Career Coaching: How to network your way into a job

It’s estimated that only around 10 to 20 per cent of job vacancies are advertised to the public. This means that whenever you see an advertisement you’re likely to be up against stiff competition.

However, there you do have alternatives. The key is to find out about job vacancies before they are advertised.

When a vacancy arises an employer has several options of how to fill it.

They can:

• Promote someone from within
• Hire someone who used to work for the company but moved on (maybe they were on a short contract)
• Advertise the job internally and get employees to recommend someone they know
• Go through the CVs of people who have sent them in on spec
• Contact people you’ve worked with in the past and see if they are looking to make a move
• Contact people you’ve met in the course of your work who you think would be suitable
• Go through a recruitment consultancy or head-hunter

In almost all these cases, the employer is hiring someone who they know personally or is known to someone they trust. It’s usually only after these options have been exhausted that jobs are advertised (unless it is company policy to do so or there is a legal requirement).

So often it’s a case of “it’s not what you know, but who you know”. With this in mind how do you get to know the people who make the hiring decisions?

Be clear about the companies you’d like to work for. It’s much easier if you say to friends and family, “I’d love to meet someone who works in HR for RBS or John Menzies” than “I’d like to meet someone who’s hiring in Edinburgh”. They are then able to think about who they know who might know someone there.

Get your social networking profiles up to date, especially your profile on LinkedIn. It’s one of the most popular work-related networking sites and lots of recruiters use it to find candidates. One of the things they look for is who you know and what people say about working with you, so get back in touch with your contacts and get linked in.

Depending on the line of work you’re in, there may be organised networking events where you can meet your peers. Many professional bodies and associations run them as social events where you can chat, have a drink and meet new people. It’s quite usual to exchange cards with people and to stay in touch after the event.

When you see friends and family, don’t avoid talking about work. Tell them you’re looking for a new challenge and explain the kind of work you’d like to do. There might even be vacancies where they work.

With all of these options it’s important to follow up on any conversations.  People are busy and tend to forget what you’ve told them. They might need reminding a few times.

When you’ve met new people or been introduced to someone, contact them quickly – ideally within one working day. Again, people forget and where someone might have been expecting your call and would have been willing to talk to you, if you leave it too long they won’t recognise your name and ignore you.

Networking your way into a job is a very effective way of developing your career. As time goes on, you might find you never have to apply via an advert again because people put you forward for roles.

© Copyright Hannah McNamara, Managing director of HRM Coaching Ltd. Hannah McNamara is an experienced career coach.

Interview Coaching: How to handle an interview with the Finance Director/CFO

When faced with a job interview with the Finance Director or CFO, how to do you ensure you perform at your best? Career and Interview Coach Hannah McNamara provides top tips for senior executives due to have a job interview with the Finance Director / CFO. You can see  some sample interview questions you might face when meeting the finance director, and Hannah provides her tips to show you can demonstrate value in the interview.

Career Coaching: Redundancy can be an opportunity in disguise

Need a push in the right direction to get back on top? Career Coach Hannah McNamara has some tips:

When you’re faced with redundancy it can feel like the end of the world – believe me, I’ve been through it twice. so I know the rollercoaster of emotions you go through – but it doesn’t have to be such a bad thing.  Redundancy can also be an opportunity to re-assess your career and make new choices.

These days most people will change direction in their career at least three or four times. The idea of a job for life is outdated, so don’t feel trapped by the choices you’ve made so far in your career. You made the best decision you could at the time given the circumstances. Now you’re facing a new set of circumstances, you can make a new decision.

How do I decide on which direction to take?
A change in direction can mean starting a whole new career or making some shifts in the career you’re currently in. It could be moving from marketing to sales, accounts to finance, or from the same role in the public sector to one in the private sector. It could be taking a year out to volunteer on a wildlife conservation project in Africa or starting your own business.

It’s time for some creative thinking about what you want in your career in the future. When I’m working one-to-one with my clients who are changing career, I ask them to answer these questions:

• What appealed to me about my last job when I accepted the position?
• What did I enjoy most about my job and why?
• What did I dislike about my job and why?
• What do I enjoy doing in my spare time?
• What do people say I’m good at?
• What do I want to be doing in five, 10 or 20 years time?

Don’t worry if you answer ‘I don’t know’ to any of the questions when you first think about it. Go for a walk or do something you enjoy and think about the questions while you’re doing that. The more you try to force the answers, the harder it is.

KEEP WORKING YOUR CAREER FOR YOU

• How to network your way in
• Finding a dream job
• Is it time to reinvent
• And increase your knowledge and skills

How much preparation will I need to do to change career?
Think of it as career evolution rather than career change. You might not able to walk into your dream job straight away (unless you have very good connections), so think a few months and years ahead about what you’d like to do. Look for roles which act as a stepping stone from one career to another.

You might need to take a job in the short term which isn’t exactly what you want, but it will teach you the skills you need to move into the career you do want. This might be the time to call in some favours and get an unpaid or minimum wage internship or temporary work at a friend’s company to get a foot in the door.

Make connections with people you used to work with using social networking sites such as LinkedIn so they can see your current experience and recommend you for suitable roles as they come up. If you say on your profile what you’re looking for, recruiters will be able to see this as well – yes, they do search profiles when they are looking for candidates.

Don’t just focus on the people who you know who are employed, your friends and contacts who run their own businesses could help as well.  People who are self-employed or are business owners have to do much more networking, so they may know someone who can help you with getting the experience you need or making an introduction for you.

A word of caution, before leaping in and asking people to help you – be very clear about what you want them to do for you and stick to it. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to help a friend by asking a contact to speak to them, only to find that your friend has changed their mind and doesn’t follow up once the connection has been made.

How do I adapt my CV for my new career?
If you have contacts in the industry ask if there are any conventions with writing CVs. You might need to use a different style of CV. For example if you’re thinking about using the time you have now to work as an extra on TV shows and movies, they may struggle to be impressed with your in-depth knowledge of databases. You need to make your skills relevant and this may mean picking out things you would not have thought to put on your CV before.

In some cases you’ll just need to describe things differently, for example in the public sector you may have been focused on outputs and managing surpluses, in the private sector you’d talk about meeting targets, profits and return on investment.

Managing director of HRM Coaching Ltd, Hannah McNamara is an experienced career coach. She has also survived two redundancies and reinvented herself twice. To find out more about career coaching packages click on www.hrmcoaching.com/coaching

Interview Coaching: How to handle an interview with the CEO

When faced with an interview with the CEO, how to do you ensure you perform at your best? Interview Coach Hannah McNamara provides top tips for senior executivesdue to have an interview with the CEO. What questions might be asked and how should you respond?

Meeting the CEO

No matter how much experience you have of being interviewed or conducting interviews yourself, that all-important meeting with the CEO can make or break things. How do you ensure you come out on top and differentiate yourself from other candidates?

Here are 5 key questions almost every CEO needs to have answered in the interview. They may not ask them out loud, but you can be sure they’re thinking them.

Are you commercial?

Your technical skills may have got you to this stage in your career, but unless you have well-rounded commercial skills and business acumen, you are unlikely to progress further. To shine in the interview, talk numbers and results. Show that you understand what’s going on in the business outside of the confines of your own department and show financial intelligence.

Tip: When preparing for your interview, go back through your key achievements in your career and find out what the numbers were. It’s not enough to say the work you did resulted in ‘improvements’ – prove it. Show the Return on Investment (ROI) for the projects and activities you led.

Are you strategic?

You may be fantastic operationally and this is a good skill to have. To bring in someone at a senior level, the CEO needs to be satisfied that the person they choose thinks and behaves strategically. They are looking for someone who thinks further ahead than next week or next month. They want a person who understands the organisation’s vision, mission and goals. If they don’t have them documented, they may want you to help create the vision, mission and goals, so you need to show you’re up to the job!

Tip: Think about examples when you have behaved strategically and practice talking about what you did. You probably won’t be asked this question outright so you need to weave your strategic abilities into the answers to other questions and make sure you use the word ‘strategy’ at several points in the interview. Look at their website to see whether their vision, mission and business goals are stated and make sure you refer to them in the interview.

Do you understand our culture?

Every organisation believes their culture is unique and the reality is that they indeed are. Even when you’ve worked at a very similar organisation, there may be differences in the way things are done here. This is as much about understanding the organisation’s values as the personalities within it. As with recruiting for any other position, the CEO needs to be satisfied that you are going to fit in and not rock the boat too much. This isn’t about you being a ‘yes’ person, more about how well you will work with the other senior executives – will they accept you in the C-suite?

Tip: You can get a good feel for their culture from their website. Look at how they present themselves to the world. Go through the site with a fine-toothed comb to see what they say and how they say it. Also look at how they have photographed the senior people in the organisation. These portraits can be very telling and also give you a good indication of the dress code.

Do you respond well to being challenged?

At a senior level, you are likely to be challenged on your decisions and the work of your department. Will you run out of the office in tears, explode in rage or deal with it calmly in an appropriate manner? You might be asked this question or more likely the CEO will be challenging in the interview to test how you really respond.

Tip: Be ready to back up anything you claim in the interview. Avoid giving vague answers as these are likely to be challenged. Deal with any challenging comments assertively but not aggressively – after all, this person could be your next boss.

Can I trust you if I confide in you?

As they say, it’s lonely at the top and the CEO is well aware of the political games being played at work. It can take a lot for the CEO to open up about any development issues they have or any decisions they are struggling with. They need to know they can trust that anything they discuss with you will be confidential and handled discreetly. Do you want to be seen as their right-hand person or the gossip who goes blabbing to the rest of the executive team? Most likely you chose the former.

Tip: Demonstrate that you have a trusting relationship with your current boss by not being drawn into any discussions about what you like or dislike about working with them. If you have been a sounding-board to a senior person in the past, you let them know this is the case without divulging any confidential information.

In order to perform well in an interview with a CEO, it’s time to think like a CEO. If you were in their position, what would you be looking for?

© Copyright Hannah McNamara

Hannah McNamara is the Managing Director of HRM Coaching Ltd an Interview Coaching company based in London, UK with clients all over the world. They have a team of Career Coaches available to choose from and will manage the coaching programme for you from start to finish.  for more information call +44 20 7939 9910 or contact us.

International crisis management: Practical tips for L&D managers

For international companies based in the UK every crisis has the potential to have an impact on staff. How should you handle the situation? Should it be business as usual or are there steps you should be taking?

Hannah McNamara interviewed international leadership consultant and trainer Patrick White of HRM Global to get his tips on what you can do to minimise the impact of a crisis overseas.

What impact is a crisis likely to have on my company and my department?

• Any business operating in a risk area needs to have scenario plans in place to cover everything that could happen and the impact of it. Employees may need to leave the country or be relocated very quickly and they will need support and practical help in doing this.

• Usual communication channels may be interrupted – phones could be jammed or internet services such as Google and social media sites could be shut down, so have a plan in place for how you communicate under those circumstances. Even if the mobile phone network works, people might not be able to charge their phones as has happened in Japan.

• If your company doesn’t have a base in those areas you may have suppliers or customers there, so plan for what would happen if your supply chain went down or your business lost a major customer. This could mean there are training needs for your buyers or sales people on how they should communicate with suppliers and customers. This needs to happen quickly before they start making calls or sending emails which could be taken the wrong way by the recipient. For example, buyers need to be mindful that when they call to chase a delivery from a Japanese electronics brand they will need to show some understanding. It sounds obvious, but it’s easily overlooked when the person they are communicating with is just a name on an email list and they may have no idea where they are based. You don’t necessarily need to go as far as organising a course, but communicate with managers to make sure they aren’t taking anything for granted and offer your support and any training resources you have in-house.

• UK offices or bases of companies head quartered in risk areas will most likely be affected. There will be uncertainty around what will happen to jobs and people will naturally be concerned. Keep the lines of communication open and be honest. Don’t allow gossip to start or spread and avoid speculating. Employees generally assume that everyone in the HR function knows what’s happening about their job, so any speculation will be taken as fact and passed on.

How can I best support people who have loved ones, friends and colleagues affected by the crisis?

• You probably already have a list of pre-screened counsellors who can help employees to talk through their feelings and concerns, and deal with what is happening in the region. If you don’t, strongly consider contacting peers for recommendations on someone they have used. You may not need to use their services, but at least you will be prepared should someone need emotional support later. After the initial shock and denial as they try to carry on, some people can take days or weeks to feel the effects of the crisis. Be sensitive to changes in people’s mood and behaviour. This applies just as much to you and your colleagues. The emotional burden of helping others through a crisis can be considerable and unexpected.

• You also might want to relax any policies for blocking use of social media for employees who are waiting to hear news about loved ones. Their only means of communication might be to post an ‘I’m ok’ message on their Facebook page from someone’s smartphone and your employee will be anxious to get news immediately and be given the chance to respond.

How can I keep my other employees focused and productive?

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. If people don’t acknowledge what has happened your managers risk being seen as callous and unfeeling.

• People who are not personally impacted by the crisis may still be traumatised by what they see on TV and there may be a strong sense from employees that they want to ‘do something’ to help. Whether it’s a fund-raising activity or sending supplies to the region, make sure this is properly co-ordinated. It goes without saying that it’s much better to work with or through a charity with experience than try to handle it all in-house.

• The company may want to make a corporate donation to the relief fund. Talk to your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) person/department, if you have one. It might be tempting for the marketing or PR departments to publicise the donation. This could back-fire if you are seen to be ‘cashing in’ on the crisis for the company’s own ends. Publicise the donation internally, but be discrete publicly.

What practical steps can I or my colleagues take to be an effective leader?

• While it can be awful to deal with the impact when a crisis happens, life does go on. Yes, this may sound harsh. On the other hand it gives people something else to focus on and you’ll find many people want to throw themselves into their work.

• When you do have people directly affected by the crisis, take care that they aren’t forgotten. The repercussions can last a long time. For example when the Japanese tsunami hit, people quickly forgot about the earthquake at Christchurch, New Zealand until Prince William made a visit to the area.

© Copyright Hannah McNamara

Hannah McNamara is managing director of HRM Coaching (www.hrmcoaching.com) and Patrick White is executive chairman of HRM Global (www.hrmglobal.co.uk). Patrick is a leadership consultant and trainer working in the UK with clients in the Middle East and Asia and has a PhD in organisational behaviour. He can be contacted on 020 7939 9910.

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