So you see the perfect job!  You match the qualifications, have the background, industry experience and accomplishments.  You immediately fill out the online application and send off your resume and cover letter to the company outlining why you are their next rising star!

And then?

Zip.

Nada.

Nothing.

Not even a courtesy email saying your resume was received.

WHY?

A good guess is that a living, breathing human being never actually saw your resume.

Not getting a response back from an employer is the number one frustration amongst job seekers according to the hundreds of job seekers I’ve surveyed.  According to a recent survey by Information Strategies Inc., publisher of Your HR Digest, an online newsletter, only 19% of hiring managers at small companies actually look at a majority of the résumés they receive, and 47% say they review just a few.

The rise in the use of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) is the main reason why.

The Wall Street Journal writes this morning about the widespread use of computerized Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes in their search for qualified job seekers.   You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Here’s basically how an ATS works: a corporate HR recruiter will program qualifying questions into corresponding fields that a job seeker is required to fill out on an online application.  A job seeker will then fill out the online application and the ATS will actively search for key words and phrases and then rank each applicant based on their responses.  In addition to the responses from the job seeker, the computer will also search for terms and words that are in the resumes and cover letters of the job seekers.

If you think that its not a fair process, you are not alone.  Even HR professional agree that they might be overlooking the best candidates.  But think about a large company: they are receiving literally millions of resumes per-year to fill perhaps only 50,000 openings.  Even with a large staff of HR recruiters, there’s simply not enough time to go through each resume.  On a smaller scale, a small business might have to wade through hundreds of resumes for one position.

For this reason, job seekers have to take control of the process by understanding how an ATS works and using that knowledge to better position their resume to get a higher ranking.

Customize each of your resumes sent to an employer in order to conform to the widespread use of Applicant Tracking Systems.  Search for keywords and phrases in the job posting and match your relevant skills, experiences and past jobs to the job you are applying.  Don’t be shy!  Use the EXACT phrases and words they are using in the job posting.  You are not trying to ‘trick’ the ATS, you are conforming the language that best describes you and fits the words and phrases they are specifically looking for.

There’s a lot that can be learned from the below message to a job seeker from Domino’s.

One of the biggest frustrations amongst job seekers is that there is no response from a company when they send in their resumes.

While certainly rude and impolite, it also is a terrible marketing strategy.

Think about it, the company that is ASKING YOU TO APPLY, doesn’t have the simple grace and good manners to send a simple response letting job seekers know that they are appreciated for applying, that their resumes were received and a brief outline of the hiring process.  It is that simple!

Then there’s Domino’s Pizza.

Check out the ‘sweet’ response a job seeker got after applying for a corporate position there.  While she didn’t get the job, in appreciation for her applying, they gave her free CinnaStix with her next Pizza order!

It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but that small gesture certainly is something that won’t be forgotten by folks who have applied there.

Way to go Domino’s Pizza!  I know where I’ll be ordering my next Pizza!

Dear Laurie,

We have received your application for the position of  Field Marketing Manager-O-ALFM National.

After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that you have not been selected for this position.

We will retain your information in our database and may inform you of job openings that match your profile if you selected this option.

We thank you for your interest in Domino’s Pizza and wish you all the best in your career.

As a thank you for applying, we’d like to offer you a free order of CinnaStix with your next Domino’s Pizza online order, click here!

Regards,

Domino’s Pizza Selection Team

In the 14 years I’ve been publishing Andrew Hudson’s Jobs List, I’ve had the terrific opportunity to meet with thousands of job seekers.   Many of these job seekers are unemployed and on the hunt for a job, and many a

re currently employed but simply trying to find a way to move ahead in their chosen profession; they may be burnt out, feeling unappreciated or are realizing that their current position is not the path they want to follow.

From what I notice, it’s rare to find an job seeker who’s not struggling with many aspects of their job search.  I mean let’s face it, job seeking is difficult.  Job seeking is an intensely personal journey fraught with risk and an uncommon amount of failure that most people are not used to.

Very rarely has anyone ever TAUGHT you to look for a job. Despite what a career counselor might have told you in college, it is a lot more than simply drafting a resume and blasting it out to prospective employers.  This is particularly true for mid-career job seekers who are either trying to reinvent themselves or simply trying to find another job.

Usually, I am approached by job seekers who are seeking help with their resume; they are either needing help in creating a new resume or simply want someone to critique their current resume.

Anyone who tells me “My resume stinks and that’s why I’m not getting a job,” has usually fallen off the rails, so to speak, with the many other important aspects of their job search. The resume, while important, is only one of the many aspects of the job search.  Job seekers who have sent out hundreds of resumes with no response usually have leapfrogged over these important aspects of the job search work that connect realistic opportunities with their true strengths and skills.

In short, your job is a marketing campaign and requires a marketing plan to promote yourself to a targeted audience of employers.   Like any marketing plan, it requires thoughtful research of your audience, a thorough understanding of the strengths and aspirational qualities you are marketing and an action plan to put into play the touch points that advertise, promote, market and ultimately influence your audience to take action in your favor.

Successful job seekers have honest conversations with themselves about what it is they want to be doing and the type of organization they want to be doing it with.  They develop a clear and understandable confidence about their skills, talents and values and are able to communicate these confidently in every touch point where they have an opportunity to influence an employer’s opinion about them.

The successful job seeker communicates a brand promise that immediately connects the relevance of background, experience and accomplishments, skills and talents and most importantly, rock solid confidence.  A successful job seeker brand creates a ‘sigh of relief’ emotion that inspires your targeted audience to want to ‘try’ or ‘buy’ the product.

The touch points in a job search are generally pretty obvious. Your personal brand must consistently connect in your resume, cover letter and in every conversation and interview you have.   ‘Consistently connect’ is an important phrase.  Many job seekers have terrific resumes but are weak interviewers.  Interviewing skills are perhaps the most important part of selling yourself into the job.

Part of your job-seeking plan is also a sales plan.  Sales is not a typical skill for most job seekers, so understanding basic sales skills and routines to get your foot in the door and resume in the interview pile is an important tool in your job search.  It means tapping into your networks of friends, family members, former colleagues, bosses and mentors to let them know you are searching for a job and to identify prospects.  It also means developing new networks through professional associations, cold calling, researching companies and industry trends and following up on leads and suggestions.

Successful job seekers have thick skins and rock solid confidence; failure doesn’t pollute their minds with doubt or insecurity, its simply a part of the process.  Successful job seekers set goals throughout the week that helps them develop keep a high degree of motivation and inspiration and is a good measure of their progress.  Most importantly, every job they apply for is done with a thoughtful connection between the relevance of their background and experience to the job (and organizations) they are applying.  They don’t apply for every job that ‘looks interesting’; they apply for jobs based on the criteria they have developed for themselves that considers their strengths, values, the type of job, the company and, of course, is something they want to be doing.

I realize that the job-seeking process is more complex than could be described in a few paragraphs.  But I go back to something I wrote earlier – rarely have job seekers been taught the skills for successful job seeking.  Even those that have been successful searching for a job in the past quickly realize that job seeking in the year 2012 is a very different process from when they had to look for a job two, five, or 20 years ago.

By learning the skills to search for a job, you will be a better job seeker and these are skills that will serve you throughout your career.

So the time, blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested into building your perfect resume and cover letter has paid off: you get an interview!

Now what?

In fact, the resume and cover letter are only half the battle; acing the interview requires a completely different level of skills and preparation.

One HR recruiter told me, “My biggest frustration in the interview process is when I find a terrific resume and cover letter but the candidate in person is nothing like they appear on paper.  It’s like reading a really good book and then the movie version is nothing like the book at all!”

Let’s face it – you are now in an elite group of applicants who are vying for this one position.  If you make the final interview stage, you will now be going up against a maybe 3-5 other professionals who have also demonstrated that they have the skills, accomplishments, experience and background to be successful at the same job for which you are applying.  In addition to calming the natural anxiety you are probably facing at this point, what are the things that you can do to take control of the interview and show the company that you are most perfect fit for this position?

YOU have the opportunity to turn a run-of-the-mill job interview into a CONVERSATION… a conversation where those interviewing you are not buried in their notebooks, avoiding any eye contact while they madly scribble notes and answers, but where they are engaging you in your answers and are showing intense interest in your answers.  It is at this point where they are actually developing the believable connection between you and the position.

Research and Anticipate
Having reached the interview process, you have probably crafted your resume and cover letter in such a way that connects the relevance of your background and experience to the job you have applied.  On paper, that is great, but now you have to convince the organization in person why you are the best candidate for the job.  So much about acing an interview comes in the preparation for the interview.

In our digital, online world, there are literally dozens of ways to find critical information about the company where you are applying.  From simply typing in the company’s name into Google, to reading their online annual report, to tracking down key executive bios on Linkedin; when you arrive for the interview, you should understand fully the company’s history, their mission, vision and values and the challenges they face.  Who are their competitors?  Do you know the name of their CEO?  How does the job you are applying for fit into the company’s strategy?  All of this information is helpful in being able to describe and discuss how your unique set of talents and experience make you the perfect candidate for the job.

Anticipate and Practice!
By re-reading the job posting, you will be able to understand pretty quickly the core areas that you will be asked about in the interview.

Remember, those interviewing you are trying to imagine you in the job you are applying.  They are asking themselves, “Is there a connection between this person’s skills/background to the job?”  “Is this person a good fit?”  “Is this person’s experience going to add value to our company?”  “Will this person be right for our culture?”

Here are some tips to take control of the interview:

When I worked as a Sr. Level PR executive, I prepared senators, mayors, CEOs and others for hundreds of media interviews.  No matter what the subject matter, I would sit down with each person I was preparing and ask, “What do YOU want to get across in this interview?”

We’d determine the 3-5 points that were important to get across and then work on developing stories, anecdotes and answers to illustrate our position on the issues being asked about, and no matter what, they would always be able to revert back to the main points that were best representative of our position.

I’d then ask the questions I’d anticipate the reporter would ask – both easy and tough questions.  I’d critique the person on their verbal responses, their body language and their believability.  Even the most dicey and nerve-racking questions could be handled this way.

In much the same way,  as you are being interviewed for a job, you must also think about the points you want to get across and ways to illustrate those points.  In your case, your points need to be tied to the relevance of your experience, your accomplishments and your talent to the job you are applying.

Some basic points would be:

• Why am I the most qualified for this job?
• What can I offer that others can’t?
• What specific experiences demonstrate that I can add value to the organization?
• What are tangible examples of ways I can demonstrate I succeeded in the past?
• What would my former colleagues/bosses say about me?
• How would I describe my work ethic and what are things I value of others in the workplace?

If you are still having trouble answering these questions, answer this question:

In your career, what is an example of an accomplishment that you are particularly proud of?  Why?  What skills did it require?  What types of expertise did you display?  How did others respond?  What were the results?

EVERYONE has an example of their best work.  When I ask this question of job seekers, their answers become more animated, there’s a sense of confidence and believability that is ignited and almost every time, I’m drawn into the story of their success!

And of course, you can determine more specific points that would be important based on the criteria identified in the job posting.

You will be asked about your qualifications to do the job.  You will be asked about prior experiences that demonstrate you can do the job.  You will be asked about your previous work history as they try to determine if you are the right ‘fit’ for the job.

Every question you get asked at an interview is an opportunity to put on full display why you are the best fit for the job. Being prepared with stories and anecdotes that demonstrate your talents, experience and quantifiable results that are relevant to the job you are applying will help you confidently navigate any interview and help you feel confidently in control.

Make the Recruiter Your Advocate
The HR recruiter has one job: to identify and hire the best talent for their company.  Most recruiters are ‘generalists’ who work with a variety of departments within the organization to identify talent and use a combination of skills and gut instinct to determine who in their pile of resumes makes sense to interview. They will be shepherding you through the entire interview process.

Be polite, respectful and ‘maintenance free’ to the HR Recruiter.  Always respond to phone calls promptly.  Be patient and respectful of their time; remember, HR recruiters often are recruiting for several positions at one time within their organization.  While we like to think we are their top priority, chanced are, there are dozens of job postings and interviews they are juggling at any one time.

Controlling Nerves
There’s a sweet spot that exists between the two extremes known as desperation and arrogance. That sweet spot is called “ROCK SOLID CONFIDENCE.”

People respond favorably to confidence in an interview.  Confidence is not trying to desperately fit yourself into a job nor is it arrogantly and condescendingly boasting about all your wonderful attributes.  Confidence is a laser-focused belief in yourself that connects your best attributes to the job you are applying.  It’s taking credit for and demonstrating in concrete ways your accomplishments and also taking ownership of your skills, your experience and background.

But here’s the best advice to calm your nerves.  BE YOURSELF.

Smile.  Relax.  Take your time in your responses and don’t answer a question based on what you THINK they want to hear, answer a question that best demonstrates your capabilities.

Engage your audience and turn the one-way interview into a two-way conversation.  Ask questions if you need to have a question clarified and be prepared to ask questions about the job, the company, the work environment, the culture and what would be expected of you.

Yes, it is easy to be anxious and nervous at an interview.  By preparing yourself for the interview, developing the 3-5 things that YOU want to get across in the interview and anticipating your answers to the most likely questions, you will be in a way better position to ace the interview.

Deconstructing your job search and starting over is actually a very common piece of advice I give a lot of job seekers. Think about it. We often get so set in our routines doing certain things a certain way, we never stop to ask the question, “Is what I’m doing actually the BEST way to do get the results I’m looking for?”

Job seeking today is a lot more challenging and complex. Job seeking today requires specific knowledge and skills and a good understanding of the strategies, routines and habits of successful job seekers.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing different strategies that might help you get out of your job seeking rut.

Applicant Tracking Systems
I know a lot of people, particularly those in mid-career, who, when faced with unemployment, simply fall back to the job-seeking strategies they used 10-20 years ago: Have one good resume, send it out to as many job postings as possible and wait for the phone to ring.

Today, job seeking has become a lot more complex. With online job boards and access to hundreds of applicants, employers are relying on technology to help screen job seekers for positions.   Job seekers are now required to customize their resumes for each job they apply and make specific arguments as to why they are most qualified for the position they are applying.

When you fill out an online application, your information is being collected by an Applicant Tracking System, a powerful database that is programmed to search for key words and phrases. Based on these responses, the ATS spits out the most qualified responses to the HR recruiter for consideration. Of course, and ATS does a lot more in terms of helping to manage and organize information during the recruitment process, but for the job seeker, the goal is to work with these new technologies in ways that benefits their job search.

You will see an ATS being used at companies throughout your job search. Common ATS systems include Taleo and JobVite, but often, job boards like Monster, LinkedIn, HotJobs and others provide ATS services to employers who want to screen and organize applicant information from job postings.

Does this process seem cold, heartless and unfair?  Yes, but you have to look at it from an HR recruiter’s perspective where it is a simple matter of efficiency.  For a single job posting, a recruiter might have over 200 job seekers applying for the position. That recruiter needs to access organized information quickly in order to make a quick determination about who is most qualified. I’ve heard from recruiters who readily admit that an ATS is not a perfect system for identifying the best candidates, but considering the time and effort involved, it provides them with a general snapshot of a candidate that allows the recruiter to determine whether they should follow up.

Saying that, there are ways for the job seeker to writer their resume and cover letters so they get the highest ranking and get to the top of a recruiter’s ‘to call’ list.

When you are reading through a job posting, it is pretty simple to identify the 4 to 5 things that are the most important criteria to the employer for filling this job. The criteria is usually pretty similar in each job posting: background and years of experience, qualifications, job responsibilities, specific knowledge, skills and abilities and required education. It is your responsibility (and your opportunity) to connect the most relevant parts of your resume to show the employer WHY you are the one who best fits the criteria in job posting. The first touch point you have to do this is in your resume and cover letter as well as in the application (if required).

Remember, an ATS is searching for key words and phrases to determine how close you come to what the the hiring company is looking for.  Once it gets into the top rankings that are spit out to a recruiter, the recruiter will then make a determination if your background is relevant to the position for which they are hiring.

You must customize your resume and cover letter and specifically repeat specific words and phrases in the job posting, but more importantly, you must make sure these words and phrases ARE CONNECTED to your own relevant experience, accomplishments, skills and abilities.

Customizing each resume might seem a bit overwhelming, but in fact, as a job seeker, you learn how to quickly exchange the main areas of your resume and cover letter to reflect the key phrases and words to best reflect your experience and make sure your resume is noticed by both the ATS and an actual recruiter.

A recruiter is held accountable in their job to find the best talent for their organization. They WANT to be your advocate if you are the best person for the position, but you have to make the connection as to why you are the most qualified. You can never assume that your background is easily interpreted by someone you’ve never met – YOU HAVE TO BE SPECIFIC about your accomplishments, experience, skills and abilities and connect these to the criteria spelled out in the job posting.

Bottom Line:
The job seeking process is about connecting your relevant experience to the position for which your applying.  Confident, succinct and specific words and phrases that connect your background, experience and overall qualifications need to be laid out in ways that can both help an ATS give you a high ranking and to help a recruiter determine you are a candidate worth considering.

How to beat the job search sabotage: negative stinking thinking

This past week I participated in four different speeches and seminars.  During the question-and-answer portion of these events, I had separate questions that went something like this:

Another conversation started like this:

And finally a young graduate student who is currently working said to me:

I call these out because the fact is, we can ALL recognize ourselves to some degree in these conversations.

Negative self-talk, or what I call ‘stinking thinking’ is probably the most common way we sabotage our job search, our goals, our ambitions; and quite frankly, it stops us from taking risks and from ultimately being successful in life.  It comes in different forms.  We secretly tell ourselves “we’re not good enough,”  or “I’ll be found out…I’m a phony, someone’s going to figure out I’m not really qualified,” or “I shouldn’t apply for that job/promotion, they’ll never accept me.”

It’s particularly difficult to avoid these little gremlins from invading your thoughts if you haven’t developed a singular and rock solid focus that aligns your greatest strengths with the goal at hand – in a job seeker’s case – the type of job and career that makes the most sense.

I empathize with job seekers.

It’s hard – almost impossible – to avoid rejection when you are looking for a job.  It’s tough putting your blood, sweat and tears into a resume and cover letter applying for a position that seems perfect and then… you don’t hear back from the employer.  It’s even more difficult if you’ve reached the final stage of a lengthy interview process… and then found out you didn’t get the job.

Both of these situations will naturally lead you to polluting your mind with made-up reasons trying to figure out why you were rejected.  And usually the bogus reasons you come up with lead to these overall negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself which include a loss of self-esteem and confidence.  Before you know it, your head is polluted with ‘stinking thinking’ and you now have more reasons to explain why you AREN’T getting hired instead of the confident reasons why you SHOULD be getting hired.

The most critical habit of successful job seekers is that they put rejection in context of the entire job search.  Much like a salesperson, who fully recognizes that every prospect is not going to lead to a sale – a successful job seeker knows every resume/interview is not going to lead to a job offer.  However, a successful job seeker continues to focus on the confidence of their core brand – their strengths, background, experience, expertise – and regularly tailor and realign their pitch to the prospective employer based on the job posting.

Rejection, though difficult, won’t knock them off the tracks.  They might modify their resumes a bit to connect their specific experiences with the job posting, but at their core, they have a rock solid confidence in what they have to offer and more importantly, in the type of position that they want to find. They can describe to anyone who asks, in passionate and meaningful ways, the skills and the experience they have to offer and most importantly they can convincingly connect these strengths and skills to the job they are applying.

Never abandon who you truly are or convince yourself through negative self-talk that you are too old, too young, too inexperienced, or overqualified.  Focus on your strengths, your experiences, your background and expertise and convincingly tie these together into a red-hot fireball of confidence that comes alive in every touch point of your job search.

The bottom line is this:  If you believe and have confidence in your strengths, it is a lot easier to convince others to believe in you.