To really influence others, listen more than you talk.
Every person you meet is a potential door to a new opportunity—personally or professionally.
Someone in a support role—an assistant, an intern—could be the best networking contact ever.
Get Social. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter can be a good way to get job listings before they are listed elsewhere. Plus, you can promote your candidacy using the social media tools that are readily available for free for job seekers and companies are increasingly using social media for recruiting. Here’s how to get started with social networking.
Hiring managers can smell desperation a mile away and they don’t like it. If you’re looking for a job, then act like your job hunt is your job. Keep a schedule, create task lists and execute them, and do everything you would do if you had a job. When you walk into an interview with the glow of someone who has a task to complete , you’ll change your interviewer’s demeanor. You cannot fake confidence. If you’re putting out resumes and scheduling interviews, then that kind of confidence comes out when you sit down and talk to a hiring manager. If you’re looking for a job but are currently working, then don’t act like you’re sneaking around. Stand tall and give strong handshakes when you walk through the door of a hiring manager to talk about your next career move.
How do you define success? Is it the size of your paycheck or having the corner office? Is it the feeling you get when you know you did a great job on a project (praise from the boss doesn’t hurt) or the one you get when you know you helped someone? Perhaps you feel successful after putting in a day at work and coming home at a reasonable hour to spend time with your family. Since each of us measures success differently, you are the only one who can decide what it means to you. Your satisfaction with your career is strongly linked to whether you feel you have met your own, and not anyone else’s, definition of it.
1. Make sure your to do list is up to date, and do a quick gut check to make sure that you’ve been spending your time on what’s most important.
2. Knock out a few emails. If you don’t already, try using a “quick answer” tag that you add to any email that will take you 60 seconds or less but isn’t urgent. When you have five minutes, clear out as many of these as possible.
3. Check your upcoming meetings for the week, and send any emails necessary to confirm them.
4. Unsubscribe from any newsletters that aren’t helping you achieve your goals using unroll.me.
5. Identify one thing that you can delegate, and to whom you can delegate it. Send this person an email, and get it off your plate.
It’s not just your current employer you have to worry about. According to a 2013 study by CareerBuilder, more employers are finding reasons not to hire candidates because of their social media presence. Some said they took candidates out of the running after finding various concerning content online. The top two negative behaviors mentioned by employers were 1) provocative/inappropriate photos and/or information (50%) and 2) information about candidate drinking or using drugs (48%). Remember that old adage about not saying anything bad –even if your boss is a first-class jerk? Many employers said candidates were crossed off the list for badmouthing a previous employer (33%).
There’s no true shortcut to securing a new job. Always make the extra effort. Whether it’s tailoring your resume for a job or sending a thank you message after an interview…the extra work you invest shows your interest and professionalism. Most importantly, it helps you stand out.
Start by briefly introducing your professional story. Outline your experience, showing a trajectory from early career until now. Keep the focus on your current or most recent position—where you can speak directly to your proficiency as a leader– and stay away from personal details.
Of course, you will have done your homework before showing up for an interview, reading up on the company’s history and current business model. In a sentence or two, outline the hard and soft skills (USPs) that make you uniquely positioned to bring solutions to the organization. That means referencing not only your technical or subject-area expertise necessary for the job, but also your people and leadership skills; for instance, mention your knack for mentoring, communicating well at all levels, problem-solving, or turning around sagging team morale.
Now it’s time to unite your experience and skills with the needs of the employer. Briefly address how you see yourself contributing to the company’s mission. Is the organization expanding? Describe how you’ve screened and identified talent in previous leadership roles, or how you’ve built a team from the ground up. Will the new hire be responsible for reorganizing or changing the status quo? Recount an experience when you’ve led subordinates during uncertain times, or ways in which you’ve managed delicate personnel situations, like shifting responsibilities among team members or letting go underperforming staff.
The only way you’ll ever take a risk in life is if you’re permitted to fail. And though many leaders give their employees permission to fail because they understand the critical nature of failure in success, human beings are much less likely to give themselves the same room they give others.
Allowing yourself to be wrong, to mess up, and to fail from time to time obliterates crippling defensiveness and opens your mind to new perspectives and wisdom. Additionally, it allows you to take career- or life-changing risks.
