Being Your OwnCareer Counselor

by JobSparker.com

About: Robin Sendrow

• SESP Alum• Masters in Psychological Counseling• Former Career Counselor & HR Pro• Started JobSparker.com

Overview

• Career counseling process• Assessment• Next steps/goals

Career Counseling Process:The Basics

• Why did you join this call?• What are your career goals?

Career Counseling Process:Assess

• Job search strategies• Resumes and cover letters• Interviewing• Skills and experience

Career Counseling Process:Next Steps

• Address weaknesses• Utilize strengths• Improve applications• Set career strategy + goals

Assessment: Job Search

• How many ways are you searching?• How frequent?• What’s working/not working?

How often have you done the following in the last 3 weeks?

Job Search: Networking

• Attended association events• Participated in social events• Reached out to recruiters• Requested friend/third-party referrals

Job Search: Networking

• Helped others • Connected with extended network • (ex. Drinks with former colleagues)

• Joined organized social activity • (ex. Soccer games)

Job Search: Social Media

• Used LinkedIn, etc. in job search • Reached out to contacts and 3rd parties• Reviewed messages for opportunities• Created postings or shared meaningful content

Job Search: Company research

• Read industry news to spot who may be hiring• Prospectively emailed department heads or

recruiting teams

How many ways have you found job postings

in the past 3 weeks?

Job Search: Postings

• General job boards (ex. Indeed.com, TheMuse)• Social Media (ex. LinkedIn, Twitter)• Industry specific (ex. association sites)• Internal job boards• Company sites

How many jobs have you applied to in past 3 weeks?

Assessment:Resumes & Cover Letters

Target for Recruiters and Computers

Resumes & Cover Letters

• Find 3 job listings in your target role• Highlight key words, skills and experiences

Spend 45 seconds looking at your resume• What skills and experiences matched the role?• Where are they placed on your resume?• What key points are missing?

Resumes & Cover Letters

• Does it match a general, approved format?• Spell and grammar check • (read forwards and backwards)

Resumes & Cover Letters

• Targeted towards opportunity• Incorporate key words in a job description• Formatted for easy upload

Resumes & Cover Letters

Assessment: Interviewing

Record yourself asking and answering questions

Interviewing

• General questions/themes• Industry focused• Weird questions (learning how you react)• Questions for employer

Interviewing: Playback

• Tone, tics and physical presence• Did you answer the questions?• Is there a better answer?

Assessment: Skills & Experience

• Review highlighted job descriptions• Any necessary/ required skills you don’t have?

Skills & Experience

• Are skills transferable• How can you gain those skills/experiences?• Change the target or gain the skills

Career Strategy + Goals

assessment results = success and opportunity

Career Strategy: Target

• What’s working?• Address improvement areas• Things you can do better• Frequency

• What you aren’t doing

Career Strategy: Sticking Points

• What gets in the way of your progress?• What unblocks you?• Consider small incentives/disincentives

Goals

• What can you accomplish in the next week?• When/how will you address improvement areas?• How frequently will you review progress?

Be Your Own Career Counselor

• Assess• Address opportunities• Set-goals• Reassess

Questions?