Career Opportunities

Here is a complete list of all the columns and podcasts for 2011, just in case you happened to miss any along the way. Please feel free to offer your questions and comments in each show. I’ll see those comments and chime in with my response.

• January 14, 2011 - What day is it?
• January 31, 2011 – Communication and your career
• February 14, 2011 - The care and feeding of your career
• February 18, 2011 - Production, Promotion and being Proactive in your Career
• March 6, 2011 - Those who take advantage
• March 25, 2011 - Your career is about YOU!
• April 1, 2011 - Hitting the bullseye
• April 8, 2011 - Taking responsibility for your own education
• April 29, 2011 - What I tell every new career builder
• May 19, 2011 – Helping other help you
• May 27, 2011 - It doesn’t take permission to do good work
• June 10, 2011 - Networking means connections, not just collecting business cards
• July 1, 2011 - Time for a review
• July 9, 2011 - Too much can’t
• July 18, 2011- Most of us undervalue our knowledge
• July 29, 2011 - Work your rolodex like a pro
• August 5, 2011 - Make the extrinsic, intrinsic in your job search
• August 12, 2011- Opting out of social media is no longer an option
• August 27, 2011 - The importance of the teachable moment
• September 3, 2011 - Real World Example: A talk with George Starcher, fellow Friends in Tech member
• September 16, 2011 - Look deeper to find hidden jobs
• October 1, 2011 - Networking is not about business cards
• October 17, 2011 – Video: Social Media and Your Career Part 1-4
• October 30, 2011 - A college degree isn’t a license to a great career
• November 6, 2011 - Treat every career like an entertainment career
• November 18, 2011 - What you DON’T do is often more important than what you do
• December 12, 2011 - The pain of solving a problem today is always less than the pain of solving it tomorrow
• December 30, 2011 - Life isn’t about the ticking clock

In case you haven’t heard it elsewhere  – on the Career Opportunities blog, in the Twitter Feed or Facebook Page — I am here to announce the release of my latest career ebook, Cultivating Your Career Reputations.

Listen to the audio promo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This 11,000 word book is available for immediate download in the Amazon Kindle bookstore. Kindle books can be read on almost any device including Windows and Macintosh computers, iPhone, iPads and Android tablets and phones using the FREE Kindle Reader software.

Here is an example from the introduction of Cultivating Your Career Reputations.

“While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.”

Sections include:

• A Reputation for Fairness
• A Reputation for Honesty
• A Reputation for Trustworthiness
• A Reputation for Decision-making
• A Reputation for Empathy
• A Reputation for Helpfulness
• A Reputation for Compromise
• A Reputation for Clarity
• A Reputation for the Big Picture…and the small
• A Reputation for Balancing Work and Self
• A Reputation for Creativity and Innovation

Buy the book, or download a sample, today!

Other Kindle Books by Douglas include:

• Social Media Self Preservation
• The High-Tech Career Handbook

I recently had this discussion with a new acquaintance over on Google+. I love getting questions like this and I have even branched out into providing one-to-one career consulting so I can help more people.  You can follow my personal profile on Google+ or circle (Google+’s version of follow) the Career Opportunities profile. Clicking either link will take you to the appropriate page.

Do you have career questions? Drop me a line on Google+ or any of my other blogs or social media sites.

T: I absolutely fail at job interviews. I don’t know what it is but, I could be the most confident person walking in, but as soon as I get in front of the interviewer, especially if it is a job that I really want, I freeze up. I start thinking all of these negative thoughts in my head, and I just know they can read my uneasiness on me. Right now I am applying for an opportunity at Red Cross, and even though it is a volunteer opportunity and not a paying job, they want to interview you for it. I am fearful that I will look good on paper, but not so much in person.

Is there any advice you can give to help me to not sabotage myself at interviews? Any secrets or tricks of the trade to help with my self-confidence?

Douglas: I would call what you are experiencing a “crisis of confidence” and it happens to everyone on occasion. (Been there, done that myself) You allow yourself to get so stressed about what MIGHT happen that you aren’t paying attention to what IS happening. We can all doubt ourselves and our skills on occasion, but you DO have the skills you need, you DO have the knowledge and you CAN do the job. This is true of all of us unless we have some impairment. Look around you and see everything you have accomplished in your life. You can accomplish even more.

The stress can also come from being judged. I know I hate being judged so I can empathize with you. That said, let them judge. You are who you are regardless of what they think about you. You need to feel confident in yourself and it will matter less how they judge you. They will judge you, but you will handle it better because you have an innate confidence in yourself.

Think of the interview as a conversation and treat it as such. I think many of us take an interview much too formally. There should discussion about the job of course, but if the conversation turns in an interesting direction — follow it. If you have an illuminating example of something from your life, share it. Try to show as much about WHO you are as WHAT you know. Remember, an interview is basically about them trying to see if they could stand to be around you day in and day out. (SMILE) Of course, you will want to avoid the typical touchy areas — sex, religion, politics — unless you are working for a company or group who specializes in those areas. No need to go into your drunken revels, either, but that probably doesn’t need to be said. (LAUGH)

Also, You might just be caring too much about getting this job.True to your present circumstances or not, you need to feel like you don’t NEED the job. You may WANT the job. You may LIKE the job, but you don’t NEED it. Feeling needy can stop us in our tracks and, I think, the interviewer can feel it, too. Try to push the NEED from your mind, even if you are feeling that you really do NEED it. You should always feel that you have other options. If not this job, then the next, or maybe the next. You should never feel you are there begging for a job. The company needs you as much as you need them. Remember that always. It is true — and if it isn’t true at this particular company, find a company where it is true.

This neediness has a lot in common with the “desperation factor” that we can sometimes see in others (and maybe ourselves) when we are dating. These people are so desperate to have a date, a girlfriend, a wife that it spills over into their actions. The come on too strong. They come on too needy. They come on as desperate. Other people can sense this desperation and recoil from it, as you have probably done yourself at one time or another. You are not desperate, you are just looking for a job.

Finally, find a quiet place and imagine what a perfect interview would look like.

(INSERT DREAM SEQUENCE HERE)

The interview meets you and provides you a coffee exactly as you love it. Tall Latte, 3 caramel pumps, extra whipped cream. You go to a comfortable office where you sit across from each other in comfortable arm chairs. You chat. You discuss. You have a great conversation. You think, “Hey I could see myself being friends with this person.”

Of course, most interviews won’t go like this, but imagine how would feel if they did. No remember that feeling and keep it within you no matter what actually happens. I hope it will make you feel calm, comfortable and confident, not matter what questions they ask.

I hope this helps on your next interview. Let me know if you have any follow up questions to this topic or any new questions you would like me answer.

T: thank you so much for all your advice. I can only hope that when I go into the next job interview that I can keep all this in mind. 

I have submitted my application with Red Cross and am now awaiting their phone call. That’s another thing I hate – waiting. Even though this is only a volunteer opportunity it is an amazing one and I do hope to get a callback for an interview about it. I have been unemployed for about six months, and it has been 3 months since I last got an interview, even though everyday I have been sending out resumes and attending job fairs. I am running out of options, really.

Douglas: You are very welcome! I hope that it helps you feel better about your interviews.

As for waiting…Go do something else while you wait! 

Don’t sit around waiting and worrying. It is so important to have many “irons in the fire” so you don’t end up obsessing about any one of them.

What else can you be doing?

Want to organize a +CareerCamp International in your area? (SMILE)

How about just getting together with others to share techniques, job leads and more.

Get out there and DO as much as you can. It often leads to bigger and better things you never imagined.

As usual, I attended this weeks #careerchat, held each week via Twitter at 1pm EDT/10am PDT. Today’s topic was accountability and here is some of what I had to say. I join #careerchat under my @careertips Twitter account.

Follow @careertips on Twitter.

• #CareerChat today at 1EDT/10 PDT. Join in via Tweetchat.com.
• What is accountability?
• Taking responsibility for your action and work and being held responsible for the work you are assigned.
• You also need to hold yourself responsible for your actions, your goals, you achievements and your behavior
• Additionally, accountability also means doing what is best for YOUR career, not just your job.
• Your job description merely describes the minimums of your responsibility
• You have to go well beyond these minimums to thrive and grow in your career
• In some cases, blame DOES need to be assigned as this person is accountable for the poor work/no work they do.
• Admit mistakes AND repair mistakes. Also very important
• Accountability must be equally applied throughout company structure. People inherently sense unfairness when not.
• Remember that being a team player only works if the other members of your team believe it too. Don’t be a doormat/fall guy.
• Setting clear/agreed upon goals and holding workers (and managers) to them.
• I find using tech tools to monitor/update/manage status to be highly preferable to F-2-F mtings. More productive
• Everyone should be able to see status of any project at a glance.
• Simple rule for accountability is: Do what you say you will, when you say you will or renegotiate the agreement.
• Most F-2-F meeting s devolve into any number of useless endeavors. Also status out of date when mtg is over
• What in status? Whatever it takes to be clear — a combination of all types of status
• Projects often come off the rails, because someone isn’t performing and no one knows until too late
• The problem being that not everyone understands professionalism. You will always find those people in every company
• Goals are useful yes, but sometimes we all need to ask WHY a project is moving forward. Good goals on bad project go nowhere.
• Excuses for ducking accountability: I didn’t know. It was THEIR fault. No one told me. It’s not my job.
• Accountability for something, without being given responsibility (or power) to manage it is one of most frustrating work experience.
• No follow through on projects can also point out the perhaps project wasn’t that important and shouldn’t have been pursued at all
• Unfinished projects are a complete waste and employees recognize it as such. Enough such projects and employees go elsewhere
• People want to see their work implemented and respected. Dead end projects provide neither. Horrible moral killer
• Great book on meetings – “Read before out next meeting” -http://amzn.to/pErHEO
• There will always be those who try to avoid responsibility. Identify and avoid them at all costs.

Anniversaries come and go, so it was only a couple of days ago that I remembered that Career Opportunities passed another milestone back on September 24, 2011. Back in 2004, this was the day the first episode was sent out into the “ether” using this new-fangled “podcast” thingy. It was one of the first 20 podcasts then available in the infant podcast directory that Adam Curry had started.

So, I raise my glass to 7 great years and many more to come. My podcasting has expanded into several more blogs and podcasts and extended into video and live streaming over the years. I don’t foresee that I will ever stop podcasting something. It is simply too good a way of getting your word out to the world free of gatekeepers. I encourage others to start podcasting nearly every day so that they can build their lives and businesses.

Thanks for reading and listening and watching over the years! I hope you will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Douglas E. Welch, Writer/Producer, Career Opportunities

#CareerChat is a Twitter-based chat that happens every Tuesday at 1pm EDT/10am PDT. I try to make it whenever I can. Here are some of my thoughts that came out in today’s chat.

You can follow me on Twitter at @careertips

We were discussing how to deal with gaps in your resume due to layoffs and downsizing.

• A1: It does help to have other, perhaps volunteer work to fill in the gap. Maybe even self-developed projects
• Consulting is another great idea
• That said, it seems odd we still worry about such things in today’s job market. Everyone has gaps, or so it would seem
  • We need to finds ways to make gaps less of a red flag.
  • Yet another one of those archaic issues that revolve around job search. Some people still living in the 60′s
• You can’t/shouldn’t have gaps. You need to be doing something all the time. Put projects in place before layoff
• I always have my CareerCamp work as on-going so there is always something happening. Develop your own projects and show them off
• Social media is very important way of showing people “What you do and how well you do it!”
• Common sense is always the most important and often least acknowledged.
• I push self-directed” education with everyone I talk with/speak to. Very important for overall life/career health
• RT @CareerBuilder: If you have a gap in your career, be prepared to answer, “What did you do?” from recruiter. Dont say “Nothing
  • Know your “story” before you walk in the door…and then tell it well. Always good advice.
• Sharing your knowledge and expertise using social media is a necessary and imp. part of your career. Can lead directly to work.
  • You always have something to share/say..or you need to. Capture ideas and thoughts, post to blog, etc
• Most people “throw away” great content and ideas because they don’t capture them immediately. Write it down.
  • You have more to say than you might think. Really! I believe that is true to everyone.
  • I carry a paper journal everywhere I go, even though I am a tech head with an iPhone. It facilitates easy idea capture anywhere
  • I find the conspicuous nature can help sometimes. People like to see that you are capturing info and ideas
  • My clients always notice when I am taking notes during a consulting call..always. Easy way to estab. credibility
  • Oh yes, ALWAYS take notes during and interview, even if you are only noting how ugly their tie is. (LAUGH)
  • Taking notes during an interview can give you an oppty to slow down and think about your answers before speaking.
  • I can’t imagine that it would (annoy the interviewer). It shows your interest and your attention to the interview, I think
    • You are being interviewed, not interrogated. At least, that is the way it should be
  • (Dealing with interview nerves) Well, note taking can help with that too. Gives you something to do with your hands.
• Self-directed education, outside/personal projects, anything that reminds you are good and builds/maintains confidence
  • People attending and organizing CareerCamp always tell me how much of a confidence builder it was. Taking active action helps
  • They are in control of everything for one day or week when everything else might feel out of their control. Gives them energy
• For me, action itself, any action, is always the most positive mode of operation. Do something, anything to get you moving
• We always underestimate the importance of our own knowledge and skills. We have much to share with others, every day. Do it!
• (Interview as performance) I always have believed my degree and experience in the theater has served me greatly in my career.

My first book, The High-Tech Career Handbook: The Best of Career Opportunities 1998-2003, is no longer in print, but you can get your own FREE eBook version (150 pages) by taking some simple actions.

Take any of the actions below, then fill out the online form to let me know. I will then send you a PDF version of The High-Tech Career Handbook: The Best of Career Opportunities 1998-2003 of your very own.

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I want to collect your top career questions and then present them to my “team” of career advisors. In this way I hope do give you a variety of viewpoints on the most pressing issues of the day.

This post is an “Open Discussion” to both collect your questions and also allow you comment on the questions of others.

Got a question that is really concerning you? Add it as a comment to this post. Then, come back and chime in on the questions of others.