LinkedIn Tip: Increase your chances of getting that job interview

A blog series that gets you up to speed on LinkedIn related posts and news articles from across the web ranging from tips-and-tricks to product news. We’d love to hear your comments both here in the blog post as well as in tweets. Follow us on Twitter as well.

Liz Ryan from Business Week’s “The Workplace” column has an insightful post for those who’ve wondered why sending in your resume doesn’t necessarily get you that job interview. Liz outlines six different ways you can increase those chances of landing a job interview after you’ve sent in your resume.

Start with LinkedIn to see whether one of your first-degree connections is connected to a relevant person (someone who works in the department where there’s an opening, a peer in another department, or best of all, the hiring manager) in the hiring department. If you do have a two- or three-step relationship to that inside person, ask your first-degree connection to make an introduction for you. (You can do this by clicking on the “Get Introduced Through a Connection” link on your “target” person’s profile page.)

The easiest way to get started would be on LinkedIn’s “Advanced Search” page, where you can search through specific keywords to locate the right contact at the hiring company.
Tips #2 and #3 in the post explains how important it is to do your homework about the company or industry when looking for a job. LinkedIn Company Profiles lets you browse and research companies or even industries that you’d like to work for. Clicking through a company profile shows you current or former employees from that company who you’re currently connected with and can pass your resume to the right folks within the company. For example: check out LinkedIn’s Company Profile.
As Liz summarized, finding a job interview is more a direct result of your attempts to find contacts at that company who can put in a good word for you, and less about how great your resume is.
There is an element of luck in getting an interview, but you can do more than toss a résumé into the hopper and wait for a phone call. You can work assiduously to find contacts who can put in a good word for you, make introductions for you, and fill you in on the issues that are top-of-mind for the employer you’re targeting. When you spot a job you know you’d love and would thrive at, don’t hesitate to call on your network to help make it happen. That’s what your network is there for!

http://www.gskinner.com/blog/

While I don't think it's an industry norm yet, I consider ActionScript Developer and Flash Developer to be synonymous. Flex Developer is not - it implies a knowledge of MXML that is not necessary to be a pure AS or Flash Developer.

Skills I would expect any experienced Flash Developer to have include:

• ActionScript development (obviously)
  
• OOP experience
  
• Some experience with architecture / design patterns
  
• Code standards
  
• Data services integration: XML, JSON, SOAP, etc.
  
• Problem solving
  
• Debugging
  
• Optimization, both code and graphics
  
• Quality testing
  
• Reasonable understanding of UX and interaction design
  
• Basic graphic design and motion graphics skills (enough to understand and implement designer concepts)
  
• Graphics import
  
• Basic skills with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fireworks (for tweaks / exporting art)
  
• Basic understanding of video / audio compression
  
• Programmatic motion
  
• Writing (for team / client communication, documentation, comments, etc)
  
• Verbal communication and interpersonal skills for team / client interaction
  
• Experience working with Flash and the timeline
  
• Experience with an external code editor (ex. FlexBuilder, FDT, FlashDevelop)
  
• High level understanding of Flex, FMS, Remoting, FlashLite, AIR and other core Flash platform products / libraries
  
• High level understanding of server development and databases (not necessary an ability to implement anything, but a small amount of experience / understanding of the models)
  
• Basic understanding of HTML, JS, CSS
  
• Integration with HTML, JS
  
• Community awareness (online resources, frameworks, etc)
  
• Basic math - understanding and combining +, -, /, *, %, exponents and basic trigonometry (sin, cos, atan2, etc)
  

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This is not necessarily a comprehensive list, and it definitely has a lot of overlap with my "Things Every Flash Develop Should Know" talk, but I thought it would be worth sharing so that junior developers had a rough guide of valuable skills.

The Frankenstein Candidate

The Frankenstein Candidate
By Bill Radin

Jamie was a passive candidate, and he couldn't believe his luck.

Three weeks ago, a young recruiter called with an intriguing opportunity. And now, after a furious round of interviews—and a good bit of haggling—Jamie was riding high.

The company made an offer, but Jamie turned it down. Of course, if he'd actually needed a job, he would have jumped all over it. But Jamie was already employed.

With nothing to lose, Jamie pushed for more. A sign-on bonus. An extra week's vacation. And a 90-day performance review. Incredibly, the company said yes. And Jamie was delighted.

Trouble in Paradise
Tina, however, was worried. As a recruiter, she had done everything right—or so she thought.

She had cold-called Jamie, who was perfect for the job. She set up the interviews, checked the references and pushed the company to make an offer.

Even after Jamie rejected the initial offer and took over the negotiations, Tina was optimistic. She sensed the company would meet his demands, and sure enough, they delivered on every point.

But Tina was puzzled. If Jamie had gotten everything he asked for, why did he say he needed to "think it over" for a few days? And why was he dodging her calls?

Tina Creates a Monster
Her formerly passive candidate was now on every job board in sight, shopping like a maniac. With an offer in hand, he had every incentive to leverage his position.

Could Tina put the genie back in the bottle? Probably not. She either had to pray that Jamie would accept the job, or try to force his hand by setting a "drop dead" date, after which the offer would be withdrawn.

In either case, she seriously lacked control. In 20/20 hindsight, Tina realized that she had forced the company to make concessions, without asking for a commitment from Jamie in return.

So Tina made herself a promise. In the future, she would—without exception—follow a few simple rules:

1.	Never let the candidate control the negotiation. To be effective, the recruiter needs to broker the deal.
2.	Close the candidate before the offer is extended. Assuming all the conditions are met, get permission to accept the offer in advance, on the candidate's behalf.
3.	Get the candidate to take action. As soon as the offer is formally accepted, instruct the candidate to call the employer to confirm the deal.
4.	Generate a letter of acceptance. Add a signature line and an expiration date of 9:00 PM. Have the candidate sign the letter and fax it back to the employer.

After four days of nail-biting and fatalism, Tina finally got a call from Jamie: He would accept her company's offer.

Tina sighed in relief: She had dodged a bullet. But she knew that next time around, she would close the candidate and get an acceptance—before an offer is extended.

Want to know what your salary should be?

http://www.indeed.com/salary

Guidelines for Online Success

DO read this book - DON'T let it collect dust!

The dos and don'ts of web entrepreneurship

Have you ever wondered why your websites didn’t quite match up to the success of your competitors or peers? Have you ever looked at other sites and thought: “Why didn’t I think of that?” Have you ever spent too much time trying to find basic information that was buried deep in a needlessly complex website? You are certainly not alone and this book aims to change that by bringing together some of the world’s most highly acclaimed designers and developers, spanning every continent, all of whom share their knowledge and experience.

With chapters arranged by subject (interface and design, marketing and communication, technology and programming, technical advice, content/content management, and commerce), a clear do/don’t structure, and plenty of real world examples of successful and award-winning websites, this book has all the advice and examples you will need to give your personal or business website an edge on its competitors and also win industry acclaim as well as respect from your peers. Your visitors will thank you.

About the editors:
Rob Ford, born England 1969, founded Favourite Website Awards (FWA) in May 2000, a recognition program for cutting edge web design which has since served over 30 million site visits. His work has been featured in numerous publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian and many web related magazines. He has judged for most of the industry award shows, contributes regularly to other well-known web design sites and magazines and writes a regular column in Adobe's Edge Newsletter.

Julius Wiedemann was born and raised in Brazil. After studying graphic design and marketing, he moved to Japan, where he worked in Tokyo as art editor for digital and design magazines. Since joining TASCHEN, he has been building up the digital and media collection with titles such as Animation Now!, the Advertising Now series, the Web Design series, and TASCHEN's 1000 Favorite Websites.

Blogger Jeff Pulver

Confessions of a LinkedIn Dropout

Are you on Facebook yet? Maybe you should be.

I made this pronouncement on my blog recently, encouraging my friends and contacts to join me in leaving LinkedIn behind. Little did I know the ripple effect it would have.

Within hours of my posting, several high-tech bloggers took note of the move and started their own LinkedIn vs. Facebook discussions, many asking whether Facebook, a site that began as a social network for college kids, could replicate LinkedIn, a network aimed at helping professionals forge and maintain business connections. Hundreds of my contacts who did not have a Facebook account as recently as March were swarming Facebook by mid-July. Everywhere there were "Facebook for Business" blog posts, and the network, it seemed, had suddenly recaptured the attention of key executives across the media, entertainment, communications, and Internet fields.

Facebook already was recognized as a growing and disruptive social site for young people, but it was starting to be seen as a viable force for business. We are in the midst of a coming of age for Facebook, and I have embraced the network fully.
Growing Apart from LinkedIn

I have no regrets—although like many in my demographic, I wasn't always a welcome member of its community. That changed in January when I met Matt Cohler, one of the Facebook co-founders, at DLD 07 in Munich and he invited me to join. At first, I connected with some relatives and just a handful of friends already there. For months, I was there but not paying much attention.

Then, in late May, a number of people "friended" me out of the blue. Some of them are people I never would have expected to find on a social network—whether because they're the wrong age, they were already on LinkedIn, or they simply weren't the type I would expect to share much personal information. I live a fairly public Internet life, but many of my tech friends wouldn't—or so I thought. I quickly realized something big was going on, and this time when I visited, I decided to stay for a while.

The more time I spent on Facebook, the less time I had for LinkedIn, where I had formed a large network, starting almost exactly four years before my public departure. On LinkedIn, what I ended up with was a network of people, many of whom I didn't know. I suppose it was my fault but I rarely refused someone who asked to connect with me. And over time, not only was I inundated with "connect me" requests from strangers, but I also was regularly spammed with reminders to follow up on such requests. What's more, my world at LinkedIn was pretty flat, nonviral, and there was no compelling reason for me to stay and interact with the community.
Easier Networking

Once I left, I never looked back. Facebook is great for business networking as well as socializing, and provides a platform for creating networks among like-minded people. There are hundreds if not thousands of groups across a variety of business topics. And joining a business-oriented group and engaging with the community make it easier to establish yourself as a brand and forge networks than relying on a third party to make an introduction to someone you don't know.

Consider my recent trip to Israel, where I traveled in July for meetings and a speaking commitment. At the time, I had 100-plus friends on Facebook from Israel, and I thought it would be interesting to bring them together in what I call real-time social networking. I started by creating a Facebook event and invited friends using Facebook. Attendees could visit the event site beforehand and gather information that would facilitate later face-to-face networking. In all, about 150 people attended the 2½-hour event. A venture capitalist friend was able to meet a number of below-the-radar startups. Other friends who are aspiring players in Israeli new media met each other for the first time and are now planning to collaborate on video efforts. On average, each guest made seven to eight new contacts, by my estimation. Based on the feedback I received, it was a successful experiment and something that I plan to do again. And it was only possible because of Facebook.
Like a Virtual Fraternity

The move to Facebook has upended my everyday life, too, both socially and professionally. I'm logged on for at least a couple hours a day, doing everything from updating my status (e.g., "Jeff is taking JetBlue flight 14 to JFK"), to catching up on groups I have joined, to checking and responding to Facebook messages. In fact, when I am on the road, friends find it easier to send me a message on Facebook than to my regular e-mail address. The same can be said for others I know.

Facebook has become something of a virtual fraternity, where I arrive home, walk into the living room, and check out what's going on. There are always people to catch up with and, since my friends are geographically distributed, there is usually someone online no matter where I am in the world, whatever time of day.

If you're new to the site, don't join every group. Don't add every application. Be selective. Look around. If your friends are not there yet, they will be. And don't be shy to invite them. Also, after you are on Facebook for a week, upload your contact list and check again. You may find that some of your friends have just arrived and you didn't even know.

And as we nonstudents arrive en masse, there will probably be some fallout and push-back from the core community of people who have been there from the start. How can it be that something that is cool for kids can also be cool for adults? But that's a small price to pay as Facebook transforms into a viral, vibrant home base for students and professionals alike, transcending demographics such as age and degree of coolness.

The Corporate Recruiter's Guide to Competing with Agency Recruiters

Written by

Howard Adamsky

Agency folks tend to see the corporate world as bureaucratic and slow to make decisions; more specifically, they see most corporate recruiters as lacking the requisite skills and bare-knuckle tactics required to make things happen.

On the other hand, corporate recruiters tend to see agency people as mercenary, often unable to be trusted, and as slick salespeople who just want to close the deal.

As someone who has been on both sides, I smile as I write this, as I can assure you that both perceptions are, to a great degree, correct.

Many corporate recruiters want to compete with their agency brethren, but this lofty achievement is akin to losing weight; so very optimistic for the first few days but ultimately not doable because losing weight is so very hard to do.

Sadly, so is competing with agency recruiters, because you have to think differently if you want to be different, and most corporate recruiters will have to be very different to make this transition.

For openers, I urge you to consider the following concept as it relates to money, the ultimate driver of our behavior. If it makes you shiver to the bone, consider it your introduction to the agency way of thinking and doing business.

Forget the comfortable paycheck. There is no meaningful check to speak of, so let’s think on terms of a pay-cut to the tune of 75%. You must close deals to get paid, because you are no longer in the business of trying to make hires; you are in the business of getting it done, because that’s how agencies make money. No deals equals no money; no money equals no food. (See “Eat What You Kill: Using the Sales Model to Improve Your Recruiting” for further insight.)

Now that compensation is out of the way, consider the following tenets, presented as two categories, Attitude/Mindset and Action/Task, as tools for the change required if you really want to make this transition to more effective recruiting:

Attitude/Mindset: Change How You Think

• Push hard. If you want to compete, come to work on fire every day and be the driving force behind moving every deal forward as far as possible; every? single? day because a deal that sits is a deal that dies. If you are not making a hiring manager a bit crazy, you are probably not pushing hard enough. (Believe me, they will not fire you for getting people hired, but they just might if you don’t! Agency people make placements first and friends second! If hiring managers are not responsive, see “8 Secrets to Dealing with Non-Responsive Hiring Managers”.)
• Reject “I don’t know.” Hiring managers must know, because you can’t do your job of getting people hired without their direction. An “I don’t know” means no forward progress, and that is not good. If you want to compete, find out what the candidate is thinking as fast as possible, and then do the same with the hiring manager. Catch them both right after the interview; they are busy but so are you. I often wonder why recruiters act as though the time of the hiring manager is more important then their own. (See “Recruiters as Business Builders”.) Ask the hiring manager, “Can the candidate do the job?” If the candidate can do the job, you should be talking with the hiring manager about moving forward. If the candidate can’t do the job, determine why and adjust your recruiting as it relates to future candidates.
• Turn “I don’t know” into “I do know.” Some hiring managers simply do not know and never will until it is too late, so these folks need your help. (Ever have one come to you a few weeks after a candidate has practically died of old age asking if they can make them an offer?) Not knowing is incongruous with the reality of business, as they are managers and as such they are running a business and making decisions is part of their job. (Think Gates or Jobs can make decisions, or do you think they just mull things over for a few weeks?) However, if they really do not know, help them. Use the line I use: “Ok, let’s go through this together.” Sit with them for awhile and go over the requirements they laid out in the position profile, asking whether that person has that skill and to what degree. Next, look at the experience they requested and go over the candidate’s background from that perspective, one type of experience at a time. Lead the hiring manager in this way and you will help them to think things through in terms of what they really need, and help them to come to a decision on what to do with that candidate. Don’t be surprised if you end up with a totally different search profile, but do not be disturbed either, as it might be the first time anyone helped the manager to think through what they really need in the candidate you are trying to locate.
• No sleeping. The answer, “I just need to sleep on it for a few days” makes me nuts. There’s little to gain from sleeping on it. On the other hand, if the hiring manager needs more information to make a decision, that’s acceptable. Have they used JAVA Beans in financial applications? Did they design comp packages in a team or alone? Can they speak Chinese? What version of SAP do they use? It does not matter what they need to know; get it and get it fast. Before you run out the door, ask the hiring manager, “When I get you this information, will you be prepared to make a decision as to a next step?” If the answer is yes, get the information. If the answer is no, ask the hiring manager, “What other information do you need such that when I come back from my conversation with the candidate, you will be able to make a decision on the next step?”
• When talking to candidates, understand that “no” simply means “maybe.” This bullet alone can fill multiple articles and most books on sales will back up my statement. No is a normal reaction to the unexpected call from the recruiter. No is simply what the candidate says when they have no idea what else to say. Frankly, no is not a word I can relate to. How can you decline if you do not even know what you are saying no to in the first place? “No” is an invitation to listen, probe, and continue the conversation. Getting to “yes” is part of every salesperson’s job and the first “no” is just the starting point in the process of meaningful dialogue and the presentation of a great opportunity.

Action/Task: Change What You Do

• Ask pointed questions. It is the job of an agency person, after an interview, to find out whether the candidate is “up” or “down.” Up is ready for the next step; down is no longer under consideration. Let’s assume that the interview is over, you have spoken to the candidate, and they are interested in moving forward. That means the candidate has made a decision and now it is the responsibility of the hiring manager to do the same. To determine the next step as it relates to the candidate, ask about their reaction, the next step, and what you should tell the candidate. If they do not have the answers right after the interview, that is okay, but they need to have them within a day or two. John F. Kennedy once said, “Not to decide is to decide.” Please do not let this be your fate.
• Play take-a-way. At times, the managers will simply not be able to make a decision, and as a result, you are stuck. To get unstuck, tell the hiring manager, “I have an idea: let me give the candidate a call and tell them you are not interested.” Then get up and head to the nearest phone. If the manager agrees, you have saved a ton of time and grief. If the manager balks, there is your decision. It may be forcing a decision, but at times, it simply must be done.
• Send fewer but better candidates. In my days in the agency business, you sent three qualified candidates. More is not better, because the hiring manager begins to forget which candidate did what and loses the ability to put a face with a name. Give a hiring manager 20 great candidates and it will be a long time before you see a decision or a placement. Provide three great candidates who can do the job, and be done with it.
• Get on the phone. I know you’re tired of hearing how in the old days we had no shoes and ate catsup sandwiches without bread. But trust me, there was no Internet and no computers. As a result, we became great on the phone or we left the business. Agency recruiters are running and gunning all day long, and the phone is a big part of how to make things happen. You connect on the phone, form relationships, share a laugh, convey urgency, and establish trust. Your phone line is your life line and link to the candidates you need to reach. That will never happen in an email.
• Learn to source passive candidates. It is hard to get on the phone if you have no one to call so I strongly suggest you take a workshop to become a Certified Internet Recruiter.
• No more meetings (almost). In my days in the agency business, aside from weekly training, we had two meetings per week totaling approximately 60 minutes. First, we met Monday mornings to discuss who on the team was going after what new accounts. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we discussed candidates in play and next-step strategies. (Heaven help the agent who had nothing new to report.) Of course, it is good to spend time with hiring managers in short meetings, but the rule of the day is simple: if the time spent in the meeting does not support coaching on recruiting issues or closing deals, you should be using your time on things that support filling positions.
• Do a great interview. Read “10 Things Recruiters Should Know About Every Candidate They Interview”. The more you know about the candidate you are representing, the more things will fall into place.
• Forget active or passive candidates. Learn to think in terms of candidates who are qualified or not qualified. Your job is to find the best candidate for the job and close the deal; great candidates come from many different places.
• Give great service. I tell clients they can call me anytime, and I do mean anytime. Respond instantly to hiring managers, always knowing the when and what of the next step in the process. Then, make that next step happen.
• Know the process or develop one. Everything goes better if there is a process in place because it removes the unknown for the candidate, gives the hiring manager a road map to follow, and helps you maintain some degree of control. According to Scott Weston, author of HR Excellence, “Having and articulating a hiring process means the recruiter needs to act as a project manager; be able to establish a rough timeline with a series of milestones for each stage of the process. This makes the process clear for everyone involved, sets reasonable expectations, and encourages joint accountability with hiring managers.”
• Sell the company. Agents start selling the opportunity and company as soon as they see that the candidate is viable. You need to do the same because if you do not create a dramatic value proposition, there is no reason for the candidate to change jobs. Read “Selling the Company” for more information.
• Be up on changes in the candidate’s life. If you think that the candidate will always volunteer this information because you have a “great relationship” with them, you are in for a surprise. Read “What Has Changed Since Last We Spoke?” for more information.
• Control the offer. Pre-close the candidate before the offer is made, and do all that you can to be the one to make the offer. If you can’t actually make the offer, try to understand what the offer is before it is made. Hiring managers will, for reasons that are all over the board, do things such as lowball candidates or change titles. This might not bother you, but to those who are sensitive to these considerations, it can kill the deal really quickly. You have probably worked far too hard to lose a deal in the 11th hour. Control the offer and you increase your chances of a successful placement. (See “Close the Deal and Land the Candidate” for added insight.)
• Prepare for counteroffers. There are few things more painful than getting that phone call on a Sunday night from the candidate declining the offer. It is even worse when you know that you did not fully prepare for the counteroffer. Honestly, it is a debilitating event that can send you spinning. Read “What Great Recruiters Do to Prevent Counteroffers” to get the full story.
• Say you’re sorry. If you are as successful as the best agency people, you will at times step on some toes in your attempt to make things happen. In the event that anyone might be miffed, tell them you are sorry if you drove them crazy. Explain that making hires can be stressful. Soon, the new candidate you hired will begin to do great work and make the hiring manager so happy they had you to make this hire happen. Bottom line? They will get over it.

The reality is that not all corporate recruiters will be able to make all of these changes. If I were not an agency recruiter in the days when my kids needed shoes, I might not be able to do it either.

However, all of us can become better to one degree or another, and I do believe it is worth a try if you really want to compete with those in the agency business. Besides, if you get good at this, you can always go over to the agency side and at times, double your income.

Regardless of where your career takes you, it is nice to know you can compete at a higher and more effective level.