OI Partners

Employers' 10 Pet Peeves of Job Candidates

February 20, 2012

by Steve Harvey

If you are involved in recruitment, I am sure you have seen it all -- from candidates who have fallen asleep or who have answered cell phone calls in an interview to candidates who have asked if having a DUI would get in the way of being hired for the position!

The following job candidate pet peeves have actually happened and are from my network of professionals:

1. Being unprepared: knowing nothing about the company for which he or she is interviewing and being unsure of the requirements for the job

2. Ringing cell phone during the interview: and the candidate ANSWERS it!

3. Taking and RETURNING text messages during the interview: this really happened by a finalist sent into an interview by a retained search firm

4. Arriving late: there is no excuse for arriving late to an interview, and this warrants no follow-up phone call from the employer

5. Allowing typos on resume and correspondence to the employer: errors on resumes and cover letters, especially in phone numbers or email addresses, are just not acceptable

6. Offering an unprofessional email address: never give an unprofessional email address like PartyAnimal@email.com

7. Putting forth a limp handshake: this always leaves a bad first impression

8. Showing poor body language: never give the appearance of being too laid back or, worse, lazy

9. Coming off as arrogant or as having a superiority complex: be grateful for the time the employer is giving you and be sure to thank them for it in a follow-up thank you note

10. Bad mouthing previous employer(s): never trash-talk your former employer in an interview with a potential employer

Presumably, these candidates did not have the advantage of professional career transition services, or if they did, they slept through the interviewing portion ...

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Top 8 Resume Mistakes

January 26, 2012

By Shawna Williams

Recruiters only give your resume 20 to 30 seconds of air time before moving on to the next candidate—that is, if they even see your resume at all. The black hole known only to job seekers is officially referred to in the recruiting world as The Applicant Tracking System. This effective recruiting tool allows recruiters to be quite more efficient with their time, but frustrates job seekers daily.

So how can you beat the system, entice the hiring manager to look a little longer, maybe even pick up the phone to learn a little bit more about your qualifications? I’ll tell you: Stop making these top 8 resume mistakes and set yourself apart!

Resume Mistake #1 – Reads like a Job Description

Many of our career transition program candidates will write a chronological review of their most recent job experience on their resume. Under each Title and Company section, candidates will list their daily responsibilities or tasks. I say, “So what?” How were you different from all your colleagues?”

The best example of this is the administrative assistant in our office. Yes, she, like many assistants, answers phones, files paperwork and makes copies. However, it is the way that she answers the phone and files the paperwork that sets her apart from every other administrative assistant. She is courteous, goes above and beyond to make our clients and employees feel comfortable, and even expresses empathy and solves problems before handing off the phone to the appropriate person in the office. Now that’s customer service!

Rewrite your job tasks to reflect the Challenge with which you were faced, the Action you took, and the Result of your actions. Think C.A.R.

Resume Mistake #2 – Includes Grammatical Errors and Typos

Do we really need to ...

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Trends in 2012 and beyond: The “new” employee tenure is 3-5 years

January 17, 2012

by Mike Boyd

Some of you may remember when you could work for a “good” company, stay out of trouble, show up for work on a regular basis, keep your mouth shut and expect somewhat regular promotions and to eventually be rewarded with retirement at age 65 with a designated pension. This concept of a career was an implied contract of mutual loyalty between the employer and the employee which supported an environment of stability and advancement lasting 20 - 30 years.

This benign career concept began to change in the 1980s, accelerating through the new millennium into the present day as jobs were eliminated, outsourced and significantly redesigned at an ever-increasing rate of speed. Goodbye job security! In spite of 30 years of evidence, the dream of long-term career stability and linear promotions within an organization remains a fond, but extremely unrealistic, goal for many of us yet today.

Current reality is far different as the end of employer/employee loyalty changed the way in which we think of, and react to, the other. Many of you mourn the loss of the way it was, and companies futilely attempt to remain competitive by manipulating employee relationships. This forever transformed the definition of a career. Yet many of us still play by the old rules, holding to outdated expectations.

So, how do we succeed in the current dynamic, chaotic, and often offensive business environment? We must now become more adroit as we navigate external job markets as well as internal job markets. As an expert in leadership consulting services and executive coaching, we see two contemporary career models emerging: the Boundaryless career and the Protean career.

The idea of the Boundaryless Career, developed by Michael Arthur, describes a workplace with a reduced emphasis on rigidly structured internal boundaries (think ...

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Have You Set Your Organizational and Personal Goals for 2012?

January 08, 2012

by Susan Ruhl

As I begin each New Year, I undergo what has become an annual ritual: developing a spreadsheet of objectives and goals for the upcoming year. This year, I realized that setting these goals and objectives is not enough.

Measuring my progress against those goals is just as important as setting the goals themselves. So I first have to ask myself, what are the top 3 objectives or goals for my organization this year? And just as significant, what are my top 3 objectives, and how do I measure my progress throughout the year?

If we don’t set goals, it becomes similar to driving without a road map: You’ll end up in Albuquerque when you are trying to get to Miami. When I create my yearly roadmap, I set only 3 goals (no more than 4). Set more goals than that, and trying to achieve those goals becomes overwhelming.

Organizational goals must be decided on as a unit or with the help of leadership consulting services which is designed to develop leaders and develop organizations. If everyone goes in their own direction throughout the year, companies tend to see little progress. Teams have to work together and understand the direction needed to be taken to be successful.

First things first: Decide upon team goals that need to be achieved within the next 12 months. Talk to your executive team, talk to your team members, enlist their ideas and come to a consensus on what is motivating and important—both for your organization’s bottom line and for individual needs. Motivation shouldn’t be a dictatorial action, there has to be “buy in” to the goal.

A great guideline for choosing realistic goals is the S.M.A.R.T. Goal standard. Make sure your team’s goals are:

S = Specific

M = Measurable...

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organizational goals leadership consulting services goals 2012 personal goals leadership executive coaching

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The vOIce is written by many of the managing partners of OI Partners. Topics include our ideas on how you or your organization can be effective in areas related to career development, executive development, workforce development, career transition and more.

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