Career Tip: References and Your Job Search

Obtain your references just ahead of starting a job search or right at the beginning of a “forced” job search.  Your first three to four references should always be professional, as what companies really want to know is how well you perform in the workplace.  For instance:  what were you best at in your prior work, are you dependable, do you have the skills required by the potential employer, do you complete projects on time, do you manage your time well, are you a self-starter?, etc.  Personal references should also be someone who can talk about your work ethic, how you get along with others, and dependability.  They should not be your drinking buddy, the person you haven’t seen in 10 years, or an individual who can’t answer the “biggest weakness” question without torpedoing your candidacy.  Never use an individual as a reference you haven’t spoken with personally; no one wants a surprise call suddenly asking for a reference about you.  Quality references significantly improve your chances of being hired, so select them wisely.  To your job search success!

Career Tip of the Week

Never use company resources to hunt for another job.  This includes your time at work, company cell phone, company computer, company car, copier, paper, pens and pencils, etc.  Every time you use company time or resources to hunt for a job, essentially you are stealing from your current company.  Take the high road and use your lunch time, break time, before and after work and weekends to search for a job. 

Career Tip: Take Your Break

Workers often post and bloggers frequently write articles about employees not taking breaks or their lunch hour in the workplace.  Think about it, all that wasted break time when you could refresh your coffee, eat your lunch, chat with a friend or loved one on the phone, play a game, take a walk, or just veg out.  Your breaks are not paid time, technically you have a four hour work day with a half-hour break, or an eight hour work day with two half-hour breaks, which means a half hour for lunch and two 15 minute breaks during the day or however you would like to break that time up.  Besides the obvious problem of working and not truly being paid, you are actually making things worse for your productivity and mood by not taking those rest opportunities at work.  

Recharging your batteries during the day is important and if you constantly work through lunch and your breaks you will often work slower, make more mistakes, have less patience for issues that come up, and begin to suffer from burn out.  Take your breaks, for both yourself and your company and see your productivity and attitude improve.  To your career success!

Career Tip of the Week

When applying online you will often see the same questions repeated in job applications.  Save yourself some time by keeping those answers to copy and paste into other applications.  You can save them in Microsoft Word or another convenient program of your choice.  Many online applications can take an hour or more to complete, so any time you save benefits your schedule.  To your job search success!

Career Tip of the Week

When creating your LinkedIn profile, other social media, blog posts, and on your career documents (resume/cover letter/reference listing), use proper name capitalization.  I often see resumes and LinkedIn profiles with names in all lower case, which can have a negative influence on your job potential.  Showing your understanding of proper capitalization and when it is used, particularly with your own name will help you significantly in making a great first impression on paper or online.  Here is a terrific resource on when, and when not, to capitalize: http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/10-rules-of-capitalization.html 

To your career success!

Career Tip: Get a Professional Opinion

People tell you all manner of false information in a job search, including "resumes are dead," "you only need a one page resume," "LinkedIn is just like Facebook," "a cover letter isn't important," and "if you apply to enough jobs online through job boards you will get a job."  Listen to real experts in a job search, not friend, family and acquaintance opinions.  While the aforementioned are well-meaning, they will make your job search longer, more frustrating, and potentially unsuccessful.  Get the facts from an experienced career professional if you have questions.  To your job search success!

CAREER TIP: Detach From Your Technology

Detach from tech on evenings, weekends and vacations. When you never “leave” work or social networks you become numb to information and less productive in your work.  Constant use of tech devices has been linked to higher stress, anxiety, and depression which leads to lowered work performance and decreased job satisfaction.  Give your mind a break – try working each day after a night off without work emails and social media overload and watch your productivity soar. 

CAREER TIP – Make Networking Less Stressful

Afraid of networking?  Take a friend with you.  Going to an “event” can seem very intimidating, particularly if you are somewhat shy.  Having a friend along gives you an automatic “group.”  If the friend happens to be more outgoing, you will have the added benefit of them making introductions as well. 

CAREER TIP – Track Those Career Results

Track all of your work achievements monthly: projects completed, new projects assigned to, sales numbers, new clients, documents written, inventory managed, budgets managed, etc. It will make resume updating easier and help you prepare for performance reviews. 

Career Management Quotes of the Week!

“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” – Arianna Huffington

“Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

Career Tip: The Advantage of being Cross-Functional in the Workplace

When looking at resumes I want to see that an individual is more than a one-trick pony.  I want them to have skills in multiple areas that help them to function and fit into more than one role within an organization.  Company's want their employees to take advantage of additional one-on-one training and internal professional development programs to obtain an increased skillset, but too often employees won't take advantage of this additional instruction.

You risk your career security when you can only do "your job" and can't or won't do others within the organization that expand your experience and make your more indispensable to a company.  Many of the layoffs that have happened in recent years have been of individuals who fill only one role, or refuse to learn new skills.  Open your mind, utilize the supplementary training and professional development your company offers, and watch your career grow.  To your career success!

Resume Tip: Action Verbs

Using action verbs on a resume should be something most people have learned by now, but I still see many resumes without these important, accomplishment oriented words.  Instead of saying "duties included" or "responsibilities were" to start bullets points on your resume, try using various forms of manage, create, implement, communicate, research, analyze, organize, coordinate, market, and coach.  In showing a potential employer that you actually did the task, not just talking about the task in general, you give them the vision of you having that real-life, on-the-job experience.  Be careful not to reuse these action verbs repeatedly; which means you will want to get out that old thesaurus or use the one in Microsoft Word to help you choose the right synonyms to develop a document full of diverse actions verbs.  If all else fails, go to Google and type in "action verbs" and you will see many lists for use by jobseekers writing resumes.  To your job search success!  

Career Tip: Ask and You May Receive…

Always end your cover letter, just like any marketing letter, by asking for the sale.  In this case you want to ask for an interview.  Consider using something like “Please contact me at your earliest convenience concerning the Sales Executive position at ABC Company.”  You not only requested an interview, you personalized with the specific job title and company name.  Let them know you want the position and that you pay attention to the details.  To your job search success!

Career Tip: Track Your Project Participation

Project Management seems to abound in just about all job types now and your work in those projects can have a significant impact on your career, and in a job search.  Although the phrase Project Management used to mean a technical or construction project, it now encompasses any large project that an organization undertakes, regardless of nature.

To maximize your project involvement, keep notes on important projects you have participated in at work, including your specific role.  Track successes in the initial development of the project concept, gathering any requirements, meeting timelines and budget targets, implementation, any training you might have performed, documentation developed, project methodologies employed, and any software used.

From performance reviews and promotion possibilities, to raise requests and job searches, documenting your role in a project and the various achievements throughout its lifecycle can reap huge dividends in your career.  To your career success!