Pump up your Job Search Readiness (JSR): A 14
Pump up your Job Search Readiness (JSR): A 14-step process to get you ready for a successful job search Susan Z. Martin, Creator of YYJWorks.com January 2015 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................3 Where you at?....................................................................................................................................................3 Set and Record Goals........................................................................................................................................4 Next Steps.........................................................................................................................................................5 WORK THAT LINKEDIN HEADLINE................................................................................................................5 GETTING AND GIVING RECOMMENDATIONS..............................................................................................7 KNOW THYSELF.................................................................................................................................................8 Strengths versus skills.......................................................................................................................................8 Finding your strengths.......................................................................................................................................9 Using your strengths..........................................................................................................................................9 What about weaknesses?.................................................................................................................................10 DREAM JOB EXERCISE....................................................................................................................................10 Find those with your dream job.......................................................................................................................10 How did they get to where they are?................................................................................................................11 Your next steps................................................................................................................................................12 INDEPTH EXAMINATION OF LINKEDIN PROFILE......................................................................................12 Different ways to assess your profile...............................................................................................................13 Even more coolness!........................................................................................................................................13 STRETCH............................................................................................................................................................13 The benefits of stretching................................................................................................................................14 BE OF SERVICE..................................................................................................................................................15 REFRAME YOUR THINKING...........................................................................................................................15 Gamification....................................................................................................................................................16 Switch it up......................................................................................................................................................16 Come from a Place of Gratitude......................................................................................................................16 Build in Accountability (and rewards).............................................................................................................17 INVEST IN YOURSELF.....................................................................................................................................17 Pay’ for expert help..........................................................................................................................................17 AllNo work and no play ….............................................................................................................................17 Give yourself the gift of compassion...............................................................................................................18 CREATE AN EXCELLENT 'BASE' RESUME...................................................................................................18 Gather your raw material.................................................................................................................................19 Create the best foundation you can..................................................................................................................19 Learn how to ‘stage’ your resume in a heartbeat..............................................................................................19 Take your technique to the real world..............................................................................................................20 Lather, rinse, repeat.........................................................................................................................................20 GET YOUR REFERENCES READY TO ROLL.................................................................................................20 (Re)introduce yourself to potential references.................................................................................................20 When to supply references...............................................................................................................................21 GET OUT FROM BEHIND THE SCREEN.........................................................................................................21 Meetups...........................................................................................................................................................21 Volunteer.........................................................................................................................................................22 Job fairs...........................................................................................................................................................22 Conferences, lectures and seminars.................................................................................................................22 PRACTICE YOUR PITCH..................................................................................................................................23 Gather your pitch raw material........................................................................................................................23 Compose a draft pitch and cut as needed.........................................................................................................24 Practice, practice and then practice some more...............................................................................................24 WRAP UP............................................................................................................................................................ 24 INTRODUCTION The exercises/techniques in this document are designed to help you get ready to launch a productive, successful and enjoyable job search by pumping up your job search readiness (JSR). Each section will give you clear instructions of something you can do (or set up to do as a future activity) to pump up your JSR in 20-30 minutes. Let’s get started! Where you at? The whole point of this document is to help you build a solid foundation from which to launch your job search. To look for work seriously (and successfully) I believe you’ve got to have your ‘ducks in a row’ and not be worrying about whether you’ve done all the necessary preparations that will make you shine in the eyes of potential employers. And you’re not going to know what ducks you’ve got (let alone what kind of a row they’re in) unless you look, measure and record before getting started. Before you start looking at your 'ducks' buy yourself a notebook. Doesn’t have to be fancy – a 99-cent kids exercise book will work as well as anything. You could also use a three-ring binder if you want to print out material and don’t want to paste it to the page. Keep this notebook with you as much as possible to record what you’re up to, jot down great ideas and make notes to yourself of things to check on in the future. The first part of this notebook/binder is going to be filled with information about where you’re at now – this is your baseline. Do the following steps and record the results (whether by jotting them down or taking a screen shot and printing out): • Google yourself using your professional name (for example I always use my middle initial since otherwise my name is very common) and see what comes up on the first couple of pages • Google your location and some skills that you would like to rank highly for on LinkedIn (when not logged into LinkedIn) – for example I might put something like ‘victoria bc research analysis health LinkedIn’ • Review your LinkedIn profile – how many connections do you have? what’s your headline? how many recommendations? profile views? profile view trends? • If you have a ‘professional’ Facebook account how many likes do you have? how many friends? • If you have a ‘professional’ Twitter account how many followers do you have? Review ‘your week on Twitter’ emails that Twitter sends out weekly. • Review any other social media (Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr) and/or professional/academic interaction (ResearchGate, academia.edu) accounts After you’ve done the above here are some questions to ask yourself – give yourself a score between Page 3 zero and ten where zero is ‘completely disagree’ and ten is ‘completely agree’. Be honest and remember low scores may be bad but everyone can improve. 1. My resume is complete, compelling, error-free and I am confident that I could send it out RIGHT THIS MINUTE without even looking at it 2. I have an up-to-date list of at least three references that I can send upon request to potential employers and I can successfully contact these references so they aren’t surprised by calls/emails about me 3. I have an elevator pitch developed, practiced and ready-to-present (naturally and authentically) in any situation 4. I know my strengths and am actively working to find jobs (or tasks within my present job) that allow me to use these strengths 5. I regularly (at least once a month) get outside my comfort zone by trying something new (that I may very well SUCK at) or by pushing myself to higher levels in an activity I’m already engaged in (i.e. running faster, trying a challenging new dance routine, submitting a piece of writing to a publication that you admire) 6. I generously, compassionately and enthusiastically give back to individuals, organizations and my community via unconditional donations of time, energy, work and (if possible for you) money 7. I am compassionate and even-handed with myself despite the sometimes negative circumstances I find myself in and I endeavour to stay positive and not engage in ‘catastrophic thinking‘ 8. I invest in myself and my future by looking after my physical well-being (with proper sleep, exercise, good nutrition, avoiding damaging habits), and psychological well-being (via creativity, lifelong learning, spiritual/religious practice, meditation, laughter, positive relationships) Set and Record Goals Hopefully the above wasn’t too painful – and even if it was it is important that you know where you need to improve. Now you need to set some goals. How you want to choose which ones to target is up to you – you can focus on the areas where you think you are doing the worst or the ones that seem most important based on your situation (for example someone who wants to transition to a new field might want to invest in learning about their personal strengths as well as obtaining recommendations from where they are working presently). For the 8 questions above you might set a goal along the lines of ‘I would like to raise my score from a 3 to a 5 for question number 7) – of course this is highly subjective but study after study shows that just thinking about things and writing down goals helps to improve performance. Try to limit yourself to no more than five goals and keep each of them SMART. For example if I wanted to increase my connections on LinkedIn here is how I might detail that goal SMARTly: • Specific – increase LinkedIn connections specifically targeting those in the Public Health field and at mid-level management and above • Measurable – increase by three connections per week or by a certain percentage per month • Attainable – this is different (in my mind at least) than the next criteria – what may seem like a realistic goal may not necessarily be attainable – for example, it is quite easy to get connections when you first join LinkedIn but may be harder once you’ve been a member for a while, if you are finding it is taking several attempts and loads of time for each connection obtained maybe you want to move to a process-oriented goal – that is rather than INCREASING the number of connections I would COMMIT to reaching out to a certain number of people per week • Realistic – this is a bit of a juggling act – don’t set the bar so low that it is easy but alternatively don’t be so ambitious that you wear yourself out quickly and then feel bad for not sticking with your efforts • Time-bound – this one is easy, your goal needs to have a deadline attached to it (but again, keep it reasonable and challenging without being excruciatingly hard) Spend some time figuring out how to express your goals so that they cover the SMART criteria and are expressed positively (i.e. rather than say ‘I will remove all errors from my resume and make sure it doesn’t suck’ say ‘By <specify a date> my resume will be letter perfect, concise, compelling and a document I am proud of and confident enough to send without review’). Set aside a blank page of the notebook and write out your goals in a numbered list neatly and legibly. Date the page and sign your name at the bottom. Put a Post-it® note on the edge of the page or mark it in some other way so that you can refer to it easily in the month ahead. Next Steps When I publish a new post in the series I’ll put a little preamble first that will help you decide if it is one that is relevant to your goal(s). If it is I would encourage you to participate in the exercise contained in the post but of course this isn’t a ‘for credit’ course and you will get out of it proportional to what you put in. I hope you’ll follow along and that you’ll get something out of the series which I will probably include in a workbook I am planning to produce next year. Until December 3rd. WORK THAT LINKEDIN HEADLINE How’s your headline looking? Specifically your LinkedIn headline – in case you’ve been hiding in a bunker waiting for the zombie apocalypse to be over or spending all your time watching kitty videos and so have no idea what it is this picture will help. Page 5 The headline is the 120 character (so a bit shorter than a Tweet) field directly underneath your name. Do a quick Google search on ‘LinkedIn headline’ and you’ll get a sense of its importance – some 27.6 million results. Why is what goes in this space so crucial? Well, obviously it is your first opportunity to tell potential employers (and connections) about you – it is sort of like a very condensed written elevator pitch or those first few seconds when you meet someone in person and are shaking their hand. So you want it to be as keyword-rich, on target and impactful as possible. And a ‘hook’ of some kind wouldn’t hurt either. As this 10 LinkedIn Headlines that stand out from the crowd article shows there are several different ways to go about crafting a superb headline. I have taken a fairly traditional approach in my headline including the skills that I feel are my strengths as well being ones that I want to develop my expertise in. Notice my use of the word ‘hone’ – I am hoping that this signals to the reader that I already have competency in these skills and now am wanting to improve further. I put in health twice – once in my degree description (International Health (MMSc)) and then again later in the headline. That’s because my first choice is to work in the health field (specifically public health but I decided not to waste precious characters in specifying that) although of course skills like research and analysis can be brought to bear in a variety of scientific fields. What are some of the less traditional approaches you might use? You could try being a little mysterious – this could act as a ‘hook’ to prompt readers to continue down into your profile. I am doing that a bit by putting in the information about my degree – some people, even in the public health field, may not be familiar with International Health and this, along with the unusual MMSc (which stands for Master of Medical Science) designation, may encourage them to read more. I also did not put in ‘Sweden’ after Uppsala thinking that maybe readers would want to know where this university is and might continue reading to find that out. You can try humour or literary tactics (alliteration, rhymes) or ask a question in your headline. Ten minutes of Googling will provide you with lots of examples. You can also look at the headlines of those you admire or those who are doing your ‘dream job’ and see what their headline reads like. Don’t copy wholesale but see how you can modify what they are doing and make it your own. You can be super brief or philosophical or quirky (maybe put in a message in binary or Klingon?). Finally, make sure that whatever you post is error free and can’t possibly be misinterpreted in an offensive way. Perhaps put the headline in an email to a few friends before going live with it to make sure it isn’t somehow questionable or in bad taste. When you decide to go live note the date down somewhere and see whether there seems to be any difference in the number of profile views (and who is viewing your profile) after the change. To be truly scientific you should only change one thing at a time so try and restrain yourself from changing other parts of your profile at the same time. Write down any changes you see (hopefully positive!) after making these tweaks in your notebook. GETTING AND GIVING RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations are like gold on LinkedIn – especially for those who may be transitioning from one field to another and/or are re-entering/entering the workforce after an absence (which could be due to being overseas, raising a family, caring for loved ones or moving from being a freelancer back into a more ‘conventional’ job) or education. Being recommended can help you highlight your transferable skills and reinforce what you have put down as your strengths. That’s the good news. However, in my mind, the recommendations process as it exists right now on LinkedIn has some serious drawbacks. You can only ask for recommendations on entries in your Experience (paid work) or Education sections in your profile. This was very disappointing to me as I wanted to ask for a recommendation from the new Mayor of Victoria (Lisa Helps) on my volunteering with her campaign. But no can do! I also found the actual process cumbersome – your only options when you ask for recommendations in the work category (called ‘Professional’ in the recommendation request process) is colleague, supervisors, clients and customers (if you have a look you’ll see what I mean). This doesn’t work very well for self-employed, entrepreneurial work like, for example, this website. When I asked people to recommend YYJWorks I had to call them ‘clients’. I also think it is not a good fit for those that work in the non-profit sector who serve the public but don’t really consider them our clients (for example a visiting nurse or physiotherapist who is not paid by the patient directly but by the government or insurer). One way round the inability to ask for recommendations on volunteering is to incorporate your volunteer activity into another section that does allow recommendations. That’s what I did with my volunteering on TEDxUppsalaUniversity which I created as a Project. I was then able to move that Project to the Education section associated with Uppsala University. Somebody else proposed that you could just put in volunteering as Experience (work) but say that there was no money associated with it but this seems a bit sketchy to me. Drawbacks aside you should be actively trying to get recommended. A good first step might be to give some love, er … recommendations, and then ask people to reciprocate. Or you could just go straight for the request. Either way to get started just select the ‘Ask to be recommended’ link which will be shown when you hover over the downward pointing triangle on your profile page (after you’ve selected to ‘Edit Profile’). You’ll then be able to give and/or request recommendations on the next page. Page 7 To begin the recommendation process hover over the downward facing triangle to the right of the ‘View profile as’ button and select the ‘Ask to be recommended’ link On the next screen choose whether you want to ask for recommendations or give recommendations KNOW THYSELF You’re probably wondering why I’ve put something that sounds positively biblical and old-fashioned as the title of this post. The reason is that I believe that until you know your strengths (and weaknesses) and are able to see how to exercise and develop them within your work life you will never be truly satisfied with any job – even one that everyone else thinks you should be over-the-moon to have landed. I should also say that I am totally with Cal Newport on the danger of that potent, post-modern Western myth that if you ‘follow your passion’ bliss, tons of money and probably even extreme sexual attractiveness will be yours. My opinion on the importance of knowing and then using your strengths in your job has been formed by reading Newport’s great book So Good They Can’t Ignore You as well as writing by the so-called ‘father of the positive psychology movement’ Martin Seligman. My thinking is that ANY job can be meaningful, rewarding and allow you to develop as a person if it presents you with enough opportunities to engage with your unique strengths and that conversely even a DREAM job can be disastrous if it doesn’t give you those chances and/or actually works against you by blocking your use of your strengths, calling on you to do things you are weak at or actively contradicts the underlying beliefs that are the foundation of your strengths. Strengths versus skills I must admit that I am not always quite clear on this myself. But what I’ve read seems to indicate that a strength is something bigger and overarching whereas skills are more concrete expressions of the strength. The Gallup Strengths Center goes further and throws talent into the mix too as a precursor to the strength. I think I can get on board with this ‘3-part’ definition. Gallup defines talent as “naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied”. So you could have a natural talent of insatiable curiosity and the ability to focus intensely on a subject you are interested in. This might then manifest as a strength called love of learning although it could just as easily manifest as social intelligence. The final derivation would be a skill – so we might say that someone with a talent of curiosity and the ability to focus would have a strength called ‘love of learning’ and that skill would be manifested as being identified as a person who quickly and easily picks up new things (i.e. software packages, languages). Finding your strengths There are lots of ways to find your strengths but I favour those that are quick, easy and free! To meet all these criteria go no further than the VIA Character Strength questionnaire at the Authentic Happiness site. You will have to create an accountant and divulge some information to take this questionnaire but on the plus side you will be able to have a record of each time you take the questionnaires, have access to loads of other valuable questionnaires and be able to give back by participating in psychological research. If you want a more work-oriented view of your strengths and are willing to pay to get it you can use the StrengthsFinder book to create your list. Using your strengths Once you’ve identified your strengths you need to figure out how to use them in your work as well as in other areas of your life. As Seligman points out in anecdotes in his book Flourish using your strengths will not only result in better performance but will lead to greater satisfaction on a personal level. I think that there is also value in knowing your strengths in that it can lead you to an honest assessment of why a job isn’t working for you, give you clues to how you might change it (if you don’t want to leave the job) and also give you a helpful tool for evaluating potential job opportunities to see how they might fit. For example in both of the times I have taken the questionnaire ‘Creativity, ingenuity and originality’ has come out as a top result (#2 in 2012, #1 in 2010). The test defines this strength as “Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.” I can actually see concrete examples of this in almost every job I’ve ever done – I am always trying to find better ways to do things. However, many times these contributions are not encouraged, especially in very institutionalized, rigid and bureaucratic settings. I have had some success convincing supervisors/managers to give me a chance to introduce innovation but it is not easy in these settings and I would certainly think twice about taking a job in a very ‘traditional’ organization where such initiatives might not be simply not allowed but actively Page 9 discouraged. What about weaknesses? You may have noticed that I haven’t talked about weaknesses at all and most of the tests I’ve recommended won’t tell you what you are weak at directly but will indicate it by placing these ‘strengths’ further down on the list. I also think that you can likely figure out your weaknesses by looking for the opposite of your top strengths. For example, my strength around creativity, originality and ingenuity means I am probably weak in carrying out routine and unchanging processes. Perhaps I’ll get sloppy and make mistakes because I’ll get bored and my attention will wander. Others however might have a strength of perseverance (defined as “If Perseverance is your top strength, you work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you “get it out the door” in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks”) and may excel at routine tasks and actually get enjoyment from such work. I hope you’ve found these thoughts helpful and that you’ll check out the University of Pennsylvania Authentic Happiness site – there’s lots to learn and benefit from there. DREAM JOB EXERCISE A rather different way to use LinkedIn and other on and offline resources is to look for people that are in your ‘dream job’ (I know, I know – I said in the last article I posted that I didn’t really believe in the idea of the dream job so substitute whichever words appeal to you more – ideal role, perfect fit or ‘Ican’t-believe-they-pay-me-to-do-this!’). Then once you’ve found such people look to what their path seems to have been – their education, past jobs, volunteer activities and skill set – and see whether you think emulating what they have done has merit. If you’re really brave you could even consider trying to connect with the person and asking them to give you advice and/or mentor you (although the latter might be impractical if they are not located close by). Let’s get started – I’ll use myself as a guinea pig for how you might go about this process. Find those with your dream job This is a bit easier for me because (big reveal here) although my education is in Public Health my real dream is to make my living as a freelance writer with a specialization in stories about Public Health (with a further focus on International Health – public health in low and middle income countries). There are lots of well-known individuals I can look up to who either combine writing with a day job in public health or have at one point (or still) made their living primarily from writing. Some names that come to mind: Laurie Garrett, Paul Farmer, Richard Preston and Peter Piot. You can base your assessment of those with your dream job on their LinkedIn profiles, online biographies (common if the people you are interested in are academics and/or business leaders) and, if you have the time and interest, any of their published, longer-form writing. For researchers/academics you might want to do some high-level assessment of their publications – how frequently do they publish, in a big team or small, do they contribute editorially as well as with research-based work and so on. Let’s look at the four people I chose from a variety of these aspects. How did they get to where they are? Although of course a cursory examination of someone’s LinkedIn profile, biography and other associated writing will likely never reveal the deep personal reasons and decades of hard work behind an individual’s success you may pick up some helpful clues as well as see, from your ‘10,000-foot perspective’, some turning points where they seemed to make pivotal decisions. Surprisingly (or maybe not) of the four people listed above only Laurie Garrett has a LinkedIn profile. It is not extensive but makes for very interesting reading. For instance in the late 1970s Garrett began a PhD which I presume she did not finish as she says “Started working as a reporter while doing PhD studies….decided journalism was where it’s at and have never regreted the shift from bench science.” That sounds like pretty powerful evidence of a turning point to me. But her profile also demonstrates that importance of ‘paying your dues’ – she worked for 8 years as a science correspondent for NPR and 15 years as a science writer with Newsday. Perhaps significant is that she doesn’t have any recommendations on her profile but has given recommendations to several others. It is also interesting to look at the groups she belongs to and much to my surprise (and delight) we are actually connected through a shared connection so it is possible that if one day I really want to connect with her I may have a route to do so. Lets look quickly at the other three names on my list – Paul Farmer, Peter Piot and Richard Preston. The first two are medical doctors – definitely not an educational route I am interested in pursuing. But the medical education of Paul Farmer was far from conventional and is a very inspiring one. I did not realize that he gained his undergrad in Medical Anthropology before his MD – I had thought it was the other way around. He had already formed a deep relationship and commitment to the Haitian people before he began medical school and according to this biography “Farmer was still in Haiti when he received word that he had been accepted at Harvard Medical School. He would simultaneously pursue a medical degree and a doctorate in medical anthropology. He returned to the United States to enroll, but having completed the formalities, he took his study materials back to Haiti. For the next three years, he would commute from Cange to Cambridge, returning to Harvard for exams and laboratory practice. The experience he was gaining treating the poor and sick in Haiti was more instructive than any classroom lecture. Despite his long absences, his grades were among the highest in his class” This biography also mentions his unconventional upbringing, his skills with languages and his undeniable talent as a writer and activist. So although I can not see myself emulating his training as a medical doctor perhaps I could continue to pursue any number of interests while living in a place where I could contribute to the Global Health effort (certainly with the Internet and offerings like Coursera Page 11 there is no need to be able to attend a bricks and mortar school any longer). Peter Piot has trod a different but no less interesting and adventure-filled path. His book No Time To Lose has lots of meaty lessons about working in the Global Health ‘machine’ embedded in its readable pages. He contrasts nicely the excitement (and danger) of being in the field during the discovery of Ebola with the irritating, slow-moving and treacherous machinations of institutions like the UN. As the website about the book shows his writing is mostly clinical in nature and much doesn’t even bear his byline. The final writer – Richard Preston – has much more in common with Garrett than with the other two people I’ve mentioned though he completed extensive education in what has become his career – writing. His biography gives some interesting hints at techniques that might work for anyone: persistence (he continually called the dean at the college he wanted to get into collect until he wore the man down and was admitted), immersion in a subject and always being prepared to record and take advantage of chance events. Your next steps I hope you’ll give some thought to trying this technique yourself. Maybe start with a Google search with your dream job title and a field (i.e. data scientist health, CEO Internet startup) and then pick people who are not necessarily the names at the top of the list but those that are further down and perhaps working hard (and succeeding) behind the scenes. See if they are on LinkedIn and check their entry on Wikipedia. It will be a fun exercise and you might find yourself inspired despite yourself. Let me know how it goes by commenting below or sending me an email at susan at yyjworks.com. INDEPTH EXAMINATION OF LINKEDIN PROFILE While attending a workshop on using Social Media (and specifically LinkedIn) in your job search/career exploration I stumbled over a new (actually I am not sure if it is new or if I just never noticed it before) feature of LinkedIn. It’s the ability to produce a PDF that contains all the information in your profile. It’s available by hovering over the downward-facing triangle to the right of the blue ‘View profile as’ button when you are in the ‘Edit Profile’ screen (see image below). Once you see the list of options available select ‘Save to PDF’. Hover over the downward facing triangle to the right of the blue button and select the ‘Save to PDF’ link Different ways to assess your profile Why is this such a neat feature – because now that you have the profile in PDF format you can assess it in a variety of ways which aren’t readily available when it is online. However, some features of it being a PDF are not very friendly to examination so a good first step is to select the whole text (by clicking at the very top, holding down the shift key and then clicking again at the very end), copy it and paste it into a word processing document (anything will do OpenOffice or MS Word – just as long as it has spell checking). Here are a few ideas: 1. Using the file that you have copied into the word processor check your spelling electronically (don’t worry that the file isn’t prettily formatted, the computer doesn’t care) 2. Print out the PDF and read it over with an eye to spelling (we know that there are errors that won’t be caught by spellcheck because they are correctly spelled but used incorrectly, in the wrong place etc) 3. Also using the PDF look at things like sentence length, consistency in tense (past tense for experience and education in the past, present tense for things you are doing now), awkward writing (try reading it aloud) and chronology (for example I realize that I have a BIG gap – 4+ years – where it is not clear what I was up to – need to remedy that although it was nearly ten years ago) 4. Use the Advanced Search Function (Shift-Ctrl-F on Windows machines) within the PDF to look for the frequency of keywords in your profile (for instance I might look for health, research, analysis and writing) Even more coolness! I thought I would just have a look, not expecting to find that it was possible, at whether I could create a PDF of somebody else’s profile and yes you can! This is incredibly useful. Find some people with LinkedIn profiles who have the job you would like to have. Save their profiles as PDFs and place them, along with your PDF profile, into a folder named for that job title. You can then start up Acrobat Reader and use the Advanced Search Function to look for keywords within your profile as opposed to those of others who are in a job you’d like to have. You might also run through the assessment indicated above with their profiles too and see if you see significant differences between yours and theirs that can be reduced by changing the way you present yourself (obviously if they have much more experience and/or education you can’t make that difference disappear by rearranging words but you can get more recommendations or make sure you don’t have gaps or even consider whether something you thought not worth mentioning is worth presenting if others have done so). STRETCH A way to get yourself pumped up for your job search to begin in 2015 is to start stretching yourself now – get outside your comfort zone but take advantage of the holiday season to do it in a safe and familiar Page 13 environment. This doesn’t have to be something huge – here are some examples: • practice your public speaking and combat your inner shyness by volunteering to be the MC at the company holiday function (or if this is too challenging maybe try leading a carol or two) • find a charity that you believe in and put together a fundraiser among your group (at work or socially) to raise a modest goal (say $100) for donation to the cause • unleash your inner creativity by holding a craft party – whether for adults or kids – where you can make Christmas tree decorations, bake and decorate cookies or whatever appeals to your artistic nature • wow your friends and family by doing something a bit out of the ordinary – a fresh new haircut, saying yes to an activity (be it bowling, bungee jumping or simply joining the gang for a drink) that you usually decline or simply showing up in a stylish, perfectly fitting suit when you’re usually a khaki and t-shirt guy The benefits of stretching So why should you forgo the ‘same old, same old’ – what’s in it for you that can translate into a better foundation for the job search process? Kathy Caprino has written a great article on this very subject and its full of great reasons why you should make ‘stretching’ outside your comfort zone a priority. Here’s a summary of her piece. Accept imperfection (yours, theirs and the situation’s) As the saying goes – perfection is the enemy of good – and far too many of us (and I count myself in this group) waste (precious) time trying to get to that unattainable degree of excellence. Being an organizer or MC of a holiday party is a great way to let go of this tendency. Guaranteed someone will be unhappy with some aspect of the event – the food, the venue, the music or who knows what – but when taken as a whole most attendees will agree that they are happy that someone (that would be YOU) took a leadership role. It’s a win for your confidence that will carry over into other ventures. Inspire those around you You might be surprised to know that people will not only notice but also appreciate your efforts even if they aren’t perfect (see previous point). So go ahead, try something new, gather people around you for a fun, creative evening or buy and wear that outfit that you know makes you look like a million bucks even though you still aren’t at the perfect weight. Skip the regrets Do you remember all the things you were scared to try as a kid and now regret not doing – actually no you probably don’t since we don’t seem to develop that particular inhibition until adolescence or later. Anyway, stretching outside your comfort zone as an adult, especially if you try it in the relatively safe environment of social rather than work-related activities, means that you’ll be able to experience that wonderful regret-free feeling. Yes, things may not go perfectly but you will have gotten over that initial hump (so maybe if the first attempt wasn’t so great the next one will be better) and even if you ‘failed’ you will have succeeded by trying. Get clues to the real you Going outside your comfort zone may give you clues to new areas of interest that you should pursue further. Also keep your ears and eyes open for what those around you say about your stretch activities – they can often be a better judge of your natural talents than you are. The article has a couple more benefits but I didn’t find them as compelling but reference the piece if you want to see them all. BE OF SERVICE It is easy when we are out of work or in transition between school and work to become depressed, worried about our chance of ever finding a job and to become more than a little self-obsessed. But there is a way to feel better about everything – not just the job search process but about your daily life as well. It’s easy – put your focus on something/someone other than yourself. And today, just 10 days from Christmas, sounds like a good time to give this some thought. Basically the idea is to be of service, to give – whether it be of your time, energy, talents or cash – to a cause bigger than yourself. I put cash last because I think there is the most benefit to be found in giving what is unique to you – your particular skills, talents, time or energy – to benefit someone else. Note that this does not have to be a huge commitment – it could be as simple as someone who loves cooking helping out at a local shelter in the kitchen for an hour or two a week or a recent education grad helping newly arrived immigrants with resumes and cover letters. If you feel that face-to-face volunteering isn’t possible for you there are even online opportunities – for example check out the United Nations Online Volunteering website. In case you aren’t convinced here is a study that found beneficial effects for those who give service through voluntary activities and further adds that benefits for older adults seemed to be even greater. So, what are you waiting for – find out how you can give back to your community and start reaping the benefits. REFRAME YOUR THINKING Job search and networking isn’t simply a must-do, unpleasant task – it is an opportunity to expand your circles, meet new people, learn about yourself and grow as a person. Of course what makes the difference is your attitude toward searching for work and expanding/fine-tuning your network. Let’s get started on some ideas to turn dread into delight and apprehension into enthusiasm. Page 15 Gamification One way to turn job searching and networking into less threatening and possibly even enjoyable (gasp!) activities is to take a page from the big data glossary and gamify them. Find a friend or acquaintance who is also looking for work or wanting to increase their network and set up your game plan. Here are some ideas: • set goals for how many job applications, new connections or job searches you are going to complete in a day (or other period of time) and then challenge each other to reach or exceed that target • design a day/half-day long competition with a different score for each type of job search/networking task (based on difficulty) – set a start and finish time, agree on the parameters and off you go – who will win? • create a scavenger hunt – your game for the day (or however long you decide to take) is to find a certain number of job postings, potential connections and/or people with your dream job – the winner is whoever finishes first Keep in mind that any of the above activities could be done with teams competing against each other rather than individuals. Switch it up It’s kind of a strange feature of being human that it is often easier to assess the skillset as well as discover opportunities and design job search/networking strategies for someone else than it is for yourself. Why not take advantage of this quirk and find a job search/networking buddy. Spend a couple of hours reviewing each others resumes and LinkedIn profiles and suggesting changes if necessary. Then get down to work looking for connections, networking opportunities and potential jobs that might match what your ‘buddy’ is looking for. Come from a Place of Gratitude As I alluded to in the opening of this article a lot (most?) of how we feel as we move forward with the job search/networking is dependent on how we decide to respond to our day-to-day experiences and activities. Do you see your situation as one of gloom, doom and desperation? Are you convinced that a big black cloud is personally assigned to you and follows you around and open ups on you, and only you, with depressing regularity? Assuming that you are not clinically depressed it is possible that doing some simple exercises (try any of these simple seven exercises to boost happiness) could help you come from a place that is more stable, grateful and positive. Will this guarantee success in your job search or networking activities – no – but it will probably make you a much more relaxed, energetic and persistent participant which is likely to translate to better outcomes. Build in Accountability (and rewards) Often the hardest part of a task is getting started – followed closely by sticking to task and not getting distracted. So get out your calendaring tool (whatever it is – electronic, paper) and schedule in your job search/networking activities in blocks of 30-40 minutes at a time. If you’re unemployed looking for work should be YOUR WORK so consider giving at least 3-4 hours a day to your job search. If you are wanting to switch jobs obviously you’ll probably spend less time (depending on how anxious you are to leave your current position). Set your cellphone, watch or computer to alert you just before the blocks start and consider using ‘non-distraction’ apps to keep you focused. Use a timing app to signal when your working block is up. And then, when you have finished three blocks in a row (or achieved some other target you’ve set for yourself) reward yourself with 10 minutes of relaxation (walk around the block, a cup of tea/coffee and a few pages of that novel you’re reading, some stretching exercises to favourite tunes). INVEST IN YOURSELF What are you giving yourself for Christmas – and yes, that’s a serious question. It is important that when you’re involved in the hard work of looking for a job you remember to take care of yourself and that includes a self-gift in the form of investing in yourself – both in terms of time and money. Pay’ for expert help There is no denying that you can do most if not all of the job search steps on your own but why not invest a bit in some top quality advice. And I’ve put pay in quotes in the heading because often we are almost as reticent (or sometimes even more) to invest time – we avoid committing to free/inexpensive workshops and possibly miss learning techniques that can help us save time, money and energy that we have been spending struggling over something that someone else has an easy solution to. So next time don’t ignore that meetup that seems likely to teach you a trick or two in the job search process or declare automatically that you’re far too busy and/or broke to go to that $25 seminar without consulting your calendar or chequing account. Plus, you never know who you might meet at such an event that might help you in unexpected ways. AllNo work and no play … Numerous studies have pointed to strong associations between unemployment and poor physical and mental health. There is no denying that being unemployed is bad for you (and your family and community). You need to invest in yourself to counteract these potential negative effects and nothing is as powerful as exercise. So consider purchasing a gym membership or, if that is financially out of reach, commit to walking for at least half an hour every day (and if you decide to move on to jogging if you shop carefully less than $100 should get you a decent pair of shoes). Don’t neglect your mental Page 17 health either – meditation is creating a big buzz these days and although I wouldn’t call it ‘easy’ (I don’t think I can manage to silence that inner voice for more than a couple of seconds at a time but I keep trying) it certainly has absolutely no financial barriers. Give yourself the gift of compassion It is far too easy to get sucked into a downward spiral of self-criticism, defeatism and lethargy when you are out of work and searching for a new position. Even if you are employed but in a job you don’t find engaging/enjoyable you may find yourself filled with lots of conflicting emotions – worried that you have ended up in such an unsatisfying position because of some flaw within yourself, concerned that you should feel gratitude for having a job while on the other hand dreading each day and aware that your daily drudgery is turning you into a person you don’t like very much and that this is bleeding over into all areas of your life. Cut yourself some slack by trying some of the following methods to come to terms with your anxieties and ease the psychological burden which may be holding back your job search and networking efforts in ways you don’t even realize: • try a gratitude meditation and learn to ‘anchor’ yourself with a mantra that you can come back to when you feel under stress • if sitting still isn’t your thing try a mindful walking meditation • write down what is bothering you on your ‘worry list’ and then let it go until your scheduled ‘worryfest’ (a set block of time that you put aside each day to review your worries – when you get to scanning your list you may find your concerns much less important than you thought they were) • do something nice for someone else – this doesn’t need to be big, could be sending them a ‘thinking of you’ email or smiling at a stranger – research shows that increasing others wellbeing is one of the biggest happiness boosters going CREATE AN EXCELLENT 'BASE' RESUME You’ve just met a recruiter or potential employer or new connection face-to-face at a networking event or serendipitously at the grocery store trying to assess which cantaloupe is the best in the pile. Wouldn’t it be great to know that with just sixty to ninety minutes (or less) of research and editing you could be sending them a resume that would make them sit up and take notice. One that would not be consigned to some electronic equivalent of the stuffed full and never-to-be-opened-again drawer of the filing cabinet in the corner of the mailroom but one that will make its way into the ‘candidates to keep in mind’ folder on that person’s desktop. The secret is to have a rock-solid ‘base’ resume ready to be tweaked, updated and customized for just such occasions. Read on. Gather your raw material If you’re struggling with getting together the raw material for your resume here’s a great tip that you might not be aware of – LinkedIn has a tool called Resume Builder that will pull information from your profile. You can choose from several different resume styles, easily add and remove information, save as a PDF and share right from LinkedIn. There doesn’t seem to be an option to save it as a word processing document but simply copying it and pasting it works okay. Anyway, so now you have no excuse for not having something to start with – unless of course your LinkedIn profile is not complete (in which case get to work – now). Create the best foundation you can I’m not going to talk here about types of resumes or resume formats or even whether you should go to a professional to get a resume done. You can find a ton of advice online (here’s a great page from JibberJobber on resume help) on the subject and so I’m going to call into play the infamous black box and suggest that you will somehow go from gathering your raw material to having two to three fabulous ‘foundational’ resumes. The one thing I will say is that for your ‘foundational’ resumes go LONG – put in every job, every skill/accomplishment/task and every educational experience that is significant. It will be much easier to take stuff away in later customization than to be scrambling around looking for information when you are under time pressure. Learn how to ‘stage’ your resume in a heartbeat I’m borrowing a technique here from the world of real estate. Here’s the subheading for an article on home-staging – “Highlight your home’s strengths, downplay its weaknesses and appeal to the greatest possible pool of prospective buyers with these home-staging tips”. That’s what you want your resume to do – be visually appealing, keyword rich and tweaked in such a way that it appeals (unlike the staged home) to a SPECIFIC employer/job posting rather than to the larger ‘pool’ of prospective employers. You can use your foundational resume (abbreviated a bit from the exhaustive and long version you created earlier) for posting on resume sites but when it comes to applying for actual postings you need to be much more discerning. Take your foundational resume, save a copy under the name ‘staging resume’ and work through it highlighting ‘action words’, metrics, accomplishments and skills (each in a different colour). These are the sections you are going to be looking at replacing/refining in response to a job posting. Next find three or four job postings that interest you (doesn’t matter if they are expired or from outside your geographical area or whatever). Practice ‘staging’ your resume to meet these specific opportunities, save each version separately and then print out each one and compare it to the posting for ‘fit’. For tips on how to do this read about deconstructing a job posting and any of the chapters in Raw Resume’s helpful ‘definitive guide to resume writing‘. Take your technique to the real world Okay, put yourself back in the grocery store at the cantaloupe display. You’ve just met this person who Page 19 has asked for your resume and you are going to wow them. You’ve got their whole name (correctly spelled), their phone number and the name of the company and their role within it. Perhaps you’ve also given them your pitch (sorry, that’s coming in a few days) if appropriate and so they are expecting to receive a resume that highlights how you are a good fit for job X which may not even be available/exist at this point. When you get home spend 40-60 minutes on Google and LinkedIn learning all you can about the company, the individual you met and the role that you want to fill at the company (if you can’t find any info on the position within the company try looking for a similar position at other firms). Best of all would be if you could find a job posting that is for the type of job you want to be doing. After doing your research get to work ‘staging’ whichever of your foundational resumes is the best fit (chronological, functional, whatever). Write a brief but punchy cover letter (in the body of the email) and then go back to the resume, print it out and review it to make sure it is PERFECT (no typos, misspellings, awkward language etc). Turn it into a PDF, attach it to your email (which you should probably read over too – make sure you have the person’s name correct and your email is error free) and send it off. Lather, rinse, repeat Looking for work is to some extent a numbers game. It’s like the lottery – if you haven’t sent out any resumes it is almost impossible that you will secure a job. But unlike the lottery not every ticket (resume) is created equal. An excellent resume gives you a better chance at not only landing a job but also at being ‘top of mind’ when an opening appears. So keep working on this technique and you’ll find your confidence improving as you practice and I am sure that you will start to see results in the form of interviews and responses that your resume is being kept on file as well as invitations to informational interviews. GET YOUR REFERENCES READY TO ROLL Okay, hopefully you’ve developed your ‘ready to refine’ foundational resume and can fine tune it to be relevant and compelling for a given job posting in a short time span. You should also have a list of references ready to go. You need to have at least three (and preferably many more) references on hand with COMPLETE information (email, phone number, role they filled at the time they were associated with you) ready to attach to that ‘killer’ resume and cover letter. (Re)introduce yourself to potential references If you are unemployed and searching for work it is probable that your references may be unaware what you are up to these days and so a little groundwork is only polite (IMO) before you ‘pop the question’. I would suggest an email to get started asking if you could take them for coffee or at least chat with them face to face for 10-15 minutes. Once you are at this meeting explain that you are searching for work and ask if they are willing to be a reference. Then get their contact details down and ask how they would like to be referred to on your document (i.e. should their job title reflect their position now or what it was for the period you are asking for a reference for). You should also ask them if they want to be notified each time you submit their name as a reference, how they would like this information communicated to them and if there are any conditions on where you can use the reference (I can’t imagine that there would be but perhaps in certain sectors it is considered bad form to supply a reference from your employment with the ‘competition’). Finally, give each of your references a printed and electronic copy of your resume so that they don’t need to remember things like when you worked together/for them, your role at the time and some of your responsibilities within that position. And of course send a thank you, in writing, for their willingness to act as a reference for you and update them periodically on how your job search is going. When to supply references The consensus seems to be that you should only supply references when asked and that there is no need to put ‘references available upon request’ on your resume (it’s redundant). However, it seems that if you are supplying a curriculum vitae (CV) some organizations expect references to be listed. Probably the best approach is to try and figure out whether it is ‘common practice’ in the particular field you are looking for work in (or more specifically at the company you are applying to) to supply references and do so if it is. If you supply references on a separate page remember to put your name on the page and a date at the bottom wouldn’t hurt either. If you’ve been following along and performing the tasks I’ve recommended you should now be set with an excellent ‘base’ resume and a list of references to pick from (be strategic, certain references may match certain job postings so use them to best effect). Your LinkedIn profile is looking great with loads of keywords and fabulous recommendations, you’re investing in yourself and overall you’re heading toward a very high level of preparedness with which to launch a fantastic job search in 2015. GET OUT FROM BEHIND THE SCREEN Read just a few job search websites and you’ll quickly pick up on a main message – to have an effective job search you must get out from behind (in front of?) the screen and interact with real people, face to face. These people can become contacts to add to your network, potential employers hidden in the audience and schmoozing sessions of conferences or the person sitting across the desk from you at an informational interview. But how to meet these people – here are some ideas. Meetups The meetup site is one of the best ways to find groups of like-minded people in your local community. Most meetups are either free or very inexpensive (typically a $5 donation to cover costs of refreshments homemade by the organizers). Even when they are more expensive they are rarely more than $25 which pales in comparison to professional networking events. Don’t search just for meetups Page 21 that are to do with employment but look for ones in the field you might like to be employed in, ones about an interest you have (cooking, travel) or ones particularly for newcomers (if you are not new to Victoria you can participate as a local authority and assist others). Volunteer Going to a meetup might lead you into the next ‘get out from behind your screen’ idea – volunteering. Often when you go to a meetup you will hear an appeal from the organizers for people to help out with organizing meetings, live tweeting them (if it’s that kind of meetup) and taking photos at the event. If the meetup was a good experience for you and you think you might ‘gel’ with this particular group of folks by all means volunteer. If being a meetup volunteer is not your thing don’t worry there are lots of other ways to find meaningful volunteer assignments locally. Your best first stop should probably be Volunteer Victoria where you can check out their search tool to find gigs that might suit you. Another option is to check out volweb although this site requires you to register which I find a bit intrusive. You can also ask friends about what informal opportunities are available at local organizations that might not be advertised since this requires resources, time and energy that many non-profits simply don’t have. Job fairs I really don’t know whether I believe that job fairs are a worthwhile use of your time – especially if you are looking for something other than an entry level position in retail and/or hospitality. They also don’t seem to come around very frequently. Still, if you are new to Victoria or willing to put up with a lot of interaction with people who seem uninterested in you or what you have to offer them as an employer then you might give them a try. Occasionally organizations like Randstad or one of the big hotels (Hotel Grand Pacific, The Fairmont Empress) will have their own job fair so keep your eyes on their websites. I usually try to tweet about any upcoming job fairs so follow @YYJWorks to be alerted about such events. Conferences, lectures and seminars I guarantee you that you can find an event to attend – typically for free – on almost any subject any day of the year in Victoria. A good place to start is with the University of Victoria’s event calendar where you’ll see upcoming lectures, musical performances and other events. Another place to check is upcoming events at Victoria Conference Centre. The Camosun College events calendar seems rather empty but that may be because of the holidays (I am writing this on December 27, 2014). Finally, you can check out Royal Roads University’s events calendar too. All of these techniques have in fact a single goal – to introduce you to as many people as possible. This is because of the concept of ‘weak links‘ – research has shown that when we constrain our interactions to people we know well (who are most likely from a similar background and share values, external connections and lifestyles) we restrict our opportunities to be exposed to new ways of thinking, experiences and potentially information about job openings and other career knowledge. Every new person you meet, even if it is just a quick greeting and a few minutes of discussion, is a chance to create another ‘weak link’ that can lead to a positive outcome – the chance of an informational interview, notice of an unpublicized job opening or a way to make connection with a distinguished individual in your field. These types of weak links happen best when you come out from behind your screen and meet people in the real world (although of course you can use the power of the Internet to solidify these connections after you initiate them). So, find a volunteer opportunity or meetup or seminar that interests you, take a deep breath, switch off your computer and head out to meet people face to face. PRACTICE YOUR PITCH Not familiar with the idea of a pitch – this great little article, which describes the traditional ‘elevator pitch’, will help you understand the concept. For our purposes we are going to drop the elevator (although the technique of limiting your pitch to the length of an elevator ride is still a good one) and consider that the purpose is to start a conversation not about a product or idea or service but about a person – namely YOU. Gather your pitch raw material Use my earlier posts on knowing yourself and finding your dream job to tease out some of the details of what your pitch might consist of. Use this essay on the ‘job seeker elevator pitch’ from guru Chris O’Leary to decide which content is important (i.e. ‘C’ number 5 – conceptual – don’t talk about daily tasks rather focus on high-level skills that you could bring to the job). Most importantly think about how you can connect your pitch to the potential employer’s ‘problem’ – how does your pitch mesh with what is needed in their organization. For example, my pitch might go something like the following (yes, I am ashamed to admit that mine is still a work in progress): I want to help YOU understand the commonality between the causes and consequences of suboptimal health in poor countries and here in Canada and to further grasp why the situation ‘over there’ matters and has an effect on your life here. To do this I need to hone my skills in a variety of areas – research (both quantitative and qualitative), data analysis, writing, creating and giving presentations and summarizing my work and that of others for a lay audience. I would then put in some customized stuff at the end about how a job as a _________________________ (ideal position sourced from my research on the company and also what Page 23 I am looking for) at the organization would help me develop my skills so that I am better able to deliver my message while of course (most importantly) benefiting them in the following ways. Compose a draft pitch and cut as needed I would suggest you go for a first draft that is approximately 200 words long. Use the Elevator Pitch 101 article as a guide (and refer to the other helpful essays on the site – including this one on what to cut and what to keep). Read the pitch aloud both for figuring out whether it is the right length as well as looking for awkward (or excellent!) writing. Keep revising and refining until you have it to the desired length (1-2 minutes is probably good) and it hits as many of the ‘9 Cs’ as possible without sounding corny or narcissistic. Practice, practice and then practice some more Now you need to practice your pitch until it sounds natural, conversational and is an integral part of your being (okay, maybe that’s a bit over the top but I think you know what I mean). And here you will discover another benefit of the pitch – I believe that if you haven’t got the pitch ‘on target’ you won’t be able to make it sound natural and heartfelt no matter how long or conscientiously you practice. So even if you go through this whole practice and scrap it to start again you will have learned a valuable lesson about what you really should be doing with your (work) life. WRAP UP I hope you found my series on pumping up your job search readiness (JSR) helpful. Remember, it is never too late to start, so even if you are reading this long after it was originally published (on the last day of 2014) there is no reason that you can’t get going and charge up your JSR. Why not set yourself a target of 2-3 weeks to work through all the posts and then, bright and early on a Monday morning, commit yourself to a series of daily and weekly goals for your job search process (i.e. number of jobs applied for, informational interviews arranged or new connections made). Here’s a list of the posts and links directly to them to help you get going: 1. Set goals and track your progress – figuring out your baseline and how to set realistic goals 2. Work that LinkedIn headline – why the LinkedIn headline is so important and how to make yours compelling 3. Getting recommendations on LinkedIn – there’s gold in them there recommendations – learn how to get them 4. Know thyself! – do you know what your world-class at? 5. Who’s got your dream job and what can you learn from them? – by looking at the profile of people with your ‘dream job’ you can perhaps see a way to get there yourself 6. Dissect Your LinkedIn profile – deconstruct and analyze your LinkedIn profile and rebuild it better 7. Stretch – what can going outside your comfort zone do for your job search? 8. Be of service – don’t make it all about you – sometimes the best way to help yourself is to help someone else 9. Reframe your thinking – is your glass half empty or half full – and how does your attitude affect your job search 10.Invest in yourself – with time and money! – are you being careful with your money or just cheap – sometimes it pays to spend 11.Create and PERFECT a ‘base’ resume – you’ll feel much more confident with a foundational resume ready to be tweaked and submitted at a moments notice 12.Get your references ready to roll – references need to be ready to submit in a jiffy with that resume – be prepared 13.Get out from behind the screen – are you spending so much time at the computer you’re losing social skills by the minute – it’s not helping your job search (you knew that though) 14.Practice your pitch – are you pitch perfect – I’m not talking about singing here Page 25
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