When looking for work most realize professional contacts can help open doors and secure interviews. Guess what else they can do? The contacts you have strong relationships with can help you negotiate a higher salary. Many fail to consider and sell the potential value of the professional relationships they have to prospective employers. Don’t make this mistake! It took me a while to figure this out in my own career. Now I’m fully aware if a company hires me they are essentially getting my Rolodex right along with me.

So, have you taken stock of your professional relationships? Are you aware of who you know who may help a prospective employer grow his business, solve a problem or accomplish a goal? Do the decision makers you interview with ever hear about who you know and how those connections would benefit them? Get comfortable with the idea it is reasonable to expect employers to pay you for who you know and make sure you are giving this element of your worth due consideration.

Keeping in mind the value contacts bring to professional worth, it makes sense job seekers not only take stock of who they are connected to in the present, but weigh who they should try to connect to for the future. This is something easy to work on while looking for a job. If you’re doing things right, you’re already networking to increase your visibility and professional reach during your search. Take it up a notch and think strategically. Don’t just focus exclusively on contacts you have now or are meeting through networking who are capable of getting you closer to a job. Also consider who could make you more valuable once you have a job. What types of contacts would the companies you want to work for love for you to have? Seek out and build relationships with those contacts. Only good can come from expanding your professional network.

At the end of the day, be aware of the value of the professional relationships you’ve worked hard to develop. They matter.

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When mapping out a strategy for your job search, it’s easy to focus exclusively on what you should be doing and leave out the when. It is important to realize the impact timing can have on how successful your efforts are with a decision maker.

I’ll share a story of one of my more embarrassing moments as a recruiter to make my case. For those who don’t know, third party recruiters make a lot of sales calls. A big part of the job is reaching out to as many decision makers as possible. Though I preferred to build relationships through networking, the need to cold call professionals in the industries I serviced was unavoidable. So I got it in my mind one day that I wanted to connect with a partner at a local accounting firm. Thinking only of my interests, I picked up the phone and gave him a call. He answered immediately. I had his direct line, you see. After taking a moment, probably a longer moment than necessary, to lay out for him my reason for calling and expressing my interest in meeting with him, he sighed. What came next took me by surprise. “Do you have any idea what day it is, Miss?” The question was posed with a bit of acid in his voice. I couldn’t imagine why he was being so short with me. How was I supposed to know what was going on for him that day? If he was busy he shouldn’t of picked up his phone. That’s where my mind was. I honestly can’t even remember if I answered his question, which was probably okay since it struck me as rhetorical. He continued with, “I suggest you find out!” The next sound was him hanging up the phone.

I’m not sure how many of you have ever been hung up on, but trust me when I say it’s not a pleasant experience. Of course, my immediate reaction was to peg him a jerk and spout off about not wanting to do business with a person like that anyway. A short while later, probably after a few cups of coffee, my brain joined the party. Suddenly I knew what I had done. Without thinking I had called to chat up the partner of an accounting firm on April 15th. Tax Day! I wanted to crawl under a rock. Here was a man, likely fielding all sorts of last minute calls from clients, who got stuck on the receiving end of a sales call on one of the busiest days of the year for him. I’m sure he felt the same way about me that I feel about telemarketers who call during dinner hours. Inconsiderate schmucks!

Think about the times you’ve decided to reach out to decision makers and ask yourself if you might be to blame for the cool or rushed reception you received. From the quick survey I’ve done of the job seekers I know, many are inadvertently calling hiring managers during peak hours. They are picking up the phone when it suits them. Not a good way to generate positive results. If you aren’t in a good position to guess the best times to catch a decision maker in a receptive mode, ask them. You’d be amazed the difference simply asking a decision maker what days and times are best for connecting with them via phone can make.

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“What are your weaknesses?”

This particular interview question has come up several times in conversations this week. It’s certainly not a new question. Since it seems to be a popular topic, I figured I’d take a stab at sharing my views on how to approach it with an answer.

When companies ask this question what they often hear is how candidates are perfectionists, workaholics, quick to say yes to what is asked of them, etc. In a nutshell, candidates are determined to share weaknesses that they think will also come through as a positive to an employer. I should add they claim the above weaknesses even when they aren’t necessarily true for them. The thing is, that strategy is so overused it does more to stimulate a gag reflex than it does to bring an employer peace of mind. When candidates don’t give me genuine answers I’m torn between believing they don’t care to give me a real answer or they truly have no knowledge of where they need development.

My advice for tackling this question is to be honest. Employers want to know you have some grasp of your shortcomings. Recognition is key to overcoming them. We all have room to grow. We all have things we are more or less suited for. Pretending otherwise is silly. Acknowledge them and couple that acknowledgment with a plan to address them. For example, if your weakness is that you lack extensive experience in Microsoft applications, say so. Couple it immediately with ways you’ve researched for you to learn them either through your next employer or on your own time.

Now, honesty does not mean giving a 20 minute account of all you lack. Sharing your faults to the point you are punching an employer between the eyes with them will get you nowhere. Be succinct. State the weakness in basic terms and dedicate more time to sharing how you’ve overcome that weakness or how you plan to in the future.

I can imagine some of you thinking, “but what if I share a weakness and it ends up costing me the job?” Have you considered that may be a good thing? Interviews shouldn’t be about getting a company to make you an offer regardless of your fit for the position. Garth Brooks says, “some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” On a similar note, sometimes the best gift a potential employer can give you is a rejection letter.

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Job seekers waste a lot of time and energy being frustrated with employers who don’t follow-up. Sure, it would be great to hear from companies when they promised to call. Yes, it would be polite to give some response to your resume. True, some contact after an interview to let you know where you stand would be appropriate.  I understand where job seekers are coming from. Often my gut tells me the lack of follow-up equates to rejection. If the company’s need is genuine, then they are indeed moving forward in the process.  Someone IS getting follow-up. So it’s not necessarily that the company’s follow-up in general is poor, but that its follow-up with those they don’t have a strong interest in is lacking. Most people are guilty of the same thing, so stewing over human nature is pointless.

Job seekers have to make a choice. Do they spend their time pushing for a company to do the polite thing and reject them directly or do they spend their time weighing why they may not be enticing enough for a company to chase? My vote is for the latter. Concentrate on why you aren’t a top contender versus lecturing companies on how they could improve their methods for letting you know you are not in the running. If you have to chase a company you have bigger issues, issues more in your control, to deal with. Are you applying to jobs you truly fit? Is your presentation to the company (verbal, written) up to snuff? Have you maximized your networking efforts to allow you true connections to decision makers? You can bet top contenders can answer “yes” to the above.

My advice to job seekers who want companies to do a better job keeping in touch with them is to focus exclusively on being a contender. Are there times when companies drop the ball with contenders, yes. Most of the time companies are pretty good at keeping those they are excited about in the loop.

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Every day I interact with the professional level unemployed in my community. I see first hand the efforts they are making to secure employment. Many have gone back to school, learned new skills, lowered salary expectations, adapted a more open mindset and pushed themselves to explore new directions their lives could take at this point. Still they sit on the shelf of unemployment. Some receive unemployment benefits. Others do not. Many have been out of work near or beyond a year. It’s a stressful time.

When interacting with business leaders, I frequently hear remarks that shed light on the assumptions some have about the unemployed. Many believe people are unemployed by choice. That they prefer to receive unemployment rather than go out and get a job. I’m here to tell you I have yet to meet anyone excited about being on unemployment. The professionals I know are humbled, some to the point of embarrassment, over receiving benefits. Which is probably why so many of those I know never even filed to obtain them, even though they paid into the system for years.  That’s right, never filed. They are tapping into their retirement accounts, draining their savings and selling off assets in order to get by.  Milking the system isn’t the objective of those I interact with. They want a job.

How to get a job though? The advice job seekers get from business leaders most often is to get training in new areas and become more flexible in what they will consider. It’s a nugget of wisdom that easily rolls off the tongue. That’s what you need to do. End of story. The statement is made without even exploring what it is these individuals are trained to do. Many have been retrained already. Many have skills that can be put to use. The flexibility is there on their part. Where can they really put these new found skills and attitudes to work? So many find employers wanting exact fits for their openings. Employers have internships, but they prefer to fill them with new college grads from 4 year institutions, not those coming out of focused training programs designed to get them back to work with a new skill in a short amount of time. They want individuals who are, and have always wanted to be, a specific profession. They are leery when a retrained professional sits across the desk from them. There is a concern the person is only in that profession because the economy forced them out of the job they really wanted.  I’m guilty of this myself. I wonder these things.

Though it may be true the economy changed people’s view of the future, that doesn’t mean those who have found themselves on new career paths are only going through the motions of finding a job. Are some, of course. Necessity dictates they find some way to earn a living, like it or not. Many have come to realize, however, that enjoyment can come from a variety of career options. Fewer are defined by a career choice. More understand the professional hazard of seeing their abilities and interests in such a narrow way.

I’m coming to believe something is missing from the equation. We have job seekers embracing the concept of upgrading their skills, changing their career path and being more flexible with their options. What we don’t have is enough companies embracing these changes. I still see many running from candidates who don’t fit the mold they are most comfortable with. A corporate leader who tells a job seeker to go learn a new skill should ask himself how he would deal with that person as a candidate for a job in his company. Would the tenured automotive worker who went back to school for a Finance degree make it through his company’s initial screening process for an analyst position? Would his resume even be called or would a “no thank you” letter go out? To the corporate leader who tells the job seeker to be more flexible, how do you view the candidate who made $80,000 in his past job who is applying to your $40,000 job? He’s a flight risk, right? Surely something is wrong if he is willing to consider such a drastic cut?

We’ve all got to work together in this. There is a lot of talk about it being a buyer’s (employer’s) market. Just as there was talk a while back about it being a seller’s (candidate’s) market. The time is right for us to forget about who may have the immediate advantage in terms of being picky and realize, for our community’s greater good, we need to find a way to put the skills available in our workforce to use. We all need to get comfortable with the thought people can adjust, skills are transferable, flexibility isn’t indicative of a problem and unemployment isn’t a verdict on a person’s drive, relevance and capacity to have an open mind.

Businesses have so much to gain from the diverse backgrounds, unique experiences and new appreciation of how to make quick adjustments to changing circumstances many job seekers have to offer. This is especially true of smaller businesses who may need employees to wear several hats in the organization over the course of time. Imagine hiring an employee for a skill he’s recently acquired and having the ability to draw from his past experience in times when a random need develops that doesn’t justify an additional hire.  It’s not impossible these days to hire a newly retrained help desk professional who can occasionally help out with a sales call, writing a grant or fixing a broken copier.

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It’s been nearly a month since I blogged. Not for lack of wanting, trust me. May was a germ festival in my home. After months of running ragged and not getting enough rest, the mighty power of my daughter’s preschool germs planted me firmly on the sidelines for weeks.  My experience is proof taking care of yourself should be part of a job seeker’s overall strategy. It was difficult enough as a volunteer knowing I wasn’t operating at my full potential. If I were a job seeker, the momentum lost from the weeks I was ill could have added months to my job search.

Trying to get back in the groove from being largely out of commission is tough. I’ve lost touch with contacts, fallen behind on information updates, gone from being missed to forgotten by some and find myself sitting in front of a blank screen wondering where to start. No worries. All will be back to normal soon. It’s going to take an extra effort for the next few weeks to get back to normal. I have much to say. No surprise there. Now that my brain is ready to cooperate, I’ll be populating my blog on a regular basis once more.

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Some job seekers are no better than those companies pushing miracle diet pills. Their product can’t live up to sales claims. They market themselves as having capabilities they know aren’t truly theirs to claim. Potential customers who aren’t desperate and take the time to ask the right questions recognize this truth and save themselves from throwing away money on something that won’t really deliver what they need. There are always those under enough strain to get results quickly, however. These customers are ripe for being taken advantage of by those making false promises.

Though I firmly believe it is the customer’s responsibility to research a product before shelling out money, that doesn’t mean those pushing garbage are off the hook. Just as I detest companies looking to profit off of people’s desperation, I have a low regard for those looking to take money from a company to do a job they know they aren’t suited for. Though some may think I’m overreacting, it’s theft. It’s taking money for something history has proven you aren’t cut out for. Contrary to what some job seekers may believe, it really is essential companies get what they pay for from employees. This is especially true these days with so many companies running lean and mean.

To be fair, those I’ve met who are chasing jobs they aren’t suited for don’t think they are trying to scam anyone. They really aren’t thinking much at all. They are going through the motions. The last few times they were looking for work it was for an XYZ position, so it’s only natural to do as they’d done in the past. The thing is, if companies are letting you go from XYZ position, if you are receiving feedback your work isn’t up to snuff, then you have no business going down that road again until you’ve developed appropriate skills. Sure, there are exceptions. There are times when companies don’t provide an environment or circumstances conducive to success. For the times when the shortcomings rest squarely on your shoulders, be honest about it. Trying something and realizing it’s not for you isn’t horrible. It happens. The problem lies in continuing to market yourself to companies as able to help them accomplish certain goals and tasks when you know it’s not true. Move on. Find your true means of adding value to a company.

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For the love of all that is logical, please tell me why some of the newly employed are setting themselves up for history to repeat? Whether a result of an improving economy or better job search technique, many I’ve worked with over the past year are getting job offers. That’s fantastic news. It’s what’s happening after the job offers that has me eying the wall and wondering what it would feel like to slam forehead to plaster for a good 5 minutes.

If we’ve learned anything from the economic downturn it’s the importance of being ready for the next time the pink slip hits your desk. Please tell me how shutting down all networking efforts and pulling back from relationships nurtured while unemployed compliments that strategy. It doesn’t! Those I know in real life have heard me say many times that networking and fostering quality long-term relationships is the best way to keep future spans of unemployment short. They’ve all shook their heads in collective agreement and made the promise to themselves they weren’t ever again going to be in the difficult spot of not having a job and not having a network to reach out to. So what, pray tell, is going on? Why the radio silence? Why are LinkedIn & Twitter accounts comatose? Why are you missing from key professional events that could serve to keep relationships going and benefit your new employer?

I understand once you get a job it may be inappropriate to network in the same manner as you did while looking for work. If the position you’ve taken is intended to be long-term, you don’t want to turn people off. That doesn’t mean you can’t shift gears, however. Simple adjustments to the frequency and content of interactions can be made so the efforts are appropriate.

The important thing is to not stop networking. Fading into the woodwork only to surface the next time you need a job is rude, ineffective and shortsighted. Live up to that promise you made yourself when you were fighting all of the battles it took to eventually win the job. Don’t do it for the sake of keeping my forehead goose egg free. Do it for yourself. If doing it for yourself isn’t enough, well, then focus on the goose egg. Lord knows it wouldn’t compliment my look. Help a girl out.

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Have you given much attention to your penmanship lately? Mine is horrible. Since much of what I write is electronic, I’m out of practice with a pen. On the occasions I actually put pen to paper the result borders on horrifying. My penmanship used to be pretty good. Now a preschooler could best me.

It seems like a minor detail, but those looking for work may want to consider taking the time to practice their penmanship. If manual applications or handwritten forms are part of an employment process, you don’t want to be ruled out for a job because your handwriting was indecipherable or sloppy. At best, your writing will appear sloppy and juvenile. At worst, your information won’t be accurately received. Imagine if the dates you provide on an application, for example, don’t seem to match what a reference is indicating. Not good.

By the way, if your handwriting is less than stellar, take a pass on the handwritten thank you note. Handwritten notes may stand out, but if your penmanship isn’t up to par you may stand out for the wrong reason.

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I had an interesting conversation with an unemployed professional the other day. She’s been looking for work for some time now. Her job dissolved when the economy took a tumble. She’s been out of work for over a year and has been doing what she can to adjust to the fast changing job market.  “Companies are reluctant to hire unemployed people,” she told me. “The fact I’ve been out of work for so long is a problem for them. They see the time I’ve been out of work and form judgments from that. It’s horribly unfair considering the economy.”

She’s right. With all we know about the recession, hiring managers still struggle with the long held sense employed candidates hold more appeal than the unemployed. Good workers don’t lose their jobs, right? If they do, certainly it doesn’t take them over a year to find work. Not if they are resourceful, smart and have usable skills. Individuals who have been unemployed for an extended period of time have to do battle with this kind of thinking. Fair or not, it’s real.

What’s interesting about this problem is that the door swings both ways. Just as many good workers had their careers turned on end by the economy, many good companies went from basking in success to teetering on the brink of failure. Care to guess how unemployed professionals feel about working for these companies? Many who I speak with would rather not. They want a stable company with fewer risks. Understandable, but the irony shouldn’t be ignored. With a debris field as wide as what we’ve experienced with this recession, both sides are going to have to come to terms with the fact moving forward is going to require setting aside some biases. Risks are going to have to be taken by all parties. The best we can expect of others is what we are willing to extend to them. Job seekers unwilling to take a risk on struggling companies have little room to complain about companies unwilling to take a risk on struggling candidates.

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