Wisdom for Search

In this section of the "Dr. A. Bruce Clark's Civic Website" some practical advice for the job search process will be provided. This advice is designed to keep one on target and from getting burned by unscrupulous individuals who take advantage of those who are "down on their luck." 

Mentors

Finding a trustworthy person (who has an honest interest in an individual's development and who is willing to serve as a source of advice, guidance and support) often makes a huge difference when one is searching for work. The reason is that a good mentor will keep someone accountable, on track and provide encouragement. Previous professors or bosses, as well as those in civic, professional, religious and social organizations, can serve as mentors.

A good mentor is someone who delights in seeing others do well, and he or she will take pride in the accomplishments of a protégé, rather than feel intimidated by them. Additionally, a good mentor is adept at reading people and situations, knows what different work environments require, welcomes the opportunity to give something back and will be generous with his or her time and talents. Furthermore, a good mentor can help one avoid the snake pits and find desirable career opportunities.

Be Careful When Answering Loaded Questions

Although it is illegal for job interviewers to ask questions about marital status, age, disabilities, country of origin and the like, many hiring managers are not knowledgeable of the law. Thus, they will bring up such topics. However, good mentors often conduct mock interviews where they train interviewees to avoid confrontation and provide positive responses to such questions.

For instance, a female (who is asked if she intends to have children in the near future) can state that she and her husband have not made any plans for children and that should she someday have a child such an event would not interfere with her work because of her dedication to a career.  Similarly, a job candidate (asked if he or she will be retiring in the next couple of years) can answer that his or her health is good and that he or she plans on working for several more years. 

In a like vein, a prospective boss might attempt to get a job candidate to give confidential information about his or her current (or previous) employer. In such cases the interviewer might be attempting to get competitive intelligence and/or test the job candidate's integrity. However, the interviewee should avoid the trap by saying something like "I desire an honest and open relationship, but the questions that you are asking violate the confidentiality agreement that I signed." Even if the hiring manager applies pressure, the job candidate should remain steadfast since integrity will win out over divulging trade secrets.

Two other techniques of handling loaded questions are to (1) ask a query back and (2) reframe the question. The first technique is exemplified by an interviewee, who is asked about his or her marital status, replying "Is marital status important for the position?" Such bantering might diffuse the issue or alternatively come across as evasive, depending on the particular interviewer. Regardless, a job seeker should remind himself or herself that if he or she can get through such an exchange without a direct confrontation the company might have many good people.

The second technique would be exemplified by a job seeker reframing an interviewer's query "What makes you get angry at work?," by saying: "I would not really call it anger, but what does upset me is when other employees cut corners to have high productivity. The reason it upsets me is that poor quality means more rework, which leads to increased customer dissatisfaction and lower profits." By reframing the hiring manager's question in less hostile terms, it does not appear as though the prospective employee is going to get into fistfights with coworkers. Instead, he or she comes across as a level headed person who wants to do what is best for the company's bottom line.

Beware of Homework Assignments

When the job market is soft and many individuals will do just about anything to get a job, interviewers looking for "free consulting" and "free labor" tend to thrive. An unemployed journalist, for example, might be interviewed by a publication and have a "prospective boss" tell him or her that the company tests all applicants by giving them a small assignment with a short deadline.

At this juncture the job seeker has a choice to make. If he or she wants the job and says "Sorry, I do not do homework assignments for free, he or she will no longer be considered." Contrarily, if he or she does a bang up job on the assignment, and turns it in, part or all of his or her work might be used in a future article without him or her ever receiving credit or money for it. (Sadly, but surely, this happens an awful lot.)

While an interviewee will always be at a disadvantage in these types of situations and while it is extremely tough to sort out those who are "real" from those who are "not real," the interviewee should avoid spending a lot of his or her time and money on such assignments. Similarly, the interviewee may want to find out from the interviewer, headhunter (if one is involved) and trusted friends how long the position has been open and what happened to the previous person in the job.

Because the word gets out on the street fairly quickly regarding unethical businesses, a trusted confidant in one's network might save a person a lot of headaches. Moreover, the interviewee can also protect himself or herself by spending a little less than $50. The way to do this is to go online to the Copyright Office, download and fill out a "Short Form" and send the article via certified letter with a return receipt requested on the day before he or she turns in the work.

He or she can then put a Copyright Notice with "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" statement on the document and indicate in the Cover Letter that the work was sent via certified mail to the Copyright Office with the appropriate payment, since he or she knows that it is a good article and that he or she will gladly transfer the Copyright to the Company if he or she is hired.

Oftentimes this type of confidence and professionalism will impress even scoundrels and result in a job offer. However, even if the interviewee does not get the position, he or she will likely block the unauthorized use of his or her efforts, and he or she might be able to sell the work to another publication if indeed it is "print worthy."

Who Pays for Interview Expenses?

In the case of Informational Interviews and job interviews in the city where one lives, the interviewee is expected to pay for the expenses. Yet, these expenses will be small since they involve a bus or train fare, or a couple of gallons of gasoline and parking. (Because many companies will offer to validate parking stubs, one should put them in his or her pocket.)

On out of town interviews where the company invited you to visit, the company should be willing to pick up the charges. However, just as one needs to use commonsense with homework assignments (which both very legitimate and unscrupulous outfits use for entirely different purposes) he or she needs to realize that there are scams that take place.

For example, an educational outfit might ask a person to make all of his or her travel arrangements or sometimes book (but not pay for) a hotel room. The individual will then arrive for such meetings and when he or she gets together for breakfast, the interviewer will ask that the charges be added to the room bill.

Yet, when the interviewee submits legitimate expenses for reimbursement an unscrupulous interviewer will find many excuses for not paying, by saying things like "I need both a receipt from the hotel and your original credit card statement with all of your expenses for the month since a photocopy is unacceptable." The bottom-line is that the other expenses on a credit card statement are nobody else's business.

Even if the interviewee sends it in there will likely be another excuse as to why a payment will not be made like "I am sorry but the university will not allow me to reimburse you since your receipts did not arrive within ten business days after the trip." The truth is that in such cases the interviewers are the type of people who are seeking free advice and free meals and very likely receiving kickbacks from hotel operators.

Here again, though, it is tough to spot the scoundrels from those that empower their employees. Nevertheless, with time word will get out regarding the entity's reputation, and a trusted confidant (or mentor) in one's network can sometimes tip off a person regarding the organization's reputation. However, if one does get burned by an unscrupulous outfit, he or she should kick the dust off of his or her shoes and thank the Good Lord for keeping him or her from wasting time in a "hellhole."

Beware of Headhunters Charging Huge Fees to Unemployed Persons

Just as there are interviewers who will try to take advantage of those who are "down on their luck," there are many Job Agencies that charge individuals thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars for marketing programs. Many of these will help with resume preparations, mass mailing programs, and setting up interviews.

Some of these agencies can indeed help individuals find good jobs. However, there are also many that will drain the bank accounts of those who are unemployed and not land anything for the job seeker. Moreover, there are many headhunting firms that will represent candidates for free since they receive a set percentage (e.g., 20%) of the first year's salary when a company hires someone they presented. (If the headhunter states that the hiring company makes that percentage payment, there is very little downside risk to using his or her service.)

Dr. Clark Built This Website to Help Others

While Dr. Clark was reviewing resumes of those attending Northwest Bible Church's Between Jobs Ministry for free, Dr. Clark quickly found himself spending more than twenty hours per week on those activities, which was very unfair to his paying customers. Thus, he decided to put A LOT of information worth thousands of dollars onto this website for FREE and to charge a nominal fee of $100.00 to those needing individual help with resumes and the like. Because of his trust in God, Dr. Clark believes that those who are helped by this website will in turn meet the needs of those at A. B. Clark Marketing as his letter on the "Yours Truly, Bruce" page reveals.

Note: Links to this Copyrighted website are permitted and individuals can print one copy for their own personal use. Any other uses of information without first receiving Dr. Clark's permission are prohibited, especially since A. B. Clark Marketing offers website and report services.

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