In this 3-part series you’ll find an invaluable collection of grounded, practical advice. Some of the entries are simple entreaties, some portray intriguing vignettes, and others outline lists of guiding principles; all are illuminating, instructive, and insightful. Learning about the mistakes others have made will help keep you out of trouble – so take notes, take thought, and above all take action.

Lesson #1: Avoid general terms on your resume. Use terms and acronyms specific to your industry, for example: BASIC, JAVA, and Visual C++, instead of a general term such as “programming languages,” or use terms such as JIT, ERP, MRP and TQM instead of “manufacturing methods.” Avoid abbreviations of subjects and organizations that a company’s computer software may not recognize, such SHRM for the Society of Human Resource Management.

Lesson #2: Don’t suffer from negotiating impairment syndrome. Unfortunately, many job seekers relinquish their negotiating rights for such poor reasons as:

1. The company said the salary was non-negotiable because the starting pay was already budgeted.

2. I didn’t want to offend my new employer by holding out for more money. Besides, it seemed to be a fair offer.

3. I can’t ask for a higher-than-offered salary right now; I just came out of a bad situation (such as bankruptcy, termination, divorce).

4. I’ll wait until I have had a chance to prove myself.

All of these responses have a “yes, but” quality. For example: “Yes, I would have negotiated, but I’m currently unemployed…or I’m a career changer…or I don’t have a college degree.” Job seekers who give “yes, but” excuses for accepting less than they are worth suffer from negotiating impairment syndrome, which is characterized by a discounting or outright denial of opportunities to negotiate for more money.

Lesson #3: Don’t place all your eggs in one basket. Keep in mind that an online strategy is one tool in your career advancement kit. For many candidates, the Internet opens up an immense amount of job-related information, including vacancies, company profiles, industry information, and professional contacts. But don’t make it your only option. We may live in the information age but the Internet serves as an adjunct to already established job seeking channels.

Lesson #4: Many companies ask all new employees to sign a non-compete agreement. To make sure you’re able to work in your field once you leave the company, it’s important to narrow the scope of the non-compete agreement. In fact, tightening the scope of the agreement is to the employer’s benefit, as well as the employee’s. Courts in many states have refused to enforce non-compete agreements that are too broad. A focused, specific non-compete agreement can protect the employer while not causing the employee undue hardship.

Lesson #5: I’m a firm believer in doing your homework, determining your career anchors, and finding the position with the right fit. The major challenge is assessing and determining fit in the very brief and totally artificial environment of an interview. Here’s an interview technique to uncover the real corporate culture:

First, the candidate must know his own value system – what’s important to him, clearly and concisely. Then, write down the top five or six value keywords on a 3x5 card. Make several identical cards. For instance, the words could be: team work, integrity, intelligence, initiative, motivation, and leadership. During the interview process (usually when you’re asked if you have any questions), give a card to the interviewer and say something like “I believe ’fit’ is one of the most important elements of success. Here’s a list – in alphabetical order – of the values that are important to me. Can you help me understand how important these factors are to the XYZ Corporation by ranking them 1 through 5, one being the most important to the firm, 5 the least?”

Some of the critical elements of this technique should include:

1. That all the values are important to you

2. By asking the interviewer to keep it to a numerical ranking it keeps the process “clean”

3. When interviews are serial or sequential, give a card to each interviewer

4. The card requests corporate values, not personal values

5. It demonstrates that you’ve done your homework, know your own value system, and have prepared for the interview

Lesson #6: Don’t join a company or organization of any type unless you are totally comfortable with the prospect of working with the people you met in the interview process. Did you like them? Would you trust them? Does the team seem bright, positive, and destined to succeed? Whatever the financial incentives, don’t commit yourself to a product, service or profession that you won’t be proud of, that you won’t be eager to tell your family and friends about. You’re going to spend the majority of your time making, selling, promoting, and extolling the virtues of something that you will be intimately associated with in your mind and everyone else’s. Choose well.

Joe Hodowanes, a career strategy adviser in Tampa, Florida, offers a free resume and career analysis. Fax your resume to (813) 936-0201 or email it to jmwanes@jmwanes.com For questions, call Joe at (813) 936-0091 or visit www.jmwanes.com on the Web. All Job Search Advisor articles on this website are the property of www.jmwanes.com
(J.M. Wanes & Associates). You may download a copy for personal use. Redistribution without permission is strictly prohibited. © 2005 J.M. Wanes & Associates.