why you need a picture with your linkedin profile

January 19th, 2012 by Judi

linkedinLinkedIn is a networking tool. It generates, fosters, and builds relationships. We may be an online world, but people still like the comfort of a face. Of knowing what a person looks like.

More than that, hiring companies want to know what you look like. That’s why people don’t get hired from phone interviews. That’s why, even in the age of technology, face-to-face interviews in person or on Skype are still of paramount importance.

We’re visual. Inside sales will never replace outside sales. Reps still make phone calls and follow up with an in-person meeting.

So your picture communicates a great deal about you. That you don’t have a picture communicates even more. That you don’t list your name, but just use an initial – like I saw with one person yesterday – makes me wonder why that person is even on LinkedIn. Oddly enough, they were pretty active within their particular group.

In sales and human nature, the default is no. When we look for problems, we do that to avoid encountering that problem. So people don’t say “Maybe there’s no picture because the person is shy but I’m sure they’re very good at what they do – let’s interview them!”

Instead it’s “Why no picture? What are they hiding? Or do they just not care enough to put their best foot forward?” And you’re automatically second-rate, no matter how good the rest of you looks. If your resume and experience aren’t well presented, you get stamped with “maybe” but that really means “no.”

As a recruiter, I told my candidates “You’re getting married after two dates; you better find out how many kids they want up front,” and I still continue to make dating analogies.

That’s why I like what Joshua Waldman, author of Job Searching With Social Media for Dummies, says: “If you went to a dating site and read the profile of the mate of your dreams, but instead of a tall blond, you see a blank, would you believe that that person says?”

We use what the person looks like to give us insight into who they are. Are they smiling? Do their eyes smile? Do they look confident? At ease with themselves? Is it a well-done picture or something they snapped holding a camera in front of their face?

Your LinkedIn picture needs to be a head and shoulders shot, with a plain background (so it doesn’t compete with your face), a nice shirt, a smile. I’ve seen ones where the person was in a family shot or playing with their dog or shaking hands with someone and one I saw the person was actually glaring. Like they were mad at the person for taking their picture. There’s an attractive photo that will encourage contact!

Don’t kid yourself that it’s not necessary or that you’ll get around to it. If you’re on LinkedIn, then make the most of it. Joshua’s book is excellent, and so is Jason Alba’s I’m on LinkedIn, Now What? Resources are out there. If you’re going to do it, do it well and do it effectively, otherwise you’re, in effect, sabotaging your job search.

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I want your story!

January 17th, 2012 by Judi

Were you unemployed and recently found a job you love?  Were you simply looking to make a change and undecided about if you should, did, and are glad you made the leap?  Please email me and I’ll provide you with more info.  This is for a book – and while I need to know who you are now, ultimately you can be anonymous if you wish. judi@findtheperfectjob.com

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Is company or job stability stable?

January 16th, 2012 by Judi

building implodingFor my in-depth clients and students, there are a few very specific, headache inducing, but necessary exercises I put them through.  One of them involves looking at the concept of stability.  For those who were laid off or terminated, unsurprisingly a stable company is very important to them.  For most of them, that means a big company.

What makes a big company for stable than a little company?  Because that’s a myth.  And how do you define a “big” company anyway?  How many “big” companies took a huge nosedive in 2011?  Let’s count some of them:  Circuit City, Borders, Linens’N'Things, American Airlines…

Anyone else want to work for a big company under the assumption they’re more stable?

More important than judging stability by the size of the company is knowing how to spot signs of instability.  Company size doesn’t determine the stability of a company, people do.   As my first recruiting manager, back when I started as a recruiter in 1985,  frequently said, “The only thing that determines a successful company from an unsuccessful one is the people who make up the company, and the decisions those people make.”

Decisions are determined by philosophy of doing business.  For starters, can the company change with the times and adapt?  Do the execs have a penchant for risk?  If times get tough, do they increase marketing or yank the plug on it?  Do they invest in their employees?  What’s the turnover?  Where was the CEO before this?  How did that company do?

And even then you don’t know.  If I had a dollar for every time over my career that I learned a company was purchased or a new exec came in and replaced the whole team, I could go to Italy and hang out there about 3 months.  What looks stable in June can unravel completely in October.

The only thing stable about stability is the illusion of stability.  BUT while you can’t control the future, you can certainly control the present.  That means do your homework now so if you see signs of problems now, unless you like risk and turnaround situations – and many do – you can remove yourself from consideration rather than run the risk  that your time there might be limited.

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11 ways to sabotage your job search

January 4th, 2012 by Judi

sabotageIf your job search isn’t yielding the results you’d like, chances are you’re sabotaging your own efforts.  Over the course of 22 years as a recruiter and 3 years as a coach, I have repeatedly seen people get in their own way and not realize it.  Here are 11 ways in which you might be compromising yourself. 

  1. Not knowing what you want – Are you answering any and all ads that address your function, with little thought to title, the job description, your background, the size of the company, and how they interrelate?   Are you saying “I can learn it,” or “Piece of cake; I can do that in my sleep,” and applying little to no discernment?  Take an hour and plot, based on your entire career, what size company you prefer, how much creativity you need, if you get bored easily and need the stimulus of fixing or growing something, and what kind of environment you excel in.  Then focus on the job descriptions that meet that and ignore the rest of them.
  2. Being too picky – Some people time researching companies, trying to ascertain if they’d want to work there or not.  Often they’re looking for ways to screen it out so they don’t have deal with possible rejection.  Either way, you can’t possibly gauge the answer to that until you interview and find out about the job and the company, first hand, on a face-to-face basis.
  3. Carelessness – in your spelling and grammar.  Carelessness, coupled with poor English skills, seems to be increasing at an alarming rate.
  4. Failing to communicate your uniqueness through the results of your actions – 99.9% of all resumes list job descriptions for the bullets.  Job descriptions don’t differentiate your resume from everyone else’s.  If there are ten people with the same job title, and the same job description, there will be ten different results.  Make sure you communicate yours, because that’s what shows a hiring company what you can do.
  5. Using a generic cover letter – All companies are not created equally.  That’s because they’re run by people and people differ, which means each company, and each job, are going to be slightly different, even if the titles are the same.   Ads tell you what the company wants, and they want to know how your experience fits with their needs. Sending a generic cover letter is the same as telling a car dealer you want a sun roof, and he talks about how great the radio is.
  6. Having too much fun with Facebook – Every time you make a post or add a picture, ask yourself, “Is there anyone I wouldn’t want to see this?”  Don’t rely on your Facebook privacy settings.  Contrary to what some might think, this tip isn’t only for those in their 20s and 30s.
  7. Not following directions – “No calls please” means don’t call.  “Please provide salary requirements in your cover letter” means – to me – at least address the question rather than ignore it (there are ways around giving them numbers).  “Only online applications will be considered.” Yes, snail mail is better.  Unless they say don’t do it.
  8. Not writing a thank you letter – Incredible that so many don’t do this.  It’s extremely bad etiquette.  No excuses. 
  9. Not researching the company – Yes, people wing it.  What were you thinking when you assumed you could fake your way through it?  You can’t.  Next time don’t bother to show up, because you wasted everyone’s time, including yours.
  10. Lack of enthusiasm – if you aren’t excited to learn more about the job, why are you there?  Some job seekers think that smiling, showing interest, and exhibiting vitality is unprofessional.  No, it just looks like you don’t care if you get the job or not.
  11. Having a lousy resume – What’s a lousy resume? Any or a combination of the following:  teeny font, bad  layout, difficulty determining one job from another, too many sections for each job, having a section called “selected accomplishments,” having an objective, having no summary/profile at the top, and most of all – which almost every resume has even if the rest of the problems aren’t present: having boring bullets that don’t communicate your uniqueness.  

Finding a job is a skill.  If you’re not satisfied with how your search is going, you can change that.

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Holiday cheer or holiday sneer?

December 29th, 2011 by Judi

holiday cheer“ #*&$^@*”  Is this you this season?  Your guests are still visiting or you’re due to travel home, presents need to be exchanged, family patterns are taking their toll, holiday madness in the airport….

Look around you.  What do you see?  Harried clerks, irritated shoppers, grumpy travelers, crowded parking lots, people with headaches.  Are you one of them?

It’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae of day-to-day life and its problems.  Your Christmas platter broke, everyone wants something from you, your sister didn’t give you a gift list and hates the sweater you gave her.  You just want the holidays to be over.

Why are you behaving like this?  Is it making your life easier? Is it helping those around you?  Why are you perpetuating the problem?

Life moves in cycles.  The only constant is change.  Today’s craziness is tomorrow’s tranquility.  When you’re in the middle of today’s craziness,   you can’t always change things and make them uncrazy.  But you can change your attitude, and remember that this, too, shall pass.

Moods are contagious, mostly because we forget that our mood is our choice.  Other people don’t put us in a bad mood; we allowed their bad mood to affect us.

Whether you’re standing in after-Christmas lines impatient to make an exchange and slamming your credit card on the counter, blaring your horn in the parking lot, or heaving heavy sighs at your spouse, remember that “catching” someone else’s bad mood means your grumpiness may now be passed to the next person with whom you interact.

We aren’t separate from each other.  We’re all part of the universe, like a bucket of water taken from the ocean is still part of the ocean.  Energy travels.  We pick up the moods of those around us, unless we choose not to or choose to be a change agent.

The remainder of this season, let’s do something different.  When we get grumpy, stop, stand up straight, and breathe.  If you’re in a store, be patient.  Bring a book and read while you wait.

Others are also shopping after-Christmas sales and the clerk may be harried too.  Before you grumble about a distant parking space, notice you now have the opportunity for some exercise.

In fact, let’s go one step further.  If you see an irritated mother whose child just spilled her coke, step in with a napkin.   Smile at the person walking by you or the salesperson in the store.   Look people directly in the eye, and mean it when you say, “Have a great day!” Ask your family for help with a big hug and kiss instead of sounding annoyed. 

Did we forget that although it’s after Christmas, this is still a time of joy?  A time to be gracious and conscious of those around us?  To savor the moments instead of counting the days until it’s over?

II’m no different.  I see my parents once each year, and while my relationship with them has greatly improved from when I was in high school, we still have our moments. 

In their desire to protect me from failure and disappointment, they have a tendency to squash my ideas and willingness to take risks.  If I absorb that, eventually it will erode my confidence and I forget that their intentions are good.  Soon I’m past the point of no return and might say things I regret.  

Stressful times are testing.  But the more you are tested, the more you can practice not letting it affect you.  And the more you practice, the easier it becomes.  After all, it’s your choice how you respond to others and what message you convey. 

This season, let’s focus on “spread tidings of comfort and joy,”  send “joy to the world,” and remember “tis the season to be jolly” by not twisting off when others are crazy, and by sending love back instead of more craziness.

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laughter + love + cookies + eggnog = happy holidays!

December 22nd, 2011 by Judi

christmas babyBlessings to everyone and remember…..it’s not about the stuff!!!!!

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resume advice: how not to write a resume

December 21st, 2011 by Judi

blah blah blahDoes your resume profile read something like this?

Pro-active and solution-oriented person with proven ability to think outside the box and build collaborative relationships by engaging internal and external stakeholders while working in a cross- functional matrix environment.    Critical thinker with exceptional track record of identifying win-win strategies, building concensus, and implementing change for bottom-line results. 

It does?  Then you sound like everyone else who’s looking for a job and you need some help writing your resume .  Not only does it fail to actually convey who you are because the phrases are so generic, but it’s resume speak.  It doesn’t make for an effective resume. It’s the same as saying blah blah blah blah blah.  

By the way,  I hope you didn’t pay someone to write that for you, because numerous professional resume writers, after they collect your money, are opening books they bought or checked out from the library.  Other have professional resume writer designations, such as certified resume writer (CPRW)  that they hope to impress you with, but they don’t impress me.  Having seen over half million resumes in my career, I remain unimpressed at most professionally written resumes I’ve seen.  In fact, I’ve redone a bunch of them.

Before you write your resume, or hire a resume writing service, think about who you are, what you’re good at, and why.  A resume isn’t a list of bland job description and gobbledy gook, generic, overly used phrases – it’s a document that tells your story and conveys who you  are as an individual.  It illustrates how you think, how your career has progressed, why, your degree of motivation, how you make decisions, what you do better than others who have the same skills, and how you’ve benefitted your employers. 

And it’s not just numbers and percentages about how you increased sales, increased production, reduced staff, bam bam bam, hardcore, cold statistics either.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What are the top 5 skills that have contributed to your success?
  • What are the top 5 personality traits that have contributed to your success?
  • What makes you good at what you do?
  • What makes you different from the person that held your job before you, or the person who will hold it after you, or the person who has the same title working for the same kind of company down the street?

Now you’re starting to get the idea.

Here are pieces from several client resume profiles that will give you an idea  of what you’re shooting for:

  • Effective and innovative training professional adept at creating and delivering courses in multiple modes that bring enthusiasm for change and result in new user proficiency.  Extremely skilled at learning, analyzing and understanding new or upgraded software programs, breaking them down and putting together course materials based on audience needs and level of understanding. 
  • Operationally focused and mathematically inclined corporate finance professional, able to synthesize seemingly disparate pieces into an integrated solution. 
  • Skilled, forward thinking professional who pragmatically identifies opportunities to reduce expenses and scrutinizes financial records to pinpoint and correct errors. Precise, solutions oriented, and trustworthy, with an exceptional amount of common sense, and a positive “can do” attitude. 
  • Recognized and published expert in human resource management with extremely effective listening and interpersonal skills, adept at identifying the real problem. 

Do you get a sense of something about that person that makes them unique?   And every bullet on your resume should illustrate the statements in your profile by showing what you did, the results and the benefit.

A resume that has a generic resume profile followed by a gloppy paragraph of resume keywords followed by bullets that say things like these examples….

  • Performed thorough and timely reference checking.
  • Acted as a liaison between the embassy and the international media, students and other private sector partners.
  • Led daily meetings with Oracle to define tasks, outline responsibilities, and form weekly agendas
  • Managed procurement of desktop hardware, software and contractor services with vendors
  • Involved in setting up customer’s project portfolio management system.

…….is not a resume.   The above are job descriptions, not bullets.  They go in a short paragraph by your job title, not bulleted under it.

Product brochures- cars, dishwashers, cameras, televisions –  make sure to differentiate their product from the competition.  You’re selling a product and the product is you.  When your resume is your brochure, it should accomplish the same purpose.

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let the beauty of what you love be what you do

November 28th, 2011 by Judi

heartjob-723851Friday night Steve and I went to a great little venue in Pawling, NY, called The Towne Crier Cafe.  It’s an intimate little place with tables up front where you can get a superb dinner and a separate small section in the back if you’re just coming for the show.  They’ve got musical acts there – mostly ones that are on the upward or downward trajectory as the place seats only about 100 people.

We saw Joe Louis Walker - serious rocking blues guy who’s played with Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Muddy Waters, etc – and Murali Coryell (son of fusion guitarist Larry Coryell), and the rest of the band that travel with Joe Louis Walker.

Which brings me to my point.  Friday night, they’d just returned from 6 weeks in Europe.  Saturday morning they were leaving NY to head to Florida for 6 shows on successive nights. Then back north for 1 show in PA, then 4 shows in New York City, then back again to Florida for another 8 shows.    By January 20, 2012.

Artists are driven by what they do.  Musicians, writers, painters – creators.  They can’t not do it.   So what’s the deal with so many other people?  Many of whom don’t see themselves as creators and thus are creating by default?

BusinessWeek ran an article a few months ago that said according to Deloitte’s Shift Index survey, 80% of people hate their jobs.  The article’s question was “Passion or Paycheck?”   I want to know – why do you have to choose?  Because I don’t believe you do.  My clients who do the work aren’t – they’re finding both.

Part of it is the questions you – and I say “you” because I do love what I do, and firmly believe it’s my life’s purpose – part of it is the questions you ask yourself and the beliefs you hold: 

  • “How can I make money?” ….rather than “What do I love? And how can I make that work for me?”
  • Flinging yourself at any job ads that look remotely viable and collecting possiblities like marbles, clutching on to them…rather than “What would be my perfect job?  What would it look like?”
  • “That won’t work.  I can’t do that.  This is the real world.”….rather than “How can I make that happen?”
  • Limited thinking……..rather than expansive thinking
  • Fear.  Job seekers are full of fear.  The way conventional wisdom is advising job seekers these days hugely perpetuates that……rather than self empowerment, being yourself, letting the process taking care of itself, not jumping through hiring companies’ hoops, and realizing you don’t have to sit at the table like a 12 year old who’s been told to eat all your vegetables! or you can’t get up from the table

When you love what you do and you have your heart and passion in it, the stress isn’t so stressful.  You find ways to create solutions and feel in control of your life and decisions, rather than feeling as if you’re at the mercy of a job that robs you of something….your time, your health, your soul.

It’s no accident that my company and URL are Find the Perfect Job.  I know it’s possible.  I see people who are doing it – like Joe Louis Walker and his group.  I’ve guided job seekers to achieve it.  I’m doing it… and guess again if you think the road has been easy from the moment I chose it.  More like….it chose me and I said “YES!”

There’s more that factors in to being happy, identifying what you love and moving into it.  There’s mindfulness as well.   No matter what you are doing and whether or not you love it, be mindful of the time spent doing it.  Whether you’re looking for another job or just looking, your attitude, attention, and focus contribute to your results.

Whatever you’re doing at that moment, whether you like it or not, choose to do it with love, care, and attentiveness.   This leaves the door open for new ideas and possibilites you might otherwise miss.  It fosters blooming, if you will.  Grumbling shuts things down.  Choose to be involved and connected with what you’re doing, even if you don’t – at that moment – like it.  Sure, when you love what you do it’s easier and more natural, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only time to practice it.

Back to Joe Louis Walker.  I was fascinated watching Murali Coryell play guitar.  After the show I told him it was amazing to watch how clearly he connected with his playing and how that contributed to the music.   He said a lot of people think he’s tuning out the audience. ” Totally not,” I said.  “You’re tuning in the music precisely so you don’t miss connecting with the audience.”   (He closes his eyes and practically goes into a trance)

Am I perfect? Do I do this mindfulness / gratefullness / choice / deliberate-creation-of-my-life thing all the time?  No.  But thankfully, I get a little bit better at it every day in all areas of my life.   When you love what you do, it facilitates that.  So don’t make the recession an excuse.  You’re creating your life.  Doing what you love is possible.  All you have to do is choose to make it happen.

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got job search questions?

October 26th, 2011 by Judi

Q & AThe free Q & A is back! 
Today – Wednesday, October 26 – at 3 pm eastern / noon pacific

Ask a question – or just register to listen and learn – at  www.AskFindthePerfectJob.com

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Resumes: Capital Letter confusion & Ampersands

October 19th, 2011 by Judi

capitalization rulesOver capitalization and a tendency to replace the word “and” with ”&” has sprung up.   I don’t know where these trends came from, but they’re growing.  And annoying.

 Over capitalization is the tendency to capitalize words that seem to be proper nouns but aren’t.  The &, of course, explains itself. 

In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries these practices were also the norm.  I don’t know if it was considered a problem, but these days we have a plethora of grammar books, widely published and widely distributed, that provide distinct rules on when to capitalize and when not to.  Here’s a comparison of then and now:

From a letter from George Mason, who conceived the Bill of Rights but did not sign, in a letter to George Washington about slavery (from the May 2000 issue of Smithsonian magazine): 

“…that slow Poison…is daily contaminating the Minds & Morals of our People.  Every Gentleman here is born a petty Tyrant.  Practical in Actssof Despotism & Cruelty, we become callous to the Dictates of Humanity….And in such an infernal School are to be educated our future Legislators & Rulers.”

And from various resumes:

  1. Develop solutions to ensure continuity of business services, execute change requests for Customer Router Configurations.
  2. Biweekly reconciliation of all HRIS transactions for Payroll transmission.
  3. Develop and maintain Marketing internal collateral library along with online web postings and all other internal & external communication activities.
  4. …shadowed physicians & pharmaceutical sales representatives….
  5. Examine statement of work, purchase orders & invoices from global & domestic vendors for authenticity
  6. Created queries/reports of daily and weekly room lists, enabling Training Center to operate efficiently.
  7. Safe and efficient delivery of Radiopharmaceutical products and associated Lab work
  8. Coding and activisation for the month of May & Award Pearl for month of August & September.

I understand deciding if titles, departments or product names should be capitalized or not relative to classifying  what – and what isn’t – a proper noun could be a little iffy.  What I don’t understand is why someone wouldn’t look it up.  For example, I just searched “capitalization in titles” and easily found a very comprehensive page:   
http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/capitalization/capitalization-with-job-titles/

Next I googled “”ampersand, when to use” and immediately found this: http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w002.html   which says essentially what I tell my students in Perfect Job University when we’re doing resume work and it shows up (often, unfortunately):

The ampersand (&) is an often over-used abbreviation for the word and. Its use should be limited to a few situations……Do not use an ampersand in general writing simply to abbreviate the word and. 

How you handle small things sometimes indicates how you handle bigger issues.   If you don’t take the time to look something up and ensure it’s correct for your resume, maybe you’ll just take the shortcut, cross your fingers and hope, as an employee.  If you take the lazy way out on your resume, maybe you’ll take the lazy way out as an employee.  

Everyone should own two books:

  • The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer
  • The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

They’re not nearly as entertaining as other grammar books I have (7 total – among them Woe is I and The Deluxe Transitive Vampire), but they’re very comprehensive and when my books with the funny pictures and examples fail me, I turn to these two, along with my UPI style manual. 

The ampersand issue would seem to be to be common sense.  But obviously I’m wrong to some degree or its usage wouldn’t be so common. 

The irony is that in a multitude of job board ads, one of the requirements is “Excellent verbal and written communication skills” and yet probably half of them exhibit these problems and others.  That’s good news for you,  because there’s about a 50% possibility that when the company looks at your resume, they won’t see these issues as a failure to meet that requirement.  

On the other hand, there’s a 50% chance they will.  Minor? Possibly.  But when you can buy a book and familiarize yourself with a few basic rules, why not do it….and increase that 50% to be more in your favor?

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