HOW TO PREPARE FOR AN INTERVIEW

I hope this message reaches you well. This post is probably the most important post I’ve had on the site. These tips have helped hundreds of people get their dream job. I hope it helps each one of you. One of my business partners & good friends wrote a great article about Interviewing & Preparation. His name is Brett Cotter & his company is called Stress Is Gone. I strongly recommend that you take a good look at what he can do for you. They are on the cutting edge of stress relief & specialize in coaching people to get through stressful times in their lives….

Their website is www.stressisgone.com

Here is Brett’s article regarding interviewing & preparation :

How To Prepare For An Interview

Being prepared helps you do a great interview. When answering questions be simple, clear, and stay on track. Two to four sentences can provide a clear answer, just choose your words wisely. If you can quiet your mind to actually listen to the complete question (most of our minds nervously start thinking of an answer before the interviewer finishes the question) and deliver a clear answer calmly, you are 10 steps ahead of the game. Over prepare days in advance. Then when you get there, clear your head and be yourself. The right words will come.

General Preparation:

Prepare and rehearse the answers to the below questions until your answers flow clearly, confidently, and calmly.

1. For each bullet point in your professional experience section prepare a clear and concise answer (of approximately three sentences) to the following question, “Tell me exactly how you did this?” Make sure you explain the situation, your action, and the result.

2. For each line in the job posting prepare a clear and concise answer (of approximately three sentences) to the following question, “Tell me exactly how would you approach doing this?”

3. If you are asked to provide an example of a situation you have encountered at work, ALWAYS use a recent example that directly applies to the question and include three steps to your answer. One; the situation. Two; your action steps. Three; the result. Allow 2 sentences per step.

4. Be able to answer the following question effectively, “Tell me a little bit about yourself?” Just mention 3 things from your professional background and 1 or 2 things from your personal background. Make sure what you mention relates to the job somehow. Points you can mention: years of total professional experience, years of relevant experience specific to the job, years of industry experience, certifications, any awards or career achievements, place of birth and place of residence. Basically you can speak from your resume’s summary section with adding a personal touch to it. Keep it simple, clear, short, and sweet. Do not ramble on. The purpose of this question is to see if you are prepared, are going to babble endlessly, or bore the interviewer to death. So be prepared.

5. “What are you looking for?” Mention 1 or 2 things that you are looking for which directly relate to the job you are interviewing for. Example: If you are interviewing for a programmer position you can say, “I am looking to further develop and grow my programming skills in a company I can lay my roots in long-term.”

6. Effectively answer questions about aspects of the job posting that are not in your background. Do 20-minutes of online research on these areas and take some basic notes. If asked about these areas you can say something like, “I haven’t done that hands-on yet but from what I understand xyz is very important to keep in mind.” If the interviewer says something is missing in your background that they need for the job, provide an example of how you learned a new responsibility quickly on the job. Express a simple 3-step process of how you went about it, and site one or two areas from your resume where you did this successfully. Finally you can say something like, “I understand I don’t have all the skills, all I can say is I don’t leave until I get the job done and I’m a fast learner.” If you get the job, be ready to put the work in, and deliver.

7. “What are your 3 to 5 year goals?” Mention realistic attainable goals that should be reachable for someone doing a good job in the role you are interviewing for. Avoid having the interviewer think you will want to move out of the role in less than 3 years. Avoid lofty short term goals and goals that imply no ambition. Saying something like, “I would like to really hone my skills throughout the next three years in this job, and as time goes on I would hope we could figure out how I could add more value to the organization.”

8. “What are you looking for in a base salary?” Say exactly what you are making (or if unemployed what you were making in your last job) in terms of base salary and bonus, then follow-up with something like, “… I am looking for a fair offer but what’s more important then money to me is working for a company that can be a long-term fit.” If you know the range of the position never say anything higher then the range and never increase your expectations above what you previously entered in an online or written application for that company. Expectations that are unrealistic or increase as time goes on during the interview process are extremely frustrating for hiring managers, HR people, and recruiters. Stay consistent. Identify the money range you are willing to accept before stepping out on interviews, do research, and keep an open mind. Ultimately, as in real-estate, the market dictates what you are worth by the offers you receive.

9. “Why are you looking to leave your current employer?” or “Why did you leave your previous job?” Never say anything negative about current or past employers. Steer away from answers based on money, being called by a recruiter, etc. Acceptable answers have to do with excessive work travel, a daily commute over 90-minutes each way, the company is unstable, changing business model, laying people off, has been acquired, etc. It’s always good to start off your answer with a smile and say something like, “I love working over there, the people are great, but unfortunately the company started laying people off, and it’s the right time for me to find something long-term.”

10. Prepare two good questions to ask the interviewer. Ask questions if the interviewer provides the opportunity towards the end of the interview.

For Human Resources – Does the company offer any long-term benefits for employees that stay for over 5 to 10 years?

For HR or the Hiring Manager – What is the potential career path for this position if someone is dedicated and does a good job for 3 to 5 years?

For HR or the Hiring Manager – In this position, how do I best add value to the team?

For the Hiring Manager – What types of behaviors do the most successful people in this role exhibit?

For the Hiring Manager – What is the most important quality you look for in a person?

TIP: Research the company to find out what their business is, what’s going on in the news, and a little bit of the history.

TIP: Prepare for an HR interview by knowing the dates and addresses of your previous employers and educational facilities, have the emails and phone numbers for three confirmed professional references ready to go, be able to have a clear calm conversation about money especially having your previous salaries handy, let them know you are interested and at least 3 reasons why.

TIP: Have a recruiter you trust check your references before handing them to a company. One or two may not be as good as you think, and weeding that out early is better. Only supply stellar references to companies.

Phone Interview Preparation:

1. Ideally take the call on a land-line. If not, make sure you are located in a place that has great reception. Make sure your phone is charged. Plan your call so you are in a place with zero background noise.

2. Have a positive upbeat tone in your voice. Do your best to get your energy level up for the call. Avoid being monotone or flat. You want to come across well spoken, professional, and interested. Plan to take the call in a place you can speak loud and clear. Do not take the call in a place where you need to keep your voice down and hide the fact that you are interviewing. Many employers screen for a confident tone of voice during the phone screen.

3. Show Interest and enthusiasm. The perfect time to do this is after the interviewer explains something about the company, job, or project. Always follow-up with, “That’s very interesting to me”, “That’s something I’d like to be involved with”, “That is what I am looking for”, “That is very important to me”, “Great, that’s exactly what I’m doing now”, etc.

4. If the interviewer asks a general or vague question such as, “Tell me about your database programming experience?” Do not try to explain all your projects. Provide a well-rounded summary answer like, “Well I have 10-years experience with database programming, mostly Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL within the finance and healthcare industries. I am very strong with writing T-SQL and stored procedures.” To confirm you gave the interviewer what they wanted you can always ask the follow-up question, “Is there any part of my answer you’d like me to expand upon?“

5. If the interviewer asks a very specific question provide a very specific answer. If your words are to the point, you should be able to answer mostly any question within 4 sentences. To confirm you gave the interviewer what they wanted you can always ask the follow-up question, “Is there any part of my answer you’d like me to expand upon?“

TIP: Always search for the person you are interviewing with on LinkedIn and Google.

In-Person Interview Preparation:

Things to Prepare a Few Days in Advance

1. Your best blue or black business suit.

2. Map out your travel agenda giving time for traffic/public transportation delays.

3. Print up copies of your resume to bring with you, in a leather resume folder with notepad and a pen.

4. Practice the General Preparation tips.

Day of the Interview

1. Bring your resume folder and photo ID.

2. Plan on arriving to the site 30 minutes early and get comfortable in the environment.

3. Let reception know you are there 10 minutes before interview time.

Upon Arrival

1. Attitude – Show you are happy to be there by saying so.

2. Energy – Show you are in a positive state of mind by smiling.

3. Presence – Show you are confident through eye contact, openly initiating handshakes with a smile, etc.

4. Whenever filling out an application complete it accurately especially; dates/$ for employment, education details, etc.

5. When handling money on an application, prepare to enter what you were making at your last 3 to 5 places of employment (exact base + bonus or hourly rate if you were contracting). Under desired salary write in “open” or “flexible” if you are.

While Interviewing remain in report with the interviewer

1. Always greet and say good-bye with an authentic smile, a confident handshake (don’t wait for the other person to extend their hand, extend your first) and say “thanks for having me in.”

2. Be aware of your body language; keep your arms and legs relaxed and uncrossed with your resume folder in your lap (if sitting in front of a desk) ready to take notes. Confidently and attentively sit up straight in the chair, use your hands to express at times. Keep from touching your face, fidgeting in the chair, crossing your arms, or avoiding eye contact by looking around the room. Make sure when someone is talking there is eye contact and smile.

3. Show Interest and enthusiasm. The perfect time to do this is after the interviewer explains something about the company, job, or project. Always follow-up with, “That’s very interesting to me”, “That’s something I’d like to be involved with”, “That is what I am looking for”, “That’s very important to me”, “That’s exactly what I like doing”, etc.

5. Let the interviewer decide when the interview is over.

6. Always Always Always end with a solid handshake and an authentic smile.

HIRING FRESH GRADUATES

For any kind of company the success depends on the staff. That’s why decision of hiring is very important. Some companies prefer very experienced professionals for the best results but today the centre point of discussion is hiring fresh graduates, what are the advantages and outcomes for hiring fresh graduates. New York, the fourth most populous state of US. A lot of people from different profession and fields like IT, system engineering, Devops, software developing, Network engineering, programming, web developing are searching for job in New York. There are some very reputed staffing agency NewYork as well as consulting companies are working and providing best services in Manhattan, New York City. These agencies help both the job seekers as well as the companies seeking new talent.

As it is discussed above at some position there are requirements of pretty well experienced employee but at some positions companies really need a really fresh and enthusiastic employee straight from university means a fresh graduate. Although there are some risks too for hiring a fresh graduate having no experience but there are a lot of advantages are there for company like:

Maximum Potential and energy

Fresh graduates from universities have more potential and energy as well as are passionate about their career as it’s the beginning. So they are more hard working and show more enthusiasm at workplace.

Agree on low Salaries

The one of the biggest advantage of hiring fresh graduates is that as they have no experience so they can easily agree on low salaries just for starting or making their career.

Potential to adopt new Trends and technologies

It’s an era of technology so today’s generation can easily understand and adopt new technologies and the different tools. They are also more aware to social media and strategies of social media marketing which is very helpful for companies branding and networking.

Maximum Learning Aptitude

A person having first job and a first step in the professional field can easily be molded into your acquired roles means can easily be trained as learning ability of new skills is much more in fresh graduates.

Flexible

Younger employees having first job experience can easily adjust at company’s culture, working environment as well as office hours. They have less family commitments so can easily concentrate on their work.

Having Different outlook

Sometimes younger employees give you totally different, new and tremendous business perspective regarding your business issues. These new ideas and perspectives sometime give new business strategies and a lot of help for maximum outputs.

TIPS TO IMPRESS YOUR INTERVIEWER

There is an increasing trend to seek the help of staffing agency. There is a broad spectrum for job searching in New York and so for the help of job seekers as well as for the companies who are looking for people for the job in different fields in New York, different staffing agencies are working. They help the people for searching jobs of different fields like IT, Devops, project managers, Program Analyst, software Developer, Network Engineering, Lamp stack or web developer jobs in New York.

There are also different consulting companies as well. They give you different tips like:

• How to make your resume
• How to ready for an interview
• How to impress interviewer
• How to show your skills etc

Basic Tips

Here are some tips to help the job seekers that how to impress the interviewer. It is very important because we all know that first impression is the last impression and this first good impression definitely gives you a chance to get the job.

Presentation

Your presentation counts a lot like dress up professionally, give a firm hand shake, come with copy of your resume, interact wisely and politely as well as make an eye contact while you are talking to your interviewer.

Show your skills

Usually interview is an opportunity to show your all of your skills in the minimum time period and it’s up to you how wisely you avail this opportunity to impress your interviewer.

Preparation

Try to prepare yourself for your interview and do proper and detailed research about company’s history, mission statement, product offerings etc. Try to do research about related industry as a whole as well like who are competitors, different factors affecting the company. The more you’ll have the information the best input you can give in an interview.

Be confident

It’s very necessary to be confident in an interview. Confidently tell about your experience and skills. Try to convince them how you are fit for this job and what new ideas you can bring to them and how much you’ll be beneficial for the company.

Say Thank You

Always end your conversation on a thank you note as for giving you time.

These are some tips but the crux of all this is that the most basic thing to be successful in an interview and to impress your interviewer is just your confidence, experience and knowledge.

IMPORTANCE OF RESUME FOR GETTING A JOB

 A resume is a concise document that summarizes your education, employment history, and experiences that are related to your experience for a particular job for which you are applying. The main purpose of a resume is to get an interview.

First impression is the last impression and your resume decides whether you will be short-list or not for an interview. The resume should be very concise, neat, structured, relevant, precise and intrersting.

Your resume should be so impressive and professional that tends to force the employer to call you. As well as it should speak itself that you are perfectly capable for the job. It’s a great skill to create a perfect and suitable resume according to the job.

Tips for writing a professional Resume

A good and complete Resume should be precise, including dates of employment, education completed, job titles, and skills possessed in each role representing your growth as a professional in each entity role.

The Resume should be brief, to the point, and precise.

Always use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

A Resume should reflect who you are as well as your professional experiences flawlessly and completely.

Don’t overloaded it with unnecessary information and just elaborate in a perfect way.

Your Resume should be visually appealing and also attractive.

It should be neat, structured, and consistent and depict all of your successful achievements and skills used in each job.

The skills that are mentioned should be related to the job title and role.

Don’t over exaggerate anything in your resume otherwise it will be eliminated at first stage.

Professional Resume Writers

Now there are professional resume writers who help you in writing an impressive, professional and up to the mark resume. They know very well the demands of employers and what they are looking for and in this way they write your resume in a professional way.

They ask you questions about yourself that can also help build your confidence, establish your strengths, and make the grade of your achievements and success. This will help you be better prepared for an interview.

Conclusion

So in short a good resume works as a ladder to attain your desired destination in a perfect way as well as in achieving all of your goals.

ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF STAFFING AGENCIES

A staffing agencies usually works for both their clients and candidates. Work for employer for finding a right employee and the candidate to find the best job according to requirements and interests. It’s actually a difficult task to find a new career or job.

Availing Better Opportunities

The staffing agencies are the best options that you can avail in such a big city of New York to find the best job. Staffing agencies recommend qualified candidates a team of recruiters and account executives who are all working toward finding the best job according to your career needs and requirements. Sometimes there are conditions that these agencies help you even when the jobs are not publicized. Be in touch with a staffing agency on your job search gives you way in to avail more opportunities.

If you see the work of staffing agencies for different companies and firms then it is clear that these agencies are also important for them as help them to find the right candidates for different positions and projects without placing excessive stress on your human resources department. The best staffing agencies will be able to surpass your expectations by making sure no prospect steps into your office.

The main aim of any successful staffing agency is to;

Educate both clients and candidates

Keep inform them about current job market Trends

Salary Trends

Review Resumes

Providing all services according to client and candidate’s requirements and needs

Reviewing Job Descriptions

Different categories

There is also a category in these agencies according to different professions and fields like IT, law, Business Administration, medicine, media, engineering and many more. Selection of the right staffing agency according to your requirements is actually a difficult task. There is a lot of competition in this field too so always select the professional one.

Working of Staffing Agencies

A person who is looking for work can contact a staffing agency according to his or her requirements and related field and then come in for a meeting and consultation. In the meeting session professionals in a staffing agency check their temperament and capability and then submit the application regarding relevant field. Once the applicant goes through this process, he or she will be placed on a list for work or in other words registered in the agency.  The staffing agency will contact all competent applicants when a position comes up. If the person likes the job description, he or she can accept the position. These agencies also help candidates in educating about resumes, job descriptions and the interview tips. In short we can say these agencies act as a platform for finding best opportunities.

DEVOPS AND ITS ADVANTAGES

DevOps is a movement or practice that underlines the cooperation and communication of software developers and other information-technology (IT) professionals while mechanizing the process of software delivery and networking changes. The basic purpose of devOps culture is to create an environment where building, operating, testing, and releasing software process can go smoothly, frequently and reliably.

The goal of devOps is to change and improve the relationship by advocating better communication and collaboration between the two business units i.e. developmental and IT operations.

This new term has emerged from the impact of two major connected trends:

Agile system administration or agile operations means applying new responsive approaches to operations work.

The second is alliance between development and operations staff at all stages of creating and operating a service.

Devops Automation cycle

Process

This software process includes three phases:

Build

Continuous incorporation and testing

Release

Delivery and deployment

Operate

Constant operations

Advantages of  DevOps

DevOps is very useful and beneficial in business as contributes to permit two potent and strategic business qualities

business agility and

IT alignment

DevOps assists to permit IT position by line up development and operations functions and processes in the perspective of shared business objectives. DevOps make sure that entity decisions and actions endeavor to maintain and develop that combined business process, regardless of organizational structure.

According to the developers Agile development methodologies are designed to keep software development efforts associated with customer and company goals to produce high quality software despite changing necessities.

DevOps facilitates the benefits of agile development at the organizational level. It is possible by allowing it fast and responsive, yet stable, operations that can be kept in sync with the pace of improvement coming out of the development process.

It also helps in business agility and IT alignment.

Devops is also very beneficial and useful for developers. As it resolves most of production issues due to effective direction of practical monitoring.

Devops allow the developers the delivery of the code from formation to implementation due to continuous visibility and access of the code.

Devops model is more reliable and practical as tested before the production and developmental processes and then these testing results allow the developers to see how their codes execute under real conditions.

Welcome To JMD Partners Web Blog

Hello Everyone,

My name is Alex Dubovoy, & I am the President of JMD Partners, Welcome To JMD Partners Web Blog. I have been in the IT Staffing & Consulting Industry for over 15 years & decided that it was time to create this blog in order to give any advice I can to job seekers & employers. This will be an open forum in which I encourage everyone & anyone to make a post as well as put up topics for discussion. The blog will be checked daily be myself & I will put up new topics every week on Mondays for discussion. I beleive that through communication, we can all help each other in our job searches & our searches for staff. I am one of the people lucky enough to have a job that is also my passion.

In the posts, you can expect topics for job seekers such as Interview Tips, How to address reasons for leaving, salary negotiations, couter offers, background checks, resume creation, setting expectations, time management for interviews, & many more topics.

For hiring managers & HR Professionals you can expect topics such as resume screening, how to effectively use a recruiter to save you time, salary negotiation, setting expectations, how to keep a candidate interested in your position, how to tell if they are interested, & many more topics.

Finally I want to stress that I encourage everyone who takes the time to post on this board to share your insight with the rest of us. Even though I’ve been in the staffing business over 15 years, I see & learn new things, meet new & interesting people, & learn new ways to evolve with the staffing industry. We have seen many changes over the years & without the insight of everyone I have interacted with, I would never have learned anything. Please feel free to post new topics, add to current discussions, & contact me anytime with any questions. My direct email is alex@jmd-partners.com My direct phone # is 646-536-3319. I will do my best to answer any post, comment, or message as quickly as I can. Thank you very much for logging on to this site & I look forward to a great forum in which we can all learn from each other & help each other reach our common goals.

Regards.

Alex Dubovoy

President

JMD PARTNERS

Hello Everyone,

I was thinking about topics & a good friend suggested interview tips for hiring managers & what interview techniques can I use to make sure I make the right choice? I think that this is something that we can look into.

Staffing Tips For Hiring Managers

First, lets take a look at some resumes. This is probably the most time consuming & most tedious part of hiring. You are looking for a specific skill set & are receiving resumes that make no “sense”. Take a look at the job description & ask yourself, “Is this a realistic description”. Meaning, are the must have skills listed clearly & are the pluses listed clearly. Is the salary posted realistic based not on surveys but on what the market is actually paying. The best place to get this information from is from a trusted recruiter. I always tell my clients to ask me any questions that they may have about anything, even if they can’t use me for a specific position. Most recruiters are looking to build long term business relationships & would love to answer any questions that clients or future clients may have.

After looking at the job description, & resumes start coming into your inbox, you will have to take a look at them & decide who is “worth” interviewing. I always suggest that if someone looks like they “might” be a fit but you’re not 100% sure, they are worth at least a 10 minute phone call to rule on. In today’s IT business, communication skills & attitude are almost equally if not more important than technical skills. If someone might have 3 years of experience instead of the required 5 years, but they have excellent communication skills, that is someone you might consider. That said, if someone has poor interpersonal or communication skills, they may not be the right fit for your open position no matter how strong they are technically. This is another place that an honest recruiter can step in & guide you to save you a ton of time.

Now the time has come to think about interview process. Who will the candidate have to meet in order to hire them. Besides meeting you, will they need to meet your manager? The rest of the team? HR? A technical specialist that will do a full evaluation? Will they have any peers that want to give input on this hire? In this fast paced IT job market my quote is always “TIME KILLS” If your process involves the candidate coming back more than 2 or at a maximum 3 times, your process is probably too long. Momentum means everything in a hiring process, so if you can schedule multiple interviewers in the same day, this will keep momentum high & will impress the candidate as to how many people took the time to meet them. Just make sure they know that they will spend an extended period of time interviewing that day, & taking a lunch break is perfectly acceptable. If the candidate knows that there is a 2 or 3 step process ahead of time, then they will be more prepared to wait a little longer, especially if they are very interested. Also, while on this topic, if a candidate does very well on an interview with you & all of the parties involved, I would strongly suggest that you keep them moving along in the process while you are still conducting first round interviews. Most candidates will not shut down their search because they had a good first round interview. They will keep interviewing. I have seen numerous candidates take other jobs who surely would have been hired by my clients because the client took too long to do first round interviews before bringing them back in for a final round. Keep momentum high & be ready to decide on a candidate if you feel they are a great fit.

The candidate is now waiting to meet with you. I strongly suggest that you take a good look at the candidate’s resume before the interview begins & be prepared for the interview. You will find that when you are prepared for the interview, you’ll be able to make the most of your time & the candidate’s time during this process.

Next, ask the questions that matter. What I mean by that is ask questions about the candidate that will show you if they will have an immediate impact on your group or division. Take a look at the candidate’s past experience & ask them what they did in certain situations & WHY they chose to go with that decision. The question WHY can show you a great deal about a person.

The next piece of advice I would give is to be honest about the challenges that this position will give the candidate. I don’t mean scare them away, but it is good to show the positives & negatives of a position to a candidate. This will make them feel comfortable & feel that you are being up front with them. Also, if the candidate seems hesitant after an honest conversation, then you may reconsider hiring them.

Finally, if you feel that the interview went really well or if the interview went poorly, give the candidate or the recruiter representing the candidate appropriate feedback. I have seen so many good candidates accept other offers that they would not have considered had the manager just told them that they were interested in moving forward. On the other hand, if the feedback was not positive, that will allow the recruiter to screen out candidates that you feel may not be qualified. Job descriptions change as managers interview. As recruiters, we understand this & the more feedback we receive the better we’ll be able to screen candidates for you. Our job at the end of the day is to save you time. We can do just that with feedback. The more details that you provide, the better we can screen.

All of this said, I know interviewing & hiring can sometimes be just as frustrating as looking for a job. If your company can use a recruiter, use one that you feel has a good idea of what you need & can be relied on for good candidates. It will save you a world of time. Next time, we can take a look at the candidate’s tips for having a great interview.

Thanks again for reading this & as always feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, ideas, or anything at all I can do to help.

All the Best,

Alex

How To Create The Perfect Resume

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year! In this post I’d like to share my thoughts on how to create the perfect resume & resume building to get noticed in a job market that is flooded with quality talent. I review several hundred resumes a week so I’d like to share what stands out when I look at a resume of an IT professional. Again, these are only my opinions. Feel free to share your thoughts or concerns anytime!

First, the Cover Letter. Unless you plan on customizing a cover letter to the specific position that you apply for, I almost never look at them. Instead of attaching a cover letter, think about putting the cover letter into the body of the email that you are sending your resume with. Especially if the recruiter or hiring manager is receiving a lot of resumes for the position, that’s a great way to get noticed.

Second, the length of the resume. In my opinion, if you have under 3 years of experience, your resume should only be 1 page. If you are a mid level IT Professional with 4-8 years of experience, 2 – 2.5 pages are perfectly acceptable. If you are a senior IT Professional with 10+ years of experience, that maximum length of your resume should not exceed 5 pages. People just wont read it all & sometimes will even be turned off by a resume that is too long. I know if I receive a resume of someone that is 10 pages long, it makes me wonder does the person really move around so much or can they just not get to the point….I hear from many IT professionals that their resume has to be 1page. That is a myth! If you have a wealth of experience, it’s good to show what you have done, as long as it’s not long winded. The reason they tell you to have only a 1 page resume in college, is that you dont have any “real word” experience yet. Why should you have more than 1 page?

Next, the format of the resume….I always tend to prefer resumes that are nicely formatted, have the company name & the candidates title in bold, with exact dates of employment in italics. Bullet points under each company the candidate worked for stating in order of importance, exactly what they did at their last few employers are essential. I see many resumes that have technical skills & then a list of companies that the candidate worked for separately. Those dont tell me much, as I dont know when the candidate used particular technologies that I am looking for. This is an important one.

Finally just a list of a few things to think about while putting together your resume

ALWAYS Spell Check your resume several times before posting it anywhere or sending it to anyone. Spelling errors are one of the biggest reasons resumes end up in the recycle bin.

NEVER copy & paste your previous experience onto your current experience. Even though the roles could have been similar, take the time to think of another way to say it. Copy & Pasting on a resume shows laziness & that is not a quality employers are looking for.

ALWAYS be accurate with dates on your resume. Even if there are gaps, that is OK, as long as they can be explained. Employers do background checks these days & if something doesnt accurately come up, you may lose your offer

Make sure you have a cell phone # & an email address you can be contacted at. There have been many times that I’ve been in a hurry to find a good candidate & I was unable to reach them until it was too late.

There is NEVER a good reason to put your photo on a resume….ever

If there is a specific position that you are applying for & you honestly feel that you are the PERFECT fit for this position, tailor your resume to that posting. Of course be 100% honest about your skill set, however if the title of the position is “Systems Engineer”, there is nothing wrong with putting the words “System Engineer” in your Objective. Also, if there are specific skills that the client is looking for & you have them, make sure that they are the first bullet points that are on your resume. Remember, whatever is written first gets noticed most & you want to get noticed.

I hope that these tips are helpful. As always, please feel free to post any other ideas or concerns that you have. I want to make this forum as interactive as possible & the more productive ideas, the better. Thank you for taking the time to read this & have a great & Succesful New Year!

Alex

Background Check Do's and Don'ts

Hi Everyone,

Today, I wanted to write about something that is extremely important. As technology gets more advanced & inexpensive, it is becoming common practice to do a full background check on a potential employee before this employee is offered the position. Over the past 16 years, I’ve seen several candidates fail background checks who didn’t need to fail them. I wanted to write up a few guidelines as to how to handle certain situations with a background check & how to not make common mistakes that can potentially cost you the dream job that you are about to be offered.

First & foremost, BE HONEST!!! Most companies do a criminal background check these days & they ask you to fill out an application. If there is a question have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony, & if you have. Just be honest, & explain what happened to the employer. 95% of the time, it wont be a problem as long as you are honest & up front. Most employers appreciate that & are willing to give the potential employee another chance. Very important as well. If you did have a record & it was supposed to be expunged or wiped off your record, it probably will still come up in a background check. Believe me when I tell you your employer will not withdraw the offer because you have a misdemeanor or even certain felonies from 12 years ago. Always be honest.

Second, when it comes to dates & titles on your resume. Make sure they are all 100% correct. Even if it’s a common typo or a mistake, the employer can see it as lying on your resume or application & it will lead to the offer being taken away. It is a better idea to be accurate & honest than to exaggerate & not be honest. The truth always has a way of coming out in the end.

As far as education goes. This is the #1 way a candidate can lost their offer if the information is not 100% correct. If you never finished college & have the college on your resume you MUST add the phrase currently pursuing degree & how many credits you earned. If you never went to college, that’s not a problem. Just don’t put anything in the application that isn’t 100% correct. For those of you who did finish your BS, BA, MS, MA, MBA, etc….Make sure that you are able to produce the actual diploma or a transcript to prove that you indeed did graduate. Several background check companies & employers leave that burden on the applicant so go to your attic & dust off the diploma. It will also move things along much faster.

As far as salary goes. Keep a few very important things in mind. If the interviewer is asking how much you were making at your current of previous jobs, tell them the exact number. I have seen a candidate make that mistake several times, & sometimes with terrible consequences. Most of the time when an applicant does this, it is not malicious or intentional, but the client can take it that way & it’s another way to lose an offer. For example, if you were making 75K as a base plus 10K as a bonus, the way to explain this to the manager or HR Representative is exactly that. “I was making a base salary of 75K & was also given a bonus of 10K” If you just say 85K with no explanation, it will be looked upon as trying to misrepresent your compensation. Another very common mistake that applicants make is calculate their base salary even though they were paid hourly. This is a huge way to red flag yourself. IF they ask you your compensation & you are making $40 per hour, please don’t say you are making 80K. You need to be specific with the hiring manager. Tell them “At my last employer, I was making $40 per hour, but I worked _____ hours per week, so usually I cleared _____ per month/year” The interviewer will appreciate your honesty & attention to detail.

Finally, there is social media. A few pieces of advice. First “Google” yourself & see what comes up. I assure you the employer is doing that. Second, take a look at your profile on Linked In, Monster, Dice, etc….Make sure it looks good, has good recommendations, a good photo (yes it helps) and also join groups that are relevant to your profession. Then there is FACEBOOK….Do yourself a HUGE favor & at least during your job search, make your profile private or don’t use it unless you have to. You don’t need people taking a look at your page with personal information that they don’t really know. The same goes for Twitter, Instagram, etc… During your job search these sites can really hurt you much more than they can help you. I have found Linked In as the best tool for candidates & recruiters to connect.

That’s about it. At the end of the day, most people don’t mean to deceive employers about their past or cheat to find a better salary, but communication is everything & the more up front you are the more respect you will earn from the hiring manager, HR, & recruiters.

I hope these tips help. Feel free to write me back, call me or make any comments you’d like to discuss or if you’d like me to cover a certain topic that interests you.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR JOB SEARCH IN 2015

HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR JOB SEARCH IN NEW YEAR – WELCOME 2015

As 2014 draws to a close @ midnight tonight, I think about accomplishments, goals, & what I can be proud of & work on during the past year. There are several areas that came to mind, & I wanted to share each of them with all of you. How to Maximize Your Job Search in New Year.

First, for the first time in a long time, JMD Partners added new people to our staffing team. It is not always easy to find people who share your vision & ethics. Welcome Anton Grytsyuk to our team as our new Vice President. You should all hear from Anton very soon. He specializes in open source technology & is a welcome addition to our team.

Something else that I can say I’m very proud of is that we have entered into more relationships with new clients in 2014 than any other year since our founding in 2004. Thank you to our great clients for putting your faith in JMD Partners to assist you with your staffing needs. We will do our best to listen, predict, & deliver great candidates for you in a timely manner

The one thing that I can say I am most proud of is that we placed more candidates in 2014 than any other year of our existence. Thank you very much to our wonderful candidates that trusted us to guide you through a challenging part of your life.

When I founded JMD Partners back in 2004, I had one goal in mind. That was to be different. Treat people with the respect that they deserve. Don’t be too pushy like the cliche recruiter. Don’t treat people like numbers. Treat people like people. Almost 10 years later, we are still working hard every day to achieve this goal.

Our New Years resolution is simple. To do the best we can for both our clients & our candidates. We plan on working harder than ever before, being available to reach at ALL times, & being there for both our clients & candidates throughout the staffing process & after the placements are done.

We wish you all a very happy New Year & all the best personally & professionally in 2015.

Best Wishes,

Alex Dubooy

President

JMD Partners Inc