Would you like to get your career on track, with more power and momentum than ever before? Are you prepared to create the focused and productive career that you know you are capable of having — one that will give you great satisfaction and financial reward? When you think back to prior career transitions, did you also believe that you were finally going to “get it right?”

It is a sobering fact that more than 75% of adults who try to realign their careers lose momentum and give up within a few months. Many are waiting for their jobs to get better, passively hoping that circumstances will improve someday. But deep inside, we know one thing for sure. Careers do not get better by themselves. We have many previous years of work experience to prove this!

So the pressing question is: What will make this transition different from previous attempts to control your career? The simple answer is: take stock; plan; and take action!

You have the power and ability to take charge of your career! The following eight principles will provide you with the items you need to perform a candid and effective “internal audit” of your career situation.

1. Understand that success is not an accident, but a planned event.

• Most people actually spend more time planning their vacations than designing their careers.
• Many people think they lack discipline or are lazy, but the real issue is a lack of knowledge.
• Career change takes time, and it is important to understand the necessary components that produce desired results.

2. Accept the fact that you are fully responsible for your career.

• There is a direct relationship between accepting full responsibility for your career and the amount of control you have over your success.
• When you assume responsibility and feel that you are in control, you experience greater personal freedom, power and motivation.
• Don’t make excuses for the problems in your work life. Commit to taking charge of what you create in your career.

3. Create a detailed picture of your ideal career.

• In order to move forward in a powerful way, we must first clarify our career direction.
• This principle is best described in a quote by the popular motivational speaker, Brian Tracy: “Eighty percent of success is being clear on who you are, what you believe in, and what you want.”
• The first requirement is to identify what “success” really means for each of us — in professional, financial, personal and social terms.
• We are often “handed down” definitions of success from our family or culture — definitions that may not align with our own needs and desires, but definitions to which we remain loyal. We must consciously evaluate these “messages” to see if they are working for us or against us.

4. Identify clear goals based on your own definition of career success.

• One measure of success is identifying meaningful goals and then bringing them into reality.
• Clearly defined goals create focus, direction and positive energy, and they enable you to create an action plan.

5. Know that in order to get results, you must take action.

• Action is the only difference between someone who has dreams and someone who brings dreams into reality.
• Our actions come from a decision to change our situation.
• Make the phone call, write the letter, have that important conversation, resolve that issue you have been carrying around — don’t delay any longer.
• Clarify the action steps you can take to move your career forward.
• Identify one action step you can take right now to improve your career.

6. Learn about the things that get in the way of your success, such as:

• Self-limiting beliefs. (“I could never be a manager, never get a promotion,” etc.)
• Fears. (i.e., being rejected, failing, looking bad in front of others.)
• Negative self-talk. (I’m not smart enough, I’ll mess it up again.)

7. Associate with successful people.

• The single most influential force in your environment is the group of colleagues and friends with whom you associate.
• If you are serious about achieving success, you should associate only with successful people.
• Spend time with respected role models and identify the qualities you want to emulate.
• Find ways to “transplant” these success habits into your own life.
• Work with a qualified Career Consultant or professional development program to support your career plans and provide a structure to accomplish your goals.
• Associate with like-minded individuals who are also committed to reaching their career potential, and who will “stand behind you” in your quest to achieve real success.

8. Do an image makeover.

• Make a deliberate, consistent effort to present yourself in the best light.
• Ask: how can you improve your attributes in the following areas? 
  a. Hair 
  b. Eyeglasses 
  c. Makeup 
  d. Hands 
  e. Clothes 
  f. Shoes 
  g. Accessories 
  h. Posture 
  i. Speech 
  j. Smile

Now is the ideal time to stop and take stock of your career. Your present circumstances are based on choices you made over the past 5 to 10 years. Where will you be a year from now? Will you be proud of the strides you’ve made, or will you find yourself in the same career situation you’re in right now?

By following the eight principles above, you can create dramatic improvements in your career — but only if you truly commit to making it happen through planned, effective action!

1. Let Your Personality Shine Through

By definition, having a phone interview means that you won’t be able to make eye contact or read the interviewer’s body language. Therefore, it is vital that you put extra effort into projecting your personality through the phone line. Many candidates act stiff and aloof during a phone interview, which naturally puts-off the interviewer. Instead, try hard to forge a genuine, personal connection. This is YOUR responsibility, not the interviewer’s.

2. Stand-Up and Smile

As veteran salespeople know, people on the other end of the phone line are very perceptive. They can tell if you’re slouching in your chair, if you’re smiling or not, if you’re tired or energetic, and so on. Even on the phone, you’ve got to make the right impression! So stand-up during your phone interview (your voice will be more dynamic), and smile into the phone throughout the entire conversation (you’ll sound warm and friendly). You should even keep a mirror on the wall near your desk, so ensure that you “keep on smiling.”

3. Take it Seriously

Candidates often assume that a phone interview is less important than a “real interview,” so they tend to take the phone interview less seriously. This is a big mistake, because the only way you’ll get to the next step of the application process is to do well in the “phone screen.” So even though it’s a phone interview, be sure to get a good night’s sleep and put yourself in the right frame of mind to do your best. Then you might get a shot at an “in person” meeting.

4. Prepare and Practice

As mentioned above, many job candidates tend to take phone interviews less seriously than in-person interviews. One of the ways this is manifested is that the applicant doesn’t prepare as diligently or practice as much as they would for a face-to-face meeting. This assumption can really derail your chances of getting the offer. You must prepare and practice for the phone interview just as much as you would for a “real interview” – because it IS a “real interview.”

5. Push for the Meeting

Just as the purpose of a resume is to “get in the door,” the purpose of a phone interview is to get a face-to-face meeting with the employer! Assuming you perform well during the phone call and successfully build the employer’s interest in you, your next goal is to secure an in-person interview. If the company doesn’t invite you in for a sit-down meeting, ask for it. At that point, you’ll have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

1. Know your value and articulate it clearly. Get crystal clear on the value you offer to employers. Then learn how to articulate this value clearly. Use your accomplishment stories to back-up your claims.

2. Network, network, network. Continually increase your level of networking and keep expanding your contact database. Reestablish and nourish business and personal relationships. Offer to help others, even if they’re not in a position to help you right now.

3. Get help and education. Take advantage of the support provided by career coaches, government programs, nonprofit agencies, job search groups, college/alumni career centers, or faith-based missions for the unemployed and underemployed. Attend career seminars and job-search workshops, and read career books.

4. Upgrade all your career documents. Expand your career portfolio far beyond just the resume. There are about 10 items you’ll need for your “Job Seeker’s Tool Kit” in order to conduct a proper search. Craft a unified package that consistently conveys your most professional image and your greatest contributions.

5. Focus on tangible results. The employer will be asking, “What can you do for me – now?” Identify the employer’s most pressing needs, problems and challenges, and then explain exactly how your relevant accomplishments will allow you to produce positive results in the short term.

1. Find the employer’s pain by asking probing questions about the company’s needs, problems and challenges.

2. Make direct connections between your qualifications, skills and accomplishments – and the hiring manager’s primary issues.

3. Use a soft-sell approach. Rather than pushing for a follow-up meeting, leave this in the employer’s hands. If the hiring manager calls or writes you back, you’ll know you’ve got something.

4. Get the employer to “fall in love” with you.  When your networking efforts lead to a meeting in which you and the hiring manager truly “click,” he or she will ask if you might be interested in coming to work for their company – even though there may not have been a job opening there.

5. Make the employer an offer they can’t refuse by showing in your “Work Proposal” how you can successfully address their concerns. At that point, this becomes a “no brainer” for the hiring manager – which is why the “Work Proposal” has such a high success rate.

1. Spend at least 90% of your job search time networking, and about 10% of your time and effort on everything else. In this employment climate, networking shifts from being part of your job search to being almost all of your job search.

2. Come from an attitude of “extreme generosity” during the networking process. After every networking conversation, the other person should feel genuinely glad that you contacted them and feel enriched by the experience.

3. Create and use a structured “networking agenda.” Everyone is stretched to the limit; doing more with less. Sticking to a meeting agenda makes your networking meetings time-efficient and highly productive.

4. Track your networking performance, day-to-day and week-to-week. This is how you’ll gauge your productivity and effectiveness. The goal is to continually improve your performance and produce better results. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

5. Position yourself as a “solutions provider,” not as a “job seeker.” The only thing employers are interested in these days is “What can you do for me TODAY!” They are no longer interested in just “filling job openings.”

The biggest change I see in the future of “jobs” is that the fundamental definition of work is in the process of shifting dramatically. The work-world our parents experienced no longer exists; yet no new concept of work has been fully established. In a sense, all working people are therefore in a “state of limbo,” waiting to see how the career landscape will look “when the dust settles.”

For many, this is a disorienting and confusing period – but we are also faced with a huge opportunity to create a more enlightened experience of work that will be more appropriate for today’s world. 

There are many strategies to keep in mind to “make a good impression” upon first contact. These items are also some of the main things interviewers are looking for in a candidate:

- Be mindful of the other person’s time. Ask if this is a good time for them before proceeding into the discussion (or identify another time that would be better). When attending a scheduled meeting or interview, ask how much time the other person has, and hold to that timeframe.

- If you were referred by a mutual friend or acquaintance to the person with whom you’re meeting, be sure to reference that person in positive terms. This helps to build a “personal bridge” and establish rapport.

- Take notes throughout the discussion. A person who doesn’t take notes is simply not interested or engaged enough to take seriously.

- Arrive to the meeting or interview on time and fully prepared. This shows that you respect the other person, and that you are a real professional. Learn everything you can in advance about the company, the opportunity, and the interviewer.

- Be focused on the other person’s interests and needs, more than your own. Present yourself as a solutions provider, rather than a job seeker. Offer to be of service and show genuine interest in helping the interviewer with his or her business challenges.

- Once you confirm the interviewer’s primary needs and problems, share some “Accomplishment Stories” that relate your past successes directly to the prospective employer’s situation. Making this “connection” will help you stand-out as the top candidate.

Here are some things NOT to do, when trying to make a positive first impression:

- Take advantage of the other person’s generosity or time

- Arrive unprepared to talk intelligently about the employer and the company

- Dress inappropriately for the meeting or interview

- Be focused only on your own needs

- Fail to make any connection between your past experiences and the prospective employer’s needs or challenges

- Forget to follow-up with a thank you note

- Ask no questions of the interviewer

- And many, many other mistakes that are all too common!

• Stock Options
• Profit Sharing
• Company Car or Auto Allowance
• Home Purchase or Mortgage Assistance
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Non-Compete agreements
• Outplacement Assistance
• Consultant vs. Employee Status
• Flex-Time
• Commuting
• Job-Sharing
• Free Lunches (meals)
• Company-Sponsored Child Care
• Severance Settlement Package
• Legal, Tax, or Financial Assistance
• Discount on Purchases
• Computer Equipment, Laptop, etc.
• On-premises Health Club
• And whatever else is important to YOU!

Obviously, you would not attempt to negotiate ALL these items – only the ones that are of most importance to you! Most candidates will select 3 to 5 items to negotiate.

The Real Value of an Offer

Before you can begin negotiating the elements of any offer, you must first determine the REAL VALUE of that offer. To make an accurate assessment, don’t forget to factor-in the non-salary dollars that go into a compensation package! Take a look at this sample chart:

At first, the offer above seems to simply be a $50,000 base salary. But when you incorporate all the “extras,” you quickly see that it’s actually a much more attractive offer, totaling $75,000!

Remember to get the whole story before you judge the compensation! There may be much more to the offer than meets the eye.

Once you understand the scope of the entire offer, you can go back to the hiring manager and negotiate those items that are most important to you. Enjoy the process!

1. The first salary offer the employer makes is usually the LOWEST offer they can mention without feeling embarrassed.
2. The employer is fully expecting candidates to negotiate the offer, and will think twice about making you an offer if you DON’T know how to “play the game” of negotiation.
3. 80% of the outcome of your negotiation will be determined by your attitude and assumptions about this subject.
4. Anyone can learn to negotiate compensation effectively! You just need to learn a specific set of behaviors and phrases.

Items You Can Negotiate:

• SALARY (always finalize this one first!)
• Job Title
• Job Responsibilities
• Insurance (life, medical, dental, disability)
• Vacation Time
• Office Location
• Retirement Plans
• Parking
• Relocation Assistance
• Training Allowances
• Work Space
• Bonuses (sign-on and performance)
• Commission Rates
• Expense Accounts
• Memberships and Dues
• Accelerated Reviews

Want to read about more things that you can negotiate? Read the entire article here!

By changing some job-search behaviors and refining some career strategies, candidates can produce much better results. From my work as a Career Coach, I have observed the following traits in my most successful clients:

(1) They network continually and effectively;

(2) They seek help and professional support in the search;

(3) They read career books and attend career seminars;

(4) They leverage technology, to connect with their industry and build greater visibility;

(5) They position themselves as experts by writing articles, giving presentations and leading professional organizations;

(6) They act with speed and urgency, to get an edge over other candidates;

(7) They take care of themselves physically, emotionally and intellectually;

(8) They remain flexible and adaptable, to open-up more career possibilities;

(9) They improve/enhance all the documents in their self-marketing portfolio;

(10) They identify industries that will emerge stronger when the market improves, and position themselves to take advantage of these trends;

(11) They consistently practice interviewing and negotiation skills;

(12) They pay extra attention to their personal image, to present themselves in the best light;

(13) They watch and adjust their attitude, recognizing that job search is ultimately “an inside game.”

Since these strategies have been proven to work consistently with so many job seekers, I would advise others to do the same to produce successful results!