Archive for the ‘Job Search’ Category

Read what our Managing Partner, Mike Adler  has to say!

During his 17 years working in ad sales at Meredith Corporation, Mark Josephson, 49, took on new business accounts as his role evolved. That meant less contact with other key clients over time.

After joining Reader’s Digest in November 2010 to fill a top sales position, he wanted to reconnect with some of the clients he had lost touch with, especially the ones who make the big media buying decisions at their companies. He knew he could use a number of digital networking platforms to reach out, but his experience told him to take a more human approach.

“How did I get back in touch with those clients?” said Josephson, chief sales officer of Reader’s Digest. “I focused on making personal contact with them over the phone or through emails. I would target the top decision makers on our accounts and I would immediately call and reconnect.”

It’s a question you hear a lot these days: Has LinkedIn wiped out the importance of developing and maintaining a Rolodex, that is, a list of people that you know on a personal basis?

Absolutely not, say recruiters and sales reps. People do become easier to track down as more of their information moves online, but an extensive contact list means little without genuine business relationships to back it up.

“It’s easy to go onto LinkedIn and start connecting with new people,” said Josephson. “But how many of those connections are quality connections? Probably less than 20%.”

In many ways, the insignificance of a fleeting business card exchange without a real connection has been heightened by the ease of clicking “connect” online, said Atlanta-based e-commerce recruiter Harry Joiner. It’s a common error that has been exacerbated by technology, he said.

“Just because I have someone’s name, rank and serial number doesn’t mean that when I call them they know or remember who I am,” said Joiner, 47, owner of ecommercrecruiter.com. “That’s the difference between a legitimate Rolodex and a list of names and job titles. Nothing can substitute for the real-life connections you have.”

If you work in sales in 2012 — at a time when the amount of turnover in nearly every industry can cause head spins — those connections need to be updated, filtered through and managed on a regular basis, said digital media recruiter Michael Adler. The only way to do that is by reaching out to people directly, he said.

“To consider someone a part of your Rolodex, you have to have corresponded with them in the last three to six months,” said Adler, 40, a managing partner at the recruiting firm AC Lion. “The problem with LinkedIn is that everyone wants to expand their professional networks, but they’re not doing much beyond that.”

LinkedIn’s user base is growing at a rate of more than two new members per second, according to the company. As of November 2011, the professional networking site had more than 135 million members around the world, up from 100 million members in March.

If used beyond cold connecting, the site’s features enhance the correspondences between sales reps and their clients and prospects, said Christian Sutherland-Wong, product lead and general manager of LinkedIn’s Premium Subscription business.

“LinkedIn is a very strategic tool for sales professionals, particularly as they think about how to get information on their current network and extended network of leads,” he said. “The more you know about a person’s background and the common connections between you and that person, the higher your response rate will be.”

In one recent case, a company’s sales team was able to secure a high-profile client through the organization’s shared network on LinkedIn, said Sutherland-Wong. That prospect was sitting right under their noses, linked to the company’s chief financial officer.

“The company’s sales team reached up to the CFO to make that connection and they ended up closing the deal,” he said.

LinkedIn does enable users to make their most successful business relationships visible to others, said Rachel Barash, 44, a national sales rep at Realtor.com who sells online advertising.

“I have asked some clients to endorse me on the site and I do believe recruiters and sales directors look at that,” she said.

For AC Lion and our clients, 2011 was a very exciting year. We have been privileged to work with a diversified client base across the digital media landscape and some of the most talented professionals in the field.  Whether mobile or media, exchanges or enterprise, agencies or analytics, AC Lion brings a track record of over 15 years and over $90 million in compensation negotiated. 

Thought I would share some of AC Lion’s successes—the Top Eleven of 2011!

1. VPs Business Dev and Client Services for the leaders in video interactive advertising technology.
2. VP Media, for top 3 travel media platform with 18,000 clients worldwide.(Retained)
3. SVP Sales for a video and content distributed network with over 1 billion impressions.
4. Director of Platform Operations for the world’s top social media company. (Retained)
5. Senior Sales across the country for Amazon.
6. Sales People for the world’s largest independent –and fastest growing–ad platform.
7. EVP Sales (and national team) for sports property with one of the largest aggregated sports audiences.
8. Senior Enterprise Sales Executives for the leading mobile technology platform.
9. Directors of Ad Ops and Audience Development, AT&T.
10. Senior Sales Executives (NY, Chicago, LA) for the world’s most widely used digital maps.
11. Director of Mobile Advertising Operations, iAds (Apple)

During 2011, we expanded our talent acquisition team with new executive recruiters and an expanded Research Department to meet the growing interest in our services.   We also opened a formal office in the Bay Area, to expand our West Coast reach beyond Los Angeles.

You can find and follow AC Lion on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn .  We will use all of these to regularly communicate about new searches and services and information about the trends, leadership and recruiting in the digital media sector.  

May 2012 be a happy and prosperous year!

Top 10 Reasons Santa Needs AC LION Recruiting

1. Santa gets laid off on Dec 26th every year so needs steady employment
2. Keebler keeps poaching all of his best elves.
3. AOL re-orged the toy workshop and all orders must now be approved by Arianna Huffington.
4. The government stimulus didn’t reach the North Pole.
5. Hostile takeover by Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy.
6. Was kicked off Dancing with the Stars. 10 million dollar marriage deal to Kim Kardashian fell through.
7. Free cookies and milk is a great perk-but it’s catching up with him.
8. Boss wants him to do an Extreme Makeover and lose the beard and the red suit.
9. Wants a day job – Mrs. Claus doesn’t like him working at night.
   
   And the #1 Reason Santa wants AC LION to get him a new job?
        If he hears Silent Night one more time . . .

Yes Virginia, there is a job for you! AC Lion currently has over 200 digital media sales and marketing positions open across the country.

We can help Santa, and we can help you, in 2012.

AC Lion’s Mike Adler shares his thoughts on working daily deal sales jobs in today’s market.

Read the full article here!

Men’s Age-Defying, Line-Reducing, Rejuvenating, Sun-Soaked, Thrill-Seeking Body Enhancement Serum—Coming soon to a Walmart near you!

Oh, did I mention the sports car on the packaging?  The motorcycle on the mountain road in the ad?

Yes, men’s personal care products are on the rise.  And the editor of ModernMan.com sees a correlation between the growing economic and social pressures on men and their increased interest in personal care products.   Yep, you saw that right—more out of work men means more men doing the household shopping chores.  And the retailers are noticing and catching on.   Even WalMart has expanded its men’s products section in 800 of its stores.   Those out of work, stay at home hubbies need to look younger to compete in today’s workforce.

Even P&G is getting into the act.   ManoftheHouse.com was created to help these men navigate their lifestyle changes.

It’s not just shaving cream or sunblock anymore!

http://adage.com/article?article_id=146396

Great comments on hiring from Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, Guy Kawasaki His philosophy of hiring? Simple—hire someone who complements your weaknesses–and someone better than you. Obvious? Of course. Often done? Of course not! Many people hire people just like themselves, thinking, hey if I’m successful, some like me will also succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

Job Hunters, Beware
By Sarah Needleman

There’s been no shortage of warnings about the career dangers of posting racy content on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Yet many job hunters still don’t heed that advice, and others don’t realize they’re doing just as much damage by doing things like bending the truth or spamming their résumés. Recruiters say such faux-pas can result in immediate and lasting career damage.

“You’re going to be remembered—and not in a positive way,” says Colleen McCreary, chief people officer for Zynga Game Network Inc., a San Francisco developer of social games including FarmVille. “Recruiters move around a lot from company to company, and that can carry on with them for a long period of time.”

Ms. McCreary says candidates consistently damage their reputations by sending cover letters that disingenuously claim a specific position at the company is their dream job. With a check of Zynga’s applicant-tracking system, she can see that those people submitted the same letter for several other openings, too. “They’ve now lost all their integrity,” she says. As an alternative, she recommends that job hunters write about the two or three positions they’re most qualified for in a single letter. Read the rest of this entry »

Ten Most Common Resume Goofs
Alesia Benedict, CPRW, JCTC.
1. Email Errors
One of the most common goofs we see is an incorrect email address. Since most job search efforts are centered around email communications, having an email address that is wrong or difficult to interpret can be a pothole in the road to success. Double-check your email address to make sure it is correct. Don’t use your work email address on your resume and try to avoid having an email that has the number 1 in it as it can be difficult to tell if it’s a letter or a numeral. Avoid goofy or cutesy email monikers such as vanhalenlvr83 or similar. Email systems that use automated spam authenticators are loathed by recruiters and line managers alike, so stay away from them during you job search. Remember, you can set up an email address that you use JUST for job search.
2. Mechanical Mistakes
Misspellings are the most common mechanical mistake. People rely on spell-check too much. Spell-check can’t tell the difference, though, in meaning. If you write “manger” instead of “manager”, spell-check won’t flag it. Other mechanical problems include verb tense shift and capitalization. It seems like when in doubt, job seekers will capitalize something just “to be on the safe side” but that just creates an error.
3. Fluff Phrases
The profile or summary is often the most difficult section of the resume to create. As a result, job seekers fall back on soft-skill phrases or fluff phrases such as “good communicator” or “hard-working”. These sound good but they tell the reader nothing. These are subjective traits that are opinion-based. You may think you are a good communicator but your peers might say otherwise. These traits will be judged in the interview so don’t load the resume down with these. Remember, 99.9% of all the other candidates will also be claiming these skills. Have you ever heard of anyone putting “bad communicator” or “lazy with sloppy attention to detail” on the resume?
4. Too Much Information (TMI)
Job seekers often forget for whom they are writing. The recruiter or hiring manager is going to be skim-reading the resume and will be looking for the main points. The job seeker, on the other hand, feels it’s necessary to put every bit of information possible in the resume, right down to including that Eagle Scout designation from 1984. Having too much information, or irrelevant information, is a common resume error.
5. Too Little Information (TLI)
The opposite of TMI is TLI – too little information. Being too general in the resume is just as bad as being too wordy. Usually too little information takes the form of no details on achievements. Most people can get their job duties or role descriptions down but falter when it’s time to detail their successes in some sort of quantitative or qualitative way. As a result, the content is thin or bland and doesn’t inspire the reader to make contact with the job seeker.

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6. Passive Voice
We are all taught that formal writing is passive voice writing. Most people have a tendency to write in the passive voice, especially when composing their resumes. Passive voice – “responsible for”, “duties included”, etc. – is weak writing. Resumes need to be powerful sales documents and passive voice doesn’t persuade the reader. Make sure the resume is written in active voice with lots of solid keywords throughout the content.
7. Functional Format
Using the functional format (also called a skills resume) is probably the most deadly error you can commit in terms of the resume’s effectiveness. Recruiters and employers literally detest the functional format. It does not give them the information they need in the format they want. Additionally, it generally indicates that the job seeker is trying to hide something since the functional format is used to cover up problems such as date gaps, job hopping, or lack of experience. Just the mere appearance of the functional format is a huge turnoff to decision-makers.
8. Personal Information
The fact that you are an avid skeeball player, or that you collect old world coins has no relevance to whether or not you are qualified for the position. So why include information on hobbies, sports, or interests?
9. Poor Design
The old large-left-margin layout is long out of fashion and fancy designs, images or tables will really give the databases a hard time when you upload your resume. The best thing to do when it comes to design of your resume is KISS – keep it simple, sweetie. Yes, make it appealing, but over designed resumes will get scrambled in uploads, and thus not win interviews.
10. One Page Length
One page resumes are long gone unless you are a new graduate without much experience. Having said that, we still see plenty of one page resumes for more senior job seekers come in for critiques. It does surprise me! When a job seeker tries to limit the content of the resume to fit into one page, he/she is cutting vital information to adhere to a “rule” that is not valid for most resumes. Many resumes (including mid-level) are two pages in length and three pages are acceptable for some senior level candidates.
About the Author:
Alesia Benedict, Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Job and Career Transition Coach (JCTC) is the President of GetInterviews.com, the country’s leading resume writing firm. They provide professionals with customized, branded resumes and career marketing documents. Her and her firm’s credentials include being cited by JIST Publications as one of the “best resume writers in North America,” quoted as a career expert in The Wall Street Journal, and published in a whopping 25+ career books. Established in 1994, the firm has aided more than 75,000 job seekers to date. All resume writers are certified writers. GetInterviews.com offers a free resume critique and their services come with a wonderful guarantee — interviews in 30 days or they’ll rewrite for free!
Visit AC Lion for our current job listings.

Interviewer: “We’re really impressed by your resume. Walk me through your background”
Job Applicant: “Honey, I’ll take out the trash later, I’m on the phone”
No, it’s not a scene from The Office. Nor is it a weird dream sequence from an old Woody Allen movie. This is real life—as heard from the interviewer’s side of the proverbial table.
Have to say, I just don’t get it. Why don’t people take phone interviews seriously? Do they really think I can’t hear them eating on the phone, giving directions in the car, typing at their keyboard? Don’t they realize that they won’t get a ‘real’ interview if they can’t make it through a phone one?
These days, more and more initial interviews are taking place by phone—and not taking it seriously can hold you back. So, here is Bonnie’s Top 10 Keys to Acing the Phone Screen. Use them and you’ll be the one called back for the next interview.
10. Be prepared. Yeah, you may not be a Boy Scout, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is an interview—blow it and you won’t get the job.
9. Use a good phone connection. You may be perfect for the job but the interviewer won’t know it if s/he can’t hear you.
8. Stand up and smile. As I learned from a sales pro, “Motion brings Emotion.” And without face to face contact, you need that emotion even more.
7. Yes, it’s a real interview. Be prepared to answer real questions.
6. Yes, it’s a real interview. Be prepared to ASK perceptive questions.
5. Know how you come across on the phone. One trick is to call your own voice mail and leave yourself a message. Wait 24 hours and then listen to yourself. You’ll be amazed at what you hear.
4. No dogs, driving or other distractions!
3. Find the quietest spot possible—and use it for the phone call. And get there 5 minutes early, ready to talk.
2. Basic rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t do it during a face to face interview, don’t even think of doing it during a phone interview.
1. Have a winning story on tap to start the call—tell a story that will engage the listener, showcase your skills and let your personality shine.
Bonnie Zaben, COO of AC Lion, has conducted more phone interviews than she can count.

Our very own Managing Big Kahuna Meister; Dan Goldsmith has an article out on ‘ Precision Guided Resumes’ in this past Wednesday’s DigiDay.
Find it here: Precision Guided Resumes Part II- Visual Formatting
Here are some tasty morsels for those of you like myself who are too lazy to read entire articles. I am the facebook generation.

• Hierarchy and outline structure will lead the reader along in an effortless way. Be certain the supervisory logic is established and communicated with minimal effort on behalf of the person reading your resume.
• Be consistent in convention throughout the entire resume. If you are spelling the name of the state “New York” in one part of your resume then you’d better use “Illinois” or “Ohio” for other locations –v- Ill or Oh. Every little convention you assume must be 100% consistent bottom to top. Having read resumes for the last 8 years I can tell you that constancy and structure connote professionalism, specificity and impact and generally set the right tone.
• Consider use of indents and bullets to transition from general to specific components of each job presentation. As well a discreet use of bold and italics are easy ways to give the resume flow and contour.
• Size may not matter but balance sure does. Keep bulleted paragraphs balanced in terms of the amount of space each consumes. Resource planning is critical for the appropriate visual impact. If you dump 9 bullets on one job and only 3 bullets on another job one may be led to believe that either you’re embellishing on the 9 bullet job or simply have nothing to say about the 3 bullet job. I advise to find a medium across all of your experiences.
• Group your bullets in a consistent fashion. Perhaps the first two bullets of each job description will illuminate initiatives you were tasked with while the last few bullets will illuminate the net result of such actions.
• Test your ability to conceive and write powerful sentences and very accurate use of verbs. The most over used word in resumes seems to be “managed”. I happen to frown on this word because it really doesn’t describe, in a granular sense, exactly what it is you did. The definition of managed is “to bring about success”.

Nicely done Dan!
p.s. any of you going to be at SES next week? I’d love to meet up!