09/04/2017 by Your Careerpilot

OK, I’m Prepared… NOW What?

You’ve given yourself a Personal Marketing Plan… But, one last gut check: Do you know where you’re headed (see: Offer Criteria) and HOW you’re planning to get there? If you are not absolutely clear about what you want as that NEXT STEP in your career, envision an ideal position that will value you for the main characteristics and experiences you want to be hired for.

Thursday, September 7th… Implementing Your PMP: Learn to manage the “waves” of time management and activity during your job search.

Since you need to be concise and clear when developing your Personal Marketing collateral materials (resume, BIO, verbal communication, and your LinkedIn profile), it’s important to figure out what you best offer in your next position, so you know exactly what skills and experiences to highlight. Make FIT happen!

RESEARCH: Analyze Your Target Industry

Once you know what you want to do, your next step is identifying where you want to be—think industry, city, and companies. Then, research your industry and key trends affecting it now: Read relevant industry news articles, research companies, and analyze job descriptions you’re interested in.

Find Your CareerFIT and Focus on CAREER Objectives

With your knowledge of your target industry, it’s time to figure out how you fit in (or want to). Identify, describe, and refine your key selling points with your end goal in mind. Then, craft them into 4-6 bullets, shooting for statements that are vivid and that clearly illustrate what you bring to the table over anyone else.

Ask Yourself

What is the intersection of your ‘value proposition’ and what your target industry, or specific Company, needs?
What are your most impactful areas of experience, knowledge, or skill?
What critical problems are you well suited to solve?

Pay Attention to the Nitty Gritty

As you begin to think about the type of career transition you want to make, what IS the next appropriate employment for you… start out by documenting what you already know to be true about your professional self.

Give specific attention to what you spend the most time doing, those functional details of your work that have the greatest impact on your employer’s success, and, especially, what are you uniquely providing that gives value to your role?
Take notes about when you’re feeling particularly unmotivated or unenthused about your job. Write down the tasks that bring you down as well as those that get you excited.
It may seem like a tedious exercise, but if you stick with it, patterns will start to emerge. And it’s in teasing out these patterns that’ll help you build a picture of the role that’s right for you.

08/27/2017 by Your Careerpilot

Tough Enuf’?

Too many times, we fall victim to distractions from the job search. The trap of sleeping late, watching TV, and playing on the Web can ensnare us. With no one but ourselves to hold us accountable for our job-search goals and plans, time can just slip away. It’s so easy to lose balance between personal needs and wants and our job search.

Personal accountability, it seems, is something nearly everyone would like to have—and which many of us think we could benefit from working on. In active job search, it would help a job seeker in identifying and maintaining focus on appropriate tasks and activities that generate success. And from the more strategic career focus, it will create the confidence to be aware of, and act on, appropriate next steps along one’s career path.

This Week’s Session: Thursday, August 31 at The Egg and I in Addison…

Developing YOUR Personal Marketing Plan

The other end of the spectrum is becoming a “job search-aholic.” For many of us, our identity is tied up tightly in our career, while others need a job right away just to make ends meet. No matter how great the need or desire for a new position, conducting a job search 24/7 non-stop can actually be a detriment to a successful campaign.

It’s about adding good habits to your routine. What behaviors should you engage in every day for greater grit? Here’s a handful of the Careerpilot’s suggested habits to get you started.

Set Realistic Boundaries… You can’t be mentally tough if you don’t take responsibility for your own situation. That means being firm about what is and is not acceptable to you instead of letting others influence your behavior and mood in ways that you don’t agree with. The mentally tough, in other words, “refuse to let other people dictate whether they’re going to have a good day or a bad day.” You must identify and rely on your unique internal voice/ compass.
Accept Responsibility… You can’t get better if you don’t admit your short comings and weaknesses… and you can’t learn from mistakes if you refuse to accept responsibility for them. “Rather than make excuses for their mistakes or failures, seek explanations that will help you perform better moving forward.” Be assertive in creating your internal voice/ compass.
Be Realistically Optimistic… When it comes to the right outlook for optimum resilience, it’s all about balance. Blue sky optimism will only lead to disappointment, but knee-jerk negativity will ensure you never even try to reach your full potential. To maintain just the right amount of optimism the mentally tough “strive to re-frame their negativity,” replacing “exaggeratedly negative thoughts with a more realistic internal voice/ compass.”
Monitor Your Emotions… Contrary to popular belief, mental toughness isn’t about suppressing your emotions, it’s about being aware of and honoring them. The truly mentally tough “monitor their emotions throughout the day and recognize how their feelings influence their thoughts and behaviors.” They know sometimes reaching their greatest potential requires them to behave contrary to how they feel.
Practice Self-Compassion… Nor is mental toughness about being your own harshest critic and strictest taskmaster. Instead, those with exceptional resilience speak to themselves with kindness and compassion, not judgmental self-bickering and bargaining. They forgive themselves for mistakes and cheer themselves on as they work toward achieving their goals.

08/11/2017 by Your Careerpilot

So You Have a GREAT Resume…NOW What?

Step #3 in Our 12-step Process had you beginning to develop your Personal Marketing collateral materials. Like any good chemist with a fully stocked laboratory, you’ve made all those 1001 decisions, you’ve begun to practice your verbal collaterals along with your resume’s development… it FEELS like you’re ready for an active job search. Better prepared, YES… READY? Not without confirmation and coaching of your references… BEFORE you tackle social media branding.

NEXT Week’s session: LinkedIn TASK#1: Developing a Profile that is in-sync with yet amplifies your communication strategy

How can one accomplish this critical element of your Personal Marketing Plan, your ‘digital footprint?’ Use the time you spend on LinkedIn to address your three critical tasks:

1. Task #1 is to keep your profile as a dynamic reflection of what you learn from your networking experience, tweaking your way to better search page results. This is worth more time in the beginning of your career transition, but regular time throughout.

2. Task#2 is to be interactive by participating in appropriate Group discussions, ‘like-ing’ comments of your choice, private messaging the writers of those comments as potential new contacts, following targeted Companies, and regularly ‘updating your network by ‘share-ing’ articles or posting brief ‘white papers’ than express your knowledge and expertise.

3. Task #3 is using available JOB seeking functionality.

More and more business professionals are using social networks to build relationships, meet new contacts, and market themselves. For the uninitiated, however, diving into the virtual meet-and-greet can be daunting. Where to begin?

For first-time users, or the “technologically timid,” or for anyone in career transition, the answer is LinkedIn. While Facebook may be #1, it is more analogous to a cocktail party.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, while it is a solid #2, is more like attending a chapter meeting of a professional association. Developed specifically for business, the site doesn’t run the risk of blurring your professional life with your private one; and with its Membership base growing exponentially, it serves virtually every industry and profession.

Joining a network like LinkedIn is simple, but turning it into a powerful networking tool takes a bit of savvy, some consistent time, and a commitment to controlling your ‘digital footprint.’ Set your job search habits to take full advantage of LinkedIn’s ever-changing algorithm and functionality.

LinkedIn can be your ‘digital roadmap’ to finding new contacts and being found!

07/19/2017 by Your Careerpilot

WHAT IS This “Other” Job Market???

In every marketplace, there are buyers and sellers. In the traditional job market, the one that our Department of Labor measures for us, job seekers are the sellers and their potential employers are the buyers. The commodity is productive work and the competition is fierce.

NEXT SESSION: Thursday, July 20th… Embracing The OTHER Job Market, our introductory event covering an overview of the 12-step process and ‘The Basics’ of efficient job search.

In the OTHER Job Market, buyers and sellers hold equal responsibility for the recruitment process. When employers have a need for someone to fulfill a specific role, often the most desired candidates are employed individuals with the credentials they seek. Thus the employer must sell their Company to potential employees in the marketplace in order to attract the best of the lot. Once identified, they simply select their choice and buy their services.

The JOB Market	The OTHER Job Market
Characterized by “requisitioned” jobs being filled by chosen job seekers.	Characterized by available/needed work being fulfilled by job seekers, contractors, internal candidates, third-party consultants, retirees, part-timers, temporary workers, etc.
JOBS rigidly defined by requirements and qualifications… reflected by the screening process aimed at identifying key candidates.	Work expectations are subjective, defined by mutual agreement, fulfillment of need or contract… reflected through the identification of qualified candidates.
Process overseen by Human Resource professionals, regulated to consider minimally qualified candidates, hopefully within salary guidelines.	Process directed by hiring authorities seeking best available talent at marketplace salary expectations.
JOB Seeking PUBLIC is screened for most desirable candidates.	Qualified and available candidates are sourced and recruited, often through process of endorsement or internal referral.
Screening defined by KEYWORDS, often accomplished through computer/internet job banks and resume databases.	Screening accomplished by word of mouth and endorsement, often supplementing the organization’s formal process of recruitment.
Recruitment process subject to scrutiny of regulation and political correctness.	Often selection process has occurred before active recruitment has been fully engaged.
Actual selection still subject to formal process and subjective choice.	Actual selection often a rubber stamp formality to satisfy regulation requirements.

On the other hand, if an individual is under-employed, seeking a change, or actually unemployed, they must be visible to potential employers who are seeking their services. Creating this visibility is strategic, personal market planning and execution—in can be marketability without rejection!

Personal Marketing is a contact sport.

05/22/2017 by Your Careerpilot

Your Personal Marketing PLAN

While involved in ‘the challenging waters’ of career transition, the same chaotic, jobless, trying times are very productive times. Don’t waste them by floundering with lack of focus and direction, falling into the dark, depressive attitude of distractions and, worst of all, inaction…

When we are employed, we tend to function under the guidance of our employer’s business plan, or, more specifically, our job description. Our ‘routine’ is defined by:

Personal accountability to a labyrinth of responsibilities, some structured— some not structured at all—but all contributing to productive work activities…

We create productivity and efficiency with our sense of time management…

And as ‘top talent’ professionals, we often take initiative, make process improvements, and contribute to the Company’s growth.

This week’s session, Thursday, May 25...

Developing Your Personal Marketing Plan

So, why not recreate all that with OUR OWN PLAN, a Personal Marketing Plan, to move toward job satisfaction, commitment, and appropriate compensation, for the rest of our careers… including any current, short term job search?

If an individual is under-employed, seeking a change, or actually unemployed, they must be visible to potential employers who are seeking their services. Creating this visibility is strategic, personal market planning and execution—in can be marketability without rejection!

And, employed or not, Modify and improve your Personal Market Plan’s implementation model as needed… As you move through your career transition or ‘job search campaign,’ make adjustments as you would a business model.

04/19/2017 by Your Careerpilot

BEGINNING OUR EIGHTH YEAR: Embracing The OTHER Job Market

It doesn’t matter if you are an operations manager, an internal HR professional, senior finance executive, or a key player on the IT team—ANY experienced and valued professional job seeker—ALL want to become a valued partner in the business of their next employer.

TOMORROW’s Session, Thursday, April 20th: Embracing The OTHER Job Market... an overview and exploration of basic concepts and philosophies

Everyone wants a voice in strategic decisions and to be included in ‘the conversation.’ To truly be included, you need to be invited. And you will only be invited if you are seen as absolutely essential to the TEAM. Remember, team player and team leader CAN BE interchangeable terms.

The OTHER Job Market is different, bigger, and more efficient than even approaching “the hidden job market,” the notion that spawned the Corporate-sponsored outplacement world. It all begins by understanding that JOBS evolve from available work…

NEED IDENTIFIED	Replacement jobs often redefined. No definition to a new need.	No competition
WORK ANTICIPATED	Discussion leads to decisions on JOB definition	Often job parameters are set based on market feedback
JOB REQUISTION WRITTEN AND APPROVED	Job Requirements must be defined… expectations creep into the recruitment process	Internal candidates often get priority in employment process
JOB is “open”	Job Requirements are often refined based on market feedback	Internal AND external candidates compete for the same jobs
JOB is published	Job requirements and qualifications define the screening process	MAX competition!!

The JOB Market	The OTHER Job Market
Characterized by “requisitioned” jobs being filled by chosen job seekers.	Characterized by available/needed work being fulfilled by job seekers, contractors, internal candidates, third-party consultants, retirees, part-timers, temporary workers, etc.
JOBS rigidly defined by requirements and qualifications… reflected by the screening process aimed at identifying key candidates.	Work expectations are subjective, defined by mutual agreement, fulfillment of need or contract… reflected through the identification of qualified candidates.
Process overseen by Human Resource professionals, regulated to consider minimally qualified candidates, hopefully within salary guidelines.	Process directed by hiring authorities seeking best available talent at marketplace salary expectations.
JOB Seeking PUBLIC is screened for most desirable candidates.	Qualified and available candidates are sourced and recruited, often through process of endorsement or internal referral.
Screening defined by KEYWORDS, often accomplished through computer/internet job banks and resume databases.	Screening accomplished by word of mouth and endorsement, often supplementing the organization’s formal process of recruitment.
Recruitment process subject to scrutiny of regulation and political correctness.	Often selection process has occurred before active recruitment has been fully engaged.
Actual selection still subject to formal process and subjective choice.	Actual selection often a rubber stamp formality to satisfy regulation requirements.

Personal Marketing is a contact sport.

03/25/2017 by Your Careerpilot

Networking is a CONTACT Sport…And the Surest Path to Opportunity!

What is the most critical skill to one’s CAREER success – yet also the most elusive? Time management? Strategic thinking? Discipline? Decision making? No. While these are important, they pale in comparison to communication skills, BOTH personal and professional: Attentive listening, asking relevant questions, showing empathy, and knowing how to handle difficult communications are the most critical to career success. They are vital to building healthy relationships, exchanging ideas, sharing feelings, gaining buy-in, setting clear expectations, and working collaboratively.

The lack of these skills is at the root of most conflicts, employee performance issues, failed projects, and lost opportunities…JOBS????

You can be a subject matter expert, but if you can’t communicate your ideas, your ideas are of little value. You can have a great value proposition, branding, for the future, but if you can’t get people to buy into it, your vision doesn’t matter.

You can be a masterful manager, but if you can’t reassure or empathize with your clients, they will seek help elsewhere.

NEXT Week’s session: Turning Opportunities Into INTERVIEWS… Thursday, March 30

You might have a skill set/experience to sell, but if you can’t articulate a compelling value proposition, you won’t find many takers. Your ability to communicate determines your success at work or home. How do you rate your current communication’s skills?

And, more importantly, how do you improve them to enhance job search or career transition SUCCESS?

A famous coach, of Green Bay Packer fame, spoke frankly when he said, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” Mr. Lombardi’s intent was CLEAR. He wanted his players to concentrate on PRACTICE, drilling on the “little things”, the basics, so that they became instinct during the heat of real life.

Such is productive mindset during any career transition, specifically related to your ability to relate your well positioned “story” to others, answer questions effectively, conduct productive negotiations, and, in general, fine tune your personal salesmanship skills.

THE BASICS

So what are those basics that will allow you to effectively network to identify appropriate opportunities, and then secure the requisite INTERVIEWS in order to “close the deal?”

Practice your two minute drill every chance you get…. it’s the fundamental building material of your communication strategy–your verbal collaterals!
Practice your exit and qualification statements… most all potential employers and networking contacts will want to know your current situation and why you are available.
Practice answering both common and tough questions… including pre-offer negotiation tactics. The most asked question during career transition is, “Tell me about yourself.” Appropriate use of your two-minute drill and related verbal strategies, your “verbal collaterals,” is a key ingredient to personal salesmanship…

A verbal resume… A tightly focused, upbeat telling of “your story” told in a high impact two minute format. With practice, can be easily personalized to your listener.
An “elevator pitch”… A succinct summary of your qualifications for a specifically positioned function or opportunity. With practice, can become quite spontaneous.
A qualification statement that can be used in introducing yourself

Let’s not forget a couple of additional ‘collaterals’ that will help you round out your ability to ‘get the word out’ and serve as evidence of your qualifications.

Brag bytes… Wordcraft various collections of words, phrases and sentences to capture memorable moments or accomplishments–the best you have to offer. “…saved 80% cost-perhire…” Used in MSWord, ‘Quick Parts’ can be quite efficient when building high impact correspondence as well.
Personal Portfolio… Your collection of certificates, examples of work, reference letters, etc that can bring life and interest (not to mention PROOF) to your story.

03/14/2017 by Your Careerpilot

Put Some ENERGY Into IT!

I have long suggested that steps one and two of our 12-step Process M.A.P. give us all the ingredients we need to “get in the galley” and cook up a three course meal of our personal marketing collateral materials. While most job seekers seem to prefer starting with a resume, so that they can begin simply applying to any job that seems remotely close to what they can do… I encourage you to work with all your ingredients at the same time…if your desired result is a nice prime rib dinner, don’t start with the meat—start with the seasonings and vegetables, even get your dessert started…

THIS Week’s Session, Thursday, March 16th: IMPLEMENTING Your PMP

Because that “meaty” resume is the easiest and quickest of what you need to prepare, let’s look at the ingredients that you have identified through assessment of your galley shelves, and your dinner of choice.

WHERE To Start PMP Implementation

As a contact sport, networking is about interaction between sender and receiver, buyer and seller… job seeker and potential employers. The great news is that you get to start from YOUR ‘sweet spot’ or middle ground where all this interaction occurs the easiest!

You start with people that you already know or have some connection to. If your ‘natural network’ doesn’t have a regular meeting—most do not, by their very diverse nature—groups of like-minded people are easy to identify and attend. As you begin to reach out and broaden your ‘sweet spot,’ be selective in your attempt to create a supportive ‘community’ grouping close to your targeted marketplace.

THIS can be accomplished without a resume, but, after all, Step#3 in our process is to develop your in-sync personal marketing materials. Your collateral materials might be grouped into three categories:

VERBAL COLLATERALS…

A well rehearsed “two minute commercial,” your answer to the most asked question during career transition, “Tell me about yourself.”
Several, well though out, “elevator speeches,” examples that support your primary, positioning, key words. These are usually your representative accomplishments under the SUMMARY of your resume. (30 seconds to 1 minute )
A succinct “qualification statement” that you can use as an introduction at networking events. (usually 20 – 30 seconds)
An “exit statement” which explains your availability, to address the second most asked question during career transition.

Be working on both your written and verbal collaterals at the same time. One will help you “edit” and practice the other. Having your collaterals prepared and rehearsed prior to active personal marketing is central to your success and builds confidence. Consistency in the delivery of your message is what creates memory… and frequency of your message helps you get there.

WRITTEN COLLATERALS…

A GREAT Resume that positions you clearly as a terrific FIT with your career objectives… and in today’s technologies, a database-friendly, asci version;
A correspondence template package that consistently carries your communication strategy, your message… and in today’s technologies, a reformatted, text only version of your resume ready for email needs;
A high impact, personal biography and/or NETWORKING PROFILE that you can lead with in your referral based networking strategies.
And, after you have coached your REFERENCES, a complete and clearly positioned LinkedIn Profile, written to reflect your communication strategy and in synch with your other collaterals.

NON-VERBAL COLLATERALS…

Personal appearance, dress and grooming;
Positive attitude and bearing, a sense of purpose and worth;
Presence + Preparation = Confidence
Be prepared for phone calls and interviews: Research
Confidence feeds on itself and provides a pathway to success!
Practice the “learnable skills” consistently PRACTICE TO GAIN CONFIDENCE IN PHONE CALLS… and remember, there are only TWO reasons to be on the phone during active job search networking:

To gather information, advice, referral names and opportunities.
Second, to secure actual interviews.

03/10/2017 by Your Careerpilot

Networking is a CONTACT Sport!

Job search does not happen in a digital vacuum.

You have learned in embracing the OTHER job market that the key to the whole notion of productive and efficient networking is to generate INTERACTIVE communication, the initial basis of relationship building! When involved with active job search, part of our preparation is to develop our set of Personal Marketing collateral materials.

NEXT WEEK’s Session, Thursday, March 16th: IMPLEMENTING Your PMP

While most job seekers seem to prefer starting with a resume, so that they can begin simply applying to any job that seems remotely close to what they can do… I encourage you to work with all your ingredients at the same time…if your desired result is a nice prime rib dinner, don’t start with the meat—start with the seasonings and vegetables, even get your dessert started…

WHERE To Start

Networking within your targeted marketplace, your unique, job search ‘community’ should play a critical role in your Personal Marketing strategies. It is an easy means to getting the word out about your business to people who may purchase and influence others to purchase your service or goods. But just as with any other job search activity, we get what we put into it.

That being said, local networking events are seeing record turnouts lately, a sign that leads us to believe the networking is paying off. A Local Networking Group is any organization, which meets on a regular basis, to share and receive referrals and leads. Examples of formal Local Networking groups for small and medium sized business include: BNI (Business Networking International), Merchants’ Associations, Chambers of Commerce, and Business Associations.

Some of the largest local organizations devoted to supporting job seeker efforts are Frisco Connect, Cathedral of Hope, the Southlake Group, Watermark Church… to name just a few. Many are associated with church support organizations… but are completely nondenominational in their approach, operation and outreach.

The WAVES of PMP Implementation

The concept, here, is to keep a pulse of activity going consistently and regularly into the job market. When you let up, if you take time away from the marketplace, they will tend to forget you…the job market has no memory. It’s up to you to achieve top-of-mind awareness.

Get the Most From Your ‘first wave’ of Networking… Your purpose in this ‘first wave’ of networking is to gain information, advice, and most importantly names of other individuals you can call. The lifeline of networking is to always get more names. Be sure to ask each person if they have a minute to talk to you, and when finished talking thank them for their time.

Make networking calls in a block of time. Each call is more comfortable than the one before. Do not call people and ask them if they have any openings at their company… This is almost always totally non-productive. THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND A SUCCESSFUL JOB SEARCH ARE ALWAYS THE SAME: the search process itself is time consuming work, and the more productive time you spend on your job search the more interviews and job offers you will generate.

So the question at this point is “Where do you find out about job openings and on which avenues of job search should you spend the most time?”

THE BEST (And Worst) OF BOTH WORLDS

Technology has done a terrific job of consolidating posted job leads. Web crawling software can reach out and consolidate classified ads, recruitment posts and company posted job opportunities. We know these consolidated sites as Internet Job Banks… and some of them contain a huge amount of postings.

Unfortunately, their very size makes it challenging to stay current and eliminate redundancy. Also unfortunate is the fact that these very same job banks have consolidated your competition and rejection from Corporate America. This is not even mentioning that Corporate America is also missing it’s goal of better qualified resumes to fuel its recruitment effort… they’re simply getting MORE resumes to process!

Solution? Use the Job Banks to generate your most attractive leads, then network your way into those targeted organizations.

03/07/2017 by Your Careerpilot

READY…Aim…fire!

YOUR Personal Marketing Plan

Your PMP is as unique as you are. While the elements that you must address in your Plan are similar in all well-documented Plans, your commitments to time and activities, and your interface with “real life” will bring said personalization to your Plan. Our 12-step process accounts for all necessary elements in planning…

THIS Week’s Session: Thursday, March 9th…8:45 at The Egg and I

Developing YOUR Personal Marketing Plan

PRODUCT ANALYSIS

The first three steps: Assessment, setting your objectives, and developing your personal marketing collateral materials… What is your communication strategy? In today’s digital world of recruitment, it is that set of keywords and concepts that comprise your story.

Your proven skills, areas of knowledge, and your actual, collective experience are the features of YOU, ‘your product,’ and your collateral materials (think RESUME) is your ‘story’ of the benefits of employing you. Actual employment happens when YOUR value proposition meets an employers’ needs.

If you are still unclear on the next steps along your career path, it may be appropriate for you to use your initial wave of networking with people that already know you, to ASSESS your strengths (think: market research).

TEST MARKETING

Steps four and five are in place to provide you with confirming feedback that you have selected an appropriate approach to the marketplace. Coaching your references, then branding yourself in the digital world of recruitment will help you validate your initial decisions. This validation that the marketplace needs you and your value proposition helps you to have the necessary confidence in your story.

Discuss your resume with your references… does your story capture the real YOU? Have you missed any key bits of supportive information?
Use LinkedIn, your “digital footprint,” to pull interest in you to your Profile, and to push your message out to the marketplace through your network of contacts and Group activity.

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

The next two steps, initial research and pulling together your initial contact list are in place to create focus to your efforts… What are the trends in the market that are attractive to you, and which target organizations are most needy of your value proposition? Your evolving contact list will take you through the A-B-C’s of networking and the development of your distribution channels…

Start with people you already know or have reason to “should know,” as they are the most likely to be receptive to your initial efforts.
As you develop your network, identify key bridge contacts that can give you specific information or introduce you to key decision-makers and hiring authorities.
Critical to your success is building relationships with people who can influence your hiring. This ‘must see’ list of influential contacts and hiring authorities is the epicenter of your job search campaign!

YOUR CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

Have an implementation strategy and stick to your plan. Your Personal Marketing Plan should evolve as you progress in your job search. I would recommend early on in your search you attend several events where other job seekers hang out. These are great places to meet new people, develop and practice your elevator pitch, and get some support.

However, within 6-8 weeks you want to begin moving AWAY from those kinds of events to places where potential employers and people close to potential employers hang out. The former of these events will usually be free.

The latter may cost you something. That’s why you want to work out the bugs in your verbal and printed “brand image” in the early stages of your job search. So you can be more effective and efficient when you implement your PMP. Yes, this means you will say “no” to some things.

You want to be strategic! Remember that an occasional job search is the most predictable part of your career-long strategy!

Critical to the efficiency and productivity of your campaign is the regularity and frequency of the activities you are willing to commit to, and the uses of your time, that will create top-of-mind awareness of YOU (the product) in the desirable or chosen marketplace. In other words, what are you willing and able to commit to to get HIRED!…to LAND your next right employment?

READY… The first seven steps of the 12-step process are there to prepare you to be successful in a job search campaign. You are READY!

AIM… Steps five, six, and seven are there to help you focus your efforts. You’re ready and have your targets in sight… you have the correct AIM!

FIRE… Anyone can pick up a weapon and fire it… most of us can push the button that launches a missile. But the practiced, prepared, and confident marksman is the one most likely to have the skill to actually hit their target!

MYCAREERpilot

Helping you to navigate the challenging waters of career transition…

time management