Job Hunting Quotes

“Anything that can be automated, cognified, decentralized, digitized, disintermediated, or virtualized will be. These shifts will radically transform every aspect of the economy, including industries, sectors, professions, jobs… even the meaning of work itself.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume III - Beta Your Life: Existence in a Disruptive World

“Let these men sing out their songs,
they've been walking all day long,
all their fortune's spent and gone...
silver dollar in the subway station;
quarters for the papers for the jobs.”
― Roman Payne

“No matter how long or short your résumé is, ensure you capture all important information in the first 10% of your résumé”
― Roopesh Tiwari, WHAT WON’T GET YOU YOUR DREAM JOB : STORY OF A JOB HUNT

“How To Collect Your Achievement Stories



Before we can write our Achievement Stories, we need to identify each and every one. This will take some work, but the payoff is employment and higher wages and salaries.



Because I want you to look as impressive as possible, I’m going to remind you of all of the places where your achievements can be found:



Performance Reviews



I worked at a place where, at the end of every year, my boss had to convince his peers why I should get a raise and or a bonus. As a result, my performance reviews were a great place to find achievements I might have forgotten about.



Awards



Every time you receive an award, you have evidence that you are special. Depending on the number of achievements, you might want to list your awards as achievements. Usually, the reason you received the award is an achievement.



Promotions



Getting promoted is an achievement. Your promotion says to the hiring manager, “This woman is so good that we gave her more responsibility and a higher salary.

Bosses and Coworkers

If you’re wracking your brain trying to think of achievements, consider giving a list of the achievements you’ve identified to bosses and co-workers. Then ask them, “What’s missing? What have I left out?”

Emails

If you have access to your old emails, go through each one to see what you can find. I did this every year when my boss asked for my achievements, this gave him the ammunition he needed to negotiate for my raises. This is the ammunition you need to win over the hiring manager.

LinkedIn Recommendations

Just the other day, I was reading my LinkedIn recommendations and was reminded of an accomplishment I had not included in my LI profile or resume.

As you read each recommendation, think about the work you did with that person. It may jog your memory and help you remember things you’ve left out.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“Identify Your Strengths With Strengths Finder 2.0

One tool that can help you remember your achievements is the ‘Strengths Finder’ "assessment. The father of Strengths Psychology, Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D, along with Tom Rath and a team of scientists at The Gallup Organization, created StrengthsFinder.
You can take this assessment by purchasing the Strengths Finder 2.0 book.

The value of SF 2.0 is that it helps you understand your unique strengths. Once you have this knowledge, you can review past activities and understand what these strengths enabled you to do.

Here’s what I mean, in the paragraphs below, I’ve listed some of the strengths identified by my Strengths Finder assessment and accomplishments where these strengths were used.

“You can see repercussions more clearly than others can.”

In a prior role, I witnessed products being implemented in the sales system at breakneck speed. While quick implementation seemed good, I knew speed increased the likelihood of revenue impacting errors.

I conducted an audit and uncovered a misconfigured product. While the customer had paid for the product, the revenue had never been recognized. As a result of my work, we were able to add another $7.2 million that went straight to the bottom line.

“You automatically pinpoint trends, notice problems, or identify opportunities many people overlook.”

At my former employer, leadership did not audit certain product manager decisions. On my own initiative, I instituted an auditing process. This led to the discovery that one product manager’s decisions cost the company more than $5M.

“Because of your strengths, you can reconfigure factual information or data in ways that reveal trends, raise issues, identify opportunities, or offer solutions.”

In a former position, product managers were responsible for driving revenue, yet there was no revenue reporting at the product level. After researching the issue, I found a report used to process monthly journal entries which when reconfigured, provided product managers with monthly product revenue.

“You entertain ideas about the best ways to…increase productivity.”

A few years back, I was trained by the former Operations Manager when I took on that role. After examining the tasks, I found I could reduce the time to perform the role by 66%. As a result, I was able to tell my Director I could take on some of the responsibilities of the two managers she had to let go.

“You entertain ideas about the best ways to…solve a problem.”

About twenty years ago I worked for a division where legacy systems were being replaced by a new company-wide ERP system. When I discovered no one had budgeted for training in my department, I took it upon myself to identify how to extract the data my department needed to perform its role, documented those learnings and that became the basis for a two day training class.

“Sorting through lots of information rarely intimidates you. You welcome the abundance of information. Like a detective, you sort through it and identify key pieces of evidence. Following these leads, you bring the big picture into view.”

I am listing these strengths to help you see the value of taking the Strengths Finder Assessment.”
― Clark Finnical

“Capture the Quantitative Impact of Your Accomplishments

Examine everything you’ve done, but don’t merely report what you’ve done. Report the quantitative impact, that is, the numbers that resulted from your achievement. That’s what hiring managers care about most. For example:

When I was in school, I worked in the University’s Personnel department. During my time there, the Director asked if I could explain a monthly report she received from Accounts Payable.

The report identified everything charged to Personnel. Unfortunately, neither the Director nor her team could understand what it was saying. After some analysis and research, I was able to translate the confusing report into something the Director could understand.

What I did not do was ask the Director and her team for the financial impact of now being able to understand the report.

While what I did was a valuable story to share at my next interview, it would have meant a lot more if I’d identified the dollars saved or some other quantified impact.

As noted earlier, a few years later, I worked for a high-tech company that sold equipment to Fortune 500 firms. The company wasn’t winning the large deals like they had in the past, so I was asked to investigate.

I identified the process breakdown causing the problem. I also created a short-term solution, so that the company could start winning bids again while the long-term solution was being developed.

What I did not do — and almost have to kick myself now for not doing — was to ask for the value of the deals we were now winning. Those $$$ would have clearly explained the positive impact of my work. It would have been a wonderful talking point in my resume.

After my job was eliminated for the second time in 13 years, I started doing a better job of quantifying the impact of my accomplishments.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“How to Quantify Achievement Stories

When hiring managers, recruiters, and staffing firms see a resume or LinkedIn profile or attend an interview with verbiage but no numbers, they don’t know what those words mean.

In fact, they know next to nothing until you add the numbers that explain the impact of your work. Here’s how you can resolve this issue.

Work With Finance

Sometimes the impact of our work is not always clear. At times like this, reaching out to one of your friends in the Finance Department can be very helpful. Finance has access to numbers that are not always readily available to other departments.

If you’re no longer with the company, explain to the Finance associate that the numbers he provides could make the difference in determining whether you land another position.

Using a Range

Per Lily Zhang of the Muse, one reason job seekers avoid quantifying is not knowing the exact number. Lily suggests using a range. Using my work experience, here’s what that means:

Before: Chaired weekly product manager meeting.

After: Chaired weekly meeting with 7 to 12 product managers so plans could be discussed and coordinated. Confusion and rework were eliminated.

Frequency

Lily shared that one of the easiest ways to add numbers is to identify the frequency with which you perform a given task. This can help the hiring manager understand how much you can handle. For example:

Before: Responded to pricing requests from the Sales Force.

After: Responded to 15 to 20 pricing requests from the Sales Force on a daily basis.

Scale

Everyone on the hiring side of the business loves when candidates provide numbers, because numbers explain the impact of what you’ve done.

The most meaningful numbers are those associated with making money, saving money, and driving productivity. Here are a couple examples from my work experience:

Before: Reduced time to perform Operations Manager’s role; after analysis showed tasks could be batched and performed at the end of the month.

After: Reduced time to perform Operations Manager role by 66%; after analysis showed tasks could be batched and performed at the end of the month. Asked Director if I could take on the responsibilities of employees who were laid off.

Before: Analysis revealed misconfigured offers; worked with other departments to correct errors. Implemented process to prevent future errors.

After: Analysis revealed misconfigured offers; worked with other departments to correct errors. Recognized $7.2M. Implemented process to prevent future errors.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“How To Write Achievement Stories

Because you’re asking people to take a chance on you, you need to show them why they should take a chance.

We live in a world best summarized by the words of Grant Cardone:

Sell Or Be Sold!

Practically, everything we hear and read on TV, radio, and the internet is an attempt to sell us something.

When you find yourself in front of the hiring manager, it’s essential that you sell yourself.

Selling yourself means helping the hiring manager understand why she should hire you.

Hiring managers want to know how you’re different from all of the other candidates. If you can’t answer that question, you won’t get a second interview.

After my job was eliminated in ’95 and ’02, I knew I had to quantify the impact of my work, so I would be ready for the next time.

As a result, I took detailed notes on everything I did that 1) earned money, 2) saved money, and 3) increased productivity.

I also took detailed notes on everything that set me apart from other candidates.

Because everyone responds well to stories, and detailed stories add to your credibility, I created Achievement Stories.

Achievement stories are also known as STAR stories. STAR is short for Situation – Task – Action – Result. Another name for Achievement stories is SOAR stories. (See explanation below.)

Situation

First, provide the context of what was happening. This is the before picture, namely what was going on at the time, before you took action.

Obstacles

These are the issues and problems which you had to overcome to be successful.

Action

This is where you explain what you did to overcome the issues and problems.

Results

This is where you share the outcome of your action – both quantitatively and qualitatively.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“How Enthusiasm Multiplies The Impact of Achievement Stories

American businessman, Paul J. Meyer, said:

Enthusiasm glows, radiates, permeates and immediately captures everyone's interest.

Because I've enjoyed the work I've done and I've enjoyed solving these problems, my enthusiasm captures everyone's interest.

When the hiring manager sees your enthusiasm, she’ll like the fact that you are excited about your work. She’ll also find you hard to forget.

I brought 17 Achievement stories to my last interview. I’m not saying that I had the chance to share them all, but I did share many of them.

I also took hard copies of my achievement stories, so that I could refer to them in the interview. I later offered these hard copies to the hiring manager.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“Where Are Achievement Stories Used?

Achievement stories are used in your resume, your LinkedIn profile, and your interviews:

In your resume, your achievements will be bulleted sentences.

In your LinkedIn profile, it will be a more detailed paragraph.

In your interviews, achievement stories enable the hiring manager to understand your accomplishments in detail.

They are also great additions to your cover letter and portfolio.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“What If I Don’t Want To Brag?

I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again because it is critical…

Before you raise a red flag and say, “I can’t do this,” remember: being shy about sharing your strengths can result in not getting offers. If you do get offers, chances are they will be at lower salaries.

I have a friend who I’ll call Jonathan. I coached him on the importance and value of achievement stories. I also recommended him to a staffing firm.

He told me later that after his interview, the staffing firm never called him back. They never called him back, because he never spoke of his achievements.

Staffing firms are paid for providing great candidates to prospective employers. If someone can’t promote themselves — if someone cannot explain why they are a great candidate — they’ll never get a call back, whether it’s from a staffing firm, a hiring manager or anyone.

While I understand that my friend probably views Achievement Stories as bragging, I overcame this hurdle by describing my accomplishments this way:

“I’m blessed with the ability to…”

“I’ve been fortunate enough to…”

“Leadership appreciates how…”

“Co-workers appreciate how…”

This is an ideal way to communicate your achievements because hiring managers prefer humble candidates.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“Will Spelling Keep You Out Of Interviews?

Whether we like it or not, hiring managers judge job seekers based on how our resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles are written.

That’s why it is essential that you turn on Microsoft Word’s spell-check so it catches every error in your resume and cover letter.

But don’t stop there, after turning on Microsoft Word’s spell check, copy all of the verbiage in your LinkedIn profile and paste it into a Word document.

Here are some of the reasons I say this…

• 5,908 LinkedIn Profiles contained “Universiry” where they meant to write “University”.

• 34,254 profiles contain “Graduat” where they meant to write “Graduate”.

• 25 English teacher’s profiles contain “Colege” where they meant to write “College”.

If you’re not getting interviews, take a second look at your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profiles.

Hiring managers get to choose who they want to hire. Don’t let your spelling be the reason they don’t hire you.”
― Clark Finnical, Job Hunting Secrets:

“The goal of an interview session is to find the right person fit for the job, not just to fill a role. It is finding the right cord that will spark the fire that makes stuffs work in real-time, and it is a two way thing for both the interviewer and the interviewee.”
― Olawale Daniel

“Communication is the key to success in this world. The importance of communication can be understood by the fact that since the origin of the world, maximum efforts have been made to understand and develop newer and faster ways of communication.”
― Roopesh Tiwari, WHAT WON’T GET YOU YOUR DREAM JOB : STORY OF A JOB HUNT

“And Jim couldn't get a job, though he hunted for one — desperately, eagerly, anxiously. Walking from one employment agency to another; spending long hours in the musty agency waiting-rooms, reading old newspapers. Waiting, waiting, waiting to be called up for a job. He would come home shivering from the cold, saying, 'God damn white people anyway. I don't want favors. All I want is a job. Just a job. Don't they know if I know how I'd change the color of my skin?”
― Ann Petry, The Street

“On the list of things you want to do in life, fixing your resume is right up there with hitting yourself in the head with a hammer.”
― Martin Yate CPC, Knock 'em Dead Resumes: How to Write a Killer Resume That Gets You Job Interviews

“Remember, even a Jedi Master prepares for job interviews. Ready yourself, you must.”
― Padmé Bright

“I want this job because
it sounds like something I could do
and I’m hungry, physically.
I have extensive experience
in studying what water says as it plummets.”
― Jordan Kapono Nakamura

“My two letters of recommendation are
f and u. They can be used in surf, which
is one way to step on what wants me drowned.
I have heard the hinges of the doors of the sea
creak, so I read a book beneath a tree.”
― Jordan Kapono Nakamura

“I can definitely think of a time
when I had to multitask while under immense pressure,
but would prefer not to. My goal is to recall my past lives
and be free in each. My strength is being scattered
and rooted at the same time. My weakness is entertaining
a party of every kind of consequence.”
― Jordan Kapono Nakamura

“An interview is not an interrogation; it’s a conversation. But it’s a conversation you have to prepare for.”
― Luigi Lupo, The P.A.R.T.S. Method Your Guide to Interview Success: "The Smartest Investment is in Your Career"

“The length of the interview doesn't always dictate whether it was a success or not. Times have changed and people need to pay attention by divorcing stereotypes of what makes a good interview.”
― Sasha Laghonh

“If she doesn’t know I’m a complete fake, and I don’t think I’ve given her any reason to suspect that I am, she nonetheless has a remarkably clear idea of how to perpetrate the fakery. Which may just be the essence of résumé writing.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“[Networking] feels fake because we know it involves the deflection of our natural human sociability to an ulterior end. Normally we meet strangers in the expectation that they may truly be strange, and are drawn to the multilayered mystery that each human presents. But in networking, as in prostitution, there is no time for fascination. The networker is always, so to speak, looking over the shoulder of the person she engages in conversation, toward whatever concrete advantage can be gleaned from the interaction—a tip or a precious contact.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“As for posting your résumé on job boards like Monster.com—don’t even bother, if only because you’ll want to send a customized résumé for each job you apply for. I can only wonder what “customizing” involves and how much it borders on fraud.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“My major takeaway from Ron, now that I have a chance to reflect, is that getting a job is like gaining acceptance into an eighth-grade clique. There exists an elite consisting of people who hold jobs and have the power to confer that status on others, and my task is to penetrate this elite. Since my actual eighth-grade status never advanced beyond that of loathsome pariah and nerd, I have no practical experience of elite crashing, but it makes sense to include a ruthless scrutiny of the “product” I am trying to sell.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“One thing I’ve learned, though: a Gap of any kind, for any purpose—child raising, caring for an elderly parent, recovering from an illness, or even consulting—is unforgivable. If you haven’t spent every moment of your life making money for somebody else, you can forget about getting a job.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“As the New York Times reported in June 2004: “The most common rejection letter nowadays seems to be silence. Job hunting is like dating, only worse, as you sit by the phone for the suitor who never calls.” The feeling is one of complete invisibility and futility: you pound on the door, you yell and scream, but the door remains sealed shut in your face.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“I had pictured the corporate world that I seek to enter as a castle on a hill, outside of which the starving vagrants wander, beset upon by wolves and barbarian hordes, begging for entry into the safety of the fortified towers. But now I see there is another zone out here: a somewhat settled encampment, where people toil for uncertain rewards at minor tasks invented by the castle dwellers. There is an advantage to occupying this zone: you are free of the rigid conformity required of those who dwell inside; you can actually “Be Your Own Boss!” A few do very well, acquiring pink Cadillacs or fortunes from real estate deals. Many more are ruined or pour themselves into efforts that generate near-poverty-level earnings year after year. There is no safety out here; the wolves keep circling.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

“Less mutable qualities, like age, may have worked against me too. My résumé revealed only that I was probably over forty. But even that relatively youthful status could have repulsed many potential employers. Business journalist Jill Andresky Fraser warned me that a forty-plus woman was unlikely to be hired except by someone seeking a “motherly secretary,” Katherine Newman, among others, has documented corporate age discrimination, quoting, for example, a Wall Street executive who told her, “Employers think that [if you’re over forty] you can’t think anymore. Over fifty and [they think] you’re burned out.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream