Pay for a job? (Part 2)

On November 2, 2009

About a year ago we first asked the question, How much would you pay for a job?

In this week’s e-mail Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, we’re covering part two. (Don’t get the free newsletter? Oops. You’re missing the full story. Sign up now!)

A reader says:

I recently signed an agreement with a search firm that places people either (1) as a contingnecy search firm, or (2) as a career counseling firm. That is, depending on the position, they charge the employer or the employee a fee. I am willing to work with them only if the employer pays the fee, but the agreement includes a number of provisions about how this firm could collect the fee from me.

There’s more… in the newsletter. (Hey, if I publish it all here, what’s the point of the newsletter? The point of this part of the Blog is to enable newsletter subscribers to chime in on the topic. Feel free to join in…)

Witness the degree of desperation in the job market… and beware of “pay to work” schemes that masquerade as legitimate headhunters or employment agencies.

Suckers are born every minute. Some of them are pretty smart — just desperate and in need of help. (We’ve all been there.) I guarantee you, there are scams even I have never heard of before… Would you pay for a job? Have you encountered “agencies,” “career counselors” or “search firms” that charge both the job hunter and the employer? (And, what did you think of my advice in the newsletter?)

Have you been scammed another way?

Expose the fraud and let’s educate ourselves before another one of us gets suckered…

****UPDATE: Newsletter subscribers have asked for access to the June 9, 2009 edition of the Newsletter, titled Should I pay to apply for a job?, which is mentioned in this week’s edition. While the newsletter is not normally archived online, I’ve put that edition up so you’ll have it for reference. Hope it helps, and thanks for the requests!

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Readers’ Forum: No phone calls, please! (Version 2)

On October 26, 2009

We recently heard from a reader who saw a job posting that warned, “No phone calls, please!”

In this week’s newsletter (October 27, 2009) another reader runs into the same warning, but the story has another twist. (What is it with employers who don’t want to talk to job applicants, anyway?)

I found the job of my dreams posted in an industry newsletter. The posting says to apply via indeed.com, where a more complete job description can be found. I researched and found the name of the executive that position reports directly to and I also found her on LinkedIn. Do I send a message via LinkedIn? The posting does specify “No calls, please,” so I don’t want to get black-balled before I even apply.

On the one hand, we have a smart, motivated job hunter — the kind of out-of-the-box thinker companies claim they love. On the other hand, we have an HR department so goofy that it directs job hunters to a 3rd-party job board to apply for a job at the company… while the company’s managers are available on LinkedIn.

What would you do?

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Readers’ Forum: What do I owe the headhunter?

On October 19, 2009

A reader’s problem:

Five years ago a headhunter convinced me to interview with Company A. I wasn’t offered a job after the interview, but the experience motivated me to find a job with another company, B. After a few months, Company A offered me a job (through the headhunter), but I had to decline since I had already started working at Company B.

Now that 5 years have passed, I’d like to pursue a job at Company A. Am I obligated to work through the headhunter? Or is it fine to contact the hiring manager at Company A directly?

Forum: Does this reader owe the headhunter a call? What’s the best way to handle this? Post your comments and I’ll add mine later! (If you have a copy of How to Work with Headhunters, you can handle this one with your eyes closed… and you also know why the reader should have stayed closer to that headhunter!)

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How to Say It: No phone calls, please!

On October 19, 2009

Well… I’m not going to tell you how to say “No phone calls, please!” (It’s just a nice, catchy title.)

But I hope we can address what a job hunter should do when the personnel jockey warns  not to call anyone at the company…

A reader asks:

I researched the company and sent in the requested cover letter and resume, but after discovering your website today, I would like to do more towards “being my own headhunter.” The problem is that the job posting on the company website clearly states “no phone calls, please.” Does this exclude me from contacting people within the company who are not the hiring manager? How do I communicate that I think I deserve an inside edge?

If you get the newsletter, you know what my advice is. (You don’t get the newsletter? Well, sign up now — it’s free — or you’ll miss my advice on the next How to Say It!)

Your turn now: Can this reader still make the call? (Ah, that’s a loaded question!) How? And how should she use the call to leverage an inside edge on the job?

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Q&A: Climbing out of the hole

On October 18, 2009

You think you have problems?

We’re the parents of a 30-year-old college-grad-gone-wrong man. Our son now has two incidents and a criminal record as a result of his ten-year obsession with eastern culture (martial arts/intense spiritual yoga indoctrination). He got fired from his daytime jobs and still has a few hearings scheduled in court.

While we provide support for him, there must be some honest labor or odd jobs that he can do. Not only for $, but we feel that a sense of providing for himself can restore his self-esteem, which could be just the thing to tear him away from that spiritual breakdown and return him to society.

Do you know any job source that can tolerate his criminal record? I asked his public defender. He had no clue! We will appreciate any leads for him. Thanks a million.

The problem is that he’s getting fired presumably because of his behavior. I don’t know of any job where that would be tolerated. He has to want to build his self-esteem, or his behavior will not change.
 
This might sound strange to you, but a program like Toastmasters or a Dale Carnegie course might help him — if he wants the help. These groups teach self-reliance and the ability to get up in front of people to talk with poise. I find that problems with work and self-esteem often stem from a lack of self-confidence. Learning to talk to others publicly is a great path to building confidence. By changing his behavior around other people, he may be able to change his underlying attitudes. (This is a simple tenet of behavioral and cognitive psychology — behavior change can stimulate a change in attitude.)

Toastmasters is free. Carnegie charges.
 
The nice thing about both? Many of the people you meet in those programs have jobs in good companies. They can be the first step toward a new job.
 
He has to want to do it.
 
I wish you the best.

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Turn down the volume

On October 16, 2009

When I give a presentation, the first thing I tell the audience — whether they’re job hunters or hiring managers — is, “Everything you know about job hunting (or hiring) is wrong.” Shoulders relax. People giggle nervously. They are so relieved to hear they’re not crazy. They know the conventional wisdom is wrong.

Then I tell them that a mistake everyone makes when job hunting or hiring is volume. We are all taught that it’s a numbers game. You have to wake up every morning and get 50 resumes out before breakfast. Apply to as many jobs online as you can. Then you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something before lunchtime! Or if you work in HR, keep your pipeline full of candidates so you’ll have a lot to choose from.

Bunk.

Let me give you a specific counter-example that blows the fallacy of “volume” out of the water.

I had lunch with John, a client, to discuss a position he wanted me to fill. It was a $125,000 marketing job. We spent two hours talking. For the next two weeks, I talked to several people who worked for John, and to others at his company who knew him. John had no idea I was doing this. I learned a lot about what his operation was like and about how his staff worked.

Then I talked to a handful of people around the country — a handful — who are experts in marketing and who work with experts in marketing. I didn’t run any ads. I didn’t solicit any resumes. I conducted no in-person interviews. I called John back and gave him a name and a phone number. I told him to call Joe, the guy who could do the job.

John and Joe talked and scheduled a face-to-face meeting. In the meantime, I put together a very simple resume on Joe using information he had given me and information I gathered from his references. I sent it to John so he’d have some background on Joe, to fill in the blanks.

They met. John offered Joe a job and Joe accepted it.

One job, one meeting, one candidate.

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Q&A on Midmorning, MN Public Radio: Oct 5 10am CT

On October 2, 2009

Please join me on Midmorning with Kerri Miller, Monday October 5, 10am Central Time, on Minnesota Public Radio.

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UPDATE: I’m glad to take overflow questions from the show here on the blog. Just post them in the comments section below… I’ll try to get to them all!

Here’s the audio from today’s Midmorning segment:



I referenced these articles during the segment today:

Put a Free Sample in Your Resume

Too Old to Rock & Roll

Information and statistics about job boards:

Job-board Journalism: Selling out the American Job Hunter (an oldie but goodie)

CareerBuilder is for Dopes

Job Board B.S. Abounds

Why do people pay to use job boards?

Your question might also be answered in one of the many other articles on the web site: Ask The Headhunter.
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This is live, call-in talk radio — bring your questions! MNPR streams live online.

Our topic? The Job Hunt! The insider’s edge, how to find a job, how to interview, how to get the job, and if you already have the job, how to keep it and advance in your career.

I’m told that a representative of Monster.com will be on the show, too…

(If your questions don’t make it on the air, please post them below and I’ll do my best to address them all after the show!)

Tune in here!

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Readers’ Forum: Old, talented and sidelined

On September 28, 2009

It’s the question on the lips of the ever-growing over-60 population. (Hey, you’re not over 60? Just wait a few minutes… because when you get to 60, it’s gonna feel like just a few minutes ago that you were younger.)

From the new Ask The Headhunter Newsletter Readers’ Forum:

I’m a 64-year-old (healthy and talented) TV director with two Emmys, one Peabody, and a dozen other awards. I love my job as an adjunct professor of television production and writing at a respected university, but at best it’s a part-time thing that brings more satisfaction than income. TV is staffed largely by young people who either perceive me as their father or ask why would someone like me be looking for work with someone like them. I’m afraid I’m not alone in my quandary: old enough to have a distinguished career, too old to be thought employable for any number of reasons. I have no intention of retiring. What would you do?

Forum: There are lots of articles on this topic in lots of publications. The Net is awash in advice for “old people” looking for jobs. But I’m not interested in the conventional tips for this reader. (Dye your hair. Act young. Leave dates off your resume. Learn the new lingo…) Can we do better than “the career experts” and their mushy apologies? We’d better, because soon it’s gonna be us kicking and screaming while they try to drag us to the sidelines…

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LinkedIn for Job Seekers: A personal tutor

On September 25, 2009

I don’t write about many products or services because it’s rare that I find one worth writing about. Let’s face it, the Net is rife with hyped-up garbag-io. But sometimes something comes along that’s worth talking about. Even then, I can’t get interested in a product until I know who is behind it.

I met Jason Alba a couple of years ago at a conference where I gave the keynote. We spoke afterwards, I took his card, and I checked out his JibberJobber.com, which is such a simple idea implemented elegantly in software that I saved the link so I could look at it in more detail later. We discussed partnering on something at some point since he’s a fan of Ask The Headhunter and we’re both fans of keeping things simple. Then I ran into Alba again, indirectly while talking to a friend at Microsoft who sang his praises. That was the tipping point and I started paying attention to what Jason was doing.

So I spent some time on JibberJobber, an online job hunting tool that helps you organize your job search. Kinda like an Act! for job hunters but tuned specifically for the task. I liked what I saw so much that I got back in touch with Jason and we started talking. But this is not about JibberJobber. (I’ll talk more about that in another post.)

albadvdThis is about LinkedIn. Jason told me he’d produced a DVD training program for job hunters, aptly (and simply) titled LinkedIn for Job Seekers. (It’s based on his book, I’m On LinkedIn: Now What?) Still trying to figure out LinkedIn for my own purposes, I welcomed a chance to learn by watching.

I expected a slick video of Jason in a suit lecturing me. (I dunno about you, but I can’t stand scripted videos and droning talking heads.) What makes this video so effective is that it focuses entirely on the LinkedIn screen while Jason stands over your shoulder and walks you through every important page, screen, feature and tool LinkedIn has to offer. There’s no droning…

My plan to skip around and get a feel for the DVD was dashed. I wound up taking my time and taking notes! I’m not job hunting, but I learned much of what I need to know to use LinkedIn for my business. (Job hunters will walk away knowing how to leverage LinkedIn for job hunting.) All I can say is, thank you, Jason, for not reading a script — thanks for standing over my shoulder and walking me through it like a private tutor!

This list is by no means complete because there are 18 chapters on the DVD, but here are some of my notes about what Jason will teach you in LinkedIn for Job Seekers:

  • How to structure, format and present your resume so it’ll work for you
  • How to engage employers through deft selection of what to put in your LinkedIn profile
  • How to use LinkedIn to leverage your references, and how to manage quality vs. quantity
  • How to use third-party applications to add value to your image and presentation without going overboard

(When I signed up on LinkedIn, I studied how to use it, but nothing showed me how LinkedIn actually works as an integrated collection of tools… to absorb that, you have to see it all in front of you.)

  • How to protect yourself and your privacy
  • How to use LinkedIn’s “ask questions, get answers” tools to build your credibility and reputation
  • How to give and get recommendations (Seeing how to turn these into professional references is worth the price of the DVD by itself.)

I think this product works so well because Jason Alba is immersed in JibberJobber and he spends all day long thinking about what helps job hunters. LinkedIn for Job Seekers costs $49 (if you catch the current promo price). An hour with a tutor will cost you more than that. Yah, this is a sales pitch: I recommend Jason’s LinkedIn tutorial. No, I don’t get paid a dime. It’s tough enough finding someone else online who produces really good products — and I want to help Jason keep producing good products that I can use myself.

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How to Say It: Break the ice with a new contact

On September 14, 2009

Personal contacts account for between 40% and 70% of new hires. But how do you make a personal contact?

That’s the subject of the September 15, 2009 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter. Here’s a reader’s dilemma… and opportunity:

I just attended a professional seminar and I met people from several companies—two are places where I’d really like to work. Your suggestion to “hang out with people I’d like to work with” really works! Now I need to call these people up. I don’t want to sound like I’m begging for job leads because I’m not ready to make a move right now. I want to learn more about their companies and get myself in the door. How do I make friends with them? What should I say?

My advice is in the newsletter. What’s your advice to this reader?

(Missed the newsletter? Sorry, it’s not archived online, but it’s free via e-mail. You’ve gotta subscribe… do it now and you won’t miss next week’s topic and advice.)

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