A free inside look at thousands of companies. Company salaries, reviews, and interviews posted anonymously by employees.
Austin, TX
Guest Blogger Hank Stringer is a member of the Glassdoor.com, Clearview Collection and CEO of Stringer Executive Search and Chief Strategist to Novotus - a professional recruiting agency. In 2006 he co-authored Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business" (Prentice-Hall. 2006) with fellow Clearview contributor Rusty Rueff. Hank’s experience includes founding Hire.com, an early Internet recruitment solution acquired by Authoria in 2005. He has also served as a senior recruiter for Dell Inc. and Tandem Computers.
Other ways to follow Hank: http://www.hankstringer.com | @hankstringer
Looking for work? Having a difficult time landing that position equal to or greater than your last role? Whether you’re an admin or an executive if you can’t find the perfect job consider finding project work through a temp firm…you may be surprised what you find!
Here a few good reasons to pursue temp work…
Many times we walk into meetings or interviews with a preconceived notion of the agenda and outcome. And many times our perceptions are wrong which leads to disappointment and frustration. For intercompany meetings it is imperative the agenda and outcome desired is clear and the responsibility rests on the meeting organizer, however it is up to participants to ask the purpose and planned outcome, to agree and to work diligently to accomplish by adding appropriate value.
Interviews are a bit different. As the candidate we know the outcome, you will review my background, interview me and hire me, period. Interviews don’t always work out that way. It is imperative we prepare and align our interview with the outcome the company seeks. They wish to fill the position with the best talent available. Our personality and optimistic outlook make a difference and may suffice but insuring the skills are available is very important.
Highlight the skills sought in the job description and align your experiences with those needs.
Write out positive and negative experiences in these areas preparing yourself for all behavioral interview questions bound to come your way.
Follow the advice of the other bloggers here and prepare to tell your story…why you have ...
Got to love the holidays, a great time to spend time with family, watch bowl games, read a few books and consider the upcoming year and what’s next. I read two interesting books over the holiday: James Bradley’s The Imperial Cruise – the story of Teddy Roosevelt and our relationship with Asia, and George Friedman’s The Next 100 Years. It takes a brave and confident person to forecast what’s ahead for the next 100 years for our globe politically and economically. Friedman has the background and enough ‘correct’ forecasts that he is listened to carefully by governments and corporations all over the world.
Starting in the next few years and really manifesting itself from 2020 to 2030 will be a global war for talent. Friedman projects that due to mortality rates and retiring boomers the world over, countries will be forced to entice and compete for skilled and unskilled talent to keep their economies moving in the right direction.
Why should this be of interest to us readers at Glassdoor? Well, whether you are currently working, looking for work or considering strategic paths for your company’s short and long term future, it is vital to know that talent plays an important ...
We describe people with great attitudes as those who ‘light up the room’ and who have ‘infectious personalities’. These are the attitudes of the people we enjoy working with and for. And as we are entering 2010, now is a good time to evaluate our own attitudes and if necessary make changes that will get our attitudes in positive shape.
Making the change isn’t always easy. For some we are tired of our work and would like to find the right job and company to work for while others are out of work and are tired of looking. And managers need to hire and desperately need budget approval to pull the trigger, but budgets are tight and they are told to hold on another quarter. So it goes in these times but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a few changes to help our own optimism no matter the situation.
Here are five tips to boost your attitude and outlook in 2010. And by the way, we all know them and many have used them so I understand this is preaching to the choir. That said, it’s never a bad idea to reconsider and put them to work.
Step One. 2009 is over, ...
I have a close friend who for the 30 years I’ve known him has been the master at saying thank you. No matter the occasion, the event, gift or thought he always sends a nice hand-written thank you note. For instance, he asked years ago if I would mind helping him hang Christmas lights and of course I did and before my family opened gifts, I was opening a hand-written thank you card. Saying ‘thank you’ in a meaningful way makes a huge impression.
And making the impression should not be lost at our work or in our efforts to find work. Think of the people who help us daily in our work efforts or the people who have provided advice and direction to our job search. Take the time over the holiday’s to write them and say thank you. Yes, a heartfelt and sincere email will work but the handwritten note is more meaningful.
You may ask, what’s the payoff? For one you will feel good about yourself and sometimes we need to do things to remind ourselves we are okay. For another, you will be remembered. As sad as it is taking the time to say thank you in a ...
The interviewer has just grilled you with an hour of behavioral questions, digging for examples of your most exciting accomplishment and how you achieved such a goal, or your most disappointing work effort and what you learned and have you been disappointed since. It gets a bit grueling and yes, has purpose but what do you ask when the interviewer finally turns to you with the proverbial ‘do you have any questions’?
I am reminded at this time of year of a time long ago (the 80’s) when I was helping a young lady interview for a job just before Christmas. She was a programmer, had come to the US from Taiwan and was shy because of her broken English. Her programming skills were strong and she needed the position so I coached her on how to interview but concentrated on how to close the interview when asked if she had any questions.
We practiced and practiced the words, her posture, and the clarity and loudness of her voice. After a number of tries she became very adept at answering the question clearly and loudly. She came back to my office after her interview newly employed and full of smiles.
She gave her ...
When we communicate in our jobs or in interviews too many times we expect to be told what we need to know. We assume the person we are in communication with will take the time and effort to provide the appropriate information and maybe even announce the ‘epilogue’ of the end of the discussion. And of course we all realize this is not the case. Communication is two-way and if we don’t ask questions to help us get the information we really need it likely will not come our way.
Here are two ways to correctly push for the ‘know’:
The Behavioral Question: Interviewers use behavioral questioning all the time by asking for examples of work, actions and activities. They continue the line of questioning by asking for outcome data, specifically what were the results of the example shared. Now this line of questioning can be very helpful and as an employee seeking a promotion or a candidate seeking work you should prepare and practice for behavioral interview questions. Take the process one step further and prepare questions to ask the manager or prospective employer. For instance, if you seek a dynamic culture where career development is provided, ask the employer if ...
As we have blogged in the past, due to our current economic backdrop, the flow of talent interested in available opportunities is overwhelming to companies. You must do all you can to insure your information is reviewed by the right people in a timely manner. And one of the first and most important steps is to insure you have formatted your resume / CV / profile in such a way the information is easy to store and find.
Many of us are on the front lines of recruiting and reviewing talent for our company or clients and dealing with the numbers are not easy. Most work with applicant tracking systems, a the technology platform, to help manage the flow and these help, however when the data from the candidate is formatted in ways that are not easy to deal with they can be overlooked. Yes, these systems do a fine job of uploading data. It’s how the recruiter or hiring authority uses the information that matters. Here are a few tips to consider when formatting your resume:
Ease of contact: Our contact information needs to be seen and easy to retrieve. Use a word doc or PDF and have all your contact ...
Communication matters and today our channels of contact are numerous, immediate and impressionable. Whether we are a manager, a candidate, a friend or family member it is important our communications get the message across effectively. And in today’s world of immediacy, the messages fly from all directions at all times. Most of us practice effective communication but the truth is a number don’t and there are plenty of times when the communication channel fails and we don’t know it. So what can we do to insure we communicate effectively? Here are a few tips based on my recent experiences in the marketplace.
Voice Mail:
A great deal of emphasis has been put on finding your dream job lately. And by lately I mean over the past 12 years or so. I believe strongly that really enjoying what you do is very important to a balanced and happy life and think everyone should strive to find that elusive dream job. Ahhh – there’s the rub, it seems that what makes a dream job so important and such a goal is that it appears few have found that perfect dream job and the rest of us, the majority, want what it seems we can’t have.
As John Sumser has pointed out in his posts there are certainly ways to obtain what seems unobtainable. But again, that seems a recipe for the few while the rest of us get jealous and spend our time dreaming of that wonderful dream job. I wonder if the dream is all it’s made out to be…ever hear “the grass is greener on the other side of the hill”? It’s true and we know it. We accomplish something and begin to look elsewhere – forward or backward for the next great thing or job.
Again, I’m all for dreaming about the perfect job, but ...
Subscribe to the Glassdoor blog via RSS or You can also follow the Glassdoor team here:
Negotiating Salary? Be Transparent & Know Your Needs by Rusty Rueff February 9th, 2010
Victims Don’t Get Jobs by Jeff Hunter February 8th, 2010
No Luck In The Job Search? Consider Temp Work by Hank Stringer February 5th, 2010
Dealing With Unemployment Depression by John Sumser February 4th, 2010
Nine Reasons Not To Delay Your Job Hunt by Liz Ryan February 3rd, 2010