The Bagg Group Blog

Last week in this space we offered interview tips for the Y generation. This week, we give advice to job-hunters who have a longer history in the workplace.

History is rarely without its bumps.

It could be that you are looking for a new full-time position, contract work, or temporary placement in the GTA because you were laid off from your last job.  Or perhaps, you feel frustrated in your current position, not happy with your boss or work conditions.  Or you may simply be in the market for a new opportunity. 

In any event, how you think –and more importantly talk—about your reasons for your job-hunt can have an enormous impact on your success.

If you weren’t satisfied with your past position, you are not alone. 

A new study from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois puts career-related disappointments fourth on the list of most common regrets.    (The top three reasons people kick themselves are related to romance, family squabbles and education choices.)

But Dr. Neil Roese, a marketing professor at Northwestern U, suggests disappointment is a “helpful emotion.”    He says it can be just what we need to help us better decisions in the future.

Long before this study, The Bagg Group recruiters have been helping candidates look at their past job frustrations in a whole new light.

The Bagg Group experts prepare candidates for interviews with the best employers in the GTA by asking them this key question about their past work disappointments: “What valuable lessons did you learn from the situation?” 

We have successfully placed thousands of candidates over the decades.  One reason for our much higher than average success rate is this:  We make sure our candidates know that they can’t take anger, blame and resentment into an interview.    You can talk about lessons learned, but not about hurts suffered.

Negativity doesn’t sell. 

The best news is that putting on rose-coloured glasses, if only because it’s important for when you interview, makes you happier.

Another recent study of more than 750 people conducted by San Francisco State University shows that having a positive view of your past contributes to your happiness in the present.

This study concludes that reframing, or changing, how you think about past painful experiences can increase your life satisfaction significantly.  

The candidates who stand ahead of the rest are those who talk positively, with no resentment, about where they’ve been and where they are going.  

Their positivity is contagious, the interviewer will catch it.

And positivity sells.

If you’re born after 1980 you’re part of Gen Y — also known as Millennials, the Internet Generation or Nexters.  You’re the first generation of employees to be born and raised in a ‘wired’ world.  While others came to the global network later in life and had to figure it out, many of you learned it like you would a first language. 

Employers in the GTA know that today’s youngest group of employees have a lot to offer.  After all, Mark  Zuckerberg is only 26 and his company, Facebook, is worth anywhere from $50 billion to more than $80 billion, according to recent media estimates.  And Forbes magazine recently noted that Andrew Mason, 29, reportedly turned down a $6 billion offer from Google for the deal-of-the-day website company he runs called Groupon. 

No one scoffs at young candidates. But interviewers at all companies in the GTA want to make sure these candidates can work well with people from different generations.  

The workplace is a mish-mash of Traditionalists (also known as Greatest Generation) who were born before 1945, baby boomers who were born between 1945 and 1964, and Gen Xers, who were born between 1965 and 1980, as well as Gen Yers.

Every generation has its own values, beliefs and reputation.   According to a US survey reported in the Wall Street Journal, 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that Gen Y has a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers. And 56% of respondents say they believe the younger employees will be demanding a promotion within a year.

If you’re looking for a full-time position, contract work, or temporary placement in the GTA, you don’t want interviewers to worry that you’ll be a workplace diva.   Recruiters of The Bagg Group offer these four tips for making sure that doesn’t happen.

There’s a difference between knowing a lot and being a know-it-all.   You have a lot to share, and a deep-rooted understanding of the global network. But before you talk, listen.  You want to show that you recognize other people have valid opinions, expertise, and points-of-view based on experience and knowledge of their company.  

Speak in suggestions, not shoulds: Your suggestions are always welcome, share your ideas with enthusiasm, but don’t tell those who interview you what they ‘should be’ doing.  For one thing, you don’t have all the facts yet to be credible.  For another, you’ll come off as arrogant. And hiring managers know that arrogance isn’t a good quality for a team member. 

Talk commitment, not career surfing:   Many studies indicate today’s college and university graduates may have as many as 10 jobs in the first 10 years of their career, as they jump from one to another in the quest for  personal satisfaction.  

Yet recruiters at The Bagg Group, who are experts in helping people find the best jobs, know that career surfing hurts career advancement.  Also, it’s more satisfying to learn and grow in a job. And that’s how you get promotions. Let interviewers know that you are eager to commit to their organization.

Consider the experience, not the title:  In an era where many young people say they want instant fame and fortune, it’s tempting to want to hold out for an awesome job title that impresses. Don’t.  The fast-track to success is through experience and the chance to develop skills.  

Give the generations ahead of you their due. Think of it this way: you have Gen Z coming up fast behind you.  And it’s said that Gen Z will be quicker at processing information than any other generation before them. As a Gen Y, you’ll want the Gen Z who join your team one day to respect the expertise you’ll have acquired between now and then.  Right now, others want the same of you.

You just never know.   It could be that one day the resume as we know it will go the way of the dinosaur.  Instead, recruiters will conduct online searches to turn up profiles of people who match their needs.  

Last year, a US survey of human resource experts shows that 36% of respondents believe that it’s likely that resumes will eventually be replaced by profiles on social and business networking sites, such as Facebook and Linkedin.

But that day is not here yet.  For now, a good resume is still essential if you’re looking for full-time work, contract work, or temporary placements in the GTA.

However, you still need to make sure you have a positive online presence to impress hiring managers.  That’s because there’s a chance that if they like your resume, they’ll look up your name on the internet.   

As many as 79% of recruiting professionals in the US who responded to a 2010 Microsoft survey said they do online research on candidates whom they are considering for jobs.

The large majority (85%) of recruiters said that a positive online reputation influences their decision to hire the candidate.

However, it’s especially important for job-hunters to know that a whopping 70% said they had rejected candidates because they didn’t like what they saw when they found them online.

Dan Schawbel, writes in Forbes magazine blog that nowadays, “your responsibility is to guard and manage your reputation like it’s the most sacred thing in the world.”  Recruiters at The Bagg Group couldn’t agree more.

We live in an era where it’s common to post enormous amounts of private, informal, information about ourselves.  On social network sites and in our personal blogs, we share pictures that we wouldn’t dream of showing to an interviewer.  We tell stories, make comments, post jokes, and give status updates that we would not want to serve as our introduction to a potential employer.

That’s why at The Bagg Group, we urge candidates to follow these tips:

• Set your privacy settings on all social networking sites, such as Facebook, to allow access to friends only. When job searching in the GTA, only people who know you should be able see your profile page.  To maximize your Facebook security, check out the tips in this New York Daily News article Worried about your Facebook privacy? Six things you should know.
• Your profile picture will show up in a name search on Facebook. You don’t want that picture to hurt your professional reputation.  When job hunting, it’s not the time to post a shot of yourself in a bathing suit, puffing on a cigarette, waving an empty bottle of tequila.  
• If you have any videos of yourself on Youtube, ask yourself if they could possibly make a bad impression. Err on the side of caution and remove any which you are unsure about.  And remember, you can’t be sure that potential employers will share your sense of humour.
• If you write a personal blog, don’t write anything you wouldn’t want an interviewer to read.  Avoid all rants and swear words. These won’t help your case.  Instead, they could make possible employers worry about how you’d handle difficult situations at work.
• Update your profile on professional social marketing sites, such as Linkedin.  Devote time to connecting with as many other professionals as possible and asking for recommendations.  

Consider that when potential employers look you up on the internet, they are interviewing you, without you knowing it.   They’re doing research to help them determine if you’re the right fit for their company.  In a face-to-face interview, you take control of your image.  It only makes sense to do the same online.

Ever heard of the term glossophobia?  Chances are you, or someone you know, has it.  It’s fear of public speaking, even to a party of one, and it afflicts as many as 75% of us, according to glossophobia.com.  

At The Bagg Group, we know glossophobia can make the idea of speaking to an interviewer, or a panel of interviewers, an ordeal for those looking for work.

What makes people nervous is the thought that they might be seen as foolish, or incompetent, in the eyes of others.  Even people who have been recognized many times for their talent and expertise suffer from this. 

A famous example is Barbra Streisand, who stopped doing live shows when she was at the height of her career.  She was performing at a concern in New York City’s Central Park when the jitters caused her to forget some words to her songs.  It took her 27 years before she could get herself to sing live in front of a large audience again.

When you are looking for a job in the GTA you don’t have that kind of time. If you get stricken by a case of the nerves when presenting yourself to others, consider the advice of recruiters from The Bagg Group. With a 40-plus year history of helping candidates interview successfully for jobs, we know what works.

Remember, the only one judging you is you:  Interviewers are not looking to criticize you, they only want to learn about your skill set and experience to see if these meet their specific needs.

Interviewers are on your side:   At The Bagg Group, we have extensive experience in working with hiring managers at all leading companies in the GTA.  We know that each one wishes the best for those they interview. Whether you’re seeking a full-time job, contract work, or a temporary placement, the interviewer understands your desire to be employed and is rooting for you.  Many interviewers tell us they wish they had jobs for all the candidates they see.

Make eye contact:  We all know it’s critical to look people in the eyes when we speak to establish trust.  Yet, when we feel shy, we can unthinkingly avoid eye contact and focus on the wall or carpet. But doing so won’t decrease your tension.  People feel irritated when speakers won’t look at them – they feel invisible or unimportant — and you will likely sense their annoyance. 

Harry Beckwith, an expert on public speaking writes in Psychology Today “If you look each person in the eye for a few seconds, you make each person feel respected–a feeling every person craves.  It also makes each audience member feel involved, in what feels like a conversation.”  

Making eye contact for three to four seconds helps people engage with you, and that feeling is the key to helping you relax.

Like with everything, the fear of presenting decreases the more often you do it.  That’s reason enough to go to every interview you can.  But you don’t have to feel as if you need to conquer the jitters, you just have to manage them.  And when you think of it, there have been many occasions in your life when you’ve taken action despite feeling nervous; you’ve done it before, you can do it again.

When companies give a recruitment agency top marks for excellent service, it spells good news for candidates of that staffing firm. 

That’s why we’re so excited to share with job-hunters that clients of The Bagg Group gave our recruiters an exceptionally high score for service.  And they rated our candidates as being top-notch. We did so well in a survey of staffing firms that we’ve been named to the 2011 Inavero Best of Staffing List – which is high praise in our industry.

Fewer than 1% of staffing firms in North America are named to the list presented in partnership with CareerBuilder. 

What does this mean for you?  It confirms that our clients have enormous trust in our recommendations.  So when we send you to interview for a position in the GTA, you can be assured that the hiring manager is truly looking forward to meeting with you.

Consider that a staffing agency is your introduction to a company which needs to fill a full-time position, a contract position, or a part-time placement in the GTA.  It’s important that the recruiter who recommends you is trusted for their expertise and credibility to pave the way for a good interview for you.

In fact, your recruiter is a bit like an executive producer of American Idol.  An MSNBC article notes that it is the executive producers who choose approximately 100 contestants in every city to audition for the celebrity judges.

The executive producers understand what the show needs to be a success.  As a result, the celebrity judges trust their time is well spent talking, and listening, to whomever steps before them. 

In the same way, The Bagg Group is known for only sending candidates to an interview if they are a good match for that particular company and its needs.  If we don’t refer a candidate, it’s because we know the fit is not there.   That’s what helped us win one of the most prestigious awards in our industry –and that’s why hiring authorities take our calls and our recommendations.

To make a great match between a company and a candidate, recruiters have to understand the criteria of the position to be filled, and the corporate culture of the organization.  They also have to know the job-seeker’s strengths and goals.  We get to know our candidates, which is why candidates rated us as high as our clients did, winning us a proud place on the 2010 Inavero Best of Staffing List for service to candidates.

Winning an award is terrific recognition.  We urge candidates to include awards, honours, recognitions on their resume.   At The Bagg Group, we believe in the value of a pat on the back.  But what really gives us cause to celebrate is knowing that we’re doing right by you, and by our clients.

There are two things you want to avoid in a job interview:  The first is to ask about the number of sick days to which you will be entitled. The second is to show up ill at an interview.

This year, the Toronto Public Health Office has declared that the flu has hit the GTA with a vengeance.  For candidates who get struck down by the bug the day before a much-awaited interview, that presents a dilemma.

No one wants to miss an opportunity.  And often, many of us feel we can toughen it out long enough to make it through an interview.  However, it isn’t just about how you feel, it’s about the impression you are making with the hiring manager.

Walking in looking feverish, glassy-eyed, and coughing, is not going to wow anyone.  No matter how much a hiring manager in the GTA wants to find the right full-time person, contract worker, or part-time placement, they don’t want to get sick themselves when doing it. 

To determine whether your symptoms merit calling off the interview, as much to protect the health of the interviewer as well as your own, check out the Toronto Public Health office flu alert.

If you do need to reschedule, follow these tips from the experts at The Bagg Group.  We have helped candidates prepare for interviews with the best companies across the GTA for 40 years, and sadly, each one of those years has included a flu season. 

1. Give as much advance notice as possible.
2. If your interview was set up through a recruitment agency, contact your recruiter. They will get in touch with the person who was to interview you. 
3. If you are not working with a recruitment agency, send the interviewer an email, with apologies for having to cancel because of illness and ask if they might be able to schedule you in for a meeting in a day or two. 
4. Call, as well as sending the email, just in case the interviewer doesn’t see your email before your appointment.   
5. When calling, do not try to prove how ill you are by coughing through the entire message.  At The Bagg Group, recruiters have been frustrated when they were unable to even make out the caller’s name. It doesn’t matter how high your fever is, for the one-minute call you need to stay professional, and clear.
6. Leave a number and let them know you will be available by phone and you will check your email so that you can quickly confirm another appointment.

If you don’t have anything contagious, and you feel you are able to power through the interview, try to do so.  If you’ve had a sleepless night, or you are a battling a headache, don’t feel the need to reveal all.  Consider this: How impressed would you be if when you sat down, the interviewer started giving you a detailed account of their aches and pains?

When you are in an interview, you want to focus on your strengths not your setbacks…but as soon as you get out the door, feel free to make a run for the couch. 

Stay healthy!

Not sure what to do next to move your job hunt forward? 

Sometimes, when looking for new job, you may wonder how to schedule your time — should you reformat your resume, spend time researching companies, work on upgrading your skills, look for volunteer opportunities, or call old contacts.

It happens to us all that when we’re not sure what to do, we overwhelm ourselves by listing dozens of things we could be doing. But the more ideas we have, the less we typically do.

And if you are seeking a job in the GTA, be it a full-time position, contract work, or temporary job, you need to work at it.  A to-do list can help you get moving.

Recruiters at The Bagg Group, who have decades of experience in helping candidates find the best jobs in the GTA, offer these tips for how to make an effective to-do list.

Don’t make a mile-long list:  Timothy Pychyl, a professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa and a procrastination expert, says it is easy to put all our time and energy into writing a list.  As a result, the list itself becomes the work of the day. 

So don’t list the dozens of things you could be doing. Instead, choose three tasks and put them in order of priority.

Break down the first priority task into small steps: Consider the most important activity you need to accomplish –it is probably the task that seems the most difficult to you.  Write down all the steps necessary to complete this task.  Make this list of steps the list that you work with.      

Be specific:  For example, if you need to find your old resumes to produce a new one, write down:  Find past resumes..

Stick to one task at a time: Tackle each step, one after another.  Don’t give a thought to the other items on your day’s to-do list until you have completed the item you are working on.                                                                                                  

Now do this: There’s a wonderfully named app called Now Do This  (www.nowdothis.com) that is a great example of a simple, but effective way to work through a list.  With this app, you make a list of what you need to do in order of importance.  Now Do This will show only the first item on your to-do list, at the top of a clean, empty screen. It is only when you click on the Done button that the next item on your list appears, again on a clean, empty screen.  

“Now do this” is a terrific thing to say to yourself to keep you focused. It is less stressful and far more productive to just concentrate on the one task at hand.

Work to a schedule:  Looking for a job is a job.  Put in set hours, schedule in breaks, and keep to your timetable.

Reward yourself:  When you tick off an item from your to-do list, recognize that it’s an accomplishment.  And at the end of the day, tell yourself and anyone who asks that you had a great day.

Feeling good about what you are doing as you look for a job is important. When you network and meet with interviewers your good spirits can make all the difference.

 A new year brings in the promise of a fresh start.  If you are carrying over a job search from 2010, re-invigorate your search by starting the year off by doing at least one thing differently.

For example, move a dreaded task necessary for your job search in the GTA from the bottom of your to-do list to the top.

We all share a tendency to avoid those tasks which are out of our comfort zone. But research shows that it’s more energizing to get those activities out of the way than to have them hang over your head all day. 

And as you change the time, change your perspective.  With 40 years of successfully finding candidates full-time work, contract work and part-time placements, recruiters at The Bagg Group offer these tried and true tips for how to rethink two commonly disliked tasks.   

1) The covering letter:

If you dislike writing a covering letter, do it first thing in the morning, and think of your letter as a puzzle.

Some people actually make the activity into a puzzle.  Here’s how it works:

• Write out each point you wish to make as a sentence. 
• Cut out each sentence.
• Re-read the ad to determine the organization’s order of priority for the skills and experience it is seeking.
• Move your sentences around to try and match the organization’s list of priorities.

In this way by your coffee break, you’ll have a terrific first draft for your letter.  And even better, you may find yourself so engaged in your puzzle, you won’t notice that you’re actually composing a letter. 

2) The call to network

For many job seekers, making a call to former colleagues or contacts to network can be more uncomfortable than root canal.   

About 40% of us are shy, according to Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana State University.   His advice: Don’t focus on your request for help with your job search, just put your focus on being nice.

In an interview with Penelope Trunk, author of The Brazen Careerist, Professor Carducci said, “Shy people need to be more other-focused and less self-focused. Think about what you can do for the other person. Shy people worry that their opening comment will not be smart enough or witty enough, so they never get started. Instead, remember that when initiating contact you don’t need to be brilliant, you just need to be nice.”  

And you are “nice” when you show you are genuinely interested in the person with whom you are speaking.  It doesn’t take more than that to establish good connections.

When offices shut down for the holidays, it’s your cue to do the most important thing you can do at this time.  Take a mental break.

Recruiters at The Bagg Group know that job-hunters can spend statutory holidays fretting. We also hear how about how many don’t look forward to gatherings with friends and family they haven’t seen for a while because they dread being asked, “Do you have job yet?” 

Here’a tip for how to answer that question.  Tell whoever asks that right now you are working – you are doing planning, marketing, and sales to find a position that is right for you.  But for today, your office is closed.

We all need a time-off from whatever it is we are working on, and that includes seeking a full-time job, contract work, or temporary placement in the GTA. 

Creativity experts say sometimes it is when you stop thinking about your goals for awhile that you come up with great ideas out of the blue.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the best-seller Eat, Love, Pray is a case in point.  When she hit writer’s block, she turned off her computer and put all her energies into gardening.   She wrote in Oprah magazine that, “quite suddenly, out of nowhere—I realized exactly how to fix my book. I washed my hands, returned to my desk, and within three months I’d completed the final version of Committed—a book that I now love.  Gardening, in other words, had turned me back into a writer.”

So when there’s nobody there to read your email or return your call, give yourself the best gift you can this time of year…a time-out to recharge your batteries.   With 40 years of placing candidates with the best companies in the GTA, we can assure job-seekers that a holiday spent doing something you love will pay-off in renewed energy for the new year.

From all of us at The Bagg Group, happy holidays.

At The Bagg Group, we love a good story as much as anyone else.  But this December, it’s time for us to debunk the three greatest myths of the month:

1.  Poinsettias are poison for humans.  Not according to the Minnesota Poison Control which promises these Christmas plants don’t kill.

2.   Boxing Day was born of the urge to return gifts of scratchy too-small sweaters as fast as possible.  In fact, its origin is an old-time British practice of giving boxes of food to employees. 

3.  There’s no point looking for full-time positions, contract work or temporary work in the GTA in December.  That’s just not true!  A bowl of candy canes at the reception desk doesn’t mean all work stops.

Recruiters at The Bagg Group are setting the record straight with these true facts about job-hunting in December.

‘Tis the season to be available and willing to be called in to help out. Many staffers book winter vacations during the holiday season, resulting in a greater need for temporary work.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to network. With thoughts of the holidays floating in people’s head, many are in better than average moods and more generous with their time.

Hiring authorities with positions to fill don’t want to put their job searches on hold.  They prefer to start the new year with new hires in place.

It’s also true that it can be more difficult to schedule interviews with decision-makers in the latter half of December.  That said, throughout the years, recruiters at The Bagg Group have sent candidates for interviews with the best companies in the GTA on December 24 and December 31. 

The bottom line?  Looking for a job is like running your own business.  And every business has to think competitively.  Many of your competitors for jobs will likely take most of December off.   And that’s why you shouldn’t.

Instead, take your cues from The Bagg Group recruiters who successfully help people find positions 12 months of the year:   Go ahead and decorate your work space with a poinsettia, and keep candy canes within reach, but don’t stop working toward your goal until office doors shut for the holidays.