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Job Seekers

Three Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Interviews: How to Create an ATS-Friendly Resume

by Veronica Blatt

ats-friendly resumeToday’s guest blogger is Keith Grafman, Founder and Principal of Creative Content Consulting. CCC positions digital identity for your Career, Dating, and Business, with a consistent presence across your digital footprint. For more information, visit: www.CreativeContentConsulting.com

While software automation has simplified the recruitment process for recruiters, staffing specialists, human resources professionals and employers, it has made the hiring process much more challenging for job seekers, applicants and candidates. Nowadays, Application Tracking Systems (ATS) are becoming continuously more sophisticated each day, and as a consequence, a resume won’t get selected to move forward and be reviewed by a human unless it satisfies a custom-programed, specific set of keywords and criteria for a particular position. The ATS-selection process can include, but is not necessarily limited to: experience, expertise, skills, competencies, awards, certifications, training, education, accomplishments, personality, demeanor and ambition(s). To further complicate this process, the ATS’ keywords(s) and criteria requirements can range from specific to very specific. For example, your resume’s usage of keywords, grammar, punctuation, etc. may potentially not be recognized by the ATS due to wording variation, such as either including or not including a word such as “specialist,” or even hyphenation of a phrase or terminology. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Marry the First Person You Date

by Veronica Blatt

Our guest blogger is Jason Elias of Elias Recruitment in Sydney, Australia. Elias Recruitment is a specialist legal recruitment consultancy, finding lawyers for law firms, not-for-profits and corporates, across Australia. Jason is the Secretary/Treasurer of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors and received our Chairman’s Award in 2014. Jason is also a Fellow of the peak recruitment industry body in Australasia  the RCSA (Recruitment & Consulting Services Association).

Whilst I am sure “love at first sight” does exist and my wife swears she knew we were going to get married the day we met- I would not advise anyone to marry the first person they dated.

Likewise, it is imperative when you counsel your candidates to take the best job offer, not the first one (especially when the first offer is not yours). There is no secret that the job market for candidates across many industries is the best it has been for a long time. Read the rest of this entry »

Have You Tested Your Job Seeker UX?

by Veronica Blatt

“Candidate experience” gets a lot of attention in the blogosphere, HR and talent communities, and other places around the web. Candidate experience can be broadly defined as how job seekers interact with a company’s hiring processes – from recruiting to interviewing and onboarding. Before a job seeker becomes a candidate, though, they’re interacting with – and evaluating – organizations differently. That often begins with your website, which can deliver a good … or not-so-good … user experience (UX). When is the last time you tested the job seeker UX of your site? This means evaluating every aspect of your website as though you are a job seeker. Read the rest of this entry »

The Number 1 Thing to Do in an Interview

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s guest blogger is Paulette Steele with Real Resumes located in Queensland, Australia. Real Resumes is educating people from beginning to end on getting a job.  Short videos cover all aspects including: where to look for a job, writing effective resumes, researching and preparing for the interview, and most importantly, mastering the interview itself. Paulette has 15 years of recruitment experience and a vast career in various industries.

What’s the number one thing to do in an interview? It’s so simple and effective! Read the rest of this entry »

Is the Cover Letter Dead?

by Liz Carey

On our recruitment network forum, one recruiter asked recently asked: “Do you read the Resume or Cover Letter first?”

The overwhelming response was, with all the applications recruiters receive, most do not have time to read a cover letter at all. So, does that mean a candidates shouldn’t write one at all? Not at all.

While many recruiters don’t read them, many do expect to get one because most employers and hiring managers still expect one. Crafting a cover letter also shows that you have put some time and effort into applying to this specific job, rather than just sending out your resume to the masses.

Here are some tips if you want your cover letter to be read: Read the rest of this entry »

A Recruiter-Candidate Relationship Ends ‘Ghosting’

by Dave Nerz

Job candidates are ‘ghosting’ employers and independent recruiters with increasing frequency. If this is a new word for you, the Urban Dictionary defines ‘ghosting’ as cutting off all communication with zero warning. If you have had a no-show for a call, no response to a text or email, or a recruit/hire that walked off the job or never showed up for the first day of work…you have been ghosted!

It is both a surprise and a baffler for HR and independent recruitment professionals. Much of this phenomenon can be attributed to demographics. There are too many job openings when compared to the number of available top-tier candidates. The power has shifted from the employer and independent recruiter to the candidates. These no-show situations are happening in all types of industries from very entry-level positions to much more significant responsibilities within a business. Candidates have multiple offers and are receiving great counteroffers by the employers they are leaving. Some candidates just decide to stay at the 11th hour. Read the rest of this entry »

What Makes a Great Recruiter?

by Dave Nerz

Why Criticism Can Be Good For You

by Liz Carey

It can be hard to swallow constructive criticism, but accepting criticism can be the key to getting promoted at work. Understanding what you’re doing wrong and being able to think of a solution to correct it is a crucial part of showing your commitment to growing and climbing the ranks in a company. Accepting criticism is a challenge that really puts to test your “soft skills,” like being a do-er, fixer and thinker. Read the rest of this entry »

9 Tips for Attending Networking Events

by Veronica Blatt

image of recruiter networking eventToday’s guest blogger is Nicholas Hutchison, our membership marketing associate. Thanks for sharing your experience, Nick!

Last week I had the opportunity to meet many new friends and fellow business professionals at a GRYP – Grand Rapids Young Professionals meet-up. Within a few of the groups I got to meet, there was some conversation about do’s and don’ts of networking events. I kept mental notes on what tips were discussed and I wanted to share them with you as a job seeker or business professional in hopes that you will make your next networking event a successful venture. Read the rest of this entry »

Top Cities for Job Seekers

by Dave Nerz

What I am about to say may seem obvious. Location is a critical factor in a successful job search. For some job searches, location may be as significant as your experience and qualifications. An old saying goes “eggs are cheaper in the country.” Well, some jobs are just more plentiful based on location. In addition to the availability of open jobs, there are also other factors that make location important. Read the rest of this entry »

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