employeeze

Yesterday I alluded to salary discussions in a first phone screen with the recruiter of a company. The rules have changed in this economy, so throw out your misconception about holding off on salary discussions or being coy with “looking for market value” statements.

I have queried fellow recruiters around the country about these practices, and most of them agree that if you refuse to discuss salary in this initial conversation with honest transparency, it could lead to you losing ground in consideration for the position. Remember, this interaction sets the stage between you and the company. Your recruiter can be your greatest ally or they can decide you don’t fit in with the corporate culture, and that decision is often made at this critical juncture. Make sure the person making this decision believes you are able and willing to collaboratively communicate and take direction.

A friend of mine living in a high-unemployment state (OR - 9%) asked me some questions about phone screens and reminded me that I should probably blog about it. So, here you are.

Nowadays, it’s pretty standard for someone to contact you for a phone screen if you look good on paper. Generally the initial contact is from someone in HR/Recruiting. This conversation is to ask you some general questions about your background, but it is also to assess your verbal skills. It is *also* his/her goal to establish your compensation range (I’ll discuss this in a later blog post).

Here are a few pointers to ensure that the phone screen gives a good first impression.

-Be flexible in your times
Lunch, early/late hours.  If you are currently employed try and block time weekly for your conversations. Remember, recruiters work business hours although they may be willing to call you later or earlier.

-Location/phone
*Make sure you use a phone that has clear reception (ie avoid SKYPE), and go to a place where you will be undisturbed. No kids, pets, traffic, music, TV, or interruptions. Make sure your cell phone is charged and you have reception. (I’ve gone to my car many times). Have a pen and paper handy to take notes to ask additional questions.

-Remember that the person on the other end may be typing, so keep your responses conversational, don’t just start rattling off what sounds like a canned answer. *Listen* to the question, don’t assume that all phone screens will ask you the same thing. Stay engaged with the person at the other end. If the question can be interpreted more ways than one, ask for which track the person is asking. For example, I had a phone screen for a recruiting position, and the Director of HR asked me about my experience talking about salaries. I asked her to clarify. Did she want an example of salary negotiation with a candidate, or releveling a position with a hiring manager for a candidate that was over/underqualified but was a great candidate, or was she asking what tools/methodology I have used for industry compensation analysis? The fact that I asked this question with a question answered *her* inquiry, because obviously I *do* have experience with “salaries”.

-If a recruiter calls you unexpectedly, do *not* get flustered and ask, “where are you calling from again? I’m sorry, I’ve sent out so many resumes…” This is one of the fastest ways to take you *out* of the running. Know what companies you have applied to. Keep a spreadsheet if necessary. Fake it if you need to. “Hi, this isn’t a good time for me to talk. Can we set up a time later this week?” Then ask for them to send you an email confirmation, this lets you know their company as well as their name.

This initial phone call is also a chance for you to engage. You *should* ask questions (and you should avoid questions regarding benefits and vacation, etc.)

-Research the company.
Use all the tools available to you to get to know the company, their product/service, their market share. Do your homework. Find out as much as you can. LinkedIn, SEC Filings/annual reports, Hoover’s, press releases, white papers/case studies, marketing materials, professional contacts inside the company or their clients.

-Prepare questions about the company, the position, the team, the role. For example, why is this position open? (Backfill for someone, if so find out if they were promoted) or is it a new position?

If your initial phone screen goes well, some companies set up a follow up phone screen with a member of the hiring team. Generally, this conversation will drill more deeply into your industry and professional knowledge. Expect in depth questions about your past. Make sure you are familiar with *everything on your resume* and can discuss projects and relevant experience.  If you are working with a headhunter, you can pretty much expect this to happen.

Rmember, this is your first “live” contact with your potential new employer. Be professional yet engaging. I’ve had candidates start rattling off information by rote. This puts them in the “slush pile”.

Hopefully, you will make a great first impression and the company will want to bring you in for interviews.

Some people like the challenge of a start-up environment. New companies often have more opportunities to make an impact with high income potential.

But where do you *find* these startup companies, especially when they are in “stealth mode”? The answer is in the portfolios of Venture Capitalists.

VC firms have investors that contribute money to fund new companies, often for a significant return on either stock (if the company goes IPO or is bought) or revenue generated by the product/services the fledgling company is offering. There is a Canadian TV show, the Dragon’s Den , that demonstrates this concept.

The value of looking in the portfolio section is that often, they will show you job openings in the fledgling company, and the companies may not be advertising these jobs elsewhere.

Finding VC companies takes a bit of doing. In Seattle, we are very lucky in that Bridgeway Careers , a career counseling firm, has links to a plethora of local resources. The Bay area has a lot of VC resources as well. But I’ve done a Google Search for “Venture Capital”+Newport+RI and come up with a pretty targeted listing.

I have a friend in Florida that is desperately seeking an HR position in her town. I did a quick search and came up with this list:

http://www.itflorida.com/wb2/itfl/itfl_Venture_Capital_Firms

So, make Google your friend. Find out who the VC firms in your area are and then start looking at their portfolios for potential leads.

As we see announcements of more and more layoffs and business closures, even employees at healthy companies are getting worried about their jobs.

Meet and greet; people will be more inclined to hire someone they *know* than a total stranger.

With the recent layoffs at Microsoft, there are a lot more people in Seattle hitting the pavement looking for jobs. Having over ten years of MS corporate culture under my belt, I am reminded of the Software Giant’s (the euphemism agencies use to describe contract jobs there without mentioning the name) *love* of acronyms. Microsoft is hardly unique in that respect.

So, this piece of “sage wisdom” from yours truly applies to any resume or conversations my audience may  encounter. The only acronyms that you should be using are industry standard terms. For example, if you are in accounting, GL, AP/AR are all acceptable commonplace terms. Software engineering use of SOAP is understandable. Any recruiter that doesn’t know what an ATS or HRIS is has no business being a recruiter.

However, to anyone outside of Microsoft, if I said I was the CG Recruiter for E & D, that means nothing. Think very carefully about *company* acronyms versus industry acronyms. In your resume, it is permissible to spell it out once then use the acronym after that. An example (from above):

Candidate Generation (CG) Recruiter for  the Entertainment and Devices (E & D) team.

 Remember, it is safest to assume that your audience is not an expert in your field, so communicate *to* that audience. 

Sometimes businesses must make decisions to decrease costs that involve things like RIF’s (Reductions in Force, or layoffs). Having been through this myself at Amazon.com in 2000, I know the overwhelming panic and sense of betrayal that sets in. It is hard not to take something like your job personally.

So see my post for surviving layoffs if you find yourself with a “pink slip” in hand.

Today I watched the Inauguration proceedings for President Obama. CNN and FaceBook teamed up to present streaming media combined with real-time viewer commentary. It was a thrill for me to see. Not just the events, but also the marriage of technology and the news.

Good luck as we enter a new era for the US and the rest of the world.

It may sound a bit far-fetched, but those job hunters that haven’t had any luck may need to buckle down and do some time consuming, tedious research. One way to unearth some potential jobs is to go to the local CoC member directories, click on their links (or call them) and find out if they have jobs posted on their website.

Not every company posts jobs online; many rely on employee referrals, or industry memberships. If they don’t have a lot of openings per year, they may just post to the local paper or Craigslist, which is far more cost effective than the major job boards.

They may also keep “representative” jobs up on their website for what is called “building a pipeline”. The position may not be open at the current time, but they try to build up a candidate pool for when the position does open up.

 Once you have identified the opening, apply. Or, call and ask to speak to the recruiter or HR representative. This is also the best use of LinkedIn; findng people that work for the company and approaching them.  Remember: you need to be proactive, don’t rely on others to find you in this market.

I was over on Twitter a few days ago, and saw that one of my software dev friends had posted that he was filing for UI. I sent him an email and asked him why he hadn’t sent me his resume? (Come on, when you list a recruiter as a true friend, that should be the first thing that comes to mind!)

Yes, in the past couple of years tech publications have touted the revolution of social networking sites as tools that recruiters will embrace; but that is if they have *time*. Drowning under resumes means they don’t have time to be creative. So now is the time to definitely consider *mainstream* methods first (Monster,Careerbuilder, etc) and then go find the recruiters (hint: most of them with an internet presence are on LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Spoke.) Take a cue from the housing market: it’s a buyer’s market, and you are the *seller*.

Cover Letter and References

Good luck, and hopefully you’ll have clearer understanding of the tools in your sales kit.