Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
Jan 30, 2010
Networking is all about give and take; no one will argue with that. So what do you and your clients bring to the proverbial networking table? The first place to start is to think about what social resources you possess. Whether it's someone you know (contacts), something you can do (knowledge), (information) about what's going on or past (experiences), these all bring value to the table. It's just knowing what you possess and making sure it's at conscious level.
Take a piece of paper and write down who you know, what knowledge you have in a particular area, the information you possess and the experiences you have gone through. Once you're done, go out and help someone....reverse your networking strategy by giving first and letting karma give you something back. Try it, you'll be surprised at what can happen.
Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
Jan 21, 2010
For those of you attending this years Cannexus Conference in Ottawa, you will have a great opportunity to tap into social resources that you may not have had the opportunity to do so before. Make sure that you come to the conference with clear goals, but more importantly, be willing to share you ideas, contacts, information, knowledge and experiences as well. You never know who you can help or who could help you.
I will presenting a workshop on Wednesday and look forward to making connections and sharing resources. To make it easier, I have identified some goals and will look for those contacts that could possibly help me out. Whether they can help themselves or someone they know, I will be on the look out and be willing to give as much as I take.
The toughest thing by far when conducting a job search is maintaining your motivation. The unfortunate reality is that the job search is a delayed reward. What I mean is that if you lose your job today, it does not necessarily mean that you will have a new one tomorrow. Most likely it will be sometime in the future. How far in the future depends on a myriad of factors.
So how does the job seeker remain motivated to continue the job search? The most important thing is for them to experience 'success' regularly throughout the job search. Accomplishing a goal can be defined as 'success', so set small, short-term goals is a way of quickly experience that high.
I recently got an email from a second degree contact letting me know what she had been up to in her effort to find a job. She really understands that the job market is hidden and found a very innovative way to tap in.
As a result of her efforts, she secured a 4 month contract in her line of work.
Posted by: jphatala in strategic, goals, goal setting on
Dec 30, 2009
It's time that we all take stock of the past year and plan for 2010! If you're working with job seekers and are not setting goals that are realistic, short-term and help build momentum, you may consider spending more time in this area. Creating a goal that is longer-term does not serve well for the individuals motivation to achieve it...most likely they will just give up and abandoned the goal. So what to do?
First of all bring the concept of goals to the forefront of your practice. Call it anything you like, objectives, tasks, targets, to-do's, whatever you want, but set them. We live in a world that talks about goals but are terrible at actually setting them. As a career practitioner we can make our jobs a lot easier by simply setting short term goals. I've always said that if my client doesn't achieve success on their first visit, I've lost them. Our sectors credibility is built on our ability to demonstrate successful outcomes for our clients...if we focus on getting a job as the only goal and do not break it down, the chances of success diminishes drastically.
Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
Dec 22, 2009
Happy holidays to everyone! It's the time of year where the job search typically slows down. Although this maybe true, networking doesn't have to slow down at all. In fact, it's a great opportunity for those networkers who do not feel comfortable networking to go out and connect. When you do connect, don't just contact your first degree contacts, it's a great opportunity to connect with the second and third degree individuals. As long as you're willing to give back asking for something is quite acceptable. After all, it's the season of giving, so be clear on what you require help on and ask away.
Happy holidays everyone!
Are your clients tapping into their network to accomplish the goals they set? Here's a challenge you can give them. Get them to tell you one of their big goals (i.e. job) and then have them break it down into smaller ones (i.e. get a contact name at an org they want to work at). Once they've turned them into SMART goals, get them to think about people they know that can help them accomplish them. If they don't know anyone, get them to think about degrees of separation or anyone you know that could potentially help. Then have them develop connection strategies on the best way to connect with these individuals.
Keep the small goes simple and achievable. As they start to accomplish these simple goals, the motivation to continue until they have achieved the big goal will be there. Remember that they have to link all the small goals to the big goal so that if they are accomplished the overall objective will be met. It's all about tapping into our networks and this is a way to get them to think about that.
What's the right approach to career development? As practitioners, what impact do we truly have on the people we work with? One could argue that if we cannot measure outcomes how do we know if we're actually delivering value to the client.
More often than not clients work their way around the system (I'm talking about publicly funded employment programs) and get a sense of the various levels of service delivery. Whatever the level, it always boils down to one thing; did the agency help find them a job?
The unfortunate answer to that question is no. The reason is simple; just because we have access to social resources, doesn't mean that we will be able to leverage them. Access is about being linked to a group of individuals who posses social resources. Social media is great example of it. If you're on twitter, facebook or linkedin, you have access to a vast number of social resources, but does it mean that the we will be able to leverage the social resources that exist there? Unfortunately not all of us will be able to do so?
So just because you tell someone to connect with so and so (essentially giving them access) does not mean that they will be able to get help. There may not be any help or the individual maybe unable to convert an opportunity into a solution for accomplishing their goal. Essentially, just because we have access, does not mean we can leverage the potential that exists within these networks.
When it comes to influential people in the world, they are more often than not connected to a number of different individuals. These connections provide social resources that can helps us accomplish many of our objectives. This form of social capital is often referred to as 'bridging social capital' and provides us access to contacts that could provide us with the valuable support we may need.
Influential people are not just defined as politicians, actors or sports figures, but those individuals who are central to their network. This could mean that they are often sought after for information, advice, knowledge or contacts from people in their network. This is advantageous in that they are usually the ones that get the most up-t0-date and relevant information.
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