Insider Career Advice From SixFigureStart

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Avoiding Burnout From Your Job Search

Posted by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

Recently, I was interview coaching an otherwise very qualified and hardworking jobseeker. Her vibe was frustrated, closed and all around unpleasant. Essentially, she was a perfect example of the burned out jobseeker. When you’re burned out from your job search, your interview responses get defensive. You come across as an energy drain when you network. You dismiss leads prematurely because you assume the worst. Here are some ways to combat burnout before it derails your job search:

Schedule weekly breaks from your search. Many jobseekers I see start their search with a flurry of work and then go cold. Then they restart, only to stop again. Regular, systematic action is the best pace for your search, so schedule regular, systematic breaks as well. Maybe a Wednesday afternoon at a museum, or an evening class unrelated to your search. An added bonus is that these extra-curriculars are great examples of being well-rounded and interesting outside your professional work.

Pick an optimistic job search buddy. Working with someone is a great way to stay motivated and have built-in accountability. But beware that get-togethers don’t devolve into pity parties. It’s okay to be candid if you’re feeling down but you have to move on, so pick a partner who will help you do that.

Celebrate wins big and small. Keep a tab of the things that are going well with your search – the new people you’ve met, the old friends you’ve reconnected with, those meetings where both parties hit it off. You should be constantly reviewing your search anyway to find the things that work for you that you can repeat and also to troubleshoot areas to fix. But don’t forget to celebrate the things that are working also to remind yourself that, yes, you can do this, and it’s just a matter of time.

We all have been to parties with the guest that just sucks the fun out of anyone they meet. You don’t want to be that person. Refresh as needed. Hang out with positive people. Encourage yourself with real evidence from past wins. Avoid job search burnout at all costs.

When A Job Search Moves Faster Than Expected

Posted by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

I asked an executive at a networking meeting for an informational interview and she wants to speak to me this week. I thought these things take time, so I haven’t researched her company or her industry. I don’t feel prepared but I don’t want to miss this opportunity. What do I do?

This is a luxury problem! Congratulations for putting yourself out there, asking for a meeting, and clearly representing yourself well enough that this executive wants to meet with you! Too often we don’t celebrate our job search successes. There is a ways to go before an offer is closed, but this is a step in the right direction, so take time to acknowledge this and savor a task well done. Celebrating here isn’t just about feeling good. There are practical benefits. When I coach clients to troubleshoot their search, we don’t only look at the trouble; we also look at what went well. You want to build on your successes, so capturing data on what works enables you to replicate the success for other prospective employers.

But we still have to get through this meeting. Before an informational interview you want to have researched the person, her company and her industry. The more research, the better, but there is plenty you can do even in a few days (or overnight if needed). So never let a good opportunity disappear just to do more research.

Read the person’s LinkedIn profile, blog and Twitter feeds if they have any. If they have presented or published, get to know their expertise. Use Hoovers or Vault data to understand the company. Read the press releases. Understand what projects are in the works, what opportunities and challenges exist for them, and any recent accomplishments. Check out the related industry’s professional trade association. There may be a list of competitors, industry surveys that give you a snapshot about key issues for the industry, and cutting edge news. You want to have a sense for the published information so you don’t ask questions about items that are readily available. I’ve listed a lot of sources but with information readily available on the Internet, this process takes just a few hours.

Now form hypotheses. A powerful informational interview is not just a laundry list of questions. Your questions are a reflection of your interest and your expertise. So take the extra step of forming hypotheses from the above research to test in your interview. Instead of asking what challenges exist, offer what you think the biggest challenge is and ask your interviewee to confirm or refute. This takes the burden off of them to come up with ideas. They will appreciate the time you took to learn their industry. Once you’ve collected their answers, it will be that much easier to speak to their competitor – not because you share confidential data irresponsibly (informational interviews don’t usually yield top secret data anyway) but because you can then say in your next interview that you’ve spoken to another leading company in that industry and here’s what you’ve found.

Good informational interviews build on each other. They are a critical component of a proactive job search. So when you bag a big target unexpectedly, it’s cause for celebration, not panic. When a job search moves faster than expected, run with it. There will be other companies that move more slowly than anticipated. One fast company does not mean a fast job search overall. Keep flooding your pipeline with more companies, ask for more informational interviews and don’t stop till you’re at your new job filling out your new hire paperwork.

3 Tips For Productive Interview Practice

Posted by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

A lot is written about how to interview well. Most of the advice includes the benefit of practice. But do you know the best way to practice? You do not want the practice to turn into canned, impersonal responses. You do not want to practice only specific questions so that you can’t deal with a question you didn’t expect. You don’t want to practice bad habits. Instead, here are 3 tips for productive interview practice:

Practice the process. Dress up for your practice interview. Set the environment to match where you might be. Match the practice as close to the reality as possible. In my mock interviews with clients, we open the session in interview mode. No warm up coaching. We just start. The small talk we do is in the style of what would happen in the real interview. That’s the way interviews are, and that’s the way they need to be practiced.

Practice phone interviews. All of my clients practice phone interviews, not just live. You need to handle phone interviews differently than live interviews. The atmosphere is different – there is a danger of being too informal as you are typically in a more comfortable space. The medium is different – energy doesn’t travel well over the phone. The conversation is harder – you lose the visual cues so you have to listen more carefully in order to engage your interviewer. If my clients are up to it, we tape the interview – no way to argue with their own voice saying those jumbled, hesitant, off-target responses.

Practice with someone who can actually help you. One client gave me an interview response he learned from a family member that had me burst out laughing. Turns out, as I expected, this person hadn’t been on the market for a decade, which explained the out-of-touch response.

Before you take advice, think about where it’s coming from. If it’s a jobseeker, are they successful and do they work where you want to work? If it’s a recruiter, what is their agenda and why are they being so candid? (When I recruited I never gave candid feedback for liability reasons,) If it’s a coach, are they psychoanalyzing you or do they know what it takes to get someone hired? You want to get credible advice that you can actually use. You don’t want to practice bad (or laughable) interview technique.

Social Networking Is Not Just About Networking

Posted by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

Because LinkedIn and Facebook are referred to as social networking, most jobseekers use them primarily or even exclusively as networking tools. However, social networks are valuable at every stage of the job search, not just networking.

Target identification. Use the detailed profiles in LinkedIn to get a better understanding of different job functions and career paths. If you think you want to work in corporate philanthropy, find people who have these jobs and review their experience, skills, and projects. Use this as a guide to what you might need in your career, or at least as good issues to research.

Company and industry research. Again using the profile data, pay attention to how people talk about their work. The projects people are working on are invaluable clues to deciphering what their company exactly does, especially when it is a small, privately held company with little published information about clients or projects. Group Discussions are another way to get a sense for a company or industry. Find a company alumni group or industry niche and follow the discussions or ask questions out right.

Salary data. Use the Q&A function or specific Group Discussions in LinkedIn to collect data on salary, lifestyle, growth prospects, and other useful information for your own offer negotiation. Because so many geographies and industries are represented on online social networks you can specify exactly what you are looking for and likely find a close proxy.

3 Tips For Harnessing Your Best Energy For A Job Interview

Posted by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

As a former recruiter I have seen too many candidates start their best interviewing 15 minutes or more into a job interview! By this time it’s too late, and the impression has been sent that you are lackluster, not interested or otherwise not qualified for the opening. Instead, you need to arrive at the interview with your energy already at its peak in the reception area. Here are 3 tips to ensure that, whether you stubbed your toe on the way in, squeezed through the worst traffic or just got up on the wrong side of the bed, you can still perform at your peak for that key job interview:

Listen to an uplifting song during your commute. It doesn’t have to be the theme from Rocky, but it needs to be something that sets the upbeat, positive tone you will need to get you pumped for the interview.

Carry an index card with a motivational quote written on it. When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. This is a nice example from Peter Marshall but pick whichever one that resonates with you.

Use a picture or other visual to set the tone. I look at a picture of my kids before I go into a big meeting. It puts things into perspective for me (i.e., whatever happens with the meeting, I have a great life). It puts me in a good mood. It gives me that extra push (I want to land this deal for them!).

The picture, the quote, the song take very little time and effort from you but can be powerful motivators to bring out your best in that next big meeting.

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