I wanted to add some general thoughts about job champions. At CardboardResume, we believe there are at least four key things a champion may be able to do for you. They are as follows:

1. Give you insider info about company or position
2. Hand your resume to hiring manager
3. Recommend you
4. Keep you away from bad deals.

This does not mean that a champion has to be a person that will go to bat for you and insist that you be hired. It does not mean that your champion has to give you a glowing recommendation. While those scenarios would be ideal and having a strong champion will certainly give you an advantage. However, a champion might just be someone who can vouch that you would fit into the company culture. Or that you could do the job.

Sometimes just the fact that a resume was submitted from an internal source or that someone knows you is enough to differentiate you from a whole stack of resumes and get you an interview. Sometimes just getting in the door is the most difficult part. If you’ll look to find champions at places you want to work you’ll certainly increase your odds of getting more interviews. Once you get an interview make sure to follow up with everyone you interacted with and your champion. It is amazing how often people today do not follow up. By following up with your champion, you show appreciation for their assistance. They’ll be more likely to help you in the future and they may be able to further help you follow up with the decision makers. Finally, they are more likely to continue to be behind you and possibly with even stronger support throughout the process if you will follow up.

A champion may not be able to get you a job, but by finding and utilizing job champions during your job hunt you’ll go a long way to improving your odds.

The current economic situation has hit one particular segment of the population rather hard.  The middle-aged male has seen greater than average layoffs over the last year.  This has brought on a new reality to many families.  There are more stay-at-home dads.  The statistics point to many male dominated fields such as construction and manufacturing being hit especially hard, while roles with higher female population (government, healthcare, and education) have been spared, at least somewhat.

This means that the male breadwinner is becoming a little less of the norm.  If mom is working, then that often means that dad may stay home to take care of kids.  Possibly out of necessity or possibly by choice.  When time is dominated with taking care of the household looking for work becomes that much more difficult.

I’m a new dad and while I’m working, I know there are a lot of days I would like to be able to spend more time with my new son.  He is two months at the time of me writing this.  I’m keeping a blog with my thoughts and notes of my new son.  Part of me would like to take some additional time off to spend with my son, but I’m not sure I would be so enthusiastic if I was forced to do so because of layoffs.

For those Dad’s who are at home and are enjoying their family bonding time, take advantage of it while you can.  For those who are looking to get back into workforce as quickly as possible and the stay at home thing is purely a necessity I have a few basic thoughts.

My thoughts apply to everyone, especially those with time constraints.  This may include people currently working, but looking for something new, as well as mothers or fathers who want to return to work.  You suddenly don’t have the whole day to be networking and looking for jobs.  You need to be as efficient as possible.  Being able to have a plan for your search will allow you be more efficient vs. the chaotic and usually ineffective searches that so many people pursue.  In today’s environment, just throwing your resume on the internet and applying to posted jobs is like playing the lottery.  Yes, people do win, but odds are stacked against you.  You need to be able to reach out and expand your network in order to improve your odds.  It is those connections that can help you navigate through obstacles and get you closer to decision makers.

This means having a plan, organizing your job search, and connecting with those that can help you get ahead.  By doing all this you have a much higher likelihood that you can land the job you really want.  In today’s environment, we have to expect that finding a new job will take longer than ever and we’ll have to spend time and effort to make a job search successful.  I’m certainly biased, but we’ve put together a system with CardboardResume that will help you get your job search organized and keep track of your connections that can help you find that next job.  We offer a free trial with no strings attached to let you see if this method is for you.  I encourage you to try it (and I really mean try it out) as you will get out of it what you put into it.

Back-to-school season has me thinking about school and it’s similarities to career planning. When searching for your next job, you should think of networking as your schoolwork—you should concentrate on contacting your network about opportunities and following up with the leads. As in school, sometimes getting the job means cramming for an interview and doing extra credit work to get past some unexpected hiring obstacles.

Below, I’ve outlined three additional things—essentially homework assignments—which will help you get past some of the hiring obstacles.

Assignment #1: Keep up with your chosen industry

Whatever industry you chose to work in, you need know the current trends and the forecast for the future by reading publications and blogs. You should also go one step past that and follow blogs and tweets of those companies you where you want to work. Keeping up with the industry has the advantage of helping you expand your network by introducing you to others through blog comments or tweets and gives you an advantage in knowing which companies are in trouble and which ones could be hiring soon.

Another good way to keep up with their work and changes in their clients or organization is to use Google Alerts to receive articles and blogs about that company. It is also a smart idea to follow industry gossip blogs to know about internal strife and situations in a company.

In addition to keeping up with the industry, you should leverage LinkedIn groups and join those relevant to your target industry. This will help broaden your network and expand your profile on LinkedIn while keeping you updated on the industry.

Assignment #2: Update phrases for your résumé, cover letters, and correspondence

With computer programs scanning résumés for certain key words and phrases it is imperative to do the research and know which ones they will be seeking out. Usually those words are in the job post. If there is not a job post—say you have a contact within the company and are passing on your résumé through them—then you should look at similar job posts and job boards. Comb through your résumé and cover letter for outdated terms and titles and eliminate them. Using the current industry terms and phrases shows you are up-to-date and give your résumé a higher score by the scanners, making you stick out of a crowd.

Extra Credit: Brush up on necessary skills

Sometimes great job candidates are excluded for lack of skills. If an opportunity you want calls for skills you don’t have, you should take the time to learn those skills. Courses are usually available at local colleges, Apple Stores, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. In addition, several sites offer online tutorials and webinars for skills and software. This homework assignment may be more time consuming than the others, but will pay off when you get past some of the hiring hurdles keeping you from your next job.

Taking the extra time to keep up with your industry, update your language, and learn any necessary skills will help make you more marketable and help you find your next job.

I’ve been asked what furniture we will be using in the office.  This suggestion is my favorite.



CardboardResume.com has offices in northwest Austin, Texas.  One of our neighbors in our office building was another software company that outgrew their space earlier this year, and has successfully graduated to a larger office.  The timing worked out well for us, because we were able to add their space to our office with a minimal amount of disruption, even with some changes.  We upgraded some of the infrastructure and put some thought on how to arrange the desks to best take advantage of the natural light from the windows on two sides.  We also took out a dividing wall to keep this room as open and communal as possible.  When the old blue carpet was removed, we replaced it with earth tones, and painted the walls as well.  The last two companies who leased this space built great teams while they were here and graduated to good fortunes. As the CEO of the previous company gave us his keys to the space, he joked that it was our responsibility to continue the trend.  That is one of the things we plan to keep.