Last year I went on multiple interviews for six different consulting assignments. It’s kind of strange to go on interviews when your profession revolves around teaching others how to interview. It’s often a humbling experience and sometimes I don’t even take my own advice. I thought I was perfect for each of these roles. But my definition of perfect didn’t always jive with the hiring manager’s. My skills were never in question, however, there are a lot of circumstances that affect the hiring manager’s decision besides competency. Sometimes I couldn’t see past those obstacles. Here are a few of the tapes that were playing in my head as I interviewed for different positions. Do any of these sound like you?

1. I should be a shoo-in. The first position sounded perfect. The organization was looking for someone to do job search training with a focus on social media tools. No one in their current organization had any knowledge on how to leverage these tools in a job search and I had many stories of success to prove my expertise in this area. I went though multiple interviews and everyone assured me that the final interview with the CEO was just a formality. And while I hit it off with everyone, the company decided to go in a different direction shortly thereafter and there never was an offer. I guess I didn’t fit in with the company’s rebranding strategy.
2. I’m a quick learner. This opportunity had me both excited and neurotic for a good month. The project was a huge undertaking and had the potential to catapult me to a new level professionally. My credentials and track record as a career professional moved me into the final round of interviews. But I had never done exactly what the employer wanted me to do and didn’t have an existing infrastructure to support it. And even though I’d mapped out every nuance of every operational scenario, in the end it wasn’t enough to convince the hiring authority that I was the right person to come in and hit the ground running.
3. I’m perfect for this role…with a few minor adjustments. Next I interviewed for a role that played to all of my strengths…resume writing, coaching, training…it looked like a “no brainer” to me. But the hiring manager was looking for a greater time commitment than I could offer. I tried to massage the position to give him what he needed in a compressed time frame but that just didn’t work with his company’s corporate culture.
4. Of course you’ll hire me…you really need me. The next opportunity was to do some operational consulting and service delivery for a firm that was branching out in a new direction that involved career services. The business model sounded perfect and I thought I was surely the right person to help bring the new service to fruition. But the sales team quickly realized that the sales cycle for the product will take much longer than their original predictions, so I’m still waiting for my first assignment to materialize.
5. I know I don’t look like what you are used to…so what’s the problem? Next I was interviewed by a CEO to deliver a fairly large service contract. At the same time he was interviewing professionals from Fortune 500 firms.  He couldn’t get past the fact that my business was a boutique firm and he decided he was more comfortable with a bigger name firm.
6. I can do this job and I can prove it to you. The last opportunity was to blog on jobs and careers for a major online site.  Sure, I had my standard resume to prove my knowledge base, but what won me the job was my blog. My blog was the most authentic example of what I can do. It proved I had the technical chops for the job but more importantly it proved my commitment and passion. I was a fit. I started blogging for AOL Jobs and Careers in December. It’s a good fit and I’m really enjoying it. It was well worth the wait.

It is rare these days to have an interview process that is straightforward and linear. What looks like a slam dunk often isn’t and what you thought was the gig of your dreams might not really be the right fit at the moment. View each interview as a learning experience and practice for the next interview. Forget about being liked by everyone…it’s not about being liked…it’s about fitting in. And if you don’t get the job, there may be a good reason why, even if you can’t see it right away. The right job will come…and both you and the employer will know it when it happens.

I’m excited to announce that my second book, #JobSearchTweet will be released shortly. The book delivers 140 tweet-like tips on just about every aspect of job search. It’s a book that you can read quickly but continue to reference for the duration of your career. Resumes, cover letters, thank you letters, references, recruiters, networking, social media, interviewing, and salary negotiation are all addressed. Here’s a sneak peak at a few of the tweets.

• When writing a resume, include graduation dates; omitting them raises suspicion and calls more attention to the very thing you are trying to hide.
• Half of hiring managers read cover letters and the other half do not; but you never know which half you are dealing with so always send one when applying for an open position.
• Have a phone interview? Sit in front of a mirror to anchor you during the conversation and make you feel like you are talking to someone (even if that someone is yourself!)
• When networking, ask people you meet a lot of questions about themselves. People think you are a great conversationalist when you let them do most of the talking.
• With traditional networking you can only be in one place at a time; with online networking you can be interacting in multiple communities simultaneously.
• The negotiation process begins the moment you submit your resume and continues until the offer is finalized. You can’t position yourself at one level on the resume and expect to be compensated at a higher level later on.

Interested in the other 134 tweets? Learn more about the book here and for more job search tips follow the #jobsearchtweet hashtag on Twitter.

Each year Career Directors International (CDI) hosts a resume writing competition called the TORI Awards (Toast of the Resume Industry) where resume writers from around the world compete for first, second, and third place standing and a chance to prove their ability to write strategic, well-written, and well-designed resumes and cover letters.

The competition is a great way for me as a writer to showcase my skills to the judges and it’s wonderful to receive an award, but my favorite aspect of the TORIs is that it keeps me on the top of my game and motivates me to explore new, creative, and exciting ways to position client achievements.

The TORIs have helped make me a better resume writer. And the designation offers a promise of value to my clients and piece of mind that when they hire me to write their documents they are partnering with a writer who knows how to use multiple strategies to position them for success in their job search.

This year, I picked up awards in three categories:

1st Place, Best Sales and Marketing Resume

1st Pace, Best Technical Resume

3rd Place, Best Cover Letter

I am happy to add these three new awards to the three I earned in last year’s competition and look forward to writing even better resumes in 2010 and beyond!

Each year, Career Directors International hosts the resume writing industry’s most prestigious Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) resume writing competition.

Career Solvers is pleased to announce nominations in 4 categories:

Best Technical Resume
Best Creative Resume
Best Sales & Marketing Resume
Best Cover Letter

Winners will be announced in October at CDI’s annual conference in Orlando.

This week I was awarded the Breiger Award from the Human Resources Association of New York, HR/NY, the country’s largest chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM. The award honors exceptional service to the chapter and the HR community and I was recognized for my efforts to help build the chapter’s membership. And while I’m thrilled that the HR community thought enough of my service to recognize my contribution, the benefits to me have been equally valuable and my role as a volunteer has offered me countless opportunities both personally and professionally. Helping out a community or cause that you are passionate about helps you build new skills and visibility that can enhance your professional credibility and open doors that can accelerate a career or a job search. Here are just a few of the fringe benefits that come with volunteer service.

• Community. Volunteering in a professional organization or other association that you care about brings you together with people who share similar interests or values. This common bond helps build relationships and trust. People are much more willing to share information with people who are part of their community because their is already a connection to that person.
• Leadership. Taking on a leadership role in an organization allows you to showcase your ability to direct others and think strategically about a process or project. If you can successfully lead a team or project in a volunteer environment, people in that community will notice and will act as advocates for you when other opportunities to lead surface.
• Skill Development. Through volunteer opportunities you can begin to hone skills that may not be part of you current area of expertise but could be important to your future professional development. Skills acquired through a volunteer opportunity are no less valuable than those acquired through a paid opportunity and the skills you build through a volunteer experience could help position you for a paid opportunity down the road.
• Networking. Informal conversations about companies and job leads go on all the time in volunteer-based personal and professional organizations and affinity groups. Some of the best assignments are routinely communicated through people, not job boards or search firms.

Like any other type of relationship you build, approach volunteer relationships with a “give to give” rather than a “give to get” attitude. You will be helping others and generating some good karma, but in the long run you will probably be quite pleased with the “return on investment” of your volunteer efforts.

Career Solvers is pleased to announce a new free e-book on our site called The Best Career Strategies of 2009. This book has great tips  on personal branding, career branding, networking, LinkedIn, Twitter, resume portfolios, and much more more. Get your free download here.

Career Solvers has been selected to be a member of the esteemed panel of judges who will participate in the Career Directors International search for the World’s Best Resume Writer in the first-ever resume writing competition of this kind. Career Solvers will judge this competition alongside HR professionals and recruiters from several prestigious companies including Walmart, Kelly Services,  Loreal, Volkswagon, Pacific Sunwear of California, and eHire. Once the judges select the top three submissions, winners will be selected. In addition, a public choice competition of the top three submissions will be hosted through Facebook and Career Directors International to allow the public to pick their choice of first, second, and third place winners for the World’s Best Resume Writer Public Choice Award.

Career Solvers is proud to announce that our blog feed has been selected to be on Alltop, a leading blog aggregator that collects stories from all the top sites on the web and allows readers to search by categories. You can view our feeds and the feeds of other popular careers blogs here.

Each year, Career Directors International hosts the TORI (Toast of the Resume Industry) international awards competition. This year, Career Solvers received five nominations and three 2nd place awards in the following categories:

• Best Executive Resume
• Best Creative Resume
• Best Cover Letter

Career Solvers will be presenting three resume workshops for the National Society for Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) at Columbia University on Saturday, September 13, 2008 to help prepare participants for the association’s national conference in Atlanta in October. Over 300 companies will be interviewing at the national conference and New York area participants will have the opportunity to brush up on their resume writing, networking, and interview skills at the New York event. Click here to learn more about the event and register.