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Changing your career path? Job hunting techniques and resume tips for career shifters

Changing your career path? Job hunting techniques and resume tips for career shifters

by | Mar 2, 2019 | Coach Ryan Salvanera, Coach Ryan Salvanera, Coach Ryan Salvanera, Coach Ryan Salvanera, Job search, Job search

Changing your career path? Job hunting techniques and resume tips for career shifters

Changing your career path? Job hunting techniques and resume tips for career shifters

Ryan Salvanera

What should I write? Will they find this interesting? Is this important to them? Maybe I shouldn’t submit this. Maybe this is not for me. Maybe I’m stuck here.

Questions turn to doubts as we try to come up with the perfect resume.

This is true for anybody, but most especially for those who have zero experience or, worst, an unrelated work-experience – those in a middle of a career shift.

Fresh graduates often get the advantage of starting with a clean slate. That they can be groomed into the role.

Career shifters do not.

So, what can you do? Should you just scratch the experience off your resume and pretend it didn’t happen. Come up with some crazy story to make up for that lost time.

NO! You can still make that experience still to your advantage.

It is a case of improving your branding as an employee.

 

What you did does not matter

…as much as how you did them and the lessons you took away.

The key, I believe, is to focus on the skills and behaviours, not simply on the tasks.

I’ve reviewed so many resumes that focused too much on the actual tasks:

  • I did so-and-so task
  • I prepared a monthly report for my manager
  • I operated the cash register and took orders from customers

Don’t get me wrong, these are wonderful things but they may not necessarily translate to anything in that new role you are applying for.

 

Transferrable Skills

You need to highlight the transferrable skills you have acquired from your past experience.

A transferable skill is expertise that you can use across a wide range of industries. These are skills and abilities that are relevant and helpful across different areas of life: socially, professionally and at school.

Some call these ‘portable skills’.

There’s a long list of transferrable skills out there but my favourites are:

Communication

Effective communication skills are vital in almost every industry. The ability to articulate your ideas and explain them to other stakeholders in the company. This includes being a good listener as well.

Analytical

Attending and learning from trainings is great, but this can only take you so far. The ability to come up with new solutions by solving different problems that clients face daily is more useful than any training out there. The ability to think analytically and critically is certainly essential in any role.

Leadership

Although not everyone will be in leadership positions, most roles often have require some aspect of leadership. The ability to take responsibility, delegate tasks effectively as well as set priorities or yourself and other team members is clearly beneficial for any team / company.

 

How do I let recruiters know this?

Let’s go back to our example earlier but, this time, go beyond the tasks.

  • I did so-and-so task that helped our counterparts so-and-so.

This shows an awareness of the purpose of the task, not just its completion

  • I compiled and analyzed monthly data that allowed me to prepare recommendations for my manager

This shows both analytical as well as communication skills

  • I communicated directly with customers, helping them with their orders and making sure that they have a great experience at our store

This shows both communication skills and some leadership skills – taking responsibility for the customer’s experience

 

One final tip: Good managers love people who always look for ways to improve on things. identifying concrete ways you have helped improve your team’s current process is always a plus.

Use these job hunting techniques and make sure your resume is designed in a smart way – that’s your shortcut in the career path!

Best of Luck!

Ryan Salvanera is the co-founder and chief tech guy of Wissen Solomon, a consulting firm that aims to create abundance through the empowerment and growth of MSMEs. Ryan is also a personal coach at Coach Rye and specializes in coaching high-performing leaders and entrepreneurs.

Ryan Salvanera

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Getting Started on LinkedIn

Getting Started on LinkedIn

by | Feb 6, 2018 | Job search, Tools & Skills

Getting Started on LinkedIn

Getting Started on LinkedIn

Ryan Salvanera

LinkedIn is one the the best business platforms available. It is a great place to establish yourself as an expert in your field, to grow your influence, to improve your employee branding, and most importantly, to attract clients or headhunters and recruiters from the top employers in your industry.

If you are simply looking at your LinkedIn account as just another social networking site like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, then you are most likely missing out on some great opportunities for yourself and/or your business.

Here are my top three tips to help you start getting the most out of your LinkedIn profile.

 

Complete Your LinkedIn Profile

This is all the information you need to complete your LinkedIn Profile:

– Profile photo*, Location and Industry

– Education

– Experience

– Current work position / job title

– Past positions

– Skills

– A few connections

Simple, right?

Well, apparently not.

Yes, you read that right, “half.”

So go ahead and fill-out those simple details and you just got ahead of the game. Of course, don’t stop there. Find time to fill-out the rest of the sections too, like certifications, volunteering experience, projects and a lot more.

* Please use a professional looking profile photo. Sure, some tech geniuses have very informal photos but you are not one of them yet, so let’s keep it safe for now.

 

Fill Summary with the Right Content

The Summary Section is one of the most important sections on your LinkedIn Profile and it must be filled with the right information.

By this, I do not just mean the right details about your experience. It is also not simply writing in an interesting way. By right content, I am really talking about the right keywords. No matter how beautifully written your Summary is, it will not matter if the relevant people cannot find your profile in their searches.

So, yes, be as eloquent as you want to be, but make sure that you also use the keywords that is relevant to your industry.

 

Create Content

Touch screen devices (mobile phones and tablets) has encouraged society to be good at consuming content and information. There’s nothing wrong with this per se. However, a wise man once told me that, if you want to stand out you want to be one of those few sharing your valuable and interesting content.

Now, I am not suggesting that you need to become a blogger to stand out. However, it would be good for you to publish something every couple of weeks.

Yes, I meant to say *something* instead of article because there are different types of content that you can create and share:

  • Your own article. Tough to do if you are not a natural writer but the best as far as building credibility as an expert.
  • Sharing a link to an article. It helps to include your own thoughts and insights from the article.
  • A favourite quote on a relevant topic.
  • Comment on articles shared by others on your network, especially influencers.

Time To Get Started

I hope this helped you get started with your LinkedIn profile and in finding that best company that will be a perfect fit for you.

Stay tuned as I will be sharing more tips in future articles.

 

by Ryan Salvanera 06/02/2018

Ryan Salvanera is the co-founder and chief tech guy of Wissen Solomon, a consulting firm that aims to create abundance through the empowerment and growth of MSMEs. Ryan is also a personal coach at Coach Rye and specializes in coaching high-performing leaders and entrepreneurs.
Ryan Salvanera

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The Tricks Behind an Empty E-Mail Inbox

The Tricks Behind an Empty E-Mail Inbox

by | Dec 12, 2017 | Career advice, Tools & Skills

The Tricks Behind an Empty E-Mail Inbox

The Tricks Behind an Empty E-Mail Inbox

Ryan Salvanera

Technology is often a two-edged sword. The best example of this: EMAIL.

Email started as the preferred form of communication for most companies but, due to its popularity, has become a nightmare to manage. In fact, there is a move for some tech companies to slowly move out of email. Thus the rise in popularity of collaboration apps such as Slack, Yammer and Workplace by Facebook.

Of course, as experienced professionals, we know that email is still a necessity and getting rid of it won’t happen anytime soon.

So instead, I will share some of the tricks I provide during career counselling for experienced professionals.These will not only help you maintain an empty inbox but, more importantly, be more productive at work. 

 

Process Your Email

The first thing we need to do is change our mindset about our inbox. We should process NOT just check our inbox. This may seem like simple semantics, but it means a lot.

Checking our inbox is very passive. We look at the emails and decide to reply to some, leave some unread and the rest remains in limbo as we work on the answers or actually work on the task associated with the email. Yup, out inbox sometimes becomes our to do list.

On the other hand, processing our inbox forces us to act on each and every item and place the information in that email where they should be.

Here’s how I process them:

Note: I took most of this from the GTD (Getting Thing Done) method as well as clips I watched from the Nozbe blog.

 

5 D’s

Each of the email will go through this process… normally in this order.

 

Do.

If I can reply to an email quickly. I do a Nike and Just Do It.

Quickly is relative. For me, it’s about 3-5 mins. Others are more strict and defer (see below) email that needs a longer response.

As much as possible, I try to keep my email as short and concise as possible. If I notice I am typing long sentences and paragraphs, I try to put them into bullet points instead.

If I notice a back-and-forth, I will probably ping the person or simply call them.

 

Delegate.

If an email requires someone else’s input, then I simply delegate it to them. I simply forward the email to the concerned party with a question or call to action.

Honestly, this can be a bit tricky though since some folks do not have this inbox processing in place and some of these delegated email ends up somewhere in the bottom of their inbox. In order to remedy this, I often create action items to remind me to follow-up on the email I delegated. Yes, it can be frustrating but it is what it is. Besides, the email to tasks feature (see below) helps me deal with this.

Note: If you really do not want to follow-up, cc’ing the person’s immediate supervisor has been known to do wonders. 🙂

 

Defer.

If an email requires more time, which means an action is necessary on my end, I will defer it. Deferring can be a week after, a day after or even right after the current inbox processing.

I have used different tools / methods for this.

  • GMail Labels
  • GMail Scripts
  • Evernote
  • Wunderlist

I have since moved to a really great productivity app called Nozbe. I will not discuss the details of the app but I use it to keep all my todos. The email to tasks feature is really great in helping me create action items from my inbox. I simply forward an email to a specific address, add the necessary hashtags (you will learn more about this when you start using Nozbe), click on Send + Archive and I’m all set.

 

Dump.

No. This does not mean dumping them in the trash. This is for information that might be useful for future reference.

For these messages, I simply dump them into my ever-handy Evernote.

Disclaimer: I loved Evernote so much that I went ton to become an Evernote Certified Consultant.

 

Delete.

The last part of the process is simply deleting the email.

I don’t know about you but I know a lot of people who find this the hardest thing to do. There is a certain sense of FOMO (Fear of missing out) about deleting emails.

 

Zero

An important element in this process is that you should always try to PROCESS to ZERO.

Once you let one email creep in… another will follow… and another. Soon, you will just be too tired to process and succumb to the weight of another full inbox.

Additional tips to help you do this:

# Turn off your new email notifications and, instead, schedule when you will process them.

# For old emails, start by processing 25-30 old messages that are in your Inbox.

# This does not apply for your new messages. They all need to be processed.

# Most productivity experts will tell you not to process first thing in the morning. However, I would say it depends on your line of work. I worked with an overseas counterpart in my previous work, so I had to process my email first thing in the morning to make sure I am aware of important issues.

 

 

Tell Us About It

We hope that these tips will be useful for you. Please go ahead and try them on your own inbox and let us know how your JOURNEY to ZERO works out.

 

 

by Ryan Salvanera 12/12/2017

Ryan Salvanera is the co-founder and chief tech guy of Wissen Solomon, a consulting firm that aims to create abundance through the empowerment and growth of MSMEs. Ryan is also a personal coach at Coach Rye and specializes in coaching high-performing leaders and entrepreneurs.

Ryan Salvanera

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Job Interview Questions and Answers: How To Personalize Your Job Search

Job Interview Questions and Answers: How To Personalize Your Job Search

by | Oct 6, 2017 | Career advice

Personalise Your Job Search

Personalize Your Job Search

Ryan Salvanera

A lot of coachees come to me for help on job interview questions and answers. They often ask me to conduct a mock interview to test their readiness for a position or role that they like. Most spend tons of time looking though the most frequently asked interview questions to prepare themselves in case they get that call for their dream job, their dream role or their dream company.

That’s all fine and well but I’ve come to realize that majority of the problem is not simply in the interview. It is (1) getting to the interview and (2) connecting the dots during the interview.

 

Before The Interview

All the mock interviews, practice and research will not get you anywhere unless you actually land that interview. So, yes, getting to that interview should be the first concern. Unfortunately, getting the attention of the top employers is no easy task.

In fact, recruiters breeze through resumes in minutes, some in seconds. (Reference: Want an Interview? Here’s How Recruiters Really Read Resumes and How Recruiters Read Resumes In 10 Seconds or Less).

 

So, what now?

Personalise Your Resume. Aside from fast-reviewing humans, other recruitment firms have actually started using bots and search algorithms to weed through the thousands of resumes they get.

You need to highlight the keywords that are in the job description. Are they looking for someone with team leadership experience? Make sure that you put that in your Summary or in at least one of your work experience. Are they looking for someone who is at least AVP level? But you are a manager and you know that it’s just a matter of terminology, then specify that in there — Manager (AVP Level).

Emphasize on your relevant experience. Are they looking for someone who will liaison with global partners? Make sure you include that experience working with international clients and partners.

The point is to make them realize that you are a close fit to the job description that the hiring manager provided.

Note: If you are on a job hunting spree, I do NOT recommend doing this for all your applications. You just won’t have the time. Instead, have a general-purpose resume (very close to your LinkedIn profile) for your “normal” applications and personalise your resume for your dream roles or companies.

 

During The Interview.

A beautifully written resume will only get you so far.

Connect The Dots. The next step is to make sure that you connect the dots for the interviewer.

What?

What I mean by this is that you have to show them that the experiences in your resume, those that you have been acquiring in the past, all connects to the current role you are applying for. Ask the interviewer specific questions about the role. If there are areas that is related to your previous experience, own it. Same goes for those areas that you have little or no experience yet.

 

Will these guarantee landing and acing an interview?

Heck , no! I mean, come on now. There are far too many variables out there for me to guarantee anything. The competitors. The recruiter. The recruiter’s mood.

What will surely happen however is that you will learn what works (and what doesn’t work ) for you, and this is invaluable for your ongoing journey up the corporate ladder.

 

by Ryan Salvanera 06/10/2017

Ryan Salvanera is the co-founder and chief tech guy of Wissen Solomon, a consulting firm that aims to create abundance through the empowerment and growth of MSMEs. Ryan is also a personal coach at Coach Rye and specializes in coaching high-performing leaders and entrepreneurs.

Ryan Salvanera

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