Job Hunters: Avoid These Common Mistakes

Job hunters in all age groups often make the same mistakes when job hunting. Unfortunately I’ve seen this over and over again in my more than twenty years as an ACS Career Consultant. What can you do to avoid making these mistakes and find a rewarding new position?

Get off to a fast start

Don’t wait too long to start your job search. It’s a very competitive employment market. I see far too many students and post-docs waiting until a few weeks after leaving campus to seriously start their job search. Consequently they may not get their first job until months after graduation. Some experienced chemists who may have lost their job take a vacation before beginning their job search. This delays their chances of actually getting a job and can also deplete their financial reserves.

It’s far better to get an early and fast start to your job search. Update your résumé at least once a year. Also prepare a list of target employers and update this annually as well. This list should include contact information and the names of individuals you know at each firm.

Develop networking skills

Somewhere out there is someone who knows about a job opening that could be perfect for you. Developing a circle of professional contacts and interacting with them to share job hunting ideas and information about job hunting enables you to access the “hidden job market” – job openings that are not advertised. According to Amanda Haddaway, author of Destination Real World: Success After Graduation, up to 80% of job openings are not advertised on job boards or in employment sections of newspapers and trade magazines.

So how can you discover these job openings? The answer is by interacting with other people; that’s what networking is all about.

Remember the list of candidate employers you assembled at the beginning of your job hunt? Look and see who among these people you know – or know of – work at these companies or in the same technology areas. They may be able to tell you about potential job openings and who would be a good contact to give you more information.

So where do you find these people?

Check LinkedIn or other like social media sites for information on people in your research field. Check with your professor for names of former members of your professor’s research group and their contact information. Other potential members of your professional network include people you know through your ACS Chapters and other professional society activities or ACS career consultants you’ve met.

Develop your value proposition

 

Your value proposition demonstrates your demonstrates unique talent and skills, guarantees delivery of results based on your past accomplishments, and defines you as a go-to expert. Conducting informational interviews with members of your professional network can help you develop your value proposition for a particular industry or even a particular employer.

Obtaining a new job in the same industry you’re working in now may or may not be a good job search strategy depending on the job market in that industry. Alternatively seeking employment in another industry may be a good strategy if employment opportunities are better in that industry. To do this, list all your skills and identify the value you can bring to other industries.

Develop specific goals

Your job search goals should be specific enough that they enable you to identify target industries and companies to approach concerning employment. Develop a schedule. For example, you may want to schedule a specific number of companies to contact each week. Monday you may wish to identify companies to contact. Tuesday and Friday you may wish to prepare customized résumés and cover letters and send them to the companies you’ve targeted. Wednesday you may wish to schedule e-mail or telephone follow-ups to companies to which you’ve earlier sent your résumés.  Thursday you may want to take off or use as a networking day to have coffee or lunch with your mentors.

Track your job hunting activities. Using a spreadsheet is a good way to do this. Your spreadsheet will help you determine if you are making good use of your time.Other ways of making good use of your time include writing a review paper and submitting it to an appropriate journal or preparing a paper for a regional or national ACS meeting. Don’t neglect professional association meetings associated with various industries that are among those you are targeting with your job hunting efforts. These activities show prospective employers that you are remaining active in your profession.

John Borchardt was a chemist, freelance writer and devoted ACS career consultant for over 15 years, until his sudden passing in January 2013. He was the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers,” and had more than 1500 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he held 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents, and was the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers. John’s advice, insights and articles helped hundreds of scientists improve their professional lives, and he will be truly missed.

What’s in Your Skills Box and How Can You Use It?

When employers ask about your employment history what they really want to know is what is in your skills toolbox –technical skills, soft skills and interpersonal skills. Hold tight to this mindset when writing your résumé and discussing your accomplishments during employment interviews.  Guide your career by consciously adding to your skills toolbox. Below I will discuss two ways to do this.

Identify your core capabilities

These are the skills you build on to develop a capability-driven career. To identify these begin with a self-appraisal. Look for distinctive Talents, Skills, and Knowledge (TSK) that will make you highly competitive for certain lines of work. These are the reasons an employer would hire or promote you rather than someone else. Help identify these core capabilities by consulting with mentors and trusted colleagues. Recalling your past performance appraisals can also help identify your TSKs and where you need to improve.

Suppose you are a product development chemist or manage a group of product development chemists. Empathy, the ability to understand the needs of customers, is probably the origin of your biggest success. This means understanding the customer’s technology needs, and how the customer’s profitability can be improved. Empathy will help you imagine new products, create business relationships, and build productive teams – including joint teams with customers. Empathy is supported by technical skills in the relevant areas important to the customer and good listening skills.

Consider Charles McLaughlin, a product development chemist for Halliburton Services before his retirement. His knowledge of the behavior of subterranean rock behavior in the presence of flowing oil, natural gas and aqueous fluids led to the design of chemical treatments that maintained the permeability of oil-bearing rock and thus oil well production rates. He demonstrated empathy when discussing permeability – related oil and gas production problems with customers. This led to increased sales for his employer. (How did he demonstrate this skill?)

When seeking a new job or a promotion, emphasize what makes you distinctive and how this leads to your success. If Mr. McLaughlin had been job hunting, he could demonstrate customer empathy in his résumé, cover letter, and during interview discussions. It is unusual for a chemist to do this and would help make him a memorable job candidate.  (Why unusual?)

Identify capabilities you need to strengthen

Having identified the capabilities you already have, consider what you need to develop. Possible targeted new capabilities can be expertise in a technical field or in a function such as management. You can build new capabilities or strengthen current ones by taking short courses or working in a new area.

Adding new capabilities can shift your career direction. For example, strengthening my technical writing skills enabled me to write more technical papers while strengthening my management skills.  It also enabled me to shift the core of my job assignments to management.

When making this kind of switch, people sometimes abandon their existing capability base. This is a dangerous course to take because careers often take unexpected turns. Often you may want to shift back or leverage what you already know to do something new. For instance, an extended period of low oil prices led me to change my focus from oil production to paper recycling technology. However, after about ten years I refocused on oil production and refining technology when these businesses recovered.

Sometimes the skills you need may be obvious. For instance, an April 2012 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) compared the skills gap between older employees (not just chemists) nearing retirement and younger colleagues just starting their careers. More than half of the organizations surveyed reported that basic grammar and spelling were the top “basic” skills among older workers in which their younger coworkers were deficient.

Career development through capability growth is a way to build a career that’s right for you. Are you building your career path based on what’s in your skills box?

John Borchardt was a chemist, freelance writer and devoted ACS career consultant for over 15 years, until his sudden passing in January 2013. He was the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers,” and had more than 1500 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he held 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents, and was the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers. John’s advice, insights and articles helped hundreds of scientists improve their professional lives, and he will be truly missed.

Five Tricks For Finding Employment Opportunities

No matter what your career stage, it’s always a good idea to know what the job market is like.  While you probably have a list of companies that you follow, there are many other companies out there.  How do you find other companies that are similar in some way, and might be in need of your expertise?  There are several ways that you can use what you already know to identify relevant companies.

Google Maps

Many people would welcome a new challenge, but don’t want to move to a new location. If you are geographically constrained, find companies nearby using the “Search Nearby” function in GoogleMaps.   Go to http://maps.google.com, enter a location, and when the map is displayed click “Search Nearby” and put in a keyword such as “chem” (which will match both “chemistry” and “chemical”).  A map showing companies with that keyword in their description will appear.  By varying the specificity of the keyword, and using the zoom function on the map, you can identify almost as many companies as you want.

NAICS Codes

If you are flexible about location, but want a particular kind of company, North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes are an ideal tool.  NAICS is a standard system used to classify businesses (which replaced the older Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system).  Search on a company name and the keyword “NAICS”, and find the code(s) that describe that company.  Then, use ReferenceUSA, WebsterOnline or another service to find similar companies.  For example, SigmaAldrich is in category 325199 (among others), which translates to “All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing”.

LinkedIn’s Advanced Search Tools

LinkedIn (linkedin.com) is not only a great way to maintain connections with fellow professionals, but it can also be used to find companies.  The Advanced Tools in the “Companies Search” function allow you to filter searches by location, industry, and company size.  Once you find a company, you can not only read the corporate description, but also see how you are connected to people at that company.  Often you will know someone who knows someone who works there, and can use those connections to find inside information on hiring plans.

Craig’s List

Craig’s List (craigslist.org) is increasing in popularity as a place for small companies to post job openings, and often ads are posted there and not anywhere else.  With specific categories for biotech/science, medical/health, business/management and other types of jobs, and local versions for most major cities, it’s easy to identify the categories that will have openings of interest to you.  Keep your search broad – skimming through multiple categories on a regular basis can turn up interesting opportunities not found any other way.

Discussion Groups

Join relevant email lists and discussion groups on LinkedIn or the ACS Network.  Check out past postings and discussions, and find companies that have been hiring. Look at the signature files and email addresses of other participants, and research the companies they work for.

Whether or not you are currently looking for a new position, knowing the market is always a good idea.  The tools listed above can go a long way towards helping you uncover hidden gems.

Get involved in the discussion

The ACS Career Tips column is published the first week of every month in C&EN. Post your comments, follow the discussion, and suggest topics for future columns in the Career Development section of the ACS Network (https://communities.acs.org/community/profession/career_development )._—brought to you by ACS Careers.

Persistence Pays Off

The job market is gradually improving. With the improvement in business conditions, companies’ hiring needs may have changed. Thus it may be worthwhile to resend your résumé to companies that previously ignored it months or even years ago. The hiring manager who worked for the firm a year or more ago may do so no longer. Indeed, many companies have experienced great turnover and there may not be much institutional memory left according to New York City career coach Roy Cohen. Moreover, even if the right fit still isn’t there on your second try, don’t rule out a third.

If you do apply again, Annie Stevens, managing partner at Boston-based executive coaching firm ClearRock, a Boston-based coaching and outplacement firm, suggests five strategies to present yourself to the employer.

Emphasize what’s different about you now

When applying to a company again, emphasize what is new and different about you since your previous application. You might look at your previous application and determine if you need to streamline the new one to be more job specific if the position(s) you are applying for are different than your last application.  This is especially important if you end up meeting with the same interviewers you met with last time. In all your interactions highlight specific new experiences and skills gained since applying the first time.

If you are in school, you can emphasize new courses taken and the benefits they provide relative to each employer you contact. Graduate students and post-docs can also emphasize progress they’ve made in their research. Unemployed chemists can discuss short courses they’ve taken and professional society activities that bolstered their communication and management skills.

Try reverse networking

Reverse networking means starting with the job description and finding people who can help you get it. For example, company insiders can lead you to people who can help you get the job and tell you what aspects of your experience to stress on your résumé and in interviews. Industry experts can also provide useful advice on the most important skills to develop and emphasize in your job applications. Often it is not the most senior people who provide the best advice in this area but younger individuals who got their jobs in the last several years.

Join the same professional or volunteer groups as the hiring manager

Attend events where you might run into this person and other company employees. These organizations can provide a relaxed way to get to know each other better.

Stay in touch with people you meet

Use social sites such as LinkedIn™ to stay in touch with people you met during your previous application processes at each firm. Join groups within LinkedIn™ which are likely to interest hiring managers at your target employers. Share news that adds new dimensions to your qualifications. This means sharing information with employees of the company, updating your LinkedIn™ profile and posting notes about your new accomplishments on social media sites such as Facebook™ or Twitter™.

Participate constructively in on-line discussions but do not be aggressively self-promotional or overly critical of others. For example, when I was asked recently about a job candidate who mentioned my name I did not praise him but also did not note that he harshly criticized others “flaming” them in on-line discussions. Employers searching for the individual’s name online can discover this for themselves.

You can use e-mail to inform some of your contacts about interesting research papers or industry news they may have missed. Even if they are already aware of the information you provide, they often appreciate you thinking of them and sending it. This contributes to a good impression conveying an image of congeniality. You are perceived as a helpful coworker should they hire you later.

Be persistent but not so aggressive you become annoying. By providing people with information, you have an ostensible reason to contact them besides reminding these individuals that you are job hunting.

John Borchardt is a chemist and freelance writer who has been an ACS career consultant for 15 years. He is the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers.” He has had more than 1200 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he holds 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers. As an ACS Councilor, he serves on the Joint Board – Council Committee Patents and Related Matters.

 

What You Should Be Doing?

Being unemployed is bad enough, but when unemployment stretches out for a long period of time, it brings all sorts of new complications.  There are a few things you could be doing during this time to ensure you are able to navigate this tumultuous time.

Assess your finances.  Based on your personal situation, will you have the luxury of conducting a prolonged job search, be able to take a temporary contracting position, or will you need to take a “survival job” to get some income in the door quickly? If you get into “survival job” mode, are you choosing a job that brings you more than just a paycheck?  For example, you could work at a local coffee house, restaurant or grocery store geographically close to a company at which you would like to work, and strike up conversations with customers there to learn about the company and potential openings.  Ideally, the job will bring you into contact with people who help connect you to your preferred work, providing both networking opportunities and financial support.

Evaluate your priorities.  Are you willing to relocate for a new position, or do you have geographic or other restrictions?  If you are unwilling to change location, are there enough suitable opportunities in your location?  If not, you may have to re-adjust your definition of ‘suitable’, which might include taking additional training courses or an internship to make yourself qualified for related occupations within your local area.

Attend technical and professional meetings.  Many professional meetings have reduced or waived fees for unemployed members.  Take advantage of them!  Search out related professional societies, such as the American Chemical Society, and find local or regional meetings in areas that are of interest to you. Use the time between jobs to attend conferences and meet other professionals; while keeping current on scientific discoveries.  Keep yourself focused on the latest chemical information and processes.

Read journal articles.  Check with major universities in your town, and find out which ones allow public access to the journals you prefer.  Being an alumnus may also grant you library access.  Browse the table of contents, or use what you learned at the technical meetings or from reading Chemical and Engineering News as search topics.

Attend networking events.  Find local organizations that are chemistry or life-science based, attend a few of their events, and if it’s a good fit, join.  Not only will this broaden your professional network, but it will also give you another avenue to learn about local employment trends.  You can create and print business cards at a very low cost, or even free, to leave with your newly encountered contacts.  You should also create and update your ACS Network and LinkedIn profiles, and use social networks to find new contacts in your area.  Invite them for coffee, or ask to meet and discuss what their day-to-day life is like on the job.  Never come right out and ask for a job, but use your network to find openings and solicit feedback on potential companies and bosses.

Volunteer and become active with professional organizations.  Beyond just joining an organization and attending meetings, volunteer to help.  You can do something as simple as offering to help out at the registration table (allowing you to meet everyone who attends), or something as complex as organizing a technical session with multiple speakers (allowing you to invite people you’d like to hear speak).  Helping out lets you meet the active and involved people who can connect you to opportunities.  It also shows them that you are a reliable, valuable addition to the team, and someone they would be happy to work with.  You could even volunteer to facilitate a group of unemployed professionals who might need emotional support or ideas to jump start their own job searches.

Continue your education.  Even if you don’t need a certification for your next job, taking a class can help add structure to your time off and increase your value to your future employer.  Local community colleges, online courses, your professional association, or regional training centers may offer continuing education courses in technical writing, business administration, intellectual property, public speaking or even biotechnology and Six Sigma Certification.

No matter how long your period of unemployment lasts, you will always have to answer the question “What have you been doing with your time?”  Whether asked during a networking or social event or during a job interview, you need to have a prepared and professional answer to that question.  By putting into practice some of the actions outlined above, you will have positive constructive things to talk about, and you can steer the conversation back to what you have done lately making you even more valuable to that particular employer.

As a matter of fact, all of these are good things to do, whether or not you’re currently employed.  Keeping your eyes open and preparing for your next opportunity should be something you do routinely, so you’re always ready for the next step on your career pathway.

This article inspired by a conversation with Joe Martino, ACS Career Consultant, and written by Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants LLC.  Lisa is a freelance technical writer/editor and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists:  New Formulas for Chemistry Careers,” published by Oxford University Press.

Get Rid of Excessive Clutter in your Résumé and Cover Letter

There is a common phrase, “you can’t see the forest through the trees.” This applies to résumés. In job hunting, this phrase means that, by loading your résumé with information of secondary importance, your most critical skills and accomplishments – those most important in winning you an on-site interview trip – become obscured in the welter of information filling your résumé. The same is true for your cover letter.

How can you be sure this doesn’t happen?  Editing your résumé and cover letter

To identify your most relevant skills and accomplishments, carefully read all the information describing the job opening. If you don’t have a job description, define one of your own but make sure it is relevant for each employer to which you send your résumé. This requires reading information about the business unit of the employer to which you are applying.

After you identify this information and make sure it is in your résumé, you need to ruthlessly edit your résumé to remove each piece of information that doesn’t advance your prospects of receiving a job offer. Doing so reduces the résumé clutter that obscures your accomplishments and skills most relevant to the job opening. However, this is usually emotionally difficult. Everyone is proud of their achievements and you will be tempted to leave this information in your résumé in the hopes that it will be relevant to some readers.

If you are writing a chronological résumé describing your accomplishments in each job or position you held starting with the most recent first, you need to be ruthless in editing job information more than several years old. For example, in doing hundreds of résumé reviews for mid-career job hunters as an ACS Career Consultant, I have noticed a strong tendency for these job hunters to devote as much detail (a high word count) to jobs, post-docs and graduate research early in their career as to their most recent two or three jobs. And I was doing same thing!

If information from substantially earlier in your career is highly relevant to your job-hunting goal, then a chronological résumé probably is not the best format to use. A functional résumé format will let you group similar and highly relevant achievements and skills together regardless of when they actually occurred. The functional résumé format allows you to emphasize your skills and accomplishments most pertinent to the job opening. By grouping similar skills together rather than scattering them through your résumé in a chronological order, you can increase your focus on these skills and shorten your résumé by reducing repetition.

Information to definitely remove

Included in the information you need to remove from your résumé are: details about your personal life, details about jobs you held many years ago, photographs of yourself, confidential information about previous jobs, salary expectations, why you were laid off or terminated from a previous position, exaggeration of previous accomplishments and job responsibilities. Omit an Objective statement unless you are a new graduate or post-doc and instead replace it with a summary of your qualifications.  It is important to note all the above discussions were written from a U.S. perspective. Certain things such as including a photograph in your résumé or describing hobbies and outside interests is common in other countries but not in the U.S.

Your cover letter

Your cover letter should provide added information and not just repeat what is in your résumé. A good strategy is to take some information in your résumé that you think is highly relevant to the employer and discuss it in more detail. By using complete sentences rather than the phrases employed in your résumé, you may also be able to do a better job of setting your information in context.

Wrap-up

All this sounds like a lot of work, and it is. However, this work enables you to customize your résumé for each employer and each job opening. In today’s job market, it is well worth the effort to make sure the vehicle that is your personal marketing tool helps you land the best job matching the skills you have worked so hard to achieve.

John Borchardt is a chemist and freelance writer who has been an ACS career consultant for 15 years. He is the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers.” He has had more than 1200 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he holds 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers.

Job Hunters Should Demonstrate Flexibility and Creativity

Employers are expected to add more new jobs in 2012 than they did in 2011 according to CareerBuilder’s annual job forecast based on a Harris Interactive nationwide survey. The survey was performed between November 9 and December 5, 2011 and included more than 3,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals from various industries and both large and small companies.

However, competition for jobs will still be fierce. Companies will be looking for employees who can quickly assume new responsibilities as companies respond to changing economic and industry trends according to Lawrence Katz, an Economist at Harvard University.

Job hunters can gain an advantage if they can demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and creativity. How do they do this?

In your résumé and cover letter

Companies want to increase the demand for their products and services despite the current slow economy. Employees, including chemical researchers, need to think about sales and customer service. Job hunters need to identify situations where they’ve done this previously and include these in their résumé and cover letter. This is an area in which job hunters with previous experience have an advantage. However, graduating students and post-docs looking for their first chemistry job outside of academia can look for examples in summer jobs they’ve held. Having done this, job hunters need to use keywords relevant to these situations and examples.  A graduate student who has held a summer or part-time job outside the lab could use key words such as “customer service” or “supervised” when briefly discussing the skills of these jobs. Whether or not an employer is searching for these keywords in their résumé database, those reading your résumé carefully will probably see them.

Helping companies grow their business often requires business acumen – understanding the needs of your firm’s customers and responding to them. This may require you to expand your technical skills. For instance, working for an oil field services company, I and many of my chemist coworkers had to learn a lot about the behavior of fluids in rock, petroleum engineering technology, and geology. This knowledge aided greatly in developing new effective products and in communicating convincingly with customers. I mention keywords relating to this knowledge and technical service work in my résumé.

R&D is increasingly done by multidisciplinary work teams. Cooperating with coworkers and working with customers and suppliers on these teams and during the sales process requires good interpersonal and communication skills. Look for examples of when you demonstrated these skills. Illustrate your communication skills while writing your résumé and cover letter. Cite examples of these skills in these documents and during employment interviews. Again, use relevant key words when preparing your résumé.

To do this requires good interpersonal skills and communication skills. You may be asked to work with suppliers, customers and coworkers who are not chemists. You may need to be able to communicate technical concepts to them in terms they will readily understand.

For help with keywords

Having trouble identifying good key words? As part of information interviews with experts in certain industries or technology fields, ask them to review your résumé and suggest keywords. You may also wish to consult with an ACS career consultant who has worked in one of your target industries.

Willingness to assume new responsibilities

Companies are looking for employees who are eager to learn and willing to undertake new responsibilities. For example, while a bench chemist I was asked to be the technical consultant to my employer’s patent department. This became my primary job responsibility for one year. I undertook the assignment without complaining although I preferred lab work. The assignment was very rewarding. I made a major contribution during an important patent litigation. The litigation brought me to the attention of the company president, vice-president of research and the manager of the patent department. I am convinced that this helped me to survive three later rounds of deep staff reductions. In addition, I gained a lot of practical knowledge about the patent process that was very valuable to me and to my employers later in my career. Include your expanded responsibilities and accomplishments in your résumé and cover letter.

Wrap-up

Being willing and able to do all this requires life-long learning. There is always more to know and do!

John Borchardt is a chemist and freelance writer who has been an ACS career consultant for 15 years. He is the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers.” He has had more than 1200 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he holds 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers.

Myths and Tricks from the Hiring Professional

I recently had the pleasure of listening to a presentation by Jill Lynn, Human Resources professional at BASi.  It’s always interesting to hear from someone on the other side of the hiring process, and she graciously allowed me to share some of her insights with you.

She began by debunking three myths about the application process.

Myth 1:  “My professional experience and skills are the most important thing, and that’s all that matters to get the job, right?” 

Nope, sorry!  Interpersonal skills are the most frequently cited reason for failure of a new hire (2005 Leadership IQ Survey), so they are crucial during the hiring process.  How well you fit into the corporate culture is a major factor in the hiring decision, and many companies will “hire for attitude, and train for aptitude”.

Myth 2: “My resume should be unique, creative, and show off my personality and style.”

Again, nope!  Hiring professionals receive such a flood of resumes, the thing they most want is an easy to read and electronically friendly resume (meaning one that scans easily, and contains all the appropriate keywords).  Resumes that are “unique” are often difficult to read.  With so many to choose from, the less work the reader has to do, the better.  Your resume should list your professional experience in reverse chronological order, using action words and phrases (not narratives).  Make sure to use a professional email address (hotbabe@domain.com may get you a date, but will not get you a job.)

Myth 3:  “A detailed job objective, and information about my hobbies and outside interests, will make me stand out.” 

Perhaps, but they will not get you a job.  Many hiring professionals view objective statements as “filler” for those who don’t have enough work experience, and hobbies can actually hinder your ability to get an interview because they distract from your professional experience.

Hiring professionals make their living researching and reading people.  They may talk to your friends and family, co-workers, and will read your online social networking profile and postings.  Any publically available information is fair game (including your Facebook or Linked In profiles), so make sure you know what’s out there about you, and start cleaning it up now, if needed.  Be especially careful of whom you let tag you in online photographs or comment on your pictures or posts.

The interview begins not when you meet the interviewer, and not even when you enter the building, but the minute the company receives the first contact from or about you.  From then on, everything you say and do is considered as part of the package.  You are never off-stage.

Before you go in for the formal interview, make sure to research the company, and even better the person with whom you will be interviewing.  Always be prepared with a few questions to ask when it’s your turn, and stay focused on the position and the organization.

During the interview, be professional.  Dress to impress, matching the company style if possible.  Try to connect to the people with whom you interview, but remember that they are investigating you, and may try to “trip you up” by asking the same question in a different way, to see if you give a different answer.  Make sure to give a clear, concise, and always accurate, answer to each question.  Before answering, think about what they are really asking.  Do they really care where you want to be in 10 years, or do they want to know what you’re most interested in now, and if you have considered your future?  Do they really care what your biggest weakness is, or do they want to know how you are working to overcome it?

These few tips will go a long way towards making sure you shine during the hiring process, and find the company that fits your skills, personality and ambitions.

Good luck!

This article was written by Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants LLC.  Lisa is a technical writer/editor and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press.

The Internet Job-hunting Sweet Spot: Employer Websites

While the Internet can often be a very useful job-hunting tool, surfing it to identify job leads can be time-consuming and tedious. However a 2010 survey by Jobs2web, Inc. of 14.3 million web users indicates that certain strategies are more effective for jobhunters than others. The findings are summarized in Figure 1. These are for all types of job openings, not just ones for chemists.

Figure 1 indicates over it takes an average of 1,050 users of a major job board such as Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com to result in one hire. One reason for this is jobs on big job boards often remain posted after positions are filled. Smaller, specialized job boards such as the jobs board on the ACS website and ScienceJobs.com were not included in the Jobs2web study but reportedly are more effective than the big job boards.

Social media are twice as effective as the big job boards; it takes 785 visitors to a site such as LinkedIn to result one hire. Another popular method is for job hunters to type a description of they want into an Internet search engine. This results in one hire from an average of 465 job hunters conducting searches. 

To make one hire from the candidates who visited their own website, companies look at an average of 337 candidates. Clearly job hunters contacting companies through their websites are self-selecting to some degree with a larger fraction of the most appropriately qualified candidates applying for a position.

The numbers look better for people using a search engine to find for a specific type of job opening or who consult a company’s website. These job hunters are self-selecting to some degree and have more relevant experience than all job hunters overall.

Applicants

If one considers only those Internet users who apply for a job by filling out application forms and/or submitting a résumé, the relative effectiveness of the different Internet strategies is similar. However, the numbers look better because, after reading job descriptions, many Internet users opt out and do not apply for a particular position.

According to the analysis, companies look through about 219 applications per job from job seekers who discovered the posting on a major board, such as Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com, before finding someone to hire. In contrast, companies screen an average of 33 applications from job hunters who find the job opening on the company’s own career site to make one hire. Describing the job you want and using a search engine is about equally effective. Companies make an average of one hire from 32 applicants who find jobs openings this way. Social media sites fall in the middle of the rankings with companies hiring one applicant from an average of 116 people who used social media sites to discover a job opening.

Again, it should be noted that these numbers are fro job hunters in general and not chemists specifically. Still, the trends are interesting.

Internet job search strategies

Just because one strategy of online job searching is more effective than another doesn’t mean you should exclusively focus on that one strategy. Instead use the findings of the Jobs2web study to prioritize the methods you use and devote your greatest efforts on the most promising ones: company web sites and Internet search engine results. For example, the major job boards are crowded with applicants so companies have to sift through a large number of respondents to their job postings. However, according to a 2011 CareerXroads study, about one-quarter of company hires do come through applications submitted through major job boards.

Going beyond the Internet

Remember that there are other effective job search techniques besides using the Internet. For instance, networking can be quite effective in identifying job leads. Many companies like to hire new employees from among people recommended by their current employees. An average of ten such recommendations results in one hire.

The key to effective job hunting is to use a variety of techniques to identify job openings for which you are qualified. Don’t rely exclusively on just one or two. 

John Borchardt is a chemist and freelance writer who has been an ACS career consultant for 15 years. He is the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers.” He has had more than 1200 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he holds 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers.

Avoid These 6 Job-hunting Missteps

There are six Common job-hunting mistakes that many job hunters make. Any of these can lead an employer to choose another candidate despite the job-hunter’s excellent credentials. What are these mistakes? How can you avoid them?

Omitting a résumé cover letter

The cover letter is not an unimportant, time-consuming matter of protocol that can be omitted when you send your résumé to an employer. It shows the employer you’ve put in some extra time in applying for the position. It is more personal than your résumé and allows you to focus on your skills, experience and accomplishments of greatest interest to a particular employer. Omit this focus and submit what looks like a form letter and your cover letter is largely a wasted effort. Your goal should be to explain why you are exactly the person the company is looking to hire.

Writing a targeted cover letter that accomplishes this goal can be time-consuming. It’s not just writing an excellent letter that takes time. You should also find the name of the best person, usually the hiring manager, who should receive your letter. Your cover letter salutation should include this person’s name.

Not researching the company before your interview

Your employment interview and all the work you put in job hunting before your interview will be wasted effort if you show up unprepared. Many employers ask questions that help them determine whether you’ve done your homework on the company.

Also, prepare at least a couple of thoughtful questions that show you’ve studied the company. These questions should go beyond the basic information widely available about the employer.

Ironically, too much research can leave you with no questions to ask about the company.  Should this happen, develop a couple of questions anyway to demonstrate your interest in the employer. Not having any questions can suggest you are not interested in the job or don’t show much initiative.

Be alert to the possibility that something that gets said in the interview can give rise to a good question for you to ask. If nothing else, ask interviewers what concerns if any they have about your qualifications for the job. If you don’t have a question, ask a stock question such as “What do you like most about your job?”

Not thinking before you speak

Asking a poorly phrased question or making a flippant remark can create a negative impression. So think carefully before you make a remark, ask a question, or answer one.

Clean up your online image

A 2009 Microsoft survey found that 79% of hiring managers and recruiters do online searches on job applicants and review what they discover. If they find negative remarks about your lifestyle, inappropriate photos and videos, or just poor communications style in your Twitter and Facebook posts, they may eliminate you from further consideration for the job.

Even with privacy filters, your personal information may not be safe. Don’t post information you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to see.  This includes criticism of your current employer.

Choose your social media connections carefully

Add only people you know or have done business with. This includes networking connections you’ve made at professional conferences such as American Chemical Society meetings. Help other people in your network when you can. It will make them more willing to help you in your job hunt.

Don’t rely only on the Internet

Many firms, particularly well-known large firms are deluged with applicants when they post job openings on their website or on a job board. Your résumé and application can get lost among the many others an employer receives. So rely on in-person networking and other methods of job hunting in addition to job hunting online.

No lying

Lying on your résumé or during an interview can come back to haunt you even if you get a job offer and start working for an employer. I know two cases of chemists who claimed to have degrees they hadn’t earned. Both lost their jobs immediately on discovery. Neither had been employed for more than one year. These cases occurred at two different companies in two different states and I knew both individuals.

Avoid the missteps and follow basic good job-hunting practices and you eventually will find a good job.

John Borchardt is a chemist and freelance writer who has been an ACS career consultant for 15 years. He is the author of the ACS/Oxford University Press Book “Career Management for Scientists and Engineers.” He has had more than 1200 articles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he holds 30 U.S. and more than 125 international patents and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed papers.