Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Alternate Life Interviewing?

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The New York Times‘s Matt Villano recently reported that some companies are offering job interviews and career fairs in Multi-User Virtual Environments, or MUVEs, such as Second Life:

Much of the recruitment is done through job fairs. TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, an advertising firm in New York, held two virtual job fairs last year, events that included employers like Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Verizon Communicationsand Sodexho, a food and facilities management services company. Bain & Company, the global management consultants in Boston, has sponsored virtual job fairs in Second Life, as well.

Obviously, it makes sense that Linden Lab, the owner and operator of Second Life, would offer interviews in their alternate world.  Certainly any employer that seeks tech-savvy (most likely younger) employees could benefit by this type of recruiting.

It is an interesting trend.  Call me old fashioned, but I would tend to think that someone who has created an elaborate alternate world for themselves may have too much time on their hands. 

I better run now.  I want to update my avatar in Second Life 🙂

 Keppie Careers – Keeping on top of career trends for you!  www.keppiecareers.com

With Job Searching, More Isn't Better

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The Wall Street Journal reports on the fact that companies are enhancing their corporate recruiting sites and functions to make themselves more attractive to candidates.  Features such as blogs, video, podcasts, interactive chats, graphics and more are intended to appeal to Generation X and Y. 

With all of the time, effort and money being put into these sites to make them competitive with candidates, it was interesting to note one candidate’s take on the situation:

Some employers also have gone overboard with enhancements to their career portals by adding too many graphics and links, notes Matt Dunn, a second-year Harvard Business School student. “Companies have become addicted to technology,” he says. “They’re making their sites even harder to navigate because of all the bells and whistles.”

This seems like the perfect irony.  Even as companies reach out to recruits who supposedly embrace all of these bells and whistles, there is a call for getting back to basics.  Give the recruits information that is easy to access and digest that helps them decide where to apply.  Sometimes bells and whistles and podcasts are too much.

This concept of “more is not better” can also apply to the job seeker.  Sometimes, it is best to ignore all the bells and whistles out there.  You can create high tech resumes online, video resumes, resumes that incorporate your voice, links to every place you ever worked…It goes on and on.  However, sometimes, your skills come through in a more true and genuine way when you offer them simply.  No bells, no whistles to try to cover up (or ironically highlight) your weaknesses.  Just you, your skills and your accomplishments.  Unadulterated you.  Refreshing for a change!

Keppie Careers can help you put your best foot forward.  We’ll write a resume that helps you and employers realize what you have to offer!  www.keppiecareers.com

Is Your Head Spinning?

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Wednesday.  Hump day.  The only thing I can think to say is “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  It seems as if every post in the past week has been about change.  Resumes may be changing.  The workforce is going to change.  Work itself may change, although it may take 10 or 20 more years.

We need to be ready for change.  We need to prepare.  Train.  Think ahead.  We don’t want to be left on the cutting room floor while all of our colleagues move on.  It’s enough to make you want to take a nap!

With all of this impending change, it’s a good idea to stop and review the here and now.  Don’t get too caught up in the what ifs of the future that you miss something in the present.  No, you don’t want be left behind.  You want to keep up-to-date.  Change will come – with or without you. 

Seems like the day before Valentine’s Day is a good time to suggest that you stop and smell the roses. 

Keppie Careers will help you prepare for change.  Resume writing, career coaching…we do it all – www.keppiecareers.com

VisualCV – Is this the resume wave of the future?

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It’s all the buzz this week.  A company called VisualCV claims to be reinventing the resume.  It allows video, pictures and a portfolio, graphics and “other supporting documents.”  The point is to make your resume come alive and potentially eliminate the need for a first interview.  (The idea being that you’ll be providing so much information, the employer won’t need to meet you to decide if you are a good fit.)

No one wants to stop progress, but I am having a hard time visualizing these being the “next big thing.”  The main issue is a topic for any video resume.  Many in the hiring industry hate these resumes because of the potential discrimination issues and the fact that it takes longer than 7-10 seconds (the time allowed to quickly review a paper resume) to review something online.

Do employers REALLY want to see an online copy of your transcript (it’s not very official that way)?  You can post examples of your work.  However, what issues are there in posting work product that you’ve done for a particular employer online for another employer to see?  Is it really necessary or useful to post a bar chart of your income?  The site suggests that an applicant could post a video of themselves addressing a gap in their resume.  Will an employer actually sit through that?

Let’s not even touch on the fact that most people who haven’t had professional training don’t come across very professionally on video.  It can be difficult enough to present well in an in-person interview, let along producing a slick looking piece for an online resume.

This seems like a great opportunity for those in very creative industries who would have a portfolio of work to demonstrate or who could benefit from a way to combine video with their resume without having to start from scratch.  However, for the rest of the working world, this brave new resume (with the ironic moniker of a CV – how retro) seems like a lot of lights and mirrors.

It’s almost as if tech people want to press these creative resume opportunities in hopes that the more they offer them, the more likely employers are going to want to see them.

Of course it makes sense for the resume to move to the next level, but it seems to me that it must be done in a way that meets criteria for the end users, not only in a way that allows the job seeker to demonstrate their life story.

Keppie Careers will help you put your best foot forward!  We offer resume writing, mock interviews and career coaching for every candidate.  www.keppiecareers.com

Your Work E-mail Isn’t Private

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Your cat isn’t the only one reading your e-mail.ÂÂ

As everyone scurries around preparing for a recession and focuses on trying to secure a new job, new networking contacts and a stable paycheck for the future, it is a good time for a reminder about privacy issues with your work computer, e-mail use and online time.  In a word – they aren’t private.

Hopefully, this does not come as a surprise to anyone.  NBC’s Today Show reported today that 50% of businesses routinely scan their employees’ e-mail.  Around 19% of companies hire someone whose job it is to review e-mail coming from the office.

In theory, businesses are hoping to protect trade secrets and learn about potential harassment situations by scanning e-mails.  In reality, anything that you send from your work computer becomes fair game for review and potential disciplinary action, including termination.

So, be sure to review your company’s policy regarding work computer use.  Recognize that anything you send or receive on your work’s network is fair game for “big brother” to review.  If you are engaged in an active job search and have been spending a lot of time on job boards or sending resumes and applications, it could bite you when you least expect it.ÂÂ

It is best to do your job seeking activities on your own personal computer using your personal e-mail address.  You don’t want to invite a pink slip that may not have been earmarked for you as a result of your own actions.

Keppie Careers will write your resume and help you with your job search:

www.keppiecareers.com