Elections and Getting a New Job

It has been a busy week in Canada - we now have a
new Prime Minister, and a whole bunch of people are
looking for new career options in Ottawa!

Elections are, in fact, our country's most expensive
interview process, involving thousands of candidates.
Elections are a funny thing - we give the government
OUR tax dollars, then they tell us what they are going
to do with THEIR money, which is really OUR money.
There is something wrong with that picture.

Job interviews are like that - somewhat flawed -
however, it is the best process we have. In my
experience, there are three keys to getting the job you
want, whether you are a politician or looking to land a
job as Assistant Manager at Walmart:

1. Confidence: Candidates who were confident won
over those who were cocky or unsure about their
message, or themselves.

2. Chemistry: Candidates who connected the best
with the public were more likely to win. Either we liked them better, or, at any
rate, they were the least unliked!

3. Content: Candidates who understood the issues the
best, and were relatively well informed, were also likely to succeed.

It is in this order that most people decide who they will
choose to join their team, or, for that matter, lead the
country. Content is always last. We often spend a lot
of time gathering information about the role and the
company and what we think they will need. While this
strategy is terrific, we still must pay attention to the
first two keys. They have a far greater impact on
whether you will or will not get the role. Monitor your
level of confidence; keep track of what you can do to
protect it. And work on developing that chemistry -
well, either it is there or not, you can't manufacture
that easily.

Send me an email (alan@careerjoy.com) about how you have used these three keys in
your job search, and I will share some of your insights
in next week's WORKout. We will be giving away some
copies of the Canadian (or U.S.) Job Search Kit for your
trouble.

P.S. We have some exciting news we will be sharing in
the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

Shark Attack! ... and other scary things ...

Have you ever seen Jaws? Well, I saw the movie
before a trip to Hawaii. Needless to say, I swam a little
closer to the shore, and much more slowly (with a
whole lot less thrashing about!). It sounds weird - one
day I love swimming in the ocean, then two hours later,
thanks to Steven Spielberg, I am not sure I want to
put my bathing suit on.

I have a question for you: how many people do you
think have died due to an incident with a toaster over
the past year? The answer: 891 globally. How many
people have died over the past year due to a shark
attack? The answer: 9 globally. You might want to be
careful next time you go to put the peanut butter on
your toast!

If so few people die due to shark attacks, why are so
many people afraid of the ocean? It is our irrational
fear that impacts our beliefs. The stats I
presented above came from an ad that ran in a South
African paper. The ad was meant to assuage people's
fear about swimming in the ocean. When I heard those
stats, it gave me a new perspective on a common
fear.

To be fair, shark attacks make for exciting news. An
attack is magnified, and reported globally. It connects
with some deeply held fears. So it is in dealing with
issues surrounding careers. You may have fears in
which there is some truth. For example, you might
have a fear of the interview process, and worry that
you will fail before you even step through the door.
Your lack of confidence could be the very thing that
keeps you from landing that big job. However, with a
little coaching and confidence-boosting, the interview
process could easily prove to be a rewarding
experience.

Dealing with shark fears:

1. You are not the only one to suffer from this fear.

2. Fear of sharks is an intense fear of something that
poses little or no actual danger.

Dealing with career issues:

1. You are not the only one to suffer from fear of the
job search.

2. There is little or no actual danger in your job
search.

We are experts in helping people to overcome their
career related fears. Visit us online at
www.careerjoy.com for more information.

Lesson 2: What Grocery Shopping and Careers Have In Common

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to send
you Lesson #2: What Grocery Shopping and Careers
have in Common. The time has finally come. Thank
you to many, many of our loyal readers for bringing this
omission to my attention. Also, thank you to those of
you that sent us your lessons learned in 2005. The
"best of" will be on it's way!

Lesson #2:
There are a lot of choices in the grocery store. Funny
story - there I was, standing in front of the yogurt
section, beside another customer. I said; "There
are a lot of choices here." He replied; "Yes, and
they still don't have what you want.".

There must have been 100+ choices of yogurts, and I
still had not gotten to the egg section. It sure makes
your head spin. To help reduce the anxiety of choice,
Loblaws created a new brand - President's Choice.
Every week, the president of Loblaws travels the globe
on my personal behalf, to find and create products just
for me (and 30 million other potential customers). By
the look of my cupboards, he seems to be doing a
great job!

There are a lot more choices than money or time. This
is the President's Choice principle. Think about the
name - whose choice is it? Who will determine what
you need? Loblaws recognized several years ago that
the range of options would continue to increase. They
needed to create a brand that would stand out (unlike
the hundreds of brands produced by P & G - who
remembers which are which?). Loblaws hit a home run
with President's Choice.

The new big problem in life is simplification - I want less
choice, not more. If someone can produce products
that I can depend on, that helps to simplify my life. So
it is in careers. One of the key issues that I constantly
deal with is the choices. Most of my clients struggle
with the overwhelming choices that are in front of
them. Do you know how many types of executive
MBA's there are?

CareerJoy's role is much like President's Choice. We
can help you identify what's on the shelf. We can
narrow down your choices, reducing the noise and
friction within your career decisions, to help you make
the best available selection. Choose wisely.

2006 Resolutions - which ones will YOU keep?

Only 51 more weeks left in 2006. You could start planning your 2007 New Year celebration – it’s never too early! If you are like most people, you have probably made some New Year resolutions. According to a study commissioned by Carpe Diem, an Australian drink manufacturer, there were approximately 435 million New Year resolutions made in Austria, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. Here are some interesting results on which country was most likely to keep their resolutions:

Percentage of Countries’ Population Likely to Keep Resolutions for Period Longer than 4 Weeks:

Belgians: 53%

Dutch: 52%

Germans: 51%

Swiss: 46%

Austrians: 46%

Irish: 37% (which really offended me...hey, I was born in Dublin!)

Brits: 36% - as they say, God Save the Queen.

These results beg the question; ”What is it in the culture of Belgium which enables a greater percentage of them to keep their resolutions?” (it must be the cocoa in the chocolate!)

I am not sure what kind of career goals that you have resolved to achieve (if any). Things like ”return all voice mails”, “get your resume upgraded”, or “look for a new career” may have crossed your mind. It is only the first week - visit us at CareerJoy.com for more details on how we can help you stay on the resolution band wagon.