JobBluePrint
Forward
If you are reading this, it’s because somebody told you about this place for whatever reason. Glad you’re here! If you’ve been out of the job market for any length of time … it’s not the same.
Technology has made it easier to apply to a billion jobs and made it easier not to be seen for any of them. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are the thing and they come in all shapes and sizes. Hardly anybody reads your resume until you are in the chair, being interviewed on-site! (no seriously)
Your job from here on out will be to clean up your LinkedIn profile, build a better resume and become an expert at seeking opportunities and interviewing for them.
Connect with Me:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marccdavid
It will help us have conversations about your profile. When you do send a connection request, Please Please tell me WHY you want to connect. Add a custom message. “Hey Marc…. Neat website! I liked your LinkedIn tips. That’s how I found you. I’d like to connect.”
99% of my connection requests are straight connections or sales... there's just no reason for me to add you to my network and so I don't. Adding a personal note can go a long long way to making the Accept happen.
That is how you network and it makes it personal! It also will separate random connections from very specific ones.
There’s Good News and Bad News
Gone are the days of a quick interview, a smile and a handshake, some random questions and you talk money. “Glad to have you. See you Monday.” Unless your CEO with a golden parachute.
Gone are the days of quit on Friday, have 20 offers by noon Monday.
Here are the days of hiring managers not wanting to take a change. Think of it like a dating website where “They’re good but let’s see what else is out there.” No rush. Plenty of fish in the sea.
Here are the days of unprofessional recruiters grabbing your name and resume ASAP to fire off on some unknowns desk and that you’ll never heard from again. They’ll say whatever to get you so they can look busy. To be fair, if it’s an opportunity you want, you should do whatever you need to do to get past the gatekeeper and in front of a hiring manager.
Here are the days of multiple phone screens, hours long on-sites / remote interviews with the team and week(s) of waiting to hear back IF you hear back. It’s super frustrating. Your time expectations are nowhere in the realm of the other side. A day to you feels like an eternity whereas to them, you are a blip on the radar, a name in a stack.
Here are the days of gatekeepers that have not a clue what the hiring manager wants and certain has no idea what you’re talking about. But if you use the right buzzwords, you can get past them.
What Can You Do?!
Lots! First, unless you flat out know somebody who is willing to hire you or give you an immediate consulting gig, you are in for a long journey. Of course there are variables and exceptions but don’t expect something quick. It might be Job Applied #10 or Job Applied #800 or somewhere in between. Frankly if you are applying for 800 targeted jobs, it might be you and not them. Which means this guide is even more valuable.
How Long is Long?
1 month if you’ve got major bonus points like Veteran status plus in an area that is in critical need of qualifed people like yourself and 17+ months if you are older, a very competitive market, command a large salary, lateral moves, terrible resume, can't interview, etc. Maybe it will be faster for you. Maybe longer. Doesn’t matter. Petal to the metal until you find a fit. It doesn’t mean anything if you get a job quick or it takes much longer. It says nothing about you! Remember that one because after you’ve been looking for over 3 months, you start to think it’s you. I can assure you in 90% of the cases, if you are serious about career hunting and you are putting forth the effort, and you've got a top notch resume and LinkedIn presence it is not you.
- It took me 7 months of dedicated, focused job searching and 84 targeted job applications to land 1.
- More recently, I worked with a client and it took 37 days and 48 targeted jobs applications to land 3
I had several phone screens and 7 on-sites. Those type of on-sites were foreign to me at the time and many of them were multiple people taking up half a day to a full day. But if you keep reading, those experiences will shape you, give you insight to the next interview, make you more confident, less anxious and nervous and eventually you’ll be the perfect person for the position!
I tell people that in my opinion, it felt more like I was going for acting gigs than an actual job interview. I had to figure out what those people across from me wanted in a candidate and be that person. I wasn’t worried about my technical skills. But they know nothing about you and it’s up to you to convince them otherwise. How do I convince these people I am the person for this role.
Where Do You Find Jobs?
I was selective in where I posted my information and I was quick to delete or remove my profile if I was getting contacted by too many inept recruiters. I started with LinkedIn and eventually landed the job via Indeed. It really depends on your industry. Being in the tech field, it was much easier I think to find and apply for those type of jobs than others but not impossible. Look to industry type job boards via a Google or DuckDuckGo search.
I ALWAYS ended up applying direct to the company website even if I found the job on a board. It just felt like I could customize certain responses better and control the input. Add additional skills, experience, cover letters, etc. If it's Easy Apply for you, it's Easy Apply for everybody.
- Always submitted my tweaked resume
- Always included a Cover Letter if you can
Websites that Will Make Your Job Search Easiser
The 4 Things You Will Do From Here on Out
- Your Job is to Find a Job
- You Will Become a Professional at Seeking
- You Will Become an Expert at Interviewing
- You Will Social Engineer Your Way In (within reason of course!)
- You will become a good storyteller (think STAR technique mentioned later in this guide)
So Let’s Do This!
Alright, enough chit chat. You might be seeking while in a job (that’s the best) or you quit and are looking or laid off and are anxious, excited.. or frustrated, pissed, depressed.. in the end, everybody goes through the stages. I had plenty of wild highs and super lows. What makes this work is the system outlined below, being a robot about it and moving forward at all costs no matter the setbacks. Eventually and I speak from experience, you will take nothing personal and you’ll be so busy, that after your on-site you’ll be too busy making plans for the next to worry about if they’ve gotten back to you or not.
But First a Moment of Clarity
Do not even begin this without being able to answer the question “what is it that I want to do.” When somebody says “Hey, what do you do?” You say… XXXX
I am a Cyber Security Engineer | Information Security Engineer
If you need help, see this blog post on How to Pick a Career
If you have no idea what you want to pursue, then it will be impossible to move forward. Even picking a background photo makes no sense if you don’t have an idea of what it is you desire to do.
How Build a Professional LinkedIn Profile
Background Photo:
Grab a free background photo from this website
Look for a photo that within 3 seconds or less.. says to anybody looking at it..
This is what I do
If you look at mine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marccdavid
You should thinking.. Computer security stuff? Something to do with cyber crime? IT?
Yup.. and when a recruiter is looking, that image keeps them moving down the page. I don’t want them to see a family trip, me rafting, working out.. etc.. and even question why am I looking at this person when I need a cyber security guy, cyber crime dude. I’m that guy!
Get a photo that says.. This is What I Do. It doesn’t have to be 100% specific.. if you are in the tech industry.. get anything that says I do stuff with computers. If you are a truck driver, get something that says I do things with trucks/autos/cars. If you are in manufacturing, get a warehouse that says I work with products in bulk in warehouses. Whatever. Be as close as you can. I know tech is easier. Heck, make your own if so inclined that just has a nice background and words saying what it is you do.
Again, not exact unless you can find it but something that immediately gives the impression to whomever is looking that I am the person to do that!
Profile Photo:
Get a professional photo done, have a friend take one of your shoulders and higher. Or a closer head shot. SMILING. Giving the impression this is a person I could work with. No tuxes. No wedding photos. No you holding your kid(s). No couple shots. It’s a professional website and YOU are in job seeking mode. Mine isn’t the best. But it’s good. I cropped it from a recent family photo shoot. Do something similar.
There are blogs, pages and sections of entire books about this. Just have or get a nice, higher quality good looking, fresh haircut.. photo. People judge. Don’t give them a single reason not to keep looking because you have a goofy photo.
I found this post helpful in my search
Title:
Arguably the most important aspect besides how you look is your title. It’s keyword rich and the opportunity to tell the world and your recruiter “This is what I do.” Most people make the mistake of using titles like “Looking for new opportunities” or using keyword long stuffed titles like "MCSE Windows Admin SharePoint Developer Technology Evangelist Dad Wife Husband Father" These are usually from people who don't use LinkedIn, suck at using it, have had a job for decades and setup a quicky profile years ago or were told to do so. They are NOT your target baseline profiles to mimmick.
CRAP!
1-2 very focused keywords ideally that are a title of the job you desire to do. Recruiters look to fill jobs, not find an out of work great dad or best mom in the world.
Remove where you currently work if it shows in your title
The Save Job Technique Explained:
If you need ideas, look at the Job icon in LinkedIn and search for careers, titles or things you want to do. Start saving those jobs.
Why save jobs? Because in a few weeks if not today, you’ll have a very large list of keyword rich titles, bullet points, descriptions you can use all thru your own profile to build the perfect profile that matches you up with all these positions.
- Save Job
- Look at Job
- Look for Titles
- Look for Keywords
Take a few lines here and there and use them as you see fit in your profile, your summary and your resume.
Let others do the work for you! I’m not advocating your copy and paste although you can. It’s just a quick way to get the writing done for you.
Those keywords are titles of jobs recruiters are seeking!
This is going to come up a lot. Practically the first thing anybody asks after some polite conversation is tell me about yourself. Or what do you see yourself doing?
Be clear. They have a job. You want that job. Be clear on what you want. It helps you avoid the plethora of crap that is out there and helps you avoid things you really do not want to do.
They are not typing into LinkedIn to look for – Looking for opportunities, Technology Evangelist, Visionary Hacker Hunter, The Don Juan of Innovation… yeah those look neat, they get on blogs for creative titles and they are people who have jobs and can do that crazy stuff. But it’s not realistic and you shouldn’t follow that advice. Gimmicky-Booshit.
You can use the Job link on LinkedIn to look for positions.. see what gets populated in the box and what people’s titles are… that you want to do.. and use those.
Recruiters are looking for Windows Administrator, SharePoint Developers, Information Security Analyst, etc etc. The jobs are listed and you need to use the titles of the job that most closely matches your desired position.
There is no need to make up titles or keyword stuff. What you seek has already been done for you. Go look, copy 1-2 precise terms of the job you desire to do that are keywords of titles of jobs that are open.
Tip:
When you do find a job, save that job’s description, roles and responsibilities. You’ll have that if you use JobHound but many times, the link won’t work later and that piece of information is gone.
When it comes time to really updated your LinkedIn profile with the new gig, this is a road map you can use to start fleshing out your new resume and profile. Without it, you’re going to have do a lot of remembering. Additionally, by keeping this, you have a very good place to start conversations for performance reviews. Most people apply for jobs, but the rarely if ever save the description. Once they get hired, they wish they had that to use as a template for the resume.
Keep those job descriptions because when you do get hired, it’s an excellent place to start immediately by updating your resume and LinkedIn profile! When you start doing more tangible things, you can replace bullets with the heavy hitting specifics. But it’s a great start vs trying to write it yourself when somebody literally wrote it for you.
Your Summary:
I learned early on and it was confirmed in a career search sessions that LinkedIn is a Search Engine.. if you think of it that way, you optimize your page to be keyword rich with the terms you want to rank for and be found for!
Use as much of the available space as you can to write about who you are, what you can do and your skills. I’ve been people use no summary to summaries full of super high level buzzwords “team player and collaborator.”
This is your opportunity to get somebody interested in what you do and what you can do for them that pertains to the title you picked above.
Your title is your gateway to your summary! Don’t write about what you did and all the old projects you worked on… look at your title and write to that.
Use keywords you’ve found in saved jobs to add depth to your summary.
I found this profile helpful in my search:
Interesting reading, very relevant to what he does now, what he can do for you and a short list of powerful keyword rich technology skills. How he got to where he was and what he does on the side. A very good story rich with relevant skills for a current position.
You’ll need to do a bit of writing on your own for this one. But you can use keywords from a saved job search, your resume, what you’ve found on other profiles.. to build out a 3000 word summary. Use as much as you can to paint a vivid picture of your current career path and what you can bring to the table to help out a business solve their needs.
This underutilized area is ripe for adding keywords to a job you desire to do and to showcase your most powerful skills that show up in your saved jobs.
Experience: Titles matter especially for keyword searching. Be as specific as possible. If you can somehow work your desired position and title into what you did in the past, do it! If not, that’s fine but ensure your title is short and descriptive as possible. Most companies will give you a non-specific title for accounting purposes. Ensure your title on LinkedIn and your resume is that of a position that is needed, not what makes bean counters happy.
VP; Consultant Sys Engineer is NOT a relevant useful helpful search title
Senior SharePoint Architect IS
Take the time to fully write out your roles and responsibilities. Add depth, descriptive text and bullet points to what you did. If possible, work those desired position keywords into previous roles if applicable. Remember, LinkedIn is a Search Engine. To rank, you need to make page stand out for the keywords you want to be seen for and in your Experience section, it’s a good way to get technical terms in along with soft skills.
Don’t just give a non-descriptive title and where you worked.
Use the section to add as much as necessary to get your point across. I was once told..
Literally copy and paste your resume here. I found that hard to understand as I wanted somebody to see my profile and be curious enough to contact me and learn more. I found out unless you have the exact title they want at a very prominent company, they won’t and you probably won’t rank anyway. Most recruiters aren’t curious enough. If you fit what they need, they’ll contact you. If not, they have other things to do.
If nobody sees you, you don’t exist.
So use the experience section to use what you saved in jobs, your resume and anything else to really build the section up as much within reason. It’s not a book but don’t glossy over major accomplishments and milestones. This is a great place to put qualitative numbers if you have them.
In my experience, on a resume especially if you put down HARD facts and figures, you’ll get asked how did you get to that number? It’s a conversation starter. It can backfire but it’s better than very vague buzzwords that leave the reader wondering what you did. It will help with the STAR interview techniques if you have a bullet that eludes to a situation, task, action and result.
Unauthorized
The Little Known Tip for Bridging the Gap If You Need It
(Doesn’t Apply to Those with a Job; No Gaps; or Not Making a Career Shift)
I’m honestly not sure anybody will mention this but it’s used frequently but most always used incorrectly. And I've read a lot of LinkedIn posts and bought some really high level books that have even more tips than I'm giving you but nobody mentions this one.
Here’s what most people do WRONG. They slap on some “LastName Consulting” like they just started it yesterday because they probably did. It’s a grey box on LinkedIn. Looks ugly. No title. No description. It’s just there.
What you’ll do is this ... same general idea but 100% more professional.
CONSULT! Start your own business, give away or get paid for what you want to do. Now when you are interview, you’ve gone from Job B to your own business doing what you love, Job A in a small business fashion. That’s respectable. And depending on the length of time, maybe you’ve really done this for years without it being a conflict of interest.
Now you’ve got some Job A expertise and potentially an overlap in the working time-line. That’s fine. A side gig you want to take full time is admirable. Most people understand running a small business takes dedication and time. And now you want to be part of a larger team. That’s real.
Here’s what you do!
- Get a decent name. Can be anything but make it a company name. It can be your last name but then it’s super obvious you’re doing your own thing.
- Get a logo
- Create a business page on LinkedIn for your company (nobody does this)
- Add the logo to the business page. Create content for that page.
- In your profile, link yourself to that company business page and give it a realistic timeline. If you started it 4 years ago, fine… so be it. Now you’ve got an overlap from Job A to Job B but that’s easily explained. It’s a side gig you love doing, it didn’t conflict, something happened, you took your gig full time but now you really want to be part of a team.
This can be tricky. But if you are doing Construction and suddenly want to go immediately into a new career.. it’s going to make a transition hard. Hiring managers don’t want to take chances anymore and they really won’t want to take a chance of somebody making a really obvious massive career shift.
Some people will. Most won’t.
In the end, it’s a really neat way to look professional and once again, showcase the work you’ve been doing at your own company.
If asked, “is this company yours?” Always be truthful. It is mine. There’s no need to lie. Some managers will see this as a bonus and others will see it as you were doing other work while doing another job. Whatever. If you do nothing, you’ll have skills from an older job, a gap and just have to explain the gap and they’ll think not only is this person trying to make a switch but they’ve been out of the game for a bit.
By using this technique even if it’s for the same type of work.. you’ll have no gaps and be a small business owner with a go getter attitude and drive that employers want to see.
It’s not lying if you’re doing it and it’s a way to make a transition easier.
Get a Business Name & Logo with a Fiverr Gig http://www.fiverr.com/s2/d5fdb31044
Education Just add in whatever schools you attended. Not much to put here. Do not include your high school unless you are a high school graduate looking for internship work.
Skills and Endorsements Rank your 3 most important skills via the keyword that are most pertinent to your desired position. You are allowed to have 2-3 showing. You want those front and center. You can add many more and that’s fine. But make sure you take your top 3 heavy hitters and get them up front and make sure asking for endorsements is turned on. It probably is by default.
This section is a keyword goldmine. I don’t know the strength of the rankings but when recruiters are seeking people to fill jobs, you need as much precise keyword fodder as possible. Don’t neglect this section and make sure it reflects what you want to do, not some random stuff people added or makes no sense going forward.
I’ve heard that the more people who endorse you for those skills, the higher you want when searched for that keyword. I don’t know if it’s true but it won’t hurt and as somebody scans the page, it just confirms that you are the person for this open position.
Recommendations There’s book and blogs on asking for recommendations. I just asked 2-3 people I worked with politely if they would write one. I created my own PDF list of high level talking points, sent that and crossed my fingers. Sometimes people will. Sometimes they won’t. I personally don’t think it’s a breaking point but it can help. Especially when it backs up you as a person to any recruiter who reads that far.
These also might be the people who you’ll need as references. Maybe maybe not. Don’t ask your entire email list. Be super selective. I’ve seen tips where if you write one for somebody you worked with, they might write one back. That’s yet to work for me. I just flat out asked my direct managers and mostly they did especially when I said it was important and I gave some talking points.
Accomplishments Great place to list relevant certifications. Do NOT list on-line classes you’ve taken. You can. It’s super lame. Just list major accomplishments relevant to your field or interesting high level talking points.
Certifications, Languages, Online Publications, Books, maybe relevant Organizations you’ve joined.
Contact Details Ensure they are updated! Just an email and a phone number. Essentially the same information you’ll put on your resume. Name: LinkedIn Profile: Mobile Number (Sudo): Email (Sudo): General location (San Francisco Bay Area)
Don’t include your birthday or if you do, it’s hidden.
Do not include your address! I’ve literally seen people putting out personal information on where they live in the contact details. A business page mailing address sure. A personal page. No.
This is a great time to talk about an app I love and used 100% for the job search. It’s called SUDO.
“Sudo identities are a digital extension of you that shield your personal and private information from strangers, corporations, and the rest of the online world.”
Get the app called Sudo for the iPhone / Android
Create a card, and pick a phone number and email address. This will be the email and phone number you put on your resume and on LinkedIn for the contact details.
Get a free number and email and use this Sudo (job avatar) for all your needs. You can call from it, get calls to it, send emails and texts. When your number gets scraped or taken off your resume and you aren’t in job mode, you’ll be glad you used a Sudo number and not your actual cell phone.
This is your Job Sudo and you’ll compartmentalize your entire job searching to this one point of contact.
I can’t recommend this app enough. If you use your personal cell phone, it will be scraped eventually and you’ll get lots of recruiter type calls long after your done searching.
Interests This rounds out your profile. Join relevant groups. Follow companies. It makes you look like a person who has interests, participates in groups and follows companies in your industry. I don’t honestly think it matters much since it’s so far down but whatever you can do to round out your profile, do it. And maybe there is a group that would be helpful and you should participate. This is part of networking and without that, LinkedIn doesn’t work much. So join groups and follow some companies. Not a ton of them but 10-15 groups and 10 companies in your desired field should be a great start to get your feed populated with some decent posts and networking opportunities.
Before You Proceed
Salary Negotiation Take a look at this website that will help you create a script for salary negotiation. You’re going to be asked almost immediately what are you looking for in terms of salary (annual or hourly). Answering it immediately locks you into a low ball position or asking way too much. If you ask for too much, the recruiter probably won’t even bother submitting you. If it’s too low, you’ll wish you asked for more.
There’s a formula for this stuff including a counter offer. This site helped me get a good talking point script down and a good mindset of how to approach the salary question. In the end, I bought the $47 template pack when I was offered a job (lower than what I wanted) and the counter offer template got me an extra $15,000 a year. So I’d say the $47 was money very well spent.
https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com
I think it’s imperative you read this site as much as possible to create your script. When you talk to recruiters, they’ll want you to answer a number right away. They are gatekeepers. If you blurt out a number, you may low-ball yourself. Best to just stick to a script to avoid a number especially when you’ve heard nothing about the opportunity!
9 times out of 10, my script worked that I took from the website. Most recruiters were fine with it or I simply said “Hmmm.. I don’t really have a number in mind. It depends on the position really. Can you tell me what the range is for this and I can tell you if it’s in my ballpark.”
I kicked it back to them and they told me which allowed me to see if the offer was too low. It also allowed to start negotiation immediately.
Personally I didn’t find it helpful to talk about numbers when more than half of these things lead nowhere anyway. But it does help to see if it’s a really low paying position, you might as well end the call unless you really really love the job description or are desperate. Having a script really was easy and the default on this site worked great.
Career Counseling If you’re company offered it or offers it … take advantage of it. At least to get a resume review and to attend some classes on what’s changed in this landscape. If you are going to pay for any service, it’s a resume writing service. Don’t pay for career sites or follow these mass follow me and I’ll promote you to my massive network schemes you’ll run across. Stick to your resume and applying for positions. All these other things are distractions and they are selling a product. You have no need for that nor the time.
Social Media Do yourself a favor.. either lock down your profiles or better yet.. delete them, clean them out..
You in a mask on Halloween giving the camera the finger? You spouting off your political agenda?
When companies do a background check or if there’s a curious recruiter who goes looking.. if they see your Facebook profile with a photo of you in a mask flipping off the camera. That’s the kind of stuff where you get passed over and you don’t know why. Don’t give any hiring entity any edge to not hire you or pass you over for somebody else.
My recommendation for this reason along with my security advocate side is delete all social media except LinkedIn. Unless you have a valid business reason, you don’t need this stuff. And if you do, don’t link it or use the same email or your name. Distance yourself. People judge. We’re human. It happens. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to be judged while interviewing. No need to give people more reasons to do so.
I don’t think my Facebook page had anything negative at all. But recruiters or anybody else might still judge. Plus the whole privacy thing bothered me. I deleted it before I started looking and I’m glad I did. It was one less place anybody could find stuff about me that they might like. I wanted to be judged on my qualifications and my skills I could bring to the job. Not what vacation I took or what party I was at, or that I liked drinking wine…
In my methodical approach, I wanted to eliminate anything I couldn’t control.
This helped keep track of the places I needed to apply, places I applied, what was in the queue, etc. It’s simple, it’s free and you’ll do just the basics of keeping track of what’s happening.
As you find job thru the various paths, you can quickly click on them and it saves the link to Need to Apply. Over time, you’ll save, apply and keep going. You’ll start to get phone screens and onsites and this site made it really smooth to keep a general idea of what’s happening
Especially when people asked how’s it going or a recruiter wanted to know if you had any other offers outstanding. You’d have a good idea.
This will be your one stop shop for what to apply for, what have I applied for, where did I get rejected, what’s coming up.
How to Build Your Perfect Resume
The Find & Save Job Method This one technique will literally re-write your resume!
As I sat starting at my resume, I knew generally what I wanted to do but I wasn’t sure what to write. I had ideas of technologies I used but as I wrote each word it was painful. It didn’t flow well and it sounded either too high level or I was deep in the weeds.
During this time I was actively reviewing the jobs in LinkedIn that it recommended and I had saved. I’d scan the description and the responsibilities. I’d see a line and think.. Yeah that’s exactly what I did or I want to do, could do, can do.
Then it clicked!
Hey, why not use copy that line from this job, this line from that job.. manipulate it a bit and I’d have a really good well rounded description and 10 bullet points. As I started doing this, my resume wrote itself. None of it was lying or cheating, it was simply using what recruiters wanted for the position and I picked from 100’s of saved jobs lines, keywords and descriptions that I had done or knew I had the skills to do. It saved me from writing each line myself and struggling to guess at what would work.
It’s right in front of you! Saved Jobs are what will work because it’s what recruiters are looking for when seeking candidates to do a job.
To Recap:
- save jobs
- pull lines you like and have the skills
- grab keywords
- scope out titles and see if your title could be better
- merge into your profile & resume assuming you have or can talk to those skills
- take out lines and mediocre responsibilities and add in powerful attention grabbing talking points
You’ll take your resume to the level it needs to be. A very well crafted calling card to get you in front of people who are looking for your skill set.
Build a Resume Baseline At this point you will save this version of your resume as a Baseline. It’s what you’ll use to tweak it for a specific job.
I had about 50 versions of my resume! I’d take my baseline, look at a job, copy and paste my resume and their job description and see if I could write my resume better to match what they were looking for in the position. Does it work? It doesn’t hurt. It might get you past the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) when some computer is looking for a high percentage of matches on keywords.
My go to site was JobScan
I’d take my baseline, their job description, and see how I scored. Then I’d add in and remove and re-write as much as possible within reason to get a higher score. I saved my new resume in a folder for that company and that is what I used to apply. Always keeping my baseline fresh and updated in general but using this method per position.
Interviews for Pros Write Your 1-Page Position Statement.
This 1 page sheet is at the top of your folio. Every phone screen, you have it right there. They’ll ask these questions. You’ll have answers. You tweak over time to perfect them but it’s the conversation. It’s how you tell them what you do, what you’ve done and what you can do that will help them. Your resume is on the other side for talking points and your position statement takes care of the typical 5 questions or so they’ll all ask.
Tell me about yourself
This is practically the #1 question every phone screen will ask. It’s what a hiring manager will ask on the phone. There’s a lull in the conversation and now they ask “So tell me about yourself.” This is when you tell them what you do (TITLE), maybe where you studied, degree, certifications and then 3-4 sentences about what you currently do, that just so happens to coincide with the job skills they are looking to fit.
Why are you looking to change (or leave your current situation)
No shame here if you got laid off. Maybe you are looking to make a career change that will present new opportunities and challenges. As long as you don’t say the obvious, my job is boring, work sucks, my boss is a jerk, the people are lame.. the really obvious stuff nobody should say… then it’s just a question. Nothing wrong with being a sole business owner who believes you can do more as a team than by yourself. Or my entire team was laid off and I’m looking to join another team. Whatever.
I see worked for Company A but Company B at the same time? (those who are using the technique above to bridging)
Why do you want to work for us.
Your company is an industry leader. This is the company I’ve been looking for, a place where my background, experience and skills can be put to use and make things happen.
Commonly referenced questions and acronyms
I put things in here I kept hearing over and over again. What does FIPS mean? What does salting a password mean? What’s the difference between asymmetric and symmetric encryption? At first, you’ll have nothing. After several phone screens and the same screening questions, you will. They’ll ask, you’ll have the answer. It’s just a matter of doing a lot of phone screens and taking notes. So you can enhance your position statement. If they seem leery at the laid off question, add something to the end that makes it a positive spin. This gave me an opportunity to take my passion and expertise and a second opportunities at doing what a I love.
Create Your 3-5 Reference Sheet
Ask them first (you want your references to agree and be made aware. You don’t want a potential employer calling, and your reference being caught off guard.
Name, Relationship, Email, Phone
When an employer asks, you can send this or copy and paste into an email. You’ll be well prepared.
Take and Go for Jobs that Make You Uncomfortable or You Think are Beyond Your Reach
This concept needs further explanation. Should be self-explanatory. In essence, taking interviews that are very difficult, get you to reach beyond your comfort, will give you insights to a much higher level position that you’ll ultimately get. But when you do sit in interviews that are at your levels, taking a few of these high-flyers will make these seem so easy!
After a few all day interviews, 8 people, teams of 2.. firing off questions like an automatic softball machine. These ones where it’s a small team with a few questions you’ve heard before, will seem to easy. You’ll be comfortable. Maybe even have fun! Fun in an interview? Maybe not the first few but over time, you’ll be scoping places out that have coffee bars, lunches, lounge chairs, and maybe be taken to lunch.
Always get something out of these.. maybe a job! But if not, a new question, a new whiteboard technique, an angle you didn’t think of, a popular product used in your industry that you need to research, a cup of coffee, a box of mints. Get something from your interview. Over time, I heard so many product terms that by the time a few months went by, I felt I literally was an expect on several end-point products. I also had ideas from Company A (virtual desktops) to Company B that thought that was a unique idea. It made me forward thinking and was a good conversation piece and yet, all I had to do was take a concept from a previous interview and apply it forward.
Let me be clear, these interviewers are literally coaching you for the next person and ultimately you will be the perfect person for the position!
Listen Listen Listen!
I need to detail this out. But what you’ll hear in these interviews are situations, concepts, questions that you’ll hear again and again. They’re interviewing you but you’re also interviewing them! This is a unique opportunity to gather details on their company that you can apply to the next interview. If you keep hearing certain acronyms, or repeated questions, find the answer, learn about it and add it to your position statement.
STAR Answer Format
The STAR method is a structured manner of responding to a behavioral-based interview question by discussing the specific situation, task, action, and result of what you're describing. Many places will ask for this type of format or maybe a SOAR (Situation, Objective, Action, Result). Esentially it’s a method of figuring out if what you did, fits the culture. A series of behavior questions to see if you fit the company’s principles. Plus it’s a way to understand bullet points in your resume.
I was told early on, you can never have enough of these type stories. It helps communicate your abilities to an interview panel.
Write 1-2 per day. You’ll have so many talking points, you’ll need to refer to your notes!
Here’s what it looks like
SITUATION
Describe the situation that you were in, or the task that you needed to accomplish. Give enough detail for the interviewer to understand the complexities of the situation. This example can be from a previous job, school project, volunteer activity, or any relevant event.
TASK
What goal were you working toward?
ACTION
Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail, and keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take? What was your particular contribution? Be careful that you don’t describe what the team or group did when talking about a project. Let us know what you actually did. Use the word “I,” not “we,” when describing actions.
RESULT
Describe the outcome of your actions and don’t be shy about taking credit for your behavior. What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? Provide examples using metrics or data if applicable.
In Conclusion
Need to sum it up.
Resources
Linked: Conquer LinkedIn. Get Your Dream Job. Own Your Future
Glassdoor.com Company, Salary and Interviews
Sample Thank You Letters
https://www.careercontessa.com/advice/interview-thank-you-email-letter/
https://www.jobinterviewtools.com/blog/sample-thank-you-letter-after-interview/
https://www.livecareer.com/career/advice/interview/sample-thank-you-letters
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5578-sample-thank-you-letters.html
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