Now is the Time to Become a Professional All-Star
The corporate hiring process is broken. Algorithms are used at the first tollgate so if you don’t have the right key words good luck getting through (Cost Cutting Algorithms are Making Your Job Search a Living Hell). There’s also increasing data suggesting these algorithms are unintentionally hurting women and minorities. Next, recruiters are stretched to the limit and spend less than 30 seconds looking at a resume. Potentially as little as 6-7 seconds! Finally, interviews are a horrible way to make a final hire decision. According to psychologist Ron Friedman, "We automatically jump to all kinds of erroneous assumptions about a candidate from their appearance. Studies show we view good looking people as more competent. We perceive tall candidates as having greater leadership potential. And we assume deep-voiced candidates are more trustworthy." Also, during interviews, questions are asked which prompts candidates to describe their abilities. What’s the risk? People misevaluate their own abilities. Humble, competent candidates may undervalue their career accomplishment and arrogant, inept candidates can exaggerate their contribution in a confidant tone.
What’s a quality candidate to do?
OVER-PREPARE. The system is currently broken and it’s going to take awhile to fix, if it ever gets fixed. So, applicants need to find ways to be successful with the hands that have been dealt. The five actions below helped me get a great job in personally record time.
To get everything together, you are looking at an investment of 6-10 hours but once the initial work is done, then you only have a few hours of work every six months to keep maintained for an unexpected job search.
Strengthen Your Network by Giving Recommendations
Job searching is never easy and having a strong professional network can make it significantly easier. Connection can be an asset to find positions, inform about the company culture of a possible lead, or recommend you for an open position in their network. Remember, the average LinkedIn user has 400 connections. Your secondary network could be about 100,000 people. However, you cannot just create a strong network out of thin air. It takes effort.
Recommendations are a phenomenal way to build a strong network before you need it. They reinforce the relationships made during your career and show people why you enjoyed working with them. Everyone appreciates knowing their positive qualities were noticed. Writing quality recommendations also force you to be genuine. People will notice when you’re copying and pasting the same recommendation and changing a few words. Finally, writing quality recommendations will require you to increase your vocabulary. Thesaurus.com becomes your best friend.
Give a Kudos
You may have already written a recommendation and are looking for a new way to show the world their commendable attributes. Using the Give a Kudos in LinkedIn is a great alternative and LinkedIn makes it easy.
First, they are easier than recommendations because there are ten basic kudos: Thank You, Going Above and Beyond, Inspirational Leader, Team Player, Great Job, Making Work Fun, Amazing Mentor, Outside the Box Thinker, Great Presentation, and Making an Impact. After selecting the type of Kudos, you can add a specific reason. Again, a great opportunity to let a connection know the qualities making them professionally special. Finally, Kudos are great because people can post them to their personal feeds. Nothing better during a job search then being able to show all the recruiters in your network why you would be a great hire.
Write Your Career Statement, Work Philosophy, Career Goals
Resumes are the minimum requirement for any job search. They are also a poor tool for getting a job. Resumes need to first get through the company algorithms so it will end on a recruiters desk, then they need to impress the person reviewing it. You need to find a way to stand out from the crowd. You can accomplish this goal by writing a career statement, work philosophy and career goals.
By creating a career statement and work philosophy, you give people an idea of the individual you will be at a job. Anyone can list the things on a resume. It takes real thought to verbalize what makes you different at work. With your career goals, you have an opportunity to show your aspirations for the future are not limited to coming to work and collecting a paycheck. This document is not easy to write. If you are looking for a little inspiration these are my career statement, work philosophies, and career goals:
Career Statement
I work with people to analyze their data and help them see the vision forward for their businesses.
Work Philosophies
When Given a Hammer You See Everything as a Nail
Be Hard on the Problem and Soft on the Person
To Know What is Right, Not Who is Right
To Say in Ten Sentences What Others Say in a Whole Book
Do not Think Less of Yourself, Think of Yourself Less
Career Goals
To be working at a company with a world class Industrial Engineering department
To have one mentee go on to be a leader in their field
To gain certification with a focus on data analytics
To start my own outdoor adventure company as a secondary income
The full document is in my profile.
Describe Your 5-Star Projects
Another shortcoming of resumes is the necessity for brevity. You are required to list enough projects to get through the algorithms but not all projects are created equal. Several should have a major impact on the business, and you want to describe in detail your contribution. Four projects seem to be the ideal number. They can be written over two pages which makes it an easy handout during an interview and a half-page is significantly more space than two-lines in a resume. These can typically be written over three paragraphs with the Challenge, Solution, and Results format. Be sure to include specific savings, capacity increase, or other relevant metrics.
It is also good to have a secondary document with a list of 3- or 4-star projects. This document allows you to bring up projects specific to an interviewers’ questions. One paragraph per project over two pages. Master the interview handout.
Show You are an Industry Thought Leader and Write Some Articles
This one is personally difficult for me. One of my career philosophies is “To Say in Ten Sentences What Others Say in a Whole Book.” The skill has been great when making an elevator pitch for a potential project but makes it difficult to write beyond a few sentences for an article. If you are also feeling overwhelmed, then I recommend reading Tom Popomaronis article on the topic (50 Powerful Lessons). It makes things feel a little less overwhelming.
My favorite pieces of advice
1. Find your "voice" — write how you talk and let your personality come out.
2. If committing to a certain amount of articles per week/month is intimidating, start small. An article per month, or even quarterly, can get you on your feet.
3. Metrics are important, but they aren’t everything — don’t get caught up in how many views/comments/likes you received. It took me a while to accept this for sure.
4. Do you have an opinion about a certain overused life phrase?
5. Perfectionism is your worst enemy. It's okay to write sloppy drafts and change them later; don't get it right, get it written.
6. Make sure you, and your content, are genuine. If you don't believe it, don't write it. Consistency gives readers — and potential clients, customers, and employers — a feeling that they can trust you.
7. Remember that process is more valuable than product. Hopefully you’re producing solid content, but the learning and the discipline that go into a productive writing routine are going to stick with you for a lifetime.
All 50 Lessons are definitely powerful and easily digestible. I highly recommend reading the full article.
There are definitely practices beyond these five to become a professional all-star, but these can be used in any economic situation. Also, the investment to result is surprisingly good. Companies will immediately know you are a prepared candidate and have the potential to be an incredible assist.