The Executive Update

Ask the Coach: Understanding Networking 2.0

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.

For many older career changers, the world of Web 2.0 seems very foreign. One of the attendees to this week’s coach call said that at the age of fifty-something, he’s not sure how to think about LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter as part of his job search.

Randy said he believes the jury is still out regarding social networking, but no matter which sites you use of what format you adopt for networking, the key is to network with a purpose – help others, keep in touch, and most of all, learn. Uses your contacts to help you find the right resource to gain access to the company you are interested in. Sites such as LinkedIn and NETSHARE are focused on business networking site, so it’s good for making business connections.

One of the participants noted that most Twitter users averaged in age between 10 and 30. Using Twitter shows that you are keeping pace with the technology, but also be clear about the demographic you are talking to via microblogging. Another caller noted that the biggest risk of online networking is time management. It’s very easy to get lost in online groups and waste a lot of time with poor returns.

Another caller asked about the blanket recruiter requests he was receiving through LinkedIn. Randy noted that these recruiters are building their online Rolodex. Remember that effective networking is being associated with people who you can honestly say are important to you, whom you know personally and you can introduce to others with a clear conscience. If you find you don’t have a direct connection to a specific contact, then do your homework, look at their profile, and find a way to connect. What groups do you share on LinkedIn? Groups are a great resource because you can pose questions, respond to questions, and demonstrate your expertise. It’s a great tool to become known and build your personal brand.

Ask the Coach: The Rules of Job Search in 2009

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

Everything evolves, including the rules of career management and job search. Here are a few observations based on my experience of things to consider for today’s job climate:

On the needs of most organizations: There are only two basic “pain points” that any organization has today: revenue and productivity. What are your relevant strengths and experience that can address these pain points? Most organizations want to know how you can help them survive the next six months. Long-term strategic thinkers need not apply. It is mostly tactical now.

On job seekers over 50: Stop spending most your time looking for a full time job! Start looking for “work.” Layoffs are happening but a lot of the work remains. Thirty-somethings don’t want to hire their mother or father. Be open to short-term solutions (especially those that involve mentoring). You will get a lot more traction that way.

On changing industries: Be prepared to take a serious pay cut. In most situations your past experience is not relevant. You have to lead with your motivational/transferable skills. One more point: you must be introduced to a target company through networking. A target company may not be able to relate to your experience, BUT everyone can relate to metrics. You need to get away from those achievements where you cannot give at least an educated estimate. Otherwise, you will get: “so what?”

The definition of networking: Networking is the exchange of information. It is not asking for a job or selling. It’s building key and strategic relationships. It takes time. If you don’t have the time, then look for a “survival job.” The world spins on relationships. This is especially true now.

On Interviewing: You cannot blow an interview when you were never a good fit in the first place. The only wrong answer in an interview is a dishonest one. Keep in mind that at least half of the hire is “chemistry.” A large part of what makes up chemistry is shared values. Do you know what yours are?

CEOs are All Atwitter

Once you have identified the right hiring company, the challenge is doing your research getting in front of the right executive. How do you find the right hiring authority? Of course, you use your network of contacts and ask around, place query to your pals on LinkedIn. You also can learn a lot from microblogging.

A number of chief executives are active on Twitter, and if you find the right executives, you can follow their comments to get a sense of what they are watching, doing, and thinking. You might even be able to establish a rapport by commenting on their “tweets” and becoming a known connection, which will come in handy come interview time.

Don’t make the mistake of being too direct and using Twitter to ask for a meeting or an interview. But if you can be subtle and use the medium for what it was designed for, then you can build a rapport with chief executives in a non-threatening way.

I recently ran across a list of C-Level Tweeters. If you haven’t checked out Twitter, try connecting with others of similar interests and get a sense of the discussion thread. But as you approach the C-levels, tweet with caution!

It’s About Finding Work, Not Finding a Job

I recently returned from a national tour, attending the regional NETSHARE Area Meetings we are sponsoring in nine cities to promote face-to-face networking. One of the insights that emerged from the myriad of regional discussions was that it’s more important to focus on finding work than it is on finding a job.

That was why I was very interested in a recent article by Tom Abate, a business columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle that explored the ins and outs of online hiring halls:

“The recession has heightened interest in Web-based hiring halls such as oDesk, eLance, Guru, and crowdSPRING. Small businesses looking to expand without hiring full-timers are finding more professionals willing to work as independent contractors doing Web design, programming, marketing, videography and similar trades.”

The article really focuses on how it is possible for any business, including the smallest of businesses, to outsource their needs overseas. However, what I found insightful about this article is that businesses are renting talent rather than hiring. In the current economic downturn, companies are cutting back and laying off, but there comes a point when you stop cutting away the fat and start attacking the bones of your operation.  That’s where you can step in with your indispensible expertise.

After the firing frenzy dies down, companies are realizing that they can’t operate without key functions in place, like marketing, development, IT support, etc. If budgets are too tight to hire managers to staff these positions, then their only hope is to rent the necessary expertise. That’s where you come in.

If you have done your homework, catalogued your expertise and skills, and know how to market yourself, then you can sell your expertise as the aspiring to relieve a company’s pain. Pain relief is your best shot at getting a foot in the door, making some fast short-term bread, and setting the wheels in motion to land a long-term gig.

If you think of your job search as looking for a long-term partner, you understand that it’s important to date before you get married. Package your expertise to make you an attractive catch for the right company. After you work together for a while you can discuss a lasting relationship.

So hang out your shingle and see what kind of work you can attract. You never know, it might lead to a job.

The Corporate Survivors for the Next 100 Years

Whenever undertaking any job search, you have to focus. One of the things that was reinforced time and again in our NETSHARE Area Meetings was the need to identify target companies and drill down, do your homework. That’s why next week’s session in our Experts Connection series focuses on how to properly research target companies and how to identify what to look for.

That’s why I was intrigued by a recent article I saw in Forbes entitled “100 Corporations that Will Survive 100 Years.” The article offers a list of the top 100 companies that are poised to survive the recession, and through the next century according to Innovest Strategic Value Advisors.

“Each year, [Toby Heaps, president of Corporate Knights] and Innovest track which companies are doing the best in several major sustainability-related areas, including human capital, environmental risks, governance and more. The results are added up to find the most sustainable businesses of all.

“The list is not a ranking. It looks only at AAA-rated corporations that can be considered models of sustainability, and they are picked to cover a broad range of industries.”

The list is eclectic and global, but it offers some insight into criteria you might consider when narrowing your search for target companies. As many career coaches have told me over the years, executive job seekers seem to gravitate toward Fortune 500 companies, which may make the field too narrow. However, if you start assessing companies based on sustainability – potential for growth, whether they have a Chief Sustainability Officer on the executive team, etc. – it will help you narrow your own search.

Gaining Strength from Your Weakness

We haven’t talked much about interview preparation in this blog, but it’s a crucial part of job search. You can prepare for interviews by understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly how those strengths and weaknesses will be perceived by a hiring manager. In fact, I recently saw a great article on this topic in the Wall Street Journal’s Managing Your Career column by Joann Lublin entitled “A Question to Make a Monkey Out of You.”

The focus of the article is how interviewees fail when asked the big question, “What is your greatest weakness?” Most candidates respond with something that is not a weakness or is irrelevant, which will prove to be a deal-breaker. Others try to offer something disingenuous that they think the interviewer wants to hear, such as “I am a perfectionist,” which translates to mean you can’t delegate or worse, “does not play well with others.” Others try to deflect the question with a personal response, such as “I am a terrible cook,” which will also cost you the interview.

The best defense here is a good offense. You know the weakness question will be asked, so be sure you have a response prepared that is credible, related to the job, and that will show you are well qualified and able to overcome your shortcomings. Practice your responses, aloud, in front of a mirror or video camera, so the response feels natural. Try to avoid the word “weakness” in your response, and explain your corrective steps. Consider the salesman who says his performance improved when he strengthened his command of numbers.

You also need to be sensitive to how your response will play within the corporate culture of your target company. For example, if you are interviewing with a fast-paced start-up, the response, “My biggest weakness is I get bored with routine,” should be well-received.

Breaking the Chains of Self Limitation

The web continues to yield interesting insights about life as well as job search. I recently ran across a blog post at Tickled by Life that describes 15 ways we limit our creativity, and I thought about how these same observations could apply to job search. The post is entitled “15 Elephant Tethers That Stop You From Being Creative!”, draws a parallel with the way elephants are trained. A trainer will use a heavy chain to restrain a baby elephant so that, over time, the elephant will stop trying to free itself so it can be restrained with even a light rope. We all have the same Pavlovian responses to our lives; past experience leads to blind assumptions that limit our thinking. So let me ask you, what invisible ropes are limiting your job search?

Here are some of the tethers cited in the blog post that you should consider as you conduct your job search. See if any of these are holding you back:

1. What will people think? A lot of people are self-conscious and fear the unknown. If you learn to overstep your boundaries and try new things, then the unknown becomes know and the fear disappears. I always try to adopt the attitude, what is there to lose?
2. I don’t have any great ideas. This may be overstated, but the point is that most people look for ready-made solutions to problems and are unwilling to stretch themselves; they become prisoners of familiarity.
3. Looking for the right answer. Formal education teaches us (often wrongly) to arrive at a single answer for every problem. There often is no one right answer – that’s what creative problem solving is all about. Use that same creative problem solving for your career.

Adrift in Employment Limbo: Finding Your Career Compass

Did you choose your job or did it choose you? It’s not as foolish a question as you might think. I speak to any number of executives who tell me their career just sort of, well, happened. One minute they are working in the mail room and in a few years, they find they are vice president of procurement, because they followed the path of least resistance. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I was struck by a recent BusinessWeek workplace column entitled “The Accidental Career”. Columnist Liz Ryan offered a typical example:

“I'm 48 years old and working as a director of [X] in a midsize company. I don't love the work, but I fell into my function through a series of events in my 20s, and as it turns out I'm good at it. I earn six figures and have been promoted twice. Now, my job is being eliminated, and I need to figure out a career direction, fast, with the complication that apart from what I've been doing, I don't really know which sorts of opportunities to consider. Thanks.”

 

I dare say that most of us ended up far from where we thought we were going. That doesn’t mean we are lost; merely that we chose the path that made sense at the time, the path that offered advancement, new opportunities, and a means to pay the rent. Now, of course, the rules have changed. There was a time when you could go to school, get a great education, and then find a way to apply your diverse background and skills to build a career. These days you need a very strong sense of direction. Understanding where you are, where you are going, and how to apply what you know to create your next position gives you a focus and drive that the competition may lack.

Ask the Coach: Research Your Targets Before You Act

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.

This week’s Ask the Coach call included a discussion of what it takes to research a prospective employer and market. Don offered a number of insights.

Whether you are changing industries or job functions, you need to identify the resources that will help you the most. Don notes that trade associations and periodicals are a great resource of industry information. Check out the National Association of Manufacturers and look for companies that meet your career criteria. It’s a great resource for company information, including company size, location, products, etc. Also consider tapping your local library. The reference librarian is trained to uncover the information you are seeking from various and obscure sources. Most libraries have business directories on CD that let you search by various parameters – size, SIC codes, location, sales volume, etc.

Once you have the right contact data, you can approach the company directly. This is your best chance of creating a hiring opportunity. You will have the right information at your fingertips so you can approach decision makers armed with information that will show you know your stuff and can make a difference.

Also remember that the experts in the field are the ones writing articles and giving speeches. They are the ones tracking the problems plaguing an industry. Ask them to mentor you (never ask for a job), and find out what makes them tick. You need to determine what will help you understand the industry quickly, identify the challenges, and show where you have a passion for what you want to do.

For more insight on how to research target companies, check out this month’s Experts Connection session, which focuses on how to “properly” research target companies. Ross Macpherson, an expert in advanced executive career strategies, shows you where to look and what to look for.

Time to Pay It Forward

The U.S. government is now wrangling with bank bailouts in the face of mounting unemployment and the worst fiscal crisis the nation has seen in decades. Don’t the rest of us deserve a bailout?

I recently ran across a blog at Career Assessment Goddess, Susan Guarneri, who talked about a Career Bailout Program. The basic premise is that in these hard times, it’s the right time to help others out.

“Giving someone a helping hand or extending a random act of kindness just because you can is more important than ever. With announcements of thousands of layoffs a regular feature on the nightly news, generous giving of time and advice to aid a job seeker may be an act of kindness that will come back to benefit you someday.”

By way of example, Susan points to a blog post by Thom Singer, a branding and marketing professional in Austin Texas, who tells a couple of great “pay it forward” Starbucks stories about helping out others “just because.” 

Helping others is the backbone of effective networking. Granted, you are out there, communicating with your peers online and through various organizations, trying to find those vital contacts who can help you get ahead. But don’t forget that networking is a two-way street. You have to give in order to receive, so help out your fellow networkers. Make an effort to help others who need counsel, contacts, and consideration. Pay it forward in your own way, so the good will and networking karma will come back when you need it the most.

Remember, networking is about helping each other, not just meeting your own needs.