Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone!  Another year has absolutely flown by, once again.  And we’re back at that time where everyone is talking about making resolutions.  Losing weight, getting a better job (or a job at all!), spending more time on something or other, blah, blah, blah.  It gets so boring.  But yeah, I’m going to talk about it, too.  

The reason resolutions get boring is that deep down we all know we’re not going to stick to it.  Me, too.  I’m far from perfect.  Hard to believe, I know but stay with me here.  So why don’t resolutions work?  

Making a resolution is really just goal setting.  But resolutions tend to be big, vague, general types of goals.  Like this:  “I’m going to lose weight and be healthy!”  Sounds great, right?  And for a week or two you’ll add more vegetables to your dinner, not eat fast food and enthusiastically hit the gym.  And then the drive drops off and you’re back to your old habits, resolution forgotten.  Or more likely, becomes a new thing to feel guilty about.

It doesn’t work because the goal was too big and not focused.  Rather than a general, “I’m going to lose weight” idea, define how much weight you want to lose and set a smaller goal that’s a step toward your final goal.  Make your resolution “I’m going to lose 10lbs by the end of January”.  It’s much easier to manage.  You have a realistic goal within a realistic time frame which makes success much more likely.

The same goes for your job search.  “I’m going to find a new job this year” is a great resolution.  And if you leave it at that you’ll end up sending your resume out as many times as humanly possible to anything you might be remotely qualified for.  Which is a terrible strategy that won’t get you the results you want.  And it will leave you feeling like a failure questioning your worth.  No one needs that.  So don’t set yourself up to fail.

Make your general goal to find a job but set smaller goals that will be steps in the right direction.  In a previous post I suggested learning new job search techniques, like using LinkedIn and your network effectively.  That could be the first goal.  Rather than “I’m going to find a new job” make your resolution “I’m going to learn effective job search techniques that will get results”.  Then actually learn them.  And use them.  

Finding the resources you need isn’t all that hard.  This blog posts links to articles and sites designed to help you and there’s the whole of the internet to search.  You could also sign up for our weekly newsletter and join our group on LinkedIn.  There are plenty of articles to help you on the Career Dragon website, too.  And if you need help getting yourself set up online so you can compete in today’s job market, we’re here to help with that, too.

So set smaller goals that lead to your larger, more general ones.  You’ll have more success and actually get to where you want to be.  Now stop thinking about resolutions for a while.  It’s time to get ready for your New Year’s Eve party.  There’s plenty of time for goal setting tomorrow.  You know, after a few cups of coffee.

Merry Christmas!

Job Searching During the Holidays

Being out of work during the holidays is really stressful.  We all have more expenses this time of year, it's just part of it.  Comes with the territory, even if you're cutting back.  And who hasn't had to the last few years?

A great way to add stress to this busy time of year is to keep frantically sending out your resume to every opening you think you might be remotely qualified for.  If your job search technique is to find and apply for as many jobs as you can online, you're going about it the wrong way.  Think about it.  How many responses, even a polite email declining your application, have you actually received?  Probably not many.  And this time of year isn't a great time to get an interview.  Most companies are wrapping up the end of the year.  Quite a few shut down and take a few days off.  The lucky ones take a week.  So where does that leave you?

It puts you in a great spot to take some time to back away from the job search.  Stop spending all day on Monster or Indeed.  Stop sending your resume out as many times as humanly possible every day.  Stop focusing on speed reading as many job descriptions as you can.  Just stop.  Seriously.  Go get a cup of hot cocoa and some Christmas cookies.  Focus on that for a minute.  If you don't celebrate Christmas, run out to Trader Joe's and pick up some of their Christmas cookies.  They go great with the hot cocoa. Trust me.  You can thank me later.

So you've got your hot cocoa and cookies and have stopped obsessively sending out your resume.  Now is the perfect time to start learning how to conduct your job search and manage your career in a way that will actually get you results.  Take some time and start reading about how looking for a job works, now.  Things have changed.  Pretty drastically, too.  It used to be that you could just submit your resume to jobs on Monster and actually expect something to happen.  You may as well be throwing your resume out your car window.  You'll get about the same rate of response, anymore.  

So settle into a comfortable spot by the fire and start reading.  There are a lot of resources out there with really great advice.  As you read you'll start to see the same things being said, over and over.  Follow that advice!  If you read 3 articles telling you the same the thing, listen!  Some great resources are blogs written by career coaches and recruiters.  Dan Armishaw has some great advice on his blog.  It's well worth checking out.  Recruiter.com has a great article listing several career advice blogs that are worth reading.  You can even go to our website at Career Dragon for articles to help you figure out the best method for your job search.

So, if you're not getting the response you want it's probably time to change your tactics.  Now is a great time of year to take a break and learn a different approach.  Learning something new is always a good thing.  So is giving yourself a little break.  Especially when hot cocoa and cookies are involved.

So, You Got Laid Off. You're in Good Company

An unfortunate truth about the working world today is that most of us have gotten laid off at one point or another.  I’ve been laid off twice within a one year period.  Luck has not been with me.  It hasn’t been with most people, either.  But since we’re all in this same big boat we have to figure out how best to navigate it through the job search waters.  Ok, not my best analogy but I’ve been baking Christmas cookies all weekend so my brain is still working through a sugar fog.  It was a lot of cookies.  Seriously.

One thing we all experience when we get laid off is the combined sense of loss, guilt, shame, embarrassment and panic.  The sense of loss is something everyone has to work through in their way but the rest of it can be taken care of pretty quickly.  The guilt, shame and embarrassment come out of feeling like we’ve done something terribly wrong to be in this situation.  Maybe we really aren’t good enough in our chosen field or that we screwed something up so badly they decided to give us a severance package and send us on our way.  That’s rarely the case.  The reasons for your being laid off had little or nothing to do with you as a person or an employee.  The decision was made much higher up than you and had to do with economics, not your value as a person.  It took me a while to fully realize this.  Hopefully you can get to that point earlier.  Sometimes I’m slow.  Just know that your worth as an employee is not related to why you got laid off.

The panic that sets in, though.  Now that’s hard.  It keeps you from thinking calmly, robs you of sleep and throws you off emotionally.  It’s beyond stressful when you need a job and don’t have one.  But if you react in panic your job search is going to be less effective.  Panic says, “Lets send out as many resumes as humanly possible, every day, forever until we get a job”.  That’s just not effective.  Hiring managers can see when they’re just part of your mass applications.  Like all of us, they want someone who really wants them (or their company) and not someone who just wants anyone.  Even though you may be panicked, take the time to properly apply for jobs you’re interested in and qualified for.  Tweak your resume for each job and write a fresh cover letter/email for each one.  You may only send out your resume once or twice a day, or even just a few times a week.  But it’s more effective to be focused.  It’s hard when you’re panicking but take a few deep breaths, maybe go for a walk, and calm down.  It’s not the end of the world, it just feels like it.  Besides, that’s not happening until Friday.

So you got laid off.  Things are looking, and feeling, pretty dark.  You’re stressed, worried and panicked.  Just remember, it’s not a reflection on you as a person or an employee.  You’re still a good person, you’re still a good employee and you’re going to prove that to yourself at your next job.  And there will be a next job. And it will probably be better than where you came from.  I know I’m much better off than I was and you can be, too.  It just takes a little time, some focused job searching and a little optimism.  The main point is; Don’t Panic.

Improving the Quality of Writing One Professional Profile at a Time

Right now the best way for any of us to get our name out there and get noticed is to write.  Whether it’s a blog, daily tweets or your LinkedIn profile what you write is how people get to know you.  So, how well you write is pretty important.  It’s how you make your first impression.

Not everyone is a gifted writer.  But you don’t really have to be.  Look at those Twilight books.  Not very well written, but the author has more money than either of us will ever see.  She may not be a great writer but what she has is a decent vocabulary.  You can get around writing not being your strong suit if you can at least sound literate.  And that means building your vocabulary and having a basic understanding of sentence structure.

Not sure what that looks like?  Pick up a book.  Actually, pick up a lot of books.  The best way to increase your vocabulary and learn to write decently is to read.  Seriously.  It doesn’t mean boring books, either.  Good writers lead by example.   Stephen King, aside from being an amazing storyteller, writes beautifully.  Reading his books you’ll learn proper grammar, increase your vocabulary (I’ve had to look up a word he’s used on occasion) and see a great example of correct sentence structure.  All while being thoroughly entertained.  Or so scared you have to sleep with the lights on.  Either way, it’s a great learning experience.

Don’t rely on newspapers and magazines.  They write, on average, at a middle school level.  You’re going to have to up your game on your resume and professional profiles if you want to impress anyone.  As a professional it’s kind of assumed that you can communicate better than the average middle schooler.  If you really feel like you aren’t up to it, then you should seriously consider hiring someone to write it all up for you. 

There are tons of resources online to become a better writer.  The Write Cave, for one, will direct you to writing resources.  Another is an article I came across.  Actually, a friend of mine who shares my somewhat obsessive passion for all things literary found it and shared.  It’s got a list of words that will improve your vocabulary in a particularly impressive way.  I highly encourage you to use these words in your daily conversations as much as possible.  I take no responsibility for the consequences.

But really, the best way to improve your vocabulary and writing skills is to read.  Right now is the perfect time of year to pick up a couple of books and get to it.  The nights are long and cold, just right for snuggling in with hot cup of tea next to the fire with your book.  Just forget that you’re learning something good for you.  Don’t ruin it.  And have a cookie.

Is Twitter Worth Your Time?

We’ve all heard of Twitter.  Like a Kardashian, it’s hard to avoid no matter how hard you try.  Even if you had managed to remain blissfully unaware of one of the largest social media platforms on the planet, Charlie Sheen’s Twitter publicized meltdown probably took care of that.  Twitter is big.  Really, really big.  But is it worth your time when you’re looking for your next job?

Twitter used to be known for meaningless updates made by self centered people who thought everyone needed to know what they just had for lunch.  Those people are still there, but it’s really easy to avoid them.  Just don’t follow them.  See?  Super easy.  But what about the people on Twitter that actually have something relevant to say?  And more importantly, what about the people who have something important to share that could help your job search?

It’s less common for a company to not have a Twitter account than to have one.  Even my smallish company, Career Dragon, has a Twitter account.  When you’re out looking for a job or even just trying to figure out where you’d like to work, these company accounts are great to follow.  They post news and info about the company and frequently add links to articles relevant to professionals in their industry.  Sometimes, their hiring managers will even post job openings.  

A great way to get noticed by the company you want to work for is to follow them on Twitter.  The culture of Twitter is that you can follow anyone and anyone can follow you.  You don’t have to ask permission or wait to be accepted.  Twitter is kind of easy that way.  Once you’re following a company, respond to their posts.  Engage in conversation, tell them what you liked about an article they posted a link to, or tell them your opinion of it.  You know, as long as you’re being nice.  Don’t be a jerk even if you disagreed with it.  No one hires a jerk.

Some recent advice to hiring managers from one of the writers at the Harvard Business Review Blog Network is to not post job openings at all.  Not anywhere.  But rather, to go on the company Twitter account and see who’s following.  Take a look at the engagement and find the next job candidate there.  Read the article.  Knowing what advice is being given to hiring managers tells you how to be what they’re looking for.  

Give Twitter a shot.  You never know, it might land you your next job.  Just don’t post about your lunch.  No one cares.  Seriously.

So today let’s talk about LinkedIn.  No, don’t run back to Reddit.  This won’t be boring and it won’t take long.  Besides you need to let a little time go by for more blue links to appear.

It used to be, in days gone by (that aren’t coming back, by the way) that your resume was all you needed.  It was far and away the most important weapon in your job search arsenal.  The world has moved on, my friend.  The poor resume has taken a backseat to LinkedIn.  But this is actually a good thing.  A really good thing.  And here’s why...

Your resume is a laundry list of your skills and accomplishments squeezed into a small space where you probably aren’t even writing in complete sentences to make everything fit.  And your font is very, very tiny.  Don’t be offended. It is, and you know it.   Most hiring managers take a very short time to glance over your resume.  Hopefully it’s got bullet points because that’s about all they’re going to read.  

LinkedIn, on the other hand, has loads of space.  Great, wide open ranges of space that you can use to expand your laundry list and actually go into detail on what you’ve done with yourself.  Instead of trying to figure out how to communicate a major career accomplishment in one line you can take your time.  Go into detail.  Really talk about it.  On LinkedIn you can use whole sentences, and lots of them to show what a major deal your accomplishment was.  So if you’re just copying and pasting your resume into your LinkedIn profile, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

You know all that time you took shining up your resume?  You need to do the same thing with your LinkedIn profile.  Recruiters and hiring managers are looking at your LinkedIn profile before they decide if they want to talk to you.  In fact, a survey found 93% of recruiters are looking at LinkedIn to find job candidates.  You can read the article here:  Heads up, LinkedIn users: 93% of recruiters are looking at you.  

In today’s hyper-competitive job market hiring managers are getting hundreds of resumes for each job posting.  They had to figure out a way to narrow their search to just the candidates they were looking for.  So they turned to LinkedIn.  And they’ll find you there if you make your profile exceptional.  The good news is, there’s help for that.  At Career Dragon we’ll write your entire profile for you using the latest SEO techniques to help you show up in searches.  We’ll even make your profile interesting so people won’t fall asleep reading it.  

You can also do it yourself, just like you can do your resume yourself.  Whether you decide to get help or stoically go it alone, the important thing is that you do it.  Seriously.  A great resume doesn’t mean anything anymore if your LinkedIn profile sucks.  

If you’ve managed to wander over to the Career Dragon blog I’m going to bet you’re in the middle of looking for a job.  You may already have a job but want to advance your career or you might just be looking to find a job at all.  Either way, you’ve probably realized that finding a job, regardless of your motivation, has gotten a lot harder.

Things have changed over the last few years.  Not only are we in the middle of the most competitive, tough job markets in decades but the game has changed, too.  You can’t just send out your resume or post to job boards like you could even 5 years ago.  You certainly can’t just show up in person to drop off a resume, although that used to be how it was done.  Now if you show up in person the only likely interview you’ll get is with security.  

It used to be your resume was everything.  You posted it to job boards and were found by recruiters and hiring managers.  You could mail it (with a stamp and everything!) to companies you were interested in working for along with a brilliantly crafted cover letter and could actually expect some sort of response.  Unfortunately, that’s just not the case anymore.  Your resume isn’t how you make your first impression.  In fact, at best it’s your second impression.  But really it’s probably further down on that list.  Somewhere around a 4th impression, or so.

What’s important now, and the best way to get noticed, is your online presence.  If your only presence online is your Facebook account, you have some work to do.  The first place hiring managers and recruiters look for potential job candidates is on LinkedIn.  If they find you and like what they see the next thing they’re going to do is google you.  Only after that will they actually want to see a resume and talk to you.  The point here is, it used to be they looked at your resume first, then decided if they wanted to meet you.  Now they decide whether or not they want to meet you and then look at your resume.

Finding a job isn’t as simple as it used to be.  It involves a lot more networking, creativity and persistence than it used to.  If you craft an engaging personal brand along with an outstanding professional presence you’ll be way ahead of your competition. Just like with any change you’ll have to learn some new skills.  If you haven’t started getting friendly with LinkedIn, now’s the time.  

As this blog series continues I’ll talk about how to go about building your online presence.  I’ll include advice and tips on which social media platforms you should use and how best to use them.  I’ll also go into how to identify and promote your personal brand.  It’s not that hard.  Really.  You’re just going to have to trust on me on this and come back to see.

You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter that contains links to resources to help you out and where you’ll hear about our specials and events.  To sign up for the newsletter go to our website at Career Dragon.  It’s easy to sign up and if you don’t like it, it’s easy to unsubscribe.  But you won’t want to.  You’re going to like it.  We’re kind of hard to resist.  So come on back.  New articles are posted every Monday and Thursday morning.  Come on.  You know you want to.