Career Goddess

Job Search Tips for Gen Y College Grads

Susan Guarneri — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:59:37 -0600

BusinessWeek’s October 2009 issue highlighted “The Lost Generation” and the job search woes of young college graduates. With unemployment rates now at a staggering 10.2 per cent, the highest in 26 years, college grads are finding it especially difficult to secure their first career gig. In fact, many are unemployed or employed in jobs not requiring a college degree.

So how does a Gen Y college grad, with little experience, make a smooth transition to gainful, and perhaps even meaningful, employment? Join William Arruda, found of Reach Personal Branding, as he interviews Lindsey Pollak about her best-selling book Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World (HarperCollins).

The November 2009 Reach Personal Branding Interview is on Thursday, November 12 at noon EDT and will be recorded for download if you cannot attend the live event. You will learn:

- Why careers for Gen Y are different than previous generations’ careers,
- How college students and recent grads can avoid the biggest job-hunting mistakes,
- Tips for parents to assist their children,
- What universities can do to help, and
- Why social media is changing job hunting and career development.

Lindsey Pollak’s blog is consistently top-rated; she writes as well for The Huffington Post and FastCompany.com, heavy hitters in thought leadership. A graduate of Yale University, Lindsey is a sought-after speaker and college-to-career expert for media outlets such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Dealing with Job Search Stress

Susan Guarneri — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:07:35 -0600

Jordan Friedman, known as The Stress Coach, shares “Smart Stress Reduction Tactics to Use on a Job Hunt”. This article was featured in his recent newsletter Stress Release.

Take Control
Ask not what you can do for a potential employer, but what a potential employer can do for you. Feeling in control is vital to stress reduction, so inject this mindset into your job search and interviews to inoculate you against some of the stress of this process. Ask prospective employers about their mission, expectations, work environment and other traits important to you, a technique that also communicates confidence, self-respect and skill under pressure.

Shout Out Successes
List your many strengths from building efficient project teams to baking "top chef" chocolate cupcakes. Rejection can eat away at your self-confidence, so it's important to regularly review your menu of impressive skills, reinforcing self-esteem.

Call for Backup
Convene and consult people who praise, encourage, and if necessary, thoughtfully offer you wise suggestions for change. Think of them as essential members of your job search "committee," selected by you to keep you motivated and catch you if you fall behind.

Edit the Noise
Go on a media diet by cutting back on the constant feed of rising unemployment numbers,
mortgage default rates and shuttered shops. Beyond appropriately figuring current events into your job search strategy, this information does little more than ramp up our stress and wear down our spirits.

Take a Break
Balance the stress of your job search by working out, volunteering, basket weaving or taking part in other enjoyable activities that temporarily take you away from the job of job hunting. And try to kiss goodbye any guilt from doing so. These sojourns strengthen your psyche and your body--and therefore your ability to find work.

Jordan was interviewed in May by William Arruda of Reach Personal Branding about stress management. For an audio download of that interview, go to May 2009 Reach Personal Branding Interview (scroll down the page to May 2009 and look for the audio link).

Second Annual Job Action Day

Susan Guarneri — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:35:31 -0500

Quintessential Careers and a cadre of bloggers, including Susan Guarneri (Career Assessment Goddess), emphasize bright spots in the “jobless recovery” to mark the second annual Job Action Day worldwide on Nov. 2.

While the economy is showing signs of recovery, indications that the recovery will continue to be “jobless” casts a pall over hopes for a full bounceback. Job Action Day, the second annual event spearheaded by Quintessential Careers, addresses the jobless recovery by spotlighting promising areas in which the unemployed and other job-seekers may find opportunities.

“The idea is that job-seekers can take plenty of action steps right now – today – to move forward in their careers, even if they’re unemployed and have been for some time,” said Quintessential Careers Founder and Publisher Dr. Randall S. Hansen. “We established Job Action Day last year as a day for job-seekers pummeled by the economic meltdown to take control of their careers and initiate action,” Hansen said. “Where last year shock, fear, and paralysis may have inhibited action, this year, the gloom of prolonged unemployment may be de-motivating job-seekers.”

But Hansen underscores his belief that job-seekers can take action today in his Job Action Day article 10 Things (Activities) You Can Do Today for Your Job Search. In addition, Job Action Day writers and bloggers have targeted several areas as offering bright spots of opportunity including Federal jobs, green/clean energy jobs, stimulus jobs, entrepreneurship, and career re-invention.

Noting that the job market has changed in the last year, Quintessential Careers asked career experts for cutting-edge job-search tips they would not have thought of one year ago. Quint Careers Associate Publisher Katharine Hansen compiled their responses for Job Action Day in Job-Search Tips for a Changed Economy: How to Succeed in the "New Normal”.

Align Your Image and Personal Brand for Job Search Success

Susan Guarneri — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:23:24 -0500

To be effective in your job search, your personal brand needs to be clear, consistent, and constant. Does your image and behavior, both online and offline, line up with the attributes and strengths of your personal brand? Read Part 1 of my article “Personal Branding – Is Your Image Really You?” in the most recent issue of the bizMe newsletter. Then take the short job-search quiz to evaluate your job search behaviors and the effect they may have on the perception of your brand.

Color, images, and content in your job search self-marketing messages also play an important role in how your personal brand is viewed. To jumpstart the development of your image to align with your personal brand, view William Arruda’s Commercial Break which analyzes how 10 different TV ads relate to personal branding.

What does your job search image say about you and your brand?

Listening Well: What It Takes to Move People to Action

Susan Guarneri — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:54:40 -0500

Have you ever tried to really connect with a customer or co-worker who is important to your career or business success? Or attempted to get a reluctant teen-ager to share snippets of their day? Do you know the 9 core rules for getting through to anyone? Is listening a signature strength of your personal brand?

If not, you will want to attend the Reach Personal Branding Interview Series for October on Thursday, Oct. 15 (noon ET). William Arruda, founder of Reach Personal Branding, will interview Dr. Mark Goulston, author of Just Listen (Amacom 2009). Dr. Goulston’s topic for the interview is Just Listen: The New Secret Weapon for Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone. From this discussion you will learn how to:

Get your emotions under control and rewire your brain to listen

Make people “feel felt” in a conversation with you

Sincerely be interested in what someone has to say rather than just appearing to be interested

Turn complainers and obstructers into allies, and

Go beyond transaction to transformation by genuinely relating.

Dr. Goulston has quite a unique background: clinical psychiatrist, executive coach, business consultant, and FBI/police hostage-negotiation trainer. He has appeared on “Oprah” and “The TODAY Show” and has been widely quoted by major media, such as Time and The Wall Street Journal. His column on leadership for Fast Company, along with his syndicated column for Tribune Media Services, and his Usable Insight blog all showcase his wisdom related to persuasive communication.

Good listening skills are included in the three foundation skills identified by the United States Department of Labor Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) in 1991. Considered essential to success in the workplace in this report, listening is also critical to successful interactions in all aspects of our lives, including job search.

Ask yourself: are you consistently able to move people to action? The action you want them to take? This persuasive ability is not just about talk; it starts with listening. Take one hour of your time on Thursday to learn how to strengthen your listening skills so you can engage and get through to others, even in the most difficult of situations.

Self-Marketing and Your Resume: Top 5 Goals

Susan Guarneri — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:31:11 -0500

A resume is like an advertisement promoting you, the job seeker. An ad placed in a crowded magazine or newspaper with similar ads has to attract attention, be easy to read and comprehend, and be full of benefits. Otherwise, the reader will pass right over it and not even see it.

If an ad is any good at all, it will pique interest so the reader will want to find out more about the product or even order it immediately. Similarly, a good resume will generate a positive response and move your job search into high gear. But there are additional self-marketing goals as well. Here are the top five:

1. Get an Interview

The primary goal of a resume is to get an interview, which is an “order” for a preview of your product – YOU. Unfortunately, many resumes are cookie-cutter versions of the one-page, standard reverse-chronological line-up that tells employers and recruiters very little about the person, and usually more about job duties and responsibilities. Personal branding, that combination of unique strengths, characteristics, and experience most relevant to the career goal and target audience, is rarely conveyed on the page.

In a world where we are all bombarded with information overload, you will probably have 10 to 30 seconds to capture the employer’s or recruiter’s attention and keep it. Create your self-marketing piece, your resume, in accordance with these guidelines:

* What do you think will grab the attention and interest of this particular employer?

* What industry is the employer in? What market niche? Where do they rank among their competitors (e.g., established Fortune 500 Company or small, but rapidly growing, start-up?) How could you best appeal to THEIR interests?

* What kind of job are you targeting? Is it entry-level? Senior management? In between?

* Do you already have a warm contact: an employee or vendor at this company who could hand deliver your resume and make a strong case for you in person?

* What might the employer be looking for in terms of results? What are the value drivers for the position being advertised?

* How would your past experience, skills and knowledge be of value?

2. Present Your Strengths and Benefits

Many resumes are simply lists of features, often crammed into a one-page format with small font, narrow margins, and little white space. These features are similar to a list of ingredients on a canned food label (e.g., sugar, water, dextrose, and red dye #2). The typical resume looks like a job description “list of ingredients”:

I worked
At the following places
For these periods of time
My job titles were this and that
My duties and responsibilities were a little of this and that.

However, the secret behind good resumes is going beyond the features and telling your audience, the buyer, about the benefits of your product. It is answering the employer’s questions: “What’s in it for me?” and “Why should I hire you?” You are more than a canned food label, a commodity; you are a one-of-a kind branded gourmet feast!

3. Demonstrate What You Can Do

Your resume must clearly show what you can do for the employer by defining your track record: did you solve problems, innovate new products, increase sales, improve employee motivation, cut costs, streamline procedures, and so on.

You need to demonstrate these benefits in ways the employer values and can visualize. Use dollar figures, numbers, percentages, and descriptive results (i.e., $20 million annual savings achieved by reducing turnover rate by 75% for field employees).

Relevant achievements, with clearly applicable benefits for the employer, will make the buyer want to see you even if there is supposedly no immediate opening or a hiring freeze. Here is why: employers always have problems (challenges) to solve and will find ways to create positions for people they believe can deliver those solutions.

4. Link Your Skills and Experience to the Employer’s Needs

Go beyond just listing your duties and responsibilities. What did you actually accomplish? What was the difference between your doing the job and someone else who would have been just a “seat-warmer”?

In addition, dig deep into the employer’s needs. Every industry has problems and concerns (http://www.vault.com has in-depth industry information). Couple that information with what you can find out about an employer. Use Internet research, as well as resources in the library and networking for insider information.

Then customize your resume to attract your audience and keep them interested by continuing to communicate results in all the jobs listed. Show a thread of employer-desired skills in every job held. That demonstrates you will likely exhibit those same skills and comparable results in your new job.

Have you been waiting for a response after sending out 500 or more generic resumes? Put some extra effort and time up front to ensure a positive response by building in value-drivers. Often the person to whom you send the resume will still have to “sell” you as a candidate to their boss. Why not give them the tools to work with? Provide dynamic, benefits-laden information that will do the “selling” for them.

5. Answer the Question: Why Should I Hire You?

Give the employer a good reason to invite you to an interview. Outperform others with similar qualifications and experience by creating a resume that demonstrates you are productive (achievements), a continuous learner (nobody buys “old” knowledge), adaptable to change (jobs are now a series of project engagements), and a cooperative team player.

Be sure to include your personal branding differentiators, what makes you distinctive and memorable to others, in your resume and cover letter. Follow that theme by including a discussion of your personal branding attributes, leadership style, and strengths when interviewing.

It does take time to develop a good resume. But the time you spend will be well invested. Perhaps you may want to hire a professional resume writer and certified personal branding strategist to partner with you in producing an interview-generating document that highlights your accomplishments and your personal brand.

Make it easy for the employer to picture you doing the job and doing it well. Give the employer some tantalizing, results-packed scenarios of interest and you will find your resume -to-interview offer ratio will skyrocket!

Social Media: The Competitive Edge in Job Search

Susan Guarneri — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:14:25 -0500

Being reactive and responding to job postings means that you are in competition with tens of thousands of other potential applicants for a job! Who needs that?

Why not get smart with your job search and be more proactive? Learn about openings before they are advertised widely on public sites like CareerBuilder or Monster. More and more, the really good jobs are being promoted exclusively on select networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Another technique: recruiters and employers are trawling the Web for passive candidates whom they find through keyword searches of online profiles at places like LI, Twitter, and Facebook. Do you have an online presence? Does it express your personal brand and set you apart from the crowd?

For a quick primer on how to get started with maximizing your social media clout online, check out this Online Networking Checklist for Job Seekers by Pam Abbazia at Jump Start Social Media. Great tips to get you started in improving your online visibility and personal branding distinctiveness!

Follow-up: The Tip-the-Scale Job Search Step

Susan Guarneri — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:29:41 -0500

Looking for job openings and job leads would seem to be the most critical step in the job search process for job seekers. But is it really?

Let me suggest that follow-up with a thank-you note or letter, at minimum, after networking or an informational interview or job interview is likely more important. Why? Because the vast majority of job applicants do NOT follow-up. The lack of this step, essential to the success of a job search, has been noted in reputable employer surveys over the years and in my own informal discussions with employers.

If you take the time to build relationships with individuals who gave their time and shared job leads, provided information and/or referrals, or actually interviewed you, you will absolutely stand out in the crowded job-search arena. The positive emotional connection that results from a simple thank you is key to being remembered and can often be the tip-the-scale factor in landing the job you really want.

So what is the hang-up? Why do so many job seekers drop the ball in this final leg of the job-search process? I have to shake my head when I hear job seekers explain that they are “too busy” to send a thank you. Too busy doing what? Sometimes the reason is confusion about what to say in a thank-you note. How about just, “Thank You, I enjoyed our conversation and got a lot out of it. I really appreciate your taking time to [fill in the blank about the connection activity and what specifically you gained of value].”

Keith Ferrazzi, internationally acclaimed speaker and author of Who’s Got Your Back and Never Eat Alone (one of my most favorite books), provides some tips for flawless follow-up in his blog post How to Surpass 95% of Your Competition with One Simple Gesture. Make the commitment to follow-up consistently and tip the Stand-Out-Candidate scale in your favor!

Embrace Your Strengths: Learn to Say Yes

Susan Guarneri — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:00:43 -0500

When I first read Now, Discover Your Strengths (The Free Press 2001) co-authored by Marcus Buckingham I realized it was revolutionary. Instead of promoting the notion of trying to fix weaknesses as a means to career success, it simply said find out your strengths and run with them. As a career counselor, that concept aligned with my strategies for helping clients explore career options that actually match with their skills, strengths, interests, passions, personality type, values, and personal brand.

Marcus Buckingham’s new book Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently (to be released on Sept. 29) promises to be another salvo in advancing self-esteem and career success. By saying “yes” to your strengths, Mr. Buckingham asserts “women can tap into their best selves and find their strongest lives”.

A key component of the book is The Strong Life Test for Women. Only 23 questions long, this online quiz immediately reveals your Lead Role and your Supporting Role. I struggled with some of the questions, where 2 out of the 4 possible answers seemed like reasonable responses I would make. So I decided to take the quiz twice, once answering with my top-level responses and another time with responses that were almost a tie with my first choices. This is the resulting order of roles revealed for me:

Advisor – Asks “What is the best thing to do?” Valued for your insight and judgment and helping others to find answers.
CareTaker – Asks “Is everyone OK?” Instinctively inclusive, looking for ways to draw others into the circle and make them feel wanted, heard, and appreciate.
Teacher – Asks “What can be learned from this?” You have faith in others’ potential and enable others’ learning about themselves, their performance, and their skills.
Pioneer – Asks “What’s new?” Willing to take risks and explore; intrigued by the unfamiliar, whether people or experiences.

Interestingly, these roles coincide with my personal branding attributes and strengths from my 360Reach personal branding assessment, a confidential online feedback tool. The 360Reach allowed me to ask those who knew me well what they honestly thought about me (respondents are guaranteed anonymity so they can be absolutely truthful). The attributes from my 360Reach results included strategic, caring, connecting, genuine, creative, insightful, and forward-thinking.

My recommendation: take The Strong Life Test for Women (a self-assessment) and the 360Reach (feedback from others) to uncover your key strengths, skills, and attributes. With that knowledge as a base, you can learn to recognize and say “yes” to life’s opportunities that draw you like a magnet, because they are natural gateways for growth, fulfillment, and happiness.

Social Media Tools and Building Trust

Susan Guarneri — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:41:57 -0500

You have nanoseconds to capture the attention of your target audience. What do you do? If you believe you have tried everything, then hold onto your hats because the concept of Trust Agents has arrived! Chris Brogan, social media guru, will be interviewed by William Arruda, founder of Reach Personal Branding, on Thursday, September 10 at noon EST on The Rise of the Trust Agent. The September 2009 Reach Personal Branding Interview Series will focus on:

- How you can be “human at a distance”
- How you can take advantage of relationship-centric tools on the new Web, and
- How to make your first moves in this online space.

Chris Brogan has been on the forefront of social media, web and mobile technologies for the past 10 years to build digital relationships for businesses and individuals. He is co-author of Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust (Wiley, August 2009). In addition, his blog ranks in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power 150 and the top 100 on Technorati.

Whether you are a newbie at social media or believe you are a power user, Chris Brogan will share some new ideas that could turn you into a new kind of social media connector: the Trust Agent. The interview will be recorded for those who cannot attend the live call.