The down side of job hunting

About 15 years ago, when I first started publishing Ask The Headhunter online, I met a fellow that I’ve stayed in touch with on and off. Recently we renewed our acquaintance — and I encouraged him to start a blog.

He prefers to remain anonymous. He calls his blog Unemployed and Clinically Depressed in the Midwest. I’ll call him UCD. Though his medical diagnosis is “clinically depressed,” what’s notable about UCD is his candor and forthright perspective on who he is, what he’s been through, and where he’s going. He minces no words. UCD doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He reveals both his confidence in his future, and his fears about the things that confront his confidence.

Unemployment exacerbated UDC’s depression, and his story quickly pulls us into a realm that none of us want to look into.

There are a lot of people unemployed. Some get depressed as a result. Some suffered from depression to begin with, and the agony of unemployment has pushed them to the edge. Some jump. Some find the courage to turn around and take a new direction in their lives. Some, like UCD, find strength and power in teaching others — and in learning more about who they are. UCD has taken control of his next steps.

UCD has written a an anti-suicide note to the world. It’s his story, blunt and direct, honest and hopeful. It’s one of the most inspiring things I’ve read: Suicide. It’s about getting up from the down side of job hunting.

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TheLadders: Scam, complaints, rip off

Toby Dayton is a very smart guy. He did something that I really wish I had thought of, but I don’t have the Google brain he does… Toby has done us all a favor and boiled down TheLadders’ reputation to its essence. And it’s so simple I wanna cry because I never thought of it.

google-search-the-ladders-2Toby Googled theladders.com and watched as Google applied its “intelligent auto-complete” feature while he was typing… I’m gonna borrow one of Toby’s graphics that shows the results:

Try it yourself. Then go to Toby’s blog and read the rest of his insights. He uses this technique to look at the reputation of another notorious “jobs” site, with similar results.

Some might view this as a cute little trick, chuckle and forget about it. But this is profound. Google’s auto-complete tells you what people are looking for online — that’s how auto-complete works. It reflects public sentiment.

When people search for TheLadders.com, what they’re also searching for is information about scams, complaints and rip offs.

My compliments to Toby for posting these meta-facts. Don’t miss his article, Great Insight on Job Boards From Google.

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Readers’ Forum: Your favorite scams

Discussion: March 23, 2010 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter

Between my recent segment on N.Y. Public Radio and today’s Q&A, that makes this The Scam Edition!

In today’s Q&A: A reader gets scammed into an interview and out of a “job.”

My son interviewed with a sales company. There were six applicants all interviewed at the same time. He was one of two offered a job on the first interview. When he questioned them on benefits, he was told that it would be discussed in training. He showed up for training only to be told that no one was officially hired the first week, and that there were no benefits.

These people are a scam with deceptive hiring practices. I want to pursue some kind of action on this and I do not know where to go. They promised him the world and now his world is crushed!

In the newsletter I pointed out the clear signals (in that very brief story) that reveal a problem, and I suggested what the young man could have done about them. But the scams just seem to keep piling up and people keep getting suckered.

From time to time, it’s a good idea for us to talk about these kinds operations and to discuss how to quickly recognize them. Have you been scammed into an interview that turned out not to be what you expected? Did you bail out of an “opportunity” because you smelled a rat?

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TheLadders: Would DaVinci buy a resume from Marc Cenedella?

When is TheLadders’ CEO Marc Cenedella gonna give it up? This latter-day P.T. Barnum knows no shame.

On January 21, 2010 I posted How to apply for a job: The Working Resume, highlighting a job application Leonardo DaVinci sent to the Duke of Milan. (DaVinci’s letter was brought to my attention by reader Phil Hey.) I used DaVinci’s application to demonstrate the job hunting methods I’ve been teaching on Ask The Headhunter for over a decade.

A few days later, Marc Cenedella posts a strikingly similar article on his blog: Leonardo DaVinci’s Resume. It also appears in his February 15 e-mail blast. Gimme a break. It seems Cenedella is running out of ideas.

I don’t read Cenedella’s sales letters because he sends them via e-mail, so they’re useless as bird-cage liners. (I get plenty of those in my U.S. mail already.) But reader Rick brought today’s missive to my attention in a comment he posted on this blog:

Nick – I trust you are on Mark Cenedella’s email list, and have received this morning’s pep talk from him… er you… seeing as its a copy of this post. Now we know that Cenedella reads this website… Hey Mark, I want a job that pays 100k give or take!!!!

Rick

Coincidence, ripoff or merely more of Cenedella’s P.T. Barnum-esque carny-barking? Whatever it is, it’s all in keeping with the adage, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” The sales pitch promotes one thing, while the huckster delivers something else entirely.

So where’s the contradiction in Cenedella’s current e-mail? Take a look at TheLadders’ resume-writing services. Ladders will sell you a $900 update to your resume, but wait minute… the Ladders CEO is warning you that such resumes aren’t what you need…

Cenedella tells his users that they need a DaVinci-style resume that emphasizes an employer’s needs rather than their credentials:

“… that’s exactly what your resume needs to do, too. Not the laundry list / standard bio that talks about you, but the marketing piece that talks about the benefits to your future employer and how you fit into his or her needs and desires.”

Trouble is, TheLadders runs a resume-writing operation that sells you a pricey, traditional “laundry list / standard bio that talks about you.”

Cenedella goes on to explain that, “I’m a hopeless pedantic, so of course I’m going to take this opportunity to let you know what you can learn from Leonardo’s resume…”

…Uh, learn what? That Cenedella’s advice and his own resume writing service totally contradict one another? Would Leonardo DaVinci buy a resume from TheLadders?

Perhaps Rick is correct, and Cenedella lifted from this blog the idea that DaVinci’s letter to the Duke of Milan is a model resume. More important, Rick’s posting points out that there are lots of people like Rick who are paying attention. They’re talking about fraud. They’re talking about Cenedella’s goofy sales e-mails and they question his ethics. They’re taking Cenedella and TheLadders to task for charging customers for “Only $100k+ jobs” that aren’t only $100k+. They’re not suckers.

Maybe Cenedella will address that in one of his e-mails.

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Brazen Careerist: An indistinct notion of cool

A couple of weeks ago I posted a column on my FastCompany.com blog titled, Gen-Y, the Brazen Opportunist, and Curious Case of Penelope Trunk. It wasn’t until Nicole Crimaldi wrote about it on Ms. Career Girl that dialogue on the topic got interesting.

I just posted a comment on Nicole’s blog. Normally I wouldn’t reprint something here that I posted elsewhere, but I’d like to press this dialogue here, with this community. Ask The Headhunter is about advice, but you also know that I use this forum to critique the “career world,” which I believe is so out of hand and largely devoid of common sense that it does a massive disservice in the economy we’re living in.

I’d love to know your thoughts. Here’s my comment on Nicole’s blog:

I wrote the column in FastCompany that you’re commenting on, Nicole. You’ve stimulated a far better dialogue than my post did on FC.

As the title of the column suggests, its main topic is Gen Y — which is easily defined as people in their 20’s starting out on their careers. I closed the column with my point: I see a lot of pandering to an image of Gen Y’ers. Lots of businesses capitalize on that image. (But hell, people in their 20’s have always been a target of the media – the demographic spends a lot of money and pandering to it is a business unto itself.) I think people in their 20’s (no matter when in time we’re talking about them) deserve more credit than the advertising world — and Brazen Careerist — gives them.

Second in the title is Brazen Careerist, which behaves more like a social club than anything having to do with careers. (Nothing wrong with social clubs, but someone branded this one a career site.) Every generation of people in their 20’s needs and wants to reflect on itself. Brazen Careerist is a fun, if not rocky, place to do that. My point is that Brazen Careerist is a social clubhouse masquerading as a career-advice website.

The reference to Penelope Trunk points out that today no company can stand apart from the image and reputation of its boss. Brazen Careerist misrepresents itself: No matter how “authentic” people want to be, or how authentic they insist an employer must permit them to be, the reality is that most emlpoyers will eject a job candidate whose online persona is brazen and risky to the employer. I don’t care if someone doesn’t want to face reality; but don’t tell me employers don’t care, or that you’re likely to find an employer who’ll let you bring your dog to work and embrace your embellishments of brazilian waxes and board-room miscarriages. Good for you if that’s your objective. But good luck. You will need it.

Though some argue that the contradictions between the website and the boss make it all very interesting and instructive in a cool sort of way, there is no escaping the fundamental contradictions. They are fatal to most people’s careers because few will cultivate the successful brand and following that Trunk has cultivated. (You could also strive to be Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Tiger Woods. You’d better have a backup plan, including someone who will clean up after you online.) Being brassy is fun and cool and it sometimes enables a person to develop a complex, compelling character that serves them well. But teaching, across the board, that being brazen while trying to establish a career is irresponsible.

“Living the authentic life” is an idea cultivated most simply and clearly by Aleister Crowley. His dictum was, “Do as thou wilt” and it’s very interesting. But Crowley did not hide the risks that walking on the edge of life posed. Hedonism, authenticity, personal branding — there isn’t even a debate today, because for the most part it’s all been reduced to b.s., with the apology that it’s up to you to figure out which is which. Crowley would puke. It’s a lot of fun to tell all in public forums, when you don’t have to worry about being ejected from a job interview (or from a venture capitalist’s office).

What anyone makes of Brazen Careerist or how they choose to use the site is up to them. My compliments to those who point out that they know how to separate shit from shine-ola. It’s been said again and again in this dialogue, on this forum, on the FC website and elsewhere: Beware of people who tell you to do as they say, not as they do. Asperger’s, hedonism, naivete – none of these are excuses OR explanations for giving self-contradictory advice to an audience that’s looking for legitimate guidance. Perhaps the worst of all the pandering and the gutless claims of “authenticity” is the use of Asperger’s Syndrome to foil criticism. Authenticity does not make anything and everything okay.

In a song titled, “An Indistinct Notion of Cool,” John Cale obliquely takes on what David (citing Rebecca Thorman) tackles in his comment [on Crimaldi’s blog]: self-indulgence. Cool is still a challenge to pull off, if it really is authentic. The character of the Brazen Careerist is mostly indistinct.

All of which tells me that Brazen Careerist is not a career advice site — at least not a credible or useful one. It’s a successful social club that takes its audience to a brink without warning them where they’re stepping. The message of my FC column: Gen Y’ers who want a chance to do work they aspire to should reflect on that.

Like I said in my FastCompany.com posting — I think Gen Y deserves more credit. What do you think of all this?

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An open question to Robert McGovern, CEO Jobfox

Dear Robert,

I just went to the Jobfox web site to send you an e-mail, but your profile page doesn’t provide an e-mail link. I wasted only about two minutes searching elsewhere on the site but gave up. Figured I’d just post a note to you here on my own blog. (You are welcome to e-mail me back: nick@asktheheadhunter.com. I love hearing from my audience. It’s something Tom Peters taught me a long time ago — it’s good for business.) I still can’t figure out why people who run websites don’t want to be bothered with e-mail. (Marc Cenedella over at TheLadders really doesn’t want to be bothered with e-mail.)

I did try clicking on your My Press Bio: Here’s what my handlers say to the press, but it goes to a dead page. Ah, well. Anybody who admits he’s got handlers to handle the press is out of my league anyway, but I guess if all they give people is a dead web page, that keeps you covered. (Cendella’s handlers write e-mail to his customers, who really get pissed off when they spend a bunch of money on an expensive new resume but can’t get a note back from the boss.) Hell, when I saw that you’re the founder of CareerBuilder I realized I’d be wasting more time communicating with you privately. We probably wouldn’t agree on much. I think the big job boards suck. (Hey, did you see the latest CareerXroads survey? CareerBuilder was the source of hires for employers less than 4% of the time among companies polled. Guess you’re glad you bailed when you did, eh?) **Update: Never mind. I just checked 2002, the year you left CareerBuilder. The figure was only 1.5% in 2002.

Jobfox has been characterized as another me-too job board and resume mill. (That combo — big job board + resume services — seems to tip people off to job boards that don’t work well and need alternate ways to suck some bucks out of customers. Did you ever think of offering special resume-writing services for the HR managers who pay to post jobs? That could be a real winner.) So I thought I’d take a look.

I don’t usually waste time with new job boards (well, I did post something nice about LinkUp, which doesn’t send out long sales letters) because let’s face it, most of the entries in this space are all alike — they load the database with crap, churn ‘n burn the customers, let them get lost among the millions of dusty old jobs and multi-level marketing come-ons, and sell access to their “info” to personnel jockeys who are glad to spend millions to… get lost in the database, because who cares? At 5pm everybody goes home and tries again tomorrow.

Anyhow… Here’s why I wanted to get in touch with you. An Ask The Headhunter reader posted a comment on You idiot, you showed this résumé to an employer?? (That’s a pretty old posting, but older stuff gets read around here — “Content is King” and all that.)

Skott Coffee (comment dated December 8, 2009 at 3:42 pm) was concerned that Jobfox has started using a lemon of a marketing ploy that Marc Cenedella has already squeezed all the juice out of. Skott seems pretty ticked off. He posted the entire sales letter he received from one of your people — and I have to say I agree with him.

I mean, 1,400-word sales letters selling resume-writing services kinda went out with hawkers selling oceanfront property in Arizona, Bernie Madoff-style “double your money” investment programs and TheLadders selling boilerplate resumes for $900.

Sales letters that just go on and on until you finally just break down and buy something generally make people feel like they’re being flagellated or something — and that’s not a good sign when you’re selling resume-writing services that are supposed to deliver resumes that make managers want to hire you.

I think Skott has a point. The sales letters Jobfox sends out make it look like the resumes you produce are going to flagellate the managers who read them. I’d have a hard time paying for that.

Skott says your resume services are selling boilerplate. I think he also means the sales letter is biolerplate. 1,421 words worth of it. Do your resume writers actually write those letters? You might want to take a look into that. They could be writing 1,400-word resumes! And charging for them. I could see how that would piss people off. Hell, it would piss me off if I were running Jobfox. But like I said, I think big job boards suck so that’s not even a remote possibility. What sucks even more is job boards that try to milk people for resume-writing services, using boilerplate sales letters that kinda demonstrate exactly the opposite of what a good writing service should be. That really sucks.

Anyhow, Skott’s comment (I read all the comments people post on my blog) got me thinking.

How do you sleep at night?

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The only headhunter on Google

I don’t use this blog to crow about what I do, but something interesting has dawned on me and, well, I wanna crow about it.

Am I the only headhunter on Google?

Before you roll your eyes and chuckle at that… Google “headhunter”. The top 10 results include Ask The Headhunter (that’s me)… and no other headhunter.

In fact, there’s not even a headhunting firm listed. Just directories, job listings, and sometimes a big job board like CareerBuilder. (Since when is CareerBuilder a headhunting firm?)

I’m certainly not the biggest or baddest or most successful headhunter in the world. Other headhunters make more money than I do. They certainly have bigger advertising and public relations budgets than me — I know because mine are zero. (I imagine CareerBuilder spends a lot of money on SEO — search engine optimization — to get itself in the top 10 search results for headhunter even when it’s not a headhunter. I don’t spend a dime on SEO.)

So, why is it that I turn up high in the Google results?

Google ranks web sites based on the extent to which they are referenced by other relevant websites. What does that mean to people who search for headhunter on Google?

To start with, people look for headhunters because they want job hunting help. But since headhunters fill only a tiny fraction of jobs, you’re not very likely to ever have any contact with a credible headhunter. As far as Google goes, I’m it. And I’m very up front about the statistics. In fact, I’ll tell you outright that I’m not going to read your resume or place you in a job. I don’t use Ask The Headhunter to recruit or to solicit headhunting business. So what does it mean when someone finds me when they Google headhunter?

It means a lot of other busy, relevant websites think you’ll learn something about job hunting and hiring by going to Ask The Headhunter. It means there is one headhunter by name out there who will tell you how to use a headhunter’s methods yourself. And that’s all I offer or promise. Many Ask The Headhunter readers get that and they’re willing to do the hard work to apply the very basic methods that we discuss on the website and in this blog.

And that’s kept me doing this for almost 15 years: the fact that you get it. And there’s no question that I’m tickled to be the only headhunter in Google’s top 10. I’m very grateful that lots of other highly-ranked websites link to Ask The Headhunter. I just had to crow.

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NEW! Subscribe to comments feature!

Ever post a comment to a discussion here on the blog, and wish you could be notified if someone responds to it so you can participate more fully in the dialogue?

Now you can do just that. At the bottom of every posting (right beneath the form where you post comments), there’s now an option to subscribe to comments. Check it off, and you’ll receive an e-mail when someone else posts to the thread you subscribed to (but you will not receive e-mail about your own new comments).

You can then easily manage which threads you’re subcribed to (from a link in the same place), and you can easily cancel all notifications. Works like a charm! (And if it doesn’t, I expect you to tell me!)

This blog gets such outstanding dialogue that I’m really glad to offer this new feature. Hope you enjoy it — I know I will enjoy the discussion here all the more!

(Note: This feature is different from the Feedburner Get Posts by E-mail feature that appears in the sidebar — that one notifies you only when I put up a new blog post.)

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There are resumes, and there are resumes

It’s good to find a fresh voice online that gives you useful advice, slaps you around a little (we all need it sometimes), entertains you, and leaves you feeling like you just learned something most people don’t know.

Check out 2 Great New Ways to Get a Kick-Butt Resume by Mark Bartz. Mark writes resumes for a living, in a special niche: medical and pharmaceutical sales — period. Mark knows the good side of the resume biz, and he knows the dark side, too. (There are resumes, and there are resumes…) If you’re going to hire a resume writer, this is what you need to know. And you’ll have fun reading it on Mark’s blog, What The Heck Do I Do?

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TheLadders: Paying for kaka. Now on Google.

I’ve covered TheLadders many times here. But no matter what aspect of this racket I look into, the next experience always reveals a bigger scam. It seems TheLadders latest racket is with Google…

Today a public radio station contacted me about appearing on a show they’re doing. I always ask media folks how they found me. (That’s also a good thing to ask when you get recruited — it helps you develop your network if you know which nodes are working well.) The producer at the station found me when she Googled “headhunter npr” (for National Public Radio).

So I checked the search term. What did I find at the top of the paid Google results for “headhunter npr”? www.TheLadders.com/Headhunter. Curious, I clicked.  I was taken to a Ladders page titled:

“Looking for headhunter npr? Join Now and Start Your Next $100K+ Career.”

Say WHAT? What does TheLadders have to do with headhunters or NPR? So I tried something. I Googled “headhunter abc.” Guess what comes up in the paid results?

“Looking for headhunter abc? Join Now and Start Your Next $100K+ Career.”

Well… then I couldn’t resist.

“Looking for headhunter dogmeat? Join Now and Start Your Next $100K+ Career.”

“Looking for headhunter scam? Join Now and Start Your Next $100K+ Career.”

“Looking for headhunter to steal your money? Join Now and Start Your Next $100K+ Career.”

Try it. Google “headhunter [anything, except bad words]”.

TheLadders is not a headhunting company. It’s a job board that lies in its advertising, lies to its customers, smiles at you and asks for your business. Google oughta tighten up on the misleading ads it lets advertisers run. I guess Ladders doesn’t mind paying for such clicks…

“Looking for headhunter kaka? Join Now and Start Your Next $100K+ Career.”

It’s in there.

****UPDATE Oct 12, 2009: Either TheLadders or Google itself has killed the generic “headhunter [anything]” search result. Wonder why?

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