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.

How to make over your work image

Ok, you’re feeling a bit old these days, even if you’re not 50+. It seems there is a real age-bias running through the work world these days. It’s nothing you can put your finger on since it is illegal for a company to make hiring decisions based on age. But clearly in the youth-obsessed culture we currently seem to have, it can make finding and keeping that job your really want even tougher. Our culture is spellbound by youth – just look at the Democratic Presidential nominee – a Senator with barely two years of experience in Congress, and no significant achievements, yet he is the new rock star of the political scene.

We also hear it in the voices of the clients we work with daily — employers are eager to fill their offices with the supposed youthful energy, tech savvy, and open to new ideas 18- to 34-year-old age group. Pile on the annual crop of new college graduates reaching the job market who have only grown up in a digital, social network world, and even people in their early 40’s can think they’ve fallen out of the fast lane somehow.

So what can you do, what steps can you take to rework your “old” image:

1. Change your look.  No, you don’t need to visit the plastic surgeon (well maybe), but you can look at simple things like a new hair style, glass frames, or other small tweaks that can help you look more current.
2. Stay contemporary. Do some homework on a regular basis to understand what’s happening on the social network sites, read a magazine that is totally different than what you might like to cuddle up with, inquire what those latest buzzwords really mean.  In short, investing  even a little extra time your carer development will pay big dividends down the road.
3. Start a blog or other website that lets you show off your hidden talents. Caution – nothing that reveals current company secrets, or on topics/subjects that could be considered a problem (e.g. NOT a political opinion site)
4. Drop the dates.  On your resume, don’t put the date you graduated from college, and leave off some of your first jobs. No, I’m not suggesting you lie if asked about them but you want the focus on what you have done over the past 10 to 15 years of work experience.
5. Keep that energy up – be the one that volunteers for the new stuff as often as you use to in the past
6. Avoid the past.  Not totally, but try not to be constantly reminding people of how you did things 10 years ago, what worked in the 90’s, what you learned in that project 5 years ago, etc. etc.   It sounds so, so, so, 2002….
   

Be bold, be confident – the knowledge you have is something they don’t have and may never even understand.