Paul Freiberger's Blog, page 2

Overcoming the Shyness Challenge in Your Job Search

I’m shy. Not always, but often enough to understand how my shy clients feel when I talk to them about the importance of networking in their job search.

“My first language was shy,” said actor Al Pacino. We would love to fine a job without all the outreach that is important. I know it. Nevertheless, you can overcome some of the challenges of being an introvert. One area where your success will show up first is in the informational interview. Here’s more from me on this topic.

Getting Fired: Tiger Woods’ Coach Teaches Us How to Respond to Losing the Job

Getting fired happens to the best of us. This week Sean Foley, one of the world’s most accomplished golf swing coaches lost his job. Tiger Woods sent him on his way. Foley’s response to the disappointing news was ideal and we can all learn a lot from the way he handled the situation.

Foley was gracious, praising Tiger and expressing complete understanding for the situation.

“My time spent with Tiger is one of the highlights of my career so far, and I am appreciative of the many experiences we shared together,” Foley said. “It was a lifelong ambition of mine to teach the best player of all time in our sport. I am both grateful for the things we had the opportunity to learn from one another, as well as the enduring friendship we have built. I have nothing but respect and admiration for him.”

Likewise, Tiger handled the move professionally, showing that he has come a long way, if not with his golf swing, at least with his maturity. But most of all, we can all look at this situation and see the best way to handle getting fired. It’s an event we never want to experience but it is always best to be prepared for challenging moments.

A few things to keep in mind, based on Foley’s behavior:

- Don’t blame yourself. Instead, try to learn from the experience. Seek to improve.

- Don’t focus on it, going forward. Prepare a short explanation of what happened for eventual job interviews, but you want to be brief and move on to discussing the value that you offer.

- Don’t blame or insult your former employer. This will only make you look bitter and it won’t make you a more appealing job candidate.

If interested, I have more to say on this topic in another article.

What if Seinfeld had been a show about job search?

Here’s a hypothetical plot.

The Upstart

Kramer wouldn’t make much headway in a buttoned-down corporate workplace, but he’s gotten word of a startup, a freewheeling place with plans to disrupt some existing field.

Kramer knows this isn’t a traditional firm and that the rules are quite relaxed. Taking his cue from this, he arrives for his interview barefoot and dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt with a subtle hammer-and-sickle design.

Go here for other Seinfeld Job Search stories, for fun and tips, too.

Tips for the Best Sales Resume

Sales and marketing professionals may be able to sell ice to an eskimo, but sometimes they forget the importance of selling themselves with carefully developed and optimized resumes and LinkedIn profiles.  It seems easier to sell a product than to sell ourselves.  Some of the keys to developing a resume that will sell your potential include leveraging the achievements over the span of your career. You are trying to develop your brand, just the way you optimize a company’s brand.  Here’s a summary of some essentials:

- Show off your value by quantifying results, rather than simply listing your responsibilities.

- Use buzz words that matter in your industry so your resume will get a positive ranking from any software systems.

- Write for a specific audience; each job target is different so do some research and craft your resume accordingly.

Many more details about a sales resume in my article here.

The Happy Ending Job Interview Tip

Answers to situational questions during job interviews do not have to be divorced from reality. In fact, some of the best use actual events.

Start by addressing the hypothetical situation, but shift gears if you can think of a true story that parallels the fictional one. For example, if you are asked how you would handle a difficult colleague, do not hesitate to tell a true story of an actual difficult colleague and the steps you took to manage the situation effectively.

Stories from real life make better examples than what-ifs. In this context, of course, the only stories you should tell are those with happy endings.

Piles more tips here, of course.

Launch the job search by asking the right questions

New college grad in the family?  Suggest to your child that a good place to begin thinking about a career and a job search is with the nature of your own unique self. Look within. There are a multitude of questions worth asking:

• What matters to you?

• What are your career goals?

• Where would you like to be in five years? In 10? In 20?

• What do you want to contribute?

• What do you see as your place in the world?

• What aspects of your life are most important?

• What values do you hold most dear?

• How do you like to spend your time?

• What are your hobbies and interests?

• What are the things you do even when you’re not being paid to do them?

• How much money do you need?

• How much money do you want?

• How important is salary to you?

• What other types of reward do you find meaningful?

• What kinds of people do you like to work with?

• What kinds of people do you like to work for?

• What are your feelings about managing others?

• Do you feel more at home in a formal or an informal setting?

• Are you more at home in a hierarchical setting or in something more free-flowing?

• What skills are you proud of?

• In what areas are you especially knowledgeable?

You don’t have to answer every question, but you have to be sure that you’re not avoiding any of them. Is there something important to you that doesn’t square with your self-image? It’s time to get those

inconsistencies out of the way. If you don’t take an honest look, you

run the risk of being a square peg struggling to fit into a round hole.

 

An overture in your cover letter

Rather than summarizing your resume, your cover letter should highlight your key qualifications. It should end with either a promise to contact the hiring manager to set up an interview, or an invitation to get in touch with you. If your letter is sufficiently appealing, the contact invitation will merely be icing on the cake.

Whether you invite the reader to call you for an interview or commit to making contact, consider including your phone number in the last sentence of your cover letter. In addition to placing your contact information at the top of the page, putting your number at the end of the letter is a call to action. Alternatively, remind the reader to contact you at your contact information listed above.

Be sure to include any specifics requested in the job posting. Some employers, for example, ask for salary requirements in the last paragraph of the cover letter. Of course, remember to express your gratitude for the reader’s attention. If writing a cover letter is unsettling for you, don’t hesitate to call on a professional resume writing service. These businesses can also usually handle preparing cover letters for you, also.

 

 

Video Interviews: Types, Benefits and Acceptance

Video interviews come in two flavors:

- The “live” interview, conducted over services like Skype, in which interviewer and interviewee are at either end of a real-time video connection.

- The recorded interview, conducted through services like in which interviewees receive a list of questions, record their responses and then submit them for review.

http://tinyurl.com/psrp3ca

It’s possible that everyone loses with video interviewing and even when it’s not being compared to the face-to-face alternative, there are skeptics.

With video, especially in the one-way format, an applicant can hone a performance to a fine edge, but the operative word is “performance.” Some jobs need performers. For those jobs, video can provide important evidence of great presentation skills.

Many jobs, however, don’t need performers. A stellar programmer, for example, can be a great asset even if she’s painfully awkward on camera, but we’re all likely to be swayed by what we see on the screen. To combat this tendency, one skeptical HR consultant turns her back to the screen when reviewing video interviews. She simply listens, and she turns to the screen only if she likes what she’s heard, using the visual evidence to confirm what she’s already heard.

Let’s be clear, though: The choice of format is irrelevant to some of the most important parts of interview preparation, and you can’t let the fact that the interview is online distract you from what really matters.

 

Job Search Step One

Decide to Decide. Before you make any first step, you make the decision to move your foot. The same thing happens in your job search. You can spend a lot of time dreaming about your dream job. That gets you nowhere. You can decide to take the first step toward that dream job, and that gets you a little closer to your goal. Just a little, but that’s all a first step can do. If you’re not ready to start walking down this road, stop. The fact that it’s a journey of small steps doesn’t make it an easy journey, and it’s no crime to decide that, for now, it’s better to wait.

Face Your Fears

The job search is an environment in which worry thrives, and that’s not necessarily a sign of trouble. It’s natural, for example, to be anxious before an interview, and sometimes a little anxiety actually helps by keeping us motivated and focused. “Free-floating” anxiety is different. It’s the kind of pervasive anxiety that’s not tied to a specific event. When it gets out of hand, anxiety is everywhere, and that can be paralyzing, not just unpleasant. For starters, put a name to what’s worrying you, whether it’s finances, the fear that you won’t find a job that compares to one you’ve lost, worries about what others think or any other specific concern. Then, at least, you’ll have a target to aim for, and you can direct your energies at specific problems. For more general help, consider meditation or yoga. The payoff isn’t instantaneous, but give one of those tried-and-true methods a chance.