The Best Interiew Tip Ever!

A few weeks ago I wrote and posted a blog on LinkedIn. And today, I received an email from LinkedIn titled "See how your posts are doing, Stephanie."

I get these email updates as I post new blogs or articles regularly. I like to check them out, see how they're doing, read and respond to comments.

Well, did that blog ever hit a nerve!

Previously my most read blog had had 824 views 22 likes and 2 comments. This one, which is titled "Perhaps the Most Important Interview Advice You'll Ever Get," has already had 2889 views, 182 likes and 20 overwhelmingly positive and encouraging comments.

Quite honestly, I almost fainted! LOL That's a lot of traffic and traction in a short time.

You know, I do feel that the recruitment process needs an overhaul.  The "power" lies with the employer, and in my opinion it's ridiculous that job hunters feel like the "poor country cousin" in the process. That is shifting. With baby boomers retiring in an ever-increasing pace, there will be less talent for the positions vacated, and that will restore a much-needed balance.

Have a read of the article as it definitely is amongst the best interview tips you're likely to read!

Canadian Retail Woes as Target, Sony, Mexx Leave

This week's news of retailers Mexx, Sony, and newcomer Target all deciding to pull out of Canada has likely put countless families on edge. Target alone employed 17,600 Canadians, Sony another 90 and Mexx another 1785.

That's a lot of people in the retail sector out looking for a new gig. If there was ever a time to improve one's resume, for those in retail from customer service reps to managers, it's now.

Some will stay in retail, and some will take this opportunity to go in a new direction. These two resumes will look very different: one will be more straightforward and the other will focus on transferable skills.

Here are a few examples of retail-focused bullets:

• Successfully learned to use complex Point-of-Sale (POS) technology that processed sales, returns, gift cards, vouchers, coupons; as early adaptor, sought out by colleagues to help them process transactions.
• Completed employer-sponsored training, 8 self-admininstered, web-based modules on customer service covering, for example, body language, choice of words, urgency and friendliness, professtionalism, and dealing with conflict.

Here are a few examples of bullets created for someone transitioning out of retail and into an admininstrative role:

• Earned reputation as go-to resource for using proprietary software; learn and apply technical knowledge / use of new software quickly with affinity for technology.
• Responded to customer inquiries with urgency and enthusiasm, completing extensive training and consistently upholding employer's corporate goals through customer service vision.

Both people held Customer Service Rep roles, but one is sticking to retail and the other wants a new direction. Although these bullets may need tweaking according to the actual job posting applied to, they provide insight into showcasing relevant skills and experience, reflecting language appropriate to each role.

Feel free to adapt these bullets for your own job search, and if you'd like to saturate your resume with bullets that go far beyond the typical, give me a call! 

Post holiday-season financial blues?

It's funny, every year I say the same thing: Christmas snuck up on me. I know, I know, it's crazy talk! It comes around the same season, same month, same day, each and every year. I guess the truth is that I simply don't plan out the baking and cleaning and cooking very well, and it just feels sneeky!

I don't celebrate Christmas, per se, but  do get together with family and sometimes friends, hosting a meal, and between working, babysitting a grand-daughter, and other "stuff," that takes planning!

I bet that's what happened to some of the folks who have reached out to me, eager to get a resume for that dream job or to ward off the fear that comes along with impending change in their corporations - they just didn't plan. That's why they are asking for a discount.

One of my daughters has a saying "We commit money to what we value." Drinks with the guys Friday night, movies with the girls, splurge on January sales - we set aside or use our cards to buy what we value.

It's not that I'm without compassion or that I am greedy. In special circumstances I do resumes without charge. For example, I read of a family who lost their home to a fire, and dad, the breadwinner, was out of work. He got a free resume and cover letter. Another time I learned of a woman who adopted her sister's child, after her sister died of cancer shortly after becoming a mom. She, too, got a free service. Every year I help people out who have found themselves "down and out."

I think you can see that these folks needed a hand up.

A recent, repeat client, returning for a resume update and adding a LinkedIn presence to his career management toolbox asked for a discount. Then he wrote again, sharing that his wife reminded him that I, too, have a family to support and bills to pay! Thank you Mrs. B!

And I make sure that I give clients their money's worth. Each year, I invest in lots of training, so that I'm always up to date with recruitment standards. Last year, for example, I learned about how to construct LinkedIn headlines and summaries so that clients for whom I had written their LinkedIn info get found by recruiters who use LinkedIn as a database to quietly source suitable candidates. And with my knowledge and experience, I was asked to contribute to Career Professionals of Canada's Career Week - I created and presented three "lectures" on resume writing focusing on new grads, transferable skills for career changers, and on dealing with potential barriers to employment in the resume.

All by way of saying that the old maxim "you get what you pay for" holds true. Yes, you pay premium for my service and yes, you get your money's worth - and more! I love seeing clients succeed and support my clients well beyond the composing of their job search documents! Here's to a great year for us all!

What not to say when interviewing for your dream job!

I like to see what other blogs write about, and these often spur an idea of my own, which is precisely how today's blog evolved.

Although all 30 points are good, the one below reminded me of a client from years ago. (To read the article go to 30 Things You Should Never Say in a Job Interview.)

23. “What the hell!”

You’d think not swearing is Interviewing 101, but you’d be surprised how often people still do it. Even if your interviewer drops a few S- or F-bombs, you’re better off keeping your language PG.

Some years ago I worked with a Toronto-based headhunter, who has now changed vocations, but who back then recruited candidates for top Canadian employers, among these a well-known furniture store (the one that has the best commercials)! This company doesn't recruit much as turnover is low. It's an awesome place to work!

The headhunter sent a client my way for a strategic resume and cover letter, a young woman who was quite talented in terms of bringing value to the workplace, with quantifiable accomplishments. I gathered these, created her resume and cover letter, and you guessed it, she landed an interview.

And promptly blew this awesome opportunity by swearing in the interview!

My recruiter friend even got a call from the company's hiring manager, wondering what he was thinking, sending over a candidate that clearly did not fit the company's ideal staff profile.

Funny thing was, she dropped no bombs in our conversations, or I would have alerted her that she must not swear in an actual interview, nor did she swear when conversing with my friend the headhunter.

Go figure. Opportunity of a lifetime lost to poor judgement.

I don't make New Year resolutions

(Although I generally don't re-use posts, you will find this post on my LinkedIn blog as well.)

I feel like a heretic making that statement as my email feed is filling up with blog posts and newsletters about how to make worthwhile resolutions, how to implement resolutions, and how to not beat ourselves up for failed resolutions! :-)

Year after year, I make no resolutions. Not to lose weight, not to make more friends, not to find time for (meditation, yoga, exercise, professional development, personal development, etc!). (And certainly not to work harder to earn more money as I prefer a balanced life lived wholeheartedly!)

That's not to say that I don't make improvements in my life; it's simply that I prefer to tackle something when it feels right, when my motivation is strong, when there's an incentive.

Right now, I have a few "improvements" on the go:

1. New accreditation - Refocusing my business on a Canadian audience, I am compiling a submission to Career Professionals of Canada to attain its Master Resume Strategist certificate. My American-based "Master Resume Writer" is to expire in 2015, so I am being proactive about maintaining my credentials.

That's part of any career: ongoing training and development is a given these days. I often to suggest to clients that they augment their own credentials according to what I note is popping up more often as a requirement, or a "nice to have" in their field.

2. Personal growth - A long-time "people pleaser" I continue to work on setting boundaries and not giving in to "reflexive niceness," defined as less than authentic because it acquiesces to the environment. (Add this personal tendency to a typical over-apologetic Canadian and, well, you get the picture!)

Personal development and growth is an ongoing process and will likely never end. Other issues that I deal with is avoiding conflict and getting defensive (less and less thankfully). A great book that is simple to apply and easy to follow is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It requires several readings as ingrained habits and patterns take a bit of work to dislodge.

3. Spiritual evolvement - I think this point completes my trilogy! Not a church-goer (I was at one time), I nonetheless believe to the depths of my being that we are part of a greater whole. At one time I referred to this as God or Yahweh, then the Universe, and now I tend to think that we - each and every person and all of creation - make up this whole. Another book, "Dying to be Me," by Anita Moorjani, to which I was introduced at just the right moment in time (i.e. I was ready to hear its message), put some language behind this feeling.

Ms. Moorjani's story is phenomenal. Clinically on her death-bed in stage four cancer, she "dies" and returns, regaining robust health in a scant couple of months, much to her doctors' incredulity! Her message upon returning is simple: live fearlessly! She brings no agenda, doctrine, or dogma from the other side, just the freedom to live one's life fully, fearlessly, perhaps one could say fearsomely!

These are ongoing "resolutions" if you will, that wax and wane as circumstances and serendipity present opportunities. Sometimes I am ready to learn, and other times lessons likely passes me by and I must wait for the next opportunity!

I hope that 2015 (an auspicious year for me as I turn a page into a new decade of my life) sees me learning lessons with greater ease, showing more wisdom, and letting go of unhealthy patterns, assumptions, and no longer useful cultural teachings - learning to live life fearlessly and fully.

And I hope that you, esteemed reader, see the fulfillment of your own dreams, desires, wishes, and goals, whether committed to paper with each new year or committed to your heart, soul, and mind when the timing is right.