Career Report

June 2018— Issue 220

Guidance for Interpreting Job Postings

Trying to figure out the language of job postings is one of the biggest challenges that job seekers face. That’s because job postings are presented in many different formats. If you’re not careful how you interpret them, you may easily eliminate yourself as a possible applicant.

Job and career expert Nathan Newberger believes there are four key components to job postings — requirements for experience, salary, organization skills and proficiency. Learning how to decipher the specifics of what each conveys in an ad is a critical first step in applying for jobs advertised. Newberger provides the following guidance and insight from his newsletter WorkTree.com on each of the requirement components, offering deeper meaning to job advertisements and help for job hunters in addressing such ads that come their way:

1. Experience Required

The single most common requirement stated in job advertisements is experience. Some positions require no experience at all, while others might require 1-2 years and most senior positions might require 10 years or more. These numbers can be intimidating, but the right approach can make a difference. When thinking about the experience required by a job, consider these three options:

• Work experience is not just typical jobs. Internships, volunteer work, and clubs are all valid forms of experience. Any learning opportunity is considered work experience.
• Tailor your résumé to fit the job description. If an advertisement says that a position requires three years of experience in sales, make sure your résumé highlights the fact that you have three years of experience in sales.
• Not meeting experience requirements doesn’t always eliminate you. More than anything, companies want good employees. Between your résumé and cover letter, if you can persuade a company to view you as diligent and quick to learn, you have a good shot at the job.

2. Salary Required

In addition to a résumé, many job ads ask you to submit your “minimum salary required.” This request strikes fear in the hearts of the timid. If you give too high a salary, a company may not be interested in you. If you give too low a salary, you may not be able to make ends meet.

When you are caught in this dilemma, you have two options:

• Many times you can get by just by saying that your salary requirement in “negotiable.” Putting off salary negotiations until you actually have the job is a good stress reliever.
• Try calling the employers anonymously to get information. If a specific number is absolutely necessary, provide a salary range.

3. Organization Skills Required

Anytime a job advertisement makes a point to mention “organizational skills” or “communication skills,” the employer actually wants to know three things: do you get the job done on time, do you do the job correctly, and do you work well in teams. Now if employers were that direct, job hunting wouldn’t be so difficult.

Since life isn’t that easy, you have to be sure to answer the secret questions you are asked:

• Be sure to incorporate your ability to meet deadlines and work on team projects into your résumé. Your résumé creates the first image an employer will have of you.
• Employers love multi-tasking. Convey the fact that you had many responsibilities at previous jobs, and you always succeeded.
• Explicit examples are always good. If they do not fit in your résumé, work them into your cover letter. Otherwise be sure to mention them in your interview.

4. Proficiency Required

Besides generic traits that employers like to see in applicants for any position, job advertisements will make statements about specific skills related to a specific job. It seems that the most favorite description to use is “proficiency in.” Other popular descriptors are “command of” and “working knowledge of.” They all mean the same thing, but many people don’t realize what it is.

Whenever you see specific skill requirements and wonder whether or not you meet them, consider these issues:

• Certain skills have official certifications, so if you have one be sure it is on your résumé.
• Being proficient means being comfortable using something on a day-to-day basis and being able to answer simple questions about it.
• When it comes to languages, there is a difference between being fluent and understanding most things. There is no shame in saying you have a “conversational” understanding.
• If the same skills continue to pop-up in job postings, it may be time for you to acquire them.

Perhaps job advertisements are not as direct as they should be, Newberger points out. Nonetheless, there is now an industry standard on how to write them and its up to you to be able to read them correctly. These tips should give you a good starting point for tackling new job advertisements that come your way, he explains. Keep them in mind, because deciphering the language of a job advertisement will put you a step ahead of everyone else.

NEWS FROM BLK

Bob Larson, CPC  recently was one of the presenters at Seton Hall University  for a program sponsored by the NJ West Point Field Force on Ethics & Leadership on June 3^rd.   Bob’s reaction to the high school students who attended ” I was extremely impressed with the young women and men’s exceptional talent, articulation and maturity beyond their years.  If this is sample of our countries future we have a lot to look forward too.”

As the summer weather begins the job market remains hot and probably the best conditions for job-seekers in the past decade.  Employer ‘s are challenged to attract top talent in a wide verity of technical and leadership positions.  We at Berman Larson Kane thank our clients and candidates for their support it is truly and honor to assist the hiring process and career enhancement challenges of job-seekers and employers.  Enjoy your summer.

Career Report
April, 2018 — Issue 218

Building Trust with your Boss

Maintaining a trusting relationship with your boss can be a definite plus for your career but, according to an article from CareerBuilder.com, establishing that rapport can be difficult and may take a significant amount of time. Still, in the end, the article pointed out, it will be well worth the effort.

“Trust is the most important ingredient for a workplace to function correctly,” said Robert Whipple, chief executive of Leadergrow, Inc., a leadership development firm, who added that it’s especially important to build a genuine relationship with your superior.

With that in mind, here are some tips from CareerBuilder.com on how to build a sense of trust with your boss:

Skip the gossip — Whether you are complaining about others in the company or telling your work friends how much you dislike your boss, any kind of gossip can backfire.

“Complaining to your co-workers about your boss is a sure-fire way to plant the seeds of distrust with your boss,” said Brandon Smith, an expert in workplace health and dysfunction. He recommends being especially careful while sharing work-related complaints on social networks such as Facebook. “Eventually, it will get back to him or her and they will see you as an enemy versus an ally,” he added.

Provide updates — Most bosses don’t micromanage, so it’s up to you to provide updates on your projects and build their sense of trust in your work, the article noted. “By proactively providing a status update regarding your progress on a regular basis, you enhance trust because your manager doesn’t wonder what you are up to and doesn’t have to ask,” Smith said.

Don’t promise too much — It can be easy to commit to several projects, only to find out you can’t finish them all at the end of the day. “Poor follow-up trashes trust,” Whipple told CareerBuilder.com. Even if your boss isn’t looking over your shoulder, make a point of meeting any deadlines you’ve set for yourself and don’t set the bar too high.”

Never hold back pertinent information — Even if something you tell your boss may cast you in a bad light, omitting details is a definite no, said Kristi Hedges, a managing partner at Element North, a leadership development firm. “Tell it straight and avoid lies of omission,” she added. “Don’t hold back information that may be hard to deliver, or feedback that [your boss] needs to be successful.”

Be a team player — For many supervisors, trust is determined by how employees interact with their peers. It’s important to work as a team and contribute where your help is needed rather than solely seeking attention for your own projects. “There’s a fine line between being ambitious and seeming to be out for yourself,” Hedges said.

Go beyond the office — Learning about your boss on a casual basis can be a great way to develop a stronger rapport, Smith added. “Whether it’s an occasional lunch with your manager or the casual non-work-related conversation, by getting to know him or her on a more personal level, you build trust because you find more points of connection,” he said. Ask for feedback during these informal gatherings, which can also help you establish a more trusting relationship.

Demonstrate Consistency — Another way employees can build trust is by “demonstrating a stable mood and composure, and reacting consistently to challenges,” Hedges told CareerBuilder.com. If you tend to have weeks of productivity coupled with days where you’re less productive, aim to be more consistent. “You can undermine all of the benefit you get from a stellar project by seeming to check out the week after that,” she said.

As you continue to build trust with your boss, it’s important to also consider what kind of messages you’re getting back,” Smith added. “Sometimes we try to build trust with a boss who isn’t worthy of our trust,” he said. “If you see you’re boss is unethical, abusive, manipulative, unstable or incompetent, keep a healthy distance.” And be aware that some supervisors punish employees for revealing too much or being too trusting – so it pays to be careful with those types of managers.

NEW FROM BERMAN LARSON KANE

The stock market has been on a wild ride and it sorts out trade issues, interest rates, inflation and we at Berman Larson Kane continue to see a steady hiring pace by many of our clients.

This is a good time to be a job seeker and hopefully somewhere in the near future employee’s will see significant salary raises.

We have seen increase hiring in technology, insurance and healthcare.

The 2^nd quarter has traditionally been a busy quarter and we are anticipating the same volume for Q2 2018.  We thank all for your support and allowing us to assist with your hiring challenges and being part of your career enhancement

 

 

Career Report
February, 2018 — Issue 216

 Be Cautious with Social Networking Sites

Growing numbers of business professionals are connecting into social networking Web sites, such as Facebook, in an effort to build work relationships, meet new contacts, and better market themselves. But such sites also provide a window into people’s personal lives causing concern to some about giving people in the business world too much information. In a Q&A feature from The New York Times, careers columnist Matt Villano offered the following guidance on how workers can use social networking sites and maintain a professional demeanor.

Q: You have mixed feelings about giving professional contacts a window into your personal life via social networking sites. What should you do?

Proceed with caution. While it may seem harmless to establish virtual connections with your officemates, doing so might put you in an uncomfortable position at work, said Juliette Powell, who runs a career consulting business and wrote a book about social networking, “33 Million People in the Room.”

Social networking is “all about establishing boundaries,” she said. “If you have something online that you wouldn’t share openly with people in the office, you probably want to think twice about inviting them in.”

Q: Are some social networking outlets more business-oriented than others?

Of popular sites – Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter – only LinkedIn limits users to posting business-related information like work experience and professional recommendations.

Q: What are the professional benefits of connecting with colleagues via online sites?

Employers can use them to complement their professional networks – a virtual extension of the traditional Rolodex. Artists post on and Twitter to advertise their work. Jobseekers use LinkedIn as a way to exchange interview tips.

Small business owners even conduct everyday operations over social networking sites. Serena Software, an application development company in Redwood City, Calif., uses Facebook as an unofficial company intranet, encouraging employees to share documents, post PowerPoint presentations and exchange e-mail messages there.

The company even allows employees an hour every Friday to explore the site and update their profiles. “We’re trying to achieve maximum collaboration,” Rene Bonavanie, the company’s senior vice president for marketing, told the newspaper. “If people are using this site for personal reasons anyway, why not encourage them to use it here, too?”

Q: What are the potential pitfalls?

Public embarrassment, for one. Comments on many social networking sites, much like blogs, exist forever, meaning that a person can access them at any time, read them and pass judgement accordingly.

Photographs can become a nuisance, too. Especially on a site like Facebook, where someone’s approved contacts can “tag” a user in a photo, there’s a chance that colleagues might come across images of you behaving wildly years ago at a college party, or performing drunken karaoke last weekend, or worse.

“Any time the camera comes out these days, there’s a chance the resulting photos will be on the Internet within minutes,” said Nathan T. Wright, founder of Lava Row, a social media strategy firm in Des Moines. “If you’re going to have work people on these sites, you need to understand this threat.”

Dismissal is even possible if you post something unflattering about your employer in a status update or other feature that can be viewed by everyone on your network.

Q: To what extent can you control the information your connections see?

Every social networking Web site works differently. On LinkedIn, where all information is business-related, users can choose which information to include in their public profiles. On Twitter, most posts, or “tweets,” are public.

Nick O’Neill, who writes the independent “All Facebook” blog, has published a guide to mastering the site’s new privacy settings. The post detailed ways that users can organize friends into certain lists, and select which of those friends see what. It also explained how users can prevent profiles from coming up in standard Google searches.

“Most Facebook” users don’t even know these features are options,” said O’Neill, who also owns a digital media company in Washington. “I can’t tell you how many people sign up and don’t ever think about privacy again.”

Q: If you wish to decline certain connection requests, what is the most polite approach?

Be honest and consistent. Rachel Weingarten, president of the Octagon Strategy Group, a consulting firm in New York, said employees who wish to avoid colleagues on certain social networking sites should respond to every request by explaining that they’d rather put all work contacts into one particular social network, or designate all social networking sites for connections made outside of work.

These sorts of policies must be applied equally, she told the newspaper. “The last thing you want is to accept some requests but decline others, then have the people you’ve rejected find out they didn’t make the cut,” she said. In the world of modern office politics, she added, “that’s about as bad as it gets.”

 

NEWS FROM BLK

Job creation numbers continue to show steady growth, the stock market continues upward and a wave of additional hiring optimism should follow.  We are BLK continue to see greater competition for talent and skill shortages becoming more severe.

As president of Berman Larson Kane we look forward to increased hiring and hopefully an increase in wages as competition continues to rise.  Our outlook for Q2 is very positive.  Thanks for you decades of confidence in allowing us to assist each of you with your talent acquisition programs.  It is truly an honor.

 

Career Report

January  2018

Feature Story

 

PAY IS LESS OF A SECRET FOR MILLENNIALS

Managing a generation of young people inclined to share their relationship statuses and meal photos on social media requires employers to adjust how they approach compensation, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. That’s because, for millennials, pay is not a topic they shy away from openly discussing.

“Pay and promotions are not secretive topics anymore,” said Mary Ann Sardone, who consults with large employers on compensation issues and leads the workforce-rewards practice at benefits consultant Mercer, a unit of Marsh & McClennan Cos.

“Companies are spending more time ensuring their pay decisions are fair and highlighting career paths under the assumption that the information is going to be widely shared,” she told the newspaper.

Roughly one-third of U.S. workers age 18 to 36 say they feel comfortable discussing pay with their co-workers, more than any age group and about four times the rate among baby boomers, ages 53 to 71, according to a survey of 1,000 employees conducted by personal-finance firm Bankrate Inc.’s TheCashorette.com.

Nearly half of millennials surveyed say they talk about compensation with their friends, compared with 36 percent of Americans overall.

According to the article, when Cameron Feenstra received a job offer from Prattle Analytics, a St. Louis research firm, the first thing the 22-year-old did was call his sister. Although he was willing to take a below-market salary for the chance to work at a fast-growing start-up, he wanted to ensure his offer of $42,000 was fair salary for his role as a junior qualitative analyst.

After talking about salaries with friends and family, and consulting anonymous career and salary-sharing websites such as Glassdoor, Feenstra decided to negotiate for more money, even though it was his first real job in the field.

“People who don’t ask around never learn how to negotiate because they don’t know where everyone else is” in terms of salary as a reference point,” Feenstra told the newspaper. He got a pay bump to $45,000 before accepting the offer.

The attitude shift has put greater pressure on employers to explain why some workers are paid more than others and to formalize compensation and promotion practices, said Kristina Launey, a partner at law firm Seyfarth Shire LLP, which specializes in labor and employment issues.

Moreover, the article pointed out, a rash of new city and state ordinances in Philadelphia, New York City and Massachusetts bar hiring managers from asking job candidates about their salary history, pressuring companies to be more transparent about what they are willing to pay for many roles.

Bill MacMillan, Prattle co-founder and chief technology officer, said he is accustomed to requests like the one from Freenstra. But keeping the 19-person startup on good financial footing while offering competitive-enough salaries to retain talented workers is a delicate balance, he added.

“I have great people, so I would love to pay them lots and lots of money,” MacMillan told The Wall Street Journal. Instead, he said, the firm explains to job seekers that while their salary may start at a below-market level, their performance and pay will typically be reviewed at least twice a year—at which point he and other managers can be “aggressive” with raises for top performers.

Since Feenstra began working at Prattle, he has discussed his pay with several of his colleagues. The chats have given him an idea of what to expect when discussing future raises, such as when his boss reviews his performance later this year.

NEWS FROM BLK 

As the New Year begins we are very optimistic about hiring plans from many of our clients.  As 2017 closed with good job growth figures we are looking forward to a continuing or hopefully increasing pattern in 2018.

In anticipation of this trend we at BLK are planning to add to our talent discovery team in February to better serve our clients anticipated demands.

As always we thank each of you for your support and confidence in our talent discover process.  Wishing all a wonderful New Year and seamless hiring during 2018.

 

TIS’ THE SEASON FOR JOB SEARCHING

Many job seekers are tempted to slow down their search for a new position (or pause it altogether) during the winter holiday season. But according to an article published by Monster.com, career experts say that taking a break from your holiday job search is a mistake — because hiring doesn’t stop.

At the end of the year, some companies rush to fill job openings that might otherwise be removed from next year’s budget, the article pointed out. Still other organizations will be looking ahead. “Jobs that might have been on hold until budgets are in place will become available in January,” said career expert Kimberly Bishop.

Roy Cohen, an executive coach agreed. “There’s a belief that recruiting shuts down during the holidays,” he said. “That’s a myth — so when other people take off from their job-searching during the holidays, you’re at an advantage should an opportunity surface. It’s all about numbers and odds.”

In fact, the holidays provide some distinct advantages and special opportunities for proactive job seekers. Here according to the Monster.com article are some ways to make the most of your holiday-seasonal job search:

• Be Flexible — Judi Perkins of FindthePerfectJob.com recalled: “When I was a recruiter, the holidays were one of my busiest times, and I was often on the phone either side of Christmas day.” This means that you should be prepared to interview at unusual times, to allow for a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s busy holiday schedule.

•  Do Volunteer Work — All sorts of philanthropic organizations ramp up activities during the holidays – and volunteering can be a great way to network, gain skills and fill the gap that unemployment might otherwise leave on your resume. “You’ll meet other volunteers — great people who, by nature, will want to help,” Cohen added. “You’ll feel good, too.”
• Look into Temporary Positions — Many companies have end-of-year crunches — at the same time that many workers want to take time off — so they look to staffing agencies to fill gaps. A temporary position can be a great way to get your foot in the door at a new company.
•  Use Holiday Social Events to Network —You don’t want to make every conversation about your job search — but letting people know how they can help you is crucial. “Have your pitch — who you are, what you want and why — ready and perfect,” Cohen advised. And try to keep things positive. When you tell people you’re looking for work, also tell them how you’ve been productive with your time off.

• Reach Out to Your Contacts — The holidays are a great reason to reach out to friends and acquaintances as well as to reconnect with people. “Send out a holiday greeting, but add a little extra in your message,” Cohen suggested. “Email or snail mail the card to everyone in your job search universe. It should be upbeat — that you continue and are committed to search for a great job and know that it is only a matter of time and timing.” Be sure to express your gratitude to those you reach out to and if you don’t know which holidays a contact celebrates, “Happy New Year” is a safe sentiment.

• Help People in Your Network — Remember that the holidays are a time for giving, so find ways to help the people in your network. They’ll be likelier to help you in the future.

• Recommit to Your Job Search — Lastly, start the year off right: Make an appointment with yourself to determine your goals for the coming year. Then schedule some time to update your resume, practice your interview skills and polish up on your personal brand.

NEWS FROM BLK

We would like to thank all our clients for their business and wish all a joyous holiday season.  With the new year on the horizon we at Berman Larson Kane are looking forward to a continuing expanding economy with solid job creation.  Our predictions are a continuing increasing competition for top talent as baby boomers retire from the work force creating a gap for experience workers.  Some niches will continue to expand while others constrict as the businesses restructure for the rapidly changing world demands.  The one sure thing is that will unplanned changes will emerge and the job market continues to evolve to changing technologies and consumer demands.

Wishing all a healthy and happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year .

 

 

Career Report

October 2017

 Feature Story

TEXTING MIGHT HELP LAND A JOB

 Believe it or not, your next job interview might happen via text message, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.

That’s because employers are now trying out apps that allow them to screen candidates and conduct early-stage interviews with texts, claiming that prospective hires are too slow to pick up the phone or respond to emails.

“People don’t want to have that 10-minute [phone] conversation any more if they could just reply with quick text,” Kirby Cuniffe, chief executive of staffing firm Aegis Worldwide LLC, told the newspaper.

After Aegis recruiters reported that fewer potential hires were answering their phones, the firm decided to try by texting. Since March, Indianapolis-based Aegis and Priceline Group’s restaurant-booking service Open Table have been using Canvas, a messaging app from Canvas Talent Inc. for text-based interviews.

The app suggests interview questions employers can use, such as “What motivates you?”

Its software analyzes candidates’ responses. Interviewers can rate answers with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, visible only to the employer, and share transcripts of those text exchanges with co-workers.

Canvas charges employers around $300 per recruiter, and competes with similar apps such as Monster Worldwide Inc.’s Jobr.

According to the article, the use of smartphone-based tools for job interviews shows employers are trying to adapt to young workers’ communication habits.

Some 12 percent of millennials—defined as those born between 1980 and the early 2000s—prefer the phone for business communication, according to a 2016 report on Internet trends from venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. By contrast, 45 percent prefer chatting online or exchanging messages by email or text.

At Aegis, recruiters who used to schedule back-to-back phone calls with 30 or more potential hires every day can now juggle more conversations via texts, which take less time, the article pointed out. Cuniffe said each of his 10 recruiters who use the Canvas app can now handle conversations with 90 to 120 candidates at a time.

The app is useful for interacting with workers who have narrow windows of free time at odd hours, the article noted.

Cuniffe, 48, said millennial employees were far less skeptical than he was about adopting the new technology. “To them, it was like ‘Duh, why wouldn’t we use this, since that’s how we communicate now,” he said.

San Francisco-based Open Table’s text-based interviews with engineers and programmers are intended to show prospective hires the 1,000-person company isn’t just another boring software firm—important because the firm competes for talent with Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, said Scott Day, a human-resources executive.

Etiquette for job-interview texting is a work in progress. When Erin Scott, a recent Butler University graduate, received a message from Canvas Chief Executive Aman Brar about a possible job with the company, she was unsure if she should reply right away. She was cheerleading on the sidelines of a Saturday basketball game, and decided to wait to respond until Monday.

“I just remember thinking okay this is nice to get questions and be able to sit on them for as long as I want and answer exactly what I want to say,” Scott told the newspaper via text.

NEWS from BLK

Bob Larson, President of BLK, presented at the National Association of Personal Services conference in Denver was well received.  Bob’s topic “Talent Acquisition Lessons Learned on the Yoga Mat” was attended by junior and senior recruiters alike.  Bob’s favorite compliment was from a very experienced recruiter with 20 plus years of experience who said “You have sealed the recruitment process into a few targeted simply executed steps.  I can’t thank you enough your tips will help me bring the best candidates to my clients’ in the most timely matter”

As for the job market the low unemployment numbers continue to create competition for top talent and 4^th quarter hiring targets from many of our clients are extremely aggressive. To all clients and job-seekers we so thank you for your support for the past 37 years.  It is truly an honor to serve your employment options.