Strategies for Staying Employed Longer (part 2)
In addition to being a jack-of-all-trades, you want to position yourself as an expert or the “go to” person in at least one specialized area. Carve out a niche for yourself. This is how you can become invaluable to an organization.
Take one of your natural talents or areas of interest and then learn everything you can through training, books, and mentors. When you become “the source” for information, and share your knowledge freely with others you’re not only helping advance your department, but you’re also making yourself sticky and indispensable to that organization.
Be a resource to others. People are the jet fuel behind your career. They can promote you, hire you, or introduce you to others who could potentially hire you. The key is to build and nurture a powerful professional network before asking for anything in return such as a plum project, key assignment, job lead, or recommendation.
Professionals are naturally drawn to those who are well informed and well connected. Be sure to tell your network about new technologies, events, professional opportunities, and news and information that may interest them. Send out quick e-mails with links to books, white papers, press releases, news articles, or websites.
Want more strategies for staying employed longer? https://careercoaching360.com/products/
FollowStrategies for Staying Employed Longer (part 1)
It’s a dicey economy right now, and an even scarier job market. So how can you better manage your career so that you increase your odds of staying employed?
The answer is “stickiness.”
In advertising, sticky products, companies, or brands keep people coming back for more. The stickier the product, the more likely it will fly off the shelf and be in high demand.
Get excited about your career! Sticky people enjoy their job and enjoy sharing information to help advance projects, teams, and companies. Having a great attitude, a sense of humor, and a strong competitive spirit makes others want to be around you.
Confidence is a must. Arrogance is a showstopper.
Become a jack-of-all-trades. One way to be sticky is to become knowledgeable in several key areas so that you can float seamlessly from opportunity to opportunity. This is an excellent strategy during turbulent times as companies are trimming resources and shutting down lines of services.
Letting managers, program managers, and senior leaders know that you have two or three key skillsets, and add value in a variety of ways gives you a leading edge over others who may be looking for the same opportunity.
More great tips for staying employed longer coming later this week.
The Art of Promoting Yourself Without Bragging (part 2)
Here is another great tip for tactfully tooting your own horn without sounding cheesy.
Attitude is the key ingredient! I’ve found that getting a new job really boils down to two things: confidence and passion. To get the job offer at the NBC-TV station in Monterey and beat out the other 100 job candidates, I was passionate about the company AND the position. Even though I didn’t have the kind of experience that was required, I told the hiring manager that I absolutely knew that I could do the job.
There’s a kind of quiet confidence that we all have down deep inside. A confidence that comes from knowing what we’re capable of doing. When you transition into a new job role or a new company, you need to show the hiring manager that you have confidence in yourself and know that you’ll be successful in the job.
Great companies are ALWAYS looking to hire great talent – and that means you! So, if you’re serious about getting into a new career, then follow my tips, power up your confidence, and believe in yourself! You’ll significantly increase your chances of getting hired, decrease the time it takes, and be much more likely to transition into a new career that inspires you.
You can find more great career tips at https://careercoaching360.com/products/.
The Art of Promoting Yourself Without Bragging (part 1)
For a lot of us, one of the most difficult things about moving into a new career is having to talk about ourselves to our professional network. We may be able to promote products, services, and companies – but when it comes to promoting ourselves – forget about it!!
So, how do you speak about your strengths and successes in a tactful way without making it sound like you’re bragging?
Talk about your projects, teams, and the value they delivered to the organization. It may feel uncomfortable talking about your achievements, but the fact is you won’t get noticed (yet alone hired!) if you don’t talk about them.
Here’s a tip – focus on the projects and teams you contributed to, and the value they delivered to the organization. Talk about goals, or stretch goals, that were met and how they benefited the organization to help increase revenue, save costs, or gain more market share.
Focus on results. On your resume, in your interviews, and in your networking opportunities – instead of talking about your previous responsibilities, talk about tangible results you helped to achieve. When you quantify your achievements with a number, dollar, or percentage, you add credibility to your successes and rise above the competition.
For example, instead of saying that you managed a sales team for a specific product, instead, say that you led a sales team that generated $250,000 a year for the past 3 years! Quantifying your successes says that you are a driver, high achiever, and that you get results.
Look for more great tips for promoting yourself without bragging later this week.
Creating a Rock Star Resume (part 2)
Continuing with my resume tips, I have even more Rock Star Resume tips to help you stand out!
- Show results. This is the single biggest difference in making your resume stand out from hundreds of other job applicants. (I do this myself, and I know this is why I get the interviews!)
Underneath your Key Strengths section, list 4-5 career highlights that are results focused. Quantify each of your career highlights in terms of dollars, percentages, or numbers. For example, let’s say that you’re in sales and you’ve brought in an average of 10 new clients per month. That’s 120 clients a year, and if you’ve been doing that for the past 3 years, that’s 360 new clients! So, one of your career highlights could be “Gained approximately 360 new clients which generated $360,000 in new revenue in three years”.
Also, try to quantify each of your accomplishments for every job that you list in your Experience section.
- Highlight leadership and teamwork. Hiring managers look for candidates who are strong leaders, AND strong team contributors. Highlight your leadership skills – and the results of the projects and teams that you’ve led.
If you’re a little light in this area, then highlight any leadership experience you may have had in professional organizations, a sports league, in church, or any other extra-curricular activities. Also, list projects in which you were a strong team member in terms of what your role was, and what the team accomplished.
If you’d like more tips to advance your career, visit our website for career tools, resources, and coaching support.
Creating a Rock Star Resume (part 1)
Your resume has only one shot at making a great first impression, so when you’re trying to make a career move you need to be armed with the best! A great resume can not only help you transition into your new career faster, but it can also help you get a higher starting salary.
The biggest mistake career changers make is thinking that their homemade resume is good enough. Think again! When it comes to your resume, looks are everything. Studies show that hiring managers need only 15-20 seconds to determine whether or not your resume gets the thumbs up, or tossed in the trash.
The key to standing out from a crowded job market is to NOT to focus on responsibilities, but instead showcase your results, successes and the value that you’ve brought to organizations.
Below is a resume tip to make you look like a rock star, stand out from the competition, and even get a higher starting salary…
- Feature key words. Key words are those skills listed as the job requirements in the job postings. Key words are different for every job so you need to look closely at the job description. Create a section towards the top of your resume called, “Key Strengths”, and feature all of those requirements listed in the job description that you meet.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
If you haven’t met with a professional resume writer in the past five years or more, then invest in your career and do it now! Investing in your resume means you’ll be showcasing yourself in the best possible light, standing out from the competition in an overcrowded job market, and a faster transition into your new career! Career Coaching 360 helps professionals and executives change into a more meaningful and inspiring career, and we can help you, too! Check out our resume services and proven resume tips and templates.
Reinventing Yourself & Your Career (part 2)
Continuing with the Reinventing Yourself & Your Career Series, I have even more tips from my personal 5-step blueprint for reinventing your career more quickly, easily and maybe even with a higher salary!
- Match your transferable skills to job roles – Read job descriptions posted on CareerJournal.com, CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com, as well as the classified ads in industry magazines, trade journals, and local newspapers. If you want to work for a specific company then check out their website’s on-line job postings. Learn the skills and qualifications required for various job roles.
Match your transferable skills to those jobs you want to go after. If there’s a gap between the job requirements and the skills you have, then look for ways to gain that experience such as taking on an extended assignment in your current job, freelancing, consulting, or even volunteering.
Also, attend industry conferences, trade shows, business networking events and association meetings. Talk to people who work in the industry to learn about their career path, responsibilities, and advice for how to break into the business.
- Blow up your resume. The first thing I always did before I transitioned into a new career was blow up my resume. Trying to piece together a resume that highlighted the skills I used to get my last job with the skills I need to land my next job is like trying to weld together Lexus parts on a BMW. It doesn’t work. You need a brand new resume.
Showcase only those jobs, responsibilities and successes that are relevant to the job you want. The hiring manager doesn’t care about every job you’ve ever had. They just want to know, Can you do their job? Get resume help now.
- Attitude is king! That comes from knowing what we’re capable of doing. When you transition into a new job role or a new company, you need to show the hiring manager that you have confidence in yourself and know that you’ll be successful in the job. When it comes to reinventing your career, it’s not just your talent but your attitude that counts!
Remember, there is life after a lay-off! And the good news is that you’ve been given a clean slate to reinvent yourself to transition into a career that fulfills and energizes you.
If you’d like more tips to advance your career, visit our website for career tools, resources, and coaching support at: www.CareerCoaching360.com
Reinventing Yourself & Your Career (part 1)
Yes, there is life after a lay-off! And the good news is that you’ve been given a clean slate to reinvent yourself to transition into a career that fulfills and energizes you.
I’ve reinvented my career five times including being a disc jockey in radio, public relations director in professional sports, community relations director in television, regional marketing manager in finance, and now I’m a global program manager in high tech. And each time that I reinvented myself – I received a pay increase!
Reinventing your career successfully simply means repackaging your skills, qualifications and accomplishments so that you can transition into a new job role, company, or industry. Below are some tips from my personal 5-step blueprint for reinventing your career more quickly, easily and maybe even with a higher salary!
- Define your passion – In which industry would you like to work? Advertising? Finance? Health Care? When I wanted to stop being a disc jockey, I knew that I wanted to go into television. And after a successful career in television, I then set my sights on getting into Corporate America. I wasn’t sure what kind of job role I wanted (or could get!), but the first step was determining the industry where I wanted to work.
If you’re not sure where you want to go then read trade magazines, industry publications and on-line job postings. Visit a bookstore and browse through books and magazines to see what grabs your attention. Allow yourself time to figure out what lights your fire and inspires you!
- Identify your transferable skills – These are skills that transition from industry to industry, or from job role to job role. Examples include: managing projects, teams, clients or budgets, as well as negotiating contracts, or proposing and implementing ideas that generate money, save money, or help the company be more competitive.
Other transferable skills include personal characteristics such as demonstrating leadership or risk taking, training or mentoring team members, being goal driven, results oriented, a problem solver, or having the ability to influence senior managers. These are ALL great skills to have, and they transfer from industry to industry. All industries and companies value employees with these types of skills and characteristics.
Remember, great jobs don’t just land in your lap. You have to know what you want – take action – and go after it! Your job is out there. You just need to go get it!
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
Commit yourself to achieving a purposeful and inspiring new career. Put all your focus, time, and energy into making your new career a reality.
