Get Your Resume Past the ATS Robots

Ever had the experience of submitting your resume to jobs you thought were a good fit and getting zero response? Don’t assume that the hiring decision maker read your resume and rejected you (the good news). There’s a good chance your resume may not have even made it past the resume screening robots (the bad news).

Rise of the Bots

About 80% of the resume submissions I see today are submitted through software. The exceptions tend to be

(1) really senior opportunit…

Evaluating Your Potential Boss During Career Changes

I came across great career advice the other day, backed up by research. I have unfortunately misplaced the source. The advice was as follows:

When you are choosing whether to align yourself with a job opportunity or not (new job, promotion, project), and in particular when you have some choice, pay careful attention to your prospective boss. And when trying to choose between two similar roles, you are far better off going with the person who you…

Calculating The Best Position For Job Opportunities

Let’s do the math.

• Fewer jobs.

• More applicants.

• Should = some changes in how you go about marketing yourself

Because I have been through a few downturns of hiring cycles, I can tell you from experience how hiring executives think when it comes to either filling an existing role with a new person or opening up a new role. They want either:

• The perfect candidate. One that exactly meets the requirements. No risk in the resume.

• Or, someone who can wear se…

Why would a company go the expense and time commitment of sponsoring a visa for someone, and in particular, someone who hasn’t landed in their target country yet and is trying to do a job search from overseas?

What are the possible reasons or motivations?

1. The hiring company has multi-country operations (and in particular your home country + target country), and they have had success transplanting professionals from one to the other.

2. You have domain experience that a company wants. Badly enough that…

Interviewed by the Province newspaper’s Working section for their Sunday edition feature story on the benefits of keeping your antenna up in order to be visible and aware of potential new opportunities out there. AKA the Passive Job Search.

And while I am at it, thought I would mention another recent media appearance, although it is woefully late.

The April 2007 issue of Maxim magazine ran a few quotes from me on salary negotiations. If you happen to have that issue hangingin around, it is on page 126.

Kennedy Information is an authoritative source for information on executive recruitment and careers. I am pleased to have another exclusive article published in their most recent Executive Agent newsletter and Executive Registry newsletter. Six Reasons Executive Recruiters will Talk to You. Have a read.

How to decode and analyze a bad reference

Quality referencing is getting more and difficult to accomplish due to companies being concerned about liability. And yet, referencing is an important hiring tool and career management tool.

There may be times in your career when referencing does not result in you winning the job. At such a time, there is a strong tendency to blame your reference. Think carefully before you do so.

There is something very important called fit. There are different aspects to …

Letting your career and your life work together

If the concept of work life balance sounds like an important and worthy goal, here are the steps I suggest you incorporate into your job search to help ensure that the job you land next is consistent with your priorities.

What Do You Mean by Work / Life Balance?

As with all labelled concepts, you need to define what you mean. Sure, the general concept is understood, but what does it specifically mean to you?

Without some definition, it is difficult for…

Getting in touch with the executive level

If you are at a job level where companies retain executive search firms to hire their talent, you need to understand how to connect with executive recruiters. The key to understanding how to connect with executive recruiters and the more reputable contingent recruitment agencies is to understand their motivations for talking to you. There are six reasons why an executive recruiter will connect with you.

Rule # 1: They work for their corporate client, not y…