Accelerate Your Search™ Now

Are you asking yourself ‘What do I want to be when I grow up?’ or ‘What do I want to do next?’ or ‘What do I want to be or do when I retire?’   If you are in a job search the odds are that you are asking these or similar questions.   All are great questions.

Recently, a former client contacted me to say “I plan to retire in the next 3 years, and I am as stuck as to how to make the shift as I was several years ago with my job search, will you help?”  My reply after understanding where he was stuck was yes. 

Why,  he was stuck with what managing his retirement career, not all the other retirement stuff like 401 Ks, health insurance, etc., those things are not my forte.  

If you are searching and asking these questions, here is a quick tip to help you accelerate your search.  Write the question at the top of a blank page of paper, then over several days set aside 10 minutes to brainstorm all the possible ideas you have and write them down, add pages if you need to.  Don’t evaluate the ideas, just jot them down.  At the end of the week review all the ideas.   Move the top 3 to 5 ideas to blank pages and continue to explore your ideas.    

Ask yourself these questions for starters:

   What would it take to do this?

   What would be the impact of this?

   Why do I want to do this?

When you are ready to seriously explore your ideas discuss them with someone you trust.  Then formulate a plan, and take action to create the transition or transformation you want.

Have a comment or thought?  Post it below.

Do you have a question about your search?  Sign up for next Q & A call to the right, join the session and ask your question.

Who decides if you are overqualifed and why?  The employer does.  That’s who. 

Why is there so much focus on overqualifed?  I don’t know.  I, of course, do have an opinion on the matter, but I doubt that will help you accelerate your search.  However, maybe I can help you by looking at the issue a bit differently.

Have you ever said to a door to door salesperson, “Not today, thank you” or the Boy Scout “No thank you, I bought caramel corn from another scout before you” or “we don’t eat caramel popcorn, thank you for stopping by”?   In many cases the dreaded statement “You are overqualified for this position” is just simply a no thank you.

Yes, I know the dreaded statement stings.  It does not feel like ‘no thank you’ or does it?

What happens if you reframe “You are overqualified” to “No, thank you”?

My bet is you think the later stings less, but does it really?  Think about it.  It is still rejection.  Rejection is, in my view the underlying issue with most of the conversations around the issue and statement “You are overqualified”. 

No one (at least no one I know) likes to be rejected.  And almost no one I know likes to reject others.

Especially, if you are in business and interviewing someone or talking to someone with good skills, and loads of experience.  Most people don’t like to be mean or reject another person, even when they don’t personally connect.  Sure there are some that do, you know them, and I do too.

What would happen if you heard “No, thank you” in lieu of “You are overqualified for this position”?  Think about  it!

I once knew a hiring manager who, said “thank you” and allowed someone else to say “No, thank you”.  Here is how he did it – during the each interview he was very good at finding something good about all the candidates he rejected.  He picked out something good about the candidate and made a mental note.  At the end of the interview, he confirmed the candidate’s home phone number, and he called each one after an interview.  Usually he placed the call before the person arrived home and left a message, he would share the one good point he noted and thank them for interviewing.  He would end the message with ‘good luck, your <whatever the good point was> will be of value to your next boss.   I learned that good quality he shared with the candidate was always a quality he appreciated, but he did not value at that point in the role that he was attempting to fill.  

Why, did he do this?  Well, I never ask him, yet here is why I think he did it.

He cared about people and the feelings of people. He saw value and appreciated what each person offered.  He appreciated the time the person set aside to interview.  He did not like rejection, and he might want to hire the person for another position some day.  He was building a team and running a business.  The call was “rejection protection” – so that in the future if he had a role for the person, the person would recalled him in a positive light in lieu of the hiring manager who had once rejected them.  It helped him build relationships and create goodwill.

The end result – still the rejection, but the rejection did not address a lack.  It appeared to sting less.

In my view it can be hard to build talented teams when you focus on lack.  Yet most hiring systems and hiring situations will reject several people.  The process in most organizations is look at many, interview some, hire one.

The truth is you were not selected and someone else was for whatever the reason.  That feeling is rejection.

Yet if you reframe your feelings, and focus on your value and not  the ‘over’ or ‘under’ or what you lack, you may be surprised at what you attract.  Why continue to focus on the lack? 

My suggestion – understand you will be rejected from time to time, learn to cope with it.  You don’t need to like it, crave it, nor attract rejection with continued focus, thought and conversation. 

I would also suggest you not dwell on the rejection, or try hard to figure out why you were rejected, nor rail against the company, your experience or your age.  The rejection may be a blessing you can not yet count.  Reframe it as “No thank you”.   

One day on the radio I heard, rejection in dating referred to as protection from a bad situation.  What a point of view!

What would happen in your job search is you reframed the rejection or the statement “You are overqualified” as “No, thank you - I value you as a person and want to protect you from this situation”?

Just a different point of view on “You are overqualified”.

Feel free to share your comments below.

What will you do different in 2012?

If you have been job searching for a several months or more the question – “What will you do different in 2012?”  As well as the answer is critical to your job search and your career success.  If your results are not where you want them to be, ask yourself “What will I do different in 2012?” 

If your job search results are – interviews and no offers, coming in second time and time again, or no interviews, or no conversations with potential employers and this continues – where will you be at the end of 2012.  Well the odds are the same place you are today!

If you continue to do the same things the odds are great that you will get the same results, and be in the same place at the end of 2012 as you were at the end of 2011.  Also believe it or not, or like it or not, the longer you are not working – yes, unemployed – the higher the odds are you will impact your long term earnings potential.  Let’s face it; the odds are also higher that you are building some habits that may impact your performance for years to come. 

Over the years, I have worked with and learned from many talented coaches, mentors, bosses and colleagues.  I am not 100% sure Doug Brown was the first to ask me a couple of powerful  questions that made a huge difference in my habits, my life, my business, and my career, but I believe it was Doug – Thanks Doug!  

Here are the powerful questions:

What is important to you?

What is REALLY important to you?

If < fill in the blank with what is REALLY important to you > is that important to you, what are you willing to different today to have it or achieve it?

I hope the questions and your answers help your search and your life as much as they have helped me.  Here’s to your very successful 2012!

If you want to share what you are doing different, please do so below.  I’d love to hear about your success.  If I can help you do something different in 2012, contact me.

It is the time of year for resolutions. What are yours? 

If you have followed me, you know I speak about controlling what you can control in your job search.  As you set your resolutions don’t forget to focus on the results YOU want.

Here is a Henry Blodget’s post Mark Cuban: There’s Only One Thing in Life You Can Control Your Own Effort from Business Insider with links to excerpts from Mark Cuban’s new book.  Excerpts are interesting and I will let you know what I think of the book once I read it.

Cuban’s questions are solid.  The questions noted could help you too.  The best point is that for Cuban it “would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours …”, now dead on.  Too many engaged in a job search confuse effort with hours, time spent and not results.  Be careful that you don’t spent time without a focus on results, or pat yourself on the back at the end of a long day when you just put in time without forward movement toward your desered results.  The results you may well achieve from just putting in time may well be an extended job search!

What are the results you want?  What are the goals you have set to get the results you want?

My wish for you in 2012 is solid results in all you do.   Happy New Year!

This can be a tough time of year. It is also is one of the best times of the year to be job searching. Businesses are looking forward to the new year and planning for the year ahead.

If you do have the holiday blues because you need or want a new job, yet you are not sure what to do to chase the blues away, ask yourself a few questions:

-          What am I willing to do to get the job what I want?

-          Can I clearly describe the job I want?

-          When will I start to take action to get the job I want?

-          Am I willing to help someone else get want they want?

The answers may surprise you or seem painfully obvious … but if you want to land the job you want now, you must stop doing what others are doing, what you have been doing and take a hard look at what you want to do and what your ideal employer wants and needs.

If an employer wants or needs something you don’t want to provide, that employer is not your ideal employer.  

If you are not willing to help an employer get want they want – more revenue, reduced costs, a better product, more customers, and/or more sales, then you are not their ideal employee and why would they hire you!

What is causing your holiday job search blues?  

Could it be because you are trying to cram your wants and needs on an employer with different wants and needs?  OR are you trying to cram yourself into a job where the wants and needs are different than what you really want to do to achieve your goals?

Take a look at what you are doing.  Are you willing to change what you are doing?

Stop and focus on your ideal employer.  What do their issues tend to be and what do they need most right now – how would you change your personal marketing message and your job search so that your ideal employer would see you as the solution to their needs right now and say WOW, let’s talk - you are just the person we need to join our team and get the results we want in the coming year.

Here is your assignment to chase away the holiday blues.  Discover what your ideal employer wants and needs.  If you can meet those needs formulate a clear message to communicate to your ideal employer how you can deliver what they want and need and how you will help them achieve their goals.

One of the fastest ways to chase away your blues is to help someone else get what they want.  Helping an employer get what they want and need is one of the fastest ways to get what you want, to help you achieve your goals and to get hired.

Do you need more action assignment to do to speed up your search? 

Look to the right and request my gift to you – “162 Ways to Accelerate Your Job Search and Land the Job You Want”.

During a job search there are days when focus is hard to achieve and your search slows down or stops, we all have those days.  Those days can impact your attitude, your focus, your workflow and the pace of your search. 

You know the days I am referring to – don’t you? 

YES, those days were you wander from your email, to LinkedIn, follow a link, read an article, listen to an interesting podcast, sign up for a free webinar, talk to friends on the phone, watch TV, or YouTube and then before you know it the day is gone and it is 6:15pm.  Your family is home and there are more distractions.

Here are a couple of ways to avoid the lack of focus.  Create practical plan and time within the plan for focus and to get you on track and moving forward. 

Plan your search.  Create a plan for your day and your week.  This really helps on those days when feel lost or frustrated and you don’t know what to do or where to start. 

When those days come, you look at your plan and do the tasks on your plan.  Just get the job done; doing what is on your plan helps you focus and continue to move forward.  If you don’t do what is on your plan, you may be consumed with distractions, lack of focus, and the result is you find yourself wasting the day.

Then there are also those days that when there is consistent string of interruptions to your work flow.  For each interruption it can take you 10 to 15 minutes to return to the task at hand in a productive manner.  The time you waste due to interruptions can be massive and the impact on your focus is dreadful.   

Here is how to create space for focus and avoid this consistent time waste of those days within your plan.  Choose specific hours of your workday as your uninterrupted time.  Block the time as an appointment with yourself on your calendar.  Don’t schedule other appointments or calls during that time.  Each day during this time turn off the communication tools and all distractions, email, phones, chat, text, etc.  Educate your family and friends that you may not be interrupted during this time. 

Each day during this time work on one thing and one thing only that will accelerate your search until that one thing is complete.  My bet is you will be amazed at your productivity increase and what you can achieve in a short time.  It works for me.  Try it.  Then let me know how it goes.

Have a comment, thought or tip to share?  Post it below.

Need more ways to speed up your search?  Look to the right and request my gift to you – “162 Ways to Accelerate Your Job Search and Land the Job You Want”.

Are you struggling to clarify your message and accelerate your search? 

I often share with my clients that clarity of message rarely comes as quickly as you wish it would. Yet when it does come together, it’s like the sun breaking out at about 10am on a foggy fall morning.

 You know the mornings, those mornings that are thick, gray, the road hard to see, you feel as if you are not sure where you are going and if you are on the right road, then the sun jumps out, the color of fall is all around you.  The sky is bright; the grass green and even if the payment in front of you disappeared, you would know you are on the right road.  Trust me the message will come, if you are doing the work and the message will come.

 Many people can do this work alone without help.  They have lots of time and they enjoy solo work. 

 Others like you may not have the time nor enjoy the solo journey.  If you have discovered that having help and feedback to help you speed the process is something you are seeking, or you have a question that you want to ask to clarify your message join the next Q & A call.   I am happy to listen to your question and see if I can help you.  Have a question now?  Give me a call and let’s talk.

“Do what you love. Lead with vision and passion; use your strengths and offer unique value, the market will notice and reward you.” ~ Cindy Key

To accelerate your search you need a strategy that helps you stay focused on the “right” things to build and maintain your network.  I encourage you to balance and nurture your network online and offline.

It is so easy to spend time, energy and effort on the items that take up time yet net you little in real results from your network.  It is also easy to forget to pay attention to the little things that pay big dividends.

There are many tools to help you connect with your network – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.  Technology has made it easy and convenient to connect. 

Yet sometimes technology robs us of the opportunity to really spend quality time with friends, business associates, customers, and possible employers.  Rarely does a technology work as well as a face to face meeting.

One of the “right” things to do in marketing yourself is to meet face to face.  Face to face you have the rare chance to learn more about others and often to explain your business and what you do.

How much face to face time do you have planned for this week?

“There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; it’s what we do with them that’s important.” ~ Ruth Ross

AMBITION: The eager or strong desire to achieve something.

Does your job search reflect your ambition?

Would you be convicted by clear and compelling evidence of your ambition to land the job you want?

Or is there only the slimmest evidence available to demonstrate your intent?  Think about it!

If others were ask to share what you do, how you do it, and the job you want to land, could they share it?

Do you project the end result?  Do you clearly state your end goal or do others need to guess what you do, what value you might add, or if you really could get much of anything done?

What stories are you telling?  What evidence are you presenting?

What are you doing with 3 colors, 10 digits, or 7 notes?

What are you doing with your skills, talent, ability and experience?

Is there evidence of your ambition to land the job you want?

What is the best answer or best way to sell myself to land the job I want?

Not a week goes by that someone does not ask this question – there is not one best answer or one best way.   No two people are alike and no two candidates are alike.

The most successful approach it to focus on who you are, your strengths, what you offer and your unique talents.  That’s what sets you apart from the other candidates who will interview for the job you want. 

This approach is not hard but does require focus.  Begin with an assessment of your strengths, skills and talents.  Then plan how to communicate your value in each area.  Build your marketing message and tools showing how you can and will use your talents to provide consistent, performance to help an organization achieve its crucial business goals.  

The reason this is hard for most people to sell their talent and strengths during a job search is they get too focused on the past, or on what is missing or what’s wrong.  Focus first on you and your value. 

It is easy to get focused on what you don’t have, what you need to “fix” or what your weaknesses are, and move into comparison mode, but that is a dead end road to mediocrity.  Invest some time and focus on assessing your strengths, what you do well, your talents and how you can best apply these to the marketplace. 

When you know yourself, your value, your talents, your strengths, and how to communicate what you want, then you don’t dread an interview or talking to a potential employer.  Nor do you need to spend hours fixating on re-wording a résumé or writing a cover letter to fit a job posting, instead you can spend your time on targeted interactions within the organizations who can use and are looking for your skills and talent.

What are your natural talents? 

What pertinent knowledge and skills do you offer the marketplace? 

How can you use your talent to help the organization achieve a significant return on their investment in your salary?

Can you clearly share this information with a potential employer in a few minutes?