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5 Birds and Good Intentions (by Michael Josephson)

I received this Friday Story from Eric Rodin, International Director for AdzZoo / Qnanza.

Five Birds and Good Intentions

Five birds are sitting on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly south. How many are left?
Most people would say three. Actually, all five are left. You see, deciding to fly isn’t the same as doing it.

If a bird really wants to go somewhere, it’s got to point itself in the right direction, jump off the wire, flap its wings, and keep flapping until it gets there.

So it is with most things. Good intentions aren’t enough. It’s not what we want, say, or think that makes things happen; it’s what we do.

I frequently think of writing thank-you, birthday, and congratulatory notes. Unfortunately, only a sad few of these good sentiments ever make it to paper. Still, if I don’t look too closely, I can delude myself into thinking that based on my good thoughts I’m a gracious and grateful person. A truer and less admirable picture of my character is drawn by my actions.

In the end, we either do or don’t do. We either make the time to do the things we want to and should do or we make excuses. As Alfred Adler said, “Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”

What do you want to do? Do you want to take a course, change your job, lose weight, make new friends, or spend more time with and appreciate more the ones you have?

What’s stopping you from jumping off the wire and flapping your wings?

~ Michael Josephson

http://charactercounts.org/michael/2008/09/five_birds_and_good_intentions_1.html

 

Jobseeker Guidebook Discussion 1

Per my emails with James Pedderson of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, I would like to open up a few discussions via the Comments on this Blog.

Jobseekers are bombarded with advice from every direction, much of it conflicting!

As a veteran Recruiter and having been a hiring manager for many years, I can tell you from personal experience that jobseekers are interested in getting good advice when it comes to how to craft a winning resume, how to conduct an effective job search, and how to improve interviewing skills. I get several calls or emails each week from people in my network asking for advice in these topic areas.

Most jobseekers are not skilled in getting a new job! They have been working for their Employer, sometimes for years, and have not kept up with the changing trends in the job market. Perhaps they were referred to their last job and may not have interviewed. The last time they were out of work may have been an “Employee’s Market”, unlike the “Employer’s Market” today. There are countless reasons that jobseekers are not prepared or advanced in the skills needed to win their next job.

I have recommended many ReZources over the years and have had countless conversations with people helping them with their resume, or coaching them before an interview. When I came across the Challenger_Gray Guidebook for Jobseekers I quickly contacted them to ask if I could recommend the Guidebook and blog about it. Per my earlier Post, they agreed.

This Post is one of many that will deal with sections and topics from the Guidebook. The intent is to open up  discussions via the Comments and subsequent Posts. I hope to hear from people actively “in the hunt” for their next job, and to learn if the advice given in the Guidebook has been helpful. If you are aware of others who are searching for a new job, or in the process of interviewing, please invite them to this discussion.

Since Jim Pedderson of Challenger, Gray & Christmas has been so engaging during this process, I wanted to start the discussion with the topic that we traded emails about. Here is the point made in the Guidebook:

HOW TO FIND A JOB IN A JOBLESS RECOVERY Prepared by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.©

From the section: INTERVIEWING

“Do Not Ask Questions.”

Contrary to what many people were told by college career counselors, it is not wise to spend a lot of time researching a company and then demonstrating this acquired knowledge through strategic questioning of the interviewer. The fact is, you will never know as much as the interviewer, so your efforts will come across as contrived and, if the wrong question is asked, could offend the interviewer.

The primary goal of any job candidate is to sell himself or herself to the interviewer, proving that his or her skills and past experience are ideal for the job opening. Questions should be limited to what the job responsibilities will entail and then responding, citing examples as to how you can fulfill those responsibilities better than the other candidates.

My comment: I really like how this Guidebook takes a non-traditional approach to each of the topics! This section should surely make the jobseeker think about how they have handled interview preparation, and interviewing in the past. My concern with this section is that a jobseeker reading this may do NO research on the prospective Employer, and if pressed during an interview with questions about how they prepared, they may stumble and lose out to another Applicant who has researched and learned at least the highlights about the Company.

In all fairness, (per an earlier post comment), James Pedderson said Challenger_Gray is re-thinking this section of the Guidebook, and may make an update. Here is a Comment from James:

“We should probably rephrase the Don’t Research rule. We feel that jobseekers should know the basics about prospective companies… what they do or make, where they have offices, some history, etc. However, we feel that it is awfully tempting for jobseekers to overdo the research and demonstrate their freshly learned talking points with the interviewer. There is the risk that they could get it wrong or inadvertently say something that offends the interviewer. Some job seekers might even go so far as to suggest solutions to the company’s “problems” that they read about in their research.”

**What are your thoughts?
  -  What experience have you had, favorable or otherwise, during a recent job interview?

Please Comment below:

Jobseeker Guidebook

I came across a great Guidebook for Jobseekers and connected with Jim Pedderson, Director of Public Relations for the Company that published it. Jim mentioned that it would be fine to reference the Guidebook in a Blog Post for Jobseekers, as long as the proper credit was given for the author and for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. They are the nation’s first, oldest and premier outplacement consulting organization with a proven track record of successfully providing top quality outplacement programs for executives, middle managers and long-term or highly valued employees.

You can find them on the web at: www.challengergray.com

Their Blog is full of great Posts and information for Employers in need of Outsourcing Services, and for Jobseekers looking for resources to aid in a job search: challengeratworkblog.blogspot.com

You can also Follow them on Twitter: twitter.com/ChallengerGray (I did)

The Guidebook is titled: “HOW TO FIND A JOB IN A JOBLESS RECOVERY” and here is a sampling of just a few of the topics:

“Ignore those who say a resume should be no more than a page.”

………….your resume should be prepared with ease of reading in mind and should provide details that can be easily perceived by the reader. However, that does not mean keeping your resume to one page if you have a lot more to tell the employer about yourself.

“Do not send your resume to employers.”

You do not know what the employer is looking for and most times your resume will screen you out of the process…………..

“Do Not Ask Questions.” (during an Interview)

……….you will never know as much as the interviewer, so your efforts will come across as contrived and, if the wrong question is asked, could offend the interviewer. The primary goal of any job candidate is to sell himself……………..

Overall, I agree with 95% of the Guidebook, and found it offers tips from a fresh perspective that may be different from what you are used to hearing as a Jobseeker. The one point that I disagree with discourages Jobseekers  from doing research on the prospective Employer before an Interview. I understand Challenger – Gray’s point, but as an Internal Recruiter and a Hiring Manager I appreciate when Applicants do just that.

I recommend the Guidebook, and will be opening up a discussion to get others’ opinions on some of the controversial points made in the book.

The link at the top of this Post will take you to the Guidebook on ChallengerGray.com or you can download a copy from here:

Challenger_Guidebook for Jobseekers

Jobseeker ReZources – Resume tips

I worked on the TEKrecruiter / Social Recruiter Blog today and added a new Category for Jobseeker Helps / Advice and plan to direct people who only need Resume or Interviewing advice to posts on that blog. I also decided to bring relevant posts to this blog that will fit into the Jobseeker ReZources Category. This weekend I will be re-arranging some of the Pages and Topics for this blog and editing some of the Posts, and importing some of the Jobseeker Helps Posts form TEKrecruiter.com. Below is the Post from today which is geared towards Jobseekers.

From an earlier Post on the Social Recruiting Blog:

I follow Penelope Trunk and the Brazen Careerist Blog and participate from time to time in a couple of the Groups by providing resume writing tips or interviewing tips when other members post questions or ask for help.

Because I am a member of the Community, I received an email today from another member, Isao Kato. He wanted to alert others to the great job Miriam Salpeter (http://www.keppiecareers.com/) did with his resume rewrite.

Here are the results: Before ( http://ow.ly/1byDz ) and After ( http://ow.ly/1byCt ) for your information.

Per Isao: “I would say that the rewriting process was a real collaboration effort and it inspired me to be more aware of my career motivation. Her service is highly recommended, and – any feedback on the resume is welcomed “

My comment: I am just now learning of Miriam and Keppie Careers, and I will do some more ReZearch and offer additional information and links to their services that are helpful for Jobseekers. In my opinion, Isao’s Resume is a “Winning Resume” now. As a Recruiter, and a Hiring Manager, if I received Isao’s “After” Resume, I would reach out to him to discuss employment. His “Before” Resume is not bad at all, and I have recommended a similar format to many people, but his re-written Resume is better. That style may not work for all skills or in all situations, but for a Technical Professional looking to highlight his work accomplishments and prior employment, it works very well.

Your Comments are invited below:

Clickbank Affiliate Plugin

Well, it took several hours, and lots of trial and error, but I was finally able to install the Clickbank Affiliate Plugin on the Left Sidebar of this Blog. I have been approved as a Clickbank Affiliate for awhile now, but have not taken advantage of their program. I will post a blog this weekend with more information on Affiliate Marketing and Clickbank, and how to install the Plugin on your WordPress blog.

~Harvey

(ReZourceGuy)

Jobseeker ReZource

I am pretty active on Linkedin and have been for several years. My 1st level followers are close to 4,000 and I can search on close to 1 Million Linkedin users in the first 2 levels.

In the past week I have received over 20 requests to connect on the 1st level from other Linkedin users across the USA. The unique thing about each request is the term “in Transition” in their Profile or on their latest Job Title.

Even I knew that was too much to be a coincidence, so I started asking each person when I replied to their Invitation request. Several evaded the question, so I was more direct and finally 1 person told me he was coached by Greig Wells of www.BeFoundJobs.com

I sent additional emails to my new connections, and sure enough, that was the connection. Apparently I come up on Linkedin searches for connected Recruiters and Greig’s program coaches people to put “in Transition” on their Profiles and to be direct in reaching out to Recruiters.

I did a Google search on BeFoundJobs.com and found 99% of the information to be positive. Greig is one of my 1st level Linkedin connections and I am following him on Twitter, but I don;t think we’ve ever shared referrals directly.

Have you used Greig’s service, or, if you are a Recruiter, have you been contacted by Linkedin users following Greig’s advice?

I’d love to have your comments. Thank you!