3 Areas Where Job Seekers Make The Biggest Mistakes

3 Areas Where Job Seekers Make The Biggest Mistakes

In a job market where there are plenty of applicants, it only takes one mistake to ruin your chances. As a job seeker, you need to know what the common mistakes are and work to avoid them so you lead a successful job search, impress managers with your resume, and make a positive mark at the job interview.

These are the 13 biggest mistakes to avoid in the job search, divided into three categories: job search, resume, and interview. Which job search mistakes are you making?

Job Search Mistakes

Job seeker on laptop writes notes as he views openings through various job board websites

1. Relying solely on job boards for opportunities — it has the least effectiveness rate when compared with using recruiters and networking through contacts.

2. No online presence — employers and recruiters scour for talent on LinkedIn, so if you’re not there and not optimized for the right keywords, you’re missing out.

3. Ineffective networking – most people think that networking is telling your contacts that you are looking for a job and giving them your resume. This is not effective as you’ve just lost control of your job search because you’re waiting on others to respond rather than being proactive in your pursuit.

Resume Mistakes

Young professional on laptop updates her resume

4. Lack of a good experience summary – it needs to speak to “Here’s what I can do for you.”

5. Irrelevant information – if it doesn’t apply to the job or the employer, it brings no value to your resume.

6. Not applying relevant keywords – hiring managers and the applicant tracking system (ATS) look for keywords that indicate a match with what they are looking for before taking more time to review the resume.

7. List of responsibilities instead of accomplishments and success achieved – employers want to know how well you performed on the job, so make sure to quantify your achievements.

Interview Mistakes

8. Late arrival – if you know you’ll be running late at least call to apologize and offer an update on your expected arrival time.

9. Lack of rapport – people hire people they like and feel comfortable around.

10. Not asking questions – demonstrate that you are truly interested in the opportunity.

11. Negative talk about your current or previous employer – this is not considered professional and employers do not want people who have had conflicts in their past jobs.

12. Unprepared and unfamiliar with the company – do your research and understand the employer’s business.

13. Poor body language – it can speak louder than your words

All of these mistakes are avoidable, so carefully review and properly plan and prepare your job search, resume, and interview techniques for the best results!

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

3 Components Of Executive Presence Every Leader Should Know

3 Components Of Executive Presence Every Leader Should Know

If you’re an executive or somebody in a leadership position, you have an executive presence. Your executive presence is your reputation. It’s what people think when you walk into a room, and what they say about you when you’re not in the room.

As a leader, actively maintaining your executive presence builds credibility, trust, and, ultimately, a following. It gives you a competitive advantage over other job candidates, allowing you to gain access to better career opportunities.

Every executive needs to think about their presence. But before you can effectively build a strategy to grow your executive presence and create tools that support it, you need to understand what your executive presence is. To start, here are three components of executive presence every leader should know…

1. Gravitas

Professional man learns about the components of executive presence

Gravitas is the first component of executive presence. It’s your chosen value. It’s how you like to create value in the world, and how you save or make an organization money to justify the cost of hiring you.

One of the factors of executive presence that corresponds with gravitas is your depth of knowledge. As an executive, you’ve gotten to where you are today because you’ve thought through a lot of situations. Developing gravitas happens naturally in your career as you gain more experience and climb the corporate ladder.

Some traits related to gravitas include practical knowledge, composure, confidence, resonance, and vision.

2. Communication

Executive thinks about her executive presence while communicating during a meeting

The second (and most important) component of executive presence is communication. How do you deliver on your value? Communication also includes things like your personality and your approach. These are the things that are going to convey your executive presence.

A factor of executive presence that corresponds with communication is your delivery of knowledge. After thinking through a lot of situations in your career, you’ve been able to communicate that evolution of thought. You’ve taken those experiences and learned and grown from them. This is the most important component of executive presence because, for leaders with an effective executive presence, communication makes up 51% of it. In other words, the effectiveness of your executive presence depends on your delivery of knowledge.

Some traits related to communication include authenticity, constraint, integrity, concern, and humility.

3. Appearance

Executive effectively conveys his executive presence during a team work meeting presentation

The last component of your executive presence is your appearance. This is how your value is interpreted. It can be physical appearance (how you dress) or it can be body language like facial expressions and hand gestures.

The final factor of executive presence that corresponds with appearance is your style of delivery. As an executive, you’ve thought through a lot of situations in your career and communicated that evolution of thought, and now appearance is the type of representation you choose to convey that message.

Some traits related to appearance include personal style, intentionality, inclusiveness, interactivity, and assertiveness.

As a leader in your industry, you have an executive presence. When others are assessing your executive presence (your reputation), they’re taking into account your gravitas, communication, and appearance. Understanding the three components of executive presence is the first step to building an effective executive presence strategy, one that will give you access to better career opportunities.

To learn more about how to build your executive presence, download our eBook, 4-Step Process for Creating Your Executive Presence Online, written by J.T. O’Donnell, founder and CEO of Work It DAILY.

Want To Build Your Executive Presence?

Work It DAILY's LinkedIn executive presence webinar hosted by J.T. O'Donnell

If you’re an executive looking to advance in your career, you need to make your executive presence a priority. This includes your online executive presence. Failing to consistently contribute online in a meaningful way will put you on the fast track to being irrelevant and forgotten.

It’s time to take control of your professional reputation. We invite you to sign up for a FREE workshop with J.T. O’Donnell, a LinkedIn Top Voice. In this 45-minute workshop, J.T. will share the five things all executives should be doing on LinkedIn right now to ensure they remain at the top of their fields.

J.T. will explain:

  • How LinkedIn is evolving and what you need to know to stay relevant and in demand.
  • Simple changes to your LinkedIn profile settings that will yield immediate results.
  • How to get more of the right people asking to connect with you on the platform.
  • The secret weapon that will ensure you make the most of LinkedIn’s recent algorithm changes.
  • And a lot more!

Can’t attend live? No worries.

Sign up and we’ll send you the recording after the event.

We hope to see you there!


Gen Z Job Search: The Years Of Experience Myth

Gen Z Job Search: The Years Of Experience Myth

I’ve heard many of my Gen Z members and followers talk about how difficult it is to apply for jobs when every company seems to require two or more years of experience for entry-level positions, the types of jobs Gen Z, the youngest demographic in the workforce, shouldn’t have any problems getting.

The idea that you can’t apply for a job that requires “years of experience” because you’re a new grad is a myth, and I’m going to tell you exactly what to do instead.

You Don’t Necessarily Need Years Of Experience, But You Do Need A Connection Story. 

@j.t.odonnell Replying to @millers0620 Gen Z Job Search Episode 1: The Years Of Experience MYTH #genzjobsearch ##genzjobs #genz #jobsearchtips #jobs #job #jobsearch ♬ original sound – J.T. O’Donnell

First, I want you to understand the reason they say a job requires “two years of experience” is that they want to make sure you’ve worked at some point in your life. Hopefully, you’ve had an internship, maybe in college or while you were in grad school, but you do have some sort of work experience.

The second thing you need to know is that you have a secret weapon, and it’s called your connection story. What you lack in experience you can make up for with enthusiasm and by sharing how you feel motivated to work for a company.

So, how do you write a connection story?

Step 1: Ask yourself, “Why do I respect and admire this company?” and “What taught me that they were worthy of this respect and admiration?”

Step 2: Think about your own life. What’s making you feel connected to them as an employer?

Step 3: Put your connection story together in a disruptive cover letter. Unlike a traditional cover letter, a disruptive cover letter is a storytelling cover letter.

Step 4: Once you’ve written your disruptive cover letter, reach out to the recruiter, hiring manager, and/or people who work at the company and say…

“Hey, enclosed is the story of why I feel so connected to your company. I’d love to learn what it might take to earn the opportunity to interview or be considered for the XYZ position.”

When you say there’s a story, that piques their interest. And when you say you want to earn the opportunity, you don’t have to point out that you don’t have the exact experience. What you’re trying to do is to get them to see that you have the intrinsic motivation to do the job.

They can teach you the experience. What they need is somebody who understands why they want to work there. That’s what they’re looking for, and that’s what you need to share with them.

I see this every single day. In fact, I’ll tell you a story.

I worked with a young man named Seth. He was a senior in college. He wanted to get a job in recruiting. It required five years of experience. But with this technique, he shared his connection story with the recruiters that were recruiting for the position. And he got the job. He beat out people who had 10 years of experience. And the reason he won the job is because of that connection story. They clearly understood that he wanted to be a recruiter and he was able to say, “Look, I have no bad habits. You can mold me, you can train me, and I’m passionate about this.”

You can do the same thing. But it starts with understanding what your connection story is and then sharing it with those employers.

If you want more information or if you want to be coached on this, we can help you.

Check out our free daily newsletter or become a member and get access to affordable, on-demand career coaching.

Good luck, and go get ’em.

4 Things To Do: Getting A New Job While Working

4 Things To Do: Getting A New Job While Working

Do you want to leave your job but don’t want to give your two weeks’ notice until you find a new one? With the right job search strategy, you can easily find a job while you’re still employed.

One of our Work It DAILY fans wrote in and said, “Hey, I want to quit my job and start a new one. What should be my to-do list today?”

I’m going to walk you through the four basic steps that you should take in order to make that happen.

Referrals Matter

Professional woman at work stands with a professional man who referred her for a job

Now, before I begin, I want to remind you of an important fact. Up to 80% of all jobs today are gotten via referral. So blindly applying online is not going to work for you. Only 3% of the people who apply online ever get called by recruiters or hiring managers.

The four steps that I’m going to outline for you are going to help you go around that ATS (applicant tracking system) and connect with recruiters and hiring managers so you stand out as a great job candidate.

So, let’s break it down…

Step 1: Inventory Your Skills

Young woman on laptop inventories her skills for her job search

You need to inventory your transferable skills. These are all the hard skills that will be helpful in your next job. You may perform some or all of these things in a future position.

Step 2: Get On LinkedIn

Young professional on laptop learning how to update his LinkedIn profile to help recruiters find him

You’re going to take those transferable skills you’ve identified and make sure they’re optimized on both your resume and your LinkedIn profile.

Recruiters are always searching for those key terms when looking for potential job candidates, so if you have your transferable skills listed on your LinkedIn profile (in your LinkedIn headline, for example) you’re going to improve your chances that they’ll connect with you and reach out to you about job opportunities you’re a fit for.

Step 3: Make A Bucket List

Professional woman on laptop makes an interview bucket list

Next, create what’s called an interview bucket list. This is a list of 10 to 20 companies that you would love to work for and that hire for your skill sets.

The best way to build an interview bucket list is to research companies you feel a connection to. Make sure you’d be able to either commute to or work remotely for these companies. If your skills also match the jobs they hire for, the company belongs on your interview bucket list!

Step 4: Identify People At Your Bucket List Companies

Man and woman use laptop together to make their interview bucket lists

Finally, you’re going to identify people who work at the companies on your interview bucket list and use your networking connections to get introduced to them.

You want to be able to have conversations with people who are currently employed at these companies. They can help you understand what it takes to stand out in the hiring process and potentially introduce you to hiring managers.

The Most Efficient Way To Find A New Job

This brings me back to my very first point about getting referred to companies. This is the best, fastest, most efficient way for you to find a new job while employed because you don’t have time all day to spend on your job search. Work smarter, not harder!

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.



4 Things Recruiters Are Looking For When They Search You Online

4 Things Recruiters Are Looking For When They Search You Online

Recruiters are lurking in the depths of your social media profiles. Are they seeing what you want them to see?

It’s no secret that recruiters are looking up candidates online before they move them forward in the hiring process. It makes sense, though. Who doesn’t look people, places, or things up online before they commit to them? If you don’t, then welcome to the 21st century.

According to a recent survey, 94% of recruiters use social media to find high-quality candidates. And if that doesn’t get you hyper-aware of what’s out there about you online, this will: 54% of employers have rejected candidates based on the content found on their social networking profiles. Woof.

There are certain things recruiters are looking for when they search for you online. And if you want to make a great first impression on these recruiters, you need to do some recon work.

Is there anything out there you don’t want them to see? If so, take it down.

While you’re cleaning up your social media, you should take some time to give recruiters what they want too. During these online searches, recruiters are eager to learn certain things about you, and there are specific qualities/behaviors they are looking for when they’re checking out your online presence. So, it’s important you make those things easy for them to find.

Recruiters want to know that…

1. You Know Your Stuff

If you’ve been bragging that you’re an expert in whatever it is that you do, you better back it up. What proof do you have that what you’re claiming is true?

You know recruiters, employers, and clients are going to be looking for you online, so have something to show them. Brand yourself as an expert in your field by starting a blog or creating an online portfolio of your work.

2. You’re Not Bad-Mouthing Your Former Employer

Recruiter on laptop looking for good job candidates for an open position

If you’re trashing your old boss, colleagues, or company all over the Internet, you need to sit down because (surprise) recruiters are not impressed. In fact, they’re thinking something like this: “If we hire them and, for some reason, they don’t work out, what if they bash us all over the web? That’s not a good look for our brand…“

So, please don’t broadcast your woes all over the internet.

3. You Have A Personality

Manager on phone checks job candidates' social media during recruiting process

Now more than ever, companies are hiring people based on their “fit” instead of just their work experience. Employers are realizing that hiring the wrong person can completely throw off a team dynamic and cause workplace issues that can affect the business.

So, finding people who share the same values, passions, and goals is becoming more and more important.

4. You’re Not Posting About Inappropriate Stuff

Serious/thinking recruiter on laptop finding inappropriate posts on a job candidate's social media accounts

This is a huge red flag for employers and recruiters. According to a recent study, employers have little tolerance for bigoted comments and mentions of illegal drugs. Stay clean, my friends.

The good news? They don’t care so much about your beer pong photos anymore—as long as drinking isn’t the only thing you post about. So yay for that!

These are just a few things recruiters are looking for when they search for you online.

Of course, each recruiter has different things they want in a job candidate, so make sure you do your homework. That way, you can prove that you’re a great candidate to bring in for a job interview.

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

How To Use A Career Coach In 2023

How To Use A Career Coach In 2023

In today’s competitive job market, you may be wondering how to use career coaching to your advantage, or if you need a career coach at all. Here’s the truth: the key to getting ahead in your career is career coaching, and it’s easier than you think to get the help you deserve.

Society raised us to think that if you need a career coach, there’s something wrong with you. There must be a problem. You’re not hireable. So now everyone thinks that they need to do this all by themselves. But dentists, doctors, lawyers, accountants, personal trainers—all these specialists out there—they help us get results, more results than we could get on our own.

Career coaches are no different.

You Need Career Coaching That’s Affordable, Easily Accessible, & Available On Demand

@j.t.odonnell How to use a career coach. ♥️ For only $9/month! #careercoach #careercoachontiktok #careercoachtok #careeradvice #careerhelp #careermode #career ♬ original sound – J.T. O’Donnell

But here’s the thing: career coaching needs to be affordable. After we pay all our bills at the end of the month, there’s not a lot of money left over, if any. And the last thing we want to do is spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars, on career coaches.

Traditional career coaches charge so much because they use the theory that says customers who spend more money are more likely to be satisfied because they don’t want to look stupid and say that they overpaid for a product or a service. There’s a whole marketing ploy about this pricing strategy. So most career coaches price themselves really, really high. But the right career coaching for you is affordable and effective—and it does exist.

Not only does career coaching have to be affordable in 2023, but it also has to be easily accessible and available on demand. When you work with a traditional career coach, they sit down with you for an hour. And maybe they get you all hyped up for an hour, but then you’re all alone again.

What you really need is a career coach every single day. But who can afford hundreds of dollars every single day? This is why only executives and wealthy people ever use career coaches.

Until now.

At Work It DAILY, we have been building something special for the last two years. What we realized was you don’t need an hour of our time. You need a few minutes of our time every day, and you need a place to go that’s private and secure, where you can log in, talk with like-minded people, vent your frustrations, and access materials from trained career experts. You need a place where you can do the things you need to do to figure out and solve your career problems and move ahead, whether that’s choosing a career path, getting a new job, getting a promotion, dealing with your manager, dealing with co-workers, or changing careers.

So, we built our premium membership that combines coaching, courses, and community. It’s private, affordable, and ad-free, and every resource (including career coaching) is easily accessible and available on demand.

We created the Work It DAILY premium membership to help you get the career results you deserve. We are disrupting the industry to prove that good career coaching does not need to be expensive.

So if you need career coaching, come join me inside Work It DAILY. Getting the career help you need has never been easier.

Listing A Short-Term Job: Will It Help Or Hurt Your Career?

Listing A Short-Term Job: Will It Help Or Hurt Your Career?

Have you ever been at a job for such a short period of time that you wondered if it was even worth it to list it on your resume or LinkedIn profile?

A job seeker recently asked us, “Should I list a job if I wasn’t there for a very long time, and state whether or not I was laid off or fired?”

That’s a great question that a lot of people have when writing their resumes. Here’s what you need to do if you’re in a similar situation:

Consider The Background Check

Man gives the hiring manager his resume that lists a short-term job

The first thing you have to ask yourself is what a short period of time is to you. Is it a week, month, or year?

This is going to vary from person to person. But it’s important to know that any company that does a reference check on you, or a background check, is going to see every employer that ever paid you.

You have to understand that when you leave employers off the list, and they do a reference check and suddenly see that you worked at this company or that company, it’s going to look like you’re lying.

Utilize An “Additional Experience” Section On Your Resume

I usually advise people to create a section in their resume called the “Additional Experience” section. This is where you’re going to list unrelated work experience. Maybe you’re working a retail job, or are in some kind of hobby career, or had some super-short assignments that you weren’t at long enough for them to make an impact on your career. This way, it’s on paper.

In a job interview, if a hiring manager asks you about the short-term job, you can say, “No, I listed it. I was there for such a short period of time that I didn’t put it in my main resume.”

That’s the best way to handle these situations. More importantly, you need to know how to answer the question, “Why are there gaps in your resume?” or “Why were you at this company for such a short period of time?”

These days, it’s hard enough to get an interview in the first place. You don’t want to blow it by hiding anything. So, make sure to include a short-term job in the “Additional Experience” section of your resume. It’s an easy and effective solution.

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

Listing A Short-Term Job: Will It Help Or Hurt Your Career?

3 Ways To Get Your Resume Past The ATS

If you’re submitting your resume through a job board or company website, there’s a good chance your resume is being run through an applicant tracking system (ATS), the software many of today’s employers use to read and rank resumes they receive in the hiring process.

The higher the ranking, the greater the chance your resume will be seen by a pair of human eyes. Those that don’t get a high rank fall into a black hole. So the question is, “How can I ensure my resume gets past the applicant tracking system?”

Here are some basic tips:

1. Make Sure The ATS Can Read Your Resume

Man on laptop formats his resume to get it past the ATS

Have your resume saved in the right format. Not every ATS can read documents in .doc or .docx format. So, to be on the safe side, always submit your resume as a PDF. Also, in the event your resume does get past the ATS, you want to make sure the formatting stays the same. The best way to do that is by utilizing the PDF option.

Another thing to remember is to not use tables and text boxes. The ATS can’t read them, so they will only hurt your chances of moving on in the hiring process.

2. Help The ATS Identify Sections And Information

Woman on laptop writes and formats her resume to get it past the ATS

The ATS looks for keywords to help identify sections of the resume, so make sure each section of your resume is clearly labeled and uses consistent formatting.

Those sections you should focus on include your headline, your experience summary, your work history, your education, and any additional experience.

3. List The Most Appropriate Keywords

The exact list of keywords an employer enters into the ATS varies, but you can figure out appropriate keywords by looking at the job description. You will notice certain keywords come up over and over again. There may also be certain terminology or lingo that defines the work of your profession. Utilize those keywords in context on your resume.

If you’re going to use the “/” between keywords, add a space before and after it. For example, the ATS may not see “Web Design/Graphic Design” as keyword matches, but it will when it reads “Web Design / Graphic Design.”

In this digital world, applicant tracking systems have made job seeking more difficult, so you need to make sure your resume gets through this important filter. We hope these three tips help you write and format your resume to get it past the ATS.

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

7 Tips To Help You Deal With Getting Laid Off

7 Tips To Help You Deal With Getting Laid Off

Losing your job is hard, no matter the circumstances. When you’re part of a layoff, your bank account isn’t the only thing that takes a hit. So does your self-esteem.

Being laid off is probably one of the most professionally traumatic experiences you’ll ever have in your career. Within a day, you lose part of your identity—arguably the most important part.

When you have a job, you have a purpose. You have a reason to get up in the morning. You’re “needed.” So what happens when all that goes away? The things that so clearly defined you before are now gone. Who are you as a professional? Are you really as valuable of an employee as you thought? If you’re not needed at this company, will you be needed, wanted, somewhere else?

It’s completely normal to grieve the loss of your job when you get laid off. But as difficult as losing your job may seem right now, it can lead to something positive. This so-called “bad career experience” could very well bring you a better opportunity and give you a fresh start.

Here are seven tips to help you deal with being laid off:

1. Take A Break & Reflect

Woman thinks/reflects after being laid off

Give yourself a few days to process the layoff. You need time and space to go through the five stages of grief. This is an opportunity for you to take a break and reflect on your career. Ask yourself some questions. Think about your career goals. Remember what you have already accomplished.

Don’t rush into the job market the day after you’ve been laid off, and don’t make any big decisions in that first week of unemployment. Use this as a sign that you should relax and take a deep breath.

2. Do A Financial Assessment

Couple does a financial assessment after experiencing a layoff

Money is always a huge stressor for those who get laid off. To keep your anxiety and stress under control, do a financial assessment as soon as possible.

Figure out how long you have to look for a job before the money runs out and give yourself enough time to do so. Look at what you spend money on. How can you cut back?

3. Talk It Out With Someone You Love

Man talks about getting laid off with a friend

After being laid off, you’ll likely feel angry, resentful, sad, and maybe even depressed. These feelings could be amplified if you really loved your job and the company that you worked for. When you move past the denial stage, make sure you talk everything out with a loved one.

When you’re at your lowest point, family and friends will remind you of your strengths, accomplishments, and dreams. They’ll validate your feelings and remind you to be grateful for all that you have. Get that negativity out of your system before you meet any recruiters. They will sense your bitterness, and it won’t reflect well on you.

Surround yourself with positive people and be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up about what’s happened, and make sure you’re eating well, exercising, and getting enough sleep.

4. Prepare Your Story

Happy woman on laptop bounces back after getting laid off

If you’ve been part of a big layoff that is all over the news, it is easier to explain why you got laid off. But otherwise, you will have to explain to prospective employers what happened.

A short, positive, and concise story is best. Perhaps your department was restructured or your job was moved to a different location. Take ownership and explain what you learned from the experience. Make sure your story will be backed up by your manager or any other references your future employer might want to contact.

5. Explore Opportunities

Man on laptop explores job opportunities after being laid off

Before you contact your network or send out any applications, make sure your resume and LinkedIn profile are updated. Then, you can reach out to former colleagues, friends, or any other connections who work for organizations that interest you.

Create an interview bucket list. Conduct some informational interviews if you’re looking to work in a different industry or make a career change. Depending on what you do and your location, you might want to start looking at contract/temp/interim work in the meantime.

6. Keep The Momentum Going

Woman on phone stays positive after being laid off

Conducting an effective job search is all about “working it daily.” You need to be proactive and strategic.

Make sure you tailor your resume to specific jobs to maximize your chances of getting hired. Write compelling disruptive cover letters. Network your way around the ATS. But most of all, don’t stop your job search activities, even if you’re in the advanced interviewing stages with one company. You may think you’re a shoo-in for a position, but anything can happen.

7. Stay Positive

It is easy to feel sorry for yourself when you’ve lost a job. You might have regrets about not saving more money, not looking for a job earlier, or not doing enough to keep your job in the first place. However, this negative self-talk will only hold you back in your career and prevent you from getting back on your feet.

Make a conscious effort to stay positive. Surround yourself with positive people and think of the obstacles you’ve dealt with in the past and what you’ve achieved. Build your confidence, and potential employers will take note.

We hope these tips help you deal with being laid off in a positive and productive way. You can and will overcome this career setback. We think you’ll find it isn’t really a setback after all…

Need more help with your career?

Become a member to learn how to UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

Listing A Short-Term Job: Will It Help Or Hurt Your Career?

3 Ways To Network Over Summer Vacation

Summer is in the air and all you want to do is sprawl yourself out on a beach chair, slurp a fruity, refreshing beverage, and soak up some rays. Your career is the last thing on your mind.

While it’s important to take some time for yourself and enjoy life outside the workplace, it’s also important to stay on your game. You never know when that life-changing opportunity will present itself.

Here are a few ways you can network over summer vacation (and still enjoy your time off!):

Always Keep Business Cards Handy

It’s important to always have a few business cards with you—no matter where you are or what you’re doing. If you happen to meet someone at the tiki bar who you think would be an asset to your network, you want to be prepared. Even in the smallest of gatherings, you never know when you may meet someone that could end up being a valuable connection.

If you’re a job seeker or your company doesn’t offer business cards, you may want to consider getting your own printed with your basic information, especially a link to your LinkedIn profile, where you can continue your networking efforts with the new connection.

If you’re not comfortable giving out business cards, you could exchange emails or LinkedIn information. The important thing is to establish a means of communication.

Plan A Family Trip

A group of young professionals take a road trip

If you’re considering relocating or just want to start building a network in a particular area, consider taking a family trip to that location. Get to know the area, attend local events, and make an effort to meet new people. Don’t go into it with an “all-business” mindset though.

Remember, you’re on vacation with your family. The focus is on spending your time with them, not making lots of connections. If you can meet one or two locals and build a causal relationship with them, that’s a great start.

Take 30 Minutes Each Week To Network Online

Young professional takes part in an online networking event while on summer vacation

Even if your summer may be jam-packed with fun activities, it’s likely you will have a half hour each week to spare. Make time each week to attend a virtual networking event for at least 30 minutes. It’s not a major time commitment, and the reward could be huge. Not to mention, you can do it while you’re sipping on a refreshing cocktail on your patio.

That’s one of the great things about virtual networking—you can do it virtually anywhere!

The truth is, virtual networking is the future, so it’s important to become good at it! Between remote work and the sheer convenience of it, virtual networking events will be in the majority.

Building your professional network over summer vacation is easier than you think. Follow the networking tips above so you can develop your career while enjoying the summer!

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

The 4 Phases Of Career Development: Which Phase Are You In?

As a professional, career development can be a difficult concept to grasp, and an even harder one to put into action. I’m here to simplify it for you: there are four phases of career development every professional should know, and they are the keys to building a successful and satisfying career.

4 Phases Of Career Development (And How To Make The Cycle Easier)

@j.t.odonnell 98% of people make this career mistake #careermistake #careermistakes #careeradvice #careermode #career #careertiktok #careerhelp #careerchoicehelp #careerchoice #chooseyourcareer ♬ original sound – J.T. O’Donnell

Here are the four phases of career development you should know:

  • Phase 1: Choosing a Career Path or Direction
  • Phase 2: Getting a Job
  • Phase 3: Developing Your Career
  • Phase 4: Deciding to Change Jobs or Make a Career Change

Once you complete the fourth phase, the cycle starts over again. So at any given point, you will be in one of these four phases from the time you start working until the time you retire.

The key to making this cycle easier is to narrow in on two things:

  1. A problem that’s bigger than yourself that you would love to solve
  2. Your unique combination of professional strengths that could help solve it

When you dial into these two factors, you will be able to catapult your success and satisfaction because you’ll be doing work that matters to you, and you’ll be so amazing at that work that people will take notice and you will grow and you will get what you want.

So how do you do this? Well, it starts with that first phase.

Most people were never taught how to properly choose a career path or direction. So, as a result, we usually make the mistake of falling victim to “the first job that comes along” syndrome. We take the first job that comes along that seems reasonably exciting and a match, and then we quickly figure out the job is not for us. So we look for a new job, and we make the same mistake again, and again, and again.

Fast forward five years, a decade, 15 years, and suddenly we’re in a career crisis because we know we want to do something else but we have all this experience doing one thing. And the kind of experience we have usually dictates what kind of job we can get going forward.

I want you to avoid this cycle. And if you’re in this cycle, I want you to break it.

Now, the best way to do that is to go through a free, hour-long workshop called “How To Choose Your Career (In 5 Simple Steps).” It’s going to help you understand what you have to assess about yourself and then how to narrow in on those options so that you can make an informed decision and choose a career path that will work for you.

I know you’re stuck. I know you’re frustrated. And I know it’s because you didn’t get Phase 1 right. And we’re going to fix it now. Let’s do this together. Go get ’em.

Need more help with your career?

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Listing A Short-Term Job: Will It Help Or Hurt Your Career?

The #1 Career Skill Every Professional Needs

As a career coach, I get asked all the time what the number one skill or trait is that people need most to be insanely successful—you know, what it takes to become the next Oprah or Richard Branson.

I’ve spent years working with thousands of people who have been deeply dissatisfied and unhappy with their career success level.

When I’ve compared them to people I’ve worked with who’ve become extremely successful, along with people like Oprah and Richard Branson, I’ve noticed that these people possess one very specific skill/trait.

It’s something they’ve developed within themselves. It’s not something they were born with.

This is good news for you because anyone can adopt this skill and learn how to execute on it. When you get really good at it, you’ll be able to catapult—to quantum leap—your success.

So, what is this big thing?

#1 Career Skill: “Dropping The Rocks”

Professional man on computer finds career success after developing a key skill

If you want to be successful in your career, you need to learn a skill called “dropping the rocks.”

What do I mean by that? Well, there is a process you go through in your career called “Experience + Learn = Grow.” It’s something I teach to all our Work It DAILY members. Every time you have an experience in your career, you process it, look at it, and learn from it.

When most people who stay dissatisfied and unsuccessful in their careers have an experience, they typically process it, attach emotion to it, and put this emotion into what we call their “career narrative.” This is the story that runs in your head.

People take these experiences and put them into their career narrative like rocks. The problem I have with this is that while you’ve experienced something, and you’ve learned something from it, you actually haven’t grown.

So, here’s this “rock”—that failure that you had—that you haven’t processed. Then you have another thing happen to you, and you don’t really process it either. And then another.

And you keep going, going, and going. What I’ve found is that people who aren’t successful, who are deeply dissatisfied in their career, have a pile of these rocks.

Imagine walking around with a bucket of rocks 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

That’s what you’re doing in your head. You’ve got nothing but a bunch of rocks dragging your career down. It crushes your confidence and holds you back from achieving things.

If you had all that extra weight to carry around, how fast (and far!) could you really go in your career?

Why “Dropping The Rocks” Brings Career Success

Successful people, on the other hand, process these “rocks” and actually grow. The sign that you’ve grown, and have thrown the rock away, is when you no longer attach any heavy emotion to a career experience.

Really successful people who you look at and say, “Gee, they’ve caught every break. They’re so lucky,” have had just as many challenges in their career as you—probably more—because they’ve been so much more aggressive in their career than you have.

But what they’ve really done is develop this incredible skill to process things and drop the rocks.

They experience it, they learn from it, but most importantly, they grow from it. They look at everything that’s happened to them in a positive light because if it didn’t ruin their career and it didn’t kill them, they can do something with it.

When you get really good at this, you will be amazed at how much lighter you will feel. And when you’re lighter and free of all that negativity, all those rocks that are in your head holding you back, you’ll think differently about what you can do.

You stay curious, you stay creative, you take risks, and you move forward. And that’s the very definition of those people—the Oprahs and Richard Bransons—that you aspire to be.

So, if you want to know the one skill that you should be developing in yourself right now so that you can take your career to new heights, it’s learning to “drop the rocks.” Because if you can do that, you can do anything.

Need more help with your career?

Become a member to learn how to UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.