Tales from a Job Hunter: HR Fails

Cropped_guy-eating-paper-in-frustration-smallWorking with internal Human Resource teams is part of any job hunt. HR has a tremendous impact on candidates, and I’ve sometimes wondered if they realize it. Candidates look to them for information and access, as well as take from HR their first impressions of the company. 

Maybe I’ve been a bit spoiled, but our HR Director at Studiocom was top-notch and I had a great experience working with her during my interview period and in the time since as an employee. She’s open, honest, hardworking and personable – I never felt like a number and I came to trust her. Unfortunately, many of my other experiences with HR were not this rewarding – and I’m going to share a few with you now as part of my “Tales from a Job Hunter” series. Continue reading

Tales from a Job Hunter: The Bait and Switch

imagesGetting laid off from a job is a difficult thing to go through. There are feelings of sadness, anger, hopelessness, opportunities, relief, fear, etc. Add this to the roller-coaster ride of emotions that is the job search and you’ve got one pretty intense individual. That was me a few years ago – I was up one day, and down the next, sure I’d found the best thing then positive I’d never find anything. Not exactly a great time for a potential employer to change the terms of the job…but they did. In this “Tales from a Job Hunter” post, I’ll tell you exactly what happened and what I did about it. Continue reading

Tales from a Job Hunter: Hiring Manager Adds to Job Description During Interview

SRA blog Jan 1 job descriptionIt’s an awesome feeling – the highs of job searching give rushes of adrenaline and confidence abounds. It’s necessary to feel this way because confidence is a key emotion that you need in an interview. So take that euphoria and use it to your advantage – like I did in this interview that I’ll share with you as part of my “Tales from a Job Hunter” series… Continue reading

Tales from a Job Hunter: Working with Recruiters

Recruiter Shaking HandsIf you’ve ever been on a job search, you’ve probably worked with recruiters at some point. I’ll start by saying that I’ve worked with some wonderful, smart recruiters who genuinely cared about placing me in the right job at the right company. However, I’ve also worked with recruiters who had their own agendas – to my detriment. 

As part of my “Tales from a Job Hunter” series, I’m sharing some problems I encountered and how you can deal with it if you find yourself in the same situation: Continue reading

Tales from a Job Hunter: Introduction

jobsearchwebsitesI’ve always wanted to write a series about my experiences on various job searches over the years, and I decided now would be as good a time as any to share this information and give some advice and learnings.

I’ve had great interviews, and terrible ones. I’ve worked with smart and thoughtful recruiters, and ones that never took the time to really learn what I do – resulting in wasted time for all involved parties. I’ve been treated poorly by HR too many times to count, and for each of those times my experience with the hiring managers was quite the opposite.

I learned a lot about myself and how to persevere – I am in charge of my career. I’m crafting a series of posts called “Tales from a Job Hunter” to give you insight into my mishaps, trials and successes in the hopes that it helps you as you journey through the working world. Continue reading