10 Tips for Job Seekers from an Employer (CEO)

I got an email about a blog post asking if I’d check it out and perhaps blog about it.  I rarely do that (I get these requests all the time, and most blog posts are superficial or weak – just marketing plays).

I glanced through the post, though, and thought there was some good stuff… UNTIL THE END.

OH MY GOSH, the ignorance in this country kills me (I declined the invite to blog about this saying I would write a scathing post, but he said that was okay, they want conversation.  So, converse in the comments ).  And it really, really hurts everyone.  Here are his 10 points, I’m only going to comment on the last one (original post here):

Don’t name your resume, “resume.” I agree… name it something easy for them to find – I think your name and maybe the job title is a good place to start.don’t use all lowercase. Agreed – perhaps we are losing a lot of our writing skills because of our kewl ability to text?Don’t write like a robot. Again, poor communication skillz :pDon’t spam hiring managers. Agreed. The hard part of this, though, is “when do you follow-up?”Don’t expose your licentious personal life. Totally. He’s talking about not putting Too Much Information (TMI) on Facebook.Don’t talk badly about your former employer. Agreed… read the post about not letting HR or a hiring manager “smell blood.”Proofread your resume. Totally – AND know what’s on it. (have you heard *that* story?)Format your resume nicely. I have seen some really, really bad formats :/PDF your resume. Okay.  Mac user :pWhen you get a job, don’t job hop. … and here we go…

Don says:

“When you get a job, try your very best to stay at it for at least two years, preferably more. We understand that the job market is fluid and you are not likely to stay with us long enough to get the gold watch. However, we do want to get a couple years of productivity from you if we’re going to invest in training and mentoring.”

Man oh man… all the stuff I want to write… I meet with thousands and thousands of job seekers each year.  Imagine what I’d hear if I said that?

I’ve met so many professionals who have good work ethic, are highly talented, and are anxious to have a job for “at least two years.”

You think these professionals want to be on the street looking for a job?  You think they are job hopping, just because you see frequent jobs on their resume, and short-term gigs?

I recently heard the average tenure of a CFO is 18 months.  NOT BY CHOICE, I bet!  Aside from being the traditional (circa 1980’s) job hopper, perhaps here are some reasons why there are frequent transitions on a resume:

Bait-and-switch. I regularly hear from someone who takes a job and then finds that it was nothing like what they advertised.  Don’t give someone a title and description, hire them, and then have them do something entirely different.Ethics of the management team. Think: Enron.  How many tens of thousands of ethical professionals lost everything because of a few unethical people in power?  It happens daily, even at small, private companies.Very poor cultural fit. Imagine you get a job that was made for you.  You go to work and find out no one has and moral standards (assuming you do… or, if you don’t, imagine (ugh) everyone does).  The cultural fit will be painful and you’ll want to leave as much as they’ll want you to leave.Change in pay. You get a job for a certain salary and then within four to six months your pay is slashed… not because of you, or your work, but for “business reasons.”  Your options are to move to another department (sales, anyone?) or go look for another job.  I’ve heard of people getting a $20k cut and others getting more than $50k cut.  You think they signed up for that?______________. There are many, many reasons why someone loses a job.  What am I missing?

I think it is irresponsible to assume that frequent changes on a resume mean you are getting an unloyal, job-hopping waste-of-money.  Especially in today’s economy.

The only thing that can fix this thinking, unfortunately, is for people who believe this to go through their own job searches and see what it’s like out there.

View the original article here