Through the Eyes of a Recruiter

50 Worst of the Worst (& Most Common) Job Interview Mistakes

2010-04-03T09:09:00.004-04:00

I had to share this article for any job seekers that read this Blog. This is a great list written by Karen Burns, Working Girl Blog. I strongly agree with most of it. Plainly, it comes down to leaving way for your impressive resume and winning personality to shine. Don’t let anything in your control taint the interviewer’s evaluation on your judgment and discretion.

50 Worst of the Worst (and Most Common) Job Interview Mistakes

By Karen Burns, Working Girl

You may have heard the horror stories—job hunters who take phone calls or text during an interview, or bring out a sandwich and start chomping, or brush their hair, or worse. You wouldn’t do any of those things, would you? Of course not. But there are tons of other job interview no-no’s you may not have thought of. Or that you’ve forgotten. The job hunting trail is long and arduous, and a little refresher course can’t hurt. So for your edification and enjoyment, here are 50 (yes, 50!) of the worst and most common job interview mistakes:

1. Arriving late.
2. Arriving too early.
3. Lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette.
4. Bad-mouthing your last boss.
5. Lying about your skills/experience/knowledge.
6. Wearing the wrong (for this workplace!) clothes.
7. Forgetting the name of the person you’re interviewing with.
8. Wearing a ton of perfume or aftershave.
9. Wearing sunglasses.
10. Wearing a Bluetooth earpiece.
11. Failing to research the employer in advance.
12. Failing to demonstrate enthusiasm.
13. Inquiring about benefits too soon.
14. Talking about salary requirements too soon.
15. Being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question.
16. Failing to make a strong case for why you are the best person for this job.
17. Forgetting to bring a copy of your resume and/or portfolio.
18. Failing to remember what you wrote on your own resume.
19. Asking too many questions.
20. Asking no questions at all.
21. Being unprepared to answer the standard questions.
22. Failing to listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying.
23. Talking more than half the time.
24. Interrupting your interviewer.
25. Neglecting to match the communication style of your interviewer.
26. Yawning.
27. Slouching.
28. Bringing along a friend, or your mother.
29. Chewing gum, tobacco, your pen, your hair.
30. Laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, lip-smacking.
31. Saying “you know,” “like,” “I guess,” and “um.”
32. Name-dropping or bragging or sounding like a know-it-all.
33. Asking to use the bathroom.
34. Being falsely or exaggeratedly modest.
35. Shaking hands too weakly, or too firmly.
36. Failing to make eye contact (or making continuous eye contact).
37. Taking a seat before your interviewer does.
38. Becoming angry or defensive.
39. Complaining that you were kept waiting.
40. Complaining about anything!
41. Speaking rudely to the receptionist.
42. Letting your nervousness show.
43. Over explaining why you lost your last job.
44. Being too familiar and jokey.
45. Sounding desperate.
46. Checking the time.
47. Over sharing.
48. Sounding rehearsed.
49. Leaving your cell phone on.
50. Failing to ask for the job.

Recruitnik fan? Get new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

25 Most Influential Recruiters on Twitter

2010-01-11T20:19:00.002-05:00

Thank You!
http://tinyurl.com/yeccgc3

The Coming-Out Stories of Anonymous Bloggers

2009-09-08T20:43:00.003-04:00

I am often asked why I Blog under Recruitnik. When I first started writing my Blog; I wasn’t sure what direction I would go and exactly what I wanted to do with it. I am in HR and the last thing I wanted to do was for my personal views and opinion to be directly associated with my company. They are my opinions and I own them.

It is not that I am a coward and I have nothing to say that would get me fired. It’s actually quite the opposite. If I did write something that would get me fired, it would be clear to me that my company is no longer a fit anyway. I soon discovered that colleagues were reading my Blog that had no idea it was me. They related to my posts and appreciated my voice. It showed me that we are aligned.

Someone contacted me the other day that was interested in what I had to say. I thought he reached out because he knew I was “Recruitnik.” In reality he wanted my input because of my position within my company gives me credibility in the Recruiting space. I wanted my credibility to come from my ideas, experience and track record.

It got me thinking about the whole reason I started writing in the first place. I have it posted on my Blog and have from day one. “I have been ranting & raving for years about everything recruitment & for some reason, on occasion, people listen!” I am passionate about what I do and just wanted to have a voice separate from my company. I never hid; it is easy to figure out who I am. I just didn’t want who I work for and what I do to influence people to hear me. I just wanted to connect with people leaving off the title and influence.

Anonymity and the internet are hot topics today; and I believe people have the right to a voice and also privacy if they want it. Many choose to use pen names, pseudonyms, alias, or whatever you want to call it for reason such as what I have mentioned. Others use it because it might get them more attention and still others because they wish to draw attention to issues without any predetermined ideas about who they are or their background. There is a rich history in literature, periodicals and the press of the use of pen names.

Do you recognize the name Samuel Clemons? He wrote under the pseudonym Mark Twain. BTW-he also published some work under the alias Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass.

Recruitnik fan? Get new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

Don't be a Face-crack or a Twidiot

2009-08-11T06:46:00.003-04:00

Tweetwalking: Twittering while asleep. (Seriously, stop going to bed with your Blackberry!)

Twidiot: Any Twitter user who can't string together a grammatically correct sentence in 140 characters. Oh, the shame!

Don't be a Face-crack or a Twidiot: South Florida Breaking News, from WPTV

Recruitnik fan? Get new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

More thoughts on the social media expert question

2009-07-22T21:00:00.002-04:00

Great Post By Eric Elkins from Examiner.com

He writes: symptomatic of the problem with writing about social media — most of the people who read about it, share it, and comment on it are already in the business. How does that help anyone else? Read the full article: More thoughts on the social media expert question

Recruitnik fan? Get new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

What makes someone an “EXPERT?”

2009-07-13T21:40:00.004-04:00

It is fascinating (and also annoying) to me how many people consider themselves “Social Media Experts”. Another is popular one is “Life Coach.” What qualifies you?

I don’t consider myself an expert on anything. Even the things that I am the most savvy, I have a lot to learn and yet I notice people that clearly appear to know less then I do are “Gurus.”

I respect true “Experts” and “Coaches” I admire and want to learn from them. I find it irresponsible and also annoying for people to claim to be an expert or coach when they do not have any real credentials to back it. I also find that in many cases it is just to exploit people that are less informed.

Great post by Peter Shankman "Is your social media expert really an expert?" http://ow.ly/hc5h

Recruitnik fan? Get new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

Six Rules to Twitter! Mind your Tweets!

2009-06-29T18:44:00.007-04:00

1- Think before you tweet.

2- Don’t tweet & drink- it is worse they drunk dialing.

3- Don’t type angry! If you are unable think for at least 10 seconds about what you are going to post, save it for later.

4- Remember once it is out there… it is out there… all the white out in the world will not remove it from the internet.

5- Humor is a good thing

6- Thoughtlessness is bad- Mad at your sister? Call, text and/or email her. Don’t share your (or her) dirty laundry. Now read #4 again.

Recruitnik fan? Get new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

Twouble with Twitters

2009-06-25T22:02:00.002-04:00

This is hysterical!

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email! Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

I Am a Blogger!

2009-06-12T07:02:00.009-04:00

I like this article written by Penelope Truck Brazen Careerist. How to feel like you have time to read everything | Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist

Here is the first paragraph:
The cocktail party conversations I have about what I do for a living reveal
so much about the world. For example, if I say I have an Internet startup,
people generally think: She’s unemployed. If I say I write a syndicated
newspaper columnthat runs in 200 papers, people are impressed.
If I tell people I’m a blogger, they say,“I don’t have time to read blogs.”

I know that downward look from people when they say, "I don't have time to read blogs" Maybe they just don't care about alternative thoughts & want to stay inside there safe box reading their one newspaper. I am a blogger! If you are reading this you made time. Thanks!!

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

Status Update Abuse!

2009-06-08T21:57:00.004-04:00

I feel I have been personally violated by status update abuse. I actually remove people that post 10 updates at a time…several times a day. Anyone that I know that is truly that interesting just doesn’t have time to post 50 times a day. I pop on to twitter to see what interesting things people are posting and I find one person dominating my home page. I feel that is just overkill. I do not want to know every time someone goes to get the mail unless something amusing happened along the way. Some people write things that are pretty funny. My brother-in-law’s updates are usually not more they one or two words, if you know him; he is a man of few words so his updates are perfect. I do find it cool that my husband was able to post pictures of my daughter on Facebook 15 minutes after she was born. I don’t find it polite to try to spam or market a product or service to your friend’s connections that you do not know.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

follow me on Twitter

Does your boss follow you?

2009-06-01T07:52:00.004-04:00

What do you put out there for all to read? Do you protect or hurt your personal brand? What about your professional image? Your reputation? Do you want to be promoted? Do you want to keep your job? Do your boss, co-workers and colleagues follow you? Do you follow them? What about your mom? Your kids? I personally utilize Facebook for personal use only. When I say personal, I mean that I will connect to co-workers but not to network contacts, candidates or fans (no offense). I like to know that my co-workers baby just got his first tooth and that another posted pictures from her skiing trip. But what about your employee’s tweet that morning at 10:05 AM that they got so wasted last night they spent the morning hugging the toilet. Did I mention they came to work at 11AM claiming to have been at the doctor? Holy cow, what if this tweet was written by your boss? You may feel that if they don’t like it they shouldn’t read it. Here is the thing; it is your problem if you hurt your image. What you write today can comeback and visit you years from now.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

Blogging Slang

2009-05-28T10:34:00.003-04:00

A Reference Guide for Retail Bizbloggers

Fun post written by Barbara Farfan.

She writes…

Besides technical terms and jargon relating to the blogging medium, there is also plenty of lingo (a/k/a “blingo”) that is tossed around the blogosphere. Much blogging slang is created by combining the word "blog" with other common words in order to come up with a blog-specific application and definition. Below is the “blingo” that finds its way into the blogging conversations most often

Blargon

A combination of “blog,” and “jargon,” this is the term that refers to the specific technical terms that are used among those who are actively involved in the blogging community. Read more….Blogging Slang: A Reference Guide for Retail Bizbloggers

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Social Networking & Professional Responsibility

2009-05-14T21:02:00.002-04:00

I have been driving the use of Microblogging with a few departments (obviously Talent Acquisitions is one) in my company. We have been utilizing social networking sites and blogging for a while. It has brought to mind that we as a company should update our policy on social media. My fear was not with the recruiters. They have been out there representing our brand well for years. What about other employees? Do they understand their responsibility when they attach our company to there profile and answer a question on Linkedin.com as a representative of the corporation? My question is DO they have a responsibility and where does that responsibility end?

I am not talking about censorship; I am talking about being professionally responsible while representing your company’s brand. What are the lines between personal “tweet’s” and unintentionally hurting the company you loves brand.

Google's Goats

2009-05-05T21:23:00.005-04:00

Instead of mowing the lawn, Google rented goats! No joke! So how many goats will it take to do my front lawn?
read more...

Trapped into Leadership

2008-04-01T19:02:00.005-04:00

I have a friend that has worked for the same (stuffy, old school) firm since graduating college over 10 years ago. He worked in the same department for years and at one point managed a few people and that was OK. He wanted to move into another position and the obvious choice was to be a location manager. He said it is what he wanted and moved out of state to pursue the opportunity. I have watched him in this position for the past 1 ½ years knowing all along he was not happy. Noticing he is disengaged, my husband often gives him a hard time that he doesn’t read his industry’s news and blogs to keep up. I don’t. Clearly, it doesn’t interest him or he would naturally be drawn to it.

He wasn’t content in his last position and he is not happy managing the people in the very same position. He approached his boss and asked about moving into another role entirely. He feels it is a better fit to make that change. He was told he would have to step back into his last position and remain in that position for 2 years before even being considered for that new role. Stepping back into the last position would be a substantial pay cut for only a chance to move into this other role. His only other option is to stay where he is.

Of course, he is going to leave eventually. He feels trapped and has already sent me his resume to look over. We have sat down a few times and discussed what is important to him in a career. Not once has he mentioned leading people. He is great one on one and really enjoys directly advising one client at a time. He was forced into managing a whole office, including all the administration and due diligence that comes along with it. I am sure he is good at his job but he is not passionate about it. I hate that. I don’t think he actually knows how it would feel to really enjoy what he does for a living.

This friend is great at managing processes. This friend was forced to be a leader. If he reads this he may even take offense to this post not realizing that I only wrote this out of my own concern for his happiness. No wonder he is confused. He was conditioned to believe stepping back is failure instead of a redirect into what really may be a great fit and a place he can be successful and happy.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!

Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter”

Do you need a leader or a manager?

2008-03-17T22:33:00.005-04:00

Let’s face it, not everyone is cut out to “lead” others. We have all witnessed people in and promoted to positions in which they are just not a fit. Personally, I have been “managed” or should I say victimized by this more then once in previous jobs.

I worked for an IT company years ago. My boss was a programmer and a really great guy. I was hired to develop and manage a few processes. (Of course, recruitment was one.) I quickly fell into leading several departments. My boss made sure we had the processes and I made sure the team was supported and processes were implemented.

My boss would come in the middle of the night to reboot a server and end up writing code for 10 hours without a thought. Ask him to handle an employee issue and he would hide in his office until I settled it.

It worked out beautifully for both of us. Our roles fit. We were both pretty young with a lot of responsibility. Our balance just happened, it was not intentional, and it fit. I look back now and I understand. He was a great manager and not a leader and that was OK; we complimented each other.

Just because someone is a top programmer and manages his processes well, doesn’t automatically make him good at leading other programmers. In most companies to get ahead a person must be promoted to a leadership role even if it not the best fit for them. They may not even want it and look at it as the only way to move into new challenges. Managing things is important. Leading others is its own skill set.

When you are interviewing “management” candidates remember to look at the candidate and ask yourself “Do you need a leader or a manager for this role?"

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Are they a leader or are they a manager?

2008-03-11T21:21:00.005-04:00

We have all managed something at one point in our lives. Maybe it was an entire company or maybe it was just managing to get out of bed that morning.

Saying you manage people does not necessarily mean you lead them.

Here is an easy example. I work for a large multinational retailer. We have “Store Operators” or more commonly known as “Store Managers.” They do manage stores. They manage the ordering, financials, employee schedules, etc. Our most successful store operators have in common that they manage the administrative part of the job and lead their team.

Leading a team means investing in the team’s growth and meeting their needs so they can do the job successfully. Leading others is its own skill set.

When you are interviewing management candidates remember to reach beyond the scope of the administrative list on the resume. Look at the candidate and ask yourself “Are they a leader or are they a manager?”

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Why Everything You Do Today Matters Three Years From Now

2008-02-29T23:45:00.002-05:00

Great post written by Dennis Smith from wirelessjobs.com.

It is one more sentiment to treating people as you would like to be treated when sitting on the other side of the desk.

Why Everything You Do Today Matters Three Years From Now

The World's Most Innovative Companies

2008-02-22T19:58:00.018-05:00

Fastcompany.com's list of The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies. It is interesting that Nike is the only one listed that was also on the list last year. I am surprised LG wasn’t higher.

1- Google

2- Apple

3- Facebook

4- GE

5- Ideo

6- Nike

7- Nokia

8- Alibaba

9- Amazon

10- Nintendo

The World's Most Innovative Companies list continued

Recruitnik readers.
I am not feeling well, I think I am coming down with that Flu that is going around. I wanted to share this list with you because it interests me. I will be back next week with new original content! I promise!

Take Care! Ahh Cho!

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Rejection Letter?

2008-02-16T11:59:00.007-05:00

Occasionally I come across candidates that have a hard time accepting that we decided not to hire them.I call all candidates that were not selected after the interview process to let them know we went in another direction and that I wish them luck in there career pursuit. I follow up that call with a personal email. I want to make it clear and do not want encourage any false hope. Occasionally a candidate will call me back and ask for additional feedback. I rarely provide additional information on our selection to avoid any potential legal repercussions.This fictitious candidate handled rejection differently then most candidates. I found this letter on abcsmallbiz. No matter how many times I read this letter it cracks me up!

Dear Hiring Manager,

Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me a position in your department at this time. This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite your companies' outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume the position in your department this August. I look forward to seeing you then.
Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,
Interviewee

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Networking Online

2008-02-13T22:21:00.005-05:00

This year I have made a commitment to do a better job connecting with people with similar interests though online communities. I have accounts with twitter (in which I have no idea how it is helpful to me) Myspace, Facebook and few others but haven’t done anything with them. Maybe one day I will, who knows. To quote Seth Godin “I don't want to use a tool unless I'm going to use it really well.” I don’t have time for every community. I want to focus on communities that I visit daily and really enjoy. I have been active with recruitingblogs.com for a while. I have now decided to expand to building relationships though ERE.net and Linkedin.com. I have been visiting the sites for a while, but have not been active in the communities.

It “feels” different to build professional relationships online then in person. People that are uncomfortable in networking situations are able to connect with people with similar interests comfortably and share best practices online. I connect with people far and wide that I probably never would have connected with if it wasn’t for online communities. I have also reconnected with past colleagues and have reconnected friends that lost contact years ago.

I have noticed people with thousands of contacts. Often they know these people in one form or another even if it was just for a moment in time. I don’t know if I could manage them effectively.

I meet great people and discover interesting Blogs that I truly enjoy reading. I occasionally send out invitations to Bloggers from sites I read regularly, people I connected to in some way or are involved in similar discussions. These people have similar interests to me and I learn from them and often I am inspired. Some people know me or my Blog but I am sure people have said “Who is this?” just as I have for others.

I have some apprehensions about connecting online. Who are these people anyway? “He appears to be nice and has a friendly avatar but did he create his profile from jail?” I had one reader contact me. I truly appreciate that he enjoys reading my Blog and hope he continues. He complimented me and I do appreciate that. I looked at his Blog and realized that I don’t want to make a direct connection. His Blog appeared to bash candidates. If you read my Blog regularly you know that offends me. I was a candidate once and so were you. I do hope he keeps reading and respects my choice.

I try to pick my online “connections,” contacts,” “friends,” as carefully as I can. I want to feel connected in some way by similar prospective, interests or friends. As far as communities…you can’t pick your neighbors but you can choose the ones that you consider “friends.”

I will look back on this post next year and see if my views have shifted. Maybe I will have 1000+ contacts from all over the globe and may I will have 100.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Helpful Tips to Being an Engaged Phone Recruiter

2008-02-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

The past few years I have been conducting the majority of my interviews over the phone. In person interviews are undisputedly more effective for evaluation. My company opted for the majority of initial interviews with the recruiter to be over the phone and the 2nd to be in person. This was after weighing the cost of travel expenses and the amount of time management recruiters would spend traveling across the country.

I have posted a rant about being a passionate, engaged recruiter on this blog more then once and never forget how it feels to be on the other side of the desk or phone. I bring this up because I have heard repeated horror stories of disengaged and disrespectful recruiters in a face-to-face interview distracted by an incoming email, phone call, coworker or lunch. It is hard to feel valued when the interviewer prefers giving their attention to meatball sub over you.

If you interview by phone it is even easier to get distracted. The majority of the candidates that I interview are engaged and they want a job with my company. They deserve my full attention so we can both decide if we there is a fit for the position to which they applied.

Here are a few things I do when interviewing over the phone to make sure that I am not distracted and I am fully engaged in the conversation.

-I arrange a time with the candidate that we can have an uninterrupted phone interview.
-I put the candidates resume up on my computer screen even if I print it out.
-I move away from my keyboard and mouse just enough to deter me from the temptation to do anything else while the candidate is speaking.
-I do not have call waiting on my phone. If I am on the phone, incoming calls go to voicemail.
-I do not have another phone anywhere near me with a ringer on.

We do not have to be perfect but we do have to care about what we do and why we do it. So, the next time you are looking for your daily fix of reading recruitnik.net please wait until after you finish speaking with the candidate. I will be here waiting for you to stop by to say hello after the interview.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

Water Cooler Time

2008-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

I have been working from home since November 2006. I knew it was inevitable about year in advance due to the growth of my company. My husband was worried I would feel isolated by not leaving the house. I try to leave everyday even it is just to run out to the supermarket for a few things. I had a hard time adjusting at first.

I have learned to make a conscious effort to call colleagues. I call this my “water-cooler time” I only see a small portion of people I work with and the majority of our meetings are phone and video conferences.

In an office setting you have 5 minutes walking from the car to the office to ask Mary about her grandkid's birthday party and 2 minutes walking down the hall to get a drink to see if Brad was able to resolve the contract issue from yesterday.

We are social beings. I make a conscious effort to speak with people. It is important for our team to bond if people are conscious of it or not. Great business ideas and best practice learnings often come out of informal chats. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying I chit-chat all day with colleagues instead of recruiting. Just the opposite is true. Ten minutes to breathe is necessary to refocus and keep you in the game after several back to back interviews.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

10 Emailing Rules When Communicating for Business

2008-02-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

I sit in front of my computer for an ungodly amount of hours a day. I do embrace the ease of communicating via email and text message. I am cautious as I can be not to take to human element out of dealing with others. There is no replacement for personal contact. The one thing that is widespread and often missing, in this wonderful instant message world is discretion and etiquette. My attention is not to offend anyone by this posting, just to educate. If I didn’t experience these things often and first hand I wouldn’t know about them to write about them.

1- Use common sense. If you do not have any, borrow someone else’s.

2- Email a thank you/ follow up or touch base to a client, potential employer, colleague, contact after meeting is always wise when maintaining a relationship.

3- Don’t over email! Business minded people appreciate good communication. Follow up is great. Emailing every 2 hours “Did you make a decision on the proposal?” is a bad choice.

4- Be the professional that you are. Don’t be cutesy! No Emoticon :) :(, abbreviations (LOL), pictures or backgrounds.

5- Don’t BCC.

6- Spell check. All too often I receive a muddled email from business associates that clearly didn’t reread what they wrote before sending. They just typed in a quick reply email and hit send.

I can safely assume that that majority of these preoccupied emails are because someone wrote me back from a Blackberry. To really make my point about mistyping/spelling from Blackberries being all to common issue, the company in which my husband works provides a high level of customer service and they discourage employees from replying via blackberry email with a clients.

7- DON’T CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING! It looks like you are shouting. I do have a bad habit of writing as I speak. I do my best to verify what I write so it will not be misconstrued.

Once I had a colleague respond to an email with a light, “Whatever.” I worked with him for many years, and didn’t think twice about the email. He meant it as “Whatever you want, I am on the same page.” However, he responded to “All” which copied my boss who only knows him as an acquaintance. My boss called me angry that this person would respond to my suggestion so inappropriately with “WHAT-EV-ER!” Kudos to my boss for getting clarification from me via phone. That could have ended badly for my colleague.

8- When you forward emails, to “all contacts” in your address book make sure you know who “all contacts” includes.

9- Do not forward jokes, political propaganda or spiritual enlightening chain emails, to anyone’s work email. More then once I have heard of someone almost losing and losing their job because of bad discretion.

My mother-in-law, out of all people sent me an email to work; She knows I don’t use my work email for personal use. In the subject line it read “Striper pole.” I almost had a heart attack. What in the world did she send me!? I neurotically forward it to my home email. When I opened it that evening it was a kitten hugging a red and white striped pole. She did it intentionally. Months later, she was still laughing at me.

10- If you decide to forward these ever so valuable “10 emailing rules when communicating for business” via email, go back and read # 1, 8 and 9 first, then proceed.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email! Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” via Email!

5 ways to make an impact as a new employee (without being seen as a brownnoser, bulldozer or brat)

2008-01-30T07:56:00.000-05:00

Great advice from Lindsey Pollak. This advice exceeds the scope of new employees; I feel it applies to anyone entering or uncomfortable in networking situations. I have witnessed people at professional levels at networking events that can really benefit from this advice. Collecting some basic information on how to network can be the difference of being a wall flower to really gaining insight from people in your company or in your profession.

5 ways to make an impact as a new employee(without being seen as a brownnoser, bulldozer or brat) Author Byline: Lindsey Pollak is the author of "Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World" (HarperCollins, 2007) Author Website: http://www.gettingfromcollegetocareer.com

If you’re in your first few months as a new employee, you are probably eager to make an impact. At the same time, you want to be careful not to rock the boat too much. How can you strike a balance between productivity and politeness? Here are five tips to guide the way:

1. Listen more than you talk. As my grandfather used to say, there’s a reason you have two ears and one mouth. The best way to learn the ropes and make friends is to listen carefully to the way people in your organization interact. People love to talk about themselves, so give colleagues and clients the opportunity to share their advice, guidance and tricks of the trade. Listening is a great way to win friends and influence people.

2. Network up and down your organization. In other words, bond with the mailroom guy. Many employees spend all of their time networking with higher-ups, when the truth is that to get things done in an organization you need connections all over. Ask a wide variety of people to lunch or hang out in the kitchen and introduce yourself to everyone who walks in. You never know from whom you might need a favor in the future.

3. Be a problem solver. As you join projects and begin to make a contribution with your work, be the employee who offers solutions to problems, not the employee who is always complaining. Being known as the go-to problem solver is a great reputation to cultivate.

4. Seek feedback. Instead of wondering what your new employer thinks of you, take the initiative and ask. You can do this informally with colleagues—“Hey, since I’m new, I would love your feedback on my presentation.”—or formally through regular performances reviews with your manager. If you choose the latter, work with your boss to create specific goals so you will be able to measure your success moving forward.

5. Don’t curb your enthusiasm. Finally, never underestimate the power of a smile. Be yourself, but let your passion and enjoyment of your work shine through. Gloomy guys and gals are generally not high on the list for promotions.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Recruitnik fan? Get all new posts delivered to your email!
Subscribe to “Through The Eyes of a Recruiter” by Email!