By John P. Strelecky , Author - The Why Café
You might have seen it coming or it might have been a big surprise, but the truth remains - losing your job wasn’t your choice. What happens next, is. You can either wallow in misery and collect unemployment for the next 99 weeks, or make being fired the best thing that ever happened to you.
Why It’s Not So Bad
A recent study found that only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their current job. That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years of studying the issue. Unfortunately, this also explains why so many people are collecting unemployment. It’s not that the jobs aren’t out there; it’s that some people would rather get paid for doing nothing, than do something they hate for 40 hours each week.
What Now
If you find yourself in the nine percent of Americans who are unemployed, don’t despair. You can still get back in the game and actually make being fired the best thing that ever happened to you. Here’s what to do now:
Do something you love. Most people don’t realize that instead of spending time and money to be immersed in the things they love, they can get paid to be immersed in those items. And that is the case whether you want to work in sales, customer service, accounting, marketing or any other position.
Just as they give samples at the grocery store hoping you’ll like it and come back for more, job seekers must do the same thing. Find ways to give samples of the value you can bring to the place or industry in which you want to work. Volunteer for a half day, or one day per week in the industry you want to work. Write articles on the topic, or blog about it. Give, give, give. And if you give enough value, someone will give back to you in the form of a job offer.
It’s amazing how many people think filling out an application or sending in a resume and cover letter constitutes applying for a job. That’s not enough anymore! Make the focus on how you can improve the company’s bottom line. If you are applying for a $60,000 per year job, you have to be bringing at least $60,001 in great ideas and results to the table, or there’s no reason for anyone to hire you. Obviously, it should be a whole bunch more than just that one dollar. That value needs to be reflected in what you submit to a company when you apply for a job.
If you weren’t satisfied with the type of work you were doing previously, taking a job in the same field isn’t going to fulfill you now- or in the future!. Use this down time to expose yourself to different situations that will help you figure out your purpose for existing. Volunteer, backpack around the world, read books on topics that interest you. Do whatever you can do to experience new things, so that when you choose your next job, you are fired up to be there every day.
Only You Can Make It Happen
Our education system is broke, the economy is stagnant, and unemployment is still high. You may have taken classes you didn’t care for and entered a field that didn’t fulfill you. It’s a shame that’s the way things are, but that’s the reality. And right now you have a choice.
If you are in the nine percent of people who are not working, it’s time to figure out what you want to do, find a way to do it, and bring tons of value to the table. Nobody is coming to the rescue, so you must build your own ship and take control of your life.
Laying you off was their choice. What you do after that is yours. If you do it right, becoming unemployed can be the best thing that ever happened to you. They chose, now you choose.
John P. Strelecky knows what it’s like to be laid off. It happened to him during the last economic crisis. That experience launched him on a whole new path in which he has inspired millions of people to live life on their terms. He has been honored alongside Oprah Winfrey, Wayne Dyer, and Deepak Chopra as one of the one hundred most inspirational thought leaders in the field of leadership and personal development.
Visit www.whycafe.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Trick or Treat
Halloween just ended so let’s talk about a part of the job search process that reminds me of going Trick or Treating: the Screening Interview.
As most of you know from personal experience, interviewing is the most difficult and stressful part of the job search process and it requires lots of research and preparation whether you are looking for a professional job at a blue blood Wall Street law firm or your first job as a stockroom clerk at Wal-Mart.
In the job search process the screening interview is usually the first contact between an employer and a candidate, and screening interviewers are quite often the toughest ‘people’ you will meet, and I use the word ‘people’ loosely.
And what is it about a screening interview that makes me think about Trick or Treating. Well in both cases you leave your home not knowing what to expect from the people you meet, you need to be constantly on guard, and one false move can be the difference between coming home empty handed or ecstatic.
SCREENING INTERVIEWS
So you ask, what is a screening interview and what is its purpose? Companies that conduct screening interviews do so to pre-determine if a candidate meets the basic criteria for a job, and should be passed along to HR or line decision maker. You noticed I said to take the word ‘people’ loosely. This was not meant to disparage people who conduct screening interviews; quite the contrary.
Today in many large and midsize, and even in small companies, the initial interview screening process is automated, and every resume is scanned and parsed into ATS software systems and the screener inputs keywords and other criteria so the data base can spit out compatible candidates who meet minimum standards for the position.
It is for this reason that a large percentage of highly qualified candidates are left out of the game before they can even get in it. They are the candidates who submitted resumes that got lost in cyber space and never get eyeballed by a human being.
To avoid this happening to you I suggest you have a specially constructed, computer friendly, ASCII formatted digital or electronic resume in your portfolio that is expertly written and covers all the bases.
Now if you were lucky enough to get called in for a screening interview, what do you need to know?
First off the people who conduct a screening interview are less prone to be professionally trained interviewers, and in many instances they act as gatekeepers. In addition their task is not so much to look for reasons to open the door for you to walk through and meet the decision maker on the other side, but to find reasons to show you the front door and ask you to shut it on your way out.
Screening interviewers do not ask questions with the intention of determining if you have the best skills, experience, and intangible assets for the position. This is the job of the next level interviewer. When conducting a screening interview they act more like farmers at the beginning of planting season and try to dig up all of the dirt about you and use this against you.
They will scrutinize your resume and delve into the negatives such as gaps in your work history, and grill you on specific dates in your employment, “I see here that you worked for ABC from 2006 to 2007. Was that 2 years 1/06 to 12/07, or was it 2 months or 2 weeks 12/20/07 to1/4/07 that you worked there.” Then they will grill you as if you were trying to pull the wool over their eyes and mislead them. You need to anticipate this line and manner of interrogation and remain cool, calm and collected when answering to defuse them. I worked there for 12 months, from June 06 to June 07 and I listed it this ways in order to keep continuity with the rest of the dates on my resume” The way you answer the question is just as telling to them as the response itself, and more so if poor communication skills is a trait they are looking to screen out.
They will also scrutinize the statements and adjectives you used on your resume, and ask questions like, “I see from your resume that you have expert level ability in both Excel and PowerPoint.” Then you reply, “Well not quite expert level but I am really good at both.”
When I asked screening interviewers they told me two things that turn them off on a candidate are people who overstate their value and worth on paper, and candidates whose resumes say they have a level of competency that excites them, and then let them down by not living up to their PR in the live interview.
This is one reason I stress you use accurate, descriptive adjectives on your resume and don’t try to oversell yourself by overinflating your worth and ability. Because poor use of language can turn around and nip you in the butt…
Next week I’ll continue on the topic and discuss other types of interviews and interviewers you are bound to encounter.
As most of you know from personal experience, interviewing is the most difficult and stressful part of the job search process and it requires lots of research and preparation whether you are looking for a professional job at a blue blood Wall Street law firm or your first job as a stockroom clerk at Wal-Mart.
In the job search process the screening interview is usually the first contact between an employer and a candidate, and screening interviewers are quite often the toughest ‘people’ you will meet, and I use the word ‘people’ loosely.
And what is it about a screening interview that makes me think about Trick or Treating. Well in both cases you leave your home not knowing what to expect from the people you meet, you need to be constantly on guard, and one false move can be the difference between coming home empty handed or ecstatic.
SCREENING INTERVIEWS
So you ask, what is a screening interview and what is its purpose? Companies that conduct screening interviews do so to pre-determine if a candidate meets the basic criteria for a job, and should be passed along to HR or line decision maker. You noticed I said to take the word ‘people’ loosely. This was not meant to disparage people who conduct screening interviews; quite the contrary.
Today in many large and midsize, and even in small companies, the initial interview screening process is automated, and every resume is scanned and parsed into ATS software systems and the screener inputs keywords and other criteria so the data base can spit out compatible candidates who meet minimum standards for the position.
It is for this reason that a large percentage of highly qualified candidates are left out of the game before they can even get in it. They are the candidates who submitted resumes that got lost in cyber space and never get eyeballed by a human being.
To avoid this happening to you I suggest you have a specially constructed, computer friendly, ASCII formatted digital or electronic resume in your portfolio that is expertly written and covers all the bases.
Now if you were lucky enough to get called in for a screening interview, what do you need to know?
First off the people who conduct a screening interview are less prone to be professionally trained interviewers, and in many instances they act as gatekeepers. In addition their task is not so much to look for reasons to open the door for you to walk through and meet the decision maker on the other side, but to find reasons to show you the front door and ask you to shut it on your way out.
Screening interviewers do not ask questions with the intention of determining if you have the best skills, experience, and intangible assets for the position. This is the job of the next level interviewer. When conducting a screening interview they act more like farmers at the beginning of planting season and try to dig up all of the dirt about you and use this against you.
They will scrutinize your resume and delve into the negatives such as gaps in your work history, and grill you on specific dates in your employment, “I see here that you worked for ABC from 2006 to 2007. Was that 2 years 1/06 to 12/07, or was it 2 months or 2 weeks 12/20/07 to1/4/07 that you worked there.” Then they will grill you as if you were trying to pull the wool over their eyes and mislead them. You need to anticipate this line and manner of interrogation and remain cool, calm and collected when answering to defuse them. I worked there for 12 months, from June 06 to June 07 and I listed it this ways in order to keep continuity with the rest of the dates on my resume” The way you answer the question is just as telling to them as the response itself, and more so if poor communication skills is a trait they are looking to screen out.
They will also scrutinize the statements and adjectives you used on your resume, and ask questions like, “I see from your resume that you have expert level ability in both Excel and PowerPoint.” Then you reply, “Well not quite expert level but I am really good at both.”
When I asked screening interviewers they told me two things that turn them off on a candidate are people who overstate their value and worth on paper, and candidates whose resumes say they have a level of competency that excites them, and then let them down by not living up to their PR in the live interview.
This is one reason I stress you use accurate, descriptive adjectives on your resume and don’t try to oversell yourself by overinflating your worth and ability. Because poor use of language can turn around and nip you in the butt…
Next week I’ll continue on the topic and discuss other types of interviews and interviewers you are bound to encounter.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Contrary To Public Opinion
GET A FREE RESUME CRITIQUE mailto:perry@perrynewman.com
I recently wrote a resume for a candidate who worked for an investment company founded and run by one of the worlds most renowned and successful contrarian investors. We discussed his boss’s investment philosophy, especially in a distressed economy, and then I explained how I approach resume writing in a distressed job market. Not to my surprise, my client noticed how similar his boss’s investment philosophy and my resume writing philosophy and modus operandi are and, I am proud to say, the similarity in our results.
For those who do not know, in finance a contrarian investor is one who attempts to profit by investing in a manner that differs from the conventional wisdom, when the consensus opinion appears to be wrong. A contrarian believes that certain crowd behavior among investors can lead to exploitable mispricing in securities markets. For example, widespread pessimism about a stock can drive a price so low that it overstates the company's risks, and understates its prospects for returning to profitability. Identifying and purchasing such distressed stocks, and selling them after the company recovers, can lead to above-average gains.
Conversely, widespread optimism can result in unjustifiably high valuations that will eventually lead to drops, when those high expectations don't pan out. Avoiding (short-selling) investments in over-hyped investments reduces the risk of such drops.
These general investment principles can apply whether the investment in question is an individual stock, an industry sector, or an entire market, or any other asset class; and over the past few years contrarian investors are being viewed in a new light by the mainstream based on their success in managing portfolios that out produce the conventional wisdom in today’s bear markets.
I believe this approach applies to resume writing as well when it comes to finding a job in an oversaturated market.
In critiquing my work many resume writers refer to me as a contrarian, and I agree 100% with their assessment. Moreover, I am proud to say that by using a contrarian approach in my practice more of my clients experience success in securing interviews and job offers at a rate well beyond the norm, and in less time than their peers who submit a conventional resume.
So what is my contrarian philosophy and approach?
I believe that in today’s job market 80% of the conventional wisdom in how to write a resume and conduct a job search is outdated, and slowly but surely astute job seekers are coming to accept this truth and adapt. This is especially true in how they prepare their resume and in their use of social media, and in how they now seek out professionals who are cognizant of the new reality in order to get the competitive edge.
As a contrarian my core belief is this; if your resume looks similar to your competitor’s resume the odds are you’re going to have a long job search with lots of heartbreak, and the odds increase exponentially depending not so much on the quality of your competition, but on the quantity of people vying for the same positions.
So, as a contrarian before I write a resume I first look at 6-12 resumes of candidates who share key similarities with my client to see how they present themselves. I also research how resume mills and other resume writers present people who resemble my client’s job title, skills and experience, i.e. a CXO, a VP Business Development, a Project Manager, a Senior Relationship Manager, an HR Generalist, or a recent MBA.
Then I collaborate with my client to produce a resume whose look, feel, format, style, presentation and content will least resemble their competition’s resumes. The less it resembles the accepted norm, the better my client’s chance at success.
My thought process here, which has been validated by numerous decision makers I have polled on this matter, is that if a resume stands out visually in the crowd it will not get passed over and will often be given a valuable extra 10-60 seconds of read time than the rest of the resumes in the pile.
A contrarian resume also alerts the screeners and decision makers that this candidate considers himself or herself someone special who is beyond standard classification, and the reader will focus on identifying these difference and how pronounced they are.
So when you set about to write your own resume or choose a resume writer to help you in the process, I suggest you consider whether you want to follow the crowd, be another beautiful face in the crowd, or if you want to stand out head and shoulder above the crowd. If it’s the latter I wholeheartedly suggest you follow my modus operandi and write a contrarian resume for yourself.
Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, former AIPC certified recruiter, and an 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 a FREE resume critique.
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