Piercings, Tattoos, Gauges and the Job Search

When I was a kid it was a big deal in my family when I got my ears pierced. If I wanted earrings, why didn't I just go with those dreadful clip-ons that pinched and hurt? Looking back now it was a lot of bluster about nothing.

Let’s fast forward to the 2000s; my tiny piercings pale in comparison to the gauges, tattoos and facial piercings that I see on the younger Millennial Generation kids. Like ear piercings, maybe they won’t make a bit of difference in forty years but as a job search coach, I worry about today. I have a young friend with a facial piercing (called a micro dermal or dermal piercing) and a nose ring. This guy has a vibrant personality, is friendly, has great communication skills and had a couple of waiter/server jobs before getting pierced. What has troubled him lately is that the summer server jobs he has applied for all turned him down because, “Facial piercings are against corporate policy”. Many of these restaurants also let him know that if he removed the piercings (not just covered them) that they would hire him in a New York minute.

The same type of disappointment may face a lot of other pierced or tattooed job seekers; especially since most companies have a choice of many qualified job seekers and like it or not, are going to select the person that not only has the skills but also reflects the culture of the business. My suggestion to anyone who is considering a visible piercing or tattoo is to really think about it. The choices you make now may not be same as what you will want down the road and unfortunately may interfere with your current successful job search. Sure it is a sign of your individualism and personhood; I get that. Like it or not though, companies can be selective, especially these days.

Writing a Resume for a College Internship

It's that time of year again, college students are actively looking for summer work and some are starting to pull together their resumes. Some will look for any job that will bring them some cash flow while others are thinking about internships that align with their college majors and course work.
I’m helping a college junior who is looking for an internship position for the summer. The first thing we did was update her resume. The resume that she emailed me was one page in length with a listing of her course work, a very short description of her current position on campus and another short description of her previous job as a restaurant server. She also spent last summer out of the country with her school’s Summer Abroad program.

The first thing I did was ask her to expand on her summer abroad program. I asked her these questions:
1. What courses did you take?
2. Were you involved in any activities?
3. While traveling did you do anything, write anything, and perform any school or major related activities?
4. When you traveled, how was it related to school and your major?

As for her work on campus, I asked these questions:
1. How many students and staff did you come in contact with while you worked?
2. What tasks do you perform and why?
3. Do you have to report to anyone?
4. Are you involved in meetings?
5. Did you have to problem-solve, negotiate, or communicate?
7. How many hours do you work per week?

Finally, I asked about her activities at school with these questions:
1. What are you involved in at college; any clubs, sports or sororities? If yes, what is your role?
2. Within your classes, do you have to organize other students, analyze data, or make presentations? What are they?
3. Have you received any awards?
4. Do you volunteer? If so, what does it involve?

From these responses, we can work on her accomplishments and activities for a new resume and in doing so, identify various skill clusters. I’ll add some detail about the summer server position and we’ll be ready to go. I gave my client a list of websites so while I’m rewriting the resume, she can browse the list and look for any internship opportunities. Those websites are:
http://www.internjobs.com/
http://www.internships.com/student
http://www.quintcareers.com/grad_internships.html
http://www.nj.gov/oag/law/internship.htm
Type in Internship and your state in the search area: http://www.indeed.com/ or http://www.jobsdirectusa.com/.

Like any job seeker, college students can get mixed messages about the length and format of a resume. Many are told to create a short, succinct one-page resume because they haven't had much experience. I disagree because depending on the student, the activities and skills used in classes, part time work, summer jobs and volunteering can add up and add a lot of value to the resume.

Temporary Help - NARMS

I have been referred to a site by a few unemployed folks who needed to money to tide them over while they were looking for work. While I rarely endorse sites that offer day work, this site, owned by the National Association of Retail Marketing Services (NARMS) provides a clearinghouse of day, part time and full time work and seems genuine. The merchants that use NARM are legitimate and while the site is very visual (busy) you might want to read through their tabs and learn more about their services.

It is a free site so I signed up to see what it involved. I completed an assessment of my skill set, interests and experiences and then took a look at the jobs listed and the companies looking for help. (You can see what is offered without enrolling too.) Many of the jobs involve merchandising/display but there were other listings for positions such as team leaders, assemblers, field service representatives and others. The site also provides a list of recent job scams (including work at home spam notices) as well as articles and training. I did notice a tab that listed certain types of trainings that you can take for a fee. From what I have been told, these are not prerequisites for most of the positions. I also learned that like substitute teaching, if a company likes your work, you might be personally requested to come in often.

This site might help those looking for temporary work and perhaps lead to something else. I do know that it will provide a good networking opportunity and the chance to develop new skills and sharpen existing skills.

Getting Noticed in the 2012 Job Market

I had a meeting yesterday with a man who is an expert in his particular field. He is in full job search mode, his resume is good but he is having trouble getting noticed. He asked me for some advice on getting visibility.

After checking his LinkedIn profile I saw that it was bare bones basic. After showing him a few profiles of people that are in a similar occupation as his, I suggested the following tips. I hope that they can help you too.

1. Develop your LinkedIn Profile. Go to YouTube for some easy to follow advice on the set up. LinkedIn also has a tutorial.
2. Join the group Linked Strategies on LinkedIn for even more advice on creating a profile to get you noticed.
3. Start a blog and write about what you know. Link the blog to your LinkedIn profile and then announce it on the “Update” section of your profile.
4. Get a Twitter account and again, post about what you know. Follow other accounts that are similar to your own and retweet their posts. Attach your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile.
5. Consolidate any presentations, papers, etc into Box.com. Post that account to LinkedIn.
6. Use Slideshare.net to create any presentations you may have created or write up a few new ones. Again, attach these to your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
7. Contact a local community college and ask about giving a session or two about your subject matter expertise. These are the classes for the business community and not the regularly scheduled classes for the undergraduates. Post these sessions on your blog.

The gentleman I worked with yesterday has a specific skill set. We all do. You might not want to go through all of these steps but accomplishing a few might be all that you need to "Get Noticed".

The Buyer's Employment Market

You know the saying in real estate, "It's a Buyer’s Market"? Every time I write a resume for someone or discuss the employment environment, that statement pops into my mind only I’ve modified it to, “It’s a Buyer’s Employment Market”.

It's exasperating that qualified, eager job seekers practically have to stand on their heads to get anyone to notice them and their qualifications. An employer has the luxury of choosing a candidate that best meets the needs of his or her organization; that's a given. Of course they want a highly qualified applicant who can do the job and fit into the company culture. Unfortunately some employers go a little bit further when trying to decide if an employee really wants the job and either intentionally or not, play head games. Perhaps they may not call back after saying with certainty that they will, or maybe they’ll throw in an odd-ball question such as "If you were a color, a, bird, an animal or a movie star, what would you be?" I know, I know, some of those questions have merit but they don’t need to be used for every job opening.

I’m guessing that these “Buyers” don’t consider the underlying consequences of their actions; the desperation, fear, home foreclosure, depleted medications, family arguments, sleepless nights, and constant, encompassing worry. That’s not their problem. What they also don’t see is the first class ingenuity, budgeting, leadership, decision making and problem solving that goes on behind the scenes as an applicant tries to balance his or her life. These are areas that make a difference.

The Buyers Employment Market is eroding the confidence of a generation of job seekers. The skill sets are there but the dance to get the job is not for everyone. I suggest that these employers lighten up, learn how to interview properly and show some compassion because to use another expression, “You never know when the shoe will drop”.

Sea Glass and the Job Search: Preparing

In the last two blogs, I've compared the job search to sifting through all of the pebbles on the beach to find the perfect piece of sea glass. We looked at Planning and Networking in the last two posts and today I give you Preparing.

This chapter (placed last for a reason) takes you through the tools you’ll need to put your job search into high gear. It includes resume types, behavioral interviewing, questioning techniques, and resources to find company information.

Resume:

If you completed the planning exercises in Sea Glass and the Job Search: Planning, you should be more comfortable identifying your strengths, weaknesses, skill set, personality and work values and are ready to create a resume template that will be formatted to the type of positions that interest you.

Your resume should include a Summary Statement highlighting your overall strengths and a listing of approximately six of your core strengths.

These core strengths should match or be similar to the key words and listed in the job posting and include both technical or professional wording and soft skills (such as communication, teamwork). Whether you chose a chronological, functional or combination resume, it is critical to use succinct sentences to describe your accomplishments. The hiring manager wants to see results; not a job description.

Interviewing:

A seasoned interviewer will ask behavioral questions using the STAR format because he or she wants to know what you DID in your past job rather than what you WOULD do.

STAR questioning allows you to take the interviewer through the steps you followed to accomplish an activity. STAR stands for Specific, Task, Actions taken and Results. An example of a STAR interviewing question is “Take me through a task or project that you completed where you had to work with a difficult customer. What happened? What were the results?”

It helps to look at all of your accomplishments as they relate to the new position and ask yourself STAR questions for each accomplishment, strength and weakness.

You should also be prepared with questions/statements such as:

Tell me about yourself.
What do you feel are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
Why should we select you?
What makes you want to work with us?



Make sure that you have several questions for the interviewer too. In your preparation, make sure to look at the company website as well as any recent articles about the company and its products and services. Some questions for the interviewer can be:

a. What are the short and long term goals of the company?
b. What is the vision of the department?
c. What is the company environment like?
d. What concerns need to be addressed immediately?
e. What do you see happening with this position for the next 3 to 6 months?
f. What are the particular attributes needed to succeed in this job?
g. What are the challenges a person coming to this job will face?



Resources:

For additional resume or interviewing help, please see some of my previous articles on The Patch or visit my website and refer to the Resources tab.

Hopefully this series, Sea Glass and the Job Search has clarified some of the confusion associated with beginning your job search and allow you to find your perfect job.

Sea Glass and the Job Search: Networking

If you've ever felt like that one pebble tossed among the thousands of other pebbles and rocks on the beach then you are not alone.

Networking can make you feel like that and for many people it’s hard, exhausting and an overwhelming yet critical step to the job search process. Critical in that 65% to 80% of people have found work through their networking contacts.

Added to the mix is the recent statistic that shows approximately 80% of companies using social media to search for job candidates.

The path to finding a job has always been “who you know” and now it has moved to “who you are connected to both socially, professionally and personally”.

Networking can be massive but if you break it down into a few manageable steps you can get out from under that mountain of pebbles. Here’s how.

Identify your strengths and specific accomplishments (see previous Patch post, Sea Glass and the Job Search - Planning) and feel comfortable talking about them.

Create a list of your personal, social and professional contacts. Include names, numbers, email addressess and any other pertinent information. Let your contacts know that you are looking for work and ask for their assistance. These people may know someone who can help you. Everyone has heard of someone who found a job from a friend, neighbor, dentist, hair stylist, or the woman on the train. The list goes on.

Create a formal and informal “Elevator Speech”. Here are two samples from the same person.
Informal (for friend, acquaintance, family): “As you may have heard, I am returning to the job market, specifically in writing and editing journals in the pharmaceutical industry. I have 10 years of experience and have even won several awards. Would you know anyone in the industry that I could call?”
Formal (for a professional meeting or networking event): “Hello! My name is Catherine Jones and I am delighted to be here this morning. I represent ten years of writing and editing clinical trial publications for the ABC Company. For three consecutive years my articles on microbes and cell division were featured in the New York Medical Journal. I am currently in the market for a similar position and would appreciate any contacts for my job search. I am Catherine Jones.”

Get connected. Since most companies are using social media, it hurts your chances of finding work if you are not an active member of LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. I’ve posted a few Patch blogs on using social media.
Make sure you give as well as you get. Networking is a two way street; it’s about building relationships and giving back.

Networking can be an overwhelming part of the job search just because there are so many different pieces, people and steps surrounding it. It can also be the most fruitful if you break it down into the steps that will allow you to stand out and be noticed.