Yearly archive for 2023

Question

Normally there’s a question from a reader here, but this week’s column was stimulated by a news reporter who’s doing an article about hot jobs in 2024. She asked me what will be the hot jobs in 2024. That is, what jobs will need to be filled the most, and which will be most secure? I think it’s a worthy topic as we get ready to enter the New Year (and who knows what kind of economy). She posed her query as a series of more detailed questions which I’ll try to answer, if I don’t transgress and go off on a tangent. (Who, me?)

Nick’s Reply

Let’s take the reporter’s questions one at a time.

What will be the hot jobs of 2024?

1. What jobs do you predict will be in highest demand next year?

I never think in terms of highest demand or “what’s hot.” I want to know who are the very best people in their field and business. They will always be successful and hire-able even if they suffer a job loss. Being great at what you do gets you the attention you need to be successful, no matter what’s “hot.” Jobs aren’t hot; people are. People should select work that drives them, rather than jobs that drive them away.

A classic example is COBOL programming. COBOL has been a dying computer language — but it will take forever to expire. Computer Science students have long avoided it, assuming their colleges even offer it. But I could place every expert COBOL programmer I could find — for top salaries. Companies have huge legacy systems written in COBOL that must be maintained. It isn’t a hot job at all. But the best COBOL programmers have jobs for life if they want them. They are hot people.

What jobs will always be hot?

2. What jobs do you think will be most needed in the future?

Sorry, I don’t make predictions about the needs of business. If I could do that, I’d be rich. Anyone who pretends to know the future — well, I advise against paying them a fee to help you pick a job! The same goes for stock pickers. No one can fathom the myriad factors that determine the future.

Which jobs will see layoffs?

3. Is there a sector at the moment that has a falling job market that will result in people losing their jobs?

Look around — it’s happening everywhere. People are getting laid off for many reasons, and not always because they are not performing well. Industries and companies go up and down, but it’s silly to try and predict which ones will be up and when. All we can really control is ourselves.

Few industries (or companies) totally disappear in a downturn. The best still seek out — and keep — the best workers. They’re the people who are employed to help companies pull out of the doldrums. Are you of that caliber? If not, find a type of work where you are motivated to be that good. Or, don’t waste my time — or any company’s.

I’m not saying you can avoid losing your job or being unemployed, but if you’re very good at what you do, your career expectancy is much longer than that of the worker who jumps from one hot job to another. In down times, corporate failures are opportunities for great workers who can fix things.

Hot jobs and job security

4. What industries will offer the most job security?

There is only one piece of advice I’ll offer. If you like your work, get better at it. Be one of the very best. Work for companies and with people that are best-of-class, whether they work in hot jobs or not. (Life is short! Throw your lot in only with the best!) Be known as the kind of worker companies need even when business is off and you’ll be least likely out of a job.

Retention is not always related to which industries (or jobs) are “safe.” If a person wants safe, they should go crawl into a hole. The world changes every day. There is no security anywhere except the security you make for yourself. That’s why many people quit regular jobs to start their own businesses. While entrepreneurship is always risky, your own business may be the safest place because you can make choices quickly and change direction as necessary.

Don’t be a dope. Don’t take a job because someone tells you it’s safe. If you take work that you love and really want to excel at, no matter what happens in the future, you will have developed skills and confidence (and a reputation) that will enable you to move on successfully. I think that’s the only kind of security you will find.

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Which hot jobs will make you happiest?

5. Out of all the jobs that people may want to secure now for the future, in your HR experience what’s the job where people have been the happiest?

I don’t work in HR, nor have I ever, so please don’t call me HR. I’m a headhunter. I find people are happiest in jobs to which they are driven by their own interests, because those are the jobs that are self-motivating and thus most rewarding. The more you like your work, the more likely you will invest in your skills and abilities, and that will build your motivation and confidence. When you have smarts, motivation, and confidence, you will also be persistent. You will excel and you will survive most any catastrophe. There are no bromides; there are only the personal choices you make. Listen to what others tell you, and you’re doomed because you may “arrive” at a hot job, but you’ll have no idea what you’re doing there.

I believe professional happiness comes from being among the very best at the work you’re doing.

I sent these responses to the reporter, but I have no idea whether they will be published. Though I digressed from her questions, I hope the folks who read this column will find my observations useful, or at least entertaining! If you’re going to search for a new job in 2024, please check this oldie but goody: Job Hunting With The Headhunter: Go around the system!

What‘s hot about you? Do you have a hot job? What jobs do you think will be the hottest in 2024? How do you plan to stay employed in 2024?

Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and whatever you celebrate this winter, I hope your holidays are merry and bright!

Please note: I’m taking a couple of weeks off to round up reindeer, so the next edition will be January 9, 2024!

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Question

I’ve read your Fearless Job Hunting books and I think you make a lot of good points that I believe will help the majority of people — but I’m not so sure about top execs. I’m not convinced that the same tactics would work for someone like me who is looking for a position on a board of directors. In this particular case, a direct approach would presuppose that you knew the company was missing the particular board position that you wanted to fill. This is rarely going to be the case.

Such a company would almost always use a headhunter and/or the personal networks of the other board members in order to fill the vacancy, but in your book you acknowledge that marketing oneself to headhunters is a very “hit and miss” approach. Do you have any specific ideas for people hunting such “one per company” positions?

Nick’s Reply

Common sense tells us that very few subscribers to this newsletter sit on boards of directors, simply because there are relatively few board-level executives in the world. So why am I writing a column about this rarefied level of management jobs? Because I think it’s an object lesson for everyone.

Time and again, I take a poke at top execs to make the point that everyone — everyone — has terribly misconceived notions about job hunting and hiring. Even the most successful top-level executives are clueless about how to land the right job.

Top execs make the same mistakes

It’s not an exaggeration, and this executive’s question proves it. It’s very difficult for anyone — even at the highest levels — to think clearly about job hunting simply because it’s stressful and even painful. The prospect worries people, so they don’t think straight. At the higher levels, job hunting is even more challenging, not only because there are fewer jobs, but because top execs incorrectly assume there’s something fundamentally  different about the executive-level job search process. No matter what level you work on, the process is basically the same.

It’s interesting how you describe the job you want. To me, every job is a “one per company” position. In other words, there are precious few “right jobs” for an individual, and precious few “right people” for any job. The shotgun approach, which promises to cover as much territory as possible so as to increase the chances of success, is just a fallacy. Matching a person and a job is just not a numbers game (even if you do get lucky). The best way to find a good match is through good relationships with people who work in the industry you want to work in, whether it’s for a technician’s job or a board seat.

The inside track is personal

I’m not missing what you’re saying: If the job isn’t there, why make contacts at the company? The reason is that the people you talk with (board members and other executives) have knowledge, insight, and contacts no one else has — including headhunters. You’re absolutely right: Companies will use their personal contacts to fill such vacancies. It’s important for you to focus on contacts because getting on the inside track is personal. Consider them a growing resource that you develop throughout your career. You never know how or when you’ll benefit from them. However, you will benefit.

When a board member taps an old friend for a board seat, that executive is not likely waiting around for a tap. The offer stems from a relationship that has developed over a period of years. So you see, you’re right about one thing. Employers do indeed use their network of personal contacts to make hires. What you’re wrong about is that “the direct approach” won’t work at your level. It will. (As an exec, you might be surprised to hear that garden-variety workers tell me you have to be a manager or executive for this to work!) But the direct approach is a long-term investment. It may not yield an instant payoff. It’s just one step toward your goal, and without taking that step, you will forever lose to people who introduced themselves long before any position came open.

Top execs (and you!) can do it

As you note, headhunters do fill such positions. But they do the very thing you are suggesting won’t work. They contact board-level executives who are not themselves currently looking to fill or find jobs. These top execs are conduits to others who are looking. So, pick up the phone. Make the calls now — and make them regularly throughout your career. If you don’t, you will always be floundering in the wakes of people who have strong, long-term connections to one another.

You see, top execs don’t have it easier or harder than anyone else. Everyone has the same challenge: to make new friends in your field (or target field) all the time. When you’re actively looking for a job, don’t just look where the jobs are. Go to the right people, and they will lead you where you need to go. (For more on this, please read I don’t know anybody.)

For more information about board-level management, I suggest you check my friend Larry Stybel’s web site. It’s a resource for board-level executives, but it’s also an illuminating experience for everyone else who wonders what the atmosphere is like way up there.

Thanks for your kind words about Fearless Job Hunting I think you’ll find it useful when you get into the interview. For the next two weeks, all Ask The Headhunter PDF books are 50% off for the holidays. Just use discount code=WINTER50 at checkout. ORDER NOW!

Just how important is it to make your job search personal? If you have an experience that shows how crucial this can be, please share it to motivate others. Naysayers are welcome to post their stories, too.

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Question

Let me cut you off at the pass. I know you’re not a fan of resumes and you tell us not to rely on a resume to get a job. I get that. But if I’m going to use a resume anyway, what’s your advice about how to make it pay off? What good is a resume really? (Sorry for the affront but I’d really like some commando-style advice out in the job jungle.)

Nick’s Reply

Your question is no affront — not any more than the in-your-face interview questions the best managers ask. And I welcome in-your-face questions. It’s the hard questions that are most important and that force us to countenance the challenges in our job search that no one else wants to deal with.

What good is a resume?

You’re right: I advocate against relying on a resume to introduce yourself, to get in the door, to show your stuff or to provide good reasons why someone should hire you. A resume is a dumb piece of paper (or string of digital “key words”) that cannot defend you. Think about it: The more resumes (or profiles, thank you LinkedIn) there are in the world, the more rejections occur and the harder it is for you to get matched to the right job.

There’s a line from comedian Steven Wright that I’ve bent a little bit to help make my point: Suppose you could have… everything in the world! Where would you put it?

Today employers have access to every resume in the world and job seekers can look up and apply to every job posting on the planet. What does it get anyone? More failures at matching. More rejection. And more is not better.

But you know all this already. You’d just rather ignore it and play along because resumes (and their sad brethren, job descriptions) are the coin of the failed realm of HR. (“Why can’t we find good workers?!”)

6 ways to make your resume pay off

So I’ll consider your “affront” with gusto! If you’re going to use a resume anyway, here are six answers about how to make your resume pay off:

1. Write it yourself

I don’t care how talented a professional resume writer is. You know your skills and history best. If you don’t accept the challenge to write your own resume, you will never recognize the kernel of qualities that will get you hired. You’ll know you did a good job if you can use the best sections of your resume as convincing statements in your job interviews. That’s why writing your resume has to hurt. It’s not a recitation. It’s a well-thought out plan for how you’re going to do a job that makes an employer want to hire you. Unless that resume writer is going to carefully research every job you’re going to apply to and customize each resume you submit, do it on your own.

2. Make your resume the cure

Make it vanilla. Skip the fancy flavoring. Leave lots of white space. Don’t tell all. Nobody wants to know everything about you. Include only what will help a specific employer. Yup, that means one resume per job you apply for. That means you must know what kind of pain an employer suffers from, and your resume must be the specific remedy.

3. The 6 second rule

Tell the manager exactly how you are the remedy on the top half of the first page. Eye-tracking studies suggest employers spend about six seconds scanning a resume. If you don’t show why you’re the best hire in six seconds, you instantly become a NO or a MAYBE.

4. Make contact first

Never, ever send a resume to an employer or hiring manager until after you have had substantive contact with that person. Don’t be someone the manager doesn’t know who clearly doesn’t know the manager. That’s the definition of junk mail. Managers are more likely to read your resume, interview or hire you, if you’re someone they know. The manager doesn’t know you? Do the work required to become known to the manager.

5. What good is a resume? It fills in the blanks

Once that manager already knows who you are, use your resume for one purpose. What good is your resume? It fills in the blanks about your history, experience and skills. Your resume is best used as follow-up information, not to introduce yourself cold. Do you want to be one of the very few applicants with an inside edge, or do you want your resume to be one of thousands?

6. Explain it to the manager

Try this test as you hand your resume to a manager: “Here’s my resume, Manager. When I give it to you, what am I really saying to you?” Are you saying, “Here’s my plan for doing the job you want done,” or are you saying, “Here’s all there is to know about me. Now you go figure out what to do with me.”

Managers stink at figuring out what to do with you. That’s why you (and everyone else) get rejected again and again. Your resume must quickly show the manager what to do with you.

Hope that helps.

How do you use your resume? Is it effective? Or do you use your resume like you buy a lottery ticket — so you can “be in the game”? What do you put in your resume that pays off?

NOTE FROM NICK: There will be no newsletter next week (Dec. 5). I’m going to visit Santa. See you Dec. 12!

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When you accepted that job offer, did you agree to stay or pay?

SPECIAL EDITION

Can your employer trap you into paying thousands of dollars when you quit your job?

Stay or pay: quitting is gonna cost you

It’s already happening. Employees sign agreements to reimburse their company for training expenses if they don’t stick around for a year, two years, or even more. Employers say they need to use these “stay or pay” clauses in employment contracts because jobs are difficult to fill when newly trained hires quit and take their training with them.

The New York Times Magazine (paywall protected) reports that the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are now taking measures to end this widespread indentured-servitude trend. Meanwhile, the costs of training are trapping workers across industries and jobs.

“A typical stay-or-pay clause [in an employment contract] is called a training-repayment-agreement provision (TRAP), which stipulates that the cost of on-the-job training will be borne by the employee.”

Who pays for overhead?

It kinda brings to mind restaurants that now charge their overhead costs to their customers — in the form of surcharges to cover credit card fees. That would have been unheard of 30 years ago. In fact, credit card accounts for merchants once prohibited merchants from passing credit card fees on to users. The use of a credit card was marketed as a benefit, not a cost.

Likewise, training was once held out as a benefit and as a reason to join a company. Today, employers argue they need to impose TRAPs to recover the overhead of employee training. But making workers pay is nothing new. Some employers also try to recover hiring and recruiting costs from departing workers.

Pay to work

Critics contend that training is a business overhead cost and that making employees agree to repay training expenses is similar to requiring restrictive non-compete agreements (NCAs). But NCAs are now illegal in some states and will likely be forbidden everywhere because they interfere with the right to work.

Stay-or-pay clauses used to be limited to just a few industries and high-paying jobs, like airline pilots and software engineers, but are now applied to dog groomers, bank workers, nurses, roofers and truckers. Experts estimate that up to a third of all American workers are now subjected to TRAPs — and, in fact, TRAPs may have become a racket:

“Workers’ rights advocates say that, in many cases, stay-or-pay clauses no longer accurately reflect the company’s costs but instead appear to be inflated financial penalties designed to discourage quitting.”

Ending the stay or pay TRAP

Help may be on the way. It’s no accident that the insidious nature of “stay or pay” leads to comparisons to other questionable methods employers use to control workers.

“Regulators, governmental officials and politicians are starting to take notice of stay-or-pay clauses. The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed ban would include TRAPs that operate like de facto NCAs…Last June, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an investigation into ‘practices that leave workers indebted to employers,’ indicating that it may use its power as a consumer-debt watchdog to intervene in such cases.”

But the wheels of government turn so slowly that workers subjected to TRAPs continue to be hurt when employers penalize workers for quitting. For now, it’s up to you to avoid funding an employer’s overhead when you quit. Read all job offers, employee policy handbooks, and all associated documents carefully before accepting a new job.

How widespread are TRAPs? Have you ever reimbursed your employer for training because you quit too soon? Would you sign a job offer or contract that included a stay-or-pay clause?

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Question

I’ve made lateral moves to align my interests and strengths with the emerging needs of my employer. It requires concerted effort in an environment that lacks any real professional development structure, but has been worth it so far. However, I have a fairly new co-worker who has been riding my coattails hard since he started, with subtle undermining, and one overt backstabbing, and who even knows what else. Having a toxic competitor rather than a trusted collaborator on our team has led to a lot of anger, lost sleep, and too many days when I just didn’t want to get out of bed and go to work.

Too often lately, I’m torn between not giving this person the satisfaction of pushing me out the door given all that I’ve worked for, and the liberation of handing in a resignation letter (drafted when the backstabbing incident came to a head) with a two week effective date. What do you think?

Nick’s Reply

I admire that, despite the lack of professional development opportunities, you have invested a lot in making a challenging work situation acceptable if not satisfactory – you say it’s worth it. But now that someone is trying to undermine you, I think you have to decide whether your job is worth fighting for. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

Look the backstabbing co-worker in the eye

If you feel it is, before you resign because of that toxic dolt, please ask yourself, do you have anything to lose by confronting him in the company of your boss? The philosopher king Marcus Aurelius counseled, “The second rule is to look a thing in the face, and know it for what it is.” (We’ll get to his first rule shortly!)

You know what this backstabbing co-worker is. Is it okay to let him push you out the door?

I’d say no, but that’s because I like to face things head-on, and because I know so few details about your situation that I can appear cavalier! Would it be worth looking this in the face by discussing it candidly in a meeting with the co-worker and with your boss? In other words, openly call out the backstabber’s behavior for what it is. Do it politely and professionally, but frankly and firmly.

Keep an untroubled spirit

This very direct approach assumes, of course, that you have already decided to resign and that you have carefully planned out your next steps if that meeting doesn’t yield a good outcome. Because maybe you won’t have to resign.

Perhaps you should not be so quick to be the one to move out of the way and let the dolt pass. As long as you have a good exit strategy, why not take this head-on and try to protect all you’ve worked for?

Toxic, backstabbing co-workers should not control our work lives.

Leaving may be your best option. I wanted to suggest an alternative that might not pose much risk, and that gives your employer a chance to do the right thing by you. Whatever you decide, remember what else Marcus Aurelius said: “The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.”

I wish you the best!

Would you take the backstabbing co-worker head-on? What other options might this reader have? Have you ever been undermined or run out of your company by a toxic co-worker? How did you handle it?

(The question in this column was edited from a reader’s comment on another recent column.)

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Question

I’m feeling very “bleh” about my job but I can’t put my finger on the problem. I think I want to quit and move on. But I don’t want to make a rash decision. So I’ve been thinking, how do you know when it’s time to quit your job and go?

Nick’s Reply

This is a really good question, and it’s one of those that readers can answer better than I can — from their own experience. Everyone hits a kind of wall at work at some time or other. A lot of people tend to ignore the signals, sometimes for too long, and then they’re surprised when they get laid off or fired. It’s important to know where you stand — and what those “bleh” feelings really mean.

I’ll start us off with signs to look for that tell us it’s time to go — and I can’t wait to hear what signs you rely on!

How do you know it’s time to quit your job?

We all know that feeling in our gut: Something is wrong at work. It starts as soon as you wake up on work days. Here are some of the signals.

1. You’re the top dog.

Everyone comes to you for help and advice doing their job because you know more than anyone else. You’re the department’s chief mentor, but there’s no one who can teach you more. Being on a pedestal might be cool, but it can be lonely, boring, and demoralizing. Always work with people who are more expert than you are, even if you must find them elsewhere.

2. Your boss adds nothing to your future.

That is, your boss is no help to your career. Your future is to keep doing the job you have now because all your boss sees is a one-trick pony. Make sure you have a boss who leads you forward.

3. You’re ahead of your employer.

The company doesn’t embrace your ideas. It’s not interested in your suggestions. Business and product cycles come and go, and you feel your contributions are being ignored. Your company is content with the status quo and thinks you should be, too. But you’ve got ideas. You study and keep up with the state of the art — but your managers are content treading water. You’re always thinking ahead of your employer. Strive to work in a place where you can help create something new under the sun.

4. You keep running into walls.

You suddenly realize that your department or team is always isolated. For example, if you’re an engineer, you never get to work with Finance, or Marketing, or Manufacturing, or Sales. Organizational walls prevent you from being part of the bigger picture in your company. Your bosses like to keep you away from other departments. You’re stuck in your corner of the organization without any regular cross-pollination of experience or ideas. Don’t settle for living in a maze with limited range of movement.

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5. You’re stagnating.

The soundtrack at work is that Billy Joel song telling you to “stay just the way you are.” Training and professional development are lacking. You’re on your own when it comes to improving your skills and prospects. Your boss doesn’t seem to care about your professional improvement because you’re just a cog in the wheel. Your boss will not support you posting for a different or better job in the company. No promotions, no new work, no growth. Make sure there’s a steady flow of fresh air wherever you report to work every day.

6. You don’t want to get up in the morning to go to work.

This is the last straw, and it’s the sign to quit your job that I believe most people ignore the longest. You don’t want to get out of bed. You don’t want to go to your job. Change your work, change your employer, change your life.

How do you know it’s time to quit your job and move on? There are probably a million signs. Which ones have you seen? What signs have you ignored (or rationalized) the longest? Which signs were compelling enough to make you quit your job and move? Ever read a sign wrong — and make a mistake?

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Question

I work in legal compliance in a growing industry. My skills are in demand and up to date. But I’m struggling to get anyone’s attention and I remain unemployed after a start-up I worked for failed. After conversation with a former colleague, I suspect that I may have been blacklisted either by recruiters or by a past employer. I discussed this suspicion with two career coaches and received the same pat answer: “Get those suspicions out of your mind! Stop worrying about it!”

I know about typical recruiter conduct (ghosting, ignoring), and I know to be professionally patient myself because folks are simply so busy these days. And I know there may be very good and logical reasons for getting no response from two specific industry recruiters who have always been friendly, responsive and supportive in the past.

But what if something really has occurred to hurt me? How to discover it, how to deal with it, and how to clear it up? How to get any feedback if they never write or reply to my job search e-mails? Would calling them to inquire or attempt to resolve be received as too direct or confrontational?

Nick’s Reply

Sorry to hear about this. You’re right, it might be nothing – just busy recruiters. Or it might be something. I don’t want to be dismissive, so if you really believe you have evidence, I’d talk with an attorney for advice and legal help. Interfering with someone’s right to work can be a serious issue — if that’s what’s going on. A lawyer might put a private investigator on this, though that may be a stretch.

Blacklisted? Maybe, maybe not

I don’t think I’d call the recruiters or employers about this. If they have really blacklisted you, how would it help to call them? If they’re not, your call may set them to wondering about you – Is this person paranoid? Without hard evidence, you just may create a problem where there isn’t one.

One measure you can take on your own is to hire a good reference-checking service to find out what’s being said about you. But that won’t be conclusive. Negative judgments about people are usually traded via back channels, not out in the open.

Blacklisted by A.I.?

In a recent column (Is Artificial Intelligence Adopting Recruiting’s Worst Practices?) my good buddy Suzanne Lucas discusses how A.I. is infecting employers and recruiters with a more insidious form of ghosting behavior. She asks whether high-speed rejection of job applicants is a new thing, and suggests employers should beware:

“This should be a concern for talent acquisition professionals and hiring managers because they remain legally responsible for their decisions — except they don’t know precisely how A.I. decides.”

This just might be your real problem. In the end, you must follow your own judgment.

Don’t chase after recruiters

My best advice is to avoid getting stuck in just one job-search mode. Stop relying on recruiters. The best solution is to learn to go straight to the hiring managers yourself. That’s the only way to control your job search.

This requires creating referrals and recommendations that will trigger employers to meet you. That is, by talking with people that surround your target employer, and giving them reasons to refer and recommend you, you will “go around” any possible blacklist problem. You can create your own positive buzz. Please read Want the job? Go around HR. It works with going around recruiters, too!

If you feel you need to discuss the confidential details of this, please check my Talk to Nick service.

I wish you the best.

Have you ever been blacklisted in your job search, with hard evidence to support your conclusion? It’s rare, but it does happen. Whether or not that’s the case in this reader’s story, let’s discuss what real blacklisting really looks like — and how to deal with it. What’s your blacklist story?

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Question

It happened again last week. We brought in a candidate for a senior marketing position that pays very well. The candidate showed up, met with our personnel office for about an hour and then just said, “No thanks,” and left. This was a good candidate. But it’s the third that has ended the interview process before ever getting to me. I’m going to get my team together to figure out, are we doing something wrong when hiring? Or are job applicants just not what they used to be? By the way, I’m the Marketing V.P. and the job reports to me.

Nick’s Reply

Would your company send a customer service representative to close a big deal with an important new client? Of course not. You’d send your top salesperson, perhaps along with a company executive and maybe even an engineer from the team that builds the product you’re selling.

When hiring, impress candidates immediately

So, why do you send a $60,000-a-year personnel clerk to interview a top candidate when hiring to fill a $150,000-a-year job? (I’m guessing at these salaries.) It’s not so much the difference in pay that should signal a huge risk to you; it’s the irrelevance of the discussion that would ensue. What does a personnel clerk (even a smart, well intentioned one) have to say to a busy marketing expert who wants to talk shop? (Or, imagine an engineer, a computer programmer, a heavy equipment operator, or a specialized mechanic.)

Is this really how you want to establish your first important contact with a desirable job candidate? Don’t send in the clowns!

Every day, leading-edge companies send clerks to impress leading-edge candidates in screening interviews. (Your candidates seem impressed, all right — but not favorably!) These clerks must then wait to get on the hiring manager’s agenda to “present” the candidate — while the candidate cools their heels. Guess what? Such candidates don’t wait. They smell bureaucracy and walk away because they have other good options.

When hiring, put your managers in the game from the start.

If your management team is too busy to get personally involved in the recruiting and hiring process, your company will lose the very candidates it wants most: the best ones. Even in a slow economy, the best candidates are in demand, and while you’re trying to put them through your administrative process, a headhunter like me will steal them.

No matter how you identify the candidates you want to pursue, never let anyone make first contact except the manager who would hire them — in this case, you. It tells the candidate you’re serious. It puts you ahead of other employers who send in the clowns first.

Make the candidate feel as important as the job you want them to fill.

Never allow hiring to be represented as an administrative process. This turns good candidates right off. No one wants to think they were invited for an interview because the personnel department dragged their resume out of a heap. The candidate wants to know that something specific triggered the company’s interest. Preferably, a manager — not a process — stimulated this encounter. Make recruitment personal, make it important, make it a carefully orchestrated courtship designed to make the candidate feel special. You get one chance to create a first impression. Send in the hiring manager!

Deliver value to the candidate.

I give similar advice to job hunters: The very first time they talk with the hiring manager, they must offer something useful that proves their value. Why do some employers think they can do any less when they are recruiting a candidate? You are not filling a job; you’re trying to change someone’s life. Make sure it’s for the better.

Never forget that you initiated this courtship. Don’t just make your meeting informative; make it intriguing and satisfying. (If it’s appropriate, plan a meal in the executive dining room or at a good restaurant.) Show the candidate, in your first encounter, how your technology, your products and your other employees will impact their life. Show what they stand to gain from working with you. If the value isn’t there in that first meeting, the candidate won’t be back for a second meeting — or, as in this case, they’ll just walk out.

Too often, companies relegate hiring to the personnel department, where candidates are to be scrubbed before they can be presented to management. Imagine trying that with a sales prospect.

You already know that one of the two most important people to your business is the customer. Now, start acting like the job candidate is the other.

Name 3 things you could do better when hiring, if you’re a hiring manager. If you’re a job seeker, name 3 things employers could do that would make a meaningful difference to you when considering a job offer. For everyone: What should employers STOP doing to improve their hiring process?

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Question

So we all know the “What’s your salary expectation?” question. I was talking to a very nice recruiter who asked me that on our first call. I said $X. The recruiter presented my information to a company, including my desired salary. They said “We can’t offer $X base pay, but we can meet her at 90% of $X and then offer $N on top of that in bonus and incentive pay.” My question is, is it okay to feel like I am negotiating salary before I have interviewed? Does it leave room for negotiation at the offer stage? I have not come across this scenario before so I am just curious how you would advise to handle something like this in the future?

Nick’s Reply

I think the best way to get hired and get a salary that’s right for you is to challenge the employer not to hire you. But why would anybody suggest an employer should not hire them? I’ll explain why (and how) you should do just that! But first let’s address your question.

I wish all employers would start negotiating salary before an interview even takes place! It’s a great way to establish whether everyone is on the same “money page” before investing a lot of time!

Of course, it’s best to give a salary range, so you have room to maneuver later. (See Salary Negotiation: How much to ask for.) But the logic underlying this early negotiating strategy is simple, and you set the stage like this.

How to Say It: We’re gonna talk money

“Thanks — it seems we’re in the right ballpark, so I’m willing to invest some time to talk. Although I read your job description, I don’t really know what the day-to-day demands and deliverables of the job are. We’ll get into that in our interviews. So my compensation requirement could change depending on exactly what’s required of me — and what I can do for you.”

You just created a salary opening we’re going to drive a truck through.

Employers rarely can describe what the work is really all about in a job description. Job descriptions are HR-ese — keyword salad. (When I do presentations to professional audiences I often ask for a show of hands: “Who’s job today is what the job description said when you applied for the job?” Everyone cracks up and no hands ever go up!) Until we’re talking shop in a working meeting, we can’t figure out what a job is worth — and how much pay you can negotiate for.

If you’re in the right ballpark, it’s worth talking. But now you need to find out how you could relieve the employer of its pain.

Try something like this.

How to Say It: Why you should hire me

“Please tell me where it hurts. That is, what do you need me to fix, improve, make better, deliver — and I’ll do my best to show you how I will do it. That is, I’ll sketch out a kind of business plan about how I’ll take care of your problem. If I can’t do that for you, then you shouldn’t hire me. And if you don’t offer me enough money, then I won’t take the job. But as long as we’re in the ballpark, let’s roll up our sleeves and I’ll do my best to show you why you should hire me. Let’s talk shop!”

I find that volunteering that it’s possible there is no match is incredibly disarming. It changes your meeting from a job interview to a test that you yourself are proposing. It opens the door to discussing the employer’s most important needs. It tells the employer you are taking the load off their back and you’re going to explain to them why you’re the best hire because you’re going to show them.

And that can change how they evaluate all your competitors.

Raise expectations

I find this takes the interview way beyond your resume and the job description. You’ve raised the stakes because you’re not just applying for a job like everyone else. You’re about to present a business proposition, and that raises the employer’s expectations for all applicants. It leaves the door wide open to negotiate for more than they expected because no employer expects the job candidate to actually have a plan.

After you’ve learned the whole story about “where it hurts,” after you learn what they really need — the actual deliverables — then you’ll have a lot of control when negotiating salary.

Suggesting they should not hire you if you can’t talk shop and show you can fix, improve, make better, and deliver on what the employer really needs sets you up to have their complete attention.

Of course, you’d better be ready to prove what you can do in this meeting. Because if you haven’t prepared to do that, then you have no business in the interview.

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Question

The prevalence of the “keyword approach” to selecting job candidates to interview seems to leave a gaping hole in how companies recruit — and it certainly doesn’t reveal the “stars.” There is so much emphasis on “AI,” on algorithms and resume parsing that the important intangibles get lost. I’m sure you’ve seen loads of resumes. What do you look for when you judge a candidate? Is it even on the resume at all? (I’d like to ask every HR person and hiring manager this question!)

Nick’s Reply

Sales managers, more than managers in other corporate functions, are always reaching for the stars and asking this question: What are the early signs of a star performer? The best definition of a star employee was shared with me a long time ago.

Dave Csira, the V.P. of Sales for a computer distributor, told me the three attributes he always looks for are enthusiasm, persistence and intelligence. Every year that goes by I test this combination and find that this set of attributes seems to represent value better than any other, and not just in sales.

You can build your own value by focusing on developing these three attributes in yourself.

To me, your resume isn’t on a piece of paper. (See How to Get A Job: Don’t write a resume.) It’s in your actual work and in the outcome of that work. It’s in the reputation that follows you wherever you go. So, you build value in your reputation by building value into the work you choose to do and in the ways you do it.

Enthusiasm

The first way to build value is to do work that you want to do. Choices made with enthusiasm produce value because they draw out the best you have to offer. And that’s what any employer is looking for.

Never take a job because it’s there, or because the employer “bought” you with a great job offer. Sure, you may perform well on any of a number of jobs, but unless your enthusiasm runneth over for the work, for the products you work on, for your peers and for your customers, you’ve left value on the table. You could have been doing something that revealed 110% of your talents, not just 90%.

When you describe a past job to a prospective employer, your eyes should light up with genuine enthusiasm. You should be able to describe it as an exploit and an adventure, not as just a job.

Persistence

Persistence is the tool that turns a job into productive work. That’s what an employer pays for when it hires you. It’s what a good manager looks for on your resume.

The only jobs that don’t get done right are the ones people give up on. “It’s too hard. No one can do it. It’s never been done before. It won’t work. No one will buy it.” You build value on your resume by finding a way to do the job effectively.

Being persistent often means transcending the job description and re-designing the work so you can achieve the goal. You see, jobs themselves don’t matter. (That’s why more of them are eliminated every day.) What matters is work that achieves a company’s goals. Your first job is to re-design your work so that it will pay off. Make that achievement part of your reputation.

Intelligence

The trouble with enthusiasm and persistence is that they’re dumb attributes. You can jump up and down with glee and never stop — but you’ll never produce anything worthwhile unless you are smart. You have to know which end is up, and you have to “know sh-t from Shinola.”

If your resume reveals one thing about you, it’s the choices you’ve made. Choices about which companies to work for, which products to get behind, which people to work with, and which failures to learn from. These choices may seem minor when you’re making each of them, but on your resume the picture of your intelligence crystallizes when your choices are suddenly summarized.

Building “smarts” is largely a function of who you work with day-in and day-out. Even the dumbest among us learn by rubbing elbows with the smartest. Does your resume show you’ve rubbed elbows with the best?

Add up enthusiasm, persistence and intelligence and you come up with accomplishments. But remember: accomplishments don’t tell a story to an employer. They tell only the ending. The proof of your value lies in showing how you got there. When a prospective employer can see these three critical attributes in your reputation and on your resume— that’s when it sees a star. That’s when it knows you can help add something positive to the bottom line.

Can you point to where on your resume an employer can find enthusiasm, persistence and intelligence? Are these qualities evident in your reputation? What are the best ways to communicate these qualities? What other qualities would you add to these three?

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