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Highlighting Purpose Prize winner Jenny Bowen
Have you ever thought about starting fresh with a new career? Maybe it’s time for a complete change? If you’re in the “second half of life,” you may be thinking about taking on work or creating a business to help people or focus on a cause that’s meaningful to you. [Read more…] about Highlighting Purpose Prize winner Jenny Bowen
Are you looking in the right direction for your career?
Last month, while walking in the magnificent Central Park in New York City, I saw a man taking a picture. As you can see in the photo I took of the man (to your right), it wasn’t that he was taking a picture that was striking, but HOW he was taking it — on his back, on the ground, pointing the lens up at the trees. His tripod (if that’s what you call it) covered his body like some sort of shield.
Clearly, there was something significant he wanted to capture. (It didn’t look particularly special to me — just leaves and the sun shining through.) Regardless, he was willing to go all out to accomplish his target photographs.
“Ah ha!” I thought. “THIS is a blog post.” Have you tried approaching your job search from a different angle? When is the last time you turned your focus a bit and thought about how you could do things differently?
Do you ever stop and think about the hiring manager’s point of view, for example? Do you ever read books or blogs written for recruiters or hiring managers? Do you know what they are thinking? What they say they like? Do you consider how your resume and other application materials may or may not appeal to them?
Maybe you’re too busy writing your resume all about you, when you really need to re-focus and write it focusing on the touch points making you qualified for the job? Are you looking backward (metaphorically) in your application materials, when it’s time to turn around and look to the future? Your resume needs to be about that future — it’s not a historical diatribe; it’s a marketing document. Focus it on your NEXT opportunity, even if it means you need to look in a different direction to do it.
Have you thought about applying for different types of jobs? Maybe “your job” doesn’t exist anymore; your field isn’t hiring. It may be time to look at your career from a different direction. Avoid being linear in your thinking; start exploring new opportunities and options. Maybe that includes working for yourself or branching out into a different field altogether. The first step is being willing to look at things from a new angle.
Are you letting people around you dictate your direction (where you’re looking)? This is often the case for young people, just starting out in their careers, but I think it is pretty common for more experienced workers, too. It’s too easy to hear the voices telling us to follow (or stay on) a certain path, when we may be happier looking elsewhere.
Are you looking at the writing on the wall, but ignoring it? Give yourself some credit. Stop and think about your plans, your goals. What are you doing to accomplish them? How can you turn your lens and re-focus your search to help you accomplish your goals?
(For more inspiration from NYC, you may enjoy “Are your perfectionist tendencies helping or hurting you?“)
Are your perfectionist tendencies helping or hurting you?
My friend, Ken Revenaugh, who authors the Fast Track Tools blog, often writes about the importance of storytelling in business. He advocates keeping an eye and ear out for stories everywhere you go to help illustrate a point down the road. During my recent visit to New York City, I kept a list of inspiring blog topics relating to career and job search. My favorite inspiration occurred during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
While in the impressionist wing, viewing art by French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917), famous for his paintings and sculptures of ballet dancers, I noticed an explanation accompanying many small sculptures (photo at right). Apparently, there were more than 150 pieces made of clay, wax and plastiline that Degas had been ambivalent about preserving in bronze because he wasn’t sure they were good enough.
I thought it a little ironic — this master painter and sculpture, whose art is now famous around the world and displayed in iconic museums, was worried some of his work wasn’t good enough to save for posterity.
Clearly, he had perfectionist tendencies, as the placard near the famous, “The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (photo below), indicated he had taken such care to sculpt it, there were an “extraordinary number of surviving sketches in charcoal and pastel, as well as his study of the figure.” You can see some of his paintings of dancers in the background.
Stop and think: what are you doing well that you don’t think is good enough? What are you underestimating about your skills, experiences and accomplishments? Are you convincing yourself something isn’t good enough when, in fact, any more objective onlooker would convince you otherwise? Sometimes, it’s difficult to give ourselves credit for what we know we do well. I remember advising a student when I worked at Emory to highlight her multi-lingual skills (she was in the international health field). She assumed everyone had similar skills, and her accomplishments weren’t unique or special.
Just as Degas didn’t think enough of the many small sculptures to preserve them in bronze, you may be underestimating your abilities and not applying for the right kind of jobs. Maybe you haven’t had success landing interviews, so you think you should look for different (maybe less advanced) work? Have you considered the fact you may simply be underselling yourself in your resume and other marketing materials. (If you even have other job search marketing materials.)
Before you alter your course, make sure you’re giving yourself every chance to succeed in your chosen path. Consider hiring an unbiased career expert to help showcase your best “you” before you metaphorically destroy your clay, wax and plastiline job search.
What career lessons do you glean from this story? Share you ideas in the comments.
Could you use some help highlighting your “best you?” Contact me for a quote for a transformed resume and/or coaching to get your job hunt moving in the right direction. Be sure to consider having your own professional website to showcase your professional attributes and to help people find you online.
How to interview and illustrate skills that are a reach
What are the skills you need to demonstrate when you apply for jobs? It’s usually not very difficult to identify what employers are looking for; their 3000-word, in-depth job descriptions don’t leave much to the imagination. Many firms also post videos, have Facebook sites and Twitter feeds touting their organizations and why you might want to work there.
Skip these resources at your own peril — they are telling you exactly what you need to know to be a strong candidate.
But, what if most everything on the job description is a great match for your skills, but they want one or two skills or accomplishments you don’t really have a lot to say about? A good example? Leadership skills.
So many jobs are looking for people with leadership skills. You know you need to address how you are a great leader in the interview, but, truth be told — you haven’t had a lot of opportunities to lead. Maybe you’re an entry-level candidate or you’re trying to move into a leadership position. However, as far as specific stories about how you led a team to greatness, you don’t really have it.
Some things to consider:
It’s acceptable (and expected) to share non-work related leadership stories if your job isn’t very leadership focused. Volunteer work is very useful for this. Maybe you led a team and raised a lot of money for a cause. Or, you galvanized a lot of other volunteers and accomplished a big goal. Your leadership stories do not need to focus entirely on your paid work experiences.
That said, it does help to be able to work in information about how you demonstrated leadership at work. Focus on what skills are useful to have as a leader…Break down the topic of “leadership” and see if you can identify some matches between what you’ve exhibited on the job and your career goals. (Note: remember, you can break down the topic for any skill you want to illustrate.)
For example a leader:
- Shows (and takes) initiative — enthusiastically
- Takes responsibility for his or her actions
- Has strong communication skills
- Can think on his or her feet and make decisions
- Is able to convince others of a viewpoint or plan — and inspires them to cooperate
- Demonstrates dedication and confidence
- Is comfortable with a certain amount of ambiguity
- Is focused on the best possible ways to get the job done
- Thinks analytically and focuses on the task at hand
- Sees the bigger picture and makes suggestions to avoid obstacles
- Hones strong relationships
- Shows good judgement
- Is imaginative and innovative
Consider addressing a question about leadership like this:
When I think of the best leaders, they demonstrate dedication and confidence, can think ahead and make good decisions and have strong relationships with their teammates. (Then, tell a story illustrating a time when you used those three skills.)
Framing the definition of “leadership” and providing a story showing how and when you used those characteristics will help you answer a question that might otherwise have stymied you — if you were thinking of a very traditional example of you “leading” a group or a team, but you have not done that on the job.
What suggestions do you have to answer interview questions that might otherwise really stump you?
Resources for this list:
An article by Barbara White, who has over twenty years experience in leadership. She is President of Beyond Better Development, which specializes in motivation and training in interpersonal skills.
photo by Leo Reynolds