Create A Strategic Plan for Your Job Search

Searching for a full time job can often be a full time job. It’s hard work to find work. The last thing you want to do is follow the old ‘spray and pray’ method of job searching where you spend countless hours scrolling through random online job postings or worse, circling jobs in the newspaper. In today’s competitive market you need to be focused, and you need to know what you want, what you have to offer and then where to search for it. To help make the process a bit easier, develop and follow a job search strategic plan. 

Focus and Define: 
Socrates said, ‘know thyself.’  And while he wasn’t necessarily referring to the job search, the advice is key to the process. Before you actually begin the job search, you need to discover who you are or who you want to be professionally. Make a list of your goals, values and beliefs, of your skills, accomplishments, and of experiences. Review the list and look for repetition and similarities, and then focus in on those key elements or must haves for your professional self.
   Once you have a firm understanding of your professional identity, you next need to parallel your defined skills, values, and beliefs to a career path and to a targeted list of employers. Do your research and create a list of 20 or more target companies/organizations for which you can utilize your newly defined identity.

Job Search Mission Statement:
You’ve already discovered who you are or who you want to be professionally and have created a target list of companies, now it’s time to write out a job search mission statement.  Be very specific about what you’re looking for – your core values and beliefs, the type of company, the type of skills used, the environment/culture of the workplace, the level of responsibility, the geographic region, potential for growth, and salary and benefits. Use this statement to help maintain your focus. When you’re feeling uncertain, come back to this statement; it will help you regain momentum.

The Action Plan:
The best written mission statement will go unfulfilled if you don’t act upon it. A great way to ensure action is to build a set of job search goals and strategies.  Be specific; be aggressive; be proactive; and be holistic on this part of the plan. When you’re writing the goals, use detailed strategies which include measurements, timelines and deadlines. This section allows you to hold yourself accountable, so be specific – you will congratulate yourself later for it.

An example of a goals and strategy section may look like this:

Goal:  Build a network of professional mentors and job search advisors in my
           chosen career path.
Strategies:
   Use LinkedIn groups feature to connect with leaders in the (fill in the name of
      the industry). I will respond to 1 article or post a week for (fill in the dates)
   Follow and connect with 10 new (fill in the name of the field) experts via Twitter each
      week  from (fill in the dates)

Once you have the action plan in place, you’ll want to create a way to keep track of your job search activities and progress. Whether electronic or paper, you’ll need to track the companies to which you’ve applied, all communications with companies, scheduled interviews, networking referrals, and all follow up activities required.  While tedious, staying on top of the job search details and logistics will pay off greatly once you’ve landed the job.

The beauty of the job search strategic plan is that it is transferrable to so many areas of professional life.  From job seeking to job promotions to job transitioning, having a strategic plan will help guide you smoothly to the career success you seek. 

To discuss the job search strategic plan or any other career related topics, contact me at 4dperspectives@gmail.com.  I look forward to helping you reach the next dimension of your career success.

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How to Know When a Career Shift is Right for Your Future

In a 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, the late Steve Jobs advised the young graduates to ‘find what you love.’  He explained to the audience that our lives are limited, that death would come for each of us. Death is a certain fact.  What isn’t certain fact, continued Mr. Jobs, is how we each proceed with the time we’re given.  In the speech, Mr. Jobs told the students to ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’ and to pursue a career that each loved.  And Steve Jobs practiced what he preached - he did work that he loved.  

Do you do work you love? Do you love the career you’re in now? Have you been thinking about a career shift but lack the confidence, the knowledge, the passion to take the first steps? Let Steve Jobs and my advice help you take those first steps. 

A successful career shift begins with The Now.

  

The first step in the career shift process is to take an honest assessment of why you’re considering a change from your current career.  Ask yourself a series of questions to help determine whether a shift is right for you.  Example questions:

• Are you unhappy in the job?
• Are you bored?  Feel unchallenged?
• Do you want to make more money?
• Do you like the work, but dislike the company culture or the people?
• Do you like the culture and people but dislike the work? 

Step two is to begin to introspectively look at your professional self.  Ask yourself: 

• Who are you professionally?  
• What professional identity have you established?
• Do you have a brand? Can you write it in 1 sentence?
• What do others say about your professional identity/brand?
• What areas bring you the greatest professional fulfillment?
• More than just focusing on strengths, what work brings you joy, makes you feel strong?
• What motivates you to succeed?
• Who are your professional heroes?
•  Who do you admire and list why  

Step three is to discover what you want your new professional identity to be.

• · Fill in the blanks: I want a career that has ______________, _______________ and ____________. 
•  Then focus your energy on learning about careers with these attributes.
•  List your talents, strengths and skills. 
• These are the cold, hard facts of what you have to offer in a new career.
• Research careers that interest you.  Do you need further training to be competitive? If so, seek out ways to gain the needed skills.
• From the three items above, create a professional identity (branding) statement.
• Start with “I am a ______________________________________________________________."

If during step one you determined that a career shift is right for you, and you’ve not only discovered who you are professionally, but are now able to articulate who you want to be, then it’s now time for The Future.

Step four is to take action. You have some work to do to get the work you desire.

• To do so you need to spread the word and let people know what you’re looking for in a career. 
• Put yourself in the middle of the crowd. Get out there and get some experience in the field. Volunteer, complete an externship or internship, perhaps freelance if available.
• Network, network, network.  And do so in a variety of ways. Attend community meetings where people in your desired profession will be, find out where the ‘movers and shakers will be and be there, use social media – LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, etc… -- to connect with people in the new industry and to build your professional brand further. 
• Act on your career search every day. Create a strategy, break it down into ‘doable’ steps and then carry out a step or two each day.         

While the steps seem easy enough to handle, the decision to shift careers is one of the biggest you’ll make professionally.  Don’t go it alone.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged by the process.  Get a career consultant, find a friend who will support you and hold you accountable, or join a career support group in your area. Surround yourself with positive people, those people who will help keep you focused and will celebrate every step of the way. 

Above all, follow your dream and find a career that you love. Remember, to stay hungry for your dream, and to dream foolishly. You will find a life that you love, not that you simply live. 

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V2 Your Way to a Successful Career Search

In 1993 a 4 year old Jessica was captured on video going through a nightly ritual, an energetic and passionate self-affirmation exercise.  She affirms her like and love of her family, her hair, her cousins, her house and her life saying, "I can do anything good; better than anyone."  The video was posted on YouTube in 2009 and went viral reaching 8,388,291 views at last count. Why? People are drawn to her energy, her passion, her positivity.  Down deep, people want to be positive; they want to be happy. What does this have to do with your career search? Everything actually. 

  
Just as Jessica used positive self-affirmation, you can incorporate the power of positive into your career search.  It is often said that our thoughts influence our feelings, that our feelings influence our behavior, and our behaviors influence who we are. If this holds true, then incorporating positivity in our lives will increase our success. The key then is to change the way we think, the way we see and the way we speak about our career search.

   
To energize and bring a sense of positivity, practice what I call the V2 goal setting method for your career search. Goal setting is a powerful way to affect true change and to do it completely, you must Visualize and Verbalize your success. Visualizing is actively seeing the successful completion of your goals. Verbalizing is actively speaking the successful completion of your goals.

   
Using V2 daily is easier than you might think. Find ordinary 'mind wandering' times and replace them with purposeful visualization and verbalization.  For example, when you're brushing your teeth, mentally recite your goals for the day, the week, the month. Visualize the successes of the day ahead. When you're driving to work or on errands, speak out and tell yourself exactly what you plan to accomplish in your job search. Use this verbal self-affirmation as more than a simple verbal checklist, speak specifically about what you will accomplish.

    
Used together V2 - Visualizing and Verbalizing is a powerful combination that will lead you to success. Bring positivity to your career search --

See success. 

Speak success. 

Be success.

   

  

  

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Mentoring VS Managing: Does It Have To Be One Or The Other?

I heard on a MSNBC news report recently that 85% of GenY interns expect to be mentored through their internship experience. And more than that, they expect that mentorship to be meaningful, engaging and beneficial to their future careers. The same report also indicated that what GenY's don't expect is to be managed.

Mentored, not managed.

To those of us who work with GenY's daily, this distinction is no surprise. The surprise is that there is now a real conversation taking place about these two very different approaches. So what is the difference between 'mentoring and managing?

According to Webster's Dictionary, to manage is 'to handle or direct with a degree of skill; to make and keep compliant; to exercise executive, administrative, and supervisory direction.'  Adversely, to mentor is defined as 'to serve as a trusted counselor or guide; to provide expertise to less experienced individuals; to build a relationship based upon communication.' From the definitions it seems apparent that these two supervisory methodologies are polar opposites, mutually exclusive. But do they have to be? Is today's 'manager' in place to keep the staff compliant, on task, focused on the bottom line? Is it possible for a manager to also be a mentor?

Yes, it is not only possible, but for the success of most businesses today, especially those hiring in GenY's, it is imperative that leadership blend both supervisory strategies into their methodology.

How does one blend managing and mentoring? By implementing these ABC's:

•  A = Assess proactively. Mentors plan strategically based upon an intern's (feel free to substitute employee's for intern) capabilities, strengths, and areas of growth. Being proactive reduces the standard reactive management technique of many managers. 

• B = Build a 'developmental' relationship.  Dr. David Thomas of Harvard Business School coined this phrase bases it upon the experiences the intern has as he/she is engages in work. A developmental relationship relies on communication and engagement, and it thrives in a culture where experiential questioning is encouraged.

• C = Collaborate and Listen. Vanilla Ice had the beat and this concept down. Mentoring must be a mixture of collaborative conversation and active listening, for the mentor and mentee alike.      Working together the manager and intern should work together to create a clear plan of action for the internship experience.

Incorporating these ABC's into a management strategy, will create a more meaningful experience for the intern and bring a greater sense of satisfaction and success to the mentor.


 

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You are the Key to a Positive Workplace Culture

A recent Wall Street Journal article indicated that more than 84% of today's working population is unhappy in their jobs.  The reasons ranged from low pay to lack of promotion opportunities to workplace culture.  While there may not be much an individual employee can do about the rate of pay or availability of promotion opportunities there is much one can do to influence a workplace culture.

Try implementing the following 5 steps to help promote a positive workplace culture.

1. Check your own attitude.  The first step in changing a culture is to look at how you are contributing to the problems in your workplace. People who are the most successful have learned the importance of identifying where they are shunning responsibility. To take the first step in shifting your workplace culture, you must look at areas in your work life in which you are complaining or blaming and discover what you are failing to be responsible for.
2. Focus on you, not others.  A difficult step, investing time in self-awareness is a vital component in moving to a positive workplace culture. Focus only on changing your own feelings, thoughts and actions, not on what co-workers are or aren't doing. In truth, you can't change others; you can only change you.  Trough modeling positive changes in yourself, you can influence change in others. To start the change, put more emphasis on practicing the power of positive thinking.
3. Be grateful. It has been said that the healthiest of all human emotions is gratitude. Rather than focusing on and looking for all that's wrong in your workplace, start to look for the good around you.  Practice this technique by keeping a daily journal in which you list 3-5 things you're grateful for at work.  It's surprising how quickly practicing this step will change your perspective of work and of those around you.
4. Look for opportunity. We've all heard the old saying, 'every cloud has a silver lining.' Well, it's true. In every bad situation, there is good. In his book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill said, "Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat." The key is to not get caught up in the negativity and to focus all attention on finding that silver lining.
5. Think before you act.  Let's face it, it can be a challenge to be positive all the time. We are human and do react in a variety of ways to a variety of situations. When faced with challenges it's important to remember that we have a choice of how we will react: a choice to be positive or negative. And this takes practice ... lots of practice. Fortunately for this step, life often gives us lots of opportunities to do make these choices. 

Making a shift to a positive workplace culture starts with you.  Become the ignition force ... Be infectious!

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Are Your Ethics Part of Your Generational Identity?

Anyone who works or lives with other humans knows that issues of ethics often arise. Mix in the idea of ethics and generational traits and watch the opinions flow. To move beyond opinions, I began researching the issue of ethics in a multi-generational workplace and have been enlightened and have affirmed my original perception that the ethical problems plaguing the workplace, are less a generational issue than that of experience and maturity. I acknowledge that there are generational trends and that these trends do influence the actions of members of a generation. However, it's imperative to also recognize the role that age, experience and presumed gained wisdom plays in one's perception of ethical issues.

In 2009 the ERC - Ethics Resource Center - conducted a National Business Ethics survey of 2, 865 respondents.  While lengthy, the following portion really caught my attention:

          Twelve percent of Millennials, for example, said they believe it is acceptable to post
          negative comments about their employer on blogs or Twitter, compared to 8 percent
          of Gen X-ers (age 30 - 44) and 5 percent of Boomers (age 45 – 63). And
          19 percent of Millennials said it is acceptable to keep copies of confidential
          documents, compared to 16 percent of Gen X-ers and 15 percent of Baby Boomers.
          They also have less of a problem calling in sick when they’re not (18 percent, versus
          19 percent of Gen X-ers and 13 percent of Boomers) and fewer concerns about   
          privacy in the Internet era.

The percentages for each of the identified ethical issues decrease as the age of the respondent increases.  Admitting there are many variables that can be considered here, I assert that as one lives life and encounters ethical issues, succeeds or fails, and gains experience and knowledge that his/her willingness to act unethically diminishes.  Whether it's the consequences of her/his actions, life responsibilities or personal morals/values, in each ethical situation the older the respondent the more conservative the action.

No matter the generation or age of the employee, ethical issues will continue to be a concern of every workplace.  So rather than look at this from a multi-generational point of view, we need to recognize this is a maturation or character evolution issue, and not tied to the character and traits of Generation Y.

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It's Not a Big Deal, Really ... Really?

I, a member of the Boomer Generation recently had the following conversation on ethical perspectives with members of the Y Generation. It went something like this…

Me: is it ethical to park in a permit only parking garage if one does not have a parking permit?

Gen Y ‘them’: It depends. It depends on how much the fine is for parking illegally and whether it’s really worth the fine to park there; yes, if I’m in a hurry, I’ll park in the garage and take my chances.

Me: would it matter to you if you knew that those who legally park in the garage pay $250 per year to do so? And if you park there you are potentially taking their parking spot?

Gen Y ‘them’: No. If I need to park in the garage, I just do it. I don’t care who’s paid and who hasn’t. It’s a matter of convenience for us. And besides, it’s the University’s fault that we break the rules. If they would provide more parking ….

Me: Do you see this as an ethical issue? After all, it is breaking a law.

Gen Y ‘them’: No, it’s not an ethical issue at all. And it’s only breaking the rule/ law if we get caught. And the fine is so small that it’s worth the gamble.

I was stunned.

· My perspective = Parking in a permit only garage without a permit is illegal, therefore, it is unethical.

· Their perspective = Parking in a permit only garage without a permit is
a gamble and a matter of convenience AND it’s not their fault anyway.

This issue seemed like a no brainer to me. But that is the beauty of ethics; what is clear to one is mud to another. It’s truly a matter of perspective. Now, I could go into moral and behavioral psychology and even discuss (as one student eloquently and passionately wrote in an email follow-up to the previous conversation) how people are often are more likely to be swayed by ‘incentives given by the structure of society than by their internal motivations’ than by rules and penalties. But that’s not truly where I want to go with this topic.

In the next couple of entries, I plan to explore the idea of ethics from a multi-generational perception. I want to look at the dimensions in the perception of ethics. It's going to be an interesting exploration.

It seems that more than beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

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