Worried about your cover letter and resumé being good enough? Don't be. These relics will soon go the way of Blockbuster video

From This ...

To this

The idea of selecting a job candidate from a static resume and cover letter is as dated as getting in your car to get a video. 

Blockbuster succumbed to the ease and convenience of online streaming and downloading because it's faster, easier and the selection is virtually limitless. 

In the next three to five years, personal websites will serve as the primary informational and marketing tool for you and your career and will surpass the resumé. Begin building yours now.

Recruiters and HR professionals almost always go to LinkedIn to get more details and a more complete picture of candidates. 

Attaching a PDF will be a thing of the past, you’ll soon be including a link to your site.

A website lets you take control of your online image and message. You may still use your resumé, but a personal webpage will give you many more options to showcase your talent and accomplishments and give you the edge over your competition using only a resumé.

Rigid and almost completely impersonal, two pages listing your work history is an out-dated way to learn about and select candidates to interview.

For about the same time and money you can pull together a professional, smart looking marketing tool. And make no mistake, your page will be a marketing tool and a far more powerful one than any resumé. 

Sample of personal webpages

http://www.peter-pearson.com

This one has a more resume feel and the designer users it as one might user a resume, but with way more impact.

http://fredmaya.com

Designers are already ahead of this curve because it's easy for them to show their work and skills on a website rather than tote around a heavy portfolio, but before long, your personal website will be your calling card and showcase who you are, your brand and what you are looking for in your career.

45% of employers are already looking at social media sites, they want to get to know more about candidates so why not direct them to the information they seek. One in three employers reject a candidate based on what's on your Facebook page, your Facebook is not a job hunting tool. Lock down your privacy settings and give them robust website where you control the content for purposes of finding a job.

Employers will be as likely to look for and find you as you are to find them (if you are out there two be found.) LinkedIn is already foreshadowing this pattern. Candidates long ago started putting their LinkedIn profile URL on their resumé.

Why? Because there's more to you than what can be put on a resume and people go online to find it. When they get there, if you have a page for them to find, you have more control of the message. 

Your personal page doesn't need to be an award-winning design Taj Mahal, it just needs to be clean, simple and represent you and your best work, whether it's volunteer work you've done, that you're a runner who never misses a 5k or just a more flexible showcase for traditional work experience.  A personal website is the perfect place for this, particularly if you are at the beginning of your career with little resumé suitable work or life experience, but still have robust story to tell that can't be told on a staid, boring resumé.

Weebly offers sites for free and more features for as little as $4 or $8 a month, and SimpleSite's title says it all a super simple click and go site builder. Wix, a recent entry into the easy-build website market offers packages from about $5 to $25. 

Tell me what you think
How would a personal website make your job search easier or harder?
Does the idea of putting yourself on a website appeal to you more than a resume or less? Why?
Do you already have a blog on-line personal site that you use to market yourself to potential employers?

Make your move,

Courtney Kirschbaum, 

Connect with her next move on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube or on our website

2 Solid Tactics to Get Things That May Seem WAY Out of Reach

Six Degrees of Separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away by way of introduction, from any other person in the world.

Quite simply, the people around you can lessen the degrees of separation between you and what you want and you can do the same for them. This is an enormously effective way to make progress in your life and career.  The most successful people in the world know this and do this all the time. And you don't have to be some gregarious networking whiz to use this method. 

If you're willing to put yourself out there and share what you're looking for, it will begin to happen naturally. I first succeeded with it before I knew it was a recognized principle of success.

In high school and college, all I wanted to do was travel, in particular to go to England. And since this was something I wanted very badly, with very little encouragement (i.e. usually none) I'd tell people that was my aim. A classmate my Sophomore year had a uncle who owned a summer English language camp outside of London and that introduction resulted in me spending the next three summers working at that camp and happily traipsing up to London on my days off. I was in heaven.  

I went from having no connections and not even daring to imagine living and working overseas to having a regular job in my dream location there every summer through college.

Queen's Day in Amsterdam

I did the same thing when I got a job with an international company after college. I still had the desire to live and work overseas (and now even had overseas work experience) and I made that goal known to my peers, colleague, boss, etc. and without my asking them,  anytime anyone heard about an opportunity overseas or a contact, they would let me know. Within 6 months of becoming eligible, I was living in Amsterdam working at the company's international headquarters.

#1 Begin to see that people in a new light 

Realize that just about everyone has the potential to link you to a person or resource that can make a big difference in your life or career, and likewise, you may have connections that could put them dramatically closer to their goals.

This summer, I was in Edmonton, Alberta to speak at TEDx. Most of volunteers organizing the event were students at the University of Alberta.  A young man named Goran shared with me that he wanted to work with the International Olympic Committee.  Immediately,  I thought of a friend, Lynn,  who was involved in organizing the Summer Olympics in London and would certainly know someone from the IOC. I told Goran "I know someone you could talk to who might be able to connect you with someone at the IOC." We exchanged information. 

Follow-up is critical ... 

Because getting help from strangers is not something a lot of people are comfortable with, unless we are in dire straights, I knew from experience that the chance that Goran would actually follow up with me was about 30%. Many of us, especially at the beginning of our careers aren't comfortable asking for help or pursuing leads. We don't want to bother people, etc. when the fact is most people enjoy helping others and connecting people for their mutual benefit.

It's the Universal Law of Compensation. You get what you give.

About a week later Goran did follow up with me.  It showed me he was serious about going after what he wanted, so now I'm  feeling even better about introducing him to my friend, because he's shown that he's someone who's not afraid to go for it. After an email introduction, they were in contact. As it turns out my friend Lynn, had plenty of IOC contacts.

Your greatest successes will often come from the small connections from people you barely know who just wanted to do a good turn and help someone.  

#2 Share your goals, hopes and dreams with people and ask other people about theirs

Sometimes it happens organically, you say you have an interest or need something and someone provides you with just the thing you need. Serendipity.

But many times people don't speak up and if they speak up they don't follow up.

Similar things inspire us all. We love to see people with a fire in their belly for their dreams and we love to hear about people going for what they want, so don't be afraid to put what you really want out there and invite other people to do the same. 

Try it here. If you could get one connection what would it be, to who or what?  

Prove it to yourself. This week, make a concentrated effort to try and close the degrees of separation between yourself and anything, and see what happens.  

Let me know how it goes.

Make your move,

Courtney Kirschbaum, 

Connect with her next move on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube or on our website

 

A Different Kind of Six Pack

What do you want above all other things in your life right now? 

Have you thought of something?  Is it a new job? Better physique? Promotion? Travel ...?

Why don't you have it?

  
"I don't know where to start." 
"I have so many things to do, I don't know which one to do first." 

These are two of the concerns I hear most often at my seminars and workshops. Not knowing where to start or what to do first can be debilitating - it's called 'analysis paralysis', you're so busy worrying about what to do and how to do it, you end up doing nothing or you do things that don't get the results you want, because you're shooting at the wrong targets.

Here's a simple, effective rule of thumb to get into action and start hitting your targets.  Whether it's a job, a promotion, getting published, or creating a larger following, whatever it is ... ask yourself this simple question: 

What are the 6 things that will impact the outcome of getting this thing more than all other things?

What six things, that if you focus and act on consistently would move you closer to the thing you want?  

What if you wanted to lose 20lbs, the "six-pack" of high-impact factors might be:

1. Establishing your daily calorie intake vs. calories burn and making sure the latter exceeds the former.
2. Having healthy foods available
3. Getting enough exercise 
4. Avoiding triggers 
5. Getting support from others
6. Maintaining motivation

If you mastered these 6 things and could maintain that mastery for 6 weeks, you'd probably lose the 20lbs and if you didn't, you'd have 6 measures to assess what worked and what didn't.  If you're dieting, was it old triggers that tripped you up? No Support? Were you unable to get enough exercise? What undermined your success and what can you do about it?

This is important because you can't change what you can't measure and your six-pack gives you a way to break things down.

Maybe you're looking for a job. Your six-pack might be:

1. Making contacts in your field or profession
2. Researching people, company, opportunities 
3. Developing a good online presence and resume (marketing)
4. Cover letter(s)
5. Finding job openings
6. Interview tactics and meaningful follow-up

After you document your six-pack...

Take it to the next level

Rate each of your 6 on a scale of 1-10 based on which ones will be easy for you (10 is easiest) and which will be more challenging.. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). Work on the areas where you are scoring the lowest.



These low score items represent challenges and internal blocks or fears you need to overcome to see results. The items that will need more of your focus, discipline and determination.  

Once you Identify the things that are holding you back.  You can focus your energy on facing them, improving them, doing whatever you need to do to start getting results.

So, what do you really want and what are the 6 things you need to dial in very well to get it? Start right now.  I invite you to share what you want and your "six-pack" plan for getting it
Have a great week and ...

Make your move,
Courtney Kirschbaum, 
Connect with her next move on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube or on our website

 

3 reasons to recharge yourself and not your phone.

Rest, not excessive hard work, is the key to success

Work smarter not harder, it's true. Despite or seemingly indefatigable belief that hard work is noble, honorable and the answer to everything, including success, the fact is that like so many things,  even work is better in moderation. Even if you love what you do, a break can improve your performance, your creativity and problem solving abilities. On this post, you'll get insights on how easing off the work can bring your closer to your brilliance, your best ideas and what you want most.

1.)     Don’t be Pavlov’s dog: when you are constantly responding to the dings and whistles of your technology, you begin to confuse activity with accomplishment. While you feel you are making progress or getting things done by being so responsive to the never-ending dings and bells, often, you're merely satisfying the simplest part of your brain - the part that has Whack-a-Mole mentality; it gets a buzz from finishing something, no matter how minor, i.e. responding to an email 20 seconds after it arrives.  While you fritter away your mental energy on the minor things technology provides an almost endless stream of,  the important things - the 20% of your goals that are going to get you 80% of your results, are languishing. People who live in this response zone often don’t know how to prioritize the important things in their life, so  they respond to it all. 

How to break the pattern: Identify and work on your most important tasks in chunks of time during which you turn off all alarms for messages, mail etc., and if possible disconnect from the Internet. Start small 10-20 minutes, and lengthen the chunks over time 

2.)         Technology taxes your body: Mental waters need to be calm for the effervescence of creativity and problem solving to rise to the top.
This was brilliantly illustrated in an article “The Making of a Corporate Athlete”, by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, in which they point out that the most successful athletes are the ones with the most consistent recovery rituals.  Complete breaks from focus on work allow your brain to recharge and absorb all the information coming at you everyday. It  facilitates creativity and problem solving. This happens most productively when the brain (and body) is at rest. 
Even in the minor state of anxiety that you are in when subconsciously “waiting” for the next ding is causing the body to dump Adrenaline and Cortisol into your system, overworking your adrenals.  Usually the first symptom is the 3:00 p.m. “crash.” If you find that your nodding off and having to head to the snack or soda machine for a sugar buzz (the average soda contains 30-40 grams of sugar), your adrenals are already showing fatigue, which is diminishing your ability to perform and to recover and dulling your edge. Eventually, even the mid-afternoon sugar/caffeine bomb won’t be able to resuscitate your mind or body.
How to break the pattern: I played softball as a kid, when one of us made a bad play our coach, would say “walk it off.” It meant, walk away from whatever happened. Let it go.  It's great advice. Leave your phone on your desk and walk for even 10 or 15 minutes does wonders to let your body come down and let your mind stop spinning. It also helps you realize that it’s not the end of  the world to leave your phone in your desk drawer.  If you work out for an hour or more a few times a week, even better, provided you leave the technology in the locker room or at home.

3.)        You teach people how to treat you:
Anything that is readily available is usually not considered precious, it's taken for granted. So, in addition to resting your mind and body, you can increase your value by making yourself more scarce in the virtual realm. When you respond to every email the second it comes in, you may think it make you look like the employee of the month since you're always “on,” but in fact the opposite is true. It suggests you don’t discriminate the minor from the major and that you're ready to jump anytime someone snaps their virtual fingers.  
How to break the habit: communicate to people what your availability is and isn’t. If you have be available for certain people, customize their ring tones, or ask them call you. Most of our interruptions are not phone calls but electronic messaging of some sort. Leaders discriminate.

A final note: If you think your productivity will decrease when you disconnect your umbilical cord to the technology mother ship, keep this in mind: since 1971 productivity in America has decreased, not increased.


I'd love to know what you think.

1. How do you disconnect and re-charge? 
2. Have you had an experience that showed you that resting, not working harder, brought about a better result?

Courtney Kirschbaum
Founder, Her Next Move

A Mini for your thoughts!

Share your thoughts and win an iPad mini.  

Her Next Move is creating a summer webinar series to help college women prepare for the move from college to career. We need your input to customize our program so it addresses your concerns and answers your questions. It won't take long and you could win a Mini! Take the survey here: http://svy.mk/1qdCKL4

Courtney Kirschbaum, 
Founder, Her Next Move
Connect with her next move on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
Or on our website

The Signing Bonus Trap - Don't Get Caught

Know what your signing bonus is for ...

and how it can work against you

One of the most alluring things for a new hire is the signing bonus - a cash bonus that you get within a month of taking your new job.  Usually in your first or second paycheck.

This company-supplied cash infusion is a great ego booster, and tastes ever so sweet after the long hard slog of the job hunt. You're thinking, "To the victor go the spoils! Hoorah!!!"  

But beware, those spoils come with strings attached. 

From my own experience and that of many of my colleagues, I know that the signing bonus rarely get stashed away into your IRA, 401k or savings account.  It usually goes to paying off student loans or credit card debt, which is not an altogether bad idea, but before you spend that tidy lump sum,  understand what it really means

Look the gift horse in the mouth.

There are a few things the signing bonus does, not all of them immediately apparent.  It's definitely a very appealing incentive to get you to join the company, lump sums of cash are rare in life. And it appears to be nothing more than the premium they're paying for your amazing talent and who wouldn't want to believe that?  You probably are really talented, which is why you got the job,  but the other side of the coin (pardon the pun) is that a signing bonus is how the company increases the likelihood that you'll stick around for 18 months to two years, even if it's the worst job in the world with the most dysfunctional culture imaginable. Here's why:

If you leave within 18 to 24 months, you have to pay back your signing bonus. Companies use this cash incentive to keep you in the job long enough to give them better employer turnover statistics, which they use as public relations angle in the business press.

One of the measures companies are evaluated on is how long the average employee stays with the company. When they are wooing  you during the interview process, it's very hard to see what day-to-day life with an employer will be like. It takes a few months to discover what the company and culture are really like. 

Companies want to show good retention numbers to attract top talent. Smart candidate looks at high turnover rates and know that a toxic or excessively demanding culture is the likely culprit, so companies want to keep their turnover numbers low. The signing bonus works to keep you from bolting if you find things aren't so rosy once they welcome you inside. 

The possibility of leaving before your the payback term expires seems so remote in the lovely "honeymoon" period when your soon-to-be-employer has recognized your brilliance and wants to hire you. You can't imagine that wonderful boss you tried so hard to impress in the interview, being a petty, narcissistic, maniac who expects you to work 80 hours a week, effectively reducing your hourly salary to $.50.   

That's why the signing bonus trap works. 

By all means take the money, just don't get trapped by it. Know what it is and what it means for you.

Here's another thing to remember: the average person get's the bonus pays the taxes on it, which cuts the actual amount you receive by about 40%, but you have to pay it all back.  Often companies do pro-rate the payback over time, lessening the amount based on the time with the company, but you could still pay back more than you pocketed.

Most people don't read the fine print on their signing bonus contract  (you can see one here) until they are faced with repaying it.  Before you accept a signing bonus, be aware and be defensive, read the contract carefully and negotiate your repay down to shorter time-period - if it's a year ask for 4 months, for example. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Everything is negotiable.  And don’t blow the bonus, you may need it to buy your freedom sooner than you think. 

If you mis-manage it, your signing bonus becomes a pair of time-release handcuffs.  

If, after some months, you find it's not a good fit and you decide to cut your losses and move on, you may have no or little savings, a mountain of student loan debt and your monthly discretionary income fund is probably not large.  All of the sudden you realize you are miles away from being able to come up with the payback amount.

The psychological and financial impact of having to repay your signing bonus is very effective in keeping you in a job you may want to leave.  Time is more valuable than money. You can make more money, you can't make more time. Don't waste yours sticking it out in job you don't want because they hooked you on the bonus.

I'd like to know what do you think? Please share your insights or tell me ...

• Have you ever accepted a signing bonus or had to pay one back?
• How would you spend a signing bonus if you got one?
• Share your thoughts about what you think are the up sides and downside of a signing bonus.

Courtney Kirschbaum, 
Founder, Her Next Move
Connect with her next move on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
Or on our website

Get "High" and Get Hired - 5 strategies to get better results in your job search

1.)  Don't phone (or email) it in

Scanning the job sites and sending email applications is what everyone does. It's one of the most used but least effective ways to really show up on someone's radar.

Get up, get out and connect with people and ask for what you want. Most people don’t get what they want because they don’t ask for it. 

Fear of looking “stupid,” not knowing something, or simple fear of rejection keeps most people separated from what they want the most. 

Get a conversation started.

All call posts on LinkedIn groups asking for job or internship are largely ineffective.

If you want a job in a particular industry, join related LinkedIn groups and start posting questions (i.e. "what are the top 5 things you look for in an entry-level candidate?”)  Get to know the people in the field who are posting regularly. 

The reason many people don't spend more time doing this type of job hunting is because the outcomes are not as predictable and linear as sending out 10s of resumes and waiting.  Putting yourself out there can be uncomfortable for a lot of people, but, trust me, these connections are where the magic happens and you learn from them. You never now where they might lead.  Get used to the awkwardness and put yourself out there.

Get high and get hired

People love helping other people, this phenomena is called the “helpers high.”  Whatever you want to be, someone is doing it or has done it, find them, interview them and then ask them to introduce you to other people in your field of interest.  If you want to be a journalist, reach out to one or two... or five and ask them about their job and what it's really like, what it takes to be successful and what advice they might have for you.

Meg Jay, in her book the “Defining Decade: why your twenties matter," calls these “loose connections” and it is these loose connections that will put you on the track to your dream job a lot faster than you think.

2.) Be real

You just graduated college, so potential employers are not expecting you to single-handedly craft their strategic plan and implement it, but they will expect you to be real and have a logical reason for wanting to work for them, so be honest with yourself and honest with them. 

At the end of the day, people want to know what’s in your mind and heart as much or more than they want to know what’s in your transcripts. 

If you can’t come up with a genuine answer to the question, “Why do you want to work here?” Then why DO you want to work there? If it’s just because you need the money, big mistake. See tip 5.  “Don’t sell out”

3.) Resume’s are boring (they are)

Do something original and a little brave to distinguish yourself.  I once had a candidate include a list of 100 accomplishments with his resume. This kid was bright, right out of college and didn’t have lots of work experience, so he took a risk and sent a list of things he’d accomplished in life, but that weren't standard resume material.  I loved it and I felt like I knew him after reading that list. One of his accomplishments was “I survived my parents divorcing (twice).” I thought it was brave and unconventional and it won me over.  

Don’t be afraid to put a little ‘skin in the game’ by showing who you really are.

4.) Have goals

Have a meaningful goals (at least one) and connect the goal with the job you’re applying for. People get energized by other’s goals and they see people with clear goals as decisive and disciplined. 

Our nature as humans is to “complete” and make sense of things. It’s how our brains work.  People want to be able to make sense of your behavior and knowing your goals is a great way to help them do that. If you don’t know what you want to do with the rest of your life, that’s fine, the person interviewing you probably didn’t at your age (and very likely still doesn’t).  Go for what interests you and tell them what you are trying to do in terms of goals. For example, “My goal is to learn as much as I can about [this job, industry, field], so I can determine my career path” or “My dad was partner in a law firm and my goal is to do that by the time I’m 40.”  If you don’t know, don’t pretend you do,  just have goals around what you do know and be up front about them. 

5.) Don’t sell out

Desperation repels. During the economic recession in the US,  I interviewed mid-career professionals who had been out of work for over a year, some of whom may have been living on their savings and growing desperate to get back in the workforce. The telltale sign was that they weren't discriminating.  They would say they’d work "anywhere", do "anything" and tended to answer questions in generalities for fear that stating a preference or viewpoint would make them less likely to get the job. If you hate something don’t say you love it, if you love something, don’t say you hate it.  No matter how badly you need to pay the rent, don’t fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all interviewers just to get the job.  It rarely works, and when it does it usually doesn’t end well.

Final thoughts
Remember, sometimes you do everything right and you still don't get the job. Give fate a nod, assume it's for the best and keep moving. Don't get discouraged and start getting down on yourself. When it comes to job hunting, that's the kiss of death. People want to be around positive, confident people. Believe in yourself and believe that the job you want is out there, and eventually, if you persist, you'll get it. To quote Winston Churchill. "Never, Never, Never, Never give up."

Make your move.

Courtney Kirschbaum

Founder