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Getting Hired! Why Me and Not You? The One Hour Experiment!

February 24, 2015

a guest post by WWNG Member Harlem Williams
Green Freshman Consulting
Innovating Human Resources, Workspaces and Organizations!

4 Key Ways to Successfully Secure Talent

Recently, I participated in a career fair. I wanted to test my individual brand selling and networking tactics with recruiters. Also, I wanted to experiment with the benefits of being high- energy with a good self-pitch—but without having a printed resume—versus being low- or mid- energy with no self-pitch and a printed resume.

I conducted my experiment using the same three steps with ten companies and individuals. Here were my steps: (1) I hunted the crowd for typical candidates (nervous, low energy, over-dressed, equipped with a pile of freshly printed resumes and covered in desperation); (2) I observed how they engaged with recruiters from one of the ten companies I selected to see if the candidate was able to obtain the recruiter’s email or business card; (3) if they failed, I immediately went to the same recruiter with my high-energy selling pitch and without a resume to see if I could get the recruiter to give me her email or business card. The result of my hypothesis proved right every time. I went to ten companies and left with ten business cards.

The question here is, if I can do it, can you? First, let’s identify the purpose and dynamics of a recruiting fair. The purpose: to get yourself a job or connection. The dynamics: these recruiters are tired from their two-week or two-month recruiting roadshow. They see hundreds of resumes daily, thousands of candidates yearly and are bored with the “typical candidate.”  They are silently screaming for a spicy, fun, self-motivated go-getter!

How do be a spicy candidate?

(1)   Understand that you are also there to interview these firms and the hiring process is not one way, so challenge them by conducting your own interview.

(2)   Try having a conversation with the recruiter, before you get down to business. Find a common ground, know your added value and talk about that not the generic stuff. Companies are not looking for another accountant, but a dynamically, spicy, go-getting and self-motivated accountant!

(3)   Bring your work! A resume is great, but real work says to your recruiter that you are not just a good talker; you can actually dive in and do the work. If you have PowerPoint presentation or any portable project that makes you look dynamic and spicy, then bring it, share it and get hired with it. Tablets allow you to show your innovation and tech savviness, which is key for most jobs today!

Forbes writer and author of She Got the Promotion. You didn’t! Here’s Why Susannah Breslin, provides concrete suggestions on how you should be presenting yourself and thinking when engaging with recruiters and managers:

(1) Become our own brand manager (separate who you are privately from who you as a product) and sell the product!

(2) Think like a manager and meet those needs (the actual job description doesn’t matter, as most managers don’t write them).

(3) Be a unicorn (know yourself and sell your unique added value).

(4) Be annoying (don’t give up, you have them in front of you, so become dynamically spicy, present solutions, share your ideas).

For sure, these are all things that the everyday extrovert can master, but for you introverts, I would say make a checklist, pick two things to work on and get to work until you are a well trained spicy machine. Being high energy, knowing how to brand yourself, and understanding your added value will get you the job you want, not your boring, flat and unoriginal resume! So, get to selling, Spicemaster!

 

Links to other great resources

Breslin, Susannah (2012). “How To Sell Yourself.” 14 February 2015.

O’Donnell. J.T. (2014), “Best Way to Get a Job Nobody’s Using.” 14 February 2015.

 

Image: Yang, Mindy (2013), “4 Key Ways to Successfully Secure Talent.” 14 February 2015.

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