When the Job Hunt Gets Tough, the Tough Start Consulting!

Diane Hansen

By: Diane Hansen

I distinctly remember where I was when I started consulting full-time.  I was in my home office, staring at Monster.com for the millionth time.  I thought to myself, “I’m a talented marketing and public relations professional with twelve years of experience and a laundry list of kudos on my LinkedIn profile. Why can’t I find a job?”  This frustration was pivotal in my decision to strike out on my own.

I had been freelancing off and on throughout my career, a pursuit that was both rewarding and beyond nerve-wracking at times.  Starting out, I didn’t really grasp how to charge for my services, determine the number of hours a project would take or choose the right clientele.  As a result, I ended up working long hours for little pay.  It’s my goal to spare you some of this pain.

Proving Your Credentials

It’s essential to have an online portfolio or resume if you are going to work as a freelancer or consultant.  Depending on your business, your online portfolio can take many forms.  I opt to direct potential clients to my LinkedIn profile. This profile showcases my latest PR work, my resume and testimonials from clients and co-workers.  You can also opt to design a Web site for yourself.  Design one for free on Wix. Online freelance sites like ELance, Guru or oDesk have a variety of ways to upload your work.  You can also take competency tests on sites like Brainbench to prove your knowledge.

Figuring Out What to Charge

Always remember that every project is unique.  Thus, you may find yourself billing each project a little differently.  Personally, I charge either an hour-based retainer or a per project rate.  That way, the client knows exactly how much the bill will be before it comes.  You never want to surprise your clients with the amount of your bill.  It’s a retention killer.

Estimating Your Hours

Talk to your client.  Find out the scope of the project, exactly what you will be doing.  A 30-minute phone call will clarify the client’s expectations, give you a strong feel for the client’s personality, help you define metrics for the product and address any components that must be in the final work product.  The more you know, the more you can drill down and accurately estimate each component of the project.

Spotting Red Flags

You can be selective when it comes to clients.  Clients that utilize a lot of time, without paying for it, incur both a monetary and opportunity cost for your business.  The following questions can help you assess your potential client’s suitability.

1)      Is this client setting forth reasonable expectations? (Turn-around time, compensation, ethics)

2)      Is this client providing enough detail so I can give them an accurate quote?

3)      Is this client interviewing me as much as I am interviewing them?

4)      Am I able to communicate well with this client?

Drafting Your Contract

At a minimum, your contract should cover: project scope, deliverables, deadlines, payment terms and guarantees (if any).  You may also choose to address legal aspects of your agreement like the ownership of intellectual property and right to use the work you do in a portfolio.

Get a signature on that contract and do a great job for your client!  Consultants trade on reputation, so do all you can to deliver exceptional customer service.  Of course, never be afraid to sub-contract help if you need it.  I frequently use Guru when I need a little extra help.  Of course, I’m registered as a contractor there as well.  Get your name out there and the business will follow!

About Diane Hansen

Since 1996, Diane Hansen has helped hundreds of businesses indentify profitable target markets, communicate to customers, expand product lines and increase bottom-line revenue. She has developed and executed innovative marketing and communications plans and built a large number of win-win cross-promotional agreements.  Her public relations background is extensive.  She has secured media for her clients in such prestigious outlets as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Variety Magazine, ABC News, CNNMoney.com and the television news magazine, Entertainment Tonight. In 2009, Diane Hansen formed her own consultancy. She is also an accomplished writer and has been published nationally and internationally. Hansen currently resides in both Los Angeles and Dallas.

10 Questions Never to Ask in Job Interviews

Article Source: http://bit.ly/SxJB

You know enough to bring a list of questions to a job interview. When the interviewer asks you, “So, do you have any questions for me?” the last thing? You want to say is “No.” But that could be the best option if you’re at a loss for words, because some interview questions are better left unasked.

Here are 10 highly unsuitable interview questions that should never make an appearance, unless you don’t want the job:

1. “What does your company do?”
This was a reasonable interview question in 1950 or in 1980, before the Internet existed. Today, it’s your job to research any company you’re interviewing with before setting foot in the door. We need to show up for a job interview knowing what the employer does, who its competitors are, and which of its accomplishments (or challenges) have made the news lately.

2. “Are you going to do a background check?”
It is amazing how many job candidates ask this question, which provokes alarm on the part of the interviewer, instead of the more general, “Can you please tell me a little about your selection process, from this point on?” Lots of people have credit issues that cause them worry during a job search, or aren’t sure how solid their references from a previous job might be. If you’re invited for a second interview, you can broach any sensitive topics from your past then. Asking “Will you do a background check?” makes you look like a person with something to hide.

3. “When will I be eligible for a raise?”
Companies fear underpaying people almost as much as they fear overpaying them, because a person who’s underpaid vis-a-vis his counterparts in the job market is a person with one eye on the career sites. Instead of asking about your first raise before you’ve got the job, you can ask (at a second interview) “Does your organization do a conventional one-year performance and salary review?”

4. “Do you have any other jobs available?”
A job search requires quick thinking about straight talk, and if a job is far below your abilities, you’re better off saying so than beating around the bush with this question. You don’t have to take yourself out of the running; you can say, “The job sounds interesting, but frankly I was earning 30% more and supervising people in my last job. Could you help me understand the career path for this role?” That’s the cue for the interviewer, if he or she is on the ball, to highlight another job opening that might exist.

5. “How soon can I transfer to another position?”
You’re broadcasting “I’m outta here at the first chance” when you ask this question. If you like the job, take the job. If it’s not for you, wait for the right opportunity. Almost every employer will keep you in your seat for at least one year before approving an internal transfer, so a job-search bait-and-switch probably won’t work out the way you’d hoped.

6. “Can you tell me about bus lines to your facility?”
Get online and research this yourself. It’s not your employer’s problem to figure out how you get to work.

7. “Do you have smoking breaks?”
If you’re working in retail or in a call center, you could ask about breaks. Everyone else, keep mum; if your need to smoke intrudes so much on your work life that you feel the need to ask about it, ask your best friend or significant other for smoking-cessation help as a new-job present. Lots of companies don’t permit smoking anywhere on the premises, and some don’t like to hire smokers at all. Why give an employer a reason to turn you down?

8. “Is [my medical condition] covered under your insurance?”
This is a bad question on two counts. You don’t want to tell a perfect stranger about your medical issues, especially one who’s deciding whether or not to hire you. Ask to see a copy of the company’s benefits booklet when an offer has been extended. This is also a bad question from a judgment standpoint; no department managers and only a tiny percentage of HR people could be expected to know on a condition-by-condition basis what’s covered under the health plan. Anyway, your pre-existing condition won’t be covered under most corporate plans for at least a year.

9. “Do you do a drug test?”
If you have a philosophical objection to drug tests, wait until they ask you to take a drug test and tell them about your objection. Otherwise, your question sounds like, “I’d fail a drug test,” so don’t ask.

10. “If you hire me, can I wait until [more than three weeks from now] to start the job?”
Employers expect you to give two weeks’ notice. If you’re not working, they’d love to see you more quickly. If you ask for tons of time off before you start working — unless you have a very good reason — the employer may think, “How serious is this candidate about working?” In any case, a start-date extension is something to request after you’ve got the offer in hand, not before.

Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, former Fortune 500 VP and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new millennium workplace. Contact Liz at liz@asklizryan.com or join the Ask Liz Ryan online community at http://www.asklizryan/group.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely the author’s.

Stimulus Package to Increase Government Hiring

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/y9k5mvo

By Dona DeZube, Monster Finance Careers Expert

The federal government will need to hire an additional 200,000 workers over the next three years as a result of President Obama’s stimulus plan and additional spending included in his budget plan.

That may sound like a lot of jobs, but it’s just slightly less than half of the 384,000 additional employees Uncle Sam already needed to pick up between 2009 and 2012 just to replace existing federal employees expected to leave their jobs. “That 384,000 is a projection for retirements, voluntary separations, reductions in force and a few folks who will die on the job,” says John Palguta, vice president of policy for the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington, DC, advocacy group working to advance public-sector careers.

With a total of nearly 600,000 openings over the next three years, what options could there be for you?

About 85 percent of federal jobs are located outside Washington, DC. But, since many stimulus-related jobs involve command, control, tracking or oversight, a sizable proportion — up to 22 percent — could be located in the District of Columbia itself, Palguta says.

Who’s Hiring?

The federal government currently employs 1.9 million civilians — about the same number it did during the Kennedy administration. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton downsized the federal bureaucracy, while Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush increased it, Palguta says.

Some of this administration’s 200,000 extra workers will be added thanks to changing priorities. For example, President Obama’s 2010 budget increases funding for the Social Security Administration  (SSA), so it can hire additional employees to work through a backlog of cases. The agency will hire more than 5,000 people by September 2009, says Kia S. Green, an SSA spokesperson. “These include front-line positions in the local field offices and Teleservice Centers as well as legal support positions in our hearing offices,” she says.

Another budget priority — better care for veterans — resulted in a $25 billion increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs. “A good part of that will go into hiring more medical and health professionals in the VA,” Palguta says.

Jacque Simon, public policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, says agencies expected to add staff due directly to the stimulus include the Environmental Protection Agency; the Department of Defense; the Food and Drug Administration; the Border Patrol; the Small Business Administration; the departments of Labor, Education, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development; and the National Science Foundation.

Many agencies are still toting up the numbers. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates it will take tens of thousands of contractors and employees to handle clean up, assessments, design and monitoring of the projects in the areas it will target with stimulus money. These areas include Superfund sites, brownfields, leaking underground storage tanks, clean water, drinking water and reducing diesel emissions.

Bring on the Watchdogs

With so much stimulus money flowing out of Washington, DC, virtually every agency will have to hire additional auditors, attorneys and investigators to handle the fraud that will inevitably follow. In government, those positions are part of the Inspector General’s office within each agency or department.

“The Inspectors General are going to be beefing up staff,” Palguta says. The Department of Health & Human Services, for example, has $27 million for increased oversight. In addition, Congress slotted $50 million to create the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, a group of Inspectors General that will watch over stimulus spending.

Given the talk about tighter regulatory scrutiny of the financial markets, there will also likely be jobs openings at the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Government Accountability Office planned to start hiring 100 people familiar with government auditing by mid-March 2009, says Patrina Clark, deputy chief human capital officer.

Prior federal government auditing experience is great, but it’s not the only way to qualify for these positions. “If they’ve done any kind of state or government auditing, or they’ve audited public entities or nonprofits, that would be qualifying experience,” Clark says.

Focus on the Mission

If a federal job is your best career move, don’t look for a stimulus job — look for a government job, Palguta says. “Look at who’s got a job to fill and which agencies have a mission that you’re interested in,” he suggests. Gather career information by visiting the official federal government hiring site as well as the individual agency Web sites.

Expect to have a lot of company when you apply. In January 2009, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it wanted to hire 2,100 professional staffers, it received 230,000 applications. “There are a lot of people vying for those jobs,” an FBI spokesperson says.

As long as you’re not working in retail, chances are the federal government hires people from your profession, Simon says. For example, a VA hospital hires everyone from food-service workers right up to brain surgeons. Even at an advanced career level, professionals from information technology, legal, law enforcement, healthcare, science, engineering, program management, purchasing and education are all in demand.

And, working for the federal government often means swapping a bottom-line focus for a public-interest one. “You’re concerned with what’s in the best interest of your fellow citizens and how to best serve them,” she says.

Talk about this article and other employment news related to the stimulus on our Stimulus Jobs Discussion board.

Thirteen Networking Mistakes

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/m9yp8e

By Dan Woog, Monster Contributing Writer

You wouldn’t wear jeans to a job interview, but do you pay as much attention to job-hunting etiquette when networking? If you’re approaching potential contacts in an offhand way, you may be putting them off entirely. Learn what the most common networking mistakes are so you don’t have to make them.

Waiting

Many people start networking only after they’ve lost their jobs. Effective networking means creating contacts and relationships while you’re still employed.

Being Clueless

If you’re heading to a networking event, make sure you know why you’re going. Do you want a job? If so, are you seeking something specific, or will anything do? Are you looking for contacts or a mentor to provide guidance? As soon as someone starts talking with you, you have to hold up your end of the conversation. If you don’t know what you want, you can’t do that.

Being Unprepared

Thinking you know what you want is not the same as knowing it. Treat networking the same way you would an appearance at Carnegie Hall. Practice your pitch as well as your answers to questions about your career goals that might arise.

Forgetting Business Cards

There is nothing more embarrassing than establishing a good relationship with someone, extracting a pledge of help and then searching around for a cocktail napkin to write on. Spend a few extra bucks to print professional-looking cards on good-quality paper.

Using a Silly-Sounding Email Name

Sure, your friends know you as “SexyMama4U” or “TimeForHemp,” but when looking for work, stick to a serious email address, such as your real name.

Being Pompous

While you’re networking, you need to listen to what everyone else is saying. People help by offering advice. They are not interested in hearing how much you already know.

Monopolizing Someone’s Time

At a networking event, everyone wants to mingle. And if you’re networking over the phone or by email, understand that the person you’re speaking with has a life that extends beyond you.

Dressing Down

Look sharp at networking events. Mind your manners, shake hands firmly, stand up straight, make eye contact and show respect in any way you can. A networking event can be a dress rehearsal for a job interview, but no one will help you get your foot in the door if you give the impression that you’ll slouch through it once it’s open.

Being a Wallflower

Men and women with contacts and power meet many people; they remember only those who stand out from the crowd. Be assertive, and act like a leader. But don’t go overboard. You want to convey self-assurance, not obnoxiousness.

Being Passive

If someone says, “Sorry, we don’t have anything right now,” take a minute or two to ask follow-up questions: “Well, what’s the outlook for future possibilities? Do you know anyone else in the industry who might have something? Any thoughts on what my next step should be?” Persistence shows true interest on your part and may help the person you’re networking with come up with ideas he might otherwise overlook.

Lying

It’s tempting to say, “So-and-So gave me your name and told me to call.” It might even get you a meeting. But eventually Such-and-Such will learn that So-and-So did not tell you to call. And you’ll have burned not one, but two bridges.

Treating Your Networking Relationships as Short-Term Flings

No one likes to be used. Follow up every conversation with a thank-you note, email or call. Let your contact know whether his suggestions panned out or not. When your job search ends — for whatever reason — inform the person who has helped you. You may think your networking is over, but your paths may cross again.

Forgetting Where You Came From

Anyone who has ever networked, whether successfully or not, owes an obligation to all those who will network in the future. Return the favor and help someone else.

 

Why You Need a Job Search Champion

Article Source

Posted by: Meridith Levinson in Best Practices

Job search champions aggressively market job seekers to prospective employers, helping job seekers land new jobs more quickly.

Job search experts and hiring managers agree that networking is the most effective way to land a new job. But more important than an extensive network is a network that includes one or more job search champions. 

Job search champions are people in your network who know you well and whose names would appear on your list of professional references were it not for the fact that they don’t wait for prospective employers to call them to endorse you; they proactively and aggressively help you find work by drawing on their networks and marketing you to prospective employers, says Howard Seidel, a partner with Essex Partners, which provides career management and job transition services.

“The champions are real advocates for you,” says Seidel. “They grease the skids and say, ‘This guy is fantastic. You have to talk to this person. He did a great job here and would be terrific for you.’ They get prospective employers really excited.”

Having a job search champion can make all the difference in the length of your job search. Seidel, a career and executive coach, believes job seekers with champions land jobs faster because champions give job seekers entrée into potential job opportunities.

“Getting in the door is the biggest obstacle today for job seekers,” notes Seidel. “There are hundreds of résumés for a role and so many screeners. A champion can get you through the screeners to the people hiring. If you can get in that way, the hiring process tends to go faster and you come in with a lot of good will.”

Moreover, adds Seidel, by championing the job seeker, champions predispose hiring managers to liking the candidate. This is particularly helpful in a recession, when hiring managers are inundated with applicants for opens positions, asking gotcha questions during job interviews, and looking for any reason to screen out candidates.

“If you’re being introduced [to a prospective employer] by a champion, you’re going in there with a leg up because the hiring manager is [now] excited about what you can do for them,” says Seidel. “If you’re not going in there with a champion, you’ve got to do all the work yourself.”

In a market where job searches for CIO positions are lasting an average of a year, having a champion gives a job seeker a clear advantage over the competition. The more champions you have, the more effective and powerful your search is going to be.

Use Numbers to Highlight Your Accomplishments

Source:  http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/numbers-to-highlight-accomplishments/article.aspx

By Peter Vogt, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

 If you were an employer looking at a resume, which of the following entries would impress you more?

• Wrote news releases.
• Wrote 25 news releases in a three-week period under daily deadlines.

Clearly, the second statement carries more weight. Why? Because it uses numbers to quantify the writer’s accomplishment, giving it a context that helps the interviewer understand the degree of difficulty involved in the task.

Numbers are powerful resume tools that will help your accomplishments get the attention they deserve from prospective employers. With just a little thought, you can find effective ways to quantify your successes on your resume. Here are a few suggestions:

Think Money

Organizations are and always will be concerned about money. So as you contemplate your accomplishments and prepare to present them on your resume, think about ways you’ve saved, earned or managed money in your internships, part-time jobs and extracurricular activities so far. A few possibilities that might appear on a typical resume:

• Identified, researched and recommended a new Internet service provider, cutting the company’s online costs by 15 percent.
• Wrote prospect letter that has brought in more than $25,000 in donations so far.
• Managed a student organization budget of more than $7,000.

Think Time

You’ve heard the old saying, “Time is money,” and it’s true. Companies and organizations are constantly looking for ways to save time and do things more efficiently. They’re also necessarily concerned about meeting deadlines, both internal and external. So whatever you can do on your resume to show that you can save time, make time or manage time will grab your reader’s immediate attention. Here are some time-oriented entries that might appear on a typical resume:

• Assisted with twice-monthly payroll activities, ensuring employees were paid as expected and on time.
• Suggested procedures that decreased average order-processing time from 10 minutes to five minutes.

Think Amounts

It’s very easy to neglect mentioning how much or how many of something you’ve produced or overseen. There’s a tendency instead to simply pluralize your accomplishments — e.g., “wrote news releases” or “developed lesson plans” -– without including important specifics — e.g., “wrote 25 news releases” or “developed lesson plans for two classes of 20 students each.”

Don’t fall into the trap of excluding numbers. Instead, include amounts, like these:

• Recruited 25 members for a new student environmental organization.
• Trained five new employees on restaurant operations procedures.
• Created process that bolstered production 25 percent

The more you focus on money, time and amounts in relation to your accomplishments, the better you’ll present your successes and highlight your potential — and the more you’ll realize just how much you really have to offer prospective employers. Add it all up, and you’ll see that playing the numbers game is yet another way to convince employers that you should be a part of their equation for success.

Job Searching in a Shaky Economy

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/l3htjm

By Kerry Knapp, Monster Contributing Writer

With the economy ailing, stock markets in free fall and job cuts making headlines day after day, it’s easy to give in to the doom and gloom. Especially if you’re looking for employment. And yet, people are still working, consumers are still buying goods and factories are still churning out products. Even companies laying off employees in some areas are still hiring in others. There may be fewer jobs out there, but they haven’t disappeared entirely. So how do you find a job when times are hard?

In this article, we’ll bypass standard job-hunting techniques and focus on timely strategies for finding work when the economy’s stuck on life support. Here’s your prescription:

Get your skills working for you!

When the competition’s fierce, you have to stand out.

List your top skills and the achievements you’re most proud of, and play them up in interviews. Now’s not the time to be shy. Pay special attention to soft skills that can be transferred to a wide variety of positions, like communication, teamwork and leadership. If your resumé is looking a little sparse, volunteer or work part-time work to give it a shot in the arm.

Market yourself

Like it or not, you’ve got to sell yourself to prospective employers.

Step 1 focused on perfecting your product (that’s you!). Now it’s time to think about the packaging. Start with a flawless resumé and compelling cover letters.

Then dress for success, rehearse your sales pitch and practise your interview techniques to make sure you communicate clearly and effectively.

Finally, you’ve got to get that project to market. Develop a marketing plan that utilizes all available resources to find job leads, including research, job fairs, recruiters and personal referrals, and lets you effectively represent yourself to prospective employers. Set realistic goals and determine your time frame.

Make your plan as detailed as possible. If you can stick to it, you’ll set yourself apart from everyone else who has lost confidence and given up the search.

Start early

When times are tough, some younger job seekers choose to go back to school or prolong their studies. Others put off or abandon their job search all together. For you, this is an excellent opportunity to get in there early. By looking for employment while others are sidelined, you cut your competition in half.

If you’re a student, take advantage of campus career centres and job fairs as early as possible.

Network, network, network!

Work all your contacts, not just for job leads but also for introductions to employees at companies that interest you and people who can provide vital information on trends affecting your field.

Get the word out that you’re looking for work. Talk to professional associations, fellow job seekers, past employers, school career placement staff and even your Great Aunt Matilda. Don’t be shy to ask friends of friends for favours, and don’t forget online networks like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Target your job search

Concentrate your job search on organizations most likely to be hiring. Read the business section of local newspapers to learn which companies are expanding or what new projects are getting under way.

You can also find out what industries are still experiencing job growth by using websites like the Canadian government’s Job Futures or Looking Ahead, employment indexes and information on industry trends.

Good bets include small to medium-sized businesses of 200 to 300 people, which experts say account for most hiring across the country, along with “recession-proof” industries like healthcare, education, environmental sciences, security and government.

Broaden your search techniques

To improve your chances of finding employment, try new ways of getting in touch with employers.

Ask job holders in your industry for an “informational interview” just to sound them out on industry trends and labour market realities. Or place “cold calls” (calls to people who can hire you but whom you don’t know) to ask employers if you can meet with them—even if they haven’t advertised a position. Use the opportunity to bring up your skills and qualifications.

Informational interviewing and cold calls are great ways to get your foot in the door and tap into the hidden job market, the great majority of jobs that are never advertised in newspapers.

Be flexible

We all go into the job market with visions of scoring a cushy $100K dream job with full benefits and a company car. Well, best put that dream on hold a little longer!

As a new recruit, you may have reduce your expectations and settle for an entry-level position, a lower salary or fewer benefits. You might also have to consider moving—literally—to a hotter job market.

To really put the odds in your favour, you may even have to shift career tracks—at least in the short term. Instead of insisting on a position as an investment advisor, for instance, consider starting in a related field like banking instead. (Remember those transferable skills? This is where they come in handy.)

Consider part-time or casual work

Don’t rule out temporary assignments, part-time positions, job-sharing, leave replacements and other short-term contracts, internships and project-oriented roles—maybe even volunteer work and unpaid contract work, for a limited time. While opportunities like these may not be what you had in mind, they can provide steady income, a chance to network and invaluable experience while you continue to look for full-time employment. They can also give you exposure to fields you might not get to explore otherwise. Who knows, some could even turn into full-time jobs down the road!

 

Think outside the cubicle

If you’re the entrepreneurial type, why not create your own job? With employers reticent to take on extra staff, this could be the ideal time to leverage your skills through self-employed contract or consulting work.

Don’t panic!

Hunting for a job hunt is always an emotionally charged process. In a challenging economy, it’s twice as stressful.

In the last major economic downturn, many first-time job hunters reacted by abandoning their job search or picking up a study program that really didn’t interest them. Be careful not to make rash decisions, and understand that finding a job may take a lot of time and work. Tackle each step as it comes up, and keep your sight firmly on your goals. In time, you’ll get there!

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