Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Feeling stuck in your job search?

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I want to thank my friend Jane Pollak for sharing a funny video that illustrates how I think a lot of job seekers feel today – stuck! However, as the video demonstrates, sometimes, feeling stuck is really just that – a feeling. Looking for a job can be frustrating, but there is a lot that you do control. You really do drive your own career bus.

I hope this video makes you chuckle, but if you are feeling stuck, I hope it also helps you recognize that you CAN start to put one foot in front of the other and get your job search strategy moving!

If you need some help to get started, that’s my specialty! Need a resume transformation? A social resume? An online presence? Some guidance about what to do next, or how to get started? Contact me for information.

(Excuse the ad. I couldn’t resist posting this, though.)

photo by xJasonRogersx

Thankful for the “strength of the human spirit”

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Earlier this month, I attended Civic Ventures’ Purpose Prize awards gala and the day of learning that followed. It seems appropriate on Thanksgiving to share another story of one of the Purpose Prize winners.

I hope these stories of people who might otherwise be retired, but are instead working hard to improve their communities and the world may help many job seekers realize that nothing is impossible. The prize winners I met are dedicated to their causes and to using their skills in a way that makes a broad impact, but in many ways, they are no different from any person who is willing to overcome obstacles and has a passion for a cause.

Civic Ventures, “a think tank on Boomers, work and social purpose” awards these Purpose Prizes that recognize and reward extraordinary efforts. Five people received $100,000 and five receive $50,000. Read my earlier profile of a prize winner Inez Killingsworth HERE.

Dr. Judith B. Van Ginkel won a $100,000 prize for her work with Every Child Succeeds. The program “provides in-home services for first-time, at-risk mothers – including parenting support – to improve the lives of young families.” Upon accepting her award, Dr. Van Ginkel commented on the “strength of the human spirit to go on in spite of hardships.”

(Learn more about Judith and her work here and read about her program, Every Child Succeeds.)

Take a look at the video (below) about Judith from Civic Ventures. (See more videos at Civic Ventures’ site.) I will be sharing stories from winners and other remarkable people I met during the weekend in Philadelphia on my blog in the next few weeks. I hope their stories help inspire you if you are a job seeker to begin to think about how you can use your time and expertise. No matter what your age, there is something out there for you to do that makes good use of your skills.

Maybe you don’t want to start your own non-profit or launch a movement in your community, but there is sure to be some place or organization that needs you. You never know when that something may turn into a paid position.

If you are 45+ with an idea about how to make a difference in your community or in the world, consider applying for Civic Venture’s new Launch Pad award. It provides $5000 and support and mentorship to get your program started. Read more HERE.

Learn more about Judith below:

How to incorporate keywords in your job search materials

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Well-informed job seekers know that companies typically screen resumes using software that searches for key words. That’s why your resume should be targeted/personalized for each job. Re-writing even a section  of your resume can help scanning software (or Applicant Tracking Systems) mark your resume as one to review further.

I recently presented a webinar for The Career Summit about how to build a bridge to your next employer, and keywords (how to find them and how to USE them) play a huge role in paving the way to a new employer.

It is crucial for job seekers to identify the words that employers are using to look for them and to use those in their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, Twitter bios and Facebook bio.

You don’t want to waste any words on your resume. Earlier this week, I asked, “are you a job seeker or a French fry?,” making the point that job seekers need to select words carefully to be sure they make sense and will attract employers.

The best place to find keywords that are most relevant for your targeted organization is in job descriptions. Study job descriptions on job boards, via LinkedIn and any place that employers advertise opportunities. The descriptions don’t need to be for jobs you’d actually apply to do. For example, maybe the job is in Omaha, and you plan to stay in Miami. If the description itself is relevant to what you want to do, that information can be useful to inform your materials.

Review job descriptions and identify the nouns and noun phrases. (Remember from grade school — a noun is a person, place or thing.) Focus on being as specific as possible. For example, assistant (a noun) is not as specific as administrative assistant, or executive administrative assistant (noun phrases). Technical skills (including software), degrees and other specifics related to the job may all be keywords.

For example, a job description for a sales manager position for a fitness company includes the following keywords (among others):

  • Personal sales,
  • Model for team members,
  • Weekend production,
  • Sales Department Head,
  • Sales team,
  • College degree,
  • Member adviser

One way to be sure you are targeting keywords is to highlight all of the keywords in a variety of similar job descriptions and then incorporate all of them into your resume. Include acronyms (for example IT) as well as complete words (information technology). You should probably have at least 25 targeted keywords or phrases included in your resume.

Some fun tools I suggested during the webinar to help you visualize your keywords are Wordle — (http://www.wordle.net/) and Tag Crowd (http://tagcrowd.com). The picture accompanying this post is a Wordle representation of that sales manager position description.

You can see in the Wordle that words such as team, success, sales, benefit and healthy are highlighted. (Yes, I know that healthy is an adjective!) That would suggest those words should appear (among the others) in your resume. The bigger the word appears in the word cloud, the more significant Wordle considers it. Consider creating a word cloud of your job descriptions and comparing it to one of your resume. It’s not scientific, but it does offer a visual way to identify if you are including the details you need to land the job.

Are you a French fry or a job seeker?

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One of the first things I tell prospective clients who have received job hunting  advice elsewhere before coming to me is that a lot of job search is unscientific — what one person likes, another thinks is useless. A good example is the cover letter debate. Some recruiters expect a cover letter, others believe they are a waste of time. The fact that opinions vary about “right and wrong” is clear in resume-ology as well. The fact is, there is no absolute right way. There are best practices, and the rest is up to the job seeker or resume writer.

So, when I was speaking to a prospective client who told me he had been to a LinkedIn workshop and had his resume reviewed, I asked him to share a bit about what he had already learned, as I never want to confuse a job seeker from the get go with contradicting information.

Then, he told me that someone had advised him to suggest he was a “seasoned” professional in the headline of his resume. That’s when my coaching self control hit a road bump and I knew I needed to explain why he should not say he was “seasoned.”

I asked, “Are you a French fry?” (Actually, I didn’t really ask that. But, our discussion did hone in on that question.) Think about it: what is the chance that anyone has included the word seasoned in his or her applicant tracking system software (that scans resumes and helps identify the best ones) as a “grab this person if you find him” word? I’m thinking not very many.

I explained to the prospective client that it is so important to choose each word on the resume based on 1) the fact that it describes you (the job seeker) and clearly outlines what you have to offer (your skills and accomplishments – as they relate to the employer’s needs) and 2) the chance that the employer has flagged that keyword as important for the job.

Think about this when you get advice about your resume. Don’t just blindly incorporate information or words because someone mentioned them — think about what those words will be doing to help you get where you want to go.

Stay tuned for more advice about writing targeted job search materials!

photo by Gudlyf

Are you 45+ with an idea about how to make a difference?

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Do you have an idea that will make a difference in your community in the areas of  education, social services, environment, health care or helping others engage in encore careers (careers that combine purpose, passion and a paycheck)? If you are at least 45 years old, take note! Civic Ventures (a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose) just announced its new Launch Pad contest, which is designed to discover five inspiring people 45 and over with ideas to improve their communities.

Each winner will receive $5,000 and resources and support from the Encore.org community to put his or her idea into action.

Jim Emerman, executive vice president of Civic Ventures, explained, “The Launch Pad is a new contest to spur people’s thinking about how they can make a difference in an encore career.  We’re looking for five people, 45 and over, with great ideas for transforming their communities.  Each will win $5,000 to get their ideas off the ground.”

He continued, “Experienced adults with the passion and know-how to make a real difference in the lives of others offer a windfall of talent in our communities. The Launch Pad is about tapping their ideas for improving education, health, environment, social services and more.”

Launch Pad contenders from around the country can submit their ideas on how they want to make a difference in their communities at http://launchpad.encore.org/ through December 20.

On January 17, 2011, Civic Ventures will name 25 Launch Pad semifinalists. From January 17 through February 14, people will be invited to vote online for the idea they’d like to see realized.

The announcement of the Launch Pad contest follows last week’s news of the 2010 Purpose Prize winners, 10 people over age 60 who are making extraordinary contributions in their encore careers. The Purpose Prize, an award of up to $100,000, is given annually to individuals who are using their experience and passion to tackle society’s biggest challenges.

For more information on the Launch Pad contest, visit http://launchpad.encore.org/.