IT’S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!
And as you plan for your wonderful weekend, remember if you are looking for a new career you also have to plan for you search.
Here are a few strategies that will help make it moreproductive. Click Here!
Have you ever thought about getting your resume done professionally? But thought why should I pay for it? Then you should read this!!! Click Here!
How to Successfully Change Careers
Are you facing that career change plunge? Do you wish you were? Take it slowly and make sure what you really want to do is change careers. Then use this 10-step plan. Click Here!
Tips and Advice for Starting a Job Hunt
Before you start your job search, check out this resource to make it easier. Click Here!
The Top Eight Job Search Engines!!!
If you’re in the market for a new job, you’ll want to check out this list of the top eight best job search engines on the Web. Click Here!
GET THE JOB YOU WANT!!!
There are so many people who are for looking jobs and seeking to change their career, after you have found the job or career you desire and you have a professional looking resume, you need an interview. Here are some tips on how to get one. Click Here!
The New Year is a time when we consider our current status in life and resolve to make changes. For many a transition to a new career may be one of those resolutions. VentureReady LLC has developed some steps you should consider in order to make the most of your career search in 2014.
Network – You will have a lot of competition when you allow for an advertised position. Tailoring your resume or CV to the job description will help you stand out, but networking will give you an edge that most candidates will not have.
Use your personal referrals and online contact in order to come to the attention of hiring managers. Personal contacts can be family members, friends, colleague and prior managers, or supervisors. Follow the company on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, join the same communities and groups. Find out how the company could benefit from your education and/or experience.
Tap into associates through volunteer activities and professional associations. You can get a chance to make a positive impression with a decision maker while chatting with him/her during an association meeting or event. During the discussion you could mention that you can mention what your skills are and that you are looking for an opportunity.
Interviewing – Mastering the interview is just like mastering any other skill. The more you practice, the more confident and proficient you will become. Research the type of questions you may encounter during the interview based on your industry and do a mock interview with a friend, or career specialist. Use your contacts to find someone who knows the company/industry and ask them what the current issues are.
Show the interviewer how well you’ve researched the role and, be ready to demonstrate how you can make a real difference in the role. That’s what a hiring manager wants to know. VentureReady LLC’s Readiness Consultants are advocates for bringing career portfolios to an interview. This booklet is a powerful tool that will have samples of your work that brings proof of your accomplishments and experience. A career portfolio should also have work samples so that the hiring manager can get a clear picture of what you will bring to the company and the position. This doesn’t mean you won’t get a difficult question during the interview, but it does mean you be in a position to answer it with poise and confidence.
Ask the interviewer questions. This will not only show that you are interested in the position, but also that you were paying attention. The interview will not reveal everything about the position. This is also a chance to get more information on the position, the management style and the company culture that you cannot get from online research.
Temp Agencies – Building a strong relationship with the agencies will ensure your success in securing a position. You must be the first person that comes to mind when a new assignment comes in. You can be that person by meeting the staff at the agency face-to-face. Prove yourself as a reliable worker, by taking any and every assignment offered at first. Occasionally call them and inquire about available assignments.
Blogging –If you want to get your name out there, help build up contacts and start networking try blogging. It can be a challenge to fit your dream career around your commitments, but there’s often more than one way into a role. If you are a subject matter expert, blogging will help you to share that knowledge on a large scale and establish you as an expert in the industry.
LinkedIn – Maximize your LinkedIn experience. Do not simply post a profile and assume hiring managers will flood your inbox. Join groups and associations with shared professional interests, then contribute to the discussions.
Be Patient – Every situation is different but on the whole most people do have to take a salary cut, before they can move forward in a career transition. It is imperative to see a career transition as a long-term process.
Corporate training programs such as trainee roles, tend to have fixed salaries with little or no flexibility. An abstract job search may give you with more negotiation power by appealing to employers with your experience and transferable skills.
Relocating – When deciding on relocating for a position you must decide on how far are you willing to move. You should consider if there are any areas of the country or the world you would like to go to as well as area you do not. Clarifying where you want to go will help to focus your job search. Why do you want to relocate? You are the only person who can decide if the transition is worth it.
Health Issues – This year we had clients who were returning to the workforce after a long illness. They were concerned that they would have to reveal their health issues to the employer. Your past illness should only be revealed on a need-to-know basis.
If the past illness affects your performance on the job, then it’s better to inform the employer upfront, then to wait until you are hired. If you have overcome this challenge, then there is no need to bring it up. If you have gaps in your career history because of it, you can mention it in the interview, but let me know that this is a past challenge.
Katrina Brittingham, M.B.A., MSA. is the owner of VentureReady LLC. Katrina’s skills and areas of expertise include resume and cover letter writing, interview training, career coaching, creating dynamic career portfolios and thank you letters. She received two Masters degrees in Business Administration and Accountancy from Rosemont College and the University of Phoenix. Katrina is pursuing a certification in resume writing from the National Resume Writers Association or which she is a member.
Marketable Skills After 50
Are you over 50, re-entering the workforce, and wondering about your marketable skills? Click Here!
Are you looking for a Senior Executive Position in the Federal Government? Then find out what is required so you will stand out!!!
The Senior Executive Service (SES) is comprised of men and women charged with leading the continuing transformation of Federal government agencies and departments to meet the requirements of Congress and the President.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
When applying for a Senior Executive Service (SES) position in Federal government, be ready to invest a considerable amount of time in preparing your application package so you can get that call to interview…and ultimately, the job!
Although a few agencies are changing their requirements, most require a comprehensive résumé, narrative responses to several professional and technical qualifications, as well as narrative responses to Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs).
In total, you should expect to prepare about 15-20 pages of material.
Before writing your ECQs, be sure to read this entire article.
What Are Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ’s)
ECQs are narrative statements that describe your leadership abilities in five key areas. Applicants are required to provide a separate narrative statement for each ECQ.
Your ECQ responses are a critical part of your application package—Federal hiring officials will decide whether or not to interview you based, in large part, on these narratives. These narratives are like a mini-interview before the interview.
Spend the time preparing thoughtful responses that succinctly, but comprehensively, describe your abilities in each of these areas and cross reference them back to the résumé. The employer does not want to spend time reading your philosophy on the leadership qualifications—instead, they want to read your experiences that demonstrate your leadership abilities.
Below is a list of the 5 ECQs, along with a description of what hiring managers seek in each area.
- ECQ 1: Leading ChangeOrganizations are constantly in flux. Top-level Federal government managers need to be able to respond swiftly and effectively to internal and external changing circumstances. For this ECQ, hiring managers are looking for a narrative statement that demonstrates your key accomplishments in leading organizations through major change. They will be looking for examples of your organizational vision, ability to think strategically, flexibility, resilience, creativity, and innovation. They want to read about a situation, task, action and result that demonstrates your ability to lead change. Expand on your creativity, innovation, flexibility, external awareness, resilience, strategic thinking, and vision.
- ECQ 2: Leading People
Leaders in SES positions have responsibility for a large staff. In this narrative statement, hiring managers want to see your capabilities as a leader in an executive environment. They will want to read examples of your ability to leverage diversity, build strong teams, develop and mentor subordinate managers and staff, and resolve conflict. Think about a situation when you had to lead a group of people to reach a common goal. Describe the situation, the number of staff, even their titles if appropriate. What was the task? What action did you take? What results did you have? Did you earn an award for your efforts, or did anyone earn an award for their efforts. How did this team effort have an impact?
- ECQ 3: Results Driven
As an executive manager with the Federal government, you will be expected to deliver results consistently. SES positions are high-powered jobs with much at stake. For this narrative statement, describe your past success in delivering results in complex situations—settings where the odds might have been against you. In preparing your response, make sure you demonstrate decisiveness and strong problem-solving skills using your expertise. Show numbers when at all possible. Hiring managers will also be interested in seeing examples of your customer service focus, entrepreneurial capabilities, and technical credibility. Also be sure to demonstrate your experience in accountability, lessons learned, and complying with established control systems and rules.
- ECQ 4: Business Acumen
SES managers are responsible for significant resources—dollars, people, and assets. In this narrative statement, hiring managers will evaluate your financial, human capital, and information technology management skills. Showcase here how you have effectively and efficiently managed the resources under your control to achieve the organization’s goals. Demonstrate your awareness of current events in the industry, associations you belong to, papers you may have written, presentations you have made, professional members, community and volunteer service meld well into this ECQ. Expand on any money you have saved your organization, new policies or procedures you established to streamline the flow of work. Always keep in mind the cost-benefit. Describe how you set priorities to ensure the work gets done on time and within budget.
- ECQ 5: Building Coalitions
In all organizations—especially the Federal government—a leader’s ability to achieve results depends on his or her success in working well with others. Buy-in at many levels, both internally and externally, is needed to move initiatives forward. In this ECQ, you will want to demonstrate your skill in building productive working relationships with others to bring about organizational goals. Hiring managers are looking for politically savvy leaders who can effectively partner with others, influence key stakeholders within and outside the agency, and negotiate skillfully to achieve the organization’s objectives.
Preparing ECQ’s
While this article is not an all-inclusive guide to preparing your ECQs, it will give you a good idea of how to approach this important task. Expect to spend about three to five hours preparing and perfecting each ECQ.
Make each ECQ two full pages.
Yes, this means your ECQs will be 10 pages, which might seem quite lengthy, but hiring managers will not waste their time interviewing you if you do not first comprehensively demonstrate on paper that you possess the executive-level skills required to do the job.
While this will require a significant investment of your time, keep in mind that if you are not hired for the position, you can re-use the ECQs since they are standard essays for all SES positions.
If you do get called in for the interview, much of your interview preparation work will already be done, having gone through the extensive ECQ preparation process. ECQs are narratives that can be written and prepared ahead of time. Get started now so you will not be rushed!
Do not use bullets.
ECQs must be written narratives that tell a “story” about your leadership abilities. Of course, selective use of bullets to make a point is perfectly acceptable, but your ECQ responses should be well-presented narratives describing your skills, not short, condensed statements. This is your opportunity to shine!
Preparing Your Story
The best way to present your “story” is to select two or three specific accomplishments and elaborate on them. Whether you choose two or three will depend on how many stories it takes to achieve two full pages. As an example, let’s say three years ago you were hired to turn around an organization that suffered from low morale, below-standard productivity, and inefficient resource use. Your accomplishments in transforming the organization would make an excellent story to include in your ECQ on Leading Change.
Pick your first accomplishment, and follow this process:
- Start with a broad summary of your ability to lead change.
Begin your narrative by describing your ability to lead change. You might explain that you have a reputation as a change agent because of your consistent success in this regard. Briefly mention several ways in which you have led organizations through change.
- Describe the context or situation.
Then, get specific and discuss how you transformed that flailing unit. Where were you working and what position did you hold when you led this change? What important situational factors were present? For example, why was the unit underperforming? Did it lack strong leadership? Whatever the context or situation, describe it here.
- Explain the challenge.
What specific challenges did you encounter when overhauling the organization? For example, did staff resist your efforts? Did a lack of funding constrain your initiatives? Make sure the reader understands the challenge you were up against, so you can next explain how you overcame the challenge.
- Describe your actions.
What specific actions did you take to overcome the challenge and accomplish the task? For example, if the challenge was a resistant staff and you effectively persuaded them to follow your leadership, this is the place to showcase your talent.
- Present the outcome.
What specific results did you achieve? How can you demonstrate that you turned around the organization? Did staff complete employee satisfaction surveys that demonstrated an increase in morale? Did the organization meet performance targets that it had failed to meet in the past? Did you get an award for your actions?Whenever possible, quantify your results. Further, as available, incorporate quotations or comments that your peers or supervisors mentioned about your success.
When you have finished this first accomplishment, select another example (or two) and go through the same steps. Be sure to choose examples that highlight your skills differently. Perhaps you led an organization to adopt a new, more efficient way of working. Or, you might have led an organization to embrace a new philosophical change.
This approach represents a combination of the CCAR and STAR methods of writing, both of which are commonly used in preparing narratives for Federal government applications. These methods emphasize context, situations, challenges, actions, and results. Both are effective in highlighting your accomplishments and expertise.
Bottom Line
Given the importance of ECQs, you may wish to invest in the services of a professional federal résumé writer. While you will still need to spend considerable time developing input for the writer, you will have the expertise and assistance of a specialist skilled in preparing these narratives. You can re-use the ECQs for other SES applications since they are standard essays, making the financial investment worthwhile. If you decide to prepare them on your own, at a minimum, invite a trusted colleague or friend to critique your responses.
About The Author:
Camille Carboneau Roberts, established CC Career Services in 1989 to provide total career management services to help clients land jobs faster. Key services include federal resumes, private sector resumes, military-to-federal resumes, and social media resumes and profiles. Contact Camille at Camille@ccCareerServices.com, 208.522.4455, through her web siteccCareerServices.com, and also through social media links, like her LinkedIn Profile. Follow Camille on Twitter @CamilleRoberts, Friend her on Facebook at CamilleCarboneauRoberts and CC Career Services, join her Federal Job Search Group on LinkedIn, and visit her Google Plus Profile.