Welcome to the Stewart, Cooper & Coon Blog! In this publication, you will find articles and thoughts about job and career change issues, job interview tips, resume advice and articles about succeeding on the job. Our goal is to post something new as often as we can. We welcome submissions from contributing authors. Please submit any articles or thoughts to: blogeditor@stewartcoopercoon.com . Our blog is "content rich" and the articles span a wide variety of subjects covering job search and career change. We look forward to your readership and possible submissions.
3 Ways to Recession Proof Your Resume
by: Fred Coon
Chairman, CEO
Stewart, Cooper & Coon
Thankfully for the American economy, the stock market seems to be on an up-swing. Unfortunately for the American worker, that does not translate to peace of mind as far as job security goes. Whether you are out of work or satisfied with your current job, below are a few surefire ways to recession proof your resume.
#1 Communicate Your Value
Effectively communicating your value on paper is one of the best ways to improve your resume. This will help to separate you from the thousands of other job seekers currently in the market.
If you are simply listing your specific job duties in your current and past roles, you are not helping yourself at all. Think about it for a moment. If everyone who has the same job as you listed their duties on a resume, where would that put you? Most likely right in the middle of the pack. The key is to show how you have exceeded your duties, and then translating that into quantifiable results.
For example, if your job was to answer the phone all day, how many calls did you field? Is that more than someone else? Where does that rank you in the department for that specific duty?
Effectively communicating your value is just a matter of taking a different perspective while looking at your job. If you can effectively show your strengths and how they separate you from the next resume in the pile, you automatically put yourself at an advantage.
#2 Don’t Generalize
One of the most common mistakes that people make while writing their resume is to generalize certain functions, skills or achievements because they believe it makes them a person who can do everything. However, that is not what employers want.
All generalizing does is water down your resume and make you a Jack/Jill of all trades; which is not what you want to be considered during a job search.
Gayle Howard, founder of Top Margin Career Networking group and renowned resume writer, says she encounters this quite frequently and always ends up telling her clients the same thing.
“As an employer, do I want a Marketing Manager expert with 20 years of experience in the right industry with the right skills, or do I want an individual who says he can do a little bit of anything? The answer is clear and compelling. A job seeker should not dilute his or her value to try and be everything to all people.”
#3 Give Your Resume a Check-Up
Just like you go to your doctor for regular check-ups, give your resume a check-up. While you are employed, keep track of each achievement that you encounter. That doesn’t mean that every one has to make it onto the resume, but if you lose your job, the chances of remembering every achievement in the five years since you updated your resume are slim to none.
Also, it is highly beneficial to enlist the services of a professional resume writer. There are numerous companies, and even freelance resume writers, that make this service their living. If you can, take advantage of their services. A professional resume writer is certified and carries the credentials (in some way, shape or form) of a Certified Resume Writer.
Think of it this way; you could probably change the oil on your car, but there are people that do that for you.
How Can I Make The Bailout Work For Me?
by: Fred Coon
Chairman, CEO
Stewart, Cooper & Coon
By now, you are probably aware that one of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s main goals is to create or save over 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. And I know what you’re thinking. “How is the plan going to help me?” Albeit one of the most common questions I have heard, it is not the correct one. What you should be asking yourself is “How can I make the plan work for me?”
The Recovery Act is heavy on projects relating to infrastructure and “rebuilding” America, and it is easy to see that it will create and save jobs for blue collar workers. For example, take the project currently underway to repair a crumbling bridge in Tuscumbia, Missouri. It is the first project developed as a direct result of the stimulus package, but has been criticized by economists due to the fact that it only creates around thirty jobs for workers in the immediate area; an area that just so happens to be in the middle of nowhere. So how does this help the American economy?
The silver lining to the project is that while it only directly creates around thirty jobs, it is estimated to save upwards of two hundred. From the project manager, to the financial analyst in the office to the receptionist at the front desk, each employee in the company gets another paycheck because that company landed the contract.
Marc Erpenbeck, a Partner at the law offices of Snell & Wilmer is an expert on the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Erpenbeck feels that one of the problems with the recovery plan is the difficulty tallying exactly how many jobs have been saved as a result of it.
“One of the primary areas of confusion is that the government is tracking jobs ‘saved/created.’ Jobs created is easy to track. Jobs saved is much more difficult,” Erpenbeck says. “People will overstate the number of jobs saved because it is an easy and untraceable calculation essentially determined by the management of companies who are vying for the work.”
In essence, projects will be awarded to the companies who will save the most jobs, so, whoever says they will save the most jobs wins.
While this problem will most likely still exist throughout the life of the recession, the bailout plan is still vital to the American economy because it will save jobs in many industries.
So, the next logical question is which industries will benefit from the plan? While some industries are more obvious than others (construction, contractors and subcontractors, engineers and architects), Erpenbeck says the other industries that will receive a boost will be inspectors, auditors, health care professionals, administrators, IT (particularly with respect to HITECH Act, a.k.a electronic medical records), accountants, renewable energy and energy conservation.
The industry that will be most interesting to watch will also likely see the largest boost. Included in the bailout plan is a provision for a tax credit for any American who completes upgrades to their home in the areas of renewable energy, energy conservation and energy efficiency.
Not only will this open up new opportunities in industries such as wind and solar power, but it will also put money back into the pockets of American families.
“There is a tax credit available for those types of improvements to all Americans of one-third the cost of energy efficiency improvements to your home, up to a maximum of $1,500 credit,” Erpenbeck says. “This credit (not a deduction) does not phase out based on income. Thus, there is a 33% discount potential for every house in America for up to $4,500 in energy efficiency work completed in their home.”
With real incentives for people to start buying energy efficient and conservatory appliances, there should be an increase in sales for companies selling and manufacturing insulation, doors, windows and energy efficient equipment.
Bottom line, more jobs will be created than would initially appear on the books. As the government plan expands and more and more industries are affected, the key to making this plan work for you is to make the skills you have spent your career developing transferable.
Your job is to make sure that you have “branded” yourself properly so you can demonstrate that you can add value to any company you join – regardless of the industry – and capture any new opportunities that arise.
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WHEN IT BOTTOM'S OUT - THEN WHAT?
by: Fred Coon
Chairman, CEO
Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Inc.
The market is still headed down. If it doesn't go below 7200 we will all be thrilled. What does this mean to you, the executive in search? It means that your competition is greater because hundreds of thousands of people are unemployed and seeking the same positions you are applying for. When the going gets tough, the tough etc. Ok, but what does that mean to you, specifically? It means that your "brand" and the value propositions you bring to the new company bust stand out and must be perceived as more valuable than those of the others with whom you are competing. What is "branding"?
One aspect of branding is to determine what it is that you are selling. Selling? Yes, selling? You are a product whether you like it or not. Your "brand" will be compared with the "brands" or lack of them, from your competitors in the search. How do you establish a brand? It is not easy. It requires professional guidance and coaching. Frankly, you are too close to the forest to see the trees. Your brand will reflect your value propositions, key qualifications and positioning and your packaging for these must be flawless. By flawless, I do not mean spelling and punctuation, although an error there will eliminate you too. What I mean key qualifications, positioning and packaging is that these all combined will reflect the value you bring to the potential employer.
When you get there, you must interview. No, I don't mean interview. What I mean is to eliminate the competition. Otherwise, you are like all the other applicants. For example, the American interview goes like this: Hello! Come in, sit down, did you have trouble finding us - blah -blah - blah. Question, answer, question, answer, question answer and thank you very much we'll call you. Ever conducted and interview like that or better yet, ever been in one that approximates that? Why did you go in the first place? Your sole purpose is to cause the company to feel that they only want to hire YOU, not the other applicants. What did you do when you were there to create added value so you can position yourself better for negotiation?
Once of the most incidious aspects of interviewing today is the EQ emphasis, not the IQ emphasis. Don't know what this specifically means? Then you are in big trouble before you even start. I see so many executives that are really good at what they do but have no clue why they are good at it or how their behavioral competencies need to manifest themselves in the interview process. Boy, are they missing the boat.
Anyway, what has all this to do with a market value of 7,000? Everything. Competition is much larger and therefore if you are not branded properly, don't understand correct packaging (I don't mean just a resume) and have no clue how to describe your EQ, then you will not achieve your next move up the career ladder - whether that is in your same industry or field or a new industry - it doesn't matter.
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NATIONAL CRISIS - WHAT NOW?
by: Fred Coon
Chairman, CEO
Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Inc.
I would like to share my thoughts about the job search process, in light of the serious economic crisis we now face. I hope this helps you in your search.
Last week and continuing through the mess in Congress this week, the U.S. rubbed shoulders with a nearly catastrophic financial meltdown of the U.S. economic system. As related by Senators who attended the presentation of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, some were quoted as saying “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.” Another said: “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”
Like you, I have been inundated, even saturated with more information than I possibly can absorb about cause and effect, who said what, who did what or who didn't do something they should have done. I will spare you a long diatribe because I am not an economist. We both watch television, read the newspapers and we will make up our minds about who winds up in the right or wrong column.
What I do know is this. I have weathered numerous economic cycles of varying intensities. What I also know about is the situations facing six-figure executives. In all of the television and newspaper coverage, not nearly enough time has been spent on this subject.
What you are probably concerned about is how does this crisis affect you and what tactics should be employed in making sure you win, not lose? The last thing one wants to do is panic and take a J.O.B. instead of making the right career move. We must continue to face reality, not the fantasy of what we hope will happen. We all have fears building and not really sure of where to find the answers. Sticking your head in the ground and pretending it will pass you personally by won't secure your next career move.
Here are a few thoughts about your current or upcoming job search I would like to share a few thoughts with you to act as a critical thinking guide as you proceed.
Get Busy and Do Something - My father once told me to "make a move, even if it yields very little, make a move." Why? Because action makes us feel like we are contributing and doing something. If nothing else, we feel better about ourselves. However, making the right move in a career search is paramount to career success. Just sitting around and wringing hands or talking with colleagues, neighbors and friends about the sorry state of the economy is not doing anybody, especially you, any good whatsoever. Doing something means taking constructive action that is part of a well-developed plan of action that you execute daily and constantly review, update and manage. Where is your plan - in your head or on paper? Here are eight steps that must be executed in any job search.
Decide on Your Brand - There are millions of executives seeking employment. In a recent article on the website, The Ladders, they stated that there are a million less $100K positions open now than there were two years ago at the same time period. Knowing this, I assume you would wish to set yourself apart from the "pack" of 500 resumes being submitted daily for each open position at the executive level. You must get your visual foot in the door. What is your brand? How do you determine your brand? How does the rest of the world know? Of course you know the answer to these questions in your own mind. What you must now do is answer them so that others know as well. Without an effective brand you will just be another resume in the pile.
Professional Packaging - We have vast amount of free career resources available to you on our various websites. We have specific examples of effective executive packaging and resumes for you to view. Just scroll down the page, select a name, click on that name and if you wish to see their resume then that is available too. Ask yourself this question. If, after you have viewed the above examples, your current resume was sitting in the pile and our package was there as well, whose do you think would gain the most attention? Presentation is everything.
Target - Target - Target - It may sound flip but I always ask people to tell me what they want to be when they grow up. What I am really asking is what is your strategy for your career, and why? I also ask in almost the same breath, "How do you plan to get there?" This goes back to the basic issue of "who needs you?" Do not shotgun your resume. Decide on specific targets and go after them. This begs the question - how? One recent client, a senior person with a resume parsing company was asked by her SC&C coach, what she was going to do with her resume. Her answer? "The internet is clogged up like a drain" so I won't be putting it out there hoping that avenue will work. While an internet strategy is required, it is only one of eight channels of marketing that must be executed for a successful search. It is important to remember not to waste your time on the internet applying for and following up on all sorts of interesting sounding jobs that are too great a stretch from your specialty. On the other hand, Decide on your focus and go for that and not be distracted looking for jobs that you are not qualified for, especially if your transferable skills are not properly packaged anyway.
Guerrilla Tactics. This past week, for the first time in decades, our major Federal department heads cooperated with Congress and key private sector managers. Together, they made the most significant economic moves seen since the Great Depression. One thing is for certain. If the bureaucrats in Washington and especially the politicians can make changes that quickly, so can you. The lesson here is one that we have preached for a long time - "you either make dust or eat dust." Quick changes must be based upon good planning and strategies and then backed with tactics that work. What is your plan? How well is it working for you?
Changing Industries Not Just Job - There are a lot of industries who are in serious trouble. These most certainly include financial and real estate sectors. Who knows which one is next? If you are in a company or industry sector that is in difficulty, then you must seriously start thinking about your transferable skills and how you can use those to make an industry change as part of your next career move! Sounds simple, doesn't it? I assure you that it is not. At this point, you may wish to re-read the branding ideas above. Remember, you must know who you are, why they should hire you and how to convert that knowledge to your "brand", before you can employ tactics of any kind, including guerrilla tactics we employ daily with our clients.
Make a move but try to ensure that it is planned well, based upon knowledge and expertise and then be persistent in your execution throughout the job search.
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Unemployment Continues To Rise: This means that more an more people are seeking fewer and fewer positions. U.S. employers slashed jobs and unemployment rose to a nearly three-year high, offering the latest signs that the economy has fallen into a recession.
"The job market is a lagging indicator," said Arpitha Bykere, economic analyst at RGE Monitor.com. "We can expect the picture to get gloomier. We won't see a positive picture any time soon, even if the economy recovers."
Earlier this week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made his bleakest and bluntest assessment on the economy's condition. The central bank chief told a joint congressional committee that a recession is possible in the first half of this year. The Labor Department now estimates that the economy has shed 232,000 jobs in the first three months of this year. The above information was extracted from an article by Chris Isidore CNNMoney.com senior writer:
Whether you are employed, unemployed or in the process of being unemployed, today, an executive's financial picture can be very bleak because of lack of income and monthly expenses. Therefore, the longer your job search lasts, the more expensive it becomes to your short-term cash flow and to your long-term retirement income strategy. If you want to see how much you are losing for each day in your job search go to, scroll towards the bottom of the page and fill in the blanks:
http://www.stewartcoopercoon.com/executive_placement/executive_placement_dilemmas1.htm
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Job Search Information
Source: Execunet - www.execunet.com
ExecuNet Exclusive: Search Firms Increasingly Turn To Internet Search Engines
Continuing a research trend that has surfaced for each of the past three years, nearly 86 percent of executive search consultants indicate their firms are using Internet search engines to uncover information about potential executive-level job candidates. A recent ExecuNet survey of 118 search consultants also reveals that slightly more than 44 percent of responding recruiters have eliminated a potential candidate from further recruitment consideration because of something they found online as returned by a search engine. That's nearly 10 percentage points higher than the number of search engine 'disqualifications' reported
by search firms in 2006.
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Article: Decision-Making "Rules"
Contributed By: Leslie Noyes, SCC Campaign Director and Executive Coach
Socialization: "Just because you've always done it that way doesn't make it incredibly stupid and that is because you don't know, what you don't know."
To explain how (socialization) works we watch an experiment. A caged group of monkeys is confronted with a bunch of bananas on bungling from the ceiling. There is a ladder placed invitingly just under the bananas. Immediately some monkeys rush to the ladder. As soon as they start to climb it they are all hosed down, not just the monkeys on the ladder but all the monkeys in the cage.
As they don’t like water they leave the bananas. One hussy monkey tries again but the same thing happens, all of the monkeys are hosed. Now they watch each other to make sure no one comes near the ladder. Then one monkey is replaced by a new one unaware of ladder-water misery. He sees the bananas and rushes to the ladder, but to his surprise is beaten up by the other monkeys.
Now a second monkey is replaced by a new one. He approaches the ladder and is beaten up. The first new monkey who himself had been beaten up participates in the mugging because he wont permit another monkey to do something he himself was not allowed. This continues until all the monkeys are replaced by new monkeys none of them having the experience of being hosed down or even having a faint idea about it.
The reason why they won't permit each other to reach for the bananas has become of a metaphysical nature, it is simply not done.
Reference: http://www.zenska-mreza.hr/prirucnik/en/en_solution_8.htm
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Article: Behavioral Interviewing
Author: Ron Venckus
Behavioral interviewing systems have been around for many years, however over the last few years the use of this type interview program has been increasing. At this time when job descriptions are developed, the job skills and job knowledge level is identified and along with those, a company is indicating what competencies/behaviors/traits are desired. The competency/behaviors desired, are in tune with the company’s culture.
The first question that jumps into your mind, most likely is, what is behavioral based interviewing? According to Quint Careers, the premise behind behavioral interviewing is that the most accurate predictor of future success is past performance in similar situations. Behavioral based interviewing is touted as providing a more objective set of facts to use in making employment decisions.
The big difference in behavioral interviewing, than other interview systems, is that the interview questions are dealing with your character and the questions, along with your answers tend to be picked apart so specific behaviors can be identified. By the way, the phrase “specific behaviors” is being used because it means that the interviewer wants to “hear” the actual behavior. Please keep in mind that some executive level positions will require a visit with a corporate psychologist and these folks will be almost totally interested in your behavioral make up.
The business world is using the terms, Competency or Behavior and these are interpreted as your personal skills and traits. Do not confuse the word competency when it is used in conjunction with an interview. It means more than job skill competencies. Your personal behavior, what you use to get work done and your job skills and knowledge are two different issues. An important question to ask when an interview is being scheduled is, WHAT TYPE OF INTERVIEW SYSTEM ARE YOU USING? [READ MORE]
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