The two articles below, submitted by
CoSIDA Job Seekers Committee Chair Lawrence Fan (San Jose State) offer information and tips to help professional with job search success and staying relevant in your workplace. These are excellent tips to being the New Year and offer athletic communicators the chance to reassess their work and career path at the mid-point of the academic year.
Stay Current and Forge Links to Drive Your Career
by Adelia Cellini Linecker via Investors.com
Getting a job in this economy is no easy feat. So when you do land a decent one, you want to work twice as hard to keep it while striving for your long-term career goals.
Learn to stay focused and nurture great workplace relationships to create your career path.
• Stay curious. Andrea Kay, a Cincinnati-based career coach, says think about questions for yourself and the people around you.
"Ask yourself: What is new in my field?" she told IBD. "What are people in my industry saying that will help me stay fresh, updated and ahead of everybody else? What are the new problems the world is facing that will affect the work I do?"
• Stay current. Learn about new laws that will affect your industry. Stay abreast of trends that might
boost business. Talk to your boss about what you've learned. "This makes you more valuable to your boss and company, and it keeps your career on track," Kay said.
In "5 Necessary Skills to Keep Your Career on Track," author Richard Pearson quotes former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who said, "Take charge of your career or someone else will."
Noted Pearson: "You need to ... recognize what's going on around you and take action if you want to maintain continuous employment and upward career movement."
• Check in. Create a mentoring relationship with your boss by asking for consistent feedback. Know where you stand. Don't wait for the annual review. Get feedback several times during a project.
"It can be formal or informal," Kay said. "You can casually ask how you are doing and if you are delivering what they need in the way that they were expecting."
Also foster ties with experienced co-workers, Pearson noted: "A mentor can assist you to navigate the corporate minefields and positions you to move ahead in the organization."
• Character counts. People come and go in the workplace. They often value your attitude as much, if not more, than your smarts. When things go south and you want to vent out loud, resist the urge.
If you develop a habit of complaining a lot, the negative attitude can be a real downer for everyone. Think in terms of solutions.
Be mindful of how you deliver negative news. Be truthful and respectful.
"Develop a sixth sense of how your words land on people," Kay said. "Have an awareness, develop an observational third eye to see how what you just said has affected someone."
Job Search Success Takes Care and Feeding
by Amy Alexander via Investors.com
If you earned a college degree this year but are still steaming coffee or crashing at home while dreaming of more, a clear-cut plan can lead to success. The secret? Think like your employer, says HR coach William Holland.
"Companies today are looking for what immediate value can you contribute to their organization if they hire you," he told IBD. "They have to be convinced that, in the very short run, you bring to the table a skill set that will contribute to their bottom lines."
Need a job hunt pick-me-up?
• Tailor your resume. Streamline it to make the cut. "Your resume is not about you," said Holland, author of "Cracking the New Job Market." "Your resume is about what others want from you." For every job, reposition yourself to meet the exact demands of hiring managers.
• Cram. See a posting for a job you want? Scrutinize it. Use language from the ad to help you hone your resume.
"An unfocused resume is a little like fishing without bait," Holland said. "If you catch something, it is strictly by accident."
• Enchant. As founder and president of New York City communications firm Get Storied, Michael Margolis coaches pros on how to win folks over and build brands by telling others about themselves.
Great storytelling works for job hunts, too, particularly when you're writing online bios or sending cover letters, he teaches.
"Your perceived worth is directly tied to your personal story," he said. "The reason you get hired is people connect with you."
• Stay the course. Tempted to go to grad school to avoid that job search? It might not be worth the investment.
"More education, the hope is, will make you more competitive for the jobs that remain," Holland said. "Colleges and universities endorse this idea because they, like other businesses, are in a mad scramble for students and the revenue stream they represent. The truth is, there are no guarantees."
• Prepare to be searched. "People are Googling you, whether you like it or not," Margolis said. Steer the view. Become involved in meaningful online exchanges and yank those spring break profile pictures.
• Mine the details. Hiring managers are compelled by concrete action. Feed them exact numbers and give them perspective.
"Never assume that the connection between your experience and the company's needs is obvious," Holland said.
• Groom good words. "Don't be shy about coaching your references on what to say," Holland said. Send them a copy of the job description to give them direction.