Returning to Work after Having Children

Few job seekers face higher hurdles than at-home parents trying to return to work do. Much has changed in the past 5-10 years – job boards and keyword scanning software are probably completely new concepts, and much has stayed the same – networking is still the way most people find opportunities. With tenacity, a willingness to learn, and solid marketing tools, parents can be back in the swing again soon.

Do what you love. Some parents left thriving careers to raise their children, while others had kids earlier in life. In either case, this is the perfect opportunity to find a career that makes your heart beat a little faster. Returning to school for a degree or certificate will assure your future employer that you have the training to do the job while demonstrating your interest in that field of work. If you loved what you were doing before, it may be more appealing to pick up where you left off.

Don’t apologize for the gap in employment. Just because your decision to raise your children created a difficult return to the workforce, it doesn't mean it wasn’t the right decision. Your experience with kids might even make you more qualified for certain roles than someone without them. If you were in marketing before having children, for example, consider a marketing role where the focus is on appealing to parents. Some employers, particularly those in the sales industry, will see your break as a good thing. They may want to train you on their way of doing things and will value your fresh perspective.

Employ a pro. Consider hiring a professional resume writer to keyword optimize your resume while giving voice to your accomplishments. For most people, figuring out all of the components of a truly great resume is not a good return on your investment of time. It is much better to spend your time networking and learning, no one can do that for you.

Give yourself credit for having life experience and maturity. In many companies, hiring managers would rather choose someone known to be sane and stable than take a chance on a “fresh” grad. Your task is to figure out how that maturity would benefit the employer and then help them see it.

Consider networking with parents who have already done what you want to do. Ask them how they did it, talk about what they like about their jobs and what surprises they encountered after resuming their careers. Also, check out networking groups that are industry related; the professional associations section of www.iloveseattle.org is a good place to look or do an Internet search. Be an interested and helpful networker; seek out ways to be a resource to those in your network.

Not ready to return to work yet? Consider volunteering to keep your skills sharp. Plan an event for the pet shelter, fix the local non-profit’s network, or put the church bake sale on Facebook. Companies value community service and you will have relevant experience to put on your resume.

Parents who are smarter about preparing to return to work have a much easier time of it. By networking, sharpening your skills and updating your presentation (resume, interview skills and appearance), you will have an advantage over your competition.

Job Search Strategies (as published in the Washington CPA Magazine, May/June edition)

I was honored to be asked to write an article on job search strategies for the WSCPA.

Effective Job Search Strategies from a Recruiter’s Perspective

You have spent hours online searching job boards for open positions and have applied for hundreds of openings. You are exhausted, but don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Is there anything else you should be doing? Absolutely! Like with anything, the smarter your job search strategy is, the more effective it is going to be.

While working as a corporate recruiter, I had a front-row opportunity to see how candidate’s different job search strategies worked out. If the company I worked for extended an offer to a candidate, I backtracked several key factors, including how the person found out about the job, how their resumes looked, how they interviewed and how they followed up. Now, I share that information with my business clients. One of the first questions my clients want to know is how to find a job and in this article, I’m going to share that advice with you.

Start your job search by choosing 15 - 20 companies for whom you think you would love to work. They can be employers you have heard great things about from friends that have worked there, businesses you have read about in the news, companies that are geographically convenient or employers who make a product or service that you love. They should meet your "hard" criteria too; they should be of a size likely to provide you with the type of employment opportunities you seek, for example. This is a list you will add to and subtract from, as you gain more insight.

Don’t wait for an opening to be posted to apply. Some open positions can’t be posted, the person leaving may not know it (performance termination) or may not announce it publicly (planning a move), for example, but often the recruiter or hiring manager has already started looking. If your resume were to land on their desk before they needed you, you would likely get more attention than if you applied when they posted the job.

Once you have selected your target companies, start your research and record your findings on Excel. For each company, assign a worksheet and add information gained from news articles, blogs, company websites or word-of-mouth. Search your LinkedIn contacts for people you already know that can offer insight into the company’s culture, hiring process, opportunities, etc.

Not on LinkedIn? Join! LinkedIn provides a great place to keep track of your network. These are people that you work with or used to work with, friends, family, neighbors and fellow group members. The first step to using LinkedIn is to create a profile. You will enter information about where you have worked or volunteered, where you went to school, and the groups you are a member of. Then, start adding contacts; I suggest you only add people that you know, like and trust.

Lost track of some people? LinkedIn has several ways to find people with whom you have lost touch. You can look up an old employer and see all of the people who have identified that place as their current or past employer. If you remember them, add them. In addition, LinkedIn has a feature where it will “look” in your email and tell you who you already know that is signed up on linked in. Alternatively, you can type in someone’s name and see if they have an account. In any case, the person will get an email from you asking if they would like to connect. Once they do, you will be able to see their profile and that is when the magic happens!

Let’s say you connect with 100 people on LinkedIn and they have worked an average of five jobs each. That is potentially 500 employers where you now have an inside connection. The beauty of LinkedIn is that you can also see friends of friends, raising your potential inside connections exponentially. You will know right who to go to to get the inside scoop on a particular company.

LinkedIn has a few other terrific features and I have learned a few job search strategies that they do not talk much about. In addition to a terrific Q&A section and job board, you can learn a lot from looking at the profiles of people who hold your “dream job”. Wondering what industry affiliations to join? Check what groups that people holding the jobs you want are members of. Wonder what your ideal employer is looking for in a candidate? Look at the profiles of recent hires for clues on certifications, volunteerism and education.

Join and attend professional organizations. Typically, they meet once per month and you will often find that there is a guest speaker, they may offer snacks or a meal, and there is usually time for networking. Set a goal to talk to two or three people at each meeting. More than that and you will forget with whom you spoke. Ask for the cards of the people you converse with and jot down some notes about the conversation on it after your talks. Then, follow up – add them to LinkedIn and arrange a coffee meeting if your conversation went particularly well. Folks I have worked with have had great luck with alumni associations, so consider joining those as well. Many have a charter to provide services to job seekers.

Treat your network connections as you would your friends. Always ask about how you can be helpful to them, for example, to ensure they do not feel as if you are purely contacting them to see what they can do for you. Since the best networking is always done in person, casually ask if you can chat with the person in their office, short of that, a coffee meeting or other gathering is perfectly fine. Phone contact is next best, but try for a face-to-face meeting if logistically possible.

The best networkers never ask for a job, they know that someone who knows, likes and respects them will be alert to potential opportunities without having to be asked. The key is to keep your network responding to you in the “yes” mode – Yes, I can tell you what I like about the company – instead of the “no” mode – No, we don’t have any openings. Don’t encourage your network to avoid you because they don’t want to say no.

Did you get a “yes, you can stop by” response? Let them know you will have five questions prepared and that you won't take more than 15 minutes of their time - then stick to that. Make it clear when you have reached the end of your questions and observe the time, this will help them gain trust that you stick to your word and are not taking advantage of their kindness in seeing you. Quite likely, they will want to extend the conversation and at this point, it will become more of a conversation and less of a favor they are doing for you. Even so, be respectful of their time and they will feel more confident in referring you to talk with someone else. Your tone should be curious and positive while asking questions. Make notes during the meeting, add new information to your Excel worksheet and follow up on leads.

In addition to asking about what the person with whom you are talking likes best about the company, other great questions include, "What was your first position with the company?" "What is the hiring process like?" and "What advice might you have for someone in my situation?" Also, ask what groups or industry associations they are active in; consider following up on those groups to see if they might be a good fit for you. During your job search, strive to meet two people per week and join two groups that meet monthly.

Be sure to triangulate information whenever possible and don’t dismiss a job opportunity just because you hear negative comments from one or two people. They may be disgruntled, had a bad boss who is no longer there, or were bad employees. Even the happiest employees will bring their own skewed perspective; just keep that in mind.

Where you cannot seem to source a "warm" connection to a particular target company, be sure to drop the name of the place into your conversations with people. Chatting with your neighbor? Toss in, "I wish I knew someone from XYZ, it seems like an interesting place to work." If they know someone there, and if they know and trust you, they will introduce you. Don’t pressure them by asking outright whom they know; you want your network to say “yes” to you and you want it to be their idea, so they’ll take ownership of it down the road. Consider the difference: “Here’s that great controller I was telling you about,” vs. “John asked me to ask you if there were any openings for a controller.” The best connections come from a mutual party's desire to make a match, not a desire to get you off their back.

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned answering want ads yet. That is mostly because the numbers are against you. As a warm contact referred by someone that the hiring manager knows and trusts, you are much more appealing than a stranger answering an ad on the Internet. This factor alone explains the reason why 70% of all open positions are filled by someone who knew someone who knew the hiring manager. Sure, that leaves 30% of all jobs, but would you rather be one of 3-4 people personally referred for a position, or one of 300 – 400 who apply for a position posted on Monster?

By the time most jobs make it to Monster, they are picked over. The company’s recruiter has exhausted their network of strong candidates as well as the networks of everyone that works for the company and is forced to go fishing with a large net. Instead of taking the work of someone she trusts that the candidate being referred is sane, smart and motivated, she has to shuffle through hundreds of anonymous resumes to try to find the best candidates. If answering ads on the Internet is part of your job search strategy, try to keep it under 15% of your search time.

Consider using staffing services, especially if your network is skimpy in your industry or if you are new in town. Know that it is thousands of dollars more expensive to hire you through a service than if you found the job yourself, so if you have leads on certain companies, be sure to let your recruiter know not to refer you to those places due to the commissions involved. Wonder which service to contact? Check the LinkedIn profiles of people working where you want to work for prior involvement with staffing agencies. Or, contact the HR departments of your target companies and ask if they are contracted to work with a certain company. When you meet with the staffer, talk about temporary, temp-to-hire and permanent placement options.

You never know where your next job will come, so take advantage of every opportunity and be prepared. Practice a brief “elevator speech” about what kind of job you want and why you are a valuable candidate. Tell a story about a time where you “saved the day” in some way in your last role. Don’t be overly concerned about not being completely qualified for the positions that interest you. An 80% skill match is close enough for most places as they are also interested in hiring people that are a good culture fit and show enthusiasm for the company.

Jill Walser, of I got the job! Career Services, is a former corporate recruiter now sharing inside secrets with her clients. www.igotthejob.us

Should I use an objective statement on my resume?

Q. I've been talking with a career mentor who told me to get rid of my objective statement at the top of my resume. She seems to think the statement is useless, and just takes up space that I could be using to help give a thorough snapshot of myself with my resume, and that the place for such statements is in the cover letter, and not the resume. Why do you think the objective statement on a resume is so important, and what should be included in that statement? I'm having a hard time wording an objective statement that is broad enough, yet brief. I have an idea of what my "perfect" job would be like, but since I probably won't find that with my brief experiences having just graduated from college in this economy, I don't want to close any doors where I might have a chance of finding full-time employment.

A. Great question! I'll answer with a story from my recruiting days. When I was recruiting for a publicly traded party goods company, there was one point where I had four positions open in marketing - marketing coordinator, marketing project manager, marketing director and vice president of marketing. When I'd exhausted my network for suitable candidates (they were niche roles - the candidates had to have experience marketing kids products) and started placing ads, I got blasted with applicants. I saw hundreds of resumes, many with "seeking a position in marketing" as an objective, or no objective whatsoever.

As a recruiter, I wasn't a marketing specialist, and while I probably knew more about marketing than many other recruiters, I didn't know enough to read people's minds and discern from their work histories (which I had all of 10 seconds or so to scan) what level of position they'd be best suited for, be happiest in, etc. Most of the time, I was left feeling that if this person couldn't market themselves properly, how were they ever going to effectively market the company's party goods? Someone with a clear, non self-serving objective that told me exactly what they wanted got farther in the process than someone who had a self-serving or absent objective.

Here's an objective statement I wrote recently for someone seeking a marketing job, "Results-driven sales and marketing professional with extensive experience in retail and corporate environments seeks to contribute marketing project coordination skills and an eye for design in a position with .

My client will personalize it each time, to make it clear she wants to work for THAT company (not just anybody) and wants to work in THAT role (knowing full well that a job title on her resume's objective statement will not keep her out of consideration for other positions for which she might be equally or better suited). Plus, it adds another incidence of the target job title on the resume - highly likely to be used as a keyword if the company is using a keyword scanner. I followed with a few supportive statements that emphasized her marketing accomplishments in an opening paragraph. Note that the word "objective" is never a keyword (talk about wasted space!), so I replace that phrase with a headline - often including the job title.

These reasons, coupled with the fact that, according to my research, (conducted personally over many years and gathered from other sources,) 80% of hiring managers never read the cover letter (yet notice when it's missing and take points off), are enough for me to include objective statements on every resume I write. Of course, elaboration in the letter which demonstrates goodness of fit and the reason one is interested in the position, is always a good thing - for the 20% of hiring managers who will actually read it.

Thinking About Moving?

Think the grass is greener elsewhere? Miss your family? Here are some strategies to facilitate your long-distance job search:

1. Read your target city’s local newspapers, journals and publications on a regular basis, for job listings and relevant business news. Note which companies are reducing staff off, who is hiring, who just received angel investments, etc.

2. Join (and start attending the meetings of) at least one locally based professional association or the local chapter of a national professional association. In the Seattle area, www.iloveseattle.org is a great resource for networking organizations.

3. Plan to spend time in your new city, to conduct networking in person rather than just over the phone or on-line.

4. Develop a list of potential employers for whom you would like to work and for whom your background and experience are a good fit. LinkedIn, to do your research, including identifying the name of a hiring executive.

5. Send each of the employers a targeted, personalized letter and resume, linking your interest and qualifications to their area of focus. Try to schedule an exploratory interview even if there are no current job openings for you. You will be setting the stage for future employment should their needs change.

6. Consider short-term consulting gigs with area employers. When you meet employers, think about how you might help them by consulting. Do they mention any projects that you would be qualified to do? This would be an excellent way to establish yourself with locally-based credentials.

7. Use the city and state in your contact info, instead of your own. In a tight job market, hiring managers need not look beyond the local area for highly qualified job applicants. They seek candidates who are ready to work without much training, are familiar with the local market and competition, and perhaps have local contacts. Employers certainly prefer avoiding travel reimbursement and relocation costs.

It is important to demonstrate to the employer that you are committed to being in the area for the long haul, not just until the economy turns around. You may want to consider moving in with a friend for a while during your job hunt. Beware that if you are only pretending to have a local address, you may be caught when an employer wants you to interview on short notice or even during the informal ice breaking part of an interview, e.g., talking about the hometown sports teams and weather.

People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world

When I left my position as corporate recruiter and decided to offer networking coaching as a key component of my business, I realized that while I'd done well networking for the corporation I worked for, I hadn't done much networking for myself.

To remedy that, I joined a few industry organizations and one for business owners of any industry. I looked at about eight different options, the organizations I chose needed to meet four criteria:

1. They needed to be relevant to what I did.
2. They needed to have a face-to-face component and the people there needed to be happy to see me.
3. They needed to be filled with spark plugs - people very excited to be there and to be doing what they did for a living.
4. They needed to be easy to get to and offered at convenient times (ruling out 7:00 a.m. meetings and anything involving rush-hour traffic).

I renewed my Northwest Recruiters Association and National Resume Writer's memberships. One group is nearly all face-to-face and the other is virtual as there just aren't very many resume writers in the world. Then, I joined the eWomenNetwork, which is focused exclusively on teaching business owners and other professionals (not just women!) how to network. Talk about a room full of spark plugs! You could run a small city off the energy at those meetings! If you want to check them out, mention I referred you. You can go to many of these groups once or twice without an obligation to join and some you never have to join if you don’t want to.

I also joined the Puget Sound Career Developers Association, a much more sedate group of people who have been in the career counseling industry for a long time - over 40 years in several cases. This has been a gem of a resource with terrific guest speakers. As an added bonus, most career counselors hate writing resumes and have minimal corporate recruiting experience; many partnerships have formed through this group. More recently, I’ve built my profile on Biznik and have signed up for a few events.

My point in explaining my journey into networking is to illustrate an unexpected issue I faced right from the beginning. Every single time it was time to go to a networking meeting, I thought of a reason not to go. I was too busy. I was too tired. It was cold out. I was in my pajamas. I didn’t really feel like talking to people. Every time I thought of some reason. However, I'd already paid for the lunch or it was a part of my membership, so I forced myself to go.

It didn't take long, maybe three months or so, before I started noticing a pattern. Every time I went to a networking event, something wonderful came out of it. A new referral partner, a business strategy I didn’t know, a new friend, unfathomable resources, and, in many cases, new clients. It was completely unexpected (perhaps I set my expectations too low), but altogether wonderful.

I strongly encourage all of you to get out there, meet people face to face and build relationships with them. Soon, they’ll think of you anytime someone asks them, “Do you know anyone who does…” Now, they know YOU!

Why didn't HR give me feedback about my last interview?

As a former corporate recruiter for a publicly traded company, I got an inside look at this process. HR Managers, as you know, are the organization’s sheriff. They don't make the laws; they just interpret them and insist others in the company carry them out. Without perspective and a bit of common sense, deputized recruiters can carry out HR edicts so far that they become counterproductive to the goals of the organization, i.e., appearing so ridiculous and inflexible as to turn off good talent.

I have found that for the most part it is the recruiters (who usually report to the head of HR) with little ability to think for themselves that are the most rigid with rules. It’s very important to know exactly what the rules are and why they were put in place and equally important to use good judgment when working with prospective employees.

The main reason HR doesn't want managers telling interviewees why they didn't get the job is to protect the company from a lawsuit. Disclosure used the wrong way is a loaded gun. However, a smart recruiter can disclose lots of helpful information without equipping candidates with ammo for a lawsuit - so long as that information is based on goodness of fit, job qualifications, problems during the interview process, etc. For example, calling out that the candidate answered questions about key functions of the job incorrectly or took 20 minutes to answer each question is helpful. Telling applicants that they weren’t selected because they were too old to relate to the rest of the team or telling them nothing is just brainless and disrespectful.

As much as I liked recruiting, it’s much more fun to provide interview coaching where I get to tell job seekers about corporate HR’s true goals and provide them with ammunition to cope with the myriad of contingencies that arise during an interview. I also teach candidates how to interview the company. If a dimwitted recruiter with no judgment is calling the shots on behalf of HR, RUN! It won’t get better as you work your way up.

This stuff makes my day!

Date: 3/03/2008
Subject: I got the job
Hello Jill,
Today, I started my new job at Cisco, thanks in part to the resume you created for me. Your attention to details and industry insight are invaluable which result in an honest, yet high-impact resume. Thank you.

I get “I got the job!” letters like this all the time and they always warm my heart, but this one is special. This gentleman, for a variety of reasons, hadn't worked for eight years.

I've had several conversations this week with clients about what is "realistic" for them in terms of what jobs they are likely to land with their shiny new resumes, given their work histories, education, etc. What's amazing to me is the lack of correlation between their accomplishments and their perception of whether they'll be victorious in finding a great job. Wildly successful individuals can have terrible self-confidence.

While my answer isn't always comfortable for people to hear, it's always the same. YOU choose how far you can go. YOU choose whether you are going to work towards a goal, or decide (or let someone decide for you) that you can't attain it. I will do my best to position you as a good fit for whatever goal you pick (and I think I do a darn good job at it), but you are the one who truly controls your future. Even if you haven't tried for years, as my client above illustrates, at ANY point you can decide to get back in the game.

Will it be hard? Absolutely! Is it possible? Of course! Think of the people you admire - the people who set their sights high despite improbably high odds and just went for it. Those folks never cared whether someone (their mother, their spouse, their high school math teacher) thought they could do it; they just went right ahead and did it. Were most of them scared to death? Probably, but so what? Those that let fear, or other people, or something they’ve read dictate their options are not running their own lives.

As the former CEO of the corporation said as I left to run my own business, "No guts, no glory." I couldn't agree more. The gentlemen above, who authored that email, has guts. And my admiration.

Is it a good idea to use recruiters in my job search?

Using recruiters from staffing agencies can be a great resource, with one major drawback and potentially one great advantage. The good ones have met the hiring managers of the companies they represent and can offer some insight into personality types of the hiring manager and team, what works and what doesn't to get love from that company, etc. If you don't know anyone at the company who can give you this type of insight, outside recruiters can be a great way to get it.

The drawback is that their services come at a price to the employer, sometimes up to 25% of your first year compensation. For this reason, if you were to approach the same employer yourself (especially encouraged if a willingness to cold call and/or "sell" yourself are core competencies of the job you seek) you'll be more appealing than if a recruiter were to present you. It's also much smarter to apply for a position before the hiring manager has gotten so desperate for talent that they're willing to pay a premium for it.

The potential advantage of going through a recruiter is if the company only staffs certain positions through a particular staffing firm. I've been in this role myself as an agency recruiter where if someone wanted a particular job at a certain company, they'd have to impress me to even get consideration because the hiring managers didn't have time to post ads, wade through resumes, etc. Even so, if you landed on the hiring manager's doorstep without representation, and before she got so desperate for talent that the recruiter's fee was worth it, you'd be 25% less expensive.