The Executive Update

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.