Blue by You

You’ve made multiple applications to the same company? Why’d you do that?

End up feeling like Blue looks?

You’re not alone. Pete’d been whacked a.k.a. downsized. He knocked himself out with job-hunting verve and blanketed the market. His aggressive doggedness was a transferable skill he’d have been better off losing, not using.

He was convinced direct competitors would scoop him. His strategy to stay in his industry meant getting maximum advantage from his experience. The downside? A mighty teeny-tiny job market; a dozen principal and about 50 indirect players comprised his skimpy target market.

Every day Pete cruised the careers sites of the majors. He’d find 5 to 15 roles posted with the same company. Convinced he qualified for many, he applied to at least a third of them. Some were more junior than his previous positions, others more senior. Pete didn’t care. He’d shoot the same resume at 5 or 6 different openings at the same organization.

Result? Pete’s ambitious attack on the job market recoiled hard enough to knock out a tooth.

Here’s the process his online application went through:

1. It was plucked by search engines because his keywords matched. BUT,
2. A humanoid reviewed his resume (not an android or bot)
3. When inputted into the database there was a record of how often he’d applied – and when.

What message did Pete send? That he was potentially:

1. Desperate.
2. A liar – did he really qualify for 6 divergent jobs?
3. Overqualified. If he could do all those jobs, was he beyond all of them?
4. Unfocused. He didn’t care which job he got (or maybe how he did it). Any job would do.
5. Blind. Wouldn’t he consider the optics through a recruiter’s eyes?

The tip? Be selective. Apply for only one position with the same company. In unique circumstances two. Look, your resume is typically coded so you’ll pop up for any position you qualify for. Recruiters have to be imaginative. If you’re qualified for a different role, they’ll see the match. That’s their job. Not yours.

Blue subscribes to winning by badgering. Leg-attaching & cloying are favored techniques. His rationale? The more in your face he is, the likelier you’ll fold and he’ll get walkies or a snuggle. Apparently not.

So submit just one astonishing application.

Are there exceptions? Of course. When the population of the company is 50,000 and they have multiple hiring centres. Or when you’re applying to the same company in different cities. Or when you’ve been advised by an insider who’s savvy to their process. But most of the time, less is more.

Have you been trying too hard? What were your results?

Jody Phillips

Giving it Away

Alright so you’ve been hunting for work. And hunting. You’ve discovered that getting a job is as competitive as landing a berth on an Olympic team?

The degree of specificity in today’s market is staggering. Maybe you can put a check-mark beside each and every qualification. Good. Next? You’ve discovered there are a hundred (or a thousand) other folks who can do the same thing. How do you market yourself with competition as stiff as a nun’s wimple?

Here’s what Tamara did. She’s a 23-year-old brainy, beautiful college student. She went to a kegger and then drove her car into a tree. One of many consequences (which, by the way included trading the remains of her car in for a bike) required her to do 250 hours of community service.

Tamara made her contribution back to society in the summer. Before starting grad school she worked with disadvantaged kids, helped refurbish a library and fed the homeless. Guess what Tamara got? Three job offers! I’m not kidding! This is a true story!

Look, Tamara’s gone back to vet school so she couldn’t accept any of them. What irony! The young everywhere are digging for work. Globally 17-25% of those under 25 are unemployed. That means it’s wickedly difficult for students to get jobs. And Tamara got three job offers – that’s worth repeating – THREE opportunities at paid employment!

Who knows? Maybe it’s what comes around goes around. Perhaps when you help others, it flies right back at you.

Or maybe it’s that Tamara throws her heart, kick-ass skills and her big brain at anything she does. Or perhaps it’s her light, positive attitude.

Tamara always gives her best. That’s one big piece in her being offered jobs. I mean, without proving you’re a standout, what employer wants to keep you?

But if Tamara hadn’t been ‘volun-told’ to volunteer, nobody would know what she had to offer.

Doesn’t matter how much or little your experience you can create an opportunity to showcase your gifts.

What’s the down side? You come away with a full heart. Maybe even a sense of appreciation and gratitude. That’s it, that’s all. What’s the upside? You get all of that and a job.

Ever considered giving it away?

Jody Phillips

Processed Meat

Know the term HR process? It’s a euphemism for the wacky dance created just for job seekers.Throw your resume at an online posting, get phone screened, interview with a few dozen people – and then – God willing – you’re hired!

My idea? Change the term HR Process for purposes of accuracy to HR Paralysis. It’s a more apt description of churning through the corporate casting mill. Seems to me HR’s completely forgotten it’s purpose. People. In jobs. Moving the business forward.

HR Paralysis goes like this.

Step 1. Submit resume online.

Step 2. Wait  2-3 months

Step 3. Get a phone screen (oh you lucky thing – made the first cut!).

Step 4. Wait 2-3 months.

Step 5. Get an in-person interview with your ‘direct-report-to -be’. Woohoo!

Step 6. Wait 2-3 months.

Step 7. Meet with the VP Grand Poopah, in charge of everything.

Step 8. Wait 2-3 months.

Step 9. They don’t want you for the job you applied for, now they want you for another job that’s being created by a reorganization.

Step 10. Wait 2-3 months.

Step 11. Meet with new direct-report-to-be.

Step 12. Wait 2-3 months.

Step lucky 13! You got the job! (None of your competitors were still around. One even graduated from the planet).

Zut Alors! What to do?

Let’s put an action-packed process back into hiring. A recent study revealed that internal trust in HR had dropped from 70% to 46% in 3 MONTHS! Apparently the guys on the inside waiting for a new addition to Planet IT aren’t impressed. Nor are the marketing dudes who desperately need a researcher. Everyone’s measured on delivery.

Where are the progressive HR people who’ve noticed they’re running around a pony track – busy, busy, busy – hiring fewer people, over a longer period of time, reflecting less productivity?

C’mon stand up and be counted! I want to hear from you, the HR futurists. You folks who’ve noticed that service stinks as regards hiring – not because there aren’t jobs, no, no, no – but because of that insidious phenomenon, HR Paralysis. I’ll bet you know what remedies there are and can get things moving.

Jody Phillips