Interview Doctor
You are missing a big opportunity if you just stick them in your drawer. In this video, Katherine Burik shares how she uses business cards to build relationships in social media.
Then it also makes sense that every job seeker needs a plan. In this video, Katherine Burik describes a job search marketing plan as a map or a strategy of your goal and how you plan to achieve your goal. She shares some elements you should include in your job search marketing plan.
You need to be clear on:
When I was a kid I wanted to be an attorney. Actually I wanted to work hard for the general good and I thought being an attorney was the way to do that. Growing up in the shadow of Watergate will do that to a kid. My family was filled with teachers so my declaration was not well understood.
Although they did not know how to deal with my goals they were supportive.
I moved forward in my career with dogged determination. I advanced quickly in labor relations and human resources.
I had an image in my head of what defined success – recognition, rewards, the accoutrements of folks at my level.
Yet something was missing. I did not get pleasure from those rewards. I needed to throw off the old ideas I committed to so many years ago about what my life would be. It was hard and really scary. But business is good since I left go of my original impressions of what I thought I wanted for my life.
Recently my daughter and sister encountered the opportunity to redefine their paths. My sister Martha had several careers as a teacher (remember it is the family business!). When she did not get tenure as a professor she had to reinvent herself. The process has been difficult and really scary. I mean REALLY scary. But over the last year she has found another way of utilizing her skills and strengths that seems to allow her to express herself and earn a living.
My daughter Marissa had been a political operative working all over the US in political campaigns and most recently in Washington DC for a consulting firm. She decided to change careers. Her path takes her to get her MBA in St. Louis this summer. She left her position a few weeks ago. This decision was difficult and really scary. But since she left she has had three consulting gigs that will provide earnings between now and when school starts in July and maybe while she is in school.
What is happening here? Perhaps letting go of our old definitions of ourselves opens us up to new opportunities we could never imagine before. It feels like magic. Something special is happening here! I have seen it happen with clients too.
In his article, “Letting Go for the Life You Want“, Hale Dwoskin shares that letting go of our emotions can free us up from long standing problems and challenges, melting stress and opening us up for new opportunities. He suggests letting go is an invitation to the possibilities that life has to offer.
The minute Martha and Marissa let go of their previous definitions of success they opened up possibilities they never imagined. Magic!
Graduate school is very expensive and time consuming. It takes two years and a bucket of money. Getting out of the workforce for two years to attend full time is very risky.
Imagine the opportunity cost – what else could you be doing with that money?
Here are some thoughts:
Marissa did the research and made a sound choice but there are no guarantees. Time will tell what she does with this choice!!
These days it is conventional wisdom that it is not what you know but who you know that matters when finding a job. I say it all the time. I wrote a book about networking with a structured job search, “The Job Search Marketing Plan“. But does it really work?
That ZAPPO you heard last week wasn’t a snow storm. It was NETWORKING MAGIC at work again!
Kim is a friend from church. She is a high energy bubbly HR leader with an expertise in training and development looking for a new opportunity. This isn’t her first job search. Kim saw a job opportunity posted online for a very large employer in our region. She put in the several hours required and submitted her application for the job. But she didn’t stop there.
Kim dove into my LinkedIn data pool and discovered that I am 1st connections with Tamara in HR at that very large company. Knowing Kim, she probably reached out to other people too. She sent me a note requesting an introduction to Tamara as part of her pursuit of that posted opportunity.
I refreshed my memory about Tamara by checking out Tamara’s LinkedIn profile then sent Tamara a note reminding her where and how we met and introducing her to Kim who is networking into that company about a particular job.
Tamara responded to us both that same day enthusiastically. She remembered hearing me speak last year at NOHRC, a large regional HR conference where we met. She copied in Laura, the HR person who knows about the opportunity Kim is pursuing. In this way, Tamara moved Kim down the line closer to her goal.
Laura responded enthusiastically to us all welcoming a conversation with Kim and a further introduction to the hiring manager.
I responded to Tamara with an invitation to coffee at the 2015 NOHRC conference coming up in March.
Smiles and (virtual) handshakes all around! It was magic.
This entire process took a matter of minutes over a two day period. It wasn’t hard.
Let’s summarize what happened in that short period of magic:
Networking IS magic. THAT is how it is done!
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