Graduation Nation

How To Be Your Own Person

2012-03-04T17:23:00.001-06:00

"Develop your passions, your talents, your strengths. That's the foundation for becoming an expert in your field, which is how you build value. You are then able to define yourself based on what you do well." Stedman Graham as told to Spencer Bailey

Quoting Stedman Graham (for those who don't know he is Oprah's long-term partner) is a surprise to More Than A Resume. But, when you read a truth pass it on.

Be Honest With Yourself And Others

2012-02-20T10:43:00.000-06:00

This tip is based on an interview with Steve Stoute,chief executive of Translation LLC, an ad agency, conducted by Adam Bryant inThe New York Times, February 19, 2012. Mr. Stoute is also chairman of Carol’sDaughter, a beauty products company.

Steve Stoute wants your resumé to be a binding contractcomplete with your signature. (Thatsounds a bit extreme.) Stoute says, " … if you hire somebody who lies ontheir resumé, they are putting other people they’re going to be working with injeopardy, because they’re saying they have a skill set they really don’t have."

He goes on to say, "Youcan’t have people inside a company who are saying things but have no intentionof doing what they say. They might have good intentions when it leaves theirmouth, but that’s exactly where it ends."

Stoute's point is important to yourjob search. First, you need to be honestwith yourself about who you are and the skills, strengths, experiences andvalues you offer an employer. Thistransparency should be reflected in your resumé and in the stories andexamples you relate in your interviews. Second, be the one who earned the titleof "go to person". The person on the team who always delivers.

Look Around. What Do You See.

2012-02-12T22:43:00.000-06:00

Thistip is based on an interview with Tim Bucher,founder and C.E.O. of TastingRoom.com, a wine site, conducted by Adam Bryant and appearing TheNew York Times, February 12, 2012. Mr. Bucher has also held executive posts at Dell,Microsoft and Apple.

Interviewsare not just for the interviewer to determine if you are right for the position.You need to get a sense if the job and the organization are right for you. Howdo you get a feel for a company's culture? What clues can you look for?

TimBucher says, "…walk the hallways…if you see people talking to one anotherin the hallways, and yelling over the cubicles, and going inside each other’soffices, that’s a good sign. There’s a certain buzz." You want to see howpeople are interacting with each other. Bucher looks for how people are workingtogether. Is the leader walking the hallways, talking to people? Those are goodsigns that the company has an innovative culture. Conversely, if you see managerssitting in offices, a lot of closed doors, these could be signs of a culture wherepeople and ideas are not nurtured.

Whichof these cultures will you thrive in?

Thereare other things you should be observing during an interview that will help youdetermine if this is the right company for you.

How are you treated while interviewing?
What phrases do the interviewers use frequently?
Is there a theme or unspoken tone to the questions asked?
How does the environment feel to you?
How prepared are the interviewers? Are they on time?
Were you given an interview schedule?
Were you treated like a prisoner or a guest?
Are your responses to questions treated with suspicion orprofessional curiosity?
How considerate is the company recruiter?
What is the office space like, and can you see yourselfworking in it?
Are current employees dressed professionallyor business casual, or do they look like they just rolled out of bed?
Do people have pictures, toys, and other forms of selfexpression in their work area?
Do staffers have the latest technology?

Don’t be afraid to ask questionsabout the culture, and the things you are seeing and hearing. Consider thingslike:

Company behavior: Do they promote from within, sponsor teamlunches, encourage professional development? If the interviewer answers yes toany of these questions, ask for specific examples.
Ask each person you meet to describe the company culture andnotice if you get consistent responses.
Ask each person you meet with how long they have been withthe company.
If you feel you haven’t met enough people, ask if there areother members of the organization you can speak to about their experience.
What three words or phrases would you use to describe the companyor department culture?
How does the company (team) handle conflict or differingopinions?
How does the company recognize employee accomplishments?
Does the company have a code of ethics?
Please describe the leadership or managerial style at yourcompany.
What qualities do the most successful employees in yourcompany possess?
What is the company's attitude toward professional andeducational advancement?

Job interviews are your opportunity toevaluate how the company's culture aligns with your values. Be sure to look around and ask the questions to help you determine if the culture is the right fit for you.

Hard Workers Apply Here

2012-02-07T16:40:00.001-06:00

This tipis based on an interview with AmyAstley, editor in chief of Teen Vogue . The interview was conducted by Adam Bryant and appeared in the New York Times on February 5, 2012 .

Yourknowledge and thinking skills are your power. Employers are desperate for intelligent employees who possess and usethe right mindsets: specific ways of thinking and have qualities andcharacteristics that fit with the company's culture. For Amy Astley,one of the qualities she interviews for is a good work ethic. As Ms. Astley says, "I really like hard workers."

Findingout your qualities and mindset comes across first in your resumé by the jobsyou had. To understand a candidates workethic, Astley looks for resumes that include jobs where the candidate waitedtables or scooped ice cream all day. These jobs don't necessarily translate toa good work ethic but for her, it’s the interview jumping off point.

Anessential part of creating your personal brand is identifying what distinguishes you - makes you unique? Howdo you think? Do you know the qualities employers are looking for? Whatqualities do you possess that would be attractive to an employer? It's your job to make your experiencesrelevant to the employer. The best way to do that is to provide examples. Do you have a story that lets the interviewknow you are a hard worker? An experience that tested your loyalty? Orperhaps you faced a challenge that shows how you handle adversity?

Your qualitiesare extremely relevant to job performance and skilled interviewers look andlisten for specific qualities and mindsets that align with the company'sculture.

Interviewing is not a race. It's a marathon.

2012-01-29T14:46:00.000-06:00

This isan excerpt from an interview with HarryWest, chief executive of Continuum, an innovation design consultingfirm, was conducted by Adam Bryantand appeared in the New York Times on January 29, 2012 .

Harry West attributes hisleadership style to being the eldest of six kid because as Westsays, "… you are surrounded by other people all the time and you’reconstantly communicating in a way that perhaps you aren’t if you’re in asmaller family."

West'sviewpoint is less about birth order and more about the similarities between familyand workplace dynamics and why fit is so critical to a successful job search. Itis why you will interview with several people in the organization and why youwill likely have two interviews or more with the hiring manager.

When youlearn interviewing best practices it's not difficult to impress in the firstmeeting. You've practiced your answersto tell me about yourself, what is your greatest strength and weakness,where you want to be in five years questions.However, by the second or third meeting if the hiring manager doesn’t have agood gut feeling about your fit for the job and the company, you will not getthe job offer. Even if you only meet once with the hiring manager, everyone whohas interviewed you will get together to discuss their interview with you.

A marathoner trains to go the distance and you should be doing the same. You'veput in a lot of time and work to get the interview so before going on aninterview do a deep dive. In addition to knowing about the job and what isrequired to succeed, being armed with an arsenal of information can give you anedge over your competition. You will be able to answer questions about theemployer if asked, it will enable you to ask intelligent questions when you aregiven the opportunity, and you will be to communicate your value, what you arelooking to do and why this is the right opportunity for you and why you are theright fit them.

Beforeyou interview, learn at the very least the following.

The company's short- and long-term goals
Have there been recent layoffs
The backgrounds of the people you will be interviewing with and of the leadership team
Are training and other development programs offered
Understand the company mission, vision and culture

Owning the outcome. Good and bad.

2012-01-22T14:37:00.001-06:00

Thisposting highlights an interview with Katherine Hays, chief executive of GenArts avisual effects technology company, conducted by Adam Bryant.The interview appeared in January 22, 2012New York Times.

Failure is not a weakness when you are able toembrace the failure, value it and learn from it. For Katherine Hays that means owning theoutcome not the process. According to Ms. Hays,"That's the kind of person you want - someone who really is ready to be anowner, even if it doesn't always mean success." Blaming failure on factorsyou cannot control instead of believing you have the ability to influenceevents and circumstances by making the most of what you can control sends thewrong message to employers.

Think about your experiences where you really owned theoutcome. Now, think about how you would answer these questions.

How did you define success?
How did you think about what would happen if itfailed?
How did you get buy-in from others?

For Ms. Hays your answers demonstrate,"... thatyou had an idea, and you kind of went out on a limb and it was going to beyours, if it was a home run, and it was going to be yours if it was a flop, andyou were comfortable with that."

In interviews talking about what worked and didn't work andwhat you did to finally get the outcome desired shows a lot about your character. Character is what hits interviewers right inthe gut telling them you are a good fit for the job and the company.

Impress the best in under ten minutes

2012-01-16T13:53:00.000-06:00

This postinghighlights an interview with Bill Kling, founder and president emeritus of the AmericanPublic Media Group conducted by Adam Bryant. The interview appeared in January 16, 2012New York Times.

You don'tget much time to make a first impression according to Bill Kling. When asked how quickly do you get that sensethat somebody is good and right fit for the company, Kling says, "Sometimeswithin two minutes. Sometimes within 10. But it doesn't take much longer thanthat."

Wow! Thatdoesn't give a candidate a lot of time to impress. What's the best way for youto use those precious two to ten minutes? By perfecting your personal brandstatement, your response to the tell meabout yourself question or if you prefer your elevator pitch.

Yourpersonal brand statement has 8 components.

Brief introduction
Personal strengths
Link your strengthswith their needs
Specific example ofan accomplishment
Tell a story toreinforce your role in achieving the accomplishment
Provide measurableevidence of success
Summarize your key strengths
Show interest insomething that relates to their business

What if youwere asked what idea is driving you right now or what’s on your mind about any aspect of life that you’re reallyexcited about instead. How would you answer those questions? Exactly the same way. When you know your personal brand statementit's easy to adapt to any variation of the tellme about yourself question.

By knowingyour strengths and how these relate to the employer you will be able to impressthe best in under ten minutes.

Sometimes it's just a gut feel

2012-01-08T14:48:00.000-06:00

This isan excerpt from an interview with Christine Fruechte,president and chief executive of Colle + McVoy, an ad agency in Minneapolis.The interview was conducted by Adam Bryant and appeared in January 8, 2012 New York Times.

When asked abouthiring, Ms. Fruechte confirmed the More Than A Resumé philosophy - that mostoften it is a gut feel about a person that tells the employer right away ifthere's a cultural fit.

Although fit can seem subjective, it’s linked to an organization'sculture--the values, beliefs and behaviors of its individuals and groups. Simply put: It's how things get done in the organization. Being able to demonstrate that you are a good fit is the key to asuccessful job search and getting hired.

So what questionshelp to determine fit?

Interviewers whounderstand the corporate culture will ask questions that require the jobcandidate to describe/provide examples from their experience that supports thedifferent aspects of the corporate culture.

Ms. Fruechte describes this very well. One of the Colle + McVoy core values isentrepreneurial passion. So a questionthat Ms. Fruechte asks is tell me about somethingyou've built. From the answer she can get that gut feel if the candidate issomeone who's willing to take risks. It's not about taking or not taking a risk. It's about whether they liketo build and to create.

Your job search planneeds to include doing your homework. Researching the companies you areinterested in, understanding the culture and anticipating in advance the typesof questions you will be asked and the experiences you have to share thatdemonstrate your fit.

Hired Before You Graduate

2012-01-03T16:43:00.000-06:00

Whether you are asoon-to-be graduate looking to land your first job after college, or possibly acollege junior seeking an internship, you are ready to launch your career. You are committed to moving to the next, newpersonal and professional level, and prepared to do whatever it takes to bringthat result.

It's time tocommit to the process that will bring you a successful job search. To stand head and shoulders above the restof the job-seeking crowd, it's important to lay out an effective job searchplan.

Picture yourself one year from now. What do you see? Doing working you love? Living in your place of choice? Success feels pretty good.

A first step inachieving success is defining your goals. Take time over the holidays to really analyze what you want and needmost from your life, career and education over the next year.

To get started,brainstorm writing down your initial ideas.

Next, create aframework to evaluate your ideas following these steps.

1. Create a clear statement of what youwant and need. Your brainstorm should give you a 30,000-footoverview of your goals for the next year. Now you need to distill them down to one,actionable sentence.

For example, "In 2012, I will work in New York for leading marketing servicescompany in its client service department. "

2. Understand the career path toachieving your goal. It is helpful to distinguishyour long-term goals from your short-term goals.

For example: ifyour long-term goal is to use your degree in cultural anthropology, know thefields where this degree will be most valued.

3. You need a plan to START.

Specific – goals and actionsteps

Targeted – to those organizations where you potentially are a good fit

Achievable – apply only for the position you are qualified for

Risk – you have to put yourself out there

Time sensitive –do something related to your job search every day

4. Tweakyour plan. Your job search plan is a living document.By doing your research you will learn more about what you want, what fields areright for you, the employers to targetand the best tactics to uncovering the job you want.

As you celebrate the new year, celebrate that youhave a jump-start in planning your future.

For more job search strategies visit www.morethanaresume.com

The Employment Outlook for 2011-2012 College Graduates

2011-12-22T15:32:00.000-06:00

BE FOCUSED, BE DIRECTED & BE CONNECTED

What cansoon-to-be and recent college graduates expect to face in today's job market?What sectors are showing upward growth? What are employers' hiring priorities? Where are employers' looking for talent? Theseand other questions are answered in the recently released RecruitingTrends 2011-2012 published by Career Services and the CollegiateEmployment Research Institute, Michigan State University. Although conducted for academic institutions,the research has important insights for soon-to-be and recent college grads.

As theauthor states, this year's report is boring and boring is good. In other words, employers are reporting that while the economy remains sluggish thereis a demand for talent. Companies simply have to hire. They needto revitalize their skill base. This isgreat news for college grads entering the job market. But that's not say that the competition won't be fierce. Employer demandfalls short of the supply of graduating students.

Hirefor attitude. Train for skills.

This is the More Than A Resumé philosophy. And it appears to be one of thecentral themes of the research. Employers are willing to look across academicmajors for a good fit for their organization. Demonstrating that you are a goodand right fit for an organization trumpsyour academic major and to some degree your talent.

Showing flexibility and adaptability could increase your attractiveness toemployers. The abilityto manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changingconditions and work assignments is essential in today's workplace.

Employersplace value on a candidate's entrepreneurialspirit and creative thinking. Even at the entry level, employers look forleadership qualities. Self-starters who take on responsibility.

Multiple pathways to connect with employers.

Employers' report using a range of methods to connectwith applicants, offering candidates multiple pathways to connect withemployers. For entry level positions, hiring from the intern pool is very effective, butother methods are identified as well that would be more readily available to soon-to-begrads. Campus career fairs, socialmedia, and alumni working for the company, are all recruiting tools. Infact, alumni within an organization is seen as an “… effective and importantmeans for identifying and recruiting talent from their alma mater”. And, "socialmedia will soon be the core recruiting strategy as more organizationsquickly adopt various media options."

College juniors take note. Employers do hire their internsalthough to what degree varies by industry. Securingan internship is as competitive as finding full-time employment. You will need to apply the same job search strategiesto find an internship.

Whento start a job search.

Forundergraduate degree students there is no official hiring season. Hiring is based on just in time,meaning that employers seek to fill positions quickly when there is aneed. Employers seeking graduatestudents look to have their hires wrapped up early in the academic year but doextend hiring into the spring or beyond.

What this means to you.

It is no longer enough to have a degree and experience. You need to:

Articulate your value - strengths and qualities and how these relevant to the job and the company. It's about fit.
Adequately demonstrate the skills you have gained from your school work, internships, work experience and other activities you have participated in. Your past behavior is the best predictor of how you will behave on the job.
Be ready to jump when you see the right opportunity. An accomplishment-based and personality-rich resumé needs to be ready at the beginning of 2nd semester for seniors and those juniors seeking internships.
Target employers. Learn what you can about each employer and monitor the website for job postings.
Become a smart and effective networker. Join your alumni group and participate in activities to make yourself known to alumni who are in companies you want to work in.

Use winter break to stay ahead of the job-seeking crowd

2011-12-19T16:29:00.003-06:00

Winter break is almost here. You are about to enter thehome stretch - your last semester of college. With graduation for most of youjust a short 6 months away, utilizing the time period from end of Decemberthrough the beginning of February to start your job search plan is crucial. Youwant to give yourself as much time as possible to work your plan and you wantto be in front of the job-seeking crowd.

Beforeyou ring in the New Year, below are three ways you can optimize your time offand, ultimately, stay on track.

1. Develop your resumé. This is likely thefirst impression you make with an employer. Your resumé needs to tell thestory of you - your strengths,accomplishment and qualities and how you are the fit for the job and the employer. Learn how to write a veryeffective resumé. Don't wait.

2. Identify recommendations. Before you leavecollege secure your references. Reaching professors while you and your work aretop of mind will give you a better chance of securing a recommendation thatwill highlight your character and strengths in the best possible way. Professors teach so many students each yearit is unreasonable to think that they will remember you if you don't activelystay in touch with them. Don't leaveschool with references.

Start your research. A resumé is only one piece of a job search plan. Identifying the job you want, the companies where that job exists, how you are a good and right fit for the job and the company along with how you can network to learn about open jobs are ways to set yourself apart from the job-seeking crowd. A targeted job search approach will improve your chances of finding your first professional job after college.

These aresome of the best ways to use the winter break to your advantage in the jobsearch process.

Asalways, if you have any questions, you can contact me at jane.morethanaresume@gmail.com.

What is college for?

2011-12-16T08:15:00.001-06:00

College education is above all a matter of opening yourselves up to new dimensions of knowledge and understanding. It's a good investment on multiple levels and it does help you prepare for the professional world.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/what-is-college-for/

Bringing Value to Today's Workplace

2011-12-12T17:08:00.000-06:00

Launching a career has never been more challenging then it is today. College graduates even those with professional degrees such as accounting, computer science or engineering are finding what once was considered an entry-level position filled by applicants with experience eager to take a starting salary job. Saying that there are too many applicants for too few jobs is an oversimplification of the problem recent college graduates are facing.

Management consultant Robert W. Goldfarb in talking with his clients found that many executives feel that recent graduates have contributed to a perception problem: that young people have been so pampered by hovering parents and so untested academically that they bring little value to today's demanding workplace.[1] Ouch!

In my work, as principal of More Than A Resumé I've found that soon-to-be and recent college graduates don't know how to translate their education, experience and enthusiasm - their value to employers. That's a lot different than bringing little value.

Proving your value to employers starts by knowing yourself, so employers will know that you're right for the job. You need a plan to present yourself in a way -- on your resume and in interviews -- that connects your unique strengths, qualities and past experiences with the expectations of the professional world.

The first year at the job you are proving to the employer that you are the good fit for the position and the company. This means that each and every day in addition to performing the responsibilities of the position flawlessly (or close to it), you show your character. Survey upon survey of employers found the following twelve personality/character traits to be highly desired.

Astrong work ethic/dedication/motivated
Willingnessto learn
Confidence
Flexibility/adaptability
Honesty/Integrity
Dependability/Reliability/Responsibility
Loyalty
Professionalism/Maturity
Leadership
Teamwork and team smarts
A healthy relationship with failure
Ability tohandle adversity

Are you ready to change perceptions?

[1] HelpGraduated Find Their Footing, Robert W. Goldfarb,New York Times, published December 10, 2011

Open-Ended Questions Reveal Important Aspects About Your Character

2011-12-05T10:23:00.001-06:00

When an interview asks , “Tell me about your experience growing up,” orsimply "Tell me about yourself" you get to choose anything you wantto talk about. You get to decide thedirection you want to go in the interview. If you dig deep and talk aboutsomething that is deeply meaningful to you it helps the employer see what yourcharacter is, what you're made of, how you were formed as a human being. The employer by asking this type ofopen-ended question is trying to get to whether you will be a good fit. Willyou be a good team member? Will you care about the people you work with? Do youhave high standards? A strong work ethic?

It's important to consider when developing your response to reveal thingsthat are important to you. A responseintended to please the employer is transparent to skilled interviewers. Themessage you could be giving is you are too willing to compromise your standardsto please people.