We’ve all been there:  You make the shortlist for a particular job, and maybe even have a preliminary interview; you get psyched up about it, do your research, envision yourself working in a new environment, and check your voicemail and email 42 times a day in case they’re inviting you for a second interview or letting you know you got the job.

But then 3 weeks go by without so much as a generic “Sorry, but…” email, and you start to feel the way you did in high school when that cute guy you had a crush on asked  for your number, then didn’t ever call you:  You’re 99% certain that your dreams of finally getting a popular boyfriend have been dashed upon the rocks of reality, but it’s just possible that he does really like you, but lost your number and/or was hit by a car and the resultant coma is keeping him from calling you.

It’s hard not to feel frustrated, rejected, or downright angry.  But here are some tips to help you cope:

1.  Don’t take it personally.
Yes, the recruiter or hiring manager should have called or emailed to let you know that you didn’t get the job  - it’s not about you specifically.

As one recruiter at the conference said, sheepishly:  ”I hate having to call people with bad news, so I tend to procrastinate.  Suddenly I realize I’ve put off making the call for 3 weeks, and I feel even worse – so I just kind of keep putting it off indefinitely.”

2.  Sometimes the recruiter doesn’t know any more than you do.

Just as you’re waiting for feedback from the recruiter (headhunter) who sent you to an interview, the recruiter may be waiting for feedback from the employer – it’s not unusual for a company to interview 5 candidates, then take 2 or 3 weeks to get in touch with the recruiter with feedback, next steps, or a decision.   So the recruiter thinks, “Oh, I won’t bother calling Bob til I have some news for him…”

So if it’s been a week or two since your interview, drop the recruiter a brief email:

“Hey Christabel, just wanted to follow up.  It’s been a couple of weeks since my interview with Acme Inc. and I wondered if you’d had any feedback from them…?  I know you said they don’t make decisions quickly…”

3.  Try not to make the recruiter dread having to call or email you.

Recruiters tend to be outgoing people who genuinely like other people, so 99% of them feel the same way as the recruiter in #1, above:  They just hate having to deliver bad news.  And it’s worse if they know the person on the other end (i.e. you) is really going to be very upset or lose their shizzle, like the (Potential) Intern From Hell.

The more you can demonstrate that you can handle disappointing feedback, the more likely the recruiter is to make sure you get it promptly.

4.  Manage your expectations.

When you’re looking for a new job, every week can feel like an eternity.  But for most companies – especially larger ones – the hiring process can take 3-4 weeks or more, from the first interview to a formal job offer.   So it’s important to have realistic expectations (“It’s August, and probably some of the people who are involved with hiring for this position will be out of the office on vacation so it may be 3 weeks before they can get together to determine which candidates will be proceeding..”) – remember, getting a new job may be your #1 priority, but the people making the hiring decisions may have other business challenges to deal with at the moment.

Before you go to the interview with the potential employer, it’s a good idea to ask the recruiter what you can expect in terms of feedback or follow-up:  If the recruiter tells you that the employer typically takes several weeks to move to the next step, at least you won’t be sitting by the phone for the next 48 hours.

5.  Don’t let it make you angry – just move on.

Anger isn’t productive, and it won’t help improve your chances of getting your dream job.  That letter from the (Potential) Intern From Hell is a good example of the damage anger can do when you let it get the best of you.  Go for a run, do some yoga, rant to your best friend – but then let it go, so that in your next interview you come across as a the kind of positive, optimistic person that everyone wants to hire.

6.  Accept that sometimes you may not have closure.

How many times have you found yourself thinking, “You know what?  It was probably good that that cute guy never did call me, because 3 months later I met my soulmate – which would never have happened if I’d been dating someone else at the time.  I guess everything happens for a reason…”?

Job-hunting is a lot like dating:  Sometimes you won’t get neat and tidy closure – but in retrospect it all tends to work out.

Last week I was out for dinner with a friend who related this story:

Three years ago, she was working as the marketing director for a small-but-growing business, which needed a junior designer-slash-social media manager to support increased demand from clients.  They put an ad on Craigslist, sifted through 30 applicants, and finally hired a guy who seemed to tick all the boxes:  He had design skills, social media experience, and had performed well at three interviews.  They made an offer and agreed on a start date.

So far, so good.

Four days before the start date, the guy called and asked the company if they could provide a letter of employment: He’d recently moved back to the city after working in the UK for a couple of years, and he needed confirmation of employment in order to arrange a new apartment.  ”No problem,” my friend said – and got the letter out to him the same day.

But then the start date rolled around, and the guy didn’t turn up at 9am as planned.  They finally tracked him down on his cellphone around noon:  ”Oh,” the guy said.  ”I took another job, so I won’t be working for you.   Um, didn’t you get the email I sent you on Friday?”

No one believed that there’d been an email, of course – and even if there had been, bailing on a new job the Friday before a start date, by email, after the employer had provided a letter of employment just three days earlier was guaranteed to leave everyone involved in the process more than a little cheesed off.

As an employer, it’s the kind of experience you remember.

It’s funny how things turn out…

Flash-forward 3 years, and now my friend is the VP Marketing for a fairly cool tech company downtown which is hiring an intermediate designer.  The company’s got great buzz so it’s had lots of applicants, and the HR department schedules my friend for a morning of interviews with the shortlisted candidates.

The second interview of the day?  Right:  It’s the guy from three years ago.

It’s obvious that he’s enthusiastic, eager, and really wants the job. Unfortunately, it’s also obvious that he doesn’t remember that the person sitting across from him in the interview room is the person he bailed on 3 years ago.

Now, if life was a Seth Rogen movie, my friend would have refreshed his memory and a comically awkward scene would have ensued. As it was, she simply gave him a perfunctory 15 minutes and sent him on his way, then told the HR manager the guy was a definite ‘no’ – and explained why.

Awkward situations happen.  You don’t have to make them worse.

Job-seeking can be weird that way:  You spend weeks job-hunting without success and then suddenly find yourself with 2 job offers in the same week.  It’s always a bit of a sticky situation, but you don’t have to leave a slew of bad impressions in your wake.  Here’s how to handle it with maximum grace and minimum long-term career damage:

1.  Don’t rush to accept a job offer if you’re expecting another one: It’s perfectly acceptable to ask the potential employer for 24 hours (even 48-72 hours for a more senior role) to ‘review’ the offer.  It won’t make you look less enthusiastic – it’ll make you look like a conscientious and thoughtful decision-maker.

2.  Be honest, but be polite: If you receive a job offer from Employer #1, but are reasonably certain of receiving an offer from Employer #2 within the next couple of days, it’s okay to let Employer #1 know that.  Don’t say “Thanks for your offer, but can you give me a week?  I’m waiting for a better offer from someone else.”  Instead, say:  ”Thanks so much for your offer.  Could you give me a couple of days?  I had a couple of interviews with them before I interviewed with you, so I feel like I owe it to them to follow up.”   This approach lessens the chances that you’ll have to wriggle out of Employer #1′s offer if Employer #2 makes an offer 2 days later.

3.  Don’t play one employer off against another: Unless you’re one of only five people in the world who can do what you do, it’s never a good idea to try to engage employers in a bidding war.  It’s fine to let a potential employer know you have other irons in the fire, but saying things like “You’re going to have to make me an offer within the next 24 hours or I’m going to go with Employer #2…” is almost guaranteed to make you look like the kind of person who no one wants to hire.

4.  If you make a mistake, own up to it – and be gracious: The guy in my friend’s story could have mitigated a lot of career damage by making one phone call:  ”I’m so sorry – I know I was supposed to start on Monday, and you guys were really great about giving me that letter of employment.  However, yesterday I was offered another opportunity that I just couldn’t turn down…” Then provide a reason that the jilted employer can empathize with, even if you have to tell a white lie:  ”The other job is down the street from my house, so I wouldn’t have to commute…” or “I’ve wanted to work with horses ever since I was a little kid, and this opportunity will let me do that”.  Don’t say “they offered me more money than you did” or “they’ll look better on my resume than you will”.  Sure, the situation will still be awkward – but at least you won’t leave a lasting impression as ‘that jerk who bailed on us at the last minute’.

Bottom line:  Even in a big city, it’s amazing how often you’ll inevitably cross professional paths with people years down the line. Leaving people with a positive impression can be the best long-term career investment you’ll ever make.

A friend of mine runs a small (but growing) IT consulting company.  He needs some junior staff members, but with a limited budget and a need to make every team member count, he decided that he’d advertise to college students who were set to graduate from IT-related programs.  He’d take them on for the summer break, and if they worked out, he could hire them in the fall.

He was a bit surprised by the responses he got.  “I thought the job market was supposed to be really tight right now,” he told me.  “But I definitely wasn’t overwhelmed with applications.  I know we’re a smaller company, and not as ‘desirable’ on a resume as an IBM or a big bank – I get it.  But smaller, entrepreneurial companies can offer opportunities that a big company can’t.”

Some applicants had decent skills and even some work experience, but appeared to be underprepared.  “I think most of the people we interviewed were used to very basic questions like ‘Can you do such-and-such in PHP?’  We’re more interested in why they like programming and IT, what they love about different programming languages, and what’s going to keep them passionate about their work in the long-term.  I’m pretty sure most of our applicants had never even considered those questions, let alone been asked them in an interview.”

Tips for getting your dream job in IT

Getting your first, or even second, job in IT is a balancing act:  On the one hand, you want an opportunity which is going to give you the skills and experience you need, look good on a resume, and pay you a living wage; on the other hand, you don’t want to be too choosy miss out on opportunities.  Here are some things to consider:

A big-name company may not be the best choice for your long-term career

Big companies look good on resumes, and it can be tempting to leap at a chance to work for a company whose name all your friends recognize.  But big companies also tend to like to ‘pigeonhole’ developers, which means that if you’re hired as an ‘ASP guy’, you’ll be stuck doing nothing but ASP forever.  That may not be good for your long-term career prospects – and it may not lead you to the management position you know you want eventually.  A smaller company which requires you to work in different languages or on both hardware and software, may give you a better long-term basket of skills.

Know why you’re applying for a particular job

Chances are, you aren’t the only one who’s applied for the position, and it may be that all of you have similar skills and abilities.  Being able to provide an enthusiastic response to “Why do you think you’d like this job?” can make the difference.

It’s okay to have some opinions

When the interviewer asks you for your opinion or insights on particular programming languages, be honest.  It’s okay to say that you think Java is fantastic but Drupal kind of sucks (as long as you can provide reasons for your opinions).  Even if the interviewer doesn’t agree with you, you’re sending a message that (a) you’re passionate and (b) you’ve spent some time thinking about it, rather than just being a code monkey.

Have an idea of your long-term goals – or be honest about your confusion

When you first get out of school, it’s hard to know just what your long-term career will look like, or what you really want out of a career.  But everyone has some idea of what they’d like their life to look like in 5 or 10 years.  So when an interviewer asks you what you’d like to get out of the job or where you see yourself in X number of years, don’t sit there like a deer in the headlights or offer some canned response.  Offer something truthful:  “Well, to be honest, I’m just at the beginning of my career and I don’t know exactly where it will take me.  But I do know that I love working with databases, and I’m really interested in developments in encryption, so I imagine that eventually I’ll concentrate on those.”  You’ve just given the interviewer a clue to what you’re passionate about, and an indication that you have some goals for yourself.  Both are good points in an interview situation!

In previous posts, we’ve talked about the basics of working with a recruiter (aka ‘headhunter’), and how to ensure they put you at the top of their callback list.

But this week I was reminded that before you start connecting with recruiters – before you even start writing your resume, in fact – you need to do one very important thing:  Figure out what job you want.

It’s hard to buy groceries if you don’t know what you want for dinner.

Not all recruiters are the same:  Some specialize in temporary administrative work; others specialize in accounting professionals.   There’s no point in getting a meeting with a recruiter who specializes in placing healthcare technicians if what you’re looking for is a job in marketing.  So you can save yourself a lot of time, energy and frustration (“I’ve sent out 56 resumes to recruiters this week – how come no one’s calling me back?!”) by figuring out what it is you want to do and then targeting the recruiters who are most likely to be able to help you.

Your ideal job is more than just a job title.

When I was 19, I told everyone – and at that age, people are always asking what you want to be when you grow up – that I wanted to be a lawyer.  It sounded good.  But when I discovered what lawyers mostly did all day – administrative, detail-oriented slogging, with much less creativity than all the tv shows would have us believe – I realized that the title was probably the only thing I’d enjoy about it.

It wasn’t until I sat down and thought about all the things I liked doing (reading, writing, communication theory, coming up with creative solutions to problems, learning new things, public recognition, etc.), and the things I didn’t like doing (repetitive tasks or workdays, sticking to a strict schedule, memorization) that I started to get a more coherent picture of what I’d like to do with the rest of my life, and added the skills I already had.

And there’s a difference between ‘process’ and ‘result’:  You may want to be a veterinarian because you like animals – but do you really want to spend 4+  years studying science-related subjects, then 35% of your time managing the finances and staff of a veterinary practice for the rest of your life?  You might be better off just getting a dog.

What would your ideal job look like?  No detail is too small.  My ideal job, for example, includes lots of working independently and not many early-morning meetings.

(And by the way, this isn’t just for younger people entering the workforce for the first time.  Mapping out your ideal job is a good exercise for anyone looking to make a job change!)

Do some research – and don’t be afraid to ask for advice

Now that you’ve got a detailed understanding of what you like to do, you can begin to look for careers – or career paths – that match.

No matter what career stage you’re at, there are likely all kinds of jobs, job descriptions and job titles you’ve never even heard of.  Many of them will involve at least some of the things you’ve got on your ‘ideal job’ map, and they may not be obvious.

Asking for advice from people – especially if they aren’t recruiters – can be a fantastic way to learn more about a career path that involves the stuff on your ideal job list.

Let’s say you like travelling.  Sure, you could become a flight attendant, but there are all kinds of other jobs, professions and industries that involve a lot of travel:  Consultants and MBA-types often do a lot of travelling in their jobs, as do doctors who decide to work with international non-profit organizations, diplomats and travel writers.  And lots of companies offer transfers to their offices in different countries.

Take a look around your network – you have been building your personal network, right? – to find people who might know more.  Have a couple of friends who seem to do a lot of travelling for their job, or have had the opportunity to live in different places because of their work?  Call them up, and ask them about their career path.

And then you’ll be ready to approach recruiters…

…with a good idea of what you’re looking for.

Job hunting may not make the list of life’s top 10 most stressful events (though being fired does), but it should.

Anyone who’s ever had to look for a new job knows that there is nothing more guaranteed to sap your self-confidence and induce panic than job hunting, and its the effects are cumulative and exponential:  Weeks 1-4 of a job hunt are tolerable, but by Week 8, even the most confident, optimistic and employable of us can find ourselves filling out applications for part-time minimum-wage positions at local fast-food restaurants, or leaving “Please, I’m desperate, I’ll take anything!  Call me!  Please!” voicemails for recruiters.

Neither of which is likely to further your career goals.

Desperation is a buzzkill

Remember in high school, when the ‘cool, popular’ kids were the ones who didn’t seem to care whether anyone liked them or not, while the ‘losers’ were the ones who seemed needy and too eager to make friends?

The job market is like that:  The more desperate you seem, the less attractive you are to potential employers, because it makes them wonder why you haven’t been able to get a job (“This candidate seems desperate, which tells me she’s been looking for a job for a while now.  If she hasn’t been hired by now, there must be something really wrong with her.  I think I’ll just take a pass on this one.”).

In other words, the longer you can keep your (very natural) feelings of panic and desperation out of your interactions with recruiters and potential employers, the more successful your job hunt will be.

A positive attitude will take weeks off your job-seeking time.
Confident, positive, optimistic people write better resumes, cover letters, and applications; they have better interactions with people; and they perform better in interviews than people who are discouraged, negative or pessimistic.  (Remember, the interview is really just an opportunity for the potential employer to answer the question “Would I like to work with this person on a daily basis for the next few years?” As in high school, most people  would rather work with the ‘cool, popular’ people.)

It’s a simple equation:
Better resumes and applications lead to more interviews.
Better interviews lead to more second interviews.
Better second interviews lead to more job offers, faster.

The good news?  You don’t have to wait around until you start to feel more positive -  just fake it til  you feel it!

Practical tips for maintaining – or just faking – a positive job-hunting attitude.

1.  Before you write your resume or send out the first application, make a commitment to yourself: “Self, I know the next few weeks are going to be difficult, and we’ll have to endure a fair amount of rejection.  But we’re not going to take it personally, we’re not going to let it affect our confidence, and we’re not going to obsess about it.”   (You may want to watch this Affirmation Girl video for inspiration!)

2.  Don’t apply for jobs unless you really would be a perfect fit. Sending out 150 applications without getting a single callback is a bullet train to despair – you start to wonder if you even exist.  But think about it:  Were you really a ‘perfect fit’ for all of those jobs?  Or just 3 of them?

3.  Go for quality, not quantity. One really fantastic, customized resume and cover letter for a job for which you’d be a perfect fit is more likely to get you a callback than 50 generic, copy-and-paste applications.  Remember:  Most recruiters and hiring managers see hundreds of resumes every week – the applicants who get callbacks are the ones who stand out from the crowd.  And the higher your response rate, the more positive you’ll feel!

4.  Work smarter, not harder. Stay organized!  Create a file on your desktop for all the cover letters, cover emails, and customized resumes you’ve done, so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.  Schedule follow-up activities in your calendar – having something scheduled, even if it’s just a follow-up email to a recruiter, will help you feel like you have something productive to get out of bed for every morning.

5. Don’t announce you’re unemployed in the first sentence. This is for 2 reasons:  (1) As the Huffington Post recently reported, more US organizations aren’t accepting applications from unemployed candidates.  The reasoning is related to #2 and #3, above:  Unemployed people get desperate and apply to hundreds of jobs;  employers end up spending a whole lot of time and money weeding through the ‘duds’ just to get to the handful who are actually qualified.  And (2) you want to get recruiters and potential employers excited about you before they wonder whether you were in fact laid off for purely economic reasons.  It’s hard to have positive interactions with recruiters and hiring managers if the conversation starts with a recap of your (probably painful, possibly messy) recent layoff.

(TIP:  You don’t have to include the month you were laid off on your resume.  Just use the year, so it’s not immediately obvious that you’ve been out of work for 2 months.  When the recruiter or hiring manager calls you for an interview, you can explain the details then.)

6.   Allow yourself to have some fun, especially with family and friends. Remember, ‘unemployed’ is just another word for ‘vacation’!  Yes, you should be spending at least 4 hours a day on job-seeking-related activities, but being unemployed means you finally have more time to spend with friends and family (“Sure, I’d love to spend the weekend with you, Sis – this is the first time in ages I haven’t had to spend the whole weekend catching up on my PowerPoint presentations, so we can have a nice long visit!”) – who also happen to be your best weapon in the war against negativity due to job-seeking rejection!

You’ve heard it before, probably a thousand times:  ”The first place to start when you’re looking for a new job is your personal network – friends, family, former colleagues.  Just put the word out that you’re in the market for a new job and presto!  Someone will refer you to something!”

And it’s true, as far as it goes:  You’ll always do better going for recommendations and referrals through people who already know you and can attest to your brilliance.

But what happens when you move to a whole new city – maybe you’ve just gotten married, your spouse has been transferred, you have to be close to an aging family member, whatever – and you don’t have those kinds of resources?  How, exactly, do you go about looking for a job when your only friend within 50 miles is your cat?

IMPORTANT: Before you start trying to build a new network, be very clear about the kind of job(s) you’re looking for in your new city.  I know you think that saying “I’ll take anything!” will make you sound eager, willing and enthusiastic, but the truth is that when you’re too vague, your new contacts simply won’t know how to direct you properly, and you’ll end up with either the wrong kinds of leads or no leads at all.  The more specific you can be about the kind of job you’re looking for, the easier it is for people to steer you in the right direction.

Here are 5 tips to help get you started:

1.  Work your social media contacts individually

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably got 200+/- Facebook friends and 200+/- LinkedIn connections, half of whom you’ve forgotten existed.  Take another look – you’ll probably discover at least a couple who actually live in (or near) your new hometown.  Send them a message, letting them know you’ve just moved to their area.

You can take one of two tacks, depending on how well you know/knew them:  (a) Ask them for coffee or lunch (listen, you’re new to the neighbourhood and you haven’t got a job – why not have lunch or coffee with someone new?  At the very least it could help your new social life); or (b) Ask them point-blank for advice on job-seeking in their city.  ”Do you find it’s best to go to recruiters, or should I be using job boards…?  What’s your expert opinion?”  Most people are flattered to be asked for their advice, so they may make an extra effort to connect you to a recruiter they know, or a friend whose company is hiring, etc.  You never know!

2.  Work your social media contacts en masse

If you’re a regular Facebook user, you might have some luck posting a status message about your move and asking your Facebook friends if they know people in your new city.  You may find that a former colleague or university friend has a close friend or sibling in your new hometown, and can connect you. From there, you can try either tactic suggested in #1, above.

Yes, I know #1 and #2 require a little bravery on your part, because it can be a bit scary to ‘put yourself out there’.  However, as a person who gets at least 2 of these kinds of messages per month – from long-lost contacts, Facebook friends’ siblings/colleagues/former roommates, you name it – I can assure you that a nicely-worded message, with a little flattery thrown in (“So-and-so said you’d know who I should talk to because you’re an expert in this stuff…”) never goes awry.  Sometimes I can help; sometimes I can’t – but either way you’ll never know until you try.

3.  Try Craigslist

I know, I know – there are a lot of  ’junk’ jobs on Craigslist.  But amidst all the junk, there are often interesting opportunities, typically at small and mid-sized organizations which don’t have a lot of money to spend on advertising their job opportunities or hiring recruiters but might make a great first job in a new location.  It may take a bit of searching, but I’ve seen some great jobs posted on Craigslist that don’t turn up anywhere else.

4.  Contact recruiters

Spend a few hours with Google and find the names of the recruiters in your new area who specialize in your industry, role or field.  (I repeat:  Find the ones who specialize in your industry, role or field – don’t just compile a list of every recruiter within a 100-mile radius.)  Then send them a nice email saying that you understand they specialize in recruiting for X roles; that you’ve just moved to the area and are looking for X roles;  that you’ve heard they’re the local expert in X roles; and do they have any advice on how to get your foot in the door in your new city.

This combination of “I’ve done my homework” + flattery + low-key approach may get you a more helpful response than just sending them your resume.  Sure, some recruiters won’t get back to you – but I can almost guarantee that sending 10 emails like this will get you at least 2 responses.  And that’s two more recruiters than you knew before!

5.  Go direct to local companies

Do some research about your new town/city.  Who are the big employers?  Which organizations look like they might be interesting to work for?  Have you passed any interesting office buildings or heard about any local businesses which are growing quickly?  Check out their websites:  They may have job postings you can apply to, or even an HR/recruiting contact you can approach.  Here again, the combination of “I’ve done my homework” + flattery (“Your company looks like the kind of place I’d love to work”) + low-key approach may help you get a foot in the door that would otherwise be difficult.

I know it’s not easy to get your bearings when you move to a new place – years ago, I moved from Toronto to Philadelphia, so I’ve definitely been through the “where do I start?” problem – but you might be surprised to find that people are actually quite sympathetic to newcomers, and, when approached in the right way, will go out of their way to help you make the transition.

One of the questions I get most often from junior and intermediate workers is this:

“How do I get a raise?  I’ve been working at this company for a year now, and they seem to like me.  Shouldn’t they give me more money?”

Well…no, not necessarily.  A raise isn’t a prize you get for showing up to a job every day for a year.  With a few exceptions (like cost-of-living increases built into your contract, for example), raises are supposed to be a reflection of the increased value you deliver to a company.

In other words, if you want a raise, you have to demonstrate that while a year ago you were worth $X to your employer, now you’re worth $Y.

How to demonstrate your increased value

A lot of people find this part difficult, mostly because it can somehow seem awkward or uncomfortable to assign a dollar value to ourselves.  But put yourself in your employer’s position:  They’ve got a budget to balance, P&L statements to defend, and possibly shareholders to appease.  So while they may love you as a person, when it comes to your salary, you’re really a line item like anything else, and they’re looking to get maximum value for minimum expenditure.

But don’t panic – there are lots of ways to demonstrate that you are delivering a better ROI (return on investment) than you were a year ago!

Here are some strategies to try:

• Demonstrate how you’ve increased revenue. Have you brought in a new client?  Increased the spending of an existing client?  Contributed to a new business pitch that generated new business (and new revenue)?  Did you create a website or Facebook group that generated some new business?  New business means new revenue – and there’s nothing wrong with asking to share some of that revenue.
• Demonstrate how you’ve reduced costs. Not every role is in a position to generate new business or revenue, but most roles can contribute to reduced costs.  Did you come up with a new process that resulted in cost efficiencies?  Did you find a new supplier that cut the office supply costs in half?  Did you spearhead an energy-saving initiative that reduced utility costs across the organization?  Quantify the savings you helped achieve – it’s easier to ask for a raise when your manager can see you’re focused on the bottom line.
• Demonstrate how you’ve increased productivity. Have you implemented a system that allowed the company to reduce the need for freelancers or contract workers?  Are you now processing significantly more orders than you were a year ago?  Raises are supposed to reward increased efficiencies, so make up a chart showing how productivity has increased during the past 12 months as a result of your efforts, and your ‘raise conversation’ will go a lot more smoothly.
• Demonstrate your indispensibility. This is a tricky one, because ultimately, no one is irreplaceable.  But if you’ve taken on tasks that languished for ages because no one else wanted to do them – like, say, spending a month of late nights cleaning up and reformatting a huge database, and of which you are now the undisputed expert – it can be helpful to gently point out that were you to leave (for a better-paying position), your employer might be up a creek without a paddle.

Your best approach is to write it down

The best way to ensure that salary negotiations don’t get weird and emotional is to approach it like any business meeting:  Prepare a list of the points you want to cover (your accomplishments, revenue generation, productivity increases, etc.), and then make your case calmly, clearly and succinctly.

The more you can demonstrate that you see the big picture (“I know the company only had 5% revenue growth last year, so I know none of us are coming in for huge raises this year…”) and that you’re making a rational business case (“I’m more valuable now than I was a year ago, and here’s why…”), the more likely you are to get what you want.

BONUS TIP: Sometimes managers can’t offer you more money because they’re constrained by salary caps imposed upon them by their managers.  That’s okay – there are other things you can ask for:  increased vacation, car allowances, professional development/education credits (which may come out of different budgets than salaries), getting included on the trip to ComDex, performance benefits…you’d be surprised.

If you’re a new Canadian, it’s a good time to look for your first job here in Canada: With many fields experiencing ongoing talent shortages, and more Canadian organizations establishing diversity hiring mandates, employers are increasingly interested in candidates from ‘diverse’ groups.

But job-hunting standards can vary from country to country. So if you’re currently undertaking your first job search in Canada, here are a few tips to make it easier.

1. Identify yourself as a diverse candidate
There is increasing pressure on organizations to demonstrate they have a ‘diverse’ workforce.  This means that even companies without diversity hiring mandates are on the lookout for candidates from diverse groups – identifying yourself as a diverse candidate can ensure that your resume/application gets a second look from recruiters.
Including a line or two in your covering email, referencing the fact that you’ve “recently moved to Canada from [your country]” or your education at “[your home country's] university” is a good way to let employers know that you’re a diverse candidate.

2. Do some research
Many Canadian employers have well-established diversity hiring programs and are actively recruiting employees within specific communities. A little research can help you identify companies who are diversity-friendly. A good place to start? Canada’s Top Diversity Employers list.

3. Use your network
Networking is valuable for all job-seekers; networking with people from your home country who are already well-established in Canada can be especially valuable for new Canadians. They know what it’s like to have to start fresh in a new country, so they’re often passionate about helping you get your foot in the door. Joining an ‘ex-pats’ group is a great way to kick-start your new Canadian network.

4. Make sure your resume/application is ‘North American standard’
As we’ve discussed before, North American resume conventions are a little different from those in other countries. Making sure your resume conforms to North American standards sends a positive message: “I may be new to this job market, but I’ve done my homework and can hit the ground running.”

5. Get a native English speaker to proof your application
One of the biggest concerns potential employers have about new Canadians is their language skills, so a resume/covering email with poor or awkward spelling, grammar or phrasing can be a red flag. Before you start sending out resumes, have a native English (or French, if you’re in Quebec) speaker proofread them.
If you are fluently bilingual (English + other languages), it’s a good idea to highlight this in your cover letter, too: As Canada becomes increasingly diverse, more organizations are actively looking for people who can interact with their stakeholders in a variety of languages outside of English and French.

There’s no question that working with a recruiter can be a more effective way to find a job – and especially to get that crucial first interview – than simply sending off applications to jobs you’ve seen online.  After all, recruiters generally have active jobs to fill, and they can ‘pre-sell’ you to potential employers better than a couple of paragraphs in a covering email ever could.

However, what happens when you reach out to recruiters and can’t get them to respond?

Successful sales and marketing people know that the first step to selling a product or service is understanding your target market:  The more you know about your target market, the more you can create communications that will get their attention and make them buy your product.

It’s useful to look at job hunting in the same way.  Ultimately, you’re trying to ‘sell’ yourself to a new employer, and recruiters are your primary target market.  (Don’t forget:  Recruiters have to ‘sell’ you to the rest of the organization.  The more enthusiastic they are about you, the more successful they’ll be!)

Contrary to popular belief, recruiters are generally a nice bunch of people

When you’re looking for a new job, every day seems like an eternity, and there’s nothing more frustrating than doing all the right things (writing a fantastic resume, following online application instructions, coming up with smart cover emails, following up by phone or email without being a stalker, etc.) and  still aren’t hearing from recruiters – or aren’t hearing from them quickly.

It’s tempting to assume that recruiters must be jerks who don’t really care about people, but they’re not  (99% of them chose recruiting as a profession because they genuinely do like people, like helping people find their dream jobs, and want job-seekers to be successful).  But like most of us, recruiters are busy:  It’s not unusual for the average recruiter to receive 200+ resumes, make 100 phone calls, and send 50+ emails per day.

Imagine you’re the recruiter.

The best way to understand your target is to put yourself in their position.

• What does the recruiter’s average day look like?  (What’s it like to open up your email inbox in the morning to discover that you’ve received 234 emails from job-seekers?)
• What kind of jobs is the recruiter working on right now?  Do they specialize in a particular role or industry, or do they recruit for many different positions?
• Where do you (i.e. the individual job-seeker) fit in to their workday?
• What are the recruiter’s biggest challenges/pain points?
• What is important to the recruiter in terms of his/her job?  Filling positions quickly? Finding only A-list candidates?  Making money?

Once you know the answers to these questions, your interactions with recruiters can be more effective – and improve the chances that recruiters will call you first.

EXAMPLE:
How understanding the target leads to communications that cut through the clutter

Now that you know that the average recruiter receives hundreds of emails from job-seekers every day, it’s easier to understand why a cover email like

“Dear Sir/Madam.  My resume is attached.”

will be less effective than a cover email like

“Dear [recruiter's name]:

I noticed that you specialize in recruiting analysts in the financial services sector.  As an analyst with 10 years’ experience in several major Canadian banks, I might be a good candidate for intermediate analyst roles that you’re currently looking to fill.  I’ve attached my resume outlining my specific skills, experience and results – please don’t hesitate to call or email if you’d like more information.

I look forward to hearing from you.”

Email #1 goes to the bottom of the list (“I don’t have time to figure out which position this person is applying for – I’ll come back to it later”), while Email #2 goes to the top (“This person might be perfect for X job – I’ll get them in for an interview ASAP”).

The only thing worse than being stuck in a job you hate for years on end is taking a job only to flee from it 3 months later:  A company who invests time and money to onboard you only to lose you almost immediately is definitely going to be cheesed off, and it’s a small world.  Plus it’s bad for your resume – having 5 jobs in 3 years makes you look like an unreliable job-jumper and a bad bet.

Approach the interview process as you would the dating scene

You already know that you don’t have to go out with everyone who asks you on a date, you don’t have to kiss everyone who buys you dinner, and you definitely don’t have to marry someone just because you met their family last Christmas.   Sometimes you just know there isn’t a future in the relationship.

Think of the interview process in the same way:   You may have a positive interview (or two), and the company may offer you a job – but that doesn’t mean you should automatically accept it.

Here are some situations in which you should probably decline the offer:

1.  It’s a counter-offer

You decided you hated your current job, so you went on a few interviews and now you have a good offer from another company.  But when you tell your current boss you’re leaving, s/he offers you a raise/title bump/corner office/car allowance to try to get you to stay.

Don’t accept it.  With a very few exceptions, all the reasons you wanted to leave in the first place will still be there (you’ll find that, after tax, that $5000 raise doesn’t actually compensate for the 60-hour weeks you’ve been working),  plus now your boss considers you a flight risk and your co-workers think you blackmailed your way to some kind of advantage.  99% of the time, people who accept counter-offers end up leaving within 6 months anyway, so you’re better off sticking to your guns and making a clean break.

2.  It doesn’t pay enough money to live on

Unless you’re living at home with your parents and just need some work experience, fast, you shouldn’t take a job that pays less than you need for basic expenses, even if they promise you a raise within a few months.  You’ll end up stressed out and resentful – neither of which are conducive to giving 100% to your new job.

What’s more, you run the risk of looking desperate, which means that promised raise may not be forthcoming (“If s/he was so desperate for a job that they took the absurdly low salary we offered, s/he isn’t going to leave even if we keep him/her on slave wages…”).

3.  You aren’t excited about the job

If you get a job offer and aren’t immediately on the phone to your best friend or your mother to tell them about it, it’s probably the wrong job.  It’s hard to succeed in a job, especially in the crucial first 6-12 months, if you’re not passionate about it.  What’s more, if you aren’t excited now, imagine how you’ll feel after a year or two.  Right:  You’ll be back on the market again.

4.  You don’t believe in the company or the brand

So you’re a die-hard fan of Brand X footwear, but you get a great job offer from their closest competitor, Brand Y.  Don’t take it. For most people, career success means being able to get fully invested in what they’re doing, and you’re only going to give yourself a serious case of cognitive dissonance when you have to pretend to love Brand Y all day and restrict your Brand X passion to the weekends.

Sooner or later your managers will notice this lack of enthusiasm and you’ll be passed over for promotion, while your co-workers move ahead.

(On the other hand, you should probably check out Brand X’s career opportunities, where your passion can be turned to good advantage!)

5.  You got a bad ‘vibe’ when you toured the office

Most of us have better gut instincts than we realize.

Think about the last job you really loved.  Chances are, the first time you walked into or through the office, you got a good feeling about it.  It may have been that people were friendly to you; it may have been that you picked up on good teamwork among the existing employees; it may have been the architecture.

We call our reactions to these things ‘vibes’, but in fact they’re quite rational:  People who are friendly to strangers walking through their office are likely to be friendly to new hires; people who appear to be working well together indicate a healthy office environment; and architecture you like means you probably have things in common with your potential new co-workers.

Well, these ‘vibes’ work the other way, too.  If you’re getting a bad vibe, it could mean that your potential new co-workers aren’t all that friendly, that the working environment isn’t healthy, or that you won’t have a lot in common with your teammates.  Regardless, it means you probably aren’t a good fit.

The good news?
Getting one job offer is a good sign that another one is on its way.

Job-hunting is funny:  It can take you a while to get on top of your game (finding the right opportunities, writing  a killer resume, getting confident in interviews, etc.), but once you do, it’s surprising how popular you start to become.

So don’t panic too much about turning down a job offer.  The fact that you got one – especially one that was close enough to what you wanted to be a serious contender – is a good indication that you’re putting your best foot forward and are attractive to potential employers.  Which means a better offer – one that’s more suitable for you, anyway – won’t be long in arriving.  Really.