Career Management Alliance Blog

Did you know that 20% of Fortune 500 firms and all of the top 10 recruiters go to ZoomInfo.com to look for strong candidates? Staffing.org listed those statistics in a recent newsletter.

Go to ZoomInfo now and enter your name in the search space. Do you come up near or at the top of page one? That’s where you want to be. If you are not there or don’t like what you see, you can create your own profile rather than allow ZoomInfo to compile data on you from all over the Internet. According to Staffing.org, ZoomInfo.com has profiles on 39 million people and 3.6 million companies, with thousands of new profiles added daily. If you’re on LinkedIn.com you probably already have a personal brand summary that you can copy over into Zoom Info’s format. Or start from scratch using one of ZoomInfo’s as a model.

It’s all part of the changing nature of both search and job seeking. Recruiters and hiring managers proactively go out and search for top candidates whether they are employed or not. Job seekers are increasingly building distinctive personal brands that help make them the go-to person for a specific role. So be out there. Make sure your name and the information you want people to see shows up.

For ideas on building and strengthening your brand, you can’t do better than William Arruda’s and Kirsten Dixson’s Career Distinction. Start your New Year off right!

Posted by Jean Cummings

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One of the many frustrations I encounter with candidates is the over-emphasis on resumes.  Many candidates approach the resume as the “holy grail” of job search – the “silver bullet” of employment woes.  Skill assessment, identifying interests and strengths, employment histories, are viewed as time-wasters until the “real” work of writing the resume begins. 

With the advent of a new year, many people take stock of life situations, including employment, and find them lacking in some respect.  Jennifer Remling, a former recruiter, is touring the country interviewing people who have successfully made career changes.  Her statement today on the MSNBC site:

“If you don’t stop and take time to ask yourself why I’m unhappy — if it’s the actual job, the company, the day to day activities — then you end up in a vicious cycle … always moving from job to job searching for greener pastures but you just end up on different grass.” 

Isn’t our life’s work important enough to garner some time and attention?  Especially when you look at it in terms of hours:  If we are all going to spend 2000-3000 hours at work this year, what is a couple hours spent identifying what makes us happy?

Faith Sheaffer-Thornberry

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An interesting point arose in a mock interview session I held with a client today. I like to begin by asking, “What questions are you concerned about, or what answers have you already thought of that you’re less than 100% confident about?” The client’s response was, “I’ve been thinking about my answer to ‘What brings you here today?’”

“OK,” I said, “So what have you come up with thus far?”

“I’m applying for the job you had posted on Monster.com as a special education administrator.”

Period?

Period.

Then I brought the mock interview to a halt. “Let’s take that answer up to another level, shall we? Why are you excited about potentially getting this job?”

Oh, my goodness, the answer flooded out of the client’s mouth. “Special education is something I was turned on to several years ago when I worked for an extended period in a special education setting.” “I was exposed to children with all different types of learning styles and educational challenges.” “I decided then to pursue an advanced degree in this field.” “I see this job as my opportunity to really apply my expertise in a wide variety of ways.”

Whew! I said, “Well, isn’t that what brings you here today? Let’s incorporate all of THAT into your answer!”

The moral of the story is, when interviewing, and quite frankly, when developing your resume, please back away from the static, typical answer. Find your passion. Tell your story. Speak from your heart. That’s how you make the employer really stand up and take notice.

Posted by Jewel Bracy Demaio

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I can often lose time exploring new productivity tools, but this one looks especially useful. Check out David Seah’s Printable CEO and Concrete Goals Tracker.

I like his method for assigning value to activities based on how much they contribute to business growth.

All of his tools are available as free downloads.

posted by Liz Sumner

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“World-class oomph”: that’s how Fortune Magazine describes 25 strong personal business brands in its feature story, “Power 25.“ Though the phrase “personal branding” does not occur in the article, the write-up on each of the 25 could easily be part of a brand bio.

For instance, Steve Jobs is described as, “The Beethoven of business,” able to “conjure digital objects of desire from esoteric blends of chips, disks, plastic, and software, and then promote them with his own alluring brand of performance art.” Warren Buffett’s nickname is “The sage of Omaha,” someone people everywhere listen to.

So, is “power” inherent to a personal brand? I say “yes.” Another article in Fortune’s same issue considers the “soft” or “cool” power of leaders who wield “attraction rather than coercion.” They are successful because they motivate activity around them without using threat or pressure. So, if a personal brand is about power, then it is also about influence, the force that drives the brand, or the energy that fuels a person’s expression of his/her brand. Oprah’s brand is a whole lot more than “rich black businesswoman and TV personality.” It is also about her power to make interpersonal connections with millions over the television. Mother Theresa’s brand is about being the saintly caretaker for the poor of Calcutta, but it is also about her power to embody and express compassion.

Think about what fuels your brand. How do you make change happen? What is the “oomph” within you that gets expressed in your career and life? What is the influence that you wield? “May the force be with you” in 2008!

Posted by Jean Cummings

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A potential client emailed me someone else’s resume today, and essentially said, “I want my resume to look like this.” We all know the old adage, “The customer is always right.” But you know what? I just wasn’t hearing that today.

Executives, you can not and should not submit a resume for any position that looks exactly like someone else’s. Think about what this really says about you: you’re not innovative, creative, or forward-thinking. In short, you’re not unique. Certainly this can’t be the professional brand you want to communicate.

So let’s steer away from the formulaic formats and focus instead on how we can showcase the unique you. The goal is to deliver a document that makes the potential employer literally stand up and say, “Who IS this guy? Get him in here immediately!”

At the six-figure level and above, you are not competing against the masses. You are competing against a select few, and an even shorter list once you reach round 2 of the interview stage. Do you know what makes you stand out?

YOU. What is your strategy? Your approach? Your style? Everyone on the short list has numerous accomplishments and achievements, backed by verifiable dollar figures and percentages. The ONLY differentiating factor is how you do what you do, what you think about your approach, and how you think your style can positively affect Mr. Future Employer.

None of these elements can be effectively communicated if your resume looks like your friend’s. Please let’s all make a promise to each other: don’t ask me to copy somebody else’s resume for you, and I’ll give you a marketing piece that is an individual as a fingerprint. Deal? Deal.

Posted by Jewel Bracy Demaio 

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Every 25 days or so, I get an email from a professional contact I have never met and with whom I had only a brief professional relationship in 2006. His emails often start out with “Hi Jean, how the hell are you?” and he follows up with a one- or two-sentence update that is either professional or personal or both. I can usually count on a crack about his mother-in-law.

It turns out I love these emails! They aren’t looking to sell me anything, ask me anything serious, or do anything in particular at all. They make me happy. They make me laugh. They make me feel connected. And if I were looking for a job, he’d be one of the first people I’d call!

So this guy is part of my network. I’ll bet he nurtures a network comprised of a great many people. I’ll also bet that he sets up his Outlook to alert him every few weeks that it is time to dash off a quick email to Jean. This is an old-fashioned (but still great) way to network.

How about using one of the newer networking tools defining people’s interactions? According to Fortune Magazine’s Josh Quittner: “Facebook’s got Google running scared.” Why? Facebook is turning the World Wide Web open-to-everything model on its head. He dubs this new direction the Innernet.

Quittner says that Facebook enables you to put boundaries around your own personal network (and thus control who sees what about your online identity). It give you a place “…where you exercise almost absolute control, showing the world only as much of your true self as you care to while protecting you and yours from the evil that lurks on the wider web, from spam artists to identity thieves. Whoever builds that walled garden stands to make the next great Internet fortune.”

The upshot? Whether you use one of the social or professional networking sites or use a simple mail or phone call approach, if you have a job now or ever want to have one, feed and care for your network(s)! With networking accounting for ~80% of new hires, jump on the Innernet bandwagon now – and keep on networking!

Posted by Jean Cummings

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Sean Aiken, founder of One Week Job, is traveling around the world trying a new job every week and documenting his journey. He writes:

“After finishing college with a business degree, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t settle for a career that I am not truly passionate about. My goal is to gain a better understanding of what I need in a career to be happy and inspire others to go after their passions.”

His concept is engaging on many levels. And I’m sure he’ll create an outstanding portfolio as a result of this endeavor.

But what about others of his generation who want to try many things before committing? Where does adventure and exploration end and uncommitted slacking begin?

Will the business world change to accommodate the Net Generation? In order to acquire entrepreneurial talent like Sean’s do hiring managers need to modify their requirements and accept a new kind of job history?

Whose expectations and behavior needs to change?

posted by Liz Sumner

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I just finished a conversation with a job search candidate who has been searching nearly 6 months.  The kind of conversation I don’t participate in nearly as often as I would like.  The conversation that starts with the candidate looking a bit sheepish and saying:  You know you were right when you said…….Ah, music to the ears of any career coach!  The pearl of wisdom to which he was referring?  My statement that he should NOT gear down his job search over the “holidays” since no one will be hiring.  Not so! He was here to confirm the opposite.  He wanted to let me know he had a job offer.  And come to think of it, his last job search garnered an offer in December.  However, a recruiter had just called to tell him “no one hires over the holidays” so take it easy for a few weeks.  This is a myth that is stealing the joy out of many holiday festivities.  In my experience, many candidates use this myth as means to justify a personal desire to take time off over the holidays, not because it is based on reality.  The holiday season is a terrific time to gear up your search.

1.  Tons of social events (read: networking opportunities)

2. A time to catch up with your network via holiday e-mails or cards

3.  People are more approachable since the holiday good-will spills over to his/her professional life

4.  Many companies are trying to get all the key people in place for 1st quarter initiatives

5.  Your competition dwindles since other job seekers will drop out of the pool since “no one hires over the holidays”.

So quit hitting the eggnog and go deck company halls with your resume!

Faith Sheaffer-Thornberry

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Carmine Gallo, contributor to BusinessWeek and a communications coach and author, recently reiterated his compelling suggestion that “the most exciting business ideas fit on the back of an airplane napkin.” How does this relate to career changers, job seekers, and career professionals? Let’s compare the vision to the brand…

The vision can be compared to a clearly articulated branding statement that appears at the top of your resume and on the tip of your tongue. Gallo makes the point that a vision is not a mission statement. The mission statement resembles a narrative profile; both may use too many words and can be lost on the “About” page of a a web site. Yet the vision statement is economical: it is “simple, memorable, and concise.”Some examples of “concise, profound visions:”

1. Larry Page & Segey Brin’s vision: “Google provides access to the world’s information in one click.”
2. John Chambers: “Cisco changes the way we live, work, play and learn.”
3. Bill Gates & his father to Steve Ballmer: “MS is going to put a computer on every desk in every home”
4. Doug Ducey, projected that: “Cold Stone Creamery would become the ultimate ice cream experience”

Articulate your brand with similar verbal enthusiasm; try to create a kinetic or visual image; make it clear that your brand delivers ROI. Be sure that your statement is the “hook” that enables you to tell the rest of your story in a way that encourages others to join the brand-wagon. If you tell it, they will embrace it.

Posted by Karen P. Katz 

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