Ben Wiant works with professionals in career transition to define, own, and confidently communicate their professional value and narrative. He helps them create and implement effective job search strategies to overcome the complexity of the modern job search using The 3 Doors Job Search – a foundational model he created to strategically access new career opportunities.
As a former recruiter, Ben knows what happens behind closed doors in the hiring process – he has reviewed over 175,000 resumes, formally interviewed 2,000+ candidates, and worked with 100s of hiring managers.
Ben earned a master’s degree in Instructional Systems Design from Florida State University. He also holds graduate level certifications in Human Performance Technology, Program Evaluation, and Human Resource Development. Ben is active in the Raleigh-Durham, NC job seeker community as a guest speaker and presenter and for the past 7 years has paid-it-forward as a facilitator at a weekly job seeker support group. For more information on Ben, go to his website www.the3doors.com.
During our discussion, Ben provided many tips and ideas on being a better and more effective candidate, including:
· Unless you are in a design focused industry, use a standard resume format, but most important is that the content of your resume must tell the story of how you solve companies’ problems.
· We discussed how you can access the “front, side, and back doors” as a multi-faceted approach to increase your chances of success in your job search.
· Executive search and recruiting firms work for the company and not you as the candidate but it is a great idea to be sure you are in their database so if they have an appropriate position, you are on their list of people to follow-up with.
· Often candidates are their own worst critic; they should “flip their scripts” to be positive, believe in themselves, and know that they are worthy.
· Ben explained the difference between general networking, targeted networking, and strategic networking – each has a role/purpose – but the strategic networking will have greatest positive impact on your job search and future career potential.
· During your search, remember it is important to know your values, stay professional, and take any negative feedback in stride as a learning opportunity. If you get ghosted, know it is more about them than about you.
Ben has so much real-world job transition experience, we could have gone on for so much longer. This episode provides insights you can put in action today to help you move closer to your next great job opportunity. Listen to it a couple of times – share with your friends – leave me comments on your thoughts/reactions – ENJOY!