Recently I’ve seen several job search messages posted on LinkedIn. Often they follow the format:
“Seeking employment in the [city] area where I can use my sociology degree and have an opportunity to grow. I’d like to work in a nonprofit theatre organization but I am open to anything. I was just laid off from a position in …”

That’s a very effective way to begin a dialogue with your career coach when you’re facing a tough job search. But “I’m looking for a job” is not an attention-grabber unless you are in a very specialized network, where demand for your specialty is greater than supply.

(1) Focus on what you can offer your employer.

Here’s where your job search calls for copywriting skills. What are the benefits you offer? How can you translate your talents into benefits?

For example: “If you know of a theater group that needs someone to add energy to their membership drives, please send me the info. I’ve volunteered for theater companies so I know what motivates audience members to join as paying subscribers. I’ve been employed in a company as a data administrator so I can create online systems to manage memberships…”

See the difference? Now you’re focusing on your employer, not you and your job search.

(2) Ask for information, not advice.

For example, you can say, “I am compiling a list of theater companies that hire specialists for membership management.”

Books like What Color Is Your Parachute can be misleading. The truth is, these days people are busy. They just don’t have time to offer free mentoring. If you want advice, you probably have to pay; even university career services often charge alumni.

Anyway, how do you know if you’re getting good advice? Just because someone’s been in business 20 years doesn’t mean they’ll understand what you need to get started in the 21st century.

(3) Get referrals from your networks (and follow through).

When I lived in Seattle, a recent graduate from my own university arrived in town. She began attending networking events. She wanted to work in an art museum, using her art history degree. She asked everyone she knew, “Do you know someone who works at an art museum?” Eventually she got names and contacts and followed through. Today she works in the education department of a museum just outside Seattle – a job she loves.

Why was she successful when so many others were not?

She was well-qualified. She was persistent. And she followed through. She called every single referral. You don’t know which will be The One.

(4) Demonstrate your expertise by answering questions in networks, not by asking them.

Find a LinkedIn group related to nonprofits or even marketing to nonprofits. Begin answering questions. You can hint that you are looking for a job and also post your resume.

(5) Don’t wait to get employed. Start working before your job search is over!

While waiting for employment, keep busy. If you want to work in the nonprofit sector, keep volunteering. Often volunteers become paid employees. If you want to work in the for-profit sector, come up with ways to free lance, even on a small scale.

Don’t worry about the prestige of the job. If you can clean a home efficiently, you can start a company; you may even expand into professional organizing. If you feel comfortable with computers, seek out some opportunities to earn money on the Internet.

If you know how to work with dogs and cats (not to mention their owners), you’ve got a ready income stream. Recently I met a young woman who runs a pet-sitting service. To the horror of her parents, she quit her teaching job because she makes more money as a pet-sitter. She has no more room to offer one-hour walks: her schedule is booked. She has people working for her. Some of her clients want twice a day visits … for their cats.

For a consultation on how you can apply these ideas, see
http://www.midlifecareerstrategy.com/services.html

Several years ago, my friend “Mike” was desperately trying to find a new career, when a miracle seemed to land in his lap. “John,” a Fortune 50 vice president, expressed interest in Mike’s system.

Mike eagerly began developing a proposal, meeting John for lunch (I never asked who paid) and walking around with dollar signs dancing before his eyes. And we, his friends, were awed by the Big Name of his future client.

One day Mike called John to schedule another lunch meeting. A stranger answered.

“John? He just left. New job in another state. He liked you a lot but I’m afraid our needs have changed now.”

Mike’s heart sank to his knees. Then he called Sallie, a lawyer friend. “Charge the company for your R&D costs,” she advised. “Bring over your memos and I’ll give you a hand.”

You probably guessed where this story is going. No memos. Not a trace of evidence that he and John had ever discussed a proposal.

Companies often ask prospective employees for proposals and work products. Here are a few ways to avoid Mike’s experiences.

1. Ask at the outset, “Who will be the decision-maker? Who will sign off on this project? Who has hiring authority?”

“Harry” was reluctant to pose these questions. He was excited when a long job search seemed to be coming to a close. He had established terrific rapport with “Jed,” who would be his boss after he got the job. A mere formality, he was assured.

As always, I encouraged Harry to follow his instincts. No guideline works 100% of the time.

So after a pleasant dinner meeting with Jed, Harry apologetically asked who had the power to say yes. It turned out Harry couldn’t be hired until Jed’s boss returned from an overseas trip – six weeks from now, maybe longer. Harry began to pursue competing options aggressively and landed a different position well before the traveling decision-maker returned stateside.

2. Before investing more than an hour or two (and sometimes a minute or two), establish that your target client has allocated funds for whatever project you’re proposing.

“If we like your idea, we’ll find the money,” might as well be, “We’re bored and we’re looking at a lot of ideas.” Enough said.

3. Find ways to repackage your work product for future benefits.

Before you create a sample or demo, make sure you will own the rights to any product you create, unless you are hired or your work product is purchased directly. There is no excuse for accepting any other option.

Proposal rejected? You may have a product that you can sell on your own – or at least use to demonstrate your skills in future proposals. If you’re participating in a short-term project to showcase your abilities, make sure your work gets credited for your resume or portfolio.

4. Ask if you can submit samples of previous work rather than create new, customized proposals. After you’ve been in business awhile, you will probably work this way all the time.

For my own editing and writing clients, I offer lots of online samples – everything from press releases to published articles. I encourage new clients to hire me for a very small, low-risk project.

In my experience, successful businesses are comfortable working this way. They’ve budgeted funds for testing new resources and realize most will add some value. They’ve learned (through trial and error) how to reduce risk and anyway, they accept a reasonable cost of doing business. And it’s easy to give them a good product because they know how to ask for what they want.

5. Prepare for the best outcome – and be ready for surprises.

When you’re new to a business venture or career change, learn how the game is played. Ask experienced players how you can protect yourself from wasted effort. For instance, in some environments it is appropriate to ask if you’re competing against an internal candidate – a sign that you may be a token interviewee. And you may create an elaborate consulting proposal, only to learn your client will choose only resources who operate from a certain geographic base.

Finally, sometimes you have to set aside all these guidelines. Someone hands you the opportunity of a lifetime – if you’re willing to jump through some hoops and compete energetically against great odds. You may decide to limit your risk or skip the option altogether. Or you may decide to go for the gold now and live with the outcome. Here the only rule is information – then intuition.

For my job search guide, visit http://www.MidlifeCareerStrategy.com/searchbk.html

Great article on cutting words from your resume here.

I’ve been saying the same thing for a LONG time!

From a blog cleverly titled Position Ignition, a really good article on 3 top resume mistakes that can destroy your job search. Read the original article here.

Here are the 3 mistakes – paraphrased in my own words.

(1) Focus on duties rather than accomplishments.

If you’re over 16, you no longer have “duties.” You have responsibilities. Your resume focuses on accomplishments. In my report, Irreverent Guide To Your Job Search, I suggest that you write up your accomplishments as
– What was the problem
– What did you do
– What was the tangible result

For tangible results, did you save money? Allow the organization to reduce the number of employees? Reduce the amount of time necessary to get the job done?

I don’t recommend a skills-based resume or functional resume. Employers hate them. You can write up your accomplishments to emphasize the skills you will be using in the job you are seeking.

(2) Keep it short (but not too short).

These days your resume will be skimmed and scan rather than read with care. Sometimes a screener (who’s not particularly familiar with what you do) will be assigned to screen resumes. You’ll need to use keywords and power phrases to get past the first cut.

At the same time, your resume should be used only in connection with networking. Your job search should focus primarily on making contacts and only secondarily on answering ads and working with recruiters. Any time you send a resume to an ad, where you’ll be screened along with hundreds of others, you’re entering a crap shoot.

In my experience, employers will read longer resumes IF

– they learn about you through a contact;
– you have 5 to 10 years of experience (or more);
– your resume is well-written, engaging, and indicative of your ability to help this particular company. Employers read with a question, “What will you do for me as soon as you get on board?”

(3) Omit irrelevant information.

If you’re a mid-career executive, your future employer probably won’t care where you went to high school and what you did in college. If you are establishing a connection, of course, you can modify this rule. For instance, suppose you live in Chicago and you’re applying for a job in Florida. Your prospective employer might be pleased to see that you went to high school or college in Florida because you’ve got a connection to the area. Of course, if they’re doing a national search, they won’t care: they want skills.

Include hobbies and personal information but be strategic. “Reading” is a great hobby but if you’re applying for a sales position, you will be advised to show your action-oriented hobbies and adventures.

Don’t overdo your networking, says Kim Thompson of Career Rescue. Don’t think of networking as a numbers game – i.e., attend as many events as possible. You can read the full article here.

Her advice rings true. For instance, networking isn’t just about attending events. It’s about creating meaningful connections so you can build relationships. “Often,” she says, “the good job opportunity comes along when you’re simply having a conversation, with no formal agenda.”

I’ve experienced these results with my own clients. I advise my clients to tell everyone they know about their job search. One client was active in her synagogue. She was surprised to get a referral from someone she knew there, ultimately leading to a job she loved.

Thompson urges networkers to “avoid being pulled into every event just to meet people.” She warns that your energy will be drained if you just keep meeting one person after another. When you meet people in your field, you will feel energized and motivated – if, of course, your field is a good match for your talents and temperament.

What I would add is …

Networking for a job search differs from networking for career change. We can contrast the difference by asking, “How do you look at houses when you’re trying to decide whether to move to a new city? And how does this process differ when you know exactly where you want to live and you want to find the perfect home?”

When you’re exploring a city, a good real estate agent or friend will show you all the neighborhoods in town. After you’ve decided to move and you know more about your own lifestyle, you’ll narrow down your search. Your agent then shows you just half a dozen houses in one or two neighborhoods … and you’re in.

Therefore, when you network for a specific job, keep the numbers down. Choose very focused places. Tell everyone you know: “I’m looking for a job in communications software as a systems developer. That means I am a …”

But if you’re changing careers, I’d do the opposite. Go to LOTS of professional meetings. Avoid telling casual friends and family members; they’ll just be confused and they will probably try to advise you. At this point, you don’t want advice: you want information.

For more information on job search, visit http://www.MidlifeCareerStrategy.com/searchbk.html

and I’m available as a resource when you hire me: http://www.MidlifeCareerStrategy.com/services.html

When your job search goes on and on, it’s easy to feel desperate…and it’s SO easy to find yourself saying, “I’ll take anything.”

But that’s really a bad idea. Read the full article here.

Author Beth Braccio Hering points out:

1 – Focus on what your employers want and need. They aren’t concerned with your desperate need for money; they want to know how you can help them make more money.

I would add: In fact, when you introduce problems you make them uncomfortable. And uncomfortable people rarely hire you.

2 – Your application gets buried if you haven’t identified a clear objective.

3 – Applying for “just anything” takes energy you could be using to apply for jobs you really want.

4 – You’re viewed as indecisive and (I would add) lacking in confidence.

5 – Separate activity from productive activity.

In a totally different context, the late Lynn Grabhorn differentiated productive, purposeful action from what she called “heigh-ho silvering.” In other words, running around just to keep moving can leave you exhausted without accomplishing your goals.

If you would like some help in focusing your own job search, please visit this page

From an unusual source: Tips to write your resume. The author is based in Thailand.

Can you tweet your resume?

Published: 15/09/2011 at 12:00 AM
Original article here.

Did you hear about the new type of resume that’s only 140 characters long? Twitter fans will immediately know why 140 and not 141, because when you tweet text on social networking and micro-blogging sites that’s normally all you get.

This latest trend in recruiting comes from China where the micro-blogging site http://weibo.com allows a 140-character resume. But take note that you need a lot more characters and words in the English language to express what 140 Chinese characters do. So I’m not so sure how popular this will be in the part of the world using the Latin alphabet.

When I met Ong the first time, at a sports and networking event more than 10 years ago, she gave me her business card. As I was looking at her card, I asked what she was doing and what her background was. She said: “I’m looking for a job, please take a look at the back of my business card.”

On the back of Ong’s business card was a brief summary of her professional and educational background. I didn’t count the characters but you try to see how many words you can print on the back of your own card. Not a lot, right? I had never seen anything like it. In fact, never seen it used since. I was so impressed by the creativity that a week later I offered her a job in the company I worked with at the time. And we worked happily forever after and the rest, as they say, is history.

But back to short resumes. Un re{aac}sume{aac} is a French word for an outline or summary. The Latin words Curriculum Vitae mean the course of life. Once again we can say “same same but different”. It is extremely important that you know when to use a resume and not a CV. Or the other way around for that matter.

There is only one purpose of a resume. It’s to get you an interview. It’s not to get you the job; it’s not the form you fill in with personal details on your first working day. The resume is your personal advertisement that is meant to excite the reader so much that they call you to come in for a meeting (interview).

When you create your personal resume think like an advertising copywriter who must draw attention to their client’s product using very little space, being it an ad in the magazine or on a website.

If you are on your first or second job, a one page resume will most likely be enough. As it also is for new graduates. But if you by now have been in business for many years you should have several good achievements to show in a list of bullet points. Two pages will then do just fine. If you like me started your career at the time we had no fax, laptop, or iPhone and when Abba was hitting, then leave the first 15 years of your career in two lines. You could say: Several sales and marketing jobs in the travel and hospitality industry.

It is not necessary to include names and addresses of any referees. Reference-taking takes place only at the time where the employer has decided to offer you employment. At this time you should if requested be prepared to provide names, not your family or friends but people who have worked with you.

Though we love to know the reasons for leaving your jobs, in particular when you appear to be job hopping, you should be ready to answer these questions _ but not in your resume, only when asked in an interview. Simply leave out any information about why you left a job.

If you have a degree, a bachelor’s, a master’s or any degree relevant for the job you are applying, this should obviously be included under the headline Education. But do not enclose copies of your diplomas and certificates. Instead bring the copies along for the interview in the case the recruiter would like to check your educational credentials.

Any employer will like to see and learn about your most recent jobs and achievements, what relevance it has to the vacant position. First of all, your current or most recent job must be the first on the list under Work Experience. As number two on the list, your second most recent job and the list goes on like that. You should not use Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint for your resume; go for the standard and acceptable Microsoft Word document. This message is especially for accounting people who can’t live without Excel. But please, for your resume you should use Word.

And if you are in China you may want to consider the 140-character resume on weibo.com.

Tom Sorensen is a Headhunter and Partner at Grant Thornton Thailand. Contact tom (a) gt-thai.com and learn more on www.grantthornton.co.th. Find us on www.facebook.com/GrantThorntonThailand

Today’s Wall Street Journal carried an article about business executives who outsource their job hunt to firms based in India. Read it here

It’s one of those ideas that would have seemed really strange a few years ago but today, things are different. I don’t know about you, but I know many happily married couples who met on Match or eHarmony. They’re upscale professionals.

The downside of any resume-blasting service is the potential for embarrassment. Resume blasters do just that: they blast. The risk is higher if you’re a senior executive, especially if you’re a public figure in your community or your industry. The article reports several people who claimed they had positive experience with their outsourcing firms, but I’m still a little skeptical.

Just came across a really good article about resume writing – 10 phrases that could kill your resume. If you’re in job search mode, you will get more from this article than from many highly-paid career coaches.

Read it here.

And if you do hire a resume writer, make sure your resource follows these guidelines! It’s a good way to tell if they know what they’re doing.

Here’s a listing I came across. I don’t know *all* the sites but they seem pretty good to me.

Check this out:

http://internsover.com/best-job-sites/