Personal Marketing Plan

Laid off from my job? Now what do I do with my time?

May 27, 2019 By Katherine Burik

Have you ever been laid off? I have. Several times. After the disappointment and tears comes this long expanse of time to fill.

When you worked, you got up in the morning at a certain time, with a specific purpose. Now you have nothing special to do and nowhere to be.

How do you structure your day? Where to begin? How do you spend your time? Worse yet, how do you define yourself?

This is not the time to take a vacation or clean out your closets. Well, maybe a little cleaning can be therapeutic. But this is a great time to clear the decks and focus most of your attention on your search.

You need a plan – a job search marketing plan. Without a roadmap, you might wander around longer than Moses.

Here are three steps to creating your roadmap to a new position:

Figure out what you want to do. Do you want to keep doing the same job you have been doing? Fine. At least that is a decision. Do you want to do something different? Plan it out.
Where you can do that? What companies have jobs like that?
Who to talk to make it happen?

Once you have a plan, you need to implement. How do you structure your day while you work your plan? What goals will you set for yourself?

Goals are very important. You had goals when you worked. You need them when you work on your job search. As a veteran job seeker, I have some ideas about how to structure your laid-off-days. Start with the 80/20 rule:

20% of your time on personal activities. Why personal activities? Because all work and no play makes a dull job seeker. Personal activities could include walking the dog, exercising, cleaning those closets, hanging out with friends and family, working on a project in the garage, yard work, or anything else you love to do.

80% of your time on your job search. How to organize this 80%? We can apply the 80/20 rule to this portion too:

Spend 80% of your time networking including proactive activities like researching target companies on LinkedIn, meeting people who work at your target companies or work in your field, LinkedIn networking, coffee meetings with people you meet at networking events, professional association events, volunteering in some fashion in your field or in your community, etc.
Spend only 20% of your time in reactive activities like answering ads, dealing with recruiters, or attending job fairs. In an 8 hour job search day devote no more than 1.5 hours per day to responding to ads. Find an ad you like, write up a quick cover letter, and send it in. Done. Move on to networking.Do not spend more than 20% of your time answering ads. I do not care if you think your industry is different. Most successful candidates obtain their job through networking so despite your beliefs, put your time into networking and minimize answering ads. Don’t stop answering ads. Just don’t spend the bulk of your time on wanted ads.

Set goals every week. Spend some time every day on LinkedIn. Be sure your profile is up-to-date at All Star Level. Be active in LinkedIn Groups, talking and sharing with people who sound interesting. Set a goal to add X number of contacts every week or day. Participate in X number of discussions with connections or in LinkedIn Groups to increases your visibility. Have coffee with X number of people each week. Write X number of blogs or articles each week. Turn X number of ads into networking experiences.

No one wants to be laid off, but you can turn that expansive time on your hands into worthwhile action that moves your job search forward with a well-organized job search marketing plan.

Get the confidence you need with a FREE copy of The Interview Doctor’s Job Requirements Comparison List and prepare yourself to prove with evidence that you can do the job!

Personal Values and Priorities

May 13, 2019 By Katherine Burik

We are allowed to be happy. Life has no guarantees but why not pursue happiness in your career?

Living our daily lives in conflict with the values we hold dear almost guarantees we will be frustrated and unhappy. Life is so much easier when personal values align with work. The big question is, “How do we make that happen?”

You increase the chances of aligning your work and personal lives by building your Job Search Marketing Plan around what is important to you. Start with knowing what is important to you. Start with your personal values, then interviews become a comparison. When you interview companies (like you are in charge!), you can compare what you learn about a target company with your personal values. Doesn’t fit? Then that is not the company for you.

Values Exercise. I use this interesting exercise to help clients identify their top values. Looks carefully at this list of words describing values. Check the ten words that mean the most to you. If something else is important but not included in this list, then add that special word.

Now let’s make it a little harder. Narrow the top 10 to the 5 words that are most important to you. Write them in the left hand column below. Prioritize these five values. Some must be more important than others. Now, take a look. Does this make sense? Why are these values important? Make some notes next to the prioritized values about why this value is important to you.

Tell the Truth. Do you see evidence in your life that you are living your values? Does your current job push uncomfortably close to the boundaries? If you find your current job frustrating, you might be forcing yourself to function outside of your values. Strive to balance your life, your job, and your family with your personal values.

What are you willing to do to put your life in balance? Are you willing to change jobs? Change companies? Go back to school? Change careers?

How to Use this Information. First you want to understand yourself, your needs, and the choices you are making. Consider how comfortable you will be in your next job. Be aware of the kind of business you are looking at and what kind of people you might be working with. Do they reflect values that are consistent with your values?

What are you willing to do about the areas of your life that are out of alignment? What goals can you set? These goals form an important part of your strategic Personal Marketing Plan. As you review target companies in your geography, gather information to determine that organization’s values. When it comes time to make a decision you will compare the job offer with your values.

By comparing job offers with your personal values, you are likely to make the right match for you! Check out The Interview Doctor’s Job Requirements Checklist for more tips on comparing opportunities with your experience and values.

The Job Search Potluck Antidote – Part 1: Don’t settle for potluck job search – know what you want before you start

February 27, 2018 By Marta Goertzen

Ever been to a potluck dinner?

We have them at our boat club periodically. Potluck dinners are fun because you never know what you will find. Last time there were ten kinds of baked beans and no potatoes. Next time you might find ten kinds of potato salad and no beans.

The smart option at a potluck dinner is to contribute the food you would like to eat. Then you have a modicum of control over your meal.

Relying on job ads for your job search is like going to a potluck dinner. Your options are limited to the potluck universe of whatever jobs happen to be posted at the moment when you look. You might find the equivalent of ten baked bean jobs or potato salad jobs when you would be more comfortable with a coleslaw kind of job. No coleslaw available? You are out of luck.

A quick story to illustrate what I mean…..

I am not everyone’s cup of tea. I thrive in a specific kind of environment that values my high energy and my urge to solve problems with humor and creativity. Not every company values those characteristics. I know. I have the scars to prove it!

One time early in my career I walked into a new company and knew by the end of the day that I made the wrong choice. I took the job because it was available and I needed the money. But I could tell I was never going to fit into this company. The next three years were the longest work years in my life. Every day was a frustration because I had taken a baked beans kind of job when I was a coleslaw kind of gal.

I went to the job search potluck and took the first job that made sense out of the jobs available at that moment. I did not do my due diligence. At that time in my career I did not know what I needed from a company to evaluate the options effectively.

It doesn’t have to be that way. This is the first in a series about how to structure a different kind of job search built around finding your own opportunities – the potluck antidote!!

Start by knowing what you want. I was an HR Executive. You would think that every opportunity with that title would be the same. You would be wrong. Every opportunity is different with its own pluses and minuses. The trick is figuring out what you want then comparing every opportunity to your requirements.

Step 1 then, before you get started, define what the ideal job for you looks like. Ask yourself “What”:

What size – revenue and number of employees? Small or large?
What geography? Where live now or some other place? Don’t just say “anywhere” because everyone has some preferences. Narrow it down to just a few geographies to make your search more targeted.
What industry?
What culture? What kind of people do you want to work with? What level of integrity? How do they talk to one another? Are they nice or is cutthroat ok with you?
What energy level? Quiet and traditional or bolder and cutting edge?
What kind of hipness? Older and traditional or younger and trendy?
What kind of independence? Can you make your own decisions or do you prefer a structured bureaucracy?

Write it down. There are no right or wrong answers. There is only what is right for you. That means that some of the companies out there are wrong for you, which is fine. If you don’t know exactly what you want, describe the place you worked that made you the most happy or just imagine what would make you happy. That is as good a place as any to get started.

Writing it down at the beginning allows you to compare opportunities and companies against your needs to increase the chances that you make a match that works for you. Not potluck but controlling your destiny to find companies that fit your needs.

The Interview Doctor’s Job Requirements Comparison List is the perfect tool to clarify what you want. If I had done this earlier in my career I might have made a better match. What are the “whats” that work for you? Download the Job Requirements Comparison List today to get started on your networking adventure! So much better than taking potluck.

Stay Tuned for the The Potluck Antidote – Part 2: Network into opportunities – coming in March!

Are you Busy or Effective?

February 13, 2018 By Marta Goertzen

How are you spending your job search time?

I met Angelo recently. He has been out of work for six months. He showed me a binder with over 200 jobs he applied for. He heard nothing from those companies. Not a peep. Not even a “thanks but no thanks” letter. He said, “There are just no jobs out there. No one is hiring.”

Another time I will share my rant about how badly most companies treat earnest candidates like Angelo. Today I would like to consider whether Angelo is using his time effectively. Can Angelo organize his time in a different way to get different results?

Angelo is busy, certainly. Two hundred applications in six months is about 20 applications a week, so Angelo has been busy finding opportunities, crafting cover letters and customizing his resume. But then he sends off his resume to a big black hole and is surprised that nothing happens. It is a sad but all too common story.

Angelo is busy but is he effective? I think not, otherwise his efforts would have born some fruit.

Here are some tips for Angelo (and you?) to spend his time more effectively to get a different result:

Decide how much time you want to spend on job search. If you are out of work or in transition, you should be spending at least six to eight hours every day on job search. Thirty to forty hours a week devoted to working on your Job Search Marketing Plan. If you are still working but want to change jobs, can you find an hour or two each day? That gives you five to ten hours per week.

Spend time on tasks that are most effective. Most people (60% to 80%) find a job by networking. Advertisements are much less effective. Your chances of finding a job from an ad are less than 10%. Therefore it makes sense that an effective job search allocates significantly more time networking and much less time on job ads. Don’t be Angelo.

Allocate your time accordingly. If you decide you will spend 8 hours per day on your job search, then here is a sensible time allocation:

Less than one hour (about 10%) on job ads. Get up in the morning, scan the online ads, find a few that sound interesting, send off your resume and move on with your day.
Five hours (about 65%) allocated to networking, research, outreach, LinkedIn, coffee meetings, professional meetings, getting referrals from contacts, etc.
Two hours (about 25%) allocated to follow up on LinkedIn invitations, resumes submitted, referrals, recruiters, other kinds of marketing campaigns, etc.

It is not hard to apply this kind of formula to any amount of time you decide to devote to your job search. The trick is deciding how you want to spend your time.

How are you spending your time? Are you Angelo just sending resumes off in response to job ads but never getting a response? Or are you open to a different way? Make a plan then stick to it. That discipline will bear fruit in increased activity.

Job search is a numbers game. More effective outreach delivers more action. The Interview Doctor’s Job Requirements Comparison List is the perfect tool to clarify what you want. Networking is easier when you know what you want!! Download the Job Requirements Comparison List today to get started on your networking adventure! So much better than taking pot luck.

“How Did You Know I Was Promoted?” Linkedin Secrets For Your Job Search

January 23, 2018 By Katherine Burik

The other day I got a LinkedIn update from Brian M. He got promoted!

Brian worked for me at my last job and I know the promotion was one he really wanted. So I sent him a quick email congratulating him on his promotion.

He responded a little while later saying he appreciate my congratulations. The promotion happened months ago and he enjoyed the new job. He was getting a lot of notes congratulating him on the promotion. He didn’t understand how everyone knew.

I probed a bit because I thought this was a teachable moment. Turns out, as I expected, Brian had just updated his LinkedIn profile with his new job title and responsibilities.

In talking to clients and friends it is clear that, like Brian, many people do not realize that when you update your profile, LinkedIn automatically sends the new information out to all your contacts. These are called “activity broadcasts”.

This has advantages and disadvantages.

It is an easy way to stay in touch and let your friends and colleagues know what is going on in your career.
Make sure you keep your profile updated so you always present the best possible “you” to the LinkedIn world.
You might be connected to your boss and colleagues. They will receive notifications that you are making updates to your profile and they might ask questions. This kind of automatic update can be a problem if you are conducting a confidential job search.

Here are some tips to keep your job search confidential while updating your LinkedIn profile and searching for a job:

Do not say “seeking a new job” or words to that effect in your profile. You can still look for jobs. Make your profile reflect your current role as if you are a competent, talented employee proud of your current role.
Join LinkedIn Groups directly related to the job you currently hold. Post questions or make responses in those groups related to work you are currently performing. In this way you can say that you are using LinkedIn for work. You can point to all sorts of interesting knowledge you are collecting that make you a stronger performer in your current job. This provides cover for your increased LinkedIn activity.
When you join LinkedIn Groups related to your job search, like “Exec Jobs – NE Ohio”, be sure you mark them as “confidential” so these groups do not appear in your public profile. In that Group, click on “More”, then “Settings”, then uncheck the box that says “Display the group logo on your profile”. Now your membership in that group will be more confidential!
You can turn off your activity broadcasts all together, at least while you update your profile. Click on “Settings” under your name on the top right hand side of the profile page. Click “Turn on/off” your activities broadcasts. You find this under “Privacy” in the center of the page. Click to uncheck the box, “Let people know when you change your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies”. Then click “Save”. Then you can proceed to change your profile. When you want to make your new profile public, then you go in and check the box so people will see your regular activity. By then all your changes will be made.

LinkedIn is a very powerful tool to build relationships and network. Learn to use it to share your talents and experience with others in a way that enhances your career.

Learn more about using LinkedIn to boost your career. LinkedIn offers many ways to find the ideal job or career for you! Discover the tactics to using LinkedIn as a critical part of your job search plan. Check out our free training, How to Use LinkedIn to Get the Job You Want.