THE TIMELESS “INNER CORE” CHARACTERISTICS OF A GREAT CANDIDATE

Decision-makers agree that candidates with the following characteristics stand the best chance of being selected for a given position. Such candidates:

• project an attitude of confidence and pride in whatever they do;

• demonstrate a positive mental attitude at all times but especially while confronting difficult or challenging situations;

• demonstrate mental toughness in dealing with challenging or difficult situations;

• are articulate, clear and concise in verbal and written communications;

• are especially good communicators in all sorts of forums and venues;

• have the ability to multitask while delivering high quality performance;

• are open, direct and honest in all interpersonal conversations;

• show a distinct talent for working well with others, in teams, and in a variety of collaborative situations.

Although this is a great list, it is just as applicable to the 1990s jobscape as well as today’s 21st century business environment. With that in mind, the items listed above represent a kind of “inner core” of essential characteristics. So what, then, are the newer, fundamental “outer core” characteristics that make a candidate attractive to a prospective employer in our 21st century jobscape?

Own your career,

Rod Colon

The Importance of Giving Back

Leaders all over the world recognize the importance of giving back to the organizations that put them in power. ETP Network leaders feel the same way and realize that their selfless efforts make a great difference to the organization as a whole.

Investing time in the group as a leader means helping the “next wave” of CEOs to blossom and grow. An earlier group did it for you, correct? And when you were on the receiving end of all that mentoring, I’ll bet you were occasionally curious about how those leaders made their way into those positions of leadership.

Giving back to the organization is clearly not an obligation. But most leaders give back because they know that sustaining the new wave of CEOs will have far-reaching benefits for them, too, e.g., expanding their networks, gaining exposure as networking leaders, providing high-powered resume enhancements, and so on.

Think of it this way: If you have kids, you know how important it is to ensure the success and well-being of the next generation. It’s just another reminder that things are not always “just about me”; sometimes it’s necessary to direct attention to a generation that will someday replace you.

It’s the natural order of things.

Best wishes and shape your career,

Rod Colon

732.367.5580

Manage Your Career as a Business

From this point on, you will learn to manage your career as the CEO of a business — the business of “ME, Inc.”

The CEO of any company runs the company. CEOs direct all critical operations such as sales and marketing, research and development, strategy, finance, corporate culture, human resources, community affairs, public relations, and so on.

CEOs are primarily responsible for setting the corporate strategy and vision. They decide which products to introduce into which markets and against which competitors. CEOs decide how the company will brand itself and differentiate itself in the marketplace. Ultimately, the CEO is responsible for the success or failure of the company.

Happy New Year,

Rod Colon

What a Difference a Decade Makes

As recently as the mid-1990’s, getting a job, starting a business, or switching career paths were not considered to be overwhelmingly difficult challenges. The jobs were out there but you had to spend lots of time using the increasingly popular Internet job boards to ferret them out and then electronically submit on them.

Since then, however, the global jobscape has changed dramatically. Economic pressures have forced companies to cut staff in order to keep their budgets in line. Achievement payouts, merit awards, bonuses, raises, and benefits have been relentlessly trimmed back in what began as a trickle but which today is a torrent. The available pool of jobs has dried up to such a point that if you need a job badly enough, the pressure of competition now forces you to prove your value and unique talents in an almost spectacular fashion.

In an era in which jobs have become unbelievably scarce, it’s regrettable that the majority of job seekers still rely on submitting generic resumes to Internet job boards with the belief that they can compete successfully with an ever-growing population of job seekers. The real problem with this approach is that it delivers miserable results involving little or no human-to-human interaction, networking, relationship-building, etc… — skills that, in the real world, are at the root of all successful business ventures. It is very much like tossing your resume into an immense “black hole” and watching it vanish forever with zero opportunity for acknowledgement or follow-up.

Today, there’s a dynamic and intelligent alternative. Shape My Career has partnered with the ETP Network (Empowering Today’s Professionals) to engineer a whole new job search system for professionals who want to manage their careers in the same way a CEO manages a company.

The system is logical, precise, and driven by business ownership logic. It leverages the power of advocates — people who will help you get connected to decision-makers or contacts who know those decision-makers — within a company that interests you. It requires you to develop a powerful value proposition which, if designed correctly, will compel any reasonable decision-maker to grant you an interview.

Happy New Year,

Rod Colon

The 21st Century Jobscape

The 21st century jobscape is unlike any other in history. Some of its key features include things such as: 1) a tremendous upheaval in global economic forces; 2) the “flattening” of today’s business environment in such a way that competition for available jobs has been ratcheted up into near-stratospheric levels; 3) an increased need on the part of many businesses to employ people who can comfortably cross the traditional boundaries of job descriptions and easily deploy their skills in a wide variety of available positions (thus significantly reducing costs).

If the preceding paragraph has given you an uneasy feeling about your current job search predicament, then it’s accomplished its purpose. It was written as a wake-up call for all those professionals in transition who still believe that the old, “traditional” methods of looking for jobs will still serve them well and eliminate the uncomfortable period of transition.

To frame out your understanding of Shape My Career’s new methodology, you’ll need to have your finger on the pulse of today’s job market … the “21st century jobscape”, as we call it.

Happy New Year,

Rod Colon