#JobSearch : How To Tailor Your Resume/CV For The Executive Job Market. Great REad!

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Recruiters in search of their next executive-level candidate have high expectations. They are looking for someone who can make an impact and add real value to the business. With that in mind, you need to successfully prove that you’ve got what it takes.

Your CV is your first opportunity to impress them, so an entry-level application won’t cut it.  As you enter the executive job market, your CV needs to reflect not only your skills and experience but also your expertise and achievements.  Here are five key enhancements you can make to your CV to help you navigate the executive job market and secure your next exciting role.

Level up your skills

It’s time to go through your CV and remove entry-level skills and cliché phrases that no longer add value to your executive application.

Recruiters will assume that you have the basic skills as you’re applying for a more senior role, so don’t waste pressure space on simple transferable skills. Instead, emphasise core competencies that reinforce your suitability for an executive position.

For example, skills like team leadership, strategic planning, change management, decision-making and business development.

Of course, you should also do your best to match your executive skills to those listed on the job description as this will enable the recruiter to quickly determine that you’re a good match for the job.

Communicate your unique value

Before you begin writing your CV, take some time to think about what makes you stand out from other candidates; what you would consider your unique selling point (USP)? Once you know what it is that makes you special, you can market yourself more effectively on your application.

This enables you to build your personal brand and through keywords, facts and figures, you can communicate your unique value.

Start doing this right away in your personal profile, outline the experience or achievements that are most impressive. You can then build on this in your employment history.

Identifying your USP and focusing on this throughout can help you to stand out in a competitive job market and prove your executive-level competencies.

 

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Prove that your impact with results

It’s not enough to merely list your daily responsibilities, instead, your executive CV needs to prove that you can deliver results. You can do this by providing examples of achievements from your past roles and quantifying these wherever possible.

For example, you might have increases productivity by 25% within 6 months, or maybe you reduced department spending by £10,000 per month.

Whatever results you’ve achieved in each role, make sure you highlight them clearly to ensure that you prove the return on investment that a company will make from hiring you.

Add professional affiliations and credentials

As you grow and develop in your career, it’s likely that you’ll start adding professional affiliations, memberships and industry associations to your name.

So, as you update your CV, make sure to include information about these affiliations, for example, The Chartered Institute for IT or CIPD Level 7 Advanced Diploma.

These can help to show your professional development and credentials, as well as your dedication and involvement in your industry. This can also help you to stand out from other candidates, as roles become more competitive at an executive level.

If your professional credentials are particularly relevant, you might wish to put them alongside your name at the top of your CV or mention them in your profile.

Otherwise, you can include these in your employment section or even create a dedicated section for affiliations and memberships. But only do this if you have space.

Rethink your format and structure

Finally, in the early stages of your career, your CV might have been just a page long and it’s likely that you placed more focus on your education, hobbies or interests.

But at an executive level, your CV format should be two pages long, placing more focus on your experience and achievements in past roles. It also needs to be professional and polished and most importantly, easy to read.

Avoid choosing a design that is too colourful or ‘quirky’ and make sure you use a clean, easy-to-read font. You should also improve readability by utilising headings, sub-headings and bullet points, making it easier for the hiring manager to scan through and find the key information. And with 70% of businesses using ATS to filter out unsuitable CVs, be sure that relevant keywords are easy to spot for both robots and humans.

If you follow these steps to enhance your executive CV, you can increase your chances of standing out from the competition.

By choosing your content, keywords and power verbs carefully, you can showcase your unique value and effectively demonstrate your executive skillset, improving your chances of securing an interview.

 

Forbes.com | June 4, 2024 | Andrew Fennell

 

#JobSearch : Landing a Job Is All About Who You Know (Again). 983 People Applied for One Position. NOT a One Got the Job. A MUST REad!

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Nine-hundred eighty-three people applied online for a job posted recently by tech recruiter Rob Tansey. The candidate who got the offer wasn’t one of them.

Tansey, who scouts potential hires for aviation-software maker Veryon, received a half dozen referrals from a woman he knew from past job searches. One of those six quickly became the front-runner. That’s often how Tansey operates: He estimates that just 40% of successful applicants come in cold through his company’s job portal.

“There’s an idealist in me that wants to look at all the résumés,” he says. “The reality is you just can’t.”

Who-you-know networking is back. As the number of job applicants has swelled in recent years, the key to landing a new position often turns on a personal connection that can pluck your résumé out of online obscurity and ensure it’s seen by a real person.

Behind the resurgence: frustration with the digital slog that bogs down U.S. hiring. Many hiring managers and applicants agree that the ease with which job hunters can respond to help-wanted postings has broken the online-application process by creating high volumes of candidates that hiring managers can’t hope to parse through. Meanwhile, applicants say automatic screening tools are shutting them out of opportunities.

Reverting to referrals threatens to undermine corporate diversity efforts, which were supposed to be aided by online applications. Software promised to democratize hiring by reducing human biases, but wider talent pipelines have overwhelmed some employers to the point where they’re reaching for what’s worked in the past.

To promote the use of connections, some employers, like software giant Dassault Systemes, have increased cash rewards for employees whose recommendations lead to hires. Others, including the University of Miami and its health system with 20,000 total employees, have launched new referral-bonus programs. Corporate hiring software can allow companies to identify referred candidates first, boosting those applicants over the competition.

Whether recommendations come from in-house or outside the company, the advantages are significant, according to data compiled by the hiring-software company Greenhouse. For roles that were posted on Greenhouse job boards and filled in the first quarter of this year, applicants with referrals had a 50% chance of advancing past an initial résumé review, compared with 12% odds for other external candidates.

Thirty percent of eventual hires had referrals, even though people with referrals represented just 5% of the applicant pool.

“Candidates are so desperate to get noticed, and they’re asking, ‘What’s the cheat code? What’s the way to get through the filters?’” says Jon Stross, Greenhouse’s co-founder. “Get referred. It really increases your chances of getting through the first filter.”

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Article continued …

AI arms race leads to frustration

The renewed reliance on networking comes as applicants and hiring managers are struggling to navigate the software that now dominates recruiting.

Companies are swamped by applicants in part because many job seekers are newly relying on ChatGPT and automated bots to fire off large volumes of résumés, or using other shortcuts like LinkedIn’s “easy apply” button.

Some human-resources professionals lament that cover letters sound eerily similar, as if written by the same nonhuman.

Candidates fume when they click “submit” and don’t hear back—and sometimes even when they do. Amanda Palasciano, in Red Bank, N.J., scored an interview for a senior copy-manager position as she sought a job in advertising. The catch was that her interviewer was an avatar, not a person.

The video call was awkward. Palasciano, 42, had a short window to record her response to each question. She didn’t know where to look. Soon after, she was rejected.

“It put a bad taste in my mouth about the company,” she says. “If that’s how much reliance you put on brand-new tools over people, this isn’t the right place for me.” 

She decided to stop applying online and started asking former colleagues about short-term openings, aiming to convert one to a full-time job.

“This front door is locked,” Palasciano says. “We’re going through the back door, or we’re not working.”

Fewer applicants, higher quality

Lindsay Broveleit, a Minneapolis-area vice president at the marketing agency Matato, didn’t bother posting a job listing online when she needed to fill a midlevel role this spring.

She feared that listing the position on LinkedIn or the company’s website would bring throngs of low-quality applications—and she was anxious about how truthful AI-enhanced applications might be.

“A couple of years ago, I would have absolutely pursued more digital channels that are more public-facing,” she says. Not now. “Wedon’t want that many applicants. We want good ones.”

She thought to tap her and her colleagues’ networks to fill the role, but she soon reconsidered—even those personal channels have become oversaturated with first- and second-degree connections looking for work.

Employees are “inundated with people asking for their help to navigate into open positions,” she says.

She contracted a staffing agency instead.

Whether using agencies or their own employees, more companies are turning to people to vet prospects.

Laserfiche, a maker of content-management software, has a longstanding employee-referral program and a renewed commitment to contact everyone who is recommended by an employee.

The guaranteed outreach does not ensure an offer, says Vice President of People Jenny Bode, but it is a chance for candidates with unconventional backgrounds to make a case for themselves. With about 400 applicants for a typical opening, that’s an opportunity not afforded to everyone.

Bode values referrals partly because one helped bring her to Laserfiche in 2022. She wasn’t even looking for a job when she heard from a former co-worker she’d kept in touch with.

“She reached out to me and said, ‘I have this position. Do you want to interview for it?’” Bode recalls.

Alison Mincey introduced referral bonuses of up to $2,500 when she became chief human resources officer at the University of Miami in 2022. She estimates one in 10 hires now starts with an employee referral. The program, she says, also helps with retention: Employees are more engaged when their input is valued, and newcomers are more likely to stay and thrive when they already know a co-worker.

A flawed but indispensable system

On Greenhouse’s platform, when employees submit referrals, the software prompts them to “consider referring people from underrepresented backgrounds.”

That can be a challenge. People tend to know—and therefore recommend—people like themselves, says Ruth Thomas, chief of research and insights at PayScale, a compensation-management firm. (PayScale itself has lately doubled its usual share of new hires found through referrals, to 30%.)

Referral networks tend to reinforce demographic imbalances. A PayScale survey of 53,000 workers found that white men land more jobs and bigger raises through referrals than others because they are more likely to be connected to corporate decision makers.

Hiring managers might say, “They were in my club at Princeton, and therefore, they’re a good person,” says John Horton, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management and co-author of a recent paper on artificial intelligence in hiring. “If people start to retreat away from an open market, and it happens much through who you know and references, that would be bad.”

Cisco Systems is leaning more heavily on referrals for hiring than it has in the past. But the network-equipment company knows the approach can run counter to diversity efforts, so it also launched an effort to hire more people of color and workers without four-year degrees, says Macy Andrews, vice president of employer branding for people and purpose. That hiring initiative looks to identify candidates with transferable skills rather than mandating college. Cisco so far has made over 100 hires through the initiative.

The company is looking to cut through the online-application morass in other ways as well. Cisco recruiters now visit college campuses with preprinted offer letters, so they can snap up students who make strong impressions.

“There is a bigger point here, which is that the process of sending in résumés and having thousands—sometimes millions—to go through isn’t the wave of the future,” she says.

No connection, no luck

Samuel Joynson, of Venice, Fla., launched a thoroughly modern job hunt after he lost his job when his company went through a reorganization. He enlisted ChatGPT to edit his résumé and draft emails and cover letters.

The language didn’t sound like him—so he changed his approach.

Joynson, 28 years old, switched to writing his own letters and emails, investing about two hours into each application. He also pushed himself to contact everyone he knew at major tech companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft, where he talked to a friend from college. On calls, he asked them about their experiences at the companies, the office environment and remote-work policies.

“I took the approach of making it as human-based as possible,” he says.

Joynson’s old-fashioned strategy paid off. Many conversations led to introductions to other employees within his target companies. He landed a role and started as a senior technical program manager at Microsoft in April.

Francisco Denis recently discovered that connections—or lack thereof—can make all the difference. He says he was a finalist for a project-manager role at Disney but was told by a recruiter that the company decided to hire someone who had worked there in the past and could plug in immediately.

Denis, 40, has applied online for more than 100 jobs this year after moving on from an unsuccessful startup. His efforts have yielded only a handful of interviews, a jarring turn from a couple of years ago, when he was routinely headhunted. He’s pouring energy into networking for the first time in his career, reconnecting with former co-workers at companies he’d like to join. He often shares his résumé and describes his arduous job search to show that he’s not looking for a handout.

Still, even a system that relies on human connections can be gamed. On Fishbowl, an app for workplace venting and career advice, users have started a forum dubbed “Job Referrals!” It has drawn hundreds of thousands of members seeking endorsements from people they don’t know.

“Anyone willing to provide a referral to Amazon?” one user posted.

In lieu of a handshake or business card, another offered an emoji: “Looking for a referral for Spotify, thanks in advance :).”

Bogus referrals could be win-wins for the people who give and receive them. The applicants gain an edge and, if they’re hired, their sponsors might be entitled to referral bonuses.

The companies that extended the offer? They’re left with one more hiring strategy that can’t be trusted.

WSJ.com Authors: Lynn Cook contributed to this article along with Callum Borchers at callum.borchers@wsj.com and Lindsay Ellis at lindsay.ellis@wsj.com

WSJ.com | May 30, 2024

#ResumeWriting : 10 Must-Have Skills To Put On Your Resume In 2024. Must Read before You Submit your REsume. Great REAd!

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Have you ever felt tempted to skip the skills section in your resume, just to get to the most important part—your employment history? After all, it’s your employment track record that matters, right?

Recruiters and employers on LinkedIn don’t seem to think so. “Skills have become more important than ever in landing opportunities today,” said LinkedIn’s head of product for Jobseeker, Employer Brand, and Skills, Rohan Rajiv in 2022. “In fact, over 40% of companies on LinkedIn globally explicitly rely on skills to search and identify job candidates on LinkedIn (up 20% year-over-year).“

 

This staggering figure is certainly set to increase even more in 2024, as more companies turn to new and unconventional methods to evaluate the skill set of job applicants, and LinkedIn continues to empower applicants and recruiters alike with state-of-the-art tools to showcase and filter skills.

All this demonstrates that although your employment background is important, your skills and strengths—especially the ones unique to the role—are even more important. And off LinkedIn, there is an increased focus on skills-based-hiring, leading employers to place greater weighting on the skills a candidate includes in their resume.

While you should always look out for the core skills listed in the job posting and ensure you put them on your resume, there are some other skills you should always aim to include in your resume (whether in the skills section, your online portfolio, LinkedIn profile, or throughout the professional profile and employment sections).

 

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Article continued …

And of course, it might seem fairly obvious, but don’t forget to only include those skills that you can truthfully say you possess. Lying on your resume will work against you and you’ll get caught out.

Top 10 Skills To Put On Your Resume

According to FlexJobs, some of the core skills that should be put on your resume include a combination of soft, or “power” skills and hard skills, listed below:

1. Problem-solving

Employers want to onboard candidates who take ownership for a problem instead of shifting or evading responsibility. Working out creative solutions to a business or customer issue is a skill that is, at least for the present, irreplaceable by AI.

2. Critical thinking

Listed in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report, critical thinking is a skill akin to problem-solving, that involves evaluating a problem and possible solutions, and developing new and improved methods of working.

3. Flexibility

Although this has become a taboo term for employers and employees to discuss, it’s importance cannot be evaded. So far as possible, maintain a degree of flexibility in your work, reaching a compromise with your prospective employer to ensure both parties are happy with working arrangements, and learn how to be dynamic and embrace change.

4. Communication

The importance of communication skills can never be overrated. They are needed everywhere to ensure the smooth delivery of projects, streamlined processes, and a healthy work environment. Get specific on your communication skills, showcasing aspects such as presentation skills, conflict resolution, negotiation, or even writing copy, depending on your role of course.

5. Teamwork

The saying goes, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Although it might sound cheesy and you may not enjoy working with people, it’s essential to know how to collaborate and communicate well within your team and cross-functional teams. It will be very difficult to find a role where teamwork is not involved to some degree.

6. Digital skills

You’d be hard-pressed to find a job that does not require you to possess digital skills. Almost every role requires the use of company-specific software, design software, MS office suite, or a CRM. You should highlight the technical skills that you are proficient or comfortable with, including any that you are currently learning.

And if you observe through your research that the employer uses a specific type of software, always ensure you include this in your technical skills list (including proficiency level if possible).

7. Design

You don’t need to be a designer to need to have a grasp of design. Design principles (and related software) appear everywhere, from engineering, to social media management, to creating the slide deck for a PowerPoint presentation, to event planning.

8. Data analysis

Data analytics is another in-demand skill that is necessary, even outside of the data profession itself. If you find yourself called upon to analyze reports, Excel spreadsheets, or other data, to arrive at conclusions or to inform decision-making, you’re likely doing some form of data analysis.

9. Negotiation

Sales, partnerships and agreements, and internal stakeholder arrangements all require negotiation skills to some degree. Add this skill to your resume and include some proof of where you have used it successfully, as a bonus.

10. Mathematics

No, do not list “mathematics” in your resume unless you’re straight out of high school. But mathematical skills? Absolutely. Think about budget management, financial forecasting, cost reduction, statistical analysis, probabilities, machine learning, and financial modelling.

These are all highly desirable and specific skills.

Remember most importantly, listing skills is a relatively easy job. Detailing how you demonstrated them in your roles and the positive impact they made as a result, is another job altogether. Be careful that you do not fall into the copy/paste trap, without ensuring the skills listed are relevant, truly reflect you, and are backed, as far as possible, with evidence.

 

Forbes.com | May 29, 2024 | Rachel Wells

 

#BestofFSCBlog : Over 26K Read- How Job Seekers Can Get Ahead Of The Summer Slowdown. Steps to Maximize your Chances of Finding a New Job. Great REad!

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Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer in the United States, and while hiring may slow down a bit, it does not mean you have to put your job search on hold.

There are action steps you can take during the summer season to maximize your chances of finding a new job.

Job Search Basics

The shifting attitudes, schedules and seasons do not diminish the value or necessity of tried-and-true job-hunting methods. Proven strategies like networking, tailoring your résumé and cover letters, researching companies and practicing for interviews remain crucial regardless of the temperature outside.

Ensure that your résumé is up-to-date, highlights your most relevant skills and achievements and is tailored to specific job descriptions. Craft compelling cover letters that showcase your enthusiasm and qualifications for each position you apply for.

Polish your LinkedIn profile, ensuring it accurately reflects your skills and experience. Consider having an optimized website or online portfolio showcasing your work, especially if you are in a creative field.

Reconnect with old colleagues, friends or classmates in person or on LinkedIn for potential job leads. Attend industry events or online webinars to expand your network and make new connections. Reach out to people in your desired field for informational interviews to learn more about their roles and companies.

Anticipate frequently asked interview questions and practice your responses. Research the companies you’re interested in and prepare insightful questions to demonstrate your genuine interest.

Set up alerts on job boards for positions that match your criteria. Consider working with a recruiter specializing in your industry who can connect you with relevant opportunities.

 

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We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

Job Hunting Strategies For The Summer Months

While maintaining your job search momentum, it’s okay to adjust your pace during the summer. Prioritize high-quality applications and focus on companies that resonate with you. Even if you don’t hear back immediately, do not ghost recruiters or hiring managers. Send a follow-up email after a week or two if you haven’t heard anything, as this demonstrates continued interest and professionalism. Summer can be a great time for informational interviews. People might be more relaxed and have more time to chat during the upcoming months.

Take advantage of the potentially slower pace to take online courses, attend workshops or gain new certifications relevant to your field. This can enhance your skill set, making you a more attractive candidate to employers.

Additional Career Advice

Job hunting can be a marathon—not a sprint. Stay positive, focused and don’t get discouraged if you do not land your dream job right away. Hiring managers can pick up on a candidate’s level of enthusiasm and positivity during the interview process. Project confidence in your skills and your ability to contribute to the company. Be open to new opportunities or roles that might not have been your initial target. You might discover a great career path you hadn’t considered before.

Be Better Than You Were Yesterday

Dedicate time to improving yourself. Read books about your industry, watch or listen to relevant career related and motivational podcasts.

Plan out what you want to do to make an impact once the summer is over and it’s back to business as usual, and design a strategy to achieve these goals. Write them down and follow up on a daily basis.

Focus On Your Wellness

Take a break from the constant emails and work notifications and allow your mind and body to truly relax and recharge. Catch up on sleep or establish a regular sleep schedule. Feeling well-rested can significantly improve your mood and energy levels.

Engage in activities that promote relaxation, such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, yoga or spending time in nature. Since the weather is nice, venture outdoors and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Go on a hike, jog, run or walk to maintain mental clarity, as well as your physical health.

Pursue activities you enjoy, whether it’s reading, writing, listening to music, playing games or creating art. Focusing on hobbies can be a great way to de-stress and express yourself creatively.

Spend quality time with friends and family. Engage in face-to-face conversations, share meals or participate in activities you all enjoy. Strong social connections are essential for emotional well-being.

Take time to reflect on things you’re grateful for in your life. Keeping a gratitude journal can be a helpful way to cultivate a positive mindset, which will be critical to your job search success.

 

Forbes.com | May 24, 2024 | Jack Kelly 

#CollegeGradJobs : Companies Want Fewer Grad Hires This Year. Companies are Hiring Fewer Graduates & Their Needs for Entry-Level Talent. Got Kids, Great REad!

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The Class of 2024 is about to join a job market nearly as turbulent as their college years.

Employers plan to hire 5.8% fewer new graduates than they did last year, according to a spring survey of 226 employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. And what those bosses want from entry-level workers is changing, students and recruiters say, from years of experience to sophisticated artificial-intelligence skills. Some companies say AI is taking over part of the work fresh graduates used to do.

It’s just the latest challenge for the graduating seniors who began their studies with Covid-19 lockdowns and Zoom classes and finished them amid protests that disrupted campus life nationwide.

“I didn’t think it would be so hard to even get a screening interview,” said Daniel Cooper, a computer-engineering major who graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology this month. The 22-year-old accepted a software-engineering job earlier this spring, but the offer was rescinded after the company announced layoffs.

Overall, the job market remains strong, and recruiting executives say new graduate-hires benefit from steady wage growth over the past few years. But it’s taking graduating seniors longer to find white-collar roles. By April 2023, more than a third had accepted a full-time job and stopped looking further, according to research and analytics firm Veris Insights. This year, just under a quarter had.

Cooper has applied to about three dozen other software engineering jobs since his offer evaporated, resulting in two interviews but no new offers. Though he’s had eight internships, some of the job applications he’s filled out ask for years of work experience, excluding internships, he said. That puts him at zero.

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Article continued …

Employers get picky

HealthEdge, an insurance-software company, is among the companies hiring fewer new graduates this year. It’s bringing on five new graduates in the U.S. compared with 20 in 2023. Overall, it’s hiring fewer entry-level employees, and a greater share of them are in India, said Stefani Coleman, who leads early-talent recruiting and programming.

Demand for such jobs, meanwhile, has been overwhelming, she added. At one point, she received about 2,000 applications within 24 hours for an associate software-engineering role.

“The market has changed so drastically,” she said.

The supply of computer-science majors continues to grow as hiring demand for software programming roles appears to be cooling. Two other major campus job recruiting sectors—consulting and finance—are also retrenching after pandemic hiring sprees.

Graduates looking for jobs must meet a higher bar because the market is already crowded with junior workers who recently lost jobs, says Jay Killough, who leads Texas Tech University’s career center.

“Those people have experience,” said Killough, “and most employers we talk to love experienced professionals.”

Payton Poulston, who graduated from Indiana University Bloomington this month, has been looking for a job in medical-devices sales since the start of her senior year. She’s contacted people she met during her three internships. Her mother, who works at a hospital, has also been asking co-workers and others for job leads on her behalf.

Poulston has landed interviews, but no offers. The companies typically tell her they want three to five years of experience, even for jobs listed as entry-level positions.

“It might be easier to hire someone who can just come in and get the job done and know exactly how to do everything,” she said.

The AI factor

Companies are also expecting grads to come in knowing how to use AI in their work, said Mohammad Soltanieh-ha, a clinical assistant professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. In class, for example, his programming students learn how to use AI to find what’s wrong with their codes as opposed to spending half a day figuring it out on their own, he said.

“It’s not that the AI is taking their jobs,” said Soltanieh-ha of entry-level workers. “It’s somebody that knows how AI is working—that’s who is going to take their job.”

AI is starting to supplant some types of traditional entry-level work. Axiologic Solutions, a government technology contractor near Washington, D.C., is deploying AI to take on tasks that new graduates previously did in its human-resources department. An AI tool can send emails and training videos to new hires. A chatbot can answer many of the questions a new hire might have.

When two people recently left the HR department, they didn’t need to be replaced, said Michael Chavira, the company’s managing partner and co-founder. Anyone he does hire needs to have experience using AI, since he’s thinking about using it in other business areas too, such as accounting.

“AI right now is making those entry-level positions—I don’t want to say obsolete—but they’re changing them,” Chavira said.

Back to basics

Jennifer Neef, director of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s career center, said that, for now, she is encouraging computer science majors to look for tech roles in other industries. Smaller employers, as well as government agencies, will hire through the middle of summer, she said.

“I always ask students—‘Who knows that you’re looking for a job?’ The response should be everyone,” Neef said.

She has been advising students to “use a scalpel and not a machete” in contacting employers and recruiters. That means making meaningful connections, instead of spamming hiring managers with one-size-fits-all messages, and following up regularly after a first meeting. Employers want to make sure their new hires have the willingness to learn and can fit with their teams’ work styles, she said.

Some career advisers are also advising graduates to refrain from opining about campus protests if asked in job interviews.

“Our advice is to be very neutral, like, ‘Yeah, that’s happening there,’” said Beth Hendler-Grunt, president of career-coaching company Next Great Step. So far, she says none of her clients have mentioned such questions coming up, though many studied at schools where protests took place.

Kali Muniz, who graduated from Texas A&M University this month, landed a job in October, after a couple of snags.

The flight simulator company where she had previously interned told her they weren’t hiring new grads because of budget cuts. She thought she had clinched an interview for a consulting job, then was surprised when she was rejected.

The job she did get—as a financial manager for the federal government—Muniz found by applying online. She included a recommendation from someone at her internship in her application.

“I don’t know if that helped me,” said the 22-year-old management major, “but I hope it did.”

WSJ.com Authors:  Chip Cutter contributed to this article along with  Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com and Lindsay Ellis at lindsay.ellis@wsj.com

WSJ.com | May 22, 2024

#YourCareer : How To Know It’s Time To Start Looking For A New Job. Question: Do You Know When? ….. Must REad for All!

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In the grand tapestry of your career, not every thread will be vibrant, and not every role will feel like it was tailor-made for you. Put another way: some jobs are bad. Sometimes, the signs it’s time to move on are as glaring as a neon “EXIT” sign; other times, they’re subtle nudges towards the door.

So, if you’re confused, here are some unmistakable signs that it’s time to embark on a job hunt.

You’re Learning Nothing

A role that doesn’t challenge you is a dead end. It’s time to find a path that leads upwards. While financial stability is crucial, a fulfilling career is about more than just a paycheck. If the only thing keeping you at your job is the salary—not what you’re learning—it’s a sign that you’re potentially sacrificing your happiness and satisfaction for monetary comfort. And listen, I understand a lot of people don’t have a choice about this. But if you’re in a position where you do, then I recommend tidying up your resume.

 

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Article continued …

You Hate Your Company

This is obvious, but also, people miss it all the time. If your core values clash with the company’s culture or direction, you might be in an uncomfortable and unsustainable position. Work should not require compromising your principles (but no judgement if it does…I know we all need jobs). Still, a job that aligns with your values will not only be more fulfilling but also enable you to contribute more authentically. When the mere mention of work triggers an involuntary eye roll, listen to your gut. These reactions are your body’s way of saying, “We can do better” or “I literally hate everything about this.”

All You Do Is Complain

Look, I love complaining, don’t get me wrong. And it’s normal to have occasional grievances about work—if people didn’t complain about work, I have whole friendships that would dissipate into silence. But if you find yourself constantly venting about your job to anyone who will listen, it’s a sign of deeper dissatisfaction. When the cons consistently outweigh the pros, it’s time to seek a role that brings more positive narratives to your life.

You Feel Invisible

Emo 90s music, but make it…your job. If your contributions are consistently overlooked or your ideas are met with silence, it’s not just frustrating—it’s demoralizing. Everyone deserves to be in an environment where their voice is heard and valued. If you’re not seen, you might want to reconsider.

No Promotion In Sight

Stagnation can be subtle. If you’ve been in the same position for years with no real change in responsibilities or title, despite your efforts to advance, it’s a red flag. If you can’t envision a future at your company or in your current role, it’s an indicator that it’s time to move on.

Forbes.com | May 16, 2024 | Virginia Hogan

#JobSearch : Answering ‘Tell Me About A Time You Failed’ In A Job Interview. Bottom Line: They Want to Know How you Reacted & Managed It.

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Interviewing for a new job can be draining and stressful, especially when the interviewer asks tricky questions. Among the hardest questions to answer can be “tell me about a time you failed.” Just when you’re trying to present yourself in your best light, the interviewer is seemingly undermining your efforts.

Figuring out how to answer this question effectively is especially important. The job market is super challenging right now—and it’s also super stressful. But when you know how to answer the toughest questions, you set yourself apart, reduce your anxiety and increase your chances of success.

Why Interviewers Ask About Failure

Perhaps the biggest mystery about this question is why interviews ask about failure at all. Why is this an important question that’s included in interviews? And what are organizations looking for when they asak you about failure?

Smart employers know there will always be times when performance isn’t perfect. And great cultures reward appropriate risk taking—because it drives innovation and growth. And these conditions mean that some failure will be part of the work experience.

They want to know how you’ll handle it, whether you can learn from it and if you can bounce back when you encounter friction, frustration or setbacks.

 

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Article continued …

How Interviewers Ask About Failure

So, what are the different potential versions of this question?

You should listen for a few different ways potential employers will ask the question—so you can reinforce the right themes no matter how it comes across. They may ask,

  • Tell me about a time you failed.
  • Share an example of a time when you weren’t hitting the mark.
  • Tell me when your work didn’t measure up.
  • What was a time when things didn’t go as you had planned?
  • How do you handle failure?
  • What do you do when you’re frustrated?
  • How do you work through failures?
  • Tell me about a time when you struggled, and how you handled it.
  • Describe a time when you had to pivot.
  • What was a time when you had to change course because things weren’t working out?

No matter how the interviewer asks, be ready with themes that you want to emphasize—so you can be clear about your answer while you also connect it with their specific question.

How to Answer an Interview Question About Failure

So how should someone answer ‘tell me about a time you failed’ in an interview? And what are key points, words or themes that should be included in the response?

Essentially, interviewers want to hear four things.

  • First, they want to know how you handle failure. You’ll want to be sure to communicate that you’re self-aware—and also willing to be honest and admit mistakes. You will also need to answer in a way that shows you’re not overly negative—and that you can keep your cool in tough situations.
  • Next, they want to know that you learn from failure and that you are able to not only reflect, but take action to continuously improve. Share how you consider your performance (but don’t obsess), and how you have adjusted your approach to do better next time.
  • Also, they want to know you have the capability to be resilient and persevere. You’ll want to communicate that you are able to realize you’ve missed the mark, take action and stay optimistic. They will want to know you can bounce back and stay focused on the future.
  • And finally, interviewers want to know you’re a team player. You’ll need to take responsibility for your failures and own your missteps—and avoid blaming others or throwing team members under the bus.

When you’re answering, be thorough, but also concise. Answer with four points: First share the situation and your role. Second, talk about what went wrong. Third, share what you learned. Fourth, talk about the adjustments you plan to make for next time. Put the emphasis on how your reflection helped you move forward and how you’re able to adjust, adapt and improve.

Use words like “reflection,” “taking responsibility,” “taking ownership,” “learning,” “improvement,” “teamwork,” “adapt,” “move forward” and “do better.”

Be clear and transparent about what didn’t work well, but also avoid going into unnecessary detail. Also avoid getting emotional. Instead, remain calm and professional.

Succeeding in Your Interview

Most people—71% according to survey by The Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg—find the job search process to be complicated. In addition, 69% say they suffer mental and emotional effects of the job search including fatigue (84%), stress (77%), anxiety (75%) and frustration (46%), according to a survey by Monster,

If you’re finding it tough, you’re not alone. But also know that you can reduce the negative toll the process takes by being ready for the most likely questions and boosting your confidence to answer effectively.

You’ll feel the pressure to perform brilliantly in your interview—but ironically when you can articulate times when things didn’t go well, you can shine in comparison to other candidates and get the job.

 

Forbes.com | May 14, 2024 | Tracy Brower, PhD

#JobSearch : 5 Ways To Respond To Hiring Managers Who Ghost Job Candidates. Question: How Do you Handle Recruiters Who ‘Ghosts You’??

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Much has been written about the many points to keep in mind when applying for your dream job: Minimize the use of ChatGPT to craft a resume. Be honest on your resume. Curb your anxiety so you can put your best foot forward. And look the part because companies often judge applicants based on their appearance. These are a few tips to abide by, but what if you do everything perfectly and still don’t hear back from the company? You could be among the job applicants ghosted by hiring managers.

Eight in ten hiring managers confess to ghosting job candidates according to a new study. After polling 625 hiring managers, Resume Genius’s Ghosting Trends in Hiring Report asserts that it’s clear widespread ghosting is more prevalent than most people realize, leaving candidates in limbo and unsure of their application status. Of the 80% of ghosting managers, 11% admit they always ghost job applicants, 22% say they ghost frequently, 47% occasionally and 20% say they never ghost candidates. Resume Genius sought to understand why candidates may be purposely misled or ghosted during the hiring process and offer strategies for candidates to minimize their risk of being ghosted.

“2024 has been a tough year so far, with more layoffs making the job market even trickier,” acknowledges Ed Huang, co-founder and executive director of Resume Genius. “As companies trim their budgets and reduce staff, a lot of people find themselves looking for work again and are facing more competition than ever.”

When you add to the mix a surge in AI-generated resumes leading to a flood of applications, hiring managers are increasingly overwhelmed, that makes it tough for them to respond to everyone personally, he continues. “As a result, ghosting has become more common, often leaving job seekers stuck in an unfortunate waiting period that leads nowhere.”

 

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Article continued …

Five Reasons Hiring Managers Ghost Job Applicants

“Understanding why ghosting occurs is necessary for both hiring managers and job seekers to improve communication and transparency in the hiring process,” Huang points out. “Our findings aim to shed light on what job ghosting means for candidates and help them get a better handle on their job search.” Here are the primary reasons hiring managers gave Resume Genius for not responding to candidates:

  1. 34% cite ongoing decision-making about the right candidate.
  2. 33% mention the high volume of applications.
  3. 32% say the candidate doesn’t fit the role or company culture.
  4. 31% indicate that the candidate’s salary expectations exceed the budget.
  5. 31% say the company has already filled the position.

The report revealed that smaller companies with less than 100 employees and medium-sized companies with between 101 to 1,000 employees most often ghost due to still deciding on the right candidate. Larger companies with over 1,000 employees typically ghost candidates who don’t fit the role or company culture.

“From my experience, employees at small companies need to wear many hats, and it’s a struggle to find someone who can wear them all,” observes Geoffrey Scott, senior hiring manager at Resume Genius. “Larger companies tend to have more specific needs, so they can quickly determine whether someone is a good fit or not based on their strict criteria.”

If you’re applying to a smaller organization, mention your flexibility and willingness to face challenges in your resume, cover letter and during the interview,” Scott adds, explaining, “At a larger company, you should tailor your resume to precisely match the skills and experience requirements in the job description. These strategies can greatly enhance your visibility in the current competitive job market.”

Five Ways to Respond to Potential Ghosters

Nothing is more agonizing than putting your time and energy into the process of applying for a job. Your resume is in tip-top shape. You spent hours preparing for the interview to present yourself in the best possible way. Then you wait and wait, and all you hear are crickets. But all is not lost. Take the towel you want to throw in, wipe the sweat off your brow and do these five things.

1- Politely follow up on your application. In the event that job seekers experience ghosting during their job search, Resume Genius recommends that they respectfully follow up if they haven’t heard back within one to two weeks. “A concise, polite email to the hiring manager expressing continued interest in the position can help keep their application active.”

Aaron Case, career expert at CV Genius suggests, reaching out via LinkedIn or email if you’re unsure about your application’s status. He says this is a positive step toward clarifying where you stand as an applicant, while also demonstrating your interest and proactive attitude. “If the job is real, they’ll appreciate the contact. If it’s not, you save time to focus on real opportunities,” he explains.

2- Keep the connection alive (on your end). Maintaining a professional connection with a company—even if you don’t initially secure a position—is beneficial, according to the report. “Polite follow-ups and staying in touch can demonstrate your serious interest and might prompt a response or leave a favorable impression,” the report emphasizes. “By keeping contact, you enhance your visibility for future openings, as companies often prefer to hire familiar, previously considered candidates. Simple actions like sending a thank-you note or asking to connect on LinkedIn can keep potential opportunities open without dwelling on any past ghosting incidents.”

3- Maintain your online professionalism. The report cautions that even when you’re tempted to vent about job-search frustrations (like being ghosted), staying professional online is essential. The report cites a 2023 survey by the Harris Poll in which 75% of U.S. companies review applicants’ social media profiles, and negative posts have led nearly half of hiring managers to reject candidates. “To protect your professional image and future opportunities, avoid naming specific companies in complaints,” the report cautions. “You can consider using platforms like Reddit if you’re looking to get advice while maintaining anonymity.”

4- Evaluate and adjust your job-search strategy. If you find yourself frequently ghosted during your job search or applying for ghost jobs where you don’t hear back, the experts at Resume Genius suggest that you consider revising your approach. “Assess whether the roles and companies you’re targeting truly align with your skills and experience. Consulting with a trusted family member or mentor can provide valuable insights and help you refine your job search strategy.

5- Resume Genius concludes by reminding job seekers to have someone review their resumes and cover letters to ensure they’re effectively tailored and polished. Then take into account how stable your target industry is, as sectors like tech have experienced fluctuations that could influence your job search outcomes.

Forbes.com | May 17, 2024 | Bryan Robinson, Ph.D.

#JobSearch : How To Spot Ghost Jobs And Make Your Job Search More Efficient. Question: Do You Know IF a Job is REal or Not??

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You apply for an open position and anxiously await a reply. Yet, weeks go by, and you hear nothing. As it turns out, you may have encountered a widespread phenomenon—the ghost job. Ghost jobs, also known as fake jobs, permeate the job market. While these positions appear online, they are either already filled or non-existent. In some cases, employers keep a job posting up even though they don’t intend to fill the position anytime soon.

A recent study confirms this growing trend. In a survey of over 1,000 hiring managers, 68% admitted keeping job postings active for more than 30 days. In addition, one in 10 respondents has had a job opening for more than six months. When asked why they aren’t actively trying to fill these roles, the top three reasons included:

  • Wanting to be open to new talent
  • Keeping current employees motivated
  • Giving the impression that the company is growing

Other motivations for posting ghost jobs were to keep an active pool of job applicants or to placate overworked employees.

So, as a job seeker, how do you know which job openings are legitimate? These suggestions will help you differentiate between a ghost job and the real thing.

Check the timing

According to research, it takes approximately 44 days for companies to fill an open position. When applying for jobs, first check the date it was posted. If it has been open for two months or more, there’s a good chance you’ve found a ghost job. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider applying—especially if the role is an ideal fit. First, check the company website to confirm that the job posting is found there. If not, you can assume that the role has been filled.

 

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Article continued …

Look for detailed job descriptions

Authentic job postings usually include details about the qualifications and responsibilities of the role. If a job description is vague, it’s usually a red flag. Many ghost jobs don’t even include a position description. Instead, they highlight a long list of perks to encourage candidates to apply. Ultimately, if the listing reads like a generic template, you can count on it being a fake job posting.

Do your due diligence

Another tactic is to research the company in the press. If the organization just announced a hiring freeze, they will unlikely fill new positions immediately. Checking the company’s social media channels is also an excellent way to confirm whether a job posting is authentic. If they are actively hiring, employers often post about their open positions. You’ll also be able to see if you have any connections that work at the company. At that point, you can network with someone you know to inquire whether they are still hiring.

Ask the company directly

If you’re interested in a role posted a while ago, contact the company directly. Conduct a LinkedIn search and reach out to the hiring manager. If the position is already filled, it’s a win because you saved yourself some time. Another bonus is that the hiring manager may offer to consider you for future opportunities. On the other hand, if the role is open, you can discuss your skills and qualifications with someone directly involved in the hiring process.

As a job seeker, it can be frustrating to waste time applying for jobs that don’t exist. While ghost jobs are a reality in the current environment, there are ways to identify them. In the end, don’t rely on simply applying to online job ads. Instead, build personal relationships and leverage your network. By creating a solid personal brand, employers will seek you out instead of the other way around.

 

Forbes.com | May 14. 2024 | Caroline Castrillon

#JobSearch : AI Bots Are Taking Over the Job Application Process. Everyone Is Losing. “You’re fighting AI with AI,”… MUst Read!

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Job seekers, frustrated with corporate hiring software, are using artificial intelligence to craft cover letters and résumés in seconds, and deploying new automated bots to robo-apply for hundreds of jobs in just a few clicks. In response, companies are deploying more bots of their own to sort through the oceans of applications.

The result: a bot versus bot war that’s leaving both applicants and employers irritated and has made the chances of landing an interview, much less a job, even slimmer than before.

“You’re fighting AI with AI,” said Brad Rager, chief executive of Crux, a recruiting firm that matches cybersecurity specialists with employers.

The AI arms race is bad for job candidates, he said, who feel defeated when online applications come to nothing, and for employers, who are frustrated when imprecise AI tools highlight weak candidates. “There’s so much promise, but there’s a lot of crap and garbage,” Rager said of the tools used by employers.

Posting open positions online once promised to democratize the job search, giving employers the chance to cast a wider net and job candidates an opportunity to easily explore their options. But as online job-hunting grew in popularity in the 2000s, companies that advertised their openings online became overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applications and began turning to software to help sort job candidates when hiring. That left many people hunting for new jobs with no responses—not even a rejection letter.

“You want to go grab the tub of ice cream and give up,” said Victor Schwartz, who applied to about 1,000 jobs before graduating from Duke University in 2019. “Even though it felt like it was my fault, it really wasn’t. The system was working against job seekers.”

Irritated by the process, Schwartz, a computer-science major, started using tech to help friends find jobs and apply online. He first built a tool to automate the search for open positions. Then, as generative AI advanced, he realized the technology could answer application questions.

Last year he launched an AI job-hunting tool called Sonara. For $80 a month, the AI tool finds jobs, answers questions as though they were the candidate and applies to as many as 370 positions for them each month. Arming candidates with AI, he said, helps them fight employers’ tools.

“It’s an arms race where one side has tanks, and the other side has sticks—or nothing,” he said. “We’re finally equipping the other side.”

Sonara had just a few thousand users as of January, but it is far from the only tool that applicants have used. Many now rely on ChatGPT to rewrite their résumés to match job descriptions—aiming to get through corporate screening software. Job seekers are also using software like Big Interview, which evaluates résumés to show applicants why corporate tools might rank them lower than other candidates, and offer suggested changes to improve their standing.

“Most companies today use AI for recruitment,” Big Interview says on its website. “It’s only fair to let job-seekers leverage the same technology.”

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Article continued …

Employers fight back

Those in charge of hiring say they’ve seen a notable rise in the past year in the number of applications they receive, attributing the surge to candidates’ AI usage as well as an increase in white-collar layoffs. Recruiters using the hiring platform Greenhouse had to review nearly 400 applications on average in January, up 71% from the previous year, according to the company.

Companies are introducing new tools to parse through the surge in applicants.

Salesforce, which makes cloud-based customer-relationship management software, uses AI to help zero in on skills in job seekers’ applications that match open roles. In some cases, that resulted in hiring former teachers for jobs in solution engineering, a division that explains the company’s technology to potential clients.

Workday, a business-software behemoth, recently purchased HiredScore, which gives job applicants letter grades based on their match to the advertised requirements, and ranks their profiles for hiring managers. Workday leaders say the technology groups applications based on the preferences of the corporate customer.

On the hiring website Indeed, employers can now use AI to find candidates by scouring Indeed’s résumé database, even if they haven’t applied yet, based on their skills and the skills associated with open positions. 

At Peraton, a national-security and technology company based in Reston, Va., the highest-volume job openings can now draw about 1,200 applicants in 24 hours, said Alison Paris, who leads talent acquisition and workforce planning there. About two years ago, the company began using a tool that identified potential job candidates from their online profiles who might be a good fit for open positions. Then, about six months ago, her team began using an AI résumé-review tool that highlights the candidates who are the closest matches for open jobs. It allows her staff to spend more time screening candidates instead of reading submissions.

Candidates’ use of AI is pushing Peraton’s hiring managers to use live video interviews more frequently in the screening process.

“They want to be able to look someone in the eye,” Paris said.

Gracie Mercado, the head of people and culture for publishing giant Macmillan, said she is wary even of interviews. Mercado said candidates could prompt generative AI tools to write answers for questions they anticipate getting and then read the answers aloud. She is asking her colleagues to use such calls to gauge candidate enthusiasm and conviction.

She’s also considering scrapping requests for editing samples. “Are they going to turn around to ChatGPT and give us an answer?” she said.

When companies host online information sessions to tell would-be applicants about potential openings, some young job-seekers are forgoing the opportunity to listen in and instead sending AI note-takers on their behalf, said Jade Walters, who coaches Gen Z on their job applications. When she first saw the phenomenon earlier this year at a tech company’s event, she said she thought, “What is going on?”

When 625 hiring managers were asked to identify the biggest red flags in job candidates in a poll this year by Resume Genius, AI-generated résumés topped the list—higher than long employment gaps and having no measurable achievements.

Overwhelmed by applicants

Jennifer Hoitsma, a Texas-based vice president of marketing for education-technology company SmartPass, put aside her day job for several weeks to read nearly 900 résumés and screen job candidates for a marketing role because she didn’t trust automated tools to correctly evaluate AI-enhanced candidates.

“Even the tools that are built to tell you if it’s AI are sometimes wrong,” she said. “The volumes there are so overwhelming.”

The global market for recruitment software is expected to reach nearly $3.1 billion by the end of 2025, up from about $1.8 billion in 2017, according to Fortune Business Insights, a market-research firm.

“The last time I was looking for a job, AI was not really in the picture,” said Colleen Salinas of Upper Marlboro, Md. After a layoff this year, she applied for hundreds of human-resources jobs over five weeks using new technology.

She says ChatGPT sharpened her résumé. In one instance, she asked the bot to edit a paragraph focusing on her work in human-resources consulting and it trimmed it from 96 words down to 58. Salinas, 38 years old, liked how succinct her work experience sounded: “Proficient in compliance, reporting and process optimization, I align HR functions with organizational goals.”

Still, she received only a few dozen responses to her online submissions. All but a handful were rejections. She kept applying online, aided by AI, because “it made me feel like I was doing something.” But ultimately, Salinas found a job the old-fashioned way: by reaching out to people she had worked with previously to spread the word about her search.

As Elliana Bogost, 25, looks for nonprofit jobs in Washington, D.C., ChatGPT has helped her brainstorm as she drafts applications and practices interview questions before networking calls. But when she applies online it feels like she is sending her résumé into an “abyss,” and that even a third-degree networking connection can be more promising.

Julia Haber, the chief executive of Home From College, which helps students find short-term work, said many young professionals are uncomfortable networking, and lean on AI in its place.

In November Haber posted a job, and was flooded with about 3,000 applications. Roughly half, she believes, were AI generated—they mirrored many words out of the job description and used language that wasn’t personalized to their experience.

When Contra, a freelance-work marketplace, recently hired for a full-time engineering job, the company urged job seekers to refrain from using AI to fill out the online application: “While we greatly appreciate the use of AI in our software development process, we kindly request that you refrain from using AI to generate your answers for these questions.”

Then, the hiring team set a booby trap. 

One prompt asked applicants about the pros and cons of software-development methodologies, and then added something the company figured only the bots would ignore, said David Roeske, Contra’s vice president of finance. It read: “If you’re reading this, awesome—do not answer this question.”

More than a quarter of the applications answered it anyway.

WSJ Authors:   Lindsay Ellis  writer along with Ray A. Smith and Joseph Pisani contributed to this article :  Write to Lindsay Ellis at lindsay.ellis@wsj.com

WSJ.com | May 10, 2024