Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

What job seekers can learn from Susan Boyle's loss

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susanboyle2163_medium1As the Susan Boyle rise to fame tale comes to an end, it seems as if I am more than making up for the fact that I resisted writing about the lessons her rise to fame offer job seekers! (Being that I wrote about her yesterday and still have more to say!)

So, did you hear that the media darling, who rocketed to fame with 100 million hits on YouTube after surprising judges (and everyone else) by displaying a talent they did not expect from her appearance (a classic – you can’t judge a book by its cover story) – lost the Britain’s Got Talent competition to a group of ten young dancers, named Diversity in the final of the British show that made her a global star?

So, the seemingly anointed star, favored by the judges, can’t even land the top spot. What lesson does that offer job seekers? That, no matter how good you are, you still can’t expect to land the job? Umm…Maybe, but I’m a bit of an optimist, so let’s see how to frame this.

Stephanie Lloyd recently wrote about the “75 Reasons You Didn’t Get the Job.” The main gist – some things about your job search are out of your hands. There are some elements of luck, some of simply connecting with the interviewer and some of just being the right “fit.”

Let’s face it – Susan lost in a popular vote, and you know how popular votes go. It can be a bit of a toss up. Sometimes, in the end, whether or not you get the job is a bit of a toss up as well. But – and this is important – where the job seeker DOES impact his or her own chances is early in the process. That is, in creating a personal brand and an online presence, when submitting a resume, while preparing for an interview and by conducting high quality and appropriate follow-up.

Yes, in the end, even if you knocked the interview out of the park, if someone did not like one of your answers, or if another person had slightly better qualifications (or better answers), all of your work may still not result in landing the job. But you must take the wheel and drive your own career bus when you DO control the process. If you don’t make sure to do everything you can to position yourself to be asked for an interview and to appear well qualified for the job during the interview, THEN you are handing over the job to your competitors on a silver platter and buying yourself a ticket to continued job search mode.

Just as Susan, a 48-year old singer who had never had a big break, kept training and practicing and trying, job seekers need to ensure that they do everything possible to make themselves competitive for the jobs they target. The search is in your hands for most of the process, and you do influence and impact the results. Let’s face it, Susan did come in second, and she is likely to have many opportunities, even though she didn’t win. You need to be in it to win it, and as a job seeker, it is your job to to make sure you are in it with all the best you have to offer!

Don’t forget that Keppie Careers offers many services to help you get your job hunt on track. Don’t you deserve the very best? Stop wasting your time! Learn more about me and how I can HELP YOU get your job search on track!

Susan Boyle and why to keep the bar high for your job hunt

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gymnast413289937_c4bc203700_mI resisted writing anything about Susan on my career advice blog when this story first broke. If you have been under a rock or otherwise occupied, HERE is a story to brief you on Susan’s rise to fame. It also shares the results of her efforts to win the reality show, Britain’s Got Talent. In my mind, Susan’s appearance was such a huge part of why her video went viral – the judge’s surprise that her voice was so amazing was magnified by the “unlikely” package delivering it.

I wasn’t in the mood to write about appearance and how important it is for a job seeker…

However, Penelope Trunk recently addressed what she thought were the career lessons we can take from the Susan Boyle affair.

Her points:

  • Everyone loves to be a shepherd of talent. The act of finding a mentor is actually the act of showing someone you have talent and they can help you find it. 
  • You can only shine if you set the bar high. (Susan sang a difficult song for her audition.)
  • Settling for a day job does not destroy you. Susan Boyle did what so many people do who are not getting paid to do what they love. She kept singing, while she worked day jobs. She sang because she loved singing, and she got better and better and better.

I really like her analogy about setting the bar high. Aiming high offers the opportunity to outperform. It also involves risk and weighing risks and rewards. It makes me think of Olympic gymnasts who attempt a “high point value” routine. If they “stick,” they’re golden. If not, they are out of luck and left to wonder if they made the right choice – possibly for the next 4 years or the rest of their lives. Careerists need to know when to take that risk and when to play it safe.

Have you thought about where you are setting your bar? If you are in the midst of a job hunt, have you already decided to start applying for jobs that you consider “less than” what you should qualify to do because you haven’t had any luck in your field? Are you ready to take a big cut in salary because you think it’s too competitive out there to expect to earn what you’d like?

You can only achieve what you set out to do. If a gymnast isn’t willing to do the big stunt, she will never make it to the Olympics. If you give up on your job hunt, you will wind up selling yourself short. DON’T DO IT!

The reason you are not getting the interviews you deserve may NOT be because of your age (too old or too young) or because of the economy or your industry or any one of 100 excuses you have given yourself. If may be because you just don’t know how to look for a job and/or because your resume is not up to snuff. It’s not your fault; most people aren’t very good job hunters.

However, if you stop and move your bar lower before doing everything you can to hit your mark – THAT is when your fate is your fault. Consider – instead of taking a job that isn’t up to your experience level, contract with me to review and revise your resume, update your LinkedIn profile and teach you how to look for a job in today’s difficult market. If you land a job a few DAYS earlier, you can make back your investment (and that applies to most earners – some will regain their investment in the first few HOURS on the job)!

Follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how I can help you get the job you deserve.

PS – There is more to come in this series on what we can take away from Susan’s story, including a follow-up on the recent news that she came in second in the competition and is reportedly suffering from exhaustion…Stay tuned. Lots to learn!

photo by faeryan

You're never really done with your resume

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unfinished-bridge270381648_1e3b1ecac2_mI hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your resume should always be a work in progress. Otherwise, it represents an unfinished bridge – like this picture – that does not connect what you offer and what your targeted employer seeks. I teach my clients how to review and tweak their own resumes to apply for different types of jobs. Hopefully, you’ll have a target in mind when you write your resume, but things change, opportunities change and you need to change (your resume) with them.

It is worth the time to tweak your resume. (I write resumes with “moving parts” that make it very easy to adjust and adapt for each opportunity.) Of course, the headlines and highlights sections may change depending on the job and the job’s requirements. Other points throughout the resume should also be adjusted, if only to change the order of the bullet points within each job description. 

The more time a job seeker spends on targeting the resume for the job, the more likely he or she is to land an interview.

Of course, you don’t have “time” to adjust your resume for each job. It would be so much easier to send the same exact document to every employer! Yes, but doing so could also extend your search. No one wants to sign up to be hunting for a job any longer than necessary!

Have you been unemployed and/or looking for work for a long time? Longer than you thought you would be? Remember, this is not a “come as you are” job market. There are fewer jobs and more people looking. You must do whatever you can to give yourself an advantage over the competition if you want to be gainfully employed anytime soon. For some, this just means looking more carefully at job descriptions and targeting their resumes accordingly. For others, it means hiring a professional to help them identify and outline all of the great skills they have to offer.

Remember – your job search is in YOUR hands. If you are driving your own career bus, you want to be sure you have both eyes on the road! Move forward by taking the right turns to end up where you want to go!

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search and materials, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

photo by mateoteh

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Transitioning and don't know where to go? Read Career Quizzes

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career-quizzesj4444“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” – Yogi Berra

So begins John Liptak’s book, Career Quizzes.

With so many people facing transitions now (either of their own choice or as a result of a layoff) and with many studies indicating that workers are generally dissatisfied with their jobs and/or seriously thinking of making a change, it is important to point out that planning and focusing on career goals is an important piece of driving your own career bus!

Liptak reminds readers how important it is to prepare for transtions, and this book is a good first step for anyone thinking about making a move. It offers readers help in:

  • Finding purpose.
  • Identifying an ideal job.
  • Developing a career plan.
  • Taking action.

With a series of different assessments to help guide the job seeker, but a caveat that “an assessment can provide you with valuable information about yourself, but plese remember that such instruments cannot measure everything for you” (p. XV), this book provides guidance and a great starting point for anyone who needs a jump start for his or her career transition.

If you’d like to win a FREE copy, comment on this blog post to enter a random drawing! Feel free to comment on all of my blogs for a better chance to win:

If you need some coaching to figure out what you should do next, contact my business partner, Hallie Crawford. Once you know what you want to do, if you need some help to get your job search in gear – Contact me – I will help!

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How to find the job you love – don't go to a pizza place if you crave sushi!

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sushi442805346_9d0ef42d2f_m

This week has been all about food analogies! First, I reminded you that it’s  not a good idea to order your Chinese food in French. Or, more specifically, to use the language that your targeted employer will understand when writing your resume. Yesterday, I offered tips to help you think about spoon feeding your resume to your targeted employer. Today, another food analogy:

If you are going to have an exceptional resume and successful search, it is very important that you KNOW WHAT YOU WANT! Yes, it’s
true – you can’t have a great resume unless you have an end goal in mind. It’s kind of like planning a trip when you don’t know where you want to go. It would be pretty hard to get there! Ah – but this week is about food, so here it is:

Analogy #3: You wouldn’t go to a pizza place if you are craving sushi.

That is, if you were actually hoping to GET sushi – you would go to a sushi place. What does this have to do with your job hunt? It’s about knowing where to spend your job search time and resources! So, are you doing the equivalent of driving to the pizza place when you don’t even want pizza?

The answer is YES if you:

  • Have a resume that isn’t particularly clear regarding your goals.
  • You spend a lot of time online, aimlessly looking for job postings that “seem good.”
  • You sit down to “job hunt” at your computer, and 6 hours later, you realize that you’ve spent the whole day and haven’t accomplished anything.

So, if you want sushi (a job you love, in this case):

  • Make a job search plan so you will avoid aimlessly “driving” around online.
  • Your plan should devote a large percentage of time to networking (in person and online) and to following up and keeping in touch with people you have already met.
  • Identify job opportunities of interest (you may want to use GreatPlaceJob’s new, free search feature to help with this) and ensure that your materials identify you as someone who is well qualified for the jobs you seek.
  • Stay tuned to the rest of my “food analogies” posts for more about how to position yourself to compete for the job you’d love to have!

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

photo by Zeetz Jones