You Do Know the Job Market Has Changed, Right?
You know it.
The job market has changed. Right?
Once, managing your career was like navigating an open expressway. You knew the rules of the road – you could speed up. Change lanes at will. Slow down or even exit when it suited you.
Today, those options are disappearing.
Machine automation, supported by first-level artificial intelligence tools, is dehumanizing how you look for a job.
In the past, career coaches waxed eloquently about the art of finding a better job.
Art? You know that’s crazy.
Remember those wide-open freeways? Automation and AI are eliminating that available lane.
All that traffic is jockeying to get into the two lanes that remain open. That is what the management and executive job market looks like.
To succeed, you must have a plan, a Google Maps equivalent for your career that provides options to improve your journey.
Email Subject Line: How to Get Noticed
Do you enjoy wasting your time? No one does, especially when it comes to marketing emails. Watch this video for helpful tips to maximize your value.
Here Is Why You Must Rehearse for Job Interviews
Thirteen years ago, an unknown systems engineer for Saudi Aramco, Mohammed Qahtani, walked onto a stage in Las Vegas and enthralled the crowd with a compelling presentation regarding the power of words.
His was the winning presentation for the Toastmasters International contest that night.
Here is an important takeaway. Words are made more powerful when they are presented with care, empathy, and precise timing. Words are more effective when the presenter takes the time to rehearse — the tone of his voice, the pace of his speech, and the timing in delivering critical points.
A great speech delivered to an admiring crowd begins with the lonely work of research, then writing and rewriting, followed by exhausting rehearsal and revision — time and time again the presenter practices until a good script becomes a powerful presentation. It is in the painstaking rehearsal in which powerful words become poignant and memorable.
Most of you will never venture onto the stage for in a global speech contest, but the years that Mr. Qahtani invested in becoming the best Toastmaster in the world provides a remarkable example of how research, writing, and the hard work of rehearsal can make a big difference in our lives – for our careers.
Each year thousands of managers and executives fail to win their dream job because they did not excel in the interview. Not to diminish Mr. Qahtani’s remarkable presentation, but the truth is that the job interview is the most challenging form of communication.
Let me explain. That night in Las Vegas, Mr. Qahtani had control of the stage – the time and the subject matter. The only interruption was the laughter of the audience.
A job interview, on the other hand, is a presentation that must be memorable with compelling stories and enlightening facts, but it is also interactive. Someone is always interrupting you with another question. You do not have control of the stage or the time.
In fact, succeeding in a job interview requires as much rehearsal as any successful keynote presentation before thousands of people.
I can already hear the pushback. That your point is a bridge too far.
My response: I have interviewed thousands of people in my 27 years of global executive search and the vast majority were not successful because they came to the table unprepared.
To watch the entire award-winning speech, with the touching completion, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqq1roF4C8s
Unlock Your Career Potential: Four Expert Tips
This is not easy to accomplish, but if you follow these tips, invest the time in building relationships, and adhere to this straightforward game plan, you can unlock your potential, achieving greater career success and satisfaction.
Here are four steps you should take to elevate your career, enhance your satisfaction, and boost your happiness.
Spoiler alert: Do not think the shortness of this list means it represents a quick and easy path to career success.
That does not exist.
- Build and nurture a network of relationships. Connections and contacts are not relationships.
- Establish a career plan with personal performance goals in addition to the KPIs established by your boss. Those are for the company. These are for you. Review your performance quarterly and annually with your spouse or partner.
- Keep a journal. Begin each day recognizing those things you are grateful for. Reflect on how you can improve professionally and personally.
- Be your best each day – in how you treat people and how you perform.
This simple game plan will set you apart
The Secret to Opening Doors in Your Career Journey
Managers and executives who create a career plan and follow it — performance metrics and all — typically have a more prosperous, rewarding career than those who depend on destiny or luck.
And guess what? Research shows that you will find greater happiness and contentment in your relationship when you include your spouse or partner in the process, from annual revisions to discussing how you did against your goals.
So you have two choices here:
You can sit back and accept what comes your way, or
Or you can set specific goals and together work to achieve success.
Before you jump to answer: Remember the words of the lovable Yogi Berra, the legendary NewYork Yankees catcher who said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might end up someplace else.”
And that someplace else may not be a very nice place.