Top 10 blunders Job Seekers make : Observations and Remedy

As a gatekeeper to a technology company, I have spent number of years browsing thousands of unsolicited and solicited "résumé's" - the most important sales pitch we make.However, what bothers me is the laxness and mediocrity job seekers take refuge on using their résumé.

Here are few of my observations
1) 80% of résumé's come with a blank email Or without cover letters.
2) 90% job seekers have only a generic "one size fits all" resume'.
3) 50% or more do not use basic word tools such as "spell check" "formatting" etc.
4) 70% never even follow up.
5) 70% will not remember they had applied.
6) 90% of the résumé's come in standard templates with unwanted information.
7) 50% or more will come with weird email addresses such as coolbird@yahoo.com.
8) 20% of job seekers tailors their profile to the open position.
9) 50% will do homework on the company.
10)80% does not take this "life altering" event seriously.

Having a good profile is not enough, you should be able to attract the attention of recruiters and hiring managers and get the "call".

Remember, you will not get a SECOND chance to make the FIRST impression.So,next time you are in between jobs, make an effort to write a professional document that is a snap shot of who you are, what you have accomplished and contributions you can make in the company . When writin your resume', you may want to try using a creative format, a format that reflects your personality and yet keeps the professional image of the document intact. Below are few heads that you may want to use.
1) Summary of qualifications
2) Area of expertise
3) Career progression
4) Accomplishments and highlights
5) Education

REMEMBER, your résumé is the first ever document the Company will look at,so take your time to craft and create it. Once you are done, show it to couple people who you think can critique and help make it better.
When applying for a position, understand the requirement, write a cover note responding how you match up and where you fall short. Honesty works. Use your network to spread the word of your availability, ask friends and colleagues to introduce you to hiring managers of companies that interest you. There's a saying
" Luck is your preparedness to grab a passing opportunity", all your efforts will go waste if you fail at the right time, so BE PREPARED.
Wear a smile, think and do good, be positive, have a great attitude and most important, be grounded. Finally, follow up and never forget to send a thank you note to your interviewer.

Best wishes for your new assignment.

Culture

While reading an article on HR, came across this definition of Culture by Schein " Culture is the way people solve problems". Just loved it! its crisp, clear and defines it beautifully in 6 words.

 

 

Intuition in recruiting

Recruiting is intuitive, although its a specialised skill, what differentiates the great from the good,in my opinion is the intuitiveness of the recruiter. You may not get the butterflies but you will get the next hire.

No Room for complainers in this German company

Forwarding this link referred by a good friend, somewhat bizzare but a real case of how a company stays away from whiners by enforcing it within via contract. Check this
Link

The Three Boxes -

Think of everything you do in your organisation and put it into three boxes: Managing the present (Box 1), selectively abandoning the past (Box 2) and creating the future (Box 3),that's what Professor Vijay Govindarajan quotes from his book on strategy titled "Ten Rules For Strategic Innovators - From Idea To Execution", during a recent release in India. If you haven't heard of VG, check this News article

Why foreigners love to work in India

With the increase in outsourcing work to India, suddenly the country finds itself a destination for a few foreign workers, who've decided to make India their temporary home. Read this rediff article

Work/life or Both

A personal observation: Employees with a good & happy family life are not only productive and effective at work but also very balanced in their thoughts.Most organisations fail to encompass the family concept in creating employee policies because they use work/life concepts only as an advertisement to attract talent. Unless organisations live these concepts and employees take benefit of it, not only it will lead to burnout but also attrition. Work/life concepts such as job sharing, telecommuting, flex schedules, alternate work arrangements are superb tools to bind talent to orgnanisations by giving them the flexibility to balance their work and life.

Are you the chauffeur of your "car"eer

For majority of Indian software techies, a lure of  an overseas assignment is enough to create sleepless nights. The brightest of the techies in the block will give a second thought to a sales pitch that has overseas written in bold. There's nuthing wrong, Overseas assignments are a great opportunity for personal and professional development if used to leverage empoyability.However I have observed that a majority places "overseas assignment " as career objective  and once attained, complacency,location addiction, charishma of being in a foreign land puts their "real" career objectives in their back seat which I think is suicidal.The last thing you want is your Toyota/Honda in control of your career.