2013 New Year's Career Search Resolutions

Take some quiet time this month to consider where you are in your career and promise yourself to take specific action steps to re-confirm your current direction or begin to move into a totally new field of endeavor.

Consider these resolutions:

1)Most importantly, I will do some self-assessment work on my own or with a career coach to clearly define and understand who I am, why I am that way, and what I truly need in a job and a career.  I will re-create “my story” so that I can confidently answer that famous question, “tell me about yourself” with focus and energy. This step will help me clarify my search objectives and create an effective and vital search action plan that will result in the right new position or new career for me (I will "look for work, not just a job").

2) I will ensure that my resume is current, two pages in length, proof-read, with a two-three line powerful summary statement at the top of the first page. I will ensure that my bio is current, interesting to read and will cause someone to want to meet me.

3) I will ensure my 60-second "elevator speech" is brief and as interesting as my bio. I will practice delivering it until it is second-nature.

4) I will re-contact my references (three supervisors, three peers, three subordinates) to update them on my search status, remind them of my key strengths and thank them for being willing to act as a reference. I will avoid over-using my references and thank them when I “land” in my next chapter.

5) I will create or re-energize my support network and meet them and new contacts on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

6) I will create a CRM program (www.freecrm.com) and keep a careful record of all contacts that I have ever met that are pertinent to my search. I will follow-up on all opportunities with alacrity and energy.

7) I will draw a 40-mile circle around my home and identify all the companies in that circle where I “deserve to work” based a match between my profile and the company’s profile. I will learn all that I can via the internet and contacts about how their business could benefit from my expertise, skills and interests. I will contact the most likely executives, including board members, to establish relationships that might lead to consulting or employment.

9) I will consider obtaining presentation skills and interviewing training to sharpen my presence and confidence in interviews. I will prepare for the wide range of questions that I will be asked. I will be expert in how to interview effectively by phone and in person.

10) I will dedicate a specific amount of time each week, ideally the same days and times, to my search. I will treat my search as seriously as I do (did) my job.

11) If I am not working, I will find a part-time job that keeps me feeling active, pays something and is consistent in some way with my career objectives if possible.

12) I will keep my family, friends and support group current regarding my search and I will enlist their support and love to keep me energized and focused.

13) Once I land that next consulting or full-time employment, I will thank those who helped and I will keep doing all of the above to be well-prepared for the next “work interruption” or career shift.

Remember, jobs are fleeting; work is eternal.

How to Expand Your Job Search Network Now.

As you have learned in your job search, contacts and networking are perhaps the most effective tools to employ in finding and landing your next job.

Prior to 2001, jobs seemed to materialize in front of our eyes.  Recruiters called frequently with enticing opportunities.  Friends alerted you to openings at their companies.  Even your local grocery checkout clerk seemed to have great job leads.

Of course, that is now history.  Jobs, importantly, the job you “deserve” (as opposed to the job you “want’, but that is another blog subject), are elusive.  Your job search now has to become totally proactive.  You have to go after it.  And to do so, you have to turn to your existing contacts for leads as well as expanding your list of helpful contacts.

So, here are several ways to quickly expand your network of potential job leads and how to reach out to them:

1.   Create your “hit list” of companies within thirty miles (45 minute commute) of your home that you believe you can help based upon your interests, experience, talents, and the nature of the company’s business, the “match” between you and them. You should have about 15-20 of these companies about which you have learned everything including reading their website  “press” section to learn what they are currently doing (this section provides hints as to how you can insert yourself into current business initiatives), and reading the bios of senior executives (to get a sense of the culture and any “connections” you may have with them). 

2.  Dive deeply into LinkedIn.  Go online and read tutorials regarding how to use LinkedIn to identify and reach out to likely suspects at companies on your “hit list” who could hook you into an opportunity at their company.  Enter these names and contact info into an online database (freecrm.com is basic but useful) and begin to track all of your activities with each person. 

3.  For more potential contacts, look back in your career for people who “sold to you” in your prior positions.  These people tried to do business (and many probably did) with you and will remember you, and will very likely be willing to help you in your search.  Add them to your database.

4.  Reflect on all of your previous jobs and identify people via LinkedIn that you have forgotten who could help you.

5.  Check into professional group websites for the names of members who could help.  You may have to join the group to get access to this information, but joining appropriate groups is another way of staying abreast of developments in your industry.

6.   Review your local Business Times and other pertinent industry publications for the names of people with whom you should connect.  Include editors and authors of articles that may be willing to turn you on to opportunities in their universe.

7.  Go “all the way back” to your undergraduate (and graduate) schools and forage through appropriate parts of their websites.  Contact a few likely academicians who might love to connect you with their clients (as long as you do not represent a direct threat to those relationships).

8.  Contact recruiters you know.  In addition to ensuring they know you are in the market, ask them for the names of executives they know in your industry that you should contact.  This is in their self-interest as you will obviously inform the people you contacted that “Phil Smith suggested you as someone who I should know in my job search”.  Remember, these days, everyone is conscious of the job search challenge and are more than likely willing to help you if you approach them in a low-key fashion. Also, remember that you are someone of real value and expertise whom people will be pleased to meet.

9.  That “low-key fashion” is simply a three-part email (this is why I am writing, this is briefly who I am and how I am aligned with what your company is doing, and I would like to meet to learn more about how I might be able to contribute to your company’s success).   All they can do is say “no” or not respond.  If the latter, do not give up.

Do not send your resume.  Send your one-page bio with photo and contact info.  A resume says “help, I need a job”.  A bio says, “I am someone you may want to meet based on my terrific ‘story’”. If you do not have a bio, create one by referring to bios on websites you admire.  Have a few people who know you edit your bio.  Be sure it “transmits” properly to various windows and Mac computers.

10.  Call these folks one week later to follow-up.  Refer to your email (date and time) should you reach them live and briefly state what you wrote in the email.  Do not oversell yourself; keep it brief.  Endeavor to engage them to the point that you both agree to meet or speak at more length right then. 

If you do not reach them, leave a brief voicemail referring to your email, re-state its contents and say you would love to hear from them.  Also, state that you will call again (provide a specific day and time- before 9AM) and call them at that time.

11. Using your database tracking, call each person about every ten days and consider re-sending your email after about a month. Keep your outreach easy-going and focused.  Remember, you are an expert in your field and it is to their benefit to meet you.  They may be smart enough to also be building their network!

12.  Continue to add prospective resources to your database and have confidence that you will make several very useful contacts in this fashion that will lead to getting the “job you deserve for career happiness and success.”

13.  Once you land that new job, take an hour or two every month to communicate with key members of our new network.  Keep them abreast of your activities and offer your help should they require it at some point.

Also, be sure to thank people who played an active role in your search. 

Good luck!

To Get a Job, Get in Shape!

In my career coaching practice working with executives at all levels across the country, I address the entire person, not just their career or job objectives and concerns.

This includes getting lots of information and insights regarding their financial, spiritual, interpersonal relationships, family, education, hobbies and other important life issues.

Regarding a successful job search or career redirection, I think that the most important life issue to immediately address and solve is your health.  Most of my clients are forty-five plus.  It is quite surprising to learn how many of them have not taken good care of themselves.  They have tried to address all of the life issues above with varying degrees of success, but have neglected to have regular physicals and most importantly, get in shape.

Getting in great physical shape is critical to a successful job search or career re-direction.  Many people say to me that they are “too old” to get a new job or change their stripes.  My response is that your age equals sagacity.  You are now an expert, and should promote yourself on that basis.

What people really mean when they make the age comment, is that they LOOK too old; they are overweight and out of shape.  Hiring executives are not going to be keen on hiring someone who does not appear to value their health and appearance.  If you cannot take care of yourself, how will you be expected to take care of your business.

One of my clients took the mission of improving his health to heart.  In a matter of months, he lost forty pounds.  More importantly, he kept his weight at the new level through a committed program of regular exercise and healthy dieting.

He looks ten years younger than his fifty-four years and is happier with himself than he has been in years.  His wife is thrilled.  He is also a candidate for several excellent senior executive positions that fit his career planning goals.

Look in the mirror.  Do you look youthful, vigorous and healthy?  If not, make a decision to lose weight and improve your overall health.  Today.

Seek the Job You Deserve, Not the One You Want

Speaking with a forty year-old job-seeker recently, he said in frustration, “I just cannot find the job I want”.

Sound familiar?

We are often envious of certain jobs and professions that are much more appealing, lucrative, or exciting than the one we have or had.  The job we “want” is very often elusive and, frankly, impossible to land.

I suspect a key reason this is true is that “getting the job you want” is not the correct objective.  Identifying and successfully pursuing the “job you deserve” is the more appropriate, and in the end, the more successful approach.

Adopting the latter objective, getting the job you deserve, involves ignoring job boards, head-hunter calls (however rare they may be), friends’ suggestions and endless networking groupings.  These and other sources will confuse and complicate your job search because most provide opportunities that do not represent jobs that you deserve. They are simply not right for you.

Instead, getting that “right job” involves your decision to adopt a proactive job/career search based on a fundamental belief that there are great jobs within thirty or forty miles of your home that you deserve, not just want.  Jobs that are totally congruent with you and your goals and those of the prospective company.

A job you deserve is a job that is responsive not only to your title, salary, location and other traditional job interests, but leverages and focuses on your personal needs, talents, and yes, your idiosyncrasies.  You gain, they gain.  This requires that you really know yourself.  It requires that you understand your true interests (sales, creative, R&D, operations, etc) thoroughly and your needs (team or solo work, close or remote supervision, general or personalized incentives, fast or deliberate decision-making environments, a traditional or non-traditional work environment, etc) in depth.

This additional critical information provides you with insights into what jobs you deserve at companies where, for a range of solid reasons, you deserve to work.  These are the jobs and companies in which you are likely to succeed, rather than just jobs you want or seem cool.

There are many professional assessment and career action plans available through experienced career coaches.  To find the right one, interview local career coaches.  The right career coach will ensure he/she has conducted the right individual and professional assessments that tightly define the characteristics of the right job for you.  Use this checklist to evaluate positions and companies that appear right for you, ones that you deserve.  Then, contact them and link your needs to their needs.  That’s how business works and that is how your job/career search should work.

Seek the Job You Deserve, Not the One You Want

Speaking with a forty year-old job-seeker recently, he said in frustration, “I just cannot find the job I want”.

Sound familiar?

We are often envious of certain jobs and professions that are much more appealing, lucrative, or exciting than the one we have or had.  The job we “want” is very often elusive and, frankly, impossible to land.

I suspect a key reason this is true is that “getting the job you want” is not the correct objective.  Identifying and successfully pursuing the “job you deserve” is the more appropriate, and in the end, the more successful approach.

Adopting the latter objective, getting the job you deserve, involves ignoring job boards, head-hunter calls (however rare they may be), friends’ suggestions and endless networking groupings.  These and other sources will confuse and complicate your job search because most provide opportunities that do not represent jobs that you deserve. They are simply not right for you.

Instead, getting that “right job” involves your decision to adopt a proactive job/career search based on a fundamental belief that there are great jobs within thirty or forty miles of your home that you deserve, not just want.  Jobs that are totally congruent with you and your goals and those of the prospective company.

A job you deserve is a job that is responsive not only to your title, salary, location and other traditional job interests, but leverages and focuses on your personal needs, talents, and yes, your idiosyncrasies.  You gain, they gain.  This requires that you really know yourself.  It requires that you understand your true interests (sales, creative, R&D, operations, etc) thoroughly and your needs (team or solo work, close or remote supervision, general or personalized incentives, fast or deliberate decision-making environments, a traditional or non-traditional work environment, etc) in depth.

This additional critical information provides you with insights into what jobs you deserve at companies where, for a range of solid reasons, you deserve to work.  These are the jobs and companies in which you are likely to succeed, rather than just jobs you want or seem cool.

There are many professional assessment and career action plans available through experienced career coaches.  To find the right one, interview local career coaches.  The right career coach will ensure he/she has conducted the right individual and professional assessments that tightly define the characteristics of the right job for you.  Use this checklist to evaluate positions and companies that appear right for you, ones that you deserve.  Then, contact them and link your needs to their needs.  That’s how business works and that is how your job/career search should work.

Your Age and Risk and Reward in a Job Search.

As an experienced advertising executive turned headhunter turned career strategist for the last ten years, I have been interested in the role of “risk and reward” in a job and career search process and how age affects these factors.

Numerous articles in recent years extol the value of learning to fail as part of becoming a strong executive and member of a company or consulting team.  In past years, failure was avoided at all costs, but with the advent of more youthful executives succeeding more quickly in the worlds of finance, technology and other industries, companies have sought out job candidates who have failed as well as succeeded in their careers.

This suggests to me that younger executives should be able to explain their mistakes and what they learned from them, so as to demonstrate learning and maturation along the way.

So in the first ten or fifteen years of your career, you should present yourself as a high-risk, high-reward candidate.  “Hire me and I will apply my “wins and losses” to building your business and helping your company succeed.  We may hit some rough spots, but we will prosper from understanding and solving them”.

The reverse is applicable, I believe, to executives 45 and older.  In this case, you should reduce the perceived risk of hiring you.  “Hire me and I won’t disappoint you or upset the applecart.”

Think about it.  The company is considering you for a position in middle or upper management.  They know you can do the job by reviewing your resume.   What they really want to know in the interview is, what will you be like to work with?   Will you work well with younger supervisors?  Will you ascribe to the way the company does business or will you insist on bringing old ways to the new company?  Will you be open to being one of the team as opposed to leading the charge when there are others in the lead position?  In short, will you work out here?

So what should you do?  Cool your jets!  Listen to the questions in the interview with a third ear…what are they really asking of you?  Respond with an attitude of “helping” rather than the attitude of the ambitious twenty-seven year old you used to be.  Cast your answers in supportive as well as creative terms.  They know you can DO the job; they really need to know HOW you will do the job. 

So, REDUCE THE RISK of hiring you if you are 45-Plus.  Make it easy for them to take you on.  Be part of the solution rather than the problem “can we manage him/her?”   Be open to an initial consulting relationship which gives you and the company a trial period of time, usually six months, to fall in love with each other (if it does not work out, as a consultant, they are a “client” on your resume instead of a formal job).  Make no demands beyond fair compensation and meaningful benefits.  Stay on the subject of the job rather than bring up distractions that can negate your candidacy.  Be your most likeable and supportive self.  Get the offer!  Then do your due diligence (which is another Blog subject).

Make it easy to hire you if you are over 45.  Reduce the risk.

Make it a bit of a risk to hire you if you are under 45.  Increase the promise of a big reward for hiring you.

Never Lead with a Resume!

Most of us send a resume with an inquiry about a job, or a request to meet for an informational interview, or for other job-seeking and career-building purposes.

This is fine if you are under thirty as you are in the early career-building process, and people expect a resume because they know you are seeking a new job to enhance your professional profile, improve your income or expand your horizons.

If you are thirty-plus, however, you should lead with a bio.  Your bio is a one-page “story” of your career, written in a relaxed style in chronological order.  It includes some personal insights that should be memorable and unique (“I am a bee-keeper”). You also should include an informal or semi-formal black and white photo and your contact information..

Why send a bio instead of a resume?

Simple.  A resume communicates that “you need a job”.  If the recipient does not have or know of a job for you, they are not likely to be helpful or respond.  On the other hand, a bio communicates a very interesting and attractive story describing accomplishments and a pattern of growth.  The recipient should want to meet you on the basis of your bio, your story.  It also represents a more mature and thoughtful approach.

Work on your bio just as hard as you have worked on your resume.  Style it to suit the people you are contacting.  Copy ones you like on company websites.  Check it for typos and attach it to emails you send out in your job and career search.  Put it on LinkedIn and other appropriate sites. Remember, it is your story which I am sure is a good one.

Good luck!

Tips on a Successful Job Search!

Great Tips for a Successful Job Search.  As an experienced Career Strategist, I have noted a number of things that can make a real difference in your job and career search.  In no particular order, they are:

Contact People Who Sold to You in the past. 

Many of my clients have difficulty re-establishing a network of people who can help their search.  One suggestion regarding expanding your network is to think back to people “who sold to you” in your previous jobs, and who could very likely be interested in having you sell for them now.  You are an experienced expert and therefore, a very credible representative of various products and services targeted to people holding jobs you have held in the past.  These would include advertising and PR agencies, office products companies, financial institutions, law firms, and any other companies who used to want your business or your firm’s business.

Offer to help consolidate, not just grow a business.  

Every resume and bio I see speaks about “growing” or “expanding” businesses.  Sure, that is what we think companies want.  But, think about it.  In today’s business world, companies are more likely to be trying to consolidate and stabilize their business and make it more profitable.  Consider focusing on how you are able to help a company strengthen what they already have vs. focusing on ways to add products and services or enter new markets.  Those things cost money and take time and resources.  Instead, help companies save money and improve profits.

Acknowledgement-  The Secret to Success.  It’s about them, not you. 

In my Career Strategy Coaching practice, I have learned that most of my clients are quite consumed with their job or career search, almost to the exclusion of thinking of others.  This is intriguing as “others” and their regard and support for you, are key to success in your life and career.

I read a posting by another career coach recently which I liked.  He suggested that instead of saying your name first when meeting someone, ask for their name first.  “Hi, what’s your name?” or, “Hi, what brings you to this event?” is about them, not you.  Acknowledging others first and foremost, rather than being self-focused, will be more effective, productive and memorable.  Acknowledging others by thanking them for an idea or help via email or a note, being sure to say a sincere hello to a receptionist or a store clerk, and smiling with your mouth and your eyes upon meeting a new acquaintance establishes that you are about them, not just about yourself.

Reduce the Risk of Hiring You. 

This observation is similar to the “consolidation” comment above.  The point is that when you are 45-plus, hiring you represents a risk for the company interviewing you.  They can see by your resume that you can probably fulfill the job requirements.  What they are wondering is, how will you integrate into the company at this mature point in your life.  Can they manage you to do things the way they do them, will  you work well with younger managers and employees, will you be motivated to dig in and really contribute, etc.  In response to this, maintain a “helpful attitude” rather than a “take charge attitude” in interviews and meetings and be open and appreciative of other people and their ideas and programs. 

Also, when interviewing for a position, find a way to suggest that you and the company agree on a six-month trial period to ensure that both parties are happy.  This reduces the perceived risk of hiring you and relaxes the relationship at the outset, thus improving the chances for a successful hiring and long-term employment at the company for you.

Never lead with a resume; offer a bio instead.

A resume communicates one thing, “I need a job”.  The recipient may not have or know of a job, so, end of conversation.  A bio, on the other hand, communicates “I am an interesting and effective executive; let’s have coffee”.  The more senior you are, the more important it is to lead with a bio rather than a resume.  The bio is “your story” and should be interesting and memorable.  It is the “human expression” of your career.  Attach it to emails sent to your network, new contacts, prospective employers, board members at companies of interest to you (your Target Companies), and other communications.  Hold your resume back until someone asks for it.

The Care and feeding of your references- your “gold”

Many people do not fully value the importance of their references.  When I was a retained executive recruiter, I would be given a list of references by a candidate only to learn that many of the references had lost touch with the candidate and were not very strong advocates as a result.

You should have a current list of references that are aware and supportive of your search, up-to-date regarding what you are seeking, and able to comment on key aspects of your expertise and credentials. 

You should have three supervisors, three peers, and three subordinates “on deck” who with whom you have worked in the last ten years. Importantly, do not offer up your references too early in the interviewing process.  Hold them back until things look serious.  The company will respect you for your professional approach to your references (“They are busy people and I do not want to involve them until we are closer to an offer”). 

Remember to ask your references to call you after they have been contacted.  You will want to learn what questions were asked by the subject company as this will give you insights into what issues they are concerned about relative to your candidacy.  You can then be prepared to respond to those potential concerns in follow-up conversations with the employer

What Others Think About You Is None Of Your Business

Sounds crazy, right?  Well, like my coaching advice to “Interview for the Company, Not the Job” and “Why Not Contact Board Members in Your Search?”, this non-traditional career search idea makes sense.

As MENG members, we are all trained marketers.  Just as we have learned how to sell products and services for our employers or consulting clients, we have also learned that we have to effectively market ourselves.  So, we have done all the right things.  We have written our own Creative Platforms (key message, target audience, support points and 4-5 stories that support our candidacy) and then revised our resumes and written interesting bios and 60 elevator speeches.  We have created catchy selling lines for our websites and our business cards and in some cases, handed out coffee cups to Brand ourselves.  We have done everything possible to shape others’ opinions of ourselves.

And then we find that people forget what we do for a living, fail to contact us when they have a problem to solve that we would handle in a minute, draw a blank when they are called as a reference for us and simply, don’t seem to know us after all that work.  Even our own mothers ask “What is it that you do?”

So we wonder and agonize over why this is often the case.  Why don’t people call?  Why doesn’t the HR person call me back for another interview?   Why didn’t a board member at XYZ Company (where I really deserve to work!) respond to my very clever email?  Why didn’t my friendly headhunter (who I have helped numerous times!) call me regarding a search that I know she has which is so perfect for me?

Wonder, wonder, wonder.  Worry, worry, worry.  All it does is cause you to lose sleep and irritate your loved ones.

Realize, please, that you can only do so much about marketing yourself and impressing your profile and goals on others.  Do your best and then leave it to the gods and move on to another opportunity or activity that offers promise.

Frankly, others probably think you’re terrific.  They are just spending most of their time on their own careers and jobs, and all the work it takes to keep them alive and growing