When I was on unemployment, I was really happy. Don’t get me wrong, I love having my own business but getting paid to meet people, learn new things, think about my potential, help people and so on was great.
If you are unemployed, do you see yourself as lucky? Are you having fun? Are you showing your children how to thrive in times of change? (Believe me, whatever changes you have seen in your life will be child’s play compared to what they will go through.)
Put on an elaborate puppet show for your kids (fun, colorful socks work great)
Join (or start) a book club and actually read the assigned books
Write a thank you note to an inspirational high school or college teacher
You may or may be surprised at all the “yes buts” I hear everyday. “I would join a book club but when I go back to work I won’t have time.” ” Why should I help someone else, I need help!)” blah, blah, blah. Just do it, you lucky, lucky dog.
“We systematically overestimate the value of access to information and underestimate the value of access to each other.” C. Shirky
I admire Clay Shirky. Not because he’s smart or because he’s at MIT but because he has common, human sense.
When I speak to groups about Social Media, I work hard to make sure that they understand the difference between the power of social (connectedness) and the web 2.0 toolkit (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc.) The real revolution is not in the toolkit, it’s in the way we can care for and about each other.
Social media changes everything but ONLY for those who understand it. I like this because it means that selfish people think that social media is a stupid waste of time. They’ll never realize the benefits and that’s as it should be.
In a recent article in Fast Company titled, For Brands, Being Human Is The New Black the author points out that, “more and more, brands are gaining traction by embracing qualities like honesty, kindness, and simply having a sense of humor about themselves.” Hmmm… it makes me sad to think that these qualities are ‘in fashion’ now which implies that they will ‘go out of fashion.’
But I have faith because I see the younger generation of leaders and entrepreneurs using their ‘digital native’ abilities to make the world a better place. The rest of us can learn a thing or two.
Can we all agree that the whole job search/career thing has changed, um completely? If you happen to have one of those jobs (academia?) that isn’t changing…well, just hold on to your hats; your time is coming.
For the rest of us, whether we are 25, 40 or 55…we are wondering what to do. This terrific article by Thomas Friedman, the well-respected economist, speaks directly to the issues . Here’s an excerpt…
While employers “are hiring; they are increasingly picky” and are “all looking for the same kind of people” — those “who not only have the critical thinking skills to do the value-adding jobs that technology can’t, but also people who can invent, adapt and reinvent their jobs every day… Professionals need an entirely new mind-set and skill set to compete.”
So, exactly what skills do you need to have in order to meet this new challenge? Here’s my take:
Change agent – not just able to cope with change but create it – constantly
Collaborator – find the right people to do the job and then work together a way to get it done – fast, seamlessly and on a shoe string
Teacher/Student – learn everyday, on every project from all collaborators. See what works and what doesn’t and then help guide the team – either from a leadership or participant role – to success.
These are the skills that I am building – what would you add?
Ok, you need to have a resume if you are looking for a job and all those things the ‘experts’ tell you about resumes are true.
-Tailor your resume to the job
-Don’t ANNOUNCE that you are dinosaur (older like me) or just out of school
But you don’t have to use the same old format that everyone else uses. You can (and should) be creative with your resume. For instance, make sure that you have live links in the electronic version so the person reviewing it can easily link through to company websites or other content.
Orange resumes is a cool site that helps you create resumes that show a potential employer how you are different. As you look through the samples, you’ll see that you can create something “different” that is also very good, appropriate and even enhances your positioning.
I know you’re saying, but those resumes are for creative types and I’m an
enginneer/finance person/blah blah
Let’s go back to the goal of your resume… hmmm… The goal is to get an interview.
If you create an interesting, results-oriented resume that also shows you are creative and the organization doesn’t want to talk to you, then maybe you don’t want to work there. Just sayin….
Stereotypes are not usually helpful. In some cases, however, examining our own attitudes about them may teach us some important lessons.
Executives teams often complain to me about their 20-something (Millenials- born between 1980 – 1995) employees. They claim they are:
- Obsessed by their phones, lazy, distracted, self-absorbed and entitled
I don’t happen to share those attitudes but I can see their point. I work with, teach and constantly learn from Millenials. I find them hardworking, thoughtful and eager to learn. Technology (phones etc.) are part of their DNA.
Here’s what I hear from those Millenials about their Boomer (born 1946 through 1964) bosses. They say Boomers are:
- Rigid, rude (poor listeners), afraid of technology and unable to adapt to changing times
I don’t happen to share those attitudes either, but I do see their point. I suggest reading this article to learn more about the issues of the generations working together, “How Has the Recession Shaped Career Attitudes…”
My hope is that by having the generations share ideas and help each other, we can compete effectively not with other Americans, but with the global workforce. I’m interested in your stories about effective cross-generational work environments.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/455111587/ Notice in the photo that despite their differences; they are riding on the same train… heading in the same direction.
Last week we talked about what the regulators are doing. Now I’m going to share some real sad but true stories from the social realm. You may or may not agree with the decisions described here but that’s not the point. What’s important is to understand that –this is reality. I have heard each of these stories first hand. Here we go…
— A CEO described interviewing a young man and liking him. After the young man left, the CEO decided to go online and ‘Google’ him. (Yes, that’s a verb now, to Google.) Here’s what he read on Facebook. “I just had an interview at xyz company. The company is a dog but I’m sure they are going to make me an offer which I’ll take while I keep looking.” He didn’t get the job and probably to this day doesn’t know why.
– A graduate student getting his Master’s in teaching began doing his student teaching. After about 3 weeks, he was called by HR and told he was being terminated. When he asked why, he was told that photos ‘unbecoming’ a teacher were found online. They found pictures of him on his Facebook page drinking a beer (he was over 21) in a public park.
I live in New York, an ‘at will’ employment state, which means that any employer can ‘let go’ any employee without cause. (ok, that’s not the legal terminology).
Bottom line: Pay attention folks. It’s not a conspiracy but they are out to get you.
I talk to job seekers about the power of social in their search. Most people embrace it at some level. Others tell me how stupid it is. That’s cool, do it however you want!
The company is looking for publicly available information on site like Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and Craigslist. It isn’t looking for ‘dirt’ per se but to find out whether you, as a potential employee, would give the potential employer heartburn or worse. In other words, are you trustworthy?
If the company … “finds out you’re pregnant, or gay, or a Muslim, or newly married, or a newly gay married to a pregnant Muslim, it leaves that out of its report. All an employer sees is, basically, that you passed or failed.”
So how will this change how we post, rant or connect? The roller coaster ride just got a little bumpier. What do you think?
Photo credit: many thanks to Steve John, found via Escape into Life.com — from the iPhone of New Media Artist Steve John
When I speak locally, there are usually a few people who come up and ask to connect with me. It may take a while but I try to meet everyone who asks me. I like meeting new people and it helps me reach my goal of meeting 5+ new people a week. Do you have a goal to meet a certain number of new people a week? Whether you are a business owner or a job seeker, meeting new people is critical.
Most job seekers don’t really have any idea of who they want to meet. Whether you call it your “marketing plan” or target list – please know who you want to meet, and not just oh the hiring manager after you have a particular job in your sights. If you’re not sure, get a job search buddy or join a networking group to help you and here are a few ideas.
Think about people in your current, related or desired fields who have a good reputation and are in:
– Academia or are Vendors/Suppliers or Sales People
Think about targeting people in companies where you might be interested in working. Get introduced to people who are in leadership positions in non profits or on Boards of nonprofits and individuals who teach skills you are interested in learning. And last but not least, meet with people who know a lot of people (network with networkers!) Use Linked In to find the names of people you want to meet.
When I attend a networking event, I am usually there to meet someone I have identified as a potential contact. Someone I hope to help so that they will remember me when they need a consultant. Make that list, check it twice and go out and meet some new people. You’ll be glad you did.
People in transition are at different stops along the “finding work again” route. What stage are you: denial, anger, why me, who cares, yikes I need money, holy smokes why didn’t keep up my network, this is cool, etc. Do you think of this as an opportunity or are you fighting it? You have a chance to learn many new things, so go for it!
Interviewing is a skill, like cooking or swinging a golf club. To be good at it you need to practice. So whether you’re in an active search or not, you need to practice interviewing.
At your next interview think about:
Asking, ‘why this is a great place to work?’ Watching body language for signs of discomfort from the interviewer? Asking about culture? technology?
Are you leading the conversation in a way that is to your advantage or are you letting the HR person/hiring manager set the agenda?
Here’s another great question to ask:
“Are there any skills that you would have liked for me to have but we haven’t discussed yet?” (Seems a little risky right?) When my contact (thanks Jason!) asked this question in a recent interview… the person mentioned business writing skills. He had a chance to send a writing sample along with the thank you note. By the way, they scheduled his next interview before he left the first. How’s that for results?
Oh my but the world of job search is changing in so many ways, I feel like my head is going to explode. This article, “How Real Time Web Changes Job Search,”is jammed full of ideas, websites and concepts relating to job search.
If you are in HR or looking for work; you need to read this article. Here are just few of the highlights:
- On Twitter alone “more than a million tweets about job openings go out every month from 6,000+ employers and 7,700+ job channels via TweetMyJOBS.com
- The traditional job board is disappearing and being replaced by ‘direct sourcing’ which is when hiring decision-makers “identify, reach out to, engage, and convert” only the highly desirable candidates. Passive candidates become the new gold. The better your digital footprint, the easier you’ll be to find.
- Job sites are adding “Who do I know”? buttons to their sites so you can see who you know at a company without going to Linked In.
And one of my favorites… Paid Interviews.com. It actually pays candidates when they successfully interview (read: get hired) and has a virtual water cooler feature which is “a place for candidates to talk about their past employment experiences, it’s like Amazon product ratings, but for companies. It’s a place where you can get unbiased answers about employers around the world.”
If you’re a company with a lousy culture… the good old days might be evaporating before your very eyes. Between sites like paidinterviews.com and glassdoor.com and social networking; hiding is going to get tougher. Ahhh, transparency. Welcome.
When I was on unemployment, I was really happy. Don’t get me wrong, I love having my own business but getting paid to meet people, learn new things, think about my potential, help people and so on was great.
job search, Life Transitions | Deborah | 
September 6, 2011 8:56 am | 
Comments (2) 
I talk to job seekers about the power of social in their search. Most people embrace it at some level. Others tell me how stupid it is. That’s cool, do it however you want!
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