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Remember how your parents used to tell you that your bad grades and deeds in high school would follow you forever and then you found out they were wrong on most of that? Well it is a bit different in the work world.

Lots of people that are laid off from positions at good companies hope to rejoin the company in the future as the economy picks up and more openings appear. But it’s very important to remember: if you were laid off from a position, there was a reason why. It could just be that you were one of several X’s in your division and the company demanded that managers cut 55% of the X’s in the group. Or, it could be that your performance, while acceptable, wasn’t stellar.

Before you reapply at your old company, think about your last 1-2 performance reviews. Just because legally you are eligible for rehire doesn’t mean that you will *be* rehired. Do recruiters and hiring managers check your past performance with the company? You bet your sweet button they do.

There are a several large organizations in the Seattle area that are desirable employers; many of them have downsized over the years here or there. And although oftn prior work experience is desirable, if a candidate had a lackluster or poor performance history, not all the amazing projects they worked on since, will change an employer from being risk averse to a known (documented) quantity to being willing to have to justify to senior management the decision to hire a "known" poor performer.

In addition to your documented performance history, there is also your reputation, based upon your actions and treatment of former co-workers, many of whom may have stayed with (or kept in contact with) the company. "Blackballing" can be based on badmouthing and politicking, and unfortunately is difficult to prove. I was recently having this conversation with a former coworker, who had found out that someone she had worked with was bad-mouthing her.

The first situation is pretty much impossible to overcome. You just have to deal with it and move on. In the second situation, you may be able to do some damage control if you still have friends and colleagues willing to vouch for you and that may be aware of your work and the person bearing the grudge, and why they may be speaking out against you. (Jealousy, feels threatened, personal issues spilling over into work? I know folks that fall into all these categories.)
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Be realistic, and realize that just because you *want* to go back, you may not be welcome. If you do really feel that you are the right fit for the company, then work your hardest to become a recognized expert in your field so that they will come courting *you*.

Recently a friend of mine sent me her resume for an overall quick critique. She had been working with her school career counselor on reworking it to target industry/jobs she wanted to get into. Unfortunately, she was advised to use a functional resume by the career counselor.

I got a request from a reader of my column to see if I had any contacts in San Diego that could help her with both resume and career coaching. By the time she and I had finished evaluating what she was looking for, she had found a ‘great career coach’ that was also helping her revamp her resume. I told her to please make sure that her coach has recent *recruiting experience* in the last six to seven years to make sure her resume is advice is current.

I am saying this because so many people turn to career coaches for all things job related, and unless they have experience with Applicant Tracking Systems and complex Boolean searches, coupled with an understanding of federal laws from the OFCCP, chances are they are giving *outdated* advice. Well-intentioned, but definitely not up to what is going on in today’s world of recruiting including compliance issues that have literally changed the way candidates are evaluated, and our tools/technology shifts in the last decade.

Here is the bottom line. I, as a recruiter, can give some career coaching. I can help a candidate look at their skills and education and suggest potential career avenues and the companies and industries that may be hiring, and what I know near-future trends are. But if someone needs a true life coach, someone to help them with a holistic approach to their integrated career/life, then I’m probably not qualified. (I know people who are.) By the same token, a career coach who has not been a recent *recruiter* and not intimately familiar with all facets of the job is not generally qualified to give advice on resume construction.

So please, when you are looking for career transition advice, ask *experts*.

There is an interesting discussion going on over on LinkedIn in the Writing Mafia group about "Snobby Writers". As a (published) writer, a recruiter in the tech field, an avid reader, and someone that both attends and puts on writing conferences, I feel qualified to make some observations. Snobby is being defined as believing that only traditionally published authors (meaning by a third party publishing house on paper) is intrinsically a better product than eBooks. I must say, I have to disagree to a great degree.

Here’s why. I’ve read really bad books that have been published by major NY houses. And I’ve read some really good eBooks. And vice versa, of course. The deciding factor comes down to editing. The argument from the "Snobby" writers tends to be that publishing house editors really know their trade and enhance a book immensely. ePubs don’t all have editors (some do). And especially the recent storm about the young 26-year old woman that is taking the Kindle market by storm the question becomes: who is the judge of what is "good" writing?

I try to be fair in my assessments. On all sides, you have the voice of the readers, at large. While huge sales are by no means the only definitive criteria of "good" writing, it certainly is a reasonable indicator. (You don’t get to be on the the New York Times bestseller list if you aren’t a "best seller.") And in this day and age of community opinion, how many of us have never read the comments on Amazon.com to see whether or not they were positive endorsements of a book? Exactly.

So, let’s talk about editors, and specifically about publishing house editors. For those of you that don’t know the traditional publishing world in any depth, there is a process that is akin to a job search. You submit a query letter (which is sort of the equivalent of a resume/cover letter combined) and a sample of your work. Each publishing house has different rules you must follow for submission, on its website. Once you have submitted your work, it is then given to an editor who is responsible for your genre, or type of writing (fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, romance, mystery, etc.) Theoretically, this person knows what is "hot" in your category currently and what constitutes "good" writing (plot, characters, dialogue, and basic use of English.) They read either a few sentences, paragraphs, or pages of your book then either say "yes" or "no". If it is a "no" there are levels of rejection letters you receive. If they like the basics, they may send you a personalized rejection that tells you how to make it better and an invitation to resubmit. But the majority of rejections are form letters. Editors are the cogs that make the wheels of the publishing industry turn.

Now, a diligent (as opposed to "good") author is familiar with the process of writing a novel/book. First you write it and edit it yourself. Then you seek external opinions in various forms. That can be a critique group or partner, or hiring a professional (freelance) editor, or possibly sending it directly to an agent. As with any professional endeavor, training is available in various forms. Articles, workshops, conferences, etc. So there really is no excuse to not learning the way the industry works.

In addition, epubs offer agents and publishing houses both unparalleled access to exciting new authors at very low cost. But here’s the thing: as excellent new writers emerge on the epub scene, I’m guessing they aren’t going to be interested in traditional publishing where they lose so much of the rights to profits.

The way I see it, if NY (and global) publishing houses don’t start embracing epublishing and *appropriately staffing* for the shift, their time is limited. I see an upswing in the number of freelance editors out there with "big house" experience as well as the emergence of some exciting new talent. My observations are based on my expertise as a technical recruiter as well as an author.

A lot of people like to "prepare" for interviews. They want to think of clever or good answers for interview questions. But it’s not that easy to prepare for a behavioral-based interview.

What exactly *is* behavioral-based interviewing? It’s a style of questioning used more and more today. The basic premise is that what you have done and how you have acted in the past will be a good indicator of how you will handle future situations.

Your best preparation is to think of situations in your professional past that were difficult, contained some element of conflict or decision making, and had a positive outcome. Your clues are going to be in the job description and your own field. For example, as a recruiter I am generally asked about dealing with a difficult manager (account management), or persuading a manager to look at a candidate that didn’t fit their "model" for the job (persuasion), or how I handle a candidate that lied on their application/resume (ethics, conflict). If you are in project management, you might be asked about a time when a project slipped or handling change orders. When I’m speaking to an Executive Administrator, I ask about specific examples of dealing with confidential information. And those candidates who don’t give me a *specific situation* obviously aren’t listening and probably won’t be good in a full interview loop.

You have to remember that the employer is looking not just at your resolution to an issue or conflict, but also how you communicate. The example you choose is just as important as the outcome. If you choose something well, lame, the hiring manager isn’t going to be confident in your ability to react under pressure, or your self confidence. If you cannot think of an example and say that you have never had to deal with major conflict, at worst you are lying (and perhaps have a poor employment history and you lack initiative) or at best that you just don’t have enough experience.

There are dozens of websites on the subject. But, again, your best preparation is your own career history which you should know really well.

…and it is Management Consulting. At least for the tech giants in Seattle.

In case you don’t know what Management Consulting is, check out Wikipedia:

"Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement.

Organizations hire the services of management consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external (and presumably objective) advice and access to the consultants’ specialized expertise.

Because of their exposure to and relationships with numerous organizations, consulting firms are also said to be aware of industry "best practices", although the transferability of such practices from one organization to another may be problematic depending on the situation under consideration[citation needed].

Consultancies may also provide organizational change management assistance, development of coaching skills, technology implementation, strategy development, or operational improvement services. Management consultants generally bring their own, proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems, and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_consulting

It takes a lot to be a Management Consultant. High grades in school (from a good program), usually an MBA is preferred and often at least some industry experience in your field of expertise. And the job itself can be grueling: many days traveling on the road, away from home (frequent flier miles!). But the upside is that the pay is highly lucrative, and a couple of years in the field and you are highly sought after by corporate recruiters. And, if youquent leave on good terms, there is the huge bonus of having dedicated networks. Many of the big consulting firms have job boards for their alumni (I’ve used a good number of them in the past.)

If you believe you fit this criteria, start contacting the large firms (think Deloitte, Accenture, Cap Gemini etc.) and/or networking with consultants in the field. They have offices globally, so if you are a strong candidate, chances are good that you may be able to have your "home base" in a major city close to where you are now.

Why are they so sought after? Partly due to the perception that only the top of the top are hired. Also, they must be flexible, deployable to a wide variety of client sites, self-managed, and highly motivated. With the business world becoming more globally focused every day, breadth as well as depth of experience is becoming preferred in candidates for large organizations. And with the exception of startups, most people want stability that a larger organization brings.

So something to consider for your career management if you are looking at next steps.

So last week I was on vacation; a Carribean cruise to be exact. This particular cruise was all about music. Concerts morning noon and night. Hosted by Barenaked Ladies, and lots of other top musical acts. I took a friend of mine from over in Europe who recently graduated with a degree in videography. Several months before the cruise, I sent her a message saying, "you know, there are bound to be some professional opportunities for you on the cruise; this is an entertainment industry event, after all, and I’m sure there will be videographers there to network with." And since two of the headlining bands are from Canada, in my own way I thought this would be a great opportunity for her (she is half English and can work in any Commonwealth country without needing to go through lengthy visa processes.)

While we were on board, being my normal friendly self, I was talking to folks that work for the cruise line, the production company, family members of the bands, etc. Whether she managed to make any connections or not, I at least know the opportunity was there.

I guess my point is, networking isn’t just about your own "network". It is about following leads that might not seem to make sense, but present themselves anyway. While I was in Miami (the night before the cruise) I went to a local salon to get a pedicure, and guess who I met? Someone that works for Microsoft Venezuela. Her daughter is one of the owners of the salon. So what did I do? I got her email address and just sent her email. I am going to follow up with her on referrals for positions I am recruiting on.

My own path to becoming a top Seattle recruiter started in just such a manner. I moved to Portland, OR. Soon after, I got a phone call from a friend from Cincinnati. His Dad lived in Portland. He himself had just moved to Seattle with a friend from HS going to med school.

Turns out the med student’s girlfriend did contract costume work for a marketing manager at Microsoft. He needed an admin, and I ended up getting the job. (I worked into recruiting from there.) Convoluted? Yes. But one of the *best* professional opportunities given, and decisions I ever made.

Don’t blind yourself to opportunities. The proverbial "box" is much more of a dodecahedron these days and takes a lot more "outside thinking" to get out of.

Yesterday I was going through over 100 resumes for an executive assistant. The requirements were pretty broad: three years of EA experience and proficiency with Microsoft Office at least for the first round of evaluations.

So here are two things I saw which *disqualified candidates immediately*. The first was a functional resume. Why does that disqualify you? Because I cannot tell what jobs have relevant experience to compare against the job description. If you cannot tell me WHEN and WHERE you did specific job duties, I’m not passing you on to a hiring manager because there are at least 30 other candidates that can show me exactly what they have done that is relevant.

The other thing that actually appalled me? FIVE resume without DATES on them of employment history. And there are plenty of candidates that have been out of the workforce over a year that are still in the running. But dates on employment are a required part of applying for *any* job and just not bothering to put them on there is worse than shooting yourself in the foot.

So if you have been applying a lot of places and not hearing back, you may want to re-evaluate your resume and make sure that you are putting your best and most *logical* foot forward.

Today I was looking at the applicants for a job I’m recruiting on. And I saw a familiar name. Familiar in that this candidate has applied to *every single job I have been recruiting on for the last six month*. And has multiple profiles in our applicant database (with a very unsual/singular name.) Familiar NOT in a good way.

So here is what happens when recruiters start seeing the same name and resume all the time. They stop looking at it. Seriously, most of us recruit on somewhat similar OR vastly different skill sets. And either way, if this person is applying to hundreds of jobs either A) there is a reason s/he isn’t getting hired B) s/he is lying on their resume C) s/he is desperate. No one person can be qualified for hundreds of jobs across a global company with thousands of openings at any given time.

And believe me, recruiters *do* talk amongst themselves, and if someone is showing up in dozens of searches daily, they get passed along as desperate. When it comes to applying for jobs, we look for *quality not quantity*. It’s the same with having multiple profiles on Monster or sites like LinkedIn. It gives you a shady reputation of someone not to be trusted, fair or not.

This is not a numbers game, believe it or not. You want to be judicious with your efforts. I know a lot of folks are in difficult situations financially, but it’s vital that your professional image remains just that…professional. You are better served networking and working at strengthening your professional circle of peers.

I’m currently recruiting a very high level position in NYC. This is building a global sales consulting organization and requires extensive experience. A friend is a well connecte recruiter there, and I asked his help by posting an announcement on a couple of his job seekings discussion board. I’ve gotten some great responses, but yesterday I got one that makes no sense to me. I got a cover letter and resume for someone that is a CAD designer.

Now, the company I am working with doesn’t *use* CAD designers. EVER. It’s a well-known company (Fortune 500). I’m still puzzling why this person sent me his resume and the only thing I can figure out is that he is desperate. And his approach, to shoot his resume and boilerplate cover and resume to me, really left a bad impression.

If he was interested in approaching me for opportunities he is qualified for, he should have sent me an email (my address was included) introducing himself and asking if I by chance know of any opportunities for a CAD designer either with my client or other companies.

It’s all in the approach and delivery. I’m perfectly happy to network and help out when I can, but it’s vital to act professionally and understand the rules of engagement. So when you are making your own networking outreach, please think about who you are contacting and *what you hope to gain from the contact.*

I got an intenresting response to my column last week. The question was from someone that had gone back to school to get a degree, but was now overqualified as an administrative professional but underqualified as a communications manager.

But the comments I got were from a hiring manager and I wanted to share it here:

"We have had 4 hires for 2 positions and had one work out. We are looking for someone organized; willing to follow up; willing to show up to work; smart; willing to learn; and not a drama queen. We are willing to spend the time teaching the industry. You would think, given the economy, that we would find many. We have many applicants but few who can demonstrate or have the qualities that an employer really wants which is more than a piece of paper saying you went to class.

Perhaps you could find a way to help work the employer’s perspective into your column(s.) It might for people to understand why they don’t get hired or why they are let go. It not frequently age, race, etc. as you imply in your ageism comment. I believe employers will take good people assuming one can find one. I know we keep people if they perform even if it hurts to carry some extra cost."

Notice the important points he makes? Professional; smart; organized; willing to show up; not a "drama queen".

This is a small company in a growing field (biotech). He is looking for someone to lead his office. Folks, it is a buyer’s market right now. YOU are the sellers. I received a resume today from someone that attended a resume seminar I conducted last week, and guess what was on her original resume? She is looking for a job that will give her the flexibility to have a family.

Now, while that is a fine goal for yourself, it is guaranteed to send up red flags to a potential employer. The message this sends is of someone that is not going to stick around after becoming a parent, or even worse, expect an employer to work around her decision to have a family if she stays. In other words, a drama queen.

Think about what kind of a professional you are Not just how you present yourself when looking for a job, but also after you are *on* the job.