Best conversation in a while

Apologizes for not updating this in a while. I never intended to end my blog but after the last post, a few things happened to me one being the fact that I was without my laptop and internet for almost a week. It’s been busy the last little while but no worries, I’m back. I’ll try to fit in a post a week.

About two weeks ago I had one of the best conversations in my life. I was at a business function celebrating Public Inc‘s first year. It’s a great organization that promotes positive social good through little acts and habits of good. I went to the event and saw a couple people that I knew. One was a COMM 92 grad and another COMM 00 grad. It turned out that they both worked at the same place a few years back but not at the same time. It was an amazing experience to talk them about work, leadership and marketing. I was sort of in awe the whole time. These are seasoned professionals who were recounting their work stories and life lessons. I still remember this conversation and it was two weeks ago. One of the things that struck me was “You learn from organizational behaviour (OB class) that leadership is so important yada yada yada but it’s not until you’re in the job and you have a terrible boss you truly realize how important leadership really is.”

Have you had a great conversation like that?

Don’t Let Work Be That Course You Hated

Remember that course that you hated? Everyone had one…what was it? I’m talking about the one that you despised but you took the course because you either had to because it was mandatory or you thought it was a birdie course.

You can get by the class but you may have some struggles. At the end you sigh with relief and tell yourself “I’m never doing that again!”

Don’t let your work/job/career become that course that you hated. It’s not worth it. Your life/happiness is worth so much more than that.

Thank You Business Career Centre

The latest headline in the job search world besides Jobless Rates Hold Steady is the story of the jobless grad suing her university. After three months of searching (how hard did she really search and three months is not a long time in the bigger picture) a recent grad has not found a career opportunity and has decided to sue her alma mater because they have not tried hard enough to find her a job. I can understand her frustration with the job search since I think many of us have gone through that stressful process of looking for employment. However, taking it so far to suing your university? That’s taking it too far. I heard once “blaming others is an excuse for your own faults.” Yes, life is tough with debt and the stress of a job search but how is entering into legal disputes going to help you? How will it help you get a job because if employers Google your name (and they will, trust me) they’ll see “GRAD SUES UNIVERSITY FOR NOT FINDING HER A JOB”. Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me.

That being said, I think that career centres are not given enough credit. They do so much work behind the scenes to help their students. I love my Business Career Centre. They’ve been very helpful to me over the last few years and even now after I have graduated. I am always seeking to help them back by sending them information that I hear about. I think the Queen’s Business Career Centre is top-notch.

My suggestion to students is to know that it’s never too early to start career planning and to work with your career centre. What do you want and what are the steps you need to take to get there? Are there information sessions with employers, resume workshops, and mock interviews you can be a part of?

My suggestion to recent grads is to get back in touch with your career centre and university. Some people have strong ties to their university (myself included) and are always willing to help. Talk to your previous professors, career counselors, and alumni network. Don’t forget to give back! Volunteer with your local alumni association! Plan an event, volunteer time, or donate what you can.

Pay it forward. It’s good karma.

Body language speaks volumes

As I practice for my presentation later tonight at Refresh Events, I’m very conscious of my body language. It gives so much away. It’s not about what you say as so much how you say it: the tone, arm gestures, eye contact etc.

Last week at Toastmasters I was the Tables Topics Evaluator. I evaluated people’s short impromptu speeches. I listened to what they said and focused on how they said it. What I noticed was that I focused a lot on body language. Arm movements and eye contact can really make or break a presentation.

A good friend of mine is studying body language and suggested that I record myself while practicing for my presentation. He said “You can’t change what you don’t know what to change”. The first run-through on camera was interesting to watch. As I continued to practice more then I became a lot more confident because I knew to stop fidgeting or playing with my hair.

This is something you can apply to when practicing for interviews. Yes, you can practice your success stories all day but in the end, it’s all about how you say it. If you can, record yourself on camera to learn how others may perceive you.

Tips in presenting to a large group:

• Let your arms flow naturally as you speak
• Make eye-contact with different people in the audience and hold it for three seconds
• Be confident by practicing your speech
• Remember that you’re probably more critical of yourself than the audience so relax!

Show you’re interested in the job

I asked someone in human resources earlier this week what their tips were in finding a job. His answer was simply: “actually show that you’re interested in the job.”

I was puzzled by this piece of advice. Don’t employers assume that you’re interested in the job because you’re there at the interview? That’s not necessarily the case.

Demonstrate that you want the job by:

• Doing your research on the company
- Look at their annual reports, news articles, Facebook fan page, LinkedIn, Twitter, industry websites etc.
- Example: For a recent interview, I used my Gmail search button to find all of the news articles related to that company (I subscribe to Marketing Daily) and found five relevant articles on the business dated in the last 1.5 years. I used this information in my interview.

• Practice your interview answers out loud especially the “Why do you want to work here?” and “Why would you be a fit?”
- Have a friend ask you questions where possible so you can get constructive feedback
- Have your computer ask you questions if you have a speech or recorder option
- Practice, practice, practice so that you’re comfortable with your answer but don’t sound too robotic

• Be targeted:
- You can’t be all things to all people so don’t just apply to “any” job. It’s about the right fit for both you and the company
- Think and talk about the ways that you’re different from others and what you can bring to the company or department

• Tell them that you’re very interested in the job!

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Tip to those looking to get into marketing/advertising in Canada:

Subscribe to Marketing Magazine and Strategy Magazine
Marketing Magazine can send you two daily updates about what’s happening in the marketing/advertising industry in Canada. They issue bi-weekly magazines that are extremely well written.
Strategy Magazine is a monthly magazine and is a great resource for advertisers.

They have online versions of both of these magazines but I would suggest subscribing to the magazine itself. It’s money well-spent to keep yourself in the loop of the industry.

Informational interviews: Time lag

Based on previous posts, I’m sure that you know that I’m a big fan of informational interviews. I’ve been doing them for the last couple of years (never to early or late to start!) and have found them very useful in defining my own career and for networking purposes. I have even met a few mentors along the way, some of whom may not know that I look up to them in a mentor way (This will be another post…I highly support mentorship programs/relationships and think more people should have them).

Somebody recently asked me what my job strategy has been. I was honest and I shared my process and I’ll share it on my blog. It’s networking, applying for jobs, and getting involved in your community. It’s not a secret and in fact, there are hundreds of articles on how to find a job (more likely well into the hundreds of thousands) which all suggest the same thing. What I find is that it’s much easier than done. You just need to motivate yourself to do this. I wake up (almost) every morning at 6.30 am and am excited with what the day has in store. Life is what you make it. I’m making it to be amazing.

The question my friend asked was: “What I find the issue with informational interviews is that there’s a time-lag. Sometimes it could be weeks until I see the person. How do you deal with that?”

My answer: “There’s always going to be a time-lag because people are busy. It’s important to follow up. For example, it took me one year for me to set something up with someone due to scheduling conflicts. I was persistent and kept e-mailing him. He gave me great advice in the end. Sometimes people don’t respond at all and you can’t take that personally. The worst thing that can happen is that people don’t respond. If that’s the worst then it’s really not that bad. This is when it becomes a numbers game. You need to continue sending out targeted introduction e-mails and hope that you get a response. Arrange to meet them at their convenience. “

What do you think about the time lag in informational interviews? Anyone have any experiences to share?

As my friend so eloquently puts it: Enthusiam and Dedication

I have a friend that I met during frosh week of university. Over the course of five years, I have seen her grow and become an amazing person. She was heavily involved in the Queen’s Commerce and Queen’s University community. After graduation she worked as a Business Professional for a entrepreneurial company in Toronto and recently decided to return to her home province of  Nova Scotia. She is a superstar. It’s interesting to see that after five years that we’re in the same boat of being between opportunities and being in the same mental mindset about the career vs job, job titles, and the life journey in general.

Message to NS Employers: HIRE HER NOW!! She’s a business rockstar!.

She also has a blog and I highly endorse it. She writes extremely well in a honest and genuine way. This is her latest post on the career search and how Gen Y (people between the ages of 19-29) defines their career titled: Enthusiasm and Dedication.

Amazing. I am in awe of her. She’s a strong-willed person and a very savvy person. I know she’ll go far in life.

Small world

Someone once said to me “Be a sponge and learn as much as you can and work on building lots of relationships. The marketing world is small.”

What he said is completely true. Not just the marketing world but the world in general. That’s why it’s so important to be consistent with how you present yourself. Your reputation is everything. It’s so humorous to me when I meet someone and I can name someone we have in common. It just reminds me just how small the world is.

Hello, I’m Unemployed

After going to so many networking events, I’ve met a lot of people along the way. I’ve met some AMAZING people. I am astounded by people’s stories and general passion in life. In the job search, I think there needs to be a balance of networking, applying to jobs, and general interest career building activities.

The hardest part about going to networking events when you’re unemployed is saying you’re unemployed. If people don’t know you’re looking, how will they ever offer you advice as to what companies are hiring, who to talk to or offer you general encouragement to “keep on truckin”.  I heard of people who are looking for jobs but are unwilling to tell anyone. For me, I’m the exact opposite. In tough times like these, jobs go to people who are assertive. A bit of it is luck but you make your own luck. How hard are you really trying? If the hardest part of going to networking events is saying you’re unemployed then introducing yourself, swapping business cards and really connecting with people should be easy.

An important thing to remember when job searching is:

“You must give before you get.”

When I meet someone, I always try to think of ways I can help someone else. I’m happy to connect over coffee, LinkedIn or Twitter. It’s about paying it forward. So connect with me if you like.

Your job title doesn’t define you and I think that’s one of the important lessons I’ve learned in the last little while.

Take Mental Health Days

The inspiration for the title of my blog “Between Opportunities” came from an article written by Craig Redmond, a creative director in Vancouver. We’ve never met but have exchanged some e-mails a couple months ago when I told him I penned my blog after his article about being unemployed. Here’s a copy of the article. I ripped it out of Strategy magazine (January 2009 issue) and had it hanging next to my calendar for a while.

One of my favourite lines from the article is “Take Mental Health Days”. Being unemployed is exhausting. It’s a poor paying one to boot. There are some days that I get overwhelmed by the entire job search process. It’s important to take time for yourself. It can’t always be “GO GO GO” because it will take its toll on you emotionally and physically. What I do to relieve stress is to go for walks and explore Toronto by foot. It’s hard when you’re an unemployed high achiever but know that you can only do so much. Control what you can control and things will fall into place when it’s right.