The Joel Paul Group Blog

Can the job search be one of the most stressful things you will experience professionally? Certainly, but you have to stay as positive as possible. If you come across negative in the interview or when meeting others that can help you, it will only make things more challenging.

From time to time, I hear about clients being offered work ‘off the books’ (Getting paid in cash instead of by check, with your earnings not reported to the government). Shady employers try to convince the applicant that the job is more money in your pocket.

Receive an offer that seemed to good to be true? Perhaps you do not remember applying to the job but are offered an interesting business development, sales or marketing opportunity? You can save time and heartache by typing in the company name plus the word “scam” into a google search.

In most professional circumstances, an employer will ask the potential hire to provide references in the latter most stages of the interview process. An employer will often ask for two to three references before you are hired. Keep the references as professional as possible.

At the end of an interview, we are often told when we can expect to hear back from an employer. This information is helpful to us as we need a timeframe so that we can call in the event we do not hear back from the company. Oftentimes, the employer will mention a time sooner than they are ready to give you an answer.

When following up with any organization, do not leaving more than one phone message. If you do not get through on the phone, try to reach the person later. If you leave an additional message, it is unlikely the person you are trying to reach will prioritize your call and get back to you in a timely manner. If you catch a live person on the phone, you are more likely to get clarity in the process.

Take the time to write a well thought out note to each individual. Emphasize the points that you discussed in the interview and reiterate what you feel would help you to stand out from the crowd. A note of about four or five lines should be sufficient.

The key to the highest job offer is not to reveal how much you are looking for until you receive an offer. Larger companies have organizational charts including salary ranges they can offer for each position.

Author: Lavie Margolin, Career Coach In any negotiation situation, you want to create a win-win, whereby both parties walk away happy. A client that I worked with, unfortunately, created the opposite situation. In helping facilitate a connection for him with a large...

A resume and cover letter are part of your campaign to advertise your skills, experience and qualifications for the job. Each employer is looking for someone that is a strong match for their unique needs. It is impossible to appeal to everyone with the same message repeated over and over.

When preparing a resume, we often get caught up in making sure that it will shine. We include all of our accomplishments, flesh out the duties of the jobs we have held and include all of our skills. The resume will get you in the door for the interview. When you are in the interview, can you explain everything that is on your resume?

When you are receiving two hundred resumes for every job, you must come up with simple ways to eliminate people. This is the framework from which we have to work, for better or worse, and I would like to discuss strategy for overcoming the largest question marks employers hang their hat on: A large (or perceived) large time-frame between your last job and the present time.

Spend the time ‘targeting’ your resume and cover letter specifically for each job to which you are applying. Make sure the items emphasized in the advertisement, as key requirements to the position, stand out clearly on your resume.

Networking strategy, just like when driving the car to grandma’s house, can take the wrong turn on the expressway and we can end up in the wrong place. It is often emphasized when looking for a job to find someone to advocate on your behalf to the hiring manager.

Signed up for LinkedIn? Connected to everyone you know? Great- here is a way to maximize it: Once you see a job listing at a company for which you would like to apply, search for your contacts at the company on LinkedIn under the “find people” section. Most likely if you have added a fair amount of contacts, you will find someone that knows someone that works there.

An informational interview is an opportunity to meet with a professional in your field of interest to learn more about his/her job and garner any advice they may have for you. Remember, this can be an excellent chance to talk with a person in a position to help you in your job search.

Author: Lavie Margolin, Career Coach The word “network” has frustrated many of us. We all have some friends and family members who might want to help us when looking for a job but we feel that we do not know enough people (i.e. have a big enough network) in order to...

Author: Lavie Margolin, Career Coach A situation where you are interviewed by two or more people at once is called a panel or group interview. We are often not prepared for this situation and intimidated by it.  Group interviews are a good thing for job seekers. Why?...

In a corporate setting, it is not uncommon to go through several rounds of interviews. Your style and manner of answering should actually change for each round to fit what they are looking for.

Author: Lavie Margolin, Career Coach The day of the interview can be stressful enough for most of us. Help to relieve some of the stress by making sure you know where you are going and how long it should take. Do a practice run to the interview location a day or two...