3 Smart Ways to Boost Your Job Search

3 Smart Ways to Boost Your Job Search A job search can be a joyful and exhilarating process. A job search can be an annoying and exhausting process. Which statement do you identify most with? Most people would say, “It depends.” One emotion that is dominant during a transition is one of urgency. Here are three simple ideas to simplify and successfully manage your search. 1. Pay attention to how you start. Treat your job search as a process NOT an event. Thoughtful reflection. What is your “ideal” job? Specifically, list and prioritize your top five criteria and support these with examples. Can you clearly explain to someone why these criteria are important to you? Use your transition time to review your work values, interests, skills in relation to past experience and future possibilities. What was right in the past might not necessarily be right today! Priorities do change with circumstances. Critical Analysis. Recognize that hiring does take place even in a tight job market and that employers hire when they are convinced why you can do the job. Conduct in-depth research and analyze position requirements carefully to assess how you can meet employer needs BEFORE you develop your marketing materials and job search strategy. 2. Pay attention to your marketing plan. Craft your marketing plan AFTER completing a thorough self-assessment. Value-Add Marketing Materials. Craft your written and spoken communication based on performance and results, NOT tasks. Use the “so what” test to convince and build confidence in an employer by giving them insight into how your role made a key difference to a business problem. Winning Outcomes: What is the best way to look for a job? With the many choices available, first, create your target list of choice employers and geographic preferences before planning your search strategy. Why apply for a job in Phoenix, Arizona if you never plan to move there? Decide how and where you want to expend most of your creative energy for the best results. You want momentum which you get when you get off the rocking horse. Build Your Network: Employee referrals continue to be the number one source for hiring. Networking with people is NOT about asking people for a job; rather, it is the process of building alliances. A process that begins much before you need to look for a position and it is a process that you cultivate as a lifetime habit. Who are your networks? Think of giving back to get help. Create visibility and build credibility by sharing resources and skills to generate opportunities to market your skills. 3. Pay attention to your “whole” being. Anxiety, turmoil and loss of confidence are sometimes built into the job search process because you feel vulnerable. It does seem that someone who does not know your and your skills well is judging your worth based on a few conversations. Calm the “storm” when the going is rough with two simple ideas. Maintain Focus. Remember transitions are temporary. Remember your preparation. Surround yourself with trusted advisors. Re-assess and re-evaluate. Exercise. Assess Your Energy. Recognize that you will have good and bad days in your search. Avoid second-guessing and self-criticism. Remember you are not being rejected; rather your skills might not be the “right fit” for that opportunity. Use all opportunities to get feedback on how effectively you have included self-assessment, research and marketing into your strategy. A job search can be a joyful process. A job search can be an annoying and exhausting process. Both statements are true. You make the choice. Related reading: 6 Clever Ways to Improve Your Job Search Tactics.

Networking from Hundreds of Miles Away

Networking from Hundreds of Miles Away If you’re planning to relocate to another city, your jobs search complexity increases by a factor of five: distance, time, cost, market intelligence and the challenge of building a network long distance.   Each of these factors makes it hard to be competitive in your new market; you may be thinking that networking is the hardest.   There are some things you can do to start building your network from where you are. First, set up your social media profiles and start building your virtual network.   Recruiters are using social media more and more in their search for professional candidates, so having an online presence is no longer optional. Start by putting a complete professional profile on LinkedIn.   I’ve written about social media and your job search  before.   Your online “digital footprint” is your online brand.   When people connect with you online, what do they see?   If you’re just keeping up the basics, they see where you’ve worked and what pages you link to and keep up with.   It should go without saying that those pages should represent professional interests and be family-friendly in their content. Be sure you include your objective in your profile, and that you include your new target city in your profile “headline” or your interests and objective.   If you are looking for opportunities to connect with people in your new city, say so.   If you have a specific company or type of job in mind, let people know.   You can also join groups and ask questions that might help you in your research on your new city and career. Now that you’ve built a strong profile, you can start to link to professionals in your community.   Start with people you know and work with, then expand your network to include people you’ve known and worked with in the past.   You can do something in your virtual network that is impossible when you meet someone face-to-face: you can see their network of connections and past employment.   By connecting with former acquaintances and coworkers, you can see where they are now and where they’ve been.   If you have a specific company in mind for your new career, look for connections in your current town with links to your target company.  You can also start following companies you think might be target for your search.   Each week, you’ll be able to see a summary of the hiring, departure and promotion activity at the company, and which people might be in your network.   You have the opportunity to connect with those people through the site.  LinkedIn says:   “You’re 30 times more likely to get a response to an InMail [its internal message engine] than to a cold call. Why? Your profile is attached to your message; plus, it never ends up in a spam filter.” It’s true that when people can be reminded of who you are (if they have met you) or see your profile (if you’re a stranger) they will be more likely to take your call or agree to a meeting.   It’s like Caller ID; they can decide to pick up the phone (metaphorically) knowing who is on the line and decide if this is a good time to connect with you. Using this tool as a start for your networking helps overcome some of the barriers to moving to a new city â€" even one outside of the United States. Here’s what LinkedIn claims: LinkedIn has over 80 million members in over 200 countries. A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of our members are outside the U.S. Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

Three bad career questions people ask me all the time

Three bad career questions people ask me all the time Id like to tell you that there are no bad questions. But you know what? Thats not true. So here are the ways people ask me questions that drive me nuts: 1. You ask me a career question for your wife. The first problem with you walking around in the world telling people you need help for your wife/girlfriend is why can she not ask for herself? I can only imagine that she does not see her problem the same way you do. And in that case you should butt out. Or, maybe she does not want to ask for help. And in that case you should butt out, too, because who are you to tell her she needs help when she doesnt want it and then go get it for her anyway? Newsflash: The guy who asks career advice for his wife sounds way more needy and off-track than his wife does. Because the guy is being so disrespectful in such a public way and he doesnt even know it. And hey, mister, how would you like it if your wife walked around telling people that you need career advice but wont get it yourself, so shes getting it for you? 2. You ask me a question when five people have given you an answer you dont like. I have some bad news for you. Five people who agree on anything are probably right. Especially since its likely that after three people gave you answers you didnt like, you probably started asking people who are maybe a little bit crazy so maybe theyd give you a different answer. And they still didnt. So look, consider taking the advice when a small community accidentally comes together as synchronized advisors. You are lucky. These people all took the time to hear your problem and give you a thoughtful answer. Dont spurn them if you can help it they will not want to give you an answer again. Cheat sheet: If you are thinking that your problem is very unique and difficult, or that people everywhere do not understand you, then the problem is you. Because you dont want to face the reality that you are not special (none of us is, really) and the people around you are not idiots. (And if they are, who is the original idiot that aggregated the idiots?) 3. You ask me a question that requires more than two paragraphs. Sometimes I get emails that are more than two pages long, attempting to explain a problem. Im going to tell you something: All career problems can be described in under 100 words. If you are going over 100 words, you dont know your problem. If you are going over 1000 words, its because your self-knowledge is really bad, so that is your problem. Think about it. If your problem is that you dont know a good way to answer the phone when it rings, that is a very concise problem. If everyone in the office hates you and you cant figure out why (maybe you cant narrow it down to the phone) then that is still a concise problem. If you have to explain to me all the characters of your office and why they suck and I have to infer that everyone hates you and thats your problem, then your problem is self-awareness. You lack it. So try this: If you are writing your problem and youre on the fifth paragraph, try to edit. Try to get it to one paragraph. And then try to get it to one sentence. Thats a good exercise in figuring out your own problems. Being smart about your career is not so much about having good answers. Its having good questions. You dont need to have answers to everything. But you need to work hard at making your questions useful, for both you and your advisors.

The Top Ten Online Tools I Cant Live Without - Classy Career Girl

The Top Ten Online Tools I Cant Live Without As I have transitioned to the best job ever as a working mom  with a beautiful one-year-old daughter, it requires A LOT  of systems running  smoothly behind the scenes. Over this last year and a half, I have had to change  my busy lifestyle to become more efficient and way more productive. My daughter truly helped me prioritize my life and see where I was wasting time. I did not want to be away from her one minute longer than I had to or working on something that was just a waste of time while she wanted  to play with me. So here comes the massive list of online tools that have saved the day when it comes to CCG being more efficient and productive. The Top 10 Online Tools I Cant Live Without 1.  Evernote: Not sure what Id do without with one of my favorite online tools, Evernote. I set up notebooks that help me focus on what is crucial. I also save all of my files and emails that I don’t necessarily need on a daily basis in Evernote as well. It’s so easy to search for things you need. So glad I started using this a few years ago! Evernote is also where I host all of my training PDFs that I download from various websites as well, and it’s a great place to save articles that you might not have time to read but can go back to later with Evernote Clipper. 2.  Asana: My virtual assistant and I have tried to use a lot of different online tools to manage our projects, and we have jumped to five different ones in the past few years. But, I think we have found the best one now, and the best part is that it is free to use as well! Asana is very organized and we know exactly what each other is working on. The best part about it is that it has a calendar view so I can see if I have given her way too many tasks due in one day. This helps me spread the work out so I don’t overload her!  Lately, though, I have just prioritized her tasks each day in Asana, so she knows exactly what to focus on each day. 3.  Time Trade:  If you schedule calls or meetings with other people, you need to check out Time Trade. It’s like my personal meeting scheduler, and I don’t have to do a thing. It syncs with my Google calendar and let’s other people book appointments when my calendar is open in the spots I have designated. Then, it sends each person a calendar announcement. Easy and automatic! Love! 4. Picmonkey: When I first started this blog, I had to hire a graphic designer to create photos with text on it. I am now proud to say that (except here and there with the help of my fabulous VA) I do my own graphics and even created this pretty little website by myself with the help of my husband. I use Picmonkey ALL THE TIME, and the best part is that it is free. You can make your photos look exactly how you want with text and so much more. Even if you dont think you are the least bit creative, you will  love this tool. This is one of my favorite online tools. Ill be sharing the five steps to go from employee to entrepreneur on a webinar soon. Sign-up here! 5. Leadpages: This is another tool  that has made my  blogging life so much easier over the last year. Now I use Leadboxes so I can put my own opt-in forms on my blog and dont need to outsource it every single time! This is huge for me! That is why you now see lovely PDFs available for you in each blog post because I CAN provide more value to you thanks to Leadpages and Leadboxes! If you have a blog or website, definitely get over there now and start creating simple pages and opt-in boxes to start growing your list of people you can help.  One of the BEST things someone told me when I started a blog five years ago was to start my list and create an autoresponder series. So, now I am passing along the tip. Do it now. Dont wait one minute longer. Thank me later. 6. 1shoppingcart:  This is what I use to collect payments  and manage my online store. I can accept credit cards and track orders. This is also what I use to manage my email list and send out autoresponders.  If you are short on funds, the easiest way to get started building your business is to just to use MailChimp (free list building) and Paypal to process payments. AS SOON AS YOU CAN, I would recommend jumping to 1shoppingcart to make your life easier, though. Note: I will be moving to Infusionsoft over the next few months and am happy to share my experiences on that after the wild transfer ride is over! Wish me luck! 7. Bluehost and WordPress.org: These two go together because they are the only way that this website functions at all. I always get asked by people who want to start a blog where they should start. I would highly recommend buying your own domain and getting hosting yourself through Bluehost. Then, create a WordPress.org account which you can easily do through Bluehost. 8. Wishlist Member:  This handy tool allows you to take your WordPress site and turn it into a private membership site to create a course or training program.  All of my training programs  use Wishlist, and its just a little work to set it up, and then it can drip content to your students and clients each day, week, or month. You can also send out usernames and passwords to your clients automatically so they can get started as soon as they buy your program. Anything that can run automatically is FABULOUS for me and my business!  And I am crazy about making sure my clients are taken care of and receive the content that they signed up for, so I love this tool. Say hi to our Virtual Assistant, Lor, in the Philippines! 9. Onlinejobs.ph:  Ok, I am going to tell you one thing and you must remember it. HIRE BEFORE YOU ARE READY. If you are busy, which I am sure you are trying to grow your blog or business, get support to help you ASAP. Its so worth it. I have had my fabulous virtual assistant, Lor, on my team for four years now. She is amazing and the only reason that my business took off while I was still working my day job. Lor is in the Philippines, and she works during her day (which is my night), so I can wake up and have my business moving forward while I sleep. Now, I have a friend across the world, which just rocks. This tool is where I found my virtual assistant, and I recommend that you do the exact same thing! TODAY! I know its scary but they offer a ton of training to help you find the right fit, right away. Thank me later! 10.  Instant Teleseminar:  This is what I use to conduct my webinars and group coaching calls every week. I love that I can record the calls easily and send it out right away in case someone wasnt able to make the call. It also has a chat box and QA feature I love. Its so simple and easy to understand. I have tried other webinar and call tools, but I always come back to this one. When I have important clients on the phone, I cant afford anything to go wrong! Honorable Mention: Google: It feels weird even putting this here because I almost feel like it is a given! We run all of our CCG emails through Gmail, and now we use Google calendar to plan our program launches. We also use Google Docs to share files and photos to our virtual team around the world. We also use Google Hangouts to chat with our Virtual Assistant, Lor, in the Philippines every other week. Note: Some links to online tools above are  affiliate links and I will get a portion of the sale if you purchase through my link. Thank you! Your turn to share! What online tools do you love? Ill be sharing the five steps to go from employee to entrepreneur on a webinar soon. Sign-up here. window.addEventListener('LPLeadboxesReady',function(){LPLeadboxes.addDelayedLeadbox('xEUeLVsNMFLwcyKrDrTLTB',{delay:'20s',views:0,dontShowFor:'0d',domain:'annarunyan.lpages.co'});});

Reader Mailbag - Retiring but... and Adjacent Industries - Career Pivot

Reader Mailbag - Retiring but... and Adjacent Industries - Career Pivot Retiring but Now What? Copyright: studiostoks / 123RF Stock Photo This is the first of series where I will respond to readers’ questions. Look for this monthly feature. Sally asks: I’ll be retiring at the end of June, at 68 years of age, due to a company mergerâ€" which means layoffs. I have a college education and experience in several professional fields (journalism, info technology, and pharmacy tech. I’d like to continue working at least part-time, and/or to start a business, but am trying to think of ways to get around mobility problems. I’m a big person (200+ pounds, 5’6?) and have had knee surgery, so walking is not always the best for me. Also, our severe climate is part of the reason I’m retiring. My commute was no fun in deep snow and ice for most of the winter. I’d like to stay indoors for my own safety during blizzards and ice storms, instead of trying to drive to work. On the other hand, I don’t want to be tied to a desk for 8 solid hours as I was before, unable to get up except for scheduled breaks because that’s not good for my health either. Any ideas? Sally, I have a couple of ideas for you. The first thing I want you to do is to focus on your health. I have to admit that I am putting extra focus on my own health since I passed the age of sixty (more on that in a future post). The first thing I would do is look into some freelance writing. For this, I want you to explore Upwork.com. Upwork came about from the merger of elance.com and ODesk.com. Listen to the most recent episode Before you get work, I suggest you build a portfolio of work by writing guest blogs. I get 5-10 inquiries a week from people who want to write for this blog. Find 5-10 blogs that you would like to write for and start soliciting them. Offer to write for them for free. The whole purpose in this is to build a portfoliothat demonstrates your skill. Once you have a portfolio of work, ask one or more of the websites to hire you at a very low cost on Upwork. Upwork is similar to Airbnb or Uber in that everyone is rated. It is best to get some successful projects with good ratings from people you already know. Once you have these successful gigs with excellent reviewsunder your belt, you can start looking for higher paying assignments. The second idea is to subscribe to FlexJobs.com. I regularly partner with Flexjobs on this blog. Through this site, you will findflexible and remote positions within a variety of disciplines. Flexjobs has a monthly fee for their service, but it is well worth the cost and effort. You will find writing and IT positions that can be done remotely. Getting Hired in an Adjacent Industry I received an e-mail from someone who wants to transfer her skills to an adjacent industry, but no one will hire her. Carey writes: I wanted to transition my skills to a new industry but was unable to effectively convey the benefit my knowledge from my former jobs brought to the position. I spoke with Carey, and she told me she worked for over 20 years in the talent management arena, where her company had a government state contract. She was laid off when her company lost the contract. Currently, she is trying to make a career pivot into working with Chambers of Commerce regarding their talent management needs. Unfortunately, she has had difficulty convincing them that her skills are directly transferable. Whether you want to transfer into an adjacent or completely new industry, hiring managers will focus on your industry expertise over any other skills you may have. Previously, I wrote about howDaniel Elizaldetransitioned into the smart grid industry. Please readChanging Industries to Smart Grid. Carey needs to brand herself as knowledgeable about Chambers of Commerce talent management issues. In the old world, you could convince a hiring manager that you can do the job and then learn on the job. Those days are over. Carey needs to demonstrate that she can do the job. Don’t tell the hiring manager that you can do the job, show him/her you can do the job! The easiest way is to write a series of LinkedIn Publisher posts that propose solutions to typical problems youknowChambers of Commerce talent management organizations face. You will need to have some serious discussions with Chamber management in order to discover what are the real issues. Write three or more posts before you publish any to LinkedIn. You should then publish them on a regular basis. This could be weekly, every other week, or monthly. Whatever schedule you choose, be consistent. After you publish, please share them on LinkedIn with any potential hiring managers. Share these posts with anyone else who could influence getting you hired. These posts are now attached directly to your LinkedIn profile. Anyone who looks at your LinkedIn profile will easily find these posts and, therefore, discover that you are knowledgeable within this new industry. What Issues Are You Encountering? If you are having issues that you would like me to address in this monthly feature, please do one of the following: Respond to any e-mail that you have received from Career Pivot. Fill out my contact form. I look forward to hearing from the Career Pivot community. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Answering The Key Question Why Do You Want To Work For Us

Answering The Key Question Why Do You Want To Work For Us Can You Answer This Key Question? Some people go into interviews and wing it. Others prepare ahead of time. Usually this includes researching the company and planning responses for commonly asked interview questions. Questions like “what is your management style?” and “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” But, there’s one key question they often don’t prepare to answer. “Why do you want to work here?” When I was recruiting, I always asked candidates if they knew anything about the company. The smart ones would tell me a few things they learned while researching the company. Things they liked, that made them want to work there. The unprepared would say “no” and leave it at that. While I was always unhappy when candidates admitted they knew nothing, or very little, about the company, if they were otherwise qualified I would pass them on to the hiring manager. When candidates did express a strong interest in the company, I would include that in my written summary and recommendation to the hiring manager too. But I wasn’t making the hiring decision. You may get through the recruiter without doing any research, but when the hiring manager asks “why do you want to work here?” you need to have an answer. And, not that it sounds like a great opportunity for you. To help your chance of making it to the next level, make sure you do some advance research. Company Website Always take some time to investigate the company website. Go beyond the Careers section and read the About Us. Look for the companys Mission Statement. Read the bios of anyone you might be interviewing with including HR, people you’d be working with, and the person you’d be reporting to if hired. Today many company sites have photos and bios of almost everyone on staff. The company site should give you a feel for the company culture. What are they talking about? Do they provide information on career paths? Are there videos of staff talking about their experiences? Or is the site more impersonal? Social Media One of the best ways to learn about a company is to follow them on social media. Where do they have a presence? What do they post? By following companies on social media, you may learn about upcoming product launches or business initiatives. You will also get some insight into the company culture. Some social media, like Twitter and Facebook, give you the opportunity to interact, or at least try to interact, with recruiters and other employees who might provide additional information and, perhaps, help your cause. LinkedIn Profiles Once you know who the key players are, particularly those you might be working with or reporting to, research them on LinkedIn. Read their profiles and review their activity. What type of content do they like and/or share? Have they written any articles on LinkedIn? The persons Summary, if written well,   will give you some insight into who they are as a person. You may learn why they choose their career or what they love about their job. If they have published articles read a few of their posts. Review the articles and information they share in status updates and in groups. Conducting advance research will give you a distinct advantage over lazy candidates who wing it. First, it should provide a few talking points you can use during the interview process. Second, it can help you prepare to answer Why do you want to work here? Maybe the company’s mission aligns with your personal values. Perhaps they are innovators in their field. Possibly the person you’ll be working for inspires you. You may find some common ground by checking where they went to school and where they volunteer. Maybe you went to the same college or support the same cause? As someone who supports dog rescue, with my time and pocketbook, I always feel kinship with others who share my passion. Making a connection like this with a future colleague or boss can help push your candidacy forward. The best bet is to research each company before you apply for a position. (You may find the culture isnt a good fit for you.) Its essential to research a company before a job interview. When a potential employer asks “why do you want to work here?” you need to have a compelling, well thought out, and, hopefully, honest answer. Updated 4/3/19.

My Perfect Resume Free - Can You Use This to Build Your Resume?

My Perfect Resume Free - Can You Use This to Build Your Resume?Have you ever asked yourself, what is the My Perfect Resume Free? What is the use of this? Why would anyone want to do this? Well in this article we will discuss on what this free service is and also how to use it effectively.In a nutshell, what is the best way to get the perfect resume? It is basically not difficult at all, you can use this service by simply signing up and that's it. All you have to do is fill out some information that is required on their form, and that is it, no worries, there are no answers, no trial periods, no payments, etc.Basically what this is and the reason why people use it is simply because it is simply the best service that you can possibly use when trying to do a good job search online. If you use a company that offers this service then you will need to pay, but once you do this you can get the right resume done for free. You can either have the resume produced by a professional company or s imply get the resume done yourself.You will probably get more than you bargained for if you use the service of this, they will do all the hard work for you and make sure that the resume you get is exactly what the potential employer is looking for. They will also help you if you do not know any good keywords for the job you are looking for. Most importantly, most of these companies offer this service because they believe that it is the best way to market their business and keep the traffic going.A better way to look at this is the best way to get the perfect resume, since this service is free it has no negatives to it. They only take your time and use your time well.But the question is; why would you want to do this, can you use this as a way to do the perfect resume? Well, that's a good question, I hope that you do, because with it you can save yourself money and time, which is an important thing to keep in mind.So, now that you know what the My Perfect Resume Free is, and how to u se it, you are ready to start building your resume, how about you, let's start marketing your resume. Be the best you can be.