Summary

I get it. Books are long. And not everything speaks directly to your situation. If you don't have the patience to read this whole book, or if you've read it and are just looking for a quick reference guide, here is a summary version.

Preface: Launch Points

People go into job searches in many different ways, and some of those require you to take action before reading this book.

I Was Laid Off or Fired

· Make sure you get paid for any accrued unpaid vacation days/sick days/overtime.

· Sign up for COBRA (health insurance).

· Transfer 401(k) money out of the company's 401(k) plan.

· Ask about a severance package to give yourself an extra financial cushion while looking for a job, and don't sign any legal agreements unless they offer compensation.

· Send a classy goodbye email to all your co-workers. Include your personal email address so they can stay in touch.

· Send LinkedIn connection requests to capture the value of the relationships you built.

· Apply for unemployment benefits, immediately. You've been paying for this insurance program in every paycheck. Use it.

· Own your bad news by posting it to your social media accounts, in a positive fashion, to let your network know you're looking for work.

· Consider training as a supplement to your job search.

· Start your job search immediately. People who look for work right after losing a job have more success in finding a new job.

· Keep in touch with the people from your former job. Your network is a huge asset in a job search.

I Am About to Graduate from School

If you're about to graduate from school, you'll want to jump into the search as aggressively as possible to make the most of your “student status” while you still can. That includes using your networking advantage by soliciting alumni as a student, and using all your school's free career center resources, which are sometimes quite valuable.

I Am Coming Out of the Military

Thank you for your service! Employers love hiring veterans, so take advantage of that and use all the military resources at your disposal, including the Career Skills Programs (SkillBridge), and the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Also make sure you check out all the available tools from the Defense Department, Labor Department, and RAND Corporation that help you translate military experience into in-demand civilian job skills.

I Am Returning to the Workforce After a Gap in My Work History

Gaps don't matter. Lots of people have gaps, so don't be defensive about them. Be truthful about them and focus on the positive aspects of your time away from the workforce.

I Am Currently Employed but Looking for a New Job

The best time to get a new job is while you're still in your old one. It's a positive signal to new employers that will make your search significantly easier.

Introduction: Nobody Teaches You How to Be a Job Seeker

Much of the conventional wisdom about the job search process is wrong since job search moved online. Here's a walk-through of how things work today.

Part One: Get Prepared Now!

Chapter 1: Accept the Truth About Bias

Everybody has bias, including you. Every person you meet during the hiring process is ruled by bias they can't control. Our goal is not to eliminate peoples' biases, but rather, to use awareness of bias to do better at every point of the job search process. Understanding how bias works is as important as writing an effective resume.

Chapter 2: Write a Resume That Works

Get Past the Robots

Most resumes are read by a robot before they are read by a human. The sole purpose of your resume is to get past the robots and into human hands. There are many things you can do to improve your chances.

· Use the simplest resume template you can find so the robots won't have any problem parsing it.

· Use generic job titles for your past experience, because you want the robots to match the job titles that employers use in their job postings.

· Write like a caveman, meaning use simple language so that the robots can clearly decipher your skills and experience. Many times your resume is turned into a brief summary for humans, so simple language helps there as well.

· Use numbers to describe your career accomplishments and impact in a concrete way. This will make summarization of your accomplishments cleaner.

· List your job skills. Put them in their own section. Be explicit in describing them, especially since employers are now prioritizing specific, demonstrable skills. When listing these skills, be precise in what they are and the number of years you've practiced them.

· Include all licenses and certifications. If you have a license, include the license number.

Coming Out of School with No Prior Work Experience

If you're looking for your first job after school:

· List any work experience you have, in addition to listing school experiences like academics, jobs, internships, extracurricular activities, community service, or any other productive way you've spent your time.

· Put your Education section at the top, with your school name, your full GPA or your major GPA (if that's higher). If both your GPAs were poor, don't worry. No one in the real world will ever bring up your GPA if you don't.

· Remember that employers consider soft skills essential. Anything you can do to show these off works in your favor.

Be Honest About Gaps in Your Work Experience

Don't leave gaps in your resume blank. Be honest about gaps in your work experience, because there's always a way to turn those gaps into assets for your job search.

· If you've been laid off, include the job experience on your resume, and then add a bullet point about the reason why you were laid off.

· If you were fired, you should still include the job experience, but it's best not to note that you were fired on your resume and just discuss it during your interview.

· If you were raising children, list that as your experience, and make the details as engaging as possible about what you accomplished.

· If you spent time figuring out what you really wanted to do, list that on your resume but be specific and focus on the things you did that encouraged you to grow.

· If you were incarcerated, it's important to include that on your resume. List the institution, the years you were incarcerated, a general mention of the type of offense (without getting too specific), and be sure to include any positive things you did during your incarceration that reflect well on you and your character.

· If you were caring for somebody sick (possibly even yourself), briefly explain the matter in a general way, without providing too much information, especially about the person you cared for. Be prepared to talk about your time as a caregiver, and how you used your strengths during that time.

Check Your Resume for Grammar and Spelling

Using poor grammar and spelling on your resume is like speaking to somebody with lettuce in your teeth: people will be too distracted to pay attention to the important stuff you have to say. Double-check your spelling and grammar, and then have at least one friend review it again.

Get All the Little Resume Details Right

Make sure you're getting these parts of your resume right:

· Include your full legal name

· Phone number: Use your cell phone number or the number that you most reliably answer. You must be ready to answer this phone at all times while job hunting.

· Email address: If you are in college or graduate school, it is a good idea to use your official school email address. It shows employers that you really attend the school you say you do. If you are already in the workforce, use your personal email address, not your business email address. There is real bias over what email provider you use. Time to drop the @hotmail.com or @earthlink.net email address and upgrade to Outlook or Gmail.

· Physical address: Include your city, state, and zip code. If you're open to moving or explicitly looking to move, include “open to relocating” or “planning to relocate.”

Should You Pay for a Resume-Writing Service?

Resume writing services are usually worth the money, especially since the people running them usually spend all day, every day, focused on something that you're only doing once every few years: writing a resume. Just make sure you do your homework and use a service that is competent and reputable.

Give Your Resume the Robot Test

When you're done with your resume, upload it to ZipRecruiter to see if our robots parse it correctly. If our robots can't read your resume, you can be sure that other systems are going to have even worse problems.

Chapter 3: Polish Your Online Brand

Before you start searching for jobs, you need to review, clean up, and possibly hide your social network content from prospective employers. In one CareerBuilder survey, over 50% of employers reported passing on a candidate because of something they found on one of their social networks.

How to Clean Up Your Social Media Accounts

The easiest way to clean up your social media accounts is simply to make your accounts private, because employers can't see what they can't find. If you are looking for the type of job where companies are going to expect to see your online presence, then you'll have to go through each social media account individually and decide which pictures, articles, and videos are those that will reflect well on you. Make sure you scroll all the way back to the beginning of your social media life in each account. The one social media account you should not set to private is LinkedIn, since that's how employers can find out more about you.

Get Your References Ready

One in three candidates is eliminated from consideration after a reference check, so having good references is critical to landing a job. The best references by far are previous employers and co-workers, but you may also want to use clients, customers, commanding officers in the military, or even teachers. Even references from your personal life, like a religious leader or another volunteer in a charitable organization you give your time to, can work in rare cases. You need to ask all potential references to make sure they are going to say positive things about you. Remember to reconnect with each reference every time you give their contact information to a potential employer, and make sure to tell them about the specifics of the job you're applying to.

Get Your Recommendation Letters in Place

A recommendation letter is a more concise, written version of a reference, but with one big advantage: with your reference's permission, you can write the letter yourself to custom-tailor it to deliver exactly the message you want. This doesn't mean to forge a letter, but rather, write the first draft for your reference for them to edit as they see fit. Start with a clear opening statement, include a description of the professional relationship between you, add concrete examples of what you did well, and finish with an unequivocal endorsement of your future potential.

Chapter 4: Network to Build Relationships

Networking Is an Awesome, Ridiculous, Unfair Advantage. Use It!

Somewhere between 60% and 85% of jobs are filled by networking. It's the most common reason an otherwise qualified candidate didn't get the job. Many job openings never get posted or announced because the hiring manager creates the role internally to bring in a specific known candidate. The job search, and much of life, is about relationships, and those relationships are built upon a foundation of networking.

How to Network

The average person knows 600 people. You need to use that network of people to help you. Interestingly, it is our weak connections to people (those people who you do not see on a regular basis), rather than the strong ones, that actually make a difference. Your job is to build the biggest network of weak ties you can.

· Invite everyone you know (and don't know) to connect on social media. The more people you're connected to, the more opportunities you create for yourself.

· Smash that “like” button. Don't be a lurker. Studies show that the more you “give” by liking things, the more people are willing to help you in return.

· People on social media are primed to help you, just don't make asking for help the first thing you do.

· Words and tone matter, so make sure your posts are positive and written to position you as somebody others would want to recommend.

· Share openly about whatever it is that you're passionate about to attract others like you.

· People are attracted to momentum, so put your introversion away and tell people how you're spending your time, particularly if it's about self-improving.

· Post stories. People love before and after stories. They can be about anything.

· Avoid controversial topics like politics, religion, population health, or conspiracy theories.

In the Real World, Don’t Network for a Job, Network for a Relationship

The whole point of networking is to make a personal connection with somebody, and just about the least personal, most utilitarian question you could ask somebody is “What do you do?” Instead, start with the personal stuff.

Make the Most of a Formal Networking Meeting

When you do meet with somebody to ask for help or advice, plan ahead so you get a positive outcome. Be explicit in what you're asking for, stay humble in your discussions with them, and most importantly, try to find something you can help them with, even if it's as simple as just recommending a new restaurant.

Part Two: Find the Right Job!

Chapter 5: Use Job Sites That Have These Features

Job search technology has gone through a revolution in the past eight years, so make sure you use sites that have these features.

Feature 1: Has All the Jobs in One Place

Some job sites only display jobs employers pay to post, but aggregators make all jobs from many sites searchable in one place. The list of aggregators include ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn, Monster, and Indeed.

Feature 2: Enables You to Apply to Jobs with One Click

One of the most frustrating realities of job search is that many employers require job boards to send you offsite to the company's corporate job page in order to put in an application. The best sites have a one-click apply feature that allows you to submit an application to most jobs without ever leaving the job site interface. If you don't see a “one-click” or “one-tap” apply option on your current job site, switch to one of the big, modern job boards.

Feature 3: Picks Jobs Just For You

Thanks to the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), you now live in a golden age where AI can pick “just right” jobs for you as soon as they are posted. Make sure you use a job site that alerts you to a job match the moment the job goes live. The speed with which you apply to a job is highly correlated with getting hired.

Feature 4: Shows You What the Robots See

All job sites use robots to try to extract who you are from your resume, but the average resume parser is only about 60% accurate in interpreting resumes. The best sites show you what your online resume looks like and let you correct and enrich the information in your profile.

Feature 5: Alerts You to a Job Match as Soon as the Job Goes Live

The absolute best time to apply to a job is one second after the recruiter posts it. More than 25% of jobs are filled with candidates who applied within the first two days, while 50% tend to be people who applied within the first week. Don’t waste your time on sites that aren’t giving you instant notifications of new job postings.

Feature 6: Enables Feedback on Individual Job Suggestions

Look for sites with the option to give a thumbs up or down, or maybe a happy/sad face rating, on a delivered suggestion. That feedback is sent back to the algorithm to infer your preferences around things like salary range, geography, and company size so that your recommendations keep increasing over time.

Feature 7: Shows You How Good a Match You Are for Every Job

The second most common complaint from job seekers after not getting a response to an application is not knowing which jobs to apply to. Job search companies can now use AI to show you how good a match you are for open jobs. Use sites that explicitly call out whether or not applying makes sense!

Feature 8: Keeps Track of Your Applications

Make sure to use a service that keeps a record of the jobs you've applied to so you can easily find them again. This is particularly important if the employer contacts you after you've applied. You want to be able to review the details of the position before speaking with them.

Feature 9: Lets You Know Your Application Status

The number-one complaint from job seekers around the world is applying to a job and not hearing anything back. Make sure the job site you're using tells you when the employer reads your resume, when they review it again, and when they give you a positive rating. If you're not getting application status updates, find a site that provides them.

Feature 10: Helps You Get Recruited

Getting recruited is a way better way to discover a new opportunity than actually trying to find one. Use a job site that presents you to employers like a recruiter would. In the future of job search you don't apply to jobs. The employers apply to you.

Chapter 6: Tools You Have to Use in Your Search

You Must Be on ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter is the number-one ranked job search app in the United States for four years running, and is at the forefront of technological innovation and market design to assist you in your job search. No other job site is doing all the things ZipRecruiter has already done.

You Must Be on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the professional social network. Everyone looking for a career versus just finding a job should be on LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn to find the pages of companies you're interested in, invite people you know to connect, and find people you have a connection to.

On LinkedIn, you can expand your network by joining active professional groups, ask people to write you recommendations, send messages to connections, and see who is looking at your profile. To get even more value, you should periodically post things that catch your professional interest, and like/comment on others' posts. You can also use LinkedIn to learn more about the companies and the people at those companies you'll be meeting with for interviews.

You Might Want to Use Industry-Specific Job Boards

The major job sites make it their business to aggregate all the opportunities listed on most job boards, including the ones on industry-specific job boards. However, it never hurts to supplement your search by including an industry-specific board in your list of tools. These sites often have content beyond just jobs that can help you network or find additional training.

Use a Human Recruiter (If You Can)

Recruiters let you skip the robots and get directly in front of a human. Sometimes they even know about job openings before they are posted. Recruiters can also help you fine-tune your resume, coach you on what to say during an interview, and are out there pitching you to employers. All of this comes at no charge—there is no reason not to accept a recruiter's help.

Monster and Indeed Are Both Good Supplemental Job Search Tools

The two titans of the old-school job industry are still around. Both of them are aggregators that let you search all the jobs in one place, and both of them have enough data to build powerful modern search algorithms. It makes sense if you have the time to set up email alerts from one of these two sites as a supplement to ZipRecruiter and LinkedIn.

Chapter 7: Apply to These Jobs

You do not want to be “black holed” where you apply but never hear anything back from prospective employers. Here are some guidelines to make sure you get a response and some additional rules for what makes a good job to apply to:

Apply to Jobs Within The First Two Days They Are Posted

Applying to a job within two days of the job being posted more than doubles your odds of getting hired. The longer you wait to apply, the lower the odds your application will be considered. Employers view only 50% of applicants who come in after the first seven days.

Don’t Self-Disqualify

The employers writing job postings are creating a wish list—not an accurate description of who they will hire. Give yourself permission to apply for any job where you meet 40% or more of the requirements.

Apply to Jobs That EXACTLY Match the Most Recent Job Title on Your Resume

Any time your current (or last) job title matches the title in the posting, you have higher odds of getting put in front of a human. This is why your resume should list the most common description of the role you filled. No one is going to report you to the resume police for making your work history easier to understand.

Apply to Jobs Where You Know Someone at the Company

Over half of jobs are filled by a candidate who already knew someone at the company. When you have someone on the inside vouch for you, not only is it more likely that your resume will be seen by the person with the power to set up an interview, but it's coming from someone the company already trusts. Many companies even encourage these types of referrals, paying out bonuses to employees that bring in new hires.

Apply to Jobs Where You Love the Company, Product, or Service

If you're passionate about a company or what they do, go ahead and apply. If you can get in front of a human, your passion and expertise for the product, service, or industry they work in will make you a great interview.

Apply to Jobs That Are Closer to Where You Live

Long commutes breed misery and unhappy employees. Employers know that, which is why employers like candidates who live closer to the office, and are wary of applicants who live farther away. This may change for some positions, now that the pandemic has expanded remote work. But it will likely remain true for positions that must be done in-person.

Apply to Jobs with Stated Compensation That Is Higher Than What You Currently Make

The surest way to get a salary bump is to move to a new company. Compensation is a concrete way to compare one job to another and a succinct way to clarify to yourself, and hiring managers, why you are looking to leave a current role. As a result, target jobs that offer more money than you're currently making.

Apply to Jobs at Direct Competitors of Your Current Employer

Your industry expertise makes you an ideal candidate to the hiring manager because they know you'll hit the ground running, and your inside knowledge of a competitor means you carry a currency that no other candidate on the market can match.

However, think hard before you make this choice. Unless you get the blessing of your current company, this strategy is fraught with not just relationship risk, but actual legal peril. Check your employment agreement with a lawyer to make sure you haven't signed a binding noncompete clause. You'll also want to be extremely careful not to bring any of your prior company's intellectual property to your new job.

Apply to Jobs Where the Employer Has Reviews Online That Pique Your Interest

Read reviews about a potential employer, including details about work culture, diversity, management, and salaries. Reading reviews can help you identify the right company for you, and will also give you great content for your interview to show that you came prepared.

Should You Send a Cover Letter with Your Application?

Because printed resumes are no longer mailed to a hiring manager, a cover letter isn't required 99% of the time. If you find yourself in the rare situation when a human being actually places your resume directly into another human's hands, make sure your letter addresses the reader specifically, remains brief, highlights your personality, and uses the correct formatting.

What If I Want to Change Industries?

Whether you just don't like what you do or you have to change industries because of technological disruption, new careers are well within your reach.

Explore “new-collar” opportunities—jobs that require expertise in only a single skill, software, or technique. Many of these jobs can be had after relatively short training courses. Examples include piloting a drone, photo and video editing, sound production, computer-aided design (CAD), business management software, home inspection, massage therapy, medical device operation, phlebotomy, and many more.

Do NOT Apply to These Jobs

Watch out for phony employers and job scams designed to take advantage of people who are desperate for work. Some warning signs of a scam job are: having to pay to get the job, a requirement to share credit card or bank account information, or the promise of access to otherwise private government jobs.

If anyone offers high pay for little work or extends an offer without even speaking with you, run the other way. Three particularly dangerous job scams are:

· Jobs that ask you to receive and send packages (repackaging scams).

· Jobs that ask you to receive and transfer funds (money laundering scams).

· Call-center jobs that ask you to sell a sham product or service and collect people's financial information (call center scams).

Think Twice Before You Apply to These Jobs

A job is supposed to pay you, not the other way around. There are some risky jobs that you should be careful before accepting. Two of the most prevalent high-risk jobs are multilevel marketing (MLM) and lease–purchase truck-driving jobs.

· Multilevel marketing jobs pitch you the ability to sell a popular and well-known brand of some product on your own time, and promise you that your earnings are only limited by how hard you work. But the catch is that you need to buy a supply of the products first, and that it's much harder to get your friends, family, and strangers to buy products from you than most people think. Even worse, MLM companies encourage you to spend a lot of time recruiting others to become salespeople, which critics argue is really just a pyramid scheme, which is illegal.

· Lease–owner trucking companies will pay you to go through a truck-driver training program, but when the program is done, they'll entice you to buy your own truck using their financing. Unfortunately, the costs quickly multiply, and are deducted from your paycheck. It's not uncommon to get negative paychecks for which you owe them money. Lease-owner trucking jobs can be a hard way to make a living driving a truck. Many trucking companies have paid millions to settle class-action lawsuits against them.

Chapter 8: How to Ace a Pre-Screen

A lot of employers will pre-screen you before bringing you in for an interview. This is usually just a verification exercise. This is not an interview. It is dead simple to get past this step. Here's how to navigate the phone screen hurdle.

Read Your Email And Answer Your *&#%* Phone

Employers hate when they can't get in touch with you. Once you've applied to a job, check your email regularly and have your phone on you. Take every call—even if your caller ID marks the call “Unknown.” That's all you have to do to give yourself a better shot at success.

This Is NOT the Time to Ask Questions

Pre-screening calls are formulaic exercises in confirming your key skills and work history. Don't caveat your answers or ask questions about their questions. Answer as simply and directly as possible. It's okay to be imprecise. You can offer clarity when they bring you in for an in-person interview.

It’s Okay to Be Excited

Enthusiasm during the pre-screening call helps you, and is persuasive to the person on the other end of the conversation, even if all they are doing is checking some boxes. Smile while you're talking. The simple act of smiling releases feel-good hormones that help relax your body, and lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

Chapter 9: What to Wear to an Interview

In the first twenty seconds of your interview, your interviewer will reach numerous judgments, which are unlikely to change regardless of how long they speak with you. As a result, first impressions are critically important. What the interviewer sees in the first twenty seconds—your clothes and demeanor—will play a huge role in whether you win the job.

Understand the Unconscious Bias Around Apparel

Studies have shown strong bias around apparel. People who wear what is perceived to be “expensive” clothing are judged as more competent. Since what you wear influences your interviewer's first impression, buying a new outfit is an investment that can pay off big. You don't need to spend a lot of money on clothes for your interview. There are a number of fast fashion retail stores now that make looking stylish affordable. Just remember to iron your new clothes before you wear them!

Picking Your Interview Outfit

Not all jobs have the same dress code. There is no one-style-fits-all outfit that works for every interview. Pick clothes that you think make you look good. When you feel good, it changes your posture and boosts your confidence.

How You Know Your Interview Outfit Is Right

The only important rule for an interview outfit is that you're wearing something that makes your brain think you look good! When you feel confident, you'll naturally “power pose” in which your shoulders set back, your chest puffs out, and your arms relax. The right interview outfit literally changes how you carry yourself and interviewers will notice. Keep shopping until you find an outfit that makes you want to kick ass!

Perfume and Cologne are a Definite No

Make sure the defining thing your interviewer remembers about you is not how you smell. Go to every interview scentless. No perfume, cologne, aftershave, baby powder, body lotion, or hair spray.

Let’s Talk About Sweat

When you sweat, others view you as less confident, less competent, and less trustworthy. To keep yourself cool and dry, you can wear antiperspirant, wear a cotton undershirt, use sweat pads, carry a kerchief or scarf, hold a cup of ice water, refrain from alcohol the night before your interview, and don’t drink caffeine on the day of your meeting.

Chapter 10: How to Ace a Job Interview

A full 93% of job seekers feel nervous about interviewing. Here's how to stay calm and make a standout impression.

Don’t Die in the First 20 Seconds

You can't win the job in the first 20 seconds, but amazingly, you can lose it. There are four things you need to do as soon as you meet your interviewer:

1. Give a REAL smile, which involves a contraction of the muscles around both your mouth, and your eyes.

2. Make strong eye contact immediately. This heightens their perception of your confidence, elevates your perceived social status, increases their belief in what you have to say, and triggers multiple parts of the brain involved in empathy, which means your interviewer will be primed to connect with you. (After that first conscious use of eye contact, go back to your normal eye contact pattern. Too much eye contact in conversation signals you are “selling,” which is associated with dishonesty.)

3. Offer a firm handshake, which signals confidence and extraversion.

4. Say the name of the interviewer, and add “nice to meet you.” Saying their name is viewed as a compliment because it was important enough for you to remember, and also increases feelings of familiarity so that both of you relax.

How to Crush the Next 29 Minutes and 40 Seconds of the Interview

After the first 20 seconds comes the trap question: “Tell me about yourself …” No one ever wants you to really answer this question. Instead, I am going to tell you exactly what to say.

The Magical First Sentence

This magical first sentence is your powerhouse opening to kick off what will be a great interview: “[INSERT INTERVIEWER NAME]—(one-second pause)—I'm so excited to be here because [fill in the blank with something specific about the business.]” You know the magical first sentence worked if your interviewer immediately starts talking.

Hit the Ball Back Every Time

Great interviews are when the two parties spend an equal amount of time talking. They are trying to figure out what it would be like to work with you and will learn more from how well you listen, what questions you ask, and how you process new information, than they will from listening to you talk about yourself.

Your goal is to start conversations. Not deliver monologues. Make a game of ending every answer you give with a question. In essence, after everything you say—I want you to “hit the ball back.”

Standing Out

An interview is a contest with only one winner. You aren't just trying to prove you can do the job, you're trying to prove you can do the job better than all the other candidates you're competing against. There is one thing that the best candidates do to cement their status as top pick: create a memorable moment, which is when the interviewer feels like they've taught you something, made you change your mind, or took an idea you brought in with you and made it better.

How to Create a Memorable Moment

Interviewers are more likely to remember you if they feel like they did well in the interview. How do you make your interviewer feel great? When your interviewer asks you a question, take a full two seconds before responding. Show them you're thinking about what they said and that you're a thoughtful listener. Everyone loves a great listener.

“I Have a Story to Tell You …”

Want to be really memorable? Get your points across by telling stories. Facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they're delivered as part of a story. Interviewers are asking you questions in the hopes of starting a conversation. Nothing captures attention and makes a person want to share back more than a good story. And your greatest tool for doing so is this sentence: “I have a story to tell you …” Rehearse at least two stories so you have them in your back pocket when you go into the interview.

Be Ready for These Common Interview Questions

After “tell me about yourself,” there are two questions that trip up job seekers more than the rest.

· “Why are you looking to leave your current job?” There is no answer you can give to this question that meaningfully increases your chances of getting hired, but there is one answer that is definitely wrong: don't say anything negative about the last boss you worked for, or worse, the company itself. No matter how valid your complaint, denigrating your current or previous employer, will always reflect poorly on you.

· “How much are you looking to get paid?” The answer to this question is not whatever your last job paid plus a slight bump. The answer to this question is what the market will bear! Do your research online and know the market rate for the role.

There are a dozen other common questions it pays to be prepared for:

· “Why do you want to work at this company?”

· “Why do you want this job?”

· “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?”

· “Tell me about a work conflict and how you dealt with it?”

· “Why are you changing careers?”

· “What's your management style?”

· “What do you do when you're not at work?”

· “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

· “What would your 30/60/90 day plan be?”

· “How many bathroom stalls are there in a New York City skyscraper?”

“Do You Have Any Questions?” Yes, You Do!

You should always have questions at the end. Asking questions (and the quality of the questions you ask) is one more way to show versus tell the interviewer what it will be like to work with you. You want to show that you're thoughtful about the business, care about culture, and importantly, that you are interested.

How to Be Awesome in a Video Interview

In a postpandemic world, video interviewing is certain to be a fixture in the future of work. With video interviewing, instead of twenty seconds to make a first impression, you get just one second. But the good news is that you have 100% control and can stage every detail of what your interviewer sees when they first virtually meet you. Here's a list of things to do to make sure you own every part of your first impression.

· Overgroom yourself, which means selecting solid color outfits, using hair styling products, shaving your face or brushing your beard (for men), considering a ponytail (for women or long-haired men), using makeup to cover up blemishes or bags under the eyes, cleaning your glasses, wearing pants, tidying your eyebrows, and making sure you use the “touch up my appearance” setting on Zoom.

· Pick a spot with good light. It's best to sit facing a window to get natural light, but sitting outside in the sun or using your own inexpensive lighting setup are also good options.

· Place your camera at eye level, using books or anything else to prop the camera up higher.

· Check your background to make sure that everything in the camera's eye leaves a good impression and doesn't look cluttered or messy.

· Sit up straight. Posture matters, and an upright spine conveys professionalism and attentiveness.

· Smile when you join the call, so that the first thing people see when your video appears is your smile.

· Show interviewers you're into it by starting with the “magic sentence.” Let them see you using a pen and paper to take notes.

· Embrace the unexpected by realizing that something is likely to go wrong and remembering that, when it does, handling things well will end up reflecting positively on you.

Chapter 11: How to Follow Up After the Interview

Only 43% of candidates send their interviewer a thank-you note after an interview, which makes it easy for people who want to stand out. There are three techniques to writing a follow-up thank-you message, but all of them follow the overriding golden rule: talk about the interviewer—not yourself!

Increase Your Enthusiasm … Because You Met Them

There is no better way to compliment interviewers than to say meeting them increased your interest in the role. Confirm what they suspected—that they were great in the interview!

Show You Listened to Them

Repeat something you learned or a key takeaway you had from speaking with them. Limit yourself to one or two examples, and share how their words affected you.

Highlight Their Best Moment

Revisit their best moment from the interview by either rehashing the best question they asked, revisiting a moment they changed your mind, or describing a moment they taught you something.

Part Three: Go Get That Job!

Chapter 12: You Must Negotiate

Your Brain Is Stupid

In a 2018 survey of more than 50,000 job seekers on ZipRecruiter, 64% reported accepting the first offer they received.¹ For most people, negotiating is painful. It's not your fault. It's how your brain is wired. To your muddled brain, negotiating might cause the employer to rescind the offer. Let me reassure you that your brain is stupid. Employers do not rescind job offers because you ask for more.

You Get What You Negotiate

Pay in MOST salaried jobs is set by negotiation. There are some jobs where negotiating is not possible, but for the vast majority of jobs employers expect you to negotiate.

Negotiation Is Expected, and Priced into the First Offer

According to ZipRecruiter's 2018 job seeker survey, about one-third of all job candidates attempt to negotiate their job offers. Because they don't know which ones it will be, employers discount their first offers by between 5% and 15% to all candidates. Before negotiating with an employer, spend five minutes researching and equipping yourself with the data you need to get a good idea of your value in the marketplace.

They Can’t Guess What You Want

Before you enter a negotiation, make sure you've thought about the other things you might want in addition to the job and salary. Think about things like a flexible work schedule, more vacation time, your moving expenses covered, your job title, a good parking spot, or even bringing your dog to work. If you can't get everything you want in a negotiation, be prepared to trade something less important to you for something more important.

Don’t Negotiate Against Yourself

A lot of job seekers fail to use these three fundamental tactics before accepting a job.

First, apply to more jobs, which ideally will get you multiple offers, which in turn is more likely to lead to a higher initial offer.

Second, anchor higher by suggesting a salary at the high end of the range. You can easily find out what the market will bear here: www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries. Don't be afraid to throw out the first number in a negotiation.

Finally, never accept the first offer. A single ten-minute negotiation is likely worth more than $15,000 to you over the next four years.

Chapter 13: Negotiating Your Job Offer—A Step-by-Step Guide

· Step 1: Celebrate with the employer as soon as you get the offer. Doing so will make them think of you as part of the team, triggering anxiety about losing you.

· Step 2: Make a smooth counteroffer with one of these approaches.

· The “name your price” approach, in which you say, “If you can do (x), we have a deal.”

· The “one small problem” approach, in which you say that you love the company, but you have “just one small problem you need to solve” before accepting the offer. The problem is yours and yours alone, but by sharing it you give them the opportunity to offer a solution.

· The “multiple offers” approach, in which you go out and get more than one company interested in hiring you. The four most powerful words in any negotiation are, “I have another offer.” If you're someone that doesn't like negotiating, getting a second offer is the key to inducing employers to bring up their offer without you saying a word.

· Step 3: Say nothing until they do. This is easy. After you've made a counteroffer to the employer, don't say another word. Just remain silent, no matter how awkward it gets.

· Step 4: Accept the offer correctly. When the employer says, “we have a deal” make sure you ask for the offer in writing. Also, don't sell past the close, which means not rehashing any negotiation points or saying anything other than how excited you are about the agreement. And shift immediately to saying “we” over “me.” Use inclusive language to indicate you're on the team now and accelerate your integration.

Chapter 14: How to Quit Your Current Job the Right Way

Leaving a job in the right way is crucial to protecting yourself, your reputation, and your relationships. By doing everything you can to soften the blow, you're making an investment in your future.

Don’t Quit Your Job Until You Have an Offer Letter in Writing

No matter how confident you are that you're starting a new job, do not talk to anyone about it at your current job until you have an offer letter in writing. Of course it's unlikely that something will go wrong before you get the offer in writing, but it's not impossible, so play it safe.

Always Notify Your Direct Manager First—Don’t Skip Levels

The first person you should notify about quitting your job is your direct manager. When you do it, make sure you give them at least two weeks, notice, explain why you accepted the new job, and ask for input on how to best communicate that you're leaving to the rest of the team. For extra credit, you should also offer to assist in hiring a replacement for yourself, and write down a summary of your responsibilities and suggestions on who best to offload each responsibility to. You should also offer to train someone internally in all your responsibilities before you leave.

No Touchdown Dances

Your actions on the way out are how the company and members of your team will remember you. Do whatever you can to cushion the blow of you leaving, which includes not doing any overly exuberant celebrations in front of your current colleagues about either your new job or the things you won't miss about the current one. If you want to celebrate, celebrate them by telling them how much you both enjoyed and learned from working with them.

What to Do If They Counter

There's a chance that your employer might make you a rich offer to entice you to stay. Before you jump at the money, make sure to think hard about why you were leaving in the first place. If you're going to accept a counter, make sure they address more than just the cash you're dissatisfied with, and make your asks big. If you accept the counter, tell the other company immediately.

Also, don't be surprised if you remain unhappy after accepting a counteroffer, because 50% of employees who accept counteroffers still end up leaving within a year. Don't beat yourself up if you find yourself back on the market shortly after getting everything you thought you wanted.

Chapter 15: Congratulations on the New Job! Let Me Know How It Went!

If you've followed all my advice, then it's only a matter of time before you're ready for this last step: Celebrate!

You've worked hard to find your new job, so make sure to take some time and enjoy your accomplishment.

Nothing gets me and the ZipRecruiter team more fired up than helping people find work, so please reach out and tell me your job search story at www.ziprecruiter.com/gethirednow.

Note

1. 1. Julia Pollak, “The ZipRecruiter 2018 Annual Job Seeker Survey,” ZipRecruiter blog, 2018, www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/ziprecruiter-2018-annual-job-seeker-survey/.

Acknowledgments

I'd like to say thank you to our ZipRecruiter economist Julia Pollak for helping put this book together, Benny Spiewak and Marc Fienberg for research, Ward Poulos for design, and Matt Spangler for the comic illustrations. And another thank you to the hundreds of ZipRecruiter employees around the world who have worked with me over the past 10 years to connect millions of people to their next great opportunity.

About the Author

Ian Siegel is the CEO and cofounder of ZipRecruiter, an AI-powered jobs marketplace and the top-rated job search app in the United States.¹ Ian has dedicated the past 10 years of his life to developing better ways for people to find jobs and employers to recruit talent. Over that time he has spoken with thousands of job seekers and hiring managers, built a team of data scientists to pull insights from the billions of user interactions in the ZipRecruiter marketplace, and closely followed the third-party research on who gets hired, how, and why. Ian has been interviewed on the topics of how to get a job, the job market, and the future of work for multiple news networks including Fox Business, CNBC, and Bloomberg, as well as being featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York Times.

Note

1. 1. iOS App Store data/Google Play Store data, December 2019