Recipe for Success from a Man In the Know

In his 8/23/13 appearance on the John Gambling show, billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg articulated his recipe for success. I dare say this prosperous entrepreneur and three term mayor of NYC commands our attention and his words should be taken seriously based on his demonstrated record of success.

 

Three specific points he made resonate with me and I offer them as sound advice for the unemployed and for those who are currently employed and desire career advancement in the not too distant future.

Point # 1: “Ambitious people should be willing to buck the conventional wisdom...” 

 

Point # 2: “If you’re scared to take risks, you’re just gonna fit in with the crowd and never break average and probably won’t even make average...”

 

Point #3: “I always tried to be the first one in in the morning and the last one to leave at night…”

 

As many of you already know from following my blogging these past five years, when it comes to all things related to résumé writing and conducting a job search, the backbone of my business, I too am an advocate of bucking the system and conventional wisdom and of taking calculated risks to achieve the desired results. Time after time I’ve seen risk taking deliver results well beyond job seekers wildest expectations. So here is some additional food for thought I hope can help you to be more successful in your job search and and throughout your career.

 

A: When submitting a résumé should you submit the best document you are capable of writing, or should it be the best one you are capable of acquiring? 

 

Most résumés submitted for jobs today depict a candidate who fits in with the crowd; someone who, at best, can be considered an average new hire. Do these résumé get results? Some people are even capable of writing a résumé that reaches the highest level of mediocrity or slightly exceeds this level of competency. Will this résumé generate quality interviews and job offers? 

 

If you have come to the proper conclusion that a mediocre, or slightly above mediocre résumé will not yield optimum results – and this is not acceptable – then I propose you take a risk and do something about it.

 

B: People preaching (and following) conventional wisdom believe resume styles, formats, and visual presentations that have withstood the test of time are the best or only way to go. Truth be told, more people today are generating interviews and job offers by bucking conventional wisdom and submitting innovative résumés that may include color, pictures, logos, endorsements, hyperlinks, and a multi column approach. The key is in your knowing how and where to break with conventional wisdom, and knowing what works best for you.  

 

C: Many professionals I have spoken to will temper their ambition when it comes to using LinkedIn and other social media especially if they are currently employed and open to a strategic career move. They are under the erroneous assumption, based on widely espoused conventional wisdom, that if your boss or a fellow employee notices you’ve upgraded your LinkedIn profile that you’re immediately suspect of being unhappy and can’t be trusted any longer. Let me tell you here and now, the risk of being highly visible on LinkedIn is negligible compared to the rewards. 

 

The truth is fewer people use LinkedIn as a job search tool than those who use it as the relationship management tool it is meant to be. For a professional to succeed at his or her job today it is imperative that you have a LinkedIn page that lets people know what you do and how well you do it. This allows you to be found by people you need to be found by including new vendors, potential clients and customers, peers and fellow professionals who you can learn from, people who want to seek, and may even pay you for advise, and of course recruiters and companies seeking talent.

 

D: Many people, especially at certain stages of their career, get sedentary and fall into a lazy pattern at work and in their job search. I am not one to espouse being a workaholic during your entire career – finding the proper work/life balance is important. However giving 100% is essential to achieving success. If putting extra hours and effort into your job search or current job is what it takes to reach your desired goal, well so be it. That’s what you must do. 

 

In life you can either continue to dream the dream your entire life or do what it takes to try and live your dream life.

 

Don’t let outdated conventional wisdom, laziness and a stubborn unwillingness to take risks stand in your way of reaching your goals. If this recipe for success worked for Mayor Bloomberg it can also work for you. 

 

As always I am available to review US resumes if you email it to perry@perrynewman.com
 

Strategic Planning and Critical Thinking – Two keys to career and job search success

I work extensively with executives and career professionals and for many it is essential that my résumés convey their ability as a strategic planner and critical thinker because these are prerequisites to their landing a new job or internal promotion. Strategic planning and critical thinking are also prerequisites in career planning and conducting a successful job search.

 

Successful executives and professionals plan strategically, think critically and act decisively. They can see the here and now and at the same time envision what the future will look like if they control circumstances and conditions. Moreover, they are skilled at effectively balancing short term solutions versus long term gains while making swift, decisive decisions based on their facility to gather and analyze relevant information and harness a wide-range of available resources.

 

From entry level to later career stages everyone in the workplace must be aware of where they are at each juncture and it is imperative to project where we want to9 be 2 years and 5 years down the road and what is required to get there.

 

So let me leave you with some points to make you a better career planner and job seeker. 

 

A. Consider your current situation, position and career path and project the steps you need to take to get ahead. Analyze it thoroughly using available data and insights from peers and others you trust, and determine a course of action to reach your desired results. Explore business magazines, trade journals, websites and related publications to keep current with your industry, your peers, and your company’s competitors and how they operate.

 

B. Organize your thoughts and your immediate and longer term priorities. Create multiple scenarios on how you will get from step A to Step B and beyond and keep an open mind to take advantage of sudden opportunities or impediments to your goal should they arise.

 

C: Think about what is keeping you in a stagnant state and force yourself to break out of a safe but unhealthy situation and consider best-case and worst-case scenarios of the changes you must make to get ahead in your career and job search.

 

D: Understand that for most of you, the business world and the process of conducting a job search has changed since you were last in this position.  Stop doing the same things that have not shown any tangible results and look for innovative new actions to propel your career and job search forward and not backwards.

 

E: When things don’t go according to plan, look at why and don’t rush to change. Be pragmatic and try and ascertain what exactly went wrong; was it the plan, the execution, natural unavoidable occurrences, or was it your attitude.

 

F: The best strategy to get ahead is through helping others. Discuss what you are looking to accomplish with people you trust on an ongoing basis and keep them involved in your plans and remain involved in theirs as much as possible.

 

G: Look at your career goals and job search strategy from another perspective – that of an employee or recruiter and see what this does for you.

 

H: Most of all track of your actions and analyze your successes and failures, and at the end of every day tell yourself “I am now one day closer to finally arriving at my desired goal and tomorrow will be that day.”

 

As always I am available to review US resumes and offer my advice if you email it to perry@perrynewman.com

Ten Ways To Make Bullet Points Hit The Mark!

In a résumé bullet points are meant to easily draw attention to information that allows decision makers to determine if you're a worthy candidate for the job.  Not to my surprise, when I recently asked people who screen résumés about bullet points they told me most résumés they see are inundated with bullet points but most of the bullet points fail to hit the mark?

With this in mind, here are a few pointers when preparing bullet points to include in a Professional Profile, Summary of Qualifications or Experience section of a résumé; all areas where bullet points aid in telling the story you want to get across to the decision maker.

1. Make certain the bullet point has value that makes the reader want to read on and learn more about you.
   
2. Understand that a bullet point need not be a full sentence or have a period at the end.
   
3. Many bullet points offer statistics and supporting data such as in achievements. The key is to write them so they come across as interesting reading and not as boiler plate pronouncements.
   
4. When using consecutive bullet points leave breathing room between them so each one stands out. For me this is the most irksome and often made mistake I see in résumés and I think it renders them unreadable.
   
5. Bullet points are meant to be visually appealing in a résumé while bullet point sub headings are distracting.
   
6. There are many choices on your computer’s bullet library, the trick is to choose the one most appealing to your story and to stay consistent.
   
7. In a résumé’s bullet points don’t overdo italics and bold fonts they will have the opposite effect than the one you desire.
   
8. Know when to use bullet points and when information should be offered in a sentence or a paragraph.
   
9. Bullet points are meant to create a visual appeal in a résumé so make sure this is the case when you insert one, and be conscious not overuse bullet points so as to detract from the document’s visual appeal.  
10. The secret to writing a great bullet point is brevity, especially in today’s “Twitter Age”, so work extra hard to make your point as briefly as possible, and when needed make one bullet point into two.

As always I am available to review US resumes if you email it to perry@perrynewman.com