Archive for January, 2009
January 14th, 2009 | 
Author: By: Teena Rose
Networking is still known as a great job-search strategy, yet it eludes some individuals simply because they don’t know how to go about it. Individuals also tend to shy away from networking because it’s time consuming. Unlike online résumé submission or folding a résumé, stuffing it in an envelope, and adhering a stamp, networking requires far more time and dedication. The results, however, can be quite different than those experienced from traditional résumé submission.
Your network incorporates everyone around you, such as your preacher, doctor, neighbors, friends, colleagues, and/or fellow committee members. The object is to talk, ask, brainstorm, and seek the assistance of others that know of an opportunity or contact that you do not. Have you heard of Stanley Milgrim’s theory of “Six Degrees of Separation” (more popularly known by the movie, starring Kevin Bacon)? His theory states that there are only 6 people separating you and someone you’d like to meet or get in touch with, such as a hiring or human resources manager.
Like anything critical in your life, you must be prepared to network. Hold a small portfolio to house several prints of your résumé along with other pertinent material. Collect business cards from everyone you meet and make notation of the place and date on the card. This information is needed should you speak with this person again. You’ll make an impression by referencing your previous conversation, along with the date and occasion (e.g. name of seminar or conference).
The card will also be handy when you’re given a job lead. Generally the intro paragraph of a cover letter will reference something like, “When I spoke to Sarah McNeil on August 1, 2002, she mentioned that you are looking for a clerk typist and suggested that I contact you.” Obtaining a person’s card will keep you from misspelling the person’s name and remind you of the person that gave you the lead. Effective networking will cause your card portfolio to fill up quickly and make it difficult for you to keep names and companies straight in your mind. BTW, don’t forget to give your lead a small gift or handwritten thank-you card if you land the job. Small gestures, such as a job lead, can oftentimes be forgotten.
As I mentioned, networking takes time; but the results can be more rewarding than résumé blasting (sending your résumé to anyone, if not everyone). Steven R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, wrote, “We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.” This statement applies to everything in our lives, especially those affecting our careers. Networking (although time consuming) can change the entire face of our beings and open the door to more opportunities than we ever dreamed possible.
Even when employed, your network should be tended. Keep in touch with select individuals through thank-you cards and e-mails. Offer your services and knowledge to them should the opportunity arise – anything that will make his or her life easier.
I also recommend that you present individuals in your network with key opportunities that may come across your desk in the future. The best way to get is to first give. Give your acquaintances the chance to be quoted in an incoming article or book – or opt to purchase products or services from them. A $15 purchase will show that person that you care about their success.
Another great aspect of networking is to find new friends that will strengthen your network and challenge you to succeed. Within the first three months in business, I met two individuals that I associate with now four years later. One has a degree in journalism and is incredibly smart concerning the English language, and the other is a technical guru that I call immediately if I have trouble with one of my computers. Both are incredibly skilled in their fields, and ultimately make my business stronger because we each look out for the other. We talk, we negotiate, and we bounce ideas off each other. Now that’s a network!
Visit us on the web at http://resumebycprw.com
Posted in 
Tags: 
By: Cheryl Lynch Simpson
Richard Bolles, job search guru and author of What Color Is Your Parachute? predicts that you can expect to search for work 1-2 months for every $10,000 you hope to earn. So, if you’re looking for a $40,000 a year position, you may search for 4-8 months to land it. Back when the economy sizzled, that job search length would have seemed outrageous, but now, many people would be thrilled to only search for 4-8 months. Now the question is: How can you limit your job search length regardless of what’s happening with the local economy?
The answer to that question depends on the strength of your job search campaign. Take a look at these common job search problems. If your campaign is suffering from any of these symptoms, try one or more of the tips suggested for each.
If you’re mailing resumes but aren’t getting interviews:
Your campaign may not be intense enough. Remember that searching for a job is a full-time job. Increase your employer contacts by phone, fax, mail and email to 10-20 per week. Gather job leads from a greater variety of sources than you have been using, such as networking, newspaper ads and Internet sites. But most important of all, tap the hidden job market.
Bottom line: Getting interviews from resumes is in part a numbers game. Contact more employers to increase the odds in your favor.
Your resume may reveal that you do not possess the skills sets employers want. Get them! A tight economy means employers can command whatever skills, credentials and experience they want, so why argue with them? Volunteer, take a class or create a self-study program to learn what you need to learn. Or, take a lower-level position that will prepare you for advancement to the job you really want.
Bottom line: It’s up to you to qualify yourself for the job you want. Demonstrate your initiative and enroll in that class now, then be sure to claim your new skills on your resume.
You may not be contacting the employers who are buying the skills you’re selling. First, identify the three skills you possess that you most want to market to employers. Second, match those skills to three different kinds of positions that commonly use your preferred skills.
Next, tie each of the positions you identify to specific local industries and employers who hire people with the skills you’re marketing. Then create different resume versions for each of the types of positions you intend to seek. Make sure each version highlights and documents your ability to do what you claim you can do.
Bottom line: Different employers need different things from their employees. Know what you have to sell and sell it to the companies that want it. At all costs, avoid generalizing your resume with clichés and vague statements.
Your resume may poorly communicate what you have to offer. If you have weaknesses in your employment chronology or if you are changing careers, you will need to take great care in structuring your résumé’s content to overcome any perceived deficiencies. Create a powerful career summary statement which emphasizes your primary skills, qualities, credentials, experience and goals.
Group your most marketable skills into an achievements section and showcase those using numbers, concrete nouns and clear indications of the results you accomplished. Use company research and the employer’s job description to focus your revised resume on the company’s needs.
Bottom line: The person who decides whether or not to interview you will make that decision in a mere 15 to 25 seconds. Be clear, organized and achievement-focused to use those seconds to convince the employer to interview you.
If you’re getting interviews but no job offers:
You may have the basic skills the employer needs but not the advanced skills they prefer. Review the second bullet above and act on the suggestions presented. Once you have updated or expanded your skills through additional education, experience or self-study, begin building a career success portfolio to prove your success to prospective employers. This will also help you respond to those behavior-based interview questions that are the rage these days.
Bottom line: It is up to you to advance your career. Figure out what you lack, then learn the skill or develop the ability.
You lack strong self-marketing skills and this is showing in your interviews. To improve the quality of your interpersonal communications and interview responses, take a class. Invite someone to role play an interview with you. Practice answering behavior-based interview questions. Arrange to participate in a videotaped mock interview.
To project your personality positively: Select three to five things about yourself that you want the employer to know about you by the end of your interview. Brainstorm ways to weave those things into your responses to common interview questions. Learn about personalities different from your own. Smile and relax! Make strong but not excessive eye contact.
Go into the interview armed with 5-8 words or phrases that positively describe your workplace personality and use those words or phrases throughout the interview. Match your communication style to the interviewer’s questioning style. Know your resume and defend it. Keep your responses brief and always to the point.
Bottom line: Your interviewing performance serves as a preview of your on-the-job performance, so project your best. Research, practice, and sell!
To job search is to make mistakes. Question is, are you learning from the job search mistakes you’ve made? Evaluate your search every two to three months so you can fine tune your campaign on a regular basis. You probably get your car tuned up regularly. Why not do the same for your job search? With the right knowledge and proper tools in place, there will be no stopping you!
Cheryl Lynch Simpson, L.P.C. is a Career Coach with over 20 years’ experience helping professionals bring new life to their career campaigns. She can be reached at idealwork@ earthlink.net.
Please make this a New Year’s Resolution: “I will not try to find a job by doing exactly what everyone else does, because I know that the result will be that I look just like everyone else.”
Microsoft Resume Templates – Just Say No!
According to Google, one of the most popular searches on resume writing is “Microsoft Word Resume Templates.”
That means that literally millions of people typed into Google the equivalent of ‘please help me to look like millions of other people.’
There’s a recipe for success!
Maybe people look for resume templates because of a lack of confidence. (”I’m not sure how a resume is supposed to look, so this will at least mean I look professional”). But think about the recipient for a minute. Think about the jaded HR rep or head hunter or line manager who sees hundreds of resumes for every vacancy and who has seen thousands of resumes just like yours over the years. At best, she won’t really notice you. At worst she’ll think you’re either lazy or unimaginative … or both.
And here’s another problem – those templates are so out of date. I don’t know what year they were first created – maybe 1927? They just scream “I am old-fashioned.”
And the third problem? Starting with a resume template and then trying to shoehorn your own story in is exactly backwards.
The right way to create an effective resume is to start with your story. Decide what you want to say. Decide what your audience wants to hear. Then create a resume structure that helps to communicate that message. Don’t get caught up in rules or standards. Just ask yourself: ‘what is the message I need to communicate to the people who make hiring decisions?’ Then let that determine what your resume looks like.
Your own design will always be more eye-catching than something created up by a Microsoft engineer who drew the short straw on assignments. So, please trust yourself … and step away from the Microsoft Word resume templates.
LOUISE FLETCHER, CO-FOUNDER/RESUME WRITER
Louise Fletcher is the Co-founder and President of Blue Sky Resumes, a company widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of career marketing. She is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and an active member of the Career Masters Institute, where she has written articles and led seminars for other resume professionals
