Simply Hired Blog

Birthdays, LinkedIn and Dancing Bees

Yes, folks, that's right: we busy little worker bees here at Simply Hired have once again brought home the honey. SimplyHired.com is 3 years old today, and in honor of her third birthday, we've launched the first integration with LinkedIn's new application programming interface or API, for those of you who speak geek. When you conduct a job search on www.SimplyHired.com, you can now use the Who Do I Know^TM feature to view your LinkedIn connections at each company alongside your search results.

Didn't know your ex-girlfriend has the corner office at that firm you've been eyeballing, now did you? Maybe time for some flowers and a heartfelt apology for that whole "It's not you, it's me" thing? Or maybe you've got a long-lost college buddy who owes you a favor and can get you an interview.

Honeybees (genus APIS, for those of you who speak Entomologist) depend on community connections for their survival and productivity. In a beehive, all workers function as part of a team, helping each other for mutual benefit. In some cases they even do complicated interpretive dance moves to let the other workers know where the nectar is flowing.

We're no different, people. It's all about who you know. (Or whom you know... for those of you who speak Grammarian). What's good for you is good for us, and vice versa. So we're making it easier than ever to spread the honey. Er.. money. That is...

Worker bees of the world, unite!

[LinkedIn Integration Press Release]

Job Search API
LinkedIn API

UPDATE (3/26): LinkedIn has a video demonstrating the integration on YouTube.

How to Prepare for a Manager Interview vs. Leader Interview

There was a study completed by Warren Bennis, 1989, which may give us some insight we can use to determine whether you are a manager or a leader. Maybe you are both, maybe not. In either case, you must prepare for one or both of these to address the interview; completely. He felt there were 12 distinctions between the two groups.  I hope these provoke your thinking about  the "you" that you are selling in the interview. Here they are:

• Managers administer, leaders innovate,
• Managers ask how and when, leaders ask how and why,
• Mangers focus on systems, leaders focus on people,
• Managers do things right, Leaders do the right things,
• Managers maintain, leaders develop,
• Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust,
• Managers perspective is short term, leaders perspective is long term
• Managers accept the status quo, leaders challenge the status quo,
• Managers focus on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon,
• Managers imitate, leaders originate,
• Managers emulate the classic soldier, leaders are their own people

Another study by Paul Birch, 1999, revealed that an effective leader creates and sustains competitive advantage though attainment of cost leadership, revenue leadership, time leadership and market value leadership.  A leader is characterized by the fact they achieve!

Then you have Lee Iacocca, who felt that leadership was a combination of curiosity, creative, communication, character, courage, conviction, charisma, competent, crisis and common sense.

When you interview, think about these issues and where you fit. Then, prepare as stated in Part I of the interview preparation and you might be ready to begin your interview journey.

Interview Preparation: Do your research

One can never be too prepared. There is a story about a young man who was interviewing with Kellogg’s.  To get ready, he did his personal research, he felt he knew himself and he had several practice interview sessions so nothing was going to surprise him. Well, when asked about his favorite cereal, on impulse he said Quaker Puffed Wheat, a product made by a Kellogg competitor.

You would be amazed at what happens as the result of interview stress. You should not be fearful going into an interview IF you have properly prepared. What preparation should you do? Know what you will be talking about; know what every word on your resume means, or other marketing material; know what makes you tick in terms of behaviors, traits, habits and values, proper job research on the prospective company and know how you are going to discuss the value you bring to that company,

It takes knowledge to be successful in an interview? Knowledge in terms of  how your job skills relate to your achievements and knowledge of the “real you”, your traits, behaviors, values and habits  and the role they played in your achievements will contribute  to your confidence level, the confidence level needed to  successfully complete an interview. 

However, even that knowledge is only half what is required to conduct a successful interview.  Without preparation, and certain knowledge of what you bring to that particular company and, without practice and more practice  in presenting and bringing to life your achievements and your personal makeup, then your success will be limited, if you achieve any at all.  Keep in mind, knowledge, preparation, and practice will solve the challenge and a recruiter will never see you sweat.

Career Change: Requires Courage, Persistence and Good Coaching

So you want to change careers? Been in the same field and now you think you want a change. Well, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that is can be done - 38% of our clients do just that. The bad news is that most of the recruiters in America won't touch you if you are not vertically integrated and following the same path.

Why? Because recruiters representing corporate America have been told to present candidates that have exact skills in exact field areas that are known with predictable results. So, here you come telling them that you are capable of bringing more to the table in an area you haven't worked directly in and have little title experience in that area. Tough is one word, but courage is the other.

Do you remember the old expression -  "It isn't what you say but how you say it"? Well, that is absolutely true when it comes to changing careers.

To ever be considered for any position, much less in another industry your transferable skills, core competencies, value propositions must be stated and easily understood and you must clearly demonstrate that you bring to the company "table" something that will definitely contribute to their top or bottom line.

Corporations are concerned about profit, positive change, growth and whether someone they hire can make an immediate impact on the above items. When you can demonstrate this, they will take a chance. We have had dozens of clients change careers and industries because they clearly demonstrated their core competencies and value and demonstrated how those would contribute to corporate objectives.

Most people will change jobs at least 5-10 time in their careers, depending upon their field and industry. Unfortunately, most people just stumble into these new careers, many times by happenstance and not planning. Up till now, no one taught a job seeker how to do this, it just happened somehow. This is where a good career coach or counselor becomes invaluable.

Here are a few ideas to focus on with your career coach.

1. Try to define your motivation for the change and also work on defining your core values and how they might bring something to the "table".
2. Figure out who you are and why they should hire you. They want to hire you, just give them the ammunition to do so by defining your core competencies, the value you bring, key qualifications and most importantly, how good you are at what you do.
3. Talk to a lot of people. Get ideas, share ideas, and ask a lot of questions, both inside and outside of your targeted industry. Make a list of everything you want to accomplish, where you want to go, and even your thoughts on how you want to get there. Then, work with your coach on separating the "wheat from the chaff" and then put that into a plan of action. Then, go do it!
4. Network, Network, Network! Search online for everything you can about specific "movers and shakers'" in a given industry and then try to contact them for their advice and input. Basically, people want to help others. It just makes them feel good so use that human inclination to your advantage.  (Editor's note: check out Simply Hired's social networking job search tools.)
   
5. Conduct a multi-channel marketing job search using every means at your disposal.

Simply Hired Charity Challenge

Simply Hired is participating in a fundraising challenge at DonorsChoose.org to support teachers with creative teaching ideas but no resources to implement their ideas.

DonorsChoose.org is similar to Kiva, in the sense that donors get to directly choose the recipients of their donation. Donors can select the teachers, classes sizes, subject areas and locations that interest them and afterwards will receive feedback from the teachers regarding the impact that their contribution.

Simply Hired is currently in the lead for the amount of money raised, but we think it’s a great cause and still have a ways to go to get all of our class projects funded.

If you're interested in supporting creative teaching in our public schools, please join us by contributing to the Simply Hired Challenge at DonorsChoose.org.

New, Stellar Homepage!

For those of you who concern yourselves with such nerdly trivia, now is the time to get outside in the small hours to view the Orionid meteor shower. If you haven’t treated yourself to a late-night (or early morning) peek at this phenomenon, you should!

Now you’re probably wondering why we’re waxing astronomical. Glad you asked! The meteor shower is a phenomenon wherein many small events, relatively insignificant on their own, coalesce to form a larger and quite spectacular event that can be seen all over the sky. In much the same manner, our stellar (pun intended!) team of User Experience Professionals have contributed a sparkling array of sweet little updates to Simply Hired’s Astronomically Useful search engine. To wit:

1.) New user? Not even sure what you’re looking for? No problem. We’ve devised separate homepages for new and returning users. Newbies will see a set of browse-friendly links to help jumpstart their job search. Returning users will see New and Improved links offering to re-execute their recent searches or set up email alerts or RSS feeds.

2.) We’ve equipped our results page with the ability to show you only jobs we’ve found since your last visit. So it’s faster, easier to scan, and won’t clutter your brainpan with old news.

3.) Oh, and we made the form fields bigger. You don’t have to thank us – this job is its own reward.

Happy hunting!

Gnomedex 2007

Last weekend’s 7th annual Gnomedex technology conference was, among other adjectives, inspirational. After hearing people like Canuk Darren Barefoot and Ronni Bennet speak on topics ranging from web-based non-profit initiatives to the Internet experience for the over-50 (and 60, and 70) crowd I came to realize that there’s a whole lot more to blogging than I once thought.

Blogging = Empowerment.
It doesn’t matter if you have 25,000 monthly unique visitors or if it’s just your 27 closest aunts, uncles, and cousins. The act of putting your thoughts on the Internet, for all to see, gives them greater meaning. After all, people blog to share their ideas with others, right? That’s why they don’t just keep a personal diary locked away under the bathing suits in the 2nd drawer from the top.

Based on revelations like this one I have decided to put forth some serious blogging effort on the Simply Hired blog. The game plan is as follows:
Every week I will blog about a different topic related to job search. Maybe it will be about recent job search trends at SimplyHired.com. Maybe it will be about my best friend’s recent interview with a financial consulting company in Richmond, VA. Regardless, it will be something that I think other people might be interested in reading about. I hope you agree.

Recommended Gnomedex presenters:
Guy Kawasaki - His presentation on marketing & innovation was, well, innovative.
Vanessa Fox - A large portion of her Q&A session (and a good bit of her speech) focused on web privacy issues as well as gender differences in the web 2.0 world. It was really interesting stuff, and the topic as a whole is terribly neglected. (Don't let her URL fool you, the blog is safe for work)
And, of course, Chris Pirillo, founder and organizer of the event. He did a fantastic job of personally attending to every detail of the event, from running back and forth between the main room & sound room to moderating the (rigged!) give-aways. (Just kidding, Chris)

Elizabeth Edwards Hangs with the BlogHer Crowd!

Do you blog? Have you ever thought about blogging? If not...YOU WILL! :-)

It is one of the best ways to keep in touch with others, to tell your stories to protect your sanity, to share your tips to save others' sanity, and to perhaps make some money by working from home...so many reasons that blogging and in particular the "mommy blogs" and "tech blogs" are taking over CyberSpace!

According to TechCrunch, there are already 93 million active blogs in the world and 175,000 new bloggers are joining the race every day!

BlogHer is one of the leading blog networks for females and I had the pleasure of attending their annual conference, BlogHer07, this past week in Chicago where 750 female bloggers (and Lucas) soaked up the latest blogging technology, tips, trends, and networking sites.

I attended the conference representing Simply Hired and our free job board software product, Job-a-matic. Job-a-matic allows bloggers to add relevant and valuable content that they can monetize to their sites.

Elizabeth Edwards (wife of presidential candidate John...yeah, that one) took to the stage for her keynote speech with Lisa Stone and then graciously joined us at our cocktail party. The woman hung out with us bloghers all night. She met everyone and answered questions about anything and literally was one of us. Regardless of her political affiliations, she impressed me with her genuine grace, passion for community involvement and the sheer fact that she writes all of her own blog posts without an editor is simply the icing on the cake for this amazing influential woman!

Many of the bloggers asked Elizabeth advice on how to make change regarding more prominence for blog sites via the major search engines. Elizabeth passionately suggested that all bloggers need to rally together and email the major search engines like Google and Yahoo! and as a united voice insist that blog search become more prominent on their sites.

If you are a blogger, I hope you will check out our hosted job board solution today, and if you are not a blogger - what are you waiting for - join the revolution and see what it is all about!

If you are a parent then perhaps you will be interested in my parenting blog where I try to turn parenting challenges into everyday fun!

I look forward to your comments!

Julie Craft
VP, Simply Hired (aka: Mom & Blogger)

Find a job using Facebook

We are happy to announce the launch and continued growth of Workin It!, an application we recently launched on Facebook to help job seekers utilize their social network. Sure, it’s great to upload a picture to your friend’s “Superwall” or receive your third margarita well before “Happy Hour”, but what Facebook lacks (and what we’re bringing to the table) is a professional app with some real utility.

This is not to say that Workin It! is all work and no play. . . Among the Simply Hired staff there have been thousands of “Gold Stars” given and received. The accompanying messages range from “Thanks for bringing so much chutzpah and creativity to the team!” to “old school pool parties, that’s what it’s all about.”

So if you’re looking for a job, or just want a fun new way to share messages with your Facebook friends, join the hundreds of users who have already installed Workin It!

Since we’re already on the subject of Widgets, you might want to check out our job search desktop widget from SpringWidgets. You can easily conduct and switch between multiple searches, all from the comfort of your desktop.

Lunch 2.0, the Simply Hired way

Wow. We didn't realize we had so many friends! We know everyone came just to see us, and that the free Indian food, free water pistols, tie-dye activities & four-square games had no influence on your decision.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us this afternoon. We hope you enjoyed yourself, and left with a full belly and an empty squirt gun.

Check out the event photos on Flickr: Lunch 2.0 at Simply Hired.

Attended the event? Please tag your Flickr photos "simplyhired" & "lunch20" and they will show up in the above search set.

Have a happy Fourth everyone!