Power Statments

A power statement is a statement that highlights one of your skills. for example " I am a skilled ISO auditor, I have bee the lead auditor for MyCompany for ten years where we have identified and reduced on non conformance reports by 20% each year." Another way to look at, and construct a power statement is by using the acronym PAR (Problem - Action - Result). By constructing a power statement using this process it is easy for a interviewer to see how you could be an asset to their business. Here is a sample of a power statement using the PAR method. (Problem) Our return material rate is too high. (Action) Improved our outgoing inspection process by evaluating the defect codes and implemented an inspection plan to focus on our highest percentage error point. (Result) By catching the errors before the product was shipped we were able to reduce our returned material percentage by 33%. With this example you can see how a power statement like this will put emphasis on your problem skills. Here is a link to another site that speaks of Power Statements. Happy Job Hunting.

Your Network Consists of People You Know and People They Know

The unidentified job market When you are searching for a job there are two general places to look, the advertised jobs and the unadvertised jobs. The largest segment of this job market is the unadvertised with about 60% to 85% of all jobs being filled before they are ever posted. With this in mind how do we tap into this job market? The answer is "Networking". I found an article that addresses this market and techniques used to tap into it. Follow this link Networking for information on the networking process. Good luck with your job search.

Me In 30 Seconds

Hello everyone Today I would like to talk about the importance of a good "Me In 30 Second" statement. A me in 30 second statement is a concise description about your skills and talents. For example have you ever gone to a job interview and the first question that is asked is "Tell Me About Yourself"? So you spout off something like I was born in Small Town USA, and I'm married with three children. I was the the captain of the football team in high school, I love fishing and Sunday afternoon sports. These statements may be true but they say nothing about your skills and what you bring to the company that will help them be profitable. A better answer to the question, "Tell Me About Yourself" Should be something like this. I am a skilled Quality Systems Analyst with the ability to identify flaws in a quality system and make changes that enhance the overall system. I am a skilled Auditor with a Certificate as a RAB Quality System Auditor. I'm also a Black Belt in Six Sigma, etc. The "Me In 30 Statement" can be used as a networking tool to introduce yourself, this gives the person a strong idea of what you can do and what type of job you may be looking for. I have a link to an article that goes into more detail about the "Me In 30 Second Statement" it is refereed to as an "Elevator Statement". Good luck in your job search

The Importance of Building a Network for Your Job Search

The Importance of Networking as a part of your Job Search

This article addresses the importance of developing a network style approach to the job search process. A network is a group of people brought together by one person or several people to accomplish a specific goal or purpose.

Most of us are familiar with network marketing organizations and how they recruit to grow their business. For example, you recruit three people - each of them recruits three people - and each of them recruits three more people, and so on. If you carry this out three generations you have recruited approx. 120 people. Each of these individuals knows people in various industries, many of them with influence over the hiring process. So with the above example it is easy to see how important networking is. 

It is widely accepted and documented that nearly 85% of all jobs are filled through the process of networking, and a large percentage of these positions are never posted. Based on this, networking becomes the best technique that we can implement into our job search process.

The work Networking, is just that, work.  Some reasons Networking is difficult for most of us is because it forces us out of our comfort zone, and also makes it necessary for us to develop the ability to talk freely about our talents and skills. Many of us are somewhat timid when it comes to talking about ourselves, in fact most of us avoid this because we don’t want to appear to be bragging about ourselves.  Because of these feelings, and others it makes the networking process a scary activity. The effective setting of goals and working to accomplish these goals helps us to overcome this fear and causes us to focus on the process.

Below are basic goals and steps that will assist in building a network for your job search:

GOALS

1.     Begin by identifying a specific career or job you want.

2.     Identify associates, friends, family, and colleagues who may know something about that specific job and make a list with each of their contact information.

3.     Ask yourself the following questions;

a.      Who do I know who knows something about the career I have chosen?

b.     Who do I know that has influence?

c.      Who do I know who knows a lot of people?

4.     Practice the 10 – 2 – 2 process.

a.      Make 10 contacts per day. (A contact is anyone you make contact with, in person, over the phone, or internet contact).

b.     Get 2 referrals each day from the contacts you make, (10 Contacts = 20 Referrals per day).

c.      Set up 2 Face-to-Face appointments per day, (Face-to-Face is when you set up an informational interview, a visit with a hiring manager, or an activity where you have an appointment related to your job search).

5.     Keep good records, follow up is very important in the networking process. There have been many jobs given to someone else because one candidate failed to keep accurate records and properly follow up on every lead.

When networking it is very important to be dressed for an interview, that means for men, dress slacks, dress shirt (white is preferred) with tie, and shined shoes. It is surprising how many hiring managers will look at your shoes. It’s important to have proper fitting clothes. That means if it has been ten years since you bought dress clothes they might be too small. When your belly is making your shirt buttons scream in pain you need a larger shirt. Small clothes make you look unprofessional and translate into someone who isn’t focused on details.

For women ”business best business dress” is acceptable.  Remember to keep the skirt length at the knee and the neck line high enough to keep the interviewer focused on your eyes.  Your goal is to be hired for your skills not you high skirt and low cut neck line.  When a women is being interviewed who has a low cut neck line the interviewer is thinking, dressing like that would be a distraction to the other employees.

Remember when you are looking for a job it is an eight hour a day process. If you work only six hours then your job search will be exponentially lengthened.

Whatever you do have fun with the process and I wish you the best of luck in your search.

“Luck is where Preparation and Opportunity meet”.  By Dr. Wayne W. Dyre

The Job Search

So you have just lost your job, or maybe you have been out of work for some time. Now you're wondering where to turn next. You start your job search on your own; you turn to the internet, newspapers, or other job boards. 

Your day starts something like this, you wake up at your normal time but then you realize that you don't have to rush to get ready, get your morning coffee, or your breakfast. So you head to the kitchen and get your coffee and fix something to eat. You also pick up the paper and instead of reading the financials you start in the classifieds. As you read you notice several jobs that look interesting and you make a mental note of them. Suddenly you realize that you might need a plan! Then you go back to your bed room and finish your morning routine, except instead of dressing for work you put on your grubbiest clothes and head to the computer to search the job boards. As you read through the 1000's of jobs listed you remember that your resume is desperately in need of an update. The next day is very similar to the first with only a few variations.

Several days pass and you have a couple of good prospects.  One company calls and asks for an interview.  You spend the day before the interview going over possible interview questions.  You tweak your resume and cover letter and finally you feel you're ready for the interview.

As you enter the interviewer’s office you realize that you are a few minutes late due to traffic.  The interview starts with the typical questions, "Tell Me about yourself" so you start with, where you were born, your marital status, your hobbies, and education.  The next question may go something like this "What are two of your strongest skills", and you answer something like this, I'm a hard worker, and very dependable. Then it happens, the killer question, the one you didn't prepare for "What Are your two Weakest Skills?" (I hate that question). You stammer a little squirm in your chair and say something like this. “I don't have any weakest skills" then you laugh a little, you know, that laugh you do when you’re nervous.

This kind of thing happens every day in job interviews all around this country; I have a few tools that will make your job search more successful, things like effective Job Search Planning, résumé / cover letter writing, effective networking, interview techniques, and interview follow-Up.  So let’s begin.

Job Search Planning:

A plan for your job search is an important part of this process.  The plan helps you identify and state your skills in a way that a Hiring Manager (HM) can readily determine if your skill set matches what the employer is looking for. The job search plan should consist the following steps:

Ø  Identifying your specific skill set.

Ø  Identifying potential employers.

Ø  Matching your skills to the employer’s needs.

Ø  Developing a network of people who can help you identify employers.

Ø  How to work that network effectively.

Ø  Developing strong interview skills.

Ø  What to do following an interview.

Résumé / Cover Letter Writing:

Ø  The rules for résumé verses cover letters.

Ø  How a cover letter should be structured?

Ø  How to choose the correct style of résumé.

Ø  How to structure your resume around a job description.

Ø  Why we tailor each résumé for each job description and employer.

Effective Networking:

Ø  What is a network?

Ø  Why do we need a network?

Ø  How to build a network.

Ø  How to effectively work a network.

Interview Techniques:

Ø  How to prepare for an interview.

Ø  What can I expect during the interview?

Ø  What questions will I be asked during an interview?

Interview Follow-Up:

Ø  Why follow-up after your interview?

Ø  What should I do to follow-up?

The statistics show that 80% to 85% of all job placements are never placed on a job board and the other 15% to 20% is spread out over internet, newspaper, and other job postings. As a job seeker we need to find a way to tap into the 85%. These 85% are placed because someone knows someone else.  An Engineer knows that his company is looking for another Engineer so he tells his friend who is looking for a job. Because of his recommendation his friend is hired. This takes place the majority of the time and that Engineering job is never posted.  If the jobs aren’t posted then the general public never knows about the job. We find these jobs through effective networking.

After we find a job to apply for then we need to get our qualifications in front of a hiring manager and that is done by writing an effective résumé, a résumé that speaks to your qualifications in the same language that the company understands. The cover letter is the introduction of the résumé it is written in first person where the résumé is written in third person. I can’t stress enough the importance of tailoring each résumé to match each separate job description.

Each of us has a network of people and many times we don’t realize it. Just check the contact list in your cell phones, the list of members in your church, club, family, or other organizations you may be involved with. The key is to build and work your network effectively while you avoid becoming a pest.

Interviews are funny things, for example I have been in interviews that the interviewer lost control of the interview. Other interviews the interviewees have lost control of the interview. That being said the hiring managers have hired from poor interviews, while other interviews that seemed to have gone perfectly and the hiring manager hires someone else. The better prepared for the interview the greater the odds are that you will be hired.

Follow-up after the interview is very important. A very effective way to follow-up is a “thank you” note. Many times we walk out of the interview and realize we’ve left out some very important skills the job description identified. In the “thank you” note you may include a brief explanation of those skills.  

My final suggestions are to build a network, find someone who will be a job coach and hold you accountable for your activity, locate a course that will provide support and direction, get up in the morning, every morning, get dressed as if you are going to an interview, and spend as much time in your job search as you would if you were working full time.  Hopefully this small bit of information helps in some small way. I wish you much success in your job search.