In this week’s Friday Feature – “What Other Experts Are Saying”…

How to re-energize your job hunt; are you smarter than a 6-yr old?; and recruiters are finding candidates differently these days.

[R]energize Your Job Hunt in 8 Steps
http://www.jobhuntercoach.com
(excellent tips for keeping focused and energized during the job hunt)

Six Cover Letter Secrets – How a six year old won his dream job
http://blog.innovatecv.com/2011/04/05/six-cover-letter-secrets-%E2%80%93-how-a-six-year-old-won-his-dream-job/
(love this article!  makes you realize you should never underestimate the power of a good, customzied cover letter)

Recruiters Rethink Online Playbook
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704307404576080492613858846.html
(Karen O’Neal pointed this article out to members of the LinkedIn group for Launch Pad Job Club… wow!  a survey of 125 recruiters was done and 80% said that they “plan to increase their use of job-board alternative methods this year, such as employee referrals and other websites like Facebook Inc. or LinkedIn.”)

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations and owner of InSync Resources. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, “pajama learning” webclasses, personalized consulting sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.

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A couple of months ago someone in my professional network posed this question:  “How legal is it to use credit reports to disqualify otherwise good quality applicants?”

Interestingly, when this question was posed to me, I had just been networking with a small group over coffee the week before when this very topic came up.  One of the people there, a recruiter who is with a financial services company, brought up the challenge that they have with hiring people with good credit scores.  Obviously, this is a criteria for their company.  This recruiter’s comments led to an informal discussion about the desire in their HR department for lightening up those kinds of hiring restrictions, especially in light of the economic situation.  This financial services company, by the way, does something with credit cards for consumers. 

The thinking in hiring circles is that those in the financial industry and those in accounting/finance positions who are entrusted with money might be tempted to embezzle when they are in debt, so, hence the credit checking.  The prevalent thought is that those who control company budget should, perhaps, be held to a higher standard.

Whether you agree with that thinking or not, there is one instance when I believe you’d agree that credit checking is important.  I also once provided candidates to an firm that worked with clients in bankruptcy.  Because of the access to certain databases and ability to modify fields of information in those databases, the firm insisted that they could only hire those not in danger of bankruptcy so as to avoid possible temptation.  It really makes sense in this case.
 
Personally, I don’t think that all positions should require credit checks.  It’s perfectly acceptable to write a hiring policy that details which positions require credit checking and which don’t… as long as the organization does not deviate from their written policy, they’ll be fine with the EEOC.

What does the HR profession think about all this?  As a member of an international HR professionals association, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), I frequently see articles published by the association on this subject.  In a February 2011 article from HR Magazine (a SHRM publication) called Close-Up On Screening, it was reported: 

With a law that took effect Jan. 1, Illinois became the fourth state to restrict the use of credit histories in hiring decisions. Similar measures have been narrowly defeated in other jurisdictions, and the previous U.S. Congress introduced a bill on the subject but did not vote on it.

In November 2010, Massachusetts became the second state, after Hawaii, to prohibit private employers from asking job applicants about their criminal records on initial written applications. Massachusetts already prohibited the question on public-sector job applications, as do several other states and more than two dozen cities and counties. The laws and policies require employers to wait until later in the hiring process to ask applicants about their criminal records.

And in the April 2011 issue of HR Magazine the topic is broached again in States Seek to Limit Credit Checks for Hiring.  Apparently, there are “14 states pursuing laws that would prohibit employers from using a person’s credit history as a screening tool for hiring and retention decisions.”  So far, 4 states have passed laws that limit the use of credit report data for employment purposes.

Obviously, there is a raging debate about this topic, with both sides making their cases.  In the April HR Magazine article, one law maker is cited as saying that there is no proven link between bad credit and employee theft.  An opponent from an industry association takes the positions that if a person can’t manage his or her own finances, it could be a sign that he or she will struggle to manage the business finances.

All this is brought into check by an interesting comment made by Lester S. Rosen in the March 2011 HR Magazine article.  Rosen is chief executive officer of ESR Inc., a background-screening company in Novato, Calif., and author of The Safe Hiring Manual.  He says, “The perception that employers are ordering massive amounts of credit reports is nothing like the truth.”

In that same article, it’s pointed out that “In the past decade, employers have increased their use of all types of background checking, but a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll shows that the use of credit reports has not increased in the past five years.”

Well, whether it’s prevalent or not seems irrelevant in the end because legislatures in 14 states, including my home state of Texas, are considering the legislation restricting the use of credit reports in hiring decisions.  And my networking acquaintance’s question “How legal is it to use credit reports to disqualify otherwise good quality applicants?” will soon be answered… at least in our neck of the woods anyway.

___________________________

If you haven’t heard, we’re interviewing Simone Fuselier on the Job Search Boot Camp Show tomorrow!  Check out the details at www.jobsearchbootcamp.net

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations and owner of InSync Resources. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, “pajama learning” webclasses, personalized consulting sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.

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• Are you doing the work that was born in you?

HISTORY
The Navy SEALs originated during WWII when the United States Navy needed amphibious reconnaissance for beach landings and guide in the landing forces.  The Amphibious Scout and Raider School was established in 1942 jointly by the Army and Navy.  The school began in Fort Pierce, FL as the Naval Combat Demolition Unit expanding in 1943 for naval demolitions.  In John F. Kennedy’s famous speech to Congress in 1961 to put a man on the moon, he also petitioned Congress for $100M to strengthen US Special Forces, and in March 1961 the Chief of Naval Operations established guerrilla and counter-guerrilla which was the beginning of the Navy SEALS.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

TRAINING
Navy SEAL training is possibly the toughest training program in the world. The drop out rate for SEAL classes is regularly 80%. The average Navy SEAL spends over a year in a series of formal training before earning the Special Warfare Operator Naval Rating and enlisted 5326 Combatant Swimmer (SEAL) or SEAL Officer depending on if the trainee is enlisted or an officer in the US Navy.  It all culminates into the 24-week BUD/S training – Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school and then the 28-week SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) program.  SEALS train in combat swimming, communications, close quarters combat, land warfare, and staticline and free fall parachute operations.  All SEAL trainees enter with a Navy hospital corpsman rating or must attend a 26 week special operations combat medicine course.  It can take 30 months to completely train a Navy SEAL for their first deployment.

QUALIFICATIONS
This career is not for the weak.  The training is tough.  The missions are tougher.  We may never know their names, but we honor them nevertheless.  We Americans sleep better knowing these men are out there protecting freedom.

(from the US Navy’s site) By law, only men are eligible to apply for the SEAL program. Upon joining the Navy, you must:

• Meet specific eyesight requirements: 20/40 best eye; 20/70 worst eye; correctable to 20/25 with no color blindness
• Meet the minimum Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) score: GS+MC+EI=165 or VE+MK+MC+CS=220
• Be 28 years old or younger
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Pass a physical examination required for divers

You must also complete the Physical Screening Test Requirements:

• Swim 500 yards within 12 minutes 30 seconds
• Rest 10 minutes
• 42 push-ups within 2 minutes
• Rest 2 minutes
• 50 sit-ups within 2 minutes
• Rest 2 minutes
• 6 pull-ups (no time limit)
• Rest 10 minutes
• 1.5 mile run within 11 minutes
• Pass a Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL BUD/S physical fitness screening test in Boot Camp and in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) in order to qualify for a SEAL contract

PAY
SEAL’s don’t do it for the pay.  They do it for the service of country, duty, and honor (and yes…probably the adrenaline rush!); but SEALs the highest paid enlisted operators in the U.S. military.  The base is normal military pay.  SEALS receive a $20,000 enlistment bonus. They also earn additional pay that includes special duty assignment pay, parachute jump pay, dive pay and demolition pay.

ORGANIZATION
SEAL Teams are organized into two groups: Naval Special Warfare Group One (West Coast), and Naval Special Warfare Group Two (East Coast), which come under the command of Naval Special Warfare Command stationed in Coronado, California.  As of 2006, there are eight confirmed Navy SEAL Teams. The current SEAL Team deployments include Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10.

SEAL TEAM 6
Navy SEAL Team 6 is a testament to that amazing training, patriotism, and determination.  America and the world is happier, safer, and brighter because of these men.  As Americans we say THANK YOU! Your actions in Abottabad, Pakistan has renewed our patriotism and unified our country.  We may not be able to give you a personal high-five for taking out that radical demon, but America is raising its collective hand to give you the biggest high-five possible!  Well Done!  Thank you!  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

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This week’s Friday Feature, “What Other Experts Are Saying” addresses cover letters, resume action words & strategies for getting the hiring manager’s name.

Cover Letters Examined
http://employmentdigest.net/2011/04/cover-letters-examined/
(smart advice on how to lay out an effective cover letter)

20 Powerful Action Verbs to Kick Your Resume Up a Notch!
http://www.careerealism.com/20-powerful-action-verbs-kick-resume-notch/
(when you’re looking for the right dynamic words to make the impact you want on your resume, this article can help)

7 Ways to Get a Hiring Manager’s Name
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/139573/20110429/7-ways-to-get-a-hiring-manager-s-name.htm
(getting creative to get the names of those with the power to hire you)

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, “pajama learning” webclasses, personalized consulting sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.

Related Posts:

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• What Other Experts Are Saying – Using Social Media for Your Job Search

No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him. 
-James Russell Lowell

A few months ago, a woman at one my workshops was stumped with a series of questions during the group-sharing portion of the module.  The answer to these questions would reveal her childhood gifts and early interests, which would point the way to her work and the way she would do her her work in the world.

As the group continued through the other exercises (our intention was that each attendee walk away with an idea of their personal mission or purpose), this woman, a middle-school administrator, raised her hand.  When I acknowledged her, she excitedly told us that she’d figured out her answer and wanted to share her it.  Her enthusiasm was palpable, so even though we’d moved on to the next module, I encouraged her to tell us about her breakthrough. 

“Well,” she began, “when I was a kid, I loved watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon.  You know, Jerry’s kids?  Raising money for muscular dystrophy?” 

We all nodded, and she continued, “You asked us to think about what we wanted to be when we grew up, and I couldn’t think of anything at first.  Then I remembered how I dreamed of being that little girl who held the basket during the telethon.  I wanted to do it so much that I would go around the neighborhood, getting all my friends together, and we’d have our own Jerry’s Kids fundraisers.  I was only 9 at the time, but I see how this is still what I do to this day.  Organizing activities to help kids is still part of my work today!”

It’s funny to me now that when I was a teenager, I had a pin button that said, “Work is a 4-letter word.” Hey, wearing pin buttons were a fad when I was in high school, what can I say?  Anyway, today I think about that phrase and realize that when we do our work – I mean our real work, the work that was born in us, as James Russell Lowell so wisely points out – it doesn’t feel like the 4-letter word my button implied.  Instead if feels like play (a much better 4-letter word!) and fun.  It feels natural, so natural that we are compelled to do the work.  If we deny ourselves the chance to do our work, we become mis-aligned, out of sorts, depressed, unhappy, angry, etc.

So, are you doing the work you love – the work that was born in you?

Angela Loëb, Copyright 2009
Originally Published at
Attitude and Longitude

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, “pajama learning” webclasses, personalized consulting sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.

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I’ve decided to launch a regular Friday Feature – “What Other Experts Are Saying” – and this week I’m featuring the topic of Using Social Media for Your Job Search.

Check out these articles and videos that I found out there on the world wide web. 

How To Write a LinkedIn Invitation to Connect
http://executivecareerbrand.com/how-to-write-a-linkedin-invitation-to-connect/
(love, love, love this one… the author advises us to stop using the generic LinkedIn invitation wording when sending out requests to connect… AMEN!)

5 Twitter search tools to help you avoid the Where’s Wally syndrome
http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2011/04/5-twitter-search-tools-to-help-you-avoid-the-wheres-wally-syndrome.html
(a quick list of tools to help you find things on Twitter that are useful to you)

How to Grow your LinkedIn Network
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I12cJpp0Oyc
(from our friend across the pond, Tom Cassidy of e2aplus.com)

Facebook: The New Recruiting Tool
http://www.ubspectrum.com/life/facebook-the-new-recruiting-tool-1.2161183
(this article is aimed at college students, and there’s some great general advice about how recruiters are scrutinizing Facebook profiles)

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, “pajama learning” webclasses, personalized consulting sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.

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I think Gary O’Neal is a LinkedIn guru.  He really knows his stuff and proved it during his presentation to the Austin Career Developers Network on Tuesday.

In case you don’t know him, Gary is a recruiting specialist and career strategist in Austin, Texas, where he does recruiting at HigherTech Consulting and is president at Talent Branders.  

As a recruiter, Gary seems to pretty much live on planet Linkedin.  He said that 60% of the hires he’s made in the last year or so have started and ended on LinkedIn.  As a career strategist, he provides an excellent perspective for job seekers.  He helps you see how to leverage this helpful tool so recruiters can find you.

When it comes to LinkedIn, here’s what Gary says…

… about key words:
1.  Flood your profile with key words.

2.  Put skillsets in your headline rather than your title. Don’t use the LinkedIn recommended “at” in the headline… as in Career Consultant at Great Occupations. When Gary searches LinkedIn, he uses skills as key words. Headlines are optimized and easy to spot in the list that pops up when he searches.

3.  Do a sort by key words and see how you do in the search list.  Where do you show up?  If you don’t show up near the top, you need to do some more tweaking.  Remember, putting your key words in the headliner is best.

…about being unemployed:
4.  It doesn’t matter to recruiters whether you’re unemployed or not.  However, they will conduct a search using “Current” in the advanced search options so they can weed out those who come up on the search with key words matches but who are not recently in the role needed.  So this means you would be best served by having a current work experience on your LinkedIn profile.  Put your name in the company field, put the title you’d be doing as soon as you’re hired and, if you want to, you can put something about what you’re seeking or what you’re up to while you’re job hunting in the description field.  You can always leave the description field blank if you’d prefer.  The point is to show up on the search.

…about target companies:
5.   Follow companies to get their updates.

6.   If you’re still trying to compile your list of target companies, pick one company you’d like to work for and find them on LinkedIn under company search.  Click “Check out insightful statistics about…” and then scroll down to see a list that shows where employees of that company worked before and a list that shows where they left to go work.  See if there are any new companies there that you’ve not heard of or thought of and then add them to your target list. 

…about being easy to contact:
7.  Put your phone number and/or email address in your headline. This is how Gary does it…

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, “pajama learning” webclasses, personalized consulting sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.

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The Job Search Boot Camp started as a half-day seminar where we taught people how to READY-AIM-GET HIRED!  In this three step process – which we now have recorded and offer on our website at a significantly reduced price, and in different modules so you can pick and choose your modules - we teach you the steps to get the job you want quicker and easier.

Over there on the right side you will see our player for the show.  Grab a pen and paper and learn a few points about resumes, job search strategy, and interviewing.  It’s a jam-packed show with great information.  You’ll be glad you listened!

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