Agenda Item for 4/26/13

Job Search 201

The internal stuff was the focus of last week's discussion: Developing the foundational structure for your career development plan. Who you are and what resources you have to work with. From there one can develop a plan to maximize the usefulness of those resources as well as acquire more or missing resources. I had hoped to have converted that discussion into handouts for this weeks meeting. We'll see what I manage to get done tonight. If i get it done that's what we'll discuss tomorrow. But I'll warn you it's not looking hopeful.

Sooooo...

Today's alternate topic: What's my strategy? What am I trying to achieve and what's the best way to achieve it? Arms length or up close? Job boards and online marketing or mining the network and getting known for your expertise and passion. Targeting industry, position, individuals, or problem. Being a thought leader or a implementation expert? Selling your past experience, your present capabilities, or your future potential? Strategy is about making the big choices that so that smaller executional choices are easier to make.

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  "What's my strategy?" (For this I DO have a handout.)

Something interesting: It's not enough to be busy...

Agenda for 4/19/13

Job Search 201

You know the basics already. You've sorted out your job history and identified some of your best stories. You've identified your core and secondary value propositions. You have a decent resume and linked in profile. You've practiced telling your story at networking events and career mixers. You've identified companies that you like and that hire people that do the things you do. And you've assessed the potential competition and understand how your realistically stand out. But now you're at a loss. How do you put all that together? How do you coordinate that into a overarching strategy that gets you in front of the people that have the power to actually say "I want to hire you"?

Today's topic is about putting together not a generic plan but YOUR plan. Your personal marketing strategy broken down into action items. How will you direct your resources of time, money, skills and relationships to serve your goals?

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  "Marketing Plans for Career Developers"

Something Interesting: Why HR Should Get Out of the Hiring Business

Article: Why HR Should Get Out of the Hiring Business
Those of you frustrated by todays hiring practices have lots of company. It's a convoluted demeaning and ineffective process. OCA Member Bill Munroe tossed this article at me last week and I thought you'd find it interesting too. (Be sure to read the comment section for a variety of strategies for dealing with HR problems.)

Agenda for 4/12/2013

Communications Management.

A continuation of last week's conversation:

We live in a time of unprecedented interpersonal connectivity. And yet so many of us have trouble reaching out to or following up with those we should. Our inboxes are jammed. Our to-do lists are miles long. The urgent gets dealt with while the important doesn't. This is of course partly a matter of priorities and goal setting. Partly a matter of poor time management. And partly a mater of being unclear about our values and purpose. (We'll touch on these but our focus is gonna be on the tools.)

Today the topic is simple: Managing the tools we use to manage the communications we need. Since the number one tool for communication today is email we're going to start there. (We may discuss text, social media, in-person meetings, etc. if we have time.)

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  "Conquering Email and other Personal Communications"

The power of IF -> THEN

Thought I'd share an interesting article from over on Psychology Today:

 Fear, doubt, doubt and uncertainty lead to the procrastination, indecision, and inertia that keeps you from achieving. Whether it's losing weight, sticking to an exercise program, making a sales call, returning a call, applying for a position, doing anything you "NEED" to do but don't necessarily "want" to do.

Turn your indecision on it's head by deciding what you're going to do long before it becomes time to do it.

Article: Maximize your ability to achieve your goals

Photo: flickr.com/photos/bookgrl

Something Intersting: Are you a desperate job seeker?

 

Article: The right and wrong way to brand yourself

Those of you looking for work have a number of challenges not least of which is how prospective employers see you. Hint: Desperate is not the way. This short article from the Daily Muse offers up 5 basics for brand management when you're looking for work. (Of course there's plenty more to know and do but we'll save that for another day.)


Image: flickr.com/photos/kmakice

Agenda Item for 3/5/2013 Meeting

This weeks topic: Communications Management.

We live in a time of unprecedented interpersonal connectivity. And yet so many of us have trouble reaching out to or following up with those we should. Our in boxes are jammed. Our to-do lists are miles long. The urgent gets dealt with while the important doesn't. This is of course partly a matter of priorities and goal setting. Partly a matter of poor time management. And partly a mater of being unclear about our values and purpose. (We'll touch on these but our focus is gonna be on the tools.)

Today the topic is simple: Managing the tools we use to manage the communications we need. Since the number one tool for communication today is email we're going to start there. (We may discuss text, social media, in-person meetings, etc. if we have time.)

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  "Conquering Email and other Personal Communications"