Your Personal Career Coach

By Christy Noel

Get hired and get ahead, even without years of work experience. Your Personal Career Coach: Real-World Experiences for Early Career Success is a collection of short, real-life stories loaded with valuable advice, humorous confessions, and insp

• Language: English
• Publisher: Build.Buzz.Launch. Media & Publishing
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9780990972570

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

" Finally, a different kind of career book that I’ll use again and again throughout my career. "

—George Truman, Senior, Colorado School of Mines

ABOUT TO GRADUATE FROM college? At your first job and ready for your next career move? Trying to get ahead or promoted in the fast-paced, ever-changing and dynamic business world?

Navigating the waters of a professional career, from landing a job to working in a startup or large corporation, is tougher than ever. In today’s competitive landscape there isn’t a lot of room for error and finding mentors or senior managers who have the time and interest in helping you can be challenging. How then, can you quickly learn the interpersonal and professional skills to get ahead? Where can you obtain the knowledge to avoid pitfalls and mistakes?

Your Personal Career Coach: Real-Life Experiences for Early Career Success was created to help those getting started in their careers by sharing the true-life experiences of a team of seasoned professionals, who bring their messages to life. As these stories illustrate, communicating and connecting with people is critical to creating a successful career. Within the pages of Your Personal Career Coach are stories about writing a resume that grabs attention, what to say and what not say in an interview, the secrets to giving a successful presentation, how to get and maximize time with your boss, and many more to help you get hired and succeed at your job.

Rather than a stuffy instructional ‘how-to’ book, Your Personal Career Coach delivers engaging stories from professionals who have learned the lessons over the course of their own careers. The result is a collection of valuable insights, humorous confessions, and inspiring advice from authors with diverse experiences and perspectives to help propel your own career.

Your Personal Career Coach is the brainchild of Mike Noel. Mike was the first in his family to graduate from college. He had little experience or understanding of how the workplace operates. He had to absorb hard-earned and valuable lessons on the job and wanted to spare others the long and steep learning curve he experienced.

While Mike was working on his book, he discovered his daughter, Christy, had begun developing her own business book. Once they realized they had shared visions and ambitions for their books, they joined forces. Your Personal Career Coach is the father-daughter team result.

Your Personal Career Coach includes far more than Christy’s and Mike’s experiences and learnings. They are joined by 22 professionals with diverse backgrounds ranging from business owners, startup founders, entrepreneurs and corporate executives to attorneys, professors and doctors; and they, too, share their lessons learned, including some missteps, from the expanses of their own careers.

With the experiences of these professionals to guide and mentor you, whether you are just starting out or have a few years of experience and are ready for new challenges, Your Personal Career Coach will help boost your job search, work relationships and performance to help you establish a successful, gratifying, and rewarding career.

GETTING AN INTERVIEW

" One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation. "

—Arthur Ashe

WHY EVERY COLLEGE STUDENT NEEDS A LINKEDIN PROFILE

Caroline Leach

A COLLEAGUE RECENTLY TOLD me he wasn’t looking for a new job, but a recruiter found him through his LinkedIn profile. One day he received an InMail, a direct message on LinkedIn. That led to a phone conversation. Then came interviews. It all culminated in a great job offer.

The opportunity was too good for him to pass up, and he’s moving to a new company. It was a loss for his previous employer, but it was a win for his career and his new company.

A compelling LinkedIn profile was the catalyst for the new job. This is a more and more common refrain. It’s become the rule, rather than the exception, about how to land a new position with more responsibility and better pay.

As a college student, you can get in on this early by building a strong LinkedIn profile and presence. That will make you more discoverable by corporate talent recruiters who may be looking for someone exactly like you.

There are more than 630 million people on LinkedIn as of this writing. Among them are corporate recruiters and hiring managers across all kinds of industries and job types. This makes LinkedIn the perfect place for a college student to tell their unique story … the one only you can tell.

As a former corporate VP of Communications and Marketing and now an entrepreneur, I look at a LinkedIn profile every time I meet someone new. To establish a strong professional relationship, I want to know the person’s story, their work highlights, and our mutual connections.

My own LinkedIn activity has led to speaking engagements, an invitation to be a social-media influencer and the opportunity to contribute to this book. It also helped me launch my own business. I write, consult and speak about how people can build their careers and their companies though digital branding in social media.

Here are the rules I live by for an optimal LinkedIn profile. To stand out, I customize as much as possible, using keywords that might be used to search for people like me. As you establish your own presence, be sure to include:

A professional headshot that is high resolution and closely cropped

A background photo that shows your professional interests

A personalized headline that tells what you do

A compelling and authentic summary that tells your story

A personalized LinkedIn URL with your first and last name

Visuals that show your best work in videos and images

Volunteer experiences that round out your story

Skills and endorsements that highlight your strengths

Personalized connection invitations to build a strong network

Weekly content posts on topics of interest in your career field

You can build your LinkedIn presence one action and one post at a time. It’s a work in progress, just like your career. Make it great!

A RESUME IS ALL ABOUT RESULTS

Christy Noel

WHEN I GRADUATED COLLEGE and began looking for my first real job, I, like every new graduate, needed to put together my resume. I thought it would be an easy endeavor. I expected I could simply put down my work experience (what little I had) and everything unique and amazing about me would just pop off the page like a popcorn kernel in a vat of hot oil … popping noise and all. Bam … Christy is hard working, pop … she’s bright, pop pop … she’s witty … pop pop pop, you must hire Christy!

Oh, how wrong I was.

I quickly learned it’s incredibly hard to create a resume that grabs the reader’s attention and screams, This is someone you must interview! In fact, most resumes are only looked at for something like eight seconds, and that’s assuming a human is reading them. If they’re being scanned by a computer, it’s even harder to get noticed. And if you can’t get your resume noticed, you can’t get the interview, and therefore no job offer. So, the resume is a critical component of your career.

But where and how to start?

An effective resume doesn’t just present what you’ve done. Your resume’s primary objective is to demonstrate what you will do to help a company succeed. After writing and reviewing lots of resumes, it’s apparent that most people miss this part. They focus on what they did and the tasks they performed. Your prospective boss can get a pretty good idea of this by looking at your title. But what he or she wants to know are your results. How will you help him or her succeed? How will you help the department and the company achieve its goals? Because if you delivered at a previous company, you’ll probably deliver for this company, too.

So, this is how you stand out from the masses: include bullets of your successes. Whatever the success, own it, showcase it. Were you a salesperson for a retail store? Point out how you increased your sales three months in a row, were the top salesperson in your department, or received the employee of the month award. A receptionist? Spotlight that you changed processes and procedures to increase efficiencies of mail processing. Were you a camp counselor? Showcase how you invented new games to engage the campers. Or had the fewest campers drop from the program of any counselor. Had the best table turnover rate as a waitress at a restaurant? Include it! It matters less what the success metrics are, just that you have them.

Now, I’m not suggesting you make them up. Lying on a resume or job application is a quick way to lose an opportunity. If you lied on your resume, where else will you lie? is what they’ll be thinking. But do find measurable successes you achieved and spotlight them on your resume. I like bullets so the reader can quickly see the impact you made. I like to format my resume like this:

Job Title (flush left). Dates (same line, flush right. Months and year if it’s a short-term position; years-only if you had a long tenure)

Brief job description (just a couple of sentences)

Result #1 (doesn’t have to be a complete sentence)

Result #2

Result #3

You have permission to boast about your success on your resume. But it’s more than that; it’s a requirement. Don’t just brag only about where you worked or your job title; be sure to brag about what you’ve accomplished. That’s how your resume will move to the top of the must interview stack.

TOP RESUME TIPS FOR ENTRY-LEVEL JOB SEEKERS

Dana Leavy-Detrick

THE TERM ENTRY-LEVEL OR junior-level typically refers to candidates with less than five years of professional experience and includes those just starting out in their careers, as well as individuals in high school and college. For someone who is younger in their career, putting together a resume poses a unique challenge in determining just what experience and attributes should go into a document.

Most of the traditional resume formulas don’t apply here, you often don’t have tons of accomplishments or results-driven statements to work in, as early experience like internships are more about learning than creating impact. However, the resume should still provide a unique story around your professional and personal development, and that includes a number of things.

Start first with the basic sections of the resume and work from there in creating interesting content and providing details around your experience, skill sets, and accomplishments. These sections can include an introductory summary, education or training section, professional experience, volunteer work (or additional experience), membership and affiliations, and technical skills.

Lost on where to begin, or how to improve your existing resume? Start with these five tips to make your resume stand out and look polished:

1. Create a Descriptive Summary to Set the Tone

The summary section on a resume is the first thing a recruiter or hiring manager will read, and it sets the tone for the remainder of the document. It’s an ideal place to brand yourself and create a profile around the type of candidate you are, and how you want to be perceived. A strong summary should uniquely describe your background, relevant experience, and skill set—along with any other pertinent information you don’t want hiring managers to miss. For example:

Graduate in online marketing with experience developing, tracking, and managing campaigns across social and digital marketing channels. Well-versed in digital marketing tools, including Google Ads, SEO/SEM, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Word-Press, Hootsuite, and MailChimp. Skilled at developing original content for social media, digital marketing campaigns, websites, and blogs. Passionate about furthering expertise in the technology and design fields.

2. Show Potential Along with Experience

Entry-level resumes aren’t just about what you’ve done because you don’t have much experience at that point. With that said, they’re also about showing potential, and you can do so by describing not only your tangible experience, but things you have done that speak to your interests and skill set, such as volunteer work, pro bono or freelance projects, or classes that you’re taking.

3. Highlight Your Most Relevant Projects

Avoid cramming in extra or too much information. Instead, if you’ve worked on a lot of projects, whether through school, an employer, or on your own—choose a few highlights that represent your best work. The rest you can discuss in the interview or use as examples in another context, such as the cover letter, your website, or on LinkedIn.

4. Keep it Relevant

Outlining every detail or responsibility is also not necessary. Keep the resume concise by primarily highlighting the responsibilities and accomplishments most relevant to the company and your role in it.

As you progress through your career, consider what things might no longer be necessary, such as GPA, collegiate activities or affiliations, or coursework. Experience prior to college can generally be left off once you’re a few years into your career. You might make an exception for relevant volunteer or entrepreneurial work.

5. Be Thoughtful About Design

Avoid unnecessary visual elements that take up space, such as unnecessarily large margins, excessive formatting, or too-large fonts. This is a common mistake entry-level jobseekers (and many others) make to draw attention away from a lack of experience in hopes of making the resume stand out. Unfortunately, that tactic generally does not work. Hiring managers would rather see a clean, polished resume that describes a candidate with potential, rather than a flashy resume with few details.

Finally, be sure to update your resume regularly as you gain experience, take on new projects, acquire additional training, or refocus your career path. As you build career momentum and develop professionally, so too should your resume. Make sure that you’re always putting your best, most relevant, and most up-to-date foot forward, so that you’re providing hiring managers with an accurate picture of their next hire!

REPUTATION COUNTS BIG IN GETTING THE JOB

Charles McCarthy

I HAD JUST BEEN appointed the supervisor of a small field-construction group when the company launched a very large expansion of several of the department organizations, including mine. I was put on a special task force (in addition to my day job) for finding the best-qualified candidates, for not only my small group, but for the entire Engineering and Construction Department. I found myself in the position of having to screen literally hundreds of resumes, along with conducting dozens and dozens of interviews, over a fairly short period of time (about 6 months). By sitting on the hiring side of the table, I learned a lot about how best to present oneself on the applicant side.

For starters, I think a one to two-page summary resume is a must. When doing an initial screening of a new group of resumes, I would set aside any multiple page resumes that I had to wade through. My goal was to go back to those later, but later didn’t often happen because I’d find what I was looking for in someone else’s one or two pages. I needed to find the best candidates, but I didn’t have the time to read many pages as part of my triage before a second, more in-depth review.

In the first round of screening, I also relied heavily on reputation—reputation of the candidate’s school, reputation of the company a candidate was coming from, and the candidate’s reputation as reflected in the resume. Did the school and company have a good reputation, and did the candidate’s resume reflect a reputation for integrity and performance? Those counted.

In today’s environment of job applicant screening, mostly done by computers, the same concepts apply—get the key information into a succinct resume and play your strongest keywords such as well-respected schools and companies and the reputation you have established for integrity and performance.

The value of a good reputation not only can help you make the cut for an interview, it is equally important as you move within the company and to more and more senior positions. People in the company develop a feeling for your reputation, and that will follow you incessantly. It is difficult to change if you get off on the wrong track. So, from the get-go, you should pay attention to the reputation you create and carry.

A COVER LETTER IS ESSENTIAL, NOT OPTIONAL

Christy Noel

I AM CURRENTLY HIRING to fill an open position, so I’m reviewing lots of resumes. But that’s it. I’m only seeing a resume. Nothing else.

And I can’t help but wonder, Where are the cover letters?

It used to be unheard of to send a resume without a cover letter. Now, many recent grads and young professionals look at the cover letter as an optional tool when applying for a job.

I am perplexed by the lack of cover letters and said so to our HR Director who, thankfully, has been conducting the initial review of candidates for the position. She responded that many recruiters don’t look at cover letters, so they advise their clients not to include one.

Well, I can tell you, as a hiring manager, I love a good cover letter.

Why?

I can learn a lot about a candidate from their cover letter. And, without one, I’m often left with unanswered questions. What happens if I have unanswered questions? I drop the candidate from consideration. I simply don’t have time to find the answers to my questions, so I move on to the next candidate.

For my current open position, I received resumes from candidates in North Carolina and San Francisco for a position that clearly stated it was in Los Angeles. Were these candidates hoping to work remotely? Were they already planning a move to Los Angeles and job hunting proactively? Or maybe they are unable to properly read a map. I don’t know the answers to these questions, because they didn’t include a cover letter explaining it.

Another candidate submitted a resume that showed he hadn’t been employed in almost a year. This seemed like a red flag. I wondered if he was unemployable. Maybe he is selective in where/who he works for? Perhaps he had a major health crisis? I didn’t know because it wasn’t explained in a cover letter.

As it turns out, there was a reasonable explanation for the employment gap. He took a year off to travel the world. Now, I can certainly get behind a travel sabbatical, but without a cover letter letting me know, I would have moved on to the next resume because it was a big unanswered question (in this case our HR Director did the digging to find the answer).

A good cover letter lets me know the candidate better. A good cover letter enables me to learn why a candidate is a good fit for the role, what experience they have that makes them qualified, what results they’ve previously achieved to know they can be successful in the role, and how they understand my challenges better than any other candidate.

Think a cover letter won’t have an impact on getting an interview? Think again! I once went to a networking event where the Founder and CEO of a high-profile company I had interviewed with was the guest speaker. At the end of the event, I introduced myself and reminded her I had interviewed with her company. She remembered me by my cover letter. How do I know? She said, You had the best cover letter I’ve ever read. Based on that comment, I’m confident my cover letter was the primary reason I got the interview.

Cover letters can play a key role in the hiring process in several important ways:

Showcases Why You are Perfect for the Job

A good cover letter connects the dots between the key points of a job description and your resume. Don’t make the recruiter or hiring manager work to connect the dots. Spell it out for them! Take the time to highlight a few key aspects of the job description, and then provide examples of what you’ve done that are exactly in line with the responsibilities of the position.

Demonstrates Results

Just as your resume shouldn’t be a list of job responsibilities, neither should your cover letter. Include in your cover letter results or key metrics that demonstrate your successes. The hiring manager wants to know that you will produce results if she hires you. Give her what she’s looking for in your cover letter. If the job description says you’ll be responsible for SEO, include in your resume how you increased your employer’s site rankings and drove traffic to their website. Applying for a sales position? Include your results and their impact on your organization. Bonus points if the success metrics in your cover letter are not the same as those on your resume.

Conveys You Understand the Challenges

The hiring manager has a problem he needs to solve. He has objectives to achieve, and he’s short on resources. Convince him you are going to help solve his problem and you’ll get the job! A cover letter can often hammer this point better than a resume because you can write a narrative about it, rather than simply supplying a summary of your experience. Let him know you understand the challenges of his industry, company, or department and why you understand them. Want to get my attention? Include in your cover letter something like, "Having been a volunteer fundraiser the last several years, I understand the challenges nonprofits face trying to gain and retain donors."

Answers Head-Scratcher Questions

If, at first glance, there is something about your resume that doesn’t seem like a fit with the job description, use the cover letter to explain why you are submitting your resume anyway. Use the cover letter to explain why you are applying for a position outside the city in which you live. Or why you have been out of work for an extended period. Or why, perhaps, none of the titles on your resume are even remotely close to what they are looking for, but as a volunteer, you’ve performed the responsibilities of the job description.

Demonstrates You are Serious About the Job

Anyone can click apply and attach their resume or LinkedIn profile. To me, that’s the equivalent of a spam application. I can apply for 60 jobs in an hour by clicking apply and attaching my resume or a link to it. On the other hand, it might take those same 60 minutes to write a good cover letter, so I only do it for jobs I am really interested in and qualified for. And you know what? It tells the hiring manager just that, you are really interested. If you spam me with an application, I’m not sure where you land on your interest level. With just a resume submitted, I can’t tell the difference between, That’s my dream job and Ah, whatever, I’ll give it a shot. A cover letter makes it clear where you stand on the position and company.

The cover letter is a great opportunity to demonstrate your interest in the position, sell yourself and show how you are going to shine in the role if hired. If someone tells you that you don’t need to include one, don’t listen to them. Even if not every recruiter and hiring manager looks at it, it will make a difference to the ones who do.

Take the time to craft a strong cover letter and stand out from the other applicants. It could be the difference between getting placed in the pass on this candidate pile and getting the job!

WRITING A COVER LETTER WHEN YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE

Christy Noel

MY NEPHEW RECENTLY COMPLETED his first year of college and was seeking a summer internship in technology. He had to overcome a pretty significant hurdle. He had no relevant work experience.

Writing a cover letter (and resume) can be challenging for anyone job hunting. For those with little or no work experience, it definitely increases the challenge.

If this is you as well, don’t worry! It’s not an insurmountable task to position yourself and your strengths in a way that will be appealing to a prospective employer. Some creativity and unique positioning will demonstrate how you are the best candidate, even with little or no work experience.

With a few suggestions and rewrites, I was able to help my nephew land a great internship. Hopefully, my tips on how to write a cover letter with no experience will help you too!

Write a Punchy Open

Don’t open your cover letter by stating the title of the job you are applying or why you are interested in it. Everyone can open a cover letter like this, and most do. It’s not unique and isn’t memorable. Instead, provide some desirable traits you possess and tie them to the requirements of the position.

As a straight-A computer science student at University Name who successfully balanced working as a lifeguard while playing shortstop for the CIF high school championship baseball team, I have the education, dependability, and commitment to excel in the Position Title at Company Name.

Connect the Experience You Do Have to the Position

Help the reader realize you are, in fact, a candidate for the position by connecting the experience you do have to the requirements of the role. The tasks you performed in your previous positions are likely not the exact requirements of the role you are seeking, however, being responsible, dependable, committed, reliable, a quick learner and a self-starter are all desirable traits of an employer. Let the hiring manager see how you will be an asset by sharing what you learned in your previous roles.

I have spent the last three summers as a lifeguard at our community pool. This experience not only required me to be extremely focused to ensure those enjoying the pool were safe at all times, but it also utilized and strengthened my communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills. These are all skills I will use to succeed in the Position Title role to support Company Name in its [name of the initiative or project you will be working on]. Option 2: These are all skills I will use to succeed in the Position Title role to support Company Name in increasing/growing/optimizing [goal the position will be supporting].

Share Achievements

Hiring managers like to know you have generated measurable results in your previous positions, even if the areas in which you’ve demonstrated success are not in the exact areas they are looking for. If you succeeded in previous jobs, it is highly probable you will succeed in others. So, include some success metrics within your cover letter and don’t just say you succeeded, provide quantifiable results. Hiring managers love to see numbers and percentages.

In addition to overseeing the safety and security of pool visitors, in my role as lifeguard I helped implement new shift change procedures that decreased downtime between shifts by 10%. To gain experience working with CRMs, I took on the additional responsibility of adding new member contact information into our database and oversaw its growth of 5% per month. Knowing I was depended upon to ensure the safety of all club members, I am proud to say I had a 100% attendance record while working there.

Be Proactive in Your Close

Don’t close your cover letter by stating you will wait to hear from them. Develop a summary paragraph that ties all the pieces together and reinforces why you are a great candidate for the role. If you have a way of following up with the hiring manager, either via email or phone, let them know you will follow up by a specific date and then do it and demonstrate you have follow-up skills. This is oh so important, so many people do not follow up when they say they will. Follow through on what you promise and you will stand out! If you are applying for the position via a job portal, generic email address, or another method that prevents you from following up directly, you can still sound proactive. Close with an assumption that they will contact you and you are looking forward to further exploring the position.

I believe the unique combination of my computer programming skills and leadership skills will enable me to excel in the role of Position Name. I look forward to exploring the opportunity to assist the IT department in growing and managing its customer database more effectively and efficiently.

The Final Details

Read, proof, edit, read and proof your cover letter again so there are no mistakes. The cover letter and your resume reflect your work abilities. If they contain errors, it shows you lack attention to detail and may perform mediocre work. To be safe, ask a family member or friend to review it for you; you are likely to miss errors once you’ve looked at the document too long. Be sure your cover letter (and resume) includes how to contact you (email, LinkedIn, phone). If you are sending your resume via email, you can put your cover letter in the body of your email. If you are submitting it to a job portal