Enter Work on Purpose, an Echoing Green publication that profiles five social change makers and their journeys to craft careers with meaningful impact. While the profiles may be interesting to students of social entrepreneurship at any age; they are designed for use by emerging professionals. 

The secret to success recommended by authors Lara Galinsky and Kelly Nuxoll is a simple formula: Look into your heart to clarify your passion and interests, chart a plan with your head and then hustle to make it happen. Or to keep it simple: heart, head, hustle.

In case you have trouble visualizing how the format works in action, the book includes case studies of five Echoing Green fellows – how they found their passion, how they found a way to incorporate their interests into their book, and the support and resources they were able to find to fulfill their goals. It’s a topic the authors know well: Echoing Green regularly invests in and supports emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions. Since 1987, Echoing Green has invested nearly $30 million in seed funding to almost 500 social entrepreneurs and their innovative organizations, including Teach for America, City Year, and SKS Microfinance.

I interviewed one of the Echoing Green fellows profiled in Work on Purpose.

Socheata Poeuv is the founder and chief executive of Khmer Legacies, a nonprofit organization in New Haven that documents the Cambodian genocide through videotaped testimonies. Socheata is a visiting fellow at the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, and was born in Thailand after her family fled Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge.

I won’t give away Socheata’s own journey and her experience of heart, head and hustle – you really should read this book – but here’s a window into her experience:

Have you ever felt any pressure not to pursue your passion?

Absolutely. That’s like asking me “are you the daughter of Asian parents?” My mother’s dream for me was to be a dentist because she has a nice dentist. She loves him.

To some degree, my parents still don’t understand what I do. That I don’t work for a company. That I don’t make a product. The idea that I can find support for my work through individuals who generously donate their money to support to social missions. That whole idea is foreign to my parents.

How would you recommend getting started to someone who wants to pursue a passion?

Take a look at the problems in the world that matter to you—what emotionally connects with you? What do you think about a lot? What do you read about in books, magazines, articles?

Think about the skills and areas of expertise that you bring to bear. Even if you don’t know what skills you have to offer, that will become clear over time. For me, I was looking for the intersection of what mattered and where my skills were—that helped me identify the problems to solve.

Is there anything not in the book that you think people need to know?

There are a lot of struggles in each and every one of our stories. There’s a lot of uncertainty.  And a lot of doubt sometimes. We wonder “How can we measure the impact of what we are doing? How can we see the tangible result of what we are doing?” We can’t measure our performance on a balance sheet. I think when you work for or create an organization that takes on a social problem, you take on a huge sense of responsibility that often feels greater than you might experience in the corporate world.

The question of “am I doing enough?” is endemic in the world of social entrepreneurship. Is what I am doing actually making a difference, and how do I know that?

Any actionable piece of advice?

The book focuses on the founders of social entrepreneurs, you see the cowboys – the people who started organizations. But there is a community that exists underneath all of these organizations and that supports their efforts. The thing to ask yourself is not “How do I start an organization?” but “How can I help? How can I get active in something I care about?” It’s not about starting a new career path; it’s about aligning your values with how you spend your time.

How can I converge my values with how I spend my time? That is the bottom line of the book; it’s not about how to start something new. It is about how to contribute.

 Work on Purpose is available through Amazon beginning April 19, 2011

Have you spent hours searching job boards for position listings?

Do you know what you want but get too many search results when you look for it?

Did you know employers and hiring managers are very sophisticated when they look for candidates, and know just the right key words to use?

Here are a few examples of how recruiters scout candidates 

C++ java -jobs -samples intitle:resume OR inurl:resume AND Cleveland
this is an example of a Google Search for software candidates in Cleveland

("business analyst" OR "systems analyst" or Analyst or BA) and (Retail or POS or "point of sales") and (ecommerce or e-commerce or web or internet) and (inventory or SCM or "supply chain") and ("crystal report*)
this is a search string from a recruiter challenged to find candidates for Business Analyst positions with experience in Crystal Reports. This search string is one that can be used inside job boards.

Today, we're going to help you level the playing field.

I'm working with the recruiting industry insiders who built the products used by 70% of the Fortune 500 to find candidates. We are going to give you a customized string for your job search.

After years of helping companies identify candidates to find jobs, my friends Chris Forman and Tim McKegney founded StartWire, a private social networking platform, to help job seekers find the right jobs.

If you join StartWire by Monday and complete a profile that share your interests--ideal job title, industry sectors of interest and location, Chris and Tim will provide you with your own custom Boolean search string you can use to save time.

Registering on StartWire takes less than five minutes, and you'll get your search string within 48 hours--at the latest. Sound good?

To your success,

Chandlee

(P.S. StartWire will help you find keywords to search for the right job, if you need help finding keywords for your resume, check out this post I wrote on how to find the best keywords through a tag cloud.)

Cross-posted on Secrets of the Job Hunt. Photo by Cayusa.

But as the weeks went on, there was a lot of blogging to be done. I also write for Career Hub, participate in the Career Collective, and contribute to a blog for the Twitter Job Search Guide. Over the course of the year, I've also written an e-book on CV writing for physicians and written for eFinancialCareers.

I've given advice on the importance of keeping things simple for job search, so it's time for me to take a bit of my own advice.

Come visit me at Job-Hunt.org for recent grad advice and stop by Best Fit Forward for the new stuff. If you want to say hi, shoot me an e-mail. Or, better, yet send me an @reply message on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and with all good wishes for your success,

Chandlee Bryan
December 31, 2010

P.S. Want a Taste of What You'll Find Elsewhere?

Job-Hunt.org
Improving Your GPA after Graduation
Competing for Jobs with Older, More Experienced Candidates

Best Fit Forward
Steve Martin on How to Beat Writer's Block
Learning to Fight Blah in Job Search
A Most Unfortunate Resume Mistake No One Will Tell You

This guest post is from one of my favorite workplace advice authors, Alexandra Levit. Here she provides tips on how to develop goals for your career--and how to set yourself up to ace the performance review.

Types of career goals vary, depending on the specific job and company, but every new college grad should aim to build a wide range of transferable skills(such as public speaking, client relations, project management, and budgeting) that are useful in many different types of careers and are not likely to become obsolete.

You can develop goals that focus on these skills and also pertain to your current position through a collaborative process with your supervisor.

Start by drafting your ideas for career goals and noting the obstacles you’re likely toencounter, knowledge you may need to acquire, and people who can support you.
 
Next, sit down with your supervisor and ask for feedback. In this meeting, you should make sure that your career goals are aligned with your supervisor’s goals for you and that the expectations set are reasonable and practical. For instance, if you’re in sales, your supervisor may or may not agree that you will be ready to make cold calls on your own by the end of your first year of employment. Before you leave, work with your supervisor to prioritize two or three career goals so you aren’t spreading yourself too thin, and create an immediate to-do list so that important goals don’t fall off your radar in the daily work/life grind.
 
If you arrange to meet with your supervisor every other month or so to revisit your career goals, you will be in great shape when it’s time for your performance review.

A few weeks before the review is slated to occur, gather facts to support how you’ve progressed on each goal. Identify concrete examples that illustrate outstanding performance and contribution, and practice communicating them so they’re on the tip of your tongue.

Your primary goal in the performance review process should be to demonstrate how you have made measurable contributions to the organization. If you are able to succinctly answer the question, "Why is the organization better off because you work there?," you will be well positioned for a productive discussion about your career potential as well as rewards and recognition. 

There's more where this came from.  Are you a student or young professional who wants to learn how to be successful TODAY?

Check out JobSTART 101 (www.jobstart101.com), a free online course Alexandra developed!

Living and working in Manhattan can be complicated. As I'm based here, I offer my NYC Job Seekers Meetup for newcomers and veterans of the Manhattan employment market. I also recommend Vicki Salemi's book Big Career in the Big City: Land a Job and Get a Life in New York for emerging professionals seeking their first gig in Gotham.

A former recruiter at KPMG, Vicki recently gave a fabulous talk to my MeetUp group. I asked if she'd share the following quiz with you--for those of you deciding whether to move to New York or not...

What’s Your NYC-ability?

That’s right. I’m talkin’ your Manhattan mojo and moxie. The fire in your belly that simply says it’s NYC or bust, baby! Are you truly ready to become a Gotham gal? Or are you a shrinking violet and more comfortable in the country than the big city? It’s pop quiz time, diva!

1. The thought of getting on a crowded subway during rush hour where it’s literally flesh on flesh with odors of pickle breath or random briefcases shoved into your back is

a. Part of the New York experience! What an invigorating way to start the day. For real.

b. Less than ideal, but hey: If it’s the fastest way to get to work, I’ll have to deal.

c. Gross. I’ll walk or take the bus instead, thank you very much.

2. Paying $1,500 in rent, $15 each day for lunch, $4.50 in subway fares, not to mention other expenses is

a. Worth it. You get what you pay for and NYC is worth every penny.

b. A travesty, but hey: Even though I’ll be broke, at least I’ll be happy.

c. Absurd.

3. The idea of paying a ton of money to live in a tiny apartment with two roommates, a makeshift wall, and the occasional mouse is

a. Your typical no-frills housing situation. Bring it!

b. Ick, but still worth it in order to have my shiny new life.

c. Gross and unacceptable.

4. This Thursday night you can either jet downtown to a cocktail party at a gallery opening, gallivant uptown to a private industry event at a museum, go to happy hour in the Meatpacking District, catch a celebrity book signing at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue, or chill at home.

You want to

a. Do it all! But alas, that’s not possible. So you’ll pick two events that are closest to each other, like the book signing and museum soiree, courtesy of a quick trip on the 6 train.

b. Take a deep breath and then focus on one event, like the cool gallery cocktail party. Ooh la la!

c. Chillax. Home sweet home all the way.

5. As you’re crossing the street and a messenger on a bicycle speeds past a red light, almost literally knocking you down to the pave- ment, you...

a. Curse him out at the top of your lungs.

b. Shake your head in disbelief and chalk it up to another day as a pedestrian.

c. Curse the dude in the loudest voice possible in your head, curse the city, and make your exit as soon as possible.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE BIG TIME? 

Answers:

Mostly As: Congratulations! A magnificent Manhattan life awaits and you’re clearly more than ready to bite into the Big Apple. The question though: Is it ready for you?

Mostly Bs: You’re almost there. It may take time to feel com- pletely ready to take on the land of the bright lights coupled with roaches, ridiculous rent prices, and a maxed-out social life. Be patient and realize that perhaps you should take baby steps by liv- ing in one of the boroughs.

Mostly Cs: New York City? Fughettabout it. Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but since you didn’t exactly pass the test, there’s no need to push it. If you force it, you’ll be unhappy and home- sick. New Yawk isn’t going anywhere and will be here when you’re ready for its magic.

Find yourself in the A or B category? Let us know how we can help...