Going to advance people search and highlighting recruiters within the Salt Lake area, I was able to send invites to over 60 today. If even 75% accept, that means another 45 recruiters who will have visibility to anyone who connects to me. I've invited each of them that connect to participate in our Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Group to post jobs. Even if they don't join, they will have the opportunity to see you via key word inquiries.
When I reviewed the 130 members in the Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Group, I wonder how many are trying to be visible to recruiters because over 50% are not directly connected to me. That means that if the recruiter can only see up to two levels of connection unless they purchase a premium plan, they may not see you. I accept all invites.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Walkabout blog: 5 Suggestions in first 3 weeks
I thought this message was interesting and so have added my own comments to the bottom.
Some though not nearly enough will be starting new jobs in coming months. Here are some rules for success I came up with (they also work for starting a new project or assignment).
5 Suggestions for the First 3 Weeks of a New Job
1. Arrive at work 15 to 30 minutes early, without fail, every day. (This sets you apart as a hard and conscientious worker).
2. Find one thing to do that is not part of the stated expectations, each week if possible. Propose it or talk it over with your boss…or just do it. (This sets you apart as an innovator looking to save your employer time, hassle or money).
3. Hold a one on one with each of your direct reports, or those who provide work products that you use. This discussion is 15 minutes max. Talk about how you like to work, in general what you expect, and ask what they need from you to do their best work. Document this discussion then (bullet points)or shortly thereafter and refer to it in later discussions, sometime after the 3 weeks. (This sets you apart as a person who is approachable but who has high expectations).
4. Be friendly to everyone, especially to those who may not normally get the respect they deserve. (This sets you apart as one who is compassionate and appreciative of the contributions of the “least”, and will also win their support, which is often needed in times of “crisis”).
5. Ask for a meeting with your boss towards the end of the 3rd week. In that meeting, ask for feedback on how you are doing and if there is anything you can improve. (This sets you apart as one who is constantly open to input and striving to improve).
Demke's additional comments:
1. Try to at least go to lunch with a new person or a group of people several times a week to get to know that person better. What are their interests, dreams or goals? Who do they know who is interesting to meet at the company? What projects have they undertaken that makes them feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose?
2. Get to know others by their first names and their significant other's names. If they are on LinkedIn, invite them into your network.
3. Don't participate in office gossip but instead say something positive about everyone. Look for ways to compliment or praise your coworkers.
4. Make a hero out of your boss, even if he/she fails to share the credit with you. Find out what pain points keeps him/her up at night and provide business intelligence to solve that challenge.
5. In group discussions, try and include everyone in the discussion and build upon good ideas suggested.
5 LinkedIn suggestions:
1. Get back to those who've helped you in your job search/networking and thank them. You never know when you might need to work with your network again. Let them know that you're still willing to help them in their transitional endeavors.
2. Continue to participate in Career Search. Remove in your settings any reference that you are looking for a job. Continue to add connections with your new company or industry.
3. Use LinkedIn for business intelligence. Find out about your industry white papers, background information of your key leaders, and what pain points they might be encountering. See blog post on business intelligence and Sam Richter's suggestions
4. Work with your company's SEO participants and be willing to help in your product/company branding. You've earned some respect from the knowledge you've acquired in personal branding to be a real asset. Look for opportunities to respond to customer criticism on external blogs about your company.
5. Update your profile with your new talents, skills and specialties. Look for groups that your company leaders are following and join. You can hide the logos of any groups that seem to be recruiting groups even if you're still in their groups. Look for people in your organization to make recommendations once you've proven yourself.
Does anyone have any other “suggestions” you would share?
Some though not nearly enough will be starting new jobs in coming months. Here are some rules for success I came up with (they also work for starting a new project or assignment).
5 Suggestions for the First 3 Weeks of a New Job
1. Arrive at work 15 to 30 minutes early, without fail, every day. (This sets you apart as a hard and conscientious worker).
2. Find one thing to do that is not part of the stated expectations, each week if possible. Propose it or talk it over with your boss…or just do it. (This sets you apart as an innovator looking to save your employer time, hassle or money).
3. Hold a one on one with each of your direct reports, or those who provide work products that you use. This discussion is 15 minutes max. Talk about how you like to work, in general what you expect, and ask what they need from you to do their best work. Document this discussion then (bullet points)or shortly thereafter and refer to it in later discussions, sometime after the 3 weeks. (This sets you apart as a person who is approachable but who has high expectations).
4. Be friendly to everyone, especially to those who may not normally get the respect they deserve. (This sets you apart as one who is compassionate and appreciative of the contributions of the “least”, and will also win their support, which is often needed in times of “crisis”).
5. Ask for a meeting with your boss towards the end of the 3rd week. In that meeting, ask for feedback on how you are doing and if there is anything you can improve. (This sets you apart as one who is constantly open to input and striving to improve).
Demke's additional comments:
1. Try to at least go to lunch with a new person or a group of people several times a week to get to know that person better. What are their interests, dreams or goals? Who do they know who is interesting to meet at the company? What projects have they undertaken that makes them feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose?
2. Get to know others by their first names and their significant other's names. If they are on LinkedIn, invite them into your network.
3. Don't participate in office gossip but instead say something positive about everyone. Look for ways to compliment or praise your coworkers.
4. Make a hero out of your boss, even if he/she fails to share the credit with you. Find out what pain points keeps him/her up at night and provide business intelligence to solve that challenge.
5. In group discussions, try and include everyone in the discussion and build upon good ideas suggested.
5 LinkedIn suggestions:
1. Get back to those who've helped you in your job search/networking and thank them. You never know when you might need to work with your network again. Let them know that you're still willing to help them in their transitional endeavors.
2. Continue to participate in Career Search. Remove in your settings any reference that you are looking for a job. Continue to add connections with your new company or industry.
3. Use LinkedIn for business intelligence. Find out about your industry white papers, background information of your key leaders, and what pain points they might be encountering. See blog post on business intelligence and Sam Richter's suggestions
4. Work with your company's SEO participants and be willing to help in your product/company branding. You've earned some respect from the knowledge you've acquired in personal branding to be a real asset. Look for opportunities to respond to customer criticism on external blogs about your company.
5. Update your profile with your new talents, skills and specialties. Look for groups that your company leaders are following and join. You can hide the logos of any groups that seem to be recruiting groups even if you're still in their groups. Look for people in your organization to make recommendations once you've proven yourself.
Does anyone have any other “suggestions” you would share?
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Possible Job Search Scams
In a tough job market, it's easy to get desperate. But don't get so hard up that you forget to pay attention to what you're doing. If you're not careful, you could end up falling prey to one of these job search scams. Read on to learn about how these scams work, and how you can avoid them.
- Package forwarding: Jobs that advertise package handling or forwarding are often cons that can hurt in two ways. First, by taking your money, and then, possibly getting you into legal trouble. You'll receive packages typically containing stolen goods, send them out with your own money, and possibly receive a visit from the police about receiving stolen goods at your address.
- Identity theft: Jobs often get sensitive information from employees, and many ask for this information before you're even hired. But you should be careful about what you give out. Some scammers will check out your online resume to call as a prospective employer, then ask you for your Social Security number and other personal information that can be used to steal your identity. You should be careful to only share sensitive information once you're further along into the application process.
- Work at home scams: Although there are many legitimate ways to work at home, work at home opportunities are often scams. You may be asked to assemble crafts or stuff envelopes, but you'll have to buy a starter kit first, and end up not actually being able to sell anything. Others send you a list of companies looking for home workers, or potential clients that are outdated or wrong. Still others will have you duping others with the same ad that you fell for to get the "job."
- Email job offers: You probably won't remember applying for the job that's emailed to you, but they are very, very interested in hiring you. Of course, you'll need to send them your Social Security number and other personal information, which they'll use to steal your identity. Make sure that you're getting emails from a legitimate company that actually wants to hire you.
- Federal job scams: Information about job openings in the government or postal service is free and easily available, and applying for one is free, too. But scam artists often advertise to help job seekers find positions within the government, and they charge for this service. They may tell you that you have to pay for study materials that will help you pass the exam required to get the job. The truth is, there may not even be a job available in your area, and their materials may be worthless.
- Fake search sites: Bogus websites may look professional, but they're just trying to gather your personal information. In order to register as a job seeker and see job postings, you'll have to share sensitive information that will be used to steal your identity.
- Money processing: Money processing jobs are typically designed to turn you into a money mule. As a money mule, you'll transfer stolen money or merchandise. Of course, you won't be told that what you're moving is stolen. They're advertised as "payment processing," "local processing," or "money transfer agents," and they're all scams.
- Job search assistants and services: These scams offer help finding a job, especially in a tough market. They're not out to help you-they are just after your personal information.
- Legitimate employers that aren't: Scammers may post jobs on a website claiming to be a legitimate employer, using corporate identity theft. They're posting bogus jobs that aren't related to the employer, and they're using them to get you to share information they can use to steal your identity.
- Direct recruiters: "Direct recruiters" may call you up, offering to help you find a job. Don't give them your personal information-ask them for their name and business number, and then look online to find out if there are any scams affiliated with them
Purple Elephant in the Recruitment Room
Just recently I found a job announcement of the VP of HR for a respectable and long standing institution that upon reading the job requirements required no commitment to governance or ethical behaviour requirements. However, doing some Google business intelligence and reading the company's website governance and ethics are their guiding principles.
The newspaper accounts and the blogs suggest sloppiness in handling clerical filings of supposed federal requirements. The fine was substantial but the alleged wrongdoing was much larger. Whether or not other financial institutions were fined and for how much isn't important. When you have a brand that suggests moral integrity, any allegation of wrongdoing whether intentional or not will cost that institution some embarassment and need for restoring public confidence. In addition, leaders of the organization will have a harder time disciplining employees for a failure to balance their cash drawers if this is a simple mistake and not an attempt to defraud.
The allegations that any culpability lies at the feet of the church which 50 years ago divested ownership is misplaced. However, the comment that it was just sloppiness cannot also be condoned. Corporate leaders and board members are required to do what is right for the stockholders. I'm pretty sure that the attorneys advised them to make no comment. So does there lack of comment suggest culpability? No, but it does require that they must do something more to regain the trust and confidence of their shareholders and customers. To ignore the issue in a job announcement and the selection of a key corporate employee (VP of HR) may suggest another problem.
Part of the job requirements within the job announcement are to align organizational action plans to strategic initiatives, values and the mission statement. While I have added elements of corporate governance and accountability to the job announcement, the interview for the position and the selection requirements will be interesting. It would be interesting to be a "fly on the wall" to see if the issue is even broached. Maybe the fact that they are advertizing outside indicates the need for openness and new ideas. I'm enclosing my amended version of the job announcement with the amendments underlined. No one in their announcement provides you with pain points, but here might be what you can expect if interviewed for that job.
Although I added the Baldrige leadership principles to the announcement to make it more strategic, I'm not sure that Baldrige alone would have prevented this sloppiness of filing to occur.
http://www.box.net/shared/3dx0xxpj3e
The newspaper accounts and the blogs suggest sloppiness in handling clerical filings of supposed federal requirements. The fine was substantial but the alleged wrongdoing was much larger. Whether or not other financial institutions were fined and for how much isn't important. When you have a brand that suggests moral integrity, any allegation of wrongdoing whether intentional or not will cost that institution some embarassment and need for restoring public confidence. In addition, leaders of the organization will have a harder time disciplining employees for a failure to balance their cash drawers if this is a simple mistake and not an attempt to defraud.
The allegations that any culpability lies at the feet of the church which 50 years ago divested ownership is misplaced. However, the comment that it was just sloppiness cannot also be condoned. Corporate leaders and board members are required to do what is right for the stockholders. I'm pretty sure that the attorneys advised them to make no comment. So does there lack of comment suggest culpability? No, but it does require that they must do something more to regain the trust and confidence of their shareholders and customers. To ignore the issue in a job announcement and the selection of a key corporate employee (VP of HR) may suggest another problem.
Part of the job requirements within the job announcement are to align organizational action plans to strategic initiatives, values and the mission statement. While I have added elements of corporate governance and accountability to the job announcement, the interview for the position and the selection requirements will be interesting. It would be interesting to be a "fly on the wall" to see if the issue is even broached. Maybe the fact that they are advertizing outside indicates the need for openness and new ideas. I'm enclosing my amended version of the job announcement with the amendments underlined. No one in their announcement provides you with pain points, but here might be what you can expect if interviewed for that job.
Although I added the Baldrige leadership principles to the announcement to make it more strategic, I'm not sure that Baldrige alone would have prevented this sloppiness of filing to occur.
http://www.box.net/shared/3dx0xxpj3e
Whether to include an Objective Statement on Resume, et. al.
* Objective or Not on Resume? As commented by Susan Ireland on her post*
Should you put a Job Objective on your resume? This question gets tossed around a lot. Here's my answer:
Every resume has an objective. Your resume is a marketing piece with the objective of getting you the job you want. Here's the "real" question: How do you communicate your job objective to a recruiter or employer during his initial eight-second scan of your resume? Depending on your situation, one of the following will do the trick:
Option #1: Put a very concise job objective statement near the top of your resume. (For example: http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/resume/consultant01.html)
Option #2: Put your professional title near the top of your resume. (For example: http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/resume/technical03.html)
Option #3: State your line of work at the beginning of the first phrase in your Summary section. Or, use your professional title as the heading for your Summary section. (For example: http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/resume/consultant03.html)
Option #4: Do none of the above. This option works only if you fall into one of these categories:
* You're staying in the same industry and your objective is to have the same or similar job title as your most recent job title. In that case, the reader of your resume will correctly assume what job you seek just by scanning the work chronology on your resume.
* You're writing an academic or scientific CV (curriculum vitae). In that case, you should place your Education section near the top of your document, which essentially declares your job objective.
If you want to make a career change or a significant vertical career move, use one of the first three options.
A good resume quickly communicates your job objective. Do you have another resume technique for achieving that goal? Please share it with us.
Another posts reads:
Sherry... I found this link on AARP... there might be additional helpful information for you there as well regarding getting back into the job market. Resumes and Cover Letters www.AARP.org/Cover-Letters
Find Helpful Tips and Advice For Writing Your Resume & Cover Letter
Should you put a Job Objective on your resume? This question gets tossed around a lot. Here's my answer:
Every resume has an objective. Your resume is a marketing piece with the objective of getting you the job you want. Here's the "real" question: How do you communicate your job objective to a recruiter or employer during his initial eight-second scan of your resume? Depending on your situation, one of the following will do the trick:
Option #1: Put a very concise job objective statement near the top of your resume. (For example: http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/resume/consultant01.html)
Option #2: Put your professional title near the top of your resume. (For example: http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/resume/technical03.html)
Option #3: State your line of work at the beginning of the first phrase in your Summary section. Or, use your professional title as the heading for your Summary section. (For example: http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/resume/consultant03.html)
Option #4: Do none of the above. This option works only if you fall into one of these categories:
* You're staying in the same industry and your objective is to have the same or similar job title as your most recent job title. In that case, the reader of your resume will correctly assume what job you seek just by scanning the work chronology on your resume.
* You're writing an academic or scientific CV (curriculum vitae). In that case, you should place your Education section near the top of your document, which essentially declares your job objective.
If you want to make a career change or a significant vertical career move, use one of the first three options.
A good resume quickly communicates your job objective. Do you have another resume technique for achieving that goal? Please share it with us.
Another posts reads:
Sherry... I found this link on AARP... there might be additional helpful information for you there as well regarding getting back into the job market. Resumes and Cover Letters www.AARP.org/Cover-Letters
Find Helpful Tips and Advice For Writing Your Resume & Cover Letter
Saturday, February 26, 2011
It's your job to coach your friends on networking skills
 Here are the latest updates for neldondemke@yahoo.com For all my followers, if you haven't connected to JasonAlba or looked into Jibber Jobber, you're not helpingyourself. Here is a recent blog of interest to most of us.I've inserted some of my comments:"JibberJobber Blog" - 1 new articleHow to REALLY Help a Job Seeker       How’s your job search going?The answer I said was “it’s going okay,” but what I thought was “it sucks more than you could imagine!” When I speak I share a brilliant response to the question, but in this post I want to share an idea I had for people who ASK the question. Feel free to forward this on to the entire world, because EVERYONE should think about this. Perhaps this normal question is the best way to start out the conversation, and 99% of job seekers respond as I have below, but then see how the conversation changes after their lame response Job Seeker Friend: How’s your job search going? Job Seeker: Fine. Job Seeker Friend: If there's anything I can do (person's thoughts -don't call because I don't know about any open positions) Job Seeker: (I wish he would ask the right questions so next time how about coaching him/her to ask instead:) Job Seeker Friend: What companies are you trying to get into? Job Seeker: Oh, um, I’ve been applying at Company A, Company B and Company C. There are others, but those are the three I’m most interested in. Job Seeker Friend: I might know someone at one of those companies… let me see if I can find their information for you. I might have to look it up and get back to you this evening, send me an email so I don't forget. Job Seeker: That would be great – can you send an email to that contact introducing us to one another? I find an introduction is much better than me calling out of the blue. Job Seeker Friend: That’s a great idea, I’ll do it as soon as I find their information. Job Seeker: Thank you! (now coach them to ask the following question) Job Seeker Friend: What titles are you interviewing for? Job Seeker: I’m looking for a role as a ____ or an _____. Job Seeker Friend: You know, I think I know someone who has been a ___ for a while. I can introduce you to her, also. Job Seeker: I really appreciate the leads! I will be sure to follow up with them, and I’ll let you know how it goes. Now be sure to get back to your friend immediately relative to his introductions to let him or her know how it went. They may think of someone else. Job Seeker Friend: Great. You’ll see a few emails soon. Job Seeker: Thank you! See how this works? There are a few things going on here. Here’s the dialog again, with my comments in black: Job Seeker Friend: How’s your job search going? Job Seeker: Fine. We all hate this question… but if you end here you miss an opportunity! Job Seeker Friend: this is where it usually ends, right? Job Seeker Friend: What companies are you trying to get into? This question is GOLD. Coach your friends to ask you this question. Job Seeker: Oh, um, I’ve been applying at Company A, Company B and Company C. There are others, but those are the three I’m most interested in. You should be able to list three target companies at all times. You can change them as often as you wish, but you need to be able to rattle them off. Job Seeker Friend: I might know someone at one of those companies… let me see if I can find their information for you. Job Seeker: That would be great – can you send an email introducing us to one another? I find an introduction is much better than me calling out of the blue. This is SO true… an email intro is worth 100 times what you get from an email address or phone number. Job Seeker Friend: That’s a great idea, I’ll do it as soon as I find their information. Job Seeker: Thank you! Job Seeker Friend: What titles are you interviewing for? Another golden question! Job Seeker: I’m looking for a role as a ____ or an _____. Job Seeker Friend: You know, I think I know someone who has been a ___ for a while. I can introduce you to her, also. Job Seeker: I really appreciate the leads! I will be sure to follow up with them, and I’ll let you know how it goes. This is so critical. If you give an intro, let the person know that you actually acted on it – they are more likely to do more introductions later. Job Seeker Friend: Great. You’ll see a few emails soon. Job Seeker: Thank you! It is our job, as job seekers, to help people who want to help us. If someone asks “how’s your job search going,” don’t blow it. Instead, help them understand how they can help you – give them a little work to do. They’ll appreciate it! Jason hit on the two questions we must coach our contacts to ask us. If we do this our contacts will be less put off by our silence and they will feel better about helping us. |
Friday, February 25, 2011
Keep sending me material to post
We all talk about networking into the ideal job but, for many of us in this economy, we need to land a survival job. Here is an interesting article that some of us need to face. Seek for the ideal but you decide what is ideal for you now. If not in the ideal job, continue to network on LinkedIn.
Landing a Survival Job
If you’re a highly qualified professional who has been unemployed for a while, you may eventually have to find a “Plan B” job to pay your bills until the job market improves and you can return to your preferred type of work.There’s no shame in that, but landing a temporary survival job can be harder than you think -- there may be dozens of applicants for a retail job at your local mall, for example.
Career experts offer these eight dos and don’ts for finding and getting hired for a survival job.
1. Do Choose Your Survival Job Wisely
“A survival job should be something you enjoy,” says Lynn Taylor, a workplace expert who is CEO of Santa Monica, California-based Lynn Taylor Consulting and author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant. For example, if you’re a social animal with a passion for music, try getting a gig as a bartender in your favorite karaoke bar. “Your likelihood of landing even a survival job is greater if you demonstrate genuine enthusiasm, so don’t waste anyone’s time with a job you dislike from the start,” she says.
2. Don’t Give Up on Finding the Job You Really Want
Before turning to bartending, look for a survival job in your field -- even if it means taking a major step down. Doing so will provide consistency and focus in your career and put you in the right place should opportunities arise within that company, Taylor says. If you must take a survival job outside your field, aim for evening or weekend hours so you can use your days to search and interview for your desired professional position, she says.
3. Do Tone Down Your Resume
“Long, verbose resumes shout ‘overqualified,’” Taylor says. So tighten your resume and/or decrease your scribblings on application forms for survival jobs. While you shouldn’t lie outright about your work experience, “it’s OK to de-emphasize certain qualifications by taking high-level job titles, graduate degrees or other irrelevant work experience off your resume,” says Los Angeles-based career coach David Couper, author of Outsiders on the Inside: How to Create a Winning Career Even When You Don’t Fit In. Adds Garrett Miller, a New Jersey-based workplace productivity coach, trainer and author of Hire on a WHIM: The Four Qualities that Make for Great Employees: “Drop the corporate speak and power phrases, and instead highlight your strengths in relating to people and your work ethic.”
4. Do Stay Upbeat
A positive attitude is everything when searching for a survival job. Let’s say you were laid off from a high-level IT position and are interviewing for a job at a coffee shop. Your interviewers will sense your disdain if you can’t find any upside to making and serving fancy drinks to customers. “You have to look at it as an opportunity to grow and stretch,” Miller says. “It’s almost like a miniversion of ‘Undercover Boss.’ You’ll be gaining perspective, empathy and insight into experiences you had once not even considered.”
5. Don’t Come Across As a Know-It-All
Be confident during an interview, not cocky. You may be older and more educated than your interviewer, but that doesn’t mean you’d make a better cup of coffee. Bragging about your accomplishments won’t resonate with your interviewer, Miller notes, but what will impress are phrases such as: “I’m very teachable,” “I may not have chosen this career change, but I’m excited to learn new talents and skills from you” and “I will be here every day. You can depend on me”
6. Don’t Lie
It’s great to show commitment to your potential survival job, but don’t go overboard. “It will hurt you if you lie and say this is the job of your dreams,” Taylor says. “It’ll come back to haunt you if you’re just looking for a temporary survival job but you lead your potential employer to believe otherwise.”
7. Do Prepare for the Interview
When conducting your job interview preparation, keep in mind the employer’s perspective, Couper says. Your interviewer will be trying to ascertain three things: Can you do the job? Will you fit in with the team? Will you cause any problems? Answering common interview questions of this nature in a satisfactory manner is your “golden ticket,” Couper says. Taylor says you can show your maturity (without bragging) and counteract the notion you’re overqualified with winning scripts such as these: “I’ve always gotten kudos for my people skills” and “I’m good at keeping the peace.”
8. Don't Share Your Sob Story
Don't go on a tirade against your former employer, complain about your debt or reveal too much about your personal woes. "If the desperation shows in your face, you won't come across as genuine" in your desire for the job, Taylor says.
Copying or not copying resume to LinkedIn Profile
Here is an interesting post for your consideration:
Don’t Copy Your Resume to LinkedIn!
by Megan Koehler on January 25, 2011
If you are simply copying your resume into your LinkedIn profile you are doing yourself a major disservice. This is especially true if you are actively searching for a job. Your LinkedIn profile is not an online resume; it is a marketing tool designed to showcase your professional value. LinkedIn is free advertising and what you’re selling is you; maximize your marketability by taking advantage of this prime marketing real estate.
Ask yourself this, if a hiring manager has your resume in hand and wants to research you on LinkedIn what benefit is an exact replica of the resume they already have going to do? Of course your profile will have much of the same information but on LinkedIn you have the opportunity to tell it in a brand new way. While resumes are expected to conform to certain business standards your LinkedIn profile doesn’t follow those same rules.
One of the main differences between your resume and profile is how it is written. While resumes are written in the formal third person your LinkedIn profile can be written in first person. This gives it more individuality and you can really play up your personal brand. I don’t want to say that LinkedIn is more casual than a resume but you certainly have more liberties to express yourself and creativity on your profile.
Another thing that your profile can do that your resume can’t is provide more information and details. You can do this by linking your blog, website or twitter account giving anyone viewing you profile a more in depth view of professional qualifications than your resume ever could. You can also post regular status updates to your profile (keep it professional, it’s not Facebook!) which gives it an up-to-date and personal feel.
Your resume and profile should work in tandem and complement one another. They will share most of the same information but the presentation, tone and overall feel should be completely different. Let your personality show through on your profile and be an extension of your resume. Don’t repeat your resume; let your profile tell your professional history in an entirely new way.
Megan Koehler is a Certified Advance Resume Writer and personal branding strategist at ContempoResume.
Neldon Demke SPHR, IPMA-CP opines:• I agree the resume is a statement of talents, skills and accomplishments or results that make a difference to the employer to get you an interview. The cover letter is the emotional hook to read your resume with a call to action and the LinkedIn profile is to get you to the top of the list of recruiters and screeners to be considered so it emphasizes key words they are using to screen. LinkedIn applies the principles of quantity/quality (number of recruiters that can see you and how you stack up to the competition). Not being effective in all 3 area may indicate you're not a serious applicant who is in the business of trying to market oneself. Besides the resume can refer back to the profile and the profile can have a link within your profile website back to you resume. So use the marketing real estate wisely.
Don’t Copy Your Resume to LinkedIn!
by Megan Koehler on January 25, 2011
If you are simply copying your resume into your LinkedIn profile you are doing yourself a major disservice. This is especially true if you are actively searching for a job. Your LinkedIn profile is not an online resume; it is a marketing tool designed to showcase your professional value. LinkedIn is free advertising and what you’re selling is you; maximize your marketability by taking advantage of this prime marketing real estate.
Ask yourself this, if a hiring manager has your resume in hand and wants to research you on LinkedIn what benefit is an exact replica of the resume they already have going to do? Of course your profile will have much of the same information but on LinkedIn you have the opportunity to tell it in a brand new way. While resumes are expected to conform to certain business standards your LinkedIn profile doesn’t follow those same rules.
One of the main differences between your resume and profile is how it is written. While resumes are written in the formal third person your LinkedIn profile can be written in first person. This gives it more individuality and you can really play up your personal brand. I don’t want to say that LinkedIn is more casual than a resume but you certainly have more liberties to express yourself and creativity on your profile.
Another thing that your profile can do that your resume can’t is provide more information and details. You can do this by linking your blog, website or twitter account giving anyone viewing you profile a more in depth view of professional qualifications than your resume ever could. You can also post regular status updates to your profile (keep it professional, it’s not Facebook!) which gives it an up-to-date and personal feel.
Your resume and profile should work in tandem and complement one another. They will share most of the same information but the presentation, tone and overall feel should be completely different. Let your personality show through on your profile and be an extension of your resume. Don’t repeat your resume; let your profile tell your professional history in an entirely new way.
Megan Koehler is a Certified Advance Resume Writer and personal branding strategist at ContempoResume.
Neldon Demke SPHR, IPMA-CP opines:• I agree the resume is a statement of talents, skills and accomplishments or results that make a difference to the employer to get you an interview. The cover letter is the emotional hook to read your resume with a call to action and the LinkedIn profile is to get you to the top of the list of recruiters and screeners to be considered so it emphasizes key words they are using to screen. LinkedIn applies the principles of quantity/quality (number of recruiters that can see you and how you stack up to the competition). Not being effective in all 3 area may indicate you're not a serious applicant who is in the business of trying to market oneself. Besides the resume can refer back to the profile and the profile can have a link within your profile website back to you resume. So use the marketing real estate wisely.
What makes for a Quality Organization; Senior Leaderhip Capability?
http://www.ascent-advisor.com/web-seminars-ideas.html
http://www.bizvision.com/webcast/prod/4695
Last week I attended a free webinar about what makes for a successful and an unsuccessful company. It was entitled Mastering Change within 100 days and presented by Ascent Advisors. The weblink above is a tape of that webinar. I saw the presenter at a BYU forum two weeks ago present his life story and how he's reinventing himself in his new career endeavors. The second link above is the tape of that Connect the Dots forum. The title of the first webinar about Mastering Change in 100 days intrigued me. The webinar presentation was a tasty morsel that made you want to ask for more information. The author of the book and presenter is Juan Riboldi. He talks about the 5 root causes of a struggling organization: Low trust, lack of focus, poor capability, weak commitment and delayed or non existent results. He also posits that with his intervention strategies a company can have up to 4X ROI in 100 days. He also indicates that 70% of the change initiatives aren't successful because they are not focused on the 5 principles of success: building common purpose, clarifying trust, developing capacity, inspiring commitment and achieviing results.
This seems obvious that the solutions to the problems are just correcting the problems. However, it seems that those companies failing to do so might think they're focused on these solutions. Sometimes the larger more bureaucratic organizations can't right the ship quickly because of their size and burearcratic thinking/silo protection of senior leaders. I see another concern when companies try and hire clones of their existing workforce who won't rock the boat; won't be disruptive or challenge the status quo. These companies say they want people who will bring them profits and revenue growth but they don't want someone in the organization that isn't a team player.
I've volunteered to teach a college class about assessment centers and performance and have developed the audit outline of what makes a successful organization using the Baldrige 7 excellence criteria. The students in the class will be looking at a Senior VP of HR job description and using a Baldrige perspective will be asked to show where the description and possible recruitment/selection instruments can be improved along Baldrige leadership principles. Ribaldi's 5 principles of success are found within the more comprehensive Baldrige example. I'm a few days away from finishing my analysis. When it's done, I'll insert my findings in a boxnet file and attach to this post. I'll compare my findings with that of the class.
http://www.bizvision.com/webcast/prod/4695
Last week I attended a free webinar about what makes for a successful and an unsuccessful company. It was entitled Mastering Change within 100 days and presented by Ascent Advisors. The weblink above is a tape of that webinar. I saw the presenter at a BYU forum two weeks ago present his life story and how he's reinventing himself in his new career endeavors. The second link above is the tape of that Connect the Dots forum. The title of the first webinar about Mastering Change in 100 days intrigued me. The webinar presentation was a tasty morsel that made you want to ask for more information. The author of the book and presenter is Juan Riboldi. He talks about the 5 root causes of a struggling organization: Low trust, lack of focus, poor capability, weak commitment and delayed or non existent results. He also posits that with his intervention strategies a company can have up to 4X ROI in 100 days. He also indicates that 70% of the change initiatives aren't successful because they are not focused on the 5 principles of success: building common purpose, clarifying trust, developing capacity, inspiring commitment and achieviing results.
This seems obvious that the solutions to the problems are just correcting the problems. However, it seems that those companies failing to do so might think they're focused on these solutions. Sometimes the larger more bureaucratic organizations can't right the ship quickly because of their size and burearcratic thinking/silo protection of senior leaders. I see another concern when companies try and hire clones of their existing workforce who won't rock the boat; won't be disruptive or challenge the status quo. These companies say they want people who will bring them profits and revenue growth but they don't want someone in the organization that isn't a team player.
I've volunteered to teach a college class about assessment centers and performance and have developed the audit outline of what makes a successful organization using the Baldrige 7 excellence criteria. The students in the class will be looking at a Senior VP of HR job description and using a Baldrige perspective will be asked to show where the description and possible recruitment/selection instruments can be improved along Baldrige leadership principles. Ribaldi's 5 principles of success are found within the more comprehensive Baldrige example. I'm a few days away from finishing my analysis. When it's done, I'll insert my findings in a boxnet file and attach to this post. I'll compare my findings with that of the class.
Send me your leads, suggestions, and job aids
http://www.gojobs.com/jobsearch/jobs.aspx?q=administrative or admin or clerical&l=utah
This is a URL for administrative assistant jobs for those searching for these type of jobs. As always, by the time a job makes it to a job board there are many applicants applying. So you should continue to do your networking with hiring managers or your networking contacts to get these jobs before they are advertised to the world. Thanks Carolynn Glauser for this lead.
Carolynn also forwarded to me an interesting article about making your resume seem less old fashioned - suggesting maybe that you also are not up to date. Some of your training on resumes may also not be covering these suggestions: On 2/23/11, Carolynn Glauser
submitted the following:
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/23/earlyshow/main20035211.shtml
This is a URL for administrative assistant jobs for those searching for these type of jobs. As always, by the time a job makes it to a job board there are many applicants applying. So you should continue to do your networking with hiring managers or your networking contacts to get these jobs before they are advertised to the world. Thanks Carolynn Glauser for this lead.
Carolynn also forwarded to me an interesting article about making your resume seem less old fashioned - suggesting maybe that you also are not up to date. Some of your training on resumes may also not be covering these suggestions: On 2/23/11, Carolynn Glauser
submitted the following:
> http://www.cbsnews.com/
Here’s the link to the video, 3 Steps to a Flawless Informational Interview forwarded to me by the Sandy employment center (thanks Van). As always Sue and Van do a wonderful job keeping us updated with the most recent job leads. By the way, for my friends living closer to Sandy than Riverton, I'm going to be at the Sandy center on Tuesday evenings and the Riverton center on Wednesday evenings to help others with their networking needs. Check out this video and pass along.
Finally, I am now getting job leads for HR professional. I'm willing to share them with others who are seeking HR jobs in the area. I posted this message on our group message board and haven't had anyone followup. Hopefully those HR professionals in job search are getting the same emails. The group you should join if not already a member: Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Professionals. Email me at neldondemke@yahoo.com for the most recent updated list of HR jobs.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Performance from a behavioral aspect
Since I've volunteered to give a class on assessment centers, 360 evaluations and their use in promotion decisions and strategic hiring, I found this information helpful. For those of us who are seeking management positions, these points are critical in preparing for your interviews. It appears this consultant is selling a assessment & coaching training product but the principles discussed are nonetheless valid. Where this author points out the behavioral aspects of leadership, I start out at the organizational performance level measuring leadership from a Baldrige Performance Results perspective and then provide next steps in one's search for organizational excellence. The HR piece is only one of 7 parts of the review. When it is determined that there is a gap in management talent search and talent management, the points discussed below are appropriate.
Feature Article by Kirk A Young, Job Match Expert:Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers |
|
Google Searches - Getting seen
4 Factors to Measure Your Online Reputation
(David Halladay shared this blog post which was interesting but except for the Chief Executive or Senior leaders of an organization or a Marketing Manager in job search, this may be too much work. However, there are aspects of the message you might want to consider especially for someone who's trying to brand his product or service as a consultant. I would appreciate comments about your own digital branding and how it's helped in your job search or company visibility. Who's using either Twitter or Vizibility in their branding?)
In my email to thank David Halladay (see below message) he responded:
I followed the links in the article - it gets quite complicated, but if one is interested in really chasing the branding aspect of their on-line presence, it is good.
On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 1:28 PM, Neldon Demke <neldondemke@yahoo.com> wrote:
Interesting but probably way beyond most casual or non-IT/Marketing professionals to pursue. I did include it on my post today.
Recruiters and hiring managers use four dimensions to evaluate the people they Google.
February 22, 2011
- 83 percent of hiring managers and recruiters research candidates online. [Execunet, 2007]
- 70 percent of recruiters have eliminated candidates based on information they found online. [Microsoft 2009 — US, UK, France, Germany]
When we designed the Online ID Calculator, we built an algorithm that measures these two important factors of online reputation. Nearly 60,000 people have used the calculator to measure their volume and relevance of results and see where they show up in a four-box model.
Recently, however, thanks to changes in how Google displays results, the huge rush of people to get their brands online and the way we search for people on the Web, we identified two additional factors that searchers use to evaluate the people they Google. Those factors are purity and diversity.
Purity: Now that almost everyone has jumped on the Web, there is a lot of noise. There was a time when you Googled me — “William Arruda” — and the only results were about me. I am fortunate to have a fairly unique name. (Thanks, Dad!) But now, a Google search reveals that there is a bodybuilder, a cop and a teacher who share my unique name. You have likely seen the same when you Google yourself. This creates confusion for those who want to learn about you — making it hard for them to discern what content they should associate with you.
Diversity: The diversity measure acknowledges the evolution from text-only searches to blended search. You have likely noticed when you perform a Google search that the results include the standard written content (links to blogs and Web sites and articles, for instance) along with images, video and real-time content. No longer is it enough to comment on a few blog posts, build your LinkedIn profile and publish an article to a relevant Web portal. Today, you need to ensure that that your Web content is diverse — that it includes multimedia items and your recent Twitter posts.
The next time you Google yourself, look holistically at these four measures — volume, relevance, purity and diversity — and ask yourself, “What perceptions would searchers form from reading my Google results?”
Step 1. Understand your digital brand. You can use tools like Google, Truveo and Addictomatic, and online ID Calculator, to understand how you measure up in the four dimensions of online branding.
Step 2. Determine which of the four measures — volume, relevance, diversity or purity — needs the greatest attention (you may have a couple that could use some work).
Step 3. Depending on which areas need the most attention, apply the tips below:
- Volume enhancers: If you need more results that are about you, set up social networking profiles on many sites by editing your current branded bio and establishing accounts at naymz, ziki, ziggs and other sites.
- Relevance enhancers: To enhance relevance, where possible, remove content that is unflattering or inconsistent with how you want to be known, write an article about your area of expertise and post it to an appropriate online portal. Find blogs related to your area of thought-leadership, subscribe and comment when you have something valuable to contribute. Review books related to your area of expertise at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Publish relevant white papers to SCRIBD.com. To learn how to turn one real-world communications activity into a year’s worth of online content, check out this video: http://bit.ly/realvirtual.
- Purity enhancers: Sign up for an account at Vizibility. The service allows you to identify the Google results that are about you and create a “Search Me” button that you can include in your e-mail signature, your LinkedIn profile, on your blog, etc.
- Diversity enhancers: Sign up for a Flickr account and post relevant images. If you don’t already have one, set up your Google profile.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Branded Signature line
One of the persons I'm connected to, Jason Alba, today provided this piece of information about signature lines which I felt was important to repeat:
Julianne is a student in my new Certified LinkedIn Career Strategist program (which I hear is awesome, by the way :p). In our last session we talked about email signatures and I asked if I could share a critique of her signature with you – she agreed
Here is her old signature, with my thoughts:
What is your 2 line branded message you place below your name and does it change for the person you contact???
By the way for those that read my newer post, I reread it tonight and deleted it because it was more negative than comical and didn't help anyone in their job search. Sorry if you were offended by the sarcasm.
Julianne is a student in my new Certified LinkedIn Career Strategist program (which I hear is awesome, by the way :p). In our last session we talked about email signatures and I asked if I could share a critique of her signature with you – she agreed
Here is her old signature, with my thoughts: - I think it’s funny when people have an email signature with their name, but they put their name again. It just looks a little funny. I’ve had to get used to having my signature and not putting my name twice on each email.
- This is alphabet soup for job seekers, really. When I was in a job search I didn’t know what any of those certifications meant, and they weren’t significant to me. I have a bias, though… in IT, a few years back, IT certifications were somewhat meaningless. I think it immediately distracts from what your marketing/branding message is by adding stuff that doesn’t make sense to your target audience (perhaps put this down lower?).
- The two lines under her name are good – they give me information about her and what she does. Too often this is jargon, and people might not understand what it really means. I’ve started to tell job seekers they should try and say “I help people/companies _____ by ______.” with NO jargon or cliche.
- I don’t know what a NOW WHAT facilitator is or does — even putting “connecting you with your purpose” doesn’t help me get it. Can you say this in simple English, so I can immediately get it?
- Telephone, skype, email, websites, LI and FB profiles are all good and perhaps appropriate. My only concern is that this is a very long email signature, and I think the longer it is, the less likely it will be read in it’s entirety… which means people might miss your branding message.
- Fax? If you take anything off, I’d take this off, since it probably is important to less than .5% of the people you email. And if it is important you can simply email it to them, without cluttering up your branding message.
- This was a gotcha…! Many people would put @juliannefranke, but you didn’t. I would suggest people who ARE on Twitter would be fine with an @, and not to put Twitter: ____. People who ARE NOT on Twitter will likely not know what to do with this handle. It also isn’t a hyperlink – either put @____ or put the entire URL (so it becomes a hyperlink).
What is your 2 line branded message you place below your name and does it change for the person you contact???
By the way for those that read my newer post, I reread it tonight and deleted it because it was more negative than comical and didn't help anyone in their job search. Sorry if you were offended by the sarcasm.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Simple 30/60/90 day powerpoint presentation
To keep this presentation simple, I left out the graphics, music and other slide show features
This is an example of what you can attach to a touch point message to your hiring authority in one of your 8 steps. If you have other examples that I can attach, please send them via email to neldondemke@yahoo.com. I know David Halladay was working on one. Each job will have a different presentation. Here is Dave's presentation and my presentation below:
http://www.box.net/shared/fqrdo5br69
http://www.box.net/shared/xp0pcciyqq
I was asked to provide a presentation to a business psychology class and decided to address: how to align the job description to the strategic mission of the organization using Baldrige criteria. And then how to develop a market program if the job requires special marketing focus. I'll work on a summary slide of 20 to 30 Baldrige criteria for leadership success this week. Once complete, this could also be boxnetted as a touchpoint.
This is an example of what you can attach to a touch point message to your hiring authority in one of your 8 steps. If you have other examples that I can attach, please send them via email to neldondemke@yahoo.com. I know David Halladay was working on one. Each job will have a different presentation. Here is Dave's presentation and my presentation below:
http://www.box.net/shared/fqrdo5br69
http://www.box.net/shared/xp0pcciyqq
I was asked to provide a presentation to a business psychology class and decided to address: how to align the job description to the strategic mission of the organization using Baldrige criteria. And then how to develop a market program if the job requires special marketing focus. I'll work on a summary slide of 20 to 30 Baldrige criteria for leadership success this week. Once complete, this could also be boxnetted as a touchpoint.
Networking and Me in 30 seconds cards
http://www.box.net/shared/73oqgbqic3
I've saved 2 files to boxnet for your review. If you can't open the file email me at neldondemke@yahoo.com and ask for the networking cards and instructional information. There should be 2 messages, one in Excel and another in Word. If the Excel file cannot be opened since boxnet might strip out the software to manage it, let me send you the two files.
Since your resume, your me in 30 seconds and your networking cards may vary based on who you're visiting and their job requirements, don't print out too many at a time. Sometimes it's easier to keep a 3 by 5 card than a 2 page resume. In addition, you can always give out multiple cards should the interviewer request them. Once again, good luck in your job networking and search.
I've saved 2 files to boxnet for your review. If you can't open the file email me at neldondemke@yahoo.com and ask for the networking cards and instructional information. There should be 2 messages, one in Excel and another in Word. If the Excel file cannot be opened since boxnet might strip out the software to manage it, let me send you the two files.
Since your resume, your me in 30 seconds and your networking cards may vary based on who you're visiting and their job requirements, don't print out too many at a time. Sometimes it's easier to keep a 3 by 5 card than a 2 page resume. In addition, you can always give out multiple cards should the interviewer request them. Once again, good luck in your job networking and search.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Making your job your Dream Job
Last week at a symposium, the speaker was talking to students about the three things to get your dream job. With unemployment at 10% almost any job is a dream job. But if we don't put spice into even the alleged dream job which at first was exciting and then becomes monotonous or unchallenging most of the blame lies with us. While acquiring that dream job requires education, talents/skills and relationships, keeping it exciting requires: searching for purpose, providing that value add and looking for those golden opportunities to provide extraordinary service, provide a solution to a pain point, work with a group to resolve a problem or just be super friendly to your coworkers looking for opportunities to compliment them.
While many employers retain the employee who will continue to make them profits or add customers, it is extremely important that you are also positive, caring and willing to grow. You need to nurture those valued relationships that helped you get a job to begin with. You need to always be in career search even after landing that job. You need to continue to help others around you. And each day you need to contemplate on those 2-3 things you did than made a difference in someone else's day. And finally you need to be thoughtful of other's needs.
While in job search you were encouraged to let your Light/brand shine brightly but after employed "don't sound your trumpet when a picolo will do."
While many employers retain the employee who will continue to make them profits or add customers, it is extremely important that you are also positive, caring and willing to grow. You need to nurture those valued relationships that helped you get a job to begin with. You need to always be in career search even after landing that job. You need to continue to help others around you. And each day you need to contemplate on those 2-3 things you did than made a difference in someone else's day. And finally you need to be thoughtful of other's needs.
While in job search you were encouraged to let your Light/brand shine brightly but after employed "don't sound your trumpet when a picolo will do."
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Three Emails and people I follow
Here are three emails I like to save and refer back to for advice and good information.
The first is from Greg Wells who has a great You Tube video on getting found via LinkedIn:
If someone is searching for your skill set on LinkedIn they can only find you if you are within 3 levels of their network, so the bigger your network on LinkedIn the better your chances of being found by recruiters and hiring managers.
Send me an invite to connect by going to www.LinkedIn.com/in/greigwells, you may need to add my personal e-mail address which is Greig@BeFoundJobs.com
When we connect you will be able to be found by the 1,374,203 connections that are in my network on LinkedIn.
Helping One Person at a Time,
Greig Wells
Second email from Gina Abudi, consultant and soon to be author, I'm linking her profile URL but will ask for her blog URL and insert on another edit:
Hi Neldon,
What an honor! By all means do so. Many thanks and glad you enjoy the blog!
Best,
Gina http://www.linkedin.com/in/ginaabudi
What an honor! By all means do so. Many thanks and glad you enjoy the blog!
Best,
Gina http://www.linkedin.com/in/ginaabudi
On 02/17/11 5:48 AM, Neldon Demke SPHR, IPMA-CP wrote:
--------------------
You always show up on both my top of list for contacts but a blog I like to follow. Would you mind if I placed your blog URL on one of my blog posts about partnering and networking? A big fan - Neldon
The third is from a recent contact via a post on the 7 reasons to use LinkedIn who networks in the San Diego area
Brenda Mitchell has sent you a message.
Date: 2/20/2011
Subject: RE: One of my connections Jason Alba indicated when we link our resume via boxnet to our LinkedIn profile we should not put our phone or...
Neldon,
Thanks for commenting on the discussion I created.
I appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion on the topic I posted in the discussion forum, you really brought life to the discussion with your post.
Just to let you know, I create all the discussions based on articles on my blog, New Grad Life. It has free resources for job seekers regarding topics such as job hunting, resumes, interviews, networking, and more.
What we are trying to do is essentially educate as many people as we can so that they can find and land jobs they want.
You can subscribe for free to the newsletter - there's new content all the time to read and see.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewGradLife
Thanks for commenting on the discussion I created.
I appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion on the topic I posted in the discussion forum, you really brought life to the discussion with your post.
Just to let you know, I create all the discussions based on articles on my blog, New Grad Life. It has free resources for job seekers regarding topics such as job hunting, resumes, interviews, networking, and more.
What we are trying to do is essentially educate as many people as we can so that they can find and land jobs they want.
You can subscribe for free to the newsletter - there's new content all the time to read and see.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewGradLife
Friday, February 18, 2011
The dreaded cold call in job search
From another blog, I captured some ideas or tips for the person just starting to network.
And if the secretary filters callers, try calling quite early or late in the day, when she is not at her post. You might get through to the hiring manager. There are many creative approaches to connecting to the right person. Pick up a few job search books at your local library and find a technique that isn't so beyond your comfort zone that you'll never give it a go.
Here are several responses to the inquiry of making that cold call. I’ve done slight editing.
(1) Back in the day when I worked within the Telemarketing sector, the best ways of getting to the business owner would be to first pretend to the gatekeeper that I have spoke to or emailed the owner before roughly 2-3 weeks ago.
The trick to this is that when they then ring through to the owner he/she will not remember if they have spoken to you or received any communication. So pretty much you are going to get put through to the owner just out of them being polite and also curiosity, I would then speak with the owner and ask if they remembered me or not.
Of course the answer would be No! So I would then explain why I am calling and what the offer/service is. Never be too pushy but then don’t be too soft. Simply let them know how many other businesses are using your offer/service, how it has helped them out, how much it has saved them. Remember you must always have the facts at hand. (This response was more for the person selling a product or service. However, if the product is you, you can use the same introduction but leaving off the last part about others using your product)
The trick to this is that when they then ring through to the owner he/she will not remember if they have spoken to you or received any communication. So pretty much you are going to get put through to the owner just out of them being polite and also curiosity, I would then speak with the owner and ask if they remembered me or not.
Of course the answer would be No! So I would then explain why I am calling and what the offer/service is. Never be too pushy but then don’t be too soft. Simply let them know how many other businesses are using your offer/service, how it has helped them out, how much it has saved them. Remember you must always have the facts at hand. (This response was more for the person selling a product or service. However, if the product is you, you can use the same introduction but leaving off the last part about others using your product)
To put this in the perspective of a hiring/information interview cold call, you should have done your homework about the company’s products, services and pain points.
(2) The dreaded cold call, brrrr! The key is in your mindset. See it not as a dreaded (and dreadful!) job search tactic, but as a truly powerful, and fruitful job search tactic. See each call as an opportunity, a possible "in" that leads to meetings, introductions, or information that will shorten your job search. Practice on a few companies that are not in your list of "dream employers," so that you have polished cold call skills by the time you are calling your A-list of employers.
And if the secretary filters callers, try calling quite early or late in the day, when she is not at her post. You might get through to the hiring manager. There are many creative approaches to connecting to the right person. Pick up a few job search books at your local library and find a technique that isn't so beyond your comfort zone that you'll never give it a go.
(3) Whenever possible, try to make it a 'warm' call vs. cold call. Do a little homework, including searching LinkedIn, for potential connections to someone in that company and then see if you can (with permission, of course) leverage that connection into a reference you can mention in your call to them. Amazing what a known name does toward opening up the gatekeeper or 'guard' to your call! Then, make sure you've done your diligence on the company - their market, their products/services, and their needs - so you will project a confident capability to partner with them when you do get an opportunity to present your services to them.
(4) Determine the decision maker (call up and ask the receptionist, that seems to work, nicely) then create curiosity. Give them a real reason to want to talk with you. You may want to email them to let them know you will call. But hit them with their poor statistics and then show them how you will improve their bottom line.
In summary: 1. You have less than a 10% chance of doing business with a cold call
2. You have about a 30% chance of doing business if you are answering an advertisement for service.
3. You have a 60% chance on a referal. A referal is when someone who works with the organization you are attempting to contact, provides you with the name of a decision maker in that organization, they personally know the person and they know you and they call you and have you call them.
4. You have a 90% chance of doing business with an organiation if you get an introduction. An introduction is when someone you know, introduces you to a person they know and/or are doing business with them. The person you know is at the meeting or appointment where you are being introduced.
To put it into simple terms - with a cold call you'll have to go to at least 10 interviews before you get a bite.
With an introduction - if you went to the same 10 interviews - you have at least 9 offers.
Its worth spending your time, gathering the facts, looking for connections on Linkedin, and taking your time to set up an introduction - whether looking for employment or making a sales call for your company
In summary: 1. You have less than a 10% chance of doing business with a cold call
2. You have about a 30% chance of doing business if you are answering an advertisement for service.
3. You have a 60% chance on a referal. A referal is when someone who works with the organization you are attempting to contact, provides you with the name of a decision maker in that organization, they personally know the person and they know you and they call you and have you call them.
4. You have a 90% chance of doing business with an organiation if you get an introduction. An introduction is when someone you know, introduces you to a person they know and/or are doing business with them. The person you know is at the meeting or appointment where you are being introduced.
To put it into simple terms - with a cold call you'll have to go to at least 10 interviews before you get a bite.
With an introduction - if you went to the same 10 interviews - you have at least 9 offers.
Its worth spending your time, gathering the facts, looking for connections on Linkedin, and taking your time to set up an introduction - whether looking for employment or making a sales call for your company
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Getting Out and Meeting new Friends
Sometimes we participate in formal informational meetings. Other times we meet in larger settings like at association meetings, entrepreneur meetings, etc. Tonight I went to a BYU student and alumni networking meeting with 100 attendees to get more LinkedIn contacts, meet new friends and possibly introduce our transitioning professional group. I've sent LinkedIn invitations to the 3 speakers and it was fortunate for me that I sat at the same table. The meeting was entitled "Connecting the Dots". About 60% of those in attendance were students in the Business, Organizational Development and HR departments.
Each of the speakers presented the same theme on presonal branding and leveraging relationships. Scott Vest from Nexeo spoke about the importance for students to be on LinkedIn. Clark Merkley, Esq talked about the importance of personal branding. He was doing this even before the term was in vogue. He called it his personal mission statement that has guided his life in search of continued learning, mentoring/caring for others and personal integrity. His career started out in law, took a detour to school teaching and now he's in management.
The final speaker, Juan Ribold, author of the 'Path of Ascent" has an organizational development background but told his story about interning with IBM and ending up starting two consulting companies. These three motivational speakers made the night worthwhile. I did connect with several students, who indicated that when they accept my linkedin invite, they'll extend to others the opportunity to participate in our professional transitioning group. They likewise are transitioning from being students to finding employment and have to do their own branding and networking. The discussion and insight they will bring to our group will be interesting.
You might want to comment on some networking group or meeting you are participating in.
Each of the speakers presented the same theme on presonal branding and leveraging relationships. Scott Vest from Nexeo spoke about the importance for students to be on LinkedIn. Clark Merkley, Esq talked about the importance of personal branding. He was doing this even before the term was in vogue. He called it his personal mission statement that has guided his life in search of continued learning, mentoring/caring for others and personal integrity. His career started out in law, took a detour to school teaching and now he's in management.
The final speaker, Juan Ribold, author of the 'Path of Ascent" has an organizational development background but told his story about interning with IBM and ending up starting two consulting companies. These three motivational speakers made the night worthwhile. I did connect with several students, who indicated that when they accept my linkedin invite, they'll extend to others the opportunity to participate in our professional transitioning group. They likewise are transitioning from being students to finding employment and have to do their own branding and networking. The discussion and insight they will bring to our group will be interesting.
You might want to comment on some networking group or meeting you are participating in.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Getting back to your connections
When I started to seriously add members, I hoped to have sufficient numbers to be visible to hiring managers and recruiters. I'm at that level with my key word optimization. However, in my haste to add numbers, I apologize to those who connected but I made only a cursory acknowledgement. I truly want to get to know more of you, especially in the local area. If you want to know me better, I'm at the Riverton center generally on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. However, to be on the safe side, email me if you want an appointment.
What I can do is help you with your resume, your profile and next steps to get seen. I don't have time to redo your resume. I would suggest if you want that to be done, contact Amy Adler at http://www.linkedin.com/in/amyladler. Another great connection for your individual job coaching and networking (you might need more than you're getting at the employment center) is Mary Cosgrove at http://www.linkedin.com/in/marycosgrove. I've attended a networking meeting even though I didn't go to her networking program. Shame on me so I'm giving her a shout out here. They both have great connections and can help you if you're lost or stumbling. For every week you're floundering in your search your losing over $1000 in income. So invest a little in your marketing effort.
I can't suggest strongly enough that you must put a face with your connection and add value to that informational visit. LinkedIn allows you to know who you want to get connected to. But it doesn't eliminate the personal contact. I just found out from a Jason Alba blog that you can attach your email and your linkedin http// link to your LinkedIn message. So if you're asking your hiring manager to provide an email address, you might skip a step by placing the LinkedIn http connection (http://www.linkedin.com/in/neldondemke) in your message. You don't want to include mine though.
You might in your message indicate your resume is in the profile along with other interesting marketing items about yourself.
I spent several hours sending messages to my hiring managers and am not getting too many to provide their email. Maybe that's because I work in a profession that discourages networking. And maybe because they don't know me and my message is ignored. So my next email to them will link my profile address.
For those that ask to connect to me, please read my profile and comment on at least one thing that is interesting to you. I've been asked several times to get introduced to a contact of mine. Even if I knew each of these contacts well, please help me by indicating why you want the connection and how you add value to them. It's sort of like being asked to provide a reference for someone you may not know well. We have the church generally in common, but our work histories are probably not known to one another. I would suggest a better way of getting introduced is to send a message first to ask if it's ok and then when to proceed. I might suggest another contact that might know the person better.
What I can do is help you with your resume, your profile and next steps to get seen. I don't have time to redo your resume. I would suggest if you want that to be done, contact Amy Adler at http://www.linkedin.com/in/amyladler. Another great connection for your individual job coaching and networking (you might need more than you're getting at the employment center) is Mary Cosgrove at http://www.linkedin.com/in/marycosgrove. I've attended a networking meeting even though I didn't go to her networking program. Shame on me so I'm giving her a shout out here. They both have great connections and can help you if you're lost or stumbling. For every week you're floundering in your search your losing over $1000 in income. So invest a little in your marketing effort.
I can't suggest strongly enough that you must put a face with your connection and add value to that informational visit. LinkedIn allows you to know who you want to get connected to. But it doesn't eliminate the personal contact. I just found out from a Jason Alba blog that you can attach your email and your linkedin http// link to your LinkedIn message. So if you're asking your hiring manager to provide an email address, you might skip a step by placing the LinkedIn http connection (http://www.linkedin.com/in/neldondemke) in your message. You don't want to include mine though.
You might in your message indicate your resume is in the profile along with other interesting marketing items about yourself.
I spent several hours sending messages to my hiring managers and am not getting too many to provide their email. Maybe that's because I work in a profession that discourages networking. And maybe because they don't know me and my message is ignored. So my next email to them will link my profile address.
For those that ask to connect to me, please read my profile and comment on at least one thing that is interesting to you. I've been asked several times to get introduced to a contact of mine. Even if I knew each of these contacts well, please help me by indicating why you want the connection and how you add value to them. It's sort of like being asked to provide a reference for someone you may not know well. We have the church generally in common, but our work histories are probably not known to one another. I would suggest a better way of getting introduced is to send a message first to ask if it's ok and then when to proceed. I might suggest another contact that might know the person better.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Bringing Value (business intelligence) to the Informational Interviews
David Halladay sent me a link that has a treasure trove of white papers and business intelligence concerning IT. He wrote: "I received this welcome letter from a new group I have joined (we'll see how good it is). There is an article on IT salaries that I thought might apply to your field (see below or try: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/offer.aspx?o=00610027). I don't know if you are interested on not, but I thought I would send it anyway." I opened the link, complied with the instructions to get access to the information and it's amazing.
I have found that IT, Marketing, HR and Finance are so interconnected in their strategic roles in a company's success that an effective (strategic) business partner should be adept in the other careers. So I downloaded the link and have some white papers to read. They should come in handy as I network with my HR hiring managers. Steps 7 and 8 of my key touches are about sharing business intelligence. It might knock their socks off if the HR hiring manager heard business intelligence in their industry pertaining to IT or marketing as key components in the HR scope of responsibilities relative to career development, talent management, staffing alignment and total rewards.
However, everytime you meet with a hiring manager or a contact for an informational interview first learn about his/her organization and provide them something of value for their time. This is especially true if you plan on contacting them multiple times. I'm following a group that blogs on balanced scorecarding and when I find interesting information that can be part of your business intelligence I'll share it.
I have found that IT, Marketing, HR and Finance are so interconnected in their strategic roles in a company's success that an effective (strategic) business partner should be adept in the other careers. So I downloaded the link and have some white papers to read. They should come in handy as I network with my HR hiring managers. Steps 7 and 8 of my key touches are about sharing business intelligence. It might knock their socks off if the HR hiring manager heard business intelligence in their industry pertaining to IT or marketing as key components in the HR scope of responsibilities relative to career development, talent management, staffing alignment and total rewards.
However, everytime you meet with a hiring manager or a contact for an informational interview first learn about his/her organization and provide them something of value for their time. This is especially true if you plan on contacting them multiple times. I'm following a group that blogs on balanced scorecarding and when I find interesting information that can be part of your business intelligence I'll share it.
Blogging Etiquette and posting jobs
Our newly formed Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Professional has been created only this past weekend and already we have 28 members. We hope to continue to grow that number with both transitioning professionals, with those in career search (not job search) because they want to explore other opportunities, or for those who want to just network to get business intelligence, to share ideas or to see jobs that we hope to get placed. We also accept consultants who might partner with these professionals in their job search.
Here are some suggestions I received about etiquette blogging from a wordpress blog:
As such here are the general etiquette rules for blogging (while the first comment is highly frowned upon):
1. "Ditto, I couldn't have said it better. Please see my blog or website at XXXXXX for my response.
Here are some suggestions I received about etiquette blogging from a wordpress blog:
As such here are the general etiquette rules for blogging (while the first comment is highly frowned upon):
1. "Ditto, I couldn't have said it better. Please see my blog or website at XXXXXX for my response.
2. A proper type response might read: "Well said! I know exactly what you mean about X, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks so. I would even say that .......... ! Your candor is greatly appreciated."
The second one follows the etiquette guidelines below. But even more importantly, it was written with the intent to forge a relationship, not to self promote.
Relationship building is a much more effective and rewarding strategy for attracting new visitors to your site than spamming, so if you're interested in boosting your readership, keep the following tips in mind when you leave comments on others' posts:
1. Be specific. Personalized comments show authors that you're genuinely interested in what they have to say, and that you actually took the time to read what they wrote. This doesn't mean you need to write a long comment, just be sure to articulate why you felt compelled to say something in the first place. Did you learn something new? Did you have a similar experience? Do you want to voice a different perspective? Quote the author directly if you need to clarify what specific sentences you're responding to.
Even if you simply want to compliment someone's work, explain what you liked about it. Avoid vague comments like “Awesome! Thanks for sharing." If you're not sure what to say, consider using the Like button to show your support.
2. On a related note, when you mention another author's post on your own blog, do include a link, instead of just mentioning the post title or blog name. This will generate a pingback and inform the author that you mentioned their post.
3. Stay on topic. Take care not to diverge too far from the subject of the original post. If you end up in an off-topic exchange with other commenters, message them directly to avoid distracting from the comments left for the post author.
It’s perfectly acceptable to share relevant links, just be sure to explain how they relate to the original post.
4. Be nice. Even if you disagree with someone, it’s never appropriate to use insults or other offensive language. Rude comments don’t add any value to a discussion, and only divert attention away from the author’s work. It’s perfectly fine to offer constructive criticism, just be polite. If you see others writing disrespectful or incendiary comments, or you receive such comments on your own blog, ignore/delete them. Acknowledging them will only encourage the aggressor, so don't waste your time.
5. Keep it brief. The more concise your comment, the easier it will be for others to read and respond to. In most cases, a few sentences is plenty.
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