So, What Do You Do? How to Answer

During our career coaching process, we help clients create a clear, exciting, focused vision of the job they want. After this vision is defined, and the resume is targeted to getting the desired job, the next stage is to get the word out.

To begin effectively getting the word out, you need a great "elevator pitch" - a clear, concise statement about who you are, what you do, and what you are looking for. Once you craft your elevator pitch, write it down on a note card, and practice saying it. So, when you meet someone at a cocktail party, and they ask “what do you do”, or you meet someone at a networking event, you will be ready!

Here are some examples of elevator pitches from individuals that have worked:

"I work in business development at a university for our executive MBA program. I particularly love traveling all around the country, meeting with senior executives, and setting up MBA programs for their employees. I am now looking to return to the private sector in finance, and use my business development skills to help women invest their money wisely."

""I recently finished my masters in American history. Last year, I co-developed and co-taught a college history course that focused on the civil war era. I am now ready to teach at the college level, and I am looking for an instructors position at a local community college. "

I run art programs in schools that teach children skills while working together to create amazing artwork. My favorite part is coordinating all the pieces - the community, the school, the artists, the children - to create these art installations. I am now looking to move beyond education and use my program management skills in the non-profit world."

To learn more about crafting an effective elevator pitch, check out our business development blog - BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS

Resume Writing - Our Best Tip for Getting Started

When my partners and I teach resume writing workshops, we often have groups of friends sign up together. Many of them have not had a resume for a number of years. And more often than not, each one gets stuck when we ask them to make a list of their accomplishments and experiences. But, here is something interesting - when we ask them to list the accomplishments and experiences of the friend sitting next to them, they quickly rattle off numerous things that their friend has accomplished. Ask them to do it for themselves - and it’s just too hard.

I get it! Even as a career development professional, I find it much easier to talk about my partners’ skills, talents, and experiences than my own.

So, my partners and I came up with a resume-building exercise that is a simple but effective way for you to get unstuck and craft a list of accomplishments to put on a resume - enlist the help of a friend. Ask a trusted friend who knows you well to answer the following questions:

What would you say are my strongest skills?

What talents do I have that have surprised you?

What are my accomplishments? What projects have I worked on?

What experiences have I had that allowed me to demonstrate my best self?

When you use a friend (or “empowering partner”) to help you brainstorm a list of skills, talents, and accomplishments, you will be surprised, like the women in our workshops, at just how accomplished and marketable you truly are.

Flextime - Everybody Wins.

A flexible work schedule or "flextime" has finally emerged as a truly viable option for individuals seeking to balance work with "life". Boston Globe staffer, Katie Johnson Chase crafts a compelling case for flextime in When Time is Money. At DKS Consulting Group, we believe that flextime is not only an important option for employees (especially working parents who want to be more involved in the lives of their children) but for business owners as well. It turns out that flextime benefits companies in many ways, including the place they care about the most - their bottomline. By allowing individuals to work from home, one company saved as much as 30% on overhead costs. That is a real incentive for flexibility in the workplace, and the great thing is, everybody wins.

We are always happy to post career-related good news when we hear it.

Keep That Job Search Motivation Going Strong

It's the second week into the New Year, and your motivation is high as you forge ahead in your job search. You have the energy to set up networking appointments that you have been putting off, you find the time to sign up for a class to develop a new skill, or you finally join a job search support group to gain new job hunting ideas. The beginning of January can provide us with a great burst of motivation as we take on our New Year's resolutions. However, that surge of excitement can taper off by the time February rolls around.

Each New Year, we see our career coaching clients become motivated to overcome obstacles in their job search. And each year, as their New Year's energy begins to fade, we share with them the following tips to help them stay on track and move forward:

1) Its a Marathon not a Sprint - Searching for a new job is a lengthy process that can be both exciting and emotionally draining. And like a marathon, it requires you to pace yourself, expect some hills, and maintain your focus on the finish line. We tell our clients to mentally prepare themselves for a job search marathon not a job search sprint. This realistic expectation can help you maintain a steady level of enthusiasm because it wards off dissappointment when opportunities take time to materialize.

2) Celebrate Small Successes - A steady supply of small celebrations does more for boosting one's motivation for achieving a goal than just about anything else. Give yourself a "Yay Me!" each time you check off an item on your job search action plan. It's important to acknowledge each step up the ladder. Don't wait until you have the new job - celebrate and honor each of your accomplishments along the way.

3) Take Time to Re-Charge - Searching for a job can become a stressful, 24/7 endeavor. It is important to set a specific, daily timeframe when you put your full energy into looking for a job - then quit for the day. One way to decrease stress is to take time each day to do something that refuels and recharges your mind, body, and spirit. Go for a walk outdoors, meet a friend for coffee, or lose yourself in a great book. Plan a daily recharge of your mental battery, and you will have the energy you need to truly succeed in your job search.

What tips do you have for staying motivated during the job search process? We want to know!

Is Executive Coaching for You?

If you have been working hard climbing the corporate ladder, but it seems that you are making little progress in your career, it may be time to consider executive coaching. Executive Coaching allows you to strengthen your leadership and interpersonal skills with real-time feedback. As you rise in the organization and take on increasing levels of management responsibility, your ability to work with and influence people becomes critical to your success. Executive Coaching is an effective way for you to sharpen your interpersonal skills, look at old problems in new ways, and re-energize your career so that you can lead your team to achieve their highest level of performance.

For more information on the benefits of executive coaching, check out the following Harvard Business School article, "What an Executive Coach Can Do for You".

Ten Years Carpooling Kids and No Skills for a Resume? Not so Fast . . .

During the summer, my friend Sheila told me, "I've been out of the
workforce for ten years so my software engineering skills are obsolete."

"I've spent 10 years carpooling kids to sports,organizing play dates, and raising money for the boosters. You do career development and coaching, "she said," What would you say to someone like me?"

Plenty.

Sheila, like many of our clients, has marketable skills she has developed over the past ten years even though she was outside the paid workforce. She just needs help identifying those skills.

When Sheila took over as fundraising chair for her school boosters club, it had a budget of $20,000.00. Over the course of three years, under Sheila's leadership, the boosters raised more than ten times that amount. Sheila, a software engineer, had never been involved in fundraising. It was during her time out of the paid workforce that she developed a very valuable and measurable skill - fundraising for a non-profit organization. And, she enjoyed it!

We suggested that Sheila add her fundraising experience to her resume in a section called "Development Work". We helped her brainstorm all the fundraising activities she has been involved in, the specific tasks she performed, and the amount of money she raised. With targeted help from us, she was able to articulate a list of development projects, her roles and responsibilities, and accomplishments.

Many people underestimate the skills they have acquired during their years outside the paid workforce. A career development professional can help them identify their marketable skills and craft an impressive resume that highlights their achievements.

En-Vision Your Way to Success!

There are many places we get blocked in our job search- not knowing where to start, needing a resume, or giving in to the belief that we don't have valuable skills to offer. These are three common "stuck points" that typically bring clients to their first career coaching meeting with us. While these challenges are real, they are not what's truly keeping people stuck. More often than not, it is the lack of a clear, focused, well-formed Vision of what job they want that is the primary reason our clients can't move forward in their search.

When you have a clear, exciting, focused Vision of the job you want, things begin to happen that you did not expect. Opportunities become apparent that were not there before, information to help you move forward seems to come out of nowhere, and people you did not realize could help you, reach out and make important connections.

One of our clients decided that he wanted to go back to school to get his Ph.D., and that afternoon, when the mail came, a brochure for a local college arrived, highlighting a Ph.D. program he was interested in.

Was this magic? Not really - just the power of our minds to discern information that is important to us.

During the course of our day we are bombarded with untold amounts of stimulus. It is the job of our brain to filter out information that is unimportant. Once we clearly define something as important, such as a Ph.D. program, our brain allows that information in.

This happens all the time. Have you ever decided that you wanted a certain kind of car? For example, you decide that you want a red jeep wrangler that you can drive onto the beach in the summer. Suddenly, or so it seems, you see red jeep wranglers everywhere - in the parking lot at the grocery store, driving down the highway, even on television. Advertisements for the jeep bombard you in the newspaper and on the internet.

So, how does this work in our job search? When we clearly focus on, define, and articulate what we truly want in our next job, our brain allows that information in, and we begin to see possibilities and opportunities everywhere, just like the red jeep. We get excited about the job search and we are able to do the hard work of writing a resume and networking. We are able to think about what we have to offer.

And, the first step in the process of creating a vision of your next job is to think about what skills, strengths and experiences you have, and what you really love to do. Then, write down a very specific, detailed description of your ideal job. Begin by asking yourself these questions:

What kinds of activities and tasks, when I am doing them, make me lose track of time?

What activities have kept me most energized?

What is the most satisfying part of any job for you?

When I imagine my ideal job, what am I doing, where am I doing it, and who am I doing it with?

A clearly defined Vision is like a magnet pulling you forward toward your goals. We help clients individually and in small groups think very specifically about what they really want in a next job. Once they can state their Vision, they can begin to move forward - and watch their possibilities expand!