The Fallacy of a Work/Life Balance

Your definition of "work/life" balance is probably different than mine.  In fact my definition of today is different than my definition of 4 years ago.  Depending where we are in our lives and career, this means different things to different people.

5 years ago I didn't have any kids.  I was earning good money, and I had savings.  Back then I wanted flexibility and time off to travel.  I had no issues coming in at 7 am and working until 4 pm.  If there was an event at night, I had no issues staying late.  My manager knew that I worked hard and was seeing results, so he allowed me the flexibility that I craved.

Today, I have a 2.5 year old.  I changed jobs - effectively lowering my income - so that I would have stability.  I traded in flexibility for security as this is what's important to me now.  Starting early or staying late need to be planned in advance because I now have to coordinate with day care and my husband.

I bring all this up because I chuckle when I see in a job posting or company website "we offer great work/life balance".  It makes me wonder "according to who?"  In my office, we're all in different stages of our lives and therefore all want/need different things in terms of balance.  1 person may want flexibility to take a course or to write an exam, another may need flexible hours to accommodate their children's schedules, and another may be completely flexible to anything.

And even though I have changed jobs (and careers) I don't necessarily feel that I have achieved "balance".  Most days we don't eat dinner until 6 pm, and by the time my son is done eating it's closer to 7:30 pm, and that means that we have very little time together before he goes to bed.  And after he's in bed there are still all of the household tasks to attend to.  Plus we need to shower before collapsing on the sofa for a little grown up time (which usually means watching 1 hour of t.v. that's not a kid show).

Weekends are just as busy.  There is always work to be done (groceries, laundry, house/yard work, etc) and time is short.  We all need time to decompress from the week, and time together as a family, and 2 days is just too short.

If I was asked if I have achieved "balance" my answer is "no".  On one hand, we make it work, but on the other hand we aren't as efficient as we could be.

I would be grateful if the term "work/life balance" would disappear.  There is no concrete way to define it after all.

Steps to Create A Cover Letter That Will Get Noticed

I come from the world of high volume recruiting.  I'm not going to lie to you, in that type of role, a recruiter barely glances at your cover letter.  I used to scan the letter quickly looking for typos or anything that caught my eye.

Knowing this, do you really want to spend the time writing one?  Let me get back to you on that.

Currently, in my role as a Career Advisor, we counsel our students to not only write a cover letter, but to customise it specifically for each role.  That doesn't mean merely changing the company name and address either (although it's astounding how many applicants forget this important step).  If we know that many recruiters barely glance at the letter, why do we tell our students to write one?  Because a well written letter will get noticed and read.

Are you starting your letter like this:

"To Whom it May Concern,

I saw with great interest your job posting in the local paper.  I know that I would be a perfect fit for your company.  Please see my attached resume for full qualifications."

Yawn.  When you get several hundred applications, and 99% of them read like this, it's no wonder the cover letter doesn't get read. I'm bored already.  What you need to do to get noticed is to be noticeable!

Let's say that you see a job posting for an accounting company.  You hear that they are a great company to work for and you really want to apply.  What can you do to get noticed?

Step 1:

Find out who to address your letter to.  This is a small step, but taking those few moments to do a bit of research will already make you stand out.  Use LinkedIn, the company website, or even call the receptionist and ask.

"Dear Ms. Smith" is a lot more professional than "To Whom it May Concern"

Step 2:

Print out - yes print out the job posting.  There are 2 reasons for this.  1 - you can highlight the key areas to include in your letter, and 2 - you will have a record of the posting to help you to prepare for your interview later. 

Step 3:

Research the company.  Why do you want to work for this company?  What is it about them that makes you a good fit for their culture?  Know what they do, who the key players are, and who they look for in an employee.

Step 4:

Start composing.  Your letter should start with an attention grabbing first sentence.  Immediately, if you are different from the rest of the applicants, you will stand out.

Other Tips:

• Look on line for any friends, former classmates or college alumni who may work (or who have worked) for the company.  Reach out to them for any tips and advice on the company and how to apply.  You never know, they may have an employee referral program in place.
• Be aware of applicant tracking systems (ATS).  These are programs that search for keywords in your application package.  You can find the keywords in the job posting and can include them in your resume and cover letter.
• Some ATS will only allow you to upload 1 file.  Be sure to save your cover letter in the same document as your resume.
• If you can, upload a Pdf instead of a Word document.  Often the formatting gets screwed up and using a Pdf will protect that.
• Keep your audience in mind.  What can you do for them?
• Be aware of "I" statements.  "I have 5 years of experience in accounts payable" "I have a BCom from the local university"  So what?  What does your education and experience mean to me?  Focus on your achievements and recognition.  
• Proofread!  Have a friend proofread your letter for typos and for flow.  In a hurry?  Read your letter out loud.
• Keep it short!  No more than 1 page.  Ideally a short intro, 1 or 2 paragraphs on why you are the best candidate, and then a closing sentence or two.

For examples on how to write a "hook" in your cover letter, check out the articles on Careerealism.

Our Point of View

Last year I wrote this post wondering why everyone seemed to be so down on recruiters.  But the debate ensues.  

I get it folks, I really do.  Job searching, whether as a student, a new grad, or a seasoned veteran sucks.  It's worse than on line dating (at least that's what I hear).  When you're job searching taking the time to register with a staffing company can seem to be a lifeline.  After all, they get paid to find people jobs, right?  Not really.  Let me 'splain:

For 10 years I worked for a staffing company.  And for 10 years I heard from strangers how horrible staffing companies are (actually I still hear this).  The Staffing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, so why do people hate it so much?

On the surface, all staffing companies may appear to be the same, but underneath they are all different.  Staffing companies can be found across the globe in all industries.  Some are multinational, some are national, some are local.  Some fill labour roles, others office, others executive, others do it all.  They work on contingency, retention, or a combination of both.  They may fill temporary, contract, permanent, or all.  The employees may be skilled or unskilled.  I could go on.

I hope that you can already see how complex of an industry it is.

How does it work?

Businesses hire a staffing company to fill an open position.  For the sake of this article, I will refer to permanent roles.  The company that I worked for worked on contingency, meaning that they only got paid after the role was filled.  By law (at least in Canada), it is illegal to charge any money to the job seeker.  Therefore 100% of our revenue came directly from the employer.

Myth #1 - Staffing companies will get you a job

• Staffing companies are not in the business of finding you a job.  They are in the business of filling open positions for their clients.  They may be able to present you to opportunities that otherwise would not be available to you, but they cannot guarantee you employment.

Because we are paid 100% by the client, we work for them.  We are working within the guidelines and restrictions for the position.  If you fit within the limits of our search, then you may be considered for that role.

Myth #2 -  Recruiters are only in it for the "quick hit"

• If this were true, then they would have no repeat business.

I built up my client base for 10 years based on the quality of our placements and follow ups.  We also had a 3 month guarantee in place for all placements, and a 95% success rate. If we were only in it for the "quick hit" our replacement rate would have been a lot higher!

Myth #3 - Recruiters "own" you and you can't apply on your own again

•  Most staffing companies will ask you to sign something when you register with them.  Read it.  Carefully.  The company that I worked for did not limit you in your job search.  We even encouraged you to register with multiple staffing firms.  But we did ask that you not apply at a company if we had already presented you for a role.  Sounds pretty fair to me.

Myth #4 - Recruiters never call you back

• Again, I can't speak for everyone out there, but as a rule, we only called you if you met the needs of the client.   If we were filling 4 senior accounting roles and you were a junior administrative assistant, you're right, we weren't going to call you.

This is by no means a comprehensive list.  Using a staffing company to complement your job search can be very effective, that doesn't mean that you can sit back and wait for the job offers to roll in.  You need to be in the driver's seat and should be aware of who is hiring and where you want your résumé to be presented.

Get Your Résumé in the "Yes" Pile

I counsel university students every day on how to improve their résumé.  By far the biggest comment that I hear from them is "who cares what my résumé looks like, isn't it the content that counts?"

Unfortunately that isn't the case.  Many recruiters see hundreds of applications and résumés on a weekly basis.  A good recruiter is able to quickly scan each one in a matter of 10 seconds(or less) and can determine based on that initial scan if your résumé goes into the "yes" or "no" pile.

What can you do to make your résumé stand out?

First - make it easy to read.  No matter how amazing you may be, if you have a résumé that is cluttered or too "wordy", I'm going to look at it and toss it.  Read every word of a 2 page résumé?  Ain't nobody got time for that!

But there are a few things that you can do that will make your résumé easy to read:

• Use a standard format with the dates separated from the rest of the text so they stand out.
• Tell me what you accomplished rather than what you were "responsible for"
• Use bullet points!
• When you can, use numbers and symbols, these will draw the reader's eyes into your résumé during a quick scan.  E.g. Instead of: Consistently achieved sales targets try instead: Met and surpassed sales goals achieving 150% of monthly targets

One other thing; are you a whizz at word processing? I didn't think so, in fact, I know so.  When I receive a résumé in a .doc format, I click on the "paragraph" button specifically to see if you know how to format.  Usually, you don't.  To avoid this, always submit your application using a .pdf file.

Spelling counts too!

You can thank my grade 3 English teacher, but I am a stickler for proper spelling.  I have seen many applications get tossed because of 1 spelling error.  Use spell check and have a friend proofread your résumé before you send it in.

This is one of my favourite misspellings:
Strong attntion to details

No More Daylight Savings Time Please!

Daylight Savings Time ends in a few hours. My understanding is that it first began during one of the world wars as a way to conserve fuel. For some reason it was never stopped.

I grew up in Saskatchewan. At some point the province "sprang ahead" and then decided to leave the clocks where they were. I miss that.

We live in a 24/7 society. Very few people actually work 9 - 5 anymore so is DST even relevant now? Plus, it's a fact that more car accidents occur the morning following the time change. Plus, many, many people are late. The cost to the economy for this lost time and accidents is huge. And yet DST perseveres.

"But wait," you might say "at least we get that hour back in the fall." Unless you have pets or a toddler that is. Then you're up just as early (technically earlier) as always.

A coworker once said to me "it's so nice to get that extra hour every day though." Let me explain something: there are still 24 hours in a day. You do not get an extra hour!

I've decided that I will support any politician who promises to repeal DST. Come on folks - join the 21st century!


- Posted from my iPhone

A Job Offer's Not Real Unless It's On Paper

I hummed and hawed about writing this post.  Not because the information isn't important, but because I didn't want to "out" myself to my employer as a casual job seeker.  So I waited, and I waited, and now the time has come.

Last spring I was approached by a headhunter for a position within their own recruiting firm.  I politely declined.  I have zero interest in leaving my current role to work for a competitor.  I work for a great company and I do not wish to compete with them.  That same recruiter mentioned another role that I might be interested in - one with an online staffing services company (that's all I'm going to say about them).

I was intrigued and agreed to take it to the next step.  2 more phone interviews and a face to face meeting later I was offered the position!  I was so excited!  The base pay was a substantial increase over my current rate, plus there was commissions and a car allowance and other benefits of working for large company.  This was the end of June.  A week later and I still hadn't seen a formal offer.  I called the recruiter, he said he was "on it".  Then another week went by, then another.  Finally, 4 weeks later, I broke the recruiter protocol and e-mail my new would-be boss and asked him what's up.

A month after receiving the verbal offer, they rescinded it.  Not because they didn't want to hire me, but because the corporate office had put on a temporary hiring freeze.  Thank goodness I'm a smart cookie, I knew to wait to receive the formal offer before giving notice at my current job.

So that was this summer, now things have taken an interesting twist.  I was in initial talks with a different company to join their team.  I was to meet the Director at 1pm for coffee.  At 11 am the same day, this first company calls me to say the position is back on and am I interested.  "Sure" I said.  After all, it is a good opportunity and I had no additional offers. At my coffee meeting I got a second offer.

Yes, I did verbally accept both.  Could that be considered "douchy"?  Yes, but given my own, personal experience can you blame me?  Company #2 followed up the next business day with the written offer.  And, after much deliberation, I accepted.

So now more than a week has passed from my initial conversations.  I bit the bullet and called the recruiter for Company #1 to tell him that I had accepted another offer.  How did he take it?  Not well.  He's mad, very mad.  He said that I should have told him about the other offer so he could have negotiated a better deal for me.  He doesn't understand that it wasn't about the money.  His last e-mail to me bordered on being un-professional so I didn't respond.

I've worked in the recruiting industry for 10 years and I understand better than anyone else what this means for him.  It means that he won't get paid a fee.  I get that it sucks to be him right now.  But I know that he needs to learn that this stuff happens.  He hasn't lost the order from the first company, just the candidate.  He will still have an opportunity to earn his fee.

I've most likely burned a couple of bridges, and I always endeavour to act professional at all times, however, when it comes to one's career, you have to put yourself first.

Is there a lesson here?  Maybe, maybe not, maybe there are a few:

• Always wait to receive the written job offer before you quit your current job
• Communicate!  Never leave a candidate waiting for more than a day or two when an offer's on the line
• As a candidate, be honest with your recruiter (technically I was since I didn't have any other offers on the table when they called)
• As a recruiter, have a thick skin, you will need it.  This is a tough industry.

What if Your Coworkers Acted Like Celebrities?

It seems to me that celebrities, be they entertainers, athletes, or even politicians, have a different set of rules than the rest of us.  I often wonder what the ramifications would be if workplace rules applied to them.

For instance: a couple of weeks ago, a CFL player was caught mooning the opposing team's fans. I tend to see professional athletes as either the PR department or sales department of a company.  They are the face of their team after all.  So imagine for a minute if one of your outside sales reps mooned your clients.  Do you  think that he would get away with only an apology and a fine?  Probably not.

And what about hockey?  It is well known that there is fighting in hockey.  While not exactly sanctioned, it's not exactly discouraged either.  Players fight and then they are punished for 2 or 5 minutes and then they return to work, sometimes they get to take the day off before returning.  Can you imagine if Bob and Mike from accounting were to throw down their calculators in the hall one day and start hammering on each other?  I highly doubt that the only "penalty" that they would receive would be to go home for the rest of the day.

Maybe I've worked in HR/Staffing for too long, whenever I hear of any such incidences I always try to put it in the context of the regular workplace.  Oftentimes I wish that others would too.