Accelerate Your Search™ Now

Your job, your career, and what you do to earn a living shapes your life and your well being in many ways.  Some people love the break no job allows, some learn to make being unemployed work for them, some love to work and return to work quickly, still others buckle under the stress, don’t know what to do, how to find a new job and struggle to find employment and return to work.  How are you adapting?

The stress of not having a job and looking for a job may not only have major financial and emotional impact, the impact is long lasting.  According to the research by economists Andrew Clark and Yannis Georgellis and psychologists Ed Diener and Richard Lucas that was published the June 2008 issue of The Economic Journal, of the six life-changing events studied, only unemployment has a consistent effect for the five years after the event.  Five years! A 60-month impact!  That is significant. I see that impact daily!  The research is focused on Germans, however I doubt that is would be much different if focused on Americans.

The impact is great for some and not so great for others.  The stress of a job search with little focus, a limited plan, and poor execution can throw a talented professionals into a long drawn out search.

A long search can create financial challenges, stale skills, and adaptation to circumstances that often do become a double-edge sword.  Don’t get me wrong – adaptation is not a bad thing. It is a good thing that people are adaptable and can flex to a change in schedule, changing seasons, or 30% to 40% cut in pay – that is often the difference between a paycheck and an unemployment check.

However, I see adaptation play out on the other edge of the sword too.  Such as behaviors the lead others to make value judgments or have their biases confirmed.  Have you adapted to a more casual dress or appearance, a different view of time or activities, a different sense of urgency or sense of value, or a sense of entitlement?  How you clarified your view of what is important and what type of work you want to do going forward?

In many cases our behaviors and actions are not perceived by others as we intent.  People adapt to their environment over time, some do this with purpose and for some this just occurs.  People get used to everything, a style of dress, pace, culture, weather, and income level. It does take time to adjust but everyone adjusts.

The caution I have for those in a search is that employers know people adjust too.  If your pace, dress, or attitude has adjusted, take a look to see if this adaptation is one that the employers you are targeting view in a favorable manner.  Does the adaptation align with your values and the values or the organizations you want to join?

If the adjustment is not favorable or in alignment, the change may impact how potential employers view you and your ability to get the job done and how you will fit into the culture.  The employer’s perception is their reality. 

If you don’t at least understand the perception of your target employers, it can be very hard to address the needs or concerns.  If the employer’s concern is you have adapted to a slower pace of life or business, or different manner of dressing, and the employer wonders if you can quickly adapt to a high stress, fast pace again, or a standard of business dress, it may be in your best interest to discover and address the concern.

What adaptations have you made?

How do these changes impact your goals?

What are the concerns a target employer might have about your recent adaptations?

Have you adapted too much to being unemployed?

Focus is critical for many tasks and activities.  Your job search is one of those activities where shifting your attention, zig-zagging and shifting your attention from one thing to another without full engagement not only does not net the fastest results it can be deadly to your career.

On the highway recently I was reminded just how deadly just a little shift in focus can be, when I shifted my focus to my directions, then a map and away from the traffic around me.  I did avoid a mishap, yet those seconds of lost focus cost me hours and could have been deadly.  Just as engagement is critical to driving, it is also critical to prevent the slow death of your career.

According to productivity experts it can take 4 to 15 minutes to recover and refocus depending on the complexity of the task and other variables such as your mindset, etc.  That consistent recovery and refocus in time within your job search is inefficient and ineffective.  It may also be the reason you miss or overlook the opportunity right in front of you. 

The impact of lack of focus may be frustration, feeling lost or disappointed.  Those emotions may then create other distractions.

There are three steps to providing CPR to your job search, gaining focus and avoiding the slow costly death of your career.  Those steps are: 1) assess where you are and decide where you want to be, 2) plan how to get there and 3) execute the tasks, activities needed to get where you want to be. 

Continued shifting of focus, zig-zagging, doing too much or diffusing attention during your job search may not just be costing you time, and causing stress, it could also be deadly to your career.  Stale skills are viewed as less valuable in the market; time and stress take other tolls on your mindset and your body.  Lack of focus has been the cause of death of more than one career; will it cause the death of yours?   

Where are you today?

Where do you want to be next week and next year?

What are you willing to do to be more focused in your job search?

In Katherine Bindley’s post “Should Women Wear Engagement Rings to Interviews?”  she explores an interesting question.  She addresses elements of interviews and/or negotiations that I still find many people don’t think through completely – the perception of others.  What others think is their reality and it counts!

Everyone (recruiters, career coaches, hiring managers) I know will tell you eliminate distractions and sending the wrong message during interviews and negotiations.  I agree.  One of the best ways to avoid sending the wrong message is to be very clear about your message and to be on brand.

 When you take the time to identify, clarify and communicate your brand you create solid ways to leverage what sets you apart from the crowd and your unique value.  It is one of the best ways to avoid and eliminate distractions.

You may never change the perception of others.  However, a strong personal brand will draw your brand audience and those who value your unique value to you.

Your strong personal brand will help you leverage your strengths; align your values, goals and vision.  A strong personal brand will help you dliminate distractions.

Also with a strong personal brand you will not find yourself asking the question – Should I wear ___<you fill in the blank> ___?  … before an interview, negotiation, or performance evaluation again.  Instead you will prepare with confidence and a smile knowing what you wear is on brand and helps to send your message without distraction.  You will also give the interviewer and the world what is exclusively yours to give.

Do you have questions or comments?  Post them below.

The answer is simple.  The hiring manager considered you less of a risk than the other candidates.  An interview is more than answering the questions and presenting your skills, it is about connecting and creating peace-of-mind for the hiring manager.

Having a pre-existing relationship helps to create a connection, that is why networking is one of the best ways to land an interview (and a job).  That pre-existing relationship is also why so many positions are filled internally.  After doing your homework, being well prepared, and qualified here are keys to building rapport and the foundation to move an interview to a second interview and an offer.

Be friendly.  All things being equal, people want to hire people they like, trust and believe they would like to get to know.

Look for common ground.  What “clicks” and takes the conversation to a deeper level.  Building that initial comfort creates a foundation for building trust.

Be engaging.  Ask meaningful questions, this allows you to get to the heart of the hiring manager’s important issues, problems and/or concerns.

Discover the need.  Having a dialog advanced by your questions will help you discover the real needs and wants of the hiring manager and the organization.

The answer is simple – the execution takes knowing yourself and being prepared, creating a plan and taking consistent action.

Summer is a great time of year. Summer in New England is very different than the HOT summer days of West Texas.  I love summer and the abundance of fresh vegetables, watermelon and the ease of finding good ice cream.

One of New England’s big surprises was the number of great easy to find little ice cream shops.  To find one I discovered I could just look for where people are lined up waiting to purchase ice cream on a summer evening or afternoon.  The second part of this surprise for me was that most of the ice cream shops close on or about Labor Day! 

The impact is that it feels like ice cream is in short supply in the fall and winter.  That of course is nonsense, good ice cream is not in short supply in the fall, winter or spring, it is just not as convenient to get and takes a bit of effort to find it during the other seasons of the year.  The result, if I want ice cream in the other seasons I have to make an effort to locate it.
 
Sometimes in a job search it is easy to feel ‘lack’ or think jobs are in short supply like ice cream in the off season.  That too is nonsense. 

Once you spend a little time reflecting on where you are and what you want from your career and your next position, you will also discover an abundane of opportunities.  These may not be as convenient as going around the corner and looking for the line or opening an email with a long list of your ideal positions.

Your ideal job is not in short supply, but effort is required to locate it.  You must be willing to market yourself, and you need to know what you are looking for and be willing to seek it out. 

Your talent, skills and abilities are wanted and needed, opportunities are abundant.  Are you willing to do the work for the ideal opportunity?

Most of the people lined up outside the ice cream place, knew where to go because of word of mouth marketing.  Someone told them about the great ice cream, they went and experienced it, they told others and line grew! 

This word of mouth marketing did not happen without work, a plan and day-to-day execution on the part of the ice cream shop owners.

Are you leveraging your word of mouth marketing?   Why not?

Sure there is a shop, a place for people to go to experience and learn more, (your online profile), the unique story of the ice cream shop and the ice cream it sells.  How it is made, what makes it different and the best in the area (your USP, your brand, your story).  The shop has a sign out front, (your job title, your business card), a menu board of the ice cream they offer (your résumé). 

The ice cream shop communicates their message and they help others communicate and share their message.  Maybe in print with a flyer, a storyboard, and as people gather in the line they are talking about the ice cream.  The line and those conversations are part of their social proof that the ice cream is good (your recommendations, references, your network).

All of these marketing elements are critical to drawing people to the shop to experience the ice cream.  They built the message and their reputation over time.  This did just happen. 

The shop assessed what they had to offer, worked to understand the wants and needs of their customer, and then they create and enhance a market for the ice cream as they communicatie and encourage others to share the story.  They focus on the experience and they have customers willing to stand in the long summer lines for ice cream!

The behind the scenes to creating the end result – a great reputation, long lines, perception of short supply, and high value, began with a careful assessment of the value available, how to communicate the value offered to the marketplace, followed by the creation of a plan and the daily execution and evaluation of the plan.   Time and hard work!

Have you taken the time to assess, plan and execute your personal marketing plan to land your next job? 

What is your story? 

You are unique, in short supply (there is only one of you).  You will be available for only a short time, and you have a high value in the marketplace.  What are you doing to tell your story, to pull people and interested employers toward you? 

Wouldn’t you rather have employers seeking you out? 

What would it be like to be like the ice cream shop in the summer with long lines of people waiting for you? 

How would it feel having people standing in line to interview you, experience you, to talk to you and to want to work with you? 

Would that lead to having several offers to review and then select the ideal one for you?

Have a question about creating your personal marketing plan? Sign up and join me on the next Q & A call, ask your question and get an answer.

Need specific 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”.

Have a comment or thought?  Post it below.

Professionals, new college grads, the long-term and the short-term unemployed tend to make some of the same mistakes.  In Liz Ryan’s recent article Self-Defeating Job-Search Moves to Avoid she touches many of the common self-defeating moves I see weekly. 

Qualified and talented people are shooting themselves in the foot.  Are you?  I hope not. 

My suggestion – read the article and follow the advice – “Don’t replicate these counterproductive deeds.”

Have a comment, or thought?  Post it below.

During a job search there are a lot of expectations, most expectations you believe are understood.  Yet you may or may not be surprised to learn that the unspoken rules are often only your rules or expectations. 

You must be clear about your expectations, the leads, referrals, and help you want or you won’t get help.  You must communicate your expectations in a clear way.

Weekly, I talk to hundreds of people who say they want to land the ideal job, yet they struggle with how to do so.  About 50% say they go to networking events, connect online and in person and never get a referral or a lead. 

Sometimes they are mad, on the verge of tears, or ready to just throw in the towel.  They feel as if they are begging for help, working so hard yet never make progress or get the help they want. They want help but don’t know what to do or where to find help.

The bottom line is referrals and leads don’t always come as quickly as we’d like, for most of us it feels awkward coming right out and asking for a referral (so, we beat around the bush), and even when we do ask directly it is at the last minute, like a day or two before an interview or when you see a job posting for the job you want.  Is this true for you?

Here’s what’s going on – you believe

                 – you communicate your expectations and that you want help,

                 - you help others everyday (you keep score, too),

                 – you ask for leads or referrals,

                – you clearly communicate you expect a lead or referral, and

                – you clearly communicate the exact job or referral you want. 

However the message is so diluted or cryptic, even I need a ‘magic decoder ring’ or to ask lots of questions to get a clear idea of how I can help.

If who, you are talking to or connecting with don’t have the foggiest idea what referral is good, what job you want, or what company is a good referral for you, trust me, life is too busy for them to stop and figure it out.  Not to sound like I am bragging, but I am better at sorting this out than the average person, because that is what I do!  So, if I don’t have a clue, I guarantee others are clueless too! 

    Do you have a clear message? 

    Are you receiving leads or referrals?

    Would you like help to craft a message in a way to ask for referrals that does not feel awkward?

Well, there is a whole list of things you can do to be clear and ask for referrals and leads to accelerate your job search, land the job you want at the salary you deserve and with less stress.  Here’s one for networking introductions:
 
“As you know most job leads come via networking and word-of-month referrals, I am a __insert your profession or the job title you are seeking___, I would like to help you, learn more about what you do, share leads and offer you referrals, please connect with me by email at xxx@gmail.com or ask me for my business card so I can learn more than 30 seconds worth of what you do.”

Why, does it work? 

It is a clear message.  It tells what you do, how you will help, it makes it easy to connect with you, it gives you an opportunity to learn about what someone else does, it clearly sets the expectation of sharing leads and offering referrals and in creates an opportunity to connect with you to learn exactly what you do, what type of job you want to land and what type of referrals and leads you want.

Be sure you are prepared to continue the clear communication when someone contacts you and you plan to meet.   Here is one more tip, if you need help with your message, join the Q & A calls and ask for help or feedback on your message. 

Being prepared, having a clear message and planting the seed early in all interactions and relationships, sets the expectation upfront and ensures more leads and referrals – guaranteed!

I love success stories and comments.  Will you share yours?  Add your comment or success story below.

No matter how many executives in transition, job seekers, or passive candidates I talk to in a given week, the percentage of those who follow up is very low.  Do you follow up?

Timing and follow up are really absolutely vital to the results you get in your search.  I have told more than one solid candidate to stay in touch, call me in a quarter and never see or hear from them again.

Some years ago, I worked with a hiring manager who interviewed all the time.  At first I did not understand why, but the company was growing and after working with him for a while I got it!

Talent and company timing are not always on the same wavelength, he looked for talent all the time not just to fill current openings or to build his team, but because to him hiring top people was a priority.  He taught me if you want to leverage opportunities you must always be on the lookout for them and open to them.

On his team, as with most businesses, follow up was critical, he would never hire someone who did not follow up.  At the beginning of the interview he would ensure the candidate had his personal contact information, at the end of the interview, he would stand up, shake hands, look at candidate in the eye and say call me with your questions about the job, won’t you?  Good luck to you!

Then he would nod and that would end the interview.

His style of interviewing a quest for talent interested me so I did a bit of tracking; few candidates called with questions or followed up in any way.  The ones that did usually joined the organization within a year.

What opportunities are you missing because you did not follow up with the hiring manager for whom you want to work?

Who should you follow up with this week?

If following up is not your strong suit, or makes you feel, somewhat uncomfortable, try this and let me know how it goes …

End the interview with, “I am interesting in joining your team, <state why>.  Could I propose scheduling a 5-minute “check-in” call with you (be sure it is with the hiring manager) on ___ (the day of the week) at ___ (the specific time of the interview one to two weeks later) to check in and see where you are in the process of building your team?”  Confirm the phone number and follow up.

Have a question about improving your interview follow up? Sign up and join me on the next Q & A call, ask your question and get an answer.

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

No doubt you have heard all the conversations about companies who screen out those who are currently unemployed. 

Some employers or hiring managers don’t call or interview people with a status of “unemployed”.  Yes, your résumé might be screened out in this way.  In fact New Jersey now has a law that will fine employers who do this and other states may soon do the same.

It is too bad that some employers may elect to use only your current employment status as a screening tool, but it is not new and may or may not end with new laws on the books.  

What is your best defense?  In my view your best defenses is your personal marketing, your personal marketing plan and the execution of your plan. 

Marketing is about overcoming the objections of the buyer.  An employer is the “buyer” of your services. The purchase is about the value you bring to an organization with your services.  That value is measured in the results you achieve or what someone believes you will achieve. 

If you believe your current employment status is an objection that an employer may have, you do need to address it!

Here is one suggestion from Sandra McCartt, an Executive Recruiter, based in Amarillo, Texas.  Sandra suggests thinking about being between successes and recently shared the notation below.

“September 2010 to Present:  Between Successes”

Change your thinking – you have heard me say it before – until you shift your thinking, others will not shift their view of your situation.

If you have been successful and want to be successful again, what is stopping you?

When you can, I always suggest having a focused conversation before you send your résumé.  Need a suggestion?  Here’s a conversation suggestion for those changing industries or directions within your industry:

“My current focus is bringing fresh foods to the c-store customer to improve customer satisfaction and profitably grow the category.  The challenge for many organizations today, is that food prices recently made the biggest jump in 36 years.  In 2010 when I focused on RTD tea for <insert prior company> I helped grow that category in percent of sales over prior year and helped grow sales in all major cold vault space.”

What do you think?  Should you be specific? 

It does open doors – if the potential employer isn’t focused on growing the fresh foods category, yet wants to grow the cold vault or another area, there is an opportunity to continue the conversation. 

Or you can stick with the process that is proven not to work fast – “I am unemployed, haven’t worked in 14 months, don’t have a clue what is going on in the industry, but need a job NOW, here’s my résumé.  When can I start?”

Have a comment, suggestion or thought?  Post it below.

The hundred days of summer is just around the corner.  It is the time of year, when interesting and focused conversations with VPs, regional managers, area managers, managers and front line associates are often about the detailed plans and prep for the ”100 Days of Summer”. 

The hundred days or so between Memorial Day to Labor Day for many is a critical business season. Profits and success during the “100 days of Summer” can make or break the success of a business unit not just for the season but for the year.  Having, knowing and executing your plan is not hard but does take good communication, energy and thought.

Last week speaking to an executive looking for his next career opportunity I ask him, “What is your personal career plan for the “100 Days of Summer”, he looked at me and smiled, then said “I don’t have a plan, but I think I need one.”  Then he asked for a few suggestions as to how to develop his plan and we agreed to talk in a couple of days to discuss his plan in detail.

Here are some of the key things I suggest you think about and pull together for your “100 day” plan.  Assess where you are now, think about your value in the marketplace, your reputation, your niche, the  opportunities you want to target, clarify your vision, your career goal, and then create a plan for the next 100 days.

Don’t wing your job search and don’t overlook the critical 100 days ahead.

If you need help creating a plan, get it.

Think about your plan.  Summarize your plan in one page – that’s right – a one-page executive summary.

Want more information about completing your own “100 Day Plan” to land the job you want by Labor Day? 

Sign up and join me on the next Q & A call, ask your question and get an answer. 

If you are interested in taking action and moving forward and yet you have a question about your career, career transition or search, you can set up a 20 minute chat with me to get your question answered.