However, one thing we didn’t address involved what we call the “LinkedIn Use Protocol”.  Be advised that LinkedIn has different etiquette rules than Facebook or Twitter because the purpose of LinkedIn is to make professional connections rather than social ones. The most common LinkedIn mistakes we see people make include the following:

1.)   You are selfish:  When was the last time you selflessly endorsed someone on LinkedIn?  You just worked with a great project manager or an incredible Study Coordinator; so why haven’t you given them a recommendation on LinkedIn without requesting anything in return?

2.)   You are lazy:  Don’t fall into the trap of only making connections when you need something.  If you wait until you need a job and then send mass invitations, your effectiveness will be compromised and you will reek of desperation.  Your professional colleagues want to help those who help themselves, so continually work on building and nurturing your network.

3.)   You don’t have a strategy:  Building a good network means hand-selecting people who can benefit you professionally (and you them). It isn’t about the size of your network, but the quality of your connections and you should continually be taking advantage of developing your network through referrals, colleagues, and team members.  Don’t forget to leverage your existing network by sending invitations or introduction requests to 2^nd or 3^rd LinkedIn connections.

4.)   You are inappropriate: LinkedIn is not YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook. As a professional network building platform, LinkedIn is used to connect people to potential hiring managers, employers, customers, or clientele. You are building your personal brand in every interaction and once you put something in writing, it is in stone.  Always maintain your professionalism.  Always check your spelling.  Always check your grammar.  Always use your brain.

5.)   You aren’t paying attention to the details:  There are two areas where we see individuals consistently missing opportunities to build their brand on LinkedIn.

First:  Have you overlooked LinkedIn Today?  Are you overlooking discussions going on in your current network?  Participating in ongoing discussions and sharing articles is a great way to connect to thought leaders and to join their networks. This type of quality activity will drive traffic to your page and can bring hundreds of new connections!

Second:  Are you using the generic connection request? How special do your future colleagues or hiring managers feel when they get the standard “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” invitation? Personalize your request, and make that prospective client or boss appreciate the value you bring to the table and therefore be incented to accept!

Written by Jessica Nguyen

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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A great article by Geoffrey James of inc.com perfectly illustrates 8 Beliefs That Make You More Resilient.  As we read that article, we started thinking that even though Geoffrey’s thoughts are spot on, they do not address an area we feel is critically important.

Let’s face it, the workplace can be brutal and if you have set any type of career objectives for yourself, wouldn’t it be helpful to know how to leverage your belief system in order to create tactics to toughen up so you can work towards achieving your targets?

First:  Create a daily success / failure list.  Not only should you celebrate your successes, but you should evaluate what you did to accomplish them.  Were your daily successes accidents or the results of method and discipline?  Additionally, truly analyze your failures so you can learn from them.  Ask what you could have done differently to affect a different outcome and put action plans into place to ensure you don’t repeat those same mistakes.

Second:  Set goals.  Real goals.  Goals which are measurable and have due dates. Goals that will stretch you and give you a feeling of accomplishment once you obtain them.  “Almost” achieving your goals is a failure so write these goals down in a way that indicates you absolutely will obtain them, using phrases like “I will…”  Then read those goals daily in order to stay focused.

Third:  Create a plan to obtain your goals.  I agree with Geoffrey in his statement that “…if I don’t take action, I will fail by default…” ¹.  So build an action plan which will identify steps to be taken for you to obtain your goals.  And then, simply execute!

Fourth:  Always focus on doing the right thing.  Napoleon Hill stated: “I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure unless built upon truth and justice, therefore I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects.” ²

Fifth:  Be afraid but do it anyway.

John Wayne said “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

Winston Churchill stated “Success is not final, failure is not fatal:  it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Theodore Roosevelt declared “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”

And craresources believes:  “Success is just a result.  Failure is just a result.  Fail as fast as possible so you can learn what not to do.”

Co-Written by: Jessica Nguyen and Angela Roberts

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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(1)  Geoffrey James “8 Beliefs That Make You More Resilient” http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/8-beliefs-that-make-you-more-resilient.html?nav=pop

(2)  Napoleon Hill “Laws of Success” Copyright 1928, published by The Ralston University Press, p245

Are you considering a career change? If so, sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace.

Part of our offering is to prep our candidates for their phone and face-to-face interviews.  We go through the entire gambit of helping the candidate research the company, coaching them to handle behavioral / situational questions, and being ready to “defend” their skills and qualities to their interviewer.

This seems like a pretty typical, tame and expected interview prep method…right?

But some companies throw a wrench into the works and ask crazy, oddball interview questions.  Recently Glassdoor highlighted some remarkable questions which led us to give some deep thoughts into why these interview questions may be so blooming popular in some organizations.

Why do you think companies want to shock you, challenge you, or otherwise catch you off guard during an interview? 

For example, one of Forrester’s questions is “How many cows are in Canada?” ¹ I would love to hear what your thoughts are on what Forrester is truly looking for from the candidate when posing this question.

Or better yet, Dell likes to know what song best describes your work ethic? ² I thought long and hard about this one and mine would be “Fight Another Day” by Addison Road

For more oddball questions and to go that “extra mile” when prepping for your next interview, check out Glassdoor’s 2013 list and get creative!

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Are you considering a career change? If so, sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace.

PS:  For other information on how to prep for interviews, check out our interview section and always shout with questions!

(1) (2) : Glassdoor:  http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/top-25-oddball-interview-questions/

But rest assured, every professional has been in your shoes and anyone who has held a job has gone through a bad interview or two. It is important to know that it is not the hiring manager who determines if you get that awesome entry level job.  It is you!

And while you consider how important it is to take control of your destiny and learn to believe in your future, want to know what you have that tenured professionals do not?

Competing with seasoned professionals can be a daunting task, but make sure you are selling that you are hungry, you’ve got passion, ambition, and in this day and age you are most likely tech savvy. Use all these attributes to your advantage by being ready to articulate why the hiring manager needs someone with those traits on their team.

Lastly, as an entry level candidate it can be assumed you have recently graduated from college; so relate every job you interview to a previous class project, internship, or part time job. You may not have the professional experience, but you DO have relevant experience. For example, describing a specific class project shows teamwork, how you manage others, your creativity, motivation, innovation, and your problem solving skills. Describing an internship will show how you have real hands-on experience and can also show incredible initiative as oftentimes internships are experiential only (i.e. – not paid).  And lastly, describing how you balanced that part time job while going to school shows independence as well as incredible time management and organizational skills.  Every hiring manager can relate to these types of experiences and will be impressed with your work ethic.

Be sure to check out our article on interviewing tips for entry level candidates!

Written by Jessica Nguyen

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Are you considering a career change? If so, sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace.

Or what if you receive multiple job offers and therefore have to decline one (or more)?  Do you know what the etiquette is for declining a job offer?

First of all, do not procrastinate relaying your decision to the hiring manager.  I get it, having these discussions are tough, but you need to consider the hiring manager and company.  They have a need to fill and therefore will need to extend your declined offer to someone else.  So be timely and don’t hold up the process.

Secondly, be considerate in how you deliver your decision.  Regardless of your interview experience, be gracious and thank the hiring manager and his team for taking the time to interview you.  It is important to put your thoughts in writing, however I always recommend you make a phone call to the hiring manager prior to sending that decline email.

Thirdly, tell the hiring manager why you are declining the offer…but don’t provide inappropriate detail.  I recommend you avoid going into the specific reasons as to why you are accepting another offer.  In many cases, I think it is sufficient to just state that you are accepting an offer which better aligns with your current career goals and interests and leave it at that.  Why is this important?

• You don’t want to burn any bridges with this hiring manager or company.  Perhaps this particular position doesn’t align with your career goals now, but another position may fit perfectly at a later time.
• Additionally, it is a small world and the hiring manager at this company may be the hiring manager at a different company in the future.  Heck, he could be your manager someday (or you his!)  Build relationships and rapport instead of burning bridges.

Lastly, show you care.  Make sure you remember to wish the hiring manager and the company continued success.

Here is a quick sample email declining a job offer:

Dear Tom,

Thank you very much for offering me the position of Senior Clinical Research Associate at craresources.  I am honored you and your organization have found interest in me.  

While I firmly believe in the mission of craresources and appreciate the challenging opportunity you have offered, I have received another offer which I believe more closely aligns with my current career goals and interests.  This has been a difficult decision for me, but unfortunately I am going to respectfully decline your generous offer. 

I have appreciated the time you and the craresources’ team have spent with me.  I wish you and craresources much future success and do hope our paths will cross again. 

Sincerely,

Jane Goodman

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Do you know exactly what you are looking for as it relates to a specific job or position?

I am never opposed to hiring new team members who have been open to me about what their career goals are and how working for me will enable them to eventually obtain their goals – even if they are underqualified.

So if you are offered a job you do not want, my advice to you would be:

• If you haven’t already, make a detailed list of the job attributes you are seeking and break that list into “have to have” and “like to have” characteristics. Personally obtain clarity regarding what YOU want to do.
• Have a clear discussion with the Hiring Manager (before you accept the offer). Candidly talk about your career goals, and how open she is to supporting your progression into a promotion.

Check out our tips on how to find the right job for you!

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Are you considering a career change? If so, sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace.

But will you be happy in the position?  Will you feel challenged and satisfied?  Can you handle lower compensation for a lower level role?  If you have answered yes to all of these questions, then consider one more:  Will you feel you are taking a career step backwards?  If the move would be a bit lower on the career ladder than you would prefer, then do yourself and the employer a favor and abstain.

If you do decide the position is a perfect fit for you and your current situation, as an overqualified applicant, you must address certain areas to the employer, or you will not get to the interview stage.  This can easily be done in a well-crafted cover letter addressing the following areas:

The compensation will be the first sticking point.  Compensation is set based on the skills required of the candidate, not the actual skills held by the candidate.  This is a subtle but important point.  For example: If you are a brain surgeon applying for a position to be a greeter at Wal-Mart, do you think Wal-Mart will pay you the salary of a Brain Surgeon or that of a Greeter?  Be clear in the beginning that you are flexible with the salary due to your interest in the position.

The second sticking point will be how serious you are about this role.  Be careful not to give the impression you are only taking the job to make the mortgage payment as employers will not be receptive to an applicant if they fear them leaving for a more advanced job in the near future. Articulate why you feel this position aligns with your long term career goals by addressing areas such as:

• You see a future with the company and want to advance within it.
• The opportunity is one in which you can excel based on your prior experience.
• You love that this position will place you under less stress and give you an opportunity to have greater work/life balance than previous more advanced roles.

By clearly articulating how this position “fits”, the employer will understand your reason for applying despite your higher qualification.

Written by Betty Crisp

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Never take rash actions and contact the “offending” company without first taking time to process the rejection yourself. Think about your interview performance carefully for a couple of days, and consider the following:

Resume:  Was it tailored for this particular job?  Did it highlight qualifications the job description specifically mentioned?

Attitude: Did you go into the interview with an appropriate attitude? Body language and tone of voice are often times more highly considered than your answers to questions. Were you engaged and appeared happy to be there?  Were you a bit too confident or did you come across as arrogant because you felt you were perfect or more qualified than anyone else?

Appearance: Were you dressed appropriately for the interview? The “right” answer may change depending on the company culture, level of interview, level of position, and many other variables.

After reviewing these areas, if you have decided you could have performed better, what now?  What if you feel you performed at your top level and just do not understand why you didn’t get the offer?

Do you just pretend that the interview never happened and go on to the next one without having any idea what went wrong? Of course not!

Contacting a company that did not hire you can be uncomfortable, but many Hiring Managers appreciate and will be receptive to you seeking improvement.  Our recommendation would be to email the interviewer instead of call and consider the following:

• You must remember to be diplomatic and not place blame on them for the outcome.  You have to create a comfortable environment where they will speak freely in order for you to obtain their feedback.
• Politely request if he or she has time to give you 2 or 3 tips on how to better your interviewing techniques.
• Always remember to thank the interviewer for the opportunity you were given to interview and to suggest that should they have further opportunities you would love to be considered.

If you take the time to respectfully and thoroughly listen, the feedback your interviewer gives will likely improve your next interview performance, as well as leave the company with a positive and impressive image of you in case you choose to pursue a job with their company again in the future.

Written by Betty Crisp

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Are you considering a career change? If so, sign up for our Job Seeker email course which provides valuable insight into how to become more competitive in the marketplace.

There are more ways than you may think.

Usually there are three job skills that experienced interviewers will be looking for in beginning candidates.  So you, as an entry-level candidate, should be highlighting these job skills during your interviews in order to compete against more seasoned applicants.

But before we jump into the three specific areas where you should focus, I wanted to remind you to be prepared for Behavioral Interviewing.  The interviewer will likely ask you situational-based questions and you can give great answers without using business-related examples.  By recalling an actual related event, you will give the interviewer a window into your thought process.

1)    Time Management & Organization:  A good question for this is, “Tell me about a time when you had a big project and how you completing it on time.” Employers learn a lot just by listening to how you internally prioritize tasks and duties to be performed.

2)    Problem Solving Skills:  Limited work experience or even an in-home or school environment can provide experience for questions such as, “Tell me about a time when you were working on a project and an unexpected problem occurred. How did you initially react, proceed to handle it, and what was the final outcome?”

3)    Communication Skills:  A lot of these skills can be determined by how you listen & respond throughout the interview.  However, a question that can directly address your communication skills without using work experience is, “Tell me about a time you disagreed with a friend or colleague on an important topic? How did you approach this person and resolve the dispute?”

Emotional Skills are also important to evaluate.  These abilities are more difficult to determine in interviews but are extremely important to consider when hiring. What do other people think of or have to say about you?  Do these remarks relate to your motivation or ethics? Employers will likely ask for references to determine your skills in this area, so be prepared to provide great references.

However, you must not forget just how important the resume is to the first time candidate.  We have gaggles of information on how to create a great resume so be sure to check it out. And finally, please invest time in creating quality cover letters to accompany your resume, since these can explain qualifications that may not be evident in a resume with limited work experience.

Considering these tips will help you as an entry-level candidate draw focus on the skills and potential you truly already have, and encourage employers to schedule an interview with you!

Written by Betty Crisp

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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Not introducing yourself on a personal level. Personally connecting with your team members will make them feel as if they aren’t just workers, but individuals and key contributors to your organization.  I am not talking about meeting them for drinks at Happy Hour, but simply inquiring about their interests and hobbies. Find a common ground by showing genuine interest in them and what they care about, and you will build trust and alliance.

Refusing to accept responsibility. I have noticed when projects fail and goals are not met, a lot of managers neglect to acknowledge their responsibility for the failure.  Great questions to ask are “What didn’t I do to ensure the successful completion of the project? What support did I not give my employees which may have prevented this end result? Could I have done anything to change the outcome?” Then be vocal about your part in the missed deliverable or milestone – your employees will respect you for it.

Calling employees out in public. There is no quicker way to stifle creativity and create resentment in a team than publicly criticizing someone’s work in front of their coworkers. This is a humiliating act and is likely to cause other workers to think differently of this employee, create tension in the workplace, and establish fear which will keep others from “stepping up”.

Threatening their jobs. The fear of failure is something that can easily take over your employees’ minds and greatly impact the work they produce.  Threatening their jobs will create this fear. Workers who are in constant fear of losing their jobs will either leave the company in search of more security, or they will be too afraid to branch out, embrace new concepts in the workplace, or let their creativity show in their work. If you have an employee who makes a mistake which needs to be addressed, address it!  But do it in a private forum of helping the employee create a plan to improve.  Set your boundaries, but be clear you are there to support the team member while he works on an improvement action plan.

Not being approachable. One of the biggest keys in ensuring your employees are happy, comfortable, and empowered to help the company achieve its goals is by making yourself accessible. Workers who aren’t able to openly ask questions, request more guidance, and brainstorm ideas and concepts will often produce work below your expectations.

What a lot of managers fail to realize is that you need your team members to reach your goals.  Additionally, your team is a direct reflection on you and your ability to lead effectively. Making small changes to your management style could go a long way in making sure employee morale is high and the work being produced is of the highest quality.

What do you think – do you have others “Morale Killers” to add?

Written by Katie Fidler

Dedicated to Every Client’s Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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