The Executive Update

From Polyanna to Positive Psychology

A recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post by Robert J.
Samuelson “Why job creation is so hard”  contends
that the real culprit behind slow job growth is the “psychological shift”
caused by the Great Recession and economic meltdown. The dramatic and “largely unpredicted” collapse created a pervasive psychology of restraint - consumers and companies alike are less willing to take a risk or try something new whenconfronted by uncertainty. Call it behavioral economics or “animal spirits”there is no question that attitude and perception can shape reality.

How is your attitude affecting your career or job search?
Many people I speak with are coping with uncertainty on a daily basis. Some
people view the future as full of opportunity while others struggle with a
sense that their best years are past. It's a choice that all of us get to make
every day of our lives.

From Pollyanna to Positive Psychology, the idea that we are shaped less by circumstances than
by our attitude toward those circumstances is not new. While I'm not going to
suggest that we all play the “glad game” every time life throws us a curveball, I do believe that attitude matters.

Take interviewing. No matter how qualified you are for the position, it’s your attitude that registers with the interviewer. And it's not just about your level of confidence. How do you feel about your search? Are you angry? Still have unresolved resentment about your situation? Don't kidyourself. That resentment comes through loud and clear in any interview.

So what can you do?

Start by paying attention. Observe your thoughts. Make a conscious decision about how you frame your circumstances. Recognize that while you cannot control everything in your life, you do have a choice in how you react.

 

 

 

Ask the Coach: Providing References

Here is the latest insight from our weekly Ask the Coach calls with NETSHARE members. This week’s session features career transition coach and career management consultant Randy Block.

One of the questions posed during this week’s Ask the Coach call had to do with job references: do you provide them when you first submit your resume or express interest in a position?

Randy’s response was a firm and resounding “No!” Do not provide the references until someone asks for them, and even then be judicious.

Whether you are dealing with an internal hiring manager or an outside recruiter, be sure to ask what types of references they want. Normally, they ask for managers, subordinates, and a few peers to get a 360-degree view of the candidate. When determining which references to provide, remember that there are two kinds of reference checks that are typically performed:

1. Fact – did you do exactly what you said you did? This will include information about titles, salary, and skill set, and also about your accomplishments. If you embellished your achievements, this is where you will be found out.

2. Fit – what’s your style? Part of the recruiter’s job is to determine if you are a good fit for the company’s culture. They will ask your references about your ability to work as part of a team, your temperament, and about other character traits that determine cultural fit.

If you are not sure about your references, you want to mitigate the “surprise” factor. Tell the recruiter that you had a difference of opinion, or a difference in approach to a problem. Be frank and be honest. Randy noted that in his recruiting practice, he found that references often reveal more about themselves than about the candidates.

Be sure to give as many references as have been requested – no more, and no less. Also be sure to prepare your references and give them a “heads up” to receive a phone call or email. Also be sure to tell your references what position you are applying for, what qualifications are expected, and, if you can, what types of questions or specifics the recruiter or hiring manager may ask about. You want to be judicious about using your references because you don’t want to burn them out with overuse, particularly if you prep them and they never get called.

You may also want to ask if the recruiter if they are using a third-party or independent agency for a background check. It’s become common practice to review a candidate’s background for a criminal record or financial problems, although there are new laws in some states that limit what types of financial information can be used in hiring decisions.

Your best approach to providing references is to provide what you are asked for and no more. Be honest with both the recruiter and your references. And try to make sure everyone knows what to expect.

Features, Benefits and the Principle of Timely Relevance

If you have participated in one of my strategy calls, you know that I like to use marketing and sales metaphors when talking about job search and career management. One of the most important concepts to understand in either case is the difference between features and benefits.

Features are your skill set - your innate skills, as well as everything that your experience has taught you.

Benefits are the positive outcomes produced by your skills – what your features enable you to accomplish.

So why is the distinction important? People buy and hire based on benefits not on features. This simple distinction should inform every part of your search process. Take your resume, for example. I see a lot of resumes and sadly, more of them focus on features than benefits – responsibilities rather than accomplishments. The same goes for most elevator speeches - long on experience and short on deliverables.

Where it really falls apart, however, is when you get in front of the decision maker. If you are still trying to get by on features without bothering to understand the benefits, it is unlikely that the conversation will result in a positive outcome for either of you.

If you lead with your one size fits all resume, trusting that your experience will speak for itself, you are behaving like an inexperienced sales person who dumps every brochure he has onto the prospect’s desk and says, “Just tell me what you need.” Like the hapless salesman, you need to do your homework and understand what they need. You must then be able to articulate how your features will benefit that company – and it doesn’t hurt to have a tailored resume!

If you can’t turn your features into benefits and answer the decision maker’s unasked question “what’s in it for me?” you are wasting time, no matter how impressive your experience is.

Finally, there is the “Principle of Timely Relevance”, a phrase coined by Nicola James in her presentation for Experts Connection. Nicola used the expression in discussing how to get on a recruiter’s radar – i.e. you have the experience I want for a search I’m conducting now! Relevance and timing are everything when it comes to a successful landing. Understand that it’s not personal. You can be recognized as the best electrician in the world but if I need a plumber, I’m not going to call you.

Jobless, but with Industry Expertise: 4 Ways to Become an Online Expert

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5@gmail.com.

There are many professionals today who have found themselves unexpectedly thrown into a career transition, even after years of high-level experience in their field. Whether less experienced professionals are bargaining to fill the same positions for lower pay, or their company has simply downsized, scores of talented professionals are now faced with finding new ways to profit from their skillsets. If you are currently looking for a new position, you may want to consider the benefits of establishing an online presence within your industry as a means to improve your chances of landing the job you deserve. Here are some ways to take your expertise to the next level online and turn a few heads in the process.

1. Start a Blog

The popularity of blogging exploded in the last decade, and for good reason. Bloggers who have something to say, especially to a niche audience, can find their readership expanding by the millions before they know it. In fact, blogging has been named among the fastest growing career paths today, and many bloggers do so full-time, bringing in enough AdSense dollars to make up an entire years’ salary. Running a blog is the perfect way to share your knowledge, connect to the people who are looking for it, and control every aspect of how you do so.

2. Tweet about Your Topic

If you have a blog going, or even if you don’t, you can expand your online presence by tweeting about industry-specific information. Choose a recognizable Twitter handle and start following experts and major players in your industry. Then start replying to tweets, tweeting your own thoughts, and asking questions. The more active you are on Twitter, and the more people you reach out to and follow, the more followers you will generate. This can help you make connections in many ways and build the value of your own personal brand when it comes to negotiating future work positions.

3. Post Videos

Along with blogging and tweeting, posting videos is another great way to provide expert information to an industry-specific audience. How-to videos, interviews, and opinion compilations are all the rage on YouTube, so if you have knowledge about your industry and would like to share it in an entertaining format, you may want to consider making your own videos. Try posting them to your blog or sharing them through Twitter for extra impact.

4. Be a Contributor

There are plenty of well-known online publications looking for people to occasionally contribute content about niche topics. Rather than searching for positions within your industry, try searching for positions writing or speaking about your industry online until another opportunity presents itself.

Ask the Coach: Getting Recruiter Attention

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.

We had a number of queries in this week’s coach call from executives looking for a new position and in transition. The common theme seemed to be how best to deal with recruiters.

One employed executive asked about the most productive way to reach retained recruiters. Randy’s response was to address your correspondence only to those recruiters who conduct searches in your target market or discipline. Also be sure to narrow your search by geography and other factors. If you can, get a friend or associate to introduce you, but before you reach out, be sure to have a clear idea of where you want to go with your career. If you are looking in “stealth” mode, the next session of Experts Connection is focused on “The Undercover Job Search: Stealth Tactics for Employed Executives,” and will include tips and techniques on how to work with recruiters and stay under the radar.

Another caller in transition asked about the value of signing with an outplacement firm. Are they worth the money? Randy noted that these firms are used to soften the blow during a layoff, but they charge between $20,000 and $25,000 for their services. They have started marketing to individuals as a sign of hard economic times. You want to assess the value of working with an outplacement firm versus a personal career coach who will work with you one-on-one. Both have to bring personal accountability to the process and help keep you on track with your job search, but beyond that you have to assess their real value for yourself.

A third caller asked why he wasn’t getting any positive responses to his cover letters and resume. He notes that he spends considerable time research each target company and targeting his marketing materials. Randy replied there can be any number of factors, but in the current job climate you need to match what the recruiter or hiring company is looking for pretty closely. If you are not a 90-percent match to the job specification, then you may not get a response. If, however, you are a close match to the job criteria and you still aren’t getting a response, then go directly to the hiring manager who needs the position filled. He or she may have a more precise set of hiring criteria than the recruiter or HR department.

Remember that NETSHARE hosts an Ask the Coach call for NETSHARE members on Monday at 2:00 Pacific time. The next Ask the Coach call is scheduled for January 23.

Who’s Hiring Whom? How to Spot a Bad Boss During the Interview

Too many job candidates fail to grasp that they have power during the interview. Too often a candidate walks into an interview setting trying to determine the best way to grovel to get a solid job offer. Instead, they should be approaching the interview as an opportunity to assess their potential employer, and not only impress them with his or her credentials but to create an opportunity to be impressed in return. It’s a golden opportunity for you to interview the interviewer.

A job interview is a two-way interaction. The job candidate is interviewing the company to see if he or she is a good fit for the position, and that includes interviewing the boss. Checking out your prospective boss in advance is essential. According to a recent study by Baylor University, an abusive boss can have a huge effect on your health and your family life, so you want to make sure you know what you are getting into. There was an interesting story in Forbes this week on how to spot a bad prospective boss in an interview. Here are some tips to consider:

1. “You” versus “we.” Pronoun usage is a telltale. If during the interview the hiring manager talks about how “you” will be responsible for tough challenges or dealing with something negative, he probably won’t be a mentor. And if he talks about “I” in the context of department successes, then he is not a team player and may deflect blame. Observe how he talks about his employees and his department.
2. Fishing for personal information. It is natural to try to get to know a candidate and learn about some of their outside interests. It is something else to ask probing questions about life outside of work. Be wary if the hiring manager moves from a healthy interest in your hobbies or charity work to a nosy interest in your personal commitments. The interviewer can’t legally ask about your marital status or your family, but by probing about your personal life they may be trying to get you to surrender information to determine if you have too many commitments outside the office.
3. The distracted interviewer. You should command respect during an interview, including the undivided attention of the hiring manager. If your prospective boss is distracted by his iPhone, or email, or telephone calls, of if he is late for your interview, that’s an indication of their normal operating style, and you probably can’t expect them to make much time for their staff, including you.
4. You can’t get a straight answer. If you can’t get a direct answer to a direct question, that could be an indication that they are covering something. For example, if the last person who held the position for which you are interviewing may be characterized as a “bad fit,” which may be an indication that the company didn’t spend enough time on employee development. Listen for awkward pauses and evasive responses. Also look at things such as turnover rates and where others have a path for advancement.
5. What’s the hiring manager’s track record? How long as he or she been with the company? Where did they come from? Look for indicators about their performance and management style. For example, bosses from large companies may want more formality where managers with a history at start-ups may have a less formal approach. Which suits your work style?

Be sure to ask around about the company and your new potential boss. You can search sites such as eBossWatch or ask your network on LinkedIn. There’s nothing wrong with getting references about your prospective employer. You will want to think about the context of what you might uncover, but look for glaring inconsistencies or differences between what you were told and what you discover on your own. It’s better to have more information in advance and avoid a potentially disastrous job than to realize your mistake after you have been hired.

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.

The Face-to-Face Interview: Maximize the Opportunity

The Face-to-Face Interview: Maximize the Opportunity

Guest post by Randy Block

Randy Block is an executive coach specializing in career transition. He also serves as a staffing and onboarding consultant for high tech start up companies. He has over 30 years experience in executive search/recruiting. Randy’s executive consulting practice includes both tactical and strategic issues; i.e. Interview Preparation, Personal Branding, Onboarding, Consulting/Freelancing Opportunities, Boomer issues, etc. Randy will be the featured presenter on this month’s Experts Connection. His topic, “The Face-to-Face Interview: Making the Most of Every Minute” will be presented on Wednesday, October 26th.
experts-connection.com

From my perspective in working with executives, particularly over the past few years….two things have become apparent:

1. Everyone purports to know how to interview…but few execute well.
2.The most qualified candidate does not necessarily get the offer…the offer usually goes to the candidate who interviews the best.

So, if you have survived the emailing, the phone interview(s) and made it to the face to face interview, you’ve done well…and you really deserve to maximize this opportunity that you have earned.

In my workshops on interviewing, I ask the audience this question: “If you are going to paint a room, what is the most important step in that process?” The answers vary from picking the paint color to choosing the right brush. The answer I’m looking for is “the prep.” If your masking is sloppy or you have not filled in the picture hook holes, you could pay $50/gallon for the paint and it will still look unprofessional. Your prized antique furniture or meaningful art will not cover up the mistakes.

When it comes to interviewing, we all know the preparation is important. So what do most people do for prep…check out the company website, study industry/product trends and Google the interviewer. And of course, review the job description. After all, we want to be knowledgeable and “right” with our answers.

This is helpful, but there is much room for improvement. Let’s examine one of these more closely; the job description. The job description is typically broken into three general parts:

1.Description of the company products and its industry.
2.The title, job duties/responsibilities and reporting structure.
3.The candidate profile –the person with these skills and qualities.

Numbers one and two are quantitative and the basis of your research. In my view number three is the most important part of the interview preparation. Here is where the all important “fit” comes into play.

The candidate profile is divided into “hard skills and experience” and soft skills i.e. leadership, decision making, management, etc. And of course all of them are grouped into “required” (usually in descending order of importance) and “preferred.” The “fit” is determined by relevancy (your skills and experience against their definition of what skills the successful candidate should have) and that indefinable something called “will you like doing the job and will I like you doing the job”.

To determine relevancy, I recommend the following as a guide. (Excessive humility or braggadocio will not help you here.)

1. List their required skills (again, whether you agree or not)
2.Then evaluate your skills (both hard and soft) on a scale from 1 (never heard of that acronym let alone do I know what it means) to 10 (I have current and direct experience, achievements and knowledge.)

Companies today want 8’s, 9’s and 10’s.

• For any low scores (7 and below) prepare an “equivalent answer”. For example, if the position requires an MBA and you don’t have one, your response might be “I have 20+ years of successful business experience.”

• For all of the soft skill questions, prepare a story of about 3 minutes that is a solid achievement supporting each soft skill.
Let’s consider the elements of that softer side of “fit” by today’s definition.

(Your technical competence is assumed at the time of the in person interview. Yes, they will check your references. Initially, technical is the focus of the phone screen with soft skills to be screened in the face-to-face meeting. You don’t even get the face-to-face interview unless you have the right background.)

1. During the interview, they want to know how excited you are about the position and the company. Have you chosen them? Be prepared to discuss why (from your heart as well as your head)
2.Will they like you doing the job? (This will be influenced by how you express yourself in #1) It is my opinion that #2 is at least 50-60% of the hiring decision today.

There are definite measures and tactics that you, the interviewee, have control over: your preparation, the interview itself and the followup. When following up with clients and their interviews, the question comes up …"would you do anything different?" If yes, we learn from it and move forward. If the answer is no, then we know we maximized the face-to-face interview. In these cases, we get and go out on another interview stronger and wiser and increasing the probability of success.

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.

Ask the Coach: Don’t Get Caught Up In the Web

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.

The Internet is a wondrous thing. With the birth of the World Wide Web we now can access information and resources that were previously unheard of. In the early days, the Internet was a great tool for job seekers because it was clean and efficient. But then the Web became popular and prolific. Now we have bots and filters and spam and an incredible amount of online noise because everyone has figured out how easy it is to hit the “send” button to submit a resume. That means that yours is just another voice in the crowd, and it will be impossible to make your expertise stand out unless you understand how to properly use the Web as a resource.

This week, job search coach Christine Dennison shared some tips about how to think about and use the Web as part of your job search. She noted that as the din of the Web increased, hiring companies had to implement software filters to handle the data traffic from job applicants. Now all the big firms are using software to pick their job candidates, and this is where the entire online search process has gone hopelessly haywire.

There are a growing number of career information providers and opportunists trying to make money from job seekers. If you are posting to random job locations then you become a commodity, which means you won’t stand out. Your first step needs to be to control the noise. Align yourself with a reputable career service such as LinkedIn or NETSHARE to get the online traffic under control. And use the Web to conduct your own research. It’s a great tool to help you determine where the market opportunities lie, which companies are on the move, and where to apply your efforts both online and offline.

Should you apply to online job postings? Sure, but only dedicate 5 to 10 percent of your time to online postings. Remember that resumes are usually sorted by software and many are never actually seen by a human being. Even if you cram in all the keywords, chances are it will never surface. You can throw your resume in the mix, but it’s always better to network your way in using a resource such as LinkedIn.

Should you post your resume to job boards? You can “hang” your resume on online bulletin boards, but be discriminating so you can control access. Use services like NETSHARE where you know your information is protected. Otherwise you are just opening yourself up to spam and scam artists.

The bottom line is, don’t let the Web dominate your job search. Spend no more than an hour or two online each day. The Web is a great research tool and can help you find the right connections, but you need to make time for face-to-face activities. The Web is no substitute for personal contact, especially if you are looking for a new career opportunity.