Eli Amdur is the author of "Career Coach" - a
weekly career advice column which has been appearing in major regional
newspapers in the US since 2003.
2008 will be what you make
it. By Eli Amdur
Q: What are your expectations for the workplace for the
coming year and what would you advise me to do?
Well now,
if that isn’t as direct a question as I’ve ever gotten – and as timely – I
don’t know what is.
Next year
is an election year, so get ready for half the politicians to tell you how
great things have been going and the other half to tell you how terrible they
are but how much better things would be if they get your vote. Don’t
believe a word from either bunch of these characters. The reason
I started my answer like this is that election years distort everything,
including not just what politicians say, but what they actually do, as well.
Why does that matter to you, the candidate? Because you can realistically
expect some initiatives which, when begun, might make you forget that these
things haven’t been done since a day after the last election. Get it? The rest
of my answer is designed to cut through that. The sad truth
is that, while unemployment is relatively low historically – 4.7 percent in
November – it is (1) not nearly as low as it was in 2000, when it was well
below four percent, and (2) stubbornly where it was in January of 2006. There has been
no improvement, then, in two years, with only minor monthly fluctuations of a
tenth of a point or so. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the number of unemployed persons (7.2
million) was about unchanged in November, and the unemployment rate was 4.7
percent for the third month in a row. A
year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 6.8 million, and the jobless
rate was 4.5 percent.” Four hundred thousand more
unemployed persons than a year ago and a slightly higher unemployment rate is
not exactly what will make the first bunch of politicians very credible, now,
is it?
What’s been going on, in
other words, is that the jobs which have been added to the American
economy haven’t met the demand. In terms of unemployment rate, it’s merely kept
up with population growth. In terms of raw numbers of jobs, it’s actually
slipped. Indeed, our economy has added 10.8 million jobs since January 2001,
but 12.1 million people entered the civilian labor force. Any way you slice it,
we haven’t kept up. Actually 12.1 million minus 10.8 million yields a number
which I find very telling and which never gets discussed: a loss of 1.3 million
job opportunities!
America’s
population grows by about 3.1 million per year, with slightly over 50 percent
of Americans in the labor force. That means that each year, 1.55 million jobs
must be added just to keep up with – not even to improve – the employment rate.
The 10.8 million jobs over seven years actually does average a million and a
half per year, so why is the unemployment rate higher? Simple: there are more
people looking for work, that’s why. And the reason for that is that an
estimated two-thirds of the jobs that have been created are menial, entry
level, or at lower salaries than they paid when they were eliminated, causing
more families to have to send a second or third person out to work.
Our economic
recovery over the last several years has been strong on a macro level, but it’s
been based on productivity, not re-employment. Productivity simply means that,
among other things, an employer has figured out how to do 10 workers’ work with
nine workers. On a macro level: growth. On a micro level: stagnation. That, dear
friends, will continue in 2008, no matter what anyone promises. And that is not
exactly what will make the second bunch of politicians credible, either. All the above
“stat-babbling” tells you why next year might look different. From here to the
end of this piece, I will tell you what hasn’t changed – or shouldn’t. Maintain your
proactive job search stance – namely active networking and targeting of
prospective employers – just do more of it. Nothing lands more jobs than
networking, so remember one of my mantras (which has appeared here dozens of
times). A-B-C: Always be connecting. The second most
effective job search strategy is targeting companies you’d like to work for and
letting them know it. There are a lot of specifics to this approach (which
space doesn’t allow), but this is worth all the effort. Make sure your
resume is absolutely top notch, no matter what you have to do to get that
accomplished.
Don’t
desperately clutch at any job that comes along; that’s a recipe for failure,
and chances are you’ll be back in the same situation before you’ve learned all
your new coworkers’ names. And don’t put up with employers who have
questionable hiring practices or who never get back to you while you’re holding
your breath waiting to hear from them. Remember my favorite mantra: Next bus.
Take back the decision process!
And the most
important underpinning of all this is maintaining a positive attitude, allowing
for the search process to be long and frustrating. Accept that now, and you’ll
not only plan better for it, you’ll also execute better.
I am neither
optimistic nor pessimistic about next year; I’m just realistic. And that’s what
you have to be: realistic and self-reliant. If you are, then my expectations
are good.
Happy New Year
and happy job hunting.
[XII3007]
Avoid these mistakes in your cover letter. By Eli Amdur
Q: I enjoyed reading your recent column about resume blunders. Could you
write a column regarding mistakes on cover letters?
I’ve always said that,
while your resume is the most important piece of communication you’ll ever
write, your cover letter might be the only chance you get to persuade the reader
to read your resume. Think about it. Companies get tons of resumes, and unless
you do everything you can to make yours get to the “A” pile, your chances go
way down.
Just to remind you,
employers separate resumes into three piles. The A-pile is filled with great
resumes – the all-stars, the B-pile is what the employer gets to if the A-pile
runs out, and the C-pile gets picked up every night by the cleaning crew. So the first
mistake you can make is not writing a cover letter. I regularly get questions
like “Is a cover letter necessary?” or “Are there situations when I don’t have
to write a cover letter?”
The answer to the
first question is yes, to the second, no. And the answer to the next question
is, no, there are absolutely no exceptions to either of the above questions.
There’s another reason: pure manners, a point that doesn’t need much
explanation (I hope). In the more than 30 years I’ve hired, I have never
considered a resume that didn’t come with a cover letter. Never. Wouldn’t even
look at it. “C” pile.
Probably the most
common mistake is writing too much. You need a short cover letter – the shorter
the better – that can be read in about twenty seconds. Don’t ramble on in a
pointless, hopeless, and endless way. Four or five sentences is more than
enough: an opener that tells why you’re writing, a sentence or two followed by
three strong bullet points that highlight relevant qualifications or
accomplishments, and a closing sentence or two, asking for a call to action –
an interview or a phone call.
That “only chance you
get to persuade the reader to read your resume” can disappear in a heartbeat if
the reader sees a long letter. Put yourself in the employer’s shoes: busier
than ever, time is crunched, project deadlines are looming, other crises or
opportunities are rearing up every day, and taking home too much work. The last
thing he wants to do is read something that looks like War and Peace. I’m not
stretching the point here; I once got a cover letter that was three pages,
single spaced! It was seven times as long as Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Really!
When
writing, learn to get to the point, stay on point, and get off the point; and
do it in short, simple sentences. Rule of thumb: an average skilled reader
reads about six words per second, so your 20-second letter should max out at
about 120 words. If you can do it in less, do it.
Next, make it look
good. Format is just as important as content because the reader sees what it
looks like before reading what it says. That’s why manufacturers spend so much
money on product packaging. One-inch margins all around and lots of white space
help make a letter easy to read.
“Dear Sir or Madam” is
another mistake. It’s poor style and lazy. Try to write the letter to a
specific person. It’s not always possible to get the person’s name, but it’s
worth the effort.
Once again, as with
the resume, make sure your letter is error-free. Misspellings and typos are
unacceptable and may stop the reader before ever getting to your resume.
A common misconception
is that letters and resumes should be on expensive paper. Let me dispel that
one quickly. Your concern should be what’s on the letter, not what the letter
is on. No, you won’t hurt yourself by using fine watermarked 25-percent cotton
fiber paper with a white wove finish, but since 80 percent (or more) of all
resumes are emailed – and then printed out on copy paper (or never even printed
to begin with), why bother?
Lastly, let’s get back
to what I mentioned earlier about ending the letter with a call to action.
Every letter – without fail – should ask for a meeting or, at least, a call.
Then – and here’s the most common omission – say the following: “I hope to hear
from you and will be happy to follow up with you shortly.” Don’t end just with
“I hope to hear from you.” Hope is not a strategy and hope is not a plan.
You’ll be hoping for an awfully long time.
Why are you writing?
You want a meeting (and then the job, of course), so make it clear that’s why
you’re writing. It’s up to you to follow up. However, don’t say simply that you
will follow up. That sounds too ominous, almost a threat. On the other hand, “I
will be happy to follow up,” is more of a promise. It’s softer but still firm
and focused.
Cover letters are more
than important; they’re critical. But remember what they are: they are “the
only chance you get to persuade the reader to read your resume.” They are
tactical rather than strategic and, therefore, should be looked at as a simple
tool – like a lever or fulcrum which provides a mechanical advantage, if you
will, to get a job done.
That job? To get your
resume read.
[XII2307]
Job search tips for the currently employed By Eli Amdur
Q: I’m working but not happy with my job and want to move on. Do I quit and
look full time or do I stay put and look part time? Am I a better candidate if
I have a job? If I stay with my job, how do I conduct this job search?
Being employed
doesn’t necessarily make you a better candidate than if you’re unemployed.
Ultimately what makes you a strong candidate for your next job is not whether
you’re working now, but whether you can demonstrate to your potential new
employer that you can play a part in his future. Plain and simple.
What matters
is what kind of package you are: skill sets, background, experience, education,
accomplishments – the whole nine yards. Your current employment status is a
secondary consideration at best. One qualification here: when you get to the
negotiation stage (after the offer), you might have more leverage if you’re
employed. But that’s not what you asked. Other than that, it’s a toss up.
In my career, I’ve
interviewed thousands of candidates and hired hundreds and placed (as a
recruiter and staffer) even more. Never did I get hung up on their employment
status. I always focused first on their suitability for the job. If a candidate
was that good, what did I care if the temporary situation in that candidate’s
life was one of unemployment?
And that’s the way you
should look at it. You see, unemployment doesn’t carry the stigma it once did.
Years back, being unemployed was an issue. Today, however, do you know anyone
at any level who hasn’t been unemployed at one time or another?
Hardly. Me, too. So
make your decision about quitting or staying based on other issues, like what
your financial situation is or whether you just can’t look at your boss anymore
without stressing out.
That said, let’s talk
about how to search while you’re working. Your first – and ultimately most
important – concern is being discreet. Guard your secret fiercely.
Use no work contacts –
phone, fax, email – at all. No exceptions. Put your cell number on your resume,
keep the phone on vibrate in your pocket so you’re always aware of who’s trying
to reach you, let the incoming call go to voice mail, and then get somewhere –
like a private office or, better yet, your car in the parking lot – to return
the call.
Another reason not to
use work contacts is an ethical one. Using the company’s email for personal
reasons (especially a job search) is reason for immediate dismissal. You don’t
need that record following you around, do you? Don’t tell
anyone at work that you’re looking. You know how fast things get around, and if
you tell even your closest coworker, it will be like going to your boss and
just blurting out, “Take this job and…. I’m outta’ here.”
Don’t post your resume
on job boards for all the world to see. I’m very much opposed to this even if
you’re not working, as too many people can get their hands on it without you
knowing what they’re doing with it. In any event, if you feel you must, make it
anonymous.
If you will be put
through an initial phone screening interview, try to schedule it for a time,
like lunch or a break, when it won’t be obvious that you’re not doing what
you’re supposed to be doing. If you get invited for a first face-to-face
interview, try to schedule it for early in the morning – and then let your boss
know ahead of time that you need to come in a couple of hours late that day.
Once you get to a second interview, take a vacation day. Once again, be
ethical. Don’t use a sick day. If you’re found out, you’re history.
Also, try to
schedule interviews for Mondays or Fridays. It minimizes attention, and many
employers schedule interviews knowing this. Let interviewers know
they can not contact your current employer until they’re prepared to make an
offer. Let them make that offer contingent on references. If they’re serious
about you, this will not be a problem. If it is, then don’t be serious about
them.
This next point is not
easy to do, but put on your game face. You’ve got to make sure you don’t let on
to what’s doing. Employers are very suspicious when any behavior changes – like
increased absenteeism, being late for meetings, not returning voice mails or
emails promptly, or a falling off of performance – and they’re good at spotting
these things. That’s fair; wouldn’t you, if it were your company? Therefore,
it’s more important than ever – even though your heart is no longer in it – to
come to work like every day is your first day at work.
Keep up your level of
professionalism, be reliable, and continue your good working relationship with
everyone around you. I know this gets harder the closer you get to your next
job, but there are no excuses.
And finally, when you
get an offer, insist that you be given at least two weeks to give your employer
ample notice. Even if you’ve mentally signed off, you can’t be a jerk about
this. Your reputation is at stake. The extra time (over
two weeks) is for you. Take some downtime before starting a new job. It will be
a while before your next time off.
Happy searching!
[XII1607]
Interviewing skill – an integral component of job searching By Eli Amdur
Q: I’m just getting started in my career and I’m trying to develop good
overall job search skills, including learning techniques on how to be
successful in interviews. Can you recommend any good books on interviewing? Do
you think mock interviews will help me? What else would you suggest?
Before I answer your
questions, here’s a prediction without even seeing your professional or
academic credentials. You have a great chance for success. The reason for my confidence in you is your proactive
approach to making yourself a successful candidate. Whether you’ll be a
successful professional in your chosen field is horse of a different color;
that depends on your actual job skill sets.
But what you seem to
get (that a lot of people don’t, unfortunately) is that there is another whole
set of skills – career skills – that are as important, or even more important,
than the skills you need to do your job.
Job skills. Career
skills. A small difference in semantics, but a huge line of demarcation. If you
understand that both must be equally developed, your chances for a successful
career expand incrementally, which brings us back to your questions about
interviewing, certainly one of the more clearly defined skills.
As far as books, it’s
hard to recommend them (other than the one I keep telling myself to write) for
many reasons. First, the sheer number of books on careers is mind boggling.
Just take a stroll down the career aisle in your public library or book store.
Many are good but most are not worth the paper they’re written on.
As an example, one
theme I see often is the “Great Resumes That Get Great Jobs” idea. What
nonsense! Resumes don’t get jobs; they get interviews. Or, more aptly, as my
friend and colleague Juanita Turner says (readers, if you’ve been reading this
column for any period of time, you should be very familiar with Juanita by
now), “resumes make your phone ring.” The idea of a direct relationship between
resumes and jobs is folly. The other day I came
across a book more closely related to your inquiry. Paraphrasing the title (I
don’t want to take the chance of angering the author or his lawyer), it
basically said, “Ace the Interview and Go Home with the Job.” See what I mean?
More folly.
So I’ll just recommend
browsing to find something that makes sense and that doesn’t make brash,
outlandish claims. And there are plenty of these – not to worry.
As far as mock
interviewing goes, it is a good idea but it has a limitation. On balance, I
like the mock interview, especially for younger, less experienced candidates.
It’s like a rehearsal for a performance; you don’t go on stage in front of an
audience before going on stage without one. You have to get the practice of
going through the process. You’ll feel more comfortable and relaxed, and less
surprised by what you’ll encounter. In that light, mock
interviews are valuable and, yes, I do think they help. However, that said, let
me tell you what the limitation is. A mock interview tends to train you to be
good in an interview just like it. With so many different types of interviews,
and so many more different questions you could field, there’s no way to cover
all that in a mock interview. The variations are just too great. So, unless you
can apply the lessons learned to other novel situations as they arise, to think
laterally, your experience in a mock interview might just stifle you.
Mark Twain used to
talk about the cat that sat on a hot stove. That cat would never again sit on a
hot stove, but then, would never sit on a cold one, either. What I’m saying is,
unless you can apply lessons learned appropriately, sometimes they teach
nothing.
I’m more in favor of
another approach (although I certainly do mock interviews from time to time),
and that’s to analyze the types of interviews you’ll encounter and the types of
questions you’ll be answering. Notice: not the exact questions. There are too
many, it’s endless, actually.
I’ve been much more
effective for those I coach by helping to identify the situations they’ll face,
understand the dynamics, develop strategies, and think on their feet. That’s a
much more sound approach than what the cat used. And I just love getting call
backs that say, “I aced the interview.”
There is one other
thing I’d suggest, and that’s to get more of what a mock interview is supposed
to give you: experience. Since there’s no substitute for real time, live game
situations, here’s an idea you may not have thought of. Try to get interviews
for jobs you don’t care too much about, ones that are not on your A-list. What
have you got to lose, an hour? But look what you’ve got to gain: the experience
you need, the opportunity to make mistakes that won’t cost you, and – in the
process – the chance to become more skilled, comfortable, fluid, and confident. All things considered,
interviewing should be seen as something more than an unpleasant formality on
the way to a job. Those who don’t understand this are not on their way to a job
at all. Interviewing is a skill that needs to be identified, practiced, and
improved.
That’s why I think
you’ll be successful. You’ve just started that.
[XII0907]
Three constants: death, taxes, and dumb resume mistakes By Eli Amdur
Q: “Enclosed is my resume for your review…”
So starts the typical
email I receive regularly. Why, you might ask, do I mention this? Two reasons.
First, since I wrote
an article a few weeks ago that encouraged you to intensify your job searching
at the end of the year, these emails have increased. That’s a good thing, as
most people labor under the misperception that – since hiring tapers off at the
end of the year (which it, indeed, does) – this is an excuse to let down. On
the contrary, this is when the tough get going, so I’m glad I got that point
across.
Second, back to
resumes, I’ve concluded there’s one more constant besides death and taxes: dumb
mistakes on resumes, and I’m going to go through the five most common ones,
goofs I never should see, but – alas – still do. Hopefully, we’ll do our best
to rid humankind of this scourge. Well, OK, more modestly, maybe it will help
shape up your resume.
Today’s column, by the
way, focuses on simple, fundamental, tactical issues; we’ll have to get to the
more conceptual, strategic issues in the near future. The most
egregious error you can ever make – and the number one pet peeve of recruiters
and hiring managers – is the inexcusable spelling or typographical error. I’ve
received tens of thousands of resumes in my (very long) career, and let me tell
you this in plain English. The minute I spot a spelling error or typo, I stop
reading, period. Ditto for just about everyone else who reads resumes. If you
can’t get a simple thing like this right, you’re not going to have an easy time
convincing an employer you can do anything else right, either.
Do I still see this?
Every day, believe it or not. It’s what prompted today’s article.
Next, making your
resume too long is tantamount to relegating it to the “C-pile.” You know what
the C-pile is, don’t you? The A-pile is filled with great resumes, the B-pile
is what the employer gets to if the A-pile runs out, and the C-pile gets picked
up every night by the cleaning crew. What’s too long? Let’s
start with the absurd. A four-page resume is just too long, no matter how long
and illustrious your career. If you want any chance of that beast being looked
at, you may as well send it out with a bookmark. Even then, as they say in Brooklyn, fuhgedabahdit! Yet
today, as I write this, I got two more of them.
More reasonably, your
resume should reflect your career – one page as you start out, two as you
develop. Also, bullet points that are too long and wordy – usually, more than
two lines – are probably not well written, burying pertinent information about
your accomplishments.
In line with brevity,
don’t turn your resume into an autobiography. I once received a resume from a
49-year old candidate who still listed his Eagle Scout honors. Puh-leeze! If
it’s career-centered or career-related, it belongs on your resume. If not, not.
That’s not to say that
you should have only job-related stuff on there. Community involvement,
volunteerism, and such are very relevant. These activities tell the reader not
only what a professional you are, but what kind of good corporate citizen
you’ll be. This stays on.
Further, I still see too
many resumes that read like a job description rather than a list of
accomplishments. The dead giveaway is the appearance of “responsible for” or
“responsibilities include,” usually multiple times. Saying that doesn’t tell
the reader if you actually did what you were responsible for
Don’t use more than
one font on your resume; it looks disorganized, indecisive, and just plain
sloppy – and the reason it looks that way is because it is. Also, stay with
either Times New Roman or Arial; among other reasons, all the scanning programs
recognize these two fonts. And this is not the place to get cute with weird
fonts like Monotype Corsiva, Comic Sans, or Campbell. Check them out – I
really did get them all this week. Hard to believe.
Lastly – at least for
now – is irrelevant personal information. There are two types: benign (not too
harmful but a waste of time and space) and the more dangerous (which can put
you out of contention in a great big hurry).
Benign irrelevant
information includes hobbies and interests. I mean, really, I’m not going to
hire you because you like camping, jogging, canoeing, and hiking – and I’m not
going to disqualify you because you don’t. You can use that space for higher
impact data.
The more dangerous
irrelevant information, however, looks like this: marital status, family,
religion, political or sexual orientation, and other intimacies. And what’s
wrong with this is simple. Recruiters, as I’m wont to say, are trying to fill a
position, not run a dating service. Besides, ethical employers won’t hire or
reject you based on these considerations, so when they see them, they’ll run
the other way so that they won’t have to. You’re back in the C-pile.
While still a long way
from high-level resume issues, let’s fix these little problems first. You might
not get into the A-piles immediately, but at least the cleaning crews won’t
pick up the B-piles tonight.
Then we can get to work
on the rest.
