Billie Sucher Blog

Transitions: Back to School, Off to College

Clients always bring up interesting topics. Upon completing our work together the other day, my client was saying how she was both happy and sad about taking her son off to college. I so remember those feelings. A few years ago, I wrote this poem for our son as he entered his sophomore year of college:

 

ON SOPHOMORE

And so I tasted the wind

the smell hinted of Fall

I knew time was drawing near

as she hastened her call.

 

How do you pause a moment

on permanent delay or hold

as you see life stretch before you

while the stories unfold?

 

There's no turning back

only onward each day.

So blessed by your presence

and I know you can't stay.

 

Why am I so weepy

Like the swishing willow tree?

It was only just yesterday

You bounced on my knee.

 

How do you tell your child

no longer a little one

that you're joyous beyond imagination

for most things he's done?

 

So the hours count down

and the clock ticks away

It won't be long now

and you'll be on your way.

 

And I'll be just fine,

with but a hiccup or two

Watching from the distance

the wonderful things that you do.

 

Wishing you a stellar year

of learning and fun

On stand-by if you need me

while you go and get it done.

copyright 2004 by billie sucher

May I Have Some More Job Security, Please?

In conversation with a person who had lost her job within the last couple of days, the individual remarked that she would be looking for a new job with more security. Her words stopped me cold in conversation. I had not heard the word ‘security’ tied to jobs for months now.

Our chat quickly turned to the new workplace – how the workplace of today is in a constant state of flux -- you know, like the tide – in one minute, out the next. I am not sure if my analogy made any sense to this new job seeker or not…for sure, I do not think it was what she thought she would hear. A few thoughts for you to consider regarding the word security as it relates to j-o-b-s.

Skills that are sharp, solid, portable, transferable and mobile 24/7 in a volatile, intensely competitive and global job market.

Embrace what’s coming at you head on with a willingness to do what you need to do to make your life work today.

Change happens non-stop. Are you prepared to manage it and if so, what are your specific coping strategies – naming them clearly and concisely may help alleviate some of the wonder and/or worry. 

Understanding what was and how it is behind you and considering what can be and how it is before you – yours to seek, find, make and create.  

Realizing that job security comes from within, not from some external source looming ‘out there’. Are you doing everything within your power to stay current, relevant and ready to meet today’s turbulent workplace needs and demands?

Ingenuity which leads to ideas and possibilities, innovations, insights and interesting new tomorrows that can generate income to provide for you and your family.

Talent -- yours to build, yours to keep and yours to share whether you are in a job or out a job. What talents do you possess and what industries and organizations are waiting for you to target, tap or invent?

Yesterday is done. You can’t get it back. You can’t go back. You can only decide about this moment, this day, this hour and what you will do with it. How will you commence the process of defining (and/or redefining) what security looks like for you now, today – August 25, 2011?

 

 

Conversions and Your Résumé Communication

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.  ~ Author Unknown

One of the many things I have learned from the résumé-writing "school of hard knocks" is this:

Break it down – rebuild it better

Let’s say that you lost your job last Friday and that for 17 years, you have been a vice president of sales for a company, or maybe a customer service manager or a director of widget-making or president of something, or or or ________________ fill-in-the-blank. That job title is about what you were and sometimes, what you were doesn’t connect in any way, shape or form with what you want to be from now on and into the future.

If you are thinking about changing careers and/or going down a new and different career path, then change up your résumé accordingly. By that I mean, build in a “conversion” piece to your resume so that the reader who doesn’t know you, may have a better chance of ‘getting’ you and your story.

The day of presuming that a recruiter, Hiring Manager, decision-maker, (or your Mama) can  figure you out has long past, except many job seekers didn’t get the message. Compiling the best résumé in the whole wide world about your past (which has passed) will not bring you a solid R.O.I. if indeed you do not also integrate something about your present and your future -- which brings me to the point of this particular post:  does your résumé include a ‘conversion’ section for your reader – the stranger? If it does, that’s excellent! If it does not, perhaps you will consider the line above:  break it down – rebuild it better.

In a coaching chat this morning with a client in the southeastern United States, I invited her to do her homework, due diligence, research, investigation – whatever word she desired to affix to the activity of assessing and compiling skills that would convince the reader that she has -- without question -- what it takes to do the job to which she aspires. If she does not build in the résumé conversion component for the reader, sadly for her, in this intensely competitive market, she will most likely go unnoticed, passed up, and passed by.

Whatever your heart’s desire for new employment, especially if it does not connect with your past work experience, do yourself (and your reader) a humongous favor! Build a résumé that delivers a spot-on “wow” message about your credentials and how they align with the employer’s wants and needs.

After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully.  After five years, look at it with suspicion.  And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.  ~Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958

Would You Buy A Lemon of A Car?

You can tell a child is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and starts refusing to tell where he is going.  ~ Author Unknown

When our children were little and growing up, I drove a verrrrry loooooooooooooooooong station wagon (SW)  that I did not like – evah! Not that I wasn’t grateful, I just didn’t like the brand, the car, the shape, the style, the anything about it, but I drove it for many years anyway. During a visit to The Windy City, not far from Wrigley Field, I spied a car that I thought was the most beautiful car I’d ever seen. I scribbled the car’s name on a piece of paper, later to look it up on the Internet. While I chose not to invest in a new one, I started saving money for a competitively-priced used vehicle of this particular variety.

During this time, I also befriended a local auto dealership representative that marketed and sold the specific product line that I aspired to own. As you enter the dealership, visitors go one way for new cars and another for pre-owned. I was advised not to say used, so now I say pre-owned. Also, I was advised not to say used car salesman --  I am to say car sales professional or car sales specialist. So, I met a car sales person whose name was the same as a former USA president’s – which was good because it was always easy to remember him.

When I met the car sales pro with the former President’s name, I gave him a list of the specifications that I wanted in my new used pre-owned car. I asked that he please not contact me with any other makes, models, equipment, etc. as I knew what I wanted and when he found it, I would buy it. We had already established a price range I was willing to invest in said product.  14 months later, I got a phone call from the pre-owned car pro – they had a match! Woo hoo! Peace out and bye-bye SW!

If you know what you want in a car, you probably have acquired some pretty good instincts and ideas about what you want in a job. Would you buy any car? Would you buy any job? Would you intentionally, purposefully and knowingly buy a lemon of a car? I hope not. Would you buy a lemon of a job? While I would hope that you wouldn’t, I have heard countless stories from clients who do. “I knew the job was all wrong, but I took it anyway because I needed a j-o-b.” (I am not talking about stop-gap or bridge jobs here).

Homework Exercise:

Make a list of the specifics that you would like, desire and prefer in your work. What would you be doing? Who would you be reporting to? Who would you be working with? What activities, tasks and roles would you be performing? What elements would be your favorite? Who would be your ideal customer? How much money would you be generating for your time and talent? Where would the job be located geographically? What type of environment do you wish to maneuver through? What type of work space brings out the best in you and which one brings out the worst in you? How long of a commute, if any, are you willing to make? What would you be contributing? What goals would you be achieving? What skills would you be using? What passions would you tap into and apply? What sacrifices would you be willing to make? And on and on and on – what kind of job do you wish to invest in at this time in your life?

When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio.  If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot.  ~ Larry Lujack 

Resilience -- Got Some?

Last month, I was facilitating a training session for college students on Interviewing with Success. One of the words that I asked the students to think about was “resilience” and what that particular word meant to them. Some of their responses included:

Bounce back.

Keep going.

Not giving up; don’t quit.

You’re not a baby.

Get over yourself.

Go again; Try again.

You don't stop when things don't go your way.

According to the dictionary,

re·sil·ience

is a noun defined as:

1. the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity.

2. ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

While the second definition above does not mention the ability to recover from losing your job, getting rejected for the 19^th time, and/or no one returning your phone calls, emails, DM’s – ever – resilience is a word to be reckoned with in your quest for work in 2011.

If someone asked you to share your definition of ‘resilience’ what would you say?

Homework Exercise:

In the space below, record three ways (strategies) which prove to yourself that you demonstrate resilience in your job search. If you can’t think of all three right now, think of one…one is better than none.

1.

2.

3.

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Job Loss Endings and EGBDF

Endings  Endings are hard. Endings are painful. Endings are not easy. Sometimes endings are bad. Sometimes endings make us mad or sad. Other times, endings make us glad. Endings make us uncomfortable. Sometimes endings are good. Sometimes endings bring welcome relief and help us breathe easier again. Sometimes  endings need to happen, whether we like it or not. Sometimes endings challenge us to take a hard look at what’s important – what really matters. Sometimes we’d rather not deal with any part of endings. Endings. 

Yesterday, I went to an auction. An accumulation of years and years of stuff was on display for all to see – and purchase! Among the many items for sale was my Grandmother’s piano – the piano I had ‘played’ when I was a little girl. As I stood there in the driveway looking at the piano, I heard my Grandmother’s voice from many years ago still teaching me …..’Every Good Boy Does Fine’. I played the piano chord I had played over and over as a little girl. I touched the keys for one last time. I thanked Old Piano for letting me play my off key creations which I am certain were not at all music to her ears. 

Not far from the Old Piano was the round, beautiful oak claw-foot table I’d grown up with. How many conversations had taken place around her? How many cakes and pies and goodies and meals had it displayed? How many life changes and goals and wishes and dreams and heartaches had it been privy to? How many tears of happiness and sorrow had found a permanent resting place there?  I took photos of the old oak table as I stood by her and thought about another time in my life. This day, though, I was saying good-bye to her for the very last time. 

As a career management professional, I have coached, counseled, comforted, and consoled many, many people who have lost a job. Losing a job is tough. I know – I have lost one before! Losing a job is a mucky, sucky, yucky time when you find yourself in a sort of no-man’s land – that messy, clouded, confused , chaotic uncertain time between the old job and the new one you know nothing about.  A time when you can’t go back, yet you have no idea how to move forward.

What I have learned time and again from clients regarding their job loss is this:

• Change is certain. If you have never lost a job in your career, you are lucky.
• Starting over is possible and doable if you choose to do so.
• You can move on – it is not easy; you just keep telling yourself that you can and that you must and that you will do your best this day, tomorrow, and the next to put one foot ahead of the other and keep going forward.
• Most likely, you can’t go back or get back what was – your old job. 
• Getting on with life after job loss takes tremendous self-care, courage and conviction. 
• Reaching out is much more effective than reeling in and pulling back.
• Building a transition team of people who are invested in your career success makes good old-fashioned common sense. Teamwork works! 
• Remember the goodness in people and the good times you had in your job.
• Celebrate the best of what was and move forward with an attitude of gratitude and believe that the best is yet to come.
• Make some new music in whatever way you can.  Even if it’s off key, maybe that’s better than not playing at all.
• Create some new conversations and some new stories with people you have yet to meet.
• Decide that you are going to spend more time looking ahead to your tomorrow’s than looking back on your yesterday's.

How to Write A Cover Letter

If you like books, mark your calendar to go to The Newberry Library Book Fair in Chicago next year. It was spectacular! Last Saturday, I spent a fair amount of time browsing through books, books and more books and found myself dwelling in the poetry, psychology and law sections. In an old box, I stumbled upon a gift-pack on ‘How to Write a Love Letter.”  

I was immediately drawn to the item and thought to myself … these ‘directions’ sound similar to how you write a cover letter. So, here goes, directions from my newly-acquired gift-pack on how to write a love letter…modify these directions to write your cover letter:

1. Place a picture of the one you love (the job you would love) in front of you.
2. Using separate sheet of paper, create two lists: 1) His/her (your) unique qualities and 2) your hopes for a future together.
3. Begin your letter with a personalized salutation, such as “To my darling” ________________, “Dearest _________” or “My beloved ________” (“Dear Ms. ________” “Dear Mr. _________”  “Attention: Hiring Manager”)
4. Start the body of the letter by describing his/her (their) qualities that you find irresistible, unique, or romantic. The descriptions can be direct and simple, or they can be passionate and elaborate (professional), depending upon your personal style (brand).
5. In the next paragraph, convey your hopes, dreams, and / or passion for your future together.
6. End the letter with a personalized closing such as “I will love you always” “Loving you forever” or “My heart is yours” (“Warm regards” “Best regards” “Sincerely”)
7. Don’t forget to sign your letter! Signing with a pet nickname, if you have one, further deepens the sentiment. (Sign your name exactly as it appears at the top of your cover letter / professional resume.)
8. Spray the letter with a light fragrance. (DO NOT spray your cover letter with anything and avoid spilling coffee, soda, etc. on it, too!)
9. Address, seal and stamp the letter.
10. Drop it in the mail, and look forward to the response.

As you can see from the above, the ‘directions’ on how to write a cover letter appear in bold font and should you, by chance, need to write a love letter – for any reason or no reason – well, there you have it, Steps 1 – 10, straight from the gift-pack at The Newberry Book Fair 2011.

 

Are You Too......................?

In my work with clients, I love to listen to their stories, concerns, thoughts, hopes, and dreams. And as it goes, we then get around to talking about stumbling blocks and what, if anything, is getting in the way of moving forward to their target goal – and that’s when the job hunt “too’s” emerge…

I am too afraid of the unknown

I am too broke

I am too busy to look for a job

I am too lazy to put forth the hard work, effort

I am too old to start over

I am too unsure of what to do next

I am too stubborn to compromise

I am too proud to ask for help

I am too angry to let it go

I am too depressed to look for work

I am too overwhelmed by everything

I am too scared of failing (rejection)

I am too tired to commit

I am too young and inexperienced

I am too shy, timid, bashful

I am too ---------------- (fill-in-the-blank).

Are you too………………………………?

 

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