How to scare off a recruiter

I just returned from a job fair this week and have to be honest: given the current economic situation and reports that there is something like five candidates for every job opening these days, I was more than a little surprised at some of the prospective job seekers walking around the fair. 

If you are in the market for a new position let me be brutally honest with you and provide a short list of things that send up red flags with both recruiters like me and hiring managers, flags that will ultimately have you dropped from further consideration.  Understand that in today’s job market, because of the volume of candidates we interview or resumes received, we’re looking more for reasons that we shouldn’t hire you, instead of why we should hire you. While that may seem extremely unfair, it’s the current reality.

Here are some things to watch out for:

1) A sloppy resume — specially misspellings, missing contact information, even formats that look like you have no clue how to use a computer. How am I supposed to contact you if you don’t provide either an e-mail address or telephone number (that actually works) as was the case with a recent resume I received.

2) Mr/Ms Negative: all you have to say are negative things about your former employers, why you were let go (aka – fired), and why it was always someone else’s fault. We’ve all had situations where companies have merged, gone out of business, or are just plain not great places to work. But at some point it’s a little suspicious when somebody has been hopping from job to job says that the lack of success at each of those jobs was always someone else’s fault.

3) Inconsistency: in your resume and in your answers.  When recruiters notice inconsistency in the various jobs listed on your resume the huge red flag goes up as statistics will tell you at least 30% of what appears on resumes is not accurate.   Play it straight.  The second we find a misrepresentation, that resume is trashed.

4) You wing it at the interview. Nothing frustrates me more than matching up a good candidate (on paper) with a client, and then the candidate walks in totally unprepared for the interview. And when you show up for the interview please come dressed for the job, not looking like you’re headed out to the beach (dressed in flip-flops and a T-shirt as one candidate it) or that you really don’t care.  Simply put — dress for the job, and error on the side of over dressing.

5) Flexibility is not part of your vocabulary.  For example, when you state in your resume that you’re very happy with where you’re living and there’s no way that you would ever consider relocating. Yet in your first comments during our interview you tell me you’re the most flexible person available.  Which is it?

6) Lack of an “engine”:  Or better said, no ambition, little drive, no long-term goals, or even short-term goals.  We’re looking for people who are going to make a difference if they joined our company.  You need to show why you would be that person.

7) No questions for me. This is an absolute killer. I always recommend you have questions at three levels:  high-level industry questions, questions about the company and its direction, and then specific questions about the job.

Ok, maybe I’ve been a bit harsh here.  But I hope I made a point.  You may not believe this, but every recruiter or hiring manager is truly interested in finding good candidates for their company. We really do want to hire top-notch people, that’s what we’re here for. Don’t disqualify yourself because of a couple of silly mistakes like those noted above.

Q4 Hiring Outlook Ok, Not Great, But Better

CareerBuilder along with USA TODAY recently issues their latest survey (download the full report here) on Q3 hiring and projections for hiring in Q4.  The results come from a survey of more than 2,400 hiring managers/HR professionals and more 3,100+ workers.

Q3 & 2010, to this point:

Evaluating the state of hiring in 2010 thus far, the survey reported that 24% of employers reported adding full-time, permanent headcount in each quarter from January through September.  This result was better than original projections for that period, which averaged around 21%.

Additionally, actual hiring has consistently beat projected hiring for the last six quarters of the survey (some good news to hold on too). If trends persist, I would expect the actual number of hires for the fourth quarter to exceed projections as well.

Do these results indicate that we are “in the clear”/“over the hump”/“on the comeback?? Probably not, but at least the signs are positive.

Of note is that small businesses appear to continue to struggle with accessing the credit needed to operate and expand their businesses, which will certainly impact some future hiring. Looking at hiring by company size, the survey indicated that 13% of employers with 50 or less employees, 24% of employers with 51 to 250 employees, and 26% of employers with more than 250 employees plan to increase headcount in the fourth quarter.

What’s ahead for Q4?

Projecting results for the fourth quarter, it appears that 21% of employers are still planning to increase their full-time permanent headcount with only 10% expecting to downsize staff. That would leave about 65% anticipating no change in staffing and 4% are still undecided (about what – are you hiring or not).

While many employers aren’t going to increase salary, the “good news” is that only 5% anticipate a decrease in salaries, and many employers are looking to give their folks at least small salary increases this year.

Names & Numbers

At Names & Numbers we are continuing to hire Account Executives in many of our markets such as Bentonville, AR;  Fort Smith, AR; and Killeen, TX. These are positions are best suited for people with a couple years of B2B sales experience, who have background hunting for new-new business, and have worked in heavily commissioned sales environments.  We have a variety of compensation plans depending on the market that you would work in but on average first year account executives with us can expect to make between $60 to 70k a year. Also note that there is no cap on your earnings potential. Every account executive qualifies for healthcare benefits after the first 90 days with us.

While many employers say that they hire from within at Names & Numbers  we mean it– our managers in both the Lubbock and Midland Texas markets are promotions within the last year.

If you are looking for a stable company that offers real earnings potential and you have the drive needed to be successful, I’d like to talk to you. Please send me your resume at KClark@namesandnumbers.com.