Why New Entrepreneurs Should Listen To Recruiters

can you hear me?, a photo by pj_vanf on Flickr.

If you’ve decided to ditch your cubicle for your own startup, congratulations. No doubt you intend to stay connected to some of your former colleagues, your bosses or your former clients to insure your success—because all of them can help you build your business.

Add an additional remnant of your corporate past to be a catalyst for your entrepreneurial success: recruiters who have come to know you over the years.

Before you diss the recruiters who pitch you new job opportunities while you’re exiting your old one, consider the benefits of continuing your relationship with them:

Recruiters in your field are experts at monitoring the business landscape.  The obvious shift in your relationship is that you no longer rely on your recruiter for resume tips or job leads. But consider that a good recruiter spends hours a day talking to business leaders, conversing daily with  movers and shakers in your industry, negotiating compensation and networking constantly. You won’t ever be able to grow your business in a vacuum. Staying in touch with someone who’s got his ear to the ground for their own livelihood is a person you definitely want in your corner.

Recruiters own the skills you need for your own success.  A new business owner taps into the expertise they’ve developed as an employee and leverages it by selling it in the marketplace. Whether you’re a Subject Matter Expert in healthcare consulting, human resources outsourcing, technology or another line of business, you will have to sell your services quickly in order to launch. You can learn a lot about how to network, set business goals and close deals from a trusted recruiter—simply because their livelihood depends on it as much as yours.

If your startup doesn’t get off the ground, you need to stay current.  Simply put—a lot of startups build slowly or fail. Whether you need to seed your business by working temporarily for another company or you decide to return to work in a traditional role, don’t burn your bridges, Keep in touch with a trusted recruiter that can help you.

Business relationships are like any other; you need to give as well as take. Offer something to the recruiters you stay in close touch with. Share some market news or refer a contact that might consider a job change. Engage in a discussion with them about an industry trend. Keep the dialogue going in both directions and the relationship will last.

What Signals Do You Send In The Workplace?

An Interesting Train - The Fat Controller, a photo by oddsock on Flickr.

We slog through our morning commute on automatic pilot. And some of us stay on cruise control throughout the workday, focusing on and worrying about meeting deadlines or the creation of more PowerPoint decks, but not thinking too hard about what others are thinking about us.

Make no mistake about it—whether we intend to focus on the team dynamic or not, we can’t help emitting signals about how we manage ourselves at work and how we feel about our team. We all wear our personal agenda on our sleeve.

These signals have an impact on our ability to get promoted, and they also impact our ability to keep our jobs during reorganizations or budget-slashing measures. Some days we’ll feel like playing nice in the sandbox with our coworkers; other days we aren’t as pleasant and we shrink back. But bosses and teammates are watching and listening—so it’s important to pay attention to the signals you are emitting.

I’m not a fan of putting people in boxes. But for the purpose of this post I’d like to identify three categories of productive workers that might give you an indication of how you’re being perceived:

The Lone Ranger. This member of the team doesn't place much importance on what others think about how he or she performs the job; they march to their own drummer. The Lone Ranger survives mainly because they are very good at what they do, and so their bosses put up with their aloof behavior or their histrionics. Don’t expect any warm and fuzzy signals from this coworker in terms of project collaboration, or commiseration when you feel like bitching about a difficult client. And if you share your Great Idea with a Lone Ranger, don’t be surprised if they announce some iteration of that same idea at the next team meeting, calling it their own.

The Fixer.  This worker enjoys fixing tough dilemmas on the team—including problems that aren’t necessarily theirs. Still high from the adrenaline rush of conquering the latest insurmountable problem, they look for new ones to fix, including projects that might belong to others. While Fixers generally mean well, they don’t recognize their own boundaries and won’t be happy until they insinuate their personal solutions on everyone else’s projects.

The Collaborator. This member of the team finesses what they were hired to do and executes it within the boundaries of their job description. And while they’re successfully completing their tasks, they consider the bigger picture and offer their assistance to others on the team (but they don’t foist it). They work respectfully on shared projects and believe that the power of many voices is greater than theirs alone. They thrive on the synergy of multiple ideas and the power of teamwork.

Which kind of employee would you want to work with? More important, which kind of employee do you want to be?

Pushing The Career Envelope

move-change-adapt-flex-grow-be-do-richardstep-1a--richardstep-unleash-your-strengths, a photo by RichardStep.com on Flickr.

This time of year a lot of us are contemplating the quality of our jobs—yes, most of us are grateful to have one, but many of us are thinking it might be time to consider a change. There’s a lot that may have shifted in the job-hunting landscape since you last looked for one. You might start to read popular career blogs or accept calls from a few reputable recruiters you know. You decide you will tweak your LinkedIn profile.

But there’s a deeper kind of change in the air that needs to be acknowledged before you seriously consider posting to online job ads. There's a collective change in human consciousness that affects how we should guide how we earn a living. We need to mentally shift into a new awareness that our career paths are no longer linear; that the twenty-year stint at a company with a pension at age sixty seven is going to be as rare as your seventeen year old asking to spend more time at home with you.

Guess what? We can still enjoy our work and find meaning in it--perhaps without even changing our job.

It’s time to challenge our assumptions.  You might be angry about the politics that exist in your company, or the lack of team leadership. The job feels like it’s limiting your growth. Or the culture is not a fit to your personality.

When you shift into job-hunt mode because you are escaping from a bad situation (as compared to a great new opportunity that you are moving toward), SLOW DOWN.

Get to a quiet place and get emotional. Maybe throw a tantrum in a bathroom where no one else can hear you. Then breathe and get really quiet.

Ask yourself if your assumptions about your current job can be challenged:

Could I be happy at this job?

Can I do new things that were formerly impossible?

How would that change look?

Really challenge what you believe. Look at the situation from the eyes of someone who hasn't been disgruntled in the role for a while.

When you walk back to your cubicle, play nice with your coworkers. Then go crazy tapping into what you’re capable of.  

Is Becoming A Contractor The New Norm?

Lavida Cooper, a photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Thirty one percent of America’s workforce is comprised of independent contractors, grown out of corporations’ needs to staff on the fly. With this trend rising, the contract model might become your most likely way of getting hired. After all, it’s easier for companies to end a contract than to terminate a coworker. Firms can successfully outsource their Account managers, Human Resource reps and IT Analysts and reap all of their successes without the obligation of paying for employee benefits and paid time off.

Does working as a contractor make sense for you? Consider these points:

Being independent puts you in the category of Subject Matter Expert. You’re in a position to offer big picture opinions of your business landscape to your client company because you’ve worked in a variety of scenarios. You’re politically neutral when you offer your expertise because, while you are completely professional, you don’t have to drink the company Koolaid. Likewise, you wont be disappointed by the typical two or three percent increase that salaried employees receive at their annual review. You can set your own rates for the duration of the contract—and it's a fact that most contractors earn more than their salaried counterparts.

Looking for job security? Create your own by being great at what you do.  Whether you are in between jobs or you’re looking for a long-term role, contracting might be the way to go if you are really good at what you do. You can charge more for your expertise since you know how to solve your client’s problems. As your paycheck increases, stash as much as you can away for rainy days in between contracts (or for taxes if you’re on a 1099). Stay connected to your network and keep your skills fresh so that you’re poised for the next contract when the current one ends.

You get to steer your own ship.  As a contractor you won’t concern yourself with which rung of the corporate ladder you sit on. Promotional opportunities won’t pervade your thoughts. Corporate politics can be observed from the sidelines. Instead, your focus is on the work itself.

What about benefits and a sense of permanence? It’s true—you won’t be paid for your sick days or vacation time, and it might be hard to carve out time off over the holidays when you’re covering for salaries employees on the team. If you contract through an agency, you may be able to earn benefits and PTO—but given the changes in healthcare benefits, you might be better off funding these for yourself.

I think the biggest concerns a contractor has are those that are focused on the work itself. Often, contractors are hired as a last ditch effort to meet business goals that the permanent staff could not achieve. If you are offered a contract gig, find out early if you’re being set up for success or a failure. Gauge if the client’s expectations for your performance are realistic or not (sell twenty new clients in three months time? You’re an Account Manager, not Houdini).

Remember that when you’re hired on a temporary basis, you are, at first, an expense to the company and not an investment. You won’t receive employee developmental goals and there's not talk of your future. You will, however, be paid well to do what you do best—the work itself. And if it goes well, you’ll be appreciated by the team and be treated well. You might even get picked up as a permanent employee later, if that's your goal.

Contract work is a career lifestyle choice with pros and cons like any other. But it’s a prevailing trend that is seeping into more workers’ lives at a rapid rate. Chances are you will need to explore this option at some point in your career trajectory.

How Loyal An Employee Should You Be?

Loyalty, a photo by geopungo on Flickr.

Most workers these days are content to just be employed. The idea of looking for a better job, within your own company or at outside organizations, seems like a guilt-induced act of blasphemy.

This saddens me because I believe it’s always important to stretch yourself—to learn new skills with the goal of keeping your career fresh, interesting and expanding. And sometimes that means opportunistically changing jobs.

So how loyal should you be to your boss and your company?

First, don’t confuse accountability with loyalty.  Never lose sight of the fact that you must take full responsibility for the job you’re paid to do. That is the definition of accountability. You need to own the good, the bad and the ugly parts of your job—including long hours and backing up your boss. On the other hand, loyalty is about commitment. When you pledge loyalty to your boss, you are differentiating yourself from the fifty other people who have the technical skills to do your job, but may not be as committed as you are.

Loyalty to your boss is great for the boss, but it could kill your career.  As a corporate recruiter, I look for integrity and strength of character in a job candidate. I look specifically for evidence of how you took the opportunity to learn everything you could from each of your roles to grow, develop leadership skills and achieve great results. And believe it or not, whether you have five jobs or fifteen listed on your resume, if the reasons for changing jobs are justified, I won’t hold it against you.

The thing I hate the most is a resume that reveals a candidate whose career was driven by outside forces more than his own.  Your livelihood should be mostly driven by your own choices. When your resume starts to look more like a timeline of the failures of your past companies, you are not steering your own career. Perhaps you’ve been loyal to the wrong people.

Don’t get me wrong—layoffs and mergers have made the employment landscape smaller for all of us. But when I see a twelve-year veteran of a company survive three rounds of layoffs but is now living off the last of the severance her company gave her a year ago, when they finally folded, I believe that her loyalty was a bad personal choice. The signs of the ship going down were there—what was she thinking?

It’s important to treat your career like a small business—the business of you. Dust the cobwebs off your resume and make it current. Keep on doing a fabulous job in your current role, but remember that steadfast allegiance and ridiculous overtime will be forgotten. Instead, doing great work for the right people will be remembered and will take you to your next great role.

Stay accountable on your job but be loyal to yourself. It’s crucial for you to constantly establish new contacts, add new skills and yes—keep your eyes and ears open for bigger, better job opportunities, within your on company and beyond. 

Your Career Path: Are You Thriving Or Just Surviving?

Zombie Survival Guide, a photo by jronaldlee on Flickr.

You might say that the choices we often make in selecting our jobs—or in changing them—are indicators of the economy and the current job market. It’s easy to attribute our lack of ambition to outside forces. In other words, we are comfortable because, simply put, we are working.

This is what survival mode looks like. With a stable job we think we know better than to take a chance on accepting a new one. And so we hunker down.

But does survival mode mean that you should live with the likelihood of never improving your career? Shouldn’t you still try?

Ambition = Good. Mediocrity = Bad?  Believe it or not, this is not a hard and fast rule. If you’re currently out of work, taking a downscaled job that merely pays the bills can be a good option. If you’re good at budgeting your time, you can dedicate some of your week to a menial job while you are networking and seeking out a better job--without the guilt. Paying off a few bills can boost your confidence while you look for your next big career move.

Don’t make reactionary career choices.  In survival mode, you’re working at your current job but your radar is up for new opportunities. It’s very easy to jump too fast into accepting a new job offer. Perhaps the pay is a little bit higher, the commute is a little shorter or the new boss seems a little less toxic than your current one. As you consider your next offer, I’d suggest you ask yourself one important question:

“With this job offer, am I moving toward something I want, or am I escaping from something, instead?”

How does your physical body feel as you consider all sides of the new job opportunity? Are feeling tense, uncertain? Or do you feel peaceful and relaxed?

Accepting a new job to escape is a decision based on fear. Don’t do it.

Moving beyond job survival mode is a selfish act—but it’s well worth it.  If you aren’t working with some degree of passion or satisfaction, doing what excites you, something interesting happens. Even a level of mediocrity will be hard to sustain. Whether you hang out your own shingle and work for yourself, look at new opportunities within your own company or look at roles in new companies, it’s really important to challenge yourself. When you live beyond survival mode, you live with the possibility that job happiness might just be around the corner.

Switching Jobs? Don't Forget Your Personal Brand

Projects & Dreams for 2008, a photo by the Italian voice on Flickr.

By now it’s no secret that our backgrounds are accessible everywhere. I remind my children, as they prepare for acceptance into college and the working world, that our profiles are embedded into the footprint we leave on every Facebook wall and in every blog response. It is inerasable, and it behooves all of us to watch our written words.

But there’s more that needs to be done when you are seeking out a new job. Yes, avoiding irreverent, political or religious rants is a given. But I’d spend more time being concerned with the written and verbal messaging that will actually enhance your personal brand and get you hired.

LinkedIn profiles should exude professionalism—not desperation.  To figure out what you should include in yours, think about who your audience is and how you want them to help you change jobs. You’ll want to be seen as a Subject Matter Expert, whether you’re a junior Customer Service Rep or the VP of Accounting. With a few carefully crafted lines, your profile should demonstrate how you’ve succeeded as you moved from role to role. Even if you had the job from Hell, find something good that came out of it. At the same time, your profile should also exude warmth, noting your career accolades in a soft-spoken but authoritative way.

I’m on the fence about LinkedIn profiles that include any taglines about how they’re looking for a new role. Unless you’re an in-demand Actuary or Engineer, you’re better off omitting this. Believe me, recruiters and Hiring Managers will seek you out if your skills match their needs, regardless of this extra push. Just check off the subtle box that indicates you are open to new opportunities, if you wish. But the body of your profile should closely resemble a perfect resume—a list of accomplishments, where you achieved them and what you're great at. Include Keywords and a few strong endorsements from present and former colleagues, and your personal brand is established. And don’t forget to add a professional photo.

Don’t stop there—branding should include your cover letters, job applications and networking, too.  It’s important for your brand message to be clear and consistent in every form when you network for a better position. When you get actual face time with someone who can help you find a job, be clear with him about what your strengths are. Don’t tell him about your needs—tell him about the value you can add to his company. You can be more vague about what your desired new role is (so you don’t pigeonhole yourself if that role is unavailable at the time) but feel free to tout what you’ve accomplished so far and how you can make a difference to their bottom line. This is especially important during a 1:1 dialogue, but the same message should come through in your cover letters, emails and job applications.

One exception to repeating the same message is on your resume. The resume should be adjusted to the job you’re applying to. You might have five core accomplishments that will appear in any resume you send out, but their order may change for each new role you apply to. There may be emphasis on specific accomplishments over others.

Most people looking at your resume will only give it a few seconds before they move on to the next one. Tailoring a resume to your audience doesn’t change your strong brand; it just makes it easier for recruiters and Hiring Managers to see you as an immediate match.

Inconsistencies in personal brands are common and recruiters and Hiring Managers see them all the time—cover letters that don’t match up to the conversation with a job candidate, indecision over the level of the role they desire, or even worse, a resume that looks completely different from the LinkedIn profile. This tells the interviewer that you might not have figured out where you belong in your career. Or maybe you’re just sloppy. Either way, your message will be lost until adjustments are made.

In your crusade for a new job, make your personal brand a priority. Hack away at the extraneous parts until you've distilled it down to a message that is easy for anyone to find you. Then make sure you are consistent with that message.