5 Huge Resume Mistakes That Will Ruin You

10 Simple Ways To Achieve True Happiness

7 Secrets To Mindful Career Ownership

I recently wrote a post over on LinkedIn about the power of Mindful Career Ownership. It’s the idea that, as a business-of-one who is fully responsible for my career success, I must create a business plan to hold myself accountable that will also guide me to achieve what I want.

Related: 10 Reasons Happy People Get More Job Opportunities

In my experience, a lot of people out there today are on career autopilot – and it’s costing them a happy professional life. For example, take this quick quiz to see if you are guilty of not being mindful enough in your career:

• You find yourself pondering your bad luck and how it has held you back from reaching your career goals.
• You catch yourself saying, “If only this would happen…”or, “If I could just get…,” and other wistful ideas that would solve all your career problems.
• You get on social media and feel upset when you see colleagues and friends who have more career success than you. Especially because, deep down, you don’t think they’re that smart or deserve the success they have.
• You’re convinced you have tried everything you can to get ahead and that your situation is stuck. Your hands are tied and there’s nothing else you can do that might make a positive impact on your situation that doesn’t require outside help (i.e. a lucky break, a gift, etc.), which you can’t seem to get anyone to give you.

If you answered “yes” to even one of the above, then you should be focused on Mindful Career Ownership.

7 Secrets To Mindful Career Ownership

To become more mindful, you need to start with a founding principal: you are not an employee. You’re a business-of-one who is in business to sell your unique combination of personality, skills, and abilities to employers. Once you embrace this fundamental shift in how you should view your career, you can start to unlock the secret of Mindful Career Ownership as follows:

1. Know how you save or make money

A good business owner is mindful of the fact that nobody will buy from them unless they create enough value to justify their cost. You need to be able to clearly articulate to employers how you can save or make them enough money to validate the cost of hiring you. Otherwise, you’re at risk of being replaced by someone who can do it better, faster, or cheaper.

2. Always have some “awesome sauce” for your clients

Companies love to get the best bang for their buck. Employees who come with “awesome sauce” are really businesses-of-one who recognize going above-and-beyond to give a little extra can increase your perceived value. Everyone, especially employers, loves to get more than what they paid for.

3. The first day of your new job is also the first day of planning for your next career move

Once you land a job, you don’t put your career development on the back burner. You need to immediately start planning for the next achievement. The more focused you are on moving forward, the more effective your actions will be in your new job. There’s no standing still for a business-of-one. You must always be thinking about how you will grow and create more value going forward. In the words of my entrepreneurial father, “If your business isn’t growing, it’s dying.” The same applies to careers.

If your business isn’t growing, it’s dying.

4. Never put all your business in one basket

Just because you take a full-time job doesn’t mean you should assume it will be there for as long as you want it. As a business-of-one, you should try to diversify yourself by A) networking within your industry on a regular basis with companies that could use your talents. And B) start a hobby career or some freelance work to ensure you could make money in the event of a sudden loss of income. Both of these actions will ensure you can recover from the unexpected job loss.

5. Set big goals, but keep them ‘under wraps’ initially

Your business-of-one should have clearly defined goals that are slightly beyond what you think is possible. You should stretch yourself to achieve more than you think you can. You need to be challenged. That being said, you shouldn’t announce those goals publicly right away. You need time to fine-tune the game plan and to get things going. Once you are on track and the plan is in motion, then you can selectively start to share your goals with key allies. Don’t tell the world. It only opens you up for criticism and negativity from all those people out there that don’t want you to succeed.

Instead, connect with a core group of peers and mentors who will support you in your efforts. While you’re a business-of-one, you cannot run your business alone. Picking strategic partners is a vital part of the road to success.

6. Practice gratitude conditioning daily

Training your brain to recognize all you have accomplished takes practice. You must commit to meditating for at least 15 minutes each day specifically focused on the wonderful things in your life. More importantly, you should use that time to compliment yourself for doing the tough work it takes to succeed. As a business-of-one, you are the employee and the boss. Be a good manager and take time every day to recognize your progress. You must be internally motivated through positive thinking – which can only come from you.

7. Never stop taking calculated risks

As I pointed out in this LinkedIn article, a big part of career success and getting what you want is consistently trying to hit every opportunity (and challenge!) that comes your way. You must swing at many pitches, most of which won’t be down the middle, knowing much of the time you’ll strikeout.

However, eventually you’ll get better and make contact. As the famous pro hockey player, Wayne Gretzky says, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Being a successful business-of-one means you keep taking chances so you can experience, learn, and grow from them. Do it enough times and you’ll see the results you are looking for, whereas if you stop trying, you can virtually guarantee you won’t achieve your career goals.

Are You Ready To Be A True Business-Of-One Owner?

Some of you will read this article and never give it a second thought.

Others, might be kind enough to share it with their friends, fans, and followers on social media, but then it will fade from memory.

Only a few of you will take it to heart and recognize that Mindful Career Ownership is no longer an option, but rather, a requirement for finding the career satisfaction and success you want and deserve.

To those cherished few, I offer some final advice: You will not be able to do this alone. You must seek out resources to help you stay accountable. Otherwise, you will not stick with it long enough to form the habits needed to succeed. Don’t be shy. Don’t be embarrassed by your desire to want more for yourself. It’s not selfish or narcissistic to care about building a more meaningful and successful career.

When you do, you’ll be able to do more for others. You’ll become the person you want to be, and that will give you the power to give back and make a difference. Don’t lose your courage. If reading this made sense, get out there and become truly mindful of what it takes to own your career. You’ll be glad you did!

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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6 Real-Life Cover Letter Blunders To Avoid

A cover letter can be the first step of a new career journey. Or, it can be a dead end that dooms your attempts to get a job. It all has to do with how you write it. Have you made any of these cover letter blunders?

Download: FREE Cover Letter Tutorial & Template

We collected some real-life examples of dead-end cover letters to serve as examples of what not to do the next time you’re making first contact with a prospective employer.

1. Self-Serving

“I’m interested in seeing what your firm can do to help me find new clients…”

FYI: Whoever is vetting candidates doesn’t care all that much about what the company can do for you. She’s interested in what you can do for the company. And she has the luxury of being self-serving in that regard. The job seeker, typically, does not.

In your cover letter, avoid describing how you can benefit from the job – write about how the company can benefit from hiring you.

Your letter should succinctly put your experience and skills in the context of the job you’re hoping to get. The employer has a need – it’s your job to demonstrate that you can fulfill that need. And if you can prove that, you’ll be closer to fulfilling your need for income, career development, and so on.

2. Desperate

“I’m currently looking for any paying position freelance, part-time, or full-time.”

FYI: If desperation had an odor, it would be somewhere between rotten eggs and microwaved fish – something people would want to get away from. Fast. And like those people in the preceding stink scenario, hiring managers avoid desperation.

You’ll never get a job just because you need a job.

A prospective employer wants you to want to work for his company. To him, the company is a special place. He wants to feel that it would be special to you, too – that working there would be a milestone in your career and you’d give all you could to make it successful.

Even if the bills are piling up and you desperately need a job – don’t let it show. Use your cover letter to describe why you want to work at that particular company.

3. Irrelevant

“I’m married and at the present time, live in a farm located on the countryside … from where I attend to my clients online, grow organic vegetables and raise my two small daughters.”

FYI: You’re a person of varied interests, hobbies, and talents. You have kids or pets. You’re in a community acting troupe. Your chili took first prize at the annual cook off.

But save all these personal tidbits for small talk with new co-workers after you actually get the job.

Every word of your cover letter should aim to pique the interest of the person reading it enough to get them to take a look at your resume – and, once they do, the letter should put your resume in the context of the open position.

4. Careless

“… and would love to offert my skills.”

FYI: If you don’t take the time to proofread and spellcheck your cover letter, a hiring manager will take the time to toss it in the wastebasket (or drag it to the recycling bin).

5. Lacking

“Please see my resume attached. I look forward to speaking with you.”

FYI: The above is not an excerpt. It’s the whole cover letter. As mentioned earlier, your cover letter should aim to put your skills and experience in context with the job and get a hiring manager to move onto the next step of reading your resume. It should also help you start to build rapport with a prospective employer. The example above does none of those things.

6. Lengthy

On the other hand, some cover letters we heard about went on for more than 1,000 words.

FYI: There’s a saying in the news business – burying the lede. That is, putting the most important or interesting info deep in the body of an article when it should be up top. If you’re cover letter drones on for 700, 800, 900 or more words, there’s a good chance you’re burying the lede under a bunch of superfluous stuff.

Regardless if that’s the case, the very appearance of a novella-length cover letter is enough to turn off a hiring manager – especially when she has a hundred more cover letters waiting to be read.

Keep it succinct – three or four short paragraphs max – and include only the information most likely to get someone to consider you a possible viable candidate and look at your resume. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to expound your experience once you get that interview.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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4 Benefits Of A Mock Interview

Mock interviews provide candidates with an opportunity to test out their interview skills with someone who isn’t evaluating them for an actual job. A mock interview may be offered through career services for students or recent alumni, by a career coach or through a local workforce services office for candidates in the process of transitioning to a new opportunity.

Related: Review Sheet: 10 Important Interview Prep Checklist Steps

Here are some of the benefits of a mock interview:

1. They help you reduce stress and anxiety about interviewing.

If you’re not sure how to answer typical interview questions, mock interviews provide a great opportunity for you to “test drive” your answers. The person conducting the mock interview is most likely a skilled interviewer and can give you feedback on whether or not your response is suitable.

2. They help you boost your confidence.

Job coaches who conduct mock interviews are usually ready to point out your strengths in the interview process. By having confidence in your skills, you will perform better in an actual interview.

3. They provide you with constructive feedback in a low-stress environment.

No one is the perfect candidate, so mock interviews help you clarify responses to certain questions and help you work on areas where you may have weaknesses. In a real interview, there’s often not feedback about your interviewing abilities, so a mock interview is a perfect opportunity to find out why you may be having some difficulty in landing your dream job.

4. They can help you prepare for behavioral-based interview questions.

Many companies use “BI” questions. If you’re not familiar with this type of interviewing, it may be advantageous to give it a practice run in a mock interview.

The expression that practice makes perfect may very well be true with interviewing skills. Take advantage of mock interviewing opportunities even if you think you’re skills are at a very high level. There are things that we can all improve upon when it comes to making a great impression on a prospective employer.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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3 Steps To Move Ahead In Your Career

In order to move ahead in your career, you have to generate a lot of energy. Sometimes you can get stagnant and out of practice at making things happen.

Related: How To Get Ahead Without Becoming A Workaholic

Here is a simple five-minute/three-step way to get back on track:

1. Review Your Goals

Review your entertainment career goals to make sure they are clear and up-to-date. Maybe you thought you wanted to be a talent agent, but after six months on the desk of an agency power player, you changed your mind. What’s your goal now?

2. Describe Your Career Goals

Create a really solid two to three sentence description of who you are and what your entertainment career goal is. This is also known as an “elevator pitch.” It’s called an elevator pitch because the time it takes to say it is supposed to be the same amount of time as a short elevator ride.

You get on the elevator and there’s Bob, the guy your company just met with about a project. You want to meet him because you are dying to intern/work for his company. “Hi. My name is Megan and I’m a PR student,” you say. “I want to work in movie marketing when I graduate and I’m looking for an internship for next semester.”

Or, “My name is Jeff. I just graduated from Boston University College of Communications and I’m looking for an opportunity to break into production.”

With your pitch polished and ready to go, by the time those elevator doors open, you could have yourself a lead on that sought-after internship or job.

3. Introduce Yourself To Someone

Now, reach out to someone you admire who doesn’t know you and introduce yourself. Don’t wait to luck into an elevator ride with Bob. Send him an e-mail, make a phone call, or go up to him at the studio commissary. Yes, you can do it.

All you have to say is, “Hello, Bob. I don’t believe we’ve met.” And then lay out your elevator pitch. Bob might mumble a quick, “It’s nice to meet you” and move on to join his business associates for lunch. Or he might just tell you who to contact to talk about opportunities at his company.

Note: Don’t be discouraged if nothing comes out of these first introductions. The idea is to be clear about your goals, practiced in your pitch, and ready, willing and able to reach out to make things happen in your career.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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How To Avoid The Underemployment Trap

You’ve probably done this (or have a friend or colleague who has). You’re in an extended job search but can’t get the interviews or offers you need. Running out of time and money, you take a lower-level role just to cover the bills and keep a roof over your head.

Watch: Fighting Against Underemployment

The problem, though, is that once you do this, it gets harder to return your career to its pre-search trajectory and salary. Recruiters and hiring managers will tend to perceive your candidacy as tarnished and you’ll find it more difficult than ever to land interviews, let alone win job interviews. Welcome to the Underemployment Trap!

How To Avoid The Underemployment Trap

The simplest way to avoid the trap, of course, it to conduct such an efficient job search that you have more than enough interviews to produce the offers you want. Sound easy? It’s not, but there is a science to all this job search stuff that makes it much easier to create the results you want, if you take the right action steps up front.

If you want to generate enough great job opportunities in your career search to avoid having to accept a lower-level position, follow these three key action steps:

1. Devise A Smart Job Search Strategy

First, devise a smart job search strategy based on your career targets, brand, and achievements that enables you to access 200-300 potential opportunities in 3-6 months. Why 200-300? Because a job search is a bit of a numbers game – it takes an average of seven job interviews to produce one job offer and outreach to 200-300 potential opportunities to generate those seven interviews. If you’re conducting a full-time search, you should be able to make your 200-300 contacts in 90 days; if you’re in a part-time search, then you’ll likely need six months or more to make that happen.

But what constitutes a smart job search strategy? In my book, a savvy search strategy includes:

• Clear job search targets that define the position levels, titles, companies, industries, and geographic areas you are seeking.
• Enough targets. If there are fewer than 200-300 targets in your preferred geographic areas you may not be able to make enough contacts to generate enough interviews or offers.
• The right search tactics. There are specific methodologies you can use to promote your candidacy. Which ones best suit your career level, circumstances, personality, and available search time? Which mix of tactics will best enable you to penetrate the unpublished or Hidden Job Market where 85% of all jobs are, rather than belaboring pursuit of the published or Visible Job Market where everyone else is competing for 15% of available jobs?

Learn more about what constitutes a smart job search strategy.

2. Align Your Career Communications With Your Strategy

Second, align your career communications tools with your job search strategy, brand, achievements, and career story. Once your strategy has been clearly defined, it will be self-evident which career communications tools you need. Most candidates need a resume and LinkedIn profile at a minimum.

If you plan to do a lot of networking, for example, then you also need a networking document to help guide your contacts in helping you gain access to influencers, hiring executives, and companies. Once upon a time, resumes were the networking tool almost everyone used, but these days resumes are “too much too soon” for most networking situations. In these cases, a brand bio or one-page networking resume (sometimes also referred to as a marketing brief) is a much smarter networking tool.

After identifying which career communications tools you need, your next task is to align their positioning with your career brand and achievement history. Also, make sure your resume uses the right structure. If you’re already underemployed, for example, your resume structure may need to be adapted to help you tell your career story more effectively.

This means that, at the very least, your resume needs:

• A title and tagline that showcase your brand.
• A keyword-driven summary that highlights your brand and achievement summary.
• A resume structure that presents your career story in a favorable way.
• A strong complement of quantified achievements that prove your ability to perform the level and type of roles you are pursuing.

3. Align Your LinkedIn Profile With Your Strategy

Third, align your LinkedIn profile with your job search strategy, brand, achievements, and career story. Because 96% of recruiters are utilizing LinkedIn as their #1 candidate sourcing tool, you can’t afford to be invisible or play small on this social networking platform. Used wisely, LinkedIn has features that can supercharge your search.

Initially, your LinkedIn focus should be to build a strong profile and then to forge a strong network. Once these two pillars are in place, you’re ready to employ “push” and “pull” marketing techniques. Push job search self-marketing involves gently bringing your candidacy to the attention of key people, such as recruiters, hiring executives, and industry influencers. Pull job search self-marketing uses social media to magnetize or attract recruiters and hiring executives to your profile. I recommend using a mix of both techniques in your search to maximize your results.

An underemployment-proof LinkedIn profile needs:

• A headline that positions you search for the range of jobs, levels, and industries you’re pursuing. If you’re looking for roles that range from the senior director to VP level, for example, your LinkedIn positioning should make that clear.
• A summary that presents your career story and brand in abbreviated form.
• Industry-aligned keywords in every possible section.
• A work history structure that presents your chronology to its best advantage. Note this is not always the same structure you use for your resume.
• Evidence of your expertise in the form of a full Skills & Expertise list, additional LinkedIn sections as appropriate, and supplemental documents or media that flush out your brand and encourage recruiters, industry influencers, and hiring executives to get to know you.

The sad truth is that if every job search candidate did all of the above dramatically fewer professionals would become trapped in underemployment. If you’d like to be one of the “lucky” ones, be prepared to conduct a smart career search with the right strategy, the right tools, and the right implementation. You can do this.Ÿ

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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About the author

A 15-time, award-winning resume writer, Cheryl Lynch Simpson serves mid-career to senior executives as a credentialed resume writer (ACRW), LinkedIn strategist (COPNS), and Get Clear, Get Found, Get Hired (G3) coach. Like her advice? Check out her website, ExecutiveResumeRescue.com for a complimentary copy of her popular Polish Your Profile LinkedIn presentation, or follow her on Twitter!

 

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