The Successful Job Seeker Blog

Many people are confused when they hear the term staffing agency. A staffing agency is another name for an employment agency. An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. This differs from a temporary agency in that a temporary work agency, (also known as a temp agency or temporary staffing firm) finds and retains workers.

An employment agency or staffing agency is charged with the duty of locating people to be hired directly by an employer. They are paid finder's fees and are sometimes referred to as "head hunters" or "executive recruiters". These are the agencies that "specialize" in "soft recruiting" which means they try to hire executives etc. away from their present jobs with "perks".

Other companies, in need of short-term workers, contract with the temp agency to send temporary workers, or temps, on assignment to work non-executive positions that would normally be staffed by a permanent employee. Some staffing agencies do hire complete staffs for companies and handle the payroll for the staff as an "outsourced" service. Again this is so the company doesn't have to spend money on the overhead to do this and can still get the work done. Many of the companies that do this place these "staff" members on contracts the same as temporary workers with limitations.

For example, a very well known computer manufacturer hires "help desk" staff through staffing agencies. These "help desk" workers are relegated to 18 month contracts with no guarantee that the staff placement will last for the whole contract. They are not allowed to work past that contract date unless they are hired on permanently and at the end of their 18 months, if they do make it to that term, they are released and must wait 6 months before they can "reapply" to work for this company again.

Many people do not fully understand the benefits of working for a temporary agency. That's because of the archaic archetypes associated with being a temporary employee or "temp" as they are more commonly referred to.

Let's start off by making sure you know the definition of a temporary worker and a what a temporary work agency is. A temporary work agency, also known as a temp agency; temporary staffing firm or employment agency finds and retains workers. This is done by posting ads on job boards most often that attract job seekers attention. The incumbent then goes to the agency "signs up" with the agency and becomes the "employee" of that agency. If their professional testing scores come back high enough then they'll be sent out on assignments at other companies, representing the agency.

These other companies, in need of short-term workers, contract with the temp agency to send temporary workers, or temps, on assignment to work for them at their company sites. The temp is not considered the employee of the outside company but simply "outsourced" labor charged with performing the duties that would normally be performed by a permanent employee.

Temporary employees are also used in work that has a cyclical nature that requires frequent adjustment of staffing levels. You see this with law firms, accounting agencies during tax season, and sometimes with seasonal workers that perform agricultural labor during harvesting season.

So you've come to that horrible spot as a job seeker when you're saying, "I need help writing my resume". Here are a few tips to make your resume writing easier and help you get that interview.

Remember a resume is a teaser to get you an interview. Many people put too much information in a resume thinking the more they say the more they'll dazzle the reader. Not true. If you are lucky enough to get a human they're only looking for "keywords" and they scan resumes - not read them unless they absolutely have to.

Less is more. Not only do you not need to put your entire work history on a resume it's better if you don't. Simply put what's relevant to the position you are applying for and leave it at that.

Emphasize accomplishments that can help the employer's bottom line. Okay the potential employer is trying to find an employee that can become a viable asset. That translates into "make the employer money" in some capacity. So show how you've created a system or process or streamlined something from one of your previous employer's that either "saved time"; "saved money"; "decreased complaints"; "increased productivity"; or "increased cash flow".  You only need to give the type of process you created or implemented and either a percentage or dollar amount in round figures to get your point across.

Objectives are for career changes. The debate over when to write an objective line versus using a summary has been going on for at least 20 years now. The only time you ever need to state an objective is when you are changing your job or career field; i.e. you are going from being an administrative assistant to an analyst. Then add "relevant experiences" to support your position change under your employment section.

Use a keyword phrase rich action summary telling the reader what you are bringing to the table based on your past performance if you are staying within the same career field. If you've got a proven 20 year track record resulting in an average of $250M in outside sales of copper plumbing pipe then put that in your summary if you are still applying for a job in plumbing or in outside sales.

Place the important items on the first page. One page resumes are still best but if you have an extensive background or you've been involved in more than one project with a company two pages is okay. No matter what the "experts" tell you, your resume is getting scanned not read. In fact the only time resumes get read is when the administrative assistant does so before filing them. If someone scans your resume they will already have decided whether to call you in for an interview before they've gotten past the summary. Generally that's because they'll scan your summary (or objective) then look at your "previous employers" and review your "bottom line" accomplishments for those employers. They are only worried about what accomplishments you can achieve for them.

These are the main ways to get attention on your resumes. Focus on your positive bottom line accomplishments and keep the important items on your first page. If you're a recent graduate with no hands on experience you can substitute your college accomplishments for relevant work history.

There are many trains of school on cover letter writing and whether or not you should. But if a potential employer asks for one you must create one.

Think of it as a simple way to highlight your talents for increasing the potential employer's bottom line. That's all they're really interested in any way. Yes their job posting will list the general catchall skill sets that, in most cases can be applied generically to any job, but it's what's between the lines that you interpret from their posts that gives you the materials you need to create the cover letter.

If an employer says they want someone who works under pressure or with tight deadlines, talk about how you created a system to save man hours on a project that also increase productivity allowing for deadlines to be met. This explains a way you created a method to ease the tension of deadlines by increasing the amount of wiggle room employees have to perform certain tasks using something you created.

If an employer wants someone that can show patience with customers or clients, they're looking for someone who can handle the mistakes that must be appearing on customers' or clients' bills or problems with merchandise sold to them that may or may not be faulty. Okay, so use your cover letter to tell the reader about a process you devised that decreased the response times to complaints by a certain percentage because it proactively addressed the known "issues" before the customer or client could bring it to the company's attention. Proactively helping a new company with getting their customers to stop calling complaining about mistakes or faults you'll be a big hit. Then again you might want to know why they're having so many "irate customers" before you apply.

The bottom line is use your cover letter to show off your talents and not just parrot back their "checklist" to them saying you have those skills. Who cares? No one, you need to show them your viability by showing them details as to how you've applied one or two of their "skills checklist".

Have you ever found yourself asking how do you write a resume? You would think with all the "information" on the web you'd be able to get definitive answers as to how to construct a resume. But alas that's not the case.

You see the problem with writing a resume is that you have to know to whom you are going to submit it. You have to understand how they "screen" resumes and you have to know how to appeal to the reader. Sadly enough, many companies outsource hiring to staffing and temporary employment agencies who post ads that receive tons of responses because let's face it; there are more people out of work than any other time in history.

Well if you've scoured the Internet looking for how to's on writing a resume you've probably found lot's of conflicting information on the subject. And this plays back into the earlier statement about knowing who is doing the reading. When it comes to resume writing keep these few things in mind before you write and it will cut down on your headaches.

It's going to be scanned; not read. This means your resume will be placed into a database with an algorithm program that has been set up to "spot" specific keywords. If those keywords appear in your resume, then it will be placed aside for a human to scan. (Note you're resume is still being scanned not read).

The reader doesn't know the industry. When companies hire staffing or temporary agencies they give them a "broad" list of qualifications they'd like in a candidate. This list is like going to a buffet; sure you can find lots of food there but you have to wander around and see what looks good most times and isn't picked over before you get your food. The reader can only use the cavalcade list the client gives them which in most cases has nothing to do with the job nor the type of recruit the company really wants. The really sad part of this is, there's no telling if the company that sent this list to the agency even has a clue as to what it is they'll need. Sometimes in order to keep their funding or budgets active they have to show that they are actively trying to hire. So they'll just send over catchall lists of qualifications that can apply generically to any job and waste people's time.

You don't know the company's environment. Okay sure the job of bookkeeper is pretty much the same in any environment. You do AR/AP, general ledger, audit expense reports, journal entry, reconcile etc. But just because a company tells you that they're hiring a bookkeeper and rattles off the "catchall" list doesn't do you much good. In order to create a resume that will work you have to know who the company is; find out what the department is like you'll be positioned in; read between the lines for the "must have" qualification and the "desirable" ones. A company that wants to hire a seasoned bookkeeper with 10 years experienced that can operate in a team environment with a rock and roll atmosphere; can run errands, has no problems working late; can sort correspondence and understands filing systems while getting interruptions from clients or vendors so must be good at screening calls isn't really looking for a bookkeeper at all. They're looking for an administrative assistant, preferably a college coed graduate who happens to know accounting. Seriously bookkeeper's only work late to close out your monthly books; they don't run errands and rarely take let alone screen incoming calls from clients or vendors. Now really how should your resume look when applying for this position? Can you say, look up the company and schedule an "informational interview" before wasting your time trying to fashion a resume to fit this bill? Because you should.

Schedule an Informational Interview. They are becoming the job seeker's greatest resource. Since there are so many people from a multitude of age brackets all vying for jobs in today's market it's best if you know which company to apply to first hand so you'll know the inside layout. When you schedule an Informational Interview you are not there to push your talents off on the person doing the interview you are there to pick up little tidbits about the company; its environment; the people you may be working with; how they act; how they dress; what the lingo is inside this company. You are there to in essence spy. But not for anyone else - you are spying on them for yourself.

Once you learn how the company operates from inside you'll know whether or not you want to apply to them for a position. There are many companies that have the moniker "a great place to work" associated with them; that doesn't mean they are "a great fit" for everyone. The jobs may all be the same in theory but how the environment of the company and what they expect from their employees will differ. You won't get that from reading a job posting. You must get in there and "feel" them out for yourself.

After you know the "truth" of who will be reading your resume whether the staffing agency or the HR person as well as the environment of the company you'll be ready to create your resume and tailor it to the needs of that company better. Otherwise you'll be just as well off creating the "template" based resume and sending it out blindly.

If you are a recent graduate with no job prospects or are still out of work since the crash of 2008 maybe it's time to start seeking permanent employment using a different method; become a temporary worker. A temporary worker refers to the workers who are brought onto a work site to perform the "regular workload" of what should be done by a permanent employee. The work has to get done but the employer doesn't have the "overhead" to staff a permanent employee so they hire temporary employees which are expected to leave after a certain period of time.

Temps as they are often referred to by the terms "independent contractors", "seasonal", or "freelance". However, these are inaccurate. A temporary worker is the employee of a "Temporary Agency" or "Employment Agency". They are not the same as "seasonal" or "freelance" workers.

For example agricultural workers are often "temporarily employed" during harvesting season but they are the "temporary or interim staff" of the people needing the agricultural work. A person can apply directly to a "seasonal" position such as with the local "parks" department for what is "temporary work" during the summer. This means that these workers are "seasonal" but they are still direct employees of the company they applied to.

Freelancers and Independent Contractors are workers that operate as their own business entity. They have EIN and business licenses and receive business tax breaks; they are not employees of anyone, except their own company entity under their business license. Freelancers and Independent Contractors can hire temporary agencies the same as "regular employers" to handle their payroll and to find them work. But again, they are operating as their own business paying a "fee" to the temporary agencies.

A temp is paid by the agency that has "placed" them on assignment for that agency's client. The client pays the agency. At no time is the "temp" ever the employee of the client; only the agency that has placed them with the client. That's not to say they can't become permanent with the client after a "trial" period. This is why many workers become temporary workers. It allows them to show off their expertise and job skills directly to a client that can "hire" them away from the temporary or employment agency. The client pays a "finder's fee" to the agency to hire the temp away from them unless they have a contract to the contrary.

Temporary workers may work full-time or part-time, depending on the individual case. With more and more companies preferring to outsource their workloads to 'temps' many employment agencies offer benefits such as health insurance in order to attract a large and varied professional body of temporary workers to place on assignments.

Not all temporary employees find jobs through a temporary Employment agency.

No matter how many times you’ve heard this growing up; the defiant side always chewed gum to annoy our parents. But did you ever wonder why it was considered “obnoxious”? After all gum is readily available in all vending machines, checkout counters and gas stations all over the world and gum is marketed to clean breath, help reduce cavities and even get you “closer” to that special someone after polishing off your pastrami on rye with grilled onions.

This all sounds good but unfortunately the other part of the rant says that “chewing gum makes you look like a cow chewing a cud”. After watching some recent interviews with athletes, not only is that a true statement, you can actually spot people chewing from across the room. There is nothing worse than staring at a program and the person is chomping away mindlessly on gum.

It doesn’t look very good and it’s distracting.

By now you're wondering how this applies to Job Hunting or Business Ownership? By you already know, unless you are friends with the owner of a company or their family, walking into an interview chewing gum will get you dropped off the radar - PDQ!

But that one is an obvious one. Here's some other nice tidbit that have fallen by the wayside with today's advancement of technology but regression of social order in business.

No Gum Chewing

1.    Aside from the obvious distraction, it’s not professional. The receptionist is the first person that interviews you; if there’s no receptionist then it’s the administrative assistant that sees you first. They will inform on you, and yes it can affect your being hired.

By all means freshen your breath; halitosis won’t win an interviewer’s merit either; but use a mint or breath strip that will dissolve or that you can take out and re-wrap or swallow prior to meeting with these people.

Dressing inappropriately

1.    Do your homework. If you are interviewing you can contact the company’s reception to inquire about the dress policy prior to the date.

2.    If you are meeting with clients check out their attire policy in advance and dress one notch higher. This even applies to all professions whether corporate, construction, retail, sanitation or industrial. Appearance counts, sadly people draw all kinds of conclusions from the way you present yourself. Don’t show up to client meetings, work or to interviews poorly groomed or in inappropriate attire. And yes those actors on TV may be wearing high stiletto heels to crime scenes but unless you are a hooker or escort and your John want to play dress up; save it for Hollywood and their un-realistic views of the world.

Don’t be late, never keep anyone waiting

Showing up late for appointments will not only make you look bad, but it can also have a negative impact on your success. Be mindful of people’s time; theirs and yours.

Examples:

·         If you are a business owner being late can be costly; for example a service provider who was late to two separate meetings with the same client lost an account worth millions.

·         I personally was kept waiting for over an hour past my appointment unattended in a reception area by a dentist. I had left the building and was back at my office, which was a 30 minute walk from the dentist’s office; approximately 30 minutes after I arrived back to my office I received a phone call from the dentist's office inquiring why I left and offering up something resembling an apology. That was 2 plus hours of my life that I won’t be paid for and sadly neither will that dentist.

·         If you are a job-seeker being late can be costly in terms of you not getting hired.

Occasionally we all run into circumstances beyond your control. You can try and circumvent life and avoid this costly gaffe by always giving yourself extra time to make the trip. Remember, it’s better to be 30 minutes early than 5 minutes late.

Use proper grammar

1.    Avoid using slang and expletives at all costs; even when your interviewer does it. Yes, interviewers have been known to bait incumbents by using incorrect grammar or cursing. I’ve witnessed it first hand during an interview.   If you are the interviewer and something slips out; be courteous enough to apologize to the incumbent.  If you are the incumbent make sure that you don’t succumb to this and start doing it yourself.

You always want to project an image of competence, character and commitment. The only place to hear such things should be in the local bar on game night, a construction site or on a slow tuna boat with your friends.  

Listen, Assess, then Speak

1.    For the job-seeker resist offering quick opinions during an interview. Listen to what the interviewer is saying, really saying. Their body language, demeanor, and use of vocabulary will tell you a lot. If you are good you’ll be able to assess the style of the company you’re interviewing with; what kind of personality the office has based on whom they chose to represent it as HR/interviewer.

Sadly enough offices are like elementary schoolyards. Still very cliquish and their choice of representatives reflects this. If you get bad vibes from the interviewer remember someone working for that company had to hire them, ergo you’ll never know this unless you listen and assess before you speak.

If you are the business owner/manager or boss in charge of handling clients, you will also learn about them and what they are “really” looking for by listening not only with your ears but your eyes (evaluating visually the body language, demeanor and cues), then assess what you’ve “heard” and “seen” then speak accordingly.

May 2012 bring you a successful career journey.

Dr. Ande

Host of: Job Seeker Radio

That's right, create your own website based on being unemployed. You know how celebrities and media personalities have websites as a part of their "media" package? Well now you are the celebrity and you should show off your own media package.

Make your website specific to your job search. It should include:

your resume

samples of your work or

your portfolio

any accreditations & certifications

and only professional and academic information

It doesn't have to be fancy; just a place to direct potential employers to. It also serves as a link included in your online signature that you should always use in forums, on discussion boards, and on all your social networking sites like LinkedIN, Twitter and Facebook.

If you are going to put a contact email link on your job search website (or any of your sites) it's a good idea to obfuscate them to avoid problems with spammers and protect your privacy. Better still use a contact box with "captcha" for security.  

3 Steps Closer to Your Next

This week on KIVA Career Talk eRadio with Dr. Ande, we'll talk about the three steps to get you to your next job. If you are still one of the millions of unemployed try implementing these three tips to get on the interviewer's radar.