Your network let you down?  Really?

If you feel like your network has let you down, then you really don’t understand what a network is, how to develop it, or how to use it to help you in the job search.  Listen up, kids.  There WILL BE a test at the end of this post, and if you fail you will add several months (not weeks . . . MONTHS) to your job search.

What you must understand first and foremost is that networking is NOT about you. Ever.  It’s about connecting people to help them get what they want or need. Anything that comes your way out of networking is a bi-product of you connecting other people. Many job seekers don’t understand this, and thus, are frustrated when their network doesn’t produce the results they think it should.  Many job seekers think the network is there to serve them, to pass along job leads, or to help them get a foot in the door. That is NOT what a network is for.  YOU exist to serve the network. The network is not there to serve you.

Here’s the tricky part. It is a proven fact that most people find their job because of a network connection.  They know somebody who knows somebody who needs what that particular job seeker has to offer. Your name gets passed along as a potential fit, and before you know it you are sitting in an interview.  Somehow that confusingly gets turned into, “my network is there to help me find a job.”  Look closer, because that’s not what is happening at all.  That scenario is not about YOU, it’s about the person or company that has a need for something.  Your name gets passed along because you have built up trust and respect within your network.  You are the connection that helps the other person fulfill their need.  Don’t ever get this confused, because that’s when people feel that their network has let them down. In fact the opposite is true — YOU have let down YOUR NETWORK.  You haven’t shown yourself to be trustworthy, so nobody passed along your name as a potential solution to the other person’s problem. Bitter medicine, perhaps, but that’s the way it works!

In their book, Trust Agents, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith offer a mathematic formula for trust.  (It’s not theirs originally, but that’s where I saw it, so they get the credit.) The formula goes like this:

(C x R x I) / S = T

That is, CREDIBILITY times RELIABILITY times INTIMACY, divided by SELF-ORIENTATION equals TRUST.  The key here, as I see it, is to understand that as SELF-ORIENTATION (or self-interest) increases, your TRUST factor decreases.  The more you are in it for yourself, the less trust you obtain. Networks are driven by trust.

So, the next time you feel like your network has let you down check your heart and clarify your motives.  Others can tell if you are there for yourself or for them, and they won’t tolerate it.

What’s your TRUST factor?

When I asked for input on what to write about in this blog I received the following request from Doug:

“I would be interested in hearing about effective uses of time when you are looking for work.  How much time should be spent on internet search engines, linkedin, attending network marketing meetings, having one-on-one network meetings, time spend with an accountability partner, exercising, prayer/meditation, time spent not working on the job search (I feel guilty doing this), volunteering, or other valuable uses of time.  Alternately, what are poor uses of time.  As I go through this process, I have been advised to do everything and say a yes to everything.”

This is a GREAT question Doug, I’m glad you asked it. Let me take a shot at answering it. . .

Going through the job search process is challenging.  Because it’s so new to most of us, choosing how to spend out time each day/week/month can be confusing.  On top of the confusion there are several pressing issues, such as:

• our husband/wife wondering when we will find a job and asking us daily what we did to accomplish that goal.
• our own feelings of self worth (or lack thereof) — let’s be honest, in our culture one of the first questions asked when we meet a new person is, “What do you do?”  If we “don’t” then how do we answer that question?
• advice from everyone and their brother as to how we should navigate this time – “go to everything you can”  “put this on your resume” “don’t put that on your resume” “always wear a tie when you leave the house” “don’t dress to formal or people will know you are unemployed” and so on.
• a feeling that sometimes we just want to curl up in bed and avoid the whole thing.
• a desire to make the most of this time with family and friends — “After all, I have a lot more free time now that I don’t have work getting in the way.  So why do I feel guilty when I’m out enjoying myself with the kids?”

As someone who has helped hundreds of people successfully navigate unemployment and career transition this past year, let me share with you some of what I see to be most effective uses of your time in this process.

1. Don’t bother spending more than about 30 hours per week in the job search.  There are physical, social and psychological effects of being on a job search that make it unproductive for us when we go past 30 hours per week.  I know you are supposed to consider your job search to be a “full time job”, so for our purposes let’s consider 30 hours to be “full time.”
2. Spend some at least 20 minutes EVERY DAY doing some form of physical exercise.  Go for a walk. Go go the gym. Play with your kids on the jungle gym.  Exercise is good for clearing out the brain and increasing energy.
3. Don’t spend more than 37 minutes per day on the computer. Likewise, DON’T go online during daylight hours.  Think about it, if 80% of jobs are found through some form of networking, then you should spend at least 80% of your time networking.  The internet will be there when you get home, after everyone is in bed.  Heck, you are probably going to be awake at 3:00 this morning anyway.  If you spend the whole day online, what will you have to do when you wake up in the middle of the night?
4. Have a networking strategy and stick to your plan.  This is tricky, because your plan should evolve as you progress in your job search.  I would recommend that early on in your search you attend lots of events where other job seekers hang out.  These are great places to meet new people, develop and practice your elevator pitch, and get some support.  However, within 6-8 weeks you want to begin moving AWAY from those kinds of events to places where potential employers and people close to potential employers hang out. The former of these events will usually be free.  The latter may cost you something.  That’s why you want to work out the bugs in your verbal and printed “brand image” in the early stages of your job search.  And yes, Doug, this means you will say no to some things. You want to be strategic!
5. An accountability partner is a great idea! Plan to check in once a week for at least an hour.  Take notes and hold each other accountable for goals set at the previous meeting.  Choose wisely. To be successful at this you need to choose someone who will kick your butt — not be your friend.

Some of the activities that have proven to be the worst use of time for job seekers include:

1. Spending time on the Internet job boards – less than 6% of all available jobs are posted on these boards. If you were digging for gold, wouldn’t you want to spend your time in a place where other people have found gold rather than someplace where the prospects for finding gold are shallow?  Well guess what. . . you ARE digging for gold! The best place to find it is through your network of friends and colleagues.
2. Writing/revising your resume (or your LinkedIn profile. Or your Visual CV. . . ). Yeah, I know, you NEED a resume.  It needs to be polished and professional.  However, your resume is a dynamic, living document. It will need to be revised continuously throughout your career.  Work on it a little at a time and track your improvement.  Besides, YOU are your best resume, so get out there and show people what you have to offer!
3. Simultaneously, paying someone to write your resume for you is a huge waste of both time and money – unless you are a high level executive commanding a 7 figure salary.  If you feel the need to pay someone, pay them to coach you how to write a quality resume. You are going to go through the job search process again in the future, so this is a skill that is worth learning as best you can! Besides, the tools you use to write a resume will be extremely helpful in interviews, and it’s pretty tough to get a professional resume writer to go with you to an interview!

This is just a beginning list of how to structure your job search efforts.  The key is to have a strategic plan with specific goals that you can track and measure each day/week.  We have more resources on this topic inside the Careers 2.0 membership site.  The Basic Membership is free, so sign up and take a look!

Thanks for asking Doug!

How about the rest of you?  What would YOU like to read about in this blog?

Related Posts:

• Our 4 Step Process for Writing An Elevator Pitch
• How To Conduct An Informational Interview
• What Is A Personal Brand And Why Do You Need One?
• How to Work With A Recruiter In Your Job Search
• Why A Great Resume Is Not As Important As A Decent Network

As a job seeker, you have a resume and you send it to every possible job opening you can find.  You make sure every recruiter in town has at least one copy on her desk. It’s posted in 6 places on Monster.com and 4 places on CareerBuilder.com. You hand it out like those guys hocking strip-show fliers on 5th Avenue in New York City.  You even sent one to your best friend’s mother, simply because she seems to know everybody!  But how effective is your resume, really?

Are you getting the results you want from it?  Are you getting enough interviews?  Do you even KNOW what “good results” would look like?

Have no fear, my friends, we are here to take the pain and confusion out of writing an effective resume.  Here’s the inside scoop on getting the most out of your resume:

1. Define expected results. The first thing you need to do is determine what purpose your resume will play in your job search efforts.  Do you want to use it to get a foot in the door?  Do you want it to help you “close the sale?”  Or, do you want your resume to simply be something that your prospective employer has in their hands to help them rest assured that they have made the right decision by hiring you?  Any of these are legitimate uses for a resume, but you need to know how yo intend to use this important document in order to be able to craft it to effectively achieve your goals.
2. Begin with a clear Professional Summary. If you are lucky you will get 8 seconds worth of attention from the person reading your resume.  You have got to grab their attention so they will read further.  A banal, boring, or uninteresting summary will send them on to the next person.  I see way too many resume’s that begin with some kind of “objective statement” to the effect, “desire a challenging career that utilizes my strengths.”  BFD.  I bet the hiring manager who reads this will get 500 or more with the same objective.  What in that statement will make you stand out from the others? More importantly, what do you have to offer a potential employer?  Your resume is a marketing tool similar to a newspaper ad.  If you want to grab the attention of the reader you’ve got to have a compelling headline.  Otherwise, they will move on to the next one without giving you a second thought.
3. Give proof. Once you have their attention you need to back up your statement with credible, verifiable results to prove that you are capable of doing what you say you can do.  Use CAR Statements in the body of your resume to demonstrate your capabilities. Don’t just state responsibilities.  Give specific examples of how your actions have helped previous employers make or save money.  For example, every Office Manager could put on their resume that they “order, organize and monitor office supply cabinet.”  Big deal.  Nothing in that statement would be enough to get you an interview.  Just think of what might happen if, instead, you put down something like: “saved previous employer $12,000 per year by developing a process to effectively order and manage office supplies.”  I can tell you what happened, because one of my clients put that on her resume and got several interviews because of it. Show “proof” and you will stand out from the competition.
4. Develop an effective follow up strategy. You probably have figured out that using a shotgun approach in your job search is not very effective.  It’s a bit counter-intuitive, but a narrowly focused, laser-beam strategy will produce much better results. If you don’t have a strategy for your job search you may want to check out the Careers 2.0 ARMS process.  It has helped hundreds of other job seekers find their perfect job in half the time, and Basic Membership is free!

If you aren’t seeing the results you want from your current resume, perhaps it’s time to try something different.  These 4 tips have been time tested and will definitely produce results, I guarantee it!

Resume Advice Related Posts

• How To Write a Professional Summary Statement for Your Resume
• 4 Examples of A Professional Summary Statement
• 3 Different Types of Resumes You Need To Know About
• Why a GREAT Resume is Not as Important as a DECENT Network
• Resume Writing Tips

I’m trying something a little bit different today.  On Sunday, December 13 I conducted an interview via Skype with Don Elliott of Elliott Design. Don is a marketing profession and in this video he gives advice on how to build your personal brand based upon his expertise in helping companies develop their own brand presence.

One other note, the quality of this video isn’t great, but the content rocks!  If you need to, just close your eyes and listen.  Don’ gives some GREAT gems for developing your personal brand.

If you live in Portland and would like to attend my “Writing An Elevator Pitch” seminar next Monday (December 21), click here to find out how you can attend for just $13.00.  The seminar will be led by national sales trainer, Jim Nudelman. You will remember him, because he is the one who gave us the “4 Step Process for Writing An Elevator Pitch.” It’s one of our most popular posts!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 14.  Tomorrow’s post: “Blog Challenge Day 15 Check Up”

Welcome December!  This month I am participating in a 30 Day Blogging Challenge with some other bloggers.  As you know, this blog is all about helping people find a new job. Not just any new job, mind you, but rather, the perfect career. That’s why we write about acing the interview, cutting time off your job search, and using Internet job boards (like LinkedIn, Monster.com, and Twitter).

This 30 day blog challenge will allow me to develop some new material to use in the Careers 2.0 website.  That means two things for you: 1) you get the opportunity to add your 2 cents to the conversation, and 2) you get it for free before everyone else! This blog is all about offering free job advice, free job resources, free resume examples, and much more. We deal with topics such as networking, building a personal brand, working with recruiters, unemployment, interviewing and salary negotiation. What would YOU like to see us cover during the 30 day challenge? I hope you will participate by adding your thoughts to the conversation.  Actually, it won’t be much fun without you! Oh, and don’t forget to pass the links along to your fellow job seekers.

While the long term goal of this blog is to help everyone in America find the perfect career for this time in their life, my short term goals are a bit more attainable. Here are my goals for 30 day blog challenge:

1. create 5 posts on Personal Branding as it relates to the job search.
2. create 5 posts on interviewing and interviewing tips for job seekers.
3. add 50 followers to Facebook blog list.
4. add 200 people to newsletter mailing list.
5. get 3 posts to get picked up by a national venue.

Thank you for joining (and encouraging) me on this 30 day blogging journey.  And don’t forget, happy hunting!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 1.  Tomorrow’s post: “Do You Have A Professional Photo?”

So you are looking for a job.  Well, sooner or later someone is going to suggest you find a recruiter (sometimes called a head hunter, or a job placement agency).  It’s not a bad idea, but it’s not a panacea either.  If you are going to work with a recruiter, there are some things you should know.

1)    Recruiters do NOT work for you.  It’s NOT their job to find you a job.  Recruiters are paid by a company to find candidates. As such, you are part of their inventory.  Nothing more and nothing less. This may sound “cold”, but understanding that fact up front will save you heartache and time.  It will also help you work more effectively with recruiters.
2)    A recruiter will not pass your name along to a company if they don’t feel you are a perfect fit for the position.  If they pass along a candidate that is determined to be “unqualified” they risk their reputation with the hiring company.  If you feel you are a great fit, you need to work with your recruiter to understand the needs of the position and re-tool your resume to fit it exactly.  If you can’t, you should not force the issue.
3)    Remember that recruiters are people.  They have specific needs for accomplishing their goals so they can make a living. Recruiters are busy people.  They work long hours and are pulled in many directions. They may not get back to you as quick as you would like.  They may not be “tactful” in their responses to you. . . in fact many recruiters I know pride themselves on being “brutally honest.” As such, it’s in your best interest to develop a relationship with a recruiter.  Don’t try to “use” them in your job search.  Nobody likes to be “used.” If you don’t have thick skin, working with a recruiter may not be for you.
4)    Treat your recruiter as a networking partner. Nearly every recruiter I talk to tells me that they have trouble finding qualified candidates for the positions they are trying to fill.  They are overwhelmed with people who do not fit their needs, and this can cause them to become a bit cynical.  You can overcome this problem by proving to be a valuable networking resource to them. Since you are networking with other job seekers, you know who is out there looking and you know what their strengths and weaknesses are.  Help your recruiter discover hard to find candidates and they will remember you when they come across a job requisition that’s right for you!
5)    Remember, only about 10-12% of jobs are ever filled by a recruiter.  Working with a recruiter may be right for you, but don’t limit your job search to just one method.  If you decide to work with a recruiter, you should also be out searching for opportunities for yourself. Many opportunities will never cross the recruiter’s desk, so don’t put all of your eggs in that one basket.

Working with a recruiter can help accelerate your job search, but it isn’t right for everyone.  If you remember these 5 tips for working with a recruiter, your experience will be more productive and pleasant for all involved.

Join us tomorrow as we explore the question, “Should You Have A Video Resume?”  In the meantime, happy hunting!

There are no tricks to finding your perfect career, but going about it in the wrong way can distract from your job search and making it take longer to find your next position. For instance, many job seekers spend much of their day on the Internet searching the job boards.  Unfortunately, only about 6-10% of all jobs are ever posted on these job boards.  Smart job seekers understand that the key to finding the perfect career fit requires them to conduct a career marketing campaign.

A career marketing campaign begins by helping you focus your strengths and accomplishments into quantifiable statements that will show prospective employers what you can offer them – i.e. ways you can help them make or save money.

Once you have determined your key accomplishments, the next step is to find people and companies who need what you have to offer.  Sending out resumes en massé will just put your name into a pile of 500 to 1,000 candidates.  A proactive career marketing plan will allow you to be one of only a handful of candidates, rather than one in 1,000.

So why would you want to calculate how much you unemployment costs?  Isn’t that just a straight shot to depression-ville?  Not really.  I believe that one can make wiser decisions when they are better informed.  If you don’t know what unemployment is costing you, you should take a few minutes to do the calculations.  Trust me, it WILL help!

Here’s a simple way to calculate the cost of your unemployment.

1) Your desired monthly salary    $_______________

2) Subtract your current monthly income (i.e. unemployment, severance, etc)    $ _______________

3) Equals your monthly LOSS of income    $ _______________

If your monthly loss of income is $500, then in 3 months your will be out $1,500.  If you are $2,000 in the red each month, 3 months will take $6,000 out of your savings or put you that much deeper in debt!

When you know this information you really have two options:

1. Trim expenses.
2. Invest in tools to help you cut time off your job search.

What is it worth to you to cut time off your job search?  What is ONE week worth?  A month?  3 months? How much more time are you willing to WASTE on your job search?

The tools found in the Premium membership of Careers 2.0 can help you cut as much as 50% of your job search.  Isn’t that worth a $149.00 investment?

Click here to get started with your Career 2.0 Premium subscription.