Alumni Contacts Aid Job Search

Here's a resource we don't always remember if we're out of college more than a few years:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/fashion/02alumni.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2

Create Your Online Business Card

At Business Card 2, you create your own business card, a quick and easy profile you can send, link to, or display on a site. Here's mine:

http://workwritecareercoach.businesscard2.com/

Create a job search tool by promoting your skills and accomplishments on your Business Card 2.
Start here:

http://businesscard2.com

Looking for the lies

Here's the real "Lie to Me" guy: http://www.paulekman.com/. I'm fascinated with the idea of seeing these microexpressions. The short and sweet training is only $20. Check it out.

Only the Employed Need Apply

White Chocolate Grill

Bobby Fitzgerald prefers to hire
the already employed even though
he gets two dozen or more unsolicited
résumés each day at his White Chocolate Grill.

With unemployment at 9.4% and rising, it’s a buyer’s market for employers that are hiring.

Dana Mattoli at Wall Street Journal Careers talked with some of the many employers who are bypassing the jobless to target those still working, reasoning that these survivors are the top performers.

Even a recruiter said many of his clients would rather look at "passive candidates," those not actively seeking a job because they have one already.

This practice assumes that hanging onto a job assures one's quality, aptitude, and leadership. I disagree heartily. Most of us can think of the person who was still in the office after 25 lame, unproductive, and in most cases whining, years. We don't know why they're still there. Do they have something on the boss, we speculate?

Probably not. They just forgot -- or refused -- to stay home when they quit. And someone else didn't notice.

On the other hand, I've known and worked with plenty of energized, engaged, and productive people who have had departments disappear beneath their feet, a job description change, or a merger move their job to St. Louis.

No, not all the best people are working, and not all of those unemployed are second stringers.

You can contribute to Millennials employment survey

A researcher who is concerned about the very high rate of unemployment among the Millennials (17.8%) is looking for people to contribute to her research.

Consultant Stacey Randall is conducting original research called "The Impact of the Recession on the Millennial Generation." She is looking for people under 30 who were laid off in 2008 or 2009.

The impact she is researching carries some alarming statistics:

• Unemployment among young Americans is nearly 9 points higher than the national average.
• Two-thirds of college students graduate with over $20,000 in debt, twice as much as a decade ago.

If you are or know of a Millennial who has been laid off since January 2008, please visit www.surveymonkey.com/recessionsurvey.

Women bullying Women

By MICKEY MEECE
New York Times

Published: May 9, 2009

Yelling, scheming and sabotaging: all are tell-tale signs that a bully is at work, laying traps for employees at every pass.

Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Kent Kaufman and Laura Stek, right,
of the Growth and Leadership Center,
coach Cleo Lepori-Costello, left,
a vice president at a Silicon Valley
software company,
on communication skills.

During this downturn, as stress levels rise, workplace researchers say, bullies are likely to sharpen their elbows and ratchet up their attacks.

It’s probably no surprise that most of these bullies are men, as a survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute, an advocacy group, makes clear. But a good 40 percent of bullies are women. And at least the male bullies take an egalitarian approach, mowing down men and women pretty much in equal measure. The women appear to prefer their own kind, choosing other women as targets more than 70 percent of the time.

In the name of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, what is going on here?

Read full article.

What to do when nothing works

I just received an email from a client who has been job hunting for about a month and has made about 100 applications for jobs in another state. He's doing everything right. He's networking; he's narrowing his search and contacting companies of his choice to talk about how he might fit into their plans; he holds an excellent interview and has boatloads of confidence. He's an absolutely wonderful find for anyone in his industry.

So, what's going wrong? He's being turned down for positions he qualifies for, and even some he over-qualifies for.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Work more through your contacts: When you ask someone to recommend you, don't stop with a good word or a letter of endorsement. Ask them to put you in contact with someone they actually know at the company.

2. Give first: The heart of networking is its mutuality. When you contact people, ask what you can do to help them. Be ready to give and give first. Yes, you are looking for a job, but you are also and foremost looking to fill a need. This attitude alone can put you at the top of an employer's list.

3. Be persistent: If one thing with that person doesn't work out, ask them about other opportunities in their department, other departments, and other companies.

4. Recheck your list: Who have you thought of contacting that you haven't contacted yet? We often forget to make a contact or leave one out because it's a little uncomfortable. Find another way to make the contact that's more comfortable.

5. Maintain contacts you have: It's best if you've maintained communications with everyone you've ever met throughout the years, but few of us are that good. So, forgive yourself for not being an ubernetworker and start contacting people.

6. Do it again: Recontact the people you've called already and see if anything has turned up since you talked with them.

7. Develop more contacts. This is especially difficult with a long-distance job search, but there are ways around it. Go through your address book. I have relatives or friends in nearly every state. You probably do, too. In most cases, people will welcome the opportunity to help you.

8. Work your online social networks: Do more with contacting people through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. There are usually groups you can find on Facebook, for example, that allow you to learn more about people there and perhaps find a friend or friend of a friend who can put you in direct contact with the right person. If you don't know much about these networks, read Jason Alba's book, I'm on LinkedIn, Now What?

9. Take off! Plan a trip to your target city to follow up with people face to face.

10. Get a pep talk: Find at least one person who encourages you, whether it is your career coach, your spouse, your best friend, or a job club.

When you're done with step 10, start over at step 1. This is the most sure-fire way to land a job in this economy or any other. Talk with your people, and make more people your people.