To successfully achieve our goals in life, we must capitalize on both our conscious and unconscious minds.  Study after study confirm that successful people have clear-cut goals, which implies a clear vision.  When we create a clear vision of what we want and who we want to be, our conscious mind defines the action plan while our unconscious mind helps us work toward those goals.  One way to keep your vision strong is to create a vision board.

A vision board can be created on poster board, on a bulletin board, on a PowerPoint slide, or whatever your imagination can come up with.  You can use magazine pictures, articles, photographs, slogans, quotes, affirmations, anything that represents your goals and inspires you.  You can use drawings, markers, sticky notes, note cards, etc.  You may want to add motivational words such as, “Joy,” “Smile,” “Success,” “Believe,” and others.

Use your imagination and create your vision board today.  Put it where you will see it often.  When you are in job search, having a vision board can act as a motivational tool and a reminder of what you are working toward.  Let it guide and inspire you to take daily action toward your goals.  With a clear vision and defined action steps, you will be amazed at what you can achieve.

Note:  I currently have a few openings for one-on-one clients.  If you are interested in getting some help to discover your ideal career or in taking control of your job search, click here to schedule a free consultation and let’s discuss your needs and how coaching can help you achieve your goals.

YES! You just got the call and the interview is scheduled for tomorrow.  This is what you have been waiting for.  But, are you ready?  The most successful job seekers, the ones who find the best jobs the fastest, know three things.  (1)  They know exactly what they want in their next job.  (2)  They know what they have to offer the employer that differentiates them from the competition.  (3)  They know their value.  Preparation is the key to a successful interview.  When you are prepared, you will be confident and self-assured, which makes you very appealing to the interviewer.  Here is a list of questions to help you prepare.  If you have clear, strong answers to these questions, you are well on your way to acing the interview.

1. Do you know exactly what type of job is right for you? If they ask you, what will you say?

2. What do you have to offer the company that is uniquely you and that is different from your competitors?

3. What is your branding statement and how will you use it during the interview?

4. What is your value proposition and how will you incorporate it into the interview?

5. What are the three to five attributes you bring to the job that you will emphasize throughout the interview?

6. Do you have accomplishment stories for each of the attributes you identified in Question No. 5?

7. Have you prepared answers for the most commonly asked interview questions?

a. Are your prepared answers each 60 seconds or less?

b. Are your answers succinct and to the point?

c. Do they incorporate your three to five attributes?

d. Do you include stories?

8. Are you prepared to answer any questions that might be raised from your resume?

9. Have you thoroughly researched the company?

10. Have you researched the hiring manager and others in the company?

11. Do you have a list of questions you want to ask during the interview?

a. Do those questions show your curiosity and interest in ensuring the company, the job, and the manager are the right fit for you?

b. If asked, can you explain why you are asking each question and what answer you are looking for? For example, if you ask about the company culture, can you explain what type of culture you prefer?

12. Are you comfortable with silence?

13. Can you stay on message and not say more than necessary?

14. Do you have the proper clothes ready?

15. Will you remember to sit up straight, lean forward to show interest, maintain good eye contact, and smile?

16. Will you remember to listen carefully to what they tell you they are looking for and incorporate their description into your answers?

17. Can you keep the interview conversational, asking the interviewer(s) questions as you go along?

18. Do you have your research documentation, additional copies of your resume, your reference letters, your portfolio, and anything else you want to take with you to the interview neatly organized and ready to go?

19. Is there any reason they wouldn’t hire you? If so, resolve the issue and overcome any objections.

Now, you’re ready. Best of luck!

There are probably many people who can do what you do.  The differentiator is in how you do it.  It’s your unique approach that let’s you stand out above the crowd.  Here is an exercise to help you discover what makes you unique.  It will help you identify your brand and your value proposition.

You’ve heard of writing out accomplishment statements using the SAR or CAR or STAR method?  Well, I have another acronym for you.  I suggest you write out your accomplishment statements using the SARqY method.  SARqY stands for Situation-Action-Result (quantified whenever possible)-You.  After you write out the situation, action, and result (quantified/qualified), then state how the action you took and/or the way you approached the situation was different from what others would do.  As you compile your accomplishment statements, you will see a pattern emerge that represents your brand.

Because quantified statements are easier to write, I thought I would provide an example that illustrates a qualitative result with the identification of some of the employee’s soft skills:  S – Mary received a call from the Phoenix office telling her that the paychecks for her call center employees would not arrive on time for the Friday payday.  She was told she would have to tell the employees that they would have to wait until Monday for their checks.  A – After placing a nonproductive phone call to the company’s local bank across the street, Mary left her office and walked over to talk to the bank manager in person.  After discussion options, Mary convinced the bank to manually type up checks for each of the employees.  Rq – The 187 employees received their money on Friday as expected.  Mary gained trust, respect, and admiration from her employees, her peers, and her superiors.  She improved employee morale and most likely retention.  Y – Mary had only been with the company for two weeks when this occurred.  Mary knew her employees were expecting and were in need of their money on Friday.  When paychecks, mailed from the home office, didn’t arrive on time, company practice had been to allow employees to receive a loan from the bank to be repaid when their checks arrived on Monday.  Mary found it unacceptable to put employees in the position of having to ask for a loan and found a more respectful way to provide for the employees.  Most people would have followed company practice.  Mary showed concern, consideration, and respect for the employees, and she showed leadership, initiative, and creativity in finding a better way to resolve a challenging issue.

Photo by Zsuzsanna Kilian

Have you been applying for jobs, getting little to no response and, therefore, wondering if you should hire a résumé writer?  First, let me say that I have great admiration for good résumé writers and their transformational abilities with career search documents.  Based on the time and effort they put into creating résumés, they easily earn their fees, which can run anywhere from $300 to $900+.  But, is delegating the writing of your résumé the right thing for you?  Consider these three reasons for writing your own résumé:

(1)     Résumés that work are résumés that are customized for each job applied for.  If you are going to tweak your résumé for each job, to maintain quality and consistency, you need to learn how to write your document.

(2)     Your résumé should be in your words and be representative of who you are.  If you are called in for an interview and there is a disconnect between who you are on paper and who you are in person, that will be disconcerting to the interviewer and will make them less likely to hire you.

(3)     When you interview and are asked about statements on your résumé, you want to feel comfortable that you can easily answer those questions.  If someone else writes your document, you might not even recognize your own accomplishment statement because it isn’t in your words.  If you aren’t comfortable with every statement on your résumé, the interviewer won’t be comfortable with you.

Having someone help you write your résumé, such as a friend or career coach, is always a good idea for many reasons.  If a certified résumé writer is willing to work with you and show you how to write your résumé, that is ideal.  But handing off the task and letting someone else write the document for you may not provide the expected benefit.

What has your experience been creating your résumé?

During my teleseminar the other day, a participant asked how to express results in a resume when there are no quantitative measures.  What a great question!  I can relate to that, can’t you?  Don’t we all have accomplishments we are proud of that don’t have measurable results we can tout?  Fortunately, there is a solution when numbers aren’t available.  A vibrant qualitative description of the results you attained can be a powerful descriptor and carry a lot of weight with a hiring manager.  Here are a few examples of how you can summarize your accomplishments qualitatively:

Resolved customer complaints with active listening and proactive resolution skills resulting in the receipt of appreciation letters from customers commending my services.

Facilitated productive weekly team meetings demonstrating exceptional communication and organizational skills that elicited a performance review comment from my manager as “best in class meeting facilitator.”

Cross-trained staff outside of normal job responsibilities resulting in increased productivity and increased customer service response time with reduced headcount.

How do you prepare a résumé with the resilience to survive the onslaught of elimination drills conducted by employers these days?  How do you ensure your résumé will stand out from the other 500-plus applicants?   Although it is true that your résumé is a record of your past achievements, your training, skills, and abilities; first and foremost, your résumé is a marketing tool.  It is imperative that you showcase your unique brand and your value proposition.  When preparing your document, always start and end with the mindset of the employer, which is “What’s in it for me?”  If your résumé is going to work for you, there are seven essential elements that you will need to include.

1. Personal Brand and Value Proposition. Your résumé is an opportunity to show the employer who you are, what your unique strengths are, and how you can provide exceptional value to meet the needs of the hiring manager and the company.  You set yourself apart from the competition by highlighting your personal brand and value proposition in your Qualifications Summary at the beginning of your résumé and maintaining a consistent focus on your brand throughout the rest of the document.  Before you begin writing, take the time to reflect on what you are passionate about doing and how you can communicate your special brand and particular value to the employer.

2. Accomplishments. Avoid any and all use of the terms “responsibilities” and “duties.”  Employers are interested only in what you have accomplished.  Past results are indicative of future results, so provide explicit descriptions of your achievements.  The easiest way to compose your accomplishment statements is to use the SAR technique by writing out the Situation, the Action you took, and the Result.  Include quantitative measures whenever possible, such as dollars saved, profits earned, or percentages reduced/increased.  Reduce your SAR description to a concise accomplishment statement that begins with a strong action verb or keyword noun.  A general rule of thumb is to list five accomplishment statements for recent jobs and three to five for more distant employment.

3. Keywords. Whether by software or human eyes, your résumé is likely to be scanned for keywords.  The more keywords you include, the more likely your résumé is to move to the next stage of the process.  To identify keywords, find three or four job postings for the type of job you are seeking and incorporate the commonly used keywords and their synonyms into your résumé.  The keywords should be prominent and frequent.  One caution:  Do not overuse a keyword if you don’t have the skills or experience to support it.  This will backfire on you and you will be eliminated from consideration.

4. Relevance and Authenticity. Only include information that is relevant to the job for which you are applying.  Listing irrelevant skills doesn’t beef up the résumé; it merely dilutes your applicable qualifications.  If you are changing careers and your past experience is in a different area, concentrate on your transferable skills that are relevant to the new position.  Always be authentic and honest.  Do not exaggerate your skills or experience.  Never, ever lie!  Most companies do background checks and exaggerations and lies can cost you the job, even after you have been hired.

…Check back tomorrow for Part II

Imagine you walk into your local Walmart Supercenter tomorrow afternoon and the greeter is wearing a tuxedo and offers you a glass of wine.  As you gaze into the store, you see a large, carpeted shoe department with neatly displayed designer shoes on teak wood display cabinets, rows of chintz upholstered chairs, and salesmen dressed in suits and ties.  At this point, no doubt, you think you have entered the Twilight Zone.  Most likely, you are also disappointed because you came looking for low prices, not designer apparel.

That is the importance of brand.  We associate specific characteristics with a brand and that sets our expectations.  There is great comfort in knowing what to expect.  The unknown or uncertain is disconcerting and uncomfortable.  When a hiring manager is evaluating candidates for a new hire, she will choose the person she believes will meet her expectations for the job.  That is where your personal brand comes into play.

It is imperative that you choose your brand because if you don’t, others will choose it for you.  You want to ensure that your personal brand is authentically you.  For example, if public speaking is your greatest fear and you have no desire to overcome it, don’t try to sell yourself as someone with a strength for oral presentations.  However, if there is a job for a project manager and you love to bring in projects on time and under budget, identify the special talent you have for your success and promote that as your brand, which will quickly establish you as a good fit.

What is your current brand?  What you are known for?  How would your coworkers describe you?  For what type of projects, issues, or challenges are you the go-to person?  What talents led to your greatest accomplishments? Are you happy with your current brand or would you like to change it to something else?  Most important, are you effectively marketing yourself under your chosen brand?

To successfully land your dream job, you will have to convince the employer that you are the right person for the job.  You accomplish this by setting expectations with a consistent and recurring representation of your personal brand in your résumé, your cover letter, your interviews, your social media profiles, and with your references.  Have you established a consistent theme that makes you an easy match for a hiring manger?  If not, I encourage you to identify your personal brand, rewrite your promotional materials, and revise your answers to interview questions.  Then, get prepared for a much more successful job search.

Join me for a more in-depth discussion of personal branding on Thursday, March 4, when I will host a FREE Teleseminar, entitled “Get Hired Now!  The Power of Personal Branding.”  Sign-up at http://tinyurl.com/ygwyx3o

This may surprise you but the most powerful tool you have in your job search toolbox is knowledge about yourself.   Unfortunately, too often job seekers don’t take the time for self-exploration and the job hunt becomes an effort to convince an employer to hire them for any job instead of a search for a mutually beneficial relationship and the right job.  Do you have a clear picture of who you are?  Are you able to communicate your vision and unique value to others?  When you take the time to really know yourself, your values, your motivators, your strengths, and your passion, you can target your job search efforts and your clarity and enthusiasm will bring you and your dream job together.  Following are five questions to help you delve into your self-knowledge.

1. What are your top five strengths? Your strengths are those things that you love to do.  You probably have a natural talent in these areas.  To discover your strengths, (a) ask your friends and coworkers what you naturally do well, (b) list those activities that you choose to do in your spare time, and (c) identify your favorite job duties from your current or previous jobs.
2. What accomplishments demonstrate your top five strengths? This is where you draw on past experiences to provide proof that you actually possess the strengths you claim.  Too often job applicants make assertions of strengths and abilities but fail to provide any supporting evidence to back up their claims.  Your accomplishments can be from current or previous jobs, school, volunteer work, or your personal life.  What is important is that you are able to use examples to illustrate that you truly have the strengths you claim and show the contributions you have made by drawing on those strengths.
3. How will your strengths benefit the employer? This is where your research on the company and the hiring manager’s needs comes into play.  You want to match their needs to your strengths and formulate a proposal to show the employer the value you can provide.
4. What are your short-term and long-term goals? The more clarity you have about your short-term and long-term goals, the better able you will be to sell yourself to an employer.  Hiring a new employee is a big risk for an employer, so the ability to clearly state how your goals fit with theirs is crucial to getting the job offer.
5. What conditions are necessary for a job to be the perfect fit for your career? Interviews are a two-way street.  An interview is your opportunity to determine whether the job, the hiring manager, and the company are right for you.  Do not underestimate the importance of a good fit.  The wrong company culture or a bad manager can place a serious roadblock in your career path.  You want to know what type of environment you need to be able to thrive so you will know what to look for and what questions to ask.

Once you compile your answers to these five questions, you will be able to create your brand and your value proposition; you can prepare your personally branded resume and other marketing materials that allow you to stand out from the crowd; and you can target your job search efforts to those companies and jobs that are a good fit for you.  When you take the time to clearly understand who you are and are prepared with examples of your accomplishments, you will confidently breeze through the interview and land your ideal job.

Before you sit down to prepare your résumé and cover letter for that job you really want, before you head out for that interview, before you meet with your manager to ask for a well-deserved promotion, take a few minutes to answer these five questions.  This exercise will get you focused on your best self and put you into a positive state.  Research shows that when people are in a positive frame of mind, they are more effective in all areas of their lives.  They are more alert, more creative, more resourceful, more helpful toward others, and mentally sharper.  Thinking about your successes will not only make you feel as if you can accomplish any goal, it will actually enhance your ability to do so.

1.         Describe your three greatest accomplishments.

2.         What makes each of these accomplishments stand out for you?

3.         What strengths did you draw on to make those accomplishments happen?

4.         How can you use those strengths to achieve future goals?

5.         List five adjectives that describe you at your best.

Stay positive and success is yours!