Ignoring rumors can be a life saver at work.

During the recent 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the New York Times told the story of Lawrence Beesley, who was among the mere 14% of male second class passengers to survive.  It’s likely that ignoring a rumor saved his life.  It can do the same for yours—literally, or professionally.

Early in the “women and children first” phase of the evacuation, Beesley “was standing on the top starboard deck of the boat with a large group of men when a rumor went around that the men were to be taken off on the port side.  Almost everyone moved across the ship.  Only he and two others stayed where they were.”

Beesley later wrote, “I am convinced that what was my salvation was a recognition of the necessity of being quiet and waiting in patience for some opportunity of safety to present itself.”   Which it did.  With all the men having fled, there was room in a lifeboat.  And he was saved.

“The drastic separation of families, so that women could be given precedence, gave him grounds to suspect that there were too few lifeboats.  And if so, what more hazardous place to be than in a crowd of doomed men? By declining to follow everyone else across the ship, (Beesley) improved his odds of escape considerably.”

Why did he live?  He remained calm and thought for himself.

We give a lot of power away when we allow others to dictate how we should think and feel. 

Recall a recent time at work where you were exposed to a rumor—or gossip—or slander.  How did you respond?

Did you stay open to the possibility of growth that comes with a change in procedure, function, or leadership?  Or did you join the crowd in disparaging and resisting the change, even before you gave yourself a chance to see what benefits it might bring?

Did you give the new boss or teammate the benefit of the doubt and stay open to building a positive relationship, one that would help you become more productive and successful at work?   Or did you allow slander to poison the relationship even before it began, and hold the person at arm’s length and miss out, at least for a period of time, on what that person had to offer?

Or worse, did you make life unnecessarily difficult for someone based solely on some unconfirmed gossip?  How does making problems for other people tend to affect our own performance?  It usually winds up making work harder for ourselves as well.

When we enable other people to make up our minds on our behalf, we risk putting ourselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Even in the most frightening of circumstances—and in our professional lives, that usually means a change of some kind—we have choices.  We can follow rumors –or subscribe to and transmit workplace gossip–right down with the ship.

Or like Lawrence Beesley, we can be quiet, climb into the lifeboat of independent thinking, and live.   It’s a tough choice, but it’s yours.

As I repeatedly tell my clients, “You’re more in charge than you may think.”

To land your job of choice, you've got to be open to trying something new!

My friend and client Kathy Bristow shares more strategies that have enabled her to land jobs time and again—with little or no direct experience in her chosen field.  (Read part 1 here.)

4.  Don’t go back to school.

I love being a student more than anything else — it’s so tempting to sign up for a program (convenient, online!) that promises a shiny new set of qualifications and guaranteed employability.  However, unless you are just starting out or are absolutely sure your next job requires some sort of license (e.g. law, medicine, teaching)—if  you already have a degree(in any field), you are vastly better off gaining some sort of relevant work experience.

Take ONE class at a community college or university extension.  If you love it, take another – take multiple classes before committing funds to a full-time program.  You are much better off taking a class or two in the field that interests you and doing 10 hours a week of volunteer work in that field, gaining real work experience.

Which leads me to my next guideline…

 5.  Volunteer!

The woman I saw at the holiday party that led to my current job had never worked with me.  We were just “mom” acquaintances.  But she knew I showed up for school activities, that I volunteered and could get things done.  It was enough for her to feel she could recommend me for a job.

Volunteering for the PTA may have nothing to do with your job, but you expand your network exponentially when you volunteer, and you showcase your skills to a whole new audience.  Plus, it feels good!

6.  Do something, anything in the field you want to work in.

At the time that I went to that party, I had recently done some consulting work, helping the CEO of a non-profit medical association.  The way I got that consulting work a year prior was by seeing a listing on Monster for an administrative assistant for a medical association in my city.

I’m not an administrative assistant, so there was no reason to pursue that job.  However, I knew I needed some experience in my chosen next field.  I called the office the next day because the posting mentioned they were setting up a new office near my house.  I asked if there was something I could help with temporarily.

I ended up talking to the CEO, and she gave me some contract work which involved interacting directly with their physician members.  The work was not what I wanted long term – but it gave me great insight into medical practice.  That particular experience was highly valued by my current employer.

Once again, thank you Kathy for contributing to the Global Career blog.  To make sure you hear about our future postings, sign up for our “Crucial Career Tips” email at the top right of this page. 

High-level search strategies can land your job of choice--even with little previous experience in the field.

One year ago, I went to a neighborhood holiday party that resulted in a new job.  It’s a great job that aligns well with my priorities:  10 minute commute; in my target industry; plenty of growth potential; solid match to my skills and interests.

It’s also a job that I never would have landed were it not for this party.  In fact, I couldn’t even complete the on-line application, because I lacked certain minimum qualifications and the software blocked my submission.

[My friend and client Kathy Bristow has always landed professionally on her feet and in the industries and roles she’s desired—usually with little or no direct experience in the areas.  I asked her to share some of her insights, and she graciously complied.  Kathy continues...]

But at this holiday party, I ran into a fellow mom from my kids’ school.  I learned that she worked at a local community hospital…in human resources.  So I asked a lot of questions and took it as an opportunity to learn.

I told her of my desire to transition into health care.  I didn’t ask about employment, but asked if she could recommend someone at the hospital whom I could talk with about preparing for a transition into the field of hospital operations. She took my email and said she would let me know.  Two days later, I got a call from an executive at the hospital asking if I could come interview for an actual job.  Within a few weeks, I had the job.

While this may sound like I was luckily in the right place at the right time talking to the right HR person, I don’t believe that conversation would have turned into a job offer in a completely new industry had I not been following my “career change” guidelines.   This is not the first time I have completely changed industries and landed a good job.  I have always been more motivated by my interests than following a logical career trajectory, so I have had to “break in” more than once.

My education is completely unrelated to most of my jobs, I have taken time off from career to stay home with kids and faced “re-entry” challenges, and I have been laid off in a down market.  Through all of this job searching and reinvention I developed some guiding principles that have always served me well:

1. Listen

Listen to what people say about their work and their jobs – what motivates them?  Why do they like what they do?  In my current job I work in LEAN transformation for clinical practice (helping doctors and nurses find ways to do their work more efficiently). I was not aware how LEAN manufacturing principles could be applied to health care until I talked to someone at a friend’s house a couple of years ago who did this.  I have always had an interest in medicine (but no training), and I mined her for as much info as possible – this seemed like a viable way for me to pursue the field without years of training.

Next, I researched it on my own.  I read some books, I took a course.  When I ran into the human resources acquaintance at the holiday party and she said her hospital was going through a LEAN transformation, I was able to have an informed conversation about it.

 2.  Don’t make your conversations about needing a job

When you do happen to run into someone who works where you would like to be–what career coaches call a “target organization,” don’t hint about needing a job.  Ask for information – listen (see above).  Let people talk, sometimes they will go ahead and talk themselves into why they need you working with them.

3. Cultivate your interests and own them

Know yourself.  This is what all the career advisors and books say but it deserves re-saying.  I can’t tell you how much satisfaction I have from knowing I have always followed my interests.  I may not be as far up the job ladder as I could be, but my work is ALWAYS interesting to me.  Since my interests tend to change, so do my jobs.

My first career was working in economic transformation in Russia.  I studied Russian language and history.  I spent a few years in Russia doing something very interesting to me and then felt I was finished (mostly with the winters).  I cultivated a new interest – technology – and followed that to the next job.

I love reading speeches and articles by Sheryl Sanberg, the COO of Facebook.  She often makes the point that she could never have planned out her current job back in college, it didn’t exist!

Read part 2 of Kathy’s job search guidelines–including “Don’t go back to school,”  here.  To make sure you hear about all of our postings, sign up for our “Crucial Career Tips” at the upper right hand corner of this page.

Don't weed yourself out of a job you want.

You see an exciting job posting, right up your alley of expertise.  It’s nearby.  The organization’s values align with your own.  And then you start reading.  And reading.  And reading.

Soon there’s an ache of nervousness in your belly as you wonder how you can possibly fulfill every requirement listed in what was once a job posting but has turned into a Hemingway-esque short story, but with more adjectives.

Your excitement turns to consternation as you ask yourself, “Should I really apply for this job?”

It takes a lot of effort to effectively submit yourself for a position.  Tailoring your resume.  Writing a great cover letter.  Checking with all your networking contacts to see if you can get a live human being to present your resume directly to the hiring manager, if you don’t already have a relationship with him or her.

So here are some criteria that may help with your decision.

1.  Do I want this job?

This is where you listen more to your feelings than to your head.  When you read the overall description of the job and its responsibilities, do you feel a sense of excitement?  Usually, when we read the right job posting, something inside us just clicks in and says, “I want this.”

If you hear that voice, proceed.

 2.  Can I do this job?

This is usually the scariest part of the process.  We know that job descriptions are wish lists.  It’s difficult to know exactly what the poster’s greatest priorities are.  In some cases, you’ll get some help– as when the organization separates “must haves” from “nice to haves.”

If you stack up very well with the long list of requirements, then of course you should go for it.

But sometimes we can’t check as many boxes as we’d like.  Then we have to ask ourselves, “Am I qualified strictly according to the laundry list of this job description?  Maybe not.  But am I qualified according to my experience and expertise, and what I know about my ability to do this job well?”

If the answer is yes—go for it.  You may have to overcome some resistance.  But that’s where your personal P.R. machine kicks in, brining your persuasive people and writing skills into play.

Make the case that your 10+ years of professional experience add up to more value than the advanced degree they seek.  Or that you may not have five years of formal marketing experience, but your eight years in a sales role constantly called on your marketing savvy—including developing and maintaining your own social networking campaign.

3.  Talk to the hiring manager first

I have had many clients who have been able to arrange brief phone conversations with the hiring manger in advance of submitting themselves for a job.   They’ve made contact via LinkedIn or other connections, and have set up a call saying, “I’m considering applying for this position, and I’m wondering if I might have just a few minutes to ask a couple questions, just to make sure this is the right fit.”

There’s a lot you can learn, and you’re likely to be respected for wanting to make the best use of the organization’s—and your—time.   And this can greatly improve your odds of being formally interviewed.

4.  Don’t weed yourself out

If you’re interested in the job and think you can do it, don’t weed yourself out.  If they weed you out in spite of your best efforts—their loss.

May the new year bring you the courage to go for the job you deserve; and may that new job bring you years of fulfillment.

The holiday season can be an ideal time to reach hard-to-access contacts.

“Everything slows down at companies in December,” my client said, “so I think I’m going to take the month off.”  My reply: “Missed opportunity!”  

Everything slowing down is exactly the reason we SHOULD be intensively networking right now–reaching out to our existing contacts, and working to establish new ones.  In many organizations, the later part of December is a time when not a lot happens as a result of people taking time off, year-end celebrations, and major projects waiting to kick off in the new year.

You may never have a better time to access the otherwise very busy people you’ve most been wanting to meet.

People may be more receptive to a phone call, email, or even an invite for lunch or coffee, because they have less to do. Another important factor: often, the gatekeepers to your target contacts are on vacation during this time.  Higher up people are potentially more likely to answer their own phone!

Send holiday greetings

If you’re in search, whatever you do, don’t take December completely off.  At the very least, send out holiday cards to key contacts and emails to others in your network (to save on costs).  Just to wish them well–and remind them ever so briefly of the tremendous value you can bring to their organization or industry.

Or use this time to rethink and solidify your search strategy for 2012.

If you need help with any of the above, let me know.

Use Thanksgiving well

Have a very happy and safe Thanksgiving.  No matter what position we find ourselves in, taking even a minute to clearly identify what we are grateful for–what IS working well in our lives–can give us the added strength and energy we need to continue on at our best.  Try it.

Thank YOU for reading the Global Career blog.

There's nothing like jury duty to remind us of our shared humanity.

One after another, the potential jurors were “thanked and excused.”  For two long days, the proceedings plodded along.  Had the lawyers not finally agreed on the people sitting in the jury in the box, I’d have been in there next.

Last week, I came tantalizingly close to serving on the jury for a DUI (driving under the influence) trial.  As always, jury duty gave me an intimate—and for the most part, edifying—glimpse inside our justice system.  If you tend to do all you can to avoid serving, I ask you to please reconsider.  The system needs you.  If you or a family member were in need of a trial by jury, would you want all of your peers to have done their best to “get out” of jury duty?

But that’s not why we’re here.

We’re here because of the very public exposure of private lives that was on display during the jury selection process I witnessed.  Because a DUI involves issues such as alcohol and the police, prospective jurors were vetted to see what their experiences were with both.  Lists of questions were supplied.  Do you drink?  How much and how often?  Have you ever taken a field sobriety test?  Have you ever been in a car when you suspected the driver was drunk?  Are any of your family members currently in prison?

And one after another, although they had the option to answer any question privately in “side-bar,” prospective jurors told a room full of perfect strangers the intimate details of their lives.  They’d been sober for 12 years.  Their car was sliced in two by a drunk driver when they were a child, landing their baby brother in the hospital for a year.  Their son was eighteen years in prison.  Their cousin didn’t get a fair trial, as the video clearly showed that the other guy drew first.

This being Los Angeles, the responses came from people from across the racial and economic spectrum.  Executives and blue collar workers–East, West, and Southsiders– all raised their hands and told the truth.  And I was a spectator to this live confessional reality show.

It hit home like never before.  You never know.  You never know by looking at someone what they are carrying under the surface.  There are pains, challenges, and sufferings—as well as joys and triumphs—living in everyone.  Sure, we all know this intellectually.  But how often do we tap the idea and feel it emotionally?  It’s usually not until we are afforded an opportunity such as the one I experienced, where we see the layers of daily survival peeled back before our eyes, that we understand this to be true where it counts.  In our hearts.  In our guts.

Consider this a call to empathize.  To remember that the people you work with—and sometimes butt heads with—are human beings with struggles, victories, and failures.  Just like you.  And just like you, they’re trying to do the best that they can to take care of their needs and those of their families.

So before you write off anyone—be they colleague or stranger—as ill-tempered, standoffish, disrespectful or worse, take a breath and a step back and ask yourself, “What’s going on with them?”  “What pain are they hiding?”

Even if you never arrive at an answer, simply considering the question can help you re-humanize a co-worker or client.  Only then can you begin to repair or strengthen a relationship.

In today’s collaborative workplaces, where our professional success depends on the health of our relationships, we can’t afford to let these human connections deteriorate.

And that’s the whole truth.

Interview nerves can point you in the wrong direction.

My wife, Cindy, is in the process of interviewing candidates for the administrative assistant position that is available in the department she leads.

Yesterday, she had an interview scheduled with a man we’ll call “James.”  The interview was scheduled for 2:00.  At 1:55, James had yet to show, so Cindy told her co-worker that she was going to run down to the restroom.  “If James arrives, have him wait for me in the conference room and tell him I’ll be right there.”

Cindy walked down the hall, pushed open the restroom door, and saw…a man.   A very shocked man in his mid-40s and wearing a suit.  The following exchange occurred.

“Are you Cindy?”

“Yes.”

“Am I in the women’s restroom?”

If the silhouette of the lady in the dress on the door didn’t tip him off, the lack of urinals should have alerted James to the fact that he was perhaps in the wrong place.  And definitely at the wrong time.

Cindy directed the mortified gentleman to the proper location.  And James, who has a track record of excellence throughout his career, recovered enough to pull off a halfway decent interview moments later.  But first impressions are paramount.  How important a quality would you say “attention to detail” is for an administrative assistant?  In Cindy’s psyche, that box may forever remain unchecked as far as James is concerned.

 Why are even the most accomplished professionals blowing interviews?

This question has come up a lot recently in my practice.  I meet with seasoned professionals who, for a variety of reasons, have been losing focus—and the ability to communicate their value—at the one time in the job search process when they can least afford to do so.

Here’s what I’m finding are the two biggest culprits:

• Nerves
• Poor preparation

They go hand in hand.  The less prepared you are, the more nervous you’ll get—and the more likely you’ll be to wind up in the wrong restroom—and no closer to the job you deserve.

Don’t Wing It

You might be very smart and extremely accomplished professionally, but that does not assure that you’ll be a great interviewer.  My years in the theater taught me that even the best (especially the best) actors rehearse.  In fact, they rehearse a lot—so when it’s show-time, they can let the preparation go and deeply connect with—and move—their audience.

Here’s what you can do to achieve similar results.

Prepare your material

My most successful clients pore over each point of the job description and identify and prepare examples from their professional history that illustrate their accomplishments in those areas.  If they don’t have a lot of direct experience in a required area, they think ahead of time about other relevant experience they can point to—so they don’t have to do this on the spot when the heat is on and they’re less capable of conjuring more “creative” responses.

Rehearse

My top clients also write out and rehearse their success stories.  This keeps them from rambling and/or losing focus.  Writing and speaking the words beforehand also gets the responses into the body’s muscle (or kinetic) memory.  You’ll own the words and remember them better.  This is especially helpful for tough and nerve-inducing questions like, “Tell me about a time when you failed.”

Prepare your mind and body

If you’ve thoroughly prepared and rehearsed your material, the most important thing you can do just before the interview is to get focused and centered.  Achieve what I call “an energetic calm.”  Everyone finds this place differently—but find it.  Arrive early and go for a walk.  Take yoga breaths.    Listen to music that soothes and inspires you.   Trust that the details of your preparation will be there for you.

Then you can walk through that door—the correct door—and give them your best.

Most job seekers never escape the "Internet Suck." But you can.

Several years ago, I coined a phrase to describe what happens to most job seekers the moment they begin their searches.  They get pulled into the desperate vortex I affectionately call “The Internet Suck.”

It looks like this.  You sit down at the computer to check out a job board.  The job board suggests you read an article on what not to wear to an interview.  That gets you curious about what the stars wore to the latest award show.  So why not go to YouTube and see highlights from the Best Short-Subject Documentary nominations?  And on and on until they’re turning off the lights and hosing down the espresso machines, and you look around and think, ‘What happened?”

Most people never claw their way out.  You read about them in the paper and hear about them on t.v. and the radio.  “I applied to 60 jobs this week and didn’t get a single response!”  And this goes on week after week, month after month.  I want to shout back, “Is that all you’re doing!”

Savvy job seekers know that most jobs are not found on-line.  Never were–no matter how much Monster and Career Builder, with their clever Super Bowl ads, want you to believe it.  Ask yourself, “How have I gotten most of my jobs?”  The likely answer is that someone tipped you off.  Someone referred you to the right person.  Or you got into the right conversation at the right moment–at the right party or on the right plane ride or at the right conference.

You got the job through your network.  You talked to people.  The people in your industry got to know you and your expertise–and what you were looking for.  You established relationships and built trust, such that people were willing to give you insider information on available jobs, or introduce you to people who had that information.

You became what career professionals call the “known candidate.”  Known candidates are most likely to succeed.

Even when most jobs appeared in the “help wanted” section of your local newspaper, networking is how the vast majority of jobs were landed.

The Internet hasn’t changed that equation.  The Internet, with all its job boards and company websites, and Twitter alerts and LinkedIn updates and postings, has become an invaluable tool.  But it is just that.  A tool.  A resource.  For most people, it cannot succeed as a method, a strategy unto itself.

So what can I do about it?

The Internet teaches us about the market.  It tells us where there may be opportunities.  But when one of my clients finds a highly interesting posting on-line, they head straight to their network–LinkedIn, alumni associations, professional associations, friends and colleagues–to find someone that can get them a personal, HUMAN introduction to that organization, if they don’t have one already.

In “normal” economic times, it was estimated that between 25-40% of jobs were found by applying on-line.   In today’s climate, with the avalanche of resumes that accompany each job posting, what do you think that number has shrunk to?  I’d say the single digits, easily.

So why is anyone surprised that they’re making very little progress when spending 90% of their job search on-line?

Decide in advance how much of your time per day will be used on this research tool, and stick to it.

I am not saying that things are not extremely challenging for many, many people in the job market.  I am simply saying working smarter, not harder, in your search, may help you–as well as that guy you heard about on the radio.

So use the Internet and use it wisely.  Don’t let it use you.