Get a Job, Here's How

Nishant did not know anyone in the US when he moved here to start the MBA program at UNC Kenan-Flager. The job search guidance you receive as an MBA student is to network, network, network! Whether you’re a student or have been in the workforce for years, networking should be a huge part of your job search strategy. Listen up while Nishant talks about how he built his network from scratch. There are a lot of lessons here you can apply to your job search.

Nishant reached out to people primarily through LinkedIn. He started with people he knew he’d have something in common with, such as alumni of his school, but he didn’t limit himself to just alumni. He did searches on LinkedIn to find people working in tech in California because that’s what he wanted to do. He asked if they’d be willing to have a phone call with him, so he could learn about their job or company.

After doing about 20-30 calls, he realized he had to change his strategy and that the keys to being successful on a networking call were observing proper meeting etiquette by sticking to the time allotted, having great communication skills and convincing people that you are credible.

For every phone call, Nishant had with someone he reached out to, there were 10 others he contacted but who did not respond to him. This is important: set reasonable expectations for how often people will respond to you or you’ll be very discouraged as you expand your network.

Nishant estimates that he conducted over 120 networking calls! And he shares tons of tips so that you can do this successfully too. 

Let’s Reframe

We started out by reframing our current situation from “this is not a good job market” to “hiring is being done differently now - it’s being done over video and to succeed in this environment, we have to learn how to master the video interview.” Ryan shared tons of tips from his years doing video training that we can all use to shine on a video interview.

“Authenticity Works!”

First, remember that authenticity works, but even an authentic storyteller needs to plan how they are going to tell their story. Ryan encouraged “knowing your frame” which is being really aware of what’s around you when you are doing a video interview. Since we’re all living in our home production studios these days, just find a simple, uncluttered space in your home where you’ll set yourself up for your interview. Including a plant in the scene can warm things up. Pay attention to what the audience can see - know what’s in your frame.

Ryan had lots of good advice for how to appear on camera. Here are a few gems: 

• Face your laptop toward a window to have natural light on your face. If this isn’t possible, put a lamp behind your laptop for optimal lighting.
• Raise your camera to eye level or 1-2 inches higher.
• Drop your chin down as you speak. This opens up your eyes to your audience, which helps with your ability to connect to them.
• Use your voice and vary your tone to keep things interesting. (But practice this before to get it right!)
• Eye contact is important - be sure to look at the camera, but just like during an in-person conversation, you can occasionally look away to glance at your screen. You wouldn’t stare into someone’s eyes throughout a normal conversation, so you don’t want to do it on video either.

Your Energy Level

Know how your energy translates to video: Record yourself doing a practice interview and notice how you feel as you do it. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 for the level of energy you feel you are putting out. Then watch it back and rate it as an audience member. Ryan says you should push yourself to be an 11 on a 1-10 scale! Bring the energy! Research shows that people won’t remember your message so much as they will remember how they felt talking to you. Your positive energy can leave them with a great impression.

1-Way Video Interviews

For 1-way video interviews, you’ll be answering questions auto-generated by a software package and there won’t be a human on the other end at all. Prep for these by anticipating the questions and rehearsing your answers. Have talking points prepared. And remember to show up with some urgency for these interviews: People tend to slow down while doing these types of interviews because it’s hard to maintain high energy without seeing a person on the other end, so be sure that you’re keeping your energy high.

Video Resumes

Video resumes are a great way to stand out as a job seeker. Remember that these should not be a verbal recitation of your paper resume. Ryan says to keep it to 90 seconds max and start off by getting your viewer hooked. First impressions matter, so lead with the information that’s most relevant and interesting to the viewer and have a unique introduction.

Tools to use for your Video Resume

There are lots of tools you can use to record your video resume such as PhotoBook on Mac or Zoom. Upload it to YouTube and then link to it on your LinkedIn profile and email out the link.

Try Loom

Ryan’s favorite tool for doing a video resume is Loom. Here’s a great idea for job-seekers: Record a customized video introduction that you email out to companies or include in a LinkedIn inMail. You’ll stand out - not many job seekers have a video resume yet.

How to reach Ryan Carey

You can reach Ryan at Ryan@betteron.video for video coaching or to help your business use video to stand out. You’ll find BetterOn at www.BetterOn.video on the web.

NetWorkWise is, is essentially this premier education platform in the learning and development space, which provides knowledge, tools, and resources to cultivate world-class relationships through professional networking.

And the types of work that I did was what a lot of people would call networking. It's all about building, these amazing relationships. And I was fortunate enough to have surrounded myself with some amazing people. All of the successes that I have had, and I've had a lot of failures too. Don't get me wrong, but. All of the successes I've had have had really nothing to do with me, but they've all like, I really attribute them all just to these amazing people that I've surrounded myself with. - Adam Connors"

A lot of people don't really know what networking is or why we should do it. Adam breaks down what networking is and it's benefits.

Networking is taking a proactive approach to relationship development with the ultimate goal of benefiting someone else. It's not, about what can I yet. That's not it. You don't network for need. HIt's about the connection. Fostering that, building those relationships. That's networking.

There's no question that your network is the single most valuable resource for a successful job search. Hands down. I mean, the hidden job market is found in your network.

Also mentioned in this episode

• Anyone who listens can reach out at networkwise.com directly for a 50% off code for any of the programs talked about today if you mention you are referred by Katie Dunn
• Adam's podcast Conversations with Connors

1 - Learn how to ask:

Warming up cold emails: from Keith Ferrazzi in Never Eat Alone

•       Use an interesting subject line: lead with your connection or your value prop

•       Be Brief and Conversational: Write your note, then cut it in half

•       Have a clear call to action: Request 15 minutes on the phone and offer suggested dates and times

•       Be grammatically perfect

Sample email: 

Hi Beth, 

I have a favor to ask: I‘m looking to go back to work full-time and saw a Digital Marketing Manager position at BB&T posted on LinkedIn.  I know you have successfully juggled work and family for many years and would love to chat about BB&T and see if you can share any information about the position that I've applied for. 

I'm always up for grabbing a cup of coffee but if a phone call fits into your schedule better then that would be great too.  I've pasted the job posting below.  I've also attached my resume so you can get a feel for my background.  Thanks for any help you can provide!

My request:

I have an interview tomorrow for a job at Company with Sean and I saw on LinkedIn that you are connected to him. Just wondering if you have any background on him and what he's like?  

Thanks for the inside scoop!
Katie

Response: 
I went to business school with him and worked with him right after school.  He lives two blocks away from us.  I’ll call him!

Tip for writing a great email;  Write your email and then cut it in half

Use email finder websites like hunter.io to get your message through – this is not stalking!

2 – Master the 15-minute networking call:

1. Greet & Introduce
2. Be thankful 
3. Position the meeting as valuable to them
4. Describe your agenda & confirm

Ask thoughtful, open-ended questions starting your questions with phrases like:

1. Tell me about…
2. My research shows...
3. Describe to me…
4. Why...

Ask about

1. New initiatives
2. Business drivers 
3. How they got there
4. Career advice

This is not the time to ask for a job! You are building a relationship and gathering information.

Convey your messages and share information

1. What 3 things do you want them to remember about you?
2. Use your research to share information
3. Ask for advice

“Here’s my plan for finding a job in software development. Can you think of anything else I should be doing? Who else should I speak with?”

Wrap it up, take notes and follow up

1. End the meeting on time with a thank you & a reminder
2. After the meeting, immediately jot down notes
3.  Follow up

Use your notes to write a personal thank you email

Follow up again after they’ve made an introduction, you’ve read the book they suggested, etc.

3 – Get Active on LinkedIn

Like 

Share

Comment

Join Groups

Connect to people you don’t know

Connection request: 

Hi, xx,

I’d like to connect so I can continue to follow your success.

Thank you.

Hi, xx,

I’m currently conducting a job search. I’ve always been interested in your company and would like to get connected so I can learn more about what you’re doing.

Thank you.

Now that you know how to adapt your job search to a virtual job search, go do it. I believe in you.

Farnoosh Brock went from electrical engineer and rising leader at a fortune 100 tech company to being a coach. Speaker, author and sales trainer in 2011 when she started her company, Prolific Living, her work around crucial conversations and trusted relationships inside the serving mindset framework has helped many businesses and individuals to raise their income, influence, and impact.

In addition to her latest book, The Serving Mindset. Stop Selling and Grow Your Business, Farnoosh is the creator of the Crack the Code to Get Promoted corporate leadership and advancement course, as well as the author of three health books and a wellness program. She is also an avid yoga practitioner, an amateur golfer, and a world traveler.

Farnoosh and Katie discuss that the first step to determining where to enter the workforce is to ask "Why you want to reenter the workforce."

Getting really clear on that helps you to get to know yourself, understand what's important to you at this stage and what is going to energize and invigorate you at your next role.

Sometimes people know what they DON'T want to do, but they don't know what they do want to do. To find the answer to this question, start by doing an assessment of your skills and abilities. Then ask if you are passionate about it. If you are both skilled and passionate that is an area to focus on finding a role. That's the intersection of your skills and passions.  That is your zone of genius.

The statistics used to be that people would have seven different jobs over the course of their career, but now the numbers say that people will have seven different careers over the course of their working years.

As your deciding what type of work to go back to, it can be helpful to ask about each of your skills: "Is this energizing me?" That's a great question to really help guide you toward doing work that you're happy doing. 

Dina has been in technical recruiting for 10 years and she's agreed to join us today to walk us through the process of doing a technical interview, and this is really important. It's different from a behavioral interview.

This is the part of the interview at a tech company where they will be actively testing your tech skills, and so you want to be at the top of your game. You want to know exactly what to expect and how to prepare and be able to shine in this part of the interview. 

The first thing Dina would say is to ask your recruiter questions:

•  What to expect in the interview. 
• Who are you going to be meeting with? 
• If you can get their titles, if not, take their names and try to look them up on LinkedIn to get a better understanding.
• Appropriate attire.

The recruiter is on your side and they want to see you succeed. 

During the assessment portion of the interview, you will be reviewing your answers with the interviewer(s).

They are looking to see "Why" did you do it that way? But, also they want to see that level of excitement. They want to see how you think about everything. Eventually in the interview, you can expect to not know the answer. Clearly articulate your thought process to get there? Be okay saying, gosh, I don't, I don't know this, but here's how I might go and figure that out. Or here are some of the sources of information I go to when I get stumped like this.

Remember interviews are two-sided. It's not just them interviewing you, it's you interviewing them. Is this the person? Is this the kind of team you want to be on? The technology you want to work on?

Dina, besides being a master at technical recruiting, also does lots of other things, including being the author of a book, and I love this title. "My fat pants don't fit."

The book is being released in early to mid-June and is the story of her life. It starts on the worst day of my life and follows her on a journey of losing 150 pounds getting divorced, falling in love, falling out of love, and ultimately finding like self-love and acceptance. 

In this episode, we discuss the three steps on how you can leverage your uniqueness as a competitive advantage in your job search.

Danielle Pavliv is a Sr. Diversity & Inclusion Manager at SAS where she serves as a thought leader and strategist promoting and executing global diversity & inclusion strategies. She's passionate about creating positive change, advocacy, and inclusion of underrepresented groups in the workplace and community. Danielle has two Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish & French from NC State University and a Master’s in Human Resource Management from the University of Southern California. She is also a Certified Diversity Professional. Danielle lives in Apex with her fur babies: dog, Sugar, cats, Smokey and Mr. Man, and her husband, Matt.

Diversity and inclusion feel like kind of, they were the big buzzwords in 2019 but Danielle was interested in this and working on it long before then.

Danielle shares her story about how she found her career in the field of diversity and inclusion, or really how it found her. She sought out working at her current company because of their views on diversity and inclusion.

We discuss the topic of neurodiversity and why it is a benefit to our workplaces.

The first step is to lean into your uniqueness and be your authentic self from the get-go.

Sometimes we go into an interview and we're a little buttoned up and we just show sort of the nice shiny parts of us and we leave some of our uniqueness behind and think, well, I just got to get in the door there. And Danielle is suggesting to have that a little more on display or be a little more open.

What if you are a candidate who is considered neurodiverse? If you are on the autism spectrum or Asperger's or ADHD? Danielle addresses this topic.

The second step is using your advantage to show your potential employer the value that you bring.

The third step is to be a champion and an advocate.

Danielle talks about why being an advocate and an ally for yourself and for others helps every. Not only you, but your organization, and other people who need help breaking down silos, barriers, and stereotypes.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Get a Job, Here's How, now that you know how to leverage uniqueness as your competitive advantage, go do it. I believe in you.

Mir is a certified professional resume writer and volunteers her time with Dress for Success.

LinkedIn facts: (from Kinsta.com)

1. Users only spend about 17 minutes on LinkedIn per month.
2. 39% of LinkedIn users pay for LinkedIn Premium
3. Only 3 million users (out of the more than 500 million) share content on a weekly basis. This means that only about 1% of LinkedIn’s 260 million monthly users share posts, and those 3 million or so users net the 9 billion impressions.
4. With more than 20 million companies listed on the site and 14 million open jobs, it’s no surprise to find out that 90% of recruiters regularly use LinkedIn.

About 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in upper-level positions (managers, VPs, Directors, C-level).

So, to use all of these statistics to paint a picture: 

There are many more or less “inactive” users on LinkedIn, and there are two main groups of people who use LinkedIn regularly: 

1. Recruiters and hiring managers who are using LinkedIn to find and vet candidates
2. There’s the 1% of the 260 million LI users you talked about, Katie: these are ambitious, career-focused professionals who are using LinkedIn to make connections, to stay informed about trends in their industry, to market themselves for future career opportunities, and to build their personal brand. 

So what I’m excited to talk to your listeners on today’s podcast is how to be one of the one-percenters. 

Katie to introduce the three things.

1. Create a well written, complete, and keyword optimized LinkedIn profile

2. Build your network, give/get recommendations, and follow target companies

3. Engage with others and write/post original content for your network/followers

1. Create a well written, complete, and keyword optimized LinkedIn profile. There are a few components to your LinkedIn page and you want to fully flesh out your entire profile. 

Complete Your Personal Profile.

 LinkedIn research shows that users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities via their LinkedIn activities. Also, LinkedIn takes into account the completeness of your profile in its search algorithm, which means you’re more likely to rank higher on the search results page if your profile is 100% complete.

Get the Headshot Right.

It might be worth hiring a professional photographer to work with you. The photo is crucial. One study used eye-tracking software to find that recruiters spent 19% of their time on any given LinkedIn profile just looking at the photo. So,  it’s important to get it right.

Also, profiles with a photo get up to 21x more views and 36x more messages. You definitely don’t want to leave the photo space blank.

Use good lighting to get a crisp, clean image. Choose the right top, jewelry, hairstyle, and so forth. Smile and look at the camera. Keep the background simple and crop appropriately: head and shoulders. Not too close, not too far away.

I’ve been writing resumes and LinkedIn profiles for 10 years and I think people are now really starting to get the photo right. I used to see a lot more people using photos of themselves in formal wear -- like from a wedding photoshoot, in spaghetti straps or a tuxedo -- or in a much too casual setting -- in sunglasses, with a child, with someone obviously cropped out. 

Use Your Headline to Get Noticed. 

By default, LinkedIn assigns you a headline that consists of your job title @ your company name. So, it might read something like, “Sr. Software Engineer at IBM.” Many people don’t realize that they can use this space more strategically. 

Your headline should clearly explain what you do and who you do it for—in language a hiring manager or recruiter would use. When someone conducts a search on LinkedIn, possibly looking for potential candidates to fill a role, the search results display, at a glance, a few key pieces of information. 

Also, you want to be strategic about keywords; your headline is a great place to include keywords that will position you for the jobs you’re seeking.

What about your job title? There really isn’t one “right” way to address this, but my favorite tactic is to use the headline to promote what you want to do next, while not overtly advertising the fact that you’re not currently working. So, for instance, if your last job was as a project manager, but that job ended five years ago, you put an end date of 2014 on that job and use your headline to say something like: 

Experienced Project Manager

...or go with something more specific and memorable that also builds your credibility, like: 

PMP-Certified IT Project Manager 

For people who want to shift careers, you can’t do too much to change the job titles you have had in the past, but you can use your headline to position yourself for the job you want next. So, for instance, if your career so far has been in one thing and you want to move into another thing, your headline is a great place to highlight that. I’ll use the example of a 12th grade English Language Arts teacher who wanted to leave teaching and get a job with an educational software company as an English language arts subject matter expert. Her headline used to be: 

English Teacher at Sanderson High School

….and, when we gave her a LinkedIn makeover, we changed her tagline to:

Educational Software Development Consultant with an M.Ed. in English Language Arts and 15+ Years of Classroom Experience (remember that you only have 120 characters)

Nail the “About” Section. 

Whatever message you decided to promote in your headline, elaborate on it in your About section. 

Start with a compelling opening statement. If you’ve been on LinkedIn lately, you know that you can only see the first line and a half of the summary and you actually have to click “See more” to continue reading that section. You want to make that first interesting enough to get someone to keep reading. 

Use keywords throughout your summary. You have up to 2,000 characters to play with. Don’t be afraid to inject some personality, tell a story, use a casual, conversational tone, and talk about what makes you unique or what your professional passions are.

Keep it readable by using short paragraphs or bullet points. And definitely highlight your qualifications and skills. These are most likely going to dovetail with some of your most strategic keywords. 

You can find Damian online at www.dgz-coaching.com

And on LinkedIn: Damian Zikakis. 

Damian joins me via skype from Michigan where he runs DGZ Coaching. Damian shares the background of CliftonStrengths (which used to be called StrengthFinder). The CliftonStrengths assessment uncovers your unique rank order of 34 CliftonStrengths talent themes. Your themes are your talent DNA. They explain the ways you most naturally think, feel and behave. Gallup’s research shows that people who know and use their CliftonStrengths are:

   - more engaged at work

   - more productive in their roles

   - happier and healthier

Many colleges and universities have all incoming freshmen take the assessment and provide coaching to help them understand their results. They have found this increases student retention and graduation rates. More and more organizations are using CliftonStrengths with their employees, too, however, it is typically not part of the hiring process. As of last week, over 22 and a half million people have taken the assessment.

Step 1 - 

Complete the CliftonStrengths assessment and read the Insights Report provided by Gallup. There are many resources provided by Gallup including podcasts, videos, blog posts, and books. Additionally, you can hire a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach to help you understand your results. Gallup researchers identified 34 themes of talent and it is helpful to focus on your dominant ones - particularly your Top 5. A cool thing to realize is you aren’t one in a million; you are one in 33 million. Those are the odds of someone else having the same top 5 as you in the same order. Crazy huh?

Coaches like me refer to this step as learning to Name your Strengths.

Katie: my top 5 strengths are Relator, Achiever, Learner, Harmony, Futuristic. I have to admit when I first took this assessment a few years ago and got my results, my first reaction was “No, that’s not me. They got me all wrong.” But the more I learned about it the more I came to see that these strengths describe me quite well. 

Step 2

Claiming your Strengths. What I mean by that is thinking about the things you do in your work that come from your Top 5 Strengths. For example, my number 2 Strength is Learner which means I enjoy the process of learning. I approach work and non-work activities with excitement about the process of learning more about whatever the subject might be. I can’t help it. It is just one of my natural ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. In fact, that is the definition of a Talent - a natural, recurring way of thinking, feeling or behaving. Our Strengths don’t tell us what we do (or what we should do) but rather how we do it.

Katie: I love that step 2 is claiming your strengths because I find that women, in particular, aren’t always comfortable talking about their strengths. But this is so important in a job search. If we can’t tell people what we’re good at, then who will? Just saying something that starts with “I am good at…” or “This is a real strength of mine” can be hard for people. Having the data from an assessment like CliftonStrengths can add to your confidence when you say things like that. So you’re not just tooting your own horn, you’re sharing evidence-backed assessment results!

Q: Can the CliftonStrengths help me identify a weakness I may have and give me some language to talk about that when I’m asked about my weakness in an interview?

A: Absolutely, however, I like to think of them as lesser talents. And this brings up a good point, we can make greater strides in our self-development when we focus our resources on developing our stronger talents into strengths as compared to focusing on fixing weaknesses or trying to develop lesser talents. Let me give you an example that is relevant to the third step. The subject is networking and there is a talent that is great to have if you need to network as part of your job. The talent is WOO which stands for winning others over. For me, WOO is in the middle of the pack. I can network with strangers but it takes energy from me rather than providing energy. So rather than trying to fix that I developed an alternate approach. 

Step 3 - 

and this is where I get the most excited - is Aiming your Strengths. What I mean by that is thinking about the key aspects of a job and how your Strengths allow you to do those things in a particularly effective way that is unique to you. Then decide how to share that with the hiring manager or recruiter. You can highlight them in your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile as well as during networking and interviews. Your Strengths are like your superpowers. Once you learn to harness and focus them, you can do even greater things. And the ability to describe your Strengths and how you capitalize on them, both individually and as part of a team, will set you apart from other candidates.

Wrap-up & Recap:

1. Take the CliftonStrengths assessment and read the Insights Report provided by Gallup. 
2. Claim Your Strengths
3. Aim Your Strengths

You can access the assessment at https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/strengthsfinder.aspx.

You can connect with Damian at damian@dgzcoaching.com. His web address is dgzcoaching.com.

Damian is also available for keynote speaking engagements and he trains groups on CliftonStrengths. 

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Get A Job...Here’s How!" Now that you know how to talk about your strengths in your job search, go do it! I believe in you.

Ellen Dunn is an Account Executive at Glassdoor in Chicago. Ellen has been at Glassdoor for 2 ½ years after starting her sales career at IBM and then moving onto Morningstar. Ellen is a very special guest because she also happens to be my niece! But she’s not my guest today just because she’s family, although that’s a good reason. Ellen is an expert on what Glassdoor offers and is here today to tell us how to become an informed candidate using Glassdoor. I used to think Glassdoor was primarily a place where people went to rate their employers and leave reviews about their experience working at different companies, but it turns out that Glassdoor is much more than that. And if you’re a job seeker, it’s a great resource for you because there’s a ton of information you can find at Glassdoor that will help you become an informed candidate. And everybody knows that informed candidates make better career decisions.

Ellen shares what it is like working at Glassdoor and she also answers the question, do people review Glassdoor on Glassdoor? 

 
And just for fun, we'll read some hilarious glassdoor reviews.

Here are the steps to steps to becoming an informed candidate using Glassdoor: 

1. Read reviews and ratings at the company level. Once you have a company that you think you are interested in applying in, make sure it's going to be a good fit. Search the company on Glassdoor, and read through reviews. Filter by your specific role/location, look for common themes in reviews. Is it somewhere you see yourself?

             
Example: I am an Account Executive, who is not a fan of making 100's of dials a day. During my job search, as reviewing companies, some reviews specifically mentioned the cold calling, 40 dials a day, smile/dial work environment, after reading these reviews, it gave me a better understanding of what companies were going to be a good fit for me, and which ones were worth my time. 

2. Review interview reviews before your interview. After you apply to a job and land that interview, it's time to prepare! Glassdoor hosts a ton of sample interview questions, for you to make sure you are prepared to answer. More specifically, a lot of companies on Glassdoor will have interview reviews from people who have gone through the process. You'll learn about how many people are on their interview panels, is it good cop/bad cop scenario, and any curveballs you should be prepared for.  You have the ability to understand the difficulty of an interview and in some situations specific questions that have historically been asked. This way, you can feel confident and prepared so you can ace that interview.

             
Example: A client of ours requests that after every interview, the candidate goes on and discusses their interview experience on Glassdoor! This one candidate chose to write about an assessment that they were required to take and where she felt she missed the mark, While this candidate didn't get the job she helped provide insight to future candidates and give the company some feedback on that specific recruiter to where they can improve as well. Companies know this information is out there so they want to make sure you are prepared.

Katie: A company that asks candidates to review it after every interview is one that had better have a good interview process and candidate process! That really keeps them accountable if they know they are going to be reviewed.

I heard recently that some new thinking on interview practices involved actually giving candidates a list of questions they might be asked before the interview. That surprised me! But the thinking was that then candidates that came in and didn’t know how to answer the questions they were asked were people who obviously didn’t bother to prepare and not the kind of people you’d want to hire. I don’t think this practice has been widely adopted. But as an interviewee, I love that you can get interview questions off of Glassdoor because that makes it easy to prepare. And that’s one of those things that I don’t think everybody knows you can get from Glassdoor.

Here are some more funny Glassdoor reviews: This is a company local to Raleigh. They have 4 reviews and here are the 4 headlines from those 4 reviews:

1. The embodiment of engineering disappointment
2. Worst company ever
3. Backward management and dated software
4. Sinking Ship

So I think I’ll avoid working there. 

3. Understand Your Worth. You crushed your interview, and have an offer on the table. Is it an appropriate offer? Having an understanding of what the industry is paying, what the company typically pays, and just knowing your worth is leverage for negotiation. Under the salary tab, you can enter the job title in which you are interested in, experience, and location, to get an average salary. This way you know the offer you received is in the ballpark. A candidate has the ability to take an even deeper dive at the company level, to see if there are any salary reviews from current employees, to see if, in fact, the offer amount is on par. Understanding your net worth is something important, as you are working with recruiters, make sure you are vocal with your salary expectation and why.

           
Example: a colleague of mine received an offer letter from a company that was about $15,000 under the average in Chicago. By pulling data on Glassdoor she was able to make a case and negotiate an additional $10,000 confidently with the data pulled on Glassdoor.  

Katie: This is so important. Knowing what you’re worth gives you leverage in a negotiation. And you can’t negotiate successfully if you don’t have current data. I’ve talked a bunch of MBA students through salary negotiations and we always start with collecting the data that justifies asking for more. Glassdoor is a great place to get that information. We kept a database of student salaries and bonuses at UNC and it gave our students a great source of data for negotiating. In the past, most job-seekers wouldn’t have access to a resource like that, but now everyone does with Glassdoor. 

Wrap-Up:

Let’s review the 3 steps to being an informed candidate:

1. Read reviews at the company level. Avoid the “sinking ships” and the “worst company ever”

2. Review interview reviews before your interview - get interview questions so you can prepare and know what to expect. It’s a great feeling to walk into an interview feeling confident and prepared. 

3. Understand your worth and get the data you need to negotiate successfully

Now that you know how to use Glassdoor to become an informed candidate, go do it! I believe in you.

Mir talks about how to work with a resume and LinkedIn profile writer. This is really important because these are your job search tools! Your resume and your LinkedIn profile represent you, they are your face to potential employers. And you can easily get thrown out of the consideration pool for a job if your resume stinks or your LinkedIn profile is lame. Also, Mir pointed out to me earlier that your resume may not even be seen by a human being if it's not optimized to get past applicant tracking system filters.

Working with a resume writer is a great way to ensure that your resume reflects current thinking and trends in hiring. A good resume writer will be a wordsmith, great with language, able to suggest ideas, formatting, action verbs that you might not have thought of.

 If you’re going to invest in a professional to help you with these tools, you want to make the most of your investment by working productively with them. And Mir is going to tell us exactly how to do that.

Career transitions can be so incredibly stressful because they often coincide with other life transitions--job loss, a layoff, a relocation, a divorce, your last child heading off to kindergarten, and so on. 

Sometimes your confidence isn’t as strong as it could be, and I’ve seen that working with my team to write, revise, and finalize that resume leaves people feeling more prepared to speak about their skills and experiences at the interview, more energized about their prospects, and more confident in general.

I’m a firm believer that every job we ever have leaves us with lessons learned and transferable skills. In college, I waited tables at an Italian restaurant and had one of my best managers ever teach me about the importance of ensuring positive customer experience. 

99% of the time, the job seekers who hire my team trust the process and our guidance, and understand how important their input is. In order to create a document that is accurate, persuasive, tailored for the intended audience, and is something that the client is not only excited about, but the client also has to rely on us and we have to rely on the client. It really must be collaborative.

Every now and then, though, we have clients who fall into either one of two camps, and they are on the two extremes of the same spectrum. 

Sometimes we have a client who does not want to be involved at all in the process of writing, revising, and finalizing their documents. Of course, we need to pick your brain, ask you questions, incorporate your answers, and make sure that everything we’ve included in your resume is 100% accurate--from your various jobs’ start and end dates all the way down to how many direct reports you have, what size budgets you manage, and what kinds of outcomes you’ve achieved. 

We can’t write a resume in a vacuum, so I would say one pitfall to look out for when deciding to hire a writer is thinking that this is something you can simply outsource without having to provide any input along the way.

On the other end of the spectrum, we sometimes have a client that doesn’t trust the process and, therefore, doesn’t benefit from all that we can bring to their project. In these instances, the “quote-unquote” “finished resume” often looks a lot like the resume that the client had to start with. That’s because any ideas or suggestions we offered weren’t embraced--or were only adopted in part. In my mind, in these instances, I always wonder, “why did you even hire a writer if you just wanted to write your resume yourself?” So that’s another pitfall to look out for.

What could potentially happen if a job-seeker doesn’t do this the right way?

Well, you’re just not getting the full benefit of the service you’re paying for. Personally, if I’m going to spend money on something, I want to know that I’m getting a great value for the money I’ve spent.

If you can, as a client, come to the table with a truly collaborative spirit, the finished resume and LinkedIn profile will be stronger. After all, you are the subject matter expert in your career, in your industry, in the tools you use, and regarding your career goals. You have to bring that background to the project. 

The expertise that my team and I bring to the project is in knowing the current trends in resume design, understanding how applicant tracking systems work, knowing what hiring managers look for in a resume, experience writing resumes for other professionals in your field, and strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills.

How-To:

Let’s dig in. What would you say is the first step to working productively with a resume and linkedin profile writer?

1. Choose the right resume and LinkedIn profile writer for you.

Ask about who will actually be writing your resume, how much input you will have, how many revisions are allowed, and whether there are any hidden fees (for additional revisions, etc.).

Ask if you can see samples of the writer’s work (both resumes and LinkedIn profiles), read online reviews of the writer/company on sites like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yelp.

Ask about certifications they have and whether they attend their industry's annual professional development conference(s).

Compare prices, compare processes and what/how you'll be asked to provide information (online form vs. phone intake vs. face to face). It’s also a good idea to ask about the writer's experience working with professionals in your field. My company writes resumes for all levels of professionals across all industries, but some writers have a specialty--like military-to-civilian, or IT, or recent grads.

Lastly, you should also have good rapport with the writer, and genuinely feel that he/she is invested in you as an individual job seeker (i.e., you're not just another resume). 

To circle back to something I mentioned earlier in the podcast when we write a resume or a LinkedIn profile for a client, we know that we are helping that person move their career forward. It’s a great privilege to partner in this way with someone. Our clients can feel it, too, because we get tons of thank you emails that tell us just how much they appreciated our dedication. In fact, every Friday on my Facebook and LinkedIn feeds, I post an excerpt from my favorite “thank you email of the week.” These are real notes from real clients in real time, and it gives you a sense of the kinds of relationships we develop with our clients. It’s fun to scroll back through our Facebook feed and see all those client comments.

2. Try to keep an open mind about your writer's ideas and suggestions. After all, you hired this person for their expertise in a resume and LinkedIn profile writer.

I touched on this a little bit earlier, but it’s worth repeating here because it IS so important. 

People hire writers because they don't want (or have the time) to write their job search documents, they feel overwhelmed

Going back to work after taking a career break is different than a typical job search because you have a gap in your work history. I know, this shouldn’t be a disqualifier for getting a job. And it isn’t. Let me say that again, it’s important. Taking time off from work does not mean you can’t go back. But it does require you as a job seeker to have a thoughtful way to talk about what you’ve been doing while you were out of the paid workforce. 

I’m going to throw a few stats at you, just for fun.

Did you know that Women Account for 46.9% of the Total Labor Force in the US? according to Catalyst.

We need to welcome women back to the workforce after taking career breaks. For starters, what’s more important than raising a family or caring for family members who are ill? I can’t think of anything more important. Also, it makes sense for the economy. Catalyst reports that if women’s participation in the global economy were equal to men, the global annual GDP would be $28 Trillion, yes trillion, dollars higher in 2025. 

I want to talk about how to decide what job to take as you return to work. Women ask me a lot if they should just take any job or wait for the right one. So I hear this a lot and it’s a question that I asked myself often as I looked for a job after being out of the full-time workforce for many years.  Here’s the easy answer: It depends. 

Really though, the answer to this question depends entirely on what is motivating you to go back to work, so step 1 in deciding what job to take is to examine your motivation. Motivation is important here.  If you need to start earning income for you or your families’ survival now, then you should take the best job you can find quickly. By “best” I mean highest paying. Life is expensive, kids are expensive and it takes money to survive.  Pure and simple. 

Divorce often forces women back into the workforce, or your spouse might have been laid off. Whatever the situation, if quickly earning income has become your primary motivation, then find a job and bloom where you’ve been planted. You don’t have to stay there forever but my personal rule of thumb is that you do have to do your best while you’re there.  If you sense that you’re just passing through, work diligently so that when you leave you’ll have a great recommendation and can feel good about the work you did.

While the need for money motivates many women to return to work quickly, others find that their timing isn’t quite so urgent. To you folks, I say - lucky you! You have the luxury of waiting for a job that will check more of the boxes for you. You can do the 3 steps of Reflect, Research and Activate that I think are so important to a successful job search.  The Reflection step is of critical importance in a job search because this is the step where you think deeply about your skills, your past experiences, and your current interests and add them all up to set a course for your future.  

I want a career break to become a very normal part of a person’s career (both women and men) and for employers to view these not as breaks from real work, but as opportunities to develop more deeply as people, as parents, or as caregivers of aging parents. Your ability to reflect on what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown during your career break is a key part of finding direction for your job search.   

If you are motivated to return to work by a desire to re-engage your professional self, to grow as a person in a professional capacity, to put your valuable skills to work and to earn a good income while doing so, then you have the luxury to look until you (a) find the right job or (b) find a job that offers a trade-off that you are comfortable taking. Every decision we make is a trade-off between things that are important to us.  

Step 2 in deciding what job to take is being really clear about the trade-off involved. As much as I’d like to think there is a perfect job out there, well, let’s be real! I really think everything is a trade-off. So consider all the implications of the jobs you are considering. 

Compensation, commute, opportunities for advancement, leadership, benefits, how’s the team… If you’re weighing multiple opportunities - lucky you! - then map these things out to see how they compare. 

 The third step in deciding what job you should take is to consider the possibilities of the job in front of you. 

Especially if you’re returning to work after a career break, If your job search is starting to feel like it’s taking a long time, and you’re considering taking the next job that comes along, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Will this job keep me moving forward? (In other words, will I learn here? meet people that will grow my professional network? feel good about the work I’m doing?)
• Can I think of this job as a stepping stone to get me closer to where I’d like to be professionally?

 If you can answer “yes” to any of those questions, then you may have found the right job for you. Honestly, sometimes after a long absence from the workforce, we just need a “starter job” or a job that gets us back into the working world and gets current experience on your resume. You can build it from there. Just get the starting point.

Here’s a related but important question I get a lot from women returning to work:  “Do I have to take a job making less money or with a lower title than I held before I took a career break?”  My guidance is that I want you to aim high, but you must understand that the burden of proving your value to an employer rests with you and only you.  How can you prove that you’re worthy of your previous salary and title?

• By demonstrating that you’ve spent your career break learning and keeping your skills fresh
• By taking courses to refresh your job skills
• By becoming active in a professional association relevant to your field
• By maintaining a network of influential people in your field

 Then develop your personal brand image to illustrate your value.  

And let me add, that I think you totally deserve to not take a salary cut just because you’ve made the decision to focus on other things in life besides your career for a period of time. And you have to believe that you’re worth it too. And you also have to brush up on your negotiation skills if you’re going to go for it with respect to salary. If you don’t ask for more at the time of your offer, you’ve given up a great opportunity. You can’t go back and ask after you accept the job. You have the leverage when they make the offer. That’s the time to show your future employer that you’re well worth a bump in compensation because you know how to negotiate. Sometimes people worry that the job offer will be rescinded if they try to negotiate it. And I think that’s crazy and almost never happens. Now, there’s a right way and a wrong way to approach a negotiation, so enter into this conversation looking for a win-win outcome and you will not lose your offer.

One final thought: When I was job searching, I realized early on that my next job was going to come from someone who knew me personally and not from a resume that I blindly sent out over the Internet.  And this belief changed my job search activities from sitting behind my computer sending out resumes to instead viewing every opportunity to talk s...

Jeremy’s courses and training on tech careers and LinkedIn are used by over 60 schools and 10K students around the globe - from UNC to the Australian Graduate School of Management. He’s been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Lifehacker, Business Insider, and USA Today. That’s pretty impressive. So Jeremy is not only a real expert in helping others land a tech job, he himself made a career change from being a kindergarten teacher to becoming a product manager early on in his career. Jeremy has worked at Apple, and LinkedIn among other cool places and is now the Principal Product Marketing Manager at Khan Academy. Khan Academy happens to be my favorite resource for help with math homework that my kids are doing that I no longer understand. 

Jeremy had a passion for teaching and considered himself to be a self-proclaimed tech nerd and was looking for a way to combine his passions. When he discovered that people without a background in programming and writing code, did, in fact, have a seat at the table in tech organizations and that there were so many types of tech companies beyond what most people consider to be the big organizations he wanted to help others break into the tech field as well.

"You might've been like me, you might've said, if I want to get a job at Google, I have to have gone to Stanford or Harvard. But now with a simple search on LinkedIn, you can find out that 8,000 Googlers went to community college and you could find the exact one who went to your school and reach out to get your foot in the door." - Jeremy

Tell us about one cool way you see technology improving our lives. 

Jeremy tells us how to land a job in tech and he’s got 3 steps to share with us. 

1) How to understand the different tech roles 

2) How to find the right role for you

3) How to break into that role

Listen as Jeremy breaks down the 12 roles in a tech company through a story of Apple's development of an electric car. And none of them require technical expertise! 

You can find Jeremy online at breakinto.tech. If you’re serious about working in tech, especially if you’re making a career change to work in tech, you have to look Jeremy up and take advantage of the great courses and resources he has created. He’s got the formula. Don’t fight it, just go get it! 

Listeners, now that you know how to land a job in tech, go do it! I believe in you!

My guest today is Al Dea. Al is going to guide us through how to prepare for a job interview. This is so important because the interview is your opportunity to shine – to show that hiring manager and the team why they should hire you over every other candidate. It’s also your chance to determine if this company and this role is right for you. 

Al is a product marketing manager at a tech company in San Francisco and he’s the founder of the MBASchooled digital content platform that educates MBA applicants, students and grads with advice on all aspects of the MBA experience. Al earned his MBA at UNC Kenan-Flagler and is now the author of the book MBA Insider: How to Make the Most of Your MBA Experience. The book is available on Amazon for pre-order and will be released on January 28th 2020. Al is also a frequent speaker at top business schools. Welcome Al and thanks for joining me today!

Al, tell us how you got interested in helping people navigate careers and business school. 

I’ve read the book and it’s the guide that when I put on my MBA Career Services hat, I wish every incoming student had as required reading.

3 steps to preparing for a job interview:

1. Do Your Research - know the company, industry, market, competitor landscape, interviewer, role, function, etc

2. Craft You Story - take those insights, and come up with the narrative that you want to tell about how you are the best for the job. Think of yourself as a product on amazon.com - what does a great product story have?

3. Practice Practice Practice - Take the common interview questions and practice them, by yourself, and with someone else. Find the hardest ones, and practice those more. If practicing with someone, have them throw in a few curveballs, just to get the mindset of practicing

Energy / enthusiasm – don’t be afraid to be excited (common feedback from recruiters)

Follow-up

Today we share tips on how and why to join a group if you’re looking for a job. Ellen and I have known each other forever, we both have 4 kids including a set of twins and both have taken time out of our careers to be home with kids.

Find out more about Ellen's current role at  Lazy Lizard Travel If you’re planning a trip, call Ellen!

I’m excited to have Ellen here with me today to talk about How & Why to Join a Job Search Group

We’re going to cover 3 main ideas:

1. How to find a local job search group (including benefits of doing this)
2. How to Join a LinkedIn Group (why you should do this, how to find them, how to participate once you've joined)
3. How to start your own group if you can't find one

Orville Pierson’s book “Team Up!” His research found that people who took part in “job search work teams” got employed 20% faster than those using traditional methods. 

The value of teams in general, not just job search groups: There is research that confirms that when people work together, smartly, it can unleash energy that boosts creativity, productivity, engagement, communication, and efficiency. - from Atlassian.com

Benefits of job search groups:

• Accountability 
• The camaraderie of going through a transition with others
• Motivation, confidence boosting
• Just meeting new people and having to talk about yourself and your career interests is great preparation for interviewing
• Get feedback on your resume and cover letter
• Practice interview skills with mock interviews
• Get ideas about companies or jobs you weren’t aware of
• Learn from other’s mistakes 
• You can get feedback from group members that might help you perform better in interviews
• You might be encouraged to take risks if you know you have the support of your job search group behind you - going for that stretch job for example.
• Get out of the house! Job searching can be isolating, so this is good for your mental health.

A good job search group has structure:

• speakers,
• an agenda for each meeting,
• time for members to meet each other and share contacts and ideas

Biggest benefit: You share your contacts with others in the group and they do the same for you – which can grow your network incrementally

2 good ways to make an introduction:

1.  Email both people, provide a quick background on each and why you are connecting them; then let them take it from there
2.  On LinkedIn: go to a person’s profile, click the More button, the first choice on the drop-down menu is “share profile via message” and you can send that person’s profile to another LinkedIn user via Inmail. I just did this the other day – someone I know applied for a job at a company in Raleigh and saw that I was connected to the recruiter there, so he asked for an introduction and that’s how I did it.

Examples of job search groups:

Churches run job search groups which are often staffed by people with real expertise such as recruiters, hiring managers, etc. who like to give back

MeetUps – there are job search meetups, but there are also Meetups focused on things like social media marketing, project management, and other industries or skill areas. Some bring in speakers each month, most are free or really low cost, and this is a great way to meet people in your field and get advice and introductions.

Back to Business – the growth of a community is a big goal of Back to Business, and we have been able to connect women returning to work after a career break with each other, and with employers. This year I’ve also been doing a lot of connecting people inside companies who have started returnship programs with people at other companies who want to start these programs. Total win-win! 

Conferences – you can meet people and start your own group. At Back to Business conferences we seat women at tables with others by zip code so you’re sitting with people who live near you. One woman organized others at her table to start a monthly group that met for lunch and to hear a speaker. It went on for over a year, women cycled out as they got jobs, but word had spread and they were replaced with others who were looking for a job.

Professional Associations often have job search groups. For example, in Raleigh, the Triangle chapter of the American Marketing Association has a job search group called Transitions Mastermind. They bring in a speaker each month, it’s very structured, each meeting starts with everyone introducing themselves and telling the group about their background and what they’re looking for so others can share contacts or ideas that could be helpful.

Other groups you can join:

• Your college alumni group
• Some companies have alumni groups (IBM, consulting firms)
• There is a group for everything!

LinkedIn Groups –

• Get virtually connected to others to expand your network
• These are targeted audiences 
• Stay up to date on your career field:

how to find groups: click the work icon on the top menu bar, then click the group's icon. This will show you the groups you already belong to and at the bottom will say Search other trusted communities that share and support your goals.

If you click that it will recommend groups based on what LinkedIn thinks are your interests (which is based on the companies you follow, keywords in your profile, your LinkedIn activity)

Or search for groups using a keyword in the search 

How to contribute: 

Get in the habit of commenting daily on other’s posts, posing thoughtful questions and asking for responses, and liking and sharing other’s posts that you found helpful; remember to keep your contributions relevant to the group’s purpose

Benefits: 

• you will become known in that space as a contributor, hopefully, a positive one, and that enhances your own personal brand. 
• You also can get access to people with expertise in this way and you can ask them questions and learn from them.

 Starting your own group if you can’t find one:

• Invite job seekers to join your group - you could put an invitation on NextDoor or Facebook if you don’t know anyone personally to invite
• Find a location: coffee shop, library, free co-working space
• Have a leader: to handle scheduling, securing a venue, getting a speaker, communicating with members. This could be a rotating duty or you could have 1 person handle this.
• Meet consistently: follow-through is the key to being effective!
• Set ground rules for the group: stay positive, make sure it’s a give and take.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Have you ever gone to a networking event but then didn’t know what to do when you got there, or worse, hid in the bathroom and then left early? Has anyone out there done that? You’re not alone, I can promise you that!  It doesn’t feel good when you’re hiding in the bathroom, because you feel like you’re letting yourself down somehow. And let’s admit it, it feels kind of loser-ish when you do that. Is that a word – loser-ish? It is now. 

Our guest today is Caitlin Hooks and she is going to save us all from that awkward-ness by telling us how to make the most of a networking event. 

Caitlin Hooks is the Director of Client Development for Technology Solutions at Greene Resources here in Raleigh. Greene Resources is a recruiting firm, started 19 years ago by Gary Greene who seems to be involved in just about every community event in the Raleigh area. They have offices in Raleigh and Wilmington and have a fantastic reputation as a great firm to work with, both for companies and job-seekers. 

Caitlin is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill where she worked with the sports programs, then spent a few years working in campus ministry at ECU before joining Greene Resources as a Recruiting Coordinator, then a Technical Recruiter and then moving up the ranks to her current role as the Director of Client Development for Technology Solutions. Caitlin is also a CrossFit coach, so you know the energy level is pretty off-the-charts here!

Caitlin talks about her pretty massive career change from campus ministry to recruiting and how did she made that shift?

I met Caitlin at a networking event! And then, at every networking event I’ve been to since, I’ve seen Caitlin! So I can tell you that I’ve seen her in action and she is fantastic at meeting people and building relationships, which is what networking is supposed to be. 

Caitlin shares about why she chose the topic of networking and why she believes it is critical for those building a network or looking for a position. 

The How-To Process:

Caitlin drops a few gems about how to make the most of a networking event:

What are your 3 steps to making the most of a networking event?

·       Step 1: Research thoroughly

·       Step 2: Engage pointedly

·       Step 3: Follow up strategically

We also discuss things you should not do or stop doing at a networking event.

Caitlin shared her go-to networking events for the Triangle area:

• WRAL TechWire for networking events
• NC Tech Events
• RIOT Events
• The Startup Summit

"I recently attended the TEDx Cary Women event and that was fantastic! It had all the elements of a great networking event: It was really well-organized, it brought people together with a common interest of hearing TED Talks, mostly by women and many on issues that are of particular interest to women, they had great food! And it was just so easy to meet people there and have great conversations." - Katie Dunn

"Sometimes people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them they have to get out there and meet people to be successful in their job search. It sounds uncomfortable, so thanks for breaking this down into an easy-to-follow-process." - Katie Dunn

Thank you to Caitlin, for telling us all how to make the most of a networking event! No more hiding in the bathroom! 

Now that you know how to make the most of a networking event, go do it! I believe in you!

If you’re looking for a job, I want you to know how to get started and just what to do next. I’m going to give you 3 things to do to get started: These are 3 action items. How did I come up with these? Well, for starters, I have been in your shoes, looking for a job. And I made a lot of mistakes that I hope to prevent you from making. I’ve also coached MBA students at a top-ranked business school on job search skills, and I’ve taught a job search class. In order to be good at that job, I’ve probably read just about every article on job search ever written, and I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates for admission to the business school. I also have recruiting experience, have coached women returning to work after taking a career break and have been a hiring manager, so I know what it’s like to be on both sides of the job search equation.  So let’s go! 

Here’s how you can get started on your job search (1) define your personal brand,  (2) make personal connections and (3) make yourself visible. Let’s dig into these.

Step  #1 – Define Your Personal brand. You must know who you are and what you have to offer. How do you do this? Well, think about your strengths, your skills, and what you enjoy….  If you’ve been out of the workforce for any length of time, maybe as a stay at home parent, defining your personal brand might start with properly valuing the work you are doing for your family, schools, churches and wherever else you’ve been using your skills as a volunteer. You probably did things during this time that helped you develop new skills you can use in the paid workforce. I like to say “paid workforce” because I know that being a stay-at-home-parent involves a lot of work that you don’t get paid for with money. You get paid in other ways of course. It’s so rewarding. Those were my favorite years, being home with my kids. 

OK, so back to your personal brand. Define your point of differentiation. Knowing who you are and what you have to offer means knowing what makes you different, what your unique point of differentiation is. 

I want you to Develop a one-liner that captures the key skills that make you unique and valuable to a potential employer. Here are a few examples:…

I’m a marketing manager and I’ve worked with 3 different web application software products. 

I’m a project manager with expertise in Project and program planning, scheduling, budgeting and estimating for tech companies.

I specialize in research for medical device companies and I oversee clinical research studies and ensures compliance.

Once you have your one-liner, practice using it when you introduce yourself to people at conferences or events or when people ask you what you do for a living.

So step 1 to getting started with your job search is to develop your personal brand. 

Step  #2 – Make personal connections.  You have to use and grow your network.

There’s a guy who built a robot to apply to jobs by submitting customized emails with his resume and cover letter. His name is Robert Coombs and he wrote an article in Fast Company magazine called I Built A Bot To Apply To Thousands Of Jobs At Once–Here’s What I Learned. This is one of my favorite articles on the job search because it illustrated so perfectly why applying to jobs blindly online is a waste of your time. We’ll put a link to the article in the notes for this episode.

Robert built this bot because he knew that only robots or Applicant Tracking Systems would read his resume on the other side. He applied to 538 jobs in 3 months. Result: 43 companies reached out to him to request an interview and these were all small companies that didn’t have an ATS screening resumes. His conclusion – you’ll never get a job submitting resumes blindly online. Although I might add that if you are applying to a small company, there is a higher likelihood that a human will read your resume and cover letter.

Why can’t you get a job responding to online job ads? Because it’s estimated that 80% of jobs are never posted– and that percentage is even higher for senior-level jobs. The most efficient way to get a job is through networking.

You’ve probably heard people say that It’s wise to pursue companies not jobs – and this really means pursue people. To go about this in an organized way, make a list of target companies you’d like to work for. Then find people who work there. Invite them to coffee. Do informational interviews. Remember, there’s Less competition if the job is not posted.

When a job is posted,  if you’re not a perfect fit, you won’t be selected. THAT’S WHY YOU HAVE TO GET OUT FROM BEHIND YOUR COMPUTER TO GET A JOB.  Even if you have the skills and experience, you are probably not the only one who does. So you’ll need to know someone at the company who will advocate for you. In order to meet those people, you have to attend events, introduce yourself and talk to people. Applying to jobs on job boards is a very safe activity but it’s very ineffective. Please don’t waste your time. This is a mistake I made. Now I know better.  If you’re going to apply to a job on a job board, you have to find an advocate inside the company to put in a good word for you.

Let me tell you about a person we hired for my team when I worked in the career center at a big university.  It was a man I met a year and a half ago at a conference for MBA students. I was there with my MBA students and he was there with students from an international business school. We connected on LinkedIn and stayed in touch after the conference. When I had this opening on my team that was hard to fill and I saw on LinkedIn a post that he was leaving his job to move back to the US to be closer to family. I reached out to tell him we had this opening and that we’d be interested in having him apply. He got the job!  Another job earned through networking!

If you are a career switcher, or you’ve taken a career break, you are what they call an “Out-of-the-box hire”. And people who are switching careers or take career breaks rarely get jobs through online applications. They get jobs when someone who knows what they’re capable of decides to advocate for them at their company.

And here’s my favorite rule of making personal connections. When you meet someone and they take the time to talk to you about their job or their company, always ask “What can I do for you?”  

So step  #2 is Make Personal Connections. I hope I’ve convinced you to stop spending time applying to random jobs online. Work through your network instead. 

Key #3 is to make yourself visible.  Here are a few ways to do that:

·       Find Meet-ups in your area where professionals who do what you want to do go to learn and share ideas

·       Join a professional association

·       Find a networking group

·       Volunteer for pro bono work with a non-profit in your field

·       Invite people out for coffee, lunch, drinks who you can learn from or who work at companies you’d like to work at

You should be out a few nights a week if you're actively job searching.

Tap your network to keep it active  -  having an active network is going to be key to finding a job.

When I was looking for a job, I went to a meet...

Each episode tackles a different step in the job search process as Katie and her guests share three steps to help you win at finding your dream job. Katie will be with you every step of the way: She's been a career coach and a recruiter and now her number one priority is helping you get your dream job. Katie has coached hundreds of people through their job searches so she knows what she's talking about, and when she doesn't, she brings on a guest who does! Let Katie teach you "How to". This is not pie in the sky, we are actually going to tell you exactly how to do it. And now that you know how, go do it. I believe in you!