RESOURCES FOR CAREER AND LIFE

The following is notes and tips I've applied recently in my successful job search.

Mindset via Podcast

In 2013 I was lacking in a social life and had trouble adapting to a new country and new dynamic as a father. I simply went onto iTunes top ten podcast and stumbled upon the School of Greatness by Lewis Howes and The One You Feed. These two podcast substituted for my lack of community, and provided refined mindset and positivity to keep a sustainable attitude. If you are the average of your 5 closest friends, you can also mold your mindset to be the average of the 5 podcast you listened to. The people in my group may repeat themselves and keep it cheery, but who wants a Chicken Little. Trust me I’ve worked with a Chicken Little,  once that’s shit is airborn it changes direction and comes your way, and that’s an itch you don’t want to scratch.

Standout 2.0

I picked this up at Dubai airport on a lark, and this book had a great impact on my growth. There was a colleague of mine that was a miteculous closer, good with details and great at the finished product, basically a machine. I always used him as a benchmark and felt lacking at times. But, after reading Standout I recognized that my social skills were through the charts comparatively and that though I may get distracted my creative mind is an asset. As evidence I remembered a big contract we interviewed for, and our presentation fell a little flat and there weren’t many worthy contributions with my colleauges I slowly took the lead and engergized the client and the conversation. My filing structure might lack from time to time, but never beat yourself up you have additional assets which you can be proud of.

Sally Hogshead How to Fascinate

I think I heard Sally on the School of Charm podcast and liked her premise, a personality test which highlights your two greatest strengths, but also shows your weaknesses. I used this test, with the upgrade and gained a lot of value from this exercise. Simply, my weaknesses are those traits which I’ve tried to overcompensate for in the past and didn’t feel myself.

Michael Hyatt’s Life Score

Sally Hogshead turned me onto this new test by Michael Hyatt. At first the test is a little tricky to interpret (being honest), but stick it out. There will be four great gauging questions per the nine categories, which I will actually copy past in another post. These questions serve the lineage as the beacon of where you want to be, a good way to take the temperature, and maybe incorporate into your daily apsirations. Michael has a solid reputation as having a genuine impact on changing one’s life, truth be told I paid for a service of his a couple years back, but as I was so frenetically disorganized I did not schedule it into my day, and thus did not do anything with the program.

SWOT

I once checked with a contact about possibly joining his team. Though he knew me, he asked if I could complete a SWOT analysis so his management could understand my strengths, aspirations and what I would bring to the company and its culture. This has had such a lasting impact, if you unearth your aspirations, and then continue pursuing and growing in life, when you actually fulfill your potential and desires it is a reward beyond the lottery. Tons of money gives you currency, but if there is no direction or purpose your purchases are empty.

THEMATIC CV

I heard on a podcast you need to have at least 4 versions of your CV. One for your last job/career, one for your desired dream job, one for your back up job/career, etc.

There is so much truth to this. The projects and companies I work with vary and I’ve stumbled in interviews where they got hung up on some irrelavent detail of a project that had nothing to do with the company nor position.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CV

I had impeccable timing catching a contact who had just created a position, problem was he was meeting the board the next day to discuss the role. Therefore, I had to create a quick one page summary of my career, but with strong bullet points. Short, catchy, and substantive. This is probably the best challenge I’ve had. I actually prefer this CV nowadays, if I don’t get there attention with limite attention they are likely not going to invest further time and energy to review even more .

uDemy course LINKED

I’ve always been a proponent of LinkedIn, but it wasn’t until I paid for a Udemy course that I could understand the message, how to craft it. This has been so successful I’ve had imitators, contacts of mine that kepy visiting my profile, and then magically the style of their profile started to mimic mine. I couldn’t be happier.

6 word intro

I first heard this on the Mastermind Talks podcast from Jayson Gaignard. I can’t recall the guest, but in essence, “I help __, achieve __ by providing __. This is meant to replace the silicon valley elevator pitch, and it’s crucial to a LinkedIn profile.

LINKEDIN Premium

I heard it put best. If you are searching for a job, why wouldn’t you use the biggest career based platform. Now to be fair, I was never delivered the golden job via LinkedIn’s job tool, but when I was interested in a company I could see its growth, background of employees, etc. There are also jobs you can simply apply for using LinkedIn, in this case I could see how I stacked up with the candidates, education, job title, even Skills!

Michael Porter rule of 90

I think it was on the Small Business Revolution podcast that I heard the brilliant rule of 90 strategy. Its best to go straight to the source. If you are serious about the rule of 90, then you are best to invest in the CRM tool Contactually. Trust me. I have a garden of 400 people out of my 1200 whom I routinely engage. Another key to relationships is the lost art of following up. People are so crap at this nowadays, your lucky to hear from someone once a year and likely within two sentences or less. As corny as they are, Birthdays are a great reminder and you might actually be the only one to wish a Happy Birthday. Or maybe they get 30 salutations, BUT imagine if you also followed up in 2months, pretty sure you would be back in the mirority.

RECCOMENDATIONS ON LINKEDIN

Once you’ve kept a good relationship alive, and have someone to provide a valued recommendation, you need to do the hard work. Based on your SWOT, and Hogshead traits, you need to remind them of you benefit on a share project and also what kind of career you envision. I found and used a template ages ago, but probably turn to Youtube to craft a strong template to be used as a follow up once someone kindly obliges to provide you a recommendation. The hard work simply means, You know what you want out of the recommendation and craft a recap paragraph and good questions so the recommender doesn’t have to think or work to hard.

DECADES  / 3-5 CYCLE

I always like the approach, your 20’s are for working hard, 30’s for becoming a specialist/leader, 40’s for reinventing yourself. Additionally, as you change careers, if you spend two years in a certain role or industry document this, how does it align with your SWOT. When I lost my last job, I applied for 4-5 different types of jobs and had opportunity in 4 of them, but I also learned a lot about myself professionally, what industries have more limitations than imagined, and also was able to gain some closure as I move on.

DREAM JOB HACKING

Do you know your dream job. Have you ever searched for it on LinkedIn and found different people at different companies that have that role. GOOD. On the Sophisticated Marketers podcast with Jason Miller, he interview Mitch Joel. Mitch will actually email people with his actual job title, and using a carful message (listen to the podcast), network with these people. The people in your job or your dream job are an abundant source of what to look for and who to talk to…and if you focus on their actual skills, turn those into your strengths…then you will be one step ahead for that future job interview.

SEO / uberwords / keywords for Competitive Intelligence

Learning about SEO lets you understand the message a brand is inatedly or overtly trying to promote. Learn how to use free tools that will collect the key words related with the company, or SEO sweep from their homepage. If those become apart of your vernacular both on your profile or interview, it will make you familiar and accessible. BUT, make sure you fully understand it, the context and don’t just have a list of talking points.

TIME/MONEY REQUIRED FOR JOB INTEVIEW

One of the best pieces of advice I got from a close colleague in Doha who was also losing his job, if you have anywhere to visit somewhere go there for a week. Stretch the time you have there and allow yourself the most possibility. I took this to heart and visited London for 3 days, a busy diary and lots of valuable meetings, the alternative of flying in for one interview would have costs me roughly the same amount of money, since kindly some friends gave me a free place to stay.

Also when you get an interview, refine your CV, research the company, and practice for your interview. After you practice, rewrite your Cover Letter, things will come to the surface and it will make the Interview seem easier. I think it’s a professional look, to email the day before, I’m pleased to meet with you tomorrow please find my recently updated CV and Cover Letter for your quick reference….

GOOGLE : INTERVIEW WITH CFO and CEO

I had a follow up interview with the CFO, so I googled it. I swear 70% of the questions popped up in my interview. What words best describe you…Just refer to your Sally Hogshead personality traits, she even provides verbs to use on your CV!

RECRUITERS

Recruiters are amazing relationships to have. They have incredible networks, know which way various industries are shifting and can also provide valuable pointers about your CV and salary expectations. Recruiters have a hard job, everyone is fickle (sometimes including them), so help them, and help them again, and some day they might help you. Read Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook to understand this psychology behind newsletters and social media.

READ LIKE A MOFO / STUDY THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

“Can you think of any other possibilities for an internship?” I read this in Burn your Goals, when I lost my job I started reading like crazy. A. I had time, B. I was learning so much. I learned what good habits I had obtained, and know which strengths to heighten and have a blueprint. Here is my list, if you want the background on any of these books let me know, I’m happy to provide insight.

Whale Hunting, Tom Searcy and Barbara Weaver Smith

The Five Hour Workday, Stephan Aarstol

The ONE Thing, Gary Keller

The 5 A.M. Miracle, Jeff Sanders

My Life in Advertising, Claude Hopkins

Think and Grow Rich, Napolean Hill

Influence, Robert Cialdini

The 12 Week Year, Brian Moran

Abundance, Peter Diamandis

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Gary Vaynerchuk

The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk

The 90-Minute Book, Dean Jackson

Flow, Mihaly Czikszwntmihalyi

MUM? Launch, John Spencer

The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin

Collaborating with the Enemy, Adam Kahane

Crush It!, Gary Vaynerchuk

Sell or Be Sold, Grant Cardone

Who Moved My Cheese, Spencer Johnson

Your Road Map for Success, John Maxwell

Bury your Goals, Joshua Medcalf, Jamie Gilbert

The Goal, Eliyahu Goldratt, Jeff Cox,

Book Yourself Solid, Michael Port

7 Languages in 7 Years, Deborah, Barbosa

Tools of Titans, Timothy Ferriss

Procrastinate on Purpose, Rory Vaden

Making It All Work, David Allen

The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks

The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker

Finish, Jon Acuff

Side Hustle, Chris Guillebeau

The Plant Paradox, Steven Gundry

Can I Have Your Attention, Curt Steinhorst

Bold Endeavors, Jack Stuster

The Ripple Effect, Greg Wells

High Performance Habits, Brendon Burchard

Rocket Fuel, Gino Wickman, Mark Winters

The Innovative Sale, Mark Donnolo

Essential Account Planning, Mark Donnolo

Work the System, Sam Carpenter

Never Eat Alone, Keith Farrazi, Tahl Raz

CLOSURE

I worked at my last job for 7 years, it’s a divorce with baggage attached. But, I read “Who Moved My Cheese” and in the parable it brought me a sense of closure.

EVERNOTE

If you are finding lots of job search articles and emailing the link to yourself, get Evernote, use the folders, and keep your email for emailing.

GRAMMARLY

If you are writing in English. Get Grammarly. Fun fact I write over 10’000 words a week, that’s a book.

EMAIL SIGNATURE

Gmail makes it way to easy for you to have an ugly email signature. Hell, the little icon automatically links with your LinkedIn as well. If your patient enough, you can set it up for Whatsapp, Skype, etc.

TEMPLATES

Gmail has given into the CRM trend and now has templates. Use them, and use youtube to make the best Template for your job search.

DON’T BE SHY

Everytime I asked for support during my job search. My friends were there, supportive and opened up even more possibilities. If I have any regrets, I would have leaned on more people, we all find our selves at unexpected crossroads, no need to be shy or ashamed. This is crucially important if you are going to work in a foreign country, ask your contacts to support you so you know how typical packages are structured.

MEDITATE

Life is full of traffic, reduce the noise, sleep better, simple. I use Headspace, and actually like the Singles. You don’t have to meditate perfect, you can even meditate for 1 Minute.  Main thing, don’t judge yourself, no one else is rating your effectiveness at Meditation. I started doing it, and saw they had a series for kids. I started it with my kid, calm the energy before bedtime. Sometimes she wants to do it, sometimes not,…but, the other day when her cousin was annoying her on the train and she was grumpy. She sat there quietly and meditated. Keep it simple.

THE WELL

In 2009 I lost my job during the recession. I took it personally, grew a mountain man beard and was more negative than normal. I reached out to a contact who had me within a freelance job in 4 months, and a full time job in 8 months…

As a saleswoman told me after losing my job, “Things always get better we just forget” I left Qatar abruptly after 3.5 years, moved to Paris and had 3 years until my contract ran out. I was not going to become mountain man again, but it was strangley lonely having an entirely different life in a foreign land. While visiting a boutique coffee shop with my family (Coutume), we bumped into an acquaintance from Doha whose kids went to my daughters school. The world is a small place, and even if you fall into a well, there will be light, and it will get brighter.

WHATS YOUR WEIRD / WHO IS YOUR TRIBE

What makes you unique. The sooner you embrace whats weird about you, and tap into a community the sooner you open up your world. On a recent Pivot podcast from Jenny Blake, she and a friend Elisa, admitted that they “Think in Spreadsheets”. This is me to a T, I create a spreadsheet in my mind or on paper for everything. I found my tribe.

MENTORSHIP

If someone comes to you as a part of a recommendation, 1 it’s a compliment and make sure to acknowledge the intiator of this connection, and 2. Give this person your full attention. If not for a good 5 minutes of someones attention during my journey, my life would be down a much different path.

FLOW

When you’ve identified your various careers, be sure to analyze projects, teams, locations anything to do with the different stages. Borrowing a term from Marie Kondo, what brought you joy. What project almost got you fired. What kind of people were never a good click. When did you work the hardest, but were still fresh. Which job almost led to burn out. Make sure you document this, we forget things good and bad and you don’t want that memory to reappear too late, do you home work. A life worth living is a life worth documenting.

LIMITING BELIEFS

If you’ve ever had a momentous peak, and then endured a struggle read up on limiting beliefs. Sometimes people have an averse relationship with money, for example. In a strage way this leads to self sabatoge. If you’ve identified your dream job, keep chipping away, remind yourselves of the small wins, but also rememeber the hard work. You deserve what tomorrow holds, and when it comes hold the standard.

DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN / THE 1% RULE

If you are doing something for personal growth. Do it daily, and do it consistently. Deliberate practice is THE hardest thing to accomplish this day and age. I’m on a Duolingo group, and I do 3 exercises everyday (currently on a 100day streak). One week one of the people in the group did 65 exercised throught the course of the weeks. Of course I was happy they were attacking it, but sadly they skipped the next week, and the week after that. I remain in my humble little 3 exercise daily bubble, but that’s the long plateau in personal development 1% everyday. You will have the euphoria and big wins early, a long plateau and then comes your next spike, mastery.