Questions from Readers

Thanks for your calls, emails, and the questions you’re asking. Here are a few examples:

Q: I have a question about my resume. I’ve worked for many companies, held both hourly and salaried positions, volunteered for countless committees, and traveled to every state in the US. Because I’ve accomplished so much I can’t possibly include it all in a two- page resume. I figure it’ll take about five pages if I use small type. How many pages am I allowed?

A: If you were writing an autobiography, you could pen all the pages your heart desires. But you’re not. You’re writing a two- page resume in readable type that spells out the value you offer an employer by specifying and quantifying your work related accomplishments and connecting them to your clearly stated objective. If you have content that’s off topic, take it off the resume. Most resume readers, on average, review a resume in 20 seconds and make a determination: it’s in or it’s out. The more focused and succinct your written presentation, the greater your likelihood of making it to the in box.

Q: When I go to work sites or on line to fill in applications I notice that I’ve already answered most of the questions on my resume. Is it OK to just attach the resume to the application instead of wasting time copying one to the other?

A: If you are asked to complete an application, do it. If you think it’s optional, it isn’t. Do it. Print your answer to each question, fill in each line, check each box, and print legibly. The application form will ask that you provide a list of professional references and contact information, provide it. And now for the good news: after you’ve completed that assignment you can hand it in, along with a copy of your resume.

Q: How many on-line or newspaper openings should I pursue at one time? I think I should go one at a time and not proceed with a new application with until I know if I have the job. What do you think?

A: I think you should pursue every opportunity you can chase down and everyone that comes your way. A successful job hunt is a numbers game that requires long-haul energy, optimism, and self-confidence. There’s a direct correlation between improved odds and optimism/confidence. The more you have going for you, the greater the odds you’ll land something.

Q: I notice that some interviewers spend the entire time talking and don’t ask any questions. What should I, as the applicant, do in that circumstance? I don’t want to interrupt but how else will the employer know what I have to offer?

A: Some interviewers are naturally gregarious. Once they get going they can be hard to stop. Some are naturally excited about their companies and go on at great length about possibilities and potential. Your job as the applicant is, from the moment you are introduced, to demonstrate your energy, your interest, and your ability to add value to the discussion and to the company.

Q: I have a tough time with interviewers who don’t acknowledge what I’m saying to them. They just ask one question after the other, and don’t give a clue about what they’re thinking. How am I supposed to know where I stand if they don’t tell me?

A: Focus on each question and answer it to the best of your ability. Periodically ask the interviewer if he/she would like more or different information than what you are providing. Bottom line, you won’t know where you stand until you get a call back for another interview or are made an offer.

Question: The Job Search

Thanks for sending me your questions about job search. Here’s just a sample of what you’re asking:

“I’m a career changer having a tough time finding a job in my new field of interest. Do you think that a headhunter will be willing to work with me?”

Headhunters (more politely known as recruiters) will not work with career changers. They will work with individuals who have a proven track record of success in a specific field or area of expertise who want to move up their career ladder. They know what they want, why they want it, and stand a pretty good chance of getting it. They’re articulate, appropriate, grounded, self -aware individuals who are open to opportunities that further their career. They’re realistic about salary, benefits, are willing to relocate, and are highly competitive in their field. Above all, they are persuasive in their ability to describe their feature-benefits to the recruiter, as well as to the company’s hiring authority.

Headhunters aren’t apt to benefit career changers or job hunters who need help in positioning themselves, describing their strengths and abilities, and identifying the appropriate direction for career satisfaction. That’s the work of career coaches and counselors.

“Are employers still checking references?”

Prior to September 11^th you’d be correct if you noticed that fewer employers were checking references. It took considerable time and money to get employment history from former employers who had gotten skittish about providing it. Since the events of September you can expect that background checks will be conducted like never before. Here’s what that means to the average job seeker: Tell the truth, whether it’s on an application, resume, or in an interview. Omission or fabrication, even if discovered after a hire, could result in termination.

“I’m responding to want ads on the ‘net. Should I attach a cover letter along with my resume?”

A cover letter enables you to sell yourself to a prospective employer. You can promote your strengths, skill sets and describe your enthusiasm for doing a specific job for a specific company; information that’s inappropriate if included in the resume. Should you attach it? Absolutely.

“How should I allocate my search time? I’m spending most of my time on the ‘net, checking out Monster and responding to ads. I’m not getting the responses that I want and need. What am I missing? Help!”

Most of your search time should be dedicated to networking. Here’s why: In good times and particularly in bad, the majority of available positions are found through the “hidden” market.

Here’s why: Key positions open when people with critical skills leave their companies without warning. Other positions open when, after a major layoff, more people leave than expected, creating a critical need that must immediately be filled. These employers would rather not advertise openings for reasons that are probably apparent. Instead, they ask key insiders to quickly and discretely find the right people to get the job done.

That’s where your networking strategy comes into play. The greater the number of people you contact, the greater the likelihood that someone you meet will know directly or indirectly of an opening that matches your skills and abilities.

You need to work smart. It takes a considerable investment in time and focus to be an effective net-worker. Meeting dozens of people at back slapping and card swapping gatherings may satisfy your extroverted needs but it won’t leave a lasting impression.

Here’s a method that works: List people you know and respect who know people who hire people. Meet briefly with each person to outline your search and establish your value as a candidate with a proven track record. Describe your strengths and skill sets in ways the listener can understand (no insider tech-talk, jargon, and acronyms) and ask for help in generating additional names of people to contact to further your search. You’re not asking for jobs or special favors. You are asking for assistance because you (honestly) value their insight and intelligence.

What goes around comes around. Please be there if a neighbor, friend, or a former colleague calls for your career advice. That’s just part of what it takes to be a “community.”

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, 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 her 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.

Question: How do I find a job after prison?

Q: “I’ve recently been released from prison and want to get back into my profession. I’ve been trying to re-hone my skills but given my felony record am I just spinning my wheels? What do I say when I’m asked about the lapse in my employment

A:You’re not spinning your wheels, you will find employment, and you will have some real challenges ahead. Let’s start with the first hurdles to overcome, and go from there:

Responsible employers will not want to put you, their employees, or the public the company serves, into situations that create the perception, real or imagined, of danger. Therefore, sit down with your parole officer and counselor before you interview. Identify work environments and interpersonal situations to avoid and those that are appropriate to approach. Candidly discuss the reasonable, practical, and emotional concerns that prospective employers and their employees might have, given your recent history. Prepare yourself to respond to those fears in ways that not only demonstrate self-awareness, but also describe the conscious changes you’ve made in your behavior and your ability to respond to others.

Address the lapses in your employment history in a truthful and straightforward way. You mentioned “re-honing your skills”. Describe how you’ve continued your education during and following the time you were imprisoned; and the preparations you have made for the career direction you are taking.  Describe your past accomplishments and your ability to contribute to the future success of the company you’d like to join.

Your challenge, and it’s a big one, is getting the interviewer to focus on what you’re saying and not on where you’ve been and what got you there.

To accomplish that, address what concerns them most. Ask prospective employers to ask you any and all work related questions or concerns they have relative to your history in or out of prison. Ask them to describe the challenges they believe you will confront at their place of business. Then answer those concerns in an honest and forthright manner.

Q: I’m concerned about the application form. How can I answer the question about felonies so that my job application won’t get tossed as soon as my response is read?

A: Answer that question and every question truthfully. Will your application be tossed? It’s likely that it will. What can you do about it?

There’s more to all of us than can be demonstrated on an application or resume. Talk to the people who know you best, stood by you, and are willing to take a chance on you. Those individuals, directly or indirectly, may know people who hire people.

You’re asking for a chance to tell an employer your story: your work history, why you were arrested, what you’ve learned as a result, and your efforts to now make good on the rest of your life.

Q: How can I regain my self-respect? My confidence is gone. I’m afraid to get out there and tell my story. What can I do to move forward?

A: I’ve never been in your shoes. I cannot begin to know what you feel. But others have been there. Ask your parole officer and your counselor for help in finding individuals who have been able to make a successful transition and who would be willing to talk with you and counsel you through a very tough time.

I do know this. A comeback takes time, patience and incremental steps. It takes the capacity to accept responsibility and accountability for the choices that you’ve made in the past and will make in the future. It requires asking forgiveness from those you have, by intention or omission, caused physical pain or emotional suffering. It takes reaching out to those who are strong when you’re weak and tender when you’re hurt. It takes all that, and enough people who are willing to say, “I’ll give you another chance.”

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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 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 conducted seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Resume Your Resume

The Persistent Payoff

Question from a reader: Is my resume better than I am?

Q: I’m getting interviews. I’m not getting offers. Does this mean that my resume is better than I am?

A: It sounds as if your resume is doing a better job speaking for you than you are speaking for yourself. If that’s the case, you’ll want to know how you’re missing the mark. Those answers can come from a combination of soul-searching, self awareness and candid feedback from people who know you best. To jump start your thinking, here’s a sampling of comments from interviewers whose business it is to separate resumes that work from the people who don’t.

• The applicant’s resume was spot on for what we wanted. We were ready to make an offer before the interview began. Luckily, we waited. Instead of the self-confident person we envisioned, the applicant appeared uncomfortable, insecure, and unsure of how to answer any question we asked. In order to stop the pain, we stopped the meeting after 20 minutes. We may have missed out on a real star, but we needed a solid communicator, who, right out of the box, could interact easily across functions, and manage up as well as down.

• The applicant’s resume seemed too good to be true. And it was. We might not have checked had he been able to articulate what he had done as well as his resume said he had done it. So, out of curiosity, and because we don’t appreciate getting duped, we fact checked. He made up eighty percent of what he wrote and exaggerated the rest.

• The resume was well written, well organized, and contained the experience we wanted. We interviewed the job candidate and concluded that she was intelligent and capable, but less assertive than we needed in this position. We questioned her about her ability to push back when needed, and to ask for what she wanted. She demurred on both counts. She said that she preferred to work in an environment where that was not necessary and said that an aggressive workplace created too much stress for her, given her emotional makeup. We respected her position but passed on her candidacy.

• The resume was representative of exactly what we were looking for so we invited the applicant to an interview. Within the moments of our meeting we realized he was far more than what we wanted. He took over the room in ways that can work well at a sporting event or fraternity party, but he clearly was not a good match for our rather stuffy board room culture.

• The resume was a great match for what we advertised. The candidate arrived right on time, was well-spoken, well educated, well groomed, and culturally sensitive. He had a keen awareness of how he could add value to whatever company he joined. What became increasingly evident, as we discussed a variety of issues, was that this candidate was more interested in changing career direction than he was in staying the course. We did not make him an offer.

As always, it’s up to you as the applicant, to match how you describe yourself to how you present yourself. Try practicing an actual interview with a trusted friend or colleague and as them to tell you, truthfully, how you come across.  Be open to hearing what they have to say and use the information to improve how you interview.

* * * *

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 her 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.

Eliminating Job Search Frustrations

It’s frustrating to send your resume to dozens, even hundreds of job openings and not get a response. It’s frustrating to interview and not get a call back that tells you where you stand. It’s humbling to feel as though you’re being judged and maddening to feel that you have no way to control the outcome. What can you do to shift your emotional responses to tactical actions? Eliminate one frustration at a time. For example:

If you’re not getting responses when you send out unsolicited resumes, stop sending them. Mass mailings don’t work; they cost too much time, postage, and emotional capital for little to no return on investment. If you want to tap into the “hidden” job market, get away from your computer and get back into the world. Increase your visibility, meet with upbeat people who know people who hire people. Tell them what you do, how you make a difference, and ask for their advice as to who to call and what to say.

If you’re sending resumes to bona fide job openings that you’re finding on line or in the newspapers and you’re not hearing much in return, you’ll increase your response rate if your stated experience and accomplishments match the published opportunity. Include the job description’s key words in both your objective and the body of your resume.

If you’re sending your resumes to openings where the match ought to be obvious; you think you’re doing everything right; and you’re still not getting any responses, you need assistance from an objective third party. Here’s what you want to know: Does the objective on my resume clearly state the job I want and does my resume demonstrate my ability to succeed in that job? If the candid response is “no”, don’t wait. Request help from a professional career coach.

First it’s flattering, then frustrating, then exhausting, and finally a conclusive blow to your self-esteem and your billfold to be asked to interview, not once but several times with the same employer, and to never be told the outcome. Shame on company representatives who are so remiss in their duties as to allow this to happen. Having said that, there are actions beleaguered applicants can take in hopes of getting closure: 1) send a self-addressed stamped postcard to the decision maker. Request a check marked response to one of the following statements:

1. Yes, we are interested in your candidacy and we will be in touch.
2. No, we are no longer interested in your candidacy at this time.

Or place a call to the decision maker (a polite voice mail message will do) being sure to include your name and telephone number say: “I interviewed for the XYZ position on (provide the time and date of the interview). As I have not heard from you regarding the outcome I am concluding that you are no longer interested in my candidacy and will I continue my search elsewhere. Thank you for your kind consideration.”

If they’re interested, they’ll call. If they aren’t, they won’t. That may be all the closure you’re likely to get but it beats the alternative. Either way, you’ve taken control of the situation, your emotions are in check, and you’re determined to keep looking until you get an offer from a company that wants you, needs you, and shows it.

It’s tempting to want to take a few days or even weeks off from your search after you’ve had an interview and while you’re waiting to hear the results. Delay that gratification. Stay on course, stay focused, keep networking, and keep looking until you get the offer that’s worth the effort it took to get it.

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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.

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.

Fast Track Your Job Search

You’ll fast track your job search when you increase your focus, improve your efficiency, and target your marketing.

If you’re sending out resumes and not getting responses you have either lost your focus or never had it. Your resume has three roles: scout, matchmaker, and mouthpiece. It probes for possibilities, looks for a match, and speaks on your behalf. If it fails to deliver on any of these roles, it won’t be considered and neither will you.

If you want your resume to land in the interviewer’s “in” basket, here’s what you do:

Match your objective to the language you read in advertised job posting. The interviewer is scanning for “key words”. Those are the words the interviewer is using. Match them.

Match your work experience to the experience that’s needed to perform in the advertised position.

Match your words to your deeds: tell the reader what you want and the difference you make to the company where you work; give the reader quantifiable evidence of your accomplishments; show the reader your track record of achievement relative to your years of experience, and say it cogently and concisely so you’ll have a shot at success.

On the flip side, here’s what takes you out of the game.

If your resume goes on too long about things only a mother can love, you’re a bore.
If your resume says too much about things most people care too little about, you‘re out of touch.
If your resume doesn’t match what the company needs, you’re not paying attention.
If your resume reads like a job description, you have no imagination.
If your resume reads like a know it all, you’re not open to learning.

With your resume in your briefcase, on line, and in your head you’re ready to improve your efficiency, focus your search, and target your market.

Start with the basics and answer the questions: How large a company; how far a commute; how much of a salary?

Define the company: How mature or emergent? Open or closed ? Creative or consistent? Risk taking or conservative? Top down or bottom up?

Identify and prioritize your values: Help others, be an expert, achieve, compete, take risks, be respected…

With those questions answered you’re ready to write your 20 second elevator speech, which doubles as the objective on your resume and the answer to ‘tell me about yourself’. It’s your sense of purpose and reason for being, when what you want to be is an income producing, purposeful employee.

All that’s left to do is reintroduce yourself to people you know who know people who hire people. You have your resume, your marketing plan, your elevator speech and the answers to the questions you’re most likely to be asked. You can respond on line, in person, by phone, fax, and smoke signals. Put on some interview clothes, a strong dose of optimism, and you’re good to go. The only barrier that can stand in your way now is a bad attitude. If you can’t fix that, the best plan won’t help you.

* * * *

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 her 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.

Tips for Job Seekers of All Ages

“It’s about time you got a job and earned your keep!”

Now that’s a comment that will get the attention of your children, whether they are fifteen or fifty. And it’s easier said than done, particularly if your youngster of indeterminate age hasn’t had any experience getting a job, has had a bad experience trying to secure one, or hasn’t been able to keep one.  With that in mind, here are some tried and true methods worth trying on and trying out:

Look for a job that enables you to do what you like. Sure, it’s called “work” but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. In fact, your early work experiences, if they’re positive, can help create a framework for a lifetime of positive work experiences.  When you learn from experience you’ll know the kind of boss you like, the co-workers you enjoy spending time with, and the work environment that not only brings out the best in you, it motivates you to keep learning and achieving.

So, whether you’re an avid reader (libraries, bookstores), relationship builder, closer (hospitality/sales), care-taking analytical problem solver (health and human services), computer whiz (designer, trouble shooter, programmer) handyman or woman (building/construction/installation/repair), or whatever else grabs your attention and focuses your energy there’s a job out there that will appeal to you.

Next, you’ll have to appeal to an employer and that happens when you’re willing to do what it takes to be a solid employee. For example:

Employers want employees who keep their word (if you say you’ll do something, you’ll do it), who get to work on time (they like it even more when you get there early), who are positive, energetic, have good people skills, who step up and get their work done, and leave when it’s the right time, not when the clock says it’s time to go.

Employers want employees who look for opportunities to contribute more than they’re asked, who initiate and pitch in, and who are as helpful as they are respectful. They want employees who ask questions when they know they don’t know, and ask for resources when they don’t have what they need. They remember what they’re told, learn from their mistakes and don’t make the same mistakes twice. They share credit for their wins and acknowledge their errors. They look for opportunities to learn, they ask for more responsibility and accept accountability. And they do all that, whether the job is part time or full time, a first job, a means to an end, or the last job they’re likely to have.

To get the job that you want and to be the employee that every employer wants to have, you’ve got to get hired. To make that happen:

Know what you’re naturally good at doing, how your abilities benefit your employer (not how your employer can benefit you), and how to present yourself in a way that demonstrates confidence that’s not arrogance, respect that’s not submission, and specificity that’s not self- limiting.

Provide a resume that’s a track record of accomplishment and a list of references who are as prepared to present your case as you are. Know what you need to earn and what you want to earn so that you can live with the former and set your sights on the latter.

If you’re fifteen or fifty, and have solid objectives, sensible strategies and time tested tactics and if you work your plan, you’ll increase the odds of getting where you want to go.  Armed with a clear direction and a course of action, you can stay on track while staying open and responsive to people and opportunities that align with your skills, intuitive strengths, and intended goals.

* * * *

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.

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