Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

How a Mentor Can Help You Land a Job

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Finding a job does not need to be a solitary activity. In fact, it’s better when you can tap into other people’s skills, experiences and resources to help connect with an opportunity. Networking is one great way to accomplish those goals, but having a mentor is an even better way to help you land a job faster.

Who qualifies as a mentor? A mentor can be anyone willing to take a strong interest in another person’s professional success. Typically, the mentor is more experienced and connected in the job seeker’s field, but that doesn’t necessarily mean older. If you’ve changed careers, it’s possible you’ll connect with a younger mentor who has more experience and connections in your new field.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

It’s worth looking for a mentor to take on the following roles:

Suggest Strengths

Sometimes, our most marketable strengths aren’t obvious to us. A mentor can hone in on what you offer and suggest how to market those skills to be attractive to your target employers.

Point Out Weaknesses

Is a weakness preventing you from landing your dream job? Perhaps it requires someone experienced in your field to notice you’re missing a key skill necessary to win the job. A mentor can step in and help you fill in the missing pieces so you’re competitive for the job you want.

Create a Plan

A mentor can help you strategize about a plan to accomplish your goals. Whether this involves focusing on strengths or addressing weaknesses, the mentor can help guide you to your goal based on his or her experience in the field.

Offer Connections

The best mentors open up their networks to their mentees and make introductions likely to lead to new professional relationships. A great mentor can make all the difference for a job seeker, because all it takes to find an opportunity is one great connection. An experienced mentor can be the bridge to that connection for you.

Give Advice

It’s great to read job search advice, but sometimes, having someone with their personal best interest at heart makes all the difference for job seekers. A mentor can provide insider knowledge on everything related to your search. For example, how to apply, when to follow up, how to prepare for an interview and what’s negotiable in an offer.

Teach You By Example

One of the best ways to learn how to do something well is by watching someone else who’s already mastered what you hope to accomplish. A mentor can teach you what you need to know to get the job you want.

Push You to Succeed

Sometimes, you need a pep talk from someone who has been in your situation and succeeded. A mentor can give you that boost and encourage you to stick to your goals.

Inspire You

The best mentors will inspire you to be the very best you can be, which should lead to new professional opportunities.

You’ll never know how much a mentor can help you unless you try to connect with someone willing to serve in that role for you.

Can You Uncover Your Passion in a Job You Don’t Love?

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jad_badge_greenHaving a job you love is a wonderful goal. Having passion for your work and enjoying what you do is something most would agree is something to strive toward.

Today’s post is a contribution for the annual Job Action Day. The theme is inspired by Mike Rowe’s online commencement speech for Prager University. “He suggests, instead of following their passion, jobseekers should consider following the opportunities that are available to them—and then bring their passions with them to the job.”

Have you consciously identified a need to have passion for your work vs. considering your job a practical necessity? Do you let your bias regarding this impact your job search? Have you hesitated to pursue job opportunities because you aren’t committed to or excited about the work? Of course, the best career or job is the one in which you’re using the skills you enjoy. But, not every job needs to address all of your passions. It makes sense to use every job as an opportunity to learn something new and keep an open mind; you may find that you really enjoy something you never imagined would appeal to you.

Sometimes, however, a job can be just a job. Many, many people take care of problems at work not because they are passionate about what they are doing, but because they take pride in a job well done. It’s powerful to recognize work can be a way to make a living and doesn’t need to be steeped in passion.

If you are concerned that you should be more passionate about your work, here are some steps to take to make the most out of your current job, no matter what you do.

Evaluate your job.  Maybe there are parts of your job that play to your passions without you even recognizing it! For example, if you are in customer service, you may dislike handling problems all day, but solving concerns is something you really enjoy. Give credit to all the parts of your job that appeal to you.

Leverage your interests. Perhaps you can influence a change in your current work environment. If you’re in a job that doesn’t offer much in the way of upward mobility, consider offering to volunteer to head up an initiative that does play to your passions. For example, maybe you’d like to see your company recycle more, and you can offer to help work on that. Or, maybe you want to organize a collection to donate to the local food pantry. Perhaps you’d like to have a series of speakers come to talk to you and your colleagues. If you volunteer to set it up, your employer may support this effort. Just because your job may be static doesn’t mean you can’t extend yourself and try new things.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Job Seekers Make and How to Avoid Them.

Learn new things. Would you like to extend your career in a different direction, but you don’t have the resume to support the change? Identify what skills you are missing and take a class. Or, use volunteer opportunities to help get some experience. For example, if you don’t have any formal experience using management skills, managing that food drive or planning a speaker series can give you some of these skills.

Leverage your passions outside of work. If you don’t have a passion for your work, make more of an effort to enjoy your time outside of work. You may even find that newfound passion can become a side business that leads to work happiness down the road. Are you a creative person, but you work in an uncreative profession? Look for a hobby or take a class. When you’re not working, you have more control over how you spend your time, so be sure to tap into your passions. When you spend more time doing what you love, it helps your overall happiness, which will positively affect how you feel at work.

You may be surprised to learn you have an opportunity to include many more passionate interests in your job and in your free time than you may have realized!

Planning a career change? Answer these questions first

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78812ab61d7065484780b48cfe2efa4c-2You know what they say: “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” If you’ve been coveting the greener grass of a career change, be sure to stop and reflect before you plan a major shift. While transitioning careers sometimes makes sense, many people mistakenly believe a career change will solve all of their problems. Even successful career changers may be surprised to find that they encounter the same (or worse) problems in their new careers. Before you start to explore what’s on the other side of the fence, consider the following reasons not to change careers. [Read more…] about Planning a career change? Answer these questions first

Write and speak like a professional

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Write and SpeakEveryone you meet will form opinions based on what you say and write. That’s why I’m so excited to announce my new book, Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.

Strong written and spoken communication skills are crucial to opening doors. Millennial Branding’s research showed soft skills topped the list of “must have” skills that employers want, with 98 percent of employers saying communication skills are essential. It’s up to you to make the most of every opportunity to prove you’re capable and confident.

It’s no secret first impressions matter – that’s been the case since the beginning of time. What’s new, in our increasingly fast-paced, digitally connected world, is how a simple stroke of a keyboard, or an email gone awry, can quickly damage a professional reputation. On the other hand, a stream of consistent, well-written social media updates can just as easily raise your profile and impress people you’ve never met who may positively influence your career.

As a job search coach and social media strategist experienced at helping job seekers and business owners market themselves online and in person, it’s clear the most successful professionals try to improve their communication skills at every opportunity. Whether your focus is networking, job search, or excelling at work, it’s more important now than ever to know how to present yourself in person and in writing in this hyper-competitive work environment.

Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day provides instructions and exercises to improve your communication abilities and offers insights and ideas to help refine your skills in every aspect of your job or career. It includes instruction on everything from networking to resume writing and interviewing.

Learn how to:

  • Network professionally — online and in person
  • Create cover letters and resumes that get you noticed
  • Approach job interviews with confidence and poise
  • Use social media appropriately and effectively
  • Introduce yourself decisively and make a great first impression
  • Write emails people will read
  • Much, much more!

Communication skills are just as important in the workplace as they are when looking for a job, so you’ll also find details about how to impress people at work and how to write clear, concise business emails that will get the best results. With attention spans growing shorter, it’s never been more important to learn how to hone in on your message and eliminate non-crucial details. This book helps you recognize if you’re missing opportunities to communicate succinctly and demonstrates how to remedy any problems.

Whether you’re attending a meeting, or writing a memo, it’s up to you to put your best foot forward. This book provides the resources to help you identify any deficiencies or problems you may not have considered.

  • Are you using words in your emails that call your professionalism into question?
  • Does the tone or inflection of your voice make people think you aren’t confident?
  • Could you be doing more via social media to expand your reach and extend your influence in your professional community?
  • How are your listening skills?
  • Does your body language send the message you want people to receive?

Read this book to learn how to improve your ability to make a strong first impression, and how to extend and enhance that impression so your colleagues and supervisors will listen carefully when you speak and appreciate what you write.

Click here to download a free chapter from the book : Communicate Using Social Media.

Be sure to touch base to let me know what questions you have, and feel free to share your best communication tips in the comments! Post on social media using the hashtag #WriteSpeak.

Learn about my other new book: Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.

How to manage your time and life

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Time and LifeAre you overwhelmed by life’s details? Whether you’re looking for a job, or you’re fully ensconced in a career, do you feel like you’re always running to catch up, and never completely in control of your day-to-day work and home life? I wrote a new book just for you!

Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day provides suggestions and recommendations to help you make the most of every hour of the day. The result? You’ll have more time for everything that matters to you, and you’ll be able to successfully achieve your professional goals. No one has time to waste! That’s why this book starts out by illustrating how to network effectively and how to choose the best jobs to apply for to avoid the dreaded “resume black hole,” when employers ignore you. (After all, you never know when you’ll want to look for a new opportunity.) If you already have your dream job, you can dive directly into the slew of best practices and ideas included in the majority of the book, which is dedicated to helping manage your time for professional success.

In this book, I cover the entire gamut: from how to incorporate healthy routines (such as what to eat and how to make time to exercise) to how to set and achieve your aspirational work goals. Whether you need help organizing your office, managing distractions at work, tracking your emails or keeping a useful checklist and calendar, this book provides practical insights, exercises to get you started and information to help.

You haven’t been tracking your “wins” at work, or you don’t know what apps you should use to make the most of your time and avoid being distracted? I’ve got you covered!

Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day is an all-in-one efficiency “bible,” with suggestions to help you identify key action items and take the necessary steps to accomplish your long- and short-term goals. Learn how to get a firm handle on your schedule to keep efficiently moving forward with your professional plans.

  • Do you need help separating your “must do” from your “want to do” items?
  • Could you use help to overcome procrastination and learn to become accountable for your plans?
  • Would you appreciate advice about how to stop wasting time, effort, and energy?

This book includes techniques and ideas to help you get organized and keep on track.

For example, learn how to:

  • Plan your job search — get it done in less time
  • Prepare for interviews — without memorizing answers to hundreds of questions
  • Make the most of your time at work
  • Get organized and feel in control of your life
  • Create useful lists and prioritize
  • Avoid procrastination
  • Much, much more!

Download an excerpt from the book: How to Avoid Procrastination.

After you read this book, you will be able to quickly review your progress, assess your strategies and make positive changes. Are you ready to put the right combination of action items in place and just get things done? Order the book today (it ships on July 7th) and get started!

Be sure to touch base to let me know what questions you have, and feel free to share your favorite productivity tips in the comments! Post on social media using the hashtag #TimeLife.

Don’t miss my other new book, Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.