Bad LinkedIn Responses

I've written before on what make an effective LinkedIn Invitation:
what-makes-good-linkedin-invitation

Lately I've been swamped by LinkedIn invitations by people I do not know and have no connection with.The conversations usually start like this:

From unknown LI Member to me:
"Everet I want to add you to my LinkedIn network."

Since someone took the time to actually put my name in the invite I will look to see their profile and who they are.
If I can't make a logical connection as to why they are contacting me I will send out the following:

"Hi ________________,
I've been racking my brain trying to remember how we know each other. I don't want to sound rude or dumb, however can you please remind me how we know each other or tell me how I can help you?
Thank you,
Everet"

Here are some of the recent responses:

Everet,
Great memory, we've never met (that I know). As a job seeker, I am reaching out to recruiters as part of my job search.
As someone who had a brother who raced slot cars (many years ago), I thought it especially cool to connect with you.
Thanks,
D---- K----

Points for honesty. You're expanding your job search. You think I might be able to help. Problem for you is; I'm not a recruiter. If you read my profile you would know that. That immediately dismissed you.
You did pick up on my interest in slotcars and that is good and got my attention, however you told me it was your brother that raced them. No details on the kind of cars or tracks. Since it isn't you that share my hobby why would I connect with you? Your brother and I have have more in common it would seem.

I believe we are connected thru others on LinkedIn either thru different occupations or different levels of frfiends.
J-----

I looked. We have no common connections. I also don't have any "frfiends" in common with you. I forgive most spelling errors if you are someone I know, however if you are trying to establish a professional connection double check these short messages. Create a positive impression of yourself.

Everet,
We actually have never met, I am looking to expand my network in order to hopefully get my face and qualifications out into the market in order to hopefully find that stable position that I have been searching for the last couple of years. I am tired of taking jobs in order to be laid-off when there is a production shift or an ownership change.
Thank you and I hope you understand my desire to add you to the network,
W------ A----

Someone who is bitter and tired. Why would I want to add someone to my network that says those things when i haven't met them? I don't like being around negative people. Most people don't so why lead with your troubles.

LinkedIn is based on people being and acting in a professional manner. Just because you are not standing next to a person doesn't mean you can let your professional etiquette lapse.

For the follow up articles to this:
ask-questions
meet-them


Thanks!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Please PROOF your emails!

What does it say about you as a salesperson, recruiter, or job seeker when you make errors like these examples that were sent to me? My comments are in italics.
We're all human. I've done dumb things like this too.
This is a good reminder for all of us to double check our work.
Thanks!
Everet
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Hey Everet,
I just got your Massage (I never give men massages). I looked over the jobs you sent on Friday but I would like to try and find something closer to the WI & IL boarder.  I went and talk to  ______ the HR Director form my work about the AV job that will be opening up here soon. I will be having a interview as soon as it opens up. But I don't know when that will be. Last I have heard is they are fine tuning the job discrimination (Oh good. I hate it when companies have discrimination polices that are not fine tuned and discriminate in a general way). I am still looking for any jobs that would be out there.

Thanks,

Al D-------

(414) ---------

a-------@hotmail.com

Everete, (you've received hundreds of emails from me. How is my name spelled?)
Here is the job description. Please pass it along to anyone that is interested.
J_____

(Company Name) Help Desk Job Description:

A well recognized company is looking for a Help Desk resource to support the corporate environment from there (their!) local location (good I can't fill jobs that are not local). This individual will be responsible for providing primarily remote support to executives, field support, and other internal end users. The will be doing helpdesk (why is helpdesk one word here but two words above?) support, assets management, PC and printer support. This is Monday through Friday 8 to 5 opportunity. This is a long term opportunity with a possibility of going on permanent.

Required Skills for Help Desk Job:

• OTHER (Other? I qualify then!)
• HELPDESK
• ASSET MANAGEMENT
• PRINTER (I need a printer for this job?)
• IT SUPPORT

I Practice What I Preach: Creative Out of Office Message

Recently I went away on a weeks vacation for the first time in a long time.
I took advice from my own column:
have-great-out-of-office-email-message
I left this out-of-office message and a lot of people really liked it and appreciated the personality of it.
Ev

Hi!
You have almost reached Everet.
Thanks for your email.
While I know it is inconvenient – I do need to let you know I am not available to answer your emails until July 22nd.

Why?
I've heard tales of places with five foot high mice, giant dogs, and ducks that speak.
After years of hearing these tales I'm off to see if they are true.

I'm a client and I need to talk to you!
As you know my clients are my priority and I appreciate you to the ends of the world!
If you are one of my clients and need immediate help, please contact ____________,
at 414-2##-9### or #####@#####.edu

I'm a student and I need help!
Please see above or wait until I get back.
Remember ##### will be busier than normal without me, so don't run into the office screaming and yelling for her because she may be talking to someone else at the same time.
Bringing cookies would be a nice touch and a good way to start your conversation.

What is the realistic expectation for a response while you are gone?
None. I understand these giant mice, ducks, and dogs are shy. I don't want to spook them with beeps and dings from my phone going off while searching for them.

Isn't it going to be weird being unplugged in this digital world?
Yes. Good thing I have several years of practice.

I really do appreciate the time you took to email me. I will respond as quickly as possible.
Remember that Outlook only sends an out of office response once – so if you will need this contact information please save it to a document.
Thank you!
Everet

August 2013 Jokes

Jokes:
Sorry they are not better than previous years!

• Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.
• A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry we don't serve food in here."
• A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."
• A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One
says, "I've lost my electron."
The other says, "Are you sure?"
The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive..."


Quite possibly the worst joke ever!!!A frog goes into a bank ... 'Ms. Whack,' he says, 'I'd like to obtain a loan to buy a boat.' 
Patti furrows her brow and asks, 'Well, how much do you want to borrow?' 
'$25,000,' the frog says. 
The teller writes this down, then asks his name. 
'My name is Kermit Jagger. I'm the son of Mick Jagger.' 
'Really?' she asks, eyebrow raised. 
'Yes,' he says. Then he digs into his pants pocket and produces a tiny pink porcelain elephant. 'And I want to use this as collateral.' 
'Ummm, okay,' Patti says, accepting the elephant. 'I'll have to ask the loan manager about this.' 'That's fine,' he says. 'He'll vouch for me.' 
Patti walks into the loan manager's office and explains the situation. 
'There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $25,000 to buy a boat. He wants to use this' - she holds up the tiny pink elephant - 'as collateral. I mean, what the heck is this thing?' 
The loan manager says: 'It's a knick knack, Patti Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone.'

Ev's August 2013 Newsletter

Greetings!

It is the last days of summer.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve loved the mild summer weather this year! Not too hot or wet, 70’s and sunshine.
Perfect!
Thank you again for the opportunity to work with you!
I’ll send the next newsletter when the Packers begin playing games that count.
Too bad the Brewers aren’t doing that now, but bad baseball is still baseball and that is a good thing.

What Makes a Good LinkedIn Invitation?
http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-makes-good-linkedin-invitation.html

“Clinical” Job Ads Work Too:
http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/clinical-job-ads-can-work-too.html

Proofreading is a Dying Art
http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/proofreading-is-dying-art.html

Jokes:
http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/july-2013-jokes.html


Thank you for everything! Have a great rest of the summer!

Everet
Ev's Recruitment Answers blog

July 2013 Jokes

Jokes (Always clean enough to tell your mother):Q: What do you call a cow with no legs?
A: Ground Beef

What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic?
Halfway!
(thanks to Fozzy Bear for that joke)


A man's dog is hit by a car, so he takes it to the vet.
The vet says,
"Sorry sir, but your dog is dead."
The owner, upset, says "I want a second opinion."
The vet opens the door and a labrador comes walking in.
The dog walks around the dead dog, then barks, then leaves the room.
The vet looks at the owner, of the dead dog, "Sorry sir, your dog is dead."
Still unsatisfied, the owner says I want a third opinion.
The vet walks to the door again and opens it, a cat comes in to the room and walks around the dead dog, then meows, and then leaves the room.
The vet again, turns to the owner, "Sorry sir, your dog is dead."
The owner turns and walks out of the room and up to the front desk, and gets the bill.
He became horrified at the price.
He turns to the vet, "$600 dollars? For what?"
The vet looks at the owner and says, "It would have been only 50 dollars for me, but you wanted the LAB test and CAT scan."

Dax Obituary

We said goodbye to Dax today. The cat no one ever sees was 17 and raised from a little blind fur ball that didn't even know how to meow.
He somehow found his way up three stories of stairs to find Julie and her cat Kafka who took him in one hot Arizona night.
He loved running and sleeping.
He could go from a dead sleep to 100 mph with one startling noise.
Often times it was funny how he would be running so fast he couldn't stop on the hardwood floor and crash into something as his back end swung around while the front went straight (much like a loose race car). Many a time I witnessed him bounding up the staircase and maybe hitting one stair from top to bottom with his long leaping strides.
He also slept with Julie every night purring her to sleep.
When all was safe in the house, leave it to him to cater-wall till all hours of the morning. He could track down bugs with the best.
I'll miss seeing him drink out of the bathtub.
I'll miss hearing the sound of his bounding strides up the stairs.
The crash of him hitting something while running.
His weird purr, and most of all his singing at night.
Now he can go play with Kafka, Tiger, his arch enemy Cosmo, and Snowball, the other half of "the brothers orange."
Have fun. Thanks Dax.
Love, 
your family

5 Signs You’re Interviewing a Committed Career Changer

I'm still on vacation, but I thought this was a good article and one that I have found true in my professional experience. Thanks Kazim Ladimeji!

Ev

We are now entering the age of the “career changer.” With high levels of redundancies and certain sectors being in terminal decline—at a time when other sectors struggle to find talent—there represents a massive opportunity for job seekers to retrain and realign their skills to a new career in a high-demand industry.
Increasingly, employers will find career changer resumes landing on their desks. But, career changers do come with risks, the main one’s being will they adapt and are they in it for the long term? It’s important that employers are able to distinguish genuine career changers from the more superficial ones who may crash out of the new career at the first or second hurdle.
Below, I have set out five signs you are hiring a committed career changer as opposed to the less desirable alternative.

1. They are forthcoming and can justify why this career or industry is right for them. This means that they are able to clearly explain what skills, qualities and experiences that they have, which make them suited to this specific industry or job. They should be able to provide examples of where they have used these skills; how long they have used them for; how successful they were using these skills; and how satisfied they were doing this. Their cover letter, resume and interview should be squarely focused on knowing and exhibiting their transferable skills and linking them to specific relevant areas of your job and industry. A failure to do this shows an absence of forethought and planning and could indicate a lack of genuine interest, which may ultimately translate into a lack of commitment.

2. They can explain how they reached their decision to follow this career path. The most committed career changers will usually have made a calculated and informed reason to choose this career path and they should be able to explain their decision making process. Indicators of a good decision making process might be that they: conducted a Career Interest Test to check suitability, consulted a Career Coach, talked it through with a mentor, or consulted professionals within your business or industry etc…If applicants can’t explain their decision making process clearly, there is a good chance this is a whimsical, under informed decision and they are not a committed career changer.

3. They can explain why they abandoned their current career. You want to understand their level of resolution and how much they stick at things when they get tough. Did they just abandon their current career at the first sign of trouble or did they try to make it work? Was it a knee jerk response? You don’t want someone who lacks resolve as changing career requires resolve and adaptability, which means they could fail to show the necessary resolution in their new career. The most committed career changers will have balanced, considered reasoning for their decision to change career.

4. They have ambition, medium/long-term goals and vision. If they are truly committed to their new career path they are likely to have some clearly defined, realistic and informed medium/long-term career goals in terms of position, grade and salary. They should already have started on self-directed learning and cross training to supplement their new career and will have identified future training needs and when they should occur. The most genuine career changer will be going into it with open eyes and have a very detailed and informed visualization of the future. It’s very hard to fake this. Passion is also a good indicator but only if you are sure that it is informed and not based on ignorance.

5. They have done the financial planning. Career changes more often than not lead to a reduction in salary in the early days as the career changer finds their feet. Over the longer term, their earnings may be higher, lower or the same. Either way, the most genuine career changers will have checked that their new career path is economically viable and sustainable. They will have realistic earnings projections and will be able to explain how they’ll handle any shortfall from their earnings they might have received if continuing on their current career trajectory.
Genuine career changers have a lot to offer your business in these times of talent shortages. And by watching for these signs you have the best chance of distinguishing authentic career changers from the more whimsical, knee jerk, less informed and ultimately less employable alternative.

Amazing Pictures

I'm on vacation today. Since I'm a pro photographer I thought you might enjoy these great shots from other photographers.

Amazing Pictures...enjoy viewing...

 Thanks!

Ev

Impressive Highways system above the Rainforest in Sao Paolo, Brazil

Dinner in the sky in Brussels, Belgium

Beijing International Airport, China

Super Moon rising above Sierra Nevada Sequoia National Park California, USA

The Amazing Stone Mirror in Istanbul , Turkey

Amazing view of Schwerin Castle, Germany

The water is so clear it looks like the boat is hovering! - Bora Bora Pearl Beach

Heart Island in mangrove delta of the Vaza-Barris River, Brazil

Escalator of the New World Trade Center

Airplanes rolling over highway at Leipzig-Halle Airport in Germany

Amazing walk at West Side of Taihang Mountain in Shanxi Province, China

Impressive Swim Pool Balconies at Bandra Ohm Residential Tower in Mumbai , India

Mesmerising American Falls, Bridle Veil Falls, people on Luna Island at Niagara Falls, NY & Rainbow Bridge, USA

Ferrari World Theme Park In Abu Dhabi , UAE

Amazing Corinthos Channel in Greece

Awesome Newly Opened Singapore Casino, Hotel & Theme Park - Dance of Laser Lights

World's Largest Ice Cave in Austria

The Streets of Monaco Yacht

World's first billion dollar house in Mumbai, India - 27 Floors Ambani Palace

Amazing Landwasser Viaduct Switzerland

Proofreading is a Dying Art!!

I'm on vacation this week.
This is true for proposals, resumes, and sometimes even this blog.
Thanks to Aleks for sending this in!
Ev

Proofreading is a Dying Art!!

 

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter  I called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!!  They put in a correction the next day.     I just couldn't help but send this along. Too funny.    Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says        Really? Ya think? Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers  Now that's taking things a bit far!  Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over          What a guy!    ------------------------------------------------ Miners Refuse to Work after Death  No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's! Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant   See if that works any better than a fair trial! War Dims Hope for Peace   I can see where it might have that effect!  ----------------------------------------------------------------   If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile     Ya think?! Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures         Who would have thought! Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide    They may be on to something! Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges         You mean there's something stronger than duct tape? Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge        He probably IS the battery charge!  ----------------------------------------------   Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft   That's what he gets for eating those beans! Kids Make Nutritious Snacks          Do they taste like chicken? **************************************** Local  High School Dropouts Cut in Half          Chainsaw Massacre all over again! Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors          Boy, are they tall!   *******************************************   And the winner is....   Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead          Did I read that right?  ***************************************************