Being Competitive in a Volatile Job Market

This month's Young Professionals Networking Lunch will focus on being competitive in a volatile job market. Paul Jackson, assistant vice president for Human Resources at Intermountain Healthcare will be our mini-lecture speaker.

Come enjoy a three-course lunch at Spark Restaurant Lounge in downtown Provo, while mingling with an intimate group of young professionals from the Utah County area. The lunch and program are only $8 if you register ahead of time online, or $12 at the door.

We hope to see you for a chance to mingle, enjoy a great lunch, and a superb speaker.

The Art of Thank You Notes

In today's electronic world, personal (although sometimes seemingly archaic) communication is a key way to demonstrate professional capacity beyond our young years. Thank you notes and other handwritten communications are considered to many as an essential element of good etiquette and relationship-building. For many of us, writing a quick email, Facebook note, or tweet may seem like an ideal way to stay in touch, however, learning some basic note-writing tips will be helpful at least until the day the computer replaces paper completely.

While I wouldn't suggest handwritten notes for all occasions (according to an Emily Post Institute study, 70 percent of those surveyed said an email thank you was appropriate, especially for small gestures or gifts.). When you do decide to write something with pen and paper, consider the following few tips:

• Make time to write the note as soon as possible following the event (24 hours preferrably).
  
• Always write on personalized stationary, or finely-made paper or letterhead.
• Stick to the point, and write simply (thank you notes are usually on small notecards for a reason).
• Make specific references in the note to the person and event/experience you are thanking them for.
  
• Proofread or even draft your note before hand.

Aside from the tips above, some years ago, USA Today ran a story about setting yourself up for a great professional thank you note. You can read the article here.

Contributing: Chris Giovarelli
Photo: Dominik Gwarek

Office Snacking--Watch What You Eat

For those of us who sit at a desk some (or all) of the day, snacking can become an issue. When cravings hit, consider making healthy choices which will prevent you from gaining weight and losing energy. Eating a hearty breakfast and a nutritious lunch that's low in carbs can also help you make it through the day without a terrible afternoon slump.

Some choose to break their morning and noon meals into smaller portions that they eat every few hours. This system keeps the metabolism going strong all day, which in turn keeps calorie-burning steady throughout the day.

For those who don't plan to dine every few hours, Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, has an interesting article on WebMD which you can read here. She lists a number of snacks and beverages that can help fill your tummy between major meals, without making you feel unhealthy.

One of the largest issues with office snacking, is "mindless eating" or eating because you are bored. Magee's article suggests that those who eat while doing other work, or just for the sake of eating, tend to eat just a much at their next meal as when they don't have a snack, thus potentially adding hundreds of superfluous calories to their diet. Now that's some food for thought.

Happy snacking!

Contributing: Chris Giovarelli
Image: Ben Lau

Five Quick Resume Tips

Here are five quick tips to improving your resume. Even if you aren't interviewing for a job right now, keeping your resume up-to-date is an important exercise that should be done regularly. You never know when you will have a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to interview for a job (either formally or informally). For young professionals, being ready to pitch your skills and abilities through a regularly updated resume, can be an invaluable tool for some great opportunities.

• Prioritize your resume. Don't just put things in chronological order. When applying for a job, you want potential employers to see what you've done that's more important and pertinent to them. Consider using a slighly larger font for more important entries.
• Quantify your accomplishments. Intangible accomplishments, no matter how large they seem, are rarely as impressive as actual numbers, facts and figures. Find ways to measure your accomplishments and report those numbers--but don't embellish!
• Use key industry words. Speak the language of the potential job, or overall industry you are working in. Potential employers are looking for straight forward verbiage that speaks their language. This is one case where jargon can be a good thing, as long as everyone concerned knows its significance.
• Match yours skills with industry needs. Don't treat your resume like a menu of a la carte options your potential employer may or may not want; sell your skills! Match the things you do well with the current needs of you potential employer or industry. Make sure to show how you have the ability to fill the needs that your potential employer may have.
• Make it visually simple . You're not creating a colorful piece of art. Keep your headers and titles simple. Make the resume a vertical piece. Someone should be able to peruse it quickly, noting short bullets that catch their attention. Don't go for a novel, go for short, action-oriented phrases.

Happy resume building!

Contributing: Chris Giovarelli
Image: Henk L.

Thinking About a Master's?

When the economy begins to go south, graduate program applications skyrocket. There could be two reasons for this 1) people lose their jobs, so they decide that rather than fighting for a new one, they'll advance their education for a while, or 2) a master's makes people more competitive and valuable to their current or prospective employers.

I'd say it's pretty obvious which one of those we're going to discuss today.

A master's degree (or other advanced degree) does just what it implies: mastery. These degrees are usually more specific and specialized than an undergraduate degree. For those of you looking to get a let-up on the competition, a master's in a field relevant to your career may be just the thing you need to not only boost your credentials, but also to advance your know-how.

According to Wikipedia (an excellent source of information no matter what your professors in school may have said), there are approximately 75 master's degree programs to choose from. You could get a Master of Sacred Music, Customs Administration, or European Law if any of those fit you fancy, or you could go for a more general degree such as an MBA or an MPA. Whether you decide to get a discipline-specific degree, or one that may help in a variety a fields, you are probably setting yourself up to make some more money and increase your job security.

MSN, in conjunction with CareerBuilder, published some interesting findings here which show the base-line salary increases for those who have master's versus only a bachelor's.

Not all jobs highly value another degree, but in all cases, careers are built by continual training and skills-improvement. Whether for you that comes from a week-long seminar, a master's degree, or an apprenticeship, by sharpening your skills, you can become an invaluable asset to your team.

Contributing: Chris Giovarelli
Image: Rore D.

Managing Your Manager

While still a student, I was introduced to a principle that has served me very well over the past few years. It's the concept of "managing your manager," or in other words, learning how to speak your boss' language and thus becoming a more valuable and productive commodity.

A mentor who worked with me on campus told me about his experience when he had first started working in a job. He talked about how it seemed like his boss didn't value his work or his ideas, despite his best efforts to become an asset. After roughly a month of employment he didn't like his job and his boss made it clear that he needed to "step up or step off."

What was interesting about this situation was that that man was doing everything he was supposed to be doing and even more, but it didn't seem good enough. As he reflected on his predicament, he realized it wasn't so much that he wasn't doing the right things, he just wasn't communicating them in the right ways so his boss found them valuable. And so he became a disciple of managing his manager. Within a few short years, he became assistant director and found a great deal of leeway in his job. The key was not in what he was doing, but how he was communicating it.

A recent article on SparkVictory outlined five tips to making your boss happy. These tips are perfect for learning how to manage your manager. The following is my interpretation of their list, however, you can read their entire article here.

1. Understand how your boss likes to receive information

Remember, your boss probably gets a lot of communications in one day. Make it simple for them to receive and understand your communications. This may be as simple as a distinction between personal visits, phone calls, emails or memos (ah, archaic communication at its best), but it also has to do with syntax. You were taught in high school and college to spread out your words so the one-page paper became five, well guess what, you were ill-equipped for the professional world. Make it simple and the point. On a similar point, tailor your communication to meet their needs first. Help them to see why what you are telling them, asking them for, or passing by them is important to their needs, your organization's needs and therefore how it meets your needs. In short, speak to them how they want to be spoken to.

2. Adapt to your boss' management style

Some bosses like to hear everything you are doing, others don't. Some want a report after you have made photocopies, others wouldn't want to hear about it unless you had learned how to split atoms in your cube. Learn the difference. If your boss is the type who likes to micromanage and be informed, there is probably a reason for that. See if you can figure it out and then work to those needs. Be diligent and observant, and your manager's style will become clear. Often when a manager is hard to deal with, you can avoid those problems by just changing a few tactics in the way you interact with them.

3. Ease what worries your boss the most

This is one of the largest flops that young professionals make. Your boss has lots of concerns (and many you may not every realize). If you can figure what those are and speak to them, you will make yourself a clear asset to them. Ask yourself about your boss' position. Does she report to others? Is his boss detail oriented and a little controlling? Does she have to make budgetary decisions or have other areas of responsibility? The more full picture you can see his or her position, the better you will be able to speak to what concerns them. Other big questions include: What is the overall culture of the company? What do the executives value? Do people fear making mistakes? Does my boss feel job security? Again, by understanding more, you can accomplish a lot in helping you boss. Remember, when they feel empowered by what you do for them, they will most likely return the favor.

4. Ask for more responsibility

This can be tricky, because you don't want to come off over-zealous. Find ways to make yourself available for side assignments, but don't become an ever-eager ladder-climber. Make your skills apparent, especially if they aren't skills that others have or that you were hired for (not not juggling). Sometimed you will find that by making your skills available, your boss will see the depth of your

5. Offer your boss feedback

Scary right? Being at the top (even it it's only the top of your department) can be a lonely place. Don't lay on the criticisms, but make suggestions on how things can improve. Make positive comments about the things you like and help your boss to feel supported. Your boss will respond well if you work with them in a confident manner, but don't get too close, as etiquette dictates that mingling too closely with a superior can cause issues as well.

In the end, managing your manager involves, above all else, being perceptive and responding accordingly. So, if you are a week, month or year into your job and don't feel like your work, no matter how good, is doing the trick, remember it may not be what you are doing, but how you are communicating it. And that mentor of mine? He and his boss ended up getting into business together and becoming great friends, so I suppose these principles work pretty well.

Contributing: Chris Giovarelli & Tijs Sirrine
Image: Chris Giovarelli

The Dos and Do Nots of Job Hunting

It can be tough to find a job in today's "frozen" economy. Everywhere you look, people are getting laid off and companies are making cutbacks. There's no question, no one can afford to waste time using ineffective techniques in hunting for a job. In his book What Color is Your Parachute?, job-hunting guru, Richard N. Berkeley offers tips on how (and how not) to find a job. Some of his tips may surprise you. According to Berkeley: The five worst ways to find a job are:

1. Using Internet searches (4.1 percent of those who randomly search the Internet find jobs there).
2. Mailing out resumes to employers at random--the shot-gun approach (7 percent success rate).
3. Answering ads in professional or trade journals (7 percent success rate).
4. Answering local newspaper ads (5 to 24 percent success rate).
5. Using private employment agencies or search firms (2 to 28 percent success rate).

The five best ways to find a job are:

1. Asking for job leads from friends and family, staff at career centers or community contacts (33 percent success rate).
2. Knocking on the door of an employer that interests you, whether they are known to have a vacancy or not (47 percent success rate).
3. By yourself, using a phone book to identify companies that provide fields of interest to you, contacting them and asking about potential jobs (69 percent success rate).
4. In a group, using a phone book to identify companies that provide fields of interest to you, contacting them and asking about potential jobs (84 percent success rate--two or more heads must be better than one).
5. Conducting an in-depth "job hunt experience," in which you spend time investigating what you want to do with those who are doing it and using them to guidance and as referrals (86 percent success rate).

On a related note, Dr. Jacquelyn P. Robinson of Auburn University conducted a study about job searches that revealed some similar results. Robinson found that many Americans wrongly believe classified ads and a "shot-gun" approach to handing out resumes are good ways to gain job leads. Interestingly, she found that employers cited state employment agencies as the largest source for new hires. Behind state employment agencies, Robinson found that current employees who referred friends, family or acquaintances were the next highest source for jobs. More from Robinson's study can be found here.

Happy hunting!

Contributing: Tijs Sirrine