Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

More free career advice – March Career Madness!

By

2323161584_d68e951385_mAh…March Madness. I remember a time (not SO long ago) that this was an exciting, edge-of-your-seat period that really interested me. Those were the days when my alma mater, the University of Michigan, actually WON the tournament (or, at the very least, was competitive). The year I started Michigan, they/we actually won BOTH the Rose Bowl AND the NCAA, but I digress…

In any case, my friend and colleague, Chandlee Bryan came up with a great idea to turn this month into a fun one for career advisors (and an informational one for job seekers) on Twitter! I’m delighted to be participating in “March Career Madness.”

This is how Chandlee introduces the event on her blog:

This event, which will run throughout the month of March, is a joint effort of a team of career experts who have committed to sharing their wit and wisdom with us in “tweets” of 140 characters or less on Twitter. Posts will be written on a singular theme–innovative strategies for your career.

All posts will include the following code: #mcm (referred to in the Twitterverse as a hashtag)

You can follow March Career Madness through Twitter Search (search #mcm) or by following the tweets of individual contributors (name and user “handles” listed at the bottom of this post). Share posts with others by “Retweeting.”

New to Twitter?

You haven’t gotten on Twitter yet? What are you waiting for? I am a big fan of Twitter for the job search. (I think it is right up there with LinkedIn as a way to make connections that will be useful for your search.)

I’ve written all about using Twitter for your job search. Here are some links for you:

Why use Twitter?

How to use Twitter for your job search.

People to follow on Twitter for advice about job hunting.

Can you find a job on Twitter? Yes you can!

Using Twitter to hire: the employer’s perspective

JobAngels is an amazing viral phenomenon, started on Twitter, to help connect job seekers with those who can offer resources and support. 

Participating Career Experts (& their Twitter “handle”)

Barbara Safani (barbarasafani)
Brian Kurth (briankurth)
Chandlee Bryan (Chandlee)
Dawn Bugni (dawnbugni)
Deb Dib (CEOCoach)
Kevin Donlin (kevindonlin)
Katherine Hansen (kathansen)
Kimberly Togman (ktogman)
Laura Allen (la15secondpitch)
Megan Fitzgerald (expatcoach)
Miriam Salpeter (Keppie_Careers)
Pam Slim (pamslim)
Paul Copcutt (Paulcopcutt)
Phyllis Shabad (Phyllisshabad)
Sital Ruparelia (SitalRuparelia)

You’re not sure how to use Twitter to your best advantage? I can help! Contact me to learn how you may benefit from coaching.

photo by jmacphoto

How dreaming and visualization can help your career transition

By

flyingsolocoverToday, I’m happy to share a guest post from my business partner, Hallie Crawford. Do you know you need a career change, but you aren’t sure what path to take? Hallie specializes in helping recent college grads and boomerangs identify their ideal career paths and make it happen. Hallie recently published a book targeted to singles in transition, Flying Solo.

If you’re single and considering a transition, I recommend you read Flying Solo for many terrific tips about what can be an unsettling, albeit exciting transition!

This is an excerpt from Chapter 2: Getting Your Transition Started. Visit her site to learn more about Hallie!

by Hallie Crawford, MA, CPCC

Dream First, Dream Big

You know the traditional image of the American Dream: Work hard and you can have anything you want, regardless of where you came from, your socio-economic status or any other aspect of your life. Well, the American Dream has changed, and the traditional way to pursue that dream is quite different. No longer is there just one “work hard” ethic to achieve the American Dream. And, it’s no longer about sticking to one career path for the rest of your life.

[If you are] a single person you have even more freedom to set up your career, to break the mold, and figure out what will work for you. The process of “Dreaming First” will help you stay outside the box and think creatively about your career transition.

Why dream first? Why turn to the fanciful side of your brain when everyone keeps telling you that a practical plan is the key to success? Because it works. While a practical plan is one of the strongest keys to success, the best-laid plans always start with the dream-a dream that you can trim and shape later to fit your real-life situation.

One way to dream BIG is to use the technique of visualization.

Envision how you want your career transition to unfold, visualize the pieces you want to have in place to make it happen and “see” all the players you need to support you along the way. When you develop your vision first, you will not only become clearer about what you want to happen, you will also be more likely to make it happen in the way you’ve envisioned it, and therefore be successful.

Dreaming First enables you to brainstorm as many possibilities as you can imagine for living out your dream, and therefore, enables you to identify many more ways to make it happen.

Two great tools for Dreaming First are journaling and visualization.

Your Quick Start Tips on ‘Dreaming First’

  • Start with a blank slate in your mind.
  • Always act from the present and what you really want, not from past experience.
  • Commit to making your choices as independently as possible from the voices of your past-your parents, the media, past experience, previous failures or successes, and assumptions.
  • Throw away any preconceived notions you have about transition being hard, about not being able to have a job you love or whatever assumptions you have that hold you back.
  • Jump into the realm of possibility. Think and act only from there.

Dream journaling involves writing out the process of your career transition in an ideal light, as if it has already happened.

Include in your dream journaling:

1. The time frame in which you achieved your goal-six months, one year?

2. How did you feel during this transition? Confident, clear, focused?

3. Make a list of those personal characteristics you tapped into and any new qualities you identified.

4. Where did you need extra support and where did you get it from?

Dreaming Visualization Guidelines

1. First, take a deep breath.

2. Include anything you want.

3. Have fun with it.

4. If you find yourself starting to doubt what you’re seeing or feeling, just let that image go.

5. Create a structure for your vision.

6. Imagine your transition complete.

Now come back to the real world and take a few minutes to think about what happened. How did it go? How did you act? Answer these questions in your Career Journal.

Dreaming First will continue to be an important part of your career transition. The more you use the Dream First process, the more fine-tuned your dreams become.

Reprinted from Flying Solo: Career Transition Tips for Singles, by Hallie Crawford, CPCC, by permission of the author. ©2008 Hallie Crawford. All rights reserved.

If you need help with your search, contact KEPPIE CAREERS for everything you need to help you with your job hunt!

Identify a target for your job hunt

By

targetThis week, I am focusing on how small changes in your job search can make a big difference. Today, a lesson from one of the participants in the Land Your Dream Job Seminar I am offering with Carolann Jacobs from Vivid Epiphany, brain based coaching.

We were so pleased to hear that Melanie actually landed her dream job! Even more exciting (to me) was the lesson behind her success, which fits so well into the theme of “doing something different.” 

Melanie said, 

“I had been out of work for 6 months.  Unlike others, I was not laid off.  My options at the time were to resign or be fired.  I opted to resign.  So no severance for me and I was working very part time hours.  When I first joined your program, there was something you said that made me think.  It was “Do you find yourself in the same situation with each job?” and “Are you looking for a job that fits who you are?”  Those two questions made me do a more “focused” job search.  I hated having my family pay my bills and I knew I was originally just looking for a job…any job that would get me back on my feet without any additional financial help.  I knew in the long run it probably would result in traveling again and being miserable. I truly did not want that again.”

So, Melanie re-focused and targeted her job search. Instead of haphazardly applying to “any job” just hoping to bring in some income, she really identified what she wanted to do and determined where her skills would be most useful. She used her time, efforts and energy to apply for opportunities that were good fits for her.

Stay tuned for additional lessons from Melanie’s success story, which I hope will help inspire you to look at few things YOU can do differently for YOUR search!

Could you use some help making a few changes in your job hunt? I am happy to help! Contact me to learn how a revised resume and coaching can help make all the difference!

photo by pbo32

Read Success for Hire for great advice about the hiring process

By

success-for-hireAlexandra Levit is a business author and consultant who has written several books, including the popular business world survival guide, They Don’t Teach Corporate in College, How’d You Score That Gig? and Success for Hire.

I recently had the opportunity to review Success for Hire, which is targeted to employers to help them find and keep outstanding employees. In the book, Alexandra adroitly guides employers through a series of steps to help them target, attract and retain the very best candidates for their organizations.

It will be no surprise to job seekers that some employers do not plan their recruiting efforts as strategically as they might. Sometimes, the hire just doesn’t work out or employers inadvertently misrepresent the job to prospective candidates. If they all read and followed Alexandra’s advice, employers could save a lot of time, effort and money, and employees might be spared being put through a process that is less than stellar.

In her book, Alexandra outlines nine strategies for employers. Most interesting for job seekers? Number 4 – Create a Strategy for Interviewing. Job seekers may be surprised to learn that “most evidence has demonstrated that interviews have low reliability and validity, yet everyone continues to rely on them as the principal way of determining the future of their organization” (p. 49). Alexandra encourages interviewers to prepare questions that target specific criteria for the job. (This is great advice for job seekers as well, as they must be able to target their skills and accomplishments to the job’s requirements.)

She suggests guidelines from Martin Yate (2006), author of Hiring the Best. His guidelines for questions (and suggested examples) include:

  • Adaptability and suitability: What was the most difficult project you tackled in a previous job?
  • Motivation: What have you done that you are proud of?
  • Teamwork and manageability: Describe the best manager you ever had?
  • Management: How do you quantify your results as a manager?
  • Entry-level questions: How did you spend your vacations while at school?

The “interviewing” chapter expands on the different types of questions (closed-ended, open-ended, negative balance, reflexive, “hamburger helper” questions and mirror statements and silence). I was interested in reading up on the most recent research in this arena. Clearly, anyone hiring or trying to be hired can benefit from the research Alexandra included in her book about the interview process.

While I normally read (and write) information targeted only to the job seeker, reading Success for Hire was an informative and enjoyable change of pace. It is a good reminder to the well-researched job seeker that looking at books and information targeted at EMPLOYERS is a good idea. I highly recommend Success for Hire to people on both sides of the hiring desk!

How important is a college degree for your job prospects?

By

Last month, 20/20 ran several career oriented items. Interestingly, one segment, which questioned the value of a college degree, was perfectly timed for me. I’ve been hearing from more and more clients and potential clients who have worked their way up to positions that now require a college degree as a basic qualification. Unfortunately, these professionals are now finding themselves laid off and in the unenviable position of being “unqualified” to apply for the jobs they have been doing for years!

How frustrating to have this extra barrier to winning a new job! Is it impossible to overcome? I don’t think so. With strong networking and the right connections to less traditional organizations, I think these job seekers can still succeed.

So, when job seekers wonder about the value of their undergraduate degrees, I always come out on the side of earning the degree, even though college doesn’t typically prepare you to actually find a job! The skills you do learn in formal education should serve you well as a job seeker, and those letters after your name will not hurt.

Of course, there are iconic figures who never earned a college degree (such as Steve Jobs), but historically, workers with college degrees have been shielded much more from the ups and downs in the market.

The national unemployment rate in January 2009 was 7.6 percent. Recently, for those with college degrees, unemployment was 3.7 percent — a reduction of nearly 50 percent. Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington predicts that the unemployment rate for college graduates will reach a record 4 or 5 percent in 2009. His comment to the AP: College-educated workers “are going to experience the kind of pain that has been common for people with less education.”

The New York Times suggests that the typical gap in unemployment favoring college graduates is narrowing a bit. Certainly, having a college degree, including those from online colleges and universities, is no guarantee against unemployment.

What all of this points to is that today’s economy doesn’t offer anyone a free pass to employment. No matter how highly “qualified” you are, knowing how to market your qualifications is much more crucial. Your ability to connect your skills and accomplishments to an organization’s needs will be just as important as actually having the basic qualifications.

It’s up to you to convey what you have to offer that is above and beyond your competition. When you do that well, you’ll be on your way to landing the job of your dreams!

Need a little help marketing yourself in today’s tough market? I can help! Contact me to discuss how I can help you succeed!

 

photo by adobemac