KISS A FROG

KISS A FROG

KISS A FROG

The day school ended when I was 15, I went home and used my mom's 1970's typewriter to create a resume. I biked over to a local business that had a copier, they charged me $20 for a pile of copies. I lived out in Livingston county near Hamburg and started dropping into every business seeing if they could use summer help. For two days the phone didn't ring. My dad got home from work and I grumbled about my project and his response: "In life, you have to kiss a lot of frog before you find the prince." (...from the classic Grimm story.)

Try running a recruiting company in this economy with everything going on. Daily, the calls with 20-somethings, 30's, 40's, 50's, and people in their 60's are filled with frustration and disappointment.

The 20-somethings blame lack of experience and the older generations believe they're being "discriminated" by the companies due to their age.

We've all played "Duck Duck Goose". Only a few chairs to grab before the music stops and those who don't find a seat get bounced from the game.

The reality is that a Hiring Manager determines the range of acceptable experience needed for the open role. Typically, there is often wiggle-room with this time constraint. After all, this is a basic screening element. Following that in the interview, the candidate will be evaluated for relevant experience and problem solving approaches. This is where the real screening and choices takes place.

If you like, call it a "numbers game".  The more applications put out there will yield more interviews that open the door to the most critical step in the process. Fewer applications will offer less interviews.

And then there's the balance at WHAT you're applying for. If your background experiences and education has too much discrepancy from the open role, the resume will probably be rejected. So the challenge is to keep looking for reasonable opportunities.

By the way, I did get a call from the Manager at McDonald's in Whitmore Lake. This was a six mile bike ride to and from home. I took the job at $3.65/hour and worked as much as I could and by the end of the summer took some of the earnings and bought a stereo system (with the permission of my parents).

You want to find the Prince?  Kiss those frogs.