How to Enjoy a Better Career

You want to be a success at work, doing a job you love, right? Right.

But sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to get your career moving in the right direction -- whether you’re 22 or 72.

So, based on my experience observing thousands of job seekers over the past 10 years, here are three tips to help you set the goals and build the skills you’ll need to reach career nirvana …


Start Where You Are
Make every effort to build your skills in your current job, so that when you leave or try for a promotion, you’ll have the required expertise.

Try to make a little progress every day, rather than hope for a big promotion someday. In other words, if you exceed expectations today by doing just a little more than is expected of you, you’ll move up the ladder of success faster down the road.

Tip: Find a person in your company who rose through the ranks and offer to buy him/her lunch so you can ask their advice. You’ll learn what traps to avoid and shortcuts to take. And you’ll likely gain a mentor who can show you the way to the top. All from a simple lunch!


Sharpen Your Computer Skills
Today, no matter what your job is, you’ll likely need a computer to do it well.

Learn everything you possibly can about the software needed in your field, and you’ll quickly maker yourself more marketable. Example: sales executives must be fluent in PowerPoint, bookkeepers in Excel, administrative assistants in Word, etc.

For guidance, ask your boss to name all the software you’ll need to know to get ahead in your field, then get started mastering those skills.


Develop The Habit Of Lifelong Learning
If you commit yourself to a lifetime of workplace learning, it will pay off in bigger paychecks and greater job security for years to come.

Unfortunately, most folks think that education ends on graduation day. To prove it for yourself, ask any 10 friends to name the last three books they read about their industry. The resulting silence will demonstrate how easy it is for you to stand out in your field.

It’s been said that if you spend just one hour a day reading the best books in your field, you can become a leading expert in five years. And leading experts are never wanting for the best jobs in America. So why not join the experts?

To get smarter and get ahead, turn off the radio and start listening to audio books in your car or on the train. Consider subscribing to a book summary service so you can get the gist of the leading business books in less than an hour. Two services I have used and recommend are Soundview Executive Book Summaries and Audio-Tech Business Book Summaries.

To sum up, stop waiting for your dream job to come and find you.

Instead, start where you are, exceed expectations, sharpen your skills, keep learning … and soon you’ll be on your way to the top of your field.

See you there!

P.S. -- How's your job search going?

Unless you're getting all the calls from employers you can handle and are interviewing this week for your dream job, you'll be cheating yourself out of thousands of dollars in lost salary if you don't check out the following 5 tools ...

Here they are:

1) Copy-and-paste resume and cover letter ebook, "Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed!"

2) "51 Ways to Find Your Next Job Fast!" ebook or hard copy book

3) FREE audio CD of my 60-minute seminar, "How to Find a Job in Tough Times"

4) FREE book of new cover letter secrets, written by my friend, Jimmy Sweeney

5) The Secret Weapon of smart people who turn the
traditional job search on its head -- it gets employers to call YOU within 24 hours

Internet Job Search Tip

Here's a link to a great job hunting article that will help you get the most from Linkedin, a networking tool I recommend to all my clients.

While you shouldn't spend all, or even most, of your time on the Internet when you're looking for a job, the Linkedin Web site is a great way to automate your efforts and be as productive as possible.

Read the above article, try Linkedin for a few weeks and analyze your results. If you get more job leads and interviews, great! Keep doing more of what you've been doing. If not, change or do less of your job search online.

P.S. -- How's your job search going?

Unless you're getting all the calls from employers you can
handle and are interviewing this week for your dream job,
you'll be cheating yourself out of thousands of dollars in
lost salary if you don't check out the following 3 tools ...

Here they are:

1) Copy-and-paste resume and cover letter ebook, "Resume and
Cover Letter Secrets Revealed!"

2) "51 Ways to Find Your Next Job Fast!" ebook or hard copy
book

3) FREE audio CD of my 60-minute seminar, "How to Find a Job
in Tough Times"

Yes, you really can find the right job and get hired faster.

But you need new tools. Because, if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll
keep getting more of the same poor results, right?

Please give the 3 tools above a quick look today!

How to Avoid Employment Scams

Here's a link to a disturbing newspaper story for which I was interviewed last week.


It just might help you avoid getting ripped off for up to $15,000 by scam artists posing as "executive marketing experts."


And here's an even longer and more in-depth piece from Career Journal, called "How Career-Marketing Firms Betray Unwary Candidates" -- very eye-opening.

Kevin Donlin
Guaranteed Resumes

3 Quick Job Search Tips


Here’s a collection of job search tips that have helped my clients over the years.

I couldn’t think of any clever theme to tie them together, but you know what? So what! The theme here is that these tips work! And they can help you find work, faster.

So here they are. Read them and reap …


1) Create your own momentum

The Big Mo -- you hear about it all the time in sports. Teams with momentum get on a roll, score more often and win more games than teams without it.

If your job search is stuck, you can create your own momentum and move toward the position you want by starting each day with a victory of some sort, no matter how small.

Example: Make your first networking call in the morning to your best friend or favorite family member. Why? There’s zero chance of rejection and you’ll likely hang up the phone smiling (if not, call somebody who makes you smile).

Or, you can call a former co-worker you haven’t seen in months to schedule a networking lunch. Or invite your favorite neighbors over for a barbecue where you can ask for advice on your job hunt.

In other words, make your first action a slam dunk -- something you know will turn out well. A successfully completed task every morning will help you tackle more-challenging work later. Because you will have momentum on your side.


2) Ask for help, listen -- and act!

Question: How many people have you asked this month for advice about your job search? If you’re absolutely honest in your answer, the number will be small. Too small.

Why put all the pressure on yourself to find all the employment answers? Why not ask and discover what’s worked for other people, and then model your actions on theirs?

Here’s how to do it. Ask the following question of friends and family: “How did you find your last three jobs?”

Notice, you’re NOT asking, “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?” or some equally unimaginative, conversation-killing question. Instead of begging for a job, you are flattering others by asking for advice. Just be sure to shut up, listen, and write down every word they say in reply.

I guarantee this “magic question” will give you a plethora of ideas every time you ask it, and open your eyes to new ways of getting hired. Plus, you’ll be raising your profile among the people who know you, which will put you “top of mind” with them when employment leads do pop up.

Stop trying to figure it all out on your own. Instead, start multiplying your brainpower by asking others for advice.


3) Know that change is your friend


According to the US Bureau of Labor, voluntary employee turnover across America was 20.20% in 2004, the most recent year available. This means that about one in five employees quit their jobs every 12 months, on average.

What does that mean for you?

Today’s “no” in your job search could be tomorrow’s “yes.” Because, in a company with 100 employees, approximately 20 of them will quit within the next year. That’s 20 chances for you to get hired.

But you won’t be hired if they don’t remember you.

So, every time you hear, “Sorry, we’re not hiring,” or “We don’t have any openings right now,” don’t despair. Keep in regular touch with the companies you want to work for, because one in five of their employees will probably leave this year. It’s only a matter of time until something opens up for you.

Now, go out and make your own luck!

P.S. -- How's your job search going?

Unless you're getting all the calls from employers you can
handle and are interviewing this week for your dream job,
you'll be cheating yourself out of thousands of dollars in
lost salary if you don't check out the following 3 tools ...

Here they are:

1) Copy-and-paste resume and cover letter ebook, "Resume and
Cover Letter Secrets Revealed!"

2) "51 Ways to Find Your Next Job Fast!" ebook or hard copy
book

3) FREE audio CD of my 60-minute seminar, "How to Find a Job
in Tough Times"

Yes, you really can find the right job and get hired faster.

But you need new tools. Because, if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll
keep getting more of the same poor results, right?

Please give the 3 tools above a quick look today!

Your Job Search Team

If you're looking for a job, think like a goose.

Experiments have shown that geese flying in a V formation can travel about 70% farther than birds flying solo. Geese function more efficiently together than they do all by themselves.

Are you looking for a job all by yourself?

If so, know this: There's a limit to how much you can accomplish alone. But there's no limit to how much you can do as part of a team.

Think about it. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg -- they all have management teams and/or boards of directors for support and guidance. (Even Jesus had 12 guys helping him out.)

So, if you don't have a job search team of people you can count on for help, start building one today. Here are the people you'll need on your team ...


Job Search Partner
Like losing weight or quitting smoking, finding a job can go faster and more smoothly if you do it with a partner. So find yourself someone to bounce ideas off of and be accountable to.

A good job search partner can do the following:

* Review your resume and cover letters, to give you honest input.
* Check in with you at least once a week to see how you're doing and provide encouragement.
* Share job-search success stories from their own life or from people they know. Because you can't know it all.

Bill Gates has Steve Ballmer. Warren Buffett has Charlie Munger. You need a right-hand man or woman, too, to help you get more done in your job search.


Financial Advisor
If you're between jobs and your income has taken a hit, don't panic. But do take steps to marshal your money, because financial worries can sabotage any job search.

That's why you need a financial advisor -- your accountant, spouse, older brother, whoever -- on your job search team.

Create a financial roadmap early in your search. The time to revise your budget is BEFORE money problems happen, not after.

Then, share your money plans with family members, especially if you're married (even more so if you want to stay married).

Determine how long your savings will support you without a job. This will tell you how many months you can hold out for an ideal position, and when you should seek a less desirable job to pay the bills.


Health Advisor
Your brain is carried around by your body. If your body goes to pot, your brain will follow. And your job search will drag on for months as a result.

At the start of any job search, select one person to keep in contact with about your health. Write down your weight, resting heart rate and other key measurements, so you have a baseline to check on every few weeks -- this will tell you if you're putting on or losing weight, for example, and help you spot potential problems before they get out of hand.

No job is worth sacrificing your health for, so pay special attention to your body!


Spiritual Advisor
Finally, be sure to find a spiritual advisor you can confide in to get your mind off of employment and onto matters of a higher order. Pastor, rabbi, shaman, spouse -- find someone who's not a bartender that you can pour your heart out to, if needed.

Because, you are not your job. You are a person first. And all people have spiritual needs, in addition to physical and financial ones. If your spiritual batteries run down, the rest of you will, too.


A good job-search support team will see things you don't, like a golf coach watching your swing. They'll be there with advice and encouragement -- and help you get hired faster.

Once you have that job, be sure to repay your team by treating them to dinner at the restaurant of their choice. Then, look for someone in need of a job whom you can be a team member for -- what goes around comes around.

Now, go out and make your own luck!

P.S. -- How's your job search going?

Unless you're getting all the calls from employers you can
handle and are interviewing this week for your dream job,
you'll be cheating yourself out of thousands of dollars in
lost salary if you don't check out the following 3 tools ...

Here they are:

1) Copy-and-paste resume and cover letter ebook, "Resume and
Cover Letter Secrets Revealed!"

2) "51 Ways to Find Your Next Job Fast!" ebook or hard copy
book

3) FREE audio CD of my 60-minute seminar, "How to Find a Job
in Tough Times"

Yes, you really can find the right job and get hired faster.

But you need new tools. Because, if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll
keep getting more of the same poor results, right?

Please give the 3 tools above a quick look today!

The Big Job Search Question


As a professional resume writer, here's a question I've been asked at least twice a day for the past 10 years: "My job search isn't working -- what should I do?"

I've had to answer that question 10,950 times since 1996 (do the math). My answer is always the same, and it's always simple: "Find out what you're doing wrong. Then fix it."

To find out what's wrong with your job search -- so you can fix it -- ask yourself the following 3 "sub questions" to get at the heart of the matter ...


Sub-Question #1: How are you looking for a job now, exactly?

The key word here is EXACTLY. What exactly are you doing every day to find work?

The best -- no, the only -- way to know precisely what you do each day is to carry a small notebook and jot down how you spend your time, in blocks of 15 minutes, from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep.

Do this for one week. I promise you will be slightly disgusted with what you find.

What you thought was 8 hours of job hunting each day was more like 60 minutes of actual job search ... along with 4 hours of busy work, one hour of goofing off and 2 hours of TV/email/instant messaging/coffee breaks/talking on the phone/errands, etc.

Don't be discouraged -- you can turn this around.

It's a strange fact that whatever gets observed gets improved. When you pay close attention to what you're doing and write it down each day in your notebook, wasted time will disappear, like cockroaches when the kitchen light comes on. Try it!


Sub-Question #2: What, if anything, is working in your job search?

If you're doing something that is producing job leads, do more of it. Again, writing this down will bring helpful clarity.

Answer this question: How exactly did get your last 5 job interviews, in this job search or in prior searches? Was it networking with an old college buddy? A want ad in the newspaper you applied for? A lead from a relative? A recruiter who called you?

When you write down this list of 5 job search "hits", I guarantee at least one light bulb will go on over your head. Because, when you see on paper 5 things you did to get job interviews before, you will surely find something you haven't done today ... something you can go out and do right now.

But ... what if you've been living in a Tibetan monastery since 1970 and have no job search successes to repeat? No problem. You have friends, right? Family? Neighbors?

Ask them how they got their last 5 job interviews. Take notes. Pick one method and try it. Today!


Sub-Question #3: What is not working in your job search?

This list will be longer than you would like. That's OK. We're going to free up perhaps 80% of your time each day to do more of what's working (see Question #2).

That's right. I said up to 80% of what you're doing to find a job is a complete waste of time. Don't believe me? Just look at how you spend your time right now (see Question #1).

Let's say you're spending 3 hours a day applying for jobs online, emailing resumes and replying to emails. In fact, you've sent out 247 resumes in 45 days, with no job interviews. So those 3 hours a day are not producing results -- they are wasted.

But which part of the equation is at fault? Here's where you have to play detective.

Is it your resume? Maybe it stinks. Try sending it to 3 people and asking for their unvarnished opinion.

How are you sending out resumes? By email only? Try mailing, faxing and hand-delivering it for jobs you really want.

What jobs are you applying for? Employers may think you're not qualified. Or over-qualified. Could you be more flexible in the type of job you seek?

The aim of Question #3 is to get you to stop doing what's not working, or improve how you do it. So you can spend more time on job search methods that ARE working.

In other words, do more of what works and less of what doesn't. Doing so will help you find the right job fast.

Now, go out and make your own luck!

P.S. -- How's your job search going?

Unless you're getting all the calls from employers you can
handle and are interviewing this week for your dream job,
you'll be cheating yourself out of thousands of dollars in
lost salary if you don't check out the following 3 tools ...

Here they are:

1) Copy-and-paste resume and cover letter Ebook, "Resume and
Cover Letter Secrets Revealed!"

2) "51 Ways to Find Your Next Job Fast!" Ebook or hard copy
book

3) FREE audio tape of my 60-minute seminar, "How to Find a Job
in Tough Times"

Yes, you really can find the right job and get hired faster.

But you need new tools. Because, if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll
keep getting more of the same poor results, right?

Please give the 3 tools above a quick look today!

Get Hired Faster -- Get Specific

If you walk into a car dealer and announce, “I want a car,” what kind of reply will you get?

The sales rep will say, “Sure. What are you looking for?” Then he'll ask you for more details -- the make, model, color, price you’re willing to pay, etc.

It’s never enough to say, “I want a car.” You have to be specific. Otherwise, nobody can help you.

Why, then, do so many people say, “I want a job,” and then fail to get more specific than that? Is it any wonder that so many job searches sputter and lurch along, like a ’67 Chevy in need of a tune-up?

But this is not for you.

If you want to find the right job, you must answer three critical questions in specific detail. Here they are ...


1) What job do you want, specifically?
If you know the exact title of the position you seek and the company you want to work for, congratulations. You’re in a distinct minority.

If not, you need to get clear on this right now. Try the following …

Job title: If you don't know what job you’re looking for, how will you know when you've found it? To help you get specific, go to Monster.com, type in your favorite skills and see what jobs come up.

Example: Searching Monster.com for the terms “customer service management” brings back the following job titles:

* Customer Service Manager
* Inside Sales
* Manager of Store Support
* Field Account Manager

Don’t like what you see? Search for other skills until you find job titles that excite you. Then, go after those jobs!

Company name: Most people put more thought into choosing a car than choosing an employer. Prove this for yourself -- name five cars you’ve always wanted to own. Now, name five companies you've always wanted to work for.

Tough, isn’t it?

So, starting today, jot down the names of companies you admire and want to join. They can be mom-and-pop operations, or Microsoft. There’s no wrong answer.

The only mistake you can make is in taking the first job from the first company that comes along, without first determining whether or not this is an employer you want to devote 40 precious hours of your life to every week.


2) How are you going to find that job, specifically?
You could search the Internet or the newspaper want ads for jobs -- those methods can work. But, could there be a better way for you, specifically?

To find out, you have to ask.

Ask your spouse or significant other, friends, family, neighbors -- ask everybody. Call and ask them the following question: “How did you find your last job?”

This exercise will kill two birds with one phone call:

1. You will learn new, creative ways to get hired. Examples: “I called my last boss for advice and he offered me a job instead,” or “I was helping my neighbor install a lawn sprinkler when his brother drove up, we started talking, and it turned out his company was hiring.” (Both of which happened, by the way, to my clients.)

2. You will be networking at the same time. You can end each conversation by saying, “Well, I'm looking for a position as a plant manager for a Fortune 1000 firm, like 3M. Who do you know that I should be talking to?” Then, jot down whatever names you get and call those people. Presto! Instant networking.


3) What value do you bring to the job, specifically?
To get employer excited about you, you must first get excited about yourself.

And this starts with a clear knowledge of your value as an employee. Specifically, how much money have you earned or saved on the job before?

Even if you weren't in sales or marketing roles, what happened when you did your job well? How did it make other employees more profitable? The numbers, dollars, facts and figures are there in your work history. All you have to do is hunt for them.

When you know exactly how much value you have produced before -- and can produce again -- it will help you write better resumes and cover letters. And it will give you the confidence to shine like polished chrome in your next job interview.

Go. Do it. Now!

P.S. -- How's your job search going?

Unless you're getting all the calls from employers you can
handle and are interviewing this week for your dream job,
you'll be cheating yourself out of thousands of dollars in
lost salary if you don't check out the following 3 tools ...

Here they are:

1) Copy-and-paste resume and cover letter Ebook, "Resume and
Cover Letter Secrets Revealed!"

2) "51 Ways to Find Your Next Job Fast!" Ebook or hard copy
book

3) FREE audio tape of my 60-minute seminar, "How to Find a Job
in Tough Times"

Yes, you really can find the right job and get hired faster.

But you need new tools. Because, if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll
keep getting more of the same poor results, right?

Please give the 3 tools above a quick look today!