You hear wear this jewelry but not that, wear this color but not that one, don’t wear this shoe with that sock. Really?!?!?!

All it takes is a little common sense to look good and show your best when you put your skills and knowledge on display. To help, here are eight rules of what to (and not to) wear if you want to put yourself ahead of the game:

1) Dress your age. If you are 18 don’t dress like your 50 and if you are 50 don’t dress like your 18.

2) Dress your body type. Some clothes just don’t look good on some people because said clothes were not made for that person’s body type.

3) Dress the role. Don’t wear a $3,000 suit to an entry-level customer service interview and don’t look like you just rolled out of bed if you are looking for an executive role.

4) Don’t wear skinny jeans or any other pants with the word skinny in them. I am no fashion expert but skinny jeans are the worst fashion idea ever and whoever wears them to an interview (or skinny slacks, skinny khaki’s, etc if they even have those) deserve to not pass.

5) Look like you actually attempted to look  nice. Take a shower, brush your hair, brush your teeth, iron your shirt and pants, tie your shoe laces. Look like you actually care.

6) Leave the sunglasses in your car. If you wear sunglasses inside your interview you deserved to be dismissed on the spot.

7) Don’t dress like a vampire or like you are Neo from ‘The Matrix’. Yes, it has actually happened.

8) It’s not Saturday night, it’s not your favorite club, dress accordingly. Enough said.

Now that you know to look your age and not dress like a character from a movie you are ready to tackle figuring out why you are the best candidate for the role.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

When it comes to interviewing there are four critical things that must have to happen for it to work in your favor:

Prepare. As a job-seeker its your job to know the following (at a minimum):

• What the company does
• The company history
• The company mission / value statement
• All about the person you are speaking to (school, history with company, whether they like tennis or not)
• What the word on the street is (check Indeed and Glassdoor)
• Why you would be an asset to the company
• Why you would be an asset in that role

Remember its just a conversation. I have seen some people get so worked up over an interview that they start hyperventilating, freeze up, and almost go into a state of shock. The majority of the time the hiring manager is going to hire someone he/she likes so it behooves you to go in relaxed knowing that they are not the big bad wolf.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself. As someone who is trying to convince someone else that they are the best candidate for an open job there are certain ways you should act. I think the pictures below sum up pretty well what to avoid.                                                                

Find out what YOU need to know. When you are in an interview always ask questions. Always. You can ask why they like working for the company, what the team is like, etc but there are four questions that I think get to the heart of the matter:

• Why is this role open?
• How do you view my candidacy for this position?
• Are there any areas of concern about my skill set / background? (if there are this question will give you the chance to combat them)
• How are you going to ensure that the person gets hired is successful?

What are your most time-honored interviewing tips? What makes interviews work for you? Leave a comment – I look forward to reading them!

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

To put it into context lets talk about cars for a minute. What comes to mind when you hear the following names:

• GMC
• Ferrari
• BMW
• Honda

No matter who you are, each name strikes some sort of chord – for me its (in order) truck, supercar, ultimate driving machine, reliability.

Now lets turn that same exercise on you. When people hear your name (especially when it comes to people who either do the same work as you or that hire people like you) what comes to mind when your name is mentioned?

Is it something positive? Is it something at all?

I would take being a GMC, Ferrari, BMW, or Honda over a Avtovas (Russian car company that no one has heard of) any day of the week.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

Lesson #1 – College Kids Know Job-Search (Kinda’)

A while back I received the following comment in response to a question I posted online about what people had learned in college. I was expecting to hear the same old, same old from folks like myself whose college days had long passed but instead snagged this piece of gold from a current MTSU student (GO BIG BLUE!).

“The lesson I have learned over the past two years has little to do with linear regression, case studies or promotion. The lesson learned was if we want something bad enough and are willing to put in the work we CAN do things that in the past we thought we couldn’t.”

While what he says is so true about college its also very true of job-search as well. Anyone can learn how to put together a resume or how to answer an interview question but it’s those folks who want it badly enough to go a step further in their search that have the most success.

Lesson #2 – Curiosity Didn’t Kill The Cat

I was lucky enough to go to LinkedIn’s Talent Connect event last week in Las Vegas and one thing that came out of it for me was to be “constantly curious” in everything you do.

In many cases it’s not the people who do what the majority are doing in job-search that have success, it’s those that choose to follow Robert Frost and take the road not taken that get there the quickest.

The Net Result of Lesson #1 and Lesson #2?

So what’s the best advice that can be given when you combine the wisdom of a college kid and a nugget of information from a LinkedIn conference?

• TRY SOMETHING NEW IN YOUR SEARCH AND WORK YOUR BUTT OFF AT IT
• IF THE OLD ISN’T WORKING KICK IT TO THE CURB
• BE WILLING TO DO THE THINGS THAT NO ONE ELSE IS (WITHIN REASON) IN YOUR SEARCH

Until next time, good hunting and good luck!

1. Don’t expect any one thing or tool to be a silver bullet. One of the real frustrations with job-search is that you just never know where your next job is going come from. For many its networking, for others it might be a job-board or a recruiter. Do not ‘expect’ one thing to be your savior – invest your time in several but focus on what is proven to work (networking).
2. Don’t get fooled by gimmicks (especially if you have to pay for them).  Anyone who tells you they have the ‘total package’ for your job-search and guarantees their ‘system’ will get you a job is a liar. Don’t be fooled and do NOT write them a $5,000 check.
3. Listen to those that know. If you went to the doctor for an illness and he told you to do XYZ you would listen right? Then why don’t you take the same approach with your job-search and listen to all of those folks that talk about how good networking is?
4. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Let’s see. You found a job twenty years ago by doing XYZ and now you want to do the same thing. I’ll talk to you in six months when you are still looking. The time is now to look at new things whether it be an online networking site, a personal website, or making a stand to manage your career.
5. Keep your skills current. Watch webinars, go to seminars/conferences, take a class read articles, volunteer, do anything and everything to keep your skills fresh, clean, and up-to-date. Otherwise you will pay for it in the interview.

There you have it – five things to do, not do, watch, avoid, and think about for your search.

What would you add to the list? Anything?

Until next time, good hunting and good luck!

You ready to hear about it? Good, because here it goes:

(getting on my soapbox)

WISHING THAT YOU ARE QUALIFIED AND WANTING TO BE QUALIFIED FOR A JOB DOES NOT MAKE YOU QUALIFIED FOR SAID JOB.

Listen, I know it’s tough out there. I know that when you need a job you will do what it takes to get one. BUT if a job description says that an MBA and five years of outside sales experience is required and you have an associates degree and did retail sales you will not get an interview.

Filling out online applications is a bear (sometimes reading online applications is a bear) – so do yourself (and recruiters everywhere) a favor and only apply to those jobs that you are truly qualified for and spend the rest of your time doing what is really effective in job-search, say NETWORKING!

(getting off of my soapbox)

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

I can almost guarantee you that if you use one of these words/phrases listed below to describe YOURSELF (ie NOT someone else describing you) on your resume, LinkedIn profile, Twitter profile, or really anywhere else you are probably getting laughed at and not hired.

• top  gun
• ninja
• superstar
• guru
• rock star
• expert
• top notch
• top shelf
• Jedi
• ‘Yoda like’

You have been warned.

Until next time, good hunting and good luck!

Now, most of the stats are ridiculous (ie “he’s the first left-handed batter to hit the second pitch of a game to the third baseman since 1988″) but some (batting average, runs batted in, etc) are worth having and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they keep them to track how a player is doing.

When it comes to job-search what are you tracking?

Could you tell me the number of jobs you are applying to per interview? Can you tell me the number of interviews you are having per offer? What about the number of networking calls you are making vs. the number of networking meetings you are having?

I would guess that if 1,000 people read this post 990 cannot tell me any of the numbers requested above which is VERY poor.

How can you judge what is working and what is not if you are not tracking what your activities are. If I were looking for a job today I would go MLB all over it and be able to put together a data story that would impress any MBA out there.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

To breakdown job-search into a ‘language everybody here can easily understand’ if you don’t network don’t expect to find work anytime soon.

Now, I know a lot of people have differing definitions of what networking is. Some might think sending an email (or InMail), or connecting with someone on LinkedIn, or showing up at a chamber of commerce meeting is networking.

All of them are kinda, sorta, in a way networking but what I am referring to is good old fashion one-on-one informational meetings over coffee or your favorite beverage.

If I am being honest, I am to the point where I feel just as sorry for those who tell me they have applied for 1,000 jobs and haven’t heard anything back as I am those that play the lottery and don’t hit the jack-pot.

To put it simply, there’s no global conspiracy to promote networking to the detriment of our way of life and nobody is secretly making money off of telling career experts to promote it as an effective job-search tool.

The reason that so many people promote networking is BECAUSE IT WORKS.

If you are going to refuse to do effective networking please go tell your sob story to someone else, there is not much I can do to help you. I know that’s harsh and I will probably have someone hate me because I said it but it needed to be said.

Learn how to network (read our previous post on the topic), learn how to do it well, keep your network alive, strong, and well and you have more job security than you could ever imagine.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

The truth of the matter is you WILL land somewhere, so why not focus on that rather than the daily grind of looking for work. It more than likely won’t be on your schedule (it rarely is) but the good news is there is a job out there with your name written all over it.

When talking about the art of looking for work you never know when, where, and how an opportunity is going to develop so you need to have a plan that includes all different avenues to get there (networking, recruiters, social media, applying to jobs, career fairs, etc) and having all of your ducks in a row to sell yourself at the drop of a hat.

If you need encouragement in your search please know that I pray for all of those looking for work on a very regular basis as I know how difficult job-search is and know the pains associated with it (financial, emotional, spiritual, self-confidence, etc) all too well.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!