Author Archives: Bill Ryan

Making a Resume Recruiter-Ready

Posted on by Bill Ryan

As is the case with most industries, the profession of resume writing is trending in new directions and undergoing changes. As writers, we know that to make resumes effective for their primary purpose, getting the job candidate an interview, we must please not only the job searcher, but perhaps more importantly the recruiter or hiring manager viewing the resume. 

Career Directors International, a global professional organization for career professionals, recently published their 2012 survey of hiring authorities, so that we in the business can track the latest preferences of recruiters, hiring managers, and others who source talent when viewing resumes to make hiring decisions. 

As one who wants to present my clients in the best possible light to these stakeholders, what they think and want matters to me a lot. In sharing some of the more salient, and frankly unexpected, findings of the survey, we can also review what many believe to be conventional wisdom, or should I say old fashioned thinking, about the construction of resumes. 

At the top of the list is the notion that resumes need to be one-page only. Only 6% of the respondents felt that way (21% did regarding blue collar resumes) with 34% preferring two pages and a surprising 37% feeling that length is not an issue if the content is quality. 

Given how busy these people are you would think they would want as brief a document as possible, but apparently not so. Let us not assume this means they want pages of verbose fluff. Three-quarters of the respondents already think that there is too much embellishment in resumes, and they want less irrelevant wordiness, not more. 

Functional resumes are the type that are focused on skills and competencies rather than chronological work histories. They are often used by people who have gaps in their work experience or who are just entering or returning to the workforce after a long absence. General thinking is that recruiters do not like them because of the perceived lack of consistent work experience. But a whopping 72% said “yes” or “maybe” they would consider interviewing a candidate with a functional resume and without a first-impression employment history timeline. Looks like what you can do might be starting to trump your longevity at work. 

One of the big challenges in resume preparation is writing the professional summary that serves as a lead in grabbing the attention of the reader. It should tightly communicate brand, strength, and achievement. The question often is whether to include one, and if so, should it be short or long. 

Again, a surprise finding is that 43% are fine with a longer summary version, 18% with a shorter version, and only 17% saying to skip it entirely. A combined 61% of respondents are therefore saying to have a professional summary. The unexpected part in this response comes in that reading a longer summary is okay with busy people. I am getting the message that good information is desired even for those with full schedules. 

Finally, there is a tendency to include new elements into resumes, such as links or QR codes to social media profiles or to present resumes as web-based videos. My assumption has been that most recruiters do not like straying too far from predictable, if not traditional, resume styles. Two-thirds said looking at external links is something they would consider, but only 13% would bother with video resumes. Sounds like putting time and energy into your LinkedIn profile may get more viewership than your self-promoting YouTube video. 

The bottom line is that there are few, if any, certainties when it comes to preparing your resume for competition. What is in today probably will be out tomorrow. But one absolute appears to remain: Having a resume that communicates high quality accomplishments and core competencies and that speaks to the position to which you are applying. 

Is There Really a Talent Shortage?

Posted on by Bill Ryan

There are some common claims being tossed around in the national self-diagnosis now occurring of why hiring is not significantly picking up. Declarations such as employers are learning to do more with fewer employees and that there is too much economic uncertainty to risk hiring employees, especially after how bad businesses were hurt at the start of the recession, are two assertions often heard. 

There is another claim that does not get quite as much play but is starting to be heard often enough. It is that employers cannot hire as much as they would like because there is a talent shortage. 

Apparently, the workplace is changing so rapidly that schools and the individuals attending them cannot keep up with newly designed job descriptions, many of which contain specialty requirements. This seems particularly true in industries such as IT and engineering.  

However, the alleged shortage is occurring throughout the workforce — or so many employers tell us. We can easily be left with the impression that growth in innovation is now so exponential that it is the fault of our lagging workforce not preparing themselves briskly enough for the new world order. 

So, is there really a talent shortage? Upon closer examination it may be that employers are unwittingly perpetuating a shortage and dampening hiring as a result. 

Yes, employers do feel there is something wrong with the candidate pool. And that something is that candidates are not qualified enough. If there were more qualified candidates, there would be more hiring. This seems to be their charge. It must be the candidates’ problem, right? 

But let us look at how the employer landscape has changed for potential employees. Employers are extremely cost conscious because of the recession. This has caused them to reduce and consolidate their workforces. Specialty hybrid positions have been created to produce more multiple-skilled positions than existed pre-recession. Therefore, when an opening occurs, a candidate is supposed to be specialized in not just one skill set but in more than one. Obviously, the pool of likely candidates just shrunk a lot. 

Let us dig a little deeper. Among the costs being saved is in reducing or eliminating training and development. Why spend on onboarding when you can hire plug and play defacto independent contractors for specific projects? With no onboarding activities the expectation is that candidates must be ready to produce with little to no ramp-up time. This may discourage candidates from applying or is the cause of early departures once hired.  

Another issue employers must contend with is the huge number of applicants sending in applications. A screening process must be used that selects out all but the “best”. This increasingly means use of applicant tracking system software. Two issues with this type of software. One is that it is not always very nuanced enough or sophisticated. Second, use of even the most effective software requires skillful and dedicated HR use, another area seeing cost cutting. 

Potential talent is being screened out. A related issue for employers is maybe they could at least let applicants know that their application was received and processed, then they wouldn’t be left wondering if their application ever made to you, reducing the number of times they apply for the same position. 

Sure, the workplace is changing, and it is important for candidates to keep skills current and to apply to only those positions for which they are qualified to succeed. But employers also have a responsibility to examine their hiring practices to see if they are contributing to not only their own “talent shortage”, but also to the stubbornly low levels of hiring nationwide. 

To State the Obvious

Posted on by Bill Ryan

It is time to start stating the obvious. This is not your garden variety recession. We are not likely to bounce back to either the levels or type of employment that we had prior to 2008.  

Yes, I know technically we are no longer in a recession, because we have not had two consecutive negative growth quarters since 2009. To be precise we are in a period of sluggish GDP growth. But to most Americans it feels as if the recession that started in December 2007 is still with us. This has gone on longer than it took the U.S. to defeat Germany and Japan in World War II! 

Since we are stating the obvious, let us dispel a myth. No, the recession and its length are not Barack Obama’s fault. Carrying on with that thinking takes us off reflecting on what is really going on and how we need to adjust. Does anyone out there really think that if John McCain and Sarah Palin or even Mitt Romney had won the 2008 Presidential election that the economy would be all that much different today?  

What we are experiencing is much bigger than Republicans vs. Democrats and their ideologies. The world is undergoing a fundamental transition, a realignment of wealth and power, and we Americans better be ready to compete in the emerging global economy unless we want to be yesterday’s story. 

My principal economic concern has to do with joblessness. A society that does not have most of its citizenry gainfully employed is a society experiencing too much hardship. My principal concern is not that we are relinquishing our former status of disproportionately over-consuming the world’s resources. That was bound to change sooner or later. Much of the rest of the world is catching or has caught up to us in terms of living standards. America now must share more resources, like oil, and that is part of the pain we are feeling. 

But back to employment. Some fundamental job-related trends were underway before the recession and have been accelerated by it. For example, increasing self-employment, more engagement in project or portfolio work, and a pick-up in the passive candidate or hidden job market (think networking). Realizing these trends and getting-with-the-program, as it were, will help job searchers prepare. 

Note that a growing trend is not to sit for hours scrolling through postings on job board sites and electronically broadcasting your resume willy-nilly. To be clear, I am not saying do not try to get your defined message and brand out there, but do not think that sitting at a computer alone is a well-rounded job search. It is not. 

Securing fulfilling employment is no more complex than weight loss. Want to lose weight? Eat fewer calories and exercise more. Want to advance a career? Develop self-marketable expertise. As simple as this sounds, we all know it can be profoundly difficult to implement. Just as we know to not fall for diet fads, we should also know to avoid simplistic messages, especially from politicians, who proclaim we can return to old patterns of employment. 

A globally competitive workforce requires intelligence, foresight, creativity, and resilience. You are at root your own boss. Examine the landscape before you and take appropriate action. Rely as little as you can on the benevolence of corporate deal makers to pave the way out of the employment malaise. If your skills intersect with commercial needs, great. But if you find there are no doors to open, then you may have to build a door. 

Americans have traditionally thrived, because of independent and innovative thinking. These times call for as much of that as any other time in our history. Do not wait for monthly Labor Department statistics to energize you. To state the obvious, get out there and make it happen. 

Confronting Age Discrimination in the Workplace

Posted on by Bill Ryan

By now it is conventional wisdom that age discrimination against hiring workers 50+ years of age has become excessive in recent years. Examples are becoming too numerous to count. 

Here is one. I just heard from a client the other day about a directive he had heard about from a friend which was given where the friend works and was issued by an HR manager that went something like, “Give me all the names of employees over the age of 50.” The inference was clear. They were being targeted for something. Tell me. What do you think it was for? A bonus for loyalty, hard work, and willingness to slog for long hours? I doubt it. It sounds as if they were being rounded up like cattle to be sent to the slaughterhouse. 

The conversation about what to do for this cohort of clients is generating chatter among career counselors and coaches for good reason. We are finding that a lot of clients are experiencing age bias and want to know what to do about it. Some of the advice I hear and read being shared is of the obvious type, such as do not list a work history longer than 15 years and do not put any graduation dates on your resume. I have to say, no matter who it is, I do not like putting any year that begins with the number “19” on a resume anymore. 

Other advice that I like has to do with how the mature worker presents him or herself. Show energy and a positive attitude. Keep your body looking decent by controlling weight, taking care of yellow teeth, and retaining the healthy look that comes from not eating poorly and drinking too much. Have a professional photographer take the picture that is placed on your online profiles, so the vigor and glow show through. 

Some parts of aging you cannot control. Employers seem to fear higher health care costs, because of the relatively advanced age, for example. But of the things you can control as you mature with your career you should. Keep a portfolio or log of achievements, particularly those of the past 10–15 years. Be able to demonstrate that you have made solid contributions that matter to employers now and are likely to be valued for the foreseeable future. 

Never stop building your intellectual and social capital within your profession. Be able to show that you are on top of current trends and best practices. Have well-founded opinions about the future of your industry. Know what are the issues, challenges, and likely solutions that will face your profession in the coming years. In other words, stay relevant. And keep building and cultivating those professional relationships, keeping you in the game. Participate in discussions and presentations that continuously give the impression that you are engaged. 

A workplace characteristic that is highly valued now and will be going forward has to do with the skill employees can show in collaborative teamwork that is not limited by arbitrary boundaries and which breaks down silos. Flatter organizations are less departmental and more creative in the way experts interact. 

Although evolving organizational structures may be new, try hard to resist the temptation to think they are bad. Get with the program. One of the great raps against the older worker is their resistance to change. Rather, you should dive into these innovative ways of communicating and sharing to show that you not only embrace inventive ways of working, but that you can also bring a perspective to the conversation and strategic planning discussions which others may not be able to. 

No doubt about it — it is tough out there and likely to remain so for the older worker. If you are one who does not want to retire earlier than you thought you were going to, then combat this trend with some steps that will keep you active and connected for years to come. 

An Economic View of Los Angeles

Posted on by Bill Ryan

I am back in New Hampshire rebounding from an extended three-month sublet stay in Los Angeles. There were several reasons for going, and one of them frankly was to escape for the first time in my 59 years, a New England winter. Little did I realize that the northeast’s winter would be the warmest since Biblical times, but I enjoyed sunny Southern California, nevertheless. 

Given that I try to help people find meaningful and satisfying work I tend to observe the local economy whenever I travel. I am interested in several indicators like the number of open store fronts and office space available, how many houses and condos are for sale, local news reports regarding employment, and the overall demeanor of commercial street activity. Observing the economic goings-on of LA was then natural. I would like to share some of what I saw in this other corner of the country. 

To begin, it might be useful to mention what I expected to see of California coming from a state (NH) that certainly has experienced a tough downturn as of late, but that weathered the Recession better than many other states, including CA. I had heard about their 10%+ unemployment rate, high number of home foreclosures, elevated cost of living, multitudes of illegal immigrants, and the state government’s inability to fund many services. 

And then there is the whole Tinsel Town reputation the city has, replete with superficiality and inflated egos all vying for someone’s, no, anyone’s, attention. I was expecting the city to be facing hard times. Were these negative preconceptions reinforced through observation? Not nearly as much as I thought they would be. 

On the contrary, living on LA’s Westside I saw vitality, lots of economic activity, and surprisingly little homelessness. The place is abuzz. Now I was not in one of the more upscale sections, such as Brentwood, Westwood, or Marina Del Ray (Although I was within walking distance to the charming Culver City). What I saw in what passes for LA middle class was that most commercial and residential, buildings and the sidewalks connecting them were occupied by a mix of Mexicans, Pakistanis, Asians, African Americans, Middle Easterners, Indians, Central Americans, Jews, Muslims, transplanted Europeans, Christians, Hare Krishnas, Anglos, and others in a single non-segregated community. Business was being exchanged robustly within this checkered population. Residentially, too, there was a high level of integration. 

The one sociological and economic phenomenon that is historic and is still occurring to a large extent is the labor class being largely inhabited by Latinos. They are washing the cars, cleaning the buildings, maintaining the gardens, and doing the construction. But the strong family bonds I saw shared, the high quality of the work shown, and the ubiquitous Spanish language that rivals English in community usage demonstrates the growing power and influence of this group in the life of the city. 

One could think that the second largest city in the country would have such a diversity of industry that no one field would predominate over the others. It does not take long to see, however that entertainment is king here. The movie, television, and music industries strongly support the economy, culture, and lifestyle of Los Angeles. 

From the large studios like Paramount, Warner Brothers, and Sony to the small boutique editing shops that dot the cityscape, production of what the world likes to see and hear is foundational to what makes this place tick. But it is not just the production of a commodity that defines the character of the city. It is their ability to be creative and innovative that is so striking. LA attracts artists from around the world that form a vibrant creative arts scene. New ideas and ways of shaping the future abound. Hybrid concepts are everywhere. I saw what I believe to be America’s future alive today in Los Angeles. 

One scene that captured LA life for me was a day in February when I was walking along a residential street, and I heard the oncoming din of pop music pounding out of the windows of an approaching car. Expecting a teenager to be behind the wheel, I found myself doing a double take at one of the neighborhood’s Islamic women wearing a burqa driving a Prius and playing her contemporary music at top volume. I knew then that I wasn’t in New Hampshire anymore. 

Retail Sales as a Possible Career Choice

Posted on by Bill Ryan

Lots of people work in retail. Whether one has chosen it as a career or is parked there temporarily as they try to put their career plans together, retail employment occupies the time and energy of millions of employees. 

Retail is viewed simultaneously as both career-lite by some and then again very seriously, particularly for managers and people passionate about the product they are selling. Trying to determine if long-term work in retail is right for you requires a bit of contemplation and planning. 

By retail we generally mean selling products in a brick-and-mortar store. How much longer this will last is uncertain. On the one hand it is obvious that millions still love to “go shopping”, i.e., getting into a car, driving to a store where you can browse, selecting items to buy, packing them into the car, and taking them home. 

But buying products is migrating much more to an online shopping practice that leaves the driving to UPS and FedEx. Come home from work and there awaits the product you ordered two days ago from your phone while watching TV. Even Best Buy, which appeared victorious when defeating Circuit City in the consumer electronics war a few years ago, is now in trouble. Are they being challenged by another big box outlet? No. They are being threatened by Internet shopping. 

So, expecting a long career in retail is like expecting certainty in any kind career today — do not count on it. But does that mean devoting your career to selling products is a dead end? Not necessarily. Let us look at a company that knows a thing or two about the Internet, but that also performs retail selling at a high end. 

Apple Retail Stores, yeah, the computer guys, manage to create a superior shopping experience for consumers. Ever walk into one of these glass and white steel shops? They are as clean and antiseptic as the spacecraft on 2001 A Space Odyssey and occupied by intelligent, enthusiastic, and hip salespeople. Apple has done a great job of not only creating a compelling store, but they have mastered providing high quality customer service and an overall attractive customer feel.   

They have a way of dividing and training their sales teams into Experts, Specialists, Geniuses, and Creatives. Experts determine what you need and then send you to Specialists who understand the products inside and out or to Geniuses who are real live human tech support. Maybe a chat with a Creative is needed so that you can truly geek out with someone who knows your Mac at a higher level. Together they work to deliver the revered Apple brand at the most personal of levels while leaving the consumer feeling that they are being well cared for. 

It is possible to work in high quality retail as our friends at Apple have shown. And it stands to reason that this model could work with other products as well. Perhaps a way to look at a career in retail is to think about which of these Apple-like categories you may fall into and then hone your skill in one or more of these select selling areas. 

Combining product expertise with person-to-person outreach to consumers looking for solutions can develop into a wonderful career, whether it is in a real or in a virtual store. 

Reflections On My Business

Posted on by Bill Ryan

With this, my 100th blog posting since opening my career development business Ryan Career Services LLC in January 2009, I am compelled to stray from my usual pattern of offering career advice to instead summarizing how the business experience has been for me and to reflect on what I have learned from this venture.

Following a 31-year career in public education, which I left in 2008, I was primed to try something completely different — an entrepreneurial enterprise that capitalized on strengths I had developed as a teacher. Primarily, to assist each individual to become the best they could be.

I had been working on the concept, including the writing of a business plan, for three years prior to formally offering career counseling, coaching, and resume/cover letter writing services. Although I felt qualified to deliver a superior experience for clients I found myself faced with two big uncertainties:

1. Was there really a viable market for these services just waiting to be tapped into?

2. What impact would the start of the most serious economic recession since the Great Depression have on the success of my business?

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard from people that “so many must need what you are offering during these times!” But what I found instead was that I was competing against the need for people to make sure they had food and shelter as the unemployment rate continued to rise.

The first year had an expected financial loss. I was not naïve enough to think a profit was to be realized at the outset. Despite the anxiety associated with launching a business, however, what I most feel now about that first year is profound gratefulness for the clients I did have who placed their trust and dollars with me.

I had two goals for year two. One was to increase my knowledge and skill and to refine my expertise. This did happen and continues to this day. I wanted to strike a balance between what service I could credibly provide with what service clients most wanted. I did get closer, but realized that this would be an ongoing process. What I learned from teaching came to mind — there is no pinnacle of perfection. You always keep learning.

The second goal had to do with trying to build a positive cash flow. Quite simply I wanted revenues to at least match expenditures. I achieved that point by the end of the third quarter and have never looked back.

Two significant lessons from year two included:

1. Half of my time was being spent on marketing, which I found interesting, but had no experience with at all. I can say, however, that I became impressed with the power and cost effectiveness of pay-per-click campaigns on Google AdWords. That along with continued optimization of my website has strongly increased my exposure.

2. The realization that career development was becoming more technological, in that how a client appeared online correlated more and more with the success of their career and employment prospects. It was during this time that I added a third leg to my stool, that of Online Profile Management. I became committed to being a go-to professional in this early stage industry.

By year three I reached an important milestone by earning one of the nation’s most prestigious resume writing credentials, the ACRW or Academy Certified Resume Writer. This has boosted not only my writing capacity, but my client base. Consequently I also found my writing going into two additional areas along with resumes and cover letters: LinkedIn Profiles and Professional Biographies.

Financially, I set a specific revenue-to-expense ratio goal to reach by year’s end that I again hit by the end of Q3. I began paying myself for the first time and found that my first big uncertainty from the start was no longer one. I became convinced that there is a market for these services.

But there was another significant risk to take. I knew I would get to this at some point and the beginning of year four, my current year, was the time to take it. I had always envisioned the business becoming one that drew in clients from around the country and that I would not be too reliant on just one geographical region, like New Hampshire. I knew that my lifestyle was starting to shift to one that involved more travel and living for extended periods in other places beyond NH. I have always felt that technology gave me the tools to merge a mobile style of living with the ability to continuously bring in work no matter where I was — as long as I had an Internet connection.

The past three months gave me an opportunity to test this concept out. I just finished living in Los Angeles for the winter, which is about as far away as one can get from NH while still being in the U.S. What have I learned?

1. The writing services are much more mobile than counseling. I provide resumes, cover letters, online profile, and professional biography writing services to clients from around the country who I never meet face to face. Many times we may never even speak on the phone. Email is an incredibly efficient means of conducting this end of the business.

2. How to offer career counseling and coaching from afar remains elusive. Despite Skype, webcams, and video conferencing technology the adoption rate for utilizing these tools into a counseling context is slow. For the issues that are raised in these types of sessions, the preferred means of contact is still face to face. I am still working on figuring this one out.

3. Marketing on a national level can be a lot more expensive than on a state or regional level. Google AdWords is based on selecting geographies to showcase your ads. That is no longer as relevant to me as before, even if I pick multiple locations to post ads. Pay-per-click with sites that are more national and targeted to professionals, such as LinkedIn, may be more appropriate. I shall see.

Financially, I have lost ground as I try to shift to building a more national client base. But I am confident that I can make this work eventually.

The other challenge that I have faced is to develop a resume writing tutorial service that is usable from my website for those clients who want to try their own hand at writing a resume, but who need a teacher to guide them. I have begun working with a web developer who has experience in course management software. I hope to have this up and running by the end of year four.

In closing, I have to say that my basic premise, which has always been that the quality of one’s life is tightly linked to the character of their work, has been reinforced by working with hundreds of clients to date. As the saying goes, do what you love and you will never work a day in your life, still holds. I feel very fortunate to be playing a small role in helping people reach that goal.

 

 

 

Success and Happiness

Posted on by Bill Ryan

We have all been taught that if we toil, apply ourselves, and put our noses to the grindstone that we can attain success which leads to happiness. Contentment, we are told, must be preceded by success, which in turn must be preceded by hard work that is often associated with not being happy. This cause-and-effect paradigm is an American truism harkening back to our earliest past. And it continues to find widespread expression, particularly with a bullying management style that implores workers to row harder. 

But could it be possible that the success/happiness formula should be viewed in reverse? Rather, happiness begets success. There is a researcher and writer named Shawn Achor who postulates in his book The Happiness Advantage that conventional thinking has this cause-and-effect sequence wrong. He is instead promoting the notion that happiness forms the groundwork for success to occur. Achieving a grand objective like finding deep satisfaction from one’s work can best be reached by approaching your job from a positive place to begin with. Having a more enlightened outlook and energized perspective is preparatory to meeting your goals. 

The brain may be better suited toward intelligence and innovation when the emotional state is uplifted. Possible routes to greater success become apparent with a more resilient and stress-free mind. If we consider for a moment that Achor has this right, then it begs the question of how we are all so off track. We as a culture seem to have accepted the belief that negativity, in the form of unpleasant exertion, sets the stage for a better life to come. 

I think of the mythic entrepreneur who works day and night to launch and grow a business and then retires many years down the road, living with the gratification of a job well done. Working “day and night” sounds unpleasant, doesn’t it? But for the truly successful it may not be. The difference between finding success and just getting a job done may come from the level of positive thinking present in the individual. 

The problem with thinking of success in a traditional sense is that it is so elusive. When we successfully reach a work quota, then management sets a higher goal. If we increased revenues by 18% this month, then we need to hit 22% next month. The goal post is always being placed just a little further away, the bar is raised just a little higher to meet success. Attainment becomes fleeting, a temporary waystation on the road to something bigger and better. This set of circumstances has really become the norm in these post-recession days of workplaces always trying to do more with less. 

Perhaps our competitive nature has us on edge in ways that detract from the preconditions necessary to approach our objectives. When work becomes a slog, our positivity slips away and the “success” we achieve may be of a lower quality than is otherwise possible. Maybe it is time to think that having a more positive attitude makes us more productive. 

If an elevated level of positivity leads to a more productive and higher quality success, then how do we get to this starting place? Reframing your perspective may be the place to begin. Note the good stuff around you, appreciate what is right, favorable, and agreeable in your daily life and in the work you do. Being kind to others whenever will raise your mood and influence your behavior. Take the time to be healthy and make lifestyle choices that are potent for your mind and body. As counterintuitive as it may sound, you may have to work at being positive. If we over-focus on the negative aspects of our work or feel happiness is to be delayed until success is found, then we may never really get there. 

Happiness need not be a dreamy far away goal. Instead, it may be a state of mind that we continually build upon no matter where we are in the success cycle. 

Preparing For the Changing Workplace

Posted on by Bill Ryan

I recently read an article in a statewide business news publication written by a respected and intelligent business pro who was also an obvious Baby Boomer. In it he directed a subtle jab at LinkedIn, the social media website dedicated to professionals, and with it a not-so-subtle poke at social media in general. 

Although I agree with his point that time is too valuable to waste on frivolous or trivial matters, I do not think this necessarily applies to social media. But what struck me more was the tone of the piece, which I place as another example of a problem older generation workers have in succeeding in today’s job market. 

As I have indicated in the past, we are living through a period of age bias when it comes to hiring mature workers, many of whom were laid off aggressively during the recession. To date, much of this age cohort is struggling to get re-employed. A key reason for the reluctance to bring mature workers back on board, despite their vast experience and accumulated wisdom, is because they are not keeping up with, and in many cases resisting, technological changes that are largely being driven by the generation of their children. And with each passing day it is this emerging younger section of the workforce that is setting hiring policies. 

Rapid innovations of a technological nature seem to fall into two main interrelated areas: Information Search/Management and Interpersonal Connectivity. Efficiently reaching out to grab the data you want when you need it and connecting to people you need to when you want them is driving much of the hardware, software, and web-based applications currently available and under development. 

The necessity of achieving this efficiency is reflected in many workplaces today and that is expected to grow in time. As a result, the current and future workforce is expected to be adept with the tools and apps of information management and connectivity. Just as many employees now are expected to use email and word processors, a similar familiarity is becoming expected with various types of social media and Internet navigation. 

There is no question that keeping up with these new demands can be daunting and intimidating for some, particularly for the older folks among us. When we look at the younger generation and see that their daily use of Facebook and smart phones is as common to them as telephone and television are to us, it can leave us feeling out of touch. 

One option often taken by older workers is to develop an attitude that the way young people act is superficial, misguided, or even wrong. We think that we got by just fine without these gadgets and that these changes are not necessary. Now does it sound familiar from our distant Boomer past that an older generation just didn’t get the younger one? 

The larger issue is accepting change. Adaptability is one of the most important and employable traits a person can have, especially during the time of exponential change we live in now. Unfortunately, older workers are too often feeding the perception that we are not adaptable and even potential impediments to innovation. When we observe a now common practice and describe it as a bandwagon or fad, we place ourselves out of the new mainstream. If you are trying to present yourself as relevant in today’s workplace this is not a message you should be broadcasting. 

The challenge for mature workers is to merge their attributes of solid work ethic, tenacity, and big picture viewpoint with the obvious and fluid developments of conducting business in the modern era. We do not have to necessarily embrace and personally adopt every new practice, but it is in our interests to at least try to understand the trends that underlie them. 

When you think about it, Baby Boomers were the ones who once prided themselves on agitating traditional thinking and setting out to create a new world. If any generation should be able to show flexibility and have an appreciation for new ways of doing things it should be them. 

Networking For Introverts

Posted on by Bill Ryan

One of the most disheartening things for an introverted job seeker to hear is that networking is by far the most effective means of finding new employment. 

Networking conjures images of energetic engagement in small talk or worse yet, meaningful conversation with total strangers! It might not be so bad if the introvert could just position themselves in a designated spot and gregarious people could walk over one at a time and begin the dialogue. But, of course, insult must be added to injury, because it is often necessary for the introvert to commence an outreach to others. 

One of the great paradoxes of our time is that despite all our technologically remote connectivity, a valuable face to face relationship is more important than ever in career development. Looking for work by just visiting online job boards and social media sites is not good enough. You still must know how to mix it up with real people to get ahead. 

Introverts are, well, reserved. They can be much better at avoiding networking events than they are at attending them with the greater challenge being to turn them into productive job seeking sessions. I should know. I am by nature an introvert and have been spending a lifetime learning how to not let this potentially negative side inhibit me professionally. The good news is that introverts can learn to turn their inwardly focused attributes into networking strengths. 

Let’s begin by looking at some common traits introverts typically display that can come in handy with networking. Here is one. Introverts really value close relationships, and a few deep ones are better than lots of superficial ones. They do this by caring for the welfare and happiness of others. Time is spent being good listeners and asking probing questions to make sure they clearly understand the perspectives of others. 

Another one is that people with introverted tendencies usually prefer structured and goal-driven contact with others, particularly in a work-related context, which job hunting is. So, planning the outreach such that it is designed to cover specific topics, answer targeted questions, and contact a pre-determined number of people are measurable ways of satisfying that a purpose is being achieved with the networking effort. 

Getting back to introverts having a few close connections. Take a trusted companion along with you to a networking event. Have them be your moral support, your sounding board, and your feedback loop, so that you can get through this and maybe even grow as a result. 

Finally, put your research skills to use. Introverts are good at digging for data online and in print. Study up on the people you want to know better and share tidbits of knowledge with them, leaving the impression that you care about your new contacts and what they do. 

Whether one is extroverted or introverted it is good to push yourself out of your comfort zone on occasion. By doing so we learn and grow. Being adaptable is an important survival skill for the 21st century. And this skill cannot be strengthened by hiding in a shell. Introverts can and do adapt to challenging situations just like everyone else. Finding that zone, which allows you to build purposeful relationships can be some of the most rewarding, albeit not the easiest, time spent during your job search.