Fired Up! » job seekers

Stand Out and Get Hired – Week 1 of the Plan

jforte — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:15:30 +0000

New year, new approach, new plan.

Week 1 of our plan to get hired: Keep your energy level up; work on your attitude.
We need to find a way to stay upbeat and fired up about job hunting. That may seem like an impossibility – so try these ways to stay upbeat:
1. Picture yourself in your new job – loving what you do and earning again. Stay focused on success instead of failure.
2. Build a network of friends and support to help you stay upbeat by sending you power quotes, comics and encouraging words. Use the phone, text, tweets, e-mails or facebook. Be the same for someone else who needs to stay focused on being optimistic.
3. Whatever comes your way, say “how can I use this to help me find a job?” Get good at turning things in your life into the clues on your hunt for the perfect job. Think of the process as a treasure hunt – with a great job as the prize.
4. Reward yourself for progress. Allow yourself a coffee, snack or other meaningful “prize” only after you get your calls made, networking done or resumes sent out.
5. Brainstorm with your friends and family on ways to stay positive – and then carry your better attitude into the rest of life.

See the great get hired tools at www.LiveFiredUp.com - click on Job Seeker.

Here is summary of our weekly plan to get hired in 2010:

1. Keep your energy level up; work on your attitude – this week.
2. Be self-aware to identify your talents, strengths and passions.
3. Know your world – what fields are hiring, what are the hot jobs and the growing industries.
4. Match your talents to jobs that need what you do – think “fit.”
5. Create a talent-based resume.
6. Use your social networks to get noticed.
7. Review my 10 rules for a powerful interview.
8. How to review a job offer.

New year, new approach…let’s refocus on getting hired.

Seven Steps to Finding the “Right” Job – Step 4

jforte — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Work, ” for many people, is a four-letter word. Most people don’t believe that it is possible to love your job – to love what you do and to be passionate about doing it. Most feel that work is how you make the money to have the life you want. But in today’s world the right job is one that plays to your strengths, activates your passions, allows for your best performance and adds great value to your life. Finding the right job is not complicated but it does require you to take the time to know your talents, strengths, passions and interests. There is no reason for you to hate your job; with a little direction, you can learn to define and hired into your dream job. Now is the time to find the right job and a job you love.

Today, I continue with my seven steps to finding a job you love because when you love your job, your performance, effort and engagement improves. Today, I introduce Step 4.

Find the right job Step 4:
Review what you listed from steps 1, 2 and 3 (what you are great at, what you love to do and what fits into your definition of success) and identify where any of the items you listed intersect. Where these three areas intersect is called your “MaxImpact Core.” This represents the environment that allows you to connect to your performance both intellectually and emotionally. This is where you have the greatest “fit,” greatest passion and greatest connection. This is critical information needed to identify your dream job – your “right” job. It is worth the effort to go through this process. Most people do not know what they are great at. Fewer know what their definition of success is. Where these, and your passions, intersect is where you will feel empowered and alive in the workplace. Find this. Trust me, you will be so glad you did and you will never take a boring job again. Life is too short to hate your job. It is your choice to have an ordinary or extraordinary job (and life). Learn how to find a job that activates your passions and makes you feel significant. Own your work and your life…you can have the best of each.

Two final steps and we’re done. I introduce Step 5 tomorrow. Don’t miss it. And share these with your friends and families who are job hunting…learn a better way of looking for the right job – one that will give you a job you love (and will excel in). For more information see “Stand Out and Get Hired” . Know yourself, what you are great at and what you are passionate about. Then find a job that allows you to use these. That is the “right” job for you.

Play to Your Strengths

jforte — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:31:57 +0000

So, job seekers, what are you great at? What are you passionate about? Know these and you’ll start to identify the areas of your greatest performance. To be successful today, you must work in areas that match your talents (you are great at it) and activate your passions (you love doing it). This requires self-awareness; this requires that you spend some time understanding yourself.

As I travel and work with managers and employees, I find that most do not know themselves well – they are unaware of what they are great at and what activates their passions. The result is they work in jobs they find to be boring, uninspiring and disengaging. The more disconnected they become from their work, the more their performance (and the performance of the organization) suffers. So take control. Know yourself well; know which jobs play to your strengths, which jobs ignite your passions and which jobs activate your best performance. Then, if job hunting, apply for jobs that meet these criteria. Stay focused on jobs that play to your strengths because these are the areas in which you are most competitive. Play to your strengths and then be sure the employment world knows what you are great at. Great employees are always in demand.

A Time of Change

jforte — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:04:39 +0000

Face it, everything changes. That is just how it is supposed to be. And to be successful in periods of change, requires several things. I’ll highlight my several key things to remember but to get it from an expert, click on www.First30Days.com, a powerful and inspiring site put together by Ariane de Bonvoisin; be sure to check out her nine principles of surviving change, share your story of change and sign up for her newsletter.

Here is what guides me:
1. Stay positive and find the positive, not the negative, in the change. There are always positive events if we look for them; committing to feeling bad doesn’t do any good. As I like to call it – be on the “hunt for opportunities.”
2. Know you will land on your feet. Trust that you have the abilities and the strength to come out stronger, better, happier or more successful. Believing it is critical to your success.
3. Surround yourself with others who can help you. Periods of change should send you looking for help, rather than trying to solve things on your own. Most people feel that their change situation is unique to them. Most situations have happened to others – and they may have wisdom to help guide you through the process. Find help.

Change happens. That is just the way of the world. Be optimistic, welcome it and be better because of it. Whether job hunting, managing or watching your family grow up, find the good. Celebrate the positive and commit to being optimistic.

To help with the impact of change, Job Seekers can check out Stand Out and Get Hired – your resource to help you see what you are great at, which jobs need what you are great at and how to apply in a way that gets you noticed. Managers check out Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition. This is your step-by-step guide to learn how to manage in today’s period of change. Use the tools to be great in times of change.

Job Seekers – good news

jforte — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:20:18 +0000

More and more of my work is now involving job seekers. To find and get the right job, it starts by knowing yourself. Be able to answer these three statements, then present them on your resume, and you’ll stand out.
1. Here is what I am great at and passionate about doing. (My talents and how I fit)
2. Here is how I use what I am great at. (How I perform)
3. Here is how I made/make a difference. (How I add value)

Hiring managers want to know these three things; moreover, they want to see that you know what you are great at, what you are passionate about, how you use what you are great at in the workplace, and how it all creates value. Provide this, you’ll stand out and get hired. See the full resource above for more information.

Talents, Performance, Fit and Value

jforte — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:17:43 +0000

Hiring managers need help from job seekers; they want job seekers to understand what a hiring manager must have to properly determine job seeker fit for a job. They don’t want resumes on colored paper, movie tickets, pictures of yourself, offers to wash their car or babysit their kids. Instead, what they need most is a resume that presents your talents, performance, fit and value. That gives them what they need to make the right decision. That is all they want.

Hiring managers – demand what you need from job seekers. Require them to submit the new talent-based resume (see the new format above under the Job Seeker link). This makes your job easier, clearer and more conclusive. It requires them to send you a resume with the critical information you need to make a good decision. This improves your ability of hiring the right employee and to fire the employee up!

“Stand Out and Get Hired” – my new resource to help job seekers define their talents, determine which jobs need their talents and create a powerful talent-based resume to apply for jobs that are a good fit – will be available in the next two weeks on this site. Stay tuned – and get your copy. This will make job seekers’ and hiring managers’ lives easier.

Recruit and Hire the Right Employee

jforte — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:50:14 +0000

In many areas of the country there is a supply of employed talent. Many organizations now have a greater choice to fill openings or realign. But wait – you first need to know what you need. Learn how to create a Talent Matrix – a one page profile of the talents, skills and experience you need (presented in Fire Up! Your Employees). This means you need to know how to assess applicants for talents and how to define the talents needed in each job. Define it up front and the interview process is easy – you know specifically what you need and you can easily match your needs to the attributes you find in your applicants. Hiring made simple.

Review the free chapter downloads and order your copy of this new hands-on, step-by-step guide to attract, hire and retain the right employees. Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition – get your copy today.

Before you hire or before you apply for a job…read this.

jforte — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:23:40 +0000

Talents are the key to hiring the right employee or for job seekers to apply for and get the right job. Fire Up! makes it easy with the Talent and Thinking Style Assessment for MANAGERS to learn how to assess employees’ talents (click on Talent and Thinking Style Assessment above) and for JOB SEEKERS (click on the link above) to learn how to assess your talents. For managers, once you know the talents of your employees and the talents needed in each role in the organization, you can locate and hire employees who are a good fit. And if you are a job seeker, once you know your talents, you can better define the kinds of roles and responsibilities that are line with your thinking and will lead to greater performance and ultimately greater success. So to hire the right employee, or to apply for the right job, be sure you know talents. Use these tools…choose a job that is a good fit for you or for your employees; then you and your employees will become MAXperformers.