Blog | HELLMANN CAREER CONSULTING

Don’t Reject Yourself in a Job Search

by Rob Hellmann • Career Change, Getting Interviews, Interviewing, Job-Search Strategy •

If you want to speed up your job search, adopt the mindset of a successful salesperson. Sales professionals know a few things about rejection that can help jobseekers. They know you shouldn’t assume rejection if you haven’t heard back from a prospect. They know that it’s often possible to overcome an apparent rejection or hesitations about the services you are offering. And they know how to skillfully keep in touch when there’s no interest now.

Many of my new job search clients, however, are too quick to see rejection and give up. They More

How to get an Interview with a Phone Call

by Rob Hellmann • Getting Interviews •

Once your resume and LinkedIn profile are complete, you’re ready to start getting interviews. And the most effective way to get interviews is to actively go for what you want; send high-impact emails to hiring managers who may be complete strangers, and then crucially follow up with a phone call to land that interview. This “active approach” is more effective than passively waiting for the ad to show up or the recruiter to call, and then responding.

Salespeople intuitively understand the active approach to the job search, since they use a similar approach every day in their sales jobs. If you are in a job search, you are effectively in sales whether More

7 Ways to Jump-start a Stalled Job Search

by Rob Hellmann • Getting Interviews, Interviewing, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

When clients with stalled searches first contact me, they often see the cause as something beyond their control. They tell me “I’m too old (or young),” “I’m overqualified (or underqualified),” “there are no jobs,” “I’ve sent in countless applications with no response,” or “I don’t have enough (or the right) experience.”

While in some cases they may be right, most of the time I find that they face a different problem with a much easier solution. Below I’ve included the top seven ways you can jump-start your search, based on my experience of the real reasons for many stalled searches. More

The Top 10 Resume Mistakes

by Rob Hellmann • Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

The key to avoiding resume mistakes is to follow what I call the golden rule of resume writing: your “how I can help you” message needs to jump off the page in the 15 seconds or less that someone will look at your resume. The reader’s “no” or “maybe” decision is made so quickly that your key selling points really need to stand out. By contrast, the mistakes listed below make the reader work too hard to figure out how you can help them, or how you differ from the competition (this advice applies equally to your LinkedIn profile)

How 360 Assessments Can Help (Not Hurt) Performance

by Rob Hellmann • On-the-job Success, Org. Effectiveness •

An article in the New York Times slams 360 reviews for being “cruel” and counterproductive. The author describes 360s as being too often the conduit for mean-spirited attacks, not founded on substance, and reflecting an absence of constructive criticism. I actually agree with the article’s point of view for the types of 360s described. Yet I find 360s to be incredibly helpful to clients if conducted the right way. More

The #1 Way to Avoid a Hiring Mistake

by Rob Hellmann • Interviewing, Recruiting •

So you hired the wrong person. You thought you were getting a smart, creative personable new hire; instead you’ve got an unmotivated slacker employee. Perhaps you feel misled by their great interview, or confused about how you could have been so wrong when your “gut” told you it was so right!

Eliminating hiring mistakes involves many things, including being clear on your goals for the position, sourcing candidates effectively, taking a team approach to interviewing candidates, and checking references. Yet one approach stands out: avoid the wrong hire by asking the right question in the interview. More

Leadership vs. Management: A Client’s Story (Part 1)

by Rob Hellmann • On-the-job Success, Org. Effectiveness •

Bringing a leadership mindset to your job (a compelling vision that you can influence others to support), no matter what your level, is a key to helping you stand out and move up (or stay employed) in an organization. Recent client experiences have once again reinforced this point for me. In this first of a two part blog entry, I’ll share with you how an executive-level client’s leadership mindset was key to her early success in a new job. In Part 2, I’ll share with you how a client on one of the lower rungs of the corporate ladder was able to achieve success by demonstrating leadership. More

Are you Limiting Your Job Search Potential?

by Rob Hellmann • Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy •

Even if your resume, pitch, and emails are all stellar, at the end of the day your job search is still a numbers game. To improve your odds of landing a position quickly, you’ve got to actively go for a large number of potential positions.

That is, don’t just passively wait for the search firm to call or the ad to show up, since you’ll get a low return on your time investment. Instead, take the active approach. Start by creating a plan that casts a wide enough net to include enough suitable positions (open or currently filled). Your search must encompass More

Ace Your Interview: Tell a Great Story

by Rob Hellmann • Interviewing, Presentations, Recruiting •

If I had to pick just one thing you can do to improve your chances of getting an offer, I would say tell a great story in the interview; share a relevant example from your experience. Go beyond just saying that you are good at what you do. Go beyond telling them “I did this which resulted in that.” Help them to picture your value by painting that picture with words; share the full, interesting story in detail.

Hiring managers who know how to interview will ask you for these examples and have lots of followup questions. Those who are More

Your 20 Second Pitch: Don’t Cold-Call Without It!

by Rob Hellmann • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Presentations, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

Whether you’re in sales, business development or a job search, effectively cold-calling “strangers” to get the meetings you seek is a crucial skill. For jobseekers, this is called accessing the “hidden” job market, where you’re developing new long-term relationships that can lead to opportunities.

When you cold-call, you have only roughly 20 seconds to gain their interest. At that point you need to give them an out or you risk making a bad impression; they may be about to run off to a meeting and keeping them on the phone would be a no-no. So if you haven’t interested them enough by then, you’re done. That’s why you need a 20 second pitch. More