Career Hub

Wrong Diagnosis

This week I received a frantic call from a very accomplished, senior-level executive. We've worked together throughout several major career changes over the past eight or so years. He was in a panic, anxious to rework his portfolio, resume, cover letter approach, and leave-behind documents. He'd been "road-testing" new versions of these materials for the past two months. Anxious to accommodate him, my initial question was, "Tell me what's driving you? What do you want to change? And, importantly, why?" (In our work together several months ago, he'd been crystal-clear about his objective, so I was somewhat surprised.)

Ed, we'll call him, launched into a breathless account about being sure he needed a new approach. He was convinced a different spin on his accomplishments and a wildly creative presentation would be the answer to his problem. When I asked, specifically, what he thought the problem was, I fully anticipated that his response would be along the lines of "I'm not getting the response I'd anticipated" ... "I've done recruiter blitz campaigns, really targeted my network, but nothing's breaking" ... or even the (often) ineffective, "I'm posting my material everywhere on the 'net, but not hearing anything."

Here was Ed's reply:  "I've been going on all kinds of interviews, making great connections, but not getting asked back for a second round."

Ah-ha moment.

I gently explained, "Ed, I think your diagnosis may be flawed -- sounds like your approach and the tools you're using are doing exactly what you'd hoped ... perhaps more closely assessing your interviewing skills, enhancing your success in targeting positions at the right level, and working on those closing abilities would be a more productive way to spend your time."

If you're finding your job-search efforts have stalled, be careful to thoroughly explore the root cause -- so that the effort you expend in making the 'fix' will be time well spent! You don't want to compromise all your hard work by reacting to the wrong diagnosis.

Number One Pick

I love watching American Idol. Last night, as per my usual Tuesday evening ritual, I perched myself directly in front of the television with paper and pen in hand. Yes, sadly I admit, I take notes on the AI wanna-be's performance. Never mind that my husband pokes his head in the door to see if I'm alright when he hears my rants and raves. Actually, I am cheering on the contestants or contesting something the judges have said.

In any event, I like Idol because it is a learning experience...much like the interview process. Sometimes, the most stellar performance gets ripped. Other times, what you perceive as the worst possible, terrible performance, gets high praise and accolades from the panel of judges. The point is, when it's your time to be in the spotlight (the interview), go and do your very best. Practice. Prepare. Get ready. Stay ready. Not everyone is going to like your interview "performance." Some may not like your attire. Others may find fault with what you say, don't say, or even how you say it. Focus on presenting your very, very best self, whatever that is for you. Give it your all. Then somebody, somewhere, sometime, is surely going to vote for you as their number one pick!

Life in a Box

While browsing the blogosphere, I came across Life in a Box, a hilarious site with the best workplace cartoons since Dilbert. According to her Bio, Abigail Spankie has lived many of the experiences she portrays on her site:

Life in a Box™ creator, Abigail Spankie, is a liberated ex-corporate office tech worker. In a previous life, she spent her 40 hours a week inside a half-walled cubicle under flourescent lights diligently writing code for her company's intranet site. It was enough to keep her content until the company outsourced her job to an evil global outsourcing management company. She gave it a fair shake but subsequently quit when she realized the life was rapidly being sucked out of her.

Today, she's a comic strip artist and web developer.  She wholeheartedly thanks Corporate America for giving her the cornucopia of crappy corporate experiences that make up the story lines for Life in a Box™.

Bookmark her site and go there regularly, or subscribe here.

The Elusive "Fit"

What distinguishes one good candidate from another when it comes down to final selection? Ask HR, hiring managers, and recruiters, and often the answer is "fit." It can be frustrating to get this response when you're trying to figure out why you didn't get an offer, and it might sound like a pat reply or even a means to get out of telling you the truth. But fit, in fact, is often the deciding factor.

To add confusion, fit is hard to define and impossible to standardize. At some companies it might mean that you align with their mission and clearly defined cultural traits. Other places, though, it can simply mean that they "liked" the chosen candidate better - felt more comfortable with him/her and could easily envision working together.

You can't fight it, but there are a few things you can do to influence fit in your favor:

• Be likeable. Be friendly and pleasant, show a genuine interest in the people you meet at the company, and try to draw them out just a bit about themselves and their personal interests. You don't want to overdo it or be insincere, but getting people to talk about themselves is a tried-and-true method of getting them to think of you in a positive light.

• Research the company and its culture, then bring up relevant experiences that show you are in alignment. Traits such as collaboration, initiative, or sense of humor might be what's important at one company, while a nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic and bottom-line results are the culture at another organization. You don't want to be untrue to yourself in making the connections, but by doing your homework you'll know where you can score "fit" points during an interview.

And keep in mind - the fit must be right on both sides.

Case studies boost credibility during interviews

Case studies: you see them on websites, marketing brochures, and business proposals. They describe challenges, actions, and results (CAR) -- ultimately demonstrating how the company or product can do the same for you.

Even dreaded infomercials use them. They demonstrate the products' benefits by having actual product "users" tell their story. "Why, I lost 25 pounds using Therma-Trim combined with diet and exercise. Here's my story," says the 95-pound, athletic-looking blonde.

Can you use this same strategy to promote what you can do for a company - without sounding like an infomercial? Yes! Does it work? Yes!

This strategy helps demonstrate your expertise during -- and after -- an interview. Develop at least three case studies that demonstrate your expertise. Keep each study to one page per study, if possible. Name it something exciting, such as: "New Web Strategy Tripled Sales for X Marks the Spot Marketing." Avoid too much jargon to make it an easy read.

For example, if you are a web designer, provide the Challenge encountered when developing a particular website. Perhaps it was capturing the company's personality in an exciting way or creating an exciting e-commerce solution that would triple online business in the first six months. Provide the Action steps you took to achieve the Results. This can include the way you developed the web concept and marketing plan, structured the site, researched effective keywords, partnered with outside resources, etc. Then describe the Results. What happened with the project? If you have stats that demonstrate the amount of hits increased combined with a sales increase, these are hard facts that prove you can do the job.

You'll be able to back up your claims during an interview with solid examples. And, for added effect, leave copies of your case studies behind for the interviewer to review at her leisure.

In my former world of newspaper reporting, we were always told, "Show it; don't tell it." You'll be doing the same, showing your expertise to a prospective employer through case studies. A classic "try-before-you-buy" that shows you can be a solution to their business problem. And people who provide solutions get hired.

Challenge: Develop 3 case studies you’d like employers to know about.

Nurture Your Network

When do most people think of networking with recruiters and key thought leaders? Usually not when they are in a state of complete career-contentedness ... nor when they are overwhelmed with the taxing responsibilities of a frenzied position. Instead, these networking contacts tend to occur in more of a reactive mode (state of panic at unexpected unemployment or even as an afterthought following an anticipated separation from a previous employer).

Just as effective account managers know that they must constantly feed the pipeline with possible leads, cold calls, and new business ... and busy entrepreneurs know that they must continually cultivate prospective business, maintain marketing efforts, and advertise (even when they are too busy!), successful career managers recognize the value of maintaining their network as an ongoing activity.

Reach out to your network when you are not in an active job search mode. Contact those best-in-class recruiters that have been instrumental in your career advancement and ask how you can help them, what leads you can provide, and which contacts you can relay that would prove useful. Same with the key professional network of people you'd call on the minute you knew your position was at risk. If you haven't grabbed coffee, met for lunch, or caught up over a game of golf in more than ... six months or so, now's the time to reestablish the connection (when you don't need it). By carefully nurturing and valuing your network of key contacts, you'll be in a more optimal position to receive critical assistance when you do need it. And, you'll be likely to be considered first with outstanding opportunities when you least expect them!

Your Career: Chance or Choice?

Maybe I think too much. I attended a wonderful certification program this week and one of the questions posed to the instructor was "Do you think one's career is by chance, or by choice?" Even though there wasn't ample time to delve into this subject area, the question still lingers in my mind. With 21 years as an experienced career professional, I have no definitive, conclusive, for sure and certain answers; only more questions. What do you think? One's career -- chance or choice?

Personal Branding: A Leader's Tool for Career Change

I just returned from a wonderful careers conference in California, the annual Association of Job Search Trainers Conference. One of the keynote speakers was Greg Giesen, founder and facilitator of a 3-day, 2-night intensive leadership development workshop called Leading From Within. Greg shared some key career leadership nuggets that you can use in personal branding:

1. "We are all here for a purpose. When we are clear as to what that purpose is, we can then have a context for living." William Arruda, founder of the Reach Branding Club, starts with the concept of a vision and mission, and funnels that down into a purpose and goals for daily life. How many of us take the time to think about our life's vision, mission, purpose and goals? Corporate America does this consistently - it's the framework for how they choose to do business and what they want to accomplish. Why not apply this same model to our career and life?

2. "We are all leaders, all the time and in all facets of our lives." Taking a leader's ownership of our career, as well as all other areas of our life (personal, family, spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual, and physical), demonstrates to everyone our leader-like orientation to life. This instills confidence and trust, and boosts self-esteem. Are you the driver in the "car of life", or are you the passenger? Real security can be found in determining your course and taking focused action to get where you want to go, rather than feeling like you are a victim of circumstances or fate.

3. "There is only one way to live our lives and that is as authentic leaders. The only way to do that is to know our authentic self." Personal branding is all about discovering our authentic self and then leveraging that knowledge into career choices and actions that are in sync with who we truly are.

Marcus Buckingham, author of First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths, states in a recently released, 2-minute Flash video on personal strengths that fewer than 2 out of 10 of us "play to our strengths" in our jobs. He further goes on to assert that this is largely due to what we believe about ourselves. Why not try to find out what that is?

While we're at it, why not find out as much as we can about our authentic self - our interests and passions, personality and behavioral style, values and motivations, purpose and goals, and so on? Personal branding and career assessments, along with the guidance of a professional career counselor or coach, are a sound return-on-investment (ROI) for discovering what career is right for you now and how to land a job in that field.

Perhaps you already know what career field you want to be in, but just don't know how to pull it off. Read my article on Career Transition Tips for Gazelles Who Want to Be Zebras for more job-search strategies.

Vacuum the Carpet Every Day

My house has been on the market three days, and already I am tired of vacuuming - a necessary step, according to my broker, before EACH showing. Vacuuming is a chore I detest, and very quickly I've started to hear a small voice repeating a cycle of messages inside my head: "It looks good enough." "Nobody will notice that you didn't do it." "Everything else looks great, why the fuss about the carpet?"

But another voice, louder and more insistent (at least thus far), repeats what I know to be true: "It does matter." "First impressions count." "After all your hard work, don't lose momentum just as you're on the home stretch."

In my world, just about everything makes its way back to resumes, job search, and career management! So it is with the vacuuming. If you've been in your search for a while, you may be tempted to skip some of the things that you don't enjoy or that you're not sure make a difference. Whether it's shining your shoes, re-pressing your suit, attending networking meetings, writing follow-up notes, researching more companies, cold-calling... everyone dislikes at least one part of the process, and it sure is tempting to skip over it, figuring it doesn't matter all that much.

Just remember - each new person you contact will form a "first impression" of you. Let that impression be your best! Keep a full-court press all the way to the final buzzer.