Looking for a Job? Concentrate on Things You Can Control | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

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Original Post Here [ Brand-Yourself.com Blog ]

You may feel like you’re completely at the mercy of others in your job search. In some ways that’s true, but there are many things you control. For example, you can create a perfect profile on LinkedIn – that’s under your control – but you can’t make people contact you.

What else can you control? Most job help professionals will advise you to pick some target companies. Why? Because when you target a company you want to work for, you can create an active strategy, rather than passively hoping somebody will find you.


Once you’ve picked out your target(s), the next step is to research them thoroughly. I don’t mean spending an hour on Google – a proper profile of the company will take you several hours in most cases. Read everything you can about the company and any of its key players.

OK, you’ve got your target, and you’ve got your briefing materials. Next step is to figure out what you can do for the company. Why would they want to hire you? What do you offer, what original thoughts can you bring to your new employer? (If you can’t come up with any, you’ve either not done your research properly or it’s the wrong target company…)

So far, your success is totally within your own control. You’re not depending on anybody for the background info, you’re not trying to network into the company – that’s a great way, probably the best way, to get in, but it’s not always possible.

How do you get to the company management? Assemble everything you’ve put together, and start writing about them. In many cases, they’ll know you’re doing this, because most companies watch for their company name with Google Alerts. But if they miss you, you can let them know that you’ve been writing about them – this is the kind of communication that’s welcome, because you’re giving something rather than asking for something.

Here’s something a client of mine did:

“I applied for the top HR job at XYZ Company a couple of weeks ago. Then I sent the CEO, COO and CFO a memo about how I could add value as a non-traditional human resources professional. I pointed them to my blog. I specifically gave them the url to my engage presentation, employee engagement and courage posts. On Monday, I called all 3 executives and left them voice mails. The next day, I received an e-mail from their internal recruiter that stated she wanted to talk to me as she was directed by the CEO and COO to do so.”

See the difference between an active and a passive search? You won’t get all these jobs, but your chance of getting an interview goes up enormously.

by Walter Feigenson • February 18, 2010

Create Your Own Luck by Changing Your Perspective - Luck is a Skill

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Think you have no control over how lucky you are in life? Psychologist Richard Wiseman says think again. Turns out you can learn to be a luckier person just by changing how you look at the world around you.
Photo by superfantastic.

Wiseman studied the lives of 400 people over the course of 10 years and watched for any lucky breaks or chance encounters—both good and bad—they had along the way. He discovered that some people are prone to worse luck than others, but it may be possible to create your own good fortune by tweaking your perspective on things.

In interviews with the study's volunteers, he realized that unlucky people are typically more anxious and tend to more hyperfocused on the specifics of a situation. Lucky people, on the other hand, are more laid-back and open to whatever opportunities present themselves.


My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.


Wiseman says by honing skills like listening to your intuition and simply expecting to be lucky, you can actually increase the chance good fortune will find its way to you. In fact, 80% of the volunteers in his study group who tried this approach, ended up feeling like their luck had changed for the better.

What's your take on creating your own luck in life? Do you think it's possible to break out of a pattern of misfortune, or are we pretty much destined to just deal with whatever life has in store for us? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Are you in the right job? - RecruitingBlogs.com

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Original Post Here


pam claughton

Are you in the right job?

Because of what I do, friends often come to me for job advice. I remember a few years ago a good friend was looking to transition into something different and an opportunity fell into her lap and she asked me for my opinion. She was waitressing at the time and was very outgoing, a real 'people person'. But her career before waitressing was numbers related. She had been a fund accountant and then manager for years and did a great job, before layoffs hit. She was fortunate in that she had a good severance package and while she was trying to figure out her next steps, she was making good money waitressing. The career she was looking at? Morgage broker. This was a few years back when the market was still good, and I thought she might do well. People who do well as waitresses/bartenders often do well in sales.
So she went for it, and did well, but she didn't love it. So, she came to me again and I asked her to think about what she liked and disliked about the job. She didn't like cold calling or the sales side, negotiating, etc. What she loved was the numbers side and helping people find the right loan. She made a list of all the things in her job that did like and then started looking through the help wanted to find jobs that incorporated some of them.
A week later, she reported back that she'd found several jobs that seemed to fit, both with local banks, as trust administrators. "I never knew this type of job existed." She said and added that she had several interviews lined up. A few weeks later, she was thrilled to accept an offer and now a few years later, still loves what she does.
So, if you are not in love with your job, take some time to think about the aspects of your job that you do love and do some research to see if there's a market for a job that incorporates more of what you do love. For instance, if you are an agency recruiter doing full cycle recruiting, but you hate the sales side of your job, you might be happier in an agency that splits things up, where one person does business development and another does pure recruiting. That is more common in contract staffing groups. Or maybe you like the research sourcing piece and want to focus on that? There's definitely a demand for that service.
Also, in this current economy, it's actually a very good time to start a business. Costs of entry are low, rents are down and if you come in and work hard, you can build a solid base and be well positioned for success as the market improves. Start a sourcing business, or go on your own as a recruiter.
This applies to other industries as well. For instance, the IT guy that helps us out in my office does a great job but doesn't have a college degree, so he was complaining one day that most employers won't consider him for an IT role. I suggested he put a flier together and drop it off at local businesses. That way he can build his own company. He does a great job, he's inexpensive, compared to what other IT companies charge and he's local. He came by my office today to show me his flier and it looks great. It looks even better with the testimonials we added onto it, raving about his work. Now he's off and running. You could be too. Create your own dream job, whatever that may mean to you.
There's an expression I heard many years ago, that I love and believe holds true....do what you love, and the money will follow. :)

Start Work AFTER The Interview

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This lesson in perseverance is a variation on the last story, about the candidate who brought a list of sales leads to his job interview.

“Robin, a woman from Los Angeles, had been interviewing with the same company for three months. She felt she was a perfect for the position, but the hiring manager was not responsive -- he wouldn’t tell her yes or no about a decision to hire her,” says Ron McManmon.

So Robin called McManmon to discuss her dilemma. His advice?

“I suggested that she REALLY demonstrate her skills to the hiring manager. I encouraged her to call 100 potential customers and ask them, ‘Would you be interested in looking at a technology that would solve your problem with X and save you XX amount of dollars?’” says McManmon.

The next day, Robin walked into the manager’s office, put her contact list on his desk and said, “I’ve already started working for you. In fact, I have 100 customers who are interested in your technology.”

What happened next?

“Robin was hired on the spot,” says McManmon.

Action Step: After you’ve been interviewed for a job you really want, don’t sit back and wait for the phone to ring. That’s what the other candidates are doing.

Instead, research your target company and “start working” for them before you’re hired. This can help PROVE you’re the one to hire.

Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin

Choices and Hope

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Original Post Here [mnimal]




9 Unconventional Steps to a Thriving, “Very Small” Business

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Original Post Here
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity.

image by Infusionsoft

For more than ten years I’ve operated a string of one-man businesses. My model is: keep it lean, hire no one, and outsource very little. I’ve made my share of mistakes (a long list!), but one thing has remained constant—I want to add extreme value to my customers, and I want to make a good living without simply creating a job for myself.


Here’s what I’ve learned.


1. Hire no one. My Unconventional Guides business took off in early 2009, and for a while I felt an internal pressure to hire some kind of virtual assistant—mostly because that’s what everyone in the internet world seems to advise these days. “Get someone to do the things you don’t want to do,” is how the idea is usually sold.


I finally realized that another answer to dealing with “the things you don’t want to do” is to just not worry about doing them at all. If I have to supervise someone else doing boring work, it’s not that different from doing it to begin with. The things are still on my mind one way or another. Therefore, it’s just me in the virtual shop, working from more than 20 countries a year.


2. Outsource very little. The conventional alternative to hiring employees is to outsource your life through overseas agencies or virtual assistants. But instead of outsourcing, you can just stop doing stuff. I don’t want employees, assistants, or clones in India to answer my email. I actually like hearing from my customers and don’t want to create a barricade between them and me.



3. Offer no customization. As Henry Ford famously said about his Model-T automobile, “They can have any color they want, as long as it’s black.” Once you start providing options, color, sizes, and so on, things get complicated. If you want to stay deliberately small, don’t customize.


(I also offer no shipping services, since everything I sell is digital. Therefore I have no need for inventory, trips to the post office, or worries about lost orders.)


4. Pursue a lot of opportunities, but don’t be afraid to cancel. Last year I developed four new products, but I almost developed two others. No one heard about them, because they ended up not being a good fit for the mission. Failing quickly is OK; dying a slow death is not. Don’t worry about what you’ve spent to get to the point where you are. In the words of Seth Godin, “The only cost that matters is the one in front of you.”


5. Offer more to the right people. Properly set up, the creative use of cross-selling and upselling can rock your business world. Most businesses earn much more money from existing customers than from new ones. When I first set up a very basic cross-sell – “Would you like fries with that?” – I increased sales by 23% immediately, without increasing the workload. Then I set up a simple upsell – “If you bought x, you’ll love y” – and increased sales a further 12%.


6. Set a clear, non-ambiguous goal. Most businesses have the goal of “maximizing shareholder value.” There’s nothing wrong with making money, but an unclear goal is hard to achieve. How will you know when shareholder value has been “maximized”?


Therefore, my goal is basic: happy customers who benefit from my work, and a good living for myself. I don’t need seven-figures or an overseas call center to achieve either of those objectives. Instead, I need to be able to travel and work from anywhere without worrying about money.


7. Provide the strongest possible guarantee, and stop worrying. I don’t mess around with guarantees. My Frequent Flyer guide guarantees that customers will receive at least one free plane ticket (25,000 miles) in exchange for $49, or I don’t get to keep their money. Everything else is guaranteed for life, or for as long as the bank that processes my Visa transactions will allow me.


Some people ask, With such a generous guarantee, what’s the refund rate? Answer: less than 1%.


But don’t people take advantage of you? Answer: most people are honest, so why worry about the dishonest ones? Life is too short.


8. Focus entirely on relationship building and cash flow. That’s it. This is what your very small business will live or die by, so avoid getting sidetracked by anything else. Relationship building activities include talking to customers and creating new products based on their feedback; cash flow activities include joint venture promotions, sales, and offers to existing customers.


9. Track two key metrics and ignore the rest. For my blog I want to know: how many new readers did we add today? For my business I want to know: what was the total revenue that came in today? Everything is evaluated according to those figures. At the end of the month I also quickly look at a few other metrics like visitor value, sales from affiliates, and a few social media stats. But it’s all very simple; it takes fifteen minutes to update monthly, and I ignore everything else.


As Zen Habits readers know well, you can often do more by doing less. What you give up is just as important as what you hang on to—and besides, choosing to be very small in business is fun.


Chris Guillebeau writes for a small army of remarkable people at The Art of Non-Conformity. Follow him on Twitter here.


Resume: Too Long or Too Short?

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Original Post Here from TheWiseJobSearch by Harry Urschel
image I’ve often said: “Show your resume to 10 people and you will get 10 different, and often conflicting opinions!”

A ‘good’ resume is very subjective to the reader. Everyone has preferences as to what’s appropriate and what’s not. There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ resume and it should always be a work in progress… tweaking, tuning, and tailoring it to each position you apply to and for each circumstance. It’s a good idea to have multiple ‘generic’ versions so that you have appropriate ones for different situations.

Everyone has opinions about resumes and I’m no exception. I believe there are some good best practices in today’s job market that benefit anyone. However, I’m certainly willing to concede that other conflicting ideas may at times be valid as well.

One discussion that arises often is regarding an appropriate length of a resume… always one page? Two pages? Are 3, 5, or more pages ever appropriate? I believe there’s a definitive answer to that question: “It depends!”


Different situations can call for different resumes. In my opinion, the length of the resume can vary depending on where and how you use it:


One page: For someone with less than 5 years of professional work experience, I believe a 1 page resume is always appropriate. With only a few years of background to document, it’s likely to appear you’re adding fluff to stretch it out beyond 1 page. For someone with a relatively short work history, a 1 page resume can be used in any situation.

Regardless of the amount of experience you have, if you are meeting a networking contact, or sharing a resume with an acquaintance, a 1 page resume is easiest for them to get a sense of your background without having to dig too deep into a multi-page document. It can be thought of more as a marketing document. Pick the important information to share and choose your words carefully.

For someone with 15 or more years of experience, often a 1 page resume can appear too light. Although brevity can be a virtue, you don’t want give your experience too little exposure either.


Two pages: When presenting a resume to apply for any direct-hire (as opposed to consulting or contract) position, it is virtually never a good idea to present more than 2 pages. In the vast majority of cases, someone will only scan your resume for less than a minute to make a determination about you. In that period of time they will not read past 2 pages. No matter how carefully you’ve chosen your words on the 3rd, 4th, or 5th pages, they will have no impact if they don’t get read. Even if they are willing to spend time to read more detail, your resume will have greater impact by expressing your experience effectively in fewer words. if you can’t express your experience effectively in 2 pages, it’s not likely you will be able to do it well in 5 pages either.

Three pages or more: Although I find great benefits to brevity, there are situations where 3 or more pages are appropriate.

For someone pursuing consulting or contract opportunities, more detailed descriptions of previous projects and assignments is often called for. Typically, the consideration process for consultants involves fewer interviews, so more has to be learned from the resume. However, occasionally I’ve seen resumes that are 10 or more pages long and that is never called for.

Additionally, it can be a great advantage to take a longer and more detailed resume with you to an interview. Although you may have sent a 2 page resume to get the interview, it can be beneficial to bring a 3 to 5 page document to help guide the discussion. Often, an interview revolves around questions about what they read on your resume. Providing more detail can help steer the direction of the conversation to highlight areas you may want them to grasp about you. It’s a subtle way to gain more control in the process. As you meet your interviewer, you can hand them the longer resume and say something like: “I brought a more detailed resume to help with our discussion about my fit for the role.”

People often get passionate about their opinions regarding resumes. As a job seeker, you have to decide for yourself what advice to apply and what to ignore. You alone are responsible for what you present to a potential employer. Although there will certainly be many that disagree with the advice offered here, decide what makes the most sense for you.