I’ve never asked someone to explain to me their weaknesses on an interview.  Sorry, I just won’t do it.  I was trained to stay away from it, and I’ve been continuously reminded to avoid that useless question when conducting interviews.

Why?

Well, when most people are asked, they try to think of something negative that they can turn into a positive.  A common response is, “Well, I’m too detailed”, or “I care too much about my work”.  When answers like this come up, recruiters know it’s bullshit, but they write it down, and that question becomes completely irrelevant to the interview.  It’s a waste of space…that’s what it is.  It’s like that one chair in your high school auditorium that’s broken.  What’s it doing there?

How do you answer it?

I mean, you can simply go the cowardly path, and answer with one of the bum answers above.  It won’t hurt, but it really doesn’t help.  Or you could be creative and do the following.  Memorize the job description completely and pick something that may be a weakness of yours that’s not anywhere near the description or duties of the job.  Let’s say you know that this job won’t lead anytime soon to a manager, and you really don’t want to be a manager one day (many people have no interest in managing people).  Your answer could be, “Well, I’m not great at delegating.”.  Just keep it simple, short, and get the hell off of that broken auditorium chair.

Watch this video…it’s exactly how I feel…

Download the eBook —-> What I Know About Getting A Job

Job search and career advice is troubling for job seekers.  It’s not because of the advice giver, but because there is never just one right answer, and each person needs a unique solution to fit their situation.  Job seekers come from all walks of life, different skill sets, different educational experiences, and different goals.  It’s impossible for one HR blogger, career counselor/expert, or recruiter to provide all the correct answers for each person.

With that in mind, Penelope Trunk and I came up with an idea for an eBook that would bring job search and career advice from all different perspectives.  We’ve compiled a contributer list of 18 experts in HR and the job search.  They are professionals named as the Top 25 Digital HR Influencers in 2009, and they’ve shared their stories, experiences, and beliefs in this eBook.

It’s silly to think that this eBook will answer every question you have, but I’m certain that you will enjoy these shared stories and experiences in an eBook that we are very proud of.

Thank you to Penelope Trunk and Brazen Careerist for the opportunity, and thank you to the contributers for sharing their insightful, inspiring, and helpful stories.  Enjoy the eBook and make sure to visit BrazenCareerist.com

Download the eBook —-> What I Know About Getting A Job

I’ve been keeping something to myself for a while now, but I’ll refuse to hold it in any longer.

A few months back, Penelope Trunk and I began talking about putting together an E-book that would become a free resource for Gen-Y Job Seekers.  Well, the project is near completion and we are planning on releasing the e-book on 7/20/10.

The subject/title of the E-book is, “What I know about getting a job”.

Rather than her and I write the entire book ourselves, we wanted to bring in a team of highly influential HR Professionals & Recruiters to contribute with a page of their own.  We found quite the team.

The list used to find contributers comes from John Sumser and HR Examiner.  Sumser released a list of the Top 25 Human Resources Digital Influencers in 2009, which couldn’t have been a better list of potential contributers.  Penelope and I were able to bring on a total of 17 contributers from the 25 members on the list.

What makes this e-book special is that each contributer has added in their own opinions, personal stories, and expertise surrounding jobs and careers.  They come from different perspectives, and even touch on different aspects of the job search.  When put together, their contributions create an e-book that brings you the entire job search/career advice spectrum.

Our -ebook will drop on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010.  It’s being brought to you by Penelope Trunk, Brazen Careerist, and Corn on the Job.  We are excited for this release, and we hope  you’ll join us in spreading the word surrounding our free new career resource for Gen-Y.

My dog is picky about where he urinates, and lately he’s worse than ever.  Let me explain.

A pretty wicked storm whipped through our town last week and it caused an ass-slapping ton of destruction.  My back yard is a public park with many trees, and the storm left dozens of huge branches, and thousands of small  branches and twigs laying on the ground.

It’s become a doggy urination mecca.

You see, the park used to be just the same old trees to whizz on, but now there is literally a pee point every where you turn.  It’s either a beautiful thing, or it’s driving dogs crazy.  My pup Rusty seems to be more on the crazy side.  He’s become very picky on which piece of dead tree is joyously marked.  He’ll run up to fallen branch or twig and sniff out the situation for a while.  If small enough, he’ll walk around the decaying bark to fully inspect it, and then eventually decide if he’s lifting his leg.  Usually he might find 2 or 3 leg-lifting spots, but with so many new opportunities on the ground, he’s going 6-8 times.

I’m cutting myself off.  I’m done writing about doggy urination, and maybe it’s time I throw in the “how this relates to your job search” section.  But do I really need it?  All bloggers take their life stories and then relate it to the purpose of their blog.  It’s what we do.  It’s how we try to keep things interesting and not sound like preachers.  But I’m not sure I want to do that….

You guys are smart folks, in fact I’ll even say you are very intelligent people.   I’m sure you can look at this story and point out how it relates to searching for a job.  You can probably talk about how it relates to the economy, maybe?  Should you be my dog?  Do you inspect things vigorously before lifting your leg?  I mean, you get what I’m saying….?

Answer my questions in your comments…

We all know that there are more options than just applying online to gain attention from target companies.  Twitter has become one of the most talked about resources, which sits right up at the top of the list with Linkedin.  Some people resort to mailing in their applications & resumes along with their electronic submissions.  Some folks create Facebook advertisements targeting specific companies they’d like to work for.  Some get creative with Google AdWords.

Your job search method these days can now almost become a reason for companies to hire you.  When your search is innovative and reflects the position or industry you target, it can certainly put you ahead of other candidates who simply apply online.  Your innovative tactics may also push you ahead of a candidate that has more experience than you.  It’s your ideas that the company wants to hire.  If your ideas already blow the company away before an interview, think about what that does for you.

One job search method that should grow in popularity is personal job search websites.  Websites like these will most likely fit best for social media, marketing, and PR job seekers, but other professions can find use for them. They aren’t too difficult to create, and there are web developers around who will work with you on a price.

I wanted to quickly show off and review a friends personal job search website.  She was working in Florida in a job that just wasn’t suiting her, and her goal was to move to NYC and work in a social media position.  It worked.  She landed a job as Social Media Manager with MTV News.

Take a look at SocialJenny.com, and then come back for my review.

What does Jenny do right?

Home Page – I wanted to put in a picture of the home page above.  She not only makes her goal very clear, but she adds in a few fun links to show real proof of who she is.  She not only says this is what she wants and who she is, but proves it through what she’s done already in social media.  While what I’ve stated already is a must, she also adds in a nice cartoony image of herself in NYC.  It’s not a must, but it’s a wonderful touch.

The last thing I’ll talk about on the home page is how Jenny provides a course of action to visitors.  See how she clearly states to folks that if interested they should check out the links at the bottom.   Nicely done.

Bio/About Me Page – I thought that what she did in this section was very creative.  She answered her bio like it was a phone screen, covering basic questions like, What is your social media philosophy?, Why NYC?, and What is your ideal company to work for?  Perfect for a personal job search website.

My Work/Resume Page – Not only does Jenny leave a more open format style review of her experience, but she includes a link to her online resume.

Ideas – Companies hire us mostly for our ideas.  Jenny leaves some brain wisdom on how she’d handle a few situations.  This gives a potential employer a clear view into how she thinks and what she can add to their organization.

If you’re going to take a stab at a personal job search website, make sure you have clear goals and ideas before jumping right in.  Know what position you target, the kind of company you’d like to work for, and know the value you can bring to those organizations.  It’s not something that should be put together in a couple days, but it should be a well thought out process, and it needs to be done correctly.

Thanks to my friend, Jenny McCoy, for letting me review her website.  She blogs over at Workin’ On A Ramp.  Say hello to her.

This is a guest post from Lauren McCabe.  Lauren is the chief-blogger at KODA (http://koda.us), a community that helps young professionals and employers connect directly.  You can read more of her blog at http://blog.koda.us.

Remember what field trips were like in grade school? Glorious days at a museum or alligator farm or bog (clearly, I’m from New Orleans) where you learned about the world firsthand, not just from textbooks.

When you’re on your first job hunt, you also need to explore careers firsthand.  And what better way to do this than on a field trip?

In business jargon, a field trip is a company information session or casual chat with an employee without the pressure of an interview.  It’s about asking genuine questions that will help you decide if you want to eventually pursue an internship, job, or even career in that industry.

It may seem intimidating to go after field trips because they may require a lot of cold calling. But usually, people are more than happy to talk about their company and their experiences, as I learned when I sat on the NYC subway with my surfboard and random people offered to take me on tours of their companies all the time.

Here’s how to start field-tripping your way to career exploration in four simple steps:

1. Make a list of employers (or industries) that are field trip worthy. This list should be diverse, since field trips are about bringing your passions to your career. Do you have a soft spot for numbers?  Add investment bank to your list.  Are you a people person?  Try a PR firm.  Are you Rich DeMatteo from Corn on the Job?  I bet the Flyers are on your list.

2. Make a list of people who may be able to hook you up with a field trip. You can reach out to anyone, friends, family, professors, whoever. My friend reached out to her dentist when her mouth was half numbed up:

“I’m thinking about going to dental school.”

The dentist nearly dropped his drill. “Really?! You must spend a day in my office and see what I do!“

3. Make contact. You’ll probably have to cold call, so introduce yourself with your background (AKA recent grad exploring careers) and why you’re interested in that company.  Say that you would like to meet with them to find out more about their industry, and see how they respond.

Maybe they’ll invite you into their office—success! An invitation to “coffee” or “lunch” is good, too.

4.) Make sure you have a business card and a resume handy. The great thing about field trips is that you may stumble upon your dream job and dream company, so make sure you have something you can give someone to let them know you’re interested.  If you’re unemployed, you can still have awesome business cards.

Editors Note: Today’s guest post is from Marian Schembari.  Read through the post and catch our contest details at the bottom!

Marian specializes in social media for job hunters, sometimes gets paid to write and works with authors who want to build up their personal brand. She blogs over at http://www.marianlibrarian.com and usually features posts under the “uncategorized” tag but likes to pretend it revolves somewhat around Gen Y careers that don’t fit in a box. She is launching a virtual classroom teaching recent grads, job seekers and freelancers how to use social media as the ultimate career tool. Follow her on Twitter. Do it now.

For all you regular Corn on the Jobbers, Richie conducted a sick poll on the most frustrating part about being a job seeker. Your response? The unknown. Not hearing back. I did a similar poll ages ago (like, 4 people responded) and found the same thing.

Basically, jobseekers spend SHIT TONS of time perfecting cover letters and applying for jobs through “traditional outlets” (job boards, company websites) but never hear anything back. This can be a huge blow to one’s confidence and we all (should) know it’s important to stay positive during the job hunt.

Get Positive, Be Social

I’ve found that the best way to stay positive and motivated is to get involved with social media. If you’re open about looking for work, connections (via Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/etc) are always supportive and the steady influx of new leads is a great way to see progress rather than the insanely stressful sending of resumes into the internet abyss. With social media you stay exactly that – social. Keep in touch with industry news and people in your field you might not have met otherwise.

To Publicize or Not to Publicize?

When you first decide to drink the social media Kool Aid, figure out if/how you want to publicize your job search. I think it’s a fine line, but by publicizing your search you:

1. Get more people involved. When people congratulate in your successes you automatically feel more awesome about yourself.
2. Get more people involved. The wider your network the more chances someone will think of you if they hear of an opening.

The problem with shouting about the hunt from the rooftops is that it looks kind of desperate and promoting it too much looks unprofessional. I found that more people asked for interviews after I was hired. You know, the whole grass is greener thing. People only really start wanting you once other people show you’re wanted.

I know people that instead of saying “looking for a job” they say something like “aviation professional” or “publishing professional”. Something in your industry. Build your reputation first, then publicize that you’re looking. People are more responsive once you’ve shown you’re worth it.

Some people don’t even publicize their job search, they let their Twitter persona grow first and then make a shout out that their looking for work. Just a little summin’ summin’ to keep in mind when creating a job-hunt-appropriate social media profile.

Blog and Look Smart

The second best thing about using social media for your job search AND as a positivity booster is that it makes you feel (and look) smart. By keeping up-to-date on industry news you can be 100% confident that you know your industry. No, don’t read boring stuff in the paper, find the best blogs! My favorite tips:

• Jot down a list of the top 10 industry blogs. Comment on those blogs. Make friends with the bloggers.
• Make sure you’re reading these sites every day. Start your own site and give us your thoughts.
• Join relevant groups on LinkedIn. Ask questions and become a part of the conversation.
• Spent 15 minutes a day going through LinkedIn Answers. It’s not just about asking questions, but helping other people out. I landed 3 clients in an hour using this trick and just by spreading the love you can find job leads. If you want to learn more about how to do this I created a free video here.

Even if your social media efforts don’t land you an interview right away (which it often does), having a support group of people in your industry when trying to find work can be hugely beneficial.

Enter Pajama Job Hunt

Oh, and did I mention I’m actually launching a course on using Twitter as a job hunting tool? Yeah, it’s rockin’. Click here for details, but it’s a ridiculously fun and comprehensive, 3-part video training was created for recent grads, job seekers and freelancers. Ready to use Twitter to build a strong network, land work fast, make some serious money and – wait for it – stop wasting time applying for jobs the old-fashioned way?

Enter COTJ Contest

Richie and I are giving away the program to one lucky blog reader, worth $47 FOR FREE ($37 for the first week).  Here are the rules:

• Leave a comment below about why you want to win the program (mandatory entry).
• Tweet about the contest. Sample tweet: Win the Pajama Job Hunt: Twitter Series by @marianschembari via @cornonthejob. Contest details here: http://bit.ly/9gSdr3 Tweet up to 3 times (+1 entry for each tweet)
• Write a blog post about the course and why social media is important to your job search. Link to it in the comment section. (+2 entries)
• Contest ends Monday, June 7th at 9AM.  Get in your entries before then folks.

WINNER ANNOUNCED – Kate Wiseman

I don’t write about personal brand here on COTJ too often, mainly because I believe building a brand is simply about being yourself. If building your brand isn’t fun, then my guess is it’s because you’re faking who you are. Shame on you.

Know what you stand for, both on the business side and the personal side. Once that’s ironed out (should be easy), look for ways to build on both sides. Today I’ll mainly focus on my personal side, and how I’ve used it in a creative, and in what I think is a funny way to build my brand.

My business side is pretty simple, right? We’ve got this blog here, #JobHuntChat, guest posts, a couple other websites I’m working on, and then a few other items. I enjoy working on all of these. Done!

My personal side may be harder to figure out, because not all of my personal hobbies and interests can be reflected through my brand. You see, I really enjoy hockey. Not only do I coach, but I’m nutty over the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s not something I can always tie into COTJ. Oh, and I’m a gym rat. Again, not sure my love for NO Xplode and Zero Impact Bars will appear on COTJ often.

So, what about my personal side can I use?  Well, maybe I’m a little weird, and I have my quirky side.  I enjoy engaging with people on Twitter.  I love making people laugh, and in trying to do so, I’m usually the first one laughing.  These listed items led to last nights first edition of #LateNightCorn, and it was magical.

#LateNightCorn

It’s amazing what can be found when searching a random word on Twitter.  Now, let’s just say that word is “corn”.  Think of the possibilities.  Is your head filling up with ideas?  Well, last night I DID run this “corn” search, and I sure did find some incredibly ridiculous tweets from folks.  I RT’d a bunch, and put my “corny” twist on each.  Here are some of my favorites from last night.

I’m not sure how long it lasted, but there were many more tweets like these sent out last night.  When it was all said and done, I had created a nice little following of people who were up late, and laughing with me on Twitter.  Oh, I also somehow gained around 10  new followers after this insanity.  I was simply having fun, and I really didn’t care what people thought.  People like that.

How does this help my brand?

I just happen to have a job search blog that is branded with corn.  People call me Mr. Corn, Corns, Corn, and even King Corn.  I’ve heard them all, and people enjoy making that association with me.  It keeps people smiling, and it gives me something that they can hold on to and identify with my name and my blog.

My blog isn’t an intense serious job search blog, you know that by now.  In fact, I like COTJ to be a bit more on the fun & games side, and last nights #LateNightCorn was definitely fun & games.  This won’t work for everyone, but it surely works for me.  It’s who I am, and I KNOW that people enjoy that about me and this blog.

If you enjoyed the above #LateNightCorn tweets, check out the rest @CornOnTheJob (check tweets from 12:12 AM on 5/19).

Which Tweets above were your favorite?

What fun little things on Twitter can you do to build your brand?

The Story

OK, so back when I worked as a technical recruiter, I used to interact with some pretty wild job seekers.  And by wild, I mean that some crazies told me way too much about their personal lives.

I’ve had job seekers send me pictures of their newborn babies, their weddings, their vacations, and their pets.  They’ve told me about the people they date, how poor they are, how sick they are, and have even told me gross personal secrets about their hiney.

While all of it is unwanted, this one story sticks out in my mind most clear.

One of our clients had a 3 week deployment project in Minnesota, and they needed 2 or 3 people to work the gig.  I came across a resume that looked perfect for the work, so naturally, I sent an email and left a voicemail.  The day ends, and I get nothing back from the candidate.

The next morning I receive an e-mail that goes something like…

I’m sorry for not getting back to you sooner.  I had to go to the doctors yesterday to get a cyst in my butt lanced.  Ouch!

Yes, the person really did say “Ouch!” , and no, I didn’t send their resume to my client.

The Lesson

Be friendly, and outgoing, and witty, but don’t tell your recruiter or hiring manager about your butt.  In fact, don’t tell them about any body part.  They want to know if you are qualified, and they want to help you get a job.  They do.  They really do.

See them as a business partner, not your best friend.  If you get hired to work for their company or their client, then maybe you can keep in touch and share a few drinks.  At that point, possibly bring up the person you are dating, the babies you have, the vacation you’ve been on, or even a crazy story from a bachelor party.  Just please… please god… don’t ever talk about your butt.

Phone calls with my boomer bud, Steve Levy, are becoming quite frequent.  When we spoke again yesterday, I walked away with some profound boomer advice, and a new take on my own career destination.  He let me in on a question that he asks folks who might need help  figuring out what they should be doing in their life/careers.  The question is, “If money wasn’t a factor, what is the one thing you would be happy doing for the rest of your life?”

When first hearing the question, most people might respond back and say, “I love computer programming”, or “I just love inside sales”, or “social media is my passion”.  Is that really the burning love in their life?  You’ll find that most people are just simply answering the question wrong.

When Steve asked me the question, my first response was “Hockey and weight lifting”.  Not only have I played and coached hockey, but I’m an NHL addict.  I first thought about how coaching wouldn’t be realistic for me, and Steve and I began looking for careers on NHL.com and discussed other options in the hockey industry.  We then looked up body building supplement companies in the Philadelphia area that would support my love for that industry as well.  In just a 10 minute brainstorm session on the phone, we were able to identify more options in those industries than I thought might even exist.

When thinking about your passion, don’t just target your skill set or the job title you seek, but pay attention to what gives you pure enjoyment in your life.  If you love the industry, already have profound knowledge about the workings of the industry, and could see yourself never wanting to leave a profession in that industry, then it’s worth at least looking into.

• Maybe you really love music.  Check out places like VH1.
• Maybe you really enjoy ice cream.  Why not check out Haagen Daz or Ben & Jerry’s?
• You were your college’s best frisbee player.  Find out who is the leading frisbee manufacturer and work your way in.

I’ve talked about how passion is a buzz word that’s tossed around often, but I still am a huge advocate of it.  It’s not absolutely necessary for it to be present in our careers for us to be completely happy, but having in our professional lives can’t hurt.

Answer Steve’s question:  If money wasn’t an issue, what job would you do for the rest of your life?