Thursday, March 16, 2017

Personal Branding - Interview Awareness


Personal Branding and How to Improve Your Chances for an Offer…not just an Interview.

Your personal brand goes well beyond a resume, a LinkedIn profile, a Twitter page, or Personal Blog.  From a first impression to a lasting impression, the interview process is what separates the “boys from the men” so to speak and says a lot about your personal brand.

The way you dress:  Right or wrong, politically correct or not, you will be judged by how your dress.  Ensure you know your audience, the workplace, and culture prior to the interview.  Believe it or not but wearing “joggers” or “chino’s”, or Lulu “yoga” pants with flip flops is not recommended nor a great way to express yourself at any stage of an interview.  In more corporate settings, the decision to not wear a tie or a more conservative outfit in your initial meeting is also something to consider.   Although I can’t believe I’m actually including this, any “ink” or inappropriate “rings” of any kind should not be able to be viewed by your interviewer.

The way you prepare:  The single most important piece of feedback we receive from clients on who receives and offer vs who doesn’t, comes down to who is the most prepared.  If you think you can simply “show up” for an interview…..you’ve wasted your time, the client, and ours.   Keep in mind that when we present a final group of between 3-5 qualified candidates for an opportunity, their level of experience, qualifications, cultural fit with the organization, remuneration expectations, etc. are likely to be virtually identical or very complimentary to each other.    If you want the role, you need to separate yourself from the rest of the group.  Simply reading a company web site and job description will not get you the role.   You may want to consider reading press releases, industry news, finding out who their competitors are, research who you are interviewing with, come prepared with qualified questions, etc.  As an example, if you are applying to a Digital and Social Media Manager based opportunity, be prepared to discuss what potential changes you can recommend based on their current digital and social media footprint.

The way you finish.  Simply put…if you don’t’ ask for another interview, clarify any areas the client may want you to further explain, or do a “soft close” so to speak, be prepared to walk out the door and never return.   We fully support that part of the interview process is to “interview the client” per se, however nothing will change the fact that they want to see a commitment from you.  To compliment your commitment, it’s imperative to make a follow up call and debrief with your recruiter on your interest level and how the interview went.  If you are not interviewing through a search firm, you need to take the initiative and either phone, email, or send a follow up “thank you” card (yes people still do this and it’s very well received), in order to further show your interest level.   Even if you decide the role isn’t for you, politely decline and leave things on good terms.

Following these three recommendations really relates to simply being prepared….as you should be with most things in life :)

Allan Welyk
President & Director
ELEVATE Search Group
6th Floor - 777 Hornby Street
Vancouver, BC  V6Z 2H7

Phone:(604) 678 5627 
Email: allan@elevatesearchgroup.com
Web:   www.elevatesearchgroup.com
Follow Elevate: www.twitter.com/ElevateSearch

People. Solutions. Culture. Results.

Elevate Search Group collaborates and partners with companies to identify, recruit, and retain top-tiered professionals within all levels of leadership and non-leadership careers within business development, sales, marketing, operations, human resource, and supply chain management. Our client profiles range from local, regional, national, and global organizations.


















600-777 Hornby Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
604.678.5627
People. Solutions. Culture. Results.


The Search Business is Dead...or is it?




The Search Business is Dead….or is it?

Regardless of the industry you're in, there will be technology based advancements to streamline business or improve on inefficiencies.  For close to 20 years I’ve heard a common theme in the search business……”The Search Business is Dead”.  The comment is less than intelligent.... I've seen first-hand how technology can compliment the industry for internal recruiters and external search partners.  To compliment the negative sentiment from the uneducated, I've heard similar arguments and have read countless articles about how the end is near for the industry.   Most of the pessimism and negativity comes from underperformers in the industry, those who bounce from search firm to search firm, HR professionals who are really more administrators vs “people and culture strategists”, or those who are simply not understanding of the value a professional search firm can provide. 

For those who are passionate about the industry, adapt to some of the technology and philosophical changes, and continue to invest resources into the qualifying and research side of the business, and continue to nurture and build your client base, the industry will continue to flourish.  As many of you have noted, the human component within the qualifying of candidates is essential for most organizations and many organizations simply don't have the internal resources to allocate in order to eliminate external search firms.

Do you really expect that plugging in search parameters into a solutions platform will produce you the “ideal” candidate?  At best it will provide you with the names of individuals who potentially fit the criteria, however the most important part of the process relates to the qualifying, vetting, and overall validation of those individuals.  Are they even interested in the position and/or company, are they a cultural fit, are their remuneration expectations aligned, do they reside in the region, and can they actually support and back up the career which is posted on-line or on their resume?  This is just scratching the surface…..

The search industry was apparently "dead" when more companies invested in "internal recruiters", only to find that in many of these scenarios, leadership teams realized they were able to still identify more qualified and better quality candidates through external search partners.

The industry was also apparently "dead" when portals such as Monster, Workopolis, Indeed, and CareerBuilder entered the scene, only to find out that although they can play a part in the process, the quality of the candidates was sub-par and either unemployed for legitimate reasons or simply not employable.  If fact our firm has only seen between 4-8% of our placements from any form of portal since the introduction of these options.  LinkedIn has been a great tool to utilize in order to source potential candidates, but that is quite different than qualifying candidates based on other search criteria which you simply can't confirm with any search parameters, or technology advancements.  Bring on the algorithms,  technology, and any other advancements......each company is unique, industries differ, cultures change, and the human component to identify those softer skills, and actually see what a person is like in person vs on "paper" will continue to keep the search business alive and well.


Allan Welyk
President & Director
ELEVATE Search Group
6th Floor - 777 Hornby Street
Vancouver, BC  V6Z 2H7

Phone:(604) 678 5627 
Email: allan@elevatesearchgroup.com
Web:   www.elevatesearchgroup.com
Follow Elevate: www.twitter.com/ElevateSearch

People. Solutions. Culture. Results.

Elevate Search Group collaborates and partners with companies to identify, recruit, and retain top-tiered professionals within all levels of leadership and non-leadership careers within business development, sales, marketing, operations, human resource, and supply chain management. Our client profiles range from local, regional, national, and global organizations.





600-777 Hornby Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
604.678.5627
People. Solutions. Culture. Results.