Interviewing: January 2012 Archives

I joked with one of my friends that one of the reasons I get invited to be a panelist or participant in events is because I'm the Charles Nelson Reilly of my network.

Reilly was one of the funniest people from my childhood and he always added some wit and charm to the shows he appeared on.

In my life, I've always found that when there has been a need for someone in a pinch, when I get a call I am able to deliver a quality presentation, class, or contribution on short notice.

What can you do to become that reliable and energetic presence for those in your network or business?

Here is more on Charles Nelson Reilly from Wikipedia:

He was also a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, appearing more than one hundred times. Because Reilly was such a lively and reliable talk-show guest and lived within blocks of the Burbank studios where The Tonight Show was taped, he was often asked to be a last-minute replacement for scheduled guests who did not make it to the studio in time. During this time, Reilly was perhaps best known as a fixture of game shows, primarily due to his appearances as a regular panelist on the television game show Match Game.

How do people know whether or not they should frequent your business? Do you have a good website? Do you advertise?

From an HR perspective, some people need to hear you in action or see you live in order to get a better feel for whether or not they will want to work with you or for you.

Tune in to an episode of Capital District Business Profiles, which debuts this coming Monday at 7:30pm (and in February will also air Wednesday mornings at 10am) to check out some of the local businesses that may be offering opportunities for doing business or potential job opportunities in the future.

On Capital District Business Profiles, we will be interviewing local business owners to find out more about their business and how they go about doing what they do.

I volunteered my time yesterday at the Times Union Job fair from 10-1 yesterday to critique resumes of those who were seeking jobs at the fair. One of the recurring themes I saw among the resumes I reviewed was the lack of a LinkedIn profile link at the top of the page.

If you have a LinkedIn account, you should put your LinkedIn URL on your resume to use it as an enhanced version of your resume to direct employers to greater details than your resume can provide.

LinkedIn has become such a valuable resource for employers, job seekers and consultants among many others. From finding the right talent to finding the right service provider, having LinkedIn as part of your strategy as a job seeker or business person is crucial.

For those seeking to switch jobs or finding jobs, using the Skills feature on LinkedIn can enable you to stand out from others in your field of interest.

Prior to hiring or prior to the start of the Virtual Internship Program at Braathe Enterprises and Saratoga College, I ask all of my interns to provide me with a resume "from the future". This resume contains an entry that includes what they want to accomplish during the internship as if it had already happened.

This resume from the future accomplishes many things; one is to get both the student and I on the same page on what they want to accomplish; another is to begin with the end in mind, and create broader goals that help shape the projects I design for them. By having the foresight to project larger goals for themselves and having me agree upon them, the internship becomes a fulfillment of a goal set months earlier and many of the goals are met prior to the end of the internship.

Next time you go on a job interview, consider building a "resume from the future" to show employers who may be considering hiring you.