Think As Inc

REMEMBER MISS TEXAS

Now that the economy is improving, we might be more confident in our career prospects.  Confidence is always good up to a point:

I saw a Junior Miss pageant, where there was a clear frontrunner in Miss Texas.  She had the highest scores from the preliminaries, the semifinals, and most of the finals.  But in the last competition, the evening gowns, she slipped down the stairs, and ended up fourth runner-up.  Miss Texas exemplifies what happens to a lot of candidates, who master the job search basics, but forget how beauty pageants, I mean jobs, are actually won.  You need to pass the preliminaries (the resume screen) to get to the semifinals (the general interviews) to get to the finals (the subsequent interviews).  And, you need to win each round on its merits.  A superior resume won’t compensate for blowing the interview.  High initial scores won’t compensate for careening down the stairs.  As in beauty pageants, your scores get wiped out with each subsequent round.

Thus, nailing the job means that you must always be at your best.  The proper steps to a job search are sequential because one prepares you for the next.  But each has its unique significance and challenges, and you must master them all.  You must have good strategy, powerful marketing, thorough research, polished interviewing skills, organized follow-up, and the ability to close the deal.  You must have all these skills all the time because you will frequently be at different stages with each target company in your job search.  Effective job search basics rely on effective juggling basics:  focus, concentration, and discipline.  You cannot get sloppy.

You might overhear from the CEO’s assistant that you’re the one!  You might be wined and dined at company-paid meals.  You might be negotiating salary.  Until you are through the door on the first day of your new job, you are Miss Texas.  Watch your step.

PLAYING A COMPLETE GAME

Great offense still needs defense.  Defense keeps the offense in the game.  Likewise, great defense needs offense to win.  Thus, career and life planning requires attention to the complete game.  In both spheres, the complete game means maintaining what you have while striving for more. 

Maintain an inventory of what you have that is meaningful to you, and protect these things.  In your career, identify what skills and work situations interest you.  Keep these in your current job by honing these skills and putting yourself in the optimal situations (e.g., volunteering for suitable projects).  In your life, check your balance.  Are there areas that you have been neglecting (career, family, friends, community, your health)?  What can you do now when there is no crisis on hand to build a stronger foundation?

However, you can’t just focus on keeping what you have.  Not only does this prevent you from taking advantage of good opportunities, but it doesn’t prevent bad things from happening.  You might be doing a fine job in your current position, but your position might still go away.  Therefore, you need to take the offensive and strive for more.  This includes networking, keeping abreast of industry trends, and adding to your skill set, even when you aren’t actively looking for a job.  This includes making life improvements before crisis hits.  Is there a relationship that needs tending?  Is there a problem in the community where you can help?

A complete game is balanced.  Too much offense might mean uncalculated risks that can knock you out of your game (think the entrepreneur going after every idea who burns out of capital before the winner pays off).  Too much defense might mean too little risk (think the indifferent employee clinging to the status quo who is unexpectedly downsized).  Taking no risk is not the same as having no risk.  There is always risk, so think defense and play offense to reach your goals.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A DOWN MARKET

This difficult labor market gave ample opportunity to learn how to manage your career more effectively.  The lessons so obvious in a down market also apply as times improve: 

Network, network, network.  In a down market, everyone knows networking is key.  Because fewer positions are advertised, those with inside connections learn of opportunities faster, respond faster and thus have better chances.  As the market improves, remember to maintain and expand your network.  The best time to network is when you don’t need to.

Everyone is self-employed.  In a down market, everyone knows there is no job security.  If you don’t contribute to your firm in a meaningful way, your job is in jeopardy.  In this way, people are really self-employed, and their “employer” is merely their client.  As the market improves, remember that you are self-employed.  Your boss is merely one client.  Keep your client happy, and keep yourself marketable for new “clients” as well.

Experience and work ethic count.  This down market followed an incredibly generous up market where relatively inexperienced people were thrown lots of money and lots of responsibility quickly.  Now, companies are again interested in people with real experience and demonstrated diligence and follow-through.  As the market improves, remember to manage your career for the long haul and not just for the next big title or raise.  A well-planned and well executed career path is attractive in any economy.

PLAYING OFFENSE

The job market is picking up, and more people are actively looking rather than focusing on just keeping their job.  Times like this make clear the necessity of offense.  Good defense may contribute to a win, but even if a team keeps its opponents from scoring, it still has to itself score in order to win.  Thus, success should focus on winning (i.e., offense), not just not losing.

In baseball, you see a lack of offense when a pitcher doesn’t use his best pitch because the hitter might hit it (thus causing a loss), instead of using his best pitch to get the hitter out (thus sealing a win). 

In job searches, you see a lack of offense when people focus foremost on what’s available – what industries are hiring, what jobs are suitable to their skills.  Playing offense requires that you focus foremost on what you want and then focus on getting it.  It’s a risk if your desired industry is not hiring or if you need to augment current skills.  But the win is getting what you want and not just settling.

In careers, you see a lack of offense when people decline challenges – e.g., turn down a high visibility project, postpone a job switch.  Playing offense requires that you take shots at your goals.

In life, you see a lack of offense when people do not follow their dreams.  You may want a different life – a different career, more family time, new friends, a new location.  Playing offense requires that you move in the direction of your dreams.  If everything remains status quo, you may protect yourself against failure, but you also preclude yourself from success.

CHANGE YOUR HABITS

Biting your nails, arriving late to appointments, and overeating are obvious bad habits.  However, there are some habits, which are not bad outright, but which over time might have negative consequences.  If you have a habit of seeing the same friends, that is not bad, but it likely means your network is limited and like-minded.  If you take the same route to work each day, you may miss a better view or a more efficient way to go.  Even good tendencies can lead to bad habits, if you allow yourself to fall into a rut and be blinded to new possibilities.

Because ruts are unconscious, you need to make a conscious effort to break them.  Look at your career over time, and see if any patterns emerge.  Is there a recurring reason for your job dissatisfaction?  Are you stuck with projects you don’t like?  These patterns exist because you are doing something to perpetuate them.  Your bad habit might be not speaking up, waiting to be assigned rather than volunteering, or simply going from job to job without a clear sense of overall career. 

Whatever you identify as the problem, think about ways to change this.  If your problem is bad projects, find ways to transition to better ones.  This means delegating the bad projects or at least minimizing your time spent on these, identifying the better projects, and ensuring that you get these better projects.  How do you get the plum assignments?  Find out how they’re assigned.  Then, move out of your comfort zone to get them. 

Your comfort zone is a bad habit if it keeps you from what you want.  There is nothing wrong with being comfortable, if it also means satisfied and content.  We all know people who are never satisfied, and that’s not a better alternative.  However, if your comfort zone keeps you settling for less than your ideal, then comfort is a habit worth changing.

CAREER SPRING CLEANING

It’s spring, and time for those projects for home and garden.  Don’t forget to add some projects for your career spring cleaning:

Assess the first quarter.  How is your job different from last year?  Are you working on more challenges or taking on more responsibilities?  Is the work still interesting?  Are you happy with your progress to date?  This simple check-in can expose some issues you need to work on for the rest of the year.

Spring clean your database.  Input those address changes from your returned holiday cards in 2004.  Scan your phone list, and make a list of those people you’ve been meaning to call.  Make an appointment in your calendar to call one person a week till the list is done. 

Organize your work files.  Have you been clipping articles that you’ve meant to read?  If they’re older than three months, the news is outdated and should be purged.  Do you have old emails saved for just-in-case?  If you haven’t referred to them in the last month, you probably won’t need them.  But, save any electronic receipts you may need for tax purposes. 

Stock up on career supplies.  Update your resume.  Get a permanent email address outside of work (e.g., through your college), and check that it is properly forwarded if you already have one.  Have business cards packed in every bag you typically carry, so that you are prepared even for unexpected networking opportunities.

Find some inspiration.  Have lunch with a colleague from a different group or at a different level.  Scan your industry’s trade journals.  Take a general career development class, attend an industry conference, or learn a new skill. 

Spring is about growth and new beginnings.  Put some spring back into your career.

BUILD A FOUNDATION OUTSIDE OF YOUR JOB

The best time to look for a job, seek a career risk, ask for anything is when you don’t need anything.  Desperation repels.  Confidence attracts.  All careers have ups and downs and situations out of your direct control.  If you nurture your life outside of your career, you have the confidence to weather these ups and downs.  Just like the company with a cash cushion to weather challenging markets, so you must have a reserve outside of your career to prop you up when things are down.

Build a financial reserve.  If you live paycheck to paycheck, you are desperate for your current job.  You are not in a position to challenge career-stalling assignments, work overload, or poor compensation.  If you have savings, little debt, and liquid money to invest, you are able to take a risk, challenge the status quo, and pursue a dream.

Nurture your relationships.  You are not a different person when you leave your home and enter your workspace.  A fulfilled personal life contributes stability, encouragement and passion to your professional life.  Solid relationships free you to dedicate time and energy to your career.

Mind your health.  Career growth requires a healthy body to work hard and a healthy mind to focus.  You need enough sleep and a good diet and exercise routine to ward off daily ills.  You also need extended periods of relaxation (i.e., vacation) to compensate for extended periods of work (i.e., crunch time).

When you have solid finances, fulfilled relationships, and good health, your career has a platform upon which to grow and thrive.  While it takes time to build a foundation outside of your job, it takes less time than reactively putting out fires as they arise.  A solid foundation enables you to manage your career from a position of strength.

WITH 20/20 HINDSIGHT

For a Fortune 500 media company, I oversee the summer internship program, including coordinating events featuring senior management speakers.  To every speaker on my panel, I always ask:  what do you wish you knew in the first year of your career that you know now?  Here are three of the most popular responses:

Start networking now.  With the labor market becoming more competitive, networking has never been more important.  Yet, for many people, networking comes unnaturally.  The only way to learn is to practice.  Have lunch with different colleagues.  Keep in touch with people you already know.  Find mentors.  Be a mentor. 

Focus on learning anything because everything is transferable.  If the job is selling insurance, your sales skill transfers to selling in other industries and your insurance knowledge transfers to other functions in financial services.  These skills add up and come in handy, sometimes unexpectedly.  I put myself through college with various administrative jobs.  Years later, when I joined a start-up company in a non-administrative position, my ability to do these “mundane” office tasks was quickly noticed by the founder.

Enter and exit gracefully.  Everyone you meet and every assignment you work on has the potential to lead to more opportunities.  Always do your best, and do not burn bridges behind you.  One candidate I met was unexpectedly laid off just months into his first job.  He went back to an employer whose offer he had turned down (albeit gracefully) and was re-offered the position.

AVOIDING JOB SEARCH BOBBLES

The ball pops out of the shortstop’s glove, even though it went straight at him.  “Oh, he bobbled it,” the sportscaster calls.  It’s not a career-ender, but it may get the runner on, and maybe that runner will score.  In the end, the bobble may be costly.  Job search bobbles are small and may fall under the radar.  But, they can be costly, so try to avoid them:

PRESENTATION COUNTS.  A true story:  Mickey Mouse dress socks peek from under a candidate’s slacks as he sits down TO GET HIS OFFER.  The candidate doesn’t get the offer, as the employer interprets his choice of socks as a lapse in professional judgment. 

TIMING IS EVERYTHING.  Get to your interview fifteen minutes early.  There may be forms to fill out.  There may be security hurdles to clear in the lobby reception.  There may be a slow elevator.  All three are true for just one employer for whom I recruited. 

CHOOSE YOUR WORDS WISELY.  Your word processing program only catches words that are misspelled.  It won’t catch words that are out-of-context.  If a salesperson does “meat” clients, perhaps she should be a butcher.  Even the most vulgar trader probably doesn’t work in “pubic” finance.  There may be a “Colombia” University in Bogota, but not in New York. 

In short, be conservative.  Dress in proper business attire.  Give yourself plenty of time to get to the interview.  Proofread all of your correspondence.  Bobbles are only funny on the highlight reel.

PLAYING IT SAFE WITH YOUR JOB SEARCH

The job search process is highly subjective.  Multiple, often conflicting, opinions abound.  If you ask ten recruiters the same question, you may hear up to ten different answers.  For example, I do not care about getting thank you letters from interviewees.  Some of my recruiting colleagues close candidates if they don’t send a thank you letter.  I barely read cover letters.  Some place more importance on the cover letter than on the resume.  With so much dissension among recruiters themselves, how do you know what protocol to follow?  Be conservative.

Since you don’t know what recruiter is reviewing your resume or giving your next interview, submit all resumes with a cover letter and follow up all interviews with a thank you letter.  The recruiters that don’t care will just discard these things.  The recruiters that do care will now not have a reason to discard you. 

This follows with all the basic components of a job search.  Understand what is required, and err on the side of caution.  Have all marketing materials ready (e.g., business card, resume, cover letter, thank you letter, letters of reference, list of references), even though you might not need all of these all the time.  Dress should be professional and neat.  Wear suits in conservative colors (e.g., blue, brown or black) and cuts (i.e., not too short or tight).  Good manners always count.  Be on time.  Be friendly to everyone, including administrative staff.  Have a positive attitude.  You will not know the personality preferences of the people you meet, but you want to be remembered in a positive light.