Go from AppliCAN'T to AppliCAN!

I will help you go from appliCANT to appliCAN!

Let’s face it – The hiring process sucks. As a candidate, we see this as a one versus one scenario. From the recruiters standpoint, it's a battle of combing through thousands of potential matches to adhere to the often ambiguous needs of the hiring manager. From the hiring manager's point of view, they have a need to be filled yesterday and their suffering in the interim.

From my perspective this represents the old-school way of faxing resumes to a company and hoping that you get the luck of the draw, a spray and pray method that has low rates of return. This is, unfortunately, the way that the hiring process works today. Candidates shoot as many resume arrows as they can at a moving and often shrouded target (job opening) and hope that they get through. This doesn't take in to account that most recruiters are overworked, under-resourced, and have no incentive to advocate for alternative candidates.

This next part is for all you candidates out there: Have you ever felt like you’re throwing your resume and application into a black hole, or have you known you were perfect for a role, but still haven't heard back? I’ve experienced this frustration countless times during my own career search and I know how exhausting this process can be. When I secured my first job – I had submitted 372 applications with a putrid two responses. When I looked objectively at my job searching strategy three reasons jumped out to me:

1. My resume wasn’t catered to the role
2. I had a fundamental lack of understanding of the value of networking
3. I had a value summary that read like this: "I’d like a job because I’m a hard worker who likes working with people."

This trifecta of poor career strategies left me grasping for strings in my search and assured that I would be unsure of what my next steps should be: I needed a permanent solution. I needed to change my attitude around how I executed my job quest. I chose to dive in and truly examine the value of networking. If you're not reaching out to your friends, family, and network - then you're doing this all wrong.

It can be difficult to ask for help, believe me. As a former Corpsman, I was taught to be self sufficient, independent and most importantly [the one thing I had forgotten] to be part of a team. Teamwork can manifest in so many ways. Asking your network, team, for help, advice or direction can shift your job search overnight.

Many believe that education is a silver-bullet to most things; including the career search. Over the next few months, I’m going to be introducing a series called “Ask the Recruiter.” I’m going to pull the curtain aside and reveal you the wide wizarding world of Talent Acquisition. Hopefully, potential candidates will learn a few things, recruiters will have a refreshed perspective and any one can gain some knowledge that will teach them how to be your own best advocate!

Lets start with basic terminology and details:

Requisition: This is a REACTIVE mechanism by which we are authorized by the company to go out and find talent.

Recruiters: The arm by which companies seek and secure talent. However, there are some key aspects of being a recruiter to keep in mind.

1. Many recruiters handle 25-100 requisitions and in this paradigm we see that there are two stakeholders: Hiring Manager and Recruiting Manager. The candidate isn't even a close third.

2. They can have >1 applicant(s) or up to however many are allocated to the Applicant Tracking System (insert thousands of candidates). One interesting note is that candidates are categorized typically alphabetical or by when their chronological application. So, if you apply and you have a name with that starts with "M" or past, then you're at the end of the list. (My own personal observation)

3. They are a highly-regulated, official order that must follow a step-by-step method for compliance that can hinder their range and search.

4. Recruiters often have a variation of job descriptions by level, pay grade, location, skill sets, hiring manager, business unit, and a myriad of other details.

Side-note: Did you know that it’s usually the back-end of the job that you see online. You will never know if this role is in latter stages of recruiting, e.g. offer, internal candidate, etc or if the business is freezing this role.

5. Recruiters will also, concurrently, have multiple steps that must be followed procedurally; which are mostly automated but require the recruiter’s time and attention. Each step requires a process step - meaning that every recruiter has to follow hundreds of steps a day, which takes away from the true recruiting - changing people's lives.

6. Typically, any requisition will have multiple internal candidates (Internal candidates get priority).

Candidates: This is you! Believe it or not, recruiters love candidates, though you might think otherwise. If you're a recruiter who doesn't love candidates - find a new profession, please!

1. Face-to-Face networking remains the most important way to find your next career. I put this on the level of compound interest as one of the most powerful forces on earth.

2. We have thousands of candidates with different skills, education, compensation, networks, and a myriad of other different salient points that we put into consideration when we look at you versus the requisitions that we own. (Why should we choose you?) You have to differentiate yourself. What's your why? And what's your how? What makes you the unicorn that we're looking for?

3. We meet candidates through email, our vendors, career fairs, applicant tracking systems, LinkedIn, Ubers, and personal networks. Yet, statistically speaking, internal referrals remain one of the most valuable sources of talent.

4. Candidates who know people at the company are more likely to stay. Reach out to your friends, family, and network to create a career path.

5. Shake a hand and introduce yourself. Yes, this does happen, some of my best hires are people I met while shopping for avocados at the store or at Café Nero in Downtown Crossing, or on an airplane. =)

6. Each candidate can apply for as many roles as humanly possible; which, in my experience, is a poor strategy. "Luck isn't a strategy!" Stop posting and praying. Start Networking - you've created a network, it's at your fingertips.

7. Verify that your resume is clean and organized. Personally, I prefer seeing your summary at the top along with several years of work history with bullets surrounding your experience that are aligned with the career description that you're interested in.

8. Match your resume to the requisition, IF YOU HAVE THE EXPERIENCE. I call it the 70/30 split. E.g. If the requisition is looking for an Excel superuser and you can’t make a basic chart…Don’t do it!

9. Do your research on the company! This is vital as time is the only asset that we can’t give back. Don't waste mine and I won't waste yours.

10. If you’re switching careers – research is critical to you being a proactive candidate. Don't be the type that asks what our company does.

11. It is okay to reach out to us. We don’t bite – we pray for proactive, educated, highly-skilled candidates to reach out to us; instead of farming through the Applicant Tracking System. I pray everyday to the recruiter gods that my next call is someone that gets hired within the company.

Hiring Managers: These are the people that are instrumental in helping you use your talents and time in exchange for hopefully favorable compensation. One day you'll be one - make sure you remember that every hiring manager is a candidate and every candidate will eventually be a hiring manager.

1. Hiring managers are people. Do your research – find out what makes them tick. If you both went to the same school, served in the military, have worked with similar people leverage those commonalities. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them and ask for a coffee, adult beverage, and/or a simple phone call. Some will shoot you down, most people will want to help!

2. Each hiring manager is different. Typically, they are looking to fill their role immediately. They need your talents now! And the business is going to suffer till you’re onboarded.

3. Hiring managers are often unprepared for their current employees career movement and are caught blind-sided without a workforce development strategy. Which means they are reacting to a stressful situation, use this to your advantage. Make yourself the best candidate who can hit the ground running.

4. Hiring managers will interview differently, thus you need to prepare for your interviews from a comprehensive viewpoint (industry, company, business unit, hiring manager, and team).

5. Always ask yourself: What solutions am I bringing to this company, team and manager? You’ll never go wrong if you can isolate similar problems and solutions that you’ve solved in the past that align with what the hiring manager needs. Use this philosophy with recruiters and hiring managers.

6. Hiring managers will have different paces that they move at. Your expectation should always be that this process will be at least two months or more: This process includes multiple interviews, pre-offer, offer, and onboarding. Your career search expectations should revolve around a 3-9 month or longer rotation end-to-end. If you think it will be next week, think again. No marriage is made in ninety days, unless you like the reality tv show....

7. Hiring managers must balance their daily tasks, their businesses, and their teams. The hiring process is ten percent of their responsibility, but it can take up a lot of their time. (Be understanding of this, so bloody be prepared.)

8. Hiring managers are going to be picky – most of the time, they are going to be inundated with internal and external candidates which are controlled by a centralized figure - the recruiter who is only trying to please the hiring manager. You need to make sure that you’re taking a targeted approach to the hiring process with this in mind. Don't apply for one single role and pray to the career gods that you get through all of the processes. "Luck isn't a strategy!"

9. Nothing makes us smile more than a candidate who knows everything about our company, our future strategy, and has proactively engaged with challenges that we’re undergoing and can speak directly to it. (Command presence and future state knowledge can get you a career even without the qualifications)

10. Because of the immediate need, they will place pressure on the recruiting team (we need this filled asap!!) The recruiters will be reactive to that pressure and will be looking for the exact candidate. This is the reality of what we do - if you understand that, then you'll be able to make yourself ready in the virtual and physical world!

Conclusion: If you're proactive, prepared, and engaged you will make yourself stand out when we're looking for you. Also, this has a powerful effect on your psyche. No longer will you sit around spending your limited resources on a spray and pray strategy. You'll be the candidate that we need at the right time, right place, and right opportunity!

If you have any questions, you can reach out to me, anytime. However, if you haven’t prepared for our discussion, I will refer you back to this guide and/or the two hour career search 2-Hour. Making a professional change will be one of the most challenging and pivotal things that you do in your lifetime. This isn't just about you, it is about your family, your livelihood, and your network. If you do this correctly, you'll change the world! Make sure you’re prepared. You can do this!

#tips #vetready #beyourownrecruiter #selfrecruiting #careereducation #proactive #inclusionarypractices #lifechangers