Top 10 Characteristics Employers Seek in Candidates

This was sent to me in 1998 by my manager at the time.

I have held onto the paper copy and now will be adding it to my recruiting blog.

When seeking a new job it is important that your resume and cover letter convey the following characteristics and skills in your initial contact with an employer.  Motivation and enthusiasm can be conveyed in your cover letter by indicating why you are interested in the position.

The resume gives the opportunity to relate your content skills (duties unique to a particular job or activity like drafting or editing) and your transferable skills ( activities learned on the job that can be transferred to another employer---organizing, summarizing and teamwork are good examples).

So with no further adieu, the top ten charateristics employers seek in job candidates:

1. Honesty
2. Motivation/Initiative
3. Communication Skills
4. Self-Confidence
5. Flexibility
6. Interpersonal Skills
7. Strong Work Ethic
8. Teamwork Skills
9. Leadership Skills
10. Enthusiasm

Tip # 1 for success in the workplace. Voicemail Etiquette

Voicemail is an excellent way to give your callers an up close and personal method of learning things about you that they might need to know before speaking with you. Voicemail messages can tell your audience specific times that you return calls or if your day is not one where you will be available to speak at length. As a professional, it is important to give your callers a reason to believe that you are competent and professional in your communication. Update your voicemail after returning to the office upon an absence, it will shine of your professionalism and your caller will not know unless they called you during your absences of your absence. It is an absolute must otherwise your caller might start to think that you are not so available, organized or effective in your communications. Your audience is anyone that calls your place of business. Updating your voicemail daily or when you are in the office is an effective form of communicating to your callers that you are available and they should expect a return call by a specified time period. When the call is returned, you gain credibility and trust of the caller. When it is not, your reputation can become tarnished along with the callers interest in working with you in the future. It frustrates potential clients/customers when they can not get a response to an inquiry. Believe it or not, it does not matter how much money that you make or how recognized you are by the world. One's personal response to life experiences carries worth in the workplace and I believe that is what employer's forget sometimes. Partially because people have become numb to workplace imperfections and as long as they subscribe to the concept of "my ship is not sinking" everything is fine concept everything is. I am a recruiter and a massage therapist. The phone is my friend in both instances. It is my life line to my candidates, my clients and my own service providers. My phone messages must be relevant to my lifestyle and my work arrangement. I am very good about returning calls. I listen to the message, I take note and I return calls generally within 2 hours or less. My reasoning is, my caller needs something from me and I am going to care for them. I also love what I do. Make your voicemail reflect that part of you by being credible, professional and speak clearly so that your words can be understood. If your audience is calling for a reason, they will appreciate it. When calling professionals cultivating business relationships, I take a note of voicemails of the people that I call. Do you sound like I want to call you back or am I a little nervous about whether you will appreciate my call? There are a lot of recruiters in the workforce and there are a lot of massage therapists in the workforce. But there is only one me, I believe in the "Golden Rule" & you should too (esp. when it comes to voicemail) Don't let that perfect opportunity pass you by because your voicemail is full or your message indicates that you are possibly not available or you don't return a call. Be focused on ensuring your success by determining to be available once you are called.

Are you looking for a job or Are you looking for a promotion or Are you one of millions that can't seem to find a job for some reason?

I am not an expert in searching for a job but I can tell you from a recruiter's perspective the things that are occurring in this economic climate can be very discouraging to an average person. I have literally known people that have been looking for a job for YEARS. They get a title or a tag of Slug or Loser in the hiring process. Hold on, and guess what they have never even spoken to you. Have you been told to revise your resume? Limit the experience to that which is relevant. Don't let it be over one page and don't speak negatively about anything because that can be construed as you being angry or holding a grudge against the employer. Yes there are some things that you just should never do. I think the goal is to present your background in such a manner so as to entice your audience to take a second look. I would like to help in your job search particularly if you are looking for a job because you are unhappy with your current situation; if you are looking for a promotion or if you just doing know how to sell yourself. One of the major reasons why people are not going back to work is because there are not enough jobs to sustain society coupled with the fact that there are some people that only hire people that are like them. If you are the exact opposite of them then what would make them take a chance on the unknown? I am looking for a position right now. And the major reason why is because I am in need of money. I am single. I am outspoken and very, very, very good at what I do. I have excellent management skills. I was a team leader for the 2010 Census Operations and I managed & supervised up to 25 people at the height of the operation during canvassing. I was respected for my work ethic and I got the job done. I am thorough and I am detailed oriented. In 2004, I decided to pursue massage therapy as a profession. I attended a 600 hr diploma program at The New School For Massage guess what I received extremely high marks in all of the subjects. At the time, there was no actually ranking because most of the classes which graduated were very small. I graduated with 3 other women. Everyone had distinctly different personalities and I believe that every one is still working in the profession. I worked for the next four years in dual professions as a recruiter and a massage therapist. I never had any free time because I was always working or attending some type of class to better myself. For a period of time, I worked three jobs simultaneously and went through a healer program in Dahn Yoga. Let me repeat myself, I worked three jobs as a recruiter, massage therapist and a job search and coaching position as well as attending the healer program. I like to be busy in a constructive way and right now. I don't feel like I am being as productive with my time these days even though I am building my own massage practice from the ground up. Why would you say from the ground up, Carol? That's because I have morals and ethics. When I was doing all of that I worked for other people and those people that I worked with were their clients. I just did the care and feeding of them. So right now I am feeling slightly discouraged because I know that I am a winner and I know that I am very good at what I do. If I had been a little bit smarter I would have broke off from the mainstream a long time ago. I am entreprenuerial. I am a leader. And you are too! Don't let others determine your worth. Alas this was supposed to be geared toward helping you find a job. The reason you are having such a hard time can be any of a number of reasons. I would like to help you learn how to nagivate your job search and find your ideal environment where you can thrive. follow me, email me, call me, let me now that you are out there.

Branding

Is about marketing, identity and presence.

new focus workshops to educate young people on how to address discrimination in society because of differences in cultural communication.

what is cultural communication?

seminar coming soon!

live stream???

Words of Wisdom to JobSeekers

1. Take your job search seriously!

2. Write compelling cover letters to differentiate yourself from others.

3. Create an email specifically for professional or career communications.

4. Research the companies that are appealing to you and know their industries/competitor/product offerings/target customers before send your resume over to them. Not so you can tweek your resume to fit their industry but rather to highlight your accomplishments in the area to which you are applying in your cover letter. Don't embellish!

5. Do volunteer work in your chosen field if possible or do internships.

6. Be respectful.

7. Entry level jobseekers be ready to start at the bottom. It's called paying your dues.

8. Never give up!

Have you heard of MiFi?

MiFi is a portable broadband wireless device about the size of a credit card that combines functions of a modem, router and access point. The internal modem accesses a wireless signal and the internal router shares that connection among users and devices.A MiFi is sometimes called a personal hotspot.

MiFi was designed to simplify setting up a small local area network (LAN). The device supports five users and can also network Wi-Fi-capable devices including digital cameras, notebooks, MP3 players and gaming systems. A MiFi device could be used to set up an ad-hoc network with a shared Internet connection anywhere with cellular connectivity.

Here are some of MiFi's other features:

Storage capacity.
The ability to host applications.
Support for EV-DO or UMTS/HSDPA 3G technologies.
Four hours active use, forty hours standby before the internal battery needs to be recharged.
Can be configured for automatic email synching and virtual private network (VPN) connection.
Support for remote management.
Novatel, who developed MiFi and trademarked the name, call their associated product line "Intelligent Mobile Hotspots." Novatel markets the devices, which require a data plan, through carriers. According to Novatel, MiFi stands for "my Wi-Fi" and is pronounced as "my-Fi."

Technology is always improving, stay abreast!

One thing I wish....resistance exposed

I wish people would take more pride in themselves and learn that you never know in life what is the direction or path you may be taking and how it will effect you. For over 20 years, I worked in the Human Resources field predominately in staffing. During this time, I worked at, at least 10 different companies. You say, sounds fishy. Not really, most people work at many jobs during their lifetimes. There are those exceptional individuals that stick it out and maintain employment at 1 or maybe 2 companies in their career, sadly, most do not.
One reason is because there is too much Corporate Politics. Wake up employers, it is the nit-picking and backbiting that drive employees away. Yeah, better benefits, more money and less commute make the new job way more attractive.
I believe Oprah leaving will have a dramatic affect on individuals that are aware and awake in this life. They will realize that we can ALL make a difference. All we need to do is exhibit a little effort and take that extra moment to look at the big picture. Be proud of who you are and what it took to get you to that point.
When I left my last employer, I heard they made an example of me on a corporate intranet site.
I never understood why, was it the fact that I was so focused on keeping my job, placing people and remaining stressed out. Or was it the fact that I knew the difference between a do'er and a complainer and I wanted dealings with complainer. At times, right and wrong just don't matter when you are dealing with corporate image. Rather than investigate why such a good employee would be so angry at decisions that would directly impact them were never discussed. You wanted me to be something that I was not and that is a liar. I do not decieve others intentionally in business and I do not trust liar nor do I do business with them.
I have very strong instincts regarding people. During times when I am interacting with my polar opposites, my hair stands on ends. There is a natural antagonism which exists between us and is is obvious. Generally, I dislike working around them so much that I don't bother engaging them. It's when I disengage the problem arises so what is the solution. Should I allow an individual to relegate my mood and my ability to do business in an environment?
No, but the atmosphere becomes such that it directly affects business. Remove me from the equation and hope that there is an environment shift. Hence, thus is born a job hopper. Generally, removing me usually doesn't change things too much. The real issue continues to lie there. You have the wrong people doing the wrong jobs and they are so scared to be found out they keep up un-necessary drama. They act childish, unprofessional and rude. They do not know how to communicate and they brood in the corner til they are asked to be in the spotlight and they make a bad situation worse.
Take pride in yourself. Companies are in trouble because the solution is not to get rid of the squeaky wheel but rather oil it and make use of quality product vs utilizing imitations. For 20 years, I kept my mouth shut and did what was expected of me. I worked to make money for the company, sell a product and stay away from the drama. I always took pride in my work and continued to produce no matter the circumstance.
Why do I say all of this now, on a blog you ask? I say it cause I never realized how the lifestyle and the work I did had major effects on me. For over 20 years, I ran on adrenaline. I was moving. I was producing. I was "on". I never took vacations and I never really relaxed. I just kept going and going and going. I look back now knowing I was not supposed to have kept going back. At least not being quiet. I needed to be more vocal and less compliant to negativity. I should have required change.
So I wish I had the opportunity to change my behavior that caused so much alienation to exist in my name and I hope that people change their behavior as well.
I think socializational activities are great ice breakers cause they break things down. Resistance exposed...
I am going to be posting some very special information on this blog soon!
Stay tuned!

R u willing to pay me a fee as retainer

Talented people come in all sizes, shapes and colors. They fit into roles like puzzles. No two puzzles are solved in the same way although the end result may be the same.

Recruiting relies on an individuals ability to sell a concept.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

Take care when marketing to ensure the sharing of information with others is relevant and appropriate. Marketing is an important activity which should be conducted by individuals who are looking to talk about their backgrounds to market their skill set emphasizing the attributes which are going to get them the job or communicate a certain message.

Marketing activities can be strategic or regular in the sense that they will increase awareness of products or services offered to the customer base being targeted.

Life is about marketing. I would love to work with candidates or employers on assisting in marketing your organization or your background. I can always accentuate your positives better and more appropriately that any individual can for themself.

Take a chance, spend a little time in conversation with me. I can be reached at: recruitingtalent.allthex@gmail.com

You will not go wrong, my vested interest lies in assisting your in your goals as a partner from either perspective.

Dealing with the turndown from a recruiter's perspective

Wow, candidate turned down a job offer for a position which i am working on. Depending on the situation i could have a sense of it or be completely blindsided. Anyone that says any different i would like to shadow you through life because i am missing something.

Sometimes it can hurt like a painful breakup where you are overly aware that the end has passed you by but you refuse to accept it. More than the conscious deer in headlight look, it is heart dropping to your knees and i can't believe it. The offer derailed over something which could be resolved if the hiring organization and the candidate were BOTH sold on one another. When a company is paying a fee, they deserve to have a candidate which is preclosed on their organization and the benefit of joining such an establishment.

Sometimes candidates are on an ego trip. i just want to work on my interviewing skills. How marketable am i? i really want to strangle candidates like that because it is never advisable to go shopping with no serious intention of transitioning. depending on the organization, it can affect your future employability at that organization.

In my 15+ years experience, i have had my share of turndowns. they were horrible for me because sometimes candidates conveniently disappear when they turndown a job. or they develop a heightened sense of themselves and their resolve translation no more buddy/buddy with the recruiter because my mind is made up. Luckily for me, my turndown percentages are very low but one never gets used to it.

I am in search of retained recruiting positions with locally based chicago companies that are looking to partner with a self employed human resource professional with a strong competency in employment, recruiting and negotiation.

Standard fee: 35% contingency
Retained: $2,500/month up to 24% of 1st year salary

I would love to reduce your turndown activity in hard to fill critical roles...talk to me about my approach and we can loosely determine if we can sort things out.

What makes a good recruiter?

I would love to get some feedback on this one. What makes a good recruiter/

next

how many responses have you gotten from job board related activites including from recruiters/headhunters about job openings?

how many resulted in face to face interviews?

are you open to receiving constructive criticism or are you always right?

when a person goes to look for a job they only care about the end result which generally tends to bite a person in the butt over time.

culture, corporate politics (on a micro and a macro level), personal satisfaction/motivations weigh in the decision to take or leave a job.

know what you are dealing with when you are faced with this dilemma can make this an easy or a hard transition.

Volt was a good place for me to work as a professional placement recruiter in Chicago working under the leadership of Edward Coleman. At the point of my joining, it appeared that Mr Coleman understood cookie cutter was not the approach to direct placement recruiting. Guided by Todd Humes as my manager, I thought I was working in a good place. Corporate politics and labels that were inferred through racial stereotyping and bigotry. All I can say is WOW. Not a new story for most to hear it happens every day in the business community. Greed became a focal point as financials were continually considered first.

Bad environment socially and some were "too intellectual" for themselves. They forgot how to get in the dirt and roll up their sleeves. They thought the title of manager meant they did not have to actually work to drive revenue only their subordinates did. They paid their dues. WOW again...

Don't overanalyze but think about how you are conducting your job search people. Do you want a job where you are no more than a number or do you want a career path?

Working with a recruiter such as myself afford you that opportunity. I only work with people I am lead to work with and vice versa, they must be lead to work with me.

I am a very unconventional recruiter. Am I the recruiter for you?

So you are looking for a job?

Are you using the job boards? Stop

Employers use this as a tool to weed people out versus including an applicant.

Do you know your most marketable attributes? By this I mean the things that you do best, better than anyone else.

What skills do you have that exemplify your self-confidence?


What type of environment do you work best in?

Are you team oriented?

How hip are you technologically?

How would you describe yourself?

If you can answer these questions honestly, I might be able to help.

Semantic Technology

I would like to interview individuals well versed in Semantic Technology to gain insights into its practical application in the workforce and its impact on next generation processes.

If you are well versed in Semantic Technology, please let me know how I can get in contact with you directly.

Do you Twitter?

I do. Stay tuned for updates on my recruiting process and how you can possibly be spotlighted with respect to your professional talents.

Stay tuned to my blog

This blog is going to be an integral part of my recruiting strategy and the hub of my communication to educate others in refining and updating their processes of articulating opportunities and identifying the purple squirrels that are hidden because they are happy, content and satisfied in their roles.

I am a forward thinking recruiter that recognizes the recruitment cycle to fill any position that is considered integral to maintaining and fulfilling organizational goals is going to take more than 1 month to fill. Most likely it will take months to identify and work closely with the hiring managers to flesh out the skill set necessary and the cultural fit.

Recruiting is my bedrock. I love to participate in requirements gathering. I believe that it is a necessity to have full buy in from the hiring organization to have full disclosure and honest discussion.

Nice Article from Fortune Magazine on the hidden job search

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/106829/How-to-Get-a-Job-When-No-One's-Hiring

This is what a recruiter can assist a talent person that knows what they want do. It takes alot of time. Candidates provide the starting point for the career search, recruiters drive the process because if we don't make placements we really don't eat.

I used to work at TunaRez and would coach job seekers on finding new positions. My suggestions were similar to the information provided in this article. Reach out to me if you are interested in working together either on the client side filling positions or on the candidate side identifying your ideal positions.

Take care

My girlfriend's restaurant

One of my girlfriend's owns a restaurant in Chicago on the southside, I visited her today to enlist her assistance in marketing my massage services. As we talked about various topics, I watched her work. She is very passionate about food. She cooked and prepared the orders with amazing efficiency and a love that only comes from sincerity.

As I started thinking about recruiting, recruiting is more than just finding people that understand the work but are also passionate. It is shown as they do their work and in the product which is produced.

My friend, Connie, is passionate about her business and is going to be very successful.

Americans create quality products and produce workmanship. But yet our economy is tanking, how do we turn this around? Where should we start? In African American neighborhoods in Chicago where I live, we drive to the store in other neighbhorhoods because we are looking for quality. Yet, there is quality in the neighborhood we are missing because of our ignorance.

I am going to start recruiting independently in the near future. I believe I am really good at it. If you have any orders, where you would like some directed focus please let me know.

Managing people and assessing abilities

I am not that smart. I do know people. I can assess a person and offer feedback to assist in personal and professional growth. I am not degreed in this area but I do believe I possess a natural talent coupled with an innate ability.

The economy is tanking for a lot of reasons. One of which is that we have lost the ability as humans to attain things that are not of monetary value but of intrinsic within all of us.

Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclaimation and it is a deep document. It is bold. It was written during a time of great struggle. It serves a guideline for life.

People get fired everyday. We can call it a lay off or a RIF or any number of things. Rather than manage people, we enable bad behavior and stagnation.

I recently had the opportunity to be employed at an excellent recruitment firm, CPS, within the ad+one division. I was released from employment at the end of February because of the "economy". I would highly recommend them as an employer and a place that you can release your potential if you are motivated, balanced and hungry.

I believe I would have been very succesful had I been more hungry. But I am at a point in my life where desire is less important that being satiated and content with life.

I have two passions at this point in my life. One is recruiting which is in my opinion part of human resources any way you slice it and the other, massage therapy. Unfortunately, I still have some growing to do and hopefully I will be able to eventually find that perfect balance.

I can not say enough positive things about CPS, and ad+one. I wish you much success!

I am sure Cozumel was fabulous!

#1 Reason

Recruiters or Headhunters as we are affectionately called can reach out to people that [hiring manager or hiring organizations] can not easily approach and do so in a very professional one hand washes the other kind of approach (e.g. clients, competitors or vendors).

Having worked in this industry for over 15 years, I have talked to a large array of people which have included both positive and negative experiences. But I am always left in amazement how easy and hard it can be to network with people.