Getting The Upper Advantage No Matter The OddsBy: Anthony Hines and Joe Ward

Who Am I….I am a hardworking guy who, like many others, found himself out of work during the economic downturn in 2010. After a long battle of wrong turns, job search strategies that led to no where, and dead end leads, I decided to take a more strategic approach to my job search. Like anything else in life, I needed to treat my search like a full-time job and create a plan that would allow me to stand out above the competition.

Why Am I Sharing What Helped Me…because I quickly realized that to handle an event like that is to focus on what you can control and share the experience to help others. I believe that an experience not shared is a lost opportunity in life, and that smart people learn from their mistakes and smarter people learn from other people’s experiences.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING MORE.Get Your Resume Checked Email your resume to Support@Resume2employed.com and tell them I sent

you. That way you will get a free comprehensive and detailed report of how your resume looks and flows. Go for it because without a great resume, you have no chance of getting any job much less a great job. The turnaround is quick and the service is stellar.

Read My Job Search Tip Document First .These are the Free documents that tell you everything that I did to get activity

& visibility in my search. Email me at Ahines1@aol.com and I will send you them.

The next group of slides will come to you courtesy of Joe Ward who has been in HR for many years.

Lots of info compacted in a few slides that need you time and attention. Get ready to read and learn.

First you learn about Joe and all he has done and then you learn all he knows. Believe me, this is priceless stuff.

Human Resources Specialist with over 20 years experience in persuasion/sales, diplomacy and strong recruitment skills; ability to work effectively in high-pressure environments; strategic recruitment efforts; able to support an organization’s mission statement as well as enhance its culture.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION: Posted job openings to all internet job boards; conducted internet searches for viable

candidates; performed phone screenings of potential candidates; conducted reference checks and met with candidates initially before referring on to hiring managers.

Coordinated recruiting efforts by updating job boards; coordinating hiring budget and pre-screening applicants

Trained/coached employees and supervisors on the interaction between FMLA and the ADA, ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA and other federal and state filing regulations to ensure 100% compliance.

Communicated application of benefit provisions in a clear, concise manner to employees at all levels.

Created employee benefit policies and procedures. Analyzed proposals, including rates and benefits, and made recommendations to senior

management. Maintained positive and effective partnerships with clients, brokers and vendors. Managed open enrollments, benefit fairs and new hire onboarding. Handled all aspects of vendor billing reconciliations. Sustained a high level of customer service dealing with complex, confidential employee relations

issues.

After all of the hard work that you have done to gain an interview, you should have a general understanding of what may or may not happen upon conclusion of an interview.

This is not meant to dash anyone’s career hopes, but it may be helpful for any job seeker to realize potentially harsh realities regarding how some Human Resources Departments may work on the inside concerning candidate selection.

HR has always been concerned with the bottom line and in what is in the best interest of the company.

Translated, that means HR wants the best talent for as little money and time their allotted budgets allow in order to hire the best talent possible.

Job seekers needs to think of HR as the “parents and gate keepers” of a company.

HR says, “Yes, no and maybe” to you getting your foot in the door because they have to look out for the “family”; aka – their company.

However, as Anthony Hines mentioned, HR may not have the final say in a job seeker getting hired, but I’ll get to that.

All job seekers need to be unique to get noticed: One must be a focused, talented professional who knows what

they want in a career; don't be another "Joe" looking for a "Job" , Who have proven their work ethic while job searching, as

Anthony Hines previously mentioned, and, Who has done research about their focused company and can

speak engagingly with the interviewer

Through all of my interview experience, when a candidate came prepared with information about my company of which I was not aware, those points went a long way!

If they did not get hired , they received several callbacks for follow-up interviews.

CREDENTIALS

Anthony Hines mentioned important factors about resumes and resume resources. However, don’t forget about the importance of a concise, well-focused cover letter and keep your references up-to-date:

Recruiters often will look at a cover letter even before a resume because that letter must sum up a job seeker in ONLY 3 PRECISE PARAGRAPHS – no more; no less. A cover letter MUST be company/position-specific. Research and tailor a cover letter to one's target company/position accordingly. If the job seeker sends a “canned or generic” cover letter a recruiter may not bother

reading the resume because they have another 100 to look through in their in-boxes on that one day alone.

Be absolutely sure your references are completely current. Even if a former employee or colleague left a former workplace, work with that former HR

department somehow to make sure that you will get the best reference possible. Be sure that an actual person will make that reference happen even if it is just from the

former HR department itself

RECRUITERS/HIRING MANAGERS

Please keep in mind that for every one job out there, there will be literally hundreds if not thousands of others looking for that same position. Ergo, recruiters are inundated and spend an average of ten to 15 seconds (more or less) reviewing applicants.

DON’T PESTER THE RECRUITER/HIRING MANAGER! It is totally understandable to be anxious and curious as to where you may stand after an

interview. However, keep in mind that both the recruiter and the hiring manager are stressed out

enough to find the right talent. But, with constant calls/emails/thank you letters and follow-up calls, they can perceive

you as a nuisance and needy and chuck you into the wastebasket so as to not have another person bothering them about a position. I heard a lot complaints about this from recruiters in my work history.

Try to find a balance between just a "check-in" vs. becoming a "job stalker." I can’t really advise here because that is up to the job seeker and their read on how the company may operate.

NEPOTISM AND FORCED HIRES ARE A REALITY WITH HR.

Anthony Hines touched on a great point because I’ve seen it happen and the HR rep will NEVER admit it to avoid possible discrimination lawsuits.

As I mentioned above, HR may not have the final say in their recommended hire: A company executive or influential hiring mgr. can walk right into HR

and say, “I want this person because I’ve worked with them in the past and I trust them or it’s my niece/nephew with a family they need to support; make it happen and hire them regardless of other candidates“ and HR is left without a choice.

It’s not the job seeker fault; just the way the game is played within the company.

Do not get discouraged!

If the job seeker does not get hired, it is ok to try to contact HR or the recruiter/hiring manager to find out why and to ask how they might improve themselves for a future interviews either at that particular company or for future opportunities elsewhere.

If the job seeker acts professionally after a rejection, they may be kept in a “maybe” pile by a recruiter or hiring manager for a future posting.

Follow-up with thank you notes. That may sound needless, but it keeps a job seeker in a recruiter/hiring

manager's mind.

Plus, companies are required by law to keep resumes on file for a certain amount of time. I forget if its months or years, but they will keep you on file somewhere for

future reference/possibilities.

So given that knowledge, a job seeker should not feel totally defeated.

Social Media and One's Personal History

Regarding the above, much has changed with the advent of social media in HR when just a CORI was necessary for a background check for most positions. However, today, HR has the ability to dig into one’s life like never before:

FaceBook and Other Social Sites: I think the jury is still out re: the legality of this, but companies will and do ask

for a job seeker’s passwords to any social sites they are on from Facebook, to Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

Whether legal or not, if you refuse, you may be perceived a someone hiding something or would be non-cooperative and therefore passed over for a position; if you do, then be prepared to have your life on display.

The job seeker needs to be completely sure their social media is cleaned up including any groups they may belong to.

Comments, posts, pictures, tweets, Google searches, etc., can open up one’s personal life to a company and may affect a potential hire.

For more information as to how HR is leveraging social media, review the following article from the January/February 2015 edition of, "HR Decisions" -http://www.hrdecisions-digital.com/hrdecisions/january_february_2015#pg8

CORIs Even if a job seeker may have so much as a speeding ticket, make sure you show you have resolved the issue and how you did it. In doing so, it may put into context anything negative on that CORI that may have showed up and why.

CREDIT/FINANCIAL ISSUES: This is a big one! If you had issues making a onetime missed

payment for any financial obligation, show why and what you are doing or have done to rectify the negative report.

Again, depending on the company’s culture/philosophy, if they see someone is working to fix their problems that can go a long way, but it is still a 50/50 crap shoot. Better to err on showing you have tried instead of doing nothing at all.

Get your credit reports for free from creditkarma.com to review any issues and try to fix them. You may have issues they were not aware of prior to applying for a position.

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This paid service will make your connection total explode. I caution that if you are not ready for a substantial amount of LinkedIn connection requests especially from recruiters, you may not want to sign up and believe me it doesn’t stop. They keep coming.

Now if you want that type of traffic and want many more contacts guaranteed, please use the above link for quick service.

If you have found this presentation helpful and found some ways to gain an advantage in your job search, then my hours of work to help the unemployed one person at a time has been a success.

please email me at Ahines1@aol.com and tell me how its going. If you have read my docs and have seen my two Job Search Survival Kit presentations , I believe that you are on your way to your next group of opportunities. Embrace the challenge and do your best daily. Go for it and don’t look back. No excuses, no delays, no procrastination. Go for it.

Come join the LinkedIn group that I recently created. It is called the Anthony Hines Job Search Survival Group. It’s a unique group because the people in it really support and help each other to get their next opportunity.

Just log into LinkedIn.com, go to groups and join the above named group. People really seem to find it useful and I check in often as well. Come join today.

Go back to Slideshare.net and check out my other “Job Search Survival Kit” presentations because over the recent past, I have added a bunch of new chapters that enhances what you have just read and will also help to get you an even better edge in your job search journey.

Check out my Job Search Survival Kit on Youtube.com as well. Just search for it and it will come right up.

Most importantly, make sure you email a copy of your resume to Support@resume2employed.com for your free resume critique because you have no chance of ever getting a great job without a great resume to get you noticed.