job search in tough economy

Future of Resumes

January 13th, 2010

Word Cloud made at www.wordle.net

Let’s start with numbers. According to Linked In and Facebook respectively, there are 55 million & 350 million members at those two social networking sites. We are seeing more and more recruiters and hiring managers go to social media sites to view profiles before even ASKING for a “resume.” In this new job market reality, maybe it’s time for us to rethink how we define the term “resume.”

Resume is traditionally and widely defined as a “written document” that serves as a “brief account” including “career qualifications” usually transmitted as part of a job application. This definition is clearly rooted in a view of the business world that might not be as accurate today as it was even a few short years ago. Traditional resumes are – indeed – written documents we’ve handed out to people either in face-to-face meetings or by e-mail. Just a few years ago, job boards, like Monster and Career Builder permitted us to post a resume for prospective employers to find and download. That move to on-line accessibility represented a huge step away from paper only resumes. But we haven’t moved our definition of resume much beyond a definition bound by the limitations of distributing one resume at a time to one person at a time.

Social media changes everything. Really – everything in the current job search world. So – let’s try this as a definition of a resume for 2010:

Resume – a description of an individual’s career that defines that person’s personal and professional brand, qualifications, skills and accomplishments. It should be accessible on demand and in real time by an interested party, such as networking contacts, prospective employers or prospective clients.

What we need to do is recognize an important marketing principle related to career transition. It’s about going where your target audience is. The key audience for job seekers is on-line at places like Linked In and Facebook. Remember those numbers – 55 million (Linked In) and 350 million (Facebook)? Not every one of those people will be helpful recruiters, hiring managers or contacts at targeted organizations. But, you can bet your bottom dollar that more helpful recruiters, potential employers and great networking leads are there and reachable than you can reach with a traditional, one-at-a-time approach to resume circulation.

Are resumes – the traditional ones – dead? No. We will need to develop and maintain a well-written old-fashioned resume for the foreseeable future. But you also need a well-written new version of resumes – social media profiles – in the emerging and future market place. I am not advocating a technology is the only answer approach here. What I’m saying is that it’s critical to recognize that successful searches today require an effective, well-written, web-based presence. For some of us, that might mean our own web-pages, a blog and multiple social media profiles such as Linked In, Facebook and Twitter. For others, Linked In alone might be effective.

But none of us can afford to be absent from social media any longer.

Chris Osborn, BPI group

Comments (8)

Posted in Uncategorized

Personal Benefits of Volunteering

June 10th, 2009

In an article from October 2005 at World Volunteer Web, called “Benefits of Volunteering” http://tinyurl.com/nu2stz, the unattributed author makes a compelling case for the benefits of volunteering. And the article isn’t about the benefits to the recipient organization. It’s about the benefits to you.

In this job market, I can think of no better way to boost your chances of success than volunteering. The general headings that follow come directly from the article I mention above, and I encourage you to read the original using the link above. Below, I lay out the same benefits as they relate to your job search.

Learn or develop a new skill

The job market has not been so competitive in generations, and candidates with current, market ready skills remain in demand. So – what’s preventing you from building out your skills? In a word – nothing. Volunteering provides a great chance to develop a new skill or even learn something new you really like and enjoy. Being in career transition is absolutely no reason to stop you from learning something new. And volunteering can provide numerous opportunities to stretch yourself. You can planning and implementing a major fundraising event, you could hep with a web page, you could develop data bases and reports, you can even train or teach others. Do you need supervisory skills to reach that next job? Do you need to learn some specific applications or programs like Flash, or Access? Here’s a chance to lead a program or initiative or learn those new programs and applications. These are just a few examples of new skills you can learn or improve in a volunteer setting.

Be part of your community

We are advocates of networking to your next position. In this market, it really is the best way to find that next great opportunity. But too many people looking for a new job treat networking as a means to an end. That’s really too bad, because your contacts, friends and professional resources (i.e. your network) ought to be something far more important than that. You ought to be thinking about these people as a community to which you now belong. This broader sense of “belonging” and engagement will have long term, positive benefits. As I’ve said before, it may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to relaunch a career. Volunteering in your community and giving back helps cement this concept both for you and in the eyes of the people around you. Volunteering moves you from a place where you are in need to a place where you are giving. It’s a much better place from which to launch a job search campaign.

Motivation and sense of achievement

“Fundamentally, volunteering is about giving your time, energy and skills freely. Unlike many things in life there is choice involved in volunteering. As a volunteer you have made a decision to help on your own accord, free from pressure to act from others.” I love this direct quote from the 2005 article. This outward, external focus on the world is a very healthy thing. One of the real issues we confront after losing a job is a loss of purpose. We normally get up, go to work and have a huge part of our day filled with tasks and things to do at work. Now what? Volunteering really helps fill that void by providing a sense of purpose to our daily activity and as we accomplish things, we also enjoy a sense of satisfaction and achievement. These are very healthy feelings.

Boost your career options

Here’s some data from directly from the article:

A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses

a. 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without,
b. 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills, and
c. 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.

Have you thought about exploring a whole new career? If so, volunteering can provide a great way to explore career options. Try volunteering at an organization closely linked to possible career alternatives. Looking at the medical industry? Are there hospitals that could use a helping hand. You may need to get a little creative to find some things, but volunteering can be a great way to try out something new with little real risk.

New experiences

I am a big believer in the value of experience as a teacher and guide. Our careers frequently catch us in a rut of the same experiences and the same routine. Volunteering can be a great way to get out of this “comfort zone” and seek out totally new experiences. Think about this a minute in job search terms. Ultimately, who gets hired? It’s the person who – with the right skills – feels like the best “fit” to the hiring manager. Whether we lie it or not, there is a social element to landing a new job. So we want to present ourselves as open to ideas and able to bring a variety of life experiences to the problems we face at work. Wide ranging experiences also help us with conversations. Face it – people with lots of interesting experiences are simply more fun to talk to, and that’s a part of the successful search end game – being liked and sought after by a hiring manager. So – get out of your shell, find a volunteer activity at a new and different place and see what you might learn!

Meeting a diverse range of people

I can’s paraphrase or re-work the article to improve its message for us in a job search, so here it is:

“Volunteering brings together a diverse range of people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Both the recipients of your volunteer efforts and your co-workers can be a rich source of inspiration and an excellent way to develop your interpersonal skills. Volunteering also offers an incredible networking opportunity. Not only will you develop lasting personal and professional relationships but it is also a great way to learn about people from all walks of life, different environments, and new industries. Networking is an exciting benefit of volunteering and you can never tell who you will meet or what new information you will learn and what impact this could have on your life.”

Well – yes. I believe that’s right!

So – what’s holding YOU back? Volunteer!

You Call This Job Search Progess?

June 4th, 2009

Okay – we in the first part of June, and you never thought it (your job search) would take this long. The phone isn’t ringing, no one responds to your on-line applications, and you haven’t sniffed an interview in over three weeks. It is depressing. Right?
Hey – the job market is slow, and a search can be too long and very frustrating. But I’d bet you’ve gotten more done than you think. I have exactly these types of conversations with clients, and I’ve been in several just this week. There’s something about these calendar holidays that heightens the stress of job searching. No doubt about it.

So – let’s take a deep breath and review all of the real progress you’ve made in your search.

You Call This Progress?

1. Resume. Completing a first resume is an important accomplishment. If you’ve done the next (4) things as a part of that process, then you really have gotten a lot of hard and important work finished.

2. Story. Well – maybe stories. If you’ve read Daniel Pink’s wonderful book – A Whole New Mind, you learned that “story” is one of the “senses” we need to master to succeed in a new world. I’m no expert on that. But I will state that gathering and knowing your own unique success stories is extremely important to a successful search. A good way to think about these stories is to ask your self, “What story or event would I most like to talk about during a job interview?” These stories ought to be based upon events that left you with a strong feeling of professional and personal satisfaction (I call these “peak experiences”). After you have developed these experiences into stories you can tell, you should be able to pull together a broader sense of what you do best, and that sense can – and should – help you build a “master” story to offer as a message or “brand” for the market.

3. Message. Refining and honing your message is a huge step. By this, I mean have you determined what your value proposition is for future employers. Can you tell someone what it is you do well, why you do it well and explain how you’ve done those things in the past. You get a good sense of what this can be by working through your stories (see accomplishment #2 above).

4. Discovery that people will help. They will. Really. We all remember the old line, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well – it takes a community to re-launch a career. You will need to find a community with which you can connect. Your unique community can start with friends, co-workers, family, classmates, etc. It doesn’t matter where or how you start. But you must start. The world is more interconnected than ever before, and these connections are invaluable resources as you identify organizations where you might like to work or with actual job openings. So – it all comes down to the people you know.

5. Make a plan and work it. I am a big believer in developing a search plan based upon a commitment to work the plan for a set number of hours per week. Let’s say you can commit 30 hours to your search. What might that 30 hours look like? Here’s one way you could organize that time. Internet use – 10 hours, networking activity – 10 hours, volunteer activity – 5 hours, and skills enhancement – 5 hours. Using the internet ought to include looking at job boards and researching target organizations. The networking activity should be actions and steps designed to get you face-to-face or telephone meetings with new people. Obviously, the meetings themselves are a part of this block of time, too. This area is one that can and should GROW to be a bigger part of your plan, by the way. Volunteering is a great way to help set a routine, get out of the house and interact with others. Do it. I promise it will help you feel better, and might lead to job leads. (I had a client THIS week land a great lead from her first stint as a volunteer.) Build out your skills. The market is changing. Are your current skills ready and marketable for the jobs you are seeking? If not – enhance them. Go to a class, seek a certification, find ways to learn new ones (volunteer?), etc.

So – do you call this progress? I do. I am very uncomfortable with job search advice that lists progress as a series of “markers” like job interviews, job offers, etc. You cannot control those things no matter how hard you try. But you CAN control your effort and your commitment. Each of the 5 indicators of progress I outlined are yours to own and control. One of the worst parts of being in job search mode is a feeling that your world is beyond your control. By focusing on these items, you can impose a structure and sense of control upon your search, and THAT is real progress.

Personal Brand – How Do You Build Yours?

June 1st, 2009

We are seeing clear examples of why personal branding is important in this job market. A good way to think of your brand is to ask yourself, “Why would an employer buy me or my value proposition over a competitor for the same position?”

We use the term “personal brand” to communicate a fundamental concept related to job searching or career changing. Basically, your brand is another way of expressing your unique and personal value proposition.

How do you define your brand? First – think about what you do best, and a great way to figure that out is to answer this question. What stories do you most want to tell during an interview? For these stories, identify:

1. What motivated you in the situation?
2. What did you enjoy most about the outcome or actions you took?
3. Are there any recurring themes across several “first choice” interview stories?

For instance, maybe all of your best stories revolve in some way around building relationships or solving customer service problems. You most enjoyed the feeling you got from seeing rough relationships smoothed over. From these elements, you might be able to start fashioning a personal brand around being a world class client relationship professional who is the “go to” person for the most difficult customer and client issues and problems.

Let me use myself as a possible example. I really get a charge out of seeing that “ah-ha” moment when I explain a new concept to someone and they get it. I enjoy trying different things, and I like to be a part of start-up projects and initiatives. From this snippet of information, we could start building a brand around driving new concepts into implementation.

Once you get a solid handle on your “brand,” the next challenge is to get that brand out there. Take a look at the post here about what to do when traditional networking stalls and the pages on job searching issues facing baby boomers for some ideas about how to get that part of the process off square one.

Networking for New Job –What to do When Traditional “Networking” Fails?

May 13th, 2009

We are seeing some progress – albeit slow – in the job market. Yes – the broader economy keeps shedding jobs, and most experts agree that we are likely to see several more months of significant job loss. But – there are glimmers of hope, and we are seeing many of our clients getting interviews and fielding job offers.

How are they doing that? In a word — networking. They are building and utilizing connections and contacts to personalize their interest in the positions they are targeting.

But there is also a lot of frustration building out there. Some of our clients are seeing “many people are overworked . . . too busy or too self-absorbed” to offer a lot of help. I met with another individual – a networking meeting, by the way, late last week. And he told me he was totally frustrated with traditional “networking.” He’s finding people are generally very busy and don’t know anything about jobs openings.

So – what do you do when traditional networking no longer works? The answer is – keep networking, but try something different and don’t ignore social media.

First, quit thinking about locating jobs.

Wait – isn’t that what I’m looking for? Maybe.

Try instead to identify work you can do, and then you have to be able to explain the value your work can generate. The client I mentioned whom I met last week has a great background in an interesting niche. He is a redevelopment tax credit professional. Redevelopment – along with the whole construction industry – is more than a little flat. But – once again – there are people and organizations involved in current and on-going redevelopment projects. He’s going to approach a few targeted organizations with this proposition – the work of identifying and then successfully pursuing tax credits can be time consuming – especially if you are not an expert – so he can generate value for the organization by performing that work for them. He is willing to take a percentage of any tax credits earned.

So think about how this approach changes the “job/employment” equation. The target organizations don’t have to find money for additional payroll. They realize a gain, and share the gain with the person bring this added value to them. So you’re not approaching somebody about additional payroll expenses. You’re offering to add value.

Look for work, not jobs, and identify the “why” for organizations to use you to do this work.

Second, dive into social media. Yes, it can feel a bit overwhelming for those of us not used to Linked In, Twitter, texting and Facebook. But – guess what? The current world is rapidly moving in that direction. It’s not a fad. In fact, it’s going to become more and more theway people and organizations interact and communicate. There are 35 million+ people using Linked In today. Millions use Twitter. Millions more use Facebook. How many people used these tools 10 years ago? Zero. None. Not one person. They didn’t exist. We don’t know what will be next, but rest assured the “next thing” will build upon the current thing. So you’d better get involved in social media right away.

But it’s not enough to simply be “on” Facebook or Linked In. You need to be “in” those communities, because that’s what they are. These sites collect people into communities based upon mutual interests and needs. That means you need to make a commitment to participate in these communities by asking questions, answering questions, offering value and advice and not just out there asking about jobs. Once you are a trusted member of these communities, you are likely to reap the benefits that come with trusting relationships – opportunities and referrals.

I’d love to hear your networking horror stories and what you’re doing about it.

Future of Resumes

Personal Benefits of Volunteering

You Call This Job Search Progess?

Personal Brand – How Do You Build Yours?

Networking for New Job –What to do When Traditional “Networking” Fails?

» Return to the top