Goals or Planning-What’s Best

“People don’t change when they feel good.”

-Og Mandino

When we’re out of work, we’re not feeling too terribly good. So what is it that pushes us to set goals? Pain. When it’s painful enough such as the unemployment insurance running out, the mortgage is 60 days behind, they’re talking repo on the family SUV…….. we eventually sit up and say, “I better get serious about this job search.”

Goals, goals, goals, we hear it all the time for things like securing our financial security, for climbing the corporate ladder or in athletics. Now it’s being trumpeted in the job search. why, because they work.

So, what’s the difference between having a plan, and setting goals. Aren’t they the same? Isn’t the goal just to get a job?

No not really. Here’s the way it breaks out: there’s planning, wishing, dreaming and goals.

Wishing – “I wish I could get a job making $100k a year.”

A wish is an expression, a desire or hope concerning the future or fortune. Wishing is usually fleeting, and passes with little residual effect. But wishing over a prolonged period of time can morph into dreaming.

Dreams – “I want to live in Vail,Colorado.”

Dreams are just that – ethereal, celestial, not of this earth. But let’s not dismiss dreams because the greatest of all accomplishments started with the most ridiculous of dreams, imaginative thoughts of what can be. It’s a beginning point. But you have to move past dreams.

Planning – “I’ll perform a six part set of actions to locate, engage and accept a job I want.”

A good start, admirable and doable. But it’s much more helpful if planning is packaged with time tables, short term requirements, assessments, and motivators. Which leads up to the whole package of goals.

Goals - ”I will live and work at in Vail, Colorado. I will accomplish this by creating a plan                          and working the plan to move to Vail and make $100k a year by March of next year.

What’s so great about goal setting?

Good goal setting gives an job seeker an edge in four areas:

1. They provide direction.

2. They employ a doable plan.

3. They provide feedback.

4. Goals motivate and provide a daily purpose.

Tips for effective goal setting:

1. Set both short-term and Long-term goals.

2. Identify task goals in addition to outcome goals.

3. Work a plan with action as the primary activity.

4. Evaluate your goals.

5.   Make your goals doable.

So make your goals more than just about getting a job. Make the goal that of getting the kind of job you want, the kind of job you can attain, the compensation you deserve and the job you deserve. And set those goals now.

Interviewing — Grace Under Fire

You’ve gotten that all-important interview, next week, oh my gawd, it’s so important to ace it. A salary, benefits, pay the bills, stop the bleeding.  Geez you need to get that job.  But… what if you don’t ace it? What if you give a bad answer? “I better study,” you say to yourself.  But what? So many possible questions, what’r the interviews going to be like? The first bead of sweat appears on your top lip.

Here’s a little bromide for that stress building……….

Ever hear of tonality? The arrangement of all the tones and chords of a composition. Yep.  It’s the same in how we speak: the composition of words, inflection, tone, body language, confidence, pitch, and so on. Studies have shown that a higher percentage of decision making is built on the tonality of the candidate’s presentation. Even more so than the words spoken by the candidate. In the interview it’s important to remember this, chemistry wins out over 95% of the time. And chemistry is the fitting-in with a group. The way a candidate connects with his/her potential company.

So, the need to try and memorize all the possible answers to all those possible tricky questions outlined in that “1,001 Interview Questions” is useless. Staying calm, professional and in control is much more powerful than a correct answer in most cases. It’s not always the “right answer” the hiring managers are looking for. Instead, the way  you answer the question lights up the room.

So, if you get that impossible question, “why are manhole covers round,” don’t let your stress transform your shirt into a dripping sponge. Don’t  let it send you into a blossom of rambling  diatribe. Ever heard the term, “grace under fire?” That’s what it’s all about. Give your best answer and show your strength of character with your chin up, a straight back and not a hint of panic in your reply.

Have you had an experience where tonality has proven difficult for you in an interview? Have you labored over answers, seeking to give a response that met the expectations of the interviewer but only stumbled with poise and confidence in the reply?  Do you agree with this assessment?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Out Of Pocket

Sorry to those of you have followed these posts for my being remiss in not keeping up with my thoughts on careers, job search, interviewing and writing the killer resume.

Does this ever happen to you?  Just an excuse really.

We are moving and what a friggen pain in the arsse.  So……… promise, I’ll be better with current posts, with not too much lag time in-between.

Ciao,

Chet

“Overqualified,” don’t take it personally.

It’s pretty much universal in the professional career ranks that “overqualified” means that the company doesn’t know what to do with you, can’t afford you, you’ll make the rest of them look unqualified, we’re looking for younger people, etc .  Don’t blame it on a recruiter, it comes straight from the companies department hiring authorities doctrine.

DO NOT take it personally.  I repeat, don’t let it get to you.  An excuse not to hire you is just exactly that.  An excuse.  It could just as easily have been that they didn’t like your purple tie, or the color of your hair, or that leisure suit, or the wrong degree or something just as stupid. If they call it “overqualified” just chalk it up to just another company who didn’t get it.

If indeed they are looking for a newbie to train, something little more than an intern, then they should say so and indicate you just don’t fit the profile.  But to call it “overqualified” is just lazyness.

In these tough times, the smart companies will take advantage of the “wonderfully experienced and talented” people out there on the market. If the subject begins to peek its head out early in the interview, take liberties early to express how grateful you are to be sitting in an interview with a company who is insightful enough to be seeking experienced people. And somewhere slip in that you will be anxious to be led and learn so much more by such a sophisticated company.

Remember, “overqualified” is just a code work for excuse.  Take heart in that it has nothing to do with you.

Spinning Your Wheels In Your Job Search

Urgency is high, the will is strong, persistence shows up every morning and drives you to continue your search to find that new job.  It’s been 6 months since the layoff.  And you still haven’t found that position you so desperately need.

So, you’re working hard, but you don’t have much to show for it.  Click, click..the picture isn’t very clear right now. Why after all the work isn’t it happening for you? Spinning Your Wheels?

This list partially represents why candidates feel they are not getting anywhere in their job search. Do you recognize any of these 1-12? Any chance you’re guilty of any of them?

1. Bad Attitude- moaning and whining about how hard it is and how nothing is going right.
2. An open ended plan
3. To heavily invested in the internet
4. Making the job search part-time
5. Writing mistakes into the résumé
6. Exiting the interview, meeting, without a follow-up
7. Fixing the wrong things
8. Networking in the wrong places, or just wishing you could network
9. Leaving staffing firms and recruiters off your target lists
10. Interviewing poorly
11. Remaining invisible to the hiring authorities, recruiters, and friends
12. Hiding

I didn’t put urgency on the list because lack of urgency indicates low enthusiasm.  That means the wheels aren’t really turning at all. These 1-12 mostly are actions that aren’t going anywhere.

The 3 “C”s to Change

Confluence, Commitment, Courage,….

“Simple, I’ll just quit and find a new job.”  Often easier said than done, especially in these times. Taking on a new direction, like a major change change of jobs can be one of the scariest, and especially difficult to get rolling.

Let’s say you’ve been teetering over the idea of making a change in your CAREER. Each week, the urge gets stronger.  Your sleep has been affected. Your work ethic compromised. Your  attitude is taking a hit, turning real crappy.

CAREERS rest almost at the dead center of our life’s components. Careers dictate your daily, weekly, monthly schedule. It’s the center of your financial well-being, relationships, health, socialization, etc.

Debates over what drives someone to do what they do for a living has been raging for ages.  We won’t go into that debate here and now.  But we do want to know what it takes to make a meaningful change in a job, or a career transition or simply get out of the rut. It’s safe to say, it ain’t always easy.

So, let’s say you’ve decided to move on it. The stage has been set. You know you need out of what you’re doing. You need another work environment, a place you’ll wake up and feel excited to go to to make your living.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have new friends to work with, better pay perhaps?  Whatever it is, satisfaction hovers around the top of the list.

You’ve mapped out where you need to look, send your résumés, pray for an interview.  You know what companies, locations, products and services are agreeable to you.  The time has come.  Time to leave the current petri dish behind and start fresh.

So, let’s say it’s Sunday evening. Realization that you need to move on.  But, things change Monday morning; here come the cold feet. You’ve slept on it.  Courage has wilted, the commitment isn’t there as it was over the weekend. “Foolishness,” you call it.  ”What was I thinking?”  So you pack up your lunch, jump in the Mazda and arrive at your cube right at the bell.  Another day comes and goes and the pain and suffering continues.

Why? Who knows why. But whatever the reason, whatever you decide to do, however you decide to do it, you need to line up three pieces of self-determination: the three “Cs” of beating down the demons of fear and bust out to find that new job:

1. Confluence – A place where things come together. In the case of career change, the coming together of the stream of need, and the stream of willingness is the confluence necessary to launch the process of change. The inner life is the need to get out of where you are. The outer life are  the skills, attitude and willingness to follow through on your plan to change.  The two should meld, come together and turn into commitment.
2. Commitment – A Pledge to do something in the future. At first when we begin to think about a better life, we are wishing and wanting.  If, over time, the emotions continue to linger and grow, and the need is real, we will decide to change. That’s when we begin to think about the details of action.  Commitment is action. Commitment is most difficult in hard times, yet best proven during tough times. When the money dries up, and the benefits go away, this is when it’s easiest to compromise your commitments. This is when the real test comes.  And it takes something special to keep the pledge alive.
3. Courage – a spirit that enables you to face danger without letting fear wreck your action. Danger is what tests the pledge of commitment. Courage consiste of doing what you said you would do even though you don’t want to. In the face of danger you decide.  Your pledge to do something (commitment) or the feelings of exasperation and helplessness and the need to crawl back to your comfort zone.

The 3 “Cs”… Confluence, Commitment and Courage.

Oh, the Headhunter!

Recruiters, Headhunters…I’ve heard it said that they’re just hired guns, surely, insensitive….never return a phone call, don’t give the whole story, don’t know the jobs they are hawking, and certainly don’t understand their candidates value or urgency and don’t give a damn about a candidate. All they think about is the money.

I was one of em.  Heard it said about me. When I was told, point blank, I didn’t give a damn about one of my candidates, it hurt.  But I must admit, some of the characterizations about recruiters have merit, some don’t.  Misconceptions might be the reason for much of the negativity. Let’s take a look.

Let’s start with the realization that recruiters are people too. They have families and they need to feed their families.  A recruiters job/life is not the easiest.  Long hours, uncertain clients, quantum rejection every day! Persistent candidates without a clue. That’s why after 10 years in the business, I gave it up.

There are several types of recruiters.  For purposes of this writing we’ll refer to the primary types: retained, contingent, contract, corporate – otherwise known as in-house recruiters.

In normal times, not this 08, 09, tsunami of a recession, the recruiter is generally behind the eight ball with not enough hours in their day. Short on time and long on assignments.  Meaning………  s/he has little time to linger on a single candidate.  One should understand that every recruiter is paid by the “company” or “client,” not the candidate.  The  client is the one writing the check and they call the shots. The recruiter must pay respect to these shots, or directives. Under the direction of the client s/he is desperately looking for the best candidate to fill the requisition.  Period! A recruiter makes a living filling requisitions whether by the company that writes their W-2 salary, or the contingent recruiter that doesn’t make a dime unless they make a placement.  A recruiter, in a lot of cases doesn’t make more than 8 or 9 placements a year depending, of course, on the level of placements they specialize in. A contingent recruiter is like a gun slinger, the fastest wins!  And there you go.  Most of the recruiters you’ll encounter will be gun slingers. Tuck that bit of info. away in the memory banks for future recruiter relationships.

In some business sectors, how attractive and in-demand a job might be, the pool of candidates can be in the hundreds.  Here’s where it gets difficult to be sensitive and as empathetic as a recruiter would like to be. You’ve probably heard that a résumé might only get about a 15 second look from the HR screener.  True.  And in some cases the résumé might never get a human eye on it’s heading, much less page two. That’s because many companies have turned to using Automatic Tracking Systems( ATS) to scan and qualify the résumés.  Getting very impersonal, isn’t it?  And I think this is where most of the animosity and the judgment and the name calling begins.

In my opinion it’s very important, and ethically necessary,  for a company to show recognition to a candidate that their résumé has been received.  Even if the notice or letter is a canned reply.  And if this is the case, it will probably be something like: “we have it, don’t call us, we’ll call you if you make the cut.”  Yet, I’m sorry to say, many companies don’t bother.  So on this count, and as a candidate and never hearing anything, is inexcusable.

To the knocks:  recruiters don’t give the whole story; they don’t don’t completely understand the job, can’t adequately match-up a résumé with the job description, can’t clearly define the job….. ummm, true in a lot of cases. I was guilty of this on occasion.  But the job description comes from the hiring authority.  And if the job isn’t properly spelled out, not clearly defined to the recruiter, it’s not necessarily the recruiters fault.  Remember the recruiter doesn’t get paid until s/he makes the placement.  And the best way to match-up the right candidate is to have a good grasp of the job, it’s sponsors, and the chemistry. I used to beg… yes beg for clearly defined, job descriptions. It’s a very touchy situation, continually bugging the company or department head for better details.  And if it’s a contingent recruiter that get’s his hands on a snapshot of a job description, rather than a complete requisition, it’s not unusual for that recruiter to rush into action before getting more info. Not always, but not unusual.  Remember, they don’t get paid unless they beat all the other recruiters to the punch with their candidate that get’s the offer.  It’s the “mud on the wall” theory- more mud, some sticks.

So, remember, a recruiter isn’t always working with a hiring authority or HR department who knows what they are really looking for.  Need to cut the recruiter a little slack on this one.

And about the statement that recruiters won’t  tell the whole story. Can’t deny this one. At times, it just makes sense to play their cards close to the vest. The recruiter wants to build a short list, which can be  a juggling act, and doesn’t necessarily want to cut a candidate lose until it’s mortal. Hence, string a few candidates along.  Sometimes the client doesn’t want to divulge who they are until the interview stage or give up company details. The candidate must play by the rules established by the client. Don’t take it personally. Just the rules of the game.

So, these are a few of the reasons the “headhunter” gets the bad rap.  Some valid, some not.

Final words of advice when working with a recruiter:

1. When you are game fully employed, ALWAYS, ALWAYS take a recruiter’s call. A recruiters life is about huge rejection. You can rise up a recruiters list if you are nice to them and respect their job. Your attitude will come through. It may come back to you on another search in the future.
2. Make sure you’re contacting the right recruiter.  If you’re an accountant, it doesn’t make much sense to approach an engineering recruiter. Annoying.
3. Always be completely prepared with a competitive résumé that matches up with the job description. Nothing worse than a good candidate with a bad résumé.
4. Listen to the recruiter!  Don’t ramble. Remember their time is extremely valuable.
5. Take direction. Be candid. Don’t hold anything back. Don’t be an jerk. Be humble.
6. Make yourself available at all hours of the day, if possible.
7. Don’t make a fool of the recruiter by making a fool of yourself with the company. The recruiters reputation is always on the line when they arrange an interview for a candidate.
8. Don’t assume you will make friends with the recruiter.  Regardless how friendly they appear and how accommodating they seem; remember you are simply a commodity to a recruiter. But a very necessary one.  Without you, they can’t be successful.  They want to hear from you, but they will make a quick judgement, qualify quickly. So make a professional impression and then back away gracefully.  You’ll be appreciated.
9. Have patience with the pace of the process. It also very frustrating for the recruiter when the client company can’t make a decision or can’t be reached to move the placement along.
10. Don’t lose faith with all recruiters if you run into a bad one. They are special people.

Final words.  Don’t dismiss the recruiter’s role in the job search. They can put you into the job you have always wanted easier than you ever could yourself. They may be difficult and hard to figure out.  But they can also be a blessing.

Courage

“It takes courage to be the author of your life.”

I wish I could take credit for that quote.  It’s the opening line under a short heading “Courage” in the chapter “Living A Life You Love,” from the book – “Pathfinder” by Nicholas Lore. “Pathfinder” is a wonderful read focused on finding a successful career.  The passage continues:

“When you are struggling through one of the difficult parts of turning your dreams into reality, you may wonder why you always get stuck with having to put up with so much fear and uncertainty.  Why, you wonder, couldn’t I feel more courageous, like those other people do.

You don’t feel courageous because courage is not an emotion.  There is no such thing as feeling “courageous.”  It is an imaginary emotion.

Courage consists of doing what you said you would do even when you don’t want to.

In the face of danger you have a choice to be the delegate of either your commitments  or your feelings.  It’s as simple and as difficult as that.”

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that

something else is more important than fear.

-Ambrose Red Moon

 

This short concept rests on page 61.  Just 1 page, 1 out of  374 pages, pretty much embodies the spirit of so many people who have overcome the stumbling blocks of phone fear, and found their stride in effectively achieving worthwhile goals.

Common Denominator – Best and Worst Way to find a Job.

Busy sending out that resume? Over and over? Not getting any nibbles… Not even a phone call! Could you be using any or all the five worst ways to find a job?

Ask yourself, honestly – Are you spending too much time in front of the computer screen?

1. Depending primarily on the Internet is a notoriously bad way to get in front of a hiring authority.  Technical, computer-related, engineering, finance or healthcare sectors have a success rate of only about 10%.  For all other technical sectors the success is only 1%.  Overall it’s about 4%.

Bought a list? Blasting out your resume on one of the many “blaster” sites.

2. For mailing out resumes to employers at random the success rate is only about 7%.

Sending targeted résumés to ads from familiar firms in your trade rags?

3. Applying to ads in professional or trade journals. The success rate is only 7%.

Sending résumés out every Sunday, after combing through the Want Ads?

4. Sending résumés to local newspaper ads will only produce a 5-24% success rate.

Banging on the recruiters or employment agencies?

5. Going to private employment agencies or search firms for help.  5-24% success rate.

 

NOTICE THE COMMON DENOMINATOR?

 

Now, let’s look at the top 2 best ways to find a job.

1.      Networking. Contacting as many friends, relatives, business associates, mixers, etc. This method has a 33% success rate.

2.    The Creative Approach, a combination of identifying your skills and abilities, to you and employers. Discover the building blocks of your real value and how it will play out to your top 10 or 20 companies and develop a method to contact the hiring authorities with a compelling story. Get in front of them, however you possibly can.  Get creative.  This method has a return rate of about 86%.

 

WHAT’S THE COMMON DENOMINATOR HERE?  The same, both for worst and best.        

CONTACT!!!

 

In the  5 worst ways, there is NO direct, face-to-face contact.  Candidates are mostly firing from behind the safety of the cyber barricade.  Lobbing résumés, answering ads, completing on-line applications.

In the 2 best ways of finding a job, as shown above, the commonality IS direct contact with people. And eventually with the one who is going to offer you a job.

Remember the résumé is only a tool to get an interview.  The best way to deliver a résumé is by hand. Directly to the hiring authority. It might be argued that it’s difficult to do.  Granted.  But let’s remember, you are only needing 1 job.  So get creative.  There are many ways to meet and state your case.  What have you got to lose?

Visit: www.denvercareergroup.com

 

Stop the Bleeding, Stop-Gap Jobs

Laid off?

In the job search and things aren’t looking good….  What do you do?

When all the planning, the action steps, the networking to find that perfect job again hasn’t worked, but the bills keep coming in, mortgage payments are behind and rumors of the repo man are in the neighborhood…….. what do you do?  ”Just about anything.” Am I right?

Call it: Stop-Gap Jobs,  Temping, or even multiple part-time jobs.  Another bottom-line way to look at it is:  Stopping The Bleeding …. or… STB.

STB jobs are jobs you would most likely never look at, much less accept, unless you had no other choice. You only consider them because of one little feature….THEY PAY. And when you’ve been out of work and the UI is running out, and your applications get tossed into a bag of 400 other applications for the same single job you are looking for, the STB becomes more attractive. Let’s face it, nothing is as bad as having  no money.  Especially if you have a family, and a house, and a car and credit cards. Those little eyes looking up at you, with all the confidence that there is going to be food on the table and heat in the house….. I stop there. We all get the picture. We take these jobs because we have to. Now here’s the rub.  These jobs have become harder to get.  Yep, other job hunters have come to the conclusion much sooner than now, that they pay the bills.  Perhaps not what we are used to, most times only a fraction of our normal paychecks, but they pay.

Given the way things look now,  we say Okay, and that we might have to consider lining up at a temp agency and take a typing test.  Even though you’ve managed a call center with 500 people, or you’ve managed budgets of up to $3MM, and have a Wharton MBA.  Tests your mettle, doesn’t it? These are true, actual examples of men and women who have suffered through the rigors of stepping down to a new level, interviewing with a 23 year old temp agent who hasn’t even been to college and trying to impress her that you are serious and qualified.

I can’t even begin to list all the STBs out there.  Each candidate sees them different and what works for one, another person wouldn’t even consider doing that type  of work.

There are the high profile STBs, temp admin jobs for a big company. There are minor jobs, working at a pet store.  Some you find through a temp agency, some you find through the yellow pages.

I challenge anyone who is COMPLETELY SERIOUS about finding work to pick up the yellow pages, when all else has failed, and select categories and start in the As and go right through to the Zs and not get a nibble.  Here’s a simple script to XYZ cabinet maker or coffee house, or pet shop, or mortgage company:

“Hi, Mr. Smith.  I’ve found your company and researched what you do. Mr. Smith, I feel I’m a perfect fit for what you are doing there?  I’m looking to join a company just like yours.  Are you considering hiring anyone right now?  Someone who would do you a great job?

Corny? Perhaps.  Effective? Maybe. But I absolutely bet the mortgage that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to not get an invitation for an interview if enough calls are made like this.  FRIGGIN IMPOSSIBLE!

So, what are the pros and cons of these STBs.

Cons -

1. You take the job. YOU HAVE TO. Swallow hard.

2. The work is not challenging, nor fulfilling.  Your are simply marking time.

3. You will probably not make, financially, what you are used to. Probably much less. In normal circumstances – not worth it.

6. You will not be advancing your chosen (educated for) career while there.

7. It’s a slam against your ego.

 

Pros -

1. You have an income.

2. You can sleep again.

3. You show your children what you are made of.  Life is not always fair. 

4. Reevaluate your career and what you want to do, going forward.

5. Reevaluate your financial fundamentals, going forward.

6. Appreciate what a good job is.

7. Pride in yourself.

How long do you stay at a STB? My advice, get out as soon as possible. Don’t worry about the appearance of job hopping on the resume, don’t worry about the guy who employed you, he’ll be fine. Show appreciation to him and good bye. Get back to what is adding girth to your resume, the career accomplishments, the progressively challenging new responsibilities, promotions, tech growth.

So, take the STB job; do the best you can to stay engaged and perform to the best of your abilities. Make friends, build a good reputation for yourself. So, when that new job comes a calling and they call your company about your performance, you’ll shine and the people who you’ve made friends with will speak highly of you.

But what about something other than the STB. What about something else that you might just find interesting and brings a new way of working into view that becomes permanent?  It’s something that people were embracing even before this recession exploded upon us.  It’s called Multiple Careers.  I draw your attention to a book you should seek out if you have an interest. “One Person Multiple Careers” written by Mari Alboher

Summarizing:   Marci principle is to cultivate multiple careers and harvest accomplishment satisfaction, freedom of choice, and accommodate  your passions, and provide a comfortable recession proof income.

Or another way to view this is to identify it as “composite careers.” Think of doing several jobs part time, which may include anchor jobs like attorney or school district teacher. Separate each work component with slashes and you get the following:

• DPS teacher/internet writer/travel consultant
• lawyer/writer/web designer

Or smaller jobs of passion slashed together:

• Pilates instructor/art consultant/author
• personal trainer/nutritionists/dog walker
• artist/PT librarian/massage

Great advantages:

• Balance multiple careers without feeling overwhelmed, and still have time for friends and family.
• Provide multiple incomes, less chance of catastrophic layoff with no income.
• Flexibility in work paths.

In summary, get creative in thinking about how to replace that lost job.  Get real in realizing it’s okay to take a STB for the short term. Or even get excited about multiple careers for now and going forward.

Get started.