Ascending Mt Eiger's North Face - Your Path of Ascent

In the next 2 blog posts I'm writing about an interesting book by Juan Riboldi who fled the Argentine revolution to begin a successful career of coaching and consulting.  Some of the material in these posts come from his book The Path of Ascent - which I highly recommend.

From the Wikipedia, we find some interesting things about climbing the North Face of Mt Eiger:

The Eiger (3,970 m (13,025 ft)) is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m. The northern side of the mountain rises about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above Grindelwald and other inhabited valleys of the Bernese Oberland, and the southern side faces the deeply glaciated region of the Jungfrau-Aletsch, covered by some of the largest glaciers in the Alps.

The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington, who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858. The north face, 1,800 m (5,900 ft) (German: Nordwand, "north wall"), was first climbed in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition and is one of the six great north faces of the Alps^[2]. Since 1935, at least sixty-four climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "death wall".^[3]

Movie review

'North Face': a gripping climb up Eiger mountain in the Alps

"North Face," Philipp Stölzl's film about a 1936 pre-Olympic Games attempt by two German climbers (Benno Fürmann, Florian Lukas) to scale the forbidding Eiger in the Alps, is perfectly cast, well-written and almost excruciatingly realistic at times.

By John Hartl

MOVIE REVIEW

While Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" dealt exhaustively with the 1936 Olympics competition in Berlin, Philipp Stölzl's "North Face" impressively dramatizes a lesser-known event that led up to the Games.
Germany was in the market for sports heroes in the months before the big event, and mountain-climbing looked like a promising route to fame.

Whether the outcome would be triumph or disaster, the climbers would have the world's attention when they scaled the difficult Eiger mountain in the Alps.  Sometimes described as the Wall of Death, the North Face of the Eiger proves irresistible to a couple of German climbers, Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas). Their childhood friend, Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek), becomes a photojournalist assigned to cover the event.

What begins as a tourist's spectacle turns complicated when an Austrian team joins the Germans in their assault on the mountain. After a climber is seriously injured by falling rocks, the film's adventurous tone shifts drastically.  "Come in a train," notes one observer, "leave in a coffin."

Perfectly cast, well-written and almost excruciatingly realistic at times, "North Face" gets especially high marks for its physical production. Kudos to cinematographer Kolja Brandt, editor Sven Budelmann and the rest of the technical team. This is simply one of the best mountain-climbing movies ever made.
John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com

<sup>In Juan's Riboldi's book - The Path of Ascent - he recounts on page 54 an interesting story of the first successful team of climbers who in 1938 conquered this difficult feat.  While I'm not a mountain climber, I plan on seeing this movie - North Face., I don't pretend to know all the rigors of the sport/adventure or what drives someone to risk life and limb to do it.  But those who do must be in superb physical and emotional conditioning, trained climbers and well coached.  Here are probably some of the things they must prepare for and what corresponding skills or principles apply to life's challenges and those of business success.

The first principle - Vision of Success:  The climbers have to be well versed in alpine mountain climbing and have records of successful and not successful climbs to train against.  They have to have a vision of what it feels like to be at the top and not one of the 64 persons who've died along the way.  Reviewing tapes, records or video/movie clips can help in this preparation.  One should have a successful and motivational coach. 

The second principle or ingredient in one's path/journey will be to map out the route and prepare for the rigors of the trip with strategic clarity:  e.g. special clothes, mountain climbing ropes, axes, food and equipment.  Where one plans to stop for rest, for refreshment and if necessary to sleep.  An escape route may be necessary for avalanches or unsuspected storms.  Reviewing records of successful climbs would help in this mapping/planning step.

The third phase would be endurance/conditioning (capacity planning) stage.  This should not be the first mountain climbing adventure.  In this step, one must decide who will be included on your climbing team and who will lead out and who will follow with specific assignments.  Aligning team members strengths with the challenges ahead is a must for the facilitator/coach.  It is important to have a team leader and have other members empowered to follow and take over if a new leader is needed for any reason or exigency.

The next phase in planning would be to inspire cooperation/collaboration and teamwork.  Five drivers of engagement might include: high achievement, exciting adventure, sense of belonging, individual freedom and noble purpose.  Getting these team members engaged even before the event with training and visioning will help when challenges arise.

The last phase is one that must be part of all the prior steps:  Having a results focus.  Reviewing the path taken by others and what steps were successful.  Finally one must celebrate intermediate steps or milestones along the path or climb.  The first successful climb up the North Face of the Eiger in 1938 was very treacherous.  Each successful climb thereafter can benefit from the records and tales of those who were successful before. 

A good facilitator/coach knows what might lead to failure but focuses on what might lead to success.  Some of the characteristics of a team in trouble include lack of trust; lack of a vision and positive stories of success;  lack of a roadmap/strategic plan that is aligned to the vision; lack of a strong and trained/focused team; lack of cooperation/collaboration toward the vision/strategic plan; and lack of performance measurements to track progress and milestones. 

Juan Riboldi portrays this first successful climb up the North Face as a metaphor for life and for coaching an organization's success.  The 5 Es for improving personal performance on page 184 of his book include:
1.  Envisioning - What do I want to see happen?
2.  Evaluate:  How can I/we make it happen?
3.  Empower:  How do I/we build on team strengths?
4.  Engage:  How do I inspire myself and others to act collaboratively?
5.  Evolve:  How do I/we track progress and record results?

In the next post, I will further blog on life on the road to job acquisition - see boxnet file for powerpoint presentation http://www.box.net/shared/rhgv1f13zf</sup>

Continuation of Ascent Pathing - The path of Job Search

In the link below is a presentation I provided to the University of Utah job club in May 2011.  While it addresses 6 steps toward successful job search, I'll further expand these suggestions in this post.  While job search isn't exactly like climbing the North Face of Eiger, there are elements of stress and the roller coaster ride we face with the highs and lows of the journey.  The successful job searcher has a vision of where he/she wants to end up when employed or engaged in other business pursuits.  To me that vision should enoble you and add purpose.

http://www.box.net/shared/rhgv1f13zf (6 Steps to be successful in our Job Search)

While Juan Riboldi's path has 5 steps toward one's successful journey - the last of which is to record results and reward oneself with small rewards upon reaching milestones, I find the results stage necessary at each level and especially as a precursor to creating the roadmap upon starting the journey.  There are numerous books and articles written about charting one's job search path for success.  I have numerous blog posts that provide valuable suggestions of successful networking, interviewing and branding.  There are job coaches and even some employment experts willing to help for a modest fee.  If you can't do it yourself and need assistance - get it, even if you have to pay a little for a professional branded message (e.g. resume, cover letter, tagline, me in 30 seconds (elevator speech), power statements & accomplishments, personal best stories, LI profile and roadmap).  I provide numerous suggestions in my posts, but some would be wise to engage an expert at the outset, especially if they are in a hurry to get started.

See my powerpoint presentation about finding hope and light in your job search at the bottom of my LinkedIn profile. 

I find it critcal that one has an action plan, a vision of a successful career (dream job & dream life), and a way to get engaged and recognize success along the way.  I find it helpful to continue reinventing yourself along the way with new ideas, new ways to market your strengths, and creative ways to be the solution to your prospective employers pain points.  Good business intelligence, SWOT analysis and brainstorming also help.  Pre and post communications and business intelligence not only keeps the door open but positions you for another opportunity that might serindipitously appear.

Reading through some of the performance factors used in Baldrige can also prepare one for an interview and job.  See file below which helps with both strategies and key terminology we can include in our marketing portfolios.

http://www.box.net/shared/1e3vgv5e1z  (Baldrige criteria) 

Interestingly,  it contains some of the same Riboldi success points but covered in more detail.  While Baldrige scoring is intended to give an organization  a snapshot of where they are,  the most important element is to give a roadmap of where they need be in the next years to get to the next level.of perfomance.  Riboldi's guarantee is to get you in 100 days to at least a 400% ROI - something more rigorous than Baldrige.  Baldrige typically doesn't have a facilitator but just an examiner.  If I were to rollout a Baldrige examination on a struggling team, I'd do the brief HR/Management audit to begin with and then identify performance gaps to work on.  These could include training team members in collaborative problem solving, could involve a learning and/or talent management initiative, or could involve talent acquisition and succession planning.  These are all HR initiatives that help align an organization to it's key strategic initiatives.

In final analysis, whether its a job search or a performance improvement initiative, it always includes an upward path: visioning, strategic mapping, empowerment/engagement and finally tracking results.  I strongly suggest one records this upward path so that they can grow from the experience and share the upward path and learnings with others.

Phone Interview Tips

How to ace the phone interview

By Ronnie Ann Himmel & Lee Jonsson

P hone interviews are commonly used to screen the most likely applicants before scheduling in-person interviews. While some companies call in every candidate who has the qualifications, more and more employers use the phone screen to save time and effort on both sides. Sometimes people without exact qualifications get screened to see if something about them sparks further interest. Phone interviews also can take the place of an in-person interview, especially if distance is involved. In some cases, phone interviews are a conference call to allow all the stakeholders to get a sense of who you are.

There are times you will be contacted ahead of time to arrange the actual phone interview, but other times the phone might just ring. If you need a moment to gather your thoughts, it’s OK to ask if they can call back in 10 minutes. However, if you are looking for a job and have prepared yourself for the possibility of an impromptu phone interview, go for it right then and there because you don’t want the opportunity to disappear.

What interviewers are looking for

Having interviewed many people for various jobs and having been interviewed myself, it is useful to keep in mind what an interviewer (over the phone or in-person) is looking for in a job candidate. Here are a few desired qualities or characteristics employers are looking for:

• Someone who can do the job. If asked, give clear, strong examples of skills that fit the job description.
• Someone they want to work with on a daily basis. Personality matters. You don’t have to be dazzling—just someone they feel meshes well with their team.
• Someone they can turn to in a crisis. Help them see you are someone others can rely on and who doesn’t get caught up in drama.
• Someone who finds solutions. Share experiences in which you helped solve a problem or figured out a better way.
• Someone who listens and responds coherently. The phone interview is your chance to show one of your most valuable job skills: effective communication.
• Someone who comes across as positive, pleasant and proactive. Employers want candidates who will add positive energy to their teams.

Before the interview

If you are looking for a job, be prepared for a phone interview at any time. A few simple things can make that welcome call less stressful. Find a quiet place where you can do the phone interview away from the distractions of stereos, televisions, other noisy devices, children and pets. Then, keep a few items such as your résumé, any potential company or contact information, a notepad, pen or pencil and a calculator near the phone so you have your important materials readily accessible.

Also prepare for the phone interview by researching the companies you’re interested in, being able to recite the skills and accomplishments on your résumé and preparing stories that show obstacles you’ve overcome or weaknesses you’ve turned into strengths.  When answering questions, speak slowly, loudly and clearly enough that you are easy to understand.  Make sure your responses are easy to understand, professional and not too personal.

Since you may not always be available to take the call, make sure the recording on your voicemail message is clear and professional. If you are making the call, it is important to know how to turn off call-waiting and use a landline to avoid the possibility of a dropped call.

During the interview

Although any interview can be stressful, with a phone interview you have the benefit of being in your own environment with your materials close at hand. Assuming you know what time the phone interview will be, consider dressing as you would for an in-person interview. Being dressed in a way that says, “I am ready to do this job,” will come across over the phone.

Good energy also makes a big difference in how you are perceived over the phone. Some experts suggest standing or walking around to keep the energy up. Do what is most comfortable, but at the very least, sit up straight and give your full attention and energy to the person on the other end of the line. It is important to realize that your position and posture are closely tied to your engagement and enthusiasm on the call. Also, smile when you speak. Smiling changes the tone of your voice. Phone interviewers can sense your positive attitude.

One of the most important things to remember during the phone interview is to be present and fully engaged in the conversation. If your mind wanders to the next question or last answer, they’ll feel the loss of energy and connection. Listen carefully, answer thoughtfully and be yourself. Remember, you have something great to offer them. During a tough job search, we sometimes forget who we are.

When answering questions, speak slowly, loudly and clearly enough that you are easy to understand. Make sure your responses are professional and not too personal. Avoid excessively long, negative or inappropriate stories. Find the balance between talking too little and talking too much. Answer what is asked but where appropriate, give the interviewer a chance to see your personality. Don’t feel you must share every interview story. They just need to see you are someone they want to know more about. When appropriate, ask questions that show your genuine interest.

If you have thoughtfully answered a question, don’t worry about a quiet period. Let the interviewer look for his or her next question. Don’t over-commit yourself during the in-between times. You don’t have to fill in the dead air. Avoid um and uh. Just pause to think. Practice, if necessary.
Below are a few additional tips you should remember for your phone interview:

• Do not call the interviewer by his or her first name unless invited to do so.
• Do not interrupt the interviewer.
• Do not eat, drink, chew gum or smoke during an interview.

After the interview

Write down the questions, answers and responses you can remember. If you do this while the interview is fresh in your mind, you will have better information to refer back to.  Make sure you send a short thank-you note for the interview. Common courtesy is still essential.

You have no way of knowing exactly what your interviewer is thinking or screening for. All you can ever do is your best. By being fully engaged, using positive, results-oriented stories where appropriate, connecting with the interviewer and letting your real self shine through, you give yourself the absolute best chance of getting that next interview and landing a job that’s right for you.

Ronnie Ann Himmel is an organizational consultant, workplace coach and writer living in the New York City area. She blogs about job searches, interviews and career advice at Work Coach Café (http://workcoachcafe.com).

Your Elevator Pitch (Me in 30 seconds); Have a Tagline (me in 4 seconds)

When I'm at a networking group, most new members can't reduce their pitch to 30 seconds.  This is a valuable lesson for all of us even if working but in career search.

Perfecting your elevator pitch

 

“What do you do?” For most of us, the canned response we give includes mentioning our job title and where we work, but not much else. Whether you have a job or are looking for one, being able to answer this question effectively is more important than you might think.

Perhaps you have heard of the 30-second elevator pitch—a brief opportunity to present the benefits and uniqueness of your services in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Really, elevator speeches can be used anywhere and at any time in any brief social situation.

The objective of a 30-second speech is to provide your audience (whoever is listening) a clear and memorable snapshot of you.

Consider the following:

• You want to connect with people you can help and who can also help you.
• We all have a network of friends, family and work associates, and they all have their own network. If you formally or informally communicate in a meaningful way who you are, and what you do or can do, you can link this web of networks to connect with people you need to know and people who need to know you.

Alina Sanchez, managing partner of Spire Associates says, “We are all multi-dimensional humans with rich talents. We connect with so many people at work, school and in social settings—sometimes just for brief moments.” She suggests we ask ourselves: “How do we best connect [with people] in a meaningful way? How do we convey who we are?”

If you’ve never developed a 30-second elevator speech, it can be harder than you think, but don’t let that stop you. “What if you knew by writing your pitch, you would reap the rewards of clarifying what is truly important to you?” asks Sanchez.

If you are having trouble getting started, Sanchez suggests you answer the following questions: Who am I? What am I passionate about? Tap your inner strengths by remembering what you were doing the last time you felt: in ‘the zone;’ completely content; on fire; unstoppable; most proud; joyful; and most creative. You may even need to go back to your favorite childhood memories to find your true self.

Follow these steps to create a stand-out elevator pitch:

1. Write it down.

To get started, write down your aspirations and dreams. Write down your talents and skills that have practical or economic value. Convey who you are. “Just start writing and wait to edit after you get enough content down,” Sanchez says.

2. Refine your pitch.

Take time to edit, refine and distill your ideas. The message needs to be clear so that it can be conveyed to someone else correctly (think the “Telephone” game). The message needs to be memorable so that you are top of mind when someone else has an opportunity to network for you. Then, make sure to include what value you can bring to the table, specifically what benefits or solutions you can provide.

3. Practice.

As strange as it may feel when you do it, practice your speech and time it. If you can’t say everything you want to say in 30 seconds, decide what the most important things you want to get across to the other person are and leave out the rest. This exercise is a great way to clarify who you are, what you do and what your goals are. Then, practice in front of friends and family and get their feedback. “The more you practice and refine your elevator pitch, the easier it will get. Know that it will evolve,” Sanchez says.

4. Be enthusiastic and smile.

Now that you have done the hard work of creating your 30-second speech, you must sell it in a truly genuine and positive way. Make eye contact and smile. Use a comfortable pace, tone and volume when speaking. Your body language should convey openness and confidence. Your enthusiasm and passion will do as much to sell your strengths as what you actually say.

Remember, even if you aren’t actively looking for a job, developing and strengthening your network will help create and expand opportunities in the future. You never know when that 30-second elevator pitch will work for you—most likely when you least expect it.

Riverton Professional Networking Meeting - Interview Tips

Jeanine Wilson, trainer extraordinaire, provided a provocative and insightful deck and training to our professional networking group in Riverton today on interview tips.  She introduced the subject by comparing "you" the interviewee to the product that is going to be acquired if you meet their needs and resolve their pain points.  So the goal of the interview is to make them fall in love with you. 

Please review the deck attached hereto, and work to improve those items/areas that are most difficult for you.  From the dress/attire, the punctuality, the politeness to office personnel (receptionist), to your business intelligence and preparation for the interview you'll find interesting information.  While Jeanine didn't cover all the items to include in your portfolio, I like to bring to the interview:  a resume, my reference list, my top 12 accomplishments and my 90 day plan.  The last 2 are things most presenters don't think about so having these will make an impression. In an informational interview I have next week, I'm bringing a copy of my dream job. You should also have several thank-you notes to write while you're still at the facility - handwritten are most appreciated especially if you comment on something that you learned during the interview.  Don't forget to find out how and when to get back to them.  Don't talk about your compensation or other personal needs at the interview even if given an opportunity to ask a few questions.  Prepare your questions in advance.

While I've been trained in the S/PAR format, Jeanine provided the STAR format.  They are basically the same.  You paint a picture of the problem/situation you faced, the action you took and the result translated into payback (profits, reduced errors, improved customer relations, improved teambuilding, etc.)  These should match as closely as possible the painpoints you might encounter in your new job.  If you prepare 10-12 power statements using the S/PAR format or you accomplishments, you will be able to include these into your interview.  If you have them already prepared, you can control the tempo and questions during the interview if its a non structured format.  Many hiring managers want to hire someone who is proactive and who can fit into the team and resolve their problems.  Jeanine indicated if, at all possible, ask what are the organization's challenges early on in the interview so you can tailor your answers accordingly.  This only works on the unstructured interviews.  HR professionals want to have most interviewees asked the same or similar questions to avoid challenges of discrimination should the interviewer not be experienced.

You should practice interviewing in front of others, in front of your skype camera.  Practice skyping to get more comfortable with this format.  My biggest problem with skyping is that you can't move or gesticulate without feeling awkward.  But recruiters are skyping more to get a better look at the candidate.  One thing you shouldn't do which I learned after a skype interview was not to exercise just before the interview.  It makes you perspire during the interview. 

Here is a copy of Jeanine's deck - http://www.box.net/shared/kzt2aiqqp7

Could LinkedIn be on the buy list for Google?

Why Google Should Buy LinkedIn, Now Before It's Too Late (GOOG)

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, provided by

Business Insider May 3, 2011 04:00 AM Copyright Business Insider. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

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Google's new CEO Larry Page is all about winning in social, tying every Googler's bonus to the success of the company's social strategy.
And he's right: Google absolutely needs to win in social because social is driving an ever increasing share of online traffic, and traffic is power and money.
An obvious shortcut for Google to win social is buying other successful social companies.

The company that most often comes up as a potential target is Twitter, because it's the biggest Facebook rival and it's struggling to find a good business model, which means Google could be a long term home for it. But Twitter doesn't want to sell.
One that gets less talked about is LinkedIn, because LinkedIn is more "niche" (albeit a huge niche). But with yesterday's news that LinkedIn is becoming a traffic firehose with its new focus on content, we should note the big reason why LinkedIn would make a very valuable social property for Google.

LinkedIn has one thing that no one else except Facebook has: REAL IDENTITIES.
The focus on real identities is one of the biggest factors in Facebook's success. At the beginning, you could only sign up with a college, and then a work email, which made people sign up with their real identities. Today Facebook still enforces its only-real-names policy.

Real identities are why people go on Facebook all the time. It makes the site feel more trustworthy. It makes sure people have their real friends on there with real photos. Being an online identity repository and system is a huge competitive advantage for Facebook, and something it's doing effortlessly despite every big company trying and failing to get people to use their real identities online. Real identities are what makes social networks "stick" and be so valuable.

With LinkedIn, Google would instantly get a database of 100 million real and valuable identities, which it can then cross-pollinate with Google Profiles, its own ho-hum effort to get people to give it their own real identities.

LinkedIn can then evolve its focus slowly and progressively away from "merely" professional networking. The barrier between personal and professional identity online is getting blurrier and blurrier anyway. Services like Twitter and About.me are already hard at work obliterating that distinction. That would be bad for LinkedIn as a standalone company, but great for a Google-owned LinkedIn.

Sharing content is another big social network activity that LinkedIn is already shifting to, and combining Google's new sharing service +1 with LinkedIn would give it that instant boost. LinkedIn would stop being a resume database but become a sharing hub for information like Facebook and Twitter.

Integrating LinkedIn profiles and Gmail, like third-party tools like Rapportive already do, would also be a big boon: opening an email you would see not only a person's email and "name" but their real identity. Integrating LinkedIn and Gmail that way might cause privacy jitters (but again, some tools already do this using publicly available info and APIs) but it would improve Gmail and drive a huge new wave of signups to LinkedIn.

In time, LinkedIn could go from being a social network for execs, to a social network for people who have jobs, to a social network for everyone. That would be a real threat for Facebook.  If Google wants to buy LinkedIn, it had better do it soon rather than before it gets a huge IPO pop. So it's something to think about.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-should-buy-linkedin-2011-5#ixzz1LR1LoRbQ

What's working well? Quarterly networking forum

Tonight I attended Mary Cosgrove's networking event (What's working well) which was attended by almost 50 attendees at the Miller campus. It was attended by both transitioning and other professionals that have benefitted from Mary's coaching.  There were some great presenters.  Mary was the keynote speaker talking about her vision for the future - focusing less on job club/networking and more on her strategic alliance which I'll get to later.

Steve Avery, Strategic Partner spoke about his experiences with business process improvement from both private industry and for government.  Having worked 11 years with Sprint in process improvement, operational excellence and project management and having also worked with the public sector, it seems Steve was able to make the public sector (State Government agencies) more responsive to change and business process improvement than I've experienced.  Chatting with him afterwards, he indicated that two things were in the plus side looking retrospectively at a  SWOT analyses making this operational excellence change possible:  the budget shortfall and no strong union opposition.  Utah is unlike many other states I've worked in in having few strong public sector unions.  Steve is currently developing business process improvement for Utah Higher education at the Salt Lake Community College. I might try and partner with him on other ventures or training in the future.

The third presenter, Tera Sunder, Chief People Officer for Nelson Labs, talked about her career goals, her training and talent management focus with many fast growing companies.  Tera has a real passion for talent management and succession planning and is being recognized as a bright female star in Utah. She is now a connection and I hope to make a stronger connection in the future.  Even if you don't do an informational interview, attending networking meetings and introducing youself to presenters and sharing common experiences is almost as good.

Another short presentation was provided by Pat Crook - HR Director at AdvancedMD. I've attached the link for people to go apply for IT jobs.

http://www.advancedmd.com/company/careers/


While I've not met Amy Adler before, she is a member of our Salt Lake Transitioning Group and is an experienced Resume/branding writer and creator.  I recommend those who are struggling on their resume and brand to engage her or someone with similar skills because this part is so critical and sometimes we're hesitant to strongly brand ourselves.  Sometimes recruiters can help you and I've got more than 80 connected to me, but other times it is what gets you into an interview.

I'm happy for Mary's success and new direction.  She has decided to focus more of her time not on job club which I find rewarding as a volunteer endeavor but on teaching a class on Career Strategies for Today and Tomorrow.  It focuses not just on strategies - self assessment and branding exercises but advanced social media and marketing strategies.  The class will start in June and will last 5 weeks held at the Miller Campus.  You can get more information at mary@whatsworkingwell.com.  Looking at the subjects it appears the class of about 10-15 is a strong coaching class for those who need special attention.

An added benefit from the night's networking meeting was getting back with Julie Swaner who provides many of my job leads for our group and she just got her PhD from the U.  Congratulations Julie!

So in your busy pursuits to find employment or networking for better connections, don't forget to attend special networking events to meet new and interesting people.

Behavioral Questions

While here are some valuable suggestions, if you prepare 10-12 accomplishments using the PAR format ahead of time, you will probably be able to answer at least 50% of the behavioral questions.  You will be able to easily adapt the others using these key power statements just by using the PAR format.  For the next few weeks we'll be handling interview dos and don'ts and mock interviews during our next 2 professional networking group meetings.

April 29, 2011

Answering Behavioral Interview Questions

Many interviewers take an interview approach that focuses on asking questions that prompt the candidate to describe a specific work-related situation. Since the way a candidate previously acted in a situation can often be the best indicator of future behavior, recruiters and hiring managers regularly choose this interviewing method.

Behavior interview questions can give interviewers a solid basis of your "soft skills" such as communication, decision-making, customer service, management, adaptability, and teamwork.
While it's hard to plan for every behavioral question you might be asked, the key is having a solid outline for these kinds of questions that gives a thorough and thoughtful answer. Typically, the best way to answer a behavioral question is to describe:

1. (S) The situation or task you were faced with
2. (A) The action you took, while explaining your thought process
3. (R) The result or outcome of the situation based on your action.

If you're not exactly sure of what a behavioral interview question might be, here are a few examples:

• How do you determine priority of projects when scheduling your time?
• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer. What was the problem and how did you handle the situation?
• Describe a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty to get a job done.
• How do you involve your manager and/or others when you make a decision?
• Describe a time when you were faced with a difficult problem. What did you do? What was your thought process? What was the outcome?

What behavioral questions have you been asked in an interview? How did you answer them?

Some Suggestions on maximizing your LinkedIn profile

David Clay a good friend and job networker extraorinaire provided the next few posts.  Congratulations and good luck Dave in your new job opportunity. I love to see my friends finding employment but I'll miss them at the networking meetings.   Make sure you update your linkedin profile, maintain and build your network with both people and business intelligence.  And if your company takes off, don't forget others who are in the Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Professionals.  Thanks again for your friendship.

While the following post talks about the top 3 mistakes - I would add several more.  Make sure your profile is keyword rich, have 3-5 good references, make sure you are growing your network with interesting and good networking connections and contribute to the group discussions - you can belong to 50 groups..

The Top 3 Mistakes Job Seekers Make On LinkedIn

By Joshua Waldman


Everyone is on LinkedIn these days. Let’s face it. Almost every CEO from every Fortune 500. Last count was over 50 million users.
In contrast, job boards have only about 3.5 percent of available jobs. This is common knowledge in the career industry, but then why do so many people spend so much time on job boards?
The answer is because it feels safer. LinkedIn is really all about networking. And socializing in an unfamiliar environment can be frightening. I know, I’m an introvert. I totally understand why job seekers try to spend as little time as possible in front of LinkedIn.
So I want to offer you 3 of the most common mistakes in using LinkedIn and how to avoid them. My goal is to help job seekers get over any unconscious resistance to using the most powerful job finding tool ever invented.

Mistake 1: Not Having a Brand
Shoe companies have brands, not people!
Wrong.
Looking for a job is just another sales situation. You are your product. And everything about you is going to either sell you or turn people away.
It’s really just a choice you have to make inside.
Just like how we make buying decisions emotionally, sometimes based on silly things, like the color of the packaging. So too do hiring managers unconsciously make decisions about our candidacy.
If your résumé doesn’t quite match your LinkedIn profile, and that doesn’t match what your referral said about you, then you are in big trouble.
The risk of being inconsistent is huge, and it helps to have defined “who you are” long before you put yourself out there.
The second part of branding is knowing your audience. What are their two biggest problems right now, problems that you could potentially solve?
The trick is to align the “who you are” with the “what they need” so there is a nice overlap.
This, my friends, is your personal brand. It will define your strategy, your writing style, your colors, photos and everything else about you online.
Most people crank out their LinkedIn profile without doing this step first.

Mistake 2: You are NOT Your J-o-b
“Systems Engineer”
“Marketing Executive”
“Fundraiser”
These appear under people’s names in their LinkedIn profiles. And they tell us nothing about who this person really is.
They are a commodity.
Quick story. I had a client, a network engineer, who wanted to work for a very large shoe company. No, not Nike, but good guess.
He knew they had two problems. First, they had no internal network. Second, their external network was so broken that it was affecting supply chain.
So in order to really appeal to this company, we needed to directly address their biggest challenges — challenges that he had the capacity to solve.
So his headline went like this, “Powerful Intranet builder | Supply Chain thought leader | Project management guru”
You have 120 characters to tell the world who you are and what value you bring.
And every communication you generate on LinkedIn will have this professional headline attached to it.
So choose wisely.
Hint: don’t use your job title as your headline.

Mistake 3: Don’t Look Like an Axe Murderer
Every single time I speak about social media in the job search, someone always comes up to me afterward to ask me this question, “But I’m just not that comfortable putting my picture up.” They are either too young or too old or too something.
Yes, ageism, racism and sexism are very real. It’s sad and terrible that they still happen in our society. But using a black and white photo, or zooming way out to try and hide something about ourselves is not going to solve the problem.
The only thing we can do is put some time and effort into our photos, to reflect who we are honestly. And to make a nice looking photo.
All too often, people will put up a mug shot, and wonder why they aren’t getting call backs.
This happened to a friend’s client. And the day he changed his photo, he got a job offer. No exaggeration. (I can hear the HR people cringing from this story, but it’s true).
So the lesson from this is that it is worth getting a professional headshot taken if you are serious about getting a job.

Joshua Waldman is the founder of the Career Enlightenment blog and author of "Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies". He specializes in helping job seekers, frustrated by the traditional job search, leverage social media to find work FAST! Sign up to his mailing list today and get access to his exclusive training videos for free.

Read more on the Simply Hired Blog: http://blog.simplyhired.com/2011/04/the-top-3-mistakes-job-seekers-make-on-linkedin.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=may2#ixzz1LK4voOFo