1st Place in the Job Search Race

Happy New Year! It’s time to make Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

David Bowie’s song , Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes, Turn and face the strain, Ch-ch-Changes…is playing in my head.  Now, anyone that knows me is reading this  entry and is shocked that I would even know about David Bowie’s songs, especially my husband who is a musician and thinks that I am musically challenged in every way possible. I would have to agree with him.

Because it’s a new year I wanted to share some interesting facts with you about job searchers and how  they think when they find themselves without a job or in a career transition.

1) They always visualize themselves in last place in the job search race.

Ok what does t his mean? It means that they feel that because they are unemployed that they have to take $10-20K less.

It means that they feel rejected, devalued, lost, and most of all insecure about their skillset. They will make a lot of concessions to hiring managers just to get their next job. It’s normal to feel this way but it won’t help your job search.

I ask my clients to do the following to overcome this type of thinking and behavior.

1) Visualize yourself in 1st place in your job search race.

What do I mean by this? When I was a kid  I loved to play sports. I wasn’t very good but I wanted to be.  I tried out for every sport in elementary and middle school. I loved to run track, play baseball and basketball.

I had a great attitude but I was an average player. I wasn’t a fast runner but I had a lot of spirit. I loved to swim and joined the Gilroy Gators swim team. Once again I was average. But when I stepped onto the block to dive into the water,  I always visualized myself finishing in 1st place. When I started running in the race and passed the baton to my running partner I always visualized myself finishing in first place. I ran as hard as I could. I never finished in first place in sports but that didn’t matter because I always believed in myself and never gave up.

So what does this mean to you and your job search? Don’t visualize yourself in last place when you start your job search.

1) Know that you deserve and can get the right job for you at the right time.

2) Know that you will get the right salary and earn your market value.

3) Know that you will find the right hiring manager and team to work with at your new company.

4) Know that their is a company out there waiting for you and ready to make you an offer.

5) Know that you can reject job offers.

6) Know that you are interviewing them and that you deserve to work with smart, kind, intelligent, professional and compassionate people.

7) Don’t give up!!!

I wish you success in 2011!

Rebecca, Career Coach/Advisor and your partner in this Job Search Race!

Don’t start your job search out in last place!

Remember when you were a kid and you played sports or participated in some type of competition? Did you ever visualize yourself in last place? NO! probably not.

Well then why do you start your job search out in LAST PLACE IN YOUR MIND? Everyday I hear my clients say the following:

I know I will have to take a cut in pay because this is a terrible job market.

I really don’t mind taking less money I just want to get in and prove myself to the company and management team and then they will see my value.

It’s too risky in this market to change industries or professions, even though I am miserable I will just stay put and ride this out.

If I have to take a lower paying job and a lower position (i.e. going from director to manager or manager to supervisor) that will be fine, I just need a job.

WELL YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DOING ANY OF THE ABOVE.

When you start your job search first you will want to build a career action plan, some people call it a marketing plan. Define exactly what profession or title you are seeking. Then define your core competencies, location of the job, size of company, etc. Go for your dream job. Now you are saying, Rebecca you are crazy, I will take my TRANSITION job or my clients are calling it their Recession Job. NO, I won’t let my clients do this. I first ask them to define exactly what they want and put the work towards getting it. Most clients, say 98% of them get exactly what they want in this market. They are really focused and working hard.

There are many jobs in our country and a lot of them are in California and other major metropolitan areas. Don’t give up on yourself. You can do it. Me and my colleagues coach people into wonderful jobs everyday. Guess What? We aren’t having to take a cut in salary either. Most of my clients are getting raises. Do you know why? Because most people that have been employed for at least 5-30 years are seriously underpaid by $10,000-30,000. Yes, believe it because it’s true.

 

Don’t feed the Monkey! Kill it and bury it!Get rid of the negative self talk.

I know everyone right now in job search and some people who are currently employed are feeling desperate right now because of all the news about companies laying people off by the thousands. I coach a lot of people everyday and I hear how worried my clients are and I feel so bad for them and try and help them overcome their anxiety, fear, etc. by communicating the positive events that are happening in the job market. For example, companies that are laying off still hire people; it’s a great time to find a job because everyone else has stopped their searches due to the holidays so your competition isn’t as fierce; you can always take a contract or consulting gig which a lot of companies are offering right now as a short term fix to augment staff because of hiring freezes; 40% of the job growth in california comes from start ups; their is free coaching at the One Stop Career Centers and Job Search Groups in your area and your local EDD office has relationships with employers and hiring managers; building a target list of companies can help you when you are networking.

Tips for overcoming anxiety and fear during your search. Kill the Monkey on your back and bury it in the backyard. Get rid of the negative self talk. I know you are saying to yourself right now, easier for Rebecca to say because she is employed. Yes this is true but I could be the type of Career Coach that buys into this negativity that the media is communicating, however I don’t. I stay as positive as I can and it’s because I am a practitioner and I am on the front lines in this job market coaching people into jobs everyday and every week. DON’T GIVE UP.

I coach people into jobs everyday in every profession and industry so people are getting jobs. It’s just going to take a lot of work, at least 5-6 hours a day and 6 weeks to 3 months to get a job. You are going to get what you put into the job search so keep your activity level high. Hang around positive and encouraging people. HIRE A CAREER COACH. Exercise. Breathe. Meditate. Eat Ice cream. Play Golf. Knit.

Get into ACTION! Below are the several ways to get a job.

I have been remiss in blogging because we have been filming The Best Darn Career Show segments. Check it out at www.youtube.com/dearjanedialogues 

I also wanted to share some great websites with you. www.glassdoor.com, www.jobvent.com, www.vault.com, www.indeed.com (check out the forum sections on indeed.com), if you need to prepare and conduct research on a company these are great sites. They give you the good, bad, and ugly information that you have been dying to know.

Career Action Plan

 There are many ways to find a job! See below.

 Networking:  It’s all about who you know, so contact everybody you know and start to network with them to gain information on the hidden job market, which are the jobs that aren’t advertised. Then build a target list of companies that you want to work for and send it to your network contacts and ask if they can help you or if they know of anyone that works at one of your targeted companies. Remember, networking is about gathering information. 80% of the people that use their network will get hired within 6 weeks to three months.  

• Recruiters:  Sign up with and meet the recruiters and headhunters in your local area. I.e. Kelly Services, Volt, Manpower, TEKsystems, and Robert Half International. Recruiters will be calling you once you post your resume on the job boards. Also, check out www.rileyguide.com. 
•  Internet Job Boards:  Post your resume on the internet job boards. Also you can search for jobs on these job board sites. The top 4 posting sites are listed: craigslist.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com and yahoohotjobs.com. It is extremely important to refresh your resume weekly on the boards. So you will have to make changes to it and then submit changes and save. This will refresh your resume. Recruiters only review the last 2 days when searching resumes.  On craigslist.com you will have to upload a new one each week. Call Rebecca if you have questions.
•  Professional Associations:  Post on user group websites and professional association websites. 
• Indeed.com! Check out the new one stop solution to finding jobs on the internet. Please use www.indeed.com – it’s a mega search engine for searching jobs all over the internet from various job board sources. 
• Company websites:  Go to company websites and submit your resume online. Go to their Career Sections and even if they don’t have a job posted upload your resume anyway.  This will enter your resume into the Human Resources applicant tracking system.  
• Job Fairs:  Attend job fairs and find the job fairs online at www.jobjournals.com or in the local newspaper.   
• Linkedin.com:  Sign up with www.linkedin.com. 50% of the people that use linkedin.com use it for job searching and networking for jobs.

 

 

 

Do you know what your market value is? or what you were paid in 2007?

I wanted to give you information about how to conduct your salary research. I have links below that I use all of the time to help my clients with determining their market value.

The list below.

www.salaryexpert.com

http://indeed.com

http://salary.com