Recently I read an awesome idea on how to ensure you are moving forward (not just doing *stuff* but really moving forward with your goals/objectives).

The idea is the simplest I’ve heard but it makes a lot of sense.  Here’s what you do:

Every day make a list of three urgent things and three important things (that should/could be done that day).  Then, make sure you do all of the important things.

It’s that simple.  And because you are always working on important things, you’ll always be moving forward.

I think the urgent things will have a way of getting done, don’t you think?

Brilliant.  Try it… I have and it has provided a piece of mind that I didn’t have before.

(If you know where this idea comes from, leave a note in the comments… I can’t remember where I read it)

Many, many fears.

Pam Slim wrote a great post titled Find joy in the terror of staring something new.

You see, starting something new, and being afraid, is quite common.  I did new stuff at my old job, but I had a safety net (false sense of security).  I started new stuff when I got married, had kids, etc.  Life is full of new stuff.

Even job loss and job transitions.

I’m not saying you need to be unrealistic about how much the job search can stink, but perhaps there are good things that can come of it?

Perhaps you’ll take time and learn to network better.  Maybe you’ll get a stronger network during the process.

Perhaps you’ll overcome your fear of the phone, which sometimes seems to weigh 500 pounds!

Perhaps you’ll finally be able to understand and communicate your 30 second elevator pitch.

Perhaps you’ll finally be guided into a new career path… one you’ve wanted to be in but you were always too afraid to go there.

I don’t know what your “perhaps” will be.  Mine was a stronger understanding of personal career management, and a sense of finally OWNING my own career path.  That was huge for me.

What will it be for you?

Take a few minutes to read Pam Slim’s post that inspired this one.

In my opinion (Jason Alba, not Career Resumes), this should be illegal.

At the very least it seems immoral and unethical (which, imho, trumps the law anyway).

I’d like anyone who makes a policy decision like this to lose their job, for any reason.  Could be the economy (like 2009), someone at the top messing things up (like Enron), bad office politics, getting a new change of bosses who bring in their own people, a customer account tanking which causes layoffs….

It could be a number of different reasons why they lose their job – and then let THEM find a job as an unemployed person.  See how they like it.

Does being unemployed change your knowledge, skills, background, experience, or value proposition?

NOT ONE BIT.

You still are competent, expert, etc.  Maybe now you are just more available.  But you are not less of a professional just because you are for-some-reason unemployed!

I thought that one result of this last recession, with so many industries failing and so many professionals out on the street, would be that this kind of 1800’s thinking would go away.

I thought we would look differently at professionals who are in transition, or who have multiple job changes.  But these ads tell me there is still a lot of ignorant thinking to change.

You can tell this makes me mad… I’m not going to post the names of the companies listed on the article since this isn’t my blog…. but I will on my JibberJobber.com blog (or just read the original article).

What do you think – should this be tolerated in today’s world/economy?

You don’t have to pay for anything, of course.  You could be a Do It Yourself (DIY) job seeker and do all of this on your own.  But many people realize they are so out of touch with today’s job search that they need help.  Here’s a list of things you could pay for – leave a comment if I missed anything:

1. Resume help.  There are tons of resume writers out there, many seem to have become resume writers during this last recession.  Some have done it unofficially.  Try and determine what level you need – some people only want a typist (those are the resume writers who charge less than $100).  Others need someone who has been in the industry and has learned what works and what doesn’t.  Others might need very specialized resume help (senior execs, etc.).  Make sure you get the right writer.  Check out Career Resume’s resume writers here.
2. Career Counseling.  This is more of the “what do I want to be when I grow up,” or “I’m at a major cross-roads and not sure what direction I should go,” or “I’m just not happy with my career, I need some direction.”  These professionals tend to give tests and help you figure out what you should be doing, what you are good at, etc.  Seems like simple stuff but many times we are so deep into the forest that all we can see are trees… not the big picture.
3. Career Coaching.  There are all kinds of different coaches – some like the the counseling stuff more, others will be trained in various disciplines (like personal branding, online networking, etc.).  Some will be on the lose, unstructured side and others will be very detail oriented about tasks and action items.  If you need an accountability coach, make sure they know that.  The key to getting a good coach is to make sure they are current with today’s job search environment… which is different than what it was five years ago.  These people are also called “job search coaches.”
4. Interview Coaching.  I broke this out from career coaching because I know people who just specialize in interview coaching and have no interest in counseling or the job search coaching.  They love, however, to coach you on your interview… which is pretty critical!

One thing to consider – contact your university career center to see what help they can offer you.  Some career centers are set up and staffed to help with many things from the list above.

I love how LinkedIn Answers allows me to grow my network, nurture existing relationships, and share my brand and message with my contacts.

I challenge you to figure out a question you can post on LinkedIn Answers that will do all three of those things.

If you are looking for an executive role in Phoenix, for example, you might ask:

Where do executives network in Phoenix?

And then the rest of your question can say something like:

In my job search I’ve found the following places to be beneficial to grow my network with executives, managers, directors and board members.  Do you know of any other executive groups or clubs I should know about?

Let’s go back to the three objectives above:

1. Grow your network. If another exec, or job seeker who wants to network with execs, sees this, they might invite you to join their network.
2. Nurture relationships. You might not put any messaging in front of your network all year, except for this question on LinkedIn Answers.  Make sure you send up to 200 of your contacts the question via email (third page of the process).
3. Share brand. Whether I’m a first or third degree relationship, I’ll be reminded about you – you are an exec, and you are in a job search.  One of those are temporary characteristics of your brand, but both help me know how I can help you (or, how you can help me).

LinkedIn Answers are POWERFUL.  But you have to participate.

Bernadette Martin

The next post ties up the “hidden job market” series, but I wanted to let you know about a free webinar I’m hosting with author of the upcoming book  “I Need to Brand My Story Online and Offline — Now What???”

On Wednesday Oct 7th I’ll spend an hour with Bernadette Martin talking about how to craft your elevator pitch, or incorporate stories into your LinkedIn Profile – how to really become compelling.

This is valuable stuff whether you are employed, unemployed or own a business…

More information at my post Creating Profiles, Bios and Stories – Free Webinar, or you can simply register here.

Let me expand on this thought about the hidden job market… you’ve heard of it, but I don’t often hear people talk about where it is or how to find it.  More on how to tap into the hidden job market in the next post.  Today I want to talk about this tweet.

1. The hidden job market isn’t hidden. Seriously.  There are books and articles on it.  Weekly, throughout the world, job seekers meet and talk about the hidden job market.  Some of them know they are talking about the hidden job market, others talk about it without knowing that’s what it is.

2. It isn’t easy to get to the hidden job market. Hence all the talk about it being hidden, or elusive, or hard to find.  It isn’t hidden, elusive or hard to find, if you know what it is, but even knowing doesn’t make it any easier to get to.

3. It takes time… I spent about 10 hours a day in my job search looking in the unhidden job market, along with hundreds of thousands of other unemployed professionals.  I wonder what would have happened (and when it would have happened) if I spent a portion of that time (whether 10% or 90%) in the so-called hidden space.

4. It takes effort… going onto job boards and online places to look for openings seems like it takes effort, but it really isn’t much effort compared to what it takes to successfully tap into the hidden job market.  Effort might include personal refining, getting out of your comfort zone, doing stuff career experts say you should do but stuff that seems like a waste of time.  It’s hard to rethink yourself from “I’m Jason the General Manager” to “I’m Jason, CEO of Me, Inc.”  Lots of effort required.

5. It takes tact… it doesn’t take a lot of tact looking at and applying to posted jobs.  Once you get to the hidden job market, however, much tact is required.

Next post is about WHERE this hidden job market is.

EI is a senior director who manages a technology team of over 65 people from QA to Architecture.

He watches how his direct reports manage their relationships with those who help define the products.  Do they encourage their people to question, to push back, to challenge to ensure the instructions are clear and meaningful?  This sort of management is key to EI because he knows the importance of the internal sell for any executive.

He also places a high value on those direct reports who come to him with solutions rather than problems.  In his eyes, anyone can whine or complain and point out problems, but only a true leader acknowledges and accepts challenges  by proposing solutions for discussion.  The proposal need not even be right; to EI it is the approach that defines the prospective executive from the manager.

One of the toughest bars, in EI’s opinion, is… read the entire post here

In most of my marketing classes this was a pivotal model/point… it seemed that all decisions came back to at least one of the P’s.  Here’s how you can think of the 4 P’s of marketing and your job search… remember, you are CEO of Me, Inc. and you CAN NOT neglect (self) marketing!

Product – What is your product?  This could include what your personality is… do you tend to be a rainmaker (sales, working with the customer) or a peacekeeper (admin staff, negotiations).  Are you analytical, creative, thoughtful, strategic, and/or good at execution?  Have a heart-to-heart with yourself and figure out what you really bring to the table – not only will you be able to know how to sell your strengths better, you’ll not sell your weaknesses (and dislikes).  For example, I can be analytical, but I really don’t like to do analytical work… digging deeper and deeper into the numbers does not bring me any happiness… why was I trying to be a business analyst??

Price – What is the lowest you can make?  Is it $35k/year?  Is it $65k/year?  What is the highest you think you are worth (honestly)?  If you had a business where you were going to hire YOU, how much do you think you’d be worth?  I remember before I got out of school I told my executive uncle how much I wanted to make in my first job and he just laughed at me.  Shoot high, of course, but a big dose of honesty here (especially in a depressed economy… does the current economy change your numbers any, considering your competition will likely go down to their lowest price?).

Place -Traditionally we like to think of a job as going to a place… a factory, a building, etc.  Can you bring home the bacon by sitting at home and working on a high speed connection, or working out of a Starbucks, or from your car (I call this “windshield time”)?  If you have an office, do you have to be there (ever)?  Lots of people are working remotely now… what does this mean for you – what tools do you need, what discipline, mindset do you need to be successful at this?  If you need to come into an office and have that social experience, maybe this will limit the opportunities you can apply to?

Promotion – This makes me think of “personal branding.”  What are you doing to ensure that your customer (boss/employer) and their customers know who you are and why you are valuable (ie, why you should be fired or replaced)?  Hiring you is not the end – you need to continually let them know what you are bringing to the table, and what wins you are creating.  Use technology like blogs, create newsletters, make sure you network (internally and externally)… and read Brag!

The SWOT post was about evaluating the competitive landscape and the competition… this post is about defining your ideal (or dream) job… go ahead, have some fun with this – spend an hour thinking about these P’s and what you are and how you fit in… perhaps it will change how you do your job search?