Category Archives: Accomplishments

Motivating recruiters

Posted on December 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

Many recruiting offices have a button that rings a bell.  You can only push the button when you make a placement.  Some recruiters live only to press that button.  When they do press it, they keep their finger down for a full minute.  It drives everyone else nuts with envy.  Recruiters are competitive people.

Placing someone in a job motivates recruiters.  Sure recruiters want money.  That’s not their base motivation.  Their whole job is centered on making placements.

Want to motivate a recruiter?  Convince them they can place you quickly.

Some things that help:

  1. A great resume showing accomplishments, not responsibilities
  2. A positive attitude
  3. Talents that are in strong demand
  4. Winning interview skills
  5. Reasonable salary expectations
  6. Motivation to take a new job
  7. Little job hunting done on your part already
  8. A list of companies you would like to work for
  9. An exclusive relationship with the recruiter
  10. Your spouse and kids back you in the move
  11. Willingness to relocate or commute
  12. Ability to interview at a moment’s notice
  13. Great references that can be checked immediately or that are already on LinkedIn
  14. A current job

If you bring me all of the things above, I’ll start salivating.  I’ll drop everything I am doing and find you a job.  So will any other recruiter worth his salt. With that list, you should find a recruiter who will market you.  Get his commitment to report back how his marketing is going. If he won’t commit, he is the wrong recruiter.

The way to motivate a recruiter is to be a great candidate.  If you have a motivated recruiter, soon you’ll have a new job.

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Something To Do Today

Go back over that list.  Can you figure out how to line up more of those things for your next job hunt?  Ask a recruiter for his honest opinion, “How marketable am I and what can I do to make myself irresistible to employers?”

Get a commitment from your recruiter of how much he’ll do and when he will call you back to report on his results.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Recruiters, Resumes

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A list of Sexy Verbs that make a resume attractive

Posted on September 26, 2014 | Leave a comment

Boring means not read.  Not read means no job. A sexy resume gets attention.

What does the person who gets your resume want to see?

Don’t tell him what you are “Responsible for.”  That means you are overhead.  No initiative.  You didn’t cause anything to happen.  You just slowed things down and kept the people who do things from making mistakes.

“Supervised” means you didn’t accomplish anything.  You were useless.  If you had trained all those people well, you could have made the company some money.  If you say, “Cut support costs by 27% by realigning my team,” that’s a lot better than, “Supervised 10 people.”

Companies hate people who are overhead.  Overhead doesn’t make them more money.

Go to www.agicc.com/actionwords.htm or www.agicc.com/actionwords.doc .  Replace the verbs in your resume with some of these.  Change the sentences to talk about how many more sales were made because of you, how much more money the company made, and how much money you saved the company.  Karen Woodworth’s list of “Action Words” can spruce up your resume.

Your resume may become irresistibly sexy.  That’s how you get a job.

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Something To Do Today

Get that sexy resume worksheet at www.agicc.com/actionwords.htm or www.agicc.com/actionwords.doc Run your resume through it.  Make your resume attractive

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Next:               What to ask in every interview

Later:              Good manners

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Posted in Accomplishments, Resumes

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Job hunt tips for older (no, for all) professionals

Posted on July 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

Your age can be a problem.  It can also be an asset when job hunting.  Whether you are in accounting, computers, or engineering, age discrimination exists.  You can also use your age to your advantage.

Do you remember Ronald Reagan saying that he wouldn’t use his opponents youth and inexperience as a political tool?  (here is the clip)

In this posting there are some things mentioned that can be big positives for older workers.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Resumes

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Your sunshine collection can get you a raise or a job

Posted on July 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

Memory is a fickle thing.  When you are depressed, you can hardly remember cheerful times.  It is a good thing you know how to write.  Keeping track of little things can change your entire career.  Your job journal can be a lifesaver when things get rough. It is your sunshine collection.

Every time someone compliments you, write it in your job journal.  If they like your smile, clothes, attitude, car, clean desk or hard work, write it down.  When someone thanks you for your help, write it down.  Joe Smith says you are more expert than a CPA with a PhD?  Write it down.

Take a second to write down what they said, who said it, and what the circumstances were.  That is sunshine collecting.

Every Friday you should be writing in your job journal what you accomplished this week.  You should also record problems that relate to your job so that when the problems stop, you can show how well you fixed things.

That’s good, but not enough.

Emails and letters that compliment you should be put in your job journal too.  Sunshine collecting is taking the time to collect and write down what others say you do well.  Then when you are mad at Bob, you can go back and find out what he likes about you.  That can change your whole day for the better.  It can keep you from exploding or quitting.

Sure, your sunshine collection can be a big help in a job performance review or job search.  But if you collect sunshine it will do great things for your career whether or not anyone else knows about it.  It will help you remember how good you really are.  It will also help you remember how good other people are.  That’s important too.

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Something To Do Today

Listen for compliments, kudos and attaboys.  Write them in your job journal.  They’re stored sunshine so get a yellow highlighter and mark them too.

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Tomorrow starts easy networking week.  Low effort, high return network tools. One high effort, incredible return networking tool also included.

Tomorrow:     A job and a promotion networking

Later:              A scissors for jobs network

100% exposed job networking

Double your chances after an interview

Linked in

The international manager roundtable method of getting a job.

 

How to close an interview

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Raises

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9 ways to get hired in a highly technical job

Posted on June 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Getting noticed and hired in a new job as a Tax Partner, Audit Manager, Hadoop DBA, Android Programmer, or SEC Compliance Manager can be tricky.  You may hear how hot your field is, but you just can’t seem to get noticed.

Here are 9 things that may help.  Make sure and go past the first page. The first idea applies, but is not critical at all.

Here is the article.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Resumes

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How to promote yourself at work

Posted on May 19, 2014 | Leave a comment

This slideshow is aimed at women, but very applicable for men.  You need to learn the best way to promote yourself.  No one wants to be called “A legend in his own mind.”  But you want to be noticed and rewarded for all the things you make work.

Here are some hints on how to do it.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Promotions, Raises

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Resumes and levers and elephant guns

Posted on May 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

Want a job interview with a great company? Find a lever.

Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the world.  (Archimedes)

Or a big gun

In the old Tarzan movies a “great white hunter” is walking through the African plains followed by a couple of trusty gun bearers.  Suddenly, out of the trees, an elephant charges.  He reaches back and his huge elephant gun is placed in his hands.  He takes aim and waits.  When the elephant is a mere 30 yards away he fires.  The elephant falls to the ground at his feet.

What would happen if the hunter reached back and a bow and arrow were placed in his hands?   Well, there wouldn’t be enough left of the hunter to have a funeral.

For every job there are a few key experiences that will get you an interview.  They are the elephant guns in your job hunt.  If you have those experiences, you will get an interview.

Before you submit your resume for any job you have to ask yourself, “What is the elephant gun for this job?  Is there one? Is there a lever?”  You may have to read the job description two or three times before you know.  If you are still confused, call up the company and find out.  Ask for the person in charge of that job.  Whether you get HR (Human Resources) or the hiring manager, ask what the most difficult to find skills for that job are.

We submitted one resume for a job using an elephant gun.  The candidate did not have the college degree necessary.  He was not a CPA and had never been an auditor.   Still, the company phoned back immediately.  They were excited that we had found a candidate with the one skill they absolutely had to have.  He had several years of experience collecting the data to fill out a particular set of government forms.

We knew what the elephant gun for the job was.  The candidate got the interview.

Are you using a bow and arrow resume when you could be using an elephant gun?  You need a lever and a place to stand to move the world. Find out what the elephant gun is for the job.

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Something To Do Today

Find an ad that is picky, an ad that asks for 10 different skills and a lot of experience.  Find out what the elephant gun is for that ad.  Call the company and ask what the most important skill sets are and which are not essential. Find out where the lever can be placed.                

Tomorrow:  Am I showing up?

Coming up:  Down Syndrome vs down syndrome

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Posted in Accomplishments, Perseverance, Resumes

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Make yourself stand out with irresistible details

Posted on May 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

Perception is everything when you have 30 seconds to make a sale.   Most resumes are deleted in 12 seconds.  You don’t even have 30 seconds to sell yourself.

If you were going to hire an audit manager which of these two skill sets sounds better:

  1. Managed large audit department for 3 years.
  2. Managed 18 person audit department.  As many as 7 audits occurred simultaneously in 9 locations in 3 countries. $18M recovered over a period of 3 years.

Not a hard choice is it? 

Grab your 30 second commercial you wrote yesterday and your resume.  Look at the first skill set you describe.  How deep is the description?  Can the hiring manager tell the depth of your experience?  Do you give any numbers, sizes, concrete examples or project sizes?  Do you mention the number of people involved in a project?

Can you go any deeper?  For example both of the following are better than average skill accomplishment descriptions, but one is superior:

  1. Top two salesperson for the last 3 years.
  2. Top two salesperson out of 30 for the last 3 years for both highest total sales volume and largest average profit margin.

If you are keeping a job journal, you are tracking detailed information about your accomplishments.  For now, look back at what you’ve done and make some best guesses at numbers.  The more detailed you are, the more you stand out.

Read those examples above again.  Who would you bring in for an interview if you were short of time?  Do you need to change your resume and 30 second commercial?

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Something To Do Today

Copy your 30 second commercial and resume to new files.  Go over every skill set description and accomplishment and expand it.  Add all the details you can. Make every description too long.  Save it.

Tomorrow:  That pesky resume.  Its job is to get you an interview.  Is it working?

Coming up: Am I showing up?  Are you contacting people about jobs?  Sending resumes?

Down Syndrome vs down syndrome

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Posted in Accomplishments, Resumes

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Make them want to hire you in your first 30 seconds

Posted on May 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

The greatest tool for your job search is an enthusiastic desire to help, not the job title you want. Let me show you what I mean.

I was talking to a local TV station manager.  He asked, “How would you like to stand in the middle of the biggest stadium in Pennsylvania and tell everyone there about your product?  That’s what a 30 second ad on my station is like.” Later he added, “You’d plan your speech well, wouldn’t you?”

Have you been telling a lot of people how good you are and getting no response?  Maybe you need to work on your speech.  Turn it into your 30 second commercial.

The biggest mistake most job seekers make is they start by saying, “I really need a job.  Can you help me?”  Why would that make a manager want to hire you?  You just asked him to give you money he needs for other things.

He’ll hire you if you can solve his problems, make his life easier, or earn him money.

He’ll hire you even if he doesn’t have an opening right now.

Sit down with a piece of paper and write each job type you are applying for.  Leave lots of space between jobs.  Under each job write what problems you can solve for the hiring manager.  Next write how you can make his job easier. Finally put down how much money you can make him in new income or save him in expenses. Would you pay someone to do those things?  Give examples of what you did in the past.  Give real examples.

Did you only write what duties you want?  I hope not.   If you wrote, “I can take care of the computers,” that isn’t enough.  Add, “I cut computer downtime in half at my last job.”  In addition to, “Do help desk duties,” write, “As second level help desk technician I cleared up all incoming calls in an average of 20 minutes per call.”

Can you write down accomplishments instead of duties?  What have you done?  How have you helped in the past?  Where have you saved money at your last job?  Did you figure out how to save time for 20 other people?  Did you bring in 20 new customers?  Were you better than anyone else?  Prove it with concrete examples.

For each job you need to write a 30 second personal commercial.  It should not say what you want.  It should say how you can help.  It should show your enthusiasm and your “can do” attitude.  Prove you can do it with examples.  Use that commercial when you are talking to people about your job search.  You’ll get a much better response.

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Something To Do Today

Make that list of jobs you are applying for.  List what you can do for the hiring manager.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Resumes

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How to get $50,000 more than your coworker

Posted on February 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

I talked to a network technician who is supervising a few others.  He is earning just over $100,000 in salary.   The techs under him are stuck at $50,000 to $65,000 in salary.

So what’s the difference?  He knows what is valuable to his company.  Every week his job reviews always include a list of the ways he made money, saved money or speeded things up.  His resume is a list of the same things—his value to his company.  He knows how much money the guys on his team make for, or save, the company.  He knows how fast things used to get done and how fast they get done now.  He knows the retail price of every piece of software and hardware he buys and he shows how much his negotiations saved off that price.  He proves to his boss and puts on his resume exactly how often the network used to be down compared to today.  He also gives how much more it used to cost when 200 unionized assembly line workers stood around for half an hour each week waiting for the network to get fixed.

His current and past jobs are his most valuable assets.  Each year he gets $50,000 more than his coworkers.  Why?  Because he proves he is worth it every week.  He keeps his eye on what will make the biggest financial difference and tackles that problem.  The funny thing is that he definitely is not the best person technically on his team.  He’s the one who tackles and gets credit for the most valuable accomplishments.

Yesterday I asked you to make a list of things you did in each job that PROVE your will to succeed, your positive attitude and your desire to constantly improve.  Now that you have that list, here’s the next step.

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Something To Do Today

You need to prove how valuable you are.  How do you compare to others doing the same job?  Prove it with solid numbers.  Have you improved a process? How much time does it save every day for how many people?  Do you do something faster than someone else? What does that translate into saved time and money over a month or year?  Have you brought in more work or new customers?  How much is that business worth in a year? Put down solid numbers.  Make good guesses if you aren’t sure.  Remember that 200 people saving ten minutes a day is worth a lot of money.  Estimate how much it is.

Next week I’ll show you how to make this list of successes bring you a lot more money.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude