One Step To Turbo-Charge Your Search In 2011- Part 2

In Part 1, I discussed the need for getting an accountability partner and what an accountability partner is. This article will be about what an accountability partner should do to help you.

A good accountability partner can make a major difference in one’s job search. I have seen people spend months looking, but once they engage an accountability partner their search takes off. You can call this coincidence if you want, I did for a while until I saw it happening over and over, and the people using the accountability partner were giving them the credit for their success.

So what should an accountability partner do? Here are some of my thoughts, and please add your thoughts and experiences in the comment section so others will benefit.

1) Accountability. Sounds obvious doesn’t it, but this is the main goal. A good accountability partner will hold your feet to the fire.  First and foremost, they will hold you accountable to do what you say you are going to do.

2) No Excuses. They will listen intently to your excuses and then hold you accountable to what you say. A good accountability partner knows the difference between excuses and real road blocks.

3) Empathy Not Sympathy. Accountability partners  understand the emotional  ups and downs. They understand  your feelings but don’t become emotionally involved or attached.  They can separate their feelings from yours, which allows them to stay objective.

4) Listen Well. They know when to let you blow off frustration and vent. They recognize this is part of the process. However, they don’t let that get you off your plan or off track. They will still bring you back and hold you accountable to what you say you need to do.

5) Help and Guidance. Most job searches get stalled at some point. An accountability partner has the experience and knowledge to help you redirect your search. They have the experience to recognize opportunities that you, the candidate, may never have thought of or when you are just not doing something effectively.

6) Tough Love. A good accountability partner is not there to be your friend. Get a dog if that is what you want. They are there to give you tough love when needed. Sometimes even make you angry or embarrassed if you aren’t delivering what you said you promised to do. They call it as they see it. Would you really want anything less?

7) Willing to Meet Regularly. They will meet you at least weekly to discuss progress and lay out a plan for the following week and month. If your plan is weak, they will push you to improve it. They keep you on schedule and on track. They will take your calls and reply to your emails. Yes,  it is a lot of work and time.

These are some of the key functions of an accountability partner. It is not by any means a complete list. If you get these in an accountability partner, you will be off to a great start in 2011.

Please add other key functions that you think are important or have benefited from in the comment section. We welcome and encourage your thoughts, comments and input.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. 6,000 other people are benefiting from the discussions and articles. CLICK HERE to join, it is free.

Turbo-charge your search in 2011 by evaluating its strengths and weaknesses with our FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard. This will help you and your accountability partner get your search started out right. CLICK HERE to download your scorecard.

Need a great cover letter? A free sample cover letter that has proven to get you noticed is on our Web site for you to use with your resume. CLICK HERE to download yours.

If this was helpful, then please help others by forwarding it on to your network, posting it on your Facebook page, Tweeting with the link, posting to your Linkedin groups or status update.  Let’s all do everything we can to help those looking for employment.

I welcome your comments.

Brad Remillard

Work Ethic: What is it and do you have it?

Sabbatical from Writing About Job Search

Brad and I are back after a month-long sabbatical where we’ve been working our hearts out preparing for 2011. We’ve got so many initiatives underway, including a couple of new e-books, an entire on-line learning university, a job board for $100k plus job seekers.

A lot of people tend to think of December as a down month, a month to kick back, relax, take time off, not work very hard. For Brad and I, this was a very busy December and we’re excited about the job market and hiring possibilities in 2011.

What is Hard Work?

Onto the real blog subject – what is hard work?

Candidates claim they have a high work ethic.

Employers desire candidates with a high work ethic.

Why do I want to tackle this subject? It came up in conversation with my girls HS basketball team the other day. We were discussing why we win sometimes and why we lose.

I told the girls that most of the teams we play are evenly matched with us in skill. Sometimes we win because we play with a higher work ethic than our opponents, and conversely sometimes we lose because we have a lower work ethic than our competitors on the basketball court.

Is Hard Work the same as Work Ethic?

How do I define work ethic – I define it as outworking those around you. Those around you could be your co-workers, your teammates, the opposing team, a project team – any group of people who are competing with you for attention, rewards, recognition, influence, promotions, more money, more playing time, etc.

Many of these other people are smarter than you. It doesn’t matter. In the end, outworking others will usually trump pure intelligence and educational background every time. It’s not what you bring to the table in a game or at work – it’s how you apply it in getting results.

Usually the people who have a high work ethic, or who outwork their peers have a variety of traits that support and reinforce their ability to outwork everyone around them. These traits include being proactive, showing initiative, working longer hours, being the first one to turn on the lights in the morning, and the one who turns the lights out at night, doing more than you’re asked to do, going the extra mile, anticipating what needs to be done, and bouncing back from set-backs and adversity with renewed energy.

Who works hard and who doesn’t?

I’m going to suggest that less than 5% of the population has a high work ethic or demonstrated ability/desire to outwork those around them. I’m not referring to workaholics nor am I referring to compulsive disorders. These top achievers simply work harder than everybody else.

The other 95% of the population is satisfied or complacent with being average or mediocre.

A few tough questions about working hard

Where are you on the spectrum from complacent to “outwork everyone”?

Could you offer examples and illustrations in an interview to demonstrate how your work ethic/ability to outwork others – is head and shoulders above your peers? Do you stand a chance of getting a job in a tight job market if you can’t demonstrate these traits?

Perhaps this blog has challenged your conventional thinking about the term work ethic – where most people associate work ethic with the willingness to work long hours – which is a small element of outworking other people.

Who is your role model for outworking others?

Barry Deutsch

One Step To Turbo-Charge Your Search In 2011 – Part 1

As the  new year starts, many will be either restarting or launching a job search. One thing missing from so many in the job hunting mode is accountability.

We see this all the time in our job search coaching practice. Most candidates go it alone.  If 2010 was a go it alone year for you, I might suggest that 2011 be get a partner year. Not just any partner but an accountability partner.

Let’s look at what an accountability partner is and is not:

1. It is not your spouse or close friend. I know they hold you accountable in many ways, but this is not the right person. They are too close to the situation and not objective.

2. They will support you. Not financially. Rather emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. You trust them and they will listen to you.

3. They don’t feel your pain. They understand your pain. There is a big difference. Understanding, rather than feeling, keeps them objective and they don’t become emotionally attached.

4. They understand  your history. They must understand your background, strengths, accomplishments, what you’ve done to date  in your search, and also what not so obvious talents and strengths you have that might be transferable. They also understand the flip side – where you don’t excel and even your weaknesses.

5. They are not your therapist. If you need a therapist, get one, but that is not the purpose of an accountability partner.

6. They are open,  honest and tough. An accountability partner must be capable of telling you exactly what you are and are not doing. Many people can’t be this direct.  Sometimes it is necessary to tell someone that they aren’t doing enough or that they need to step it up. This can be even more difficult  for candidates that have been looking for some time.

7. They need to be knowledgeable. They should be someone that understands a job search process or methodology. If they aren’t very knowledgeable in helping those in a job search, then helping you might be difficult. This is particularly true if your job search is stalled. You don’t hire a law clerk when you need a lawyer and amateur golf instructors make amateur golfers.

8. Experience. A little different than knowledgeable, in that this is hands-on experience in helping people in a job search. We all thought we knew everything when we graduated from college, but once we had some experience most discovered something different. This is the knowledge versus experience that I’m referring to.

There are others, but when you find these in an accountability partner, you are starting 2011 on the right foot.

Some other things you can do to start on the right foot are:

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. It is one of the biggest and most active groups dealing with job search issues on Linkedin. CLICK HERE to join.

Download our FREE Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. Take the evaluation and discover if your search is all it can be. CLICK HERE to download.

Visit our audio library. No library card required – all audio files can be downloaded for free. There is an extensive amount of files on all of the different topics surrounding a job search. CLICK HERE to review the library.

Part 2 will be about what to expect from an accountability partner.

If this was helpful, then please help others by forwarding it on to your network, posting on your Facebook page, Tweeting with the link, posting to your Linkedin groups or status update.  Let’s all do everything we can to help those looking for employment.

I welcome your comments.

Brad Remillard