Holistic Recruiting - A New Age For Executives

Gone are the days of simply getting hired because you have the proper job qualifications and experience. The new HR specialist is looking at a holistic recruiting approach.

In simple terms “Emphasizing the importance of the whole person, and the interdependence of its parts”, as defined in the dictionary. Meaning simply, recruiters are looking at the complete you, and not just the standard qualifications and experience you bring to the table.

Through holistic recruiting, the HR specialist now looks at the complete you. And it’s your emotional intelligence that defines the best part of the holistic approach to hiring. Your core values as a person drive your EQ or emotional intelligence. As such, the better you score at the EQ level, the better equipped you are for fast track hiring and thus, promotion. If you already communicate well, and understand all that’s involved in being an active listener, then your EQ is already on solid ground.

Example: In the past, we’ve all seen employees promoted well beyond their capabilities. Yes, they were very good at their job, and as such worthy of being promoted to supervisor level. Their EQ, or emotional intelligence, was never a factor, and thus we have all kinds of great workers promoted into positions they are totally unable to manage. Having the skill to do a certain job does not equate to supervisor material, and there is plenty of proof of that fact. What we are only now learning is that holistic hiring, or career promotion, can best determine whether that hiring or promotion will in fact be successful.

With all the downsizing of late, there has been a huge emphasis on the so called team player. If there was a working team of 12 and now the head count of that team is only 6 and the work load is the same or likely even greater, that team had better really get along and work well together. As importantly, their supervisor better have the proper tools to manage that smaller team or the work never gets done, done badly or worse, the stress of it all just produces a great degree of sick time. Stress has become the leading cause of employee sick time. That stress is much less attributable to the work itself, but more to the personality conflicts and internal political strife that result from bad team management. By it’s very design, the initial holistic recruitment approach would never let that happen.

The holistic approach I have mentioned is very new and very few HR specialists are well versed on the subject. As an executive, you can make a huge difference in your career and to your company, if you fast track a complete understanding of this approach. This understanding works at every level of the company, and the sooner most employees are exposed to it, the sooner stress is removed and more productivity will result.

Cover Letters Are More Important Than Resumes

As a long time recruiter, coach and teacher, I have seen many aspects of the Job Search process change over the years. And bar none, nothing has evolved more in your job search process than the art of good cover letter writing. Regardless of what you may been reading today or what other experts are saying, think of it as a process and you’ll understand it very clearly:

The Job Search Process:

- I need a job or a better job

- I need a company to notice me and for them to call me

Isn’t that it in a nutshell? Nothing else matters! The process today is simply getting noticed enough to have a company go to the next stage.

- cover letter = first level of interest

- resume = your obvious qualifications

- job interview = determines your hire ability

The real you comes out in your cover letter, it’s an introduction and in that simple introduction you have to make that Real You stand out. We already assume that your resume qualifies you, but with a better cover letter as your introduction, the rest just doesn’t matter. If they don’t get past the cover letter, your qualifications, as great as they may be, just won’t get the recognition they deserve. That’s as simple as I can put it.

Resumes need to be good, whether they are functional or chronological. But at the end of the day, they don’t get tweaked too much. Altered slightly to best fit the job at hand yes, but that is still only a minor alteration. After all your resume is a blueprint at best, where you’ve been, what you’ve achieved, core competencies etc. There is only so much you can tweak in that area. But your cover letter now, is the real challenge. It needs to be altered for every possible career opportunity. Anything less is a template cover letter!

Your cover letter always needs to be tweaked exactly right for every job you apply for. These days the template cover letter is absolutely dead. They will never stand out, as everyone else is sending exactly the same thing, that’s what templates are, a sort of cookie cutter approach. And trust me, recruiters have seen thousands of letters, a stand out letter is rare and does just that, it really stands out when you write from the heart, a genuine, sincere and real person behind the word, gets noticed every time.

Remember the process. A recruiter reads your cover letter, when it’s interesting enough, they want to read your resume, where you detail your already qualified status and thus an job interview is arranged. But that process is all about your cover letter first!

Think of it this way, from a recruiter’s point of view. I receive 100 letters and resumes and all the resumes are about the same quality. How do I decide who to interview. Again, it’ll always come back to that amazing cover letter, that real you, they read as your introduction. This is the area we struggle with, as we are actually selling ourselves in the cover letter, like it or not, that’s exactly what you are doing. Telling your story yes, but really and truly Selling Selling Selling! Afterall do you want this job or not .. ok then, sell yourself! The resume doesn’t sell you, it’s a blueprint, a static page of information. They have to get through the cover letter to get to the resume. So the bottom line is prepare your resume first, you’ll need that as reference when writing a truly solid sales cover letter of introduction.

After your cover letter, the next obvious skill you really need to master is the art of the job interview itself. Again, that’ll come down to being real and your ability to articulate and communicate well any of your skills, experiences etc. Most people dread the job interview and rightly so, one needs to properly prepare. But most people don’t even get a job interview because they missed the single most important step, the cover letter.

I don't do this often, but there is one service out there that I do truly believe will give you the magic you need in cover letter writing. His name is Jimmy Sweeney and he’s been at it a very long time. In fact he has helped about 20,000 job seekers just like you. I would not hesitate to recommend his service or at the very least, suggest you read through his web site and see what his take is on cover letter writing overall. I have included a link to Jimmy’s website.

To Your Job Search Success!

http://www.extremelistening.com/coverletters.htm

3 Job Interview Questions To Master

Do You Have Any Questions

Usually this question is always reserved for last during an interview, and it’s hardly a fluffy, throw away question. It may just seem like the interview is over and they are asking this question as a courtesy. FORGET ABOUT IT!! This can be the make it or break it interview question.

Your answer here will be the last thing they hear from you. You can so easily make it a memorable moment by having a really good question to ask. No self serving questions please, those are killers and reason enough to dismiss your chances. Asking about on going training’ or ‘if hired, I would be very interested in moving to the next level, can you tell me what certifications I would need’ or ‘can you tell me if there is a company policy in place should there be a Pandemic’ … a thinking person asks these type of questions. That’ll be a great impression to leave them with.

If you do proper research on the company first, you’ll come up with great questions.

What Do You Know About Our Company

This is clearly where they get to see if you’ve done your homework. And again, it can make or break your chances for being hired. Remember you got the interview because you were qualified, so here’s your chance to show up prepared, it’ll be your edge over the other guy, remember he’s qualified too.

This is a hiring process, in essence, a competition, go in proactive .. a passive approach to any interview will backfire. Always be assertive, and never ever be aggressive.

Can You Tell Me About Your Weaknesses

They never actually want to hear about a weakness, they do want to hear how well you express yourself and deal with the question. Your answer always has to end in a solution that can be applied to the job at hand. Here’s a simple and yet great sample I teach all the time. “I used to actually have a problem saying no to people, these days with my time management and setting priorities skill set, I no longer have that problem as my To Do List manages me first, and saying no, is now a non issue”

You can see clearly how a real problem got turned around and how you in fact let them know about other skills you already have.

The answers to these questions are not hard, just need prep and solid rehearsing out loud. Out loud because otherwise how will you know how smooth and convincing you are? That in itself will give you that extra confidence you need.

Make notes, practice out loud, more research, ask questions … it all works!! And as always, this is Job Search Made Easy

JOB SEARCH - RULE # 1

Job Search - Rule # 1

The old template style cover letter and resume are virtually
dead. Why? Because everyone and their dog is sending exactly
the same thing. Employers across the board have said to me,
"please let me read about a real person" Don't be afraid of
being real, in your cover letter especially. Your cover letter
makes them want to read your resume and your resume qualifies
you to be interviewed. For most people, the functional resume is
the best route to go. It gets your immediate skill set closest to
the top of the resume page. Go functional .. it works! Fighting
this one and going chronological just might make you appear to
be overqualified and that will work against you.

Respect the reader always, don't force them to chase your skills
relevant to the job at hand. Remember, all we want a cover letter
and resume to do is get us the interview. Don't eliminate
yourself from the running by writing a three page cover letter
and four page resume. Cover letters should be no more than one
page .. PERIOD! Good editing can do this every time. I don't
care how much experience you have, resumes are a two page max
issue. Always, give them enough to be interested and an
interview will follow and there you can elaborate on all the
details. It's all about good editing & that = Job Search Made Easy!

In our next installment, your resume! Things you need to know!
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Today, I teach college students and mature students alike on advanced interviewing skills and these days it's more about EQ than IQ!

If you'd like to know more, let me hear from you .. thanks, Mike

A very worthwhile viewing http://www.212movie.com/

To Your Job Search Success

I will be sharing things about the Job Search Made Easy process here on this blog and also through my private newsletter, which I highly recommend you join immediately. As a college teacher today, I do in fact teach Job Search to Paramedics, PSW's, Business Students and I also consult privately. In addition, I also teach advanced interviewing skills.

One thing I know for sure, in 2007, the job search process has changed a great deal. There are very specific things you need to know about three critical areas .. Your Cover Letter, Your Resume and Your Interviewing Skills. Forget what you think you know, just keep an open mind to the way things are processed by Human Resources in 2007. This information applies to everyone, whether you are 23 or 63 years old.

Again, I would strongly encourage anyone who wants to stay current on the Job Search Process to join my newsletter (top right of this page). For example, I will share the 85% RULE .. it's a must know to speed up the job search process.