Very often I am assisting job seekers who are having a difficult time deciding which career direction to take or which jobs to target. And most often the consequence of that struggle is inactivity, passivity and paralysis.
Without deciding upon a goal, an objective or just a direction, movement becomes more difficult, perhaps even close to impossible.
A job search has to be active and in motion most of all. Waiting and hoping for something to happen without taking action sows seeds of discouragement, disappointment and depression.
Not taking action because you have not yet come to the best decision about how to proceed can, and often does, lead you nowhere.
Taking steps, taking action, regardless of whether or not those steps are the best to take is far better than doing nothing.
To paraphrase George S. Patton, "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
Inactivity leads nowhere. Activity of any kind at least has a chance of being productive. And as long as you are active, you are on the go. And you need to be going in order to get to where you want to be. You won't get there by waiting for something to happen.
JVS offers career counseling services to help you make career decisions. Armed with good information about yourself, and your options, will increase greatly your job and career success. However, exploration and implementation both require you take action in order to be successful.
Start by acting on, heading toward, one of your choices, without it having to be a sure bet. There are too many unknowns in the world of work and careers to be able to proceed with absolute certainty.
Once you have made a choice, once you are in motion, once you are active, it will become much easier to change course, to improve on the decisions you make. Your car can't turn if it isn't moving.
So start with making a choice, a good choice, but it does not have to be the best choice. It is not all about making the right choice to start, but it is all about making a move.
Once you are in motion, those who can help you, your navigators, will be able to help you much better. Navigators help you steer, but you are the pilot. And you need to help one another to reach your destination.
Let JVS help you make your career choices and navigate your way to job search success. Contact us at 248.559.5000 or www.jvsdet.org.
You can reach me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.
Walt
Showing posts with label careers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label careers. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
What Kind of a Job Getter Are You?
Are you a Job Seeker?
Or a Job Hunter?
How about a Job Developer?
Or are you a Job Settler, maybe even homebound?
If you are a Job Hunter, do you know your target? Know how to find your target, know how it thinks, and how to capture it. Are you properly equipped? Know how to attract your target, how to lure it to you. Is your resume, your application, your bait, appealing? And when your target is in range, are you equipped to spring the trap? Do you have a winning interview as one of your primary weapons? Are you prepared to camp out as long as it takes to make the capture?
If you are a Job Seeker, are you making contact with the right guides, those who can help you find your way? Are you setting up your scouts who are familiar with the natives within the uncharted territory of the companies where you want to work? Are you asking for directions? Are you open to exploring companies and opportunities without necessarily arriving at your job destination? Keep your eyes, ears and mind open to possibilities along the way to reveal new hidden treasure.
If you are a Job Developer, have you created mutually beneficial relationships with others? Are you making contacts first and foremost to offer your assets, your talents, your resources, your time and effort to be of help? Take care of your relationships to develop opportunities. Make it all about how you can be seen as a creator and connector. Plant seeds, nurture the relationships you have with others and tend to their growth. Your harvest will be much more fruitful.
Or are you a Job Settler waiting for the phone to ring with an offer for a job, any job? Are you willing to settle for whatever comes your way? Unfortunately, for Job Settlers, there is no home delivery for job offers. You have to go outside to get your next job. Once you get your job is the time for settling in. First you need to locate your employer and build your office home before you can settle in.
If you need help to be prepared for the job hunt, information about how and where to search for jobs, connections to develop job opportunities, contact us at JVS.
And you can always email me, call me or find me on LinkedIn.
Don't just settle, make it happen!
Walt
Or a Job Hunter?
How about a Job Developer?
Or are you a Job Settler, maybe even homebound?
If you are a Job Hunter, do you know your target? Know how to find your target, know how it thinks, and how to capture it. Are you properly equipped? Know how to attract your target, how to lure it to you. Is your resume, your application, your bait, appealing? And when your target is in range, are you equipped to spring the trap? Do you have a winning interview as one of your primary weapons? Are you prepared to camp out as long as it takes to make the capture?
If you are a Job Seeker, are you making contact with the right guides, those who can help you find your way? Are you setting up your scouts who are familiar with the natives within the uncharted territory of the companies where you want to work? Are you asking for directions? Are you open to exploring companies and opportunities without necessarily arriving at your job destination? Keep your eyes, ears and mind open to possibilities along the way to reveal new hidden treasure.
If you are a Job Developer, have you created mutually beneficial relationships with others? Are you making contacts first and foremost to offer your assets, your talents, your resources, your time and effort to be of help? Take care of your relationships to develop opportunities. Make it all about how you can be seen as a creator and connector. Plant seeds, nurture the relationships you have with others and tend to their growth. Your harvest will be much more fruitful.
Or are you a Job Settler waiting for the phone to ring with an offer for a job, any job? Are you willing to settle for whatever comes your way? Unfortunately, for Job Settlers, there is no home delivery for job offers. You have to go outside to get your next job. Once you get your job is the time for settling in. First you need to locate your employer and build your office home before you can settle in.
If you need help to be prepared for the job hunt, information about how and where to search for jobs, connections to develop job opportunities, contact us at JVS.
And you can always email me, call me or find me on LinkedIn.
Don't just settle, make it happen!
Walt
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Why You Do Not Get Responses to Your Applications
There are numerous factors that affect whether or not you get a response to your application/resume.
The most likely affecting factors, by far, are which filter keywords the screener uses and the number of applications/resumes submitted.
When dealing with large numbers of applications/resumes, savvy screeners will load the filters with numerous distinguishing and unique keywords to limit the results.
At the very least, applicants must have core keywords in their resumes or they will surely be passed over and get no responses to their applications.
On average, even with the right keywords and in the best of circumstances, you have less than a 20% chance of getting a response.
That means, if you do nothing other than submit an application/resume to a posted job opening, the very best response rate you can expect is one response out of five applications.
Usually, the response rate is more like 1% or 2%, one or two out of a hundred!
And response means nothing more than an overture, a request, for next contact or more information, not necessarily an offer for an interview.
Considering the odds, it is in your best interest to include as many of the right keywords as possible in your application/resume.
The first indication of which keywords are the right keywords is in the wording of the posting.
Identify words in the ad that are descriptors like job titles, equipment, specialized knowledge like software, credentials such as college degree or certifications, and particular industry or product or service experience. Try to include as many of those exact words in your application/resume.
So if they are asking for a Special Events Coordinator and you performed those duties under the title of Operations and Registration Manager, you do not have to change your previous job title. However, do make certain you put the words “special events” and “coordinator” somewhere in your application/resume, such as an objective or summary at the beginning of your information.
Secondly, you can discover keywords by browsing www.Indeed.com for the job titles and keywords of postings which you have already found to uncover additional like openings. Try putting those keywords into the Indeed search field without specifying a job location. That will open up the possibilities and give you many more keyword choices.
Also, you can visit www.careerinfonet.org, click on Occupation Information, then select Occupation Profile, and using your job title create a profile which includes knowledge, skills, abilities, job tasks, equipment used and more. Again, more keyword possibilities.
A list of 25 keywords usually is sufficient to penetrate the screen and get a response.
All this relates to the “automated” process of screening applications/resumes. And “automated” does mean a computer scan, but can also mean human eyes very quickly scanning for keywords.
Those responses you receive from a one step application process mean you got through the screen and usually little else.
Once you get a response, you should have feedback and more information about your chances for the interview, but before that it is nothing more than keywords.
If you are being told that you are over-qualified for the job, in their minds, you are. And over-qualified means you feel entitled to lots of money. And if you do not get lots of money, you will leave the first chance you get. And it does not matter if you argue this, their minds are made up. By the way, they are right most of the time.
Regarding openings for which you might be perceived as over-qualified, one tactic might be to state your qualifications and experience in terms that are more in line, a better fit, with the requirements of the job. If they require three to five years of experience, report just five years of those ten years of experience you have and nothing more. If they require a coordinator, do not present that you were an Operations and Registration Manager, but simply Operations and Registration without the Manager.
But, above all, make certain you are including the keywords that they are presenting in the posting.
Again, this is all about getting to the interview. Once you are in the interview, you may be directed, or elect, to open up more about specific experiences that would work to your advantage. But that’s a discussion for another time.
Let us help you find your keywords. Visit us at www.ParnossahWorksDetroit.org, click on Seminars/Events and sign up for one of our weekly meetings.
As always, you can reach me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org or 248.233.4231.
The most likely affecting factors, by far, are which filter keywords the screener uses and the number of applications/resumes submitted.
When dealing with large numbers of applications/resumes, savvy screeners will load the filters with numerous distinguishing and unique keywords to limit the results.
At the very least, applicants must have core keywords in their resumes or they will surely be passed over and get no responses to their applications.
On average, even with the right keywords and in the best of circumstances, you have less than a 20% chance of getting a response.
That means, if you do nothing other than submit an application/resume to a posted job opening, the very best response rate you can expect is one response out of five applications.
Usually, the response rate is more like 1% or 2%, one or two out of a hundred!
And response means nothing more than an overture, a request, for next contact or more information, not necessarily an offer for an interview.
Considering the odds, it is in your best interest to include as many of the right keywords as possible in your application/resume.
The first indication of which keywords are the right keywords is in the wording of the posting.
Identify words in the ad that are descriptors like job titles, equipment, specialized knowledge like software, credentials such as college degree or certifications, and particular industry or product or service experience. Try to include as many of those exact words in your application/resume.
So if they are asking for a Special Events Coordinator and you performed those duties under the title of Operations and Registration Manager, you do not have to change your previous job title. However, do make certain you put the words “special events” and “coordinator” somewhere in your application/resume, such as an objective or summary at the beginning of your information.
Secondly, you can discover keywords by browsing www.Indeed.com for the job titles and keywords of postings which you have already found to uncover additional like openings. Try putting those keywords into the Indeed search field without specifying a job location. That will open up the possibilities and give you many more keyword choices.
Also, you can visit www.careerinfonet.org, click on Occupation Information, then select Occupation Profile, and using your job title create a profile which includes knowledge, skills, abilities, job tasks, equipment used and more. Again, more keyword possibilities.
A list of 25 keywords usually is sufficient to penetrate the screen and get a response.
All this relates to the “automated” process of screening applications/resumes. And “automated” does mean a computer scan, but can also mean human eyes very quickly scanning for keywords.
Those responses you receive from a one step application process mean you got through the screen and usually little else.
Once you get a response, you should have feedback and more information about your chances for the interview, but before that it is nothing more than keywords.
If you are being told that you are over-qualified for the job, in their minds, you are. And over-qualified means you feel entitled to lots of money. And if you do not get lots of money, you will leave the first chance you get. And it does not matter if you argue this, their minds are made up. By the way, they are right most of the time.
Regarding openings for which you might be perceived as over-qualified, one tactic might be to state your qualifications and experience in terms that are more in line, a better fit, with the requirements of the job. If they require three to five years of experience, report just five years of those ten years of experience you have and nothing more. If they require a coordinator, do not present that you were an Operations and Registration Manager, but simply Operations and Registration without the Manager.
But, above all, make certain you are including the keywords that they are presenting in the posting.
Again, this is all about getting to the interview. Once you are in the interview, you may be directed, or elect, to open up more about specific experiences that would work to your advantage. But that’s a discussion for another time.
Let us help you find your keywords. Visit us at www.ParnossahWorksDetroit.org, click on Seminars/Events and sign up for one of our weekly meetings.
As always, you can reach me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org or 248.233.4231.
Friday, July 8, 2011
A Rule
Make it easy for others to help you.
Yep, that's it.
Nothing more.
If you are unemployed and need to find another job, you need other people to help you in a countless variety of ways.
Searching for your next employer is a team sport.
So you need to assemble your team. But your team needs to know what to do and have the right equipment, knowledge and skills to help you succeed.
You have to give others direction, the more precise, the more detailed, the better.
You have to share your goal, your objectives, your plan, your progress with your team. Share with them what you have done and what you plan on doing on a regular basis. Let them know where you have applied, where you plan to apply and with whom you would like to connect.
All these pieces are what will equip your team to be able to help you. And your activity, your efforts and your initiative will motivate them to keep on helping until you reach your goal.
If you wait for something to happen, you will keep your team waiting and they will not wait for very long, if at all.
If you depend entirely on your team to make it happen, then you are showing them that you are not ready, not willing or even able to help them help you.
When you do not share with others what you have been doing in your job search, to them it is the same as doing nothing.
Even if you are very active, without keeping your team informed, naturally they will assume you are doing nothing. And then they will do nothing in return.
And do not ask of others what you can do yourself. The more you do yourself, along with the more detailed direction you can provide, the easier you can make it for others to help and the more likely you will get the help you need.
And do not forget to offer and give help to those who help you.
By the way, if you limit the information you give to employers about your qualifications, experience and education to just applications and resumes, then you make it harder for employers to learn about you. And chances are they will be in contact with other applicants -- not you.
Make it easier for them to select you for the interview. Make other and more direct contacts like in person visits and referrals from your connections. LinkedIn and Facebook are used by 95% of employers because those sources are quick and easy ways for companies to learn more about applicants of interest.
If you are not using these online resources, what else are you doing to help the employer learn more about you?
Make it easy for others to help you.
Make it easy for JVS to help and take the first step.
Visit our website, www.jvsdet.org for more information.
And you can always contact me, Walt Tarrow, via email, wtarrow@jvsdet.org, on LinkedIn, and by phone at 248.233.4231.
Yep, that's it.
Nothing more.
If you are unemployed and need to find another job, you need other people to help you in a countless variety of ways.
Searching for your next employer is a team sport.
So you need to assemble your team. But your team needs to know what to do and have the right equipment, knowledge and skills to help you succeed.
You have to give others direction, the more precise, the more detailed, the better.
You have to share your goal, your objectives, your plan, your progress with your team. Share with them what you have done and what you plan on doing on a regular basis. Let them know where you have applied, where you plan to apply and with whom you would like to connect.
All these pieces are what will equip your team to be able to help you. And your activity, your efforts and your initiative will motivate them to keep on helping until you reach your goal.
If you wait for something to happen, you will keep your team waiting and they will not wait for very long, if at all.
If you depend entirely on your team to make it happen, then you are showing them that you are not ready, not willing or even able to help them help you.
When you do not share with others what you have been doing in your job search, to them it is the same as doing nothing.
Even if you are very active, without keeping your team informed, naturally they will assume you are doing nothing. And then they will do nothing in return.
And do not ask of others what you can do yourself. The more you do yourself, along with the more detailed direction you can provide, the easier you can make it for others to help and the more likely you will get the help you need.
And do not forget to offer and give help to those who help you.
By the way, if you limit the information you give to employers about your qualifications, experience and education to just applications and resumes, then you make it harder for employers to learn about you. And chances are they will be in contact with other applicants -- not you.
Make it easier for them to select you for the interview. Make other and more direct contacts like in person visits and referrals from your connections. LinkedIn and Facebook are used by 95% of employers because those sources are quick and easy ways for companies to learn more about applicants of interest.
If you are not using these online resources, what else are you doing to help the employer learn more about you?
Make it easy for others to help you.
Make it easy for JVS to help and take the first step.
Visit our website, www.jvsdet.org for more information.
And you can always contact me, Walt Tarrow, via email, wtarrow@jvsdet.org, on LinkedIn, and by phone at 248.233.4231.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Goal Setting - GIVE what you WANT
On your journey to achieving your goals, this one shift in your mindset can radically change how the world around you responds to and receives you.
The process of goal setting can make you very myopic, very nearsighted, and "ME-focused."
If we really want to get what we want, we have to remember one of the oldest success principles. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Or as Zig Ziglar puts it, "You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
What if that is true?
What if you knew for sure that everything you gave you would receive back tenfold?
How much would you give? What would you give? How fast would you give it?
What do you wnat? What attributes do you need to accomplish your goals?
Do you need more courage? Who can you encourage?
Do you need more strength? Who can you help strengthen?
Do you need more belief? Who can you believe in?
Do you need more confidence? Who can you instill confidence in?
Do you need more love? Who can you love?
This is how.
Give what you need and give what you want. What you give to others, you give to yourself. And the added bonus is somehow it multiplies itself back to you.
You need to decide what key attributes you need to accomplish your big, hairy and audacious goals, then figure out how you can go about giving that very thing away to others.
When you look at the world with an eye toward how you can give, instead of simply focusing on what you can get, the thing you desire will beat a path to your door.
Join others helping others finding jobs and new opportunities in the NextJobs~JVS Detroit group on LinkedIn.com.
And check out many more helpful resources at http://www.jvsdet.org/.
Email me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.
Walt
The process of goal setting can make you very myopic, very nearsighted, and "ME-focused."
If we really want to get what we want, we have to remember one of the oldest success principles. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Or as Zig Ziglar puts it, "You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
What if that is true?
What if you knew for sure that everything you gave you would receive back tenfold?
How much would you give? What would you give? How fast would you give it?
What do you wnat? What attributes do you need to accomplish your goals?
Do you need more courage? Who can you encourage?
Do you need more strength? Who can you help strengthen?
Do you need more belief? Who can you believe in?
Do you need more confidence? Who can you instill confidence in?
Do you need more love? Who can you love?
This is how.
Give what you need and give what you want. What you give to others, you give to yourself. And the added bonus is somehow it multiplies itself back to you.
You need to decide what key attributes you need to accomplish your big, hairy and audacious goals, then figure out how you can go about giving that very thing away to others.
When you look at the world with an eye toward how you can give, instead of simply focusing on what you can get, the thing you desire will beat a path to your door.
Join others helping others finding jobs and new opportunities in the NextJobs~JVS Detroit group on LinkedIn.com.
And check out many more helpful resources at http://www.jvsdet.org/.
Email me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.
Walt
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