Beth Braccio Hering, Special to CareerBuilder

In a tight market, every job seeker needs to find a way to stand out from the crowd. What separates the great from the good and makes a particular candidate too irresistible to pass up? Often, it is one of these three things:

1. Ability to prove worth

It is one thing to call yourself an outstanding communicator or an effective leader. It is another to back those claims with proof. Employers want to know what you’d bring to the table if hired.

“Candidates who can provide real, tangible examples of successes at their current and past jobs certainly stand out,” say Western Union’s Chris Brabec, director of leadership talent acquisition, and Laura Hopkins, vice president of talent acquisition.

Alan Guinn, managing director and CEO of The Guinn Consultancy Group in Bristol, Tenn., agrees. “More and more of my clients simply aren’t interested in questions like, ‘If you were an animal, what would you be?’ They are exponentially more interested in seeing if the candidate for a position understands the value that he or she brings to the employer when hired.” continue reading…

Some time ago I have been approached by a large consulting & staffing firm to talk how to determine a good staffing/recruitment company to avoid pitfalls. What we came up with is, that there are mainly 3 parties involved in a project and each party has its own priorities and goals. It is very important for the success of the project that there is a “meeting of the minds” for all parties that are involved as HR related issues are the most time consuming activities in any project that involves people with different backgrounds working experience.

The more the priorities and goals can overlap each other, the more the endeavor is successful as every party is getting the expected results. continue reading…

by ConsultantBox

The world of SAP consulting has some very inventive people involved in it, at every level, from consultants who can drag every last ounce of benefit from the SAP software solution to consulting houses who deliver excellent, fully functional solutions (beyond the definitions of the initial spec, while still bringing them in on time and under budget), and…….. then we have the SAP agents who have specialized in the art of lifting money from a customers budget, before it touches the consultants bank account and, to be fair, the latest generation of agents seem to be mastering their skills well.

During the late 1990’s the standard strategy, was to take a high commission by keeping the rate being offered secret from the consultant for as long as possible. 20-30% was the norm even then.
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How much commission is a fair compensation for the work an agent does?

This question has been around since consultants were first hired on contracts in the industry, and has been addressed innumerable times, both in the past and currently, with people having very different views on the answer – however, it seems that many of the agents also have an opinion!

The days of agents charging what they want are long over – so why is it that today in 2011 there are agents for large companies charging upwards of 30% of a consultant’s charging rate – is that the agreed commission rate – is that even a defendable position given what role an agent has in the process? continue reading…

by Careerbuilder.com

Giving a limp handshake, letting your eyes wander and fidgeting are just a few of the subtle blunders that can botch your success in a job interview. Although you may have been unaware you were doing these things, interviewers who pick up on negative nonverbal communication are likely to doubt your fit for the job.

Nonverbal communication can be judged just as much, and sometimes even more harshly, than the responses you give to questions you’re asked during interviews. It can even be the single factor that helps hiring managers decide between you and another candidate when you’re both equally qualified for the job. That’s why it’s so important to be mindful about your posture, facial expression and other behaviors. continue reading…

by Careerbuilder.com

Interviewing someone for a job is not as easy as it looks. First, as the interviewer, you’re tasked with finding the person who will not only do the job well but also fit in well with the other employees. You have to assess abstract qualities that can’t be found on a résumé. Because you have to repeat the process for every potential employee, you end up asking question after question to applicant after applicant.

Still, interviewers need to be told something: “What is your biggest weakness?” is not a good question. It just isn’t.
continue reading…