Resumes and Interviews from the Hiring Manager's Perspective

From the Career TOOLS Conference, 2012-08-22

Transcript

1. Resumes and Interviewing from the Hiring Manager’s Perspective Andy Lester Land The Tech Job You Love http://petdance.com/ andy@petdance.com
2. Two key takeaways
3. #1
4. Your awesomeness is not self-evident!
5. You have to tell me about your awesomeness.
6. #2
7. Follow principles, not rules.
8. What it’s like for me
9. I want to hire you.
10. Y! are a unique and
11. ... but this is my desk.
12. My three questions about you 1. “Can she do the job?” 2. “Do I want her working for me?” 3. “Do I want her on the team?”
13. The Resume
14. Resume questions  Should I put skills first, or education?  Does it have to be only one page?  Should I list extra-curriculars?  Should I leave off . . .  Should I tell about my . . .
15. It depends.
16. There is no Resume Police.
17. You do not have a resume. Tailor your resume to each job you apply to.
18. Key resume principles  Reader attention is scarce commodity.  Most important first. Least important last.  Give facts, not self-assessments.  Good stuff only! Leave off any fluff.  Give detail. Tell stories. Use numbers.
19. One page? Two page?
20. “No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.” Roger Ebert
21. Lose the clichés  Professional  Industrious; hard worker  Good people person; team player  Motivated; self-starter; makes things happen  Strong communication skills
22. Show me, don’t tell me.
27. Use numbers!  Numbers draw the eye.  Numbers give a sense of size.  Numbers are the language of business.  Numbers express dollars and time.
28. Boring bullet points  Provide desktop support by phone or in person as needed to minimize downtime  Maintained hardware inventory and software licensing for office computers.
29. Interesting bullet points  Provide desktop support by phone or in person. Averaged 8.2 calls/day with 92% of user problems solved in under 30 minutes.  Maintained hardware inventory for 120 office computers and software licensing of 45 different applications across the enterprise.
31. July 2010-present Night Operations Technician, Bug-Be-Gone Corp. * Maintained insect population by applying insecticides with truck-mounted sprayer. * Precisely tracked assigned paths through areas served. It came from my inbox
32. Principles, not rules!
33. Cover letters
34. Rule #1: Write one.
35. Rule #2: Write one for the specific position.
36. Your cover letter Your email is the cover letter. Highlights the extra-good stuff in the resume Shows that you care enough to send a personalized cover letter. Shows that you know about the company.
37. A good cover letter Dear Mr. Lester, My colleague Richard Dice referred me to the job recently posted on example.com. I believe that I can help Elsinore Publishing with my skills, including: 4 years of computer programming experience. 3 years working with Oracle databases. A BS in computer science from UIUC, with a 3.7 GPA. Experience in the book industry, and a natural love of books. I look forward for a chance to meet with you to discuss your needs and how I can help you and Elsinore.
38. I am much more than a programmer. In my long and varied work history, I have performed such jobs as knife salesman, manager of a hardware store, extracting retinas from bovine eyes as a neurological lab assistant, flower delivery driver and retirement home activities director, all of which make me a well-rounded candidate. It came from my inbox
39. I am much more than a programmer. In my long and varied work history, I have performed such jobs as knife salesman, manager of a hardware store, extracting retinas from bovine eyes as a cow eye sucker, cow eye sucker and cow eye sucker, all of which make me a well-rounded cow eye sucker. It came from my inbox
40. The interview
41. Hiring Manager’s Goals  “Can she do the job?”  “Do I want her working for me?”  “Do I want her on the team?”  Help convince candidate she should work for me and my company.
42. Candidate’s task  “Can I do the job?”  Convince the HM you can do the job.  Get a job offer, or move closer to it.
43. After the offer  “Do I want to work for this guy?”  “Do I want to work on this team?”
44. Conversation, not interrogation.
45. Your interview is your first day on the job.
46. Some questions you’ll have to answer, and why I ask them
47. Tell me about yourself.
48. Tell me about yourself.  Did she do any research?  Is she prepared?  How does she speak?  Does she take pride in her work?  What else should I ask about?
49. Where do you want to be in five years?
50. Where do you want to be in five years?  Does he have any sort of plan?  Does he work on self-improvement?  Will I have a place for him?
51. Why do you want to work for us? What do you know about our company?
52. Why do you want to work for us?  Has she done research?  Is this just another job for her?  What drives her?
53. Tell me about a project that didn’t go well.
55. Tell me about a project that didn’t go well.  Is he a blamer/whiner?  Can he learn from mistakes?  How are his personal skills?  Alternate: “Tell me someone you have trouble getting along with.”
56. Candidate questions
57. What’s a day like?
58. What sorts of projects will I be working on?
59. Is this a new position, or are you replacing? What happened?
60. Tell me about the team I’ll be joining.
61. Can I meet the team I’ll be joining?
62. Show you can do the job.
64. Always ask for the job.
65. Key takeaways  Your awesomeness is not self-evident.  Give evidence, not self-assessments.  Use numbers to give detail.  Think like the hiring manager. You both want the same thing.
66. andy@petdance.com http://petdance.com @petdance on Twitter
67. Bonus slides
68. What’s your Google footprint?  What will I see when I Google your name?  Have you tried it yourself? Past the first page of hits? In the past six months?  Set up a Google Alert to keep up on mentions of your name.  http://google.com/alerts/
69. 15 ways to kill an interview 1. Show up late 2. Be unprepared 3. Chew gum, smell like smoke, bring a drink 4. Shake hands like a fish 5. Have bad breath or body odor
70. 15 ways to kill an interview 6. Come underdressed 7. Speak ill of anyone, including especially past employers 8. Complain or discuss your problems 9. Bring up your needs: Money, benefits 10. Lie
71. 15 ways to kill an interview 11. Appear uninterested 12. Appear overenthusiastic or desperate 13. Fail to ask your own questions 14. Leave your phone on 15. Cut the interview short