What do I need to
do to find a new job?” This is a question that we have all asked, and
the answer is far more simple that we might at first imagine. Your
success as a candidate seeking a job, and our success as recruiters who
are attempting to place you, is primarily determined by your resume. Of
course, your resume is as good as is your education and experience, but
you might be surprised how often people fail to present themselves in an
honest and clear manner. You do not have to pay a lot of money to get an
ideal resume. One of the banes of our existence is the resume that has
been written by an expensive organization that does not understand what
is needed. Here is what you have to do:
- Name and address at the top.
- Education next with the full name and location of the school and
a brief description of the
degree if it is not a
straightforward one. - Experience next — and this is very important, but it is the
content rather than rigid style that is
crucial. - Give your exact title,
the name and location of the facility, describe what the facility
does and
what you did in your job. - Keep descriptions
short and clear, but write what is necessary to make the point about
what
you did and where you did it. - Be sure to indicate
the dates of your employment; do this for each of your jobs even if
it is
repetitious. - All comments about
what you have accomplished must be under specific jobs. Do not have
any
free-floating comments about your qualifications,
experience, or anything else — no free-
floating comments
of any kind. - Every sentence in the
“experience”section must pertain to a specific job, even if you have
to
say the same thing several times. - Do not try to get all of your information on one page; take as much
space as you need to do
the job right. - Do not put in any personal information, such as marital status,
hobbies, birth dates, or comments
that do not pertain to
employment. - Do not include objective(s) at the top unless you really want to
limit what you will accept in the
way of employment.
Objectives are usually not helpful and frequently do not pertain to the
job
for which you are applying. We all know what your
objectives are —
you want a job.
right compensation package
When communicating with a staffing agency, be as
flexible as possible regarding the locations that you will accept. Do
not limit yourself. You can always say no if you are offered a job that
you really do not want, but you cannot say yes or no if you do not get
the offer. Always be positive about your experience and never make
negative comments about a location. You might really be interested in
Nome, Alaska, for the right compensation package. Remember that staffing
agencies like to work with positive, pleasant, upbeat people — and so do
employers.
Do not discuss salary needs too early. Acceptable
salary ranges frequently change when the employer decides that you are
the absolutely right person for the job. Good staffing agencies will
often present candidates to employers even when the salary requirements
of the candidate exceed the range specified by the employer. Staffing
agencies realize that you can never totally trust what the candidate
says about location or what the employer says about the salary range.
Some staffing agencies concentrate on finding
candidates for jobs. Some staffing agencies like to shop candidates and
find jobs for them. Many do both. It is best to assume that the agency
is primarily committed to finding candidates for jobs. At our company,
we encourage a candidate to register on our website for free, upload a
resume, and then search our available jobs. It is appropriate to work
with more than one agency at a time and to concentrate your efforts with
the agency that feels best to you.
Finally, it is important to realize that you can
get a job without going through an agency — and sometimes that works
best. Staffing agencies are expensive for the employer. We usually
charge a fee of 20% to 30% of the first year's salary. One way to get a
job is to pick a location and then contact the employers yourself. No
employer wants to pay a fee if he can avoid it; and when you contact
employers directly, you help them to avoid that extra expense. Do not
forget that you can do all of these things simultaneously — you can work
with more than one staffing agency, and you can do your own recruiting,
all in the same basic time frame.
When you are seeking a new employment
opportunity, present yourself in the most positive way possible. This
applies to your resume, your telephone presence for initial telephone
interviews, and your physical appearance when you have a face-to-face
interview. Personal chemistry is very important. Very qualified people
are often not considered for a position because they seem “not to fit.”
Concentrate on good communication and do everything that you can to “be
a good fit.” And happy job-hunting!
At StaffPointe — a
recruiting firm that specializes in healthcare personnel staffing —
Larry White heads up the Healthcare Search Division, which places all
healthcare personnel except physicians and mid-level staff (i.e., nurse
practitioners and physician assistants). When White started his own
company in 1997, he was one of the first recruiting companies to use the
Internet as a tool to source candidates. StaffPointe has the largest
presence on the Internet of any healthcare staffing company and
specializes in contingent searches or pay-for-performance staffing. Go
to
www.staffpointe.com
to register and place a resume.
