Has your job search bracket been busted?

March Madness is always filled with competing emotions - joy and jubilation for the teams that win, while sadness and disappointment fill the hearts of the teams (and fans) on the losing side of the equation.  Some handle both sides with class, while others lash out via social media or post-game interviews.  There was even a coach who was criticized for dancing after a victory while his wife was recovering in the hospital from an emergency appendectomy.  Some felt as though he should have been more subdued considering his personal situation.

Although I hope most interviews don't start with a 68-candidate pool, there are some similarities that can be drawn with the idea of a bracket and I want to explore some of the ways to handle both the unexpected "wins" as well as the heart-breaking losses.

First, let's consider how to handle things when an interview ends in unexpected heartache.  You may feel like you prepared accordingly, really presented well and had a great conversation, but ultimately received the "Dear John" letter from the company.  You now have a choice.  You can "shake hands" and tell the company "good game" just as if you had lost the basketball contest.  Or you can pout and head toward the locker room, only to complain to the reporters that you were robbed on a bad call or felt like it wasn't fairly officiated.

Unfortunately I have seen things go very badly when a candidate is told "no", especially if it is final stages.  But you have to look at it from an objective perspective or it can affect future interviews and/or new roles.  Once I had a candidate send a scathing email after being turned down, indicting the hiring manager for not following through on promises to hire the candidate.  My client wisely chose not to reply and start a huge online fight, but it was certainly not the right approach.  Now the candidate looks like a sore loser and will be forever tarnished within that organization.  Additionally those people may end up working for another company and paths could cross with the candidate.  Perhaps not likely, but always possible in this small world we live in today.

What is interesting about the NCAA tournament is that the losses sometimes galvanize a team and they come back stronger the next year.  So if told "no", use it as an opportunity to dig deep, ask tough questions, and maybe even recognize some weaknesses.  Use this momentum for the next interview and learn from the experience.

Now what about celebrating when things go right?  There are many things that can actually go wrong here, believe it or not.  I can recall a candidate going through 10-12 grueling steps in an interview process and was about to receive an offer.  Only to find out some inappropriate ways in which he thanked the team that interviewed him, and they couldn't get past it.  No offer came and the completely capable candidate will forever be remembered with my client as the one that got away.

The other common mistake comes during or after resignation.  Candidates feel empowered once they have an offer and feel like they can talk trash about the soon-to-be former employer during an exit interview.  Or perhaps they go about the resignation itself unprofessionally.  It just shows poor sportsmanship and when you see it happen in March Madness, no one likes it.

With the tournament you expect some bad behavior or poor choices as most of the kids playing are only 18 or 19 years old.  Do you remember what was going through your mind at that age?  You likely thought you were invincible, didn't respect authority, and didn't think the choices you made would impact the rest of your life.  But at some point the players have to understand they are an ambassador for the sport and their university.  A lot has been given to them, and a lot is expected.  The cameras are always on and a little slip-up can cause lack of focus or a fracture in the locker room.

So my advice for today when your job search bracket is busted is to act like you are on national television and anything you do or say could be forever remembered and replayed on YouTube.  Represent yourself with class and positive thoughts.  That way you will never regret anything.

Good luck with all of your bracketology, both basketball and search-related!

How to effectively communicate "I really want this job!"

Whenever I hear a candidate say something along the lines of "I reaaaaallllly want this job - what do I need to do to let the employer know?!?" it actually panics me a little.  There is a good chance that the employer will simply hear that you want "a job" and not necessarily their job.  It is a subtle difference, but could be the tipping point that makes the employer think you are overzealous and not really the best match.

So what is the most effective way to let the employer know?  Here are a few simple ideas:

1) Ask leading questions.  Find out details about the organization and the opportunity and then cater your answers and presentation to those details.  Far too often candidates are asked questions, provide too lengthy of an answer, and then ineffectively project their experience on the job before they even know much about the job.  One of my pet peeves is when I get an email from a prospective candidate that says they are PERFECT for the job, even before talking with me.  How in the world can they know that?

2) Ask direct questions regarding timing, next steps, how many candidates are in the process, etc.  This is also an area where you can over-do it, but far too few candidates get any relevant information out of the employer regarding these topics.  If an employer intends to take six weeks to interview a minimum of ten candidates before making a decision, it does you no good to proclaim to the hiring manager that you really want the job and hope they call back in a day or two.  If you don't have all of the facts, you can't properly manage anyone's expectations.

3) Be objective and don't over-sell yourself.  If you are absolutely convinced that you are the best match for the role, then use undeniable facts and truth.  Not just excitement and emotion once you find out they provide free drinks in the cafeteria for all employees.  When the facts support the emotion, that is when you usually do have a good chance of selling the employer on the idea of you.  If you start with facts, you can even add in a little emotion so that the employer knows you are committed to the process.

4) Use your recruiter to help send the message.  If you actually trust your recruiter (which we hope is always the case with us), then it can be an incredibly effective communication tool.  We get to know our candidates very  well and have multiple conversations with them over the course of time.  Employers know that and often ask us after an interview what the candidate had to say.  If the information is consistent and accurate, we can participate in the conversation to let an employer know the interest level is high.  Then it is not just based on emotion five minutes after an interview.

At the end of the day, it is a wonderful thing that you really want the job.  Employers are not just looking for good technical expertise these days, but also good culture matches and employees that are anxious to have an impact for their organization.  Just remember to balance emotion with fact and you should be in good shape!

Any other ideas out there regarding the best ways to communicate this message?  I would love to hear them all!

Has your search taken an unexpected turn?

Living in the Midwest certainly comes with it's challenges, especially in the winter.  This weekend was no exception as we had an unexpected snowstorm sneak up on us.  We happened to be out of town visiting my grandmothers in Northwest Iowa and woke up on Sunday morning with an inch of ice on our windshield and rapidly deteriorating road conditions.  Our choices were to stay and hope that the roads would clear up, or make a mad dash for the nearest exit just in case it got worse.  We decided to head out and hope we would eventually get ahead of the storm and get home safely.  It ended up being the right decision, even though my children were not thrilled with it as it meant less time at the swimming pool and no lunch out with grandma.

It got quite interesting at the beginning of the road trip as visibility was less than a quarter of a mile.  Our kids were troopers and we ended up having a lot of fun on the way home.  Instead of disappointment, we changed our attitude to gratitude for safety and a memorable trip home.

How does this relate to a job search?  Easy.  I hear all kinds of stories from clients and candidates alike that run into unintended and unexpected road blocks, obstacles, and issues that might otherwise de-rail an interview process or ongoing discussions.  The outcome is 100% dependent upon how you react to the situation when thrown a curveball.  You really only have three choices:

1) Express disappointment and frustration at something that can't really be controlled.  I could have spent the 4.5 hour road trip home on Sunday mulling over how rotten the weather was.  It has already been a long winter in Iowa and this only adds to the misery.  But what good does that do?  I am pretty sure my kids and wife would not have put up with my moaning for long.  Same goes for an interview.  No one wants to hear belly-aching when schedules don't align well or something changes during the course of a search.

2) Do nothing.  One option for us was to ignore the pending bad weather and simply enjoy a little more time at the pool and with relatives.  But it would have been ignoring reality and possibly caused more headache later with an even longer trip home or even road closures.  During the course of an interview if things slow down or change course candidates especially tend to take no news as no news and sit back and wait for someone to call them.  Sometimes that works, but if you are waiting for your phone to simply ring or your inbox to blow up with incoming messages, you may be waiting a long time.

3) Take action and remain positive.  I would be lying if I told you my knuckles weren't white during the first 45 minutes of our trip.  But we had planned ahead, packed snacks, took our time, and took an alternative route home to avoid driving into the teeth of the storm.  When an employer changes the rules mid-interview or a candidate decides to present new information that can be mis-interpreted, do your due diligence, seek some answers, and have a healthy conversation about them.

I will let you decide which is the obvious approach to take when faced with an ever-changing landscape with interviews and opportunities.  You are better off to expect the unexpected and react accordingly when, not if, things go in a different direction than you might have originally expected when entering into the interview.

Another day in paradise - does that sound like your job?

When you think of going into work each Monday morning, do you envision palm trees, cool ocean breezes, and relaxation by the beach?  Thanks to my seven-year old son I do.  Okay, maybe not the cool ocean breezes and relaxation part, but paradise is now a word I use to describe work.  He came with me to my office over the weekend while I cleaned up some emails and as he walked past my colleague's office he simply said, "Wow, that looks like paradise."  Can't say I had ever thought that before, but it did get me thinking a bit.

To provide some additional background, my colleague has some tropical plants and pictures that do have a south Florida feel to them.  What I am pretty certain my son did not indirectly mean to say was that coming into work every day must feel like paradise to me as well.  But I asked myself the question, "Why not?"  I do thoroughly enjoy my job, have fabulous co-workers, am spoiled with a great view out my window of nature and the woods, and have been having fun at work for the past ten years.  Now if only we were near a beach instead of piles of snow from an Iowa winter........

You may not be able to make direct references to your work being paradise, but here are some thoughts to consider going into the new week:

1) Determine if there is any "paradise" in your current role.  If you cannot in any way, shape, or form refer to your work as paradise in some small regard, why are you still in your position?  While we all have to work to pay bills and survive, you should not settle for a miserable experience to achieve that goal.  Take some risks, explore some options, talk to others that you trust regarding your search.  As a recruiter I oftentimes tell a candidate at the outset of a search that you may very well find out that staying put is by far the best option.  But you won't know it if you don't have some conversations.

2) It is all about perspective.  For a short period of time on Saturday I'm sure my son thought it must be really cool to come into my office five days a week.  But every time I ask him if he'll trade places with me on a Monday and come to work while I go to his school, he quickly realizes how good he has it.  Perhaps that is the case with your job currently as well.  The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, so take a comprehensive look at your current position and think for a while about what you have to be thankful for.  You might surprise yourself.  If you cannot find much, then it could very well time to consider a change.

3) It is NOT all about money.  One of the first questions we typically ask candidates is salary expectations.  It is a very critical part of anyone's search.  But it should not be the primary motivator for making a job move.  You might make 20% more in a new role only to find out you miss some of your old co-workers.  Or the flexibility you used to have with your old boss.  Or the relative stability of your old position.  Happiness cannot be measured with dollars and cents, so be careful with using this as a main motivator.

What else makes your office or working environment a possible "paradise"?  I would love to hear your thoughts and comments as encouragement to anyone out there looking for some positive energy going into a new week and a new month.