Category Archives: Uncategorized

With smartphones in our pockets and tablets by our TVs, there is no excuse for not paying attention to what’s happening in the world.

It is now so simple to stay in touch with you network and keep a pulse on jobs in your field. It should be as natural as Facebook and coffee.

Dropbox is a free service that allows you to keep files in the cloud. You can keep a few versions of your resume and some sample cover letters in your Dropbox. Download the app and you will have access to them anywhere. You can also change and save on the fly.

Search for jobs on Indeed and then email postings to yourself or a friend. Indeed remembers your last few searches and shows the new jobs added since your last search. You can build your resume and have it available for things you want to apply for right away.

When you search TweetMyJobs all you need to do is enter the job title, industry and location and it will search for you.  You can choose to get the job info by text, email or Twitter.

Felt is an iPad app that that allows you to send personal handwritten thank you cards by hand writing the note on your iPad and telling Felt know where to send it.

LinkedIn allows you to take your professional network with you wherever you go. You have immediate access to your network and important updates such as when someone posts a lead for a neat position. You can also search for jobs and save them to apply to later on.

If all else fails, head to the App store and pick out a mixology app – there are a couple dozen to choose from.  It won’t inspire you or get you a raise but it might make you feel better in the interim.

An interview is not a tell-all

A first interview is like a first date.  It’s not the time to reveal the story of your whole life and career.  You want to hold on to some of the mystery.

Give the interviewer time to ask the questions.  It will be tempting to jump in to show that you can anticipate what will be asked.  Don’t.  Just wait for it.

Take a moment and then answer directly.  Be careful to keep your answer relevant to what was asked.  There is nothing worse than discovering that you have wandered down the garden path and you can’t remember the original question.

Remember your bad first dates?  What happened?  Sellf centered?  Icky personal habits?  Too many cell phone glances?  Distracted by other people?  These are signs of a bad first interview too.

Be on your best first date behaviour.  Wear nice, clean clothes.  Check your hair and teeth before you get to the reception area.  And above all, don’t open the kimono on your first interview.

Things are busy. Not just with me but with everyone I talk to these days. A campaign has been launched in my company to “ramp up” for the last quarter.

I have to admit that I had no idea how to ramp up. I already feel like I am going 100 miles an hour.

Then I remembered hearing a speaker talking about fitting more into your life. She used a bunch of rocks and a measuring cup to illustrate that is always room for a few more things. Especially if, she pointed out, they are important to you.

So I have embarked on my own personal campaign to do more. Here is my plan:

1. Stop complaining about being busy. No one wants to hear it and I could use that time and energy to do something better.
2. Just start. I will focus less on making lists and prioritizing and more on actual doing.
3. I will recognize that some things are just not going to be perfect. Sometimes good enough is okay.
4. I will make a point of saying thank you to the people who are helping me. That act will make them feel more buoyant which, in turn. will help me feel that way too.

There you have it. Aside from the fact that this has turned into a list, I am feeling pretty good about it. I’ll check in with you next week to see how things have turned out.

And hey, thanks for reading this. I really appreciate it.

Hiring is like toilet paper.  Most managers only think about it when they are out and in desperate need.  This means showing up unannounced with your resume expecting respect and consideration probably won’t happen.

There are exceptions. My son is looking for a dish washing job. Dropping into a restaurant and shaking hands with the owner or manager can work. He made a strong enough impression that they gave him a couple of trial shifts last weekend.

He was smart about his timing. He did not ask to speak with the manager in the middle of a busy dinner service.  No, he stopped by on a weekday between lunch and dinner when the manager not only had time to talk with him but was also in a thinking ahead frame of mind rather than the reactionary chaos of the lunch rush.

There are not many other roles that get filled this way.  You cannot drop by a plant and expect to get a meeting with the Production Manager nor can you expect to have a meaningful conversation with the Marketing Manager of a non-profit on a drop by.

People are

a) busy with more pressing issues (like the toilet paper order) or

b) just not in the right frame of mind to consider whether you would be a fit.

The bottom line is to be sensitive to your audience. Once you can identify who you need to connect with and the best way to do it, the rest will become clear.

It’s winter and most of us are suffering from “winter fatigue”.  We are weary of taking a deep breath and bracing ourselves before we step out into the cold.  We are sick of wearing the same winter coat day after day. The only upside, as my Mom pointed out, is that we have not lost our gloves and mittens because you can’t even think of heading outdoors without making sure we have both of them on our damn hands.

These are the days when it is hard to get motivated to do anything but lie on the couch wrapped in blankets. How, then, do we keep up on a job search?  That takes a lot of energy. Energy that you could have used up walking the dog or getting a Starbucks.

The Grinbox.

Make a new folder in your inbox called  Grins.  Sort through your mail for messages that made you feel great when you got them.  If your inbox is too gargantuan for this, filter by things like “great job” or “thanks” or “congratulations”.  Put all these messages in your Grinbox.

I bet there are more than you think. I’ll also bet when you read through them, you will break your face grinning at least once.

Keep putting those positive messages in there and you will develop quite a collection. Double click on that folder any day that feels crappy, cold, wet, whatever.

If you need a message to get started, let me know. I’d be happy to get you started.

Your resume gets you in the door but your interview gets you the job.

Here are the top ten things you need to do to be interview ready:

1.  Find out where it will be.  Exactly where it will be.  Don’t leave this to chance.  Location mistakes make you sweaty.
2.  Get a haircut and deal with those dark roots. (you know what I mean)
3.  Who will you be meeting?  Look them up on LinkedIn, Wikipedia or Google.  Try to find things you might have in common with them.
4. Calculate how long it will take to get there.  Add 15 minutes.
5. Iron your shirt.  Lay out the right accessories (necklace, pen, tissue, tic tacs)
6. Leave your coffee in the car or failing that, in the lobby.  Do not bring coffee to an interview unless you are bringing one for the interviewer too.
7. Prepare five or six stories from your career.  They can be examples of challenge, success, teamwork, deadline, project management.  Anything really.  The point is to practice telling each story so that it will come across with confidence and grace, even when you are nervous.
8. Check your hands.  When you are getting settled in the interview room, take a look at your hands.  If they are clenched together, undo them and shake them under the table or at your sides.
9. Write the name and address of the interviewer on an envelope and put a stamp on it.  Take the card and envelope with you.  Jot down a few lines of thanks in the card and mail it at the nearest box when you leave the building.
10. Take your brain!  Breathe.  Listen.  Think.  They invited you to meet with them for a reason.  Remember that.

I had coffee last week with a candidate who was really frustrated because he had applied for lots of positions and not been contacted.

I asked him to tell me about one of them.  “Well, it was a mechanical engineering position in a manufacturing company.”

“What were they looking for?” I asked.

“An engineering degree and 5 years of design experience in a plastics manufacturing environment.  It was perfect for me.  It’s exactly the kind of company I want to work for.  I can’t understand why they have not called me yet for an interview.”

As we continued the conversation, I learned that while he did have experience in plastics, it was in equipment design not product design and that he did not have an engineering degree.

So at the risk of sounding harsh, I told him why he had not been called.  There were three criteria listed in the posting and he met only one.  In a resume sorting system, whether it’s human or digital, he won’t make the cut.

“But that’s not fair!” he wailed.  “I would be perfect for the role!”

That may be true but if you are replying to a posting where there are clear specifications, you better have most of them if you want to be considered.  Companies have reasons for their criteria and it really does not matter whether you think you are perfect or whether the criteria is justified.

If you are an “out of the box” candidate, then you need to apply in an “out of the box” method.  If your resume does not make the kind of impression you want to make, then you need to make your first impression in a different way.

Find someone who can introduce you to a hiring influencer.  Speak at a conference or workshop.    Post a comment on a Linkedin discussion or write an article. These avenues allow your expertise, handshake, eye contact, stature and general aura to make the first impression.

Bottom line: At the application stage, it does not matter if you think you are perfect for the role.  What matters is that there is a clear fit between your experience/credentials and their criteria.

Over the next few days, the pendulum will swing from spending more time at work to spending more time with family and friends.  This does not mean you should give up thinking about a new gig for 2014.  You just have to focus on different things.

Listen for the cues:  when you are sharing eggnog with friends, listen for words and phrases related to new projects, org changes, colleagues leaving and that sort of thing.  Make a note in your phone to follow up on January 4^th to see if there is something interesting you should know about.

Be positive:  When someone asks you how things are at work, say something good.  “Same old, same old” is the lazy response and basically gives a crappy impression of you and your work.  Think of a positive response like “I am working on some really cool projects” or “My new boss is working out well”.  These kind of answers work well because people can nod and go back to sipping chardonnay or they can ask a follow up question which could be the start of an interesting conversation.

Ditch your title:  When someone asks you what you do, don’t know just spit out your job title.  People outside your organization have no idea what titles mean.  Be descriptive and clear. Talk about the purpose of your work and the problems you solve every day.

Troll LinkedIn:  Use this time to connect with former colleagues, friends from school and the people you met at the hockey tournament yesterday.  You never know when that connection might come in handy.

All the best for a wonderful holiday.

Laura