George Fischer was a frequent contributor of articles for
International Staffing Consultants, Inc. I knew Mr. Fischer for more than 20
years prior to his untimely death. Although the article was originally written
for readers of the Fischer Report it addresses many issues important
to our readers.
- - - James R. Gettys, Editor, International Jobs Report.
JOB HUNTING TIPS
By George Fischer
The most asked question
asked of us by those who have never worked overseas is, "What do they
need?". This assumes that the person asking the question would be
qualified to perform whatever task was needed. The second most asked question,
particularly of young people, is, "What job should I train for that will
get me overseas'?". The obvious answer is, "What do you want to
do?". It seems that some people are willing to do anything to find a job
overseas. People should train or educate themselves to pursue a career that
gives them satisfaction, and that means that they should be intellectually and
emotionally suitable for whatever that career choice is. Do whatever makes you
happy and don't pursue a course of training just to land a job overseas. Given
that most of us spend nearly a third of our adult lives working, nothing is
more tragic than a life spent doing something that gives them little or no
satisfaction, let alone joy.
Overseas employment
constantly changes. By far and away the most heavily recruited occupational classifications
are the engineering disciplines. So if you want to increase the odds of finding
a job overseas, earn a B.S. degree in one or more of those disciplines and then
get at least five years experience. Otherwise, there are literally hundreds of
occupational classifications used overseas. There are fewer jobs for craftsmen
today than there were 15 or 20 years ago because indigenous personnel have been
trained to do that work. Also, so-called "Third World" skilled labor
is often used in place of more expensive North American, European and
Australian labor. It is difficult for an American craftsman who expects to earn
$4,000 a month to compete against a Third World or local craftsman who might be
paid $400 per month tops. American craftsmen are used primarily where U.S.
citizenship is required such as on U.S. Embassy projects or where special U.S.
technology is required. Some companies prefer American craftsmen believing that
they are easier to work with or more productive and are willing to pay the higher
wages to get them.
Job hunting has probably
generated more do-it-yourself or self-help books than anything except home
repair and consciousness raising. Common to most of these is the recommended
practice of "networking". Networking simply means using all possible
contacts to advance your goals. This is all fine and good as long as you
understand how limited networking is in reality. The basic premise of
networking is that the more contacts you have the better chance you have of
finding a job, but there is a big difference between finding a job and landing
a job. Some job hunting books say that you can rely on your friends to help;
maybe, but your friends may not want to recommend you to the company that
employs them for fear of being blamed if you screw up. So, depending on your
friends to help you land a job is questionable at best. They can, however, be
rich sources of information particularly if they are in the same field or
industry that you are.
Answering advertisements
appearing in newspapers and magazines and clipping service publications such as
the International Jobs Report can be useful, particularly if the ads are
current. (Editors note: The advertising run in the International Jobs Report is
always current for the week of the publication and new advertisments appear
each week.)
The Fischer Report is, as
you know, a newsletter. Its function is to inform our readers, not only of
current, but of advance project and business developments. As a useful source
of employment opportunity, the Fischer Report gives its subscribers an
opportunity to contact potential employers before they begin to recruit and
before they advertise their personnel needs. Succinctly stated, the FR allows
"The early bird to get the worm".
Manlink is a stand-alone
service created for those of our Fischer Report subscribers who may be job
hunting. It has no relevance to the Fischer Report other than being financially
supported by it. Manlink allows the subscriber's resume to be accessed by any
employer or their agent anywhere in the world without charge to either the
employer or the subscriber. Many of the companies, but certainly not all, whose
names appear in the FR make good use of Manlink in satisfying their personnel
requirements. Some companies who use Manlink to find employee candidates do not
appear in the FR because they are not newsworthy. An example would be a
recruiting contractor such as International Staffing Consultants, Inc. (Newport Beach, CA) who, like many
others, make frequent use of Manlink to locate potential candidates for their
clients.
The use of networking,
advertisements, the Fischer Report and Mankind are all useful in finding and
landing a job. As we have said repeatedly there is no one way to find a job. T
here are a number of things that you can do to help you land a job. Here are
some suggestions:
• 1. Keep your resume
brief. Under 3 pages.
• 2. Use a chronological
resume beginning with the most recent
job and work back not more
than 20 years.
• 3. List all relevant
educational and training achievements.
• 4. List all relevant
equipment, computer hardware, software or other "tools" that impact
upon your work.
• 5. List all languages
that you speak, read and or write and the degree of fluency, i.e., fluent or
conversational.
• 6. Keep your explanations
simple and to the point. Avoid being redundant. Remember that the person that
must read your resume may not be an expert in your field so don't use terms
that cannot be understood by the average person. Also, keep it in mind that the
reader will read dozens, perhaps hundreds of resumes. After having read a
couple of dozen, their eyes begin to glaze over, so make it as easy as is
possible for them to understand clearly what you have to offer. All resumes are
boring so get to the point.
• 7. List at least some of
the job titles or occupational classifications for which you are qualified by
experience to hold. Each must be supported by the contents of your resume. Just
because you drove by an oil refinery on your way to work every day for a year
does not qualify you as having had refinery experience.
• 8. List all of the kinds
of projects/programs that you have worked on, i.e., high rise building, oil refinery,
fossil fuel power plant, Loran station, earth station, cellular telephone
system, facility operation and maintenance, etc.
• 9. In sending your own
resume to a prospective employer, use a personally written cover letter
explaining why you are submitting the resume. If you don't know the person to
whom you should direct the resume, address it to the International Employment
Manager. It will get to the right person.
• 10. Follow up phone calls
can be helpful, but some personnel people welcome them and some do not. Don't
be surprised if your call is rejected or if you do not receive a response from
an employer. Again, some employers will acknowledge your resume, and some will
not. Employers using Manlink never acknowledge receipt of your resume to you
because you didn't submit it, we did.
• 11. If you are not hired,
it may not be because the employer rejected you, it is more likely because the
employer found someone else better qualified or because someone within the
company became available. Most companies will hire someone within the company
rather than someone from the outside because they are a known quantity.
Obviously, companies with overseas operations can't always find someone
in-house so they recruit from Manlink and from other sources including
advertising. The bottom-line is that there is no one way to find and land an
overseas job.
• 12. Most employers today
are satisfied to conduct telephone interviews. There was a time when all
interviews were done face-to-face because it was believed that would reveal
something that could not be divined on the phone. In time, the cost of bringing
candidates in or sending recruiters on the road to interview, forced many firms
to re-think this policy and eventually it was determined that it makes little
difference in the turn-over rate or certifying the qualifications of those
hired whether the interview is conducted in person or by phone. If you are
going to be interviewed in person, wear a conservative suit or sport jacket,
tie and white or blue dress shirt. Street shoes are better for interviews than
cowboy boots. You want the interviewer to pay attention to what you say, not
what you wear.
Whether you are interviewed
in person or by phone, be sure and stay with the subject - YOU. Nervousness often
causes people to talk too much. Listen to what the interviewer is asking and
answer the question directly and without embellishment. Offer additional
information only as it relates to your job. If the interviewer wants to chat a
bit, let him/her do most of the talking. Most people like the sound of their
own voice best. Many so-called interviews are really orientation presentations.
The Interviewer" spends more time telling the candidate about the company
and the job than asking pertinent questions. One reason that some interviews
"aren't" is that many interviewers are not very well grounded in the
job for which they are interviewing. It is impossible for anyone to know enough
about every job to be able to discuss the technical aspects of a specific job in
depth. Technical interviews should, and often are, conducted by experts in the
candidates field. What the Interviewer really wants is reassurance that the
individual fully understands the demands of the job and the work site. Such
technical questions that may be asked should be answered with the same words
and as directly as possible. Most interviews are actually conducted after the
employer has determined that you are qualified. In fact the interview may
conclude with a job offer.
• 13. Don't be afraid to
ask questions about the scope of work, length of the project, compensation,
local taxes and who pays them, housing provisions, cost of living
differentials, R&R schedules, cultural and religious customs in the country
of employment, whether you will be allowed now or in the future to bring your
wife/family to the job site, etc. Many of these questions will be answered by
the interviewer before they are asked, but don't be shy; you need to know as
much as possible so that there are no surprises after you are on the job site.
14. And finally, the hiring
process is very subjective. Decisions are not always made exclusively on the
basis of qualifications. Recruiters and decision makers are influenced by their
own prejudices and preferences; they are, like the rest of us, inclined to
favor those they like for a variety of reasons. Many years ago, a psychologist,
who had developed a test that would aid recruiters in selecting candidates,
discovered, in analyzing the results of several months of observation, that one
recruiter rejected anyone with a mustache. When confronted with this
information the recruiter at first denied the results of the study, but when it
was revealed that his father, who wore a mustache, had abused him the recruiter
understood that his prejudice was influencing his decisions as a recruiter.
Hiring is not always done by the first person to read your resume. Also, the
decision as to who to hire is often made by people at the Jobsite overseas with
whom you will have no contact unless you are hired. You must be patient and
persistent!
For more information contact: George
Fischer, Group Fischer, 23441 South Pointe Drive, Laguna Hills, CA 92653.
Phone: (714) 699-3380 Fax: 699-3381 or link to them here.