Holiday Festivities Are Great Networking Venues

by Debra Feldman www.theladders.com

The approaching holiday season is a networking paradise. The timing is perfect for arranging introductions to those you want to know you. More importantly, it’s a time to be focused on how you can give to others rather than viewing connections as the solution to meeting just your needs. In fact, successful networkers make it a point to seek out ways to help others. Often, they generously suggest assistance and support even before it is requested.

The most reliable networking strategy promotes good relationships by concentrating on giving more and expecting less. First, think about how you can offer help rather than what you stand to gain. Seek out ways to surprise people by offering assistance before they ask. This generosity not only demonstrates good intentions, but is sure to delight the recipient, create good interpersonal chemistry and generate desire to return the favor.

Yes, it is better to give than to receive.

Relationships are cemented and continue to thrive (and keep delivering exponentially increasing referrals) when both sides recognize benefits and value. Productive networking is relationship-driven not transaction-oriented. This time of year offers many occasions to nurture relationships, create lasting positive impressions, get on the radar and be remembered for your remarkable assistance. It’s a wonderland of fresh prospects and a harvest of contact renewals. The many corporate events, social occasions and community celebrations offer myriad giving opportunities to establish connections, strengthen ties, invigorate relationships and share ideas. Don’t be hesitant to extend invitations – whether or not they are accepted, it is a way to connect and let others know that you are thinking of them.

Almost any neighborhood, family or business gathering may produce a conversation with someone who has information you can mine unobtrusively for leads to new career challenges for yourself and those you know. With so many venues to choose from, select ones where you are most likely to reach your networking goals: a high probability for face time with individuals to whom you want to show your potential value proposition, unique talents and interests.

These encounters could be your big break to:

• Chat with current or former employees at your target companies
• Exchange business cards with an industry leader
• Arrange a future meeting with someone difficult to reach.

Brief interactions can be springboards to great relationships if you find ways to provide support and thereby sustain the connection. In the future, you will be one of the lucky few with critical inside information, access and support because you are recognized as a giver, not just a taker.

Want to enhance your networking efficiency to generate even better results? Prepare thoroughly in advance, anticipate questions and have well-thought-out and concise responses prepared. Be ready to make clear, compelling points to attract attention, pique curiosity and put you top of mind. Your delivery has to be attention-grabbing to overcome interruptions and compensate for a lack of privacy. Listen actively so you are apt to pick up on a need you can address and keep up your end of the discussion. Don’t forget to come armed with business cards with your contact information. To stand out, add a few bullet points depicting your interests and areas of expertise or other memorable data on the reverse side of the card. This includes qualities like coining a phrase, penning a jingle, being named to President’s circle X times, saving percentage annually or being known as Mr./Ms. ABC.

To further increase your networking effectiveness, attend gatherings where you will feel comfortable and put your best foot forward. Avoid situations where you might be stressed, rushed or distracted from your networking mission: meaningful conversations that leave a strong, positive impression. Picking up insider-only knowledge, connecting those you know to each other and optimizing purposeful networking contacts all ladder up to your goal. One of the best ways to be a helper is to connect people. It is often more enjoyable as well as more effective if you partner with a buddy. You can introduce each other as an icebreaker to start new relationships and keep a conversation flowing.
In conclusion, remember to stay focused. To reap the full benefits of networking purposefully, you must be alert and stay sharp. Don’t overindulge in food or beverages. Conduct yourself professionally at all times. Dress conservatively. The ROI is simple. Just one meaningful dialogue creates measurable value from every networking event. It’s the quality not the quantity of relationships developed, pursued or renewed. Holiday networking targeted to giving and helping is good career management that produces networking benefits throughout the new year. Remember that it is not just what you know and whom you know, but who knows what you know that produces new opportunities in today’s job market.

Happy holidays, happy giving and happy networking!

6 Must-Haves for Your Next Interview

by Dean Tracy of theladders.com

After many years in the recruiting business, I’ve learned that candidates often lack preparation when facing a career transition or job change.

Here are six simple steps to take before an interview to help you land the job.

1. Prepare Your Story
Throughout your career, you may pursue different directions. Be prepared to discuss the reasons you’re taking your career in a certain direction.

Organize talking points that help you tell your story. It’s important to touch on reasons you may have left a company without bashing your former co–workers or supervisors. Explain with confidence the reason that you are making (or have made) a career change.

Remember that a lack of conversation reflects lack of interest. Be prepared to incorporate the story line of your background into their organizational challenges.

2. Calculate Your Compensation
Know the difference between your needs, your value to the company and market trends. Your financial needs are of no importance to the hiring manager or the hiring company. They care about your success, but they are not accountable for your financial responsibilities.

Investigate the market trends for the position for which you’re interviewing. The dollar amount is usually defined by what the market will bear for your position. This information can be collected from a variety of Web sites and market research. Keep in mind that this will also depend on the company’s size, revenues, head count, geographic location, etc.

The value that you bring to the company is one that only you can define and present to your prospective employer. This will be based upon your demonstrated experience as determined by contributions you’ve made in previous roles. Capture and reflect on revenues that you generated, incorporate costs and expenses that you managed and/or numbers of people or clients that you have supported.

Understand initialisms such as OTE and MBO.

• OTE = On Target Earnings. This is what your total compensation package is, including annual base salary, bonuses, etc.
• MBO = Management by Objective. This is typically used to identify a percentage of your annual base and may be paid quarterly or once a year.

3. Articulate Your Value
You need to be able to address the value that you bring to the company. Be prepared to share your skills and accomplishments and discuss how they benefit the company. Articulate these accomplishments in a problem–action–results sequence.

• Problem – This will reflect the specific problem, challenge or situation that you are faced with. The way you would describe this is in the form of an overview or summary.
• Action – This represents the steps that you took to address the problem, challenge or situation. Describe the methodology that you followed to drive results and deliverables.
• Results – This is where you define the success or accomplishment of your actions. Use this as an opportunity to share how you evaluate the end result. 

4. Determine Your Commuting Threshold

Estimate how far are you willing to commute to get to work every day. Some candidates will use this threshold to represent miles and some will use it to measure total road time.

5. Determine Your Willingness to Travel
This will usually depend on the position for which you’re applying. Your previous experiences with work travel will be a true indicator to consider. You should also carefully consider the impact that this will have on your family and personal lifestyle.

6. Articulate Your Management Style
Be prepared to share and discuss the environment or culture where you can be the most productive. Are you most effective in a chaotic, fast-paced, high-stress environment? Do you bring a calming influence in a chaotic setting? Are you detail-oriented, driven by reports in a micromanaged structure? Be prepared to describe your typical activity in a normal workday.

If you do your homework well, you will be extraordinarily successful in your interview. It will become easy for you to open new doors of opportunity toward landing the job of your dreams! Go get ‘em!

Weekly Wisdom-A Reminder from Marc Cenedella

www.theladders.com

Yeah, I know what you're thinking.

That job you applied for in September... there's no chance anything's going to happen there. When you talked to the nice woman in Human Resources a couple months ago, it seemed like the SVP wasn't sure whether she wanted somebody with more experience or not. It's probably not the most likely gig for you.

So even though it's still on your Excel spreadsheet of opportunities that you're reviewing, you're feeling pretty "iffy" as to whether there's a real chance at that firm. So perhaps you won't call today, you know? Maybe just wait and see what happens?

Now, look, this is a pretty common way of thinking... and it's dead wrong.

Of course you're going to come up with all sorts of excuses to justify why you're not going to pick up the phone and reach out to her.

That's the natural state of the job-seeker, the professional, the average human being... you.

Really, who wants to put themselves out there and risk rejection? It's unpleasant. It's unnatural. It's unenjoyable.

But, like it or not, when you're in a job search for your next $100K+ gig, you've got to do it. You've got to pick up the phone and reach out to all your contacts and job opportunities.

Because even if she doesn't have something for you right now, perhaps her old friend at another firm was asking her just last night if she knew of anybody like you. Or maybe a recruiter she was speaking with last week was asking for referrals for another job. Or perhaps somebody just left to take a job somewhere else and she is, in fact, desperately in need of somebody like you. Right now.

While the likelihood of any of these circumstances is small, you have to take a lot of small chances to get one big job.

You have to play the ricochet, work the rebound, pounce on the bounce. You need to create your own luck, and the easiest way to do it is to keep following up, urgently, relentlessly, religiously, with the recruiters and HR departments who have, or have had, opportunities that are right for you.

Because you never know where your resume might end up after those calls, those networking lunches, those follow up meetings.

Keep things moving this cold December morning, Readers!

Synching Your Talk and Your Walk

by Steven Diebold (www.theladders.com)

Mixed messages can kill a campaign. And yet, people send disconnected messages all the time. This is part of the reason we learn not to trust them and even question their actions. Marketing messages or corporate communications are no different. What we say and do must match.

Let’s visit the definitions of congruence and continuity so we can see how these apply to marketing.

Congruence

As an abstract term, congruence means similarity between objects. It is a relation that implies a type of equivalence, but not complete equality. It can also be the quality or state of agreeing or coinciding. In psychology, congruence is a rapport within oneself, or internal and external consistency, perceived by others as sincerity or certainty.

With these definitions we can see how important the application of congruence is to an effective value proposition within a campaign. If you want to appear sincere and certain (and who doesn’t?), your value proposition and what you actually deliver must be consistent.

Make Your Case and Support It

For example, if you are creating a direct-mail campaign that has clearly identified an effective value proposition, use support statements that align with that original proposition. Though it seems obvious, sending any mixed messages can and will dilute the communication’s power. Each supporting message must synch up with the main idea. If your headline starts with one idea and your supporting statements veer off-track, you make your case weaker. The best way to think of this is to consider an attorney proving a case in a courtroom. The lawyer must explain the case with congruent emotional and logical arguments. If he brings in bad or irrelevant evidence, he's likely to lose the case. If anything is out of place in an argument, people lose trust in the presenter and start to question the case he is making.

Another example would be this article you are reading now. Every statement I make in this article needs to line up with what is promised in the headline or I start to lose focus and veer off-track from what made you read it in the first place. If I don’t deliver on it, then you just stop reading. Still with me? Good.

Continuity

In fiction, film and other media, continuity is understood to be the consistency of persons, plots, objects, places and events as seen by the reader or viewer. But how does it relate to marketing? Let’s use film and television production as an instructive example. Most productions have a script supervisor on hand who is paid solely to maintain continuity across the chaotic and typically nonlinear shoot. In a sense, this person is like the brand manager of the project. Their job takes the form of stacks of paperwork, photographs and an extremely detail-oriented memory. Their memory is often assembled into a ‘story bible,’ which usually includes scene notes and technical details, such as camera positioning and equipment settings. They also catalog images, using Polaroids or, more often today, digital cameras. All of this is done so that, despite perhaps being shot thousands of miles and several months apart, all parts of the story are told in a logical flow. If this job is done perfectly, the script supervisor, or brand manager, can often pass without notice.

Make Sure Your Details Match Up

Continuity can be a bit more challenging. Every customer touch point should be evaluated to ensure that each message and experience is aligned. If there is any breakdown in this process, you will have opened up a weakness for a competitor to use against you. Let’s go back to the example of the attorney. Without doing her homework, from timelines to evidence to what was said and when, she will be unable to prove her case. Customers are just as, if not more, skeptical as a jury — and very discerning with their dollars. If your argument is weak and poorly developed, you risk losing your case, and thereby your market share. The best way to protect against this happening is to apply continuity and congruence to your value proposition.

Build your case well and you will be rewarded.

Weekly Wisdom: November 29, 2010

7 Steps to Sustain Energy and Enthusiasm During Your Job Search

Selena Dehne, JIST Publishing

Ideally, everyone would view the job search as an exciting and invigorating opportunity. In reality, the process can be stressful, exhausting and emotionally draining, particularly when coping with rejection, financial hardships or uncertainty about the future.

It's important to realize that job searching doesn't have to be a negative experience. Richard Deems and Terri Deems, co-authors of "Make Job Loss Work for You," say people can take several small steps toward a faster, more rewarding job search.   

"Candidates who are out on the streets talking and meeting with people are those who maintain their energy and confidence," they explain. "On the other hand, those who sit back at home and merely mail out their résumés are often those who get discouraged. The feedback they get during the job search comes from receiving either no response or some form of a rejection letter. With each rejection letter, the body cringes and shrivels a little bit more."

In their book, the Deems father-and-daughter duo offers some additional tips to help job seekers boost their drive during the job search:*

Set up some kind of "office" where you can direct your job search

Make this a place where you can take calls, handle correspondence and keep track of your research and other information. A separate room (such as a spare bedroom) works best, but even a corner in the basement can help.

You will need a desk, chair, phone, computer, Internet access, space to file materials and information, and space to work. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it does need to be comfortable and provide you with the privacy needed to direct your plan for action. When you are in this space, you are "at work."

• Maintain your normal schedule. Don't sleep late. Get dressed each morning just as if you were going to be out talking to people -- because you probably will. One successful person with whom we worked sat down at his "office" every morning at 7:30, coffee in hand, and read the local and national newspapers, just as he had for 10 years prior. His reaction: "It really helped!" 
• Participate in some kind of physical fitness program. Some people jog, walk, play golf, lift weights, dance or do other forms of exercise. The important thing is that you're doing something. Remember, exercise helps relieve stress and anxiety and enables you to think more clearly. Exercise also releases body chemicals that help keep depression away. If you're a bit overweight, the extra exercise can help reduce the pounds and simply help you feel better about yourself. 
• Watch your diet and eat right. Eat balanced, reasonably sized meals. Excessive coffee can increase tension and appetite. Excessive alcohol can dull your thinking ability (plus add weight). Excessive sweets and sugars can increase tension and irritability. 
• View your activity as fulfilling your "job requirements." Except now your job is to find a new position in another company as quickly as possible. 
• Set weekly and daily goals in terms of contacts to make and research to conduct. Keep a record of your activity. People who devote four to eight hours to their job search per day get new jobs faster than those who devote only a few hours each week. Take time on Mondays to set up these goals, and time on Friday to review your progress.
• Maintain your physical appearance. First impressions are important, and you will want to look good. For some, this may mean buying a new interviewing wardrobe. An investment in an interviewing wardrobe can often have a tremendous payback in terms of higher salary in the next position. If finances are a major concern, look for the recycled-clothing shops or job search "closets" that exist in many cities.

Weekly Wisdom: November 22, 2010

Whatever you do, have an answer to the question: why have you been out of work so long? Whatever you say, don't answer, 'Looking for a job.'
by Tanjia M. Coleman of theladders.com

When interviewing candidates who have been out of work for extended periods of time, a human resources manager will almost always ask this question: “Why have you been out of work so long?”

Just as often, they find the candidate on the other side of the desk baffled by the question and ill-prepared to respond. They look like they’re on trial, sitting in the witness stand during cross-examination, worried that the jury and onlookers will make the correlation that silence equals some form of guilt. At the very least, we must assume you are not prepared for the day’s events. It’s the same whether you are doing a phone screen or in-person interview with a hiring manager. Job seekers, listen up: If nothing else, please have a response to this question — “Why have you been out of work so long?” Here are some viable responses:

• I decided to start a business
• I am an officer of XYZ organization
• I took some college courses to stay current in my career
• I am currently researching XYZ subject (ensure that it has business relevance)
• I volunteer at a local mission
• I started a networking organization to help those out of work
• I decided to coach a season of my child’s baseball league

Also consider something more specific such as a human resources manager who might volunteer with an organization that helps others get their resumes up to par, and assist other job seekers with interviewing skills. If you work in finance or accounting you might help folks at your local church prepare their income taxes, work out a problem with back taxes or establish a family budget.

Whatever you do, say something to demonstrate you know enough about the hiring process to have expected this question. Whatever you say, don’t answer, “Looking for a job.” That’s the wrong answer.

When asked this question if your only response is that, “I’ve been looking for a job,” and it’s been one to two years and you still have not found one although your only focus has been on finding a job, this leaves the hiring manager wondering, well, what is wrong with this candidate? Armed with this type of response, you can be almost certain that they will not select you as their new employee.
Wherever you are in your career, there’s an opportunity to utilize your skills regardless of whether or not you are getting paid. Hiring managers look on such activity as creative, innovative, philanthropic and energetic. If you can answer that you have taken your expertise and applied it to the betterment of others who might be in a rough predicament, it not only humanizes you to the hiring manager but shows that you are not solely focused on yourself or money. Now, who doesn’t want this type of employee on their team?

Top 10 Job Interview Myths

From FORTUNE Magazine, by Anne Fisher

Myth #10: The interviewer is prepared.

"The person you're meeting with is probably overworked and stressed about having to hire someone," Couper says. "So make it easy for him or her. Answer that catchall request, 'Tell me about yourself", by talking about why you're a great fit for this job. If it's obvious they haven't read your resume, recap it briefly, and then tie it to the job you want." Tell them what they really need to know, so they don't have to come up with more questions.

Myth #9: Most interviewers have been trained to conduct thorough job interviews.

While human resources professionals do get extensive training in job interviewing techniques, the average line manager is winging it. "To make up for vague questions, be specific even if they don't ask," Couper suggests. "Be ready with two or three examples of particular skills and experiences that highlight why they should hire you."

Myth #8: It's only polite to accept an interviewer's offer of refreshment.

"They usually try to be courteous and offer you a drink, but they don't really want to bother with it," says Couper. "Unless the beverage in question is right there and won't take more than a second to get, just say, no, thank you."

Couper once interviewed a job candidate who said she would love a cup of tea, which, he recalls, "meant I spent half the allotted interview time looking for a tea bag, heating water, and so on. It was irritating."

Another good reason, Couper says, to decline caffeine is that "if the interview is a lengthy one, you don't want to need a restroom halfway through the conversation."

Myth #7: Interviewers expect you to hand over references' contact information right away.

Hold off until you're specifically asked, Couper advises, and even then, you can delay a bit by offering to send the information in an email in a day or two. There are at least two good reasons for not rushing it, Couper says. First, "you sometimes don't know until the end of the interview who would be the best references for this particular job," he notes. "If you get a sense that the interviewer cares most about, for instance, teamwork, you want to choose someone who can attest to your skills in that area. A reference who can only talk about some other aspect of your work is not going to help."

Second, and no less important, "you want a little time to prep your references, by gently coaching them on what you'd like them to say, before the employer calls them."

Myth #6: There's a right answer to every question an interviewer asks.

"Sometimes how you approach your answer is far more important than the answer itself," Couper says. If you're presented with a hypothetical problem and asked how you would resolve it, try to think of a comparable situation from the past and tell what you did about it.

Talkback: Has anything surprised you during a job interview? Leave a comment at the bottom of this story.

Myth #5: You should always keep your answers short.

Here's where doing lots of research before an interview really pays off. "The more you've learned about the company and the job beforehand, the better able you are to tell why you are the right hire," Couper says.

Don't be afraid to talk at length about it, partly because it will spare the interviewer having to come up with another question for you (see Myth #1 above) and partly because "in a good interview, you should be talking about two-thirds of the time."

Myth #4: If you've got great qualifications, your appearance doesn't matter.

Reams of research on this topic have proven that physical attractiveness plays a big part in hiring decisions. "Anyone who says otherwise is lying," Couper says. "People care about your looks, so make the absolute most of what you've got." Even if you're not drop-dead gorgeous, it's impossible to overestimate the importance of looking "healthy, energetic, and confident."

Myth #3: When asked where you see yourself in five years, you should show tremendous ambition.

The five-year question is a common one, and it's uncommonly tricky. "Interviewers want you to be a go-getter, but they also worry that you'll get restless if you don't move up fast enough. So you want to say something that covers all bases, like, 'I'd be happy to stay in this job as long as I'm still learning things and making a valuable contribution,'" says Couper.

You might also consider turning the question around and asking, "Where do you see me in five years?" Says Couper, "Sometimes the answer to that -- like, 'Well, we'd expect you to keep doing the same thing we hired you to do' -- is a good way to spot a dead-end job."

Myth #2: If the company invites you to an interview, that means the job is still open.

Alas, no. In fact, the job may never have existed in the first place: "Some companies use 'interviews' to do market research on the cheap. They ask you about your current or recent duties, your pay scale, and so on, to get information for comparison purposes." Another possibility, Couper says, is that "they may already have a strong internal candidate in mind for the job but just want to see if they come across someone better."

If you get an interview through a networking contact, he adds, "an employer may interview you simply as a courtesy to the person who referred you, if that is someone they don't want to disappoint."

Even if the job opening is phony, it's still worth going, he says: "Sometimes they discover you're a good fit for a different opening that really does exist. You never know where an interview might lead."

And the #1 myth about job interviewing: The most qualified person gets the job.

In at least one crucial respect, a job interview is like a date: Chemistry counts.

"A candidate who is less qualified, but has the right personality for the organization and hits it off with the interviewer, will almost always get hired over a candidate who merely looks good on paper," Couper says.

What can you do if you suspect you're not knocking an interviewer's socks off?

"At the end of the discussion, you'll probably be asked if you have any questions," Couper says. "If you sense the person has reservations about your style, ask what the ideal candidate for this job would be like." Then think fast. Can you talk a bit about how you fit that profile? "Addressing any concerns the interviewer might have, beyond your formal qualifications, is your chance to seal the deal," Couper says.

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