The Job Search Challenge—What Is Your Job Search Process?

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Steve Scott

The biggest challenge in the job search process is creating a method that generates leads for you. Some people think life is about outcome. Outcomes are important and when we take on the job search challenge we want a positive outcome.

Yet, the key to overcoming and winning the job search challenge is the job search process. PROCESS DETERMINES OUTCOME!

The Job Search Process Goal—Continuing Momentum

As a personal business coach collaborating with my clients the number one enemy in the job search challenge is a loss of momentum. When you have momentum you have energy and you interview better and more possibilities are likely to be opened to you.

There is nothing more discouraging than to have a great interview and they tell you that they will get back to you in a month. You can sit there and wait and hope they call you. The result is that you will lose momentum and your positive perspective. The key is that you want to be creating new opportunities on a continuous basis.

The Job Search Process

The key to keeping momentum is in your activity. As much as possible you must approach the job search process like a full-time job. An indifferent attitude will get you nowhere. You can’t ho-hum or drift your way to the top of the mountain.

You must get out there and make it happen. One of the things I have my clients start with is a list of people they know. Very often there is resistance to this. But I tell them, go to the people you know not looking for a job but for ADVICE. This is the key. Think about it.

If someone approached you and said, “I need a job” you immediately feel a little distance and depending on the person or situation a little or a lot of pressure. This is not good. Likewise if you take this same approach people will be pushed away from you and see you as needy.When you ask for advice on your resume or career search just shut up and listen. If you push back, you are defeating the whole purpose and showing them that you were not really interested in what they might have to offer.

The Job Search Process—Continuing

Find as many people as you can to give you advice. If they offer suggestions on your resume take them to heart. Set a follow up appointment and show them the changes you have made and ask them what they think. At this point, ask them if they know any one who may be kind enough as they were to sit down with you and go over your resume. There is a good chance they will know someone.Any one who helps you should receive a thank you note. When you allow people to give you advice instead of asking for a job you are allowing them to take ownership of the process to help you get where you want to go.

In brief, if you follow this process consistently, you will, in many instances, end up sitting in front of the person who has the job you are looking for and is ready to hire you. I have seen this work over and over again. Does it always work? No. But, to overcome the job search challenge and to increase the odds of a successful job search process, asking for advice works at keeping your momentum.

When you keep your momentum in the job search process you are closer to your goal of having the career, job or life you desire. For more information :

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com/resume-interviewing-promo/

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com

The Job Search Challenge-The Interview

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Steve Scott

You have written your resume and now you are ready to interview. Or are you? There is nothing more discouraging than getting through the first cut with your resume only to be in over your head on the interview.

A Good Interview Equals Good Interviewing Skills

Let me define a good interview. A good interview is where you were able to have a positive information exchange that reveals to the interviewer your assets. Notice that I didn’t say a good interview is one that lands you the job. That would be great. More often than not you may go through a series of interviews before there is an offer.

A good interview does one of two things. It either keeps the process going. Or, it makes it clear that your skills and aptitude are not a match for the prospective employer. That way you can readily move on to the next opportunity.

As a personal business coach, I have observed that a great resume doesn’t translate into a great interview. I work with my clients to develop good interviewing skills.

Good interviewing skills involve many things. Obviously, you must be qualified and have some ability to connect with your interviewer. Having said that the two most important interviewing skills have to do with:

1. How you use your resume to answer questions
2. How you use your resume to control the interview

Remember that very often, the person who is interviewing you is not a skilled interviewer. They may be asking questions from a prepared list. Regardless of the skill level of your interviewer, my goal for my clients is to increase the odds of them being in control of the interview.

A Good Interview-Answering Questions

Most people understand that how you answer questions is key to having a good interview. The questions you ask that show a familiarity with the company, position or how you may contribute are important. But I have observed that the questions you ask are not where you are likely to stumble.

Where the stumbling takes place is in how you answer the questions that the interviewer gives you. Questions will be asked in an interview that could have the true question lurking underneath. For example:

“Mr. Scott I see that you moved around a great deal in your previous company and held several positions. What brought about all these moves?” Now you may be thinking that this is a great question because you get to show them how you were valuable in many areas.

Yet, here’s what they may really be asking you. They see that you moved around a lot within your last company. They are wondering, “Are you a team player?” “How do you get along with authority?” Many questions can be a trap and I teach my clients to recognize the traps and how to avoid them or turn them in their favor.

A Good Interview

When in doubt about a question ask the interviewer the following, “What was it on my resume that piqued your interest to ask that question?” Always go back to the resume. Why? In the resume, which is now accomplishments oriented, you are talking about your accomplishments and your positives.

Find out what prompted them from your resume to ask you the question. When you know what interested them you are more likely to have an answer that works to take you to the next step in the interview process. For more information :

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com/resume-interviewing-promo/

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com

The Job Search Challenge

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Steve Scott

You are now faced with the job search challenge. One of the big challenges in life is to make a successful job change or career move. For some, depending on the industry they are in this can be relatively easy. But for the vast majority of job seekers it is a time of high stress, anxiety and fear of the unknown.

Job Search-The Four Biggest Stresses

It is often said that the four most stressful things in life in no particular order are:

1.   Losing your job
2.   Moving to a new area
3.   Divorce—not just from a spouse but also a business partner.
4.   Death of someone close to you.

Job Search-Losing Your Job—The Triple Stressor

You’ve lost your job. I believe for many this is the most stressful event. Why? When you lose your job you inevitably are going to have to move to a new area in terms of work location. And, you are going through a divorce in a business relationship. In a way you have all three stressors coming together at the same time.

Even worse because you are not being forced out, you are unhappy in your present position, feel stuck, overwhelmed and don’t see a way out. If you are looking for a path to low self-esteem and unhappiness punch your ticket every day to doing something or working somewhere you don’t enjoy.

Job Search-Reality-I Must Do Something—But What?

And, now that reality has hit you smack across the side of your face and you are staring at the fact that you don’t even know where or how or both, to begin designing your future to have the job or career you desire. The skills it took to perform your present job well aren’t going to help you find your next job. They will be a starting point in that they will qualify you to apply for a job.

Job Search-The Skills You Must Have

But the skills of resume writing, interviewing and creating a job search process are in a word, non-existent or at the very best haven’t been used in a long time. As a personal business coach who has collaborated with clients on job searches I can assure you that the quickest way to increase your odds of success is to improve these skills.

Job Search-This Is A Competition

A job search or a career change is a competition. How are you going to stand out from the crowd? First, you must have a resume that is accomplishments driven. After all, potential employers are interested in what you can accomplish. Most of the time, resumes are a chronology of where people have been and their titles.

Think about it, lots of people have a comparable history to yours with similar titles. It’s your accomplishments that let you stand out from the crowd. I start by collaborating with them to rewrite their resume.

In subsequent posts I will talk more about the resume and two other important components to a successful job search, interviewing skills and creating an ongoing process to generate leads for job interview.For more information please click in link :

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com/resume-interviewing-promo/

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com

The Job Search Challenge-Your Resume

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Steve Scott

I have found that for most of us, writing a resume with impact is is a challenge. A resume that truly reflects well on an individual is one of the most difficult challenges for my clients.

More often than not, resumes are the first part of the sorting process for most employers. A well written and to the point resume is a huge asset in your career search.

Your Resume—Stand Above The Crowd

As a personal business coach most of my clients have a resume. It gives a very detailed chronological summary of who they have worked for, the positions they have held and the length of time. The focus is to produce a chronological history that forces the potential employer to guess at what you truly accomplished.

The way to stand above the crowd and increase your odds of moving beyond the first cut it to recast your resume to make it accomplishments oriented. If you think about it, where you have been is important. But what really matters is what you have accomplished.

Resume—Accomplishments By Category

After you have settled on an objective at the beginning of your resume the next thing you must do is present some related accomplishments. For example, if your objective is to “Be part of a growing financial organization and contribute my expertise in marketing, management and sales support” then you must have some accomplishments that relate to that objective.
Your categories for objectives would be:
•   Marketing
•   Management
•   Support

Under each category make sure to list at least 2 accomplishments and no more than 4.

Resume—How You Word Your Accomplishments

Once you have come up with your accomplishments it is important to use action verbs to start each accomplishment. For example: “Reduced marketing expense while increasing positive exposure for financial products in a large financial services company.
The word ‘reduced’ shows that you are a person of action and accomplishment. Notice that I didn’t name the company where I reduced marketing expense. That is on purpose. We’ll reveal that on page 2 of the resume.

The goal is to have this part of your resume along with the objective be on the first page. You want to catch your prospective employer’s attention right away.

Resume—Career History

After your accomplishments your next category is Career History. All you do here is list the years, position and company. For example:
1996-2000 Assistant Controller XYZ Corporation
2000-2007 Controller ABC Corporation

After this list your education in the same format as your work experience.

At the end, let them know that references are available upon request. I have a suggestion here. Have your references ready in advance and written. If you have trouble getting people to write references ask them if you can write it and then have them edit it and sign off on it. You will be pleased at how this speeds up the process. For more information please click in link:

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com/resume-interviewing-promo/

http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com

Keys To Business Success: Your Leadership Model

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Steve Scott

Who’s your leadership model? In John Maxwells’ book, Developing the Leaders Around You, he emphasizes that you must give much thought to which leaders you will follow. Why? The leadership model you follow will determine your course.

Who Is Your Leadership Model?

When I talk about a leadership model what am I referring to? Whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur or solo professional seeking greater personal and small business success it is important that you find the right mentors.

Find people who exemplify the emotional, intellectual and character qualities that will take you to the next level. Out of these three, as a personal business coach, I encourage my clients to focus first and foremost on character.

Why? You may love their logic, their intellect. You may love their passion, their emotion. But without good character you are building the foundation of your leadership model upon sand. It will not last. Without good character the rest doesn’t matter.

Leadership Model Questions From John Maxwell

Does my leadership model’s life deserve a following?
Does my leader model’s life have a following?
What is the main strength the influences others to follow my model?
Does my leadership model produce other leaders?
Is my leadership model’s strength reproducible in my life?
If my model’s strength is reproducible in my life, what steps must I take to develop and demonstrate that strength?

Find Your Leadership Model

Throughout my life I have had different leadership models. What is interesting is that someone who was a leadership model ten years ago may not be a leadership model now. Leadership models will change. Why? As you grow and change your need for a different leadership model will often have to change to support that growth.

Whether you are seeking growth in business, personal growth or just a growth strategy in leadership you must let go of the old in order for the new to enter. Just as a tree sheds its leaves every year, we too, as humans must shed what is no longer useful. Unlike the tree you have a choice.

Part of creating a great leadership model is exercising your power of choice. Part of great leadership is making wise choices. Choose wisely. Your leadership model will be as you wish.

Keys To Success: Passion

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Steve Scott

Throughout my business experience I have found that passion is a key ingredient to small business success. After all, if you don’t have passion about your product, service, company, and most importantly, yourself, it makes it that much harder to achieve personal and small business success.

In my personal business coaching practice I have observed that the clients who have the most passion also have the greatest degree of success.

Keys To Success: Passion About Yourself

You have probably heard that true success is an “inside” job. To succeed you must have passion about:

“Who” you are.
“What” you do.
“How” you do it.
“Why” you do it.

Lack of excitement in any of these areas will hold you back much more than you may realize. The most important area to be passionate about is YOU. If you feel stuck or overwhelmed look at yourself and find something to change that will make you more excited about you.

After all, in business and life, we, so to speak, leak who we are. What are you leaking about you? How do you think? How do you speak? How do you dress? Do you act with respect, kindness and consideration?

The answers to these questions and your passion about them are important keys to success.

Passion Is Your Value Proposition

In answering Who you are, What you do, How you do it and Why you do it you are establishing your value proposition to prospects, customers and client. Too often this is forgotten.

I have collaborated with self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs and solo professionals who had the best technology and efficient systems but who fell short of where they wanted to be.

Once they understood that small business growth was not just about a great product or service and its delivery, but the passion with which it was delivered, their businesses and lives started to move forward and up.

Passion: Look At Your Priorities

In running a small business or starting your own business I see self-employed business owners with passion but lacking clear priorities. This is a recipe for disaster.

Be a person with passion but also priorities. Without the right priorities and taking action on them personal and small business success is more likely to elude you. Make sure that your daily priorities are in alignment with where you want to take your business and life.

With your priorities in alignment your passion will grow and help take you to the personal and small business success you desire. Your success will be in your passion.

Belief Determines Your Present And Future

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Steve Scott

I once had a client who had very little belief in himself. He was running a small business that was passed down to him by his father. He was bright but he had never developed his talent. His lack of belief in himself was hurting his company, employees and worst of all his family life.

Your beliefs control everything that you do. They will determine your personal and small business success and growth.

Belief—It Holds You Back

As a personal development coach I have observed in myself and others that what our belief is in ourselves will determine what we expect and what we will receive. My client did not believe in himself.

Why? There were many reasons. The most important one was he was running the business the way his Dad had run it. He was afraid to put his personal touch on things. After all, things had worked well or maybe not so well for a long time so why change?

His belief in his lack of ability to make positive change was holding him back.

Belief—It Moves Your Forward

We started identifying small, safe areas where he could institute change. Most important it was change he believed in.

When you start exercising your “belief muscle” it is best to start with some small things where you can have some immediate success. Too often I see well intentioned, self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs and solo professionals exercise their “belief muscle” on too big a stage.

Why? They feel that is some shape or form that they need to make the grand impression. Remember, an impression can work both ways. You can take your belief and impress it on others but if you haven’t thought it through it can come back at you in the form of a negative impression.

The key is to start with something small. Enjoy the small successes from your beliefs. Learn from them. Once you have mastered the small things then you can work up to some bigger areas.

Whether you are running a small business or starting up your own business begin with the small things and work up to the bigger ones. This will increase your odds of staying on a success track.

Belief—It Predicts Your Future

More often than not in personal business coaching I am collaborating with others on creating a vision of the future they desire. Once we have created the vision we start taking steps to make it happen. It’s a very exciting process. And, it is all fueled by belief.

Your belief in yourself, what you do and where you want to go is usually a very good predictor of the future you will have. How come it is a good predictor of your future? Your belief determines your expectation.

And you have a belief and an expectation you are much more likely to see it become a reality. Whether you are starting your own business or running a small business identify your beliefs. Understand your expectations.

If they aren’t leading you to the future you desire, change them. Change your belief on something. It will change your expectation. And, your expectation will change your life. Today you can start to have the future you want tomorrow. Start today by harnessing the power of your belief.

Keys To Success: Priorities

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Steve Scott

Growing up my Dad was about priorities. It used to make me angry that I couldn’t go play until the work on our property was taken care. My Dad truly cared about taking care of the small things before they turned into something big and unpleasant.

Priorities—Staying Ahead Of The Game

His passion was maintenance of our home and all that surrounded it. And, his priorities when he wasn’t being with the family, his first love, centered around, as he said, “staying ahead of the game.”

And because he had priorities for maintenance, very seldom did anything bad ever happen. If a tree limb needed to be cut because it was hanging over the house, we cut it. If the weather forecast was for snow and ice we would put the chains on the car. After the last mowing of the yard in the fall we winterized the lawnmower. In the fall he would check all our snow removal equipment to make sure it was functioning properly.

Priorities—Make Them An Emphasis

My Dad taught me many things about life that I carry with me to this day. But, his emphasis on priorities is one of the most important gifts he gave me. Also, he had passion. He cared. And he cared about doing things well.

I remember he told me a story that his father had told him. Back in my Dad’s day they did not have central heat. The winters in eastern Washington were quite cold. He grew up in a home that was heated by a wood stove. What was one of his Dad’s greatest priorities? If you guessed having enough wood chopped to get the family through the winter you are correct.

Here’s the story. It was a cold winter night. A man was sitting in his one room cabin and was angry at the wood burning stove. The room was very cold and the stove was not producing any heat. In his frustration the man yelled at the stove; “Give me the heat. Then I will give you the wood.”

Whenever I got off track with my priorities this story would come to mind. After my Dad told the story he would say; “Steve, always remember that you have to put something in before you get something back out.”

Happiness & Success—Align Your Priorities With Your Passion

My Dad, as a young boy, chopped a great deal of wood. Unfortunately, my Dad died suddenly when I was in high school. It turned my world upside down. My priorities changed drastically. I went from enjoying high school working and figuring out how to make it.

As I grew older I always had priorities but at times something was missing. What was missing was passion. I could have priorities and do a job well. I could create a successful business. Yet, this did not necessarily bring me joy.

It wasn’t until I was in my forties that I began to understand that my talent would be maximized and my potential realized only if I matched my passion with my priorities. I was spending too much time doing tasks for which I possessed neither talent nor passion.

I knew I had to make a change. When I aligned my priorities with my passion is when I experienced greater small business and personal success. Align yourself with what you feel strongly about and what you are doing. Are you looking for an awesome business and life experience? You can have it when you align your passion and priorities.

Keys To Success: Believe In Yourself

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Steve Scott

What do you believe? It is the single most important question you can ask yourself. Why? What you believe determines what you do. In a nutshell, your beliefs control everything you do.

If you are an individual, self-employed business owner, entrepreneur or solo professional and want your talent to be taken to its highest level your results will be reflected in what you believe about yourself. In personal business coaching I can assure you that what my clients believe about themselves is critical to a successful outcome.

Believe In A Positive Outcome

Too often people will focus on their talent. Yet, the true secret from getting the most out of your talent is to start harnessing the power of your mind.

When you accomplish something worthwhile you believe in a positive outcome. You must believe positively in order to accomplish. If you are running a small business or starting your own business one of the keys to success is to strongly believe in yourself.

Strongly Believe In Yourself

I have heard “believing positively” called the “sure enough” syndrome. If you expect to fail, sure enough, you will. If you expect to succeed, sure enough, you will.

How come to believe positively is critical to success? When you believe positively on the inside it will manifest itself on the outside. Personal or small business success is truly an inside job.

Change What You Believe And Breakthrough To Success

Personal breakthroughs begin with a change in your beliefs. Why? Because your beliefs determine your expectations, and your expectations determine your actions.

Believe in yourself and it becomes a habit in your mind and your confidence becomes a conviction that you embrace. There is a phrase from John Maxwell that sums this up nicely; “In the long run, a belief is more than an idea that a person possesses. It is an idea that possesses a person.”

Believe And Succeed

You need to expect to succeed. Does that mean you will always succeed? No. You will fail. You will make mistakes. But when you believe in yourself you will expect to win, you will maximize your talent, and you will keep trying.

After all, you are not judged by the number of times you fail, but by the number of times you succeed. And, the number of times you succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times you can fail and keep trying. To keep moving forward on your growth and success track you must believe.

Keys To Success: The Whatever-It-Takes Attitude

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Steve Scott

Do you have a whatever-it-takes attitude? Think about it for a moment. If you do, you are probably in a leadership position or on your way to becoming a leader.

As a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur or solo professional you may be in a position to lead others or possibly just yourself. Regardless, if you don’t have a whatever-it-takes attitude it is going to be a challenge to have the small business success and growth you desire.

Employees And The Whatever-It-Takes Attitude

Few things gain the appreciation of the self-employed business owner or entrepreneur than an employee with a whatever-it-takes attitude. This type of employee is willing to think outside of their job description. They are willing to tackle the kinds of jobs that others are too proud or too frightened to take on.

Employees That Don’t Have The Whatever-It-Takes Attitude

Few things are more frustrating to the self-employed small business owner than having someone refuse to do a task because it is “not his job.” And, if you are the leader of your business, department or a leader in a company you really can’t lead because these people will not follow.

These people do not understand one thing. The goal is more important than the role. In my personal business coaching practice this is one of the things I emphasize to help my clients move up and beyond their current position.

The Leader And The Whatever-It-Takes Attitude

If you expect your employees to have a whatever-it-takes attitude you must have the same outlook. Good leaders think in terms of the big picture. They understand that in running a small business or starting your own business that the big picture goal is critical. They are thinking in terms of the whatever-it-takes attitude.

And, they understand that they have to set the example for their employees by thinking outside of their job description. They have to model what they want others to follow. They have to understand and model the attitude that the goal is more important than the role.

With the whatever-it-takes attitude you will move your business forward. If you are in a company you will move up in leadership. As you grow your business or move up in leadership you will hire someone to replace you.

When you do that you know you are on a good tract. And to continue on this tract, cultivate and perpetuate your winning attitude–whatever-it-takes.