“There are always opportunities for people who have creative ideas about cutting cost or increasing revenue”
At least that’s what the head of global CEO search at Russell Reynolds told the WSJ in a recent interview. Great advice to keep in mind when you’re putting together a resume.  Information on revenue should rank high on the list of bullet point accomplishments.  In an  interview highlight revenue results for  your current and past employers as well as any ideas you have for your potential new employer.

Unemployment is still a dark and looming issue in this country, but as many who were hit in last years layoffs get back on their feet I read and hear more and more stories of personal reinvention and renewal.

In a recent New York Times Magazine, former Editor in Chief of Conde Nast’s House & Garden, Dominique Browning,  shares an excerpt from her new book, Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas and Found Happiness, in which she  details the downward spiral she took after the dissolution of the magazine and ultimately the positive impact it had on her life and her quest for happiness.

The article is witty and anyone who has lost a job they loved will relate to her subsequent confusion and depression.

“Being unemployed is a lot like being depressed. You know how there are millions (O.K., a handful) of things you swear you would do if you only had the time? Now that I had all the time in the world — except for the hours during which I was looking for work — to read, write, watch birds, travel, play minor-key nocturnes, have lunch with friends, train a dog, get a dog, learn to cook, knit a sweater, iron the napkins and even the sheets, I had absolutely no energy for any of it. It made no difference that music and books and nature had long been the mainstays of my spirit. Just thinking about them exhausted me. I had absolutely zero experience in filling weeks — what if it became years? — with activity of my own choosing. Being unemployed meant being unoccupied, literally. I felt hollow.”

The hollowness and depression that Browning talks about is a common theme in the conversations I’ve had with the unemployed over the past year and a half. I’ve written in the past on how losing a job sends people into the same grief cycle as losing a loved one or a relationship. Browning herself mentions the process being much like a divorce.

But the important note to take from the piece (and from her book, I presume, too) is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for many and it often only comes after the introspection associated with cycling through the phases of grief and despair that come with loss.

The article is worth a read as is her website (if you enjoyed House & Garden, you’ll enjoy this too.)

With things starting to look up in the new year, many employees who have been too fearful to change jobs in the fluctuating economy of 2009 are beginning to pursue new opportunities. Instead of fearing how to handle being fired, executives are confused as to how they should resign.

Recently the Wall Street Journal published an article with tips on resigning on good terms. According to the story, 60% of employees say they intend to leave their jobs when the economy improves. That’s a staggering amount of people who will be turning in their letter of resignation. The WSJ offers some good advice on maintaining good relations with your ex employer and some more obvious tips like, um, don’t steal office supplies on your way out. Here are some of the highlights:

“Make an appointment. “Be formal and make an appointment with your boss,” recommends Tanya Maslach, a San Diego, Calif., career expert who specializes in relationship management issues. “Prepare what you want to say. Be direct and engaging—and be transparent,” Ms. Maslach says. She also recommends offering to help make the transition easier; ask your boss how you can best do that. After the discussion, put your resignation in a hard-copy letter that includes your last day and any transitional help you’ve offered.

• Stay close. Consider joining an employee alumni association, which often serves as a networking group for former employees. It can be a good way to keep up with changes in the company and industry—and find leads to new jobs down the road. Keep in touch with coworkers you worked closely with; they may end up in management roles.

• Be honest but remain positive. Be helpful during the exit interview but keep responses simple and professional. Don’t use the session to lay blame or rant about coworkers, bosses or the workplace.

• Scrub your digital footprint. Clear your browser cache, remove passwords to Web sites you use from work, such as your personal email or online bank account and delete any personal files on your work computer that aren’t relevant to work. Don’t delete anything work related if you’re required to keep it.”

What shouldn’t you do when resigning? You probably shouldn’t tweet that you’re leaving before you turn it that letter of resignation. Yesterday, Jonathan Schwartz, now former CEO of Sun Microsystems, tendered his resignation in the form of a Twitter haiku saying “Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more.”

An original and very post modern way to quit, to say the least. But today’s Media Post Online Daily Newsletter references Schwartz’s resignation in a cautionary article on using social networking in the workplace, citing more companies cracking down on employee’s web chatter with rules and regulations regarding any company information. In other words, be careful what you tweet.

As the months since the Recession began have rolled by, more and more of the laid off executives who contribute to Wall Street Journal’s Laid off and Looking column have transitioned into the alumni category after finding new work. But today’s guest writer is still working on it and in fact he’s using the mistakes he’s made to construct a more effective plan instead of growing discouraged. Instead of hearing advice about what to do and how to do it, here’s one smart guy who admits he didn’t know what he was doing (something many can relate to), but he’s working on it and in a unique and ultimately gratifying way.

Stan Kaczmarek is an environmental engineering guy. He worked for years at Johnson and Johnson as well as Exxon and at one time owned his own environmental consulting firm. He is the kind of person who wants to make a difference in the world but his first three attempts at acheiving success at it failed.

Here’s what happened:

“On the first path I decided to write a book to fulfill a lifelong dream: making a difference with words that inspire. But it soon became apparent that no publisher would even consider what I was writing unless I already had a platform as a recognized expert and leader — family and former co-workers did not count.

I also began seeking a senior-level environmental position in traditional environmental fields, as well as in a new area I had become adept at: engineering sustainable products for the green marketplace. But companies looking for senior environmental staff either delayed their hiring or couldn’t decide what role they wanted to play in the green economy.

Lastly, though I had initial success getting consulting assignments while waiting for one or both of the above paths to pay off, the consulting field crumbled within weeks of the market collapse.”

Sounds frustrating.

But Stan used these experiences to learn something about the industry he was trying to break into.

“I was forced to look back, re-consider what I really had to offer, balance that against what I still wanted to do, and decide how I could brand myself as significantly different than the growing crowd of writers and environmental experts. In the process I had to admit my career successes were also offset by failure, especially when it came to influencing corporate management to consider proactive approaches to the green economy. An even higher realization was that I failed in this task for the very same reason I could not get published: I lacked a media platform, a powerful voice and a uniquely crafted message. All three would be necessary if I was going to stand above the din.”

So how is Stan overcoming these failures and finding that voice? By blogging of course. He started two. One that focuses on the environment and one about unemployment and his personal journey. He is using the platform to talk about both his passion and career goal as well as his personal thoughts, thus humanizing his digital persona and allowing him to engage with readers and his target audience in a more collaborative way. He is not talking at his audience, but rather conversing with them. These things are key in social media and particularly in branding yourself. Stan seems to be on the right track.

He’s using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter of course and many other networks to get the word out about his endeavors. His guest spot in the WSJ is sure to help as well.

The lesson he has to teach others in his shoes is that he needed to learn a few new tricks and embracing this learning experience instead of fighting it is ultimately leading to success. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong and fearing new technologies, Stan embraced the fact that he needed to change his strategy and now he’s on a journey he didn’t see coming.

Check out the article, which links to Stan’s blogs, here.

With the rise in unemployment, one industry that hasn’t been hurting is outplacement. But many laid off workers whose former employers gave them an outplacement package as part of their severance find themselves still unemployed and wishing they hadn’t bothered with outplacement at all.

According to the Wall Street Journal, few outplacement firms offer statistics on success rates and most employers use outplacement for good PR, to avoid lawsuits, and to minimize unemployment insurance payments.

But not because they genuinely want to help the newly laid off?

Apparently not.

One ex-Pepsi admin assistant interviewed by the WSJ says the outplacement firm she was sent to sent out cover letters riddled with typos that she didn’t get to review. The company she applied to received a surprisingly similar letter from another ex-Pepsi job seeker, leading her to believe the firm she was sent to was pumping out templates. [See below]

To make matters worse, the interview advice she received from a coach she worked with at the firm was not to order cranberry juice because it hinted at a urinary tract infection. What?!

Two other executives who remained nameless in the article said they too were chided for interview faux pas including the “immature” choice of ordering a diet soda and not following the interviewer into the bathroom to continue a conversation.

Again…What?!

I’m sure there are exceptional outplacement firms that give individualized attention to clients and valuable career and interview advice. But for a thriving industry that’s seeing revenue growth, shouldn’t they all meet those standards and shouldn’t they have the resources to hire more and qualified employees?

If their business is to find unemployed people jobs, why don’t they hire some of their clients? Just a thought.

Read the WSJ article here.

Image links to interactive graphic on WSJ.com.

“In the aftermath of a layoff, style is critical.”

So says the Wall Street Journal, which ran a story today on revamping your style and adjusting your attitude in the wake of a job loss. One interviewee, Michael Guarini a former president of the health division at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, says he ditched his usual business casual duds and now wears formal business suits to all networking meetings, even with long time acquaintances.

Why go fancy, you may ask. Shouldn’t your skills speak for themselves? Even the Journal admits that dressing up can cause some eye brow raises and a few “I hope you didn’t wear a suit for me.” comments. But ultimately, Guarini gets noticed. He is remembered for looking polished, professional, and serious. If you’re serious about your job search, you should look the part.

The author of the article, Christina Binkley, delves into the psychological aspects of the post lay-off makeover as well, urging the unemployed to hold their tongue and not bad-mouth their former employers in a reactive rage.  This is something we’ve emphasized in former blog posts and columns as well. But no matter how logical it may seem, Binkley points out that in a state of anger and emotional distress even the most collected business person can lose their cool.

How to avoid a meltdown before it happens? It seems Binkley’s only recommendation is to take some time off before jumping into the “dating pool,” likening a lay-off to a break up. She offers some post-meltdown suggestions and ways to keep your communication direct, but in terms of skipping the damage control, taking a vacation seems to be the best answer to the problem.

This advice is certainly smart and sounds like a logical way to let emotions melt away before contacting people about your job search. But is it really realistic? Not everyone can afford to just take a few weeks off. Not to mention if you’re suddenly unemployed, what are you taking time off from? I think this refers to the job search itself, networking, etc. However, with most job searches taking months these days, stalling the inevitable with a few weeks of down time seems counter intuitive.

Other suggestions for cooling off? Talk to your spouse, your loved ones, an old friend who has nothing to do with your industry. Avoid friends in the same line of work, because as Binkley does point out, many executives think they are venting to friends in the office and then their vented frustration turns into office gossip. Talking it out is healthy and talking to someone separated from the situation will offer a different perspective and allow you to see both side of the equation. That’s what friends and loved ones are for, right?

So, blow off that steam and dust off your suit and dress shoes. A whole new, happier, more stylish you is hitting the job market.

We spend a lot of time focusing on career management in the face of lay-offs, a down economy, managing smaller staffs to do the same work, etc., etc. The working professional faces quite a mess of challenges in today’s business world. But what if you were just entering the workplace? And that workplace offered very few jobs and an overabundance of more qualified candidates than yourself. What would you be willing to do to continue on the path you imagined for yourself?

This is the plight of today’s college graduate and many college students who want summer work (or permanent work) that will set them on course for their future career. Low to no wages and few opportunities have become the norm, where previously companies offered stipends. The Wall Street Journal recently called it the curse of the class of ’09. While Gen Y might not have a mortgage to pay off or mouths to feed besides their own, their predicament merits attention as well.

This weekend the New York Times detailed the dilemma of several interns who came to NY to find work and experience despite the depressed job market and found that working for free and sleeping on floors is the only way to stay on the path they carved out for themselves.

The article follows several college students working full time unpaid, many sleeping on friends’ floors, others renting college dorm rooms and taking jobs found on Craigslist as extras in movies and video, many of which they admit turn out to be scams.

It’s certainly not the glamorous NYC life many young students and professionals expect to find. But it speaks to the determination of the generation, one that is often criticized for lacking in this area. But is this just what it takes when you’re young and trying to make it? Or is it a new product of the recession?

What odd jobs and circumstances did you find yourself in when you were starting out? Please share any stories about your salad days.

You’ve been doing everything you can to find a new job– scanning your Rolodex, going to networking events, revamping your resume, you even joined that Twitter thing. And finally you’ve got one! But before you get a chance to get your feet wet, the opportunity is swiped out from under you because of a hiring freeze or your start date is pushed back…indefinitely.

Having a job offer rescinded or withdrawn is becoming more and more common as the economy keeps flatlining. This not only is a major disappointment for anyone who thought their job search was finally over, but if you’re in a position of uncertainty, you might pass up other, safer opportunities while you’re waiting to see what happens. So what do you do?

Rachel Zupek wrote an article for Career Builder with some advice which includes:

Negotiating: “If you left an old job to work for a new company and your offer was retracted due to the economy, you can try to negotiate unemployment benefits or a severance package from the employer.”

Doing Your Homework: “Before accepting a job offer, it’s important to evaluate what’s been offered. Ask about the employer’s financial health and find out if the position is approved.”

Read the rest of her advice for this sticky situation here.

Everyone who doesn’t have a job, wants one. And everyone who has a job kind of wishes they didn’t have to go when the alarm goes off in the morning. But what would you do if you didn’t have one? The NY Times ran an interesting article with an even more interesting interactive graph on how different people spend their day. Some of the differences are obvious, but you might be surprised by some areas. Have a look for yourself.

This is a question most  job seekers are asking these days. Even with professionally written resumes, taking in coverletter and resume writing seminars, designing an online CV and portfolio, and all of the other resources and strategies available to make an application stand out, the majority of job seekers who apply to jobs online never hear back, not even a rejection letter. It’s frustrating, some might say rude, and ultimately deflating to never hear boo from a hiring manager. This weekend’s New York Times featured an article on this topic with a few reminders about what those hiring managers are facing  (i.e. thousands of applications for a single job, many of which are unqualified) and some tips on how to go above and beyond the application process to try and get some response or at least get noticed.

“First, the Internet has made it absurdly easy to apply for jobs. This means that unqualified people are clogging the system with their wing-and-a-prayer applications,” writes Phyllis Korkki, the author of the article.

“Then add rising numbers of unemployed people. More job seekers — qualified, unqualified and desperate — are hitting the send button. Acknowledgments are going by the wayside as recruiters confront hundreds of applications for a single job.

In fact, organizations received 75 percent more applications, on average, in the first half of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008, according to a survey by the Corporate Executive Board, a network of executives and a research company. Todd Safferstone, managing director of the company’s Recruiting Roundtable, said that one business advertised for a lawyer and received responses from 1,000 applicants — half of whom did not even have law degrees.”

The question remains, “But how do you make your highly qualified presence known without looking like a pest?”

“The best job seekers “take control of their application’s destiny,” said Kelly Renz, vice president for client services and human resources at Pinstripe, a recruitment outsourcing firm.

That means working hard to find a contact at the company who can be your advocate — or at least a conduit to the hiring manager. If you know someone at the company personally, ask him or her to forward your application to the right person.

If you don’t know anyone at the company, ask your friends and relatives if they do. If you have a Facebook page, post a polite plea there.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the hiring manager’s name is not readily available. Often that is a corporate ploy — a way to prevent an avalanche of follow-up inquiries about online job postings.

But do some research. Look on the company’s Web site or do an Internet search for a name. Call the human resources department and ask the receptionist if he or she knows who is in charge of hiring.

Ms. Renz suggested another way to get a name: Go on LinkedIn and look for someone who works in the same department as the posted job. Contact that person: ask whether he or she knows who is hiring, and how that individual can be reached. You might also ask for more information about the job, Ms. Renz said.

Don’t ask new contacts to vouch for you; that’s not fair. Just make use of the information they can give you. If it’s the e-mail address of a hiring manager, resend your application and state that you remain very interested in the position and briefly reiterate your qualifications.

Obtaining an employee referral is a good move, as far as it goes. There is just one problem: Nowadays “the referral channel is jammed in the same way that other channels are jammed,” Mr. Safferstone said.

To break through, you may need to leave the online world behind and make an old-fashioned direct phone call to whomever is doing the hiring. But wield this call wisely.

Some managers may be annoyed if you call them, though others will see it as a sign of initiative. Daryl Pigat, manager of the Manhattan branch of OfficeTeam, the administrative division of Robert Half International, says that when he receives a phone call, it often causes him to pluck the person’s résumé out of the multitudes, because it’s a sign of a serious applicant. But wait at least a few days to give the company time to review applications, Mr. Pigat said.

When you do call, ask if you can take any further steps. But after that conversation, don’t call back unless you are told to do so. That would be venturing into pest territory.”

Korkki’s advice implies striking a delicate balance between enthusiastic and annoying is the way to make yourself seen. Bottom line, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? Just don’t squeak too much!

Art by Chris Reed via the New York Times.

Read the article at the New York Times online.