Friday, March 27, 2009

Dealing with Stress

Loss of a job is in the “top” five life events which cause major stress. Job loss impacts ALL members of your family because it causes financial and life changes that were not anticipated.

When you lose a job, your entire routine changes....think about it....when you went to work, you got up at a certain time, had a morning routine, drove to work (or the vehicle was on auto-pilot and go you to work without you having any recall of the trip in), you entered your place of business through an assigned entrance, went to your work space, worked, went to lunch when you were suppose to, worked more, went home and started that routine, went to bed and started the routine over the next morning.

When your former employer said "goodbye", your entire routine was screwed up. In addition to the financial loss, you have no routine - this all adds up to stress.

To get through this challenging time, develop a personal stress management plan.

  1. Recognize stresses surrounding your job search. In another blog, there are suggestions as to how to plan your job search and when to do certain "things". Identify which tasks are "no big deal" and which ones "stress you out". Limit the time doing the stressful tasks to 30 minutes then change tasks and do something which is not stressful or is rewarding.
  2. Identify what, in your personal life, is adding to your stress. Try to identify how these stresses can be reduced. If you need help, you might consider talking to someone at your church, synagogue or temple - religious leaders are often trained in counseling techniques. Also see if your local employment office has certified counselors or social workers. Sometimes it takes someone outside your situation, to see an easy solution - let's face it - we are invested in our own lives whereas an outside party is neutral and has a clearer perspective.
  3. Make a household budget. List all your monthly obligations. Which of these expenses can you reduce? Can you reduce costs by using coupons? Can you average your utility payments? Can you ask your creditors to reduce your interest rates?
  4. Get moving! Physical activity increases chemicals which impact different parts of your brain - the parts which make you feel better.
  5. Learn and use relaxation techniques.
  6. Make a life plan–think about what you want to do with your life, set goals, develop a plan.
  7. Develop a job search plan - structure your time; practice time management and don’t forget schedule time for yourself.
  8. Get out of the house - make sure you spend time with family and friends who are supportive.
  9. Eat - but eat healthy, balanced and nutritious foods.
  10. Refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages - they are depressants.
  11. Refrain from caffeine.
  12. Laugh - daily humor and laughter in your life reduces stress. Watch a comedy (What About Bob always makes me laugh).
  13. Maintain your religious beliefs, social/family customs and daily routines.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Do you give out your Social Security Number?

I don't know about you, however I am uncomfortable giving out my social security number (SSN) on applications. My experience shows that some companies do not destroy old applications - they merely toss them in the dumpster. Think about it....you SSN as well as quite a bit of personal information are on applications - enough for someone to steal your identity.

Solution: Ask the receptionist if you can provide the last four numbers of the SSN or if you could use your driver's license number. A SSN is NOT needed for a reference or background check. However, your full legal name is needed, therefore give your full legal name on an application.

Truthfully, your SSN is not needed until you are filling out the W-2 for your new employer. I have found that by nicely asking the receptionist and explaining why you are making the request to use another identification number, is answered positively. Let's face it - most people have heard about the increase in identity theft and are most likely concerned too. People will most likely relate to your concern and let you use another number. HOWEVER....if you are allowed to substitute your SSN for another number - cross off the words "social security number" and write in "driver's license" or identify what number you used.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Behavioral Interviews

Behavioral interviews are, to me, the most difficult interviews (other than stress interviews). As an interviewer, I love behavioral interviews because the best indicator of future behavior is your past behavior. However, as an interviewee - I hate behavioral interviews because I tend to think in a big picture and don't obsess with little situations.

For example, I was recently asked "tell me about a time when you did not meet a deadline". My response, after a bit of pondering was "I have never missed a deadline - my projects are usually publicized and I don't have the opportunity to miss a deadline".

My personal bias is...I want to hire people who meet deadlines, therefore this should have been a great response in my mind. Former military people sometimes answer "failure is not an option" - another response I love and value. HOWEVER....these two answers are not "winning" answers. Why? They make the speaker look cocky, arrogant or too perfect. So what to do?????

Think smaller - to a specific time when you missed a deadline - such as submitting a report or having to put aside a smaller task to meet a more important task's deadline that was maybe given to you at the last moment.

When answering behavioral questions, remember the acronym S.T.A.R.

Star - briefly give the situation or scenario
Task - briefly state your tasks
Action - tell what actions you took
Result - and state the end result.

From the above example "tell me about a time when you missed a deadline" a good response would have been: "Recently I turned in a weekly report late. I was asked to do a special project which was due on the same date - the last day before vacation started. Since I was not allowed to work overtime, the weekly report had to wait and be turned in when I returned from vacation. Although the report was late, I turned it in within the first hour of reporting back to work and since there was a holiday involved, nobody was negatively impacted because they too, were on vacation.".

For more details, visit: http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_behavioral.html

Thursday, March 5, 2009

How to Fail and Make Yourself Miserable

If you don't want to get a new job, you don't want to have goals. Successful people have goals and commit them to paper. Write down what you want and where you want to go - if you don't, how will you know when you get there? When it comes to job hunting this means you must:
  • know your strengths
  • know your weaknesses
  • know how you can help a company make or save money (resources)
  • have a plan and
  • work you plan (that is why there is a calendar or planning blog in this series).

If you don't want a job, you will put off cold calling, networking, or you will continue to rewrite your cover letter and resume because it is 'not good enough'. We all know that job hunting is not the most fun thing we can do, but it can be if you re-frame it to be an adventure in meeting new people, learning about new companies and adding to your personal growth. Since many people do not like job hunting, they will procrastinate by making (invalid) excuses as to why they are not searching for a job.

If you don't want a job you will sit back and wait for the job to come to you. You may tell a few of your friends, send out a few resumes and cover letters for jobs found in the local newspaper and will have spent time surfing for websites (but in a haphazard way) that will post your resume, but all these are passive ways to look for a job. Successful job hunters get out there and hustle because they know job hunting is a participatory sport.

If you don't want a job, submit your cover letter, resume, application without researching the company or better yet, go to the interview unprepared. Successful job hunters take an interest in what other people and companies are doing. They learn about what is going on in various companies. They know their strengths and weaknesses and better yet, are working on improving their weak areas. Successful job hunters know about the companies they visit and let the interviewers know this. They go to interviews with additional resumes, pens (black and blue), they have business cards, they may have work samples or letters of reference. Successful people are clean and pressed - they come to an interview dressed to take on the day - they don't show up in clothes that are dirty, unpressed or ill fitting.

Common Job Hunting Myths

Even with today's economy and the shear number of layoffs, the following beliefs are just that, beliefs - they are not supported - they are myths we tend to believe.

  1. There are no jobs out there. In fact, there are jobs - you just need to know where and how to look. If you are relying on the classified ads and the Internet - you are right, there are no jobs out there FOR YOU! Relying on the classifieds and the Internet is a passive approach to job hunting and both have about a 1-7% success rate. A successful job hunter will network, cold call, research, and hustle - full time.
  2. If I work hard, get a good education and am loyal, I will have a good job. False! According to Levinson and Perry, in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, the best person does not usually get the job - the best person who interviewed the best and showed (s) he could contribute to the success of the organization, gets and keeps the job.
  3. You'll find a job by working with human resources. Nope - you will find a job seeking out and establishing a relationship with the DECISION MAKER. HR will gather the resumes, applications, etc and screen them (giving each about a 4-10 seconds glance) and pass on a few of the applicants' information to the decision maker.
  4. Most jobs are with big companies. Nope, most are with smaller companies - about 2/3 of the companies are smaller operations and in today's competitive marketplace, may actually provide more positives than one might think.
  5. Most employers won't talk to me if they don't have an opening. Most employers, actually the decision makers within a company or a chain of command to which you would report, are interested in finding people who have spunk or get up and go and will help them achieve their goals. Taking initiative to reach out and meet someone and ultimately help them means a great deal to most leaders.
  6. Most interviewers are well trained. Not true, especially if they do not have a skilled and knowledgeable HR manager or employment attorney.
  7. I haven’t ever worked for pay; I have nothing to put on my application and I certainly don’t have anything for a resume. False!!!! Volunteer work is work without pay. If you have volunteered, put it down. Parenting and running a household is work. Anything that involves work with or without pay has provided you with knowledge, skills and abilities that can be transferred to another work environment.
  8. There are good times and there are bad times to look for work. Anytime and all times are good times to look for work. Funding is here today and gone tomorrow. Never stop looking for work.
  9. Sending out 1000 resumes will surely get me a job. Now it will get you frustrated and spending unnecessary money. Learn how successful job hunters find jobs in the hidden marketplace. One good place is this blog. Another is to check out books that are listed in this blog.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Jobs that won't be offshored

According to Guerrilla Marketing for Job-Hunters by Jay Levinson and David Perry, (ISBN: 0-471-71484-4) the following industries will have jobs which will be difficult to impossible to offshore:
  1. Energy
  2. Preventive Health Care
  3. Security
  4. Military
  5. Government
  6. Insurance
  7. Consumer Financial Services
  8. Agriculture
  9. Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical

I personally add most of any type of health care practitioner as long as they need to physically see you. If the information can be electronically sent to another country, such as medical transcription, those jobs are at risk.

This may be the once in a lifetime opportunity to get some retraining. Meet with a career counselor to take some assessments and learn about different jobs then meet with the financial aid counselor. There are many grants and funds available and I believe more will become available, as more companies layoff employees who need retraining.