Come up with a Plan B career

February 8th, 2010

Unless you have a huge trust fund, you need a Plan B for your career.

And a Plan C or Z may be a smart idea too if you work for a newspaper, a competitor to Google or a sector you abhor or find a bore.

Sometimes you just discover a career path that seems to suit you better than the one you’re on, as Kate Heffley did about five years ago while working for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She’s the poster child for my latest Washington Post article on visualizing a career change and then taking several steps toward it.

Heffley wanted to move into corporate communications, so she decided to get a master’s in communications from American University to set herself aside from hoards of others seeking such jobs. That’s a major commitment to a career transition, but there are many other ways.

Consider these approaches:

Start a file called Plan B in your computer or mobile phone. Add ideas to it often - even those that seem far fetched or very difficult. Then when you have 15 minutes, go to the Occupational Handbook on the BLS site and read up on them. Or check out materials on a professional association website, blog or career article.  See my list of resources at the bottom.

List three to five skills you need for your Plan B career, and rank them so you know which matter most.  Then come up with a plan for developing each skill, one or two at a time.

Create a Plan B resume and see how it looks.  At first you may think you have nothing to put on it, but look again. What pieces of your last two jobs were stepping stones to the work you want?  What volunteer work have you done to build skills? How have you demonstrated talent or abilities already? And what else do you need to make the resume shine?

Among my Plan B options are work as a teacher or professor. Another is a motivational speaker and career coach.

I’m developing my CV in those areas little by little, by developing seminars and classes based on my writing and interests and by volunteering to help out at career events.  A few months ago, I assisted with speed interviewing. As a result of that I’ve been asked to another event offering eight minutes of career advice at the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.  And I’m teaching my first seminar at Washtenaw Community College at the end of February. (The subject: Making your age an advantage in the job hunt and career is something I’ve already written about extensively and am very interested in personally. If  you’re interested in more info or registering, check out WCC’s website.)

Even if you love your current occupation, as I do, it pays to plan for a backup. Life is full of ups and downs and surprises and carrying a flashlight or fallback occupation makes sense for almost any career path.

Still think small for more hiring prospects

January 27th, 2010

Small is beautiful. Small is resilient. Small is hiring.

Small employers are more likely to hire staff through the end of March than are large or medium sized firms. And they’re also less likely to reduce payroll with layoffs, according to a new Society for Human Resource Management survey.

Thirty percent of the smaller organizations - those 1 to 99 employees - expect to add to payrolls in the first quarter, nearly double the rate of  large ones, SHRM reports. Large organizations have 500 or more workers.

Small businesses have been consistently more hopeful in hiring expectations than mid-sized or major employers since SHRM launched its survey at the start of 2009.  Joseph Coombs, SHRM’s workforce trends and forecasting specialist, thinks that may be because large organizations made “quicker deeper cuts to their payrolls” and it may take them longer to ramp back up to hiring again.

My theory on this is different, and based partly on my personal experience growing up in a small business household (both Mom and Dad owned a business or two and now I co-own a seasonal one). Small business owners are closer to their customers and also more tied into their communities.  So they may see changes in their environment sooner than big business managers. And they may have less profit motive - and be more inclined to hire cousin Jose or Aunt Mary who’s been out of work for a while.  This is of course not a universal sentiment - but job seekers who can find an owner with a heart for their community may have a better chance of landing a job.

“The trend for increased employment is going in the right direction,” but remains weak, the National Federation of Independent Businesses reported in its monthly Index of Small Business Optimism.  One in 10 small business owners has job openings that they’re not able to fill right now - and that’s inched up in recent months.

Their optimism is almost 10 percent higher than it was at the low point of the economic problems, last March, but that doesn’t mean they’re feeling good. More than half say profits fell in the latest quarter. The NFIB surveyed 830 member- companies; most have 14 or fewer full- and part-time employees. For many more details on small business sentiment, read the NFIB report online.

About one in seven medium and large employers expect layoffs still - with the percent cutting tapering off, SHRM says. Layoffs are most likely for professional staff and managers in the first quarter, and least likely for skilled manual labor and unskilled manual workers, SHRM’s research shows. It’s based on a survey of 400 members, the human resources staff who are actively  involved in hiring and firing.

Besides the small is beautiful trend, SHRM has other good news on the hiring front: One third of organizations have hired back people they laid off earlier because of the tough economy. And 43 percent of HR managers express at least some optimism on the hiring outlook through the first quarter, a huge increase from a year ago.

The most optimistic HR managers were found in the Southeastern United States - half expressed hopes of job creation.

Overall, six in 10 employers  expect to keep staffing levels constant in the next two months.  That may leave a little room for posting openings, as people leave for new jobs or other reasons.  So be persistent and build your connections at organizations where you think you’ll thrive, whether they’re small or large.

Year after year, Fortune’s best of the best

January 26th, 2010

Consistency and longevity may not be rewarded on Wall Street, but they are attributes to admire and seek out. Especially if the longevity is on the Fortune magazine list of great workplaces.

Fortune’s list of the Best Companies to Work for is in its 13th year - and coincidentally, 13 organizations have made the grade every single year. Among them is this year’s No. 1 organization, SAS Institute,  a privately held software company outside of Raleigh, N.C. It’s described as a “paragon of perks” in the Fortune article.

Two other constant achievers come from the hotel and hospitality sector, a field where low wages and high turnover make it harder to imagine wonderful workplaces. The two standouts are Four Seasons and Marriott, which operates high and low end hotel chains.

And several retailers are on Fortune’s best list again and again, including Wegman’s, Nordstrom and Whole Foods.  It makes spending half a paycheck on fruit and a carryout dinner almost seem worthwhile.

Making it for every year since 1997 - through two serious economic downturns - makes them remarkable, and worth pointing out.  Yet Fortune offers another list worth checking - the nine organizations that have never had a layoff. Among them are Scotttrade and Publix Super Markets, which is employee owned and never laid off anyone in its 79 year history, Fortune says.

Every year when I see the Fortune list I consider whether I ought to apply for a job at one of their stellar companies. I could see myself toiling away at Dreamworks or REI or Boston Consulting Group. The magazine makes it easy to look for openings, by partnering with an online job search company to post openings right on its website.

Yet the point isn’t just to find great employers - though that is worthwhile especially for anyone who’s unemployed or underemployed. The point is to value those that are consistently good to their workers - whether we see them as businesses we want to work for or shop with or stay in their hotels.

Here’s the 13 of the “100 Best” that have been on the FORTUNE list all 13 years:

1.     Cisco Systems
2.     Four Seasons
3.     Marriott
4.     Microsoft
5.     Nordstrom
6.     Publix
7.     Recreational Equipment (REI)
8.     SAS Institute
9.     TDIndustries
10.  The Goldman Sachs
11.  W.L. Gore
12.  Wegmans
13.  Whole Foods

And if you don’t find an employer in your sector or your city, the Great Places to Work Institute offers up still more outstanding employers.  The Institute, which collaborates with Fortune on its list, also creates lists for smaller employers and companies in a variety of countries around the world. And it has a searchable database that gives you hundreds of great employers, from this year or previous years.

Fortune’s package this year also gives you a look at the best companies with 500 or more openings. These 22 companies have an estimated 87,000 openings - from financial advisor at Edward Jones to project managers and sales people at Cisco. When you’re browsing job listings, why not look for them at a best place to work company?




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Landing unpaid internships - making it pay off

January 26th, 2010

You don’t want to work for free, yet you really need the experience the internship will provide.

As many as one-third of all internships are unpaid - and probably more if you count all those informal volunteer projects that double as internships. Even some prestige organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and magazines rely on the student who wants to burnish their resume and reputation, even if they must burn through savings to do so.

So how do you make an unpaid internship work?

Start by doing some research to see if there are other options - some organizations offer both paid and unpaid opportunities. Or their competition may provide paid internships, and you could either cross over to that company or use that as ammunition to ask for some form of stipend.

To learn a lot of advice on locating and landing internships, check out my piece in the Washington Post from Sunday.

Yes, there’s a lot of competition for internships, but there’s also a lot you can do to sell yourself. And here’s some smart approaches to skip the no-salary all spring or summer.

“Talk to the HR Department. Say ‘I really can’t afford not to be paid for the summer.’ They may offer you a stipend or help you out,” said Carolyn Wise, editor of the Vault Guide to Top Internships. She started out as an intern at career information company five years ago.

Or the company may provide you with free housing for the summer or other perks, especially if you ask for some assistance, said Yazad Dalal, Vault.com’s executive vice president.  Among the possibilities I could see asking for are commuting costs, free meals (in the company cafeteria or elsewhere), a tuition reimbursement (if you’re earning credit for the work) or equipment such as a laptop or mobile phone.

Another great possibility: Go to your university career center. Almost 48 percent of colleges now offer some form of assistance to those taking unpaid internships, Wise said. Some have grants, tuition reimbursement, scholarships or special funds.

Most internship programs provide scholarships too, though they may not cover everything, said Mary Ryan, founder of the Washington Internship Institute.  Look to the financial aid department for assistance, or ask the program what it offers.

And there’s no law that says an intern cannot moonlight at a bar or club and bring in some cash after a day of helping plan children’s summer programs for their nonprofit internship. It will teach you a lot about time management and adaptability, too.

Here’s some other tips and advice on landing an internship - leftovers from my Washington Post piece :

  • Internship coordinator can be key ally. Write her early to introduce yourself and ask some questions. Then after your interview, thank her with a hand written note. “If you’re getting contacted by the Smithsonian, there are at least 20 others who aren’t being contacted,” said Tracie Spinale, who oversees the Smithsonian Institution’s 65 internship programs.
  • Check your recruiter out on Facebook. If you really clicked at the job fair, you may want to friend them. Otherwise, just join a professional group or two they’re already in, says DCinternNet co-founder Melinda Villagran. It expands your connection and also is “a backdoor way to show social media competency.”
  • Show your enthusiasm and your knowledge about the organization where you want to work, Spinale said. Tell how the Smithsonian’s programs will help your career and show that you’ve read up on it.

And remember, one key to making an internship pay off comes from the relationships you establish and the work experience you develop. So Vault.com’s Dalal said before you take the internship, make sure you’ll work with key players and will have some exposure to senior executives. Even if the pay is paltry or nonexistent, weigh the advantage of having “ a great company name show up on your resume early in your career.”

BONUS:

Here’s Vault.com’s 10 best internships for 2010:

Capital Fellows Programs

Garmin International

GE

Google, Inc.

Inroads, Inc.

J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank

KPMG

Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Smithsonian Institution

Steppenwolf Theatre Company




Class act: Choose well and create career momentum

January 13th, 2010

This year, just about everyone needs to become a Class Act. Even if they stay in their dining room and never head to a classroom to learn.

With all the e-learning options available, it’s easier than ever - and even free!

Free learning from some MIT and Stanford professors? And no-cost language lessons? Plus links to free e-books by F. Scott Fitzgerlad and Jules Verne and many others?

You’ll find all that - and many other riches of educational media online - at Open Culture, a blog and website that says it covers “free cultural and educational media on the web.”   I read about it in an AARP Bulletin article by Bill Hogan titled “How to Learn Just about Anything Online for Free.”  (The article offers a lengthy list of other  free resources that I may look at too, but for now, Open Culture seems like a golden gateway to learning.)

If you’re like most of us, the myriad options available - a smorgasbord of classes that wouldn’t fit in Michigan Stadium - actually could slow us down. How to choose from so many options? Which class will improve my life or enhance my career prospects? Which one will make a hiring manager take notice of my resume?

A  Washington Post piece I wrote a while ago offers some suggestions for making a great choice for your class, as you look to advance your career. If you need more advice especially on classes to help you shift into a new job, listen to these thoughts from career counselor Barbara Herzog:

“Talk to several people who are in the type of job you would hope to get. Over a cup of coffee, brief them on your background, education and training. Then ask if the courses you’re thinking of taking would make you an attractive candidate…  (Then) tell them your options for where you’d get the training.  Is one university better than another? If they don’t think a class or certificate would matter much, ask what training or experience would help you land a job in their field. This can be done in 20-30 minutes. Don’t be shy about asking someone for this advice: most people love to give it.”

She’s right - People want to give advice. But go prepared with some specific questions and respect their time by making the conversation clear, direct and brief - 30 minutes max.

Then browse the possibilities laid out at OpenCulture. Or check out the Lifelong Learning offerings at Washtenaw Community College - or your local continuing education catalogs.  The gateways are open and inviting you to become a Class Act.

iPhone for my next job

January 11th, 2010

If you’ve got 127 iPhone apps mastered, and ideas on which ones are still to be invented, you may be able to parlay your ideas and your sleek black phone into a new job.

For the iPhone was one of the fastest growing opportunity spots for 2009, according to Indeed, which collects job postings from myriad sites.

Its 10 top job trends of the year are outlined in a recent Indeed blog post - including Twitter, cloud computing, pediatrician and corporate social responsibility.

Fully half of the trends revolve around social media and Web 2.0 - in fact social media is No. 9.  That means you could work as a social media strategist or specialist. Among such jobs are openings at a nonprofit hospital in New York, a hotel in Las Vegas and a Christian organization in Washington state.

Blogger jobs are equally as diverse: You could be hired to write or create information  about history, movies or the iPhone or its apps.  After all there are more than 50,000 applications that bring you everything from doughnuts to donations to data on your favorite stocks.

Most of the iPhone jobs cluster in the engineer and developer category - and they range from consulting assignments to full-time jobs in Silicon Valley or New York, with a few sprinkled in Denver or Louisville.

So what if you dial on a Blackberry or have no clue how the insides of technology work? Are you left out of the boom in iPhones or cloud computing?  Not at all.

As soon as those apps are close to launch, the companies that develop them will need marketing people, a CPA and customer service and support staff.  They also may hire for other positions too. Already they’re posting jobs for translators (take the app into Korea) and financial analyst (make sure they spend money on the right new products). I saw some customer support jobs and web designer openings amid the iPhone openings too.

This is a clear case of “follow the money” into the growth areas — and your iPhone will ring with a job offer.

WATCH FOR: My post soon on corporate responsibility and the jobs that go along with it and the government’s compliance efforts.

Optimism about openings and raises in the Beltway

January 3rd, 2010

I am a glass-half-full type of woman. My enthusiasm and hopeful outlook stand out in newsrooms full of cantankerous and cautious people.

Sometimes, I wonder if I’m too optimistic - too willing to look for the good news in bad times or the encouraging underdog successes.  That concern that I might be overly optimistic hit me as I was reporting and writing my latest Washington Post piece, published on Sunday. Based on interviews with three local experts, it forecast more chances for raises, hiring bonuses and  job openings - at least in the government, education and health care sectors.

Maria Grant, Deloitte Consulting’s federal human capital practice leader, was especially optimistic about federal job openings - from airport screeners to people to handle government contracts to compliance offices for banking, immigration and more. Of the acquisitions and government contracting workers, she often hears: “We need these people and we need them tomorrow.”

The piece also told of how more workers are going to jump ship this year, buoyed by a recovering economy and the prospect of higher pay or better benefits elsewhere, and recruited by employers seeking their talents.

Yet I know that for every worker who will be recruited and offered a hiring bonus to join a new organization, another sits on the sidelines and collects unemployment or waits for a new temp or contract job. True, the Washington region’s unemployment is the lowest in the country for metro areas, at around 6 percent. But some neighborhoods in D.C. experienced joblessness topping 12 percent - not as bad as in my hometown of Detroit, but not the boomtown found in some areas with huge government contractors or military operations.

And I knew that when I raised the hopes of raises being tacked onto paychecks in the year ahead, I had to be realistic and note that many workers would see no such gains. So I tried to balance the optimism I heard in the interviews and my hopeful outlook with the reality that not everyone will be able to cash in. Some will lack the skills; others will lack the persistence or networking abilities. Some will suffer age or race discrimination and some just will suffer from a lack of hope.

For every job hunter needs hope and confidence as much or more than they need a carefully crafted resume or a smart networking strategy.

Networking nets most job offers

December 28th, 2009

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

It’s easy to find work when you know who to ask and how to ask.

Connections count - especially when you’re looking for a job.

Fully 40 percent of candidates landed new positions through networking in the last year, according to a Right Management survey of 30,000 outplaced individuals. That’s more than double the amount who located jobs on Internet boards (16 percent) and triple the number who found work through search firms.

Other approaches - responding to ads or direct contact with employers — worked for one in ten jobseekers, or barely one-fourth the rate who found a job through their connections.

What’s more, the network to work successes stats inched up from 2007 and 2008, when around 36 percent landed job that way, Right Management reported.

A strong professional network, traditional and online, is especially effective to tap the hidden job market – openings that aren’t advertised. “Increasingly, we are seeing that professional online networking is growing in use and effectiveness, both by job seekers and recruitment and hiring managers,” Douglas J. Matthews, Right Management president, said in a statement.

Matthews suggests networking by  joining professional groups, participating in industry- or function-related discussions, or writing a blog to showcase your expertise.

Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., agrees that joining a professional association can be golden for those on the prowl for work. In QuintZine articles online, she lists what she sees as the five best networking strategies for entry level jobseekers and five for established job hunters.

Here’s four more ideas from me for building your connections in January:

1. Write a New Year’s letter to your best contacts. Give them some good news — even if you have to resort to news of your first granddaughter or how much you enjoyed the festive atmosphere at Macy’s during your holiday job selling perfume. And be clear about what kind of work you really want - and your second-best choice of a job too.

2. Grow your network at a gym or professional group. Spend the money to join the chamber and get on a committee immediately. Or sign on for your professional organization again. If you’re joining a gym, choose one where you’re likely to run into some business owners or would-be coworkers. Then schedule your workouts when you’re most likely to see them - first thing in the morning, or after 6 p.m.

3. Set three or more networking goals for the first quarter. Are you going to have coffee or lunch with a good friend or colleague every week? Or answer two questions a week on LinkedIn Answers?  How about a phone call a day to reconnect?

4.  Identify target organizations and build your network there.  If you know which five or seven employers are your favorite prospects, focus on them. Ask a handful of close colleagues for their friends or connections there. See what professional groups they support. Go to open houses and special events at your target employers.

So slide into some new networks and reopen conversations with old friends in the year ahead. And watch the network make a new job slip into your life.

Taking a breath - taking some time to think

December 24th, 2009

Most of our days are spent chasing things -whether facts, quotes or clients. We hurry from meeting to memo, and from email to Twitter and then onto a few news sites and some requests from our bosses.

Work, work, work.

Hurry up and meet that deadline.  Squeeze in a little planning, or a few minutes to clean up the loose ends or the piles that develop on our desks. Speed along to achievement. Fast forward to a raise or promotion - or at least another year on the job.

Who has time to reflect? Who thinks things through? When do we pause and consider our path ahead or or recent choices?

It’s a rarity to reflect, or and relax and wonder or ponder.

Yet I’m taking time - starting now - to slow down and breathe deep and consider life and what really matters. I’m going to think about five year goals and what I want to be known for - and I may even take a stab at writing my own obituary, to be published in about 53 years of course.

Yes, I want to be a success next year, but what am I going to succeed at? And what am I going to skip altogether?

A newish book in my pile by Christine Louise Hohlbaum is called “The Power of Slow” and yes, I’m slow to crack it open. Hohlbaum describes herself as a “recovering speedaholic” who lives in Germany and wants us to focus on what’s immediately at hand. Also save your favorite tasks for last so you don’t procrastinate. Her blog of the same name also encourages us to take vacations, banish multi-tasking and walk to the store instead of driving. She also recommends saying no with kindness to avoid being harried during the holidays.

My plan for now is simple: Give myself permission to dream a little. Look ahead and start writing down some goals for myself, my partner and my family.

And believe that life and success can develop nicely while you’ve stopped to take a breath or bake some cookies.

Riley Guide guru recommends career books and sites

December 21st, 2009

Margaret Dikel’s career path shows both adaptability and continuity. After a few years as a French horn player, she gave up her hope to become a full-time professional musician and became a librarian.  She worked for years as a librarian and webmaster at Worster Polytechnic Institute.

While there she developed the first Riley Guide under an unwieldy name - 10 pages listing places online to find job listings. It came out at the end of 1993, at a time when the Internet was fueled by the government, dial-up connections and FTPs (file transfer protocols).

“The students loved it. The faculty loved it. The career center hated it,” she recalled, noting they thought she was counseling. “I said ‘I am providing resources, which is what a librarian does,’ ” she said.  Students and staff wanted more resources and so the Riley Guide began at the university.

Dikel and her Riley Guide - gurus of the online job search and career management world - are the subject of my latest Jobs story in Sunday’s Washington Post.

Despite the array of articles, tools, resources and advice she unearths, Dikel doesn’t always get her own career moves just right. She quit her library job at Wooster suddenly in January 1996, frustrated by the “push and shove” on using the Internet there.

“It wasn’t a concerted plan,” she said.  Within a half hour of sending an email to her growing network of career counselors and experts, her phone started ringing with consulting offers. She worked as a consultant to DMB, a career management and outplacement firm, and found other gigs to help pay her expenses.

Yet she’s adamant that quick jump out approach is foolish.  “Don’t quit and then figure it out,” she said.

These days, Dikel  focuses the Riley Guide five days a week from her home office in Rockville, Md. She works amid books and paper, with a Dilbert calendar on the wall and her glasses near her computer.

She thinks her husband’s approach to his job search, almost a decade ago, still makes sense. At lunches and coffees, David Dikel, now a government contactor employee, would ask colleagues and friends  “What do you think my best assets are? What do I need to work on? . . . He learned a lot about himself and also got talking points he could use in interviews,” she said.

Much of what Dikel does still connects to her librarian career - she seeks out, evaluates and catalogs career information available online. She also is an avid reader - mysteries which are known as “British police procedurals” are her favorites. As for the best career books, those she’d recommend for anyone’s book shelf, here’s her list:

  • “What Color is Your Parachute?” by Richard Bolles. “I have had more friends work through his exercises for job search and personal assessment and come out feeling better about themselves and more targeted in their search,” she said.
  • “How to Work with Headhunters” by Nick Corcodilos  - available online at  AskTheHeadhunter.com.  An alternative to traditional “how to job search” book, it works for experienced people who want to improve their search.
  • “Cool Careers For Dummies” by Marty Nemko. “A good book to help you decide what you want in life and in work, how well you perform in various situations, and how to take all of this and channel it into a career.”
  • Cover Letters for Dummies” and “Resumes for Dummies,” both by Joyce Lain Kennedy, “the Grande Dame of job search and career advice. “She knows more on these topics than almost anyone else,” said Dikel.

Dikel also provided a list of 10 great online resources for job seekers, which the Washington Post published. Two of my favorites from her list are Job-Hunt.org and LinkedIn, which I use every week.

And for unemployed individuals who are 50 or older, she suggests they learn to address employers’ arguments and concerns about being too old or overqualified. The employer won’t come out and raise the issues, but they still are lurking there and could trip up your chances.

Another avenue that works well: Find your way into a new job through a contact - a friend, someone at your church or synagogue or sports team.  ”Rely more on networking…. This person is introducing you because he thinks you are valuable, and you will be  valuable to the hiring manager,” she said. Employers also are predisposed to hire from employee recommendations more than from other arenas.

“You will get the best return on your time investment through networking,” she said.  That and checking the Riley Guide’s carefully vetted resources and links.

A man, his dog and a kindness crusade

December 9th, 2009

Bob Votruba looks like an ordinary guy, slender and smiling, wearing jeans and savoring coffee. Until you check out his wheels and his campaign.

He drives the Kindness Bus, a baby blue hand painted former church bus. And he’s urging people to take a leap into a life of kindness, with his One Million Acts of Kindness initiative.

I profiled him for AARP Bulletin and the piece tells a lot about him. (How I wish I had mastered the uploading of photos so I could add a photo to this posting.)

Yet I feel like the real story will be told and retold years from now as some former students recall his visit and the bell that went off in their brains. The Aha! moment when they knew their life and career would revolve around generosity or kindness or good deeds. Some may have to change career tracks and others may just change their focus. After all a lawyer can work for humankind, or nonprofits, or take important pro bono cases as part of a kindness initiative - just as surely as a journalist can resolve to write more about kindness and generosity.

With the holidays approaching and kindness more fashionable - at least for a few weeks - my hope is that I can rework and resell the story of Bob and his dog Bogart and their kindness crusade a few times. And that a little of that kindness karma will rise up over the places and the people who need it most during winter’s frigid, unforgiving days and nights.