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Here’s an email I got from a candidate Stout Systems is working with:

“I have put about 20 resumes out there in the last month, and not one company has expressed a flicker of interest. It’s hard to get across how shocked I am by this; I’m awfully good at what I do and I have never spent so long in a job search. Usually it takes about six weeks–this time it’s been six months, with only one onsite interview. I suppose that if I count them all up, I’ve sent out close to 100 copies of my resume since January. Usually I send…10?”

Boy, does this candidate speak for a lot of people!

In talking and emailing with candidates, we are often asked what to do to penetrate the gate keepers. Here are a few tips:

1. If you’re applying for a position that’s not in your geographic area, you are going to make a strong case for yourself if you say that you don’t need relocation assistance. You also make a strong case for yourself if you say that you’re trying to relocate to the area for a specific reason (like family, good schools, four seasons, no snow, whatever)

2. If you match a position well, call that out in your cover. If you are deficient in a particular skill, call that out, too, but say why you think it’s offset by your other strengths.

3. Network like crazy. Right now we’re inundated with resumes. I say “no” to many, many candidates. And this pains me [OUCH!] because most of them are quite skilled. With the number of applicants, only the exact match people are getting through the gate. THAT HAVING BEEN SAID, if I get a personal referral from someone we know, I pay a lot more attention to the resume. THIS IS VITALLY IMPORTANT to anyone who is becoming frustrated in his or her job search. Reaching out to everyone you’ve ever worked with and getting them to make introductions, walk your resume in to HR, etc. is the key thing to do. Use Linked In to find your former colleagues. Remember that most companies pay their employees a referral fee if they recommend someone who gets hired; so you might even be helping your friends even as they help you.

Go low tech. In today’s job market, you’ll find that the personal touch is the thing that will help the most.

Good luck if you’re job hunting. It is tough right now, but we have tiny signs of improving conditions.

FYI: I’m reading resumes this week, a job that my colleague Ursula Kellman normally does. She’s taking a well-deserved vacation, so I’m holding down the fort in her absence.

My eighteen year old son had his first job interview a few days ago. While prepping for the big event, he did some on-line research and located a list of common interview questions, and the best way to respond to them. We then practiced how he would answer the ones that I figured were most likely to arise. As it turned out, it was a purely technical interview and none of them even came up – but it did get me thinking about the topic of interview questions and how to best answer them. Top on my list was how one should answer each and every question that is asked, and my advice for that is something I read years ago:

“Say A Few Words” (SAFW)

S:  Make an opening Statement

A:  Amplify that statement

F:  Provide a Few examples

W:  Wrap it up

You can bet that interviewers will place just as much importance on how a candidate answers a question as they will on how correct the answer is – and in some cases, even more. In fact, just a few weeks back, I had two technically competent candidates rejected, in part because they violated some of the key points of this SAFW formula. So let’s briefly take a look at each of these.

First, keep in mind the sentence as a whole: Say a few words! Both of these candidates lost out on a good opportunity because they were FAR too verbose in their answers. Candidate who don’t know how to be brief and succinct in their answers are a huge red flag to hiring managers.

Some examples.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: Have you ever created a chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Opening Statement: Yes, I have.

Amplify that statement: From 2005-2008, that was my primary responsibility and I learned quite a bit during that time period about making chocolate chip cookies.

Provide a Few examples: I created a Choco-Chocolate chip cookie recipe for Gourmet Markets Baked Delights.  That one went on to become one of their best selling cookies. Prior to that, I designed a Macadamia White Chocolate Chip Cookie, for the One Horn Steak House chain, which actually won the prestigious Platinum Cookie Recipe award.

Wrap it Up: As a result of these experiences, I feel well qualified to create cookie recipes.

And then—very important—keep quiet and wait for the next question.

Aside from keeping it brief, probably the next most important aspect to this formula is providing a few examples.  It’s one thing to say you did something, but an entirely different one to provide the demonstrated proof behind your claim. It’s the difference between a mediocre connection and the solid whack of your driver against the ball letting you know before it’s even in the air that you’re landing on the green. Make your claim, but be prepared to back it up with some specifics.

Come up with some practice questions of your own, and practice applying SAFW. I guarantee that your interviews will be stronger as a result.

I have to admit that I used to love Microsoft Project. And I have two project managers on my staff who still love it (or at least like it). They both tell me that I would love it if I took some time to get some training on the application.

Okay, I believe them.

But before I take of a few days for training, I ask this question: Is there any other software development project management tool out there that people love? I mean REALLY love! I want something that’s easy to use, intuitive, and Web based so that I can run my distributed teams. I’ve tried a couple of Web based tools, and they had features I liked, but performance (speed) was poor because of unoptimized AJAX implementations and other similar issues.

If you have a favorite tool, I would love to hear about it.

When it comes to candidates, we’ve all heard that it’s a buyer’s market out there for hiring managers. Many managers are receiving more resumes daily than they could ever hope to sort through. So how does one rise above the noise and stand out? This is something I have been giving much thought to lately.

I’ve never been a fan of unconventional resumes - they always tended to bump up against my conservative nature. Recently, however, I’ve been seeing them pop up here and there. And you know what? They get my attention. Yes, some of them are way over the top and wouldn’t be looked at twice unless they were being submitted for a creative advertising position. But I’m starting to think that in there somewhere is that sweet spot, the resume that visually stands out without offending but begs some further inspection.

Yes, if it gets that far, you still need to be able to deliver the goods, but I’m really beginning to consider the potential of these “alternative resumes”. More examples of these as well as the one shown here can be found in this Smashing Magazine article.

I would love to see any comments from any of you who have gotten a bit unconventional with your resumes.

I’ve always been confused by the artistic movement known as post-modernism. “If modernity is the state of things at their latest,” I would think “how could anything be post-modern? Is that like being post-today?” But lately I’ve been thinking in “post-modern” terms about software development methodologies, specifically Scrum.

We all know about Scrum – the software development paradigm where the team, rather than the project manager, sets the direction and works closely with the product owner to prioritize the work. It is one of the agile methodologies that takes software development back from the pencil pushers and places it squarely in the hands of the techies. At its best it provides a flexible, iterative platform for high quality collaboration between developer and customer. Why, then, would I think about anything “post” Scrum?

To answer that question I need to go back to the origins of Scrum. It was originally a response to other, more antiquated methodologies. We all remember the days of waterfall projects where months (if not years) were spent gathering requirements, writing project charters, and creating massive projects plans before a single line of code was written. In fact, many such projects are underway today. We also remember how those projects often delivered solutions to problems that had evolved into something entirely different—in essence answers to questions no longer being asked.

Iterative methodologies like Scrum were seen as a way to keep project teams from going whole sale in the wrong direction. The close relationship between team and product owner, along with shorter development cycles and focus on production ready code, would guarantee the solutions were always a direct response to the most pressing current business problems.

And it works! Scrum has proven that software developers desire to and can produce excellent results when unburdened by management intrusion and needless paperwork. A high-functioning Scrum team can produce chunk after chunk of production ready code that is a direct response to customer needs. Product role out meetings often include tear filled eyes and group hugs as product owner and team bask in the glow that is their mutual creation. What could be wrong with this?

Well…it’s not that anything is wrong, per se. It is just that Scrum, like the earlier methodologies, has its own … um … issues. First, Scrum requires that a development team be co-located to maximize team collaboration. This, alone, is not a show-stopper. However it is increasingly improbable in the age of distributed teams working via online collaboration. Is it really a daily Scrum when coffee and donuts have to be shared through Live Meeting?

A second, thornier issue is that Scrum requires real personal fortitude from the management ranks—something not easy to come by. For example, programmers are supposed to work without interruption during development cycles. That means production support be damned! Or at least re-assigned. Also management has to get comfortable with the idea that a team can’t say exactly what will be delivered or when—only that the customer will be included along the way and will be thrilled with the results. Try selling that to your CIO as he or she wants to review your earned value in detail while demanding that your team get “more agile” (real world example).

All of this takes on new complications in the consulting arena. If internal management isn’t big on fuzzy delivery dates and functionality, try selling them to a prospective customer. Software consulting companies absolutely cannot adhere to a methodology that precludes accurate estimating and reliable delivery. This says nothing of the distributed nature of most companies today. For example, I recently worked on a proposal project with team members in the Midwest, the Southwest US, the UK and Hong Kong. Not only were we not in the same place, we were not in the same time zone! If co-location is required for Scrum, how can this model ever work?

These are just some of the issues we face implementing Scrum in today’s consulting environments. So, am I recommending we forget about Scrum? Not at all! I believe in iterative development and Scrum is the best I’ve seen. But I wonder how Scrum can evolve to meet my everyday reality. How can this flexibility be combined with accurate up front estimating? How can we realize the increased customer satisfaction of Scrum and still deliver on our original promises? Is team collaboration still effective when done virtually? And how can this type of project ever be managed?

I have some ideas of my own on this. But I’m also interested in what others have to say. Any takers?