When I begin the process of career discovery with my clients and ask the question “What are some of the elements you are looking for in your career?”  Most of them will quickly respond, “I don’t know what I want, but I know what I don’t want!”  They then quickly click through a list of all the things they don’t like about their jobs. 

Our results and level of satisfaction directly correspond to those things on which we spend our time and attention.  When we spend all of our time and attention focusing on the things that we don’t like about our jobs, we have no time and energy left to spend on expanding the things we do like about our jobs.  If the movie we are replaying over and over in our head is focused on all the negative things about our jobs, those are the things we tend to notice during the day.  Often, these items quickly become larger than they really are.  Likewise, if our thoughts and actions are devoted to those things that are positive, we will look for more opportunities to pursue these items during the day.  As a result, more of our day will be spent on things that are fulfilling.

As a Thanksgiving activity, rather than spend 30 minutes each day between now and the end of the year complaining to your co-worker over coffee about all the things you don’t like about your job, why not spend that same 30 minutes, each morning counting your career blessings?  That’s 14 hours that you will be focusing in a productive and positive manner!

Here’s your assignment: 

1) Start a gratitude journal.  Each morning write down what you are thankful for in terms of your career.  Try to come up with something new each day – this forces us to look for the positives rather than the negatives.  Focus on what you like about your job, your field, your co-workers, your company or your industry.  Remember what your mom used to tell you, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Try to talk nice to yourself.

2) Tell someone at work what you are thankful for – it just may make their day as well.  If people know more of what makes you thankful, they may send more of it your way. Sadly, we all know that a negative work environment is contagious.  It’s hard to stay positive, when everyone around us is negative.  Let’s try to shift that momentum and see if a positive attitude can be contagious as well.

3) At the end of each week and at the end of the year, re-read what you wrote.  What themes are appearing?  Are there any projects, tasks or assignments that you could volunteer for that would give you more of the things you like in your job?

If you take on this challenge, I’d love to hear about the results you achieve.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you would like help counting your blessings and using your gratitude journal on your journey of career discovery, feel free to contact me.  Good Luck!

The other day we had our first free virtual career coaching session on GoSavant.com. We had quite a number of people come in and ask multiple job search questions! It was so busy for our career coach that we have decided to limit the number of people next time or have 2 coaches available at once (depending on expressed demand). We hope we were able to answer the most pressing of your job search questions, and we empathize with those who need one-on-one career coaching beyond the hour. We are planning on having future virtual career coaching sessions, but if you have more than a few questions that can be answered via chat in an hour, visit www.gosavant.com to select a career coach for more personalized coaching.

So what were some of the questions and answers during our first free virtual meetup?

What can I do to increase my chances for a phone call for an interview?

Coach: The market is tight, so being able to stand out from the crowd helps. In your resume, include any unique information that will be a "hook" and grab people's attention-- maybe it is some background or perhaps a skill.

I have really strong writing skills so I'm not that concerned about the cover letter but more the resume itself.

Coach: I suggest that in today's economy a well-crafted and individualized cover letter can be very important. It can allow you to articulate very specifically what you bring to them. Other people will send generic cover letters… you will want to stand apart and be noticed with your specific skills, knowledge and ability that meet the job. For instance, you can highlight an experience that you perhaps can't do as well in a resume.

I see..good point.

What’s an elevator speech and what should I include in it?

Coach: Use your ingenuity! An elevator speech is what you would say to someone about yourself in the amount of time you spend on an elevator with him/her. Intro, goals, skills….

How do I find the unpublished jobs?

Coach: Good question. Do you have the ability to develop and maintain personal connections and professional contacts? These contacts may generate some leads.

I meet people, but where do I go from there?

Coach: Ask them if they know of any opportunities or contacts. You can also explain your skills and see if they have any ideas based on that. I also suggest using LinkedIn.com to keep in contact.

I admit it — I am addicted to job advice. I love reading advice on Twitter, rummage through my RSS feed of career blogs on LinkedIn, and regularly check out the latest career musings on BrazenCareerist. Based on all I read and my own experiences acquiring and maintaining 3 jobs in the past year, here is a compilation list of the 10 things you can do right now to jump start your job search.

1. Create a great LinkedIn profile. Sure, it’s pretty easy to sign up for LinkedIn, include your current and past positions, and add a few people to your network, but you can and should do so much more. Recruiters are using LinkedIn more and more to find candidates, even those who aren’t actively looking. Part of the reason why recruiters are coming across LinkedIn profiles of those who aren’t actively looking, is how well their profiles are put together.

What do you need to do to create the beginnings of a great LinkedIn profile? Here are the starters:
• Make your LinkedIn URL your first and last name. This can improve your LinkedIn visibility on Google
• In addition, if you include your blog in the Websites sections, instead of naming it the default “My Website,” rename it the blog name
• In the Specialties section, use resume keywords; otherwise known as core competencies
• List accomplishments in addition to duties to your experience (much like a resume)
• Ask for recommendations, and give recommendations!
• (Read these additional LinkedIn tips from LinkedIn)

2. Volunteer your career services. If you haven’t been working for a few months, you need to volunteer. Why? One of the first things recruiters will notice is gaps on your resume, and they will wonder what you have been doing to be a savvy job seeker during your time-off. Interested in a social media position but don’t have the formal experience? Find a local organization that’s lacking a Twitter or Facebook Fan Page and volunteer to create them. (Put this experience on your resume and LinkedIn page, and then ask for a LinkedIn recommendation from the boss.) Want to work in a project management role? Join your condo’s board of directors. (You can learn fiscal responsibility, teamwork negotiation, and leadership skills and include those competencies on your resume.)

Aside from the skills and resume experience you get from volunteering, you also gain a crucial opportunity to expand your network. Which leads us to…

3. Network everywhere, all the time, with everyone. Networking doesn’t mean you’re holding up a business card with sad, trembling eyes, and you ask a person who you just exchanged 2 words with an elevator: “Do you know of any jobs?” Networking is about getting to know a person—who he/she is, what kind of work he/she does, what his/her interests are—and striking up a conversation about who you are, what you have to offer, your interests, and what kind of work you are looking for. If all goes well in that conversation, that person will be more than happy to share pertinent information with you!  Many times, that person doesn’t have pertinent information for you at the moment—but he or she might in the future. Maintain communications with your contacts whether it’s through a holiday card, LinkedIn, or sharing lunch. Additionally, make sure you don’t let your membership to organizations you are already a part of expire—your networking experiences and opportunities to hear insights into the industry are often worth the annual fee. You might also want to consider joining job seeker groups on www.meetup.com where you can meet other job seekers and industry professionals who are all enthusiastic about helping each other out.

4. Treat your resume as if it is the most important financial document you will ever own. This quote is borrowed from GoSavant’s Martin Yate, but I believe in it 100%! Your resume is what gets you or what keeps you from getting the job you want. If you aren’t getting interviews after months of applying for jobs, chances are something is wrong with your resume. If you’re still not getting the interview after updating your resume per expert opinion, hire a professional resume writer. It can seem expensive, but it is an investment into your future, an investment into the future of your income.

5. Write a cover letter for each job you apply to and personalize it. Even if a company doesn’t require you to submit a cover letter, submit a cover letter. Don’t let your cover letter be a boring recitation of everything on your resume in an equally boring 4-paragraph form—keep your cover letter concise and personal to the company, and let your personality shine through!

6. Clean up your “digital dirt.” Google your first and last name. Click on those sites. Do you see anything that can keep you from getting the job you want? Get rid of it. Keep in mind that although your Facebook profile may be “private,” your profile picture may not be. What you write on your friend’s walls may not be private either. If you have a personal blog that includes your personal feelings on personal topics and your name is linked to it, you will want to keep that from public view.

7. Do not just use job boards. Here’s the truth: a few of the jobs I’ve gotten were indeed from CareerBuilder, but that was during a different job market with less competition and more time for HR recruiters to look at resumes. In conjunction with talking to your networking contacts for job opportunities, create new networking contacts through social media platforms like Twitter by creating an appropriate job hunting profile that discusses who you are, your skills, and what kind of work you’re looking for, then follow and network with  businesses and thought leaders pertinent to your job search. Use www.linkup.com to view job openings on company websites. And of course, use LinkedIn to look for job opportunities or to find hiring managers behind company profiles and find ways to be on their radar.

8. Don’t have one-size-fits-all approach to your job search. There’s a reason why they don’t make jeans all in one size: they wouldn’t fit! You have to focus your job search on the kind of work you are suitable for and not have or communicate the “I’ll take anything” approach. For each type of job you are looking for (ie, sales vs. marketing job), have a different resume. Always have an individualized cover letter. Don’t give canned answers to interviews. Be aware of what the company is looking for and put your focused energy into a personalized resume, cover letter, and interview. If you’re not finding success after several months of job hunting and interviewing, hire a job coach.

9. Have a daily job search plan. Looking for a job should be a full-time job until you find a full-time job, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend 8 hours looking at a computer all day. It may help to prevent job search burnout by organizing a daily job search plan that includes a myriad of tasks during the course of the day. Have a day that looks like this: look for jobs for an hour, read trade magazines and articles specific to your industry (which might give you leads into the hidden job market) for about an hour, write cover letters for 2 hours, volunteer for 2 hours, and go to a networking event for 2 hours that night. Switch up your tasks per day! Your job search won’t seem as tasking.

10. Be positive. This is not meant to be hokey advice that equates to having an unrealistic attitude and a forced smile. The bottom-line is this: you will get hired. If you arm yourself with all the tools you need like the right resume, a creative cover letter, awesome interviewing skills, and an optimistic outlook, you will find work. Having a positive attitude in your job search will extend to your networking events, your cover letters, your interviews—and employers will infinitely prefer to hire someone who has a positive, optimistic attitude as opposed to a depressed and pleading one.

Have I missed any major pointers on improving job search? What have you done to have a successful job search? Sound off below!