Accelerate Your Search™ Now

Searching for a new position, especially if you are between gigs, can be filled with many distractions.  The day-to-day things can turn into worries that seem to loom large when you don’t have a job or job you enjoy.

Life does not stop if you are between jobs — unless you stop it.  You can live, work and create an amazing life you love or you can be down and miserable.  The choice is yours.

I challenge you to join me each week this fall and transform your search and your life.  If you start now and faithfully implement these nine actions you will be amazed at how different your life will be by November 15th!

Are you ready?  Will you take this on?  Will you take action?

Here are the nine actions to take to add interest to your life, your work and accelerate your results:

1. Meet More People
2. Take On Something New
3. Face Your Fears
4. Follow Your Instinct
5. Do What You Hate
6. Jazz it Up
7. Share How You Solve Problems
8. Stop Kicking Dead Horses
9. Keep Growing

Each week tackle the assignment and then post a note and share your thoughts in the comments.  Tell us how you implemented the action of the week and the results you achieved.

Action #1:  Meet More People  

People are amazing, interesting and fun.  Expand the network of people you know.  Not only will your life will be fuller, but meeting more people means more opportunities.

Meeting people is not only about discovering what others can do for you (or what you can do for others), it is about connecting, learning, and sharing.  Be interested and curious about others.

Yes, I am outgoing and love to meet new people.  If you aren’t outgoing, I get it, this will take some effort.  Step out of you comfort zone and toward a person.  Say “Hi,” share your name and smile, then simply listen.

If this makes you uncomfortable, believe it or not more people feel like you than me.  Many people are hoping someone else will start the conversation.  If you take the leap and start the conversation, you’ll be making everyone more comfortable — making the situation easier for all involved, including you.  Meeting people is a skill and skills take practice to hone.  Get out there and practice!

Some time ago I began asking my clients and workshop attendees to offer feedback and share which tips they found most effective.   Below are the top five tips.  May they also help you reach out, contact and leverage the power of your personal network.

1.  Find the diamonds, rubies and emeralds among your old contacts. Annually go through your contact database.  Call people you haven’t spoken to in 3 to 8 years.  Update your data:  verify phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and organizations.  Discover what’s new with your contacts. If a number is disconnected or the person has moved on, place those people on your research list.  You might be surprised at how many people say, “I am so glad you called.”  For each contact reached be sure to note and schedule your next contact.  One contact and one follow-up per week helps you stay in contact with 100 people a year.

2.  Organize your contacts into categories.  Use your Contact Management System (CMS) and sort all of your contacts into five or six categories.  My recommended categories are:  1) those who can hire you; 2) those who can influence someone who can hire you; 3) those who can recommend you to someone who can hire you; 4) centers of influence with whom you have a strong relationship and who have an interest in your success; 5) to be determined (TBD) – these are people you just met or have not contacted in some time and therefore you are unsure of the most appropriate category; and 6) others contacts – family members or close friends who belong in your contacts, yet do not fit in one of the first 5 categories.

3.  Pick up the phone.   Allot one hour per day for phone calls.  Call those people in categories 1-3.  Be frank.  Explain you are engaged in exploring opportunities and seeking your next position and ask two questions:  Is there any assistance you can provide them at this time and what names can they give you of people who may need your assistance?  When possible arrange a face-to-face meeting within 3 weeks and secure the names of three referrals.   This is tough to do.  I know.  Face your fear of rejection and pick up the phone.

4.  Build your contact list.   What service can you provide to a group or association that will quickly build your contact list?  Who could use your assistance on a project (large or small) for free?  Offer to help and do it for free.  A former client called four contacts from his “who can influence someone who can hire you” category and offered to review 2-3 contracts for free and provide written recommendations.  Within six weeks, he had three interviews with hiring managers that liked his findings report and added 30 new, solid contacts to his list.

5.  Leverage the power of direct mail.  Mail requires thought, planning and an investment.  Sending direct mail to your top contacts pays dividends.  Unless you have invested in an email system with analytics and tracking features you may never know whether your email was delivered, opened or read.   However, direct mail that includes a strong call to action, such as, “Will you meet me for lunch downtown at your favorite deli at 12 noon, Tuesday, Oct 5 for a sandwich and conversation?” pays off amazing well and has a cumulative impact over time.

What is your favorite tip?  Do you have an adaptation or a success story?

Please share how you used one of these tips to manage your personal marketing and reach your contacts.

There are talented professionals who work on their resume and their marketing message.  They spend days and weeks getting it “perfect.”  Yet, for some reason, the results don’t follow.

What is the impact of this?  Disappointment, frustration and often rejection.

Are you doing all the “right stuff’?”  Do you network, engage your contacts and set interviews, yet never get an offer?  Or, worse, continue to hear, “You’re overqualified” or “We hired a better fit for our needs.”

It is very disheartening when you believe you are doing all the right things, yet results do not materialize.  It wears on your confidence and sends your stress level sky-high.

If you received an interview, someone reviewed your resume and spent time checking you out online.  By copying your resume directly into your LinkedIn profile, it feels like you are in alignment.  Yet if these tools are out of sync with who you are, no matter how much they align with one another, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

The continued emotional stress may have you contemplating giving up on securing your dream job.  But, before you give up, get real with yourself.  Take a HARD look at your profile, resume and search-related marketing.

From the outside it may appear your search is going well, after all, you are producing a lot of activity.  But, internally, it is just not happening.  It is time to ask yourself, “What is going on?  What am I doing wrong?”

Many issues arise from two things.  The first deals with WHO you are targeting.  Most likely, your target employer list needs to be narrowed down or altered and the level of the position you are seeking needs to be more commensurate with your experience, expertise and aligned with your overall goals.  The second thing getting in your way, deals with WHAT you are talking about.  You must work to make your marketing message more clear and compelling.

Most of the time, the second thing is MUCH more critical because it involves looking internally, at your thoughts and beliefs.  I believe you’ll find your thoughts are misaligned.  This is fouling up your results.  I have come to realize that if you are working hard (and smart) and the results are still not showing up, your thoughts and beliefs are out of sync with your marketing.

Maybe you believe you want to find a job, land the interview and love your life again, BUT you actually don’t think it is possible or true.   Guess what?  It is not possible if you don’t think it is possible.

Why?  Until your marketing, actions and behaviors are aligned with your thoughts, feelings and beliefs it is not possible to find the ideal job you say you want.

Here is an example: Peter is a senior process engineer with unique expertise in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.  His experience includes project management, process improvement and operations.  He is good at what he does and he wants continue to contribute his time and talent to the industry.  Peter is networking and doing everything else he “should be” doing.

As we looked at his marketing, Peter realized there were several pieces that were not in alignment with what he really wanted in his next position.  As he examined his beliefs and actions, he noticed the subtle self-sabotage that translated into lack of appropriate tasks, follow-up and other actions that made him look and feel busy, but didn’t garner any results.

One of my mentors calls this “driving with the brake on.”  You are burning fuel, tires, and moving, yet what you are doing is very destructive.   With just a few quick coaching calls, Peter was able to release the brake.  The subsequent actions he adopted were not nearly as hard or time consuming and lead him to land four interviews in three weeks.  After a second round of interviews, he had two offers.  He selected a position he is really excited about and it is congruent with his gifts, talents and family goals.

What are the thoughts and beliefs that are holding you back?  Is it time for you to align your thoughts and beliefs and take actions that net results?

Are you tired of just hoping to be successful?  Contact me, together we can achieve results.

Getting your résumé noticed and in the hands of the right person is tough.  You can’t afford to waste time or make mistakes.

Boring, plain and empty résumés don’t grab attention and they don’t get read.  If you want to get an interview, you must gain favorable attention.

Are you ready to be happy, make the money you deserve and land your dream job?  Then it is time to avoid the BIG mistakes.

Are you making the biggest mistake?

Failing to address the problems you solve is among the biggest mistakes employers note when talking about résumés.  Hiring managers don’t have time nor do they want to stop and try to figure out if you can solve the problem most important to them.  Grab their attention by sharing how you can solve their problem!

Here are 3 tips to avoid making this mistake:

1. Use all your fire power to quickly and clearly identify what you can do for the employer.

2. Set your résumé apart by telling the reader about the extraordinary manner or method you use to solve problems.

3. Offer an unambiguous picture of what your new boss will experience when working with you as you solve the problems.

Finally, it is not enough to have a great résumé.  You must also be able to avoid this BIG mistake during an interview. If you’re boring or never gain the interviewer’s attention with the problems you solve, you won’t be in the running for the job.

Is a résumé mistake keeping you stuck in a job you have out grown?  Will your résumé knock you out before an interview even occurs?

Do you have a résumé comment or a question?

Please post it below.

The whole month of April we have been focusing on The B’s of Interviewing — tried and true tips to ace your interviews.  We began with a discussion on Being on Time, moved to Being Prepared and today, tip #3, is Being Interested.

Being Interested is comprised of two parts.  First, building rapport.  Seasoned interviewers are skilled at small talk, which puts the candidate at ease and allows the interviewer to test the “fit” of the interviewee.  Be prepared to engage in this small talk and engage honestly.  If the woman across the table asks about the local college’s basketball team and you don’t follow them, be honest.  Don’t pretend to engage where you lack experience or knowledge.  Remember the integrity thing?  It applies here, as well.

The second component of Being Interested is to ask sincere questions. The easiest way to do this?  Follow up on questions asked of you.  Ask for additional information or clarification.  Ask questions from your research, about the company’s direction, about what keeps them up at night, about the goals for the department or position.  Employers are much more likely to remember a candidate who engaged in meaningful, thoughtful conversations about them.  Remember, this is a two-way street.  Both parties are dancing — trying to decide if and when to close the deal.  Even if you aren’t interested, ask questions to practice.  Yes, I said practice at the interview.  Don’t share this with anyone, but I know people who go on interviews for positions that don’t interest them just for practice.

And, what will you practice?  The B‘s of Interviewing, of course!  Be on Time, Be Prepared and Be Interested.

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

The next “B” of interviewing is:  Be prepared.

Being prepared involves several things:  knowing the company, knowing your stuff and knowing how to present it.

I always ask candidates what they know about my company and am surprised by the number of times I hear, ” . . . not much . . .”, “. . . nothing, really . . .”, or, worst of all, “I really haven’t had time to research.”  Really?  When your cell phone has more computing power than the one used in the Manhattan Project, enough to stay connected to several hundred people simultaneously, the ability to shop or get a dinner reservation at a moment’s notice and you didn’t have time to research?  If you aren’t interested in the company, the employer won’t be interested in you.

What should you know to be prepared?  You should know:

• The history of the company and what the company does.
• Their competitors and their competitive advantage (and their weaknesses, for that matter).
• How your skills and experiences match the requirements.

Use company contacts, social media, internet research, stock market information and, even the library, as your sources.

Next — knowing your stuff.  An effective candidate speaks to his resume without looking.  You remember the details and can recite them.  You know the steps you took to drive sales to record highs in the Atlanta division in 2009.  You remember the names of your supervisors, the years you won awards and why you received them.   In my book, a candidate that gives me different information than what is reported on an application or resume has trouble in the integrity department.  Is it fair?  It doesn’t matter.  It is what it is.  Knowing your stuff keeps you out of trouble.

Last, you must not only know your stuff, but also know how to present it.  Great information and big opportunities have been lost in poor presentations. My advice?  Practice.  Even well paid, experienced speakers practice constantly.  Think about it.  Interviewing is something we rarely do.  It takes skill to speak to seldom used information in front of total strangers.

My advice on how to get better?  Go to the internet and find the 100 most common interview questions.  Put them in a word processing document and answer them.  Once you’ve answered them, find someone with which to practice.  It could be your spouse, significant other, neighbor or someone else with whom you’re comfortable and, most importantly, will give you honest feedback.  Have them ask the questions while you practice answering them until your presentation is smooth and natural.

Once you know the company, know your stuff and know how to present your stuff, you will be much more confident.  This confidence helps you relax.  When you are more relaxed, you are more yourself.  Your confidence will show!

Next week, we dive into Being Interested . . . are you?

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

April is bringing me a very unique adventure — more to follow on that soon!  Part of my adventure includes spending fun time with amazing people and, as such, I asked a few of them to guest post on this blog and share their thoughts on interviewing, building great teams and other relevant topics.

The April guest posts focus on  “The B’s of Interviewing” — tried and true tips to ace your interview.

Let’s get at some tips to help you prepare for a knockout performance in your interview.  The tips are compiled from my experience on both sides of the table.  I do want to confess that I’ve never particularly liked interviews, but once I began to view them as simple conversations the whole process changed for me.

Let’s prepare you for your conversations.  My first “B” tip is:

Be on time.  I know, I know.  Still happens, though — candidates fail to account for weather, traffic, poor directions, etc.  My conversations with late candidates are very brief.  I confirm the time of our appointment, then tell them that being on time is a non-negotiable expectation on my team.  I tell them it’s not a fit as I escort them to the door.  If you aren’t able to get to the interview on time, what makes me think you’ll show up to work on time?  Besides, being early has its advantages.  You have an opportunity to talk to the receptionist, the administrative assistant or the VP you met in the elevator.  You have time to mentally go over last minute preparations or fine tune your questions.  There’s zero downside to being early.

So, “B” on time next week when I share with you the next B of Interviewing!

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

Welcome to the final installment of the “adventure of my garden.”

At this point, hopelessness and overwhelm had taken over.  Honestly, I was shocked that these feelings had shown up, not in my career or business, but in my desire for a spring garden.  Maybe I should forget about the garden?  Was it really that important?  I could just pour rocks in the beds and settle for a rock garden.

I shared how stuck I was feeling (and the garden story) with a mentor.  She responded, “You are in a new place and have grown, yet you still have growing to do.  Sort out what is holding you back and you will have the garden you desire.  Ignore it and it will begin to impact other areas of your life.”

Boy!  That rocked me back on my heels — for about five minutes.  I thanked my mentor for listening, pondered her statement for a few moments and quickly returned to my “stuck place.”  After three and a half years I was in the same place — frustrated with no garden!

Oh, I was working hard!  I bought soil, plants, books and attended classes on gardening in New England.  I fussed about the trash and cement left behind by the builder.  You got it — I did it all.  I worked hard, watered, planted and kept asking myself, “Why can’t I grow a beautiful garden in New England?”

Bottom line?  My garden and I were in the same place.

A couple of weeks later, I sought the assistance of my business coach.  Could she help me with my garden?  The smile in her voice was clear and she began asking the powerful questions she always asks.  In a few short conversations I discovered what I needed to do differently and formulated a new approach.  Within a day or two I was on my way to creating the garden of my dreams!  By mid-summer my garden was lovely and so much less stressful than my 3.5 years of struggle.

Does your job search sound like my adventure with my garden?

Are you working hard, seemingly doing all the right things and still without the job of your dreams?

Are you feeling overwhelmed and looking for some help in finding a new approach?

I, too, was lost and stuck — and I realized I needed a new approach.  My answer came from working with my coach.  In a few conversations she helped me craft a new plan to get the garden I wanted.  Alone, I had been working in the garden for nearly four years without success.

Would having a coach help your search?

Are you ready to land a position fast, earn the salary you deserve and do it with less stress?

The “adventure of my garden” continues . . .

Gardening in New England <insert your job search here > is just a bear!  I found the process frustrating, full of land mines and seemingly out of my control.

I really wanted a garden.  Why?  The basics:  a garden provides CO₂, creates beauty and adds curb appeal.  Personally, gardening brings me brings joy, satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment.

Just like a job — you want to contribute, earn a living, etc.

As I began working on the two small beds installed by the builder odd things began occurring.  A feeling washed over me, a feeling that the whole world was against me having a garden.  Trying to overcome the oddness of this feeling I set my intentions and dug in — literally and figuratively.

Have you done this same thing with your job search?  Your resume and LinkedIn profile are complete, you apply to every job matching your skills, interview and then nothing?  Feels totally out of your control, right?

This garden was bringing up peculiar stuff — feelings I had not experienced in years!  And, I don’t mean just the 20 pound rocks and chucks of cement buried just under the thin top soil.  But, I really wanted a lovely spring garden and I decided to do whatever it took to achieve one.

One spring morning I realized I was feeling and doing the exact same things I had so many years ago when I lost my first job.  The same feelings were overwhelming me.  I felt stuck and hopeless.  I really didn’t know what to do next.

Does any of this sound like your job search?

Are you working hard, doing what you think is all the right stuff and still without the job you want?

If you are currently “stuck” and would like to discuss how I might help with your job search, let’s talk.

Stay tuned to my next post to find out the conclusion of the “adventure of my garden.”

I welcome any questions or comments — just post them below.

In the last post I shared what deepened my understanding of the importance of setting intentions.

If you have already set your intention for your next position, declared it publicly and are thinking and acting differently AND you are still struggling to land your next position — keep reading.

Several years ago we moved from Texas to New England.  In November!  It was the toughest winter of my life and I could not wait for spring to plant a lovely spring garden at our new home.  My simple desire for a garden and what I learned from that garden (heretofore referred to as “the adventure of my garden”) forced me to deal with thoughts and things I thought were dealt with — things I thought were in the past, but were not.

These same issues keep popping up for clients, so I decided it is time to share my experience in this blog.

OK, so the adventure of my garden . . . It was March and in my mind it was time to plant, but there was still snow everywhere.  How was I going to get my garden?

I started to ask questions about gardening in New England, got information and quickly rejected most of it.  Then April arrived and still no garden — I whined, fussed and got very frustrated.

Finally, I set the intention, used the information I gathered and planted the garden.  I got a few flowers and plants, but definitely not what I would call a garden.

Intention, information and action were not enough to produce a garden.  What was holding my garden back?  Maybe it was the bad weather.  Maybe I just needed more information.  After all, there was still snow in May — how could a garden grow in this harsh environment?

Surely, the lack of a full, lush garden was not because of me.  I decided the factors were out of my control and got increasingly frustrated.  Gardening in New England was just a bear!

For my clients this is just like updating their resume, researching job openings and getting an interview or two, but no job offers.

Do you see job searching as a bear?

Have you said the same things about your search that I said about my garden?

Have you given up because of things you believe are out of your control?

Is what’s holding you back really out of your control?  Really?

Join me next week as I share more of the “adventure in the garden . . . ”