Hey there, career conquerors! Welcome back to "My Friend in HR," the podcast that's like a warm hug from your HR BFF, sprinkled with humor and a side of career wisdom. In our last episode, we unleashed the power of your career story, proving that your life isn't just a series of awkward family dinners and embarrassing high school photos – it's the key to unlocking your dream job!
We're diving headfirst into the battlefield of job applications in this thrilling Part 1 of our epic 3-part series. Picture it like a high-stakes game show where the prize is a shiny new job title and an unlimited supply of office snacks (yes, we're that generous).
First up, the dreaded resume – that one-page riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. We'll discuss how to make yours stand out (for the right reasons, of course) and what font NOT to use, because Comic Sans won't land you that corner office, my friend.
Part 2 is going to be legendary! We'll teach you how to tackle the dreaded interview like a pro – no awkward handshakes or fumbling over your own name.
Finally, in Part 3, we'll unveil the mystical art of negotiation. it's like bargaining for the last slice of pizza, but with better stakes. Learn how to determine the true value of that job offer and avoid selling your soul for a vending machine discount. Spoiler alert: it's not just about the money; it's about the perks, flexibility, and office snacks. Again... snacks are life!
So grab your favorite mug, fill it to the brim with coffee (or tea, if you're fancy), and get ready to unleash your career superhero.
Now, who's ready to slay the job market dragons? Get your virtual high-fives ready and join us for a laughter-filled, career-boosting episode that will leave you feeling like the superhero of your own professional story.
Hey there, career conquerors! Welcome back to "My Friend in HR," the podcast that's like a warm hug from your HR BFF, sprinkled with humor and a side of career wisdom. In our last episode, we unleashed the power of your career story, proving that your life isn't just a series of awkward family dinners and embarrassing high school photos – it's the key to unlocking your dream job!
We're diving headfirst into the battlefield of job applications in this thrilling Part 1 of our epic 3-part series. Picture it like a high-stakes game show where the prize is a shiny new job title and an unlimited supply of office snacks (yes, we're that generous).
First up, the dreaded resume – that one-page riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. We'll discuss how to make yours stand out (for the right reasons, of course) and what font NOT to use, because Comic Sans won't land you that corner office, my friend.
Part 2 is going to be legendary! We'll teach you how to tackle the dreaded interview like a pro – no awkward handshakes or fumbling over your own name.
Finally, in Part 3, we'll unveil the mystical art of negotiation. it's like bargaining for the last slice of pizza, but with better stakes. Learn how to determine the true value of that job offer and avoid selling your soul for a vending machine discount. Spoiler alert: it's not just about the money; it's about the perks, flexibility, and office snacks. Again... snacks are life!
So grab your favorite mug, fill it to the brim with coffee (or tea, if you're fancy), and get ready to unleash your career superhero.
Now, who's ready to slay the job market dragons? Get your virtual high-fives ready and join us for a laughter-filled, career-boosting episode that will leave you feeling like the superhero of your own professional story.
Let's rock this, folks!
Njsane Courtney:
Welcome everybody to My Friend in HR, I'm your friend, Njsane Courtney. Today is Friday, June 23rd, and I do wanna start episode two with thanks and gratitude. I have been overwhelmed at the initial response from the first episode. At the time of this recording, we were at almost 200 downloads. I know that for more established podcasts, this isn't a remarkable number, but to be honest, when I started recording, I was thinking that if at least 50 people listened, that by itself would be a huge win.
But
Njsane Courtney:
to be nearly 200 downloads is truly humbling. The real cool thing is that nearly a quarter of those downloads are from outside the United States. Nearly 20% are from the UK and throughout Europe. And we have listeners from as far as New Zealand, Singapore, Dubai, and even West Africa. So again, I really wanna say thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks
Njsane Courtney:
for taking time to download, and thanks for taking time outta your busy schedule for listening. I also have some great news regarding the podcast. Beginning in July, my friend in HR will be released twice a month. This way, I'll be able to respond to questions and provide feedback in a more timely manner.
Again,
Njsane Courtney:
my goal is to create content that you'll find helpful, but also timely, so that you have the answers you need when you need them. From your good old friend here at hr. Now that that's outta the way, let's get into this month's content. In our last discussion, we talked about telling your story how each job is a chapter in the novel that you call your career.
We
Njsane Courtney:
talked about how to make good choices and how those choices have impact over future decisions in your personal career journey. Now it's time to take a look at how to get those new jobs. My plan is to have this discussion over three episodes with each episode, focusing on a specific aspect of obtaining that new opportunity.
Part
Njsane Courtney:
one, which we'll be going to detail about shortly, will be about how to apply for jobs. What are the best ways of applying for that job? What are some of the everyday mistakes applicants make? And also, what do HR professionals like myself look for when making decisions about who to hire, as well as why HR makes the decisions that we do.
I
Njsane Courtney:
believe by having this behind the scenes insight, I'll be able to arm you with the tools you'll need not to only apply for those roles that will get you to where you want to be, but also set you up for success during the interview as well as that. Awesome yet nerve-wracking offer stage. Part two, we'll discuss the interview process in detail.
Yes,
Njsane Courtney:
we'll go over some of the basics that you've probably heard time and time again, like how to dress, the importance of demeanor and posture and eye contact. But we'll also go into detail about keywords that HR professionals are looking for to confirm that you actually have the experience and expertise that you would have stated on your resume, as well as some important actions to take post-interview.
In
Njsane Courtney:
the final part of the series, we will talk about the offer process. I'll take you behind the scenes and tell you specifically what happens in HR before they call you to extend an offer for employment. We'll discuss how to determine if the offer presented is fair and if and when you should negotiate.
I'll
Njsane Courtney:
also talk about winning negotiation tips as well as considerations you should make before making your final decision. It is truly my hope that by the time you guys finish listening to the third part of the series, you'll gain more confidence in your ability to master your own destiny and forge your path in your personal career journey.
So
Njsane Courtney:
let's dive into applying for your next opportunity. It will probably come to no surprise that the first thing we're gonna talk about is that resume of yours. The first thing I will tell you is that regardless of whether you are gainfully employed or considering reentering the workplace, I highly recommend that every professional reviews their resume at least once a year.
Ideally,
Njsane Courtney:
you would've learned new skills, earned a new certification, took on additional tasks, had some level of growth within that 12 month period. By looking at your resume at least once a year, you limit the need to completely overhaul your resume, for which most of us, including myself, can be a mentally daunting task.
It's
Njsane Courtney:
funny, and I believe most HR professionals would actually agree with me, that although we review hundreds of resumes a year and we could quickly identify issues and opportunities for improvement, for almost everyone, I struggle with my own resume. My struggle comes from a couple of different areas.
Like
Njsane Courtney:
most of us, I can tell you that I do a lot of stuff in my current role day in and day out. And for the most part I can articulate most of it, but there's something about applying it to pen and paper that causes a mental block. Am I being too braggadocios or am I giving myself enough credit? Am I taking credit for something that was really the part part of an entire team and not just myself?
So
Njsane Courtney:
the first piece of advice I'm gonna give you in terms of your re of your resume is to be honest. Not just honest from the perspective of not lying on your resume, but be honest of what you've done and what you're proud of. Honestly, I could spend a few episodes just talking about formatting and tweaking your resume for optimal results.
However,
Njsane Courtney:
for expediency's sake, I'm gonna summarize resume prep into about five main tips. The first tip is to treat your resume with some respect. Do not treat your resume just like another to-do list in order to apply for a job. If you can't respect how you are relaying the history of your jobs, you can't expect a total stranger to respect the story you're trying to tell.
So
Njsane Courtney:
what do I mean about showing your resume some respect? First, let me be clear. There is absolutely no excuse for typos, grammatical errors, or bad formatting. There's no excuse for misaligned bullet points or is consistent thoughts. For the love of zeus's, people pay attention to those squiggly blue and red lines that shows up in your Word document.
Even
Njsane Courtney:
if you don't have a lot of information to share, like if you were in high school graduate without a lot of real world experience, what you do have and how it's presented absolutely matters. And to be honest, with all of the tools that Microsoft Word and other applications like Grammarly to present a resume with typos and other preventable errors is just plain lazy, and it's a surefire way to get your resume sent to the rejection file.
Again,
Njsane Courtney:
this sounds like common sense, but I can't tell you how many director and executive level cvs I've reviewed that had the word strategic spelled incorrectly. So you may be telling yourself, okay, Njsane, I get it. It's important. But just throwing my resume away because it has a couple of typos and it doesn't sound fair, and this will be where I have to disagree with you.
It's
Njsane Courtney:
totally fair because this is the first chance an employer has to tell about your work ethic, your quality of work. And if you can't even take the time to ensure that your resume is free of these easy to fix errors, then why in the world would I choose you over someone who has taken the time to at least make sure they aren't using four different styles of font.
Another
Njsane Courtney:
aspect of showing your resume some respect is make sure that your contact information is professional. And what I mean by that is check that freaking email address of yours. I know your friends. Find the email address sexy cat 69 gmail. com or big balls McGee hotmail. com. Either way, neither has a place, in my opinion, on a resume.
Now,
Njsane Courtney:
there's nothing wrong with having a unique email address or an email address that displays your own unique style. However, there's unique, then there's being unprofessional. When compiling your resume or even in the interview process, remember that the recruiter is trying to gather every little bit of data about you to determine how good of an employee you may be.
Also
Njsane Courtney:
remember that you are competing against potentially hundreds of other applicants. It's up to you to decide where that line is for you, but take that into consideration when tweaking your resume. That contact email does matter. I. The final aspect of showing your resume some respect has to deal with your objective statement.
And
Njsane Courtney:
you know what I'm talking about. You know that whole statement at the beginning of your resume, did you say, I want to use my skills and strengths to make the next organization successful. You like that? You like that successful Sean Connery successful? That objective statement is, is such a bland and offie often copy and paste up.
Statement
Njsane Courtney:
. Um, and when, when we see that in hr, that just screams lazy and lack of effort to most of us. While your objective statement may not be the reason for your resume to get sent to the bottom of the pile, it's a fact that a really good objective statement can definitely take you towards the top.
Let
Njsane Courtney:
me give you a quick example. Let's say that you're applying for a marketing job that deals with graphic design. By stating that you want to use your skills to maximize blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, for the company tells me absolutely nothing. That makes me wanna learn more. I will probably continue to give your resume another few seconds of my time, but what do you think about using this statement?
My
Njsane Courtney:
objective is to use my experience in 3D visualization and photo editing to make my next employer's company intranet best in class. Now, let's be clear. I kind of just threw some words together that I think marketing folks would like to hear. Um, I have no idea of visualization. 3D visualization and graphic photo editing are two skill sets that a single person would have, but you get what I'm saying.
The
Njsane Courtney:
first statement that I gave, the first example tells me nothing about it, and it's very generic. If I'm a recruiter or a hiring manager in marketing, that second one is gonna grab my attention, especially if those skills are some of the skills I'm looking for. If you need some keywords to take a look at, take a look at the job description and find out what it is they're looking for and help it to generate your objective statement.
Because
Njsane Courtney:
if you're able to show that your objective statement is the same as their need, you're already on a good path for landing that interview. If. My second tip in terms of your resume is to ensure that your resume is geared towards the job you want. Actually take the time to read what it is you're applying for and if applicable, and it makes sense.
Add
Njsane Courtney:
some of that content into your resume and show how your skills and background can address the problems and the needs that the company is looking for. Now, this is kind of where some potential applicants go down the wrong path. They either completely embellish their resume and skills to try to get an interview hoping that their social skills and their gift of gab will win them the job.
Or
Njsane Courtney:
sometimes they flat out lie about their qualifications. I've even seen some resumes where they've copied and pasted a huge chunk of the job description into their cv. Ladies and gentlemen, please be aware that recruiters have been doing this for a long time. They can recognize their own freaking job descriptions if it's, and if it's in your resume, it's gonna be a red flag for them.
Also,
Njsane Courtney:
don't embellish in many opportunities. You don't have to know every single skill they're looking for. In a lot of cases, 70, 75% solution. Plus good work ethic and a great attitude is enough to get you in the front door. I know there's that famous saying that goes around saying, fake it until you make it.
That
Njsane Courtney:
is such a dangerous strategy because if you overestimate your ability to learn on the cuff, this opportunity will not last long, and it's only going to add to your list of short-lived jobs, which does not help the overall picture of your career. Remember folks, it's all about the totality of all the jobs that you've had that tells the story.
My
Njsane Courtney:
third tip is to remember that this resume is not a thesis statement. Your resume should be a maximum of two to three pages. Let me say that again. Your resume should be at maximum two, may three pages, and to be honest, three pages is still a bit much when listing your experience. It should come down to just a few basic components.
One,
Njsane Courtney:
your most recent job title two, the name of the company in which you had that title. Three, the dates in which you held that title, and number four, three to five brief bullet points about key accomplishments within that job. Trust me, nobody wants to read 12 paragraphs, and while you might be able to explain your previous job description in that robust detail, what we really want to know is, What did you do with that job?
And
Njsane Courtney:
what did you accomplish? And how did you help your last organization? And that's why I always recommend, instead of going into this long summary about your job description, list your key objectives, what did you accomplish? And when you're going into detail about your accomplishments, use quantitative data when possible, meaning use numbers, use statistics, use facts.
I'm
Njsane Courtney:
gonna go back to using a marketing professional as an example. If your last position was being in charge of the company's intranet, um, you know, list the number of increased clicks or number of employees that visited the site compared to what it was before. Yeah, this might require a little digging on your part, but trust me, it's much more powerful than listing a generic job description that you found online.
Saying
Njsane Courtney:
something like increased employee engagement on internet by 75% within the first 30 days of the relaunch. Wow, that's powerful. If I am trying to launch a new intranet site at my company, that is something that would get my attention and wanna learn more. However, when it comes to your CV, in many things in life, less is more.
Just
Njsane Courtney:
make sure what you do, put counts. Number four, don't be tricky. Don't try to trick and be smarter than the recruiters. In my 20 plus years, I've seen almost every trick candidate try to play on their resume. For example, a candidate will intentionally not put the month and the year of on the time in which they held a particular position in order to give the appearance of a longer tenure.
What
Njsane Courtney:
does that mean? That means sometimes folks may put that they were in a, they were in a position from 2020 until 2022. Simple math. 2020 by minus 2022. That's two years, or is it is 2022 minus 2020. Math is hard. Um, but, but, but you get what I'm saying. It sounds like you were at that job for about two years.
However,
Njsane Courtney:
if the truth is, is that you held that job from December, 2020 until January, 2022, then the real timeframe is closer to a year. And if a recruiter asks you during your, your interview to specify and it comes out that you've played this time warped trickery, then that will give the recruiter the impression that your ethics may be somewhat questionable.
And
Njsane Courtney:
again, the purpose of all of this folks is to make sure you're successful in obtaining career fulfillment. So just be honest. My final tip towards the resume is keep it simple. And AI friendly, and I will tell you there are a number of very impressive infographic formats for resumes out there that are really appeasing to the eye.
If
Njsane Courtney:
you're not familiar with infographic resumes, look 'em up. It's definitely worth your time. These resumes are becoming more and more popular as they take things like experience and skills and put them into very sleek looking graphics, which again, can be very eye-catching. However, these infographics are not always AI friendly.
And
Njsane Courtney:
the hard truth is these days some sort of AI or boolean word search will review your resume before a human being will. That is just the days that we're in at this point. The sad truth is that while these infographic resumes are very catchy and aesthetically pleasing, they don't play well with systems that depend on artificial intelligence.
Does
Njsane Courtney:
that mean that they shouldn't be used? No, absolutely not. I do think they have a time in place. For example, if you're applying at a small firm and they may not use an applicant tracking system that depends on artificial intelligence. They may be kind of old school and they actually are inter, they actually review every resume that comes in then absolutely.
It
Njsane Courtney:
may make sense to, to use it at that point. However, for the most part, I recommend that when you apply for a job, use a clean, sleek, minimalist format, and then once you get in the front door and get that interview, bring that impressive infographic and hand that to the actual interviewer. It's worked on me and I know it's worked on dozens of my colleagues.
Again,
Njsane Courtney:
those infographics are some really cool stuff, and if you haven't had the chance to check it out, do so with a simple Google search and prepare to be dazzled. As I mentioned before, I could spend an entire episode on just talking about resumes, but applying for a job is more than just the resume.
There's
Njsane Courtney:
a lot more decision that you need to make to give yourself the maximum chance in getting this new job. And I'm gonna bring up a few things that you may or may not have even thought of. So now that you've gotten your resume tweaked, you may be thinking the next step is to go online and start applying for a bunch of jobs, and the answer is no, not necessarily.
I
Njsane Courtney:
would say that the next consideration you want to do is maybe consider utilizing an agency or a staffing firm or a headhunt service. Now, most of us knows what those are. These are firms that specialize in having a bunch of resumes on file to send to employers, and they collect a fee if the employer picks one of their candidates.
Honestly,
Njsane Courtney:
depending on your situation, this could be a very smart choice versus spending hours and hours and hours applying online. So when should you consider using a third party versus doing it yourself first? If you're gly employed and you want to test the market, I would say an agency would be a great choice.
If
Njsane Courtney:
you choose to use an agency, however, there are a few things you need to think about. First off, there are a large number of national chains out there, and depending on your field, it may make sense to go to one of these national firms, or you might even wanna look for a firm that specializes in your industry.
There
Njsane Courtney:
are some of these agencies that specialize in information technology professionals, or accounting and finance, or even hr. There are others that specialize in finding opportunities for engineering professionals. Trust me, if there's an industry out there, There's a firm that specializes in this. Now, every successful firm does not have to be a national chain.
There
Njsane Courtney:
are a few smaller boutique firms that can be just as valuable. However, they tend to have a smaller number of clients, which means that your resume may not be seen in front of as many as many employers. This isn't always the case, but because there are some really great niche firms out there, take your time to look at their track record and see if they're truly a quality firm.
Most
Njsane Courtney:
of these firms have online pages that you can upload your resume, and usually a recruiter or representative will give you a call to discuss what it is you're looking for so that they can complete your profile so they know how to present you to other employers. However, before putting your hope into this one firm, ask a lot of questions about their process.
The
Njsane Courtney:
last thing you wanna do is entrust an important task. Like helping you find your next opportunity to affirm. That's just one big virtual meat market where they have hundreds of thousands of resumes in their database. Just so they can tell employers that they have hundreds of thousands of resumes in their database and they aren't necessarily looking out for you or specifically what it is you think you're looking for.
You
Njsane Courtney:
can kind of tell this through the a few factors first, are they truly listening to what you need and what it is you're looking for? Or does it seem like they're simply filing a script and despite whatever you say, it seems like that they're going down a singular path, are they able to list a number of clients that they're actively working with?
Are
Njsane Courtney:
they actively working on any positions that you're interested in, or do they just say, we'll, keep your resume on file, and then if an opportunity comes up that we think is a match, we'll contact you when listening to their responses, go with your gut. Remember, no one is going to care about your career more than you do, however.
Most
Njsane Courtney:
of us have a good intuition of whether or not a person is truly engaged or whether they're full of bull. If you are in a position where you're currently unemployed and a situation is more dire, you may want to take a more active approach because it will take time for an agency to get you listed and get you out there, and that's assuming you're a quality firm.
Another
Njsane Courtney:
aspect in answering the question of whether or not you should lose a third party is knowing what stage of your career you're in. To be honest, if you're just getting out of college and you're looking for your first real gig, you may not get the best attention for some of these firms, and you may want to take the task of applying to potential employees for yourself.
However,
Njsane Courtney:
once you get into a specific field that requires you to be a subject matter expert or you're a managerial or executive level individual, a headhunting firm can be quite valuable, and I always recommend that professionals at that level start to form solid relationships with these firms. So what does that mean?
That
Njsane Courtney:
means that going beyond just giving them your cv, you keep them updated about your career progressions. Each time you've done something awesome at your current role, that gives them another nugget to potentially present to another employer who may be willing to pay more for what it is you do. Now, that does not mean every time you turn in an assignment at work, you're emailing your headhunter, just like I said about reviewing your resume once a year, do an annual check-in with those two to three choice headhunters, letting them know what's happened in the last year.
Have
Njsane Courtney:
you been promoted? Have you completed a short term assignment overseas? Have you completed an impressive project that will save the company thousands or increase productivity? Trust me, it's worth the cup of coffee to have with your headhunter once a year when they're able to land you that awesome six figure job because you've kept your resume and your skills and qualifications up to date, and they were able to present you to a premier employer.
Now
Njsane Courtney:
let's talk about applying for the job yourself. A k a, the good old fashioned way. My first tip down this path is for all that is good in this world, do not go to an employer's website and apply for a dozen freaking jobs. Again, it's about presenting a good face and a good story to the employer. If I go online and I notice that a candidate has applied for a dozen jobs, that just lets me know that they have no idea what they're looking for, and they're just kind of doing a shotgun approach to see what sticks.
I've
Njsane Courtney:
seen it time and time again where the same name pops up all over the place. This person has applied for a marketing position, then an IT position, and in a position in the warehouse. Then they apply for a driver role, and then the position in human resources. They apply for a position in the mail room, and then they wanna be an accountant.
And
Njsane Courtney:
I know that some people truly think that applying to a bunch of different jobs is a good thing because in their minds it shows the employer that you're willing to do anything and you're not limiting yourself. But it literally has the opposite effect. At the most apply for two, maybe three, as long as they're within the same department or similar fields.
Look,
Njsane Courtney:
folks, it's very rare that one person would, would be qualified to be an accountant and an engineer and a marketing specialist and an IT specialist in this same lifetime. Just don't do it, people. It's not a ticket for success. Another reason why I say it's good to only apply for a couple of jobs at the same company is that you actually wanna remember what job you applied for.
If
Njsane Courtney:
you do in fact, get a callback, it is humorous that when you call a candidate and you say, Hey, I want to talk to you about the position you applied for with my company, and you realize that they have no clue of the job that you're talking about. Now, to be fair, sometimes this is due to the lengthy processes that of the company calling months after the candidate applied.
And
Njsane Courtney:
to be fully transparent, most times when a recruiter gives you a call, they will say something like, hi, my name is Njsane Courtney, and I wanted to talk to you about your application as an IT specialist. However, sometimes they don't. They just may call you and say, hi, I'm Njsane, and I want to talk to you about that position that you applied for with our company.
The
Njsane Courtney:
fact that you applied for a dozen positions, you're already starting off at a disadvantage cuz you're racking your brain trying to figure out, oh my God, what did I apply for? And if you listen to episode one, you remember that we're not going to be applying for a bunch of miscellaneous jobs. We're done with that.
We
Njsane Courtney:
are only going to apply for those opportunities that will help us get to where we ultimately want to be in our careers. Remember, we're gonna start having long-term perspective about our careers. So now at this point, we've tweaked our resumes. We've decided that it's probably in our best interest to apply for a job ourself.
So
Njsane Courtney:
what now? Again, we should always start with our ultimate career objective. If your ultimate goal towards the end of your career is to be the next chief information officer or cio, that means that you need to apply for a number of jobs within the IT field that shows growth and responsibility and scope.
Now,
Njsane Courtney:
before folks start to zone out and think, okay, now he's only talking about senior level people. Let me correct you right now. This is exactly the mentality you need to have regardless of where you are in your career. Whether you're just starting out, whether you're mid-level or whether you're starting to get to that senior level in your journey and sticking with the CIO career path discussion, even if you're in your first job outta college and you're a desktop specialist who works on computer problems at the office, ideally the next time you apply for a job, it'll be at a desktop specialist level too, or maybe even a network specialist.
Remember,
Njsane Courtney:
the end goal is to have enough experience. In all the realms of it to one day, make yourself a viable candidate for that top IT job at a company. So as we look to apply for our next opportunity, we should hone in on opportunities such as that. Do not just apply for a job to apply for a job for another 50 cents an hour.
Will
Njsane Courtney:
that next job take you closer to where you need to be? Again, long-term perspective, now that you're at the company site and ready to apply. My next advice is to fill everything out. Now I know one of the major complaints from applicants is that the employer will have you not only upload your resume and but then they have you complete all these fields that are literally already on your resume.
I
Njsane Courtney:
know, I know. We, HR people are jerks, but to be honest, there's a reason for this. Uploading your resume allows us in HR to forge your resume directly to hiring managers. The reason why the online application will also have you complete the same information again, is because that information will typically be used to complete the pre-employment background check process If we get to that stage.
Now
Njsane Courtney:
this does depend on which country we're talking about. Um, but for the most part, most countries do allow a pre-employment background check. 10 to 15 years ago when you were extending an offer for employment, they would have you fill out a bunch of other documents to do your background check, to give us authorization to run those backgrounds nowadays.
They
Njsane Courtney:
just forward the pertinent information that you entered in those fields. Once you've acknowledged your consent to do the background check. Now, that doesn't mean the process still isn't a bit redundant, but again, my job here is to show you what goes on behind the lines. The last thing I want to cover is what happens after you apply?
Do
Njsane Courtney:
you follow up? Do you find the person that works in HR and that company on LinkedIn and send them an email asking them for a status on your application? And to be honest, the answer's no. Trust me. If a company wants to talk to you and they think you're a fit, they will contact you. And again, I do recognize that many companies have a long and lengthy process.
I
Njsane Courtney:
myself have applied for a job and didn't get a call until four months later. But becoming a bugaboo and emailing everyone in the HR department may not send the message you want. Remember folks, that throughout this entire process, we wouldn't put your skills and attributes and behaviors in the best light to give you the best chance of getting that next opportunity that will take you to the next stage of your career journey.
All
Njsane Courtney:
right, so we're gonna pause there for now because we covered a lot of ground today. And in future episodes we're gonna go into greater detail about specific things that you could put in your resume and the skills section. But I want you to take time to think about what we discussed. Are you showing your resume the respect it deserves so they can go out and do the job you need it to do?
Do
Njsane Courtney:
you go out and apply directly to the job or maybe have a third party agency or a head hunting firm assist you? Which jobs do you apply for and does the opportunity that you're applying for get you down the path that you want to be in that great novel that we're gonna call your career folks, I want to thank you all again for taking time and hanging out and discussing your career goals and aspirations with me.
I
Njsane Courtney:
can't wait for us to talk again in a couple of weeks where we talk about the interview process and what we should do to prepare and what should happen during and after the interview. In the meantime, if you have any questions you'd like me to answer, feel free to reach out to me at my friend in HR gmail. com.
You
Njsane Courtney:
can also follow me on Instagram, Twitter at my friend in underscore, hr. Hr. And feel free to follow me on LinkedIn where I could be found under Njsane Courtney. So folks, until next time, I want you to be well. Not just to others, but also to yourself. Take care of my friends.