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What is your Hirability Quotient (HiQ)?

Everyone on both sides of the hiring equation today is super-connected and hyper-resourced. So, as Thomas Friedman points out in the NY Times, “every boss now has

What is your Hirability Quotient?

cheaper, easier, faster access to more above average software, automation, robotics, cheap labor and cheap genius than ever before.”

In order to stand out as a dream hire in this cacaphonic cornucopia, like the kids in Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon we each need to be able to demonstrate that we are well above the average hirability in our sector or niche.

But wait I hear you cry – it is statistically impossible for us all to be above average. Well, you are talking to someone whose first statistics lesson was themed on Disraeli’s (or was it Mark Twain’s?) observation that there are “lies damn lies and statistics.” So be it. I am not condoning lies here – so dig out the nuggets in your work history that’ll make your case where it counts. And bear in mind if everyone is doing this, then that average above which we need to place ourselves is necessarily a moving target – and it’s probably not moving down. So keep your hirability story constantly refreshed.

Critical to your hirability, and I have been banging on about this for years, are your passion and your curiosity. It is your passion and your excitement about your work and where your field is headed that helps make you special – these are critical to maintaining your above average status. Caring a lot about what you do (passion) and constantly exploring what is new (curiosity)– well how could you want to be any other way?

So Friedman – and here’s why he gets the big bucks – has put a catchy riff on this. He’s named what he calls the Passion Quotient (PQ) and the Curiosity Quotient (CQ) and says they are becoming more important than the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). I wonder whether he read in Inc Magazine how John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, came up with SyQ, which measures how different parts of a system interconnect.

Herewith my own (frivolous) attempt to increase my QQ (Quotient Quotient). Maybe as you demonstrate that you are above average you could find a way to quantify that. Just as LinkedIn is asking us to broadcast that we appear in the top 5% or 2% or 1% of their searches. Let’s call it our HiQ. Your HiQ of course is your Hirability Quotient. We could put it at the top of our resume – finally a metric that can save people from having to think for themselves.

But seriously. Whether it has a Q number on it or not – our hirability is something which requires eternal vigilance.

Posted on February 20, 2013 in Career Q+A, career transition, interview, job search, resumes

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Your special-ness

We all believe we’re really good at what we do. And we’d better be able to convey our special value to clients and hirers. Otherwise how will they find out?

When we discover a new company don’t you, as I do, head for the About page to see what sets them apart? And typically we are told confidently how they practice their craft the way it should be done – the implication being that no-one else has ever figured that out. “We love what we do,” they say. “We care passionately about quality. We listen to our clients. Our clients are happy.” About pages, and so many resumes, are full of worthy and unquestionable virtues.

But where this falls down is when everything claimed is indistinguishable from what everyone else in the field is claiming. Which is often.

Try this: take your name off the top and put a competitor’s name there. Could they be saying the same things?

Put yourself in the mind of a hirer who sees that everyone claims the same passion for excellence, blah blah. They are stymied. How to make a choice? The “passion for excellence” language has been neutralized. It’s reduced to being the price of entry. And then there are so many resumes where the language has simply been cut and pasted from the job specs. Guess how many other applicants thought of doing that!

Aha you say – they will look at our chronology (or portfolio or whatever) and immediately they’ll see that our department was bigger, our casting was better, how elegant our work is and so on. I am sorry to tell you this, but once you pass a certain level of professionalism, most hirers don’t see the nuances you see. They look at all this and your employer or client list and they go, “That’s nice – they can do what I need. But so can these 10 others, so how should I decide? How hard do I have to work to spot the real differences?”

So how can you help them make the decision to hit Reply or Contact? What do you know about what they are looking for? About who else they are looking at? About what is going on in the company? Try and intuit what your competitors are saying about themselves. How can you distinguish yourself if you don’t know what you are distinguishing yourself from?

In so many cases very talented people are wondering why their career is not doing better. Well the days of just “hang out a shingle and people will beat a path to you door” are over. Getting the attention of the right people depends on more than just waving your hand in the air, it involves understanding yourself and the ecosystem you work in so you can see how to set yourself apart and convey your specialness.

Posted on May 21, 2012 in career transition, job search, positioning, resumes

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Career Q+A: Job changes, Resume updates

CYNOPSIS CLASSIFIED ADVANTAGE
~ ASK THE EXPERTS ~
Questions from our Readers
Answered by Michael Pollock

Q: How many jobs changes can one have before a red flag goes up?

A: No given number if otherwise your story makes sense. But too many changes could make the reader’s head spin as she tries to figure you out. As a hirer I would want to see that you have progressed. I would want to see the relevance, the narrative, in your choices. If it just looks like a lot of lateral, random or desperate moving I would probably reach for that red flag. If I am hiring for the long haul, and you do seem to be the right choice for me, I will want to know why all the moves, and your story had better be good. Not just from you but from references from your previous managers.

Q: I haven’t had to update my resume in 10 years. What has changed?

A: A lot has changed there’s lots to learn. It is not just the resumes that have changed, but the job titles, channels and systems. If you are in the media and entertainment sector, then almost everything has changed in the business, so you will probably have to describe your results, skills and experience in a different way from your 2001 resume.

The experience that was relevant 10 years ago may not be so today so revisit all those old job descriptions and successes and reframe them to address the current conditions. If they are about buggy whips or carbon paper, consider dropping them.

Put your resume on LinkedIn. Investigate and understand the way search engines have changed the recruiting and resume field before you update. They will be searching for key words and titles and brands, so make sure they are in there.

Posted on December 21, 2011 in Career Q+A, career transition, resumes

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First person or third person in resumes

First published in Cynopsis Classified Advantage

OK this is a controversial one. Goodness me a lot of hot air and opinion and conformity and so-called best practice rules and heaven knows what else surround the topic of resumes. But still there are so many dreary, uniform, uninformative and obfuscatory resumes in the world.

I know, I know, you want to optimize your resume for search engines – well go ahead and do that and let the matching begin – good luck with that. Let me know how it goes.
But when there is going to be a human being involved, appeal to their humanity. Most often they are looking not just for someone who can do the job but also for someone they can face running into at the salad bar.

They are looking for a person who can rock the job. So be a person. Show some humanity in your resume so that the reader will think – this person has such great energy and passion. They should get a feeling that you like what you do and are proud of your achievements. They should want to meet you. Wouldn’t that be nice?!

I’ve been asked whether it’s acceptable to write a summary for one’s resume in the first person or should it be in the third. As far as I’m concerned the answer is whatever makes sense, feels comfortable and communicates what you want to communicate. Here is the response I recently gave a senior executive who asked if it was acceptable for him to use the first person:
“It is acceptable to me. I believe it is more engaging to a reader – implies more passion and commitment on your part. After all you are presenting yourself. It makes it more active = less passive. Makes me feel there’s a person in there.”

The response from that executive was: “I think you nailed the issue: how will it be perceived? Historically i have always looked at it from the perspective that it’s just business, not personal. So I’ve always removed that kind of stuff…but then I haven’t been hitting it out of the park lately so it’s time to try something different.”

So don’t give in to conformity if that doesn’t convey who you are. And do remember that if there is a person reading the resume then they are likely to be seeing very many almost identical resumes – all conforming to some imaginary set of rules. Be the standout: whether in the first person or third, be the person who moves them to action.

Posted on December 21, 2011 in career transition, job search, resumes

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Career Q+A: On including objectives and professional advancement in your resume

As seen in Cynopsis Classified Advantage
~ ASK THE EXPERTS ~
Questions from our Readers
Answered by Michael Pollock

Including professional advancement on your resume

Q: Is it really important to put professional advancement or interests on your resume? If so, should it be detailed or brief so you can talk to it in the interview?

A: The purpose of your resume is to get you the interview, so if your professional advancement activities are of good quality and relevant to the position, then you should absolutely include them. The knowledge that you are keen enough to improve your skills is a plus to a discriminating hirer and can set you apart. It demonstrates that you are engaged with your own development and the development of her industry.

As for your interests insofar as they add breadth and color to the picture you are painting of yourself these can be helpful in separating you from the pack of similarly qualified candidates. But your interests must be consistent with the image of yourself that you want to convey. If you are positioned as an effective team leader for example you will not want to mention your macrame or your stamp collection! On the other hand if you are the captain of a racing yacht that could add a very strong credential.

Detailed or brief, you ask. “Brevity is the soul of wit,” they say. Don’t bog it down in too much detail; it’s not your autobiography. It’s the trailer that you are carefully designing to get you the interview.

Including your objective on the resume

Q: I see some resume’s with objectives, what is your take on including them or not in a resume? Thank you so much for your help.

A: A brief opening statement on your resume is most important but please do not frame it in terms of your objectives. The hirer is not interested in your objectives nearly as much as he is interested in his own. Your resume must persuade him that you are the perfect solution to his problem, not so much that he is the solution to yours.

Express in two or three sentences how you are exactly the right person to fill his position, and let him know of the unique value you will bring to his company. If your opening salvo hits the nail on the head, he will be enticed to read on to the supporting evidence. But remember, he is not approaching your resume with an interest in meeting your objectives he is completely focused on his own.

Posted on September 20, 2011 in Career Q+A, job search, resumes

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Resumes again

I do keep banging on about resumes, but so many people are so obsessed with them. They seem to think that doing their resume is the same as getting a job. They invest so much of themselves in the layout and the chronology and where the address should sit. And by the way you have no idea how many resumes I see where the first thing a recruiter is asked to read is the applicant’s street address. Really? Do they think someone is going to pick up a pen and write them a letter?

I suppose it is easy to feel productive if you are working on your resume. But I wish all that energy could be spent on figuring out why you are particularly special and why anyone should care and who is that person going to be. And what is it exactly about you that they are going to care about as opposed to all the others.

Some ideas follow below on a communications plan for your job search. Think of the resume as an ad for you. And you know ad people don’t write ads without having done the research, knowing the target demographic, having the insights and understanding the product. They don’t write without all that. Do they?

Posted on September 19, 2011 in communications, job search, resumes

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Looking for a job? Do you have a communications plan?

Most people spend a lot of time fussing with their resume. I myself never met a resume I didn’t want to rewrite – even the one I rewrote myself last week.

All this is good: your resume provides an invaluable structure for you to craft your story, putting together your successes and experience highlights, incorporating your insights about the hirer’s needs and expressing all this in a way that will move her to call you.

But don’t spend all your available time on this. You should commit a significant portion of time to developing yourself a communications plan. Getting your story into the right ears is not just about a few sporadic phone calls or emails. It needs a full on, 360-degree strategic plan for reaching the people you will identify as your target hirers.

Here is an outline of how you can get started:

1) Goal – identify what you want to be doing in three to five years time and what new jobs, skills and experiences can help you towards that goal

2) Targets – who do you need to reach

i) that can hire you at a company and for a job that will move you in the right direction
ii) that can network you to that person

3) Research – in which you learn all you can possibly learn about

i)    Companies and jobs that you like the look of
ii)    Industries and niches that can expand your experience
iii)    What the thought leaders in your business are talking about

4) Message – this is what your resume creation process has identified: it states explicitly or implicitly the problem you solve and clearly lays out your unique value to a hirer.

5) Channels to reach your targets: decide which ones are appropriate and in what combinations. Here a few to get you started:

i)    Email
ii)    Phone calls
iii)    Drive to your website or portfolio site
iv)    LinkedIn
v)    Other social media: Twitter, Facebook, blog etc
vi)    Attending networking events, conferences and seminars
vii)    Most importantly: working your very own personal network of connections – and by extension, theirs.

6) Action

i)    Finalize your materials – portfolio, website, LinkedIn, resume
ii)    Make sure they are all consistent with your story
iii)    Prioritize your contacts and start reaching out
iv)    Record the outcome of each connection you make and plot your next steps

As with all such advice, take it in and make it work for you in your own style and with knowledge of your own resources. But don’t ignore it. These are important considerations. An effective job search is not for the lazy or fainthearted!

Posted on September 19, 2011 in job search, resumes

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Is your resume just fluff? Parsons students recognize the need for tangible claims.

I was privileged recently to spend a couple of hours with a wonderful group of designers graduating from Parsons, The New School for Design. These talented young people were about to hit the job market and I had been asked to give them some pointers.

They paired off and I asked each of them explain to the other what they wanted to do and why they should be hired to do it. Two minutes each. Then each of them reported to the whole group on their partner’s ambitions and why a hirer should pick them.

“What did you learn from this exercise?” I asked after all reports had been made. Quick as a flash one bright young man said, “I wouldn’t hire any of us.”

“Oh.” said I. “And why would you not?”

“Because there was nothing tangible.”

He was right. No one gave a solid reason or example of anything that might persuade someone to pick them. It was all fluff, nothing real, nothing specific.

These guys are forgiven, this is their first step into the job market and in fact they cottoned on right away and worked out what it is that they should be saying to make their cases. But I see this with so very many resumes and hear it from so many people I talk to – including mid and late career folk. There’s nothing tangible. There are lots of values and generic qualifications. Lots of general qualities that could apply to hundreds of people and therefore has value for no-one. But where is the tangible success? Where is the tangible goal? Where are the specific achievements? Everyone has them, why are they so reluctant to brag on them? At best they are often buried deep in a templated chronological recitation of their careers.

So check your own resume – does your summary include something tangible? Or do you have a fluffy summary and is the good stuff hidden away in the depths?

Posted on July 15, 2011 in career transition, job search, resumes

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Tell them what to say about you

I paid a rare visit to a McDonalds recently where I ordered a Southern Style Chicken Sandwich and sat to refuel myself at a table with parking lot view. (My apologies to all my former Burger King advertising colleagues.)

Opening the clamshell box I read the following text repeated over and over again: “You’re about to enjoy a juicy, flavorful chicken eating experience.”

So while I did not want to think too hard about “chicken eating experiences,” what I did think is – “oh that is smart”. They have framed my approach to the sandwich. I know what to expect, I know what to look out for. And I already have the words to describe it to my friends if I choose to enthuse about it.

This is a classic presentation technique: tell them what to expect, then give them the experience and then tell them what just happened.

Think of all this in the context of telling your own story. You are trying to get someone to read your resume or see your pitch. You want them to understand immediately why they should care and what they should think about you – even before they read it. So that when they do read it they go – “ah this is just what I expected”. And then of course you deliver. You are in control of your message and they don’t have to figure it out for themselves.

If you have done this effectively, not only will they will be thinking what you want them to think, but now they have a ready made set of words to pass your story on: the words that you put in their mouths.

This is most important as so many opportunities come not directly from your inner circle of contacts, but from their circles of contacts; from people who are one step removed from you. Your inner circle probably knows you too well and has too much baggage associated with you to hire you themselves; but they like you and want you to succeed so they are happy to refer you onwards. With the words you have given them they’ll find it easier to match you when the appropriate opportunity presents itself to them. And they can use the story you gave them. You are now not just someone looking for a job, but you are now “a juicy flavorful chicken experience” or whatever are the words you fed them about yourself that they have saved for passing on.

Posted on July 13, 2011 in communications, resumes

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Employers could be looking for you right now

If you think that to get a new job you have to apply for it, think again. Employers are actively searching for candidates who may not even be looking. So make sure they can find you and when they do, what they find is current and detailed.

I spoke to an Executive Recruiter (I’ll call her Jane) who is a specialist in searching for qualified candidates. “We mainly use LinkedIn. A lot of people don’t want to post their resumes on Career Builder or Monster because their employers could potentially see it. LinkedIn is a way to get around that.”

The Boolean search methodology Jane employs uses three main connectors along with the keyword criteria: AND, OR and NOT. “If you search for strategic AND marketing, then both of those words have to show up. If you use OR, then search results will have to have one or the other. I try to be creative with the keywords that I choose. These words could appear anywhere. They could be in a ten-year-ago chronological entry, or they could appear in skills and specialties.”

Another media business recruiter told me “Creative talent and production searches have an extra level of requirements. I look for the right agencies, clients, types of projects, but their actual range of work and depth can only be evaluated based on how a portfolio is organized. I search portfolio sites and use social media to share my requirements with the universe. This gets me the greatest exposure to both passive and active seekers. I’m highly targeted, so their experience has to be clear in how it ties to an opening.”

Once Jane’s search turns up people who meet her requirements, she looks at their current position. “The job you’re doing now is really important. And the summary is the next go-to. Both should be filled out to the greatest extent. I’m more inclined to reach out to people who have a lot more description in what their position is; and not just the current one, but previous positions.”

She gets in touch to find out if the person is interested. “I pretty much pick anyone who’ll talk to me that I feel is somewhat qualified.” She forwards a resume along with a report on her conversation to the hiring manager. “The resume is really the tool to pass on. So it’s helpful for it to have lots of details.”

Of the two recruiters I’ve quoted here, one is currently working to fill 25 open positions; the other has over 55. So get your LinkedIn profile up-to-date, it could be working for you while you sleep.

Posted on July 12, 2011 in job search, resumes

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