Blog entries May 2009
05/27/2009Contemporary Image-Builders Lead to Lucrative Job Offers
What's all this talk about branding? If you're a job seeker this term can make the difference between who garners offers. Where did this business jargon originate and how do you keep informed? What ever happened to just getting educated, gaining experience and qualifying for a job and just plain getting hired?
Has hiring really become more complicated than before or have we just configured fancy terminology to define standard rules of engagement? Let there be no doubt about the increased competition to stay afloat in business, government and not-for profit these days, consequently Boards and senior-decision makers are far more selective. No one can afford to gamble with their executive decisions.
Nevertheless I maintain that while adorned with fancy verbiage, the demands of executive image have always required clarity in definition to predict future performance. And with three decades as a job search coach I stand witness to the difficulty executives, managers and professionals experience defining who they are, discerning what they've done and discussing what they have to offer. And so we apply new words to old concepts.
When I was in high school we had a delivery driver who wore a crazy red hat. Rain, snow, and on the hottest of days he was known as the guy in the red hat. Years later, there were many who never learned his name but all know which person we meant when we described him.
Your Brand - How do you want to be categorized and identified by employers? What do you want to be known as? Are you the acquisition king, the deal-maker, the turnaround solution? Despite stellar careers, few executives can define who they are when required to package their careers.
All who work are defined by the functions they perform, i.e., financial, operational, administrative, technology and the environments in which they are performed, i.e., manufacturing, financial service, retail, distribution and education. If you have graduated to leadership and you now run the company the definition still applies, but now under the identity of senior management. However when asking an executive who he is, he is more than likely to tell you what he's like. An exercise that will help initiate self-branding is to imagine a prospective Board willing to listen to only one illustration of your success. Your only chance to impress will be to tell a story of your biggest achievement. Your best approach will be to define what you are and then, by example, how well you've done. Companies who need heroes can relate to that! Perhaps you catch the ball before it drops! Without question, that's a brand. Adopt it and tell the world!
Janice Worthington
05/18/2009Laid Off? Consider the Following! (Follow us on Twitter as Exec JobCoach and JobSeach Coach)
1. Consider a Bridge Job. Not immediately finding the career-directed opportunity for which you've been searching? There's nothing wrong with contract or temp-to-hire status in your field. Many turn into great permanent career moves. Don't worry if it's a lower position. Everybody understands the times and a bridge job beats losing the house.
2. Consider a 1099 status. Many of us are so used to being W2 employees that any other arrangement makes us uncomfortable. You can even leverage this late in the interview process. Does your spouse have great benefits? Then you're a great candidate for a 1099 relationship. You'll save the employer money.
3. Consider commuting to another geographical area but do it early in the job search! Don't do this out of desperation. Pursue all of your options simultaneously. We have many professionals who live in Chicago and come home on weekends. We have one who commutes to Florida; she leaves on Monday and comes home Thursday night. Not ideal but not necessarily forever!
4. Start your own business? We have a client who has started a grout cleaning business. Now he won't even go on interviews because he has no time! He also has no time to work on my house! The key here is that he's offering a service so his start-up required little capital investment. And he knows how to promote!
5. Consider approaching companies uninvited! We are doing some real experimentation with companies claiming hiring freezes, and low and behold they are getting excited about bringing two of our candidates on board in July when new fiscal year begins. The key here is to establish communication with folks who work there! Also please have some verifiable experience that immediately established value.
6. Consider and understand why this might not be the time to seek your fantasy career change. Companies are in survival mode and won't take risks! Get back to work and don't give up on your dreams. Economic downturns lead to economic recovery. This too shall pass!
Janice Worthington
05/05/2009The Job Seeker's Triathlon & Twitter Treat: The Day That Each One Reached One
It was a risk worth taking! Candidates had always found difficulty "getting in the door." Recently job fairs had become ghosts of what they once had been and Human Resource Managers, Recruiters and Hiring Managers seemed elusive. It was as if part of job search had morphed into job chase and sometimes even job stalk just to get someone to speak with you.
Then last Saturday everything changed. With very little notice, 10 people who hire named Tina, Mindy, Chris, Jeff, Matt, George, Jennifer, Diane, and two Stephanies stepped out on a weekend to help a group of job seekers improve their skills. I was the job search expert and Jeremy was the social networking expert teaching in separate classrooms, while those who traditionally write "Dear John" letters with regret from Mondays through Fridays, mentored and encouraged job seekers last Saturday. Matt, one of our employers, invited Rebecca, a job seeker, to his firm for an interview this week!
As if this weren't magical enough, earlier in the month through our adventures on Twitter, we met a colleague and made a friend. Stephanie Lloyd from The Calibre Search Group, Atlanta, Georgia agreed to join our triathalon. With cell phone in hand, one-by-one each job seeker practiced phone interviewing with Stephanie and came away enlightened.
At a time when our job seekers feel forced into a herd mentality, we can't thank our experts enough for their support, especially
Stephanie Lloyd. Here's her take on helping job seekers hold better phone interviews.
Will there be more Triathlon Saturdays? You bet! We're committed to Each One Reach One! I'll keep you in the loop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM
Janice Worthington