Are You a Corporate Entrepreneur?

In preparing my content for my upcoming book with Brian Tracy called Uncommon, I've been thinking a lot about "corporate entrepreneurship" in today's world of work. For several years now, I've been incorporating elements of this concept into our solutions at ITtechExec and NoddlePlace with the intent of moving away from the short-term job-hop to job-hop mentality that life has a tendency to suck us into toward the much more effective strategy of long-term career advancement and protection.

With an external job move happening every 3 to 4 years for most technical professionals these days, it's time to think beyond just getting out of your current situation into another one. It's time to think about how to prepare for a career filled with potential moves.

So how do you do that? That's what my contribution to Uncommon will focus on.

Today, I'd like to hear what your thoughts are on "corporate entrepreneurship." What does it mean to you? I've put together the following short poll as a way of gathering some data we can use in the book. Check all the answers that you think apply:

You've Earned the New IT Certification, Now What?

Recently I was interviewed by Susan Hall for a Linux.com article, The Best Ways to Flaunt Your New IT Certification. Here is an excerpt: "If you’ve got it, flaunt it, right? You’ve worked hard for that Linux certification, and you want everyone to know about it.

At the same time, you don’t want to come off as a brainless braggart, so the best advice is to call attention to the experience you gained while earning the certification – and how you’ve put it to use doing real work, experts say.

“One of the biggest things that people will probably neglect is leveraging people who have gone through a similar certification – reaching out to them through LinkedIn or whatever means they have available, to make connections and market themselves through other, what should be, like-minded people who are going to value that certification,” says Stephen Van Vreede, a Rochester, N.Y.-based resume writer and career strategist at ITTechExec.com."

Read the full article here

Why You Need to Tell Your Story

Storytelling is important in the job market. It always has been, and it always will be.

Too often job seekers gets bogged down with the facts of their work history, thinking that is all that matters in the presentation. Although your work history is important, it's really just a start and misses the bigger, psychological part of the hiring process.  

Facts Don't Resonate, But Stories Do

As I'm finalizing and reviewing my content for the "UNCOMMON" book with Brian Tracy, it became even more evident to me that the stories I was sharing about some of my client members were vital. I could give the best, most sound advice ever, but people would not make it real and actionable in their lives without the power of the personal story behind it.

Ultimately, this is what we do for the clients that we represent as agents in the marketplace. We help them to shape and hone their career story so that it will resonate with an audience that will try to "tune out" as much as possible, simply because they are so inundated from every direction with job seeker information.

Storytelling engages them at a human level. Think about it...all of the best authors, speakers, business leaders, politicians, and the like connect with their audience through the power of a personal story. The story takes the facts or advice and converts them from being clinical into something that captures our hearts, minds, and imaginations. It also helps us relate with one another. And that's what is necessary to generate a response.  

Applying It In the Job Market

Are decision makers in the hiring process any different? No way! But we're told that we can't engage them in such a manner. Baloney! Just because the masses aren't doing so doesn't mean it doesn't work. In fact, because 95% of the people in the market don't do it means that you'll have a better chance of standing out from the crowd when you do.

But the majority can't be wrong...can it? Of course it can, and I'm hear to tell you that especially when it comes to job search, it is all the time.

What's your story? Discover it and unleash the power of it in the market from today on. The impact it has on your confidence and excitement will be tremendous.

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (June 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. To see whether Stephen and his team are a good fit for you, take their free (and anonymous) compatibility quiz, Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You?

Significant Other Tech Career Move Survival Guide: Part II

In Part I, we talked about the fine line between becoming the #1 supporter of our significant other's career or the #1 impediment. It's not something talked about openly in the career services field too often, but it is a big factor in how we progress in our careers because, like it or not, there is so much emotion/stress surrounding our personal relationships that plays into our career advancement/management.

In the tech career arena, it is especially important to understand because it is now such a competitive landscape.  

These are fields where not that long ago many candidates didn't even need a resume because they were often recruited from one opportunity right into another.

So to continue on from the first 8 ways you can both survive this next technical career move, I am now going to provide 8 more.

1. Even introverts can be comfortable with personal branding. If your technical loved one happens to be more on the introverted side of things, even he or she can embrace personal branding, which should present him or her in an authentic, real way. We won't shine them up into something that makes them uncomfortable. In fact, our goal is to focus less on them and more on what their target audience is looking for. After all, audience is the key to any type of effective messaging. The most successful job search works with the candidate's personality, not against it.
2. It takes more than just a good attitude to succeed in today's technical job market. Sometimes we might think that our significant others' attitude will be enough to get him or her where they need to go. And although optimism and good karma are nice things to have, the market is not that certain. This isn't a pessimistic view, and it isn't a defeatist view. Our goal is to have a good attitude AND be properly prepared AND do what works.
3. It takes more than good connections to succeed in today's technical job market. As a significant other, you might tend to think that because your technical leader has always risen through the ranks with relative ease before or because he or she is well connected that making this next career move will be simple, no matter what type of resume he or she tosses out there. But the truth is that although networking is still very effective, the great referral doesn't necessarily carry all the weight it once did. And it can be a dangerous thing to take the "wait and see" approach, hoping so-and-so comes through.
4. Technical career paths are rarely linear. We sometimes expect that a career should always be on a path up the proverbial corporate ladder, but tech is different in that way. Sometimes "advancement" is sideways, and sometimes it means taking risks with smaller startups. Sometimes it also means bucking the Fortune 500 system or changing divisions to round out experience. We need to be careful to set a strategy for each possibility and to make sure we aren't trapping ourselves (or our loved one) into one type of environment.
5. The 5% who thrive in today's technical job market do so by creating pipelines. Besides building a resume portfolio solution and maintaining it, those who are succeeding in today's market understand the importance of "pipelines." This means they build network connections and recruiter/employer connections, and they invest in them to keep opportunities coming to them, well after this next career move.
6. Corporate struggles to recognize and retain good tech talent. Although companies are trying to get better at their retention practices, generally, they are still pretty terrible at retaining tech talent, much less even really recognizing it when it is staring them in the face each and every day. So tech leaders sometimes need to work a little harder for that recognition.
7. Career progression and protection has a short-term cost with long-term benefits. When it comes to other parts of our lives, we build in protections to help weather the various storms we face (or might possibly face), such as retirement, car insurance, our finances, etc., but when it comes to our careers and the job search process, we often go it alone with very little to help prepare and protect us along the way. Your technical leader has worked hard, and deserves experts to come alongside him or her to help build in some protections.
8. Protecting careers protects families. We all bear a special burden for those who love us and depend on us, and our livelihood plays a part in that. Therefore, we all want to feel like we are doing the best we can to protect the careers we've built and to prepare for the market we are facing.

By doing your best to take some time to understand the market your loved one is facing and how you can best support him or her through it, you'll find that you can come together more as a team with a clear strategy. All those other outside stressors might still be there, but at least you will both be moving in the same direction and can encourage your loved one to stay on track.

It's no secret to us at ITtechExec and NoddlePlace that those with the strongest support systems get the best results from their carere moves primarily because they are not pulled off course by the extra stress and emotional burden that comes when a significant other is not part of (or supportive of) your career move strategy. So work together to build your "team" today!

"Uncommmon" Book Launch: Co-authoring with Brian Tracy

Publishing a book on the approach we take at ITtechExec and NoddlePlace has long been a goal of mine. But I didn't want to just "write a book," I wanted to find someone to partner with who would be a natural fit for the type of philosophy we take here.  

Thanks to my agent at CelebrityPress, that goal is now complete!

I'm happy to announce that in Spring 2015, I will be co-authoring a book with best-selling author, entrepreneur, and self-development leader Brian Tracy that will be part of his UNcommon series. For my part, I will be examining how tech leaders today are "protecting" the careers they've built and maneuvering through the tech job market zoo.  

It's an exciting time, and I am looking forward to seeing the book listed on Amazon and B&N. So stay tuned!!

Significant Other Tech Career Move Survival Guide: Part I

 

How You Both Survive This Upcoming Technical Career Move

Don't take this the wrong way, but...  

The #1 impediment to career progression is often a significant other. (Yikes!)  

The good news, though, is that on the flip side, our significant other can also be the #1 supporter of our career!  

The line between becoming an impediment versus a supporter is often a fine one.

We don't intend to impede our loved one's career, of course. But unwittingly, we often transfer our own fears, concerns, perspectives, issues about money and success, experiences, and worry for our home and children onto our loved one's shoulders, which can create an emotional barrier for him or her.

Today's technical job market is a zoo, to put it lightly.

Protecting and advancing a career in this market is not so cut-and-dry as it might have been once. Simply having the talent and experience and waiting for someone to notice rarely works anymore. A lot of investment has to go into maintaining the certifications and nurturing the skill sets, and even then they don't sell themselves as competition is strong at any level. So to help you and your significant other as you prepare to face the market realities, I've put together this "survival guide" as a way to come together to make sure you become the #1 supporter throughout this process. Below are the first 8 ways you both survive this upcoming technical career move. (In Part II, we will look at 8 more.)

You Both Need to Recognize That:

1. Tech is different. For someone with a technical background or who works in a tech-related industry, the market is a bit different. Some things might look the same, or sound the same, but the requirements are not necessarily the same. Therefore, the way other professionals (such as yourself) might conduct a job search might be somewhat different from what your technical significant other needs.
2. Competition is strong. Whether it is an internal promotion or external move, the technical job market has strong competition. This means that your tech leader needs a differentiator to stand out from the masses who are all vying for the same jobs with similar qualifications. Even though he or she might have great certifications and advanced degrees, these things don't "sell" themselves like they might in other industries. In technical markets, they are more often expected, which means a lot of people are getting them too. Now you have to compete against all the other candidates who also have that cert and who also feel it should just automatically open doors.
3. Your significant other deserves more than just a resume. Because tech is different and competition is strong, the personal branding of our technical leaders takes time to develop, and it is important that it is done correctly by those who do understand the tech market and its demands. The #1 resume we fix at both ITtechExec and NoddlePlace is the one written by a significant other for the technical job market. Ouch! It's true. Furthermore, it's important that you don't miss out on the portfolio approach that is proving to be so effective for technical candidates. Other industries might still be able to get away with the old school resume concept. Tech is different.
4. These careers need to be maintained. If you've been through grad school or various certification programs with your technical significant other, then you already know what he or she goes through to stay relevant to the market. As we mentioned, these programs, however, only provide credentials. They don't take those credentials and translate them specifically into the tech job market. So often obtaining a certification or advanced degree, while great, is only half the battle. There must be a strategy other than hoping for the best to make that investment in the learning pay off.
5. Today's job search can take 1 month for every $10-20K in salary. And that's when the job search is a full-time gig! This means that for our level of client, they could be facing 6, 8, 10, or more months in job search mode. (It's why we measure the results our members receive.) We knew we could do better for our clients, and with our resume portfolio AND job search "launch" solutions, we do. For the past year, our clients have been averaging 2.4 months and recovering ~169 hours of time that would have been lost!
6. Promotions are a job search too. All too often, we have a tendency to think that because our loved one might be up for promotion that he or she will just get it because they "deserve" it or have been waiting in the wings for it. The truth is the internal promotion is just as important to prepare for as the external one (perhaps even more so because it is a higher stakes process). Corporate politics, forgetfulness, and other kinds of hiring/retention practices (what we call "goo") can and often do get in the way. Plus, we believe that technical pros should always know their worth in the marketplace and have leverage with their current organizations.
7. Tech pros are changing jobs every 3-4 years. Even if your significant other is beating these odds, change is still inevitable. That's probably true in all fields these days, but it is especially true in technical fields. One reason is because of the high demand for outside contracting/consulting. Therefore, it is important that he or she keeps their materials up to date and ready to go. It's also why we advocate for a "corporate entrepreneur" mindset that creates peace of mind through preparation. Less stress is a very good thing!
8. Resumes aren't dead, but they're ailing. It used to be that the tech candidate barely even needed a resume, but today a resume is no longer enough. LinkedIn profiles are becoming more and more important in the job search process, and addenda to the resume that enhance on the soft skills and leadership experience of your technical leader go a long way. We also have infographic resumes and marketing briefs at our disposal. You don't have to do them all, which is why we believe in first setting a strategy and then building customized solutions to meet that strategy. We never just toss resumes and LI profiles out there and hope something sticks!

(Stay tuned for Part II.)

Before You Toss That Recruiter Out the Window...

We've written pretty extensively about the strained relations that often go on between recruiters and job seekers. (See That Recruiter Is Just Not That Into You and Tired of Recruiter Mismatch on LinkedIn?) It's certainly no secret that the two groups often find themselves on different planets. To reiterate this point, I recently came across this infographic by MedReps.com that sums up the situation quite nicely.

The typical response I've been hearing lately by many job seekers is that they find recruiters just too frustrating to deal with, so understandably their reaction is to give up trying.  

But before you toss that recruiter out the window...

The problem is that social recruiting is on the rise. Big time. This means that avoiding recruiters altogether could be a hindrance in your career progression simply because you are cutting off a viable job search method (I advocate for a diverse job search approach that uses several different methods to create "pipelines"). Furthermore, recruiters can be a great pipeline, particularly when you aren't in active job search mode as they can bring opportunities to you.

In the past, it didn't take much effort to cultivate these pipelines with recruiters, particularly in the technical arena where jobs were aplenty and many professionals were recruited away from one company to another without even really needing a resume. Today, however, the field is much more chaotic and, frankly, confusing (at ITtechExec, we call it a "zoo").

The biggest issue I find has to do with misalignment or mismatching of the job seeker with external recruiters. It's no longer about talking to a recruiter who is located near you or near the area you want to move to. You need to know the areas he or she specializes in, the typical companies he or she recruits for, and the geographic regions. (Executive recruiting isn't all that local anymore.)

 Recruiter matching is important to starting the relationship off right...

 It's one reason why we've been encouraging our technical members to use Recruiter Matching. By building an extensive network of technical recruiters, our concierge Job Search Agent can vet the ones she sees as most valuable to our member and his or her goals. She can also help our members set up longer term communications with the recruiters who are most responsive to our member.  

So be careful not to toss them all out just yet...

Make sure you have been properly matched or aligned first, and then build engagements with the ones who seem the most interested in keeping the dialogue going.

See, Techies, Strong Writing Skills Can Lead to Better Pay

I've harped on this before, and for good reason. Our writing skills matter perhaps more than ever in today's "remote" working age, and they are especially important for the technical professional. This infographic from Grammarly shows how writing skills can equate to your bottomline: your salary.

Having worked with IT, engineering, manufacturing, telecom, medical device, pharma, project management, and just about every science/technology candidate there is, I can tell you that writing skills are in high demand. The one on the team who can write well (or at least better than the rest) always finds a seat at the table. Period. End of story.

Sadly, the reason is because for too long the sciences/tech fields have pushed off writing skills as a low priority, forgetting that much of the results that are produced from their development efforts must be documented and well written in order to be understood properly.

So while you are busy running around paying for that next fancy cert or advanced degree, be careful not to forget good old-fashioned writing skills in the mix. It might just be more of a salary driver than you think.