Informational (heh-heh) interviews

On March 28, 2008

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW, n., (1) a stupid job-hunting trick; (2) an embarrassing demonstration of ignorance by a job hunter; (3) a transparent waste of management time; (4) the preferred substitute for legitimate job-hunting assistance developed by career experts to distract their clients and justify their fees.

Heather Hamilton’s take on informational interviews provides a good perspective from employers on this job-hunting tactic. But the definition above is mine.

When you request an informational interview, tatoo LOSER on your forehead before you attend the meeting. That way the manager will know up front that you are not ready to talk business. You have not done your homework. If you’ve done your homework, you should have something to offer — not something to ask. Read more →

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DamnINeedAJob.com

On March 12, 2008

If you’re going to mail out hundreds of resumes to people you don’t know, or post your credentials on some web site, you might as well stand on a busy street corner and just hand out your resume to random passersby. You’re just as likely to find a job either way. That’s what I tell people who use conventional job hunting methods, and I figure I’m making my point. But there’s nothing I can think of that someone hasn’t already done…

Larry Dinsmore stands on corners with his resume plastered on his back. While I don’t know whether someone’s going to hire him right there on the street, he is doing something smart. Larry is meeting and talking to people, which beats staring at a computer screen and waiting for an employer to magically appear with an interview invitation. (This time-honored strategy was invented by personnel jockeys, aka “recruiters”, in big companies who sit on their butts waiting for the perfect candidate to magically appear on their pc screens. Nice work if you can get it.) Read more →

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The 2-minute Dutch uncle

On March 6, 2008

I used to do a blog for InfoWorld. When it ended, my last posting was up only very briefly, and I’ve been asked to reprise it here for those who missed it. It was a two-minute version of the Dutch uncle routine, for those who enjoy the Ask The Headhunter approach to job hunting, hiring, and success at work. Hope you enjoy it.

1. New jobs don’t grow on trees, or on job boards. Any job-search method that involves picking from what’s available will likely lead you to the wrong job, and you’ll be job hunting again soon. So, start with where you want to work, and what work you want to do every day. You must sit down and figure it out. Sure, this is obvious. But in almost 30 years of headhunting, I’ve met very few people who really get it — or do it. Read more →

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Only in New Jersey?

On March 4, 2008

I’ve written a lot about about the various rackets in the career industry that prey on desperate people looking for work, but I always use the term “racket” loosely. Last week I got a query from a news reporter that forced me to create a new category in this blog. We all need a (nervous) laugh:

I am a staff reporter with… a northern New Jersey newspaper. I want to ask you about a lawsuit to see if what is described within could be construed as normal “head hunter” protocol, as the defendant claims.

The lawsuit was filed by a father who claimed he paid $31,000 to a mob associate with “political connections.” The mobster guaranteed the man’s son a job in return for the money. The mob associate said he knew a sitting state legislator who would write a letter of recommendation to a local company in order for the father’s son to get a job. The job fell through and the father sued to get his money back.

Does that sound like legitimate work by a head hunter? Read more →

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If you don’t like rejection

On February 26, 2008

Every week I get books in the mail. Review copies. These are from authors writing about career topics who would like me to plug their books on Ask The Headhunter. I know how hard it is to get your writing published, so I don’t respond when I have nothing nice to say.

Most of the time, even the titles are embarrassing. (No, I won’t tell you the titles. Our moms were right. Sometimes it’s still best to say nothing if you can’t say anything nice.) The material is weak. The methods described are hackneyed, and they still don’t work. Some of these books are preposterous; others, too clever for their own good. Read more →

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TheLadders: Going down?

On February 21, 2008

Recruiting-industry watcher Cheezhead reports that job-board web-site TheLadders may be for sale. I agree. In Silicon Valley, it’s an old story. Does an entrepreneur start a company to create value, or with a quick exit strategy at the heart of the business plan?

When the entrepreneur comes from another company whose reputation is for bargain-basement wares that don’t work, you don’t even need to ask. Ladders founder Marc Cenedella came from HotJobs, that bastion of quality job-postings whose success at filling jobs doesn’t even warrant mention. Well, heck, let’s mention it anyway. CareerXroads reports that less than one-half of one percent (0.05%) of jobs filled by companies come from HotJobs. The product doesn’t work. (In comparison, Monster’s success rate among employers is around 2%. Whoo-wee. Compliment all the HR brainiacs who have sent billions of dollars to Monster.) Read more →

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Zen of job hunting

On February 15, 2008

I’m a headhunter and a writer. I don’t know a darned thing about bikes, but when I look at the V-twin engine on a Victory motorcycle in the window of a local bike shop, I see perfection. Smack me, but it makes me feel like I just closed a deal and placed the right candidate in the right job and the match is forever. Of course, one has nothing to do with the other. Right? Wrong. The image of perfection is the image of quality. You know it when you see it. I see it in that V. Read more →

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One tiny $100K+ mistake

On February 7, 2008

It’s getting so you can’t avoid the cheesiness of the job boards no matter where you turn in the career industry, because they seem to multiply like the spawn of Bernard Haldane.  After embarrassing themselves at data-base dumps like HotJobs, job-board executives re-form similar operations under new names, and run the same rackets. The trend now is to sucker-punch the “$100K+” market — managers who believe they can buy their way into the next corporate suite for the price of a “Premium Membership.”

Marc Cenedella (formerly of HotJobs), the founder and CEO of TheLadders (“The Most $100K+ Jobs”), sends his members regular solicitations that compete with the ripest junk-mail ad-copy scenting your e-mail box. A reader passed along a sample that had me howling, until tears ran down my cheeks for the $100K+ suckers who swallow it. Read more →

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Goobers! Where are the jobs?

On January 31, 2008

Well, the news is out and once again, I shake my head. Bloomberg reports that, according to the US Labor Department, jobless claims are at a 27-month high. Goobers! And I guess we can bank on that (or close our empty accounts) because, “Monster Worldwide Inc., the New York-based owner of the most-used Internet site for help-wanted advertising, said today its employment index declined in January to the lowest level in almost two years.” (Its “employment index”? Monster’s success rate at filling jobs sucks. Why do any statistics from Monster matter? Er, ah, it’s news.) Read more →

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