Stop Spinning Your Career Search Wheels – Informational Interviews Part One

Let’s face it deciding what to do next with your career or pounding the pavement with your resume isn’t fun. As a career coach I often speak with people spinning their wheels with either the career or job search process.

With more than 600 plus jobs out there how can it not be difficult to decide what to do next? One way to move forward and reduce the frustration is to set up an informational interview in the field of your choice. An informational interview can help you gain momentum in two ways.

The term “informational interviewing” comes from Richard Nelson Bolles, best-selling career guide, What Color Is Your Parachute? In his book Bolles refers to the informational interview process as “trying on jobs to see if they fit you.” It is a way to get current information about an occupation by talking to people who are working in the occupation.

It is far more informative and effective then google searching a job description. The second way an informational interview can reduce job search frustration is how fast it can lead to an offer. One out of every 200 resumes submitted results in a person getting a job while one out of every 12 informational interviews results in a job offer.

Pretty amazing, right? Stay tuned Part 2 10 Things You Should Know About Informational Interviews.

Boosting Your Current Resume

I recently critiqued 30 college students’ resumes and on average the majority of them had the same common mistakes (aside from being done at three in the morning after the essay for English Lit and before the 4th Red Bull). They were dull, lacked action words and selling points. All the key points bled into one another and the effect was that of one long block of text that no eye wants to tackle despite however promising the content.

Employers or recruiters initially spend very little time looking at resumes, typically only 30 seconds to 1 minute. In that short period of time your resume needs to grab his or her attention enough to call you for an interview.

Before you begin to update your current resume, sit down and figure out what sets you apart from all the other job seekers. Take a hard critical look at it and see if it offers a brief overview of your educational background, employment history. Does it reflect who you are and your unique skill set? If it doesn’t, follow the prompts below to get the re-writing process started.

List your achievements and accomplishments – these can later be turned into accomplishment statements/highlights of qualifications on your resume or cover letter. Write down the following:

1. What positive impact have you made on behalf of previous employers?

2. Where and when have you gone above and beyond quotas or expectations?

3. How do you make a difference?

Work and Volunteer History

Reflect over the past 10 years and make a list of the positions that you have held (paid or volunteer). Answer the following questions about each position.

1. What was the job description and what level of responsibilities and skills were required?

Other questions to consider

1. What do people come to you for help with?

2. Are you a member of any organization?

3. Have you ever given a speech or presentation or provided training to anyone?

4. Do you speak any foreign languages?

6. Have you written an article or book? Are you published?

Once your brainstorming sessions is complete, review your previous resumes and update it with additional accomplishments and selling points. Still stuck? That’s OK. Give me a call to discuss resume writing strategies and my resume re-write packages.

Riding in an Elevator with Your Future CEO

Just suppose sometime in the near future you are riding and in strides (because, if you’ve never met one, that’s exactly what they do: stride) the CEO of a company you really wanted to work for. You have the next few floors to tell him or her who you are and what you want to do. What would you say?

Thinking about your “elevator pitch” will help you in many different career arenas including networking and will also support you in answering the interview question, “Tell me about yourself.”

Your Personal Marketing Statement (or Elevator Pitch) should include the following 3 things:

1. What you are looking for in the way of employment?

2. What are the skills that you possess that would relate to this job?

3. What specific background you bring to the position?

Your elevator pitch should be a brief and valuable statement you always have at the ready so that when you meet potential employers, participate in information interviews, or are speaking with other new contacts you present as a focused, clear and visionary person. The other wonderful thing about an elevator pitch is that it is by nature dynamic. As you evolve and it evolves with you. Your career will likely shift in focus as time goes on, if not change completely at least once along the way, so be sure to get back into your elevator scenario throughout your career and revise your pitch as your work experience, needs and desires change.

You have an exciting, limitless future ahead of you. Take it one elevator at a time and fully live the ride. Going up!

How intelligent is your career?

In order to work optimally and be intelligent in our career, the experts say (and I agree with them) that we need the following:

• We need to know our “why” – why are we working? Does the work we do reflect our values? Interest? Strengths? Do we find meaning and purpose in our work on a daily basis?
• We need to know our “how” – how do you do your jobs? What skills and knowledge do you bring to your work? We continually need to improve on the how. In order to have career satisfaction we need to be lifelong learners and continue to address any skill gaps as we forward in our careers.
• We need to know our “whom” – Whom do you want to work with? What are the relationships that can impact your career? Who do you want on your team? Who do you want to be managed by?

Pausing to examine these 3 things will allow you to craft a career that is the perfect fit for you. It will do so by allowing your different intelligences (intellectual, social, emotional) to inform and guide your process. This exercise will fuse your intelligences with your career and your career with your intelligence. Our culture doesn’t value this type of introspection, especially in hyper-competitive job markets, but I guarantee you that taking this time now will ensure you a rich and rewarding career and a harmonious work-life picture. Then you’ll win the job, meet the girl/guy, nail the promotion, be wildly happy and an inspiration to all. Cue sunset and rainbow. For real.

Are You Playing To Your Strengths?

If I asked you: Are you playing to your strengths and doing it every day, what would you say? Would you have to think about it for a while or could you answer with a resounding “Yes!” Or would you want us to explain more about what we really mean by that phrase?

Playing to your strengths is doing work that you’re not only good at, but that you love.

Why is it important that we ask? Well, we know that people who focus on their strengths are more than 3 times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life.

Sounds good, right? But you know what? Sadly, Gallup research tells us that less than 20% of us have the opportunity to do what we do best every day. Ouch.

So, are you playing to your strengths every day? If not, are willing to take my help to get there?

Top Three Questions for a Strengths-Based Career

What kinds of activities are you doing in your career – each week, month, year – that make you feel strong? We recommend these top three questions to ask yourself when looking for a strengths-based career:

1. Can I use my strengths on a regular basis in this career?

2. Is this career consistent with my values?

3. Will I have an opportunity to do what I love to do in this career?

If your answer is No to any of these three questions, let’s talk!

Empowering Individuals

Possibilities Coaching focuses on helping you find work you love. I work with you to help you get promoted, find a new role in your current company, or even change your career completely. People hire a coach for many different reasons; below are some of the recent areas we have successfully worked with people to:

• Change their current career after a lay-off,
• Build one-to-one interview skills or critique their resume,
• Return to work after being at home with children,
• Establish a balanced work-life situation

Your Life and Career Role

Prior to having children I worked a lot. I was the first in the office and the last to leave. I was never without my Blackberry. I even answered emails when I was at the movie theater. Within the management team I was a part of, there was an unspoken understanding that whoever worked harder and longer won. What, I am not sure…

After having my first child I knew I could not return to working in that way. I could not work with that type of schedule and also be available for my daughter in a way that I wanted to. My husband was working in a role that demanded huge amounts of his time. It was important to us that one of us had flexibility. Flexibility then became a core work value – up until having children I had never really thought about what it meant to have a flexible work environment. Every career step I have made in the last 6 years has been following the path of career flexibility. I know that working full time in a traditional job is an economic necessity for many families. I have times when I have worked full time and times where I have worked flexible contracts. At the moment I have two jobs, one working part time as an executive recruiter and also working for myself as a career coach and HR consultant. We have made a lot of choices as a family to give me this flexibility. My husband stayed at his job long after my instincts as a career coach said he should leave because we needed one of us to have a steady paycheque.

People choose job and career paths for so many reasons. Choosing the right one for you is based on many factors. You occupy so many different (and often conflicting/competing) roles and being a worker in whatever capacity is simply one of them. It is crucial to think about and identify why you are working and what values you are looking for prior to choosing any career. The following exercise will help you get clear on what really matters to you and why.

1. Get out a pen and a piece of paper and answer the following question: Who do you admire? And what do you admire about them? Now list all of the reasons you admire this person.

2. Repeat this exercise for another person you admire.

3. The next step is to circle the words and phrases resonating the most for you. Which ones jump off the page? We all have lots of values, so this is by no means a complete list. What we want to see is a snapshot of where you are today and what is most important for you right now.

4. Now condense the list down to approximately five values. There’s power in understanding what inspires and drives us.  By naming your values you create an important avenue for identifying what you want most in the work you do.