Accelerate Your Search™ Now

That is a great question.

Employment firms can be a solid resource for finding potential employers, especially if you are in a specialized field or niche industry.  The type of firm and how that  firm interacts in the  market varies, so do your homework and ask questions.

Here are some questions to help you determine if a particular employment firm might be a good strategic partner in your search:

• Does the firm handle some or all of the human resource functions for one of your target employers?
• What is the firm’s reputation?
• Where is the firm’s office located?
• What references does the firm offer?
• Can you talk to current and past customers (both candidates and employers)?
• How long has the employment firm been in business?
• Where does the employment firm advertise for the jobs you are targeting?
• Does the employment firm have expertise in placing people in your field?
• Does the employment firm have a relationship with the companies and employers you are targeting?
• Is the employment firm a local, regional or a national organization?
• What services does the firm provide to you as a candidate?
• What services does the firm provide to the employers and companies it serves?
• What are the terms of your agreement with the firm?
• What will the firm expect you to do?
• Does the employment firm focus only on hiring applicants to perform contract work on a temporary or project basis?
• Will you work for the employment firm if hired or for the company you are targeting?
• Are there opportunities for on-the-job training or other skill development from the employment firm?
• How long has the person you are working with been with the employment firm?

What other questions do you have?   Post them below.

Are you still on target with your intentions?  Why or why not?

I recently read there are two factors that impact your success of achieving a New Year’s resolution more than anything else:

1) Do you like and want the end result of the resolution and

2)  Do you believe the change is good for you?

Dictionary.com defines belief as “something believed; an opinion or conviction.”

Belief is a powerful factor.  How are your beliefs impacting your job search and/or your New Year’s resolution results?

Recently, a client shared he preferred the freedom of unemployment over receiving a weekly paycheck.  With this realization he created a new plan.  He would not seek a new job and instead was planning on selling his home and moving in with his elderly parents to serve as their caregiver.  This would allow him to continue to enjoy the freedom of his current lifestyle.

His conviction, as he shared it, was that his freedom was more important than receiving a paycheck and he decided finding a way to have the freedom was more important to him than finding a job.

What is important to you?  How is it impacting your career-related New Year’s resolution(s)?

I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on the topic.   Post a comment or share your resolution and your progress.

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

The quote above was shared with me at a time I was stuck and having a hard time moving forward.  It provided me with the fresh perspective I needed.

Wind, rain and many other factors 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 make decisions for thousands of reasons and sometimes those decisions are poorly planned, communicated and executed.  The outcome of some of these decisions is dramatic and immediate and the outcome of other decisions may take months or years to be seen.

When an organization decides to reduce or layoff staff or change employee job functions,  people are deeply impacted.  For some professionals the end of a job is a powerful force that moves them forward at once to the next great adventure.  For others, the blow is dramatic, personal and stops them in their tracks.

It is not always easy to “move on.”  If you are asking, “Why did this happen?”  Sometimes you need to stop and do something different.

If a change in your career has you currently focused on the hurt, write the “hurt” in the  sand or build a sandcastle.  Then visualize a wave washing over the sand.

Now, ask yourself different questions in order to move on. 

Ask yourself:

What do I want to do next?

What am I afraid of doing?

What would happen if I did what I am most afraid of doing?

What would I do if I knew I could not fail?

What work would be fun or I would do without pay?

What am I most interested in doing?

What do I want my legacy to be?

Try a different questions.  Write down your answers.  Ponder your answers and be open to your answers.

Does it matter if you write messages in sand or marble?  I think so.  If you need help asking different questions or moving your search forward, look to the right and sign up for the next (no charge) Q & A session and let me know how I can help you.

The data shows wages are trending up.  Bridget Quigg shares details in her post “Wages Trend Up to Finish 2011 Ahead”.  Read it and assess the data for yourself. 

The national and state data for unemployment in many areas is also positive.  Yet if you are looking for a job this may or may not be important. Also it may or may not be good news or bad news.

To improve your situation and your results, being focused on you may be more helpful than being focused on trends, data, comments, news, etc.   Are you focused on you and your results?  Are you ready to accelerate your results?

I hope so.  That is what you can most impact. 

Just a month ago, I was celebrating a client’s new job.  When we talked the other day, he shared how he is enjoying the new job, the work, the people then he paused and asked me “Why didn’t I take action and get focused sooner?”

Boy, that is a powerful question and one that I can’t answer.  So a turned the question back to him.  His answer was the he was sad about losing his job, the news, and everyone around him was telling him things were bad. He shared he was unsure what to do.  The day after we talked about what to do, he had 2 simple action steps and my I challenge to him to take action. 

He took the action. Now he is working!  I just offered the two specific action steps.  Two simple steps changed his entire search and resulted in the job he landed.   Look accelerating your search does not have to be slow, lonely or hard, but it can if you want it to be.

If you lack focus or are focused on less productive things. Stop worrying about the unemployment numbers or the wage trends.  Focus on the things you can impact. Here are action steps you can take today.

Action Steps:

 1. Look at your network, your contacts and your current leads.  Group them into three categories:  Ideal, Referral, Influencers

 2. Create an action plan; include who you will contact and when you will connect.

 3. Make the connection. 

The client above, made the call.  That is how he landed the job. My challenge to him was simple “make the call” and he did.   What action will you take today? 

Have a success story to share?  Post it below.

Do you have a question about your search?  Look to the right and sign up for next Q & A session, join the session and ask your question.

What will you do different in 2012?

If you have been job searching for a several months or more the question – “What will you do different in 2012?”  As well as the answer is critical to your job search and your career success.  If your results are not where you want them to be, ask yourself “What will I do different in 2012?” 

If your job search results are – interviews and no offers, coming in second time and time again, or no interviews, or no conversations with potential employers and this continues – where will you be at the end of 2012.  Well the odds are the same place you are today!

If you continue to do the same things the odds are great that you will get the same results, and be in the same place at the end of 2012 as you were at the end of 2011.  Also believe it or not, or like it or not, the longer you are not working – yes, unemployed – the higher the odds are you will impact your long term earnings potential.  Let’s face it; the odds are also higher that you are building some habits that may impact your performance for years to come. 

Over the years, I have worked with and learned from many talented coaches, mentors, bosses and colleagues.  I am not 100% sure Doug Brown was the first to ask me a couple of powerful  questions that made a huge difference in my habits, my life, my business, and my career, but I believe it was Doug – Thanks Doug!  

Here are the powerful questions:

What is important to you?

What is REALLY important to you?

If < fill in the blank with what is REALLY important to you > is that important to you, what are you willing to different today to have it or achieve it?

I hope the questions and your answers help your search and your life as much as they have helped me.  Here’s to your very successful 2012!

If you want to share what you are doing different, please do so below.  I’d love to hear about your success.  If I can help you do something different in 2012, contact me.