You may have noticed that I have something exciting cooking.

I’m writing a pretty cool job search guide for college seniors and recent graduates. 

It all started because of your emails and tweets.

• Many of you share the same fears. 
• Many of you make the same mistakes when it comes to executing your job search.  These mistakes are driven by your fears. 
• I’ve also identified the #1 problem among entry-level job seekers and will show you how to overcome it.

No need to shoot yourself in the foot any longer.

You’ve spent way too much money and time on your degree to waste it sitting on the couch.  The economy is not friendly to mediocre candidates, mediocre resumes, or mediocre personal brands.  Therefore, you need to rise above the rest.  Your archaic career services office probably isn’t going to help you do that.

I’m providing a lot of info that has never been seen here on the blog.   You’ll see real strategies that work. You’ll get real templates.  I’m even including real emails that you guys have sent me.  Not all of my feedback is positive. 

Most importantly, I promise not to waste your time with a bunch of fluffy bullshit. 

You’ll also get to learn a little bit more about my story- stuff I wouldn’t share here on the blog.

here’s how you can be part of the movement:

• If you think your resume is at rock star status, email it to me. 
• If you think your resume sucks, email it to me. 
• Be prepared for me to rip it apart in the name of serious improvement.
• If you have questions you want answered in this guide, email them to me.
• If you have a job search story to tell, tell it.
• I’ll be handpicking only the BEST examples to be part of the book- real name optional.
• Hopefully you know my email address by now: nicole@mscareergirl.com

Job Search Boot Camp will be out in April.  Until then, stay tuned for lots of previews, a few giveaways and some great case studies!

The college seniors I’ve talked to lately all have one common question/concern that goes something like this:

This ridiculously Type A person I know at school said she has already applied to 37 jobs!  Am I behind because I haven’t done that yet? She has everything organized into a spreadsheet and is STILL applying…should I be doing this too?

No.  This person obviously needs to start reading my blog.  Why do I hate this girl’s “strategy”?

• It’s obvious that this person has no clue what they want to do, so they are applying to anything that is available. Lack of focus in applications is (in my opinion) the #1 problem with recent grads.  Even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do, you need to make each application seem like you do know.  Otherwise, they will move on to someone who does know what they want to do.  Make sense?
• This person is likely using huge impersonal online job boards.  99% of her applications will never be seen by a human.  Some of the positions she’s applying to probably don’t even exist because some snarky recruiter made them up.
• Applying to 5 well-researched and fitting jobs is more effective than applying to 50 jobs you don’t really care about.
• I assume if this person applied to 37 jobs, she uses a generic cover letter and resume.  Generic cover letters suck.  If I was a recruiter I’d throw these away. If the candidate isn’t willing to put effort into her application, than she probably won’t put effort into her work either.  It shows you are looking for a paycheck not a career.
• If you have to write a cover letter, write individual cover letters for each job you apply to.  One time, I got an interview by spending a long ass time on my cover letter.  I knew I was a fit for the company, they saw that in my cover letter and all mentioned it in my 4 interviews.  I ended up working there for almost 3 years.

Before you start your job search, there is a lot of prep work.  You know that saying “Ready, Aim, Fire”?  Probably not a good idea to go out of order, right?  Same applies to your job search. 

You need to prep your “marketing materials” (resume/cv) along with your marketing message (who are you, what do you want, and what value do you bring to this job). 

Step 1- READY- is figuring out what you want to do.  This is a long and tedious journey for many.  Pick something and go with it.  Craft your job search campaign around it.  Everything happens for a reason- if you end up hating your job, you can always move on down the road.  It sure beats sitting on the couch.

Step 2-AIM- is talking to people about what you want to do.  Ideally you are talking to people you know, people in the industry, or contacts you’ve made from sending a great networking email.  Usually someone knows someone.  Keep talking, going to coffee, emailing, etc.  This is more effective than shooting fish in a barrel.

Step 3-FIRE- is crafting your materials and application around what you’ve learned.  Know that you’ve talked to 5 people in your industry, you probably have a better idea of what they’re looking for and the reality of the job.  This will help you separate yourself from those who have no clue what they want to do or what they are applying for.

Since you’ve done your prep work, the quality and potential success of your job search will be much greater.  Remember not to jump the gun before you get ready.

While I was researching for this article, I found several awesome resources that will help you get  Ready, Aim, then Fire.

• 4 Tips for making the most of your LinkedIn profile
• Questions to ask BEFORE resume writing.
• 6 Ways to implement a generous job search.
• How to write your 60-second elevator pitch.
• Looking for something other than monster.com or careerbuilder.com to do your job searches on?  Check out LinkUp.com, it rocks!
• Need to organize your job search info as in what jobs you’ve applied to, what recruiters you’ve talked to or what version of your resume you sent?  Check out JibberJobber.com for help.

With all the serious blog posts about resumes and interviewing tips lately, today I decided to share a personal story. I have a feeling many young entrepreneurs have experienced something similar.

I had a bit of an emotional melt-down this week. It was one of those weird mid-twenties moments where you feel the need to evaluate your life from every aspect.  Your career.  Your relationship. Your financial situation. Not sure where the hell this came from, but it came and hit me hard.

So I called my two most influential personal advisers: my parents.  And I made them take me out to dinner because it is way cheaper than therapy. 

My parents are very successful entrepreneurs.  They’ve worked together as a couple their whole career.  Somehow they are still very happily married after 27 years.  They are the masters at “making shit happen.” 

My Dad provided me one very clear takeaway which was so simple, yet so huge:

Stop getting so caught up in all the details.

Huh? !

So then I’m like, “Yeah whatever Dad.  Anyways, here’s an idea I want to put into play in my business…(enter detail, after detail, after detail).” And he kept interrupting. And I was annoyed.  And then after interruption 179, I started to see what he meant.

He broke everything down into SIMPLE action steps.  He’d say, “Write this down!” and tell me 3 things to do this week, instead of the 50 on my list.

My Dad was lucky enough to graduate high school.  Yet I’d bet money that he is a better business man than most MBA’s out there.  Why?  Because he keeps it simple.  Now I see why they say that people who get C’s rule the world.  They don’t overthink everything. 

His advice?

• Not sure how much to charge for a product or service?  Pick a number and adjust from there.
• Want to start making freelance income?  Then do it, don’t just read about it.
• Not sure about all the details of what your clients might need?  Ask the 100’s people that email you every week-  they’re right in front of you! Then start taking on clients and adjust from there.
• You are already in business but you’re too busy thinking about it to notice it.

Perfectionism is an entrepreneur’s death sentence. 

Shit.  This must be why I’ve started several projects but rarely finish them because I always find something to improve, analyze or change.  Um hello- have you ever heard of version 1?  You can always make version 2, 3 and 4 of your product or service later. 

My “entrepreneurial perfectionism syndrome” theory is seconded in this awesome post about perfectionsim on Zen Habits.

What do you think?

• Are psychological barriers holding you back from your entrepreneurial aspirations? 
• Is it really a lack of education or is it a lack of simplicity? 
• Are you trying to re-invent the wheel rather than trying something simple and seeing how it goes?
• One of my trusted advisors (@mattchevy) recently taught me, “start small, think big.”  What order are you thinking in? Big or small first?

What

#JobHuntChat is Twitter’s best (and possibly only) chat dedicated to answering job seekers’ real questions. The chat questions are submitted by YOU, not made up. 

Your questions will be answered during #JobHuntChat by other job seekers, bloggers, resume writers, career experts, HR professionals, recruiters, and maybe even (according to Rich) @ShitMyDadSays.  We will be tweeting out the questions, and RT’ing the responses that we get.

I’d say this is the best free advice you’re gonna get from career professionals during a recession.

When

Every Monday night at 9pm CST, starting Monday February 15th. 

Write it in your calendar and setup a phone alert if you are a job seeker.

Who

#JobHuntChat was created by the absolutely fabulous career expert/HR professional/former recruiter, Rich DeMatteo of CornOnTheJob.com. 

Moderated by…

• Rich DeMatteo
• Jessica Miller-Merrill of Blogging4Jobs.com.
• And.. Me

How

#JobHuntChat will cover 4 questions per week.  Some weeks will be topical depending on what you guys want to talk about. 

Submit your #JobHuntChat questions and topics to us! 

• Send an e-mail to JobHuntChat@gmail.com
• DM or send an @ mention to @JobHuntChat on twitter
• DM or send an @ mention one of the moderators: @MsCareerGirl, @CornOnTheJob, @Blogging4Jobs 
• Comment on this post.

Yesterday I did 3 out of 5 resume reviews for the “Fab Five” who are part of The Senior Series. The resumes were great!  The students’ energy energizes me!

One of the girls, Carey, had an excellent resume.  She goes to Georgetown, she has tons of awesome internship experience and her resume is well put together.  The only thing it lacked was focus.  She reminded me of myself.

Many Young Professionals Don’t Know what they want to do

Whether in terms of a full time job or an entrepreneurial venture, a majority of us are stuck.  There are SO many options out there, especially now that the Internet is added into the mix.  Is there a point when there are TOO many options?

I don’t think any young professional should limit themselves to a narrow career-niche so early on, especially in a tight economy (unless they know exactly what they want).  At the same time, hiring managers and HR people like focus.  They want to see that you are a slam dunk fit for the position they are looking to fill.  If you meet the experience they are looking for and they like your personality, you are WAY more likely to get a job.

So what is an open-minded young professional to do? Pursue being what hiring managers are looking for to get a job?  Keep a generalist approach in hopes that something sticks?

Some of you may have read the article I put up on Monday about how recruiters spend only a few seconds on each resume.  It also shows the process they use to eliminate candidates.  If you are a job seeker and haven’t read this, READ IT.  The moral of that story is: no focus, no interview.

Carey is one of those Rock Star types who could probably handle a career in just about anything and make the best of it.  But hiring managers don’t know that.

How to cure the generalist bug

I asked Carey to go online and look for several job postings that appeal to her.  The jobs didn’t have to be jobs she would actually apply for (perhaps they were not in her desired city) but more of ideal jobs.  I then asked her to forward me each posting with an explanation of what she liked about it.  Maybe she liked the size of the company, the job description, the team atmosphere, perhaps benefits, opportunities for growth or travel, location, etc.  I wanted her to dig deep into what she liked and didn’t like, to then rank her values and then see if there are any patterns.

Recap

1. Go online and pick out several job postings you feel are ideal. Don’t worry about the city of the posting, you don’t have to apply to these jobs,
2. Write down an explanation of why you like that job.  Be very specific.
3. Look at your answers and tally up the most popular reasons you liked the jobs.  See if there are any other patterns.

I think this is also a great exercise to do if you are considering freelancing.  Check out job postings that you like and see why you like them.  Absorb the fact that companies are hiring full time people to do this while you could be outsourcing the job to them for less!

Carey may end up with a few different career paths she is interested in.  If that is the case, she will have to tailor each resume to fit that description, and highlight that she has the experience, skills and passion for that job.

Being flexible is very important during a recession.  Being too flexible could shoot you in the foot.

This is a big topic for young professionals and recent graduates. What do you think?

• Is being too specific a good or a bad thing when doing a job search?
• How can you be open minded without looking lost or unfocused to hiring managers?
• If you know exactly what you want to do, should you only take that?