Simply Hired Blog

7 Steps to a Fulfilling Career Doing What You Love

Job seekers limit their possibilities by focusing on the job they want, rather than how they want to contribute to the world. Once you figure out how you want to contribute, you’ll discover that many paths will give you the skills, credibility and contacts you need to succeed.

Here are six steps to take to broaden the scope of your search and land the gig that will not only pay the bills but will also put you on the path to long-term success.

1. Figure out your mission.

Forget about where you are now, and even where you’ll be in one, five or 10 years. Who do you want to BE? Don’t worry about the exact job you’ll have. Focus on how you can use your strengths to create value for people. 

2. Write down the existing barriers to fulfilling your mission.

If your mission is to be a fiction author, your barriers might be “Writing an outstanding novel” and “Getting my novel discovered by publishers and the public.” Going forward, frame all of your decisions with this question: Does this address one of my barriers?

3. Research 10 people who have already have the kind of career that you want.

Make a spreadsheet and note the steps each person took to success. Pay attention to the different paths that can lead to the outcome you want. It’s certain that there are more paths than you thought. It’s also certain that all of the paths require hard work. This technique is also a valuable way to validate your mission, even if no one among your friends and family understands what you want to do and why.

4. Identify the specific skills, credentials and relationships that are necessary to overcome the barriers to achieve your mission.

Your research will come in handy here. How did your 10 people go about acquiring the skills, credentials and relationships that made them successful? 

5. Spend time with people who are more successful than you at doing what you want to do.

You only have so much time to do networking. It’s tempting to spend that time hanging out with other “strugglers” or job-seekers. While there is a time and place for the emotional support that these people can provide, focus your networking efforts on events where you will meet people who are ahead of you on the path. They’re the ones who can inspire, teach and hire you.

6. Be friendly and generous and seek to give before you get.

In order to spend time with those big wigs, you’ll need to show some value. One easy and hugely undervalued kind of value is being genuinely and enthusiastically friendly. That doesn’t mean you should be a sycophant; an understated compliment and thoughtful question goes much further.

If an opportunity presents itself, ask if you can buy coffee or lunch for one of your contacts. Let the premise be only advice. Rest assured, if you make a great impression, your contact will help you out. By resisting the desire to ask for a favor, you actually make your contact feel more generous for having initiated the offer.

7. Introduce yourself “as if” you are that which you aspire to be.

The moment you say, “I’m looking for …” or “I’m an aspiring …” the person you’re speaking with will begin to lose interest. You’ve set up your entire value as a person as something that exists in the future. What can you do for me right now?

Introduce yourself in a way that reflects your mission. Stay grounded in the present. Don’t exaggerate and don’t lie but start to see yourself now as the person you are becoming. Once the conversation gets going, you’ll have the opportunity to elaborate on where you are in your journey.

Post written by Taylor Jacobson, leadership and personal development coach and blogger at 21 Switchbacks, a community of thoughtful people committed to creating remarkable lives. Get instant access to 10 Resources To Change Your Mind & Life. Are you living your potential yet?

Related articles

Six Rules for Job Search and Career Development

4 Tips to Go from Job Seeker to Employed

3 Steps to Set Yourself Up for Success After Being Laid Off

When you’re comfortably employed the last thing on your mind is looking for a new job. Being laid off almost always comes as a shock. It can be a confidence-shaking experience and can overwhelm even the most confident individuals. The first thing to do is remain calm. While it may seem that it’s the end of everything you have worked for, it’s definitely not.

If you do find yourself laid off, don’t panic. By following some of our advice below you’ll help make sure you’re set up for success in your upcoming job search.

1.

Remember to be polite and open with your human resources team. Ask for their assistance to find an alternative job. Many companies provide this service to employees, and if they do, take advantage of it. Being laid off can be not only a personal blow, but it can make a dent in your resume. Speak to your human resources department about potentially portraying your layoff as a voluntary departure. They may also be able to assist with accessing support services, such as advice on your resume and interview assistance. 

Your own mental well being is important to take into consideration as well. Give yourself time to get used to what has happened and address the issues that may have led to your departure. Talk to those closest to you. Friends and family are great sources of ideas and support as you begin to reassess your career. 

2. 

Make sure you work out your finances. You may be given a severance package, and if so you will need to ensure that you organize your finances accordingly so it lasts for the duration of your unemployment (which may be a few months). Find out about what benefits, such as healthcare, you are entitled to promptly so you can effectively organize your finances.

Start discretely letting friends and colleagues know that you are in the market for a new job. If you have built up professional contacts throughout your tenure at an entry-level job, take advantage of those contacts by approaching individuals to gauge any opportunities at their companies. You will most likely want to do this with a small group at first before changing your work status on professional networking sites in order to control your message. 

 3.

Make a list of your greatest accomplishments. This will not only help you with your interviews, it will boost your confidence when you see them on paper just how good you look. If you need to, ask family, friends, and colleagues to help you define your achievements. Once you have a list, highlight the accomplishments that gave you the most personal satisfaction.

Ask yourself where you want to be in 10, or 15 years, and consider whether a change in career direction is something to consider. Start by matching your greatest achievements to the career options available. This may prompt you to take your entry-level job search in a new direction.

The best advice given in this stressful situation is to stay calm, remain positive, keep networking, and, no matter how tempting, never burn your bridges. Getting let go from your job may actually lead you to your dream job, so always keep your head up. 

Sean Little is the VP of Marketing for FirstJob.com. FirstJob specializes in connecting the brightest college students and recent graduates to quality internship and entry-level opportunities via social tools and a curated database of jobs. Sean’s passions are music, travel, and, of course, helping college grads start their professional journey.  

Related articles

Six Rules for Job Search and Career Development

4 Tips to Go from Job Seeker to Employed

5 Jobs in the Customer Service Department of the Future

Customer service employment used mean one thing: picking up the phone, documenting customer issues, then resolving them. Today, companies increasingly view the support department as an engine for driving customer loyalty, retention and brand advocacy. As such, they need more varied talent to lead customer service innovation, and technology is at the forefront of these changes.

Recently, I rallied experts from some of the top customer service technology companies to help me define how these changes could impact job prospects. They helped me devise these five positions for the customer service department of the future. We also came up with skills job seekers should brush up to stay ahead of the curve, and land one of these next-generation support positions.

Mobile Support App Manager

The role will emerge because the day is fast approaching when most customer-company interactions will happen on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. The Mobile Support App Manager would act much like a product manager, but exclusively for the support application. They would work with internal or external developers to optimize the user experience for all of the company’s customers.

If analytics showed one feature is used more than another, for example, they might try featuring it more prominently on the app home screen. Or maybe they’d work to refine speech recognition for that function. 

Skills: Mobile app development, project management, data analytics, user experience design

Customer Communities Strategist

The individual in this role would continually mine for popular topics in call center notes, as well as review Web analytics data to assess which articles in the self-service community garner the most traffic. At the same time, they would also moderate content created by the customer community and facilitate the sharing of this user-generated material. 

I see this position emerging out of the growing recognition that traditional marketing is becoming less effective, and companies need customers to advocate to their friends and social networks. For that to happen, Customer Service and Marketing must align, and the Customer Communities Strategist would be in charge of steering this alignment. Creating and managing helpful content is the centerpiece of this process.

Skills: Writing, journalism, social media analytics, web analytics

Natural Language Processing Developer

The person in this role would help ensure the right answer is found no matter how or where the question is asked–whether it’s typed in a search box on a webpage, in a chat session, or spoken to an interactive voice response (IVR) system. 

“Companies are evolving their customer service titles to highlight the fact that employees are empowered and accountable to resolve requests quickly,” Diana Koenig, vice president of strategic programs for Monster Global Customer Service, told me recently.

This requires sophisticated algorithms that can process natural language to find the answer. This person would need to constantly analyze query success rates to identify subject areas that still need refining. 

Skills: software configurations, data analytics, project management 

Social Service Success Czar

The Social Service Success Czar would ensure social customer service efficiency, while keeping an eye out for opportunities to market support interactions. In order to respond effectively, companies have to use social listening technology. This person would work to refine keyword identifiers that tell these systems what signals a customer service message. 

If the contact center suddenly gets an influx of calls about a particular product, for example, the coordinator would want to start listening for combinations of that word and “help,” “broken,” “angry” and so on. If a Twitter user responded with a glowing “thank you, I will tell my friends!” that person might hand off the interaction to marketing for promotional uses.

Skills: Social media management, writing, content marketing, data analytics

Remote Call Center Director

The individual in this role would oversee the virtual call center — a network of customer service agents that work off-site (typically from home). This person would decide when and how to interact with these individuals, monitor their performance, and adjust the size of the team as needed. During peak communication cycles, for example, the Remote Call Center Director might increase the number of agents on duty. 

This person would also consistently comb through key performance metrics to identify weak spots. If they noticed one remote agent lagging behind their cohorts, they could start monitoring calls and provide additional training. 

Skills: Management, project management, data analytics, training

Bio: Ashley Verrill is a CRM software analyst for Software Advice, as well as the managing editor for the Customer Service Investigator blog. She has spent the last seven years reporting and writing business news and strategy features. Her work has been published or cited in Inc., Forbes, the Upstart Business Journal, the Austin Business Journal and the North Bay Business Journal. She also produces original research-based reports and video content with industry experts and thought leaders.

Small Talk Topics To Avoid

This post is the follow up to The Art of American Small Talk.

In my previous post I discussed how important it is to build your small talk skills thereby enabling you to quickly build personal connections with others. However, it is important that you realize how easily one can destroy these new relationships.

Every country has different faux pas topics that you need to avoid. 

 

Any of these topics are inappropriate small talk topics to discuss with Americans:

• Money
• Sex
• Politics
• Religion
• Family Problems (i.e. divorce)
• Death
• Economic Problems
• Terrorism & War

For example, in India it is common to ask “How’s the health of your family?” This question would not be well-received in the States, as that kind of “intimate” question would be deemed inappropriate.

Money is a touchy topic and you need to treat it delicately. In some countries it is very common to ask, “How much do you make?” However, if you ask an American that question it is considered rude and offensive. Like family matters, we tend to keep things closer to the vest.

Sex is another topic highlights the American feeling on impropriety.  What may be easily, casually discussed in a European country, for example, would cause an Americana to blush. You might be noticing the general theme of the American idea of “personal” information.  We tend not to share this information in a first meeting, so topics like sex, family problems, divorce and death are not mentioned. It may be confusing to see “politics” on the list as well, because you likely hear people talking about politics quite often.

However, I exclude it from the list of small talk topics because it can very easily lead to an argument. Discussion of economic matters and opinions could lead to a similar outcome. Imagine, for example, that you happen to love the President and his policies, and the person you are talking to cannot stand him. Sparks will fly. The same applies to religion: with such a variety and intensity of opinions regarding religion, it is best to just leave the subject along in an initial small talk session.

If someone else brings up one of these topics, then it is your job to steer the conversation in another direction. The last thing you want is a feeling of negativity, and it is better to make the conversation slightly awkward for a moment than to fall into a tense discussion of an uncomfortable topic.  Remember, the goal of your conversation is to build that connection where eventually can lead to a job, not a shouting match.

I believe that the hardest part of a conversation is having the courage to start it. It is intimidating to have to open with an engaging, interesting topic. Of course, that’s usually the first thing that people forget when they are nervous. So if you tend to have trouble doing that, I’d suggest trying each of these conversation openers:

• “Hi, I’m new to (city name) and am looking for amazing new experience this weekend. Do you have any suggestions?” (works even if you have lived there for 10 years)
• “Did you do/like/dislike the reading we had to do?” (for students)
• “Did you hear about…?” (refer to a recent event most will have knowledge about)
• “Do you know____________?” (make a connection with a mutual acquaintance)
• “Do you always get the same drink?” (coffee shop introduction)         
• “I like your shirt/hat/sweater/shoes, etc.  Where did you get them?” (everyone loves compliments)

Find out which works best for you and reuse it. I strongly believe in Pareto’s principle and know that 20% of the things I say to start a conversation will lead to 80% of my success. So today I want you to try out as many of these as you can and figure out which works best for you. Set a personal goal to talk to 20 people.

Then I want to hear how your tests go! Leave a comment below with your favorite opening line!

Michael Miller is the author of 4 Weeks To Your American Dream Job and the founder of Culture Adapt, a career education and consulting firm focused on international business people who are eager to work in the USA.

Resume Mistakes that will Destroy your Job Application

I know exactly what you are thinking. “Destroy” is a very strong word to use when talking about something like resume mistakes. Well, you are right. But that doesn’t make it any less accurate. In today’s job market, making just one error on your resume could very easily ruin your chances at a job that you may actually be a great candidate for.

With the amount of time you could spend looking for the right jobs to apply for, avoiding the following common mistakes is vital.

1. A Confusing or Ugly Format.

So you’re thinking to yourself, “It’s not the presentation that matters. It’s the content, right?” While the logical answer to that questions might be “yes,” the real world answer is “no.” It may strike you as strange, but a visually appealing resume format can often be the thing that gets your resume read in the first place. Think about it like this: if you had a huge stack of resumes on your desk, would you be more likely to pick up the easy-to-read, well-formatted one, or the confusing one? Exactly! A good rule to work by is to create your resume in sections, keeping the information clean and organized. No confusing formats, no fancy borders, no fonts below 10 point. Just keep it simple! 

2. Grammatical Errors and Typos. 

Nothing will destroy your chances at an interview faster than a typo or grammatical error on your resume or cover letter. Most hiring managers will stop reading as soon as they reach one of these ugly little mistakes. Not only does it show your lack of written communication skills, it also tells them that you don’t really care about the job. So before sending in that job application, make sure to have a couple people proofread your resume for mistakes.

 3. An Unprofessional Email Address.

Paintballer23@gmail.com. HottieAnne143@aol.com. HeatFan3@yahoo.com. These may be fine when you’re shooting emails back and forth with friends and family, but using them as your contact information on a resume is an easily avoidable mistake that many people make when applying for a job. Email addresses like these will make you look immature, which is the last thing you want to be associated with when you are applying for a job. So before sending out your resume, create a new, professional looking email address that contains just your first and last name.

4. Too Many Duties. Not Enough Accomplishments.

Don’t fall into the common resume trap of spending too much space listing job duties and not enough space describing accomplishments. Of course it’s nice to tell possible employers that you can manage the office. But it’s even better to show them how your office management skills led to increased departmental efficiency that saved the company money. Or maybe you’re a salesman with experience managing territories. Great! But if you can show statistics that prove how much you increased revenue in your territory since taking it over, that might just blow a hiring manager away.

5. Droning On and On.

There are many different opinions when it comes to resume length. Some say it should never be longer than a single page. Some say more pages are fine, as long as they are necessary to accurately show all of your skills. From my experience, resumes should be one clean page. The major exception to this rule is if you are an extremely experienced applicant applying for an executive job. But don’t worry. In almost all circumstances, you can get all of your necessary information across in one page. Just remember, your resume exists to get you interviews, not tell your whole life story.

Ian Matthew is a professional resume writer at Money Resumes, a cutting-edge resume writing service that specializes in creating custom documents that lead to more job interviews for their clients. Their affordable services include: resumes, cover letters, thank you letters, LinkedIn profiles, resume distribution, and more.