Career Hub

December: The MOST Important Month For Your Career And Business

Many business experts will tell you that for non-seasonal businesses, December is a slow time.  A time to take it easy and focus on planning for the new year.

I disagree

Many career experts and recruiters will tell you that December is a bad time for your career.

I think that's complete nonsense.

Many job seekers often think about taking a break or 'disappearing' during December.

Big mistake.

In fact, it's the complete opposite - December is actually the most important month in your calendar.

Why?

It's all about relationships

Because managing careers is all about managing relationships. Relationships with your co-workers, team, clients, strategic partners, stakeholders, your boss and your boss's boss.

For job seekers, your success will have a lot to do with your relationships with recruiters, ex-colleagues, ex-clients, professional contacts and friends.

And managing any business is all about relationships. Relationships with employees, clients, strategic partners, vendors, counter parties, banks, accountants etc.

December represents the best opportunity to reconnect with these people in any number of informal settings and strengthening those relationships.

Anyone can send cards, emails or texts. But in world suffering from information load, the precious commodity is time and attention. I mean, who needs more post to open or more emails to sift through..?

Gift your time and attention

On the run up to christmas people are much more open to meeting up than at other times of year.

When I was a recruiter there was always a direct correlation between the level of social activity you engaged in with clients during December and the number of business opportunities you'd attract in the first quarter of the new year.

Why?

Because when you spend time with people you stay in the front of their mind. When you spend time with people socially you build a bond of trust, which again creates opportunities.

Fill up your diary

My diary through December (as usual) is already getting pretty full with dinners, drinks, lunch, coffees - most of which I've instigated.

Not because I 'want' something - but because December and the run up to christmas is a great time to reconnect with people I maybe haven't seen for a while.

And sitting around in cafes and bars (on comfy sofas of course!) - just chatting and catching up with people is fun. And it's not really work.

So the fact that it's good for my career and business is just a great bonus!

How about you...?

December is the very best time of year to reconnect with people and cement relationships. Relationships that have helped you in the past and will no doubt help you in the future. But only if you invest time and nurture them.

The next few week represent a one-off annual opportunity to nurture those relationships. So be merry and ensure you don't waste it by 'disappearing'....

By Sital Ruparelia

You cannot always blame the economy for getting no call backs!

Yesterday I was reminded in how the telephone has either become a very under appreciated or very appreciated communications device - and that perhaps we should all be looking to use it a little bit more.

I received an e-mail from a job candidate looking to connect with the recruiter in my company. I used to be involved in third party recruitment and still seem to get my fair share of unsolicited resumes etc - usually with the standard lines of

"I was researching your company and have identified that it is one ......."

OR

"As an experienced XYZ (none of which I ever recruited) I am looking for my next opportunity and know that a company like yours........."

Sadly, a quick Google search or even just taking a guess that the e-mail address that they just sent their resume to might also have a web site might indicate if they are on the right track and it might be worth looking to see what they do. But they are either lazy or are just sending blanket e-mails or worst still have actually paid someone to do this on their behalf and that resume blasting service is lazy and stupid and are using an outdated directory.

The ONLY positive is at least they got my name right and spelled it correctly.

But this particular job candidate had not even bothered to do that. Here is their e-mail;

Dear Sir / Madam,
 
Would you be kind enough to send me the name and direct e mail address of the executive recruiter in your organization who handles Supply Chain Management  / Industrial Management mandates.
 
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
 
Regards,

Not bothered to find a name, not even bothered to look up what the company did, not even going to bother to follow up, expecting someone to get back to them - now that is just plain dumb job searching at any time - but in this economy??!!

TRY THE TELEPHONE - OR EVEN THE INTERNET - be smart about your job search.

Just my toonies worth!

Am I Second Guessing Myself - Again?

A conversation this week with a client in active job search prompted me to think a little bit more about not just what is going on in a candidates head at the moment (we all are second guessing ourselvs all the time) but also what are hiring managers thinking.

Here is what I told him based on a recent interview he had where he did all the right things, but perhaps did not see the signals or feel the 'right vibe' from the interviewer.

Sounds like you did all you could do. The "other candidates to consider" line is a standard one, but asking the question shows your level of interest. Do not necessarily expect to discuss compensation in a first interview - my brother never talks money - he assumes if he is the right candidate they will pay him what they think he is worth.

 

Be mindful that companies who are hiring at the moment are still going to be cautious, they are still unsure about the economy and if they make a commitment to hire they want to be as sure as they can be. This means the process will take longer, more people are going to be involved in the decision and they will move at a pace they are comfortable with, not yours. 

 

If you are going for interviews for lower level positions never assume it's just for that position, especially if senior people are involved. It is an opportunity to show your value and see if it leads to other discussions. Also companies might be hiring at lower levels but with the knowledge that they will need to promote or add at higher levels, it might be a test, it might be caution on their behalf, you will never know unless you go and have a conversation. At worst you make a good contact for the future.  

Do You Still Need a Resume?

Career Hub contributor Sital Ruparella recently posted thoughts on the question: "Will LinkedIn Profiles Become The New Resume?"

My answer is a qualified "maybe." As a trend watcher within the resume and career coaching industry, I've taught classes, written articles, and presented at conferences about the diminishing importance of the resume. I believe that the resume as we know it is an increasingly minor, even irrelevant, part of job search.

Why? Because although companies, recruiters, and networking contacts still ask for resumes, resumes are very often not where they acquire the information they rely upon for decision-making.

AND -- perhaps most importantly -- vanishing time and attention spans (due in part to the brevity required by Blackberries, iPhones, text messaging, and Twitter) are quickly eroding the desire for a multi-page, 10-point type, margin-to-margin traditional resume. A hard-to-read resume -- when sent to a human, is begging to be trashed. Literally.

I do not think LinkedIn will be THE one-stop-shop resume-replacement solution but I do think it will be an important tool in an array of tools that supplement the resume.

Here are just a few of the places resume-type (career history) and personal brand information is now found:

** social networking sites (especially LinkedIn and even Facebook and Twitter)

** profile aggregators like Ziggs and Zoom

** online profile builders (used by companies and recruiters)

** electronic searches (typically turn up far more than any resume can present)

** web portfolio sites (DIY sites like Visual CV or customized portfolios/blogs by on-line identity experts like Kirsten Dixson)

Traditional resumes (and badly done LinkedIn profiles) are typically "job graveyards" focused on past success rather than targeted, branded potential.

Graveyards are not conducive to job search! 

Employers and recruiters need more than history. They can get job history from LinkedIn, or electronic profile builders. There is plenty of online software that can (and does) help companies gather information in ways that require no resume.

The big question is how do companies and recruiters get what they really want -- an understanding of value and chemistry that predict contribution and fit? A great resume -- a brief document focused on a branded value proposition, IMPACT, and targeted accomplishments with a "dotted line" to how these can help the new target -- can work. However, most resumes are not great, and even the great ones have limitations.

At the very least even a great resume needs to be supplemented with case studies of accomplishments that put accomplishments in context of challenge and action, and showcase wins that create employer desire. Most job seekers never do that.

It's no wonder that resumes are becoming increasingly irrelevant -- resumes just don't provide what's needed and they take too much time to read. And if they are posted on-line they don't make it out of the "electronic abyss" -- the black hole that most on-line resumes fall into, never to be seen again.

For many people, the best time to use a resume is often after an interview, as a brief reminder of experience and education. Getting the interview is a job for the above tools (plus networking, of course, and possibly a value-proposition-focused direct mail campaign); it's increasingly not the job for the resume.

Anecdotal information from many of my senior executive clients tells me that resumes are no longer critical to success. 

This year alone, I've had clients land interviews and jobs after we've done deep executive brand and value discovery, but before we've even completed a resume. By creating a succinct value- and brand-driven LinkedIn profile and creating a branded bio and accomplishment studies, they have been prepared to out-compete the right way -- by using on-line tools to raise visibility and by crafting a powerful message to share when that visibility produces interest.

Don't look for the resume to disappear quite yet.

Job seekers are still expected to have resumes, especially for entry-level jobs, for jobs within small companies, and for very senior executives who need distinctive multi-page resume/accomplishment portfolios.

Do create a great, brand, and value packed resume (the process alone is exceptional preparation for networking and interviewing), but be aware that you may not need your resume as often as you think you will, or even when you think you will.

Bottom-line? The resume is losing its luster as the tool of choice for job search. For now, a great branded resume, branded collaterals, and a branded LinkedIn profile need to be in your tool box -- but you may be pulling out that resume less often as you replace it with LinkedIn and other newer tools that get the job done.

If you are a job seeker, recruiter, employer, or career expert, what's been your experience? What do you think?

Posted by Deb Dib, the CEO Coach

Sometimes Questions, Not Answers, Can Win the Job

Check out Winnie Anderson’s column in the Atlantic City Weekly for two timely articles: 1) How to Answer the Toughest Interview Questions, and 2) 10 Steps to Recession-Proof Your Career.

Here’s just a sample of strategies you can use in the interview – these are the five “Must Ask” questions Winnie suggests you include in any employment conversation:

1. What do I need to do over the next three to six months in order to be considered successful in this position?
2. What are the two or three things I would need to do to make sure the major goal of the job was accomplished?
3. What, if anything, needs to be changed, fixed, or improved over the next few months?
4. What are the biggest challenges in the job?
5. Are there any problems that need to be addressed right away?

One of the thing employers look for in applicants is an ability to ask questions directly related to the job and performance expectations. Keep these questions in your interview tool kit and you’ll always be prepared to build employers' confidence in your candidacy.

posted by Deb Dib

Blog Roundup - Posts to Ponder

Over at The Executive Update, the Netshare blog, Kim Batson, the CIO's Coach, a personal brand strategist, and ex-recruiter, has some timely insider information on the world of recruiting. If you've ever wondered how to get in front a recruiter or why recruiters don't call you back, this post is a must read.

On the same blog, Netshare's CEO Kathy Simmons, freshly returned from the AESC Americas Conference, reviews emerging trends in Internet and web-related employment.

Guy Kawasaki has compiled an extensive "best of the Web" list of career-related blogs (including Career Hub, thank you very much). His new site (far more than just career blogs) is called Alltop and is definitely worth a visit.

Scot Herrick's Cube Rules March 14 post compiles some of the most-read posts of the past months. Interesting reading if you're in a cube, looking for a cube, or managing cubes.

Posted by Deb Dib, The CEO Coach

Networking Is Still the Word

Louise Kursmark's recent posting here is straight from the horse's mouth: employee referrals have been a growing source of new hires and that trend is continuing according to CareerXRoads latest findings. What does this mean to everyday job seekers and anyone who might be in the job market anytime ever again? If you have a network, stay connected.  Seek out and then nurture new relationships especially with contacts affiliated with one of your target employers and those who have such contacts in their own network which you don't already have.

If it is going to be a tighter job market in coming months and even if the pundits don't have it right, then by all means now is the time to strenghten weak business connections, support active relationships and seek out new contacts purposefully.For some additional reading, check out this recent article featured in US News and World Report for sensible tips on finding a new job.

Debra Feldman

JobWhiz

Today, the World's Best Personal Brand Experts Work for You!

OK, this is it!

If you've been following this blog, (or countless others in the past week) you know TODAY, is the ONE day you can listen to LIVE tele-presentations by the world's leading personal brand experts -- and pay NOTHING for the privilege.

Today, November 8, these world-class experts are working for free, for YOU, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of personal branding, begun with Tom Peters' article "The Brand Called You."

You have unprecedented access to 40 or so world-class authors and experts -- delivering 24 total hours (two concurrent 12-hour streams) of real-world "pump up your career" strategies and techniques that will help you leverage your personal brand to be more successful at your job or business.

There are sessions on branding through blogging, podcasting, writing, work presence, even your personal image. You'll hear from career experts, image consultants, web 2.0 folks, entrepreneur branders, and more. This is NOT theory -- this is real world, usable information that will help you out-compete.

It all starts at 7am Los Angeles / 10am New York / 3pm London / 4pm Paris / and 10 pm China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and continues for 12 hours from the start time in your area.

So head on over to the Brand You World Global Telesummit site for a schedule (or Jason Alba's JibberJobber blog for a cool side-by-side comparison of sessions) and pick a few speakers to listen to today -- then visit again post-event for recordings of what you missed.

While you're on the site, check out Kiva, the event's social cause partner. Kiva is a not-for-profit micro-loan organization for "micro-entrepreneurs" in some of the world's neediest areas.

Note: you must register at the site for your call in number and access code -- simple -- just an e-mail and name will do it.

It's that simple. No cost, no sales pitch, no reason not to come on by.

So register, listen today or later, but be prepared for a jolt of personal brand success mojo!

Posted by Deb Dib, the CEO Coach
"Unabashedly passionate about helping visionary, gutsy, fun, executives with a conscience build great careers, mold great companies, and even change the world a bit."

Spend 12 hours with 30+ personal brand experts and watch your career soar!

Where can you hear the leading experts on personal branding (including Guy Kawasaki, Phil Gerbyshak, T. Scott Gross, Dick Bolles, Anita Bruzzese, Catherine Kaputa, Martin Yate and many, many more) for a full day, in one place, for absolutely no cost?

On November 8, 2007, at the groundbreaking “A Brand You World” Global Telesummit on personal branding. And if you don’t have a free day (who does?) you can access their wisdom via podcasts after the event.

I’m so excited because this is not a typical collection of teleclasses – it’s an extraordinary “virtual conference” commemorating the tenth anniversary of personal branding (spawned by Tom Peter’s 1997 Fast Company article “The Brand Called You”).

This is an unprecedented opportunity for you to increase your knowledge of how branding can work to help you build your career or business. The content and expertise far exceeds even world-class professional development conferences, and you invest nothing but time. How cool is that?

The “Brand You World” Global Telesummit will be held around the world on November 8, 2007. You can choose programs from three concurrent streams of content (hour-long seminars and panels) focused on branded careering, talent management, and entrepreneurship. More than 100,000 professionals around the world are expected to attend.

Registration is simple at the website. You’ll be given a call in number and you can access the speaker roster, programs, and schedules for your time zone. After the event, podcasts of every program and panel will be available on the website, at no cost.

Are you getting this? NO cost!!!! For access to the best minds in the business. Amazing.

How does this happen? It’s because of people whose passion for branding goes beyond self interest – a planning team of Personal Brand Strategists around the world and the dedicated speakers and sponsors gifting their time and thought leadership to the event and to the event’s social cause partner, Kiva.

Are you ready to make YOUR career a “Brand You World?”

Posted by Deb Dib

Twenty ways to leverage LinkedIn

Are you on LinkedIn? Are you using it effectively? Do you know what LinkedIn is? Do you care?

Check out this Web Worker Daily post on 'Twenty Ways to Use LinkedIn Productively.'   It's a master class in LinkedIn strategies.

Once you read it, if you don't 1) start to use LinkedIn, or, 2) ramp up your LinkedIn presence and usage, then be prepared to work a lot harder than you have to when it comes to career acceleration, job search, business building, or networking!

Posted by Deb Dib