Career Hub

Secret Brand Ingredient

Does your brand have a story? A light bulb went on the other day for me about how powerful a brand can be that has a story attached. Do you take Airborne when you are about to get a cold or when you fly? I am a devotee. And one major reason is the story behind the herbal concoction. It’s written up on the box, hard to miss, and memorable.

A second-grade teacher invented it to help her and others fend off the inevitable range of colds that kids share and bring home. The name adds another dimension – Airborne is recommended (right in the name) to help keep people from catching colds brought on by breathing the stale, germ-laden air during a flight. Two good reasons right in the branding for taking the fizzy stuff.

What would this stuff be without the relevant name and the story? Just another one of dozens of herbal protections and cures for the common cold.

Can you think of another brand tied to a story? I can. And his story is also key to making his brand compelling and memorable. He is oft-quoted on this and other career blogs. I’m not telling, but I’ll bet you can guess!

"The Office" TV Program as Career Management Case Study

I was thrilled when a young writer at US News and World report called a few weeks ago and asked me if I  could comment on an article for the cover story in the March 24-30 issue.  Of course!  It is among my son's favorite programs and I had just recently bought him a themed tee shirt (actually two) . Perfect timing since I had done my research to make that purchase! What is this show about? Who are the characters? So, they wanted to know if I had any advice for Dwight who everyone knows is, well,  the guy who doesn't get it and isn't getting promoted. What's the takeaway from this fun piece?  People skills trump wealth any time.

Posted by Debra Feldman

Twitter and Tweet

This morning I attended a breakfast meeting on Social Media 101 - Isn't It Time You Took the Class? One of the presenter's PowerPoint slides was about the recent debacle at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas earlier this month. It seemed that the audience did not like the way the interview between Sarah Lacy of Business Week and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook founder fame was going. Thanks to technology, as in the form of Twitter, the audience took matters into their own hands.

So, here we are in the 21st century with all types of cool tools and technology to help us be better, more resourceful, more connected, more _____________(fill in the blank). In a few weeks, I am going to be a presenter, along with two Career Management Alliance colleagues, at the Kennedy/Alliance National Convention.

The thought crossed my mind...what if our audience doesn't like the way it's going or something? Not that I am counting on that, of course, but the reality is that in the "old days" (yesterday), you would attend a presentation and find it 1. interesting, motivating, engaging 2. a waste 3. boring and nod off 4. leave 5. worthy of a poor evaluation 6. other. And today, you can simply tweet as the presenters talk. And they won't even know it. What are you doing?

posted by: billiesucher

What Would Simon Cowell Say About Your Job Search?

American Idol is one of my guilty pleasures. It's a bit like chocolate - I know it's not good for me and I'll probably feel a bit sick afterwards, but it just tastes good!

I've been watching for a few years now, and I'm finally able to predict who'll do well from the very beginning. Unlike in the world of normal pop music, the successful contestants aren't always the best looking or the slimmest, or the most current.  But what they all have in common is a clear sense of who they are musically. They are authentically who they are - whether that's a country singer, a southern rock throwback, a soulful balladeer or an R&B 'diva.'. Viewers who also love that music are able to recognize and appreciate their talent within that genre, and that's how they make the emotional connection that results in high vote counts.

In that sense, American Idol really is no different from looking for a new job (although thankfully you don't have Simon Cowell sniping at your interview skills). Successful job seekers know that they have to develop a clear sense of who they are and where they shine, so that they can target and appeal to the very people who will most want to hire them. To do this, they spend time focusing on their core value proposition, and then work on crafting marketing documents that clearly communicate that message. When they attend interviews, they choose stories and anecdotes that support their value proposition. They don't try to switch their marketing message to suit different employers, because they know that won't be effective in the long run.

But most job seekers do that, just as most Idol contestants fail to find their musical voice, so differentiating yourself in this regard pays dividends. I can't predict who's going home on tonight's show, but I know the 4 people who will definitely be staying.

Why Won't They Hire Me?

When I'm procrastinating on a tough project, I start surfing the web. Usually I waste too much time on sites that I can't even remember. But today I came across Not Hired.

I'm still laughing. Check it out - but wait until you have a few minutes spare because once you start clicking, you won't be able to stop.

 

How to Explain a Resume Gap During an Interview

We all have a few questions we hope an interviewer doesn't ask. One of the most common such scenarios is when we have a gap in employment.

It's easy to feel unsure and on the defensive when we anticipate being asked, "So, what was happening from May 2004 through July 2005?"

The Pongo Blog features a post written by Rick Saia on this topic. It's as good advice as I've seen on how to explain a gap in your resume.

In a nutshell he advises to keep your explanation brief and factual, highlight the positives, and bring the conversation back to your qualifications and interest in the job for which you are interviewing.

Rick also describes whether and when you should disclose all of the jobs that you have held.

I've worked with people who have felt not only unsure but plagued by the gap in their resume. If after reading Rick's post you still aren't sure how to explain your resume gap, try these steps:

1. Explain to someone (or yourself in the mirror) in very blunt terms why there is a gap. Don't sugarcoat and don't put a spin on it - just be brutally honest.

In this way you get your baggage out of your head and onto "the table" where you can see it.

Examples of baggage could include:

• I did a really bad job of looking for work after I was laid off, so it took a while.
• My boss didn't like me, I was fired, and it has taken a really long time to find a new job. I feel like a loser.
• I quit without any other job in hand and regret my rashness. It took a long time to find work and I think that looks bad.
• I was trying to make a career change, but was unsuccessful. Now I feel I need to get back to my old career, and I'm not happy about it.
• I was depressed and unable to work. Now I'm much better but I don't want to tell anyone I was depressed. It isn't their business, anyway. But what do I say?

2. Differentiate between the facts of your situation and the negative emotional judgments you're making. You might want to ask a friend or a coach to help you make the distinctions.

3. Put away the negative emotional judgments for the rest of this exercise.

4. Working with the facts of the resume gap, craft a 2-3 sentence response to an anticipated inquiry. The response needs to be truthful, yet it does not need to include all of the details or the background story.

5. Make a plan for what you will do with the negative emotional judgments, so they don't take over your job search experience or show up inappropriately during an interview.

It's much easier to decide how to describe a resume gap in an interview after you've had the chance to fully explore the facts and your feelings about it on your own.

Too often we grip our "baggage" tightly, never putting it down and definitely never talking about it. But when we do this, we lose perspective about its significance and what to do about it.

It's possible that the situation you're worried about or embarrassed about might not be difficult to explain at all. Share your baggage with someone else to get an objective take on it and what your options are.

Posted by Heather Mundell

Telling Your Resume Story

Controversy has been swirling recently regarding achievements on resumes. Bryan Person of the Monster Blog queried "Are Achievements All that Matter on a Resume?" in response to Penelope Trunk's blog post "How to edit your resume like a professional resume writer". Seth Godin's post "Why Bother Having a Resume?" advocated having no resume at all.

Having read all of these blog postings (and comments), I felt compelled to add my two cents in a comment to Bryan's post:

Achievements are like gold on a resume and I agree with you that they are only part of the story. Writing about your achievements really is in how you tell the story. For a full-bodied and clear rendition include:

1. Context - What role and level of authority? Were you part of a team? If so, how big a team? What role did you play on the team?

2. Challenge - What was the mess you walked into? What were the over-riding problems you had to overcome?

3. Actions - What did you do to overcome the problems and get results? (this is the "how" mentioned in the post)

4. Results - These are the actual end-point achievements. Quantify them for added clarity and impact.

BTW, these four steps do not necessarily have to be laid out in this sequence. You should start with the achievement first to grab attention and then pull in the other three points to flesh it out and add a layer of understanding and depth.

As a professional resume writer and career counselor/coach, I would estimate that 98% of the resumes I see lack all four of the above. So, make your resume really pack some punch by "telling" an impressive story. And keep it concise!

There were many comments pro and con on all the issues these bloggers cited, such as why someone should or should not have a resume at all to what exactly to include on a resume. The one comment that really struck me dealt with the concept of having a professional write your resume for you. Some people, like Penelope Trunk, felt that hiring a qualified professional was not an outrageous idea and others felt that your resume should always be written by you.

Having started out as a career counselor/coach only, I have done my share of coaching clients about writing their own resumes and certainly, in many cases, there were improvements to their documents. But for many others who lacked objectivity about themselves or the ability to create persuasive self-marketing documents, writing a resume was a daunting task. It was for those clients that I took up the profession of resume writing and became certified.

As in many other professions, there is a vast range of quality among resume writers - some who are certified, experienced, and very good to others who are uncertified,  inexperienced, and just plain awful. The art of telling a story - your story - on a resume isn't easy. First, there's the super-structure of the "big picture' story, followed by the individual, supporting achievement mini-stories. Each story needs to be:

• relevant to the position and skills sought, industry, and intended reader,
• clear in context, challenge, actions, and results for each achievement "story",
• compelling in terms of value offered to prompt the reader to action, and
• consistent with your personal brand.

So, should you tell your resume story by writing your resume yourself? By all means, if you can be relevant, clear, compelling, and brand-consistent. If not, you may need some assistance so you can learn and get better at it. Remember, a resume can position you to land interviews. From that point on, the "story" has to come from your own lips!

Cross-posted at Career Goddess Blog

Seth's Half Right

Seth Godin is one of my favorite bloggers and but in this post about resumes, he's only 50% right.

Seth's looking for an intern and he doesn't like the resumes he's seeing. They're bland and boring and they don't tell him why these candidates are remarkable. Well, that means they're like 99.9% of all resumes out there (which is why people like me get paid to write the other 0.1%).

Seth goes on to say that he wants evidence of what makes a person remarkable:

If you don't have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
Or a reputation that precedes you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

Some say, "well, that's fine, but I don't have those."

Yeah, that's my point. If you don't have those, why do you think you are  remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular? It sounds to me like if you don't have those, you've been brainwashed into acting like you're sort of ordinary.

I absolutely agree that those things are important - that's why I often include glowing LinkedIn testimonials when I write resumes. It's why I advocate for those clients who are good writers to start blogging. It's why I create online portfolios where people can show off their extraordinary work.

That's the 50% that's right.

But it's wrong to advocate for people to scrap the whole idea of a resume, just because the resumes they are writing are ineffective.  For better or worse, almost all hiring managers want to see a resume. Seth might not, but he's unusual and most people won't thank you for mailing in 3 reference letters and a blog URL when they asked for a resume. It'll just make you look like you're too stupid to follow instructions!

Instead, you should look for ways to communicate all those great things that make you special via your resume. You should include quotes from former managers (or peers or employees or clients). You should post the link to your blog and/or Squidoo page and/or web portfolio. You should focus the entire resume on showing how you have made an impact at former employers, how you've shaken things up, what you've contributed ... above all, how each company is different because you worked there.

It's not the resume that's the problem - it's what's on the resume that Seth doesn't like.

How Technology Tanks an Interview

Yesterday I met with several direct hire and exec recruiters for a networking / brainstorming meeting. Pet peeves always come up during these talks and here are some direct from the recruiters’ mouths:

“Get this,” said Gary an IT recruiter. “I’m interviewing a guy and he interrupts the interview to take a call from his cell phone!” Gary went on to describe how the candidate told Gary that the call was very important - during the interview. “Needless to say,” said Gary, “the rest of the interview lasted about 5 minutes and I will not place this guy - EVER.”

Think about it, if the interview to get the job wasn’t important enough to put calls on hold for a half hour, what’s going to happen on the job?

“I want to talk about CRACKberrries,” said Gina B. “During an interview a woman is actually holding up her 
crackberry and typing with her thumbs like this,” she demonstrated.

How important is it to answer email during a job interview? Truly?

Tips:

1. Take control of your personal technology! You control it - it does not control you.

2. Turn cell phones OFF during an interview or put the ringer on silent (not vibrate).

3. Turn Blackberries off during an interview. You can email AFTER you get to your car. In fact, why not email that interviewer a thank you note when you get to your car? Use technology for good. 

Of course, I do have to say how our meeting ended. As things wound up, Patrick whipped out his Sprint phone that had email, a keypad, phone access, THE WORKS. He starts emailing his candidates and returned some calls. Proudly he  said, “Hey, at least I waited until the meeting wrapped up!”

You can do the same.

Cross-posted by Wendy Terwelp

Recession-Proof Your Career with Proactive Career Management

"Recession-proof your career" is an often-discussed topic these days with an array of experts promoting their theories and best options. In December 2007 Robert Scoble's article Surviving the 2008 Recession attracted notice as the "R" word started to be bandied about. More recently, Anne Zelenka of Web Worker Daily contributed 5 Ways to Recession-Proof Your Career and Penelope Trunk opined with Maybe there will be a recession. Here's what to do just in case.

These articles provide useful recommendations - pay them heed. Recommendations like building and growing your online persona (personal branding) as well as your social network have become "must-do" strategies to attract the job opportunities you want, regardless of economic downturns.

To further expand the scope of your "recession-proofing" activities, consider this: certain career fields and industries are going to be easier to recession-proof than others because they are already in-demand.

For careers (occupations), the US News and World Report lists 31 best occupations in Best Careers 2008, while Career Voyages lists The Top 50 In-Demand Occupations. In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) keeps track of occupations with the largest job growth (2006-16).

Industries contain many types of occupations or career fields, and can also be explored for "best bets" to recession-proof. For example, HR World magazine online cites the Top 25 Careers to pursue in a recession (these really are industries and not careers). The BLS monitors industries with the largest wage and salary employment growth and declines (2006-16).

Keep in mind that many of these careers (occupations) and industries can be expressed in entrepreneurial endeavors, such as small businesses. At the very least, taking an entrepreneurial approach to your career development is now absolutely your number-one business if you intend to recession-proof your career.

Check out Thom Singer's article 66 Tips for Better Networking - #60: Unlock Your Inner Entrepreneur. Thom points out that the definition of an entrepreneur is "a person who organizes and manages any enterprise..." which pertains to anyone's career. In other words, you are in charge - the CEO - of You, Inc. Therefore, you must be proactive about determining your career pathway.

You may choose to start with building your skills or your network in your current job, or perhaps transition to another career field or industry. If you are considering a career / industry change, here is a 3-step plan:

1. take personal initiative to explore careers and industries of interest,
2. determine which ones may be best suited to you and your current situation (this may require the assistance of a career counselor/career coach), and
3. decide which option to pursue and then commit to act on that decision.

Whether you are staying in your current job or want to make a transiton, the key to recession-proofing your career is wise (informed) choices combined with relevant, goal-oriented action. Putting your career on "cruise-control" by not paying attention to it or relegating it to the control of others puts you in a supremely vulnerable position. Take ownership of your own career development and forge a pathway to success, despite the ups and downs of the economy and the ever-changing world of work.

Cross-Posted at Career Goddess Blog