What does finding a spouse and finding a career have in common?

1. A large amount of patience is required for both
2. Hanging out in groups in order to find a spouse or a job is typically required
3. If all of your needs are not met both of these relationships can fall apart quickly.
4. Everyone has preconceived notions about going into a relationship like this. The more open you are with each other in the beginning of the relationship the better off you will be later.
5. The first couple of dates (interviews) can be very uncomfortable.
6. In order to be a friend you must first be friendly. (Even in an interview)
7. People like to be respected; men- hold the door for your date (spouse), open her car door, write her a love letter, buy her flowers, speak to her with love and not harsh words. Isn’t the same true of an interview? Send them a thank you letter for interviewing you, treat the interviewer with respect during the interview, etc…
8. A call back might not happen after the first date (interview)
9. Some persistence might be required
10. In order for anyone to find a spouse or a job, a miracle needs to happen. In the area of marriage it is always amazing to me to learn of two totally separate people rearranging their entire lives to become one flesh. When they met each other they had their own goals and objectives, but when they accept that bond of marriage they relinquish those desires and focus on their desires together.
11. The same goes for finding a job. When a company is looking to hire a new person they search far and wide for the right candidate. This company could hire anyone they want but when it came down to it, they hired you. How mind blowing is that? It could have been anyone in the world but it was you. Don’t take that fact lightly.
12. When you do find a spouse or find a job don’t take these two miracles lightly. Count your blessings and thank God for these two privileges.

I received this email the other day from a colleague and was quite intrigued to say the least.
——–
Hi Justin,

I just joined NotchUp’s private beta program and wanted to share it with you.

NotchUp is a new way to manage your career. Instead of YOU having to sort through hundreds of job postings, NotchUp enables top companies to find you and pay you to interview for available jobs. It’s 100% free to join and use.

If you’re happy at your job, and don’t want to look for anything new, you want to be on NotchUp.

There are two ways to become a NotchUp member: 1) You can apply for admittance to the network and wait for acceptance, or 2) You can be invited by a current member and start using NotchUp immediately. Because I invited you, you can join NotchUp without having to apply.

NotchUp is in private beta right now - to access the site, the username is launch, and the password is interview.

Click here to register for NotchUp and create your NotchUp profile. If the link doesn’t work, you can copy and paste the text below into your web browser:

http://www.notchup.com/beta1/?q=start/invite/7f1ca3a27c35f5ce72d9678c25c7219c

It takes less than five minutes to register and create a NotchUp profile, and it’s the best time investment you’ll make all year.

The current NotchUp private beta site is password protected.

Please enter launch for the user and interview for the password when prompted by your browser

———-

I checked it out and it seems that this start up company is actually going to help people get paid to interview.  In fact the response has been so overwhelming that they already had to shut down their original server and move to another one.  If you read this before 7PM EST the service might not be up and running yet.  I saw it yesterday afternoon and it was working.  In fact they told me I should charge a company $200 to interview me.  Why hasn’t anyone thought of this earlier?  What do you think about this?

I am trying to land an interview with the founders so stay tuned.  Check out their site for more details.

Attention employers!!

If you are interested in hiring quality talent from the pool of mostly unqualified people you might want to consider a few cosmetic changes when it comes to your office and hiring practices.

If candidates walk into an office environment and are greeted by an unenthusiastic receptionist or no receptionist at all what image does that portray of the company to the candidate?

If a candidate walks in to hear the CEO yelling at a roomful of employees about God knows what; how does that enable the candidate to have a strong desire to work at your company? Are they going to be subjected to this type of treatment?

If a candidate is interviewed in a room that consists of lingering cigarette smoke and ash what type of image does that portray of the company? Will it encourage the candidate to want to work there? What is their office going to smell like? How long has that donut been laying on the counter?

I hear so many companies telling job seekers what they must do to get noticed by employers but I hear very little talk around what companies must do to get noticed by job seekers. As the baby boomers begin to retire in greater numbers many futurists state that the labor shortage will continue to grow at a rapid pace. If companies aren’t planning for their labor challenge now it may be too late when the market is really tight.

If your company is in a growth mode and are hiring a large number of people you might want to consider putting a plan in place to ensure that your company looks attractive to perspective candidates. Let’s face it; the talented and qualified job seekers will work at companies who emanate greatness. If the candidate is great they aren’t going to settle for a sub-par company that is just getting by. They want to work for a company that has their act together so their career can flourish and at the same time they can help an exciting company grow.

It is easy to give good advice but it is even harder to follow it when it is your own.

Situation
Task
Action
Results

At your next interview consider the following:

When asked to give an example of a situation you have faced in the past you might want to consider using real life examples from your experiences. The STAR method, as described above, can be a good way to explain your experiences.

What was the situation you had to overcome?
What was the task at hand?
What action did you take to over come the situation?
What the results of your actions?

Answering a question in this manner might give your interviewer an opportunity to identify with your situation since everyone loves a good story.

The next time you go to answer an interview question make sure you answer it like a STAR!

1. The process is long

2. The process has multiple interviews with multiple people

3. HR is merely a screener and not a decision maker

4. Most interview processes start with phone interviews and not face-to-face interviews

5. Your current and past experience matters more than any education you could have gained

6. Broad range of experiences are a good thing

7. You may have the best interview in the world but it still doesn’t mean you will get the job. Finding a job is not a small matter. So many factors have to fall in your favor in order to land a job. When it does happen don’t take it lightly. Either you are supposed to be at that company, or you aren’t. There isn’t any in-between. I don’t believe in accidents and either should you.

If you ever feel lke your career is in the dumps or an interview went the wrong way I recommend you take heart and have a laugh by watching this series of clips from Seinfeld about George’s horrible experiences at work and trying to find a job.

 Click on over to You Tube for the clips

How does a phone interview make you feel?  Are you comfortable speaking with a recruiter on the phone about a position and company you might not know a lot about?  How can you make sure that your phone interview is longer than 10 minutes?  A phone interview is a great way for a company to weed out those who seem good on paper but in reality aren’t that impressive.  They are also usually used to determine who they are going to bring in for a face-to-face interview.

Here are some tips to help you with your next phone interview

Tip #1

Do as much research as possible on the company and position you are applying for.
Recruiters are going to ask questions that are specific about the position, company and industry you are trying to get a job in.

For example, if you are applying for a sales job at a company who sells into school districts you would want to know some of the following information:

-          The make up of the local education market (how many school districts are their in your territory, etc…)

-          Issues schools face at a state and federal level (No Child Left Behind)

-          How do schools make decisions on purchases?

-          What type of creative ideas can you come up with to help schools pay for your goods or services?

 

You would also want to know about:

-          Who are your competitors?

-          What experience have you had in the past that would qualify you to sell to school districts?

-          Who are the decision makers within school districts?

-          What conferences will you need to attend to become better connected within your industry?

-          What districts currently use your company’s products and what value did they see before purchasing them?

The phone interview is really the weeding out method.  If you aren’t impressive on the phone or cannot answer some of the company, industry, or position specific questions to the recruiters liking they may end the call quickly because it will give them enough information to make a decision on who to bring in for a face-to-face meeting.

What’s the bottom line with phone interviews?

Know as much information about the

COMPANY

INDUSTRY

POSITON

you are applying for.

Tip number two coming over the next couple of days…  stay tuned!

Justin Driscoll

If you were curious about how not to act in a job interview, I would recommend watching the auditions for American Idol. This sorry group of wanna-be’s offer much in the way of education when it come to how not to act during a singing competition but also a job interview.

1. If your interviewer (judge) laughs at your during the interview just stand up and leave.
2. If your interviewer makes faces at you during the Q&A session you probably aren’t getting the job.
3. If you answer a question by saying, “I really don’t know what to say to that question.” You might not have a chance at winning a singing competition or landing your next job. (Always have answer to their questions and please don’t stare at them blankly.)
4. Try to dress appropriately. What are some of these people on American Idol thinking? Do they not have mirrors? I hope you do before your next interview.
5. If you are a software engineer from Utah please do not ever sing another note. Stick to typing code and stay out of music.(If you didn’t watch the show tonight this one won’t make sense.)
6. Finally, interview for jobs that you really want. If you don’t really want the job you probably aren’t going to get it. It is obvious that many of the contestants on American Idol only try out for their five minutes of fame or else they really like to get hammered by Simon. Even in a competition like that you must really want to win because otherwise you won’t stick with it long enough to succeed. Do you really want that job you are interviewing for? If not, don’t waste your time or the company’s time by going through the process.