Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Why Employers Don't Respond to Your Resume

f you’ve applied to dozens of jobs but haven’t received any interviews, a warning signal should be going off. There are a number of reasons why employers don’t respond to your resume, and most of them can be easily fixed. Increase your chances that employers will respond to your resume positively by fixing these potential gaffes.

You Submitted It Online Sending your resume to an organization with no context whatsoever is a surefire way to get lost in the black hole that is the applicant tracking system. You can apply online if it’s mandatory, but try to route your resume through a personal contact in the organization.

You Didn’t Customize It to the Open Position

In today’s tough job market, every resume should be crafted in response to the requested experience and responsibilities listed in the job description. If your resume is off target, it will quickly be put aside. So yes, this means you must have multiple versions of your resume.

You Wasted Space and Attention

The average resume gets read in about 30 seconds, and in that time, you have to turn them on rather than turn them off. An ultra-specific objective will pigeonhole you into a particular position when the hiring manager might consider you for another opening. Adding too much information about your volunteer work and hobbies looks amateurish, as does saying that “references are available upon request.” Believe me, if they want references, they’ll ask for them.

For more, please visit the full post over at the FlexJobs blog.

How the Latitude Assessment Changed My Life – in Reverse

College career counselors often ask me to recommend assessments, which is kind of funny I never took any kind of test to inform the decision about a major or a career.  I’d taken AP psychology in high school and did well in it, and so I picked that.  I didn’t take a test when I graduated from Northwestern University either.  I just knew that pursuing psychology would take at least four more years of school, and I wasn’t having any of that.  I wanted to go into the business world right away, and since I wasn’t trained to do much, I landed in an entry-level public relations job at a large agency in New York City. 

Fifteen years later, I received the opportunity to take YouScience’s two-hour online assessment, Latitude.  Essentially, Latitude uncovers what you’re wired to do well and why.  The assessment’s series of five to 12 minute exercises reveal 14 of the aptitudes most important to college and career plus the types of work you’ll find most satisfying.

My Results

Latitude provided me with loads of meaty material as well as a summary that included these highlights: When it comes to idea generation, I’m a brainstormer.  I’m able to come up with multiple examples when describing something or with multiple activities to engage in.  I’m also an investigator.  This means that I enjoy acquiring new information and learning how facts influence each other.  My high sequential reasoning ability lets me automatically shuffle and organize large amounts of information in my head and easily organize my thoughts and learned information in a methodical way.

Halfway between introverted and extroverted, I work best when I have a balance between collaborating with others and focusing on my area of expertise.  I’m equally comfortable leading and following depending on the situation.  Well, that explains why I always confused the Myers-Briggs folks!

Because I like to advise others and am apparently good at it, Latitude recommended that I pursue the fields of psychology, training and development, and communications.

Guess what?  That’s pretty much how I’ve spent the last 20 years.

Latitude: Definitely Better Late Than Never

My career evolution was a happy accident, hitting all of the areas of natural strength that Latitude identified.  But my life would have been much easier if I had taken Latitude sooner.  I would have been able to make more confident, better informed decisions about areas of study and careers.  Due to the assessment’s uncanny accuracy, I might have ended up in the same place – but I wouldn’t have had to rely on fate to get there.

Understanding why I am the way I am – why I find certain tasks invigorating and others frustrating, is helping me to even further hone my career aspirations.  My career probably has a good 30+ years left and I’m going to be glad to have Latitude as a partner every step of the way.

Why Your Networking Isn't Working

We’ve all heard about the importance of establishing strong business relationships a million times. After all, it’s important to be able to go to people close to you, who you trust, when you’re in need of advice, contacts, or a job.

Right?

Weak ties actually get better results

According to Wharton business professor Adam Grant, author of the new book, Give and Take, you should not in fact be relying on your closest networking contacts to help you get ahead. Grant cites a study by Mark Granovetter, which demonstrated that people were actually 58 percent more likely to get a new job through weak ties than strong ties.

Could this simply be a numbers game? After all, we have many more weak ties than strong ties. Grant says no. Apparently, despite their good intentions, strong ties tend to give us redundant knowledge. They travel in the same circles that we do, and have similar perspectives. And in a competitive job search or difficult career change situation, this may not cut it.

Weak ties, on the other hand, know different people entirely and can offer us more efficient access to novel information. So by reaching out to a weak tie, you are much more likely to hit upon something that wouldn’t normally come your way.

Like what you're reading?  Have a look at the full piece at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

5 Ways to Uncover Your Roots

My friend Pam Slim, who has been blogging about meaningful careers since 2005, has a fantastic new book out called Body of Work.  The book helps every reader find the thread that ties their unique story together and has been praised by everyone from Seth Godin to Nancy Duarte.

I recommend reading the whole book, of course, but I especially enjoyed the section on identifying one's roots.  Your roots are the purpose, beliefs, and convictions that provide the foundation for your body of work.  They keep you strong and stable when you face challenges in your career and remind you why it's important to keep moving through adversity.  Here are five questions Pam suggests you ask to harness the power of your own roots.

1.  What do you value?

Your values describe what is most important to you.  They guide you to make decisions and set boundaries around what you will accept in your life and career.  When you know your values, you can answer questions like, "should I take this job?" and "should I partner with this person?"  Examples of values are critical thinking and honesty.

2.  What do you believe?

Your beliefs are unique to you and form the foundation for how you interpret and act in the world.  They are shaped by your childhood, your life experiences, your education, and your philosophical or spiritual orientation.  A simple way to understand beliefs is to answer the question:  "what do you know to be true?"  An example of a belief is that everyone has the capability to do great things.

3.  Why do you believe it?

Which experiences have shaped your values and beliefs?  What has made you certain in your values and beliefs?  Using the example above, you beliefe that everyone has the capability to do great things because you watched your father, who came to this country as an immigrant, build a successful business with next to no money.

4.  Whom do you care deeply about serving?

Of all the people who you could impact during your time on earth, whom do you want to work with?  Which type of person "gets you" and really needs what you have to offer?  An example is that you are a trainer and you love to work with highly technical people.  You appreciate their intelligence, curiosity, and critical perspective.  You notice that when you teach them, you are pushed to deliver the highest quality courses.

5.  Which problems do you want to solve? 

Which challenges get you really fired up?  What impact do you want to have in the world?  What specific knowledge do you have that can make a difference?  An example is that you are passionate about childhood nutrition.  You notice that parents are so busy that they don't have time to plan and cook healthy meals and you feel you can help solve this problem. 

Pam says not to sweat it if you can't answer all of these questions right away.  Simply plant them in your head and pay attention to the answers as they come to you.  A little insight goes a long way!

Get a Job with a Little Help From Your Friends

My friend Chris Russell was one of the first pioneers of the online jobs space, so I was excited to hear about his new online networking site, Jobs With Friends.  Whether you're actively job searching or not, the site makes it easier to leverage who you know in addition to what you know.  Here's what Chris had to say when I asked him about JWF.

Chris, why did you decide to create Jobs With Friends now?  

Because its finally time to leverage ALL the connections in your personal and professional networks. When people say you should network, that is true but until now there havent been any tools to assist active job seekers. 

Why do job seekers need Jobs With Friends?  Can't they just use LinkedIn?

Your network is bigger than just Linkedin. Jobs With Friends lets you combine both Facebook & Linkedin contacts to form one complete database of people you know and see where they work. Plus we can show more jobs at each company since we tap into a larger job network (indeed.com). And it has one click 'Ask for Referral' buttons along with several other features you cant find anywhere.

What's the best way to start using the tool?

Make sure you import both your Facebook and Linkedin contacts, then upload your resume so your connections can download a copy if you ask for a referral. After that, start to browse the companies that your friends work at. You'll discover interesting jobs and information. It really forces you to 'company hunt' versus job hunting. You can also invite your friends which will allow you to see where their connections work as well. 

What tips can you share regarding online networking etiquette?

Firstly keep your correspondence brief and to the point. People are VERY busy these days so dont send long emails. Second, check your spelling and grammar. Dont use text message acronyms in your email. Leave those for the phone. Thirdly every time you meet a new contact offline be sure to connect with them on Linkedin. That's how you build your virtual rolodex. You should constantly be connecting with people in your industry. Finally, share their stuff. Retweet their posts. Like this status. Nurture that online relationship just as you would in a face to face setting.

Where can people get more information?

Jobs With Friends is a free service, just visit us to sign up.

How Do You Get Past No?

In their famous book, Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher and William Ury provided a negotiation strategy that has become standard for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in personal and professional conflicts.  The model is based on five propositions, including:

• “Separate the people from the problem.”
• “Focus on interests, not positions.”
• “Invent options for mutual gain.”
• “Insist on using objective criteria.”
• “Know your BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement)”

I learned about the BATNA in particular years ago and have used it on several occasions.  BATNA is the course of action that will be taken by a party if the current negotiations fail and an agreement cannot be reached.  A party should generally not accept a worse resolution than its BATNA.  According to Fisher and Ury, however, care should be taken to ensure that deals are accurately valued, taking into account relationship value, time value of money, and likelihood that the other party will live up to their side of the bargain.

While Fisher and Ury’s strategy was generally accepted as being revolutionary, there were critics who responded to it with challenges such as “What if the other party refuses to work with you?” and “What if they try to trick you into an agreement?”  Ury addressed these questions in a sequel called Getting Past No.  This second book takes the original model to a new level, detailing the process of negotiating through obstacles and obtaining win-win agreements with people who are initially resistant to such approaches.  Ury’s five steps to an effective breakthrough negotiation are:

Go to the balcony

Don’t react to provocations and let your emotions get the best of you.  Step away from the scene, calm down, and carefully plan your response.  Do not respond automatically, because most automatic responses are negative and further escalate the situation.

Step to their side

Listening carefully, acknowledging and even agreeing whenever you can, helps the other person feel heard and tends to disarm hostility.

Don’t reject, reframe

To change the game, change the frame.  If you take whatever is said and cast it as an attempt to deal with the issues, you’ll get further than if you simply reject it out of hand.  Ask questions like: “Why is this add-on important to you?” or “What if another member of our team could participate?”

For the rest of Fisher and Ury's steps, check out my full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Using LinkedIn to Build Your Expert Brand

Have you Googled yourself recently?  Does what you saw reflect what you do best?  Does it even reflect you personally, or someone else with your name?

Even if you are gainfully employed, a robust online presence is astronomically important for networking and career development purposes.  This online presence should ideally include content that showcases why you are an expert in a particular area so that whoever happens to be looking wants to know you and work with you.

I used to exclusively recommend that people purchase their domain names (e.g. alexandralevit.com) and develop full-fledged personal websites.  I still think that’s a good idea, but for those of you who are resistant or just don’t want to pay the $20/year, the good news is that LinkedIn, which I first wrote about here in 2010 has evolved to serve the same purpose.

To tackle the question of how to use LinkedIn to build an expert platform, I tapped Glenn Raines, who does this for a living via his business, Social Media Moves.  Here are his best tips for getting started:

Devise a content strategy

According to Raines, you must first consider the art, which is shaping a narrative that conveys one’s value to a potential employer, partner, collaborator, or client.  The science, on the other hand, involves adding frequently searched subject matter keywords into your LinkedIn section titles and skill descriptors.  Use LinkedIn to share material related to your subject matter expertise, such as a new blog post, a new book you’re reading, or a key takeaway from an industry conference.  Post an activity update at least once a week to stay on the radar of your LinkedIn followers.

For more from Raines, check out my full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Should You Relocate for a Job?

In a job market that still leaves something to be desired, the question on many professionals’ minds is, “should I relocate?”  Whether your current organization offers you a transfer that sounds too good to pass up or you receive an offer from an out-of-state (or out-of-country) firm that comes just as you were starting to get desperate, relocation is an issue that must be taken seriously – especially if you have a family that will be uprooted with you.

Of course, developing a list of pros and cons is a good move when making any major decision, but careful consideration of these five questions will also aid in your thought process.

Would you move there anyway?

If this job didn’t exist, is the area in question a place you’d ever want to go?  Think about what your regular daily routine will be like in the new location.  Do the pace of life and the amenities appeal to you?   How about the people, the culture, the weather, and the traffic?  Remember that a job is only one aspect of your life, and even work that you enjoy won’t be enough to overcome the distress of being stuck in a locale that’s not a good fit.

How will the move impact your family?

Relocations are easiest when you’re at a more flexible stage of life.  Once you have a family, however, you have to think about what your spouse will do in the new city.  Will he or she be able to get a good job too?  Is this area somewhere you can envision raising your children, complete with safe play areas and good schools?  Does the relocation involve moving away from extended family and friends who make life meaningful?

For more suggestions, have a look at the full post at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Are You Selling Yourself as Well as You Could?

For several years, I’ve been recommending that people focus on being able to succinctly and effectively highlight their accomplishments because others (i.e. recruiters, managers, partners) will judge them mostly based on their past track record of success.

It turns out that’s not exactly the case.

What You Could Do is Better Than What You Have Done

According to Heidi Grant Harvorson at the Harvard Business Review, when we are deciding who to hire, promote, or do business with, it turns out that we don’t like the Big Thing nearly as much as we like the Next Big Thing. We have a bias — one that operates below our conscious awareness — leading us to prefer the potential for greatness over someone who has already achieved it.

In a series of studies conducted by Stanford’s Zakary Tormala and Jayson Jia, and Harvard Business School’s Michael Norton, it is clear that human beings demonstrate an unconscious preference for potential over actual success.

In an experiment related to the workplace, hiring managers evaluated two equally impressive candidates who varied on one factor:  one had two years of relevant experience who scored highly on a test of leadership achievement, and the other had no relevant experience but scored highly on a test of leadership potential.  Interestingly, the evaluators believed the candidate with leadership potential would be more successful at the new company than the candidate with a proven record of leadership ability. The researchers documented this preference in laboratory and field experiments, using targets ranging from athletes to comedians to graduate school applicants and measures ranging from salary allocations to online ad clicks to admission decisions.

For more, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Turn Your Temp Job Into Full Time Gold

When most people think of temp work, they picture young professionals with no or very recent college diplomas working a series of low-level administrative jobs.

I’ve recently learned that this perception is very outdated.  In New York City recently, I sat down with Rebecca Cenni, CEO of Atrium Staffing, to talk about how the new kind of temporary worker is actually a mid-level professional who takes on a short-term consulting assignment in order to bolster her portfolio and fill in the employment gap while looking for a full-time job.

According to Rebecca, large and small organizations are increasingly turning to temporary workers as a way to mitigate the risk of hiring full-time employees in what is still considered a down economy.  By working with what Rebecca calls an “applicant-centric” staffing agency, professionals at all levels can assess the market and their individual options.

For many, those options might include a 2 week-3 month short-term assignment at an established company that might be more difficult to break into as a full-timer.  During the stint, their benefits would be paid by the staffing agency.

The question I’m sure you’re asking, though, involves how you can turn a temporary assignment into a full-time and more stable job. 

Understand what you’re getting into

Unlike full-time employees, you will initially lack context regarding how you are expected to perform and why.  To combat this, research the company ahead of your assignment and ask your staffing counselor or recruiter to tell you about how to get along in this particular culture.

Check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog for more from Rebecca.