JobHunting :: If you’re not getting further than the interview. READ MORE
by Bill on August 23, 2010.

Shernika is one of our facebook fans. She has been sending out applications, getting interviews but no job offers. Here are some blogs/websites I recommended. If you are in the same predicament have a look.

HBR David Silverman
http://blogs.hbr.org/silverman/2009/06/the-best-cover-letter.html
Writes great stuff. I get many a ideas from him.

Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-8-interview-questions-you-need-to-ask-when-hiring-2010-8
This is one of my favorites. Easy to follow and covers a wide cross-section job hunting topics.

WSJ
http://guides.wsj.com/careers/

Penelope Trunks Blog
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/
Use the category listing in the right sidebar of the site for specific info.

Hope these will help you land the job you want.

Good Luck!

READ MORE
by Bill on August 4, 2010.

You have to be willing to do things that the masses wouldn’t do, or I don’t think you will be able to separate yourself from the masses.
- Steve Bisciotti

READ MORE
by Pile O' Jobs on July 28, 2010.

Many people with jobs have a fantasy about all the amazing things they would do if they didn’t need to work. In reality, if they had the drive and commitment to do actually do those things, they wouldn’t let a job get in the way.
— Paul Buchheit on What to do with your millions

3 Things that will annoy HR/Hiring Managers READ MORE
by Bill on July 27, 2010.

I’ve been involved with the recruitment industry one way or the other since 2005. For some time, before starting pileojobs.com, I was selling recruitment tools to HR Managers. That being said, I have no formal human resource qualifications whatsoever, but from talking with so many HR Managers and Executives(more than most people do in their career), I’ve gotten good feedback as to some of the things about job applications that annoy them.


Here’s a few:

1. It’s probably better to send no cover letter than a generic one.

The generic letter reads like a template from a “how to get a job” book/website. These letters normally goes something like this “I have a great personality, I work hard (who would say they dont)… I have vast experience in x coupled with my *insert strengths here*, So you should hire me”.

Like 90% of the other applicants, you’ve failed to notice and address what the employer is looking for. And don’t copy and paste requirements from the job ad into your cover letter. Find a way to start with a bang, be clear and keep it short.


2.  Apply for the job. (this applies if you are applying online)

Once, I advertised a job for web designer and one applicant wrote:   “I am interested in joining your work force of Technical Support Team, Lab Assistant or any related field of work”.

Doing this is annoying. Send a letter directly to HR if you applying for jobs not advertised.


3. On the resume say what you accomplished in your past roles, not what your past roles were.

With 200+ applicants for a managerial position(way more for entry level), chances are there’s someone else who has been in the same positions as you plus why would you say “SALES REPRESENTATIVE:- I was responsible for selling the companies goods and services “. Duh?!  Chances are the HR manager already knows what a sales representative is and if he/ehe doesn’t then you don’t want to be working there. It is much better to say something like “SALES REPRESENTATIVE :- Increased sales by x% by doing y. Created z process that improved order process by x hours.”

Extra Tip: When applying via a job site, where it says cover letter copy and paste the body of the cover letter. There’s no need for the entire letter to include sender and recipient address. That stuff is already sent via the form you filled out.

If you’ve been guilty of these you probably wouldn’t tell me but if you can, do tell me what are your thoughts on the matter?.

The Caribbean’s need for an Education Revolution READ MORE
by Bill on July 25, 2010.

Everyday you’ll find children all across the Caribbean and around the world heading to school and colleges for a ‘better’ education.  This better education is supposedly going to guarantee a comfortable future, but what actually happens is that a lot of these students leave college without the slightest idea of what to do with their degrees and PhDs. The truth is, in a process of academic inflation, a job that required a certificate 15 years ago now requires a degree, a job that required a degree now requires a MA/MBA and the cycle goes on and on.

If we, a Caribbean people, are to advance our nations into the twenty first century something has to change. We pride ourselves on a being a cultural melting pot of people from diverse backgrounds but yet we sell ourselves into this notion of a once size fits all educational system.

As it is now it is just like the assembly lines it was developed for. You are sorted by age group, enter in batches of 30-35, upon successful completion of each stage you move unto the next stage, if not you have to repeat the stage, at the end you come out with no resemblance of your original self.  You enter at kindergarten and if you follow the [linear] path created culminating in you attending university then you will be a success.  That’s Bullshit.

We need to educate individuals. Our people are diverse in abilities and so we should do away with this left-brain curriculum and “death by lecture” approach to presenting it. What we need is a curriculum as varied as we are that caters to the needs of the future. Right now, Information is everywhere, having information is no longer the unfair advantage we need to beat the rest of the world economically, socially or otherwise. And we do indeed need an unfair advantage (one that I’ll leave for another post).

So if information is not an advantage, what is?

In Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, he speaks of the growing need for the development of the right side of our brains, the side that is responsible for creativity, generating ideas, “connecting the dots” Daniel writes:

Individuals and organizations that focus their effort on doing what foreign knowledge workers can’t do cheaper and computers can’t do faster, as well as meeting the aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual demands of a prosperous time, will thrive. Those who ignore these…will struggle

The things that foreign knowledge workers can’t do cheaper and computers can’t do faster?  That means what we need to thrive is the creativity and ingenuity that you and I know we as Caribbean nationals have. Our current educational education system is killing this creativity.  To illustrate this point Ken Robinson spoke of an interview he did some years ago with multi-millionaire choreographer and dancer Gillian Lynne about her education. What happened was

In the 1930s, Gillian’s teachers wrote to her parents and said, “We think Gillian has a learning disorder.” She couldn’t concentrate, she was fidgeting, all that moving around was disturbing her classmates. Her mother took to see this specialist. She was taken to an oak-paneled room where she was led and sat on a chair at the end, and she sat on her hands for 20 minutes while this specialist talked to her mother about all the problems Gillian was having at school. And at the end of the session the specialist went over to Gillian,  ”Gillian,  I’ve listened to all these things that your mother’s told me, and I need to speak to her privately.” He said, “Wait here, we’ll be back, we won’t be very long.” and they went and left her. But as they went out the room, he turned on the radio that was sitting on his desk. And when they got out the room, he said to her mother, “Just stand and watch her.” And the minute they left the room, she said, she was on her feet, moving to the music. And they watched for a few minutes and he turned to her mother and said,  ”Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn’t sick, she’s a dancer.  Take her to a dance school.”

Gillian eventually auditioned for the Royal Ballet School, she became a soloist, she had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet. She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School and founded her own company — the Gillian Lynne Dance Company — met Andrew Lloyd Weber. She’s been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history, she’s given pleasure to millions, and she’s a multi-millionaire. Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.

What Now?

While our education system is the way it is and until it changes you and I both need to take on developing in ourselves what the system is not. Read books outside your field of study, experience life, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, ignore everybody, question others advise (including mine), start a business, read Daniel’s book, A Whole New Mind. Do something! Knowing the situation is half the battle.

A side note:

My friends who read this post may be saying Bill, you are a hypocrite, you enrolled into the same education system you’re bashing to pursue a degree yourself. But I’ll say this, having the knowledge gained pursuing a degree is, in most cases, what gets you to the substitute bench, it is the stuff that our system is lacking that will get you onto the playing field and we all know you can’t score a goal from the bench. Can you?

If you agree with me or think I’m spewing out nonsense let me know your thoughts.

Picture: Good Luck! READ MORE
by Bill on July 25, 2010.

Good Luck!

Poll Results: Would you accept higher salary to have co-workers laid off? READ MORE
by Bill on July 20, 2010.

Your company releases a memo stating that it has to cut spending on salaries. The memo ask you to choose. Which would you pick?

Options:

1. Take a pay cut – if enough people take pay cuts no one will be laid off
2. Ignore the memo – If enough people do this people WILL be laid off. (you just dont know who)
3. Voluntary Redundancy – Others will remain with the company at their full salary

We presented this question to our readers and of the 768 persons who responded, this is what the results look like.

664 chose to take a pay cut

56 chose to ignore the memo

48 chose voluntary redundancy

What we get from this is that the majority either, would rather take a pay cut than not know if they will have a job next month or would rather take a pay cut to ensure others keep their jobs.

Why Morning People Get Ahead READ MORE
by Bill on July 16, 2010.

Why Morning People Get Ahead? The morning people are different from you and me – or so says new research. Early birds are more proactive than evening people – and so they do well in business, says Christoph Randler, a biology professor at the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany. The study Randler defended in The Harvard Business Review and later covered in Inc Magazine states “[T]hey tend to get better grades in school, which gets them into better colleges, which then leads to better job opportunities. Morning people also anticipate problems and try to minimize them. They’re proactive.” (Not that evening people are life’s losers: They’re smarter, more creative, more outgoing and have a better sense of humor, other studies have shown.)

Interview Questions You Should Never Ask. At the end of the interview you must play the interview game. So ask a few questions as a way to convey that you have options, even if, in fact, you do not. Your questions should convey: “I’m trying to find out more about this position to decide if I’m interested.” But you cannot say that flat out without sounding like an arrogant pain in the butt. You have to *imply* this message. So craft your questions carefully , before you get to the interview, and have some extras in case a few turn out to be inappropriate. More on this here, here or here.

Creativity in the Age of the Internet Robert McCrum writes “Proust said original books were the offspring of ‘darkness and silence’, but there’s not so much secret inspiration today. Can creativity flourish in the age of the internet where all is exposed?” and as to where books are concerned he continues “How many ‘real books’ enjoy ‘darkness and silence’ today? Not many. In 2010, the world of books, and the arts generally, is a bright, raucous and populist place. The internet – and blogs like this – expose everything to scrutiny and discussion. There’s a lot of self-expression, but not necessarily much creativity.”…”can the secret state of creative inspiration flourish on global platforms on which everything is exposed, analysed and dissected?”

Humor: Querty Music READ MORE
by Bill on July 16, 2010.

A Little bit of Qwerty Music

Odd Job: The Fish Doctor READ MORE
by Bill on July 16, 2010.

We never thought about a fish being seen by a doctor. Afterall you don’t normally think of a fish being sick, do you?