Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Stand out in a sea of sameness

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standout3533395983_e846d2cf51_mThere’s no shortage of information about how difficult the job market is right now. Over and over, job seekers look for ways to “stand out,” to be one in a crowd, to grab (and keep) the attention of the hiring manager.

You might be surprised to know that it may not be as difficult as you think to stand out in a crowded market. Some ideas for your consideration:

– Know what you have to offer. You would be surprised (or maybe not!) to learn how few job seekers I meet can easily describe what skills they bring to the table. Being able to succinctly describe those skills in a networking setting – without resorting to the catch all/kiss of death, “I can do anything” will absolutely help you stand out. Follow THIS link for more ideas about your “elevator pitch.”

– Know where to look. I teach clients to identify organizations and companies, not specific jobs. The fact is, most jobs are not actually advertised. (It may be as many as 70-80% of positions.) Rather, they are filled via networking and referrals. Stop spending all of your time looking for jobs. Research and target organizations instead and you will automatically stand out as someone not overly concerned with focusing on a specific job and more interested in the big picture.

– Great materials. This is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, most resumes are simply not very good. There are basic concerns – aesthetics, grammar, verb tense, consistency. These are not difficult to address. The bigger concern is making sure the resume specifically focuses on the employer’s needs and highlights the job seeker’s skills and accomplishments. If you are sending out a resume that lists “stuff” that you have done but is not adequately connecting to the employer’s needs, you are missing a key opportunity to stand out in the crowd.

– Excellent follow-up. Again, a factor that is completely in the job seeker’s control. When you network, you have the opportunity to leave an impression and gain an advocate. However, everyone is busy. How you follow up can help you stand out in a way that may make the difference between learning about a “hidden” opportunity and not.

Stay tuned for my next post….Follow-up that is head and shoulders above the rest!

Learn how I can help you navigate your job hunt.

photo by picsbycam

Conscious awareness and your job hunt

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cookies3544731083_141829b5ee_mIf you are looking for a job, do you feel stuck and like you don’t know what to do next? You are not alone, as most job seekers I know don’t intend to become professional job hunters and don’t feel confident that they can move from step to step, knowing exactly what they are doing.

Last month, I attended a workshop with Havi Brooks. She specializes in what she calls “Destuckification: working through the stucknesses that get in the way of doing your thing.” Havi teaches about how to get unstuck via a mind-body/yoga practice called Shiva Nata. She calls it “brain training that looks like martial arts and acts like drugs-that-make-you-smart-and-hot.”

Even Havi calls is “wacky,” and it is nothing if not a bit unconventional – teaching your brain to act differently by focusing on patterns, deconstructing them and building new ones!  (I’m no expert on the subject, having just starting studying it, but I think that gets at the basics for our purposes! Read Havi’s blog and explore her site for more details.)

So, what does this all have to do with you – the job seeker who is stuck and can’t figure out the next step? One of the big things we discussed at the workshop was how important it is to bring “conscious awareness” to patterns in order to challenge and change them. Really, that’s just a fancy way of saying that you need to notice what’s happening and point it out to yourself to impact a change.

So, instead of wallowing in self-doubt and avoiding your job search like the plague, stop and think, “Hmmm…how am I feeling when I think of my job hunt?” Does it give you a stomach ache? Your head hurts? You panic? You know it’s important and urgent, but instead of working on it, you decide to take a bike ride instead? Or, eat a plate of cookies?

Every time you think of your job hunt and you go numb and panic, try to be aware of the pattern.

Look at  your intellectual response – I “should” do this now. I feel guilty if I don’t work on my search.
Examine the physical response – I can’t breathe. I get a pain in my neck. Stress creeps into my shoulders.
Focus on what you do – I clean the house instead. Or eat chocolate. Or watch TV.

Then, think about little steps you could do differently. If, when you think of sitting down to your search and start getting stressed, you took a moment to be really aware of all that is going into those feelings, you may have a much better chance of jumping over the hurdle and making a change – step-by-step. Maybe instead of cleaning the whole house, or eating the whole box of cookies, you decide that you’ll JUST clean one bathroom or eat two cookies and then do 30 minutes of job searching.

I’m no expert in teaching about conscious awareness, and I want to make it clear that is my interpretation of when of the things I learned from Havi, but I thought it was too important of a concept NOT to share the idea. Take some time to be aware of what is going on with you – you may be surprised by the results!

Would it help to have a coach on your side? Learn more about how I can help you overcome your “stuck” by teaching you what you need to know to propel your search forward!

photo by dyanna


Job seekers-what message are you sending?

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I was driving to the YOU NEED A JOB presentation I’m doing with Stephanie A. Lloyd, and I saw a man on the side of the road holding a very large sign. It read, “PUBLIC SALE.”

My first thought was, “Hmmm…wonder what that means.” Then, all I could think about was that it was so sad for this man to be out in the heat, holding up a sign that did not offer any clue whatsoever as to the nature of the sale or what was being sold. I don’t know many people who would pull off the road to investigate an ambiguous sale. What a waste of time and effort!

Since I look for job search lessons and inspiration in everything, it occurs to me that many job seekers are actually doing the equivalent of holding up a “PUBLIC SALE” sign.

Think about it – is your resume clearly targeted to appeal to the employers you want to address? Or, is your resume all about you, without a thought given to what will interest the employer? Are you using lingo and jargon that your targeted employer won’t understand? Including details that are irrelevant to the job of interest?

When you meet someone, can you clearly state what you have to offer and, if appropriate, what you want to do? Or, are you going around saying that you can “do anything” are “open to anything,” “flexible,” “can learn whatever it is.”

You get the point – if you are not specific and clear, you are the job seeking equivalent of the man holding up the “PUBLIC SALE” sign. You are wasting your time and unlikely to move forward with your search.

Take a good, long look at your materials. Think about what you say when you meet people. Spend some time evaluating what you are doing. Is it clear what you offer? If not, it’s time to make a change.

Need a great resume and a focused approach to your search? I can help! Learn more about what I offer to help you with your job search.

What's the cost of being unemployed?

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naked dad3320618374_003b2a716e_mRecently, my colleague Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter of Career Trend Resumes and Writing shared some information via Dawn Bugni (Twitter: @dawnbugni), who referenced the July 2009 Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches newsletter that highlighted the cost of lost wages to job seekers in a variety of income levels. This is the data from Jacqui’s blog:

If you expect a $20,000 salary, your weekly salary is $384.61 and an 18 week job hunt will cost you $6,992.98.

If you are looking for a job with a $50,000 salary, your weekly salary is $961.54 and an 18 week job hunt costs you $17,307.69.

If you are hoping for a $100,000 salary, your weekly salary is $1,923.08 and an 18 week job hunt costs you $34,615.38.

Clearly, it behooves job seekers to do everything they can to shorten their searches to land as quickly as possible. Jacqui’s post, which you should read in its entirety HERE, reminds readers that “navigating a job search without a compass” costs valuable time and money. Think about it…Wouldn’t it be nice to have an experienced coach and resume writer on your side? When I coach someone, I like to think of myself in the role of a helpful friend in the passenger seat offering directions as you are driving your own career bus!

Follow this link to learn more about me and how I can help you propel your search forward.

cartoon from Bearman

A new paradigm for work? Slash careers and Gen Y

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sunnyday325950178_aaa3c571cd_mA shadow seems to remain over the job market for new college grads. The Hire Ground blog quoted my colleage, Lindsey Pollak:

While many of Gen Y’s employment troubles can be blamed solely on the current economy, there are other difficult circumstances they must overcome, Pollak says. Those with the misfortune of having been born in the 1980s are also the first wave of job seekers who have been trained to seek conventional careers yet are entering a workplace that is alien to every previous generation.

“The old paradigm is clearly not working anymore,” she says. “The thinking was that all the baby boomers would start to retire and there would be lots of new positions open, but that’s not happening. Even the meaning of the word ‘career’ is changing. You’re not going to see people working for one company for 30 years anymore.”

There’s no doubt that Gen Y (and all) job seekers who embrace the new paradigm will be the most successful finding fulfilling positions, but those positions may look very different from the old norms.

The article notes:

Pollak, author of the new post-grad bible, “Getting From College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World,” says some new terms are cropping to describe the peripatetic nature of employment today, in which workers will commonly jump from job to job, sometimes moving into several different fields. Some are calling these “slash-careers,” she says, referring to the need to add a series of slashes in job descriptions (e.g., editor/speaker/dancer). Others say young job seekers are members of “free-agent nation” and need to become their own CEOs and take more control of their careers.

Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers,  authority on “slash careers” and the writer who likely first coined the term notes on her website:

“…slash careers integrate and fully express the multiple passions, talents, and interests that a single career often cannot accommodate.“

Anyone looking for a job, particularly young people with less experience, will do well to embrace a variety of types of internships, part-time work and entrepreneurial options to take advantage of the opportunities the current economy offers. No, it isn’t your father’s job market…The situation requires a creative approach and may result in different types of results from the ones college students might have expected. However, there are positive aspects to the situation – the proverbial “silver lining.”

For one Gen Y’s optimistic take on the situation, see the video interview with Stephanie Perrett, a Gen Y intern for Stephanie A. Lloyd and Radiant Veracity:


If your search is stalling, consider getting some help to get it jump started? Not sure you can put all of the great tools at your disposal to good use? Need a great resume? Learn how I can help you propel your job hunt forward.

photo by hana8hana