1. Sending your resume only as an attachment

Some experts say that you should not attach your resume and cover letter to an email. Others say it’s acceptable. My recommendation is to do exactly what the job posting states. Many job postings state the preferred method of resume delivery. If by chance it does not, or you are sending an unsolicited resume, I suggest cutting and pasting your plain text resume contents into the body of your email.

The other option, which can work best at times, is to both paste your resume content into the body of the email as well as attach it for their convenience. The one drawback for this option is that you increase the possibility of the email getting deleted because it has an attachment. Some businesses automatically delete outside emails that have attachments for fear of viruses.

2. Not following-up with potential employers

It is extremely important to follow-up immediately after your interview. In the current work environment, either traditional printed and mailed thank you letters or emails are appropriate. Sending a thank you follow-up has these positive outcomes:

• Your interviewer will be reminded of who you are.

• You have a chance to reiterate your desire for the position and highlight your qualifications.

• The majority of people do not send thank you follow-ups, so you will be ahead of the applicants when it comes down to deciding.

3. Not testing job search engines with various keywords to find the most effective method that yields the jobs you are targeting

Each job search site has a different search engine for finding jobs. What might work for Monster.com, may not be the best method for Headhunter.net. Spend time upfront testing different keywords to find out what yields the most accurate results. If you are looking for a direct marketing manager position, try the following terms: marketing, direct marketing, marketing manager, manager and so on. You’ll be surprised at the differences in search results.

4. Posting your resume on sites without regard to privacy

This is a major mistake especially if you are currently employed. There are different levels of privacy with online resume databases. The one with the least amount of privacy is an open database that allows anyone online to access and view your resume.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are databases where you control who can view your resume. You assign a password, which is needed in order to gain access to your information. There are also databases that only show your experience and do not show your personal information such as name and address.

Of course, there are drawbacks to posting your resume. If you are currently employed and want to keep your job search confidential, you may not want to post your resume for everyone to see. There are options on most job posting sites where you choose the levels of privacy you want, and exclude certain companies from possibly seeing your resume.

5. Not spending the appropriate amount of time preparing your resume and cover letter before emailing

Just because the Internet allows you to do certain aspects of job searching much faster than in the past, it doesn’t mean you should skimp on proofreading and targeting. It’s very easy to send out 5 resumes in 15 minutes, but don’t do it.

When writing your resume, continually ask yourself if the reader would be interested in what you are writing. If the job is for a very specific programming position and you have past experience in Information Technology and also non-profit fundraising, you probably don’t need to relay the latter part on your resume. Instead of adding a few lines about your fundraising experience, take a few extra lines to add one of your past programming positions to emphasize what you accomplished.

6. Not checking your email daily and/or returning phone calls in order to respond quickly to inquiries

This is a common sense principle of any job search. Be respectful of people’s time by responding within 24 hours of any contact.

7. Not using search agents offered on job sites

You shouldn’t rely solely on this option, but it is a good complement to your regular search. Many job search sites such as Monster.com and Hotjobs.com offer job search agents that send you emails with targeted jobs of interest. The majority are free to sign up and easy to use. Why do all the work yourself? Have these search agents send emails at regular intervals of your choice to your home email address. Saves you precious time.

8. Not asking for the interviewer’s business card after an interview

Send a thank you follow-up with 24 hours and keep it short. Examples can be found in my new ebook at www.easyonlineguides.com .

9. Not printing out job descriptions and staying organized

Follow these steps when applying for jobs both, online and offline.

• As soon as you send out a resume, print or cut out the job description.

• Create a “to follow-up” folder and place the printed job description with the sent date in the folder.

• Create a “followed-up” folder and place the printed job descriptions with commentary on the back of the page or attached to the description of when you followed up and what are the next steps.

• Create an “active folder” for any jobs where you have had a phone interview or actually went to the company for an interview.

• Lastly, create a “archive folder” where you place all jobs that have been filled or jobs which you have followed up numerous times and have not heard back over the past 3 months.

I have found the third bullet point to be a key part of the online job search. Sometimes you will receive an automatic email reply back from an employer stating they received your information, but other times you are left wondering if your information was ever received. Because of this, I have always recommended sending a follow-up email 3-4 weeks after your initial email was sent to the employer (samples are in Chapter 5 of my ebook).

10. Getting frustrated and down on yourself when the going gets tough

You need to be a salesperson. Sell yourself. Don’t accept the first negative response as a rejection, continue to move forward.

The job market can be tough at times and some people may get frustrated because they have not received as many responses as expected. From my experience, here is what tends to happen:

• Probably 20% of the positions are never filled due to various internal and external reasons. Jobs are put on hold. Companies decide they don’t have money in the budget, etc.

• Approximately 25% are filled internally, but had to be advertised to the public due to corporate policies.

• With these assumptions, that leaves a job applicant with a little more than 50% of an opportunity to get a call for an interview. Don’t get angry if you have been rejected for interviews or don’t get many callbacks.

• Keep a positive attitude when going through difficult job search times. Edit resumes and cover letters with recent feedback. Continue to move forward and your hard work will be rewarded. Your next resume you send out could be the one that gets you that perfect job.

About the Author: Paul Fontaine
Paul is the author of the new ebook: How to Find the Perfect Job…in 30 days or less! Paul has extensive experience in marketing, public relations, advertising and publishing. His previous work experience has been with such well-known companies as Time-Life Books and The Franklin Mint. Paul has been published in various industry publications, both on and offline.

He has been giving career advice for over ten years. Paul has reviewed and critiqued hundreds of resumes and has helped create more effective communication tools to attract employer’s attention and to find that perfect job. He has been on both sides of the desk as an interviewer and an interviewee.

Paul is President of Easy Online Guides, a business dedicated to creating and distributing high quality, easy-to-understand, how-to guides in an inexpensive and fast manner for online consumers.

What happened?
A computer programmer found himself facing police officers with a search warrant and an arrest warrant one evening. It seems that during a major layoff at his old company, employees started taking everything that wasn’t nailed down. Despite his attempts to document his return of all company property he was lumped in with the others and accused of grand theft. The charges were subsequently dropped due to lack of evidence, but in the meantime this programmer spent several hours in custody, had to produce bail and, perhaps worst of all, lost his current job due to the arrest; a nightmare scenario for anyone.

In today’s job market, layoffs, bankruptcy, mergers and acquisitions are simply a part of doing business. You must be prepared for such eventualities and understand how to protect yourself from situations like that above. Here are a few ways to make sure that you don’t end up on the wrong side of the law.

Don’t do it
While the situation above is extreme, too often workers assume that they are entitled to company property when they leave. This is both unethical and illegal. I don’t care how badly you were treated or how underpaid you were, taking company property is a sure way to end up without a career, if not in jail. Even if the company doesn’t press charges, there are certain to be rumors that will dog you wherever you go.

Sometimes people forget a very important rule when they are under stress. If you have to ask yourself whether something is wrong, it probably is. The very fact that you are questioning something shows that you are on the borders of ethical behavior. Save yourself problems in the future and back away from the situation.

Management was also at fault for not safeguarding their property during the layoff process. I have never been involved in a situation as bad as this one, but everyone knows there can be issues with terminated employees that require strict supervision and security. I think every layoff should be as humane as possible, but there needs to be a balance between kindness and protection.

Get it in writing
My best advice in these situations is to forgo any offers of property, no matter how benign they may seem. The chance of later issues over such offers taints them. If you really want to take something, make sure you get written and signed approval from the person making the offer. In fact, throughout your career, you want to get everything in writing. Memories can fade, but paper can be filed and used in your defense, should you ever need it.

Your documentation should begin the minute you start a job. Whenever you are assigned a piece of company property there should be a paper trail. Make sure you note serial numbers and any other identifying characteristics. When the time comes to return this property you will be able to prove that you are returning exactly what was assigned. Keep your files up to date whenever you replace equipment as well.

In most cases you will never need this documentation, but you are protecting yourself against the one time when you will. You never know how a job will end. Something that started out well can end badly through no fault of your own.

Bad situations can happen at large companies just as easily as small startups. The only way to protect yourself is to prepare for the worst and hope that you will never experience it. You will encounter people who do not share your ethics or morals. Your job is to avoid them, or failing that, do everything you can to prevent being caught in the trap these people are building for themselves.

Now The New Economy means something else – layoffs, restricted hiring, long lines at job fairs, IT people scrambling for a few new jobs, and lots of competition for almost every position that’s advertised.

So what’s a job seeker to do? What’s the best approach to follow in these difficult and turbulent times?

Well, for one thing, I, as an experienced job coach, believe in going back to the basics. In difficult times, the basics still work; in more prosperous times, they also work, perhaps with somewhat less effort.

So (Rule #1) you have to be prepared to put in more effort. The truth is, very few people who are job hunting really put in a full forty hours a week. For one thing, they don’t know what to do to occupy that much time. For another, it is hard work in itself and not everybody is able to work hard, especially because it involves a lot of rejection, both overt and covert (like the sins that are sins of commission and sins of omission). It’s all too easy to find household chores and millions of things to do every week, after you’ve spent five or ten hours in job-hunting activities. A job coach comes in handy here.

Which brings us to Rule #2: Be prepared for lots more rejection. The reason for this is to keep your morale up, so you don’t start avoiding doing the very things that can find you a job. A job coach comes in handy here, too.

Rule #3: Network. My observation is that most people don’t do this (which is a good thing for those who do because it keeps the marketplace less crowded). They don’t know how. They’re scared of it. They do it wrong when they do it and, consequently “burn up” any network. But it’s still one of the best ways to find a job and it often results in finding jobs for which there is no competition.

Rule #4: You must write a “Killer” resume. In a very competitive job market, you must stand out with a resume that gets you job interviews. And rule #5: Write Killer cover letters. They act as insurance to help get your resume read.

Rule #6: Sign up for the on-line job listing websites that cater to your specific field. (For those of you who are interested, I’ll be glad to send out a free starter set of these.) In this case, the more you sign up for, the merrier. With those websites that offer PSA’s (Personal Search Agents), specific as many keywords as you can dream up and let them jam your e-mail In Box with zillions of job listings that you’ll have to weed through.

Rule #7: Target at least two areas that you pursue pro-actively through networking and listings. Perhaps you’ve been a Product Manager and a Marketing Manager. In that case, write two resumes, each slanted to a separate area. Look at the jobs that are displayed in each of those areas.

Rule #8: Learn how to work with recruiters. Many job seekers despise recruiters and block themselves from dealing with them. This is because they don’t really understand how to work with recruiters. This is a monumental mistake.

Rule #9: Try being pro-active by sending out a Broadcast Letter. Write a good one and expect the same return as any good direct mail piece. It’s another way to uncover jobs in the “hidden” job market.

Rule #10: Find yourself a “buddy” or professional job coach to keep you going. Both men and women tend to be macho/macha (?) about this, thinking they have to do it themselves or it’s shameful, or that it’s too expensive. I’ll be glad to send anyone who likes a cost justification for hiring a professional job coach. After all, very macho football players openly admit they need a coach.

And, last but not least… Rule #11: Be prepared to job hop, to move at an instant’s notice. In The New Economy, I believe, we’re all “hired guns”, only useful until the next quarter when the next financial statements will be issued and the company decides to “tighten its belt” or be acquired. So learn how to conduct a multi-level job search and then do it, whenever you want advancement or more money, before the next axe falls.

© 2002 by Lawrence M Light

Lawrence M. Light is a job coach who works with people in transition – those seeking a new job while employed, those who have been laid off, or those returning to the workforce. He coaches a wide variety of people, including CEO’s at six-figure salaries, IT professionals, CFO’s, executives in the non-profit world, middle-level managers, and those involved in switching careers. His Web site is www.ejobcoach.com and he can be reached by phone at (949) 716-3581 or by email at larryl@ejobcoach.com. His 39-minute video on how to find a job quickly has been used by leading colleges and universities, private industry councils, military bases and career counseling groups. He is a member of the Philadelphia Area Coaches Alliance and serves on the Board of Forty Plus.

This article may not be reproduced without prior written permission.

Being on the frontlines of the employment scene, recruiters have heard every story in the book – in fact they wrote the book – on candidate faux pas. Don’t commit these common and often comical errors (shared with our recruiters by employers) when searching for your next position!

• When asked what the candidate saw himself doing in 2-3 years, he said, “running my own business.” Bad idea for employers hunting for stable help.
• Said he was so well-qualified that if he didn’t get the job, it would prove that the company’s management was incompetent.
• Her shirt was all wrinkled.
• His shoes weren’t polished.
• Candidate kept giggling through serious interview.
• He was wearing a sweater instead of a jacket.
• Said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.
• He wasn’t wearing a tie.
• Asked to see interviewer’s resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate.
• She was wearing sneakers.
• Brought her large dog to the interview.
• He was more nervous than is the norm on the interview.
• He wasn’t sitting straight up. He slouched.
• He had an attitude from the moment he walked in.
• He refused to fill out an application.
• He wasn’t articulate.
• He said he was going to retire in 5 years.
• When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office.
• She said, “If I never see another help desk again, that would be fine with me.” Fine, except she was applying for a Tech Support position!
• He said negative things about his former boss and employer.
• He said he had left a previous job for more money.
• Balding candidate abruptly excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.
• He frowned when I talked about working overtime.
• He looked away when giving me his answers. I thought he might be lying.
• He had experience on his resume that he couldn’t back up.
• When I asked questions about a particular work experience, he couldn’t answer. I wondered what other information on his resume wasn’t true.
• Candidate wouldn’t get out of the chair until I would hire him. I had to call the police.
• He was more interested in what he wanted to do, than in what I needed done.
• He went from “A+” after looking at his resume to “B+” after the interview, due to his low energy levels and lack of enthusiasm.
• Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.
• He kept saying he ONLY did this and ONLY did that, which sounds negative. I HAVE done this and HAVE done that sounds positive.
• He was 10 minutes late for the interview.
• Candidate chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.
• He rambled and didn’t answer the questions. (Answer questions in 30 seconds or less, or at least stay focused on your interviewer’s topic).
• Without saying a word, the candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview.
• Candidate stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.
• She said she was available because a Headhunter called her.
• She brought up salary and benefits.
• He asked for $2,000 more than I could pay.
• Announced she hadn’t had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer’s office.
• He won’t fit in; he was too quiet and this is a team environment.
• She seemed depressed.
• He wasn’t upbeat.
• Candidate interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.
• She smoked during the interview.
• Man wore jogging suit to interview for a position as financial vice president.
• Candidate wore a T-shirt to interview; when asked about it he said it was a dress-up T-shirt because it had a pocket in it.
• Called university to verify degree and was informed that seemingly fantastic candidate had 15 credits. “You mean toward his MA?” I asked. The answer was no – a total of 15 credits.
• She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time.
• The candidate had a degree from a university in North Carolina. I tried to look up the university in a directory but couldn’t find it. I called the candidate and asked him to please get me the phone number. Two days later he called and said he couldn’t find the number and he didn’t remember what city the university is in.
• Reference informed me that the candidate was management material and extremely talented. Two years later, by accident, I discovered the company owner was the candidate’s father-in-law.
• Candidate had a little pinball game and challenged me to play with him.

These anecdotes are straight from the hiring managers’ mouths, as funny as some may seem. In all seriousness, work with your recruiter to polish your interviewing skills well ahead of time, so no slip up – no matter how big or small – will stand in the way of landing your dream job.

Here are a few guidelines to emailing recruiters and potential employers.

1. Include your name and telephone number at the end of the email message. It’s amazing how many people do not include their names, and I can’t always remember who’s “bs247@hotmail.com” This kind of oversight creates the impression that you may not think ahead.
2. Spell-check is a good thing.
3. DO NOT call your resume file “Resume.doc” or anything else except something including your name. (JDoe2001.doc) Employers or recruiters already have a “Resume.doc” file, trust me. Yes, they could change the name on your file, but it creates the impression that you do not think ahead.
4. If you really need an immediate response to an urgent question, (“I need directions to my interview this afternoon..”) pick up the phone and call. It may be faster/easier for the person to retrieve a voice message, especially when off-site.
5. It’s still best to type or handwrite a thank-you note after an interview. Exceptions: when the second interview is going to happen before snail-mail would be delivered; when you know that the interviewer is going to be on the road and would not get your mailed thank-you for a while; or when the interviewer is a highly wired type who may pay more attention to email. You may send a snail-mailed note, as well.
6. It is SO RUDE to send a virus infected resume. If you do not have updated anti-virus software, get a free hotmail account and send your resume to yourself there, so it will be automatically virus-scanned when you download it.
7.  Your resume should be in either a recent MS Word version or in RTF format. MS Works or older Word versions may not be readable by a prospective employer. If you have older software, either use RTF, or get a friend with a newer Word version to update your resume on a disc for you. Do not use MS Works, or any other software unless you know for sure that it will be readable by your recipient. PDF files are readable by most, but some companies do not have PDF software and may not permit users to download free readers.
8. Please do not send Internet jokes (especially potentially offensive items), virus-warnings, dancing electronic elves, or (worst of all) heart-rending chain letters (which threaten to curse the recipient if not forwarded within 10 minutes to at least 12 other people) to prospective employers or recruiters. Personally, I enjoy the occasional truly clever and clean tidbit from people whom I know, but I have to wonder about folks who have the time to clog my inbox with 5 or 6 things at once.
9. Hyperlink your email address on your resume, under your street address and phone numbers.
10. Check your email at least daily, and respond promptly to messages. Again, you should make a phone call if an immediate response is needed.
11. If you email your resume out late at night, check the next day to see if it bounced. Sometimes a company server may be down for maintenance in the wee hours, and you’ll want to resend it later.

This article is published by permission of Terri Rowe.

What I discovered during our initial meeting shocked me deeply. Apart from the fact that he had done nothing to prepare for a possible layoff, he said casually: “I really need to brush up on my PC skills.” It takes a lot of denial to think that you’re not going to be laid off if you work for a bank in the United States in this day and age of mergers, and it takes even more denial to think that you can get along in any position today without being computer literate.

I’m probably preaching to the choir here about being prepared for a layoff and about becoming computer literate, but this individual reminded me just how many older people lack even rudimentary knowledge of how to use a PC. As a realization, the impact of it felt like a smack on the side of the head.

Let’s address the PC area first. This is a terribly important and basic issue in finding a job today because many jobs today are listed on the Internet in on-line websites, and you have to know how to use the Internet before you can even look at these jobs. It’s even more important to all future employers because most of them absolutely require such skills and take them for granted and someone who lacks them is in deep, deep trouble as a candidate.

Here are the basic computer skills you will need to acquire if you haven’t already done so. You need to:

Know how to use a Personal Computer (not a MAC). NOTE: MACs are perfectly fine computers, but they are not the dominant breed and, except for graphics work, employers don’t require knowledge of how to use them.
Know how to use the current Windows operating system (not that I prefer it but it is the dominant business operating system).
Know how to use Word as a word processing program.
Know how to use Excel as a spreadsheet program.
Know how to use Access as a database tool (this is not as critical as everything I’ve mentioned already).
Know how to use PowerPoint to produce a presentation (this becomes critical if your position requires you to give presentations).
Know how to access the Internet and use Internet Explorer as a browser (again because Microsoft dominates the business market).
So anyone who is reading this, whether employed or not, who doesn’t have all of these computer skills needs to find a good training outfit and sign up immediately. The YMCA or YMHA near you may be an inexpensive source for such training. There are other relatively inexpensive ways to acquire these skills and the expenditure is an investment in yourself. Sometime even your local library, that old stand-by for information, can provide you with classes that will teach you these computer skills or at least give you a line on inexpensive schools. This is not something you want to ignore or put off. It is basic, basic, basic.

The second issue is far more complex. If you are working in a field in which mergers and consolidation occur regularly and with increasing frequency, it behooves you to begin learning all of the key elements of successful job-hunting post haste. In other words, you need to learn how to find another job quickly.

The elements of conducting a good job search, the elements that you need to learn and master, include:

Being able to write a “killer” resume
Knowing how to write cover letters that sell you as a candidate
Being able to use on-line job-listing websites
Having a good elevator speech and being proficient about using it
Knowing how to network
Knowing how to use a broadcast letter
Understanding how to work with recruiters
Knowing where to find a support group and/or job coach or “buddy” to work with
Understanding the interviewing process and knowing how to interview well
Knowing how to negotiate so you maximize the offer
For most employed people in fields that are consolidating and merging, the number one priority is to learn how to network now, and then begin using these skills by actually networking. In effect, you’re always, I repeat, always lining up your next job as part of this process. This starts with finding all of the professional organizations in your field, joining them, and networking within them. You can then branch out to networking with individuals.

Whenever possible, if working in such a high-risk field, you need to create a Plan B. This includes understanding your industry, which companies are growing and which are declining, networking to learn as much as possible about trends, who pays what, who can use your skills, what skills are required by those who are hiring, and the like. It is constant education, paying attention to yourself, not immersing yourself in your job and job skills to the exclusion of what’s going on around you.

If you take the actions suggested here, any abrupt transition can be met with some measure of equanimity.

The expectation is, you could lose your job at any time. Your tenure is comparable to a hired gun or a tenant farmer or a month-to-month tenant. In the “new economy” there is less and less security as a salaried employee, to be cynical about it.

© 2002 by Lawrence M. Light. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part prohibited without prior permission.

You’ve just landed a new job, and the offer on the table looks tasty. But your current boss has other plans, and dangles in front of you a compelling incentive to stay where you are – perhaps a promotion, but usually cash. What do you do?

In recent years, conventional wisdom held that accepting such a counteroffer was equivalent to driving nails into one’s career coffin; over 80 percent of candidates who accepted counteroffers were gone just a year later.

Employers have loosened up a bit during recent years, due largely to a shortage of good employees. Employers, desperate to hang onto top talent in this tight labor market, have been using counteroffers with increasing frequency. But despite a rise in employers using the tactic, employment experts around the country agree accepting counteroffers is usually a bad career move.

For starters, your boss may take your resignation personally. Or your boss might throw a guilt trip your way, questioning your loyalty and wondering aloud, “how you could do this to him.” Keep in mind what your boss is really thinking: “If I lose this person I’ll have to pick up his slack until a new person is found and trained – which could take weeks or months!” So bumping your salary is an easy way to buy your boss time to plot your replacement.

Employers attempting to keep a good person from leaving have been known to say, “We’ve got great plans for you, we just didn’t share them with you yet.” More obvious still is this angle’ “We were just about to promote you and give you a hefty salary boost; what a coincidence.”

And if your boss approaches you out of the blue and offers you a raise or promotion while you’re in the midst of a job search, do a quick mental check: Did you make job hunting calls or write emails while at work? Did you tell co-workers your plans to leave? Your boss might have heard about your plans to split through the grapevine.

If faced with a counteroffer, remember salary is rarely the reason employees look for new jobs. Before accepting a fatter paycheck and staying on board with your current company, take a hard look at what’s really bugging you. The largest raise won’t fix issues such as environment, lack of advancement and lack of exposure to new skill sets.

There’s another reason that often holds employees back, causing them to cling to counteroffers at the last moment: The comfort factor. Accepting a counteroffer is often the easy choice to make, since changing jobs means stress, a new routine, new challenges, etc. Don’t be lulled into complacency by this way of thinking. Your career isn’t a security blanket, it’s a dynamic, constantly evolving play, and you are the lead actor.

Ideally, counteroffers wouldn’t be made, as good managers recognize the need for talented employees to grow professionally – a process involving change. But being prepared for the worst will help ensure a smooth transition and departure when you make your next move.

So what do you do when presented with a counteroffer? Start by instantly taking command of the situation. Inform your boss in a cordial yet firm voice that your mind’s made up, and you’ll do all you can to make the transition process easier. Work out your notice fully, and be professional about your departure. You might still feel awkward during your last few weeks; that’s just human nature. But by exiting in a graceful manner, you’ve hopefully left behind some solid references as well as some friends.

We often see hiring done in the same way. Candidates are too often chosen because they are safer bets. They are paraded around and interviewed by scores of people, even committees, in order to get everyone’s approval. This approach is less effective in selecting the best candidate than in spreading the risk around, so that everyone is “covered” if it doesn’t work out. Interviewing can literally become a popularity contest, eventually put to a vote.

So often, finding a good candidate is mentally tough to do because of distaste for a long, drawn out interviewing process. We do not interview and hire often enough to really get good at it. The mental hurdle of having to set aside the time and effort drags us down. Although interviewing and hiring are two of the most important functions of a manager, they are risky. They have no immediate return on investment and are time consuming!

Make the Process Easier
There are, however, ways of making the process easier. The first is to keep initial interviews simple. So often we talk to managers who feel they have to devote days to initial interviewing. They find themselves exhausted at the end of the process because they do most of the talking: Telling the candidates about the job, the company, and whatever else comes up in an unstructured conversation.

Positive criteria for the position and candidate need to be established before interviewing begins. We recommend an initial structured interview lasting no more than one half hour. By structured we mean a prepared list of questions that are asked of each cndidate. The interviewer should record their answers, so they can be compared. The purpose of the initial interview is to assess the candidate’s skills, experience and ability to do the job. Second, a personality check can be made to assess the candidate’s ability to fit in. It’s that simple.

One Half-Hour
An employer does not have to sell the candidate on the job and his company or make a total assessment of the candidate. He is seeking only to answer a few questions about the candidate’s ability to do the job. He should inform the candidate that he is only going to be interviewed for half an hour, and, if there is interest, there will be other interviews to answer the questions of both parties. This way there are no other expectations about the length or the purpose of the initial interview. The process is clear from the start.

An interviewer has no obligation to even fill the half hour. If he comes to the conclusion in the first five minutes that the candidate is not a contender for the job, he should inform the candidate and end the interview. A candidate will appreciate that his time wasn’t wasted. Likewise, if in the first few minutes of the initial interview, the interviewer concludes the candidate should be asked back and pursued, he can inform the candidate that he will be asked back, give him literature on the company, and the interview can end.

The End
At the end of each initial interview, the interviewer should take two or three minutes to note his initial impressions of the candidate. Upon completion of initial interviews, the interviewer can begin to compare and rank the candidates. Candidates who are nearly equal should be invited back with the top candidates. At least 4 or 5 candidates should be invited back. Limiting it to too few runs the risk of the top one or two candidates eliminating themselves, or being eliminated, and having no one left to consider.

Once initial interviews are concluded, in-depth second, third, and even fourth interviews can be scheduled. Following these guidelines will make the interviewing process more productive.

Tony Beshara is owner and president of Babich & Associates.   Beshara has been in business since 1973, and he alone averages $2.5 – $4 million per year in billings. If you have any questions about this article, please call (214) 823-9999.

© Tony Beshara, Babich & Associates

Hiring is one of the most emotionally stressful things we do. Based on whom we hire, our ego, professionalism, authority, and management status are evaluated by others. Let’s face it; hiring is a distressful, uneasy thing to do. No matter how good we think we are at it, hiring is still a personal and professional risk. Few of us are ever really comfortable with hiring and probably never will be.

The Why
Because hiring is stressful, we often make it to be what it isn’t. Often the interviewing process becomes totally unrelated to the function of the position for which we are hiring. The criterion with which we start to fill a position is far removed from that necessary to measure the candidate’s ability to successfully function in the job. Interviewing becomes a beauty contest, measuring who can interview and sell themselves the best, rather than a system of techniques to discover who can function best in the job. We become so obsessed with correctly interviewing that we lose sight of the whole reason we are interviewing. The MEDIUM of the interview becomes the MESSAGE of hiring a good employee.

The How
To keep from hiring the best interviewer instead of the best candidate for your job, follow a few simple rules.

First, recognize that this phenomenon occurs. Recognize that the process of interviewing can become a staged affair where we look for the best performer at interviewing. The result of this is that the interviewing process becomes so far removed from the real issues of assessing the right skills of a candidate, that we end up looking for people.

Second, draw up a realistic, objective list of requirements based on your needs, duties and responsibilities. Start with what the function is now, and proceed through to extra things you’d like if you could get them. It is important to separate the necessities in the function from the extras desired in objective, quantifiable terms. Just because a person has been a controller for 10 years doesn’t mean he or she can do the job twice as well as someone who has 5 years of experience as a controller.

Third, lay out a plan of interviewing. Include in your plan the people who will be involved, the exact number of interviews the hiring manager will do, and the objective of each interview. Identify specific goals of each first, second, and third interview. Make these goals objective, and then stick to the plan.

Fourth and most important, watch out for subjective liking of candidates. We are not saying one should hire people who they do not like, but we often hire on a basis of whom we liked instead of their ability to do the job. We access personality, compatibility, and personal gut feelings more than objective abilities to perform. One good way to avoid this mistake is to give a patterned interview. Ask a set of written questions to every candidate. This provides a concrete group of answers that can be objectively compared to one another and allows you to assess abilities separated from personalities. You can still use a compatibility factor, but this format helps to prevent the interviewer from forgetting to ask objective, functional questions that allow true comparisons. Liking whom you hire is important – in fact it’s essential – but that aspect of the relationship should not obfuscate the person’s ability to do the job.

The manner in which people interview is important, and their ability to sell themselves is essential to the hiring process. However, the MEDIUM of the interview should not be the only MESSAGE by which a person is hired.

Tony Beshara is owner and president of Babich & Associates.   Beshara has been in business since 1973, and he alone averages $2.5 – $4 million per year in billings. If you have any questions about this article, please call (214) 823-9999.

© Tony Beshara, Babich & Associates

If a prospective employer directly or indirectly causes a potential candidate to be fired or dismissed because of his actions in soliciting or interviewing him, the prospective employer is LIABLE. Not only can a company be held responsible, but also the employer can personally be pursued. In our litigious society, don’t think that a candidate who lost his job because you violated his confidentiality won’t think of suing you and your company for damages. If he doesn’t think of it, his lawyer will! The most recent case of this kind was settled for close to five million dollars (you read that right!). The candidate proved the hiring company not only cost him his job, but also because he was fired, it destroyed his career and future opportunities. Don’t think this can’t happen! It can! It does!

A person has a right to confidentially look for a new job, and no one has a right to cause him to lose his present one. We have heard the excuse that….”well, the candidate was looking for a job…. he ran the risk of being found out… he wanted to leave anyway… It’s his fault for even looking in the first place”. It’s enough to make our hair curl and a lawyer drool! The fact that a candidate is looking for a new job has nothing to do with someone causing him to lose his current position.

What We’ve Seen
We have seen prospective employers actually check the references of a candidate at the firm where he was presently employed. We have also seen elaborate messages left for candidates at their place of employment concerning times and details of interviews with prospective employers. We have seen rejection letters and “thank you for applying” letters e-mailed to candidates at their places of employment. We even saw a form letter sent to a candidate’s boss asking for a written reference regarding the character of the candidate and why he should become a member of their family, before an initial interview took place. With the advent of e—mail, we have seen prospective candidates communicate with perspective employers from their office e-mail. A perspective employer should not respond to a candidate this way, even if the candidate gives him or her permission. A perspective employer should specifically inform a candidate that he would not communicate this way. (Try to convince a jury that you didn’t know you were risking the candidate’s present job!)

What is even more astounding is the number of employees who think that there is nothing inappropriate about some of these actions. They feel that the candidate’s application gives them a license to ask anyone anything they wish.

Common Sense
The overall message here is to truly be CONFIDENTIAL in the process of interviewing and hiring candidates. Use common sense. If you are using a recruiter in a search, let him or her set up all the interviews. If you get to the reference stage, get references from the candidate at that time I Ask the recruiter to help with the reference checking. His or her professional expertise will protect everyone. DO NOT contact the candidate at his present place of employment. Even if the candidate says it’s permissible to do so, DON’TI In case of a dire emergency where the candidate has to be called at his present job, speak to him discreetly, and ask him to call you back. Don’t leave a name or number! In fact, it’s best, when asked by the receptionist or operator, “Who’s calling?” to state a friend or even an alias name. This will seem a bit extreme, but the alternative risk of your company hearing from the plaintiff’s attorney is worse.

Off-Site Meetings
If a company is interviewing a candidate from a competitor, it might be advisable to arrange interview meetings off site. Recruiting firms usually have facilities for this purpose. Restaurants are NEVER good places to interview; it just isn’t the best environment for both parties. Business lunches and dinners might be fine, but an evaluative interview already has enough built-in emotional stress, without the added social stress of making lunch (or dinner) talk. Interviewing off site provides a feeling of neutrality on everyone’s part. We’ve known instances of disgruntled receptionists calling their company’s competitor to tell them their star salesman was interviewing. Had the candidate not been seen at the interviewing company, this wouldn’t have happened. The candidate doesn’t feel he is compromising himself by going to the enemy camp.

Responsibility
The overall responsibility for confidentiality of a candidate being interviewed lies with the prospective employer. Even though the candidate may initiate the process, the onus of responsibility lies with the company who is considering him. Although the candidate may be soliciting a company, he can become an adversary very quickly. It isn’t hard to keep confidentiality as part of the process. It just takes care, forethought, and practical consideration.

Tony Beshara is owner and president of Babich & Associates.   Beshara has been in business since 1973, and he alone averages $2.5 – $4 million per year in billings. If you have any questions about this article, please call (214) 823-9999.

© Tony Beshara, Babich & Associates