The first couple of months that I started my business, I was doing what a lot of people do when they start something new.  I was following lots of experts, reading their articles, using their free resources and trying to take their generalized advice and make it work for my specific circumstances.

I felt like I was putting together a puzzle but all the pieces didn’t really fit.  Which left me constantly questioning my work, tweaking it and all around just feeling lost and confused.

It wasn’t until I finally sucked it up and realized that I needed to INVEST in myself and my business that I felt confident and saw the growth I wanted.  I picked a coach that made sense for my business model and have never looked back.  I got the clarity I needed and was able to grow my business much faster than I had anticipated and have had more success like being featured in numerous articles, writing for my peers and even interviewed on Blog Talk Radio.

As someone who is super frugal and who wants to do it themselves, it was really hard to suck it up and make the investment. 
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I know I’m not alone in that, so I wanted to provide some great reasons why you should consider hiring a Coach (business, career or life).

​Reason 1: CLARIFY YOUR GOALS
There are a lot of voices out there telling us what we SHOULD want so it is really hard to cut through the noise to tap into our own motivations and figure out what we REALLY want.  A coach helps you get crystal clear on how you measure success and happiness and what that means for your future.

Reason 2: GET THERE FASTER
You know what you want, now you have to make it happen.  Having a coach to lean on, to cheer you on and to push you will help you get there faster.

Reason 3: PREPARE FOR THE WORST
Achieving a goal isn’t as easy as we'd like to believe.  It is a tough journey filled with lots of ups and downs.  A coach has seen it all, they have supported many on their journeys plus have usually been on a journey of their own.  That means that they know the lows you are about to face and can help prepare you for them.  On top of all that, they are there to support you during those tough times.

Reason 4: THE TOOLBOX
Coaches have a toolbox, full of strategies, perspectives, tips and tricks, making it easier to navigate your journey.

Reason 5: SUPPORT SYSTEM
A major key to success is having a strong support system, one that is there for you but one that is also there to keep you accountable.  Regular meetings with a coach keeps you on track.

Reason 6: SETS YOU UP FOR SUCCESS
We all have bad habits, ones that prevent you from making your dreams a reality.  A coach will help you figure out what those are and provide support and tips on replacing those habits with ones that support your path to success not destroy it.

Reason 7: SAVES YOU TIME
When you give up an hour a week to a coach you’ll actually gain time.  Allowing you more work/life balance or time to achieve those goals.  Coaches help you figure out time management and how to say “No” to yourself and others.

Reason 8: UNLOCK YOUR INNER WISDOM
When we clear away voices that aren’t ours, develop helpful habits and free up time, an amazing thing happens.  We unlock our own inner wisdom that will help guide us in our careers and lives.

Reason 9: BE THE BEST YOU
We hold ourselves back in so many ways.  A coach helps you live the life YOU want and help you face FEAR and to push you out of your comfort zone so that you can achieve those careers and lives that you are looking for.
 
I know that my clients have been helped in these ways as I have been through my own work with my coach.

Finding a coach that you connect with, trust and whose opinion you value is vital.  To see if I am that person for you, schedule a free Discover Your Career strategy call.

It’s September and for most people, the feeling of a new beginning.  But if you are one those people who hate their jobs, are sick of a long commute or struggling in a job search this time of year can suck.

You want a change and you want it now.
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It doesn’t always work like that.  But there is some work you can do today that is like pressing fast forward on achieving that change.  Which is why I’ve compiled ALL of my top tips, tricks and resources to try and make that happen for you.

Step 1: Know what you want.

You know you want a change.  But do you know what that change actually looks like?  If you are struggling to define a specific career, job or industry it can have you flailing around and going nowhere.

Instead, if you are laser focused and know exactly what it is you are looking for that allows you to customize everything to achieve that one thing.

Need help?  My favourite exercise is the Interests, Motivations and Skills and it focuses on what career fits in with your life, your skill set AND what will bring you joy.  I wrote a whole article about it and how this exercise helped me figure out that this was MY dream career.

Cheap Resource: Find Career Happiness Course, only $4.95

Step 2: Write a Stand Out Resume

This is your primary marketing document.  You are now a product and your resume is your pamphlet selling you to companies.  So make sure that it is telling a cohesive story, one that is relevant to the job and company you are applying for. 

And since Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are taking over the world, make sure it is optimized, such as having the right key words in the right format.

I've written a ton on resumes, like the Modern Day rules, how to optimize and writing a winning one.  

Free Resource: The Ultimate Resume Checklist

Step 3: Don’t Just Hit Apply

You see an amazing job.  You spend hours customizing and optimizing your resume.  You hit apply and then you wait. Sound familiar?

I liken applying on job boards to a black hole, you send resumes out only to hear nothing in return. 

If you want a job fast, you need to make sure that your resume isn’t getting lost with the rest of them (an average of 250!).  So do something about it.  Find the key decision maker or who may be the key decision maker and follow up that application with an email to them stating your interest and your differentiating factor.

Step 4: Outsource Your Job Search

Make sure you have has many people out there helping you out in your job search.  That includes engaging your current network.  A coffee with an old manager, or maybe a lunch with a colleague who works at company you want to work at.  These are your strongest advocates, making sure they know what you want and are looking for will help them determine appropriate opportunities for you to consider.

That also includes optimizing your LinkedIn to be found.  Found by recruiters.  Having an “all-star” LinkedIn profile that is full of great information and keywords, getting as close to the magic number of connections and logging in each and every day will increase your likelihood of showing up in a recruiter’s search.

Cheap Resource: Purposeful Networking Course - $14.95

Step 5: Get Help

Outplacement services (those provided by employers to employees they are laying off) are very similar to Career Coaching services.  I should know because I do both!

The great thing about outplacement is that they provide services to a large number of clients which yields great data.

And that data is very promising.

A person engaged in the process with a Career Coach lands a job 50-63% faster than the national average.  Crazy right?

So maybe the biggest factor in speeding up your search could be as simple as hiring a coach.

Investment Resource: Career Coaching Packages or Job Search Rescue Plan
Free Resource: Strategy Call with Me

Step 6: Create a Plan

A lot of job searches are chaotic.  They begin and end with job boards. 

The problem with that is the math.  Each job gets on average 250 applications and only 4-6 are selected for an interview.  Of that 4-6, not all come from the 250, so only about 10% of applications get an interview (some stats say as little as 2%, eek!). 

That means the majority of the time you send out a resume for a posted job, you will never hear anything. 

So you need to do more than just applying for jobs but with our natural inclination to centre our search around them you need to create a plan so that you can make sure you do more.

Create a plan that encompasses all the key aspects of a job search, including networking, volunteering, research and preparation and social media.
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Free Resource: Dream Career Planner
 
If you follow these 6 steps, I’m positive you’ll see incredible results.  By Christmas, you can be in that dream job.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?
 

Job Searches suck.  There is no ifs, ands or buts about it.  The average job search is 3-6 months in Canada, 6-9 months in the States, already that seems like a long period of time but sometimes we fall outside of those averages.  And when we do, when we enter into the 1 year mark (or longer) in an active job search, we can reach a low we never thought possible. 

It leaves us feeling lost, frustrated and confused.  We question every decision we make, and feel pretty horrible about ourselves.  We think we are doing the right things, but we are hearing nothing from companies (either after an application or an interview).  Negativity is taking over and it is hard to feel like we will ever get a job, the light at the end of the tunnel is just getting dimmer and dimmer.

But we can’t give up, that isn’t an option right?  So what do we do?

First read this article on Staying Inspired During a Job Search and consider taking a day or two (or seven!) off to give you time to recharge.

Next, we need to do a review, we need to see where there is potential, room for improvement and to know whether we should reach out for help.

1. Resume
Let’s look at your applications.  Examine, look at your applications to jobs that are a good fit, meaning you should probably have gotten an interview.

Let’s look at your ratio – how many of those did you get an interview for those, how many?
The standard ratio is 1 interview out of 5-10 applications depending, some industries and some circumstances can change it. 

For the ones that garnered you the interview, let’s take a closer look.   What was it about that application that led to the interview – what was the application process (email direct, networking, ATS), what did your resume and cover letter look like, industry, company size.  This information may allow you to further focus your work.

If your ratio is not in line with the average ratio.  Then we need to re-examine your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile.  Is your resume telling YOUR story, are you sending in a cover letter, is it engaging?  Is your resume and LinkedIn profile optimized for an Applicant Tracking System?

Have someone else read through all of your documents, I would have someone who is familiar with what you do (to mimic the Hiring Manager) and someone who isn’t (to mimic a recruiter).  Sometimes, we get so stuck in our head when it comes to our marketing documents that it is helpful to get someone else’s feedback.  Plus, it is common to constantly tweak it to align with all of the conflicting information out there which leaves you with a resume that isn’t cohesive.

Obviously, if you are really struggling then getting a resume writer to take a look or write you a new one may be the best option for you.

2. Networking
Do you have a networking strategy, is networking a part of your job search?  70-80% of jobs are found through some form of networking so it is important to get a strategy going.  Plus it will get you out of the house and out of your head!

Each week you should devote most of your time to some form of networking activity, so next week look at your current network, who can you take out for coffee?

Confused and have no idea where to start?  I've written alot about Networking and talk about it a lot on my weekly Q&A on Facebook Live (on my page and in the Find Career Happiness Group).

Stay tuned, I have an amazing freebie coming next week plus an announcement that will make networking so much easier!

3. Interviews
When I ask people about their job search, their successes equate to two things – resumes submitted and interviews secured.  And while, securing interviews is a goal as you need them to get the offer, tying your feeling of success to something outside of your control is a sure-fire way to destroy your self-confidence and allow a negative attitude to flourish.  So my first recommendation for interviews is to be cognizant of them (how many you are getting, how they are going, etc) but instead of using that as a major goal, use networking instead.

Now let’s assume your resume to interview average is good.  Let’s look at your interview to offer numbers.  On average, it takes interviewing with 4-5 different companies to receive 1 offer.  I’m guessing since you are reading this, that that isn’t the case.  So let’s examine the interview.

How have the interviews been going?  Where have you excelled and where have you struggled?  What kind of questions have they asked, and what kind of answers have you given?  Are you telling your story or just answering in bullet points?  Are you asking insightful questions?

If you are struggling, consider having a friend give you a mock interview or better yet hire a coach, the investment will be worth it.  Self-awareness is great, but we are biased, so it is helpful to have someone objective listen in.

At the end of the day, you need to start talking to people.  Get some advise from a previous Manager (great start for networking) on your job search, resume and interview skills.  Talk with a close friend or family member.  Right now, a clear, objective and unbiased look at your job search is exactly what you need.

As always, you can set up a complimentary 30 minute Strategy Call with me and I would be happy to discuss.

And stay tuned for the big announcement next week!