Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year; and for those in need I'm offering a 15% discount on my services up to January 7th.

One thing I notice is that person to person communication has started to become a lost art. So here are some Back To Basics suggestions to help your job search and career

1: When you are networking with people, especially those people you do not know very well and those you have never met and who don’t know your from Adam, try picking up the phone to reach out to them rather than email, text, IM’, Linked-In in-mail or other form of non verbal communication.

2: When you do establish a new contact follow up with this person that same week, and again do it using verbal rather than non-verbal communication.

3: Try something unique. Send people a paper copy of your resume and cover letter along with the electronic submission.

4: Send out hand written thank you notes and follow up cards.

5: When you reach out to people ask them how they are doing and what you can do to help them before you even begin to ask what they can do for you.

6: Start an ‘important date’ calendar this year. Mark down peoples birthday (and their kids), anniversary, the day they got a new job or were promoted, and other special dates. Then a week before the date arrives make sure to call them and/or send them a greeting card.

Author

Perry Newman, CPC/CSMS is a nationally recognized resume writer, career transition coach, certified social media strategist, as well as a AIPC certified recruiter and former executive search firm owner known for his ability to get results. You can view his sample resumes and client endorsements at http://www.perrynewman.com/, and request a free resume critique by emailing your resume with contact information to perry@perrynewman.com.

Use Common Sense In Your Job Search

Who is the MVP (most valuable person) in a successful business? In my opinion it is the VP of Common Sense.

Decision makers, especially in failing companies, have a multitude of advisors with their own agenda advising them.

They are also deluged with a dearth of conflicting information to further confuse their thought process and many allow their egos and emotions to sway their better judgement.

Come to think of it, this scenario sounds very similar how most job seekers I know conduct a job search.What these executives and job seekers need is to have a VP of Common Sense to help them achieve success.

So here are a few common sense tips I hope can help end your job search and get you back to work.

1: Spend more time on establishing a network of people you need to know than people you already know.

Networking is the most important part of any job search, and for many the most difficult. There is an emotional comfort zone networking with family, friends and present and former vendors, colleagues and coworkers. Now don’t get me wrong they are crucial, especially as advocates. But the key to your success is developing new contacts and getting introductions and establishing relations with well connected people you don’t know in your field. As always Linked-In is the perfect tool to use.

2: Determine what the odds are for your finding a job through a job board and that is the maximum amount of time and effort you should expend on this job search modality. In most cases this is 20% or less.

3: Your resume should be focused on who you want to be more than who you were. To do this you need to know your audience, build a profile of the candidate they want to hire, and leave out useless information no matter how much it may make you look good. This information is more likely to make you overqualified or a bad fit for the job than a leading candidate.

4: Make your resume a marketing document and not a keyword dictionary. Again, key words are important but the story you tell is more important. Focus on the quality of the content not the buzz words because most of your competitors do what you do, so you need to let people know why they should interview you and not someone else.

5: Don’t burn bridges behind you. Last week, I overheard a conversation between two men at a networking event where one asked the other why he did not recommend an unemployed former co-worker for a job at his new company that the former colleague was a perfect fit for. His answer was plain and simple. “ He gave me the cold shoulder when I was looking for a job and then bad mouthed me to a few people I know as being just an “OK” boss. Remember the old saying “lose lips sink ships.

I hope these common sense tips help.

Author:

Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, AIPC certified recruiter and SMMU certified social media strategist known for his ability to help his clients get results. You can view his sample resumes at http://www.perrynewman.com/, and email him your resume at perry@perrynewman.com for FREE resume critique.

CAREER PLANNING FOR 2012

As we approach the end of 2011 its time to reflect on the year that’s ending and plan for the upcoming year. So here are some tips on how to make 2012 a better year.

1: This is the time of year that everyone – whether you are happily employed, looking for a new job, unemployed or even if you recently began a new job – should update your resume. 

You should review 2011 month by month to see what you have accomplished over the past year, what new skills you have developed, what new technologies you have learned or become more proficient at and, most important you should qualify and quantify your accomplishments and achievements in 2011. Then determine if you need to add this information to your existing resume, or more likely use it to create a new, more dynamic resume for 2012.

2: Check to see whether you are likely to reach the point of diminishing returns in your career in the coming year if you maintain the status quo, or if you’ll remain safe for one more year. You will need to determine by yourself or with some personal or professional help if you will still be viable to move ahead internally or outside your company a year from now if nothing changes. Look at your current value to your company, the people ahead of you and at your level who want to move up to determine if you can remain static for another year and maintain career security.

3: Set a goal for where you see yourself at this time in 2012 and identify the additions you will need to reach this goal. If you are not sure, look at some job posting for this position and use my coding system.

Additions may include new formal education or certifications, technology or business skills, hands-on experience or a stronger level of expertise in a specific area, and additional contacts and advocates to help move your career in the right direction.

Education can be obtained by making a financial investment and contacts can be made through networking and relationship management. Experience on the other hand is something that you either need to work on internally or by finding a new job.

4: Update your social media profile and set a goal to become more social media savvy in 2012.

5: Look at the Linked-In groups you are a member of and leave the ones that you find worthless and join new ones that may be more valuable in terms of content, contacts, and brand recognition.

6: Increase your brand exposure. Set a goal to start or contribute to at least 3 Linked-In discussions a week and comment on each discussion more than once.

7: Increase your network, Set a goal to add at least 3 new contacts a week to your Linked-In or personal network and set a goal of attending 1 or more networking type events every month. This is good advice for each of you whether you are employed and looking for a new job.

8: Get recommended. Set a goal to add a minimum of 2 recommendations every month to your Linked-In page.

Author

Perry Newman, CPC/CSMS is a nationally recognized resume writer, career transition coach, certified social media strategist, as well as a AIPC certified recruiter and former executive search firm owner known for his ability to get results. You can view his sample resumes and client endorsements at http://www.perrynewman.com/, and request a free resume critique by emailing your resume with contact information to perry@perrynewman.com.

Why December Is The Best Time To Network

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve there is a tradition in America, started in 1929 by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians during their New Year’s Eve broadcasts from the Waldorf Astoria, to sing this Scottish poem/folk song as we countdown the old year and bring in the new. The song begins by posing a rhetorical question, is it right that old times be forgotten, and is intended for us to remember friendships that have gone by the wayside over time.

The sentiment of the poem is prescient and especially for job seekers at this time of year. Sometimes “when you’re down and out and felling small” (thank you Simon & Garfunkel) as the holiday season gets into full swing you need to look back at your glory days to remind yourself how successful you were in the past, and how sooner or later you will return to where you rightfully belong. Hopefully this will help you refocus on the task at hand and what you need to do to get back on top.

Moreover I suggest that starting today you heed the poem’s clarion call and start to remember past relationships; the long-standing and the newer ones as well.

This is the time of year when it is common to reestablish lost relationships and reacquaint yourself with people from your past; and one of these people just might be the person who will furnish you with the lead or introduction you’re eagerly waiting.

So here are some suggestions;

1: If you’re not already on Linked-In, sign up today! Next make sure your profile is fully completed and you upload a picture (headshot preferred) that conveys the proper professional image you want to make.

2: Then spend 2-3 hours a day (or more) on Linked-In for the next 3 weeks looking for people, companies and jobs. Set a goal to find 10 people a day you knew but lost contact with and send them a personalized invite to Link-Up. It can not be generic, and should also include a request on how you can help them.

3: At the same time find at least 2 people every day on Linked-In who know you well enough to recommend you. You can start with the people you are connected to and then find new people. Set a goal of 20 recommendations between today and January 1, 2012.

4: Look up companies on Linked-In and see who works or worked there and connect with them as well.

5: This year start a Hallmark or a free online card account and send everyone you have an email address for a personalized Seasons Greeting card by December 15th at the latest. Then follow up with them if they don’t contact you first.

6: Now here is an idea, and I can not take credit for it, that is really neat. A few months ago I was invited to join a Facebook group begun by one of my fellow HS classmates for members of our graduating class. I barley remember Steven but I do keep in touch with Diane who sent me the link to join. He limited membership to only students in our graduating class since we had over 1,200 students in our senior class.

You may want to start such a group for you HS and college graduation class, and if you went to a smaller school expand it to include students from the year before and after you graduated; these are usually people who you knew quite well. Use Facebook, Linked-In and your online school alumni directory to find people to join. Send out invites and ask people you invite to reach out to fellow classmates they are still in touch with, or those they knew fairly well back in the day.

Once the group is going start networking. Ask people to discuss what they have done since graduation, what they do for a living now and how the group can help them if they are looking for a job. The rest will evolve naturally, and in our group we have at least 25 new postings every day, and a lot of friendships have been revived.

Author:

Perry Newman, CPC/CSMS is a nationally recognized resume writer, career transition coach, certified social media strategist, as well as a AIPC certified recruiter and former executive search firm owner known for his ability to get results. You can view his sample resumes and client endorsements at http://www.perrynewman.com, and request a free resume critique by emailing your resume with contact information to perry@perrynewman.com.