Career Planing & Strategies (Part One): Finding Opportunities - Possible Test Questions - WEEK 12

Question 1

Before You Begin Searching:

Answer 1

• Approximately two out of every five hiring professionals now check social networking sites during the application review process, and it will go up rapidly in the future. If you have a Facebook (or similar) page, review it thoroughly to ensure the information contained on it is appropriate for your potential employer.

Question 2

Internet Searches:

Answer 2

• The Internet is a remarkably powerful search tool; however, it should never be your only resource for finding jobs. It is but one tool. It is always available, never takes holidays, doesn’t know geographic boundaries, and you can “meet” people stress free. But remember only 10-20% of job openings are posted, and there is no single site that shows all the postings.

Question 3

Search Engines:

Answer 3

• A search engine is a site that finds information for you based on your inputs. Some search engines, like Google, will search any topic. The challenge with a search engine like this is they can return a lot of unwanted information. A search for “utility worker” on Google returned 6 million results in .32 seconds but only a fraction of those represented job postings

Question 4

Some search engines are called:

Answer 4

• aggregators (or spiders) and they scan thousands of job sites looking for jobs with your chosen keywords. Indeed.com is a powerful job spider.

Question 5

Industry Association Websites:

Answer 5

• The Power Delivery Industry has many associations and those associations sometimes, as a service to their members, allow them to post jobs for free. Search engines and spiders can sometimes overlook these sites. Chapter One of this book lists some industry association sites.

Question 6

Company Websites:

Answer 6

• Many companies avoid the costly fees of signing up for sites like Monster.com and simply post openings on their own sites for free. In addition, a hiring manager will use the least expensive method if it returns good candidates. At most large utility companies, posting on their own website is all they need to do.

Question 7

Linkedin

Answer 7

• Linkedln is a social media site for the professional world. Many graduates and industry professionals are connected through Linked-In. Graduates and Training Specialists are also connected, so that information about trends and current events related to the industry can be shared. It also allows students and recent graduates to show themselves to the job market by creating a professional profile, or simple resume. NLC always encourages students to customize cover letters and resumes for employers they’ve targeted. However, if there ever was a place where a solid, standardized resume about yourself should exist, then your Linkedin profile would be it, and you can continually update it. Relaxing the view permissions on your profile can also get you noticed, and establishing your network with industry professionals and alumni can lead to opportunities.
• Another aspect of Linkedln is that your home page also has a “Jobs” tab. This tab will show you the jobs that are posted at companies where current connections are already employed. Those connections can be colleagues, connections of colleagues, and/or NLC Alumni, and if you connect with them and build up your network, you can keep current with the industry.

Question 8

Contacting by Phone:

Answer 8

• According to Brian Graham, author of “Get Hired Fast! Tap the Hidden Job Market in 15 days,” cold calling is by far the best method of finding jobs. According to Graham, 50 calls will lead to 8 connections, which will lead to 1 interview. This means that 150 calls should yield 3 interviews. Not bad for 15 days work. And he says there is no other method of job search that will yield those results.

Question 9

When contacting by phone, this method requires staying power however, because the vast majority of calls will yield rejection. The best method to overcome discouragement is to remember that it is not really rejection, but simply means that the company you called is not hiring at that particular time. It means they are not ready for you right now. If you can overcome this, find a quiet spot and pick up the telephone. Other key points from the book include:

Answer 9

• The time gap between when a decision is made to open a position for hire and when the actual posting for the position occurs can be weeks. If you call in this “gap” time, you will be in the early running for the position and make a sizable impression.
• Calling leaves a more pronounced impression than a cover letter and resume (read the book to know what to say when calling!).
• Managers will sometimes take the call out of sheer curiosity.
• Many times people will feel bad that they are not hiring and point you to a company that is.

Question 10

Contacting by Mail:

Answer 10

• Any marketing professional will tell you that a direct mail marketing piece is effective if it generates one to six percent response. This means that for every 100 resume and cover letter packages you send in the mail, you can expect, on average one to six positive responses. This percentage will only work if you personalize the package by using the company name and hiring manager’s name and title.
• One to six percent response is a statistical fact that is proven every time a company direct mail markets a product. NC produces and markets safety and training products and has confirmed the accuracy of this principle many times.

Question 11

Avoid having to fold your:

Answer 11

• resume and cover letter. This can be done by using a full-size envelope. It is not critical to place typed labels on the envelope because the envelope is usually discarded. It is important, however, to print the address information neatly and legibly. The message here is to plan on sending many, many packages if you want a decent number of positive responses.

Question 12

For every 100 resume and cover letter packages you send in the mail,:

Answer 12

• you can expect one to six positive responses. This percentage will only work if you personalize the package by using the company name and hiring manager’s name and title.

Question 13

Personal Contact:

Answer 13

company for which you want to work, and speak with key personnel. This method may require more than one visit; however, it can be the most effective, especially when dealing with smaller companies, such as cooperatives, municipalities, or PUDs. Because the cost can be high, this method should be reserved for companies of your highest priority.
- When you return home, write a thank-you letter immediately to the person(s) you spoke with. If the possibility of employment exists further “down the road,” and the company seemed like a real fit, consider writing brief update letters to your contact at that company on a regular basis, such as every few months. Update letters will solidify, in your contact’s mind, your commitment to working for that company. When an opening does occur, the likelihood of you being contacted is much higher.

Question 14

What should you do when you return home from an interview?

Answer 14

• When you return home, write a thank-you letter immediately to the person(s) you spoke with.

Question 15

Unemployed people spend less than 10 hours per week in job search. Two thirds polled spend less than 5 hours. Why would this be so if the job search was such an important activity? Pierson identifies five reasons:

Answer 15

• The Rejection Syndrome
• Emotional Stress
• Working Solo (no support)
• Lowered Self-esteem and Confidence
• No Plan for Monitoring Progress

Question 16

The best way to minimize the “Terrible 5” above is to:

Answer 16

• keep score by monitoring your progress.

Question 17

Pierson claims that it takes:

Answer 17

• on average, 25 conversations with decision makers to get a job. Some people may be hired by the first decision maker they talk to. Others may need to talk to more than 25. These are not interviews, they are simply conversations.

Question 18

Counting Hours, Contacts, Letters Sent, and Phone Calls:

Answer 18

• Charting your progress is important to feeling good about your efforts. Remember that job search is a numbers game–getting the numbers up yields success. The easiest measure is hours. According to Pierson, putting in 25 to 30 hours a week is about right if you are unemployed. There are 168 hours in a week (remember the Internet is always available and does not take holidays), so 25 to 30 hours represents 16% of the total hours available in a week- reasonably manageable number.

Question 19

Create Competition:

Answer 19

• Remember that one of the reasons people stall on job search is because they are alone. They feel isolated and believe that no one understands their angst. At work we perform our tasks with lots of support and others around to assist. To overcome this dilemma, compete with a classmate. Make a friendly wager and create a verifiable system of tracking progress. The person who makes the most contacts in a given time period, and/or gets a job first wins. The two of you can share experiences, strategies, failures, and successes, which will energize the process.

Question 20

A rejection indicates only one thing:

Answer 20

• the company is not hiring at that time. They are not yet ready for you.

Question 21

Coping with Rejections:

Answer 21

• As previously mentioned, the vast majority of companies are not hiring at any given time (this is a mathematical fact for all industries); however, the companies that are hiring create a large number of openings. This means that most contacts will result in rejection, and discovering an opportunity may require many, many contacts.

Question 22

The best defense from getting discouraged is to understand that:

Answer 22

• Rejections happen to everyone. A rejection does not mean your skill is not valued.
• A rejection indicates only one thing: the company is not hiring at that time. They are not yet ready for you.
  Even with a good defense strategy for coping with rejection, the process can be exhausting. If you do become discouraged, take a break before making additional contacts. It can be detrimental to make another contact if your voice clearly indicates that you are disgruntled. The break should include an activity that you enjoy as a reward for the progress you are making. Also, remember that some companies post openings for a brief period of time, such as ten business days. This means that you could call on a Friday and discover no openings. The following Monday, a job is posted, but you don’t contact that company again for another month. Again you discover that there are no openings. Unfortunately for you, someone else contacted the company within that brief hiring window and is now enjoying the position
  you desired. As far as you knew, the company never was hiring.

Question 23

Opportunities:

Answer 23

• Given your education in the ELP, how many new openings exist each year in the power delivery, and related, industries? A lot. Consider the following figures provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
• Employment of line installers and repairers is projected to be 245,500 by the year 2026. An increase of 18,500 over a 10-year period. (see chart below)

Question 24

Experience has shown that those individuals that contact many employers:

Answer 24

• typically enjoy multiple employment opportunities - this is a good problem to have. When faced with several employment offers, remember that you are the only one that can ultimately decide which company is the “best.” You need to learn as much as possible about the various companies and determine if your personal and professional goals can be fulfilled. The more you know about the various companies, the easier it will be for you to make a final decision.

Question 25

Why should you be careful when asking others about an employer?

Answer 25

• Their answer (good or bad) will apply to their goals, not yours. This is potentially the single largest mistake made by people when deciding for whom to work. Have confidence in your ability to make decisions that affect your career. Research the company for yourself, talk to key people, visit their facilities, but make your own decision. Remember that the instructors are available for advising. Speak with more than one instructor they have each worked for different types of companies and can provide valuable information in your decision-making process.