Strategies For Tapping Into Todays Job Market

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Strategies For Tapping Into Todays Job Market

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Self Assessment - understanding who I am and what I want ... Dynamic, risk-taker, self directed. Organized, logical, productive ... –

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Title: Strategies For Tapping Into Todays Job Market

1
Strategies For Tapping Into Todays Job Market

Caroline Werle, CRM
RIM SERVICES INC.
May 3, 2001

2
Agenda

Self Assessment - understanding who I am and what
I want
Uncovering my skills - learning how to sell
myself
Talking todays talk
Todays job environment

3
Agenda

What employers want
Job Search Strategies
Tailoring your cover letter, resume, portfolio
The Interview

4
Quote Of The Day

It is not about lifetime employment.
It is about lifetime
employability.

5
Your in Charge!

You have been put in charge of your career.
Managing it is a lifelong process.

6
Looking Hard

Until you understand what you have to sell, you
cant present yourself fully.
Skills
Personality/Attributes
Training
Experience
Lifestyle Preferences

7
Questions to Ponder

Why do I want to work?
What are my immediate/long term goals?
What are my talents and skills?
What are my shortcomings?
What is reasonable in my local market?
What type of work do I find rewarding?

8
Questions to Ponder

What work/life balance do I want to achieve?
Am I prepared to retrain at this time?
What level of responsibility am I prepared to
take on at this time?
What financial rewards and work environment
tradeoffs am I willing to make?

9
Self Assessment or Re-evaluation

Critical first step when embarking on job search
and career transition process
Necessary step to uncovering skills and
professional competencies

10
Self Assessment or Re-evaluation

Looking to uncover skills/competencies rather
than to list tasks
Definition
Skill is defined as the ability to do something
well, especially as a result of experience

11
Definitions

Competency - is a combination of knowledge,
skills, abilities when acquired allows a person
to perform a task, function at a specifically
defined level of proficiency. The ability to use
knowledge and skills effectively for a purpose.

12
Need For Self Assessment

Look critically at what you do
What are the professional competencies you need
to do it
What other general competencies do you have
What are your strengths and weaknesses. Be
prepared to discuss how to use or overcome them.

13
Continue Self Assessment

Look at past jobs to uncover more professional
skills/competencies
Look at any positions you want and list the
competencies you need to get that job

Employers seem to be more interested in what you
have accomplished with your skills than on what
skills you actually posses.
Your resume is a testimony to I have
accomplished rather than I am

15
Analyse Your Strengths

Know these well before you go to an interview
Build an assessment of your accomplishments
during your career
Start by listing the challenges (problems) youve
encountered
Approaches used to address them

16
Analyse Your Strengths

Finish by listing the results of your efforts.
For example
Increased productivity or efficiency by???
Saved organization from possible litigation by
developing an e-mail policy
Change the nature of your job by ???

17
Analyse Your Strengths

Instituted a new system or procedure that ???
Identified new problems and offered solutions
that???
Undertook a project that was considered out of
the scope of my job???

18
Competencies

Professional
Business/Management
Interpersonal
Personal

19
Professional Competency

Create/maintain programs and services
Acquire/dispose of information resources
Create a framework for access to information
resources
Provide reference/research/advisory services

20
Professional Competency

Provide access and support services
Provide electronic services
Store/protect information resources

21
Business Management Competency

Business/Management Skills
demonstrate strategic thinking
demonstrate planning skills
demonstrate organizational skills
demonstrate problem-solving skills

22
Interpersonal Skills Competency

manage customer expectations
demonstrate oral and written communication skills
demonstrate leadership
demonstrate negotiation skills
demonstrate interviewing skills
demonstrate team work skills

23
Personal Competency

demonstrate conceptual skills
demonstrate analytical skills
demonstrate thoroughness/attention to detail
demonstrate time management skills

24
Personal Competency

demonstrate awareness of corporate culture
demonstrate computer skills
manage ones professional development and growth

25
Restate What We are Saying
26
Provide Current Awareness

Sub-tasks
1. Assess needs
2. Identify information resources
3. Create current awareness document
4. Deliver current awareness
5. Update current awareness document

27
Create Current Awareness Document
28
Provide Current Awareness

By assessing user needs, evaluating resources and
analysing electronic and paper-based materials
deliver timely current information to a select
group of users.

29
Restate It

Handle reference duty on desk and by phone

Receive, assess, prioritize and complete
information requests
Prepare analysis of information gathered for
information request

30
Respond to Reference Request
31
Self Assessment or Re-evaluation

COMPETENCY PROFILE produced by the Alliance of
Libraries, Archives and Records Management
(ALARM) in partnership with the Cultural Human
Resources Council with the support of Human
Resources Development Canada April 1999

32
Where to Buy It

Cultural Human Resource Council
17 York Street, 201
Ottawa, ON K1N 9J6
Tel 1-866-562-1535 ext. 31
Fax 613-562-2982
Cost 10.00

33
New Look

Reframe your uncovered skills in an active,
business style

34
Action Words

Consolidate
Establish
Influence
Generate
Utilize
Resolve
Solve
Monitor

Train
Supply
Produce
Motivate
Perform
Define
Plan
Demonstrate

35
Skill Based Statements

Receive, assess and prioritize information
requests
Train, supervise and evaluate staff
Establish priorities and schedules to ensure
deadlines are met
Prepare analysis of information gathered for an
information request

36
Look At Personal Attributes

Energetic, goal-oriented, reliable
Conscientious, decisive, diligent
Diplomatic, service-oriented
Dynamic, risk-taker, self directed
Organized, logical, productive
Innovative, insightful, open-minded

37
Describe Yourself

Demonstrated ability to work effectively as a
team member
Demonstrated ability to work independently with
minimal supervision
A self-directed and flexible individual who is
reliable and customer-centric
Excellent work ethic coupled with extensive
knowledge of information resources

38
Describe Accomplishment

Increased productivity by designing and
implementing a new taxonomy
Improved customer service by responding to
information requests within 24 hours
Negotiated a partnership contract with a major
supplier saving the company one million dollars

39
Job Search Tip

The Job Search process is a business
process. It is necessary to maintain
professional standards and personal
composure throughout.

40
The Shifting World of the Information Professional

Shift in hiring areas from public to private
sector
Shift in types of skills employers require from
subject knowledge to information process
Shift in the character of our work from well-
defined to loosely-defined job parameters

41
Information Environment

Move from tangible assets to acknowledging the
competitive advantage of intangible assets
Managing information today means managing the
technologies associated with it

42
Information Environment

Fortune 500 Survey showed that most value is
based on intellectual capital - what the
companies hold on their databases, what their
customers know or perceive and what their
employees carry around in their heads.
InfoPro December 2000

43
Information Environment

Knowledge collecting, information categorization
corporate communication are needed more than IT
skills in todays information economy

44
Business Trends

Baby Boomers are causing organizations to lose
their institutional memory
Retiring of baby boomers - by 2008 - 40 of
Public Service will be retiring
Teachers - 40 retiring by 2010
By 2016 - more people over the age of 65 then
under the age of 14
Toronto Star March 19, 2001

45
Business Trends

Knowledge Management - commodity of business has
changed from things to thoughts
Attempts to solve managerial problems with
technology tools have not only failed, they have
aggravated the problem.
InfoPro Dec.2000

46
What Employers Want

Computer Skills
Subject Knowledge
Marketing Skills
Communication Skills
Interpersonal Skills

Organizational Skills
Supervisory Experience
Ability to Prioritize
Evaluation Skills
Analytical Skills

47
What Employers Want

Customer service skills are in
demand in much broader areas
than before. Information
professionals have internal, external,
client and member customers to be
served.

48
What Employers Want

Of course, they want it all
independent decision-maker and self-managed
learner, with a positive work attitude, great
communication, interpersonal and time management
skills, who is flexible, honourable and
dependable.

49
Technical Skills In Demand By Employers

Ability to search the Internet effectively
Understanding of the role of Intranets
Ability to design a web page/intranet
XML
Online Searching

50
Technical Skills In Demand By Employers

Groupware (like Lotus Notes)
Microsoft Professional Office/Windows
E-mail software
Electronic Document Management
Library application software (Sydney, GENCAT,
InMagic)

51
Business Skills

Ability for strategic thinking
Ability to manage projects
Ability to analyze and formulate solutions
Ability to communicate solutions
Ability to establish and manage budgets
Ability for problem solving
Ability to manage people

52
Interpersonal Skills

Ability to manage customer expectations
Ability to negotiate
Ability to work in a team
Ability in both oral and written communication
Ability for leadership

53
Personal Skills

Ability to conceptualize and analyze
Ability to attend to details
Ability to manage time
Ability to innovate
Ability with computers and tools of technology
Awareness of corporate culture

54
The Future 2000-2010

No profession will undergo more radical change
between 2000 - 2010 than will the Information
Professional
Information Outlook - March 2001

55
The Future

More of a role for the generalist - not specific
career directions such as IT, Archivist,
Librarian - must speak their language and
appreciate the world view of your partners
The role is to get to know the organization, the
people, what they are doing and bring it all
together

56
The Future

content - content is king
understanding of how why data is created
who should have access
when destroyed
how information can be leveraged

57
The Future

More information new tools heightened demand
challenges and opportunities
Electronic information management and desktop
reference is the future

58
Future Competencies

Analyst /conceptualizer
Communicator - writing presentation skills
Teacher/clarifier
Partnering - networking ( nobody has all the
answers)

59
Future Competencies

Understanding User Needs (usability)
Interviewing skills
Mastering technology
Creativity

60
Why We Will Be Successful

Understand our users
Build solid workable structures
Deliver personalized information service - we are
customer-centric
Our assets are intellectual capital

61
Why We Will Be Successful

Remarkably adaptable to the new information
environment - use to changing needs
expectations of the users
Systems we design are standardized, comprehensive
and meet user needs
Good understanding of the complex relationship
between people and information

62
New Careers

Electronic Content Manager
Information Architect
Internet Cataloguing Specialist
Knowledge Integrator
Knowledge Manager

63
New Careers

Knowledge Resource Specialist
Website Manager
Manager, Electronic Text Imaging
Metadata Development Specialist
Metadata Librarian

64
New Careers

WWW Administrator
Microcomputer Training Specialist
Training Database Maintenance Co-ordinator
Information Co-ordinator
Information Training Specialist

65
Job Search Strategies

Networking It is who you know!
Dealing with ads do they mean what they say?
Cold calls the way to go or a waste of time?
Direct targeted mail

66
Job Search Strategies

Professional Placement Services
Job Boards
Telephone hotlines
Websites, listservs
Association newsletters
Association placement officers

67
Job Search Strategies

Monitoring Corporate/Industry Activities
Company relocations
Transfers, retirements, promotions
Expansions, mergers, takeovers
Industry specific publications

68
Job Search Supplies

Have answering machine with a professional
message
Have special place for all job search material
Have message pad, stationary, appointment book,
dictionary, thesaurus, etc.
Have an interview outfit

69
Resume Bland Document or Marketing Tool!

Remember that you are selling yourself to
someone who has yet to meet you.
Match your best qualities
to their job requirements
and corporate culture.

70
Practical Tips for Resume

Get at least two people to review it
Use a good quality paper that takes type clearly
and cleanly
Use a laser printer if possible
Dont use all the fonts available to you
Have enough white space to make it easy to read
and find the pertinent information

71
Tailoring Your Resume

Be skill, not task oriented
Emphasize what you can do, not where you did it
Emphasize your strengths - remember this is not a
balanced document
Adapt the layout and content to suit the employer

72
Tailoring Your Resume

Dont tell them you can do what they dont need
done
Dont get bogged down in details
Be selective - this is not your life story
This is a marketing document!

73
How to Handle Electronic Resume

One screen available at a time
Limit resume to 5 or 6 screens
Make first screen an attention grabber
Name and Summary of Qualifications should be on
first screen
Keep all information targeted to the job

74
How To Handle Electronic Resume

Ensure that your resume is readable by the
prospective employer
Formatting techniques like underlining,
italicizing or bullets can cause readability
problems
Must have precise subject in subject line,
include job and your fit, so resume is read and
not deleted

75
Growing Trend

Career Portfolio
Is a marketing tool arranged to demonstrate your
ability to meet job requirements
Is a collection of materials that prove your
skills and accomplishments
Is a structural collection of your progress,
achievements, contributions and efforts that
demonstrates accomplishments over time.

76
Career Portfolio

It can contain letters, awards, certificates,
work samples, pictures, writing samples,
newspaper articles, published material.
The list is endless. But remember to keep the
information relative to the needs of the
prospective employer.

77
Career Portfolio

Remember that this Career Portfolio must be kept
current. You need to add
to it regularly.

78
Job Interview

Two-way strategic conversation
You want to persuade the employer that you can do
the job and fit the organization
The employer wants to know that you can do the
job and to sell you on the organization

79
Prepare for Job Interview

Remember that it is a conversation with purpose
Remember that it is highly subjective
Advance preparation about the specific job, the
company and the industry pays off
Practice interviewing or answering typical
questions builds confidence/reduces stress

80
Prepare for Job Interview