CAREER INSIGHTS: Building your network

Networking Lesson #2: Reaching out to new contacts.

These days, reaching out to a potential new contact is a lot like online dating. Somewhat intimidating if you don’t do it very often, but with the right attitude, not a difficult process. After all, you are trying to connect with someone you don’t know and hoping that your first impression is a good fit, right? You need them to like you enough to want to help you, find you interesting enough to talk to, but not overwhelm them at the beginning of the relationship. It can be a delicate balance, but nothing a little confidence and practice can’t smooth over.

To start with, let’s consider an online dating profile. You are sharing your background and highlighting certain experiences, interests and what makes you stand out from other prospects. The goal of your dating profile is to attract the attention of people you want to spend time with and share experiences with.

Funny enough, when you are looking to make contacts within a new industry or a new company, the same rules apply.

Your LinkedIn profile should reflect the story that you want to share with potential colleagues and business contacts. It should contain information about your background, focusing on things that are important to you, and share a little bit about what makes you a unique candidate for future opportunities.

Focusing on your own story is important, however you can also use these profiles to understand someone else’s story as well.  Remember the time you take with your profile and show the same respect when reviewing the profile of a potential contact.

When crafting an introductory email, take the time to show you understand a person’s interests and background. Help the person understand the common interests between the two of you. A personalized introduction can make an amazing first impression on a contact. When reaching out, a standardized email will be received with the same amount of attention. Trust me when I tell you this, everyone knows what the standard email looks like. It’s bland and has a one-size-fits-all vibe. Even the most carefully written “format” email will still read like spam if you don’t take the time to personalize it.

Things to consider for a great first impression:

• Be unique: Don’t be afraid to share some special accomplishments
• Be considerate of your audience and their time: Help them understand how they can help (if they cannot figure out why you reached out, they are not going to spend a whole lot of time speculating)
• Be responsive! This is a big one. If you reach out to someone to make a connection and they respond back right away offering their assistance, you better jump on it. Also be sure to send follow up communication. Even if there is no “spark” in your relationship, the world is a small place. Leave that relationship on a good note and at the least send a thank you letter.

Remember, even though networking and dating can be intimidating at times, practice makes perfect!

CAREER MOTIVATION: Finding your frustrations

Today’s blog asks the question, “How do I know if I’m making the right decisions for my life?”

It’s a common question my clients in transition fret over. How do I know what choice is the best for my career? Do I even want to do this job? Will this job make me happy? Those pressing questions, coupled with our fast-paced world, forces us to adapt to an interesting variety of situations and circumstances (some more natural fits than others).

Let’s face it: sometimes it can be challenging to find your passions as you look to take a turn in your career. You think to yourself, “Well, yeah, I could do that job.” or “Sure, it sounds like it might be interesting.” But remember, this is your time to find a better path that suits your life. Don’t settle! Or get bogged down with the ifs, ands or buts.

A friend of mine who is job searching is currently plagued with a combination of what she believes is expected of her as a next step up the corporate ladder and what she thinks her background dictates her next career move should be. She struggles like so many of us to keep her head above that mess to see what options are available above the surface. The question is not, “What should I do?” or “What is expected of me?” But, “What do I want to do?” and “What am I interested in learning next?”

Frankly, it might take some time to adjust your thinking before the answers come. For me it took deep soul searching and some great people asking me the right questions.

Those who know me best can attest that inefficient environments, especially in the service industry, drive me nuts. I have also been known to get a slight case of road rage from time to time. Each time I encountered these situations, I just kept thinking to myself, “Why can’t they design a space that makes sense for the people using it?!” Crazy as it sounds, that was my starting point. The frustration I kept experiencing keyed me in to my passion for efficient design - a world away from my corporate HR background and certainly not a path my friends or family were expecting!

I am sure there are times when you get frustrated as well. Do you ever find yourself thinking, “I can do this better”? Write those things down. Keep a journal. Find a friend in a similar position and keep each other honest. Once you have a few of these markers identified, the common themes will begin to appear.

Let this be YOUR starting point. Stick around for more tips or comment below if you have suggestions that have proven successful as you’ve navigated this challenging time.

CAREER COUNSELING: The Open House Resume

Fact: we all have passions. But here’s a question: when is it appropriate to commingle personal activities with past experiences on a resume when job searching?

Genuine enthusiasm for personal interests is something that a candidate should never stifle during the interview process. But what about the resume? Is that the right place to draw attention to some of these activities?  

My answer: sometimes.

Before explaining further, just wanted to give you a heads up of my preference for analogies when explaining my theories. Some of my followers will recognize my affinity for using housing/construction analogies.... blame it on my shameless addiction to HGTV and the DIY network. So, with that disclaimer, let’s talk about presenting your resume like hosting an open house:

Realtors may ask that you remove some personal effects when showing your home to potential buyers so that nothing unnecessary distracts from the house’s framework. After all, as a seller, you’d essentially be decorating your home for the next owner, right? Taking personal effects out of eyesight allows potential buyers to more easily see themselves in that space without being distracted by sentimental items that have little to no meaning to them. Likewise, take that approach when preparing your resume. Present yourself in your resume according to who you’re interviewing with. Remove unnecessary clutter from your resume and allow potential employers to envision you as a hire without being distracted by too many personal traits that may have little relevance to their business needs.

Here are a few additional thoughts:

• Understand your buyer: knowing what a buyer is looking for will help you declutter more effectively. If an upgraded kitchen is important, don’t cover up the granite countertop. For your resume, look at the basic and preferred qualifications of the job description. This is a list of ‘must haves’ and ‘nice-to-haves’. Focus your resume the same way, if it’s at the bottom of the qualifications list, it should be at the bottom of the resume.
• Focus on your skills:  a three month volunteer trip to Costa Rica may make for a great story during an interview, but if you are dedicating half of a page to that in your resume, you are distracting your buyer from the skills they want to hire you for. Don’t let the 17 photos hanging in the hallway detract from the view through the bay window.

Remember, design your resume as you would your home for an open house. You will not always have everything a buyer or potential employer is looking for, but if you can draw attention to the key aspects that are important, they will be more willing to consider making a deal. After all, you can always put your personal photos up in your next office!

CAREER INSIGHTS: Nurture your network

When chatting with clients about career transitions, a question I'm almost always asked is, "What is the art of networking?" 

People want to know how to approach networking. How to maintain relationships during different stages in their careers? And they want to know how to best add value when they're approached. There's a lot to this, it really is an art form, and having done it for quite some time I am happy to share some well established ideas behind it. 

Lesson #1: Nurture your existing network.

I view a network like the foundation for a home. Before putting the walls up, you need to make sure you have a solid base on which to build. If your career is like a house and you are looking to add on a new room, you must ensure the foundation can support this kind of change. Essentially, a foundation is something you need to pay attention to on a regular basis, making sure there are no cracks, leaks, or structural issues. 

Take the time to nurture your network in the same way! Keep up with your contacts and learn about what they are doing in their careers. Remember: you can learn a lot from each others experiences. As contacts make changes, be aware and be supportive. Send congrats where congrats are due.  Moving forward, focus on your network. Make it a part of your regular routine and don't be afraid to make it fun. Below are some additional tips to keep up a solid network. 

• Keep your contact information up to date
• If you are LinkedIn user (which I highly recommend), keep that up to date as well
• Make time on a regular basis to reach out to those in your network - something as simple as commenting on a posted article or a job change is a great way to get the conversation started
• If a contact is local, suggest coffee or cocktails, anything face to face....some of the greatest ideas come from networking over a frosty margarita 

I'd love to know your thoughts. Feel free to post any questions or suggestions below. Let's keep this discussion going....more to come. 

CAREER MOTIVATION: A season or a lifetime?

Another great quote was shared with me recently.

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.  - Author unknown

These days there are few people who remain with the same company for their entire careers. In fact, with corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, many times an employee will outlast their employer in the marketplace. So how do you get the most out of your career choices...

Early on in your professional career, you may still be finding your passion. It's likely that you will spend a significant amount of time discovering industries and different types of roles that really get you energized. It is important to recognize that when you make a decision to take a job or turn it down, it does not have to be a lifelong career choice.

Many people, myself included, get decision paralysis when considering a job opportunity. Sometimes it is a simpler decision than you are making it out to be. If it is solely an opportunity to explore a new industry, or even a new city, that's okay. Each job is meant to be an experience. You can build skills within a role while providing value to your employer. For both parties it doesn't have to be a long term relationship. It may be an internship for a summer, a job for a few years and maybe down the road, it could be a decade long career relationship. The great news is that you don't need to define the relationship with an employer right away. It will continue to evolve and I promise that there is a purpose for it all, even if that purpose if not visible to you at that time.

CAREER COUNSELING: When you fall in love...

"The person you fall in love with is usually not the same person you divorce"

My friend Megan mentioned this statement during lunch the other day and I thought was a very insightful statement. Now I have never been married and would not presume to give marriage advice (leave that to the professionals). BUT...The idea forced me to reflect on other commitment decisions, for example, when you make a decision to leave or "divorce" your job.

Think about that initial meeting or interview you had. Like a first date, you may be excited about it, really enjoyed the conversation, big smile on your face as you are leaving. Where does this excitement come from? There may have been a few key people on your interview panel that with whom you really connected.  Or they may have shared some exciting project that stuck with you when you made the decision to commit to this job. Whatever it was that you feel in love with sometimes isn't enough to keep the relationship together down the road.

If you have had this experience, you may be thinking to yourself..."How in the world did I think accepting this job was a good idea???"  Don't beat yourself up too much. Just like a relationship with a person, job environments change. The project that you loved may have been short lived, or the person on the interview panel that you connected with may have moved onto a different role. Whatever the circumstances, it's okay to decide to move onto something else if the environment is no longer a fit for you. The best thing you can do is learn from this experience and move forward. The next time you make this decision, make sure you understand what the potential might be for different roles, projects and managers. Get a good look at the whole picture and what the future might look like. Hindsight is 20/20, so you cannot expect to predict everything, just make the best decision you can with the information you have at that time and if doesn't work out, then change it.

Bottom Line:  Don't be afraid to fall in love again, there is another great job out there for you and you deserve to be happy.

Free Samples

Keeping along the lines of my retail experiences lately, I wanted to share another thought with you. I just got a shipment in the mail from one of my favorite product lines (supersalve.com - seriously amazing stuff). I am usually pretty consistent with what I order from them, but the part I really enjoy is the free sample they include with every shipment. Just a little taste of something new they thought I would enjoy. Great marketing, simple approach, and of course, keeps me coming back for more.

The same idea of sampling can be used for marketing yourself. I certainly cannot take credit for this idea, but hopefully you can benefit from my sharing. Your resume is never going to be the perfect demonstration of everything you have to give to a career/position.  Sometimes, to get your foot in the door, you need a little bit more than a resume.

Consider sharing a sample of your work product or a "White Paper." Remembering a few keys things along the way....

• Make sure it is relevant to the career/job your are seeking and think about the audience - supersalve doesn't ever send me men's shave cream, because I have never ordered men's products from them before. Likely not something I would be interested in. 
• Make it interesting and innovative - Don't repeat information that is readily available. Offer insights that might be a bit outside of the box and explain how you came up with these ideas. 
• Make is short and sweet - similar to your resume, the reader needs to be able to get to the point quickly. A strong intro page will get their attention and perhaps they will make time to read more. 
• Make sure the information is available to share - you may have some great work that you are proud of from a previous job. Before you go sharing it with a potential competitor, make sure you are not breaking any rules, you can get yourself in trouble.  

Beyond that, have fun with it! If you are truly passionate about an industry, doing the research should be a fun activity for you.....let that excitement shine through in your product.