Archive for the ‘Job Search’ Category
Guest Post: Maximize Your Job Search Efforts
January 13th, 2012 | 
Author: 
by Bill Barnett
Massive outreach to a strong professional network is the best way to find new job opportunities. It’s also a good way to test your personal strategy. You’ll talk with tens — maybe hundreds — of people.
It sounds easy. Once you have the contacts, one big blast should do the trick, right? No way. Unmanaged outreach is the path to missed opportunities. Using your professional network in a carefully planned and thoughtful way yields better results.
Take a strategic approach. Make different kinds of contacts when the time is right, in the right sequence. Don’t try to do everything at once. Don’t let everything just happen when it does. Here are five steps to make your outreach productive:
1. Get started. A mental block may keep you from writing an email or picking up the phone. You may be uncomfortable asking for help. Or you may wait for perfect preparation before meeting people. If that’s you, you may be surprised to find that a month’s gone by, and little’s happened.
Everything will take longer than you might first assume. Busy people will have to fit this into their schedules. You must follow through on the intention of contacting people, and the way to begin is to go ahead and contact the first one or two or three. Get started.
2. Start with people you know best. It’s natural to begin with close friends and colleagues. They’re the foundation of your professional network. They’re the easiest to meet. Talking to close acquaintances also makes sense from a learning perspective. At the outset, you’ll be testing your personal value proposition (PVP) — getting reactions to your target jobs, how well you fit, and perhaps what else to consider. You’ll need open, exploratory conversations with people who know something about you. They’ll have a basis for making suggestions, possibly ideas you hadn’t considered. They may suggest others to call.
3. Cast a wider net. As your plan develops, you’ll have more conviction about your direction. That’s when to see people you don’t know well and people you’re meeting for the first time. You’ll still hope to get reactions to your strategy, but you’ll mostly be asking about opportunities.
This is the time to consider social networking. As COO Frederick who was looking for a new job said, “I can post something on Facebook or LinkedIn and tell 300 people something has changed in my life. I was very careful about that. I wasn’t ready at first. I wanted to get my ducks in a row. I didn’t want 20 people calling and saying they have a great offer for me. I had to do this, this, and this first.”
Before he broadcast his new job search, he wanted to resolve any issues related to his leaving his employer, to think through his new plan, and to develop his new PVP. If he’d gone out too soon, he’d have used up these weaker contacts before he was ready to ask for the specific kind of help he wanted. He might not get their attention again.
4. Determine whether to begin with higher priority or lower priority employers. Because a job search is difficult, people sometimes hope to do as little as possible but still find the perfect new job. They begin with the possibilities they think they’d like most. That’s not always the right answer, and it’s certainly foolish to do that to avoid the need for a big job search.
There is an advantage to approaching your top priorities first: You’ll have more time for possibilities to develop at those institutions. But if you plan early meetings with lower priority employers — those that might not be on your ideal job list — those meetings can help you hone your PVP and interviewing skills. As a result, you may do better in the interviews at the higher priorities. And you may be surprised if some lower priorities look appealing.
5. Sequence follow-up meetings. Ideally, you’ll have two or more job opportunities to consider. You’ll be able to compare them and determine which one is best. You won’t have to decide whether to say “yes” to an acceptable bird in the hand when a bird in the bush looks more attractive. As Frederick said, “It’s very hard if you have an offer. Are you going to give up an offer with X dollars in hope another one shows up in January? The offer I got the first week of October retracts on November 1.”
You may have no choice, but you’d like to avoid this dilemma. Truly massive outreach helps by giving you the best chance to surface multiple possibilities. In some recruiting situations, you may be able to influence timing. Some employers are so busy that they may not notice if you’re slowing things down (for example, suggesting a follow-up meeting two weeks away). Or you might try to speed up another situation or at least learn where they are. Rank the possibilities that emerge and, if you can, try to time them so that you don’t have to make a decision before you’re ready.
Sequencing and timing matters in reaching out to your network and as you follow up on concrete possibilities. Are there other actions you’ve taken to manage timing in your job search?
Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/maximize_your_job_search_efforts.html
5 Ways to Break the Ice at Networking Events
Guest Blog Post By, Don Goodman
Networking is not about how many resumes or business cards you hand out, but how you establish rapport and build a relationship that can lead to opportunities.
Attending a networking event is only the beginning of the networking process. Effective networking takes time and builds lasting relationships where both parties can help one another.
Many job seekers I often speak with are intimidated by networking events. It’s not that they do not want to network; it’s that they don’t know how to approach people they don’t know.
As much as we all want to know how others can help us, when networking, it’s not recommended for you to go straight into pitching. It’s a turnoff to many people, especially when you don’t know the person.
So, how does a job seeker tackle breaking the ice at networking events and approach people in a way that later affords relationships where they can help one another?
1. Change your mindset: Think of networking as a chance to get to know others and as a place where you can seek advice from someone who may come with a different point of view. As you show interest in others and ask for advice, the conversation will naturally redirect itself in a manner where others will be more willing to help you or connect you to people who can help.
2. Mind your appearance: Walk in to a networking event with the appropriate attitude. Appear approachable and be willing to approach others. The simplest things you can do is offer a smile to people you come in eye contact with and avoid poor body language such as crossing your arms or keeping your head down.
3. Ask a mutual acquaintance for help: Asking a mutual friend or acquaintance to help with an introduction is one of the easiest ways to help get a conversation started between two people who don’t know one another. After the introduction, it’s up to you to build rapport and find out possible commonalities that will help both of you establish a relationship.
4. Directly introduce yourself: If there is a contact you know something about, you may want to approach them directly with an introduction. Introduce yourself by full name and appropriately ask a question or make a comment. For example, the person may have just given a presentation, so you may ask a question or comment related to what was discussed. As the conversation between the two of you becomes more comfortable, steer the conversation toward a direction where you may ask for advice.
5. Ask a general question or provide comment: You are not the only one who may be feeling awkward at the networking event. If you see someone simply standing there or sitting at a table by themselves, be willing to approach them and simply ask a question or provide a comment they could relate to. It can be a simple statement such as, “Wow, this event has a big attendance turnout!” This opens the door for conversation. After two or three more questions or comments, you can go in and say, “By the way, my name is… what’s yours?” From there, your conversation can change focus where you learn more about the other individual and share information about yourself.
A key to breaking the ice during networking is to establish a relationship where the other individual grows to feel comfortable speaking with you. Keep all questions open-ended and leave comments that allow others to probe. A question or comment that leaves one to simply have room to say “yes” or “no” will not help build a conversation.
To succeed at networking events, leave people you meet with a good impression. You want people to feel your positive energy and to see you are willing to help others, as well as have a special area of expertise they will potentially want your advice and counsel on in the future. This will help ensure the relationship and conversation you have continues to grow after you leave the event.
Don Goodman, president of Resume Writing Service – About Jobs is a nationally recognized career expert.
Source: http://www.careerealism.com/tips-networking-events/
Posted in Career Coaching, General, Job Search, Job Search Strategies, Networking, Personal Branding, Skills | 
No Comments »
Job Seekers: Use Branch Out to Leverage the Power of Your Personal Relationships
The tagline of the largest career app on Facebook is, “Unleash the Power of Your Network.” With Branch Out you can leverage the power of your personal relationships to form professional connections. Branch Out is designed to reveal the connections that you have within your personal network of friend and family to the companies that you are interested in working with.
When you are looking through the over 3 million job listings on Branch Out you will see all of the connections that the people in your network have to the companies posting job opportunities.
If you are an active Facebook user you will want to go in and adjust your privacy settings to protect your personal information. Then you should make sure that your profile picture looks professional enough to display to prospective employers.
There is a series of ‘how-to’ videos on Branch Out that will walk you through creating a profile, finding jobs and growing your network. Go in and create your profile and start giving endorsements to your friends, who will more than likely return the favor. If you want an endorsement from someone, you might consider writing one up yourself and sending it to them and invite them to revise is as they see fit.
Recruiters who are searching for certain demographics utilize Branch Out, so making sure that your profile is complete and that you have a few key endorsements can make you more visible.
If you are in the midst of a job search and you are looking to make the most of all of your connections you should go ahead and set up your Branch Out profile. If you are spending time on Facebook you might as well make it count towards helping you to land a great job.
Want to make a Radical Career Change? Coaching can keep your career healthy, improve the quality of your life and make you more effective at work through a heightened sense of self-awareness and greater clarity about your purpose and goals. Contact me today for a complimentary consultation.
7 Tips for Using the Law of Attraction in Your Job Search
The loss of a job can trigger a cascade of all kinds of emotions, but if you learn to focus your energy and attention and use the law of attraction you can turn this temporary misfortune around into the opportunity to manifest your dream job.
The law of attraction states that like attracts like. We attract to ourselves energy, situations and circumstance that are consistent with the kind of energy, thoughts and actions that we have been focusing on. So, if you want to change what you see, you’ve got to change what you are thinking, feeling and focusing on. This is fairly elementary stuff. In this article we’re going to focus in on using the law of attraction to land your dream job. Follow these tips consistently and you will begin to see things shifting in your experience:
1. Focus on feeling good
Everything is energy, and we attract things to us at the level of vibration. When you feel good you are vibrating at a higher level, which will attract those favorable experiences into your experience. Don’t let the disappointment that often occurs when you are job hunting keep you down. Schedule in some fun activities and spend time with people who build you up.
2. Express gratitude for the good that is already in your life
Gratitude creates a space for even more good things to appear in your life. Express your gratitude for everything—even the things that come disguised as misfortune because it’s all good.
3. Describe your ideal job
Create a vision board that visually depicts your dream job. Write a detailed description about the kind of job that you want. Describe the kinds of people that you will be working with, the kind of environment, the nature of the work from the point of view of it being in your life already. Read this description or look at your vision board every day to inspire your job search.
4. Don’t stop believing
Believe in yourself. Believe in your talent, skills and experience. Do not focus on the apparently negative things going on around you such as a less-than-favorable economic climate. Believe that what you are seeking is also seeking you.
5. Don’t take rejection personally
When you get rejected, take it as a gift because that job was not meant for you. Express your gratitude for the learning opportunity and keep your focus on your goal of landing your dream job.
A bonus tip is to surround yourself with positive people. A job search is a potentially demoralizing experience, but if you have a group of positive people to encourage you, give you advice and support, then you can stay positive and continue your job search with the knowledge that the universe has only your best interests at heart. Consider working with a career coach to help you explore some options that you might not have considered.
Follow these tips, network with positive people and remain focused on your goal and you will attract your dream job to you.
If you’d like to explore how a career coach can help you in your job search, you are welcome to contact me and schedule an initial consultation.
According to Marshall–October Issue
| Welcome to the October issue of According to Marshall…
The purpose of this message is to share just a quick summary of some of the topics that I think are relevant to your personal and professional success. If there are particular subjects that you would like to receive more information on from me, reach out and let me know. I also welcome any relevant information that you have produced or found that I can share with my readers. 7 Tips From CEOs On How To Eat Uncertainty For Lunch By Marc Figueroa, Vistage International “Today’s business owners and CEOs are constantly being tested. Faced with volatile markets, shifting customer demands and economic uncertainty, the only thing most business leaders are certain of is that there’s more change ahead. So how do you continue driving your business forward? We asked seven members of Vistage International, a CEO peer group organization, for their insight on how to lead with confidence in times of uncertainty.” Click here to read the full story 6 Personal Branding Mistakes That Can Threaten Your Job Search By Meridith Levinson “In 2009, personal branding became the buzzword of choice for job seekers and career coaches alike, and for good reason. When done right, personal branding—the act of identifying and communicating your unique value to people who can help advance your career—promised to be the job seeker’s silver bullet, his surefire way to stand out in a crowded job market.” Click here to read the full story Building Authentic Relationships in the Workplace By Chrissy Scivicque “Back when I worked in banking, as the Assistant Manager of a branch, I wore a mask. No, not literally, you silly goose. After all, banks and masks don’t go well together if you know what I mean…But I hid all the same. I was hiding behind an image of who I thought I should be, who I thought others wanted me to be. I didn’t show the “real me” because I was scared.” Read more at: Click here to read the full story Top 5 Secrets to Make Your Web 2.0 Job Search More Effective By Rosa Elizabeth Vargas “Social networking sites have dramatically changed the job search “game.” LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and Online Career Sites can help you, from the comfort of your home, discover new opportunities and tap into the hidden job market. Why? Because networking, whether it is performed offline or online, is still the most effective way to find a job. However, building a brand, connecting with professionals in your field, and maintaining those relationships is not as easy as just setting up an account (don’t we wish!?). ” Click here to read the full story Top 10 Steps To Reclaim Your Life From Distraction By Guy Kawasaki, Co-Founder, Alltop “Peter Bregman is strategic advisor to CEOs and management teams and author of 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done. According to Peter, people are interrupted, on average, four times an hour, and the more challenging the work, the less likely you are to go back to it after the interruption. In other words, we are most likely to leave our most important work unfinished.” Click here to read the full story SEO for Your Resume By Mona Abdel-Halim “With the advent of “intelligent” technology, technology that more and more mimics human behavior, a slew of new tools have emerged to help recruiters quickly identify candidates with relevant skills. The behavior such technologies emulate are the mental scoring and comparing of candidate applications, primarily resumes, that recruiters used to take days to sort through manually. Now, by simply inputting key phrases or an entire job description, recruiters can automatically generate reports of upwards of thousands of job seekers in rank order.” Click here to read the full story I also invite you to forward this to a friend.
|
Posted in According to Marshall, Branding, Career, Job Search, Job Search Strategies, Mentor, Networking, Personal Branding, Resume, Skills, business |
No Comments »
Career and Executive Coaching: What is the Bottom-line ROI for You and Your Company?
Coaching as a profession has not been around that long, but in the short time of its formal existence it has had an undeniable impact both on business performance and the quality of individual people’s lives. But what kind of ROI can a person expect to achieve when they hire a career coach or an executive coach?
Because coaching is extremely personalized for each specific situation, in order to really measure ROI the coach and the client must take a look at the current state of affairs, establish a benchmark and then set specific goals that they would like to achieve. As the coach and the client work together towards achieving those goals the gains will be clearly measurable.
By taking advantage of the knowledge and expertise of a coach, the client gains several advantages that will save them time, help them to improve their career, give them guidance as they transition from one job or career to another, or even support them during a job search. Coaches help their clients improve their performance, which is a tangible result in exchange for the investment of buying access to their time and expertise.
The ROI for coaching has been studied extensively and studies have reported a return on investment of anywhere from 5 to 7 times the initial investment.
“The results tell us that corporations commonly identify their best and brightest and use coaching to turn them into more effective leaders. Coaches improve executive behaviors by pinpointing blind spots, altering management styles, and keeping careers on track.” Source: carolrossandassociates.com
Some of the benefits of coaching can include:
Individual benefits from career coaching
- Set and achieve goals
- Work through challenges more effectively
- Increased confidence
- Achieve better work/ life balance
- Improved decision making skills
Organizational benefits from executive coaching
- Increased productivity
- Better conflict resolution
- Higher employee morale
- Formalized grooming of new leadership
- Increased stakeholder loyalty
Coaching can help both individuals and companies stretch themselves and achieve much more than they ever thought possible. Having the guidance of an experienced coach can give you the confidence to attempt challenges that you might otherwise never take on. The return on investment when you hire a career coach to help you move to the next level, or when you hire an executive coach to help your company work through a challenging time can be both tangible in the measurable results you will achieve, but you will also gain many intangible results such as increased confidence and belief in your own ability.
If you are ready to consider working with a career or executive coach to help you overcome some of the challenges you are facing, contact me for an initial consultation to discuss how I can support you as you pursue your goals.
Ready to Learn How to Write a Resume that Gets Results in a Tough Economy?
If you have been searching for a job in the past few months, you know how challenging this job market is right now. You may be discovering that the job search strategies that you’ve found success with before are not working anymore. To help support you in your job search, I’m going to be hosting a free resume writing teleseminar to share some tips and strategies that you can use to help improve your results.
This 30 minute call is a preview of a full teleseminar will take place Wednesday, October 5th @ 8pm, which will include many special bonuses. When you join the free preview call you’ll get a discount code for the October 5th session while gaining powerful, FREE tips you can implement on your resume immediately.
During this free 30-minute preview call on September 14, 2011 at 8pm EST, I will be asking, Michelle Riklan, CPRW, CEIC, Resume Expert and Career Coach about some of the most impactful tips you need to know for success in landing your next job.
If you are looking to land a great job, be sure to register today for this free call where you can learn how to write a resume that gets results even in today’s challenging economy.
Job Search Killers – Lacking Structure
• Without a well thought out plan of action behind your job search, you’ll end up wasting a lot of valuable time on minor or unproductive tasks.
• Get yourself a dedicated space to work in, set a schedule, do your research, set your goals, focus your efforts, and stick to it!
• Remember: Structure leads to consistency, consistency leads to persistence, and persistence leads to success!
Need help with your job search click here.
Marshall
Is Your Job Search On Hold Because It Is So Late In The Year?
Now is not the time to put your job search on hold. Not only are there a lot of extra job openings, but also new budgets take effect in January. Human resources receives the job requisitions for the budgeted new jobs in November and these are filled before January 1. Not only that, you have less competition because people think it’s a bad time to look for a job. This is one of the best times of the year to find a job!
Announcing The Career Success Mastery Program
You will no longer be frustrated and anxious in your efforts to succeed. We will work together to:
- Create a Powerful Resume that Opens Doors
- Create a A Strategic Cover Letter
- Develop a Great 30-Second Pitch
- Launch a job search campaign that will actually work
- Maximize your networking efforts
- Increase your energy and confidence level so you can feel great about presenting yourself in a knock-’em-dead interview
- Negotiate effectively for the salary you desire and deserve
- Receive professional feedback on how to improve your job search and career improvement skill
- And so much more!
If meeting with other Greater Washington DC area job seekers in a confidential, face to face manner, facilitated by a Professional Career Coach, appeals to you then this is the program for you.
“Marshall has an uncanny ability to guide his clients to maintain a motivated job search. His networking coaching is incredible, and he is exceptionally accessible. In today’s competitive marketplace, it is critical that executive talent have exceptional guidance to secure your employment goals. I recommend Marshall, without reservation.”
—Bill Williams
We will meet in person or via telephone, once a month for 2 hours PLUS emails in between. The first meeting, by phone, is Friday December 12th at 12:00pm Eastern. Then the group, once formed, will determine day, time and location of subsequent meetings
Ahead-Of-The-Curve Discount: $275 if registered by November 15th 11:59pm Eastern
Full $350 per month payment registration Deadline:
November 29th
Consider this…
When you are unemployed your loss of salary can cost you thousands of dollars per month. This program will pay for itself many times over by helping to accelerate your successes PLUS save 1-on-1 coaching $$ by being a part of this group. Isn’t it time to invest in yourself?!
Click here to learn more!
Posted in Career, Career Coaching, Coaching, Job Search, Job Search Strategies, Success |
No Comments »
Job search help for disabled vets
Question:
I am a service-disabled veteran who has struggled for over 10 months to find employment. I have a 17-year background in administrative services. My greatest challenge is that I lost use of my legs as a result of an incident in Afghanistan. Needless to say, home-based employment would be ideal because I have difficulty accessing 
transportation.
Answer:
First and foremost, I thank you for the sacrifices you have made for our county and I applaud you for your efforts to put your life back in order.
After doing some research, I discovered Pearl Interactive Network, a company that employs home-based service-disabled veterans nationwide to provide administrative services. They are a for-profit social enterprise that has a mission to hire people with skills and talents who have work-related challenges. I encourage you to review their site, http://www.pearlinter.org/. I understand that they have hired several disabled veterans and are looking for aggressive growth in the very near term. Further, you may want to pursue contact centers that hire home-based employees or independent contractors.
I am aware that home-based businesses have had a lot of negative publicity and I encourage you to contact the Better Business Bureau where the home-based companies are domiciled to confirm that you are working with a credible and legitimate organization. Be aware that most of the home-based companies will require that you have access to broadband, purchase headsets and have a computer that is not more than four years old.
I wish you the best and encourage you to continue to search for employment opportunities that would enable you to work from home.
Published by Marshall Brown, “The Career Coach Is In” for the Washington Post.
http://views.washingtonpost.com/on-success/career-coach/
