Tag Archives | hiring

Write THIS Resume To Land Your Dream Job!

The time will come when you want to leave your snug job and when that time comes you have to ask yourself: “Is my resume parallel to the career I am looking for?” That resume you put together in college landed you your first office job but as you try to scurry up the food chain that resume sink right into the interweb trash can. So as you grow up, so should your resume.

1) Write about your achievements. You had x job and did a, b, c. But NO you didn’t just do a,b,c you accomplished x, y, z!! You save the company money, you opened multinationals, you led a team of all sorts of trades, you negotiated off the ying and the yang to reach the end of the earth for the company you worked for and THIS IS HOW!! Explain what you did and how you did it! Your new hiring manager wants to see numbers and names. Throw them!

2) You didn’t just reach targets you went above and beyond because you did THIS!

3) Add color and spice and everything nice. You need to stand out on paper. Your resume is you selling yourself on paper. Cap where caps go, italic where italics go, use small and large fonts, use graphs and diagrams BUT ALWAYS BE CONSISTENT!!

4) You are one person with many talents who may have a few jobs that are of interest to you. You may want to be a GM, a Director of Operations or a VP. Whatever the case may be do know it’s okay to have more than one resume for more than one job.

5) Say goodbye to your objectives on the top of the page. Your applying for a job, we get it you are motivated, highly educated, and a thought provoking team leader. Instead brand yourself, add information we can’t find anywhere else on your resume, add things you did but be sure you actually did them.

6) NEVER LIE!! I don’t care how great this all reads to you, don’t you dare lie. Liers get caught in one way or another….Karma baby karma!

7) Date your work. If you are senior go about 15-20 years but not more! DO NOT add high school but add dates to all other places and if you worked at one place for many years, break it down to what you did when. And don’t tell me you have to think…we all have to think!

8) Just because you are out of school doesn’t mean education isn’t important. Add all relevant degrees, affiliates and certifications. And do know if you are applying to certain careers a scuba certificate can be interesting BUT for others and most…keep it out! (Point 8.5, Know your audience. Do your research about what works and doesn’t work with the company, figure out if and where they volunteer, perhaps not only are your interests are the same but you have both been to the same event at the same time.)

9) References upon request is old school. Of course you will give references if requested. If not what’s the matter with you?? And with that though don’t add your actual references here, wait until asked or bring your glowing letters to an interview. It’s manners 🙂

10) Your information on the top of the page can be limited to your name, your phone number, your email address, your twitter, linkedin link but after that no need to add more. You can leave your actual mailing address out, it won’t be used until you are hired.

11) If you are too lazy to do this all yourself. There are resume writing agencies that can help….including ours but do know no resume will guarantee you a job. It will hopefully get you an interview but after that it’s all you.

Do know, the bigger the job, the more humanistic the process will be. You will have multiple interviews with multiple people. It may all be for nothing but you don’t know what you can or will have until you try. So fix your resume and get on out there!

12 Sure Ways To Not Get A Job

1) You are are applying to jobs you want to work for but have zero experience in the field or industry

2) You are pushy. If you are pushy in the interview process how will you be in the office?

3) You are late. You don’t call. If you want a job and you are late you call, if you are lost you call, it’s that simple.

4) You know everything so act like you do. This is sure to be a winning personality trait.

5) Ask about money and benefits. You don’t want a job you want a vacation your first day!

6) Talk terribly about your previous employer and coworkers. People love gossip chatter box away!

7) Ignore recruiters. Ignore their emails and their calls. What do recruiters know anyway? There’s no way they know what they are doing, just because they have a job, doesn’t mean they are good at it!

8) Don’t analyse the company, the team or the people you will be working with. The less you know the better. Who doesn’t love surprises anyway??

9) You job hop like a pub crawl.

10) You don’t sell yourself. You don’t care about the job and you don’t care about you. You wonder why they are even interviewing you in the first place. You were only picked out of probably 50 profiles!

11) Your biggest weakness when asked you answer “organizational skills and prioritizing” (yes, we have heard this)

12) Your resume hasn’t been modified so it’s not only outdated but you actually didn’t change the template, not even the words “place information here”

Why Can’t I Offer More Money When They Want To Leave?

There are so many reasons why it’s not in your favour to offer someone who wants to leave your company more money.

Here are some of them:

The person wasn’t happy and it wasn’t just about the money.
Money is great, we all need it, most of us want more if it BUT when someone is making a move to another company, money was never the only issues and if twas the only issue why all of the sudden, now that they are about to go, you are able to throw more at them??

If you were able to throw the dollars at them now why didn’t you do it before??
This makes sense of course if you didn’t know it was an issue however if there are unhappy employees, it is your responsibility as a manager and/or an owner to know your people are unhappy. To say “You were too busy to notice” Or you have “too many people to know everything” is just an excuse that doesn’t work. Unhappy employees are less productive employees, they are the one missing work to go out, leaving early, on the phone more and taking lunch more often then before. You can’t know everything but you should be able to catch on and work accordingly.

If someone is about to take an offer now, in three to six months they will take another offer again as chances are it wasn’t about the money, they will still be unhappy but the idea of staying was much easier then the idea of leaving.

We see it all the time, managers/HR/CEO’s saying “we will give you more responsibilities, we will raise your salary” but the chances of this actually happening is truly nil to none…as again, why didn’t they just do it before??

Moving from job to job is never ideal however sometimes people need to leave a company and what that time comes it’s is best to just let them go. It’s hard, as breakups are never easy but once you are down, pick yourself up again and come back/hire stronger!

May Madness

They say “Love is in the air” when it’s spring but it’s not just love, it’s leg-working.
May is the time when we get out of hibernation and into the swing of things.
It’s after the holidays and before summer vacation.
It’s the time the ladies kick on their heels and the men relieve themselves of their ties because May is the beginning of Events.
From networking events to neighbourhood bbq’s, to parties and charity events.
May kicks off the two month spree of a social calendar.
You may love it, you may hate it but it if you are human and working, you must go to at least one of them!
It’s your time to show people who you are, what you do and what you can accomplish.
It’s your time to get your face known and your name out there.
Even if you hide near the food the entire evening you will meet at least one good contact…the other person who is also hanging out by the food.
So go enjoy yourself, and the weather, as if you are in Canada it’s only going to last for so long!!

And know that networking tips will follow!

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Learn To Keep Your Employees!

You have employees, you are growing, you want to grow, that’s all great! Nerve wracking but great!! The only problem is, everyone is different and every company is different so as much as it’s fabulous to want to add employees you need to go about it the right way!
So what can you do to actually keep employees so people like me don’t take them out???

A steady job and paycheck is not enough to keep them happy.
Here are some not deep pocket examples that can help employees feel warm and fuzzy inside:

Relax on the dress code once a week or provide a free lunch of Fridays…offices love free!! Free coffee, free donuts, free time!!

Keep them motivated, keep them educated!
Lunch and learn sessions: The government of Quebec provides grants to companies that provide training. Take advantage of it!! It will save you money in the long run as well! If you need more information please do feel free to send jessica@mindhr.com an email. She will put you in touch with the right person.

Offer a flexible work schedule. I have a client that has a 7.5 hour work week. Everyone has to be in at 10am but they can come in anytime before and leave 7.5 hours later.

Don’t yell, it’s not good for you and it’s not good for the morale of the office. Keep calm and work on!

Dangle a carrot in front of the right people. Everyone has different motivations so work with what those differences. It’s not discrimination if everyone has something to look forward to. I worked with a sales woman who was motivated by time off. She didn’t care about the commissions, she wanted a half day off for every sale made. Not the end of the world.

Celebrate occasions and offer the option of It’s your Birthday take the day off. With smart phones we are always available, so a day off is never really a day off.

Participate in community events. Events bring up team spirit. You don’t have to make it mandatory but you can make it an option. Building a sense of community and family makes it harder for people to leave.

As a manager or an owner, bond with them and get to know them. You don’t have to be best buddies but you can get to know their favorite color.

If you can and have the space, offer gym memberships or provide the time for your employees to get out and exercise. Healthy body healthy mind

Work with your employees to show the progression of their work and the company, if that is something that interests them. Don’t worry, NOT everyone wants to the be chief and not everyone wants to be the soldier.

Don’t forget to congratulate successes not everything has to be about money, a simple well done, is really enough sometimes.

The employers who treat their employees the best will not only keep their current staff but also find the best employees flocking to them.

Happy flying!

Find A Job!!! Get Resources HERE!

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Protect Your Ass..ets

You have been with your arse more than you have been with any employer or any company so protect you ass…ets.

We just had a candidate tell us the most horrific story I think I have ever heard in the business, and I have heard a lot!

Recruiters change lives. People want to change jobs like they want to change houses, so working with a recruiter you trust is important. You don’t need to work with one agency but you need to know who you are working with.

So the story:

A candidate we met today indicated a recruiter in the Montreal area placed him at a company and did not tell him the salary he was going to be earning before he started. On the 2nd day of work, the candidate went in to sign papers as the candidate was signing he noticed it was 10k less than his original asking price and 15k then the recruiter presented him at. When the candidate called the said recruiter the recruiter apparently replied “Well….you were offered less because you did not have the technical skills required”.

Starting a career without a signed contract I understand, it happens, especially with smaller companies…btw this was with a large organization but how the candidate went to work without knowing his salary is inexcusable.

When accepting a career be sure if nothing else a recruiter or the company about to hire you sends you an email to confirm you salary and your start date this way you know what you are getting into. Protect yourself as at the end of the day, it’s your day that matters most.

 

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