Job Seeker's Handbook: Don't Advertise What You're Not Selling

Education, family, the workplace, the Internet - there's a lot of information out there about how to be a good employee, but did anyone ever teach you how to be unemployed? This is another installment of an ongoing series of advice from people who have been there.

A resume when done properly is a marketing document, a story written to show a potential employer the triumphs and outstanding career feats that have brought you to the logical conclusion that the job you're applying for is the obvious next step for you and the solution to that company's problems.

Employers don't like to sift through the entirety of a person's years of experience trying to figure out how they might be a fit for their company. If you don't spell out clearly what you can - and want to! - do for them, they will pass you by.

Tip #2

Don't advertise what you're not selling.

Just because you do something well, and have been successful with it in the past, doesn't mean that you should highlight it in your resume. For example, if you worked in a call center but disliked the one-on-one customer service aspect, don't play up the customer compliment awards you received but do highlight how you streamlined a computer process or were lauded for the accuracy of your documentation. If you want to be seen for your managerial skills, don't talk about how the office counted on you to make coffee and fill the copier with paper, detail how you took on a project or organized a meeting. If your background is in show biz, but you want to make a change to a more office-oriented environment, think about how you can highlight the skills you gained in the context of the business world, and leave out the industry jargon.

If you're not sure whether your resume aligns with the types of jobs you aspire to, have someone who doesn't know you look at the resume and tell you what type of job they think you'd be applying for. You might be surprised to learn what pitch your marketing document is making.

Job Seeker's Handbook: Don't Wait!

Education, family, the workplace, the Internet - there's a lot of information out there about how to be a good employee, but did anyone ever teach you how to be unemployed? This is the first installment of an ongoing series of advice from people who have been there.

When a job comes to an end, it can be easy to find yourself stunned and dazed. Looking at a buyout offer, a severance check or an unemployment award letter can take the pressure off, giving you a chance to breathe and a few months before paying the bills will be a problem. Some people use it as an opportunity to take time off.

Tip #1: Don't wait. 

Yes, by all means, take a short breather if you need to, a week or two, think about what your next step might be, and work through the emotions associated with whatever happened to bring your career to a temporary halt. But be careful of taking too long, and extending that time beyond what you should.

Why?

• It will take time to land another job. Employers, mindful of the cost of a poor hiring decision, are taking longer to make decisions than they have historically. There are often multiple rounds of interviews, tests and even assignments. In the same time that you spent interviewing with 5 or 6 companies in the past, you may be lucky to interview with 1 or 2. 
• You risk creating a gap on your resume that gets more difficult to explain as it expands. Job interviews can be nerve-wracking under the best of circumstances - why make it harder?
• Employers want workers who have their head in the game and are ready to jump in with both feet. If you're in the groove of scheduling meetings (interviews), getting reports (resumes) out on time, drumming up business (job leads) and treating the hours of 9-to-5 like business hours, you're more likely to present yourself as someone who can make a smooth transition than someone who's gotten used to sleeping late and watching TV until noon.
• In our culture we tend to define ourselves by our jobs, so the further we get away from doing that activity on a regular basis, the less confident we feel and act. Put yourself in the employer's shoes: would you want to hire someone who's unsure of themselves, or someone who presents confidence that they can get the job done? The more connected you are with the memory of yourself as a working professional, the easier it will be to sell yourself as one.
• The longer you wait to ask friends and family for help, the harder it is. Yes, pride will be a factor. How many job seekers have heard that awful line, "You still haven't found a job?" or some form of it! Your network will also need time to understand what you're looking for (yes, not everyone understands what you do, even when it seems like it should be perfectly obvious), and to get feedback from their network.
• If you're tapping in to government resources, like unemployment payments or state-sponsored training, that takes time too. You may run into unexpected delays due to paperwork that's required, or you may miss the start of classes by putting off investigating your options, for example. Contact your local EDD or WorkSource center as soon as you know you're looking for a job (even if you're still employed) so that you will know what's available to you and what's required.

Instructors in the LA Fellows program will assign "action steps" to help the participants keep momentum. In our experience, the LA Fellows who land fastest are the ones who jump on the job search the fastest, try everything they know to do, are open to learning. Getting employed takes time. Start now, treat your job search like a job, and be prepared to put in a full week of search related tasks and activities every week. And don't wait.

LAVC Offering Free Classes for Career Advancement

 

For those who aren't in our current Cohort of LA Fellows, LA Valley College is offering another FREE resource to brush up on job seeking skills and get a leg up on your next career move. This class is open to anyone: former Fellows, potential Fellows, students, or interested members of the community, regardless of your current employment status. See the information on the flyer below or go to www.lavc.edu to register. Classes start September 5th, 2014.

 

Top 10 Reasons A Job Seeker Might Need LA Fellows

10. You know there has to be a better way to move yourself out of unemployment than answering job postings on the internet, but you're not sure what it is.

9. The closest you come to using social media in your job search is borrowing your neighbor's newspaper when they're finished.

8. You break out in a cold sweat at the thought of "networking."

7. You've heard so many different opinions on your resume, you're not sure what's right anymore.

6. You've started to avoid people who might ask how your job search is going because you don't have anything new to tell them.

5. It's been months since you had an interview.

4. When you splurge on Starbucks, you're more excited about being around other people than you are about the coffee.

3. You're starting to think that you aren't applying for the right positions.

2. You tell time based on which daytime talk show is on.

1. You're still reading this...

If what you're doing isn't giving you the results you're looking for, it's time to try something new. The LA Fellows program has a proven track record of helping people move out of unemployment faster through a unique combination of training and project-based volunteerism. LA Fellows helps you focus your job search and add new skills as you continue to search. Come to our orientation, listen, ask questions and decide for yourself if this might be helpful for you; see our orientation schedule here: www.lafellows.org/apply.

Are you ready to change for the better?

That Something Extra

A recruiter called our office recently asking if we knew of any job seekers that knew shorthand for a position that she needed to fill immediately where the candidates would be taking notes for board meetings. She has a deep rolodex of contacts but was having difficulty finding someone who could take fast, detailed, accurate notes. I checked the resumes of recent LA Fellows and found that we didn't have anyone who included that in their skill set.

She related a story of a job she landed earlier in her career. As she sat in the interview taking questions thrown at her from more than one interviewer, she took notes in Gregg shorthand. The manager asked what she was writing. She responded that she was writing down not just the questions asked but her answers so that she could refer to them later. The manager asked her to read back the last question and answer, which she did, word for word. He was impressed. She was hired on the spot.

The moral of this story?

(No, the moral is not necessarily "learn shorthand" - although it is a handy skill to have.)

The moral is two-fold:

1.) Cultivate skills that are valuable to the needs of the employer, that make you stand out from the crowd. Think about your target career, the challenges of that industry and even the future of where it's going. Think about jobs that might be consolidated in the event of an economic downturn and who would most likely be kept to fill those. If you're looking to take classes to get into a new field, consider: if there are a flood of programs for a particular skill, and a flood of students for those classes, what will the market be for that skill by the time you finish and how will employers pluck YOU from that sea of new faces?

2.) Let employers know about your skills. Include it in your Additional Accomplishments section of your resume, and make sure it's mentioned on your LinkedIn page. If it's relevent to the type of work you do, make sure people know about it. Make it easy to answer the question "Why should we hire YOU?"

One More Orientation Added for LA Fellows Cohort 9

One additional LA Fellows orientation has been added for the class that will begin training on January 13th, Cohort 9. We are looking for unemployed midcareer professionals who are motivated, hard-working and enthusiastic, with solid work experience, who are looking for their next career opportunity.

LA Fellows receive free professional training covering executive level topics including advanced job search techniques, critical thinking, negotiating, and advanced computer skills. LA Fellows also volunteer their time and talents by sharing their professional expertise at local nonprofit organizations through meaningful project based roles. Throughout the program, LA Fellows will gain invaluable career growth skills, job search assistance, and receive the opportunity to give back to the community while they seek full-time employment.

Interested job seekers will need to attend the orientation in order for their application to be considered.

When: 
Friday, January 3rd, 9:00am. Be prepared to stay two hours.

Where:               
Los Angeles Valley College
5800 Fulton Avenue – Job Training
Valley Glen, CA 91401-4096
Located in Administration Building         

Parking:              
Free parking in Lot B at the corner of Oxnard St. and Fulton Ave.

Additional information may be found on our website, www.lafellows.org.

Top Ten Signs your Job Search is On the Right Track

10. Your doctor says you’re more rested and healthy than he’s ever seen you.

9. You know where your former supervisors are, but not in a creepy internet stalker kind of way.

8. You have more meetings now than when you were working, only without the lame Power Point presentations.

7. Your kids are asking YOU for tips on building their social media brand

6. The non-profit organization you work for has named you volunteer of the month.

5. You take weekends off to catch up on all the TV and errands you haven’t had time for.

4. All your neighbors know what you do for a living and what your target companies are.

3. People miss you when you’re not at the professional association meetings.

2. You keep running out of thank you notes.

1. You’re finally happy with your resume.

Mary Turner
LA Fellows Cohort 7

Why Join LA Fellows?

It’s a fair question for people considering applying for LA Fellows to ask: What’s in it for me? If I spend those 140 hours in classes, and that 100 hours at a non-profit organization doing volunteer work, what do I get out of it? It takes away from spending that time actually looking for a job, doesn’t it?

As a graduate of Cohort 7 I can tell you LA Fellows is well worth the time spent.

Prior to starting the program, I was spending hours every day hunched over my laptop scanning for job postings and sending out resumes, with nary an interview to show for it. I assumed it was the economy, the fact that hundreds of resumes are received for every job posted. I went to the Work Source centers and invariably found myself in line next to someone looking sad and defeated who said, as if scripted, “I’ve been out of work for over a year.” I had begun to believe that that was just the reality in 2013. I had begun to believe that I would have to continue on this way until, as if by magic, some soulless employer with a job that paid even less than my previous one, and had nothing to do with my goals in life, called and agreed to let me serve a portion of my existence in their employ.

It seemed pretty bleak.

Through LA Fellows, I found that I was only doing 25% of what I could have been doing to find a job. Yes, the internet is one tool that everyone should use, but it’s not the only tool and certainly not as effective overall as other things one could be doing. The instructors de-mystified things like social media (Did you know you can get a job through Twitter?) and taught me about building my online brand as a job searcher. I learned that networking is not a four-letter word (I used to be so much better at spelling and math – what happened?) and it’s not as intimidating as it sounds, especially if you bring a friend. And I never would have thought to “bother” a stranger by calling/emailing them to ask to tap into their expertise through a short informational interview. All of these things help to make an individual more the known candidate, tap into the hidden job market and cut through the suck effect of the black hole that is the internet job search.

In addition, I got help on my resume. Prior to starting the program, I had gotten lots of free advice on what I should say and how I should format it. But many of the “experts” in person, in print and online, gave conflicting information. No version seemed markedly better than another. In class, Lynnette gave us sensible counsel on what the resume should look like and why. As a group, we got to know what each person’s experience was, what their strengths are, and where they wanted to take their careers; we helped each other translate that for potential hiring managers. I learned to stop advertising what I wasn’t selling, but to instead focus the document to play up the strengths I *did* want to use in my next position. We learned to change bullet-pointed duties to actual accomplishments, even when we took it for granted that we had none.

In LA Fellows, I met and got to know amazing people that I hope I stay in touch with for the rest of my life. Seeing myself through their eyes was a revelation, and a boost to my sometimes-lagging self-esteem. My spirits were raised because we laughed a LOT. When we struggled, or broke down in tears (yes, that’s how close we got), there was always a strong shoulder, Kleenex and help to move forward. Unlike before I joined, I no longer feel alone in this journey; they understand even better than family and friends because they’re right there on the path next to me. I frequently send job leads to my classmates that seem to match what they’re looking for, and they do the same for me. Did I mention we laugh a lot too?

I see the results of working the program, even now so soon after our graduation: Fellows landing jobs, getting more interviews, meeting interesting and influential people, finding the career path they want instead of the one they went down because it was there. I don’t panic when others succeed because I know it will happen for me too, thanks to everything we learned and thanks to the support of the program, the instructors and my fellow Fellows.

One caveat: you have to be willing to say “yes” to the opportunities offered and do the work. It’s a chance to learn (free for you!) a better way to job search. You just have to be open to it, and give it a try. If some part doesn’t work for you, you don’t have to keep using it, but you’ll have that resource if you need it.

So, will we see YOU at the next orientation?

Mary Turner

LA Fellows, Cohort 7

Accountability

I have a box of comic strips I’ve collected over the years that make me laugh. One strip dates back to the last time I was unemployed. The recently laid off hero of the strip is shown typing at his home computer in the first panel looking fresh and professional, thinking “Scan all recent job postings…” That panel is labeled First Week. The second panel is Fifth Week. He has traded the dress shirt for a T-shirt, his face is stubbly and he stares at the newspaper pondering “Which sounds cooler, CIO or COO?” By the third panel, Week Eleven, still stubbly, he’s kicked back on the sofa, in the same rumpled T-shirt, hair looking shaggy, eating potato chips and thinking “Oh, what would Mayberry do without you Andy?” as the TV blares in front of him.

Does this sound familiar?

When we’re punching the proverbial time clock, there’s always someone or something keeping us accountable for staying on task, whether it’s a client calling, another widget coming your way down the conveyor belt, or the reminder that your review is coming up. Too often when we lose our jobs we find ourselves alone at home with no structure, no set schedule and no one to say, “Is that resume ready yet?” or “Did you research your list of target companies today?” It’s easy to succumb to the siren song of that big box in the kitchen  that lights up when you opens its door and hums appreciatively afterwards, or that wicked temptress of the internet known as Hulu (Did you know they have 58 full episodes of Project Runway – FREE?).

Without accountability, it’s easy to get sloppy and waste time as you lose focus on your job search. Being a part of LA Fellows is a great way to get back on track and keep your eyes on what’s going to move your search forward. Having those 3-4 days per week where you have to get dressed in your work attire (most cohorts agree that PJ’s and bunny slippers are not acceptable), be on time and be engaged really helps to put you back in the headspace of being a professional with a mission.

Moving on when those classes are over is easier too. There are classmates who are willing to check in once a week for coffee and an accountability meeting: we’ll practice interview questions, go over updated resumes (we’re still working on out non-profit internships --- brand new bullet points to add!), update each other on progress, and brainstorm on how to get over the snags we may hit along the way. You can reach out to other jobseekers too, whether from other cohorts, job clubs at LAVC or the Work Source centers, or if there was a layoff at your last job you can reach out to former coworkers and help each other through this new adventure of unemployment. As long as you don’t let it devolve into a “woe is me” whine fest or gripe session, and you focus on the goal, accountability sessions are a wonderful tool.

For Cohort 7 there are weekly accountability emails to our caseworkers at EDD, CC’d to Allison and Keri at LA Fellows describing our job search activities and what we’re doing to work the program and move forward. Even if you never join LA Fellows, keeping your caseworker informed can be a great practice. They have resources you may not know of or have access to on your own. If you don’t have a caseworker, make a pact with an unemployed friend to exchange an email at a set time every week. The act of writing it alone helps. Even if you’re not going to ‘fess up to the Mayberry marathon in print, you’ll think about it and be more averse to taking on that guilt the next week.

Mary Turner

LA Fellows Cohort 7