?? Why You Should NOT Answer the Phone When Recruiters Call, Stupid

?? Why You Should NOT Answer the Phone When Recruiters Call, Stupid 396 Better a return call when you're ready than a missed call when you aren't. Photo by Matthew Kane This is a guest post by Graeme Gilovitz. This has to sound like the stupidest idea you have ever heard. How can you get the job if you don't actually talk to someone? Even today, when you can communicate via so many media such as email, SMSes, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook Messenger and any other applications, the only way to actually get the job is to talk to someone on the phone at some point and then meet them.eval Yet… What makes you more anxious? The moment before you answer a recruiter's call Needing to return a recruiter's call you missed View Results Free bonus: The One Job Interview Resource You’ll Ever Need is a handy reference to help you prepare for any kind of job interview. Download it free noweval Two reasons to ignore recruiter calls 1) Get prepared As a recruiter, we love to catch people off guard because then we get to see (or in this case, hear) the real you and how you behave. Your tone gives us a great insight to your attitude, personality, politeness and professionalism. So when we call and you have no idea who we are, where we are calling from or what role you applied for, you are already on the defensive and the power is with the recruiter. Most likely, you have applied for a few jobs and after a while the calls all sound the same which makes it harder to answer any of their phone questions. It would be funny if it weren't so true. This little conversation is the first stage of the interview process and needs to be treated with as much preparation as a face-to-face interview, even if the call only lasts 5 minutes. Not answering the call gives you time to gather all the relevant information regarding your application, find a quiet place to talk and focus on answering their questions as well as you can. You can’t do any of that when you are taking calls on the fly, especially in a noisy area. So instead of rushing to take the call, call them back. 2) Play hard to get (a little) When someone is a too easy to get hold of, it gives the impression that you are sitting by the phone all the time, which translates into “I am desperate for a job”. But if you play a bit hard to get, you can increase your “perceived value”. You can always tell them later that you were in an interview, or a meeting, etc., giving the impression that you must be a valuable potential candidate because other people are already meeting with you (simple logic of supply and demand). Alternatively, just say that you were “unavailable to take the call” â€" the most universally used excuse ever. What to do after ignoring the call When you actually return the call, follow these tips: Find a quiet place to talk and more importantly, where you can listen Have a copy of the recruiter's job ad ready â€" make sure that you have reread it and have notes Have a copy of your application (resume and cover letter) to reference, and especially selection criteria (if there were any) As you know the name of the person who called (if they left you a message) and where they work, do some background digging â€" try LinkedIn and Facebook. I wouldn't recommend you using this information but at least you'll know who you are dealing with Apologize for not being able to take the call Have note paper and pen in case they mention anything useful or ask you for an interview and they provide details Anticipate the questions that they might ask What happens if they don't leave a message or you accidentally answer the call? You need to get off the call ASAP no matter what! Apologize and explain that it isn't a convenient time to chat “as you are expecting an important call” and ask that you call them back at an agreed time Take their name, company, phone number Revert back to the above tips Ring ring â€" what are you going to do? READ NEXT: How To Video Job Interview With Your Cellphone Bonus: A Recruiter Calls, But I'm Not Prepared Free Bonus If you want a handy job interview resource that you can keep on your smartphone or print out for easy reference, I’ve got a special bonus for you. This free download contains: 165 positive personality adjectives to describe yourself 444 of the most popular job interviewer questions to prepare yourself with 175 questions that you can ask in job interviews to make a good impression and learn about your future employer Click the image below to get access to The One Job Interview Resource You’ll Ever Need: JobMob Insiders can get this free bonus and other exclusive content in the JobMob Insider Bonuses area. Join now, it's free! About the author Graeme Gilovitz is Director of Summit Resumes and Summit Talent (an Australian-based recruitment agency with an international reach and client base), has worked in-house with the some of the largest companies in Australia. With a background in advertising and marketing prior to recruitment, Graeme possesses an unique perspective on communication, the recruitment process and how to ensure that you get the most out of your job search. He blogs regularly, focusing on his insights.

REPORT Professional Networking Dominates Job Boards - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

REPORT Professional Networking Dominates Job Boards - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career As you a already well aware, I believe that job boards wont exist in the future and that the transaction between hiring managers and applicants will be completely networked. Therefore, your network will become your only insurance policy and people will become the ultimate asset to your career.   You wont be conducting a job search because you wont need to.   Instead, youll be locating people who work for companies youre actually interested in and they will process the transaction on your behalf.   This saves companies a lot of money and creates a more emotional and relationship-based job search instead of a submission (to a black hole!). How are people finding jobs today? I conducted a survey on this blog for the past few months to see how people were getting jobs and test my hypothesis.   The sample size was 220 and Ill leave this survey active till I hit around 500 and then report back.   As youll notice, 64% of people found their last job through a referral and only 5% found a job through social media. Here are a few thoughts: Adoption is slow for social recruiting. Most people think social media is mainstream, yet I dont think it is at all.   Social media has mainstream awareness, yet is not adopted by the mainstream as much as you think it is.   There arent even 20 million people on Twitter and some people arent even on Facebook yet.   Also, there are less than a thousand recruiters on LinkedIn and most companies arent promoting jobs through social media either.   I dont think a lot of recruiters are comfortable or trained in how to use social media for recruitment and I think job seekers are clueless as well.   In the future, youll obviously see a lot more recruiting on these networks. Correlation between social media and referrals. What isnt accounted for in this study is how many people are networking using social media tools to get jobs.   Basically, are people maintaining relationships with people theyve met years ago through social networks?   If so, then there might be some overlap here.   Social media tools allow you to reconnect with past friends and acquaintances, both directly and indirectly.   They get to keep in touch with you based on what you share and you get to connect with them directly using these tools. Job boards for bulk hires. Social media isnt great for bulk hires.   A bulk hire is when a company needs to hire fifty engineers that have the same job description.   Its smarter just to list these in a job board.   Networking is one to one and cannot be done otherwise. Executives depend on their network A recent survey by ExecuNet, which is the top job board for 100K+ job seekers, states that 73% of executives tapped their network to get their last job. When it comes to the executive level of a company, more people have you know about you than you know.   Based on your reputation and the relationship you have with other executives or the CEO, you can get the job you want, even if you arent applying for it.   Executives rely on networking much more than college students and young professionals because those jobs require a lot more credibility, trust, loyalty and leadership skills. Here are a few thoughts: Executives are passive job seekers. A lot of executives are recruited for positions applying for them because there are very few spots available at the top of corporate hierarchies, so filling them requires careful planning and searching.   In fact, there are positions at companies (I know EMC has one) that call for executive recruiters, who interview other executives from companies. They spend years building their networks. Most executives are older and not teenagers or recent graduates.   They have spent years building their network, which is already at their disposal when they are looking to find another job. High visibility based on their title. Most executives are corporate spokespeople, which means that they get quoted in the media.   The media that writes about them is typically in their industry, so if they are looking for a job outside of that industry, it might not help them as much.   As we always say, visibility creates opportunities, so it makes it easier for an executives to find a new job. No time to waste online. As you climb the corporate ladder, you get paid more, but also have to put in more hours.   91% of executives dont maintain an online profile because they 1) feel that they dont need it based on their status and 2) dont have the time to maintain it.

How To Create Your Professional Vision Board - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How To Create Your Professional Vision Board - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career While the origin of the vision board is unknown, we do know that people have been visualizing their desired results for thousands of years. Many ancient native peoples had a practice of visualizing a successful hunt prior to setting out with their hunting instruments. Today, everyone from eastern spiritual healers to Navy Seals use visualizing techniques to help achieve goals. In fact, according to Psychology Today, studies have shown that visualization in athletics can actually increase muscle development. In a study examining brain patterns in weightlifters, psychologists found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted hundreds of pounds were similarly activated when they simply imagined lifting weights. Vision boards are not magic, pasting what you want on a piece of cardboard does not, by itself, create results. However, we are visual creatures and seeing our goals daily reminds us to stay focused and take steps toward achieving our goals. If you have a business with partners, or a mate, you may want to consider creating a company vision board and/or couples vision board as a group project. My husband and I create vision boards annually and never fail to marvel at the number of items that we throw on our board, on a whim that actually come to fruition. If you’ve never created a vision board, it’s a fairly simple process. Here is what you’ll need: A large poster board Scissors Glue stick Tape (regular or double-sided) Magazines (business, fitness, decorating, travel, etc.) Pictures of yourself that you can cut Logos or pictures of potential partners or desired places of employment Optional items: Stickers  (places, sayings, etc.) Glitter (guys bear with me) Stencils Now that you have your supplies, open your magazines and look for words, phrases and pictures that fit your 2014 goals. As you cut out these items, begin to arrange them on your board, but do not secure them with glue or tape yet. If you have body goals, or are envisioning yourself in specific places, cut out pictures of yourself and place them on others’ bodies or next to landmarks in your desired locations. For instance, every year, my vision board features a picture of me on a stage. Once you have everything arranged, begin gluing/taping your items to your board. If you’d like, add stickers and/or glitter. I highly recommend you include numerical goals on your board. Do you want a raise, or to hit a certain revenue number in your business? Place that number on your board. Once your board is complete, place it somewhere where you’ll see it daily. At the end of the year, evaluate which items you accomplished and which need to be carried over to a new board. Do you create annual vision boards? What suggestions do you have for first timers?

Book Review Our Iceberg is Melting

Book Review Our Iceberg is Melting If you want a great book that you can use to teach your co-workers or family about leading during a time of ever changing conditions, read this book, Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions.   It is so easy to understand! Our Iceberg is Melting Review The author of the book, John Kotter, found that 90% of organizations were either ignoring relevant changes or trying to adjust in ways that were not meeting their aspirations. This was leading to too much time and money being wasted. So he decided to turn a story about a group of penguins and a melting iceberg to illustrate the process and tools of a successful change. All of us encounter the basic issues in this story.   Did I mention that it was about penguins and has gorgeous photos!   Few of us  know effective  ways to deal with these issues. As a manager, it is so important to know how to drive change and how to manage during a time of change.   How do you manage when your future is so uncertain?   Everyone is looking to you to guide them and tell them how to proceed into the future.   And what  those who work for you that  are so opposed to change. They ask you, Why do we have to change to a new computer system and learn  to do our jobs in a different way when I have everything down the way it is now?   And will these new systems make do my job for me so there isnt even a need to keep me at this company anymore?   Or maybe you are trying to convince your management that by changing a few things, the company could save  so much money and time but they refuse to listen to you. [Related Post:  10 Best Books Every Job Seeker Should Read] Getting Buy-In One of the things I liked about this book is that it showed why it is important to get all team members buy-in before making a change.   If everyone is for the change, it will be so much easier to make because you wont have anyone dragging their feet.   If there is one person on your team who doesnt agree with the change, they will make it  very  hard  for everyone else to move forward.   One person really can drag the whole team down and can have such a huge effect on the team.    Always let everyone have their say and offer suggestions to come up with a solution that everyone is behind. [Related Post:  The Top 10 Books That Will Make the Biggest Impact in Your Life] Stay On Top of Changes In todays world, changes are happening faster than ever and this book teaches you 8 steps to produce needed change in any group.   By using a fable, the author make is very easy to  read and understand.   My husband had a work retreat and his entire team read this book prior to the retreat.   They then discussed  the book  at the retreat  and successfully figured out ways that they could better approach and welcome change in their organization. I would highly recommend this book to managers, parents, teachers and anyone who has to deal with group situations.   Even sports teams and high school students  would benefit from  this reading.   Everyone has to deal with change in their lives and this is a great way book to help learn how to handle and lead through the change. What inspiring books have you read lately?

Do You Have a Good Ear for Executive Job Search Networking - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Do You Have a Good Ear for Executive Job Search Networking How Smart Networking Works in Executive Job Search