Interviewing well doesn't necessarily winning the job.  You as a candidate can perform well on the interview but will that necessarily equate to getting the offer? Maybe OR Maybe Not!  Here are some tips to help increase your odds significantly of getting that offer!

1) Interview prep starts BEFORE you apply.
The moment you start applying, you should be ready to answer the difficult questions.  If you mentally prepare to answer these, it will help prepare you for most of the questions asked on the interview.

• Tell me about yourself?
• Talk to me about how you make an impact in your role?
• Tell me about a time you had a difficult internal/external customer situation and what you did to turn that around?
• What is it about your current role you like and don't like?
• ​What is the next role you see on your horizon?
  

2) Each type of interview is different so its important to know your audience!

• Recruiters screen you for basic fit.
• Hiring managers screen you to see if you’ll make their life easier or harder.
• HR wants to make sure you are a cultural fit.
• CEOs want to make sure you are worth the money.

Knowing how to address each person in the interview process you meet with will help increase your odds of getting the offer because everyone really does weigh in on the decision.

3) Behavioral Questions are meant to get inside your head to see what motivates you and the depth of your knowledge.
Using the Growth Model to sum up your background which is your Experience + What you Learn = How you have grown professionally when crafting your responses.

STRATEGIC BEHAVIROAL QUESTION ANSWERS

• Tell me about yourself (Lay out the story from a high level of your career progression, what you have learned throughout your career, motivations for why you do what you do and what makes you proud.  When you can paint a story about your career that a hiring manager can visualize helps them connect better with you.)​
• Give Examples of impacts you have made on projects showing the success and your part.
• Show examples demonstrating how you have made life easier for your past managers and any significant accomplishments you can tie to numbers.

Technology Individual Contributors who are strong at their craft and have proven themselves worthy are often rewarded via a promotion to a Leadership Position. It can be an exciting yet unnerving transition for many who may think they are NOT "Leadership Material". However, in my tech recruiting experience I have seen many tech people without natural born leadership traits acquire these skills and improve over time with practice indeed go on to be very successful and effective leaders.  So as a Organization looking inside your "own house" for your next Tech Leader, how do you identify those people that have the Leadership "Chops"?

One clue might be to not necessarily look at specific Leadership skills but focus on some intangible attributes that your Tech Employees possesses that can be focused on to nurture and grow like a "plant".  The intangible attributes I was thinking of all begin with the letter (I).  While they won't guarantee success, embracing these five simple I's can help a new leader make a smoother transition into their new role.  Those are (Integrity, Inclusion, Independence, Involvement, Influence).  I'll briefly gloss over the main points of these to give a snap shot view how to identify these.

INTEGRITY
To be well-respected in an organization as a leader, one must possess integrity, which serves as an integral part of one's character. A good leader should be authentic, able to walk the walk and talk the talk, and always have the best interests of the organization in mind.
A leader should not make decisions that benefit them for personal or career gains and jeopardize the greater interest of the company. Being honest, making fair decisions and doing the right thing for the organization is expected from a quality leader.  Therefore your HR Leaders and whomever else is involved in the promotion process should look to identify people in your organization who have demonstrated this intangible.  One example might be someone who has taken a step back to their own personal success to make decisions that took them out of the "lime light" to help the overall team project succeed.

INCLUSION
 A true leader should be inclusive of partners, peers and stakeholders in all major initiatives. Making decisions and doing things with a "lone wolf" mentality does not work in large enterprises.  In fact it alienates people pushing them to not trust you and gain support of your partners, which, by extension, is critical to the success of any program.
A good leader should include others in general discussions in order to ensure there is a certain level of diversity of thought and to help capture knowledge. Being inclusive is the key to winning the trust and confidence of one's team and partners. Final decision making authority is on the leader, but including others to weigh in on various options is extremely important for building allies and having success in any type of leadership position.

INDEPENDENCE
Nobody likes a leader who micromanages. Most people, especially in the tech sector, desire to work with a certain level of independence in order to achieve creative satisfaction. Money is not always the primary motivating factor to attract and retain top talent. As a leader, one should empower his or her team and give the necessary independence to do their job effectively. This way leaders can groom their teams for the next level of leadership by empowering them to make the right decisions for the company and avoid decision paralysis by eliminating themselves as leaders as the center of dependency for every decision.

INVOLVEMENT
As a leader, one must be involved enough to know the macro-level details happening in and around the team. Being involved and having the data ready to share with upper management always helps with building up credibility. It also ensures the concept of “trust but verify” is fully leveraged in the organization because the leader is giving independence to their delegates while at the same time keeping a tab on the work to ensure things follow the right path for the desired outcome.

INFLUENCE
Influence is a must have trait for every leader to be successful and command the respect they need in order to get things done.  I believe of the five traits listed here, having Influential skills is the most critical tool a leader can possess to get your employees to follow in your path to get the necessary things done on a project.  Most Leaders think you have to lead by showing an authoritarian style or managing by fear and intimidation to get your employees to respond.  Sure that may work temporarily in the short-term, but all that does is eventually de-motivate your employees with toxic results to follow.  When it comes to getting your employees to go above and beyond going the "extra mile" to get a critical project done.  It has been proven time and time again that positive persuasion always wins out over intimidation.  The key to building your influence as a leader is to showcase integrity via building trust and showing empathy to your employees on what is required for them to get the job done.

SUMMARY
In summary before you go outside of your organization to recruit your next "Superstar Leader", take a look at your current staff under the 5I microscope.

Steve Rosen
​Tech Recruiter/Career Strategy Consultant







​

Aug 19, 2019,07:15am EDT|2,605 views
The Five I's Of Effective Leadership For Technology Managers
Parthasarathi ChakrabortyForbes Councils Member

Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POST| Membership (fee-based)

Innovation
POST WRITTEN BY
Parthasarathi Chakraborty
Director of network and infrastructure security architecture at Bank of Montreal.

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The best technologists are often rewarded with a managerial promotion. It can be an exciting yet unnerving transition for many who may think they are not natural leaders. However, I believe leadership traits can be acquired and improved over time with practice, and one does not have to be born with leadership qualities.

It is indeed an irony that the skills that got a top technologist a well-deserved promotion won’t be necessarily helping them to succeed in their new role. They will have to learn new skills for the leadership job. So how do they learn the needed skills for success, and what’s the quickest way to master those skills?
There are way too many leadership concepts, articles and books available around us. Is it possible to read and master all those concepts before accepting the new role? The answer is unequivocally no; rather, it has to be a continual learning process. But even then, you don’t have to read or master every leadership principle to become successful.
PROMOTED






Resisting the desire to evade change will be heavily tested in the new role. Getting out of one's comfort zone and being at ease with uncomfortable things will be required to achieve success. It may sound daunting, but being a levelheaded person with a rational thought process who can learn to apply some common sense in decision-making can make one shine as a leader.
I thought it would be helpful to focus on several words that begin with the letter "I" that a leader who's transitioning from a technical contributor to a leadership position would be wise to keep in mind. While they won't guarantee success, embracing these five simple I's can help a new leader make a smoother transition into their new role.
Integrity
It all begins with integrity. To be well-respected in an organization as a leader, one must possess integrity, which serves as an integral part of one's character. A good leader should be authentic, able to walk the walk and talk the talk, and always have the best interests of the organization in mind.

A leader should not make decisions that benefit them for personal or career gains and jeopardize the greater interest of the company. Being honest, making fair decisions and doing the right thing for the organization is expected from a quality leader.
Inclusion
Inclusion is not only restricted to bringing in diverse talent in the workforce when recruiting; rather, it should resonate in the day-to-day aspects of leadership as well. A true leader should be inclusive of partners, peers and stakeholders in all major initiatives. Doing things in a siloed fashion does not work in large enterprises -- nor does it win the trust and support of partners, which, by extension, is critical to the success of any program.
A good leader should include others in general discussions in order to ensure there is a certain level of diversity of thought and to help capture tribal knowledge. Being inclusive is the key to winning the trust and confidence of one's team and partners. Final decision-making authority is on the leader, but including others to weigh in on various options is extremely important for building allies and having success in any type of leadership position.
Independence
Nobody likes a leader who micromanages. Most people, especially in the tech sector, desire to work with a certain level of independence in order to achieve creative satisfaction. Money is not always the primary motivating factor to attract and retain top talent. As a leader, one should empower his or her team and give the necessary independence to do their job effectively. This way leaders can groom their teams for the next level of leadership by empowering them to make the right decisions for the company and avoid decision paralysis by eliminating themselves as leaders as the center of dependency for every decision.
Involvement
As a leader, one must be involved enough to know the macro-level details happening in and around the team. Being involved and having the data ready to share with upper management always helps with building up credibility. It also ensures the concept of “trust but verify” is fully leveraged in the organization because the leader is giving independence to their delegates while at the same time keeping a tab on the work to ensure things follow the right path for the desired outcome.
Influence
This is a must-have trait for every leader. At the very least, a good leader should aspire to have the power of influence to earn respect from the team. Showing authority or other intimidating approaches don’t necessarily work with employees. When it comes to getting work done that requires employees to go above and beyond a role’s defined expectation, influential leaders can help motivate in order to get the job done as opposed to folks who follow an authoritarian style. Displaying integrity, building up trust and having a sense of empathy can certainly help in establishing one's influence over a team. Once a certain level of influence is established, a team should have full confidence that the leader is doing the right thing for the organization.

Dear Recruiter,

QUESTION?
"As a newer Manager over the last couple years and giving Employee Reviews I don't feel I've done a good job at.  The employees don't seem to be engaged or energized by them.  We discuss the year in review and what they need to improve on but the conversations are definitely one-sided.  Is there a better format for a Employee Review and what should it consist of?"

ANSWER
Great question, Employee Reviews are a fantastic opportunity for an organization to gain valuable insight into their employees' psyche.  This is an opportunity to gauge your employees' happiness not only with their job, but your company on a macro level.  Another important thing you can find out is what their career passions are so you can properly groom them.  I know Managers don't like to hear that their employees want to do something else other then the job they are in especially if they are good at it.  But is it not better to learn that so you can find a way to keep them in the organization rather then lose them to to another company, even a competitor and find out why they left the hardway?

So here are my recommendations of what a Employee Review should look like:

1. First from the start you want to make them feel comfortable, assure them that this talk is a "safe zone" and is also two-sided.  Meaning you want to give them an opportunity to  review your leadership as a manager, your department and the organization as part of the conversation.
2. Instead of just telling them where they need to improve in the role, give them an opportunity first to let them give you their self-assessment of what they think was good and also what they think they struggled with and what they think they need to do to improve.  Then you can integrate your findings into the conversation and keep it conversational.  This will help you avoid the one-sided conversation syndrome and keep them engaged because you have set the tone that you are listening and want to know their feelings before you even engage.
3. Ask them what they like about the department, the organization etc.. also establishing you want them to provide areas where you and the organization can improve to make them happy working here and why they should stay.  Again keeping to the theme of keeping this a two-sided conversation.
4. Last ask them what they think you should brand as an organization to engage future hires.  What do they think is the selling point of the organization.  This is critical intel as you try to hire and attract talent in a highly competitive market.

Again great question and hope this helps.  Don't fear the Employee Review, instead embrace the incredible opportunities for insights it brings!

Dear Recruiter,

When I interview candidates I understand there are questions I am not allowed to ask?  What are some of those and how do I find out the information I need in order to make a hiring decision on a candidate?

​That is a great question!  HR Laws are constantly changing to prevent discrimination for job applicants. However the key is to have the questions that can be equally asked to every person applying that won't show bias. Here are some of the common ones that are absolute "NO NO" to ask and can be deemed discrimination:

1. Are you a U.S. Citizen OR do you need a work Visa?
2. How much money do you make now or what is your current salary?
3. Do you have a disability or have you ever filed a worker's compensation case?
4. Are you pregnant or trying to have a family?
5. Do you have Children?

The key to any question asked by an employer for a job interview is making sure it doesn't single out anyone and is asked equally without judgement to any person applying.  Now lets look at the legal and fair way to ask the questions above without discrimination.

1. Can you provide documented proof for the I9 Form that you are legally authorized to work in the U.S.?  Whether you are a U.S. Citizen or not every person working in the U.S. must show proof laid out by the Government in the I9 Form that they are eligible to work in the U.S..
2. What is your desired salary to take this job?  This way a person can't be discriminated by a company from getting an offer just because they earn a certain salary.  The company can share their budget and if you choose to answer yes I want to earn this much but this role has circumstances where I can compromise for a better situation.  The employer now doesn't have prior salary information to discriminate against.
3. Describe the job duties and then ask is there anything that would keep you from performing all of these duties?  As long as the duties are not illegal or considered immoral the company has a right to not offer the job to someone who won't or can't do the job for whatever reason.
4. Do you have any extended leave planned?  Again this question shows no biased against anyone as there are many reasons a person has extended leave planned.
5. Is there anything preventing you from working the required core business hours of the position?  Again the question shows no bias towards any person in particular, the employers has a right to expect everyone equally to work the required hours.

Of course there are many more illegal questions that can't be asked but these are the most common that come up and Hiring Managers struggle with.

Dear Recruiter,
​
​My name is Sandy and I work as a Market Coordinator for a small law firm just outside of St. Louis.  Doing marketing for a Law Firm, my job lacks the flexibility for me to be creative so I'm on the hunt for a new one.  That has been a struggle as I apply and apply for jobs online with no luck at all.  I barely get any interviews.

Dear Recruiter Help!  What am I doing wrong?

Sandy first of all thank you for writing in and sharing your question.  I'm sure there are a lot of marketing people that are in your situation so they will appreciate you asking the question.  So I get similar questions to these a lot and the common theme to the frustration people have is applying to jobs online.  Look I get it, companies require applicants to apply online to get hired.  But let me let you and the rest of the reading audience in on a secret Sandy, you don't have to apply to the job right away you can apply anytime.  What does that mean exactly?

Well once a company has interest in you as a candidate and they want to set you up for an interview, at that point you can officially apply to the job which they will direct you to do.  The misnomer is that in order to be considered initially for a job you have to apply for it online, not true.  There are other ways to be considered for a job other than directly applying to it online which is what I will cover.

Still the most effective way to get your "foot in the door" to be interviewed and considered for a job is network with someone working there to advocate for you or connecting directly with the hiring manager.  The other way to find not only marketing jobs but any jobs is to have them notice you and approach you.  This way jobs you are not aware of will have a way of finding and reaching out to you.

As a Marketing person Sandy you have the advantage of having the skills to market yourself in Social Media as a way to get Hiring Manager to notice you that other people may not have.  Here is a quick list of things I would recommend you do and this can all be done on Linkedin which is still the top Professional Social Media Platform.

1. First thing first make sure your Linkedin Profile is complete and up to date.  Include all of your accomplishments in the top under your summary as well as in each job.​
2. List any Content/Blogs/Websites you have created in your Linkedin Profile.
3. Reach out to Company Hiring Managers for organizations you want to work for as well as other people in the marketing department and invite them to connect.  If and when they accept your invitation, write them a note to say hello and introduce yourself to them.
4. Follow Marketing Groups and Marketing organizations that interest you.  If they share content that interest you feel free to comment on it or better add your insight to it.
5. If your job doesn't allow you to create creative content then take the initiative to do something on your own personally.  Create your own website that houses your own marketing content such as blogs, videos, podcast etc.. and share it with your network.
6. Last, let those Marketing People in your network know that you are looking.  You don't have to advertise it to the world that you are looking but you certainly can in private conversations.

Sandy I hope that helps.  Thank you for writing in and good luck on your search!

Best Wishes,

​Dear Recruiter

I know if you are a company of any size right now especially smaller in nature its natural to panic during an unprecedented crisis like the one we are going through with Covid-19.  Therefore the first defense mechanism to set in is "button down the hatches" and stop all hiring.  Then the next move an organization contemplates is work force reductions and who is expendable.  I'm here to tell all the Business Owners and Leadership before you do anything, take a deep breath, pause and reset your mental thoughts.  Reacting out of panic is the worse thing you can do!

Now if you are a small business that is barely surviving "living paycheck to paycheck" that is a different story.  However the focus of my message is to smaller Emerging Technology Firms who were doing well before this crisis "blindsided" all of us.  My message specifically to these firms who have a great technology product or service is step up your recruiting efforts to find the talent you need going forward, and PLEASE PLEASE consider NOT laying off any personnel.  How companies react or DO NOT React is being judged by candidates that may consider working for your organization in the future.

I urge you to explore other alternatives to get by for a few months if at all possible.  People are your best assets in a crisis, your Employees are your best assets!  Your organization invested a lot of time to find and train these people, to panic and let them go will harm your ROI in the long-term.  Especially when this crisis passes and business gets back to thriving, you will realize how much you needed them and not having them is impacting business.

RECRUITING vs. HIRING
Now when I speak about step up your Recruiting Efforts that doesn't mean necessarily hiring.  Recruiting and hiring are very different functions, let me explain difference.   Hiring is actually adding people to your staff where you are paying them salary and taking on the cost of benefits and training.  Not much more needs to be said beyond that.  Now recruiting, that is a completely different story!

Recruiting can be as little or as intense as you want it to be.  The main goal is to engage your audience which is a company's Hiring Profile Avatar on some level.  Again this doesn't have to be a full fledged recruiting effort that you would normally conduct when you are actively hiring.  It can be as little as reaching out to a handful of candidates on a weekly basis in your niche space that your business normally hires for to say hello and introduce yourself.  Let them know what your business does and that you would love to have an open dialogue to get to know them and network.  Mention that your company is always on the search for talent with their skill set and even though you are not hiring now, you hope to be in the near future and want to make the connection. You can be even more passive then that if you like.  Maybe you send out videos or blogs on some interesting projects your firm has done in groups on Social Media where your candidates hangout.

RECRUITING IS A GREAT WAY TO BRAND YOUR ORGANIZATION DURING A CRISIS
By not "letting up on the gas pedal" with your recruiting efforts during a crisis says a lot about your company to the outside world from a branding perspective.  When you are staying active talking to candidates and letting them know about the passion behind the work you are doing, and you plan to continue doing this work past the crisis this will create positive energy and a sense of good will for people about your brand.  It shows that your company is strong and refuses to be defined and handicapped by the crisis.  More important, your company creates a positive brand image to the outside world that your organization is forward thinking and a place that has big plans for its future.

The Power of a Positive Workplace Culture — for Full-Timers and Contingent Workers
"Devoting time to your total workforce helps you grow and scale by attracting, developing, and retaining top talent, who are in turn more productive and loyal. When your people — whether internal and full-time or external and project-based — feel valued and supported, they will ardently share your vision and work hard to help your business succeed. More and more, employees and contingent workers alike are looking for positive workplace cultures. People today want to make a positive impact on their companies and their communities. An emphasis on corporate social responsibility, volunteering, and health and well-being is key.
So, where do you start in creating a positive work culture? Well, start by listening to your people. What do they need to succeed in their roles? What do they look for in leadership? how do they want to grow and engage with your company in the future?"
James Lee, COO of SAP

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS ARE AN OPPORTUNITY NOT A OBLIGATION
I know a lot of managers dread the labor and time intensive activity of the Employee Review process but this really is a great opportunity for the organization on many levels!

• Its an opportunity to learn what your employees ambitions are to grow them into different areas of the company which will excite them and entice them to stay.
• Its an opportunity to help them grow and get better in their roles which directly helps the company.
• Its an opportunity to get honest feedback on what they think the company needs to do to get better.  If they are thinking it, most likely this is the perception of the outside world.  This gives you an opportunity to fix your Employer Brand when trying to hire.
• Its an opportunity to find out what other opportunities are enticing them and what are things needed to be done by the company to keep them.

Questions That Are a NO NO To Ask Candidates During a Interview

Here is a list of questions that a Company can get in trouble for asking a candidate on a interview and some of these are not so obvious.

• No longer can you legally ask a candidate how much money they are making as of 2017 law update
• You can't ask a candidate anything about their personal life, if they volunteer personal information that is different.  You can only ask would something restrict them from fulfilling the duties of the job.
• You can't ask if a candidate needs Citizenship to work or needs a visa.  You can only ask them if they are authorized to work in the United States.

Bottom line keep the questions professionals and pertaining to the job and their experiences that make them applicable to do the job and you will avoid trouble!

Are you a Mid-to-Senior Level Professional working in the "Tech Sector" trying to find a new job, but need to "fly under the radar" so your employer doesn't find out? Are you trying to avoid publicizing your resume for fear of being over-whelmed by the countless amount of emails and calls from recruiters trying to talk you into a opening that doesn't fit? If you answered yes to one or both of those questions then I may have a solution for you!

The strategies I'm proposing are proven effective for individuals wanting to conduct a highly confidential job search to try and move in-between or upward into a technical or managerial position where discretion is important. The strategies I'm specifically referring to is Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc...). I understand most people know how to use these tools already, but I can assure you there is an incredible amount of things these tools can do for your job search that you can't even begin to imagine! Take it from someone who over the last couple years has dedicated themselves to really understanding how to use Social Media for my job. The only boundary Social Media has is the limits of your creativity!
Why is a Job Search Different for Technology Professionals Then Other Professions?

So there are a couple of reasons I really wanted to focuse this blog on professionals working in the Tech Industry. For one, I have spent the majority of my professional work life recruiting, evaluating and hiring Information Technology skill sets so I have a very good understanding of the importance that their abilities and talents directly have on an organization. Therefore I have some specific job search strategies that someone working in technology can leverage to best market themselves. The second and most important reason I wanted to reach out specifically to technology people and folks in management is that their search is very specific and focused, thus making it different and in most cases more difficult.

Believe it or not conducting a search when you are employed is far more difficult than when you are a "free agent" or in between jobs. The reason is when you are employed in most instances, you don't want your current employer to know you are looking. This means you don't have the ability to advertise out to the "free world" that you are looking for a new job for fear of consequences you could face if your employer finds out. The second problem with looking for a job when you are working is the lack of flexibility to interview. In fact having initial conversations with potential employers to do initial inquires are even difficult during business hours when you are working.

Due to the nature of work and the level of difficulties that technical professionals possess make them attractive to many potential employers out there. The training IT people have to endure is intense and very expensive, so if an employer can hire someone who already owns those skills without having to pay for it makes that person attractive to a company. With that said technical people have many opportunities which on the surface sounds great, but if you dig deeper this could be a negative because a lot of these opportunities may not be a good fit at all. For any of us who have taken the wrong job, that could prove to be a disaster. Hence this is a great transition to the main focus of my article, how to leverage Social Media to conduct a confidential job search.

CREATE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND USING SOCIAL MEDIA
Earlier in this article I teased you mentioning the amazing things Social Media can do for your job search, especially when you are trying to "fly under the radar". Social Media really is an incredible gift technology has given us, you can be anywhere in the world and at the touch of your fingertips communicate anything you want and access any information you want. Best of all its free!!!

One thing to keep in mind is that freedom comes with a price. Just as you have the ability to communicate anything you want and research anything you want at the the touch of your finger tips, everyone else also has that power. That is why the first thing you need to do which is what I consider to be the most critical when getting onto Social Media, establish credibility!! You not only want people to take you serious from a professional perspective, but you want them to believe that you have some level of expertise in at least one if not many subject areas. If you can't do this, then there is no amount of technology that will help your job search. The best way to accomplish this is to develop a strong professional brand for yourself that will create "buzz".

When I talk about "buzz" I'm referring to things about your professional background that will make people "stand up and take notice" wanting to know more about you. The way to do that is through your special milestones you have accomplished on the job. As a recruiter one of my "pet peeves" is to see someone take the time to put a profile on Linkedin or Twitter, especially Linkedin and just list your jobs you worked at with maybe a short bullet list of your daily task; "BORING". Being someone in the profession hiring for my job openings, I use social media a lot to find people. If someone doesn't excite me with how they made a difference at their organizations and what they accomplished, I will not give them a 2nd look let alone reach out to them to learn more.

First step, take a note book or type somewhere on your computer where you can make a list of neat things you accomplished job by job. Speak about special projects you were involved with, the role you took on those projects and how they made your department or company better for this accomplishment. Another key thing to cover for technology people is talk about the technology you used and relate it to how it served the business purposes. Some examples might be (task you did to reduce cost/increase revenue/processes you implemented to drive better efficiency). These functions "scream" you are a potentially valuable employee to a future employer.

Target your Search Through Research
Now that your professional branding is created and you have some credibility behind you which will drive people to your profile through key word searches, this is where your search on social media begins. That beginning starts with you identifying organizations that you want to work for. You are working and you have skills that are attractive to many employers, so I beg of you please be selective of where you choose to work for your next place of employment. Take it from someone who has made this mistake in the past, you are better to be mildly miserable at your current employer then to take a risk going to a new company and taking on a role you are not 100% sure is the right move.

What I mean by that is you have built up credibility and tenure at your current company, if you give that up for a new job you are unsure about and it turns out bad that could be a very nasty situation. At least with your current job you should have some flexibility since you have proven your credibility. At a new job you have to prove yourself all over again meaning lack of flexibility to look for a new job if things turn "sour". Now that I have your attention, this is where you want to take your time and figure out the best company to make your next move to. You want to take into account factors that are important to you such as industry preference, company size, initiatives they are involved with that might match up with things you want to do in your career and most important, their reputation with their customers and how they treat employees. Luckily with Social Media which again I stress is free, this information is very easy to obtain and the accuracy of the information is very easy to confirm.

The two tools I think you get the most "bang for your buck" meaning allocation of your time is LinkedIn and Glass Door. First LinkedIn, you can search company profiles and employee profiles to see all company history and the backgrounds of key personnel who run that organization. This is where you can get a first glance to see if the projects they are working on match your skills and things you want to do. Also you look to see if the backgrounds of the people working their share common backgrounds and interest to you. This is the first and most important indicator if this is a possible organization that is right for you. I also mentioned a tool called Glass Door, this is basically Yelp for Companies. Employees can go to Glass Door on strictly a confidential basis and post their true experiences and feelings about working at a company without fear of having their identity discovered. This is where you can learn about specific examples of how a company treats their employees and sure you have to take this information with a "grain of salt", but I have found it to be very accurate especially if comments are in a majority fashion sway one way or the other. If you have 10 people within a year or so time frame saying negative or positive comments about a company and they have worked in various areas of the organization, its safe to say that is probably a trend you will find to be true.

"Let the Networking Begin"
Ok, you have completed your thorough preparation of short listing some organizations you want to work at that match your values. You have also created a very attractive profile so those companies can gain an awareness of you and see if you match what they look for in an employee. Now you are ready to take the plunge and let those companies know you are interested, "let the networking begin".

Networking, this is where a lot of job seekers make their biggest mistakes. Most people think networking is connecting with others to ask for a job directly. True networking is more passive and less aggressive and is one of those situations where "less is more". Yes you do want to reach out and connect with people who share your same skills or work for a company you are looking to possibly work at, but it is for information purposes only with advertising yourself through intelligent questions is a "byproduct". Reaching out to others should be for the purpose of learning what they like about the company, initiatives they are working on that they enjoy, things they feel the company could improve on and last advice seeking.

People are more likely to answer your invitation and be open to speaking with you if you let them know you are seeking their advice or want to do information sharing. It is ok to say once you have established some credibility with the people you are reaching out to "look I'm looking to potentially make a move from my organization but I want to seek your advice on some places that you feel would be best for me to perform certain types of work". "I notice you are doing some similar things to what I have done, what do you like about your organization". This tactic will get you much further with people because all you are asking them for is information as opposed to a job. Also they gain respect for you because you are coming off as someone who is thought provoking and very serious about a job change as vs. someone just desperate to find a job.

Another way to get yourself known as an expert in your field is joining professional groups in LinkedIn and Meetup in your areas of expertise and post useful information and questions. This is a great way to get yourself known in the industry and advertise your knowledge.
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Steve Rosen

 By Steve Rosen  Thought Leadership  December 12, 2018

Organizations can have the best ideas or products in the world but without great employees and more particular talented leadership to facilitate the process of managing the flow of operations, those ideas and products will die. In today’s economy, hiring the best people is more critical than ever. Entrepreneurs to Large Organizations can’t afford to lose time, money and results from a bad hiring choice (a recent Forbes article by David K. Williams pegs the cost of a single bad hire at anywhere from $25-50,000). “The cost of finding, interviewing, engaging and training new employees is high”, says Williams. When trying to identify new employees there are 7 factors to consider in your evaluation process that David Williams framed “the 7 C’s”.
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1. Competent: This is still the first factor to consider. Does the potential employee have the necessary skills, experiences, and education to successfully complete the tasks you need to be performed?
2. Capable: Will this person complete not only the easy tasks but will he or she also find ways to deliver on the functions that require more effort and creativity? For me, being capable means the employee has the potential for growth and the ability and willingness to take on more responsibility.
3. Compatible: Can this person get along with colleagues, and more importantly, can he or she get along with existing and potential clients and partners? A critical component to also remember is the person’s willingness and ability to be harmonious with you, his or her boss. If the new employee can’t, there will be problems.
4. Commitment: Is the candidate serious about working for the long-term? Or is he or she just passing through, always looking for something better? A history of past jobs and time spent at each provides a clear insight into the matter.
5. Character: Does the person have values that align
with yours? Are they honest; do they tell the truth and keep promises? Are they above reproach? Are they selfless and a team player?
6. Culture: Every business has a culture or a way that people behave and interact with each other. Culture is based on certain values, expectations, policies, and procedures that influence the behavior of a leader and employees. Workers who don’t reflect a company’s culture tend to be disruptive and difficult.
7. Compensation: As the employer, be sure the person hired agrees to a market-based compensation package and is satisfied with what is offered. If not, an employee may feel unappreciated and thereby underperform.


Steve Rosen is an accomplished HR and talent acquisition professional with more than 18 years of HR and recruitment experience. Mr. Rosen is actively engaged in the local entrepreneurship ecosystem and is a member of the Tampa Bay Wave mentor network. ​

​By Steve Rosen  Community  October 26, 2018What is the Major Hurdle in Scaling your Organization?
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Congratulations, your organization has reached its first major milestone; the company made its first Million Dollars in Revenue! As a growing Entrepreneur, your next desire is probably $2MM, $3MM, etc...  However, this is easier said than done.  As a newer Leadership Team, Scalability is probably presenting some major “hurdles” for you that maybe you didn’t quite anticipate.  The most common challenge for organizations of the Million Dollar Size is lack of bandwidth to generate this additional revenue to grow.
Lack of Sales is usually the 1st problem to be identified.  “If we could just sell more to our current customer base while adding just a few more new clients, we could probably double our size within one, two, three years.”  This is the most common line of thinking that CEO’s and Founders usually gravitate towards.  However, if you really take an extended deep dive analysis into the problem, lack of sales is usually not the culprit.  In fact, even if you could line up an additional project or two from your current customers or add another client would you still make more money?  This answer may surprise you, BUT NO!  The reason is if your current workforce is producing at full capacity and additional resources are not added, your organization can’t generate any more revenue beyond what your resources are producing.  It’s impossible to grow as you can see.
What is the Solution?
So now that we have identified a lack of resources as the root cause of achieving scalability for your organization, the next question is how to solve it?  These challenges can easily be solved with a Talent Acquisition Strategy.  The key is your strategy has to be consistent with a committed effort to keep up with a regular cadence of activities.  Even if you may not be hiring in that particular moment, the key is giving the world the perception that you are always looking to hire strong people.  So how exactly does this work and what components need to be in place in order to execute this strategy?
The first piece that I mentioned is a commitment to be consistent with execution.  Let us compare this with how any organization views their sales functions.  Companies don’t stop selling just because they land one or two deals, so why should they stop recruiting for talent just because you hired someone?  Believe it or not, hiring is far more volatile than landing a sale.  With sales, there are contracts involved binding both parties to the agreed terms.  Hiring a candidate for a job does not bind them at all to take the job or even stay in the job once they start.  Most States abide by “Employment at Will” Laws meaning a company can let an employee go for almost any legal reason and an employee can certainly quit without giving notice.  So would it not make sense to always have your “Plan B…Plan C..” etc… in place just in case?
The other critical component to have in place is either have a dedicated HR Talent Acquisition Department or the very least have a person in place dedicated to ONLY recruiting functions.  The mindset of the organization has to be that this Recruiting Resource is to be viewed as an investment to building Talent Funnels.  If an organization is thinking, “we don’t anticipate doing any hiring for minimal 6 months probably a year why should we waste the money paying for a Recruiter?”  Then as an organization, you could be making a critical mistake.  People quit all the time, new projects come up all the time so the smart organizations that think strategically “two moves ahead” are the ones that have a higher success rate of achieving their scalability goals.
Implementing the Talent Acquisition Strategy
The first step, engage in an internal assessment of where you are now and what that next level goal is.  More important once you figure out where you want to go, then you want to figure out from a resource and fulfillment perspective what you need to get there.  Essentially your organization wants to build hiring profiles that will serve as a blueprint for the type of talent the organization needs to achieve that next milestone.
Second step and this is critical for implementing the Talent Acquisition Process, “go all in” and make the investment in the Hiring Department.  This is where a lot of smaller organizations get caught up.  It’s difficult to invest money into hiring functions when you don’t always need to hire.  I get it but think of it from an ROI perspective.  If opportunities come up that can bring your organization instant revenue stream, having the ability to take advantage of that “real-time” far outweighs the alternative which is showing your customer you CAN’T DELIVER.  This leads organizations into desperation where reactive hiring activities take place, which then leads to bad hires and we all know the consequences of bad hires!
To be honest it would not take a whole lot of investment to implement this strategy.  As a smaller organization, you can even start out with one employee who takes the mold of a Corporate Recruiter.  Let this person drive your Hiring Profile Strategy where potentially all they are doing for you is building candidate relationships and pipelining talent.  You don’t want to compensate them like a salesperson, however, you may want to have a bonus component in place on how many people they are pipelining that fit the hiring profiles the organization has set up.  I would mix into the strategy some corporate branding on Social Media from an HR Talent Acquisition perspective.  The messaging should be specific for what the company does, why people would want to work here and some specific information on some of the exciting initiatives the company is involved with.  Essentially the company wants to take on a Persona that they are always hiring if strong talent comes across.
The final step is what I term “Storing Your Treasures”, what I mean by that is you want a safe place to save your information.  If you have implemented Steps 1 & 2 then you will be generating candidate leads and resumes.  You will want to have this stored in some type of Database specific to Recruiting called an Applicant Tracking System or “ATS”.  So as situations come up where you need to hire, you now have a virtual “Tickler File” of warm leads to find applicants from.  This certainly beats what most organizations do when they need to hire quickly, pay hundreds of dollars to post an online add then have to scramble to find the right people from applicants who apply even though they don’t fit the job requirements.  If you follow the system, your recruiter should be always speaking with candidates that fit your company profile therefore when you do have to hire, you will be selecting from profiles where an initial match has been identified.
If you are serious about looking to scale up your business, a Talent Acquisition Strategy might be your “Best Medicine”!


Steve Rosen is an accomplished HR and talent acquisition professional with more than 18 years of HR and recruitment experience. Mr. Rosen is actively engaged in the local entrepreneurship ecosystem and is a member of the Tampa Bay Wave mentor network. 

      

As both a professional in Talent Acquisition and someone who went to College and took many years to pay back my loans, Adam Carroll's movie documentary "Broke Busted & Disgusted" https://www.brokebusteddisgusted.com/the-film/ really moved me!  Mr. Carroll is the CEO of National Financial Educators.  My take on his documentary, is that in NO Way is he discouraging Young Adults from going to College after High School. However he does intend to communicate a clear message, that before jumping in and accepting the responsibility for the Financial Burden of College, High School Kids need to be strategic and smart!  
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This means NO More can future College Students afford to just go to College thinking they will figure out their future along the way.  My suggestion and I wish I did this for myself back then, was to take High School Senior year to explore career options. Whether that is doing informational interviews, or even doing a non-paid internship if it means getting a real taste at what a potential career would encompass.  If that is not possible, maybe consider delaying college for 1-2 years to do some exploring.  My message is when you decide to jump in and take the financial responsibility, make sure you make the most of every moment to make it a valuable investment!

With that said, I don't want you to think I'm putting all the responsibility for this on the students, because I'm not!  The Universities as well need to take some responsibility for the problem that Mr. Carroll points out.  These students are customers of the Universities so if they are taking money for services they are providing, that comes with obligations to make sure the students are getting maximum value for what they are paying for!
So what is the responsibility of colleges and universities to students after graduation ? Do they have any ? Are the schools there to meet their own needs of tuition, over the needs of students to transition into the profession they majored in ?
I want to try to answer this.

I am a Technology Recruiter, and for the most part I place Senior Level Executives in Technology Firms. Recently I have received many requests from Millennials that are college graduates frustrated and needing help because they can't find work in a program they just paid $100,000 or more for. In each situation they are struggling to support themselves forced to take a combination of 2 or more part time jobs just to pay the bills . I try to do my part to help because I truly feel for these individuals so I outsource these requests to professionals that work with millennials in finding entry level positions.  The question I have is why does this problem exist and what could be done about it ?

I was without an answer on this . After that I was told about the documentary of Broke Busted & Disgusted www.brokebusted&disgusted.com  The title is what most college graduates feel after the party of college is done with . They are broke because they have a student loan that they could not pay back. They are busted with the economic situation they are in, feeling as if they have nothing . They are disgusted, that means they have a feeling of dislike to the schools after they played the game as they were told .

As I was watching Broke Busted & Disgusted, the schools are in on encouraging students to take out these loans. As the students naively think that employment after college is going to allow for the means to payback the loans.  In most situations this is not reality.

When i talk to recent college graduates, In each situation I was told the schools do not want to hear from them and that the schools resources is for current students. What they are saying pick a major, take general education classes, pay your tuition, books, supplies and fees and that is it.  If you should switch your major, you must take more classes and increasing the expense even more! Some majors do not have a high percentage of placement success for a rewarding career after graduation. This means some college administrators are encouraging students to take classes that have minimal to no value in the professional business world .

What I hear from employers is that recent college graduates generally do not have the skills to qualify themselves in the workplace. This is where talent is overlooked . What is it that students are learning besides what they are being tested on ? This is not what they signed up and paid for.

Is the solution that college is only for those that have the means ? I think not. Should tuition not be so high ? I think so.
A solution I have is that all students need to find a Professional Mentor. This person should not be connected with the school, since most professionals that are employed at schools have not worked in the business world for sometime.   The people working on behalf of the Universities who are giving guidance to the students really mean well and they do try.  The problem is there are not enough resources to go around, as well as lacking the insights on what the new trends are like out in the Business World.  My solution is, if the Counselors really want to do justice on the students behalf they could put their efforts to designing Mentor Programs to help find and coordinate efforts to set students up with Mentors from various Industries.  This program needs to start as early as Freshman Year, so that while students are taking prerequisites they can be learning about different career options.  This way when Junior Year comes, they are armed with some very updated and credible information to help them make an informed decision when they have to declare a major.

I want to make this clear I am not Anti-education. I am just suggesting there must be some way to fix and work with the system to do the proper "justice" for Graduates and Alumni. 
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Written By:
Steve Rosen-Talent Acquisition Consultant

​Generation Z Profile
Recent college graduates are the first of Generation Z entering the workplace.  The way they socialize is through texting and social media, as they are attached to their phones. Gen Z do not have a reference of what the world was like before the internet and social media. They are valuable to employers because they have the knowledge to adapt to different technologies and usually would not require much training.  What makes them even more valuable as an employee is this is the first generation ever to grow up in a truly Global Society.  Because of Social Media Gen Z grew up with limitless avenues for learning and interaction with people their own age around the World.  This is going to go a long way in developing their skills to be "Major Players" in a truly Global Economy world.

What Motivates Generation Z
What most people are not aware of about this generation is what motivates them, their personal goals they have and what many of them value in a career.  This may come as a shock to many, but Generation Z from a career standpoint are focused on being entrepreneurs through their own self-directed inventions.  A lot of them will be going to College with purpose.  
Because of growing up witnessing student debt and economic uncertainty they are determined in making post high school education an investment.  The purpose is to learn skills that can make an immediate impact in generating a salary, as opposed to their prior Generation Predecessors who went to College with a more abstract purpose for general learning and social interaction.  Instead of a more General Business Degree, a lot of Gen Z's will major in newer Business Curriculums that has been developed such as running an entrepreneurial business.  In fact a lot of Gen Z's are trading Four Year University Education for Apprenticeships.  This way they can learn on the job while earning a salary and then combine the skills they are learning with their "Tech Savy" creative skills to advance the "Trade Professions".  

So what is driving this intense ambition from a group of teenagers and college aged kids never seen before from any prior generation?  One very interesting theory presented by professionals out there that could make a lot of sense is that they are a product of their parents.  Where many Millennials were offspring of the late "Baby Boom" Generation, Generation Z are a product of "Generation X" Parents.  What difference does that make you ask?  This is where analyzing this particular theory gets very intriguing!  

Generation X which is the post "Baby Boom" Generation grew up in a world where the majority went to college and graduated with a four year degree in four years no matter what the major.  There was not a lot of strategy for the most part in choice of curriculum.  The end goal was to just graduate with a degree and then figure out your profession from that point.  The byproduct of that was, an entire generation of over saturated educated graduates entering the workforce all at once without any differentiating skills or meaningful internships "under their belt".  This caused a lot of new graduates to stay unemployed for many months going into years.  Finally a lot of these Gen X's had to settle for just any job that paid the bills and just settled into doing that for their career.  So when they had their Generation X children, they instilled in them the reality that not everybody unfortunately can win at the same time and the "sense of urgency" in "cutting your own career path".

Summary
This new up and coming Generation with a "deadly combination" of technology and a fierce ambition  is where the organizations who want to stay ahead of the competition need to invest their future recruiting.  This is going to require a lot of companies to restructure their jobs to quench that "individualistic thirst" that Generation Z is going to want out of their career.  This will not be an easy task for most organizations, which is why the "balance of power" in the recruitment of talent for the first time could be shifting.  Now it might be the Startups that soon could have the major talent acquisition edge over the more traditional Fortune 500 Conglomerates for acquiring "Grade A Superstar Talent"!  
Career Compass Group has a strong interest in promoting the growth of the Future Generation Z Workforce! I would love to invite current and future Entrepreneurs to share their ideas and innovations with us and our audience through the platform of a Feature Story.  Email me at Srosen.ccg@gmail.com with your idea.
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Written By:
Steve Rosen-Talent Acquisition Consultant