–––––

As Quoted by The Wall Street Journal’s Career Website, FINS.com:

http://sales-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SBB0001424052970204464404577114853392680714/Finding-a-New-Job-in-Just-Two-Hours

–––––

It’s difficult to effectively focus our job search activities when we are still working for our ‘future’ past employer. But with a proper structure and plan in place, we can be successful with just 1–2 evening hours of efforts per day. Here’s how:

Q: How much time should I spend on my job search each day if I have a full-time job, but searching for a new position?

Naturally, we should spend as much focused time as is possible, but we have to be realistic with what that means. Most of us are struggling these days to keep up with the ever-increasing workload in our current positions. This may leave us feeling trapped and indentured to our current employers, and it leads some companies to take further advantage of their workforce. Anger, frustration and exhaustion can give way to our job search efforts stagnating and losing direction.

The best way to manage a Job Search
is to run it like any other Important Project:

1. Set the Goals

2. Review Your Resources (time and energies)

3. Map-out a Strategy

4. Stick to the Plan

But what is possible, and realistic, with the 1–2 evening hours that may be available, after taking care of your other responsibilities, when currently working? It’s really as simple as stepping back and looking at the right activities that drive interaction and response from those you may be interested in engaging with during our job search process.

Q: 3 activities a Job Seeker should do in their Job Search? 

The question points us toward the Elements
that will become part of a mapped-out Strategy:

1. (Limited) Consistent Searching for new Job Postings / Listings

Time Limit: 30-minutes Daily

While searching for job postings can be the #1 trap that eats up our available time, as many of those postings don’t genuinely represent companies ‘ready to hire’ right now, it’s still an important element of an effective job search. We can limit the damage to our daily plan, by limiting and controlling this activity.

2. Effective Use of LinkedIn: Marketing & Marketing

Time Limit: 45-minutes Daily

Most Job Seekers don’t really understand the power of LinkedIn –or how to harness it.

I recommend 2 marketing approaches for effective LinkedIn Use:

The 1st Marketing effort is to making our
Social Media Marketing effective and time-efficient

Before beginning our daily (time-restricted) activity on LinkedIn, spend an initial 2-hours on a weekend creating a ’25 Shares’ list. This is basic text document that you can open each time you’d like to ‘Social Media Market’ yourself, allowing you to do a simple copy-and-paste with just a few seconds of invested time.

Create a list of 25 items that you can share that shape perception about you, your place in the industry, and your skill set.

What should you be sharing
through your Social Media Marketing?

LINKS for:

– Books on your specialty (that you’ve read / are reading)

– Articles on something related to what you do, your industry or niche

– Industry White Papers that you find on the Internet

– Conferences, Workshops, Events that you attend, or are thinking of attending

– Projects that you are working on (be sure not to violate trade-secrets’ or non-disclosure agreements that you may have signed)

– Anything Else Interesting that shapes perception about you

Once assembled, you can easily open this list 4–6 times per day and copy-and-paste the next item to share in the ‘Share an update’ section of your LinkedIn homepage. Just keep rotating through your list of 25, and then refresh the basic overall list of daily shared items every month. Remember, it’s not about what your connections see, it’s that your updates can land on the home pages of the exponential number of connections that are up to 3-levels away, but still in your larger network (the people in your industry that you do not know yet). You can accomplish significant perception-marketing about you in less than 5-total-minutes per day with this technique. 

The 2nd Marketing activity is to
‘Soft Market’ yourself to decision-makers

When you find companies or jobs that you are interested in from your other job search activities, come to LinkedIn and ‘soft market’ yourself right into the minds of the decision-makers.

Here’s how:

– Make sure your Settings are ‘open and visible‘, especially your ‘Profile Views’ setting, which lets you control what others see about you when you visit their profiles (choose to display your picture, headline, and be sure to include your email address and value-positioning as part of your headline, not just your current title).

– Open the Profiles of those individuals that may be in the decision-chain for roles that you would like at the prospective employer you’d like to join. Just by doing this you have arrived on their ‘radar-screen’ as having ‘looked’ at them (as a direct link from their homepages). It’s irresistible, and they are very likely to click on you to see who’s been looking at them (human nature).

– While their profile is open, ‘add them to your network‘ with a simple introduction of you as a professional in their niche.

Whether they accept right away or not, it’s another opportunity to get them to look at your profile, which when well-developed, should be a 3-dimensional sales brochure all-about-you that drives the reader to a singular conclusion:

“It’s going to be the best business decision that I make today if I hire this person.”

With the remaining 40-minutes, after the copy-and-paste marketing that you’ll do a number of times per day, use LinkedIn to enhance your communications outreach (noted next, below), you’ll be effectively using LinkedIn at last.

3 (a). Communications: Outreach Directly to Decision-makers

Time Limit: 30-minutes Daily

Now that you’ve opened those decision-makers’ profiles on LinkedIn (for the roles that you desire) and requested to add them to your network, take the next step of emailing or calling them directly.

Reach out and express why you are so interested in them / their organization (it cannot be because you need a job, everyone does), and add to your comments that you, ‘just had to reach out and introduce yourself.’ Make sure to keep it about them, and then link what excites you about them to a skill set or area of value that you would bring to their team.

Now the hard part: ask for a meeting! 

It could be as simple as,

“I’d love to meet with you and share more about what I could add to your team. I have an opening on Thursday at 9 a.m., would that work for your schedule?”

Calling and emailing simultaneously is most effective, but you can communicate just by email if you are not ready to call people that you do not know.

Just remember to:

– communicate your excitement

– make it about them before it’s about you

– ask for the meeting

Meetings (better known as interviews!) are crucial to being able to better communicate why you are the ‘best new hire‘ that they should consider. Just avoid the use of the word ‘interview’ to better manage expectations and avoid potential roadblocks that can stop a conversation from happening.

3 (b). Communications: Follow-up: Develop a Communications Channel, not Just 1-off Messages

Time Limit: 15-minutes Daily

Your follow-up is a test of will and persistence, and your chance to be seen more clearly when viewed in comparison of all the other potential candidates.

Follow-up also does not mean, “Did you get my resume?” –that’s just not very valuable messaging.

So, follow up with interesting new layers, like sharing an article on their industry, niche, or competitors, and ask them again for a meeting where you’d like to share more. The goal is an ongoing communication channel, not just 1 or 2 messages.

Q: What should Job Seekers to do everyday (or almost everyday) that most people don’t consider as part of their job search strategy?

Read. 

No one (really) seems to want to read any more.

Information is the new currency. You have to know what’s ‘going on’ in the area that you want to work. What’s happening in the industry, with the products or services, with this company and its competitors?

I don’t count this in the ’2-hours’, as we can read at many points and times throughout the day with a few minutes here and there –just replace our natural Web-surfing with reading the right content.

Make a folder on your browser toolbar that has the bookmarks of all the:

– industry trade-paper websites

– associations

– company blogs

– saved Google-news searches of various companies you are interested in

Each few minutes of break that you have throughout the day, use the time to read up on your potential audience. You have to know what’s ‘going on’ to be engaging to those companies you might like to join.

Q: Is having a set ‘time period’ to conduct a Job Search effective? What are the pitfalls?

Having a set time period can give us the structure to accomplish what may seem daunting by limiting the challenge to the most important tasks. 

These steps outlined for a 2-hour job search will help generate discussions and meetings. Those are the basic stepping stones that will lead us to our nextsuccessful career step.

The only pitfall to a structured time is if we use that time to waste our energies, rather than focusing in on the items and activities that will generate discussions and meetings.

We have to engage and talk with people to get hired. 

Let’s remove our excuses, and focus on the steps that will help us to our next career challenge.

Taking back control for ourselves can be difficult when we are feeling less than confident in our Job Search. Structure, the right steps, and removing the obstacles holding ourselves back is the surest way toward the success waiting in our future.

Let’s Get Started & Take Back Control In Your Job Search

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2011 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, New York Post, TimeOut New York, and on CNN & FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through hisOnline Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

The Pros and Cons of Job Hopping

By Alina Dizik, CareerBuilder.com, and Featured on CNN.com:
Original Story Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/07/04/pros.cons.job.hopping.cb/

including Quoted Expert, John Crant

My Take on Job Hopping Pros and Cons

What do employers think when they see someone has quickly changed jobs several times on their resume?

Employers are always looking for a ‘successful hire’, and that means someone who will join their team, stay challenged and motivated in the new role for about 2 years, and then be ready to be promoted to a new role where they will stay challenged and motivated for another 2 years, etc. If they can keep an employee somewhere between 4-7 years –that’s a successful hire that produces, while keeping the employment costs lower for the company.

Seeing a number of moves rather quickly does not inspire confidence that you’ll produce a good return-on-investment in the hiring process. If you’ve had several quick moves, be ready to explain the reasons why those moves occurred, and make sure this employer knows that you are looking for the right career home with this move. Focus your energies in conversation on why you are specifically excited about them and the opportunity it represents for you to contribute to their goals. It always has to be about them, as the way to make it about you.

What are some instances when job hopping can be beneficial?

Job hopping can be a double-edged sword. It immediately causes a red flag in the minds of a potential employer, but if you can control the narrative on why the moves occurred, and what benefit that the moves produce for the potential new employer, you can over come most objections.

If, as an example, you strategically moved across three roles to add marketing, advertising and public relations expertise to your career skill set, then you can position those choices as building the background that would be most valuable for the role you desire –their open position. You’ll have to be compelling and it does need to be true. So, go back an analyze why you chose each role and what you gained in experience for each position.

Another time job hopping can be beneficial is to gain a new level of position and contribution for an organization. Sometimes that ‘right next step’ for our careers comes knocking on the door. A recruiter, or internal recruiter will find us on LinkedIn and call us for an opportunity to move ahead to the next level position in our fields. When this type of opportunity knocks, we would be foolish not to consider it –even if we had made a quick move or two. In this case, the moves we made may have added just the right balance in experience to make us attractive for the new role.

Once in this new role however, if we don’t stay long enough to correct the perception of being a job hopper, it will likely catch up with us in the next interview process we are involved in.

One key reason that job hopping can be beneficial is to correct our compensation not being at the right level for our contribution. When we stay a long time at one company, others in our field statistically move ahead of us in compensation. We’ve all experienced the ‘no raises this year’ or budgets and revenues are tight, so ‘it’s a 3% maximum raise this year’, etc. –rarely do we see cost-of-living constrained to that 3%, so some of us are continually losing ground on our compensation level.

When we change jobs, though companies still base offers on compensation history, you can generally get a higher adjustment to your comp than what your annual review will give you. Over 2 or 3 moves, that can add up and correct compensation woes.

What are some instances when job hopping can hurt your chances of getting hired again?

It’s a competition every time to get an open job. Individuals that move from job-to-job quickly are either very high achievers, or running from the axe themselves. It’s very difficult to tell which one a potential candidate is, as most are ready with their ‘success stories’ –but very few are really in the high-achiever category, so you may be looked at as damaged goods.

Assuming for the moment you are one of the high-achievers, you can get ruled out for some very choice positions when your position of desire is suddenly in an organization that puts a heavy weight on employment stability. Though you may be the ‘right one’, companies will often times choose the individual that seems to offer the better return on their hiring investment –the person that will stay with them contributing for the longer term.

Another way job hopping hurts a candidate is to create the idea of the Pandora’s Box. You are too good to be true, what’s inside? Once I open the box (by hiring you), will I like what I have chosen? Are there personality defects contributing to your shorts stays? Are you really qualified for these roles that you have had –or are you running from each job? Once the negative questions start swirling in their heads, it’s very hard for them to choose you as they best new hire.

What are the main issues to consider before leaving a job quickly? 

What damage or potential damage to my own ‘brand’ will it cause (or will it add enough value to my background to offset any damage)?

Am I ready to stay a reasonable length of time at the new employer –even if I get there and realize it’s completely different than they portrayed it to me?

What are the benefits to my skill set, contribution level and compensation by making the switch?

Will the new move somehow help me by being a stepping stone toward my larger career goal?

The grass is always greener, but rarely so green once we get there. So, choose wisely.

Now, Let’s get out there and Take Back Control for ourselves!

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2011 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, on Vault.com, in CRAIN’S New York Business, NEW YORK POST, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on CNN and  FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through his Online Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

See ”What Others Are Saying“ at:

http://www.selfrecruiter.com/recommendations

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

How to Craft the Perfect Equity Analyst Resume

By John Crant

––Quoted in the article By Alina Dizik on The Wall Street Journal‘s FINS.com Financial Career Website.

[ view article with Quotes on Fins.com ]

Now, Let’s go get that Job!

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2011 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, on Vault.com, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through his Online Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

See ”What Others Are Saying“ at:

http://www.selfrecruiter.com/recommendations

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

In my lecture series on Job Search, I often hear, “I’ve sent so many resumes, but I’m not getting called for interviews.”

First, we do need to take a serious look at our Job Search ‘sales materials’, which include:

• a Resume that creates a ‘desire’ about what you offer as a unique candidate;

- a LinkedIn profile that is more like a 3-dimensional sales brochure ‘all about you’ that drives the reader to one singular conclusion: “It’s going to be the best business decision that I’ll make today –if I choose to hire this individual!”;

- a Cover Letter that positions and presents our best, most sellable achievements that would be of specific interest to the hiring manager;

and

- a ‘Pre-Cover Letter‘ email that is compelling enough to catch their attention –motivating them to open our Cover Letter and Resume.

But, we need to do even more in this tough job market to get their attention. After all, there are 1,000s of resumes competing for their attention. Making it worse, many times your resume may be reviewed by someone other than the hiring manger –someone without the background to understand or see your value.

Change This Equation Of Diminishing Returns, By Changing The Rules

These are rules that we did not agree to in the first place, and ‘playing by these rules’, ones that are set up to stop your value from being communicated, does not work to your advantage, nor to the advantage of the company for which you want to work, as they may miss the very best new-hire (you!).

You can use Social Media Marketing techniques to ‘soft market’ yourself and raise your profile in the minds of the deciders at your desired company.

Here are the steps:

1. Create a great, compelling LinkedIn profile that positions and sells you. That’s one that will drive the reader to one singular conclusion: “It’s going to be the best business decision that I’ll make today –if I choose to hire this individual!”

2. Visit your ‘settings’ on LinkedIn and be sure your profile is set to maximum openness. This is not Facebook. This is your own advertising space for your career.

Would you go out and buy a billboard advisement and then cover it up with a cloth so that no one could see it? It’s the same for your LinkedIn profile: it’s specifically for you to take the credit that you deserve, the credit you’ve earned, and share it with other professionals.

Pay close attention to one setting in particular: Profile Views.

This is the area to specify what others will see about you when you visit their profile. Choose the option that will show your picture and your headline. And be sure that your headline is compelling and includes a way to contact you. I recommend that you use a great positioning title in your headline –so that the reader who does not know you has a clear idea of why you may be potentially valuable to them.

As an example, if you were a Public Relations individual that specialized in helping organizations that were non-profit, your headline could say this:

Jack Smith – PR | Communications Professional for Non-Profits

Or if you had worked for a museum at one point (or wanted to ), it might look like this:

Jack Smith – PR | Communications Professional for Non-Profits | Museums

But, do you want them to contact you… say, for an interview!?  Why not make it easier for them to reach you –and include your email address?

Here’s my headline, as an example of positioning your value in the mind of the reader:

John Crant – Author, Career Coach & Speaker | SelfRecruiter.com | FEATURED SPEAKER: The New York Public Library | john@selfrecruiter.com

3. Visit 10 – 15 profiles of those that work at your desired target company, and be sure to include the potential boss; boss’ boss; the boss’ boss’ boss; peers; subordinates to your potential role; and a few others in the mix.

As each of those individuals signs into their LinkedIn account, they are delivered to their homepage (not their profile). On the right side each person’s homepage is a teaser,

“X number of people have viewed your profile in the last 3 days.”

We are all narcissists, no judgements, I’m to busy with the mirror myself!

It’s human nature, and we can use it to our advantage. We cannot resist clicking on that teaser to see just who’s been looking at us. Your headline should be included in that listing, when the potential hiring manager that you are interested in interviewing with, clicks on their teaser to see who has been looking at them.

If your headline is compelling, they will likely click on your name –and then they’ll be on your 3-dimensional sales brochure that’s all about you.

4. Reach out and connect with the boss; boss’ boss; the boss’ boss’ boss. Yes, connect with other industry professionals, individuals of value just like yourself –even though you may not have met them yet. Be sure to let them know that you are an individual of value, and that you would value including them in your network.

5. Now, email them directly (not through the ‘system’), and let them know why you are so excited about their company (it always has to be about them), and why you are excited by the value that you can bring to their team with your background.

And, while we’re at it, why don’t we ask to meet with them to share more?

6. Now that you understand how not to be submissive in our outreach, it might also be the optimum time to hit ‘submit‘ on their Job Posting.

Let’s go get those jobs that are right for us, the ones where we can deliver exceptional value for a potential employer.

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, on Vault.com, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through his Online Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

See ”What Others Are Saying“ at:

http://www.selfrecruiter.com/recommendations

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

A (True) Story of Job Search Effectiveness In The Holiday Season

There’s a common myth: ‘nothing happens’ before and after a holiday, so why bother!

As Job Seekers, we fall into this trap numerous times per year as holiday weekends pop up all year long. Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and on and on with lesser holidays –each tempting us to ‘throw in the towel’ for most of a week or even two (one before, one after). The December holidays, no matter which ones we celebrate, seem to deem the whole month a loss, and that loss seems to carry over a number of days into the New Year. So by the time we are eating the last few turkey leftovers, like my great lunchtime sandwich yesterday, it’s clear in our minds that we really have only 2 weeks to make some magic happen, so I ‘may as well wait’ until the new year. Bah humbug, to quote Ebenezer!

Like most, these myths do have some basis in reality. Yes, managers and HR professionals, like everyone else, do take off extra time before and after a holiday when they can. But many do not, and that presents and opportunity for the job seeker ‘on a mission’.

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

Need motivation to ‘take back control’ in your job search?

It’s the first week of December, just the first few days in reality, and there’s a whole month where we can be sowing those seeds that will come back to us. Right now, I have clients that I work with directly that are out on 2 and 3 interviews a week… This week, next week –and with their focus and determination, they’ll probably be booking meetings the week after that and beyond. All Holiday Season. Yes, they actively plan their search and outreach strategy, take control and they approach decision-makers with their message of ‘why it’s the best business decision that they will make today, if they choose to hire them’.

One individual so impressed the ‘deciders’, that when they could not make the single day that the other ‘competitor candidates’ where coming in to meet the team, they agreed to have them fly in (at their expense) to their headquarters, to do the meeting at that location. Another client is being rushed through 3 rounds with a Fortune 100 company, and is juggling 2 scheduled interviews next week (with different organizations) and 1 additional company is pursuing them for ‘first meetings’ next week too. All this, while they are also working full-time. Another just landed 2 competing offers from marquee organizations -after 5 months without any calls.

It takes control and focus in your job search with proper planning, outreach, valuable messaging, and proper strategizing on how you’ll win each interview, but the message is loud and clear: there’s a whole lot of activity going on for some Job Seekers that don’t accept the myth that seems to be common knowledge.

Now is a great to start moving your search forward if it has become stagnant, but the basics must be in place. That means a (single page) resume that creates that spark of interest and desire about you; a LinkedIn Profile that picks up where your resume leaves off –and tells a compelling story about your background (think: 3-dimensional sales brochure, all about you); a job search plan listing whom to go after (companies, contacts); and a strategy for your value messaging about yourself. And let’s not forget that just putting on a shiny business suit and a bright smile is only the cosmetic side of truly preparing for an interview: we have to be ready to articulate why we are so excited about their company and it’s initiatives; to build solid chemistry with each individual that we meet; and to communicate with confidence why we are the ‘best choice’ for consideration among those that are competing against us during the recruiting process.

You Are The Product

We don’t like to think of ourselves that way, but it’s true. So, get ready to sell your product.  Develop your ‘marketing plan’, use social media, like LinkedIn, to make the deciders familiar with you in advance of applying for the job, and then reach out professionally and introduce yourself -being ready to convey your very best value pieces.

Just Don’t Submit

That means don’t spend all your time online looking for job postings, that’s not a job search, that’s utilizing valuable time in a way that’s not likely to work well in this job market where 1,000s apply for every job. You have to be different, not the same as everyone else. One of my clients has booked 4 face-to-face interviews (out of the last 5 interview opportunities), without any pre-screen phone interview whatsoever.

Magic!?

I think not. Their marketing materials are in top-notch shape (resume, LinkedIn, cover letter, email ‘pre’ cover letter) and they are very effective at following the strategies that we discuss to ‘soft-market’ themselves to the desired company’s managers to raise the awareness level of themselves in those manager’s minds. Then they connect with them on LinkedIn (before they have ever met or spoken!). Next comes a direct email stage of the outreach plan where they further introduce their value. And at that point, they apply online with that darn ‘submit’ button –the one that trains most users so far into submission that it creates stagnation.

Magic like this can happen for you too, but it takes strategic planning, hard work, and resolve to work with ideas just far enough out of the box to get you noticed.

You have to be in it, to win it, so let’s get going –there’s a whole month ahead!

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, on Vault.com, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through his Online Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

See “What Others Are Saying” at:

http://www.selfrecruiter.com/recommendations

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

5 Steps to SuperCharging Your Job Search

It’s going to be a tough Job Market for the foreseeable future, so we can’t just ‘do the same thing’ and expect different results: We Have To Change!

In my Self-Recruiter® Lecture Series on Job Search and Career Management, I often ask those in the audience about the challenges that they are facing; the results that they are getting (or not); and about how it leaves them feeling. No surprise in the results categories. Many respond with very expected feelings of anger, frustration, disillusionment, and feeling more desperate, hopeless –and plain mad, and powerless.

Those are tough words, but they represent the real feelings of the majority of Job Seekers today. But, we have to look deeper than the ‘why’: Why are people not calling us; or why are we getting little or no response to applications; or no calls for interviews; or no call-backs for further meetings and interviews.

It’s really about CONTROL.

We feel all of these things because there seems to be very little, if any, communication or dialogue happening. The Job Seeker may feel at the mercy of a website where they just keep hitting ‘submit’ –and never have any experience other than silence in return.

Take Back Control For Yourself In Your Job Search

You CAN learn the strategies, tips and techniques to ‘Change The Equation In Your Job Search’, but, you must be willing to shed the ways of the past that have not worked –and be ready to try new techniques that may be scary to you. But, those new ideas and new ways will help you to increase the results in your Job Search efforts.

It Starts With You, With A Commitment To Take New Steps, In New Directions

So, get ready to step:

5 Steps to Super-Charging Your Job Search

1. Understand that when we are looking for a new job, or our next career step, if we are not seeing the ACTIVITY that is NECESSARY which can LEAD to our efforts being a SUCCESS…

(Calls, Outreach from Interested Employers / Recruiters, Interviews, Phone Screen Interviews, Informational Interviews, Phone discussions with Decision-makers, etc.)

Then, we may be part of what’s blocking our own success.

This understanding, and acceptance, is critical to CHANGING what’s NECESSARY to change our results.

No more HOPING it will change on its OWN.

Only after this step, are we ready to move ahead.

2. Review, Ready, and Improve Your Marketing Materials… NOW!

Your Job Search Marketing Materials… Your:

Resume, LinkedIn Profile, Your Email Messages (Pre-Cover Letter), Your Cover Letter, Your Signature Block in your email (that should be positioning and selling your professionalism), Your Business Card (whether working or not), and any other materials that you use (including Thank You cards, Envelopes, etc.)))

“Your Resume Is Not Working”

Your Resume has a job: it’s to get you the interview!

If it’s not, then it likely needs to be significantly rethought. It, in my view, needs to be a Simple Sales Sheet that creates desire about you as a Job Candidate. Not a biography, or a career summary, or a laundry list of simply everything –it needs to be about creating FOCUSED VALUE about You!

Be sure to ‘tell your career story’ persuasively, or hire someone that can help you to do so (I’m an expert, by the way).

And, Don’t Miss The Boat On LinkedIn…

It’s factoring into the decision, according to the managers that I speak with, in the sorting process (before the interview stage) –in about 50% of the hiring processes! If you are not on LinkedIn, or are not their effectively positioning and selling your very best attributes –you are already being left behind.

THINK: 3-Dimensional Sales Brochure.

You have lots of ‘real estate’ within your LinkedIn profile space, so be sure to MAXIMIZE it! If your profile looks like a basic resume (or even less), take action now.

Tell your career story with ONE GOAL in mind: Make sure it compels the interested reader to ONE CONCLUSION:

“If I hire this individual, it will be the BEST business decision that I will make TODAY.”

That’s the Job of Your LinkedIn Profile –if you need help, well, again, I am an expert.

Don’t just stay the same and expect different results.

Change and go after those results that you are desiring to achieve in your Job Search.

Now, carry this new focus on your resume and LinkedIn profile across the rest of your marketing materials to help communicate that IT WILL BE the ‘Best Business Decision’ that they will make today to hire you.

3. Stop Interviewing ‘On Demand’

What do I mean? Stop interviewing without truly being prepared.

That means no answered phone calls when you don’t know who’s calling. Let it go to voicemail, listen, strategize, then call back with your effectively packaged message about why you are the most valuable candidate that they are likely to speak with about the roll –here again, I can help you craft your value messages about yourself (and it’s a very good investment for your career future, as you will use these techniques throughout your work-life).

Also understand how to Build Chemistry with Anyone, as Chemistry is 1 of the 2 reasons that a qualified individual gets chosen. I can teach you a number of techniques to lay the foundations of Chemistry, whether in phone conversation with people that you have never spoken to before; during your interview process; and even in your outreach and messaging efforts.

And, let’s not forget CONFIDENCE –the other reason a qualified individual gets chosen for the opportunity. I know that it can be very difficult to be confident when in Job Search during this very tough market, but I can help you prepare in ways that you had not thought of, or put into practice before.

And those techniques are ones that you can use now and in the future to always be your very best.

4. Find The Companies That You Want To Work For (NOT The Job Postings)

Yes, Job Postings have their place in our Job Search –as a small percentage of what we SHOULD be doing to create the activity necessary for any successful Job Search. But, Job Postings should be playing a much smaller role, than the staring role!

The SECRET most people don’t realize: Most of those postings (by companies of any size), were purchased or committed to sometime in the past –even as long as just about a year ago! That’s the only way the contracts for the Job Postings get a cost rate-per-posting that makes any sense. But, how would they know what they want to hire this year, if they made the decision last year? (they don’t, or didn’t –when they signed those contracts). So companies ‘just keep posting’ to use up their supply, and to keep building a ‘pool’ of potential hires for some future opening –whenever that comes.

That means: a significant number of postings that you see do not represent jobs that they are truly ready to interview and hire for at this time. So, let’s spend some of our INVESTED TIME looking for the right companies that would want to hire us, and our talents –if they had an opening (or upcoming opening). Now, those would be GREAT companies to introduce yourself and your value to, and a very good use of your Job Search time.

To Discover Undiscovered Companies That Are Right For Your Background…

Use reverse search techniques in LinkedIn to find similar individuals, such as yourself, and look at something called a “One Back, One Forward“, which will help you see where folks just like you came from, any where they went to –that’s valuable information that use can use to help you find companies that might naturally hire someone with your background. And those would be great companies to then look up decision-makers (using LinkedIn) and begin your marketing outreach to introduce your value to them.

5. Pick Up Your Phone, Or Use That Keyboard To Communicate Your Value With Real Decision-Makers.

Yes, courage is required.

It can be scary to reach out to someone that you have never met –or even spoken to before. And, as you may have guessed, I’m a great coach that helps individuals understand how to make winning introduction calls –so keep me in mind if you decide that you need help.

If you’re not ready to pick up the phone, then at least pick up that keyboard and type out a great value-filled message about you and your very specific interest in them. Start a conversation of equals: both you and the decision-maker are individuals that are valuable, so reach out to them as an equal, in a professional, but equal way that shows that you respect them by making your message valuable to them (it has to be about them, even though it’s always about us).

Are you looking for a position within the HR Department? Great, then your decision-makers are also within the HR Department.

For ALL Others: Your Decision-makers are not in the HR Department, so locate them (using LinkedIn and other tools) and then bravely, with value, reach out and professionally introduce yourself. Let them know why you are so interested in their company (it cannot be that you need a job, as everyone needs a job), and what it is that you bring to the table that makes you a potential valuable addition to consider for their team.

Now, you’ve positioned yourself to get very lucky and get the ‘lightning’ strike (from your hard work and use of intellect) that recruiters are always chasing in their marketing efforts for the candidates that they represent –except that you’ve done it for the very best candidate: YOU!

Let’s Get Started & Take Back Control In Your Job Search

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through his Online Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

Q: Should I Disclose Heath Issues During My Interview Process?

–Signed, I’m on the road to recovery!

This is a great question that many individuals face when looking for a new job, while also dealing with a health concern.

A little more background: this individual has a health issue, which has a positive prognosis, but they do still need to see the doctor for treatments (briefly, once a week) for a number of months. It will not interfere with their work, other than needing a small accommodation to make it to their doctor appointments.

The basic dilemma:

If I don’t disclose it during the interview process, will it then become a problem for which they may fire me after I’m hired?

Versus: If I do mention it while I’m interviewing, will they just ‘not hire me’ in the first place?

I understand the desire to be honest and ‘do the right thing’. Honesty is a great policy, though some things are not your employer’s business. And it would be great to find an understanding employer that wants to add your talent and accomplishments to their team. But, there’s a much lower likelihood of it coming back and causing you to lose your job –when it comes up once you are hired.

Health conditions are a ‘protected class’ in employment law. While it’s illegal for a potential employer to discriminate against you in the hiring process, I would not want to put that to a test.

My recommendation would be to avoid any discussion of it until after you are hired.

Then, have a meeting with your manager or an HR staff member and let them know that you have a short term health issue that your doctor is treating, and that you will need to adjust a schedule slightly once a week to accommodate your doctor visit. I would not disclose the nature of your health issue, as it’s really none of their business and it’s protected information. But, I would offer to work extra on another day per week to make up for the time out –and be sure to let them know how excited and pleased that you are about how you will contribute in this role.

There is no easy answer here, but I also think that we should do what we can ‘not to tempt’ a potential employer to discriminate –by removing that discussion from the hiring process (remember, they may also be concerned about the impact on their group’s medical plan and expenses too).

Be sure to avoid discussion on the issue and talk with them about the minor accommodation in scheduling needs –once they already have decided on your value.

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He educated through his Online Series and speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

Q: Whom Should I Link With On LinkedIn?

–Signed, I like you, I think. But I’m just not sure.

This question actually arrived as,

“Tell me why I would want to have you as a LinkedIn connection?”

–after, of course, some very kind words about 2 of my (non-LinkedIn) lectures that they had seen at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL.

It’s always a value exchange. We give something, and we get something in return. But, who got the better deal? –that’s what we’re really thinking about.

We are all facing this same new privacy concerns as our world moves forward at a lightning speed, and none of us want to be the one that makes a misstep.

• What should I do? / What should I be concerned about?

• Should I even have a LinkedIn Profile, and what do I say to my boss!?

• Should I connect with only those that I would recommend and respect professionally?

• Can I connect with someone that I’ve interviewed with?

• How about someone that I don’t know at all?

• Should I put all of my resume on LinkedIn, or only part of it?

I get questions like these all the time, as many individuals are just discovering that LinkedIn can be very valuable to them right now, and for their future.

I’m guessing if you have question(s) like those above on LinkedIn, that you have not seen my lecture on LinkedIn, filmed at NYPL, which I’m pleased to be able to share with you to watch in your home, office, school or wherever you may be (it’s from The New York Public Library!)–and feel free to share this with your friends and those in your network:

Self-Recruiter®
Building Your Professional Network With LinkedIn
& How To Use It For Your Job Search

http://www.nypl.org/audiovideo/building-your-professional-network-linkedin-and-how-use-it-your-job-search
(Please COMMENT just below the video, as this is how the NYPL selects future projects –Your comment’s subject-line becomes its headline)

It’s my full lecture, and in it I explain why ‘everyone’ is a good connection on LinkedIn (from a CEO, to the person that may clean the CEO’s office –everyone is a valuable connection for us).

We have to separate the idea of Facebook from the idea of LinkedIn.

While Facebook, at least the idea of it, is about our extended ‘friends’ across a network, LinkedIn is about ‘building a network’ that you can leverage to your benefit professionally.

THINK: Career, Job Search, Interviews (and even in your own Business)

The real value of LinkedIn for you is not simply your profile, that’s just the ‘window dressing’, albeit very important and valuable window dressing. The real value is the ‘network pool’ that you build by adding connections.

____________

Example:

If you have ’2 connections’, you have a ‘pool’ that you can search within to locate people.

Those could be:

– people inside companies that you would like to work for, or

– people that would be the decision-makers for a position that you may be interested in, or

– someone that you may be interviewing with next week (so that you could better prepare for the meeting).

So… you have yours in the pool (2) , but you also get all the connections that each of ‘your 2′ have. They go in the pool, too. But, there is more! You also get all of your connections’ connections’ connections in the pool.

It’s 3-levels of connections –an exponential gain.

____________

In my own network, as an example, at this moment, I have 1,036 direct-connections, but I have almost 11 million people in my ‘personal, searchable pool’.

My 1,036 +  3-levels of connections =  (almost) 11 Million

That means that I can ‘find’ (almost) any:

– hiring manager that I’m searching for; or

– a certain contact within a company that I may want to reach out to; or

– the person that I may meet with next week

they are (almost) all available to me as another part of my research, so that I can better prepare to win those meetings, interviews and appointments, etc.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. While there are even more new techniques that I’ve added to my ‘live’ LinkedIn lectures and upcoming Online Series, since the NYPL brought in the film crew to capture the above presentation, I know this video lecture by NYPL will open your eyes to the value that you can build.

So, Let’s Get Networking!

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

5 Steps to Personal Branding Nirvana in Your Job Search (as Featured in Chris Perry’s book series, “LaunchPad”)

Personal Branding is the hot catch phrase at the moment, and for good reason.

Ever see that 80′s movie with Jeff Bridges called ‘Tucker: The Man and His Dreams’? He wanted to build a new car to compete with Detroit. Tucker’s dilemma is every new business’ challenge: “Chicken or the egg. Which came first?” He needed to sell dealership rights to get the money that he needed to build his car. No one was interested in buying dealership rights for a car that didn’t exist yet. But Tucker made an interesting observation one day in searching for the solution. He knew that people believed what they could see, but his moment of clarity happened when he first realized that people believed whatever they read in the newspaper. “If it’s in the newspaper, it must be true.” You guessed it. A gorgeous color drawing of the family around their new car, splashed across a two-page spread in the papers, and dealership sales took off.

It’s human nature, it belongs to us all, so by all means use it, just don’t abuse it. People will essentially believe what they see. So, at last you spot that job for which you’ve been waiting. Personal Branding for Your Job Search will help you get in there, and help you to more effectively compete for that dream job.

1. Decide Who You Are

Are you the very best person for this position? Great. Just convince the hiring manager that, “It’s the best business decision that he/she will make that day, should they choose to hire you for the role.” If you can effectively answer that simple question, you understand who you are. If you are not quite there yet, then go back and review all of your reasons why you are better than the very best candidate that you can imagine for the role.

2. You Are a Product Too.

When a company chooses to hire you, they’re really buying a product, and that product is you! Think about something that you desire. It could be that 52 inch TV, and iphone, a great pair of shoes or your favorite cafe’s homemade slice of pie. Think about that desire for that hot product and how it feels.  You need to create that desire surrounding your presentation of all of the reasons that answer that all important ‘best business’ question. Now, you are ready to go and convince that hiring manager.

3. Wrap Yourself in Your Sunday Best.

If you want to be the sharpest candidate for the position, your visual has to match that sharpness. It really is true: you get just that one chance to make a first impression. Do you want this dream job? Then look like a million bucks. Perfectly groomed, hair, nails and those wild nose hairs too. Shoes polished, sharp business suit (mens/womens business suit) -regardless of what you would normally be wearing day to day if you were to be hired for the position. This is your chance, so, look like the success you are.

4. Have Your Marketing Materials Ready.

I have marketing materials? Part of good personal branding, is to control every possible aspect of your public presentation of yourself. That’s the best way, in addition to being a great contributor for your current employer, to control and guide others’ perception of your value. Your marketing materials for your Job Search include having a proper business card, even when unemployed. Your business card can be as simple as your name, email address and phone number(s), but you should also consider including a short positioning statement about yourself, rather than a specific title that you may have held in the past. Now, take that idea of the brand that you have just developed, and carry it over to the look of your resume, your letterhead on which your cover letter will be printed, onto the envelope that you will use for any physical correspondence, and into your ‘signature block’ within your email program. Each of these areas should extend and support your desired perception of your personal brand. Have presentation materials to share in your interview meetings? Great, make sure that you carry your brand look across everything that you present which represents you.

5. Showcase Yourself to the World.

Now, get up on your soap box. In our business lives, everyone has at least one soapbox, and that’s your LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile should be your own fully developed and branded ‘sales brochure’ that helps build your credibility and your reputation. Will your profile add to, or take away from others’ perceptions about you? And will it show your true value and get you noticed? That may be the difference in being considered for your next business or career opportunity and getting that next meeting or interview -or going unnoticed.

There are many aspects which we can focus on when looking to develop or further our personal branding, but these five simple points are the most critical areas, that in the shortest amount of time, can have the greatest effect on our Job Search success.

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant

This is a job market like few have ever experienced. In my Self-Recruiter® lecture series, I regularly meet individuals that have been seeking their next position for extended periods of time. Some for months (in an odd way, the luckier ones), but many that have been looking since sometime in 2009 and even 2008.

Over the course of any job search, there are going to be emotional periods of ups and downs, the emotional roller coaster of finally getting an interview, and heartbreak again when we are not selected for the role that we were after.

Here is where statistics can be our friend –and motivator.

While overall unemployment statistics will give us no respite from the doom and gloom when we face the challenge of searching for our next position, if we understand the ‘interview-to-offer’ ratio statistics, that can add comfort –and motivation to push ahead to our next interview opportunity.

In a normal job market, which this is certainly not, for every 1st interview that we get (face-to-face, not ‘phone screens’, so push to be SEEN), a good candidate can expect to get an offer every 6 or 7 interviews. Not as ‘good’ (yet)? Maybe a few more. Are you a ‘very good’ or ‘exceptional’ candidate? Then for you it may be every 4 or 5 of these new first-time face-to-face interviews until you are in the right place at the right time, with the right skill set, to end op with an offer at the end of the interview process.

So, count up your interviews. If you’ve had more that the expected number, you will likely benefit from coaching to become better, and sharper, at presenting your value in those interviews –and ‘closing’ the interviewer for agreement on that value. If you are a few interviews shy of the target number, well then that might be just the motivation that you need to push ahead and convince a hiring manager or two that you will be ‘the very best business decision that they make today, if they choose to hire you!”

We have to be our own cheerleaders. Yes, it is tough to get up and realize that we have quite a challenge in this economy to develop any kind of Job Search Plan that will create better Career Choices for us. So, celebrate and recognize every single small ‘win’, while you are expanding your skill set on Job Search.

Success comes EVERY day. In taking on that scary challenge that we would rather not. In making that call that we think we are not quite ready to undertake. In learning to properly, and valuably, present our accomplishments. In learning to speak about ourselves in a new way. And in every new connection that we make.

Before you know it, your abilities in the presentation of your very best points will be better and sharper than before, and that will help lead you toward Job Search Success.

Now… Let’s GET to WORK before the right, next Career Opportunity passes us by!

John Crant

Author, Career Coach & Speaker
on Job Search and Career Management

Copyright © 2010 by John Crant

As seen and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, on FINS.com, on CareerBuilder’s CBsalary.com, on The Ladders, in CRAIN’S New York Business, on Forbes.com, in amNY, and on FOX News – John share’s the answers and the concrete steps for success in Job Search.

John is a Featured Speaker at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL, as well as at the YMCA in New York City. He speaks at Corporate Events, works with Workforce Development organizations, and teaches both students and alumni with this Self-Recruiter® Series for Colleges and Universities.

My Book:

Self-Recruiter®
Changing the Rules: How to Be Your Own Recruiter &
Ride the Economic Crisis to Your Next Career Challenge.
Copyright © 2009 by John Crant

Also check out my FULL-SERVICE:

Career Coaching & Mentoring

LinkedIn Professional Profile Creation / Renovation (Full-Service)

Resume Renovations (Full-Service)

Online Lecture Series

Direct: 212-372-9878

john@selfrecruiter.com

www.selfrecruiter.com

View My LinkedIn Profile at:

www.linkedin.com/in/johncrant