For those of you who have done "all the right things" for your career, including things like getting degrees, having fancy job titles, and accumulating war stories and rich experience so that you would be a hot item if ever in a job search, this article is for you!
I was comfortable in my last job, knowing that if I ever needed to find a job again I would land quickly and easily. I never knew about what turns out to be an underground world of unemployed professionals.
I'm not talking about recent college graduates, I'm talking about professionals with 10 or more years of experience, the hot-shots and rock stars, who for some reason were taking more than six months to land a job.
I never thought I would take more than four weeks to land a job. Because I, like you, have the fancy degrees. On my resume I have fancy job titles, and a clear and impressive career path. I have quantifiable achievements like "increased revenue by 500%!" I am a rock star! And I was sure my job search would result in a better job, with more salary, more visibility, and more opportunity.
Boy, was I wrong! In all fairness I must confess that I never landed a job. I was a horrible job seeker, so if you don't want to take job search advice from me, I understand. But I would like to offer some career management advice, which is applicable whether you are in a job search or happily employed, and even if you own your own business.
Here are eight things I would have you do, if you were my career management client, for 2008.
1. Read a book
I ignored job search or networking books when I was working because they never applied to me! Not only was I not in a job search, I was just too busy doing my job, and was sure that my company was going to treat me right, especially with all the extra hours and weekends that I gave to them! The problem is, when you get in a job search you don't really have time to read, absorb and apply the information. It's best to incorporate career management thinking into your general thinking now. Here are four books I recommend (choose any of the four for 2008):
- Never Eat Alone: Keith Ferrazzi changed the way I thought about networking, referring to it as building "intimate relationships." It's very powerful to go from "collecting business cards" to really caring about individuals, and I credit him with getting me on the right path. I absolutely love this book.
- Some Assembly Required: Thom Singer lives and breathes business networking, and this book is the best resource I've found, with hundreds of clear, easy-to-apply ideas on how to network. If you have ever looked for lists of concrete ideas to facilitate relationship-building experiences, you need this book.
- Career Distinction: Kirsten Dixson and William Arruda have put together what I call the bible of personal branding. More on personal branding in point six, below, but realize this is the best source around to develop a personal brand, and because it's so current it's heavy on how to use the Internet to develop your personal brand. If you are a "nobody" in your industry, this is a must-read.
- I'm on LinkedIn—Now What???: OK, so this is my book! But I still think it would be a good read for 2008, because it helps you wrap your brain around LinkedIn and gives you ideas and actionable tasks to actually use LinkedIn as a professional and relationship tool. The book is complemented by a blog, (www.ImOnLinkedInNowWhat.com), which has current "how to" posts as well as links to all of the resources referenced in the book.
Any of these books will help you get into a career management mindset, and with today's business practices and trends it's critical that you really become CEO of Me, Inc.
2. Get your social-networking game on
I think it's easiest to get started with LinkedIn, since it only takes about an hour to get the bare necessity of up and running, and there really isn't much more after that. Of course, you can go deeper than just having a really good profile.
The next social network I would recommend is Facebook. I recently teamed up with Facebook expert Jesse Stay to write "I'm on Facebook—Now What???" and I'm convinced that this medium provides an excellent opportunity to help you with your career management.
If you are interested in other social networks, I would recommend you consider two questions: First, is the social network big enough that I'm not going to be the only one participating? Second, is there some kind of target that makes this social network more applicable to me? This could be geographic (for example, with a European or Latin America user base) or industry-centric (PR professionals, designers, etc.).
I'm not an early adopter, so I don't join social networks unless they will really help me in my career or business. Here are three specific examples:
- Fans of Marketing Profs group on Facebook. Over 600 marketing professionals have joined this group, which is a great environment to share, find other professionals, and be found by prospective customers, vendors, or hiring managers.
- MyRagan.com. This social network is dedicated to public relations professionals. Can you find another social network more applicable to your industry or niche?
- YoungPRPros Yahoo! Group. These email lists are excellent ways to communicate in real time with other professionals. The YoungPRPros is one of the best I've seen.
Here's a bonus idea: get on lists that aren't directly related to what you do, and you may be the only marketing expert on the list (the person others will refer to, or hire).
Aside from just having accounts and profiles, you should get serious about using the social networks as productivity and career tools. This means communicating with others in the network and developing yourself as a subject-matter expert. (Just having a profile and doing nothing else puts you in the "bump on a log" category, and you are not doing much to help your career.)
3. Polish up your resume
If you are like me, you are a few years behind. In fact, when I got laid off I took that entire week to create a resume. I hadn't needed one for over six years and couldn't even find the one that had I used to get my last job!
Trust me, it's better to take a few hours at the beginning of this year and create an updated resume than to burn precious time when you can otherwise be executing a job-search strategy.
Disregard the one-page rule and make it as long as you want—that's is what the experts call a master resume.
How do you get started? Sit down and list 2007 accomplishments, titles, dates, etc. You can create a job journal, which is basically a way to log achievements, awards, recognition and even conflicts.
Between your job journal and your master resume, you are well on your way toward having a lot of excellent fodder to use for a targeted resume, an interview, or simply when you are in a networking setting. It's much easier to put this together when you don't need to than when you are emotional.
4. Groom your team
Some of the best leaders are those who prepare their followers to take over their own job. Whether or not you are a manager, you should be preparing your team, even those who don't report to you, for personal and career opportunities.
What kind of opportunities should you prepare them for? Perhaps it's to take over your job, or to move on to greater things (even at a different company).
You can't afford to be jealous about their career path, even if it looks brighter than yours. You will make a lasting impression on them, and you never know how (or when) that will come back to reward you!
5. Figure out what your network really is
It's interesting to learn what others think their network is. Where is your network? Is it in your LinkedIn connections, Facebook friends, or Outlook contacts? How about all three? Make sure that you throw in the pile of business cards sitting in your drawer, for good measure.
Think about who can help you during your next transition. When I got laid off, I sat down with a counselor, trying to list my network. I quickly said, "I don't really know anyone." His response was, "who are your neighbors? Who did you go to school with? Who were your customers? Who were your vendors?"
Coworkers, professors, even family! I had prejudged each of these types of people, more concerned with what they would think of me than how they could help me.
Career experts say you don't get job leads from your first- and second-degree contacts; rather, you get them from third- and fourth-degree contacts. But you have to ask the first- and second-degree contacts "who do you know" before you can get to the third- and fourth-degree contacts!
Don't disregard anyone, but make sure you are somehow keeping track of names, dates, incidents, etc. so when you want to reach out to someone you have some kind of reference point for communication. I obviously recommend the career-oriented JibberJobber.com toolset, but you can use anything from Salesforce to ACT! to 3x5 cards!
6. Work on your personal brand
You know all about branding, right? Perhaps you've managed multimillion-dollar branding campaigns for your product or company. But what have you done for your own Me, Inc.?
There are plenty of simple things you do in 2008 to find and develop your personal brand, all of which should be second nature to you.
The goal is to become a subject-matter expert, or a thought-leader, so that when you are in transition people aren't saying "who??" You want people to already know who you are and recognize you as a player in your industry.
You can write articles and have them distributed online (this is a great way to get your name on the first page of search engine results). You should start a blog, even though it will be a commitment. You also need to contribute to blogs, simply commenting on posts that are relevant to your industry, profession, or professional passions.
Offline, you should go to face-to-face networking events as well as volunteer on committees or at nonprofits. While it will cut into personal or employer time, ensuring that others know who you are and why you can add value is critical for your career management. Get out there and expose your talents, skills, and passions!
Remember one thing: In Word of Mouth Marketing, Andy Sernovitz includes "be nice" in his list of "Sixteen Sure-Thing, Must-Do, Awfully Easy Word of Mouth Marketing Techniques." As you develop your own personal brand, online and offline, each time you touch someone you'll leave an impression—they may not remember your message, or facts, or details, but they'll remember how you make them feel. Be nice!
7. Do your job, extremely well
One of the most important things you can do to manage your career is to do your job the best you can. This is a hard balance (the job vs. your career). But when you go for that next job it really helps to have substance, experience, accomplishments, and references—and you get that by performing for your employer.
Scot Herrick, author of Cube Rules, was recently laid off from WAMU with thousands of others. In a newsletter to his friends he advises those remaining after a downsizing:
"My advice is to continue to perform. [J]ob skills plus performance on the job equals opportunities. Others will always look at your skills and your performance, so keep on performing and adding to your skills even in the face of adversity. It will pay off in the long run."
Again, this will help ensure that you have the substance, experience, accomplishments and references for your next transition. It will also help build your own character, and you can walk away knowing that you gave it the best you could.
8. Go to a job interview
I'm not talking about a job interview where you are the interviewer. And I'm not talking about interviewing for a different position or department in your current company. I'm talking about interviewing at a totally different company.
I remember the owner of a company where I worked a few years ago saying something like "if you aren't happy here then go somewhere else. Life is too short to work somewhere that you shouldn't." He knew that the employee would not be happy and would not perform at peak potential.
But that's not why I think you should interview somewhere else.
You need to do this each year to keep sharp. Yes, it will be uncomfortable, but it might open your eyes to the work it takes to get the interview and perform well. And it should give you a different perspective on the industry. In preparing you'll learn things about yourself, and you'll be forced to do competitive intelligence research.
Recognize that this interview is an excellent opportunity to expand your network. From the gatekeeper to the interviewer (or team of interviewers), these are new people who can help your career in the future.
Finally, think about how you'll react if you get an offer, especially an offer "too good to refuse." Like I said, you may not even be looking, but you never know what the interview can turn into.
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None of these points is going to be your career silver bullet. But you need to stop looking for that silver bullet. Just like a company, your career is built one brick at a time, with a solid foundation and with consistent, principle-based tasks.
One thing is for sure, 2008 can be the year you take control of your own career!
