by Angela Copeland | Apr 21, 2014 | Advice, Newsletter
If you’ve been thinking of abandoning your current career path, you’re not alone. Many people decide to switch careers for similar reasons. Either they’re not happy with the type of work they’re doing, they want to make more money, or they want a better work life balance.
Transitioning your career can feel hard. In fact, it can often feel impossible. Even after you’ve gone back to school to learn a new trade, it’s difficult to get new potential employers to see you beyond the walls of your old box.
The first thing to consider is the type of leap you’re trying to make. If you want to change both the type of industry you work in, and the type of job you have, it can be a bit more challenging. To make the fastest change, try either finding a new role in the same industry or sticking with the same role in a new industry.
For example, if you’re currently in event sales, but you want to move into the medical industry, you might try medical sales. Alternatively, if you’re in event sales, you could also try moving into an operations role within event planning. As you can imagine, it would be much more difficult to transition into an operations role in the medical industry.
If you’re interested to leap into both a new industry and a new job function, it’s not impossible, but it will take a bit more work. Here are a few suggestions for steps to follow when you’re facing such a challenge.
- Identify transferable skills – Consider all the skills you use in your current role. Which of these apply to other jobs or industries? Your transferable skills can be as simple as project management, organization, and leadership.
- Get experience – Look for opportunities to gain experience on your own. For example, work as a consultant on the side in your new field. You can also volunteer your time at a non-profit doing the new type of work you’d like to do in the future. Either way, ensure you document this new experience on both your resume and your LinkedIn profile.
- Further your education – Find classes you can take related to your new career field. This doesn’t have to mean enrolling in an entirely new college program. There are often courses you can take one at a time that will add to your understanding. These classes are also great to highlight on your resume and your LinkedIn profile.
- Rebrand yourself – Begin to update your resume and LinkedIn to reflect your new career goals. Keep your current job and experience, but start to integrate in your new future career.
- Practice your pitch – Most importantly, you should practice your elevator pitch. Be able to easily describe what you’re looking for next. During a transition, it often helps to also explain (at a high level) the background behind your desire to change careers. This can help the person you’re talking to see the logical progression from your current role to your next job.
One of the most important things to remember when transitioning careers is that it takes time. As you make the changes above, pay attention to the feedback you receive from those currently working in your new career field.
For example, if you hear something indicating you’re being unclear, be open to modifying your pitch or your brand. At the end of the day, you just need one person to take a chance on you in order to switch your career – but you’ve got to carefully communicate in order for them to want to take the leap with you.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Apr 14, 2014 | Newsletter
What would you buy if you had more money? A new car, a beefed up retirement account, or a vacation home perhaps? I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t love to make a little more money.
I’ve talked about the concept of negotiating for more money in my newsletter, “The 10 Minute Conversation That Will Change Your Life.” The concept is that if you stay at the same job and receive 2% raises each year, it will take you over 10 years to grow your salary by 25%. When you switch jobs, you have the potential to increase your salary overnight.
But, when you really get down to it, most people have never negotiated before. It’s a dirty little thing that many people don’t feel comfortable discussing at all. Those who don’t negotiate often can’t picture themselves asking for more. Something bad might happen. On the flip side, those who do negotiate are surprised that anyone would ever accept a first offer without negotiating. They’ve personally experienced the power of negotiation, and aren’t going to turn back.
Once you become more comfortable with the concept of negotiation, you’ll quickly find that companies almost never put their best offer forward first. If you don’t ask for more, you’re leaving money on the table. The question then becomes, what should you ask for?
The general rule of thumb is to only ask for one thing. It can be a higher salary, vacation, relocation, or something else. But, if you need to ask for three or more things, you and the company are most likely not on the same page.
Salary is the top priority for most people. It’s also often one of the top priorities of the company. Here are a few rules of thumb on how to get more:
- Avoid sharing your current salary if at all possible. The person who shares financial information first is typically also the first loser. If the company could have offered $100K, but you shared that you only need $75K, they will give you $75K. That’s a lot of money to leave on the table.
- If you’re switching industries, don’t assume your new boss knows your current value. For example, if you’re switching from non-profit to for-profit, there’s a good chance your new boss has no idea how much (or how little) non-profit employees are paid. Keep it that way. Same goes from transitioning from a low paid for-profit industry to something higher like healthcare or banking.
- Research your value. Check out websites Salary.com, Glassdoor.com, and GuideStar.com. They all give different perspectives on salary information. Glassdoor salary information is provided anonymously by actual employees. GuideStar provides non-profit tax information, and often has salaries for top paid employees.
- Get competitive offers. One of the best ways to understand your market value is to try to get multiple job offers at the same time. Having more than one offer is also an excellent negotiation tool. Keep this in mind before you turn down a job interview for something that’s just not quite right.
Above all, the most important key to being a good negotiator is practice. Start small and you’ll quickly find that asking for a little something extra is not as hard as it sounds. Worst case scenario, the company will say no, and their offer will stand. As long as you’re polite and reasonable in your request, a company is unlikely to remove an offer from the table.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Apr 7, 2014 | Advice, Newsletter
Remember back to a simpler time. A time when you had more hair, less wrinkles, and were just graduating from college. The entire world seemed full of options.
You were more open to suggestions back then. You would consider jobs in different industries, and various departments. You were open to moving to a new city, and were willing to take very little money just to “get your foot in the door.” You may have even taken a job for free in exchange for the title of Intern.
How long did it take to find your first job? If you were lucky enough not to graduate in the middle of the dot com crash or another poor economic time, chances are you found your first job relatively quickly. It may have been something different than you’d planned on (or studied in school). Heck, you may have even been delivering pizza. But, it was job, and it paid the bills. And if it didn’t, you got a second job. You had time on your side.
Back then, you had fewer responsibilities. You were probably single with no children. You lived in a cheap apartment, and may have even had roommates who helped to pay the rent. All in all, your commitments were less, and your flexibility was more.
As the years passed, your responsibilities have grown. You might have bought a home, got married, or had children. You may have moved closer to your family. You may have become more specialized in your career. And, you may now have employees.
All of these commitments are great. They’re a natural part of life. But, sometimes when you make these choices, you also close doors. You become a little less flexible than you once were.
For example, if you moved to be closer to your aging parents, you may want to stay in your current city or within a reasonable driving distance. You may no longer be as open to a cross country, or international move as you were when you were twenty-one.
If you’re preparing to find a new job after being at your current job for years, you may remember back on a time when getting a new job took a few weeks. You may find yourself frustrated when your job search now seems much more lengthy and involved than before. “What changed, and why is this so hard?” you may wonder.
- You’re more geographically limited – Instead of working anywhere in the United States, you want to stay in one or two cities. Think of the change in magnitude this creates. The US population is approximately 314 million people. How does this compare to the population of your city? The city where I live, Memphis, TN, has a population of less than one million.
- You know which industry you want to work in – Whether it’s banking, the automotive industry, or healthcare, you probably have a pretty good idea of which industries you do or don’t want to work in. Years ago, you were open to suggestion.
- There’s one department you want to work in – You’ve become specialized in one area. It could be IT, accounting, marketing, HR, or engineering (just to name a few). Whatever you’re specialized in, it’s probably more specific now than when you started your career.
- You’ve become a manager – A natural progression in your career may have been to take on management responsibilities. You may be the sole manager or director of a team. If your team has ten employees for example, consider how many manager positions are available compared to individual contributor positions. This is even more true for director, vice president, and C-level positions. The higher you have moved up the food chain so to speak, the fewer positions there are for people like you. Fewer positions means more waiting and a more comprehensive job search.
- You’re more expensive – Even if your raises have been small, they’ve added up. And, so has your daily cost of living. You may have purchased a home or your beautiful dream car. You can no longer make ends meet on the money you made straight out of college. There are fewer jobs that pay more, so you may be left waiting longer to find the one that does.
Think of the relationship between time and job searching like this:
Financial advisers often encourage their clients to have six months to over a year of savings in their emergency fund. This fund is to be used when you unexpectedly find yourself out of work. This number may seem steep, until you need it. As you get older, you’ll find that finding the right job takes more time, and more dedication.
There’s no one answer on how long it will take to find your next job. You may get lucky and find one tomorrow. But, more than likely, your search will take time. And, it will most likely take more time than it did the last time you were on the market. You’re more specialized, you’re more expensive, and you have more preferences about what you’ll do, and where you’ll live. Keeping all of these factors in mind will help you to set expectations as you begin your search – and hopefully help you to avoid burnout.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Mar 31, 2014 | Career Fair, Media, Newsletter
Do you compare yourself to others? Your accomplishments versus theirs? Your resume compared to them? Your clothes, even?
We all do it, and for some reason, we assume it’s helpful. I’d argue it is just the oppose for a few key reasons.
- First, you’re making a lot of assumptions about the other person, which may or may not be correct. You don’t see the entire picture – just the part they choose to present.
- You’re minimizing your own strengths, and assuming the other person is in some way superior to you. You have your own talents that you want to showcase.
- You don’t look outside the box for new ideas. If the best your competition did was to create a stellar resume, is that all you should do? Of course not. Just keeping pace with the competition is not enough. You’ve got to do your best; not their best.
I spent part of last week working a booth at the NSBE Career Fair in Nashville. I heard the event drew something in the ballpark of 8,000 people, and I would assume over 300 employers and schools.
From an employer perspective, every large corporation that’s anybody in the technology space was there. Companies included Google, Facebook, IBM, Ford, Toyota, the CIA, Intel, Harley-Davidson, Proctor & Gamble, Visa, and many more. Schools included my undergraduate Alma mater, RPI, Harvard, Berkley, MIT, and Notre Dame, just to name a few.
Entering the fair was an overwhelming experience. After making it through security at the door, you were quickly hit with large displays from some of the biggest companies. They were tall, brightly colored, with moving parts, and eye catching features. The automotive companies even had cars in their booths. Overhead, the loud speakers blared contests and job opportunities.
A sea of participants (mostly current students) were huddled around the recruiters at each booth. All dressed in black business suits, with polished shoes, and portfolios for their freshly printed resumes and business cards, it was an intimidating scene. These job seekers looked so prepared that anyone else visiting would certainly feel uncomfortable.
Altogether, it was an incredible amount of information to process and navigate. At times, the amount of bumping into people felt like I was at a nightclub. It would be easy to see how someone who had never experienced this type of fair might feel out of place. Perhaps they didn’t realize that the fair was ‘business dress’ or maybe they weren’t a student.
In reality though, a professional with years of experience is also something these companies needed. And, it was different than what all those newly minted students could offer. Years of experience could easily be turned into a differentiator (as could many other traits). Those companies may have had less jobs for professionals, but all in all, there were also significantly less professionals at the fair. In this case, although there were fewer jobs for experienced professionals, there was also less competition.
Working a booth for two days also led me to some additional conclusions. First, some of the job seekers really didn’t know what they wanted. Many didn’t have business cards. Quite a few were there because they’re a member of a group that attended together. That same group probably gave their members a heads up on what to wear and bring.
The people who did the very best at the career fair stood out for some very obvious, but less visible reasons.
- They knew what they were looking for. Whether it was graduate school, an internship, or a full time job, the person knew what it was they needed from the recruiters they spoke to.
- They were good at pitching themselves. They knew what they’re good at, and how to communicate it. They’d practiced their elevator pitch in advance.
- They were prepared to share their contact information. This included both their resume, and business card.
- They were confident and friendly. They made eye contact, and shook hands.
Although it helped when candidates were dressed to the nines, their attire was not the only deciding factor. Understanding who you are and what you’re looking for, and then being able to clearly communicate that message in a confident, friendly manner was hands down the most important thing.
Many of those incredibly intimidating business suit wearing participants were in fact college students. Some were even high school students. Many had never had a job of any kind before.
So, before you look around the room and decide you’re going to give up, think again. Remember that you’re making assumptions about those around you that may or may not be correct. Think back on all the great stuff you bring to the table, and be prepared with your own pitch (and business cards, and resume).
Focus a little less on your competition, and a little more on being the best you can be. You may just find you’re the one those companies are looking for. You may find that you’re the one who gets the job!
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Mar 24, 2014 | Advice, Newsletter
Happy first week of Spring! It’s so nice to see the bright sunshine again, streaming through my windows. If you’re like many folks, you’ve already started on your home cleaning checklist. You’ve paid extra attention to your baseboards, and your ceiling fans, but what about yourself?
Spring is also the perfect time to get your career goals in order. You’ve made it past the hiring freezes over the winter, and jobs are popping up every day. Even if you’re not looking to quit your job tomorrow, now’s the time to work on yourself for three very important reasons:
- The best jobs are often found by chance. If a recruiter called you out of the blue tomorrow, would you be prepared?
- When you wait to polish up your personal brand (and your LinkedIn profile) all at one time when a job does come around, you raise suspicions at your current employer.
- You never know when you might be unexpectedly looking for a job. Even top performers are at risk when a corporation goes through a layoff.
The question is, what should you polish up? Below is my career spring cleaning checklist for you.
- Your resume – Dust off your resume. Ensure it’s up to date with your latest positions. Include numbers that show your success. For example, if you exceeded your sales goal by 20%, include it. If you managed a multimillion dollar budget, include it. Once you leave your current position, you often won’t have access to this information anymore. Get these facts while you can.
- Your LinkedIn profile – Make sure your LinkedIn profile contains your current position, and latest accomplishments. Include a photo, and your current contact information. Remove positions that are very outdated and no longer relevant.
- Your photo – When including a profile photo on LinkedIn or other social media sites, you need something recent and appropriate. It doesn’t have to be a professional head shot, but your face should be clearly visible. Your clothes should be professional, and you should be the only person in the photo. Do not use a photo that shows your entire body, and makes it impossible to see your face. Your connections won’t recognize you on LinkedIn. Stay away from party photos, group photos, and very outdated photos.
- Your cover letter – Cover letters often take many hours to produce. We shift over every word, and worry about every piece of punctuation. Although cover letters should be custom for each position, it’s good to have a template to work from. Update yours, so if a recruiter calls, you’ll have something to provide quickly.
- Your bio – I’ve noticed a few companies are requesting a copy of a candidate’s bio. They pass it around their office for easy reading, and to share highlights about you. If you don’t have one, at least consider making one. If you do, update it, so it’s current.
- Your contacts – If you were laid off tomorrow for some unforeseen reason, I’m certain there are a number of contacts at your current job you would want to stay in touch with. Start regularly connecting with these people on LinkedIn to ensure you never lose contact.
Keeping your career assets like your resume and LinkedIn profile up to date should be a part of your normal routine. But, if you’ve fallen behind over the holidays, Spring is a perfect time to polish them up. It will help to ensure you’re prepared with the next big opportunity comes along.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Mar 17, 2014 | Advice, Media, Newsletter
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! You may be asking yourself how you can catch “the luck o’ the Irish” you’ve heard so much about from that cereal eating leprechaun. After all, it seems some people get everything handed to them. The best job, most money, and a life everyone admires. When will my luck change?
On this day last year, I was touring the Guinness factory in Dublin, Ireland learning to pour the perfect pint. But, my luck almost ran out and I nearly missed my opportunity to learn more about my Irish heritage.
Before visiting Ireland, I flew into London for a few days. A friend booked my flights, and I was happily cruising on auto pilot. Upon arriving at the airport in London to fly to Dublin, I learned that my friend had booked me a different flight than the one originally printed in my itinerary. The flight booked was at an earlier time, so I had already missed it. On top of that, it was with a different airline– AND out of a different airport in London, almost an hour away! Can you imagine being by yourself in a foreign country and finding out you were trying to board a flight at the wrong time, on the wrong airline, and at the wrong airport? And, the day before St. Patrick’s Day no less.
There were very few options. The airline offered to rebook me the day after the holiday. This wouldn’t work at all. How could I miss celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin? After some quick thinking, I opted to purchase a new ticket on another airline departing later that day. It was in a completely different terminal, but at the same airport. I had extra money put away for emergencies, and my cell phone allowed me to research a new plan. Luckily, I made it into Dublin that night and to my appointment at Guinness the next morning.
This close call made me realize I would have to take charge of my own trip in order for it to be successful. In this same way, I encourage you to take charge of your own career path to guarantee your success. I’m a strong believer that luck isn’t really lucky at all. As Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If I hadn’t been a little prepared for problems, I would have never made it to Ireland on time.
Learning to pour the perfect pint of Guinness in Dublin, Mar. 17 2013
Below are my top five tips on how you can prepare yourself for your next lucky opportunity:
- Take ownership – You are, after all, the CEO of your own career. If you don’t take ownership over your career path, who will? Your success is nobody’s responsibility, but your own. And, if you’re working at a dead end job where you’re not being appreciated, it’s time to find a new employer who will.
- Prepare – Don’t wait for the perfect job to roll around to put together a resume. Keep a copy of your resume and a sample cover letter current at all times. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and connected to all of your important contacts.
- Practice – Practice your elevator pitch. Practice interviewing. Practice searching for jobs. Practice networking. Practice dressing up as you would for an interview. In Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers, he says, “Practice isn’t the thing you do when you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
- Proactive Approach – Finding a job is a job. Don’t wait for your next opportunity to come to you. Seek it out. Don’t have the skills necessary? Look for opportunities to grow your own skills. Don’t wait for your current boss to send you to a training class. Find ways to grow your skills on your own through community classes, volunteer work, or helping another department at your current job.
- Pause Fear – Finding a job and growing your career can make anyone nervous. Just like learning to drive a car, or speaking in front of a group. But, if you can allow yourself to realize you’re not the only one who feels that way – and to keep pushing ahead despite your fear, you’ll find you make progress faster.
Use these tips, and you’ll create the results you desire. In fact, you very well may find yourself explaining just how you got so lucky. Best of luck, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
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