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What We Can All Learn From Techies

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Last year, I received a text from a friend. It said, “I spent some time today figuring out a new video software.” And, it had a link to a fun short video.

This friend doesn’t use video at work, but he and two other IT guys are creating a YouTube channel. This is the second project for the team, who also recently started a podcast, to learn about podcasting.

This occurrence isn’t an uncommon one in the technology world. Techies are creating new social work groups on Meetup.com every day. They gather together and learn how to use software like WordPress, Python, Java, Oracle and PHP. They bounce ideas off of one another about how to start a podcast, how to build video games or how to make mobile apps.

They organize breakfasts, lunches and weekend-long coding sessions called hackathons. They host events for younger generations to teach them about programming.

The thing that’s interesting is, technology professionals do all of these activities in their free time. Their companies don’t sponsor these events. They aren’t compensated for participating.

But, the time they devote helps to keep their skill set up to date. Technology is a field that’s constantly evolving. In IT, if you want to keep up, you must keep learning. It creates job security.

In addition to beefing up their resume, this time builds their network. If there’s a job opening, you can bet someone will look inside these groups for candidates.

Lastly, it allows these professionals to cross-pollinate ideas with those outside their company’s four walls. They aren’t confined to the traditional thoughts on how to do things and can compare notes with others.

Although your industry may not change as often as technology, there are a number of great lessons to be learned from this group. First, don’t wait for your company to keep your skills up to date. It’s your responsibility. Be sure not to neglect your continuing education.

This may mean you may have to use some personal time, or even some of your own money. Think of it as an investment in yourself and your future value.

Once you’ve decided to give this strategy a try, you may wonder where to begin. Meetup.com is a natural place to look for special interest groups. You may also check the colleges in your area for continuing education courses. They often offer abbreviated courses at reasonable prices. Professional organizations can also be a great place to look.

Don’t have time to get out? Or can’t find anyone near you to network with? Search online. May universities such as Harvard and MIT are placing some of their course materials online – for free. And, there are many other online resources such as LinkedIn and website forums where you can network with others in your field.

At the end of the day, one of the best keys to being competitive is to always be learning.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

 

Should you go back to school?

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This is a question that comes up often, as it should. Education is important. We all learned that growing up. Whether or not to go back to school can be a tough choice.

On one hand, going back to school can feel like the “right” thing to do. You’re always supposed to be learning right? On the other, it’s expensive and time consuming.

To compound things, you’re not as young as you used to be. You have responsibilities like a spouse, children, a house, a job,… The list goes on and on.

I’ll be honest. The marketing higher education puts out bugs me a little. They’re selling a hope of a brighter future. If you’ve ever visited a fertility doctor, it reminds me of all the photos of babies on the walls. They’re selling hope. Hope that may or may not be fulfilled, due to a number of factors (like your age and how much money you have).

So, back to the question at hand… Should you go back to school?

The first question I have is this. Are you looking to get a second (or third) degree? Are you looking to finish a first degree? Or, are you looking to take one off classes to keep your continuing education up?

If you’re looking to complete your first degree, or keep up your continuing education, the answer is much more straight forward. If you haven’t finished college, I am definitely an advocate of going back. It provides some level of stability, especially as you enter the later part of your career.

Over the years, I’ve worked with a number of job seekers who never completed college. They had great careers and were stellar at their jobs. Then something happened. For example, their company went out of business. It wasn’t their fault, or a reflection of their work. Suddenly, they were on the open market, trying to explain to employers why they don’t have an advanced degree. It’s stressful and can create a sudden decrease in salary in a situation like the one described.

When it comes to getting a second or third degree, there are a few things to think about.

First, why do you want to get the degree? There’s this rumor floating around that a degree in a particular field will guarantee you work. Let’s be honest. That rumor is not true.

The result of getting a second degree is highly dependent on lots of things, including what your degree is in and how needed the degree is in the job market.

A few reasons you might consider getting a degree are — You want to change career paths and re-brand yourself with a new degree. I did this with my MBA. I have a computer and systems engineering degree from undergraduate school. It was hard for me to get people to look past the fact that I knew how to write code. My MBA helped solve this issue.

Or, perhaps you’re a lifelong learner. Your company pays for you to go to school and you have the time. So, you think — why not? It’s almost like a hobby and something you’ve always wanted to do. It’s for yourself. I can get behind this. Self improvement is an important part of life.

So, say you’ve decided to go back. Now what? How do you decide where to go?

IMHO, deciding where to go to school is almost as important as whether or not to go at all. Very often, I talk to people who went to a for profit university. They invested years of their life and have huge student loans. They are shocked to learn that some employers don’t take their degrees seriously at all. So, what can you do?

Learn as much as possible about a school. Thinking about why you want to go can help to narrow down your choices. For example, when I entered business school in 2004 (wow, that was a long time ago!), I wanted to learn about starting a business. So, I found a school that had a concentration in entrepreneurship. It was also around the same time that Enron fell apart and Martha Stewart went to jail. I felt a bit concerned about ethics in business, so I looked for a program that put an emphasis on this topic in their coursework. And, I hoped for a scholarship. I put myself through school (after quitting my job), so going to a school that could help me financially was important. That’s how I selected Pepperdine University.

Another thing to check out is what’s called the “post-graduation report.” This is a report that both colleges and graduate programs publish once a year on their graduates. It explains which industries their grads are working in and how much they make.

Often, the career center helps you to get your first job out of school. And, that career center will have existing relationships with certain companies. For example, my engineering college sees many graduates going to work for places like NASA. Pepperdine however has graduates going to companies such as Disney.

You also want to pay close attention to the part about how much the graduates are making. It’s sometimes surprising to think about it, but companies often pay different amounts for graduates based on which school they went to. You can argue whether this is right or wrong, but it just is.

So, if you have two graduate programs that both cost $20K per year in tuition (for example) — and one has graduates who make $70K after graduation, while the other has graduates making $95K, it can help you to pick between the two schools.

Another good place to look for these rankings are sites like US News & World Report. They have lists of the best schools. The lists contain lots of data that can give you an even better sense of the school and how it’s viewed by the world.

One trend I’ve noticed with people returning to school is that they consider enrolling in an online program pretty frequently. It’s easier. You can fit it into your life better. It’s less disruptive.

I would caution you against doing any kind of online degree program. Think about it this way. A big part of what you get out of business school (for example) is networking contacts. You meet new people who go with you through the rest of your career. They’re your friends. Your colleagues. You help one another get jobs and with projects. You aren’t going to make those strong connections through an online program. You’re going to make them when you sit next to your classmates day in and day out in class.

The same logic applies to something like engineering. How in the world are you expected to truly grasp onto engineering concepts if you never set foot into an engineering lab?

Last, think of school as an investment. As with any investment, you should evaluate the ROI. There are many calculators online to help you to figure this out. Here’s one from Learn Vest you might try. It helps you to get a sense of how much you’ll put into school — and how much you’ll get out.

Going back to school is a highly personal and highly individual decision. There’s no one answer for everyone. My bottom line recommendation here is DO YOUR HOMEWORK. When you finish school, you want to be sure that you end up with the results you were expecting to.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

 

Is it possibly to double your salary?

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I saw an article last week that really got me thinking. It was all about this concept of doubling your salary. One of the top complaints of unhappy employees is money. They want to make more. They want to be paid fairly. And, who can blame them? With the two to three percent annual raises out there today, it’s impossible to keep up!

In fact, Forbes has argued that employees who stay at a job more than two years make 50% less than those who don’t — over the lifetime of their careers. Isn’t that nuts? The sad reality is, it’s true. It’s an unusual situation when an employee is appropriately rewarded for staying with a company. Even when they receive a raise, it’s typically small compared to what it would look like if they switched companies altogether.

And, how do I know this? Because I’ve lived it. There are lots of people out there giving advice on this topic. Sometimes I wonder how many times they’ve actually negotiated their own salary increase. Honestly, it gets me fired up. But, I digress…. Rather than give some high level, fluffy advice, I’d like to provide you with a few real life examples from my own career.

I don’t typically share this information, but I want you to understand where I’m coming from. To give you an idea of the success I’ve had with my own salary negotiation, I once doubled my salary and twice, I’ve negotiated my salary up over fifty percent. Not bad, right?

So, this is how I did it. First, I was never afraid of two things: 1. Negotiation and 2. Changing Companies. You have to ask for what you want. You’ve got to do it. It’s not hard. Like anything else, it just takes practice. I know it can be scary, but it’s worth a lot of money to you and your family. You’ve probably done far scary things for much less money.

Second, you have to be willing to get over the fairy tale that one day, your company is going to recognize your value. If they don’t see your value now, there’s a good chance they won’t see it in another year or in five years or ten more years. That’s just time passing by when you could be earning more.

Now, with those things out of the way, there are three main tactics I’ve used in my own salary jumps.

  1. Increase Your Qualifications – As you know, I never encourage you to run back to school without carefully thinking about why. But, there are times when more education will pay off. For example, my undergraduate degree is in Computer & Systems Engineering. This degree is like a combination of computer programming and electrical engineering. Partly in an effort to rebrand myself (and also in an effort to increase my knowledge), I went back to school and earned a M.B.A. One of the big salary jumps I described was after I completed my M.B.A. I was offered twice as much money to do the exact same type of job I had done before graduate school. The same job. It required no new skills, but my perception and personal brand had been elevated because I had a new degree. (Please keep in mind: There is no guarantee that an additional degree will give these results. Like I always say, think carefully before you commit to another degree program. It’s a ton of time and even more money.)
  2. Change Industries – We rarely think about this, but different industries pay different amounts for the same job. Yes, the same job. Project management and marketing are both good examples of this. Part of the reason is that certain industries generate much more profit than others. Another reason is that a certain position is more valuable in one industry than another. It may be closer to the money, so to speak. So, as nuts as it may sound, you could find yourself making much more and doing the same thing — just by switching industries. To really get a sense for this, check out sites like Glassdoor.com. Employees report their salary on Glassdoor and you can look up salaries by company.
  3. Know Your Worth – One of my biggest salary jumps came at a point in my career where I’d really honed my skills. My work was generating significant revenue and I knew it. I also knew the going rate for my industry, and I’d taken the time to give myself options. I didn’t have to work for one company or another. It gave me the ability to negotiate for more money with no fear. And, it worked!

The bottom line is this: If you want to make more money, it’s up to you to do it. Your current company is unlikely to shower you in big raises. You’ve got to release a little bit of your company loyalty, and think about being more loyal to yourself. In other words, if it no longer made financial sense for your company to have you on staff, they’d get rid of you, right? So, if it no longer makes financial sense for YOU to work at your company, why are you still there?

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

 

Speak up & ask for what you want!

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For better or worse, as a child, you were probably taught not to brag. It’s rude. You may have also been taught to be a good child and wait your turn for things. If you deserve to have them, they will happen.

Ever wonder how everyone else keeps getting promotions? Opportunities don’t fall from the sky. The reason your colleagues get promoted is because they’ve decided to be their own advocate. They’re not waiting on someone else to tell them they can do something. They’re doing it.

And, they’re doing it by being willing to speak up and share about themselves. They may share where they went to school, where they worked previously, or what they’re good at. In other words, they’re comfortable giving their elevator pitch to anyone and everyone.

And, they ask for what they want. If they’d like to have an informational interview with someone, they ask for it. If they want a promotion, they say it. If they want to be considered for a job, they put themselves out there.

They do not wait for others to “allow” them to move forward in their life and career. They do it.

As I write this newsletter, I realize it may be time to take some of my own medicine! Did you know that I host a podcast? Yes, I do! I recently learned that some of my newsletter readers didn’t realize it — probably because I haven’t been talking about the podcast much in my newsletter. I tend to assume that people already know about it, and that if they want to listen, they will. Well, lesson learned… here are the details.

My podcast is called the Copeland Coaching Podcast. It’s a career improvement podcast that’s focused on job searching. I interview a different industry expert each week to talk about topics ranging from switching careers to what to wear in an interview. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And, here’s the thing. I recently learned that there’s not just one thing that’s important to getting your podcast found in Apple Podcasts. There are three! And, I need your help with these!

  • Subscribe to the Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts. It turns out that the number of subscriptions actually impacts your ranking within Apple Podcasts. So, please subscribe here.
  • Listen to the podcast! I think you’ll really enjoy it. I’ve been recording the podcast for over two years and have built up over 100 episodes of free content and tips for job seekers. Listen here.
  • Leave me a review in Apple Podcasts. I almost never ask for reviews because it always seems to be too much. But, you have to ask for what you need, right? And, I need more reviews. These also impact my show’s ranking on Apple Podcasts. You can leave a review here.

Here are a few episodes I think you might really like. Check them out by clicking on their links below.

As I started out this newsletter, it’s important to speak up and ask for what you want. Please keep this in mind with your job search (even when it’s tough to do). And, thanks in advance for your support of my podcast. I appreciate you helping me out, even though it’s tough to ask!

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

 

How long should your job search really take?

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One of the number one (if not THE number one) complaints job seekers have is how long it really takes to find a new job. So, what’s a reasonable expectation?

It’s not uncommon for me to meet a new job seeker who is looking to change careers completely. They’ve got to rebrand themselves, update their resume, make new networking contacts, and interview for and land a new job. When I ask when they’d like to have a new job, they casually say, “I’m thinking about four weeks from now.”

Does this sound reasonable? Well, it depends. Many people land jobs when they aren’t expecting them. They seem to drop out of the air when a family friend suggests you come work for him, or an old boss calls up to check in.

Unfortunately, these jobs that drop out of the air don’t always match our expectations. They can leave us feeling unhappy at work. When we are actively job seeking, it’s often because we want to find something new and different — a job we actually like.

I think of the entire process a little like buying a car. Many years ago, before I went to graduate school, I was in the market for a new car. It didn’t need to be fancy. It just needed to be reliable and get me from place to place. Finding the car took very little time and was a relatively pain free process.

Just a few years ago, I was in the market to buy a car again. This time, I wanted a specific kind of car: a sports car. I researched all the available models. I test drove them in multiple cities. I compared coupes to convertibles — with hard and soft tops. I even rented one for a week to see what I thought of driving it around with the top down. I graphed the depreciation over time. I got estimates on the price of car insurance. I researched the maintenance on the various cars.

When I finally decided on the kind of car I wanted, I set out to find the perfect one — nation wide. I looked at dealerships, on eBay, and on other car sites. Eventually, I narrowed it down to three cars. I hired a professional mechanic to inspect each car to be sure they were in good shape. Then, I began negotiations with the dealerships that had the cars. Once I picked my future car, I signed the paperwork and had the car shipped to me cross country.

This process that had taken just weeks the first time around had taken over a year the second time. But, I wanted more than a car that would take me from Point A to Point B. I wanted a special car; a specific car. And, in time, I found it.

This same rule applies to job seeking. When you graduate from college and are looking for your first job, it’s likely that you’re more flexible on your requirements. You’d accept a job anywhere, paying any amount of money, doing a large number of different job functions. You just need a job. You need experience, and you need to pay your rent.

But, over the years, you learn what you like and what you don’t. You become more specialized in your career. You want to be in a certain city, or region. You have a family to support, so you need a certain level of income. You want a boss with a certain leadership style. You want a company whose values align to yours in some way.

The more specific you are in your job search, the fewer jobs there are that meet your criteria. A CEO job is a great example! For every company with thousands of employees, there’s just one CEO. Therefore, it takes much longer to find a CEO job than a job that reports to the CEO.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s great to know what you want. The more specific you are, often the happier you will be in your new job. But, it will also take longer to find. The chances that the perfect job will show up after just a few weeks of looking is slim. But, if you stick with your search, the right job will come along in time.

Here’s a graphic I designed a few years ago to share with my clients on how to think about the time it takes to get a job. As you can see, the more requirements you have, the longer it takes. The more flexible you are, the faster it is to find a job.

Keep this graph in mind to keep your expectations in check. It will help to lower your frustration level, and keep you moving forward with your search!

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

 

Ten ways to build a better resume today

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Having a great resume is an important part of the job search process. But, it can go wrong quickly if you’re not careful. Below are a few tips to help you spruce up your resume today.

  1. Use just your first and last names only. And, use the first name you go by on a daily basis. As strange as it sounds, your resume is more likely to get attention with the name “Chris” than with “Christopher.” Here are 13 surprising ways your name can have an impact on your success. Quite a few are unfortunate, but they are good to be aware of.
  2. Update your e-mail address. If you have an e-mail address that ends in @aol.com, @comcast.net, or any other e-mail extension from the 90s, it’s time to get a new one. Don’t worry; you can keep your old e-mail, but take it off your resume. By keeping an AOL e-mail address, you’re telling the company right up front that you’re behind on technology.
  3. Leave your age out of it. Drop your graduation years off of your resume. If you’ve been working for many years, consider dropping an old position or two. And, be sure your e-mail address doesn’t contain your birth year, your graduation year, or any other year tied to your age.
  4. Include a phone number that’s local to the city where you live. It’s not unusual to have an area code in a city on the other side of the country. In fact, it makes sense. Why would you change your cell phone number? But, you do want to be sure companies realize when you are in fact local. Rather than paying for a new number, check out Google Voice. They’ll give you a local number that redirects to your existing cell phone. It’s free and easy to use!
  5. Leave off your GPA. If you are more than a few years out of college, it is rarely appropriate to include your GPA or other test scores on your resume. Unless you’re in a very specific field where this is the norm, nix these details from your resume.
  6. Include results. Don’t just tell them you’re a great salesperson. Share your sales numbers. Include the percentage that you beat your goals by last year. Show the incremental revenue you generated. Stating your results in terms of numbers allows someone outside your company to truly understand the scope of your role.
  7. Look for typos. One of the quickest ways to lose a job opportunity is to have misspellings in your resume. Here are a few of the most common misspelled words.
  8. Check your formatting. It’s very important that your resume is easy to read. Mismatched formatting can make it impossible for the reader to understand your resume. Check to be sure every job is formatted in the same way. Every piece of educational history should be formatted the same way, etc.
  9. Save your resume as a PDF. It sounds weird, I know. But, when you e-mail your Microsoft Word resume to someone else, there’s a 50-50 chance it will look the same on their screen as it does for you. Worst case, your two page resume is four or five pages, with big font. The simple step of saving as a PDF ensures that your resume will look the same for them as it does for you.
  10. As a friend to proofread your resume. Pick someone who works in a different industry than you. You’d be surprised at just how many things you’ll include are specific to your industry. If your friend is confused, a recruiter will be too. Take the time to do this step and your resume will be easier to read for more people.

A resume is a critical piece of your job search. In addition to these ten tips, my eleventh tip is: do your resume yourself. Stay away from a resume writer who doesn’t know your work history. As annoying as it is, there’s value in you working through your own resume improvements. On top of ensuring everything is accurate, you will have the opportunity to think through your personal brand. If you do need help, reach out to a career coach (like me) who can work WITH YOU to make the improvements to your resume.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach