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4 Simple To Dos After an Informational Interview

3/6/2018

 
PictureA great question to ask during your information interview: If you were to hire someone to work with you today, what factors would be most important in your hiring decision and why?
When considering the informational interview process, you've reviewed your Alumni network, talked with past colleagues and strategically identified professionals in the field or organization that most interest you. You’ve found that many people are happy to share their time and insights.

Now what?!?

The single best thing you can do to find a job is to start informational interviewing. 

Informational interviews can open up huge opportunities. Don’t let all that amazing energy go to waste!


To Dos After an Informational Interview:

  • Show Appreciation: Your thank you letter can be surprisingly powerful if you take the time to tell your Interviewer why you appreciate the insights and thoughts that they shared with you.

  • Add Social Media Connections: Make the effort to connect with your Interviewer via social media to give your new relationship a chance to grow and foster greater connection in the future.

  • Mark Your Calendar: Put a 15 minute reminder in your calendar a month after your interview to send a quick follow up message reiterating your thanks to the Interviewer while mentioning an item or two that you found particularly helpful from your conversation. If they mentioned challenges in their industry or company, you could offer an interesting article or solution that you’ve heard about since your informational interview.

  • Honor the Process: You’ve had a great experience, maybe learned more about the industry you want your career to expand into, possibly even landed a job. Always make sure when engaging with other professionals that you pay it forward when someone asks you to meet for a cup of coffee.

You have a lot to offer to others, no matter what stage of career you are in. Our multi-generational hyper-connected workforce has more opportunities than ever to leverage your networks and open doors to new opportunities - for yourself and others.
Connect with me on LinkedIn!

Author

Heather Palow, Career and Business Coach who empowers entrepreneurs, career changers and people who want to take control of their lives by clarifying their strengths and achieving their goals.

Want better curb appeal for your LinkedIn® Profile? Clean Up Your URL!

1/22/2018

 
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Have you ever tried to share your LinkedIn profile URL with someone or thought to add it to your resume only to copy and paste a horrible long list full of numbers and letters?

It’s not pretty!


1 new LinkedIn profile is created every 4 minutes.
LinkedIn’s automatic algorithm can’t possibly keep up with our desire to have a URL worthy of sharing.

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to create your own semi-customized LinkedIn profile URL. LinkedIn has standardized the first half of the URL address, every profile starts with:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/

And now the customization begins. . .

Custom public profile URLs are available on a first-come, first-served basis so if you have a fairly common name, such as Jane Doe, you might want to be creative as to how you customize your URL. You could consider adding a keyword that fits your personal brand such as “JaneDoeWriter” “JaneDoeVT” or “JaneDoeProjectManager.”

Here’s LinkedIn’s official instructions on how to complete the customization process:

Customize Your LinkedIn URL
Yahoo! You followed their directions and have a snazzy customized URL… now what?

Here’s 3 cool things to do with it:
  • Include the URL to your LinkedIn profile on your resume, up at the top with your name, email address and phone number.
  • Include your LinkedIn Profile URL in your email signature.
  • Add your LinkedIn Profile URL to your business cards.

Feeling like the rest of your profile could use a bit of a makeover as well?

If you haven’t maintained your LinkedIn profile lately then it may be time to set up a free exploratory call to see about having me work some profile magic so you get noticed in 2018 and beyond!

Heather Palow, Career and Business Coach who empowers entrepreneurs, career changers and people who want to take control of their lives by clarifying their strengths and achieving their goals.

To Educate or Not to Educate?

12/5/2017

 
During the free exploratory session I have with potential career coaching clients, I often hear the question:
Do I need to go back to school or get more training?
The answer is a resounding:
Yes, as a believer in lifetime learning I advocate for all types of education and the power that knowledge has on the career change process.
PictureA cairn consists of a pile of rocks, typically 3 feet high, and is more common in the eastern United States. They are visible in even the worst conditions, helping hikers to find their way home. It is said to be good luck if you add a rock to the cairn, which may explain their enormous size.
When people meet with me, they get an unbiased viewpoint that can help them focus on clarifying their educational goals in relation to their career.
Additional training may be needed in your next career if it will support you in obtaining:

  • A more meaningful, purposeful, successful life.
  • A broader network to engage with to build “influencers” to provide support along the way.
  • More value in your career than the cost of the education.

Self care is another reason why I advocate for participating in a class, going to a seminar, checking out a workshop, or even listening to a podcast. There are a ton of educational resources available to teach you about deep breathing, mindfulness, positive intent, having fun in the workplace, and so much more. When deciding on your next educational endeavor, you may want to consider your learning style. For example, taking an online class might feel really draining to one person and really energizing to another.

One might even consider taking a short course in photography, cooking a specialty food, or learning what trail cairns are for, who knows? The hope is that by exploring something that you don’t already know about, you gain a new perspective and meet people outside of your current circle.

2, 4 or 6 years of higher education may or may not be the key to unlocking your ideal career path but I would guess that a 2, 4 or 6 week short course will give you some insights you didn’t have before, and might be your cairn that helps you navigate your career path.

Author

Heather Palow, Career and Business Coach who empowers entrepreneurs, career changers and people who want to take control of their lives by clarifying their strengths and achieving their goals.

A love letter to time.

11/20/2017

 
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​Dear Time,

You have been quite a tricky one to figure out. You have been both a friend and an enemy. In my personal quest to make meaning in my life, I realize that I need to figure out how to navigate you and by doing so, stop fighting you. I just updated my iPhone and I noticed that Apple felt it was important to add seconds onto the timer function I often use. I guess hours and minutes were not enough, suddenly, seconds mattered. What is our society coming to? Even more reason to develop a more respectful and sustainable relationship with you.
 
My friend Tammy mentioned you over the summer, as she, who has been battling with you for decades, decided to finally find a way to live with you, peacefully. As she proclaimed that she was no longer a slave to you, would no longer feel your squeeze, and refused to be bullied by you, I was excited for her, but pondered if I too, had as difficult a relationship with you as she had. I immediately thought, “nah….” But as weeks went by and I continued to reflect, I don’t remember exactly when it hit me, but I woke up one day and thought, “Oh no…it’s true. I hate you.” Thus started my own journey of understanding your role in my life – how you provide for me, punish and manipulate me. And that perhaps, I am not alone in this feeling. That you do this to all of us. Or said another way, we allow you to.
 
At any given moment, I feel like I don’t have enough of you, Time. Though I have the same amount of time that every other person has, 24 hours just doesn’t seem like enough. I am constantly trying to find the 25th hour in the day. Because I tell myself that I would be happier if I just had that one more hour to get X done. Funny enough, whatever X is, it never seems to be work related. Although there isn’t as much time in my schedule for even those tasks, X is often more self-serving, like meditating more, slowing down and catching my breath, being mindful, or spending time with those I love.
 
As a society, we try to manipulate time by changing it (daylight savings), managing it (clocks, alarms, chimes), negotiating with it (“please give me one more day with my loved one before they pass”), and fighting the science behind it (Albert Einstein's 1905 special relativity challenge.) Time has defined my success in life. I would write out long lists of what needed to get done in a day and I was only happy if I could get the ridiculous number of things on that list done. If I didn’t, then I considered myself a failure or “less than.” Was that the right way to judge myself? Well, perhaps not, but the entire western society that surrounded me sent messages that time was to be feared and would become my arbiter on judgment day.
 
“If you are killing time, it’s not murder. It’s suicide.”  - Lou Holtz
 
The bad news is, time flies. The good news is, you and I are pilots of our lives.
I have control – you have control. But do I choose to take control? Not always. The control I sometimes seek is to go back in life. Not to change anything, but to feel a few things twice. What it felt like to be wrapped in my mother’s arms when I came out of the cold Atlantic Ocean after swallowing what felt like a gallon of salt water, what it felt like to hold my father’s arthritic hands, knowing that by being held, his pain was relieved, or what it felt like watching a live concert where I knew every word to every song as did everyone around me and so was not embarrassed to scream the lyrics at the top of my lungs. Those moments. But you can’t, they are gone. You have to make new ones. Sometimes, there is no next time, no second, third, or fourth chances, no pause button or time out. Sometimes it’s just now or never. Then what?
 
Humans seem to freeze when they face a “now time.” We so desperately want “time” and then, when time is given to us or a moment is offered up to take action, we freeze, unable to grab the opportunity and act.
 
“If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.”
 
Kevin Ngo’s quote reminds us that we are in some way in control of you time, but not so much how fast or slow we go, but how we use you. How much of my life has been spent trying to beat you, Time?
 
I struggle to make the most of you, Time, yet I find myself in a constant battle with you. You never seem to give back all that you take from me. I fall prey to your time vampires, you know those time-sucking people, projects, and tasks that take precious time away from your day, usually unexpectedly. You parade around every morning, teasing me, making me think that a totally unscheduled day will remain so, but there is always something that you throw in that takes you away from me. An unexpected emergency, call, or “client must have” that takes away precious hours of my day. So, I schedule myself to the minute, because when I schedule, then there isn’t time for time vampires. I use my schedule as a stake that I can throw at time vampires. And it works, most of the time. But occasionally, I throw the schedule stake and it bounces off. And suddenly, I have both a full schedule and a time vampire to deal with. No wonder I am exhausted. But I refuse to fall on your stake any longer.
 
Part of making meaning in my life means bringing back control over my schedule. And although as a Professional Certified Coach, I make meaning in my life every day I am working, I crave more meaning making. And that will take reflection. And time to do that reflection. And I’m a hypocrite if I tell others the #1 priority in their lives is their own self-reflection when I can’t seem to find the “time” to do it myself. I am reminded that if I don’t have time for what matters, I need to stop doing things that don’t.
 
It’s time to make meaning through working with time, instead of against it.
But I also need to remember, that sometimes, time needs, well, time.
​So, I’ll also be patient.
 
-AM

Dog Days of Summer: Five Things My Dog Taught Me About Career Communications

9/4/2017

 
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Resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. This is what I mean by career communications. Conversations with your boss are another thing entirely. As a self-employed writer, I know that those kinds of conversations can be tricky. My dog teaches me about those, certainly, but more germane to this blog post are the things he teaches me about writing resumes, cover letters, and especially LinkedIn profiles.

Dewey, like many rescue dogs of his mixed breed (Pitbull/Lab), is thoughtful, playful, dependable, easy going, and yet demanding. He knows all too well how to make his opinions known. He talks and groans and howls and barks, but more than that his great communication attributes are as clear as the nose on his face. He uses them to teach me how to do a better job writing career communications for my clients. His suggestions are pertinent to them, too.

1. Authenticity. There is no mistaking my dog’s meaning. His very loose grasp of language notwithstanding, his body language and facial expressions speak volumes. Your career communications should be such authentic expressions. Your resume portrays the best that you can be at work. Be very clear about your successes, your strengths, your goals, and most importantly, your discriminators. LinkedIn is your opportunity to get more personable and tell the story of what makes you your best. Think of your LinkedIn profile as the mean between your resume and your Facebook page. Be yourself, but a little bit tucked-in.

2. Patience. Dewey waits for me to respond. Even when we hike together, he runs ahead, and turns to wait for me to say he’s a good boy. Patience is a virtue that is incredibly difficult to cultivate during a career search, or even while writing a resume. Take your time. Breathe. Do a good job.

3. Persistence. At the end of the day, Dewey stands at my side here at my desk and nudges me. This is an exciting proposition because at my office, I use an exercise ball for a chair. Each nudge rocks the boat considerably. His nudge means it’s time to take a break. Time to turn off the computer. Time for a walk. If his nudge bares no fruit, he waits at my side quietly, and then sticks his nose under the crook of my left elbow, quickly throwing his head back and lifting my left hand off of the keyboard. If this tactic doesn’t work, he places both front feet on the exercise ball and stands up. In this posture, Dewey will not be denied. I inevitably acquiesce.

Dewey knows best. Persist in your career communications, too. If your cover letter does not inspire a response, rewrite it and try again. If you are lucky, you are applying for a position at a busy, active place. Such pursuits are often more worthwhile.

4. Playfulness. My office is downstairs. Sometimes on a whim, Dewey leaps out of his dog bed near my desk, runs up the stairs, and fetches his rawhide bone. As he runs back down the stairs and reenters the office, he gets a certain mischievously look in his eyes as if to say, “Mom, I have a great idea,” or “Mom, look what I have!” He wags his tail furiously, throws the bone down at my feet, and bows. At this point, he is fairly irresistible, and he knows it. The game is afoot. In your career communications, keep a sense of playfulness. Know when and how to use it.

5. Friends. Dewey is the goodwill ambassador of every walk we take. He makes friends easily. And as a pack animal, he depends upon the friends he makes. You should, too. If you are not good at singing your own praises, enlist the help of friends (like me). On the other hand, if you are too good at singing your own praises, enlist the help of others (like me, for example).  

Your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile may be the most important investment in both time and money that you can make in your career search. Treat them as my sweet Dewey treats me - with authenticity, patience, persistence, playfulness, and friends - and you’ll reap the rewards. ​


How strong are you?

8/13/2016

 
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I just unveiled a new part of my website that is focused on the work that I do with Strengths Based Coaching focused on Clifton's StrengthsFinder assessment. I am a “Strength Strategist.” I help companies and individuals identify their strengths and devise the right strategies to put these strengths to work. Each person is born different. You must do everything in your power to help them capitalize on this difference. The question is, do you know what strengths YOU bring to the table? 

​I have worked with the StrengthsFinder Assessment ever since Lu Setnicka introduced me to it when I was on the Board of the Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition. And it changed my life. I now bring StrengthsFinder to both individuals as well as to teams around the country. And each time, I show them that we need to focus on our strengths and not our weaknesses...as we are not broken, it is more so that we don't truly understand what our conscious strengths actually are. 

As Marcus Buckingham likes to remind us in "Go Put Your Strengths To Work", when you were a child, you knew what your strengths were. You may not have known what they were called but you knew what kept drawing you back, you knew which situations thrilled you. And you sought them out. You knew which kids you wanted to hang out with. You knew not only which subjects interested you, but you knew your yearnings and passions intensely. And then at some point, your childish clarity faded. And you listened to the world more closely than you did to yourself. The world was pervasive and loud and so you resigned yourself to conforming to its demands. You had to get into college and study what “others” advised you to study. You had to get a job and pay the bills. Once you got the job, it came with a job description and a performance appraisal and a career leader and a set of customers and to manage all this for you, a boss. In the midst of all of these expectations, your strengths became, if not irrelevant, then merely a curiosity, to be touched on briefly during your annual review before the serious business of your performance and your development needs and your career were discussed (Buckingham, 2007).

Now, as an adult, most conversations at work do not concern your strengths. Your world at work isn’t much concerned with you and your strengths. A strength is an activity that makes you feel strong. It invigorates you, you look forward to it, sure you may feel nervous about it, but at the end you won’t feel ‘thank goodness that is over’. So then it makes sense to look at weaknesses not so much as things that you aren't good at doing, but more so a weakness is one that robs you of energy or drains you. A strength takes virtually no effort to do. You even use your strengths when you are hungry, angry, stressed, tired, over worked, overwhelmed, etc. because they don't make you more hungry, angry, stressed, tired, over worked, or overwhelmed, they make you less because when we use our true strengths, they lift us up and give us energy. So you are walking around work, completely clueless as to what your true strengths are...no kidding you have the 3pm slump...because you most likely are doing work that is far from your true unconscious strengths. Isn't it time to dive deep and really understand what drives you? 

To start your journey on using your strength, consider what is stopping you. You must consider the possibility that what is stopping you is what you believe; that in effect you are stopping yourself.

Still with me?  Then book a few minutes with me to discuss your strengths as you see them now and let me show you how to uncover your real strengths and help you develop a plan to use them...every day, in every way. And benefit from an action that takes no energy but instead fuels you. 

A Little Reminder...

10/8/2015

 
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Unhappy? Quit your job now!

5/20/2014

 
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By Nicole Goodkind May 19, 2014 1:14 PM Daily Ticker

At almost any office in America you’ll meet at least one disgruntled employee who talks about quitting or finding a new job but never does. Now companies like Amazon and Zappos are taking notice and offering incentives to get those unhappy employees out of the office for good. Zappos offers any employee who’s not interested in staying $2,000 to leave and Amazon offers fulfillment center employees up to $5,000 to ditch their jobs if they’re dissatisfied.

It sounds counterintuitive… why would a company pay an employee to leave? As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos puts it in his shareholder letter, “the goal is to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want. In the long run, an employee staying somewhere they don't want to be isn't healthy for the employee or the company.” Companies with engaged employees simply make more money. Gallup found companies that have 9.3 engaged employees for every disengaged employee make 147% more in earnings per share than competitors.

Related: 93% of Americans agree THIS is the worst part of office life



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