Blog | HELLMANN CAREER CONSULTING

How 360 Assessments Can Help (Not Hurt) Performance

by Robert 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.

The #1 Way to Avoid a Hiring Mistake

by Robert 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.

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

by Robert 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.

Are you Limiting Your Job Search Potential?

by Robert 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

Ace Your Interview: Tell a Great Story

by Robert Hellmann • Interviewing, Presentations, Recruiting

Telling a great story in the interview, is the single best thing you can do to improve your odds of landing another interview or offer. Powerfully share a relevant example from your experience that illustrates how you can help them. 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

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

by Robert 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.

Choose the Right Leadership Style to Get Results

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

When we need someone’s help or cooperation, most of us will adapt our style to the audience and environment. For example, we might communicate differently with a colleague depending on their level of motivation, or whether there’s a severe time crunch or not. While you want to keep that same flexibility when managing staff, default to an influencing and delegating leadership style unless there’s a good reason not to. Here’s why:

Write These 6 Things to get a LinkedIn Introduction

by Robert Hellmann • Building a Business, Career Change, Getting Interviews, Recruiting

One of LinkedIn’s killer applications is its ability to leverage your “first degree network” to get introductions to your second degree contacts– for recruiting, landing interviews or prospect meetings, partnerships, or just to learn from others. To get the meetings you want, make it easy, for both your first degree connection to forward your request and for the recipient to agree.

Let’s take an example based on a client’s situation. Ellen wanted to meet Susan, a second degree connection, and she saw that John was their mutual first degree connection. Ellen’s introduction request to John contained these six elements, in the sequence below:

Don’t Be an Interview “Know-It-All”

by Robert Hellmann • Interviewing, Recruiting

The best thing you can do in an interview is to keep the focus on how you can help the interviewer with their challenges. Yet even if you are keeping this focus, bringing a “know-it-all” attitude, with accompanying assumptions, can leave a bad impression. In particular, be careful of presuming that you know what the fix should be for a hiring manager’s problem without understanding the whole picture.

Surprise! Start Your Presentation Off with a Bang

by Robert Hellmann • Interviewing, On-the-job Success, Presentations

Bring the element of surprise into your presentation to make it memorable and powerful. Humans evolved to remember the unusual and the shocking; use this knowledge to your benefit!

For example, I coached one client to begin his presentation (to an executive audience at a Fortune 500 company) with a slide that had one single large number on it. Then he said:

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