You probably already know that appearance counts, but this is especially true at the job interview. Your interviewer will be judging not only your answers to his questions, but also how you've put yourself together. Check out these articles to create an overall look that says you're professional -- and hireable:
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Volunteering Can Buy You IT Experience
By Allan Hoffman, Monster Tech Jobs Expert
A supposedly hot certification or a few months of technology training isn't always enough to propel you into the market for tech jobs. Employers almost always prefer to hire people with real-world experience.
To aspiring techies, it's a catch-22: You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job. One solution: Volunteer work.
Grassroots environmental groups, homeless shelters, churches and other nonprofit organizations often rely on technology professionals or professionals-to-be to do everything from set up local area networks to develop Web sites. Though it's not a guaranteed way to overcome having no professional experience (nothing is, after all), volunteering is a valuable way to prove yourself outside the classroom. It can also help you make the contacts essential to a successful job search.
"It's great hands-on experience, and it looks good on a resume," says Joan Heberger, program associate at TechSoup, a San Francisco-based organization with a program that matches techies with volunteer work. "It's building technology skills, but also people skills. It's also showing that you can see things through to completion."
That's just what employers want to know when they've got an applicant who is self-taught or newly trained. Can the applicant work on a team? Can he handle deadlines? Does he know how to translate classroom lessons to the workplace? Volunteer work provides answers to those questions, and it can also provide something else you'll need. "You're probably going to get references out of it," Heberger says.
Case Study in Volunteering
Consider Charles Smith, now the network administrator for the Center for Media and Independent Learning at the University of California at Berkeley. When Smith started to volunteer through TechSoup, he was in the midst of a career transition, having worked as a chef for 10 years. In his volunteer assignments, Smith worked as a computer technician, rebuilding and troubleshooting computers for underprivileged families for Berkeley Neighborhood Computers and designing Web sites for nonprofits through CharityFocus.
"Volunteering at these different nonprofits allowed me to try several different types of jobs in the high tech industry," he says. "I was able to figure out if I liked writing code for Web sites or tearing apart old computers."
Techies in some fields will have an easier time than others looking for volunteer opportunities. Anyone with an A+ certification, for instance, is likely to find organizations, such as Berkeley Neighborhood Computers, devoted to rebuilding donated PCs. Web designers and developers are also likely to find groups looking for free assistance with their sites. Those looking to gain networking experience may have more of a challenge, as organizations may want an experienced techie for the job. Even if you're not able to set up a network on your own, consider opportunities that would allow you to assist in the task.
Of course, if you're planning to volunteer, you should also have a genuine desire to help the organization rather than just gain quick experience and split once you've got a full-time job. Experienced IT pros often find a distinct type of reward in their nonprofit work. "If you set up a network for a nonprofit, you can immediately see it's made a huge improvement," notes Heberger. "That's one of the reasons why they volunteer; the impact is visible."
Where to Volunteer
Techies looking for volunteer opportunities should consider these resources:
A supposedly hot certification or a few months of technology training isn't always enough to propel you into the market for tech jobs. Employers almost always prefer to hire people with real-world experience.
To aspiring techies, it's a catch-22: You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job. One solution: Volunteer work.
Grassroots environmental groups, homeless shelters, churches and other nonprofit organizations often rely on technology professionals or professionals-to-be to do everything from set up local area networks to develop Web sites. Though it's not a guaranteed way to overcome having no professional experience (nothing is, after all), volunteering is a valuable way to prove yourself outside the classroom. It can also help you make the contacts essential to a successful job search.
"It's great hands-on experience, and it looks good on a resume," says Joan Heberger, program associate at TechSoup, a San Francisco-based organization with a program that matches techies with volunteer work. "It's building technology skills, but also people skills. It's also showing that you can see things through to completion."
That's just what employers want to know when they've got an applicant who is self-taught or newly trained. Can the applicant work on a team? Can he handle deadlines? Does he know how to translate classroom lessons to the workplace? Volunteer work provides answers to those questions, and it can also provide something else you'll need. "You're probably going to get references out of it," Heberger says.
Case Study in Volunteering
Consider Charles Smith, now the network administrator for the Center for Media and Independent Learning at the University of California at Berkeley. When Smith started to volunteer through TechSoup, he was in the midst of a career transition, having worked as a chef for 10 years. In his volunteer assignments, Smith worked as a computer technician, rebuilding and troubleshooting computers for underprivileged families for Berkeley Neighborhood Computers and designing Web sites for nonprofits through CharityFocus.
"Volunteering at these different nonprofits allowed me to try several different types of jobs in the high tech industry," he says. "I was able to figure out if I liked writing code for Web sites or tearing apart old computers."
Techies in some fields will have an easier time than others looking for volunteer opportunities. Anyone with an A+ certification, for instance, is likely to find organizations, such as Berkeley Neighborhood Computers, devoted to rebuilding donated PCs. Web designers and developers are also likely to find groups looking for free assistance with their sites. Those looking to gain networking experience may have more of a challenge, as organizations may want an experienced techie for the job. Even if you're not able to set up a network on your own, consider opportunities that would allow you to assist in the task.
Of course, if you're planning to volunteer, you should also have a genuine desire to help the organization rather than just gain quick experience and split once you've got a full-time job. Experienced IT pros often find a distinct type of reward in their nonprofit work. "If you set up a network for a nonprofit, you can immediately see it's made a huge improvement," notes Heberger. "That's one of the reasons why they volunteer; the impact is visible."
Where to Volunteer
Techies looking for volunteer opportunities should consider these resources:
- Volunteer Matching Organizations: These groups match volunteers with opportunities. Some, like TechSoup in San Francisco or Voluntech.org in New York City, specialize in connecting techies with volunteer assignments. For a listing of volunteer matching services, see the list at TechSoup.org.
- Community Volunteer Centers: Many communities have volunteer centers or point people to coordinate opportunities. Call the city or town hall or the Chamber of Commerce to find the appropriate contact.
- Do-It-Yourself Volunteering: You may want to create your own volunteer assignment. If you're associated with a particular organization, suggest a tech-related project you can handle.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Sample Resumes by Industry
Want to be the standout job candidate in your field? Then writing a resume that highlights your industry-specific experience, accomplishments and credentials is essential. If you need help customizing your resume to your field, check out these examples of resumes for various careers and career levels in the following industries:
Engineering | Finance/Accounting | Healthcare | Human Resources
Insurance | Law Enforcement | Manufacturing | Marketing/PR
Nursing | Real Estate | Restaurant & Hospitality | Retail
Sales | Science | Technology | Trades | Transportation & Warehousing
Administrative/Support | Art/Design/Media | Automotive | Education
Engineering | Finance/Accounting | Healthcare | Human Resources
Insurance | Law Enforcement | Manufacturing | Marketing/PR
Nursing | Real Estate | Restaurant & Hospitality | Retail
Sales | Science | Technology | Trades | Transportation & Warehousing
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Screening Candidates: Finding the Right One for the Job
Gone are the days when you could ask a few simple questions about work experiences, review a resume, maybe call one or two references, and hire a person. These days, recruiters need to find out more about a candidate before even granting them an interview. Finding out as much as you can about the position and the candidates before an interview, developing a sound interviewing strategy, and using testing and simulation methods will help you find the right candidates.
Review sample work – If you asked for samples from candidates, review them to see if they are good enough. Check with hiring managers to see if the work reflects the type of person they want working in their department. Ask specific questions during the interview to gain more insight.
Research Open Positions
As soon as a position in your company becomes available, you should begin conducting research. This includes asking hiring managers, department heads, administration, and others what is expected of those who fill the position. Understanding the tasks, responsibilities, hours candidates will need to devote to their work, if they will be interacting with clients and customers, and if they will be responsible for other employees will give you a better idea of which types of people are suited for the position.
This will also give you enough information to prepare a pre-interview questionnaire, self-assessment tests, and whether to conduct a pay-at-risk assessment.
Materials you will need when conducting research include:
- Past new hire evaluations
- Hiring manager feedback
- Past job descriptions
- List of job tasks
- Salary range
- Day-to-day tasks/monthly tasks/periodic tasks
- Impression of the last employee who held the position
- Why last employee left
Many times interviews will not tell you everything you need to know about a candidate. You will need to have a good idea of the position you are trying to fill in order to find the right candidates for the job, not the other way around.
Choosing the Candidates
Choosing from a pile of candidate resumes and trying to narrow them down can be a daunting task. While it has to be done, there are ways to do this that will actually help later on during the face-to-face interview process. Ways to narrow down candidates include:
- Pre-interview questionnaire
- Self-assessment questionnaire
- Skills testing
- Phone interview
- Samples of past work (reports, proposals, marketing materials, etc.)
Using what you have learned about the position and the type of person hiring managers are looking for, you will be able to narrow your scope and find candidates that meet some or all of the requirements before interviewing them.
When testing candidates on skills and technical ability, you may want to have the top performers in your company take the same tests. You will be able to judge candidate success much better when you have company standards to compare them to.
There are ethical and legal guidelines for creating skills testing and pre-interview questionnaires, so be sure to follow them. Many companies have their own set of questions that are appropriate for candidate testing.
Preparing for an interview
After narrowing down candidates, you will need to schedule interviews. When preparing for the interview, you should:
Create verbal simulations – These are scenarios that ask candidates how to solve a work-related problem, forecast where changes need to be made, or how to handle employee issues.
Job content simulations – These are similar to verbal simulations except you will be presenting a scenario that directly affects the quality of the candidates work or job function. Learning more about how a candidate can solve these problems or work around them is a good indication of how they handle stress, employee issues, and how they use critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Ask for ideas – Many companies want to hire people who are not only good at their jobs, but who are also innovative. Asking candidates for their ideas about an issue that affects the department they would be working in or one that affects the company in general. These problems do not have to be too specific, but should highlight issues that relate to the industry in general or specific procedures that are used by many companies.
Review sample work – If you asked for samples from candidates, review them to see if they are good enough. Check with hiring managers to see if the work reflects the type of person they want working in their department. Ask specific questions during the interview to gain more insight.
Interviews should be given to those who have shown exemplary results on tests, self-assessments, and work samples. It is easier to pick a candidate who will be successful at your company when you are picking from a handful of successful candidates.
The Challenges of Conducting an Interview
By rethinking the purpose and functionality of the interview process, you will be able to use it as one tool in many instead of the only measuring tool. Interviews should be granted only when you know enough about a candidate. This will lead to fewer surprises during the interview and will make hiring decisions much easier.
As you begin to change the way you evaluate potential employees, you should notice that making a decision based on a resume and a few questions will not yield the best candidates. Seeing beyond the resume and getting to know more about the candidate and what they bring to a position will allow you to take a second look at those who may not have the experience of other candidates, but who possess the drive, passion, attention to detail, and the skills needed to perform well.
When using other tools that include questionnaires, simulations, and asking questions that are more problem solving in nature, rather than matter-of-fact, you will be able to see whether a candidate really has what it takes fill the position.
Interviews should be the last indicator in your search for new employees. If you have done your research, gotten back everything you asked for from the candidate, and reviewed samples of their work, you will most likely have made your decision before you conduct a face-to-face interview.
Conclusion
Enhancing your candidate evaluation tools and using them before scheduling an interview will help your company in the long run. If you are able to make hiring decisions with more confidence, retention rates will go up, employees will be happier in their positions, and your company will become more sought after by those entering the workforce or who want to change jobs.
Keeping interviews last on your list of tools to use when trying to fill a position may also help candidates. Some candidates do not interview well. They may get nervous or come across as arrogant or aggressive. Scheduling an interview first may give you the wrong impression of what candidates are capable of. Choosing the best of the best will help alleviate this problem.
Testing is another way to hold on to potential employees for other positions that may come up later on. If a candidate is not right for the current position, they may be a perfect match for another. Keeping testing information on record and adding candidates to your employee database is a great way to build connections.
After hiring employees using this method of evaluation and selection, ask specific questions about the hiring process in their new hire evaluation. This feedback can be very effective in tailoring your process and may spark new ideas for improving or enhancing the process.
By: Dakotta Alex
Thursday, October 18, 2012
10 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Networking
By John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer
In this age of metrics, it’s tempting for job hunters to seek solace in the sheer numbers of their effort: 200 job postings answered, 300 resumes mailed, 400 business cards collected for the purposes of professional networking.
But if you think about how these brute-force employment campaigns affect the professional on the other side of the desk -- the HR recruiter, the networking contact in a powerful position -- it quickly becomes apparent that the rack-up-the-numbers networker is on the wrong track. That’s because these days employers are looking to select a very few outstanding professionals from a tidal wave of good people who just want a job.
So in the end, the quality-oriented networker, the thoughtful individual who always tries to give better than he gets, should have the advantage. Here are 10 points to keep in mind as you emphasize quality over quantity in your professional networking.
1. Quantity Is a Turnoff
If you hand out business cards like you’re dealing poker, most folks will fold. “People don’t want to do business with a card thruster,” says Shel Horowitz, a marketing consultant in Hadley, Massachusetts. In fact, speed networking probably does not yield the best return on your investment of time. “Quantity networkers are forgettable individuals,” says Benjamin Akande, dean of Webster University’s George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology. “If a guy is just looking for his next consulting contract, I don’t want to know him.”
2. Don’t Work the Room
Don’t kid yourself: If you’re always on the lookout for the next professional hookup, people will take offense. “When people spend 50 percent of the time looking over my shoulder, I don’t feel warm and fuzzy,” says Sally Haver, a senior vice president at The Ayers Group, an HR consultancy in New York City.
3. Take Time to Make a Real Connection
When you and a new acquaintance seem attuned, take time to explore how you might help each other out. “A lot of people figure that coming back from a networking opportunity with just one contact makes it a failure,” Horowitz says. “But my hour with one good contact makes it a success.”
4. Make Your Case for Building a Relationship
Recognize that if you’re between jobs, you probably have more discretionary time than most of your valuable networking contacts do. “People are overrun with requests,” Haver says. “Unless there’s a compelling reason for someone to meet with you, they won’t make the time.” So work hard to make yourself useful.
5. Exchange Stories
Don’t forget that you are more than the professional objective at the top of your resume. “Networking is about telling your story, describing your human competitive advantage -- what you do that nobody else can do,” Akande says. And ask a new contact to tell you her story. “At the start of a professional relationship, I ask questions to get unique pieces of information about the person,” Haver says.
6. Respond to Others’ Challenges
There’s no better way to establish a business networking relationship than to contribute to the solution of your new contact’s pressing problem. “If someone states a challenge that they’re facing, respond -- no later than the next morning -- with something of value that addresses their issue,” says John Felkins, president of Accelerant Consulting Group , an organizational development consultancy in Bartlett, Tennessee.
7. Set Yourself Up for the Next Contact
If you intuit that a new contact will have lasting value, start building a bridge to your next exchange before you say your first good-bye. “I ask people what they’re working on right now, which gives me a segue to another contact,” says Akande. “I make notes so that the next time I can say, ‘You mentioned in our last conversation…’”
8. Make Yourself Useful, Again and Again
“If you consistently position yourself as a resource to others -- fellow college alums, former colleagues -- it will make you more valuable to your contacts, and, in turn, their contacts, as time goes by,” says Amanda Guisbond, an account executive in the Boston office of PR agency Shift Communications.
9. Don’t Forget Social Media
Social media are powerful tools for professional networking when used judiciously. But spam is distasteful no matter what the social medium du jour. So be selective, and use virtual contacts to supplement, not supplant, face-to-face meetings. As Horowitz puts it: “Social networking is deeply reinforced by an in-person connection.”
10. Mind These Three Watchwords for Quality
Looking for a slogan to sum up quality networking? Try Haver’s: Selectivity, discretion, mindfulness.
In this age of metrics, it’s tempting for job hunters to seek solace in the sheer numbers of their effort: 200 job postings answered, 300 resumes mailed, 400 business cards collected for the purposes of professional networking.
But if you think about how these brute-force employment campaigns affect the professional on the other side of the desk -- the HR recruiter, the networking contact in a powerful position -- it quickly becomes apparent that the rack-up-the-numbers networker is on the wrong track. That’s because these days employers are looking to select a very few outstanding professionals from a tidal wave of good people who just want a job.
So in the end, the quality-oriented networker, the thoughtful individual who always tries to give better than he gets, should have the advantage. Here are 10 points to keep in mind as you emphasize quality over quantity in your professional networking.
1. Quantity Is a Turnoff
If you hand out business cards like you’re dealing poker, most folks will fold. “People don’t want to do business with a card thruster,” says Shel Horowitz, a marketing consultant in Hadley, Massachusetts. In fact, speed networking probably does not yield the best return on your investment of time. “Quantity networkers are forgettable individuals,” says Benjamin Akande, dean of Webster University’s George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology. “If a guy is just looking for his next consulting contract, I don’t want to know him.”
2. Don’t Work the Room
Don’t kid yourself: If you’re always on the lookout for the next professional hookup, people will take offense. “When people spend 50 percent of the time looking over my shoulder, I don’t feel warm and fuzzy,” says Sally Haver, a senior vice president at The Ayers Group, an HR consultancy in New York City.
3. Take Time to Make a Real Connection
When you and a new acquaintance seem attuned, take time to explore how you might help each other out. “A lot of people figure that coming back from a networking opportunity with just one contact makes it a failure,” Horowitz says. “But my hour with one good contact makes it a success.”
4. Make Your Case for Building a Relationship
Recognize that if you’re between jobs, you probably have more discretionary time than most of your valuable networking contacts do. “People are overrun with requests,” Haver says. “Unless there’s a compelling reason for someone to meet with you, they won’t make the time.” So work hard to make yourself useful.
5. Exchange Stories
Don’t forget that you are more than the professional objective at the top of your resume. “Networking is about telling your story, describing your human competitive advantage -- what you do that nobody else can do,” Akande says. And ask a new contact to tell you her story. “At the start of a professional relationship, I ask questions to get unique pieces of information about the person,” Haver says.
6. Respond to Others’ Challenges
There’s no better way to establish a business networking relationship than to contribute to the solution of your new contact’s pressing problem. “If someone states a challenge that they’re facing, respond -- no later than the next morning -- with something of value that addresses their issue,” says John Felkins, president of Accelerant Consulting Group , an organizational development consultancy in Bartlett, Tennessee.
7. Set Yourself Up for the Next Contact
If you intuit that a new contact will have lasting value, start building a bridge to your next exchange before you say your first good-bye. “I ask people what they’re working on right now, which gives me a segue to another contact,” says Akande. “I make notes so that the next time I can say, ‘You mentioned in our last conversation…’”
8. Make Yourself Useful, Again and Again
“If you consistently position yourself as a resource to others -- fellow college alums, former colleagues -- it will make you more valuable to your contacts, and, in turn, their contacts, as time goes by,” says Amanda Guisbond, an account executive in the Boston office of PR agency Shift Communications.
9. Don’t Forget Social Media
Social media are powerful tools for professional networking when used judiciously. But spam is distasteful no matter what the social medium du jour. So be selective, and use virtual contacts to supplement, not supplant, face-to-face meetings. As Horowitz puts it: “Social networking is deeply reinforced by an in-person connection.”
10. Mind These Three Watchwords for Quality
Looking for a slogan to sum up quality networking? Try Haver’s: Selectivity, discretion, mindfulness.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Why Women Need a Sponsor for Career Development
By Margot Carmichael Lester, Monster Contributing Writer
Think you’re all set because you get great career guidance from a mentor? Think again. A Catalyst survey found that women who have mentors are less likely to be promoted than women with sponsors. That’s because sponsors help you identify and take advantage of career opportunities.
After reviewing several data sets and interviewing high-potential men and women, researchers found that men are more likely to have sponsors -- mentors who advise and advocate, using their sway to help protégés land high-level assignments and positions. Because women typically don’t have mentors, they don’t advance as far or as fast.
“Everyone’s heard of the importance of having a mentor who gives advice and how to develop, but a sponsor helps you get ahead,” says Christine Silva, director of research at Catalyst and the study’s co-author. “He or she is someone who’s senior in your organization who will advocate on your behalf for development and promotion opportunities.”
Strategic Partnership
Sponsorship is more strategic, less developmental than mentoring, according to Steve Langerud, director of professional opportunities at DePauw University. “The role of sponsor is to ask what you can do for an employer, not what can be done to develop you as a person and/or professional,” he says. “The focus is on creating, demonstrating and leveraging work product that can be used to position you for advancement either internally or externally.”
By helping you find projects or job openings that will help you advance, sponsors take a more active role in your career development. They advocate for you, assist you in gaining visibility in your company and industry, and fight to help you rise through the ranks.
“My sponsor kept her ear to the ground for better job openings, and she really pushed my [participation] in education and volunteer activities that both directly and indirectly benefited me professionally,” says Carolyn Evans, a PR professional in Chapin, South Carolina. “When my professional growth at my first job had peaked, she suggested I volunteer for a nonprofit, knowing they would be adding positions in the new year. I ended up landing a job with that organization, which led to my next job, too.”
Business Intelligence
So how do you identify a professional who can help get you to where you want to go? Look for a senior-level person who has “the power and position to open doors for you,” Silva says. This person can be in your company, an influential member in your field or industry, or even a professor.
Los Angeles-based Ingrid Vanderveldt found her first sponsor, George Kozmetsky, while getting her MBA at the University of Texas in Austin. Kozmetsky was the school’s dean and well-connected in the technology world as the former CEO of Teledyne. (In fact, he mentored Michael Dell). With an interest in technology, Vanderveldt sought him out. “He taught me the ropes,” says Vanderveldt, managing partner of Ingrid Vanderveldt LLC, a parent company for several entrepreneurial ventures. “And he introduced me to Admiral [Bobby Ray] Inman and convinced him to invest the first $50,000 I ever raised. Those two made my deal go.”
Joint Venture
Once you’ve identified a sponsor, you then have to show him why it’s worth his while to go to bat for you.
“You need to be excellent at your job and have the necessary skills and experience under your belt,” Silva says. This is why you may still want a mentor to provide the business coaching you need to build the correct competencies.
Some ways to get noticed include:
Once you’ve got a sponsor, remember it’s a two-way street. “Know how you can act in service to them,” Vanderveldt says. “And if you don’t know, ask.”
Of course, the best payoff for your sponsor is to see you achieve your goals. “Sure, sponsors know of great jobs that pay a ton or projects that will get you noticed,” Evans says. “But they’re more than a personal job-posting board. They want you to succeed.”
Think you’re all set because you get great career guidance from a mentor? Think again. A Catalyst survey found that women who have mentors are less likely to be promoted than women with sponsors. That’s because sponsors help you identify and take advantage of career opportunities.
After reviewing several data sets and interviewing high-potential men and women, researchers found that men are more likely to have sponsors -- mentors who advise and advocate, using their sway to help protégés land high-level assignments and positions. Because women typically don’t have mentors, they don’t advance as far or as fast.
“Everyone’s heard of the importance of having a mentor who gives advice and how to develop, but a sponsor helps you get ahead,” says Christine Silva, director of research at Catalyst and the study’s co-author. “He or she is someone who’s senior in your organization who will advocate on your behalf for development and promotion opportunities.”
Strategic Partnership
Sponsorship is more strategic, less developmental than mentoring, according to Steve Langerud, director of professional opportunities at DePauw University. “The role of sponsor is to ask what you can do for an employer, not what can be done to develop you as a person and/or professional,” he says. “The focus is on creating, demonstrating and leveraging work product that can be used to position you for advancement either internally or externally.”
By helping you find projects or job openings that will help you advance, sponsors take a more active role in your career development. They advocate for you, assist you in gaining visibility in your company and industry, and fight to help you rise through the ranks.
“My sponsor kept her ear to the ground for better job openings, and she really pushed my [participation] in education and volunteer activities that both directly and indirectly benefited me professionally,” says Carolyn Evans, a PR professional in Chapin, South Carolina. “When my professional growth at my first job had peaked, she suggested I volunteer for a nonprofit, knowing they would be adding positions in the new year. I ended up landing a job with that organization, which led to my next job, too.”
Business Intelligence
So how do you identify a professional who can help get you to where you want to go? Look for a senior-level person who has “the power and position to open doors for you,” Silva says. This person can be in your company, an influential member in your field or industry, or even a professor.
Los Angeles-based Ingrid Vanderveldt found her first sponsor, George Kozmetsky, while getting her MBA at the University of Texas in Austin. Kozmetsky was the school’s dean and well-connected in the technology world as the former CEO of Teledyne. (In fact, he mentored Michael Dell). With an interest in technology, Vanderveldt sought him out. “He taught me the ropes,” says Vanderveldt, managing partner of Ingrid Vanderveldt LLC, a parent company for several entrepreneurial ventures. “And he introduced me to Admiral [Bobby Ray] Inman and convinced him to invest the first $50,000 I ever raised. Those two made my deal go.”
Joint Venture
Once you’ve identified a sponsor, you then have to show him why it’s worth his while to go to bat for you.
“You need to be excellent at your job and have the necessary skills and experience under your belt,” Silva says. This is why you may still want a mentor to provide the business coaching you need to build the correct competencies.
Some ways to get noticed include:
- Asking your mentor to introduce you to key decision makers.
- Joining professional networks.
- Expressing interest in mentoring and leadership development programs.
- Requesting to be put on high-profile projects or high-visibility teams.
- Using your existing network to get introductions to top-level people.
- Attending industry and corporate events that draw high-level influencers.
- Volunteering for charitable or community activities that provide an opportunity to work alongside potential sponsors.
Once you’ve got a sponsor, remember it’s a two-way street. “Know how you can act in service to them,” Vanderveldt says. “And if you don’t know, ask.”
Of course, the best payoff for your sponsor is to see you achieve your goals. “Sure, sponsors know of great jobs that pay a ton or projects that will get you noticed,” Evans says. “But they’re more than a personal job-posting board. They want you to succeed.”
Monday, October 15, 2012
Making Sure Your Next Job Is the Best Fit
Six Questions All Job Seekers Should Ask
By Caroline M.L. Potter
Researching a company can tell you only so much about how your experience would be if you made the transition from candidate to employee. But there are things you can do during the interview process that will help you determine if the opportunity is truly right for you.
Career expert Deborah Brown-Volkman discusses six questions all job seekers should ask themselves when pursuing a position.
1. Who's the Boss?
If you're in contention for a job, you'll meet your future supervisor at some point. Pay close attention to how well you get along with this individual, as he will hold the key to your success -- and happiness -- in that position. Says Brown-Volkman, "If you notice on the interview that your boss does not get you or you do not get him or her, this will not change once you start working there."
2. Do You Click or Clash with Future Coworkers?
Some people hate their jobs but love their colleagues so much that it overrides any unhappiness they have about their daily duties. However, just as these folks can make your work life great, they can also make it miserable. Ask to meet your potential teammates before accepting an offer. Brown-Volkman says, "If you sense there is a problem with someone you will be working with, listen to what your inner voice is telling you." First impressions are often correct impressions when it comes to future coworkers.
3. Who Are You Trying to Convince?
"Wanting to be selected by an employer sometimes makes us talk ourselves into a situation we might not have taken if we were thinking more clearly," says Brown-Volkman. But as much as employers are trying to determine if you're a fit, you should be trying to determine if the organization is a fit for you. Forget your ego, and focus on why, and how much, you really want any job.
4. What Matters Most to You?
Just like people, every company is different. What is permissible at one may be verboten at another. Before you get too deep into the interview process, understand your priorities. Do you require flexibility with your hours? The opportunity to work autonomously? The ability to telecommute from time to time? Know it and own it during a company courtship. "Deciding what you want ahead of time will give you the opportunity to ask questions to assess whether you really want the job," she states.
5. Is This Job Just Right, or Right Just for Now?
Your personal finances may dictate that you have to accept something less than your dream job. "I work with many clients who agreed to less-than-perfect positions believing they would stay for just one year," Brown-Volkman says. "But that one year frequently became two, and then more, even though the jobs were not satisfying." If you're taking a job just for now, plan your exit strategy. "An interim position is just that," she says. "Don't sell out for the long haul."
6. Who Are You Fooling?
Don't put on airs or make promises you can't keep when going after a job. Ultimately, you and your career will pay the price. "You may fool the people with whom you interview to get the job, but you will only be fooling yourself once you get there and you have to be someone else," Brown-Volkman says.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)