Control Your Contact
You don’t want to get hiring calls while you’re at your current job or while you’re making lunch for your kids. You need to be in a private area that allows you to focus on the conversation. In addition, you need your resume, your list of questions and a notepad in front of you to jot down important thoughts and details and you need to be prepared. Provide your prospective employers with a single number to reach you. Typically this is your mobile number. If you receive an unscheduled call, ask if you can call back when you’re available to speak privately or have them reschedule the call at a time when you can be prepared. Make sure you have a very professional voice mail message on your mobile phone and check your messages regularly. Return every call as soon as possible and if you end up in a phone tag situation, be persistent and proactive.

Focus
Only conduct interview calls when you are able to devote 100% focus to the call at hand. If you get a call while you’re in your car or out in a social situation, ask to reschedule the call. The hiring manager wants to conduct the best interview possible and will understand that you can’t focus on the interview if you’re distracted. They will be understanding and accommodating and will respect your desire to perform your best.

Practice Your Answers to the Tough Questions
You know exactly where your professional weaknesses are, and you should expect that they will be revealed during the interview. Do you have a lot of project experience but not much management experience? Are you competing with MBA’s when you only have an undergraduate degree? Did you move to four different companies in three years? Be especially prepared to discuss these difficult issues, and determine how you can position your weaknesses in the best possible light. Knowing how you are going to respond to tough questions makes them much less intimidating.

Google Yourself
Every job candidate should be aware of all the information that will be revealed about them during a public web search. Every employer I know conducts at least a quick Google search on every job applicant just to discover what’s out there, so make sure you conduct an Internet search on yourself to preempt any surprises. In this new age of social media dominance, you need to be aware that your social media activities will also be reviewed by many employers and recruiters. Expect your Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter pages to be examined, and if you have anything on your sites that can be considered offensive or inappropriate, either remove the items or shield them behind privacy walls. Anything that remains public can and will be used against you during your job search.

Arm Yourself With Information
When you apply to a company, it’s incumbent upon you to learn something about that company. Knowledge is power. Read their entire website. Learn their company stories, how they were formed, what their mission statement reveals and familiarize yourself with the entire breadth of their products and services. Read their News Release page to see how they present themselves to the public and to determine how active they are in their industry. Then do a Goggle news search to see if they’ve been in the news for any reason, good or bad. When you’ve done your research, you can be assured that you will stand out among the crowd of applicants with your ability to speak informatively about the company and its activities.

Tell Stories
The single biggest drawback of resumes is their focus on titles, dates and responsibilities. But your real job consists of daily stories that demonstrate how you work with others, clarify the skills you bring to each project and explain how you achieved specific results. Facts are forgettable while stories are memorable. For each position that you’ve held, write down the three most compelling and illustrative stories that demonstrate your expertise, your commitment and your management style.

Engage in Conversation
An interview is a dialogue, not a monologue. Although the interviewer will typically control the conversation and ask most of the questions, you need to engage the interviewer during your responses. If you’re asked about specific technical qualifications, respond precisely then ask how your skills would fit in or fill a need with the employer. Your responses should be limited to two minutes before you ask your own question concerning how your talent and experience would fit in with the employer’s organization. This is an excellent time to determine if you fit into their organization and culture. If their management style revolves around a command and control dynamic but you excel in an open organization with a less formal management structure, then both you and they should discover this early in the search process. Ask questions and engage in a real conversation about life and work within their company.

Final Thought
When you answer your phone, and there’s an employer on the other end, you’re on. You have to be prepared to convey your professional strengths, relate the value you bring to an organization and express your enthusiasm for their company.  Think ahead about what you will say, how you will respond to difficult questions, and have your personal stories memorized that will demonstrate the skills and experience you offer. Use your resume as a guide but let the conversation extend to the employer’s current pain and problems that hiring you will alleviate. If you’ve prepared, you won’t be anxious and you’ll deliver the great first impression that will get you the face to face interview that you really want.

Alec’s approach was so simple and so direct, that it will undoubtedly be copied frequently by other job seekers. And why not? It was imaginative, it was unique and it worked. No reason others shouldn’t push the same envelopes in their job search endeavors as well and take full ownership of their personal brand and determine precisely how it’s presented.

For those imaginative small business owners, you can do the exact same thing when preparing to meet with a client who needs SEO or social media services. Buy the Google adwords for their company name a few days ahead of your meeting. Then, during your pitch, ask them to Google themselves and see your pitch for their precise needs at the top of the page. They’ll wonder how you got the top position, they’ll be impressed that you know how to manipulate the page rankings and you’ll have demonstrated your capacity to outimagine your competitors.

Bottom line, you and your firm can appear distinctive and memorable. And that’s always a good thing.

The single most important document in your job search hasn’t changed in generations – it’s still your resume. But what has changed is the ability for even those unskilled in graphics design to create a resume that stands out visually, incorporates color and separates you from every other job seeker whose resume format simple blends into the stack.

In a highly competitive job market, you need to exploit every advantage that you can gain in the job search process. Ultimately, you want to be distinctive and memorable, and a creative resume design can provide you with a significant differentiator.

The Hiring Manager’s Perspective
Put yourself behind the hiring manager’s desk. They’ve got a position to fill and a stack of resumes to glance through to pick out a few candidates to invite in for an interview. Assuming that you have the minimum requirements specified, your goal is to have the hiring manager notice your resume, take the time to read about your skills and accomplishments and secure an invitation for an interview.

If the hiring manager has to sift through dozens (or potentially hundreds) of resumes, how can you increase your chances of being noticed? Create a noticeable resume.

Resume Inspiration
There’s a terrific site that collected 36 beautiful resumes that should inspire every job seeker. Most of the resumes on the page are from graphic designers – people who create beautiful and remarkable images for a living. And the resumes they create are different from every resume you’ve ever seen online or in any resume guidebook.

Take this resume sample, for example (click to enlarge). It’s the resume that we adopted as the model for our Job Search Experiment with Tim Krenn. The format is visually distinctive, incorporating blue section headers and a blue vertical separator that are subtle yet compelling.

If you don’t know how to select colors to blend into your resume, you might want to check out an online tool called Color Scheme Designer that will pick complementary colors or even an entire color palette for you.

This second resume (left, click to enlarge) also incorporates creative formatting and subtle elements of color along with a distinctive font selection to stand out from the crowd.

While the use of different fonts may help your resume stand out, you should never use more than two fonts and you should avoid fonts that are cartoonish or whimsical. Your choice of font should connote your professional competence and judgment, so select carefully.

Critical Edge
Every study of hiring manager behavior has demonstrated that they will spend only 15-30 seconds examining each resume. You have just a few seconds to make an impression and gain their attention. The creative application of formatting, font and color can help your resume stand apart from the crowd and give you a distinctive advantage in gaining an interview.

In Episode 9 of our real-life, real-time job search experiment with Cleveland sales executive Tim Krenn, we prepare for an interview with the CEO of a potential employer.

Tim’s success in developing his personal branding characteristics and his distinctive personal branding statement (I’m the guy who can build the relationships with the people you most want to do business with) accelerated his job search success and resulted in positive interviews with the sales and HR directors of a local technology company.

While Tim prepared for his initial interviews by reviewing our video series on The Toughest Interview Questions Tim’s next step – interviewing with the company’s CEO – offers some distinctive challenges that differ from the standard job interview.

1. The CEO is not making the hiring decision. Although the CEO runs the company, in most cases hiring decisions are ultimately left to the executive who will manage the new hire. The desired result after interviewing with the CEO is permission to hire you, not a mandate to hire you.
2. The CEO can veto your hire. While the CEO typically won’t make the hiring decision, a disappointing interview can result in the CEO’s refusal to hire you. The CEO always has veto authority if they don’t believe you have the right skill set, experience or personal characteristics to succeed within their organization.
3. The CEO’s priorities are different from the hiring manager. Your interview with the hiring manager will likely explore in great detail your previous experience and how you would transfer your talents to their company and help him succeed on a day to day basis. The CEO has entirely different priorities and is focused on organizational issues, not departmental issues. As a job seeker you need to understand the CEO’s priorities include growing the company, developing talent, reducing costs and maintaining organizational cohesion. Your responses should focus on the CEO’s needs and how your hire can help him reach his organizational goals.
4. Culture trumps talent. The most frequently underestimated aspect of the CEO interview is the importance of company culture to the CEO. Successful companies align their employees behind shared values that define how the company does business and how employees deal with each other. No matter how talented you are, if your personal and professional values don’t align with the company’s, neither of you will be successful. CEO’s understand the critical importance of company culture and need to be reassured that you embrace their priorities and values.
5. The CEO’s questions will differ from the hiring manager’s. The CEO will typically be less interested in all the specific details of your past and will explore broader themes dealing with your understanding of their industry and their company, your personal goals and aspirations and your personal characteristics that can provide value to their company. Although you should be ready to answer the typical job interview questions, you should be prepared to answer a lot more questions dealing with how you envision your future and your career progression with the organization.
6. There’s no more important first impression. The CEO is accustomed to making quick judgments and decisions, and he’ll be looking intently for indications of potential problems or lack of fit with his organization. Your first impression must match his expectations of professionalism, attention to detail and consideration. The little things can have enormous impact, so make sure that you’re dressed impeccably, your shoes are shined, you have a pen available in your pocket, you have a portfolio containing fresh copies of your resume and a notepad to take notes and you show enthusiasm for the company, its industry and your specific position.

You should be excited about the opportunity to interview with the CEO. Reaching this milestone means that everything you’ve done so far has been successful and the company is hoping that you clear this final hurdle. So do your research, prepare for the questions that the CEO is likely to ask, show your confidence and enthusiasm and get ready for the job offer.

Your interviewer is going to expect that as an interested applicant to their company that you’ve done some homework and will come prepared to ask some insightful questions. However, what many job seekers refuse to acknowledge is that the primary purpose of the interview is to make the interviewer comfortable and confident in their hiring decision. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

Most of the questions that should never be asked during an interview are focused on what’s in it for the job seeker. Asking these questions portrays the job seeker as interested only in their own interests, not in the company’s interests and can torpedo your chances to secure an offer.

1. What does your company do? There is simply no excuse to arrive for any job interview without thoroughly researching the company and understanding their company, their history, their products and something about their industry and their position in that industry.
2. Do you do background checks? This question will sound the alarms in the interviewer’s head, immediately triggering concerns about what you may be hiding. Assume that all companies will investigate your background, confirm your academic credentials, check with your references and validate all periods of employment.
3. Do you do drug tests? Like the previous question, asking if they do drug tests raises concerns that you might not be prepared to pass a drug test or need some advance notice. Again, assume that every company will require a drug test and adjust your lifestyle if necessary to pass the test.
4. Do you have any other jobs available? If it becomes apparent during the interview that the job you’re interviewing for is well below your qualifications or anticipated compensation, it makes sense to interrupt the interviewer and inform them that you need to understand the growth potential of the position since you have 15 years of experience, have managed people and earned 25% more. That allows the interviewer to either explain the potential of the position or shift gears and present another opening that is more congruent with your experience.
5. Can you guarantee me that I’ll still have a job here a year from now? There are no absolutes in business, and there is no guarantee of future employment. Asking this question suggests that you have an expectation that the company owes you your job, not that you owe them your best effort. Work hard, demonstrate your value and you’ll likely still have your job in a year.
6. Can you tell me what public transportation is available nearby? Getting to work is your responsibility. So is learning how to get to work. If you require public transportation, investigate its convenience and timeliness before your interview. It’s not the company’s responsibility to show you how you can get to work on time.
7. Is (my/my spouse’s/my child’s) medical condition covered under your insurance plan? Although it’s illegal to ask you about any specific medical conditions you might have, if you volunteer that you or a family member has a chronic condition, that revelation may influence their decision to hire you. It’s perfectly fine to ask for a copy of their employee benefits booklet after a job offer is made, but it’s a bad idea to reveal any serious medical conditions during the interview process.
8. How many breaks do I get each day? Can I see the break room? Asking any questions about breaks implies that you’re more interested in those times when you don’t have to work than you are in performing the job itself. This prohibition also applies to asking anything about smoking breaks. Many companies prohibit smoking entirely and others recognize the additional health care burdens that frequently accompany smokers and prefer to hire non-smokers. Best to keep your concerns about breaks to yourself than provide a reason for an employer to reject you.
9. How many warnings do you give before someone is fired? Asking about any type of disciplinary process will raise immediate concerns about your suitability for the position. The interviewer will immediately wonder if you’ve had disciplinary issues in the past and if you will be difficult to work with. Better to avoid you altogether if there are any management concerns.
10. How soon can I transfer to another position? After spending the interview convincing the interviewer that you’re competent and interested in the job, it would be a huge mistake to imply that you’re more interested other potential opportunities. This question announces that you’ll jump at the first opportunity that presents itself and won’t be fully committed to the job that’s being considered.

It’s understandable why most job seekers think that their resume is their most important written job search tool. After all, they’ve heard throughout their professional lives that the resume is universally demanded by virtually every company  engaged in the hiring process. So it’s natural that most people associate resumes with landing their next job.

Although it’s true that your resume will likely play an important role in your job search it’s best used only when you’re applying for a specific position. After all, that’s the purpose of a resume – to articulate your background, skills, abilities and credentials – with the hopes of obtaining an interview.

Sending out resumes blindly in the hopes of attracting attention will likely result only in high postage expenses, not any job offers. Studies repeatedly confirm that over 80% of jobs – especially skilled jobs – aren’t filled from responses to online or newspaper ads, but from personal networking with friends, family and current or former employees at the hiring company. It’s these contacts that get you in the door and face to face with the hiring manager.

Not all of these contacts are interested enough to read your whole resume, but they do want an understanding of your professional capabilities and background. The best way to provide them with this information: your bio.

Brief Biography

Your online bio can provide you with substantial leverage during your networking activities. If written effectively, it will convey  your background in a crisp narrative format before, during or after your networking meetings, providing just enough detail to garner interest and generate further inquiries.

Benefits

Your bio should provide a readable and concise description of your professional background to anyone who want to check you out online. It’s much more conversational than a resume and doesn’t require a significant level of effort to read and absorb. Written in the third person and without the rigid structure of a resume, you bio is much more readable and conversational than a resume.

The bio is also useful for those job seekers who don’t with to announce their intentions to pursue new job opportunities. While posting a resume online announces your intentions, your online bio is simply a convenient resource that informs any interested person of your professional capabilities and experience.

How to write your bio

Most people have difficulty writing about themselves and have trouble even getting started. A quick way to jumpstart your own bio is to visit LinkedIn profiles or blogs of people you admire. Read their personal profiles until you find one that you think can serve as a model for your own. I’m not suggesting that you simply cut and paste their profile to your own, but you can use their profile as a template for your bio, substituting your own professional details and personal skills.

At a minimum, your online bio should include a brief paragraph summarizing your profession and overall expertise. You’ll also want to add specific career highlights and significant accomplishments in your field. Ideally, you’ll also include some details concerning your professional philosophy and approach to your business. Details that illuminate how you differ in your professional capacity from everyone else in your industry. Include your education credentials and any type of professional associations that you belong to that can embellish your professional prestige. Finally, humanize yourself with a brief comment on your personal hobbies and pursuits – as long as they don’t have the potential to alienate any prospective employers.

Once your bio is complete, you need to paste in into every social media platform where you participate, on your blog’s About page and on your Google profile (don’t have a Google profile yet? Get one now at Google Profile)

Though readers may view this ongoing series tracking the job search of Cleveland sales executive Tim Krenn as an interesting case study, for Tim this is real life. The guidance we provide needs to produce real results in the form of a job offer out there in the real world.

That’s why this morning’s call from Tim was great news and an affirmation that we’re guiding him on the right path.

Tim had an interview this morning with a large technology company needing to break into a new market. Their sales director met with Tim and told him that they were interviewing a lot of candidates so he needed to know why he should consider Tim for the position.

With all the work that Tim had devoted recently to preparing his personal brand statement and constructing the stories that demonstrated his three key competencies, he was prepared to hit the question out of the park.

Tim immediately related his personal branding statement:

I’m the guy who can build the relationsips with the people you want to do business with.

And then recounted the stories from his professional experiences that demonstrated his ability to penetrate new markets, develop strong personal relationships and gain enduring market share.

The sales director told Tim that he was the only candidate who had a concise and direct answer to the question: why should I hire you? And it was the single element that vaulted Tim into leading consideration for the position.

Your personal brand is powerful and effective when thoughtfully constructed and deployed. Build yours today.

Day 4 of our real-life, real-time job search with Cleveland sales executive Tim Krenn.

For those of you just tuning in, we’re documenting the real-life job strategies and efforts of a Cleveland-based sales executive whose looking for a new job.

So far, we’ve had Tim create his social media identities on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, we had him take a headshot that could be used as his visual identity across all his platforms, we created a professional blog bullgoosesales.com focusing on power sales and networking and we’re in the process of creating Tim’s personal brand.

Creating a distinctive and memorable personal brand may be the most important component of your entire job search. Every job seeker is armed with the same tools: a resume, cover letters and a lot of hope.

But, not matter how well written your résumé is or how thoughtful your cover letter is written, you still haven’t done enough to separate yourself from the rest of the people seeking the same job. You’ve got to stand apart. You’ve got to be distinctive. You’ve got to be memorable. Bottom line: you need to build your personal brand.

Your Unique Selling Proposition
At the core of your personal brand is your personal branding statement. What is it that separates you in your professional field? What makes you unique and desirable?

In sales, this would be called your Unique Selling Proposition. What is the one thing that will make a hiring manager tell himself that he’s got to meet you?

The problem most job seekers make when they define themselves is their definition is simple a restatement of their professional responsibilities. “I’m a recruiter .” Or “I’m a tax accountant.” But that’s not nearly enough. Your branding statement has to be much deeper than that. It must really reflect your core strengths and attributes that an employer will desperately want to have.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, when working with Tim, his first attempt at defining who he was resulted in the generic statement “I’m a sales executive.” Having known Tim for nearly 20 years and having worked with him professionally, I knew there was much more to him than that.

360 Degree Evaluation
I gave Tim an assignment to talk with his former managers, peers and clients and ask them how they would describe him. This process of getting feedback from people above, below and at your peer level is often referred to as a 360 degree evaluation and can be enlightening and revealing.

The feedback Tim received was pretty consistent and included descriptions like: genuine, passionate, empathetic, great listener, adjusts to anyone, understanding, personable, sincere, caring, achieving, personable and visionary.

The dominant theme revolved around Tim’s ability to connect with his clients and peers and build lasting relationships. And in sales, those relationships are crucial because people do business with people they like. Tim builds lasting friendships with everyone from the machine operator to the CEO and is able to convert these relationships into sales.

The Branding Statement
This recognition resulted in Tim creating his own personal branding statement:
I’m the guy who can build the relationships with the people you most want to do business with.

It’s simple, it’s focused and it’s intriguing. It’s the type of statement that invites the next question from a hiring manager: Tell me more.

Note what it wasn’t. It wasn’t a laundry list of everything that Tim can do. It didn’t include his record of achievement, though that record is impressive. It didn’t focus on his strategic sales and business development experience, though his skills there are also strong. But Tim focused on one thing. A single differentiator that leads to curiosity, interest and a face to face meeting where Tim can tell his whole story.

And that’s where we’re headed next. Telling the stories that illustrate who you are and why they need you. Stay with us as our real-life, real-time job search continues here on the Job Shopper.