What can we learn from Glasto???

There is something unique about Glastonbury; it has an aura and reputation unlike any of the other festivals on offer over the summer period. Whilst music fans scramble to get tickets, bands are also busy trying to make sure they are on the lineup for Britain’s most famous live music event.

And when a group of the guys here made the trek to Glasto this year it made me think – are the comparisons between a band getting on the lineup & a candidate getting an interview for a new gig (pardon the pun). Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Bands Getting on the line up	Candidates getting an interview
Must first decide whether Glastonbury is the right Festival for them, i.e. given the festival genre, their experience and their fans will it be a good fit.	Must first decide whether a Company is the right one for them, i.e. given the company culture, their experience and their career goals will it be a good fit.
Must fight for the attention of the promoters.	Must vie for the attention of employers’.
Realise that getting booked is just the start of the hard work!	Realise that getting an interview is just the start of the hard work!
Need to prepare – before stepping on stage Bands need to prepare an entertaining set, select the right songs to play, and practice, practice, practice to make sure they’re ready to perform.	Need to prepare – before stepping into the interview Candidates need to prepare their career story, think about the questions they have, and practice, practice, practice to make sure they’re ready to answer the tough questions.
Should understand that playing at a festival they’re effectively competing for audience with the other bands that are also playing. Delivering a polished performance on stage is therefore the bare minimum.	Should understand that when interviewing they’re effectively competing with other candidates that are also being interviewed. Delivering a polished performance in the interview is therefore the bare minimum.
Festivals provide bands with the perfect opportunity to promote their music, get noticed and kick start their careers.	Interviews provide candidates with the perfect opportunity to promote their skills/ experience, get noticed and kick start their careers.

So, who knew being in a band and the job hunt were so similar?

I guess there’s just enough space left for the blatant plug – if you’re looking for a way to stand out from the crowd and drive your career forward, log on to Zookel. Think of it as the Glastonbury of job sites – the best place to get noticed!

Zoe & Team Zookel

More Lessons from the downturn!

I’ve increasingly been reading about (or more like seeking out) innovative strategies both individuals and companies are coming up with to deal with the economic downturn.

Having previously asked the question what can we learn from Graham Edwards. I thought it would be good to look at it from the other side and consider what we can learn from the strategy of Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre.

The background story in a nutshell:

• Facing the need to find $20 mil in budget savings Levy was being forced to consider layoffs.
• Levy examined the details of how the Hospital worked – especially how the often-overlooked frontline employees did their jobs. He was impressed by what he saw, and wanted to both protect the lowest wage earners and recognize their commitment.
• When Levy gathered his 6000+ employees together to discuss the options rather than making mass redundancies, he offered a creative solution: “I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I’d like to get your reaction to it,” Levy told the assembly. “I’d like to do what we can do to protect the lower-wage earners — the transporters, the housekeepers, the food-service people…If we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice. It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits.”
• The consensus was that the workers didn’t want anyone to get laid off and were willing to give up pay and benefits to make sure no one did.
• As a result of the combined commitment of the management and staff the number of necessary redundancies has reduced dramatically, from over 600 to about 150, and this will be achieved at the same time as providing earnings protection to the 900 lowest wage workers.

The three lessons I take from this brilliant initiative are:

1. Creativity is not an option it’s a requirement. Just as candidates need to be increasingly creative when presenting themselves (using videos and psychometrics etc) and networking for new jobs, so do Employers when determining how to deal with the downturn.
2. Honesty & Transparency is the best policy. We’ve consistently endorsed honesty in terms of candidates CV’s & interview answers. Equally as employers (putting aside the times when you can’t legally share all you’d like to) we believe that the only way to gain trust and respect is to treat employees with honesty & transparency.
3. Mindset & Attitude are key. Could Levy have achieved this without having a team that reflects the mindset & attitude he wants within the organisation? Unlikely. Equally would you as an employee or job seeker be willing to make a similar sacrifice if you didn’t share the same mindset & attitude as your colleagues? Also unlikely*.

See other lessons? Let us know by leaving a comment. And as always good luck with the job hunt, and please feel free to drop us a note if we can help.

Paul & Team Zookel

*Granted we’re biased as one of the reasons we built psychometrics into the core of Zookel is to allow candidates to understand their career motivations and the type of company they’d be successful working for.

Why is it that candidates always leave it too late to evaluate a job offer?

Job offers rarely come as a complete surprise. Even if you’re headhunted the process is likely to take more than a month to complete. So my question is – Why do candidates almost always wait until the offer is in hand to start evaluating it?

The answer – most candidates consider the offer to be primarily about the salary. Whilst it’s true salary is critical, people working solely for money will eventually feel unfulfilled.

So if salary’s not the only factor – What should candidates be considering before the offer is made?

The four most important – pre offer considerations.

1. The job. You’re likely to have applied for it, but that doesn’t mean you actually want it. From the initial application through to offer you will generally go through a number of interviews, during which time you’ll learn more about the true nature of the job and the day-to-day responsibilities. The more you can find out about the job before receiving the offer, the more likely you are to make the right choice. Asking yourself the following questions will help:

• Does the job match your interests and make good use of your skills?
• How important is the job to the company or organisation?
• How long do most people who enter this job stay with the company?
• Is the job a lateral move or promotion?
• Does the job title adequately describe what the job is?
• How will accepting the role alter my lifestyle?
• Are there clear opportunities for growth and advancement?

2. The organisation. During the interview process you’re likely to gain a greater insight into the organisation, its culture and whether it is a good place for you to work. It’s also likely you’ll have the opportunity to review any press articles, track the share price (if it’s a public company), and ask peers within the industry for their opinion on the company. Factors to consider include:

• Does the organisation’s business or activity match your own interests and beliefs?
• Is the organisation financially sound and what are the growth prospects?
• Should you work for a relatively new organisation or one that is well established?
• What is the reputation and image of employer?
• Who are the organisation’s key competitors and how are they viewed in comparison?
• Is the organisation rigid or flexible? Does it work strictly by the book?
• Does the organisation have a record of layoffs or downsizing?

3. The Industry. The industry the company works within or earns the majority of its revenue from (for multi industry companies) has a large influence on the company culture, will impact on how success is measured, and will to some extent shape the boundaries of its future growth prospects (assuming it remains within that industry), Some questions to think about:

• Is the industry high growth, commoditised, or at risk from technical innovation?
• How does the macro environment or business cycle effect the industry?
• Is there any industry dependence on government policies and programs?
• Is the general publics’ view of the industry positive or negative?
• Would working in the industry help your long term career prospects regardless of the organisation?

4. Your Manager & the team. The impact of your direct manager and the team you work within is often underestimated when taking a new role. And yet when you talk to people who are happy within their role they will consistently refer in part or whole to their boss and workmates. Without a boss who is committed to helping you learn and succeed, and a team that works towards common goals you may quickly find the other benefits of a role simply aren’t worth that much. It’s therefore worth trying to:

• Assess how the boss will serve as a mentor, and what you will learn from him/her.
• Ask questions around his/her interpersonal and management style.
• Talk to your potential boss about the team before you accept the position.
• Understand (as much as possible) the team structure, chemistry & dynamics.

Should I do this for every role I apply for?

Definitely not – that would be a waste of time and energy.

You do however want to consider them before any final interview. Not only will they make you better prepared for any offer when it comes, but they should also help you to ask sensible, clear, concise questions in the interview itself. And as an employer I can assure you that seeing a prepared candidate with considered questions is always positive!

As always good luck with the job hunt, and please feel free to drop us a note if we can help.

Paul & Team Zookel

Do you share too much Online?

Interests: Drinking & getting naked.

Perhaps successful interests (as listed on Facebook) when it comes to attracting a new partner, but less likely to be when you’re applying for a role within a professional leadership organisation as was the case with the above.

With interviewers increasingly turning Internet detective to find out what jobseekers say about themselves on social networking websites, it’s more important than ever to consider what your social profile looks like.

To emphasize the point let’s look at the lessons learnt from the recent run of horror stories:

1. Cisco Fatty. Lesson: Criticizing your current (or indeed your previous or future) boss or company is unlikely to be a good idea but is likely to come back to bite you.
2. Sickie Email (or more recently Swiss Sacking). Lesson: Your social network is likely to be more visible than you realise. Whilst boring its well worth managing your public settings and thinking about who you’re connected to and why. Also don’t be plain stupid (as in the case of Sickie Email).
3. Oxford students. Lesson: Incriminating pictures have the shelf life of nuclear waste.
4. VP of PR. Lesson: Think before you post.
5. Interests Drinking & Getting Naked*. Lesson: Listing details of your very personal interests or romantic life is rarely a good idea.

Despite the horror stories above I firmly believe that Social Networks are (and will be) a vital tool for jobseekers (indeed it’s one of the reasons we created Zookel). Like any new technology however we sometimes need to step back and learn the rules and our personal parameters in order to gain the greatest benefit.

As always good luck with the job hunt, and please feel free to drop us a note if we can help.

Paul & Team Zookel

*Note – no link provided to Interests Drinking & Getting Naked as this story was shared in confidence.

What can we learn from Graham Edwards?

For those of you who haven’t heard Graham Edwards is the graphics worker who recently offered to pay £2000 to charity in order to secure a new job.

We’ve often talked about the need to stand out differentially, something I personally believe is always critical, but perhaps even more so in a down economy. Whilst Graham’s approach to this is clearly in the extreme and definitely not for everyone I admire it for a number of reasons:

• It was somewhat philanthropic in that the £2000 went to charity rather than to the future employer.
• It was structured smartly with £1000 going to charity up front and £1000 after Graham had passed his probation period.
• By being willing to risk his own money (or putting his money where his mouth is so to speak) Graham showed great confidence in his ability to deliver – something almost 100% of employers looks for when hiring.
• Perhaps more than anything it was proof that no matter what the prevailing economic environment thinking outside the box, and striving to stand out can help.

Now, I’m not suggesting that jobseekers everywhere should go and raid their savings to further their career. I am however continuing my push for jobseekers to be creative, and to look to differentiate themselves when searching.

Of course I’m slightly biased but I’d argue that one good way for jobseekers to differentiate themselves quickly and simply is to set-up a Zookel profile. Granted it won’t get the same press coverage as offering £2000, but with psychometric tests, video CV’s, personal recommendations, and more it may just help you show you’ve got what it takes to succeed.

As always we’d love to hear your feedback not only on this post, but on the site itself. And of course good luck on the job hunt!

Paul & Team Zookel