#JobSearch : 5 Myths You Can Safely Ignore During Your Job Search, According To A Recruiter. Great Read!

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Navigating the post-pandemic job market is really tough. Trying to make sense of the avalanche of seemingly contradictory advice on social media doesn’t make it any easier. Although most users of LinkedInLNKD 0.0% and TikTok likely believe they’re doing a public service by re-sharing hacks and tips, they’re actually helping to perpetuate myths that are not helpful to your job search.

Here are five of the most persistent job search myths, with explanations of what’s actually happening.

1. The Hidden Job Market

The term “hidden jobs” can be traced all the way back to the 1950s, when it was coined in relation to a summer jobs program for teenagers in Iowa. In 1974, Harvard sociologist Mark Granovetter developed a theory describing the importance of “weak ties” in job searches, which gave rise to the oft-quoted statistic that “80% of jobs are not advertised.” These concepts were fused and popularized by Richard Bolles in his 1980 book, “What Color Is Your Parachute?”

Much of the advice circulating on LinkedIn and TikTok today centers on this notion that 80% of jobs are not advertised, and that you need to invest time networking to get access to these “hidden jobs.” Whether or not that was true in the 1980s (and even then, it would have been difficult to prove, because by definition the jobs weren’t advertised) it is definitely not true today. At both the Fortune 500 companies where I led talent acquisition, non-advertised jobs were always <1% of our total activity, and typically would only happen for c-suite roles, or when we were actively trying to replace someone that was currently in-seat.

 

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Article continued …

2. There Are Bots Inside the ATS

There is no question that we have entered a new era of Artificial Intelligence, and that it will have a transformative effect on how companies recruit. However, despite widespread claims to the contrary, we have yet to see large-scale deployment of AI inside applicant tracking systems. Furthermore, once we do see broad adoption of AI tools for recruiting, unless existing legislation changes, then those tools will be used to “opt-in” candidates, and not to reject them.

The only currently permissible automatic rejection of candidates is via the binary questions some ATS systems feature, for basic role qualifications. Examples include “are you at least 18 years old?” and “do you have the right to work in the country you’re applying to?” Beyond that, any rejection of your application requires the intervention of a human recruiter.

3. You Should Customize Your Resume For Every Role

The idea that you should ask AI to rewrite your resume based on the specific job description you are applying to is predicated on a fundamental misunderstanding of what a job description is.

In large enterprises, job descriptions are typically owned and managed by the compensation team, because they are closely tied to pay bands and leveling and are at best updated annually, but typically even less frequently. Occasionally HR business partners take an ownership role, and depending on the guardrails inside the organization, recruiters and hiring managers may or may not be allowed to make minor changes to them.

As a result there is usually quite a bit of difference between what a job description says, and what a hiring manager (and therefore the recruiter) is actually looking for. All of which to say, customizing your resume to a job description that may or may not closely match what the hiring manager needs is almost always wasted effort.

4. The LinkedIn ‘Open To Work’ Banner Makes You Look Desperate

It is particularly upsetting that this myth gained traction after a former recruiter made the assertion in a CNBC article, which ultimately went viral. It is important to note that this “ex GoogleGOOG +1.6% recruiter” handed in their badge in 2015, and yet the OTW feature wasn’t released until 2020.

LinkedIn released the OTW feature in response to the first wave of pandemic layoffs, specifically to help reduce friction for folks that found themselves unexpectedly looking for a new job. There are two different ways for LinkedIn members to use the feature, and, as LinkedIn’s own data shows, both deployments yield significantly positive results. Members that indicate to recruiters that they’re open to work typically see a 40% uplift in outreach, while members that use the green banner visible to all users typically see a 20% increase in messages.

The feature is working in exactly the way it was designed to, and as a job seeker, you would be wise to avail yourself of the benefits it delivers.

5. Jobs Are Getting Thousands Of Applications

LinkedIn recently adjusted the applicant count feature on their job postings, and now you will just see “more than 100,” although other job boards are still showing the total count. It is crucial to know that this number represents the number of people that hit apply, which is not the same thing as the number of applicants inside the applicant tracking system.

In the United States, the average drop-off from external media (i.e. LinkedIn, Indeed) to completed applications is 84%. The vast majority of folks that hit apply do not end up completing their application. It is also true that at the most aggregate level, for fully completed applications inside the ATS, typically 75% will not meet the minimum criteria for the jobs they have applied to. You can safely ignore that alarmingly high number of applicants, because your competitive set is nowhere near as large as it might first appear.

There’s no question that finding a new job is more complex than it’s ever been, and it’s taking longer (Bureau of Labor statistics show unemployment is currently averaging 21 weeks) to find a new role. While it can be tempting to turn to social media for answers, it’s always a good idea to verify the professional background of folks making bold assertions about what’s happening in the hiring process. Unless someone has worked in an HR team at a reputable organization, it’s unlikely they’re able to offer much more than conjecture, or clickbait.

Forbes.com | April 4, 2024 | James Hudson

#YourCareer : Worker Confidence Falls As More Layoffs Blame Over Hiring. Question: What Say You??

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Companies are continuing to blame layoffs on overhiring—and it’s adding to employees’ worries. A new report from jobs site Glassdoor, which publishes anonymous employee reviews, found that the share of reviews mentioning overhiring has increased 24% since last March, and is up more than threefold since 2022.

“This [‘overhiring’] terminology is coming from employers, so employees are catching on,” says Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor. “Employees hear what employers say and don’t say.”

The “overhiring” rationale—the idea that employers are cutting jobs after adding too many people during pandemic growth years—also appears to be prompting employee confidence to decline. Workers’ reviews of their companies’ business outlook rebounded slightly from a record low in February, Glassdoor’s latest analysis found, but remains 7.3 percentage points below July 2022’s high for employee confidence. Entry-level workers, in particular, are nervous, with their outlook falling in the new report to the lowest level since Glassdoor started tracking sentiment in 2016.

When companies lay off employees and blame it on overhiring, those who remain are likely to feel discouraged and question management’s decisions, especially if the quantity of work itself isn’t also down, says Peter Cappelli, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

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Article continued …

“It’s demoralizing,” he says, adding that workers’ lack of confidence in their employer causes productivity to fall and remaining employees to spend their discretionary time polishing up resumes and looking for other jobs. When managers say they over-hired, rather than simply that there’s now less demand, it can remind employees of poor forecasting or past decision-making by employers.

“Describing it as overhiring as opposed to simply ‘business is down’ is a strange choice,” says Cappelli, who directs the school’s center for human resources. In many cases, he adds, they’re using the phrase because it’s “what investors want to hear.”

Overhiring was a frequent reason companies gave as they announced layoffs in recent years, after technology companies in particular—fueled by venture capital dollars and pandemic-driven buying behaviors—vastly expanded their headcount. After two years of 10% headcount growth, the tech industry shrank by 2% in 2023, Glassdoor says. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 1.6 million people involuntarily lost their jobs in January, little changed from the month prior.

Messaging platform Discord, for example, which announced it would layoff 17% of employees in January, blamed the reduction on growing quickly and expanding the workforce even more rapidly, according to a memo announcing the cuts. During a January round of cuts across Amazon’s video and streaming subsidiaries, Amazon-owned Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wrote that “it [had] become clear that [the] organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of [the] business.”

Indeed, a Washington Post analysis found that half of the 48 layoff memos it analyzed mentioned overhiring or growing too fast as a reason for the reduction in staff.

Yet before the pandemic-era job boom, overhiring was rarely if ever mentioned during company layoff announcements, says Wayne Cascio, management professor at the University of Colorado, Denver. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, downsizings were typically announced by companies that were in bad shape financially, reporting a couple of years of net losses before letting some of their workforce go. After the Great Recession, in the years between 2010 and 2019, companies didn’t talk about overhiring, he says, because the recovery was slow, prompting employers to hire at a steady but measured pace.

Now, as companies have been cutting costs and rapidly slashing headcount, the“‘we overhired, we gotta get rid of people,’ [approach has] become a lot more accepted,” he says.

That’s having an impact on employee confidence in their current employer, according to Glassdoor’s Zhao. For instance, in one medical company review titled “Good pay, low pay, crashing company,” a reviewer complained the company “squandered covid profits on questionable acquisitions and overhiring.” The software engineer rated it a 3, and would not recommend it to potential hires.

In addition, Zhao notes, human resources, media and telecommunications have all been fields plagued by layoffs and claims of overhiring. They’re also the top three fields with the highest decrease of employee confidence in March, with month-over-month decreases ranging from 9 to 11%.

On the flip side, employee confidence is highest and has held up the best in fields that offer stability, like government, public administration, healthcare and education.

“In today’s context,” says Zhao, “it seems like job security is something that employees care a lot about.”

 

Forbes.com | Maria Gracia Santillana Linares

#JobSearch : 30 Powerful Resume Keywords To Beat ATS (application tracking systems) In 2024. How Effective is Your Resume?

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More than 90% of employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to initially filter out or rank middle-skilled and highly-skilled candidates for job postings, according to a 2021 global study conducted by the Harvard Business Review.

This means that there is at least a 90% chance that your resume will not make it past the screening software.

Applicant tracking systems rely on keywords to assess candidate suitability—and these keywords are the ones that are located within your resume. The problem is, many candidates do not know how to make a resume effective because they fail to include the most appropriate keywords for their industry and role they are applying to. Consequently, they never (or hardly ever) make it past the screening stage to secure an interview.

While there are several factors that determine whether your resume makes it past the ATS or not (although a few are beyond your control), knowing what skills to put on your resume and which resume keywords to include a few of the most critical steps you can take to ensure your resume beats ATS.

 

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Article continued …

Why Use Resume Keywords?

“A recruiter will never see that candidate’s application, even though it might fill all of the employer’s requirements,” continued the HBR study. Therefore, being the perfect fit for a role is not good enough. You might tick every box and fulfil all the requirements listed on the job description, yet fall short of being shortlisted for the role, all because your resume did not effectively evidence the criteria and skills the employer is looking for.

Here is a simplified example of how an ATS works from a recruiter’s point of view:

  1. You send your resume through a job portal.
  2. When the recruiter is sifting out 1,000 applications, they’ll enter a skill such as “project management,” “Power BI,” or an education requirement such as “MBA,” from the job description.
  3. This filters available resumes to 300 candidates.
  4. If your resume is optimized to include the keyword they are looking for, it will show up; if not, it will never be seen and you’ve just lost the potential to land a career-boosting opportunity to an AI-powered gatekeeper—ATS.

Where To Find Keywords To Put On Your Resume

There are number of sources you can use to find keywords for your resume. The first and most obvious of them is the job advert itself. Taking a careful look at the job description, and the key requirements/person specification/ideal candidate section, carefully identify what are the core requirements that the employer is asking for.

You might find it useful to undertake a keyword highlighting exercise by copying and pasting the entire job description and person specification into a Word document, and highlighting the technical and soft skills that stand out to you the most, which are relevant to what you already have to offer.

For example, take a look at this sample job description from Workable for a cost analyst role:

“We are looking for a cost analyst to help us audit our expenses and find ways to make our operations more cost-efficient. You’ll be the go-to person for cost analysis and you’ll get to prepare reports to help management make better decisions. To do this job well, we’d like you to be well-versed in data and financial analysis, and have strong attention to detail. Ultimately, your job will be an integral part of our efforts to ensure profitability and business success.”

It then proceeds to list the following responsibilities for the cost analyst role:

  • Gather and analyze financial data
  • Determine standard costs and investigate variances with actual costs
  • Prepare detailed reports, both periodically and ad-hoc
  • Help management make important decisions based on costs and benefits (e.g. investments, market growth, pricing changes)
  • Create and manage budgets, and monitor spending
  • Conduct audits on financial processes and transactions
  • Monitor changes in processes or methods to calculate effects on overall costs
  • Estimate product costs for existing and new products
  • Forecast and analyze costs of processes, labor and inventory
  • Suggest cost-reducing or profitable solutions
  • Conduct market research to support future business planning

 

And then the advert proceeds to list requirements and skills for the role (pay close attention to this):

  • Proven experience as a cost analyst, cost specialist or similar role
  • Experience in data, operational and financial analysis
  • Knowledge of accounting processes and software
  • Strong analytical skills
  • A business acumen
  • Great attention to detail
  • Good communication aptitude
  • Degree in Finance, Accounting or similar field
  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA) preferred

 

 

With the above job advert, how many keywords can you easily identify?

Considering the above data, some of the likely resume keywords and skills used for the job posting above, which you would want to incorporate into your resume for a cost analyst role, include:

  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
  • Good communication
  • Attention to detail
  • Cost analyst
  • Accounting processes and software (and name a few)
  • Financial analysis/Analyzing financial data

 

You can incorporate these keywords into your professional summary, skills highlights, and work experience and education sections.

How To Use ChatGPT To Find Resume Keywords

One time saving method you could employ to find keywords from the job advert and interspersed them throughout your resume, is to solicit the help of ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI, that has millions of users around the world—with one of the fastest, unprecedented technology adoption rates in history.

It uses LLM (large language models) to engage with you as any other human being would,, providing you with timely information and shortening the length of time it takes to accomplish administrative and content writing tasks. While it is not wise to use ChatGPT to draft an entire resume for you on its own, it certainly can be helpful at key junctures in the resume writing process, for example, when analyzing and inputting keywords.

To use ChatGPT to find the best keywords to include in your resume, follow the below steps:

  1. Provide ChatGPT with a copy or excerpt of a job description for the role you want to apply for, and then prompt: “I am tailoring my resume to apply for this role. Please select and suggest keywords and phrases from this job advert that I can put into my resume. Include any technical skills, software tools, certifications, industry terminology, and soft skills listed in the advert.”
  2. Now that ChatGPT has provided you with a list you can then begin incorporating these words and phrases throughout your resume, ensuring you proofread with each edit so it reads naturally and doesn’t give the appearance of meaningless keyword stuffing.

 

Powerful Keywords To Include In Your Resume

Now that you have this background understanding, here is a sample list of some of the most common and essential keywords you should consider adding to your resume, for three specific industries—information technology, healthcare, and sales. These are categorized for ease of navigation and will provide you with an idea of what to look out for, as relates to your industry:

Resume Keywords For The Information Technology (IT) Industry

  1. Programming languages (e.g., Java, Python, C++)
  2. Cloud computing
  3. Network administration
  4. DevOps
  5. Agile methodologies
  6. ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)
  7. Artificial intelligence (AI)
  8. Machine learning
  9. Data analytics
  10. IT project management

Resume Keywords For The Healthcare Industry

  1. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
  2. Clinical research
  3. Medical billing and coding
  4. Telemedicine
  5. Healthcare compliance
  6. Health informatics
  7. Medical imaging
  8. Healthcare quality improvement
  9. Health insurance
  10. Healthcare technology

Resume Keywords For The Sales Industry

  1. Business development
  2. Account management
  3. Client relationship management (CRM)
  4. Lead generation
  5. Prospecting
  6. Sales cycle
  7. Pipeline management
  8. Value proposition
  9. Sales forecasting
  10. Competitive analysis

Using the right keywords can help you effectively sell yourself and shine as a star candidate to employers, ensuring your skills and experience do not go to waste or escape their notice. Through highlighting your expertise in this way, you increase your chances of securing an interview.

Forbes.com | March 26, 2024 | Rachel Wells 

#JobSearch : 3 Tips To Help You Navigate Pre-Hiring Tests. Understanding the Process Allow you to Navigate Successfully. Great Read.

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For recruiters and HR departments, pre-hiring tests are necessary tools that help make the hiring process more efficient and effective. Back in the day, pre-hiring tests were nothing more than basic quizzes or assessments administered in person or via mail, focusing primarily on general knowledge or basic skills relevant to the job — they usually took no more than 15 to 20 minutes too.

Nowadays, companies are requiring more extensive tests to further verify competency. According to a survey, 40% of HR departments plan to increase the pre-hire tests they expect candidates to take when interviewing for a new job.

With fewer job openings and increased competition in the job market, acing a pre-hiring test sometimes becomes crucial to ensure that your application remains in consideration. Here are three things that you should know about pre-hiring tests.

Understand The Test

It’s crucial to know the kind of pre-hiring test that you’ll be taking ahead of time so that you can prepare for it effectively.

Most recruiters will detail the test in writing to give you an idea of what to expect and how long it’s going to take ahead of time. The most popular pre-hiring tests are cognitive ability tests, which attempt to give recruiters an idea of a candidate’s mental abilities.

HR departments who care about culture fit may also administer personality tests to determine a candidate’s ability to integrate into the company culture and work effectively with existing teams. Among the most commonly used personality tests are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test and the DISC Assessment, both designed to give recruiters insights into an individual’s personality traits and behavioral preferences.

For more specialized roles, recruiters may require candidates to partake in skills assessments. For example, a software developer might be asked to complete coding challenges or troubleshoot programming problems. Meanwhile, sales candidates may be asked to demonstrate their pitching, objection handling, and deal-closing abilities through mock sales calls, presentations, and role-play.

Still, some companies prefer to assess a candidate’s skills in real-time by engaging in trial work. Typically reserved for candidates already in the later stages of the hiring process, trial work involves giving them very similar tasks related to their future day-to-day operations. This approach allows employers to directly observe how candidates perform tasks as if they were already hired to do the job.

Whatever method a company uses, understanding the nature of a pre-hiring test allows candidates to better prepare themselves and puts them in the best position possible when taking the test.

 

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Article continued …

Practice Makes Perfect

Do you get nervous during exams? You’re not alone. Skills-based hiring and its tests are known to cause anxiety in many candidates, causing job seekers to miss out on the opportunity they would be a great fit for.

That being said, pre-hiring tests aren’t going away soon, so it’s best for candidates to seek out practice tests to ease some of these nerves. Not all tests are worth practicing for, especially personality tests which don’t necessarily have right or wrong answers.

However, for skills-based assessments like coding challenges, technical exams, or situational judgment tests, practice can significantly improve your performance and alleviate anxiety. If you can, try to make connections with somebody already in the company to get an idea of the kind of tests that you may encounter and try to prepare for that ahead of time.

Many companies also use standardized tests that you can look up online and do practice runs with. Companies customize these standardized tests for their own purpose, so doing practice tests based on similar formats will not give away the exact answers to the test. However, they can still help you by getting you familiarized with the type of questions that you may encounter, and whether or not there is a time limit.

Know When To Walk Away

There’s no doubt that pre-hiring tests are critical for companies who want to make sure that they are hiring the best people they can. Despite making the hiring process longer, pre-hiring tests help balance the subjective nature of interviews.

That being said, such extra steps have recently been shown to be taxing for candidates. In fact, we’re seeing some applicants complete up to 10 to 15 hours of pre-hire work on top of interviews, a lot of the time for free.

While beneficial for employers, it’s easy to see why many job candidates may find this setup onerous. Many have cautioned job applicants to be wary of employers who employ pre-hiring tests of such length, calling it unpaid labor and speculative work in disguise.

While there’s no hard and fast rule when deciding when a pre-hiring test is too long or tedious, it’s crucial to consider the context of the test. If you’re vying for more senior management positions, then you should expect a more thorough and rigorous hiring process that will be appropriate for the position and the compensation package that it comes with.

However, if you’re applying for more junior roles but are being asked to complete a multi-hour assessment or project, trust your gut instincts here. If it feels overly excessive, I would advise you to walk away while you’re still early in the process. With job opportunities being a bit tight at the moment, it’s even more crucial to be strategic about the opportunities you pursue and the time and effort you invest in them. Rooting for you!

Forbes.com | March 21, 2024 | Sho Dewan

 

#ResumeWriting : 5 Good Work Skills To Include In Your Resume In 2024. Question: Do You Have ALL These Skills on Your Resume?

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Skills-based hiring is leading the way as one of the newest talent acquisition trends for 2024. For years, employers and job-seekers alike have been discussing ways in which the candidate experience can be improved, and the talent pool diversified, through focusing on skills rather than the bias traditionally associated with job and educational history.

Now at last, that vision is finally becoming a reality, thanks to the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence within the workforce and particularly generative AI tools assisting the recruitment process. Speaking to the Society for Human Resource Management, Frederick Scott, vice president of talent strategy and inclusion said:

“In 2024, the technology is finally starting to catch up, and generative AI will unlock companies’ abilities for skills-based hiring, especially for early-in-career talent.”

What does this mean to you as a prospective candidate?

If you are on the hunt for a new role, either to expand your career to the next level, or simply for a fresh change due to needing a different work environment, you need to ensure now more than ever before, that you showcase your most important skills at key points throughout your resume. Employers are paying close attention to your skills, so finding creative ways to display them is where the majority of your effort should be concentrated.

But what are the core skills employers need you to include in your resume? According to research and reports from the World Economic Forum, FlexJobs, and LinkedInLNKD 0.0%, here are a few:

1. Communication

Employers need hires who have solid all-round communication skills. This includes communication at the interpersonal level, as well as other aspects such as presentation skills, being professional in your manner and representing the values of the company when composing emails, or when engaged in other forms of correspondence.

This skill is so critical that LinkedIn reported communication skills as being the number one skill for 2024. It was the common denominator in job adverts and the profiles of those who had been headhunted on LinkedIn over the past year, as per LinkedIn research.

 

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Article continued …

2. Teamwork

Employers are looking for evidence of how well you’ll fit in with their company culture. Depending on the role, some jobs may require you to have stronger teamwork skills than others, so it’s very important that you make this clear throughout your resume. And at the end of the day, you will need to engage and collaborate with co-workers at some point, so how well you can succeed within a team setting is critical to your career success.

3. Leadership

Leadership skills is one of the core skill sets that you need to prove to employers, whether or not your plan on taking on a leadership-oriented role. This is because more and more employers are becoming aware that employees possessing leadership qualities are needed for organizations to successfully get ahead and remain star players in the competition.

Having leadership skills means taking responsibility for your actions, owning your mistakes, taking initiative, and jumping in where needed to tackle problems.

4. Problem-Solving

Can you demonstrate evidence of where you’ve put your creativity to work and developed a solution? What were its tangible results within your role, team, project, or department? The ultimate reason why a new employer would hire you is because you are the solution to their problem. If you can show that you think outside of the box and are innovative and unafraid of exploring untapped areas, you’re a star candidate.

5. Self-Motivation

How quickly do you quit? Do you have what it takes to face a challenge head-on and keep pushing forward? Employers are looking for candidates like you, who can demonstrate determination in the face of obstacles, and have the drive and will to succeed, because this leads to higher output and performance.

How To Include Skills In Your Resume

Now that you know what skills are needed, where do you place them, and how do you incorporate these skills?

Here are a couple examples of areas within your resume that are most likely to benefit from adding these skills:

First, always include a skills highlights section near the top of your resume, and use this to list your core competencies, relevant to the job role, in bullet points. Try to ensure that you include the above skills, as well as those that are mentioned in the person specification of the job advert.

Another good way to include these skills in your resume is to show them in practice, and include them naturally in sections such as your professional profile or your work experience section. When approaching each section, ask yourself, how can I highlight that I possess XYZ skill in this particular role?

For example, you might decide to include a bullet point in your work experience section, that speaks to how you demonstrated problem-solving ability, by saying: “Formulated strategies which increased overall performance, leading to the team exceeding target by 140% in my first month and over 200% in the second month.”

Using numbers as above helps to quantify your skills and strengthen the impression that you are confident with them and can provide value to your new employer.

As employers adapt to the needs of the current job climate and begin preparing their systems, policies, and technology for skills-based hiring, what are you doing? How will you prepare yourself—and your resume—for the skills trend?

 

Forbes.com | May 17, 2024 | Rachel Wells

#YourCareer : How Understanding Compensation Can Help You Negotiate Better Pay. Great Read for All!

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With 10 U.S. states enacting some form of pay transparency legislation, there is growing momentum towards achieving pay equity. Because there isn’t yet a federal-level view, companies are responding in different ways, and none yet seem to have moved to full nationwide pay transparency. Despite that, job seekers (and employees negotiating pay raises) now have more information than ever before, and understanding how to interpret publicly available data, and how that fits into corporate compensation structures, is critical to making the most out of salary negotiations.

What Is A Compensation Philosophy?

Compensation teams (also frequently called Total Reward teams) conduct the highly-technical heavy lifting around pay and benefits, though their work is always anchored to an overarching philosophy. It is rare for companies to publicly articulate their compensation philosophy (with NetflixNFLX -1.2% being a notable exception) but understanding that there is one is foundational in thinking about your own pay. For most organizations the pillars of their philosophy can be best articulated by two factors: how they think about cost, and how they think about market positioning.

Many organizations take a “cost of living” approach and anchor their pay to that data set, but equally some organizations take a “cost of labor” approach and anchor their pay to that (often lower) data set. From there, companies decide where they want to position themselves. One of the Fortune 500 companies I worked at had a “market median” philosophy (i.e. pay was anchored at the 50th percentile) and another took an “upper quartile” approach (i.e. pay was targeted to be higher than 75% of our competitive set).

Why does this matter? Companies make deliberate choices about where they set pay, so seeing that the same job pays more in a different company is a limited-value data point in isolation.

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Article continued …

What Is Pay Architecture?

Inside large organizations there are three core components to how base pay is calculated, and salary bands form the foundation of this structure. Salary bands run horizontally across the enterprise, and it is not unusual for a large organization to have 16 bands running from entry-level at the bottom up to the CEO at the top (so if the CEO is band one, their direct reports are band two, and entry level are band 16).

Pay bands are typically quite broad, and they are designed to overlap: so if pay band 16 is $25,000 – $75,000 dollars, then pay band 15 will be $50,000 – $100,000. The core philosophy here is that the midpoint of the pay band is the point at which someone is fully proficient in the role, so while pay band 16 stretches from $25,000 to $75,000, most employees in that band will be sitting at or around $50,000. Modern compensation philosophy also relies on “compa ratios” which look at both the spread of employees in the band, and their positioning in relation to the midpoint, with guardrails around where pay can begin and end.

So while pay band 16 technically runs from $25,000 to $75,000, almost all employees in that band (especially in a larger organizations) will have their salaries fall in a range from $42,500 to $55,000 (or from a 0.85 compa ratio through a 1.10 compa ratio). The underlying philosophy here being that by the time you get to a 1.10 compa ratio you are performing beyond expectations in every area of the role and are ready for promotion (indeed at that point your salary is already beyond the starting point for the next pay band).

In addition to pay bands running horizontally across the organization, roles are organized into “job families” which run vertically, and each job family will have unique pay bands: so in this example, pay band 16 for marketing is $25,000 to $75,000 while pay band 16 for technology could be $40,000 to $90,000. Lastly, for very large organizations that operate multi-state or multi-nationally, there is a further “market zone” qualifier which sits on top of the pay band and job family. It is totally typical for the same job in the same company to pay a higher salary if the job is based in San Francisco versus being based in Chicago, for example.

Why does this matter? Because we’re still in a patchwork of pay transparency laws, and nothing has really been tested yet, companies have choices to how they respond. Some companies are posting their full band ranges, and some are posting partial ranges. Some companies are only posting ranges in places where they’re compelled to (eg. California and New York). Therefore, when you see a wide range of salary data, it’s only telling part of the story, and almost never means you can expect the role to pay at the very top of the range.

Why Do Companies Talk About Total Reward?

Put simply, base pay is only part of the compensation packages large corporations offer. Earlier in your career you can typically expect base pay to represent 90% of your earnings (with variable cash bonuses and benefits such as healthcare and 401k matching making up the rest). As you progress through your career that ratio shifts, with senior managers typically seeing 70% of their compensation in base pay, and the rest comprising variable cash and equity bonuses. At the other extreme end of the spectrum CEO pay is typically 10% fixed base pay, and the rest entirely variable or “performance based.”

Why does this matter? Wherever you are in your career, thinking holistically about compensation is a paradigm shift that will unlock long-term value. Furthermore, moving beyond focusing solely on base pay and thinking about offers in their totality can give you more leverage in a negotiation. Salary is often the least flexible component (in part because of all the factors detailed above), so looking to maximize other parts of the offer can be an easier win and can land you with an offer that is higher when all the variable cash and non-cash elements are combined.

How Are Offers Formulated?

Before recruiters even open a role and start sourcing candidates there is typically an “intake meeting” between the hiring manager, the HR business partner, and the recruiter. For senior level roles a compensation specialist usually attends that meeting too. Before the go-to-market process begins, the HR business partner will look at the available budget for the role, and the median salary of all the incumbent employees in the same role (this process is called maintaining internal equity). From there the hiring manager and recruiter have a clear idea of the parameters they can work with.

Why does this matter? Once you are engaged on a role recruiters will want to try to pin down your salary expectations – this is because they already know the range they can work with, and the genuine reason is that they don’t want to waste your time if your expectations don’t fall within what they can reasonably expect to be able to offer. It’s also important because offer exceptions are incredibly rare, so two-way transparency is really key when you’re working with a recruiter. There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of a recruitment process and finding that we cannot, in fact, meet the candidates’ salary expectations.

Can I Negotiate And Where Is There Flexibility?

The short answer is yes you can, but you need also to remember that if you negotiate too hard, or are too unrealistic, companies can (and will) withdraw the offer. For all of the reasons detailed above, base pay is going to be the part of the offer that has the least flexibility, and most recruiters have already negotiated the maximum they can for you (it’s in our interest to get you the best offer we can, because you’re more likely to say yes, and that is one of the core metrics we’re measured on).

While you may be able to get an additional 5-10% added to the base pay, the greatest degree of flexibility is to be found in cash bonuses and equity. If accepting the role will cause you to lose out on a bonus or equity or 401k vesting, it is common practice to offer a cash signing bonus to offset this loss. The caveat here is that a signing bonus should never be used to offset a differential in base pay, because it’s designed to be a one-time intervention.

Where there is an equity component to an offer, factoring in the vesting horizon is another easy way to increase the total offer. For example if an offer includes $50k of RSU’s that vest 33% each year, it can be totally reasonable to ask for a triple stock grant, so that you’re “fully vested” within 12 months, so that your total earnings don’t dip down in your second year of employment. Lastly don’t forget the significant extra value that can be found in additional PTO, healthcare coverage and education stipends. These too are often an easier sell than increasing the base pay amount.

Although pay is still considered highly personal, and your individual circumstances will guide how and what you negotiate for, greater transparency in this area will start to drive more equitable outcomes for everyone. Becoming literate with corporate pay structures and mechanisms is a critical first step in unlocking long-term wealth building in your career.

 

Forbes.com | March 13, 2024 | James Hudson

#YourCareer : Here’s How To Understand If You’re Getting Paid Fairly. Questions: Are you Paid Fairly? OR Do You Know?

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Are you paid fairly? You probably don’t know, and that’s the case for the majority of candidates. Some states, like California and New York, have laws to mandate salary transparency, but many times, companies don’t share salary data and calculations with candidates.

The reality is the details that go into calculating employee compensation involve several nuanced inputs, such as individual experience, company profiles (e.g. revenue or funding), and market dynamics. Candidates often find themselves scrambling to validate their salaries by calling friends who work in similar fields or by browsing various unverified online resources like Glassdoor, Reddit, Levels or Blind – which are typically inaccurate, outdated, or miss nuances.

Today is Equal Pay Day, which is no accident. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. The wage gap is highlighted with women earning 84 cents for full-time, year-round work according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. While the exact day differs every year, it serves as a reminder that while equal pay is a conversation that concerns everyone, it continues to remain a real issue for women and many minority groups. The lack of accurate salary data disproportionality hurts women and underrepresented minorities from negotiating their pay fairly.

AJ Thomas, Global Head of Talent Experience at X, the Moonshot Factory and a strong advocate of pay equity, recently told me that “Transparency in pay isn’t merely about unveiling figures; it’s about nurturing trust, equality, and responsibility within an organization, illuminating the path for fairness and collaboration to thrive.”

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Article continued …

How Companies Create Offers

It’s important to understand how companies create offers to better negotiate your pay. Many candidates do not grasp the process businesses follow when assembling an offer for a new hire. Candidates can also fixate on one component of total compensation, such as base salary, and may not consider all aspects of total compensation including benefits and time off entitlements. Generally, total compensation includes some form of short term incentives in the form of base salary and variable pay like bonuses. Some companies, especially in tech, may also include long-term incentives like equity in the company.

An offer is is generated by taking into account the following key elements:

1. Following a company-established compensation philosophy

A compensation philosophy is a business strategy that guides all decisions related to candidate and employee total compensation. It serves as the foundation for pay equity, guiding teams in crafting offers and determining the company’s stance on a role’s market value. Most compensation philosophies are defined by a percentile. For example, if the top of the market pays approximately $100,000 as the base salary for a specific role, and the company’s compensation philosophy aims for the 65th percentile, the business will likely offer around $65,000 as the base salary for that role. Starting a candidate at a specific percentile also allows for growth within their role and rewards for performance over time. These percentiles can also be applied to bonus and equity calculations.

2. Paying for employer-only compensation datasets

Businesses pay for access to employer-only compensation data sets, allowing companies to exchange information about every employee’s salary for industry benchmarking data. Such exchanges enable a deeper understanding of the compensation other companies offer for each role.

Comparing these employer-purchased data sets with the data available to candidates from their network is akin to comparing David with Goliath. While both provide salary information, only one offers a level of accuracy that is comparatively more reliable.

What Can Candidates Do Today to Get Paid Fairly?

So what can you do? The reality is there is no solution for candidates to get accurate information, but here is what you can start with:

1. Ask the company to help you understand their compensation philosophy

Employers often share their compensation philosophies with candidates, although most candidates do not request this information. You can also request assistance in modeling your equity over time. Remember that you should consider all aspects of your total compensation, not just base salary.

2. Do your own research

You should do your own research to best understand the compensation details in your offer. However, it’s important to remember that your research will be based on limited data points that excludes nuances that contribute to your total compensation, such as the internal compensation philosophy.

3. Understand trade-offs: Compensation is not everything

It is important to consider your career goals as you evaluate your offer. The highest compensation may not provide you happiness or fulfillment. For example, I accepted a reduced salary when I switched my career from strategy and operations to the field of Human Resources mid-career. This trade-off eventually paid off several times over after 5-6 years, and also led me to a role I am extremely passionate about.

Looking ahead

The reality is there is no place today for candidates to get accurate salary data that is trusted and verified. Companies only collect and sell market data back from businesses, leaving the employees stranded. As the pendulum will eventually shift back to becoming an employee-driven market, there is an opportunity to help candidates access this data.

I believe that one of the ways to improve pay equity is by providing candidates with a holistic set of data points that is personalized to their role, company and market dynamics. I see a future where AI can help ingest large data sets with the specific job you’re applying for, analyzing market data, and generating a potential compensation and benefits package tailored to you. While there are several complexities involved in making this a reality, I envision a world where salary information can continue to be democratized, thereby helping to bridge the equal pay gap.

I recently discovered FairComp, which intrigued me as they are aiming to build a verified compensation database for consumers vs. organizations. Their initiative claims to help you understand if they’re being paid fairly by using data supplied by employees and verified through technology. I am curious to see how this plays out and the possibilities for other similar tools to follow. I also hope this will encourage existing compensation survey organizations to consider making their data available to consumers in the future.

Forbes.com | March 12, 2024 | Q Hamirani

#JobSearch : Avoid These 5 Common Resume Pitfalls. Hadn’t had an Job Interview in a While? Chances are it’ your Resume. MUst REad!

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If you’ve been on the job hunt for a while now and you’ve barely received a reply, let alone an interview, the likelihood is your resume is letting you down.  Sure, you could be the most experienced and accomplished professional in your field, but if you’re making basic resume mistakes, your application will still be ignored.

The good news is that if you’re aware of the common mistakes that too many professionals are making, you can tackle these issues head-on.  So, here are five of the most common resume pitfalls you need to avoid.

Not Writing An Engaging Summary

One of the biggest resume mistakes you can make is not writing an engaging and persuasive summary.

This is your chance to introduce yourself to hiring managers and this section appears right at the top of your resume. So if you get this wrong, you’re going to lose their attention instantly.

You should avoid long, wordy summaries that are full of vague pufferies like “talented marketing professional looking for next exciting career opportunity.”

Instead, you need to keep it short and sweet, using specific keywords and giving examples of your most impressive achievements.

Remember, the recruiter will skim through this section, so you need to make it as easy as possible for them to pick out those important details.

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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 …

Creating (And Submitting) A Generic Resume

The sole purpose of your resume is to prove to the employer that you can do their specific role and that you are genuinely interested in working for their company.

If you submit a generic resume, no matter how impressive you think it may be, you’re not going to give them the information they need. So, in a matter of seconds, they’ll put your application aside.

Although it might feel like a lot of work when you’re applying for multiple roles, you need to make sure that you do your research to determine exactly what the employer is looking for.

You can use the job description to highlight the relevant keywords and skills they require.

You can then make these keywords and requirements more prominent on your resume.

This will help hiring managers as they scan through your application, to easily determine if you’re a good fit for the role.

Not Showing How You’ve Made An Impact

One of the simplest but most damaging mistakes you can make is not showing your impact, particularly in your work experience section.

It’s not enough to just list your daily responsibilities. Employers want to know how your efforts contributed to the business and made a real impact on the team and bottom line.

The best way to do this is to use powerful action verbs, as well as facts and figures, to showcase your skills, biggest achievements, and how you made a real difference.

Essentially, you need to prove to the employer why having you on their team will benefit the business.

Lying Or Making Bold Claims

While it’s important to show that you’ve made an impact and use facts and figures to impress the recruiter, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to lie or exaggerate.

It can be tempting to embellish the truth in order to stand out from other candidates, but wild and unproven claims will actually backfire. For example, referring to yourself as “the best car salesperson in the U.S.”

This type of claim is usually impossible to prove and can come across as arrogant and even a little embarrassing.

Similarly, you don’t want to get caught out in a lie. This will make you look untrustworthy and although you might hope to get away with it, if the employer doesn’t work it out whilst reading your application, they certainly will when they interview you.

Spelling And Grammatical Errors

Last but not least, spelling and grammatical errors can stop your application dead. They look unprofessional, and frankly, a bit lazy.

It’s so important to read and reread your application before you submit it and if you’re still worried about your spelling or grammar, have someone else look over it for you.

You can also make use of free online spell checkers just to make sure that your application is free from basic errors and spelling mistakes.

After all, attention to detail is an important skill, and spelling and grammatical errors don’t look good. So always make sure to double, even triple-check your resume before you submit your application.

This might seem like such a small, innocent mistake, but it can cause the employer to immediately reject your application; as can generic, boring, or exaggerated resumes.

So make sure to avoid these five common resume pitfalls and ensure that you always take your time to tailor and perfect every job application you submit.

That’s the key to job-hunting success.

Forbes.com | March 11, 2024 | Andrew Fennell

#JobSearch : Your Résumé Might Be Getting Tossed by AI. How to Push Back. A MUst REad!

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Jennifer Maravegias has been applying for dozens of jobs, so she is ready for questions about work experience and salary expectations. A recent question on an online application stumped her, though.

“Check this box if you want to make sure this isn’t scanned by a machine,” the laid-off project manager says she was prompted before submitting her application.

More job seekers in New York City can now request to opt out of letting artificial intelligence vet their résumés and job applications, thanks to a new law governing AI and hiring in the city. Some companies are extending the choice to non-New York applicants, too. But is skipping AI scrutiny a good idea?

Most major employers use some sort of automation to vet job applications, since companies often receive too many résumés coming in to manually review every one. Though efficient, algorithms can exclude qualified candidates or embed unintentional bias in hiring decisions.

New York’s law—the first of its kind in the nation—aims to bring transparency to the role of software in the job-application process. For any job based in New York, employers must disclose when AI is used to “substantially assist” in hiring and offer job applicants the chance to pass on such vettings in those cases.

But letting prospective workers forgo AI résumé reviews doesn’t ensure a human will review those applications instead, employment lawyers and researchers say.

Like Maravegias, many job seekers are unclear what the trade-offs of opting out are, and some are surprised that machines are reading their résumés at all. Months into her job search, Maravegias hadn’t gotten many bites and wondered whether opaque algorithms were hurting her chances. So she opted out, only to get zero response once again.

“I was still unemployed,” she says.

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Continue of article ……

 

Anxiety over AI

Job seekers remain skeptical of AI’s role in the recruitment process. Two-thirds of U.S. adults said they wouldn’t want to apply for a job with an employer that used AI to help make hiring decisions, according to a 2023 Pew survey on AI in the workplace. The view was even more pronounced among women.

Jeff Sepeta, an IT manager in Chicago, works as a contractor who’s often moved from job to job in quick succession. Companies call him in to troubleshoot problems and move on, he says. But he fears that machines reviewing his résumé will judge him negatively if they misinterpret his short tenures, particularly when applying for noncontractor roles.

“At least when I’m dealing with a human I can explain,” he says.

Among Americans surveyed by Pew a year ago, more than 70% opposed allowing AI to make a final hiring decision, while another 41% opposed using AI to review job applications.

New York’s new rule, Local Law 144, requires employers using software to assist with hiring and promotion decisions—from chatbots that conduct interviews to résumé scanners that look for certain keywords—to regularly audit the tools for potential race and gender bias. Employers will also have to publish the results of those audits online.

The risk of not getting seen

Some employers argue that the New York law doesn’t apply to them because AI isn’t replacing the final human decision makers, said Emily Lamm, an attorney at Gibson Dunn. A Cornell University study of nearly 400 employers earlier this year was only able to identify 18 employers that had posted their audit results online, and even fewer that had posted notices informing job seekers about which automated hiring tools were being used and how to opt out.

For years, hiring software has helped employers winnow down what can be hundreds or thousands of applications to a smaller number of candidates who seem, at least on paper, best-suited to the role. Millions of qualified workers get screened out every year by automated tools that reject people for reasons like résumé gaps or failing to use the right combination of keywords, according to a 2021 Harvard study.

Yet opting out of AI vetting can hurt your chances of getting hired, because companies aren’t obligated to review all the applications they get, employment lawyers and researchers say.

“I’d say you’re more or less guaranteed not to be looked at,” said Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School who was the lead author on the study.

AI-assisted screening could ultimately help many job seekers, Fuller said, noting that human-led hiring is also subject to concerns about discrimination.

Unless job seekers have a disability that qualifies them for an accommodation under federal or state disability laws, an employer doesn’t have to provide an alternate vetting process, said Niloy Ray, a lawyer who specializes in AI in the workplace at law firm Littler Mendelson.

“This is but a harbinger of things to come,” Ray said. “You may as well start figuring out how to address this.”

On the applicant side, many have already taken steps to navigate AI-driven hiring, paying for services and coaches that aim to help optimize résumés and make them an algorithmic match.

Know the pros and cons

Athena Karp, chief executive of HiredScore, which supplies AI-powered hiring software to employers, said that more than 80% of job seekers agree to the use of AI during the application process when its function is clearly explained.

AI can offer benefits to job seekers, Karp says, such as scanning for other job postings at a company that might match an applicant’s skills even when the person is rejected from the role initially sought.

The majority of HiredScore’s clients are offering applicants outside of New York City the ability to opt out of AI processing of applications, Karp says.

Robert Kerans, an IT manager based in Lake Bluff, Ill., said a recent experience left a sour taste in his mouth. He agreed to AI vetting while applying for a technology-support manager role at

. He was rejected within 45 minutes. The speed of the snub made him question whether the system really worked, Kerans said, because he believed he was well-qualified for the role.

Accenture said that it uses AI to help inform its decision-making but that humans always have the final say on whether a candidate advances in the recruiting process.

Kerans said he’s happy to have a choice, at least, and has since chosen to forgo AI vetting.

“It can fail,” he says. “The reality is that having the human connection is more important.”

WSJ.com Author:  Te-Ping Chen at Te-ping.Chen@wsj.com

WSJ.com | February 20, 2024

#JobSearch : How To Stay Resilient During Your Job Search. Job Searching, Especially for Extended Periods of Time, Can Be an Isolating Experience.

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The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the average duration for unemployment in the U.S. is currently 21 weeks. For most job seekers this means preparing for a marathon, not a sprint: spending the best part of six months on any new task takes resilience, and navigating the post-pandemic job market can be particularly grueling.

No matter where you are in your career, if you’re entering this job market, it is inevitable that you are going to hear “no” more than you hear “yes.” An open role results in one hire, but getting there often involves more than 100 applicants, of which typically 20+ will be qualified candidates. Usually only six folks will get through to in-person interviews with the hiring team. Therefore even getting to the interview stage gives you, at best, a 17% chance of success.

The asymmetry of information in the hiring process has a compounding effect: as a job seeker you only have as much information as the company is willing to share, and here in the US at least, it’s unlikely that you will receive much actionable feedback as you progress through the process. Preparation for a post-pandemic job search necessarily includes reaching acceptance that six months of activity will likely be conducted in what can feel like a cone of silence.

Get Clear About Your Personal Runway And Likely Length Of Search

In his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” Abraham Maslow described a “hierarchy of needs” that need to be met in order unlock motivation. Often portrayed as a pyramid, the foundations of human motivation are basic needs such as food, shelter, and rest. Although this theory dates from the 1940’s, it is still relevant in today’s job market: a key factor in creating psychological safety for your job search is being really clear-eyed on what your personal financial runway looks like.

Before you do anything else, compile a basic spreadsheet so that you can understand your household “profit and loss” account. How much does it cost to keep the lights on, and how much do you have available in liquid assets? If your monthly cost of living totals $5,000 and you have $60,000 when you combine your available savings, severance payment and state unemployment insurance, then your personal runway is 12 months.

Getting a realistic view of whether you have enough to cover what will likely be a six-month job search creates psychological safety, but also allows you to plan ahead if it looks like it will be prudent to either try to trim monthly expenses, or to take a “bridge” or “survival” job.

 

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Article continued …

Set Boundaries Around Your Job Search Activity

The adage “your new job is to find a job” absolutely applies, however the critical caveat is that you’re now your own boss, and you get to set the hours and location for this new job. Once you’re into the rhythm of your job search (leveraging the tools that make sense in your industry, but at a minimum setting alerts on job boards to serve you all new relevant postings every 24hrs) you can realistically get all of your daily tasks completed within a 90-minute window.

Whether you get your applications, networking and any interviews done in one sitting, or broken up into smaller chunks, do not allow yourself to spend the whole day doom-scrolling LinkedIn. Being caught up in a layoff is almost never desirable, but one of the small silver linings is the gift of time. Try to avoid squandering that time and confine your job search activity to finite windows, then use the rest of the day to pursue activities you typically wouldn’t have time for.

Get Outdoors, Find Community And Give Back

Job searching, especially for extended periods of time, can be an isolating experience. Finding community can help to replace some of the lost workplace camaraderie. It can be especially beneficial to use some of the extra time you now have to volunteer in your local community. Doing so helps return some structure to your week, it also gives you access to folks that you otherwise wouldn’t meet and can open doors in surprising ways.

Suspending your gym membership for the duration of your unemployment doesn’t mean that you must forego physical exercise. Wherever you are in the country you will find cycling, hiking and jogging clubs that offer up a range of (free) benefits. They give you structure, they provide community, they get you out of the house, and you burn calories along the way.

While your job search is unlikely to be enjoyable, building a framework and support structure for the endeavor is the best way to stay resilient whilst you look for your next opportunity.

Forbes.com | March 6, 2024 | James Hudson