During the month of January, I will be interviewing recruiters each Monday to ask some of the questions job seekers want answers to. My first interview was with Allen Geller, Managing Director of Raines International, a premier retained executive search firm in New York City.

1.  What is your biggest interview pet peeve and why? “People who are very long-winded and entirely too detail oriented during their interview. Remember, you have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak.”
2. What is your biggest resume pet peeve and why? “No months on the resume with dates of employment. Then the candidate doesn’t remember the months. “I think it was warm, so it must have been the summer.” It is your life and your career. At best you look unprepared and at worst you may come off as if you are trying to hide something.”
3. If someone has a gap in their chronology, how do you recommend they deal with that issue on their resume? “I always tell the truth because I am not smart enough to remember what I said to everyone. In more simple language, you will be fired if you misrepresent yourself. Be honest about what happened, and put your spin on it first, otherwise your credibility will be stretched.”
4. What level of follow up do you expect from your job applicants? How much is too much? “Persistence is important, but being a pest just doesn’t work. I believe follow-up via telephone and/or email are important, but candidates need to be careful not to overdo it. Candidates should ask about the entire process and anticipated timing at the end of the interview when the interviewer asks, “Do you have any other questions?” Take your cues from the answer.”

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, The Story of Success. In this fascinating book, Gladwell links how people spend their time to the success they experience and examines how some of the most famous business icons got to where they are today. He shows how hard work, culture, environment, timing, and luck all contribute to success and gives people food for thought on how to leverage these forces to potentially create a more meaningful destiny for themselves. 

And what a great book to read as we close out 2008 and head into 2009! Instead of making the same empty New Year’s resolutions everyone is guilty of making every year on December 31, why not work towards a plan for 2009 that aligns hard work, improved timing, and even some “premeditated” luck to help facilitate your 2009 goals?

A sound career management strategy rests on the same principles of success discussed in Gladwell’s book. Hard work, timing, environment, and luck all factor into career choices, industry choices, company choices, professional development, transfers, lateral moves, and promotions. So what are you going to do in 2009 to better manage your career destiny? Here are a few things to think about as you navigate your 2009 career course. 

Examine Your Industry

In Outliers, Gladwell discusses the opportunities Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had to learn computer science during the industry’s infancy. This advantage helped propel the success they experienced later on.  What is the current state of your industry? Is it in turmoil, shrinking, or growing? Has the trend been towards, outsourcing, offshoring, or consolidating? If your industry is experiencing extreme volatility, what are the problems of that industry and how can you position yourself as a problem solver to react to these industry issues rather than be the victim of them? 

Examine Your Job Function

Gladwell describes how Joe Flom, partner of the mega law firm Skadden, Arps Slate, Meagher, and Flom made a name for himself by taking on litigation and “proxy fights” that none of the “white shoe” law firms would touch. He became an expert in these areas years before the Federal regulations were relaxed and these skills were in high demand. Do you have the skills to compete in today’s market or do you need to update or expand those skills? Could your technology skills use a tune-up or do you need a refresher course in a particular area to still be considered a subject matter expert? Is your job function losing value in today’s economy? Can your skills be transferred to another industry or profession or should you be considering a career change?

Dust off Your Resume

Gladwell writes about The Beatles and their 1964 British Invasion of the American Music scene. Prior to coming to the U.S., The Beatles had spent several years together, perfecting their band and had already performed 1,200 times which is more than many bands perform during their entire career! They already had an impressive resume. What if an amazing opportunity presented itself to you tomorrow? Would you be ready to compete for the position? Would your resume be in “marathon shape” complete with compelling stories of your successes and value-add? Perhaps you are as practiced as The Beatles were in 1964…do you have a resume to prove it?

Build Your Network

Throughout Gladwell’s book, he discusses the importance of community and reminds us that no one makes it alone. He gives several examples of people with equal intelligence whose lives turn out very differently and he attributes these differences to the support the person received from their community. Most people find their next job through people they know. But in many cases, they got to know those people well enough to become top of mind for potential opportunities by cultivating meaningful and authentic relationships over several years. People often complain that networking is a lot of work for a payoff that they can’t immediately cash in on. Effective networking does require planning, consistency, dedication, and persistence but it can have tremendous long-term benefits. Don’t undervalue the power of a strong network.

All economic indicators suggest that 2009 will be a particularly challenging year. But with challenge comes opportunity. Take charge of your career in 2009 and make a plan to influence your destiny rather than surrender to these challenging times. And best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009!

I still meet a lot of people in job search who are not familiar with LinkedIn or if they are, they have no idea how to leverage its power for an effective job search campaign. I just finished reading 42 Rules for 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn. This is a great book for the LinkedIn novice because authors Chris Muccio, David Burns, and Peggy Murrah offer the reader guidance on the strategy of LinkedIn and a step by step tutorial on how to use all of its features. You can save yourself a lot of time and energy by reading the book and then applying the information to your LinkedIn strategy. You really can get up to speed on LinkedIn in 24 hours if you read this book. From front to back cover, you should be done with the book in an hour. This leaves you 23 hours to create your strategy and get comfortable with navigating the site. If you have been thinking about adding online networking to your search strategy in 2009, this book is a great place to start.

I’m on vacation in Egypt this week and I spent the day in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The art here is nothing short of amazing and the condition of the art is such that it is hard to believe that some of these pieces are over 4,000 years old. But the way the art is displayed is sad. Very few of the pieces are properly lit, several of the cases that house the art are dirty and dilapidated, the descriptions of the art are on old yellowing paper, probably typed out on a manual typewriter over 40 years ago, and many important pieces are crammed into a small space like an overcrowded china cabinet. Sometimes resumes suffer from a similar problem. The job seeker’s accomplishments are awe inspiring, but the presentation of the resume is often drab, boring, or cluttered. Here are some tips for creating a resume that is a fine work of art.

1. Do not use a font smaller than 10-point. Anything smaller is difficult to read. Pick a font that is not extremely ornate; stick with widely-used fonts such as Arial, Arial Narrow and Times New Roman. 
2. Use white space effectively. Don’t cram all of your content into big bulky paragraphs that overwhelm the reader. Instead use bullet points to demonstrate your successes and add a .6 space in between each bullet to let the document “breathe” 
3. Break up long strings of bullet points. Create themed categories to highlight your competencies and list relevant accomplishments under each category. This strategy breaks up the text and delivers your content in more digestible sound bites.
4. Use a quality resume paper. Print your resume on paper specifically designed for resumes (I like Southworth) and pick neutral or muted colors such as white, linen, beige, grey, or light blue. 

Great resumes have great content. But it’s best to present that content as tastefully and professionally as possible.

According to HR Magazine’s SHRM 2009 HR Trend Book, Google, known for its innovative culture, is putting a new twist on the interview process. They are using a technique known as crowd sourcing, which is based on James Surowiecki’s work and his belief that any given group of people is always smarter than any given expert. Here’s what happens to a job applicant’s resume behind the scenes. Google uses its applicant tracking system (ATS) to ask employees to review information on applicants who have submitted their resumes online. Information about where they worked or went to school is parsed and stored in the ATS and the system matches that information to data about existing Google employees. Following a match, an email automatically asks employees for internal references. This system enables recruiters to leverage the knowledge of employees who best understand the demands of the jobs and the nature of the culture in assessing the fit of potential hires. It also allows employees to build the community, even if they are not part of the formal interview process. So if you are planning on applying to Google, you can expect a very thorough and democratic process, but also a more time consuming one.

When I write resumes for my clients, I gather as much information as possible about their background and accomplishments and I frequently review their past performance appraisals or letters or recommendation to gather additional information about their accomplishments. Nine times out of ten, these documents are full of fairly generic information about personal attributes and overused phrases about getting the job done or going above and beyond the call of duty. It’s frustrating to think that the person you work with day in and day out can’t seem to put together a performance review that not only gives you specific praise for a job well done, but documents the impact of your work and the value you bring to the overall well-being of the company. What’s even more frustrating is the fact that these reviews, with their marginal documentation, are directly tied to your merit increase and your ability to enhance your earning potential. I think it’s time for employees to take control of their performance reviews and be the catalyst for better documentation of their success and potentially more money to reward them for that success in 2009. Here are a few suggestions for managing your career and the performance review process within your current or future company.

• At the beginning of your review period, request a meeting with your boss to set up mutually agreed upon goals and performance expectations.
• Each month or following the conclusion of each of your projects, document your accomplishments by jotting down a few notes to yourself about the particular challenges you faced within your projects, the actions you took to address these issues, and the results of your efforts. Record any examples of how your work helped the company make money, save money, save time, grow the business, or keep the business and validate your impact using numbers, dollars, or percentages.
• Create a kudos file and save any email/letters of praise. Review the file each quarter and look for trends within the acknowledgments to uncover what others perceive to be your strengths.
• Assess your communication style once a year to better understand how you give, receive, and process information, and how you interact with others. The DISC is a great tool for this purpose. Or solicit feedback from superiors, colleagues, and peers through a 360 tool like Checkster. 
• One month prior to your performance review, begin to review all this material and write your own review. You can either present your self-assessment to your boss or leverage the information you have sourced for your self-assessment to improve the quality of the review conversation with your boss. Strong documentation may also provide the ammunition needed to increase your performance rating and/or associated merit increase and salary. 

As the financial services giants continue to struggle, its employees are left scratching their heads trying to figure out their next career move. Many people identify with their industry and find it challenging to see past their industry role when that industry begins to suffer. But opportunities still exist for these professionals outside of the industry where they have built their reputation. Job seekers should start thinking more about competencies and less about specific job tasks in order to compete for opportunities in this new and challenging economy. They need to stop identifying with their profession and instead focus on how they can morph their skills to solve problems for other industries. Healthcare, government, education, and technology sectors are projected to experience growth in the coming years. How can you transition into an alternative or emerging industry? Read more about life after a career in financial services.

Today is my daughter’s 16th birthday and it has been a day of reflection for me. Perhaps I’m particularly introspective this year because I see this birthday as such a milestone as she begins to leave her childhood behind and embark on her journey into young adulthood.  All morning I’ve been asking myself the same questions I pose to my clients when I ask them to reflect on their career history, but I’m applying those questions to my alter-career as a mom. I’m thinking about the different challenges and obstacles I have faced as a mother, what my greatest achievements as a mom have been to date, what I am known for as a mom, and what skills I have developed as a mom. This exercise is helping me to prepare for what lies ahead. I know the challenges I will face parenting a child through her later teenage years will intensify and won’t be solved by a hug. I know my ideas and beliefs will be questioned or passed over as my daughter continues to find herself. I feel like I am entering into a new job (a promotion maybe?) with a new boss, new corporate culture, new demands, and new responsibilities. There is bound to be a learning curve in the beginning and I want to feel that I have done my homework and am up for the challenge. Thinking about my past successes will help make me feel more confident in my parenting style as I move through these potentially turbulent years.How about you? Have you thought about your achievements, both professionally and personally lately? This can sometimes be a hard exercise, but its value is priceless. In order to effectively manage our careers, it is important to take time out periodically to think about what you have accomplished over the past year. Doing so can help you feel more confident in pursuing your future career goals and positioning yourself as the candidate of choice should you decide to apply for a new position.

I often blog about the important role affinity groups play in a career transition. Affinity groups based on gender or age offer a unique type of bond and networking opportunity and today I learned about a group with an incredible support system and bountiful networking options. The Transition Network or TTN is a rapidly growing organization for women over 50 who are attempting to redefine and embrace the next stage of life in a personally fulfilling way. The organization hosts a number of career transition and special interest groups to help women explore their transition experiences. Women are given the opportunity to share their stories of job search or shifting to part-time, consulting, or volunteer work. They also discuss the social and emotional implications of transition and rely on each other for support and advice. Members can also take advantage of numerous education programs on jobs and career transition, finance, health and wellness, social issues, and technology. In addition, TTN hosts several social events such as walking tours, theater events, and museum visits.  The Transition Network recently published a book, “Smart Women Don’t Retire: They Break Free,” which offers options to the traditional model of retirement and shows women how to create new and exciting work and volunteer opportunities and how to discover new outlets for creativity and passion.  If you are a women nearing age 50, 60, 70, or even 80, TTN is an excellent resource for networking and building community.

Sometimes reconnecting with someone you haven’t talked to in awhile can be awkward. And if you only reach out to your network when you need something, your intentions may be questioned.It is important to stay connected to your network throughout the year, but if you have let some of your relationships slide, the holidays provide a natural touchpoint for reconnecting and the holidays are a great time to network. Sending holiday cards is an easy way to reenergize your networking efforts in an authentic and giving way. The card serves as a natural “check-in” and opportunity to say “It’s been a long time…would love to get together after the holidays.” The card lets people know you are thinking of them and sets the stage for a reunion in the weeks to come. Once you have re-opened the doors to the relationship and again solidified the trust, the next step may be to enlist your contact’s help in your job search. Once the relationship is back on track, you can comfortably ask for information or leads on contacts that might be helpful to you in your search. Here are a few great resources for reaching out and touching someone with a holiday greeting.

• Send Out Cards allows you to choose a paper card, write out your message, and mail right from your computer. The team at Send Out Cards takes care of the transcribing, envelope stuffing, and postage for less than the cost of purchasing a greeting card in a store. It’s a no-hassle way to create a personal and memorable card.
• Plaxo e-Cards lets you send unlimited e-cards for a nominal annual fee. This service makes it easy to quickly pull up emails from your Plaxo address book and send unique cards to members of your network.
• Free e-Cards as well as paid cards are available through American Greetings, Blue Mountain, e-Greetings, and Free e-cards. 
• Shutterfuly is a great service if you want to create a more personalized card by adding a picture.

High-tech, low-tech, or no-tech…the delivery method is up to you. The important thing is to reconnect with your network now, during this natural time to reach out to friends and family. The investments in time and money are small and the payoff may far exceed your expectations.