Accelerate Your Search™ Now

I believe landing the job you want fast means helping a potential employer hire you.  Here are a few tips I would offer all candidates about connecting your references and potential employers:

Prepare your references: Be sure your references have a copy of your résumé and keep your references posted on your job search progress. After each interview that moves forward schedule a call with your references to review the position, your background and why the job is a great fit for you and what you can offer to the position.  Don’t forget to review how your past accomplishments demonstrate what you are going to do for your next employer.

Help your references connect: Find out who will call your reference and provide that information to your references.  If you reference are hard to reach, help with the scheduling if needed, suggest the best times and best methods to connect your references.

Follow up: It is critical to follow up with your references to see how the conversation went.  What should you be aware of, did the employer have concerns or are there red flags, points, or items you should know about, affirm or address with your future employer.

Thank your references: Drop a personal note in the mail to each of your references to say thanks for their help, and the time they invested in you and your career.  You would be surprised how many people forget to say “Thank You” to a reference.  Don’t forget to also let your references know when you land and start a new job.

Believe it or not your references can tip the scale in your favor or break the deal ensuring someone else is the finalist for the job you want.

What additional suggestions do you have to prepare your references?

“Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble.” ~ French Proverb

Hope you had a great two weeks!

The quote above is one I shared this week with a super person.  A talented professional, highly skilled and in very unique position, yet stuck.

Being stuck happens.  Getting angry happens.  However it is always a choice that keeps you stuck or angry.

I know.  I did it many years ago and the cost was very high.  Staying angry and staying stuck for a long time about the end of a job was a BIG WASTE.   I wasted energy, time, my talent, it impacted my health and it hurt others.

Any time you are attempting to sort out events or things that made you angry use caution.  You may not have access to all the information or the facts, even when you think you do.  It is easy to “fill in the blanks” and “tell yourself a story”.

Be careful about the story you tell yourself as you fill in the blanks and “Write injuries in sand…” especially about the people and events that cause you injury.  Wind, rain, and many other factors can and do move sand around easily!

Think of a sandcastle at the beach.  One minute it adorns the landscape, then a wave comes in and it is gone.

In business, organizations can and do make decisions for thousands of reasons, and sometimes those decisions are poorly planned, communicated, or executed.  The outcome of some decisions will be  dramatic and immediate and then the  outcome of other decisions may take months or years to be seen or may have little or no impact at all.

When an organization decides to make a change, to reduce staff, change job functions or duties of staff, layoff staff, or terminate one or many ~ PEOPLE are impacted.  Each person in the organization decides what they will do with the change.

Some professionals see the end of a job is a powerful force that moves them forward at once to the next great adventure.  Others see the blow is dramatic, career ending and the end of a job stops them in their tracks.

In lieu of a viewing the situation as a business decision and moving on, some professionals become focused on the hurt or emotion they feel.  They write the “hurt” of losing a job in marble and review the “hurt” over and over.

They focus on the “hurt”.  They etch the “hurt” in marble and then they carry the big piece of marble around with them to help tell the story.    They tell themselves the “bad” the story over and over.  Then they freely share the “story” and “negative energy” with all who will listen.

Do you write messages in sand or marble?   Does it matter?

Volcanic eruptions are not everyday career bumps.  Would you be ready if you woke up one day to learn that a long dormant volcano in Iceland has erupted and you job was gone?  Would it feel like the end of the world?  There was a time in my life and career, that I thought so.  Today, I know better. 

An unexpected career bump can cause as much of an economic crisis to you, your family, your plans, goals, and retirement, as the grounding of flights has to the British and European economy.  The experts estimated the grounding of flights would be £520 million ($800 million) impact to the airline industry alone by April 18.   In our global economy, this event has impacted air travel, the Boston Marathon, the price of flowers and vegetables and much more.   Was this a totally unexpected event?    

It is my view the signs were there that something was up with the volcano.  Day to day most of the world does not have what is up with a volcano in Iceland on the radar screen.  However, both recent events and the fact that Iceland is known for its glaciers and volcanic landscape provide information that this was not a totally unexpected event.  

Could this volcano continue sending ash into the air for 14 or more months or longer?  It happened before.  Like geophysicists who monitor what’s up with the Earth; top talent monitors what’s up in their business, operation and career, and they understand what the impact could be if an event caused a 14-month change to their revenue stream, aka their paycheck.

Knowing what is going on, requires an awareness and willingness to see the signs that tell you things are up in business that can impact you and your job.   For most, focus on career comes after all the other stuff is done.  What would happen to your career if it was derailed for 14 months? 

As with the volcano eruption, if you ignore or unaware of the signs around you; you get surprised!  Being aware and having a plan can help you avoid or lessen the impact of a sudden event that could derail or destroy your career. 

You can leverage your talent and be ready.  What if you walk in one day and receive a pink slip due to a 5% reduction of the workforce?  What if your job is changed to a new title or function that required you to do something that you don’t want to do for the next five, or more years even for the same money and the same earnings potential you have now?

Your career need not die, or change in a direction you will be unhappy with.  Nor should your bank account be destroyed by a business change, new boss, or some other event on the scale of volcanic eruption.     

Nature and business can be unpredictable.  Predicting volcanic eruption is not my area of expertise, career management is, and working with top talent to manage the career they want is not hard.  The tools are not complex nor are you dealing with factors as unpredictable as figuring out if a volcano will ground planes and changes lives forever. 

Top talent does not overlook, fail to monitor and study trends, or “see” what changes are in the environment.  Top talent does possible scenario planning. 

Scientists strive to understand what does and could happen when the Earth’s plates move.  Do you do this for your career?

For so many people, what’s up in the business, industry and the impact on their job is out of sight and out of mind.  They are clueless as to the signs of what is going on around them.  Even for top talent, it is easy to put your head down, go to work, focus on the day to day operation and never look up. 

The impact of “head down, tail up” working and never looking at the “radar screen” all too often results in being surprised by an unexpected event.  It also results in the misdirected view that your career path and your earnings are unpredictable and out of your ability to influence. 

What can you do to avoid this?  Understand your business, industry, and your job. Have an ongoing plan to accelerate your career and continually move it forward. 

Do these  five basics 1) stay aware of changing trends, 2) maintain contact with your network, 3) make your goals known, 4) have a plan to achieve your goals, and 5) update your résumé every 90 days. 

Simply executing on these basics will blunt the impact of an unseen or unpredictable event that might happen.   Top talent does not get caught “flat footed” time and time again.

What’s going on around you?  Have you allowed your busy life to take the place of staying focused on your career goals? 

Top talent does not stay on top by becoming overly focused on the day to day operations, and short term goals at the expense of long term goals, and the bigger view.  You know it is easy to waste time on meaningless stuff and stop doing the basics. 

Fix it now, before the eruption. Have a plan, execution the basics of the plan, review your progress, and as needed update to the plan.

What are you doing to accelerate your search or your career?  What will you do this week to lessen the impact to your career when a volcano does erupt?

Are you still attempting to learn the rules of the road on LinkedIn?

On Friday, Andrea J. Stenberg shared a great story in her post,  “LinkedIn Invitations – Why hitting I Don’t Know This Person is a bad idea”. It is a post worth reading and thinking about before you select the “I don’t know this person”.

The rules on of connecting on LinkedIn and the rules of connecting via other social media sites are important and can make or break you in business.  Do you know the “rules of engagement”?

Almost weekly, I see people fail to connect at networking events, social gatherings, or business meetings because they don’t know the rules, don’t understand the nuances of connecting with others or simply don’t think about the consequences of their actions.  Do you need to brush up on these skills?

Play to your strengths, learn the rules and help others learn what you know.   You’ll be surprised at the benefits and the connections you’ll make.

You thought your search was over.  You have targeted the company and position you most wanted.  You received a conditional offer pending the results of a background check and a drug screen.

WOW! You’re feeling great.  Then the call, it is bad news.  They are rescinding the offer after reviewing the background check.  The nice voice saying good luck with you job search sounds like it is miles away!

Just like that!  What happened?  What do you do next?

Preparation is a key factor in your job search.  Just as you prepare your résumé, cover letters and your references, and do your research on the companies for which you want to work.  You need to be prepared and know what a background investigation will discover.

Are you prepared? What action will you take this week to be sure your offer does not disappear?

“What you have to give is enough – if you give it with all your heart.”~ Chieko N. Okazaki

The quote above was shared with me by one of my mentors and I wanted to share it with you.  Enjoy it.

Every week, sometimes hundreds of times a week, I hear the questions Should I … or Do I need to … followed by: post my resume online, go back to school, retire, take less money, do a different job, change industries, change careers, quit my job, fire my boss, network with others, network online, and the list could go on and on.  Are you asking these questions?

What do you think my most common reply would be if you asked me one of these questions?  My reply would likely be to ask you the question – “What’s important to you?”

Yes, I know by the look on your face, you might be annoyed by my responding to your question with a question.  However usually that is the best place to start if you are asking yourself or someone else these types of questions about your job search or career transition.

First of all, may I remind you that unless, you lost your last job due to misconduct, or lack of your willingness to correct your work performance to meet your employer’s employment requirements, or your lack of willingness or ability to acquire a specific skill or skills your employer required, you were successful in your prior job.   Your experience, skills, knowledge and abilities are probably solid enough for you to be highly marketable and successful again in today’s job market.

Therefore, if you will spend a little time to reflect on your skills, experience and what is important to you before you jump in to a full blown marketing campaign and job search you will know what is important to you and you will be better prepared to accelerate your success.  If you test the market and determine that you do need help or are missing a skill to do what is important to you, you will be prepared to take the best action.

Be careful about using unanswered questions or other conditions as your excuse for inaction.  Are you using the economy, or not defining what’s important to you as an excuse not to move your job search forward?  You must get out into the job market in a BIG WAY!

Excuses, whatever they are can be a deep dark pit!  A costly pit and a pit filled with fear.    A job search can be scary.  You may feel hesitant as you first start to market yourself.  You may fear rejection, and you may fear making mistakes.  I get that – and by the way, you will be rejected and you will make mistakes!

Job searching has a learn-as-you-go component to it, the market place changes, things change, business needs change, and you change over time.  Get busy, get over having to learn everything before you start your job search, and marketing yourself for your next job.

Be willing to learn-as-you-go, to change what you are doing, or to stop doing the things that are not working for you.  Market YOU.  Get out there with who you are, what you have to offer, what makes you unique and different in the marketplace.

Stop using “Should I” or “Do I need to” questions as excuses.  Clarify what is important to you, stop making excuses, and communicate your value to the marketplace.

Excuses stop you dead in your tracks.  Stop making excuses.  Know what is important to you; communicate what you can do and how you are different.   You do have enough to give.

Will you give it with all your heart?

Don’t tell them about your warts -

“I have these big ugly warts on my feet.  I have had them for two months now.  Some are small and rough, some are growing together.”

WHAT?

That’s right you would not say that in public or to your friends.  Yet almost daily I hear professionals who are looking for their next gig and trying to connect with other professionals, to get referrals and introductions to the employers they want to work for say things about themselves and their job search that I call WARTS!

If you want to increase your connections and referrals, it is critical to educate your family, friends, and the people you meet so they can become your personal advocates.  Doing so helps you create a mini sales force.

If your friends, family and allies know you, know what you do, know about your experience and what type of work you are interested in doing, they can help you.  When you have a team of people who like you, trust you, know you, and can explain what you do.  It is super easy for them to refer you to possible employers, their friends and contacts,  and to help connect you with the best companies and the best positions for you.

Here is one secret so few people use.  The “update letter”.  Use this tool to connect with family, friends and allies.    Most people will be very happy to hear from you, to learn about what you are doing and most will be happy to help if you tell them how they can help you. Be specific.

This is not a WART LETTER – don’t say

Dear Friend:

Poor me, I lost my job, after all these years of toil and I need a job.  Do you have a job for me?

Signed, Mr. Big Wart.

Any letter, email or conversation like that is a burden on all who receive it.  Telling anyone about your WARTS will make them want to run away from you as fast as they can and/or avoid you now and in the future.

Tastefully done an update letter allows you to connect with your network, share key achievements you since you last connected.  It provides an opportunity for you to let friends and family know what you are doing and asking them to think of you if they overhear of or connect with a situation relating to your current interests.

An update letter also provides you with an opportunity to connect, catch up, and talk about business.  You can connect and discover what’s new and or different in life and in the business of your network contacts as well if there is a way that you can help them.

Does an “update letter” really get results?  Not always, but after four months of resisting the idea, here is what happened for one person who decided to send just 10 “update letters”.

One letter went to a former executive assistant, whom he had not seen in 8 years.  She called him after receiving the “update letter”, he took her to lunch, during lunch they talked about family, old friends, business in general and her new job.  In less than a week she called him to coordinate an appointment with the COO of her employer.   The result, an interesting conversation about a new project within a division of the organization scheduled to start in a few months.  What is next?  Another conversation, then who knows?  This grateful executive is glad he composed and sent an “update letter” and connected with someone in his network and is busy updating other advocates within his network.

Who should you send an “update letter” to?

When you compose your “update letter”?

Let me know about your results.

For years video has been used in career management to help the career minded advance their career.  However, again the Internet is changing how we use video.

Early in 2009, there was an explosion of people recording 60-second video clips and video resumes as local Cable TV groups and others began to help job seekers produce videos designed to grab attention and help people land jobs.

Some of these videos popped and made a great impression and others, well a not so great impression.  This trend was like the early use of VHS tapes mailed to firms by new grads with a goal of landing an interview, some were top quality, well done and others were not.

In December 2009, William Arruda, the Founder of Reach Personal Branding shared his predictions on the top trends for 2010 in Personal Branding.  His top prediction was “Video, Video, Video”.  On Thursday, William Arruda and the Reach team launched personalbranding.TV (PB.TV) if you are interested in how video can help you advance your career and your personal brand you must check this new site out.

I have followed the work of William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson since 2007, when I first read “Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand”.  This is a book I have re-read several times and share with others often.  In my view William is the top expert on Personal Branding and watching his new site and learning from him and team of Personal Branding experts is worth your time.

Instead of just using video to land an interview or to be better prepared to interview by seeing ourselves as others see us, today’s trend is to use video to help communicate your brand.  Are you ready to communicate your brand via video?

We all have a personal brand.  Most of us understand little about how to leverage our personal brand, communicate our personal brand and really build a strong personal brand.  Just as strong corporate brands fair better in economic downturns, so do individuals with strong personal brands.  If you have a strong personal brand and you are clear about your target audience and communicate your unique points of differentiation to the companies you are interested in, it makes a difference in the value proposition.

Check out personalbranding.TV and let me know your thoughts.

What does your brand say about your value in the marketplace?

What do you do to communicate your brand?

To your accelerated success,

Cindy Key

“Our words reveal our thoughts; our manners mirror our self-esteem; our actions reflect our character; our habits predict the future.”   ~  William Arthur Ward

This week I encountered one of those people who was so angry and so frustrated, he just had to tell everyone within earshot how he has been wronged due to his age.   The clash was over the top when this angry man shouted at two “millennials” about everything from their education, dress, type of cell phone, and ideas on what would be a dream job.

Just as I was stepping forward to ensure there was not an atomic blast, one of the young ladies this man was targeting with his angry spoke up.  Her words spoken with a slight quaver in her voice turned more than a few heads.  She shared that she thought ‘AGE’ was just an excuse.  Then she shared how that excuse had helped her justify for 18 months, what she wanted to do or say without looking at the impact or the result.

She disclosed how she figured out something very important – to get interviews she had to play up her unique attributes and connect those to the employer needs and follow that by downplaying her unique attributes, including her preferred manner of dress that clashed with employer wants and/or needs or she was going to remain without a job and become homeless.

Her message was that when she stopped blaming AGE and started to think of ways to leverage her differences to provide mutual benefit and stopped her personal “WAR” with older candidates, employer systems and the authority of hiring managers she began to get interviews.

Are you waging a war?

Is AGE a blind spot in your job search?

Are you a highly qualified candidate, struggling to prove your value to companies?

Would you benefit from leveraging your value, attributes and differences?

Are your perceptions and expectations about AGE helping you connect with employers or encouraging them to call ‘security’?

What perceptions should you examine this week?

What is your policy?

Most of you know my background is in Business Operations/Management and Human Resources and the systems and discipline learned over the years have served me and those I serve well.  One of those disciplines is to regularly review practices and policies to determine if they need updating and when there is a policy or acceptable pattern of behavior that needs updating to update it.  Times change and you must to this or your practices and policies get outdated.

Okay, before you say WHAT? – “I’m looking for my next gig and will worry about policy stuff when I land.”   Not looking at what you do and how you handle business and your search day in and day can be costly.  Your personal policies and practices drive your results and help you be effective.  Stop, think, and review at least one area a week, if you at not getting the results you want.  This week look at social media.  Think about and review what you doing.  Doing so should help you be more effective.

Social media is changing.  This week I am looking at my practices for LinkedIn and Twitter.  I would encourage you to do the same.  Here are some questions to help you.

Do you have a policy or a practice?

Do your practices (or habits) help ensure you are effective and use your social media time wisely?

How much time do you spent connecting via social media?

Is the time productive and focused?

What are your goals for using each type of social media?

Can you quickly explain how you use social media?

How is social media helping you reach the goals you set for your search?

Can you measure the results?

Now use your answers to review what you do, your habits and what, if anything you should change.

Not being a social media expert, I depend on experts to help me understand, learn and be effective with all the tools and systems I use.  Nancy Marmolejo is one of the experts I trust to help me with social media.  On January 11, Nancy posted a great tip where she talk about the “spin cycle” and shared great information.  Her tips are geared to business owners, but they also apply to job seekers.  After all you are the owner and marketer of your talent, skills and experience.  Read Social Media Tip: Go Micro, worth reading.

If you review your practices and need some help to refine how you use social media to accelerate your job search, do two things.  1) Leave a comment below about what you are doing that works and what you need help with or have questions about, and 2) contact me directly if you need help.