Vector Technical Inc Blog

If you’re anything like me, you’ve sometimes spotted an employment ad or job posting and said to yourself, “I could do that job.” Yet the job is totally out of your field, and you have no actual experience in that area.

How do you portray yourself as qualified for a job for which you have no proven track record? The underqualified or just plain unqualified label most often plagues new graduates with limited experience, as well as career-changers whose experience is outside the area they now wish to pursue.

For both groups, fighting the underqualified label is a tough proposition. Let’s face it–all other things being equal, most employers would prefer to hire candidates with the right qualifications and experience in the field over candidates, no matter how enthusiastic, who lack qualifications. A difficult battle, yes, but it’s not impossible to beat the underqualified label. This article proposes 10 strategies for overcoming a lack of qualifications.

1. Exploit your transferable skills.
   You may not have all the qualifications required for a given job, but chances are, you possess a skillset that contains abilities needed for many jobs, including the job you covet. Scrutinize ads and job postings for the kind of job you seek, and identify skills you’ve demonstrated that are needed for these jobs. Typical universally sought skills include communication, interpersonal, teamwork, and leadership skills. List your transferable and applicable skills prominently on your resume. In your cover letters, take the next step by explaining how your skills apply to the job you’re pursuing.
2. Consider playing up school and other unpaid experience.
   Perhaps you have no paid experience in the field you seek to enter, but you do have some applicable education and/or unpaid experience (through internships or volunteer work). Don’t be afraid to list school and unpaid experience in the main experience section of your resume. Experience is experience; it rarely matters whether it’s paid or not. If unpaid experience helped you develop skills that are crucial to the type of job you seek, it’s fair game for the experience section of your resume. I recently had a resume client who had a terrific background in restaurant management but was seeking to become a financial adviser. To further complicate matters, his most recent experience was as a school administrator. He was, however, an MBA student with coursework and project experience in finance. I wanted the first item the employer saw in his experience section to be finance-related, so I listed “MBA Student” first, with bullet points about his finance-related activities. Another client had 30 years of experience in the IT field but really wanted to be a park ranger. His most recent paid experience was in IT, but he had rich volunteer experience in the environmental, nature, and outdoors areas. So, we listed his volunteer experience first on his resume.
3. Consider a chrono-functional resume.
   If you seek a job for which you are questionably qualified, your job history may be more of a liability than a selling point. Thus, a resume format that de-emphasizes job history in favor of skills that are applicable to the desired job is worth consideration. The chrono-functional resume highlights outstanding skills and achievements that might otherwise be buried within the job-history section while simultaneously presenting, yet de-emphasizing, the chronology of jobs. The focus is on clusters of transferable skills and experiences that are most relevant to the position for which you are applying.

   Be aware, however, that some employers disdain functional formats of any kind, finding them confusing or even annoying. Some employers like to know exactly what you did in each job. Recruiters/headhunters particularly reject functional formats, so this approach should never be used if you are primarily targeting recruiters with your job search. Employers in conservative fields are not big fans of functional formats, nor are international employers. Functional formats, even chrono-functional, also are not acceptable on many online job boards.

4. Don’t apply for jobs for which you’re grossly underqualified, but do remember that job postings and employment ads are often employer wish lists.
   The fact that desperate job seekers send resumes willy-nilly for jobs for which they are not remotely qualified is a major reason employers are so overwhelmed and unable to respond to job seekers. The resumes of the unqualified clog the system. So don’t apply if you are completely unqualified, but if you excel in some qualifications, consider applying. Most employers do not expect the candidate they hire to have every qualification listed in the job posting. An ad or job posting represents the ideal candidate. If you can show you are extremely strong in some of the areas listed in the posting, you may get called for an interview even if you lack other qualifications. Pay attention to the order in which qualifications are listed in the job posting as they are usually listed in order of importance. If you excel in the most important qualifications, employers may be willing to overlook weaknesses in the less important areas.
5. Consider a two-column or “t-formation” cover letter.
   A particularly effective way to sell the qualifications you do have while obscuring the ones you don’t is to use a two-column format in which you quote in the left-hand column specific qualifications that come right from the employer’s job posting and in the right-hand column, your attributes that meet those qualifications. The format clearly demonstrates that you are qualified in so many areas that the employer may overlook the areas in which you lack the exact qualifications.
6. Indicate your flexibility and willingness to learn or gain additional training.
   When separating resumes into piles, one category employers sometimes use is “underqualified but trainable.” If you cannot convince an employer that you are qualified, you may be able to make a case for being trainable. State in your resume and cover letter that you are an enthusiastic and quick learner who can rapidly get up to speed with job knowledge. If a job carries a specific educational, training, licensing, or certification requirement, state your willingness to pursue that requirement. Example: “I am completely committed to pursuing Series 7 and Series 63 licensure.” Tread very carefully, however, in the “willing to learn” realm. Employers don’t like to be reminded of the time and expense of training underqualified employees. Use solid examples to demonstrate your past ability to learn quickly, as well as strong statements of future willingness to undergo training, education, certification, or licensure. If you’ve already enrolled for the appropriate training, your case will obviously be even stronger.
7. Try the “bait and switch.”
   Bait and switch is a negative term in advertising, but it can be used in a positive way in job hunting. Let’s say there’s a fairly high-level job that you are marginally qualified for. Consider applying for that job while simultaneously indicating a willingness to be considered for a job that reports to the high-level position. I recently worked with a resume client who had excellent experiential qualifications for a job with a large, well-known software firm–but the position required a PhD, and my client possessed only an associate degree. To entice the employer to call him for an interview, we made a great case for my client’s experiential background in his resume and cover letter. Knowing, however, that his lack of educational qualifications might be a deal-breaker, we included a statement at the end of his cover letter that he would also like to be considered for a position as assistant to the person in the high-level position. This technique works best when a company is assembling a staff for a newly created department or unit. It also works with start-up companies building a workforce.
8. Find out more about the employer’s needs.
   Let’s say there’s a company or industry in which you’d love to work. Whether or not you’ve actually been rejected for lack of qualifications, you know that on paper, you are not quite the right fit in that company or industry. Try finding out more about the employer’s needs, problems, and challenges than what is readily apparent in want ads and job postings. The trick is to discover needs that you can fulfill, paving the way to perhaps creating a position for yourself. How do you find out about these needs? Performing company research is a good start, but the best approach is informational interviewing.
9. Consider a career portfolio with work samples.
   Seeing is believing. If you interview with an employer who is not quite convinced of your qualifications, you can bolster your case with a portfolio that shows your ability to do the job. Imagine how impressed the skeptical employer will be if you address underqualification concerns by showing living proof of your abilities. The portfolio can contain a sampling of your best work, including reports, papers, studies, brochures, projects, presentations, CD-ROMs, videos, and other multimedia formats, publications, reports, testimonials and letters of recommendation, as well as awards and honors.

   But what if you don’t have samples related to the job you’re applying for because you don’t have work experience in that area? Create them. If you’re applying for a job in web design because you have web skills but no paid experience, show websites that you designed for yourself and for friends. If you have computer programming skills but lack paid experience in the field, show programs that you’ve written on your own or for school projects. If you are inexperienced for the journalism or public relations job you’re applying for, there’s no reason you can’t submit sample news and feature stories or press releases you’ve written. The material doesn’t have to be published.

   A good way to introduce the portfolio is to ask, “Do you know of any obstacles that would stand in the way of your hiring me?” If the interviewer says something like, “I’m just not sure you have the experience to do the job,” you can say, “Let me show you some samples from my portfolio that demonstrate my ability to do this job.”

   And what if you can’t get an interview that would enable you to show your portfolio? Create a web-based portfolio with links to samples of your work. Include the URL to your portfolio in your resume and cover letter and encourage employers to check it out.

10. Consider volunteering to work on an unpaid trial basis.
    There may be no better way to demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment to a job for which you are marginally qualified than to offer to work for a short period on an unpaid trial basis. Strike a balance between how long you could afford to work without pay and a length of time that enables you to show you can do the job. Also be careful here not to come off sounding too desperate.

    An alternative to an unpaid trial is asking to demonstrate skills through a short-term project. Let’s say, for example, that a job’s requirements include the ability to prepare PowerPoint presentations for executives. Ask the interviewer for a specific assignment typical of what you would be asked to complete if you were hired. Then come back in the next day or so with a PowerPoint show that will knock your interviewer’s socks off.

Final Thoughts
While the strategies presented here can go a long way in warding off the underqualified label, they are not foolproof. It’s sobering to realize that, given a choice, many employers prefer to hire the most qualified candidate. Yet considerable research shows that it’s not always the most qualified candidate who gets the job, but the one with the best rapport with the interviewer or the most enthusiasm and confidence. So, maintain a positive attitude, and keep showing that you are enthusiastic and confident. While you are waiting to land a job for which you may seem underqualified, consider pursuing training that will bolster your qualifications. Consider also doing an internship (you don’t have to be a college student) or volunteer work to build skills in your weaker areas.

About the author:

Katharine Hansen, credentialed career master, is a former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for job seekers, and prepares job search correspondence as Chief Writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters. She is author of Dynamic Cover Letter for New Graduates; A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market; and, with Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters and Write Your Way to a Higher GPA, all published by Ten Speed Press. She can be reached by email at kathy@quintcareers.com.

Beyond Skills. How to be the Right Fit Candidate.

Many interview candidates feel that they had a great interview–they made a great first impression, demonstrated their ability to do the job, fully explained their strengths and past achievements, made a personal connection–and then comes the surprise phone call. “I am sorry to tell you that you have not been successful.”

“How come?” you ask. You continue to outline the strengths you showed in the interview, but it becomes clear that the person on the other end of the line has long stopped listening. “You just weren’t the right cultural fit,” they say, and the discussion is over.

Let’s take the story of James, a bright young student at Harvard Business School where he was applying for high-flying consulting and investment banking jobs.

Being a Baker Scholar (one of Harvard’s highest academic achievements), his academic ability was evident. Equally, he had great stories to tell about how he was able to show initiative, or drive, or courage, or teamwork, during the behavioral interviews. (You can read more about behavioral interviewing in our behavioral interviews article here: http://www.careerfriend.com/articles/behavioral-interviews.html.)

But, as the interviews wore on, he received more and more rejections after only the first round of interviewing. He was understandably disappointed–after all, he doesn’t often get rejected from anything!

When he spoke to the recruiters about the reasons for his rejection, he was told he was the wrong cultural fit.

James had never been told he was the wrong cultural fit for anything!! What was wrong with him? Did he crack the wrong joke at the start of the interview? Did he wear the wrong tie or were his shoes the wrong color?

His first reaction was that it must be an excuse–there was something about him that they didn’t like, but couldn’t tell him. Something I haven’t told you yet is that James is an African American.

Was it cultural fit or illegal discrimination?

While it could have been an excuse, there might also have been certain things in James that the interviewers viewed as not fitting in with their culture.

He mentioned, for instance, that he was extremely fastidious in his working style, and would stay long hours to ensure that he always produced work of the highest quality. Admirable within some companies, perhaps, but others might see it as being detrimental to team spirit if James were not able to prioritize, or to relax once in a while if the work he was doing at the time wasn’t critical.

He also mentioned that he liked to take initiative and present the people around him with highly-polished work. But if the organization was used to getting everyone involved in the problem so that the solution was jointly developed, would James accommodate this or not?

So, although the recruiter could be more helpful to James in the feedback which is given to him, there is nothing underhand going on. In fact, the recruiter is working in James’s interests to ensure that he does not join a firm where he will not fit in and excel.

Of course, some firms are less scrupulous, and may use the “cultural fit excuse” as a covert way of illegally discriminating against candidates on the basis of race, gender, age and other factors.

Dealing with discrimination

So what do you do if you suspect that you have been the victim of this illegal discrimination?

While the definition of discrimination varies depending on where you are in the world, many countries have legislation in place that bans discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, gender, age, marital status, HIV or transgender status, disability, religion and sexual preference.

The first thing you must do is to seek legal advice–your local telephone directory will have a number of employment law specialists, or alternatively you could contact an anti-discrimination group who is also likely to maintain a register of lawyers who may be able to help you.

Each country has similar, but slightly different employment law in the area of discrimination, which is too detailed to go into here–you really do need a lawyer to advise you here. The general context, however, is that you must have evidence that it was your race/gender/age or whatever it was which stopped you getting the job, and that there is no job-related reason for you not to be able to do the job. This can be slightly tricky to assess. For instance, many firefighting departments are male-dominated. This is not because of discrimination against women, but because there is a strength requirement inherent in the job which more men are able to achieve than women. Generally it would only be discrimination if the strength requirement was actually greater than that actually needed to be a successful firefighter.

For those who are interested, James became neither an investment banker nor a consultant. The deeper he looked into those careers, the more he realized that he would not succeed. He is now a teacher just outside of Chicago where he is able to develop young minds–who knows, perhaps one of his students might become a banker!

Looking for a new opportunity?
Or perhaps a career change?

Join Vector Technical, Inc. at our next job fair:

HIRING FOR CLEVELAND’S TOP COMPANIES

JOB FAIR

Wednesday June 29^th , 2011

9am-4pm

Vector Technical inc

38033 Euclid ave

Willoughby, Ohio 44094

We have Immediate Openings for the following positions:

ALL SHIFTS AVAILABLE

Auto assembly

FPI Inspectors

Production supervisor

Piping draftsperson

Casting Finishers

Chemical Handlers/ Operators

CMM Programmer

CNC program/ operators

Lab tech

Industrial HVAC

Instrumentation Tech

Machine Operators

Maintenance Electricians

Maintenance Mechanics

Solid works designer

NDT Level 2

Material Handlers

Product design engineer

Quality Inspectors

Sandblasters

Skilled Assembly Workers

Also summer jobs available

Giving Your Career a Physical Examination

Is your career in good shape? Do you feel invigorated at your job? Do you feel healthy coming to work each day, knowing that your hard work is paying off, improving your prospects for the future? In the same way a long distance runner improves his or her cardiovascular system with each run, a properly exercised career will carry you further than a slothful one. A yearly career check-up will help determine whether your current job is the best one available for you, or whether it’s time to flex your employment search muscles. Regardless of title or industry, professionals who take time out on a periodic basis to evaluate and plan their careers will advance faster, earn more money, and stay ahead of their peers in their personal and professional development.

When was the last time you took the pulse on your career? In the midst of the great wave of change in industries such as healthcare and information systems, what part of the wave are you on? Will you ride proudly on the crest, letting the wave carry you forward into your future, or will your career be crushed by the rough waves of change?

There are a number of questions to ask when you give your career a thorough physical examination. It is important to periodically take time and distance to answer these queries objectively and carefully.

Here are some of the important questions to ask when you take a vacation day or a long weekend. Take the time to write down your answers. We suggest starting with a new spiral notebook or blank book. Like any journal process, the more time you put into this exercise, the more you will get out of it. Spend at least five minutes answering each question before going on to the next. A quick mental check will not serve you as well as some deep thought and a long writing session.

• Are your skills and abilities being well used in your job? Do you feel challenged on a daily basis? Weekly? At all? Do you feel under-utilized?
• How long have you been in your present position? Are you still learning? Are you making a contribution to your company’s growth and profitability? How long have others in similar positions been in their jobs? Have you been passed over for promotions? Are you recognized for your achievements and rewarded for merit?
• To whom do you report? Is he or she well regarded in your company? Are they spending time with you to further develop your skills? Does your manager perceive you as promotable? If they move up in the organization, will you be promoted as well?
• Are you listened to? Do your superiors or your co-workers ask for your opinions? Do your honest appraisals or complaints get handled to your satisfaction, or do they fall on deaf ears?
• How does your compensation or pay compare to your peers within your company, or within similar companies in the area? Have you been given raises each year of at least double the rate of inflation? At what salary levels are new employees coming in? Does the company provide benefits such as educational reimbursement, profit sharing, 401-k savings-matching programs, or stock options?
• Is your company staying on top of the changes in your field? Is it known as an innovator? Does top management communicate with and take input from the rank and file?
• Is your organization resting on past performance, or is it actively dedicated to research and development and marketing of new products or services?
• Is your company known as customer-service oriented? Is the company vision communicated clearly and regularly within the organization? Are most employees aligned with the company vision statement, or are they cynical about the company which spouts a philosophy but doesn’t live up to it?
• Do your existing career options lead to your ultimate career goals? Do you have a clear plan of where you want to go in the organization? Do you (and your boss) have a career progress plan set out for you? Have you examined other career options?

The answers to these questions will help you determine whether your position with your company is a healthy one for your career.

If you are finding your job challenging, are learning new skills and gaining new experiences, and your company is working to stay on the cutting edge of technology and the services provided to your customers, you are in good shape for the future. If you have been promoted at least once every two years, and you are listened to when you express yourself about the company’s problems, needs, or direction, and management responds to complaints or problems by fixing what is wrong, you are in an excellent environment which is supporting your future growth.

If you find that most of your answers are negative, it is time for you to examine your goals, write a new resume, and begin looking for alternatives. There are many excellent books in the business section of bookstores which can guide you in your search for a new job. Do your homework, prepare yourself well, and find an opportunity that will get you excited to wake up every morning.

Looking for a new opportunity?
Or perhaps a career change?

Join Vector Technical, Inc. at our next job fair:

Date: 05/18/2011
Time: 10am—3pm

Hilton Garden Inn,
700 Beta Dr.,
Mayfield Village, Ohio 44143

We are looking to hire for the following positions:

Aluminum Welders
Casting Finishers
Chemical Handlers/Operators
CMM Programmer
CNC Set up and Operation
FPI Inspectors
Heat Treat Operators
Heavy Truck Mechanic
Industrial HVAC
Instrumentation Tech
Lab Tech
Machine Operators
Maintenance Electrician
Maintenance Mechanics
Manufacturing Engineer
Material Handlers
Product Design Engineer
Quality Inspectors
Sales Manager
Sandblasters
Skilled Assembly Workers
SolidWorks Designer
6G Welders
…and many more

??

Mary Elizabeth Bradford, CARW, MCD

1. Be focused and clear.
   At the top of your resume–below your name and contact information–list a combination of keywords that communicate exactly what you are targeting. These keywords can include industry, position, key strengths, size of companies (startups or Fortune 100, etc.).
2. Use word economy when writing your objective.
   To me, the objective is the hardest part of writing a resume because it must state in just three or four lines why someone must keep reading. I have found the secret is to be sweet, short and simple. You will probably go back and edit your objective many times until you get it just right. It is equally important to focus on the results you bring rather than what you do.
3. Bold the words you want your reader’s eye to go to first.
   Include your degree and your position titles as well as other catchwords you know your target audience wants.
4. Watch your format.
   Unless you’re a C-level executive, try to keep your resume to either one or two full pages.
5. Keep your bullet lists short.
   When bulleting your accomplishments under any given position, don’t go more than seven bullet points deep.
6. Front-load your quantifiable accomplishments.
   Don’t write, “Created new training program that improved customer service satisfaction ratings by 39%.” Say, “Drove customer satisfaction ratings 39% through creating an innovative training program for the customer service department.”

Dr. John Sullivan

A reporter from the Wall Street Journal once asked me what I thought was the greatest secret in recruiting. Such a broad question would usually cause one to ponder, but my immediate response was that abusive hiring processes cost organizations millions of dollars by turning possible customers into lifelong “haters.”

For decades it has been accepted that god-awful treatment of candidates is normal, and that since it is widespread, it’s OK. How anyone in recruiting cannot connect that a poor candidate experience is similar to a poor customer experience and assume that there is a significant negative impact is disturbing. Anyone with a basic knowledge of customer relationship management knows that there is a well-documented correlation between customer satisfaction (with their treatment and the products purchased) and customer retention, i.e., their willingness to buy from the organization again.

Organizations like the Ritz-Carlton and Wal-Mart have elevated monitoring guest satisfaction to a science and know the exact dollar cost of obtaining a customer, upsetting a customer, and losing a lifelong customer. While such evaluation is common in sales and customer support functions, it is nearly unheard of in HR functions, which often interact with a significant volume of potential customers in any given year. The impact of a poor “candidate experience” is uncalculated, unreported, and not discussed, making it quite possibly one of the largest “hidden costs” facing modern organizations.

The Current Process is Abusive
Given that median job tenure is approximately 3.9 years, it’s highly probable that the vast majority of you reading this article suffered through an interview process in recent years or have a close friend or family member that did. As professionals in recruiting, we know the process sucks; the volume of evidence indicating so is overwhelming. Staffing.org has for many years reported that more than 70% of applicants find the process distasteful. In most organizations, little or no thought has been given to how the candidate experiences the process. Instead, the design is solely based on administrative need. Many organizations treat candidates more like prisoners or detainees than customers.

Applicants voluntarily come to your company wanting to help. They spend dozens of unpaid hours preparing for your process. Many of them may in fact be paying customers. Unfortunately they are all too frequently met with web pages that offer up generic content and are black holes when it comes to advancing their objectives. If they advance, candidates will also likely undergo a painful drawn-out application process, interviews scheduled at the most inconvenient times, and ultimately they are dropped from consideration with little or no honest feedback about why.

I estimate that the average professional candidate voluntarily spends more than $1,000 worth of their own time and money in preparing for and participating in an organization’s hiring process. Given that level of investment, they deserve to be treated like good customers.

You might be harboring thoughts that your organization doesn’t sell to the public. Therefore your organization is exempt from the hidden costs of candidate abuse. But you would be wrong. The potential impact in B2B organizations is even larger than B2C organizations because the average transaction value is much larger. While applicants may not make purchasing decisions, they certainly can influence them.

Assessing the Hiring Process Using a Standard Customer Service Template
There are dozens of easy to identify faults associated with most hiring processes. As a customer of products and services yourself, finding them shouldn’t be that hard, particularly if you involve a diverse group of reviewers, since your perception may not trigger all of them. Some of the major faults that would never be tolerated in a customer service process include:

• Difficulty initiating the process and lack of feedback that the application was successful
• Ignoring or losing a majority of the applications
• Long, drawn-out assessment cycles (three months on average)
• Processes executed for appearances’ sake only, i.e., a selection was made prior to the process even starting
• Little or no honest feedback throughout the process
• No easy way to make inquiries, i.e., one-way communications only
• Inconsistent treatment across jobs and business units

The Top 10 Results of a Poor “Candidate Experience”

If you are going to estimate the dollar loss in revenue resulting from a poor candidate experience, don’t do it on your own. Form a cross-functional team involving representatives from finance, customer service, marketing, cost accounting, and risk assessment. Use the following list of potential impacts I have observed as a starting point.
Remember that being treated poorly during the hiring process, which often ends up in being rejected, will not result in a mild disappointment, but rather unhappiness bordering on anger. Individuals who once championed your organization will likely become activists against your organization for at least two years and maybe a lifetime. (Note: the estimated potential losses are general benchmarks, based on my experience. The actual numbers need to be calculated at individual organizations.)

Direct Sales Impacts

Lost sales to the public.
Current customers who are treated poorly will probably never buy your product again. In the future, unhappy applicants will likely remember and avoid your products and services for years. They will also likely tell family and friends (social networks) about their negative experience and encourage them to avoid your products also. If you can correlate your customer list with your applicant list, you can gauge the potential impact. (Estimated potential loss, 1% of sales.)

Weakened product brand image.
If your company’s brand image and/or its corporate values espouse courtesy, responsiveness, transparency, or honesty, it will be quickly tarnished if applicants experience something completely different. With the advance of social networks and rating sites like glassdoor.com, candidate perceptions about dishonesty in your positioning can spread quickly. (Estimated potential loss, .002% of sales.)

Lost B2B sales.
Your decreased employer brand image may cause some B2B customers to shop elsewhere. In addition, some of the individuals who you anger and don’t hire will get a job within your industry or region. Some of them will immediately or eventually be in a position of power where they can decide to buy products and services. Just like corporate alumni who fondly remember your firm, they can influence business-to-business sales. A percentage of those individuals will unfortunately negatively remember how you treated them, and that will influence their decision to become a supplier to your firm or to purchase products and services from your firm. (Estimated potential loss, .001% of sales.)

Future Recruiting and Retention Impacts

Higher offer rejection rates.
Because the #1 reason why people turn down job offers is the way that they were treated during the hiring process, your firm will lose some high-quality hires. This will delay the filling of positions or it will result in having to accept second-level candidates. (Estimated potential loss, 15% higher offer rejection rate.)

Employer brand image damage.
It has become a reality that “others” now own your employer brand image. If you treat candidates poorly, they can now easily and rapidly spread rumors, stories, and recommendations against working at your firm to complete strangers on social networks. Not only will your positive employer brand image deteriorate, but you may also develop a separate and more harmful “negative brand image.” Expect applications of all kinds to drop off and a significantly higher candidate loss rate among the so called “passives” who already have a job. (Estimated potential loss, a 20% reduction in applicant volume, quality, new-hire quality, and new-hire productivity.)

Reduced employee referrals.
The most powerful of all recruiting tools will likely decrease by as much as a third as employees hear how the highly regarded colleagues that they refer are treated. (Estimated potential loss, 33% of current employee referrals.)

Top performer mid-process dropouts.
The slow and unfriendly hiring process will have its greatest impact on those who are highest in demand, including top performers, innovators, and game-changers. They will judge the firm’s overall innovativeness by the innovation they find in the hiring process. Even if they start the process, these individuals are the ones who are most likely to drop out immediately after they learn through experience that everyone undergoes the same hiring process throughout the organization and that their hiring process was not specifically designed for the unique needs of top performers and innovators. (Estimated potential loss, 40% of top performer applicants will not finish the process.)

A loss of return candidates.
Finalists who would have been hired if a super-strong candidate wasn’t in the final candidate mix the first time will likely never reapply. “Soon to be qualified” candidates who were rejected merely because they did not have quite enough experience will certainly not reapply later. (Estimated potential loss, 50% of the total candidates who would have reapplied.)

Higher website drop rates.
Your careers web page and its application process are part of the candidate experience, so if it’s slow and tedious, it must be included in the overall assessment of how weak your candidate experience is. However, if the word spreads that the rest of your candidate experience (after the application is completed) is even more painful, this will result in fewer webpage visits and more “abandoned” applications. (Estimated potential loss, 15% of the total candidates who would have completed an application.)

Loss of a competitive advantage.
Because top candidates have multiple job choices, they likely will not consider an abusive process and they are always among the first to drop out of a simply candidate-unfriendly process. Losing top candidates not only affects your firm’s future productivity and increased innovation, but it may also boost it across the street at your competitor, if they end up accepting a job there. (Estimated potential loss, .005% of sales.)

I receive many emails from people that basically ask the same question: How can I keep myself motivated long term? This seems to be quite a common dilemma for many people, so I want to address it–because it can be done!

Here are my tips for staying motivated:

1. Get motivated every day.

   Zig Ziglar was once confronted about being a “motivational speaker.” The guy said to him, “You guys come and get people hyped up and then you leave and the motivation goes away. It doesn’t last, and then you have to get motivated again.” Zig reminded the gentleman that baths are the same way, but we think it is a good idea to take a bath every day!

   It is true that motivation doesn’t last. We have to renew it each and every day. That is okay. It doesn’t make motivation a bad thing. We simply have to realize that if we want to stay motivated over the long term, it is something we will have to apply to ourselves each and every day.

2. Have a vision for your life.

   The root word of motivation is “motive.” The definition of motive is, “A reason to act.” This is the cognitive or rational side of motivation. It is your vision. You have to have a vision that is big enough to motivate you. If you are making $50,000 a year, it isn’t going to motivate you to set your goal at $52,000 a year. You just won’t get motivated for that because the reward isn’t enough. Maybe $70,000 a year would work for you. Set out a vision and a strategy for getting there. Have a plan and work the plan.

3. Fuel your passion.

   Much of motivation is emotional. I don’t know quite how it works, but I do know THAT it works. Emotion is a powerful force in getting us going. Passion is an emotion, so fuel your passion. “Well, I like to work on logic,” you may say. Great, now work on your passion. Set yourself on a course to have a consuming desire for your goal, whatever it is. Do whatever you can to feel the emotion and use it to your advantage!

4. Work hard enough to get results.

   You can build on your motivation by getting results. The harder you work, the more results you will get and the more results you get, the more you will be motivated to get more. These things all build on one another. If you want to lose weight, then lose the first few pounds. When the belt moves to the next notch, you will get fired up to get it to the notch beyond that!

5. Put good materials into your mind.

   I can’t say this enough–listen to tapes. I still listen to tapes regularly. I buy tape clubs from other speakers and I learn and grow. Their successes motivate me to get my own successes! Read good books. Read books that teach you new ideas and skills. Read books that tell the stories of successful people. Buy them, read them, and get motivated! Buy great music and listen to it. I just did a spinning class at the club today. Whenever a good song came on, I was actually able to get motivated to ride faster! It gets you going and motivates you!

6. Ride the momentum when it comes.

   Sometimes you will just be clicking and sometimes you won’t. That is okay. It is the cycle of life. When you aren’t clicking, plug away. When you are clicking, pour it on because momentum will help you get larger gains in a shorter period of time with less energy. That is the Momentum Equation! When you are feeling good about how your work is going, ride the momentum and get as much out of it as you can!

In Summary:

These are the top six ways to stay motivated:

1. Get motivated every day.
2. Have a vision for your life.
3. Fuel your passion.
4. Work hard enough to get results.
5. Put good materials into your mind.
6. Ride the momentum when it comes.

These are simple principles, that when you put them to work regularly, will change your life by keeping you motivated all the time! Get going!

Vector Technical is proud to announce the launch of our new website! Our new site has many interactive features for employers and job seekers in the Cleveland, Ohio area.

Employers looking for temporary or full-time staff can request a quote or an employee right online. And job seekers can easily search jobs and apply online, as well. They can even sign up to be notified of new job postings in their areas of interest.

Anyone looking for great tips on HR best practices or how to ace that job interview can visit our Resource Center.

Visit us often, as we will update our blog with trends in employment and staffing, issues in our community and much more!