Often when you have a job interview, you have to meet with HR first. As a former staffing manager for a Fortune 500 company, and a career and job coach, I have seven insights to share about what HR is thinking as they interview you. Knowing these will help make your interview with HR count.

1. How prepared are you? We hope you did not only check our website.
The last thing that Human Resources wants to hear is you asking us how many employees we have or what states we are in, since you can easily find that information online. Before you go to an interview, learn something about us – our products, our history and our challenges, and apply that knowledge to formulate thoughtful questions or ideas. Asking for information that can be easily found on our website will ensure you will sink to the bottom of our list and may not even make it to the next step. Continue reading…

Consulting, Temporary, Freelance, or Contract Work—these terms can mean different things to different people. While each word can conjure an impression of a different level of employee with various employment arrangements (Contract/Consulting work can imply higher skill level and longer term assignments; Temporary work can mean seasonal, short-term, lower skill level jobs; and Freelance work brings about the image of a free spirit creative soul floating from one inventive endeavor to another), these terms meant the same thing to me when I was a recruiter:  the work was interim and the employee was not a direct hire employee of the firm.  For the sake of this article, these four terms will be used interchangeably, but I acknowledge each can be defined differently by various organizations and people.

So why should job seekers consider this type of work?  The main reason is because employers of all types are employing this way of hiring talent as part of their year-round staffing strategy.  The chances are the job function you perform is now being classified as a consulting or temporary job within that organization.  If you don’t consider positions in this classification, you may miss out on a number of great opportunities.

Why would an employer make a previously direct hire position now a contract job? Here are some of the benefits experienced by an employer when they hire a contract employee. By knowing these reasons, you can devise a strategy as to how and why a company should hire your skills set as a contractor increasing your chances of being hired: Continue reading…

Your resume and job search has to now contend with iPads, iPhones, Android phones, Blackberries and every other type of old and new tech device in between. The job search and the recruitment model is going mobile like the rest of business and every other industry—if they are smart and want to stay ahead of the competition. So how can job seekers be ready for these technological adjustments and what should they expect? Continue reading…

Ideally, let’s not make mistakes on an interview. However, job seekers are human. Humans make mistakes. So mistakes will happen. I think an interview mistake can be an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive.

When I recruited for my team and for the clients for whom I found talent as a search firm recruiter, I would actually welcome the mistakes made by candidates. I did not automatically weed out those candidates that made errors and I did not immediately move on those that interviewed without a misstep. How candidates handled the mistake, the type of mistake they made and the level of perfection achieved on the interview by candidates factored into my decision to advance a candidate to the next round of interviews. What should you do if it happens to you? Continue reading…

New Year. New Job. New Opportunities. “But I have been looking for a job, Lisa, so searching for a job is not new for me. I need to recharge my efforts to get results…where do I start?” If this is you, I empathize. For some, this is a new year that brings new perspective. For others, it is just another day in a life that has been focused on looking for a new position. If you need to pump some new mojo and energy into your search to get results that you want and land that next job faster, here are the six things you can do today…or even this week: Continue reading…

Job boards don’t suck…however, how most job seekers use job boards to find a job does suck, to be blunt. I think job boards are a treasure trove of information that is consistently undiscovered and underutilized. Job boards receive a bad rap from most job seekers, since most job seekers are using them improperly. To be clear, there are five kinds of job listings, each listed with a few examples, and five ways are using job boards more effectively: Continue reading…

This time of year brings about that need to take inventory of what you did and where you want to go in the next year. Notice I did not say we need to take note of what we did not do. Focus on the positive. Focus on what you did accomplish in your career.

Be grateful and content. It is in the contentment and acceptance of where we are that allows us to have a foundation to build the dreams of where we want to go in the next year.

Use this time to REFLECT and not REGRET.

Then DESIGN your plan to ADVANCE your career.

Let’s close out 2011 and get revved up for 2012. Join me in doing this exercise: Continue reading…

CAREER DEVELOPMENT & JOB SEARCH LINKS

Below are 100+ additional resources covering job search, social networking, salary calculators, career research and entrepreneurial exploration to help get where you want to go in your career. Chameleon Resumes would love to hear additional suggestions you have about other sites that should be included on the list. Let us know at lisa.rangel [at] chameleonresumes.com. Here is the list: Continue reading…

>The following real world resume samples, written by a Certified Professional Resume Writer, have landed Chameleon Resumes clients in executive and professional level positions with prestigious niche companies, boutique start-up firms and Fortune 500 organization. Each resume is written by a professional resume writer with achievement-driven language and key word optimization and devised with professional impact and contemporary design that is appealing to today’s corporate and search firm recruiters. Contact Chameleon Resumes to start getting results from your job search and landing the interviews you want TODAY!

Financial Executive Private Equity Resume Sample

Sales and Marketing Manager Resume Sample

Healthcare Pharmaceutical Executive Resume Sample

Energy Finance Vice President Resume Sample

Chameleon Resumes has written and designed resumes, advised on job search plans and performed interview preparation consulting for executives and professionals coming from and pursuing the following areas:

From in the following industries: Financial Services, Energy, Advertising, Professional Services, Consulting, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, Creative Services, Entertainment (All Mediums), Consumer Products, Banking, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Medical, Hardware & Software Technology, Social Media Technology, Digital & Traditional Publishing, Real Estate, Telecommunication & Mobile Technologies, Municipal Services, Education and Law

Within the following disciplines: Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, Creative Services, Supply Chain/Procurement, Advertising, Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Engineering, Scientific Professional, Operations, Product Development, Distribution/Logistics, Executive Management and Legal

Holding and pursuing the following titles: CEO (Chief Executive Officer), CIO (Chief Information Officer), CTO (Chief Technology Officer), CFO (Chief Financial Officer), COO (Chief Operating Officer), Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Medical Officer, President, General Manager, Entrepreneur/Owner, Controller, General Counsel, VP, SVP, EVP, Director, Manager, Project Manager, Supervisor, Lead, Specialist, Administrator, Coordinator and Assistant

I’m the type of person who needs to be shown why it pays to be grateful, happy and optimistic. Are you like that? I hated to admit it, but it is true—and yet I am still an optimist and I think most people would say so.  Why the change? I have learned the hard way over the years that my ability to find something that could go wrong with anything that crossed my desk, was in actuality, not an asset but a liability. Yes, being able to forecast numerous possible outcomes can enable a business to be prepared for various situations. But when it came to my personal and professional life, I was dragging myself down and paralyzing myself. Are you doing the same? Continue reading…