Faking it won’t make it!

May 17th, 2012

Following on from the recent sacking of Yahoo CEO for misrepresentation of qualifications, as well as the comments made by Ian “Dicko” Dickson on Mix 101.1 which resulted in a number of individuals proudly confessing that they accepted employment through falsifying qualifications and experience on their resume, we felt it timely to contribute a blog about this issue.

In Australia although the resume is not a legal document; misrepresenting yourself on your resume and lying can lead to both criminal and civil proceedings. There are many applications available to organisations and recruiters to confirm the accuracy of data provided on an application; which is becoming more and more common as part of the initial assessment.

Unfortunately with the increase of unemployment, it seems more and more people feel the need to lie on their resume; they feel this is the only way of successfully applying for roles. This is actually not true and a well formatted resume that is factual will result in a successful application and will eliminate risk of dismissal or legal proceedings.

We would like to include an article taken from the Sunday Age some time back on this issue. This article highlights a specific case in Australia and a couple of other examples. We do not condone lying on a resume. We understand not everyone can afford a professional resume service; however our new book will support you in understanding how to write a resume if you wish to give this a go yourself.

There is no excuse for lying.

Executive sacked for faking CV

Mark Russell

A senior Federal Government executive has been sacked after being accused of using fake qualifications to get a job with the very department that warns employers to be wary of fraudulent degrees.

Bobby Singh had been recruited to a senior position within the former Department of Employment and Workplace Relations before his credentials were scrutinised. Checks revealed he had included on his curriculum vitae allegedly fake degrees from Harrington University and the Trinity College and University, in the United States. The two universities have been described as “degree mills,” which sell degrees over the internet and require no educational assessment.

The Sunday Age has obtained copies of the degrees that state Mr Singh has been awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy and a Masters of Science, both with a major in information systems, from Trinity, and a Masters of Business Administration from Harrington.

A spokesman for the federal Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Department — which carries warnings about fake degrees on its website — said Mr Singh was employed as an executive level 2, with a salary of between $79,691 and $98,900 in 2005 after a merit selection process. He was sacked in December 2006.

His case was due to go before the Federal Magistrates Court, but was settled out of court last year. Hundreds of thousands of Australians are thought to have overstated their educational achievements on their CVs.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic investigation of the CVs of staff at a large financial institution in 2003 found 40% contained “serious mis-statements”, including fake qualifications.

New anti-money laundering legislation has forced employers to become more vigilant, but a fake qualifications expert, Dr George Brown, says most employers accept background documentation at face value. “That’s the problem,” he told The Sunday Age. “How many people check? What skills and knowledge do they have to verify the authenticity of an academic qualification?” Dr Brown said that in today’s “credential-conscious” society, “academic qualifications are items of value that are being falsified by people wanting to move ahead in society”.

Faking it

■JANUARY 2008 Former Qantas engineer Timothy McCormack will stand trial in the NSW District Court for forging a maintenance engineer’s licence. McCormack had been responsible for safety checks on the airline’s fleet of Boeing 747s.

■2006 Former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld was revealed to have a PhD from Pacific Western University, which has been debunked as a diploma mill for handing out doctorates for the flat fee of $US2595 ($A2800).

■2003 Glen Oakley was sacked from his $1.2 million role as general manager of Sydney’s Randwick Council after faking academic qualifications, including an MBA from Harvard University.

Why first impressions count

May 10th, 2012

Have you ever heard from your parents or grandparents the stories about how important a first impression is? How they always presented themselves in public with the upmost level of professionalism and socially accepted behavior? If your parents are anything like mine, this is still something that is extremely important to them; yet for many people, the message seems to fall on deaf ears.

I would like to give you a recent personal example of why first impressions can be so important. I recently took my son for a special treat; lunch at our local McDonalds during the middle of the week. Thinking that this would be a quiet time I was alarmed to see the number of high school students that arrived within the next half an hour. Not normally concerned about being within a busy fast food restaurant, I soon started to feel uncomfortable witnessing the attitude and behaviour of these students. Over the next hour I watched as these students, in uniform highlighting clearly that they were from both of the local high schools, swore, screamed, hit each other, held conversations from one side of the restaurant to the other, spilled food and then sat out the front smoking whilst banging on the windows trying to get the attention of their friends (or possibly enemies) that were still inside the restaurant.

The final reminder of their visit to the restaurant was as they left they created towers out of their food containers on the tables they were at; leaving all of their rubbish and absolute mess behind for others to clean up.

Wasn’t I happy to see them leave – but what about the impression that they had left? Amazingly enough I was sitting next to another parent that was also in there with their child. We started to chat about the experience and situation and amazingly enough, this was the husband of the store manager.

This is where it became obvious that first impressions truly do count.

This event turns out to be a regular occurrence within this location and something that has become quite challenging for the manager.

How has this impacted these individuals for their professional career?

The manager will not hire students from either of the local high schools thanks to the behavior and impression that these events have left on them.

What an amazing result for these students. Not only are they tarnishing the reputation of their own schools, but they are also tarnishing their own reputation. By behaving openly difficult and obnoxious in public, they will now have limited opportunity of gaining employment in what is most likely their local fast food restaurant; the place that many careers actually start.

So next time you are walking out in to public, next time that you might be thinking about how others perceive you, think about this:

How I present myself now may end up being something that could impact me in the future, or impact those around me.

For this reason, behave as you would like others to behave and in a manner that you would like to be remembered for!

Being who you are and showing who you want to be

May 8th, 2012

In my line of work I get a lot of questions from client’s about what they need to do at an interview to improve their chances of success. When asked, I provide them the standard information relating to communication, capabilities and following a response strategy that would allow them to articulate their responses well; however there is one really important component of an interview that many people forget when looking for “answers”.

This is to be yourself.

Interviews are always a challenge and when you are trying to represent the person you think they want to hire your ability to represent the person you really are is limited. Trying to be someone that you are not will be extremely challenging and will make it difficult for you as an individual to respond effectively to the questions and requirements of the role. Additionally, this alter ego is not the person that the organisation may be hiring; possibly causing future issues if you were successful in placement.

We all want to impress panel members during interviews, however it is always important to remain true to yourself to ensure your own career satisfaction. If you are pretending to be someone that you are not, what are the chances that in turn the position will not provide you with ultimate satisfaction?

In times of challenge or when you are unemployed, you start to look deeper at the reasons why you are not being employed and this can be when you start to respond more during interview as the person they want rather than who you are. In understanding that these can be very challenging times for individuals, it is only through being confident that you will represent your greatest strengths. Your confidence can only be at it’s highest when you are who you really are during the interview; and if this is the person that they want to hire then ultimately this is the person that they will see in their organisation.

We never know during an interview who the organisation is really looking for, and in some cases neither do they. You will most likely be one of many and for this reason, it is best to show case your greatest strength – you. Do not make assumptions that you need to be someone different to be hired, and do not perceive that you might not be the right person. The organisation will determine the best fit based on a large number of factors; and if that is you then that is great. If not, then you have to appreciate that at that point in time you may not have been the right fit to the organisation or skill set however there will be additional opportunities out there for you if you remain committed to being who you truly are during the interview process.

Confidence in your job search

April 27th, 2012

Whether we are currently employed or we are out there looking actively for new opportunities, periods of self-doubt will impact our job search.

As humans, we need to remain confident in our capabilities and able to articulate these throughout conversations; whether in interview or generally during a professional situation. To do this, we need to be aware of what it is that we have achieved and are capable of achieving.

When we work with clients’ we provide them some guidance on how to achieve this and we feel that it is now something that will benefit many of those in our online community as well. Although many of these tips support awareness in our capabilities, it is through ongoing practice and support that we will be able to build the confidence needed to effectively articulate these when required.

Be aware of your achievements

Whether you are starting your career or you building on from past experience, you will have achievements that will support your reason for applying for position; as well as being able to demonstrate that you have the skills to undertake the position. Before submitting an application, write down the achievements that you have relevant to the role you are seeking and practice discussing these. The level of practice required can be achieved with a partner or by recording yourself describing the achievement. With ongoing practice you will more effectively be able to describe the situation when required.

Have confidence in your skills

Write down what skills you have to take forward to a new challenge. These should be a combination of general employability skills as well as any technical or industry specific skills. If you are a recent graduate, most likely these skills would have been the ones developed throughout study or even personal attributes that can best describe your personality and capabilities as an employee.

Know your limits

Many individuals fall into a trap that they need to apply for all positions available when actively looking for work. This can be detrimental to your career search; unless you are applying for roles that you are qualified, experienced or capable of. Not receiving interviews can have an impact on confidence. When you have not reviewed the position in detail, or determined whether you are even suitable for the role, you will be personally impacting your level of confidence. Be aware of what you are capable of and ensure that your job search strategy applies to this; being unrealistic just to reach a numerical target will not support you in your job search.

Practice responses

Whether you are contacted on the phone or invited in for a face to face interview, not being prepared will have a substantial impact on your success. During the times where you are looking for work, set time aside to practice responses to general interview questions. These questions are available everywhere on the internet (including our own website) and there is no reason that an individual should not be prepared when entering an interview. Practice what it is that you would like to say and research what the questions mean as this will develop your confidence in yourself as well as your capabilities during the interview process.

Actively apply for roles

With the increased unemployment rate there are more and more qualified people applying for available roles; which are also being targeted by individuals that are employed however looking for new challenges or career progression. In this type of market, it is a recruiters market where they have more flexibility and can openly be more selective during the interview process. For this reason if you are truly interested in applying for positions you must actively seek these opportunities. In many instances a newly advertised role may already have the initial short list of applicants within the first 48 hours; if you are only looking weekly you will have a much lower success rate. Many individuals do not realise the challenges of the current market however by applying constantly and looking at new opportunities daily, you will most likely increase your success rate.

Remaining confident during this period is imperative to your success. We emphasise the above points to our client’s to support them during their job search campaign and the result for them is beneficial. We believe that being confident in your capabilities should be demonstrated through your commitment to your job search process and the above guidelines will support you in also being confident in your capabilities as an employee.

Its a personal choice

April 23rd, 2012

As a business professional we get quite disappointed at reading some of the blogs and recommendations provided by other organisations; however we do understand that in many instances it can simply be about a personal choice. What we don’t like to read is where organisations provide information that is designed as a scare tactic to take on board their perception or opinion.

This takes us to today’s focus; providing details of referees on your resume.

The first place we need to start is in the correct terminology. When you are providing a list of names on a resume in support of your application, these are not “references”, rather they are “referees”. The information that they provide will be a reference, however they themselves are a “referee”.

So from now on I am sure you will make sure your heading is “referee”.

Now back to providing referees details on your resume.

Over the years we have undertaken a lot of research with recruiters and HR Professionals to understand their preferences. This was not all about what they wanted to see, in a lot of instances it was about what it was that they used to eliminate a candidate when push came to shove. In understanding what it was that they wanted to see we were able to continue to develop our product, however by understanding what it was that they used as criteria to eliminate applicants, we were more effectively able to provide guidance and advice.

It is true, many recruiters do not mind if you provide referees at the point of application on your resume or later when it is required. But what is alarming, is the number of individuals that saw this as being a final selection criteria when working with a large number of applicants and a very restrictive short list.

You will be pleased to know that many organisations that do require referees details to be provided immediately at application will request this upfront. What you would not be too happy to hear is that when there are 2 applicants but only 1 position on the short list, sometimes the only differential will be whether a candidate provided referee details or not.

We became aware of a blog recently that advised that referee information should not be provided due to the increase in identity theft that occurs through fake job advertisements; but we do need to say that we find this very hard to fathom. The author of this blog was highlighting that by giving away your referees information you were opening them up to being victims of identity theft. We are not downright saying that identity theft does not exist, however we cannot see how this can occur by only providing some base information such as a name and a phone number of an individual. This is not and should not be a reason for you deciding to not provide referee information on your resume.

As we mentioned earlier and by the title of this blog, providing referee information should be and always shall remain a personal choice. We recommend to our client’s that they provide this information, even if it is just the individuals’ name if for various reasons the phone number must remain private until the end (we have this with a number of our senior clients). Our recommendation is simply just that a recommendation. We are aware from individuals that in extreme situations the lack of this information has been a final decision point when selecting a pre-determined number of short listed candidates.

This we do not believe is common practice, however it does happen. For this reason we make a recommendation.

Additionally, if an organisation states that you must provide this information – if you wish to be considered for the role this must be provided.

We advise many of our clients’ that some individuals see the inclusion of this information as being the stamp of authenticity; commitment to the accuracy and truth in the content provided. If you are applying to someone that feels this way, you really have nothing to lose by providing as little, or as much, information as you feel comfortable with in this section.

If, at the end of it all, you do not feel comfortable giving this information away; then by all means, let them know that as soon as they need it you will be able to make the details available. Once again, we can only make a recommendation.

As we said; it is all about choice.

The elevator pitch and your job search

April 19th, 2012

Have you ever been approached by a sales professional and even if you didn’t need what they were selling, being so engaged by their opening pitch that you just had to know more? Or have you ever experienced the opposite where you either had the pleasure of hanging up in their ear (politely of course) or trying to find a way to retreat really quickly thanks to a screaming child that also felt your fear?

A good sales professional would have rehearsed for hours and hours their sales pitch for this exact reason. Not wanting to be the one that is being run away from, sales professionals want to engage you during that first 30 seconds. They know that if they don’t, their success at being able to sell anything to you is substantially reduced!

This is where the world of sales becomes beneficial to the world of job search.

Through many of our earlier posts, whether we talk of your personal marketing material or your ability to sell yourself as a product, the ability to sell your benefits and what you have to offer in an effective elevator pitch is becoming more and more imperative in the competitive labour market. With unemployment at one of the highest levels we have seen in years, recruiters no longer need to try and engage first; they have a flurry of other applicants that will be able to meet the core requirements of the role.

Recruiters can afford to be picky as more qualified and capable people are looking for jobs; which is the primary reason that you now need to develop your elevator pitch.

Put on your sales hat and start to develop the skills to sell yourself within the first 30 seconds.

Things to remember when developing your elevator pitch:

To the point

Being concise and clear is imperative – limit your pitch to 30 seconds

Articulate

Use common language that the recruiter will be able to understand; however ensuring that you highlight in your pitch your level of knowledge and capabilities of your specialisation by throwing a few well-placed industry specific keywords.

Confident

Use confident words and confident tones to engage more effectively. By not appearing confident, you will lose interest and limit the success of your pitch.

Focus on a goal

If you focus on the outcome you desire from your elevator pitch then you will be able to use words that link your benefits to your goal which will assist the recruiter to understand more clearly your reason for applying to them.

Invite the recruiter to want more

Closing the statement with a confident request to meet with them can further articulate your goal whilst providing the recruiter the ability to immediately schedule a time to find out more about your “product”.

To develop your sales pitch effectively you should:

Write down your benefits.
Write down your goals.
Write down a simple story about who you are as an employee and professional.
Turn this into a selection of statements that can form your 30 second pitch.
Practice each of these statements; recording them each time.
Choose the statement that you are most comfortable and confident with repeating.
Practice, practice, practice!

Once you have developed the pitch, rehearse it with yourself and then rehearse it with others. Continue to develop the pitch and review the result each time you have the benefit of using it. If it is not driving the desired results, then start again!

Being able to sell yourself as a product will ensure that you have the greatest success during each of the interview stages.

Ultimately, you are a product of your own skills until you become an employee. Without the ability to market yourself, how will others be able to effectively market you?

Be a S.T.A.R at interviews!

April 16th, 2012

The interview process is one of the most daunting and frustrating job search stages for all individuals – regardless of your level of experience. There are numerous phases of the interview process and the individual facilitating the interview may have such a diverse range of requirements that sometimes they are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Having successfully submitted an application the interviewer has identified that your professional skill set; on paper, meets some of their requirements, but they are now trying to determine your fit to further requirements. These may include and are not limited to:

Your ability to fit into the dynamics and culture of the organisation.
Your ability to articulate effectively what you presented on paper; confirming that the document was factual.
Your ability to communicate effectively.

Behavioural and situational based interview questions have been developed to assist individuals facilitate the interview and obtain the above information, whilst confirming the individuals reaction to certain situations. These questions aim to assist the facilitator in understanding, from your past experience and actions, how you will react in future professional situations. They will also determine how you have developed your skills and confirm your existing skill set through specific examples.

Predominantly, the focus of these types of questions is to understand your behaviour as a determination of the type of employee that you are and will continue to be.

The most effective response style for these questions is the S.T.A.R methodology as it will allow you to structure the answer and ensure that you respond accurately. Initially developed as the most effective response style for key selection criteria, the method has proven to assist an individual to articulate their response effectively and to not provide additional information or lose the facilitator by “waffling” on.

Becoming a S.T.A.R

Situation; Task; Action; Result

Situation – State the situation that you were in to set the scene of the example. This should be a brief introduction to the situation.

For example: “During my employment with Walt Disney Enterprises I was part of a team of customer service assistants”.

Task – Outline what the task was. What was the initial situation and what was meant to occur.

For example: “As a customer service assistant, I was required to respond to all incoming questions and complaints as their first point of contact. I assisted on the phone and for email based enquiries”.

Action – What is it that you did personally, what activities you undertook and what was your decision process?

For example: “When I received incoming calls from customers that related to a complaint about a recent experience, I immediately listened in detail to the customers concern and captured the situation into the internal database. I ensured that the customer was provided the opportunity to outline in detail the situation to allow them to feel that I was part of the solution not the problem.”

Result – What was the final outcome of the situation? What did your actions deliver to the organisation?

For example: “Listening to the customers before reacting allowed me to understand their situation and align their complaint to the most appropriate supervisor. In many situations, by simply feeling that they were being heard by the time the complaint reached the supervisor the customer was satisfied and felt that there was a solution imminent which reduced the number of escalated issues for the organisation.”

A structured response allows the interviewer to understand the situation you were in which would support the actions that you undertook. It allows detail to be provided where detail is needed, ensuring that the recruiter is not left guessing or making assumptions on the reason for your actions or the final outcome.

Technology and your job search

April 12th, 2012

We all know that technology has advanced significantly over the last number of years when it comes to the job application process. What many of us do not understand however is the impact that this technology has had on our job search.

Individuals external to recruitment or those that have not remained abreast of the changes in technology will not easily understand the impact that ATS (Applicant tracking systems) or parser applications have had on the job application process. With this in mind, we are sharing some important information with you that may help you understand why your personal branding documents are no longer a tool to gain visual attention and why it is now more important than ever to focus on getting this right; the first time!

What are they?

Applicant Tracking Systems

Applicant Tracking Systems are ultimately automated recruitment tools designed to manage the application process and candidate database for individuals working within recruitment or HR. Much of the functionality of these tools align to customer relationship management databases commonly used by organisations, however the advancement of these tools has resulted in automation of the resume review process. The large number of applicant tracking systems available on the market will mean that there is various ways that the systems will work. In summary, the ATS will allow a recruiter to have email inboxes and file directories monitored by a “robot” which will facilitate the processing of all job applications.

Resume Parsing

Resume parsing technology allows the extraction of data from your resume through an automated process. Ultimately, the parser tool extracts the required information from your resume, loading this into a database creating a candidate profile automatically for the recruiter. This is quite a complicated process as there is a large amount of data that the parser is required to analyse before it can be uploaded into the system – there are also different types of parsers which look for different types of information for extraction. These included keyword based parsers, grammar based parsers and statistical parsers – each looks for different parameters and will deliver different results specific to the requirements of the recruiter.

Who uses them?

We cannot tell you which recruiters or organisations in Australia are using what technology; what we can say however is that the use of these tools has increased and as they have become more affordable, are now openly used in small to large scale organisations. The assumption when applying for a job at all times is that you may be applying to a “robot” process as this is the worst case scenario for most individuals; human interaction is always the preferred process for all applicants as it will ensure that your entire message is delivered!

What do they look for?

As we mentioned above, the tools look for specific parameters that are defined by the individual recruiting for the position; there is no standard in what information is being searched for by the robot.

Ultimately, the selection process can use searches that look for:

Keywords (just like Google)
Filters (such as educational level and region)
Tag clouds (browse through skills, position titles, former employers)
Synonyms (expand your query with similar words)
Weights (rank your results based upon nice to have and need to have criteria)

These tools predominantly only work effectively when reviewing documents in Microsoft word or compatible document writers. Some tools will be able to review PDF documents and the recruiter will define the format if they are after a specific type in their advert normally. All of these tools will not be able to review JPEG files and extract text from within these and in many instances tables embedded within documents. If you are engaging a professional they will be aware of this and will not provide you with a document that is graphically heavy, rather a professionally formatted content focussed document.

How will this impact you?

These tools will have a substantial impact on your job search. To put it bluntly, unless your application is developed in accordance to the requirements of these tools then you will have limited success when your submitting to a robot. As you can see above, it is not only in the keywords that you will have issues however it may be in your language, the information that you provide and overall the inability for the robot to extract the information that it has been programmed to require.

For many of our client’s they only become aware of these tools once they have been having issues with responses from the applications that they have been sending out. Some are quite impressed that the recruiter was still online at 9pm on a public holiday (this is a quick give away that you have been dealing with a robot!).

Some key points to remember

Now it is more important than ever to get your application right; the first time.
Not all professionals providing support services understand or are up to date with the current market tools and trends; ask first.
Always assume that you will be working with a robot; this will always be the worst case scenario.
JPEG and pictures cannot be reviewed by these tools.
Text within tables or images may also be an issue if a robot is utilise
Resumes for the current market should not be graphically heavily rather focussed on content to suit the requirements of robot and ATS tools.

RSResumes Publications

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1300 72 68 40

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