So you are totally involved in the interview cycle….my best advice is to always be yourself…it makes for a wonderful job landing experience and a great hire for your new employer… below are links to a few of my favorite getting the job tip articles …. you can also download our FREE BLK e-book at “Get Hired” … happy job hunting…
Interview Advice Articles
Strategies for Phone Interviews
Answering the Technical Question You Don’t Know
Dressing for the Interview at a Business Casual Environment
Regional Sales Manager
Essential Job Function: Sell products and services offered by client and affiliated companies to customers/accounts within assigned territory. 25-40% overnight travel (within the US, Canada & Puerto Rico) and 25-40% local travel (within NJ, NY, PA, CT, MD, DE) is required. Occasional international travel required. Represent Company and affiliated companies at assigned trade shows. Must possess a valid driver’s license and passport.
General Information: B.S. Engineering (Chemical or Mechanical preferred). Competent sales professional with a minimum of ten (10) years of experience in sales (capital equipment or pharmaceutical industry related experience preferred). Excellent organizational & communication skills as well as a strong technical aptitude. Personable, self motivated, assertive and the ability to be a team player. Computer literate & able to utilize standard email, work processing, spreadsheet, contact management & ERP/accounting software (MS Outlook, MS Office, Goldmine & Navision/Dynamics preferred). Time management skills & the ability to excel in a fast paced environment with multiple priorities.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
JOB RESPONSIBILITES INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
Forward Resumes to : jobs@jobsbl.com
TECHNICAL WRITER (Batch Record Creation)
Essential Job Function: Create, manage and oversee the generation of technical documents in support of Pharmaceutical Development, Operations, Technical Operations, Validation and Equipment Qualification activities for the Pharmaceutical Services Division.
General Information: Degree or certificate in a technology related field or at least 7-10 years development or manufacturing experience in a cGMP solid dosage manufacturing environment with the ability to understand the fundamental processing stages required to create the initial batch records as well as other supporting documentation (i.e. protocols, change controls, investigations, deviations and final reports).
This person should possess a pharmaceutical Manufacturing/Development and cGMP background in a solid dosage form environment with preferred background in fluid bed processing, with a clear understanding of compliance, clear, well defined processing steps, logical process flow and an emphasis on Quality processing. This person must have the ability to articulate their point clearly and concisely through the power of “written words”.
Strong computer skills are a necessity, with an ability to accurately convey information in both spoken and written form. Strong command of the English language is essential.
Must meet deadlines and be detail-oriented. Solid organizational skills are a necessity, with a demonstrated ability to organize and track several projects simultaneously. The ability to follow-up with multiple departments is required.
Job Responsibilities including but not limited to:
Forward Resumes to jobs@jobsbl.com
Feature Story
5 WAYS TO USE TWITTER TO LAND A JOB
When it comes to social networking in your job search, without question, every serious professional is expected to have a well-composed LinkedIn profile. But, according to an article published by U.S. News & World Report, using LinkedIn without the benefit of additional social networks can be self-limiting.
The problem is that using LinkedIn these days is considered “in-the-box” thinking. Because everyone is there, you have less of a chance of standing out from your competition.
That said, for multiple reasons, if you want to really get a jump on your competition, your job search should include active Twitter engagement. Indeed, with a professional sounding Twitter handle, such as @[your_location]engineer or @[your_occupation]expert, you can expand your online branding and begin to be noticed by people who you would otherwise never encounter.
Here, according to the U.S. News & World Report article, are five ways to incorporate Twitter into your overall job search strategy:
Moreover, you can do a simple search within Twitter for something like, “HR generalist” and “jobs NY.” Try playing around with any combination of job field, title, location and so on, and then save a set of results you like as a stream in HootSuite (hootsuite.com).
Another way of finding job opportunities is through the popular TweetMyJobs (tweetmyjobs.com). On this website, you can easily fill in a few fields to find jobs of interest to you and have them sent to you as more are posted.
These organizations will also create hashtags specific to a given conference or convention. Organizers and participants will live tweet what speakers are saying, program topics and much more. You can easily build your network by simply following those people who have something interesting to say now, because these are the kind of people who will likely share insights and other things of note going forward. Plus, you learn from their tweets what people are attending.
Clearly, in today’s competitive marketplace, your key to success can be stretching your comfort zone to include Twitter activity. If you’re one of the many adults without an account, it’s important to establish one now. Happy hunting!
NEWS FROM BLK:
Several Job-Seekers have expressed concern about the low job creation numbers reported for March. Our experience here at BLK has not seen a slow down in new opportunities and continue to see increase competition from clients in the IT, Sales, Marketing and Scientific niches.
We continue to witness an increase in long term contracting assignments as clients ramp up for major projects
As for social media we share with you Bob Larson, CPC President of Berman Larson Kane featured video by Firesshaper upon completion of his 1000th hot yoga class. You can view the link http://fireshaper.com/blog/bob-shares-journey-health-hot-yoga/ . Well done Bob!
Job Title: Account Representative — Publishing
Desired Skills/Experience:
Native French fluency
Strong English fluency
Strong knowledge of Standard English and French grammar
Proofreading experience
User-level Microsoft Office products experience
User-level database and desktop publishing experience a plus, though job specific training will be provided
General office skills, including some light lifting
Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment
Ability to work effectively in fast-paced, deadline driven environment
Education:
Undergraduate degree from an accredited four-year institution
Account Representative overview:
As an entry level, contract to hire full time employee, you will be part of a team of account representatives, working with other team members and other departments to successfully complete ongoing monthly publishing projects for our international clients.
Tasks and Responsibilities:
Process client database information into company database
Review food-based specifications
Write and proofread food-based copy according to client-mandated formats
Traffic copy to other departments for translation and review
Contact clients via email and/or phone to provide customer service
General office work
You will also be required to carry out other duties that may reasonably be required of you
Client Business
Client has developed a variety of multilingual products and services to meet project requirements in any industry. Our one-stop shop has a multilingual, multicultural in-house team who provide creative design, project management, layout and publishing, translations, editorial support, software development, prepress, printing and fulfillment
forward resumes to: jobs@jobsbl.com
Job Description
Job Title: Developer Programmer Analyst
Client has an opening for a Developer to join our team to develop and maintain a variety of client/server
and web-based applications. You must be an experienced, goal-orientated, self-motivated team player
with the ability to work well in a small group. We value professionals that are mature, disciplined,
creative problem-solvers with a focus on results.
Position Responsibilities:
* Design, develop, test, debug and document programs that meet user needs and specifications
* Deliver high-quality systems and meet project deadlines
* Maintain and improve existing programs
* Gather, organize and manage information/requirements from users and various levels of
management
* Assist with ad-hoc reporting and special requests
* Work on a variety of projects (multi-task)
* Ability to quickly learn and work on new technologies
Must Have:
* .Net development – C#, ASP.Net, Visual Studio
* SQL Server – TSQL, design
*Troubleshooting – debugging, problem solving
* Integration – take disparate applications, data sources and get them to work together
* Ability to think “out-of-the-box”
* Passion for the jobtechnologies
* Good attention to detail and ability to produce work quickly, accurately, and
independently
* Must be able to take direction and execute instructions
* Ability to think analytically and complete projects with minimal supervision
?*Excellent prioritization, planning, organization, time management and multitasking
skills
Essential Skills:
Bonus Skills
WPF
Entity Framework
SharePoint
Avectra netForum
Microsoft Dynamics GP
XSLT, XML, XPATH, XSD
jQuery, Ajax, Rest
CSS
SOAP,WCF
SSIS
Experience and Education
Minimum Bachelors in Computer Science or Information Systems or related field
At least 5 years of development experience
When hiring managers are asked about boneheaded mistakes they have seen job-seekers make during an interview, the most common, they say, are the subtle mistakes or omissions that can cause one candidate to lose out to another, according to an article in The New York Times. But if one person is sending out the right signals and behaving in the right way through each step of the process, the article noted, he or she has a much better chance to land the job.
Keep in mind, though, that there is no single set of rules in the hiring process. While certain standards of courtesy always apply (be punctual, treat everyone you meet with respect), your success may indeed depend on the company’s culture and the preferences of the people doing the hiring. Your ability to sense, and to act on, these factors could make a big difference, the article pointed out.
When Susan L. Hodas, director of talent management at NERA Economic Consulting, is hiring, for example, she looks for the right cultural fit as much as the right experience. To some degree she goes with her instincts, but she can also identify certain preferences. Here is one: “They should come in a suit,” she said.
Body language is also important, Hodas told the newspaper. She looks for an assured but not overly casual demeanor, along with good eye contact. She also looks for people who can enunciate their words (mumblers beware) and who can communicate their thoughts and ideas clearly. Overall, she said, she looks for people who are “confident, but not cocky.”
She added that she and her colleagues also typically apply “the airport test” to candidates. They ask themselves: “Would I want to be stuck in the airport for 12 hours with this person if my flight was delayed?”
It seems that just being yourself—albeit a formal, polite, alert and attentive version of yourself—is the best way to behave during interviews. You don’t want to do such a great job of faking it that when the company discovers the real you, it comes to regret ever hiring you. That said, there are certain things you can do—both during the interview and afterward—to give yourself an advantage, according to the article.
First and foremost, you should always research the company thoroughly (easy to do on the Internet), and be prepared to give specific examples of how your experience relates to the job. Also be able to describe as concretely as possible how you made a difference in your previous jobs.
Researching the company will also help when the interviewer asks whether you have any questions, said David Santos, executive director of human resources for Interbrand, a brand management firm. Not having any shows lack of interest and preparation, he added.
You should also make sure your questions show knowledge of the company and your interest in contributing to its success, the article pointed out. You’d be surprised how many people focus on themselves, not the company, by asking right off about things like salary, benefits and bonuses, said Annie Shanklin Jones, who manages United States recruitment for I.B.M.
Try to establish common ground with your interviewer so you stand out, Shanklin Jones added. Maybe you went to the same college or you pull for the same sports team. During the interview, “leverage your referrals,” she said, finding ways to highlight the people you know within the company.
Depending on the job you apply for, you may be called back for an interview several times. How you follow up after each interview is crucial. Not following up at all shows a lack of interest. Following up too much, or in the wrong way, could take you out of the running.
Santos told the newspaper that she looks for prompt follow-up by e-mail that shows the applicant was listening attentively, that mentions names of people the candidate met, and that reaffirms the candidate’s work experience and understanding of the company. Much less impressive is a generic e-mail that could be sent to any company, he said.
Should you use paper or e-mail in correspondence? Santos’ preference shows how tricky this can be. He said that for a company like his, which is more digitally focused, it would show a lack of awareness to send a traditional thank you note through the mail. On the other hand, he does expect candidates to show up for interviews with printed copies of their résumés.
Indeed, given that all companies and hiring managers are different, getting through the interview process can seem like walking a tightrope, the article pointed out. But common courtesy, combined with common sense, plenty of research and a dose of intuition can go along way toward bringing you safely to the other side.
News from BLK
Happy New Year….special thanks to all the job-seekers and hiring clients that added to our 2014 success…we can’t thank you enough.
As we gear-up for 2015 we are confident in continuous improvements for the job market. Talent shortages in key skill sets will increase as demand will out weigh supply. We are also predicting 2015 a rising tide of salary increases across all industries.
One of our key initiatives for 2015 is increasing Berman Larson Kane’s community service programs for job-seekers through a series of free webinars and community out-reach programs.
Thanks to all for allowing us to continue our 35 year of offering the “Best Staffing Options” we so appreciate your support.
TREND TOWARD LIMITING WORKPLACE EMAIL
The next time you peek at your email on your “day off” give some thought to workers in Germany, where companies like Volkswagen and Deutsche Telecom have adopted policies that limit work-related email to some employees on evenings and weekends. If this can happen in precision-mad, high-productivity Germany, could it not take place in the U.S.? According to an article in The New York Times, it not only could, but it should.
Indeed, limiting workplace email seems radical, but it’s become a trend in Germany. At automaker Daimler, for example, in addition to limiting work-related email on evenings and weekends, employees can set their corporate email to “holiday mode” when they leave for vacation. Anyone who emails them gets an auto-reply saying the employee isn’t in, and offering alternate contact details. Incoming email is deleted so employees don’t return to filled inboxes.
“The idea behind it is to give people a break and let them rest,” a spokesman for German automaker Daimler told Time magazine. “Then they can come back to work with a fresh spirit.”
In contrast, in the U.S., white-collar cubicle dwellers complain about email for good reason. They spend 28 percent of their workweek slogging through the stuff, according to McKinsey Global Institute. And they check their messages 74 times a day, on average, according to Gloria Mark, an authority on workplace behavior. And lots of that checking happens at home.
Jennifer Deal, a senior research scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership, surveyed smartphone-using white-collar workers and found that most were umbilically tied to email a stunning 13.5 hours a day, well into the evening.
Some workers don’t even take a break during dinner, peeking at the phone under the table, according to research cited in the article. And many even check it in bed in the morning. What agonizes workers is the expectation that they reply instantly to a colleague or boss, no matter how ungodly the hour.
So as a matter of sheer human decency and workplace fairness, reducing the choke hold of after-hours email is a laudable goal, the article pointed out.
The few North American firms that have emulated Daimler all say it is surprisingly manageable.
At the Toronto office of Edelman, the global public relations firm, managers created the “7-to-7” rule, the article noted. Employees are strongly discouraged from emailing one another before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. They can check email if they want, but they’re not to send it to colleagues.
Even start-ups are experimenting with email limits. Book Riot, a website for book lovers, has eight full-time employees who mostly work remotely, in different time zones, on often hectic schedules. They all agree: Email someone whenever you want, but don’t expect a reply until the recipient is back in the office.
“It’s understood that if someone has a crazy idea at 3 a.m. and sends it, that’s their problem that it’s 3 a.m. — you respond when you want,” Rebecca Schinsky, the site’s director of content, told the newspaper. At the Boston Consulting Group, when a team of stressed-out consultants began organizing “predictable time off” — no-messaging zones during their off time — their total work hours dropped by 11 percent, yet the same amount of work was accomplished.
Why would less email mean better productivity? According to the article, it’s because, as Deal found out, endless email is an enabler. It often masks terrible management practices.
When employees send a fusillade of miniature questions via email, or “cc” every team member about every little decision, it’s because they don’t feel confident to make a decision on their own. Often, Deal found, they’re worried about getting in trouble or downsized if they mess up. In contrast, when employees are empowered, they make more judgment calls on their own, using phone calls and face-to-face chats to resolve issues.
When email is seen as an infinite resource, people abuse it. If a corporation constrains its use, each message becomes more valuable, and employees become more mindful of when they write.
Granted, not all late-night email is bad. As Ms. Deal found, employees don’t like being forced to reply at 1 a.m., but they appreciate the flexibility of being able to shift some work to the evening if they choose. And they don’t mind dealing with genuine work crisis that crop up during leisure hours. At Edelman in Toronto, employees try not to bug others in the evening – but if a client emails with a time-sensitive issue, they’ll respond.
Changes to email use just can’t happen through personal behavior though, the article pointed out. The policy needs to come from the top. If the boss regularly emails a high-priority question at 11 p.m., the real message is, “At our company, we do email at midnight.”
More than a century ago, blue-collar workers fought for a limited workday with an activist anthem: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.” According toThe New York Times article, it’s a heritage we need to restore
It is usually not my practice to re post articles here….but this one is spot on….well done and said John Sullivan…a great read for hiring authorities and senior job-seekers….enjoy…
@ Work, it Pays to be Likeable
The time-worn adage that nice guys finish last isn’t exactly true, according to an article in USA Today. In fact, growing research shows that likable employees may have more success on the job and that likability can even trump competence.
A study in the Harvard Business Review found that personal feelings toward an employee play a more important role in forming work relationships than is commonly acknowledged, the article pointed out. The study also indicated that this is even more important than how competent an employee is seen to be.
“We want to work with people that make us feel good to be around them,” said Tom Sanders, author of The Likeability Factor, which explores how having an appealing personality can positively influence life and careers. “Likability is the tiebreaker in almost anything.”
Likability is hard to define, but Sanders said people gravitate toward others who deliver psychological benefits. In other words, likability is the ability to produce a positive emotional experience in someone else, such as making co-workers feel good about themselves.
The Harvard Business Review study also found that employees don’t want to work with someone who is disliked, and it almost doesn’t matter how skilled they are. Indeed, co-workers who work with a likeable colleague are more comfortable with them, so work tends to be more collaborative.
“Organizations have traditionally focused on competencies and thinking ability of their staff,” Susan David, a psychologist and researcher at Yale University, told USA Today. “There is growing recognition, however, that job effectiveness can be undone if an employee is not likable. Being proficient at job tasks is of little comfort to the organization if an employee alienates clients or other staff.”
Research has also found that customers’ perceptions of the employees they deal with can influence their overall feelings toward a company. Nearly 60 percent of customers say that, when faced with rudeness, they take their business elsewhere, even if it means going out of their way or paying a higher price, according to a study by Eticon, a Columbia, S.C.-based provider of etiquette consulting for business.
Further, likable employees–especially those with skills in relationship building–are also more likely to get bigger pay raises and promotions, the article pointed out.
Some employees say likable employees are so important that they won’t hire anyone they think may have an attitude. Richard Laemer, chief executive of New York-based RLM Public Relations, said “no matter how experienced someone is, if they’re mean to people, they’re pretty much useless. I can’t work with someone who isn’t nice.”
But there can also be a downside, the article noted. Likable employees who lack skills or are seen as pushovers can lose out on management opportunities or can be seen as a liability, said Alexandra Levit, author of They Don’t Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something’s Guide to the Business World.
For example, managers who are too likable can get too social with their subordinates, blurring the line between boss and friend. And younger Generation X or Generation Y employees can also try so hard to be liked that they come across as overly enthusiastic.
“There’s a tendency of young people, and even midcareer people, to say ‘yes’ all the time. In an effort to please, they do get pushed around. They get assigned too many tasks,” Levitt said. “Likability can be dangerous. Young people can be too enthusiastic, and it can irritate management. You can be too ‘rah rah.”
Overall, though, most employers agree that likability is a very important attribute and that it can clearly help employees when performance is lacking. “You can provide training to compensate for missing skills, but it’s almost impossible to compensate for personality,” added Tory Johnson, CEO of New York-based Women for Hire, which provides career fairs for women. “ It’s never worth hiring someone you dislike, or someone who’s likely to be disliked among staffers.”