BroadPeak Blog

Interviewing For Your First Post-College Job

You worked hard to get into a good college. You have had a lot of fun during your 4 years of college and have somehow also managed to get good grades. Now it's time to leave college and enter the real world which means you have to get a full time job. But in order to get that great job you have to master the campus interview. Here are a few tips from Ultimate Resumes that I hope will help you to get some great job offers:

1. Do Your Homework
2. Be Aware of Current Events
3. Tell The Interviewer How Much You Admire and Desire a Career With Their Company
4. You Don't Have To Tell Everything You Know
5. Be Enthusiastic
6. Understand That You Are A Blank Slate To Your Employer

Read the entire article at the Ultimate Resumes Blog

Help Others Achieve Their Goals

A friend of mine, Thom Singer, wrote a blog post today that is just fantastic. I think that his message about helping others is spot-on and I don't think there is anything else I can add to his well-thought-out comments. So please read his post about helping others to achieve their goals as a way to build and maintain strong relationships. You should also consider reading his book "Some Assembly Required". You can read a review of his book on Jason Alba's blog.

Do You Need An Executive Coach?

Tiger Woods has one. So does Roger Federer. And Lance Armstrong. People in virtually all walks of life, from sports to the performing arts to education, now have private coaches to guide them toward their full potential. Lately CFOs have joined the party as they, or their companies, realize that a demanding and multi-faceted job often requires some external guidance. As a result, the field of executive coaching is booming, with the ranks of practitioners swelling and companies in related fields rushing to add coaching to their menu of services.

"Over the last five years, we have probably seen more people come in for coaching who are in finance or information services parts of the business," says Bill McCarthy, a coach with LeaderSource, an executive coaching firm recently acquired by executive search company Korn/Ferry International. The reason: the technical expertise that helps a CFO or CIO rise to the top is just one part of the skill set needed to succeed in a C-suite position.

Read the full article at CFO.com

Happy President's Day

Some of you may have a day off work because of President's Day. But do you know why we celebrate this holiday? Following is a brief history of this day.

The original version of the holiday was in commemoration of George Washington's birthday in 1796 (the last full year of his presidency). Washington, according to the calendar that has been used since at least the mid-18th century, was born on February 22, 1732. According to the old style calendar in use back then, however, he was born on February 11. At least in 1796, many Americans celebrated his birthday on the 22nd while others marked the occasion on the 11th instead.

By the early 19th century, Washington's Birthday had taken firm root in the American experience as a bona fide national holiday. Its traditions included Birthnight Balls in various regions, speeches and receptions given by prominent public figures, and a lot of revelry in taverns throughout the land. Then along came Abraham Lincoln, another revered president and fellow February baby (born on the 12th of the month). The first formal observance of his birthday took place in 1865, the year after his assassination, when both houses of Congress gathered for a memorial address. While Lincoln's Birthday did not become a federal holiday like George Washington's, it did become a legal holiday in several states.

In 1968, legislation (HR 15951) was enacted that affected several federal holidays. One of these was Washington's Birthday, the observation of which was shifted to the third Monday in February each year whether or not it fell on the 22nd. This act, which took effect in 1971, was designed to simplify the yearly calendar of holidays and give federal employees some standard three-day weekends in the process.

Apparently, while the holiday in February is still officially known as Washington's Birthday (at least according to the Office of Personnel Management), it has become popularly (and, perhaps in some cases at the state level, legally) known as "President's Day." This has made the third Monday in February a day for honoring both Washington and Lincoln, as well as all the other men who have served as president.

Jump Start Your Job Search

At BroadPeak we love working with great candidates to help them find wonderful new jobs.  However its always a good idea to network effectively and to understand how to sell yourself to a potential employer. Here are few tips for jump starting your job search.

1. Network with colleagues, through professional associations, college alumni associations, and with recruiters.  Networking never goes out of style and the internet can enhance the networking process.  It’s easier than ever to peruse online alumni directories, or to utilize online networking tools such as www.linkedin.com.  The fundamentals of networking never change though. You have to get out there and spend the time and effort to get to know other people. There are no shortcuts to creating strong interpersonal relationships through work and in social settings.  Let folks whom you trust know that you are in the job market so that they can keep you in mind when they hear of a great job.  Most people want to be helpful to colleagues who are looking for jobs because they realize that grateful people return favors! 

2. Use job posting boards as a way to find out which companies are hiring.  Don’t worry about the jobs that are actually posted. Just look at the companies that have jobs available and I think you will be surprised at how many companies exist about which you may not have heard!  Then go to www.google.com or www.ask.com and type in the company name.  Find out more about these companies and look to see if they have a “careers” portion of their site. Some companies list a few jobs on big job boards like Monster.com but have a much larger list of openings on their private website. If there is a job for which you think you are uniquely qualified you can apply via the company website. 

3. Use the internet to research companies that interest you. Create personalized application packets for selected companies. If you run across a terrific company for which you think you would be a great cultural fit but you don’t see any job openings that are right for you, don’t despair!  Peruse any information about the company’s management team that you can find.  Then communicate with your network to find out if you have any links to someone at the company. If so, ask your contact to make an introduction and then politely ask the company contact if you can meet them for a cup of coffee.  While you may not get a job with the company immediately, you will probably make some good contacts and you may lay the groundwork for landing your dream job.

4. Market yourself! When you are conducting a job search your only job is to sell “You Inc.”. Think about all the unique features of You Inc. and come up with a great sales pitch.  If you are in a creative field such as advertising, marketing, public relations, or even sales you can create a binder in which you show samples of your work.  You could show brochures from programs you managed or collateral material you designed. You can include writing samples or web pages.  If you are in sales use lots of numbers…show your results.  Anything that highlights the skills and accomplishments listed on your resume is fair game for your binder. Sometimes having a binder for “show and tell” really helps to bring your background and skills to life for potential employers. 

5. Create a personal website. This tip isn’t for everyone.  If you are a creative professional, particularly if you have created a large body of creative or written material, a personal website can be a great way to showcase your skills. 

Be Careful of What You Document

If you have been reading entertainment news (or even regular news) you may have heard about Paris Hilton's most recent obnoxious behavior. In case you haven't you can read Tyler Durden's amusing take on it on his blog (www.wwtdd.com). I don't think highly of Paris Hilton in the first place. I think she wastes the resources that she is so fortunate to have been given because she was born to a wealthy and permissive family. Generally Paris Hilton and a business blog are like oil and water but in this case I think we can discuss her actions to make a point. Her recent behavior reminds us to mind our mouths and to avoid documenting our nasty thoughts or it will probably come back to bite us.

Racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, or bigoted thoughts don't really belong in a civilized and enlightened society. However, there are currently no thought police patrolling our brainwaves so we can all think whatever we want. Problems start when negative or insensitive thoughts somehow make their way through our brains and spew out of our mouths. If you have been cultivating negative sweeping generalizations that describe any group of people do yourself and your career a huge favor and never let those thoughts become words. But if you do, for heavens sake, don't write them down, tape record them, or videotape yourself saying awful things.

We live in a world of tell-all books, reality shows, and too much information on TV. Just because celebrities share all of their thoughts doesn't mean that it's a good idea. Danny Bonaduce, star of VH-1's show called Breaking Bonaduce, lost his job as a DJ at a radio station after his bosses got wind of his crazy and self destructive antics. Michael Richards probably can't get a gig anywhere after his racist rant at a comedy club in LA. Isaiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy was sent to some kind of rehab for using an anti-gay term in public. And even Nicky Hilton, the less frightening half of the Hilton sisters, may lose an endorsement deal with a Florida hotel after the investors saw Paris's video in which Nicky is amused by her sister's ravings.

Paris Exposed is a website which offers Paris's private diaries, sex tapes, and other bizarre personal videos that she didn't take with her when she moved. Her attorneys have managed to temporarily shut the site down but millions of people have read her diaries and seen these tapes. If she has any sense at all she won't record anymore of her "thoughts" or actions. If I were in her shoes I would just move to another country. Like Nepal or outer Mongolia. Be careful what you say.

Be even more careful what you write. And be most careful of what you put on film. Your words can hurt someone else and if they do, those words will also wind up hurting you.