Career Advice Podcasts & Job Seeker Network

Greg Lachs's Blog (38)

Take All The Positives You Can Into Your Job Search Efforts And Leave The Anger Behind.

In my staffing days, I’d hear all kinds of tales from frustrated job seekers. Many of them had very real issues and difficulties that had caused difficulty along the way. Some would vent about how unfair an employer seemed, or how unresponsive another staffing firm was. Others might just vent frustration with the Tampa Bay job market, salaries, or the process of having to interview “again and again.” Most of this took place during far better economic times, too. As an interviewer, it tended to… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on August 10, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Job Search Tip: Opportunity Lost and Found

A friend of mine recently told me about a “temp” they’d brought in for a week (which was part of the problem.) This employee was brought in for a temporary position that was going to last at least 5 months, due to someone’s impending leave. While there were no guarantees about anything longer, it was a 5 month stint with a paycheck – with a chance to positively impress a lot of people. And impress people this person truly did. He took 10-20 minute breaks almost every hour, texted regularly at… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on July 29, 2009 at 11:12pm — 1 Comment

Tales from the Resume Reef: 9 "Killer Shark" resume errors to avoid

Doing your own resume? Please pay attention to detail! In today’s economy, employers can be even more fussy about the resumes they want to look at. So, it is more crucial than ever to avoid what I would call “killer shark” resume errors. These are ones who will most likely get your resume ignored, lost or not taken as seriously as you deserve. These are the kinds of things I’ve fixed for other people in over a dozen years of working with resumes. Repairs of the “killer shark” problems didn’t g… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on July 25, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Working with Staffing/Search Firms: An Insider's Guide, Part 1 of 3

How do Staffing or Search Firms really work? That’s not an uncommon question. As someone who spent nearly a decade in the business, I hope to provide some answers. The intent is not to encourage or discourage your use of a staffing or search firm as part of your job search (IMHO – they can be helpful and have gotten me my most recent position – which took place during this recession.) The more you know, the easier it is for you to understand what’s going on. I’ve worked with some very establis… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on July 9, 2009 at 2:42pm — No Comments

Keep on Going, Part 565.5

It's been a year since I posted on this blog. During those months, I wasn't motivated to showcase my so called "wisdom" when I was going through not working, not finding a job, finding a bad job, and finally finding a good one. All in the span of a very long 2008. The recession was here in Florida, early. Still, I did provide resume suggestions and career search ideas as a free service to friends, family and friends of family, as I always had been doing. But I felt too demoralized to share furt… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on June 7, 2009 at 3:17pm — No Comments

Avoid the "Scattershot" Job Search

I've seen a number of resumes lately for technical positions my colleages and I are recruiting for; unfortunately, the vast majority of candidates were completely unqualified. One thing about technology - if people DON'T have what's needed, such can eliminate the candidate very quickly. The "I can learn" theory of doing things is not something that's applicable. Thus, such candidates were "set off" to the side. Employers don't spend time endlessly reading unqualified resumes; it's a ve… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on May 21, 2008 at 11:53am — 2 Comments

Tales from the Resume Reef: Doublecheck that Content!

True stories abound from recruiters and employers alike. When they've reviewed resumes, they haven't seen the key "needed" skills, experience and education. So, they don't call the candidate. Invariably, some candidates follow up (and good for them!) and speak to the hiring authority. What they are told is something like "well, we didn't see any Oracle experience" on your resume. What people have sometimes responded with is "Oh, I have that" or something similar. However, the problem i… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on May 16, 2008 at 3:50pm — No Comments

Tales from the Resume Reef: Contractual "Obligations"

Lately, I've seen some resumes where a candidate has worked for less than a year at several employers. As a recruiter, I try to read further, and can usually discern that the person was working on contracts or consulting. If I speak to the candidate, he/she usually confirms my suspicion. However, not all recruiters nor employers "dig" that deeply when they see a lot of short employment stints. It tends to make them wonder about work histories when they may not have to. If you have worked temp… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on May 12, 2008 at 9:44pm — No Comments

Email Lesson Learned the Hard Way

A few years back, I aggressively put my email address on any site of ANY kind that was of interest, whether for job search or my digital photography hobby or social networking. The result? Well, within a couple of years I was getting over 50 SPAM emails per day. No matter how much filtering I did through Outlook or Thunderbird, such junk still got through. With such a large amount of spam each day, I was "under siege." Not to mention that I had to filter through all th… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on May 8, 2008 at 12:11pm — 1 Comment

Getting Back on the Bike

Earlier this week, I purchased a used bike for exercise purposes. When I “test rode” it, t… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on May 6, 2008 at 10:16pm — No Comments

Tales from the Resume Reef: Focus on CONTENT, not STYLE

As someone with extensive recruiting experience, I can tell you that I have received res… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on April 30, 2008 at 8:59pm — 1 Comment

Catches from the Job Posting Net: Are they REALLY "Always Looking?"

We’ve all seen ads, mostly, where a company or staffing firm seems to recruit fo… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on April 27, 2008 at 12:23pm — No Comments

Job Search Tip: Older Job Postings

If you are hunting through Monster, Careerbuilder, Dice, etc., you are pro… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on April 25, 2008 at 6:53pm — No Comments

Job Search Tip: Stay in Touch

We've all come close! Most of us have had good or even great interviews, or introductory discussions, that led us to have interest in a job or company that DIDN'T result in a job offer. In some cases, through multiple interviews or calls, we've built rapport with hiring types. While we weren't chosen, clearly we were viable, "almosts" who created a positive impression. SO, what do many people do with those contacts? Nothing. That's a mistake. Too ma… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on April 22, 2008 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

Job Search Tip: Another Reason to Avoid Objectives

We've covered why objectives don't work on resumes, why they aren't needed, and how they can cause trouble for you as a candidate. To "bring that home," I include 2 very recent objectives I've seen on resumes sent for professional positions: A job that is satisfying at the end of the day, for both of us. To grow and be happy. Both have enough fluff, don't they? They are trite, silly, weak, and add NOTHING to the candidate's marketability! (It's kind of like that long party scene… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on April 21, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Job Search Tip: Don't Walk Right In....

When I first started in my staffing work in '97, I was amazed at the number of people who showed up unnanounced at our firm. Moreover, most (99%) were candidates who were poorly dressed, poorly groomed, had typo filled resumes or had no idea what we did. In 4 years, we had over 400 walk ins: only ONE was "placeable," and we did so. So, we discouraged walk ins based on this kind of information. We felt that they were wasting OUR time. Had they called in advance, we could hav… Continue

Added by Greg Lachs on April 18, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments