IS YOUR CAREER STRATEGY IN F-O-C-U-S?

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

Why IS a ‘JOB” your FOCUS?• My Challenge to YOU today is to FIGURE out:

1. What PROBLEM you SOLVE?

2. WHO has that PROBLEM?

3. WHERE they need that PROBLEM solved?

4. WHEN they need it solved?

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• F ~ First Decide• O ~ Organize• C ~ Communicate• U ~ Unique Value• S ~ Sustainment

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• F ~ First Decide• Square One

• Helps you Sort out Problems You can Solve• Pick ONE or TWO –

• Where – Geography, Industry• When – Timing of Need, Life Stage, etc• Higher # = Less FOCUS

• We need a PLAN to get back to EARTH with time to spare• (Apollo 13)

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• O ~ Organize• Who

• Your Network Targets• Target Companies

• 25-50 to start with

• What• Job Boards as a Beacon

• Where opportunities might be

• Where• Geography• Industry

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• C ~ Communicate• Clear Outbound Message

• 2 Min Drill (elevator pitch)

• Persistent versus Pest• Press toward the Pest line ===

• Pain Letters• What problem do you solve?

• Practice by Doing• Frequency Framework

• See Next Slide

• Email• Use to Set up Face to Face later

• Social Media (LinkedIN, etc)• Use to Be Found• Can be great for network touch points

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• C ~ Communicate (continued) • Frequency Framework

• Business Hours - Daily• 9a – 11a & 1p – 4p

• Used for In-Person & Phone Focus• Other times as needed• Goals:

• 3+ Unique Touches / Day• Equals 15 / Week• Equals 60 / Month• Can this number be HIGHER?

• Evenings / Weekend Time• Research / Job Boards• Email• Phone/Meet – hard to reach folks

• Downtime To Rest • Full-Time Job Search IS a J-O-B

• Exercise, Family, Hobbies

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• U ~ Unique Value• Accomplishments

• What YOU did to improve situation?• Used as bullets in Resume

• Quantified in %, #’s, $

• Write as many as you can• Can customize resume to job spec

• USE WHAT YOU HAVE• Not what you WISH you had

• Apollo 13

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• S ~ Sustainment• Practice

• Fail Often and Inexpensively• You have more than ONE Bullet ====>

• Frequency• Find a Daily Cadence

• Find Encouragement As Needed• OJT• Cheerleaders

• P-D-C-A cycle• Always improve

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• Let’s Practice (Group Exercise)• Quantify• Commit to be Accountable• Measure Yourself

• Be Transparent

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?• Informational Interviews – Why Yours Are NOT Working

1. Weak Questions

2. Low Enthusiasm

3. You are Late

4. No Clear Agenda

5. You Don’t Have Data to Back You Up

6. You Don’t Show Gratitude

7. You Ask For A Job

8. No Call To Action

9. You Don’t Give Back

10. You Don’t Send Thank You Notes

• Source: Informational Interviews – Bob McIntosh• http://thingscareerrelated.com/2014/09/01/10-reasons-why-your-informational-meetings-arent-w

orking-in-your-job-search/

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

•Pain LettersYou'll send your Pain Letter and your Human-Voiced Resume to your hiring manager, whose name and title you'll snag on LinkedIn, and in your Pain Letter you'll talk not about yourself but about the person you're writing to.

Here are the five things we hear over and over again from people who have gotten into the Pain Letter and Human-Voiced Resume groove and started writing to hiring managers directly:

1) I feel like it's me on the page, and not a sterile version of myself. I'd rather have a hiring manager know right up front who I am before I waste time (mine and his or hers) going any further in the process.

2) When I get a response to my Pain Letters, the conversation is at a dramatically higher level immediately than the standard 'Here's the next step in our hiring process' conversation. The manager already knows I know the territory.

3) It's very good for me to do the research these Pain Letters require. It's growing business-intelligence muscles I need anyway.

4) I am getting better at Pain-Spotting, and it's an empowering feeling.

5) As soon as I sent my first Pain Letter, I realized that I was a consultant -- not just that, but that I've been a consultant for years!

Is Your Career Strategy in F-O-C-U-S?

• THANK YOU• Glen Hall, ghall@coltecconsulting.com• Other Sources:

• Russ Knight & OJTTulsa.org Leadership Team – Frequency Framework• Pain Letter – Liz Ryan

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20131016170330-52594-frustrating-job-search-try-a-pain-letter