Carl Bradford

What to know who the best companies to work for today, in 2010, and why they’ve garnered this top billing?  They top the list in each of their respective catagories and many of the share similar working environments along with extraordinary benefits – despite being involved in different businesses.

Here are a few interesting facts about some of these companies.

• Even in a tough job market, some employers dole out perks like on-site saunas, discounted massages and classes on Wii bowling.
• There are 22 Best Companies to work for who at the time of this post have at least 500 openings. What kind of candidates are they looking for?
• There’s at least one of these employers who have never, ever had a lay off.
• Some things about one company included: stock options on hire, baseball games, surfing lessons, kayaking tours, white-water rafting, bonfires, bowling, and volunteering opportunities.

Fortune has been producing this list for 13 years and their annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” was announced last week and is published in the Feb. 8th issue of the magazine.

These companies overall seem to be thriving despite the economic conditions we’ve been living through recently.

If you’re a smart networker and know how to find insider’s who will help get your resume reviewed, these employers make ideal targets for top job seekers.  These are great companies for you to review and building networking contacts with.

The short answer is they don’t.  They scan your resume with a very specific set of data in their mind and if they determine your resume matches this data only then will they decide to actually read your resume.

I’ve personally reviewed probably at least a million resumes in my 40+ years in this business.  When you review 50 to 200 resumes per day, they add up and at this volume, it would be impossible to “read” each of them and it isn’t necessary for me to do so.

If you’re a candidate, you may still get angry about that, but at least I’m going to explain the reality of what happens with your resume in this article to help understand why it’s done this way.

I know that candidates often get angry about the way their resume is quickly dismissed, but they are often to blame for not preparing their resume to be the best it can be.

Check your resume against my top 9 “knock out” criteria below to see how your resume stacks up.

The Recruiter Scan Process Revealed

Here’s how I process the resumes I review every day and the criteria I use to move some to the “no interest” group and the others into “follow up.”

I set up a hierarchy of certain “must haves” or you’re out, so at first I’m really just box checking. These must haves are what the job spec calls for. If you’re reading a job posting and your resume doesn’t match the stated criteria – and it isn’t easily and quickly apparent – then goodbye.

Generally, 80% of the time these must haves are my knock out blows. There are exceptions to each of these, but I’m dealing with the 80/20 rule. This is box checking, if I see any one of these as I scan your resume you will be excluded.

The 9 Critical Resume Knockout Blows

Location. If you’re not local to the job, I immediately know the process takes on an added cost to my client and becomes much more complex. This includes the physical move, housing, temporary lodging, possible spousal employment, and schools to name a few. All things being equal, clients will opt for local candidates. I don’t make this a knock out factor right away, but neither does it fall into the plus column. This takes about 1 second.

Functional resume. The most common reason for a functional resume is to hide something and I know that all too well. It raises a red flag and I rarely pay much attention at all to a functional resume at first and just quickly skip to the lower third of the resume to glance at your work history.  Unless I see something compelling, you’re gone. Another big, big disadvantage is what I call “trend over time”, i.e. trying to get a sense of your job progression.  Are you moving steadily upward, or have you hit a plateau or have you actually gone backwards.  This is impossible to tell from a functional resume because titles can’t adequately tell your story. About 5 seconds.

Top one-third. I review the information just after your contact data. Don’t bother with putting an objective on your resume.  I’m not looking to see what you want to do, I’m looking to see if you fit my open jobs.

Don’t fill this valuable real estate with soft skills either. Give me your best elevator pitch in a Summary section and make sure it maps/ties to the job. This more than anything else will slow me down and start changing me from scanning to reading.  If you don’t have a concise summary then I usually just skip anything else written in any other format, at least on the first pass (and likely my first and only pass through your resume). About 10-15 seconds to give me a reason to slow down and read.

Job stability. You hear a lot about “no more gold watches” and no more loyalty and therefore job stability doesn’t matter.  Wrong!  It doesn’t matter as much as it use to, but it still matters.  If you’ve changed jobs every 2-3 years, why would my client think you’re going to stay with them any longer?  And at a hiring cost that can be one-and-a-half times your base salary (150%), they do care and so do I.  About 10 seconds tops.

Level. If you’ve been at a VP and above level and now applying to a Manager or Director level, I get very cautious very quickly. I next try to determine the size of your employer and the scope of your role.  If you’ve been a VP at a larger Fortune employer, and now want to be a Manager at that same size or smaller company (and if you’re now unemployed especially) I will move on. Takes about 5-10 seconds.

Missing data. If you’ve left off your earlier job history, that can be a big red flag.  When I get to the end of your job history and see a job title that is inconsistent with the level of job where you would have started your career, I know right away you’re hiding something.  While you may not provide as much detail about your earliest employment, I really have to be convinced by everything else before I’ll bother to take time to talk with you. About 5 seconds.

Role. If you’ve been doing a job that has little or no relevancy to the job you applied for, you’re gone in less than a few heart beats. If I’m looking for sales, you’d better have had sales experience. Recruiters like me are paid to find specific experience and I know better than to try to provide my clients with anything less than what they’ve asked for. About 5 seconds to make this determination.

Industry. This isn’t always critical, but often it is. If your experience has all been in banking and the opportunity I’m recruiting for happens to be in aerospace AND requires specific knowledge that would only come from being employed in the aerospace industry, don’t send your resume.  I’ll spot it in about 5 – 10 seconds and your resume moves to the “not a match” category.

Education. Like it or not, most employers have defined their optimum and minimum educational standards. While I often disagree with them, I know they’re firmly set on this criteria and it’s my job to give it to them.  This can sometimes include certain certifications as well. I can determine that in about 5 seconds and if you don’t have them, you go into the “not a match” group.

After all this, 80 – 100% of the resumes have been eliminated. If there are any left, then I will take the time to actually read them in detail.

What You Can Do About It

I’ve written extensively on the subject of resumes and have 15 free videos on a companion site, Essential Resume Strategies.  I encourage you to go there and spend the time to review this information.

The score is 21 -20 and your team’s score is 20.   The referee has just called time out at the final 2 minute mark.

Your team has possion of the ball when time resumes and you’re on your own 20 yard line. It’s a one possion ball game. It’s time for your 2 minute game plan.

Like top football teams, every top recruiting team needs a 2 minute game plan.

When You Need a 2 Minute Strategy the Most

You must have a 2 minute game plan when you have to move a candidate through your recruiting process in a very short period of time.

This happens most often when too much time elapses in closing top candidates already in your hiring process and you discover your top candidates now have competing offers.  You do communicate often enough with them to make that discovery don’t you?

This can also occur when you source a top candidate that is already well into their job search and have or about to have competing job offers.

What’s your strategy? How can you benefit from a 2 minute drill and what would that look like?

A Culture of Playing To Win

It starts with developing a winning culture. In today’s fast-paced competitive world, there’s little time for error or waste in hiring top talent.  Just like a well-disciplined football team, recruiters can adapt the techniques of winning football teams to ensure their hiring teams move the ball, score and win.

All too often employers are defeated while the clock is still ticking and they miss out on top talent!  HR/Recruiting Departments and their hiring management are frequently bogged down by sluggish recruiting practices that stifle change. They are unable to pick up the pace when necessary to score and win.

Winning means preparation before the game even begins. Once into the final 2 minutes, it means being able to communicate quickly and effectively, seizing control of the situation, adjusting quickly and – above all – executing!

A Frequent Symptom of Playing To Lose

One telling sign of a culture playing to lose can be seen where employers have adopted an attitude of “if we don’t get this person, there will be others that we can hire” and they just don’t seem to care about winning and getting a top employee.  This would be akin to a football team say, “we’ve already lost this one, but there’ll be other games.”

Any football coach that took that attitude and didn’t play with determination to win until the clock runs out would be fired quickly!

Develop Your 2 Minute Drill with 11 strategies

Improving your recruiting process, especially when competing for top candidates, can be achieved through applying the same principles that football teams do when executing their two-minute drills.

Top professional football teams must combine speed and execution. Winning teams often use both offensive and defensive talent during this time. They aren’t afraid to use talent in different roles during critical times when winning is on the line.

They practice working as a team and execute well-designed “play packages” – especially when there are just seconds left in the game and they need to score to win.

Here are 11 key elements of a winning 2 minute recruiting and hiring drill.

Select a leader. During the final 2 minutes leadership ultimately goes to the quarterback. It’s up to him to execute the 2 minute pre-game plan, but it goes beyond that.  Even after the coaching staff has called the play, he must analyze the defense in a matter of seconds and possibly call an audible play depending on his “read” of the defense.  Who on your recruiting team is accountable for orchestrating the overall 2 minute drill among your players?

Know the score. The quarterback must know the number of points required to win the game. Will that be a field goal or does it have to be a touchdown. Your hiring team must know what it will take to get the candidate to say yes. This goes beyond just compensation and likely includes other factors that are important to the candidate. Have you clearly established what is important to the candidate and whether you can provide that and if not, can you offer other things that might get the yes answer?  Knowing what will close the candidate means you know the score.

Operate with a sense of urgency. Seconds are critical to a football team during the final 2 minutes. Every play counts and every decision is magnified. Every team member on the field must execute their assignment with precision in a time compressed environment. Does everyone on your hiring team do that?

Keep track of the clock. The amount of time taken between plays, stopping the clock, and knowing just when to use remaining time-outs all become critical as the quarterback “manages the clock.”  Do you know how much time you really have before your candidate accepts another offer?  Have you built in some time for quick negotiations before time runs out?

Use the appropriate package of plays. The number of plays available during the 2 minute drill does not include all plays in the playbook. Plays in the 2 minute plan are typically designed to quickly move the chains (see below). This means abandoning certain ‘bread and butter” plays that are part of the overall game plan.

The 2 minute plays are often  much higher risk plays such as long pass plays.  We’ve all seen the “hail Mary” plays before.  When everything is on the line, do you have a plan that might even include higher risk solutions to win the candidate?

Play the right players. Having the right players on the field is critical. Use the talents of individual players for the good of the team. This often means using defensive and special team players in roles that are different from their normal position. Understanding the strengths of players during this time-compressed period becomes critical. Have you identified certain players on your recruiting team – or players who could become part of your 2 minute team – that bring a special background to help close certain top candidates?

Move the chains. This strategy is winning yards in at least 10 yard amounts thereby getting the opportunity to continue get ever closer to scoring the winning points. This means that often the best strategy isn’t the “hail Mary” pass, but getting concessions a little bit at a time in order to improve the odds of scoring. A top 2 minute recruiting drill might include getting a series of smaller yes responses from the candidate in order to overcome all concerns and getting the final yes to accept your offer.

Generate momentum. Positive momentum is contagious and energizing. The 2 minute time frame is as much mental as it is anything else. When your recruiting team consistently wins, every player gains confidence and improves their game. Are you winning most of your games, even the close ones?

Play Hard to the end. Top football teams know that it’s not over till it’s over! They strive to play at the top of their game through the final second. They realize that execution is the key to winning the game. Knowing the plays designed for your 2 minute drill and fielding the best players in each situation can mean the difference between winning and losing. The best hiring teams don’t take no for an answer and never give up till the game is truly over. Close the candidate, then celebrate.

Recognize your opponents 2 minute defense. The team on offense isn’t the only one to have a 2 minute drill. Top football teams know that when they begin their 2 minute drill, their opponents have a 2 minute defensive strategy. The tempo of the game changes. Mistakes are magnified. Split second adjustments are required. Gaining an understanding of your candidates motivators is critical and when they get down to making a final decision on your job offer, you must know how to close them. Time is short. Effective communication is critical. How are you doing when recruiting completion is really keen?

Perform a post Game Analysis. Top football teams video every game from several angles. Every game is put through a post game analysis that includes a careful scrutiny of their two minute drill. This approach allows you to able to better understand your overall strategy and find elements where you are strongest as well as weakest.  From that analysis, you can tweak and refine your 2 minute drill as well as other parts of your recruiting process. When was the last time you conducted a post game analysis of your recruiting process and then purposely improved your recruiting process?  If you haven’t, when will you start?

Conclusion

• Developing a winning 2 min strategy will make the rest of your game plan much better.
• Develop your own 2 minute drill and make it part of your playbook and be sure everyone on your teams knows “the drill.”

Bottom line if you don’t have a 2 minute drill, you aren’t playing to win!

Not every job market is depressed.  In fact, there are a number of employers that are listing job vacancies with third-party recruiters because they are having difficulty filling specific jobs.

While there are several different industries where this is occurring, two in particular seem to be exploding with growth.

One of those will not necessarily be a surprise and that one is the medical field. There is an extreme shortage of just about anyone with skills and experience in that market.

Another one, that surprises many people is the financial services market sector. Given all the news media attention in that market during 2009, you might conclude that little or no hiring is happening there, but that would be wrong.

In this post, I’ll cover just one area within the financial services market that the recruiting division of my Bradford Consulting Company is working on for 2010. This is a large, national search that is likely to go on throughout the year and beyond!

Financial Advisors

Demand for Personal Financial Advisors is projected to grow a whopping 41% between 2006 and 2016 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. CNN/Money ranks Personal Financial Advisor job opportunities #3 on the list of the Top 50 Jobs.

This is represented by such recent media headlines such as:

Why Financial Advisors are Changing Employers

The Sweet Spot for Financial Advisor Opportunities and Where

By going to smaller firms, career growth is more rapid for most of the reasons listed above. With more individual mentoring, better technology and resources, and the opportunity to make significantly more income, the opportunity is very real.

Instant Leadership Opportunity

There is also a new and very enticing opportunity for more experienced Financial Advisors who might like to make and move and take a small group of fellow advisors with them, i.e. move a small team. This will allow these brokers to immediately begin to earn larger override commissions on their teams efforts while at the same time providing everyone on the team with a much more attractive career path.

Video Explains More

At my Bradford Consulting website we’ve prepared a video that provides more detail as well as an opportunity to confidentially explore these opportunities.

Click the video icon to review this video.

Copying with anxiety and stress during a job search is just one of the stress activities that causes that “stressed out” feeling. A job change whether under duress to find a job, i.e. you’re unemployed and need that next job, or just trying to manage the job change process while still employed is often one of your biggest anxiety causes.

Let’s explore how you can cope with not only job search stress, but how you can get some anxiety help that includes a fantastic solution for all workplace related stress.

And…I tell you at the end of this article where you can find out more, including how you can take the FREE Wellness Challenge.

A Definition of Stress

Stress is defined as change that is seen by your body or mind as a threat – large or small, imaginary or real – or a change in your environment that triggers a rapid use of your reserves. Stress creates a demand on your resources. Soon, these resources become exhausted and you get sick.

What Causes Stress?

Distress can come from your environment, your body or your mind. Rather than being just a single event – such as a job search – stress accumulates over time from all three sources. It strangles the joy and pleasure from your days and nights. It makes you miserable, and then it makes you sick. Once you are sick, stress keeps you from responding as well to medical care. Yes, stress is a killer!

Office Stress and Other Work Stress

Yes, psychological stress and anxiety can come from the office, or absence from the office as in the case where you’ve lost your job.  But job search stress isn’t limited to the office environment; it applies to any job search.  You don’t really need an anxiety test to know when you’re “stressed out”, but you do need a solution to help you in coping with anxiety and stress.

Learn How Stress Vitamins and Nutrients Can Help

As the Employment Guy, for over 40 years I’ve seen more than my share of job seekers who are coping with anxiety and stress and I’m certainly not immune to it either, no one is.  But I have found that if I pay attention to my health – and that includes what I call stress vitamins – I do better, a lot better.  You can as well.

According to a stress article by Brazos Minshew the Chief Science Officer at TriVita, a leading Nutraceutical products company, the opposite of stress is homeostasis. He says, “So, while stress is constantly trying to pull you apart, homeostasis is constantly working to put you back together. Homeostasis is the priority process your body uses to combat stress.”

He adds, “Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are essential for homeostasis. If we have the nutrients we need at the moment we need them, we will thrive! Conversely, if we do not have the proper nutrient base in our system every day we will suffer loss of energy, poor mental performance and an increased risk for disease.”

And when you’re interviewing for a new job opportunity, you certainly want to be at your best mentally.

Add the Right Supplements to Relieve Stress

The word supplement means an addition to something to make up for a deficiency. All supplements are an important addition to a healthy diet. They make up for the deficiency we face because of poor nutrient density in our foods. They also help out when we miss the mark of diet perfection.

Supplements are no substitute for good dietary choices, but the fact remains that most of us don’t make the best food choices on a daily basis. We need a multiple nutrient supplement every day to serve as a foundation for health and to combat the nutrient demands of a stressful life.

A New and Better Supplement

According to Brazos Minshew “Staying on top of our nutrient reserve is important. Our body makes millions of new cells every day – heart cells, brain cells, bone and blood cells. Stress kills millions of vulnerable cells every day. Every time a cell dies it should be replaced. If you do not have the right amount of nutrients to construct a new cell, you will either make an incomplete cell or none at all. The outcome is bad in either case; so, we really need to keep all nutrients on board at all times.”

My wife and I have recently discovered a breakthrough new product and you can find out more about this new product called Wellavoh™ (wel-lah voh), a new multi-nutrient complex for men and women.

In fact, we’ve experienced such dramatic and positive results that we were motivated to create a new website called Health Wellness Answers and I invite you to go there for more information…and be sure to view the  benefits revealed in the short videos on Nopalea and take the FREE Nopalea Wellness Challenge.  This is a fascinating story!

Whether you’re a Baby Boomer like me or one of the younger generation, you’ll find some highly valuable and new health-related information on Health Wellness Answers.

I’ll be forever grateful to my multi-millionaire businessman colleague who introduced me to this health and wellness product line.  Thanks Kelly for paying it forward.  It’s my turn now, I’m paying it forward to the first five people who contact me and qualify for the FREE Nopalea Wellness Challenge.