Vetting “Experts” and “Thought Leaders” During Your Job Search
Last week I co-hosted a well attended Clubhouse call on how to evaluate whether a “thought leader” or “expert” actually IS one (specifically when it comes to YOUR job search).
Here is the takeaway:
-Vet the “expert”. Look at their background…do they actually have the experience to back up what they are claiming? In the case of “resume writers” — do they have a recruiting background? Questions to ask: what Applicant Tracking Systems (links to my article on the ATS and snake oil career charlatans) have you used for recruiting? How many years ago was that, and what function did you have? (Hint: the answer should be Recruiter or HR functioning as a recruiter). How long were you functioning as a recruiter? Was it in an agency, or as a corporate/internal recruiter? (Agency recruiters use the ATS much differently than an internal recruiter, and they aren’t bound by nearly the same amount of legal restrictions.) *If in the US, ASK THEM TO EXPLAIN HOW OFCCP REQUIREMENTS AFFECT THE FINAL PRODUCT.
-What is their motivation? Are they trying to sell you something? If so, what? Ask questions, ask for references. (Names AND contact information of satisfied clients — people make stuff up ALL.THE.TIME.) If they don’t have satisfied clients willing to sing their praises? Assume there probably aren’t many (or none.)
-If someone is claiming a statistic of any kind, make sure they have multiple (reputable) data sources they are pulling from. (If it is an article, make sure the writer of the article cite THEIR sources.)
-Do your due diligence — shop around if you are considering spending money on anything. (What do dairy products have to do with your resume? …)
Case in point: an individual — with a “Director of Talent Acquisition” title (at a company with 7 employees and no prior recruiting experience) — posted a rant about a job with a base salary ($40,000) being far too low for the (inflated) title it accompanied — which happened to be “Payroll Specialist”.
So I ran a quick search on Payscale and guess what? $40K-$42K is the average starting salary for someone in an entry level Payroll Specialist role. Their response? “Well that is in the US, not in Canada”.
The original poster told me that they were actually talking about a job in Canada.
So I ran another search in Canada. Turns out the average salary for an entry level Payroll Specialist (1–2 years) in Canada is — $42K-$46K. (So a little low, but certainly something that can be negotiated; $2K comes out to ~35₵/hr. ) On top of that, if the position was in, say, rural Saskatchewan or Whitehorse BC — $40,000 may actually be a really good salary, depending on the cost of living.
So I asked them to share the URL of the job posting. Their response was that they weren’t going to “shame” the organization. That’s fine (it could be a client). So I asked for just the basic job description and location, minus any identifying information. (Standard procedure for agencies, btw.) Nope.
So, the end result?
1. The seasoned recruiters on this particular conversation all agreed that the information given was not enough to justify the declaration that the salary was a blatant mismatch to the job.
2. On top of that, the claim that “Specialist” was an inflated title — and knowing that it is, actually, quite standard for an entry level position in this particular job category (I have hired several in my career) — brings this particular poster’s actual industry knowledge into question.
3. Using an example from three years ago casts further doubt on their credibility. The reality is — in this moment in time — entry level positions are fairly rare, and $40K is more than $0. That may change in a few months, but RIGHT NOW it is the truth.
4. And finally, by refusing to provide the basic framework to support their claim, I honestly think the whole thing is just a ruse to get clicks.
So, do your own due diligence, ask questions and research enough to make yourself knowledgeable, and ask trusted sources (that have nothing to gain by lying to you) their opinions.
