A Headhunter’s 11 Strategies To Get Hired Now

Headhunter, Rob Barnett, distills everything he’s learned about getting hired into his new book, Next Job, Best Job.

His timely 11 strategies will take you from any current state of confusion about what’s next to a new destination that will become clear and achievable as you seek your next best job.

Candidly and step-by-step, with a book chapter devoted to each of the 11 strategies, Barnett teaches you how to:

Regain confidence and optimism after a job loss.
Create a focused job search game plan.
Clearly communicate your career goals (your true North Star).
Brand and market yourself with a unique resume and strategic LinkedIn profile.
Navigate and effectively incorporate social media during your job search.
Master networking.
Score a perfect 10 interview in-person and online.
Get immediate replies and callbacks.
…and then Pay it forward.

Rob Barnett

Today, Barnett answered these questions for us:

Question: Why did you write your book, Next Job, Best Job?

Barnett: We’ve all just completed a master class in survival. Life is too short to be wasted doing the wrong work or stuck between jobs on a search with no end in sight. I knew I could give people new strategies to win the work they deserve and eliminate all the ancient job search rules that no longer make sense.

Question: How has the pandemic changed the landscape for job seekers?

Barnett: There’s actually more opportunity and more flexibility in a new reality where everything that came before is being reimagined for what’s next. Remote interviews and remote employment are not temporary solutions. For many companies, all this new technology has increased productivity and become part of the new norm.

Question: How has the pandemic changed the landscape for companies that are hiring?

Barnett: At first, mass unemployment and constant cutbacks put any hiring manager in total control to drive the process. Now, with a renewed economy and countless workers deciding to resign, companies need to make the most compelling cases and competitive offers to close the best candidates.

Question: What is the best next step for the job seeker after interviewing for a job?

Barnett: The world’s best follow-up note, of course. Write back the exact same day of the interview - or first thing in the morning if your job interview was at the end of the workday. Hit the highlights in this note and restate your top selling point for why you want the job and a second interview as soon as they’re ready. Ask a thoughtful question about the business as well.

Question: What are your tips for the job seeker interviewing via Zoom or a similar platform?

Barnett: At this point, we should have all followed the essential rules of how to nail the perfect virtual video interview. Next Job, Best Job has dozens of tips. No matter how experienced you are, you’re still in the best position to get hired if you get a friend to rehearse with you for every important interview the day before the real one. Tough love through constructive feedback is invaluable.

Question: Do you believe compensation should be different for employees working remotely versus in the office and if so, why?

Barnett: It’s reasonable to reduce the highest possible compensation if a company offers you a position that’s totally remote. You save all the commuting expense. You may be living in a much more affordable location. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll save tons on all the food you buy every day.

Question: What is causing ghosting by both job seekers and hiring companies?

Barnett: This new normal is a plague I want Dr. Fauci to cure next. Ghosting is rude and unacceptable. Too many people do it because it’s become expected - but it’s still wrong. Every company and every candidate owe each other a specific, timely response about where the process stands.

Question: How does a job seeker pay it forward?

Barnett: Chapter 11 in my book is not about bankruptcy. I dedicate the chapter about paying it forward to David Bowie. “We can be heroes” when we take a minute, an hour, or more to help other job seekers get the counsel, contacts and support they need to find their next, best job. Job seekers will also get renewed energy, positivity, and a return to productivity when they devote time to any nonprofit organization hungry for their wisdom, work, and time. My constant contributions of time and work for WhyHunger.org help me put my own worries and troubles aside to end hunger for people starving right now.

Question: What tips do you have for a new employee joining a company and working remotely?

Barnett: Make time to schedule as many one-on-ones with management and co-workers as you can. And find the first available opportunity to make a safe visit to headquarters.

Question: What are a few best ways for a company to retain employees?

Barnett: You saved your easiest but most important question for the last question!

The best way to retain employees is to create a culture that’s honest, open, supportive, inclusive, inspiring, creative, rewarding, fair, transparent, communicative, positive, and clear about the mission and the expectations.

Finally, Barnett shares that the top three takeaways from his new book for the job seeker are:

1. Learn how to find your true North Star.

2. Define your professional brand to make it crystal clear who you are and why you’re a perfect fit.

3. Market, Market, Market Yourself by cresting constant value every day on social media.

Rob Barnett is a headhunter, management executive, author, podcaster, and entrepreneur. As founder of Rob Barnett Media, he has discovered, hired, and led hundreds of talented creators and executives in senior management roles at MTV, VH1, and Audible/Amazon. He was President of Programming at CBS Radio. A digital pioneer, he founded My Damn Channel, one of the first original online studios and networks. Representing diverse careers, companies, and opportunities, Rob's multi-platform content and no-nonsense approach inspires people to define and sell their best professional brand.

Thank you to the book's publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

How To Achieve Human Leadership

Human Leadership: The Courage To Face Ourselves And Each Other is Kristen Hadeed ’s newest book. It’s a raw, personal account of losing herself in service to others and the challenging work of finding her way back. It’s a story of burnout, ambition, resentment, grief, reinvention, profound self-examination, and the courage it takes to share what you discover with the people around you. By learning to face herself, tell the truth, and take ownership of her choices, Hadeed became a more courageous, compassionate leader and built a life and business that would take care of her, too. Hadeed’s journey shows that leadership doesn’t have to mean endless sacrifice or self-abandonment. Human Leadership offers a different path―one where courage, honesty, and humanity become the foundation of meaningful leadership and a meaningful life. Part memoir, part invitation, Hadeed’s story will empower you to: Recognize the values, fears, and limiting beliefs driving your lead...

3 Things To Avoid When You Give Your Next Speech

If you don't want to get your speech off to a bad start, the communications experts at Speechworks suggest you: Don't apologize (particularly about your anxiety or lack of preparation. Apologies put your audience on the defensive. Don't start by telling a joke (which may not be all that funny, or is irrelevant, or that may even be offensive to someone in your audience). Don't beat around the bush (including, don't list off a lot of people you want to thank. Don't waste your audience's valuable time) Instead: If you need to deal with your anxiety, practice like crazy . Rehearse particularly your first line over and over. Start your presentation by laying out for your audience a key issue that they are facing in their business . If you must thank someone, do it at the end, or thank your introducer briefly, pause, and then start right into the meat of your message .

The Playbook For CEOs To Lead Under Pressure

“Most CEOs spend years mastering strategy, finance, operations, and execution,” says author Andrea Petrone , “Far fewer spend time defining who they are as leaders.” He adds that all too often the leadership style that got a CEO to the top becomes the very thing holding them back. More specifically, after more than two decades coaching CEOs and senior executives at Shell, Unilever, Takeda, EssilorLuxottica, and PwC, Petrone noticed a pattern: sustained pressure was pulling leaders away from who they were. Fortunately, in his latest book, Reinvention at the Top: The Playbook for CEOs to Lead Under Pressure , Petrone introduces the Throughline, an architecture that helps leaders align their identity, message, and presence so they can lead powerfully under pressure. Whether stepping into a new role, navigating a crisis, or reinventing an organization, Throughline offers CEOs a practical roadmap for leading without losing themselves. As you read the book you will discover: ...

High-Performing Teams Are Made Of This

According to Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, authors of the book, The Collaboration Imperative , high-performing teams have the following characteristics: People have solid and deep trust in each other and in the team's purpose--they feel free to express feelings and ideas. Everybody is working toward the same goals. Team members are clear on how to work together and how to accomplish tasks. Everyone understands both team and individual performance goals and knows what is expected. Team members actively diffuse tension and friction in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. The team engages in extensive discussion, and everyone gets a chance to contribute--even the introverts. Disagreement is viewed as a good thing and conflicts are managed. Criticism is constructive and is oriented toward problem solving and removing obstacles. The team makes decisions when there is natural agreement--in the cases where agreement is elusive, a decision is made by the team lead or executiv...

How To Make One Bold Move A Day

Shanna A. Hocking ’s new book, One Bold Move A Day , is all about meaningful actions women can take to fulfill their leadership and career potential. Specially, Hocking reveals the transformative mindsets needed to make one Bold Move a day. Those are: Gratitude Mindset And Mindset Happiness Mindset Progress Mindset “Each of these four mindsets individually plays a special role in the process of continuously showing up for yourself and others,” explains Hocking. “Each mindset contributes in a different way to your success, but they all complement each other and together they will become the foundation to your Bold Move Mindset.” Hocking explains in her book that a Bold Move is one that challenges you to grow . “Sometimes it’s about capitalizing on an opportunity, and sometimes it’s about creating that opportunity for yourself,” explains Hocking. Keep in mind, too, that a Bold Move for you might not be the same as someone else’s. ...

How To Build A High Performing Sales Team

Based on Stephanie Friedman 's 20 years of sales experience, her new book, Built to Grow: A Handbook For High-Performance Sales Teams , is the perfect step-by-step, go-to-market field guide for startup founders. Friedman offers readers a structured and repeatable methodology for building a high-performing sales function from a company’s earliest days. The book is divided into three phases of startup growth— Experiment, Build, and Scale. Within each of the three phases, Friedman covers: Sales Playbook Hiring Revenue Management Customer Success Compensations Culture Internal Collaboration Some of my favorite takeaway tips from the book include: No matter how experienced your salespeople are, any high-performing sales organization should follow one simple but important rule: No call without an agenda. This helps reinforce the necessary discipline around call preparation and ensures your customers have the best possible experience when talking to your...

Coherence: The Secret Science Of Brilliant Leadership

Coherence: The Secret Science of Brilliant Leadership is the new book by author Dr. Alan Watkins . Trained as a medical doctor, Watkins is now an honorary senior lecturer in neuroscience and psychological medicine at Imperial College, London and an affiliate professor of leadership at the European School of Management, London. According to Watkins, coherence is the biological state achieved when elite performers experience maximum efficiency and super effectiveness, where body and mind are one . Coherence provides one of the most unique approaches to showing leaders how to be younger, smarter, healthier and happier -- which gives them the power to make decisions under pressure and achieve sustainable success. Prepare to spend quality time reading Coherence . It's not light reading. Kind of feels like a medical text book in parts. But, it's worth your commitment to it. I particularly found useful Watkin's discussion on culture , where he w...

Six-pillar Roadmap For How To Move From Merely Surviving To Truly Mattering

In the new book, The Mattering Effect: Creating A Life Of Meaning And Worth , podcaster and author John R. Miles reframes today’s most common struggles and empowers individuals and institutions alike to break bad habits and reclaim a sense of worth and belonging. “Organizations have spent the last decade chasing 'engagement' and 'psychological safety,' yet global productivity is stalling and 60% of employees report they do not feel valued in the places where they spend their days,” shares Miles. He calls this “The Great Erasure”—a condition where high-achievers become highly visible to the organization while becoming invisible to themselves. In addition, Miles argues that many of today’s most common struggles—burnout, anxiety, loneliness, and disengagement—are not personal failures or mindset problems. They are the result of unmattering: the gradual erosion of felt significance within modern systems that reward performance while overlooking presence. Fortu...

Decide

Many years ago, I worked with a person who could not make decisions. Neither big nor small decisions. That indecisiveness paralyzed our business in many ways. Unfortunately, the book, Decide: Work Smarter, Reduce Your Stress, and Lead by Example , had not been published. Had it, I would have shared it with my co-worker. Decide , published this past February, teaches readers how to make better decisions based on the real results they want to experience. The author, Steve McClatchy, explains how to use the two forms of human motivation -- Gain, or Prevent Pain , to make more effective decisions. For example, he demonstrates how inserting a Gain task in the middle of a Prevent Pain day can give you the energy you need to move forward and make the Prevent Pain tasks take less time through motivation. Deeper into the book, you'll be reminded about not only the problems with procrastination, but also about the benefits of procrastination, and, if you are ...

Six Leadership Actions To Leverage Employees' Differences To Strengthen Teams

The new book, All The Difference: Six Leadership Actions To Bridge Perspectives, Strengthen Teams, and Create Value , teaches how leaders can turn their team's individual differences into deeper trust, greater creativity, and winning results. “The greatest risk of unmanaged difference isn’t conflict: it lies in the ideas, insights, and opportunities that may never surface,” explain the book’s authors, Susan MacKenty Brady , Stuart D. Kliman , and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith . They suggest that you look around your team to fully see people with different communication styles, perspectives, cultural norms, and capabilities. These differences are expressed in all kinds of ways, such as casual gestures in a meeting, a colleague's opinion on a current event, or an intense work style. Often, those differences can lead to friction, even conflict. You may try to manage around them. But, for you and your organization to fully leverage the strengths of your team’s diffe...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog