December 10- Non Traditional Avenues

#10- Be open to different avenues to get hired! If all you do is post your resume on Monster and apply to CraigList ads, you're probably not going to be seen by all of the decision makers you'd want to see you. Once you've decided you're looking for a new job, exhaust every resource! Get out and network, have coffee meetings with mentors, consider non-traditional avenues (not everyone gets hired through an interview- sometimes you've got to be at the right place at the right time). If you've been on the job search for a while and you're not having the luck you need, maybe you try a different tactic. Sometimes your experience and your goals don't line up enough to convince a hiring manager through merely an interview and your resume. Sometimes you have to prove you're the (wo)man for the job! Often times these avenues require a little more risk; in that you might be looking at "giving it a shot and hoping you actually are right for the role" but if you want big rewards, you have to take big risks. I know a certain marketing professional who is doing just that now. At the start of this year, she was on her way to her career goal- working in the marketing department for a successful tech startup. She found an ideal situation where someone was willing to take a chance on her- where her experience didn't exactly line up to what they needed, they were going to put her in a role where she could put to use her skills from previous jobs, and learn the skills she needed to further her marketing career. Things were going great, until she (along with half the office) was laid off- major Buzz Kill. At this point, she had the actual experience and skill she needed to land a similar job, and to keep her on the same career track, but her resume experience didn't get her into the right interview rooms. After a few frustrating months, she could have given up on her dream and taken a few career steps back, getting a solid job- but it be like all that learning and on-the-job training that she had done for the last year would have been erased. She’d be back at step 1 instead of step 7. But she stuck with her heart and took a risk. She took a contract job at a great company, to try to prove to these decision makers that she does have the skills, and that she will add value, and she doesn't deserve to have to start over. Because of that risk, she is on the cusp of step 10; she just had to take a little detour through the land of the unemployed. In the end, she won, and it’s because she stuck to her guns, took a bit of a risk, and had faith in herself to deliver.

December 9- Q & A

#9- Get your ammo ready in terms of answers to questions you'll be asked. While you may not know every question that might be posed to you in an interview, you can prepare for a few trusty stand-bys, and those answers can also be used (in full or in part) for other less frequent questions. Before you start preparing your answers, you must *position* your mind with who you want to be, how you'll fit in the role and the company, what you'll be asked to do, and how the you will transition from what you were doing to what you want to be doing. Keeping in mind all my other pieces of advice, here are a few good staples in answering interview questions:

- Stay consistent. If you are representing yourself with a certain reason for wanting a change, and what role you are looking for, make sure all of your answers turn back to that same idea. Make sure the answers accurately and consistently represent you in the correct light and they all make sense together.

- Do not answer blindly. If you're asked about what you do best, or what you like best about your last role, make sure your answer matches with the job description for the job you are meeting about. On the same token, if you are asked to discuss weakness or tasks you dislike, don't mention something that is important in this new role. That's just silly. If you don't properly prepare yourself in knowing what you'll be asked to do, or what the company represents, you could very easily put your foot in your mouth, costing you the job.

- If you are given a more open ended question, consider it a softball and knock it out of the park. Questions like, "tell me about yourself" or "take me through your background" are literally tee-up opportunities, and could make or break your chances. Take these opportunities to highlight the aspects of your experience or personality that will make you the perfect fit for the job or the company, or even the manager. (Side note- I just spoke to a candidate who "clicked" with the person she was interviewing with because she performed in that person's favorite play. If you do your research, you might find out a fun-fact like that before the meeting, and use it to your advantage.) But when you're given an easy "tell me what I need to know" kind of question, do exactly that, and make it easier for everyone.

- Be specific. When you are answering a behavioral based question, picture the behavior you exhibited before beginning to answer. It is often times easier to speak with confidence about "how you respond in X situation..." if you picture a similar experience and describe it, instead of speaking in generalities.

December 8- Follow up Questions

#8- Questions at the end of the interview show the interviewer that you are interested in what you've been talking about for the last hour.  Questions that are specific to the job and the company, and bonus points for referencing a unique conversation from the interview itself, also show that you care about this meeting, and you're not going on a million different interviews for any old job.  Make sure you do research for each company and each job you're interested in (if you go on an interview, you better be interested...) and prepare some questions that will help you to either a) better understand what you will be getting yourself into or b) better showcase how you will be the perfect fit. Dont ask questions that only fill the space, or "because you're expected to ask questions"- it makes the entire interview feel like a waste of time for both parties.  While you are preparing for your job search or for each interview, you'll probably see articles about "great interview questions"- ignore those. If they are on the internet, they are not worth asking because they won't be specific to your experience, the job, or the company. If you've done research on the company or the role, you should naturally have a few questions that you can ask if you take a minute to think about what you're preparing for.

December 7- Be Gracious

#7- Too often, I hear feedback from employers that a candidate didn't seem like they needed this job. Which to me means, the interviewer didn't feel like their time was valuable to the person who was interviewing for the job. This image really baffles me because I help people who NEED or WANT a job. These interviews aren't for anyone's benefit but for the person who stands to get the great new job, salary bump, better work/life balance, or the end to the unemployment.  When you go meet a company, every single person you meet could have hiring influence, including the receptioist, so treat every person as if they are the gateway to your future. Thank them for speaking with you, smile at them, be engaged in what they are saying, and always always always send a thank you note after your meeting. There are different schools of thought on thank you notes- an email is ok if the interview process will be quick, but a handwritten note is always nice, even if they get the note after the process is over- so both is not a bad idea, especially if you go on a few interviews.

December 6- Be Patient

#6- One of the most difficult things to remember in your job search is that it will be long. There have been only a handful of times where a job seeker and an employer are a match made in heaven on the first shot so chances are that either its not the right job, the right employer, or the right time... Either way, it more often than not pays off to stick with the search consistently reaching out and applying to jobs that make sense than giving up hope on one path and reinvent the wheel on a different search or with different parameters you search for. That's not to say you shouldn't use many avenues, on the contrary, I think the more places you put your resume and the more people that know you and that you're looking for a job, you're more likely to find what you're looking for when the time is right. What I'm saying is, just because you've been searching for a marketing role for a month with no luck, you shouldn't second guess that path and switch to looking for cold calling sales, or go back to school for math. Be smart, and stick with it.

December 5- Be Prepared

#5- Interviews can be seen as a battle ground. Actually, that's not true, but you do still need to properly prepare yourself in order to set yourself up for success. My Dad always said "Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance"- I think its from his Navy days, but its just as true in an interview as it is in a plane.  Prepare your knowledge to ask relevant and specific questions at the end of the interview, hopefully tailored to the conversation you had. Prepare a portfolio with multiple copies of your resume. Prepare your expectaions of who you meeting with, what the company does, and what would be asked of you on your first day. If you can't know that before the interview, don't leave that meeting without some of those answers.  Be on time, be presentable (see #4), and be personable (for me that means I have to eat a banana if the interview is very early- or else I'm a zombie).  Some people will go on so many interviews during their job search that each interview is like the last, so they don't focus as much preparation time on the different meetings, and that may be the very reason they are going on so many interviews and not getting the offers. Each battle is unique, so you must arm yourself differently.

December 4- Dress the part

#4-  If you are serious about your job search and you don't have a good suit, then I'm afraid you're not actually serious about your job search. Invest in at least one solid suit, a few great blouses/shirts/ties and a good pair of professional shoes.  Granted, I've never heard of anyone winning a job because of what they wore, but I've heard plenty of times about candidates who were shooed away from a potential employer because of what they *didn't* wear. Its never ok to go to an interview with a potential employer in anything less than business professional, and a suit is the easiest way to make a terrific first (or second) impression.  If you consider wearing flip flops or sneakers or just khakis to your interview, don't bother showing up. (Or stop being silly and put something on that makes it look like you've invested- time, emotion, experience- in this interview). There's a saying "Dress for the job you want"- and in the case of an interview, you can never be overdressed.

December 3- stay on the sunny side

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
-Winston Churchill quotes  

#3- Stay Positive! This is sound advice for more in life than the job search, but in the search, it is critically important.  First and foremost, as many very quickly learn, the job search is tough, and can be emotionally draining.  If a job seeker doesn't stay positive, the search will win and take its toll, making one question their career choice, location, and even their role in life itself.  More in the "Interview Advice" realm- you want to stay positive with your potential future employer during your meetings.  This is because of a few reasons: a) if you speak about past experiences in a positive light, and stay away from "bashing" your former employer, the interviewer will believe you'll be more likely to do the same for them (everyone wants to be spoken about in a good light- even if they've fired you) plus you never who knows who in the business world, and b) The more positive you are in your interview, the more you'll come off as someone who tries to make the best out of situations, ie if you dislike something about the new job, the interviewer is more likely to believe you'll stick it out and find a solution if you are a positive person, vs a Negative Nancy in the interview who will jump ship at the first sign of difficulty.
Spinning a not positive situation from a former company is sometimes the most difficult part for some naturally positive job seekers, sometimes there's no way around a terrible experience, but in that case, focus on the positives you see in the potential opportunity in front of you, as opposed to dwelling on the negative in the past.

December 2- Position Yourself [You are a BRAND]

#2- Figure out how you'll position yourself. Much like the article above mentions, the art of positioning yourself is key to getting the job you want. But going beyond the article, positioning is more than your online presence. Your image needs to be consistant in everything you do in your job search, at least consistant with every hiring manager, from your resume, to your interview, to thank you notes, and even when you get the job (as your positioning might change based on the role). Since its more difficult to change your online presence per conversation, that should probably stay generic enough to apply to every job you'd be pursuing- professional, appropriate, and even creative if that's your personality, just remember that more people than you think can (and will) see it. Beyond your facebook, though, be sure you fully understand the role you are interviewing for, or the roles you want to be considered for, and adjust your resume accordingly- highlighting specific responsibilities that you've had in the past that will apply to these roles, use the same lingo, mentioning appropriately relevent software or technology that might be helpful to the hiring manager, etc. If you know the position you are taking it will be easier to confident in the interview as THE PERSON that the company could see in this role.

December 1- the "Dating Game"

So like I said before- there are a lot of articles and advice givers out there...Here is one that I found How to get a job at a startup that actually has some great tips. It also inspired me to give my own "how to" two-cents. And since its close to Christmas and Decemeber is upon us, here goes my "10 days of Advice". Ha... or something like that. Enjoy:

#1- First thing to remember about the job search, its like dating. Its stressful, and delicate, and exactly like dating. Accept it. Own it. Rock it. If you think about your job search like you think about dating, you'll be a lot more successful- I swear. Don't talk about growth, promotions, or how motivated you are to be CEO in two years during your first interview [don't talk about "the future" on your first drinks date]. You're both trying to see if you can stand each other for an hour before you start thinking about what your wedding colors will be and what you'll name your kids. Take it slow, address each interaction as it is, leave out the 10-year plan at first. That's not to say you want to mis-represent yourself, if it comes up, you have to be honest- but be delicate and appropriate, don't scare them off.