It’s Your Career

 

 

Your career is not a meaningless document to be e-mailed and faxed at the will and whim of some faceless voice on the phone.  A voice that has “built a relationship” with you in a five minute discussion where you were told they had your perfect job.

 

You have earned the opportunity to be exclusively represented by a true industry professional.  Someone who knows you and knows what is important to you.  A relationship like this takes time to develop and requires a commitment by you and by the person representing you.

 

At Latro Consulting, we take your career and your professional growth as serious as you do.  This is why we offer you the opportunity to be exclusively represented by one of our executives…someone who has a vested interest in your success.

 

If exclusive representation is the best choice for professional athletes, business executives and CEOs, surely it is the best option for you, your career and the future of your family.

 

 

Why Work with Latro?

 

Your resume vs. Your Recruiter’s Relationships.

 

Your resume is meaningless compared to the relationship your recruiter has with the client company.
You have the opportunity to piggy-back on your recruiter’s relationships.
Your recruiter’s relationships will get you a fast ticket to the head of the line.

 

Look at it this way – option ‘a’ or option ‘b’ :
a) Navigate the minefield on your own.  Interviewing without being represented by your recruiter is walking into uncharted territory.  One wrong step will blow you and the deal to pieces.
or
b) Navigate the minefield after your recruiter has mapped out a clear path and has sent other people thru successfully.

 

Remember your resume is a tool used to deliver information about you – not represent you.
Your resume rarely gets you inside a company.

 

Your resume cannot defend you or answer questions about you.  All that your resume can do is outline your past, and your past is largely irrelevant, because it does not demonstrate that you can do the work that the hiring manager needs to get done.

 

Your resume leaves it up to employers to figure out how you can add value to their organization.  That is no way to sell yourself.

 

Remember the old marketing adage – a free product sample gives customers a reason to want more.

Do the same with your resume – give prospective employers an example of what you can do for them.

Consider creating a new area in your resume – call it “Value Offered”

 

In two sentences, state the value that you would bring to the employer and be specific.

 

If you include a summary of your value that targets the hiring manager's needs, you will transform your resume into a marketing tool that distinguishes you as someone who’s goal is to help the employer, rather than as someone who is simply out to get a job.

 

Go to HR…and get lost in the shuffle!

 

Your recruiter deals with a company's HR department only when they are filling a highly visible position, such as President or CEO.  Otherwise, they avoid HR whenever possible and so should you.

HR departments are not designed as profit centers – therefore, they are typically not well respected by the hiring managers and decisions makers in the profit generating divisions of the company (i.e. operations, sales, etc.)

 

The primarily function of HR is to process paper and conduct initial screening interviews.  They package you, they organize you, they file you, they sort you.  Then, if you haven't gotten lost in the shuffle, they might pass you on to a manager who actually knows what the work/job is all about.

 

HR never (never say never…99.99% of the time) makes the hiring decision without one of the profit centers.

Some HR professionals do excel at finding the right candidate for a job, but they are the exception.

As a rule, HR slows you down and forces you to compete against other candidates.

 

Your recruiter will short-circuit that process by going directly to the only person who counts – the manager who will ultimately make the hiring decision.

 

While the typical candidate is waiting to be interviewed by the HR department, your recruiter is on the phone, using a back channel to get to the hiring manager – or talking to that person directly.

 

The real matchmaking takes place before the interview.

 

Your recruiter at Latro Consulting never sends a candidate into an interview unless the candidate is clearly qualified for the job.  You must make the same effort to ensure a good fit.  But you won't make a good match unless you already know the parameters of the job when you walk into the interview.  And that requires a lot of research on your part.

 

The best way to learn about a company is to talk to people who work there.  More important than just someone who works there, ask to talk to someone who has recently (within the last 12 months) gone to the company you are interviewing with.  Even better is to find someone who has left your company and is now working with your potential new employer.  This will give you significant and very specific insight.

 

Determining that a company is the right fit before you go to the interview is critical.  When the company is the right fit and you know that before your go to the interview, you'll walk in having already decided that this is a company that you want to work for and you won't go into the interview half-cocked.

 

Don't study for the interview -- practice doing the job.

 

Once you've researched a company -- you know its challenges and its goals, its culture and its competitors -- the next step is to practice doing the job.  Prepare yourself to take on several "action tasks"

 

Show that you understand the job.  Ask what problem the manager hopes to solve by hiring you.  And make sure that you also understand what goal the manager is working toward: higher sales, more profit, better adherence to operational standards, etc.?  Your task is to show how you can help the company achieve its goals.

 

Show that you can do the job.  Be prepared to highlight the steps that you would take to solve the employer's problem and to reach the employer's goal.  Show the manager how you think and how you work.

 

Show how the company will profit from hiring you.  Be ready to tackle the issue of profitability: How is your way of doing this work going to reduce costs or increase revenues?

 

 

The shocking truth:  The employer wants to hire you.

 

A company holds interviews so it can hire the best person for the job.  The hiring manager will be ecstatic if that person turns out to be you -- because then he can stop interviewing and get back to work.

 

So give yourself an attitude adjustment.  If you convince yourself that the hiring manager wants to hire you, then you'll have a positive attitude when you walk into the interview.  Your positive attitude will likely be an influencing factor in the decision to hire you.

 

The person interviewing you will make their decision to hiring you within the first 5-10 minutes of the interview.  They will spend the remaining time justifying – build a case to support their decision.  Your job is to make a great first impression and then provide the interviewer with lots of material to support a positive decision on your behalf.

 

It's not an interview -- it's your first day at work.

 

Most people treat an interview as if it were an interrogation.  The employer asks questions, and the candidate gives answers.  Think of the interview as your first day on the job.  Your attitude should be that of an employee who's there to talk about a new project -- rather than the more obsequious attitude of a candidate who's hoping to get an offer.

 

Candidates who think of themselves as employees immediately tip the scales of power in their favor, because they come across as people who understand the job and who are prepared to do it.  Doing the job causes the most rapid shift in control.  It turns a question-and-answer session into an exciting engagement between two people who have seized an opportunity to take a fresh look at their work.