The message was simple. If you are in a job search and you are not spending at least SOME of your free time working on a blog you are just running in place with everyone else.

Here’s the deal.  Your resume is a static document that represents what you SAY your expertise is and what you SAY you can do for a potential employer. Blogging, on the other hand, provides an avenue for you to express your subject matter expertise in a more “action-oriented” manner. The very process of writing posts demonstrates your adeptness on the topic, far beyond standard textbook knowledge. It allows you to give employers a taste of what you have to offer and how you think about your work; which can be significantly more compelling than a resume!

Blogging also provides a tool for those of us with a more…ahem… “eclectic” background, as we are able to demonstrate how our array of skills come together in a meaningful way. People who fall into this group often assume that employers will just be able to discern and understand the connections between all of our skill sets.  This is (typically) not true. It is up to each of us to draw the lines between the dots so that potential employers get a picture of our total value. This is very challenging to accomplish on a standard resume but blogging does it by default.

Another potential benefit of blogging for employment could be access to what is commonly referred to as the “hidden job market”. Opportunities that are not posted - for whatever reason - but still need to be filled. A reader could come across your blog and realize that you have the exact blend of skills that he or she is looking for might reach out to you directly; thereby completely bypassing all of the other competition out there. How cool would that be???

I am sure that many of you reading this post already have your own blog; but for those who may not, the experts at Inner Architect are hosting  two seminars on this topic, here in the San Francisco Bay Area. One in the North Bay and one in the South Bay. The workshops promise to be true “hands-on” sessions which will coach attendees on establishing your expertise and value and then creating your own free WordPress blog…..with wireless internet and all. You’ll want to sign up early in order to be properly prepared for this session.

And look! They’ve already inspired me to get back on target with my own blog. Darn! These guys are GOOD!

During the presentation, I found myself spontaneously responding and participating in the presentation, encouraging a more interactive discussion. Afterward, I immediately went up to the presenters, two partners from a prestigious national accounting firm, and introduced myself. Since my name tag said I was with “Career Courageously” instead of my day job, I introduced my strategy for my company….a plan still in the works, but becoming more and more crystallized each day.

I explained to them that I was in the process of putting together a plan to do one-on-one, real-time networking coaching….wingman style. It was, in fact, the first time I had introduced the idea to a complete stranger.

Their very first reaction to this:

“Do you need any referrals?”

Dang! This idea has legs! So, now I am going on record that I am going to finish putting these plans together. Here are some thoughts I’ve had about the idea so far:

Pros: I’ll get paid to network and (ideally) within circles I wouldn’t normally be engaged. This would, then, result in more potential clients! My experiences from doing this will give me the basis for my first book.

Cons: I am only one person and I can only attend one event at a time.

I would love to hear any other comments on this idea…what do you think?

One of my favorite courageous career stories goes back to the days when I had only been out of college about a year. I was working for the State of NY at a video production facility, which was my chosen field. In a prior post, I wrote about the life changing incident that I had at this time which caused me to leave my job at the State and also leave behind (according to my family) a “good” job with the “good” benefits. This story pre-dates that story by about 4 years.

In order to get a job at this facility right after graduating from college (typically) you needed to work through a summer in the “summer relief” program. The program amounted to a 4 month full time job where you were rotated between shifts and duties in order to cover for the full time employees as they took time off for family vacations and such. This particular year was my first opportunity to actually be one who might be “relieved” by a summer relief student rather than be the summer relief student myself.

That summer there was a “reliefer” student named Shannon D. Shannon, like many of us had just graduated from a college program in television production and she was getting some entry level work experience during her first summer out of school. In addition to working at the State television facility in the evening, Shannon also had an internship with a small, local video production facility planned for her summer. She worked with us for about a week before her internship started the next Monday.

On her first day at the internship, Shannon observed how the small company operated. She noticed several undefined roles held by various people in the company. She notices some confusion as to how the company operated and a general lack of organization. She went home that night and wrote a brand new operations plan completely redesigning the organization and – simultaneously – creating a new position for herself! She brought her proposal in the very next day, presented it to the owner and she was hired on the spot!

I have no idea what Shannon D. is doing now. She might still be working in video production, maybe she has become an executive or an entrepreneur by now or even a very happy stay-at-home Mom. What I can tell you is that her action that summer was the first example of courageous careering I had ever encountered. Do you have an example of courageous careering?

“If you are NOT in a job search right now, and either worry about one or think you are invincible, then this is a must read right now. Why? Because you really need to think about your future, and that next transition, and how you will get through it. And this is a realistic scenario.”

As a recruiter I thought that reading the book myself would, at the very least, provide some insight and empathy into what my candidates might be feeling as they go through a job search with me. Quite simply, I thought that reading the book would make me a better recruiter!

In the book, Ehrenreich decides she is going to create a fictionalized job seeker persona, using her maiden name, and spinning her real life experiences as a writer into more traditional corporate experiences in public relations and event planning. The idea was to go undercover and investigate the challenges of seeking a white-collar job in today’s climate. The elaborate farce even went so far as to create fake “references” from people Ehrenreich knew professionally, who worked at companies she listed on her fabricated resume.

As I said, I read the book to find kernels of insight in order to become a better recruiter. What I didn’t expect was to be extremely disappointed about the fact that a large portion of the book pooh-poohs the effectiveness of networking! Ehrenreich goes into great detail describing very negative experiences at networking events. Some of the experiences she describes include:

Going to an event which turns out to be more of a “candidate pool” of sorts for corralling desperate job seekers into signing up for a “boot camp” which costs $600.

A lunch meeting where she is invited to spend 4% of her prior year’s salary AND 4% of her next salary in order to be introduced to a “’support group’ of actually employed executives”Driving to regularly-held events advertised on the internet that have been canceled or moved.

And, my personal favorite:

Attending advertised business meetings/networking events which turn out to be covers for worship services full of bold-faced proselytizing, where business card exchange and prayer occur simultaneously!

So what went wrong with Ehrenreich’s approach to networking? Well, I think her summary of networking in the conclusion of the book speaks volumes:

“But by its very nature networking tends to undercut any incipient solidarity with one’s fellow seekers, each of whom is to be regarded at best as a source of contacts or tips, and at worst as a possible competitor.”

Hmmmm….so “at best” it is all about what YOU give ME; and “at worst” you are only someone worth knowing in the vein of “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.

At my company, the current mantra for success in a potentially sliding market, is to “fish where the fish are”. Why wouldn’t this same idea apply to your networking efforts? IT WOULD!!! Now granted, I live in a large metropolitan area, so REAL networking opportunities are constantly available to me. In fact, if I attended every networking event I am aware of, I would never be home – or at work for that matter!

Why would someone network exclusively with other job seekers when there are so many networking opportunities all around? For example, I attend events sponsored by several groups including:

• California Society of CPAs (CalCPA)
• The Association of Woman MBAs (AWM)
• The Financial Women’s Association (FWA)
• Linking Northern California (LNC)
• Bay Area Business Women (BABW)
• National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA)
• National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)

THESE are the types of networking events that a job seeker should attend. Events put on by these and other organizations are focused on networking and on making connections for the purpose of building mutually-beneficial relationships. If you actually take the time to nurture these relationships you will find that networking can actually smooth your path to success.

I really wish Ehrenreich had spent a little more time exploring other types of networking events aside from those focused only on job seekers because she leaves the reader with the idea that networking is a fruitless endeavor and a waste of time.

If you are seeking a job and you feel the need to commiserate with others who are unemployed and going through some of the same struggles you are, then certainly attend events held specifically for job seekers. I understand, I really do. But for every ONE of those events you attend, please attend at least THREE other events where the focus is actually on networking with other working professionals. AND, don’t read this book; instead please allow me to encourage you otherwise……fish where the fish are….got it?

]]> http://careercourageously.com/wordpress/2008/05/11/fish-where-the-fish-aregot-it/feed/ http://careercourageously.com/wordpress/2008/05/04/mass-career-customization-deloittes-cool-new-retention-tool/ http://careercourageously.com/wordpress/2008/05/04/mass-career-customization-deloittes-cool-new-retention-tool/#comments Mon, 05 May 2008 06:02:23 +0000 Valerie Gonyea http://careercourageously.com/wordpress/2008/05/04/mass-career-customization-deloittes-cool-new-retention-tool/ I went to a networking event this week, sponsored by the FWA. While I’ve attended FWA events previously, this one was particularly interesting to me because one of my “very best buddy-pals”, Sydney Firestone, Director in the Forensic & Dispute Services practice of Deloitte & Touche, was one of the speakers. Sydney and met when we both went back to school “later in life” to complete the coursework necessary to sit for the CPA exam. Sydney’s co-speaker was Natalie Mehta who is a Senior Manager of Deloitte’s Valuation Services group.

Sydney and Natalie spoke about Mass Career Customization, or MCC. This is a strategic program developed and piloted by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP. The whole project has culminated in a book, written by Cathleen Benko, Chief Talent Officer at Deloitte and Anne Weisberg, a Director of Talent Diversity at the firm.

MCC was developed in response to growing negative retention trends and the cost/benefit analysis of those trends to the bottom line of the firm. The program is based upon the fact that the “…workforce has changed while the workplace has not.” MCC seeks to redefine the traditional “corporate ladder” into a newer, more socially reflective “corporate lattice”. The lattice design demonstrates the idea that an employee’s career progression can move in many directions and timeframes along different segments of a framework rather than only straight up.

The idea, quite simply, is that the lives of employees change as they progress through life. Companies who want to retain great people must also provide a framework, or “lattice”, through which an employee may alter their current work situation. According to MCC, an employee may, at any point in time, need to change one of four core dimensions of a career: Pace, Workload, Location/Schedule and Role in order to maintain the necessary “work/life balance” required to address the employee’s current life situation.

The program is designed to level the playing field for all employees by providing a common basis for flexible work situations. MCC seeks to replace the current environment which creates a situation whereby an employee who chooses to avail themselves of one of the 69 flexible work arrangement programs offered by the firm (flex hours, job sharing etc.) is considered to be in need of an “exception”. This, then, creates an unintended perception of “special treatment” for the employee. By implementing MCC firm-wide, Deloitte will provide a corporately condoned “space” for employees to modify their MCC dimensions as required without the accompanied exception perception.

I am fascinated by this idea. The firm’s plan is to roll out MCC to the entire organization this June. The firm will be assessing each employee’s MCC framework as a starting point which will be reevaluated throughout the employee’s career. How exciting. Will the idea of the corporate lattice catch on?