The Greatest Baseball Franchise that was‏

Gary Carter (Photo credit: AxsDeny)

I have written a few blog posts about the lessons I learned on the baseball field in the past. I am not sure if this is a lesson or more of a memory. Gary Carter passed away the other day from a long fight with brain cancer. Gary Carter was one of the great Montreal Expos from the 1980′s. He was a catcher and the foundation of a team from 1974-1984  that had great players on it like Charlie Lea, Pete Rose, Dave Palmer, Jeff Reardon, Andre Dawson and TIM “Rock” RAINES!! I don’t think it gets any better for me at that time. I was in my little league glory, sporting my red, white and blue Expos hat and pretending to be an Expo. My parents were driving me back and forth to baseball practices for multiple leagues during our short Buffalo, NY summers. I was listening to my folks tell me stories all the while listening to the oldies on the AM stations day dreaming about being an Expo.

 Playing little league meant playing catch with mom and dad until the street lights came on, or going to the park with my friends and playing home run derby. It meant making friends with people I did not know that would eventually lead to lifelong friends and family. It taught me how to be competitive, how to work hard to get better at something. It taught  me the value of practice and what it meant to be consistently good at what I was trying to do. Little league taught me the how to lose with dignity and win with grace, thank God we won a lot more than we ever lost. It taught me to dream and have goals and allowed my parents and I to have another bond that lasts today.

 Gary Carter is my first baseball great to pass away and I will always have those childhood memories. Thank You.

Good BUSINESS SENSE for the Job Seeker‏

Just like it is customary for a civilized human being to wash their hands after using the restroom (yes that includes in the privacy of your home) I believe it should just be business sense that when you go for an interview to BRING YOUR RESUME. When you call someone about a job or a business opportunity and you get their voice mail, leave a contact number so they can call you back.

 I shouldn’t have to tell you this, you are a grown ADULT. Have some business sense!!!

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Tags: Business, job interview, resume, Voice Mail, Voicemail

Dating Site Bios & Resumes

The job market has changed so much in last two years or so. The majority of the resumes and candidates I was getting back then were from candidates who had just been let go from their jobs.  They were unemployed and feeling kind of desperate and down. However things change….. In the past three months or so I have spoken to some really talented candidates. Most of them are employed and looking for something new, essentially a better opportunity.  The process that I have gotten used to is having a resume in front of me to help judge and evaluate the talent and what the candidate is currently doing and looking to do next.  The problem is that when I get the resume in front of me it reminds me of the aka “FAT GIRL” (don’t get offended keep reading) that I used to be friends with.

She is the definition of desperate and confused. Upon moving to a new city the first thing she would do is sign up for a dating site and try to meet a guy willing to date her. I would try to coax her into looking for a career and explain to her that most guys like a girl with a job opposed to the unemployed girl trolling dating sites. But she knew how to market herself and I would hire her again if she wasn’t a thief (long story). What she did is what I wish some of these candidates would do that send me their resumes and call me. “Fat Girl” knew that if she put pictures of herself from head to toe on that site that the guys would be turned off by a short fat girl, but throw 4 or 5 pictures of her face with a cute smile and this will get some attention and IT SURE DID!! Very much like putting together a great resume with only your best skills and your highlights. You never want to put your mistakes/errors on your resume for your future employer to see; shit they will figure that out 4 months after they hire you.

“Fat Girl” would tell me about all these emails and attention she would get on the dating website from potential suitors. How this guy wants to meet her and this guy asked her out (interview). Plus in her BIO (resume) she would say only the most amazing things about herself. She wasn’t a “consultant” (that is my favorite job title for unemployed professionals), she would say “I’m not working BUT searching for my passion”. HOOK LINE and  SINKER!!!!!! “Fat Girl” would go on date after date but when I followed up with her and asked about second dates, it was always the same old story. “Fat Girl” wasn’t interested. Reality Check, the guys finally saw you and realized that you look more like SNOOKIE from the Jersey Shore than Courtney Cox (from the 90′s) .

I often compare the dating process to the interview process because they are so similar. In this scenario I wish  some of my candidates knew how to put a resume together that could catch the attention of our clients (the date). That means recognizing what their strengths are, their accomplishments and really selling themselves. Being able to put together that eye-popping resume/profile that just makes us and our clients say YES we want to interview that person. Sure, we do this with some of the candidates, but it is impossible to do this with everyone. Being self-aware and recognizing what it is going to take to get noticed, to get the interview and have the opportunity to get the job is sometimes more than half of the battle. Luckily most of our clients aren’t judging the candidates by what they look like, but initially what we have to say about them, their resumes and then finally how they interview and articulate what they have done over the years. You can’t fake it, eventually the truth comes out, but you can learn to sell yourself better and put yourself in a better situation to succeed.

I am not making fun of “Fat Girl”, I am simply pointing out that she was playing the odds. As the Great Wayne Gretzky said “You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take”. She was taking her shot that one of these guys was going to be ok with what she had going on and see her a second time (ha ha). Isn’t that what interviewing is all about? Very few people get every job they interview for and those who do I would argue never took a shot and challenged themselves to be great.

Tags: Courtney Cox, FAT GIRL, Great Comet, Jersey Shore, job interview, Labour economics, Online dating service, resume, Wayne Gretzky

You are WELCOME AMERICA

The U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January — the fastest growth since April. The unemployment rate, obtained from a different survey, fell by two-tenths of a percentage point to 8.3%, the lowest it has been since February 2009. Economists had forecast a gain of 125,000 in payrolls and for the jobless rate to remain at 8.5%.

Focus “Daniel Son”

Cover of The Karate Kid (Special Edition)

Like most of you I have had a really busy week with lots of DISTRACTIONS. However the most distracting thing for me lately has been the Buffalo Sabres. They are horrible, they finally won a game after losing twelve straight games. I even attempted to watch all of them. The news reports are hinting that the Sabres are going to make some big trades and that they are going to fire the GM and the coach and make drastic changes to the lineup. This is exciting to a Sabres fan because we just want to have a winning team, but it has also become a HUGE distraction to me. I caught myself constantly checking ESPN and the Buffalo News for updates this week. I was getting annoyed with the new owner for not doing anything, but I was even more frustrated with myself because I couldn’t stop checking the websites for updates. I felt like a sixty year old guy trying to quit smoking for the hundredth time. Finally I realized that I was becoming unfocused and distracted. I hated the person I was becoming and we all know one of them. I knew I had to change. In every office there is that one person who is distracted by everything and 25 years later after failure after failure finds himself living in a 1 bedroom apartment wondering why he is still working at Best Buy

It is so easy to get distracted, I get it. Before our employers would block certain websites from our work computers, or limit us from personal calls at work. Well all of a sudden we can text our friends, check emails and random websites from our phones (it is kind of awesome). There seems to be a TV every ten feet with either a different sporting event on or a new reality TV show. Distractions are everywhere for us, but how focused are you on your goal or the project in front of you today.  Before I had this beautiful office and amazing team, I used to work from home.  I had TVs, couches, my bed, my dog, friends, food, every imaginable distraction, but I chose to work, to be focused and to be successful. I cannot lecture you on how to be more focused or how to tune out the distractions at this point you just have to choose what is more important and have your eye on the prize!

Much of life really comes down to the Karate Kid (the first Movie of course.). Mr. Miyagi always had good life lessons for Daniel son thru out the movie. The lessons were so good they made 3 more movies, I refuse to count the remake

I have worked alongside a few amazing people in my life and they all have had the eye of the TIGER. I’m not sure how Mr. Miyagi would feel about Daniel son having to fight Rocky Balboa but I’m sure they would both be focused, not distracted and ready to win.

Tags: Best Buy, Buffalo News, Buffalo Sabres, distractions at work, ESPN, Focus, Karate Kid, leadership, work

Craigslist Job Hunting: Two Key Workarounds

Reblogged from Career Horizons: The Blog!:

As I’ve stressed to quite a few clients over the years, anybody looking for work today should consider Craigslist as one of the absolute top sources of published opportunities they check on a regular basis. Surprised by this?  Do you associate Craigslist more with used cars or tracking down garage sales?  If so, let me point out the two key reasons why the site is such a unique and important job resource: 1) Almost every company uses it in their hiring efforts today, especially small-to-mid-sized …

Good read on Craigslist & Job Hunting.

Job History & the secrets that they tell

I have been in the recruiting business for over twelve years and have owned this firm for almost a full ten years, the anniversary date is fast approaching. We have worked with clients from California to Maine and across the ocean in Europe. We have filled all sorts of interesting positions for our clients, some have been easy others much more challenging. But there seems to be one common job qualification that our clients have almost unanimously asked for or asked about……JOB HISTORY. They want to hire candidates with a good JOB HISTORY. I get it and I want to explain it to you.

 I am sure not everyone is going to agree with me and those who don’t will probably be those who have poor job history for either being fired(most likely numerous times), being stupid and quitting a job without another job or starting a business and not being smart enough to have it last more than a few months.  When I am trying to coach candidates and my employees on how to handle certain situations in this business I often use dating analogies because interviewing is so similar to dating. You need to make a really good first impression and leave the interviewer wanting more and excited to want to see you again. Heck after a good first date we all go and tell our buddies or girlfriends, that is what we want the interviewer to go and do. We want that person to tell their co-workers, make a special trip to see the VP or CEO and tell them how good this candidate is that we just interviewed.  However seldom if ever is someone running down the hall telling everyone how great the interview was and saying it is ok ” they have been laid off from the last 6 jobs in the last 3 years, but none if it was their fault”. That is such crap!!  We were just doing our morning meeting when one of our favorite clients called, she and most of her team have all been with the same company for over 20 years!! That is incredible and the majority of them live and work in a borderline economically depressed area of the country, so I don’t want to hear the excuses. They don’t quite get people who leave job after job and for that matter job history is an important part of the resume and interview process for this client and many more we work with.

Now this leads me to one of those moments when I finally saw the light. As a lot of you know I consider myself more of a behaviorist than a recruiter or business owner. Just like a really good poker player can read and find tells in their opponents I can read and hear what people are going to do most of the time when it comes to interviewing, selling and how they will react to certain situations. How do I do this?  If I told everyone than those of you smart enough to read might actually be half as successful as I am, so for now it’s my secret(s). But back to the light, I was attempting to get back together with my girlfriend for the 3rd time when she asked me to help her with her resume. That is when it finally made sense to me, she had a span of 3 years when she had 6 jobs. Just leaving for any old reason (my boss was mean to me that day, this other company offered me 1.00 dollar more) running from one problem to the next without trying to make her current situation better or for that matter herself better.

Again, dating is so much like interviewing if you ever get the chance to see your significant others resume and they have  bad job history, put on your NIKES and run like Forest Gump did !!!

Tags: Business, Employment, Interview, Job Search, recruiter, resume

Goodbye 2011! In 2012 I Am Going To….

It is almost over for 2011 and I have to admit that it was great year. It is tough to say that 2011 was better than I expected, but it really was. I won’t bore you with all of the details but feel free to email me and I will share with you the highlights.

The popular conversation around the office, newspapers and TV seems to be “what is your New Year’s Resolution“. I really do like this topic because it gets me thinking about what I can do better or differently. Maybe even do less of something and more of something else or a little less of that and a tad more of this. HOWEVER I got to thinking about how awesome I am at everything I do and decided I will make a list of things that I already do so well.   I want to share with others or just tell you what I am going to do in 2012 to be that much more awesome………………………..

1. I am going to continue to write this blog and hope that people figure out when I am being funny

2. Keep getting people fired up because they were personally offended by what I wrote

3. I am going to let one friend of mine start beating me at golf because it is that pathetic at this point.

4. I am going to keep working harder than the competition to make our business bigger and better.

5. I am going to separate business from personal and realize that they are not the same.

7. I am going to accept people for who they are and let them know that is why I like them.

8. I am not going to sky dive, I am to important to the civilized world.

9. I am going to enjoy life more – and maybe even take a whole week off of work for the first time in 10 years

10. I am going to enjoy having one of my best friends and his family in Charlotte

11. I am going to teach my team how to recruit, source and make intelligent placements

12. I am going to realize that people are looking to me for answers and give them

13. I am going to dance with the devil in the pale moon light

14. I am going to marry the 2nd girl that asks me (timing is everything)

17. I am going to draft Wes Walker next year

18. I am going to try and stop making fun of realtors

19. I am going to branch out

20. I am going to use the term “knuckleheads” more

21. I am going to eat more beef jerky instead of throwing it at Stella

22. I am going to laugh more

23. I am going to start telling people I am bi-polar because it is gaining more popularity

24. I am going to try and wipe that smug look of my face

25.  I am going to see emotional unavailability in others as a formidable challenge for go getter types like me

26. I am going to pretend I am not bored by you

So what are you going to do in 2012?  Feel free to add your own.

Happy New Year and thanks for reading and participating.

Tags: 2012, Charlotte North Carolina, Classroom, Holiday, Humor, Jerky, jobs, leadership, New Year, New year resolution, They (2002 film)

Office Gift Giving

Stella is rocking out with her new earbud earmuffs!  What was your favorite gift this holiday season?

What kind of leader are you?

I was driving to a meeting  this week when I turned on ESPN radio just as the Colin Cowherd radio show was about to start. I am not sure if I like him or not, but I am pretty sure that is part of his marketing/branding of himself.  He says just enough to get your attention and get you to agree with him and then just enough to get the other half not to like his thoughts or opinions for that day.

 On this particular morning Colin started off his show talking about coaches and the difference that they can make. I think his point was not that one coach really knew a secret play or had a great trick play, but that certain coaches have higher expectations than others. Colin used an example when he was watching Nick Saban from Alabama yell at one of his wide receivers for dropping a catch in PRACTICE. Colin had remembered that the previous year he was watching another college coach during a practice and how that coach did nothing and did not react to a dropped ball in practice. One year later, one coach is playing for the National Championship and the other Coach is out of work.

 That got me thinking about my expectations here at Search Solution Group and how I can make an impact. I am not a Nick Saban fan, but I do appreciate and respect winning. I am not sure that yelling at one of my employees for not making a call or getting a sale would be the right motivation for my team or an example I want to set on a regular basis. I like to think that the last few years the approach that I have taken is that most situations are teachable and that we can learn from them. Sometimes it is easier to just yell or get made or make people run around a tree (inside joke), but in the office it is so much more challenging. It is so important to me that we are all learning and getting better. For most of us that means making a few mistakes and learning from them.

Sales is so tricky in the recruiting world. No two candidates are the same and no two clients are the same, what works for one might scare the other away. How do you teach that???  How do get a sales person to understand that just because the last ten people said “NO” that you should not take it personally?  All of them are weekly scenarios that we encounter and need to get over to be successful in the sales world. But what I learned from Colin’s radio show is that I need to get better and I need to make sure that I am paying attention to my team. I need to listen, mentor and coach them to success. I am not trying to be Nick Saban and make people cry (Manuel Wright) but I certainly would not mind being lumped into a conversation about Nick Saban and all the success he has had in coaching.

Tags: candidates, Colin Cowherd, ESPN, Nick Saban, recruiting