Are They Getting and Reviewing Your Resume?

The scenario... Your looking for a new job. You have spend the past few days electronically sending your resume to countless jobs, sending your resume everywhere you could. You have no idea if anyone has received what you have sent. You are wondering not only if they have gotten your resume, but whether or not they have any interest at all in you. A few painful weeks later you are again online looking for a job. You cannot recall who you have sent your resume to and who has responded. You are very frustrated, and you are not alone.

Keeping track of where you are sending your resume for job seekers who have been unemployed for months is a task. Knowing who has received or reviewed the resume you have sent can be near impossible. Knowing right away if someone is interested or not is also near impossible...... or should I say, used to be impossible.

MyJobCast.com has beta launched and you can get a completely free membership by going to http://www.jtlservices.com where you will find a free coupon code right on the home page.

MyJobCast.com offers some very cool interactive job tools. With regard to my scenario above, the tools include functionality that will let you know who has reviewed your sent resume/profile. For those who actually have received your online resume/profile, there is a very easy interactive tool for them to check whether they are interested in you or not. This is powerful. After all, knowing is more than half of the battle.

I strongly encourage job seekers to check out the new site and what it has to offer. It may not be free too long so jump in now to take advantage. There are no strings attached and they do not ask for your credit card information or anything like that. As a job seeker, what do you have to lose? You only stand to gain. This can also help separate and differentiate you from the others.

MyJobCast.com Not Meant to Bypass ATS Systems

With the upcoming official launch of myJobCast.com, there seems to be one consistent question from it's beta users. How can we use the application to apply for a corporate job that uses an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)? My response generally is that the member missed the point of the product. The point of myJobCast.com is several-fold, but certainly it is not a means to bypass corporate ATS systems in attempting to connect with an open corporate job. When applying for corporate jobs at a company that does use an ATS system, the reality is you should use that channel to initially apply. However, that stated, do not just assume that because you applied via an ATS system that someone has seen your resume. You should read my post on my reasoning - click here.

Many times your resume goes unnoticed by a human in the ATS process. I recommend using the system to apply and then trying to find someone internally to inquire as to whether or not it was received, reviewed and considered. Perhaps someone in your personal or online social network has a connection at the company that can provide you with someone internally to connect with and ask. Otherwise, it is not all that difficult to find someone in HR via the corporate website, to connect with and inquire.

Once you do have the internal individual's contact information (email address), that is where myJobCast.com can help. Send a general email to the individual stating that you uploaded your resume and was curious if it was received. Also let them know that you will be sending them a full online profile for their additional consideration. Then, use myJobCast.com to send your resume/profile to this individual. It can help differentiate you from the many. Even better, the system can tell you whether or not that profile send was actually opened by the individual. Once the individual opens the profile link sent by the myJobCast.com system, they can review your profile - resume, references, general career information, etc. The point here is that it is not just a simple resume that the individual gets to review. You can provide references upfront which can be very important. Want more information why? Read this post.

They can also, on the same sent profile web page, respond as to their interest level - even if their interest level is zero. The point is, when they do this, it will inform the myJobCast.com system and you as the member will know because you will receive an email indicating action was taken on a profile send. To take it a step further, the myJobCast.com system will even (if elected) send you a text message that action was taken, prompting you to login to the system and review the action(s) taken.

If there is interest, the myJobCast.com system can be a great tool in the sense that it can track all your profile sends. Unfortunately we are in an economy where job seekers are applying to dozens of jobs a week. Loosing track of where you send your resume is easy. This tool keeps track of where you sent your profile, who opened it, who is interested and any notes you wish to include on each particular profile send.

If you are fortunate enough to land an interview, myJobCast.com is a great tool to assist you through your process. Aside from the valuable interview tips, there is a calendar system that will allow you to schedule interviews and then remind you about an upcoming interview. Once you complete your interview, another reminder will be sent to you, guiding you to send a thank you letter. Don't think a thank you letter is important? Read this post.

And 12 hours after your scheduled interview, you will get yet another reminder for you to use the myJobCast.com system to send out an interview feedback request to the individual(s) that provided the interview. This is crucial. Interview feedback is critical. More information on the importance can be read at the this post.

Now as far as the main topic of using myJobCast.com to go around an ATS system - you shouldn't. However, I want to stress a valuable point. When you consider every available job opening, what percentage of them do you think use an ATS system? I would think the answer is minimal. Especially when you consider how many small to medium companies there are out there. Small businesses dominate the job market. They by and large do not use an ATS system, nor do they use the traditional Monster, CareerBuilder sites. Typically their jobs are filled by word of mouth, local print ads, their own websites and various other avenues. For these jobs, myJobCast.com can be a perfect tool.

We encourage you to give myJobCast.com a consideration. Should you use the application, we also encourage your feedback.

Importance of the Thank You Letter!

Should you write a thank you letter/email? Yes, of course! What in the world would make anyone think they shouldn't is beyond me?

What should be included in your thank you letter? Why, I thought you'd never ask. Actually I thought you'd never ask because to most, it seems like such an easy task to accomplish. Indeed it is an easy task to complete, but evidently some job seekers miss the entire meaning of a thank you letter. Allow me to help those job seekers navigate through some simple points to keep in mind before typing out those words of thanks.

Before I do so, first let me share some very interesting facts. According to some studies out there, nearly 90% of executives out there agree that sending a thank you letter can help secure a job. Many jobs come down to a few top candidates and simple variables like a thank you letter can separate a candidate from another.

Another study reveals that nearly 50% of job seekers do NOT send out a thank you letter after an interview. Wow! I must admit, I was a bit shocked at that since it again, seems such an easy thing to do.

OK, back to the points you job seekers need to consider when writing a thank you letter.

1. When? Send it within 24 hours after the interview. The sooner the better.
2. Who? If you met with more than one person, you should send a thank you note to all individuals separately. Of course, make sure you have their names spelled correctly. Seems obvious, but as you should well know, peoples names are misspelled often. And it has often led the letter directly on a a one-way course to the trash basket!
3. The obvious - express your appreciation for the interview.
4. Show your interest - express briefly how interested you are in the opportunity with the organization.
5. Restate what you can bring to the organization with your skill-set, your motivation and your enthusiasm for the specific job opportunity.
6. Maybe make a reference to something specific from the actual interview. For example, if the interviewer mentioned a few times that the job would require working within a team structure and sometimes can lead to long hours, you might express your openness and enthusiasm towards this requirement. Chances are if it were brought up a few times, it is is a serious requirement.
7. Keep the entire thank you letter roughly 3 paragraphs and a half page long.
   

As many job seekers realize, especially in today's uncertain times, an "edge" could help get the job. The thing is, there may not be one thing that gives you this "edge". This "edge" could be attained by several things, this being just one of them!

Now wouldn't it be great to know if the individuals received the thank you letter/email? MyJobCast.com, a new application launching soon can help. One of the greatest functions within this application will be the calendar function and communication functions. For example, with an free account, you can schedule an interview in your online calendar. 24 hours before the interview, you can receive an email notification as well as an alert on your cell phone reminding you of the interview. Five hours after the interview schedule time, another email notification can go out as well as an alert on your cell phone reminding you to send a thank you letter.

You can also use the online application to send the thank you email and the system will tell you if the email was actually opened. And... it will email you indicating this and send you another alert to your cell phone.

This new application will serve as a great job seeker's tool. You should strongly consider setting up a free account. In fact you can pre-register today.

Real Interview Feedback is Crucial

Have you ever left an interview feeling like... "wow, that was great!"? Well, you're not alone. Interviewers have an uncanny ability of making you feel like you will be strongly considered for a position following an interview. I mean, hey if you are way out of whack in terms of being a fit for the job, the interviewer may be upfront and provide the typical - "we'll let you know". On the other hand if you were remotely qualified, in many cases, you will be left to believe you will make it to a follow up interview.

The reason for this could be a few-fold. For the sake of this post, I will focus on one. Semantics. Do you think it is easy to tell someone who shows they will do anything to get the job during an interview that there is no way in hell they will get the job? Of course not.

Interview feedback is a funny thing. From an interviewer's standpoint, what should they say, what shouldn't they say. It's just never easy to let someone down. Hence the traditional thank you card you used to receive when a position was given to someone else. Why the card? It's easy. Everyone gets the same answer and there is no human communication where curve ball Q&A could arise.

Today there is good old email. You know... the communication medium we can't seem to live without. We all seem to have more confidence in email. After all there is no back and forth like in a human conversation. We can respond and react with much consideration and thought via email. The trouble is from a candidate's point, what do you ask in an email following an interview? You don't want to appear overzealous, over confident and so on. From a hiring manager's point of view, they are too busy and don't want to commit to anything in writing.

The biggest issue with all of the unemployed, not so much the passive job seekers. Unemployed individuals are burdened with juggling countless resume sends and interviews. There is nothing worse than feeling like you have a great shot at a job, when in reality you may never make it to a second interview. Like many things in life, knowledge is power. This unemployed individual needs feedback to guide his job seeking process. I mean, if you feel like you could be a shoe in for a particular job, you might not pay close attention to newly posted position. You might get complacent. That could be bad. Again, you need feedback!

Is there anything that could help this debacle? Yes.

JTL Services, Inc. a successful executive placement agency for more than 10 years is creating a tool with one of the functions specifically to cater to this void. The tool is http://www.myjobcast.com. The launch is coming soon. You can pre-register for free today in fact. Rather than go into great detail about all of the functionality of this new job tool, I want to focus on the topic. The tool will include an interview feedback system that will cater to hiring managers.

The objective is to get the candidate basic interview feedback in a very timely manner. So rather than ask or expect a hiring manger to write a lengthy response to various interview feedback questions, the tool will ask, on behalf of the applicant, five very simple, multiple choice questions. The answers to these very simple questions, though simple, can actually give a more reliable indicator of the possibility of placement. The objective, again, is to provide enough of an indicator where the applicant can have something rather than nothing (but their own barometer of how well an interview went).

I strongly encourage everyone to go to http://www.myjobcast.com and pre-register as there are many tools that will greatly assist with organizing job seekers and their placement process. The current pre-registration place provides some bullet points as to what this newly launched online job tool will provide all job seekers in the new Jobs 2.0 world we now live in.

Job Connection Tools for You!

When it comes to your job search these days, it is imperative to consider the plethora of available tools that can assist you with the job search and placement process. Is every tool going to work for you? No! But does that mean you don’t try? After all, you need a job right?

Among this plethora of tools are job boards, career coaches, career mentors, hr professionals, job recruiters, career networking sites, social networks, online digital applications, and the list goes on. Each of these tools has something in common – they do not all work for everyone and they are not all autonomous in the sense that you don’t need just one of these tools in most cases.

Here are some examples of tools that work for some and not others/everyone.

While most cannot afford to pay a career coach the thousands of dollars for their services, some can. For those that can afford it, a successful and proven career coach can be a wise choice in helping you find your next career choice. In selecting a career coach however, please do your proper due-diligence and make sure that they have the years of professional experience behind them to educate and provide you with the knowledge that they have gained from their vast years of experience. Do not be content with a career coach who simply wants to get you excited and motivated, as that alone will not necessarily catapult your career.

Job Boards can also help but there again the probability of being found and connecting with a job is only about 2-5% on average (based on available research). Typically, people who are finding success on these boards have a unique or highly skilled component that leaps out from their resume like CPA, MBA, etc. Another issue that I have with these sites is that your information is out there for many to grab, and for me that is a security concern (expressed in some of my previous postings, which I strongly recommend reading).

Job recruiters can also help. There are several blog posts that I also recommend reading if you haven’t already, on how recruiters can be of great help for job seekers. The main component with job recruiters is that they have relationships with company hiring managers and have much more knowledge of what that company is looking for than a job board. Recruiters can be a great in-road to many corporations. Are all job recruiters good? Of course not! Though we are a recruiting agency, we realize that, and actually discuss that several times throughout our blog posts as well.

The main point is that like many things in life, some things are effective for some and not for others. But a job is a necessity for most, and trying different things is also a necessity, especially with today’s job market conditions and the changing landscape of job placement.

A new online application by JTL Services, Inc., a premiere staffing company, may actually and finally be a tool good for most if not all job seekers. The application is in the final stages of development, preparing to beta-launch in a few short weeks. The site is www.myjobcast.com and you can pre-register there right now for free.

This new online application is in essence a communication tool that will help job seekers track their resume sending, track who is opening their resume, and secure it at the same time. The site will also assist with interview scheduling, reference generation and storage, interview feedback and other vital components to the hiring process. Finally, the site will send updates via SMS service directly to member’s mobile phones. There are other features, but this is the phase 1 premise.

“We simply wanted to create a tool that can be used by most if not all, including providers (recruiters, career coaches, mentors and the like). I got tired of not being able to help so many people. My niche is Accounting and Finance, and Information Technology. We receive thousands of resumes, with many coming from other verticals and we could do nothing with or for those individuals. Now we can! Some people will love this new tool and some will surly hate it – like everything else in life I guess”, says Jeff LeFevre, managing partner of JTL Services, Inc.

I strongly recommend, going to myjobcast.com and pre-registering as it is a free service to those that do so. The tool is a creation by individuals close to job search and placement for over a decade. The tool will be robust and comprehensive, and might help differentiate you and help you get your next job!

The Importance of References

A critical, and yet overlooked component of the job fulfillment process is having solid references available as soon as possible, and even beforehand. References are crucial because they can validate a candidate’s work experiences and most hiring managers require this as part of their hiring practice.

Most recruiters can tell you that they despise the process of getting job candidate references – and for good reason. It typically involves making several phone calls to track down past supervisors who will vouch for someone’s career abilities. This can be like pulling teeth. Reaching them is half the battle. The other half of the battle is getting them to communicate what you are seeking without their maundering.

Recruiters who finally do reach a reference will then ask various important questions and then hand write notes from the verbal conversation on a sheet of scribble paper and then type out those notes and prepare them to fax or email the candidate reference back to their client. What a process. There has to be a better way!

Sure enough… there is! In fact a new site is preparing to launch in the upcoming months. MyJobCast.com will offer several automated components that will help facilitate the job closing process in a much more effective manner. One of these automated features will be an online digital reference generator. This feature will essentially allow job candidates to use the system to send their past supervisor(s) an email seeking a reference. This individual will receive the email message and the unique URL link which will connect them to an online reference form. Once filled out, the individual hits send and the reference system will automatically create a PDF file and send it back to the job seeker’s online profile for future use. The premise is to have the references available beforehand!

Today you have to be more proactive about references. Many recruiters will testify that the ideal practice would be to send references upfront to hiring managers who have scheduled an interview with their job candidates. I highly recommend this practice at the individual level as well. The reason is that it can help set the expectation and overall outcome of the interview. If you have great references to showcase and have them ready, that is saying something and you should not shy away from promoting your references. After all they are promoting you!

Gate Keeper 101

Today when it comes to finding a job, the "gate keeper" is no longer a "secretary" screening your mail or phone calls to connect to a potential hiring manager regarding a job opening. In our modern era of technology, the gate keeper has by and large become a computer application that captures your provided/sent information, i.e., your resume, and scans it's contents for specific predetermined keywords and phrases carefully selected by hiring managers and human resource personnel.

Not familiar with these (Applicant Tracking Systems) ATS applications? I recently wrote a blog in regarding to ATS systems that you may wish to read for more details. If you have read this blog post, then you have a basic understanding of the the nuances with these applications. The tragedy is that at times, you inevitably have to go through these "gate keeper" systems to submit your resume via the corporate resume submission black hole. This being the case, I have some recommendations you may want to consider beforehand.

As job seekers catch on and rewrite their resumes tailored to a specific job and use specific trigger keywords and phrases, the applications are forced to become more artificially intuitive in what they are meant to perform for hiring managers - resume screening. Hence the problem is - as job seekers better understand how to trick these systems, the systems in turn, are reprogrammed to be more effective.

But perhaps you’re not a real life human popinjay, or online digital word-smith. What can or should you do to try and get through this initial application's screening?

Well, the goal always was and continues to remains the same - you have to be aggressive, prepared and proactive - in no particular order. Overall, the best thing to do is to try and find a contact at the company you are seeking employment with via am email or telephone number and politely explaining that you heard there was a job opening that you felt to be a perfect candidate. If you can forward you resume off to that person then perhaps they can then help guide or nudge you through the internal corporate process. Ultimately it is still much easier to get an interview if someone from within the organization can refer you to the appropriate gate keeper.

I realize that some HR personnel actually review every resume that comes into a company, but I also realize that some companies are just too large and to humanly sift through thousands of resumes can be too cumbersome and ineffective for internal hiring personnel. The trouble with this, is that you may be perfect for a job and never get the time of day to showcase yourself to the proper hiring manager.

While there continues to be an evolving process to enhance the congested superhighways of resume sending, I am still of the school that being aggressive and creative can help get you further. I urge those job seekers that disperse their resumes in these black holes, and assume they have done all they can do to find that next job, to rethink their strategy.

Do not rely on what appears to be the only gate keeper - the online ATS. In many cases, there are other options that can help you make the connection that can lead you into your next perfect job!

Demoralized Job Seekers Need Your Input

I know providing your own input on a blog can seem a wasteful task. However, many job seekers are simply losing faith in society as a whole. Being without a job, not being able to pay the accumulating bills, and listening to doom and gloom are providing the ingredients for demoralization in job seekers that can use your help!

What does your experience tell you about our current economic catastrophe? Do you ever recall spending so much time basking in an overload of doom and gloom, delivered on an hourly basis from our mediasphere? I know for myself every night is a tiring channel surfing event. Eagerly searching the abundance of cable channels to find that one station going out on a limb and offering a glimmer of hope.

I listen to the news now and at times they equate the current distress to that of the later '80's. Quite honestly, I was fresh out of high school and don't recall these levels of negative hourly news breaks. I also don't recall much chatter about it from my dad, mom or other "working adults". Being in my early 20's, I am pretty sure the economy was not the first priority on my wondering mind. My social calendar certainly didn't co-mingle with the "real world" so much in those days.

In the 1990's, I can recall working several jobs. Although there may have in fact been some economic troubling years in the 1990's, I surely didn't feel the effect. Quite honestly, I didn't notice any recession tremors at all. This is the first recessionary period that I feel the effects, see the effects and think of the effects throughout the course of my day.

The media has just about everything to do with this lingering pesimism. The television with its 24-hour new stations all repeatedly talking about the crisis our global world economy is facing. The Internet is another playground for such torturous negativity. Millions and millions of voices versus hundreds of cable channels being updated every second of everyday.

There are so many people today worrying about either losing their job or searching for one. It's hard enough to go through that and even harder to hear such barrages of negativity from everywhere they turn. Where should they look for help? Will the stimulus plan(s) really help? Can a government really help people with their economic problems? Are the elected officials really experienced in solving these problems? Did the majority of these elected officials own a business that had to generate money which provided payroll for their employees? Isn’t there some validity to the saying “give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you’ll feed him for a life time”.

A blog usually has someone’s opinions about a subject but I’m more interested in what others have to share about their experiences with an economy in turmoil. I'm not looking for any elaborate answers (though you may certainly bloviate as much as you'd like), as any shared experiences will go a long way towards my objectives here.

If you have experienced recessionary periods like this, what can your experiences share? If you recently got let go of your previous job and were fortunate enough to find a new job, please share your feedback.

If you are a recruiter what are you doing to help out your candidates in this market?

Share your points. I believe your experiences can help people to figure out what they need to do. If you have a website offering services that can help - here is a place to inform of that service.

If we can all pitch in and share positive result experiences, it would do a world of good!

Beware of Using ATS When Applying for Jobs Online

Today practically every company has some sort of ATS (Applicant Tracking System). With unemployment heading north and job candidates sending sometimes 70 to 80 resumes out per week there are a couple of things you need to know.

Sending your resume using many of the largest online job boards like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com might not help you as much as you think with finding a new job!

Today more than ever, companies are trying to grab as many resumes into their database as possible. A problem with this practice is the tsunami of resumes that hiring managers are receiving via their ATS. They are inundated with people who are under qualified or over qualified for position and the ones that are right for the position are many times being overlooked. The research out there shows that there is a very low average (somewhere between 2-5%) of people who use these job boards that actually get placed in a position they find there.

Job Candidates today need an edge when it comes to finding a new Job. One area I strongly support is finding a successful recruiter with a strong client list to work with who can use his connections to help you out. I've provided countless supporting reasons for this throughout my blog. But even using a recruiter might not help many.

The fact is there is also a low percentage of candidates to placements with recruiting as well. Most candidates that meet a recruiter will not end up finding a job through that recruiter. Now... those job candidates that do not get placed by that recruiter will still indeed benefit from spending some time with a during a screening or just through a conversation with that recruiter.

Recruiters can provide very specific and effective recommendations job searching techniques that ultimately can be used by that candidate to help find and get that next job. The reality is that recruiters are seeking out the best of the best for their clients. For good reason too, since companies by and large pay, on average, 25% of a job candidate's first year annual salary to a recruiter for a placement. The last thing a recruiter wants to do is send a candidate to a client that is not of the highest quality in every aspect. After all, that is one of the main purposes that a company uses a recruiter for in the first place.

There is a misconception out there that needs to be cleared up however. Companies DO NOT pay candidates less in salary because they are coming in through a recruiter. Job salaries are set in place by a company regardless if a candidate is placed by internal hiring managers directly or by recruiters.

Now back to ATS... The fact of the matter is that when a job seeker submits their resume via a bridge like Monster.com into a corporation they are actually sending their resume to a database with thousands of other possible candidates. Then, a piece or software (not a human) scans through every word of your resume and determines if you can be a fit. This is bad. I mean, it can be good for a hiring manager in that it reduces the amount of resumes that float to the top considerably, but it is bad because there are very qualified and very talented applicants that may never get noticed.

You simply cannot rely on a piece of software to get you a job. It's like anything else in life... if you want it, you've got to be creative and aggressive in getting it. If it is a job at, let's say GE, then find out who runs the department you are seeking to get into and find a few contact names and email addresses and reach for them. Find them on other social networks like LinkedIn.

You've got to separate yourselves from the pack. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to be creative and finally you've got to stop ignoring reality and be less complacent. A job isn't going to find you!

New JobCast (PodCast) Coming Soon!

Twittering to Find a Job?

Looking for a new job? Try Twitter yet? I would ask if anyone is Twittering to find their next job, but it appears the answer is an overwhelming "yes". I just recently built out a Twitter page for JTL Services, Inc. and have already quickly gotten a few followers - pretty cool!

For those job seekers who are skeptical at adding another online social-type network to their eBranding arsenal, let me provide you some quick and easy to understand feedback.

From a job searching perspective, I would put Twitter in the top 5 online tools to help you find a job. Using Twitter can provide two advantages to you, the job seeker. The first is that hiring managers are beginning to really take advantage of Twitter to find talent. Therefore, they are listing open job opportunities in hopes to attract the perfect candidate. So from a search and find standpoint, Twitter can help.

The second advantage is maybe even more important. Find companies that you want to work for and "follow" them on Twitter. You can "follow" a company's Twitter page if you want to be kept in the loop of activity regarding that company, including new job opportunities. What is even better, is that you can "follow" this company right on your mobile phone. This provides you with real-time up-to-date job opening information from a specific company or recruiter.

In conclusion, I absolutely recommend getting on the bandwagon with this one!

Resume Pirating on the Rise!

Let me ask you a question. Is it a good thing for someone to call you and say “hey I got you an interview at XYZ Company?” Well that would depend on whether or not you know that person and gave them the OK to send your resume. I have heard more complaints of job candidates resumes being downloaded from popular sites such as Monster and Careerbuilders and being sent to companies unbeknownst to them more than ever. It has always been an issue but not to this degree. Desperate times seem to bring out the “Machiavellian” in some, while others focus on what is the right thing to do.

The other day Facebook changed their “Bill of Rights” that made their users furious. Facebook wanted and I quote “an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license" to "use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute" of your information forever. Well you can all read up on the story but needless to say they went back to their old “Bill of Rights”. People were furious, spoke up, wrote about it and they have decided to go back to their original policy mentioning that they would revisit this in the future.

People, you need to protect your information. That is why you need to know where your information is being sent. When working with a recruiter they absolutely should tell you (every time) before sending your resume to a potential client and not a blanket statement during your meeting with them. Be very afraid of the phone call from a recruiter that you haven’t given any authority to that you have an interview. This practice is used by some recruiting firms who been around forever!

They tell you that they have been the President of CAPS and that they’ve been recruiting forever! Don’t fall victim to a few of these unethical recruiting agencies out there that prey on you the “job candidate” and take advantage of your situation. If this does happen to you, get all the information that you can by the recruiter. Call the client who you are meeting with and contact them to explain the situation upfront and don’t fear that they won’t hire you. Everyone sourcing resumes to clients know that unsolicited resumes are not warranted.

Read through some of our earlier blogs and you will find that we are upfront with job candidates by explaining the rules of conduct.

Job Search Using Podcast

I have been listening and now watching podcasts via my iPod for quite some time now. Typically listening to information regarding business and marketing. However, as of late I have been paying particular attention to job and career podcasts.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a good mix of available podcasts regarding jobs and careers. Certainly, I recommend adding this to your arsenal of tools for helping to find your next job. With blogs, there is only so much higher level insight I can provide before I begin to bore you and lose your focus. But an audio or video podcast can keep you more intrigued and I can at the same time better educate you in Job Searching using Web 2.0 techniques.

My intention is to also enter this arena and offer a weekly podcast regarding jobs and careers at some point in the second quarter of 2009. I will of course, announce and market this here as well as other online avenues but in the meantime wanted to make sure that this element of job searching was made mention of in my blog.

If you own an iPod, why not go and download a number of these free podcasts and help educate you while you are driving or walking or running, etc.? Like I have been repeating, we absolutely are in an economic cycle where Darwinism will prevail. I would be willing to bet that you can quickly find some great podcasts with helpful insight that you might not have read or heard about before.

Bailouts & Stimulus, & Spendulus, Oh My!

Whatever you want to call it, many of us are financially struggling or growing more and more concerned about our personal financial instabilities. I wont go into the politics of this bill that seems to have passed today, but I anxiously await, like so many others, for something to show us we have finally bottomed out.

Job data this month certainly did not indicate anywhere near a bottom and showed almost 600,000 more unemployed. Wow! That is staggering. In the past year, over 3 million jobs have been lost with about half of that occurring in the last 3 months.

If you are a job seeker, be patient. Realizing that patience only lasts so long, try to understand that you are not alone. There is lots of public information about how you can help yourself land that next job, including some information in my own blog posts. The trouble is, while I think you should try new things and stay the course in finding your next job, it could take time. More time than many of us can afford.

We will get through this. We will be a better country when this passes. That I feel strongly about. However, those who do nothing and don't realize that your career needs to constantly be in check will be the last to come out of this mess.

During a down time of unemployment, while seeking a job, spend some valuable time addressing your resume; get some quality professional references and letters of recommendations lined up and ready; join some quality professional networks like LinkedIn.com; connect with a successful recruiter in your area and in your industry. These are just some of the things that I have written about in my previous blog posts.

One of the items that I have left out seems to be the most obvious. Ask your own personal network if they know of job openings. Sites like Facebook.com are great for creating the ability to do things like this. For example, I am new to Facebook.com but have about 200 friends already. These are typically people from high school, college friends, family, general friends, neighbors and co-workers of current and past. When you add these up, you can see it can be easy to connect with lots of people.

Using the "Wall" in Facebook.com you can simply post a comment that you are looking for a new job and would appreciate your Facebook.com friends to keep their eyes and ears open. You might be surprised that someone in your own personal network may know of something or may find out something in the short term.

It's all about the Internet, regardless of how you connect to your next job in my opinion. Notice I didn't use the word "only" in that last sentence. Sure there are other variables besides the Internet, but I can assure you that the Internet is a huge factor with job connection for many.

Job Seekers Have to Practice Their Pitch

There are a many things that job seekers can do to find a new job. The most important part of that job seeking process is the actual job interview. Recently, I wrote about showing enthusiasm on the interview and how that can help you stand out amongst other job applicants. I am also one who believes in the old cliché, “practice makes perfect”. Common sense as well as my years of recruiting experience have repeatedly shown that if a job seeker is going to land a new job , they better prepare for the interview process.

Think of it this way. A sales executive may only really have 30 seconds to make a pitch to a customer. It is in the first 30 seconds, in many cases, that a this customer will make a decision. Likewise for hiring managers. They too will often “size up” a job candidate in the first 30 seconds of the job interview.

The sales person who has repeatedly practiced their pitch, and focuses on the positive delivery of their message (pitch) will in most cases do better. A good sales person realizes that they have to play a numbers game and deal with a tremendous amount of rejection. Sound like job searching? What gets me is that this “pitch” is the most important part of this process (and likewise the job seeking process) and yet it is being practiced DURING the game.

Now I know most of my readers aren’t in sales and can’t picture themselves selling anything let alone making a phone call to sell themselves, but you need to strongly consider this somewhat simple advice. Especially with the condition of our economy right now.

Job seekers need to understand how to sell themselves. Job seekers - did you grit your teeth on that one or roll your eyes? I know how you feel, but the fact is I still continue to hear strong feedback from our clients (hiring managers) about how job applicants can stand out . The job applicant’s balanced confidence, enthusiasm and fluidness of their pitch delivery during an interview seems to continue to be a strong motivating and decision making factor for hiring managers.

According to the latest statistics, only about 2-5% of all resumes posted via the Internet even get a click let alone an interview. How many people today spend too much time on career sites posting their resume and searching for jobs? How many job candidates spend far too little time practicing and rehearsing their interview? Read through my previous blog postings to better understand why this may not be the best time being spent for job seekers.

For over 18 years now I have trained sales people to be sales people. I have seen more people terrified of role playing than you can imagine. Grown adults terrified to role play. The trouble is that they don’t believe they need to practice and prepare, or they are too embarrassed to practice OUT LOUD. Again, it is this practicing, and doing so out loud in fact, that can be a deciding factor for you in your job interview!

Like they say, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. I have said for years that a resume may get you in the door but what matters more will be the connection or lack of connection a job applicant makes with the individual conducting the interview. I cannot stress that reality enough.

Plain and simple, hiring managers, in many cases, hire people they like and people who appear to be a good fit within an organization. Though qualifications are essential, they typically don’t come first on the list during the interview process. I’m not stating that qualifications aren’t important. Remember these qualifications and/or a recruiter with a relationship with a hiring manger can be what gets you in the door. Once you get in the door though, you have to sell yourself.

To sell yourself the best you can, you need to practice and prepare. When it comes to your big game (interview) understand one thing, your resume will NOT be the problem if you do not get the job. Again, it helped get you in the door! If you were fortunate enough to get the interview and not the job, then there is a good probability it was due to your pitch. Practice!

Get Your Resume Noticed

Now almost more than ever, with the Internet as it's backbone, resumes are flowing in tsunami fashion across hiring manager's and recruiter's desks. What can you do to get yours noticed? That is the $64,000 question. Be smart is my short answer.

If you look at some of the results out there in terms of resume uploads from places like theladders.com, dice.com, monster.com and careerbuilder.com, there are collectively well over one million resumes uploaded in the last month alone. Talk about being a needle in a haystack.

I am currently reviewing several what I consider to be new trends in getting your resume noticed in 2009 and should have results posted by the end of Q1, but in the meantime, I am curious as to what the public may have to say on this topic.

In the meantime, let me try to elaborate a bit on my short answer of - be smart. First make sure your resume is up to date and in a professional format. Make sure your education and experience is easy to spot and review. Make sure that you are are applying for something that you are qualified for, educated in and even experienced with.

I would also strongly recommend getting references beforehand. Anything you can do to better prepare is a benefit. Having references on hand that show you as a quality candidate could help nudge you higher to the top of the mountain of resumes on that hiring manager's or recruiter's desk.

I am a big fan of using a recruiter and using one that specializes in your industry and your geographical area. The reality is that good, established recruiters have inroads to hiring managers through relationships that have been created for years.

On the digital front, I am also a big fan of LinkedIn.com and FaceBook.com. Though there are many other high profile social networks out there, these are the two that I consider to be the best.

Should you just blast your resume out to Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com and the like. My answer to this as well, is still no. In fact, it is no way! What is new about that process? Sure, Monster and CareerBuilder continue to tout how they can help you stand out but the reality is that your resume ends up being too public in my opinion. Your resume should be kept private and confidential. Read through previous postings on my blog to better understand why.

Best of luck and of course, I encourage your comments on this topic.

Be Enthusiastic On Your Interview

Of course it helps. Who wants to hire someone that shows up to an interview with a monotone, melancholy aura to themselves? Of course, too much enthusiasm may not be beneficial either, but I am just generalizing about enthusiasm.

Promoting yourself is essentially selling yourself to a company. It's all about the sales and marketing. Sometimes, you can have a great candidate with perfect experience and abilities that sends off a resume with spelling errors, misaligned areas, important information missing, and it gets tossed or overlooked. Again the marketing and promotional variables are important. Unfortunately you have to sell yourself.

Here are two examples that I use in good fun to illustrate how you can bore someone to sleep or command listening and excitement on selling.

Example 1



Example 2



Believe me enthusiasm helps. Certainly keep it at a controlled level but be excited about the opportunity at hand.

Wrong Perception

Here we are, the beginning of 2009. After spending the past month moving into a new house I then went into Holiday mode. We traveled up north to see friends and relatives, and with every stop there was a common question that was asked of me. “How is your business doing in this economy?” My answer was that 2008 was great in fact we were up significantly over the year prior. Then the follow up question was always “Well are companies still going to pay a fee for job candidates in 2009 with unemployment going up?” My answer was more now than ever! Why do I say that?

Companies pay a recruiter a fee for one reason, and that reason is to find the best talent available! With unemployment on the rise that means there will be more work to sift through all of those candidates to find top talent. Companies want a job candidate that has all the extra accolades. For example, a company seeking an accountant may now want you to have your CPA and MBA. They can be more choosy with who they select in this market. However those candidates need to be found in the overgrown and saturated online pool of talent.

That continues to be why a search firm like JTL Services will continue to be paid for services. For over 10 years we have a proven track record in finding top talent in any market condition. We employ the best recruiters and utilize the best technology in our efforts of connecting talent with hiring managers.

In a market with higher unemployment, a job candidate needs to have an edge. Once, again, that is why job seekers should work with a professional recruiter who specializes in their vertical and their market area.



Jeff LeFevre
Managing Partner
JTL Services, Inc.

How to Prepare for the New Year

We finally got the admitting news a few days ago that we have indeed been in a recession for the past 12 months. OK! I think most of the awake and sober people in the country were well aware of this apparent revelation. So how bad is it? I don’t have that answer. I guess it depends on many variables.

For us at JTL, we were fortunate enough to have had a great year. The largest contributing factor to this is that, quite simply, we prepared. We made some wise business model modifications this year that without a doubt have helped us grow.

The bright side of the economic historical pendulum tells us that we should start to come out of the recession in about 6 months – being that we are many months into it already. For all of us, my fingers are crossed, and my hopes are that this will be the case but I’m not too confident and certainly not yet sold. Therefore, I will remain in conservative mode and give an extra layer of checks and balances with all that we do within the business.

But what can you personally do in this trying time with regard to career planning?

Honestly, when it comes to finding a job it doesn’t matter what the market condition is all that much. Sure it may have some impact, but it is far from the top of the list of reasons to connect or not connect with a potential job. Bottom line, as you should know by reading my blog, one of the best ways to landing that next job is to use a skilled recruiter.

“Come on, JTL is a recruiting agency”. OK. So what? You really need to understand that finding jobs for people is what recruiters do and depend on to make a living. Don’t be ignorant and think that because the market is down that companies are not going to pay a fee for services to find the “right” candidate for their open positions. Perhaps the market is such that it doesn’t warrant a fee being paid for you. If that is the case a recruiter will level with you and try to help you even if it means that they won’t get a fee. Now that may sound like a pitch for you, but think about it. Part of the core of a recruiter’s business model includes building relationships with both clients and candidates. A quality candidate has current and future value on many levels.

You see the market determines the talent pool. When the market is down companies can and do become more selective with whom they hire. Why? It’s simple. There are more people in the market who are looking for jobs. When the market is good then the opposite occurs. Talent dries up and companies will pay a fee for a body. Is this making sense? Put another way, when the market is down the fish bowl gets filled with fish. Finding the right fish gets more difficult. Recruiters are much better than companies in finding the right fish. Hence their paying fees for us to do so.

The question you need to ask yourself is where do you fall? Are you the best talent in this market? If you are how are they going to know that? Resume job board? Faxing or mailing your resume to an ad in the Sunday paper? If that honestly is your game plan, your likelihood of not succeeding is pretty high. Certainly, by all means, give it a shot. Do let us know how that works for you!

A good recruiter will promote you and create the urgency to get you that interview. Again, that is how they make a living. They have to be good at it.

So back to the topic… How do you get your career ready for the new year? For starters, read through our blog postings. Read through the volumes of information on the Internet and prepare and plan. This becomes Darwinism at its best. The strongest will succeed. You want to increase your strength and rise to the top of the pile. Again, plan and prepare. Treat yourself as a brand and brand yourself. While treating yourself as a brand, realize that effective branding is about opening up proper channels of distribution. Use a recruiter to help bridge your brand to a company looking for that brand.

Some Resume Advice - Please Take It

The amount of resumes we have been receiving as of late is staggering. A sure sign of the economic struggles we are facing as a nation. Puzzling to me is what seems to be a lack of understanding when it comes to preparing and sending a resume. It is frustrating to go through 100 resumes in a day and find that only 5 of them are keepers.

With all of the wealth of information available to us via the Internet, it seems we still aren't taking the proper time to better educate ourselves with regard to creating our resumes. People... sending a resume that screams that you could care less how to create a proper resume is exactly the formula that recruiters or hiring managers look for to advance that resume directly to the trash.

Though there is no definitive blueprint for creating a resume, there are specific guidelines that are constant. Below are just a few guidelines that you really should strongly consider when creating your resume and sending to recruiters and/or hiring managers. But don't stop here. Search the Internet for more advice. The extra hour fine tuning your resume could make all the difference.

1. Do not lie. I could write a book on why not, but it just seems too obvious. And if you don't know why you shouldn't lie, then I probably cannot help you out. Here is a link to a previous blog I wrote that may help. Believe me, recruiters and hiring managers will Google you. So, you should also Google yourself, checking for any digital dirt that may come up about you. What is digital dirt? Click here for another blog I wrote explaining.
   
2. Proof your resumes for spelling and grammatical errors. A resume with spelling or grammatical errors is another sign of laziness and carelessness towards something important - your career.
3. Spare the details. Too much detail is not a good thing either. Spare the micro-details and boasting. Stick to the highlights.
4. Spare the outdated details as well. Your high school activities and accolades may not be necessary and add unnecessary fluff to the resume. And job specifics that are more than 10 years old may not be necessary either.
5. Carefully explain any work gaps. If you were not employed for any reason for a specific period of time, simply state personal reasons. If your resume makes the cut, a recruiter or hiring manager will ask so be prepared to answer. The resume is not a place to explain a work gap.
6. This should be a professional resume, so create a professional resume. What I mean by that is make sure the entire resume is professional, including an email address you use. In other words do not use an email address like kegstands07@domainname.com on you resume. If you do not have a professional email address, go get a free one at hotmail.com.
7. Include years of graduation with your higher education areas. When you do not provide this, it can be a reason to move on to the next one in the pile. You have to understand, a recruiter or hiring manager sifts through hundreds of resumes a day sometimes. We sometimes discount a resume for the simplest things.
8. Make sure your resume fits the job description you are applying for. If the job description requires, for example, someone with SAP experience and your resume doesn't include experience with SAP, then it very well may get put aside or tossed. Do not just assume just because you have a degree from a good school and are a solid overall individual that it will overshadow the necessity for a company seeking someone with specific experience. Simply and better stated, just make sure your experience meets the job requirements.
9. Too much movement can be a red flag. In other words, if you have a new job every 9-12 months, we will wonder why? And sometimes there is good reason. If you have what would be considered more than normal job movement (approximately 3 years at a job on average is average and okay), then you might want to explain in a cover letter, avoiding too much detail on a resume.
10. Have references ready. They will be checked. But... we aren't looking for your aunt or neighbor to provide a personal reference. We would rather see one from a former boss or peer. References should be relevant to your job experience.
    

Careerbuilder has a resume template that is pretty decent. Here is the link. Again, there is no exact science to creating the resume, but following the above guidelines may help your chances of stopping it from quickly ending up in the trash.

Keep this in mind. With the increasing unemployment, that will mean more supply of job candidates seeking new jobs and less available jobs. This is more of a reason to take the time to get your resume right. Good luck.

Should You Flood Your Resume Though the Market?

No!

Oh how I would really like to just leave that answer, "No", and not write anything further. But of course, I will need to elaborate to explain why it makes no sense to rush and flood the market with your resume when seeking a new job.

For executive level job seekers, getting your resume in the hands of the best recruiter is paramount. That means getting the resume in the hands of a recruiter who really understands your industry and the market you seek. That means finding a recruiter or agency with the right experience and who have agreements in place with the right clients/companies. That means finding a recruiter or agency with a proven track record and real testimonials to prove it.

The last thing an executive recruiter wants to learn is that a great potential candidate has flooded their resume through the online galaxy. Why? Simply because an executive job recruiter has to work hard and diligently to prepare and promote a candidate. It takes a plethora of cumulative hours completing this laborious task. Just read through my posts to get a good idea of what is involved with real job preparation. When a recruiter completes this work and then later, after the fact, learns that the candidate has already gotten their resume to this client it equates to wasted time. Hence one of the first questions a good recruiter will ask - where have you sent your resume already?

The misconception that a recruiter wants this resume control so that they can control the hire and hence make the fee is downright stupidity for lack of a better way to phrase this notion. Understand that there are oceans of candidates seeking jobs. Good recruiters have access to quality candidates. Understand that good recruiters have strong relationships with their clients. Understand that a good recruiter is somewhat of an extension of a hiring company and therefore a solid bridge to employment within a company.

If your resume is good enough to properly promote yourself, and you are also fortunate enough to capture a hiring manager's attention without the help of a recruiter, then that is great. Nothing wrong with attempting to make a connection on your own. In fact, please do not misunderstand this post. I am by no means indicating that you as a job seeker should not try to promote yourself and attain an job on your own. I am more indicating that it is not a good idea to "flood" the market with your resume using the likes of Monster and CareerBuilder.

To me that would be like spending all your money and not leaving some for when you need it. Eh, perhaps not a good analogy I know. In other words if you are not fortunate enough to connect yourself to a job and then you revert to using a recruiter, you may not be on the top of a recruiter's list if he or she knows your resume is broadcast in every direction already.

One additional final comment. If you are still confused or not in full belief, then try the reversal. Try using a good recruiter. If you need help finding one - read this. If after a given period of time, let's say two weeks, you do not feel like progress is being made, then try to connect with companies - but one at a time. And please, do not post your resume on Monster or CareerBuilder arbitrarily.

Recession Proof Jobs?

Wow, I am somewhat astonished at how bad things are progressing with our economy. The S&P under 800 today. Goodness. The Dow and NASDAQ appear to be at a free-fall and are now at levels we haven't seen in nearly a decade. We Americans took it square on the chin big time. The wealth stripped from a great majority of us Americans is staggering at this point. This recession seems to be bridging into a depression. We are all in this together for certain. Put your seat belts on and please, plan and prepare.

As I closely watch the jobs data unfold, I am now more inclined than ever to take notice in jobs that are seemingly recession proof - if that is possible. Also, while we all hear on a daily basis the geographic areas that are hit the hardest, I am researching areas of the U.S. that have been hit the least - if that is possible.

What I continue to find is that the health care industry can be a safe haven of sorts in terms of career stability.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Current Employment Statistics, the health care sector overall has grown by 363,000 jobs thus far in 2008, thus making it the largest industry in the United States, accounting for 13.5 million jobs. Further more, analysis suggests that the health care sector will generate 3 million new jobs by 2016, more than any other industry. Obviously baby boomers are a leading factor to this growth.

For those of you looking to either embark on a new career or looking for a career to focus your education on, what may be intriguing to you is that most positions will require less than four years of college education. For example Registered Nurses, Health Information Technicians, Dental Hygienists, and Health Service Managers (a.k.a. Health Care Administrators).

My search continues with regard to another safe industry in terms of career stability. For now, health care seems to be the most stable industry. Time will tell.

So where are the best performing cities in the U.S. with regard to job growth? Fortunately for me, since we have one of our offices there is #2 on the list - Raleigh, NC. Here is the list of the top 25. Certainly worth a look.

Again, readers, plan and prepare. At this point it is critical and our future depends on it now more than ever.

More Bad Economic News...

Well, evidently we are now looking to bailout the auto industry? I wonder if my own business fails, if I can apply for bailout money? I don't want to get on a soapbox about politics here, believe me. But I cant help wonder the impacts of a bailout for the auto industry vs. not bailing them out. I can't help wonder where this ends. I cant help wonder when and where this impact will stop. At what industry? At what geographic location? I cant help wondering a lot these days. Seems to be a growing trend around the nation at this point thanks to our government robbing us blindly. After all, this is the biggest robbery of the century.

With the auto industry specifically, since that is the bailout topic du jour, either way I see it hurting the economy. Nice, a lose-lose situation. We bail them out and we the taxpayers will pay. We don't bail them out and people are without jobs which will push up the unemployment rate further, deepen consumer confidence and hence negatively impact the economy overall as well. To me, the metric would be what is the better longer term effect?

We cant get hung up in this rut. Sure, it's easy for me to say - I haven't lost my job. But that doesn't mean I am not fearful. I have a family to feed and can't create a crutch for me to rely on. I have to rely on myself, preparing and planning. After all, I am the CEO of my family.

So the question I guess would be, what if I did lose my job? What would I do? If you read my blog you might guess most of what I would do to attain my next job.

I would find ways to remain confident in myself. There is always a way, when there is a will, right? You pick the pieces up and you move on. You have to. You discover openings and you enter. This is Darwinism of sorts. The strongest survive. If we are all equal, then we all have an equal chance to be the strongest.

Yes, times are extremely difficult right now, but it is also very strange to me. I mean, JTL has had the best month this fiscal year in October which coincidentally was probably the worst economic month for the US economy in my lifetime. Unemployment is the highest since the mid 1990s. I realize some geographic areas were hit more than others. I realize that some industries were hurt more than others. But I also realize that companies are hiring.

Heck, just go to Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com and look for yourselves. I know I despise those sites but just take a peak and see that there are lots of available jobs across the US.

Look, have some faith. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Grab the bull by the horns. Figure this out. You can do it if you want. Trust me everyone of you/us that has been hurt has at least someone else who has been hurt much harder.

This disaster will pass.

For those looking to start over, get yourself organized. Need help? Reach out for us at JTL and see if we can help. Obviously we cant help everyone, but we can help some. So give it a chance.

Oh yeah, what would I do if I lost my job? Here are the top 10 items I would have on my list:

• Get my resume organized immediately. That should already be ready since you should always have one prepared.
• Initiate a LinkedIn.com account. That too should already be ready, but if not I would get one organized. Reach for connections and seek recommendations.
• Initiate a FaceBook.com account. Build up my network there. You never know who may know of an open position that may fit.
• Google myself to make sure there is no digital dirt on me. Potential hiring managers will Google me so I want to be prepared.
• Get some letters of recommendations together. Preferably from previous bosses.
• Get copies of my college transcripts.
• Get a suit together and prepared and have ready to go at all times.
• Try to put together a one minute video giving summary highlights of my education, experience and past accomplishments.
• Find two or three good local recruiters that understand my industry and that have had years of success hiring in my industry.
• Call them. I would not send my resume out of the gate. I would talk to them first to find the one I like the best.

What I wouldn't do? Throw my resume on Monster or Careerbuilder. Read my blog. There is a plethora of information about why I would advise against this.

Stay strong!

Turn Off Your TV

Ok, now that the election is over and we have a new President elect, it’s time to look for opportunities. If you’re spending you time watching the news rehash itself with the same half dozen headlines over and over, then you’re quite frankly leaving yourself behind the eight ball.

October was our best month of the fiscal year and to add to that the month of November is shaping up just as nice. Can I explain this in how it relates to the economy? No, I cannot. All I can say is that, while the news showcases a down market for jobs, there are still great opportunities out there and we are working on finding them.

JTL Services, Inc. works on jobs that pay from $65K and up. So far we have been fortunate enough to have not seen this $65K and up market affected in any way by the souring economy. In fact, throughout 2008 we have seen companies hire, and hiring quickly. Many have been hiring after the first interview. We have not seen that activity since 2001. If you have a concern about your present job then give one of our recruiters a call and let us explain in detail how we can help you with your career. Keep in mind that JTL is a national search firm and has expert recruiters that specialize in most verticals.

What Kind of Recruiter Do I Need?

Though I could write a novel on this subject, I have condensed the answer first by illustrating the three kinds of recruiters that are out there and thus leaving the answer to you the reader. And I would strongly recommend asking a recruiter which one they are before making a decision on which recruiter you want working for you.

The first kind of recruiter is one that works strictly with job candidates (job seekers).

The second kind of recruiter is one that works strictly with clients to get job orders.

And the third kind of recruiter is one that works with both candidates and clients. The term widely used to define this type of recruiter is a "Full Desk Recruiter".

JTL employs full desk recruiters only. And we opt for these recruiters for what we consider to be very good and important reasons. But before I explain why let me first differentiate this type of recruiter by highlighting the other two types of recruiters.

A recruiter that works strictly with candidates is doing nothing more than bringing people in to their own interviews in an effort to build up a database of potential job candidates. We basically call that data collection or data mining. The essential negative about this is that once this type of recruiter has you in their database, they really can’t do anything further to assist with your job search after they have met you. They can’t promote you to their clients because they don’t have any clients. In essence they again add you to their database and then simply hope that you will come up in a search that someone else is doing.

The second kind of recruiter is one whose primary focus is to build client relationships. Their job is to establish relationships and to get open job orders to work on. What is really tough about this one is that, as a recruiter, your reputation is on the line every time you submit a candidate. What you are in essence doing is putting your vote of confidence and endorsing an individual that you have a resume for and feel would be a good fit for an open job order.

The real problem with this is that you haven’t actually met the job candidate. They are simply sourcing resumes from a database of candidates that have been interviewed by the first kind of recruiter listed above. So they find open job orders, and then they search a database of potential candidates. In my humble opinion, and you bed the judge, this is just as bad as posting your resume on an Internet job board. This is like sending your resume into a company because you saw an ad where you are now hoping that someone at the company will look at your resume and then determine if your resume speaks to the job. And who is doing that function? Read through some of my previous blog posts to better understand why this is just not the best way to find a job.

The third and final type, again the type that JTL employees. is what we feel works best for all parties involved in this process - that is, the client, and the candidate. It is imperative that this type of recruiter really learns as much about his candidates as possible before presenting them to their client(s). This is a much longer process that requires spending time listening to a candidate and to better understand their life goals. It entails getting to know what it is that excites them and what precisely may be prompting them to seek a new or different job.

It is important for this type of recruiter to really determine if a given candidate is good for a given client's open job order. A simple resume just doesn't do this and that is a reality. A candidate’s resume shows qualification and nothing more. In fact, most of the time even that needs to be explained!

As a full desk recruiter there is nothing more exciting than meeting a quality job candidate, learning about them, and then promoting them to clients you have built a relationship with over years of working with them and their companies. A good recruiter isn't just about connecting someone looking for a job to some company looking to fill a job. That's precisely why good recruiters or recruiting firms have been around a while and have many, even hundreds of clients and many real testimonials.

So, I urge you to ask these questions to your recruiter. Spend the time to better understand which recruiter you need to help promote you in finding a new job.