This is the first in a series of three posts dealing with “brand.” A post on personal brands (YOU), and “how-to-do” examples will follow this first overview piece. As someone who’s been in the people (and teams) coaching business for over 25 years, and also been directly responsible for hiring thousands of people through roles running large staffing / recruiting operations, I have a pretty good idea why some firms recruit well (and others don’t), and how people can take their best foot forward as either a job candidate or consultant / vendor.… Read the rest
[Choose Me, Hire Me!] Networking for CEO’s?
Headlines blare: “Why You Should Hire Me.” While times may be challenged, there is work (and jobs) to be had. I’ve been in the people (and teams) assessment business for over 25 years, both as a coach to managers and teams and as someone directly responsible for hiring thousands of people through roles running large staffing / recruiting operations. I’ve designed selection processes, designed and run interviewer training programs, and written and spoken on the subjects of recruiting and selection.… Read the rest
[Land of Spin] The Job Hunt: TwitterShouldHireMe.com and Other Tricks of the Trade
Fortune Magazine’s April 13, 2009 edition has an article on Jamie Varon, who built a website called TwitterShouldHireMe.com as part of her job hunt campaign to get – guess who – to hire her. She also writes a blog called “intersected ." Her Twitter job campaign site apparently has spawned a host of imitators (googleshouldhireme.com, Facebookshoulehireme.com, etc.). [Update: Varon has also just launched a new blog site called "Shatterbox – The Way of Standing Out and Changing the World."… Read the rest
[New Rules] Fortune Magazine’s “How to Find a Job” – What’s Working Now
This week’s April 13, 2009 Fortune Magazine (on newsstands now, online in around 10 days) identifies tactics that they believe work in the current job market. Many will sound familiar from readers of the nine-part “Choose Me” Hire Me! series from the Life Back West blog.
Here are some of the job hunting actions Fortune identified that work:
- Be thorough and methodical
- Work your Rolodex
- Target your search
- Do your homework
- Get the word out
- (Be creative and) Get noticed and get your foot in the door
- Build your network
- Offer people intelligence on the competition
- Fine tune your resume (include metrics and stats)
All of these ideas are really helpful and I think complement the type of know yourself, know your message, and build your network approached advocated by experts such as Richard Nelson Bolles .… Read the rest
[New Rules] Job Candidates and Kindergarten Applications: What They Teach Us
Analogs and metaphors are helpful ways to communicate ideas as well as find experiences in one area that inform possible experiences in another. Albeit imperfect we can learn much from using these surrogate experiences .
It’s a proverbial "week after" in San FranciscoK-8th grade admissions scene: the week after private school admissions were announced and the week after the second round (most likely after a not-so-successful first round of applications) for public schools concluded .… Read the rest
Update: It’s Late at the Candidate Pub: Part 8 – “Last Call” – of the nine part series “Choose Me, Hire Me!”
In an earlier post of the getting-hired tips series "Choose Me, Hire Me! " I noted that – for those that could – participating in volunteer activities is a great way to keep your mind sharp and your hands dirty while job hunting. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a good article by Dana Mattioli titled "The Laid-Off Can Do Well Doing Good " which can be found here .… Read the rest