Why aren't they hiring (or rejecting) you yet?

So you've crafted your cover letter, tweaked your resume, aced the interviews, sent great follow-up letters. Weeks have passed. Not a word.

As frustrating as the wait is, don't give up on those long forgotten interviews and applications. As an example, today I received an email regarding a job I applied to in mid-November 2016! I read that I've been in the running for the position for the last 4 and a half months. I didn't get the job, but my application has been moving around in the system.

Just because time has lapsed, don't think you are out of the race. Remember that it's not uncommon for companies to have a process where applications get backed up for weeks before the hiring manager gets a list of candidates, and there's another delay after the interviews

If you must send a second follow-up letter, don't make it about you, be topical and mentioned something you've read in the news about the company's latest movements or success story. Most of all, hang in there.

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Online Applications and the Required Salary Field

Don't sell yourself short, but don't price yourself out of a great job either.  Have you heard you are "over qualified" for jobs? This is a euphemism for they can't afford the salary requirements entered on your application.

More and more, software screening tools are kicking out applications before it reaches a human being. Between computerized resume scanners and online applications requiring a valid salary to be processed, many qualified applicants never stand a chance.  The salary field is a tough one, we can't leave it blank and it must be numeric. Putting $1 in the field puts your application at risk of being filtered before a human even sees it.

Career coaches suggest to do a bit of research and use the average salary for the position in the geographic area you are searching. This won't trigger any flags by the screening software. If you get the interview, mention the number and you are seeking a competitive salary and it is negotiable with company perks and great benefits.

You can find salary information on glassdoor.com/Salaries

Steve is a Digital Product Manager based in New York City. Most recently implementing Content Management Systems with customized features for entertainment publishing. He known for solving problems, optimizing product features and creating happy users. Steve is actively interviewing and would like to join an Agile team as a Business Analyst / Product Manager. You can learn more about Steve's skill set and background at http://linkedin.com/in/steveapple​

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Facebook Like Overload

I just noticed a jobs section on Facebook. Not sure how long it's been there but it seems to be something new. I'm not too excited about the thought of a social media site where the norm is rant, whine, repost silly photos and say happy birthday to strangers suddenly being mashed up with career data. Just as I say not to turn LinkedIn into Facebook, on the flip-side don't turn Facebook into LinkedIn.  I'm not sure my future employer is interested in what I ate for dinner last night or that I took a walk in Central Park on Saturday.

How effective would a job posting be on Facebook? The site has been saturated with quizzes, politics, photos and chain letter type postings asking for 'likes' and 'shares'.  Due to the magnitude of trivial content being shared, I usually ignore whatever is in my newsfeed which would include missing out on job potential.

That brings me over to LinkedIn where I tend to scroll through what my business associates are reading.  I reliably find great industry articles this way.

So a few weeks back, just as a social experiment, I posted on LinkedIn that my new blog is up.  Well I've posted, shared and liked on social media outlets over the years but have never experienced a response like I have received on LinkedIn.

On Facebook, with their very active membership, the window of opportunity for interaction is so narrow that friends don't get notified. I'm happy if anyone likes or shares my Facebook content.

I was surprised that the article I posted on LinkedIn had immediate response and by the end of the day over 100 views, and people are still reading it weeks later. And recruiters are contacting me about job opportunities.

It's great that a social media site is mastering their niche instead of trying to be all things to all people.

I just hope the content on LinkedIn continues to be about careers and industry news and everyone saves their silly surveys, food  and cute pet photos for Facebook.

Post an article about your industry, a career tip or job opening on LinkedIn because there are business associates ready to view your story.

Steve is a Digital Product Manager based in New York City. Most recently implementing Content Management Systems with customized features for entertainment publishing. He known for solving problems, optimizing product features and creating happy users. Steve is actively interviewing and would like to join an Agile team as a Business Analyst / Product Manager. You can learn more about Steve's skill set and background at http://linkedin.com/in/steveapple​

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Product Management headlines blog

You may have heard me talk about the group of professionals I meet with once or twice a month to discuss business opportunity and strategy. We exchange trending industry ideas from start-ups to corporate moves, how to improve web presence and resume tips. Our diverse group of leadership spans industries from media, design, marketing, human resources and tech. With this cross-section of corporate America we come up with some good ideas

A recent conversation was about "online presence" and how an individual can get more visibility. One suggestion was to write a blog. I've started blogs about various topics before but then I get swamped with a work project and the blog goes stale. So I did a variation on the idea of writing fresh content and created this new blog with aggregated 'product' related articles from around the web. My goal was to have one place for me to scan the latest headlines and provide a resource that others would return to for updates. I've also included product links and product manager job listings. Oh, yes there's a link to my professional bio on LinkedIn. Who knows, the right people may see my bio and want to talk about a great job opportunity.

Take a look at a-product-manager.blogspot.com Remember it's a new blog and will probably need some tweaks in the upcoming weeks.

Send feedback! If there is something product related you feel would fit well on the page, let me know. I'm open to your ideas. Mostly I want this new blog to be product focused and self maintaining. Consider it a convenient place to check out product headlines without a lot of clicking to find product news.

Steve is a Digital Product Manager based in New York City. Most recently implementing Content Management Systems with customized features for entertainment publishing. He known for solving problems, optimizing product features and creating happy users. Steve is actively interviewing and would like to join an Agile team as a Business Analyst / Product Manager. You can learn more about Steve's skill set and background at http://linkedin.com/in/steveapple​

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Automated Application Rejections? Give Your Resume A Binary Personality

More than likely your job applications have never been seen by human eyes. Welcome to the 2017 job search where the task of pre-screening resumes has been outsourced to the company's latest digital resource, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

An ATS reads in a resume, scans for keywords and key phrases, then applies an algorithm to rate the applicant against all others and the top few applications are seen by a human being.

Many qualified candidates are rejected by an ATS because their resume is written or formatted in a way that is not compatible with resume screening software.

KEYWORDS

Add keywords that are in the job listing to your resume. And use phrases from the job description, typically the keywords and phrases in the listing are also used in the ATS.

The ATS may not have acronyms programmed as keywords, include the full phrase along with any acronym you include.

Not sure what keywords to use? Technology vs technology, paste the job listing into a word cloud generator like http://tagcrowd.com/ and see what keywords pop up.

FORMATTING

Remove headers and footers. Remove logos and head shots. Headers and footers can confuse the screening software and it doesn't like images or fancy formats.

Look at the sections of your resume, do you have any creative titles? Get rid of them and stick with the basics like "Professional Experience", "Education", and "Skills".

Don't put your employment dates first. The ATS seems to work best when job history is listed in order of the employers name, your title and date. If you have tables in your resume so everything is aligned nicely, get rid of them. Tables confuse the ATS.

Reformat your paragraphs into concise bullet-ed lists. The ATS can extract keywords and phrases from lists easier than lengthy paragraphs.

Never attach a PDF of your resume to the online application, the ATS doesn't like that format. Upload a Word or text version of your resume and cover letter and save the pretty formatted version for the (hopeful) interview.

Good luck and I hope some of these tips help connect you to the hiring manager.

Are you're a recruiter or hiring manager looking for product people to join your great team?  Check out Steve's LinkedIn bio. 

Steve is a Digital Product Manager based in New York City. Most recently implementing Content Management Systems with customized features for entertainment publishing. He known for solving problems, optimizing product features and creating happy users. Steve is actively interviewing and would like to join an Agile team as a Business Analyst / Product Manager. You can learn more about Steve's skill set and background at http://linkedin.com/in/steveapple​

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Make an offer, you may get a great new employee

The job hunt is stressful enough without all the double meaning messages.

How crazy would it be to interview and be told something like, "dude you're way too old for my office, or "are you nuts? I can't afford that salary!" 

I would love to hear some honest feedback, then we have something to work with. It might even lead to a job offer.

Am I really too qualified, or just look strange in this suit?  This is an awkward interview, who isn't uncomfortable, even a little bit?  Indirectly I heard feedback from one young Director of Product said he thought with my background I'd take his job. I am a big believer that helping my team and manager succeed is good for my whole team. Trust me, I don't want your job-I want to help you succeed.

Panel interviews are fine, saves you time and the panel is more comfortable.  So a few times this has happened, I'm being interviewed by someone who isn't speaking clearly, I think maybe that's the test-how do I address a communication issue?  If I can't understand what you are saying, I'm going to ask you to repeat it again.

The money? Am I asking too much? Easy, make an offer.  We have all sorts of options here. Lets talk!

Contact Steve today.

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Memories from my last job Ten Years | 2006 - 2016

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES...

Ten years and tons of great, talented coworkers!

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Slideshow Maker

Slideshow Maker

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Writing a User Story | Requirements | Business Analysts

The Business Analyst (BA) is the bridge between the business world and technology. The BA collaborates with Stakeholders to understand business needs and define, translate and prioritize them in User Stories as features for software engineers–with a goal of delivering solutions that have business value

A user story represents what the team can deliver in an iteration. Ideally one user story can address the entire business value, but in reality the user story represents a portion of the greater goal.

Is your product owner the right fit for the role? Placing the right person in the product owner role is crucial for a successful product.

☢ Tell stories from the user’s perspective -- don't fall into the abyss and start writing technical tasks.

☢ Use Personas.  Make a chart with names and pictures of the persona; and include characteristics and behaviors such as common tasks, job responsibilities and demographics. Include the goal for this personal and problems the product solve for this persona.

☢ Avoid roles like 'user' and ‘developer’ when writing stories.  Create explicit roles such as "Senior Editor", "Web Visitor" and "Product Owner".  When writing stories “As a Developer…” take a step back and write from the product owner’s point of view.  Often ‘as a developer’ stories are tasks of another story.

☢ Don't work in a vacuum, with blinders on. Communicate and collaborate! Product owners and the team should discuss the stories, or imagine this, write stories together.

☢ WTF. Avoid confusing and ambiguous terms in stories.  The product owner, as well as developers and quality assurance testers, should be able to read and understand the story.

☢ Writing and Styling. If one story writing style isn't working out try different ways to write your stories to understand what works best for you and your team. The retrospective is a great way to communicate the concerns over writing styles.

☢ That's epic! Epics help define new products and new features: It allows you to capture the rough scope of the project.

☢ Stories should be coded and tested in a single iteration--ideally in a few days.  Epics should be broken down, but not so small that a story becomes a detailed design spec.

☢ Capture critical details about the story as acceptance criteria. The product owner should list as many acceptance criteria as possible in order to clarify the intent of the story.

☢ Remember the customer's needs. If you skip the acceptance criteria conversation, you may be missing the edge cases or forgetting about the customer needs.

☢ Communicate! This means within your team and with the client.


Steve is a Digital Product Manager based in New York City. Most recently implementing Content Management Systems with customized features for entertainment publishing. He known for solving problems, optimizing product features and creating happy users. Steve is actively interviewing and would like to join an Agile team as a Business Analyst / Product Manager. You can learn more about Steve's skill set and background at http://linkedin.com/in/steveapple​

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