Posts Tagged ‘resume’
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
Should an unemployed retail executive suspend his/her job search during the holidays?
Every retailer knows the holiday season is a busy time. Store executives are working iron days, merchants are following sales trends closely to ensure inventories are balanced, human resources are keeping the stores staffed with temporary employees, and senior management is in constant angst about the season’s prospects. Your natural fear is that retail executives will not have the time to consider you for employment or that you will be seen as a pest if you bother them.
Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, if you suspend your job search during the holidays you might be losing out on some significant opportunities. Keep in mind…
1. Retailers traditionally make executive changes after the fiscal year ends on January 31. January, February, and March become the busiest seasons in the recruitment of retail executives. As a result, the holiday season is a good time for you to make an impression with retail executives; and,
2. Retailers with positions open want to fill them before the fiscal year ends.
Your approach during the holiday season is important. Following are some things to think about for your holiday season job seeking activities:
• Retailer executives, like everyone else, think about family and friends during the holiday season. This is a good time to keep in contact with your network by sending a holiday email with your resume attached and letting them know that you appreciate any referrals as they hear about opportunities. You might also consider making a short call to wish them the best. Your object is just to stay in front of them.
• If you know a specific company has a current opportunity, be aggressive. No matter how busy they are, they need to fill that position before the end of the fiscal year.
• This is also a good time to build your relationships with recruiters, and industry consultants. They are not as harried as those in the retail industry.
Tags: apparel, apparel employment, apparel retail, big box employment, big box retail, careers, catalog, christmas employment, cosmetics, department store, direct marketing, ecommerce, employment, employment opportunities, executive search, fashion, fashion careers, fast food, fast food employment, grocery, grocery employment, holiday employment, job search, john plummer, modesto, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, restaurant employment, resume, retail, retail careers, retail employment, retail executive, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail jobs, retail recruiters, retail services, retail talent, retailers, retailing, seasonal employment, shop TV, skywalker, Specialty retail, supermarkets, USC, wholesale
Posted in Candidate Information | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
How to make an impression with an executive recruiter?
Quality recruiters are retained by a client to work for them on specific assignments. Their objective is to find the best talent for their clients. How you work with quality recruiters can lead to a positive or a negative impression of you when you need them when making our next career change. Following are suggestions I recommend for you when dealing with retained recruiters.
Positive Impressions
• Be available and help the recruiter. A recruiter can be a good friend and values your input.
• When your schedule is tight, suggest a time to talk.
• Listen carefully to the position being discussed. If you are not interested, immediately let the consultant know and offer to come up with suggestions of possible candidates or where the consultant might find strong candidates.
• Always have a resume handy. Make sure your resume is accurate and that spelling is correct.
• Look your best when you show up for an interview. Be yourself and show you care.
• When you show up for your interview, make sure you have done research on the client. If it is a retailer, make sure you have visited a store first.
Negative Impressions
• Avoiding contact with the recruiter sends a negative message.
• Avoid being derogative about the client or the position. What is unacceptable to you is always an opportunity for someone else.
• If you are interested, avoid exaggerating your credentials and experience. This information always gets checked in the recruitment process.
• Don’t go around a consultant and directly to the employer
• Avoid missing or being late for your appointments.
Remember…..
Recruiters retained by a client and represent that client. They are bound to a code of ethics which best represents the client. They will keep your information confidential and will work with you to get accurate information on your background to demonstrate to the client why you are an appropriate candidate. The relationship the recruiter and the candidate build is important so the recruiter can best present you.
Some recruiters work on a contingency basis. That means they are not necessarily working with the client on an exclusive basis. They are also not bound to the same code of ethics retained firms follow. As a result, you should be cautious when working with recruiters who are not retained.
You have the right and should ask each recruiter who calls if they are working on a retainer basis.
Tags: American Apparel, apparel, apparel retail, Bebe, big box retailer, careers, department store, department stores, dina lokets, Disney, e-commerce, eemployment opportunites, executive recruiters, exeutive recruiter, fahion executive, fashion, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, food service, foos service candidates, Gap, Guess, heidi plummer, J.C. Penney, job search, john plummer, Kohl's, la times, Limited, macy's, Mervyn's, modesto, national retail federation, Nordstrom, nrf, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, recruiter, restaurant, restaurant recruiters, resume, retail, retail candidates, retail careers, retail ceo, retail executive, retail executive search, retail executive search firm, retail executive search firms, retail executives, retail recruiters, retail store, retailexecutivesearch.com, retao; candidates, skywalker, Specialty retail, susan gill, Torrid, True Religion Jeans, Ulta, Ultra Beauty, USC, Victorias Secret, Walmart, Womens Wear Daily, wsj, WWD, yum
Posted in Candidate Information | 2 Comments »
Monday, October 4th, 2010
I often discover a gap in a candidate’s employment history while reviewing their resume. What is surprising is that so many individuals do not know what to do about these employment gaps. Some individuals try to hide it, which is lying. Others try to stumble through an explanation which makes an employer suspicious.
There are many reasons for a gap in your employment history. These could be:
- Your employer went out of business leaving you looking for employment.
- Your employer terminated your employment due to a staff reduction.
- Your employer terminated you for cause.
- Or, you quit.
Any of these reasons could leave you with an employment gap while you were looking for a new career. Sometimes, the gap is longer because of an economic downturn or because your family did not want to relocate.
What ever the reason, you should show the employment gap on your resume and be ready to fully explain what you were doing during that time. If you do not have a prepared and honest explanation it will lead prospective employers to think that something else was going on in your life … maybe incarceration.
The last thing you want to do is cover up an employment gap. If your perspective or, worse yet, your new employer finds out about the cover up, you will most likely be not hired, or terminated. Now, it is too easy for employers to verify accurate dates of employment; and, employers do check.
Honesty is the best explanation. An example of a good explanation is ….” after I left company xyz, I started looking for opportunities in my city. Unfortunately, there are no other retailers there so I tried to transfer my skills to another industry. My son/daughter was in his/her senior year in high school so our family made a choice not to relocate. A year later, I found myself still looking. With my son graduating, our family has now agreed to relocate.”
There are many other reasons. Do your best to honestly explain the situation.
Tags: ace hardware, Amazon, amercian apparel, auto zone, big box retail, big box retailers, catalog, charming charlie, Chipotle, creers, Darden Group, department stores, dina lokets, direct marketing, ecommrce, employment, employment gaps, employment opportunites, employment opportunities, executive search, executive search firms, fashion, fashion careers, fashion industry, fast food, food service careers, Gap, HEB, heidi plummer, home depot, J.C. Penney, job changes, job search, john plummer, kroger, Limited, lowes, macy's, McDonald's, modesto, Morton's, Nordstrom, orchard supply, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, Publix, recruiters, restaurant careers, restaurant recruiters, resume, retail, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail recruiters, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, retailing, safeway, Sears, shoptv, skywalker, stores, supermarkets, Supply Chain, susan gill, the gap, True Religion Jeans, trueserv, USC, Walmart, wholesale, Womens Wear Daily, wsj, WWD, yum
Posted in Candidate Information | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
The first blush comment from most in the recruiting industry is that recruiting executives to family-owned private businesses is difficult or near impossible. But, if you look at the facts, there are large family-owned companies that have successfully grown and have successfully recruited top talent. For example, look at Hershey, S. E. Johnson, H. E. Butt, Wegman’s, Jockey International, and Carlson Companies as prime examples of successful family-owned businesses.
In my opinion, it is not the family ownership that makes recruiting difficult. The issue is the management style of the ownership. The style of the executive evaluating the opportunity is equally important.
An executive considering joining a family-owned business has several questions to ask. These are:
What will be my future with the company? Is there opportunity for personal growth? Are there family members involved who will limit my chances for promotion?
What is the financial health of the company and is the family willing to invest more or dilute their ownership through debt or equity? Is the family willing to be open about the financials and their strategies?
How willing is the family to invest in new equipment, research, systems, etc?
Is the family open to new ideas?
Is the family willing to share interest in the business to key executives? Will this interest be developed on an open basis? Will this be on a true partnership basis?
Is the family really willing to delegate responsibilities to non-family members?
How long does the family plan to own/control the company? What will be the exit strategy for the family ownership: IPO, strategic sale, or other? Are all family owners on the same page in terms of the exit strategy?
At the same time, family owners have questions to ask the prospective executive. Among the questions are:
Is this executive really committed? Will he/she put in the effort required to take the business to the next level?
Is this executive willing to share the risk? If the economy gets soft, will this executive pitch in and work harder and smarter and also accept the earnings declines that the ownership suffers…or will this executive just move on when times are tough?
Will this executive work with us as we ponder through difficult times and difficult financing issues?
Is this executive willing to put skin in the game (i.e.: personal finances, or extraordinary effort)?
The success or failure in both parties trying to develop an effective working relationship depends on both parties’ questions being put on the table and answered truthfully and in an open manner.
The company that is not willing to provide full and honest disclosure and not truly willing to answer all the executive’s questions will make recruitment difficult. A recruiter will be able to bring in a hired hand but will not be able to recruit a true partner for the business.
The executive who wants the upside but who also wants guarantees is probably not the right executive either.
For a recruiter, the challenge is to quickly learn about the family and their willingness to answer the questions candidates will ask. To the degree the family is willing to answer those questions will determine the level of candidate the recruiter will be able to bring to the table. This requires a skilled executive recruiter who knows how to assess family organizations and also assess candidates for their ability to fit the circumstances.
As a side note: These issues are not as important with larger family-owned public companies. In smaller family-owned public companies these issues and the management style are still important. Even though the ownership and the financial data is public information, the family involvement in the business and their longer term intentions need to be disclosed to potential executives. What is most important for the executive to discover in these circumstances is whether the family self-interests are aligned with the short- and longer-term needs of the business.
Tags: big box retail, big box retailers, career, careers, catalog, department stores, dina lokets, direct marketing, ecommerce, employment, employment opportunities, executive search, executive search firms, family companies, family owned, family owned companies, fashion, Finance, heidi plummer, human resources, IT, job changes, john plummer, la times, modesto, national retail federation, nrf, Operations, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, private companies, privately held, privately held companies, resume, retail, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail recruiters, retail talent, retailers, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, retailing, shop TV, skywalker, supermarkets, Supply Chain, susan gill, USC, wholesale, Womens Wear Daily, wsj, WWD
Posted in Candidate Information, Talent Development/Education | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
This is a serious question that cannot be easily answered.
The first question you need to ask yourself is why did you look at this other company and why did you let it get to an offer stage if you were not serious about leaving?
Were you unhappy with your superior?
Were you underappreciated and underpaid?
Was your career path blocked?
Did you have concerns about the future of your employer?
Do you have an especially high regard for the prospective employer?
Before you accept your current employer’s counter offer, you seriously need to think about what has really changed with that counter offer that will make you happy. It may be easy to go back home and tell the family that you will not need to relocate because your employer made all kinds of promises and rewarded you with extra compensation. But, if conditions were bad enough to make you look elsewhere, there is little chance that things have changed significantly.
The truth is that most employees who accept a counter offer from their current employer usually leave the company within two years.
Why? In my experience there are several reasons.
Your current employer may never fully trust you again. Because you got to the stage of an offer, there is suspicion that you traded too much secret information.
Your employer also may believe you will leave again in the future. So, favored appointments will tend to go to those in the organization that have earned management’s trust.
If you were transferred away from a superior you did not like, that executive usually remains with the organization and will become a political opponent.
If you were disillusioned with your company’s future, the likelihood of that changing is minimal.
My advice to any executive is that you should not seriously look at other career opportunities if you fully believe your career is on track. Why jeopardize your role with your current employer and why create a reason for your employer to have less reason to trust and invest in your development?
On the other hand, if you feel that your advancement is blocked or if you have reservations about your employer’s future, you should actively look for other opportunities and be committed to the change.
Tags: big box retail, big box retailers, career search, careers, catalog, college degrees, college graduates, department stores, dina lokets, direct marketing, ecommerce, employment, executive search, executive search firms, family companies, family ownership, fashion, fashion careers, food service, heidi plummer, IT, job changes, job opportunities, Limited, macy's, MBA, modesto, national retail federation, nrf, nrf stores, Operations, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, Plummersearch, plummersearch.com, privately held companies, restaurants.fast food, resume, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail recruiters, retail talent, retailexecutivesearch.com, retailexecutivesearchfirms.com, shop TV, Specialty retail, supermarkets, Supply Chain, susan gill, talent, the gap, USC, Victorias Secret, wholesale, Womens Wear Daily, WWD, yum
Posted in Candidate Information | 4 Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
One of the worst labels an executive can get is “job hopper”. This is an executive who has had multiple employment changes in a short period of time.
In the eyes of the prospective employer this raises many red flags. Job hoppers are usually the first candidates to be ruled out by employers and search firms as there are so many good candidates who don’t carry this baggage.
There are many reasons for too many career changes. These can be:
-unfortunate circumstances
-bad choices
-bad timing
-incompetence/malfeasance
-the idea that one should always be looking for the next job
-listening to a self-interested recruiter who wants the executive to move on to earn another fee.
We all make bad choices. Once is understandable. After that, it is a reflection upon the individual’s personal judgment or his/her inability to do good due diligence before accepting new employment.
Obviously, the executive who changes employment because of incompetence or malfeasance is always eliminated.
Just as importantly, the one who is always looking for his/her next job with another employer is also eliminated from candidate slates. The reason is simple. Employers are not simply looking to fill a position. They want someone in whom they can invest for future returns.
The tough issue is for those who ran into unfortunate circumstances.
-They had to leave an organization because of personal or family illness
-The family ended up not making the move or could not accept the new city
-The executive who followed a superior to a new company and accepted the superior’s due diligence on the new company which failed shortly afterwards.
-The new employer was acquired or new management was installed that terminated current employees.
-The economy tanked in 2009.
One of these events in a career is understandable. But two or three such events make it difficult to avoid the deadly job hopper label. Be honest and factual when you describe the circumstances to a prospective employer. Covering up your mistakes will only hurt you.
If you are labeled as a job hopper, it is very similar to having a low credit score. You can work your way out of it. You need to be dedicated to your new employer and committed to building your new career in that organization.
If you are tempted to make a jump simply to catch up with your peers, consider that you may be about to commit a fatal error.
Tags: ahold, big box retail, big box retailers, career, careers, catalog, Chicos, college degrees, college education, college graduates, convience stores, department stores, dina lokets, direct marketing, ecommerce, employment, executive search firms, fashion, fashion careers, FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, grocery stores, heidi plummer, human resources, IT, job opportunites, john plummer, kroger, la times, Limited, macy's, MBA, modesto, national retail federation, nrf, NY Times, Operations, personnel, plummer & associates, plummer and associates, plummer search, plummersearch.com, resume, retail careers, retail executive recruiters, retail executive search, retail executive search firms, retail recruiters, retailexecuivesearch.com, retailexecutiveseaerchfirms.com, retailing, safeway, shop TV, Specialty retail, supermarkets, Supply Chain, susan gill, USC, Victorias Secret, wholesale, Womens Wear Daily, wsj, WWD, yum, yum brands
Posted in Candidate Information | 4 Comments »