Archive for June 2010
I wrote this poem nearly ten years ago, a few weeks after putting my dog Charly to sleep. I made good on my promise never to let him suffer. Until recently, only my husband and best childhood girlfriend had read the poem. That’s when I shared the poem with a dear friend. I know you will be able to identify with my emotions and hope this poem helps you, too.
By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.
Job seekers should consider enrolling in Theater 101. Exploring the mechanics of how to create a scene for a stage play offers unexpected rewards in upgrading your job search skills. What is a stage play but a series of activities design to engage an audience. The audience is not told the outcome of a scene. They are subject to storytelling through the use of staged activities. A successful playwright leaves the audience to think about the outcome and its implications and consequences. An effective playwright uses actors to illustrate a storyline in the anticipation that the audience will leave the theater with an affirmative experience.
Just like the audience leaving a theater, it is hoped too by the job seeker that the employer will have a positive experience from the job search encounter as well. What if you approached your job search from the perspective of a playwright? Every activity (telephone call, a networking event or an interview) is approached as a scene in a stage play. Think of each of these scenes with their own beginning and ending.
Job search is not “improv”. Start by preparing a script on making a cold call to a potential employer. Most importantly, your central point, is remaining true to yourself, your capabilities and future potential. Your purpose is to prepare and present your case. Think what are you trying to accomplish?
- Write a general scenario. [Illustrate your purpose through a picture created with words.]
- Prepare a script [Define the call in your own words. Compare and contrast available alternatives.]
- Visualize the essential elements of your scene set [desk, mirror, résumé, script]
- Create a storyboard like in a cartoon script [sketch your movements]
- Work your script [Define call in your own words / Compare and contrast available alternatives.]
- Walk through your script for wording [Verbalize the scene to develop your rhythm, intonation and choice of words.]
- Block your scene [Blocking is your play by play.]
- Rehearse your scene until you feel comfortable.
Perhaps the most exciting component of writing your scene will be that the actual telephone call or networking experience is not a surprise. You will find by working on staging your search interactions with employers that you are more in control over your job search. You’ve already had the rehearsal dinner. You worked out your kinks. You have a script. You know want is coming. You analyzed assumptions and have alternative solutions to their responses. You are prepared.
By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.
In the context of job search, networking is the process of communication that consists of using contacts and relationships (oftentimes a third party) to gain access to decision makers in the hiring process.
Historically, in the job search preparation stage, job seekers have been instructed to create and rehearse a brief networking (elevator) speech. The original label of elevator speech comes from the situation when a salesperson is in an elevator, and low and behold who walks in but the purchasing agent they have been trying to make contact with for the past couple of weeks. The salesperson has no more than 30 seconds to speak up before the door reopens and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity steps off the elevator.
While, a prepared elevator speech is essential to clear and effective networking; you are not always in an elevator, so think backwards. It is not about you. Give attention to the broader issue of networking. The first obstacle you must overcome is to actually gain the other party’s attention. Sales professionals will tell you that you cannot make a sale until you know the barriers you face. The elevator speech that you have worked so diligently on is actually your number two speech.
An elevator speech is show and tell. Your number one goal is not to show and tell. If you don’t know what to show and tell, your elevator speech will not be effective. This initial contact is the time for asking questions and active listening. Your goal is to get the employer to commit to something or give you an angle about themselves or their organization. Start with targeted questions. In the course of this conversation your questions should be directed to identifying the type of employee the company is interested in, the skills and personality or behavior traits they seek and even the barriers or challenges the company faces that may be their Achilles heel. Only when you have this information can you offer an effective elevator speech. You have turned the table and given them something to talk about that is of interest to them and you have earned their attention.
Start thinking backwards today. Create two networking (elevator) speeches. The first is to open the door. The second is to sell your talents.
