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Saturday, October 10, 2009
This is part 2 of Developing Your Job Search Play Book. I want to give you a little bit more information about Informational Interviews. An Informational Interview is about connecting with people - professionals. Before you consider setting up an Informational Interview, take some time and evaluate your purpose for meeting with a professional. What do you want to walk away with after the interview? It is critical that you have a clear purpose before you set up the meeting. Why? Because more professionals are busy. They don't have a lot of time to spend talking to you when they could be working. So, if someone agrees to meet with you, you want to make sure that they feel like the time spent with you was valuable for them too. Once you identify your purpose for the meeting. Write down or type up a list of questions you will ask in the Informational Interview. You want to have at least 10-15 questions. You may not get most of your questions in, however you want to have them available just in case. Be prepared to take notes. Listen! Ask follow-up questions and take good notes. Everything you learn from the meeting should be included in your Job Search Playbook. It is very important that you thank the person you meet with. Send a thank you note, handwritten is best, however email notes work as well. Use the information to assist you in your job search. After the meeting, take some time to digest the information you learned. Did you accomplish your purpose? Go back and check your intended purposes. Did you walk away with the information you needed? Did you learn more than you thought? Last thing - Pay it forward! If you took the time to meet with a professional about what you are looking for, it is your turn to find someone you can assist. Make yourself available to others who need what you have - who need your expertise. Don't just take while you are in a job search. Look for ways to pay if forward. Give back and you will find that people are more willing to assist you!
Posted by Darlene McDaniel at 4:19 PM EDT
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Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2009 4:37 PM EDT
This morning I am heading to the library to meet with some job seekers here in Baltimore. My topic: Developing Your Playbook! Typically I share this information online as a Webinar topic or as a part of my public workshop. I thought I would share with you some thoughts about how you can develop your Job Search Playbook. First, let me define a "Playbook". As I see it every single football coach, basketball coach, hockey coach and the list goes on, has one. It is their set of plays that they will use both offensively and defensively to win the game. It is as simple as that. I actually see your job search as a strategic game and if you attempt to navigate the job search and most specifically the interview without developing your playbook, you have lost the game before you even have begun. So in order to successfully navigate the hiring process, I suggest to my coaching clients that they develop their playbook. In order to do so, you need to begin by determining what it is you are even looking for. If you have no idea what type of job you want or any old job will do, you will probably end up somewhere and be dissatisfied within a day or two. It is important that you take some time to identify what you want to do. Assuming you have done that much, the next step is to collect job descriptions that define the type of job you believe you want to do. Review the job description and determine how close your skill set matches the job you are considering. If you have less than 85% of the skills and abilities they are looking for move on. Find something else. In this market, you will not be considered for the job. Beyond the job description, there are Informational Interviews. I will write more about that in the next day or so. The next thing to consider is who knows you are looking for a job? Are you networking? If you are sitting at home and tpying on your computer, and pushing resumes and cover letters out, but you are not meeting people, connecting with people face to face, you are wasting time. Get out of the house and start meeting people. Talking to people and connecting with people. This is one of the most critical components of your Playbook. Take a moment and think about it and I will be back with more information for you.
Posted by Darlene McDaniel at 9:13 AM EDT
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Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2009 4:09 PM EDT Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Since the beginning of September, I have been off the blog radar. My job, has kept me busy now that school is back in session, and I realized as my schedule became crunched that it was time for me to venture into deeper waters. As a result, I released my bizzia.com blog and took a month off. I have decided to write a book! WOW! It sounds like a huge project even as I type it here. But that is it - I am going to take my 3 years of blogging and put them in a book. I already have the title... I will share that at a later date. I thought today, I would begin a blog that is managed by me for my readers. Welcome to Tough Questions? Great Answers! (TQGA) Believe it or not, back in 2006 when I started at b5media, I began my blog as TQGA. They didn't like the title so it evolved to Interview Chatter and than bizzia.com Careers earlier this year. Well here I am back as Tough Questions? Great Answers! WOW! I am excited about beginning again. I am excited about managing my blog and building it from the ground up. I look forward to assisting job seekers, leaders, coaches and coachees. The purpose of Tough Questions? Great Answers! has not changed from original thought back in 2006, I want to help people successfully navigate their job search. I also want to help people be successful on the job. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, they are one in the same. For those of you who have followed me over the three years. This is my new home! Give me a minute to get things in order. Feel free to leave a comment, ask questions, challenge my thinking and if you have any ideas for my book, feel free to share those as well. I look forward to welcoming new followers to my blog - this community. Enjoy your day!!
Posted by Darlene McDaniel at 9:25 AM EDT
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Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2009 6:54 PM EDT Newer | Latest | Older |
