The Executive Update

Tune Your Brain for Better Career Opportunities

We all know that job hunting is depressing. It’s a tough, isolating experience, and very few of us are particularly good at it, which makes the challenges seem even greater. That’s part of the reason we have a weekly Ask the Coach call, so job seekers can feel themselves to be part of a larger group and so we can all pull together to apply collective wisdom and experience.

But there are steps you can take to increase your own chances of career success. Tune your brain! I recently ran across an interesting book and DVD, Brain Rules by John Medina, which offers some real insights into how the brain works, how to improve brain function, and why a number of activities and environments we take for granted actually impede brain function. Here are the top 12 tips Medina has to offer to improve your mental agility, make you sharper, and help you whether you are trying to land a new job or advance your current career:

1. Exercise – Your brain slows down when you sit still. Exercise improves oxygen flow and helps clean toxic waste from the body. If you want to improve mental capacity, get physical!
2. Survival – The human species is not particularly physically strong, but evolution has taught us to outwit our enemies. Humans are extremely adaptable with a huge database capable of assimilating vast amounts of data.
3. Wiring – Everyone is wired differently, literally.  Neurons connect differently if you are an artist, or a salesman, or a CEO. Your specific brain structure depends on a number of factors, including your culture and external stimulus. Knowing where you excel is part of understanding how you are wired.
4. Attention – It it’s not interesting, your brain does not retain it. This means you have to make a strong first impression if you expect to be remembered favorably.
5. Short-term memory – If you want to retain something in short-term memory, repeat it and link it to something. Information in a list of unrelated items is harder to remember, which applies in a job interview as much as anywhere. To be memorable, engage your audience elaborately and substantively with meaningful, familiar connections.

Ask the Coach: The Protocol of the Position Description

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 began with a discussion of how to work with recruiters and gathering information to make sure the position is a good fit. One caller explained that he had recently been interviewed by a recruiter over the phone, then requested to send a resume before seeing a job description. He did get a job description after the interview but the order of events seemed odd. He’s used to seeing the job description first.

Don reminded everyone that recruiters work for the hiring company, not the candidates, and so recruiters are prospecting now in anticipation of the job market heating up. There are some steps that job candidates can take to help themselves when working with recruiters. First, be proactive. Let the recruiters and hiring managers know you are interested in a three-way win: the recruiter gets a placement (either on contingency or in order to keep a retained search contract), the company gets a first-rate employee, and you get backing from the recruiter as a stellar candidate.

Don also reminded everyone to ask for a Position Description (PD), which is different from the job listing itself. The PD includes additional information so you can more fully understand the company’s needs and objectives, and see if it’s a good fit. Sometimes you may run into resistance when asking to see the PD because it may contain proprietary information or the recruiter may not be prepared to reveal the hiring company. Be understanding and work with the recruiter; let them black out or remove any sensitive information.

Also be sensitive to immediate needs. Companies are hiring for the next six months to deal with immediate problems so show you are the solution. Ask the recruiter what one thing you can do for the company in the first 90 days.

Another caller added that when he is contacted by recruiters he asks for the Position Description and then follows up with six-to-eight bullet points outlining his talent and experience. He then forwards these points with a resume and a white paper. Don’s only caution was to be sure the white paper doesn’t give away too many details.

As a final caution, Don noted that hiring practices reflect the companies doing the hiring. Everything is condoned by senior management, so if you don’t like the way you are treated in the hiring process, it’s not likely to get better once you are hired.