Boston Career Counselor Blog

While it’s important to set up longer term goals in your job search, sometimes it’s even more critical to set up a list of things you can act on right now today! If anyone has ever read Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Work Week, this is like step one in the dreamline. The best way to accomplish any goal is to figure what you can do today and tomorrow. So here are today’s recommendations for job seekers:

10 things you can do TODAY to advance your job search:

1. Invite an old coworker or contact for coffee and reconnect.

2. Search linkedin for someone in a company or job you’re interested in and get introduced to them through your connections. Request an informational interview.

3. Read your resume and see how it sounds. If you find it boring and uninspiring, imagine how someone else would feel. Do you highlight the things that make you qualified for the job you’re seeking?

4. If you don’t already have them, get business cards printed. Networking is much harder if you can’t easily hand out your contact information.

5. Sign up for a networking event. Try using meetup.com. If you’re in Boston, go to http://www.meetup.com/Effortless-Networking-for-Job-Seekers/.

6. Do something fun today that has nothing to do with job search. Come on, you’re still a person. Meet a friend for dinner, go to a movie or spend the night relaxing on the couch.

7. Find two new companies where you’d like to work and follow them on twitter or facebook. Or search for them on linkedin and try to set up an informational meeting over coffee with an employee.

8. Develop and practice your elevator speech. Better yet, try to find an excuse to use it in the next 3 days (at a networking event, social event, party, on line at the coffee shop…).

9. Improve your linkedin profile by asking someone for a recommendation, and making sure your profile includes keywords specific to your industry.

10. Contact a fabulous career counselor for help! Oh come on, job searching is all about self-promotion. I’m practicing what I preach!

1. Describe briefly what your job is.

I am a regional staffing planner. I write associate schedules for several stores, based on company guidelines, promotional calendar and sales trends.

2. What do you like most about it?

I like analyzing sales and volume trends. I also like to interact with the regional staffing manager and assist them in personnel planning to ensure store profitability.

3. What do you do in a typical day?

I update the list of associates with jobs that have turned for each store, work on schedules, talk to the regional staffing manager about sales trends and work with stores to execute schedules.

4. What made you decide on this career in the first place?

To learn other aspects of the retail industry. I’ve worked in a buying office, and as an area sales manager. I also wanted to learn the operations side of the industry. It is a rewarding experience in that I know I’m able to assist in improving the company’s bottom line.

5. What kind of education or experience is necessary for this job?

A bachelors degree and managerial store experience.

6. What makes you good at this job (personality traits, strengths, skills, etc.)?

Analytical skills, people skills, organizational skills, close attention to details.

7. Who would be perfect in this job?

Someone interested in the operations and supply chain aspect of the retail industry.

8. Tell me something people would be surprised about regarding this job.

I will have an opportunity to travel to stores this spring and meet with various management teams.

9. Do you have any advice for someone wanting to enter this field?

Anyone interested in the fashion or retail industry should know there is more to this industry than just fashion or retail. Knowledge of organizational structures, operations, and supply chain management is essential in order to be successful. If you come prepared and you possess that right skill set then the possibilities are endless.

1. Describe briefly what your job is.

Architectural Associate: Design and draft various buildings.

2. What do you like most about it?

Designing / problem solving

3. What do you do in a typical day?

Either designing and redlining with other architects or Rendering 3D models

4. What made you decide on this career in the first place?

My mom’s suggestion!

5. What kind of education or experience is necessary for this job?

Undergrad in Architecture (4-5 years)

6. What makes you good at this job (personality traits, strengths, skills, etc.)?

Creativity and adaptability (I often jump from project to project)

7. Who would be perfect in this job?

People who are artistic, organized and detail-oriented

8. Tell me something people would be surprised about regarding this job.

For small firms, usually it’s a very relaxed environment. Tank tops and flip flops are acceptable dress codes.

**Career Counselor’s Note: Even if this is the dress code, NEVER wear this stuff to an interview!

9. Any funny or interesting job-related stories or anecdotes?

You get a chance to interact with everyone from construction workers in jeans to 3-piece suited politicians.

10. Do you have any advice for someone wanting to enter this field?

Often you have to work many hours at night and weekends, depending on the deadline. You would do it for the love of architecture, not for other reasons.

My disclaimer to the following open letter is that I don’t pretend to know the mind of every job seeker. Everyone is different and has different desires, personalities and goals. But this is a sentiment I get a lot this time of year. All I’m trying to say is to please tread lightly this holiday season. Let your job seeking friends and loved ones enjoy the festivities and relax for a brief while. Happy holidays to all!

On Behalf of Job Seekers…

Dear Family and Friends,

We, the people looking for new jobs around the holidays, appreciate that you care about us and want to help. And there are many ways you can help us. But please, please, from the bottom of our hearts, while we’re cooking turkey together, buying stocking stuffers or lighting the menorah, please…

Don’t ask, “So do you have a job yet?”

Why not, you might ask. Because we’ve heard it, many times, and unless the answer is “Yes, I just got a fantastic new job that’s everything I hoped it would be,” we don’t really want to talk about it. If we do want to talk about it, we’ll bring the subject up ourselves. Otherwise…

What we want to do is to be around our friends and family whom we love and perhaps haven’t seen in a while. We want to have some laughs and good conversation, maybe a glass of wine or two, and some time to relax and de-stress. Job searching is mentally and emotionally draining and around the family dinner table we’d like to forget about it for awhile.

“But I just want to help you!” you might argue. Well, that’s fantastic. No, really, it is a wonderful sentiment! Here are a number of ways you can help…

1. Take us out for a nice lunch and talk about anything but the job search.
2. Let us know of any helpful contacts you may have (which does require talking about the job search, but this one is a good exception!).
3. Enjoy our company and let us relax and have a good time together.

For more great ideas check out: Holiday Gifts for Job Seekers

Sincerely,
Those Job Seekers You Know and Love

Whether you wish to improve your current resume or you’re starting from scratch, try this 10 minute exercise to get those creative resume juices flowing and your mind on the right track.

10 Minute Resume Exercise

Sit down in a comfortable place with a notebook and pen (or laptop). Your goal is to brainstorm answers to the following questions. Don’t worry about having complete answers; just jot down whatever springs to mind. If you get stuck on something, move on. This is meant to be a starting point, not a comprehensive account!

1. Jot down instances at work where you’ve really felt proud and excited. These could be particular tasks done well, compliments for things you do habitually or specific accomplishments you’ve achieved.
2. Write down any awards or formal recognition you’ve received in your industry and/or at your workplace.
3. Think about numbers. What kind of figures can you think of that relate to your past work experience? Think of clients gained or kept, money earned or saved, employees managed or hired, new initiatives accomplished, percent efficiency or employee morale gained or improved. Make up numbers for the time being if you don’t know them off the top of your head.
4. Now, imagine you were your boss. What does (or should!) your boss value most about you?
5. What things do you do, or have you done, that show how you live up to #4?

Now step back and think about how you can incorporate this information into your resume. Remember, a resume is about showing what kind of value you can bring to a prospective employer. It is not a place to write comprehensive job descriptions. That’s for human resources! So use the information you gained in this exercise to demonstrate your true value on the resume. And if you feel like you don’t have enough to write a great one yet, keep these questions in the back of your mind and repeat this exercise in a few days.

1. Describe briefly what your job is.

Investment Data Analyst: I maintain existing data and datafeeds of securities (that’s stocks, bonds, derivatives, etc) information for a medium sized private mutual fund and hedgefund company. That’s the simple answer.

2. What do you like most about it?

I like to solve problems and I am interested in financial markets, securities and the economy. This job allows me to learn a lot about investments and gives me the opportunity to solve problems.

3. What do you do in a typical day?

In a typical day I monitor feeds of data from vendors, look for errors, try to increase coverage of fields, create workarounds or new processes, write procedures and technical documents. Have meetings to discuss whatever issues, projects or clients that are currently relevant. The rest is running around putting out fires.

4. What made you decide on this career in the first place?

I love Economics and Math which I studied in college. I am not interested in sales like a Financial Planner would have to be (they do a lot of cold calling for example). I am also not really interested in the high profile/ high stress trading jobs like a Mutual fund manager. Most days are not terribly stressful, although somedays the software doesn’t work or the clients are mad at you.

5. What kind of education or experience is necessary for this job?

College Degree in whatever field. 5 years or so experience in the industry. You can be a specialist and work your way up to analyst at some places.

6. What makes you good at this job (personality traits, strengths, skills, etc.)?

I’m very organized. I like logic and math. I can work by myself for hours and not get bored but I also work well with other people like the Developers, Tech Support, Internal Clients, External Clients, and Vendors.

7. Who would be perfect in this job?

Problem solvers. People who like working with numbers, computers and people. People who like to constantly learn new things.

8. Tell me something people would be surprised about regarding this job.

It can be a lot of fun and pretty satisfying for the right person. If you hate math or working in a cube, don’t consider this job.

9. Any funny or interesting job-related stories or anecdotes?

Fun?! No fun allowed!

10. Do you have any advice for someone wanting to enter this field?

Keep your resume up to date and do not be afraid to keep interviewing over the years even if you like your job. You might trade up and even if you don’t, it can’t hurt. You may learn something useful from a failed interview, like where not to work or how other people run their companies.

1. Describe briefly what your job is.

I am a Business Intelligence consultant, which primarily includes designing and building data infrastructure (e.g. data Warehouses & Datamarts) and report deployments.

2. What do you like most about it?

Flexibility and variety.  Each week is a different deliverable and every other month is a different company.

3. What do you do in a typical day?

Code SQL, design Business Objects Reports & Dashboards, mediate meetings between IT, business users, and developers.

4. What made you decide on this career in the first place?

I didn’t, it just flowed naturally from job opportunity and what I excelled at.

5. What kind of education or experience is necessary for this job?

Some Computer Science, but mostly an analytical and mathematical mind.

6. What makes you good at this job (personality traits, strengths, skills, etc.)?

Technical ability, mental agility, and charisma.

7. Who would be perfect in this job?

It varies.  Some projects and engagements require different skill sets.  Variance in personality and temperament will position a consultant to a different role on the engagement.  For example, if your project management skills are stronger than y our SQL, then you’ll lean more towards that role provided another team member can support that SQL role.

8. Do you have any advice for someone wanting to enter this field?

Don’t get caught up in your clients panic and urgency; stay clear headed and targeted.

My favorite resume critiquing exercise is to ask a client to read his/her own resume and see what they think.  If, for example, the resume sounds boring and uninspiring to YOU, how could it possibly sound better to a potential employer?

Now I know that resumes are never really going to be anyone’s idea of pleasure reading, but they can be attention-getting and they can inspire an employer to hire you!

So how exactly do you write a resume that won’t bore employers to tears?  No, I wouldn’t suggest wacky fonts, colors or resume cartoons.  Instead, writing an engaging resume is about proving to the employer, through past results, just how valuable you would be to them.

As you write your resume, don’t try to comprehensively list your job responsibilities as one might do in a job description.  Rather, ask yourself:

1. What measurable results have I achieved in past jobs?  How much  money saved, efficiency gained?  How many clients attracted, employees trained, customers returned?

2. What unique things did I do that make me a superstar?  Did I catch an error which saved the company money?  Did I land that company-changing client?  Did I improve the process by which things are done?

3. What are my greatest strengths?  What concrete accomplishments can I point out that “prove” just how great I am at these things?

4. What skills, strengths, abilities would make me invaluable to an employer?  How can I demonstrate, through my actions, that I have done and can do these things?

Instead of trying to give a complete picture of your every job responsibility, focus on the things which can prove just how valuable you are.

As a career counselor, I hope to create a partnership with clients, one in which I guide and empower them to achieve their goals.  It’s a working relationship which is designed to encourage self-sufficiency and initiative-taking.  I’m here to guide and support to the best of my abilities, but at the end of the day it’s the client who has the ultimate power.

That being said, here are the top three things career counseling clients can do to have a better, more fulfilling experience.

1. Don’t limit your career work to counseling sessions or communications with me. If I suggested you do an exercise to think about your talents, don’t just do the exercise, write down your answers, and wait for me to give you the next step.  Instead, do the exercise and think about the possibilities, how they connect to what you’ve done in the past and expect to do in the future.  If you’re inspired to look into a new possible career, just do it.  If the exercise reminds you of a career you were interested in back in college, tell me about it.  Don’t wait for me to suggest it.  Take the initiative.

2. For that matter, talk about what you want. Not just for jobs, but in our career counseling work together.  If I’m focusing on your resume, when what you would really rather work on is your networking skills, tell me that.  You’re the one who knows you best and the one who best knows what you need.  I’m here to empower you!

3. Think of me as a guide, not an encyclopedia (or even wikipedia?). I know things, many many things, but I can’t possibly know what it’s like to do every job out there.  What I can do is help you explore what you want and then find people who are experts to talk to.

The key to a good career counseling experience is to share your expectations with your counselor every step of the way and have her share her expectations for you.  With good communication, you’ll be on track to get where you want to go, whether a new satisfying career, a stellar job or a new life-work balance.  Good luck!