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When it is time to look for a job, most candidates have one hammer - the mega-job boards.
Major job boards are the best thing that’s ever happened to job search…..
There was a time in this country that looking for a job meant “pounding the pavement”. You dressed nice, and went door-to-door with resume in hand. Then, the newspaper simplified that process. For those companies who could afford it, they could reach a broader talent pool by putting their jobs in the newspaper. Do you remember spending time with the Sunday newspaper’s employment section where you would circle good-fitting jobs? If you are from a major metropolitan area, this may have taken a considerable amount of time. Have you seen the employment section lately? It is a fraction of the size it was 5, 10, or 20 years ago. Why? The newspaper has been replaced by online websites. In a way, it is the best thing that has happened to the job search. You don’t have to dress up and “pound the pavement” anymore! You can do everything from the comfort of your own home.
…and the WORST thing that’s happened to job search….
Now instead of competing with a handful of qualified candidates, you could be competing with hundreds of qualified and hundreds of unqualified candidates! Anyone who can hit a submit button can apply for that job. Many don’t care if their experience even matches in the slightest. To them it is a numbers game. That’s why internet job searching has about a 10% success rate.
Everyone is using a hammer….
When the application process takes no more than a click of a button, there’s no doubt why success rates have dropped. This last week we finished the AIM Module of The Job Search Boot Camp. In this module we took some time to talk about the effectiveness of job search methods. Online Job Boards have about a 10% effectiveness rating. In the AIM module, we showed the participants a method which is 86% effective! That module (along with other great modules) is available for purchase and download from our website - http://www.GreatOccupations.com.
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Jay Markunas is the co-hosts of The Job Search Boot Camp Show which is available on iTunes. He & partner, Angela Loëb are the co-creators of The Job Search Boot Camp webcast – 3 evenings to career success. Visit their website for more information at http://www.JobSearchBootCamp.net.
Have you noticed that we talk about “finding work you love” here a lot? Last December 15 we addressed job boredom and the 4 Basic Needs Your Career Fulfills. On January 15, we gave you that great line from the movie, Up in the Air, “How much did they pay you to give up on your dreams?” And on January 14, we urged you to Leverage Your Passions even if you can’t figure out how to monetize them yet.
Finding work you love makes you whole, as well as successful. Your gifts and your passions reveal who you are, which is a unique person with something special to do on this planet of 6.5 billion people.
“You are here at this time in history to make a mark that only you can make.” –Simon T. Bailey
You Have A Box
You possess a box filled with your gifts and passions. Have you ever been in a job where you couldn’t use some or all the items you brought with you in your box? If so, maybe you placed the box at the door. You figured you’d just grab it on your way out that evening. You might have even been a little sad about it at first, but you quickly got over it. After all, you needed that job to pay the bills. Or maybe you felt too self-indulgent to give up the job in order to go find another one that would let you “play” with what’s in your box. You dove into the work at hand and forgot about your box. In fact, you got so much into the identity of the new job that you ignored your box as you passed by it everyday. Your box of gifts and passions had become invisible to you.
My partner, Jay, likes to point out that when you leave a job, you’re either leaving with a box or in a box. However, these boxes are literal. Today, I want to ask you – whether you’re employed right now or not – have you forgotten to retrieve that figurative box of gifts and passions that you might have left sitting at the door a long time ago?
Land a Better Job Post-Haste
Some job seekers say they’ve been comfortably numb to any feeling of incompleteness. They’d traded sense of purpose for “security.” When we suggest to a client to use his gifts and passions while looking for his next job, he’ll have an epiphany-like realization that he had a box of ‘em once somewhere. Then we get to work helping him find that box first… Some job seekers explain to us that in their last positions they were bored or frustrated, but there was a nagging feeling which wouldn’t go away – a feeling as though they were missing something (and, of course, they were!). A client in this situation will have a renewed sense of purpose when she reclaims what was missing, and as soon as she weaves her gifts and passions into her job search strategies and tools, she lands an even better job post-haste.
The Challenge
So what about you? Have you been working in a career or job that A) hasn’t fulfilled you or B) wasn’t secure after all? We challenge you to reclaim your gifts and passions. We challenge you to make YOUR mark at this time in history. And we challenge you to answer this: What is one step that you can make today in order to do that?
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Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through seminars, webinars, tele-coaching events and individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more about their programs & services at www.greatoccupations.com.
Immeasurable and Irrelevant are two words you do not want to be used to describe your job. In the earlier blog posts this week we met Brian Bailey, the main character in the New York Times Best Seller, “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)” by Patrick Lencioni. Following up on his first theory: You can’t improve on something if you can’t measure it, I want to end my blog postings this week with the next crucial step which Brian is implementing in the little italian restaurant he now is part owner. Whose life/lives do you impact in your job?
How do you measure your success, and whose life do you impact?
How does Brian’s employees the busboy, wait staff, or kitchen help identify relevance. It’s easy to say “a busboy just cleans tables”, but what if that busboy quit? Would that position then become relevant? You don’t have to cure cancer or walk on the moon for your job to be important. If my newspaper doesn’t show up in the morning or my trash doesn’t get picked up for a week, I immediately feel how important those jobs are. Some call it “taking pride in your work”, but it is more than that. In the book, Brian challenges his employees to know who benefits and suffers when they do or do not do their job well. Whose life do you impact? That’s a powerful question. Is it a customer, co-worker, or manager? Answering who you impact can help you realize how relevant your job is to those people.
What do you do?
Are you in a career that gives you pride? Unique in the United States is the question we are normally asked right after “what’s your name?” It is generally “what do you do?” Are you proud to express what you do, or do you diminish it — if you answer the question. Even if you aren’t employed, are you proud of the career you have chosen?
It may be your job.
It is possible to love your career, but not love your job. With the “transitional workforce world” that we live in today, we see corporate leadership, values and priorities change all too frequently. It’s easy for your job to turn from good to bad in a matter of months.
The second module of the Job Search Boot Camp is how to AIM Your Job Search. Building on the READY module we teach you how to identify the relevant and exciting aspects of your former jobs, and identify and use those during your job search. The Job Search Boot Camp Webcast began last Thursday, but you can still join by watching the replay of the READY module and joining us this Thursday evening for the AIM module (or you can get the replays). You can visit http://www.JobSearchBootCamp.net for more information on this great program which will help you READY-AIM-GET HIRED!
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Jay Markunas is the co-hosts of The Job Search Boot Camp Show which is available on iTunes. He & partner, Angela Loëb are the co-creators of The Job Search Boot Camp webcast – 3 evenings to career success. Visit our website for more information at http://www.JobSearchBootCamp.net.
I’ve always heard the term “measure twice, cut once” to refer to precision. However, the main character in the New York Times Best Seller, “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)” by Patrick Lencioni, that I am reading decides to measure things differently.
The main character, Brian Bailey, becomes part owner in a dive italian restaurant. After identifying issues with his new staff - like coming in late, unmotivated, careless, and uncaring when orders were wrong and refunds were given, Brian worked with his staff to identify things they could measure.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”
It may be natural to measure nightly receipts, incorrect orders, complaints, etc., but in the dive little italian restaurant Brian Bailey asks his staff to help him think of positive things they could measure. For example, he asks the drive-through guy to determine how many people he makes smile that day - and a laugh counts as 4 smiles. He has the wait staff measure how many compliments they received on service. In a matter of weeks the employees begin showing up on-time (or even early), taking pride in their work, and striving to measure their positive successes.
Job Search Measurement
One thing most job seekers measure is how many resumes they’ve sent out — or more accurately, how many they’ve sent out without a response. I’ve seen local news stories of job seekers who have sent out thousands of resumes. Of course, that is one type of measurement you can keep - how many resumes you send, but instead consider measuring how many relationships you build. Or, how many personal connections you make. Or, how many interviews you nail! These are positive measurements, and will actually shift your mind away from focusing on the potentially negative measurements of your job search. You may actually see your success increase when you start measuring the positive!
Are you measuring the positive things in your job search? Or, are you focusing on how many calls you have not received on your resume, how many interviews you’ve messed up, or how many months you’ve been out of work? Change your focus, and measure the positive results so you can improve them!
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Jay Markunas is the co-hosts of The Job Search Boot Camp Show which is available on iTunes. He & partner, Angela Loëb are the co-creators of The Job Search Boot Camp webcast – 3 evenings to career success. Visit our website for more information at http://www.JobSearchBootCamp.net.
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Yesterday I gave practical tips about body language. Today we address the main source of your unconscious body language, which I believe holds the key to career success, job search results, happiness in your home life, quality relationships with friends, etc. And that is attitude.
Attitude affects body language from the inside out. You can practice the mechanics of sitting this way or making eye contact that way all you want, but if you’re not “feeling it,” you will most certainly sabotage your chances for a successful interpersonal encounter. In the interview, a mal-adjusted attitude is the death-knell for your chances of landing the offer. And I remind you of what yet another poet once said… “There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes.”
In the Job Search Boot Camp, Jay & I ask attendees to complete a set of powerful exercises designed to help recognize and then release emotional baggage and attitudes like those below:
- Rejection – many interviews, but no offer yet
- Fear, anxiety, uncertainty – feeling of no control
- Anger – one of the stages of grief due to job loss
- Unresolved issues with past employers or managers – having trouble finding the positive spin
- Lack of confidence – personal hang-ups creeping in, such as I’m too old, young, overweight, tall, short, etc.
- Blame – it’s the economy, they’re discriminating, my old manager is giving me a bad reference, etc.
- Frustration – lack of personal vision leading to lack of effective personal expression
When I was a recruiter, hiring managers would sometimes call me saying that they couldn’t put their “finger on it,” but the candidate they’d interviewed wasn’t the right fit even though the qualifications were a perfect match. On the flipside, I’ve also observed many candidates get their jobs because they showed a lot of enthusiasm and passion even when they didn’t possess every qualification listed on the job description.
I want to challenge you to think about this question… If you’re not enthusiastic about the job you’re interviewing for, why are wasting your time and the company’s time? No, I’m not trying to be flip or insensitive. I realize that you might just need to get a job to pay the bills, and so you are willing to grab anything that comes along. But do you seriously think that your unenthusiastic attitude won’t be revealed through your body language? Do you think the interviewer won’t be thinking to herself, “This guy doesn’t seem very committed. If I hire him, he’ll be right out the door looking for something he’d prefer to do as soon as the economy changes. I have 15 other applicants as qualified as him.” And she is politely nodding at you while she is calculating how to tactfully end the interview as soon as possible.
It’s time for you to slow down and consider your attitude for just a little while. How are you doing in this area? Before you go out there and start selling the concept of you, you need to be sure you are delivering the concept of you with authentic enthusiasm… and that your body language is delivering it just as authentically.
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Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. Along with partner, Jay Markunas, she helps people gain clarity and develop successful strategies for career transition. Through their company, Great Occupations, they help job seekers and career shifters by offering seminars, webinars, tele-coaching events and individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show & check out their upcoming events Find A Career You Love & the Job Search Boot Camp Webcast. Find out more about their services at www.greatoccupations.com.
How you communicate with your body language is extremely important during networking and interviewing. It’s a huge factor in how well you communicate and “sell” the concept of brand you. Jan Hargrave, international body language consultant & author of Let Me See Your Body Talk says, “Research suggests that only 7 percent of the meaning in any conversation is contained in the words spoken.”
Okay, so doing the math, that means that 93% of what we say is not what comes out of our mouth!
You communicate non-verbally by:
How you come into the room
Here’s a great tip I learned from my partner, Jay, during our first Job Search Boot Camp. Before you walk into the room, stand with your back against the wall in the hallway. You’ll gain an inch or two and walk into the room with a better air of confidence because you’re standing tall with great posture.
How you introduce yourself
Do you have a good handshake? Practice. No limp or bone-crusher handshakes please! Web to web & no fishy, perspiration hands either. Always offer your hand in a vertical position. Hargrave says that if you offer your hand with palm up, you appear submissive, and if you offer it with your palm facing down, you appear too aggressive.
How you make eye contact
Moderate your eye contact so that you aren’t staring the other person down, but be sure to catch their eye frequently during the conversation or interview. You show sincerity, and, as the poet said, “The eyes are the window to the soul.” Experts seem to agree that if you don’t look a person directly in the eye you should be looking in the general direction of his or her eyes and mouth. By the way, on a related subject… Martin Yate, author of Knock ‘em Dead, advises interviewees to look upward, to the left or right but never downward.
How you sit
Leaning forward in your seat helps you to appear interested and engaged. Leaning back as though you’re lounging in your living room watching television makes you look, well, like you’re lounging in your living room. Yate says, “There is only one way to sit in the interview: bottom well back in the chair and back straight… Keep your hands on the sides of the chair; if there are no arms on the chair, keep your hands in your lap or on you pad of paper.”
Happy Hunting!
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Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. Along with partner, Jay Markunas, she helps people gain clarity and develop successful strategies for career transition. Through their company, Great Occupations, they help job seekers and career shifters by offering seminars, webinars, tele-coaching events and individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show & check out their upcoming events Find A Career You Love & the Job Search Boot Camp Webcast. Find out more about their services at www.greatoccupations.com.
These past few weeks we’ve heard about The Tonight Show debacle. Conan O’Brien and staff will make over $45M to walk away from the Tonight Show.
Coaches, athletes, and top executives sometimes work out an agreement with the company that will ensure they receive certain benefits if terminated. It’s known as The Golden Parachute.
According to TIME Magazine, Charles Tillinghast, Jr. was the first recipient of a golden parachute. When he took the helm of Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1961, the airline’s creditors were trying to gain control of the company away from Howard Hughes. Tillinghast’s contract included a clause that would pay him money in the event that he lost his job.
Golden Parachutes have been very popular recently, but mostly because of the size of their payouts in a company with declining profits. Some call it — “Failing Upwards” or “Pay for Failure”. For example, Rick Wagoner departed General Motors with a pension of more than $20 million. GM lost over $30B. Eugene S. Khan former Chairman of Mays Department Stores received $10.94M after he left. During Khan’s tenure, Mays Department Stores lost 32% of its stock price. After Khan left Mays Department Stores stock rose 16% on the first day of trading!
Do Golden Parachutes have a purpose? According to supporters it serves three purposes:
- Golden parachutes make it easier to hire and retain executives, especially in industries more prone to mergers.
- They help an executive to remain objective about the company during the takeover process.
- They dissuade takeover attempts by increasing the cost of a takeover, often part of a Poison Pill strategy,
Can YOU get a Golden Parachute?
If you are an executive or upper management, you can ask for a golden parachute in your contract. But the average employee usually doesn’t have this option. Tomorrow, I will discuss what the average employee should do when they leave their job.
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Jay Markunas is a Career Coach and Fortune 500 HR profesisonal. Along with his partner, Angela Loëb, will be hosting the session “Out of Your Comfort Zone” at the upcoming Career Connects Event on January 29th.
Through their company, Great Occupations, Jay & Angela help job seekers and career shifters by offering The Job Search Boot Camp webinar, Find a Career You Love tele-coaching event, career & job coaching services, and career-related products. Each 1st & 3rd Saturday, he & Angela host The Job Search Boot Camp Show – which also available on iTunes.
Do what you love. Know you own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. -Henry David Thoreau
So I’m sure you’ve seen them by now… I’m talking about the job satisfaction survey numbers. Less than ½ of Americans are unhappy in their jobs. My guess is that far too many folks are expecting their job to be the panacea for a life in which they are not leveraging their passions. What would happen if people looked at their jobs as a way to make money while remembering that they can still leverage their passions in other ways? Wonder how that would affect the survey stats? And what about you? Are you doing what you love?
Please don’t get me wrong. I think that it’s great if you can make a living doing what you love, but if you choose not to or haven’t figured out how to do it yet, then I strongly suggest you find other ways to leverage your passion IMMEDIATELY. What are you waiting for? Give yourself permission, already!
In case you’re thinking of some excuses about how you can’t possibly leverage your passions right now, let me assure you that it can be done rather easily. Below are examples of people I personally know who have found ways to do what they enjoy in spite of having very different ways to make a living.
- Relates well to young people and is a terrific mentor. Works as a salesperson, but during basketball season, coaches the JV boys’ team at a small parochial high school.
- Loves helping people move toward the career of their dreams. Regular job entails information systems at a Fortune 500 company, but leads and facilitates the career networking group at church.
- Enjoys dancing and teaching. Repairs washers, dryers and other appliances by trade, but teaches ballroom dancing at a studio on the side.
- Is a master woodworker; also loves photography. Has been in the high-tech engineering field for many years, but teaches a class at a local woodworking store and is starting up a side business as a freelance photographer.
Is there a magic ingredient or trait in common that makes these people different? Well, in reality, they don’t have that much in common with each other at all… except for this: they all have a strong drive to get out there and do what they are passionate about, AND they have actually given themselves permission to leverage their passions.
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Angela Loëb is a Career Coach, Author and Speaker who leverages her passion everyday. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, look forward to helping other folks figure out how to leverage theirs, too, through their upcoming Find the Work You Love tele-coaching event on February 3. Listen to them on 1st & 3rd Saturdays on the The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more about their programs and 2-coaches-for-the price-of-one services at www.GreatOccupations.com.
FIRST, some VERY exciting news!
I am very proud to announce our new website - Great Occupations. You’ll be able to find out about our upcoming Webinar - The Job Search Boot Camp, our Tele-Coaching event - Find a Career You Love, Coaching, and Career-Related Products.
Visit - http://www.GreatOccupations.com!
On our last episode of The Job Search Boot Camp Show, we had Bryan Chaney - marketing specialist and the brain behind the Career Connects Event coming up in Austin, Texas on January 29th. Bryan talked about your Personal GPS. He went on to explain that you need to find where you want to go in your career - what is the “desired result”, and then reverse engineer it.
For example, if you are a Rocket Scientist, but you’ve always wanted to be a concert pianist then how do you do that? Will you need additional training? Will you need to go back to school? Will you need your family’s support?
Figure out where you want to go, and then begin taking action to get there. In our “microwave society”, we have a tendency to want everything RIGHT NOW! But, know that dreams take time to achieve. Just taking the first step - without getting bogged down by all the additional steps that will be necessary - is the best course of action.
It’s 2010. Do ONE THING toward having a Great Occupation!
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Jay Markunas is a Career Coach who helps people use their Personal GPS. Along with his partner, Angela Loëb, he helps people gain clarity and develop successful strategies for career transition. Through their company, Great Occupations, they help job seekers and career shifters by offering The Job Search Boot Camp webinar, Find a Career You Love tele-coaching event, career & job coaching services, and career-related products.