Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Perfectionism vs. Excellence on the Job Hunt and in Life

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I spend a lot of time reading other blogs in what I like to call the “career space.” One of the best things about being part of the blogging community is being inspired by others who write thought provoking and interesting posts.

One of my favorite bloggers, Anita Bruzzese, award-winning journalist and author, recently wrote about what a pain it is to work with a perfectionist. She said:

The truth is, there’s a difference between perfectionism and excellence. Perfectionism on the job is anything but. It’s disruptive and unproductive. For the perfectionist, it can lead to physical illness and depression. For those who must work with a perfectionist, it’s annoying as hell.

The problem is that the perfectionist gets so caught up in minor details that they can’t attain excellence. Instead, they become a bottleneck as they fuss, for example, with the binding of a project report instead of getting the report completed by deadline. The perfectionist boss hovers and nitpicks and agonizes over the smallest detail, preventing the staff from getting their work done…

Instead of aiming for excellence, which can energize someone because they like what they’re doing and enjoy reaching for the top, perfectionism seems to bog people down in realizing what they’re missing, not what they’re gaining.

I was struck by the distinction Anita made between perfectionism and excellence. I think many of us mistake one for the other in our lives, our careers and in our job hunts. It’s easy to be confused by the differences…After all, you may think, isn’t it semantics to debate the difference between two words that imply being “the best?”

I don’t think so.

Striving for quality – for excellence – is admirable and necessary. We should all commit the time, energy and resources necessary to achieve top-notch work. In a job hunt, you MUST strive for excellence. Your resume, cover letters, other correspondence, interview preparation…All of it needs to be first-class. It’s important to take your time, to review and double-check. Striving for excellence indicates that you care about the outcome and are willing to put your best efforts towards success.

Quality doesn’t equal perfection, though. I often find myself quoting my first boss who said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Why?

Coping.org uses these words to describe perfectionism:

Irrational, the underlying motive present in the fear of failure and fear of rejection, a reason why you may be fearful of success, a rigid, moralistic outlook, an inhibiting factor that keeps you from making a commitment to change habitual, unproductive behavior.

Knowing the difference between excellence and perfection? As the credit card commercial says, “Priceless.” I think being able to distinguish between these characteristics is a soft skill that separates those headed for the peaks of success and those headed in a different direction.

At the very least, everyone should be able to follow this advice: The next time you think about answering the pervasive but challenging, “What is your weakness?” interview question by insisting that you are a perfectionist…Think twice!

Striving for excellence is our hallmark! Keppie Careers is here for you! Need a great resume? Some help to write the perfect cover letter? Write to me and visit www.keppiecareers.com for more about what services we provide.

If you want to receive free up-to-date tips to help with your job hunt, Click here to subscribe to receive future blogs sent directly to you!

photo by ewitch

Welcome Brazen Careerist Readers

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If you are clicking through to Keppie Careers from Brazen Careerist or visiting for the first time, welcome!

I’d love to have you join the Keppie Careers community. On my blog, I share up-to-date information that’s relevant for anyone looking for a job and for those who should be looking for a job…Or think they may look for a job sometime soon…Or, really, just about anyone who wants to keep up with the newest tools, trends, research and good ideas for job seekers.

Of course, I offer resume advice, tips to help you write cover letters and info to help prepare you to interview like a pro. (For example, do you know what 5 tips will turn your interviewer into a fan?)

But, more importantly, I share ideas to help you drive your own career bus. The fact is, if you aren’t looking out for your own career, who is going to do it for you?

My goal as a speaker, coach and resume writer is to encourage, enlighten and empower job seekers for success. You don’t have time to keep up with all of the newest trends, so I do it for you. I’m happy to share what I learn via my blog.

I invite you to explore and comment and I’d be honored to have you subscribe in a reader or with Feedblitz to receive regular updates from Keppie Careers!

If you think your resume could use some sprucing up, contact me for a free resume assessment: results@keppiecareers.com. If you could use a little coaching to jump-start your job search, please check out my services.

I hope you’ll become a regular reader and contribute your thoughts in the comments sections. The best part about blogging is sharing information that creates a conversation. I look forward to our future conversations!

-Miriam Salpeter, Author and Career Action Coach, Keppie Careers

Learn more about me on LinkedIn. Follow me on Twitter.

photo by mexicanwave

Looking for a New Organizing Tool to Help With Your Job Hunt?

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To end the week, I thought I’d share some information from my friend and Professional Organizer and Coach, Lauren Davidson. She recently blogged about an online organizing tool called www.Toodledo.com.

Lauren says:

This thing can prioritize, it can sort, it can synch with Outlook, Google calendar. You can SEND IT new items using JOTT or even JITTER (and a few more). Get this: you can format the lists to print out such that you can fold them into a little book.

The best part is it’s EASY to use and EASY to maintain. Dare I say, it’s FUN to use? This is THE software I recommend for setting goals and tracking progress. Talk about no more excuses! I haven’t been so excited about a productivity tool since I met and fell in love with my Blackberry Pearl.

That’s pretty high praise from a productivity expert! So, if you’re having a hard time keeping your “to do” list together to get your job search in order, check out www.Toodledo.com. Maybe it’s just what you need to get you started – or to keep you on the right path.

Other useful resources for job hunters:

Razume
The Career Search Organizer
Jibber Jobber
Getting from College to Career

If you’re ready to start your job search or need some help getting going, Keppie Careers is here for you! Need a great resume? Some help to write the perfect cover letter? Write to me and visit www.keppiecareers.com for more about what services we provide.

If you want to receive free up-to-date tips to help with your job hunt, Click here to subscribe to receive future blogs sent directly to you!

Razume Relaunches with New Tools for Job Seekers

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I’m excited to share some news from a cyber friend, Sam Blum, one of the founders of Razume. Razume aims to provide job seekers “with all the tools, resources and guidance…to find and land your perfect job.”

This week, TechCrunch announced Razume’s relaunch after completing a 12-week program with incubator LaunchBoxDigital…

While there are lots of businesses out there to help the employer (Job boards, etc.), there is a huge under-served opportunity to focus on the needs of the job seeker, especially ones without the power of a robust LinkedIn network to help them in their job seeking journey.

The opportunity: There are over 20 million job change events happening this year, and the average 18-year old today is expected to make over 10 job changes before they hit 38 years of age.

Razume helps the job seeker along three dimensions. First, it helps a person develop a professional resume, starting with powerful authoring tools and online tips, and then making it simple for a person to reach out and get tips on fine-tuning their resume from friends, associates and, just as importantly, the Razume community itself. Simple annotation and commenting tools allow people to give very specific feedback to turn someone’s resume into a better, more effective marketing tool.

After that, Razume helps get the resume into the market. That’s done through two means: a free one-click posting of the resume to the major job boards (a service that costs $59+ at other sites), and use of the Razume Job Finder to browse and bookmark jobs of interest from over 7 million job listings on the web.

Once a user has a call-back, Razume helps them prepare for that interview with useful tips and techniques, plus tools to help research prospective employers that, ultimately, helps a person get the job and make the right decision.

Want to learn more? Take a look at this video explaining Razume.

As a featured Razume Expert Reviewer, I’m particularly excited to see the new features launched this week. When I spoke to Sam, I was thrilled to learn that his passion for helping job seekers fueled his interest in focusing full-time on creating and growing Razume into an indispensable tool for job seekers.

Are you interested in getting feedback on your resume? Are you an expert in your field who would enjoy sharing your skills with others seeking work in your industry? Want to check out an up-and-coming platform that focuses on helping job seekers – for free? I hope you’ll take a look at Razume and join the community.

I’m happy to offer your my expert resume advice! Need a great resume? Some help to write the perfect cover letter? I’m here to help! Write to me.

If you want to receive free up-to-date tips to help with your job hunt, Click here to subscribe to receive future blogs sent directly to you!

Video Resumes – Not the Next Big Thing (Yet)

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My cyber-friend, Chris Russel, of Secrets of the Job Hunt Network, recently shared this information about video resumes:

MENLO PARK, Calif., July 31 /PRNewswire/ — In an increasingly competitive job market, applicants are looking for new ways to stand out from the crowd, but a recent survey suggests submitting a video resume may not be the answer. Just one in four (24 percent) senior executives interviewed said their companies accept video resumes from candidates.

The survey was developed by Robert Half International, the world’s first and largest staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance. It was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on
interviews with 150 senior executives from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies.

Executives were asked, “Does your company accept video resumes from job seekers?” Their responses:
Yes ……………………24%
No …………………….58%
Don’t know ………..18%

“Before submitting a video resume, job candidates should check with the hiring manager to ensure the company does not have a policy against their use in evaluating candidates,” said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International and author of Job Hunting For Dummies(R), 2nd Edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Although there are certainly some great uses for video resumes, for example when the job involves being on screen or making presentations, I was not surprised to learn that they are not yet widely accepted.

My thinking?

  • Viewing video resumes takes too long. Conventional wisdom is saying that resumes receive an 8-second glance. It takes that long to load and press “play” for a video resume. Most employers are too impatient and don’t have time to take these seriously right now.
  • In my opinion, no one should send a video resume without being coached on how to look, what to wear, what to do with their hands, how not to fidget. The list goes on and on. The fact is, looking good on camera requires more than sitting in front of it. The camera itself and the person BEHIND the camera can have a lot to do with the finished product. If you don’t have a coach and an expert behind the scenes, consider the fact that your video resume will look like a 5th-grade humanities project.
  • Many organizations worry about bias. Having a visual as the first impression of a candidate is not traditional in U.S. hiring, and using videos may open the door to charges of discrimination. This is not to say that a video is the only way to see what someone looks like, but using it as a screening tool can open up employers to problems.

The fact is, unless your job requires being on camera, demonstrating your skill (or lack thereof) in this medium is not of much value. Unless you are fabulously attractive, well spoken, coached in the best ways to appear on camera AND have great camera operators and technology to back it all up, stick to a paper resume or consider an on-line resume that allows links and a portfolio, such as visualcv.com if you MUST do something different. (Keeping in mind that most employers don’t have more than 8 seconds for your documents!)

What do you think of video resumes? Does your company allow them? Would you consider using one?

Video resume! You don’t even have any resume! Need a great resume? Some help to write the perfect cover letter? I’m here to help! Write to me.

If you want to receive free up-to-date tips to help with your job hunt, Click here to subscribe to receive future blogs sent directly to you!

photo by ianbwarner