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Career Collective

The Mid-Year Job Search: Go More than Skin Deep

When my dad was about two, he managed to send himself down the basement stairs in a stroller, tumbling onto his head and resulting in all kinds of crying. My grandmother "GB" frantically called my grandfather "Doc." He was flagged down off the golf course.

"Leon, Leon, our son went down the stairs in his stroller."

"Did he cry?"

"Of course he cried?"

"He'll be all right, then."

My dad's still alive and recovered quickly, but many today would question Doc's diagnostic methods...After all brain injuries can develop in the minutes and hours after a head injury.

Knowing the right questions to ask in a check up is important in both physicals and job searches: In situations, if you look only at the surface - you may miss the main problem. (Did I mention that Doc was a dermatologist?)

This month's Career Collective topic looks at the "Mid-Year" Job Search check-up. Here are three commonly asked surface questions that don't fully get at the true underlying issues.

  1. When I Google you, is there any "digital dirt" that would prevent you from getting hired?

    If the answer is no, that's great. But what's equally important today: Is it easy to see what you are great at professionally? Are your strengths and experiences that align with the job you've applied for --visible in 30 seconds?

  2. Is your resume in ship shape?

    Your gut response may be yes, resume is more than fonts, action verbs, and formatting. Does the resume speak directly to the job you've applied for? Are you customizing it so that your experience looks on target for what employers are seeking? Do the skills you are putting forward match your interests in what you want to do as you carry out the job?

  3. How many jobs have you applied for?

    There's a common assumption that your odds of getting hired go up when you apply for more jobs. But if you aren't applying for the right jobs -- and ones that you are qualified for -- you can actually decrease your chances of getting hired. After all, as in many areas of life, your chances of success can increase when you focus selectively on a few possibilities rather than a universe of opportunities.

What questions are you asking yourself in your mid-year job search? And might a second opinion be helpful to make sure you are looking beneath the surface as well?

 

We Get By With a Little Rec from our Friends (& By Getting There First)

Each month, I participate in the Career Collective with a group of colleagues who blog about a common topic related to career development and job search. Up this month: The topic of social media and how to use it for job search.

 

It’s hard to believe, but it was less than four years ago – in 2007 - that I first heard the term “social media.” And at first, I didn’t even hear about “social media;” I saw a poster for a panel on new media at the New School in New York, and I wondered what it was all about. (I don’t think I need to tell you that I wasn’t one of the ones who got an e-mail from LinkedIn for being a member of the “first million users” club.)

 

I missed the panel, so I signed up to organize a panel later that year – at the time I was working in a career services office for students. And I was curious – what was new media? What was this thing people were referring to as social media?

One of the panelists who participated on the panel worked for Nickelodeon gave a description of “new media” versus “old media” that I’ve never quite forgotten:

 

“Old media,” she said “is like flipping through television using your remote control. It’s passive. Like sitting on the couch.”

 

“New media,” or “social media…is about open engagement. It’s about leaning forward. Participating in conversations, and having something to say.”

 

To me, that says it all.

 

Since December, I've been collaborating with StartWire, a new site that helps close the loop for job seekers by providing feedback and automatic updates on your job application status. My StartWire colleagues share my interest in how hiring works, and how employers make decisions.  StartWire features include tools that help you leverage your LinkedIn and Facebook connections to get referred for jobs of interest, as well as a way to share your job search activity with friends who may be able to help.

I’m probably not telling you anything new when I say “we get by with a little rec” from our friends, but here’s a new piece of data that shows just how competitive the hiring landscape is. Recently, StartWire evaluated 6,600 hires made in 2010 across ten different industries and found something interesting: roughly 50% of successful job seekers applied within the first week a position was listed. To me, this is a conversation we don’t often have in conversations about social media and job search: in talking about the best ways to apply, we often don’t emphasize the sheer importance of being first in line.

It’s important to be top of mind in the hiring process – whether you get there through an introduction by a friend or by applying early; you want to be thought of. Social media can help you build a presence, pass a quick “Google search” on your name, and showcase your knowledge and level of engagement in your field. It can help you bridge the gap between job listing and interview list, between being a face in the crowd and a name to remember.

How are you leaning forward in your job search, and how can we help you close the gap between what you want to do and where you are?

14 Intriguing Perspectives on Career Change You'll Want To Read

Once a month, my friends at Career Collective and I blog on a common topic. Up this month: How to make a career change.

While this is a topic that I love to talk about -- my interest in career change was part of the inspiration in naming "Best Fit Forward" -- I didn't contribute this month. Confession: I've been a wee bit focused with my consulting work at StartWire, and made three trips over the last months to places I have never been - Las Vegas (though slot machines are not my scene, I loved connecting with colleagues at the Career Management Alliance conference), the Grand Canyon (don't know if I have words to describe the magestic experience -- and we saw it in the snow), and Staten Island (I'd always wanted to take the free ferry from New York).

I'll be back on live for the next round of contributions, but here are the contributions of my colleagues in the interim:

Managing Your Career 2.0: On Giving Up To Get It Right

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I'm a big fan of the A& E show Hoarders, a program that looks "inside the lives of people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis." 2837613821_7bcbd65cf1_m
If I sit down to watch it, I invariably stand up and beginning throwing things away--or start making a list of what can go.

This month's post for the Career Collective focuses on spring cleaning for job search--and letting go of things that no longer work for you.

My take today: One of the most powerful things you can let go of is the quest to be perfect. Most of us--myself included--aren't capable of doing everything well. There are some things we do really well, and there are some things that--try as we might--just aren't our forte. Sometimes, the things that are more difficult for us to do--and that we don't enjoy--are the things we should give up.

Here are two examples from people I've had the good fortune to work with:

  • A Teacher who got promoted to be an Assistant Principal but who discovered that office politics and paperwork weren't for her. She didn't like working in a different capacity with former colleagues. She had a good mentor, she just didn't want to move forward. She returned to teaching--and she's much happier.
  • A Marketing Professional who was on a track to become a Vice President of Creative Services at a Fortune 50 (a role 90% of her colleagues craved). She discovered she enjoyed executing on ideas more than she liked creating them--and switched tracks to focusing on Operations.

For these women, the pursuit of happiness meant taking the "road less traveled" professionally. It was a move "against the grain" for careers long set as goals, and yet--the decision not to pursue the path originally decided upon was ultimately more fulfilling.

The decision on what to give up doesn't always require one to forfeit a career path.

I once worked for an Engineering School Dean who believed on focusing your strengths--and spending very little time to correct weaknesses. His job required that he give multiple speeches a year to diverse constituencies. And so he developed one amazing talk which he adapted slightly to meet the needs of audiences. One talk for a Dean responsible for the leadership of an entire school. But the talk was so good that those of us who heard it--are unlikely to ever forget it. He was hired away to run a much larger university.

My mom started a new career at 50 when her work interests changed. She gave up a coveted job to start her own small business.

David Broder, who died today, and was frequently referred to as one of the greatest journalists of our time--gave up filing and throwing things away. A Washington Post tribute says that his desk was "so messy that at times there was barely enough room for him to slip through the door and sit in front of his computer." I've been reading his work since I was 20, and I'm glad he spent his time elsewhere.

What's in your way? And what will you throw out in order to keep moving forward?

Drawing by Lori Hutchinson

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Here are the links to posts on this topic from my wise colleagues at Career Collective--read 'em and reap!