Lysa Appleton - Blog

Interview Follow Up - Writing a Winning Thank-You!

8/9/2018

Writing a thank you note after the #interview is a key part of the interview process. No interview is complete without it and many people don’t realize is that the quality of your thank you note can be a huge influencer in whether or not you are #hired.
Most people will write a generic “thank you for taking the time to interview me, and it was great to meet you and see your company”, but this states the obvious and is really boring. Instead, turn your follow up into a powerful opportunity to tell an #employer exactly why you are the right person for the #job. Think outside the box!
Review what you learned about the company, what they are looking for in you as a new hire and the answers to the questions that you asked. Then draft a note that hooks them in and tells them WHY they should hire YOU.
Be creative! Consider sending your thank you in video format, in an engaging e-card, or infographic. If sending an email, let your personality and voice shine through. And remember to thank the inter-viewer(s) for their time and consideration.
Here is an example written by my client Joe:
Hello Mary and Dan,
It was such a pleasure to meet you both yesterday, learn more about your company and the role of Senior Marketing Analyst. Going home, I gave thought to our discussion about what gives your company a competitive advantage in your industry.
My mind has been rapid-firing and I am excited to apply my expert understanding of big data, skill in translating trends, and understanding of consumer behaviour to continue growing that competitive advantage through laser-sharp recommendations that I know will drive key business decisions and positively impact your bottom line.
Furthermore, in learning more about your philanthropic projects that support small businesses in low-income areas, I know that I would be a proud ambassador of your brand. Thank you again for your time and consideration and I look forward to the opportunity to add value to your team.
Best Regards,
Joe
What stands out here is Joe's passion and personality. The key is to let your voice shine through....Oh, and have fun!

Making Success Your Goal in 2018

12/7/2017

There is a Japanese proverb that says:

A vision, (goal, objective) without action is a daydream; an action without vision, (goal, objective), is a nightmare.

According to Stephen Covey, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the best ways to leverage your time and energy is to set clear, concise and visible goals. He states that only 3% of people he polled wrote their goals down, but of those 3% that wrote them down, 97% achieved or exceeded their expectations. This is due to several factors including:

(1) When we write things down we are actually sending a message to our brain that the goal is now concrete and not just an idea in our head.
(2) When we write things down we actually free up space in our heads for creativity and innovation….sort of like defragmenting your computer’s hard drive.
(3) When we write goals down we are allowing ourselves the methodology of Ready/Aim/Fire” as opposed to tackling our goals ad hoc by “Ready/Fire/Aim”.

When creating successful goals, keep them visible as a constant reminder of what you are striving for. Also for the best success, goals need to be SMART(T).

S = SPECIFIC
Be very clear and detailed about what your goal is. When goals are too general we aren’t able to visualize them, and if we can’t see them, we have a hard time devoting our efforts toward reaching them. For example, we would not attempt to build a house without specific plans.

M = MEASURABLE
Make sure that you can measure the success of your goal, and of all the little steps it takes to achieve it. If we can’t measure a goal, we have no idea how close we are getting to reaching it, and that can be de-motivating.

A = ATTAINABLE
We sometimes think that we should set high targets or goals for ourselves in order to grow and stretch. Well, we do want to grow and stretch, but if we set goals that aren’t
manageable, we soon get discouraged and we stop trying. The really high achievers in the world know this. They set goals that they know they can reach with a little stretching, and when they get there, they set another goal they know they can reach. They climb the mountain one foot at a time.

R = RELEVANT
Goals need personal meaningful importance or they will easily be discarded. Set goals that make sense to you. (Another word that is often used for the R in this acronym is Realistic.)

T = TIMED
Set a deadline for your goals. Have an end date for the final goal, in addition to dates for all of the smaller goals that comprise the larger one. Deadlines are great for getting things done. The dates may change and are not set in stone, but having them will hold you accountable to putting forth effort.

T=TRACK
Share your goal(s) with colleagues, friends, family, mentors or coach in order to be held accountable and stay on track. Have this person check in with you at least once a week to see how you are making out.

Lastly, the most important point is that as you achieve your goals, celebrate your wins and reward yourself for a job well done.

Wishing you a successful week!

Lysa

Does Your Story Work For You?

11/1/2017

I love communication, especially playing with words. This is why I am so passionate about working with people to develop resume, bios, social media profiles and marketing content. It gives me the opportunity to help people shine by doing what I love.

Feeling honoured that Career Professionals of Canada shared my passion and published this post. Although written for career practitioners in mind, the ideas and exercises can be used my anyone interested in using a little creativity to identify work they love.

What's your story?

https://careerprocanada.ca/storytelling-career-development/?utm_source=CERIC+Subscriptions&utm_campaign=0ec4e54eaa-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d052da7c8-0ec4e54eaa-457770921

Meet The Robots That Read Your Resume

10/26/2017

Are you applying for jobs that you know you would rock at but just not getting any response or call-backs? Do you wonder what happened to your application when you met all of the requirements for the job?

hen applying for jobs, your resume needs to be attractive to recruiters and hiring authorities in addition to standing up to the Application Tracking Systems.

Wishing you a successful week!

Lysa

How To Power Boost Your Networking

8/23/2017

Have you ever heard that your network is your net worth? It is no secret that that networking is an integral part of any job search, and is an essential activity for long term employability. However, if you are an introvert like me, networking can be an uncomfortable experience. Yet no matter what your personality type or communication style is, networking can be fun.

To be clear, networking is not going out in your power clothes to ask people for a job. That may have worked 10 years ago but is not the comfortable or appreciated approach today. Instead, networking as simply building or enhancing relationships with people. It is about having an informal conversation with someone over a cup of coffee or a light lunch, and going in armed with some really good thought provoking questions to ask.

Networking is about focussing on others – asking them questions based on interest and curiosity and listening fully to what they share with you. The questions can be about their work, their role and their organization, or about their dreams, values and mentors they highly respect. The topic of the conversation is not nearly as important as having others share their thoughts and feelings with you in a way that builds connection and relationship. Or, you may be curious about how they got into the work they do, what the job market is like and perceived future trends, what problems their team is currently facing or how they see your skills benefiting their organization.

Be a solutions expert, not a job seeker. One of the greatest benefits of networking is that it facilitates valuable research and helps you to learn about new jobs and different kinds of work that have surfaced in the marketplace. You can also gain key information about the challenges that companies might be facing so that you can approach them with the type of solutions that you can offer with your skills, knowledge and expertise. If you can identify how you can help them, your job search becomes focused on service not seeking, and you also position yourself as a valuable expert in your field.

Networking is building connection and also conducting essential research.
The easiest place to start networking is to reach out to people that you already know. Think about all of the communities that your life intersects with – friends, neighbours, extra-curricular activities, ex-colleagues, fellow alumni, spiritual or cultural organizations, etc., in addition to people that you know who may be well connected such as hair-dresser, real estate agent, financial planner, dentist, etc.

Reach out to people and see if you can book a short time to connect. If it has been a few years since you last spoke and you feel awkward reaching out, put your feelings out there. Let them know that you feel awkward connecting but that you are back in the job market, and now that you have some time, are looking to re-establish or strengthen ties with your network. Once you put “it” out there, reaching out will feel less awkward.

Once you have made contact, consider what you want to get from the meeting and formulate some questions accordingly. Also, be sure to prepare a “kick-butt” elevator pitch that clearly explains what you do and highlights the value you can offer. Consider this as a guideline:

1. What do you enjoy helping organizations or companies to achieve? 2. What are you passionate about doing in your work?
3. How do you deliver on your work and what are some of your top skills? 4. What are you looking for or targeting in your next role?

At the end of your meeting, thank the person for their time and don’t forget to ask them if there is anyone that they can think of in their network or organization that they could connect you with as a new networking contact. Always try and get a name from a name or book a meeting from a meeting so that (a) your networking pipeline does not run dry and (b) you continue to build links in the chain from your first point of contact to functional management or hiring authorities.

Wishing you a successful week.

Lysa

Building a Successful Career in Today's Job Market

7/11/2017

I never thought that I would be a careerpreneur. As a Career Strategist and Employment Coach in the current marketplace, my career is built around securing short to mid-range contracts and projects instead of finding secure, long term work.

Unlike the old days when workers were classified as employee, consultant or entrepreneur, today an increasing number of people are also becoming careerpreneurs, experiencing multiple job or career changes in our new fluid, gig economy. This can be tough for many of us who were taught, and have been working from the old paradigm of get a good education, good job, good pension and have a good retirement. I think it is safe to say that model is quickly becoming obsolete.

Company models are also changing as hierarchies are becoming more flat – eliminating middle management and putting top people in direct contact with front-line employees. This means that for more of us, the idea of climbing the “corporate ladder” is dead. The positive thing is that we are no longer just looking up the ladder with one goal in site, eliminating fierce competition for limited jobs. Instead, career paths are starting to also look flat, taking on the shape of a mandala or web, (connecting and integrating all of our education, skills and experience), with more people paying as much credence and giving as much value to building careers horizontally as they do vertically.

According to a 2016 report from Barclays Bank that was cited by CERIC, 24% of workers under age 34 have already worked in four industries, compared to 59% of workers over 65, who spent time in just three industries for their entire career. Also according to this data, for those that continue on this path, they will have seven times as many job roles as their parents. This information illustrates that the next generations of workers are more likely to take a sideways move in their career in response to work availability.

So how do we navigate this new career mandala/web? One important approach is to ensure we continue and emphasize developing soft skills across a variety of roles, corporate cultures and industries. Companies are looking for people that are not only skilled; who are cross-functional, good problem solvers, strong communicators, adaptable and can manage change, but they are also looking for people that can hit the ground running while being a good fit for their organization and culture.

As the definition of success is now broader than only “reaching the top”, we need a new strategic approach to career planning and mapping. This can be tough to figure out as often our next steps are not as obvious as they once were when we were focused on an upward, linear direction. For many of us, this lack of defined focus can be anxiety provoking and even paralyzing, especially as the trend is to job transition more often.

How can we manage this? In a rapidly changing economy where security is less reliable, it is important to have a focal point to keep us grounded and that focal point is ourselves. In this new labour market, it is key that we take the time for introspection, ensuring we know ourselves well; that we know the skills we like to use, what problems we like to solve, which environments we like to work in and the impact we want to make. For many of us, we are no longer looking for the right job title, but for the right kind of work that is meaningful, satisfying and impactful.

To thrive in today’s economy, it is key to periodically review our career objectives and explore training or new skills that will ensure we stay current, relevant and in demand in our fields and industries. Our career paths may be a little less direct, requiring a good strategy that is continually revised and massaged, but we also now have greater opportunity to learn, grow and expand our areas of knowledge, skills, tools and expertise. More and more possibilities are open to us as we identify new things to do and redefine who we are at the centre of our career web.

We are in control of securing work that addresses our purpose, ignites our passion and fuels our potential. Also, we are now on our own timeline, no longer having to wait for that person at the top to retire in order to achieve our success.

Wishing you a successful week.

How to Negotiate Job Offers With Confidence

5/15/2017

Congratulations. So you aced that last interview with Company X and the job offer has come through. You have until the end of the week to accept or decline the offer, but Company Y is the job that you really have your sights set on and your second interview with them is not until the following Monday. Yikes! Multiple job offers seem like a good problem to have, but they can cause much angst and a few sleepless nights! All of a sudden you are in a high stakes game where you run the risk of losing both opportunities if you make the wrong move. Walking this line requires finesse and below are a few tips to keep you confidently in the game and positioned well.

As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I am a big fan of transparent communication throughout the job search. Consider mentioning at some point in the interview process with each company that you are very active in your job search and seriously exploring multiple opportunities simultaneously. Let them know that you have not made any commitment that would interfere with you pursuing the role with their company, but ask to inform them if that changes so you can discuss how an offer from another company will affect your process with them. In this way, you are setting up an agreement for open communication if needed.
If you receive an offer from Company X and you are waiting on Company Y, enthusiastically thank Company X, letting them know how much you appreciate the offer and that you will need a few days to review it. Then call Company Y and explain to them that you have received a solid offer and that you need to get back to that company within the time frame that you have been given. Then ask Company Y if they have a timeline for extending an offer to their preferred candidate. At this point Company Y will either turn up the dial to get an offer to you ASAP, or they could inform you that they cannot make an offer before your deadline.
Once you have spoken to each of the appropriate companies, the next step is to review your offer from Company X on its own merits and not in comparison with Company Y. Make a list of your values or “must haves” that support the lifestyle that you want to have, (things such as cultural fit, proximity to home, flexible work options, job content, opportunity for growth, continued education, your alignment with the product or service, etc.). Vet this job opportunity through the lens of your values to be sure that you are truly interested in the role. Next, consider the points of the offer such as salary, benefits, vacation, flex days, bonus structure, moving expenses, etc.), and identify what works for you and what does not.
Once this is done, pore over the offer again and craft 3-5 questions that require further clarification about the EXISTING offer. Do not counter-offer at this time…The key is to gather more information about what they have presented. Consider package nuances to draw from. Putting forth well-thought-out questions can help to delay the deadline slightly.
Now is the time to counter-offer on any of the elements in the package that you would like to have enhanced. That said, be prepared to do some “give” as well as “take” and focus on those elements that are of really high importance to you.

If you reach your deadline with Company X and there is still no offer from Company Y, then you have a tough decision to make based on 3 options: (1) Accept the offer from Company X and let go of Company Y, (2) Accept the offer from Company X and then rescind if Company Y comes through, (3) Decline Company X and hope that Company Y comes through. Which way to go is a personal decision and it must be right for you, your family and your career.

Often for when making these tough decisions, the best answer is found in your “gut”, by sitting with each option and identifying which one feels most right. One thing to consider when declining an offer is that industries are small and your reputation is key for long professional success. It is paramount to always try and keep relationships in good standing and not burn any bridges. One way to do this is to suggest or put forward someone else that you may know who could be good for the role you have turned down.

Lastly in keeping with transparent communication, honesty is still the best policy. If there is no other way to approach it then the right thing to do is to pick up the phone and openly discuss your situation with both parties. Company X may not appreciate being kept at arm’s length until Company Y comes through, but they will most likely appreciate your integrity and your courage in not keeping them in the dark.

Wishing you a successful week!

Lysa

Lysa Appleton is a Career Consultant, Employment Strategist and awesome Resume Artist with 10+ years of experience helping professionals and industry leaders to secure work they love across Canada and the United States.

How to Prioritize For Success

3/8/2017

“Defer no time; delays have dangerous ends”. (William Shakespeare)

Prioritizing is one of the most difficult aspects of time leveraging. It can be challenging to know which things are most important and what to do first. How you prioritize is really based on your needs, values, expectations and external demands. However, prioritizing is essential if you want to leverage your time to your advantage.

To illustrate this, let me share the popular story of The Glass Jar; a time management metaphor that uses a glass jar, rocks, stones, pebbles, sand, and water to illustrate prioritizing. The glass jar represents time, and each item that goes into it represents an activity with a priority relative to its size. The general idea is to fill your glass jar first with rocks. These represent your highest priority values, needs, projects and deadlines. Next, fill in the space between the rocks with smaller stones. These are next on your list of priority and get done only after your number one priority 'rocks' have been accomplished. Next, fill the space between the rocks and stones with pebbles, then sand, then water. Each new item added to the jar is of lower priority than the one added before.

The lesson in this story is clear. If you do not consciously put the rocks into the jar first, your jar would easily be filled up by the small and unimportant things first, leaving little or no room for the rocks. If we are not discerning about what tasks we choose to spend our time on, our time will be squandered by trivial and unimportant things.

So, how do we know what our “rocks” are at any given time? One way to determine this is by applying the 80/20 Rule to your “to do” list and to your list of priorities. Also known as Pareto’s Principle, the 80/20 Rule states that 80% of results come from only 20% of actions. Across the board, you will find that the 80/20 Rule is pretty much right on target. For most people, it really comes down to analyzing what you are spending your time on. Are you focusing in on the 20% of activities in your job search or business that produce 80% of the results? For example, if you have 10 things on your to-do list, 2 of them will yield 8 x more benefit than the other 8 together. Another important consideration is to focus on the 20% of the things in your life that will yield you 80% of what you feel is most beneficial? You must prioritize them.

Leveraging your time effectively means spending your time on things that are important and not just urgent, (like “putting out fires”). To do this, you need to distinguish clearly between what is urgent and what is important: Important activities lead to achieving your goals and have the greatest impact on your life. On the other hand, urgent activities demand immediate attention, but are often associated with someone else’s goals rather than our own.

Stephen Covey’s Urgent/Important Model is a powerful way of organizing tasks based on priorities. Using it helps will help you overcome the natural tendency to focus on urgent activities, so that you can have time to focus on what's truly important. This model affords us the time to work on our job search or businesses goals and not just in them.

Urgent and Important: Activities in this area relate to dealing with critical issues as they arise and meeting significant commitments. Perform these duties now. DO Important but not Urgent: These success-oriented tasks are critical to achieving goals. Plan to do these tasks next. DELAY Urgent but not Important: These chores do not move you forward toward your own goals. Manage by delegating them if possible. DELEGATE Not Urgent and Not Important: These trivial interruptions are just a distraction, and should be avoided if possible. They do not feed you or your business. Avoid these distractions altogether. DUMP

Questions to ponder:

Where do you find yourself working busy on unproductive or less impactful tasks?
How often so you get blindsided while doing important tasks by the requests of others and your inability to say no?

Wishing you a successful week!

Lysa

Career Success The "SMART-T" Way: How To Reach Your Goals

1/10/2017

There is a Japanese proverb that says:

A vision, (goal, objective) without action is a daydream; an action without vision, (goal, objective), is a nightmare.

The start of the new year seems to be filled with a plethora of posts and articles regarding resolutions, goal setting, intentions, etc., and I really debated on whether to add one more of those posts. Yet I just couldn’t help myself when I was reminded this week that according to Stephen Covey, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, only three percent of people he polled for his research wrote their goals down, but of those three percent, ninety-seven percent achieved their goals or better.

So why is that? I think that it is true for three reasons: First, when we write things down we are actually sending a message to our brain that the goal is now concrete and not just an idea in our head. Second, when we write things down we actually free up space in our heads for creativity and innovation….Sort of like defragmenting your computer’s hard drive. Lastly, when we write goals down we are allowing ourselves the methodology of Ready/Aim/Fire” as opposed to tackling our goals ad hoc by “Ready/Fire/Aim”. Therefore, when writing goals down, I believe that the following “4 P’s” are crucial:

Make it Personal: It is important to set goals because you want to reach them; they need to be meaningful and valuable for you and not driven by someone else’s agenda.

Make it Positive and in the Present: Goals are far more effective and sustainable when they are worded in the positive and the present. For example, go for “I have 3 new coffee/information meetings scheduled this week” as opposed to “I will have 3 new coffee/information meetings scheduled this week”.

Put, (write) them down: This is the hardest point to follow through on with consistency however, it is the biggest secret to success. In writing your goals down in the positive and present, they become concrete and this encourages your brain to “buy in” and support your goal to materialize.

I recognize that the concept of SMART goals is nothing new and that for years, many people have written about their importance and value in reaching successful outcomes. That said, I would like to introduce one more element to goal setting so that SMART goals become SMART-T goals. When setting goals, be sure they are:

S = SPECIFIC
Be very clear and detailed about what your goal is. When goals are too general we aren’t able to visualize them, and if we can’t see them, we have a hard time devoting our efforts toward reaching them. For example, we would not attempt to build a house without specific plans.

M = MEASURABLE
Make sure that you can measure the success of your goal, and of all the little steps it takes to achieve it. If we can’t measure a goal, we have no idea how close we are to reaching it, and that can be de-motivating.

A = ATTAINABLE
We sometimes think that we should set high targets or goals for ourselves in order to grow and stretch. Well, we do want to grow and stretch, but if we set goals that aren’t
manageable, we soon get discouraged and we stop trying. Instead, set goals you know you can reach with a little stretching, and when you get there, set another incremental goal ~ climb the mountain one step at a time.

R = RELEVANT
Goals need personal meaningful importance or they will easily be discarded. Set goals that are relevant to you and that are your voice, not driven by another’s agenda.

T = TIMED
Set a deadline for your goals. Have an end date for the final goal, in addition to dates for all of the smaller goals that comprise the larger one. Deadlines are great for getting things done. The dates may change and are not set in stone, but having them will hold you accountable to putting forth effort.

And finally….

T=TRACK
This element is very important. Share your goal(s) with colleagues, friends, family, mentors or career coach in order to stay “honest” and accountable. If you are like me, deadlines and check-ins are great motivators to accomplishment. Choose one or two people to check in with once a week to share how you are doing with your goals, brainstorm solutions to any obstacles, acknowledge your achievements and champion you along.

Lastly…

Keep them visible: Keep your goals where you can see them often to maintain the visual impression of what you are striving for.

Celebrate your accomplishments: Celebrated goals can be large or small, long term or short term but it is important to acknowledge your wins and recognize your progress.

Wishing you a successful week!

Lysa

The 3 "R's" to Great Results on LinkedIn

1/1/2017

Firstly…Happy New Year! I just love new beginnings and the excitement of new possibilities that comes with a clean slate. That said, new beginnings also guarantee change, and one of those changes is the new design and configuration of LinkedIn, with more changes to come during the 1st quarter of 2017. So, if you have not already done so, please request a data backup of your profile from LinkedIn so that in the event of a major shift, your information does not go AWOL. You can get the instructions for this here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/protect-yourself-now-because-linkedin-making-big-wayne-breitbarth

Aside from these changes, LinkedIn is growing both as a social networking site, (currently it is the largest), and a job search tool. With over 400 million users, it is also a vast talent pool for recruiters and HR people seeking out specific talent. Therefore, it is worth considering this platform as an essential career management tool, ensuring that you are not only on LinkedIn, but that you also optimize it.

The best way to do this is to follow the three “R’s” – Relationships | Research | Reciprocity

Research: LinkedIn can be used for researching jobs, companies, industries and individuals. It is a great tool for connecting with recruiters, talent acquisition people and HR folks from different companies that you are interested in or have applied to. Use the advanced search option to narrow down results and strategically find people that can add value to your network, job search and long-term career. You can also use LinkedIn to create a target list of companies to proactively reach out to, in addition to finding groups to join that can expand your network, add professional value and strengthen your visibility.

Relationships: Connecting with people on LinkedIn is great fun but sometimes it can be difficult to connect with 2nd or 3rd degree connections without an introduction, email or Premium subscription. So, when sending an invite to someone of interest, try to reach them directly by clicking on the “Contact” tab to see if they have listed other contact information such as an email address or Twitter handle. Consider sending a customized invitation based on what you know about them, (from their profile or Google), and keep your current network engaged by sending them things such as interest pieces, witty cartoons, personalized messages around landing a new role, work anniversaries, etc…

Reciprocity: LinkedIn is not just about expanding the size your network, but about building the strength of your network; fostering relationships that can be beneficial for long term employability and overall career health. The best way to build a strong social net is through give and take such as in-mailing your key people periodically and sending them something of professional value, or keeping people who are helping with your job search or making introductions in the loop about your progress. It also means “paying it forward when others reach out to you for help”. However, the simplest way of showing reciprocity is by actively using your status bar to share something of professional value, contributing to a discussion in one of your groups, or posting an informative blog on LinkedIn’s Pulse.

In considering the above points, it is essential that you are visible on LinkedIn and that your brand is clearly understood. Be sure that your headline, URL and summary are customized and brand you well. Then by actively applying the 3 “R’s” persistently and consistently, you will generate the 4th “R”, Results.

Wishing you a blessed new year filled with all good things, and a successful week!

Lysa