Mitch Byers's Page

New Job, Big Surprise
There is nothing worse than starting a job with a vibrant spirit only to learn later that everyone is making $10,000 to $15,000 more than you are. What happened? Assuming education and professional experience are equal, then we have to backup to the interview. During the interview, did you adequately convey your value in the interview? Did you show the hiring team how you were going to contribute to the team? Did your answers signify how you were going to make a sign… Continue

Workforce Readiness: Houston, we have problem
The recent Workplace Visions publication discusses the mismatch of business needs and lack of available skills of young people currently entering the workforce. The Society of Human Resource Management publication highlights and how this mismatch will impact the challenges on managing the emerging workforce. Their research indicates “a staggering 94% of human resource professionals do not feel that their workf… Continue

Send Both
In a recent job interview seminar, a participant asked the following question: “Should I send an email or a thank you note?” My response was, “Send both.”

The reason for sending both correspondences is based on the Law of Six, an effective sales conversion model. The goal of the Law of Six is to convert an influential buyer into a client. In the job interview process, you can personalize the Law of Six to convert your influential buyer (the hiring manager) into a client (your b… Continue

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, was the first speaker at the May 2008 New Yorker Conference. “Stories from the near future” was the theme of the two-day conference. Albeit condensed, here are his words and my comments from his talk regarding the “challenge of hiring in the modern world.”

Malcolm’s Comments

All aspects of our society are undergoing a kind of collective crisis when it comes to hiring. That relates to something I call the “mismatch probl

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