Career Management Alliance Blog

I’m not a big television watcher, but I was clicking around Sunday evening trying to find something, anything of interest and came upon a show called The Millionaire Inside. Three panelists, all financial masters, were sharing their ideas about wealth creation and soon a fourth panelist, a Harvard professor, joined the conversation. I thought the show was quite interesting and thought-provoking.

One of the things the panelists spoke about was courage; I’ve been thinking about it since. Courage. Courage to try something new. Courage to stand up for yourself in a good and healthy way. Courage to stretch yourself to be something more, professionally, if that is what’s important to you. Courage to say I like me the way I am, even though others want you to be something else. Courage to start a business when there’s already too many businesses doing what you’d love to do. Courage to finish a degree. Courage to recognize that an unhealthy work environment is taking its toll. Courage to ask for a day off. Courage to leave a job that you don’t like. Courage to pursue your passion. Courage to speak to your immediate supervisor about something that’s really troubling you. Courage to ask for help. And the list goes on and on and on.

Where do you get courage? Are you born with it? Is it acquired from some external force? Is it listening to motivational messages? Does it come through education and learning? Life experiences? Failures and mistakes? Or, maybe it’s a little epiphany — one day you find the courage to tell yourself, I don’t know what the future holds; I just know I don’t want this anymore. Who knows? I have no answers, for sure, only more questions. What do you think? What does courage mean to you?

posted by billie sucher

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Ever wonder why you didn’t get an interview for that perfect job you applied for? You know you can do the job, you submitted your resume as specified, you just knew you’d get a phone call… but you heard nothing! Here’s what hiring managers say they’re looking for.

1. Relevant Experience – According to a CareerBuilder survey, 77% of managers say they want to see the match between your experience and the job posting. This sounds obvious, but a surprising number of people don’t take the time to customize their resume to “connect the dots” for the reader. A hiring manager recently complained to me that she had just finished reviewing resumes for a supervisory position she had posted, and more than half didn’t mention the word “supervisor” or “manager.”

2. Accomplishments - The content of your resume should be unique and specific to you. A common mistake people make is to paraphrase the job description and focus only on job responsibilities. The problem with that is that those statements then don’t distinguish you from anyone else with the same job title.

3. Accuracy – I know you know this. Everyone knows this. And yet, outrageous typos are still getting out there. Even with relevant experience and strong accomplishments on the resume, typos can be absolute deal-breakers. Two crossed my desk recently that fall into that category. One, applying for a job involving drawing blood, boasted “Tears of experience working with people.” The other was for a mental health assistant who probably meant to say she “assisted” mentally challenged adults but instead typed that she “assassinated” them. Would you hire those people?

Customize – and then scrutinize – your resume, and watch your success rate grow!

Submitted by Wendy Gelberg

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There was a time in my career when I was between jobs or in transition or unemployed — whatever word you prefer to call it. I had zero job, zilch money and was incredibly vulnerable to others’ advice, no matter how good (or bad) it was. In my case, it turned out to be really bad advice, but eventually, my wrong turns led to a brand new start in something I’ve remained passionate about for two-plus decades.

If you find yourself looking for a job, do yourself (and your pocketbook) a big favor and proceed with caution in finding someone to guide, help and support you through the process. If you need help in thinking through some questions to ask a pro before you engage their services, read Appendix A – A Guide to Choosing a Career Coach or Counselor in What Color Is Your Parachute 2007. In that section, there are 10+ pages of text that specifically address this topic.

To further protect yourself, review and think through these six C’s if you are seriously seeking a professional to help you with your career transition…

1. Credentials: ask the pro — what are your credentials and how long have you been doing this? And where, exactly, do you do this? And how do you do things? What is your process? What can I expect from you?
2. Competence: ask the pro — what is your level of success in working with someone like me?
3. Clients: ask the pro — may I have the names / numbers of three of your references?
4. Comfortableness: ask yourself — how do I feel when I speak with this professional person?
5. Corroboration: ask yourself — have other persons in my network used this professional with satisfactory results?
6. Cost: ask yourself — do I believe that I am making a wise business investment that will yield a positive ROI?

Wishing you safe travels!

posted by billie sucher

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Is your job just that – a job? Or, is it something that allows you to follow one of your passions in life? Unfortunately some people settle for a job for any number of reasons without ever identifying and exploring the possibilities.

Have you been searching to make a change, but haven’t quite found anything that engages you? A book called The Passion Test by Janet and Chris Attwood offers tools to help you identify your passions and develop the life blueprint needed to live them to the fullest. That includes creating a passion-driven career.

“The Passion Test” is an easy read. The first section helps you discover your passions and identifies strategies you can use to live out those passions. The second section contains interviews from several leaders in the self-help/personal development field such as Debbie Ford, Dr. Dennis Waitley, and Stephen M.R. Covey (son of author Steven Covey).

After identifying your passions, the next step is to develop strategies and motivators to follow them. The authors provide several tools to help you with this. These include:

• List your passions on index cards and strategically placing them in your home and office. They constantly remind you of the passions you identified and help keep you focused.
• Develop “markers” to identify when you are living out your passions.
• Create “Passion Pages.” This involves visualizing living out your passions and then writing the visualization on paper.

Identifying your passions is one of the keys to living a fulfilling life. Too many people do not invest the time needed to discover what truly excites them in life. The result? Unhappy people. Or worse, people who are content just settling or getting by.

Posted by Louise Garver

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A few weeks ago, The Police put on quite a show at Wrigley Field, especially when they performed their classic Every Breath You Take. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll hear the words “I’ll be watching you.”

Speaking of watching you, check out the new eBossWatch site. Asher Adelman, creator of eBossWatch, launched the site about three weeks ago. The idea for his concept evolved out of a painful and challenging employment experience with, you guessed it, his boss. Asher describes eBossWatch as a “useful tool for job applicants to evaluate prospective bosses at potential workplaces.”

Anyone can anonymously rate their current or former boss for free.

To download a Boss Report, there is a nominal fee of $3.99. The tagline for Asher’s new eBossWatch site: nobody should have to work for a jerk. Agreed!

posted by: billie sucher

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Rejection, according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, is a noun that means…

1. to refuse to take, agree to, accede to, use
2. to discard or throw out as worthless, useless
3. to pass over

When you’re looking for a job, rejection goes with the territory. It takes a lot of “no’s” to get to the “yes,” so we’re told time and again. Have you met rejection? Has rejection impacted your life? Is rejection your friend or foe?

Here’s a fun exercise to help you put rejection in perspective. Think back to the earliest time in your life when you first recall getting rejected. What was the circumstance? What was your age? Where were you? What were you doing? When you were rejected, how did you handle it? How did you feel? Did this rejection stop you or did you make the most of the situation?

Yup, I recall my earliest experience with rejection. Wednesday nights. Roller rink. Sixth grade. Lights out. Boys’ choice. My heart would go into orbit knowing that tonight would be THE night that “Johnny” would swoop in and hold out his hand to me! But no! Not once. Not ever. Never. Johnny never picked me! He always picked the other girl!

When you are told “no” by an employer in your job search, always remember that you are getting that much closer to the employer who will say “yes” to you! You will be their first pick! The next time you are faced with rejection, be it in verbal or written form, think about how you can turn that negative into a positive.

Live with it. Learn from it. Laugh about it (later) and then, let rejection lead the way and roll on!

Posted by Billie Sucher

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Considering all the stress people experience in the world of work, you’d think that retiring would make people healthier. Not according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Here are some interesting stats I found from the organization:

Surprisingly, complete retirement leads to:

• an 11% decline in mental health
• an 8% increase in illness
• a 23% increase in difficulty performing daily activities over a 6-year period

Of course, working longer is not always the path to better health. If your work is routine, stressful or unchallenging, then it can actually hurt your health.

Looking for the antidote? Find work that is fulfilling.

Have you been thinking about retiring or have you already discovered that days of endless leisure are not for you—but maybe you’re not quite sure what path to take? Then you may want to consider working with a career coach who can help you identify your talents, strengths and interests, which can open the door to a more enjoyable—and healthier—next phase of your life.

Posted by Louise Garver

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My son recently graduated from college and is looking for his first career position. Naturally I am helping him, and I will say he is a lot better off then I was looking for my first job out of school. As one of the “pack” of baby boomers, everything was much more competitive then, whereas right now the job market is quite favorable for new grads. In fact, it does seem like young people have the best shot at getting hired. Employers, especially from large companies, love to hire new grads as they can get them “fresh” and train them in their way of doing things.

So how can you use this opportunity to your advantage? Recognize how critical the first job can be in shaping your career. Don’t jump at the first opportunity; take time to find the best companies, the best training programs that will look good on your resume. Evaluate what type of position is a fit with your personality. Interview carefully; ask the right questions to find out if the company is the right environment.
If you make a good decision with the first job, it will positively impact your entire career. Make a mistake and you may end up with a string of short-term jobs cluttering your resume.

Check out this helpful site for college grads.

Stay tuned for more helpful information. Please share comments about your experiences.

Posted by Julianne Franke

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Here’s a little-known fact about job interviews that, properly understood, can give you an advantage in the interview: Many interviewers/hiring managers are not trained or experienced in the process of conducting interviews. In fact, some hiring managers may even be as nervous as the person they’re interviewing.

Hard to believe? Think about what’s at stake for them. They have to fill a position in a certain timeframe so that the company can stay on track or get back on track in accomplishing its goals. They have to keep to a budget. And they have to select someone who fits in well with the culture of the organization. Making the wrong hire reflects badly on their own reputation and leaves the company off course. In fact, making the wrong hire may literally mean letting the best candidate for the job get away – possibly to the competition.

Why is this an advantage for you? By understanding what’s on the line for the hiring manager, you can actually help the interview along with well prepared answers that demonstrate the value you bring to the company and the impact you will have – your ability to “hit the ground running.” Knowing that the hiring manager may not know how to formulate the best questions to extract the important information, you can be prepared to provide the information that the interviewer should be asking about.

To do this, decide ahead of time what three key points you want the employer to know about you, and then look for opportunities in your interview to deliver that message. When you do that, you’ve put the hiring manager at ease and given yourself a real advantage.

Posted by Wendy Gelberg

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Fast Company has marked the 10th anniversary of Tom Peters’ The Brand Called You with a puffy, but motivating piece on the re-branding of Al Gore. Ellen McGirt’s cover story in the July/August 2007 issue of FC (Al Gore’s $100 Million Makeover) is required reading for anyone involved in career transition.

Gore has integrated his geeky penchant for research, his access to well-heeled connections, and his willingness to speak passionately about issues: the result is a transformation from failed politician to successful entrepreneur. No longer the butt of late-night TV jokes, he is now an aspiring media mogul as the co-owner of Current TV. He has become an adviser to two of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, Google and Apple; co-founder of an investment firm that promotes a new definition of sustainability; and, he is also involved in other enterprises that have raised his net worth from $1-2 million to more than $100 million in less than seven years. Politics aside, this transition from “almost got the job” is a story that can inspire the success of others, even those with more moderate goals than Gore’s.

A few learning points:

• Be purposeful in defining your brand: find your passion.
• Dare to be different: innovation is not as intimidating as invention – You CAN do it…
• Connect with friends, family, colleagues: “to network” can be conjugated as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb – it works at all levels
• Use technology: aside from promoting your ideas, technology allows you to listen and learn from your customers/audience

There is a lot of buzz in the careers community about this topic of branding (the book by Kirsten Dixon and William Arruda is a must-read). While Gore may not have participated in an official branding program, the transformation of his image and financial outlook speak volumes for the value of thoughtful and guided transition.

Posted by Karen P. Katz

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