Thursday’s Thought: Being Different Is the New Normal

Just about every aspect in our society today has changed from what the "norm" was about 20-30 years ago to a new and different "acceptance" on the street. I won't even bother to try an list all of them, but to give you an idea of where I am going: Tattoo's were hidden, hair color was natural (not pink), sexual preference was not out in the open, communicating to someone was done in person, via snail mail, or over the phone, resumes were a simple black and white history document, we relied on our own efforts to accomplish a task, and if you were against public opinion you probably kept your mouth shut.

Maybe some of us that are unemployed are sticking to our "older" traditions, and we are not trying new things that might get us noticed. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to have you dye your hair pink if that is not your desired hair color, but I am asking that you open yourself up to formerly non-traditional actions that we still think is not for us, or still hold onto the "we never did it that way mentality". For example, how many job seekers today are using more than 3 social media avenues? The answer: less than 10%. Most of us have 1 or 2 and some use 3, but very few explore more than this. It's a good idea to only start with a few, but you need to expand into other social media channels if you want a broad coverage and to enhance your online identity. Also, does your resume look as bland as it did in the 90's? You need to attract the recruiter's attention, and the proper use of pictures and graphics will help make you stand out from the other 499 resumes that they view for every position they work on.

We all know the definition of insanity, yet we still stick to our traditions thinking society is going to change. And it will, but change takes time and I don't ever think that we will see a resume chiseled on a cave wall like we did in the past.

Tuesday’s Tip: The Interviewer is Nervous as Well

Most Hiring Managers are not very good at interviewing (and they know this). Thus, they are just as nervous as you are in the interview. They are nervous because they are thinking, “Will I represent my company well?”, “Will I ask the right questions”, “Can I sell this opportunity”, and “Will I be able to […]

Thursday’s Thought: Discrimination Against the Unemployed

Recently, it’s been in the news that companies are discriminating against those job seekers that aren’t currently unemployed. They would rather interview employees that are currently working at another company, than bring in talented individuals that have valid reasons for being on the job market. This mentality just further proves the incompetence of many recruiters […]

Tuesday’s Tip: Asking For & Writing Social Recommendations

We all know by now that receiving social media recommendations (especially for LinkedIn), is crucial to your online significance. Although I personally feel that recruiters do NOT pay as much attention to what is said about the individuals, as the “media” reports, I still would rather you have a well polished and “clean” online record. […]

Tuesday’s Tip: Introducing Yourself In Networking Situations

In a networking environment, we may meet 20 people in one night. My question to you is: Did you impress those 20 people to the degree that they would remember you a month later? If most of us answer that honestly, we would fail. Most of us would say that they would remember my face […]

Thursday’s Thought: The Job Seeker’s World Is Turning Upside Down

The landscape is changing. The idea of lifetime employment with one company is all but extinct. And staying in one career for your entire work life is not as prominent as in the past. The trend is also moving towards more contract/consultant short-term “project work”. People will not be restricted (nor expected) to carry only […]

Tuesday’s Tip: When You Use Social Media… Be An Open Book

Why do job seekers want to keep their information private? As a recruiter, if we can’t find you, there is no magic lamp that we can rub for you to appear. Here are 3 reasons that I have heard why some people are not comfortable providing their contact information, address, and other personal information, followed […]

Thursday’s Thought: I Need A Job! Where Do I Begin?

The most common answer to that question for a typical job seeker is “The Job Boards”. It worked in the past, so let’s try it again. Wrong answer. In confusing times, where everyone and anyone is handing out inaccurate advice, and the job seekers heads are spinning with confusion, some seem to turn to those […]

Tuesday’s Tip: Are You Ready for Those Interview Questions?

We all wish we had a magical cheat-sheet with all of the questions (and the excepted answers) to all of those weird and illogical questions that those ill-prepared interviewers are bound to ask us in an interview. But unless I haven’t been copied on the E-mail yet, that sheet probably doesn’t exist. However, you can […]

Thursday’s Thought: Speed Interviewing

Last night after our networking event, someone came up to me and mentioned a clever idea. I wanted to run this by all my readers and see what kind a response/participation this would ignite. He thought that my networking group could further be enhanced by offering a Speed Interviewing Event. This would be similar to […]