YOU GOT THE JOB. BEFORE YOU START, CLOSE THE JOB SEARCH LOOP

You sent off your cover letters and resumé and completed the required online applications. You conducted informational interviews, talked to people in your career field who connected you to other professionals in the field. You interviewed, worked through case studies, presented your recommendations, participated in more interviews, and finally after all your hard work you got the job. You deserve to celebrate. But like it or not, there’s still one more step in your job search. You need to close the loop by sending a thank-you, I’ve accepted a position email (or call) to the people you connected with during your job search.

This often-overlooked step leaves a strong, positive and professional impression with people that can payoff big dividends for you in the future, just as it did for a client when he closed the loop. “I spoke with the partner I had the most contact with during the interview process. He told me I was their top candidate and although he was disappointed, he understood why I chose another internship offer. He said to contact him after my summer internship to hear about how it went and to see if his company might be a good fit when I graduate.”

Close the loop with...
It’s not necessary to close the loop with everyone you spoke with during your job search. A telephone or Skype interview with the HR person that didn’t go any further doesn’t require a close-the-loop email, but if you talked with an outsourced/external recruiter for the position, it’s a good investment to send the email. Why? Because it’s likely this recruiter works with companies to fill entry-level/junior positions and it’s a good contact to have for the future. Here’s who else belongs on your close the loop email list.

• Anyone you had an informational interview with, particularly those who connected you to others. This is your professional network.
• People you interviewed with multiple times and/or stayed involved during the interview process. They liked you and it's a way for them to know what companies they are competing with for young talent.
• The employers who made you an offer you did not accept. You always want to leave the door open for opportunities with these people and employers.

Be sure to let your school’s career services center know, even if they were not involved in your job search. They should want to know where their students have landed jobs.

A simply format will do...
There is no standard format for a close-the-loop email though it should generally be brief, open with a “thank you”, tell the person where you landed, and include—if you haven’t asked already—an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

Dear Mr. Smith:
Thank your for the opportunity to interview with XYZ. I appreciate the support you provided during the interview process. I’m happy to tell you that I’ve accepted a position with The Big Name Company in Chicago starting June 1st.

My contact information will stay the same (see below). Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any help to you. I’m also sending you an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

Signature (includes at minimum your name, phone, email)

This email is short, gracious and informative.

Send when...
Unlike your interview thank-you emails, you do not need to get the close-the-loop emails out immediately unless someone is waiting to hear from you such as another employer and then a phone call is more appropriate. You have time but don’t wait too long. You don’t want the connection you worked hard to make go cold.

You Are Not Special, But You Are Unique. Positioning Through Stories.

Before an interview, most people spend time preparing answers for likely interview questions. This is useful preparation for the interview essentials. The trouble many first-time job-seekers get themselves into is that the interviewer is not looking for answers already on your resumé. Interviewers want to hear something that adds to it. You need to realize that a successful interview isn’t an interrogation it’s a conversation. If you want to break out of the question/answer, fire/response interview, aim to intersperse in some interesting information about yourself in the form of stories that demonstrate your uniqueness.

Why Stories Matter in Interviews

Stories serve three critical purposes in your job search. First, stories are engaging, entertaining, and help position you, not as a job applicant, but as a person who would be great to work with. Stories allow you to show some personality.

Second, in today's job market, you will likely face a competency-based or what is commonly called a behavioral interview. In a traditional interview, the interviewer will ask you questions focused on whether you have the skills and knowledge needed to do the job. A behavioral interview goes further by asking you additional questions about your character and personal attributes that can better determine whether you fit their corporate culture. In behavioral interviews, you will need to back up your words with examples that speak to your knowledge, skills, and abilities. The interviewer asks probing questions to learn not that you can do something, but that you have done it.

When you talk about yourself in a behavioral interview, you want to talk about your accomplishments as technical skills—that show you can do the work and interpersonal skills—your behavior/qualities that show you fit. Let’s say you have leadership ability, but saying, “I am a great leader” is not very credible. By telling a story in which it is clear through the narrative that you demonstrated qualities of a leader, creates a credible example of your leadership ability. Moreover, because it emerges from the story, you never have to make the claim that you’re a leader.

Third, telling stories keeps your answers concise and focused. Inexperienced candidates tend to give long-winded answers believing they need to tell the interviewer everything. When you ramble, you lose your audience.

Crafting Stories

Behavioral interviews can be challenging the first time you experience that style of interviewing. Behavioral interviewing is a skill you can learn and master.
Behavioral interview questions often begin with "Tell me...", "Describe...", "When...". Example: Describe a time you worked on a team project and one of the team members did not pull his/her weight. What did you do? This question doesn’t ask you what you would do but what you actually did.

Constructing your answers to behavioral questions is based P.A.R. method –what problem was I asked to solve, what action did I take, what was the result or on S.T.A.R.—situation, task, action, result. When deliberately and compellingly put together these create a personal story.

A story needs to have a clear beginning, middle and end—the result. You don’t want your anecdotes to be too long, aim to be able to deliver the story within 60 seconds. There is no need to put more details in there, if it’s an interesting story you can be sure the interviewer will ask you about it and there is your chance to elaborate.
In order to tell a memorable story, it’s important that it be original and true to you. People want to hear about your out-of-the-box way of doing things, your imaginative and clever methods to reach goals.

The construct looks like this.
 

How it works

Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you taught yourself something new at work.

Interview wants to learn about your ability to work without a lot of direction, are you self-motivated, will you initiate projects.

You: As an intern at XYZ Company, I was given one of those intern assignments, which by its very nature comes with very little strategic direction. I approached the assignment as I do most things— logically and objectively creating a plan that looked at ways the department could improve how it collected and tracked information. To test and prove the model, I selected one country to review every data set, map, and catalog. Once I knew the model worked, I was able to expand the model to other countries. The model I created is in use today by the department.
____________________________
Interviewer: Tell me about your experience setting up your classroom for the first day of school.
 
Interviewer wants to learn about your ability to create a nurturing and inviting classroom, your organizational skills, and how well you will manage your classroom.

You: Because I graduated in January, I had the opportunity to start my full time student teaching at the beginning of the school year and work alongside my mentor teacher in setting up our kindergarten classroom. Our focus was to ensure students had their own places to work and that we established an effective routine starting day one. From their first day of school, every student had a basket to place their folders in and another for their lunch boxes, hooks for their backpacks and jackets, and an assigned seat all with name tags. All of these housekeeping tasks really helped us to establish routines in the classroom within the first week of school.
___________________________
Interviewer: Describe a time you had to make a difficult decision.

Interviewer wants to learn can you put the interests of the team or the company ahead of your own.

You: I was the captain of the high school swim team and in my senior year I had to make a very tough call. In swimming, the team races for points. It was an important meet and the coach left it to me to make the decision to either put in a senior, who was a very good friend or put in the faster swimmer. Ordinarily you give seniors as much racing time as possible but in this instance doing that would have jeopardized the team’s standing. I chose the faster swimmer and had to talk with my friend to help him see that it was the right decision for the team. His initial response was to not show up at the meet but that was not a good decision for him or the team. Instead, I found a different event at the meet for him to compete in and a different way for him to contribute to the team that day.

 

Final thoughts

Always think of interviews as a conversation between two equals. When you accomplish this, you come away a step closer to your goal of landing the job you really want.
To have a real conversation, prepare your stories beforehand, practice them so that they flow and listen to the question to know which of your stories to use.

YOUR FIRST CAREER IS NO LONGER FULFILLING. IT HAPPENS. MAKE A CHANGE.

I recently started working with two clients both who have been out of college and working for a bit of time, and both are looking to make a career change. Although they are in different careers and one carries the stigma of a job-hopper, these two share one thing—why they want to make a change. Both realized, after working hard to establish themselves in their careers, that the work was no longer fulfilling and that the career is just not for them.

Making a career change—both the decision to take such a big step, as well as the process for finding a new career— is a very important life choice, but also one done successfully by people every day. Here are ways to help you manage your career change.

Transferable skills
Mary has spent the first part of her career as a teacher. She described her skills focusing on the things she did—developing lesson plans, entering grades, keeping track of students’ progress. These are simply tasks she performed. While teachers do have a job description and a set of skills that may seem unique to education, many of these abilities are actually transferable to other careers. Mary needed to rethink the way she saw her skills. For example:

• Developing lesson plans translates to planning and organization skills.
• Working with the principal and other teachers to develop a curriculum translates to working collaborative to develop best practices.
• Maintaining an orderly classroom translates to strong interpersonal skills

Don’t apologize or justify
Sam, on the other hand, is in sales. In just three and a half years, he has had four sales positions. The type of sales positions he’s held just aren’t a good fit for him. After a lot of work, Sam knows he wants to move into an account service position in an advertising agency and like Mary, needed to rethink the way he thought about his skills. More importantly for Sam, he needed to stop apologizing for or justifying his experience. In sales, Sam is responsible for all parts of the sales cycle from prospecting for new customers, to product knowledge, closing and exceeding customer expectations. This has taught Sam what it means to manage customer relationships. The situations in which he learned these skills might be different from someone who has spent their career in advertising, but the skills are the same nonetheless. Instead of justifying, Sam is learning to focus on emphasizing his abilities in ways that are relevant to the position he wants.

Be honest
For Sam, it’s important he’s honest about changing jobs. On his resumé, he can include a reason for leaving next to each position, with a succinct explanation like “company closed,” “layoff due to downsizing,” “reorganization,” or “relocated to new city.”

One of the jobs Sam stayed at for only a matter of months. We decided to eliminate it from his resumé. Leaving a particularly short-lived job off his work history shouldn’t hurt him, as long as he is honest about the experience if asked in an interview. By addressing the job-hopping upfront, you’ll make it less of an issue.

Promote skills and accomplishments
When it comes to making a career switch, you will need to rethink the way you lay out your resume. You still need to use a chronological resumé (although a skills-based or functional resumé is preferable when making a career change.) Here’s why. Most companies rely on applicant tracking software (ATS) programmed to pick up data only from a chronologically formatted resumé, and hiring personnel are accustomed to reading this type of resumé. However, when you use your resumé real estate effectively, know how to frame your accomplishments, and use keywords and power words you shift the focus from jobs you’ve held to skills you’ve mastered demonstrating the value you bring to the organization, even if you haven’t worked directly in that field yet.

• The top third section of your resumé is the most important valuable real estate. It lets the reader know who you are and the value you offer, and for the company’s ATS, it’s packed with appropriate keywords.
• For each job you’ve held, focus on what you achieved not the tasks performed.

Make your cover letter work hard for you.
Make sure to send your resumé along with a well-crafted cover letter that highlights your transferable skills in a way that speaks to the specific value you can bring to the potential employer and demonstrates your knowledge of the company and position.

• Your cover letter should include 3-bulleted accomplishments from your career that are relevant to the new career you are pursuing.
• Use a positive tone to explain your career change or job-hopping in one comprehensive sentence such as "My passion for working directly with customers has drawn me to a variety of experiences, from selling market research syndicated data to selling technology products and providing technical support to companies."

By drawing attention to your passion and skills, you can downplay your job-hopping history while showing why you are a good fit for the company.

If you cannot persuade hiring managers to look past the career you are in now, network.
There are times, primarily for those who have the appearance of a job-hopper, when no amount of resumé editing will help you change careers. Instead of applying online and hoping to hear back from employers, focus your efforts on conducting informational interviews and other networking activity. A personal connection is more likely to persuade an employer of your transferable skills.
Your aim is really to bring the focus away from you being a risk to hire. By demonstrating your skills, achievements and experience as opposed to tasks performed or what is missing, you can land a new job in a new career.

Job Search Desirability Strategy: When and How to Invest Your Time.

It’s important to get the balance right. Courteous, appropriate follow up after the interview can help increase the employer’s commitment to you, but you need to leave it in their court to respond. The person who continues to call and text and call and text after a date is a pest. No one wants to hire and work with a pest.

During the hiring process, what you do and when you do it matters.
You wait anxiously. Obsessively look at your phone waiting in anticipation that the person you met will call you. There was definitely interest, you said all the right things, you gave off the right vibe, and there was an attraction. Almost a week has gone by and you’ve heard nothing. Finally, late Friday you receive an email,” We’re sorry, but we’ve decided to go in a different direction.” It feels like you’ve been dumped.”

You second-guess yourself. Was there an attraction? Maybe things didn’t go as great as you thought. You thought you made it clear you were interested. Maybe you were too much too soon or maybe not enough?

To be successful at dating and searching for a job you need to be in sync with the potential partner; knowing when and how to invest your time to get the commitment you want. Giving all you’ve got when the person isn’t ready to make any commitment or backing off just when s/he is at the height of engagement can destroy the relationship. In your job search, what to do and when to do it I call the desirability strategy.

As with dating, in a job search there are investments and commitments. Job search investments are financial (such as the expense of flying candidates in for interviews) and temporal (such as how much time spent interviewing candidates) while commitments are emotional (preferring one candidate over another). During the hiring process, there are times when an employer is fully invested in the process but not ready to make a commitment, and times when the commitment is high and there's no more investment needed at that time. Your job search efforts need to work in synergy with the employer’s hiring process. What does this mean?
 
The employer is just starting the hiring process. Low Commitment/Low Investment.
Hanging out on campus, you spy someone, your eyes lock there’s an initial attraction. Your friends may know their name, the dorm they live in and perhaps some of their friends. You manage an introduction. It’s the same with job searching. There needs to be an initial mutual attraction. You are attracted to the employer’s reputation, product/service, and send off your resumé and cover letter in hopes, a) it will make it through the employer’s applicant tracking software (the match.com of job searching,) and b) that an actual person will read your resumé land find the initial attraction. Someone does and is attracted to your education and experience, but attraction is not commitment and the employer’s investment in the process is still low.

Attraction is also not a guarantee you will get an introduction, so you need to manage your expectations. However, there are things you can do to get the employer to invest in you as a candidate. For example, just as you found a friend to introduce you to the person you saw on campus, find someone who can make an introduction for you. Doing too much more when the employer hasn’t commitment time and resources to the process will likely go unnoticed.

The employer is interviewing select candidates: Low Commitment/High Investment
Now that you’ve had an introduction, determined there’s a mutual attraction it’s time to see if you have chemistry. Think about it—the anticipation of the first date, nerves, excitement; emotions you also get prior to an interview. During a date, you normally know quickly whether there’s chemistry and if the relationship has potential. It’s exactly the same during an interview. You need chemistry with your potential employer, so it’s important to find where there is common ground. You meet, talk and question to learn if there is more than just an attraction, is there’s a fit.

So the first date has gone amazingly well. You want to make sure they feel the same way you do and perhaps persuade them to make more of a commitment to you over the other people they are dating. Think of employers in the same way. Here are ways you can put yourself ahead of the competition.

• Before you leave the interview, know the employer’s interviewing process and timeframe. This helps you time your follow-up efforts.
• Send a separate and different post-interview email to everyone you spoke with highlighting the value you bring to the position and company and send it out within 24 hours.
• Ask to connect with the interviewer(s) on LinkedIn e.g. “Enjoyed our meeting, regardless of the outcome it would be great to stay connected.”
• Do you have a mutual acquaintance? Ask the person to send an email/make a phone call on your behalf to reiterate your value.
• If you haven’t heard back within the time frame they’ve provided, it’s appropriate to send an email to your primary contact e.g. human resources or hiring manager. Your email needs to be concise and friendly. Don’t necessarily remind them that they haven’t gotten back to you, but rather use the time frame provided as the reason for your follow up. Something along the lines of: “You mentioned in the interview, you were planning to make a second-round decision by the end of the month. I’m just checking in to see where you are in that process.”

The employer has narrowed down the candidate field: High commitment/High Investment
You’ve had a second and then third date. You’ve met mom and dad. Both of you are investing a lot to keep the relationship moving forward. Are you ready to date exclusively? Are you ready to marry? Your job search moves in the same direction.

An employer doesn’t commit after the first or second interview nor should you. If there’s an interest, the employer will continue to invest in you as a top candidate. The more interviews you have and the more people you meet in the company, the greater the commitment is to you. Some steps you can take when the employer is fully invested in the hiring process and high on 1-2 candidates.

• Make sure all your questions are asked and answered. Because you have established a relationship with the hiring manager, It is appropriate to call him/her with lingering questions.
• Put together and send a 90-day plan—here’s what you’re going to do as soon as you start to learn the company and job.
• Find more ways to keep yourself top-of-mind with the hiring decision-maker. For example, send a link to an article you think s/he will find interesting based on what you learned during the interviewing process. This shows you're keeping the job opportunity top-of-mind. It’s as simple as: “…I recently read this article about (relevant subject) and thought you would find it interesting as well.”
• Have your references ready to talk about your strengths and character.

The employer has selected the candidate: High Commitment/Low Investment
You’re at the point in the relationship where everyone’s needs are being met, there’s high relationship satisfaction, and commitment to only one—you.

When you are undecided about what you want to do, initiate conversations with professionals in areas of interest to you.

This holiday season I spent a good bit of time in airports and on planes. I’m a cocoon traveler. I bury myself in a good read or put headphones on signaling I’m not interested in striking up a conversation. (How much more introverted can I be?) However, there’s always a person who breaks through the barrier and we generally have an interesting conversation. This year it was a business executive heading to Denver. When asked, I said I was a career-launch coach; he told me about his son a history major and graduating senior. He then asked the inevitable question, “What does a history major do for a career?”

Yes, I help college students figure out what to do with their majors but that doesn’t mean I can offer career guidance to students I don’t know. When near-strangers ask that question this is what I tell them. Conduct informational interviews. When you are undecided about what you want to do, initiate conversations with professionals in areas of interest to you. Get them to share their experience, ideas, information and advice that can be helpful to you.

An informational interview is not a job interview, and the purpose is not to discuss a possible job.You are talking with people to learn something, to takeaway information and if can build a rapport with that person, to find other people you can talk with and learn from. An informational interview can help direct your job search activities because your questions are answered and you gain perspective to help you in your decision-making process. If you haven’t been landing job interviews in the career field or companies you’re interested in, an informational interview helps you gain insights into an industry, its entry-level position titles and job descriptions, companies in that field and the interviewing process. It can set up an opportunity for you to establish a relationship with professionals in your career field that could lead to a potential job offer down the road. And, informational interviews can help you feel better prepared and more confident in your job search and interviews. Informational interviews work.

Almost two years out of college, Miles is working in a highly specialized field that requires him to grasp technology quickly, takes full advantage of his language and problem-solving skills and is challenging most of the time. He likes the work, fast-pace and the people, but the company is not where he wants to live and it’s a dead end job. Miles wants to use the talents he's developed there but change careers. We did a lot of work together to identify career fields that interest Miles and where his talents will be valued. However, he knew very little about those fields, the leading companies he should look at, what positions he should be looking for and how he should begin to find a job in one of these career fields. Miles needed to gather information from professionals working in each of the career fields. Because he did, Miles was able to narrow down his career options, and create a targeted list of companies. He understands his value and knows the positions/job titles he wants to go after.

What did Miles do that people were willing to share information, give advice and help him make connections?

First, Miles changed his mindset about reaching out and talking with senior-level professionals. I tell clients, people want to help; they just need to know how. Although it may take time to schedule, it will happen. (It took another client 2 months to reach someone he wanted to talk with in his industry. It was worth it. The person connected him to his new boss.)

Miles then figured out how to approach busy senior-level professionals who do not know him. He did not send an email or leave a voicemail that said, “I want to network with you” or “I’m looking for a job, I hope you can help me.” This type of request rarely works. Instead, Miles started his requests by saying, “…(person’s name) recommended I talk with you because of your experience and expertise in xyz field…” or “Do you have 15 minutes to talk with an alum and share your experience working in xyz field?”

When you make a connection, you don’t want to waste that person's time. Preparation is essential. Therefore, Miles had a script. Questions he would ask to get the other person talking. By having questions prepared, Miles get over feeling awkward talking with people about their work when he didn’t know them.

These are the 10 essential questions I recommend to get people talking about themselves regardless of the industry they are in.

1. How did you get started and what do you think has made you successful in your career? This gets people talking about themselves and will provide you with insights about how you can get started and what you will need to do to be successful in that field.
2.  How have other people you know gotten started in this industry?You will learn how people get their start in the industry to help you create your job search plan. You might also pick up a few names to follow up on.
3. What are the pros and cons of working in this field? You will begin to understand if the industry is a good fit for you.
4. What skills or experiences do employers in this industry look for in candidates?
   This will help you understand how you can position yourself to employers in the field, and provides a way to evaluate your resumé and other job marketing materials.
5.  If you were me, what would you do to try to break into this field? This will get the person to tell you what you could be doing to find a job in the field at this time. It’s possible that this person will provide you with other contacts in the field.
6.  How do you suggest I say on top of industry news? Are there publications, professional associations, or events I should check out?This will direct you to other valuable resources.
7.  Do you know anyone else I can speak to for advice about breaking into this field? This builds your network even further and may lead to additional insights.
8. Can you take a quick glance at my resumé and give me your feedback? This is a way of reminding the person you want to find a job in the field, and you might get some ideas on how to improve your resumé. It’s also a great way to maintain contact with this person.
9. If I have additional questions in the future, can I reach out to you again? This is networking! This keeps the door open for future advice.
10. Is there anything I can do to help you? This is networking as well. Always look for ways to return the favor when someone has helped you.

And of course, after each conversation Miles asked, “May I connect with you on LinkedIn?”

Miles also prepared by knowing his personal brand statement. The person you’re meeting with is taking time to talk with you, they’ll be interested in knowing more about who you are and how they can help you. Miles knew how to talk about what he is interested in and why he was seeking more information.

Principles of Informational Interviewing
Your internship and post-college job search will be easier when you start informational interviewing early in your college career. I recommend using the summer before you start your junior year and the first semester to learn about career options for people with your interests and major. Once you decide this is a good first step for you, use the following principles to make good use of the other person’s time and yours.

• Setting up an informational interview can be as easy as contacting your school’s alumni relations department, searching on LinkedIn, asking friends and family for an introduction, or simply calling a person directly.(Practice your voicemail message.) Don’t be dissuaded if it takes more time and effort than you thought it would. But, don’t be a stalker.

• You are asking busy people for their time for your benefit, so be considerate and flexible. Realize how much time they might have to give you. Ask for 15-20 minutes for a phone call or an hour when meeting in person. Once talking, let the other person determine how long they want to give you, and be sure you have an effective close.

• Prepare for each informational interview. Research the person’s company and learn a bit about his/her background before you talk.

• Know your goal— what is your ask of the other person. The goal of the informational interview is not to get a job so never ask for one, although it's not unheard of for an informational interview to end with an interview, internship or job offer. How lucky are you?

• Prepare and practice your script and personal brand statement. Be sure to state up front how much you appreciate their time and want to be respectful of their schedule.

• Find something you might be able to offer in return. Don’t make the interview one-sided if you can help it. For example, you might forward an industry article that would be an interesting read. Make it worth their time to have met you and leave a good lasting impression.

• Follow up. Send a thank you email within 24 hours. In addition, let the person know where you’ve landed.

• Use the information you gathered. Ask yourself: do I now know my career options, do I have additional unanswered questions that need to be addressed, can I build a list of companies to target in my job search, does my personal brand resonate, do I need to revise my resumé, what’s important to me in finding my best-fit employer?

Remember, you get out of an informational interview what you put into it, so don’t expect any handouts, but do expect that if you put the work in, to reap the rewards

Your Personal Brand Workbook

In today’s job market, as a graduating college senior launching a career or a junior looking for an internship it’s tough to stand out. A strong GPA and lots of extracurricular activities won’t guarantee you’ll land the job you want, or that you’ll even land the interview. There are many qualified candidates out there. You need to stand out. As a career-launch coach I know this: the secret to standing out is to impress hiring managers and recruiters with the unique you—in person, on paper, and online. You need to create career marketing tools that will make the authentic you come through. It all starts with building your personal brand.

What is a brand? W hat is a personal brand?
Your college/university is a brand. Do you search on Google instead of bing? Drink Bud Lite not Miller Lite? Prefer to shop REI rather than at Sports Authority? Chose an iPhone 6 over a Samsung 5? If so, you are buying brands. What is a brand?

A brand is more than a logo, tagline or slogan. It is the meaning a product, service, business or organization creates in the marketplace to differentiate itself from others.

Got it. But, what does the term personal brand mean? What it means and what it means to both you and potential employers is vague. That’s because it’s become a job search buzzword. It’s trendy to say you have a personal brand. It sounds important, but it’s an ambiguous term and therefore not helpful. I don’t like the term but, I also know it’s not going away anytime soon. In this workbook, I provide a useable definition to the term, and then guide you through defining your personal brand in ways that will help you in your job search.

Job Search Skills Aren't Born. These Skills Are Grown.

While in school, there’s little time to read anything other than what is assigned. So when I read what are work-related books for me, I read with a filter: Will this information help my clients—graduating college seniors and recent graduates—in their job searches, and in their success in their first professional job starting on Day One? The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle is one of the books. It supports what I know to be true for many first-time job-seekers—job search skills, particularly networking and interviewing can be learned and mastered with practice.

The following simplifies and links the principles discussed in The Talent Code to the principles of an effective job search.

Lessons from The Talent Code
For The Talent Code, Coyle studied talent hotbeds— places that produce an inordinate number of athletes and musicians. Along the way, he uncovers studies, which connect increased practice and skill with a brain substance called myelin that some neurologists describe as an epiphany and others as a revolution. We all have myelin. Now, there’s not a chance I can explain myelin (here’s a link) and for those who want to become more effective in their job search it’s not required to know more other than scientists believe that there are physiological changes in the brain that take place during repetitive practice particularly at a young age.


Don is a hockey player; played at Division I school. When I met him in his senior year, I expected to see a tallish, athletically built, banged up and bruised guy. That’s not who Don is. He’s all of 5’ tall. We talked a lot about what he needed to do to play hockey at that competitive level especially against players much bigger than him. With everything he told me, it came down to this: Don wasn’t a “natural” if there is even such a thing, but because of his coaches, he put his time and energy into the right kind of practice to make him a valuable player. Coyle calls this deep practice.

Deep practice
When you operate at the edges of your ability, the place where you make mistakes is when you make yourself smarter, better. Coyle says, effort is the better way to learn. For many job-seekers, the first encounter with networking or interviewing is at the edges of their ability or comfort zone. Although first attempts might not be successful in achieving the goal set, it is far more useful to have the experience regardless of how awkward or painful it might be. This is because the more you encounter and overcome difficulties, the more you learn. The trick is identify and target the struggle you have networking or interviewing. When you find the sweet spot—the gap between what you know and what you are trying to do—that is where learning takes place.

Mary graduated college in 2011. Although she is working, Mary has been unable to launch her career in early education. When I first met her, she told me everything she was doing in her job search. All of her activities seemed appropriate for getting a teaching position. Why was Mary not having success? I asked her the one question you know for certain you will get in an interview, ‘tell me about yourself’. With her answer, I found her sweet spot. Mary did not know the value she offered and couldn't talk about herself in ways that are relevant to employers. We figured out her value and spent hours practicing and practicing her statement until she became one with her statement. What did we do? We took Mary’s mistakes in talking about herself and turned into her talent. Now when Mary meets potential employers or people who can connect her, her answer to ‘tell me about yourself’ is natural, as if it is a skill she has always possessed.

When I asked Mary how it felt to go through this process, she said it was frustrating sometimes painful because I made her start, stop and think, and then start, stop and think more about what she was doing incorrectly, fixing errors along the way. Mary did get to the place where she was able to visualize her statement and then recite it quickly and intuitively. That’s deep practice.

Developing your job search talent.
Don and Mary achieved their goals through deep practice. Here’s how it worked for Mary.

1. Targeted one specific aspect of her job search that prevented her from achieving her goal.
2. Identified Mary's value and wrote a compelling value/brand statement—also know as an elevator pitch.
3. Mary read word for word her new ‘tell me about yourself’ answer which we recorded so she could study the skill.
4. We then broke it down into small sections so Mary could practice and fix specific problems she was having in each of the sections.
5. Then we put it all together and Mary repeated it over and over again. Repetition is invaluable and an important aspect of deep practice.
6. Finally, when Mary closed her eyes she could feel and see herself in an interview answering what is no longer her dreaded question.

What is not working in your job search? What specific aspect of networking prevents you from building your professional network? What questions do you stumble over in an interview?

▪ Identify your target—your struggle
▪ Set your goal—the skill you want to develop
▪ Find the sweet spot- the gap between what you know & what you are trying to do
▪ Practice until you feel it

According to Coyle, deep practice “evokes a feeling of reaching, falling short, and reaching again.” It’s a feeling of uncomfortableness because you are working just beyond your current abilities. However, for Don and Mary, deep practice was not simply about struggling. It was about seeking out a particular struggle to target, and then putting their energy, passion and commitment into growing that targeted skill