Keeping Your Psyche Strong during Job Search

The saying goes “Desperation does not work in dating or job search”. I can verify both of those when looking at my school years and my own job transition.


At one point in my search I had six solid job leads go completely dark within a week’s time. I remember going to a 7 a.m. networking meeting the following Monday. Big mistake – I wasted a good networking opportunity. When I got home, I cancelled all of my job search activities for the next two days, so I could get my psyche back in order and avoid a downward spiral (which we all know can be tough to pull out of). I also sent follow-up notes and apologized to my contacts, I told them exactly what happened and apologized for not being in top form.

I recognize this advice to cancelling meetings can come across as a bit extreme. But it is not, a strong psyche is more important than a strong resume. Ask yourself this question: How often have you made a major purchase or commitment from a less than enthusiastic salesperson? The answer is “Not very often, if at all”. As for the follow-up notes, not much I could do after the bomb went off, but was a sign of respect and managing my reputation.

In the end, a job search is like making a sale and you need to believe in the product (yourself) before anyone else will.

Both asking someone to introduce you to their network, much less a hiring decision, is asking someone to ‘buy’ your story. No matter how hard we try to put a ‘good face’, if your psyche is in the dumps, it comes across during your networking and interviews.

If a job search is selling, you have to believe yourself first before anyone else will.

Once I took the time off, here is what has worked for me many a time to boost my psyche. Make a list of small projects that you would like to accomplish. When you feel down, pull out the list and work like mad to finish the project. The sense of progress, accomplishment and putting your mind somewhere else for a stretch of time will work wonders. Trust me.

There are loads of other good ideas like volunteering, etc. – whatever they are, put them on the list and keep it handy. It’s not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’ you will use it.

Remember, if you run into someone who needs to take a break – do them a favor and tell them.

Good luck today.

Mark Richards

www.candidateschair.com



http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

Using Twitter to Promote Yourself during a Job Search

Twitter is another great tool in the toolbox to promote your qualifications during a job search. The intent is to have potential employers and networking contacts read your tweets.


A couple of thoughts to help get you started

1. Keep it professional and positive

2. Focus on your profession only – especially where you can give advice from personal experience

3. If you have skills that cannot be easily trained, put those in your tweets, as employers will need to hire someone with them

4. Tweet on issues/experiences that will likely be raised in an interview/networking

5. Before starting to Tweet. Write your first 50 tweets. People will go to your profile and review your tweets – so best to have them organized versus random thoughts. So tweet with purpose (I’d wager no one has ever told you that before).

6. Retweet other good thoughts from people you follow – recognizing good content is as valuable as giving it

7. Manage who you follow and who follows you (e.g. Blocking anyone who has ‘Check out my hot profile’ is a good tip)

Put your Twitter ID on your business cards (along the URLs for personal blogs, LinkedIn profile, etc.) – so people know you’re tweeting.

Good luck today!

Mark Richards

www.candidateschair.com




http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

Question: If I know who the hiring manager is, should I connect to them directly or their colleagues?

I answer questions on job search and networking for Proformative.com (on-line forum for finance professionals to share information), here is an excellent question.

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Response:

Assuming the interview process is not in the late stages, you will want to approach the hiring manager in two steps: Learn and Influence.


LEARN:

To differentiate yourself from other candidates, you want to promote the experiences/style that best fits what the company needs.

Meeting with company insiders will help you understand the business model, department and current issues. You will want to meet with people outside the department to give you a well-rounded view. If time allows, meeting with vendors (e.g. auditors) can also give you an objective view.

Even if you’ve worked for the company before, I would recommend refreshing your information to understand the most important issues (e.g. integrating new software, cash crunch, etc.)

INFLUENCE:

There are people who have a strong relationship with the hiring manger that can promote you to the hiring manager. In ascending order of influence: outside colleague, direct report, peer, and boss – their relationship with the hiring manager gives their recommendation more weight.

The reason these people will be compelled to promote/introduce you to the hiring manager is the effectiveness of your pitch (both content and delivery) – short, relevant and convincing is what makes you memorable.

The best experience does not always win; it’s usually the person who can best explain how they can use their experience on behalf of the company.

IF TIME IS SHORT: I would recommend getting to someone in the hiring manager’s department to get a sense of the most critical issues. Switching to phone versus face-to-face reduces the effectiveness of the ability to influence, but allows you to talk with more people in a short time.

IF THE COMPANY IS SMALL: Same process, except the lines between Learn and Influence are blurred – since people are likely to have a relationship with the hiring manager.

Here’s a post that may add some additional insight: http://candidateschair.com/roadmap-to-the-hiring-manager/

Hope this helps.

Mark
Creator, Candidateschair.com - Job Search and Networking from a Candidate's Perspective



http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community

A question you probably screw up - What Do You Do?

There are some pretty simple questions in this world.  Questions we get almost everyday whether career networking or seeing old friends.  And screw up.  Like these:

How are you?

How are you feeling?

What’s up?

So why do we screw them up so bad?  To me these questions are hard because they are asked out of context.  And asked by people who may not actually care for the answer.  Often the first verbal exchange. After the initial eye dancing.

Read the entire blog post at http://community.twitjobs.net

http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community