Accelerate Your Search™ Now

“Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.” – Gandhi

The job search can be the toughest job you will ever have.  Sometimes despite “positive thinking,” great marketing, resolve, determination, focus on your goals and vision, doubts jump into your thoughts.  Go ahead, admit it.

Pause and think about how you FEEL about building, connecting and interacting with your network.  Those feelings dictates how your network grows, how fast you have an impact and your growth to the next level.

Sometimes when you reach for the phone or start to type an email your inner voice of doubt begins to chatter.  It asks, “Why would this person be interested in hearing from me, we’ve not talked in years?” or “What will this person think of me?”  You don’t want to be known as “underemployed and begging for help” or “that person that needs help to make it.”

When inner doubt shows up it can change how you feel.  The way we feel directly impacts the actions we take.  Especially in marketing ourselves, our value, and with whom we are willing to share information.

What you choose to do (or not to do) will determine the opportunities you have and those you will find.  Actions directly impact the results you achieve, your income and your success.  The choice of what to do will also impact how you FEEL and ACT this afternoon and tomorrow.

Discover how you feel.  Decide if you like it or not.   Decide if you want to change it or not.

How you feel shows up in how you THINK and ACT.  If you feel bad, do you what that to continue?

What would be different if, as Gandhi suggests in the quote above, you grow into the faith that connecting or re-connecting with each person will bring good things to you and to them?

Intellectually, you and I already know you have significant value to offer.  Why not grow the value you offer by sharing it with the world or at least your network?

Have the courage to BELIEVE the results you achieve are indeed coming from your feelings, thoughts and actions.  Be a magnet for success and prosperity in your search.  FEEL confident about your value and be willing to ACT.  You must be aware of your feelings and take action or your will miss the opportunities available within your network.

Assess your network.  Take inventory of the people you know.  As in any business, inventory is an asset and will impact your bottom line.

The network of people you know is a component of your social and business capital.  Who are your critical connections?  Who are the critical connections you need to add to your network?

Create a plan to connect and stay connected.  Who knows you?  Who likes you?  Who trusts you?  Who will you connect with this week?  How will you stay connected?

Share your feelings and thoughts below.  Do you need help with your networking plan?  Give Cindy a call.

Few do and many more are not willing to do the work.  It is the time of year that teachers and kids get spring fever and I start thinking about summer — warm weather, vacation, golf and fun.

This is also one of the two times a year when the hidden job market shifts in an interesting manner — passive candidates are easier to connect with.  If you are an active job seeker that means your competition just heated up.  This is not the time for you to cool your search, just the opposite; this is the time to double your efforts.

As more and more data becomes available to companies, they are using this information to hire and predict what candidates are most likely to be a top performer.

If you are a passive candidate searching for your next great position, it is critical to understand that companies are viewing your data as they are building pipelines to attack the best in class.  The company you want to work for is looking at more than just your skills and experience.

What are you doing today to make you a fit with your next employer?  How are you connected to that company today?

Many companies have candidate outreach programs — are you connected?  Are you connected to current employees or former co-workers who now work where you want to work?

Who are the leaders where you want to work?   What are you doing to get to know the hiring managers and to build and maintain a relationship?  What are they looking for?  What defines “best in class” to them?

How can the hiring managers see and experience your work today?  How are you communicating that you are an engaged employee that fits their needs and can help solve their problems?

Knowing how the hidden market works and how to to tap into it is critical to building and sustaining a career and life you love.  What action are you taking this week to tap into the hidden market?

Do you hate to network?

Almost weekly someone tells me they HATE to network.  I get it.

Once upon a time, networking was not my favorite thing to do either.  When I reframed networking to simply “meeting new people,” my point of view about networking changed.

Do you need to reframe how you see networking?  Here are 5 tips to help:

1. Be open.   No matter what you think or feel about networking, be open.  The next time you go to an event or are in a position to connect with other people begin with being open to the possibilities.  Odds are you will be delighted by pleasant surprises.

2. Simplify your approach.  Plan to greet all you meet with a smile and a hello.  Then just listen.  Listen and listen some more.  Engage in conversation as appropriate.

3. Give.  Limit your agenda to giving.  If you are attending an event for the first time, go with a smile for all.  Give of yourself and your time to all you meet.  Not sure what to give?  Start with a smile, eye contact and a listening ear and heart.  Let what you hear be your guide.

4. Introduce yourself to the host.  Be sure you identify the host of the event.  Say hello and introduce yourself.  Before leaving thank the host and say goodbye.

5. Return and stay in touch.  Networking is about building relationships — return to the next event and stay in touch.  Relationships are not build with a single meeting or a single conversation.  Decide when you will return and how you will stay in touch with the people you meet.

What is you favorite networking tip or experience?  Please share and post below.

Join the movement #GivingTuesday . . . start a tradition . . . make a connection and share.

I first shared this last year – it is a wonderful movement and worth sharing.

As you rush into the holiday season pause, enjoy a moment of quiet reflection and thankfulness. Can you feel the calm? Moments of still can lower your stress level.

Here is another way to drop your stress level – help others.  Yes, that’s right; lower your stress by sharing.

Today is #GivingTuesday.  What is it all about?  It is simple.

#GivingTuesday is about giving.  It’s about people making a choice to share what they have to help others.

You can learn more about this movement and follow updates @GivingTues on Twitter or check out the movement. Here. http://www.givingtuesday.org/

You can make #GivingTuesday whatever you wish.  I have added this tradition to my calendar and I invite you to join me.

Here are my Tuesday plans:

• Sharing a smile with everyone I see. Sharing a smile takes focus and all it will cost me is a few extra muscle movements during the day.
• 24 simple acts of kindness, shared within my community, to help others.  Simple choices easy to execute.
• At the end of the day, writing five notes to mail, four to people and one to an organization. In the notes will share about #GivingTuesday and give something special to help each.

Will you join me on #GivingTuesday?  

No preparation is needed.  Just set the intention, focus and share.  You can simply share a smile, a tweet or a bit of your time.

I’d love to hear what you think about #GivingTuesday and, if you elect to join the movement, what you shared. Post a comment and share your thoughts.

Summer is here.  In fact almost two-thirds of the “100 days of Summer” are behind us.  Are you hot and thirsty?

Harvey Mackay says, “Dig your well before you’re thirsty” and in West Texas we say, “Take your shade with you.”  Shade and water can help you ward off or solve many of the problems that arise due to the summer heat.

Here are a few quick and simple ways to ensure the summer heat does not beat or blister your career.  No matter your industry, career expertise or area of interest, think of these actions as “water and shade” to help you handle any career problems or opportunities that crop up.

Seek out face-to-face connections.  Find professional, industry, and social groups/associations in your geographic area.  For example, the local CPA association, the software developer or WordPress Meetup Group, Rotary Club or the community garden group.  These groups are think tanks, user groups and natural places to make face-to-face connections.  They provide opportunities to build visibility and credibility.  Face-to-face interactions are far more powerful than relationships exclusively based online.  A Google search will help you find the groups in your area.  You can also ask your current network what groups they recommend.

Look for online groups to join and get involved.  LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook all have millions of groups.  There’s one for most anything that comes to mind.  Make a short list of your interests, then search for a group.  You can comment, post a question or add your expertise/technical knowledge to help others solve a problem.  Recommendation: before posting a question, search existing discussions to see if your question has been asked and answered.  If so, comment that you found the information/group helpful.

Connect with people that solve the problems you need solved.  Everyone has problems.  Everyone solves problems.  We need other people and naturally feel a stronger connection to people who like the same things we like and enjoy.  Gardeners help other gardeners with any problem they have, not just things to do with growing a garden.  The same holds true for teachers, Apple junkies, golfers, etc.  Add a keyword to your online profiles to help search features link you with other like-minded people.  In some ways this is better than “carrying shade with you” because it helps shade show up just when you need it from those with whom you share common interests.

Say “Yes” to friends and invitations.  It is sad to me when I hear, “I only connect with people I know well.”  Why?  Knowing someone well takes time, interaction, and effort, saying “yes” can be that first step toward getting to know someone well.  Those you connect with today may be those you know well tomorrow.  They also know people you don’t who may be able to help you achieve your goals.

Connecting with people may be all you need to find water, shade and the solution to keeping the heat from blistering your career.  Enjoy who you connect with during the final “100 days of summer.”  Have fun and add prosperity and satisfaction to your summer, your career and your life.

Have an amazing week!

Events can be fun and uplifting -or- they can be dull and a drag.  This week I am attending a multi-day  national conference.  To fully enjoy the event and achieve great ROI I need to do some planning and  identify ways to keep my energy high.

A special thanks to Kelly Schaefer  for inspiring me to look at tasks differently and  to Cena Block for tips on organizing stuff and for making me laugh!

Below are the 10 tips I use to insure I have fun, connect and  reconnect.  Each fine tuned via an event connection that has impacted my results and blessed my life.

1. Organize yourself

Pack your name tag, business cards and a specific note pad or portfolio that you only use for  conferences, workshops, or seminars.   Be sure to have plenty of business cards on hand.

LinkedIn is a great tool.

Yet you can  harm your online presence with just a few common mistakes.

Fortunately, like skinning your knee, the mistakes are easy to avoid and usually not fatal.  Your profile should always be more helpful than harmful.

Recruiters search LinkedIn for candidates.  Hiring managers use LinkedIn to prep for interviews and decide who lands on the short list.

Your network contacts (new and established) access and use your LinkedIn profile to share information about you, connect with you and decide if they would like to do business with you.  Review your profile.  What messages are you sending?

Check your profile for these 4 common mistakes:

1. Pasting your résumé into your profile.  Personalize your LinkedIn profile.  Use it as a gateway platform to your online presence.  With LinkedIn’s volume and traffic your profile shows up in most searches for you.  Create a compelling summary that gains you favorable attention.
2. Ignoring the details.  Your LinkedIn profile is a 24-7 marketing site for you.  Optimize your profile so it will be found in a search.  Focus on your key skills, the benefits you offer and the problems you solve.  Be selective and highlight the talents for which you want to be known. Include your contact information.
3. Being generic. Your profile needs to pop and paint a clear picture of you.  If it reads like a dry job description, it may be ignored.  Manage your endorsements.  People hire people, not lists of skills.  Include your personality.
4. Dropping in only occasionally. Create a plan to engage in the community and regularly update your LinkedIn profile.  Just as not returning a phone call reflects your lack of interest, so does not responding on LinkedIn.  A slow response reveals much to those who use LinkedIn as a recruiting or sourcing tool.  Drop in often.  Be visible.

Now, edit your profile as appropriate to be in the running for the ‘right’ positions.

Do you think your schedule is too busy for a great, well-managed LinkedIn profile?  You can have a great LinkedIn profile and manage it in just minutes a week.

Email me to learn more about effectively managing your LinkedIn profile.  I will send you a video link and a fun tip sheet.

In work, play and life relationships matter.  When assisting your department or team with projects and deliverables both internal and external relationships are critical.  The relationships you have with co-workers, bosses and vendors are also vital when organization leaders are discussing personnel moves.

According to data published by Great Place to Work Institute, 30% of positions in the 100 Best Companies are filled internally.  Your work does get noticed.

You need a strategy to build and nurture your internal and external networks.  What’s yours?  Is it any of these three?

1. Wait till you need something, then ask.
2. Help others all the time, hoping they will help you in the future, or
3. Create a balanced approach that includes getting to know people so that you understand what is important to them and creating results that are of value to your network.

You may have guessed the third strategy is the one I recommend.  It is too easy to spend time and energy on items that take up time yet net minimal real results.

Technology is a wonderful tool, yet it can too easily rob you of the opportunity of spending quality time with your boss, peers, friends, business associates and possible employers.  Take a good look at your relationships.  Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are you meeting with face-to-face?
• Who do you need to add to the list?
• What priorities, outcomes or results can you impact now?  In 3 months?  A year?
• What priorities, outcomes or results can your team impact now?  In 3 months?  A year?
• Who knows you?
• Who is getting the results you want to achieve?

Being promotable requires marketing yourself and your results.  One of the more productive ways to market yourself is to understand, nurture and build key relationships.

What are three things you will do in the next 30 days to learn more about others, enhance your current relationships or connect with those who need to know you?

Life is crazy busy.  Full schedules, meetings, emails, social and professional association sites to visit and maintain and requests from family members — whew!

The thought of one more email, phone message or “to do” item is just too much.  Who has the time to stay connected to your network, possible references or past co-workers, right?

The impact of those beliefs may lead to a shrinking network or worse — you will be forgotten.  When you need your network most, it may not be there.  Relationships and networks require “care and feeding.”  If staying connected feels like a chore or a burden, your network will notice and it may negatively impact your relationships.

We all know people in our network that we haven’t spoken to in 20 years, yet the bond is so strong that when you do talk to them its as if you have chatted that morning.  Those people are the exception, not the norm.  I call them my “Ruby Connections.”  Those precious connections that will be there no matter matter what.

The truth is not all relationships are created equal.  Most business relationships need regular contact to maintain the connection.  If not, when you make a call as I did recently to an electrician, I heard, “You have been purged from our system, you would be considered a new customer and the wait for a service call is four weeks.”  I was surprised, but realized I had not cared for this relationship and knew nothing about the changes in the business.  Shame on me.

Here is a simple process I use to stay in touch.  It is not perfect — obviously, or I wouldn’t be considered a “new” customer in the eyes of my West Texas electrician!

1.  When adding someone to your network, also add them to a follow-up group.  For me, I assign these groups a letter (A, B, C, etc.) to keep it simple.  For example, I belong to an association of women golfers and all my connections from that group go into my “G” group.  You got it — “G” for golf.

2.  Follow up quickly with new connections.  Learn more about your connection, what they do, interests, etc.  See how you might assist them now or in the future.  Jibberjobber.com is a great tool for managing contacts.

3.  Schedule time each week to follow-up with those in your network.  I schedule at least 60 minutes per week for connecting with new contacts.  One hour allows me time to connect by phone, in person or by Skype.  For established connections, I schedule 30 minutes.

4.  Follow-up methods vary by person, type of relationship and type of last contact.  Mix it up.   I might drop a card in the mail for someone’s birthday or if I notice, through LinkedIn, that someone received a promotion.  Send Out Cards is one of my favorite tools.  I love to send cards, yet I hate going to the store.  Send Out Cards is so easy — it is done from my computer and includes a personal note.  It is printed, stamped and mailed all in minutes.   [In the interest of full disclosure I am a Send Out Card Distributor.]

5.  Finally, for people I see (or saw) on a daily basis I schedule time to really connect — an occasional lunch or coffee or maybe leave a note on their desk to say, “Hi, thought of you last night when your ball team won.”

The bottom line?  Draw water before you need it.  When you stay in touch and show people you care about them, the people in your network will care about you and be there when you need an answer, a referral or an introduction.

We all have time for the things that are important.

Staying connected is easy when you follow the five steps above.  Start small — pick one step.  If you are over-scheduled, look to next month and add one 30-minuted appointment to your calendar or the next time you jump on LinkedIn share a post you enjoyed with someone in your network.

It is often the simple things you do that brighten someone’s day and show you care.  Nurture your relationships and create a “Ruby Connection.”

If you know someone who can benefit from this post, please pass it on.