Category: Articles

Job Hunting tips from the Recruiter’s perspective

It’s a fact today that competition at every level is fierce, especially with electronic job posting media. But, don’t let that fact stand in the way of putting your best foot forward when applying via email to a Recruitment firm like ours. In this article, we’ll try to provide you with a few tips on making yourself stand out from the crowd, and getting the Recruiter on your side.

1. Do the recruiter a BIG favor and name your resume attachment with your givenname, e.g. John Doe. Many recruitment software packages find it easier to have the candidate’s name as the file name, rather than “JD newest 03/03”. Even if the company doesn’t have a job for you today, it may mean the difference at a later date when they can retrieve your file and keep you abreast of new positions as they become available.

1. Your cover letter is your chance to sell yourself to a potential employer as the best candidate for a specific position. As such, it’s just as important as your resume. In fact, you should never send out a resume without one. The most important thing to remember is that your cover letter serves a separate function from your resume and should not be used to repeat the details of your resume, such as work history, education, or personal objectives. The resume is about you, your experience and your skills. The cover letter is about what you can do for the employer.

Try to cover:

• introducing yourself
• your reason for writing
• your next action steps re: calling to follow up by a certain date

Make it succinct; bullets are easier to read that flowery paragraphs.

1. Make sure in your contact information you provide name, phone numbers (home, cell number, etc.) and your email address. Don’t send job hunting information from your company email address; simply set up a free Gmail or Yahoo account and use this specifically for your job search.

1. Have your resume ready to go in electronic format, e.g. as a .doc or .pdf. A text version of your résumé will not look as nice cosmetically, but everyone will be able to read it, despite what software or applicant tracking system (ATS) they may be using. To do so, simply open completed résumé in Word, etc. and use the file->Save As option, then select .txt as the document type, and you’ll have your simplified version. Don’t forget to name it with your given name.

1. Follow up with an email or phone call within a week or so after forwarding your resume.

While many Recruiters try to respond to all inquiries, sometimes it can become laborious to get to everyone in a short time period. Remind the Recruiter about your background in a few sentences, to help you become top of mind to them. See if you can gain a short amount of virtual “face time” with them, in order to promote your skills further. But, do realize the Recruiter receives many request like this on a daily basis, and often can only meet only those potentially suited for active searches.

Check out our web site for additional job hunting tips like Interview tips. In the meantime, good luck with your career search!

Wolf is President, Wolf Gugler Executive Search, specializing in executive search and talent assessment for Retailers and their Suppliers with offices in Canada and the U.S. He can be reached at (888) 848-3006 or via email to [email protected]. Web site: www.wolfgugler.com.

Interview tips

Last month we covered job-hunting tips; let’s assume you’ve heard from an interested company that wants to interview you in person. There are several steps you can take to increase the probability that a job interview will be successful. Being well prepared will increase your self-confidence and peace of mind, which will in turn improve your performance in the interview.

First, remember that likely an interviewer wants to find an outstanding candidate for the job as much as you want to find a fulfilling career. Think of the interview as a “win-win” situation where both parties are hoping for a positive outcome.

Throughout your professional life you will be interviewed by some people who are trained interviewers and by others who are not. There is no one “right” way to interview, and no matter what the format, it is your responsibility to do the best you can in each situation. Because interviewing is really an unrehearsed conversation between two strangers, the discussion can take many directions. For that reason, it’s important to be comfortable as the interview unfolds. Comfort comes in large measure from your preparation. The only thing you can know for certain is that each interview is unique.

Beforehand: know the exact place and time of the interview, the interviewer’s full name and the correct pronunciation, and his/her title.

• Learn pertinent facts about the company such as annual sales revenue, principal lines of business and locations. Go to www.google.com or www.thomasregister.com to find out what you need to know.
• Find out why the hiring manager and/or client representative is interested in your qualifications (just ask them when on the phone; they’re human and won’t take offense).

An interview is a two-way street. Come prepared with your own list of questions to ask during the interview. Your questions allow the hiring manager to evaluate your professional and personal needs (avoid salary until it is raised by the Interviewer). Insightful questions help you both determine how good the fit may be. Lastly, the better you understand the opportunity, the more you will be able to communicate your interest and your qualifications in the position. Re: your interest; it never ceases to amaze me how many candidates neglect to convey their interest level. If, at the end of the interview, you truly feel this is an opportunity you’re suited for and want to pursue further, make sure the Interviewer knows that. It often may be the difference between two equally qualified candidates.

• Put your best foot forward. Always wear proper attire and greet your interviewer with a firm handshake and an enthusiastic smile. Bring a notepad and do take notes during the meeting; they’ll be invaluable when you’re called back for another meeting.

Interview types

• Structured Interviews Structured interviews consist of interview questions that have been prepared in advance. The questions are derived from the job requirements and asked in a specified order. Structured interviews are typical for jobs involving a fairly straightforward list of duties and responsibilities.
• Team interviews typically involve the members of the vacant position’s work team in the job interview process. These can sometimes be used to try and induce stress, to see how the candidate reacts in this situation. In fairness, it is also used for time effectiveness for all of the Interviewers involved. In this situation, try to answer each question looking at each of the panel interviewers, not just one individual. Relax, remember they’re all human too, and assume there are going to be times in your job where you are making group presentations such as this one.
• Unstructured Interviews: in this situation, the conversation free-flows and is probably best described as a getting-to-know-you session. You may cover the job duties but not get into specifics. Some Interviewers are more comfortable in this setting and will then narrow their candidate list down to one or two finalists and meet with them again to discuss the position in more detail. Once again, there’s no right or wrong way to interview—in this case, do be yourself. Just try to stay focused and don’t let down your guard and say (as many have to me), “well, between you and me, I really didn’t like my last Boss so I decided to quit and move on”, or a similar story that probably ends your chances of being successful in this job competition.

Commonly Asked Questions—Consider your answers carefully

• Why are you looking to leave your current employer?
• What do you know about this position and our company and why are you interested?
• What are your short-term and long-term goals?
• What are your strengths? Weaknesses?
• What are you currently looking for in salary? Why do you feel you’re worth this?
• What do you need to know from us to decide about whether this opportunity is right for you?
• Who have you learned the most from and what was it? Why was it important?
• What do you like about your current Boss? What could be improved in him/her? Who was your worst Boss and why?
• When are you available to start?
• From what I’ve described, what would you change here?

Behavioral Questions

These are interview questions designed to determine if you possess the desired key competencies for the job. An example might be:

“It’s inevitable that conflict may arise on the job. Tell me about a time where this occurred with a fellow employee. What was it over? How did you propose to resolve it? What did they propose? What was the eventual solution? What is your relationship like today with that person?”

When the interview concludes

When the interviewer signals the interview is closing, there’s nothing wrong with asking, “What is the next step?” Tell the employer you are now even more intrigued by the company and the position (if this is the case). Emphasize your background and give a specific example to demonstrate this. Leave them with this positive thought, and hopefully you’ll have raised the bar to the point where they can’t resist calling you back. Don’t forget the Will Rogers saying, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Good luck!

Wolf is President, Wolf Gugler Executive Search, LLC, specializing in executive search and talent assessment for Retailers and their Suppliers with offices in Canada and the U.S. He can be reached at (888)848-3006 or via email to [email protected]. Web site: www.wolfgugler.com

Wolf Gugler & Associates, Limited www.wolfgugler.com
Resume Tips
I have seen resumes in every way, shape and form. Most resumes that people send me have typos, they’re unprofessional or they have misspelled words. They just don’t do a good job in representing that person.
I’m going to take you through some basic tips on how to write a resume that will stand out.
Resume Tip #1: Resumes should be no longer than two pages.
The most critical part of your resume is the first half of the first page because resumes are read in seven seconds. That’s it folks – seven seconds. So you want to write your resume so that when people read it they can glance at the most important items that you want them to see in that seven second time-frame.
Resume Tip #2: Most people will only read the first half of the first page
If you have enticed them enough in that first half then they will probably want to read on. So what do you do in that first half of that first page?
Name and Contact Information: First include your name and contact information including email address.
Target Opportunity or Industry: If you have targets, list them. What are you targeting? Are you targeting strategic selling? Are you a leader in strategic selling? Put that on there—say that you’re a strategic sales person or strategic sales leader for example. Tell the reader what specifically you’re looking for. You can alternatively address this in your cover letter.
Key Competencies: Then you want to have what I call key words which are your greatest strengths, your key competencies or key words that you want the reader to glance at first. You can strategically put those words under your contact information centered in maybe two, three or four lines and you can italicize them and space between them. The reader’s eye is going to go to those key words first and again, those key words are your greatest strengths.
So if you’re a leader, then maybe one of your greatest strengths is leadership. What else are your key strengths? Are you a project manager? Do you do project management? Do you do contract negotiations?
Are you good at detail and follow up? Come up with those key skills that you would envision using in that next opportunity and make those key words stand out.
Qualification Summary: You then want to have a short paragraph that summarizes your qualifications. The worst thing you can do with this paragraph is make it like a cookie cutter paragraph. For example, where
you say you’re a team player or you say those things that everyone else says on their resume. There is no way that your resume is going to stand out if you say exactly the same thing as everybody else.
You really need to think about those things that will grab the reader’s attention for that paragraph. The paragraph should reflect who you are and what your particular strengths and focus are. Think about the things that your managers, your peers, and your employees would say about you or the things that really stand out in their minds about you.
Have you developed new programs to increase sales? Have you defused a negative situation? Managed big budgets? Put some of those things in this paragraph. Make it unique and different from everyone else’s resume.
Other Key Information: I also like to include in that first half of that first page anything else that you might consider to be key for the reader to know. I helped someone write a resume who wanted to get into a management role. So in that first half of that first page we created a little heading and called it Leadership Highlights. It included 3 or 4 bullets of things that this person did to demonstrate their leadership skills.
Now, she never held a leadership role in a paid position. So what?! She held many leadership roles in the community and in different organizations. She’s got her advanced degree in marketing. She has an MBA and she held positions where she reported to high level executives such as General Managers and Vice Presidents. So think about those things that build the case for what it is you’re trying to sell, so to speak.
Think about other things you want to include in that first half of that first page. For example, if you’re somebody that’s in tool sales and hardware or DIY expertise is critical for the reader to know you have these skills then you may want to incorporate that information in the first half of the first page rather than having it be lost later on in the resume. So again, think about what you’re trying to sell. What you want the reader to know about you and include it there.
Career Highlights: If you’re not trying to sell leadership, for example, you might just do a heading and call it career highlights. I love to include career highlights, maybe 3 to 5 bullets of those things that you are most
proud of.
Career highlights can mean different things to different people. For example, a marketing executive of a large power tool company. One of her career highlights was that she spent many times as a subject matter
expert in various trade media talking about the competitive advantages of their product, holiday season promos, what the consumer confidence index was and those kinds of things. She did a lot of media appearances, so that was a career highlight for her.
I also worked with an emergency management executive and one of his career highlights was that he headed up a large tornado disaster recovery. I’ve had some sales professional clients who received president’s awards and they were in the top ten of their sales force or they brought in a huge deal. For other people it could be a speech that they’ve given, articles they’ve written, or degrees they’ve received.
So just think about what those career highlights are for you and put them in that first half of that first page so that information doesn’t get lost. Entice the reader to want to continue reading on.
Describe your employer’s business, e.g. a diversified paint manufacturer, etc.
Use bullets as they’re easier to read and draw the reader’s attention to them.
Use numbers to quantify your accomplishments. If you’re a road warrior who’s not afraid of travel, indicate e.g. that you drove 200km last year covering your territory. If you increased a customer’s business by 5% or
$25,000, tell the reader. The eyes are drawn to numbers.
Include a brief paragraph of interests at the end. This isn’t mandatory, but I appreciate a chance to get to know what motivates a potential candidate outside of work when I first review their resume. Omit anything
to do with religious or political views.

Good luck!