This is another story that, to me, illustrates how some job seekers create their own results in their search.

Thanks to Laurie S. for sharing this tale:

After finding myself a smart self starting college educated experienced individual laid off and unable to find work for 15 months you can imagine I have a million stories. The following is just one of many from my journal.

The interview lined up for today was for a part-time position. Because there was nothing to chose from in the full time job opportunities. Unless a person is maybe a nurse or a DUI Attorney…it is slim pickings. The interview was with a small insurance company and I had been going round with trying to set up an interview with them.

Finally, I received an email from the company saying they would like to set up an interview and when would be a good time for me. This email hit me as a little odd. It would have made more sense for them to call me to set something up Johnny on the Spot instead of playing email games. I replied to their email because there was not a phone number to call. My reply email was greeted with yet another email letting me know the date and time I selected was not available. The sender of the email sent it out late Friday, which means I did not receive their reply to my reply until Saturday morning. The sender of the email let me know they had 9AM or 11AM on Monday morning available. I let them know I would see them on Monday morning at 9AM. This response would have been a reply to their reply of my reply to their reply are you catching my drift about the insanity with this?

…The office was right in front of me; however, there were no lights on in the office. Actually, there was not a soul in the office.

“Great now what?” I said aloud and with much disappointment.

I was less and less feeling like being involved with an interview at this moment. I was not in the mood to answer the obligatory question, “So, what is your 5-year plan?”

My mood grew from irritated and indignant to a mischievous twinkle in my right eye. I had decided that I was not leaving until I had an interview. If I had to camp out on the bench I was sitting on all day long, somebody from the insurance office was going to sit down and look at my happy little smile. After about 30 minutes, a young woman came through the front doors and headed toward the office space I wanted to call my new home. She opened the front doors, turned the lights and sat down at the front computer. I gave her a few minutes to catch her breath. I made my way into the office space.

I put on my brightest smile. “Hello,” I said warmly.

The young gal looked at me and smiled back.

“I believe I have an interview for 9am this morning.” I continued.

“Okay let me give Jason a call.” She said.

She picked up the phone, “Hey your 9am interview is here. Umm.. I do not know. Uhhh yes…sure okay I will tell her.”

“Okay Jason will be in about 15 minutes. Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.” She said.

“Great thank you.” I replied.

I took a seat and thought about the magazine I had left in the lobby. I should have brought it in because I do not want to sit and stare at the wall. I pulled out my day planner and made it look like I was organizing something in my life.

As luck would have it, my new friend at the front desk was a chatty. I  learned they received over 500 resumes for this part-time position.

“I am sorry I was late today but I had to stop and pick up the mail at our old office.” She said.

“No problem.” I answered.

“Jason should be here soon. He is actually a friend of mine that is how I got this job.” She laughed.

“We all just came back from a weekend trip to Las Vegas.” She smiled

Hmm.. I thought to myself. I am not sure about how I feel about that idea. This gal was about half my age. I was getting the feeling we did not have much in common. I lied and said, “Really that is cool your employer paid for you to have a weekend in Las Vegas.” I said

“So what do you do now?” She asked.

“Well I am one of those casualties of the economy and lost my job. It is tough out there right now so I am bartending at the moment.” I said.

A young guy with curly blonde hair whipped through the front doors.

“Hi, sorry I am running late I will be with you in a moment. Uhh, actually just follow me back.” he said breathlessly.

I followed Jason into a conference room. “Well this is our conference room.” he said. “Have a seat.” He said.

I took out a fresh resume for him. I knew since he had been running around at Mach 2 speed this morning and had forgotten our interview he would need to be refreshed about my qualifications.

After my conversation with Chatty Kathy, I learned the guy sitting in front of me was 27 and it was his Daddyâ€s company.

He took his time looking at my resume.

“Uh huh, uh huh” she said while nodding his head. When he finished he put his hands on the table  and said,

“Well you are over qualified for this position. Why do you want to work here?” He looked at me.

Now my real answer floating in my head was because I do not have a Daddy to give me a job. However, I smiled my most charming smile I could muster and said,

“Look I would like to work in an industry that I know is going to be around. I have a lot to skills to offer a company. I have friends who work in the insurance industry and it seems to be somewhat stable. Job security is really important to me.” I finished.

“Well where do you see yourself in 5 years?” he asked.

There it was the question I most hated. I wonder if there is some unwritten rule in an interview that this stupid question must be asked by the employer or the 5-year plan association people fine them some exurbanite fee.

I took a breath looked directly into Jasonâ€s eyes and said.

“Everyone has plans and goals but I have personally found life these days is more about figuring out how to maneuver around all of the stuff that life throws at you. I certainly did not plan on my father dying when I was 22. I did not plan on the economy taking the biggest dump in history since The Great Depression. My brother did not plan on his employer laying him off exactly a week after he told him that he and his wife were expecting their first child. It has been in my best interest to figure out how to not let things get in my way and to continue to move forward.” I finished.

I do not think Jason knew what to make of my answer. But it was the truth. It took him a moment to get back on track.

“Well we have more business then we know what to do with and that is why we are needing to add to our staff.” He said.

“You are very blessed and this is a nice thing to hear.” I smiled.

“Would you like a tour of the office?” He asked.

“I would love one,” I answered.

I think a tour of the office is a good sign. If he were not interested in my filling the position, he would not waste his time with a tour. There was not much to see in the office. He showed me to the part of the office that would have my cubicle. It was not much but it was more then I had now. And as he said in the interview, it was a position that could grow into different things.

“Jason, do you know when you would like to have the position filled?” I asked.

“By the end of the week,” He answered.

“If you are still seriously considering this position when you get home if you could shoot me an email,” he requested.

Something about the request felt strange and I could not put my finger on what it was. I mean why I would not want the job?

I held out my hand to shake his and said, “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Regardless of sending my email to let him know I was interested in the position and several calls to the office I never heard from Jason. Probably a blessing in disguise. 

It seems to me that Laurie sealed her own fate here by answering questions in a bit of a defiant manner. Instead launching into a tirade indicating that she wanted job security, she could have given some plausible, believable reasons that she was applying for the job. She might have expressed a real interest in the organization itself or in the industry.

In describing her future plans, she could have given an answer that did not incorporate her personal story or that of her family. Clearly, she knew she had made the interviewer uncomfortable with her reply. She knew to be prepared for this question, and could have delivered an answer that would have appealed to a prospective employer and given her a chance to land the job and to turn it down.

In my estimation, the tour was just a way to end the interview, not a positive sign of an impending offer.

On the other hand, clearly, Laurie had pretty much made up her mind that this was not the right place for her. They were late for the interview, traveled as a team for fun and it was a family business. None of this added up in Laurie’s mind as a great opportunity. However, as a job seeker, it is important to follow through so that YOU are the one turning down the opportunity that is not right. “Throwing” an interview and not taking things seriously just makes this another in a series of negative job experiences.

How great would it have been for Laurie had she landed this job, and then decided whether or not it was not the right environment for her? She could have declined the job, but boosted her confidence level at the same time.

So – think about it…Are your “horror stories” someone else’s fault? Or, are you contributing to your own downward spiral?

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I guess that I wasn’t too surprised to learn that some of these horror stories may have had different endings had the job seeker taken a different approach. NOT that this excused rude behavior on the part of the hiring manager, but it is important to learn something from these stories…

Todd shared this story:

So, this so-called executive recruiter sends me a questionnaire (10 pages BTW) and says complete it and schedule an “interview.” Well, in full disclosure, I only completed half, but went ahead and scheduled the meeting. After all, I was an executive and my resume was what I wanted to talk about. So, while waiting in the lobby of this firm, some guy walks out to greet me. He’s wearing some ridiculous looking suit with tennis shoes and showing off a shiny keychain that says “Hyundai” and acts like he’s doing me a favor by taking the time to meet with me.

The guy walks me to some conference room, throws the half-complete questionnaire on the table and begins to yell at me–literally. He proceeds to tell me that I’m a loser and have no future. I couldn’t believe it!

So, I stood up and said I made a mistake. Then–THEN–he calls me an “a-hole” as I walked out. All I said was, ” Back at ya!”

Following this, eh em…episode, I landed a job as an executive for an online brokerage firm in Texas. I always wanted to call the guy and rub it in, but why stoop to that level?

So, what can we learn here? Clearly, Todd wasn’t very interested in this job! The fact is, if he was not willing to fill out the application (no matter how long), he should not have bothered to apply! As a job seeker, it is your responsibility to follow directions regarding the application if you want the job!

On the other hand, if you see what seems like a ridiculous application process, consider it a red flag. Maybe this company has policies and proceedures that are not likely to mesh with your preferred way of doing things. Evaluate it and decide NOT to apply! Even if you are desperate for a job, you know, deep down, you are unlikely to be happy working for a place that sets up what you consider to be an absurd hiring process.

In this case, obviously, the hiring manager was a bit “off.” It’s never appropriate to yell and swear at an applicant, and you have to assume an employee would receive the same treatment. So, it was lucky for Todd that things worked out the way they did!

What do you think? Share your comments below.

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This is a tricky situation, as you don’t want to put your existing invitation in jeopardy. There’s no perfect solution to this. No general advice can address every possible situation or circumstance, so consider your options carefully.

What should you do if you have an offer in hand and have a chance to interview for another job? Consider the following, and make the choice that is right for you.

Your options.

Assuming you haven’t signed a non-compete and have no legal reason why you cannot work for another organization, nothing stops you from interviewing for a new job at any time – even if you’ve already accepted an offer. If you’re still negotiating and have not signed an acceptance, you can still consider other offers.

Inform the second company.

You may want to let the second company know that you are already considering one offer and ask about the timing for their hiring process. If you believe it is worth interviewing for the new opportunity, you can try to request the organization that has made you an offer to give you more time to consider joining them.

Beware of repercussions.

Be aware, companies can rescind their offers at any time, so if you stretch things out too much with the first company before knowing if you’ll have a chance at the second company, the hiring authorities at the first company may decide to cut you loose. This is a “the bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” scenario. In other words, if you have one offer, you don’t want to risk everything for the possibility of another unless the reward is big enough to be worth that risk.

Assess your standing.

You’ll want to assess your standing in being offered this role. Do you have the sense that you are a perfect fit, and they’ve been searching for someone with your skills for a long time? Or, are you more likely one of many people who are well suited to the job?

If you must make a decision before you have a chance to know your standing for the second potential opportunity, decide how much of a risk you are willing to take in hopes of landing the second job. If it’s worth the risk, you can let company #1 know you are interviewing for company #2 and see if that may inspire them to provide a more competitive offer if you are a highly competitive candidate.

If company #1 improves its offer once it knows you are being considered for company #2, your best bet is to continue and finalize negotiations with that company or assume you may lose the offer altogether unless you are the perfect candidate they’ve been waiting to meet. Only you can decide if it is a risk worth taking.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com.

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Long Job Search Survival Tips

You’ve heard the statistics: Managers prefer to hire people who already have jobs. The long-term unemployed face steep odds. Some 5.4 million people have been out of work for more than six months, and after about a year of being out of work, their chances of getting a job drop to 1 in 10 per month.

If employers want candidates who already have jobs, and hardly anyone lands a position after being out of work for six months or more, you may wonder why you should even bother applying for jobs. Despite these grim statistics, you can battle the odds and the stigma of unemployment, even when you’ve been out of work for six months or more. Remember: If a new job has eluded you for months, it’s possible your strategy and materials are holding you back.

Recently, Tim Muma of LocalJobNetwork.com interviewed me for their radio program about this topic. Click through to listen for tips to help make sure you keep moving ahead in the right direction — no matter how long you’ve been looking for a job.

photo by Werner Kunz

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The numbers in favor of networking and referrals as hiring sources for companies are compelling. CareerXRoads, a consulting practice that studies cutting-edge, recruiting technology solutions and teaches hiring professionals how to find and hire top talent, conducts annual studies about how organizations source and hire employees. Their 2012 study says it takes 10.4 referrals for one hire, but that nearly half of all companies make at least one hire for every five referrals they get. If you are not putting yourself in positions to be referred, you could be missing out on one very key aspect of job search networking.

The challenge for many people is figuring out how to leverage their networks in their favor. Many complain that they donâ€t know enough people, or they donâ€t know the right people who are connected enough to help them land opportunities. Job seekers would be wise to tap into the various online tools created to help them identify and connect with people in their networks who can help them. One new tool online is CareerSonar, a social job discovery website that ranks job opportunities based on the strength of your inside connections. Co-founder, Aviram Ben Moshe, shares top reasons to leverage your friends and contacts in your job search:

1. Uncover hidden opportunities. Donâ€t be blindsided and find out too late that many jobs are never posted publically. Ben Moshe notes, “If your friends know youâ€re looking, or are willing to consider new opportunities, you may gain access to hot jobs you wonâ€t find anywhere else.” When you consider that most companies hire one in every five referrals, statistically, you may find less competition for referred job leads, and youâ€ll move ahead in the hiring process beyond the application stage, which is where most job seekers start and end their searches.

2. Itâ€s the easiest way in the door. If youâ€ve never been referred for a job opportunity, you may not realize how nice it is to have an insider help you navigate the hiring process. Ben Moshe notes, “In this day and age, computer programs scan resumes for keywords and most get filtered out before a human even lays eyes on them.

3. Friends will give you tips about the recruiting process. Ben Moshe reminds job seekers that their friends are often willing to go out of their way to help.

4. Companies prefer referrals. Statistics consistently suggest that employee referrals are the most desirable source of hiring at practically any company. “Companies will always prefer a candidate who comes with a trusted built-in recommendation from an employee,” says Ben Moshe.

5. Make an informed decision. Hiring is a two-way process. Companies are evaluating you, but youâ€re your job to check them out, too. Decide if itâ€s a place where you can envision yourself working. If you have any doubts, or see any red flags along the way, youâ€ll likely be sorry later if you accept a position.

Do not squander your opportunity to be referred. Reach out to contacts and use all of the available tools at your disposal to engage with your community of colleagues and contacts.

Read the whole post on U.S. News & World Report.

photo by jypsygen

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It’s not such a big surprise, really. LinkedIn has been “hiding” this resource behind the “More” tab on its toolbar for a long time!

Personally, I always liked Answers. In fact, my very first on-line client when I launched my business came to me because of LinkedIn Answers. He liked my answer to his question about resumes, and hired me to write his resume. I hired people for technical support early in my online business after I met them via Answers. I’ve been recommending small business owners and job seekers take advantage of Answers to help expand their networks and grow their influence.

Luckily, there are many, many more ways to demonstrate your expertise and expand your network beyond LinkedIn and Answers. Have you tried Quora? This network focused totally on providing a forum for questions and answers is still alive and kicking.

LinkedIn’s email suggests several options in LinkedIn to “replace” answers:

• Connect with like-minded professionals in Groups
• Ask other LinkedIn members questions and receive immediate feedback via Polls
• Follow influencers for access to insightful professional content
• Facilitate conversations with your connections via status updates

I am a big fan of LinkedIn. I’ve written in all of my books that having a LinkedIn profile and using it well is key for job seekers. I believe it is also very important for small business owners — or people who want to be small business owners. However, this action proves a more important point. This is not really about figuring out where else you can go to answer or ask questions. (Although, I do feel for the people who answer 500 questions a week…they are going to experience a serious gap in their days!)

This action really points out one important point: we do not have any control of anything that happens on the social networks we use. This is true of all of the networks — all can change on a dime. Look at Facebook — constantly changing issues that have to do with privacy and altering algorithms that influence who sees your updates.

Wait – don’t start deleting your social networking profiles. They can and will help you. In fact, I believe using social media – and using it well – is absolutely key to succeeding with your business and career goals.

Do not, however, put all of your proverbial eggs in social networking baskets that you don’t control. Engage on more than one network and – most importantly – create your OWN website (and blog, if you can write) to engage a community and highlight what you have to offer.

If you actively used Answers, you’ll probably look for other ways to replicate the experience. I saw one LinkedIn user commenting that he would create a Q&A Group with categories. But, remember the bigger lesson: own and control your profile and do not allow your online profile to fully be at the whim of someone who doesn’t care about you personally.

photo by aur2899

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Listening to her story, it was clear to me that this potential client can do so much more to improve her chances of finding a new job. How do I know? She said, “I guess there are a lot of things I haven’t tried, yet.”

Most importantly? She hasn’t prepared to network spontaneously! Ironic, right? How can you prepare for something spontaneous? Maybe it’s a technicality, but I believe it is absolutely possible. It’s one of the underpinnings of our new book, 100 Conversations for Career Success. With a little preparation (or, maybe a lot!), you can network effectively and convince people you meet that they should take a look at you!

Charles Purdy, Senior editor for Monster.com, recently asked us a series of questions about job search networking:

Is there really a formula for saying the right thing in a job hunt? How much should people plan to customize or speak “off the cuff?”

How are people networking incorrectly — why do they need scripts to help them (what are they saying wrong)?

Is it ever a good idea to cold-call a company for job? Whatâ€s are a couple of tips for doing so?

When youâ€re using something like Twitter or another social platform, how does the medium shape the message?

How have the rules about “the right thing to say” in a job hunt changed in the past 20 years?

Find out what we said on the Monster blog!

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It’s important to note — video resumes haven’t become mainstream, yet. However, in some cases, they may make a difference in helping someone land an interview.

For example, companies such as the nonprofit Music Saves Lives have successfully incorporated video introductions as part of their hiring and candidate screening process for volunteer positions. Chief Executive Officer Russel Hornbeek says: “By requesting and watching the videos we have found those that truly have enthusiasm for our life saving programs. It’s great to be able to have our on-site touring staff recognize the volunteers chosen for the event we have them scheduled for.”

These video introductions are becoming more common in customer-facing industries such as retail, hotel, and hospitality because they offer the hiring manager an opportunity to observe the job seeker’s customer engagement and relationship skills in action.

However, it’s possible to successfully connect with a recruiter in a more traditional industry with a video introduction. Mike Ramer, president of Ramer Search Consultants—a professional recruiting firm specializing in the financial, energy, biomedical, and human resources fields—agrees that video resumes are a useful way for some candidates to demonstrate their professionalism and to help them differentiate from the crowd. According to him, “If I received a video resume, I would review it, and if it’s impressive, it can absolutely help the candidate.”

MyNextGig.com founder and CEO Richard Linden agrees. “These online video introductions are a great way for corporate recruiters to get to know the job seekers beyond the traditional resume and online social networking profile,” he says. “Many companies don’t like to be contacted face-to-face until the interview. Video introductions allow job seekers an opportunity to build a relationship with the recruiter and on the recruiter’s terms.”

MyNextGig.com’s job board offers job seekers the opportunity to create a video introduction. Its tools allow you to create a digital job profile that showcases your video resume as your application.

Linden suggests you follow these tips to create a video resume that makes a good impression:

1. Appearances are everything.

2. Short and sweet.

3. Don’t be afraid to be creative.

4. Highlights only, please.

Read the whole post on my U.S. News & World Report column.

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Is it worthwhile to hire a resume writer?

This was my reply:

Thanks for asking for my opinion! Without seeing your resume or knowing more about what you’d like to do, I cannot say if you, in particular, would benefit from hiring a professional resume expert (that is the right term). It’s possible that your resume is great, but it is equally likely that you have not highlighted the key points your next employer requires.

Depending on whom you have asked for feedback, you may or may not be learning how recruiters or hiring managers will see your resume. It’s possible your friends and family members may think your resume is great, but they probably aren’t familiar with how employers (and applicant tracking systems – the computer systems that screen resumes) will view your document.

The biggest test is if you land interviews as a result of your resume. (Of course, you’ll want to be sure to network at the same time as you submit resumes, as networking and referrals are the best ways to land jobs.)

I would suggest, if you are confident in your resume, you should seek opinions from hiring managers in your field and see how things go with your applications. If you land interviews, your resume is doing its job. If you don’t hear back, consider consulting with an expert to help so you don’t waste time and effort applying until you have the strongest document possible. (Don’t forget — you also lose money every day you are not employed. Depending on the cost of the resume and your expected salary, you may be able to easily make back the cost of the resume expert by landing a job just a day or two sooner than you otherwise would have landed.)

I’ve written some posts exploring this topic:

Should you hire someone to write your resume?

Why hire a career coach?

photo by practicalowl

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Recently, I presented on this topic to a group of women considering making changes in their lives and careers. In my presentation, I suggested an elevator pitch of 35 words or less.

Netshare Incâ€s blog focuses on the “micro pitch,” which is an “escalator” pitch that is complete in 140 characters, the number allowed on Twitter. The key is to “get to the point.”

Since not everyone will need to condense a pitch to 20 words or less, Iâ€m suggesting thinking of the answer to the question, “What do you do?” in 35 words or less.

Answer these questions in your pitch:

• What do you do? What do you offer? What makes you special and unique? (Relative to the person youâ€re meeting.)
• What is your goal/objective? What do you WANT to do?
• What impact do you have? What results do you create?
• How do you create positive results?
• Why should the person care? (Target your pitch so it’s relevant to each person you meet.)

Use this template. Note that the information doesnâ€t need to be in this exact order (see sample):

I work with (target audience) to (situation/solve what problem_). This is how (results/impact).

Hereâ€s a sample pitch for me and Keppie Careers:
As an author, speaker and coach, I help job seekers and small business owners achieve their goals by writing resumes and marketing materials and by teaching them how to leverage the power of social networks. (35 words)

What’s your short pitch? Share it in the comments.

Learn more about how to pitch and many more tips in You Need a Job: 5 Steps to Get One, which I co-authored with Hannah Morgan.

photo by mikeandanna

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