Bottom Line: You Didn’t Have a Bad Reference, It’s the Interview

Q:  I recently lost my job and have not been able to find another. I left my last job on not good terms with my former employer and I think they’re giving me a bad reference. I’ve had a couple of interviews with different companies and was told each time that I’d be getting a second interview. When I wouldn’t hear back I’d call and they’d tell me the position had been filled. Is there any way to prove my former employer is giving me a bad reference? How can I work around this? It’s been over a month and I need to get a job.

A:  Prospective employers screen applicants during the first interview and make their hiring decision after second and sometimes third interviews. If they’re going to check references, that’s when they’ll do it. Many past employers are hesitant to give work references on employees, good or bad, and limit the information they provide to only include dates of employment and job title or position.

Some prospective employers check credit reports and court records for evidence of behaviors that could negatively impact job performance. It takes time, money, and personnel to conduct these checks; three commodities that are in great demand and short supply. Therefore, only those candidates most likely to be hired are investigated. Bottom line, it’s not the reference that does you in, it’s the interview.

Most job loss applicants become apprehensive as they approach the interview, particularly when the economy is down and unemployment is on the rise. They worry most about what they can’t control; the questions they’ll be asked and those they ask themselves: “Was it the economy or was it me?” “Why was I laid off and others spared?” Worry undermines your sense of worth and narrows your perspective. Try as you might to camouflage your feelings, they show. What can you do?

Control what you can and let the rest of it go. Example: You’re worried about a reference that may or may not exist. Let it go, and if you can’t, do something about it. Call the individual who may have provided it. Indicate the (positive) lessons you’ve learned from your experience working for him, and what you’ll do differently going forward. It won’t change the past but it gives closure to it. Then, move on to what’s important; getting a job.

If you’re concerned that you’re coming across as depressed, angry, or anxious, you probably are. Your presentation may be muted; your affect, flat. If you typically feel centered and emotionally healthy, and believe your moods are tied to your employment concerns, make an appointment with a career professional who’s trained to answer your job related questions.

If you’re worried about your credit references, check them out. If you’re considered a credit risk and you’re seeking positions where that appearance can derail your job chances, get the financial assistance you need.

If those who know you and care about you have asked that you seek help from mental health professionals, do them or yourself a favor, make an appointment, today. There’s help out there for you and it’s up to you to get it.

You are not being held accountable for the American economy; you are not responsible for your company’s layoffs. Prospective employers aren’t looking to fix blame or find problems where they don’t exist. They have a job that needs doing and want to know if you can do it for them. Let them know you can by focusing the interview on your ability to be proactive and productive in ways that are measurable and quantifiable.

If you were fired and are asked “why?” be direct, honest, and succinct. Rather than blame yourself, your boss, or the company, briefly describe the situation, what you learned from it, and what you‘ll do differently going forward. Then turn the conversation to ways you can contribute to the company’s goals and objectives.

Every company that is hiring wants individuals who can work on their team, save them time and money, and contribute to their bottom line. That should be your focus, on the interview, and every day you’re on the job.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

 Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Back to Basics

Many job seekers start the hunt with a positive sense of urgency. You do all the right things, in the right order, and when weeks turn into months and nothing happens, you lose your way along with your energy. If you’re bumping, slumping, and sputtering, it’s time to get back to basics.

Resume: The longer it takes to find a job, the more you’re apt to tinker with your resume. If you’re trying to be all things to all people, you may have a document that’s too fuzzy and too long for the interviewer who hasn’t the time or disposition to plow through your prose. Focus your thinking and you’ll focus your resume.

Objective: If you’ve done a variety of things and held a variety of positions in a variety of companies, focus your objective by specifying the position you seek. When responding to an advertised position, include key words that define the opportunity and correspond to your experience.

Summary statement: You don’t need one. It’s redundant. Your resume is a summary statement.

Simplify and clarify: Bullet-point your accomplishments and reinforce them with quantifiable facts and figures that are evidence of your success.

Personal information: Stick with the essentials of name, address, telephone number, and email address. If you’re a college graduate, include the name and location of your school, your degree and area of specialization. If you had a 3.0 or better, include it. If you didn’t, don’t.

Affiliations: Include professional and civic organizations and leadership roles/chair positions you’ve held. Do not include religious or political affiliations unless you seek their employment.

Selecting your references: Ask permission from individuals you’ve worked for and believe to be professionally savvy, connected, and reliable. If they’ve moved, find them and describe the position you seek and the organization in which you’d like to work. Ask for their reaction to what you’ve shared. Listen closely to their response and the degree to which they are supportive and encouraging. If you detect a note of hesitation, check it out. If they appear cool to the whole idea, rethink your objective or find another reference.

Networking: If your efforts appear to have fizzled, don’t give up on this most important search strategy. Networking opens doors to opportunities that can’t be reached in other ways. It’s a fact; more jobs are available than are advertised. Your quest is to find them. To do that you’ll need to talk to the people who know where they are.

Before you start making random calls, be sure you can succinctly describe what you do best. Then look for people who specialize in the field you want to enter or continue working. If you don’t have natural access to them, talk to people you know personally, who work in jobs that interface directly or indirectly with these people. If you’re not sure what your friends, neighbors, and acquaintances do and where they work, find out. Ask them.

Networking is a technique that enables you to connect your questions to the information you need, that takes you to the people who know, who in turn can introduce you to the jobs you want, and those who hire for them.

Yes, I hear you. Networking may not be for you if you don’t like to ask favors of people you know and like, or of people you barely know and don’t know if you like. You may be reticent, hesitant or reluctant to get out there and meet and greet. Get over yourself. You say you want a job, one that’s better than the one you currently hold or the one you no longer have. That’s going to take courage, creativity, focus, and connections that you’ve yet to fully tap. Start networking.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Take Time, Take Charge: Do Circumstances Block Your Way?

The answer lies somewhere in the pause.

How many situations have you made worse because you stepped in where you weren’t needed, said more when less was enough, and offered opinions when none were requested?

How many times do you wish you’d said more, because less wasn’t enough? When you wish you’d offered a kind word or a statement of support?

There is nothing heroic about speaking first if speaking last is the wiser choice. There is no grace in turning away, when everything within you says, “do something, now.”

There is no valor in taking action when none is needed; in making decisions when consideration is all that is required. There is no merit in taking control when control is not yours to take.

The answer, sometimes, is in the hesitation, the afterthought that was the right thought, after all.

A business owner complained, repeatedly, of having too much to do and not enough time to think. “I need time to set strategy,” he said. “I need time to meet with my employees and my customers. This ‘crisis management’ is killing me and killing my business.”

He called the other day. “Bummer!” he shouted, before saying hello. “Can you believe this? Our biggest project has been delayed, and now I’m sitting here with time on my hands and nothing to do. This wait is gonna’ kill me.”

When I reminded him of the strategy he so desperately wanted to set, the employees and customers he so urgently wanted to see, he didn’t respond. I asked to be sure he was still on the line.

“I’m here”, he said quietly. “I’m here.” More silence.

“I’m thinking. I’m thinking that it didn’t occur to me that this is my chance to take care of what I’ve put to the side. Gotta’ go. I’ll talk to you later.”

A few weeks passed, and he called again. He sounded great, his voice mellow, his tone relaxed. I shared my impression and asked him to account for the change.

“I didn’t realize I was so transparent, but I’m not surprised. I’ve had a great couple of weeks. I’ve had the time to do that “walk around” managing I’ve always enjoyed, and I learned more about our problems then I ever knew existed. The management and leadership teams have had meetings with production employees from each shift, so we can learn from the shop floor up, what we can do to work smarter.

We’ve gotten manufacturing, quality, sales, distribution, and customer service talking to each other, and not a minute too soon. They’re getting their problems figured out, and have scheduled time to talk with product development and marketing. Then I’ve got all of them talking with accounting, finance and legal so we can be sure to align our perspectives and positions with missions and direction.

I’m working as hard as ever but haven’t felt this good in years. I think this is what they call ‘business balance’.”

I asked if he noticed any change in the behaviors or attitudes of his employees.

“Absolutely.” he said. “Everyone seems to have more energy. They’re getting along. I didn’t realize how bad morale was until we started this.”

“And what’s the most significant change you see?” I asked.

“We’re taking time to analyze the situation and solve what the problem is, not what it appears to be. We’re taking time to listen to what people are saying, instead of assuming that we know without they’re telling us. We’re listening to our customers and responding to what they need instead of making excuses to cover the mistakes we’re making.”

If you’re like this hard-charger, you’re addicted to work and want to do it all. You won’t stop and don’t think until circumstances block your way. Then you blame yourself for the things you’ve left undone, and turn worry into problems of mythic proportion. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Take time to take charge of your life and your business. Create mental and emotional space; gain perspective by taking stock; evaluate the inventory of what you’ve learned and make principled decisions that are based on doing the right things, for the right reasons.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, ezine or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Lessons for a Successful Career

It’s surprising, frustrating, and disappointing when our strengths, (“I’m so organized;” “I’m very decisive”), turn out to be our weaknesses (“He’s so compulsive!” “She’s so dictatorial!”).  Do any of the following apply to you?

Career lesson #1:  No one likes the smartest kid in the room if the smartest kid makes other kids look dumb.

When you’re launching your career it’s important to establish yourself as someone who is quick, bright, and eager to get the job done right. After you’ve gotten some experience under your belt, your employer and colleagues expect you to be a team player and individual contributor. As you continue to progress you’ll be asked to manage and mentor others. To be successful, you’ll need to shift your focus from being center stage to showcasing the talent of those you lead. Encourage them, reinforce their achievements, and give them the visibility they need to progress in their own right. Bottom line: The smartest kid in the class is the one who learns how to maximize the potential in others.

Career Lesson #2: Talk a good game but play a better one.

Talk is cheap. Walk is style. Performance is substance. You’ll need all three to succeed in any job. Bottom line: Under-promise and over-deliver.

Career Lesson #3: If you want to lose time, resources, and profitability, cut first, then measure.

Whether you’re the tinker, tailor, cabinet maker, or the CEO of a major company, you’ll need to access information available to you from sources that can provide it for you. If you don’t or won’t, you’ll squander time, talent and loyalty; qualities you and your company need to survive.

Career Lesson #4: The best communicators work at the intersection of Speaking, Listening, Reflecting, Probing and Responding.

Communication is a process through which information is exchanged. How clearly it is transmitted, how accurately it is translated, how well it is received and effectively responded to, are functions of the communicators involved. Good communication takes time, patience, courage, and compassion.

Career Lesson #5: Leaders manage and managers lead.

In a perfect world, leaders dedicate their time and attention to conceptualizing the vision and mission of their companies. They don’t concern themselves with the obstacles, pitfalls, and blind-spots to success; they leave those details to employees hired to look out for them.

Wake up call: it’s not a perfect world, it’s a real world. Leaders, worthy of the name, pay for it with honesty and integrity. They ask the tough questions and listen to news they’d rather not hear. They make the changes they ought, doing the right things for the right reasons. They accept accountability along with responsibility and learn from experience.

Career Lesson #6: Members of the “Been There Done That” Society need fresh perspectives to survive.

The best employees thrive on challenge, opportunity, and possibility, whether it’s fixing what’s broken, simplifying what’s complex, or creating what’s never been. They need managers who maximize their potential, demand their best and reward their success.

Career Lesson #7:  The boss doesn’t fire you, your direct reports do.

Ouch. That’s the zinger that always stings. Managers looking for career longevity aren’t going to make it if they’re playing up to the boss while kicking around their employees. The manager’s job is to be appropriately responsive to all employees, no matter their position or power. The manager’s job is to be accountable to every person, challenging fairly, promoting accordingly. Playing favorites with some while abusing others gets you a ticket to the unemployment line, and that’s something you don’t want to get punched.

Career Lesson # 8: It takes more than a week at the beach to have a balanced life.

If you’re a much different person at home than you are at work, you’re out of balance. If you give much more to your employees than you do to your family, you’re out of balance. If you deprive yourself in service to others, you’re out of balance. Give yourself a break. Give your brain some time to absorb, collate and file the information you dump into it everyday. Give yourself time to separate what’s important from what’s making the most noise.

The most successful people plan for tomorrow by leaving time for today.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Joyce Richman Speaks to Students at B’nai Shalom Day School

Career and Executive Coach, Joyce Richman visited B’nai Shalom Day School on February 23, 2010 to share information about the Myers Briggs personal style inventory.

It’s a Match Game: Strengths to Company’s Needs

Pete’s miserable. Miserable. Said that he can’t remember feeling worse. He’s stuck with a nowhere job at a nowhere company doing work he was doing five years ago and he was bored with it then.

How did he get into this mess and how does he get out?

He had a great career (his words, not mine) with a large, hierarchical, autocratic company (my words, not his). He lasted for 10 years. Lasted, because he was able to dart around downsizings, jump over mergers, and duck behind large bosses. Finally, he ran out of time, luck and quick reflexes. He was on the street.

Pete went with the first company that would hire him. He needed a steady job and a good salary and this company fit the bill.

Pete didn’t care if he could do the work as long as he could pay the bills. He learned pretty quickly that he did everything but his job (his boss’s words, not Pete’s) and without his job he couldn’t pay the bills. Pete landed back on the street.

Pete went with the next company that would hire him. The work looked steady, the pay was fair, it paid most of the bills, and that was just about good enough. Pete still didn’t care if he could do the work so it wasn’t long before the boss found out and he told Pete. That put Pete back out on the street.

Pete went with the third company that would hire him. The pay was paltry, the position was pitiful, and this time the business folded before Pete did.

Now Pete’s on his 5th job in his 5th company is just over 5 years. He’s having a terrible time of it.

What can Pete do that he’s not already done? Plenty.

Being glib, quick and confident works well in a shell game. It takes more than that to work in an organization.

Pete, figure out what you do well and what you don’t. It’s a match game, not a con game. Match your strengths to what your company needs. Work hard. That’s how you get a job and how you keep a job.

When was the last time you enjoyed your work because you were good at it? When was the last time you got an attaboy?

Go back as far as you need to find the answers.

There was a hobby, a sport, a summer job, a college course that you liked and did well. The clues to what your work should be are embedded in that experience.

What is your long term goal? What are you hoping to achieve?

You say you want work and a paycheck. That’s a means to an end. It’s not the end. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up back where you started. And you have, Pete, you have.

What are your short term goals? What objectives do you have for your first week on the job, your first month, your first year? How will you measure success?

What’s your action plan? How are you going to get from here to there? How will your short term goals connect to your long term vision? What must you do to get what you want?

Pete, are you willing to work hard enough to make it happen?

Do you have the courage to admit that you don’t know it all and you can’t know it all?

What kind of continuing education or specific skills training do you need? Where can you get it? Are you willing to do what it takes to learn it?

What drains your energy? Are you worried about ailing parents and aging debt? Are you willing to find and accept the help that you need?

Pete, you said that you’re miserable, stuck in a nowhere job in a nowhere company, doing boring work you did years ago. Who did that to you?

You’re too good a person and have too much talent to play a blame game. You dug yourself into this mess. Check your watch. It’s time to dig yourself out.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.