week, then you will need to make 4 calls each day to reach your goals.

Measure Actions And Results

Focusing only on results can leave you frustrated if you don’t see immediate progress. For example, if you say, “I want to get five new clients this year,” measuring the baby steps taken will help you stay on track.  By measuring your actions, you can say “I’m doing what I need to do to accomplish my goals.” 

Effectively participating in career fairs takes more than just showing up.  Job seekers who maximize the benefits of career fair events combine certain planning activities and strategies.  Let’s take a look at a few tips:

Before The Career Fair

1. Research.  Find out which employers are attending, whether you want to work with them and whether or not they are hiring. Don’t assume that a company attending a career fair is ready to hire immediately, that’s not necessarily the case.
2. Make a list and don’t spread yourself too thin.  Choose a few companies to target and prioritize them with your favorite picks on top.  Once again, do your research on these companies. Are they financially sound? Are they looking for someone like you? Are they hiring now?
3. Create your strategy.  Your strategy will depend on the structure on the career fair and the amount of time you’re willing to invest in it.  Can you schedule interviews with companies in advance?  How much time do you want to commit to working the career fair booths? 

During The Career Fair

1. Starting with your priority companies begin rubbing shoulders with representatives.  Have questions already formulated; but don’t interrogate anyone. Try to keep the conversation natural and mutually enjoyable.
2. Don’t overstay your welcome. If an employer or recruiter is sending the signal that they are not interested or busy, don’t linger.
3. Be prepared. Have copies of your resume and business cards available for those who request it.

After The Career Fair

Follow-up is key to career fair success.  It’s not likely you will receive a job offer on the spot (sometimes it does happen) so you need to follow-up with contacts and interviewers. 

There is a ton of advice on how to convey the right message with body language during an interview; but much of it is so tedious that it risks overwhelming most job candidates.  For example, telling job candidates to avoid tilting their head and to never touch their face could end up making them more self-conscious than necessary during an interview.  So how does a job candidate make sure that they’re sending the right message with their body language? Start from the inside and work their way out:

1.     Approach the job interview with the right attitude.  You are not in a position of “beggar” asking for some great favor from the interviewer. Know that you bring value to the table and that you are both investigating the possibility of entering into an employment relationship. With the right outlook as you go into the interview you will avoid taking on body language that conveys feelings of inferiority or insecurity.

2.     Wear comfortable but professional clothing and make sure you’re well groomed.  What you wear and the way you look does impact body language. People who feel good about the way they look communicate that confidence in the way they walk, sit and talk to others.

3.     Release any attachment to the outcome of the interview.  Accept the fact that you have no power to control whether or not the employer will hire you.  Just accepting that you cannot control the hiring manager’s decisions will allow you to relax more and avoid taking on defensive postures such as folding your arms over your chest.

Despite receiving a wish list that may seem etched in stone, the best recruiters understand that most hiring managers have some flexibility in their “must haves” list.  Below are a few questions recruiters can ask to find out how flexible job requirements are:

1.     Does the job candidate need the additional years of experience? If the recruiter has a job opportunity which they know generally requires only 5 years of experience, then they might question why a hiring manager demands at least 8 years of experience for the same amount of work. Maybe the hiring manager will be willing to accept 5 – 8 years of experience instead of sticking to just 8 years.

2.     Does the job candidate really need the additional education?  While it may be preferable to have an employee with additional education, depending on the work required, it may not be a necessity. It is up to the recruiter to point this out to the hiring manager if they feel the additional education requirement is unnecessary and may alienate otherwise appropriate job candidates.

3.     Which skills are most important to the job?  Recruiters should try to get the hiring manager to list the five most critical skills a job candidate must have.  If they are having trouble narrowing down the laundry list of skills requirements, help them by discussing the daily activities of someone actually doing the job.  Try to determine which skills on their list are just most often and are most important.

Job candidates who have the skills and experience to do the job are typically the only ones who make it to the interviewing stage of recruiting.  So if all things are equal in terms of skills and experience, how does an interviewee make themselves stand out?  One way of making it from interviewee to new hire is by letting the best parts of your personality shine.  Basically, job candidates need to show that they would be a pleasure to work with. Below are a few tips:

Learn To Listen

While most job candidates are confident that they are good listeners, the truth is that most need to hone this skill.  The art of listening involves more than quietly hearing someone else speak and throwing in a few head nods.  A true master of listening will also do the following:

1. Acknowledge what the other person is saying.
2. Wait for a natural pause before interjecting a comment.
3. Keep comments brief and on topic.

Show Humility

There is a fine line between showing humility and showing insecurity. Job candidates want to avoid statements such as “I’m not really good at so and so but…”  which shows insecurity and instead opt for statements that show humility such as “Joe was strong at it so I decided to let him take on that aspect of the case,” or “Jane and I made a great team on that litigation case.”  Humility demonstrates a candidate’s ability to understand that they are not the lone hero and acknowledge the contributions of others.

Avoid Gratuitous Flattery

While compliments are a good way to become a popular interviewee, gratuitous flattery is obvious and off putting.  Job candidates should keep compliments genuine, work related and at a minimum to avoid the perception that they are trying to flatter their way into a job. 

QR Codes (QRC) are all the rage right now. According to many inside (an outside) the recruiting field if you don’t get a QR Code program or strategy you will find yourself left in the stone age.  But wait – is the QR Code phenomenon mature enough for recruiters to invest time and money into branding campaigns that rely heavily on the technology?  Below are three reasons why recruiters shouldn’t spend too much time with QR codes, at least not yet:

QR Codes Haven’t Reached A Saturation Point

Yes, there is a big push in some industries to integrate QRC into just about everything they do; but the vast majority of mobile phone users don’t use this technology.  Recruiters need to make sure they are using technology that helps to widen their market exposure not limit it. 

QRC Is Still Complicated

In order for technology to become seamless and intuitive, the end user needs to have an easy experience using it.  At this point, QRC requires too many steps on the part of the end user to be of any real use to recruiters.  Most mobile phones don’t come with QRC technology, which means that to view QRC data the end user must download the app.  Even after downloading the application, some QRC data can be difficult to decipher.

QRC Not Proven To Improve Recruiter Process

Remember, before adopting any technology make sure it will serve your needs.  At this point, QRC has not proven to provide any extra benefits to recruiters, especially because the number of users is still limited. This is not to say that QRC technology has no potential.  The technology could make the recruiting process easier once it has reached a saturation point and it’s made easier to use.

Since the recession has dragged on for three years now, many attorneys are facing work history gaps that last for a year or longer.  Once they find a position that offers promise, they are then face with explaining huge work history gaps to hiring managers who may still become hesitant when a job candidate has remained unemployed for “too long.”  So how can a job seeker address these work history gaps with finesse?  Let’s take a look at a few tips:

The “Black Hole” Resume Gap

If you haven’t done anything constructive during unemployment other than commit all of your energy to a full-time job search, you will want to explain why that’s the case to the hiring manager. You might say, “Because I wanted to find the right job, not just any job, I decided to commit the past (fill in the time you’ve been looking) to looking for a good match for my skills and experience.”

The “Square Peg” Resume Gap

If you’ve been working way out of your field for the past year or more, you will need to take care to assure the hiring manager that your skills haven’t rusted and that you’re not desperate. You might say, “Instead of taking a job in my field which I wouldn’t like, I decided to work in an unrelated field while taking (insert educational and career activities you have participated in) and looking for the best job opportunity match.”

The “Work For Free” Resume Gap

If you have been working in an unpaid volunteer position or internship while unemployed, you need to take care to explain to the hiring manager that you did this because you wanted to, not because it was all you could get.  You might say something along the lines of, “When I saw this volunteer opportunity, I saw it as an opportunity to give back while continuing my job search.”

In the second part of our “launching a job search” series we discussed “Understanding Employers: Priming Your Job Search” now we will explore compensation strategies and how job candidates can strike a balance between getting what they’re worth and what employers are willing to pay.

In the game of negotiating compensation, job candidates must understand that the right price for compensation is the “perceived value” of what they are offering.  In other words, the right price is the price that employers believe is worth paying for what you’re offering.  This is critical in establishing a strong negotiations strategy.  

What Are You Worth?

It’s time to get honest about the perceived value of your skills and experience.   Job candidates need to take an honest look at the employers they’re contacting and determine how much they are willing to pay for someone like them.  Take a look at their standard compensation packages and then do your research to find out what the going rate is for a job candidate like yourself.  If you find it’s a little less than you had hoped, figure out ways to add value or to receive additional compensation in other ways.

Consider All Compensation

Compensation isn’t just about salary, it also includes:

• Health insurance
• Raises, Bonuses, Overtime Pay
• Life insurance, Disability insurance
• Vacation Days, Paid Holidays, Sick/personal days
• 401(k) plans, Pension plans
• Profit sharing, Stock Options/ESOPs
• Tuition reimbursement
• Employee Assistance Program
• Expense reimbursement

While some employers may be unwilling to negotiate their salary points, they may be willing to offer additional vacation days, offer flex days or compensate you for other expenses.  The trick to asking for the right type of compensation is in assessing your needs and determining what part of the compensation package employers have shown flexibility on in the past.

In the first part of our “launching a job search” series we discussed “Creating The Job Seeker Brand: Your Strategic Marketing Plan” now we will explore some strategies on how job seekers can get the information they need about employers before they apply for a job. 

Grab Low-Hanging Fruit

Some of the easiest was to find information about companies can be found on the internet. Job seekers should peruse company websites, mission statements, annual reports and customer statements on reviewer sites to get a general idea about the company and their culture.

Also, search for news articles talking about the company’s successes and failures to get an idea of where they stand in their industry and how they are viewed by peers. 

Take the time to research key employees to find out how they are impacting the industry and what strides they’ve made in their own career with the employer. This will give you a lot of insight in the company and how they handle employees.  For example, if most of the key employees are relatively new, let’s say they’ve only been around for 2 to 3 years but the company has been in existence for over 10 years then that may indicate that the company has been unable to keep employees long-term.

Network The Smart Way

While in your information gathering stage, try to connect with current employees to find out how they feel working with the employer.  When attending networking events strike up a conversation with non-decision makers working with the employer and casually ask them about their experience. Below are a few suggested questions:

What do you like about working at the company?

How long have you been working there?

So, do you like it enough to stay?

Have you been able to learn new things?

Of course, you can add other questions depending on the direction of the conversation. The general idea is to get as much information as possible about the employer from someone who actually works there.

With unemployment still high, some job candidates are tempted to tell fibs on their resumes in the hopes of increasing their chances of getting hired while avoiding getting caught.  But promoting a candidate who isn’t exactly what he presents himself to be can create serious trust issues between recruiters and employers.  So how can a recruiter sniff out some of the most common resume lies?  Below are a few tips:

They Didn’t Really Go To An Ivy League School

For attorneys trying to get placed with top firms, fibbing about which school they went to is tempting, especially if their real school is lower-tier.  Sometimes a recruiter can do a quick search on the internet to find out if the job candidate really attended a certain school. For example, if their resume says they went to Harvard and their Facebook page says something else, then they’re probably not telling the truth.

Inflating Job Responsibilities

Some job candidates stretch the truth regarding what type of duties and responsibilities they had at previous jobs.  Recruiters might want to question a resume where the job title doesn’t really match the responsibilities listed, or where the job duties don’t match the firm.  For example, if a job candidate claims to have worked on bankruptcy cases at a firm which doesn’t specialize in bankruptcy, you know that they’re probably not telling the truth.

Inflating Salaries

Everyone wants to get a raise; but some job candidates inflate their previous salaries in an effort to convince employers that they’re worth the price.  One telltale sign that a salary is inflated is when the job title does not match the salary given.  For example, there probably aren’t many inexperienced law clerks who earn six-figures.

For anyone who has been unemployed and looking for work for an extended period of time, the statement “job searches are stressful” is an understatement.  But how can job seekers handle the stress inherent in looking for work?  Below are a few tips:

Relieving Financial Stress

Even if you’re receiving unemployment benefits or have a generous severance package, your financial situation is probably nothing like what it was when you were fully employed. That’s why job seekers need to acknowledge and adjust to the inevitable financial stress they will experience when facing a long job search.   

Budget – Create a realistic plan to spend and save.

Adjust – Make any necessary lifestyle adjusts (moving, selling a car, removing kids from private school etc.).

Plan For The Worse – Create worse-case scenario plan. What will happen if you don’t find a job by a certain amount of time?

Alleviating Physical Stress

Are you experiencing fatigue, aches, and loss of appetite?  It’s probably stress.  Job seekers need to make sure they continue to maintain their physical health by exercising, eating healthy and visiting the doctor when necessary.  Don’t think you have time? Scheduling one or two 15 minute walks around the block can go a long way in alleviating physical stress.

Relieving Emotional Stress

The biggest myth facing job seekers is that our society says that you are your work. And if you’re not working somehow you are less than or that you’re a failure.  Don’t buy into that falsehood. Make sure you avoid negative self-talk and find a support system of people who are willing to help you emotionally through this transition.

Networking events are a great for connecting to other recruiting professionals and getting to know which companies are hiring. But if recruiters want to truly benefit from networking events they need to approach them in a way that is the most efficient and effective. Below are few tips on how recruiters can get the most out of their next networking event:

You’re Not There To Collect People

While the traditional method of networking includes a little bit of “fly by the seat of your pants” and “try to talk to everyone for at least five minutes” tactics, that can leave a recruiter drained and wondering about the point of it all.  The better approach is to avoid “collecting” contacts and instead focus on targeted contacts. Try to find out who will attend the event and then decide on a handful of people you want to meet. This list should be prioritized but also flexible.

Prepare Your Conversation

While you want to “go with the flow” in terms of conversation, you should also have some goal for each interaction.  Do you want to meet Employer A because you heard they’re hiring and want to confirm if it’s the truth?  Or, do you want to meet Employer B because you heard they just opened a new litigation practice and you think you may have some candidates they would enjoy? Whatever your goal is, make sure you tailor the conversation so that you can get the information you need.

Follow Up Immediately

The absence or delay in following up with contacts can make your networking efforts fruitless. Before you attend the networking event incorporate into your plan an allotted slot of time for follow up.  And follow up should not just include one email sent the next day; it should include an entire follow up schedule. For example, you might contact the people you met every week for a month or two or until you get the response want.

Just like any type of business, marketing is the fuel that the runs the engine of any successful job search.  The first thing job seekers need to understand about marketing is that it’s not sales.  While sales is an important component of marketing it is just one of those components (albeit an important one).  In this multiple part series we will explore how job seekers can effectively create and launch a job search marketing plan.  Let’s start with creating a strategic marketing plan. Below are a few crucial questions job seekers should ask when creating their plan:

1. What do I have of value that employers are looking for?  To begin, do a quick brainstorm of the types of skills and experiences employers want.  Don’t stop to research yet; rely on your industry knowledge. Then assess honestly which of these skills you possess.  Write down your list.
2. What type of job do I want now?  Get specific. Don’t just say, “Any job that pays.” And don’t put down multiple jobs.  Pick one type of job and stick with it for the purposes of this exercise. Once you have a job title, go back to question number one and answer the question again. 
3. Which skills do I lack?  This is where you must be honest. Once you identify which skills you lack, come up with a plan to compensate or train to acquire those skills.
4. Who is hiring?  Make a list of employers who are actively hiring.  This will take a little research on your part.  The list doesn’t need to be long, just long enough to get you started. Don’t know who is hiring?  Use your contacts, including relationships with recruiters to get the latest information on companies who are hiring.
5. How do I get an interview with employers who are hiring?  Sending an unsolicited resume and cover letter is probably not the right answer. While answering job ads are a part of your job search, they should not be the only part.  Make a list of events employers will attend and schedule time attend too. 

A virtual talent community is an online network of people with similar skills and work experiences.  It could be a community of attorneys or more specifically a group of litigation attorneys (family lawyers or corporate attorneys etc.) But all virtual talent communities are not created equally.  And for recruiters who want to effectively use virtual talent communities in a way that actually benefits their sourcing efforts, knowing how to identify and target the right community for each job order is the key to success. Let’s take a look at a few tips:

1. Connect to several communities.  Recruiters should lay a foundation of virtual communities to which they are already connected.  Since there is no single community which can serve all of any recruiter’s needs, combining the connections of several talent communities can yield greater results.
2. Match the job order with the right communities.  Each virtual talent community has its specialty.  A recruiter looking for a litigation attorney in Idaho may want to connect to attorney specific job sites such as Leopard Pride in addition to region specific sites in Idaho.  Combining different requirements in a job order is the key to getting the most out of virtual talent community sourcing.
3. Create your own virtual talent community and maintain it.  A virtual talent community doesn’t necessarily mean a large website with millions of users. Recruiters can create their own virtual talent communities by remaining in touch with former job candidates via a blog or newsletter. When job opportunities arise, recruiters can tap these small communities along with larger communities to get as much effective online sourcing done as possible.

One of the biggest turn-offs for top performers is that the process to apply through recruiters is difficult.  A matter of fact, the more difficult an application process, the more likely only the most desperate job candidates will bother to apply.  Below are a few tips on how recruiters can make their application process a lot easier:

1. If you’re using an online registration system, only require the minimum amount of data to create a profile.  For example, asking for only a name and email address will give job candidates a quick way to register and an opportunity to come back later and add more critical information such as their resume.
2. Make sure to use social media as a two-way gate of information.  Don’t just use social media to find candidates, use it to provide up-to-date information about the things candidates want to know.  Listing current job openings, tips for job seekers, industry news and recruiter activities can make job candidates feel more connected when they visit your recruiter site.
3. Make it easy for job candidates to apply for jobs through job boards.   For example, don’t require them to fill out field data about their job experience AND require that they upload their resume.  Find out what the minimum information needed is and only request that. Your focus should be on making the process fast and efficient.
4. Follow-up with ALL job candidates. If you’re using the latest ATS programs, you can send out mass emails to job candidates.  Mark resumes in a way that will make it easy to send out slightly personalized emails to job candidates even if it’s a “thanks but no thanks” rejection letter. 

During slow times, some recruiters may feel tempted to do “cattle calls” in an attempt to attract some high quality job candidates despite the fact that they don’t have any job opportunities available.  But the fact is that cattle calls are never as productive as selective recruiting and they can damage a recruiter’s reputation with top performers.  Below are a few other reasons why recruiters should avoid doing cattle calls:

1. Cattle calls attract low-quality job candidates.  Even though some recruiters are convinced that their cattle call postings are attractive, most top performers see right through them and refuse to respond.
2. Cattle calls waste the recruiter’s time.  Recruiters who send out cattle calls end up sifting through a ton of useless resumes when they could spend their time cultivating relationships with employers and hiring managers.
3. Cattle calls damage the recruiter’s brand.  Even if a high quality job candidate responds to a cattle call, if the recruiter fails to produce the job opportunity and/or fails to follow up, that candidate may avoid responding to future job postings by the same recruiter.
4. Cattle calls damage job candidates and the recruiting profession.  It is especially important during this recession that recruiters only seek out job candidates when they have a real opportunity that matches the job seeker’s skills and experience.  Otherwise, the job candidate’s precious time is wasted and their view of recruiters becomes tainted.