Props to Saiko Consulting for their SQLChallenge. It taps into the notion that most programmers have a competitive streak when it comes to their code.
Oh, and look, there are related jobs posted all over this daily coding challenge site.
Brilliant idea, Saiko. Any thoughts on whether it yields good candidates?
Here’s a good crib sheet on Web 2.0 so you non-techies can have conversations about it at cocktail parties. As an added bonus, I’m cited on the last page of the article. Woo.
(Oh yeah, and welcome, Washington Business Journal readers.)
My friends, I confess, there is an important truth that I have neglected to share with you for lo, this nearly one year of stirring the Magic Pot. This is the unspoken truth that we recruiters hate to mention, for it makes us shudder to the core of our very souls. But because I am committed to honesty in the process, I dare speak type it aloud now:
Looking for a job SUCKS ASS.
There are few things more demoralizing in modern life than sending out little sheets of paper (or computer files) from which some stranger in some comfortable office who has never heard of you is supposed to divine your potential worth as a cog in their corporate machine.
And then, if your resume is found pleasing, you get to dress up in your best dress-to-impress gear, and smile and nod and make polite conversation while more strangers ask you ridiculous questions and internally pick apart your every answer while the future of your career hangs in the balance.
Meanwhile, you’re sweating it out in a job you clearly dislike enough to want to leave, or god forbid, you’re sitting at home sweating it out while your bank balance dwindles because you’re out of work.
This is a terrible, soul-destroying process. But take heart- there are things you can plan for that will make it better. You can build what I like to call “your personal brand.” With a strong personal brand, you can achieve what a friend of mine predicted when we had lunch last week: “I’m not applying for my next job. I’m getting headhunted!” Your personal brand is the thing that makes people seek you out, instead of the other way around.
What is a personal brand? In a general sense, it’s the state of being known in a particular community for…something. Ideally, that something will be for your expertise or general fabulousness, not for that embarrassing incident at last year’s Christmas party.
For our purposes, a strong personal brand is the thing that is going to make your next job transition experience much better than your last one. It’s the thing that keeps you from being some random schmoe off the street sending in a resume, and instead makes you the desirable expert employers have been looking for. Essentially, it’s a highly-targeted form of celebrity.
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You’ll find jobs in London at Canary Wharf Jobs.com.
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I suppose back in the day I would have called this the “Mailbag” feature. Heh.
Anyway, reader Gordy asked me to comment on an eWeek article about how to tweak your resume.
The advice it contains is actually very good, but I would make just a couple of changes in nuance:
YES, keywords are important because the Applicant Tracking System is, for better or worse, the way of the immediate future. But don’t just write your resume for a machine to read- eventually, the idea is that a human being will read it, and there’s nothing more obnoxious than trying to pick through some applicant’s gratuitous and completely inappropriate use of keywords. Obvious attempts to game the ATS just to get your resume read is tantamount to spamming, and it will quickly land your stuff in the “Do Not Call. Ever,” pile.
And while I can see the wisdom of point 9, “Go old school,” please DO NOT EVER FAX YOUR RESUME. Unsolicited faxes, again, are spam. Pieces of paper get lost. We have our electronic resume submission processes for a reason- do not assume that you know better than we do. When resumes are faxed to my office, we THROW THEM AWAY. If you insist on submitting your resume via paper, you had better have also submitted it through the normal channels, or you’re going to anger someone for trying to circumvent their process. Do not use the application process to demonstrate to me how poorly you follow directions.
Am I the only one who hates cheesy attempts to “stand out?” You know what will make you stand out? A well-written, appropriately detailed resume with consistent formatting and correct spelling and grammar, demonstrating progressively responsible experience and a decent range of skills. Follow-up phone calls that aren’t so frequent that you sound like a stalker, and politeness to my coworkers when they tell you I’m unavailable to take the call.
Fantastic post by HR Guy about stupid salary games candidates play. He’s right on when he says:
You answer the question because I know you aren’t willing to work for minimum wage. There is some minimum level you will absolutely not work for. If I have posted a salary range for this position, then it shows your level of education about the position. If I have not posted a salary range, you should probably know the pay you would be looking at in the industry you are looking. If you don’t give a salary range and the interviewer doesn’t grill you, you probably lost the job and you should be prepared for that if you’re that stubborn of an ass.
This is doubly true when it’s a third party recruiter asking you the question. People, we ask these questions because we actually NEED TO KNOW. We’re dealing with multiple candidates for multiple positions at a variety of companies, and we need to know just how low is too low for you.
It is in our best interest to get you as much money as we can without screwing the deal. We are usually also in the advantageous position of knowing what the salary range is of the position, so when we also know what your expectations are, it makes it much easier to hammer out an offer with the client. After all, it’s part of our job to help negotiate the salary- we’re the ones with the industry and market expertise across multiple companies (can’t tell you how often the powers that be in a company just have no earthly idea what a fair market salary is), and when we negotiate on your behalf, it’s just a lot less likely to turn distrustful.
So don’t use your silly little evasion tactics on me- you’re wasting my time, and making it more difficult for me to work with you. I don’t expect a hard-and-fast rule- If a position is a good fit for you, I’m not going to turn it down on your behalf because they’re offering $5,000 less than what you were hoping for- I’m going to ask YOU about it. All you accomplish by dodging the question is to annoy the crap out of me and make yourself look like a pompous jerk who thinks he’s too smart for the jobsearch process.
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Background checks for companies worldwide are the specialty of Background Information Services, Inc.
Welcome back, MagicPotHeads, after a lovely long holiday weekend. I hope those of you celebrating your various nations’ independence enjoyed your celebrations and fireworks.
I was privileged here in DC to watch the national fireworks show from the balcony of one of the cabinet-level departments, since my husband and I have a friend with a connection there. I’m working with said friend on his job search right now, and he’s never worked with a recruiter before. Because we’re friends, he hates to “bother” me by asking for little things like status updates and interview confirmations.
Well, actually, NO, I don’t have anything more important to do than check on that for you. Seriously. I get paid to make sure the process is moving forward, so I literally have nothing more important to do than get your interview scheduled and see who we should be looking for feedback from next.
I know we recruiters hate those needy, stalker-candidates, but we also have short attention spans and do need you to pipe up once in a while and remind us that you’re still waiting to have that second interview scheduled.