Work Redesign Event

Seeking a New Job -- The Right One!

In a tight market like today's, changing your career or job hunting requires the most skilled and targeted of techniques. So we turned to alumnae experts for advice. On Saturday, March 7, Career Columnist and Consultant Amy Lindgren SP '83 facilitated a discussion with Nicole Boardman Harrison SP '97, MA Ed '02, who shared her recent career transition and job-search story. (We will be having more job-hunting panels, such as on networking skills and thrills, so watch our events calendar. For Amy's advice on career exploration offered at the recent graduation reunion,click here. For a link to her career counseling company, scroll to the bottom of the page.)

An estimated 90% to 95% of new job hires are through personal contacts, not job listings or online postings. The saying: “It's not what you know, but who you know that counts" proves true, as Nicole Boardman Harrison's story shows. Sometimes the concept of inside connections has been perceived as a negative – the "old boys' network" – but more and more as women get into the job market, the connective circles are changing from exclusion to inclusion. Nicole shared how she moved from being afraid of networking to thriving on it. Amy Lindgren nudged her with questions, summing up key points along the way.

The Start of Nicole's Career Transition -- RESTLESSNESS

Nichole Boardman Harrison graduated in 1997 with a degree in political science, but "when I was staying home with my children, I realized how much I wanted to work in education," Nicole said. She started considering a career change and read the book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.

Amy Lindgren noted that finding professional direction while caring for one's children is a welcome, fresh twist to the usual career discovery path, and she affirmed that people have to be on the lookout for self knowledge and direction in all experiences.

Nicole returned to St. Catherine’s for her master’s degree in education, but at the time of graduation, the teachers' job market was depressed. “Everyone wanted to find a job in the suburbs," Nicole said, "but a few of us wanted to work with the inner city kids.”

Nicole found the right position at an urban alternative school for at-risk students -- the Plymouth Youth Center. She loved the students and work, but it was also exhausting and she felt "restless." She admitted: "At six years, I felt that I had learned everything I could from the students and they had gained what they could from me." The education system felt confining and she wanted to work in more visionary ways. She attended the Leaders of the New Millennium Program through St. Catherine’s Leadership Institute.

MONTH ONE--DISCERNMENT

The school needed to cut back on teachers, so Nicole opted for a severance package and combined it with her summer vacation pay and unemployment assistance to create a few-month safety net for a career transition.

“The first month, I was burnt out and just laid on the couch watching movies. I had a lot of friends calling with advice. One worrisome friend kept calling to ask me how many resumes I had sent out that week.” But Nicole wasn’t ready for the resume rush. First she had to carefully craft a resume that highlighted skills she wanted to use in the future. She studied books on job hunting, such as Knock 'em Dead.(For the list of the books Nicole recommends, see bottom of the page.) She concluded that marketing and communications might be her niche. “At first I said, absolutely no nonprofits!”

Amy summed up Nicole's first month as “on the couch, working mentally." She emphasized that Nicole was right to make and take this time. The whole process of writing various resumes that suit yourself and possible positions and organizations needs to be one of discernment, considering new options and deleting others (even if you may circle round to them in the end!).

MONTH TWO--FOCUS AND EXPOSURE TO NEW GROUPS

Narrowing her career field to marketing and communications, Nicole began looking at the jobs posted online (such as on Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Indeed.com). Reluctantly, she even included looking at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Job Board and Idealist.org because nonprofit organizations always need marketing and communication specialists. “The more focused I became in my search, the fewer resumes I sent out. I started researching each job and company first and targeting my approach.”

Nicole attended a career transition support group at WomenVenture that met once a month, and she found it extremely helpful as a place to meet mentors. Those who found jobs would return to mentor those who had not. “I met a woman there who took me under her wing and showed me where to go and what to do. She emphasized to me that it wasn’t just about getting any job but a job I liked. It had to be a two-way street, me matching a job and a job matching me. This kind of talk encouraged me but got my worrisome friend even more worried!”

MONTH THREE-- LEARNING TO NETWORK AND GETTING LINKED-IN

By the end of month two, Nicole had already started the stage of informational interviewing and networking. “I was so scared, I started with my neighbors and people my neighbors knew, because they have to be nice. I broke ground with them so that made it less scary. … but it was awful. Still, your friends want to do anything they can to help, and that makes it easier. Start there till you get used to it.” She advised people to contact all their friends, neighbors, business associates, and acquaintances. "Ask them to connect you to one or two people they know for a possible informational interview – or even just suggest the names of people in a company who might know someone. You can just say: ‘I’m looking for this, does anyone know someone….?’”

Nicole read books on the art of networking, particularly The Little Black Book of Connections and she followed its recommendations. “Get cards made, because your intent is to exchange cards," she counseled. "It isn’t so much that they get your card, because they may not pay attention to it, but it's that you get their cards. Then you can follow up with a phone call or an email or a note.” Try to get as many cards as you can, but don’t be obvious or pushy. “It's important to make some kind of personal connection, so you have to talk long enough to find out something real about them and what they need and want or are interested in. Many people are quite flattered to be asked how they got their jobs and what they like about them.”

Nicole also suggested using the professional networking site: www.LinkedIn.com and joining the St. Catherine Alumnae/i Association group and other professional groupings. You can do a search for the specific professional positions and companies you want to be in, and create contacts that way. “Through LinkedIn, I met an alum in the same field and she became my career angel, offering me a project to try." The project gave Nicole experience for her resume and a company as a reference.

"After I did that and she got to know me, she sent my name out to ten people she knew with a personalized message – and the responses that came back really taught me the power of networking. They wrote back ‘anything for you.’ There was so much goodwill!”

Career Transition Tips
from
Career Counselor Amy Lindgren

(For full list, contact
Prototype Career Service)

Before founding Prototype Career Service in 1985, Amy Lindgren SP ‘83, experienced over fifty different jobs, four firings, and the starting and closing of two businesses. Lindgren has an understanding of failure and transition, and an appreciation for success. “It is more fun!” she admits. Her job is to help others find this success by connecting with their own dreams and strengths, and connecting with others.

Here are key steps she advises clients to take:

1) Make a firm decision and commit yourself to the process. Research, think deeply about your goals, and analyze industries. After discovering options and realities, you can decide a new career course or decide to remain in your present career with new visions and applications.

2) Create a realistic timeline for transitioning, training, and networking into the new career, with realistic goals or markers (you may have to get an interim job to sustain you in the process).

3) Explore your self to select new career options – childhood dreams, hobbies, skills of yours that other people comment upon, side jobs you enjoy in your present work, career counseling, and surveys.

4) Research the specifics of each possible path – talk to or email people in the field for impressions and job realities; research professional organizations and magazines; attend career fairs, events, and professional organization meetings to network; volunteer, intern or do spec work; etc.

5) Make a strategic plan to transition to your chosen career field and possible positions – factor in your current or interim job and any education, training, or retraining you will need. Consider moonlighting or going part-time in your current job to get hours in the new job; allot months for the actual job search with informational interviews and networking, resumes and cover letters, specific job interviews and hiring processes.

AMY LINDGREN'S SUM-UP OF
NICOLE'S SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES

Amy did a quick sum up of all the things that Nicole did well in her career transition and job search:

She left the job on her own at a time when she would have severance pay so she could have a financial buffer time to get a job. (Not everyone has that luxury, so you need to do what you can!)
She took time to think, brainstorm, dream, plan, and focus on a what kind of profession would suit her talents, skills, and preferences.
She did real research of the options: surveying job boards and postings, gathering information through interviewing and professional networking (some stats say only 5% to 20% of jobs are found through job postings).
She used her personal and professional contacts (neighbors, St. Catherine's, etc.) as well as those of professional groups (WomenVenture, professional associations, Linked In...) to build a snowballing network of connections. (You can even use faith affiliations, such as people you meet at worship and on retreats!)
She considered the full range of different positions in which one can use marketing communications, exploring the subset of development work, eventually opening the path to non-profits again.
She worked the phones and email to keep in touch with contacts and continually adjusted cover letters, resumes, thank yous, and business cards to fit opportunities.
She acquired experience through work projects, volunteering, assisting.
Each week she made time for all the job hunting techniques, from searching job postings to scheduling appointments to sending out resumes.
She persisted to the right job offer.
She evaluated the pluses of a contract position rather than relying solely on a traditional job offer for job security and benefits.

Sample networking and/or informational interview questions

How did you get your job?

What do you like best about it?

What do you wish were different?

If you had the perfect job, what would it be?

To get the perfect job, what do you need to do to get there?

For more information, seek out:
Prototype Career Service,
Amy Lindgren’s Company

at http://www.prototypecareerservice.com/
This company offers career counseling, resume evaluation and writing, and workshops in career and job hunting skill sets.

The company also offers a series of small topical paperbacks, written by Amy Lindgren.

Pocket Job Seriesof books

Five Steps to Your Next Job

Resumes Etc.

Cracking the Hidden Job Market

Job Interviews: 10 Steps to Success

Job Search After 40: Selling to Your Strengths

Financial Survival Between Jobs

Job Search Problem-Solving Companion

“What was your big break?”

MONTH FOUR -- IN-DEPTH NETWORKING AND VOLUNTEERING

Nicole's first project led to new connections. “I met a man who is considered a guru in the nonprofit world, seventy-one year old Joe Selvaggio. He’d started the nonprofit MicroGrants Organization, and he was getting to the point of seeing that he couldn’t do it all himself." Selvaggio told Nicole that he would never hire anyone, since he always had volunteers. "I started to volunteer for him for just a few hours at a time, and eventually he started introducing me to all sorts of people.”

Over the months, he began to trust Nicole, asking her to attend events and offering her exposure with donors. Though she didn't know it, he was vetting her, seeing how she handled herself. After seven months of job hunting and networking, Nicole felt a job offer was going to come soon. But she was a little surprised when it came from Joe.

Nicole did not immediately jump on Joe's offer because the job would be on a contract basis with no benefits -- a three year contract based on satisfaction on both sides. The negotiation took a while. “I realized that Joe had been selling himself to me just as I had been selling myself to him.” They came to an agreement, and Nicole started full time as a contracted Microgrants' Development Director.

After a number of months at this, an opportunity that was an even closer fit came along as the campaign finance director for Mark Dayton in his race for governor.

“If you’re smart, you build a network, feed it, and never let it go, because you may always need it.”

Nicole also advised everyone to seek out and nurture supportive "friends, advisors, cheerleaders, mentors and angels. You need people who become invested in you and your success. And you need some nags, like my worrisome friend.”

ADDITIONAL TIPS
FROM ALUMNAE ATTENDEES

Humans are by nature social hunters and gatherers, and you need all these skills to get that new job: the social-professional networking, the tracking down of the people, contacts, and job information, and the gathering in of the opportunities and storing of useful contacts for the present and future. Here are some additional tips the alumnae who came to the event offered:

Sign up for unemployment and register at the Workforce Center, whether you think you need them or not. They can offer educational money or retraining for career switches. Also some community colleges offer free tuition for people who have lost their jobs and are seeking retraining.

Proof and double proof all professional emails.

Send thank you notes and feed your email networking contacts occasionally with news and information that they would be interested in to keep you in their minds.

Seek to know people in organizations who hire or may need a hire, rather than the human resource people. Most corporate people would rather hire through contacts and personal experience than through HR.

Use tact and try to build a personal connection with someone before requesting anything – learn about the other person and what he/she needs, wants, thinks, knows.

EMOTIONAL SURVIVAL
through JOB TRANSITION

1)Expect a multifaceted learning process, with stages, not a quick road to a new job.

2) Give your days the same kind of structure you would if you were going to an out-of-home job.

3) Admit to yourself that few people like to risk self promotion and networking, but they have to be done and can be fun. No one is going to come to you.

4) Set challenging but doable daily and weekly goals that hit various aspects of the work of job-hunting process. Examples: Have at least three face-to-face meeting, networking, or professional events a week. Gather five or more new contacts per week and follow up on them with emails or phone calls; Exchange business cards with five people and deliver three resumes to people who will actually read them, etc.

5) Set up flexible daily and weekly habitual schedules. For instance, Nicole would spend Sunday night scouring newspaper listings and write a list of to-dos for the week. Monday morning she would answer emails, check online job postings, start scheduling meetings and events for the week. Monday afternoon she would be crafting cover letters and resumes for posted jobs, etc.

6) At the end of each day, tally up the small tasks you have accomplished and praise yourself.

7) Create a three-ring binder or some other system that collects the cover letters and resumes you sent to various companies as well as the responses and your strategies for follow through. In the front, have a spread sheet of sorts where you note the date, action, response and then the follow through actions and dates, so you have an easy reference tool in addition to a sense of your job-hunting work and accomplishments.

8) Every time you reach one of your weekly goals, congratulate yourself as if you've just finished a client project – you have. You are your own client!

9) Give yourself permission to rest at times. It helps stimulate energy and new insights. Go outside. Exercise. Meditate. Savor small joys. Do some of those things you couldn't do with a rigid job schedule.

10) Count your blessings and your capabilities -- for which someone else needs you. If you keep at it, you’ll meet soon.

After you have your new job, you can go and do likewise in terms of cheerleading, networking, and mentoring -- to all who helped you and to others just starting on the path to a new job...

The Joys of Being a Volunteering Abroad. If you are a new alum considering a year or two of service as a way to gain job experience in a tight market or an older alum considering volunteering abroad for the life satisfaction it brings, click here for encouragement and advice from experienced alums ...

Career Transition and Job Seeking Resources

St. Catherine’s Career Development Center
Explore the numerous pages of the site for the many online resources. Some in-office services are free to alumnae/i, and some are available for a modest fee, such as $25 for a career counseling session. Click here for a description of specific alumnae/i services...

Career Surveying, Exploring, Counseling Services: surveys to know your professional leanings, resources on salaries and job descriptions, etc.
Career Fairs Listings: such as Pathways to Careers in Communication, Minnesota Education Jobs Fair, Idealist Nonprofit Fair, Minnesota Private College Job and Internship Fair. Etc.
Job Hunting Assistance: advice on informational interviewing, resume writing, cover letters, references and recommendations, thank you letters, mentors, internships …
Katie Click – access to online job postings and opportunities for employers to post their jobs to recruit KATIES -- To get the log-in code, please contact the Career Development Center, 651.690.8890 ,or E-mail: askcareer@stkate.edu
Online links to area companies, nonprofits, professional groupings, etc.

Prototype Career Service
Amy Lindgren’s Company
at http://www.prototypecareerservice.com/
This company offers career counseling, resume evaluation and writing, workshops in career and job hunting skill sets. The company also offers a series of small practical paperbacks on the various issues in career changes and job hunting, written by Amy Lindgren.

WomenVenture
http://www.womenventure.org/faq.cfm
This organization and web site offers access to career finding, career development, business development, financial literacy, and other important resources, classes, consulting, and coaching.

Minnesota Workforce Centers
http://www.mnworkforcecenter.org/jobseekers.htm
These systems offer various job hunting, career finding and retraining services. Some financial assistance is available in certain cases for retraining or additional education needed for a new position.

MicroGrants Organization: Partnering with People with Potential
http://www.microgrants.net/ -- Nicole's organization. Here you can donate to microloans that go directly to qualifying people in need to make new lives and new options.

Business Cards
For cards, you can go to your local printer, copy center, or try going to online vendors by searching for business cards; www.vistaprint.com offers free business cards and other small promotional items for sale.

Books Suggested by Nicole Boardman Harrison

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer

Knock ‘em Dead 2009: The Ultimate Job Search Guide (Knock 'em Dead) by Martin Yates
Also: Knock ‘em Dead Resumes; Knock ‘em Dead Cover Letters..

.Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships by Jeffrey Gitomer

Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS (Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Books) by Jeffrey Gitomer

And other Little Books by Jeffery Gitomer on sales, etc.