Tag Archives: job search

Matchmaker, matchmaker, find a job

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Whether you’re searching for true love or locating work you love, you’ll use similar skills and perspectives. So when I interviewed some matchmakers for a Washington Post Capital Business article, we talked about their careers and business – and the connection between the job search and the partner prowl.
Use these half dozen ideas  to find a new lover or a new boss; they were suggested by matchmaker Ann Wood and Crystal Sylvester, a soul mate coach:

  • Know what you want. Be clear whether you want a lifetime commitment or children, an active partner who kayaks and hikes or one who prefers museums and the latest theater. Same for the job and employer – know what cultural and other traits are important to you and whether you’ll thrive in a highly structured workplace or one with some flexibility and variety.
  • Trust yourself. Be authentic, said Sylvester. Acknowledge that you know what works for you. Create boundaries and then stick with them.
  • Be curious. Ask a lot of questions, and do it pleasantly, said Wood. Don’t make assumptions about men or about future managers.
  • Be nice. So much depends on personality and charm, the chemistry. This holds true in a job interview or a date, said Wood.
  • Expect contradictions and surprises. “Even if their politics are liberal, their personal lives are conservative,” said Wood, who works from Georgetown. Some couples and some bosses can come off well, even if they aren’t an obvious match. Or as Sylvester said: “The most wonderful things sometimes look different.”
  • Understand the details. Some people work together well and yet you wouldn’t want to take them home. Some people don’t consider the commute time on jobs or relationships. Dig into the details and don’t make assumptions, said Wood.
  • Try again. Sometimes the second date, or the second pitch, goes better and people are less nervous, said Leora Hoffman, who runs a Bethesda, Md., personal introduction service.

The bottom line for anyone who’s searching for a mate, a date or a job moving  freight  is to be hopeful and clear on your  a great outcome – and then work at it with energy and focus almost every day.

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Four traits that will advance you in job search and career

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Looking for work today takes more than a good resume, a polished elevator pitch and some professional Tweets.

It requires a mindset of adaptability and creativity – and great communications skills. It requires thoughtful solutions and problem-solving aplenty, as well as an ability to get things done, or motivate workers to compete projects or goals.

The American Management Association identified four key traits – the 4Cs – as increasingly important to employers. They are communications, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. They are the very traits that will impress and help land your next job.

Here are four ideas on cultivating those from four posts or articles I wrote recently:

  • COMMUNICATIONS. My Glassdoor.com piece on starring in a Skype interview offered nine tips for making the most of the Internet phone service. My favorite: Give a dog a bone, and get rid of other distractions just before and during the interview. The advice also included practice and practice some more. But the main message is: Learn to communicate effectively, with new tools and old ones.
  • CREATIVITY. After the interview, comes the hardest part: the waiting. If you want to make those days or weeks feel more productive and less dismayingly long, read my Glassdoor.com post. Candidates can use their creativity to come up with many smart ways to stay connected and offer valuable information or assistance after the interview.  Pennell Locey at Keystone Management offered a half dozen ideas to expand the interview and advance your chances. Use your creativity liberally and suggest audacious approaches and amazing ideas.
  • COLLABORATION. This trait is the glue of organizations, and includes the ability to work well with much older and much younger people. My AARP Bulletin piece shows how 50-somethings can learn from the interns; yet 20-somethings also need to show their ability to work in inter-generational teams. You could show your collaborative approach by sending thank you notes after the interview, or by giving a hiring manager a hand folding up her table after the job fair. You may not be on the team yet, but you want to appear a team player.
  • CRITICAL THINKING. This may mean having a deep knowledge of a subject, or it could spring from a curiosity and thoughtful inquiry. I wrote about the power of great questions for Fortune.com - and managers who use questions to engage, motivate and learn. Not only are they engaging in critical thinking in asking the right question; they are encouraging it in their team.  A job seeker could use similar techniques to learn how a manager thinks or what the critical needs a client has or what opportunities or openings are likely to blossom in coming weeks. Look past the easy, obvious answers and engage your how does that change things? and what next? thinking.

Certainly, there are other ways to cultivate the 4Cs – and also my fifth one: A can-do, problem-solving approach. That upbeat attitude of action gives anyone an aura that’s appealing.  So show them these five traits from the get-go – in your cover letter and in your early conversations with the HR manager.  You could even come up with an example or story of success in each of these crucial Cs, which used correctly, will win you an A as a job candidate.

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Home for the holidays: Make time for a little job hunt amid mistletoe

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Anyone heading home for the holidays may want to plan now for a “one day job hunt” during the visit.  And if you’re visiting family or friends in Dallas, Denver or Detroit, detour from the home fires to develop your professional network amid the holiday festivities.

I started considering the one-day job hunt a few years ago when I visited San Francisco on a long weekend, and spent a few hours meeting a couple of editors. Though I don’t write for any of them, I cultivated a positive relationship with those visits – and still hope that someday MarketWatch will want my career column.

More recently, a member of the D.C. Web Women social list asked how to search while visiting a city for business. I shared a few ideas, and began thinking about how valuable it is to mix business and pleasure over Christmas – or Passover, Diwali, homecoming or any other trip home.  It’s the kind of activity that could be especially valuable if you have aging relatives who may someday need your care and presence.

The holidays create a feeling of goodwill, as well as some slower work days (so expect many of the people you’d like to see may be off seeing their family or replenishing their energies for 2011).

Here’s seven tips for a one-day job hunt on your next trip home:

  1. Ask Aunt Sue or cousin Juan to name a few well-connected people who they know. Find out where they work and what kind of professional network they have. Then schedule a chat with one of them, explaining your interest in finding a job and returning to their fair city.
  2. Identify three major employers in the region you’re visiting, and see if you or your family know someone there. They may be members of your college sorority, part of a LinkedIn group, a family friend or even an in-law. Connect with them – and be clear you’re eager to return home once you find the right job at a great employer.
  3. Set up an “informational interview” with a manager at one of those employers.
  4. If you’re active in Rotary, Toastmasters, Couchsurfing or some professional or social group, go to one of their meetings. If that’s not possible, write the chapter president to arrange a coffee or breakfast during your visit.
  5. Return to your high school, church, synagogue, fairgrounds or other stomping grounds and say hello to former teachers, friends, members.
  6. Discover where the small business incubator and business development organizations are located and drop by to pick up nuggets on what organizations may be expanding and need to hire in coming months. Or spend two hours in the local library researching employers and talking to librarians and patrons about possibilities
  7. Job hunt when the rest of your family won’t miss you – early mornings or during a shopping trip that has plenty of participants. Don’t skip out on family activities like ice skating or a trip to the family homestead, now grown into a subdivision. Those may yield surprising leads or connections that could turn your old neighborhood into your next neighborhood.

Make sure you bring along copies of your resume along with the gifts for family, and at least one professional suit (with a festive holiday tie or pin) in case one of the chats yields an immediate opening. And once you leave, make  sure you send a thank you note or email of appreciation with everyone you connected with at home.

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