10 Things Recruiters Won't Tell You

It is normal for job seekers/candidates to enquire their Recruiters or Job Interviewers on why they were not short listed or recommended for a job. If there is a mismatch in terms of qualification, skills-set or salary, telling candidates point blank is not a problem. However, on many occasions the reason can border to personal and may come across as hurtful, offensive or downright embarrassing and that makes the job of telling the truth not an easy one.

Furthermore, Recruiters are usually trained to be diplomatic in their approach, therefore delivering "not so pleasant news" is not something they enjoy doing. 

So most of the Recruiters in the name of professionalism, will weigh what to tell and what not to tell. In the end, the big question is: by telling, will it make any difference? If not, should I risk my reputation of being the bad guy? 

For job seekers/candidates, if you think the reason given by the Recruiter was a bit wishy-washy and you have a feeling that they may be hiding something from you, chances are they might. 

Top 10 Things A Recruiter Won’t Tell You

1. Bad breath
2. Bad body odour or overpowering perfume/cologne
3. Interview attire out of fashion or too flashy (OMG, she came in her grandmother's clothes!)
4. Too much saliva till they covered half of the Recruiter's glasses.
5. Swearing (even mildly)
6. Too pushy or dogmatic about certain views 
7. Your eye contact is intense or worst, they wander at places you should not.
8. Overusing certain phrases or words, for example, words like "Am I right?" at the end of every sentence.
9. Awkward facial expressions (and you are not interviewing for Stand-up Comedian)
10. Partial deafness or misinterpret questions (was told more than twice you got the question wrong)

A job seeker that genuinely wants to improve his hiring chances should always seek to know the truth of the rejection. Hence, convincing the Recruiter that you can handle the truth is crucial. After all, we do have our own blind spots, job seekers or not. 

As for experienced Recruiters, they would know better whether to tell or not as experience would inform them that there are people who won't and can't handle the truth. 

     

Job Hunting Techniques That Destroy Hiring Chances

It’s no fun to be out of job or unemployed. I don’t claim I know better but looking at some of the job hunting techniques used by some job seekers, I realize desperation can sometimes drive people to do things that harm their career or hiring opportunity instead of helping them.


The following are some of the glaring ones that I observe recently.

Send out resume to employers/head hunters in one email

Some job seekers resort to sending out masses of unsolicited resumes. They thought by sending as many resumes to as many people as possible, the chances of getting an interview will increase. It’s not totally fruitless if some planning is in place. However, what is a BIG No-No is sending a cover letter with resume to potential employers and head hunters in one email, with the recipients of the email display for all to see. Yes, what I meant was they don’t even bother to use the bcc. This is disastrous.

Apply every job advertised by the company

To increase their odds, they apply for every single job advertised by the same company. With online job portals, it’s just a matter of clicks. But by doing so, they only managed to achieve one thing: annoy the Hiring Manager. In other words, even if they do fit into one of the positions, they might be overlooked because of this silly act. Job seekers need to be focused; be targeted. The right approach is to pick the job that fits their skills and experience.

Use Only One Resume and Cover Letter

There were so many occasions when I read a cover letter that was attention to another employer and when confronted, they did not even react with shock as though this is a common anomaly. Job search should be a serious business. If no attention is paid to such details, how do you expect employers to trust them for the jobs that need even greater attention and precision? Sure, with emails and online job portals, job hunting has never been more convenient, yet if no deep thinking or deliberation is dedicated to carve a proper and targeted letter, this exercise is futile to say the least.

Job seekers need to plan ahead and use job search techniques well.

If you are unemployed, avoid the above. Do not let desperation takes over and destroy your chances of being short listed as a potential candidate.

Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before You Accept A Job Offer

 

You received the good news - you are hired! Are you going to sign on the dotted lines and call a party for celebration immediately or take some time to do a bit of thinking work first? Although we hate to admit it, most often than not, we allow our emotions to get the better of us and rule most decisions. If you find yourself accepting an offer when… “I think I’ll take the offer since the hiring manager is so gorgeous”, then this is a red flag. Knowing this is part of our human flaws, we should develop some kind of formula to help us to be as objective as possible so that our decision will be a “thought-through one” backed by good common sense.

So what are some of the relevant questions you should be asking? Perhaps this list will be helpful.

1. Is the job scope what I’m looking for?
2. Can I perform the job? [to be found incompetent can be a stressful ordeal]
3. How stable is the company? Have I done enough research?
4. Can I work with my immediate superior [usually the Interviewer]? Do I think we have a good working chemistry?
5. Is the location appropriate? Can I see myself traveling to the office day in day out in the next few years and will not be affected by the distance?
6. Does this job provide me the opportunity for growth? If I have to leave the job in two years time, what kind of opportunities await me? [similar to if you are buying a new car, the question is,  what’s the resale value?]
7. Am I fine with the business philosophy or ethics practiced by the company?
8. Is the package offered a fair and reasonable one?
9. I started out hunting a new job with this reason – is this being answered upon me taking this offer?

If your answer is “Yes” to all or at least 80% of the questions, then you should open your champagne to celebrate. But if you answered “Yes” only to 50% or less, this opportunity is probably a questionable one. If that’s the case, take some time to evaluate again. This exercise seems simple and sensible enough and the questions are by no means exhaustive. You might want to add a few more that are unique to your situation. The purpose of this approach is simply to make you think.

Do not accept an offer without much thinking and when another better offer comes along, you change your mind. That’s bad job ethics. Never accept an offer when you are not sure you are going to start work for certain.

What Really Annoys Me… (telling this to Hiring Managers)

Time and again, we hear grouses from employers about the lack of ethics on the part of the job applicants. I think we should sometimes turn the table around and find out what the other side has to say. And mind you, they have their portion of complaints too.

So here you go… the things the Hiring Managers/Employers do that annoy the job applicants.

1. Was told during the interview that the applicant’s experience does not match with the job scope. You got to be kidding? And ends with this, “I’m sorry. I was too busy. No time to read your resume beforehand.” A “Sorry” is not quite good enough, don’t you think so?

2. Being interviewed by several people at different times and questions asked were repeated. At the end of the day, the applicant suffered from a hoarse “sexy” voice. C’mon, can the employer plan ahead and get their act together?

3. Called in for second interview and was told the company can’t match the asking pay and therefore can’t offer the job to him/her. This is a waste of time and needless to say, giving false hopes to candidates as most often than not, a second interview usually ends with the deal sealed. On another hand, it’s amusing because a rejection can always be done via a phone call or email. Is the employer trying to be courteous? Then you got it wrong!

4. Verbally offered the applicant the job but changed their mind after that. Whatever explanation given after, no amount of justification can mend the damage. If an employer can’t keep his word, that speaks a lot about the company.

5. The classic one has to be this: made to WAIT for a job interview, not 10 minutes but it can be as long as an hour. Where’s the respect? I think employers should not justify their action by saying it’s a test of patience. Lousy excuse.

I believe job search ethics apply both ways. If you want the applicant to respect your time and be punctual, you should do the same too as the Hiring Manager. Agree?

Do you have an annoying experience to share with us?

Can Your Boss Call Or Message You When You Are On Holiday?

“I know you are on vacation, but can I get hold of you if I need to check on something?” 

Sounds familiar?

Many years ago when I first started working, hand phones are a rarity. They belong only to a privileged few. So if I’m on holiday, I’m on... holiday, literally. No phone calls, no messages. The office can get burnt down for all I care and I won’t be penalized if I got to know it only after my holiday. 

Those days are gone. And I kinda miss it, darn!

With the advancement of technology, the gain is connectivity, the loss is privacy. 

Most of us would agree it can be annoying when your boss called while you are in the middle of sipping your freshly squeezed orange juice on the beach. It’s anti-climax because you want your mind to be transported to another world without your boss stalking you. 

So, is it legal for your boss to even call you?

Let’s be clear about one thing. The Labour Laws do not provide a clause to ban employers from calling their staff during their holiday. At the same time, it does not say you have to answer all calls from your boss regardless whether you are on holiday or not.

So, it’s up to you to work things out. Logically if you are a responsible staff, you want to stay responsible regardless whether you are on vacation or not. Hence, you might want to pick up the call. 

But honestly, everyone wants to have a peaceful holiday, a getaway from everything familiar even for just a couple of days. So, how best to approach this?

A suggestion would be to tell your boss that you are on vacation whereby your access to phone calls and messages would be limited. Hopefully, he will get the “real” message. So if you decide not to answer the call or read the message even though the phone was all the while right beside you, you are not going to be held responsible for being irresponsible. 

Yet…it’s still annoying to know there is an unanswered call or unread message. It’s a bother, to say the least. And yes, your holiday is in essence interrupted.

Well, looks like the only way to have a “no interruption” holiday is DO NOT bring your hand phone along. 

But seriously in this time in this century, that’s almost unthinkable.

Can I Bring My Parents Or Boyfriend/Girlfriend To Job Interviews?

The following is an article posted in thestar.com with input from Employers and Recruiters/Consultants. I was one of them being interviewed. So boys and girls, if you are not sure whether it's a good idea to bring your dad, mommy or boyfriend/girlfriend to go together with you for your next job interview, please read this. You won't regret it, I promise :)

With growing fear of crime, employers say they do not mind candidates bringing a companion to job interviews, but not an entourage or agent'.

A 22-year-old fresh graduate could not believe it when she received an e-mail last September offering her RM400 a day for a sales promoter job she had applied for through a website. She was asked to attend an interview at a hotel if she was interested. When she got there, however, instead of getting hired, the first-time job applicant got raped and robbed.

This is not the first case either. The police revealed that just a month earlier, another fresh graduate fell prey to a similar scam.

With crime like this posing a threat to young people, albeit isolated, it is no surprise that parents are starting to tag along to their children's job interviews.

According to a recent survey by the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) on parental involvement in the recruiting process, some 28 companies out of 201 interviewed said they have had parents attend job interviews with the applicants.

While it is not yet a common practice most employers say they have heard of it happening but have not experienced it parenting trends indicate that it might be a growing phenomenon.

This is the reality today, opines Serm Teck Choon, head of MyStarJob Network Sdn Bhd, which runs The Star's career portal myStarjob.com. Our children are growing up in a different environment, so many are sheltered, says Serm. “In the past, we can just take a bus even from outside town to attend a job interview. Society has changed. Now, it may not be as safe as before, that is why there is a tendency for parents to go for interviews with their children,” he says.

He admits that his experience as a parent makes him empathize with them. "I have often wondered if these parents took leave from their own workplace to accompany their children, or if I would do the same for my child in the future.” Serm believes it is not fair for employers to judge the candidates straight away (when they see them with their parents in the reception area).

What is more important is their ability for the post applied, he stresses, “It will have to go down to their performance during the interview, as well as their qualifications and training. Internship experience gives a glimpse of your ability and interest. When it comes to the crunch, that can be the deciding factor of whether you get hired over another candidate with the same qualifications as you.”

Supratechnic (M) Sdn Bhd Human Resource Manager Sue Lim agrees that employers should not be prejudiced against parents tagging along with their children at job interviews. However, they should not overrun the prospective employer's office.“I don't blame them, mainly because there are too many social problems faced by the community now like rape and snatch thieves. They (parents) still can come with the children but just wait inside the car outside the company's compound!” she says.

For Melissa Norman, managing director (Singapore and Malaysia) at recruitment consultancy Kelly Services, it is an issue that needs to be tolerated as the “tag alongs” have become a common sight at their offices nationwide. “From our daily experiences conducting interviews at Kelly Services' 14 branches nationwide, there are many candidates who come to our office accompanied by their parents, family members or friends.”

Fortunately, in most cases, the people who accompany the interviewee do not disrupt or interfere in the interview process, says Norman.

She points out that when parents or friends who accompany the candidate interrupt or respond on behalf of the candidate, it reflects poorly on the candidate that he/she is someone who is not capable of making decisions, cannot communicate well, is not able to work independently and relies on the opinions and thoughts of others too much. There are, however, cases of candidates getting the help and advice of their parents or companion to fill up their registration forms for the interview, she notes.

There are also those who would ask the interviewer (after the interview) how soon the candidate would receive a reply on being selected for the job.” While Norman does not mind candidates turning up with their parents at their office, she takes issue if he or she comes for the job interview with an “entourage”. “Attending the interview accompanied by someone is acceptable but it should be limited to only one person,” she stresses.

The visibility of the group will not help the prospective employee anyway, she highlights: it will create prejudice against the candidate, particularly if the friends or family members misbehave. As Norman puts it, the employer will try to get an insight of the candidate's lifestyle, behaviour and attitude based on the people he or she mixes with. Worse, she cautions, is if the group is noisy while waiting for the candidate. “This will not augur well for the candidate.”

People who accompany the candidate for interviews should sit quietly at the reception area and wait patiently as interviews can be lengthy at times due to some testing of skills or profiling test required during the interview process. Speaking loudly on mobile phones, complaining about the interview process being too long, asking to be involved or to be seated at the interview room is not acceptable attitude, says Norman.

A marketing manager at a lifestyle media company who declines to be named agrees, sharing her experience when her office reception area was transformed into a noisy pot lepak (hangout spot) during an internship interview.

The candidate, a college student, brought along his posse of friends because “he needed a ride to the office”, she tells. “They were chatting and laughing loudly, as if they were in a caf They had no respect for the workplace. It really annoyed me.” The student, not surprisingly, did not get the internship.


Serm stresses that parents or anyone else who want to accompany a candidate to a job interview need to abide by a few “rules”. “Parents, especially, have to control themselves. They cannot interfere in the interview process.” To Serm, the biggest misdeed that any parent can ever commit for their children is “try to sit in the interview”.

A human resource manager who only wants to be known as DD concurs. “You would think these candidates are stars with the parents acting like their talent agents, controlling them and dictating terms if we want to hire them. One parent not only tried to barge into the interview room, she even wanted to interview me to see if I was a suitable employer!”

Hussain Ally, project manager at Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad, also believes strongly that the interview room should be off-limits to parents. “If parents sit in with their children during the interview, we will get the impression that the candidates lack confidence and are not independent.

Would we want employees who lack self-confidence to even attend a job interview on his or her own? Sometimes it is the candidate who chooses to hide behind their parents, passively encouraging them to interfere in the interview.”

He feels that once a parent is given too much say at the initial stage, which is the interview stage, they will not stop from “getting involved” even after their children are hired. “We have had parents who get extremely upset to see their university graduate son arranging songkok during Raya, or carrying things and working late. “They say: I sent you to university not to arrange songkok!' or She is supposed to do office work!' I don't want my son to work late' but we are in retail, so we need to do the inventory and work overtime sometimes.”

Sinsee Ho, senior consulting manager with  Agensi Pekerjaan Jobsmart Sdn Bhd which runs job portal Allyhunt, has blogged about turn-offs in the job search and bringing parents is one of them.

“I understand parents want to be supportive as applicants, especially fresh graduates, might be nervous attending their first interviews. But it's a big turn-off in the job search. So don't do it.

“The message sent to recruiters or employers is that you are not independent and if you can't attend an interview on your own, how can you possibly be given a job to do?”

What parents can do, she adds, is to help applicants by providing some relevant advice before the interview.

“If they are professionals themselves, they can help by doing some role-playing or going through some common job interview questions at home with their children to prepare them. At the end of the day, preparation is the key and if the applicants have done the necessary preparation, they will do well. But bringing their parents along won't get them the job.”

To read the rest of the article, please head to here. 

I must add that due to the high crime rate, parents' or partners' concern is highly legitimate. My advise is do your homework before the interview by checking the background of the company to ensure it is a legitimate set-up and on the day of the interview, just drop your child or partner to the office of the employer but return to pick him/her up once the interview is done. That shall do it.

Are You Yelling At Me? (CAPS a Big NO NO)

WHEN WILL YOU CALL ME?

Some time ago, I received the above via sms from a candidate. At first glance, I felt I was being yelled at. My instinct told me she’s not in a happy mood. But when I did make the phone call, it wasn’t so. It was the CAPS she used that had given me that impression.

I asked around and noticed many people concur with me that texting or writing in caps seems to give that impression. And it’s true. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of this. And sometimes the consequences can be costly. You might lose a job offer because of that. Recently, I have a candidate who met almost all the job criteria and was about to be offered until he replied an sms to the potential employer…

DON’T CALL ME NOW.  MEETING. CALL ME TOMORROW MORNING.

In addition to his lack of professionalism, his fate was more or less sealed. 

Caps actually makes reading more difficult but having said that, it has its place though. We commonly use it if we wished to emphasize a word (not the whole page of content) to depict it’s importance. And that’s about the only usage of caps I can think of.

Interestingly, I found a handwriting analyst and he has some interesting discovery about people who “write” in CAPS.

These people do not like to disclose anything about themselves to others. They are uncomfortable talking about their personal lives — at least in interpersonal relationships. They do not want others to know about themselves. Often, such writers do not express their emotions in public.

Usually, all-caps handwriting lacks connection between letters, which indicates that the writer does not like to relate to people at a personal level. Also, such writers are quite egotistic. They hold strong opinions and it’s very tough to get  them to see another point of view. They emphasize a lot on their day-to-day lives, rather than spending some time planning their future.

Perhaps you enjoy writing in CAPS and you don’t care what people think but if you are writing to represent your professional self, my advice is to avoid this style for your own good.

The Lost Art Of Honoring What You’ve Signed

You were offered a job. And a letter of offer was issued. At the end of the page, you will see the last sentence that ends something like this:-

I, ________________________________(NRIC No.: _______________________) have read, understood and agreed to the aforesaid terms and conditions of service and I hereby accept your offer for the position of xxxx with ABC Sdn Bhd.

How many job seekers truly understand the seriousness of what’s stated? I guess not much in view of many that do not honor what they’ve signed.

Welcome to my world.

In my line of work, I had witnessed more occasions than I care to admit when job seekers simply did not take what they had signed seriously. Employers have every right to make a legal case out of this but not many are willing to go that far citing a waste of time. I don’t blame them. It’s even more disheartening when employers waited for three months to be told by the candidate that he/she is no more interested in the job.

And this was exactly what happened to my colleague recently.

It was for a Head of Department post with an educational institute. The offer letter was signed. The employer was excited to finally fill this new position - purchased a new PC, getting the office ready and all ONLY to be told, “I’m not joining!”, a couple of days away from the commencement date. Needless to say, our client was furious. We are equally bothered. Hey, this is a senior post, not a job for a fresh graduate!

What's wrong?

That’s the problem. Not many people see this act as wrong - that the right word to describe is - Breach of Integrity.

I personally encounter candidates that tell me they have accepted another offer but would still like to try for the job that I am working on. No eye blinking, no tinge of embarrassment in the voice – as though this is totally a normal request.

Job hunting ethics, does anyone know they even exist?

Job Hunting Ethics: Candidate No Show

Candidate: Hey, thanks so much for helping me to get an interview. I know you've done a lot to help me...

2 days later - On the day of interview...

My client: What happened to your candidate? She did not turn up!

I called. I smsed. I emailed - and this is what I wrote...

Dear xxxx,

Trying to contact you via your hand phone but no reply yet. XXXXX notified me that you did not turn up for interview today. Would really like to know the reason. I trust you have a good reason because you seems to be interested in the post based on our past conversations. So, I find it strange that you did not turn up.

Kindly call me when you read this mail.

I would really appreciate it.

Thank you…:)

No reply whatsoever. I gave her another day. Usually in such cases, there are two possibilities. The first one is the candidate has a change of mind, something like a bride having cold feet last minute and decided to ditch the whole thing. Or it could be a genuine situation in which the candidate had an accident and was lying unconscious somewhere and thus, unable to make contact (In my entire recruiting career, only one case fell in the latter).

And it's rather easy to verify whether it's the first possibility or not. Use a different mobile phone to make the call.

In this case, I was rather disappointed that the call was answered and more disappointed when the line went dead upon hearing my voice.

Have some guts, girl! Say it and own it!

Why was it so difficult for the candidate to make a call and say she is no more interested?

This is not just a case of poor job hunting ethics, it's simply rude - lack of basic courtesy. Period.

If you can't keep an appointment with a friend, is it normal to get into a disappearing act?

No, you don't.

But I guess it is no big deal if it's an acquaintance. And of course, one incident like this won't hurt your career so much, would it?