Tesar-Reynes

In a recent gathering I was asked my opinion on the subject of age and the job market. After the conversation progressed for a while, the issue broke down into two pieces: chronological age versus perceptual age and naive preemptive cutting of the candidacy due to age.

I fully believe that chronological age is a poor qualifier for an individual’s candidacy. I have known people in their teens that acted like they were in their 50’s, conversely I have known people in their 80′s that acted like they were in their 40’s.

Perceptual age, how one acts, is all about enthusiasm, flexibility, curiosity and the ability to relate. As a search company we are much less concerned by someone’s age, and more how than by how they act and think.

There was a general consensus in the room that …

The social media director at my internship e-mailed these two e-books to the office last week.

• About Face by The Advanced Guard
• How to Use Facebook for Business by Hubspot

I have to say, they are two of the best basic, yet comprehensive, guides on Facebook for businesses I’ve seen. You can link to Jason Baer’s post for a detailed analysis, but if you have an hour, give them a read.

Here are some numbers on Facebook you can’t ignore.

• Over 275 million users worldwide (60 million in the U.S.)
• 1.2 billion monthly visits
• 3.5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook a day
• 4 million people become fans of …

I get a call about once a week from someone who has just seen our blog. Typically, the conversation centers around something they read and how it helped them out. After I thank them profusely for their comments, I ask them if they have subscribed to the site or left a comment. The answer is invariably “no”.

Roland and I would really appreciate two favors from you: first, please give us feedback on what you would like us to discuss……or whether you even agree with us. Next, we have watched our RSS feed numbers grow, but not as rapidly as we would like. I know this sounds like a plea for subscription money, but would you be kind enough to pass this blog on to a friend? We are not selling anything at this site except …

I had the good fortune on the second of June to speak at the Chicago chapter of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG). Check them out. There were about 60 or 70 people in the room, and I was impressed by their level of commitment to help one another.

As I understand it, about one third of the group worked for local companies, one third were consultants, and one third were in transition to a new job. The leadership of the group was enthusiastic, helpful, and offered a great deal of resources. The members reflected the leadership’s emotions and seemed genuinely concerned about helping fellow members. They have branches all over the country.

On a fairly regular basis I’m asked by senior management about whether there should be a great deal of space devoted on their resume to their corporate summary or the bullet positioning of their experience and accomplishments. In most cases, these people have agonized over this piece of real estate. They’re unsure how many words to use and how all the key words will be scanned by recruitment software.

My position on this is pretty simple. I never read this part of their resume until after I’ve read the meat and potatoes down below and I feel that this candidate belongs in our database or that they fit a search that I’m working on. Only then will I go back and read a summary and only then will …

I was interviewing a very successful lady who had an outstanding resume but was out of work for five months. Her husband was just laid off three weeks ago. As we talked about the lack of potential jobs out there for either of them, she became increasingly agitated. At one point there was a tear in the corner of her eye.

I tried to lighten the conversation and get her on a more positive note. I flashed back and remembered the feeling when I was out of work and the checking account was getting dangerously close to zero. I remember the desperation, fear and isolation that set in.

From my point of view, the worst thing to deal with is the sense of helplessness and of being alone. When I started thinking about the sense of isolation, …