Interview Series - Career Experts - Scot Herrick from Cube Rules CareerMetis.com

Interview Series - Career Experts - Scot Herrick from Cube Rules In this interview series, we caught up with Scot Herrick from Cube Rules LLC who shares his expertise and insights about job search, career change,etc.in today’s marketplace.Tell us a little bit about your companyevalCube Rules helps people find a job, have job success, and gain employment security.How did you get started in this path?I started blogging in 2006 because I thought it was a good way to share career information.Is this something you decided early on in your career?It started out as a way to share what I was seeing in the workplace.Then it became more serious when I started noticing how few people knew how to navigate a career.Then it became really serious when I realized that all the “career management” stuff was really job skills that needed building â€" but they were used so infrequently, few people were very good at it.What is the best Career Advice you’ve ever received?Every job ends. It is only a question of when.Your challenge is to determine how longyouthi nk your job will go until it ends, subtract out how long it takesyouto find a job, and at that point, start looking for a new position What is the most exciting part of working in this industry?You get to help people find jobs.How do to stay abreast of the industry as an expert?I work full time ??What are some of the things that you see job seekers struggle with the most?How to write a good resume, how to interview well, how to use their business network to find jobs.It’s because these skills are not used very often so few people are very good at doing that work.How should job seekers approach job search today?Work with your business network to get informational interviews and target companies to work for.Job boards rarely work.What are the common mistakes that you see them do?Not having a resume that addresses their accomplishments, not adjusting their answers to interview questions based on who is asking them, talking about what “the team” did for the work instead of address ing what the candidate did to move the work forward. Not answering interview questions directly.Droning on with a five-minute answer to an interview question instead of thinking the answer through and answering it in two minutes. And more.What is the biggest trendMaintain your college contacts â€" they form the basis of your business network.Think about it…all of your friends who graduated will get many different jobs…in many different companies…in many different locations.When the time comes to find a different job or career, this group of people is a gold mine of information you can use for your job search.What is one advice you would give someone who is switching careers?First, clearly understand what your job skills are. Most job skills, unless specific to some certification area (e.g., Windows server engineering), can be transferred to other jobs. But you need to know what job skills you have to do the comparison.Second, try for something “adjacent” to what you are do ing now. Maybe you do nursing now. Because of that background, it would make sense to look for positions where that knowledge would be a big advantage â€" medical software, health care companies, health insurance.Unemployment is at the lowest levels, why do you think that is?There are a lot of factors, most of them started back at the bottom of the Great Recession and have iteratively improved or kept on going.This question implies that workers should be in a really good position, but there are few wage gains going on greater than inflation despite the low unemployment rate, workers have little to no power in their positions to effectively get better wages and benefits, and companies have literally no incentive to keep people they don’t want.It’s really pretty fragile out there. Yes, you can find a new job relatively quick, but that’s about it.What is the biggest trend(s) you see that hiring managers will face in the next 2-3 years?The constant for hiring managers is finding t he right talent that will help attain their business goals while fitting in with the team.The thing is, just as job candidates rarely use their job search skills, hiring managers rarely use their hiring / interviewing / understanding the talent needed skills.Consequently, they don’t hire the right person for the job.I think a lot of “No qualified people to fill positions” arguments are really just because hiring managers don’t hire well.Scot, what are you currently working on?I’m building three courses that people can take as they make career transitions:How to Build the Killer ResumeHow to Survive a LayoffYou’ve Landed Your Dream Job â€" Now What???What are the best resources you recommend to job seekers?JibberJobber.com â€" the best way to organize your job search and manage your relationships. Super Connector, Stop Networking and start building business relationships that matter â€" a great book about why people matter.The War of Art by Steven Pressfield â€" this may seem a weird choice for job seekers, but it is all about resistance to getting what you want to do done.Highly-recommended for Job seekers if they want to improve their LinkedIn Profile:I’m on LinkedIn : Now What? (Jason Alba)What is the best way for our audience to reach you?My EmailConnect with or Follow Scot Herrick on Social Media:LinkedInTwitterFacebook PageScot Herrick and Cube Rules have also been featured in our recent compilation of the most resourceful career experts and career blogs â€" Top Career Advice Websites.