1. Career Management Strategies © 2003
Jim Molloy
Organizational Development, Talent Development Professional, and Coach
Independent Contractor,Customized Solutions
Phone: 717 781 4880
Email: j.molloy@live.com
Career Management Strategies © 2003
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2. Table of Contents
Career Management Strategies ....................................................................................................... 3
Approaching The Job Market ......................................................................................................... 4
Work History: Starting Your Resume............................................................................................. 5
Sample Resume ............................................................................................................................... 6
What Are Your Interests? ............................................................................................................... 7
Networking ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Creating Your Contact List ............................................................................................................. 9
Networking Questions .................................................................................................................. 11
Developing Your Story ................................................................................................................. 12
Interviewing and Follow-up .......................................................................................................... 13
References ..................................................................................................................................... 15
Action Verbs ................................................................................................................................. 16
Appendix ........................................................................................................................................ 1
Contact Worksheet .......................................................................................................................... 1
My Career Path Worksheet ............................................................................................................. 2
Career Management Strategies © 2003
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3. Career Management Strategies
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
Introduction
-Cheshire Cat, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Managing your career is a life skill, not a luxury. Sure, some people just fall
into a dream job, or so they say. Most people get the job of their choice
because they know what they want, and they are not afraid to go after it. If
you do your research, have a plan, and use your resources, you will succeed
in finding a job that meets your career goals.
Today’s Agenda is as follows:
Agenda
Objectives
Approaching The Job Market
Work History
Developing Your Story
60 Second Commercial
Networking/Creating Your Contact List
First, you need to uncover your interests. Then, you need to talk to a lot of
Planning Your
Career people to figure out if they know of jobs that meet your interests. Next, you
need to talk to people that are in the jobs that have your interests to validate
whether or not the job still meets your interests, and discuss their career path
(how they got to where they are today). Finally, you need to talk to
employers that have jobs that meet your interests.
Discussing the career path that was followed by someone in your dream job is
Identifying
Your Career a good place to start. However, the market changes constantly, and
yesterday’s career path for your dream job may be different in today’s job
Path
market. Developing your career path is a hypothesis, an educated guess as to
what you need to do to get to the job of your dreams.
Use the worksheet in the Appendix of this guide to get you started. Write
down your ideal job on the far right hand side of the paper. Working
backwards, write down each job complete with the skills you will need to get
the next job in your path until you get to where you are today. This exercise
takes quite a bit of time. However, the more people you meet with in your
desired career, the less time it will take you to identify your ideal career path.
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4. Approaching The Job Market
Did you know that 75% to 80% of all job openings are never advertised? The
Introduction
job market consists of both visible and hidden jobs. It is essential to a
successful career search campaign that you approach both.
Contact with many people will lead you to the job offer you ultimately accept.
Networking /
Face-toFace Face-to-face contact is the most valuable form of interaction because it is
Contact more difficult for the person to reject you (hanging up the phone, answering
letters, etc.). Therefore, the more people you talk to, and meet with, the
sooner you will arrive at your final destination: gainful employment.
Advertised jobs offer a highly competitive source of employment leads
Employment
Ads (Classified Ads, Monster.com, etc.). However, 75-150 applicants answer the
average employment ad. Why is this a problem?
The person screening resumes is not in a position to make a hiring decision
and read through every resume. Their job is to reduce the pile of candidates
to about 10 potential candidates for every position by eliminating as many
resumes as possible. Therefore, you need to make sure when you do respond
to an employment ad, that you put your best foot forward.
Responding to an employment ad should always include a cover letter and
Responding to
Employment resume. The cover letter should highlight your understanding of the
company’s needs, and how you are uniquely qualified to help.
Ads
A resume provides the potential employer with a synopsis of your skills and
The Resume
work history and should be kept to one page. Because you are limited to one
page, you may need to tailor your resume to highlight your skills that meet
the needs of each company and job. Not only do you need to provide a cover
letter that is tailored to the specific job, but you should tailor your resume as
well.
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5. Work History: Starting Your Resume
The resume is a synopsis of your work history, including your achievements
Introduction
and the impact you have had during your career. There are two resumes that
are common in today’s job market: Chronological and Functional.
Chronological resumes show the timeline of your work history. Functional
resumes explain your knowledge, skills and abilities. Chronological resumes
are preferred by most employers because they are easier to read, and
communicate all of the aspects of previous and current employment.
First, write down your current employer and job title in the space provided
Employment
History below:
Employer Name: _______________ Job Title: ________________
Next, refer to the Action Verbs section of this guide on page 14 and circle
five action verbs that relate to your current job and write them in the spaces
provided below:
1. _______________
2. _______________
3. _______________
4. _______________
5. _______________
Finally, starting with the action verb, write a sentence regarding your job.
Creating your resume starts by writing your employment history, then
Creating Your
Resume organizing all of your information on a single page. Information you should
consider providing include: An objective, a background summary,
educational background, and any specialized or computer related skills.
There is a sample resume on the next page, and most software programs have
easy to use resume templates.
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6. Sample Resume
The sample resume provided below is an example of a chronologically
Sample Resume
formatted resume. However, you will want to customize the format to fit
your personality, career goals, and aligned with each opportunity you seek.
LIBBY WILLIAMSON
6113 Southgate Drive
Boston, MA 02745
lwilliamson@yahoo.com
(617) 555-1212
________________________________________________________________________
OBJECTIVE: To secure an position in a small to medium-sized human services organization.

BACKGROUND: Highly motivated, detail oriented professional with
experience in accounts receivable, securities processing and
customer service.
 Proficient in operation of 10-key adding machine.
 Strong interpersonal and organizational skills.
 Typing speed: 50+ with high degree of accuracy.
WORK
EXPERIENCE: Genesis National Bank, Boston, MA
08/91 - 05/94 ACCOUNTING CLERK
 Performed record keeping, payment processing and account
reconciliation pertaining to international security trades and cash trades in a
high volume environment.
 Coordinated transaction processing information and related account
data with affiliated French bank daily.
 Maintained high level of accuracy while consistently meeting strict
deadlines on a daily basis.
EDUCATION: Elizabeth Brant School of Business, Boston, MA
09/73 - 08/76 SECRETARIAL DIPLOMA
Degree: 1976

COMPUTER SKILLS: Corel WordPerfect
 Microsoft Word
 Microsoft Windows 2000, and XP
 Microsoft Excel
 Microsoft Power Point
REFERENCES: Furnished upon request.
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7. What Are Your Interests?
Well, what are your interests? One of the most successful ways to uncover
Introduction
your ideal job is to identify your interests, including likes and dislikes about
previous jobs. Then, when you set up meetings to talk to people about
potential careers, you can ask them whether or not the job fits your criteria.
For example, if you like organizing things you can ask, “How much of this
job involves organizing, and project management?”
You may want to use a separate piece of paper for this exercise. List the
information in any order, just write down everything you can think of at first.
Then, rank each of the items in order of importance in the spaces provided
below.
What didn’t 1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
you like about 2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
your previous 3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
job that you 4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
want to avoid in 5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
your next job?
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
What did you
really like 2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
about your 3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
previous job? 4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
What do you
want to be 2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
included in 3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
your next job? 4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
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8. Networking
Networking is the single most important skill to a successful job search.
Introduction
The goal of networking is to meet enough people to identify a person or
Goal
persons that are able to provide you with first hand information regarding a
career or company where you have an interest.
The first step in successful networking is to develop a contact list. This list is
Developing
Your Contact essentially everyone and anyone that is willing to talk to you. If you are
List planning to talk to people for information about a company or career, first
make it clear you are asking for their insights, not a job.
Anyone can be a contact. Think of everyone you know or have met at one
time or another. Use the form on the next page to get started. Then, as you
make contact with these people and have a conversation, remember to ask
who else they know you should meet. Pretty soon, you will have hundreds of
people to call on to help you in your quest.
There is a Contact Network Sheet for your use in the Appendix of this
reference guide.
Using your contact list involves writing to and calling friends, acquaintances,
Using Your
Contact List and strangers. Generally, you will not ask them for a job, but simply that they
allow you to meet with them to discuss your present situation, to receive their
advice.
Before you make your first call be prepared to state your present situation,
Making
Contact what you are asking for, and make it clear that the meeting will be at his or
her convenience, and you have no expectations of a job offer, you are simply
trying to learn from their knowledge of your chosen career field. Be sure to
open your conversation by mentioning the name of the person referring you.
Also, when contacting people by telephone, always ask if it is a good time to
talk. If the person says no, find out when it would be a good time to meet.
For example, “Mr. Smith, this is Michael Somerset, your friend Julie Jones
suggested I give you a call, is this a good time to talk?”
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9. Creating Your Contact List
Your objective is to develop a list of as many people you can contact as
Introduction
possible, regardless of whether or not you believe they will help you find the
job of your dreams. Write the names of at least 10 people you can contact in
each of the categories below.
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Coworkers
2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Friends
2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Family
2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Neighbors
2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Classmates /
Alumni 2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
Continued on next page
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10. Creating Your Contact List, Continued
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Teachers /
Professors 2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
1 ____________________ 6 ____________________
Employers
(Current and 2 ____________________ 7 ____________________
Former) 3 ____________________ 8 ____________________
4 ____________________ 9 ____________________
5 ____________________ 10 ____________________
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11. Networking Questions
Here are some questions to ask the person you meet with when you have an
Informational
Interview opportunity to meet with someone that is working in your desired field or
Questions position:
How did you first enter this field?
How did you prepare yourself to work in this field?
What did you do before you worked in this field?
What do you like most about working in this field?
What do you find most challenging about working in this profession?
What could I do to prepare myself for this type of career?
What books or references would you recommend to someone interested in
this field?
Are there any professional associations that people in this field join to
learn and share information?
What courses, seminars or other learning experiences would be especially
helpful for acquiring the skills needed to increase my chances of entering
into this field as a future career?
Where do you feel this field is headed, and what could potential job-
seekers do to take advantage of those opportunities?
Which of your colleagues would it be particularly useful for me to talk to
about a career in this field?
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12. Developing Your Story
Storytelling is one of the oldest and most effective ways of communicating
Introduction
information. Your story will help you to uniquely position yourself among
other job candidates in the market. Good stories, answers the questions:
Who? What? When? Where? Why?, and How?
Having your stories prepared in advance align well with today’s behavioral
Why Prepare
and Tell interviewing techniques used by most recruiters. Although not all companies
Stories? use behavioral interviewing techniques, you will be prepared to share your
accomplishments in a tangible and meaningful way.
What three or four achievements are you most proud of? Include your
Step One
academic and work experience?
First Achievement
Second Achievement
Third Achievement
Develop your story to show people listening how you made a difference.
Step Two
During an actual interview, you can use your stories to highlight your skills,
and then put your story in context with the interviewers business needs.
Here are some questions to think about:
What problems did I deal with?
What actions did I take?
What were the results?
First Achievement
Second Achievement
Third Achievement
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13. Interviewing and Follow-up
Contrary to popular belief, interviewing is not an interrogation - Interviewing
Introduction
is a two-way dialog. The interviewer wants to know if you are capable of
meeting the needs of the job based on your behavior during past experiences.
When answering interview questions, elaborate, tell a story about how you
have handled similar situations in the past, then follow up with questions of
your own to maintain a two-way dialog of sharing and learning. The
following four skills are necessary to have an effective interview.
Listening
Questioning
Paraphrasing
Summarizing
Closing
While listening, convey to the interviewer that you are really listening
Listening
through verbal, vocal and non-vocal means. Leaning forward, and nodding
your head in agreement are two non-verbal means of acknowledging you
understand what the interviewer is saying.
Use open ended questions or questions that cannot easily be answered by a
Questioning
“yes” or “no.” These types of questions will show the interviewer you are
interested and want to learn as much as you can about the position, and
company. For example:
“What was it about my background that interested you in speaking with me?”
“What do you think most employees like about working here?”
“What qualities will a candidate need to successfully fill this role?”
“What are some of the challenges a person would face in this position?”
“How often would the person in this position be evaluated?”
“What opportunities for advancement exist for a person in this position?”
Good candidates “play back” what the interviewer is asking or stating to
Paraphrasing
make sure both people are in agreement. Basically, you are repeating what
was said, and then looking for verbal or non-verbal agreement to confirm
understanding.
Continued on next page
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14. Interviewing and Follow-up, Continued
During and especially at the end of the interview, it is critical for you to
Summarizing
summarize the needs you have heard by the interviewer. After summarizing
the needs and qualifications for the job, you want to make sure the
interviewer has no other questions.
During the close of the interview you want to summarize all of the business
Closing
needs shared by the employer during the interview. After you have
summarized all of the key points, ask the interviewer what they feel are the
top three things a successful candidate will need to accomplish in the first 3-6
months on the job.
After the interviewer has summarized the top three points, it is your turn to
restate how your knowledge and background match up to their top three
needs. Here you will need to cite examples (these are examples you have
probably already presented during the interview, but discuss them anyway).
Finally, you need to bring closure to the interview and this can be done with
two simple questions.
1. What other questions do you have about my background?
2. Is there anything about my background that would cause you to
hesitate in hiring me for this position?
The follow-up letter or thank-you note gives you a final opportunity to
Thank You
Letter reiterate your interests in the job position highlighting their needs and your
unique qualifications. The follow-up letter can also give you a chance to
present any information you may not have had time to discuss.
After a week to ten days have gone by, if you have not received a formal
Follow-Up
response regarding your interview, follow-up with a courtesy call. Always
keep the tone of your voice up-beat, and your message positive. Your
message should emphasize your excitement and qualifications to fill the role
and make a positive contribution to their company.
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15. References
Employers will usually ask for references if they are seriously interested in
Introduction
making a hiring decision. It is very important that you have a list of
references you provide. Generally, employers will ask for professional
references, these people you have worked with. Sometimes, prospective
employers will ask for personal references as well. Developing a list of three
to six professional and personal references will have you well prepared for the
next step in the interview process.
The information needed on your references is very basic.
Reference
Information Name
Business/Home Address
City/State/Zip Code
Email Address
Best Times to Reach
Best Method of Contact
Occupation/Title
Telephone Number
Relation To You
The reference sheet should be typewritten on a separate piece of paper for you
to hand to the interviewer upon request.
After you interview with a prospective employer, if you have been asked to
Preparing
References provide references, it is common courtesy to contact each reference to let
them know they may receive a letter or phone call.
Make sure you send a personal thank-you note to each of your references.
Thanking
References
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16. Action Verbs
accomplished achieved addressed administered advised allocated
answered appeared applied appointed appraised approved
arranged assessed assigned assumed assured audited
awarded bought briefed broadened brought built
cataloged caused changed chaired clarified classified
closed collected combined commented communicated compared
compiled completed computed conceived conducted conceptualized
considered consolidated constructed consulted contracted controlled
converted coordinated corrected counseled counted created
dealt decided defined delegated delivered demonstrated
described designed determined developed devised diagnosed
directed discussed distributed documented doubled drafted
earned edited effected eliminated endorsed enlarged
enlisted ensured established estimated evaluated examined
executed expanded expedited experienced explained explored
expressed extended filed filled financed focused
forecast formulated founded gathered generated granted
guided handled helped identified implemented improved
incorporated increased indexed initiated influenced innovated
inspected installed instituted instructed insured interpreted
interviewed introduced invented invested investigated involved
issued joined kept launched learned leased
lectured led licensed listed logged made
maintained managed matched measured mediated met
modified monitored motivated moved navigated negotiated
observed operated ordered organized oversaw participated
perceived performed persuaded planned prepared presented
processed procured programmed prohibited projected promoted
proposed provided published purchased pursued qualified
questioned raised ranked rated realized received
recommended reconciled recorded recruited redesigned reduced
regulated rehabilitated related reorganized repaired replaced
replied reported represented researched resolved responded
restored revamped reviewed revise saved scheduled
selected served serviced set set up shaped
shared showed simplified sold solved sorted
sought sparked specified spoke staffed started
streamlined strengthened stressed stretched structured studied
submitted substituted succeeded suggested summarized superseded
supervised surveyed systematized tackled targeted taught
terminated tested took toured traced tracked
traded trained transferred transcribed transformed translated
transported traveled treated trimmed tripled turned
tutored umpired uncovered understood understudied unified
unraveled updated upgraded used utilized verbalized
verified visited waged weighed widened won
worked wrote
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17. Appendix
Contact Worksheet
Remember, networking is not about finding people that can get you a job, it is about talking to people about their
Introduction
insights on how to learn more about jobs, the job market, and companies of interest. Keep track of the people you
contact, and the outcome. It is also a good idea to
Name Phone Number Date Contacted Results
Performance Consulting Solutions © 2003
Career Management Strategies
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18. My Career Path Worksheet
My Next Step is: My Ideal Job is:
Skills I will need:
My First Step is:
Skills I will need:
Skills I will need:
My Next Step is:
Skills I will need:
My Next Step is: My Next Step is:
Skills I will need: Skills I will need:
Performance Consulting Solutions © 2003
Career Management Strategies
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