By
Bill Broderick, President, emailresume.com
Back in the 1950's, a Time magazine reporter interviewed a world-famous
pianist about his work. The reporter asked: "What's most
challenging about playing the piano?" The pianist thought
for a moment and replied: "I do OK with the notes, but
the spaces between the notes give me lots of trouble."
What he meant, of course, was that he was very competent
at the mechanics of playing the piano, but found the subtlety
and nuance of making music, getting the "spaces between
the notes" right, a continual life-long challenge.
Job seekers are getting great advice today from a variety
of sources about pursuing career opportunities. The total
job search process is well-documented in terms of how to perform
discrete steps such as drafting a resume, preparing and using
cover letters, using job boards on the internet, etc.. While
mastering each of the steps is important, it doesn't necessarily
enable a job seeker to address the "spaces between the
notes" of the Job Search process. Good mechanics may
not be enough to get to the job offer.
Here's a summary of some key issues to address to be effective
in working on those "spaces between the notes."
Understanding the first steps taken by the employer is vital
for the job seeker, so let's begin there.
Job Specifications: what the company wants
When a position becomes available in a company, the HR function
and hiring manager review and reach agreement upon the criteria
for selecting the right person. Job specifications define
requirements such as education, work experiences, industry
background, skill sets and technical proficiencies, which
may result in eight to ten criteria for the hiring decision.
The specifications, in turn, drive all phases of the selection
process, such as resume screenings, evaluation of job fair
candidates, interview assessments, etc., through to hiring
of the final candidate.
The job specifications are readily available to job seekers
in ads, postings on company web sites and other sources. The
order of presentation of the specifications also demonstrates
what is most to least important and may suggest possible tradeoffs
and areas of flexibility as well.
The challenge of the job seeker is to get at the "spaces
between the notes" by effectively addressing the job
specifications at every stage of the selection process: the
resume design, the phone screening interview and the job interview.
Consider the following:
Resume Design: send a clear message
A resume screener searches for candidates who match the specifications.
A strong, focused resume that captures three or four core
competencies plus related accomplishments allows the screener
to make multiple connections with the job specifications.
The resume screener doesn't need to know all that the job
seeker has ever done; instead, he/she is looking for the match
between the specs and the background outlined in the resume.
Some key points:
- Core competencies are the key skills of the job seeker,
those skills that are performed well, with subject matter
expertise, supported by solid accomplishments.
- Core competencies should be evident throughout the two-page
resume.
- Every job seeker has one set of core competencies, so
one resume should be used, mixing and matching the presentation
of the core competencies to improve the correlation with
job specs as needed.
If the core competencies match up well with the specs, then
the process moves forward.
Phone Screening Interview: get "on message"
Recruiters contact those prospects that appear to match up well
with the specs to determine if they are viable candidates. Like
resume preparation, there are abundant resources available for
how to handle this step as well, but some key points to improve
performance are:
- Recruiters ask questions because they don't know what
the answers are. Respond to the questions asked, avoid using
questions to segue into other areas.
- Comments about career, job roles and responsibilities
are most effective if the job specs are used to drive the
details.
- Core competencies should be presented using the priorities
of the job specifications as script direction. Any shortcomings
versus the specs should be addressed by citing other, comparable
achievements.
- Finally, close the call with a summary of core competencies
and state a strong interest in a meeting to discuss the
opportunity.
All other considerations being equal, the job seeker who stays
"on message" by presenting his/her core competencies
in terms of the job specifications will get the opportunity
to interview for the position.
Interview: talk about the specifications
Interviewing job seekers enables a company to evaluate the candidates,
test their own expectations and find the "best fit"
to effectively meet their hiring goals. Consider some key points
about job interviewing:
- The job specs provide a "road map" for content.
Use the specs to share details about career, job roles and
responsibilities that connect to the specs.
- Listen to the Interviewer and answer the questions asked.
- Be prepared to ask a few solid questions that demonstrate
knowledge and comfort level with the job specifications,
which will illustrate that you "walk the talk"
when it comes to the company requirements.
- A final point: ask for the job!
Summary
Today's job seeker is on a steep learning curve to successfully
launch and sustain a career search process. But focusing upon
one's career, skills, abilities and goals is not enough. The
key issue to address is the company goals and job specs. At
each step of the resume/phone screen/interview process, the
job seeker is challenged to integrate the job specifications
with his/her core competencies, fully demonstrating the connectivity
between their skills and company needs. Doing so effectively
enables the job seeker to get the "spaces between the notes"
right and greatly increase the potential for success in the
interview/selection process.
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