Holiday Parties and Networking

I saw this article and I wanted to share it with you all. I really like it when a fellow professional agrees with me. Click here Please note the first and third bullets. I always say that when you're in a job search you need to, "Be yourself and be prepared."


The final bullet point especially hits the mark. Ivan Mister is the author of this post and he's laid out his points in a simple and easy to do way. Just before Thanksgiving I posted "Football, Turkey & Networking..." that took on the subject from a different perspective.  Take the opportunity to network over the holidays and treat it like a business event. Make connections and follow up.

It's networking so remember to S-E-L-L

Smile, Engage, Listen, LinkedIn

Always smile it make you look confident and intelligent. Engage with the folks at the party or gathering. No one remembers a wall flower. Listen to them and make mental note. It's okay to ask for and offer to exchange business cards. This makes it easy to follow up using LinkedIn. So SELL yourself this holiday season and maybe you'll have a new job for Christmas.

Fear and Trepidation and the Darkside

To quote Master Yoda from Star Wars, "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering...”

In a job search or any aspect of career growth, acting out of fear is a losing proposition. Acting out of confidence is strength. When human beings live in fear, they are not seeing the world in its true light. We make mistakes in judgement and appear to others as afraid and desperate. This just doesn’t help you when you’re going for a new job or a promotion.

For my job seekers we talk in terms of landing a job. If we make land into an acronym:

L: LEARN. Learn all you can.  

A: APPRECIATE. Appreciate what you HAVE.  

N: NETWORK. NETWORK. NETWORK.

D: DON'T DOUBT. Don't doubt yourself, your skills, your abilities.

The D in LAND is an important, an essential point for anyone looking to succeed: staying positive and getting rid of stinkin’ thinkin’ and the worst kind of stinkin’ thinkin’ I know is living in fear.

Fear of failure is a struggle for many. Fear of success is a struggle for others. Yes, fear of success. Being unsure of your abilities is one thing, but being fearful that you won’t live up to others’ expectations is a set up for failure. If interviewers are just getting to know you, you cannot entertain those doubts and fears. It’s poison.

So have faith, You will LAND, you will succeed. Surround yourself with people who build you up. Ask those who can help you, to help you. Be positive: when you’re asked, “How’s it going?’ say, “Outstanding! fantastic, life is good!” And smile, even when you don’t feel like it. Sing or hum a happy song and don’t let fear lead you to the darkside.

Football, Turkey & Networking "Time for a SALE"

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and people are travelling all around America to celebrate the holiday with friends and family. This year the Thanksgiving NFL game with the Lions promises to be enjoyable even for Detroit fans. But for job seekers, large get-togethers are often dreaded. “What do I say to people when they ask me, ‘What’s up, or how’s work?’” runs through many job seekers’ minds.

Yet the coach says, “What a great opportunity to network with people on your list. What a great time to add people to your contact list.” Let’s face it, to career coaches, Thanksgiving (in fact all holidays) are a fantastic opportunity to network. Just remember to 

S-A-L-E (Smile, Ask, Listen, & Eat).

Smile, be warm, welcoming and friendly. Even if you’re visiting and not the host take on the attitude of a gracious host. Greet people upon arrival, the host and hostess are probably busy with everyone so help them out. Smiling will help you to feel good and makes those around you want to smile too.

Ask questions upon your arrival and the arrival of the other guests; engage with everyone at the gathering. Trust in the fact that people like to talk about themselves and will tell you more than you want to know. But they will also tell you things that could help your job search. Remember to ask them about work and things in their community. Trust that they will appreciate someone actually asking about them. When you’re asked about yourself, everything is great!!! The job search is running smoothly and you have some great opportunities... only now isn’t the best time to talk about it, Detroit just scored.

Listen to what everyone says. Listen to responses and look for things that are of interest to your job search. But!!! don’t jump in with a pitch for why you’d be a great candidate to solve the problems they have at work. Mostly they’re trying to forget about work for a couple days. Be supportive and make mental notes. Then ask more questions looking for common interests and listen some more.

Eat your dinner in small bites so that when someone asks you questions about your situation, you don’t choke. Or you don’t have to chew for another 30 seconds and swallow and miss the opportunity to share an interesting insight, story or anecdote. Relax over dinner, you’re not there to give your elevator speech or hand out your resume or handbill. You’re there to celebrate and express thanks for all your blessings.

Then after Thanksgiving, follow up and call the friends and family you saw; use LinkedIn to connect or reconnect. Ask the local folks for some time to meet and discuss what’s going on in your job search; ask for some help and advice. You can utilize the three networking questions then... not over Thanksgiving dinner.

Hopefully during and after dinner you’ll realize all the blessings you have in your life. Maybe things aren’t 100% wonderful... but you’re alive, you’re loved and you probably had some good food, drink and conversation. And who knows maybe the Lions will win a Thanksgiving game this year.

Speak Slowly and Carry a Good Story

Sister played by Whoppi Goldberg 

In 5th grade, Sr. Mary Armond taught us about President Teddy Roosevelt and I remember learning about his foreign policy that was encapsulated in the quotation: "Speak softly and carry a big stick...” However, there was more to this quotation. He added, “...you will go far." 

This worked for Teddy and it can also work for someone who’s looking for a new job. For interviews, Teddy might have made a little tweak to his trademark phrase: “speak slowly and carry a good story, you will go far.” This is really an important consideration in communicating your value to an interviewer. If you have any kind of speech issue this is even more important. I have clients who were not born in this country and have an accent. When they talk to someone who isn’t used to their accent, they are hard to understand. Additionally, when we are nervous we have the tendency to speak faster than normal. Added to an accent, you could lose an opportunity that is a perfect fit because the interviewer doesn’t know what you’re saying. 

Slowing down is a technique I use when I deliver a presentation. I’ll slow down the pace of my speech when I come to a key point I want to impress on my audience. You can also do this in an interview. Having a well practiced and rehearsed set of stories will help you slow down your speech. I recommend using a S-A-R format. Delivering the key point of a story without a lot of extra talking is the best reason to tell stories this way. Situation (what was the problem you fixed), Action you took and Results that you obtained. This format also promotes conversation with the interviewer rather than you carrying on a monologue.  

A good story really needs a good ending more than it need a lot of detail. Think about how an interview works. Most people want to tell all the facts of what the problem or situation was and then move into lots of complicated actions they took. Often people will completely forget to state the end of the story and fail to relate the results.
 

Being too specific in telling a success story forces the listener to picture the exact situation you’re describing. But isn’t that want you want to do? Not really. You really want to tell a story in a way that gets the interviewer to see you doing the same thing for their company. If you leave out the detail, the interviewer will interject his or her own environment into your story. So leave out the name of the companies in your stories. Leave out names of proprietary tools, specific cities, total numbers of lines of code, color of people’s clothes or the name of the divisional VP. If you drop a name, they cannot picture themselves in the story.  

So speak slowly and carry a good story and you’ll be successful.