Table of Content: Chapter 1: True Career Stories Education Completed, No Job.............................................01 What is a Lifetime Opportunity?..........................................02 Job Search Nightmares.........................................................03 Without a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) How do I Enter the Job Market?.........................................06 Best Career Advice: Be honest about your Skills and Abilities.................................................................08 Critical Thinking....................................................................10 Do You Want to Work for a Multinational Company?...13 Chapter 2: It's your Career mate! Your Network is Your Net Worth......................................19 How to Build a Career Path?...............................................21 USP and SWOT Analysis.....................................................23 Chapter 3: Resume and Cover Letter Issues Writing an Effective Resume...............................................27 The Resume Trap..................................................................31 What do we Expect from Job Seekers?...............................33 Do you need a Cover Letter to Introduce your Resume?......................................................34
Chapter 4: Tools, trick and techniques Tool for Entry Level Jobs.....................................................39 Key Interview Tips................................................................40 The Most Difficult Question!...............................................43 The Interview Room.............................................................45 Be a Storyteller.......................................................................47 When you Know it's Over!...................................................49 20 Interesting Interview Questions....................................52 I Need the Best Candidate for the Job!...............................54 Chapter 5: Its Social Era! Social Media Job Search Tool..............................................59 Using Linkedin Effectively..................................................61 The Twitter Magic!................................................................64 Ten Twitter Tips ...................................................................65 Ten Cool Twitter Tricks for Job Search..............................66 Job search via Facebook.......................................................69 Online Profile and Visibility................................................71 Standout, Stay ahead and Get Noticed on Social Media.....................................................................73 Chapter 6: The Success! What is Success?....................................................................77 10 Emotions to Power Success............................................78 Time Management................................................................84 Be a Linchpin.........................................................................88
Chapter 7: Plan Your Career Growth A Simple Story!......................................................................93 Five Biggest Career Regrets................................................ 96 Better Planning for Career Growth, Lesson adapted from Priscilla Calman.................................98 Chapter 8: The Career Questions Answered How much do you talk about the previous job as compared to the current one?.................................... 112 While responding to a question, how much Explanation should you give?.......................................... 113 How should you respond to the question: "Would you like to ask anything?"...................................114 Key points to consider in a one-to-one interview...........115 Key points to consider in a panel interview....................116 How to handle an interview taken by the CEO?............117 What are the key things HR professionals would like to see in a near-perfect candidate?...............118 The Conclusion!................................................................ 121 Acknowledgments............................................................ 125
Preface As I was about to write this book, I googled the phrase, Books on Careers, and got over 142,000 results. In the internet age, myriad material is available on career development. The question I asked myself: How will my book be different from the best sellers and legions of published matter? I believe in real life experiences. In the early 1980s when I was at school, my parents wanted me to become an engineer as that was the buzz word and was in direct competition with medical education. But I never was an engineer or doctor type. Although I studied pre-engineering in high school and came under parental pressure to continue my BSc, I never developed an interest in chemical reactions, mathematical equations, and the laws of physics. I was more a marketing guy: loving to interact with people to learn how they live, behave and survive. A couple of months into the BSc course, I decided to switch to the Bachelors of Commerce. Although, I did not know where I would land, that decision was the turning point in my career. I started out as a salesman. This job was tough, but at an early age, I was so lucky to learn things most MBAs struggle with even after earning an expensive degree. In 1990, in tough competition with over 200 candidates, I managed to get a job at the Trade and Investment department at the British Consulate in Karachi. That was
my real institution of learning: I worked there until early 2006 and over 16 years, I sorted thousands of job applications, shortlisted candidates, developed hiring tests, and sat on countless interview panels. A handbook to keep forever, this book is written from the practical point of view, containing over 25 years worth of my experiences: learning from top career enthusiasts, human resource experts and most interestingly I have covered experiences, concerns and questions shared with me during mentoring sessions I had been conducting recently.
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Two Don ts of networking:
Never send emails until you feel that the other person has started recognizing you. Never ask for favors right at the beginning of your relationship.
Did you ever see students having a business card with contact details on it? I haven t. To be an effective networker, even if you are a student, get a business card with your name, email address and phone number, social media links and give out these cards at networking events. Networking is a natural phenomenon every human being is attuned with; we just need to explore it a little deeper.
How to Build a Career Path Often, people land in jobs or start businesses without considering the potential for future growth. Having spoken to a large number of young people, I can say that over 90 percent of entrants to the career market follow someone they are inspired with or just follow the market trends. They do not work hard enough to identify the right opportunities based on their strengths and passion. There are four key steps to career development, paving the way to a successful career path.
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Understanding your Skills and Qualifications There are many alternatives in the job market. For example, if someone has done biomedical engineering, he can opt to start his career as a sales person specializing in biomedical equipment sales. He will excel, because of one reason: His ability to understand biomedical equipment. It is essential to gauge your skills and qualifications with a broader focus, considering options beyond the imagination of other people competing with you in the career market. Prepare a Hit List I am yet to find a job seeker with a clear vision about his or her target company (or companies). If you do not know where potential career opportunities are for you, forget a swift start. As soon as you are ready to start looking for jobs, prepare a list of companies you wish to target. It should be a large list. Get website addresses, emails. You will need those in the next stage. Deal with Deficiencies Those who prepare well and start dealing with deficiencies effectively are more successful in their career. If your English needs improvement or your accounting is weak, you should work on these areas and improve.
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Human Resources: Did you complete any coaching or mentoring of staff members? Were there any specific positive results that came from this? Did you increase staff retention due to your management style? If so, by what percentage? Added Responsibility Were you awarded any extra authority in a position? For example, you may have commenced as a Production Manager, then been awarded with full control of quality assurance for the firm after six months. These are simple, yet effective examples that could make your resume standout from the heap.
What do we Expect from Job Seekers? I have been looking for good staff. It is so difficult to find the right people. I have heard this from many business owners and senior managers but I do not know if anyone has ever asked a human resource expert a simple question: What are your expectations from a job seeker? The right candidate needs to have three E qualities. The 3E formula is:
Experience: Someone with the right experience. Education: Someone with relevant education. Enthusiasm: Someone who is enthusiastic in building his/her career.
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I would hire a candidate with at least two Es. “If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development”. Brian Tracy
Do you Need a Cover Letter to Introduce your Resume? Recruitment dynamics are focused upon internet and social media networks, leaving behind newspaper advertisements. Using #jobs can help you find jobs posted on Twitter. Those who know this have a clear advantage. With the emergence of jobsites such as Monster, Workopolis, Rozee, Bayt and social media networks such as LinkedIn, job hunters are encouraged to register and leave their profiles for recruiters to search from a wide database. The question today: Is there a need for a well-crafted cover letter or is this an obsolete tool? The new recruitment process, when it starts on social media or via internet based applications, almost eliminates the need for a cover letter. Applicants need worry about a cover letter only if it is specifically requested by the advertiser.
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Tool for Entry Level Jobs A young MBA Finance with 3.7 GPA recently met with me for career advice. I was amazed (kind a shocked) to observe his lack of career direction. But I soon realized it was not his mistake. Our educational institutions, even the top business schools do not provide a career path. They expect every brilliant student will land in top-paying jobs at multinationals automatically! The reality is otherwise: Many brilliant MBAs are doing jobs they initially were not prepared to consider or are overqualified for. I have developed a four-question strategy for better career direction. The strategy is to answer the following questions with honesty and diligence: 1.
2.
3.
Who are my potential employers? (Answering this will help you build an inventory of potential employers. Spend time with an open-mind to identify as many as possible – cross-sectoral opportunities must be included) What will I do if I do not get a job in my discipline of education? (Answering this will help you find other potential venues) What will I do if I do not get a job at all? (Answering this will help you identify options beyond working or others)
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6.
Include your LinkedIn URL in the signature block of your emails. 7. Make sure you adjust the privacy settings on your profile to public. 8. Devote a Facebook page to your professional life. 9. Keep your social media profiles updated. 10. Include brief reports on your job search in your status updates. Jeff Antaya, Chief Marketing Officer at Plante Moran, has his finger on the pulse when he says: Social media is like a snowball rolling down the hill. It s picking up speed.
Using LinkedIn Effectively "Job postings are such old news - Social is the hot new industry, " says Jeff Vijungco VP, Worldwide Talent Acquisition at Adobe Systems Incorporated. Social media networks not only connect people and businesses, these networks provide career options both for entrepreneurs and job seekers. The most exciting social media tool for connecting professionals is LinkedIn. With over 200 million professionals from all continents, LinkedIn offers tremendous power to find and connect with professionals who are relevant to you and your career. Droves of headhunters and recruitment firms are now using LinkedIn to source suitable candidates. Not just cost
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over limits set by cultural norms. Keep in mind the boundaries; at the upper limit of your boundary, discussion becomes a bit fiery. The challenge at this stage is to keep your mind focused on politeness, soft voice and positive use of words and phrases. Keep your justifications as reasonable as possible and consider solutions instead of using problem statements. While results might vary, keep your conduct straight, and you will start achieving the desired outcome.
Time Management A conversation with a 23-year-old lad about time management inspired me. Like many others, this youngster was finding it tough to accomplish all his tasks and was struggling with his daily routine. His average sleep time had reduced drastically to about three to fours hours. I googled three combinations for time management and these are the results: Pages available on Time Management 219,000,000 Pages available on Time Management Tips 41,600,000 Pages available on Time Management Skills 56,800,000 None of these can help you increase even a single minute of a 24-hour cycle! Time is one of our most valuable resources. As time cannot be created, the only option is to better utilize it.
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Here are few tips I use for getting the best out of my time: Identify Time Wasters Time wasters are the common cause for not having enough time. Texting, Facebooking and tweeting can be time wasters: Do these activities only if you have time, or fix a time, and use an alarm clock to alert you when you should be logging off. Identify Stress Cause Stress is a silent killer, hurting physically and mentally, reducing your ability to deliver or accomplish. Once identified, avoid these causes where possible. Often anger causes most stress. Try to stay happy and enjoy what you do. Not many people realize that watching TV can be more stressful than reading a book. Organize Your Week You might question, why not organize my day first? If you organize a week, your days will be automatically organized. Important versus Urgent Work Time Management articles mention important work versus urgent work. If it is not a question of life and death, rest is just important.
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Five Biggest Career Regrets It is vital to understand what works and what does not. Failures and regrets teach us lessons. Only smart people learn these lessons and re-strategize their career development objectives.
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I should have taken philosophy as a career, Maths stinks
Daniel Gulati, co-author of Passion and Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders, highlighted five biggest career regrets. He spoke with 30 professionals between the ages of 28 and 58 and asked them what they regretted most about their careers. The sample was diverse in age, experience, profession and education. He found the following were the most lamented regrets:
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During the course of writing Bootstrapping Your Career, I spoke to several people, including students, career seekers, mid-level professional, etc. Following seven questions are drawn from these conversations. These questions bug everyone, they need answers, acceptable answers. I floated these seven questions to few seasoned professionals and in this chapter responses from three experts are shared. Based on these wonderful ideas, readers can articulate well in their interviews.
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Experimenting, innovating and creating new ways of doing your work is exciting. But one also needs to look at the culture of an organization. Some bosses are not leaders, they do not like asking questions, they want you to follow the guidelines and map, company or the departmental head has given you. Most of the times issues can be resolved with simple efforts - Simple thinking - Simple Asking. However, there are people who make simple things extremely complicated by keep thinking about these things and not acting on ideas, not implementing small stuff, not talking to people around them. There are bosses who can be extremely difficult! Working smarter is always better than working harder. I am a firm believer in effortless work. People generally blend themselves in a normal working environment with other hard working people and become map followers and kill their creativity. Once you are a map follower, you cannot create one. Creating a map requires special skills and one of these skills is passion to excell. Bosses like to defend their thoughts; there are only few who appreciate your concern, your ideas, and your creativity. Instead of pushing hard and creating conflict, wait for the right moment to prove your worth. That right moment clicks few times every year. Make your point clear and defend your position when your Boss is in trouble that is the time to create and implement your map, your ideas!