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Frequently Asked Questions About My Job Referrals

March 1st, 2010

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is MyJobReferrals?

MyJobReferrals.com is an online job referral marketplace that lets companies locate, review, and contact qualified candidates for open positions. This is enabled via targeted notification of qualified candidates about job openings via referrals from people who know them.

For individuals, MyJobReferrals.com enables you to refer qualified candidates for open job positions and get paid if their candidate is either viewed or hired.

How does MyJobReferrals work?

The MyJobReferrals service enables users to leverage their knowledge of people in their network to match wants to needs. The referral activity connects the wants (qualified candidates) to the needs (job openings that need to be filled).

How much does it cost to post a job?

It’s free to post jobs and review the work history of applicants. Job posters pay to obtain an applicant’s contact info if they wish to follow up and contact the individual.

How is MyJobReferrals different from job boards?

  • For Companies: The system provides the ability to inform the target audience of qualified applicants about open positions that need to be filled. The candidates, both passive and active, are made aware of the job opening via personal emails (via the system) from people they know. This helps the company generate a better initial candidate pool for the position.
  • For Referral Candidates: Applications are reviewed by the job poster and they hear back, yes or no, whether they will be pursued as a candidate for the job.
  • For Referral Sources: It’s simple – help find jobs for friends by making them aware of job openings and Get Paid For Who You Know!™

Why are job referrals better than direct applications?

Many traditional tools currently available to hiring sources are not designed to solve the specific problems they face: locating talent. Job Board databases are full of out-of-date or obsolete CVs. Data mining job board databases are highly repetitious and often produces over and over the same job seekers rather than hard-to-find passive candidates. Referral recruiting does not utilize databases; it operates in real-time with live candidates ‘opting in’ to apply for a recommended position. When you receive a referral candidate application, it had to be someone who was referred in the first place, is up-to-date, and the applicant is interested in the job right now.

Can I apply directly for a job posting?

No. Sorry about that. There are many job boards on the internet which allow direct applications for positions. This site is designed for referral candidates to learn and apply for  jobs they otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

Is there a limit to the number of people I can refer for a job?

Currently there is no restriction on the number of referrals one can make, but it’s worth noting that we do take into account the number of referrals that are made and how many are selected for follow-up and successfully contacted. If people you refer do not know you or they aren’t selected to be contacted it could affect your referral reliability ranking within the system.

It’s about quality, not quantity. So please select your referrals carefully, they reflect upon your creditability.

How do I get paid for successful referrals?

Payment is distributed to the referral source via Paypal shortly after the applicant has been successfully contacted by the job poster.

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Related Links:

Notify Me of New Job Postings.
Why Job Boards No Longer Work
An Easy Way to Make Money Referring People You Know For Jobs
Find Jobs For Friends: Ways to Effectively Help People You Know Find Jobs

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MyJobReferrals.com is an online referral system enabling individuals to refer qualified candidates for open positions and receive a finder fee if their candidate is either viewed or hired. © My Job Referrals, LLC

Candidates, Making Referrals

6 Lies We Tell Ourselves About Job Interviews

February 23rd, 2010

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The author of this post is Michael Neece, CEO of InterviewMastery.com

I present frequently to groups large (200+) and small on job interview skills, and I am constantly amazed at the harmful lies people tell themselves about job interviews.

Few will argue about the importance of having a great resume; after all, it is the resume that generates job interviews. But nearly all job seekers minimize the importance of their own job interview skills. Minimizing the importance of interview skills reduces the probability of getting the job offer because it is only through an exceptional job interview performance that you’ll get hired.

During a recession, the average applicant will interview for 17 different opportunities before he/she gets one job offer. When job openings are plentiful and candidates are in high demand, the ratio drops to 6-to-1, meaning it takes only 6 interviews to get an offer during the good times. The lesson here is that without interview skills, you could waste several job opportunities before you get good enough at interviews to get an offer.

Below are six lies (assumptions) we tell ourselves about job interviews:

“I’ll do great on my job interviews because…”

1. I’m Great at My Job.

The skills required to get the job are fundamentally different from the skills required to do a job. If you have ever looked for a job you know this all too well.

2. I’m a Good Communicator

Being a good communicator is a good start, but most of our business communicating is one-on-one or in a setting where you are talking about work. During the job interview, you are often speaking with multiple interviewers and responding to thought-provoking questions about you and your talents. Convincing an interviewer of your abilities is a unique situation in the world of business communications.

3. I’ve Interviewed Hundreds of People

Being an interviewer is different from being interviewed. Just ask anyone who has been interviewed recently. I consult internationally to organizations on interviewer skills. I also present to thousands each year on job interviewing for the job seeker. While the interviewer and the interviewee are in the same room, each is playing a different role that requires different skills to be successful. It’s a bit like dancing. One person leads while the other follows. The skills to lead are very different from the talents needed to follow. When each partner does his/her part, they dance beautifully. When the job applicant has the skills, he/she facilitates a conversation and usually gets the offer.

4. I’ve Had Many Practice Interviews

Learning by trial and error can teach you a few things about effective interviewing, but it wastes a lot of great job opportunities. Besides, practicing the same unproductive job interview ritual will only make you comfortable with ineffective habits that can really hurt your career.

5. Interviewers Have Interviewing Skills

Having traveled internationally to train interviewers, I can state with certainty that over 95% of interviewers are unskilled and have had no training on effective interviewing. That is exactly why interviewers still ask totally irrelevant and bogus questions like, “Tell me about yourself,” and “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” When an interviewers asks you one of these questions, you know they are completely unskilled at interviewing.

6. The Most Qualified, Get Hired Most of the Time

Eleven years as a recruiter taught me one truth about the job market: the most qualified person rarely gets hired. The reason is that who is the most qualified is a matter of interviewer opinions, assumptions, and personal bias. Additionally, a job description is actually a collection of guesses as to what the prerequisites are for a specific job. A job description is a way for the hiring manager to say, “I want to hire someone who has already done, many times, what I want him or her to do for me.”

To secure a great job, either continue lying to yourself and go through 17 interviews to get an offer, or invest the time to learn successful job interviewing and significantly increase your odds of getting a great job sooner.

Common advice is everywhere on the Internet, but this common wisdom will only get common results. If you don’t want to invest any money in yourself, at least make a list of the interview questions you expect and those that you fear. Then ask a former colleague to mock interview you using the questions you listed. Record the mock interview using audio or video. You may be surprised at how you actually sound.Remember, the job interview is the most important moment in your job search and in your career.

While your resume may get you to the interview, it is your job interview skills that will secure the job offer. Preparation and practice make all the difference in your performance because the most qualified person rarely gets the job. The person who has the best interview wins the job offer.

Good luck on your next interview. You’re going to be awesome!

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This post was written by Michael Neece, CEO, InterviewMastery.com.

Click here for more info on Interview Mastery.

Note: The founders of MyJobReferrals have used this product in the past and it does help get you through the interview process. No one at MyJobReferrals was compensated for this endorsement.

Candidates

How To Get Hired At Any Age

February 18th, 2010

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If you’re over 30, no one should be able to guess how old you are by taking a look at your resume. It’s bad for you when a hiring manager mentally thinks of you as old. It doesn’t help you one bit. If you take pride in your wealth of experience, don’t. The hiring manager’s goal is to run a business that makes money. OLD = EXPENSIVE. Why hire an old fart when you can hire someone cheaper and younger? You’re in luck, because there’s is a formula that completely neuters being old. Here’s the secret formula for getting hired at any age…

LIKABLE + HUMBLE + MATURE = HIRE-ABLE. Look below to get in the door and blow them away with your awesomeness..

  • Step 1. You’ve heard this before; don’t put more than 5-10 years of experience on your resume. If you’re stuck on listing everything you’ve done for the last 30 years, get over it. You can compromise if you really, really have to by going up to 15 years back, but that’s really pushing it.
  • Step 2. Take the dates off your education. Also, if your school has changed it’s name, use the new name instead of the old one. I graduated from DeVry Institute of Technology, and the school changed its name to DeVry University, and I list DeVry University on my resume.
  • Step 3. Once you’ve got the interview, be likable, humble, and mature. Smile, give short and concise answers to stupid interview questions, and don’t be ornery. Carry yourself with professionalism, poise, and maturity. Don’t brag about exploits, but rather reference relevant experiences. Your maturity is your best weapon, because most companies rarely find well adjusted applicants at any age. If you execute well, your hiring manager will go from thinking “too expensive or grumpy” to “worth every frikkin’ penny”.
  • Step 4. Stay in the game. Young people struggle to find work to, and you’ll likely need to interview many times before you find a job that’s a good fit. Don’t take rejection personally, because it’s going to happen more often than not

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This post was written by guest blogger Michael Pope, a recruiter from the San Francisco Bay Area. To read more of his insights visit him at the Captain Recruiter Blog.

Candidates

Don’t Tell Recruiters About Your Other Interviews

October 26th, 2009

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When a recruiter asks you who else your interviewing with, don’t tell them. It does you absolutely no good whatsoever, except perhaps when they are offering to match or beat another company’s employment offer.

Let’s say Company A figures out you’re interviewing other places, which should be kind of obvious anyway. Telling Company A who else you are interviewing with is a really, really bad idea. First, Company A is unlikely to encourage you to go work for Company B because it’s good for you. Company A wants free information to use as leverage over you. If they know you’ve got another interview, they can pressure you into accepting an offer early, cancel your interview process all together in favor of another candidate, or anything else that would benefit them and not you.

If you are dealing with a third party recruiter, telling that recruiter who else you are interviewing with will also never help you. The recruiter can take the information, market their staffing services to companies you’re already interviewing at, and then worsen your chances of actually getting by increasing the size of the applicant pool. I know, because I’ve done it.

In 2008, a job seeker I was trying to recruit told me about a different company he had an offer from. I used the information he gave me and talked him out of working for the other company. In the end I didn’t feel bad for being a recruiter and doing my job, but he didn’t benefit from me winning and the other company losing. The other company was actually a better fit for him, but I still was able to retain him.

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This post was written by guest blogger Michael Pope, a recruiter from the San Francisco Bay Area. To read more of his insights visit him at the Captain Recruiter Blog.

Candidates, Referral Recruiting