[il-talk] Insights on Job Searching

[Connie Davis]

Ray, thank you so much for posting this.

Connie 

-----Original Message-----
From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Ray Campbell
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 11:10 AM
To: acb-l at acb.org; icb-l at icbonline.org; wisconsin at acb.org;
il-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [il-talk] Insights on Job Searching

Hello All:

I'm posting this since I know many of you reading this are either searching
for work yourselves, or, in a position helping people looking for jobs.
These are some insights I gained after talking with a hiring manager at a
major company in my area.


=====start of text=====
JOB SEARCHING INSIGHTS
By Ray Campbell


On Friday, January 13, I had the opportunity to do some informational
interviewing with a hiring manager at a major company in my area.  This
person has worked in and hired for an industry which I want to return to
work in.

Here are a few important points I gained from our conversation:
.	Make sure you have a clean resume.  Look over your resume and make
sure it's free of spelling errors, is grammatically correct and that it
looks nice in terms of fonts used and other formatting.  It's a good idea to
read your resume out loud, or, have someone read it to you.  Doing this will
alert you to things which do not sound correct.  Don't just rely on spell
check to make sure everything is spelled correctly, have it proofread.  This
manager told me with the hundreds of resumes they get on each job posting,
it's essential your resume is clean.
.	Taylor your resume to the posting which you are applying for.  A lot
of people have one resume out there which they've posted on a job search
site.  Look at the job description and make sure your resume highlights the
skills you offer which the employer is looking for.  This also gets into how
much work history you discuss on your resume.  If you're applying for a job
supporting mainframe COBOL applications, and you worked with COBOL 20 years
ago, you should touch on this because it will help the employer realize you
know what you are doing.  On the other hand, if the posting specifies that
you need to be proficient in Microsoft Office 2007 and you worked in
Microsoft Office 2000 10 years or so ago, the hiring manager probably
doesn't care about that.
.	In the interview, it's perfectly acceptable if you get a question
you do not have an immediate answer for to say, let me think about that for
a minute.  Too many people feel under pressure to answer questions and don't
think it through.  Also in the interview, be sure to talk about how your
skills will help the company achieve its core values.  The time tested idea
of doing your homework on the company is a big help, and there's kno reason
you can't easily do that today with the internet.
.	Google your name and see what comes up.  This manager told me he
does this, and he especially looks at social media.  A Google search on your
name is just a good thing to do once in a while to see what's out there.  It
can reveal some interesting stuff, especially if you have a common name.
.	Be real careful what you're putting up on social media like Twitter
and FaceBook.  This manager said he looks for two things.  First, how much
time are you spending on social media during traditional business hours,
especially if you say you've been working for the past X number of  years.
If he sees during the time you say you've been working that you're on social
media sites a lot during traditional business hours, 9-5 Monday through
Friday, that's a read flag because he assumes you're at work every day.
He's looking to see how much time you spend doing this during the work day
and not working.  Another thing he looks for on social media is how much
time people spend complaining about work, their bosses, ETC.  If you're
complaining a lot about your job or your bosses, that's a red flag to him
because he may figure the problem isn't the job or the bosses, it's you.
.	If you are blind, you may need to spend part of the interview
discussing how you would do a given job.  If the conversation starts heading
in the direction of discussing accommodations, it may be good because
perhaps the interviewer likes you but wants to understand how you do things.
The person I was speaking with said me or the person in that situation would
have a good sense of where the conversation is going and know how to handle
it.
.	The final point, alert your references when you apply for a position
so they know they may be called.

As you would with a regular job interview, thank anyone you information
interview with.  In my case, I also sent this person a copy of my resume and
asked him to go over it and give me good, honest feedback.



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