Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Is the Personal Professional?

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Today, one of my “read daily” blog writers, Penelope Trunk, wrote about getting on Twitter and used it as a way to talk about doing something that scares you.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is a way to post updates about your daily activities so that your “followers” will know your every move. Some people use it to give details of their day. “Went to the store. No fresh chocolate croissants. Bummer.” You get the idea.

I actually started posting when I update my blog on Twitter. (Feel free to “follow” me. Don’t worry, I won’t let you know what I have for dinner or how many poopy diapers I change in a day!)

For me, Penelope’s post brought to mind an issue that is important for all professionals. Where do we draw the line between the personal and the professional? We already know that recruiters review FaceBook and “Google” potential employees to see if there is any “dirt” that would make them undesirable.

I met a woman this month who told me the story of a son’s friend (new college grad) who showed up for an interview at a big firm only to be shown all of the unflattering materials they had found about him online. They used it as an opportunity to let him know why they wouldn’t be following through with the interview.

Social media is here to stay, though. In fact, it becomes more and more necessary to understand and participate in it. (For example, if you’re not linkedin, you may be missing out on great professional opportunities.)

Where do we draw the line between the personal and the professional?

Keith Ferrazzi says something pertinent in his book, Never Eat Alone…

“Power, today comes from sharing information, not withholding it. More than ever, the lines demarcating the personal and the professional have blurred. We’re an open-source society, and that calls for open-source behavior.” (p.146)

It seems that Twitter and other social media encourage this openness and offer vehicles to link personal and professional interests. As “the personal is political,” maybe “the personal is professional.”

Something to think about…

Keppie Careers will help you use social media to your advantage. www.keppiecareers.com

Counter-intuitive Advice: Talk to People Who "Can't Help You"

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“You don’t know enough to know what it is you don’t know.”

Does that describe you?  I bet that it does about some things.  Hopefully, there are areas about which you can confidently say you know a lot, but for most of us, especially in our high tech, ever changing world, there is always more to learn.  How many are experts in everything?  I would challenge you to find someone who could give you good advice about anything you might ask.

As part of my work for Keppie Careers, I keep a close eye on career and resume trends by reading books, blogs and keeping in touch with my advisory board of professionals in an array of industries.  

When I’m not writing resumes, coaching, blogging and reading, in the spirit of “practice what you preach,” I also frequently meet people for “informational interviews.” I attend Chamber of Commerce meetings, visit close-contact networking groups and seek out an array of networking opportunities.  It is amazing to me how our  need for networking (as entreuprenuers and as job seekers) has spawned a whole industry of people for whom networking is actually their business!

I’ve been to coffee with real estate professionals, a dentist, investment advisors, life coaches, travel professionals, vitamin sales people, photographers and a salesperson trainer, just to  name a few.  It never ceases to amaze me how much we have to share with each other, and the possible “touch points” between our businesses or our networks. 

Taking the time to meet these professionals offers me the opportunity to share information about my business, but more importantly, I have a chance to learn about programs, events and opportunities I might never have considered.  I also try to share something that will help them and offer to be a resource.

In a recession, it is even more important to expand our circles when job seeking. 

Some lessons:

Never underestimate the possibility for really interesting common ground.  Some of the meetings I’ve least felt like getting up at 6 a.m. to attend have been the most productive in terms of what I’ve learned.

Just because someone isn’t in your field doesn’t mean they don’t have useful information for you.  (Or you for them.) Our lives intersect in so many points.  Think of someone you consider least likely to be able to share good information with you for your search.  Meet for coffee.  You may be surprised!

Open your eyes to the opportunities!  Seek out places to meet new people.  Join an organization, a new health club or take a class.  Google “networking opportunities, (your city)” and see what comes up!  Then, don’t just attend, be an active participant.

I attended a great meeting last night.  It’s a networking group for women and is held at a home over dinner.  We all shared information about our businesses and there was time for chit-chat.  It was up to all of us to see how we could help each other.  I could have done my “elevator pitch,” listened to everyone else’s, and left.  That wouldn’t have been networking, though.  That would have been attending an event. 

I challenge you – find a new place to meet people and engage them.  You never know how you might be able to help each other.  Networking, or netweaving, is all about giving and getting.  I was a lot of fun for me to be able to connect several of the women at the event last night to other contacts in their fields, even though we had no obvious professional commonalities. 

Engage – ask questions…be able to explain who you are and what you do.  Don’t underestimate the value of every connection.  Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows something.  Inserting yourself as part of the chain is a great step in the right direction!

Networking sounds too hard? Even if you are shy, you can learn how to be effective at networking!  Keppie Careers will help you.  Need a great resume?  Mock interview?  Contact Keppie Careers.  We advise, encourage and enlighten job seekers and offer a toolbox of practical tips and support.

Review of Retire Retirement, by Tamara Erickson

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Regular readers know that I have been reviewing Tamara Erickson’s book, Retire Retirement. Although aimed at Boomers (born 1946 – 1964), the book offers insights that are useful across the generational alphabet!  Erickson’s research suggests that work culture will change in the next decade for several reasons:

1.  To accommodate Boomers seeking flexible, new experiences.  As the first generation with the realistic expectation of a 30-year healthy, active life after age 55, Boomers may engage in several new careers!

2. Because of Gen Y’s desire to have a work-life balance and refusal to join companies requiring 60-hour work weeks. 

(It seems as if Gen X doesn’t have much to say in this matter!)

Erickson makes the case that Boomers who wish to stay in the paid workforce will leverage a lot of power:

  • Boomer skills and experience are needed. Employers don’t want to experience the “brain drain” of Boomers retiring in droves.
  • Technology and a changing economy offer flexible ways of working.
  • Research shows that workers over 55 are more reliable and loyal than younger workers.

Erickson encourages readers to dream big and to think optimistically about their plans.  She believes that by 2025, more companies will embrace next-generation enterprises, which she describes as:

Intensely collaborative, continually informed, technologically adept and skilled at on-going experimentation…Companies will adopt flexible relationships and continual active connections to attract both talented employees and loyal customers (49).

As a result, she believes that employees should reasonably expect the following in the next 5 years:

  • Flexible time.  Changing shifts, compressed work week, individualized schedule.
  • Reduced time. Part-time, job sharing, leave-of-absence programs.
  • Cyclic time. Project-based or contract work.  Employees will focus on a project for a number of weeks or months, complete the work and then either take a break or move on to a new contract.  (Read more about this here.)
  • Flexible place. Telecommuting, no fixed location for work.
  • Task, not time. Instead of working 9 to 6, for example, employees would have a task and be required to put in only the time that it takes to get the work done.

Erickson offers specific strategies for Boomers to negotiate a new work plan.  She encourages this powerful and large group to reinvent themselves and dream big!  The book also outlines a myriad of ways for those seeking a brand new challenge (not with current or similar employers) to leverage their reputation, or “brand.”

Erickson emphasizes that responsibility for a new and improved work life is up to YOU!  Boomers (and future generations) need to plan in advance, position themselves and plot a course to navigate a desired career path.  Many successful workers will map their route years in advance and steer toward their goal.  Others will take advantage of unexpected opportunities.  Either way, a life’s worth of work impacts our options if we wish to work beyond traditional retirement age with the benefit of flexibility and personal choice.

If Erickson is correct about the changes coming to the workplace, Boomers, and younger generations as well should read Retire Retirement to begin to plan how to position themselves in a brave new working world!

Keppie Careers can help you achieve your career goals at any age!  Need a resume?  Job hunting help?  Keppie Careers will assist you every step of the way:  www.keppiecareers.com.

Job Change – Is it the other inevitable?

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Here we thought that only death and taxes were inevitable.  Looks like “change” is peering her head around that same corner, and I don’t mean the change that the politicians keep bantering about.  I mean the real, honest-to-goodness, things are going to change around here kind of change that happens at work.

Some are suggesting that some of the very tenants of our work world are likely to change as baby boomers retire and our system adjusts.  That may be years down the road, but talk of recession and lots of pink slips make talk about change a definite here and now topic.

How can you prepare for change?  Some thoughts…

 1.  Keep your head out of the sand.  You don’t want to engage in unsavory gossip, but make it your business to know the skinny in your area and the company at large.  Touch in with professionals in competing companies as well so you’ll have a finger on the pulse of your industry.

2. Make yourself vital.  Volunteer for projects.  Don’t complain.  Become an expert in a niche market.  Specialize in something useful and leverage your services when change comes around the bend.

3. Keep your eye on the prize.  What are your goals?  Plans?  Do you hope to move up the ladder in your company?  Move on to another industry?  If you don’t have plans, change will come and hit you in the face.  I don’t have to tell you that most people who are hit in the face aren’t going to be lucky enough to have much say in the directions they go.  Don’ t let that be you. 

Keppie Careers will help you prepare for your next career step.  We offer resume writing, career coaching, and an array of services to help you make the best change possible…www.keppiecareers.com

Boomers Retire – A Brave New Work World?

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Tammy Erickson of Harvard Business Online recently wrote about the changes that may be coming as a result of baby boomers reaching retirement age.  I’ve written about how the workplace may need to become more flexible to avoid the “brain drain” that would occur as more mature and experienced workers leave their companies.  Erickson’s prediction goes beyond suggesting the employers will offer flexible jobs:

Over the next several decades, as more sectors face the looming talent shortage, there will be a rapid increase in the number of people who work in cyclical or project-based arrangements—many with no fixed affiliation to one corporation. It’s even possible that project-based work will become the norm in several decades—with most workers operating as what some have called “intellectual mercenaries” assembled by project, as needed.

Essentially, these “cyclical” workers are what might today be called contractors…They come in to do a job, get the work done and leave.

Imagine if our workforce really adjusted to this type of scenario.  Many workers would be like cogs in an ever spinning wheel.  Benefits could go by the wayside, as only a select group of essential workers would be considered “full time” employees.  Presumably, some permanent jobs may be lost, but many would benefit from the flexible arrangements. 

Erickson suggests that this workplace may be decades in the future.  It’s difficult enough planning for next month’s workplace, let alone for something that may happen 10 years down the road.  However, the suggestions she makes to prepare seem timely and well suited to anyone in today’s workforce who hopes to influence their own career path.

In summary, Erickson suggests:

  • Building and maintaining your professional network.
  • Understand your skills and talents and where they can be put to use.
  • Keep current on research and thinking in your field.
  • Keep licenses and certifications up to date.
  • Maintain a home office as a launching pad for marketing and selling your skills as well as maintaining records of billable hours.
  • Don’t become so immersed in the “here and now” that you forget to take time to consider planning for the next thing.

This last point strikes me as particularly important.  In any changing or volatile work environment, don’t let yourself get so caught up in getting through the week that you forget that another Monday is just around the weekend.  We could all benefit by more involved planning and efforts on our own behalf to ensure that we are really driving our own career bus.

Keppie Careers will help you drive your own career bus.  www.keppiecareers.com