Thank You!

We would like to extend our gratitude to all of our candidates and clients! Thank you for an amazing 2010 and we look forward to a wonderful 2011!

How To Mess Up A Phone Interview

Typically the topic of verbal crutches is something that people are coached on when they are improving their group presentation skills. Verbal crutches are those little “connector” words that all of us use from time to time. These are the ums, ahs, and even in the case of one candidate I interviewed-fabulous, that we unconsciously toss in while we’re thinking about the next sentence.

Let me tell you-this will KILL and I mean-RUIN your chances for a follow up interview, especially if your first interview is a phone interview.

As the interviewer on a phone interview, I have nothing else to focus on other than the sound of your voice. If that sound is constantly interrupted by an umm, or a ya know, I’m really going to notice it. If the job I’m considering hiring you for has a lot of phone work involved, I’m not going to subject the person on the other end of the phone to your poor verbal abilities. At this point, I don’t care if you are the most qualified person on paper-you’re out of the running because your message is being lost in a sea of these verbal crutches. It’s a very silly way to get eliminated.

Here’s how you clean up your act. First, you need to either ask your friends very seriously and honestly if you are a verbal crutch offender. Explain to them how important this is in your job search, and unless they want to hear you whine for an additional six months about not finding a new job-they should help you. Verbal crutches are bad habits that can become more apparent when you’re in stressful situations like job interviews, but are probably apparent when your guard is down like when you’re hanging out with friends. They don’t just appear when you pick up the phone for an interview.

Your other option is to record yourself while you practice for the interview. This can be trickier because you will of course know that you’re taping and will make more of an effort to clean up your act, but it could work.

Another option is to just make a conscious effort throughout the day to listen to what you are really saying. Too many times I find that if I’m not completely engaged in what I’m saying and am not truly “in the moment” that I will start umming and ahhing as my brain searches for the next coherent thought. When I focus on the message I’m trying to convey, my speech patterns clean up immediately and I’m back on track. I sound more professional and people have a tendency to not tune me out because they’re tired of trying to sort out the wheat from the umm and ahh chaff.

So bottom line, if this could be a problem for you-fix it NOW! Make an effort everytime you say something during the day to really listen to what you are saying-don’t tune out! If you want the interviewer to pay attention to you-you need to pay attention to you. For some people, this will be a hard habit to break, but it is well worth the effort, I guarantee it.

- Melanie Szlucha

From www.net-temps.com

Administrative Assistant Needed in the Woodlands

Candidate will be required to make course manuals which involves printing course material and binding the material together to make the manuals. Will answer phones and assist in normal office admin duties. Set up courses which can be done through the phone and/or by email. Must know how to operate a copy machine proficiently and be computer literate. Must be able to lift boxes in the office (10-25lbs). Will help out with the front desk at times. The office can be very fast paced so the candidate will be required to work when priorities might change at a short notice. Ideal candidate needs to know Microsoft Office including Excel worksheets. Strong written and communication skills; sharp and focused; self driven; great people skills.

What's an Employer Really Looking For in Your Resume?

Most job-seekers write their resumes with one thing in mind—themselves! They toot their own horn so loud the interviewer is blown away by the sound. The "I did this" and "I achieved that" approach is important, of course. The hiring manager wants to know what you've accomplished in your previous line of work and how you can benefit his or her company in the new position.

Reading Between the Lines

BUT—he or she is also looking for some intuitive abilities that a potential employee can express on the job without every detail being spelled out. This means the new hire should be able to anticipate and sense problems and challenges and be able to meet them instinctively.

For example, suppose you hope to be hired as an administrative assistant to the president of a financial corporation. You have computer skills, an ability to organize corporate data, you're capable of keeping the filing system up-to-date, and you're ready to field phone calls and e-mails for the executive without being told.

Beyond the Job Description

These skills look good on paper, but for your resume to move to the top of the pile, include a few sentences that state what else you can do that may not appear in the job description. Example: Able to chair a meeting of corporate executives when the president is unexpectedly detained or called away on emergency business; able to trouble-shoot with customers on the phone, keeping the president free of time-consuming entanglements; able to stimulate essential communication between employees in other departments and then report back the findings to the president.

An employee of real value is one who not only meets the requirements for the job, as described, but goes beyond them, delivering both practical help and heart-felt support that call for intuition and attentiveness.

- Jimmy Sweeney
From www.net-temps.com

Tax Preparers Needed!

Tax Prepration Company in Southwest Houston seeking 2 experienced individuals to help customers in processing personal income taxes. 1-2 years experience required. Will train on basic knowledge of their TaxWise software system. Will also train on recent tax compliance. Must be available to work 7 days a week but will have scheduled prepared well in advance. Pay + Bonus structure based on referrals and number of returns processed

General Accountant

This position will be working onsite with a client company assisting with General Ledger, AP, AR. Must have 3-4 years experience with processing invoices and be able to assist with payroll processing. Currently using QuickBooks, but changing to JDEdwards in the near future. Must be proficient with MS Office and flexible to work in a very busy office environment.

Rusty Interview Help

If you haven’t looked for a job in a while, skydiving might be preferable to interviewing. But there are a few simple steps that will remove the fear and give you the confidence you’d otherwise wish you had.

Common sense says you need to research the company via their website, brochures or the library, although you’d be surprised at how many skip the obvious. Basics also include bringing a few extra copies of your resume to hand out if necessary, arriving early, dressing professionally, and knowing what you have to offer the company.

But those are no-brainers, or they should be. What even experienced interviewers often fail to do is ask, in detail, about the position. So get away from the job description and dig into the actuality of that job in that company, as it stands right now. Find out why the position is open and how long it’s been vacant. Ask also how long the previous person was there. If that person was there less than two years, find out how long the previous person was there. If both are short, chances are you won’t be there long either.

You want to know what the first priority to be addressed is, if there’s a time frame for accomplishing it, and if so, what it is. Is it a realistic one? And overall, in what condition is the job you’ll be picking up? Is it maintenance? Troubleshooting and clean up? Smooth, accelerated growth? And how do the answers sit with you?

The toughest thing about interviewing is that you need to find out about the position and sell yourself as the one for the job – concurrently. That means you’re going after it before you even know if you want it. Process it later. It’s easier to close the door than open it when it’s too late. In the meantime, to stay in control of your career, if what you’re hearing is agreeable to you, then show enthusiasm and throw the stiff formality out the window.

Interviews should be dialogues, not question and answer sessions. You can’t change the subject, but you can ask a question about the topic that’s on the table. This gives you additional insight into the position and what they’re looking for. It also helps what part of your background you want to talk about, leaving you less likely to ramble on, hoping something will be impressive.

You can also ask for clarification if something sounds a little…….off. But pay attention to your tone of voice and your body language. A furrowed brow, a puzzled tone, and a curled lip are much more off putting than an interested tone, a smile, and a relaxed open manner. The latter shows genuine interest in the details. The former can sometimes be construed as the mark of a difficult person.

Pretend you’re interviewing with a friend’s company, and it’s just a formality. How would you be sitting? Sounding? What would your word choices be? Because self confidence has a completely different look and feel to it, and companies don’t want to hire desperate people. They want to be specifically chosen for who they are and what they offer. Just like you do.

- Judi Perkins

From www.net-temps.com

AP Coordinator Needed!

AP person with 3-5 years of experienced is needed to enter invoices into accounting system for payments. Will assign GL coding, process check payments, perform matching, maintain vendor accounts, interact with AR, reconcile intercompany receivables, and data input. Ideal candidate must have prior AP experience, knowledgeable with ERP and MS Office, strong communication skills and detailed oriented

4 Resume Tips From Career Pros

What if you could talk to four hiring professionals and ask them what they REALLY wanted to see in your resume?

Do you think that might give you an advantage in your job search?

I spoke to recruiters and career experts from across America and convinced them to share their best advice with you.

So, without further ado, here are four tips from career experts to help you write a better resume – and get hired!


1.Research the company and customize your resume
In this job market, too many candidates are chasing too few openings. That means you must differentiate yourself. And a great way to do that is to customize every resume, to clearly target the positions you apply for.

"I advise all candidates to send out no generic resumes. Make sure you include keywords from the job postings online or from the newspaper – this can grab employers' attention and keep them reading," says Felix Lin, a recruiting professional at Los Angeles-based Marclin Group (www.marclingroup.com).

So carefully match your resume to job postings, to make sure your resume hits all the hot buttons in every ad you respond to.

In addition, research target companies using www.google.com, www.hoovers.com and your network of contacts. The more you know, the better you can tailor your resume to appeal to hiring managers.

"You want to know what kind of management style will be a good fit at your target employer. If you have contacts there, find out what happened to the person you'll be hired to replace. Were they fired, promoted, what? Use any advantage you can get – you have to research companies like there’s no tomorrow," says Lin.


2.Showcase your achievements
When writing your resume, shoot off your big guns early. Because if you start off slow, employers may never finish reading.

"Top career accomplishments and awards should be at the top of page one for impact, not buried on page two," says Ron McManmon, a former recruiter and currently Executive VP of Bend, Oregon-based Careeradex, Inc. (www.careeradex.com).

For best results, mention at least 2-3 of your top achievements within the top third of page one -- this is the most valuable real estate in your resume.

You can include your achievements in a Profile or Qualifications Summary section, with 4 or 5 bulleted paragraphs, each one or two lines long. Bullets make for easy reading and allow you to make your best points quickly.


3.Break up long text
"Avoid paragraph forms that are text heavy and hard on the eyes. Bullet points definitely make for easier reading," says Rick Fox, Branch Manager at Edina, Minn.-based Princeton Search (www.mrimpls.com).

My own rule of thumb is to break all paragraphs longer than three lines into two or more shorter, bulleted sections.

Here's just one "before" and "after" example from a recent resume that crossed my desk, with grammar and punctuation improved as well.

BEFORE

Administrator of a 40-node local area network utilizing Windows NT primary domain model, integrated with a Novell Netware server for GroupWise E-mail access. Windows NT Server 4.0 provided DHCP-TCP/IP services for the intranet, as well as account validation, and management of shared resources. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 provided access to the domain.

AFTER

* Administered 40-node LAN running Windows NT primary domain, integrated with a Novell Netware server for GroupWise E-mail access.

* Managed Windows NT Server 4.0 (DHCP-TCP/IP for intranet, account validation, and shared resource management) and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (domain access).


4.Stay within two pages
"The initial review of a resume is very brief -- as little as 13 seconds. We look for several items, including companies worked for, job titles and timeline. These should all be prominently displayed," says Doug Binning, President of Minneapolis-based Upstart Solutions (www.upstartsolutions.com).

A good rule of thumb is to limit your resume to two pages at most. "The attention span of resume reviewers is notoriously short," adds Binning.

Anything that doesn't make the cut can be used to create supplemental documents, listing your projects and prior experience in detail.

Bring these supplements to the job interview, where you can use them to expand on your resume.

Best of luck to you!

-Kevin Donlin

From www.net-temps.com

Why Wasn’t I Hired?

Interviewing can be both frustrating and arduous because throughout the process, you receive little or no feedback except for the obvious: if they want you back, they contact you. If they don’t, frequently you never hear from them again. But after a first interview the reasons for not being asked back are numerous, and quite frankly, usually they’re about you: lack of experience, poor interviewing skills, inadequate preparation and research, or similar shortcomings. As a result, another candidate generates more excitement.

But sometimes you are the candidate who’s invited back for a second or even a third interview. After that, though you’ve reached the final stages of interviewing and feel sure an offer is imminent, suddenly……nothing.

Sometimes the process has stalled. Occasionally - and stupidly - a company finds the perfect person, but feels they have to interview a specific number of people first, and while they do, they’re under the impression you’re waiting happily in the background with your life and emotions on hold until they contact you again.

Other times only a letter in the mail tells you it’s done. Rarely are candidates told why they didn't get the job. Unless you get this far in the process, usually you aren’t even told that much. Was it something you did? Maybe. But maybe not!

Relax. While you’re busy wondering what went wrong or trying to convince yourself it had nothing to do with you...sometimes that’s the truth! You and that company just weren't meant to be, and nothing you might have done - or not done - would have made any difference.

Consider these factors, all of which take place without your knowing:


•A last-minute candidate appeared on the scene who was exactly what they were looking for. Maybe you were almost perfect, but for some reason, the last-minute candidate was just a bit more whatever they were looking for. If you experienced a delay in your interviewing late in the process, odds are very good your position as the top candidate was usurped at the last minute.

•An internal candidate entered the picture. Though many companies post positions internally first and go outside only after exhausting internal options, that doesn’t account for someone changing his mind - especially if it was the person they were initially targeting.

•The company decided to eliminate the position or put the hiring process on hold. Sometimes when a company doesn’t know in which direction they want to go, they run an ad to “see what’s out there” and then eliminate the position when their water walker fails to submit a resume. On other occasions, the process might be halted as a result of some event that changed the circumstances - and thus changed their decision about interviewing.

•One of the interviewers that came into the picture later in the process didn't like you. Perhaps you reminded them of a former employee that didn't work out. Maybe they were threatened by your expertise and skill. In any case, they carried enough weight or had enough of a valid point to get you jettisoned from the process.
Interviewing is the process by which you find a company you like, and by which a company hires you because they feel you’re the best person for the job. Everything happens for a reason, and if you missed getting an offer with one company, something better may be just around the corner.

So concentrate on what you can control and forget about what you can’t. If you mope around worrying about what you did or didn't do and wonder why they didn't like you or where you messed up - your attitude will bring about another negative outcome.

Look objectively at whether or not you can pinpoint something you might have done differently, and then learn from it. Otherwise, put it behind you and move forward with a confident and positive outlook!

- Judi Perkins

From www.net-temps.com

Entry Level Accounting Clerk Needed

Will assist with year end cleanup. Copy, file, fax, data entry, match PO's, code and input payables. May eventually verify vendor payments. Great if they have worked with Oracle.

Dental Scheduling Clerk

Growing pediatric dental practice looking for experienced front desk/scheduler to manage front desk for one dentist, schedule, greet patients, perform collections, run monthly reports, send out statements, verify insurance and other administrative duties. One year of experience working in dental office with use of Dentrix software preferred. Must be good with children, customer service, computer literate, reliable and a team player. Free parking, lunch room, nice environment, discount for children's dentistry after 90 days, paid vacation, holidays. No weekend or long evening hours. Friday work only half a day!

4 Tips to Answering Tough Interview Questions Correctly

From blatant – “Greatest weakness, weakest attribute, most significant failure.” To soft – “What might your previous employer say?” Even softer – “You certainly seem to have a lot of strengths, but we understand no one is perfect.” The question will come one way or another, everyone knows it, yet still befuddled by it.

There have been many Rules of Thumb (R.O.T.) developed over the years, from making light of the question with an answer like “Pizza!” to true confessions, putting a cloud over everyone, to developing a response that actually demonstrates a strength, “I tend to be a workaholic” or “perfectionist.” (Yuk!)

In principle, Rules of Thumb are meant to have very broad application such as, “when in doubt, get out.” Great advice if you are in the middle of an intersection and the light changes. Would it apply in the final seconds of a game, you’re down 3 points and have the ball? What, you’re going to walk off the floor? I don’t think so. I find many R.O.T. (pun intended) to be off the mark and misleading. What may be good for one may not be for another. That is not to say there are no rules that can be applied; there are. Just choose your medicine carefully.

When answering interview questions, here’s the first rule…

RULE #1 – Stay Positive…ALWAYS!
The “what’s your greatest weakness” question is your opportunity to shine. One way is to demonstrate you are a positive person by nature. Everyone likes a person with a positive nature, right? Remember you are in the interview to make yourself desirable for hiring, so you might say, “I rarely sit there and think of myself in those terms, nevertheless, I do want to respond to your question” or something on those lines. Notice by the way I did not say “I rarely sit there and think of my weaknesses.” Okay, I take it back. Here’s a rule of thumb that always applies: Do not use or repeat negative terms, even if the interviewer throws it out there.

Here are three other rules I suggest you follow:

RULE#2 – No Superlatives!
Keep it singular. Superlatives such as “weakest” or “worst” or “biggest” indicate the greatest degree of whatever is it describing. “Worst weakness” is the weakness of the highest degree implying there are other weaknesses of varying degrees but weaknesses nonetheless. That begs the question “what are some others?” Likewise, “need most to improve” implies there are others areas for improvement. In any case, try this as an alternative: “If I had to come up with one…” (No negatives; no multiples).

RULE#3 – No Absolutes!
The absolute, as in “my weakness is…” states the weakness exists unconditionally: Utterly fixed and not likely to change. WOW! Wouldn’t it be better to be a little less restrictive, something more conditional like “it could be I am…” Conditional responses suggest you yourself are not completely convinced of it. This type of response also accomplishes what the bungling technique of using a “strength” to describe a weakness consistently fails to achieve – that your “weakness” may not be a weakness after all.

RULE#4 – Keep it Real!
Your “weakness” should be one (singular) that is subjective – of your person. Humanize it!

“If I had to come up with one (singular) it might be (non-absolute) somewhat (qualifier) of a lack of internal patience (human). I seem (unconvinced) to have strong tendencies to expect the same from others I do from myself (human). Not just in terms of results – I’m smart enough to realize not everyone has the same level of skill, abilities and education (real)…I do however, expect others to give their best effort, and if that’s not there, then yes, that might (conditional) bother me to some degree.”

Ah! “bother me to some degree” is human, non-absolute, qualifier, and conditional. Don’t you love it?! Another tact, similarly keeping it real, could be an incident resultant of some area where improvement was needed (potential weakness) that turned out to be a learning experience and later grew into a personal asset, thus giving you, once more, an opportunity to showcase strength.

In summary…

Do your homework. Think critically and be honest with yourself. Ask friends or colleagues the same: Critically and honestly, what they think may be your one weakness. When you have the answer, internalize it. In other words, take it to heart. If you don’t, your response may come across like a sound bite, no matter how long and hard you practice sounding unpracticed. When you speak from the heart, you won’t sound “rehearsed,” you will sound “aware” – conscious of yourself, a characteristic we all value.

From www.careerealism.com

Resume Keywords Are Necessary

Hiring managers, recruiters, and business owners conduct numerous searches on career sites each day. The words they use to search for possible candidates are known as keywords. If your resume doesn’t include these keywords, it can’t be found very easily.

The bad news is that there are as many, if not more keywords as there are job openings. You can find many different keyword lists online with possible words that are highly searched for, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those particular keywords will match the position for which you are seeking. Just like performing a search on an internet search engine, no one person, or hiring manager, searches for the exact same phase each time.

So, what can you do to increase the chances of getting your resume found? Here are a few suggestions to help you find the right keywords to include in your resume.

Put Yourself in the Hiring Manager’s Shoes

When trying to decide what keywords will provoke the best response, think as if you are the one doing the hiring. What would you search for if you wanted to hire someone for the opening you are applying for?

Here’s another idea. If you know anyone who works in a hiring or human resources department or someone who owns their own business, ask them what they look for when searching for potential employees. Professional resume writers can also offer a good deal of insight into how employers think.

Pay Attention to the Ad

This is probably the best way to determine what keywords will get you noticed.

Look at the advertisement for the position you are applying for. Chances are the person doing the hiring is the one who wrote the ad and you will find the most important keywords right in the ad. Does the ad list specific qualifications, software knowledge, or experience that is required? If so, add those words to your resume where appropriate. Don’t forget about ads for similar positions, even if you are not applying for them. Those ads may highlight other important keywords that might be missing from other ads.

Resume Banks
If you add your resume to resume banks or employer databases with hopes of landing the perfect job, you must include certain keywords to get your resume in front of hiring managers.

No matter how qualified you are, if your resume doesn’t pop up in their search list, the hiring company may not even know you exist, let alone that you are interested in a position with their company. Do your research and make sure you have as many of the appropriate keywords included in your resume as possible for each job you apply for.

- Jennifer Anthony

From www.net-temps.com