Posted at 08:45 PM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
A few weeks ago my wife and I learned that the high school, which my daughter attends, was going to close at the end of the school year. It was a sad day since my older two daughters had graduated from there and to top it all off my wife also worked there.
In the matter of a few days we had to find my daughter a new school and my wife a new job. I thought to myself, this could be a true test of my coaching skills and our marriage.
My wife asked for my assistance so we sat down on Saturday and started her plan. She had made contact with a few people already telling them she was in a search, had received a couple of phones calls from people with leads and checked out the most popular teaching websites.
We started the process of verifying what type of job she wanted to do, laid out her Personal Marketing Story, and drafted her resume and references. By the end of the weekend we had identified two teaching positions she was going to apply for. We followed the Career Networking Pro process and applied online as required, sent cover letters and resumes directly to the hiring authority, contacted people we thought that knew the hiring authority personally and followed up with phone calls to the hiring authority after they received the letter.
Our quick action paid off as she was asked to come in for interviews for both positions. Before both interviews she did her research on the organizations and people and we practiced interviewing.
As she prepared to go to the interviews she was very nervous but also felt she was as prepared as she could be. The preparation gave her the confidence to be herself during the interviews.
It was amazing that she received a job offer from both schools. She accepted the one that allowed her to continue teaching the subjects she loves. During this time my daughter visited a number of schools and selected the school she wanted to attend.
We had a very stressful month pulling our lives back together. We are very blessed to have this work out so well so fast. Hard work, planning and following the plan had paid off.
Need someone to help you in your job search? Want to talk to someone who has the experience to provide valuable guidance? Visit the Career Networking Pro website, http://www.CareerNetworkingPro.com, to learn how to get hooked up with an experienced career coach. Read about the job search process in the new book, People Hire People – Not Resumes, http://www.careernetworkingpro.com/book.
Posted at 03:44 PM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Every person you network with will have an opinion about your Personal Marketing Story, resume and Networking Plan. Listen to each person to uncover valuable information to aid your job search. Learn from each person’s experiences to avoid common mistakes. Regardless of who provides the advice, only implement what makes sense to you, trust your gut in the process.
Last week I had a client call me and ask for a meeting. I could tell by his voice that something was wrong but he did not want to discuss it on the phone. A couple of days later we met and just looking at him I could see a lack of energy and confidence that had always been there before.
Slowly he told me about a networking meeting he had with a person he had known for years. He had followed his Networking Plan and executed the meeting very well. Then the feedback started; your message is not focused, you need to include more examples in your message, your resume needs to be rewritten, and you are looking for the wrong job.
This feedback, although well meant, shattered his confidence. How could all my work be so wrong? He asked. I listened patiently for him to finish and then suggested we take each piece of advice one by one and see if it was a good idea for him to implement.
I had him practice his Personal Marketing Story and I asked what was suggested be changed. The contact wanted him to change the type of job he was looking for. Next we reviewed more examples, he had provided two, one more than was originally in his Personal Marketing Story. When we reviewed his resume the suggested changes were very specific to the type of job the contact thought he should be looking for. Finally, we talked about the type of job the contact suggested. My client concluded that he would hate that type of job. The contact was trying to get him to change his entire focus because he new of a job opening that my client could do but was not a good job or career move for him. Good intentions, but not the right thing for my client to do.
Need someone to assist you in staying focused on what you want to do rather than what others think you should do? Want to talk to someone who has the experience to provide valuable guidance? Visit the Career Networking Pro website, http://www.careernetworkingpro.com, to learn how to get hooked up with an experienced career coach. Read about the job search process in the new book, People Hire People – Not Resumes, http://www.careernetworkingpro.com/book.
Posted at 05:15 PM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Our attitude is so important in life but never more important than in a job search. I was given a copy of Attitude by Charles Swindol and want to share it with you.
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string that we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.”
Take charge of your attitude and see what a positive difference it will make in your job search and your life. Need someone to help you keep a positive attitude? Want to talk to someone who has the experience to provide valuable guidance to keep your search on track? Visit the Career Networking Pro website, http://www.careernetworkingpro.com, to learn how to get hooked up with an experienced career coach.
Posted at 07:40 AM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
You have accepted an offer for a new job and are drafting your resignation letter. What you say and how you say it will define your legacy at the company you are leaving.
Resigning is difficult even in the best situations. Although you may feel short term satisfaction by telling your boss what you really think, remember that organizations are not made up of one or two individuals. Lashing out is not professional and you will regret it long term.
Your resignation is an opportunity to rise above the crowd. This is a great opportunity to strengthen good relationships, repair strained relationships, display appreciation for the experience gained and congratulate colleagues on collective achievements.
Leaving the organization professionally and respectfuly will leave the organization with a positive memory. This is very important as you never know when your path will cross with individuals in the organization and the need to cross one of those bridges in the future.
Not sure how to make a successful transition in your career? Want to talk with an expert that can help you develop a plan and execute a successful transition? Visit the Career Networking Pro website, www.careernetworkingpro.com, to learn how to talk with someone that can guide you through your job search.
Posted at 09:50 AM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
You have decided to quit your job either because you found a great opportunity or you just wanted to get out. How should you resign?
The first rule is do not burn any bridges. There is no benefit in doing this. Yes, it may make you feel better in the short term, but that brief moment of pleasure can come back to haunt you. You never know where people will end up and how your paths will cross in the future.
Rule two is keep it simple. Make your letter and verbal communication short and positive. Do not take shots at people or the company.
Rule three is to say thank you. Thank those that have helped you, become friends with or supported your efforts. You can never thank people enough because you never know when you might need them in the future.
Rule four is plan your departure. Do not wake up one day and turn in your resignation. Take the time to write the letter, practice your delivery and make a list of those to thank. Planning your departure will make sure that you do not make stupid mistake or overlook someone.
Not sure how to resign from your company. Want to talk to someone that can help you plan your departure? Visit the Career Networking Pro website, www.careernetworkingpro.com, to learn how to plan a successful transition from one employer to the next.
Posted at 01:40 AM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Hello, my name is Frank Danzo and I have assisted hundreds of people make successful career transitions. How did I get to this point? Here's my story.
It was mid-morning and I was sitting in a company meeting of the human resource professionals of our subsidiary from all over the country when I received an e-mail on my Blackberry. Like a good corporate soldier, I immediately popped it off my belt, and saw that the Vice President of Sales’ secretary needed me to call her office. I excused myself from the meeting and gave her a call. She asked me to attend a 1 P.M. meeting in the Vice President’s office, but when I inquired about the topic of the meeting, she said she was unsure. I immediately called my boss to see if he could offer more information. He told me that he was aware of the meeting; however, he would not be in attendance. In respect to the subject of the meeting, he commented that it concerned “your future with the company”. At that point, I knew what was coming.
Six months earlier, my boss of seven years and two of his peers had traded positions. My new boss was displeased by the changes and I knew it was just a matter of time before he would leave. Three weeks before my call he had resigned. It was time to reorganize and when the dust settled, my job had been eliminated. Twenty years and almost two million air miles later, I was on the outside looking in. The next four months was the most hellish period of my life.
During that time, I wrote my resume at least fifty times, applied for every job that I saw, and slipped into depression. I was out of control both personally and professionally but I was very fortunate to have a great wife, career coach and doctor. One day, I was sitting at my desk at the outplacement office when my wife called. She said she had made a doctor’s appointment for me later that morning. I told her I wasn’t going; everything was fine. Just then, my career coach walked in and together they convinced me to go to the doctor.
When my doctor walked into the examination room, I broke down. Even though he now had a hysterical, middle-aged man on his hands, he was caring and patient with me. He asked me if my children had acted any differently toward me. I responded that they still loved me as always. He said that was because they knew that the true value of a person comes from the person, not their job, title or money.
With assistance from my wife and doctor, I finally got my act together. My wife and I discussed what was important in our lives and the type of job I’d be looking for. We agreed that we didn’t want to relocate, since our oldest daughter was approaching high school and we didn’t want to disrupt her life. I knew this decision would limit my flexibility and make my search more difficult, but I was willing to take that risk for my family.
My former career at the major corporation had been very successful, and I thought that would be a huge selling point on my resume. My resume did open many doors, but whenever I spoke with people from large corporations, they were more curious about what had happened than in hiring me. I began to feel that instead of giving me a great head start, my resume was actually preventing me from returning to the workforce.
During my search, I considered nearly every possible option. I deliberated going to law school but realized it would never pay off at my age. I talked to a franchise broker, looking for that perfect match. My wife thought I had gone crazy when I considered buying a day-care business; then she knew I was crazy when I visited a manufacturer of frozen Italian foods. But no matter how wide-ranging these opportunities may have been, they proved valuable because they helped me eliminate the jobs I didn’t want.
Once I worked through these farfetched possibilities, I became focused and truly began my search. During this time, I met hundreds of people who were willing to meet with me and assist me in furthering my search. Most of those who helped me were total strangers who benefited little, if at all, from assisting me. As I continued my search, I decided that once I found a job, I would create a way to assist others in my situation to pay back, or as one person put it, “pay forward”, the investment others had made in me.
My career coach kept telling me that I had to network if I wanted to find my next job. That advice was dead on, but not very helpful because I had no idea what “networking” meant. My previous work life consisted of waking up at 4:30 A.M., spending up to 70% of my time traveling, and arriving home LATE. When I wasn’t traveling or working, all I wanted to do was spend time with my family. I didn’t invest time in meeting people outside of work, so I didn‘t have a “network” of contacts. Each week when I met with my career coach, her advice was to network, network, network. I eventually figured out what she meant, but I could never get an answer to the question, “How do you network?”
Connecting the Dots
I’m still amazed by the network that led me to that next job. I explained my situation to Andy, whose daughter played soccer with my daughter. Andy had been through a transition, so he could relate to my story. He asked for my resume and offered to circulate it through his company. I eagerly agreed.
After I e-mailed Andy my resume, I kept calling to see if he had anyone willing to talk with me. Almost a month passed before Andy finally introduced me to Chip. I called Chip and he agreed to meet with me, but as we talked, I realized he was in the process of moving to the city for the first time. As I hung up, I thought to myself, “What a waste of time! Chip is new to the company and city; he doesn’t know anybody!” I nearly called back and cancelled.
Nevertheless, I kept the appointment. Chip was a great guy, but he didn’t have any contacts in the city yet. As we discussed the companies I was targeting, he said he knew someone who worked for one of them. They had worked together in Washington, D. C. He said he would try to contact Leon and would contact me if he had any luck. I left the meeting convinced that my instincts had been right; meeting with Chip was a waste of time.
Two days later, Chip forwarded an e-mail from Leon; she would assist me, and suggested I give her a call. When I called the next day, Leon referred me to a co-worker, Nancy, and suggested that we meet. The meeting went exceedingly well and Nancy provided a number of referrals in the city, as well as a referral to another co-worker who I wanted to meet. At Nancy’s suggestion, I e-mailed her co-worker, Bob. Bob asked me to join him and one of his department heads, Jim, for lunch. We discussed the challenges that they were currently facing as they built a new department, as well as my past experiences. After twenty minutes, they told me about a new position they had in the works. We agreed that I was a good match for the position, and they suggested that I meet with Jim the next week to talk in more detail. It was at this meeting that I learned that the job description hadn’t been written, so I volunteered to draft it, which I hoped would accelerate the hiring process. After we revised the job description several times, Jim asked me to come in for a formal interview. The two of us talked for almost an hour, and then I had a group interview with the rest of his department heads.
Two weeks later, Jim called to offer me the position, Director of Project Services. I had successfully networked my way to a new position! It was amazing that I had been able to find a position that had not even previously existed or advertised. Through my networking, I was crossing both industries, consumer products to healthcare, and job functions, distribution to engineering. Thus, I had finally learned the meaning of networking, as well as its power.
After I started the job, I began coaching individuals through their own job searches. I had a steady stream of people calling me and asking for advice. I’ve worked one-on-one with over 100 individuals, and I’m proud that every pupil has worked hard and landed successfully.
Since I could only work one-on-one with a limited number of job seekers, I offered to join forces with a volunteer organization to conduct a networking workshop, thus expanding the number of people that we could assist. Since we started the workshop, I’ve trained over 800 people on the system that worked for me. The more people I worked with, the more I realized that this was what I wanted to do everyday as a professional, and finally I founded Career Networking Pro.
Now I spend my time advising currently employed people on ways to improve their performance; assisting others as they transition from one employer to another; and coaching people between jobs on how to accelerate their search and get what they want.
So if you are in a career transition, stay tuned for tips for optimizing your search.
Posted at 04:15 PM in Personal Experiences | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)