APICS Atlanta - Career Assistance
With the new Chapter Job Board, companies can now
publish their job opportunities directly. Please visit often.
Please send us your updated resume, and ask us to add
you to the subscription list for new job notices, but visit the site
regularly just in case.
To make us aware of your interest in new
opportunities send an email to:
careercenter@apicsatlanta.org
or call Jon Harvill at 770-952-0009.
ASK THE EMPLOYMENT EXPERTS
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Dear Steve and Jon,
At my networking meetings, I hear a lot about “body
language.” Could you explain what that means and how to use
it in the job interview?
Signed: Missing the Signals
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Steve Hines, consultant, career coach and author of
Atlanta Jobs
Dear Missing,
Body language is important – I have read opinions that
it accounts for up to half of an interview. Greet your
interviewer with a firm handshake and do not sit until
told to do so. Sit up straight in the chair and do not
slouch. Be appropriately animated and seem genuinely
interested. Project a positive, optimistic attitude.
Maintain good eye contact. Smile!
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Dear Missing,
Subconsciously we naturally express body language and
normally read body language quite well. Similar to improving
your listening skills, improving your power of observation
can be a tremendous advantage in interviewing. Not only will
you observe when the interviewer unfolds her arms,
indicating she is more “open” to what you are saying, you
can observe exactly when the muscles around the eyes relax
(eyes appear more open with more sparkle), a flushing of the
complexion and possibly a slight nodding of the head may
signal when the interviewer is excited about what she is
hearing or seeing.
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Knock 'um Dead Interview
I have conducted my job search campaign, participated
in the telephone interview and now I am invited to an on-sight interview
with the company of my dreams. In fact, it is the perfect job to use all
of my experience and skills and I feel I can solve some major problems
for the company and make them a lot of money in the process, all the
while doing something I really enjoy doing.
I have read a book on interviewing, called Knock ‘em
Dead, by Martin Yate and I have listened to pointers from my recruiter.
Now let’s put together the interview that will show everyone that I am
the right person for this job.
What do we know about the job? I was given a job
description by my recruiter. I also did my research before the telephone
interview, to know as much as I could about any problems the company may
be facing. I am familiar with the industry and I even called a couple of
the company’s employees I know from our professional association. They
filled me in on what they knew about the position and the interviewers.
In fact, one of them may have put in a good word for me to help me get
this interview. I will send her a thank you note and follow up with
another conversation before the interviews.
I know that at the interview stage I need to be goal
oriented and have only one primary objective, and that is to receive a
job offer. As I ask and answer questions during the interview, each of
my statements must pass the test, “Does this move me toward receiving an
offer?” If it does not, it might not be the right time for that response
or question. This will prevent me from asking any self-serving questions
or asking questions purely to gather information. Once I have the offer,
then I can get all the answers that I will need to make my decision. At
this point my questions should be to guide the interview toward my
strengths or to show my interest, with care to avoid embarrassing the
interviewer or being judgmental.
Here I am talking about receiving the offer, when I
know I still have a few obstacles ahead of me.
I know that first impressions are important so I want
my conservatively tailored business suit to be crisp. I have always been
told that my posture and body movements properly show my high energy
level and even my enthusiasm, but my recruiter encouraged me to still
focus my attention to these details of body language during the first
ten seconds I spend with each person on the interview visit. Sometimes I
tend to be too serious so I really need to remember to smile,
particularly during those first ten seconds. The handshake needs to be
firm but not uncomfortable and use good eye contact. Polished shoes –
checked. Dark coordinated sox – checked. Fresh haircut and preferably
clean shaven – checked. I remember that corny comment the recruiter
made, “The only way sporting a beard is not a negative for the
interviewee is when the interviewer also has a beard, and, in this
instance, the recruiter does not think she does.” ☺ I think I am ready
to give that extra attention that will result in good first impressions.
I have reviewed my resume to know exactly what it
says and to be able to give examples and more detail about every claim
and situation it mentions. The same goes for the job description. I have
written out and rehearsed examples of accomplishments to match each
specification and job requirement and other significant personal
accomplishments I may use to show what I can accomplish for this
company.
The recruiter told me how to prepare for what he
called Behavioral Interview Questions, where the interviewer may ask,
“Give me an example of when you did so-and-so.” I have put these
accomplishments in the S.T.A.R. format – “S” and “T” are for the
Situation or Task. “A” is for the Action we took and “R” is for the
Results we attained, with the results carried out to the actual dollars
to the bottom line, when possible.
Another big improvement I have made in my
interviewing skills is to present my accomplishments with quantitative
measurements, i.e. “I reduced inventory by $2,000,000 by improving
inventory accuracy with cycle counting and saved an additional $350,000
a year in inventory carrying costs.” If I had known the power of using
accomplishments when I originally wrote my resume, it would have been
totally different from the hum-drum resume I have used in the past. I am
taking copies of this new resume with me to the interview. I will also
leave a list of significant lean six sigma results with each interviewer
just to help them remember me from the pack of candidates they will be
seeing.
My recruiter stressed that I should pointedly let the
interviewer know I want the job, before I leave the interview. That
sounds like a little thing but I can see where it could make the
difference in receiving the offer or being one step behind someone else
who did let them know.
I feel I am prepared to knock ‘um dead during this
interview. The next article I write will be to describe how this new
employer has really benefited from hiring me.
Jon Harvill CPC, APICS Atlanta Career Center
Director, can be contacted at
770-952-0009,
JHarvill@professionalsearchatlanta.com or Professional Search of Atlanta's website at
professionalsearchatlanta.com
Packaging Your Résumé
Think of your résumé, not as a biography, but as a
marketing tool. To avoid including a lot of data that you may be very
proud of but that does not sell your suitability for this particular
position, try to emotionally separate yourself from the résumé writing
process. Imagine what an ad agency would choose to include and what
they would choose to leave out. Your résumé should clearly show your
employment goal and give supporting arguments in a powerful and easily
understood way, and leave out most of the rest.
RÉSUMÉ FORMATS - The use of one of a couple of a
traditional résumé formats will make it easier for the hiring official
to quickly read (or visually scan) and come away with enough good
reasons to consider you further.
Because your most resent employment is typically the
most important, an Inverse Chronological résumé puts
that information right up front and therefore is used most frequently.
It will show each employers’ name, dates of employment, your last title
there, your primary duties and your major accomplishments.
Some reasons to opt for a Functional résumé, which
lists your skills and accomplishments first and then lists only your
former employers’ names, your titles and the periods of employment; are
the following: :
- a need to play down the subject’s age,
- to disguise a job-hopping pattern,
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to show transferable skills to support a change of careers,
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to disguise a lack of steady advancement or consistent career
path.
With either format, your résumé should include
complete contact information, your educational background (unless by
omitting your education you avoid calling attention to your lack of a
degree), related honors and certifications and, at least, the most
recent ten years of professional experience. Your résumé should be no
longer than two pages, preferably one, with enough white space for an
interviewer to be able to make notes in the margins.
A "Profile/ Accomplishment/ Keyword"
format is sometimes used when catering to the résumé-scanning software
that automatically screens résumés and fills in databases from the data
and keywords found in the résumé. This type of software has gotten
pretty sophisticated and can handle most résumés but may still have
difficulty processing overly fancy formats and deciphering résumés made
up of tables, floating text boxes, graphics and embedded images.
Omit personal information that is unrelated to the
job you are applying for. Omit marital status, age, height, weight,
number of kids, social organizations, references, salary, reason for
leaving, religious organizations, etc. There is also no need to waste a
résumé line advising that, ”References can be provided”.
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVES. Your résumé should present
your professional background in the most positive manner, and answer
questions without raising unnecessary new ones. Use strong, confident
language to describe your achievements, not just by describing a feature
you bring but also spell out the benefit the new employer can
extrapolate receiving. For example, "As the chief manufacturing
engineer, I redesigned our assembly line process, cutting production
time by 20 percent, increasing annual profits by $2.3 million." Or, "As
senior account supervisor, brought in seven new clients and increased
existing client business by 25 percent. These efforts boosted the
agency's profitability by more than 15 percent over the previous year."
Use strong action words such as directed,
established, created, designed, earned, saved, produced, took control,
accomplished, lead, developed, installed and implemented. For job
pursuits within most for-profit industry, weaker words to avoid are
administered, documented, liaison, participated, attempted, tried,
requested, and coordinated.
For the benefit of the résumé scanning software, show
keywords in all their common forms, avoiding proprietary nomenclature,
unexplained acronyms and uncommon job titles (give more commonly used
titles in parenthesis).
PERFECTION COUNTS. Neatness counts and typographical
errors, poor spelling and faulty grammar are unacceptable It may take
several drafts to turn your résumé into your ideal marketing tool.
Proofread it carefully. Have someone else proofread it, too. Get
another opinion on its content and presentation. Now make sure it
answers "yes" to the following important questions:
- Does it effectively describe your background?
- Does it highlight your strong points and
accomplishments?
- Is it honest and accurate?
- Is it complete, yet concise?
- Is the format clean and attractive?
- Is it a successful marketing piece?
- Does it focus on your value to your previous
employers?
- Does it make you stand out from the crowd?
Jon Harvill CPC, APICS Atlanta Career Center
Director, can be contacted at
770-952-0009,
JHarvill@professionalsearchatlanta.com or Professional Search of Atlanta's website at
professionalsearchatlanta.com
Step 1: Structure Your Job Search
12 tools to make your job search effective:
- A well-written Resume.
- A 30-second verbal resume.
- Business cards.
- Daily planning and telephone log or a Contact Management
software.
- Home office or outplacement office space.
- Internet access for research and email.
- Telephone and answering machine.
- A personal support organization.
- Action Plans.
- Thank-you note stationary.
- An interview uniform.
- An impressive list of favorable reference
Read more
Step 2: Resumé Tips
The resume has one primary purpose: to lead to getting a job
interview! It is a marketing piece, not a personal history or
autobiography. The following suggestions may help make it more
effective:
Read more
And, your 30-Second Resumé
How many times have you been to a party, seminar or networking group
and someone asked you "What do you do?" or "Tell me about yourself?" How
did you respond? Did you fumble for words or lose your listener
attention with a long drawn out explanation involving technical words
that they could not understand. The conversation could have gone much
smoother if you had a short oral resume prepared that highlighted your
background and job objective, and still kept your listeners attention.
Read more
Step 3: Networking
Many of you have heard my opinion of job search priorities. In a job
search, your highest priority activity is to be face-to-face with a live
person. If possible that person should be in a position to hire you, but
more likely they will just know someone else who may need your talents.
During normal working hours, when you are not successful at being
face-to-face, you should be on the phone trying to get face-to-face.
After hours is the only time you can afford to work the less effective
methods such as the job boards, internet searches, newspaper help wanted
ads, emails and correspondence.
Read more
Please join us at the next APICS Atlanta
Meeting to meet and greet dozens of local hiring officials and swap
stories with others who like yourself are watching for the next great
opportunity.
Step 4: Interviewing Skills
Your physical appearance is as important as your interviewing skills
and credentials. Dress attractively, but conservatively, even if you
tend to be more flamboyant normally. Men should wear well-tailored
suits, preferably dark blue or gray; solid neutral shirts, striped or
solid-colored ties; dark, well-polished shoes solid black or navy socks.
And, don't forget to get a good haircut. Women should wear business
suits or tailored dresses with jackets; medium-heeled closed pumps; and
have your hair done in a conservative style. Remember, first impressions
count.
Read more
Step 5: Negotiations
Everything is negotiable or nothing is negotiable depending on the
company, the hiring official, the situation, and the position. You have
to be perceptive enough to determine your bounds. Negotiations begin
with the ad or job listing. Serious negotiations begin after the initial
offer is received. If the job listing indicates the potential salary
range, the title, the number of people supervised, the dollar
responsibility---all of these things are indicators of rigidity or
flexibility.
Read more
Additional Articles for Job Seekers
Please feel free to visit this external website for more articles on
networking, interviewing, and your resumé.
