Memorial Day is about remembering the veterans who have given their lives for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States. On your worst day, or our worst day in this country, the freedoms we enjoy are unmatched by any other country on the earth. You may be having a bad day or what I call a bad patch, but in the grand scheme of things, you are still alive, you have the opportunity to work through issues on your job or in your job search. What price are you willing to pay to accomplish your goals?

As you remember those who have paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their life for this country. Consider what price are you willing to pay to accomplish your goals? If looking for a job is critical for you right now, consider what else you could do to get the opportunity you are looking for. Most of you have not been asked to pay the ultimate price to find that job you are looking for. Or to be a productive employee who serves in your organization. We all have issues, and stuff happening in our lives. Unemployment, job searches, job interviews, issues on the job, layoffs are all part of life. As you approach your week, consider what else you need to do to move forward in your job search or on your job.

Enjoy your day! Happy Memorial Day!

Image Credit: sxc.hu

Your cover letter will open doors or close doors depending on how you write them. I personally believe that a good cover letter will open doors faster than a resume. I believe that if you have a well written cover letter, you will spark interest in the hiring manager or recruiter and they will want to read more about you - thus your resume.

If you just present a resume that looks like everyone else’s resume, you have about 4 seconds to make an impression and if you miss it the hiring manager or recruiter has moved on to the next one. A good cover letter that grabs the reader at the first line, will create interest in the candidate and the hiring manager will want to read your resume, and if they want to read it, you are well on your way pass the 4 second courtesy glance. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Develop a personal letter for each organization you have an interest in. Do not send form letters or general letters. Be specific and targeted
2. Use strong action words that describe who you are in one sentence that will make the reader take notice, or remember you. Here is how my cover letter opens:

“My high energy, strength in people development and excellent facilitation skills make me an excellent addition to your organization. Attached you will find a copy of my resume. As you can see my work experience demonstrates a person with working knowledge in the areas of people development, organizational assessment, training, project management and relationship building.

I change the last sentence of my cover letter to parallel the job description I am responding to. I also change line one depending on the organization, however I always open with “My high energy”. Why? Because it is one of the keys to my personality, and it is part of who they are going to get. I like to start with on my cover letter, and they get to meet me and my energy when I arrive for the interview. I send a consistent message to potential organizations. They now know that my cover letter matches the person sitting in front of them.

3. Share highlights of your accomplishments and qualifications. This is what will draw them into your resume. They will go looking on your resume for more detail on the items you mention in your accomplishment and qualifications.

4. Use bullet points to lay out your cover letter. Don’t try to give them all of your work experience in the cover letter. Give them a foretaste of what they will read in the resume.

5. Include a closing paragraph that will restate why they should consider meeting you and discussing your qualifications. This is your strong close that will move them to wanting to read your resume and ultimately create a desire in them to “want” to meet you.

Cover letters are the appetizer in the full course from interview to job offer. Cover letters help to develop the first impression that organizations will have about your candidacy. So don’t be lazy about the cover letter. This is one of those tools that can give a lasting first impression that may lead to you successfully landing a job. So take your time and carve out a strong cover letter.

Image Credit: sxc.hu

Here are a few blogs I enjoyed reading this week.

Ask A Manager on “Stupid candidate behavior: Not checking email.”

Evil HR Lady gives advice to some poor dude who was fired while waiting for an offer for a new job.

Punk Rock HR answers a reader question on “Corporate Manscaping.”

Manpower Blog talks about The Death of the Performance Review. this is a great blog for free legal advice on employement law

Great Leadership by Dan offers an Eight Step Guide To Developing Your Leadership Skills.

On Monday I turned 41. Besides feeling pretty darn old, I realized that my job hunt at 41 is totally different from what was 10 years ago. Here’s how…

1. I’m more concerned about the stability of the company. Before I assumed that most all companies were stable and successful. Boy, was I wrong.
2. I place importance on the “culture” of the organization being in line with my personal values. Working for an organization where most people are polar opposite from me on just about every religious and personal belief has really scarred me.
3. I’m concerned about making sure that my personality is a “good fit” for the company, and theirs with mine.
4. These days I’m more interested in investing more of my after 9-5 hours into the stuff that I place importance on like friends and family.
5. I’m more concerned with making sure that I’ll be working with like-minded people. Sometimes even the most simple conversations turn to social issues and feeling like the odd-man-out can really bring you down.

I can assure you, I did not have the maturity 10 years ago to think of any of these things. But, now that I’m in my 40’s and starting the second half of my professional career, I have different goals that are mostly around how I can find a job where my personal goals are in-line with my professional goals. And although I have no doubt that this is the right path for me, it sure does mean slim pickins on the job front.

Being fully prepared for an interview is one of the easiest, yet most overlooked aspects of the job hunt, even for yours truly.

Earlier this week I found myself sitting in the Human Resources department trying to complete an application without the data I needed at my fingertips. It made me unnecessarily anxious and I ultimately had to leave a couple of fields blank on my application - that can’t be good!

Here’s a list of things you’ll always want to bring along to the interview so that you don’t get yourself all stressed out over trying to find the phone number of a place you worked at over a decade ago - I’m just sayin!

1. 5 copies of your current resume.
2. Complete address and phone number of all previous employers.
3. Dates and physical addresses of schools you’ve attended.
4. Name, address, phone and email contact information for at least 4-5 professional references.
5. Name address, phone and email contact information for at least 3-4 personal references.
6. List of all the computer programs you know how to use and lists of any other machines or things you know how to use which are applicable to the job you are applying for.
7. Something to write with (you’d be surprised how many people forget this!)
8. Cash for parking.
9. Driver’s license.
10. Proof of any relevant certifications (nursing license, etc…)

These things may seem like no-brainers, but forget them and you’ll find yourself a nervous wreck.

Anybody have anything else to add to the list of things you should always bring to the interview?

As I’ve said before, the questions you ask the interviewer are just as important as the answers you give to the questions they ask you.  Asking great questions is just another way that you can set yourself apart from other candidates who may exactly equal on skills and education required for the job.

Here are 5 examples of good questions to ask on your next job interview.

1. How has the troubled economy effected your business?
2. What kind of challenges is the organization facing right now (particularly important if you are interviewing for a management position)?
3. What do you think it takes for a person to be very successful in this role?
4. Who is the longest tenured employee in the organization and how long have they been here?
5. How would you describe the culture of the organization?

Got any great question we can add to the list?

I had my long-anticipated job interview this morning and although I feel very confident in my “performance”,  some of the comments from the interviewers were quite troubling.

Sometimes we go into interviews so eager for an offer that we don’t pay close attention to the clues that the interviewers give about the kind of job we might be getting ourselves into. 

Here are 4 statements that you never want to hear in a job interview.  Unfortunately, I heard all 4 of them today…

1. We’ve really had trouble keeping this position filled over the past 5 years.
2. This department has one of the highest turnover rates in the organization.
3. The physicians in this department are extremely involved in the day-to-day operations of the clinic.
4. To be successful in this organization, you really need to be thick-skinned.

If you market yourself as a change-agent and you are looking for your next big challange, these kinds of statments may sound very sexy.  But, if you are looking to get out of a bad situation and into a good one, it’s extremely important that you listen to the cues from the interviewers since it is the only window into this potential new job you’ll have.  In my case, today, my interviewers were so caught up warning me about the scary doctors I’d be working for that they hardly spent any time telling me about the actual functions of the job.  This left me with a feeling that the most important function of the job is managing the tyrant physicians, not the day to day operations of their busy clinic.  Through their explanations of what their struggles with keeping this position filled, I was able to glean that the physician leadership micro-manages the organization (almost always bad because physicians are good being physicians and really bad at managing) and that their frustration level at times reaches a point of actually yelling at the staff.  And although I’m sure it is possible to be successful in this role (these physicians probably just need to have their expectations managed and be able to trust that the job will get done), it will certainly require a person who is extremely patient and willing to brave the turbulence until trust is established. 

Have you had a job interview where the interviewer made some “red-flag” comments that you overlooked?  How did that translate when you took the job?  I’d love to hear about it - maybe your comment will help me reconsider their offer for a second interview.

Tonight was the first Chicago Bulls pre season game.  You may remember months ago I wrote about how Vinny Del Negro convinced the Bulls leadership to give him the job of new head coach, even though had has never had a coaching job in his life.  Nothing, not even college basketball! 

Now that the media has gotten their hands on Vinny and we’ve been able to take a peak at the Bulls’ practices, I understand better how he got the job.  He portrayed himself as a change agent. 

When Vinny interviewed for head coach, the Bulls was a team in turmoil.  They’d just come off a season that shocked and disappointed fans and sports analysts.  The team stopped responding to their then coach Scott Skiles then he abandoned them (or vice versa).  They needed a coach to come along and shake things up.  Vinny convinced them that he could do that by highlighting his coaching philosophies, which were not-so-mainstream and I believe that the Bulls organization decided to take a chance on him because of his different style. My point is that it’s not always best to try to “fit in”.

Vinny has decided that, after each practice, one of the coaches will take 2 of the players to lunch for some bonding time.  Playing up the theory that, if people believe you care about them, they’ll follow you into battle, he is taking every opportunity he can to bond with players.  Because, guess what?  It’s hard to be a slacker when you really love your boss and your coworkers. 

If you are interviewing for an organization that is struggling, don’t be afraid to flaunt your I-can-save-the-day-ness because it may be exactly what that organization needs.

How much of a cut in pay would you consider if you knew the job you were going to had exactly the kind of culture you were looking for in an organization?

At a block party a few weeks ago, one of my neighbors was complaining that we’re all “wage slaves”.  I didn’t entirely agree with her until this week.  I applied for a position at a not-for-profit organization where I’ve heard the culture is much more in line with my personal value system.  They called me to discuss the position but they were clearly concerned about my salary expectations right off the bat.  She told me up-front that they wouldn’t be able to compete with my current salary, reminding me “you know we are a not-for-profit.”  This position is with a company I’ve been interested in since relocating to Chicago.  I’m fairly certain I’d love it.  But, when it comes right down to it, I’m just not sure I’m willing to make that much less money all in the name of an “enjoyable job.”

What’s your opinion?  How much is your peace of mind worth?  Would you take a cut in pay for a job you loved?  If so, how much?

I read a great blog post the other day over at Biz Chicks Rule called “Pimped Out Politics: Is It OK If She Likes It”.  I won’t summarize the article here because I’m hoping you’ll pop over and read it yourself - it was very interesting. 

Reading Biz Chick’s post has got me thinking more about how you the interview candidate should handle a situation where you know you are getting a job offer because of the interviewers bias.  Suppose you know they are offering you the job because you are black and somehow they plan to use your race to their advantage, maybe even overlooking other more qualified candidates.  Or suppose you have been offered a job soley because you are a woman and that makes you just the right image they are trying to portray (cough cough McCain).  Do you just say to heck with it and seize the opportunity or do you let your conscious do the decision making and pass?  Well, that depends. 

Ask yourself these questions.

1. Is this a job I plan to stay in forever or just a stepping stone? If you are planning to stay in the job forever then I’d say pass.  These types of bias usually come packaged with lots of prejudice that is not likely limited to the attribute in question.  If they hired you simply because you are a woman, don’t be surprised if the company turns out to be a bunch of raging sexists.  However, if it’s just a stepping stone to a better job then you may find it worth while.
2. Am I the type to regret a decision where I felt I compromised my values?  There is nothing worse than regret, so avoid it every chance you get.
3. Will this job help advance my career?  If this job will help you advance your career and you are thick skinned enough to deal with the ramifications, go for it.  Why not capitalize on their stupidity. 

Have you ever been offered a job based on your sex or race and know you were not the most qualified candidate?  How did you handle it?