Hungry for a Great Internship? Know Where to Find the Meat.

Internships are considered a must-have for many college students (and even some high schoolers) looking for a leg up in getting a job upon graduation. They hunt to find them, compete to get them, and strive to multiply them–all for good reason.

Internships are real workplace experiences that build and showcase the job knowledge, skills, and behaviors essential to career success.

So why do so many complain about those internships once they’ve been landed?

• The work is too menial. I feel like a lackey.
• I don’t have enough autonomy.
• There’s too much/too little/no supervision.
• I’m left on my own to figure out what to do.
• I do all this work and don’t get paid (or am paid a paltry sum).

Welcome to the business world!

There is often a misconception that, once you get a real job with a real title, all the work is meaty, independent initiatives are applauded, your supervisor is supportive, and the compensation commensurate with the work. Sorry this isn’t so, but internships can help you recalibrate your expectations.

Internship Lesson #1: Teach yourself to see and understand the realities of the work place and what drives it.

You can’t see what’s really going on unless you look. Too many student interns limit their focus to the work they are asked to perform and not the experience as a whole.

Initially, there’s good reason for that: the tasks are new to them and they want to do them well. That’s a good thing but not the only thing.

The real meat is between the bun.

Internship Lesson #2:  Learn what did or did not fit you about the company, the work, and/or the environment and why.

Your internship helps clarify what you need from a job to perform at your best and stay motivated.

That means discovering are how effectively you:

• Handle ambiguity and too little/too much direction
• Perform under pressure
• Communicate with executives, managers, your boss, and coworkers
• Overcome flagging self-confidence and self-doubt
• Use strengths and overcome weaknesses
• Make independent decisions and come up with new ideas
• See your work in the context of the company’s big picture
• Influence or take the lead when there’s an opportunity
• Stay positive and avoid getting caught up in office gripes
• Put knowledge and skills to use in the right way

You need to make your internship as much about discovering who you are within the dynamics of the job as you do about future line items on your resume.

Here comes the judge.

This week I served on a panel to judge internship presentations at a local university. The fifteen students in this six hour undergraduate course interned with major corporations like AT&T, Guardian Life, Allstate, Abercrombie & Fitch and small businesses including a restaurant, spa/pool company, law office, and long-term care facility. Most students were business and/or marketing majors.

The students who stood out were those who discovered the most about themselves while interning. One learned he didn’t want to be in law because he knew he couldn’t defend someone he knew had committed the crime. Another loved the company she interned with (they wanted to hire her) but realized she wanted to work for a large firm. Two other students surprised themselves at how effective they were talking to front-line employees as well as the company president, seeing how they were able to adapt their communications styles successfully. Others learned how it felt to own and defend their web design assignments.

Win-win internships

There are no bad internships unless you choose not to learn anything from them. Every business is fascinating in its own right. Each has a unique business model, leader-driven culture, performance history, cadre of employees, and customers/clients. No matter what your internship role, you are always in a position to observe, explore, and contribute. So whenever you can, take a big bite and savor the flavor.

Photo from Lego-LM via Flickr

Suffering from Resumophobia? | A Remedy for Job Seekers

The job search heats up for many this time of year, particularly for new grads, anyone who’s had enough of his/her current job, or those who have simply put it off too long.

 So, I’m reposting this piece on writing the resume. Other Business Fitness posts to revisit are on transferable skills, the interview process, and questions you need to ask the interviewer. May you land a job that fits you well!

The dreaded resume! Every job seeker desperately needs one but no one wants to write one. Why? Because it’s agony.

The irony is that we fear our resume—the very thing that is our entry ticket to the job we want. Since we resist the things we fear, we put off writing it or suffer major distress when we must. Our concern: “What if my resume isn’t good enough!”

Our “resumophobia” has three main causes:

• Frustrating uncertainty about what recruiters/businesses want
• Doubt or confusion about the value of what we’ve done
• Lack of confidence in our ability to write it “right”

These are legitimate and paralyzing reasons. But we cannot succumb to them. Why? Because—no resume…no interview. No interview…no chance.

The resume is a rite of passage in nearly every job search.

There are lots of great books and experts to teach you how to craft a great resume. What I’m offering are insights that will unfreeze your thinking, so you can get started.

Your resume is packaging. 

It is not a biography, a job description, or a sales pitch. It’s your package!

The content of a good resume showcases concrete results that you have achieved in other jobs. It contains the products (results) that you created. So when you write your resume, make sure it is about important outcomes you delivered. Not everything you ever did—just the most significant results.

Your resume is a picture. 

A resume is art and you want the viewer to be absorbed by yours.

Great artists control the eye of the viewer. Great resumes do that too. The screener’s first scan needs to spot something of interest. That means you need to:

• Position important facts where the eye falls.

Don’t make screeners struggle to find what they’re looking for. When they come to your resume, they will scan down the middle. So make sure that their eyes will land on the words, job titles, and achievements they are looking for. Highlight in bold the words that link what you accomplished to the duties listed in the job posting.

• Create white space so the eye has relief.

Wading through resumes is visually exhausting. White space is relief so use a font size that isn’t too small. Avoid dense copy that sends the message that you couldn’t identify your priority accomplishments and don’t know how to write concisely. Use bullets, avoid paragraphs.

• Include interesting information that keeps the eye reading. 

Everyone brings their own uniqueness to their jobs. Capturing that in a resume differentiates us from other candidates. So be sure to mention a fresh approach you may have taken to a routine work process or to an initiative that you led.

The sections called “interests,” “activities,” and “affiliations” are your big finish. Interesting tidbits there often turn out to be the “big opening” during an interview.

Your resume is your voice. 

The tone of your written words becomes the sound of your voice. That’s the only glimpse into your personality that the screener will get from your resume. When your words are clean and clear, precise and easy, they create a sense of your nature, your confidence, and your approach to work.

Please remember:

• The screener is your audience
• Your purpose is to provide an honest, factual story about your work life

If resume writing still intimidates you, if you are having a difficult time sorting through all that you have done, or if you have some unfortunate “wrinkles” in your work history, investing in some professional assistance may be in order.

The bottom line is that it’s always a good idea to have an up-to-date resume on file, especially in these times. Enough said!

Photo from Corey Ann via Flickr

Out of Work? Hire Yourself.

You think you can’t. I say you can. Don’t over-think it, make it too big, or get in your own way. Just try it. 

Plug the gap. 

Being out of work, creates a glaring gap on your resume. Your work history has come to a (hopefully temporary) dead end. 

This makes job seekers lose sleep at night and I don’t blame them. 

So the question is: “What can you do about it?” 

I say, “Plenty, if you have something of value to offer.” 

Everyone has some level knowledge and skills needed by someone else. You may know how to: 

• Organize: information, schedules, office space, projects, or events
• Troubleshoot: software, IT tools, work processes
• Consult/coach: on performance, problem solving, change, life skills, regulation
• Create: specialty items, written materials, social media tools, art
• Present: training, speeches, proposals, videos 

There are clients/customers who need your know-how. It doesn’t matter whether you charge them for your services or not. Each time you serve someone, you are functioning as an entrepreneur. 

It’s time to reveal this work on your resume. 

Hire yourself. 

Self-employment is employment. Working for yourself is about providing services to others. 

When you do that formally, you are functioning as an entrepreneur. 

Working for yourself shows the hiring manager that you: 

• Take your capabilities and their value seriously
• Can attract and successfully serve clients/customers
• Are a self-starter, committed to building your career
• Have the courage to put yourself out there
• Are motivated and energetic about taking on new challenges 

“Being” your own business showcases what you’ve been doing since you’ve been out of work. It maintains your employment continuity, so you’re always working up to the present. 

Your resume will need to name your business and include the outcomes you’ve achieved for your clients—problems solved, installations completed, savings achieved, or negative impacts avoided. That’s what you include in your bullets. 

You may decide to keep your “business” active while you’re working or only between jobs. Either way you’ll want to address that on the resume or in your cover letter. 

Getting started 

Becoming a business entity isn’t complicated, for these purposes. Just: 

• Create a business name as a sole proprietorship. To keep things simple, consider using all or part of your own name.
• Get business cards.
• Write a simple statement about what service(s) you’re offering, so you can tell people when they ask.
• Decide on a fee-for-service when you need/want to charge
• Get the word out (social media makes this easy, networking too)
• Consider a blog that can double as a simple website where you write about what you do and post about what you know (This adds credibility for clients/customers and a credential for a future hiring manager to consider.) 

Find a few clients/customers (non-profits are often a good source) where you can work on a pro bono (free) basis, in exchange for a testimonial that you can use if they’re satisfied. This is also how you’ll get those outcome statements for resume bullets. 

Ask for referrals and see where your efforts take you. Remember, you’re not trying to turn this into an all-consuming business, (although it could grow into something significant). You’re still in the job search. So balance your time. Pick your spots. 

I once worked with a client who’d been out of work for over two years. He was looking for an executive position in sales but couldn’t get a look. So, he set up solo sales training consultancy with himself as the president. He had no paying clients, but that didn’t matter. He suddenly was at the table with the people he needed to meet with. 

Surprise yourself. 

Your career is in your hands. Being out of work is an empty feeling. It can drag you down. Staying in the game is important for your psyche and your resume.   

You don’t need a job to do valued work. You just need an outlet. That you can create for yourself by staying business fit. 

Photo from David Vincent Johnson 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!

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!

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.

Start Smart. Finish Strong. | Job-to-Career Strategies

Singin’ the “I Need a Job” blues? It starts like this: “Don’t know what I wanna do with my life…Got so many bills to pay.” It’s a sorrowful tune about the rock and the hard place. 

You want a job that launches your career but can’t find one—the rock.  You settle for a make-do job to cover debts and expenses—the hard place. Luckily, there is a cure for the blues! 

Jobs don’t make a career, but they can add up to one. 

A job is a means to an end. So before you start looking, you need to know what you’re really after. 

I recently spoke to a group of college seniors with questions about the job market. One of the students expressed confusion and frustration about the pull of trying to find a job that matched his major versus taking a $20-an-hour security job to start paying his tuition debts. 

I asked him, “What are you interested in?” 

He answered, “Bodybuilding.”  Bingo! 

The bodybuilding industry is huge. It’s made up of companies that: 

• Produce body-building equipment, supplements, and attire
• Build and design gyms
• Market equipment, products, and services
• Handle event planning and promotion
• Offer personal trainers, DVD’s, and on-air programs
• Produce print and on-line publications 

Each one of these companies has jobs to fill at all salary levels. If you really want to work in a certain industry, first get connected to it. 

I told this young man, “If you’re willing to work for $20 an hour, then look for $20-an-hour job at a company that’s connected to the bodybuilding industry.” 

Why? Because, at least, he’ll get in a door that gives him an insider’s look at the industry that he’s attracted too. Once he’s there, he’s in a position to stand out.

 Positioning is about building your body of work.

When you start any job, you don’t really know how the business works. So your objective is to do what it takes to accumulate knowledge, skills, experience, and insights that will make you a strong candidate for new opportunities when the time comes. 

So what should you do in that current job: 

• Master the technical skills and processes to maximize your productivity.
• Make strong, professional relationships with the colleagues, managers, suppliers, and vendors you meet. Stay in touch.
• Learn about the competition and how the company is dealing with it.
• Volunteer for special assignments; Offer to work on a project even if it isn’t within your existing job.
• Participate on work teams to solve problems.
• Ask people you work with about their career paths; Do information interviewing with them.
• Keep alert to internal openings and job opportunities in other companies tied to your preferred industry. 

Be ready to move when the time comes.  

• Keep your resume updated.
• Maintain a professional social media presence.
• Let people in your company and outside know that you are interested in other opportunities.
• Think through the next steps you want to take and what you require to make a move. (Remember: Each job change is about adding to your skills, knowledge, experience, and network! It’s not all about money and title.) 

The key is to be prepared and ready to make those moves. That’s what it means to be business fit. 

You build a career by being strategic about the jobs you take.

Flailing is not a strategy. That’s what taking jobs for paychecks looks like. In order to take control of your career, you need to be under control about your choices. 

The sequencing of your jobs tells a story on your resume. A job history that demonstrates a commitment to learning about an industry from the ground up sets you apart. That’s how to trade that hard place for a warm seat that fits just right.

 What are some of the related businesses you discovered while working in an industry? What do you see emerging in today’s marketplace?

Unemployment Got You Down? | Build Up Your Skills

Being unemployed is your big break. Why? Because you can finally focus all your time on yourself—your future. Most people squander that time. Please don’t let that be you. 

Stress makes people stupid. 

Think about it. In the face of the unexpected, fear, or hard criticism, we become confused, befuddled, even frantic. When we reach our stress threshold, our decision-making ability implodes. 

Not having a job, for whatever reason, can deliver high doses of stress. In knee-jerk fashion, we frantically try to find a replacement job which often looks like the old one. At the height of our stress, we forget to ask ourselves important questions: 

• Did I really like that job? Was it a good fit for my interests?
• Did I have the skills to be really successful at it?
• Could I have made a career of it?
• Did I like the industry that was home to that job?
• Was I working with the kind of people who were good for me? 

A deep breath and serious introspection can ease the panic. 

Start with a reality check. You’re out of work now, but: 

• Do you seriously think that you’ll be out work forever? The answer for most is, “No.”
• Do you need to replace the job you had or is there something else just as good or better out there? The answer: ”Most likely”
• Is the job you want going to fall into your lap? “No.”
• Are you going to have to work hard to figure out your options, how to present yourself, and where the leads are? “Yes.”
• Do you care enough about yourself to commit to finding a job that will deliver what you need? Only you know this answer. 

Start thinking. Keep thinking. Take smart actions.  

Thinking puts your mind to work discovering information, insights, opportunities, and solutions that you can act on. It needs to replace worrying, brooding, procrastinating, and nay-saying. 

Right action reduces the stress. While unemployed, you have, at least, a week’s worth of eight-hour days to develop and implement your plan for finding the right job.  

For starters, use part of each day looking for openings and opportunities through your personal and professional networks, posted positions, and career fairs.   

Then, invest time filling in the skill, knowledge, and experience gaps in your resume. 

Spend time figuring out how to stand out as a candidate. Avoid accumulating certificates, courses, or community work without clear purpose.   

Do things that will build skills essential to the jobs you want. Try these ideas on for size:

• Identify a local non-profit looking for board members. Express interest. Volunteer or serve on committees. Say “yes” to a board seat offer. (Showcases  your leadership, talents, commitment, and energy; Builds your network) 
• Become a blogger. Post articles on subjects related to the kind of work you’re interested in. Include evidence of research done on each subject. Invite followers and comments. Reference your blog on your resume. (Showcases subject matter knowledge, communication skills, social media savvy; Expands visibility) 
• Offer specialized skills/services as an independent contractor. Target companies/individuals in industries where you want to work. Do some work pro bono in exchange for a testimonial. Mention this work on your resume. (Showcases entrepreneurial spirit, motivation, relationship building, skills; Adds references; May lead to an offer.) 
• Seek out public speaking opportunities. Too scary? Enroll in Toastmasters and get over that. Speak to groups of any size.  Mention relevant topics and audiences on your job applications. (Showcases self-confidence, public presence, courage; Expands visibility) 

The right effort delivers the right job at the right time. 

Patience, a steady pace, disciplined action, and your network are your best job search assets. This work is about YOU, no one else. If you spend half your time focused on the marketplace and the other half expanding your capabilities and your reach, you’ll have a full workday every day and a great job as your reward. This is how you’ll get business fit. I’m pulling for you! 

Can you add other ideas for building skills while out of work? Are there any traps to avoid? Got a success story to share? I love those!

 

“Job Hopper” Resumes Revisited | Finding the Upside

It can make you feel like pulling the covers over your head. It reads like you have no direction. It’s a road block to interviews. What is it? Okay, you knew all along. A resume that brands you a “job hopper.” 

If you’ve changed jobs often, you need to understand why. If you don’t do this honestly, you won’t be credible explaining yourself. 

Job hopping is a symptom not a disease. If you treat it, you’ll be on your feet in no time. 

We all have aspirations for a good job with opportunity and reward. Then work realities show up: We get frustrated and leave, downsized or laid off. We move on and it happens again. Is it us? Is it circumstance? Whatever it is, our work history doesn’t read well. 

Let your resume show how your past jobs have broadened you. 

Each job teaches us something about how business works and what’s expected. That cumulative knowledge has value to showcase in your resume. Here’s how: 

• Include and highlight in bold the skills from the posting that you demonstrated in each prior job
• Identify similarities between the companies you’ve worked for and the one you’re applying to now
• Use the same number of content bullets for each job, showcasing their experiential value instead of your length of service
• Consider including a “Profile” section at the start of your resume: a bulleted list of your business and technical skills/knowledge
• Make sure your resume has a professional look and quality content  

(If you don’t know how to do this, hire an expert to help you. It’ll pay for itself.)  

Let your cover letter address your job pattern head on! 

If you’ve been asked about your “job hopping” or aren’t getting interviews, then it’s time to get in front of the issue.

For starters, do not call yourself a “job hopper” or invite that label from the screener. Your cover letter is the tool you use to put your job experience—not work history—in perspective. 

Cover letters are difficult to craft, so here’s an excerpt from one I wrote for a sales candidate with many job changes over a six-year period: 

“My prior sales positions have been diverse and centered on the highly competitive device markets. I have learned a lot about the industry and myself from my experiences. 

I am passionate about products I believe in. I am gratified by the trust of my customers in those products and in the services I provide. Getting results for them and for the company are my bottom line. 

The creativity, autonomy, and mobility of sales, coupled with face-to-face interactions with customers, fit my personality. Once I understood this about myself, I realized that the sales process, regardless of the industry, is what motivates me.” 

Here’s the message the recruiter takes away from this cover letter. The candidate had: 

• held a number of prior positions
• acquired broad personal and industry knowledge as a result
• validated his passion for products and serving customers
• underscored his commitment to making money for the company
• connected with the traits that made “sales” the right fit for him
• developed a clear focus for his career 

This letter increases the candidate’s odds for getting a second look and an interview. 

Don’t undermine yourself by apologizing for your job changes. Turn your experiences into value. 

Everyone makes career bloopers of some kind. It only matters if you keep doing it. 

Take a fresh look at what you’ve done in past jobs and share perspectives that show how business fit you are. Remember: A hiring organization is looking for talent. They don’t expect or want “lifers” anymore. 

Companies, however, want you to be dependable and reliable. If you’ve had legitimate reasons to move around, situations that are about life happening, then don’t feel the need to apologize. Just address them at the right time. 

But, if you’ve done “no-no” things that caused you to change jobs, that’s reason for a different post. I would never think that of you! 

What are your most pressing concerns about your job history? Or do you have a strategy to share? Every idea helps!

Want an Edge for Your Job Interview? | Do the Work

The art of interviewing well—it’s a thing of beauty! The candidate walks out the door and the interviewer basks in the after-glow. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between. 

Why is that? Because interviewing well isn’t easy. It’s a skill that needs to be perfected so that you make it look easy, the way golf and tennis pros make their sports look easy. 

Your “sport” is the interview. Have you worked hard to become a pro? Or are you willing to be one of many who fall flat? 

It is pathetic that so many candidates don’t take advantage of mock interviews when they have the chance. 

Okay, that sounds harsh, but I mean it. 

Job opportunities are so thin and the need so great, how can you not prepare yourself before you’re sitting across the desk from an interviewer? It’s either arrogance or ignorance. 

College career offices routinely offer mock sessions with either faculty or outside business people; some even video-tape you. Community career centers and local community colleges also provide interview training for folks who are out of work. 

The expectations of hiring managers are different today. They expect more. So to think you can just wing an interview without knowing how the game is played is self-defeating. 

Get over yourself! 

Here’s the issue: People don’t learn and practice interviewing skills because they feel embarrassed, self-conscious, uncertain, and awkward. 

They often aren’t confident in their credentials or their ability to explain their capabilities, the gaps in their resumes, and the skills that will be expected. 

If that’s the case with you, that’s precisely why you need to learn how to interview well and then practice, practice, practice! 

When you need a job, you have to suck up your insecurities, set your ego aside, and do what has to be done to be the winning candidate. 

 Here’s what you need to do: 

Assemble basic information for a strong interview: 

• A resume focused on what you’ve accomplished. (That’s your marketing brochure.)
• A list of 5 or 6 “stories” that illustrate the results you’ve achieved and how (That’s what you’ll drawn on to answer any question.)
• An understanding of how a behavioral interview is conducted
• Knowledge of the business and the position
• Questions you will ask about the business and the job at the end (not about salary, benefits, time off, or promotional opportunities) 

Listen to the sound of your own voice. 

• Google “behavioral interviewing” and go to sites that give you sample questions.
• Select about 8 questions that address the desired characteristics listed in the posting.
• Play act by yourself or with another person as the interviewer, by answering those questions. If alone, talk to yourself in the mirror.
• Hear yourself answering those questions, get used to breathing, pausing, and taking time to gather your thoughts because that’s what will happen in the interview. 

Go on a practice interview…a real one!

If you have a chance to be interviewed for an opening that you think you don’t want or don’t think you’ll get, do it anyway. There’s nothing better than taking all your preparation live. 

Here’s the upside: If you aren’t all worked up about getting the job, you will likely be more relaxed and focused on putting your interview skills into practice. When you go to an interview thinking that “this is the job I’ve always wanted,” you will be more focused on winning than playing. That rarely ends well. 

If you want to succeed, you have to prepare. 

Job interviewing is a competitive activity. It’s a business fitness game that requires mental toughness, dedication, and willingness to put yourself out there. Only a fool goes into the fray without strategies, knowledge, and practiced skills. Don’t let that be you. 

What is it that most unnerves you about getting ready for the interview? If I can help, I will.