BreakOut Blog

A recent article by Fortune Magazine starts with a question from a 54 year old man who was laid off in May and has been unable to find a job. He is sure that age discrimination, or age bias, has something to do with it but he is being told that he is unqualified.

The Fortune Magazine contributor goes on to cite some interesting statistics on the matter of age discrimination. The article states that while on 41% of job seekers over age 50 think that age bias plays a role in hiring decisions, 91% of headhunters (aka job recruiters) say that age bias  does play a part in hiring decisions.

The article goes on to suggest ways to overcome age bias if you are an older worker. You can read the complete article here.

One important point that the article points out and that I agree with, is that if an employer decides against hiring someone based on age, it is not usually because they think they are too old to do the job well. Rather is it usually because the person last held a high paying, senior or management position and the new employer cannot offer the same level of compensation or managing opportunities.

No More Mondays

48 Days by Dan Miller

People in the midst of career transitions or a career crisis, such as a layoff,  often seek resources to help them determine the right path to take. If you are currently unemployed or simply in a job that you hate, then two career development books by Dan Miller may be the way to get yourself back on track.

Miller, who authored both No More Monday’s and 48 Days to the Work You Love, focuses on helping you determine the job that is right for you and preparing a game plan for getting there.

In addition he advocates a non-traditional job search approach that encourages job seekers to contact employers before a job is even posted. His method, which he describes in his books, turns out to be far more effective than simply responding to job ads and hoping for the best.

Anyone who feels unfulfilled in their job or have been unsuccessful in their job search should read these books immediately.

You can read full reviews of both No More Monday’s and 48 Days to the Work You Love to determine for yourself.

CNN recently posted an article written by Careerbuilder.com which gives the top ten things that employers are looking for in a candidate. You can read the entire article here: Top 10 reasons employers want to hire you.

This is an excellent article which reinforces what I have said for a long time. When you are interviewing with a company, focus on the employer and not yourself. This is the most effective interview technique  you can use. Here is a summary of the ten things Careerbuilder thinks are important, as taken from the article:

1. Long term potential
2. Works well with others
3. Ability to make money
4. Impressive Resume
5. Relevant work experience
6. Creative problem solving skills
7. Multi-taskers who like to work on multiple projects
8. Online Presence
9. Enthusiasm
10. Good cultural fit for the company

Job seekers should go through this list carefully and evaluate themselves on each criteria. Ask yourself how you can excel in each area so that you can stand out from other job applicants.

There are many reasons why someone would have a period of no work on a resume. Sometimes it is a woman who took time off to raise children, sometimes it is due to health reasons. But more recently the answer is because a person was laid off from a job and could not find another one.

You can be sure that any potential new employer will ask about these time gaps, so here are a few ways to answer the  question, what have you been doing since (insert year here)?

• I went back to school to finish my degree, get an advanced degree, etc.
• I took time off to raise my young children until they were old enough to go to school. (Note do not say that you wanted to be a stay at home mom as the interviewer will wonder if you may quit again for the same reason).
• When I was laid off, I decided it was a perfect time to reassess my career. I didn’t want to jump at any opportunity, but rather take my time and find a position that I can be happy with long term.
• I was laid off from my last position and tried to find a new job. Now that i has become clear that those jobs are not coming back any time soon, I have decided to switch industries. (Make sure to include any training you have accomplished during this time period.

Here is an easy way to avoid gaps on resumes: Consulting. Find jobs as an independent contractor or freelancer and do them occasionally. That allows you to say that you were an independent contractor during that period on your resume. The beauty of it is that you may have only have one or two small jobs, but the interviewer doesn’ t know that and it makes you look like you have been an active worker.

For those who are unemployed, it may seem as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel. This is especially true if the period of unemployment extends to several months or even a year. Unfortunately, the longer an individual is unemployed the more susceptible they are to job search scams. These are scams that promise jobs in return for money or for providing your personal information. However there are ways to stay safe while job hunting and avoid being ripped off.

• Do not provide your mailing address on your resume. You should list the City and State only. After all, there is really no reason why anyone would need to know what street you live on. You can provide this information later on if you are hired.
• Do not provide social security numbers to anyone unless you have already been hired by them. Sometimes legitimate companies will ask for social security numbers to provide a background check. Tell them that after hired you would be happy to provide this information. One way to get around a credit check, is to place a credit freeze on your account. That way you can tell the employer that your file is locked and that you will be happy to unlock it when you are hired.
• Do not respond to emails from “recruiters” who say that you qualify for a stimulus job they have open. This is a very popular scam that is going around and legitimate jobs are not advertised as “stimulus jobs”.
• Do not respond to unsolicited emails received from recruiters. These recruiters pull names and email addresses from databases like Monster. Sometimes these are identity thieves hoping to get into a conversation with you. More often they are recruiters who are very bad at their job. But since you cannot tell which they are, these types of emails should be immediately trashed.
• Be very careful about sending samples of your work to people you haven’t met. One popular Craig’s List scam is to post a bogus ad and get people to send you samples of their work. The scammers then use the samples as their own.
• Don’t apply to jobs that emphasize salary. Any job advertisement with a headline that says “Make 150,00 Guaranteed”, is not a professional, legitimate job. Employers posting legitimate jobs will rarely post any salary information and if so, it will be a range placed unobtrusively in the job ad.
• Don’t apply to jobs on Craig’s List. Although there are legitimate opportunities on Craig’s List, there are far more scams and it is much better to stay off of the job boards on that site.
• Thoroughly investigate work at home jobs. Many work at home jobs are either scams or not as good as they claim to be. Although there are legitimate work at home companies, you really have to do research on the company before you apply with them or provide them with personal information

New employment is a sort of “new beginning” for both the employer as well as the employee. Everything is fresh, new, exciting and the future seems bright. Realizing that the employer sees this as a fresh start will help you strategize in how to best get hired by them. One of the biggest mistakes that job seekers make regarding resumes is that they make it a list of their past employment. Well it’s time for a shift in thinking.

A resume should point the way to where you want to go… not where you have been!

Think about this for a moment and you will realize that I’m right. The point of a resume is to show a potential employer what you can do for them, not what you have done for others. This can be accomplished by tweaking the tone of your resume rather than the content.

If you put yourself in the employer’s shoes, keep the above phrase in mind, and read through your current resume, you will immediately notice certain phrases or tones that should be changed.

How to Write a Resume that Focuses on the Future

•  Make sure that your resume does not contain information that is irrelevant to the current job you are seeking. If you have worked in pharmaceutical sales in the past, but are really a CPA and want to get back into accounting, do not emphasis the pharmaceutical sales at all. In fact, I would simply list the company name or take it off your resume all together.
• When writing your resume summary don’t use phrases that focus on past accomplishments like “twenty year veteran with accounting experience at two major companies.” Instead focus on the future by saying, “experienced CPA who thrives in a dynamic environment and easily adapts to industry changes”.
• Consider using a functional resume rather than a chronological resume. Chronological resumes, by definition, focus on the past. Functional resumes, on the other hand, are flexible enough to allow you to present information in a way that highlights specific skill areas that may not be reflected by a traditional listing of past employers.
• Don’t forget to focus on the future in your cover letter as well. Use phrases like “I am very excited by the innovative products/technology that your company uses…”

Focusing on the future shows a potential employer that you are not resistant to change, that you are willing to learn new methods and that you will keep up with changing technology and industry standards. Making this simple change in tone will cause increased interest in your resume.

With unemployment numbers creeping ever upward, many job seekers are finding it extremely difficult to find a new job. Many are considering relocating to another city or state to take a job. But relocating for a job is not a quick fix. There are many things that must be taken into consideration to assure that it doesn’t turn into the wrong decision. Here are some things to consider:

1. Make sure that you check out the new company fully to verify their financial health. This means checking stock prices and doing Internet searches on the company name and leaders. The last thing you want to do is to relocate only to have the company go bankrupt six months later.
2. Check out the types of industries and companies in the new area. Ask yourself if there are other places you can get a job if the new one doesn’t work out. Also look up the unemployment numbers in the city and state that you are moving to. If you do lose your job will you be competing with thousands of other unemployed people for jobs?
3. Make sure you clearly understand any relocation assistance that the company is providing to you. Ask if any of it is taxable and when it will be paid.
4. Determine how this move will advance your career. Make sure that you aren’t taking the job as a stop gap. You only want to relocate if the job is a step up for you. If you take a job that is a step down or even equal, you will lose money for the first several years do to moving costs. It may make sense to sit tight and wait it out in your current city and state.
5. Research the cost of living in the new city. Just because you are getting a higher salary doesn’t mean you will have more money if the cost of living is higher. In fact, in some cases you may even end up making less that your current salary due to exorbitant housing prices and cost of living.
6. If you own a house, ask yourself (and a realtor) how likely is it that you will be able to sell it quickly? You definitely don’t want to move to a new city and still be paying mortgage payments on your old home.
7. Ask yourself what impact this will have on your personal and financial life. Are you moving away from friends and family that you love? Also consider that if you have children, you are moving away from friends and neighbors who babysit for free. This is an additional cost you need to figure into your new lifestyle.

Thought everyone could use  a little comic relief for a Friday so here’s  something that is sure to make you laugh.

Every so often you see a list of unintentional mistakes that job seekers make on their resumes. The following list is one of the funniest I’ve read. Just one more reason to proofread!

Resume Mistakes and Typos

• “I am a rabid typist.”
• “I have a bachelorette degree in computers.”
• “Excellent memory; strong math aptitude; excellent memory; effective management skills; and very good at math.”
• “Graduated in the top 66% of my class.”
• “Here are my qualifications for you to overlook.”
• “Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty!”
• “Previous experience: Self-employed — a fiasco.”
• “I worked as a Corporate Lesion.”
• “Served as assistant sore manager.”
• “Married, eight children. Prefer frequent travel.”
• “Objective: To have my skills and ethics challenged on a daily basis.”

Here’s an interview question that is getting more popular with employers when they are interviewing people who were downsized or lost their job due to a lay off: Why were you selected to be laid off?

This question can cause feelings of bitterness and anger to rise up in job seekers, so it’s important to be prepared for it and keep your cool.

Why Do Potential Employers Ask This During Employment Interviews?

• Because they are trying to get a feel for their competitors and local business environment. They are interested in which companies are laying off employees and why.
• Because they want to assess how desperate you are for a job. This will impact your salary negotiations later on. Trust me on this.
• Because they want to observe your body language and response. Laid off employees tend to be bitter towards companies in general and they want to see if you are one of those people.

How Not to Answer

• One mistake most job seekers make when answering this question is providing too many details. Answer the question, but don’t expand on how your family is barely hanging on financially. This will decrease your chance of getting the job because it shows you will take anything just to pay the bills. It also decreases your ability to negotiate salary as the employer knows you will literally take anything offered.
• Do not be bitter or angry, especially if the interviewer asks how it made you feel to be laid off.
• Do not say anything bad about your previous company.
• Do not lie. Don’t tell them the company is about to go bankrupt if it isn’t true.
• Do not say that you were let go because your salary was high and that helped them cut costs. This will hinder your new salary negotiations.
• Do not say or imply that you were laid off because you are: a woman, an older worker, a minority or disabled. The employer will NOT hire you because you are perceived as someone who may try to sue them later.

The Correct Way to Answer

The great thing about this question is that it is very easy to answer in a generic way that won’t harm your chances of getting the job. Here are some responses that work well to deflect the question.

• I was laid off because I was the last person hired and layoffs were selected by seniority.
• My entire department was downsized.
• The company relocated its offices or closed an office.
• The company needed to cut costs and every department was required to let employees go.
• I don’t know how they selected who would be downsized and it’s ok that I don’t know. I just want to move on and find a new position that I enjoy as much as my last job.

One thing that can also help deflect the question is to follow up your response with the fact that your previous manager, or employer was not happy to be letting you go. Or that they told you they wouldn’t have done it under better economic circumstances. You can only say this if it is actually true though.

If you have been sending out resumes to employers and received no response  you are probably asking yourself if they even got the resume to begin with. How can you find out? You don’t want to pester the employer, you just want to be sure the resume didn’t get lost in the mail or sent to a spam folder. Here are some tips on how to correctly follow up with a potential employer.

Do

• If you submitted your resume through an online application system, definitely followup with someone on the phone. These systems are notoriously difficult to navigate and sometimes categorize resumes incorrectly. Don’t leave yourself to the mercy of buggy software.
• Call within one week if you haven’t had a response to your resume.
• If you have an interview, ask the interviewer when you should follow up with them. Make sure that you do so.
• Sometimes hiring takes a long time at large companies, so it is fine to check in with them on a weekly basis, unless they tell you not to.
• If an employer tells you that you will hear something by a certain date and you don’t, it is fine to go ahead and contact them.
• If you send your resume to a human resources department, find out the actual hiring manager’s name. Follow up with that person to make sure that the Human Resources department has passed the resume on to them. (Ideally, you should send the resume to the hiring manager person to begin with)
• If you are applying for a retail position or job at a store that is open to the public, do stop by in person to follow up on your application. Just make sure to select a time when the store is not busy. Also do not interrupt the staff while they are assisting customers.

Don’t

• If the job ad specifically says no phone calls or drop-ins, then don’t. Doing so is a quick way tot get yourself eliminated as a candidate.
• If you send a followup email, do not enable the “Request Read Receipt” option. This is extremely annoying.
• If you call the office and the person you ask for is not available, leave a voicemail. ONE voicmail. Remember that the person is busy with work, may be on vacation or may be out with the flu. Do not call back every hour and try to speak with them in person.

Basically the goal of following up on a job to obtain a status of the job opening without pestering the employer.