The dreaded “tell me about your weaknesses” or “what would your former boss tell me your weaknesses are” questions are often analyzed in anticipation of having to deliver clever answers. 

You are smart so I am not going to take time writing about hiding strengths in the weaknesses or why to not say stupid things like “I am too dedicated”.  Instead, we will move down the path that the interviewer wants to know if you are self aware and understand what needs to be developed versus delegated. 

How do you respond?  By first doing your own SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).  Just like a company does about their products and services, why don’t you in relation to your personal brand?Write your SWOT down on a full sheet of paper.

Strengths - internal analysis

These are your strengths - different from talents, skills and core competencies.  In other words, only list a talent, skill or core competency if it is unique and a differentiators…you are one of few who possess the benefit.

Weaknesses  - internal analysis

What holds you back or is a perceived weakness (be honest with yourself) in the ability to do the job at hand and grow to the next level of success?  It is okay to talk about these weaknesses in an interview.  I encourage it!  To be successful, have a solution for your weaknesses such as delegation, or countering with a significant strength.  Perhaps the weakness is a deal killer - fine, you want to learn that now and not in six weeks when you hate your job. 

As the one being interviewed, ask your would be boss to list her weaknesses as well as the weaknesses of the team.  Take the information to quickly solve problems for her in the interview.  You can move quickly because of the confidence a SWOT analysis brings you.  This goes both ways, folks.  As a professional running your personal brand, keep a current SWOT whether you are the hirer or hiree.

Opportunities - external analysis

What is happening in your world that you can capitalize on based on your internal evaluation?  How can you leverage your strengths and awareness to capture opportunities?  What are your opportunities?  Write them down and be aware.  Self awareness is the difference between those who see opportunities in front of their face and those who don’t.

Threats - external analysis 

These are the realities in your environment that could threaten your ability to succeed.  No differentiators; competition; health, lifestyle; industry changes you don’t follow…on and on.  Be honest with yourself and be aware. 

Now, take the weakness question to your advantage and help each other learn if you are a good fit and can work together or not.  Help each other by moving into a good situation where everyone succeeds.  No games. 

Want to start your own discussion?  Start a thread at Your Brand, LLC Forums.

Every organization has a culture and the experience would make up the culture brand. Business owners, managers and leaders are aware of the culture they promote and if the promoted culture and and actual culture are the same, the right people are attracted and retained from teammates to customers.  Many companies are afraid to be themselves.  Some companies wear their emotions on their sleeves.  I posted my following experience on my forum and on Jobing.com and will share on Hire Educated as well because this is how you as a company hire the right people for you:    

Jobing.com is the master in creating an environment that means business and community. They value action - community - excellence - integrity - innovation - knowledge - love - ownership - passion - teamwork and wow!

In many organizations, values are words. Sad but true in many cases, but as time goes on and I watch Jobing.com grow, I continue to see tangible proof of each value. They are localized and active in each community they serve.

In Denver as I ventured into their office the other day, I experienced WOW! You see jobing.com folks around town at networking events, expos, etc. and personal brand is filled with passion and excitement - walk into a bright office with lots of color and a bullpen full of a collection of like and complimentary personal brands, and you get goosebumps…I did! My goosebumps sustained as I walked through the office with community relations manager and authentic customer service pro (my words), Andrea Hoffman. She introduced me to the team who were on the phone or dialing, but they all screamed a warm welcome to me. I proceeded to meet the GM, Rick Thompson who is clearly thrilled be there…the skater and surfer from Vegas and San Diego has not screamed down a powder filled mountain on a snowboard in Colorado yet - road trip anyone?!

I moved on to see Dean Shalmoni who is the videographer and editor who recorded a short interview and captured some of my talk at a recent Jobing.com career expo. I witnessed his professionalism that day but really enjoyed sitting in his workspace and witnessing his true passion for creating videos for Denver employers.

As Andrea and I headed out to our meeting, I commented on the refreshing mission statement painted on the wall with comments and signatures all over the full sized wall. I told her my experience is that many company vision statements read like mission and mission like a tag line - that does not effectively inspire. Jobing.com’s mission:

is to connect local companies with local people and help them build valuable relationships in order to recruit and hire future employees. We strive to help employers utilize technology to save time and money while making it easier to hire qualified individuals to contribute to their organizations’ goals. We are also committed to helping people find better jobs and career opportunities to improve their lives.

This mission coupled with with the framed values near by are lived by each person and that is why this company is making a difference. A model culture!

I am reminded this week on the importance of planning and doing what you say you will do ahead of schedule.  Simple examples include returning calls and emails as you get them not only for professional courtesy, but to clear off you busy plate right away.

This week I am reminded as I look to ahead to how often I will be out of pocket over the next few weeks.  I am often asked: “With already tight schedules and expectations, how does one manage expectations when going on vacation?”  In my case, I am out of town for my keynote presentation at a Disney Institute conference including workshops I am running and some social time mixed in at an extended trip to Orlando.  Next week my wife, Julie, and I are in Vail to showcase her products at a wedding industry event -that trip too turns into a mini-vacation.  Large pockets of time where I am not available.

As these events are here, I feel not much has changed.  Time is managed correctly, non productive activity is quickly dropped and delegation to capable people occurs.  Aside of a little bit of time packing and setting communication expectations, we are clear sailing.  The trick is this behavior is part of our consistent personal brand. 

Don’t wait until your schedule has a dramatic change to organize yourself.  Have you ever noticed how productive you and your colleagues are right before a vacation?  Challenge yourself to behave this way all the time.  You will know you succeed in expectations when your life does not change much just prior to a vacation. 

Start this week - clean up your activity and help others learn how to do the same.    

 

 

 

Creating the resume that gets noticed is a stressful task for many.  Why?

For most the challenge is in creating the documents from scratch or redoing outdated material.  For others, the challenge lies in hiding something (getting fired, gaps, career changes, no accomplishments, trouble with self promotion, etc.).  Regardless of the challenges at hand, many complain about getting lost in the shuffle or concern the reader does not “get it”. 

Let’s tackle all of this at the same time.  Assuming you have a general understanding of a common resume layout, let’s get right to the meat:

• Get smart.  Read and learn a lot to increase your vocabulary - especially within your industry.  Highlight keywords that matter on your resume.  Seperate yourself.
• Don’t write a job description - very common mistake!  List accomplishments and create a vision for future success the reader can get excited about.
• Get to it.  No fluff.  With a well crafted paragraph up front highlighting why you are amazing and/or directing the future, limit the body of the resume to quick points.  In your face facts and accomplishments.  
• Your high school career counselor was right when she told you to keep the resume to one page - then.  Forget it now.  A page per decade works as long as what is documented is relevant.

Now that you have a draft, consider how you behave when flipping through a magazine in the waiting room at the dentist.  You are looking for something interesting and quickly pass anything that does not seem entertaining to pass the time.  Well, this is how the reader of your resume might be flipping through a stack (or virtual stack) of resumes.  With quick witted statements and highlighted key words strategically placed in the content of your resume, be sure the right message stands out in a quick scan.  Take that resume and hold it at a arms length in front of you.  What is the first thing you notice?  Is the first thing you noticed supported in your personal brand on the resume and in you?  

Once you have a resume that you are proud of and has passed the test of your non-yes man friends, consider a few other drafts that may highlight different disciplines or industry experience.  In other words, have multiple resumes.  Save them with your name and a key word.

Finally, use this document as part of your strategic career plan.  Hold yourself accountable to updating your resume every six months.  Now your are always ready when contacted to consider opportunities, and, here is the important part - you are responsible for accomplishing something resume worthy every six months meaning your are kicking butt - getting promoted, adding value and on a great path.  

 Want to start your own conversation about resumes? Go to the Ask a Recruiter forum.

Another tough nut to crack is getting on the radar screen of a venture capitalist.  Whether it is to pitch a business plan for funding, talent to put on your company staff or board of directors or in search for a job. 

Since this blog is about being hire educated, we will focus on the getting the job with a venture capitalist part.  Although, the crossover may be worth your while if you have different agendas. 

So, you want to be on the due diligence or development team with a VC.  Perhaps your goal is to get hired with a VC’s portfolio company.  How do you crack that code in one of the sexy industries where a lot of smart and qualified people try and fail to ”get in”? 

First, get noticed by doing great work elsewhere.  Ideally in investment banking or consulting firms that have a portfolio as smaller and rapid growth ventures.  In addition, experience within a start-up yourself would be a good idea to understand the culture and nuances of how these deals work.  This may also be a good test to determine if you really want to be in this environment.  With notable success and failure, you may create the kind of personal brand that gets noticed by the VC community.

If you are having success in the right areas yet don’t have the contact, you need to focus your networking and career strategy.  The common advice of getting a warm introduction works.  Be aware, however, that just because you know someone who knows a VC does not mean you are in the door.  The filters are tight.  That is why there seems to be a pedigree in this business.  The attorneys, portfolio CEOs, executive recruiters, etc. are just as tough to crack.  Remember “How to Get a Response from Recruiters“?  

During the dot com boom, I had a number of venture backed start-ups clients in the executive search business and was aggressively pursued myself by the corporate ship jumper who thought she wanted to run a start-up.  Many did not make the cut because of culture, and many who did found themselves going back to where they had the success in corporate progression.  Some did realized their true passion was in small and rapid growth environments.  A good test for all.       

Regardless, set the strategy to show the work ethic and success in evaluating deals, launching products and leading rapid growth teams.  Get these notches on your professional belt while networking and adding value to the VC crowd.  It will likely take time, but if this is where you want to be, it is worth it! 

Got some due diligence or business ideas?  Start a discussion in the due diligence forum.

 

Is there a chance we can provide more honest and productive feedback at work?  Can we learn faster from direct criticism?

This week, start the trend not to seek praise and approval.  Instead, do an absolutely incredible job on your project at hand but ask questions along these lines:

How can I make it better?

What did I miss?

What is wrong with____?

Solicit criticisms and help others do the same.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I spoke at the Jobing.com career fair about “Networking to Sustain a Personal Brand”.

The discussion was on networking as you would expect, but the lesson starts before the action of networking.  You must have clarity in what you offer and you must be able to tell a short story of what you can do for someone. A personal brand defined with confidence.

Relief became present across many faces when they realized you can spend time getting to know someone first based on who they are as apposed to pitching everyone who will give you 30 seconds. You can ask the other person questions until they are tired of talking. The other person feels good and you learned enough to hit them between the eyes with a relevant value proposition they can feel and therefore remember - in much less than 30 seconds too!  Moving forward with this communication strategy allows you to find where your passion and talents equal the needs you are hearing about - assuming you are going down a direction where there seems to be a fit.  Otherwise, you listen and suggest other people who could provide more value than you can.  That, my friend, is adding value and networking at it’s finest.  

As many people, are you concerned about being perceived as old, young, inexperienced, out dated…on and on? Many of these scenarios of concern came up in questions yesterday - common questions. My answer was redundant across concerns or excuses: learn, add value and do something you love.

Passion + talent = a great brand that gets hired - no excuses needed.

Ask your own questions for discussion at the Networking | Connecting Forum

Another common question is “David, how do I get recruiters to return my call or email?”  This question usually comes in the format of a complaint and is therefore a personal brand challenge for recruiters.  Many recruiters have a reputation for not getting back with candidates.  It is important to point out there are two areas of communications to candidates:

1. Actual candidates in process for a particular search.  Complaints in this category usually refer to feedback or the lack of feedback following interviews with the recruiter and/or hiring manager.  Recruiters who do not communicate in a timely manor in this case are not being professional.     
2. Candidates trying to network or “get on the radar screen” with a particular recruiter or firm.

The short answer is you need to have a compelling and short message that gets the recruiter and hiring manager exited to know more. Effective calls show homework has been done and you are adding value.  This practice is no different than a cold sales call - you are the sales person making the cold call.   

Keep this in mind: Recruiters and hiring managers get overwhelmed by candidates for open positions. What makes you unique? How can you help them? Answer the “So What”.  As a retained recruiter, I would do my best to touch everyone that contacted me with returned calls and/or emails.  But I admit it is tough with sheer volume.  Many good recruiters will get back with you even if just to say, I have nothing now but will keep you in mind.  Have faith in that.  Don’t be afraid to follow-up, but when you do, have a value add game plan including referrals for open searches you are aware of or candidates that could be a fit for positions you are aware of.  That would be a good “touch”. 

Hint: always be networking and keeping your personal brand top of mind - not just when looking for a job.  This is one of the most common mistakes by job seekers.   

I am often approached by candidates and companies to assist in recruiting efforts or make connections to recruiters.  A common follow up question is about the difference between retained and contingency recruiters.  This is important for your expectations of how you will be communicated with…or not as many complain.  Here is a breakdown:

Retained Search Firms
1. Retained on an exclusive basis by companies to fulfill a position. Represents employer clients only
2. Can have an industry focus, but tend to be generalist in nature.
3. Cater to jobs above $100,000, charging the employer either a flat fee or 30% to 33% of the starting salary.
4. Retained recruiters usually contact potential candidates at their current place of employment, tend to be selective of companies and titles.
5. Only have a limited number of career opportunities for a candidate.
6. Retained recruiters may undertake significant screening, assessments, and background checks.
7. Usually narrow down the search for a position to 2 or 4 job candidates.
8. Process tends to take longer.
9. Decision to utilize generally made by General Management.
10. Potential conflict of interest between clients, candidates and firms related to a “pool” to draw candidates from.

Contingency Search Firms
1. One of several possible firms used by a company. Fee is earned by the first search firm that places a suitable candidate. May represent candidates.
2. Often tend to be specialists in an industry or discipline at the low to mid-management career level.
3. Tend to focus on jobs in the $30,000 - $100,000 range and usually charge the hiring company 25% of the position’s salary.
4. Contingency recruiters are usually pulling from a database of available talent. Activity is heavy on both candidate and client development for the timely match.
5. Cater to various companies and have ability to share jobs and provide more opportunities.
6. Contingency recruiters tend to not provide as much additional details outside of the candidate’s resume.
7. Try to maximize their chances of success by supplying as many possible candidates as possible.
8. Process designed to turn over candidates quickly.
9. Decision to utilize generally made by HR.
10. Independent with much lower chances of conflict.

There are more and more examples of small and mid-sized search firms or independent recruiters practicing some combination of the above standard definition of retained and contingency search firms.

Clearly the Internet has and continues to make a significant impact on time and fees associated to recruiting.  Surviving recruiters are adapting to the change in their environment as any good pro does. 

Contact the appropriate firms for you and make sure to add value to them directly as well as with great resumes and online profiles.   

Start your own discussion at Ask a Recruiter Forum 

This week ( April 28, 2008 ) is the official beginning of Hire Educated.  Where to start when there are so many reasons I created a blog focused on hiring and getting hired - an equation both side should care about. 

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to help people in some capacity every day during what could be a complicated and scary moment of job search and organization hiring needs.  Fear clouds judgement at times when otherwise well thought-out choices are made. 

Every Monday my goal is to post some sort of inspiration that fits into all sides of the hiring process.  Today, remember others who need a connection from you and wisdom from your experience on the job market or building a team:

“Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving” - Albert Einstein