Do you smoke? Do you know how it affects your career?

Why do companies post executive jobs on job boards?

Are you really overqualified or do you just not know how to work the system?

Can you learn to interview better?

Do you know a proper metric for a good Job Search Engine (NOT job board).

Here’s where you can find links to research tools.

Fed up with recruiters who misbehave?

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Each complained of overly long job searches and expressed they had no clue what is going on.  They wondered:  Blacklisted?  Are the jobs real?

Nope.  Your writing is so poor your credentials are not being considered.  Seriously, if you can’t write a decent email or cover letter how can you be expected to speak  well and represent the company?

It’s too easy to assume follow-up didn’t occur because of age, too many applicants or other spurious reasons.

Fact is, most cover letters, emails and even blog post responses demonstrate very poor written communications.  No matter how informal the correspondence, it must demonstrate you are literate and educated.  Never say, “It’s just an email.”

Be especially mindful of use of advice/advise and never use exclamation points in business correspondence.  If what you say is important and true, you don’t need to call attention with punctuation.

Don’t get cute or use smiley faces.  Read your missive aloud to ascertain proper sentence structure and word usage.  Still not sure?  Let someone proof your work.

Job Search is stressful and mistakes are easily made. Don’t let your writing mistakes prevent you from making it to the next step.

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first thing people see about you.  Tear yours apart for grammar and sentence structure.  Does every line convey a compelling message?  Can the reader immediately see what you can do for them and why you are exceptional?

Make certain your writing is excellent and you will increase the success of your job search.  Just last week two of my clients received compliments from hiring authorities on the organization and flow of their resumes and cover letter.  People notice. Make certain your communications are being noticed for all the right reasons.

Need help evaluating your LinkedIn profile?  Is your resume getting complements? Do you have a compelling elevator pitch?  Check out my web site for information on Coaching to fix those elements…

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I wore my jeans to interview

’cause that’s what they all wear

My job coach told me not to

but I really didn’t care

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I waited in the Lobby

what seemed a very long time

no one offered eye contact

a wall I sought to climb

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I thought I was invisible

worst fears of the night

no one took me seriously

could it be the coach was right?

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Next time there was an interview

I definitely suited up

The receptionist’s eyes told me

my apparel said, “not pup.”

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The next advice I passed on

with an even worse result

I gave too much information

from childhood to adult

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I saw the eyes glaze over

no way that she could listen

I kept on giving bio

though I knew I’d blown my mission

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They asked me about money

and I evaded an actual answer

she glared at me with venom

as if I’d promised her cancer

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Coach told me to give a number

and not negotiate sans offer

but I argued most effectively

imagining an empty coffer

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The interview ended quickly

and I was not called back

I guess I didn’t listen

my future looked quite black

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Why did I pay her money

and then not take her heed

if I knew how to do a job search

I’d have a damned job already.

Original Poem by Rita Ashley, Job Search Coach

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Now this client has hired dozens of people in his career, executives and individual contributors, yet he was puzzled about what a standard format should look like.  I suppose that shows how little attention one pays to format when it is exactly what is expected.

Use 11 or 12 point font and one inch margins.  Only two pages allowed and forget colored papers.

Let the content be the surprise; the enticement, not the format.  Here’s the tried and true that has worked for executives and technology leaders for decades:

• Name: Centered and in bold with a larger font than the body.
• City, State: Below Name
• Phone and Email below that.
• Objective:  What do you want to do.
• Summary:  Proof you have done it with bulleted remarks about accomplishments
• Experience: Name of company, Title and Dates including month/year.
• Mention responsibility and create bullets for deliverables with metrics
• Education:  Institution, Degree and Major

OBJECTIVE: Develop and implement compelling marketing communications strategies and tactics that enable an organization to enlarge marketshare, expand their audience and surpass its competition.

SUMMARY:

• Created advertising and communications strategies and tactics that measurably lifted brand recognition by one-third in first year.
• Produced suite of sales force communications tools that focused efforts on specific referral-source audiences to maximize sales funnel, increase close ratios by 35%.
• Repeatedly delivered marketing outcomes praised by internal and external clients through effective collaboration, precise planning, timely execution and superior communications.

EXPERIENCE:

Washington Employee

Directed targeted marketing collateral programs for xxx Channel. Developed materials through collaboration with internal and external partners. Migrated 300+ marketing materials to two new intranet platforms, managing content revisions in tandem with technical conversion of PDF templates. Monitored mortgage industry updates to shift marketing strategy plans to capture new sales opportunities.

• Collaborated with eight peers across three teams to simultaneously update content and migrate 200+ collateral items over seven months to a new, more powerful system.
• Content and technology improvements yielded 10% higher average sales nationwide for 2,000+ loan consultants..
• Built sales force self-paced training presentations and event planners for loan consultants to host real estate agent networking sessions to cultivate mutual relationships for warm leads.
• Managed 100+ item catalog of direct mail, customizable items for campaigns-on-demand marketing system in compliance with federal direct mail laws and secured brand integrity; interfaced with assigned agencies to implement ongoing enhancements, monthly reporting analysis.
• Created 11% lift in direct mail usage by sales staff. Metrics for key campaigns netted $24+ million new loans.

EDUCATION:

University of Memphis, Memphis, 6/2002 TN Bachelor of Business Administration | Major: Marketing Management

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What does ‘overqualified’ really mean?

Few comments by employers are as demoralizing to candidates than, “We like you but you are overqualified for this job.” Read why employers tell you you are overqualified and what you can do about it.

READ MORE.

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DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND  PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number one

“Your personal brand happens whether you shape it or not. If you are out in the world at all, you are known for the qualities you project and the qualities external audiences believe are true of you. Your choice is simple: own your brand, or let the external audiences own it for you.” Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand and Content at Microsoft.

Exposure is the lynchpin of your search: If you are a six figure executive or technology leader, your job search is a massive marketing campaign.  The more people who know about you and your talents, the higher the probability you will be invited to compete for jobs.  Exposure is what your digital job search is all about:  Maximum exposure for your brand.

Your brand is what you want hiring authorities to know about you distinguishes you from the competition.  Your job is to ascertain what your brand is currently and what it should be to attract the attention of employers.

In their book, Career Distinction William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson state, “Personal Branding is so powerful the Fortune 500 Companies-firms single-mindedly focused on their corporate brands-are helping employees build their personal brands.”

Personal branding is not a fad or an option.  People make hiring decisions based on many factors but their preconceived notions and expectations often determine who they will even consider.  Mark Lindstrom, author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling book, Buyology summarizes, “We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them.   …companies plant instant shortcuts-or brand bookmarks-in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.”

Here’s how personal branding works for you. While personal branding is unavoidable, the more control you assert over it, the more likely your personal brand will be an asset in your career.  People  automatically form mental associations and create labels to recognize you. Labeling happens automatically because that is the way our brains are wired.  Take control over those labels and you create a personal brand.

The more you advertise, the more people know about your special expertise.  It behooves you to create a marketing plan to accomplish your branding program.

What is Your Brand? Your personal brand is how others define you in the workforce.   Are you a Ferrari, built for speed or a Volvo, built for safety?  It is unlikely you are both.  How do you describe yourself?   How do others describe you?  What does your performance review consistently point out?  How do others introduce you?  Your answers to these questions are keys to your brand attributes.

“If you’re really smart, you figure out how to distinguish yourself from all the other very smart people walking around with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and well-polished resumes. Along the way, if you’re really smart, you figure out what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself — you create a message and a strategy to promote the brand called ‘You’” Tom Peters writing for Fast Company.

Know what distinguishes you from your peers. When you define your peers and their attributes and how you are different from them, you can rise above the competition.  The competition is defined as anyone who might be hired for a given position that precludes your being hired.  Competition, therefore, includes hiring no one and leaving the job undone or shared by current employees.  To rise above all competition, you must articulate what you can do or provide that no one else can.  Your band must be so compelling that it precedes you, introduces you and annihilates the competition.

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

For a step-by-step guide to improve your job search networking:

For a complete guide to a job search tune-up:

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Based on responses to recent blogs and LinkedIn threads I wrote, I learned there is a lot of anger and vitriol directed at recruiters.  When I was a recruiter, I was a valued member of the business community who worked with investors and executives to build their companies and departments.  They consulted with me, dined with me treated me with respect. We worked together on boards, forums and industry events.

When I hear horror stories about how some recruiters behave and conduct their business and the resulting anger their behaviors provoke, I am disheartened.

Folks in job search mode need the best resources available; that includes recruiters known to be reliable, honest and effective.  Considering the hundreds of recruiter-bashing comments I read, I decided to help folks make a good effort to weed out the good from the bad and suggest a few warning signs to help  avoid getting involved with a recruiter who will not help you cross the finish line.

Good recruiters are part of the business community and how you treat them may have an affect on your opportunities.  Always be courteous regardless of your interest in the job they call about.  Statistics vary but the estimated range of executive level placements made by recruiters is between 25% – 35%.  Learn to spot the good ones.

Ask these questions:

1. Is this a search you have been invited to conduct?
2. Who is your contact within the company?
3. Have you worked on behalf of this company before?
4. What sort of searches?  When?
5. What part of my experience tells you I’d be a fit?
6. Do you have a job description?
7. What will you do with my resume?
8. What is the name of the hiring company?
9. What is the name and contact information of your company?
10. Will you supply references to me?
11. May I see the job description with which you are working?
12. Is there a charge to me for your services?

Notice the kinds of questions the recruiter asks.  Is she fishing?  Are his comments too general?  Does she understand the job description and how your background relates?

Warnings:

1. They ask names of your bosses or direct reports
2. They charge for representing you
3. They ask for personal information not pertinent to the job
4. They have no idea what you do

If you are not satisfied with the answers, be polite and end the conversation.  If you are satisfied and want to proceed get the basics.

Your best protection against disreputable and inexperienced recruiters is to avoid the job boards; their favorite hunting grounds.

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Last week I asked four people if they gathered their LinkedIn email addresses into their main address book.  Not one knew that was an option.

In case you have not stumbled on the tool to accomplish the export, take a look at this:

Go to the contacts page and find the export tool in the lower left corner.  Simple instructions pop up and the deed is done.  Because it duplicates what may already be in your address book you may want to create a new category before you import.

This is a nice feature that makes it easy for you to contact your LinkedIn connections directly; no longer do you have to depend on LinkedIn to deliver messages or respond using their services.  It is especially nice if you want to broadcast a message to a subset of your connections.

LIONs, those LinkedIn members with as many as 30,000 connections can also use this tool.  (LinkedIn limits connections to 30,000.) One wonders at the avaricious behavior of those determined to be “open networkers” and who acquire names like children acquire baseball cards and my little ponies.    Is this a game?  Is someone keeping score about who has the most names? It certainly isn’t a real network because it is impossible truly to connect to so many people.  Why do they do it?

I asked a few connections with a large network to notify job seekers about companies that are hiring.  I created a blog and a website with listings.  I don’t make money from either and there is no downside.  The lists are simply my way of giving back.  Not one of the large network connections even responded to my request.  They will be removed from my contact list.

Removing them will be a minor blip on their numbers.  They no longer have access to my first and second and third degree network which is only about six million or so.  But at least I know I am no longer facilitating those who do not understand quid pro quo.

Not all highly networked entries will be removed.  There are certain employment based individuals who have a large network because they interact in some way with their connections.   But their presence begs the question, why do people want to acquire random names?

One reason may be is that they sell those easy to export email addresses.  Yes, LinkedIn users, you may have volunteered your contact information and other important data to multi-level marketers, phishing scams and all manner of International not-so-nice Internet scams.  Let’s hope you used your free email account rather than your personal one.  Gmail and Hotmail, for example, have terrific spam catchers and you certainly will need one if you connect to LIONs whom you don’t know.

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Is the adviser an employment professional? Have they years of experience offering help? Just conducting their own search doesn’t qualify anyone because their sample of population is too small. Their advice doesn’t generalize well.

Look for advice from people who have been in the job search trenches for years; those are the people whose advice you can trust.

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If you are a six figure income job seeker, every word you use to describe your background is a marketing opportunity.  The resume Objective section is required to entice the hiring authority to read your employment history.  It sets the hook and tells readers what to expect and why reading on is a good use of their time.

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Greg Demming, VP Sales with a comprehensive resume says, “As a reader of thousands…no, let me rephrase. As a skimmer of thousands of resumes, and a reader of hundreds I would suggest you find a coach to seek out help. Not one of those factories that promise to rewrite and distribute your resume. The resume has to spark curiousity, interest and a desire to find out more. The Objective is just the start.”

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Use your Objective to form the basis of your resume; prove your Objective in each bullet.  If the entry doesn’t work to prove your promise, it doesn’t belong on the resume.

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To write an excellent resume Objective you must first know the job description or at least the top priorities for the position.  Aim your Objective at satisfying the most important need.

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Most resume Objectives are generic and therefore a waste of space.  The hiring authority is always looking for someone who stands out from the crowd so reading a statement with no supporting data isn’t especially effective.  Below are sample resume objective examples:

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Poor:

Objective:  Director of Marketing position where I can continue to grow and provide excellent leadership.

Better:

Objective:  Provide marketing leadership to bring new wireless products and services to an expanding audience.

Best:

Objective:  Expand and enhance wireless product line offerings and target markets through customer polling, research, franchise efforts and web site enhancement.

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The ‘best’ resume Objective above answers the question, “What can you do for me?”  It encourages the reader to discover how you have succeeded in enhancing product lines, polling customers and web site enhancement.  You have told them what to look for based on their needs and they will read on.

*Special thanks to Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand & Content; Microsoft, my go-to person on branding, for characterizing brand as promise.  I stole the concept for the elevator pitch and resume Objective because they express your brand.

For more field tested advice to create your best resume, purchase:  Job Search Debugged, second edition.

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