Try Something New to Take the Insanity out of Your Job Search

I’ve gone to the same mall area shopping for Christmas presents three times in the last couple of weeks. Each time I have gone, I come home less and less satisfied with the amount of purchases I made. I just can’t seem to find what I am looking for at the stores available in that location. With just a week left until Christmas and with more than a few presents left to purchase, I decided to change my game plan.

What is the old Einstein saying; “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Well I decided to stir things up, not go insane and try and new shopping venue.

Wow! Was I excited to find new stores that had new ideas and gifts I had been looking for! I even went in to some of the same stores as the other location but they had a different variety of items to choose from and again was successful.

When the day of shopping was through, I had successfully crossed off every item on my list. I drove home thinking of how thankful I was to not have decided to give my usual stomping ground another try. Some times you’ve got to move away from routine to find the best deals.

Before you go insane in your job search, make sure to shake up your routine every once in a while. Take stock in the results of your efforts. If something isn’t working for you – try something new. Just because your friend was wildly successful on a specific LinkedIn group or networking event doesn’t mean you will immediately get the same results. Take hold of what Einstein said and try something else.

For example, if you are only working with job boards get involved in online groups in LinkedIn or one of the really great job search groups on Ning or Yahoo Groups. If you tend to visit more than network at networking groups try a new one, and develop a new elevator speech that accentuates your strengths and personal brand. Check out industry associations, newspapers, groups, or volunteer somewhere but try something new.

The most important thing to remember is to be creative and open to new ideas or suggestions, find what works for you and keep moving forward. Even with the Holiday season in full swing, now is still a good time to be setting up new year meetings and filling that pipeline with contacts and networking activities that target and work towards your goals. Keep your goals close and review them often to keep you focused and motivated. Save yourself the grief of driving yourself crazy by not trying new strategies, techniques, activities or groups to help you find the job you deserve.

With this weekend’s time change, Halloween and the end of another month, it dawned on me that I have less than two months to prepare for Christmas. This time of the year always reminds me of when I was having my kids (all born around the New Year). Every time I was pregnant, I knew I needed to get my shopping done early. I also knew I would probably need a little more time, just in case labor came early or I simply wasn’t feeling up to fighting the crowds and standing in long lines, when I was eight or nine months pregnant.

Now with November here I realize it is time to start my preparations for the Christmas season. For me it means getting the lists started, it is really important to me to find the right gifts for the people on my list. It is always fun and informative to check out the sales at different stores, online and even QVC for great gift ideas. It was important to shop early, otherwise all the best gifts would be gone.

If I didn’t prepare I would be running around the week of Christmas, shopping in stores with no merchandise left. The selection would be less than plentiful! I still purposely try every year to shop early so I can enjoy the season and remember the true meaning of Christmas and not just the Hallmark side of it. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I wasn’t preparing along the way.

Whether I take steps to prepare ahead of time and enjoy the season or cram in everything at the end and have to settle for what is still available, is up to me.

The same preparedness should hold true when searching for a new job. Whether you are laid off, or looking to change jobs, things move much smoother and efficiently with proper planning! It starts with lists – or an actual plan. Deciding what type of job you are seeking, searching for the right company, networking on and offline and having your resume written with deliberate focus to so it stands out and gets noticed are all part of that plan.

Do you dare face your job search unprepared? Considering we spend anywhere from 40-60+ hours a week involved with job-related activities, shouldn’t it be something special, something you’re qualified for and something you love to do? Finding the right job doesn’t happen overnight. So take the time necessary a job that fits you well. Prior preparation will let you enjoy the journey and find the right job without settling for what ever happens to be available. Not sure when to start? How about Now!

You’ve heard, as most of us have, that you get out of something, what you put into something. I remember hearing that from my parents, teachers and now – I find myself using similar analogies with my own kids and often, with my clients.

We all know what the economy is like right now, and how high unemployment is, so why do job seekers still think that they can just post their resume on Monster or Career Builder and expect the phone to ring? It is not going to happen. The boards yield less than 7% of the jobs found and although I make it a point to repeat these facts to my clients several times while working together, I still get those who only post their resume and then complain because of no response.

If you want to play a sport well, grow a garden, build a tree house for your kids, have clean clothes, or cook something there are several steps and processes to go through before your efforts yield positive results.

Buying ingredients and putting them in your pantry will not produce a cake.

It is vital for job seekers to work hard and consistently if they want to find and obtain the right job and career for them. Start by getting on LinkedIn – that alone offers a world of networking possibilities. Join professional associations in your field, and research and seek out companies you feel would fit your strengths, passions and goals.

Contact old friends, new friends, coworkers, past employers, past coworkers, suppliers, vendors, ancillary department workers, volunteer associates, family, neighbors, church friends, sports/kids/school friends or join new networking groups to make new contacts. Talk with people, ask about them, help others if possible and let them know about your background and current goals. The more you communicate the quicker you’ll find a job!

If you need help, unsure of what to do next – ask! People like to help other people so ask. Ask your friends or someone you know who has recently gotten a new job. Ask a professional resume writer or career coach who can point you in the right direction and has an endless supply of resources.

The more effort you put in the quicker you will find a job. It will be hard, it might take a while, and you might face rejection more than once – it is part of the process. You can do this! Give your self the credit you deserve. You’ve got great skills, achievements and experiences to offer you just have to get your awesome value in front of the right people – through networking. Keep moving and working towards your goals.

Friday’s Free for All

Staying focused and finding ways to stop procrastinating can be difficult when you’ve got activities, decisions, or things to do that you really don’t want to do. I know… I fight it often.

I love learning new things, information finding new resources and new technology to help with my work and my clients. Sometimes I am hearing about or discovering so many thngs that I just want to read all day and not actually work. Although it is tough – if I want to continue to run a successful business, I need to maintain focus and work during my work day.

For job seekers, the thought of networking at different events, finding new contacts or getting reacquainted with

old contacts feels like going to the dentist. That’s ok – treat it like the dentist! Even though it might be a little uncomfortable, the people are nice and they help to fix your problems!

One trick for me, is at the end of the day I spend a few minutes and make a list for the following morning. Actually, I usually keep the list handy throughout the day and if something needs to be done that I can’t get to today, I write it on my list so I don’t forget. If you write a list of the contacts you want to make, businesses you want to research, meetings you want to attend then you won’t have to think too hard. Your daily goal then is to check off your list as your day progresses.

Things do come up and items won’t get check off – those then go on tomorrow’s list. The point is that you keep moving forward. Finding a job is not only about what you know and who you know but is also about who knows you. If you don’t make yourself known – the job search process can go on forever.

So, get focused! Write your list, and work at checking off everything every day – that is how goals are accomplished, one checkmark at a time!

Monday’s PMA

When I’ve worked hard at something – really knowing I’ve given my all but still things didn’t work out for me, I might be disappointed with the outcome but not with myself. There is a big difference! Knowing that I’ve put 100% into doing the best I could makes good outcomes feel great and bad outcomes feel…a little less bad.

When moving through your job search you will feel the same way. The more effort you put in, the more results you’ll have – good or bad. But knowing you’ve really tried and not just went through the motions and then complained to everyone that you “just can’t find work” will boost your confidence because you’ll be continually striving to achieve your best.

This is key because people notice a confident job seeker! Your go-getter attitude will get noticed by new contacts, recruiters, interviewers, and hiring managers you meet.

When you put all your energy into what you are doing you discover many things about yourself. You will discover what you are capable of; your strengths, weaknesses, personal preferences, ways you handle accomplishments and achievements, how you communicate with strangers at different professional levels and more. The more you learn about yourself, the more comfortable you will be with yourself and again will be reflected in true confidence.

Employers look for and hire employees that are confident in their abilities and sure of what they can accomplish. If you’ve never pushed yourself to work at 100+% capacities you might not really know… and it will show.

There is no down side. You will get to know yourself really well, build character, work harder at your job search and this will get you noticed, all of which will help you to find the right job faster.

Try this Week to Give 100% and Shine On!!

Tuesday’s Tips

For the past year college students have been hearing and probably feeling first hand the effects of the economy. Student loans are harder to get, interest rates are higher, available internships are down 20%, and stats on the staggering number of new graduates still unemployed leaves little to get excited about. So, what can new graduates do that will help them get ahead of other 2009 graduates that are also looking for work?

>>> Be Prepared <<<

Keep Your Documents Updated You’ve got to have really well developed documents including your resume, cover letter, and references, and addendums that are targeted to what you are looking for. Which means, if you are looking in a few different directions, you might want have a few different versions of your resume? As a new graduate you probably won’t have too much to change in order to make each resume specific in its own right.

For example, you might want a resume focused on your engineering education, internship, classes and projects you worked on in school. For this entry-level resume, all the information should be based on your engineering experience.

If however, you’ve been an assistant manager and manager in an ice cream store on campus for the last 3 or 4 years and want to have a resume focused on your management experience, then all the information in the resume should focus on management. You might include classes in management and business or communications.

Remember also to highlight any other involvement including volunteer positions you have held, that can showcase additional management skills. Don’t forget to change the cover letter to match each resume you develop and can even be tweaked for each job you apply, for maximum affect.

Keep Documents Together When going to interviews bring a portfolio to hold your resume, cover letter, references, addendums, college transcripts, and all relevant academic, social, sport and volunteer related awards and achievements. This will keep you organized and will show employees you are motivated and ready to move forward.

Another great tip that helps new graduates throughout their entire career is to keep a box, file, or drawer designated for your achievements. Throughout your career you’ll work on really impressive projects, programs, products or deals that you’ll want to showcase in future resumes. While working on them they are all consuming and you can’t imagine not retaining all the facts and figures, but in a few years after several more “big” deals, the details might start to fade.

So keep records. With the job market how it is today, if you are let go you may only have 20 minutes to pack up your belongings. Not having access to those facts and figures could be a regret down the road. You won’t have to use exact figures if you feel a conflict in confidentiality, but you will still be able to use the information for effective achievements.

Start Building a Solid Contact List Networking accounts for more than 80% of current job hires. Building a network of contacts will help with future job searching and quite possibly enhance your career performance.

The list will evolve as you meet new people, land new jobs and grow. Keeping a current list will make it easier to weed through potential contacts later when unexpectedly needed. Having a current list keeps people that could be potential mentors, coworkers, employees, or someone you can help close. Your list can have contact names, phone numbers, place of employment, industry and field of employment, email addresses, and anything else that might help later.

Building your list will not only help with your job search but might also be a viable resource during your working career. It makes for a fast and detailed reference list of vendors, suppliers, mentors, trainers, and other assistance you may need to succeed at a job.

As young professionals with so much to look forward to, there is also much to learn as you graduate and begin your career search. It can be daunting, confusing, scary, exciting, and long, but make it a true learning experience. Keep these tips in mind to help you stayed prepared, organized, connected and ready for the next awesome opportunity.

Tuesday’s Tip

You’ve got an awesome resume you had developed by a professional resume writer and now you’ve posted it on Monster, CareerBuilder, Indeed, and Simply Hired. Feeling very confident you’ve even signed up to LinkedIn and developed a pretty savvy profile. Now it has been 3 weeks and all you’ve gotten are hits on your postings that don’t fit your goals or even your resume at all. Starting to feel a little less confident in your current job search strategies, you begin searching through Google looking for ways to improve your job search.

 You will discover that between your resume and your interview, what you must Do is search. The word search is a verb, an action word. The only way you will be successful in finding a job is by being a verb, an action word, searching, researching, connecting, contacting, prospecting, asking, talking, doing…all verbs – all action words. Get the point? You have to take action in order to find a job.

The more curious and bold you can become, the faster and more successful you’ll be. Monitor your postings, develop your contact list, search companies, connect with LinkedIn contacts, go to networking events but then take it all one step further. How? Let’s look at what the next step might look like.

Well let’s start with monitoring your postings. If you find a posting that looks really interesting – start investigating to find out if there is a way to get your resume directly into the hands of the hiring manager other than going through the online application process. Who do you know at that company?

Check out LinkedIn, your networking groups and your contacts. Do you know anyone directly or indirectly at the company you are targeting? Find out – make the extra calls, be polite and gracious but find out! If you can find someone to hand deliver you or your resume to the hiring manager, imagine the dozens or even hundreds of resumes you’ll bypass. It is worth the effort.

Stay connected with your contacts, your networking friends, your twitter, Facebook and the 10 other social networking sites you’ve joined. Follow up on any and every lead you receive. You never know where your next job will come from. It may be through someone in another state or country, and you think…this is just a waste of time – you are wrong. The world is getting smaller every day. People know other people from other areas of the world and so distant contacts can be very effective – I’ve seen it happen first hand!

When you are researching a company or industry read, make calls, join organizations but keep searching. Don’t stop at just one contact, look for more. Find out what problem needs to be solved, what product needs to be developed, what market needs to be penetrated and see if you can be a solution to them. If so, let them know.

Be creative – follow leads, make up a few moves of your own. Talk with others, help other job seekers find work, or volunteer your talents. Look into new possibilities too, don’t be so pigeonholed that you miss an opportunity that isn’t what you expected – might be the best thing you ever missed!

Remember that the action you take is what will make you a success in finding a job. Your resume and other documents only count for about 15% of the effort that is needed to make your search successful. Be a verb – do more – you’ll be glad you did.

Wednesday’s Q&A

Question: I’ve heard networking cards are helpful, what information should I put on it?

Answer:  While searching for a job, networking or contact cards are an inexpensive way to provide quick information to anyone you meet. By using your personal contact cards and not a card from the company you work at, it shows potential employers that you are not abusing current company time or money. Also, most employers would prefer not to use company contact information to get in touch with potential candidates.

You can find contact cards at most places that sell business cards. The bigger chains such as Staples or Office Depot offer them, as do online suppliers such as Vista Print. According to Staples and Vista Print’s online websites, 250 cards cost around $15.00. They are well worth the small investment.

Your cards should be 2 sided for a strong first impression. The front will have your contact information and will include your name, full address, phone number, email address and website if you have it. If you have a LinkedIn profile…and you should, add the information on the front of the card as well.

Use a font that is clear and large enough to be read easily. Also, make sure the contact information is yours personally and not an email account or phone number from your office. Not too much color or graphics either, you want your talents and information to stand out.

On the back is where you can really brand yourself as an expert in your field. I’ve seen some creative card backings so feel free to use it as you see fit. Some suggestions would be 3-4 bullet points on top achievements you’ve accomplished in the last 5 years for example:

• Ranked #2 out of 26 Sales Rep’s in the Michigan-Ohio region.
• Instrumental in launch of 2 new product lines.
• Increased region revenues by 12% in past 4 years after capturing 3 new large accounts.

Some prefer using a skill set to illustrate qualifications you have to offer. Depending on the industry and position use the most appropriate information. I’ve also seen quotes, education and internship experience for new graduates, and value statements that have all been very effective.

If you don’t have contact cards, order some today – it doesn’t take long and you’ll receive them in just a few days, some services are over night! Once you have them, don’t let them sit in the box and collect – go out and start marketing yourself as the expert you are!

Tuesday’s Tips

The number of available internships and entry level jobs are down just as all jobs in general are down but that doesn’t mean there are not jobs waiting for the new graduates. It just means it is a little tougher to find work – so how do you get ahead…get moving!! We’ve all heard the saying, “Anything worth having is worth working for”; well it is definitely true with finding  the right job.

You have got your degree now what are you going to do with it? Like all job seekers, you have got to get your ducks in a row. Make sure you know the direction you want to go in terms of position and even industry. Just because you are new to the business world it doesn’t mean you don’t need a plan. Without a plan you’ve got no direction and you’ll wander, get discouraged and quit looking or settle for something you really didn’t want.

 Make sure you develop a killer set of career documents. A powerful resume showcases the classes, projects, internships, affiliations and outside work experience you’ve hopefully accomplished during your time in school. Gather positive recommendation letters from employers, teachers, volunteer leaders or others you’ve interacted with during your college life. Finally, make sure you have a reference sheet, targeted cover letter, transcripts, examples of work or projects and anything else relevant to your new career.

 Once armed with direction and documents you need to take action! Don’t think posting to Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and NewGraduateJobs.com is all you’ve got to do to find a really great, high paying job. You’ll need to set in place job search plan as well. Still search the job boards but find ways to get closer to the actual hiring managers.

• Do your research; Google the company, read the career section on the company website and find ways to meet people within the organization that can get your resume to the decision makers!
• If you are not on http://www.linkedin.com/, http://www.visualcv.com/, and using http://www.jibberjobber.com/ to organize your search you should be. You need to look at this job search as if it is an all out battle or assault for the jobs. Many companies aren’t using the big boards so you’ll have to be find ways to be seen by them and get creative in finding them. 
• Get involved in associations, volunteer programs, community and church activities, forums, and networking groups in your area. Think about starting a network for new graduates to help each other.

The more aggressive you are and more motivated, confident and valuable you appear. Appearance and fit at this stage of your career is the name of the game. If you decide to “take the summer off because the market is so slow anyway”, like I am hearing daily from new graduates in my area, you’ll look lazy (for lack of nicer word) to hiring managers that realize you are just starting your search after 3 or 4 months of being out of school. 

When you are a new graduate your motivation, energy, and positive attitude are crucial to employers looking for entry level employees. Put your motivation and energy into action for faster results and a more proactive reputation.

Just came from Twitter, doing a quick check in before I start work on a new healthcare resume. It is a good way to de-stress the mind and …clear the pallet before starting on a new project, plus it’s fun.

 I read a quote a follower of mine had put up as a tweet, it read, “The gent who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn’t been asleep” – Wilson Mizner. This quote really hit home after coaching a client this morning on job search strategies. The strategies are easy it is the searching that takes motivation and commitment.

Those who I hear saying, it isn’t fair my niece/friend/coworker/etc got a job doing what I am looking for and I’ve been looking longer – I deserve the job. My thought and (sometimes) answer is – No You Don’t! You’ve been sleeping while others have been working hard to make contacts, get noticed, and find hidden and not-so-hidden jobs.

Or, maybe they are settling for something that isn’t a perfect fit or not at the salary they had hoped for but it is a good job and it is a job. In today’s economy, sometimes people can’t hold out for the ideal job. I still tell my clients to search for what they really want, not for what they can get. But, I’ve seen the repeated struggles of job seekers looking for work and I completely understand the urgency of finding a good job even if it isn’t the idea job, at least for now.

 So – this might sound like a kick in the pants but…if you don’t want to keep complaining about what others have – quit sleeping and try walking a mile in their job search shoes. You might learn a few things and even find a job!

 OK – I hope I’m not being too harsh…this is written with love ♥♥