Archive for the ‘Job Search’ Category

Our very own Managing Big Kahuna Meister; Dan Goldsmith has an article out on ‘ Precision Guided Resumes’ in this past Wednesday’s DigiDay.
Find it here: Precision Guided Resumes Part II- Visual Formatting
Here are some tasty morsels for those of you like myself who are too lazy to read entire articles. I am the facebook generation.

• Hierarchy and outline structure will lead the reader along in an effortless way. Be certain the supervisory logic is established and communicated with minimal effort on behalf of the person reading your resume.
• Be consistent in convention throughout the entire resume. If you are spelling the name of the state “New York” in one part of your resume then you’d better use “Illinois” or “Ohio” for other locations –v- Ill or Oh. Every little convention you assume must be 100% consistent bottom to top. Having read resumes for the last 8 years I can tell you that constancy and structure connote professionalism, specificity and impact and generally set the right tone.
• Consider use of indents and bullets to transition from general to specific components of each job presentation. As well a discreet use of bold and italics are easy ways to give the resume flow and contour.
• Size may not matter but balance sure does. Keep bulleted paragraphs balanced in terms of the amount of space each consumes. Resource planning is critical for the appropriate visual impact. If you dump 9 bullets on one job and only 3 bullets on another job one may be led to believe that either you’re embellishing on the 9 bullet job or simply have nothing to say about the 3 bullet job. I advise to find a medium across all of your experiences.
• Group your bullets in a consistent fashion. Perhaps the first two bullets of each job description will illuminate initiatives you were tasked with while the last few bullets will illuminate the net result of such actions.
• Test your ability to conceive and write powerful sentences and very accurate use of verbs. The most over used word in resumes seems to be “managed”. I happen to frown on this word because it really doesn’t describe, in a granular sense, exactly what it is you did. The definition of managed is “to bring about success”.

Nicely done Dan!
p.s. any of you going to be at SES next week? I’d love to meet up!

I regularly check in on the Online Advertising Professionals Group on Linkedin to see what’s going on in our world, but I’ve never posted before. However, I came across this question by Brandon Desch, HR at Adbrite and thought I had to respond. See below: What do you think? How would you feel about having a commission only job? Would love to hear your responses!
From Brandon:
Hiring “commission-only” ad sales professionals
AdBrite is looking to add commission-only sales professionals to our team in the greater metropolitan locations: NY, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, LA, San Francisco. These folks will sell online advertising within our performance-based network. Commission rate is 10% on new business (all business is new for 6 months), and 5% for accounts that have been spending for > 6months. $2M in recognized revenue is what we see from strong performers.
Interested in peoples’ opinions of this structure, and would welcome discussions with folks looking for an ad sales role.
Thanks,
Brandon
Here’s my response:
Hi Brandon,
I’m pretty much inclined to agree with all the folks here, with some additions. AC Lion has been placing sales people at online companies for the past 12 years (no worries, this isn’t a pitch), so we’ve pretty much seen it all at this point. While you may be able to get folks to agree to a commission only structure, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable on several points. These are some of the issues we’ve seen with non-standard packages.
* RETENTION: Keeping your employees will be a major issue – even the best sales people prefer some sort of guaranteed income
* COMMISSION: 10% is competitive, but probably not competitive enough to get top performers to leave jobs with $100k+ salaries and double up backends. A $2million quota translates into a $200k job, which is not that hard to get in online media sales
* CONTROL/ MANAGEMENT: An employee without a base doesn’t owe you anything. They won’t feel as compelled to respond to management directives, come to meetings, or show up to the office every day. Managing sales people is difficult enough, factor in lack of incentives and it could get pretty messy.
*COST OF HIRE: It’s an irony of a commission only role, but definitely a reality. Cost of hire goes up. When sales people are commission only, hiring managers tend to loosen up on their hiring and are quicker to pull the trigger. Non-performers, or poor performers, calling on potential clients can end up doing more damage to your biz. High turnover for AdBrite will be noticed by clients and it will make them doubt your services.
Feel free to drop me a line to discuss in greater detail. I’d be curious to see which direction you end up going in.
Good luck on the search!
Sean
www.aclion.com
UPDATE:
Got this response from Brandon today (1/8/09) and he agreed to let me share it.
Hi Sean… I agree with all of your points. I neglected to mention in my original post that we provide a nominal monthly draw (just a bit over $2k), full healthcare coverage (employees to contribute to the monthly premium), and stock options. The package is designed to have the sales folks feel tied to the organization, but give them the autonomy and accountability to drive sales.
As for turnover, that is something we’re monitoring closely. There is risk, you are correct. We’re also maintaining a pretty thorough screening/interview process and not lowering our standards much as we do recognize the cost associated with bringing folks on, helping them get ramped, etc.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Bd
___________
Here are my follow up thoughts……….
Let’s see what happens!
Keep me posted Brandon.

Well, no, it isn’t. I’m working on a ‘Job Hunters Anonymous’ 12 Step Guide to Non-Anonymous Job Hunting.
Or something like that.
Anyway, came across a few blogs on interviewing at new media companies (very different from interviewing at old media companies)
Here are a few tasty morsels (or nuggets?)
“Dress Code:
There can be none. I want to show up in shorts or a basketball jersey, or have my tattoos be visable, it shouldnt matter. After all, are you hiring me for my looks or for my production?”
From http://learntoduck.com/business/hire-me
Or I really like this one:
“What are people’s misconceptions of you?
This is almost a trick question. It’s not intended as a trick, but nearly everyone gets stumped by it. I think its a critical competency for any successful executive to have a good degree of self-awareness in how others perceive them and what their own tendencies are. The only way to authentically answer this one is to actually know the answer.”
Brought to you by http://walterknapp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/a-couple-of-thoughts-about-interviews.html
I’ll post more as I come across them.
Anyone have any good ones they’d like to share…

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

Congratulations AC Lion for hitting your 100th Blog Entry! This one alone makes 101, and makes 2008 a successful year for Blog.ACLion.com. Good luck on the next 100!

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

I was reading a CNN article “Ten Jobs That Pay $80,000 A Year“, and noticed that Marketing Manager held the #6 spot. The statistics were as follows: Annual mean income: $86,283, Projected employment in 2016: 192,000, Increase between 2006 and 2016: 14%. That looks like a promising future, but I decided to do a little research of my own. I wanted to see the difference when I specified the position as “Online Marketing Manager”.
So I went to 6 different Salary Predicting sites, typed in the term “Online Marketing Manager” and here is what I came up with:

1. Indeed.com: $72,000
2. SimplyHired: $76,000
3. Salary.com: $73,000
4. Yahoo! Hot Jobs:$64,145
5. CareerBuilder Salary: $86,746
6. Monster.com: $81,555

I was also able to get my hands on an effective PayScale salary widget. PayScale is a market leader in global online compensation data, and this widget directly accesses the world’s largest database of individual employee compensation profiles. Give it a shot:

PayScale Salary Calculator

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

We are in the final days of October, a month that will be remembered as “the time in which the credit crunch came to a head not only for the economy as a whole but for the tech community in particular.” (TechCrunch) Everybody in my office has been either asking or answering a very important question: “How does the current economic situation specifically effect the online sector?” And now we have a better idea…
Small Business and Startup Companies are being pushed to cut and focus on increasing their profit margin through better processes. Their “plan-of-action”? Layoffs!! Lots and lots of layoff, which keeps their bank accounts lasting a tad longer, especially for web companies that require little physical capital. VC firms like Sequoia Capital are urging their portfolio companies to cut costs and increase capital, with layoffs as the solution.
One of my co-workers at AC Lion made a great point, that as a recruiter you need to understand people should be more willing to hear about opportunities – in fact, they’d be crazy not to keep their ear to the ground about upcoming opportunities. Layoffs are happening everywhere I look and I recently stumbled on a new site that effectively tracks these layoffs, company information, etc. – TechCrunch Layoff Tracker. They’ve begun tracking all of the relevant layoffs in the tech sector. They’ve mapped out…Total Layoffs: 92, andTotal Employees: 24,662l
*For a comprehensive list Click Here.
A the end of the day, it’s important to know who’s laying off and why, and TechCrunch Layoffs is a great source for tracking firings…BUT I DO HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS!! I found another site, Web-Strategist.com, where Jeremiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing, started this post series (see archives) to recognize and congratulate folks who get promoted, move, or accept new exciting positions. Check it out, you may find your name on that list some day

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

According to AdAge.com article E-mail Blunder Alerts Carat Staff to Major Restructuring, “struggling media agency Carat is planning a major restructuring of its U.S. operations, including an undetermined number of layoffs — news it accidentally released today via a memo the agency’s top New York-based HR executive e-mailed to the entire agency that appeared to be intended only for senior managers.”
I don’t mean to laugh out loud (LOL), but this is worse than the time “a friend of mine” e-mailed 50,000 people with greetings “Hi [Firstname],”. No, this is way…way worse! If you’re wondering just how bad it was, courtesty of AdAge, read the documents for yourselves:Carat Restructuring Memo & Carat Restructuring Communication Plan.
Neither Carat President Scott Sorokin “nor a spokeswoman would comment on whether any disciplinary action would be taken as a result of the e-mail mishap”. I’d hate to be in HR’s shoes right about now. Quoting Ad Age Ediotor, John Hollon, “You pay those people to step up in these situations, not make it worse.” This may be a good time for AC Lion Online Recruiters to show corporate what they’re made of!

Article By: Nadav Geft (Nadav@aclion.com)

As the world of digital advertising evolves, so does the tedious/“Man, I am so not in the mood to do this” world of resume writing. While some may stick to the old, conventional ways of “showing your stuff” on paper, here are a few tips I’ve come across (in my experience as a digital media recruiter) to help you separate yourself from the competition and land the position you’ve been ever-so yearning for in the digital space.

A. Down with Objectives! (well, most of the time) – I would go as far to say that most hiring managers rarely, if ever, look at the “objective” portion of a resume. This is largely due to the fact that most people state the obvious and resume readers view it as a waste of time. For example, if you are an Account Manager with two years AM experience, trying to further your career in the same field, there is no need to state, “looking to utilize my skills in account management to grow my career in client services.” Of course you’re looking to move your career forward in client services, otherwise you wouldn’t have applied for a Senior Account Manager position!
However, as with every rule, there are of course exceptions Although 95% of the time objectives are useless, there are some cases where they can be very helpful. The first: when you are trying to switch over into a new department or a more focused role; for example, “looking to transfer my up-selling skills in account management into a full-fledged sales position.” The second: if you bring a very diverse background or wear many hats in your current role, you can sum up your best talents in a sentence or two. For example, “…highly proficient in affiliate marketing, search, and online video. Led teams of up to 10 salespeople and bring national contacts in CPG, pharmaceuticals, and technology.” Specifics are what sell and is really what a hiring manager wants to see when evaluating your candidacy. If you think that these managers sit down at their desk and spend their afternoon examining your resume, you can think again because I would say they look at it for somewhere between 7-10 seconds.
B. Details, details, details…– Many years ago, it was recommended to keep your resume relatively vague so that hiring managers would feel as though they need to meet face-to-face in order to learn more about your experience. Nowadays, especially if you are in sales, it is suggested that you be very specific in your descriptions, and include as many details as possible. If you’re a solid seller, SHOW IT! Instead of using the last three bullet points to reiterate what a salesperson does, insert sales numbers, account lists, account growth, etc.
For example:

• Exceeded yearly quota of $1MM by 120%
• Grew revenue from $250,000 to $2.3MM in one year
• Succeeded in closing deals with clients such as: Coca-cola (list agency worked with), P&G, Hilton Hotels, etc.
• Won “Most New Business” award for Q3 and Q4

If you are in a client service capacity, talk about the size of accounts you work on, up-selling numbers, and account retention/growth [e.g. “Grew BestBuy account 110% (from 200,000 to 750,000)”]. These seemingly minor additions will not only distinguish you from the other applicants, but bode extremely well during the interview process too. In other words, by agreeing to meet with you, the company is essentially saying that they know all about you, can see that you have the necessary abilities to perform, and will speak to you in a more open manner from the get-go. Having an interview start with “So, looks like you really know your stuff my friend,” is usually better than “So what would you say, ya do here?!” (Office Space – sorry I had to throw it in there)

C. The Relevant Experience – After working with a few different companies, people tend to only discuss the experience that is pertinent to the position they are applying for. Though I agree with this approach, it is also important to include one’s previous employment (even if it reads, “Construction Worker, BNC Inc., 1998-2001”) to eliminate any questions such as “where was he for the 5 years before all of this?” And hey, maybe that interviewer of yours was also a professional bass fisherman before turning CEO.

Well, there you have it folks, the 3 big tips to writing a great resume and earning yourself a spot at the head of the table. Let your resume tell a story instead of being a page-full of job descriptions. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at Nadav@aclion.com.

E-Mail By: Joshua Russak (Red@aclion.com)

Check out our 1st Newsletter for Summer 2008. Simple, fun and room to constantly add and improve….check it out: