The Executive Update

Ask the Coach: Don’t Muddy the Water with Too Much Information

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.

Something we don’t touch on often in the weekly Ask the Coach calls is interview strategy. This week, Randy offered some invaluable advice for job candidates going into an interview or during the screening process – don’t be too forthcoming.

As Randy notes, many candidates sink themselves by offering too much information about themselves too soon. This is because most executive candidates are used to being on the other side of the desk, screening candidates for a position, rather than being the candidate who has to be screened. These days, candidates also are usually under additional economic stress so they feel pressured to take the first opportunity that presents itself.

Don’t fall into this trap. Be smart and be focused on your career goals. Be sure you go for ”fit” and make the case for why you are the best fit. Make sure you articulate that you understand the challenges the company is facing and that you can address them.

One caller asked that, if LinkedIn endorsements are so valuable, should you include them on your resume? Randy’s response was a resounding “No!” To quote Don Orlando, “Your references are gold.” Don’t offer them too soon or too often. Endorsements can follow when you need them. And when providing endorsements, you should first determine what the company wants – peers, bosses, subordinates, customers? You want to be prepared to offer references that will provide relevant information to those who want them. If your endorsements aren’t relevant or on target, it just confuses things.

Relevancy is the key because it speaks to the job fit. Fit is the most important part of the equation. In these economic times, there are a lot of candidates out there who have the same skill set and basic experience. What will set you apart is your innate value; your fit. So don’t muddy the water with irrelevant information.

Ask the Coach: Be Your Own Headhunter

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 Nick Corcodilos, host of Ask the Headhunter and author of How to Work with Headhunters and How to Change Careers.

Nick is filling in this week on our Ask the Coach call, and we were fortunate to have him since he is one of the best known career coaches on the Web. His overall advice: there is no substitute for hard work. All successful executives have had to make it up the career ladder the hard way, and when it comes to job search the same is true. You need to work hard and you need to work for the right fit.

Nick also reminded those on the call that as a headhunter, he works for the hiring company and not the candidate. They pay him well to find the right candidate, and they expect him to work hard for his money. As part of his strategy, Nick looks for experts in the field he is trying to fill. He talks to contacts, follows experts, and does his homework; all things that executives can do equally well, so why not be your own headhunter? Following industry experts and making contacts with professionals in your field is something you should be doing all the time.

You also should strive to stand out as the best in your class. Belong to groups of like-minded experts in your field. Contribute to the online conversation. Pose questions and provide well-informed answers. Remember, headhunters are lurking on these groups, following thought leaders in industry groups, professional associations, the military, alumni groups, and LinkedIn specialty groups. And don’t dismiss training classes – the best experts are always improving their skills, or teaching the class.

In addition to being found, you also need to look for the right fit. Find the companies that feel right for you and network your way into them. Finding the right contacts can be your biggest challenge, but never lead with your resume. Nick has a number of articles on his site about the best way to build your network of contacts.

Also remember that CEOs almost never do the hiring. You should be networking to connect with the hiring influencers: lawyers, consultants, CPA's, leasing agents, former employees, their bank, suppliers, and customers - the people who can truly tell you what is going on, who does what, who can provide insight, and who can introduce you to someone inside.

And Nick noted that there are two conditions that are usually considered strikes against any candidate: being too old and being unemployed. Some companies are so blind they will hurt themselves rather than hiring either someone who is deemed too old or out of work, and you won’t change them. So don’t waste your time, but do be prepared to walk in the door with the right attitude and remove any obstacles. You need to be well-prepared to show that you can solve the company’s problems. Go into each interview like a business meeting, with a prepared presentation to show you have done your homework and know your stuff. Be prepared to talk about how you can impact their bottom line. Think of it as a working interview and be prepared to hit the ground running.

Ask the Coach: Overcoming the Stigma of Networking

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.

Don has a favorite phrase he often repeats during his Ask the Coach calls, “There is a war for talent going on,” and Don defines talent as knowledge, skills and abilities harnessed to passion. To win the war, you need to have an effective networking strategy, which brings Don to a favorite subject, the Folklore of Networking.

As Don rightly notes, the folklore behind networking is that it is a mutually mortifying process where you have to ask everyone you know for a job. That’s not networking; it’s begging. Networking is the exchange of something of value for something you have to offer – bartering for something that benefits both parties.

The reality is that you only get out of networking what you put into it. After all, why should someone help you just because you ask them? You need to demonstrate your value. If most executives used the same timidity and were as unsure in their professional lives as they are in networking situations, they all would be sweeping floors. An interview should be considered just another meeting. Networking should be just another accomplishment; just another work challenge. When you need to solve a problem, do you turn away or seek out resources to help you achieve your goal? That’s networking.

In today’s new world of hiring, companies are seeking out knowledge experts. They use social media sites like LinkedIn and networking resources like NETSHARE to find those experts with the skills they need. The hiring managers are scanning blogs, forums, and groups looking for experts who comment. It’s important not to find yourself associated with “pooled ignorance,” so think carefully and be thoughtful when you respond. The objective is to share your expertise, not just make noise. Join groups that are relevant to your expertise, like IEEE, SHRM or MENG. Be active and contribute to stand out from the crowd. Write articles and become known to the movers and the shakers in the arena where you want to make a difference.

Don also noted that many companies put real importance on “degrees.” However, what value is a degree that is 20 years old? If you can show that your professional development has been continuous throughout your career you will have a better chance of standing out.  

So make a connection and reach out to the experts who need your talents. Test the waters. Once you connect as a peer through effective networking then the hiring authorities will seek you out with an offer. The strategy is to network so they find you and so you can differentiate yourself so you don’t get lost in the herd when it comes time for a cattle call.

 

What Executives Can Learn from the Gen Y Invasion

This guest blog post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes on the topics of online universities.  She welcomes your comments at katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

As an executive, or at least an aspiring one, you've probably been deeply embedded in the world of business for a considerable amount of time. As such, you've developed the grace and general people skills required to successfully coordinate and manage the millions of details inherent in executive-level work.

Just recently, the media – both online and off – have been abuzz with speculation about "Gen Y", especially as it pertains to the workforce. Thousands of recent college graduates/ have flooded the job market, all eagerly anticipating their first jobs. What with increased job mobility, many hiring managers are currently seeking the young bloods, but Gen Y's drawbacks are now also becoming increasingly apparent. Namely, younger employees are taking social media to a level that has had an interfering effect in the workplace.

As a member of the workforce looking for an executive position, you should be aware of Generation Y's purported strengths and weaknesses. Since today's business-related social media was first developed by an age group that ranges from 18 to 30, there are many skills to be picked up from this cadre of hyper-connected Internet trailblazers.

For one, social networking sites thrive on consistent communication and cultivation. Just like a garden, one's Internet presence through such sites as LinkedIn and Facebook must be tended to constantly. You should update your information and changes in your status as they occur; you never know which important connection or company may overlook you just because you haven't refreshed all pertinent aspects of your current career trajectory.

On the other hand, too much of such connectivity can have disastrous consequences. Many companies hiring young college grads have complained about a lack of focus, a burgeoning sense of entitlement, and a monomania with gadgets. These habits are not simply a disease specific to those born in the past three decades, however. While there are other influencing factors to take into consideration, of course, connection addiction is real and it can affect anyone. Be especially careful when you are on the job hunt, a time when spending hours on the Internet surfing for opportunities can easily becoming an addiction in and of itself. 

Putting the Personal Back Into Personnel – Why Hiring Fails as a Supply-Chain Process

Last month, I attended an event sponsored by a well-known job search site that aggregates jobs from all over the Internet. They have a great search engine for locating online jobs. In fact, this company refers to its service as “search engine hiring.”

The attendees were primarily corporate recruiters charged with filling multiple positions at various levels. The discussion centered on recruitment advertising and understanding the metrics involved in determining the “Cost per Applicant” and the “Cost per Hire.”

It got me thinking.

There is no question that measuring ROI is important. However, when hiring is viewed as a supply-chain problem, people are equated to products. Maybe that’s why we now call it human resources instead of personnel.  Today’s hiring process is being run like a factory and we are turning individuals into commodities to be ordered according to specs.

Does the internet make that inevitable?

I don’t think so. When NETSHARE went from a hardcopy publication delivered via mail to Internet delivery in 1995, we saw the Internet as a more efficient way to distribute information. We still believed that the key to success is about connecting people, sharing networks.  That belief has remained in place.

What this job site was selling was akin to classified ads for the web. That’s how all the early job boards started; digitizing print classified ads and making them available to a worldwide audience. For job seekers, this means sifting through ad after ad and trying to make your credentials match the criteria in the job listing. This was never a good career management strategy, nor a good hiring strategy. That’s how job candidates stop being people and start becoming a checklist of qualifications; product specifications.  But the Internet also expands the possibilities of connecting with like-minded professionals, and hiring authorities, to share experience, ideas, and expertise.  After all, people hire people, they don’t hire specifications.

Life is about relationships not transactions. So when you run your hiring process as if you were filling an order, you should not be surprised if you find a shortage of willing talent.  Likewise, if you continue to treat your career as a series of transactions, you will find that it becomes transactional, which will limit your hopes for long term growth and true career satisfaction.  On either side of the desk, if you see life as a web of intersecting relationships, you will find that you always have a safety net when you need it.

Ask the Coach: Understanding How To Leverage LinkedIn

Each 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 our newest expert to join Ask the Coach, Christine Dennison, The Job Search Coach.

It’s interesting how frequently LinkedIn comes up as a topic for discussion in the weekly Ask the Coach calls. This week, Christine revisited the LinkedIn topic, emphasizing that in today’s job climate, networking is the best way to find work; not just a job but work. This is true for consultants as well as full-time job seekers. And LinkedIn has become the “go-to” resource for senior managers and executives looking to connect with other professionals who are in positions of influence. So whether you are looking for consulting work, a better job, a career change, or any other form of advancement, start with LinkedIn.

Before you can start networking, you need to identify your objectives. Have specific goals and targets in mind, whether you are looking for consulting work or a new career. You need to think about what you want, including the work environment, location, job responsibilities, possibilities for promotion, etc. No one can do this for you; no one understands your needs or objectives better than you do. Once you have determined your goals, you can determine what companies or organizations best fit your objectives and which ones can make the best use of your skills.

Once you have a target in mind, then you can determine the best way to identify and approach the decision-makers. If you want to target a hiring authority, then LinkedIn can be a great resource, if you are patient and use it in a smart way. You can use LinkedIn to identify resources within the company, find out what forums they participate in, watch their status updates, and get to know them. And you can start to approach them slowly, demonstrating your interest and your expertise, but not overtly asking for a job.

LinkedIn is a great tool to help hiring authorities find you. If you have a well-formatted profile and know how to use LinkedIn to create a trail that leads to you personal information, then hiring professionals looking for talent will identify you as a fit for their current needs. The challenge is knowing how to use LinkedIn effectively to drive the right kind of attention to your profile.

If you are looking for tips on how to use LinkedIn for personal branding, Jason Alba, author of I’m on LinkedIn- Now What??? will be the guest presenter on the next session of Experts Connection, offering his insight in a session entitled “LinkedIn for Executives: BEYOND the Basics!” where he will explain how optimize your profile, how to use LinkedIn Groups, how to increase your perceived value, and how to improve your personal brand.