Career Advice with Maggie: College students searching for a job!

Posted by Maggie Mistal

Every other week, Maggie Mistal our radio channel's career consultant AND host of "Making a Living," will answer all your burning job and career related questions! To ask Maggie a question, email her at coaching@maggiemistal.com or ask your question in the comments section below. Also, tune in to her show, today at 4:00 pm ET on Sirius 112 and XM 157.

Hi Maggie,

I'm a junior business major in college and I'm really concerned about finding a job when I graduate from school. Can you give me some tips on how I can start preparing myself now so that I'm not scrambling for a job after I finish school?

Undergrad Sierra

You're smart to get started early Sierra. For experienced job seekers the average job search takes 4.5 months. To best prepare for landing a job, put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes. Their biggest problem is finding qualified candidates who can hit the ground running. (Read more in this recent study.) As a college student, you need to gain experience and the best way to do that - an internship!

While in college I did an internship during my junior year, forgoing the spring semester to spend "busy-season" working full-time at accounting firm Arthur Andersen. It was a challenge to focus on interviewing and working full-time while my friends enjoyed a laid-back college lifestyle. It was an intense experience but I secured a job for when I graduated.

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Career Change to Fit a Life Change

Posted by Maggie Mistal

It’s easier to believe something is possible when you see someone else has already done it. Recently on Making a Living, I featured the career change success story of Dorit Zeevi-Farrington. A career woman making close to seven figures, Dorit and her husband made the decision to go into business together after the birth of their daughter. For working parents and business professionals looking to have a successful career and quality time with family, Dorit had this advice to share:

Priorities change and you can align your career to match. For Dorit and her husband, starting a family meant a greater commitment to spending quality time together. By creating their own business, Manhattan Steamboat Company, Dorit and her husband got more control over their time and a fun way to make a living. If you feel your priorities have changed and want to align them with your career like Dorit, take the assessment in my recent post on work values.

Play to your strengths when partnering. In their business, Dorit takes care of client service, contracts, catering and all the financial aspects of the business. Her husband captains the boats and crew. It’s a partnership that works in business like in life because their skills complement one another. And believe me it shows! I had the pleasure of sailing on their boat, the Star of America for a post-wedding party my husband and I put on for our New York friends and family (see photo on below).

Don’t Find Time, Make time. Even with their own business, Dorit realized she had to set boundaries between work and home. So everyday she makes time to pick up her daughter at school, have dinner together and help with homework. Though it was challenging to slow down given her Type-A personality, Dorit doesn’t allow work to interfere with this quality mother-daughter time.

You might be feeling as if work demands are keeping you from life moments too important to miss. Don't ignore your real priorities but rather incorporate them into your career plan. In the long-run, real success depends on your performance both at work and at home. For more career tips, advice and ideas, tune into Making a Living today at 4pm EST (1pm PST)! I'll be joined by the authors of "Working For You Isn't Working For Me."

Photo credit: Pat Stegner

Career Advice with Maggie: Asking for a raise!

Posted by Maggie Mistal

Every other week, Maggie Mistal our radio channel's career consultant AND host of "Making a Living," will answer all your burning job and career related questions! To ask Maggie a question, email her at coaching@maggiemistal.com or ask your question in the comments section below. Also, tune in to her show, today at 4:00 pm ET on Sirius 112 and XM 157.

 

Dear Maggie,

I feel that I've done a really excellent job at my company over the past year, and I'd like to ask for a raise. However, I feel guilty about bringing it up to my boss because of the today's economic troubles. How can I approach my boss in such a way that I come off as a deserving hard worker-- and not a greedy employee?

Sincerely,
Deserving Dan

Regarding the raise, I want to first address your mindset around asking. It will not help your cause if you feel guilty, selfish or greedy for asking to be compensated for your hard work. Such feelings will not yield productive results. We are all deserving to be paid for the value we provide. So do this very important homework BEFORE approaching your boss and ask for that raise:

Get the big picture on the financial health of your employer. To get a context for the possibility of a raise, understand the financial state of your employer. If you work for a public company, quarterly earnings reports/calls are publicly available and can be found the company home page. For a privately-owned company, take notice of recent management activity for clues to the state of the company coffers. Overall take the pulse of your firm. Has your company held frequent emergency meetings, cut expenses, and missed earnings projections over the past year or has the firm delivered consistent profits? If your company has done well throughout the recession, there is a better chance for your raise, but if your employer has not faired well all is not lost.

Make your business case. Why should your boss give you a raise? Write down all your successes and accomplishments, be ready to explain your excellent year. Highlight goals that you've met, projects you completed on time and on budget, clients that you brought in, excellent customer service you delivered, innovative ideas that you contributed, etc. Quantify your successes. Make note of direct or indirect ways that your accomplishments helped to cut or save costs, build or maintain sales, support or further customer relationships. You need to make the financial tie of your efforts to the company's bottom-line for your boss to see the reasoning for a raise.

Recently my client took initiative to renegotiate with a long-standing vendor and saved the company more than $ $1 million in costs. Talk about directly improving the bottom line. But even if you're not at the million mark, any dollar savings or revenues you can point to will help your boss see why your raise is justified.

Just ask. Even if the financial picture of your employer is more red than black, make your case to the boss anyway. Be understanding if you hear, "Sorry but we just can't right now" but also be proud of yourself for asking for what you want. You gain people's respect when you respectfully make the case for why you deserve it. This art of being assertive is a muscle that needs to be flexed to get stronger. If you get the raise, great! If you don't get it, at least your boss is well aware that not only have you accomplished a lot for the organization but you also have a logical, reasonable bottom-line understanding of how you're contributing to the company. That is value your career can bank on!

Get more tips from my video on how to ask for a raise and tune into Making a Living today to get your career questions answered. I'll be busting a common myth that only the lucky few land ideal jobs. Join the conversation and weigh in on whether you feel it's self-indulgent or naive to think you can find work you love. A career woman turned working mom also joins me to share her compelling career change story from high-powered executive to momprenuer! - Maggie

Don't Just Job Hunt -- Find Your Next Job

Posted by Maggie Mistal

A job hunt can seem daunting especially in a difficult economy. However, with so much support available, there's no reason to go it alone. Today on Morning Living with Kim & Betsy, I shared some of my recommended job search resources. In case you missed it or want to learn more, here are the highlights:

Indeed.com -- an aggregator of job postings, Indeed compiles millions of jobs from thousands of websites across various fields, industries and geographies. It even captures job trends so you can see which locations and fields offer the most opportunity.

Quintcareers.com -- over 4,000 pages of free career content including tips on resumes, cover letters and my favorite job interview questions database complete with sample responses! I'll be participating in the 2nd Annual Job Action Day with Quintessential Careers on November 2nd! Stay tuned for more info in it.

How to Ace a Job Interview (video) -- If you've got an interview coming up, it may be your only chance to persuade a prospective employer to hire you. Learn what you can do to effectively prepare in this video from a series of how-to career videos I created on topics including how to land a job in a recession.

What's been your latest job hunting experience? Have you been looking for a job for some time? Did you have success recently landing a new job? How did you do it? If you have comments or resources to share, I'd love to hear them so we can all benefit. Find more job hunting resources on resumes, cover letters and flexible career options on my career advice website and tune into Making a Living today at 4pm EST. You'll be inspired by my guest Carolyn Jones -- who is making a living making a difference helping those with breast cancer. Her socially-minded PRVCY (pronounced "privacy") brand has contributed hundreds of thousands to breast cancer causes and her jeans can be seen on celebrities including Jessica Alba!

Career Advice with Maggie: How to help a friend who is miserable with their job.

Posted by Maggie Mistal

Every other week, Maggie Mistal, our radio channel's career consultant AND host of "Making a Living," will answer all your burning job and career related questions! To ask Maggie a question, email her at coaching@maggiemistal.com or ask your question in the comments section below. Also, tune in to her show, today at 4:00 pm ET on Sirius 112 and XM 157.

Dear Maggie,

I have a friend who is absolutely miserable at his current job. He constantly complains about the hours, his boss, his line of work-- everything! However, he hasn't made any plans to change his work situation-- and I think he really should. How can I encourage my friend to make some changes in his life without sounding pushy? Are there any resources I can direct him to so that he can figure out what he would be happier doing?

Friend of Joe's

Its great that you care enough about your friend Joe to want to help. I find however that people need to be ready, willing and able to make a career change in order for it to take hold. Otherwise, your "help" may not be much appreciated or effective -- and next thing you know you'll both be complaining.

Ultimately its Joe's responsibility to take control of his career and no amount of prodding from you will make him change. What I suggest is asking Joe if he'd like help with his career or if he'd just prefer to vent. Tell him that as his friend, it's hard for you to see him so unhappy and that you'd like to help if he's open to it. I've found that just offering is enough of a "wake-up call" for many people to stop complaining and start doing something to fix their work situations. For me, I complained for a full two years before I finally left my consulting career to pursue coaching. No one prodded me or pushed me but my now-husband did put my initials in the corner of a career book next to the chapter on complaining. Until that point, I didn't even realize I had become so unbearable to be around. Joe probably doesn't realize it either. Be a friend and offer help but let Joe take charge of his career in his own time. If any of you reading this are thinking you have a lot in common with Joe, watch my video on How to Know When to Quit Your Job and join me on Making a Living today at 4 pm EST to get the help you need to move your career forward.

Photo courtesy of Jamie Atlas.

If you ever need to persuade anyone about anything…

Posted by Maggie Mistal

No man or woman is an island when it comes to career success. If you want to reach your goals and overcome obstacles, you will need to persuade others to help you. How do you get people's attention when they're already overwhelmed by work and family demands, buzzing blackberries, and economic malaise? Just listen. This is a topic I discussed today with Terri Trespicio on "Whole Living."

According to Dr. Mark Goulston, psychiatrist, executive coach and former FBI negotiation trainer, the secret to getting through to absolutely anyone is to just listen. I recently interviewed Dr. Goulston about his new book of the same title on my radio show, "Making a Living." If you missed it, I suggest you pick up a copy of Just Listen -- it's full of techniques to get through to hard-to-reach people in work and in life.

Here are my favorite insights:

The Power of hmmm. If you've ever dealt with a boss, client or coworker who's in meltdown mode, you know that telling them to calm down only makes things worse. Rather Dr. Goulston suggests saying "hmmm" in response. It commits you to nothing yet still shows the other person you are listening. It helps to mitigate rather than escalate an already difficult situation.

Just listen really means just care. When you take a sincere interest in someone, it builds a more solid relationship. When people feel you've heard them and understand them, they are more apt to return the favor.

Keep your emotions under control. Getting defensive and emotional in an already heated exchange only adds fuel to the fire. It's crucial that you stay calm to have any influence at all. It's when we are calm, cool and collected that our brains are able to operate at a higher function and not just fight or flight.

You don't need to be psychiatrist to get people to listen to you but you will have more influence if you take Dr. Goulston's advice to heart.

Photo courtesy of Simplified Signs.

Career Advice with Maggie: Are work sabbaticals a good thing?

Posted by Maggie Mistal

Every other week, Maggie Mistal our radio channel's career consultant AND host of "Making a Living," will answer all your burning job and career related questions! To ask Maggie a question, email her at coaching@maggiemistal.com or ask your question in the comments section below. Also, tune in to her show, today at 4:00 pm ET on Sirius 112 and XM 157.

Dear Maggie,

Recently I found out that a good friend is taking a sabbatical. I’d love to go along as it’s always been my dream to travel. I’m in a good job though and would have to resign to take time off. I don’t want to regret not going but am scared I won’t have a job to come back to, what should I do?

Sincerely,
Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

Taking a sabbatical does not preclude you from finding a job when you return. In fact, the skills you learn while on sabbatical such as a new language or contacts you make while traveling can lead to job opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Look at the facts: your experience, credentials and network -- these don’t go away just because you take a few months off. Besides for my clients who’ve gone on sabbatical they’ve found that hiring managers are intrigued by their travels. They end up having great interview conversations because most people dream of taking this kind of trip.

As the quote says, “Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.” If you’re ready to create yourself and your career in a way that is true to who you are, what you value, your skills, strengths, talents, interests then taking some extended time off may be just what you need. For more tips on taking a sabbatical (even if you’ve been laid-off), read my "Travel to Boost Your Career" blog post. - Maggie

Becoming a Career Power Couple

Posted by Maggie Mistal

In case you missed it, last week on Making a Living, I interviewed Mark and Lu Samu, a husband and wife team who've found success by pooling their talents and going into business together. Their partnership (Mark is an architectural photographer and Lu is an interior designer) has netted two books,"Can't Fail Room Makeovers" and"Paint Saves the Day" and a third is on the way. Many listeners to my show have shared their desire to start a business with their spouse. If this sounds like you, follow these tips to create a successful working relationship with your significant other:

Respect each other's talents. To best set up your partnership, write out your complimentary strengths and set up your business in a way that plays to both of your talents. For Mark and Lu, that meant Mark's focus was on marketing and promotion as well as photography. Lu's creative talents enabled her to inspire the many home improvement projects captured in their books. Mark and Lu were very clear that they see value in the other's skills and wouldn't be a successful team without their combined efforts.

Keep your ego out of it. One of the benefits of working with your spouse is that you can be honest about what's working and what's not. According to Lu, she finds Mark's feedback on her work invaluable. The two trust each other's opinions and rather than get defensive, appreciate the role that honest feedback plays in creating the best outcome.

Define expectations upfront. In my own experience working with family, I've found it best to be as upfront as possible about what's expected from each person in the partnership. Setting boundaries around the working relationship can also help maintain a strong personal connection as well. It was clear from talking with Mark and Lu that their working relationship meets their individual career needs and goals as well which is crucial for long-term success.

We didn't have time to discuss it during the show, but I was able to see Mark and Lu's creative talents firsthand. They met me at my home before the show and gave my husband and I a few great redesign ideas for our small NYC apartment. Seeing those two at work, solidified for me that partnership between spouses can yield greater results that one could achieve alone. If you have career couple advice and questions, please share them below.

And tune into Making a Living today at 4pm EST (1pm PST) to learn all about the social networking tool Twitter and how it can give a boost to your career!

Career Advice with Maggie: A Stay-At-Home Mom Hits a Career Crossroad

Posted by Maggie Mistal

Every other week, Maggie Mistal our radio channel's career consultant AND host of "Making a Living," will answer all your burning job and career related questions! To ask Maggie a question, email her at coaching@maggiemistal.com or ask your question in the comments section below. Also, tune in to her show, today at 4:00 pm ET.

Hi Maggie,

I've always enjoyed listening to your show on Martha Stewart Radio and find myself emailing you today for some advice. I'm currently a stay-at-home mom, a former full-time graphic designer. I'm at a crossroads as I've just completed a several year term as PTA President at my children's school. With that commitment finished I'm at a point where I need to decide what I want to "be" now. I still enjoy graphic design however am considering pursuing other fields that might be a better fit for where I am currently in life. Where do I start?

Thanks,
Mom @ Crossroads

Photo courtesy of The Stay at Home Mother.

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What Kind of Networker are You?

Posted by Maggie Mistal

Last week on Making a Living, I polled listeners to see what kind of networking strategy they use. Click here to take the survey yourself. I found out that I was a behind-the-scenes networker and it's best for me to identify a few key people I already know who will be attending an event. That way, I not only get to hang out with friends (which I enjoy as a behind-the-scenes networker) but am also able make new connections beyond who I know. Diane Danielson of DowntownWomensclub.com joined me on Making a Living to share her survey and more networking tips. For instance, Diane recommends showing up early to an event - it's a great way to connect with the event host before the crowds arrive.

This week, if you tuned in to Making a Living you got a behind-the scenes look at the Martha Stewart TV show. One of the show's producers, Lenore Welby, shared what her day is like, where she gets inspiration, and how you can be on the show.