Calling All Grads! Here’s Help to Land That Job.

Straight talk about how to get a job and keep it is often hard to come by, especially in a concise guide. Marco Buscaglia fills the bill with Calling All Grads! Turning a Degree Into a Job, an e-book he edited that covers all the bases. He put his staff  at Tribune Media Services, Inc. to work mining expert advice on what new grads need to know about the job market and how to engage it. I was invited to comment on his 74 pages of practical, resource-rich advice tailored specifically to new grads. Great stuff!

Graduating is a big deal. It marks the end of those years of formal study and, for some, life on a college campus where living essentials are provided.

For most, the goal of graduating is to get a job, so you can live on your own and chart your own course. That can be motivating or paralyzing. In all cases, it means stepping up to the plate.

What’s your MO?

News Flash: When you’re unemployed, your full-time job is job hunting. To land a job and launch a career, you have to work for it.

Proactive grads have already started their search big time before they put on their caps and gowns. They’ve experienced meaningful internships, attended job fairs, scheduled appointments with campus recruiters, and engaged in some serious networking.

For the others, I offer this New Grad Alert: There is no hiring pixie waiting to put a job offer under your pillow.

If you approach the search creatively, you’ll find that it’s a stimulating adventure and Calling All Grads! Turning a Degree Into a Job by Marco Buscaglia provides both treasure map and tools for digging.

Buscaglia writes:

In putting together this book, our staff writers interviewed career experts, hiring managers, authors, other employment specialists and students themselves to present a concise but thorough guide to getting a job during difficult times.

The guide’s job facts, insights, and advice are the product of named experts and career authors who deal with the needs and issues of grads each day. They are an important leg up.

Cutting to the chase.

The guide neatly captures five phases of the job search and gives you an unfiltered look, using job and salary data as well as behavioral examples, at how they work and what you need to do:

1. Explore your options and possibilities, then jump right in
2. Who you know, who you meet are the keys
3. Craft the right resume, cover letter to score an interview
4. Master the interview through practice, patience, professionalism
5. You’ve been hired. Time to ditch some old habits

It’s a book of straight talk:

If you want someone to hire you, that someone has to know who you are. Sounds obvious, right? Then why do you keep posting resume after resume to mammoth job sites, hoping a recruiter will simply gravitate to your name based on your education and experience? Wait, you‘re not the only one with great academic credentials and a record of decent part-time jobs? Well, what do you do now? You get out there, that’s what.

It’s advice encourages and forges positive perspectives:

Granted, you‘ve just finished college and are fully expecting to grab that first job. But remember, your career is a marathon, not a sprint. You‘re in this for the long haul and you‘ll have to make a few adjustments along the way.

The importance of networking is strongly reinforced as the most important job search strategy:

To make the most of networking, realize that everyone you know — from family and friends, to your former professors and co-workers — is a member of your network. You can also realize new opportunities by joining civic, volunteer and professional organizations.

The guide covers many topics like:

• on-line image building and the need to balance it with face-to-face contact
• attending job fairs and turning temporary jobs into permanent ones
• crafting the resume and that all-important cover letter
• interviewing approaches and skills (unfortunately there was nothing on  behavioral interview questions, alas!)
• dressing the part, questions you should ask, and writing the “thank you” note
• how to be successful once you get the job

No more delay

The job search can feel arduous. That’s how a full-time job feels some days. But you still have to slog through it. New grads need to answer the call of the marketplace and their own sense of self by knuckling down and doing the work that lands that all important job.

The help is there in Calling All Grads. It’s worth a look. Perseverance pays!

Stumped About Why You Didn’t Get Hired? | Here’s the Back Story

To many job candidates, the all important hiring decision is a mystery. More often than not hiring managers don’t say much about the factors they considered. In January 2010, I wrote this post to lift the veil a bit, clear the air, and add some motivation.

Myth: The job candidate who flat out “nails” the interview gets the job.

Truth: The decision about who gets the job is, well, complicated. 

For all the years that I was a senior manager at a Fortune 500, every time I didn’t select internal candidates who thought they had the “right stuff,” I was questioned. Actually grilled!

Filling job vacancies from an internal or external candidate pool isn’t as simple as having an opening, interviewing candidates, and picking one. It would be nice if all business decision-making were linear, but it’s not.

It’s not always about you!

A lot goes on behind the scenes in the hiring process and it’s different in every organization.  (I’m not here to judge either the ethics or the efficacy of those processes.)

It’s just important that, as candidates, we understand that these are business decisions, not personal ones.

Typical reasons why candidates aren’t selected

The hiring manager knew the person s/he wanted from the outset. 

Many companies have a mandated hiring process whenever there’s a vacancy. The preferred candidate participates in the process along with others, although his/her selection may be a foregone conclusion.

That may sound unfair, but if you are a competing candidate, it still gives you a platform for showing your stuff. How you perform in the interview will be remembered and can one day work in your favor.

The company wants to develop a high potential employee or add diversity. 

All companies need to build a bench so they can fill sensitive positions down the road. They look for candidates who have the potential to take on increasing responsibilities or need to broaden their company knowledge.

For those companies that have been slow to incorporate diversity into their workforce and their management ranks, vacancies are an opportunity to remedy that. In both cases, these are business best practices that can add needed capabilities.

Once again, simply by being a participant in the candidate pool, you gain important visibility.

You don’t complement the “chemistry” of the hiring manager’s work group.

The ability of people to work effectively together is important to every hiring manager. Any time a new person is added to the mix, the “chemistry” of the group changes. You may have great capabilities, but if your work style and personality don’t “fit” well within the team, then you will likely not get selected.

The hiring manager doesn’t feel comfortable about supervising you. 

This is a very personal thing. Hiring managers don’t get many perks. The one they do get is to hire people who will make their work life more pleasant and easier. So if there are two equally qualified candidates, they will likely say to themselves, “When I come to work on a bad day, which one of these two people do I want to deal with?” That will be the tie-breaker.

Why this is so hard to swallow. 

If these realities are frustrating to you, I understand. Remember, for you the hiring process is solely about you getting the job. For the business the decision is multifaceted. The best hiring decisions weigh the potential for the candidate to take on increasingly more complex work and then to be ready for advancement in a reasonable period of time.

The only piece of the hiring process that you control is yourself. 

Because there are so many variables contributing to the hiring decision, your best course of action is to simply do your best. Pay attention to the way the process is conducted, the questions you are asked, the responses and feedback you receive. Build on those insights.

Remember: Hiring decisions are business decisions. So don’t take them personally.Your best approach while job hunting is to:

• Be prepared
• Present yourself well
• Have confidence
• Keep at it

In time the right position under the right company circumstances will present itself, and you will be well-positioned to accept it. In the meantime, throw off your frustration and concentrate on becoming a candidate to be reckoned with!

Photo from Giulia Torra via Flickr

The Internship Game—Step Up or Get Left Out

Internships are almost a right of passage to getting hired. The thirst for them has stirred businesses of every stripe to offer internship opportunities, particularly unpaid ones. 

There’s an upside and a downside to unpaid internships. So you need to know how to get the most “up” out of your choices. 

Make your free labor pay. 

The CBS Sunday Morning program ran an eye-opening segment called, “Internships: A foot in the door?” 

Lauren Berger, blogger known as the Intern Queen, made this telling comment: 

“The most common question that employers are asking in that job interview after graduation is, ‘Where did you intern?’ And if the person next to you even had one internship and you didn’t, there’s a good chance that that other person is gonna land the opportunity….” 

Internships are like any other commodity. If the demand for internships is greater than the supply, then economic principles take over. Businesses have work they can’t or won’t pay for, but if they can get it done for free, they’re in. Voila, the unpaid internship. 

Here’s how internships are playing out according to the Sunday Morning segment:

“In a 2010 survey, 42% of college students who graduated with an internship on their resume received a job offer, compared to just 30% for students with no intern experience. And, those graduates with internships received a higher starting salary, about $42,000, compared to just $35,000 for those without.”

It’s not, however, any old internship that’s going to deliver positive results. It’s only internships that add to your skill set and experience base. So if you’re going to work for free, you have to get marketable value from it. The only one who can convert the asset-value of free work into paid work is you.

No plan. No chance.

If you go into the internship race without a plan, you’ll likely end up losing. When you go after an unpaid internship you’re making an investment, not in dollars but in time. And you know that time is money.

Internships are the starter kit for your career. When you’re selecting an internship, you need to be specific about what you want from the experience. After all, you’ll be using your internship experience on your resume, so it needs to give you outcomes that will mean something to a recruiter.

Select internships that provide opportunities to:

• Learn and/or apply knowledge that aligns with your career interests (i.e., IT, customer service, marketing, teaching, finance)
• Lead, work independently, and/or assume responsibility for outcomes
• Build your interpersonal skills, confidence, and experiences
• Meet and build relationships with all kinds of people (i.e, customers, vendors, leaders)

There are great internships, awful ones, and everything in between. Your job is to land the ones that will do the most for you.

Working for free is a luxury that not everyone can afford. This reality can be tough to swallow. 

In the Sunday Morning piece, here’s what Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit Washington think tank, explained:

 “…increasingly the top internships are going to kids from the top of the income ladder. ‘Who can afford to come to Washingtonand spend $4,000 on housing and food and then work without being paid? It is not the children of farm workers or factory workers or, you know, the children of people who are unemployed right now. It’s going to be upper middle class kids….’”

This reality intensifies the need for planning way ahead to get internships that fit and make you a more attractive candidate for the next work-for-free opportunity or that all important paid job.

Keep working

Internships aren’t just for college kids anymore. Unemployed workers abound. People used to working don’t like being idle. So, unpaid internships are in their line of sight too.

There is no better credential than meaningful work where you add value and demonstrate your commitment to your career. Even though there are arguments decrying unpaid internships, they’re here to stay. Now is the time to make them work for you.

Photo from Samuel Mann via Flickr

Doing What’s “In You” | An Interview with Steven Leibensperger

I met Steven Leibensperger at an edgy little coffee house to give him a sell job. The executive director of the Lehigh Valley Arts Council and I, as president, were hoping we could convince him to join the board. He would be the only working artist and the youngest member by a lot. He gave us a “yes” and a lot more. Now I know why. 

DL:  Did you always want to be an artist? 

SL: It’s hard to say. I just know that when I was a kid, I loved to draw. On every holiday, my relatives gave me crayons, markers, paints—all types of art supplies. Creating art was what I wanted to do. It’s the same today as it was then: Things I see, like something in nature, in a magazine, or out a window, inspire me to create something visual. 

DL:  How did your career get started? 

SL: By high school, I’d decided that I wanted to pursue an arts career, initially as a fine artist. I was really lucky to have a high school teacher who became my mentor. He suggested that I think about taking graphic design in college since there would be more employment possibilities. That’s what I did, getting my B.A. from Kutztown University. The hard part was after that—getting a job. 

DL: What did it take to get work in the arts that could support you? 

SL:  I didn’t wait until I graduated to find work. I always did freelance graphic artwork while I was in college, sold some of my fine art pieces, and even did paid photography work. I used both paid and unpaid work to build my portfolio and get client referrals which helped when I applied for employment. 

After graduation, I was pretty much willing to do anything. My first job was working full-time for a printing house, doing print production set up, although I really wished I could have been designing. Still, I learned a lot about that part of the business. 

Then I had a chance to work for an exhibit design company on a temporary contract basis, but the print company didn’t want me to leave. To make a long story short, I ended up working just about full time for both, covering two different shifts. That was pretty taxing, teaching me how to function with little sleep. 

My next stop was a packing and product design company inPhiladelphia where I finally had real full-time employment as a graphic designer. It was great but I wanted to return to theLehighValley. 

Then I applied for a job as graphic/exhibit designer at the Crayola Factory, where I’ve been for the past four years. It’s a great company, committed to arts activities, and an amazing job with so much variety. One minute I’ll be designing a magazine ad, then a T-shirt, an interactive exhibit, a postcard, and even a snow globe. 

DL:  It seems that you never stop “doing” art in some way.  

SL:  That’s true. There always seems to be something exciting to create. In 2006 I started Muero Apparo, a T-shirt and apparel design company. I love creating T-shirt designs and helping other artists get their designs on clothing. I sell shirts on Facebook, at concerts and other events. 

Because it’s important to me to help other artists get visibility, a friend and I started the Lehigh Valley Art Wars, an arts contest, where artists create work live before observers for a cash prize. It was a big success. 

DL: Why is it so important to you to help other artists? 

SL: I know how hard it is to support yourself as an artist. I’m so grateful for all the people who helped me along the way, so now it’s my turn. Artists really benefit when they feel part of a community, and Arts Wars, for instance, was one way to start building that. 

It’s great for me too. I’ve met so many amazing artists who are now part of my network. 

DL: What is it about art that keeps you going?  

SL: I know that making art makes me feel good. When you have people tell you that you’re good at what you do, you want to do more. It’s a rush to know that you do good work. Take that away and you can feel lost. I think that’s true for any passion that drives your career or your life. 

DL: Sticking to what we know will make us happy in life is challenging for many of us. Thanks, Steven, for showcasing the courage it takes to pursue the career that’s truly “in” us.

You can follow Steven Leibensperger on Facebook, Linkedin, and at Muero Apparo on Facebook. There’s also  more on Facebook about Lehigh Valley Art Wars.

Photos courtesy of Steven Leibensperger.

3 Questions Interviewees Must Ask or Risk Doom—After Getting the Job!

Job interviews are the beginning. It’s the moment when we begin our relationship with a future boss. 

We tend to look at the hiring process like a game show. We’re picked as contestants, and if we answer the questions correctly, we win the prize. 

The game show winner takes his/her winnings and goes home. When you get the job, however, you’re expected to report to work every day, take direction, complete assignments, and work well with others. Then you get your weekly prize—your paycheck. 

The problem 

We often forget, however, that getting the job means accepting all that goes with it: 

• The way the company operates
• The boss’s leadership style
• The attitudes and work ethic of coworkers
• The policies and procedures (the rules)
• The opportunities for growth and raises 

By the time the interview is over, the company knows way more about you as a prospective employee, than you know about the company, particularly your prospective boss. 

Your manager is the most important variable in any new job. The wrong boss can seriously wound your spirit, opportunity, and future. 

S/he sets you up to succeed or fail, based on the leadership style used and the work culture perpetuated. You need to get a line on the hiring manager, so you know whether you should say “yes” to the job, if offered. 

The big 3 

In an interview, there should be time at the end when the interviewer asks, “Now do you have any questions for me.” That’s your moment.  

When it’s your turn to ask your questions in the interview, commit to getting the information you need about the environment you’d be entering. 

Asking these 3 questions, your way, will demonstrate your interest in understanding the manager’s expectations. At the same time they’ll reveal what you may actually be getting into: 

1. When this position is filled, what will be the immediate expectations of employees, coworkers, other departments, and/or the senior leadership?  

The manager’s answer will give you insights into the political climate, the pressures on him/her, whether or not s/he’ll have your back, and the likelihood that you can succeed  

2. How would you describe the current culture/work style of your work group/the company? 

If the description is uncertain, vague, or hopefully clear, you’ll know if your future boss gets it about his/her employees and their importance to success. That’s the fold you’d be joining.

3. What will be the biggest challenge for the new hire? 

Now you’ll know what you’d need to deliver right away. If the answer is measurable/observable, you’ll be on solid ground. If it’s general, abstract, and conceptual, that’s a red flag.  

Together these questions reveal the leadership qualities of your prospective boss:

• Command and control or collaborative style
• Strategic or reactionary
• Micro-managing or delegating
• Politically savvy or naïve
• Clear or vague communicator
• Self- or employee-centered 

Together his/her answers reveal the work environment in front of you. 

Protect yourself 

Getting a job is a big deal: Getting the wrong job even bigger. To build a strong resume, we need to demonstrate that our job decisions have worked out. 

You don’t want to get fired for poor performance or asked to resign. You want a work experience that is satisfying, helps you grow, and builds a positive track record. 

That’s why you need to look out for yourself, conducting your own due diligence about who you’ll be working for. Bosses are people with every kind of personality, leadership/management approach, and expectations. 

It’s up to us to be just as careful about whom we pick to work for as the hiring manager is in offering us their coveted job. 

Please don’t be careless about your career. The right questions may save you a lot of future heartache. 

 Photo from Marco Bellucci via Flickr

 

What Your Job Search Says About You. Sometimes It Isn’t Pretty!

I hear a lot of excuses, justifications, and whining from people looking for a job. It’s always the same things:

• “I hate networking.”
• “I followed up on a bunch of leads and nothing!”
• “I’ve got my resume out there but don’t hear anything.”
• “I don’t know what to put on LinkedIn or how to use it.” 

Come on now!

Face reality. 

Jobs rarely find you. They don’t call it a “search” or “hunting” for nothing. The process requires research, exploration, and discovery. It means:

• crawling through a jungle of complex paths and unknown obstacles
• lifting up rocks and seeing what crawls out
• following leads and taking advice from people who know the drill 

I can’t say this any more plainly: The job search is WORK!

When you’re looking for a job, you have a job: Project Manager! That means you need to use the right tools:

• An action plan with steps and deadlines you’ll complete each week  
• A strong resume and cover letter
• Behavioral interviewing skills
• Contacts via social media, friends, community and professional groups 

You don’t just whip this stuff up in a day. You have to invest serious thinking, a zillion drafts until your message is right, and a clear focus on what jobs you’re after.

You have to make big decisions like:

• Are you willing to move or drive a good distance from where you live?
• Will you re-credential yourself? If so, how?
• Are you willing to start over in an entry level job with an industry that you think will grow?
• Are you willing to work two part-time jobs or perhaps a lower paying job while starting your own business? 

Today, you have lots of options. Sometimes being creative about the way you piece together your career outlets is the ace in the hole you need.

The way you job hunt brands you! 

If you’re not aggressive about your own job hunt, why would an employer think you’d work hard for him/her? The stakes and rewards for you couldn’t be any higher. So why doesn’t everyone dig in and work at their search? Is it:

• Fear of rejection or laziness
• Some kind of weird denial
• Belief that the job-fairy is out there flying around looking for them
• A crippling lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem, or naiveté
• Inability to try new approaches, solve problems, or manage time
• Procrastination, lack of discipline, or poor initiative 

Would you hire someone with these attributes? If not, don’t adopt them yourself!

Suck it up!

Job hunting is a full time job when you’re out of work. That means you need to:

• Work on it 8 hours a day Monday through Friday; 4 hours on Saturday. (Yes, you need to work OT on your search.)
• Set up your day to include: networking appointments, follow up correspondence, materials preparation, researching opportunities, and reaching out
• Arrange information interviews, job interviews, and community/professional meetings weekly
• Stay current on business matters related to the jobs you’re seeking
• Expand your visibility (i.e., use LinkedIn, blog, and attend professional events)
• Follow up on leads, take creative steps to get in the door, and ask friends for referrals 

Do not give yourself “time off” from this work unless you’ll definitely make up the hours. Remember: It could take you 6 months to get the job you want, so you’re in this for the long haul.

Make yourself proud. 

Being out of work feels awful. We can either wallow or get over it.

I developed the business fitness model because we all need to be ready for a career curve ball. Sometimes we’re even thrown a sinker! Working hard on your job search empowers you. It gives you momentum and builds optimism. Get started and stay with it. That’s the measure of your heart! Believe in yourself, okay?

What piece of advice would you give to someone out of work? Every idea helps!

The Job Seeker’s Death Knell—Believing Your Own Excuses

Beating the pavement does more than wear out your soles. It can wear out your self-confidence.

Rejection is strength sapping. When the reward for trying hard and staying the course keeps netting a big fat zero, we become frustrated beyond belief, plagued by that nagging question, “Why?”

Hiring decisions are the great unknown.

When we walk out of a job interview, we usually have a sense of “how it went.” If we think it went well, we expect a call back or a job offer. But often that never comes. Once this pattern starts to repeat itself, we become uneasy, struggling to figure out how we’re falling short.

We’re inclined to take it personally. Remember George Costanza from Seinfeld who could never understand why he didn’t get hired, or even sometimes why he did! It’s easy to forget that the hiring process isn’t just about us. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that we never hear about.

Excuses only get in our way.

A woman recently e-mailed me about her many months out of work, the high unemployment in her state, and her credentials. She’d been to many job interviews without success. The reason, she decided, was her age, refusing to acknowledge her “job hopper” work history.

I empathized with the stress this woman was experiencing. She’s not the only one who’s made excuses for unsuccessful job searches. Have you ever used any of these excuses for why you didn’t get an interview or a job:

• My resume and cover letter aren’t right.
• The interviewer asked quirky questions that didn’t make sense.
• There are just too many college grads out there for me to compete.
• My degree and/or training are outdated.
• They don’t want to hirer Baby Boomers (or Gen Xers, new grads).
• Companies already know whom they want. These interviews are a set up.
• I’m too short, heavy, contemporary, handsome/pretty, or tattooed. 

When we create excuses to feel better temporarily, we risk the likelihood that we’ll reuse them, until they become a truth that we’ve accepted. That will only bury our chances.

Set yourself free! 

Throw off any negatives you have about your job search experiences. If you don’t, you’ll carry them into your next interview. You may not think so, but it’s in your posture, your voice, your eyes, your tone of voice, and the words you choose.

You’ve got to shake off the negative stuff! Think of yourself as a pro athlete who’s had a bad game and needs to put it out of his/her mind and take the field again. Excuses don’t wash. You’re mantra needs to be: “Do better next time.”

When you aren’t the winning candidate, take action to make yourself a stronger one. Focus on things you can control:

• Fire up a bright, can-do attitude
• Expand your skills, particularly software applications and social media
• Ask: “Have I been too narrow in my job search?”
• Increase and perhaps redirect your networking efforts
• Stay in touch with your contacts at companies where you weren’t hired (You may have been their second choice.)
• Reexamine the way you present yourself (appearance, style, energy level) 

The job search is a marketing effort! 

If you have something of value to offer that an employer needs and can afford, you will be a viable candidate! Your ticket to the job you want is good marketing of your capabilities and attitude.

We all need to be prepared and ready to showcase our value. That’s what business fitness is all about, smart moves that you execute with consistency. It’s how you keep the Grim Reaper far away from your job search!

Have you ever lapsed into excuse-making when you didn’t get a job? How did you turn that around? We need all the help we can on this one!

Job Quest Underway? Discover Your Buried Treasure | Transferable Skills As Career Doubloons

It’s unnerving to be out of work. Starting the job hunt can be gut-wrenching. We can even get confused about how to answer these simple questions:

• What do know how to do?
• What jobs should I apply for?
• How do I get started? 

The temptation is to slap together a resume with a chronology of past jobs, titles, and duties. Then, with guns blazing, fire them out to every job board, classified ad, or on-line posting. Ugh!

And the hunt goes on!  

Interesting, isn’t it? Companies are hunting for a great candidate while you’re hunting for a job. So you’re both in the same boat, looking for treasure.

Here’s the problem: You’re focused on all the tasks you did in the past and the company is looking for skilled candidates for the future. Their quest is for the skills you can transport to their open job.

The solution is to figure out and give names to the skills you have in your wheelhouse. Although it’s not that difficult, why don’t most job seekers do this? It’s because:

• They don’t have the insight.
• They don’t know the terms.
• They resist acknowledging their own value. 

Amazing, isn’t it? We have skills that we’ve been successful using. But when we have to assign “important sounding” words to describe them, we start to feel like an imposter.

My advice: “Get over it!” We need to prepare and accept a solid inventory of our transferable skills to get the best job. Those skills are the treasure we own and the treasure a company wants. So don’t keep it buried!

Make your resume your treasure chest. 

If you don’t market your transferable skills, it’s as though they don’t exist. Your resume is where all your skill doubloons are stored. 

Start by answering this question: What do you know how to do and how have you put your skills to work to make an impact? Your past behavior predicts your future behavior.

You can find out which transferable skills companies are looking by reading job postings and job descriptions closely. Go on-line and find out what different types of jobs require.

Look within yourself and inventory your transferable skills. Write them down and then highlight the ones that are your strongest suit.  Those are the ones you want to showcase in your resume.

Here’s a categorized starter list of transferable skills that should help:

Communication: persuasiveness, negotiating, speaking, writing, training, influencing

Interpersonal: teamwork, coaching, customer service, conflict management, employee development/engagement

Leadership: managing, supervising, motivating, decisiveness, problem-solving, delegating, integrity, innovation

Technical: analysis, data management, accounting, planning and organizing

Professional: ethics, integrity, adaptability, tolerance for stress, ability to learn, dependability, attention to detail, initiative

The transferable skills in your resume show the recruiter where the treasure is—in you! When you define yourself and your work using these words, you will see yourself in a brighter light. That’s how a hiring manager will see you too!

Keep digging.

Our transferable skills keep growing. So we need to keep our skills inventory updated. Each new job enriches our skills stash, making us more enticing candidates for bigger and better opportunities.

Acknowledging our transferable skills is immensely liberating and confidence building. Our business fitness is measured by how prepared and ready we are to make our next move.  When it comes to our transferable skills, we don’t have to be the best ever with any of them. We just need to be the best a company can find for what they are willing to pay. After all, treasure chests come in all sizes!

What transferable skills have been your greatest asset? Where did they get you? Thanks for sharing!

“Any Clues, Sherlock?” | Uncovering the Hidden Job Market

Remember the old joke about the little boy whose parents took him to a psychiatrist because they worried he was too optimistic? The psychiatrist took him into a room piled high with horse manure. Instead of recoiling, the boy ran to the pile and began digging frantically. 

His reason: “So much manure. There must be a pony in here somewhere.”

You have to dig to find hidden job opportunities. 

If you’ve confined your job search to job boards, classified listings, career fairs, or agencies, you’re shopping for what’s on the shelf, not what’s hidden.

You also won’t find jobs that fit you by confining your search to titles like:  Entry level marketing specialist, Computer programmer, or Accounting associate.

When you don’t know what you’re really after, you end up in the search line with everyone else, hoping you’ll get lucky.

To find the right job, target the right industry. 

A great job is not about the title. It’s about work that fits your talents and interests. Every business is part of an industry, enterprises engaged in the production goods and services like pharmaceuticals, education, apparel, or entertainment.

Each business supporting an industry does unique work that is often unknown to us.

That means, if you want to tap into the hidden job market, you need to do some sleuthing, Sherlock Holmes style.

Businesses in every industry faces competitive issues. 

For starters, you need to know what’s ailing the businesses you want to work for. Here’s how to start unearthing those challenges:

• Follow them and their industry in business publications, like the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Inc.
• Follow them on social media (Facebook and Twitter)
• Follow their competition
• Set up Google alerts for each company/industry. Examine what you find
• Study their websites for what is and isn’t said about their performance 

Draw conclusions about what their issues are in areas like:

• Customer relationships
• Financial performance
• Process efficiency
• Marketing strategies
• Employee satisfaction
• Technology applications 

Turn over the rocks! Reveal what’s underneath. 

By now, you’ll know what their big picture needs are. You’ll also know how you can help meet those needs. Now, frame your plan:

Identify a specific, targeted need that you can help them improve like: 

• Expanding market reach through social media
• Reducing specific production errors by upgrading software
• Improving employee awareness of buyers’ habits
• Providing oversight on new financial regulations 

Present yourself. Get known. 

Identify someone to talk to in that business who’s facing the needs you identified.

Contact them by phone or written correspondence (since this stands out more than another e-mail his his/her mailbox).

Identify the issue that you have been looking at and frame it in a way that fits your talents. For example: say,

“I have been following XYZ issue in your industry for the past 3 months and would appreciate the opportunity to get your perspective. I would like to talk with you (pick one):

• In preparation for a blog post that I will be writing
• As an expert resource for an article I’m freelancing
• For a paper I’m writing for my college class
• To get a broader understanding of the issue
• To test my perceptions about a potential “fix” 

After each meeting, agree on how you will remain in contact. Do what it takes to keep the conversation going without being overbearing.

Eventually, you will find the right opportunity to state your interest in working for that company, using the expertise that you’ve been demonstrating.

Good jobs remain hidden until you find them. 

If something’s worth having, it’s worth working for. Getting the really good jobs are about preparation and readiness, not luck. That’s why being business fit makes for a satisfying and long career. Now, let’s see what you’ve got!

What did you do to pierce the hidden job market? Got at a trick to share?

Sizing You Up | Dependability Ratings Matter

Being there when expected. Stepping up when needed. Always delivering the goods. Dependability counts big time for getting a  job, a good performance appraisal, and a promotion.  So, are you? 

The way we perform is a measure of the standards we bring. 

Dependability showcases commitment. Are we as good as our word? When we agree to do job, will we give it our best no matter what the circumstances? This can be a big test. It sure was for me. 

A farmer friend of mine was in a pinch. He had about ten acres of alfalfa hay that needed to be baled one Saturday afternoon but had no help available. So I agreed to fill in even though I was no farm hand. 

At that time, I co-owned a three-year-old thoroughbred gelding that was being trained as a show horse. My partner, who trained him, came over that same morning to give him a light ride.

 It was a muggy, buggy, 90-degree day. The horse performed so nicely that the trainer suggested I hop on to get a feel for his easy gait. 

He was a big horse so I needed a leg up to mount. When I was in air, he shifted suddenly because the bugs were annoying him. Instead of landing in the saddle, I came down his rump. He bucked, flipped me in the air, and I landed face first on the ground. 

Although I was wearing a helmet, that didn’t cover my jaw or the rest of me. I heard my neck and back crunch at landing and knew I’d loosened some teeth. I lay there for about 15 long minutes before I could get up. 

My trainer friend was relieved when I was upright. So was I. But all I could think of was that hay laying.

After resting a bit, although I was unbelievably sore, off to the fields I went.

The farmer couldn’t understand at first why I was limping toward the tractor and baler. When I told him, I don’t think it registered. Ten acres of alfalfa that, if not baled at exactly the right time, are worthless. That was his priority.

 His job was to drive the machinery (there’s an art to that) and mine was to hook each bale off the chute and stack it five rows high on the wagon. It was a terribly hard and hot job for me, especially under the circumstances! But we got that crop baled at its peak, ensuring its market value. 

Dependability builds our brand and makes our value visible. 

Lots of people heard that story. It validated me among the hard working, career farmers whose world I was coming to know. It also taught me a lot about how important my “word” was to me. 

Everyone sees or hears about what we do, especially against difficult odds. It can become lore, dubbing some people heroic, angelic, or mythic.   

Think of the people you’ve heard of who: 

• Never miss a day of work
• Take assignments that are difficult or high risk
• Speak up when there’s an injustice
• Lend a hand to a colleague or customer who is struggling
• Give up free time to cover a shift
• Set personal challenges aside to get the job done   

If we can’t be counted on, we’ll soon be counted out. 

The backbone of any career strategy is to build a reputation of dependability. It can come with positive brand labels like selfless, dedicated, and team player. 

Being indispensable is a by-product of dependability, especially when you step forward to solve problems, create remedies, and anticipate issues before they become nightmares. 

When our resumes looks like we’re running from the law, our time off records like we’re a magnet for germs, or our performance appraisals like we’re asleep at our desks, it’s time to reexamine what we’re really committed to.

Business fitness is about being prepared and ready to move forward. Being ready is about being committed—dependable, reliable, trustworthy, and responsible. High standards are good reasons for you to feel proud. 

Have you ever had your dependability tested? How did it go? What did you learn? These moments can be eye-opening.