career advice Archives - Palladian Career Resources

Finding a New Career

In every recession, some companies and industries decline, never to come back. As painful as this process is, it is a natural component of our economy. Periodically, we clean house and get rid of companies who are not competitive. For the employees of these companies, the process is painful, frustrating and depressing. Making the situation even more difficult is the fact that the recovery will not bring back a lot of the jobs that were lost.

We have industries in decline and the recovery will not happen overnight. The US auto industry will be much smaller in the future. Cuts made at GM and Chrysler will lead to more foreign made cars and less domestic made cars. For people in the auto industry, this means jobs are going to be few and far between. Other industries are undergoing similar transformations.

The strength of our economy is the ability to bounce back and reinvent itself. Time and time again, we have had industries decline and collapse, only to be replaced by other industries. This has led to mass migrations of people to areas with better job prospects. One of the strongest images of the Great Depression is the small farmer packing up and moving from the mid-west to California. This pattern continually recurs. I grew up in Pittsburgh and watch hundreds of thousands of steel related jobs disappear in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. It’s part of the reason Steeler fans are everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to other parts of the country.

We’re going to see the same type of transformation over the next several years. This could happen quickly, or it could take a while – in either case, it will happen. If you are a job seeker, letting go of a job, employer, industry and home can be extremely difficult. Many people struggle with imagining what their possibilities really are. They also are reluctant to start over completely in a new field.

If you are considering a career change, picking a new field or industry can be difficult. There are some tools that can help. One tool that can help narrow the search and uncover jobs you may not have heard off is O-Net. O-Net is a website that allows you to search skills and identify the jobs that match your capability.

O-Net provides detailed information on the jobs it recommends. This includes information about the skills, education and experience required. It also provides an assessment of the demand level for the positions to help you focus on careers with more demand than job seekers.

Breaking into a new field can be difficult. It’s humbling to go back to an “entry level” status after progressing successfully in an alternate career. In the long run, starting over can pay huge dividends. The new career can also provide a faster career path. An experienced professional starting over should move up faster than someone without experience, and in a growth industry, there will be more opportunities to progress upward.

Individuality in a Job Search

Individuality is a characteristic we value greatly. Whether we are seeking our 15 minutes of fame, expressing ourselves through fashion or are proud of a small quirk in our personality, we are all unique and, hopefully, proud of our individuality.

Then, we start a job search and become automatons – little more than cardboard cutouts of robotic workers.

What happened?

In a culture of individuality, the resumes I read every day and the interviews I conduct look and sound the same. Occasionally, I find someone that breaks out of the mold to show me something unique about them. I’m not talking about their passion for fly fishing, an interest in translating ancient sanskrit or their record in competitive clog dancing competitions. These interests are unusual but I have seen all three on resumes at one time or another.

The unique, mold-breaking presentation that stands out on a resume or in an interview comes from a job seeker that understands and communicates some action they took in their career that led to an exceptional outcome. It is this experience, a demonstrated accomplishment delivering value to the organization, that sets a person apart.

There are job seekers that differentiate themselves with specific accomplishments. In fact, this is much more common than details of a person’s clog dancing on their resume. The probably is that many job seekers do not list accomplishments. We have completed two resume benchmarking surveys. In 2008, our resume research indicated that more than a quarter of experienced job seekers failed to list a single accomplishment on their resume. In the resume research report we issued yesterday, we found more than half of transitioning military personnel failed to list an accomplishment.

The Typical Resume

The typical resume is laundry list of responsibilities. There may be a few accomplishments thrown in, but for most job seekers, the focus is on responsibilities. The job seeker details all of the basic day to day tasks the position requires.

For some positions, the list of responsibilities can be quite impressive. A Fortune 500 CEO, a Brain Surgeon or an Astronaut all have demanding jobs with responsibilities that are tough to fathom. Despite this, there are 500 Fortune 500 CEOs, there are over 3400 brain surgeons nationwide, and by comparison, the 86 active NASA Astronauts are a very elite group.

Now, if you are hiring a person for one of the these three roles, would a list of responsibilities set these individuals apart from their peers? The responsibilities might do a little to separate candidates. If you want an expert in performing surgery on brain cancer, a specialist in spinal injuries might not be ideal, just as a space shuttle pilot might not fit a role requiring a specific mission specialist background. Beyond that, the responsibilities do little to separate candidates.

The Interview

In an interview, most candidates expect to talk about their experience, in other words, they describe their responsibilities. Often they do this in very general terms. The result is a confirmation and fine tuning of the information on the resume, but the candidates do little to set themselves apart.

Imagine the resumes of the five living U.S. Presidents, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. Serving as President may be the highest level of responsibility possible today. A listing responsibilities would be incredibly impressive. Managed a budget in excess of a trillion dollars – leader of the free world – commander of the most powerful military on the planet. This is big stuff. Would you consider all five of these individuals as automatons that could be interchanged without a difference in performance?

How to Be Different

The key to demonstrating your unique potential is showing what you have done. It is your the presentation of your accomplishments that will make you standout. Your competition will have the same experience you do. In fact, they probably have more experience. You can still land the interview and get the job offer. The key is showing what you are capable of doing by showing what you have done in the past.

10 Job Search Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Making these 10 mistakes in your job search will limit your success and hold you back.

In good economic times, a job search can be difficult. In tough times, the challenge is even greater. To be successful in a search, you need to market your potential effectively. Unfortunately, many job seekers make mistakes that hold them back. Below are ten of the biggest mistakes you can make in your search:

1. WIIFM – The biggest mistake job seekers make is focusing on “What’s In It For Me” and not what is important to the employer. When you look for a job, you are trying to persuade a company to spend tens of thousands of dollars on you. They need a good reason to do that and helping your career or satisfying your needs isn’t a priority for them.

Focus on the goals of the company and hiring manager – not your goals.

2. No Cover Letter – Sending a resume to a company introduces you to the employer. Without a cover letter, the impression you make will be less personal and less effective. The main goal of the cover letter is to motivate the hiring manager to want to read your resume. Just sending a resume usually won’t create this motivation. You need something to get them excited.

Always send a cover letter that highlights your skills and accomplishments.

3. No Objective – To many job seekers submit resumes without indicating the type of position they want. A hiring manager is not going to spend time trying to determine what the best job for you is. You need to point them in the right direction. Either in your cover letter or in your resume, indicate the type of position you are seeking.

Clearly show what type of position you should be considered for.

4. No Accomplishments – To make a good impression, you need to show what you have done. Most job seekers focus on detailing their responsibilities. Being responsible for something doesn’t make a person any good at it. You need to show your performance.

Demonstrate your potential by including specific accomplishments.

5. Missing Information – Your resume needs to convey certain information. Failing to include details that are commonly expected will make a poor impression. Employment dates, names of employers and job titles need to be included.

Ensure your resume clearly shows your employment history.

6. Overly General Applications – With the ease of sending resumes to hundreds of employers with only a few clicks, some job seekers generalize their resume. The goal is to make it as broad as possible. The result is the resume ends up looking like everyone else’s and they get passed over.

Customize your resume for each position, emphasizing your skills, abilities and accomplishments related to the job.

7. Not Networking – The most effective way to find a job is through networking, and yet, many job seekers do very little networking. Getting a contact in a company to refer you to a hiring manager will greatly improve your chances of getting hired. This is a job search strategy that you need to use.

Find someone in each target company that can help you.

8. Not Preparing for an Interview – It is essential that you research the company and position before going to an interview. This is expected by hiring managers. If you don’t do this, you will make a poor impression.

Prepare thoroughly for each interview and complete at least two or three mock interviews before your first real interview.

9. Not Proofreading – Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors need to be minimized in your resume. Your resume is the primary sales document for you. Hiring managers review resumes with the expectation that it is the highest quality work you can produce. If it is poorly written, with spelling errors, grammatical errors, inconsistent sentence structure and awkward writing, it will hurt your chances.

Read your resume slowly out loud to catch mistakes, and find a good writer to proofread your resume.

10. Not Getting Help – Most job seekers avoid getting help from experts. Some fear the negative feedback and others just think they can do it all themselves. Your resume and interviewing are too important to try a DIY approach. Get an expert to help. Their advice and assistance can be invaluable.

Get help from friends and hire expert coaches improve your resume and interview skills.