1. Long term stability and potential
As always employers are attracted to candidates that will potentially spend a long time within the company – and not only in the initial role for which they are hired. Companies look for employees who can develop and acquire various skills and abilities. Candidates that demonstrate a genuine excitement about their career path and the company and don’t view the position as just a job are more likely to be hired.

2. Able to work independently
Though employers need people who can work well with others, they also need people who can work without a lot of supervision. Companies look for people who can get projects done without being told each step to make, take responsibility for their own work and have the initiative to accomplish goals above and beyond their initial scope.

3. Gets along with others
People spend a third of each day (or more) at work, so getting along with colleagues is critical. Hiring authorities understand they are not only hiring an individual for a specific role, but as part of a larger company. Candidates must show the ability to respectfully work with the collective organization to help achieve the firm’s common goals.

4. Capable of multitasking
In today’s fast-paced business world, companies strive to hire candidates who can deliver results quickly and effectively. This is why a candidates ability to perform a variety of tasks, and even multiple tasks at the same time, is a valued asset to every employer.

5. Adaptability and problem solving skills
Successful businesses are constantly evolving and changing to keep pace. They must adapt and adjust their business strategies to stay competitive in the market. Therefore, companies need key players that not only adapt to change rapidly but can also identify and implement solutions to problems in both innovative and creative ways.

Keep these in mind as you prepare for your next interview. Be able to offer examples of these traits and you will separate yourself from the other candidates under consideration.

Luck, is part of it, no-doubt, but it also took a lot of effort to get here. Like others, I’ve had jobs that left me feeling unfulfilled at the end of each day. But this—recruiting security industry professionals and matching them with employers seeking top level talent as well as helping many with their career development—isn’t one of those jobs. As a matter of fact, I view it as more than just a job or my career – It’s a mission for me.

Everything changes when you love your career. I know it might sound a bit dramatic, but I know from personal experience. I understand the degree to which career fulfillment is important differs for all of us. Some may crave it more than others. Some people need success in their career to feel whole when others can take it or leave it. However, by and large, most people working for a living want to feel some sense of career fulfillment.

Career success is an important component of individual success

Most of us are taught, at an early age, to be viewed as “successful” people, we must reach a minimum level of professional achievement. Our sense of personal self-worth has become connected to our professional worth. So, during those periods when we experience professional dissatisfaction, we believe it’s a deeper reflection of who we are as individuals and what we’re capable of, rather than seeing it as a matter of circumstance that can change with proper effort.

One-third of our life is spent working

From the time we reach age 18 until we are age 65, most of us work 8 hours a day 5 days a week. That adds up to nearly 100,000 hours spent working in an average lifetime. That’s a significant percentage of the time most of us have to spend on this planet.

If you aren’t fulfilled by the work you’re doing each day, your life may feel empty.

Work gives a means for survival for you and your family

Your career is what puts food on the table and a roof over your head. It’s a requirement for basic human survival and thus, it’s a necessity. A job is not something that most of us can do without. Because of this, an unfulfilling career can start to feel like a heavy burden to bear instead of a productive part of life. It heightens your stress level and can lead to a host of mental and physical illnesses.

Identifying some type of career fulfillment will lead to a more comfortable level of existence on the most basic level. You will likely feel a deeper sense of personal growth and development and your perspective will broaden, shifting away from that of basic survival mode.

Your career is closely tied to your personal identity

When you meet someone for the first time, what is usually the first topic of conversation? In most instances, people use their career as a topic to break the ice. “What do you do?” is the most common way to create small talk and get to know someone new. If you’re not happy with your particular job, it can make meeting new people something you loathe. By the end of the conversation, you feel like a complete loser. Why? Because, your career has been tied to you -the individual.  It’s not really “fair” but that’s the reality of it. When you have pride in the type of work you do, it shows. Others hear it in your words and see it in your facial expressions. Personally, you feel good about yourself. You find yourself enjoying these types of conversations much more and so does the other person.

In today’s society, right or wrong, we tend to put people in boxes. Identifying them by their career is a common way of doing this. You’re a teacher? I have a mental image already. An accountant? A different mental image. There’s a widespread practice of stereotyping others based upon their job. This can be upsetting for many. In working with a wide variety of people and backgrounds as a recruiter, what I learned is this: Regardless of what you do, if you enjoy it, it doesn’t matter what others may think about it. Don’t give in to that (real or imagined) sense of judgment from others.

Career fulfillment can change the world around you. If you desire this, allow it and create it. But don’t try to fool yourself by denying that it matters.

David Lammert

And: they are hard to identify unless you have seen or been around many of them.

If you wish to hire “remarkable performers” look for these traits which are universal among them:

• They place premium value on their time
• They excel as problem solvers
• They build proven records of achievement
• They possess high levels of both endurance and energy
• Their perception of risk differs from those around them
• They are quick studies in their peer group and can move with ease between disciplines
• They cannot be easily stereotyped

If you are lucky enough to have one on your team already, hang on to them!

David Lammert

In both of the positions he has open he has specific needs for the roles – however, a few personal characteristics were equally important to him as the technical and functional skills that were required for the position.

Those key personal characteristics could be summed up as:

Positive Attitude, Communication Skills, and Professionalism

He related to me how he believed these traits were the most important, yet somehow the most difficult to find. Recently, he let someone on his team go although the person had the strong technical skills for the role they filled.  However, they did a poor job of communicating with peers and subordinates in the job, and on top of that their professional attitude was declining. While they did an excellent good job executing the technical aspects of their job, this individual was not willing to work on the soft skills needed to succeed in the role.

The Director of Security told me about multiple candidates they’ve interviewed that possessed the technical knowledge and skill set required, however, they came up short when it came to projecting the soft skills needed. He expressed deep concern that he cannot afford, in our current economy, to hire average employees. He needs people that can not only do the job, but security professionals that represent his security staff effectively and positively throughout the rest of the company.

He noted that people often come to an interview expressing sour grapes rather than a positive attitude. They dress sloppy or inappropriately leading to a poor first impression. Answering basic interview questions, they tend to ramble or give one word answers to questions. They are unable to articulate ideas well. They appear unprepared and don’t know basic information about the company or position they have applied for. They can’t demonstrate an ability to ‘think on their feet’ during the course of the interview. Lacking self-awareness, they are not able to speak in detail about their own strengths, weaknesses, or achievements. Instead, they try hard to impress instead of showing sincere interest in others. This tends to come across to others as overly concerned with what’s in it for them.

So often I hear from job seekers something like this:

“I don’t understand why I didn’t get that job! I was a perfect fit. My skills and experience matched up exactly with what they said they were looking for. They don’t seem to know what they want!”

Actually they do know exactly what they want, and usually within a couple of minutes of talking to the job seeker it becomes clear to me why they didn’t get hired.

The current job market is ultra-competitive. Hiring authorities have a number of qualified candidates to select from that have the technical competency or functional skills required for the position. The differentiators are the soft skills that sway them from one person to another. Don’t take those factors too lightly! It’s what separates those who get an offer from those who finish second in the hiring race.

Examine yourself critically. What kind of attitude do you display? What kind of first impression do you make on others? Have you prepared, researched and rehearsed? Do you articulate your thoughts and answers well? Do exhibit a sincere interest in them and the company? Do you exude professionalism in your appearance manner?

THIS is what managers want today!

Good Luck!

David Lammert

I’d like to suggest adding a tool to your belt that you might not have considered; Twitter is a unique tool that provides another web platform for your job search and research, branding and networking needs.

Twitter Job Search Guide
Although Twitter is not a regular job board; it is one of the best tools for promoting yourself and connecting with the right people in your field of interest.  You can use Twitter to find a job by connecting to security industry leaders in a variety of niches – you actually have the ability to reach (follow and be followed) many professionals in security.

Not only are individuals part of Twitter but also companies, security executives, security industry recruiters, job search engines, resume experts and other professional development and leadership gurus are as well.

Try my suggestions for using Twitter as a career search resource:

1. Create a Professional Presence
Start by making your Twitter presence friendly to others.

• Your Twitter bio is a max of 160 characters. Share your elevator pitch here.
• Use a professional photo or avatar
• Tweet on your job searching

2. Use Your Twitter Background to Your Advantage

• Customize this space to promoting your unique expertise and skills.
• Use Twitters free background template if you are able to customize your own.

3. Display Your Brand! Share Your Unique Expertise
Use Twitter to establish yourself as being an expert in your niche within the security industry.  You should never misrepresent yourself, but you should always feel free to shed light on your value.  In other words, don’t say you are a VP of Security on Twitter if you are not, but do say you have skill and experience leading a global security organization at a Fortune 1000 company (rather than “I am a security manager”).  As people on Twitter become more interested in what content you have posted, and when security industry colleagues engage you and seek you out, your Twitter account can be a backup to your resume and experience.  It builds your credibility with hiring managers and security headhunters.

4. It is About Who you Know

You have heard it countless times, and it is still true today – when you are job hunting, it is often about who you know.  You can get to know the right people through Twitter. It is also somewhat easier to engage on Twitter than through LinkedIn, though, I recommend using both resources to develop your network.

Some people will be looking for you. As an executive recruiter focused solely on the security industry, I often turn to Twitter to identify potential candidates or find those who might know of a qualified candidate. You should also use Twitter to check out executive search firms specializing in security recruiting. Read their bio, examine the content of their tweets to see if they offer value to your interests and click their website link to find out more about the firm.

5. Follow Hashtags # On Twitter in Your Area of Interests
When following Hashtags of your interests such as:  “specialty areas within security, professional development topics, personal topics of interest, specific job postings, industry trends” you may get informed in real time about any new posted job career positions you have interested in.

Make these hashtags # search part of your twitter activities.

6. Twitter Job Search Engines
Check out these job search tools on twitter,

• https://twitter.com/#!/TwitJobSearch: TwitJobSearch.com
• https://twitter.com/#!/TweetMyJobs: tweetmyjobs.com

These are excellent Twitter born tools that help bring job recruiters and candidates together.
Just follow the hashtag #Tweetmyjobs and drop by their site. It’s a simple tool that’s easy for the job seeker to use, best of all it is free to use. You can subscribe to any job channels that may interest you. Even have new job openings sent to you automatically via text message. You can filter the cities you would like to be notified about in order to get only relevant texts sent your way.

By the way…I invite you to follow me on Twitter @recruiter4u.

Thanks, David Lammert

• Coachability
• Emotional intelligence
• Motivation
• Temperament

Leadership IQ (a global leadership training and HR research firm) conducted a 3-year study of 5,247 hiring managers from 312 public, private, business and healthcare organizations who collectively hired more than 20,000 employees during the study period. The results revealed some interesting statistics about why new hires fail within their first 18 months on the job:

• 26% have low coachability meaning that they do not accept and implement feedback well.
• 23% lack emotional intelligence and are unable to understand and manage their own emotions and assess others’ emotions.
• 17% lack the necessary motivation and drive to excel in the position.
• 15% have the wrong temperament (attitude and personality) for the position and corporate culture.
• 11% lack the necessary technical skills.

What should hiring authorities take from these statistics?

Sometimes the resume is all that is necessary to determine if a security professional is a good technical fit for the position. But, just being a technical fit obviously isn’t nearly enough to predict how an individual will perform within your organization. Once you determine that an applicant has the needed skills, the focus of the interview should shift to the personality attributes of that candidate to determine if they possess the right attributes to be a fit for your organization. By doing this, the hiring manager can lessen the likelihood of hiring an individual who is not going to be with the company long-term.

Source: Leadership IQ

Do you remember when the resume debates were over the weight and color of paper? If the answer is “yes”, your resume might need more than a polish. It might need an overhaul. A lot has changed in the job market the past few years. For example, about 80% of employers, both small and large, are using an applicant tracking system (ATS). This means your resume will probably be “read” first by computer software and not a human. Consider the technology with some of the points below.

·         Be sure your resume can be read and doesn’t “choke” the system. Keep the font and formatting neat, using popular fonts (e.g., Times Roman, Arial). Do not use any overly stylized formatting like graphics, italics, logos, watermarks, headers, or footers.

·         Customize your resume to the position description as much as possible. Applicant tracking systems search for keywords in your resume to assess whether you are a good fit for the open position. Include as many keywords as you can, especially if you can honestly include them in your work history (the more advanced systems are starting to read for keywords in context).

If you are using the same resume for every job you might be having a more difficult time getting through the ATS, regardless of your stellar qualifications.

In 2012 people are busy – this includes security recruiters and hiring managers. At first pass, most recruiters will only spend between 5 and 20 seconds reading a resume. They are scanning, much like the ATS, but processing in a far more sophisticated way.

·         Be sure your capabilities that match the job description stand out. Make it very easy for the busy recruiter to see that your skills, abilities, capabilities and competencies match what is needed for the job.

·         Don’t just list what you’ve done – but also your accomplishments. I cannot emphasize this enough! Your resume should give managers and recruiters an immediate sense of what you can do and what you will accomplish for the organization. Paint a picture of your achievements by using numbers and percentages of things like budgets managed, P&L, size of the organization or department you managed, sales, cost savings, and projects directed.

·         Be sure nothing is a turn-off. You may be proud of the fact that you have the world’s largest collection of presidential campaign buttons. However, unless you are lucky enough for the recruiter to be a fellow political aficionado, this might be the wrong accomplishment to list on your resume.

·         Be sure to triple check for typos, grammatical mistakes, and punctuation. Even one small typo could be a turn-off to a busy recruiter trying to make a quick impression of your fit for the open position requiring any level of attention to detail.

Lastly, I want you to do a 5-minute check by interacting with your resume as a security recruiter would. Try the following:

·         Call your number on your resume. When was the last time you listened to the outgoing message? Has it changed since your 4-year old recorded it? Change it if it does not sound professional.

·         Check your email address. I have met many people in the security industry with the most witty, clever, and cute email addresses. (I’ll protect the innocent here and not provide examples.) Let’s just say that if your email address sounds like a party animal, a fan club president, or makes anyone giggle – you should change it for your job search. Sign-up for a professional-sounding (OK, boring) email address such as yourfirstname_yourlastname@domain.com.

·         Add the URL to your amazing LinkedIn site. This recommendation requires you to have an amazing Linked-In site. Let’s face our new reality. There is a high probability that hiring managers will search for your name on the internet. Having a Linked-In URL will selectively direct hiring managers away from the photos of you playing beer pong last summer and toward additional information about your education and experiences.

·         Change the name of the file to something descriptive before sending your resume. About 60% of the resumes people send me are named “resume.doc”. Seriously, “Resume.doc” is too generic for a file name and when I save it the last person who sent me a “resume.doc” is lost. You are next. The 3-second solution: call the file something descriptive such as “Your Name’s Resume”.

Does anyone have any suggestions for resumes you’d like to share?  I look forward to hearing them!

Thanks,

David Lammert

I hear a lot of frustration from hiring authority’s and job seekers in today’s economy. Here are a few emails I have received recently:

• “Just because I am over 50 with a little gray hair and have not worked for the past six months doesn’t mean that I have lost my ability to lead a team or function as a Risk Management professional.”
• “Why don’t companies return calls after interviews when they tell you they will? Recently, I interviewed for a corporate security role and was told after the third interview I would hear from them within a week. Two weeks later after not having my calls returned I assumed they went a different direction and I accepted another job. Ten days later they called and said they had an offer to present me. It was too late – I had moved on. Frustrating!”
• “David, I have just about given up looking and applying for jobs. Nobody is hiring! I never hear back from these firms when I do apply and they only seem to want PERFECT candidates. They want security managers who can, ‘Hit the ground running without any direction or support.’ They want security experts, yet I don’t hear back when I apply. Please keep me in mind for any opportunities you may know of that might be a fit for me.”
• “David, my nephew just graduated with a degree in Information Systems. He’s a really smart guy and wants to get into IT Security. He’s having trouble getting any interviews though. Do you think you could help him find something?”
• “Hi David, We really enjoy working with you and appreciate all the quality people you have helped us hire, however, we have decided to search for candidates on our own to fill the Director’s role. With all the recent layoffs and the current state of the economy we feel that we should be able to find some quality candidates. We will let you know if this changes.” Fifty eight days later I received a call from this client asking for my help in recruiting. They told me they had reached out to people via their own network and had also run ads online and in national trade publications for this position and had not been able to identify any well qualified candidates.

In today’s climate there are a number of misperceptions held by both employers and candidates.

• Perception – Because of the high unemployment rate people are desperate for work and are easy to find.
• Reality – According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the national unemployment rate in January 2012 for individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher is only 4.2%.

• Perception – Because corporate HR departments are generating a large volume of resumes, the very best candidates must be applying.
• Reality – Top candidates are not applying for many jobs for several reasons

While they may want to make a change in the current environment many feel it is better to stay put until the economy stabilizes a bit more.  Mostly, these highly sought after passive candidates just don’t have time to be applying for jobs. They are hard at work in their current jobs and truly need to be recruited to make a change.

• Perception – People don’t think that companies are hiring.
• Reality – Great companies are hiring and have many great opportunities. Strong candidates are starting to get multiple offers.

• Perception – If a company offers a candidate a job, the candidate will accept.
• Reality – There is a higher rate of turndown and companies need to be prepared to pursue secondary candidates.

Employers and job seekers who aren’t working thru a recruiter must be patient and remain focused on communicating. While it doesn’t seem like a lot to ask from each side everyone has to do more with fewer resources today. We hope this provides some perspective and you find this information useful as you navigate the hiring process.

Good luck!

David Lammert

For our purposes today, here are a few tips for finding job search success on LinkedIn.

Complete Your Profile
1. Include all relevant companies, positions, education and awards that you’ve held or accomplished to show off the experience and education you’ve developed over the years. The more robust your profile is, the more likely your profile is to appear higher up in search results of employers and security recruiters.

2. Use keywords throughout your profile to improve your search ranking on LinkedIn and Google. First, generate a list of keywords for which you would like to show up in searches. Incorporate these in your profile by including them throughout your summary, specialties, past experience and education fields.

3. Include a professional profile picture that you use on multiple social sites. Since faces are often easier to remember than names, this will help others identify you when adding you as a connection on LinkedIn.  It can also help someone recognize you in the local coffee shop, ASIS or other industry related event, when meeting up to discuss business ideas or potential employment opportunities.

4. Add any websites, blogs or online portfolios that can give a potential employer more information about you and your work. Such information could put you ahead of another candidate that did not include this information.

Utilize Your Network
5. Increase the number of your connections by adding people that you know, including past and present colleagues, vendors, clients, etc. LinkedIn has an easy webmail upload tool to help you add your email contacts as LinkedIn connections. When adding connections, make your request message personal, including how you know the person (for example, you’re in the same group, have the same alma mater, or have a mutual acquaintance) and why you would like to add them to your network. Statistics show these messages are much more likely to result in an acceptance than the generic invitation message.

6. Solicit meaningful recommendations from your connections to highlight some of your specific accomplishments and give some perspective on your work from an outside source. However, skip the recommendation from your parents, sibling or best friend, unless you’ve had a substantially relationship in a workplace environment as well- even then I would suggest using them as a last resort only. Recommendations are the most useful when they sincerely describe exactly what you’ve done and why you’re such a talented employee.

7. Update your status with relevant information about your current company and business accomplishments, news articles you’ve written or are quoted in, information about your latest blog post, or even that you’re looking for a job (and what you’re specifically looking for). Keep in mind that LinkedIn is a professional network, so not all statuses that you might post on your Facebook or Twitter profiles are LinkedIn-worthy.

Get Involved
8. Use the “Company Follow” feature to stay updated with the specific employers for which you have an interest. You will then receive updates when there are changes to that company’s profile, including when employees join, leave, or take on a new role in the company, new employment opportunities posted on LinkedIn, and other company news.

9. Join and participate in LinkedIn “Groups” that are relevant and interesting to you. In these groups, you can position yourself as an expert in your field and network with others with similar interests or backgrounds. You can share appropriate articles with the group, solicit information about a certain subject or begin a topical conversation. It’s also a great way to connect with those who have the same alma mater, who work in the same field, or live in the same area as you.

10. Participate in the “Answers” section of LinkedIn, by posting and answering questions relevant to your career and interests. Here you can also strengthen your brand as an expert in your niche of the security field by sharing your knowledge with others.

Become “Findable”
11. Create your own personal vanity URL on LinkedIn to build your online personal branding and help control your Google search result ranking. This also makes your LinkedIn profile much easier to share on your resume, business card or in your email signatures. If possible, opt for the same vanity ID that you use on your other online profiles, to standardize your identity and professional brand online.

12. Set your visibility settings to publish your full public profile to the Web. This will make your profile easier found by security recruiters and can give potential employers a snapshot of your experience at-a-glance.

To jumpstart your 2012 job search, maximize your LinkedIn presence to build your network, stay top-of-mind with friends who could introduce you to a great job opportunity, and give potential employers and security recruiters a sense of your stellar work and background.

Do you have additional tips for LinkedIn job search success? Have you found a job through LinkedIn?

Share your insight and experience below and be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn!

Thanks,

David Lammert