Emails...

Okay – Pet Peeve time:

The “Are you serious with that?” moments I’ve had with candidates’ emails, voicemails, etc.

CareerBuilder’s “When Bad Job Searches Happen to Good Candidates” article suggests:

Rehearse the voice mail message you plan to leave. Consider a more serious e-mail address. Does your home voice mail play strange music or have a silly outgoing message? Is your résumé printed on purple paper? All of these things factor into a headhunter's first, and indelible, impression.

I couldn’t agree more! I mean really, do you think anyone is going to take you seriously as a professional when your dog greets callers on your answering machine? I mean 10 out of 10 for cute but minus several hundred on the professional index!

However, I can almost excuse the answering machine faux pas, but what I can’t get past are the email addresses…Here’s just a sampling of some we’ve seen on resumes (altered slightly to protect their identity):

mydog (wonder if this answering machine barks too!)
sham (what a great salesperson)
toolman (not even if you’re a tool & die specialist!)
cowboy (in various forms, all of them wrong)
kaboom (hope he’s not a chemical engineer)
star-trek anything (bet this is an engineer!)
babykelly (Barbie fan???)
mafia (in various forms, funny enough all in the construction trades)
adream4u, girl4u, etc (pretty sure we aren’t a dating service; therefore anything ending in 4u is out!)
bone4life (not touching that one)

I’m just asking that you put some thought into what image your email address projects; take 5 minutes, jump on gmail or yahoo and find a simple, clean, professional email address.

That’s my soapbox for today… Thanks!

Euphemisms...

It’s been observed before that we live in a world where language is often “softened” by euphemisms. George Carlin once said that that people were no longer fired, instead “management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the workforce.”

The Recruiters Network has played on this idea these “Job descriptions revealed”:

Competitive Salary = We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.
Must be deadline-oriented = You'll be six months behind schedule on your first day.
Must have an eye for detail = Because we have no quality control.
Problem-solving skills a must = Welcome to perpetual chaos.
Requires leadership skills = All the responsibilities of a manager, without all that pesky pay and respect.

I write the majority of job descriptions and online job postings for my company and so I find the above particularly entertaining. While I don’t commit the kind of “cover-ups” above; I will admit to a bit of “translating”. For example:

Ability to gain buy-in from others is key = because no one actually reports to you.
Extensive travel to be expected = See, the location doesn't matter, you're never there!
Picturesque location! Just two hours from Chicago! = Iowa

My Nightmare Interview...

Happy Holidays to everyone!

After yesterday’s post, I thought I might take a moment today to share one of the worst interview stories I know. Of course the reason it’s one of the worst: it happened to me!

Shortly after graduating from Eastern Michigan University, I had the opportunity to interview for an Admissions Representative position here in Grand Rapids. I breezed through the phone screen, met with a couple of people in a face to face interview, and finally was asked to prepare a short presentation which I would present to the entire admissions staff for my final interview. I spent a day or so madly editing and rehearsing the presentation I’d made to hundreds of students while recruiting for EMU. Finally I felt I had the presentation down (I was no longer saying “Eastern” throughout it anyway…)

I managed to have a good night’s sleep before the interview, and was reciting my pitch in the shower and as I dressed for the interview. I chose a chocolate brown suit over a black blouse, (very professional looking I thought) and after a moment of deliberation over which shoes to wear, I was off.

I walked into a conference room full of potential colleagues, answered a few brief questions about my background, and then stood and paced around the table while telling them all about “The 5 P’s of Choosing a College” (Programs, Preparation, People, Place, and Price).

I nailed it! I was great; they were interested and attentive, nodding and smiling. I was awesome!

We closed the interview, and I was feeling euphoric; they told me they’d be in touch by the end of the day. Still on cloud nine, I headed for my car, tripped and nearly fell face first onto the ground. I thought, “Wow, this parking lot is awfully uneven” and looked down at what I thought would be cracked pavement.

Instead I discovered my inability to walk was the result of wearing two shoes not even REMOTELY similar; one black 1½” heel, and one brown 2” heel,

I was horrified, embarrassed, and feeling totally stupid. Flashbacks to the conference room…were they smiling at my presentation or laughing at my shoes? Oh god, what have I done!

I went home, all my excitement and positive energy gone, and waited for the phone to ring. I started to rationalize, like… maybe they hadn’t noticed, maybe they thought I always walked with a slight limp, maybe they thought I was color blind, maybe they thought I knew and just didn’t let it phase me…

To my surprise, I was offered the job! I guess you really can recover from anything!

Nightmare interviews...

Because my firm works nationally, we don’t always have the luxury of meeting every candidate, we’ve had some surprises as result… few as good as this selection of “strange questions candidates have asked in interviews”

From the “That’s odd ” category:
"What is the company motto?"
"Will the company move my rock collection from California to Maryland?"
"Will the company pay to relocate my horse?"
"Does your health insurance cover pets?"

To the “Why are you here again?” category:
"What is it that you people do at this company?"
"Why aren't you in a more interesting business?"
"Why do you want references?"

To the “I think we’re done here” category:
"Would it be a problem if I'm angry most of the time?"
"Does your company have a policy regarding concealed weapons?"

And finally… the “Did you forget your medication” category:
"What are the zodiac signs of all the board members?"
"Do I have to dress for the next interview?"
"I know this is off the subject, but will you marry me?"

Find these and more great stuff (including useful information) at the Recruiter’s Network.

Welcome to my world...

By my world, I mean my cubicle, which is right in the center of a recruiting office. You see, I do marketing and research for a team of search consultants based in Grand Rapids,MI. I love my job. My co-workers are great and it is very different from anything I’ve done before.

Most people don’t understand what recruiters do. For example, a coworker of mine was asked what he did for a living, when he responded “I’m a headhunter”, he was surprised by the “Wow, isn’t that dangerous?” response, and found himself explaining the difference between a headhunter and a bounty hunter.

I would like to share a bit about what the world of recruiting is all about, and why I’ve found a home in this industry.

When I’m asked what I like about my job, the answer is simple: Entertainment Value! From the unbelievable things that happen during interviews and the strange things I overhear from the “bullpen”, to the resumes with bizarre job titles and job descriptions, I can always find some comic relief. I hope you will too…