Job Search Advice, Resume Writing Tips from a Career Consultant

We all know that if we change nothing... Nothing changes...Our job seekers practice the following: Remember some are more difficult than others!

1. Will only see a half-full glass and have no "stinkin' thinkin."
2. Will not waste time, but will design a weekly search schedule.
3. Will not accept rejection as personal, just business.
4. Will concern myself with those things over which I have direct control, and
not those things over which I have no control.
5. Will involve my family and friends and keep them involved.
6. Will not expect the next job to fall into my lap. I am a hunter!
7. Will not daydream my way into my next job.
8. Will not place blame on others, only on myself, will control my job change.
9. Will complete a minimum of 50-150 job-hunting activities weekly.
10. Will read everything I can to improve my position in this search.
11. Will give myself permission to try.
12. Will give myself permission to fail.
13. Will give myself permission to ask for help.
14. Will give myself permission to make mistakes.
15. Will give myself permission to succeed!

Present yourself as the solution to a problem. Every job opening represents a problem the employer is trying to solve. The problem may be a positive one, such as trying to keep up with strong sales leads, but it's just as much a problem for the employer as a negative one, such as trying to breathe new life into a failing product line. Focus on identifying the employer's problem; then you can show how hiring you will be the perfect solution.

Use your research to position yourself. Before the first interview, you found out as much about the company as possible. Use that information to position your skills and experience in terms of the company's needs.

Be enthusiastic-but not eager. A prospective employer certainly wants executives who are enthusiastic about the work. However, you don't want to seem too eager. If you give the employer the impression that this is the job you've always dreamed of having, they may feel they can pay you in job satisfaction, rather than money. Don't make them think you'd pay them for the chance to do this job!

Have alternatives, and let the employer know you have them. It's poor strategy to pin all your hopes on one possibility-- and not just because you're stuck if that possibility fails. You can negotiate with more confidence if you have a secure backup plan. Also, this can enhance your value in the employer's eyes, which can result in a more favorable employment agreement.

If you keep these ideas in mind during the interview stage, you're more likely to be able to negotiate an agreement that will mark the beginning of a positive employer-employee relationship.

I love LinkedIn.com. If you haven't tried it go visit. If you're a professional, it is the best social networking vehicle on the Internet. There's no charge for membership and you might find everything from your next job to your next movie choice. Once someone responds to your resume, before they invite you in for an interview they might want to see your LinkedIn profile. Do you have one? But even more intriguing is that fact that as soon as you learn the name of the hiring manager you can find him on LinkedIn also! Great way to have an advantage!

The thing to remember using LinkedIn is that people join the network for their own networking reasons. They have joined to also 'look' for other networking contacts for the same reason that you have. So, being a good "networker" also means that you should accept referrals and contacts as you would have others accept yours. For every person you help in making a connection you now have another 'friend' that can possibly, and will, help you in making your next connection that could lead to that special 'In' which gets you your next job. Need help with all this? I'm on LinkedIn Now What? by Jason Alba is the best tutorial on the market.

As if we don't have enough problems, now this? What exactly does "get over yourself mean?"

Several years ago a CFO client hired me to write his resume but he came kicking and screaming. After all, he felt he was a great writer and he had purchased a resume book which he kept in a plain brown bag. Predictably his template resume, copied from a sample, proved to be much wearing someone else's contact lenses. It blurred his message to the employer and no one responded. So I strategized, configured and produced a compelling product customized to deliver his unique background. He could run a financial organization but he really couldn't strategize his resume. Tough to admit!

Now he was receiving invitations to interview! I could see he also needed help with behavioral interviewing and explaining the circumstances under which he left his former employer, but when I suggested interview coaching he smiled and indicated surely the fact that he had interviewed people for years would suffice.

Of course once he lost a great opportunity because someone else "out-interviewed" him, he came back and purchased a coaching package. The amount he saved in going back to work with a lucrative offer sooner rather than later brought immediate return on his investment. But again he had come back kicking and screaming.

Today he is tucked away running a big company. But he often guests at my speaking engagements and mentors my executives and managers. His first commandment? "Get Over Yourself!"

While this appears to be a simple question a lot of job seekers don't know where to begin or are too embarrassed to approach a listener. Then when they appear in front of an employer they stumble and leave knowing it didn't go well. Lots of folks believe they will do well on interviews because they can "wing it" in other conversations. But today's interviewing is far too sophisticated.

If "where do I begin?" is puzzling you remember that employers really only want to know several things. They include:

1. What about your experience will cause us to want to pay you?

2. Why don't you want to work at the last place you worked?

3. Why should you land the offer when there are so many other great candidates?

4. Why choose our company over all of the others?

5. Why did you do what you did?

Practice answering these questions! Remember you may struggle as you formulate your answers but don't give up! Become fluent and fluid and you will be on your way to holding a great interview!

Labels: interview questions

For those who believe that interviewing is just a matter of schmooze and that you can "wing it" check out the questions below. My colleague, Billie Sucher, gathered some tough interview questions and I'd like to do the same here at CareerBoard. Remember... interviewing is not the time to think... it's the time to perform. Send us some of YOUR tough questions!

• If we hire you, will we be taking a risk, or earning a reward, and why?
• In what ways do you support a company's vision and values and in what ways do you sabotage it?
• By your very nature, do you act or react and give us specific examples of your choice.
• Please describe three strategies you will use to contribute to our bottom line, and how long will it take for you to achieve same?
• Will you lead or will you follow and which do you think is more important in today's volatile climate?
• What can we expect from you as an employee and what do you expect from us an employer?
• Tell us something about you that only your mother would know.
• Are we better off with you, or without you, and how so?
• If you were a member of this Selection Committee, what is the single-most important question that we should be asking you, that we haven't?
• As a manager, do you implode or explode when things don't go your way and what happens after that?

Labels: interview

It might be a tough market out there but these guys will disagree with you if you claim no one's hiring! These are some great victories of ordinary folks that came to me for coaching and we did it! Or I should say they did it!

Mark - After 30 years with one company Mark didn't have a clue where to start. So he came to me. He is a financial guy and required lessons on job search and interviewing in 2008. He actually beat Richard (see below) from one job offer but went on to accept a more lucrative one in a better environment.

Richard - Accountants aren't always good communicators and once he became fluid he was able to knock the ball clear out of the ball park. We rewrote a very bland and uninformative resume and then practiced and practiced and practiced interviewing. Richard attended so many job fairs that I actually saw him on TV while attending one. He was everywhere and it worked!

Pam - With very specialized technical talent Pam would have preferred to change careers and eventually I'll help her do just that. But as an unemployed single mother in a tough market (I didn't say impossible market!) she needs to spend at least 24 months in the new job and then, from a position of strength, we'll forge ahead.

Gary - Having worked for one company for years and having been unemployed for months we started from square one. It took some to get his search momentum going. After all the last time he searched for a job he merely called a few of his pals. An extremely likable manufacturing/engineering pro he just needed to learn what to do, commit to it and do it! He did.

The key here is not to ever buy in to the myth that there are no jobs. Offers go to those who learn to win them and don't give up! Remember how bad instant pudding tastes? Instant hires are worse!