Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

Writing Resumes that Communicate Your Unique Value | Writing Marketing Content for Telecom Business Growth

How to Land a Job When You’re Overqualified

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Overqualified Job Search Tips

Photo credit: thinkjose via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Don’t have a college degree?

Haven’t worked in that role yet?

Don’t meet all the job posting requirements?

There are plenty of articles that help you get around that issue.

But what happens when you’re overqualified?

This question has come to me quite a few times recently as I’ve been working with people who are out of work.  They have great skills but the market is tight.  And each month is another several thousand dollars being sucked out of their bank account with no money coming in.

They have a resume.  But it is designed to sell them for their ideal job.  To make the case that they’re an awesome choice.  To get them a lateral transfer or the next job up in the progression.

But when those jobs don’t show up quickly enough. When it is a buyer’s market – and the employer is in the driver’s seat.  Then things get tricky.

How do you land a job that you’re overqualified for?

You need a different strategy.  A modified approach to land this type of position.

And your current resume won’t work for that purpose.

So how do you revamp it so it gets traction and doesn’t scare away likely hiring managers?

And then how do you position yourself in the interview so you don’t overshare.  So you don’t oversell yourself and have the hiring manager saying, “You’re great.  But you could do my job.”  As they’re really saying that they’re concerned you won’t be happy the role and then they’ll have to find a replacement after a few months.”

For those situations you need a dumbed-down resume. One that will make you look good enough to get the job interview, but not so good that you blow them away and they cross you off the list because you’re too good.

So how do you do that?

Just as an owner or entrepreneur shouldn’t put “CEO” or “Owner” or “President” on their resume so they don’t scare away potential opportunities for manager roles, they’d put “Manager” or “Director” instead.

In the case of your dumbed-down resume you will scale back your responsibilities and maybe eliminate a few of your accomplishments or reword them to fit the position you’re interviewing for.

Take a position posting for the role you’re looking to land.  And then make sure your responsibilities and accomplishments align with that role, not the one above that.  Then plan appropriately for a job interview too.  Figure out what you want to focus on that align with the role.  And identify the questions or areas of discussion that are “third-rail” risk areas that you’ll have to effectively dance around.

This will not be an easy role to get.

It is very hard to undersell yourself and not come off as more knowledgeable that you are in an interview.  That is why overqualified people often make it to the interview but get crossed off the list there.  They’re so much better than the competition on paper that the hiring manager or recruiter can’t pass you up for an interview.  But after they interview you they get cold feet as they realize they won’t  be able to pay you what you’re worth or that they’ll only get you a short time before you’re likely to get bored and leave.  And now they realize that they will have to do this all over again.  So they bail out on you.

Not in that position yet?

How do you avoid getting yourself in this quandary in the first place?

You can’t always choose when you leave a company.  Sometimes industry or macro-economic shifts change the landscape dramatically…and layoffs follow.  But if you do have a choice, it is good to wait and choose your exist strategy and timing.

Statistics show the average unemployed person are on the unemployment roles for 40 weeks. That means if you’ve been making $50,000 a year you’re giving up $40,000 worth of income. And if you were making $100,000 a year you’re forfeiting $80,000 by being out on the street.

Do you have $40,000 or $80,000 in your bank account ready to blow? If not think twice, three times, four times before quitting your current job without a safety net (new job offer) in place.  So your boss drives you crazy.  Are you going to let him cost you $40,000 or $80,000?

And to you who think, “Oh, I’m  just going get a contractor gig and make the big bucks.”  Is another 10 to 20% more in salary as a contractor going to be worth being unemployed for 40 weeks in a tight market when that contract ends and you don’t have another lined up?

Or would you be better off with a safer play as an employee that provides more consistent and reliable income over time?

Yes, you can make more money as a contractor. But that’s only if you have consistent work, you are awesome at what you do, and can market yourself well, and your clients have the budget to pay you. If you don’t have all of those you may want to rethink your exit strategy.

4 Insider Secrets: LinkedIn Resume and Job Search Hacks

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As a Victoria’s Secret Model (and their photographers) know a secret or two about capturing beauty on film (and eliminating any blemish from view), recruiters and hiring managers know a thing or two about job search.

They both have a ton of insider secrets that you never know from the outside looking in.  What if you could have your own set of secrets you use to get similar results (in this case increasing your chances of getting that plumb job)?

We Know Recruiters and Hiring Managers Are Leveraging LinkedIn

85% of hiring managers use social media sites like LinkedIn to find candidates

89% of employers have hired someone through LinkedIn

94% of recruiters are active on LinkedIn

But the way nearly all candidates use LinkedIn is ensuring job search failure (you can’t just put up a LinkedIn profile and wait for hiring managers and recruiters to come to you or apply for jobs that way).

Life isn’t that easy.  You do actually have to work hard to land a job in a tight economy.

So rather than send you down the same road everyone else is headed.  Like a bunch of lemmings scurrying to their death.  Do what others aren’t.  Take a radical approach and boost your chances.

LinkedIn Resume Hack #1 – Find Comparable Profiles and Pull the Best Accomplishment Bullets

Accomplishments.

One thing I often find when working with people on their resumes is they struggle to come up specific, solid, detailed accomplishments.  And so many resumes are bland or only have a few accomplishments and a lot of filler “roles and responsibilities” that aren’t hard hitting enough.

Now you can find examples online.  And you can get the basic outline, “What did you do, and what was the result?” – in $, %, time saving, etc.

But they still struggle with coming up with things.  And if they don’t have it it is really difficult to create something for them or fine tune something that is too generic.  So here’s what to do.

Look for accomplishment bullet points that others have put into their LinkedIn profiles.  

You want to find those who are either in your current job or in the next job you want.

The current job ones will give you a source of accomplishment bullets to boost your current and past positions.

The ones in the job you’re going for will give you ideas of what it takes to be successful in the next role and what you might have already done that could make it easier for you to demonstrate your competence and likely success in the next role.

Start your search with current and past coworkers.  Then go to others you know in the industry.  Or others with that same job title (current or proposed) that you don’t know.

You need to look over the LinkedIn Profiles of people who are comparable to you.  Go through their accomplishments.  And pull out the most interesting and effective accomplishments (you’ll know them when you see them – pretend you’re the hiring manager).

Then use those best ones that align with what you’ve done.  And craft similar accomplishment bullets for your own resume.

It get’s you past writer’s block.  You take the best 10 or so and reduce them down to the top 5 that work for you.

LinkedIn Resume Hack #2 – Define Your Ideal Job Title

Many people cast too wide a net.

They’re ready to search for that next job but they aren’t specific about what they want.  So they get overwhelmed.  And they end up with a very untargeted search.

1% of candidates succeed with a shotgun approach.

But 9% succeed when sending their resume to targeted companies (when responding to online job postings).

So if you’re just sending resumes to any close position that shows up, you’re really doomed before you even start.

But how do you go about becoming more targeted?

The key is the job title.  You need to sort out what job title you’ll be applying for.  And there can be several that will work.

So step one is to go into LinkedIn and search for keywords or job titles that you think will work.  Try a few different variations.  And you’ll quickly find some job titles that match what you want.

Note those titles down since you can also use that later for searching the top job boards (Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster, Career Builder, Simply Hired, The Ladders, Craigslist)

LinkedIn Resume Hack #3 – Match Your LinkedIn Profile and Resume to Specific Job Title Keywords

Getting to the top of searches by hiring managers and recruiters who are using LinkedIn, Google, and Job Board Search Engines to find candidates is a daunting task.  If your resume or LinkedIn profile doesn’t have keywords that match what the searcher types in to the search engine, you’re toast.  You’ll hear nothing back as your resume is buried down at number 200.

So take the job postings you found on LinkedIn (or on other job sites) and review the posting.  Look for keywords you can put smoothly into your resume without it not making sense or putting in things that you didn’t do.

For anything that is not in the body of your resume or LinkedIn profile you can put a list of “Keywords” or “Core Competencies” at the bottom of your resume or at the bottom of the “Summary” section of your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn Resume Hack #4 – Sleuth Out Target Companies and Referral Connections

So you have a target job title identified and your resume and LinkedIn profile are dialed in.  How do you target your search?

Given that:

Now is the time to head offline.

You know, old school job search.

Networking.

But you can now get what you need on LinkedIn.

What you’re going to do is follow the connections.  Look first for people you know who went to other companies that would be a fit for you.  Then search that company name and find out who else you know who works at that company.  They are the people you’ll want to to talk to (by phone or in person) for your next opportunity assuming you’re staying in the same industry.

Here’s the places you can find leads for people (hiring managers, peers in the role you want, and recruiters).

Pull up their LinkedIn Profile

  • From someone’s profile you’ll see on the right hand side, “People Also Viewed” listings.
  • Under “Highlights” you’ll see the person’s connections.  If they aren’t closed to you then click on the  connections and you can see others connected with them.

Now go to Company Pages

Under the person’s “Experience” you can click on one of the companies they worked for (check current and past companies).

  • At the top: “X connections work here.  See all Y employees” – click on “See all Y employees” to see the full employee listing – this is good for finding other job titles you might have missed that could be a fit.
  • Right side: “Recently Posted Jobs” – gives you a clue as to what current positions are available
  • Right side below “Recently Posted Jobs”: “Similar Companies” – these are companies that also might be hiring for your targeted job since they are similar to the company you’ve just pulled up.Down the page you’ll see, “# Connections At This Company” – these are your personal insiders (people you have a 1st level connection with on LinkedIn) – this is your short list of potential referrers

Make sure you are creating a list of companies, job titles, and referrers by company and job title.

Now you have some targets for your job search.

 

Now that you’ve got LinkedIn nailed, what about your resume? get this ONE THING wrong and recruiters and hiring managers will toss your resume in the ‘NO GO’ pile

Insights Into The Secret Lives Of Recruiters

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Recruiter Secrets
Photo credit: San Diego Shooter via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

From the outside looking in they often seem cryptic, crazy, or an enigma.

As a candidate you may have been contacted by one.  Or they’re working on a job opportunity for you but have gone radio silent.  And you wonder if they’ve forgotten you or just haven’t heard back from the client.

In a prior post How Recruiters Think…Why Your Phone Isn’t Ringing…And Why It Might Not Be You I give you some of my insights into the recruiter world and how you might navigate it effectively.

In this post I take an article I read – Top 17 Songs Every Recruiter Can Relate to – and analyze each of the 17 “Songs” to give you an extra sense of what you’re dealing with.  And for recruiters reading this, you can probably recognize many of these situations.  I won’t cover all the 17 but pick out some highlights.

Inside the Secret Lives of Recruiters

#3 – Going directly to the hiring manager behind the back of HR (or the proper recruiting channels).

The best recruiters know that the deal is made with the hiring manager, not HR.  HR (or the designed recruiting process) is what is in place to make sure HR is kept in the loop and can make sense of things.  It is not for the benefit of the recruiter, or for that matter the candidate.

HR generally has way too many applications to process.  But the hiring manager is often not adept and doing effective screenings.  So if you’r ea good recruiter you satisfy the HR person and at the same time do what you can to develop a connection with the hiring manager so your candidate moves to the top of the list.

As a job candidate working with a recruiter, having someone who is good at what they do, and is getting in front of hiring managers, can improve your chances from 1 in 50 to 1 in 3 (by eliminating the competition other than the other 2 candidates your recruiter supplied to the hiring manager).

#5 – Sifting through rubbish applications.

Dealing with sucky resumes and job applications.  And often the insane follow up expectations that candidates have (twice-a-day follow up is too much).  Recruiting is often a volume game.  But that volume can at times be overwhelming.  And sorting through bad resumes can seem like you’re looking for a needle in a haystack.

This is where a good resume writer can be worth their weight in gold.  Get a resume that is well written and you jump from #80 of 200 to #5 or #10.  And if you can not annoy the hell out of your recruiter, they’ll do their best to put you at the front of the line.

#7 – Everyone’s replaceable.

Recruiters love it when they find the “perfect match”.  But often that perfection is a smokescreen for dysfunctional, unrealistic prima donnas.  And if the “perfect one” falls through, they often find another gem.

As a candidate you need to make sure you don’t oversell yourself.  If you’re remaining in the same industry and working with the same people you have in the past.  And assuming you did an awesome job.  You will likely be able to find yourself at the top of the candidate list.  And if the numbers work, you’re often in.

But what if you’re looking in a new industry?  Or looking to work for someone who doesn’t know you or your great reputation?  Well like someone selling their house, you view yourself higher than someone with no experience with you would.  For them you’re a scary unknown, not a must have hire.  So recognize that when you’re making your pitch.

#9 – The Pile of new requisitions to work.

This can be perfect timing for the candidate.  You’re in demand.  More opportunities than people to fill them.  But be careful with this situation too.  The mass hire to fill the team for a new project often means they hire many undesirables…people who are unemployed for a reason. Basically they were let go from other companies due to incompetence or drama.

So before you say yes to an opportunity that was way too easy to land, know it just might be that way for a reason.  So that is the time to evaluate it a second time.

Bonus Secret

So given the insights already mentioned, what’s one thing I can do to boost my chances (assuming I have a solid resume and there’s an available position the recruiter would be placing me in)?

Recognize that recruiters are people too (check out the rest of the “Songs” to get a sense of what they deal with on a daily basis.  It may give you a new perspective and allow you to connect with recruiters better and develop a good rapport.  And by doing that the recruiter will often work harder on your behalf than they would if you were a pain in their butt.

Enjoy!

Playing the Wrong [Job Search] Game?

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Job Search Game

You start your job search.  What is the typical plan?

  • Create/Update your resume.
  • Tailor it to the specific position.
  • Submit it to a bunch of job boards like Monster and Indeed.
  • Respond to job postings on those job boards.
  • Hope…pray…wait for that call.

And what happens?  Nothing.  Why?

Let me share a recent experience my niece, Kelly McRitchie, shared with me about her search.

She’s a new graduate with a nursing degree and nursing license.  She has high hopes of landing an acute care nursing job at a top hospital.  And she is fighting an uphill battle.

Here’s what she told me.

The biggest challenge with a job search as a new grad RN is EVERY. SINGLE. JOB. WANTS. EXPERIENCE.

Drives me nuts because I just graduated, just got my license, and am looking for my FIRST nursing job. How am I supposed to apply to these positions that say at least 3 years experience, 1 year of acute care experience, 1 year of experience “in floor your are applying for”, and oh yeah…NO NEW GRAD PLEASE. That narrows it down to almost nothing.

Every day is like a scavenger hunt to find available positions that say NEW GRADS WELCOME TO APPLY or even better when a hospital opens up a new grad program and hires 10-20+ newly graduated nurses at a time. This only happens about 3x a year for UC Davis, UCSF, Stanford, and other large hospital and randomly for other hospitals.

Also, each cohort has 500+ new nurses that are applying from all over CA because they are so well known and many nurses are still without a job at that time due to the competition.

Maybe you’ve been in a similar situation.

  • You’ve got your shiny new college degree and no relevant job experience.
  • You have experience but don’t meet the  degree/educational requirements of the job posting.
  • You’re one of hundreds of applicants (many equally or more qualified than you).

And as a result you feel like you’re Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill…and then it keeps rolling back down.

via GIPHY

So being the rational person she is, Kelly investigated to learn to improve her chances at this game.

Not only is just finding a position that is hiring new grads hard but then when you apply to each position you have to make sure you go through Jobscan (affiliate link)

(something I learned on the new grad Facebook group) where you post the job description and your resume and JobScan will analyze your KEYWORDS and see how many words on your resume match the position you are applying for.

The goal is to get at least 80-90% if you are lower than that the HR’s Applicant Tracking Systems will automatically throw your application and hard work of altering your resume and cover letter out the window without even looking back.

I tested this out quickly by throwing my non-optimized resume into JobScan and compared it to a generic job description.

And I sucked!  30%!

Obviously there is more to it than just dumping something in there and having it match up.

So this is where you get to learn not just how to do the job, and not just how to do basic job searches and job interviews, but how to be an SEO (search engine optimization) and marketing expert in all your spare time (if you’re actually working some job to pay the bills) or paying someone else to help you do it.

Becoming an SEO Expert

This was Kelly’s experience.

I had to apply to a position with Alameda Hospital 3 times with 3 different strategies in order to get a call back.

First, I used my generic resume and a specific cover letter without using JobScan(before I knew about it)…DENIED.

Then, I used the position description exact word for word key words under some of my jobs on my resume and DENIED.

The 3rd time I used a mixture of my own descriptions and their key words where I had about 90% on JobScan and got the interview.

So that just proves its all about their filter system. After altering your resume and writing a new cover letter for each job you apply for, which can be up to 5 positions a day sometimes, and making sure they have at least 80-90% of key words, it can be very tiresome. It becomes like your second job.

You can sense the frustration in her voice.

Is this what we’ve been reduced to?  Trying to please the Applicant Tracking System gods?

There’s got to be a better way, hasn’t there?

Yes, degrees are valuable.

Yes, experience moves you up the food chain.

And Yes, not every job is a fit for your skill set just yet.

But there’s more to that story…

Being new to the job search process there’s much to learn.  For Kelly it was her first time down that road.  For others you’ve done it before.  But that may have been years ago.  And as you can see, things have changed.  And in many cases fairly dramatically.  The internet, applicant tracking systems, and search engine optimization have been major contributing factors along with tightened recruiting and staffing budgets.

Dealing with all this change can be tough on any new job hunter.  Getting support and guidance along the way can be critical to avoid the downward spiral of frustration and despair.

So I would have to say the second biggest frustration is keeping that positive attitude when you have been denied to majority of jobs you apply to.

After spending time finding a new grad program by looking morning and night on Indeed.com, craigslist, and specific hospitals websites, finally finding one and spending 1-2 hours putting together your resume/cover letter, going through Jobscan, just to be rejected a week later is very discouraging. You start to lose hope after awhile.

But having support groups like the Facebook new grad RN group really makes it better because we can all relate. We build each other up and suggest ways we can try altering our resume more or making yourself really stand out.  They say all it takes is one person. One manager to see your resume and call you for an interview.

Get the Support You Need

Just like the internet can add roadblocks to the process, as you see, there are also resources out there – many specific to your job hunting niche – that you can lean on to help you through the process.  Whether that is industry support groups, college resources, blogs, and resume writing and job search coaching resources out there.

Sometimes it is may just be a matter of recognizing you’re at the start of your career and not jumping too many steps ahead in the process.  Then you can start looking for the entry job that gets you the job you really want.

Until then we get experience where we can- like me getting my Medic Ambulance position. Sometimes you have to start from the bottom and work your way up but also you want to set yourself up so that the experience you will have will be valuable to the hospital setting and specific area you are interested in. Its a lot about strategizing, “playing the game”, and practicing interviewing because once you get that one interview, it may be the only one for another month so its time to shine!

In other cases where that is the entry point, and you still are dealing with being one of 200+ resumes that are submitted, you need to look at the process and ask, “How can I separate myself and not be commoditized by the process?”

That requires looking at how the process is currently engineered to exclude people and figure out how to move yourself up into  the short list.

Use the Tools

One method is using a tool like JobScan to leapfrog those other people who don’t optimize their resume for keywords (cutting that pool of 200 down to 20-50).  But then you’re still hoping you’re a better player of their game than others.

What if you could go a different route that changes the paradigm?

The one area that applicant tracking systems and keyword optimization don’t address is the human side of the process.

They are designed to filter out people before you get the opportunity to sell yourself.

What Other Options Exist for the Non-Techie?

What if there was a way to sell yourself first so that you’re resume is already on the short list when you submit it?

Wouldn’t that be worth the time and effort you’re spending on the technical side of your search?

Before I tell you this approach and how it might shortcut your search, let me share my experiences in hiring staff.

The Life of a Hiring Manager

First off hiring managers don’t like to go through the hiring process.  It takes away from their job duties and project work they need to accomplish.  It is a distraction.  It is not something they are good at (otherwise they’d probably work for HR or be recruiters themselves).  They begrudgingly do the tasks but they love shortcuts (rather than having to cull through 200 resumes and do 30+ interviews to find one or two people to make offers to).

So that is where HR departments screening out candidates and applicant tracking system screening processes come in.  They help reduce the workload of the  hiring manager.

But what if someone came to that hiring manager prescreened and available?  People are inherently lazy.  They love easy way outs.  And if they have someone they already connect with and think would be good for their department, they’d love to just say yes to them and get them on board rather than guessing at someone that comes through the normal process.  This is especially true since interviews rarely give you a true sense of someone’s personality and how they will or won’t fit in your department.

Beating the System

So how does this work?

Step 1: Determine possible companies you’d want to work for.

The first step is really important.  Where would you like to work?  What about that place intrigues you?  Learn all you can about it.  Read the website.  Talk to people who work there.  Ask industry contacts.

Step 2: Narrow down your possible job titles.

What role are you looking for?  Go on the job sites and download the job postings.  Review for keywords and educational and experience requirements.  Can you meet most of them?  Is there anything you don’t have that will prevent your hire?

Many times hiring managers and company HR/Recruiting managers put in their best case list of requirements.  Many times that perfect candidate does not exist.  Or they are so overqualified they’d be looking for jobs one or two levels higher.

Don’t cross yourself off the list prematurely.

But at the same time there are situations where requirements are cast in stone (like government or Fortune 500 companies that might have an MBA or Bachelors Degree required – where it really is).  If that is the case and you’ve proven in through your search, you may need to rethink things.

Step 3: Find Hiring Managers.

Hiring managers are your gateway to that job.  They can move you to the top of the list or drop you out of consideration with a flick of the wrist.  So you’ve got 3-5 companies you’re interested in working for.  Now find the hiring managers who work at those companies in the departments you want to work.  This may require a little detective work.  Calling people, emailing, networking with associates.  But this is a critical piece that very few people do.  Most people are submitting resumes to a nameless, faceless company contact.  Don’t be like that.  Make that final connection.

Step 4: Take Hiring Managers and those in your desired position to coffee.

Hiring managers hire for the jobs you want.  Others in the jobs you want can give you insights as to what the job is like and when openings might be coming up.

I often hire people who were referred by others who want to work with good people like them.  If I’m hiring a construction manager or project coordinator, often my existing staff know others like them who are looking for those same jobs.  And you know someone who will end up working with these people are not likely to refer a dud (since they’ll experience the pain of a so so worker affecting their work).

And hiring managers will be able to tell you when a job is opening up in their department or hear from other hiring managers looking for the same.

So take them all out to coffee – one or two a week should do. Quickly (in a month or two) you’ll have a good network of people you can contact from time to time regarding opportunities or to provide guidance in your search.  And you can be on the short list when an opportunity approaches.

Want to learn more about how to do that?  Need coaching assistance or resume help?  Let me know how I can help.

And realize there are more options available to you that you might be considering.  And good luck on your search!

Getting That Job – How Not To Suck

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Getting That Job | Resume | Wireless Telecom Jobs

It’s funny.

There are lots of companies that write resumes for people.  Some of them just put you into their format.  It looks nicer.  But is pretty much like putting lipstick on a pig…it is still a pig.

Then there are those who do a better job with the up front questionnaire.  They get people thinking more in terms of accomplishments than just a recitation of job duties and skills and work history (most companies can get that from the application you complete anyway).

Mike McRitchie | Wireless Telecom Jobs | Job Board

And many people think they just need to blast their resume out to hundreds of employers or put their resume on the job boards like Monster.com and sit back, relax, and wait for the interview request to roll in.

Isn’t there another way?

And this is further complicated by the shameless sales job that schools and our government have done by saying everyone has a right to go to college and that the college degree is the key to a great, high paying job, and a lifetime of happiness.

Just fill out the college application, get your student loan, and that degree in French Literature is sure to give you a six figure job.

Forget the fact that your degree is lucky to be worth $15 to $20 per hour or a $40k per year entry-level job.  And then you have to figure out what to do about the $50k to $250k of student loan debt that your measly paycheck is supposed to start repaying.

Wireless Telecom Job | Student Loan Debt

So it is no wonder why kids are living at home with their parents into their 20’s and 30’s and their resume and interviews scream “desperation”.

And so they keep submitting resumes and hope.

So what do you do to give yourself a better chance to succeed in your job search?

Well to start let’s look at how the employer views the same search but from the other side of the desk.

There are several situations a hiring manager finds him/herself in and these lead to different approaches to bringing someone new on board.

Fired the prior employee

So in this instance the manager had bad luck with the employee.  Maybe they couldn’t manage to make it to work on time or had “personal issues” that always seemed to make their job take a back seat.  And the manager got frustrated because they were being held accountable for results and their team was not delivering due to this person’s lack of accountability.

So the manager is going to be cautious in the next hire.  And at the same time they need to get someone in quickly.  They can’t dawdle around and wait for the perfect person to come along.  The clock is ticking and they need someone quickly.

Business is picking back up after a round of layoffs

Here they have already cleaned house and have gotten rid of the under-performers.   They now have growing sales and need staff to support the work.  This is good news because they are likely still in a hurry to hire.  But they also are more picky in choosing the right hire.

Exhausted their go-to hire list

Every hiring manager has a couple people they know and would love to hire.  Sometimes these people don’t work out because either they’re in a job they like and aren’t ready to move, or they want more money than the company’s salary structure and margins will support.  Or the commute is too far.  Or any number of other issues mean they won’t be a fit right now.

This is typically where recruiters get called to make a placement – particularly if it is a position without a lot of ready candidates that can be had through local advertising.

Big project requires a lot of new hires

Some companies have to hire a lot of people in a short period of time.  This is typically where they either use a recruiting company or temp staffing company to fill a lot of positions.  Or their human resources team tackles it with a media blitz to bring in hundreds of fresh candidates.

Strategic hire

Often with higher “C-level” positions companies will hire an executive recruiter to support their search for just the right person.  This is because good people at this level are already working and/or it requires an extensive search to find someone who has the skills, the temperment, and fits in with the management team.

So you see that there are a lot of types of situations employers are in that lead them to the hiring process.

Wireless Telecom Jobs | How Hiring Managers Hire

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Emergency Dentists USA

So what goes through their heads?

First they don’t want to mess up and hire someone who can’t perform the job duties well.  Second they don’t want to overpay.  Third they don’t want to hire someone who adds drama to their team.

You notice that there are a lot of things they don’t want to do.  And that is important to know.  Because they are trying to find someone who doesn’t suck.  They aren’t trying to find that “A” player.  You might think they are but those people don’t generally come through the hiring process.  “A” players don’t really interview for jobs.  They’re often brought on board before a position really opens or are brought in through back channels.

It is kind of like when selling a house.  The listing agent often has someone she thinks would be perfect for the house and often shows that person the house before it even hits the market.

It is the same with recruiting.  The position will always go to a known “A” or “B” player before it is even offered up to the public.

And if there isn’t someone who meets those requirements they will also often look to see if there is a possible hire inside the company already.

So where does this put you?

So you’re the outsider.  You’re essentially making cold calls.  They don’t know you.  They assume you suck like everyone else.  They’re busy and really don’t want to waste their time interviewing people who suck.  They just want to find someone that meets their needs and hire them and get them going so they can offload all the work that is stacking up on the hiring manager’s desk.

Wireless Telecom Jobs Where Are They

So someone out there is looking to hire.  How do they find you?

  • They review resumes they’ve received in the past
  • They go through the list of people they interviewed and liked but didn’t end up hiring for reasons other than the person’s skills
  • They may place an ad.
  • They may search LinkedIn
  • They may ask coworkers and industry contacts
  • They may work with a recruiter or executive search firm
  • They may work with a temporary or temp-to-perm staffing agency
  • They may hold or attend a job fair
  • They may recruit from colleges or technical schools

So how do you give yourself a better chance of being found?

Create a narrow search profile.

  • Industry that has the position you’re looking to fill, a career path that you could progress in from entry level to retirement, and fits with your interests and abilities
  • Geographic area you’re willing to work in – think commutes and cost of living and your ideal social activities, family, or other commitments that would restrict your search area
  • Role/Title of the role you’re aiming for
  • Title/Person who would be the hiring manager
  • Other people who might work with or know the hiring manager (who might put in a good word for you with the hiring manager)

Once you’ve figured out what you’re searching for, you need to get visible and increase your likelihood of success.

First start with your resume and cover letter.  Do they sell you and what you can do for the employer in the role you’re applying for?  If not that is the first thing you’ve got to get handled.  No point in getting in front of decision makers without having a tool that sells you well.  You’d just be wasting good opportunities.

Find a resume writer or reviewer to either critique your resume or rewrite it for you so it sells you better.  The best writers will ask you detailed questions in the process to ensure they pull out the best qualities you bring.  Often those are forgotten or not recognized by you because you’re too close to the situation.  Contact me for a critique.

Okay, so now you have a good resume and a cover letter to get you in the door.  What else should you be doing to improve your odds?

Who else is selling you?

Ideally you’ll have others selling you to the hiring manager.  Whether that is the managers boss (best) or a coworker or industry contact they trust (second best).  Or it could be a recruiter or staffing agency (they’re a little biased since they get paid when you get placed, but they can also add feedback and background info that is often valuable to the hiring manager).

So those are the people you want to be in contact with or influencing.  You can do that through LinkedIn connections, informational interviews, industry mixers, contacting your industry contacts who may know people in the company that work with that manager.

People often forget that they don’t always need a direct connection to have influence.  Often 2nd or 3rd level connections can be more powerful than direct connections.

Now lets say you made it to an interview (they didn’t toss your resume in round one of the “Do you suck?” elimination process).

Now this typically goes two ways.

The first is they have a candidate already in mind and you’re the comparison.  In this case you’re in a distinctly bad position.  Usually in this situation you will not get the job unless the person they had in mind really sucked and failed in the interview.  This is like when Marco Rubio repeated his line four times when Chris Christie challenged him on repeating memorized lines…Rubio Roboto.  You don’t want to do that.

So if the person they had in mind does fail, then things are wide open again and you may have a shot.  Just know that if you’re in this situation, your chances of getting the job are about 1-5%.

The second way this goes is when there is no preferred candidate.  This often happens when new project work comes and there is a big expansion at the company.  They you have a really good shot.  And often there can be multiple positions to fill, which further improves your chances.

The key in these interviews is to talk about how what you have done applies to what they’re looking for you to do in the position.  Managers don’t want to hire people who have to learn everything on the job.  They often don’t have time for that.  They want to hire people who have already done the job.  Of course most people who have already done the job want the next job up the food chain.  And if they do go for the job at the same level it is either for more pay or better benefits or a better career path.

And how do you learn what hiring managers will be looking for in people who are interviewing for the role?

Often it is telegraphed in the ad or what they communicate to the recruiters.  You should ideally go to Monster.com or another industry job board and search for the job title you’re looking for and pull up all the help wanted descriptions.  They often give you the requirements, skills, etc. they are looking for.  Of course they ask for everything under the sun.  But after looking over five to ten you’ll get a sense of what industry expectations are for those roles.

Then compare their requirements to your resume.  What skills do you meet or exceed the requirements?  What accomplishments do you have in each of those areas that you have documented in your resume or can research and show?  What skills or experiences do you not have that you may need to have an answer for or need to start building?

If you’ve done all that work,

  • Developing relationships with influencers
  • Polishing up your resume and cover letter
  • Preparing for tough interview questions
  • Aligning your search with your skills and interests

And you don’t suck at the interview, you will give yourself a good chance to win the job.

And once you do, you need to be preparing yourself for the next job.  It is never to early to prepare.

If you need help with any of this, contact me here.

Are you looking for wireless telecom jobs?  Then check this out before you look further.

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