Blog – Page 2 – Al Smith, The Hired Guy

November 7, 2017

Elevator PITCH, never Speech

(Click on picture above to read the entire article) The best advice I’ve found regarding elevator pitches is by Sam Horn, “When asked What do you do? never TELL them.” She explains, people should turn the monologue into a dialogue by involving the other person. Have them make an emotional connection so they can see what you do (Isn’t that what I’ve have been preaching all along?). Here’s an exchange Ms. Horn had with someone trying to explain what he did for a living and how he could be more successful: Read More

November 3, 2017

Overcoming Your Red Flags

Bleaching the Red Flags

Since we are being introspective, chances are good Recruiters and Hiring Managers will concoct real or imagined negatives about you as a prospective employee. We affectionately call these Red Flags. Through cold, candid introspection, you can prepare to address those perceived negatives. Many can even be turned into positives. If they are not uncovered and addressed, they will block your chances of getting hired. (Click on picture above to read the rest of the article) Read More

November 1, 2017

Rushing to Write Your Resume: Bad Move!

Turn, Turn, Turn…

The rock group, The Byrds recorded a song taken from the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes. The first few lines of Turn, Turn, Turn are as follows:

To Everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn).

And a time to every purpose, under heaven.

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to reap a time to sow… Read More

October 31, 2017

Like Being On Top?

King of the Hill
As a kid, we played something we called, King of the Hill, where we would battle our friends to stay on top.

In job search, your goal is to stay on top in views of your posted resume (Job Boards) and LinkedIn. The more often you’re viewed, the better your chances of getting a call. Your strategy is to get more views more often. Here are the tactics to accomplish those goals.

LinkedIn: you should be posting industry-related content daily. Review your Google Alerts for topics of interest. Reposting is the easiest thing to do, but if you want more impact, take the material from multiple sources to create your own, personally created content. Do NOT use other people’s content without giving attribution. Name the source (author), publication and date. Use Bitly.com to create a shortened link from the long URL.

LinkedIn used to give members a running total of profile views including a chart. It was the most important set of statistics they provided. As of January 2017, that service ceased to exist. As of publication, the best they offer are the ones below: (Click on picture above to read the rest of the article)

October 28, 2017

LinkedIn Page 1 or Bust!

S.E.O. for YOU (Search Engine Optimization)

When you “Google” something, how many pages of search results do you look at? One page? Two pages? Maybe, from time to time, three?

When I Googled the line from Romeo & Juliet “What’s in a Word,” within a millisecond I received 111 million results. I looked at the first one. In her article in Searchenginewatch.com, Jessica Lee reported that whatever placed page 1, position 1 in search results got 33% of all views with position two getting 18%. Traffic declined precipitously from that point. (See charts from the search-targeted advertising company, Chitika cited in Ms. Lee’s article.) Indeed, 91.5% of all Google traffic in the US and Canada goes to whatever is found on the first page of results and 4.8% going to what’s on page 2. For obvious reasons, companies work tirelessly (and pay dearly) to get to page 1.

How do they get to Page 1? (Click on picture above to read the rest of the article) Read More

October 27, 2017

The Evolution of Job Search

The Evolution of Job Search

You lost your job, got the pink slip, laid off, redundant, downsized, right-sized. I got “right-sized” once and wanted to right size their lip. I imagine you felt the same way, even if you quit. Whatever the term, you find yourself seeking employment. (Click on picture above to read the rest of the article) Read More

September 7, 2017

Brain Without a Heart

In his seminal novel, 1984, George Orwell wrote about the country of Oceana where the people were constantly watched, even in their own home, through the use of “telescreens.” The leader, known only as Big Brother, was always watching. Orwell’s timing was only off by a few years. Welcome to the age of Artificial Intelligence, Oceana is here. (Click on picture above to read the rest of the article)

May 12, 2017

HELP! (Not me…Help YOU Job Seekers)

LinkedIn took away a job seeker’s most important statistic, the number of profile views over a short period of time. (See below)

January 29, 2016

Job Search Hide & Seek (Jobs are not where you think)

What are you willing to do to get HIRED?

Let me guess what your job search day looks like. You trudge down to your computer, sit on your keister all day, smoke coming from the keyboard from applying for job after posted job, chase down rabbit holes researching, waiting desperately for the phone to ring (and it never does), you’re exhausted by day’s end, yet you can’t put a finger on anything that you’ve actually accomplished.

January 12, 2016

Sweating Bullets: Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking

Have you ever met someone who appears comfortable in front of a crowd of people delivering a speech, making a presentation, cracking jokes or performance acting? Wouldn’t you like to be like them? Trust me, looks can be deceiving! Now imagine how you would react if you were told that part of your job would include giving presentations and talks? It is likely to happen, so get prepared now. Your career may depend on it! Read More