Welcome to the October edition of the Hire Score Newsletter. A lot has happened since I last wrote to you but one event really stands out. I was presenting to a group of executives when I overheard one individual mention that he was looking for a job. His company had just been bought and his job was eliminated.

I saw this as the perfect opportunity to conduct some market research. After all, people looking for a job are our customers. So, I asked him how he was approaching his job search. His response was very, very enlightening.

First, he said he had not looked at the classified want ads. Next he said he had not contacted a headhunter. And third, he said he had not investigated any online source. Well, that certainly pokes a hole in all the popular theories about getting a job!

Then, I asked him what he was doing. He responded by telling me all the community and business activities he was involved in and how he was contacting everyone he knew. In short, he was working his network to find a job. This is still by far the leading way people find a job.

Now that we understand the behavior of our customers, how do we take advantage of this information? The key is to find a way to intersect the person's networking activities. You do this by expanding your own network and working it constantly. In my Selecting Winners workshop I tell people that they need to spend some percentage of every day working on recruiting. Well, here is something specific you can do.

Pick up the phone and work your network. Call people to stay in touch. Participate in business and social functions that expose you to people. I have coined a new term that applies to this situation, "Sphere of Influence (SOI)". Spend time working on expanding your sphere of influence. Most of the candidates you are looking for can probably be found inside your SOI if it is big enough.

I have a good friend who has started three or four high technology companies. We play golf once a quarter to stay in touch. He is deeply committed to expanding his SOI. He always has his little notebook with him. If I mention a new client or acquaintance, he immediately picks my brain for more information, makes note of it and follows up. He spends 60% of his personal time recruiting, mostly by expanding his sphere of influence.

You should stop reading this newsletter right now and jot down half a dozen ideas about how you can expand your SOI.

Now on to another topic, one I know you all love to think about ... resumes! Resumes are the currency of the job search process. Nobody likes them, but we are stuck with them for the moment. To continue the pattern of researching our customers, I am going to go right to the source for the information we need.

John Marcus is the premier writer of resumes in the world. He has written the two best books on the subject that I have ever read. He has written articles for the Wall Street Journal's National Business Employment Weekly and he spends his days writing resumes for executives in all industries. I have known John since 1975 and have the utmost respect for his ability. He is one of the few people sitting on that side of the fence (helping candidates) that understands that hiring is a win-win proposition as opposed to a contest. John has always been one of the people I test new ideas with to make certain they make sense from the candidate's viewpoint.

Instead of my "Question of the Month" section, here is a series of questions that I asked John with his answers:

Q: What are you trying to accomplish with a resume?
A: To write a document that will generate interviews. This is achieved by conveying vision, leadership, innovation, and accomplishments, and these factors, in turn, are conveyed by discussing original ideas, how they were implemented, and their results.

Q: What assumptions do you make about the person reading the resume?
A: None, other than that the person can read English, has the reading comprehension level of an 11th grader, the level on which The Wall Street Journal is written.

Q: What are the key components that you include in every resume?
A: Names of employers, titles of positions, reporting structure, responsibilities, and accomplishments, all with the goal of conveying innovation and results, substantiated with numbers to demonstrate the scope of successes.

Q: How do you handle negative information like gaps in employment and short job duration?
A: For gaps in employment I will sometimes leave out months in the dates. Short job duration can be explained by the volatility in the market place.

Q: What tips do you have for my clients about reading resumes?
A. Always look to see if the writer is stating the extent of accomplishments. If the writer says, for example, "increased sales," the increase could be as little as 1%.
B. Regardless of how large an increase is, consider it in terms of its industry. For example, if someone joined a 6-month-old software developer with a run rate of $250,000 and increased revenues 50% a year for 3 years, that's not impressive at all. On the other hand, if someone increased sales 15% a year for 5 consecutive years for a 15-year-old paper distributor, that's really exciting.
C. Look for a progression of responsibility throughout the writer's career.
D. Look to see how much responsibility someone is taking for an accomplishment. Is the writer saying "P&L responsibility" "Complete responsibility" "Supervised" "Instrumental in" or "Participated in" or "Member of 3-person team that"?
E. Look for innovation versus implementing someone else's ideas.
F. Be suspicious of applicants who load up their resume with tired clichés such as "results-oriented," "self-motivated," "team player," "out-of-the-box thinker," "quick study," "change agent," "outstanding decision maker," "natural leader," "passion for excellence," and "an excellent communicator." They are not showing you much innovation.
G. Understand that being a tremendous businessperson and leader and knowing how to write a convincing resume are horses of 2 completely different colors. Be prepared to call up applicants and ask questions to learn the extent of their responsibilities and accomplishments.

Now you see why John has always been a key advisor to me. To reach John, you can send him email at jobauthor@aol.com.

Commentary
In the past month we have seen an increase in the number of companies laying people off, particularly in the dot-com space. This is a tremendous opportunity for those of you still hiring (which is most of the world). I have said before that you have to stay right on top of the news both locally and in your industry. You will not get many opportunities as good as this to pick up talented people if you move fast.

I have a good friend who is one of the top marketing consultants in the world. He constantly preaches taking advantage of slight edges. Unless you are the biggest and best by a mile, you are going to have to look for slight edges. This is absolutely the case in recruiting. You need to be on the lookout for any strategy, any piece of information, anything that gives you the slightest edge over the competition.

My clients understand this and have made the investment to win the recruiting wars. I hope you take something from this newsletter and put it to use IMMEDIATELY!

Have a great month recruiting!

Barry Shamis

PS. As usual, I welcome your feedback and questions.

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