5 Tips to Getting Hired in a Recession
The Wall Street Journal article, Only the Employed Need Apply, says that unemployment is a 9.4% (I think it is closer to 20% based on the number that I have been reading) and it is a buyers market for employers that are hiring and employers are only looking to higher those who are currently working. There is a perception that if you are still employed in today’s economic climate, you are “strong performer” or on the “A team” or have significant value. Employers would rather fill openings with candidates who are working elsewhere.
A lot of what the article says is true, however, I know, through our organization and through all of the networking and connecting that I do, there are a lot of very talented people out there that are not currently working through no fault of their own. They ARE top performers. They ARE the “A Team” and were either down-sized, or their divisions were eliminated or their employer went out of business.
I have worked with loads of people prepping them for their next interview and have had great success and my advice to them is always - If you want to land the job that you are looking for and are currently unemployed, you had better have a very compelling story as to why you are unemployed and looking for a job.
Here are 5 tips to getting hired in a recession
- If you are looking for a job you have to be 100% buttoned up. From your resume, to speaking about your work experience, to highlighting your accomplishment, to showcasing your personality and your fit into their team, everything has to be well thought out and practiced.
- Your resume has to be spot on perfect. Tell a very compelling story about your work history, your experience and skills and it has to standout from all of the other candidate’s resumes
- Your interview technique has to be practiced and practiced again and again…rehearsed so well that you can make all of your responses seem spontaneous.
- You have to have your trigger words down so you have a number of responses at the ready for any question that the interviewer might throw at you. Trigger words like teamwork, leadership, stress should trigger anecdotes that you can share or experiences that you can point to.
- Your anecdotes need to tell a story about you. Highlight something about your experience, be relevant to the opportunity and you have to be able to tie them into how you will impact the bottom line for your potential employer’s company.
Just remember, the person hiring or recruiting wants YOU to be the successful candidate…the recruiting and the hiring process is expensive in both time and money…they can stop looking for candidates if you are the right fit.
Good luck and start practicing…
If you read the WSJ article, also read some of the comments in the Comment Section to get the full picture of the sentiment out there.
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Job Interview Preparation - What not to say
When interviewing for a job for the most part the job is yours to lose. The HR person’s job is to fill the opening, the company needs the staff, and you want the job…everyone in this equation is pulling for you to do well in the interview, including you, so it is literally yours to lose.
I work with a lot of people on improving their interview skills and techniques, organizing their thoughts, helping them to articulate their career history, guiding them as to the best way to answer the interview questions to highlight their experience, determining the best way to provide relevant anecdotes and even determining what the trigger words are for their responses.
I work with some very high-end executives and some mid-level management, sales and marketing professional and we prepare and practice and modify and practice and practice and practice…and it is through practice that you become prepared. I emphasize that everything has to be honest and based on supportable experience but, there are better ways of saying things and there are worse ways of saying things… you need to come across as pulled together, buttoned up and genuine and everything needs to be polished.
I came across the Careerbuilder.com article about the 8 worst things that you can say in a job interview and wanted to share them with you. The only exception that I have is number 7.
7…” Scripted answers, although accurate, don’t impress interviewers. Not only do they make you sound rehearsed and stiff, they also prevent you from engaging in a dialogue“.
My response is that you do need to script your answers. You need to be so prepared and know your information so well that you don’t sound scripted or rehearsed and you can be conversational and actually more engaged in the dialogue. You need to be so prepared that you are confident, conversational and seemingly spontaneous with your responses.
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