Posted by Katherine Moody on March 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
When I first started networking in my first job search, I was disappointed when I realized that most people wouldn’t have great job leads for me. Even after I got specific about the kind of position I wanted and had a reasonably good career brand statement, it seemed that almost no one knew about any job leads I should follow up on.
I had thought the process was: you tell people about yourself, tell them what kind of job you wanted and bang! You’ll start hearing about all those jobs in the hidden job market. That was what the books said would happen!
I started to assume people just didn’t want to share leads with me. As I spent more time interviewing those people I had found who were so fabulously successful with networking, I realized that it wasn’t personal.
The reality is that when we are working in a company, we’re probably not aware of all the open positions even if it’s a small company or we’re in Human Resources. We may know of a few, but if they aren’t in our department or vicinity, we probably don’t pay much attention or have any way to hear about them. When I worked in large companies that communicated all their openings to their employees, I paid very little attention.
So often people simply don’t have a lot of leads to share, or may only have leads in their particular function such as accounting or IT help desk. Good for you if you’re looking for those kinds of jobs. Not so good if you’re a VP Finance.
So a Sales Manager is probably pretty tuned in to all the sales openings, but probably not as aware of opportunities in finance or marketing.
The solution: network for the connections, not just job leads. Unless I was talking to someone in my exact field, I would ask for introductions to specific people I wanted to meet. This is an important strategy for networking online as well as offline. Don’t just ask for job leads; ask for connections. Ask for information about the company and for names of other people you should be talking to.
By following those introductions and then asking them for other people to whom I could talk, my job opportunities arose. And it’s how I got my last four jobs by networking my way into the hidden job market.
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
12 Tips to Handle a Job Loss
The following strategies and guidelines will help develop a healthy and successful approach to handling job loss.
Janet Andrews:Contributing Writer
Strategic Career Coach & Executive Resume Writer
http://www.andrewscs.com/
o Know that identity, self-esteem, friendships and financial security all are affected at the same time, especially if there was no warning. Before moving into action, reach out and talk to others about what happened and how you have been affected.
2. START A JOURNAL
o Writing helps let go of emotional baggage, achieve closure and prevents bringing negativity to networking meetings and the interview.
3. DEVELOP A STRONG NETWORK
o Contact friends, families and mentors who care about you and can provide positive feedback and support along the way.
o Let others be involved in encouraging you to attain your goals by letting you share your process and your progress.
Related Tools:
- Resumes and Cover Letters:
2. Careers Assessment:
4. CREATE A PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
o Create a look of success by dressing above the position you are interviewing for.
o Express self-confidence by good posture, receptive body language and eye-contact.
5. ADOPT A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
o Make a conscious effort to focus on the positive side. Could this loss bring a welcome change in your career and create new, unexplored opportunities?
o Visualize yourself in a new job attaining all of your career and financial objectives.
6. PLAN A SELF-MARKETING / NETWORKING STRATEGY
o Utilize all resources to tap the hidden job market including: professional contacts, friends, family, neighbors, alumni associations, group memberships and professional organizations.
o Determine industries and target companies, so that you are in the driver’s seat and can structure a marketing plan to reach those companies.
o Ask for people leads instead of job leads in business when you are networking.
o Pursue all referrals and be sure to thank the referral source.
7. ORGANIZE YOUR TIME
o Establish a daily routine, create “to do” lists and break tasks into manageable chunks.
o Maintain a record of your calls, meetings and interviews to know when to follow-up.
8. MAINTAIN A BALANCE
o Plan enjoyable and fun activities into your schedule.
o Exercise daily and watch the waistline….
o Keep communication open with all family members, allowing feelings to be expressed.
9. DESIGN A SOLID RESUME
o Customize the resume to each position you are applying for.
o Bring out strengths to align with job requirements and highlight achievements and accomplishments.
o Exclude “references upon requests,” yet bring a list of references with you to each interview and only give them out “upon request.”
10. SHARPEN INTERVIEW SKILLS
o Role-play with a partner or Career Coach. Practice responding to open-ended questions such as: What are your strengths? Why should we hire you?
o Work on improving listening skills and maintaining eye contact. Do research on the company before each interview and develop your own set of questions to ask.
11. EXHIBIT ENTHUSIASM
o Approaching companies and contacts with optimism and zeal can put you far ahead of others.
o See your job search as an opportunity for making new networking contacts and learning about other businesses.
12. DEVELOP FLEXIBILITY
o Examine your “transferable skills” and be open to multiple career paths and job possibilities.
Janet Andrews:Contributing Writer
Strategic Career Coach & Executive Resume Writer
http://www.andrewscs.com/
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 23, 2010 · 1 Comment
It can be difficult to know what to do when people who offer some kind of help for your job search and then don’t follow through.
I’ve found that if people offer to help you, they almost always intend to do it. And then there is that big thing that can get in the way of those good intentions–life.
When people offer to do something, be sure to thank them. Then ask some questions so you know what they really intend to do. This also gets them to start thinking about really doing it. Often I’ve found that people say they will follow up with a colleague to introduce you but don’t really think about what or when specifically they will do it. So they just honestly forget.
And of course sometimes these offers are a lot like those promises to “call you for lunch—really soon.” So get specific to find out if this is a real offer or just an air kiss.
A few easy questions will help. Maybe questions like “are you sure you have time to do that?” or “I’ll want to follow up with them right after you’ve contacted them. Will you let me know when you’ve connected with them? Or do you recommend I just plan to call them on Wednesday? Should I call you later this week to follow up?” You get the idea.
Many times (most times, actually) I’ve seen job seekers say something like “OK, thanks.” It’s almost as though the job seeker is afraid if they keep talking the person will change their mind. Or they are thinking “OK, got one. Now need to move on to someone else to talk to.”
You just need to ask some questions to make this work for you. You might feel that asking for specifics is being pushy or might sound ungrateful. As long as you don’t grill them under hot lights, I have found that some follow up questions from you makes the other person feel you are excited about what they have promised to do.
When you just say “thank you” and then just change the subject or move on to the next person at the meeting, it might give the person an impression that their offer wasn’t all that attractive to you.
Think of it like getting a present. When you just say thank you and that’s all, I might think you aren’t all that crazy about the sweater I knit for you. When you try it on, ask me how I fit the sleeves so well, I feel you really like what I’ve done. Help me feel you like the idea I’m going to do something that will help your job search.
If these questions about the specifics don’t you get specifics in return, I would assume the other person is making an offer they aren’t going to follow through on, and just lower my expectations. Then if they actually do follow through, it’s like an extra present. One that really fits.
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Posted by Job Search Service on March 23, 2010
Career Opportunities
It is a well-known fact that nearly 50% of available jobs are advertised. These jobs find their way through newspapers, magazines, job portals, employer websites, and through recruitment consultancies and are termed as “published job markets”. So the obvious question that comes to mind is, where are the other half of the jobs? How do the employers fill these positions? The answer to this question is that it is filled through great networking, specialized recruiters, and companies, which are growing rapidly. To be able to find this hidden job markets, it requires some extra efforts at the job seeker’s end; however, it is worth every penny at the end of it.
The best way to go about this is to analyze the type of job best suited for oneself. Based on this data list down 25-30 companies to track and explore further. One needs to explore the financial websites in order to find small or medium sized companies, which have recorded phenomenal growth over the last couple of years. Once you have this data handy, start looking for suitable openings as these companies will need new positions to be filled for it to continue growing and maintain consistency as that is the key to any success. One needs to network with known professionals as they are in constant touch with the job market. Many of the available jobs are filled through networking and depend largely on whom you know. Get in touch with past co-workers, friends and family.
School alumni network is another option, which one can explore. There are professional groups, which cater to these kinds of demands, etc to increase ones spread in the job market scenario. Inform them about your interest and that you are in the job market seeking suitable position matching your profile. Demonstrate genuine interest in the companies they are associated with. Research each of the companies mentioned on your list, learn extensively about the company and the people in key positions within that company. It does not matter, if one does not know anybody at the company one is researching, it will only be prudent to know at least who your reporting authority is going to be for the job title one is seeking. Your aim is to get your resume noticed by these people in power who are ultimately the decision makers. Prepare a covering letter to further market yourself. Posts these introductory letters to the people who matter in the companies one has researched. This is easier said than done as this may take significant effort on ones part depending on the size of the company and how many gatekeepers these key decision makers have.
Seeking a job can be made easy if you seek some expert aid like ”Save My System“. we can surely provide necessary help and guidance, to help you land up with that dreamy job. For more details visit our London job hunt service site.
This entry was posted on March 23, 2010 at 5:24 am and is filed under Save My Job.
Tagged: best jobs, career, employment opportunities, find a job, jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Posted by Katherine Moody on March 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Shawn Robinson – 801 742-1105, shawnrobinson.info This is in response to a question I received on another video that I did on using linkedin to attain a job. Hi Shawn, I have an opportunity to speak one-on-one for an hour with someone in a high position in a company within an industry that I’m passionate about but the purpose of the one-on-one is to interview him about his company for a project that I’m working on as part of my internship for another organization. What are some possible ways that I can turn this into a networking opportunity for a job within his company as well? Do you have more tips on how to find jobs in the hidden job market? Watch the video for the response
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all we looked for were employers who were hiring? That’s what well spend hours on the internet looking for and tracking down. A hidden job board or a private posting. It’s not that we don’t believe that the public jobs are possible but we know that any hidden job we hear about will probably be won by us!.
Well I’ll try and give you few ways to find hiring employers.
1.) See who has profits!
Large companies that are traded as stocks will show if they’ve been profitable or not. The market will tell you how well they’ve been doing. Look at their past year for stock price. It will rise and fall based on projections and outcomes.
2.) News of expansion, acquisitions or mergers?
Use Google alerts and read the news. If you hear the company has plans to acquire companies or expand it’s operation they are investing and will probably be hiring in the future. Mergers aren’t a guarantee the company is doing well but it could be so check out companies in the merger process too.
3.) Product Announcements
Companies with new products will create a ripple of jobs. If it’s a consumer products it will have accessories. A business product will need support systems and consulting. This are opportunities to get hired or find new niches to leverage and use knowledge for profit!
This is a start. This will tell you who is probably hiring. Joining linkedin groups, going to networking events and getting contact with employees is the next step…Do you want a blog post to help you do this too?
To start these techniques:
- To find stock prices check out Yahoo Finance
- Set up Google Alerts for the companies of interest
- Read the news and alerts to find product announcements.
More Questions for me to Help You
Do you want to find companies that are hiring? What have you done to find them?
What else would you like to compliment this blog post? Do you have questions about anything related to this post?
Please comment and tell me what to do to help you better…
To ask a job search question please: Ask the Career Doctor
For job search information check out: iLostMyJob.com
This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 11:40 am and is filed under job search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Job seekers often tell me “I’m worried if I am too specific when I’m asking for assistance, I’ll miss out on hearing about all available opportunities.”
I can certainly relate to people who are concerned that if they are too specific when they ask for assistance in their job search, they will miss out on hearing about other things that might be of interest to them. They tell me, “if I’m vague, then people will just tell me about a lot of things. If I’m specific, they will just tell me about that specific thing.”
Interestingly, a specific request actually just opens the door to so much more. It’s as if you need that specific request to get people thinking about you. Then they may be able to introduce you to the exact person you want to meet or tell you about the exact job you want, though that’s not always the result. If they don’t have that information, however, because you were specific they are able to think of other things that you might be interested in hearing about.
For example, one job seeker usually asked people to let her know if they heard of any recruiting manager positions she might be interested in. She’s a fabulous recruiter, but that request wasn’t getting her any leads to openings or other people to network with. We worked on creating a job search networking strategy wherein she listed the industries she wanted to explore.
Then she started telling people what industries and even the specific companies where she wanted to meet people. All of a sudden she was getting introduced to the right people! It’s as if that specific request just primed the pump to get them thinking. A vague request doesn’t seem to have that impact. And the worst request of all is “let me know if you hear about something…..”
Think about how you might respond to these requests. The first request is “let me know if you hear about something that might be a fit for me.” That request usually gets you a polite “you bet.” But it just won’t get you much more. Even worse, it makes you sound like nearly every other job seeker. What’s the benefit of that?
The second request is “I’ve targeted company XYA as a place I would love to work. Who do you know who works there?” This request can get you a variety of answers, all of them likely to be more useful than “you bet.”
Perhaps the person does know someone there, and would introduce you. Perhaps they know someone at a competitor to company XYA. Or maybe they know of an opportunity at a similar company.
Because you were specific, you made it easier for them to start thinking about specifics for you. Just try it and see what happens.
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The Theory of Weak Ties
by Duncan Mathison
Kim Thomson wrote today in the SF Gate (The San Francisco Chronicle’s website) about a woman who had exhausted her primary network of friends in her job search. She decided it was time to turn to her “acquaintances” network and it was from one of these “weak tie” sources where she unexpectedly landed a job from someone she had never met before.
Some might suggest that talking to people on the margins of your professional and social network is just a smart numbers game. More people equal more possibilities. Even if you connect with someone you have only met once at least it is another connection. Who knows where it could lead?
But there’s more to it than that.
Smart job seekers need to pay attention to a number of important insights research in social networks has revealed. As with much of social science research, it seems obvious when you think about it, but most of us don’t. (Check this book)
For example, research shows that we tend to belong to one or more “clusters” of social networks that are more or less isolated from other wider networks. In other words, the people you know tend to also know each other. One sure sign that you are stuck in a network cluster occurs when networking meetings are spent catching up on what’s happening with mutual friends.
This is the sure sign that your network is not working and it is time to break out of your cluster. Thank goodness for LinkedIn. Dig deep to reconnect. Find people in your past professional and personal life to talk to about your quest for a new job.
Think it’s cheesy to network with people you have lost touch with only when you need them? Absolutely not. People only have so much social bandwidth to maintain a network. We are not all social gadflies.
But there is an exception to this rule: If the table was turned would you would be unwilling to help a “weak tie”? If so then just stay in your own sad isolated little cluster.
Tags: Duncan Mathison, hidden job market, job search, networking
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on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 11:12 am and is filed under Blog, job search.
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Posted by Katherine Moody on March 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment
“Focus on networking with your warm contacts first”
- hardly rocket science is it?!
Yet so many people (particularly job seekers and career changers), seem to think that networking is all about spending time with “the right contacts” (whatever that means) and connecting with “key players” (a terrible buzz word).
This ‘Person X’ is the holy grail apparently. And whilst this sounds logical and sensible in theory, in the real world it’s completely the wrong approach if you want get connected to the right people and opportunities.
Here are 5 reasons why you should focus on networking with your warm contacts rather than “the right contacts” (Person X)
1. Person X is less likely to agree to meet/speak with you straight away if you haven’t a warm relationship.
They’re busy and so they will focus their time with their warm contacts first – not you. Whereas your warm contacts (colleagues, ex-colleagues, friends, family) are much more likely to agree to meet with you – and in turn possibly introduce you to Person X or an equivalent contact.
2. Person X is less likely to go out of their way for you
They won’t make calls, send emails or chase their contacts to help you – simply because they haven’t the relationship or loyalty to you in order to justify it.
Their loyalty and time will be spent on furthering their own interests and the interests of their warm contacts. Again, something which your warm contacts and friends are more likely to do if you spent more time with them instead of lusting after Person X.
3. You’ll resist making the call to Person X
It’s a natural instinct – you know Person X can definitely help you move forward, but you resist contacting them and resist asking directly for help because you’re relationship may have lapsed or you may not know them too well. So it’s far better to focus on your warm contacts (who you’ll find it easier to contact) and ask for their help in connecting you to Person X or a similar person.
4. Person X will be much more receptive if you’re introduced (or re-introduced) via a warm contact of yours
That email introduction you ask your warm contacts to make provides a seal of credibility that opens the door to Person X far quicker than if you approach person X direct. So focus on your relationships with warm contacts first – not because you want contacts from them – but just because their you’re warm contacts.
5. Spending time with your warm contacts is a lot more fun
As I’ve mentioned before, your networking should be effortless. In order to be yourself and get results, it should be something you enjoy rather than resist and overly stress about.
So make it easy on yourself by spending what precious time you have with people you enjoy being with. Be clear and open about what your needs are so that they’re best placed to help you – and, if possible, introduce you a Person X type individual.
See, I told you it wasn’t rocket science. I bet you knew all of this stuff already didn’t you?
So why are you spending all that time thinking and chasing after Person X when all the contacts you need are sitting in your diary and mobile phone?
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By the way, if you’re struggling to find job opportunities with the help of your network, you may want to take a look at our instantly downloadable audio programme “How To Get A Job Using Your Network.”
You’ll discover the complete step by step process for tapping into the ‘hidden job market’ and dramatically speeding up your job search with the help of your network (even if you think you don’t know many people). For further details, click here.
Posted by Katherine Moody on March 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment
I often hear from people who think that networking means spending lots of time discussing their job search with family and friends. Then when they have exhausted their contacts’ patience and still don’t have a job, they wonder why they haven’t been able to crack this hidden job market everybody alludes to.
The hidden job market does exist and is significant since 80% or more of jobs are filled outside of job postings and recruiters. But the hidden job market is not about employers hiring friends and family. Your BFF’s won’t get you a job. The reality is that the winning leads are more likely to be 3 or 4 connections removed. So when you network, in order to tap that hidden market, you need to move out from your comfort zone. If your friends could help you, they would have already. For career changers, friends are especially dangerous b/c they probably have a set way of seeing who you are and what you do and therefore wouldn’t be able to help, however well-intentioned.
Instead, focus on strangers and build rapport by getting to know their companies, their business problems and how you can solve them. In this way, it’s still very much about who and what you know. The best candidates, especially in competitive markets, get to know the decision-makers and are perceived as experts and problem-solvers.
So do this quick check-up on your networking:
Are the people in your immediate network actually hiring for jobs you want?
If so, keep deepening these connections. If not, get to the hiring managers;
Do you know what you want specifically enough (company, department, job title) that you can find the hiring managers and can research the issues they care about?
If so, approach them. If not, do this research;
Are you meeting wit hiring managers on a regular basis – 5 or more meetings per week for a full-time search?
Job search is a numbers game and if you’re not matching quality with quantity your search will lag or stall;
If you are not doing this level of targeted, high-impact networking, what is stopping you?
Get a job search buddy, a mentor or a coach, depending on the level of support you need, but get the help that will move you forward.
Caroline Ceniza-Levine is a career expert, writer, speaker and co-founder of SixFigureStart (www.sixfigurestart.com), a career coaching firm comprised of former Fortune 500 recruiters. Caroline is a co-author (along with Donald Trump, Jack Canfield and others) of the upcoming “How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times” due out March 2010; Bascom Hill Books. Formerly in corporate HR and retained search, Caroline most recently headed University Relations for Time Inc and has also recruited for Accenture, Citibank, Disney ABC, and others. Caroline is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Professional Development at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, a life coach (www.thinkasinc.com) and a columnist for CNBC.com, Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com, Vault.com, Wetfeet.com and TheGlassHammer.com.
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