According to Zenja Glass, less than 20 per cent of all jobs are actually advertised. As the co-founder and vice president of USA Technical Search, Inc, and USAManufacturingJobs.com, Glass and her husband Paul make their living helping individuals throughout the country secure permanent employment. The author of two very successful career building books; 25 Reasons Why I Don’t Hire You! What You Did Wrong Before, During and After the Interview, and 25 Reasons Why They Won’t Hire You! How to Overcome Unfair Hiring Practices and Get Hired, Glass offers job seekers the tools to uncover what she calls, “the hidden job market.” Rolling out recently caught up with Glass to discuss three essential items to help you crack open the job market. –gavin philip godfrey
3 keys to finding employment
What’s In A Name: If you have an easily identifiable ethnic name you might want to consider using a nickname. It hurts for me to give this advice — but I advise that you look at all the possibilities of your name. For example, if your name is Cherquita, you might want to use the name, “Cheri.” The whole point of the resume is just to get them to call you and see how really wonderful you are. Once they’ve met you they couldn’t care less about what you’re actual name is. It works, and it’s been proven time and time again that people have been called for interviews using different names.
The ‘Weight’ing Game: It is a known fact that hiring authorities discriminate against obese job seekers. If the position your interviewing for is performance-based in any way I highly advise that you [come equipped] with any kind of write-up or letter of recommendation. You have to put those [physical] issues to rest, and the only way you can do it is by showing proof of your past performance.
Background Checks: One, have a criminal background check [done] on yourself. You’d be surprised what may or may not show up. Two, always look to see if you can get something expunged from your record. You’d actually be surprised how many things can be expunged. Three, if all else fails and you know something is going to show up on your background it’s always important to let people know — “Five years ago when I was young and dumb I made bad choices.” If you know the company’s going to run a background check and you know that record is going to appear I recommend that you address these issues up front with the hiring authorities so that they can see that you’re a truthful person.
For information visit www.usatechsearch.com and www.usamanufacturingjobs.com
