The Executive Update

Ask the Coach: The Holidays Are the Time to Reconnect with Lost Contacts

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 Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers based in New York City.

In our last blog post we noted that this is the perfect time to be networking. This week’s career coach, Barbara Safani, concurs, noting that this is the time to make the most of holiday cheer and to get back in touch with those contacts who may have fallen off your radar.

It can be a bit awkward reaching out to someone who has fallen out of your professional life. Things happen and people get busy and you don’t have time to keep up, and after a time you realize that you have not been in touch and maybe you have even fallen down on the job and missed a promise or two. Your friends and contacts who may have been close at one time have all but disappeared.

No matter! The holidays are the perfect time to re-establish those connections. You feel guilty about letting the relationship lapse, but chances are so does the other party. Networking is a two-way street, and if you were busy and forgetful then probably the other person shares the same feelings. The holidays offer you a chance to get reacquainted.

Use holiday greetings as an excuse to reconnect on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, etc. Reach out with an e-card or an email or a telephone call. Ask about their family, their hobbies, or some personal concern. What are their goals these days? If you open with such an icebreaker chances are the conversation will turn around to “and how are you,” which gives you a chance to bring them up to date on your successes and your goals. This is an excellent opportunity to ask if they know any experts who can offer counsel about a target company or market.

Remember that “out of office” responses are normal when you reach out via email in December. You should not be discouraged. Many recruiters may take time off until the New Year, but in tough economic times many are working through the holidays, while others leave someone to mind the store. Since things are slower and they are in a holiday mood, they might be more receptive to phone calls or even a chat over coffee. You can stand out from the crowd if you haven’t already packed it in for the season.

One of executive on the coaching call noted that whenever a recruiter views his LinkedIn profile, he immediately sends that recruiter a note offering to help with his search through his own network, and he almost always receives an email back from the recruiter.

Timing is everything, and the holidays are the perfect time to renew your connections and make some new ones. It’s also a good time to refresh your LinkedIn, Google, and Facebook profiles – our next Experts Connection session shows you how to approach low-maintenance social networking.

'Tis the Season to Be Searching!

The holidays are approaching and for many, it is a time to celebrate with friends and family and to forget about the woes of work. However, the holidays are the time you should be stepping up your job search. It is the season when companies are thinking about the year ahead, including staffing challenges, and when a little good cheer in the right quarters can land your next interview.

Why are the holidays a good time for job search? There are a number of factors:

1. Planning for a new year – For many companies, the New Year is a new fiscal year as well and they need to plan their staffing before January 1. Since many of the other executive candidates will be taking off during the holidays, this is your chance to step in and demonstrate your expertise because there will be fewer competitors and possibly more opportunities.
2. Vacations create opportunity – The holidays are the times when many key decision-makers are out of the office, which can complicate the hiring process. This also creates opportunities for creative job seekers. Business is slower so you make get key decision-makers on the phone. And if they are out of the office, they still need to hire for the coming year so they may actually call you back if you can address their problem. Executives have been known to interrupt their vacations to meet with short-listed candidates. Remember, they may have vacation days they need to use while balancing their hiring needs for the coming year, which could be a winning combination for you if you can get in front of the right hiring manager.
3. Good will toward men and women – The holidays also are the ideal time for networking. Use the excuse of holiday cheer to get together with former colleagues and others. Show some interest in their holiday plans and forge a deeper relationship. Send holiday greetings to your online connections to promote conversation. Catch up with an eye toward your contacts’ needs for the coming year.
4. Use the time to strategize – While others are taking time off, you can use the time to strategize to improve your search. Research potential hiring companies and refresh your existing research with an eye toward competitive challenges that you can help address for target companies in the year ahead. Use the time to refresh your marketing documents.

Remember that the season of holiday parties is full of networking events and companies are looking to fill positions before the New Year. Don’t take a break for the holidays but be even more aggressive in getting out there to rub elbows will holiday merrymakers. Who knows, Santa may put a new job in your stocking for Christmas.

Online Networking Hinges in the Right Questions

Most people have poor online networking skills. That’s not because they are antisocial or unable to hold a conversation, but making a connection online is different from meeting someone at a conference or a cocktail party. And those who master the art of online networking find a multitude of rewards.

Consider that there are 500 million Facebook users. That is one out of every 13 people on the planet. And each of those users has an average of 130 friends. So when you think about the exponential possibilities of tapping into the larger Facebook network, you can understand why online networking has become such an important part of job search. With the right series of introductions you can meet almost anyone online.

The challenge is using the proper approach to get the desired results. The right exchange of information can open the right doors to your next career move. However, most job seekers don’t understand their networking needs. They don’t understand that nurturing connections leads to other connections that lead to desired contacts. Job seekers are too quick to say “hire me” and not open to exchanging information to deepen a relationship. You have to ask the right questions and have a clear idea of what you need to get from those questions. You can use questions to move the conversation from casual chat to information sharing. However, you also want to keep the questions friendly to build a rapport and not make the other party uncomfortable.

The best approach is to pose open-ended questions, rather than “yes or no” questions. You want to enter into a dialogue and give the other party a chance to demonstrate his or her interests and expertise. If you put these open-ended questions to work in the right way, you can forge a connection that can be valuable in your job search and in other aspects of your career. Try questions such as “What advice would you give someone starting in this business?”or “What credentials to you look for in this position?”

At some point in the exchange that follows, you will be able to steer the question to getting the insights you want for your job search. Don’t ask “Do you know anyone…?” That’s too direct and will turn off a potential contact. Back into the question by asking “who do you know…?” instead. A lot depends on how you ask the question. If you pose it in the right way, you are more likely to get the right answers.

Of course, you can’t make the conversation all about you and consider it a dialogue. You need to be able to offer assistance and information in return. Find out what your contacts are interested in. What are their networking objectives? And offer what assistance you can from your network of contacts or whatever resources you can provide.

Ask the Coach: Practice Organic Networking

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from our most recent session with Christine Dennison, The Job Search Coach.

This week, career coach Christine Dennison continued on the theme that was begun in last week’s coach call – networking to advance your career while you are still employed. Many executives feel that building their personal networks will raise concerns with their current employers. Some employers may raise an eyebrow, but networking in today’s online world is a natural thing. And that was Chris’s advice – keep it natural.

Make networking a natural or organic extension of your interests and activities. Base your networking on curiosity, education, mentoring, and learning more about the industry, whether it’s your industry or a new one. This works for you whether you are looking for a new opportunity or not.

You can also start making natural inroads into target companies through online commentary. Conduct online research to determine what’s happening at your target companies. Identify what sets them apart in their market. Identify the movers and shakers within the organization and start communicating with them in a natural way. Using this approach, you become familiar to others in a low-stress manner that forges strong connections for the future without shouting “Hire me!” As you build your network you can keep yourself open for opportunities that may arise, either for yourself or for another network connection.

As you start to build that organic network, opportunities will arise. You will start to look at openings that are worth pursuing. How many openings can you try to juggle at one time? That’s up to you. However, you want to make sure you give each opportunity proper consideration. You don’t want to shortchange yourself or your potential employer by not assessing the opportunity properly. Dig deep. Assess the cultural fit as well as the job fit. Is the position you are going after what you really want to do. If you can’t give yourself the time you need to get all the information required for a fair assessment, then you are stretched too thin.

Remember, each opportunity needs to be considered on its own merit. If it’s a fit, excellent! If it isn’t a fit, then don’t close the door. Keep your options open. That same company may have a new opening just down the road and you want to be remembered in a positive light. If the job isn’t right for you, then be polite but offer to help find another candidate from your network. Show you want to work with them. It’s good karma for you and for the corporate recruiter, which can only lead to good things.

And if you want to learn more about how to effectively network using LinkedIn, be sure to join us next week, November 15, when LinkedIn expert Jason Alba presents the webinar, LINKEDIN FOR EXECUTIVES: BEYOND THE BASICS, 2012 Edition.

“You’re Fired: Hand Over Your Entry Card and Your LinkedIn Contacts!”

If you have ever ready any of our previous blog posts, then you know that we are huge advocates of networking, both to advance your career and to advance yourself professionally. I spotted an interesting article in Forbes today discussing who owns your LinkedIn contacts. As with most legal questions, the real answer is “it depends,” but raising the question made the hairs on my neck stand up. What if you don’t actually own the contacts you have built up on LinkedIn?

When you read the article, you realize that the issue really has to do with competition and the ill-defined corporate rules of social networking. A recent UK court ruling insisted an employee turn over his LinkedIn contacts to his former employer. Including proof he had not signed them as clients for his new company. If you are planning to change jobs or start your own operation and you are considering stealing your company’s customers, partners, and vendors, then your LinkedIn contacts may be an issue, since your contact list could be considered a company asset. As the article states:

It “highlights the tension between businesses encouraging employees to use social networking websites for work but then claiming that the contacts remain confidential information at the end of their employment,” according to the Telegraph newspaper.

While it’s unclear exactly what transpired between an employer and employee based on press reports, one thing is clear: both employers and employees need to start considering ownership of social media contacts. Paying attention to the documents you sign when you are hired – or reviewing them after the fact if need be – is becoming more important for all employees.

The U.S. courts seem to differ on some of these same issues. Recently a New York district court ruled that LinkedIn contacts could not be considered a trade secret, but again, every situation is different so it depends.

Your best defense is to get make sure the rules surrounding your use of social media are clearly spelled out with your employer. The Forbes article cites some interesting statistics from a recent DLA Piper study showing that almost 40 percent of employees have connected with a colleague or business contact on Facebook or LinkedIn, 21 percent of employers have had to discipline an employee about inappropriate social media use, and only 25 percent of companies actually have a written social media policy. Social media use in the workplace is still vaguely defined.

The rules of common sense and simple ethics certainly apply. If you use your social media outlets to steal clients from a former boss, that’s wrong and probably illegal. If your job in sales or marketing relies on your social media contacts, then a case could be made that those contacts are corporate property. However, if you above board and careful in your ethical use of social media, then you are probably in the clear.

As a precaution, you should back up your LinkedIn contacts in any case. Be sure to save your contact information in another database or file format, such as a .CSV file, in case you lose your LinkedIn contacts and have to start over.

Your best defense is a good offense. Go to your company and clarify the policy. Determine in advance who owns your online contacts. If there is a question, consider creating two social media accounts so you can continue to build your personal network of contacts. But whatever you do, make sure that you can maintain those networking contacts. They are your insurance for the future.

Ask the Coach: There Is No Shame in Networking

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 career management consultant Randy Block.

A common fear among those who are working is that if they start networking, their bosses will suspect them of “looking.” What if you boss spots you on LinkedIn networking with another company, or even a competitor?

As Randy told callers this week, relax! LinkedIn is the place to be. Everyone is there (or anyone you probably care about). LinkedIn now has more than 100 million members, and only 25 percent are actively looking for a new position. The other 75 million are building their professional network for other purposes, although many are probably passively looking for greener pastures as well. There are a lot of people out there worth connecting to since they, in turn, can connect you to their professional networks and help build your personal network.

Even if you are not actively looking, you need to be nurturing your personal network. Start by reaching out to the first connection. Make yourself known. Once you start each step becomes easier. Just remember that with all your networking activities, be transparent and authentic. You want to build a solid base from which you can build your business network, and that you can tap for new career opportunities in the future, so make sure those in your network know you and your personal brand.

Build your online presence by commenting in the LinkedIn forums. Comment on the blogs, or even start your own blog. Be sure you are branding your expertise in a way that you show you know your stuff, and in a way that will attract the kinds of companies you want to work for. And don’t worry about your boss spotting your online activity. Tell them you are building your professional presence so you can do a more effective job. It’s true, after all. Social media is here to stay, and all professionals are engaging.

If you can, engage in a face-to-face meeting once a week. Check out local meet-ups, meetings of professional associations or the Chamber of Commerce, or meetings of local business groups. Make connections and be social; break the ice and talk about sports, local business conditions, whatever works to forge the connection. Once you connect you can deepen the relationship over lunch or coffee. In turn, your new contacts will Google you, check out your LinkedIn profile, and your blog, and if you have laid the proper foundation, they will understand your personal brand.

Now you aren’t just an e-mail address or a resume or online bio; you are seen as a three-dimensional contact with a unique value proposition. That will be to your advantage when the time comes to change jobs.

Ask the Coach: Getting a Stake in the Private Equity Game

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 Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.

Private Equity firms have always had an allure for many executives. The challenge is how to get on their radar? This week’s career coach, Nicola James, has a lot of experience working with private equity firms and was able to provide some meaningful responses to NETSHARE member questions.

The first caller noted that he had worked with private equity firms in the past at a senior level. How should he re-engage with the private equity market? Nicola replied that his previous experience would give him some standing with those who have hiring authority.

Nicola reminded the callers that there are two different levels of hiring within a private equity firm. If they are hiring at the C-level, then that is usually done by the portfolio company, by the partners. In this case they usually look to their own personal networks for hiring candidates. This gives you an advantage since you can identify those partners and build your connections through your own networks. Determine their outside interests. Find different ways to approach them and get to know them. That way, when they start looking to fill a new position, you will be there. The challenge with working with partners, however, is they often tend to be disorganized and don’t have a formal process for managing their contacts, so you have to maintain regular contact to put yourself in the right place at the right time for the right opportunity.

Below the C-level, recruiting is usually handled by the Vice President of Recruiting. These guys are professionals, with better contacts and better contact management systems than you typically find at the partner level. The way the vice president will keep track of their candidates is better organized so being “top of mind” is less important, but they also don’t maintain that same personal connection. They tend to work from resumes and information in their database and they may or may not understand the real parameters of the job.

In either case, you need to have the right market connections of the “investment backed” background to make sure you can get traction in the job search. You also will have to be more flexible about compensation. Private equity opportunities usually don’t have the same salaries and you need to be prepared to take less compensation on the front end and look for an equity payout later.

If you have background in a specific market, then it’s best to search our private equity firms that work in those areas conducting searches for professionals with your background. You will need to determine where the gaps are in their knowledge base and demonstrate how you can fill the void. Show your value. If you can’t demonstrate your market value, then demonstrate what specialization you have that matches the company’s need- working with start-ups, working with underperforming companies, etc.

You need to help the private equity company connect the dots to show them why you are a great candidate. If you don’t connect the dots for them, they won’t do it themselves or they will do it wrong.

Ask the Coach: Where are the Holes in Your Job Search Template?

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 Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers based in New York City.

Do you have a job search template?

This is a very common question that was raised again this week. You are entering the marketing phase of your job search. What is the schedule you should follow now?

There are templates or procedures that can help you on the way; that can assist you in staying “on top” of things. However, there is no “one-size-fits-all” template. There are basics that everyone needs to follow, but depending on your executive level, how long it has been since you last looked for a job, and how strong your professional network is, your needs will vary. If you have been maintaining your professional network and maintaining your personal brand, then your list will be shorter.

Networking is your most important step. Barbara could not emphasize this enough. Every one you have worked with, worked for, or who has worked for you is potentially a valuable contact. You could get assistance from an old schoolmate, parents from your kid’s soccer team, your mailman – you never know what might lead to your next job. Take five minutes each day to connect with someone from your past. Never ask for a job, but ask how they are doing and make the connection personal. Start a dialogue.

Prepare your marketing documents. Before others can understand your value, you must understand it yourself and be able to articulate it. What is it that you do better than anyone else? That is the essence of your personal brand, and it should be the cohesive glue that holds together all your marketing materials. Step one is to identify the components that make up your personal brand.

Your marketing documents include a resume and cover letter, but you also need an executive bio. Create an online profile that summarizes your value for use on online networking organization such as NETSHARE, LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, Facebook, Google+, Plaxo, Ziggs, Spoke, and Naymz. If you have a common name, such as Barbara, you can use Vizibility.com to fine-tune search results that lead to you. But whatever you do, make sure your brand is consistent throughout.

Promote your personal brand online by writing articles, commenting on industry forums and blogs, and if you have the inclination, start your own blog. Remember that companies want to find you, so leave an online trail for them to follow back to your posted branding materials, like your LinkedIn profile.

And you should have replying to job listings posted in targeted web sites as part of your job search strategy, but only devote about 5 percent of your time. You will get more results from proactive outreach rather than competing with everyone else for jobs posted on the web.

Where you need to focus your energy depends on your situation, but the basic elements are the same for everyone.

If you want more insight into how to take charge of your job search, join our Experts Connection teleseminar next week with Randy Block on how to handle face-to-face interviews. As Randy notes, most jobs don’t go to the most qualified, but they do go to those who interview the best.

From Blog to Job: Demonstrate Your Domain Expertise

Jason Alba, author of “You’re On LinkedIn, Now What?,” is a frequent contributor to our Experts Connection series. He recently wrote a blog about Blogging in a Job Search, which prompted me to think about different ways that NETSHARE candidates can differentiate their personal brand by demonstrating domain expertise.

Blogging about your area of expertise is one method, but as Jason notes when he recommends blogging, “When I speak, it’s one of the tactics I always talk about, but I don’t spend much time on it. It’s scary for a lot of people.” However, blogging is a great way to show your stuff in a manner that is easy to leverage for your job search. Think about how blogging works in a practical way:

Step one: Identify a topic that you are passionate about and that you can sustain as an ongoing blog. If your expertise is selling, then blog about sales strategies. Of if your specialty is logistics, set up a blog about procurement strategies. Whatever the topic, make sure you have enough content to add to the blog on a regular basis.

Step two: Surf the web for ideas. Most blogs aren’t based on original ideas but are spawned by other blogs (just as this blog post was inspired by Jason’s blog). Find other sites that inspire your thinking. Comment on those sites and adapt the discussion to demonstrate your own domain expertise.

Step three: Blog it. Write about what you are thinking and about your reactions to what you read on the Web. Be sure to attribute your sources, both because it is the right thing to do but also to build crosslink traffic.

Step four: Promote your blog. Once you have the source material posted on your own blog site, peddle it. Go to LinkedIn and other sources and offer your insights as expert commentary. For example, you can ask questions on LinkedIn groups and offer your blog posts as conversation starters. Or you can comment on other blogs adding, “This is what I think,” with a link back to your blog.

Step five: Include your blog in your marketing materials. Just as your resume and your executive bio are part of your job searching arsenal, so is your blog. As you identify contacts you want to network with, use your blog to start a conversation rather than sending a resume. It’s less threatening and doesn’t say “I am looking for a job.”

You also can use your blog to talk about target companies and their strategies. If you write about a company you are targeting for a job, that company is likely to pick up your comments and they might start tracking you. Or your comments might come up in a Web search once you get your foot in the door.

A blogging strategy is not that difficult to implement, although it does demand some time and some thought. You want to make sure you think through your blog strategy, and execute it well. However, a solid blog can help build your online presence and crystallize your personal brand; at the same time it gives you a new tool to start a conversation.

Ask the Coach: Talking to Potential Employers

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from our most recent session with Christine Dennison, The Job Search Coach.

This week, job search expert Christine Dennison fielded questions from NETSHARE members about handling outreach to potential employers:

Q. Is it worth cold calling or sending a blind inquiry letter and a resume to a potential employer?

Yes if you use a targeted approach. Your best strategy is to build a list of companies that interest you, whether they have posted openings or not. Then research the companies; gather information from their website, use Google and LinkedIn, and research the executive profiles. Then draft a cover letter or make a phone call that is focused on the company, the company’s executives, and their needs. For example, “I see that you have just given a keynote speech…” or “I see you have just launched a new product line. Can we spend a few minutes talking about the industry…?” Focus on an industry issue, not on you.

Q. Companies often ask for a salary history. How do you deal with that?

Do everything you can to avoid the salary question until the final stages of negotiation, when you have a better sense of what they need and what it’s worth. When you do address the question, address the salary question confidently, firmly, and in a way that moves the dialogue forward. For example, “I’ll be happy to discuss compensation when I have a better understanding of what you need. What has been the main challenge in the last quarter?” Also know what a competitive salary range is. Review Salary.com, Payscale.com, and other resources to determine what the market rate looks like.

Q. How can I keep my job search a secret from my current employer?

Stealth marketing can be a challenge. First, don’t “hang” your resume anywhere where it can be discovered. You will need a LinkedIn profile, but set the tone to demonstrate that you are a subject expert looking to build your network. Turn off the “announcement” settings and don’t check the “career opportunities” box. Also don’t apply directly to posted positions. Instead, use research, talk about the industry, and be active in a way that it opens up confidential conversations.

Q. What’s the best way to spend your time in a job search?

Spend most of your time developing relationships and finding out what’s on the horizon for your target companies. Go after the decision-makers and try to catch them at the start of the search process. Talk to them about their business and competition before they talk to HR or a headhunter. When you approach them, don’t ask if they are hiring but try to spark ideas that demonstrate how you would be valuable to their business. Be curious, have your radar running, and see if you can turn the conversation into the possibility of hiring for an existing position, or even creating a new position. Show you understand their problems, and know how to solve them.