David E. Perry's Blog, page 22

3-5 years work experience - What do they really mean?

We're looking for young and stupid ideally .... someone we can burnout ourselves.

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters: Rule 7

The 7 Rules of Engagment is a multi-part article so you may wish to start here.

6th Rule of Engagement: "Don't Talk to Strangers..."

If you have a job don't trust your career to a stranger. 

Having your resume 'shotgun blasted to every one of your current employer's competitors is a career-limiting move.  I know, years ago I worked with a fellow who - while you were in his office being interviewed - had his secretary blasting your resume out to the 400 companies that were pre-programed in the fax machine.  More than once he had a candidate's resume end up on his bosses desk. 

Working with a professional head-hunter can be a very rewarding experience for you and your career.  We tend to be connected to the people you want to know. So ask someone you know for a referral.  Who do you know that has landed a job lately?  Did they meet any great headhunters? Ask! 

Also, finding the bad ones ahead of time will save you some grief, so ask if they bumped in to one that's just plain horrible.  And ask why they thought it was a horrible meeting.   Always qualify the advice or referrals people give you because the headhunter could be fantastic, but just not deal in the area your friend was looking and refuse to help them.  That's fair.  Everyone is entitled to make a living.

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.

The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters: Rule 6

The 7 Rules of Engagment is a multi-part article so you may wish to start here.

6th Rule of Engagement: Headhunters recruit; career counsellors counsel!

Headhunters like myself are constantly inundated with requests for free career counselling, free resume writing advice, free practice interview sessions, free job leads, etc.

While most of us are more than qualified in all of the above, our 'real' job is to hunt heads for our client companies. Don't expect you're doing someone like me a favor by letting us "have a look at your resume" or "giving us the opportunity to market you". 

You're not!

If you want career advice go see a career counselor - it's money well invested. 

You can find a ton of them on LinkedIn.  I even know a few myself: like Mark Haluska [ok - Mark is also a dam fine headhunter] or Cindy Howes with years and years of HR and change management experience.

Lastly, while career counselors get paid to help you 'find yourself and match that up to a great career - headhunters get paid when they place you - remember that difference and you'll do well.

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.

The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters: Rule 5

The 7 Rules of Engagment is a multi-part article so you may wish to start here.

5th Rule of Engagement: Use industry standard technology to deliver your resume to a headhunter you DO NOT know.

Don't assume that recruiters have every possible technology in place to receive and read your  resume. We don't AND while you make think you're being 'cool' and showing them you can use the latest and greatest technology... they might not be as smart as you are and can't read it. 

Lord knows they're not going to ask you to resend it in a format they can use because:

a. they don't know you so they don't care

b. they don't know they should care

c. they don't care.

Headhunters sometimes get  messages that say, "Use your Web browser to log onto my personal Web site and download a copy."  Forget it.  Only use industry standard technology unless you're instructed otherwise. 

Unless you have specifically been told to send it in Word Perfect, Word or as PDF or told to post it on your LinkedIn profile so they can go and download it... copy and paste a text version into the message.  Create a compelling subject line and use their name in the headline.  Subject lines with "Dear Recruiter" are treated as SPAM - and not the good luncheon meat kind ;-)

Lastly if you have a spam alert messaging service that automatically blocks people who aren't known to you and require the recipient to fill out a detailed life history in order to qualify to have their message delivered to you... you might want to rethink that strategy OR at least see if you can automatically 'whitelist' those people you send messages to so when they respond they are not trapped by the filter. 

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.

The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters: Rule 4

The 7 Rules of Engagment is a multi-part article so you may wish to start here.

4th Rule of Engagement: Don't Play Dumb

There are three people in this world that need to know your current salary: the IRS, your spouse and your head-hunter.  (Actually, I'm not convinced the first two need to know – but I digress). 

I know most people like to keep this information private, but head-hunters need to know because We need to exclude you from all jobs under your salary level. 

If you play cat-and-mouse with us you'll end up in the circular filing. Most head-hunters don't use your salary to peg your seniority.  Provide your cash salary requirements.

In fact you likely already know that most recruiters work on contingency which means they only get paid IF they place you AND they get paid a percentage - so the more money you make - the more money they make.  It's a symbiotic relationship.

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.

The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters: Rule 3

The 7 Rules of Engagment is a multi-part article so you may wish to start here.

3rd Rule of Engagement: Be Selective - Target Your Efforts

Don't bother sending your resume to all 1,000,000 recruiters; find one who specializes in recruiting your talents.

Recruiters generally specialize by geography, function, or industry, or a combination.  Go to Google.com and put in your city, industry and the word 'head-hunter.' Voila!  More head-hunters than you can shake a stick at.  Read their sites carefully. 

Check out Kennedy Publications for their list of top head-hunters at www.kennedyinfo.com Kennedy is THE authority.

woundeer what a really smart job hunter would do?  They would infiltrate the largest recruiter specific web site on teh planet RecruitngBlogs.com to find out how recruiters think and what they do to find candiates AND then they owuld reverse engineer that so they could be found... wait that's what my book Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters is about.  Don't do that!

But do go and read what the industry luminaries think: Bill Humbert, Donato Diorio, Animal, Rayanee Throne

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.

The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters: Rule 2

The 7 Rules of Engagment is a multi-part article so you may wish to start here.

2nd Rule of Engagement: Find a head-hunter BEFORE you need a new job.    

Most job hunters are a lot like people who drive their cars until they run out of gas: pathetic souls standing on shoulder of life's highway waitng for someone to stop and help them out.  Not smart. 

Don't wait until you know you're going to be reallocated to make friends with a headhunter because we all know 99% of people wait until their heads are in the guillotine and the blades being dropped before they wisper sweet nothings in our ears. 

Too late!  In business you always try to stay ahead of the curve.  Plan ahead! 

Put another way, you bought life insurance to prepare for the inevitable – treat your career as your biggest asset - goodness knows it's not your house anymore. 

You need to have a six-month runway to work a head-hunter strategically.  Your initial contact is to let the head-hunter know you exist.  Your goal is to get them to keep you in mind for career-building positions opportunities and/or to market you.

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.

 

 

 

From MVP to MPA: The 7 Rules of Engagment with Head-hunters

In his article The Odds of Getting A Job With a Recruiter,  John Sumser says that , "the overall odds are about 1 in 28,520 (.0035%) that your conversation with a headhunter will land you a job." 

I disagree.

The odds are far worse - mostly because math is more generous than it should be.

But you can beat the odds if... you understand the 7 Rules of Engagement.

Most job hunters have no idea how to interact or what to expect from a real  head-hunter like Skip Freeman or myself for that matter.

BUT - headhunters can be a great ally in your job search if you know the Rules or  Engagement - which we will start talking about right now. 

1st Rule of Engagement: Act like an MPA...

Yesterday I asked if you wanted to be paid like basketball MVP Steve Nash? Steve has been chosen multiple times as the NBA's Most Valuable Player.  The recruiting industry has an equivalent designation - that you either have or don't have - and it will determine whether you are successful with a recruiter.  That designation is MPA or "Most Placeable Applicant" or "Most Placeable Candidate". 

By acting like the perfect candidate you are more likely to get a recruiter to pay attention to you AND market you to their client base.  And it all starts with you and your behaviour.  when a recruiter/headhunter calls, be prepared to tell the recruiter why you deserve to be designated an "MPA". 

To be an MPA you need to have a well-honed and rare skill set.  Being a C++ programmer isn't rare.  Being a mainframe Java programmer with 5 years of real-time experience might be.  Likewise, most financial people are "vanilla".  Unless of course you have US GAAP experience and/or have done an IPO on NASDAQ.  I am sure you get the idea. 

What do you do if you aren't as rare as the next guy? 

Have a great personality and co-operate.  If you actually look like you can follow instructions and will partner with the recruiter, they may just invest a few days in marketing you. 

If you're really a good sport and follow up and follow through on with their guidance they may map out your entire career with you.  After 25 years in business as a head-hunter I have helped more than a few people ascend from programmer or salesman to President and CEO through the careful management of their opportunities.

1st Rule of Engagement: Act like an MPA even if  you're not!

Until tomorrow.

Want more ideas like these?

You can listen in on an hour's worth of unconventional, Guerrilla secrets and judge for yourself by grabbing a copy of our Free Audio CD.