How The Recession Has Changed Hiring

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I suspect hiring managers everywhere could tell you exactly when the economy really imploded: Last fall, I started to see dramatic differences in the hiring process from the employer's side. Everyone knows how the recession has impacted job seekers--there are fewer jobs and lots more competition--but here's what it looks like from an employer's side.

Explaining Job Hopping to Potential Employers

Career Tip of the Week

While there is nothing wrong in changing jobs for better career prospects, making too many moves in a short span of time can impact your ability to get a job. Job hopping can be a huge red flag on your resume because it leads employers to question your commitment. You hence need to be very careful that the reasons you cite for job move make sense to employers. Whatever your reasons for moving, or whatever be the number of moves you have made in your career, you need to convey to prospective employers that you are a stable and dependable employee.

Job Search Secrets: Targeting Done Right

What's the best way for job seekers to land a new job in this dismal market? Target specific employers and network your way into them, career experts say. It's sound job search advice. Unfortunately, most job seekers go about this the wrong way (or they don't do it at all), says Vicki Brackett, a career coach and president and CEO of Make It Happen Consulting.

Don't be a Dabbler - It's All or Nothing

Career Tip of the Week

Persistent pursuit of something you believe in, against all obstacles, is one of the most important keys to success. The secret to being incredibly good at everything is pushing through and getting better and better when others around you are quitting. Even while hiring, employers want experts and people who are the best at what they are doing-they do not want dabblers. They want to hire the person who is incredibly committed to a job and has persisted against odds in one direction when others have given up.

Did You Get My Resume?

Google the phrases job hunt and black hole and you'll turn up 55,700 results. The reason for this confluence of terms, as any job hunter will tell you, is that applying for a position increasingly involves two phases.

Recruiters say the percentage of online applications viewed by an actual human being ranges from 5% to 25%. And while it drives job hunters crazy, there's a good reason companies use so-called applicant-tracking systems to screen and rank candidates.

Measure yourself against your own progress

Career Tip of the Week

Use your past and not an ideal as a yardstick to measure your careers. Most successful people are often the unhappiest because they constantly measure themselves against ideals they simply cannot live up to. A sense of inferiority creeps which is dangerous. All around you there are various ideals that you think you need to measure up to and that which you can never really do because no one can be the best at everything. There is always going to be someone better than you. Compare yourself only to the person you were before. Measure yourself against your own progress and forget about others.

How to Get the Attention of Employers

By Rob McGovern

Are employers ignoring you because you aren't appealing to their new recession-oriented mindset?

In the past 6 months virtually every employer has transitioned to a new candidate evaluation mindset, although sadly most job seekers haven't adjusted to this "new normal." A few job seekers have figured this out and it is the secret that is getting them hired.

In this email I'm going to tell you how to make this necessary adjustment to your job search, with the goal of dramatically improving your odds of landing a job.

The "New Normal"

The biggest change in today's job market is that almost every "open" position is now a "replacement hire." Meaning, unlike boom times when jobs were created due to growth (e.g., "let's add another position because we can't handle all these orders"), the job openings you are looking at today are the result of someone leaving a company. They were fired, transferred, retired, or voluntarily left the company. When the job market gets into this mode, the nature of hiring decisions change dramatically.

What's the biggest difference?

In a "replacement hire" market, employers are focused on hiring impact players. To use a sports analogy, if you lose your star running back in midseason, you don't think about waiting for next spring's college draft. Rather, you head straight to the free agent market to hire the best impact player that's available today. Employers are in the same mindset. Getting approval to hire someone has become extremely difficult for managers, so when they get the green light they want to make sure it's a great "game-changing" hire.

Now for the advice

During times like these, the theme of your job search needs to be that you are an impact player. This feeling and message needs to permeate everything you do, from your resume and cover letter, to your interview responses, to your thank you note; the employer needs to feel that you are an impact player. They want to know that hiring you will lead to an instant improvement in their department. That means you need to convey confidence, self-assurance, and a message that you can step into the job and immediately make a positive impact on their business. Here's what it might sound like in an interview session:

Hiring Manager: Why do you want this accounts receivable position?

You: I'm confident that I can help you quickly reduce the amount of overdue invoices you have. I have six years of accounts receivable experience, and I would expect that you'd start to see results in the first week after me starting in the job. I'm not someone who is afraid of hard work, and digging into a new challenge is something that I relish.

Hiring Manager: How would you go about doing that?

You: On my first day I'd start a triage process, where I'd rank the outstanding invoices by size and age. If you're like most companies, 80% of your outstanding collections is attributable to 20% of your customers. Next I would create an action plan for each client, and immediately start making collection calls...

As you can see, this is a much different interview style than answering questions with cliché's like "I'm a fast learner and a good team player." My suggestion is for you to reread your resume and cover letters, think back to your last interview, and ask yourself whether the employer would think of you as the best free agent on the market, or just another job seeker

If the answer is the latter, you've got some work to do. (If you need help with your resume, check out Jobfox's resume writing service, it's one of the most popular resume writing services on the Internet.)

Best of luck with your job search,

Choose an Organization Culture which Suits You Best

Career Tip of the Week

Choosing the right organization culture is crucial to one's success and happiness. In any business environment, when the employee and employer are on the same plane, success is much more likely. It becomes a mutually beneficial relationship. There may be a number of work cultures. But the key to defining job satisfaction is determining which culture suits you the best. What is going to make the difference to you over time is not a $5,000 per year salary differential; it’s whether or not you feel comfortable and appreciated in your work environment.