Accelerate Your Search™ Now

“Make each minute count.” – Dave Edwards

Do you make every minute count?  I hope you do.

Most of us waste time, work on minor things, and focus on things other than people or high value work.   I fall in the ‘most’ category more days of the month than I would like to.

Over the years, I have looked to the masters — CEOs, COOs and other peak performers — to see what they do in areas where I need to improve.  Using my time more effectively is an area where I always look to improve because I want more time for the most important things in my business and life — people.  Interactions with people are what count the most to me and those minutes are also how I am most successful in my work.

Below are the best time management strategies I’ve shared over the years.  When executed effectively, they do indeed accelerate your search.  May these help you have more time for the things that count in your job search and in your next position.  Here are the tips I’ve found helpful in making every minute count:

1. Say NO without explanation.

You can say “no” in a simple, polite manner to more email, more stuff, and those non-specific requests (i.e., those things that don’t align with your current goal of finding your next position).

For example, when someone at your child’s school says, “Mr. Brown, sorry to hear you lost your job.  We are looking for someone to volunteer at the school on several projects. Would you like to help?”

Quickly assess the request.  Is it specific with a clear goal?  Will it help you talk directly to someone who can hire you?   Will it help you hone a skill you need to move into your next position?  If the answers are “no,” say “Thank you for asking and thinking of me.  No, I am not available to help now.”

2. Monitor your energy.  

Know your natural rhythms, sleep patterns and eating habits.  Be aware of how moving away from a former work schedule can impact these.   Use your peak times each day to work on your top 3 priorities.

Move, walk, stand.  Leave your desk and computer screen at least once an hour.  Hydrate: Drink water hourly.   Take breaks.  Go take a walk and eat lunch.  Schedule meetings at a park in lieu of a coffee shop.

3. Set short periods of time for EMAIL.

Batch email.  View your email two to four times a day, delete, handle if it takes 3 minutes or less, learn that replies to all messages are not needed.

Mark or flag what is important and requires action beyond what you can do at this time.  Then schedule a time to complete the action needed.

Allowing your phone (email or otherwise) to take attention away from an important task makes you average or second rate on the things that matter and require your best.

4. Build processes.

For any task you do a second time, assume you will do it again.  Stop and write down your process, with as many details as necessary.  Example:  researching a company and their challenges.  Take my word for it, you will definitely repeat this process.

If you write down what you do, the next time you can simply execute the steps.   You will not need to waste time guessing.  You will know what you did and what got results.   If you want to be able to repeat amazing results, write down what you did.

Knowing what you did to get your first interview will help you get a second one.  Knowing how you reached the CEO at one company will help you reach a CEO at another and so forth.

5. Meet with people and follow-up with people you meet.

Leverage the 80/20 rule.  Spend 80% of your time connecting and talking to people who can hire you face-to-face.  That is the work that moves the needle.

Get out from behind your computer.  Spend only 20% of your time on email, job boards, LinkedIn, or the phone.  Stop seeking perfection on your resume, cover letter, email, etc.

Call and meet people — you need to establish relationships to receive introductions and recommendations.  From each meeting, take away the knowledge you need to continue to grow the relationship.  Ask about them.  What do they do?  What are their professional challenges?  What is happening in their industry?  What do their customers face or care about?  Work to create deep connections and make notes when information is shared.

Then, follow up.  Create the opportunity to reach out again, stay in touch, have another meeting.  A personal touch is what it takes to build that connection and deepen it.  Few relationships are built via email or LinkedIn.

End your meeting with a recap and plan your next step(s) and how you will follow-up with your contact.

In a job search there are many things you don’t control.   You do control how you use your time.   What will you do different this week to make every minute count?

Giving back, paying it forward, and sharing your gifts — these are all ways to of “Mining the Gap.”

During a time of unemployment, it is easy to stop giving and sharing.  I sincerely hope you won’t because the world benefits and so do you.

In early February, Marsha Sharp, one of my favorite coaches and coach of the Texas Tech Women’s Basketball 1993 National Champions, spoke to youth at the Hale Center about selflessness and giving to others.  Her quote, “I hope that young people realize that some of the best things in life are giving back” resonates with me.  She shared similar thoughts when speaking about her work supporting cancer research via the Kay Yow Cancer Foundation.

Coach Sharp has always inspired me.  She can share a vision, connect the dots and help others see the opportunities before them — on and off the court.  I hope her message inspires you to connect the dots and give of yourself.

You don’t need to be a championship coach to make a difference.  Just step in, “mine the gap” and make a difference!

You can join a national effort or you can tutor at a local school.  You can help a neighbor or share your talent with your local town.

What do you want to do to give back?   Step in and share your gifts and see the amazing gifts you get in return.

How do you give?  Share below and inspire others.

 A common question I hear is, “How do I add a part-time job to my resume and/or LinkedIn profile?” 

The deeper, often not asked, questions are:

What will people THINK?

Will this hurt my reputation [personal brand]?

If you are “mining the gap” and hesitate to tell the story of your part-time job, ask yourself WHY?

Does it feel too risky?  Or just too vulnerable?  It’s okay, I get it.

First, I recommend reading the body of work by Brene Brown or at least watching her TED talks.  She is an author, speaker, researcher and Texan.  Yes, that final fact would make her cool in my book, even if her body of work was not amazing!

Brown’s research is on connection, vulnerability and shame.  Tough topics, right?

My bet is you will come to a new understanding of your feelings and concerns about telling the story of your part-time job by watching the TED talk “Listening to Shame”.  Stop and invest 20 minutes in yourself right now.

Second, for most of us, telling our story is hard.  And, when the story is not unfolding as you planned or wished, it is HARDER.

At least that’s the way it was for me for years, and sometimes still is.  It is also what I hear over and over again from my clients who are seeking a new job and the road gets a little bumpy.

You see, I deal in facts first.  Then, I sort out my feelings, which come from my thoughts.  I own my feelings and feel I am accountable for those feelings.  I don’t (at least I try not to) play the blame or shame game.  This was not always the way it was for me.  It is how I choose to live my life now and I love life that way.

I grew up with the “What will people THINK?” question.  It was a question I learned to ask myself out of habit.

The habit, by the way, included asking the question and then not bothering to find out what people really thought.  Instead, I answered the question with my own thoughts.  If you wonder what people are going to think — go ask them!  That way you will actually know what they think.

If you can’t, or don’t want to ask people, here is a process to help shift the feeling of “OH MY GOSH!  What will people THINK?” to something more positive:  think of what questions an interviewer might want to know about your part-time job.  Questions such as:

• Why this part-time job is important to you?
• How does the job align with your goals and values?
• What problems do you solve on this job that connect to problem the potential employer needs solved?

Finally, I think the easiest way to “mine the gap” and tell the story of your part-time job is to look at the data, sort out your thoughts and emotions and decide how to tell your story.

Telling your career story is sharing your data and your soul, and that can be and feel vulnerable.  Stories are merely data with a soul.

Facts alone don’t always paint the whole picture.  When people read or hear ‘just the facts,’ questions may come up, allowing data to show its soul within a story, helping answer the unanswered questions.  Bottom line?  A story helps bring the data alive and helps create a connection — a human connection.

Sometimes the connection will be positive, sometimes not. When you are able to understand your feelings, you will be better able to listen to what the interviewer is THINKING about and you have a better chance to connect.

Understanding your feelings and why you took the part-time job, as well as how and what it says about you, will help you tell the story.  Ask yourself the tough questions.  Your answers will help you tell your story.

Post the story of your part-time job or comments below.  If you need help to tell your story contact me.

 

You have an interview coming up!  Great!  Congrats!  I am sure your goal is to hear, “You’re hired.”

There are thousand of articles, blog posts, books and workshops to help you prepare for an interview and become a more skilled interviewee.  Over the years, I have coached many interviewers and interviewees and shared many tips through this blog and others.

Today, I am sharing a secret that I have long reserved for my one-to-one conversations.  Why share it now?  The rise I have seen in the use of this element is reaching a critical point.  This one element, if not dropped from your process, spells certain interview failure.

Over the years, I have discovered that many add this element unknowingly.  Then, after repeatedly failing in interviews, and feeling desperate, they must unlearn it or the failing — in interview after interview — continues.  Not succeeding in interviews results in decreased confidence, the loss of hundreds of dollars a day in salary or being unemployed longer than necessary.

What is this element?  Emulation.  Yes, the quest of emulating the “perfect person” for the job.

Are you doing this?  My advice?  STOP IT, STOP IT NOW.

Replace it with a process that works.  And, what works?  Authenticity.

If you want to guarantee that your interview process will succeed, be authentic, share your unique value and your brilliance.  Show the imperfect and flawed you.

Human beings are imperfect and flawed — all of us!  Isn’t it time you paused and looked at what you uniquely offer?

Hiring is about risk mitigation.  Emulation is spotted a mile away.

Hiring managers will pass on emulation faster than a candidate clearly lacking a skill or one possessing a flaw.  Skills can be taught and learned.  Some imperfections or shortcomings known upfront may be determined to be worth the risk.

The risk of emulation is not just to the hiring manager and organization; you are at risk, too.

Hiding your qualities and who you are may well result in being hired, only to be fired, terminated at the end of the probation period.  Or worse, landing a job you dislike and suffer in daily.

Are you ready for an interview process that works?  Be authentic, be you and share your unique value.

 

 

The answer to that question is simple — at least from my point of view.  Landing a DREAM job always depends on:  you, the labor market and what actions you are willing to take.

I suggest you first define what a dream job is for you.  Here is my view of what a dream job is:

• Delivers satisfaction, supports your goals, and its sense of purpose provides
• Realistic growth and challenge, helps you grow as a human being,
• Energizes you more than not, offers
• Alignment with your values, vision, mission, and unique value,
• Moves you to offer the world your best. (TM)

If your definition is similar, I can help you.  Here is a simple 5-step formula to help you land your DREAM job:

1. Determine quickly the direction you will go.
2. Realistically look at your budget, needs, and wants for the long-term and short-term and set a timeline to achieve your DREAM
3. Evaluate your career, who you are, what you offer and the marketplace.
4. Ask for what you want, be willing to accept ‘”No” for an answer, and keep asking.
5. Move forward with intention every day.  Daily focused action is required to achieve your DREAM job and hear, “You’re hired!”

Does it sound too simple?   It is simple, yet it requires real work.

Landing your DREAM job is not hard.  What’s hard is making the commitment to execute each step in the formula and to take needed action daily.

Those who make a decision and take action do land a dream job.  They land what they want — quickly and with less stress.  What are you waiting for?

For decades I have been working with people, in one aspect or another, helping them shape and build sustainable careers.  As an employee, manager, leader, trainer, human resource professional, and executive coach I have seen and helped guide thousands of people toward their dream job or dream career.

Many in the career-coaching world, including me, talk about and encourage others (especially those who find themselves unemployed) to seek a dream job.

Whether you are seeking a new job because you are unemployed or if you are looking to move on from your current position, I find it valuable to define “dream job” so as to create a common understanding.

What is a DREAM job?

A dream job:

Delivers satisfaction, supports your goals, and its sense of purpose provides

Realistic growth and challenge, helps you grow as a human being,

Energizes you more than not, offers

Alignment with your values, vision, mission, and unique value,

Moves you to offer the world your best. (TM)

 

That is how I define a “dream job.”   What’s your idea of a dream job?

I’d love to know.  Hope you will share your thoughts in the comments below.