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Employee vs “Free Agent”

October 20, 2010 in Interviewing, Job Search, Negotiating Salary, Personal Development with 13 Comments

In professional football or baseball, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise.

In today’s workplace most people are in fact “free agents.”  They have no contract and they are free to negotiate with a new “team” if they choose.  Yet many people just stay because they continue to get a paycheck – without even looking around to see if they could get a better offer.

Who are free agent workers? “Free agents don’t expect (or want) a lifetime career with a single employer. They have taken responsibility for charting and preparing their own professional futures.

Changing jobs is commonplace.  Free agent workers think of themselves as having talent to sell and they shop it around for the best offer.  Read more »

“I’m overqualified” – Oh Really?

May 20, 2010 in Interviewing, Personal Development, Uncategorized with 31 Comments

I was approached by a young man this week after a presentation.  His question was – “What do you do when you’re over-qualified for any job available?” He proceeded to tell me he had a Master’s degree in Public Health and had been told in multiple interviews he was “over-qualified.”

Now think about the reality here – In what setting would being “over-qualified” eliminate you from consideration?  If my mechanic gets an additional certification will I tell him “I don’t want you working on my car anymore – I’m afraid you’re too smart.”  If you show up for a simple physical exam and find out the doctor is a cardiologist will you back off because he’s over-qualified?  If you are choosing a massage therapist and discover that one contender has a PhD in anatomy will you eliminate that person?  If you need a receptionist with a great personality would you reject the candidate you liked the most if you discovered at the last minute that she had a Masters in English Literature?  Read more »

Gimme that job!

January 4, 2010 in Interviewing, Just a Job, Marketing, No More Mondays with 3 Comments

Ever wonder why some people get the cool jobs – even if you have better experience and credentials?  Here’s an example of a guy using creativity to snag a great opportunities. 

HeadBlade President Todd Greene was looking for someone that could handle social media for the company.  He said he was looking for someone like himself, someone who was passionate about the product.  He posted the job on Craigslist and got tons of resumes. But one stood out above them all, by far. Eric Romer was himself a “headblader,” and had been using the product and even blogging about it on his own. Within a day of the Craigslist entry going public, Eric put up the following web page:  HireMeHeadBlade. Now that’s a creative way to get the attention of an employer!

 Read more »

Why Morning Interviews are best

April 29, 2008 in Interviewing, Just a Job with 1 Comment

Research shows that 83% of executives are more likely to hire AM job seekers.  And 70% of all hiring decisions are made before 11:00 AM.  So obviously, if you can help suggest the time of an interview, make it before 11:00 AM.       

Avoid Mondays and Fridays.  On Monday, people tend to have too much to do and on Friday they are anticipating the weekend and ready to get out of the office.  So the very best times for interviews are Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday mornings between 8-10:00 AM.  The little things can tip the scale in your favor.

You’re not smart enough for this…..?

November 14, 2007 in Interviewing, Negotiating Salary with 1 Comment

In doing research on current job trends this week I came across this notice to job-seekers from probably the best-known outplacement firm in the country.   

”In order to enter one of our outplacement programs, we require sponsorship by an employee’s company. The reason we cannot accept people without corporate sponsorship is that we cannot overcome the awkward ethical/functional dilemma inherent in working with an ‘unsponsored’ individual. Good outplacement requires the freedom to counsel the client even when their wants conflict with their needs. In a ‘retail’ relationship, both parties are either consciously or subconsciously prone to define the client as a customer and therefore the ultimate arbiter of what is right or wrong tactically.”

It appears pretty obvious that they don’t expect you as a job-seeker to be qualified to be in the driver’s seat for any of the process of getting a new job.  So please allow me to interpret their message for you.   Read more »

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