An interesting Fortune article by Geoff Colvin shows that the death rate decreases and healthy habits improve in recessionary times.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/27/news/economy/health_recession.fortune/index.htm

The article credits the declining mortality rates to having more time for exercise and cutting back on expensive cigarettes, among other improved health habits.  This is a great reminder to the currently employed that you don’t want to wait for unemployment to start living better!  Do we really have to lose our job to have time to go the gym?

Our jobs are just one part of our lives.  Even if we work a 10-hour day, that leaves a good 3-5 hours AND weekends for other activities.  Balance out the career focus with exercise, sleep, personal hobbies, reading, community and spiritual involvement, taking care of your finances, seeing friends and family, and other activities that will keep you well-rounded, sane, and healthy.  Make a list today of fun things to do, and check one off your list every weekend till year-end.  This week I’ll be at the New York Botanical Gardens for the Japanese Kiku exhibit.  What fun things do you have planned?

The best time to look for a job is when you have one.  We all know that instinctively.  Yet, when most jobseekers get a job, the first things that go out the window are the good job search strategies that won them the new job.  Now I’m not saying that you start posting your resume updated for your new position while you fill out your new hire paperwork, but I am saying that you maintain your network and do all the good habits that support your career maintenance.  One of the best habits gained during a job search is networking.  One of the best ways to maintain your network is to give your thanks and share a success update.

When you get that new position (or even that latest job lead), go back to the person who referred you or gave you the idea to pursue that company or gave you advice on your resume.  Tell them what happened.  Be specific and gracious about how they helped you.  I estimate that it is fewer than 10% of candidates who thank me for job leads, advice, even actual positions that I have given them.  Sometimes I run into them at a separate event and they sheepishly admit that they should have circled back to me.  Sometimes I hear from them because they are asking for another favor.  Instead, dramatically differentiate yourself by following up!  Even if you have let a relationship lax and realize that thanks is way overdue, get back in touch anyway.  People are very forgiving and will often be happy to hear from you. 

The ultimate job security isn’t the stable job or company.  Lifetime employment at any one place is unrealistic given how the market works.  What makes you secure is the knowledge that you can get another job, regardless of the market.  You have good job search technique.  You know your strengths.  You know your objectives.  You position yourself well for the next stage of your career.  You have a strong network willing to help you and extend itself on your behalf.  You have a strong network because your friends realize that you are thoughtful and generous.  You say thanks and share your success.

I love biographies of all kinds, but especially stories of struggle and overcoming the odds and stories of extreme change.  Stand For the Best by Thomas Bloch fulfills both of these.  A CEO leaves his nearly million-dollar salary to work for free teaching inner-city youth.  Some of the writing feels self-congratulatory but it’s still impressive.  This isn’t someone who volunteered a few hours per week.  Bloch taught for five years (part-time but still at no salary) and then founded a school and served in other functions for years after teaching. 

I admired his honesty — he commented at one point that if he had to worry about money and fulfilling his financial obligations to his family he would not have made the same choices.   I admired how he often and profusely thanked other people, especially his wife.  (This isn’t Bloch’s fault, but I always wonder why we rarely see these extreme career changes from the woman’s point of view.  Could Bloch’s wife Mary have done what he did?  What if she decided to pursue a radical change with two small children?)

All in all, it’s an easy read about an exciting career change.  It may inspire you to move forward with a business decision.  The ego may be a slight turn off.  But if you can gloss by that and you enoy biographies this is a solid one.

See Caroline’s advice in Melanie Wanzek’s article, “Catch 22:  You need experience to get experience”

http://www.philly.com/philly/jobs/CTW_jobs_20091103_Catch_22__You_need_experience_to_get_experience.html

Once people start feeling better about the market, those currently employed will feel braver about considering job alternatives. While the market has not completely recovered, I find more people emboldened about their prospects and planning to look in early 2010. If you are one of those employed jobseekers itching to test the market, here are some strategies for a passive job search:

Shore up your job search foundation. Update your resume. Complete your LinkedIn profile. Send a holiday mailing as a fun way to get your contacts organized. Reach out to references, mentors, and your key stakeholders from past positions to make sure you haven’t lost touch. Do these basic maintenance chores now while you are not busy actively looking.

Take time for internal reflection. If a great opportunity came along, would you recognize it? Do you know what would make you leave? Do you know what you need in your next role to ensure it keeps you on the career path you desire? Are you ready for that next professional challenge or just bored (in which case you might want to start a hobby rather than a search)?

Get yourself known. If a great opportunity opened up, would the hiring company recognize you? Have you published or presented? Are you active in social networks? Are the people who do know you and like you able to describe what you’re good at and what interests you?

If you’re not sure about launching a search but want to test the waters, you need to use these passive job search strategies. Once you master job search strategies and incorporate them into your regular career management, you won’t need to worry about missing that next big thing. You will naturally be in touch with the market and able to pounce on opportunities according to your interest and timetable. That is the ultimately job security.

I asked an executive at a networking meeting for an informational interview and she wants to speak to me this week.  I thought these things take time, so I haven’t researched her company or her industry.  I don’t feel prepared but I don’t want to miss this opportunity.  What do I do?

This is a luxury problem!  Congratulations for putting yourself out there, asking for a meeting, and clearly representing yourself well enough that this executive wants to meet with you!  Too often we don’t celebrate our job search successes.  There is a ways to go before an offer is closed, but this is a step in the right direction, so take time to acknowledge this and savor a task well done.  Celebrating here isn’t just about feeling good.  There are practical benefits.  When I coach clients to troubleshoot their search, we don’t only look at the trouble; we also look at what went well.  You want to build on your successes, so capturing data on what works enables you to replicate the success for other prospective employers.

But we still have to get through this meeting.  Before an informational interview you want to research the person, her company and her industry.  The more research, the better, but there is plenty you can do even in a few days (or overnight if needed).  So never let a good opportunity disappear just to do more research.

Read the person’s LinkedIn profile, blog and Twitter feeds if they have any.  If they have presented or published, get to know their expertise.  Use Hoovers or Vault data to understand the company.  Read the press releases.  Understand what projects are in the works, what opportunities and challenges exist for them, and any recent accomplishments.  Check out the related industry’s professional trade association.  There may be a list of competitors, industry surveys that give you a snapshot about key issues for the industry, and cutting edge news.  You want to have a sense for the published information so you don’t ask questions about items that are readily available.  I’ve listed a lot of sources but with information readily available on the Internet, this process takes just a few hours.

Now form hypotheses.  A powerful informational interview is not just a laundry list of questions.  Your questions are a reflection of your interest and your expertise.  So take the extra step of forming hypotheses from the above research to test in your interview.  Instead of asking what challenges exist, offer what you think the biggest challenge is and ask your interviewee to confirm or refute.  This takes the burden off of them to come up with ideas.  They will appreciate the time you took to learn their industry.  Once you’ve collected their answers, it will be that much easier to speak to their competitor – not because you share confidential data irresponsibly (informational interviews don’t usually yield top secret data anyway) but because you can then say in your next interview that you’ve spoken to another leading company in that industry and here’s what you’ve found.

Good informational interviews build on each other.  They are a critical component of a proactive job search.  So when you bag a big target unexpectedly, it’s cause for celebration, not panic.  When a job search moves faster than expected, run with it.  There will be other companies that move more slowly than anticipated.  One fast company does not mean a fast job search overall.  Keep flooding your pipeline with more companies, ask for more informational interviews and don’t stop till you’re at your new job filling out your new hire paperwork.

I have to love the book that introduced me to the term, bricolage, or as Madson puts it, “use what is there artfully.”  Improv Wisdom by Patricia Madson is a must-read for improvisers but still a good read if all you know about improv is Drew Carey in “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

Madson, chair of the undergraduate acting department at Stanford and creator of the Stanford Improvisors, lists 13 maxims of improv and coaches on how these relate to life at large, not just on stage.  The subtitle of the book, “Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up” are two of the maxims. Bricolage was in the chapter on Make Mistakes, Please.  Other insightful chapters include Be Average, Face the Facts, and Stay On Course. 

You will likely enjoy the book more if you have improv in your experience because Madson doesn’t take too much time explaining the concepts.  But her ability to draw parallels between what could be seen as pithy improv rules and important life concepts is impressive.   This book is a fast read, thoroughly enjoyable, and incredibly deep.

Read my thoughts on working for free in Louise Tutelian’s latest article for CBS Moneywatch:

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/career-advice/article/volunteer-work-when-unemployed-should-you-work-for-free/356882/

A workshop participant recently asked me, “How do I prepare for my final interview at [major financial institution]?”

Kudos to this person for recognizing that final round job interviews are different from other interviews.  At the finalist stage, the prospective employer knows much more about you and can tailor the interviews accordingly.  So dissect the rounds prior to this one and review what everyone who interviewed you asked and what you answered.  You need to be consistent.  You need to recall everyone by name (to show that you care).  You need to be able to summarize what you discussed (to show that you were listening).

However, you can never know that this is indeed the final round.  Unless you are a student and there is a very structured “Super Saturday” campus recruiting process where all interviews are completed in a day, it is never clear – even if they tell you it’s the final – that it’s the final.  A key decision-maker may not show.  The job spec may change ever so slightly just after finals time, and it turns out they need to screen for additional things.  Because you should never feel certain the final round is the final you need to interview as if there will be more rounds.  Don’t get over-anxious that this is a make or break.  Don’t get presumptuous pushing for a decision or making a hard close.  In this way, treat the final round like any earlier job interview.  Explicitly reiterate your interest.  Have intelligent questions to ask.  Leave them wanting more. 

I don’t want to give the impression from the above general pieces of feedback that I would not change how I coach a client through subsequent job interviews v. a general first round.  Since the employer knows more at this stage, so should my client.  We would need to review exactly what she said, not just to ensure consistency, but to assess what worked and what didn’t, what was left unclear or unsaid, what needs to be highlighted or refined.  Ultimately, the strategy for dealing with subsequent job interviews is highly personalized because each interview changes the nature of the job search relationship.  As the candidate, therefore, you need to be tracking this type of data and review it for what needs to be done specifically at this time and for this employer.  If you have two “finals” with two different employers, your strategy would still be different (same you, but different targets).  Final rounds are different, but each job interview is different, and a distinct, highly focused approach to each is required.

A lot is written about how to interview well.  Most of the advice includes the benefit of practice.  But do you know the best way to practice?  You do not want the practice to turn into canned, impersonal responses.  You do not want to practice only specific questions so that you can’t deal with a question you didn’t expect.  You don’t want to practice bad habits.  Instead, here are 3 tips for productive interview practice:

Practice the process.  Dress up for your practice interview.  Set the environment to match where you might be.  Match the practice as close to the reality as possible.  In my mock interviews with clients, we open the session in interview mode.  No warm up coaching.  We just start.  The small talk we do is in the style of what would happen in the real interview.  That’s the way interviews are, and that’s the way they need to be practiced.

Practice phone interviews.  All of my clients practice phone interviews, not just live.  You need to handle phone interviews differently than live interviews.  The atmosphere is different – there is a danger of being too informal as you are typically in a more comfortable space.  The medium is different – energy doesn’t travel well over the phone.  The conversation is harder – you lose the visual cues so you have to listen more carefully in order to engage your interviewer.  If my clients are up to it, we tape the interview – no way to argue with their own voice saying those jumbled, hesitant, off-target responses.

Practice with someone who can actually help you.  One client gave me an interview response he learned from a family member that had me burst out laughing.  Turns out, as I expected, this person hadn’t been on the market for a decade, which explained the out-of-touch response.  Before you take advice, think about where it’s coming from.  If it’s a jobseeker, are they successful and do they work where you want to work?  If it’s a recruiter, what is their agenda and why are they being so candid?  (When I recruited I never gave candid feedback for liability reasons,)  If it’s a coach, are they psychoanalyzing you or do they know what it takes to get someone hired?  You want to get credible advice that you can actually use.  You don’t want to practice bad (or laughable) interview technique.