This is the time of year when people suddenly realize the sun is shining and they are sick — sick of being inside. That doesn’t happen as severely if you have a few plans for time off to just regenerate yourself by doing nothing in particular, but if your life is planned down to the hour seven days a week, it will implode when a new thing is added to your script.
Plan For Margins
Every wise plan has margins. You can plan out a business goal, plan your job search, plan your vacation, etc., but you can’t plan what will happen when it hits real life. Now is a good time to look at your plans for the summer, when the vacation schedules collide with the work load, and decide how to make it fit together without making your life an unending series of urgent commitments.
I like to think of margins as the white space around the words on the page. If every spot on this page were filled with words, I’d have more information crammed into the space, but it would not be effective because nobody would read and retain it.
How To Plan Your Work Margins
That’s the way our plans work. We need margins around our careers and workdays in order to make them effective. We need to schedule a few days off where nothing is planned on a regular basis, particularly if we have lots of people in our lives. Kids are really good at interrupting plans with sudden illnesses, for instance, but they are not the only ones who interrupt a schedule.
Planning days to slow down helps the rest of your plans go together because it gives a margin for sudden illness.
Planning days to slow down helps the rest of your plans go together because it gives margin for contemplation.
Planning days to slow down helps the rest of your plans go together because it gives margin for regrouping and getting back on track.
If you are having a hard time planning wisely, maybe you should consider talking to a mentor or career coach to get a bigger perspective on your life. Without a plan, you can have a full calendar and be exhausted with nothing to show for your effort. With a plan, you are going to see the full days on your calendar move you to your goals. With margins built into your plan, you will see things more clearly and be ready to meet the challenges with a smile.
There’a a lot of discussion in marketing about “today’s consumer” and the ways we are different than shoppers in the past. And it is true that today’s shopper is different, but the reason is not that people have changed so much. Our choices have changed, giving us online options that were undreamed of before the advent of the internet. Having a lot of options is good if you know what you want and are ruthless about filtering down to the perfect fit. It can be frustrating to come up with nothing that fits, though, right? If you are trying to find the “perfect fit” in a resume service, it gets even trickier because you may not be sure of what you need or want. One thing to filter out in your search would be any resume service that isn’t professionally certified. You are looking for the equivalent of custom tailoring and the expertise of the tailor really makes a difference here. That perfect fit is the result of getting measured and fitted for exactly what you need.
The A La Carte Services offer a basic list of services that can be purchased separately. Reading about each thing on that list will give you an idea about what is available in any good resume service. If all you need is one thing on the list, this is where to get it. The service will still be professional and customized for a perfect fit and you will have the one thing you need.
If you need the equivalent of an entire “outfit,” there’s even an option of customized packages to save you a little money.
There comes a point in good interviews where the job applicant is asked, “do you have any questions for me?” This is a tipping point that can go in your favor if you show that you have researched the company and care about the job itself more than the paycheck or benefits. It doesn’t have to be scary, deer-in-the-headlight feeling, though. Here are three questions you can ask that will make you feel more confident during the Q&A part of the interview: Ask a question that shows you know their mission statement. The company’s mission statement has usually been the result of a lot of research and debate. If they care about community service, for example, ask how they invest in the local community and are expected of volunteers. If they care about the environment, ask how they go about reducing their carbon footprint or the recycling program. Ask a question that shows you care about results. What goals do you have for this job? What are the benchmarks and deadlines? What qualities would you say are important to filling this position successfully? The answers you get should be on your list of “make-sure-to-do-it” once you are hired, because you know that is what will be considered in your job performance review. Ask a question that shows you want to understand their company culture. Does the company observe holidays with special traditions? Are there regular contests, like decorating competitions between departments? Does this company have any fun quirks that make it unique in workplaces? Every business will have its own culture and traditions, and it’s a good idea to find out if you’ll fit in, if possible. It also can be a good conversation item that puts you in a favorable light. Interview questions are really important, and it’s a good idea to be prepared for all the possibilities that you could encounter during your job search. Both asking and answering questions is the bulk of what happens in a job interview. If you feel unprepared for what that will entail, consider one of our coaching services for individual help with interview skills. That job is worth it!
There is a great workplace stress-reliever available to most of us, and it is absolutely free.You don’t have to pay any membership fees, you don’t need expensive equipment, and you probably can do it on your next lunch break. Can you guess what it is? Take a walk outside.
Not much of a secret, I know, but most of us don’t do what we already know is a good idea. The benefits of doing this simple thing are big, though, so think through some of your objections and see how to add a walk outside to your day:
park far away so you have to walk to get to work
have a walking meeting with a co-worker or two (more than three gets awkward)
walk inside in bad weather; it’s better than not walking at all
take a walk when you are stuck on a project so you can ruminate on solutions
walk a little bit if you can’t walk much
This is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce your workplace stress, and it’s free. You may have to bring some shoes from home and switch into them, but that’s about it. Your health will improve, your attitude will improve, and you come back inside with a fresh take on problems. What’s the alternative? Sitting at your desk stewing over things, your thoughts chasing each other like hamsters on a wheel and not going anyplace, your body settling into a blob of unhealthiness. So get up, go outside, and take a walk. It’s free, it’s good for you, and it gets rid of some of that stress.
One of the ways to improve your online brand is by being active online in ways that focus on your professional arena.You can start out by using search engines to find news in your field, but you can also find niche communities of your peers and connect on social media sites like LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook.
Once you have some professional places to hang out on the web it’s a good idea to start interacting with others on those sites. Make intelligent comments on blog posts, have discussions that are courteous, and always have a link back to your own blog under your name. Be the opposite of a troll. This gives you a wide audience of people who view you favorably and probably will be interested in visiting your blog to see if there is more good stuff to be found.
When they come to your blog, have some good stuff there. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds:
link to content that you found helpful and make some comments then ask for opinions
write a short (250-500 word) post every few days about something in your field
have a mix of news items and evergreen content that is always useful
If you do a little bit every day, it slowly builds up into an impressive, authoritative presence that gives weight to your online brand. When potential employers look you up online, you look good. Many people actually are hired based on internet activity that created a relationship and developed respect for the knowledge displayed. The job offer came as a result of the added authority of their online presence.
If you decide you need professional help for your online brand, we offer online branding/profile development coaching that just might be what you are looking for.
Have you ever really looked at blueprints? We had our own experience with them last year when we expanded our office. They can make most people’s eyes glaze over, but those professional schematic drawings are the reason buildings don’t fall down, plumbing works efficiently, and electric outlets are located where you want to plug in your hair dryer. Professional plans mean that using the hairdryer in the bathroom doesn’t blow a circuit because the wiring is sufficient for the task.
Professionals use the training and experience they possess to create building plans that will safely accommodate the activity anticipated there. If there needs to be a remodel, professionals know how to do the adaptations successfully. That same level of expertise applies to a lot of other areas in life, don’t you think? How about your career plans?
Your career is certainly as important as the building you live in, and should be planned with as much expertise. There are many good suggestions for career plans to be discovered by reading blogs and doing the research, and that is a good place to start. Many people live quite happily in buildings designed for the general population and you do the equivalent with your career by following the general advice you read from professionals.
But a custom home involves blueprints drawn up by experts with input from the home owner to ensure that every aspect of that home is perfect for the people living there. This could mean shorter counters, a special sewing room, or bathrooms with enough outlets and load capabilities to run a couple of hair dryers at the same time while listening to music. The blueprints would show those specifics: lower counter heights, cabinets for sewing materials, and a bathroom that won’t go dark when the hair dryer comes on.
Your career plans can be customized by working with an expert, a career coach who is qualified to draw up a blueprint for your job goals and help you figure out what needs to be on the plan.
Have you ever gone past a series of modern windmills? I just did recently-they were amazing. At first, they don’t look real. Then as you get closer, they begin to loom in jaw-dropping proportions because they are huge. These gigantic pinwheels are carefully placed to catch the wind in the best spots available. A lot of study goes into how tall they need to be, where they should be located, and which direction they should face. This is because they are very expensive to manufacture and install so they need to be where they will catch the most wind and generate the most power. Why would anybody put this expensive piece of technology in a random spot because it is easier? No matter how well the windmill is constructed, it will not do what it’s designed to do if it’s not in the right place.
A well-crafted resume is the result of a similar type of investment. Just like the modern windmill, they are carefully designed and can be expensive to create. So why distribute that resume in a random pattern because it is easier? If your resume is not being put in the right place, it will not be able to do what it’s designed to do.
Professional Resume Services has the ability to put your resume in the place where it will be most effective through our Recruiter Resume Distributions. Since we maintain a database that is updated weekly, we know which recruiters are working in the various industries out there and we can specifically target your unique preferences and project parameters. We will only put your resume where it will act like one of those high-tech pinwheels and generate the most energy for your career goals.
Sometimes, you find yourself in the unenviable category of “overqualified” candidates when applying for a job.If you are interested in a position that you overqualify for, take a proactive stance and answer some common interviewer’s questions before they are asked.
Answer “why are you applying for a job you overqualify for?” in your cover letter. Maybe you want to have a less demanding position because you have decided family time is more important than working 70 hours a week. Along with that, make sure you state that you highly appreciate being able to have a job that allows you to use your skills and work fewer hours. Another scenario is the person who has found they really enjoy the challenges of the lower level job and has decided they do not want to move up.
Answer “won’t you move on to another opening as soon as one shows up?” with a resume that has highlighted the skills and experience you bring to the job, how those skills meet the job requirements, and some questions of your own during the interview that show your interest will be ongoing.
Answer “how will you react to a younger supervisor and new technology?” by relating instances in your career where you worked successfully with all ages, and the technology trends you have kept up with or are currently learning how to use.
Answer “what if we can’t pay you what you were making before?” by being prepared to discuss salary and a firm grasp of what you will accept, even if it is less. You may very well be working for less than you made before, but if the job is one you enjoy, that is worth more than dollars.
The cover letter and resume for an “overqualified” job seeker need to be fine-tuned to answer some of the questions satisfactorily and get you the interview where you can discuss the rest. If you are not sure how to do this, perhaps our coaching services would be a good investment. A Certified Career Coach can work with you one-on-one to strategize your job search effectively, and transform being “overqualified” into an asset that gets you that interview.
