5 mistakes to avoid when Networking

Posted by dankeller in job tips | Comments Off

We all know that part of the job search invlolves networking. So how do you master networking and maximize its benefits? If you’re approaching potential contacts in an offhand way, you may be putting them off entirely. Here are five common networking mistakes, read up so you do not make them.

• Do not be unprepared- You should treat networking the same as a job interview. Practice your pitch as well as your answers to questions about your career goals that might arise.  You wouldn’t come unprepared to a job interview. Well, each point of contact with someone professionally is like an interview. If you’ve set up a one-on-one meeting or business lunch, research your contact and her company in advance. This will prepare you to add value to any conversation and be engaging so you don’t come off as a leech.

• Don’t be a Jerk-  While you’re networking, you need to listen to what everyone else is saying. People help by offering advice. They are not interested in hearing how much you already know.  Only contribute to a conversation if you have something valuable and relevant to add.   Do not treat the conversation like it is all about you. Doing so,  says that your either a showoff or uninformed, two things no potential contact will like.

• Don’t be a slob – It is important to look sharp at networking events. Mind your manners, shake hands firmly, stand up straight, make eye contact and show respect in any way you can. A networking event can be a dress rehearsal for a job interview, but no one will help you get your foot in the door if you give the impression that you’ll slouch through it once it’s open. Think that it might be a more casual dress code? Don’t dress down unless you’re 100% certain. Being overdressed is always better than being underdressed. Even if you look a little out of place, you’ll stand out in a good way.

• Don’t be anti-social- Men and women with contacts and power meet many people; they remember only those who stand out from the crowd. Be assertive, and act like a leader. But don’t go overboard. You want to convey self-assurance, not obnoxiousness.

• Don’t think short term- No one likes to be used. Follow up every conversation with a thank-you note, email or call. Let your contact know whether his suggestions panned out or not. When your job search ends – for whatever reason – inform the person who has helped you. Networking never (or at least should never) end. Your paths may cross again. 

There you have it, 5 mistakes to avoid when networking.  Remember, networking is the best way to get a new job, so get out there and meet some people.

Ace the Interview- Hire a career coach

Posted by dankeller in Interviewing | 1 comment

I have been in the recruiting and staffing industry for well over a decade now.

I have personally interviewed thousands of candidates and placed thousands of people into positions in many industries. Throughout these interviews, I have developed a very important skill: I know exactly what interviewers are looking for and what turns them off.

I left the traditional recruiting world several years ago to become a professional resume writer and career coach and now I consult with clients and let them know about these interviewing secrets. I conduct mock interviews and critique everything my clients say and don’t say. The practice interviewers are essential for success and have helped hundreds of people land the job.

Here are some observations that will hopefully help you in your job hunt.

CONFIDENCE: Be confident in your mannerisms and your speech. When you answer questions don’t use the word ‘think.’ For example, do not say “I think I’m good at…..”. Instead, say “I am great at …..”. It’s these little differences between a subpar response, and an excellent response. Companies want to hire people that are confident at demonstrating their skills. “Thinking” you are good at something will not do the trick.
BE POSITIVE: Always be positive, especially when talking about a past employer. I was coaching a very talented and I asked him to tell me why he was looking for a new position. He responded (and this is verbatim):
“I am not happy with the way my is being run company is run and I find it difficult to get along with my boss.”
This is a very negative and the WRONG response. My first thought was maybe he is difficult to work with and/or difficult to manage. It also seems that maybe he is unable to adapt to change.

The better response would have been:
“I am not unhappy in my current role but I am looking to join a company where I have more opportunities to develop. This position interests me because…….”
As you can see, the tone is very different. It is positive and forward looking. I response like this is likely to get you a second interview.
DON’T UNDERSELL YOURSELF: I conducted a mock interview last week with a recruiter who was looking to transition from agency to corporate recruiting. I asked her what her strongest strength was. Her response:
“My knowledge of the Medical industry. I’ve become an expert because I worked on both sides: the agency side and the corporate side. So I have been exposed to both sides of the industry.”
That is a bland response. How about this:
“One of my biggest strengths is my extensive knowledge of the Medical Industry. I’ve honed my expertise from two perspectives: 1 – the agency side and 2 – the corporate side. Because of this unique perspective, I was asked to participate in new hire training for my company that was rolled out nationwide.”
Again subtle nuances will make all the difference.

Twitter Job Search Tools

Posted by dankeller in job hunting | Comments Off

I wrote a post last month about why you need to use Twitter as part of your job search arsenal.  Today I want to show you how.  Twitter recently opened up their code which allowed other companies to create apps that make the Twitter experience more user friendly and useful.  Here are some of the best new Twitter tools that will help you land your next job:

Twitter Job Search- This is a job search aggregator for Twitter.  They have compiled over 160,000 new jobs in the last 30 days.  I would say that over half of the jobs are technology related, but there are jobs in almost every category you can think of.

Tweet My Jobs- This is one of the coolest and most popular Twitter job services.  The site basically is a meeting place for recruiters, company hiring managers, and candidates.  The site breaks down the jobs into specific categories and also segments them by location.  What you do is actually subscribe to the categories that make sense to you and when a new job is tweeted, you will receive a text message.

TweetBeep- This is one of my favorite services and I use it every day and it is especially useful for job hunting.  TweetBeep is very similar to Google alerts.  You set up your keywords and ever time that word appears on twitter an alert is sent out to you.  If you want to know every time a job in recruiting pops up, you can get an email every hour or once a day if you prefer.

I also find the “old fashioned” approach works well also.  What I mean by this is following various Twitter-ers that send out job alerts.  My favorites are:

@GreenJobScene- for green jobs

@JobShouts- for general job tweets

@JobAngels- jobs alerts for the unemployed

If you are not using Twitter, you should start now.  It takes less than a minute to get started and a couple of minutes a day can do wonders for your job search.

SEO Jobs

Posted by dankeller in Job Boards | 3 comments

I had the opportunity to review a relatively new niche job board today. As you know there seems to be job sites for every specialty niche out there. The area of SEO is no exception. If you are not an Internet related field you may not be familiar with the term SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it relates to optimizing your website so that it ranks well with the search engines. The better your site ranks, the more traffic you will get and the more successful you will be. This is a very narrow field and experts are in high demand. I actually hired an SEO consultant to help me with my job board and let me tell you, it was not cheap.
SeoJobsFinder.com is the leading job board for employers to find SEO talent and for candidates to find SEO jobs . The site was created only four months ago to fill a void in the marketplace and has since risen to become the top site in this micro-niche. I had a chance to spend time on the site and I was very impressed with the ease of use and navigation. The layout is clean and simple and there is no clutter. This is big for me as I can’t stand job boards with clutter. People go to job boards to find jobs and information and I really appreciate sites that deliver that front and center on the home page. The search functionality is strait forward and easy to use as well. I did a quick search on “SEO and New York” and several target new jobs popped right up. I did notice that this site in International in scope with a jobs in England, Unites States, India, Australia, and many more countries.
The site also provides usual articles and content that provides value to the jobseekers. Another great attribute of the site is that it is completely free to post jobs and free to apply to jobs. If you are an employer looking for SEO talent or if you are an SEO guru or Internet guru looking for full time, part time, or contract gigs, you should check out http://SeoJobsFinder.com .

How to Keep your Job during a Recession – Part 4

Posted by dankeller in job tips | 1 comment

We have talked about staying active, becoming indispensable, and not complaining as three ways to help you keep your job in this crazy economy. My fourth tip is :
Make Friends – Not Enemies: Let’s face it, every office place has people with different backgrounds and different personalities. Some departments don’t like other departments. Sometimes non-salespeople dislike the sales people. Unfortunately, in most companies, non-salespeople don’t like sales professionals. Often times, this dislike is fueled by jealousy. Whatever the reason or source of tension in your workplace, in a recessionary economy, you must not create enemies and you must do whatever you can to repair broken relationships. Be flexible with demands and difficult people. Bend over backwards to accommodate. Let insults and affronts to your character roll off your back. Be polite and respectful at all times. Stay away from office politics at all times. And never say a disparaging word about anyone because it will get back to them. As a rule of thumb, this is good advice, but in today’s economy you do not want to be the rocking the boat.

How to keep your job during a recession – part 3

Posted by dankeller in job tips | 1 comment

The stock market has been up for the last two weeks but the job market has not changed and people are still out of work and people are still losing their jobs in record numbers. In the previous two posts, I talked about focusing on activity and having a positive attitude as two techniques that can help keep your job secure. Strategy tip number three is:

Become Indispensable: In the past, companies valued loyalty and when layoffs occurred it was typically the last one in, the first one to go scenario. Simply put, times have changes. Companies take a hard look at production numbers and who is bringing value. People who generate more and contribute more will be the ones who have a better chance of keeping their jobs. Making yourself indispensible means a lot more than just doing a good job. It means being vocal and visible and volunteering to take on extra assignments. It mean coming n early and staying late. It means eating lunch at your desk. It means asking your boss if he/she needs help with anything. I am a big proponent of work/life balance but right now you have to tip the scale more heavily on the work side. You have to act as if your job is the single most important thing in your life. Notice how I chose the word act, whether it is or not, you have to give of the impression that this is the case. Remember, your goal is to create the perception that your company can not survive without you.
I heard a good quote on Good Morning America today: “The sun always comes out after a storm.”
Keep that in mind as you try to get through another work day.

How to keep your job during a recession- part 2

Posted by dankeller in Your Career | 2 comments

In the last post I mentioned that focusing on activity is a great tactic to help you get through these rough times.  The second tip is:

Do not complain- I understand that thing are really hard right now and chances are you are doing more work for less money these days.  Your stress level is through the roof and your boss is riding you like a drill sergeant.  Here is a warning: Do NOT Complain to anyone, even your closest co-worker.  The reality is when times are tough like this, people will do anything to survive.  If you openly complain to the wrong person, rest assured that they will quickly throw you under the bus to save their own hide.  Keep in mind that things are tough and there is a lot of stress for your boss too.  The last thing they want to deal with is a malcontent.  Here is what you do.  Start by zipping your mouth and starting telling yourself and others that you are lucky to have your job.  Accept things as they are and stay focused on accentuating the positive.  Don’t forget to SMILE. J

How to keep your job during the recession – Part 1

Posted by dankeller in job tips | 1 comment

I am not going to sugar coat it, things are really bad right now and stress is definitely starting to take toll.  If you are working or if you are unemployed there are lots of things that are causing us anxiety.  It OK to be nervous and it is understandable that you may be scared.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I am an optimistic and feel that with a positive attitude everything will work out.  I still believe this is important but you will need to bring more to the table than just a positive attitude.

I am going to be writing a week long series of Rules/Ideas that will help you keep your job throughout this recession and even help you rise to the top when the economy turns around.  I will start with Idea #1.

Activity – This may be the single most important thing you can do it may also be the hardest.  I have a Master’s degree in Psychology, so I understand that as humans when we are scared, we tend to freeze up.  This is the worst thing to do if you are still employed.  You must fight through the emotions and block everything out and focus on the tasks at hand.  If you are perceived as a hard worker, you are much more likely to keep your job during the next round of job cuts.  This is especially true if you are is sales.  You may not hit your quota but you better be sure that you hit your activity goals.  It will be easy to explain why you did not hit your numbers but impossible to explain why your activity fell off.

My advice is to put your head down and keep plugging away and remember that perception is sometimes greater than reality.

Remember to come back tomorrow for part 2 or better yet, sign up for our rss fead..

new job search tactic

Posted by dankeller in job hunting | 1 comment

I just read a great article that I wanted to share with you guys.  We all know job market is in the toilet and we know that some times you need to get creative to get noticed.  I have heard of people taking out billboard ads but this is the first time I have heard about someone using CraigsList to try and get a job.  You may be thinking, well, Craigslist has a lot of jobs, I don’t find this strange.  Here is the kicker, the guy took out an ad saying that he would pay anyone $500 if they helped him get a job.

Good idea?

Do you think it will work?

Let me know…here is a link to the original article   http://cbs2chicago.com/local/craigslist.jimmy.cybulski.2.955680.html

I hate networking

Posted by dankeller in job hunting | 2 comments

I hate networking.  These are not my words, but those of a client I was working with this week.  We were talking about the best way to find a job during a recession.  I firmly believe that networking is the key, you may get lucky with Monster or CareerBuilder but chances are your next job will come from someone within your network or in tour network’s network.  Over the past couple of months, I have been blogging about LinkedIn, Twitter and FaceBook and how important it is to build your online network.  My advice today is to get offline, stop twittering, stop reading blogs (except mine, of course) and start pressing the flesh and have real conversation not ones that are limited to 140 characters.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter and LinkedIn but there is no substitute to good old fashioned networking.  You need to state your case and promote yourself in the real world. 

I know networking is touch and unpleasant and causes a ton of anxiety for a lot of people.  I consider myself an extrovert and I still get butterflies before going into a networking event.  The way I get over it is by making myself do it.  The more I do it the more comfortable I become.  Just this past weekend, I “forced” myself to attend a local chamber of commerce function.  I was nervous because I did not know anyone there but I wanted to cement some relationships with folks that I have been trading emails with for months.  I did not go to this event because I love to promote myself, I did it because I knew how valuable it would be for me and my business to establish these relationships.

Here is my advice, substitute an hour’s worth of online time with some real life networking time per week.  You have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.