The Executive Update

Ask the Coach: Look for the In-House Recruiter

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from a recent session with our newest career coach, Kristin Speer of Accelerated Search Consulting.

This week we welcomed a new career coach to the Ask the Coach call. Kristin Speer is the founder and CEO of Accelerated Search Consulting based in Silicon Valley, who brings 20 years of experience working with high-tech companies. Her special passion is working with people who have been out of the work force for a while.

Kris noted that she is starting to see things start to move, especially with technology start-ups. She recommends organizing your search into three parts:

1. Be found – Make sure your information is out there in the logical places
2. Respond – Keep your eyes open for appropriate openings and get to the right person when you see a position posted.
3. Go after what you want – Be proactive in identifying the companies in your area that you want to work for, and identify the right hiring authorities.

An emerging trend that Kris has identified is that large companies are using internal recruiters to do their executive search. Companies are looking to take advantage of the large-scale layoffs at recruiting firms, snatching up the talent for their own benefit. Of course, many times these internal recruiters aren’t as effective as a recruiting firm, but this trend means you need to find the Internal Talent Group.

 

As a job seeker, this means a shift in strategy. You need to make sure you are in the recruiting firms’ databases as well as their partners. Concentrate on the partners that are appropriate to you. Determine who primarily works with your expertise and reach out to them.

 

The best way to get the attentions of recruiters – both internal and external – is through LinkedIn. Make sure you have a solid profile that shows your value up front. Make it easy for the reader to connect the dots, matching what they need to what you have to offer. Use the right keywords, and if you are not sure what to put in your profile, try reverse engineering the search process. If you were hiring for the position you want, what would you expect to see? You might search through LinkedIn looking for similar positions and see how others write about themselves.

 

LinkedIn Groups can be extremely useful. Find groups that relate to your profession and monitor the jobs section and discussion sections. Join the conversation. Offer value by responding to questions. That way you will be seen as an expert and make yourself known, and remembered.

 

One caller asked Kris how, as a recruiter, she uses LinkedIn? She said she uses the Advanced Search section. Since most companies prefer to deal with local candidates, she first searches by zip code for the company’s location. Then she looks for titles – vice president, senior vice president, CEO, etc.  Then she narrows the search using keywords. She typically uses three or four filters per search to uncover the right candidates.

 

As a closing note, remember when sending your marketing documents to send .DOC Word format or .RTF files. Don’t send .docx format files since many companies have not upgraded to the latest version of Microsoft Office.

Ask the Coach: Finding Work in Uncertain Times

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from a recent session with career coach Don Orlando.

A lot of this week’s Ask the Coach call was about the economy and dealing with finding employment uncertain times. As Don says, when the economy is uncertain companies are reluctant to commit to a full-time hire.

Companies increase their return on investment by controlling expenses and increasing sales. With today’s economy, the easiest way to control costs is by cutting personnel, and smart companies are looking to hire the best core group of employees possible; staff who can build success today and lay the foundation for the future. The presence of these superstars attracts other star candidates.

You need to try to help others so they will see you as an asset; as someone who wants to help rather than someone who wants a job. You can present yourself to solve a specific problem and then use that as a stepping stone to another opportunity within the same company. Eventually, you will be able to leverage your consulting role into a full-time opportunity, after both sides have had a chance to kick the tires. This also allows you to update your resume and add some sterling references in the bargain.

If you are really serious about getting a job within a company, you need to network your way in. When a post is vacated, management goes to the staff and asks for recommendations long before they post the position to fill it. The employees have a vested interest in offering a solid candidate because it makes them look good. If you are networked in to these target companies, you have a better chance of being offered as a candidate.

Don notes that the paradigm shift today is that the jobs find the people. Hiring managers now can Google applicants before a position becomes available. They can search trade journals, blogs, and other resources looking for experts who match their criteria. They can see who is “visible,” who is contributing to the public conversation, and then reach out and talk to them. After determining if there is a comfort level there, a fit, the hiring manager can explore if the expert is a potential job candidate.

So how does this affect your strategy? Don advises that you become “digitally visible.” Make yourself and expert and be found. Use LinkedIn. Promote your brand online. But be wary of digital drivel. Demonstrate your domain expertise clearly and concisely and your online brand will lead to better opportunities, first in the short term, and then in the long run.

Twitter Types: Which Way Do You Tweet?

Recruiters acknowledge that Twitter has become the “go to” place to find out about new hiring opportunities and new candidates. Everyone is all atwitter about Twitter, but the question still arises as to how to use Twitter effectively for marketing and promotion?  I recently ran across some insight from Social Media Today profiling the four most common types of Twitterers. See if you can see yourself in any of these profiles and think about how these different approaches can be used to extend your career outreach.

First there is the Conversationalist. These users are more involved in the chatter of the day and more focused on what they are doing as an extension of their professional persona. These folks tend to be genuinely involved in the conversation, and as a result many have a big following.  They tend to promote their personal brand by their presence, and they get professional benefit although the message is softer and the benefits less traceable.

Then there is the Conversational Marketer. These folks tend to be more obvious and direct in their marketing approach. They often link to their blogs with more frequency and remind you about an e-newsletter or their latest book. These Twitterers tend to be engaged with their audience, but never lose sight of their objective – promotion. The best approach here is to point to blogs, articles, and other online destinations that promote your expertise and your personal brand. The trick is to build our audience with truly interesting content and comments, not just say, “Hey, I’m cool.”

Then there’s the Salesman. This Twitterer tends to be more promotional and less conversational, spending more than half of their Twitter time pitching. There are different schools of thought about whether this is boorish in the world of social media, but it can be acceptable if you engage in the conversation. There are examples of popular Twitterers who do a lot of product promoting with flair, talking about how what they have to say and sell is relevant to the online exchange.

And finally there’s the Broadcaster (or some may say, Spammer).  These folks self promote without engaging. They shout into the Twitter-stream, if you like, self-promoting without engaging. Not all of these broadcasters are worthless, however. There are a number of newsfeeds, for example, that don’t engage but merely post new information; broadcasting their brand. And there are a number of job posters and job resources who call into this category.

So think about your personal brand and your job search and how it fits into the Twittersphere.  Can you set up a Twitter feed that extends both your personal brand and your personality? Try it and see if you can attract some attention from recruiters, at the same time you start tracking those Twitter job feeds.

Need Help with Your Career? Be Sure You Use a Coach and Not an Enabler

We have a number of terrific career coaches who work with NETSHARE on our weekly Ask the Coach call and supporting our members in a number of ways. Over the years I have come to appreciate what it takes to make a good career coach, and what it takes to distinguish between someone who is a true coach and someone who is an “enabler.”

When you are looking for career help, you need to seek out a teacher who can help you help yourself. You won’t find a good career coach who will do the work for you. You still need to do the work yourself, but a good career coach can guide you in the process, and help show you where you can be more focused and more effective.

For example, a number of executive job seekers struggle with the notion of creating a personal brand. How do they identify their unique value proposition and package it for use in their job search? An enabler will interview you and then provide a list of unique characteristics that they feel distinguish you from the pack and that you can use to sell yourself. A coach will provide you with a list of probing questions and force you to do your own homework to identify your own unique differentiators. You have to ask the hard questions yourself, and then determine where you want to go. Why would you pay someone else to tell you what to do or tell you who you should be?

Let’s face it, job search isn’t easy, and neither is the self-examination required to do it effectively. A good career coach will act as a guide, pointing you in the right direction and helping you reveal new truths about yourself, your capabilities, and where you can apply your expertise. A bad career coach will take you by the hand and lead you down the path they know, telling you what to do based on their experience and expertise, even when it won’t be a good fit for you in the long run.

If you are looking to land a new job or change careers, then you may be feeling a sense of desperation, particularly if you are unemployed. That sense of urgency often gets in the way of good judgment. It’s human nature to seek the easy answers and find a quick solution to your career problem. And it’s tempting to hire people who are willing to help you by showing you short cuts to reach your goal. Unfortunately, there are no short cuts in effective job search. If you are going to find a position that is rewarding and provides real personal and professional growth, then you will have to invest the time and energy to do the heavy lifting – define your personal brand, identify your unique value proposition, target companies who can use your expertise, build your network, and sell yourself into a new career.

An effective career coach can help you make the most of yourself, but they aren’t you, and they can’t make those critical life decisions for you. So when seeking help with your career, be sure you are shopping for a coach and not a crutch.

Ask the Coach: How to Screen Yourself In, Not Out

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session with career transition coach and consultant Randy Block.

This week, one of the coach callers raised an interesting question that all executives are dealing with in their job search – how to handle screening calls.

This particular caller has been unemployed for about eight months, but he has been getting calls. The calls go quite well until they reach the subject of compensation. Although he is adamant that he will work for less, the screener tends to end the call quickly when they talk salary and that’s the end of it.

Randy advises his clients to handle screening calls using a specific approach:

When you receive a non-scheduled call, explain that “now is not a good time, I’m just leaving…,” and reset the call for another, mutually convenient time. Make sure you get the other party’s name, and company. Also ask about the title of the position they are calling about, and try to get as much additional detail as you can. If possible, get them to send you a job description. Now you can prepare yourself for the questions that are likely to come.

Be sure your skills match the required qualifications. Score yourself, giving yourself a “1” for qualifications that you don’t know or don’t have, and “10” for those you have mastered. Be sure to come up with examples of achievements for those areas where you excel. If your overall score averages 7 or less, you flunked. Be honest with yourself, because you won’t pass the qualifying exam if you aren’t.

Also be sure to research the company. Get an understanding of where their points of pain lie. Get a handle on their competition. Now you can talk about what value you bring, and put your experience in relevant terms that speak to your candidacy and background.

If you have a scheduled screening call, you need to be prepared to present yourself as the solution to their problem. Treat this like a face-to-face meeting. Also beware of giving away too much information. Keep your answers short and to the point or you will lose your audience. (Personal branding guru Dan Schwable recently tweeted about an article outlining how to get your foot in the door and keep it there.)

When the question of compensation comes up, Randy recommends handling it this way.

1. Be up front and ask what the position pays. Most times the screener will tell you.
2. If they won’t tell you and ask about the salary range again, try a response along the lines of, “I’m sure that this is a great fit for the company and salary won’t be an issue.”
3. If they still want a specific answer, give them a number. You need to determine this number in advance by sitting down with your spouse, adding up the bills, and determining what you can live with. You then have a minim mum base that you can consider.

Remember that the purpose of a preliminary telephone call is to screen you out, not to qualify you. The fact you are getting calls shows that people are interested, and probably know a bit about you. Your job is to keep them interested. These days companies are looking for the perfect candidate, so you have to match their criteria.

An increasingly popular approach is consulting. Offer to come on board as a consultant so both you and the company can “kick the tires” to see if there is a mutual fit. There is less risk to the company and it’s a good way to address their points of pain and prove you are capable of doing the job.

Smile: You’re on Interview Camera

Your computer has become your new friend when it comes to job interviews. I heard an interesting segment on NPR’s Marketplace last Sunday evening about the explosion in online video job interviews, including webcam interviews. This is not a new concept, but it is now gaining momentum and increasing in sophistication as video conferencing has gotten easier, so you need to be prepared.

So why would companies opt for an online video interview? The obvious answer is cost. Why pay for travel expenses for a candidate who may not have the right stuff if you can determine by long distance if he or she might be a good fit? Using video as a means to screen candidates gives you a better sense of the candidate’s personality and presence without paying for gas, a hotel room, or a plane ticket. Using video conferencing also expedites the interview process. And hiring managers can cast a wider net and process more candidates via webcam, and then create a short list of candidates to interview in person.

An article in About.com quotes Kim Bishop, a senior client partner at Korn Ferry International as saying, "With advance planning and preparation, the video interview isn't very different from an in-person interview." She also says that many video interviews take place in a professional setting, such as a recruiter’s office or a company that offers conferencing services. However, teleconferencing has become so simple – all you need is a Skype account and a webcam – that more interviews are taking place at home. So while video interviews aren’t complicated, they do require preparation:

1. Make sure you send all the materials that the interviewer will need in advance, such as your resume, executive profile, etc.
2. Whether you are doing the interview from home or from a recruiter’s office or other location, be early so you can get yourself organized.

Ask the Coach: Embrace The Web to Build Your Network

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.

Nicola James was the host for this week’s coach call. Nicola is a retained recruiter and executive coach who recently added "social media specialist" to her list of credentials. She just completed a certification course through Social Media Magic University. Some of the callers were interested to hear more about how social media affects today’s hiring decision-making, and why she felt it necessary to get social media certification.

 

Nicola explained that she is a strong believer in networking via the net. The Web is everything today. It gives you more reach and more power – like the difference between hand tools and power tools – and should form the foundation of your job search.

 

The real benefits of social media sites are that they make it easier for you to be seen as a thought leader; to show you are on the cutting edge of your industry, company, or professional. It also gives you a chance to demonstrate your personal interests and that your interests are relevant. Social media also forces you to focus on one or two things that are truly important to your personal brand; your core value. And social media teaches you to be concise; you need to make your case quickly, and you always can direct interested parties back to more detailed information, such as a LinkedIn profile.

 

On all social media platforms, your profile is the anchor for your personal brand. It’s your online calling card and allows those who read it to understand your value proposition. Therefore it’s important that, no matter how many social media sites you use, your profile should be consistent across all platforms. Also use the same photo to create a consistent presence.

For the executive, LinkedIn should be your best friend. LinkedIn gives you access to decision makers. Between 80 and 90 percent of all CEOs are currently on LinkedIn, which is only one of many reasons to upgrade to a paid subscription.

 

Twitter is becoming more important and has been gaining momentum with recruiters. And recruiters usually respond to those who contact them via Twitter. You can search contacts by keyword and interest, and unlike LinkedIn, it’s easy to make direct contact using Twitter.

Plaxo is another tool to consider. Although Plaxo hasn’t gained the momentum of LinkedIn, it is another touch point and a good place to be found. There are people using Plaxo who are not on LinkedIn so you should make sure your information is complete, correct, and consistent.

 

What’s the easiest way to manage your online profiles? Consider using Ping.fm. Ping allows you to select which platforms you want to connect to and use a single update that will be forwarded to all or them. Nicola warns, however, that creating frequent updates can irritate those who are following you, so make them count. (Nicola added that a Twitter update told her that Ping.fm was just acquired by Seesmic.com, which lets you update 50 social networks from a single location.)

 

No matter how you choose to pursue social media, remember to be engaged, be collaborative, and be authentic. You also need to be focused to make the most of your time online. 

When Looking for Career Advice, Use Your Nose to Sniff Out the Rats

There are con artists at work in every business, including job search. I was struck by the number of charlatans out there when I spotted an ad for a free resume service on Craigslist. Of course, when you click through to the web site they offer the resume for free, but you can’t get the resume without a cover letter, which has a fee associated with it. And there is no information about the experience or credentials of those providing the service. Even such a free offer could prove really costly if you rely on amateurs to help you with your job search.

I could see a lot of parallels between the con artists at work in the career field and those at work in the financial services field. I recently ran across a book by Ken Fisher and Lara Hoffmans, How to Smell a Rat, which identifies five suspect factors to look for to avoid being swindled. You can apply many of the same lessons in the field of job search. Consider the following:

1. Never hire a financial advisor who assumes control of your money, and never hire a career consultant who assumes control of your personal brand. You wouldn’t hand someone your wallet and say, “Here, invest this.” You also wouldn’t hand someone your resume or your marketing documents and say, “Here, go find me a job.” Any consultant you hire will be a partner in your success, but you will have to retain control of your brand and determine the best course to promote yourself.
2. Be wary of financial experts who have never had a bad run, and don’t hire career experts who guarantee results. No financial guru is going to get it right all the time, and no career coach or consultant can guarantee success. Anyone who offers a foolproof guarantee is lying to you.
3. Don’t accept an investment strategy or career advice you don’t understand. Watch out for so-called experts who claim to have a magic bullet or some kind of special connections or process. There are no shortcuts in job search, or in planning long-term investments.
4. Avoid financial advisors who tout their exclusivity and only work with a handful of clients, and avoid career experts who aren’t working with multiple clients and offer you special attention. When you retain someone to help you manage your career, you want to make sure they are active and reputable, which means they are working with multiple clients.
5. Don’t delegate due diligence. When you are hiring anyone to help you with your career, check their references, both past and present.

Career coaches and career management consultants can be invaluable resources. They can show you new ways of thinking. They also can help you develop your personal brand and package that brand in your career documents.  And they can assist you in identifying the right kind of company to target, and in identifying the hiring authority who can help you land your next job. However, they can’t do the work for you. It would be like asking your personal trainer to life the weights for you. You have to do all the heavy lifting in order to be successful, and anyone who offers to make it easy is conning you.

"Steal This List" – Some Online Career Destinations You Might Check Out

There is any number of career blogs posted on the Web, including this one. I recently encountered a list of ”The 100+ Career Blog Sites You Must Read” on The Job Swami, which was actually a repost of a list complied and posted by Career Rocketeer. You might even recognize some of the bloggers as contributors to our Experts Connection teleseminar series or our weekly Ask the Coach career strategy calls.

So I am reposting the list here as a public service – to paraphrase Abby Hoffman, “steal this list,” share it with your associates, and make good use of it.

Comments welcome, please. Tell us how you are faring with you own job search, and if you have run across any interesting career sites or blogs lately.

Career Search

• Accelerating Momentum - Joan Schramm - http://blog.achieve-momentum.com/
• Adventures of the Job Search Ninja - Todd Bavol - http://www.integritycareertransitions.com/blog
• Alison Doyle - Alison Doyle - http://alisondoyle.typepad.com/
• Another Point of View - Kay Stout - http://anotherpointofview.typepad.com/
• Back on the Career Track - Carol Fishman Cohen - http://shine.yahoo.com/blog/Z2MKDE5UQ7YUKK4IHQLOD5RKBQ/
• The Big Time - Spherion.com - http://www.spherion.com/careerblog/
• Build the Career You Deserve - Kevin Kermes - http://www.kevinkermes.com/blog/
• Career by Choice - Megan Fitzgerald - http://www.careerbychoiceblog.com/
• CareerDiva - Eve Tahmincioglu - http://www.careerdiva.net/
• Careerealism - JT O’Donnell - http://www.careerealism.com/
• Career Hub - Louise Fletcher - http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/

Learning from the Experts: Using Social Media To Sell Your Personal Brand

There isn’t much difference between selling your personal brand and selling any other type of product. You need to identify your value proposition, your key market differentiators, your competitive advantage, and package those advantages. As I have said many times, no matter what your profession or professional expertise, when you lose your job you are now in sales. You have to sell yourself, and that includes developing and marketing your personal brand.

This is why we decided to have Neal Schaffer host the next session of Experts Connection, our monthly telesminar series on executive career management. Neal is author of Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn, and an expert in social media marketing. The next Experts Connection session is entitled “Social Media for Small Businesses & Solo Entrepreneurs: How to Level the Playing Field,” and is really aimed at entrepreneurs and business professionals who want to make the most of social media to promote their business. However, the same rules apply for you to promote yourself. If you are looking for work, then you are promoting the business that is you, and your own personal brand. The lessons are universal.

We chose Neal as an expert because of his background and proven expertise. Neal has a pragmatic approach to social networking and marketing that I find refreshing.  Social media is still a relatively new phenomenon, and the rules of engagement and metrics for success are still being worked out. Neal’s approach is practical. He doesn’t assume you have to engage everywhere. Rather, he recommends being strategic and selective to help build your brand. He understands how to leverage a blog as a centerpiece to your social media marketing strategy. He also understands how to leverage different platforms such as Wordpress, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, including determining which are right for your strategy. He also understands how to monetize social networking and how to build a gameplan for success, no matter what you are selling.

So listen to the marketing experts. They can help demystify social networking for you and unlock new insights into how to promote your personal brand using new networking channels. Remember, your expertise is just another commodity or product that a potential customer, i.e. your next employer, is looking to exploit to help their bottom line. Understanding how to market that personal brand message using new, more effective techniques like social media will put you ahead of the competition.