My #1 Disappointment as a Career Coach

I’ve had the honor of writing for LinkedIn’s Influencer program for two years now. In that time, the majority of my articles have been focused on career development, often with a specific emphasis on job search. Why? First and foremost, it’s what my connections wrote to me and asked for help with. Second, because I am a career coach who has spent many years in both corporate recruiting and career development. Therefore, I try to provide inside access to how the hiring process really works.

In my posts, I’ve tried to share as much advice as I can so that both sides (job seekers and employers) can communicate better with one another. Mostly, I’ve been on a mission to teach professionals they are no longer “employees” held hostage by the golden handcuffs of working for an employer. But rather, they’re businesses-of-one who have the ability (with the right tools, information and upskilling), to sell their services to companies so they can partner with them to establish better, more respectful, and more rewarding working relationships. It’s been an incredible experience helping people update their job search skills and finding more satisfying work. However...

Lately, some career coaches with very risky advice are hitting the LinkedIn scene.

With the massive growth of LinkedIn’s blogging platform, I’ve seen an explosion of career experts and LinkedIn experts publishing some really bad advice. Their efforts to get your attention have become pretty aggressive.  The most popular being them pretending to be your biggest fan by encouraging you to see the employer as the enemy. They want you to get angry and fight. They want mutiny. Sadly, many innocent job seekers are falling for it.

Here’s something I’d like job seekers to consider...

I’ve never subscribed to that type of job search motivation. Employers aren’t the bad guy. In my opinion, there’s a big difference between earning more respect from employers and trying retaliate for their poor execution of the recruiting process. Yes, employers don’t always treat job seekers well. Truthfully, many companies don’t have dedicated HR teams to help them ensure they are adhering to a professional recruiting process. While others get so many applicants, they just can't handle the volume and respond to every one. However, what we must remember is, in spite of their weaknesses, they're the customers who are WILLING TO PAY for our services. That’s where my disappointment kicks in…

Lately, I’ve seen some bloggers on LinkedIn offering advice that, in my experience, can be downright harmful to a job seeker’s career. At first, I said nothing. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But now, as the advice has become more and more outlandish, I felt it was time to step up and say something.

Just as I made my decision to write this post, I got an email from an extremely successful recruiter about this very problem. He expressed his sincere concern for how much this type of advice was hurting job seekers. In his own words, here are examples of how this advice gets interpreted by recruiters and their employers:

Bad coach’s response to the request for references: "I will be glad to provide references once I decide if this is the right place for me."

• Employer's response will be: "I will make that easy for you...we aren't the right place for you".

Bad coach’s response to salary history: "Why is that any of your business?? What is your salary?"

• Employer's response will be: "I guess it isn't my business since you won't be considered further."

Bad coach’s response to reason for leaving last employer: "Lie. An interview isn't an interrogation under oath."   

• Employer’s response will be: “I did the reference check and withdraw our offer now that I know the truth.... and I blacklisted you from any future employment with the company as well.”

Ask any recruiter today and they will tell you: if you can’t find a way to work with employers, don’t expect them to buy your services.

Take the, “Respect Test” before you try that edgy job search advice.

Here’s a simple way to test if a piece of job search advice is worth trying. As I’ve said earlier, job search is a form of sales and marketing. You’re a business-of-one who needs to sell yourself. And, you aren’t selling something cheap. You’re worth a lot, right? Thus, if you were a customer investing thousands of dollars on a product or service, how would you like to be sold to? Would you respect the person doing these tactics? Let me show you what I mean:

Example #1: Imagine you went into a store to buy a 70” flat screen TV. The salesperson walks you around and shows you a bunch of different models. When you see one that fits your specifications, you nicely ask, “How much is it?”  The salesperson says, “That’s not important right now, let’s see if it’s really the TV for you first.” How would you feel? I know I would be annoyed and not respect the salesperson for avoiding my question. Can you see how failing to answer a simple question like, “What did you make at your last job?” could be equally annoying? Especially, if you make snarky comment back about it not being the hiring manager’s business, like some people have suggested in posts on LinkedIn..

Example #2: The same salesperson tells you the TV can record five shows at one time. But, when you go home and look up the reviews for the model online, you find out it can only record one. Again, that would annoy me. I couldn’t respect the salesperson for lying to me. What about you? Can you see how an employer would feel if they found out you lied to them in the interview about your skills and work history? They can’t help but lose respect for you too.

To sum it up, if the job search tactic could make an employer not respect you, I’d think twice before trying it.

Job search has gotten more complex, but you can figure it out!

I hope this post inspires people to really think more seriously about job search. While it’s not rocket science, it is harder than ever. There are new rules to job search that can make it feel quite frustrating and overwhelming. But, if you study the subject enough, I promise you’ll find the right answers and learn the proper way to conduct an effective job search. Especially, if you learn to identify the good advice from the bad!

P.S. - Have we met yet? First, thanks for reading my article! I have the privilege of being the CEO of CareerHMO.com. Besides writing for LinkedIn, I also write column for INC Magazine is called "Workplace Referee." I invite you to CLICK BELOW on some of my most popular articles:

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