How do you build your brand?

Have you noticed more competition for good talent in the marketplace in 2013?  We sure have, and it has manifested itself in a myriad of ways recently.  Counter offers, multiple offers for one candidate, passive candidates sitting tight, exceptions and concessions being made on things like PTO and benefits, and much more.  Even if you have not experienced any of these trends recently, there are some effective strategies we have seen employed that can be good to know.

The key word I will be focusing on in a three-part series this spring and summer is BRANDING.  The three perspectives I want to bring to bear about what is being said about your organization are:

1) What do your current employees say?

2) What does the market say?

3) What does your competition say?

All three are inter-related, but I really want to dig into each one individually as the small things can make all the difference between landing the prized candidate you are after and just missing.  The first one is quite possibly the most important as it can have an impact on the other two in a profound manner.  Your employees talk amongst themselves, with their outside vendor partners, with former employees, and even with friends and neighbors. 

So what can you proactive do to create a working environment that creates a positive brand image in the market?  Facebook can actually be one of the first places to go.  Some of my best clients are actively posting pictures of their staff volunteering in the community.  Or celebrating someone’s work anniversary.  Or perhaps a work-related accomplishment like a professional designation.  This is an effective (and free) way to promote the culture within your organization. 

Secondly, provide ongoing communication to employees regarding benefits, culture, opportunities for growth, etc.  Recently I had a candidate interview with a team member of a client of mine who really struggled with answering basic questions regarding the overall benefits provided to employees.  That left a really bad impression with the candidate, and whether or not it is fair, the company itself.  I wouldn’t expect an employee to have all details memorized down to the last detail, but it would be another great FREE advertisement about  your company to have your employees bragging to everyone they knew about the benefits of working for your company.

Lastly, define your company culture early and often and in an open and honest manner.  Another recent example I can give is a client of mine who had several people act as advocates to my candidate before, during, and after the interview.  Some of the items that were communicated were of small concern to the candidate, but overall there was a ton of respect for openly discussing the current working environment.  At the end of the day it was actually what motivated the acceptance of the offer. 

Bottom line is that the job market is an ever-evolving beast that may force you to make some changes regarding how you have branded your company, especially as it relates to recruiting.  So why not stay ahead of the curve and be the leader in your market?

Spring cleaning and goal setting

This picture doesn't do justice to what I saw driving around my neighborhood yesterday afternoon.  It was spring garbage pick up/clean up day, so all of my neighbors were setting old unused items by the curb.  Then all afternoon beat up trucks, vans, trailers, and everything in between were seen driving around the rubble and picking up the items intended for the landfill.

At the end of the day, however, it was a fabulous feeling to have some extra space in the garage and I was even tempted to get out my lawn mower after officially "retiring" my snow blower to the far corner of my garage until next winter.  I always get revved up this time of year thinking about what I get dust off, clean up, and organize both inside and outside of my home.

It also got me thinking about work goals as well.  There is no reason to limit my motivation to landscaping and honey-do lists.  Now is a great time to be thinking about career goals, new opportunities, turning over a new leaf (pun intended for spring), hiring a new employee, and much more.  One of our busiest times all year is May and June and this year is shaping up to be no different.

So if you haven't already thought about it, shake the dust off of your resume.  Revise and update that most recent job description for a role that should probably be filled by mid-summer.  Take the opportunity to write down a to-do list of things you want to accomplish before the end of summer.  This time of year always goes by so quickly with kids' activities, summer vacations, and days off here and there to go golfing or swimming.  So why not plan ahead and put down on paper some goals to commit to in the next 5-6 weeks.

If you are anything like me yesterday, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and new beginning afterward.

What goals might you want to achieve by the Fourth of July?

Finishing second in a job interview does not make you the first loser

Three times in the past two weeks I have had clients tell me that they had a tough time picking the top candidate out of two finalists.  While we can all agree that is a happy problem, there is still the issue of telling one candidate that they didn't get the job.  I have been the messenger many times in ten years of recruiting to the candidate that finished in second place.  There are several reasons why it isn't as bad as you might think.

First of all it provides an incredible amount of credibility to your search.  Although you did not get the position you were ultimately seeking, the company obviously thought you were a solid candidate to consider and would even possibly consider again.  This means that other companies will likely feel the same way.  I know as a third party recruiter, I am extremely motivated to work with that individual again.

Secondly, you never know when the company will come back around and have interest in your candidacy again.  Most times when it is a tough final decision, that means the company would have been absolutely fine with hiring the candidate that finished in "second place" out of the gates.  The candidate finishing in first place may accept an offer, only to turn it down a few days later.  Or perhaps not work out after 3-6 months and the company comes calling for the second candidate.  I have even had companies create positions for the second candidate, which turn out to be an even better long term match.  It all depends upon how the second candidate takes the news at the outset of finishing in second.  If you handle it with grace and professionalism, that will always bode well.  If you are bitter and look back with regret, that gets you nowhere.

Lastly, it might be that the position simply wasn't meant to be at that particular time.  When deep in the throes of the interview process the competitive juices are always flowing.  You may not be thinking truly objectively and you just want to get the offer for the sake of getting the offer.  Once you have some time to reflect you may see that it was a good thing for your long term career development.  Or another position may come along that turns out to be an even better match.

Bottom line is that you must always be thinking ahead while in the interview process.  Prepare yourself for the possibility that you might finish in second place and how you will handle that.  You can view it as defeat with victory your only goal.  But to me that seems short sighted.  I remind candidates that I represent that them finishing in second place also means I finish in second place.  For the reasons I outlined above (and the list could be much longer), you will be someone I will want to work with again and again.

Have you ever finished in second place?  How did it shape your thoughts about future interviews?  I would welcome your thoughts and stories as always!

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.