According to Amy George of By George Communications, there are some trendy words in use these days. You want to engage your audience, not distract them. Here are a few of them. Bespoke: This term is overused and misused. According to Webster’s Dictionary, bespoke means "custom made -- a bespoke suit ; dealing in or producing custom-made articles -- a bespoke tailor ." A better word to use is “custom,” if it is true. According to Webster’s “custom” means made-to-order or tailored. Use words that are in common use, such as custom or original. AUTHENTIC: Again, Webster’s says it means “not false or an imitation but real and actual.” An original piece of art would be authentic, but a copy of it would not be authentic. CURATED: Which Merriam-Webster defines as "selected, organized, and presented using professional or expert knowledge." It is stilted and belongs in a museum. Two of my annoying trendy words are: PASSIONATE: Came and went in about six months a few years ago. It has been so overused that it does not have much meaning any longer. It seems that everyone is passionate about something. It implies zeal, devotion, or enthusiasm. “Enthusiastic” is a good substitute for “passionate.” CIRCLE-BACK: This means to return. Why not just say, “I will get back to you on his issue?” If you are not sure of the meaning of a word, either look it up or don’t use it. Don’t use words to impress your readers. If you do not know the meaning of the word, they probably do not either. Recently, Kim Isaacs, a Monster.com contributor, contacted me for tips on career change resumes. If you are interested, here is the link to the article: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/resume-dilemma-career-change .

The Dirty Dozen The interview is over. You are told to expect the results in two weeks. A letter arrives two weeks later, and you open it and read the following: We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a position at this time. Although your background is impressive, your skillset is not compatible with our requirements, and we have identified another candidate who is a better fit for our opening. We will keep your résumé on file and contact you in the event a more appropriate position becomes available. We enjoyed meeting you and wish you well. The dreaded Dear John letter! You are disappointed and confused. You thought the interview had gone well and you would like to know what went wrong. Well, start with the language in the letter: your skillset is not compatible with our requirements. That must be the reason, correct? Probably not. Your résumé indicated the minimum skill set or the interview would have never happened. There must be another reason and identifying it would be a good lesson learned for future interviews. Does the company owe you a more specific explanation? If so, will it be shared with you? No and no. In the past, companies were forthcoming with concrete reasons for rejection, but as our society has become increasingly litigious in nature, the willingness to share rejection feedback has all but vanished. Rather than risk a lawsuit for reasons that could be interpreted as discriminatory, a company will use the terminology above. During my career in recruiting and placement, I kept track of the most common reasons for rejection. I refer to them as the Dirty Dozen, and I will share them with you here. 1. You failed to show sufficient interest in the position. This is a classic. Maybe you truly were not interested, and it showed. Maybe you were very interested and failed to let it show. Regardless of how you feel, the perceptions of the interviewers become their reality. 2. You are over-qualified for the position. This one is used often as a polite way of showing you the door-complimenting you as they send you on your way. Sometimes it is genuine. If the interviewer senses that the job will bore you or that you will become impatient, he or she can legitimately label you as overqualified or unqualified for the position. 3. You are under-qualified. As important as a well-written résumé is in any successful job search, sometimes it can over-sell. Perhaps you presented your collection of qualifications accurately, but the interview exposed some problems in the depth of some of those qualifications. This does not necessarily mean that you misrepresented yourself. Sometimes the potential employer is guilty of a little wishful thinking when reading a résumé. 4. They liked someone else better. This one gets used quite often. Why? It is cut and dried. How can you argue with it? People either like you, or they do not. If they do not, there is nothing you can do to change it. 5. You were beaten out for the position. As long as there are great jobs and great candidates for those jobs, you will have competition. As good as you know you are, it would be a mistake to assume that you are the only qualified candidate for the job. 6. Although you did well, the yes votes were not unanimous. Rarely is the decision to offer or not in the hands of one person acting alone. In most cases, there are many people in the interviewing process, and they all have some input regarding the final decision. Whether they vote on or off the record, their votes will be counted. In some cases, consensus or a majority decision is enough. In other cases, it is all or nothing. 7. You failed to sell yourself for the position. As you leave the interview, ask yourself what impressions you left in the minds of the interviewers. Do they see you in the job for which you are being considered, doing it well, and with a big smile on your face? If so, congratulations. If not, then Dear John. 8. You displayed inappropriate behavior or breached interviewing etiquette. Were you on time? Dressed appropriately? Polite and courteous? Did you treat everyone you met with respect and courtesy, or just those people in the powerful positions? 9. You were not prepared for the interview. How much homework did you do? Were you knowledgeable about the company? The industry? The position? The company's competitors? Yourself? 10. The position was filled before you got to the interview. This happens frequently. Many companies would rather go ahead with the interview than cancel out on you at the last minute. While it might be too late to recover most of the money they have already invested in the interview process, going forward with the interview does two things for them. First, they can file you away for future openings. Second, it's good for PR-although you will not be working for that company you are more likely to continue to use their products. 11. You focused too much on you and not enough on them. Human beings are, by nature, selfish-they care about themselves, their needs, and the needs of their dependents. No one expects you to deny your selfish side, but you need to be time-sensitive about it. Showing that self-interest too early in the interviewing process will increase the odds of rejection. When is it safe to broach those selfish issues? After the job offer is on the table. 12. You seemed more interested in the future than the present. Let's say you asked twenty questions during the interview. Five of them concerned the position at hand, and the rest were focused on the jobs to come. It sounds like you view the initial position as simply a stepping-stone. Is that the signal you meant to send? Note that some of these are within your power to control, while many of them are not. With proper preparation, interviewing empathy, and strong self-knowledge, you can minimize the chances that they will be used against you. In most cases, it is a combination of reasons that causes your downfall. So, what can you do? Learn from your mistakes, think positive, be prepared, control the controllable, and accept the fact that the rest is out of your hands. Nobody is perfect-you might get away with one or two of the above, especially if the interviewer likes you. THE DIRTY DOZEN © Tom Wolfe, author and career coach; all rights reserved; excerpts from Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition .

Job seekers can be a target for unscrupulous companies. Recently I told you about one scam. Here is what another company was doing. In this case, a recruiter, Nick Corcodilos, took them to court. FTC Halts Fake Job Opportunity and Resume Repair Operation Alleges defendants tricked consumers into paying advance fees of up to $2,500 for placement and resume services for jobs that did not exist. FOR RELEASE February 25, 2019 The Federal Trade Commission charged two companies and their owner with bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from consumers for sham job placement and resume repair services. A federal court halted the scheme and froze the defendants’ assets at the FTC’s request. According to the FTC’s complaint , Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions, LLC, PrivateEquityHeadhunters.com, and their owner, Craig Chrest, sent consumers unsolicited messages through well-known business networking websites, like LinkedIn, falsely claiming to have exclusive relationships with hundreds of private equity and venture capital firms, and telling consumers they were candidates for unadvertised, highly paid executive positions with these firms. To get an interview, job seekers were required to pay upfront fees of $1,200-$2,500. In many instances, the defendants were pocketing consumers’ money knowing the job opportunities were fake, according to the FTC. “Consumers should be wary about paying money for a job opportunity or interview,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Paying upfront for job placement services is often a sign of a scam.” The defendants also deceived job seekers with false claims that those who used their services had a 100 percent interview rate and over an 80 percent placement rate, according to the FTC. Since at least 2016, the defendants also deceptively sold purported resume repair services, telling consumers that their resumes were deficient and that they could not be considered for a job unless the defendants fixed their resumes. In many instances, the purported job was fake, according to the FTC. The defendants are charged with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The defendants in this case are Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions, LLC (also doing business as WWEJSS, Seven Figure Careers, 7FigRecruiters, 7FC, Finnburg Switzer, ResumeterPro, Creating Job Opportunity, Confidential Jobs Only, CJOnly, and CJO Private Equity); PrivateEquityHeadhunters.com, LLC (also doing business as PE Headhunters, Private Equity Headhunters, and PEHHS.COM LLC); and Craig Chrest, who owns and controls both companies. The Commission vote authorizing staff to file the complaint was 5-0. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas entered a temporary restraining order against the defendants on February 11, 2019. The FTC has requested the entry of a preliminary injunction that would halt the scheme until trial. FTC Complaint The Complaint filed against Chrest’s businesses by the FTC in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division alleges: “since at least 2014, Defendants have deceptively advertised, marketed, promoted, and sold bogus job placement and resume repair services, duping consumers out of millions of dollars.” “the job interview is a charade” “In many instances, the potential employer does not exist but is a shell entity established and controlled by Defendants.” “Defendants have established or controlled websites or created press releases for the purported PE/VC firms” “Defendants have similarly used deception to sell purported resume repair services.” “Defendants have frequently shut down their operations and re-opened similar operations using new assumed names, websites, or aliases.” “In 2017 and 2018, Defendants’ website has used numerous assumed names, including CJOnly and CJO Private Equity.” “Defendants have operated a series of websites over the years: PrivateEquityHeadhunters.com (2014); PEHHS.com (2014); www.sevenfigurecareers.com (2015); 7figrecruiters.com, www.FinnbergSwitzer.com, and www.resumeterpro.com (2016); and exx20171.com (2017-2018).” The lawsuit alleges that Defendants have engaged in deceptive practices in connection with the advertising, marketing, promotion and sales of job placement and resume repair services. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas has issued a Temporary Restraining Order prohibiting the alleged deceptive practices. You may obtain additional information directly from the Federal Trade Commission . The FTC has also published this post on its Business Blog, offering suggestions to consumers and advising “to do your research before paying for placement services”: “Executive search firm” charged with giving job seekers the business. Comments There are two legal cases: The action Chrest filed against in 2017 and the FTC’s new action against Chrest. Article provided by AskTheHeadhunter.com .

Sally McIntosh | Advantage Resumes, LLC of St. Louis

TRENDY WORDS

According to Amy George of By George Communications, there are some trendy words in use these days. You want to engage your audience, not distract them. Here are a few of them. Bespoke: This term is overused and misused. According to Webster’s Dictionary, bespoke means "custom made -- a bespoke suit; dealing in or producing custom-made [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2020-01-21T00:22:41+00:00January 15th, 2020|

Resume dilemma: Career change

Thinking of changing fields? Read my advice featured on Monster.com : Resume dilemma: Career change

By Sally McIntosh|2020-01-05T21:05:16+00:00January 5th, 2020|

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen The interview is over. You are told to expect the results in two weeks. A letter arrives two weeks later, and you open it and read the following: We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a position at this time. Although your background is impressive, your [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2019-10-17T01:33:54+00:00October 17th, 2019|

Tips to Consider Before Leaving Your Job

Tips to Consider Before Leaving Your Job If you’re thinking about leaving your job, research whether your company has a policy or guideline about resignations — in particular, how much notice you should provide. This policy may be detailed in your employee handbook. Prepare your work computer for your departure before announcing you’re leaving. Save [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2019-07-17T20:41:51+00:00July 17th, 2019|

Buyer Beware

Job seekers can be a target for unscrupulous companies. Recently I told you about one scam. Here is what another company was doing. In this case, a recruiter, Nick Corcodilos, took them to court. FTC Halts Fake Job Opportunity and Resume Repair Operation Alleges defendants tricked consumers into paying advance fees of up to $2,500 [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2019-04-17T23:41:34+00:00April 17th, 2019|

The Recruiter / ATS Scam Is Back

The Recruiter / ATS Scam Is Back

In life, if it is not one thing, it is another thing. Technology can be a good thing, or it can be bad. The article below is a warning of what to watch out for when job searching. On the surface, it sounds legitimate, but it is a scam to get your money. It is [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2019-01-31T02:22:01+00:00January 15th, 2019|

What to Do Next with Your Résumé

What to Do Next with Your Résumé There is an old saying that a résumé thrown in a drawer will not work. Now that you have your résumé, what should you do with it? Apply for Positions They simply use the résumé to apply for positions they see advertised — on job boards and company [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2018-10-18T22:11:42+00:00October 18th, 2018|

Employment Law in a Nutshell

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Employment Law in a Nutshell When applying for a job, what most candidates say they want is a hiring environment free of discrimination. There are a number of local, state, and federal laws that employers must follow when hiring employees. Generally speaking, these laws prohibit discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, age, [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2018-07-14T13:50:05+00:00July 16th, 2018|

Jobseeker’s Guide to Online Reputation Management

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Jobseeker’s Guide to Online Reputation Management When searching for a job, it’s very common for employers nowadays to look at your online profile. This information isn’t just used to “rule out” candidates. What a company finds about you online should reassure them about your qualifications and suitability as a prospective employee … not raise red [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2018-04-16T20:22:06+00:00April 15th, 2018|

What Makes an E-Note (Cover Letter) Readable?

What Makes an E-Note (Cover Letter) Readable?

Job Search Tip Set aside a workspace for your job search. Designate a specific area to use when conducting your job search. This should be an area free of distractions. What Makes an E-Note (Cover Letter) Readable? We are in the era of the byte generation which means shorter is better. Be Specific About the [...]

By Sally McIntosh|2018-01-17T00:54:00+00:00January 17th, 2018|

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