Posts Tagged: career
6 Common Sense Job Search Tips
Posted in Career Advice for Young Professionals Generation Y/Millennials Getting from College to Career Job Interview Advice Job Search Tips Personal Branding Professionalism Social Media on September 29, 2010 at 6:00 am
Last week’s post, “5 Simple But Brilliant Job Interview Strategies,” generated a lot of feedback, particularly from recruiters who told me how often job seekers make seemingly obvious mistakes such as spelling a recruiter’s name incorrectly. This reminded me of the fact that, as Voltaire famously said, “Common sense is not so common.”
So today I wanted to share some additional seemingly simple career tips that many job seekers overlook.
1. Use your career services office. College career centers have very helpful (and usually free) resources — exclusive job databases, resume workshops, mock interview sessions, career counseling, salary negotiation guidance and much more. If you’ve never visited your university’s career center (which is often available after you’ve graduated as well), you are seriously missing out.
2. Alter your search criteria. When you’ve searching for opportunities on jobs websites, don’t get stuck in a rut of using the same search terms over and over again. Dig deeper and expose yourself to more opportunities by expanding your search to new keywords (such as “communications” in addition to “public relations”), new sectors (such as government and nonprofit if you have been looking only at corporations) and further distances from your desired location (such as the San Fernando Valley if you’ve been looking in Los Angeles or Westchester County and New Jersey if you’ve been looking in New York City).
3. Set your Facebook profile to private. While you’re sitting at your computer searching for jobs, click over to your Facebook profile and make sure your privacy settings are set to the maximum. Many recruiters regularly check out candidates on Facebook, so even if you believe your profile is harmless, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
4. Check your messages. Particularly for a generation that’s known for being permanently connected to technology devices, there is no excuse for not returning a call or email within a few hours. Especially if you’re engaged in an active job hunt, check your messages frequently.
5. Don’t be too early for a job interview. While we’ve all heard the advice never, ever to arrive late to a job interview, employers are equally peeved when you arrive too early. By all means get to the company’s building or parking lot as early as you’d like, but don’t enter the actual office any more than 15 minutes before your scheduled interview time.
6. Smile. I’m surprised at how many recruiters tell me that a smile really makes a difference at a job fair, networking event or interview. Even when you’re nervous, a genuine grin helps convince an employer that you’d be a good person to have around. So show those pearly whites!
What other common sense tips do you recommend? Please share!
The Secret to Successful Networking in the 21st Century
Posted in Career Advice for Young Professionals LinkedIn Networking Advice Networking and Personal Branding Personal Branding Social Media on June 7, 2010 at 10:15 am
Last week I attended the annual conference of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the largest organization for university career services professionals and entry-level recruiters. As someone who frequently talks about the powers of social media for connecting, this conference was a reminder that LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are only half the networking story.
At the NACE conference, I had the pleasure of meeting people in person whom I had previously only communicated with online or by phone. While I had good relationships with many of the people I knew virtually, something changes when you connect in person, waiting in an interminable Starbucks line together or sitting side-by-side on a bus to an offsite conference event. More trust is shared, relationships become a little deeper and stronger bonds are forged.
The secret to successful networking in the 21st Century is what my friend Diane Danielson, with whom I co-wrote The Savvy Gal’s Guide to Online Networking, calls a “clicks and mix” approach: equal parts online and in-person networking.
This is not necessarily easy, as online networking and in-person networking require some different skill sets. Tech-averse people love chatting face-to-face, but find it awkward to communicate online. Tech savvy people and shy people often wish they never had to emerge from behind their computer screens to shake hands and make eye contact with real live humans.
If you face any of these discomforts, you must work to overcome them, because the most successful networkers are competent in both realms:
They belong to professional association groups online and attend the networking events of those organizations as well. This exposes them to all members of an organization and all benefits of membership.
They send emails or LinkedIn connection requests to stay in touch with people they meet at conferences (hint: I do this on the plane ride home following an event).
They determine how to communicate with a networking contact based on the other person’s “clicks and mix” preferences. Upon meeting someone, they will ask, “I’d really like to keep in touch with you. What is the best way to reach out — do you generally prefer email, phone or another method?”
And, most importantly, they behave the same way — professionally, politely and generously — in person and online. It’s terribly disappointing to find out that someone you liked in person is rude or inappropriate online. And — as I learned at the NACE conference — nothing is better than discovering that a person you liked over email or twitter is just as fabulous when chatting over a frothy Frappuccino.
Book Review: “Courting Your Career”
Posted in Career Advice for Young Professionals Generation Y/Millennials Getting from College to Career Job Search Tips Networking Advice Networking and Personal Branding on May 31, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Shawn is associate director with the MBA career management center at UNC-Chapel Hill. He knows that job searching isn’t always fun for students and young professionals, so he decided to use the dating metaphor to make the process more palatable. It works. Shawn’s tone is friendly, knowledgeable and detailed, and the dating metaphor is clever (e.g., cover letters as pick-up lines).
My favorite part of the book is the sample scripts, where Shawn outlines exactly what to say in various situations, such as calling a networking contact or approaching a recruiter at a career fair. He also provides some tips I haven’t seen elsewhere, such as a guide to the best places for men and women to buy interview suits (helpfully ranked by price).
Recommended for Gen Y job seekers looking for expert advice combined with a fun twist on the career search process.
Click here for a preview of tips from Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job.
For more, check out Shawn Graham’s Courting Your Career Blog.
Guest Post: Are you ready to be a passioneer?
Posted in Career Advice for Young Professionals on March 13, 2008 at 11:34 am
By Evan Oppenheimer
If you know your dream job, how do you get it? If you don’t know, how do you figure it out?
The answer to these questions will be vastly different for each person. However, the many paths you may choose to answer these questions are more aligned then you might think. Here are some keys to help you find your passion:
First and foremost, be true to yourself. Be open and honest with yourself and others. This, unfortunately, is not something we are often taught or encouraged to do, but do it we must. If you know yourself and are true to yourself, then you have taken the first step towards the job (and the life!) of your dreams.
Second, be confident about yourself and your choices. Once you know yourself and you make a promise to continually develop and understand the true self that is you, don’t be swayed by conformity or outside pressures that tell you to be anything other than that which you know is true. You are the only person that has to live your life, so be you and be happy.
Third, in the words of Lindsey Pollak, don’t curb your enthusiasm. Your enthusiasm, passion, excitement and true love for a goal should be the driving force that moves you through the world. Others recognize (consciously or unconsciously) the confidence and passion that you exude. There is something warming, encouraging, and powerful about being in the presence of someone who is self-aware, confident, enthusiastic and fueled by passion.
If you feel that you’re not quite there yet, then strive to surround yourself with people who do exude self-awareness, confidence, enthusiasm, and passion. This idea leads us to the fourth key idea: find passionate people—I call them “passioneers”—and surround yourself with them. This process of finding and surrounding yourself with self-aware passioneers can start with reading a book or an article, hearing an interview on TV, or meeting someone at a conference or party. Passioneers—are all over if you know where to look. A passioneer is simply this: someone who follows his or her passion, is guided by the inner self, and encourages others to do the same.
Authors, writers, speakers, doctors, lawyers, business owners…. Whoever it is that inspires you, reach out and ask some questions by sending an email, writing a letter, making a phone call, or visiting in person. Believe it or not, most people will feel honored that you asked.
When you have the courage and the confidence to explore and ask for assistance, a world of possibilities and dreams can be fulfilled. The future is not something we enter, but something we help create, so get out there and make your future happen!
Evan Oppenheimer currently works for the JCCA Compass Project, providing transition programming and career advisement for high school and college students. For more information or to schedule a consultation, please contact Evan Oppenheimer at EvanMOpp@gmail.com.
Tags: career, finding your passion
