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Why Your Interview Skills Suck

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Older job seekers do many things well. One of the obstacles for many of them is presenting well in an interview. The lack of preparation. The lack of research. The application of relevant knowledge. All of those things can impede your chances. Jeff Altman has 40 years experience advising job seekers with interviews and helping them with their challenges.

What are your interview challenges? I would love to know your thoughts about today’s show in three ways:

Call and leave a voicemail or text me at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Jeff Altman (@TheBigGameHuntr) has been a recruiter for around 40 years. He has many resources on his website where more than 1600 videos to help with anyone’. He has a new website, jobsearchcoachinghq.com. His podcast is a useful resource too. On “Job Search Radio” he interviews career coaches, resume writers, and recruiters to get their perspective and advice for job seekers.

Here are some discussion highlights:

The point is always missed with job seekers — skills defining the job are different than the skills to do the job
Over 50 job seekers must not buy the notion – “I’m over 50, I’ll be discriminated against
One of the frequent causes of a lack of presentation is the lack of preparedness
Practice will help you execute at the drop of a hat
Converting education to real experience is a barrier if the professors don’t know how to make it transfer to todays real world expectations
The preparation is work needing to be done in order to make your capabilities plain to employers
Jeff recommends initiating the tone and pace of the interview – shift mindset from expecting to be interrogated. The job candidate positions himself better by having a conversation than a boss/subordinate Q & A
Ask more consultative questions defining the problem the employer wants to solve. Find out what matters to them
Recognize the stage, the audience, and find ways to make them respond. Make your presentation sound fresh
Energy is a key for older job seekers to engage the audience—don’t be the parent telling a younger interview what to do
Social media is great for research and to leverage the interview for familiarity and to stand out

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it! Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Personal Branding for College Graduates

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For college students, building, managing, and marketing his or her personal branding efforts can be quite complex. It’s possible that grads will change jobs up to an average of 20 times during their career. But you know what, that is OK to experiment and try different things. My guest and fellow podcaster Ryan Rhoten as done it himself. Through the advice he shares, he tells his story of graduating from college with the intention of building and flying planes.

Are you clear and intention about your personal branding efforts? I would love to hear from you in one of three ways:

1) Leave a voice mail or text message at 708-365-9822. Let me know if I can share it on future shows
2) Email me: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
3) Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press the “Send Voicemail” button to leave a message online

Let me tell you a little more about Ryan. He is a personal branding and online reputation strategist, founder of the podcast “Brand New You,” all found at RyanRhoten online. By the time this aired, Ryan had already reached out to me to be a guest on his podcast. Little did he know he was already on my guest wish list. He has been featured on Forbes, The Muse, and Mashable as well as speaking at various conferences such as FinCon.

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

As a college grad experiment and look at different careers. School is still the foundation in the real world
Many more options are available, nothing wrong with trying and moving on
Your brand evolves and changes…monitor and manage it
Ryan defines personal brand is who you are at the core. Personal branding is telling the world who you are, the value you offer mostly online
Putting the real you online is as important so your personal brand and personal branding are congruent
High school and college students aren’t helping themselves in the way they come across online. College administrators are looking at your online activities
Clean up your social media profiles, delete updates considered “questionable”
All of your social media accounts should have the same professional pictures
Check all of the images on Google and work to get rid of the unflattering pictures. You may need to contact the website hosting the originals to ask him or her to take them down. Remove the ones you host on your profiles. Google ranks pictures by amount of times it is clicked on
Put more good content out there to minimize bad images or unfavorable content
Everyone should start their own blog – not necessarily your website. Medium, branded.me, and LinkedIn helps push content out
Think about the job you want, what you’re learning in school, and write about it. It’s hard but it is a way to stand out above the competition
Google loves videos and in-depth articles. Written, audio, and video are all popular and rank well. A WordPress blog is one of the top platforms to blog
Have a strategy when using any platform

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it!Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

For the first time in 1 1/2 years, I am opening to career professionals to write guest articles. If you’re interested, you can go here for further topics and directions to submit.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

4 Ways to Land on a Recruiter’s Mobile

Editor’s note: This is my guest article originally published on YouTern! Let me know your thoughts!

In today’s marketplace, job seekers must be effective marketers.

Yes, marketers.

That’s what today’s job search is about: marketing your services, expertise and personality effectively enough that you put yourself in a recruiter’s ears, eyes and brain.

And what method are professional marketers using to get their product noticed more than any other?

Through the one thing, no one ever seems to put down anymore: their mobile device.

Marketers predict mobile will soon influence decision-making far more than any other media. So why not use this same approach to get your personal brand in front of a hiring manager? Why not appeal to their eyes and ears – and get much further then your resume can take you?

Sure, you’ll hear from your friends, parents, and career centers to create, recreate and perfect your resume and cover letter. But that is what everyone’s doing; it will not provide you a competitive advantage.

While your competition is tweaking those resumes, crafting those cover letters and filling out a never-ending stream of online job applications – through audio and video you will be discovered by employers looking for someone exactly like you: innovative, creative and courageous.

Here are four ways to reach recruiters on their mobile device… no resume required.

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Use Blab or Periscope Video Streaming Apps

Blab and Periscope are two relatively new entries into the video content delivery space – and you and recruiters can use both apps on your phone.

Jessica Miller-Merrell recently shared on her blog two compelling reasons to use these apps:

Many companies use video interviews to initially screen applicants, so Blab and Periscope are now fairly common and trusted technologies
Using Blab and Periscope enables you to hone your video interviewing and digital presentation skills; two highly sought-after soft skills

Most important, you can use these formats to informally, yet informatively, introduce yourself to hiring managers – and they can play your video with one click on their mobile device.

Being a Guest on a Podcast

A guest spot on a podcast is a great way to gain instant credibility for your personal brand.

My colleague, Jim Stroud, suggests in his book, The Number One Job Hunting Book in the World, that job seekers contact a podcaster and offer themselves as an expert or industry insider. There are thousands of podcasters looking for guest experts; many of them don’t require you to have a book or a blog to appear on the show.

Not an industry expert yet? You can talk about your current passions, social causes, and consumer issues.

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You can offer the Millennial perspective on a variety of hot topics. Or you can talk about a unique program at your school or a volunteering project. The possibilities are endless.

Once the podcast has been released on iTunes and other outlets, send the link to recruiters. They can take a quick listen; identify you as an influencer and offer you an interview – all from their cell phone.

Appear on Your Community’s Radio Station

Most communities, even some of the smallest, have local radio stations that encourage content from local citizens. So why not approach the station with an idea for your own show?

Each station has guidelines for content creation, of course. But either through your solo efforts or by interviewing guest experts, you can display your passion and knowledge. The station can provide an audio file of your segment to share on social media, your website or blog. You can also upload media to your LinkedIn profile.

Again, this personal branding mechanism – in whatever format or platform you choose – is easily digested on a mobile device. For a couple bucks, you can even send the recruiter a set of earbuds with a note that says, “Listen to this…”

Record a Local Presentation for Audio and Video

On your tablet or mobile device, high-quality video is easier than ever to record and distribute. Record a personal introduction, then reach your network and prospective employers by uploading the short video to Facebook and YouTube.

Once uploaded, send your target employers the link to your video. Or catch them off-guard by pinning the video to your social media profiles so when they check you out online (and they will check you out online), there’s your video to help you create a great first impression.

Want to stand out? Want to increase the perceived value of the services and expertise you offer? Then think like a marketer!

In 2016, you must start thinking about how you will market yourself differently than you job seeking competition. And delivery of video and audio to a recruiter or hiring manager’s mobile phone will help you do just that.