Finding Your Perfect Job Match

It's critical to find the best job match for you; much like you would when finding your soul mate. As both an interviewer and interviewee hundreds of times in the last 20 years, I'm sharing my knowledge to help you.

In this article, we will cover 3 topics loaded with tips from my personal life experience:

1. Win more interview opportunities
2. Score job offers and negotiate higher compensation
3. Learn how to identify red flags, it has to be a match both ways

Winning More Interview Opportunities

1. Invest in your resume and ditch the cover letter; unless required. I've read more cover letters that detract than attract, simply because it's hard to write an impressive, humble and authentic paragraph about yourself when you don't fully understand your target audience. Instead, focus energy on your resume highlighting measurable results and accomplishments. Literally, use numbers to show how you contributed to growth for each requirement of the role you're applying for. Bold type your key accomplishments. Your executive summary about yourself, at the top of your resume, should be the first line of your elevator pitch. As a hiring manager, I was fine with 1-3 pages of resume if the experience warranted. If you are more seasoned, you don't need to include your whole life story - just end with, additional experience upon request. The main point is to focus on relevant experience to the job you are applying for, no matter how long or short that is.
2. Apply for roles matching your qualifications. This seems like a no brainer, right? However, too many times when speaking with job seekers, I hear about their applications for roles that don't match their experience. In this situation, it's very difficult to break through and may require an additional boost, such as an internal referral. You may also need to update your resume focusing on the transferable skills to a new role or industry. Be honest with yourself. If you can stand up and speak in front of a crowd of 100 people, acting as the SME (subject matter expert) on the role you're applying for, then consider the role a fit. Also, there are other factors to consider including whether the role has you moving from specialist to generalist, generalist to specialist, if the role is a stretch into a higher level position, or if it's a lateral move. The suggestions here are to help you use your time more valuably and apply for roles that you are most likely to get a call back on. Hiring managers are looking for a resumes that match most closely to the job requirements. Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes for a minute.
3. Find someone to refer you using your LinkedIn, church, or neighborhood connections to name a few. This is the most important of all. Did you know there are companies with policies requiring an automatic phone screen with a referral? Other companies have found more success with referred candidates, so they provide higher value to these candidates. Referrers of candidates often get compensated anywhere from $500 - $2,000 when they refer a successful candidate. For these reasons, you absolutely must leverage your network.
4. Keep your finger on the pulse of the industry, even if you aren't looking for roles. It's good to understand what types of roles are in demand so you can continually improve your skill set. When the day comes to find a new job, you have been building skills for roles that are in the highest demand.

Score Job Offers and Negotiate Compensation

If the recruiter finds your resume a match for the position description, you will receive an email to schedule an initial screening call.

The screening call is typically short. Successful recruiters will follow an interview framework to efficiently screen candidates. A well designed screening call includes a standard set of questions to best measure candidates against one another. Typically, this round of interview casts a wider net, and may include less qualified candidates; especially when the resume stands out from the crowd. Many phone screens abide by a hiring methodology outlined in a book called, Who, a New York Times Bestseller, written by Geoff Smart and Randy Street. Read this book for two reasons. First, you will know how to prepare for your interview. 30% of the phone screens I've had follow this framework so you'll know exactly how the interview will play out as its happening. Second, if you are the interviewer, you can use the same principles - it works and I use them myself to find the top candidates from a large pool of qualified applicants. If you don't have a chance to read, then know how to answer these questions:

1. What is your career goal? Make sure you focus 5 years out or more. Your goal should align with a senior role in your discipline. If you love digital marketing, your goal is to become the head of digital marketing. If you're applying for a design role, make sure you don't give a goal of marketing director. Your goal should be head of creative. Show that your passion lies with the role you are applying for and that you are a high-achiever with lofty aspirations.
2. What are you really good at or enjoy doing in a professional environment? Make sure you're great at the skills outlined in the job requirements and that's where your passions lie. Know the job details in and out so you can highlight the requirements in this conversation.
3. What aren't you good at or don't enjoy doing in a professional environment? This is a tough question. A marketing person might say they don't like cold calling. A creative person might say they don't like working in Excel. Point being, highlight something that is a polar opposite of the job requirement.
4. Tell us how your manager would rate you (1-10) for your last 3 jobs and why; for when we speak to them. What would they say your strengths and weaknesses are? Folks, I hope you will rate yourself honestly. That said, if you throw out a 7, your chances of moving on to the next round of interviews are lower. So, score yourself high and back it up with concrete accomplishments and results.

Master your elevator pitch. This is the most important thing to do. Nearly every interview from the phone screen to the in-person interviews starts with a "tell me about yourself" or "give me a review of your career history." This is where you can blow the interviewer away with your pitch. It should be no more than 2 minutes long. If you remember nothing else from this article, please remember this. Practice in your car while you are driving and make sure your pitch rolls right off your tongue.

Be your authentic self. It's important to find a match - much like dating. If you aren't yourself, you might find yourself in a culture that feels like oil and vinegar. Sure, you're going to bring your A-game and that's a given; but don't scrap your personality and own up to what you know and don't know. You can't be an expert at everything and that's human. Just show how you plan to learn in areas where you might be weak.

Be a stalker. Before your interview, look at your interviewers LinkedIn profiles. Find out if you have common connections. Look at where they schooled and how long they've been in the professional world. You don't need to bring this up in an interview, but it's great to learn more about who you will be talking to and try to understand their mindset, based on their profile, articles they've shared or posted, and network.

Plan your questions in advance. You need to think, deeply, about the questions you will ask during your interview. Think about the level of person you are meeting with and match the questions accordingly. If you are meeting with leadership, ask high-level business questions like, what headwinds do you expect to face in the coming year and how to you plan to overcome them. If you are meeting with a peer, ask how the team prioritizes work and measure success?

Negotiate, period. Every role has a range and you'll need to understand this range as much as possible. Figure out or ask where your offer falls in the range for the position, which can also tip-off the ultimate growth opportunity. For example, if you receive a mid-range offer and your experience warrants top range, make your case. If you are a recent graduate, it's tough to negotiate but do what you can to inch up your compensation at the time of hiring because from here on out, you will receive a standard 3% raise. Don't forget you can negotiate salary, performance based bonuses, shares, and vacation. Be willing to walk away.

Watch for Red Flags

If you've secured an interview, be on the watch for red flags. Usually, it's the interviewer looking for your red flags and I suggest you flip the script. There are too many people unhappy with their manager, company, or leadership to ignore red flags that might save you a from making a bad career move. Here are a few that have stood out in my experience:

1. Too many interviewers: If you have 10 interviews, this might be a sign of how companies make decisions - too many cooks in the kitchen. You might explain this away as a highly collaborative environment. In my experience, too many interviewers points to a lack of autonomous decision making or a plethora of authoritative personalities (or opinions) you will have to navigate as you try to make progress.
2. Did you score an in person interview? Great. Now, see if you can tour the office and take note of the quality (I once noticed a whiteboard from the 70's with caked on dry erase marker that certainly raised a red flag for me - super depressing), cleanliness, lighting (are there windows), silence and noise, smells (try working next to a dump - the smell of sulfur will get you every afternoon), overall vibe (all the feels - be mindful - don't ignore those), offices or cubes? How friendly are people who pass by?
3. Ask the right culture-questions. Describe the culture here? How do you contribute to culture? Are people friends outside of work? Are people humble or is there ego? How do you prioritize? Describe a culture leader here? What attributes do your top performers have? And, bottom performers? Avoid asking about work-life balance because it's a hard term to navigate and can be interpreted to many ways so don't go there. That said, you need to pull out information about work-life balance in your conversation. If you hear things like, "well, our CEO calls all the VPs every Saturday," and you don't want to work 60+ hours, this could be a red flag. If you are a social person, look for things like, "we get together for happy hour on Fridays." If you can find a team that gets together outside of a company sponsored event, you know you have a winning culture.
4. Listen for clues. Be observant and don't let the promise of a new role blind you from a bad career move. Do you homework on websites like Glassdoor and frankly, believe what you see as long as there are enough reviews.

I hope these tips will help you in your next job search and if you'd like help in any way, whether that be a look at your resume, or helping your elevator pitch, please let me know. I fully believe in the power of the LinkedIn network and would like to help as many of you find your perfect match job as possible.

Best wishes, John