Needle, Meet Haystack

We’ve all been there: something so exciting, so emotionally gratifying, so absolutely nerve-wrackingly terrific happens, and all common sense goes out the window.  Or at least gets shoved into the storage shed in the backyard.  And at no time will you have more occasions to misplace your logical brain than when you’re looking for or getting work.  Here’s a few lessons that I remembered a bit too late:

1. Remember your interviewer’s name. I suppose I could blame it on the receptionist’s thick accent when the interview was set up over the phone, but I didn’t bother to check with her, and on the day of the interview, his name was nowhere to be found!  Not on the door to his office, not on his desk…if not for subjective personal pronouns, I would have been in trouble!  However, one of his employees popped in and mentioned his name several times during a quick conversation.
2. Ask if there’s a dress code. After three rounds of interviews and getting the job, I thought that I had asked all there was to ask about the position.  But after a month in the office, my boss finally took me aside and said, “You do know that you can wear jeans and sneakers, right?”  Even though over dressing can be fine in some situations, it was making some of my co-workers a bit uncomfortable.
3. Take care of personal business before you go in for an interview. Living in the southwestern US means that summers can be especially brutal, so I tend to drink plenty of water to stay well-hydrated.  Although I was early for my interview, I ignored the warning signs from my bladder, and by the time I decided to go, I was called in.  After 30 of the most uncomfortable minutes of my life, the interview had ended (it was a preliminary one) and I was finally able to escape.
4. Have questions for your interviewers ready. “So, do you have any questions for me?” the manager asked.  I blanked.  I had no idea what to say, so I blurted out the first question that came to my mind.  ”What kind of toppings do you like on your pizza?”  I began.  ”Because, I, um, read something about how that reflects…personality type?”  Amazingly, this tactic stalled him for a couple of minutes while I was able to come up with some real questions to ask him.
5. Make sure you get important stuff in writing. After being hired on a Friday, I started work on Monday.  I continued at that job for a few months, but when the paychecks started coming later and later at improperly low levels and the work assignments moved farther away from what I was hired to do, I decided to consult my contract.  Until I realized that there had never been an official employment contract.  Soon after, I quit, only to be fired by my boss seconds later.

Of course, these aren’t the only boneheaded mistakes I made.  But more on that tomorrow.

So today, there’s a double (or triple) link offering:

First on the plate is a list of 100 great job search tools for Twitter and the top 100 job search hashtags for Twitter.  Both are pretty good tools that you can use in conjunction with Twitter (besides following this blog, of course).

The follow-up is an article that discusses the rise in people moving to take a new job.  So if you feel that geography is all that’s keeping you from your dream job, you can now feel like you’re in a growing population!

100 Useful Twitter Tools and Feeds for Your Job Search (Linking Raleigh NC)

Top 100+ Job Search Hashtags on Twitter (Career Rocketeer)

More People Pull Up Stakes for Employment (New York Times)

Holy crap you guys, I think there are a few new challengers to the Potato Head Supremacy!*

* <span style=”font-size: xx-small;”>So I realize that I’ve been doing this on the 18th of most months, but as some of you pointed out, the first post was on the 19th, so now Search Term Roundups will be up on the 19th of each month.</span>

The job: Politician

You might like this job if: You enjoy public policy, speechifying, political science, social reform, governance, and watching CSPAN for a purpose other than helping to kill insomnia.

The good: Politicians have the ability to affect social change through new policies, laws, directives and so on.  Instead of being one of the masses complaining about how hard it is to change things, you’ll be the one doing the change.  Whether it’s at the city, county, state, regional, national or global level, you’ll be making decisions that will help make things better for others.

The bad: …or not.  Putting aside the special interests, bribery, pork barrels, election rigging and everything else that made “politics” such a dirty word, the simple action of getting your ideas made to actions is a tremendous undertaking.  Between committees, debates, changes to the proposal and other conflicts, it can take months or years to even get the chance to have one’s suggestions put up to a vote, much less approved.  Additionally, there’s a lot of campaigning that has to be done all the time in order to secure donations to run for re-election.  Put together these factors (and more, like stress), and it’s easy to see how politicians age so quickly.

Summary: It’s a big headache for those involved, full of corruption, stress and scandal, but if you’re truly passionate, you might like it.

Rating: Four American flag pins that darn well better be on your lapel out of five

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I gave an interview.  Having previously only been on the receiving end of the relentless barrage of questions, I discovered a number of things about the experience that I had never noticed before.

• You become a lot more aware of body language.  When you’re the interviewee, you might be so anxious that you don’t pay much attention to your nonverbal signals.  But when you’re the interviewer, you’re more relaxed and notice the changes in others.
• If you take notes, it freaks people out.  Note-taking during an interview seems like an innocuous task, but when you’re writing on a pad that the responder can’t see, they get a bit nervous.
• People are better at answering specific questions than general ones.  We were interviewing for interns with a high degree of technical knowledge, and although they answered those questions accurately, they seemed to have trouble with more generic questions, like those from this list.
• It can be just as stressful for the employers as the potential employees.  Since all you have to go on is a resume and some emails or calls arranging a meeting, you really don’t know about the character, motivations, qualifications or honesty of the person you’re meeting with.   It’s difficult to determine these things about a person, especially during an interview.
• You might not be sure of what kind of dispersion of the  four factors you really want.  Although you should have a model employee type in mind, meeting someone who you think might be as good or better than you predicted can make other assessments more difficult, as well as rationalizing your choices to your superiors.
• While the interviewee can talk in declarative and affirmative statements, you have to keep things more vague and noncommittal.  As the hiring decision is not usually a split second decision, it can be tricky to figure out how to phrase sentences or ask questions, without raising false hopes.

So the next time you’re going in for an interview, it might help to remember that your interviewer may have some of the same stresses as you do.

You know, I thought we’d had enough discussion about fashion, but you asked it, so I’m gonna answer it!

Dear Andrew,

I’ve got a job interview coming up, and I’m not sure what to wear!  During my phone interview, I was told that it’s a more casual and relaxed environment, and they don’t wear suits.  So how should I dress?  (I’m a guy, by the way)

Short answer: Suit up anyway

Longer answer: Look at it this way: it’s always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed.  While you might not blend in with the employees in terms of fashion, you’ll be projecting an image of professionalism and will show through your attire that you take the job seriously.

Also, the term “casual” can have many different meanings: dress shirt and slacks, golf shirt and khakis, t-shirt and jeans, and so on.  At the very least, you should go with a dress shirt and slacks (tie optional, but preferred).  And while some may say that this goes in the face of what the interviewer told you (and that it could be a test or something), you really shouldn’t lose any points for making sure you have a professional appearance.

And if you go with a suit, it’s easier for your interviewer to focus on your qualifications than your attire – I was at a conference where everyone I met was in professional attire, and as a result, we treated each other more as equals.  On the last day, when we were in casual clothes, I realized that I would have had preconceived notions about many of the people who I met had I met them in their less formal-wear on the first day.

Someone, at some point, said something like, “We are all the lead characters in our own personal TV shows.”  When I tried to find the source of this quote, I was instead greeted with a flood of blog and social network posts with some permutation of the phrase.  Which, I suppose, is pretty fitting.

There’s no use denying that Western cultures (if not all cultures) reward self-centeredness.  We champion the individual, the personal achievement, and the solo effort.  Do you know the names of the other swimmers who helped Michael Phelps win all those gold medals during the team events?

With the development of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and other “Web 2.0″ sites, the importance of the individual has grown.  Now, we amass faceless hordes of followers (or faced hordes of acquaintances) to read our latest 140-character thoughts, check our statuses (statii?  or is it just status?), peruse our vacation photos, and watch our rants.  It’s all about getting yourself out there to your audience (whoever that may be) and promoting your personal brand.

But when everyone’s brand is fighting for market supremacy, how do you stand out?

You have to show a benefit.

Whether it’s your expertise in a subject, your unique cult of personality, or your balance (or imbalance) of desireable traits, you need to be able to tell people why they should care.  And as this is a key component of the job search (especially the interview), you need to sell it well.

After all, while the individual may be self-interested, a business is utilitarian.  If you can’t show the benefit of your contribution to the company (and its superiority over those of your competitors), you won’t get the job.  And there is a way to reconcile the relationship between these two narcissists.

While I’m not advocating full-on ego fluffing here, there is a certain pride that everyone takes in their work, no matter their job.  Paying sincere and non-obsequious comments can also help to show your desire to work with a company in a way that simply stating that you want to work there (or even worse, saying it’s been a “dream of [mine] to work here”) cannot.

Similarly, be wary of talking about your accomplishments in such a way that they turn from examples or facts into boasting.  By being judicious in your examples and concise in your commentary, you will communicate your message much more clearly than if you just recite or expand upon your entire resume.  Please keep in mind that this also applies during progress reviews.

So cut back on the dozen status updates, refrain from Tweeting during intimate moments, and keep your ego in check – it just might help you get (or keep) a job.

Based off of some of the feedback from last week’s outrageously popular post, I’ve decided to give some hints to those who are determined to sally forth and create a video resume.  So here are a few tips that might help you make that video great!

Do learn how to edit.  I took a video editing class and picked up several books on basic and advanced (re: computer and non-computer) techniques.  I learned a lot of things that helped me to make my videos look more professional.

Don’t use everything.  If you have a lot of commercials or videos in your reel, cut it down to the best two or three examples of your work.

Do keep it short.  The longer it is, the more likely it won’t all be watched and will go in the trash.

Don’t reveal everything.  It’s easy to want to talk about your education and work experience in greater detail, but you should keep things concise.

Do think of it as a movie trailer, only for you.  Actually, my first video resume-type submission was a fake trailer called “the intern” that helped me land an internship with a sweet advertising firm.

Don’t make one if it won’t help you.  If there’s a strong video or visual component to the job, it makes sense.  But if the only visuals you’ll be using are PowerPoint presentations (if at all), it’s best not to waste your time.

Do make it interesting.  Change locations, do some actions, have other people in it – make sure you appear dynamic, energetic, and awesome.

Don’t make it entertaining.  People try too hard to appear funny, sociable, or silly.  Save it for YouTube.

Do make it personalized.  Even if it’s just a short blurb at the beginning to address the person watching the video, a little effort goes a long way.

Don’t send it in one format.  Like we already discussed, it can be difficult to get someone to watch your video.  You might have to be just as persistent in getting it to them as you would a paper resume.

Do use good equipment.  Quality matters.

Don’t use a slide show.  Unless it’s cut in with video, there’s nothing that slides can add that couldn’t just be on a paper resume.

Do plan it out beforehand.  Improv won’t save you here – prepare a script, blocking, and maybe even storyboards before you shoot.  You’ll save time, and the final result will look better.

Whether it’s on paper or digital, a solid resume (and a great interview) will get you the job.  So if you’re going with the video, make sure that it does the job just as well (if not better) than its old-school counterpart.

When it comes to things I regret, answering yes to the question, “Do you want to donate a dollar to help fight muscular dystrophy?” shouldn’t be among the top contenders.  But it is.

I’ve mentioned before that volunteering your time to charity is a good way to help others and add to your resume during a jobless slump.  But donating money is something else entirely.

From that single dollar, I have been sent requests for more money that, counting postage, must have cost at least $15.  This also happened when I made donations to other organizations as well.  I imagine that hundreds of dollars of donations have gone towards sending me mailings to donate more.  And I have requested several times to be removed from such lists, but to no avail.

Since then, I’ve shifted focus.  Donations of canned goods, toys, school supplies and so on are still made, but monetary donations have been cut out.  And if I ever feel the need to do more, I volunteer.  This way I know that my donation will be used to help those who need it.

Very rarely do I come across anything written by someone else that sums up my feelings on a particular subject, but this article perfectly encapsulates something that I’ve said for years: there are too many misinterpretations that can occur through the written word to count out more personal contact methods.  And we’ve already spoken at length about how to decode those.

It’s all about me: Why e-mails are so easily misunderstood