Mark Hirschfeld

Yesterday I wrote about a friend of mine who encountered a recruiter who couldn’t tell him anything about their culture. It reminded me of an exercise I used a while back where I asked employers to answer the following question:

“How would you describe the organization’s culture, in 100 words or less?”

As a job seeker, I’d encourage you to ask this question about a prospective employer:

~ Ask it to the recruiter.

~ Ask it to a former employee.

~ Ask it to a customer.

~ Ask it to supply chain partner.

Each of us has skills and experiences we can bring to the table, AND we need to find a place where we the culture of the organization is more-than-less aligned with what is important to us.

Ask the question to several folks. Take notes and summarize what you’re hearing. A great job with a culture that is not aligned to you can be a problem.

It’s a new day. Let’s get started.

There are free training videos on the web site of my faith community: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

My friend thought the interview was going well. Toward the end the recruiter asked him if he had any questions. He had done quite a bit of homework about the company so didn’t feel a need to ask much on that topic, but asked the following:

“What is the culture like here?”

“Is this a fun place to work?”

“How do team members get along?”

“How often do we meet as a team?”

“What do customers say about the firm?”

Important questions, right?

The recruiter couldn’t answer ANY of them.

Not one.

Nada.

Maybe the recruiter had a bad day, or MAYBE the performance of the recruiter is a reflection of a company that doesn’t know what it stands for and the culture they are building.

I encouraged my friend to network with current and former employees to find out more.

Having a good job is important, but company culture is important too.

Do your homework.

It’s a new day. Let’s get started.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free. Please pass along: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

Photo– sunrise on the North Shore of Lake Superior, July 2020.

A friend of mine didn’t seem happy with his current job and industry. He was paid well and was good at what he did, but felt like there would be other work that would provide him with additional satisfaction.

He decided to conduct a series of confidential networking interviews with two representatives of two industries for which he had interest.

Before his interviews he did some research, learning about the industries, trends and challenges. He then had confidential conversations with several folks in the industry. After the meetings he told me:

“Mark, I guess the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”

He didn’t make a career change, but he viewed the effort as a success. In his case, he learned that he actually was in a pretty good position, and recommitted himself.

If you have a job, it doesn’t hurt to look. You may find a great opportunity, or you may find the grass on your side of the fence is just fine.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free. Please pass along: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

Have you heard of the Johari Window? According to Wikipedia, it “is a technique that helps people better understand their relationship with themselves and others.”

According to the model, each of us has BLIND SPOTS. We can reduce blind spots by asking for feedback. For your job search you might ask former co-workers, bosses or customers to give you feedback about your career and how you could improve.

Each of also put on a FAÇADE and don’t reveal our true self. We may need to keep some things close, but there are also likely things we can share that would reveal more of our true self and, in doing so, may create more interest to prospective employers. This would require us to self-reveal, which isn’t always easy. Often a close friend/coach can be a place to start that process.

Using these techniques will not only help your career search, but can be useful in all parts of our life.

(More about Johari Window: https://tinyurl.com/zm3ubkf)

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

Losing a job and being unemployed is awful.

I know. I’ve been there.

You have lots of feelings—of loss, anger, frustration.

Aside from the loss of income, you often lose relationships and the meaning that can come from work.

In my ten years as an outplacement consultant, I saw most of my clients work through these feelings in a way that didn’t get in the way of their search. I’m not saying it was always easy for them—far from it. But with support from family, friends and a job support group they were able to push through.

There were times when a person needed additional help. There’s no shame in reaching out for additional help, but sadly some folks feel there is a stigma or that they will be labelled weak.

Baloney.

If you feel like all of this is getting to be too much, get help. And know there are people who are keeping a good thought for you as you migrate these challenging times.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free. Please pass along: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

Congratulations, you got the job! Do everything you can to become an awesome employee.

One mistake I see made frequently is folks get a new job and then stop networking. A new workplace is actually a terrific opportunity to continue developing your network. Beyond your new employer, you can make contacts with:

~ current and prospective customers,

~ supply chain partners (vendors),

~ professional associations/trade groups,

~ neighboring employers,

~ regulatory agencies, or

The rules of networking still apply—as you get to know a contact you can gain insights from them, AND you can also add value to them.

I know you may feel that networking helped you get a job, but networking could be even more important in helping you be successful in your new role while, at the same time, offering value to those with whom you come in contact.

Shall we take the mindset that your networking efforts should increase after you have your job? Yep, go with that.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

You walk into a company for your job interview. You see a poster, often nicely framed, in the lobby. The poster presents the “mission and values” of the organization—the investments they are supposedly making in their employees.

Although they are generally well-intended, I’m often surprised at how little these statements represent what it is actually like to work there. There is a gap between what they present and what they actually deliver.

That might feel like expensive wallpaper.

As you are considering a potential employer, find out if there’s something more to the place than nice wallpaper. There are numerous online sources, but also talk to former employees, to current vendors or providers of other services to the employer.

No employer is perfect, but if what they are representing as behaviors they value and what they actually deliver to employees is so glaringly different you will want to take that into consideration.

A colleague of mine has a term for this—he calls it propaganda.

Do your homework.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

The most important thing you can do with a cover letter is begin to connect the dots between your skills, interests and experiences and the job that is being offered. It’s easy to do:

• Make a list of each of the key job requirements. You can get this information directly from the job posting.
• For each of the key job requirements, connect how your background fits these requirements.

If you have a number of key requirements for which you don’t have a response, that may an indication your success in getting an interview is limited.

But if you can connect the dots between your background and the job requirements you are far more likely to improve your chances of getting called for an interview.

Want to make a difference with your cover letter? Connect the dots.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

I met recently with a person who looking for a job. She’s had three positions in different industries. She’s been successful in each and has enjoyed the work, but is concerned she may have difficulty explaining how her work could interest a prospective employer.

If this sounds like you, prepare a functional resume.

Instead of having your resume present your job experiences in chronological order, think about those skills and experiences that go across jobs. Present your experiences in those functional categories, such as “customer services” or “communications” or “project management”. This can help a prospective employer sort through what you’ve done to see if those areas match their job requirements.

To customize your resume for each job, you can order the functional categories in the order you believe will best present yourself to a specific employer.

Finally, list your where you’ve worked toward the end of the resume.

Remember, when you’re preparing a resume you’re telling part of your story to a prospective employer. Tell is in a way the enhances your standing.

There is additional information about functional resumes at the web site of my church. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

Want the “Resume Computer” to love you? Think keywords.

Most resumes these days are loaded into an applicant tracking system. A common feature of these systems allows employers to search for words for each resume and match them to the job description. Please represent yourself accurately, but do make sure you align keywords in your resume to provide you the best chance for an interview.

As an example, a functional strength of yours is “teamwork”. You see a job description where they use the word “collaboration”. It would better for you to amend your resume to use their word to describe what is likely much the same set of behaviors—so  change “teamwork” to “collaboration” on your resume. .

You can also add the hashtag #collaboration to your resume—this is perfectly appropriate if it still represents you.

Let’s be clear—you should never misrepresent yourself in any way, so if the change is untrue it should not be done. But if you can make the change so the computer algorithm rates you higher then make the change.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources