The e-mail I got today was typical of what I've been hearing: "For the first time in my career I find myself unexpectedly searching for a job. Until recently, I was the sales manager for a well-known horticultural company and have been laid off because of the company's shaky financial picture."
In troubled economic times, a kind of paralysis sets in among the newly jobless like my e-mail correspondent, as well as workers who fear the axe may soon fall on them. Perhaps they are in denial, but too many of them hunker down and refuse to invest in the very tools they need to be ready for possible job loss. If you think your job is even remotely threatened by an economic meltdown, you must be ready with at a minimum, your resume and perhaps career coaching to help you regroup and find work as quickly as possible.
It's also smart to think in new ways and anticipate the silver linings that may result from the economic crisis. Taking inspiration from "the other side of the hiring desk," recruiting experts who have recently written about retooling in the face of the meltdown, this article helps point out hidden opportunities to be found in a downturn.
We know that freezes will occur freezes in spending, raises, career advancement, and worst of all, hiring. Writing on ERE.net, recruiting guru Dr. John Sullivan calls these "one of the first knee-jerk reactions many CFOs and senior managers take." What will freezes mean for you? And how can you find those silver linings?
Anticipate freezes. Sullivan notes that an early-warning sign of hiring freezes is the "infamous paper-clip memo," in which management cautions workers to curtail spending on office supplies, travel, and professional-development activities. Such a memo often foreshadows a freeze. The paper-clip memo foretells that you must start thinking about preparing for job loss or for the difficulty you will encounter because of widespread hiring freezes in landing a new job.
Be alert to employers that may be doing lots of hiring before a freeze sets in. Sullivan writes that "anticipating freezes often encourages hiring managers to hire 'a bunch' of people early (whether they are needed or not)." Network, talk to recruiters, and keep your ear to the ground to learn of extraordinary pre-freeze opportunities.
Leverage the winter of your discontent. As ExecuNet Vice President Lauryn Franzoni observes in an article for SafetyXChange, "job dissatisfaction is a major challenge even when times are good. And right now, times are far from good." You may be happy in your job, but you could grow restless if your employer imposes freezes on promotions and raises. You may be itching to move on to a company that realizes the business case for approaches to dealing with the crisis that don't entail freezes. Or to a "fast and agile" company that has adopted what Sullivan calls the "new model for the global economy... firms [that] simultaneously hire and release workers in different areas." Now may be the time to seriously consider a job or career change.
If you are considering a career change, brainstorm the new jobs that may emerge from the crisis. Kevin Wheeler, president and founder of Global Learning Resources, Inc., observes that "every recession is an opportunity to recalibrate, learn, and decide what skills and competencies are most likely to be needed as we emerge from this recession." He recalls that the need for skills in not only physical security, but also data and financial security, emerged from 9-11. Put on your thinking cap to predict what kinds of candidates will be needed to deal with the mess Wall Street left behind. Regulators, perhaps? The candidates for public office have emphasized the role of alternative-energy sources in rebuilding the economy. Start looking for niches and markets, such as green jobs, that may yield your next career.
Internal hiring will increase in importance. Shifting people around internally is less costly than hiring outsiders, and as Sullivan writes, "managers need to increase the impact of their current employees by developing plans to transfer people internally from low-return areas to those with higher return." The recession climate could be a terrific time to make an internal move. You will need a great resume and other tools to migrate within the organization. A mentor can also be a huge help when you want to make an internal move.
Passive candidates are more desirable than ever. Employers and recruiters covet passive candidates over those actively looking for a job. In these down times, recruiters whose activities may be somewhat curtailed by freezes will be building their databases of passive candidates. If you are nervous about job loss but not yet ready to actively pound the pavements, you can take advantage of your passive status by putting feelers to recruiters and positioning yourself as a desirable passive candidate who is nonetheless open to new opportunities.
Prepare for a slower pace. The pace of hiring in recent years has been frenetic but is likely to slow significantly. Wheeler notes that recruiters have had no time to "plan, think, experiment" over the last five years, so frenzied has the pace of recruiting and hiring been. While the hiring process will likely take longer as employers review their budgets and best candidates, hiring decision-makers may give more attention to applicants. Be patient as the market cools down.
Be alert to employers who are taking advantage of the downturn. Sullivan points to the lack of recruiting competition during troubled times. "A firm can now successfully attract experienced and college hires that their weak employment brand, pay rates, or location wouldn't normally allow." Suss out those employers and the good opportunities for the candidate who has his or her resume ready to go. Even if such employers don't represent your ideal, an interim position may tide you over until you're A-list employers are hiring again.
Weak performers may be the first to go. Beyond downsizings, employers may look to the downturn as a good time to dump their poor performers. If your most recent evaluations have not been great, you may be among the most vulnerable. Be ready. On the flip side, if you're a great performer, you may find that the offloading the non-producers will open vacancies for you.
Networking, online and face-to-face, will soar in importance. Recruiters and employers will seek recruiting methods that are less costly than business as usual. Wheeler recommends to them social networks, blogs, wikis, virtual job fairs, and virtual recruiting techniques. Here's your opportunity to delve or delve more deeply into social networking, deploy branding strategies, obtain an online portfolio, and more. Hiring decision-makers will also utilize good old-fashioned face-to-face networking to find employees. (Of course, networking has always been the most effective way to get a job, but it will be even more so now.)
Keeping in touch with non-hiring employers can still pay off. Wheeler advises recruiters to "carefully, authentically, and regularly communicate with the best candidates." If recruiters and other hiring decision-makers are reaching out, be ready to reach back. Even if employers are not hiring, stay in touch and remain receptive to decision-maker outreach that may yield results when things improve. Lay the foundation for success while you wait for the economy to rebound.
Final thought: This too shall pass. Although he doesn't make clear how the phenomenon happens, Sullivan writes that "any review of history will reveal that the majority of wealth in modern civilizations is more often than not created during times of significant economic crisis." Economic conditions are always cyclical. Sooner or later, things will be better.
See also these Job-Hunting During a Recession Articles for Job-Seekers.
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Networking Buddy System for Job-Search Success
What do deep sea diving, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and a job search have in common? Success and sometimes even survival depend on using the buddy system.
Most extreme sports enthusiasts agree that having a buddy for support is the key to success; but in a job search, having a fellow job-searcher to network with and for accountability can propel your success.
Take Joan and Cathy, for example. They work in different industries and in different job roles. Both were laid off at about the same time. They met at a local networking group and hit it off immediately. They began to explore other networking opportunities together.
"Going to networking events for the first time was hard for me," Joan relates, "I tend to be shy and don't feel comfortable being the new person. I hated not knowing anyone there. But now, Cathy and I go together. It's opened up a whole new realm of events I never would have attended without her."
For Cathy, "The hardest thing for me was follow through. I'd tell myself 'I'm going to check out this new event' or set goals for my search for a certain week and just not follow through. Joan has been great in holding me accountable for my goals and keeping me on track."
Accountability - The Buddy System in Action
Joan and Cathy have hit upon one of the most important benefits of the buddy system. Accountability!
Too many times, we fall victim to distractions from the job search. The trap of sleeping late, watching TV, and playing on the Web can ensnare us. With no one but ourselves to hold us accountable for our job-search goals and plans, time can just slip away. It's so easy to lose balance between personal needs and wants and our job search.
Joan and Cathy relate, "We have a favorite networking group that we go to each week. It meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, so we grab dinner before and set our action plan for the week. We plan to go to one other group meeting each week and decide which one it will be over dinner. Finally, we review what was to be accomplished the previous week to make sure both of us stays on track."
Achieving Balance
The other end of the spectrum is becoming a "job search-aholic." For many of us, our identity is tied up tightly in our career, while others need a job right away just to make ends meet. No matter how great the need or desire for a new position, conducting a job search 24/7 non-stop can actually be a detriment to a successful campaign.
Once burnout sets in and enthusiasm begins to wane, how can you be at your best when you interview or even network?
The buddy system is an ideal way to protect against burnout while keeping on track! Note how Joan and Cathy have used this system:
"We help each other set reasonable goals for the week and remind each other that it's OK to go have some fun. Our rule is that our job search is like our full time job, and like any full time job, that means most weekends are off."
Joan notes, "This was especially important to me. I was setting unrealistic goals for myself. I was spending all my weekends and evenings on the Internet, searching for jobs and applying for almost everything I came across. I was so discouraged, tired and all around just burned out. Cathy helped me see that not only was I spending my time unwisely by using only the Internet for my search, but that I also needed to be more balanced so I could always keep my best face forward in the search process."
When to Leave the Buddy Behind
As with all great systems, there are times when the buddy system is best left at home.
Job fairs are one example where carpooling can be great, but once inside its time for some one on one networking. You want to be prepared to speak face to face with a recruiter and possibly even have an on-the-spot interview. This would not be a good time have you buddy by your side!
Another buddy system no-no is to take your buddy along with you to interviews. Even having the buddy wait for you in the lobby can result in points off with the interviewer.
Finally, when at a networking event, move around and meet people. Network! It's what you came for. Just because you and your buddy came together doesn't mean that you have to stay side by side the whole time. Mingle and get to know others at the event. Expand your relational network, find out information about local companies and increase your contact list! Then meet up with your buddy at the end and compare notes!
Buddy as Resource
Developing your network is an integral part of your success in a job search. Taking full advantage of all the resources available to you is key to success. One of the most useful resources you may find just might be your job-search buddy.
Use your buddy as a sounding board for ideas and goals as well as frustrations. Keep each other balanced and on track, but know when it is appropriate to go solo.
Whether climbing Mt. Everest or looking for that dream job in your own back yard, use the helping hand of a buddy to reach maximum success.
by Clay Barrett
Most extreme sports enthusiasts agree that having a buddy for support is the key to success; but in a job search, having a fellow job-searcher to network with and for accountability can propel your success.
Take Joan and Cathy, for example. They work in different industries and in different job roles. Both were laid off at about the same time. They met at a local networking group and hit it off immediately. They began to explore other networking opportunities together.
"Going to networking events for the first time was hard for me," Joan relates, "I tend to be shy and don't feel comfortable being the new person. I hated not knowing anyone there. But now, Cathy and I go together. It's opened up a whole new realm of events I never would have attended without her."
For Cathy, "The hardest thing for me was follow through. I'd tell myself 'I'm going to check out this new event' or set goals for my search for a certain week and just not follow through. Joan has been great in holding me accountable for my goals and keeping me on track."
Accountability - The Buddy System in Action
Joan and Cathy have hit upon one of the most important benefits of the buddy system. Accountability!
Too many times, we fall victim to distractions from the job search. The trap of sleeping late, watching TV, and playing on the Web can ensnare us. With no one but ourselves to hold us accountable for our job-search goals and plans, time can just slip away. It's so easy to lose balance between personal needs and wants and our job search.
Joan and Cathy relate, "We have a favorite networking group that we go to each week. It meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, so we grab dinner before and set our action plan for the week. We plan to go to one other group meeting each week and decide which one it will be over dinner. Finally, we review what was to be accomplished the previous week to make sure both of us stays on track."
Achieving Balance
The other end of the spectrum is becoming a "job search-aholic." For many of us, our identity is tied up tightly in our career, while others need a job right away just to make ends meet. No matter how great the need or desire for a new position, conducting a job search 24/7 non-stop can actually be a detriment to a successful campaign.
Once burnout sets in and enthusiasm begins to wane, how can you be at your best when you interview or even network?
The buddy system is an ideal way to protect against burnout while keeping on track! Note how Joan and Cathy have used this system:
"We help each other set reasonable goals for the week and remind each other that it's OK to go have some fun. Our rule is that our job search is like our full time job, and like any full time job, that means most weekends are off."
Joan notes, "This was especially important to me. I was setting unrealistic goals for myself. I was spending all my weekends and evenings on the Internet, searching for jobs and applying for almost everything I came across. I was so discouraged, tired and all around just burned out. Cathy helped me see that not only was I spending my time unwisely by using only the Internet for my search, but that I also needed to be more balanced so I could always keep my best face forward in the search process."
When to Leave the Buddy Behind
As with all great systems, there are times when the buddy system is best left at home.
Job fairs are one example where carpooling can be great, but once inside its time for some one on one networking. You want to be prepared to speak face to face with a recruiter and possibly even have an on-the-spot interview. This would not be a good time have you buddy by your side!
Another buddy system no-no is to take your buddy along with you to interviews. Even having the buddy wait for you in the lobby can result in points off with the interviewer.
Finally, when at a networking event, move around and meet people. Network! It's what you came for. Just because you and your buddy came together doesn't mean that you have to stay side by side the whole time. Mingle and get to know others at the event. Expand your relational network, find out information about local companies and increase your contact list! Then meet up with your buddy at the end and compare notes!
Buddy as Resource
Developing your network is an integral part of your success in a job search. Taking full advantage of all the resources available to you is key to success. One of the most useful resources you may find just might be your job-search buddy.
Use your buddy as a sounding board for ideas and goals as well as frustrations. Keep each other balanced and on track, but know when it is appropriate to go solo.
Whether climbing Mt. Everest or looking for that dream job in your own back yard, use the helping hand of a buddy to reach maximum success.
by Clay Barrett
Tapping Into the Hidden Job Market: Uncovering Unpublicized Job Leads
Have you ever conducted a job-search and thought to yourself that there must be more job openings than the ones found through online job searches? Guess what? The answer is a resounding yes. If you are simply searching online (regardless of whether you are using Monster, Indeed, or Google), you are missing out on at least four times as many job leads, job leads that go unposted publicly.
To make matters even worse for you as a job-seeker, the job leads you actually discover online may be so old that the position has long been filled or closed.
In order to track down the most job leads leading to the most interview and job offer opportunities job-seekers must go beyond online job boards and search engines and attack the hidden job market. As much as 80 percent of all job openings are filled through (direct and indirect) referrals, not through job postings.
Why Job Openings Often Go Unadvertised
The actual hiring process is a long and winding road that begins when a hiring manager requests a new position or when a current employee leaves his or her current position. The first step is getting approval to fund (or continue funding) the position and approving the recruitment plan. What happens next is a multi-stage process that eventually leads to a public job posting if all other measures are unsuccessful.
During the initial time of the request, hiring managers put out feelers to find internal candidates for the expected position. Strong and proven internal candidates are almost always favored by employers over the unknown quantity of new outside hires. Once funding has been approved, the next step is an internal job posting, again with the intent of finding an internal candidate to promote. At this stage, hiring managers may also contact their network and inquire about possible external candidates (referrals).
Only when it's been decided that there are no viable internal candidates and no known external candidates is a position publicly posted.
Strategies for Uncovering Hidden Job Leads
There are two main strategies for uncovering a wealth of unpublicized job openings: networking and cold-calling. These strategies both work because they break into the middle of the hiring process before positions are publicly broadcast. Even better for you as a job-seeker, if you can make a strong case for your fit with an unadvertised position, you'll face much less competition from other job-seekers, immediately improving the chances that you'll get a job interview.
Career Networking
Just about all of us network everyday throughout the day by chatting with our fellow commuters, making phones calls or sending emails to our suppliers or customers, updating our Twitter or Facebook status, talking with our colleagues at work, meeting with friends or family for drinks or dinner after work it's just that most of us don't think of it as networking.
But that's the basic premise of networking and why networking is such an easy job-search tool. Networking is simply about building and maintaining relationships with the people around us. The more people we know and the more people the people we know are connected with the more powerful our network. Remember to not only maintain your current network, but strive to regularly add new contacts especially those who work at prospective future employers. As a colleague of ours likes to say, job-hunting is now a contact sport and the more (relevant) contacts you have, the better your chances for success.
When you're ready to seek that next job or when you need to seek that next job the simple way of uncovering hidden job opportunities and leads is by asking people in your network if they have heard of any openings for the job you're seeking. There are two keys to being successful. First, you need to know exactly the type of job you are seeking. Second, you are not asking your network contacts for a job, but rather for information that may lead to a job.
It's best to use a combination of traditional (face-to-face) networking and social (online) networking, as well as a combination of personal (family and friends) and professional (present and former colleagues and bosses, peers, suppliers, customers, and the like) contacts.
To really ramp up your networking techniques discovering new ways to develop and maximize your networking opportunities, review our many networking tools in our Career and Job-Search Networking section.
Cold-Calling
Cold-calling is an old sales technique and an even older job-search technique that works as well today (if not better) as in the past. The basic premise of this approach is that you identify specific employers and send them an unsolicited cover letter and resume requesting an interview.
The first step is determining the exact type of job you are seeking. The better you know the position you seek, the better you can find employers that hire job-seekers for those positions and the stronger you can target your cover letter and resume.
The second step is identifying employers. You should target employers based on location, industry, or values/reputation. You can find employers through industry associations, chambers of commerce, and lists of best companies.
The third step is researching the employers so that you can understand their culture (using some of their own language in your cover letter and resume) and uncover the hiring manager (department head, division manager, etc.) for the position you seek.
The fourth step is crafting a compelling cover letter and focused resume that work together to land you an interview. These documents can be sent electronically or by postal mail -- or through both methods.
Find more details in our article, Cold Calling: A Time-Tested Method of Job-Hunting.
Final Thoughts
These strategies will help you uncover numerous hidden job leads when you are actively seeking a new job, but what can you do to tap into these unpublicized leads when you are not on the job market? You can indirectly uncover hidden job leads even when you are not actively searching for a new position by having employers and recruiters find you for fresh job leads they are seeking to fill.
Develop your personal career brand through social networking sites, industry and professional association participation, writing relevant articles and blog posts, and developing your personal Website.
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
To make matters even worse for you as a job-seeker, the job leads you actually discover online may be so old that the position has long been filled or closed.
In order to track down the most job leads leading to the most interview and job offer opportunities job-seekers must go beyond online job boards and search engines and attack the hidden job market. As much as 80 percent of all job openings are filled through (direct and indirect) referrals, not through job postings.
Why Job Openings Often Go Unadvertised
The actual hiring process is a long and winding road that begins when a hiring manager requests a new position or when a current employee leaves his or her current position. The first step is getting approval to fund (or continue funding) the position and approving the recruitment plan. What happens next is a multi-stage process that eventually leads to a public job posting if all other measures are unsuccessful.
During the initial time of the request, hiring managers put out feelers to find internal candidates for the expected position. Strong and proven internal candidates are almost always favored by employers over the unknown quantity of new outside hires. Once funding has been approved, the next step is an internal job posting, again with the intent of finding an internal candidate to promote. At this stage, hiring managers may also contact their network and inquire about possible external candidates (referrals).
Only when it's been decided that there are no viable internal candidates and no known external candidates is a position publicly posted.
Strategies for Uncovering Hidden Job Leads
There are two main strategies for uncovering a wealth of unpublicized job openings: networking and cold-calling. These strategies both work because they break into the middle of the hiring process before positions are publicly broadcast. Even better for you as a job-seeker, if you can make a strong case for your fit with an unadvertised position, you'll face much less competition from other job-seekers, immediately improving the chances that you'll get a job interview.
Career Networking
Just about all of us network everyday throughout the day by chatting with our fellow commuters, making phones calls or sending emails to our suppliers or customers, updating our Twitter or Facebook status, talking with our colleagues at work, meeting with friends or family for drinks or dinner after work it's just that most of us don't think of it as networking.
But that's the basic premise of networking and why networking is such an easy job-search tool. Networking is simply about building and maintaining relationships with the people around us. The more people we know and the more people the people we know are connected with the more powerful our network. Remember to not only maintain your current network, but strive to regularly add new contacts especially those who work at prospective future employers. As a colleague of ours likes to say, job-hunting is now a contact sport and the more (relevant) contacts you have, the better your chances for success.
When you're ready to seek that next job or when you need to seek that next job the simple way of uncovering hidden job opportunities and leads is by asking people in your network if they have heard of any openings for the job you're seeking. There are two keys to being successful. First, you need to know exactly the type of job you are seeking. Second, you are not asking your network contacts for a job, but rather for information that may lead to a job.
It's best to use a combination of traditional (face-to-face) networking and social (online) networking, as well as a combination of personal (family and friends) and professional (present and former colleagues and bosses, peers, suppliers, customers, and the like) contacts.
To really ramp up your networking techniques discovering new ways to develop and maximize your networking opportunities, review our many networking tools in our Career and Job-Search Networking section.
Cold-Calling
Cold-calling is an old sales technique and an even older job-search technique that works as well today (if not better) as in the past. The basic premise of this approach is that you identify specific employers and send them an unsolicited cover letter and resume requesting an interview.
The first step is determining the exact type of job you are seeking. The better you know the position you seek, the better you can find employers that hire job-seekers for those positions and the stronger you can target your cover letter and resume.
The second step is identifying employers. You should target employers based on location, industry, or values/reputation. You can find employers through industry associations, chambers of commerce, and lists of best companies.
The third step is researching the employers so that you can understand their culture (using some of their own language in your cover letter and resume) and uncover the hiring manager (department head, division manager, etc.) for the position you seek.
The fourth step is crafting a compelling cover letter and focused resume that work together to land you an interview. These documents can be sent electronically or by postal mail -- or through both methods.
Find more details in our article, Cold Calling: A Time-Tested Method of Job-Hunting.
Final Thoughts
These strategies will help you uncover numerous hidden job leads when you are actively seeking a new job, but what can you do to tap into these unpublicized leads when you are not on the job market? You can indirectly uncover hidden job leads even when you are not actively searching for a new position by having employers and recruiters find you for fresh job leads they are seeking to fill.
Develop your personal career brand through social networking sites, industry and professional association participation, writing relevant articles and blog posts, and developing your personal Website.
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thinking about ur Career?
U should first realize that why I'm not able to get a job.means that right job for yourself? ,Think and view yourself in way ,so that your path will provide you a success So Lets see about the following
- Time Management
- Stress Management
- Career Skills
- Information Skills
- Practical Creativity
- Leadership Skills
- Problem Solving
- Decision Making
- Project Management
- Communication Skills
Finding Career Direction
Finding Career Direction
Discover Yourself and Your Purpose
How long has it been since you asked yourself what you want to be when you grow up?
If you haven't considered the idea since high school, then you may have settled into a job that is not fulfilling your professional aspirations, or your purpose.
Each of us has particular talents that, when expressed or exercised, make the world a better place. Most likely you enjoy doing these things, and you find that people respond well to you when you do them. Perhaps they're things you gravitate towards during out-of-hours activities, and that people respect you for.
When you develop these talents as far as you can, you can make your greatest possible contribution to the world, and enjoy personal and professional satisfaction that goes along with this.
When you develop these talents as far as you can, you can make your greatest possible contribution to the world, and enjoy personal and professional satisfaction that goes along with this.
Your Career Direction Journey
The process of uncovering what you are meant to do, that is finding career direction, is a journey. It starts with discovering the essential "you": the person who truly resides behind the facades, defenses, and stresses of everyday life.
Once unmasked, your journey continues with specific career exploration and identification of a career that allows you to make good use of your talents. And it moves on with a focused job or career move, in which you identify the jobs you want and put yourself in the best possible position to get them. In fact, this journey never really ends because work itself is all about change, growth, development, and reinvention.
Brainstorm each of these questions, and then use your answers to identify the top three talents that you most use when you're successful. Rank these in order.
| Tip: If you're having problems choosing, use a technique like paired comparison analysis to rank things in order. |
Personality Inventories
Next, we'll look at using personality inventories as a way of looking at your preferred way of working relative to other people.
There are many typologies available including Myers-Briggs, DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness) and the strength finder evaluation in "Now Discover Your Strengths".
There are many typologies available including Myers-Briggs, DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness) and the strength finder evaluation in "Now Discover Your Strengths".
| Tip 1: Some of these cost quite a lot of money, however considering the importance of what you're doing, it is probably worth investing in them if you haven't already done so. Tip 2: It can be hard initially to see how to apply these tests. One trick is to turn things around, and as you identify possible careers, think about what personality type is most likely to be successful in these careers. Is there a match or a mismatch? We'll do this later. Tip 3: Treat these tests as advisory only - you can't capture the whole complexity of your personality and experience with only a few questions. That said, you'll probably find the tests quite insightful! |
With personality testing you learn what you have in common with other people. You also discover potential points of friction with people of other personality types. While no personality type is good or bad, it does help you discover what motivates and energizes you. This in turn empowers you to seek those elements in the work you choose to do, and avoid the things that frustrate and demotivate you.
As you explore your personality you come to realize that who you are is really determined by the choices you make. You choose to react one way over another, or to prefer one thing to another. You can take this self-awareness one step further by examining why you make the choices you do. In psychological terms, what is your payoff for making the choices you make?
When you know the "why" it is easier to see how you can become fulfilled through the work you do.
As you explore your personality you come to realize that who you are is really determined by the choices you make. You choose to react one way over another, or to prefer one thing to another. You can take this self-awareness one step further by examining why you make the choices you do. In psychological terms, what is your payoff for making the choices you make?
When you know the "why" it is easier to see how you can become fulfilled through the work you do.
Write a "Who I Am" Statement
Now draw this together into a simple written statement of who you are. This is an important step toward self-discovery and defining your purpose. Use it to answer the following questions:
- What your talents and strengths are.
- The talents you achieve most with.
- The activities you get most satisfaction from.
- The type of activity the psychometrics you've completed guide you towards.
| Tip: When you're doing this, be careful not just to look back nostalgically at simple jobs where you performed well - after all, many different people could perform well in these situations, and this gives you little information. Focus instead on more difficult areas where you made a positive difference, and where others didn't. |
2. Finding Out What You Want to Do
Now that you know who you are, the next stage is to think about what you want to do.
For your life to be balanced and fulfilled, your career must be aligned with who you are: Otherwise you'll be unhappy with work, and you'll probably underachieve. After all, ill-fitting jobs demand different talents from the ones that you have. If you try to pursue a career path that is at odds with your values, your beliefs, and your way of seeing the world, then you'll struggle constantly and be under a great deal of stress and pressure.
The starting point is to do some brainstorming on the jobs that you think would suit who you are. We'll then confirm this with some different psychometric tests, and then extend this list with some more brainstorming.
You then need to spend some time researching the top careers you've identified.
For your life to be balanced and fulfilled, your career must be aligned with who you are: Otherwise you'll be unhappy with work, and you'll probably underachieve. After all, ill-fitting jobs demand different talents from the ones that you have. If you try to pursue a career path that is at odds with your values, your beliefs, and your way of seeing the world, then you'll struggle constantly and be under a great deal of stress and pressure.
The starting point is to do some brainstorming on the jobs that you think would suit who you are. We'll then confirm this with some different psychometric tests, and then extend this list with some more brainstorming.
You then need to spend some time researching the top careers you've identified.
i. Exploring the Options You Know About
Starting with your "Who I Am" statement, start thinking about all of the jobs you can see that would suit you someone with the talents and interests in that statement (by depersonalizing it in this way, you help to avoid "being too close to the issue.")
Starting here is particularly important if you're already established in a career: It's important to capitalize where you can on the experience and contacts you've already built up, compared with ditching everything and starting completely afresh (while this sounds glamorous and enticing, it puts you in the position of competing equally with other career starters, who may be much younger than you. On the other hand, if you're profoundly unhappy with your company, industry and profession, a radical career change may be the best thing...)
So start by asking yourself if your current role can be adapted to suit you much better; if there are other roles within your existing company that would be worth trying; or whether similar roles in other organizations might be more rewarding.
Once you've done this, extend out and brainstorm the other options available.
Starting here is particularly important if you're already established in a career: It's important to capitalize where you can on the experience and contacts you've already built up, compared with ditching everything and starting completely afresh (while this sounds glamorous and enticing, it puts you in the position of competing equally with other career starters, who may be much younger than you. On the other hand, if you're profoundly unhappy with your company, industry and profession, a radical career change may be the best thing...)
So start by asking yourself if your current role can be adapted to suit you much better; if there are other roles within your existing company that would be worth trying; or whether similar roles in other organizations might be more rewarding.
Once you've done this, extend out and brainstorm the other options available.
ii. Using Career Tests
The next stage is to use online career tests to explore options that you might have missed.
Useful ones are:
Useful ones are:
Free, but limited career selection advice:
Chargeable (but inexpensive, and with good selections of possible careers):
iii. Thinking Further
The unavoidable flaw with these career tests is that they're based on backward-looking data, and can only cope with the major career types. Because of this, they can't recommend new careers, nor do they know about less well-known careers.
Using the test results as a starting point, do some brainstorming to see if there are new technology careers which demand similar personality types, or if there are more obscure careers that may also be open.
Using the test results as a starting point, do some brainstorming to see if there are new technology careers which demand similar personality types, or if there are more obscure careers that may also be open.
iv. Pulling This Together.
You'll now have identifies a wide range of possible careers open to you. Now's the time to cut these down and prioritize them. We're not asking you to choose one now, but to cut down to your top 5 or 6 choices (the reason being that when you start researching these careers, some of them may turn out to be quite bad!)
Again, if you're having trouble prioritizing, use paired comparison analysis to rank your choices.
Again, if you're having trouble prioritizing, use paired comparison analysis to rank your choices.
v. Perform Career Research
Armed with a solid understanding of how you can participate in fulfilling work, you now need to research the various options you have to make money doing so. Career research is not something many people relish, but it is necessary in order to eliminate choices that seem to be great fits on the surface but really won't align with your mission and purpose.
Yes, this is quite tedious. But think about the consequences of getting things wrong! Surely it's worth spending time exploring your options, rather than a lifetime kicking yourself for making a bad choice!
Methods for researching careers include:
Yes, this is quite tedious. But think about the consequences of getting things wrong! Surely it's worth spending time exploring your options, rather than a lifetime kicking yourself for making a bad choice!
Methods for researching careers include:
- Researching the career using sites like Acinet.org, so that you can understand industry trends, job pay levels, qualifications needed, job availability, etc.
- Conducting your own PEST Analysis to confirm your own view of likely career trends.
- Reading industry/career magazines and get a sense of how "happy" the industry is, who the major players in it are, and what the issues and problems within it are. Also, looking at job vacancies to see if the career is in demand.
- Understanding what talents and personalities make people successful in the career, and mapping these back against your own talents and personality.
- Attending professional and trade shows.
- Participating in job fairs;
- Visiting company websites, and keep an eye on how companies are talked about in the press.
- Understanding where organizations are based, and deciding if you're prepared to travel to interviews, and perhaps to move.
- Volunteering.
- Working part time and/or seasonally in the industry.
| Tip: Be careful when using career trends to identify career possibilities: The desire to pursue an up and coming career may overshadow your mission and purpose. This will only lead to dissatisfaction down the road. Also be aware that there's a natural desire from people within an industry to inflate its prospects (to ensure a good supply of new recruits in the future.) Take official figures with a pinch of salt! |
By the end of all of this research, you may have rejected several possible careers. Now's the time to narrow down to one! Again, Paired Comparison Analysis may be useful here, however so can Grid Analysis which helps you make comparisons where many variables are involved.
3. Answering "How do I Get Hired?"
In this last phase you answer, "What am I going to do to get hired?"
With your "Who I Am" statement and your research as your compass, now you need to actually map your progress. Many people tend to move from their purpose right into job search mode. This is a mistake because unless you have a plan, it is far too easy to get derailed by a lucrative job offer, an opening that Uncle Vinny has, a job that sounds really glamorous, or a whole host of other distractions.
With your "Who I Am" statement and your research as your compass, now you need to actually map your progress. Many people tend to move from their purpose right into job search mode. This is a mistake because unless you have a plan, it is far too easy to get derailed by a lucrative job offer, an opening that Uncle Vinny has, a job that sounds really glamorous, or a whole host of other distractions.
Develop your plan first and you're more likely to get where you want to go, faster.
- Start by writing down the career you want. What is your long-term vision for yourself in terms of your career?
- Write down the steps you need to take or the things you need to accomplish, in order to get there. What qualifications should you get? What experience should you build? Which organization will give you the best start?
- For each of these steps create a detailed implementation plan.
- These are your short term goals.
- Be sure to express as SMART objectives.
- Go back and identify contingency plans
- Do a "what if" analysis on your goals "If you don't get accepted to grad school this year, what will you do?"
| Tip: The more contingency plans you have the more likely you will be able to survive the inevitable setbacks. You will also have much more confidence in yourself despite the bumps in the road. Tip 2: Recognize that the more opportunities you have, the better the job that you'll be able to choose. Concentrate on creating as many opportunities as possible! |
Now you are free to pursue your dream career with confidence. There are certainly no guarantees but with the right amount of planning and a sufficient dose of reality, the career that you are meant for will materialize.
Signs a career direction evaluation may be in order:
|
Key Points
Finding career direction is a process. The more effort you put into the planning stages the better your results. Uncovering your true self and your purpose is heavy, emotional work and you may have to go through this process a few times in the span of your working life. The effort however, is certainly worth it when you end up with a clear sense of the direction your career should be taking.
By taking a talent-based approach to your career search right from the start, you keep yourself heading toward the right career even when the actual direction shifts over time. This approach consists of sequentially answering three questions:- Who Am I?
- What Do I Want to Do?
- How Do I Get Hired?
1. Discovering Who You Really Are
The first question to answer is "Who am I?"
We'll take two approaches to answering this - firstly asking you to explore your talents, and secondly using psychometric tests to explore your preferences.
Exploring Your Talents
First of all, consider your answers to the following questions:
- When have you been most committed, passionate and enthusiastic?
- When have you been most creative?
- When have you been most sure of yourself and your decisions?
- What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
- When have other people considered you to be most successful?
- When have you enjoyed your work most?
- What talents were you relying on, and using, in these situations?
- For what would you take a very strong stand?
- What about the world puzzles or disturbs you that you could make an impact on?
- What jobs do you like to do at work when you have a choice?
- What activities are you drawn towards out of work?
- If money were no concern, what would you be doing?
Introduction to career skills
It starts with five articles which help you think about career direction. These tools help you uncover what you do best and identify the types of work that you’ll enjoy doing most. From this, you can figure out how to make the most of your skills and preferences, whether in your current role or in a new one.
Amongst these, our article on Personal SWOT Analysis shows you how you can apply the well-known SWOT strategy tool to your life and career, helping you identify your strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities open to you and the threats you face. This leads naturally into the idea of job crafting. This is something that many of us do subconsciously to some extent, but our article gives you a rigorous approach that you can use to craft your ideal job.
Our next group of articles help you to develop your career in various ways. We show you what you can be doing now to future proof your careerand to get ready for promotion. And if you’re frustrated because your hard work and abilities are going unnoticed, find out how to get the recognition you deserve.
Of course, despite your best efforts and preparation, careers don’t always go to plan, especially in a volatile economic climate. So we show you how to live with a lack of job security and how to cope with life after job loss. Yet even when the economy’s booming, you can still face challenging career situations such as hitting a “glass ceiling”. Find out what you can do to break through these!
We round off this section with two articles that will help you transition through significant events in your career. First, we look at what you can do when you get a new boss, and then we see how to wrap up in one role before moving on.
For more details , Click here http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_00.htm
Amongst these, our article on Personal SWOT Analysis shows you how you can apply the well-known SWOT strategy tool to your life and career, helping you identify your strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities open to you and the threats you face. This leads naturally into the idea of job crafting. This is something that many of us do subconsciously to some extent, but our article gives you a rigorous approach that you can use to craft your ideal job.
Our next group of articles help you to develop your career in various ways. We show you what you can be doing now to future proof your careerand to get ready for promotion. And if you’re frustrated because your hard work and abilities are going unnoticed, find out how to get the recognition you deserve.
Of course, despite your best efforts and preparation, careers don’t always go to plan, especially in a volatile economic climate. So we show you how to live with a lack of job security and how to cope with life after job loss. Yet even when the economy’s booming, you can still face challenging career situations such as hitting a “glass ceiling”. Find out what you can do to break through these!
We round off this section with two articles that will help you transition through significant events in your career. First, we look at what you can do when you get a new boss, and then we see how to wrap up in one role before moving on.
For more details , Click here http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_00.htm
Living with a Lack of Job Security
Coping with uncertainty
Some of the people you know may have only had a few jobs - or even one job - in their lives. If so, and they're not working for the government, they're likely to be older than 50, having grown up at a time where company loyalty and hard work provided a steady career and a comfortable pension. They might have spent 20 or 30 years with the same company, never making the break to search for something better, and never having a reason to fear layoffs.
These days, however, the world is much different. As a result of globalization, outsourcing, contracting, downsizing, recession and even natural disaster, "job security" can seem like a thing of the past. People entering the workforce within the past few years may have more than 10 different jobs before they retire. The lack of job security that goes with this is something that almost everyone must face at one time or another, and learning how to cope is essential to being happy, and keeping stress away.
So, how do you deal with this uncertainty?
First, learn how to handle the psychological pressure and stress. It's important to realize that not everyone reacts the same way to job insecurity. Your home life, willingness to adapt to change, and financial situation are much different from those of your colleagues, so don't expect yourself to feel or react like they do: they'll manage stress their own way.
Next, be prepared. It's impossible to know what the future will bring, so preparing in advance can help reduce your worries, because you'll know you've done all you can.
We'll show you what you can do now to deal with the feeling of a lack of job security.
Coping with Stress
Living with constant insecurity can be stressful. Some studies suggest that living with job insecurity - the "fear" of losing your job - can be more harmful to your health than actually losing it. Here, keeping a positive attitude can make all the difference!
If you're stressed about your career, try some of these tips:
- Remember the saying "Whenever one door closes, another one opens." Living with uncertainty can be uncomfortable, but you can control how you look at it. It can be an adventure, and the chance to do something new.
- If you're a good worker with marketable skills, then you have a lot to offer other potential employers if you get laid off. This is why it's so important to keep your skills relevant and up-to-date.
- In today's job market, the technical skills you need can change quickly. So, develop your nontechnical skills as well. If your lack of job security is due to a drop in demand for your technical skills, think "outside the box." What else can you do - and how can you prove that you could learn a new line of work? Look at your track record of being adaptable, your organizational skills (time management, team management, and leadership), and your people skills. For more information, read our Book Insight on "Career Intelligence" by Barbara Moses, and use this site to build solid career skills.
- Stress can result from a feeling that you don't have control over your situation. Remember, you ALWAYS have control. It's your life, and it's within your power to change it. If you're afraid that you might get "downsized," then take control and act. Look for lateral transfers within your company, to a different department or even a different branch. Start learning about other departments; perhaps your skills would allow you to do something completely different within the organization. Be PROactive instead of REactive.
- If you're part of a team (or if you're leading a team), allow everyone to voice their fears. Communicating and expressing frustrations are important, but don't let these fears dominate the group. This can create negativity and hurt morale. So, have an open discussion, but focus on what you can all do to move forward and cope.
Prove Your Worth
If you were your boss, and you were forced to eliminate one position, who would you lay off: the person who leaves at 5:01 pm each day and complains all the time, or the person who's willing to take on extra work and always has something positive to say?
If you face uncertainty in your field, make sure you give value to your company. You'll have to do more than "just the minimum" if you want to keep your job.
Be willing to stay late to finish a project. Help another team member who's falling behind. Do things to show your boss that you love your job and you'll do what it takes to help the company succeed. This kind of commitment can help to set you apart from the crowd.
Stay Current
Keeping your skills current is essential if you want to offer value to your company. Make sure you're up to date on your industry's certifications and trends. Take outside classes and read trade publications, so that you know what's going on in your field.
Also, think about taking classes that would benefit your role in any company. Skills like effective time management, leadership techniques, and office organization can help you anywhere - no matter what job you're doing.
"Brag" About Yourself
Many people resist talking about their accomplishments because they don't want to boast. But think of it this way: your boss may not know how great you are, or what you're capable of doing, if you don't tell her.
By talking about your accomplishments, you keep him or her informed of your value. For more on how to brag about yourself (without being viewed as arrogant or overconfident), read Getting the Recognition You Deserve.
Keep Your Résumé Up to Date
This is smart for everyone to do, not just those who are actively looking for work (or afraid they might be soon).
When your résumé is current, you can be ready at a moment's notice to apply for a new position - even one within your own company. You won't have to rush to make changes (and risk making mistakes), and you can be sure to present yourself in the very best light. If you wait until the last minute, you might forget an important accomplishment that could mean winning - or losing - the job.
Save Your Money
Few things are more stressful than wondering how you'll pay your bills if you suddenly lose your job. This alone can convince people to accept the first job offer they receive, even if it's not the right match.
Save at least three to six months of living expenses - this can help you take the time you need to find the best opportunity, if you are laid off. It can also give you the resources you need to look further afield, if work dries up in your area. This can help you turn a bad situation into a chance to reevaluate your career, and put yourself onto a new, exciting path.
Key Points
In today's business world, living with job insecurity is a reality for many. But it doesn't have to be stressful and negative.
Preparing yourself for change is a great way to feel better about the situation. Take control by ensuring that your company knows how great you are, and invest time in keeping your skills up to date. And save some money, so you don't have to worry about paying your bills if you do lose your job.
If you do get laid off, remember that the world is full of opportunities. Changing your mindset can go a long way toward reducing your stress. Look at this change as an adventure and as the chance to try something new. Focus on the positive, not on doubt and uncertainty. Remember, your life is what you make of it!
Top articles for Career skills
How To Become a Millionaire In Three Years
/* This was originally a comment made in response to a hacker news thread titled: Ask HN: How to become a millionaire in 3 years? . The comment has over 200 upvotes, which means people found it useful. I decided to add more thoughts, refine existing ones, and put it in a permanent place. This is just my own humble advice and I hope it’s useful for entrepreneurs. */
I move forward the only direction
Cant be scared to fail in Search of perfection
-Jay-Z, On To The Next One
I’m going to go and replace 3 years with a “short time frame”. Some things to focus on:
Market opportunity- A million dollars is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly is a lot if the market opportunity is not large enough. Even if you put Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as founders in a new venture with a total market size of 10 million, there is no way they could become too wealthy without completely changing the business (ie- failing).
Inequality of information- Find a place where you know something that many undervalue. Having this inequality of information can give you, your first piece of leverage.
Leverage skills you know- You can go into new fields such as say Finance, but make sure you’re leveraging something you already know such as technology and/or product. Someone wanted to start a documentary with me. I said that would be fun, but it would be my first documentary regardless of what happened. There was a glass ceiling due to that. If I do something leveraging a skill I know, I’m already ahead of the game.
Look in obscure places- We’re often fascinated with the shiny things in the internet industry. Many overlook the obscure and unsexy. Don’t make that mistake. If your goal has primarily monetary motivations, look at the unsexy. One example would be email newsletters, which I’ve profiled before.
Surround yourself with smart people- Smart people whom are successful usually got there by doing the same and have an innate desire to help those do the same. It’s the ecosystem that’s currently happening with the paypal mafia and can be traced all the way back to fairchild semiconductor.
Charge for something- Building a consumer property dependent upon advertising has easily made many millionaires, but it isn’t the surest path. It takes a lot of time and scale, which due to cashflow issues will require large outside investment probably before you are a millionaire. Build something that you can charge for. That’s how business has worked for thousands of years prior to the 1990s. Make something, charge for it, repeat it. DHH explains this really well at Startup School 08.
Information Products Are Valuable- E-Books, screencasts, And anything that can teach others to be good at something is a very lucrative business. Look at guys like peepcode… they’re killing it. There are also things like Parrot Secrets, which make 400k a year. Bonus points if the information helps a person make money (directly or indirectly) or improves their self image. Fyi, this doesn’t mean sell snake oil ebooks. That may get you a somewhere in the 5 figures, but word will spread that your shit smells.
Your primary metric shouldn’t be dollars- If you’re going after a big enough market and charging a reasonable amount, you can hit a million dollars. Focus on growth, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value of the customer, and churn.
Get as many distribution channels as possible- There is some weird sense that if you build something they will just come. That a few “like”+retweet buttons and emails to editor@techcrunch.com will make your traffic explode + grow consistently. It fucking won’t. Get as many distribution channels as possible. Each one by itself may not be large, but if you have many it starts to add up. It also diversifies your risk. If you’re a 100% SEO play, you’re playing a dangerous dangerous game. You’re fully dependent upon someone else’s rules. If Google bans you, you will be done. You could easily replace the SEO example with: App store, facebook, etc.
Go with your gut and do not care about fameballing- Go with what your gut says, regardless of how it might look to the rest of the world. Too often we (I) get lost in caring about what people think. It usually leads to a wrong decision. Don’t worry about becoming internet famous or appearing on teh maj0r blogz. Fame is fleeting in the traditional sense. Become famous with your customers. They’re the ones that truly matter. What they think matters and they will ultimately put their money where their mouth is.
Be an unrelenting machine- Brick walls are there to show you how bad you want something. Commit to your goals and do not waver from them a one bit regardless of what else is there. I took this approach to losing weight and fitness. I have not missed a single 5k run in over a year. (Here’s how I lost 50 pounds btw). It did not matter if I had not slept for two days, traveling across the country, or whatever else. If your goal is to become a millionaire, you need to be an unrelenting machine that does not let emotions make you give up / stop. You either get it done with 100% commitment or you don’t. Be a machine.
If it’s a mass market “trend” that’s all over the news, it’s too late- This means the barriers to entry are usually too high at this point to have the greatest possible chance of success. Sure you could still make a lot of money in something like the app store or the facebook platform, but the chances are significantly less than they were in the summer of 08 or spring of 2007. You can always revisit past trends though. Peter Cooper and I clarified some of the semantics about what is a trend over here.
If you do focus on a dollar amount, focus on the first $10,000- This usually means you’ve found some repeatable process / minimal traction. ie- if you’re selling a $100 product, you’ve already encountered 100 people who have paid you. From here you can scale up. It’s also a lot easier to take in when you’re looking at numbers. Making 1 million seems hard, but making $10,000 doesn’t seem so hard, right?
Be a master of information- Many think it might be wasteful that I spent so much time on newsyc or read so many tech information sites. It’s not, it’s what gives me an edge. I feel engulfed.
Get out and be social- Even if you’re an introvert, being around people will give you energy. I’m at my worst when I’m isolated from people and at my best when I’ve at least spent some time with close friends (usually who I don’t know from business.)
Make waves, don’t ride them- There was a famous talk Jawed Karim gave from youtube. He described the factors that made youtube take off in terms of secondary/enabling technologies. I think they included (1- broadband in the home 2- emergence of flash, so no codecs required 3- proliferation of digital cameras 4- cheap hosting 5- one click upload 6- ability to share embed). Find those small pieces and put them together to make the wave. That’s what youtube did imho. The other guys really just rode the wave they created (which is okay).
Say no way more than you say yes- I bet almost every web entrepreneur has encountered this: You demo your product / explain what you’re doing and someone suggests that you do “X feature/idea”. X is a really good idea and maybe even fits in with what you’re doing, but it would take you SO FAR off the path you’re on. If you implemented X it would take a ton of time and morph what you’re doing. It’s also really really hard to say no when it comes from someone well respected like a VC or famous entrepreneur. I mean how the fuck could they be wrong? Hell, they might even write me a check if I do what they say!!!!! Don’t fall for that trap. Instead write the feedback down somewhere as one single data point to consider amongst others. If that same piece of feedback keeps coming up AND it fits within the guidelines of your vision, then you should consider it more seriously. Weight suggestions from paying customers a bit more, since their vote is weighted by dollars.
Be so good they can’t ignore you- I first heard this quote from Marc Andreessen, but he stole it from Steve Martin. Just be so good with what you do that you can’t be ignored. You can surely get away with a boring product with no soul, but being so good you can’t ignore is much more powerful.
Always keep your door/inbox open- You never know who is going to walk through your door + contact you. Serendipity is a beautiful thing. At one point Bill Gates was just a random college kid calling an Albuquerque computer company.
Give yourself every opportunity you can- I use this as a reason why starting a company in silicon valley when it comes to tech is a good idea. You can succeed anywhere in the world, but you certainly have a better chance in the valley. You should give yourself every opportunity possible, especially as an entrepreneur where every advantage counts.
Give yourself credit- This is the thing I do the least of and I’m trying to work on it. What may seem simple+not that revolutionary to anyone ahead of the curve can usually be pure wizardry to the general public, whom is often your customer. Give yourself more credit.
Look for the accessory ecosystem- iPod/iPhone/iPad case manufacturers are making a fortune. Armormount is also making a killing by making flat panel wall mounts. Woothemes makes millions of dollars a year (and growing) selling Wordpress themes. There are tons of other areas here, but these are the ones that come to mind first. If there’s a huge new product/shift, there’s usually money to be made in the accessory ecosystem.
Stick with it- Don’t give up too fast. Being broke and not making any money sucks + can often make you think nothing will ever work. Don’t quit when you’re down. If this was easy then everyone would be a millionaire and being a millionaire wouldn’t be anything special. Certainly learn from your mistakes + pivot, but don’t quit just because it didn’t work right away.
Make the illiquid, liquid- I realized this after talking to a friend who helps trade illiquid real estate securities. A bank may have hundreds of millions of assets, but they’re actually worth substantially less if they cannot be moved. If you can help people make something that is illiquid, liquid they will pay you a great deal of money. Giving you a 20-30% cut is worth it, when the opposite is making no money at all.
Productize a service- If you can make what might normally be considered a service into a scaleable, repeatable, and efficient process that makes it seem like a product you can make a good amount of money. In some ways, I feel this is what Michael Dell did with DELL in the early days. Putting together a computer is essentially a service, but he put together a streamlined method of doing things that it really turned it into a product. On a much smaller scale, PSD2XHTML services did this. It’s a service, but the end result + what you pay for really feels like a product.
Look For Something That Is Required Or Subsidized By Law- Motorists are required to have insurance, public companies have to go through sarbox laws, doctors get tens of thousands of dollars for EHR systems, etc. Look for something that is required by law and capitalize on that. Usually things that are required and/or subsidized by law are mind numbing with complexities. Find a way to simplify that process.
Make Sure You’re Robbing A Bank- When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said because that’s where the money is (Thanks to edw519 for this phrase). Make sure whatever you’re going after is where the money actually is ie- a customer that will pay you. Consumer markets are tough, especially with web based products. People expect everything to be free. Businesses are usually your best bet.
Don’t Be Emotional- Emotions can let you make stupid decisions. It can make you not walk away because you’re attached to something. Most importantly it will lead to indecision and a loss of confidence. Put your emotions into your product or save them for your lover, family, friends,etc.
Don’t Leave Things Up to Chance- People feel that things will just work out due to carpe diem. They usually don’t People can be unreliable, deals can fall through, and shit will always happen. Prepare for multiple scenarios and contingencies. You can mitigate this by working with smart AND reliable people.
Raise Revenue, Not Funding- Everyone is always so damn fixated on getting funded because it’s the cool thing to do. Focus on getting people to pay you at first and then scale things outwards with funding IF and WHEN you need it. If your goal is to make a million dollars in three years, funding probably isn’t the way to go. VCs won’t let you take a salary of ~300k per year. Selling a company in < 3 years is a crapshoot. The lifespan of an investment is usually about 7 years from what I’ve read.
Don’t Get Comfortable- You will probably get comfortable somewhere around 200k, maybe less or more, but it will certainly be before 1 million dollars. If you get comfortable you start getting off balance and having the hunger to move forward. Reward yourself a little bit, but live as frugally as possible. I have friends who have made some okay money, but blow it all away on stupid shit because they got comfortable.
Look For Those Who Are Comfortable- Who is comfortable in a certain industry? Go in and knock them off their hammock so they spill their mojitos on themselves. This can also be considered stagnation. Industries often mature and people get comfortable keeping the status quo. Stagnation is the mid-life crisis for a former trend. This is usually a good point to come in with something.
Don’t Skimp on the Important Things- When it comes to things that need to be reliable such as infrastructure, delivery, or even your own personal tech equipment – don’t skimp out. These are the tools that ensure reliability and your product being delivered. You can skimp on the office space, the desks, coach airfare, budget motel in mountain view,etc.
Companies Spend Just as Much or More On Services as they do On Software- Paying for the ERP, CRM, or custom built system is just the first step. There’s the maintenance, training, and service contracts.
Keep The Momentum Going- I’ve had projects where things were moving a million miles an hour, then BOOM, they just lost a lot of momentum. That is the worst possible thing you can have happen. Keep moving the ball everyday.
Listen (or read the transcriptions of) to Every Mixergy Interview You Can- Most of my audience will probably know about Mixergy, but I can’t let a single reader leave without making sure they know it exists. It is by far the most practical resource on the Internet if your goal is to do well. Andrew has interviewed entrepreneurs from all walks of life with varying levels of success. Most of them had real business models and bootstrapped. Most importantly, he finds out what specifically led to their success. Link to Mixergy.
Last, but not least: Learn How To Filter- I just wrote upwards of 2,200 words. Some of the points are even contradictitory. Start adding in other sources of information and you will feel like you’re being pulled in a five million directions. You then become indecisive. Take in information and then filter the good bits while synthesizing them to be a part of your overall plan. What works for person A doesn’t always work for person B.
I move forward the only direction
Cant be scared to fail in Search of perfection
-Jay-Z, On To The Next One
I’m going to go and replace 3 years with a “short time frame”. Some things to focus on:
Market opportunity- A million dollars is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly is a lot if the market opportunity is not large enough. Even if you put Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as founders in a new venture with a total market size of 10 million, there is no way they could become too wealthy without completely changing the business (ie- failing).
Inequality of information- Find a place where you know something that many undervalue. Having this inequality of information can give you, your first piece of leverage.
Leverage skills you know- You can go into new fields such as say Finance, but make sure you’re leveraging something you already know such as technology and/or product. Someone wanted to start a documentary with me. I said that would be fun, but it would be my first documentary regardless of what happened. There was a glass ceiling due to that. If I do something leveraging a skill I know, I’m already ahead of the game.
Look in obscure places- We’re often fascinated with the shiny things in the internet industry. Many overlook the obscure and unsexy. Don’t make that mistake. If your goal has primarily monetary motivations, look at the unsexy. One example would be email newsletters, which I’ve profiled before.
Surround yourself with smart people- Smart people whom are successful usually got there by doing the same and have an innate desire to help those do the same. It’s the ecosystem that’s currently happening with the paypal mafia and can be traced all the way back to fairchild semiconductor.
Charge for something- Building a consumer property dependent upon advertising has easily made many millionaires, but it isn’t the surest path. It takes a lot of time and scale, which due to cashflow issues will require large outside investment probably before you are a millionaire. Build something that you can charge for. That’s how business has worked for thousands of years prior to the 1990s. Make something, charge for it, repeat it. DHH explains this really well at Startup School 08.
Information Products Are Valuable- E-Books, screencasts, And anything that can teach others to be good at something is a very lucrative business. Look at guys like peepcode… they’re killing it. There are also things like Parrot Secrets, which make 400k a year. Bonus points if the information helps a person make money (directly or indirectly) or improves their self image. Fyi, this doesn’t mean sell snake oil ebooks. That may get you a somewhere in the 5 figures, but word will spread that your shit smells.
Your primary metric shouldn’t be dollars- If you’re going after a big enough market and charging a reasonable amount, you can hit a million dollars. Focus on growth, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value of the customer, and churn.
Get as many distribution channels as possible- There is some weird sense that if you build something they will just come. That a few “like”+retweet buttons and emails to editor@techcrunch.com will make your traffic explode + grow consistently. It fucking won’t. Get as many distribution channels as possible. Each one by itself may not be large, but if you have many it starts to add up. It also diversifies your risk. If you’re a 100% SEO play, you’re playing a dangerous dangerous game. You’re fully dependent upon someone else’s rules. If Google bans you, you will be done. You could easily replace the SEO example with: App store, facebook, etc.
Go with your gut and do not care about fameballing- Go with what your gut says, regardless of how it might look to the rest of the world. Too often we (I) get lost in caring about what people think. It usually leads to a wrong decision. Don’t worry about becoming internet famous or appearing on teh maj0r blogz. Fame is fleeting in the traditional sense. Become famous with your customers. They’re the ones that truly matter. What they think matters and they will ultimately put their money where their mouth is.
Be an unrelenting machine- Brick walls are there to show you how bad you want something. Commit to your goals and do not waver from them a one bit regardless of what else is there. I took this approach to losing weight and fitness. I have not missed a single 5k run in over a year. (Here’s how I lost 50 pounds btw). It did not matter if I had not slept for two days, traveling across the country, or whatever else. If your goal is to become a millionaire, you need to be an unrelenting machine that does not let emotions make you give up / stop. You either get it done with 100% commitment or you don’t. Be a machine.
If it’s a mass market “trend” that’s all over the news, it’s too late- This means the barriers to entry are usually too high at this point to have the greatest possible chance of success. Sure you could still make a lot of money in something like the app store or the facebook platform, but the chances are significantly less than they were in the summer of 08 or spring of 2007. You can always revisit past trends though. Peter Cooper and I clarified some of the semantics about what is a trend over here.
If you do focus on a dollar amount, focus on the first $10,000- This usually means you’ve found some repeatable process / minimal traction. ie- if you’re selling a $100 product, you’ve already encountered 100 people who have paid you. From here you can scale up. It’s also a lot easier to take in when you’re looking at numbers. Making 1 million seems hard, but making $10,000 doesn’t seem so hard, right?
Be a master of information- Many think it might be wasteful that I spent so much time on newsyc or read so many tech information sites. It’s not, it’s what gives me an edge. I feel engulfed.
Get out and be social- Even if you’re an introvert, being around people will give you energy. I’m at my worst when I’m isolated from people and at my best when I’ve at least spent some time with close friends (usually who I don’t know from business.)
Make waves, don’t ride them- There was a famous talk Jawed Karim gave from youtube. He described the factors that made youtube take off in terms of secondary/enabling technologies. I think they included (1- broadband in the home 2- emergence of flash, so no codecs required 3- proliferation of digital cameras 4- cheap hosting 5- one click upload 6- ability to share embed). Find those small pieces and put them together to make the wave. That’s what youtube did imho. The other guys really just rode the wave they created (which is okay).
Say no way more than you say yes- I bet almost every web entrepreneur has encountered this: You demo your product / explain what you’re doing and someone suggests that you do “X feature/idea”. X is a really good idea and maybe even fits in with what you’re doing, but it would take you SO FAR off the path you’re on. If you implemented X it would take a ton of time and morph what you’re doing. It’s also really really hard to say no when it comes from someone well respected like a VC or famous entrepreneur. I mean how the fuck could they be wrong? Hell, they might even write me a check if I do what they say!!!!! Don’t fall for that trap. Instead write the feedback down somewhere as one single data point to consider amongst others. If that same piece of feedback keeps coming up AND it fits within the guidelines of your vision, then you should consider it more seriously. Weight suggestions from paying customers a bit more, since their vote is weighted by dollars.
Be so good they can’t ignore you- I first heard this quote from Marc Andreessen, but he stole it from Steve Martin. Just be so good with what you do that you can’t be ignored. You can surely get away with a boring product with no soul, but being so good you can’t ignore is much more powerful.
Always keep your door/inbox open- You never know who is going to walk through your door + contact you. Serendipity is a beautiful thing. At one point Bill Gates was just a random college kid calling an Albuquerque computer company.
Give yourself every opportunity you can- I use this as a reason why starting a company in silicon valley when it comes to tech is a good idea. You can succeed anywhere in the world, but you certainly have a better chance in the valley. You should give yourself every opportunity possible, especially as an entrepreneur where every advantage counts.
Give yourself credit- This is the thing I do the least of and I’m trying to work on it. What may seem simple+not that revolutionary to anyone ahead of the curve can usually be pure wizardry to the general public, whom is often your customer. Give yourself more credit.
Look for the accessory ecosystem- iPod/iPhone/iPad case manufacturers are making a fortune. Armormount is also making a killing by making flat panel wall mounts. Woothemes makes millions of dollars a year (and growing) selling Wordpress themes. There are tons of other areas here, but these are the ones that come to mind first. If there’s a huge new product/shift, there’s usually money to be made in the accessory ecosystem.
Stick with it- Don’t give up too fast. Being broke and not making any money sucks + can often make you think nothing will ever work. Don’t quit when you’re down. If this was easy then everyone would be a millionaire and being a millionaire wouldn’t be anything special. Certainly learn from your mistakes + pivot, but don’t quit just because it didn’t work right away.
Make the illiquid, liquid- I realized this after talking to a friend who helps trade illiquid real estate securities. A bank may have hundreds of millions of assets, but they’re actually worth substantially less if they cannot be moved. If you can help people make something that is illiquid, liquid they will pay you a great deal of money. Giving you a 20-30% cut is worth it, when the opposite is making no money at all.
Productize a service- If you can make what might normally be considered a service into a scaleable, repeatable, and efficient process that makes it seem like a product you can make a good amount of money. In some ways, I feel this is what Michael Dell did with DELL in the early days. Putting together a computer is essentially a service, but he put together a streamlined method of doing things that it really turned it into a product. On a much smaller scale, PSD2XHTML services did this. It’s a service, but the end result + what you pay for really feels like a product.
Look For Something That Is Required Or Subsidized By Law- Motorists are required to have insurance, public companies have to go through sarbox laws, doctors get tens of thousands of dollars for EHR systems, etc. Look for something that is required by law and capitalize on that. Usually things that are required and/or subsidized by law are mind numbing with complexities. Find a way to simplify that process.
Make Sure You’re Robbing A Bank- When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said because that’s where the money is (Thanks to edw519 for this phrase). Make sure whatever you’re going after is where the money actually is ie- a customer that will pay you. Consumer markets are tough, especially with web based products. People expect everything to be free. Businesses are usually your best bet.
Don’t Be Emotional- Emotions can let you make stupid decisions. It can make you not walk away because you’re attached to something. Most importantly it will lead to indecision and a loss of confidence. Put your emotions into your product or save them for your lover, family, friends,etc.
Don’t Leave Things Up to Chance- People feel that things will just work out due to carpe diem. They usually don’t People can be unreliable, deals can fall through, and shit will always happen. Prepare for multiple scenarios and contingencies. You can mitigate this by working with smart AND reliable people.
Raise Revenue, Not Funding- Everyone is always so damn fixated on getting funded because it’s the cool thing to do. Focus on getting people to pay you at first and then scale things outwards with funding IF and WHEN you need it. If your goal is to make a million dollars in three years, funding probably isn’t the way to go. VCs won’t let you take a salary of ~300k per year. Selling a company in < 3 years is a crapshoot. The lifespan of an investment is usually about 7 years from what I’ve read.
Don’t Get Comfortable- You will probably get comfortable somewhere around 200k, maybe less or more, but it will certainly be before 1 million dollars. If you get comfortable you start getting off balance and having the hunger to move forward. Reward yourself a little bit, but live as frugally as possible. I have friends who have made some okay money, but blow it all away on stupid shit because they got comfortable.
Look For Those Who Are Comfortable- Who is comfortable in a certain industry? Go in and knock them off their hammock so they spill their mojitos on themselves. This can also be considered stagnation. Industries often mature and people get comfortable keeping the status quo. Stagnation is the mid-life crisis for a former trend. This is usually a good point to come in with something.
Don’t Skimp on the Important Things- When it comes to things that need to be reliable such as infrastructure, delivery, or even your own personal tech equipment – don’t skimp out. These are the tools that ensure reliability and your product being delivered. You can skimp on the office space, the desks, coach airfare, budget motel in mountain view,etc.
Companies Spend Just as Much or More On Services as they do On Software- Paying for the ERP, CRM, or custom built system is just the first step. There’s the maintenance, training, and service contracts.
Keep The Momentum Going- I’ve had projects where things were moving a million miles an hour, then BOOM, they just lost a lot of momentum. That is the worst possible thing you can have happen. Keep moving the ball everyday.
Listen (or read the transcriptions of) to Every Mixergy Interview You Can- Most of my audience will probably know about Mixergy, but I can’t let a single reader leave without making sure they know it exists. It is by far the most practical resource on the Internet if your goal is to do well. Andrew has interviewed entrepreneurs from all walks of life with varying levels of success. Most of them had real business models and bootstrapped. Most importantly, he finds out what specifically led to their success. Link to Mixergy.
Last, but not least: Learn How To Filter- I just wrote upwards of 2,200 words. Some of the points are even contradictitory. Start adding in other sources of information and you will feel like you’re being pulled in a five million directions. You then become indecisive. Take in information and then filter the good bits while synthesizing them to be a part of your overall plan. What works for person A doesn’t always work for person B.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Building Your Career Portfolio: Four Career Investments for a Purposeful Lifetime
"When I was laid off, I was shaking so badly that I didn't know whether I could drive home," said Kristin, 32, a mother of three who lost a public relations job. "My heart was pounding and I felt disassociated, like the whole thing was a bad dream."
After working at the same company for five years, David, 36, was escorted out of his building after being informed that the company was heading in a new direction and no longer needed his type of skills.
Shock, rootlessness and anger are just a few normal responses many feel when they lose their jobs to corporate downsizing. Since the national crisis on Sept. 11, the U.S. Dept. of Labor states that jobless claims are approaching 700,000 across the U.S. the highest in nearly a decade.
How can you mitigate career risk -- otherwise known as the pitfalls of marketplace change, economic turndowns, downsizing, personal health and life changes, and distasteful company politics that can wreck havoc with one's life?
The answer lies in building a CareerPortfolio™, a career risk management approach, similar to building a financial portfolio, that can help you develop four, specific career assets, or "investments." Why four? Because these four ingredients offer a well-balanced opportunity for you to earn, learn, and help others throughout the rest of your life. And, like a financial portfolio, you can diversify risk so that you always have a number of career options on tap.
Begin with a Personal Purpose
To build a CareerPortfolio, start by developing your personal purpose. Your personal purpose is your investment strategy that guides all of your career decisions.
Begin by answering the following questions.
After working at the same company for five years, David, 36, was escorted out of his building after being informed that the company was heading in a new direction and no longer needed his type of skills.
Shock, rootlessness and anger are just a few normal responses many feel when they lose their jobs to corporate downsizing. Since the national crisis on Sept. 11, the U.S. Dept. of Labor states that jobless claims are approaching 700,000 across the U.S. the highest in nearly a decade.
How can you mitigate career risk -- otherwise known as the pitfalls of marketplace change, economic turndowns, downsizing, personal health and life changes, and distasteful company politics that can wreck havoc with one's life?
The answer lies in building a CareerPortfolio™, a career risk management approach, similar to building a financial portfolio, that can help you develop four, specific career assets, or "investments." Why four? Because these four ingredients offer a well-balanced opportunity for you to earn, learn, and help others throughout the rest of your life. And, like a financial portfolio, you can diversify risk so that you always have a number of career options on tap.
Begin with a Personal Purpose
To build a CareerPortfolio, start by developing your personal purpose. Your personal purpose is your investment strategy that guides all of your career decisions.
Begin by answering the following questions.
- How would I like to be remembered 100 years from now?
- What am I passionate about?
- Two projects when I made a difference in recent years are (list them):
Now think about the big picture and write down the purpose of your life by filling in the blank: The purpose of my life is to____________________________.
You can revise your personal purpose statement as needed. It will help you decide what types of opportunities are worth pursuing. You will become purposeful rather than just "busy."
Develop Your CareerPortfolio™
Now, it's time to assess the kinds of career assets you either may want to develop. If you have two or more of the following career assets working in your life, you will be building optimal career wealth over time.
You can revise your personal purpose statement as needed. It will help you decide what types of opportunities are worth pursuing. You will become purposeful rather than just "busy."
Develop Your CareerPortfolio™
Now, it's time to assess the kinds of career assets you either may want to develop. If you have two or more of the following career assets working in your life, you will be building optimal career wealth over time.
- Primary Income Investment -- your job, or business that you own, where the majority of your financial income is earned.
- Secondary Income Investment -- an optional, alternate source of income that allows you to gain additional knowledge, career options, income, and sense of purpose. Not everyone is destined to own a business. However, those who choose to develop a business or occasional side project can start out small, and grow the business over time.
- Volunteer Investment -- finding one or more ways to reach out to your community in a way that is meaningful to you. When volunteerism supports your personal purpose, you can gain new skills and meet valuable new contacts, all while making a difference in your world.
- Lifelong Learning Investment -- including mentorship, focused reading and education.
A CareerPortfolio in Phoenix
Pam Overton, partner in the national law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Attorneys at Law, has built a CareerPortfolio comprising three major career investments: Primary, Volunteer, and Lifelong Learning.
Pam's personal purpose is to excel at her career, while supporting her family and placing them as her No. 1 priority. Her purpose includes having a strong charitable and spiritual life to add perspective and balance.
Her Primary Income Investment is her litigation practice, which focuses on complex litigation, business torts, breach of contract and condemnation matters. In this role, Pam won the Golden Heart of Business Award in 2000. She also was recognized by Today's Arizona Woman Magazine as one of the "Top 10 Business Women in the State of Arizona" for two consecutive years.
Pam's Volunteer Investments include serving on the board of directors for Fresh Start Women's Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping women who need assistance in career, financial and life skills to better their futures. This board of powerful community movers and shakers provides Pam an opportunity to learn leadership skills, provide value to the organization, and learn more about community issues.
Pam's additional Volunteer Investments include supporting cancer and heart research and development. She has dedicated many fundraising hours at All Saints' Episcopal Day School where her children attend school, integrating volunteer service with family life.
For Lifelong Learning Investments, Pam is a member of several lawyer's professional associations and has served on the Arizona State Bar's Ethics Committee, sharing and gaining insight which ultimately benefits her clients.
"All of these career investments add valuable perspective to my career and bring opportunities to learn and build lasting friendships," Pam said.
Pam reviews her career investments periodically to ensure balance, as she and her husband raise their three children.
If you have two or more CareerPortfolio assets in place, you will be far more flexible and confident to face future career changes. Regardless of your age or place in life, it's never too late to build a purposeful and rewarding CareerPortfolio.
by Carol A. Poore
What employers want from you
These days, your academic excellence is almost taken for granted by potential employers. More and more they are looking for hard skills such as writing, literacy and leadership and soft skills such as the ability to communicate effectively.
As well as academic requirements, the jobs mentioned above all emphasizes the other skills that the employers want from Science and IT graduates. And time after time, it’s the same ones:
* Good communication and presentation skills, both oral and written
* Self-motivation
* Team worker
* An interest in and an ability to pick up technical concepts quickly and competently
* Analytical mind
* Imagination and inquisitiveness
* Ability to learn new skills and implement them quickly
* Sound decision making and problem solving skills
* Ability to manage own and others’ time
Remember, too, that many employers require quite a high level of mobility today. This is especially true of the larger recruiters who have graduate training programmes that involve extensive national and sometimes international travel.
A typical example of this is pharmaceutical giant GSK, which is a major recruiter of both Science and IT graduates (www.gsk.com/careers/uk-stud-grad-prog.htm).
Science opportunities are offered within analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology and chemometrics. The development programme involves three 12-month placements in at least two business areas, in different sites mostly within the UK and the Republic of Ireland but occasionally further abroad too. Training and development is divided into four areas: business execution and understanding, technical and specialist expertise, self and high performance behaviors. Note that the latter concerns those all-important soft skills such as working with others and communication skills that every employer is looking for today.
IT graduates at GSK must be prepared to move around, too. Over three years, a series of different IT rotations are conducted, each lasting a year. These can include business analysis, project management, service analysis and systems architecture.
It’s a similar story with BT (www.btplc.com/Careercentre/), whose regime involves IT graduates getting early experience in design and consultancy, software and platform engineering, IT systems engineering, IT technical operations, security and more. As one graduate trainee sums it up on the BT website: “I actually chose BT because it’s so big, and there’s scope to work in so many different areas.”
By Your Career Guide
As well as academic requirements, the jobs mentioned above all emphasizes the other skills that the employers want from Science and IT graduates. And time after time, it’s the same ones:
* Good communication and presentation skills, both oral and written
* Self-motivation
* Team worker
* An interest in and an ability to pick up technical concepts quickly and competently
* Analytical mind
* Imagination and inquisitiveness
* Ability to learn new skills and implement them quickly
* Sound decision making and problem solving skills
* Ability to manage own and others’ time
Remember, too, that many employers require quite a high level of mobility today. This is especially true of the larger recruiters who have graduate training programmes that involve extensive national and sometimes international travel.
A typical example of this is pharmaceutical giant GSK, which is a major recruiter of both Science and IT graduates (www.gsk.com/careers/uk-stud-grad-prog.htm).
Science opportunities are offered within analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology and chemometrics. The development programme involves three 12-month placements in at least two business areas, in different sites mostly within the UK and the Republic of Ireland but occasionally further abroad too. Training and development is divided into four areas: business execution and understanding, technical and specialist expertise, self and high performance behaviors. Note that the latter concerns those all-important soft skills such as working with others and communication skills that every employer is looking for today.
IT graduates at GSK must be prepared to move around, too. Over three years, a series of different IT rotations are conducted, each lasting a year. These can include business analysis, project management, service analysis and systems architecture.
It’s a similar story with BT (www.btplc.com/Careercentre/), whose regime involves IT graduates getting early experience in design and consultancy, software and platform engineering, IT systems engineering, IT technical operations, security and more. As one graduate trainee sums it up on the BT website: “I actually chose BT because it’s so big, and there’s scope to work in so many different areas.”
By Your Career Guide
Sleuthing Out Hiring Managers Is Key to Job-Search Follow-up
Career experts are virtually unanimous on two key points in the job search:
- Job-search correspondence - resumes and cover letters - should always be addressed to a specific, named individual, preferably the hiring manager for the job you're applying for.
- After sending their resumes and cover letters, job-seekers should follow up with hiring managers to attempt to secure an interview appointment.
The problem is that names of hiring managers are rarely revealed in want ads and job postings. The reason is simple. In these days in which online job-hunting makes the process all too easy for job-seekers, employers are inundated with hundreds - even thousands - of resumes for a single opening, some from applicants who aren't remotely qualified. Hiring managers don't want to also be bombarded with time-consuming phone calls from job-seekers. Still, most - not all - hiring managers respond well to contacts from qualified, resourceful, and persistent job-seekers who show their enthusiasm for the job by following up.
So how does the job-seeker find out who the hiring manager is? This question represents one of the most perplexing dilemmas in contemporary job-hunting. It can, indeed, be difficult to find out the name of a specific individual to whom to address your job-search correspondence and follow-up efforts. It's especially difficult in the Internet age, when little more than an e-mail address may appear in a job posting. But there are ways to identify hiring managers. It sometimes just takes some plucky and persistent detective work:
So how does the job-seeker find out who the hiring manager is? This question represents one of the most perplexing dilemmas in contemporary job-hunting. It can, indeed, be difficult to find out the name of a specific individual to whom to address your job-search correspondence and follow-up efforts. It's especially difficult in the Internet age, when little more than an e-mail address may appear in a job posting. But there are ways to identify hiring managers. It sometimes just takes some plucky and persistent detective work:
- Make a phone call. The most straightforward way is to simply call the company's main switchboard number and ask the name of hiring manager for the job in question. The worst that can happen is that the person answering the phone won't tell you. The second-worst thing is that the person will tell you to address your materials to Human Resources. If that happens, ask the name of the human resources director. If you get that name, don't automatically send your materials to that person, but do file the name away in case all your other strategies fail. Also try calling after business hours. If you have a good idea what the title might be of the hiring manager for the position you seek, you may be able to match a title with a name when you listen to the employer's automated voicemail directory.
- Ask for help. Steve Levy, Principal of outside-the-box Consulting, suggests a variation on calling for information. Writing in CollegeRecruiter.com's Ask the Experts feature, Levy advises: "Call the main number and say the following in a calm, soothing voice, 'Hello, maybe you can help me out for a second?' The person on the line will almost always respond by saying, 'Sure. How can I help you?' Why? Because our normal human reaction when someone asks us for help is to offer it. And there you have it - the start of a conversation rather than an opportunity to be rejected.
- · "Next step is to ask for the person in charge of the function in question," Levy continues. "But what if the gatekeeper offers an objection 'I'm sorry, but I can't divulge the name of the manager of finance.' You're response should be 'That's not a problem.' Why? Because you've just validated what the person told you. 'I understand your position but can you suggest another way for me to contact the person?' extends the dialogue and may even convince the gatekeeper to let down his or her guard. If the person doesn't budge, say 'Thanks for the time. By the way, my name is Anita Job. What is your name?' Write down the person's name and call again the next day using the person's name as an opener, 'Hello Bob, maybe you can help me out for a second? This is Anita Job we spoke yesterday.' Get the picture?" Be persistent, Levy advises: "On the second or third call (it could take many calls to develop the relationship with Bob), rather than talking to the hiring manager directly, ask for this person's email instead. The lesson here is be prepared to take the time to develop the relationship rather than expect the gatekeeper to bend to your immediate needs." See more of Levy's tips for locating hiring managers in our sidebar.
- Tap into your network. One important key to finding out contact names is networking. If you've done as much networking as you should as part of your job-search efforts, you may find it relatively easy to get names. Joining professional organizations is one of the fastest, easiest ways to learn names of hiring honchos in your target companies. Let's say you see a job posting for Company X. If you're a proficient networker, chances are you know someone who works at Company X or someone who knows someone else who works for Company X. In that case, you can simply get in touch with your network contact and ask who is the best person to write to about this specific Company X job opening. Consider using your inside contact as a referral name for your cover letter:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Your marketing director, Tina Jones, suggested I contact you about the brand-management position you are currently advertising.
You could even ask your friend Tina to hand-deliver your letter and resume to Mr. Smith.
- Become a proficient researcher. If you learn as much as you can about how to research companies, there's a reasonable chance you will uncover information about the best person to contact. Visit the company's Web site. Enlist assistance from a reference librarian at your public or university library. You can also conduct research directly with the employer by calling the company's public relations or investor relations department to ask questions that may lead you to the name of a hiring manager.
- Try the "Top Down" approach. One trick that has worked for many job-seekers is to address materials to the president of the company since you can almost always find out the name of that individual. The president, or more likely, his or her assistant, will have to forward your letter to the hiring manager. Your letter may even get extra attention from having been filtered down from on high. Of course, that approach still doesn't provide you with the name of someone with whom to follow up, but you can try calling the president's assistant and ask to whom your letter was forwarded.
If you have little or no information on what company has placed the ad/job posting...
- Search using a fax number. If an ad or job posting contains only a fax number, you can enter the fax number onto an Internet search engine such as Google and usually find out the name of the company behind the number - and then resort to the other steps listed here to try to find a person's name.
- Find the company Web site. If the job posting gives only an e-mail address, use it to lead you to the company Web site, which will probably have a phone number. For example, the job posting gives the e-mail address HR@CompanyX.com. Type www.CompanyX.com or simply CompanyX.com into your browser, and you will probably get to the company's site.
- Decipher that acronym. If the company name appears in the job-posting as an abbreviation or acronym, you can still find out the company name and proceed from there. In the Q&A interview Quintessential Careers did with her, career-management consultant Norine Dagliano said: "I have even found names when all I had was, for example, "FLC is looking for a mental health therapist in its city, state location." I went to the Yellow Pages under the listing for mental health and read the names of all the mental health agencies until I found one that might use the initials "FLC," and then called the number in the book to get the name to whom to address the letter. BINGO!"
If all else fails...
- Be as specific as possible. If you can't find out the name of the hiring manager, you can at least address your materials to a specific named individual in Human Resources, if you've been able to attain the name of that person. You can also address your materials to "Hiring Manager for [name of position]."
More Tips for Identifying Hiring Managers
(by Steve Levy)
- Do a Google search for conferences in your industry or field and look for speaker bios.
- Conduct a Google search on: "@xyzcompany.com +manager" and see what pops up.
- Find the magazine with the highest readership for your industry or function. Go through six months' worth of issues and write down the name and title of every person quoted.
- Share university alumni chapter contacts with your friends.
- You know those business card bowls that so many restaurants use for meal giveaways? While you're standing there waiting to be seated, take a handful of cards and start looking at names and job titles.
- When networking rather than ask for referrals to people who work in your area, ask for referral to the "five best business people you know."
- Scour conference proceedings for names of hiring managers.
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