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May 3, 2010

Tip of the Week – 5/2 – Does Your Family Know What You Do

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week — Tags: , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:19 pm

Tip of the Week – Does Your Family Know What You Do

I have a sister who works for a growing local company as a technical sales professional. Last week I was talking to her and she asked me about the Austin Tech Happy Hour. I told her it was a great event that she should definitely come to.

Thursday evening, I looked across the room and saw my sister arrive at the Happy Hour. I was so happy to see her I ran over and said hello and starting introducing her to people that I know.

She looked at me and said “You’re really good at this, why don’t you teach classes on Networking”. I was stunned and dumbfounded. I asked her what she thought I had been doing for the whole last year. She thought that maybe I needed to market myself better and asked me what I called my classes. I told her “Network Like A Pro” at which point she conceeded that maybe she just hadn’t been paying attention.

Hundreds of people all across Austin know me for the networker that I am. My sister lives here in the same city. She had no idea what I did or how I helped people.

To make things worse, I have held several workshops teaching people how to network better with their friends and family. I thought that my family had a solid understanding of what I do and how I do it. I was mistaken.

So my message to you this week is – even if you think your family already knows what you do and what kind of job you are looking for, you should double check. Start with a simple question of “What do you think I do?”. You may be bewildered to hear what your family comes back with.

If your family doesn’t know what you do, the next thing to do is to explain it to them in terms that a 5th grader could understand. I have worked with an executive job seeker friend of mine a lot. When he introduced himself he threw out all these big words that I couldn’t understand what he was talking about. I tried to appear intelligent, yet I only picked up on a few of the words like “Procurement” and “Supply Chain Management”. Help your family members to understand in the most basic form possible how they might be able to identify a good lead for you.

When I was working in high level tech support at a company, it was really challenging for me to explain what I did on a daily basis. Every single day my day was different. However, when people asked what I did I was able to tell them “I put the bandaids on the software until development can fix the problem for real”. It paints a pretty picture, right? If I were still searching for a job in that arena, my family could be looking out for an opportunity where I could provide solutions for software companies.

Your friends and family are your best cheerleaders. They care about your job search almost as much as you do. Help to make them more effective by making sure that they know what you do and how they can identify an opportunity that might be a good fit for you.

Job Seeker Tips of the Week are published weekly via the Job Seeker Newsletter

April 19, 2010

Tip of the Week – 4/19 – Reclaim Your Power

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:14 pm

Tip of the Week – Reclaim Your Power

Reclaiming Your Power

I’ve had a lot of examples over the last 2 weeks where I have encountered people who are filled with what I call “headtrash”. They are so focused on the ways that the job search has failed them. They don’t believe that they are ever going to find work. They are scared and they are desperate. Some of you are in this position, some of you are not.

When people are laid off from companies, they feel like their whole identity has been stripped away from them. Their circle of friends were normally just the people who they worked with. Many people have sat at the exact same desk and gone to work at the exact same time for years and years. Everything about them was defined by the job that they used to do. Sometimes their job/industry has disappeared completely. When that job is gone, they feel empty, hurt and rejected.

The job search itself is a defeating process if you don’t address it correctly. You pin all your hopes and dreams on that little apply button. “I’m perfect for that job, I’m sure they will hire me”. People wait by the phone and nothing happens. You stir up all this momentum to sit and wait for something that will never happen.

Some people get into a state of “headtrash” even when they are still working for a company. They think that whatever it is that they are currently doing is the only thing that they know how to do. They hope and pray that they can just continue to collect a pay check and that they won’t be a casualty of a lay off.

To all of this headtrash – I say – BE GONE!

I was working with a particularly bad case of headtrash. A friend of mine (I’ll call her Sarah (not her real name)) has been looking for work for the last 18 months. Nothing Sarah has done has resulted in gainful employment. Her husband also lost his job at the same time and he frequents himself with deep thoughts of depression and suicide. Sarah has reached a very desperate point trying to figure out how she’s going to put food on the table for her family. This once very strong Director of Sales is always holding back tears.

Lately when I’ve been working with Sarah. I have been trying to get her to step back into a place of empowerment. I ask her to think about the days when she confidently walked into the office and stole the show. Back in her glorious days she was able to negotiate multi-million dollar deals with her eyes closed. I forced her to go back and sit in that space again. Feel what it felt like to have that kind of power.

At first she wasn’t so sure about this process that I was taking her down. But, as she closed her eyes and reached back in her memories her posture began to change, a smile spread across her face and her whole energy about her shifted. Even though the last 18 months have defeated her, she could still go back and sit in her place of power. No one can take that from her.

Not all of you are as bad off as my friend Sarah. Some of you are just slightly wounded souls. Some of you are even at a point where you are becoming fed up with your current situation.Some of you are just starting the job search process.

To each of you, this week, I encourage you to go back to a moment in your life where you were proud and confident. It can be work related or not. Close your eyes and remember every single detail you can about that moment. Sit quietly in that moment for as long as you can stand it. If you must, set the timer on your phone for 5 minutes (or more) and just give yourself permission to go there and relish in every tasty detail. How did you feel that morning when you woke up? How did you feel that night when you got home? What are the details surrounding that perfect moment? The more emotion you can muster, the better!

This moment is your POWER moment. When you start to feel a little beaten – reclaim your power moment. When you start to feel a little depressed – reclaim your power moment. When you start to feel a little hopeless – reclaim your power moment. When you start to feel frustrated – reclaim your power moment.

Every time you sit at your computer and send out an email to ask for a meeting – sit for 5 minutes in your power moment. Before every single interview (informational, phone screen, in person, whatever) sit for 5 minutes in your power moment. Any time you are about to make a big decision affecting your career, sit for 5 minutes in your power moment.

You are an EXPERT in something. Reclaim that power!

I am not a therapist or a counselor. I have no formal training at all. However, I promise you that if you take the time to feel your power again you WILL start to feel more powerful things begin to happen in your life.

Try that out this week and report back to me on the changes that you start to see. :)

The Job Seeker Tip of the Week is published Each Week in the Job Seeker Newsletter.

April 8, 2010

Tip of the Week – 4/8 – Stop being Schizo

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:12 pm

Tip of the Week – Stop being Schizo

I hear people tell me all the time “I have a wide variety of talents”, “I don’t fit into just one job title”, “Companies think I would get bored easily”, “Companies don’t know where to put me” or a wide variety of other sayings along that expression.

Anyone who has worked for a company for more than 5 years has had to take on many hats. Most of these hats do not belong to their job title.  To add further confusion, many people are at a point where they don’t want to go back to do what they used to do. Instead they would like to use their talents or interests to do something different.

UNFORTUNATELY, companies don’t typically hire someone who is a jack (or jackie) of all trades. They have one particular role they are trying to fill and they want to find a person who can fit that one particular role.

I was helping a company hire a Customer Support position. I had found them what I thought was the perfect candidate. I sent over the candidate’s resume with all the proper information and credentials. Unfortunately, the hiring manager saw that this candidate had worked in real estate for a little while while they were also working in tech support. The hiring manager didn’t want anything to do with this candidate because he thought that the candidate did not exhibit the behavior of a TRUE Tech Support person. I did my best to convince the hiring manager otherwise but they would not hear of it. In hindsight, I should have taken the real estate part out of the resume. However, I thought it added color and flair. Instead, it just ended up causing confusion.

That hiring manager was a little bit extreme in his thinking. However, it’s not that far from the reality of what happens when someone goes through a giant stack of resumes. If you compare two resumes side by side and one of them ONLY talks about why they are a perfect fit for the role and the other resume refers to how they are a fit but also how they can be a fit for other things, the hiring manager will pick the first resume every single time. It’s less work. It’s less confusing. And you do not have to waste time figuring out how that person might fit in your organization.  The only exception to this rule is when the Hiring Manager doesn’t really know what they want the role to be – in which case someone who can wear different hats is a benefit.

Then the question comes up – “What to do I do about Linked In” where anyone out there can read about me. My opinion – figure out what it is that you really WANT to do. Make sure that your profile reads that you are perfect for that role that you want. In the paragraph at the top you can explain your ideal role and also indicate that you are good at other things as well. Each job section should include why you are a fit for your “perfect” role and then have a subsection that indicates why you fit other roles as well.

When you are out networking, you should pick one hat to wear for each event that you are attending. Trying to explain the 100 roles that you previously filled just becomes tiresome for the person who is listening to you. It’s okay if one day you’re a Project Manager and the next day you are a Technical Sales guru. Just pick one person to be that day.

If you are STILL completely confused and don’t know where to even start to sort out your hats. Well, that’s where I suggest that you get involved with Austin Career Coaching (www.AustinCareerCoaching.com). That’s where we shine! We’ll help you figure out which hats to wear on which occassions and how to showcase each of your hats in the best light.  I know that was a gratuitious plug for one of my other hats. However, I really don’t have time to explain the whole process in a blog. :)

The Job Seeker Tip of the Week is published each week in the Job Seeker Newsletter.

March 23, 2010

Tip of the Week – 3/23 – Jobs vs Dating

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:10 pm

Tip of the Week – Jobs vs Dating

It occurs to me frequently that the Job Search is so much like the Dating process. Sometimes I see it in my work as a Career Coach and sometimes I see it in my single life looking for my own match.

Here’s how I see it

  1. There must be a mutual match for both interested parties
  2. Desperation is not attractive
  3. Each side has a detailed list of qualifications that the other side must meet
  4. You can conduct your search online, but it’s much better to have a personal referral
  5. Frequently there is a phone screen before a face to face meeting
  6. Sometimes they don’t call you back
  7. Interviews should be conducted with plenty of questions from both parties
  8. You SHOULD require a background check but it doesn’t always happen
  9. There is an intricate negotiation dance
  10. Salaries and Benefits should be delayed until late in the conversation
  11. Ultimately it comes down to “Do they like me better than all the rest?”
  12. Rejection is never a pretty thing
  13. You should not fall in love until a clear offer is made
  14. Commitment will greatly impact your life
  15. If this opportunity doesn’t work out, there’s always more to come

Now I am sure that there are many other similarities, but this is just what I came up with off the top of my head.

Many job seekers that I talk to are so set on just finding a job that they don’t spend enough time finding THE RIGHT JOB. I suppose the same could be true in dating as well. In both cases, if you don’t make sure that it’s the right fit for you, you’re not going to be happy.

For the next job that you become interested in, look at it as if it were someone you were interested in dating. Do you have enough information? Do you love it? Does it feel right? Are you going to be happy at the end of the day? Have you asked enough questions to make yourself comfortable about the decision?

And of course, as my grandmother always says “There’s plenty of fish in the sea”. If it doesn’t fit, move on. There’s another good one waiting for you!

Tips of the Week are published weekly in the Job Seeker Newsletter.

March 8, 2010

Tip of the Week – 3/8 – Know What You Want

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:06 pm

Tip of the Week – Know What You Want

If you don’t know what you want to do, how is anyone supposed to be able to help you?

There are many job seekers who are out there and really don’t know what they want to do. Or if they do know what they want to do, they don’t know how to vocalize it. Are you one of these job seekers?

  • Can you clearly communicate to someone else the ways you bring value to an organization?
  • Can you clearly communicate the aspects of a job that you love?
  • Can you clearly communicate what your perfect job looks like?
  • Can you clearly communicate what you used to do in your old job?

Don’t be suprised if you answered “no” to every question above. Most job seekers can not clearly communicate anything about what they enjoy, what they have done or what they would like to do in the future. Couple that with the fact that most people do not like to brag about themselves and you’ve got a recipe for pure confusion.

Think of it like the genie who grants you 3 wishes but does it in a way that you can not expect. If you told that genie that your wish was to “make $100K a year and live in Austin Texas”, that genie may grant you a position where you are working 80 hours a week under enormously stressful conditions. Your blood pressure goes through the roof. You’re angry all the time. You have customers/clients screaming at you constantly. You have a boss who is threatening to fire you at a moments notice. The genie gave you what you wanted. However, is your life any better? Could you have been clearer in your desires?

I challenge you to define:

  • What do you do better than 95% of the people out there?
  • What do you really enjoy doing?
  • What kind of an environment do you want to work in?
  • What is your realistic salary expectation?
  • Are you willing to travel?
  • Are you willing to relocate?
  • Do you need any specialized benefits?

Once you have those answers, then you need to start to figure out how to tell someone else about them.

  • Can you say what you do on a simplistic level and have someone understand it? Practice on a 5th grader, a server at a restaurant or your grandmother (you get the point).
  • Can you dress up the story and communicate it to someone who is in the same business/industry/function as you?
  • Can you dress it up more and communicate your values to a future employer?

If this task seems way too daunting for you, find a friend to practice it with. If it still seems too daunting, find a Career Coach to work with. Of course, I’m going to plug Austin Career Coaching, since I’m the Director of Networking there. However, pick one that you feel comfortable with and get them to start working with you.

Until you are clear on what you want and you can communicate it effectively, you will continue to spin your wheels.

To receive the Job Seeker Newsletter – please go to http://www.BridgeATX.com/Newsletter.html

February 17, 2010

Job Seeker Tip of the Week – 2/17 – The Pursuit

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Kim B @ 10:40 am

I’ve been talking to a lot of job seekers about what to do when you are in the interview stages of your pursuit of the job. Frequently people are left wondering in silence hoping that they will go onto the next interview. Let me help to explain what is happening on the staffing side of things and then what you can do to handle the situation. :)

First, when you are finishing up an interview, you should always ask to see what the next steps are going to be and when you should expect to hear back from the company. Take that date and add 2 days. If you haven’t heard back by then you are free to follow up.

People get busy. I know it’s hard to believe but people are not thinking about you and your interview process all day long. I mean, people other than you. ;) They may be interviewing other candidates. They may be actually doing work. If you don’t hear back from someone in the time frame that they have set assume that they are busy.

If you have a recruiter that you are working with, they are the first point of “harrassment”. What I mean by this, is that you can contact them more frequently to get feedback than you can a hiring manager. So, if you have a recruiter, feel free to contact them every couple of days or so to see where the process stands. If you only have the contact info of the Hiring Manager themself, then you’ll have to step a little more gingerly and contact them every 5 business days or so.

I heard a great comment yesterday and that’s “Treat it like a Date”. That means you want to contact them often enough to make sure they know you are interested. Sometimes, its the one person who follows up that actually gets the job. However, you can’t over contact them and come across as a stalker. After you have contacted someone 3 – 4 times and received no response, consider the situation dead. They may contact you back at a later date, but you need to give up on them contacting you.

So, general Rules of Thumb:

  • Make sure you get a “follow up” date upon completion of an interview
  • Give a Recruiter 2 days after that date to contact you – and then you should contact them
  • Give a Hiring Manager 5 days after that date to contact you – and then you should contact them
  • Follow up every 2 – 4 days appearing eager but not desperate
  • If you don’t hear back after 3 – 4 tries, let it go

To Receive Our Newsletter Go to – www.BridgeATX.com/Newsletter.html

February 12, 2010

Job Seeker Tip of the Week – 2/12 – Be Visible

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week — Tags: , , , , , , , — Kim B @ 10:28 am

Tip of the Week

Be Visible

So much of a job search is about being in the right place at the right time. Last night I was out with a few friends. I was talking to someone who I hadn’t met before. At the end of the conversation I realized that this woman who was sitting next to me could be perfect for a job posting that I had heard about this week. Today I will be sending her more information and we’ll see how that goes.

If I had not been sitting next to her last night, I would have never known that she was unhappy with her current job. This job is not posted anywhere yet. So, had she not been sitting next to me she would have never known about it.

You don’t know where your next job opportunity might come from. You could start a conversation with the guy standing behind you at Whole Foods and he could turn out to be a Hiring Manager. You could be at your kids basketball game and you’re sitting next to a woman who is the Director of HR. You might be volunteering for an event and the person who is helping you to stack chairs might be your next boss.

You laugh, but I’m telling you that every time I go downtown to the Whole Foods on 6th Street I ALWAYS run into decision makers that I know. Decision Makers are typically working 60 – 80 hours a week. Where do you think they are? They need to go shopping. If they have children, they will be at their children’s events. If they are philanthropic they will pick organizations that they want to volunteer for.

Decision Makers are not going to Job Clubs. Job Clubs should be used to increase your knowledge and meet new people (who may know the decision maker that you need to talk to).

Decision Makers are not going to be sitting in your house with you watching the History Channel.

Decision Makers lurk around every corner. Get out there and BE VISIBLE.

February 2, 2010

Job Seeker – Tip of the Week – 2/2 – Seeking Help

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week — Tags: , , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:22 pm

Tip of the Week


Seeking Help

In my Connection Conversations I help people understand what they need to do when they are trying to seek help from others. I go through three scenarios:

It’s 3 AM, I’m stuck at the airport. Cabs are all gone and I need a ride home. I ask YOU to come and pick me up from the airport. Will you come?

It’s 3 AM, I’m stuck at the airport. Cabs are all gone and I need a ride home. I ask MY BROTHER to come and pick me up from the airport. Will he come?

It’s 3 AM, I’ve been busted with a DWI and I call my brother to come and bail me out of jail. Will he come?

The scenarios above address the issue of familiarity and how easy it is to help me. Would you come get me at the airport? Maybe, because you realize that you would then be able to call in a favor from me. However, you would definitely think twice about leaving your cozy little bed to come get me. In the second scenario, my brother would not be very happy about it, but he would come and get me from the airport if I were stranded. In the third scenario, I think my brother would probably think it was good for me to stay in jail overnight for my terrible behavior and would likely wait until the morning to come and help.

The point of this is that when you are asking people to help you you need to consider 1) How well do they know you and 2) How easy it is for them to help you. The easier you make it on someone to help, the more likely you will get a quick reaction and a lot of help.

I go into much more detail in my classes on how this can be accomplished, but you can’t expect me to tell you all of that for free do you? :)

January 27, 2010

Job Seeker – Tip of the Week – 1/27 – Linked In For Schizophrenics

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week — Tags: , , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:09 pm

Tip of the Week

Linked In for Schizophrenics

Many Job Seekers have asked me lately what to do with their Linked In Profile when they are seeking a variety of different positions or possibly a variety of different industries. My comment is “be honest”.   Use the top section of Linked In to explain why you have so many different interests and how each of them might benefit the company that you seek to work for.

Now, the catch to this is that you must still show that you are focused on whatever it is specifically that a company needs. You can’t just say “I’ve picked three areas to focus my search.  I’d like to be a baseball player because I played baseball as a kid.  I’d like to be a plumber because I feel handy around my house.  I’d like to be a journalist because I enjoy writing.”  Um.. Okay….   How would a Hiring Manager review that one?   Tell people why you are passionate about the area you have chosen to focus on and why (perhaps with little experience) someone should give you a shot.

Now, I’m not going to get into the “What do you want to be when you grow up” conversation in this tip.  That’s a long conversation that we cover over 12 weeks at Austin Career Coaching.   However, I do challenge you to really focus in on what you’d like to do and why you are special at doing just that.

Then when you’re talking about specific job experience you can spell out something about the past experience that makes you perfect for one of the new directions that you are heading in.

For example:

Application Support Team Lead at Authoria
September 2006 – September 2007  (1 year 1 month)

• Developed and trained team members on support ticket software
• Motivated fellow employees
• Defined and captured functional and operational requirements and processes
• Ensured issues were resolved in a timely fashion

EVENT PLANNING – While in my role as Application Support Team Lead at Authoria – I was part of the Event Planning Committee.  I helped to plan over 15 events. Each week we coordinated catered lunch for 75 employees.

If you’d like to receive the Tips of the Week as they are published – sign up for our newsletters at http://www.bridgeatx.com/newsletter.html

January 18, 2010

Job Seeker – Tip of the Week – 1/18 – Keep Your Skills Fresh

Filed under: Job Seekers, Tip of the Week — Tags: , , , , , , , — Kim B @ 1:08 pm

Tip of the Week

KEEP YOUR SKILLS FRESH

This week I’m going to encourage you to start to look for ways to keep your skills fresh.  Even passive job seekers find themselves in roles in their companies where they are not doing what they want to be doing.  For example, a java developer may be asked to lead a team and they get so swamped with the administration of that team that they don’t get to code anymore.

So, what can you do to keep your skills fresh?

First, decide which skills are the ones that you want to maintain.  You might be really good at bookkeeping but you really enjoy managing people.

Then you need to start to look for opportunities where you can continue to use those skills.  You can volunteer.  You can offer to help small businesses get up and running.  You can start your own side consulting business. You can take classes. Trust me the opportunities are out there.  You may not always get paid for your efforts but if you don’t get your skills up to date you won’t get hired for the jobs that you want.

A sales person may offer to help a company launch their sales program on a commission basis.  A programmer may build their own website.  A project manager may offer to manage a group or volunteer project.  A bookkeeper may help small businesses balance their taxes.

If you are looking for an opportunity to keep your skills fresh but you aren’t sure how to do it.  Please email me and I’ll be happy to start offering suggestions.

If you aren’t doing what you would love to do as a career every single day.  Then you need to be finding ways to do improve that skillset so you can start doing it tomorrow.

If you’d like to receive the Tips of the Week as they are posted – Sign up for our Newsletter at http://www.bridgeatx.com/newsletter.html

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