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How finding Mr. Right can be like finding the right career

Last night, my best friend Susan and I met for dinner. Given that she still lives in Brooklyn and I am in Westchester, we don’t see each other as much as we’d like to. The last time we got together was around the holidays. Yikes!  Had it been that long? None the less, she looked radiant.

Susan was divorced several years ago. Up until about a year agao she had been looking for Mr. Right. However, the men she dated were more like Mr. “More of the Same”; needy, immature and self-centered. Did I mention that Susan was a social worker?

The problem was Susan had been attracted to the wrong men.  Over the years, I encouraged her to be open to men who did not immediately appear to be her type. It took awhile but eventually she started to do things differently.

About 14 months ago, Susan met Mike, who was also divorced. Initially Susan thought Mike was a nice man even if she didn’t feel that spark of excitement. It wasn’t until the fifth date that she realized how special Mike really was. Over the past year, they have laughed together, overcame a crisis’ together, and more recently set up home together.

Career paths can sometimes be like dating. Over the years, I have known really smart talented people who keep going back to “More of the Same” industries and companies that keep giving them headaches and disappointments.  Let’s face it, if nothing changes then nothing changes.

If you frequently find yourself in this position it might be time for a change.

For learn more about making a  career transition or to to receive information about our new Change Your Career, Change Your Life Coaching group, email us at amditta@mycareercoach.net.

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The do’s and dont’s of online social networking…

It recently occurred to me that Twitter is the technical version of passing along newspaper and magazine clippings. Early in my career, I was an Assistant Office Services Manager with Litton Educational Publishing. Sandwiched in with the large manila envelopes, bills, and journals were clippings from the New York Times and other publications that had a handwritten distribution list. Those articles fascinated me.

As my career progressed to sales and marketing, I learned first hand the importance of both gathering and sharingi information. A 100 word article passed along to the right person combined with A-1 client relationship management could have a favorable impact on my performance. You see, people remember you not for the simple, every day gestures that say “I care about what is important to you.”

Technologies like Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn have made make it easier to transform handwritten distribution lists into an instant touch across gloabl boundaries that, if done correctly, will catch the attention of hiring managers, recruiters, and professionals.

Here are some do’s and don’ts that will help you engage your audience:

Do

  • Treat people as individuals. Share information they want and NEED to read about.
  • Use Twitter Search to determine keywords and what people want to know about.
  • Be responsive to your followers. Answer and talk to followers as individuals
  • Have 2 FaceBook pages – one for yourself and one for your business or services. Post relevant information to both.
  • Use a professionally written LinkedIn bio that shows your value as opposed to regurgitating your resume in paragraph.
  • Be generous – retweet articles, acknowledge others for their contributions, help your audience connect with other professionals.
  • Be consistent and trustworthy. Steady postings that help others will also help you achieve your goals.
  • Use Google Chrome to translate Tweets into languages other then English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Japanese

Don’t

  • Post where you are, you might compromise your safety.
  • Sell or market yourself or your promote your services.
  • Be lackadaisical. The occasional tweet or post is like a drop of water in the ocean. No one notices the impact.
  • Make your personal business public. If you have a problem with someone deal with it in private.
  • Lose focus of why you are using the technology.

Do you play games like Farmville or other applications. If yes, what has been your experience.

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“Eyes closed, see your inner being in detail. Thus see your true nature.“

– Vigyan Bhairava, Ancient Hindu Text

It has been a while since my last posting. Which was due, in part, to some major changes my husband and  I made over the past year. The biggest change was the sale of my house.  However, the move has favorably  effected every area  of my life. Each step I took was surprisingly similar to the process of making a career transition or job change. Therefore, I offer up so both what I learned and what was reinforced along the way.

  • Square Pegs Are Not Made to Fit Into Round Holes: While I loved my physical home, it was a poor fit in terms of both my husband’s and my values, wants, needs, and desires. Much like someone who is unhappy with their employer or career, no matter how hard we tried to work to resolve things the same issues kept coming up.
  • Face the Problem: It took both the passing of time and outside support for my husband and I to take a realistic look at our living situation. With the assistance of Robin Vaccai Yess, CFP , an independent, fee only financial adviser who objectively yet passionately confirmed the source of our trouble.  Almost 7 years to the day we moved in, we surrendered and put the house on the market.
  • Prepare for Change: Aside from getting our house ready to go on the market, we had to create a criteria to find a new home that we would be happy in. While we were clear on what  didn’t work for us, we had to create a vision of what would work. I applied the same principles that I use with someone who wants to make a career transition to my own life. We visited  neighborhoods at  different times during the day and night, questioned local residents about the area, and clocked how long it would take to travel to and from New York before we narrowed down our options.
  • Expect the Unexpected: If you have ever been in a job search you know things can quickly change. Early on in our search, I fell in love with a house. While I thought it was a perfect fit, the seller had a different opinion and accepted another offer. Shortly after that, a personal situation arose, which took priority. We took the house off the market for a few months.
  • Find the Opportunity in the Challenge Once our situation was resolved, we were ready to make the move. We got an offer the first day we put our house back on the market. While it wasn’t while it wasn’t our ideal number, it was good given the market conditions. We accepted the offer and ramped up our search. With less then 3 months to pick our new home we explored our options. I thought I wanted another house yet we could not find anything we liked. As time ticked by, we considered other options and eventually found a wonderful co-op that would accept us and our 2 dogs. Within less then a month I was on the gardening committee and had made 2 new friends.  I never would have imagined that we could be so happy living in an apartment again.

What isn’t working in your life? What is one thing you can to change it?

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6 Good Reasons to Update Your Resume

Repeat after me, today is the day that I will update my resume. Today is the day that I will update my resume. Rarely has a person contacted me because they were happily employed and wanted to update their resume as part of their healthy career management program. By keeping your resume current you will:

  1. be ready when an unforeseen opportunity presents itself
  2. be ready to launch your job search if you are suddenly laid off
  3. have a healthy awareness of your unique strengths, skills, and accomplishments
  4. be less stressed should you find yourself in an unexpected job search
  5. be ahead of the competition because you will also be active in your  professional and social network and have a strong online presence.
  6. be in a better position for promotions and salary increases

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Recession Proof Your Career, Now!

Unemployment is up to 7.2%, 13 people were laid off by my husband’s employer, my phone is ringing off the hook; the job market is looking pretty scary for everyone. Having tremendous success with the Job Club I lead on behalf of the Center for Women of New York, I was inspired to present this program in my own backyard of Westchester. Whether you are unemployed or facing a lay-off, this unique program will help you develop powerful skills and proven tools to manage your job search or navigate career change.

THE JOB CLUB:
TRANSCENDING FROM CRISIS TO OPPORTUNITY
Wednesdays: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
January 21, 28, Feb 4, 11, 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25,
April 1, 15 and 22, 2009
Wainwright House
260 Stuyvesant Avenue, Rye, NY 10580

In a safe and supportive environment, learn how to:
• Embrace change and use it to propel you forward
• Explore and identify career paths that best fit your strengths and interests
• Prevent your Inner Gremlin from standing between you and your goals
• Effectively build and mobilize your network, even if you are shy
• Address spoken and unspoken objections and work around challenges
• Define your Personal Brand for use in your resume, cover letter, online presence,
sound bites and messages that capture the interests of hiring managers and key contacts
• Conduct an effective job search using the Dispatch Method
• Transform interviews from interrogations into business meetings
• Identify and answer illegal interview questions while maintaining your cool
• Negotiate better salary and compensation packages

Pre-registration is required
http://www.wainwright.org/Program_DittaAnneMarie_series.htm
Phone registrations: 914-967-6080, Monday – Friday 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
At other times, please leave a message and a registrar will return your call and take your registration and credit card information.
12-week series
$540 for members \ / $600 for non-members

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Monster: A Portal or Hinderance to Employment

Chances are registering with Monster could be slowing your job search down. According to an article in the Westchester Journal News over 80+ messages per day flooded the inbox of Yorktown Heights resident John Gembecki after he registered with Monster. The emails were all job or career related.

This information supports my assertion that job boards are not the best way to find the job of your dreams. In my opinion word of mouth or building a personal connection is still the best way to get yourself hired. Below are several examples of how 10 clients that I coached found employment over the last year:

  • After 30 years with the same company Rick (not his real name) was offered a new opportunity after he saw the posting online. Instead of sending his resume he called the company directly. Instead of agreeing to a screening interview over the phone he offered to come by, citing that he lived within minutes of the office. He was offered a 6-figure postion at the end of the first interview.
  • Barbara had played a key role in launching a world renowned financial services organization over 20 years ago. Within 3 years of being relocated to another country she was downsized. She called her former employer who had left the organization the previous year and he began tapping into his network to help her find a new opportunity. After 4 months of interviewing she landed a new position as Executive Director of Marketing.
  • A true strategist, Khalil has a goal of reaching a C-level position by 2012. In order to position himself for the challenge he needed a promotion from Director of Project Management to Senior Vice President of Program Management. He made his goals known to key executive leaders including his boss. He was surprised by the support they provided. One CTO even stayed late to help him revise his resume after a series of positions opened up within the organization. He called last week to let me know he received the promotion.

The next time you think of registering with an online job board, you might consider  reconnecting  with that former colleague you think about from every now and then.

View the Journal News article in its entirety  http://lohud.com/article/20081228/BUSINESS01/812280320#pluckcomments

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