Monthly Archives: March 2011

Three musts for your job search

Once you are clear in your own mind on the value you offer a potential employer, there are three main keys to focus on as you look for a job:  research, connect and summarize.

Research: Start by identifying at least 10 companies that look as if they need exactly that thing that you are good at: businesses that operate in your niche and surely need the skills and experience that only you offer.  The more specific your value statement, the narrower and more productive will be your list of target companies.  Learn as much as you can about these businesses. As you dive into this research, you will be led to other companies and you will relegate some to the back burner. Become clearer about the work you want to do, and keep this goal in mind to help you prioritize.

Connect: Use your search engines and LinkedIn and exploit all your networks to get introduced to people who work in the companies on your target list.  Volunteer for work in the field so you can get experience and build your network. Ask the people you meet how they do their work, what they need, what keeps them up at night, where they are headed, and you will start to figure out where you can fit in.

Keep in touch with everyone – not in an annoying “What have you done for me recently” sort of way, but in a helpful “Here is what I have been doing and learned that might be of value to  you” sort of way.

Summarize: As you meet new contacts, listen to yourself. You will find yourself telling them who you are, and as you do so you’ll be summarizing your value concisely and effectively: “Here is what I could do for you and here are three reasons why I am the best person to do it.”  See how it sounds. Do they engage with it and want to know more?  Was it in fact concise and effective? Try out new versions. Make it better and stronger.  Use it in your cover letters and resume.

That summary of your value is what people will remember about you.  It focuses on what value you provide and not on the tiresome fact that you need a job.  They will then tell their relevant colleagues that they should see you because you are precisely who they are searching for.  Your story could start going viral!

These steps bear very much in mind that statistics tell us you are vastly more likely to get a job from a personal connection than not.  And that many jobs are not advertised publicly.

So the three keys to remember: research, connect and summarize.

Posted on March 30, 2011 in career transition, job search
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What to do in an employment gap

“I’d never had a gap before and it was very new and very frightening.”

This from a top-ranked executive producer of TV spots who had been laid off in the financial crisis. “When I was first out of work I thought for sure I’m going to be everybody’s first call but there weren’t a lot of offers out there. It took a lot to get up every day – but I got up enthusiastic and that just made a world of difference.”

A few months earlier, a friend from LA had called to see if she was interested in helping produce his feature film – for no money of course. So now she called him back and told him she was in. He asked her to do the production breakdown for NY. “I said: ‘Absolutely, not a problem’. But truthfully I had no idea what a movie breakdown was, so I went on Wikipedia – okay that’s a breakdown – then I went to the library and found books on how to produce movies. All of the sudden I was a movie producer, and it cost me nothing. But then I wasn’t getting paid either. But don’t forget, I was very available!”

She got up every day, sent out at least two or three emails to her connections within the familiar advertising industry “and then I’d get dressed as if I were running into an ex-boyfriend. Seriously, this makes a big difference. Because you know you don’t want to go out like a slob, you want to look professional, like you can run into anybody. I would go to the library where there was free Internet and bathrooms. I felt like I was somewhere, around people.” “I was producing, doing what I loved doing,” she told me. “Production is the same kind of mindset and the same tools whether you’re making a 30 second ad or a long format web video or a 90-minute movie. And I was learning a new way to do it. You meet a lot of people in the independent movie world and every one will give you some bit of advice, or put you in touch with someone. It was exciting to be part of something.”

So what’s her advice to someone who has lost their job? “Get up, get out there and do something. Anything. It doesn’t just land in your lap. Even if it’s not what you were doing before. Even if it’s for no pay. It kept me in the land of the living, it kept me busy and the new connections I made carried on even after I was back in advertising many, many months later. I do think it’s a success story. Because as scary as it was it felt good when I was doing it, my little victories. And it feels good now.”

Posted on March 24, 2011 in career transition
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A filmmaker tells how to write your resume

“There is no story without a listener.”  So says filmmaker, storyteller and MBA David Sauvage.  He told me there are two ways people write the story that is their resume or business plan.

“In the first they think: What material do I have and how can I assemble it and say the things that I think are important? Then they assemble that material prioritizing the things they think are important and hand them off to the person they want to read it: who says huh, ok, and just maybe: tell me more.  The truth is nobody actually cares who you are or what you’re trying to say.”

But according to Sauvage, the good storyteller approaches it immediately from the perspective and emotions of the person listening to the story.  “They say to themselves: If I’m the listener – what is going to engage me the most?  The question should not be: what is this resume and what are the important facts about it? That’s the wrong place to start from. The question should be: how can I get somebody excited about this resume?”

Even though you might not have met your listener, you still need to have one in mind, “otherwise your unconscious is assembling some kind of arbitrary audience derived from your insecurities,” says Sauvage.  “When I read incoming communications from people I often have to ask myself: Who do they think I am and what is it they want me to feel?  Then I end up having to do their work for them.  Who wants to work with somebody when you’re already doing their work?  That’s already your nightmare.”

It is critical to have your listener in mind when picking the elements of your story.  “People tend to report things according to the amount of emotional charge they have.  If you have slogged through some enormously difficult project and managed to pull it off at the wire, then that’s going to occupy a large stake on your resume irrespective of the experience of the reader.  It could be that the thing you did in 5 minutes, putting together some deal that to you was super-easy, is actually the single most impressive thing you’ve ever done from the listener’s point of view.”

So his advice: “Stop looking at it from your own small prism and look at it from the point of view of the other person.  All of a sudden things will open up.  Things will get easier.”

Posted on March 23, 2011 in job search, resumes
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How To Get Yourself Motivated

~ ACTIONABLE EXPERT ADVICE ~  As published in Cynopsis Classified Advantage
How To Get Yourself Motivated
by Michael Pollock

A friend reminded me that the 2000-year Old Man used fear as a transportation method: “An animal growls at you and you’d go two miles a minute.” She told me that fear is what motivates her to get to work.

What is it that gets you away from your Solitaire or Facebook or Farmville? You already know your goal is to get a job, grow a business or get out of a rut but knowing why you want that can help kickstart you into action each day. Here are some drivers that could get you off the mark:

Excitement: Is it the thrill of the chase, plotting the strategy, celebrating the victories that get your heart pumping? You’ve got to be in it to win it.

Anticipation: Picture your life when you’ve moved forward on the path to your dreams. So much better than where you’re coming from.

Greed: The Ferrari, bigger houses, the private jet. But material greed is not the norm for the creative professionals I work with they are greedy for awards, peer recognition, new clients and gigs that validate their sense of worth. Use this this greed is good.

Jealousy: Let’s face it, the recognition (surely undeserved!) that others are getting is another valuable driver. But don’t ape them; generate success doing your own thing. Then we’ll see who’s jealous.

Restlessness: One of my drivers. It could be an ADD thing; we just don’t want to repeat ourselves and are more turned on by something new. Figure out how you can shape what’s next. Find a purposeful direction, not just movement for its own sake.

Guilt: This doesn’t usually lead to a good result pick another driver so that you can stop looking over your shoulder. Give yourself something to look forward to.

Curiosity: This is a goodie. Seek out what’s new put opportunities and ideas together in different ways to see what happens. Surprise yourself.

Ambition: But for what? Titles? Riches? Notoriety? If you know what it is you want then you can devise the strategy to get it. I’ve been told it’s all about sex, the biological imperative. That is above my pay grade, but if you recognize that in yourself I am sure you can make it work for you.

What I’m proposing is a moment of reflection so you can pick one or more drivers that’ll get you going in the morning. Once you achieve flow you will be happy and productive whether you are looking for a job or a new career or a new revenue stream or a new client.

Posted on March 22, 2011 in coaching
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“..exciting, creative resume..”

A happy client forwarded me this note she received from a former colleague; she told me it is “a testament to our work together.”

“I clicked on (a LinkedIn update) and saw your name with an intriguing quote so I clicked again, and WOW!! Girl, you are so creative and vibrant, it just screams off the electronic page… I scanned the resume. It is the first exciting, creative resume I’ve EVER read. Anyone scanning your page would immediately offer you work, even if they didn’t have any. ”

This is what we aim for.

Posted on March 3, 2011 in career transition, coaching, resumes
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