Mac Prichard's Blog, page 20

Find The Opportunities That Are Right For You: Alex Konopka’s Job Search Success Story

If you’re currently seeking work in a competitive industry, you may feel like everywhere you turn is a dead end. But you may be approaching your job search from the wrong perspective. Alex Konopka learned from experience the value of seeking out the opportunities that feel right for you and putting all of your effort into those applications, rather than casting a wide net and hoping you find something that works. Finding a career in the niche industry that he specializes in – vegetation management – was easier once Alex narrowed his focus. Read on for Alex’s job search success story as he shares his top job search advice and lessons learned.

What do you do for a career? Who do you work for?

I am the Manager of Vegetation Management for Portland General Electric. Our departments are responsible for all things vegetation at our utility. The (3) groups that comprise Vegetation Management are: Forestry, Landscape Services, and Vegetation Management Operations Coordination.  

Forestry is responsible for trimming, removing, and managing trees that exist around our overhead power lines, for maintenance and in support of PGE inspection, construction, or repair work. Landscape Services is responsible for maintaining the landscape on company-owned property (employee centers, substations, limited ROW), as well as completing restoration of customer property following PGE activity – i.e.: if an underground powerline fails under a driveway, Landscape Services facilitates the restoration of the driveway with our customers and contractors. Vegetation Management Operations Coordination is responsible for processing and initiating vegetation-specific work requests for Forestry and Landscape Services that come from other PGE departments and our external customers.

How long did it take you to find this job?

I spent roughly 3 years actively working toward landing an entry-level job with a utility or municipality, in my field of landscape design/construction management (Bachelors-of-Science in Landscape Architecture, University of Idaho, 2011).

Positions with any utility is extremely competitive and seldom become open, especially the utility vegetation management industry. Of that 3 year job hunt, I spent 2 years of that time staying in touch with the previous PGE Vegetation Manager – reaching out every 6 months to express my ongoing interest in joining PGE. After a lengthy holding-pattern and several interviews, I was hired by PGE in December of 2014 and I vividly remember the excitement and emotion that was shared with my family upon delivering the news of my offer of employment– it was an experience and feeling that is up there with some of my best memories.

I was hired as an entry-level contract specialist in Landscape Services, spending most all my time driving throughout the service territory, working with our customers and landscapes. This was a largely independent duty, meaning I had little supervision as my work was so spread out. This experience pushed me to own my role and develop trust and confidence in my ability to adapt and overcome without the provision (or lure) of immediate gratification and the co-dependency that can exist between employees and their supervisors or managers. That role, as a contract Landscape Specialist, was pivotal in setting me up for later success with PGE.

I had worked in that Specialist role for several years, receiving high performance assessments each year. My supervisor was retiring, and thus another opportunity presented itself. After several interviews, I was offered the position of Supervisor of Landscape Services. This was a role that I had been excited about since I started with PGE, and I often thought my career trajectory would lead here. I hold a great deal of reverence for the leadership roles at PGE. As a leader, you have a much wider platform to influence and inspire change and realize success through the development of others; it’s a very rewarding responsibility.

I was in this supervisory role for approximately (6) months when the previous Manager of  Vegetation Management announced his retirement. I am a firm believer success through hard work, however timing certainly can’t hurt!

In the Utility Vegetation Management industry, managerial positions are rare to come by. For example, in a recent conference, about ¾ of the room of 75 utility vegetation managers had over 25 years of tenure within their managerial positions. There is such a tenure across the industry because the position demands a passion for trees and vegetation, as well as, a passion for leadership and management. That combination of characteristics are so rare that you find that folks generally stay-put as they (myself included) are now living out their passion, and getting paid to do it!

After several more rounds of interviews, I was ultimately selected to lead the Vegetation Management department at Portland General Electric. The feeling was surreal and to this day, provides me motivation to do my best – knowing that PGE placed their trust and confidence in my abilities, while committing to my development. I felt supported by the organization then to take the leap into this new role, and continue to put myself out there for the benefit of our customers and PGE

How did you find your job? What resources did you use? What tool or tactic helped the most?

I found mentions of the job and department on the major job search engines, however I was shocked because I did not know that a utility even had a vegetation management program –  further, that with my background and training I could have a place within a utility. I referenced the PGE careers webpage to confirm that this was a real posting and applied in short order.

Once I had my first interview, I continued to follow up with the previous Manager every 6 months or so to stay on the radar and reaffirm my interest in a career at PGE. It wasn’t until about (1) year later when another position, within Vegetation Management, was posted. I applied and again followed up with that same manager to notify him of my application submission and continued interest in joining the PGE Vegetation Management department.

You can see that persistence and consistency played a significant role in establishing my relationship with PGE prior to being hired. However, persistence and consistency need to remain appropriate. You do not want to flood the hiring manager with emails or too-frequent contact that seeks a response, that can become annoying for anyone. My ongoing (and not-too-frequent) touchpoints were short, articulate, and did not ask for a response. While the process of searching for a new career can be stressful, you do not want to let anyone see you sweat.

What was the most difficult part of your job search? How did you overcome this challenge?

Being patient. This was a very difficult part of the job search for me. At the time, my wife and I were recently married, had a son, and were sitting on a pile of student loan debt. Continuing my prior career path, was not sustainable to support our obligations and responsibilities. While I enjoyed landscape design, the residential market for those services is competitive, and the wages are not that great. I remember many tight months and sacrifices to ensure we could honor our commitments to parenting and paying for my education. This tension, developed over time, created the persistence in seeking new employment – always searching and applying for anything and everything, hyper focused on looking for any way out of the month-to-month scramble.

Once I learned more about PGE, the Vegetation Management department, and the available position, I felt like I belonged before I even got the job. It was in this moment that I learned the value of identifying opportunities that are right for you and laying it all out to get there, rather than casting the widest net and hoping something lands. I overcame this impatience by engaging with the aspects of the company and job that I could most identify with and seizing my opportunity through interviews and performance to achieve my goal of securing a position with one of Oregon’s most reputable employers.

What is the single best piece of advice you would offer other job-seekers?

A well-crafted resume and polished interview responses pay off in spades!

Tailor your resume for each position you apply for.
Speak to personal characteristics or traits, beyond simply listing job duties, that enabled your success in various positions.
Spend an equal amount of time on the aesthetic – this invites the hiring manager to then spend time going through the resume content in detail. Everyone values craftsmanship, even in resumes.
Develop a list of questions that you think will be asked in the interview and spend time crafting comprehensive and articulate responses. You should also prepare a list of examples that you can refer to when responding to questions about your role in specific situations or events, and their outcomes. Don’t be afraid to take those notes into the interview!

These forms of preparation demonstrate commitment to the process, respect for everyone’s time, and will provide you with the most meaningful interview.

Why do you love your job?

Working at PGE is extremely rewarding. I feel that I am part of something so much bigger than myself, helping to “keep the lights on” for our customers. Access to safe, reliable, and affordable electricity can be taken for granted. Most folks do not know how much work and effort goes into this amazing technology that has allowed modern civilization to occur, and it has been intriguing to learn about PGE’s history and the electrical grid.

Being a part of this industry and powering the everyday potential of our customers is another rewarding aspect of my work. I am not just an employee to PGE, I am a representative of PGE in my community, and I am also a customer.

I did not know much about electricity prior to working for PGE and it is so cool to now teach my kids about it and have them identifying substations or trees around power lines as we are driving around. I swear, some of their way-finding is based on substation locations!

The post Find The Opportunities That Are Right For You: Alex Konopka’s Job Search Success Story appeared first on Mac's List.

Diversity Hiring is More Than a Checkbox. How to Develop a Better Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Recruiting Strategy

Hiring for diverse candidates should be a no-brainer and shouldn’t require a reason. However, if it’s not super obvious to your company or just hasn’t been happening at your organization, there are several strong business cases for centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the core of your business.

In fact, the business case only gains increasing merit as both candidates and consumers demand that companies reflect them and their values. It’s becoming increasingly clear that organizations that are not already inclusive need to work on becoming more diverse and inclusive. Diverse companies perform 33% better than companies that are not. Maybe not being diverse isn’t a problem for some businesses yet, but when customers and employees start taking themselves elsewhere, companies will begin taking the need for multiple perspectives seriously.

Maybe you’ve already realized the value of DEI and don’t know where to start – increasing diversity and equity can feel very nebulous. Maybe it’s been difficult to take action in the areas you’ve identified as lacking on your teams. Maybe, like many companies, you’ve been struggling to find ways to recruit and retain diverse candidates.

There is no silver bullet to succeeding at DEI and benefiting from the returns on your bottom line in terms of employee engagement, better products and services, and creativity. However, here are a few places to start hiring more diverse candidates.

What is Diversity Hiring?

The best place to begin creating a hiring process that leads to more diverse candidates is to understand what it means to hire for diversity.

We love the definitions we’ve heard from Stephanie Ghoston, an Equity Consultant at the Center for Equity and Inclusion:

“Diversity: the range of differences that make people unique, both seen and unseen.”

“Inclusion: an environment that engages multiple perspectives, different ideas, and individuals in order to define organizational policy and culture.”

“Let’s be clear: diversity and inclusion are not the same things,” Janet Stovall, Executive Communications Manager at UPS, clarified in a recent TED talk. “Diversity is a numbers game. Inclusion is about impact. Companies can mandate diversity, but they have to cultivate inclusion.”  

Confusion over diversity hiring sometimes often stems from the mistaken perception that the goal of diversity recruitment is to increase workplace diversity for the sake of diversity. However, we like to think of it this way: you hire for diversity to get the benefits of inclusion.

And, as you might have discovered, it’s not always easy to hire diverse candidates, even when you have the intention to do so. There are so many structural issues and unconscious biases in hiring that you have to be incredibly intentional about it.

Just a few quick examples:

Resumes with a white-sounding name (e.g. Greg, Molly) receive 25% more callbacks than the same resumes with black-sounding names (e.g. Lakisha, Jamal).
When the final candidate pool has only one minority candidate, he or she has virtually no chance of being hired. If there are least two minority candidates in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring a minority candidate are 194 times greater.
The same story of a successful entrepreneur—with the only variance of gender difference—received different impressions: Howard was seen as a more appealing colleague, whereas Heidi was perceived as selfish and unlikeable.

Diversity hiring is really just hiring with special care taken to ensure procedures are free from biases related to a candidate’s age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other personal characteristics that are unrelated to their job performance.

The goal of diversity hiring is to identify and remove potential biases in sourcing, screening, and shortlisting qualified, diverse candidates that may be ignored, turned off, or accidentally discriminated against in your process.

Accountability and Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

It’s almost impossible to create DEI in hiring if it’s not a priority for leadership. In fact, DEI should not just be a priority, but an integrated part of the leadership team’s goals. Some companies have even tied DEI metrics (e.g., raising a certain percentage of people of color in leadership positions by a certain time) to executive compensation.

Part of building a strong, diverse hiring process means asking yourself: “Who is my company culture going to attract?” This question can be very difficult to articulate if you assume everyone feels welcome already just because you do.

Do the images on your website and social media encourage potential candidates to see themselves on the team?
Does your reception seating enable candidates of different sizes and physical abilities to feel welcome?
Does senior leadership go out in the community and visibly support diversity and inclusion (or are they diverse themselves?)?

For many companies, making a conscious effort to create a welcoming environment creates a snowball effect – when you start focusing on including diverse employees, candidates, and customers, you begin to attract more diverse employees, candidates, and customers.

However, be sure to hold yourselves accountable by defining what success will look like. What are the key objectives of your DEI programs you will measure (e.g. increased diversity in hiring?) to know you’ve made progress? Don’t try to do everything at once – pick a key focus.

Be Intentional in Your Recruiting Practices

Recruiting diverse candidates is not necessarily more difficult than recruiting generally, but it does require companies to be very intentional about sourcing, screening, and hiring candidates. If we want a more diverse hiring pool, we need to pause, and conscientiously do something different. Examples of intentional practices include:

Eliminating gendered keywords in job descriptions, such as “support,” “affectionate,” “leader,” and “aggressive,” can increase the number of applicants by 42 percent.
Creating and honoring salary ranges rather than basing pay off previous salaries, which often penalizes women and people of color (POC). City and state policies often dictate this practice – for example, you can’t ask about previous salary history in Oregon.
Requiring a diverse slate of candidates (literally requiring candidate pools that reflect the population, or by including a certain number of candidates from an underrepresented group at your organization in the hiring pipeline).
Eliminating talk about “culture fit” and focusing on talk about “culture add” or “community.”
Tracking candidate sourcing by role, and making sure you’re advertising in ways that will reach a larger pool of candidates – Partners in Diversity job board, the Urban League, Hispanic, Asian, Veterans or disabled Americans websites, or by hosting job fairs in typically overlooked communities.  
If you can’t find the talent you need, be open to creating it, by empowering diverse candidates internally to take on stretch projects, investing in internships (like the Emerging Leaders Internship program), or other training programs.
Having a structured hiring process and directly addressing unconscious bias when discussing candidates after an interview.
Although it’s important to have diverse representation in your hiring team, making sure you’re not tapping the same team members for every interview or to go to every hiring event, every time – you don’t want to burn them out or make them feel like a token or symbol.
Diversify your network – if you’re only reaching out or taking referrals from your immediate network, these folks will tend to look like you. You’ll always struggle with diversity hiring.

Hiring intentionally can initially take more time. After all, you’re developing new pipelines and building up the parts of your culture and brand that would attract diverse candidates. However, we’ve found the benefits far outweigh the initial investments of time and energy.

Although we seek to champion diversity in our office and community, we are by no means DEI experts. There are some incredible resources, locally and nationally, to tap. However, we are open to learning, work hard at being transparent, and always keep people as our North Star.

You don’t need to be an expert either. You just need to be committed, curious, and open to learning. Make it clear that DEI is a priority for you, and you’ll start seeing the change.  

And when will you know you’ve done enough and gotten enough diverse candidates in the pipeline? Think like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, when asked when there will be enough women on the bench. “When will there be enough women on the court? My answer is when there are nine.”

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Making the Big Leap Into a New Industry: Michelle Brence’s Job Search Success Story

Michelle Brence had a long and successful career as a journalist, working as an editor at The Oregonian for over two decades. When she found her newspaper facing significant challenges and major layoffs, she knew it was time to make a career change. Michelle reflected on her interests from high school, particularly in the medical field, to drive her job search and successfully navigated a career transition into a new industry by conducting detailed research on her prospective employer, finding a job that aligned with her transferable skills, and bringing passion to the interview process. Get more of Michelle’s job search advice in her job search success story.

What do you do for a career? Who do you work for?

I work at OHSU, on the Digital Engagement Team. In my role, I’m currently focusing on reworking parts of the website and leading a team of contract writers in producing web pages for patients on cancer, brain illnesses, and other conditions.

We aim to reorient health care pages and site structure to better serve patients as we  prepare for a new content management system. We’re also updating information with a “show, don’t tell” philosophy borrowed from journalism to better reflect OHSU’s excellence.

How long did it take you to find this job?

I found my job in a single afternoon. It was finally deciding to leave journalism that took years.

In 2015, I was the politics editor at The Oregonian. I had an amazing team of reporters covering government, from Portland City Hall to Oregon’s congressional delegation. I loved the sense of mission, the adrenaline and the camaraderie of smart, irreverent and dedicated journalists.

After 25 years at newspapers, I felt like I finally had the skills to do my best work. One of the projects I led was even named a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

But newspapers were cutting jobs. I’d survived a string of cutbacks at The Oregonian, including a 2013 bloodletting that claimed my husband’s job. He found a new job quickly, but at a pay cut. I knew more cutbacks were probably coming. I also knew that, at 50, changing careers wouldn’t get any easier.

One Sunday afternoon, I was struck by a sudden sense of urgency, almost as if a voice were speaking to me: “It’s time to jump. Now. Now. Now.” I sat down at our kitchen computer and pulled up Mac’s List. My eyes fell on a job at OHSU that seemed to match my skills. It also offered the chance to come full circle: In high school, planning to pursue a career in medicine, I’d had an internship with an OHSU pathologist.

The day of my phone interview, I got a sharp reminder of the stakes. I was in The Oregonian newsroom when a company email dropped: Senior newsroom employees would be offered buyouts. If fewer than 25 accepted, layoffs would follow.

I shut the door to a private office to begin my interview as chaos unfolded on the other side of the window. I hit it off with my soon-to-be boss, who turned out to be looking for a journalist. I joined OHSU in January 2016.

How did you find your job? What resources did you use? What tool or tactic helped the most?

I found the job easily. To land it, I spent hours researching the university and preparing for interviews. I also talked to the current and former OHSU employees I knew. That helped me ask good questions and enter the job with my eyes open.

Beyond that, I wouldn’t recommend my approach. My boss and I laugh about it now, but she notes that I didn’t exactly radiate an eagerness to please. I peppered her with questions, including after she sent me an offer letter. Luckily, she saw that as evidence of persistence and information-gathering skills.

What was the most difficult part of your job search? How did you overcome this challenge?

Deciding to leave the only profession I’d ever known was gut-wrenching. I’d applied for a couple of jobs in prior years and gotten as far as a second interview, to no avail. My less-than-wholehearted commitment to leaving journalism probably didn’t help.

With the OHSU job pending, I overcame this in part by talking to friends and former colleagues who’d left journalism. They offered a clear-eyed view of life on the other side, but none said they would go back. I finally decided to leap.

What is the single best piece of advice you would offer other job-seekers?

If you’re in a precarious job or industry, don’t wait until you lose your job to look for another one, especially if you’re over 40. The Portland job market can be tough because so many talented people want to be here. It’s much easier to make sure a job will be a good fit – and to ask tough questions – when you have the flexibility to turn it down.

Why do you love your job?

I love that I’m still part of a mission-driven organization with dedicated co-workers and a lot of autonomy. Every day is different, and I still spend my time learning. I enjoy crafting pages to help patients during what may be the worst days of their lives.

My bosses, meanwhile, not only support but appreciate my journalistic approach. They don’t even seem to mind the profanity and sometimes uncoated candor I carried over from my previous life.

The post Making the Big Leap Into a New Industry: Michelle Brence’s Job Search Success Story appeared first on Mac's List.

The Future of Work: How Human-Centered Policies Will Set Your Company Apart

Self-driving cars, robots, and other automated technologies are changing the way we live. Tech is also changing how we recruit, hire, and treat our teams. But one thing’s clear, in order to thrive in the new world, you can’t forget the needs of your employees. Human-centered policies are central in the future of work, and will not only help you retain workers, but will also set your business apart in the marketplace.

Personal is the new flexible. In the future, instead of creating blanket policies, companies will be listening, and adapting, to the needs of individual employees. Employees in the digital age will also have higher expectations of their employers. Here are some of the ways that companies can enhance the experience and productivity of their workforce and modernize their policies for the future of work.

Invest in employees’ well-being

Above all, remember that employees are human beings, not resources. Being supportive means caring about the overall employee as a person, not just his or her performance at work. When setbacks occur, meet them with empathy and concern.

Acknowledge achievements.

Rather than focusing heavily on motivational incentives, establish a set of clearly defined goals, then celebrate when those goals are met. Recognition for a job well done helps to create a positive organizational culture and also encourages employees to excel in their jobs.

Give employees autonomy.

Part of building a supportive foundation is learning to trust that your employees will use their workday to accomplish their tasks. By creating a strong sense of autonomy, employees will feel empowered rather than micromanaged.

Adopt a flexible work schedule to increase your employee productivity. Smart leaders will allow flexibility to better accommodate employee work/life balance. Employees are more productive and engaged when they are able to balance work with other demands on their lives.

Encourage use of paid time off and sick days.

A trend that has crept into the workplace is the stigma around taking time off, even for sick days. This is particularly prevalent in an era with unrealistic expectations for 24/7 connectivity and accessibility. Overworked employees can lead to burnout, low morale, and turnover. Workers need time to unplug to be their best, most productive selves, especially when they need a mental break or when they’re under the weather. Encourage employees to take vacations away from the office, take full advantage of sick days, and to stay disconnected during their time off.

Promote wellness.

Create wellness programs that take a holistic view of wellness, from financial wellness to physical health and well-being. Actively support participation in these programs so that employees know you genuinely care.

Create a community celebration of life events at work (including getting married or having a child, for example) to help strengthen workplace relationships and employee connections.

Improve your recruitment practices

Today’s job seekers are savvy, and they expect more from employers. Walk the line between clever automation and authentic human interaction to ensure a modern candidate experience.

Invest time into creating a positive, humane candidate experience.

Strive to create an inviting, welcoming, and meaningful experience for all candidates who apply for a position with your company. Be honest about your culture and convey real information about daily life at your company. If you put out accurate information to help people decide if they’re a good fit, you won’t waste time interviewing or hiring the wrong people.

Use technology to streamline the hiring process, and invest human capital where it counts

Automate parts of the early hiring process. Hiring software and ATS tools save time and help candidates stay informed with automated data collection and application management, interview scheduling, and process updates to keep candidates informed. Use surveys, testing, and other candidate tasks only when they’ll help you determine which applicants have the specific skill sets, knowledge, and experience you need. A standardized evaluation process helps everyone on your hiring team stay on the same page, and thoughtfully automating repetitive processes will help keep your team and your talent pool happy.  

While automation is appealing in a time when most people feel overworked, it’s important to retain human interaction in your hiring process. Use staff time to get to know the most appealing candidates and assess how they’ll add to your current workplace culture. Most importantly, keep candidates apprised of where you are in the process. Once you decide to offer a candidate the job, make the offer promptly so you don’t lose out on top applicants. And for top candidates who you don’t choose to hire, break the news personally, via email or phone. 

Create a supportive environment for employee feedback

Make your employees feel like their voice matters and create an open, transparent environment where feedback and honesty are celebrated. Being honest builds trust and connection with your staff and encourages your team to reciprocate.

Remove fear from your culture.

Mistakes are the stepping stones to moving outside the comfort zone to a path of growth and discovery. Create an environment where employees are not constantly afraid of being judged on their past mistakes. Instead, create a supportive environment where employees can try and fail without fear. Respond to problems and mistakes in a fair and supportive manner. Encourage employees to take risks and help them work through problems. They may surprise you with their innovative ideas and abilities.

Use different approaches to gather employee feedback.

Use methods that guarantee anonymity such as online surveys and focus groups conducted by a third-party facilitator or consultant. Try skip-level meetings, in which a manager meets with employees who are two levels below in the organizational structure. Ask employees to identify the top three challenges they face and to suggest specific solutions or recommendations.

Follow through with actions.

Employees will stop giving feedback if they think it is a futile process. Thank employees for their feedback, share decisions that were made, and explain the reasons behind the decisions.

These are just a few of the many ways you can take steps to ensure your employees and candidates feel valued and supported. Building human-centered policies into your company’s procedures today will help secure your company’s future and establish you as a hiring innovator.

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Feeling Stuck? Grow Your Career With 5 Simple Tips

You’ve found a comfortable niche in your career and are confident in your current position, but more often than not you’re feeling like you’re in a rut—that you’re not learning anything new. We all experience ebbs and flows in our career, but the feeling of being stuck and dissatisfied can lead to a lack of productivity and motivation. Sometimes we even start wondering if we’re in the wrong job. Before you make a drastic decision to look elsewhere, it’s important to look at what you can do to grow your career right where you are.

Setting strategic career goals and continually challenging yourself to learn new skills is critical to staying motivated and enjoying your work. It also ensures that you’re positioning yourself for potential promotions and, if another job is indeed on your horizon, preparing yourself with marketable skills. Here are some tips for getting—and staying—out of a rut and finding new momentum in your career.

Get outside your comfort zone

Don’t get comfortable with what you know—pushing yourself to grow and expand your horizons will keep you on the cutting edge of trends and advances in your industry. The good news is, there are numerous free or relatively inexpensive ways to do this; Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is an online platform that offers a myriad of free classes modeled after courses from institutions such as Harvard and MIT. Studies have shown that professionals are flocking to this flexible format that allows for self-paced learning and the ability to continue working full-time. Find a course that interests you—or perhaps more importantly, that intimidates you—and use it to build your competencies and establish new and better career goals. For a small fee you can take a course for certification which will always look impressive on a resume and LinkedIn profile.

Shadow a team member

Performing the same tasks and responsibilities every day can easily become uninspiring and lead to a sense of tunnel vision if you’re not careful. Consider spending a “day in the life” of one of your co-workers—shadow them as they go about their work and see your organization from a new perspective. Not only does this offer you a different view of your workplace and broaden your understanding of its overall mission, it can spark new interests and even encourage you to consider roles you might otherwise never have thought about. Gaining a greater awareness of issues your team members face is also valuable in learning how to creatively help them find solutions.

Join a professional organization

Professional organizations have experienced a resurgence in recent years as professionals seek a place to grow their networks in innovative ways. Groups like Summit and Levo offer the opportunity to develop strategic social capital, grow professionally, and learn from peers. Beyond these more formal platforms, there are countless professional organizations on LinkedIn and Facebook promoting active engagement and a dynamic exchange of ideas and insights. Learning from your professional network is crucial to staying up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry and establishing important contacts that can lead to future opportunities, mentoring, and potential referrals.

Stay up to date with the latest trends

In the past, getting a job was heavily reliant on your education—what degree you earned, and frankly, where. Today, business is changing so rapidly that jobs that were available ten years ago are becoming obsolete and as technology advances at a record pace, what you learned five years ago may soon be irrelevant. What this means is that now hiring managers are more interested in how you’re continuing to learn than a static degree you got in college. Cultivate a mindset of continual and active learning by intentionally engaging with the latest developments in your area. Subscribe to industry newsletters, innovative podcasts, and cutting-edge blogs. Be open to learning about the most recent trends that may initially not interest you. Chances are, in a year or two, they’ll be standard practice.

Learn a new skill just for fun

Learning happens everywhere and need not be relegated to your professional environment. In fact, the more you engage in new ideas and activities just for fun, the more you expand your capacity for a holistic and well-rounded life. There’s no excuse for not knowing how to do something any more. You’ll find a Pinterest board or YouTube video for pretty much anything under the sun these days. Always wanted to learn another language? Do it. Learn how to grow a bonsai, crochet, reupholster furniture, bake, ski, paint. The sky’s the limit—so you might as well learn how to skydive while you’re at it.

Advancing your career is as much about your openness to change and a posture of curiosity as it is about performing well in your current position. Waiting for someone else to help you stay motivated will likely leave you in the professional dust. Create career goals that keep you ahead of the curve and establish you as an innovative leader.

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Social Media Do’s and Don’ts For Older Professionals

Whether you’re making a mid-career move to a different industry or starting a job search after decades with your former employer, there are many obstacles older professionals have to navigate when seeking work. One major obstacle you may have encountered is navigating the complex and ever-changing world of social media.

A smart social media strategy can benefit your job search in several ways. First, using social media platforms allows recruiters to discover you and learn about your skills. Second, tapping into social media lets you discover possible job openings that might be a fit for you. Third, an online presence is a way to show potential employers that you’re not intimidated by technology, fighting another stereotype about older workers. Finally, you can reconnect with past colleagues who might work in industries or at companies where you’d like to work.

Here are a few dos and don’ts to apply to your social media presence and impress future employers.

Do: Have a complete LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn is the #1 social media platform for professional networking. Have a LinkedIn profile that lists your entire education, skills, background and links to any key projects is as effective as having your own professional website in most cases. It’s also worth your time and energy to invest in a current professional headshot.

Don’t: Be a wallflower.

Spend time getting to know the search features that let you drill down into networks of people, companies, and job postings. Join Facebook and LinkedIn groups for your industry. Don’t be afraid to comment on others’ posts, start putting yourself out there, and acquaint yourself with fellow group members. The more you grow your online network, the better your chances are to hear about potential job opportunities!

Do: Showcase your career story.

The first part of your personal brand is telling your career story effectively and openly. How have you grown over your career? What skills have you learned? What does the arc of your career mean and how did you move from one position to the next? A captivating, well-told career story will make employers see your value and consider you a great investment.

Don’t: Overshare about your personal life.

Showing off your personality and telling your career story are part of having a social media presence. But oversharing inappropriate personal details will make employers think twice about investing in you. Run a “background check” and see what’s already out there about yourself. Start with a Google search on your name, and then review any existing social media accounts for posts, photos, etc., that might paint an unprofessional image of you.

Do: Pay attention to your grammar, spelling, and phrases.

Sloppy grammar, lowercase “is,” or acronyms (LOL, OMG, etc.) are not how most employees typically communicate with their coworkers. Your word choice and spelling should reflect the job you want and be an expression of your professionalism.

Don’t: Be too modest about your accomplishments.

You will need to do a certain amount of online bragging, done in good taste. Include your volunteer experience, publications, certifications, languages, speaking engagements, etc. Ask colleagues for LinkedIn recommendations, and offer to return the favor.

Do: Start a Twitter account.

Use your actual name or a shortened form for your username. Include a short bio. Follow people or companies where you might want to interview. See which of your LinkedIn contacts are also on Twitter and ask them to follow you. By following tweets, you can stay on top of a potential employer’s news. Plus, you’re expanding your network.

Don’t: Sign up for every platform out there.

You don’t need to run out and sign up for every social media channel that exists. The key is to be selective, because you need to not just have an account but post regularly and meaningfully. So you might want to take a pass on Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and others that won’t benefit your career goals as much as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Do: Get involved even when you have a job.

If you’re employed now but are planning a job search soon or know that layoffs are possible, get active on social media now rather than waiting until you’re jobless, if possible. But if you’re already out of work and searching, it’s not too late to get busy on social media. And even after you land a job, don’t neglect your social media channels. You need to keep up with your networks because you never know when you’ll need them.

Don’t: Get overwhelmed.

Keeping up with the various platforms and coming up with things to post can be exhausting. Sometimes, taking some time to analyze what other people and companies are saying and doing – and then responding – can be a refreshing way to reevaluate what types of posts are most suitable for you. The best way to ensure success is to think carefully before you post.

The key to social media is to regularly maintain the channels you choose. An inactive social media profile is actually worse than no profile at all because it can leave the impression that you aren’t web savvy, aren’t interested in staying up to date, or lack follow through. So get out there and connect! You never know who will be the key to your next job!

The post Social Media Do’s and Don’ts For Older Professionals appeared first on Mac's List.

Maintaining Focus To Get Results: Alisyn Maggiora’s Success Story

If you’re in the midst of a job search, it may seem like keeping your options open is the safest bet. Alisyn Maggiora spent her 3 month job search volunteering, networking, and relationship building, but what made the difference at the end of the day was getting clear about her career goals. Having a focused, strategic job search is the best way to land your dream job. Get more of Alisyn’s job search tips in this edition of our Success Stories series.

What do you do for a career? Who do you work for?

I am an administrative professional with a focus on the non-profit energy industry. I work for the NW Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA).

How long did it take you to find this job?

3 months.

How did you find your job? What resources did you use? What tool or tactic helped the most?

I first found my job on Mac’s List and ultimately, networked my way into the position. I volunteered at a few conferences and events in the industry I was looking to transition into. I networked at those events and followed up with people to learn more about their work and possible opportunities. Eventually, paths started to cross and I received a pivotal recommendation for the position and company I was most excited about.

What was the most difficult part of your job search? How did you overcome this challenge?

Maintaining resilience and confidence when opportunities didn’t pan out. I kept the faith that the right opportunity would come along and continued to find ways to connect with people in the industry and discern what I was most interested in. I thought of it as both relationship building and a learning opportunity.

What is the single best piece of advice you would offer other job-seekers?

Get really clear about the kind of work you want to focus on AND the environment/culture in which you want to do it. Put your greatest effort into the types of opportunities that align most with the direction you want to go (applications, volunteering, etc.); don’t just plaster your resume all over the place and expect that to get you something you’ll be really happy with.

Network and volunteer for activities that are related to the work you want to do; have conversations with people – build a web. If you’re clear in expressing what you want and stay curious throughout the process, people will usually reciprocate interest in you.

Why do you love your job?

The size of the organization, culture, and mission support the environment I thrive in. I get to work on projects that interest me and I work with smart, passionate people that have similar personal and professional interests.

The post Maintaining Focus To Get Results: Alisyn Maggiora’s Success Story appeared first on Mac's List.

How To Leverage Your Experience as an Over-50 Job Seeker

If you’re over 50, ageism is real and it could be getting in the way of your job search. Illegal or not, age discrimination happens all too often in a labor market where employers have preconceived notions about the longevity, tech-savviness, and financial cost of candidates over a certain age. Or, they may have concerns that an older employee will struggle reporting to a boss half their age. Regardless of the fact that these negative stereotypes have no proven merit, fighting against them can feel like an uphill battle. The good news is, hiring trends are beginning to show a change in thinking.

Recent data reveals a marked shift in the hiring of mature candidates. As more people over 65 are working than ever before, hiring managers are beginning to see the advantage of having a diverse staff that includes people with years of experience across numerous industries. A study by U.S News and World Report showed that 70 percent of human resource experts believe older workers have a strong work ethic and while younger job seekers may have more current “hard” skills, such as tech competency, it’s much harder to teach job engagement and commitment. A growing number of companies are intentionally recruiting mature candidates and even creating specialized programs to attract older workers with the knowledge that they can provide an important mentorship role to those just starting their careers.

Does this mean that there suddenly won’t be ageism in hiring practices anymore? Probably not, but the tide is turning. Now, more than ever, it’s important to actively showcase the advantages your many years of experience will bring to an employer. To do this, you first need to be convinced yourself. It can be easy to underestimate the wealth of knowledge, discernment, and critical thinking you have accumulated over your career, so it’s essential that you take the time to unpack it all and repackage it to impress prospective employers. Here are some key ways to leverage your experience.

Translate Your Years of Experience into Clearly Defined Skills

Stand out from other applicants by clearly addressing what matters to an employer. Studies show that transferable skills such as communication and teamwork consistently rank highest on the list of desirable traits in a candidate. Not only should you lead with your accomplishments, you should specify your abundance of strongly developed skills—facilitating teams, anticipating and solving problems, assuming responsibility, resolving conflict—and how they are invaluable to the job in question. A great resource for translating relevant proficiencies is Portland State University’s Transferable Skills Worksheet from their Advising and Career Services center.

Make sure your resume grabs the attention of recruiters. It needs to be customized and specific to each position you apply for. It’s not necessary to list every job you’ve ever had. In fact, you should probably limit your resume to the last 10-15 years worth and only showcase what’s related to the job you’re hoping to land. Take some time to update your resume, if it looks pretty much the same as it did ten years ago, it probably needs some freshening up. You want to communicate that you’re current and aware of modern hiring trends and expectations—the smallest details, like what font and format you use, can make all the difference.

Address Employers Concerns When Discussing Your Experience

It’s important to be proactive and address an employer’s potential doubts right off the bat. Use your cover letter to highlight your record of results and successes but, also to focus on how you’ve been successful. Emphasize your flexible management style, your adeptness at learning new skills, and your capacity for working with people of all ages. Further, you may already know you’re lacking certain skills—take the time to become proficient in an area that employers will want to see.

If you’re not utilizing social media as a major part of building your professional brand, you should be. It’s critical that you address any assumptions that you’re out of touch with technology by displaying an engagement with social networking platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Focus On Smaller Companies and Non-profit Organizations

While it’s true that more companies are hiring mature candidates, change takes longer in larger corporations. Smaller organizations tend to be not overly concerned with age and more focused on an individual’s experience and ability to achieve results. Additionally, non-profit organizations are far less likely to discriminate and actually welcome a more mature knowledge base. Organizations such as the Encore Fellowship offer opportunities to candidates 50 and over to work at a non-profit for 6 months to a year. About half of their fellows have gone on to find careers in the non-profit sector.

Network

At the end of the day, no matter what age you are, it’s still about who you know and making those important connections. Attend events and job fairs, volunteer, join social media networking communities and above all, be confident in communicating the wealth of experience and professionalism you bring to the table—it will be contagious.

The post How To Leverage Your Experience as an Over-50 Job Seeker appeared first on Mac's List.

5 Simple Ways To Streamline Your Hiring Process

Anyone who has ever directed a hiring process knows it can be time-consuming. Add to that the cost of a bad hire, and the process of rehiring and retraining a new employee can cost you precious time and money. You need to get it right the first time.

It’s hard to find quality applicants if your hiring process is unclear, disorganized, or not clearly defined. Smart hiring takes hard work, planning, and organization.

Follow these steps to streamline your hiring process and improve your organization’s internal processes so you can spend more time finding the perfect candidates.

Take the time to evaluate your hiring process at each step of the candidate’s journey:

1. Evaluate your recruitment strategies
Make the most of your job description

Make sure your job title is clear and contains keywords candidates will understand. A clear, accurate, and compelling job description should tell candidates everything they need to know about whether they are the right fit for the role. Clearly identify the job responsibilities and expectations to weed out people who don’t match your needs. The precise description will lead to better qualified candidates and will also help you draft focused interview questions. Expand your reach by posting your listing on job boards, your company career site, and on social media.

Implement smart recruiting strategies

Understand the cost/benefit of a new employee before you hire. Be sure you have a clear picture of how their work will justify the full cost of hiring them.

Strengthen your employer brand with content marketing. You want to create a brand that the top talent in your space has heard of and wants to work for, so that when they learn about a position at your organization, they’re excited about the opportunity, not wondering who you are.

Start measuring the time it takes you to hire. From deciding you need a new employee to onboarding, how long does it take? Knowing this will help your company determine how much lead time you need for effective recruitment. Getting the timing right means giving yourself the time to find a good hire, not just someone to fill an empty seat.

Have a strategy to attract the best cultural fit. Be honest about your culture and convey real information about daily life at your company. If you put out accurate information to help people decide if they’re a good fit, you won’t waste time interviewing or hiring the wrong people.

2. Review your pre-screening procedures

Determine whether you want to pre-screen candidates by following up with a phone interview, questionnaire or other pre-screening methods.

Pre-interview questions can help you gather information about candidates that they didn’t list on their resumes. The preliminary interview questions can reduce the amount of time you spend in later interviews.

You can automate part of the pre-screening process by having candidates take an online survey framed around those skill sets, knowledge, and experience you need. Include questions to determine whether candidates mesh with your company culture.

By pre-screening, you’ll avoid the frustration of scheduling interviews with candidates who ultimately wind up being ill-suited for the position.

But beware of asking candidates too many things before they’ve even met you!  The questions should only take about 20-30 minutes to answer. A phone interview should only last about 15-20 minutes.

3. Ensure a quality interview

Come prepared with a list of thorough behavioral and practical questions. Consider sending questions to candidates ahead of time. We’ve done it at Mac’s List with good results!

It’s important to conduct consistent interviews and evaluate all candidates using the same criteria. Ask the same questions and use the same processes for all candidates.

Go through your job description and questions to be sure you’re focused on the key skills and responsibilities of the position.

Make sure you go deep in your questions. If a candidate gives a generic answer on a key point, follow up with additional questions until you have the information you need.

Avoid common interview mistakes

Be sure you know which topics are legally off limits. For example, don’t ask questions that could elicit information about the candidate’s race, religion, marital status, etc. In many states, you can’t ask about salary history. Know what to avoid ahead of time!
Pay attention to common red flags: for example, if the candidate only asks about salary and benefits, isn’t prepared, is overly confident or overly nervous, criticizes a former employer, or has a negative attitude.
Go beyond your script when necessary. Consistency is important, but so is tuning into the details about a particular candidate. Ask follow-up questions that drill down into a candidate’s experiences.

4. Assess candidates effectively

Standardize your evaluation process. Make sure everyone in your organization is aligned on the qualities and requirements you are looking for in the ideal candidate. Setting clear expectations at the beginning of the process will ensure that your team is in agreement and help you avoid debate when it comes to selecting the best candidate.

Make sure your process is efficient. You can shorten the process by sorting resumes into three piles: top resumes, clear no’s, and maybes for consideration only if the top resumes are not the right fit.

Communication is key. Keep candidates apprised of where you are in the process. Once you decide to offer a candidate the job, make the offer promptly so you don’t lose out on top applicants.

5. Standardize employee background & reference checks

Have a clear, defined process for reviewing candidates’ criminal history and educational background, and for checking references. Explain the process to candidates! One option is to outsource this part of the process and hire a third party that specializes in background checks.

The hiring process can be time-consuming, costly, and stressful. But if you follow these tips to help you manage this complex process, you could land a great new team member!

The post 5 Simple Ways To Streamline Your Hiring Process appeared first on Mac's List.

Reaching New Heights by Challenging Yourself: Heather Back’s Job Search Story

Heather Back knows the discouragement and disappointment that comes from a long job search. Heather spent two years looking for the right job, and along the way she endured countless online applications, being told she was overqualified, and submitting her resume to ATS systems. Luckily, Heather’s long job search was worth the wait and she found a job she loves by creating a support network, actively telling her network she was seeking a position, and reaching high for challenging positions instead of settling for any job that pays the bills.

What do you do for a career? Who do you work for?

I bring nearly 25 years of experience in marketing, advertising and public relations to my communications and policy role at Metro, supporting the four visitor venues — the Oregon Zoo, Oregon Convention Center, Portland Expo Center and Portland’5 Centers for the Arts.

Previously, I worked with destination marketing organizations in both San Diego and Portland to increase travel, tourism and convention business. Also, my prior community foundation experience developing public-private partnerships is beneficial in working on the mission-driven efforts of the zoo which are made possible with funding from private donors and members. A community engagement campaign called Our Greater San Diego Vision really called me to the public sector which ultimately led me to Metro.

How long did it take you to find this job?

I would say too long, but it was certainly worth the wait.

I was exploring full-time opportunities for almost two years. During that time, I served as a consultant while looking for the right fit. Once I began attending Mac’s List events, my search became far more focused and shortened to three to four months, resulting in four offers from various organizations.

How did you find your job? What resources did you use? What tool or tactic helped the most?

I personally find the online job application process defeating as the auto-responses are increasingly demotivating.

The Mac’s List team recommended informational interviews and key tips in customizing your resume for every submission to make it through the scanning software process, which I utilized in my own search.

What was the most difficult part of your job search? How did you overcome this challenge?

No responses are defeating and being told that you are overqualified just might sting more than knowing your do not have the right credentials. It wasn’t until I networked with other job seekers that I was able to set a realistic expectation on the amount of outreach that results in personal responses therefore resulting in interviews.

Also, I learned from Mac Prichard that you should tell everyone you are seeking versus having any reservations in sharing you are in the midst of a search. Stating the desire to find a new opportunity in a positive way shifted my search immensely. Once I was broadly sharing my goals, it was a matter of weeks until I had more interview requests than I could keep up with.

What is the single best piece of advice you would offer other job-seekers?

Share your experience with other job seekers and create a support network. Provide referrals when it is a better fit and most importantly: NETWORK. Get to know the people you would work with to understand the company culture.

Also, stretch yourself. Seek new opportunities not solely jobs that you can proverbially do in your sleep because you have the experience.

Why do you love your job?

I am passionate about working at an organization that reflects the values of the community in which I live. Having the opportunity to shape and provide services and cultural amenities for residents and tourists is ideal for me. Metro is a great fit!

The post Reaching New Heights by Challenging Yourself: Heather Back’s Job Search Story appeared first on Mac's List.