Some Common Career Missteps!

(For the past two-plus months I missed posting my weekly blogs due to my attending to some of my medical needs. I was away taking care of those and now I am fine. Sorry for that gap!)

As a career coach I routinely deal with some clients, who come to me after they realize that they should have handled their situation differently to keep their career on track or to stay out of trouble. They also come to me when they have realized an outcome different from what they were expecting and now want to find avenues to get back on track to realize their original goal. I am listing below some of the more common behaviors that are worth keeping in mind before they become an obstacle in your career growth:

 Looking for a new job:

1. Learn how to package your value proposition in alignment with not just the job you are after by reading the job description, but how that job is going to evolve in view of the shifting markets, changing technology, the company’s vision, and the prevailing global forces. A combination of what is in your résumé together with a great cover letter fortifying these insights is always a good idea.
2. Learn how to differentiate between task, responsibility, experience, assignment, role, and accomplishments. Replace the Experience heading in your résumé with Accomplishments and just provide short narratives of your key accomplishments: with roles, responsibilities, and assignments right below your title for that stint (not in bullet forms). I call these accomplishments your leadership stories that have an Aha! for each bullet that you place under the Accomplishment section.
3. Do not stretch the truth about your role, number of direct reports, or responsibilities. This is where most (almost 50%) of the lies infiltrate a résumé (studies have shown that almost 36% of the résumés have some misstatements or lies about a candidate).
4. Make sure that your LinkedIn Profile and résumé are in synch in every detail.
5. Before submitting make sure that the key words and phrases from the job description match your narrative throughout your résumé. This will enable the scanning and screening algorithms to present your résumé to someone who will act positively on your submittal. In a tight market even 95% match with the job description can be marginal!

Job Interviews:

1. Learn how to field the first telephone interview well. When the person on the telephone asks you to tell them about yourself, have a crisp (almost a Twitter-length) and compelling response, without starting with “I was born in a small town in Kansas almost 28 years back….!
2. When going for a face-to-face interview (s) at a company, find out who is going to interview you and look up their LinkedIn Profiles. Study the company and research the departments that are going to talk to you. Talk to your network of colleagues that have first-hand knowledge about these insights.
3. After responding to a typical icebreaker question such as Tell me about yourself (once again be well prepared with a Twitter-length response) find an opening to shift from being interrogated to engaging in a dialog with the interviewer. Use your research to ask keen questions and use them to start a dialog.
4. If the salary question comes up defer it to later by saying, I can answer that better once I know what the job entails and what value I can create in that job. Do not hesitate to correctly tell them your current (or most recent) compensation, if asked.
5. Do Not ask how the interview went, but do ask what the next steps are. Send Thank-you notes (emails are OK) to each person who interviewed you, showing your renewed interest in the company to work there.

Salary Negotiations:

1. When it comes to accepting the job offer and your salary start with the truthful answers about your current (or most recent) salary. Most employers ask about your W-2s or even income tax returns (if you do not have 1099s). Remember, your new salary is not really tied to the past. Establish your value proposition and show how what you are going to be engaged in your new job will create a different value and tie your expected salary to the value you plan to deliver.
2. Do not negotiate each element of the total package. Pick one main element (Base pay, stock options, bonus, sign-on bonus, or whatever your main need is) and then have one other element as a back up. Learn how to negotiate without sounding peremptory (“take it or leave it”).
3. Do not lie about other offers if you do not have them. They may detect your lie and tell you to take that job offer you do not have.

These are just three areas where most job seekers need much help. Once you start your new job there are many other areas that you must learn how to manage to keep your career on track. In subsequent blogs I plan to provide some ideas in those areas, too! So, stay tuned.

Good luck!