How to Use Your Professional Network Over and Over Again

Make sure you have something to offer every contact every time you reach out to them, said John Crant, a career expert and founder of SelfRecruiter.com.

Tapping your professional network to find a job means tapping many of the same contacts over and over again. To ensure you don’t outlast your welcome, maintain a two-way relationship, [...]

Can We Meet for Coffee or Lunch?

An informational interview is usually a waste of an executive recruiter’s time, said the anonymous manager and author of the “Ask a Manager” blog.
Most people who ask for an informational interview are usually trying to sneak an actual job interview, or they’re randomly trying to meet with anyone and everyone who might have a job [...]

Phone Interview That Went Too Far

Thinking of letting someone else fill out a job application for you? Here’s a tale of a travel agent who went too far, courtesy of Media Jobs Daily and Clue Wagon.
Once I did a phone interview with a candidate for a travel agent position. This candidate had a flat Midwestern accent, which is pretty common [...]

Despite Facebook and LinkedIn, “Network” is Still a Verb

The word “network” is both a noun and a verb. It’s something you have and something you do. We seemed to understand that better before the Internet and Facebook and LinkedIn.
In the days before online social networks, networking meant you were actively pursuing connections and adding new contacts. It probably meant you were attending events, [...]

Job Fair Interview Follow-Up: Man the Phone

If most attendees at job fair go primarily to research the market and find leads, their primary goal when they leave the job should be to follow up on those leads and market conditions, said Charles Kush III, an independent consultant who is looking for a position as a senior vice president of marketing.
I met [...]

Marc Cenedella: Leaving the Right Voicemail Message

In the old days, a recruiter received her phone messages on a sheet from a pink, While You Were Out notepaper that had all the right info to contact the caller. There was no way the caller could mess up the message.
Voicemail is self service, and there are multiple opportunities to mess up the message [...]

Why Did the Recruiter Reject You?

You’ve e-mailed, phoned and hounded two dozen recruiters who specialize in your field, but you’ve had little to no response. What are you doing wrong?
It might be your handshake. Or it could be your perfume… your eye contact… your tattoos… your frequent use of the word dude.
The recent surge in candidates for executive positions transformed [...]

Hold The Phone Interview 2: Pick Up the Phone

I closed my  post yesterday on answering the phone properly while your searching for a job (Hold The Phone Interview: Be Nice to Callers) with a question:
Many try to let voice mail run some interference for them. Let the caller leave a message so you can call back armed with awareness and prepped to talk [...]

Hold The Phone Interview: Be Nice to Callers

Looking for a job? A refresher in phone manners might be in order.
While it’s always good advice to be polite when answering the phone and anytime you interact with your fellow man, modern custom allows that we relax our manners when answering a call from an unknown source. After all it’s probably a telemarketer.
If you’ve [...]