Career Lessons Learned in Yoga Class: Flowing Through Transitions

As we approach a pivotal time of year of transitions with the holidays, Winter Solstice, and the New Year around the corner, it’s an important time to check in and center ourselves amidst a lot of activity. As a yoga teacher recently reminded me in class: flowing through transitions between poses is just as important as arriving at the pose itself.

In yoga – and in life off the mat – there are three key components that help me flow through transitions: breathing, visualizing, and treading lightly.

Remembering the breath and its constant rhythm maintains a continuum throughout yoga practice and is especially important in this busy season of shopping, socializing, traveling, and tying up loose ends. And, when our jobs or job search process becomes stressful or overwhelming, taking some deep breaths can help calm us down and bring peace of mind.

While moving from a downward dog or plank pose to a high lunge, focusing on a spot on my mat where I want my foot to land often helps me reach the intended pose with more ease and grace than if I had been looking elsewhere. When we visualize where we want to go – our dream job, our personal or financial goals – we’re much more likely to get there.

When moving from one pose to the next, especially those that involve my feet, it’s common to hear my weight land with a “thud.” Another yoga teacher once encouraged the class to consider moving as quietly as possible as we transition between poses, landing softly. Increasing our self-awareness about the weight we carry – physical, emotional, and psychological – will help to clarify what burdens we could lift, to tread more lightly. Ultimately, the goal is to flow through these transitions smoothly and successfully instead of focusing only on what happens when we reach the other side.

Tips from a LinkedIn Convert

When LYJ alumna Barbara first took my class for women jobseekers, she was not active on LinkedIn and was hesitant to put a profile up. Over a year later, she has now come to understand the incredible value this social media tool can have on one’s job search.

Here are Barbara’s reasons why you should use LinkedIn:

1. Even if I am not happy with my LinkedIn profile, or have a very minimal one, it is still much better to get on there and make as many connections as possible. I was so afraid that every time I made a change, my connections would think I was doing weird stuff online. Now I see how little people take note of all the small changes or updates you make unless they want a job with you! I should not have been so shy!!!

2. Through LinkedIn, I can see who is getting hired into what positions in my top organizations and can follow their backgrounds and career trajectories.

3. Because job openings often appear on LinkedIn before the big job listserves, having my top 10 or more organizations to “follow” puts me in a better position to know when any of them are hiring. I am also able to better gauge what positions are appropriate for me, which is not always clear from reading a job description.

4. Groups! I find I am connected to people in a lot of the organizations I like through LinkedIn groups. I wish I had found all the ones that interested me from the beginning! Groups tell you about events and news releases that are great to know. Free networking and online courses are also advertised there.

5. Through LinkedIn, I can determine who the head of a department is, then Google that person and possibly see them talking about their work on YouTube or other podcasts. I can get a feel for the lingo they use, what they are passionate about, and what trends they are following in the field. In the event I get to interview with these people, I’ll have lots of great questions that speak directly to the things they are proudest of and that get them excited.

6. The biggest thing I realized is that cold call job applications are really not the way anyone gets a job anymore. It’s all about having a connection that gets the hiring person to actually read your resume.

LinkedIn has made me really aware of just how valuable every single friend I have can be—everybody knows somebody, and even in a big city like New York we can all be connected!

9 Dos and Don’ts for Securing Temp Agency Work

Temp agencies have been good to me over the years. They have offered a sense of stability during transition periods and lessened the feeling of desperation that can accompany a job search while unemployed. Over time, I learned a few tricks to make sure I would get hired for temp assignments, which can be just as competitive as regular jobs. Here are a few tips about how to best work with temp agencies to make sure they call you during those in-between periods.

1. Do treat a temp agency with as much respect as an employer. You will be representing their company to their clients, so it’s important to make a strong first impression with a temp agency. This means wearing business attire to your agency interview and following up with a thank you email. This will help you beat out other candidates who may not understand this principle. I remember showing up once in business casual and later regretting it when my new contact told me to be in business attire for an interview for a higher-level temp assignment. I hadn’t taken the initial meeting as seriously as I should have, and I learned my lesson.

2. Do understand the clients for a particular agency. Some agencies focus on fashion or creative work, while others focus on nonprofit, accounting, finance, or all three. It’s helpful to look around on agency websites and ask friends who have been successfully placed. I learned through contacts which agency has a major university in NYC as their client.

3. Don’t rely exclusively on email to follow up. What is true for your regular job search is also true for temp agencies: your follow-up should not be exclusively electronic. You should call to make sure your resume was received and mention your enthusiasm for working with the agency. If it’s a smaller placement service, there may be only one person responsible for the temporary division. You can inquire about the name and email address of that person.

4. Do use referrals when possible. Temp agencies are sifting through hundreds of resumes just like regular recruiters. You can make their job easier by mentioning you were referred by a friend or contact. By all means, if your friend gives you a contact name and permission to mention them as the referral, use it. Don’t hope someone will magically respond to your resume in their database.

5. Do actively pursue three to five agencies at a time. When looking for immediate temporary assignments, it’s impossible to know which agency will have work for you when. You’re better off having several that you’ve met with who now have you on their call list.

6. Don’t get discouraged. When I was looking for temp work several years ago, there was one agency whose client roster matched my background yet would not, in my mind, give me the time of day. Months later, I finally heard from them with a great high-paying opportunity that I went on to accept. In the meantime, I had used another agency for more immediate work.

7. Do keep in touch.  It’s important to keep in touch with your temp agency contact on a weekly basis while you’re waiting for work to come through. Remind them you exist and that you’re serious about employment. I just spoke to one of my favorite temp agency recruiters, not because I’m in need of a job, but because her company was taken over and I didn’t want to lose touch. We worked well together and I might be able to send good people her way. Plus, who knows, maybe I will use her services in the future. If you make a strong enough connection, you can add a recruiter on LinkedIn and stay in touch that way. Many move around from agency to agency, and this way you can learn where they are if you need their help again.

8. Do register with temp agencies two to four weeks before you actually need work. It’s extremely unlikely an agency will have work for you the day you meet with them. And it can take a week or two to get that required appointment (complete with the almost inevitable typing and software tests) scheduled. Plan ahead by building temp agency relationships in advance of when your unemployment runs out or when you’re on your last dollar.

9. Do express gratitude. I once sent one of my favorite agencies a holiday card to thank them because they helped me earlier in the year. These are powerful people with the ability to put you to work for their clients. Expressing gratitude will go a long way toward securing work down the line and is a solid practice overall that extends goodwill and positive career karma.

Temp work can be a humbling yet solid safety net for when you find yourself in need of financial stability in the short-term. For more on temping and being “in-between,” see an earlier Huffington Post piece I wrote on this topic called, “Just a Temp?”

Favorite Informational Interview Questions

Informational interviews are an essential part of the job search process, yet many people are stumped when it comes to how to do them. As a follow up to Secrets of My Success: From Unhappy in NYC to Exciting New Job in San Francisco, I asked LYJ alumna Emily, who successfully obtained her new job through informational interviews, to share how she prepared and what questions she used. Here’s what she reported.

Pre-call: Research the interviewee’s background on LinkedIn. (If you know the interviewee through a friend or referral, ask for as much information as they can give you.) The amount of knowledge you bring to the interview reflects your effort and allows you to ask more specific questions. Below are sample questions you can customize with your research or use as they are:

Informational Interview Questions

Questions to start with:
1. Can you tell me how you got to this position?
2. What do you like most about what you do, and what would you change if you could?
3. What are three things that you enjoy most about working at your company/organization?
4. What are the three most challenging aspects of working at your company/organization?
5. What’s a typical day like for you?
6. How did you get where you are today?

Questions on the company and career field:
1. What’s unique or differentiating about your company?
2. What are the types of jobs that exist where you work and in the industry in general?
3. Where would you suggest a person investigate if the person were particularly skilled at (fill in the blank — quantitative thinking, communications, writing, advocacy)?
4. What does a typical career path look like in your industry?
5. What are some of the biggest challenges facing your company and your industry today?
6. How do you see your industry changing in the next 10 years?

Questions on staying current:
1. Are there any professional or trade associations I should connect with?
2. What do you read — in print and online — to keep up with developments in your field?

Questions on breaking into a career area:
1. How do people break into this field?
2. If you were just getting involved now, where would you put yourself?
3. If I wanted to start in this career area, how would you recommend that I go about pursuing this career path?

To conclude:
1. If you had a chance to do it all over again, what would you have done differently?
2. Is there anything I haven’t asked about that you’d like to tell me?
3. Is there anyone else that you recommend I speak to about this topic/this industry/this career?
4. Would it be all right if I kept in touch with you? How would you prefer that I keep in touch?

For more on this topic, a trusted colleague recommends reading A Foot in the Door by Katherine Hansen and Highly Effective Networking by Orville Pierson.

Secrets of My Success: From Unhappy in NYC to Exciting New Job in San Francisco

It can be extremely difficult to secure a job in a city across the country when you’re competing against local talent. So how did Emily, a 30-year old marketing professional living in New York City, manage to secure an events/marketing role at a successful media start-up in San Francisco this summer? After four years at a well-established company, Emily had developed solid credentials but was bored and burnt-out plus she wanted to be closer to her family. Read on for how she created a new opportunity for herself through clarity, networking and determination.

1. How long were you actively jobseeking?

Over a year, but I was targeting the wrong positions for much of that time. My initial search was for the position I was already in at a rival company. Using exercises from Suzanne’s class that helped me combine the best parts of my past jobs with my personal interests, I was able to narrow my search to Event/Marketing positions in New York and San Francisco. My criteria was pretty specific so the openings were few and far between, but after 6 months I got an offer for a job.

2. What was your job search strategy during this period?

My strategy was a mix of daily job search agents, following targeted companies and job posters/advisers on Twitter, and good old fashioned networking. The easiest thing to do was set up a daily job search on Indeed.com to send me daily digests of event/marketing jobs in New York and San Francisco, which was my wide net. Then I made a short list of companies that I was interested in that were based in NYC and SF and followed them on Twitter along with their corresponding job accounts if they had them, and some other helpful job advice accounts. Searching for a job when you have a full time job can be very challenging so I essentially created job ‘feeds’ that gathered all of my targeted job-related info in one place.

Most of my search was very reactive: see a posting, check LinkedIn to see if I’m connected to someone, then apply (hopefully through a referral). That approach is time consuming and, since most jobs probably receive hundreds of applications on day one, not very successful. When I did get a response to an application, it was well into final rounds or after the position had been filled. In an attempt to be more proactive, I set up informational interviews with people at companies on my short list, whether they were hiring or not, so I would already have a contact if a position became available. I followed my connections on LinkedIn and diligently prepared for each informational as if it were a real interview.

3. How did you ultimately come to obtain your current new job? (Through a friend, cold application)

Through an informational interview that turned into a job referral. I saw a job posting that I was interested in and went to LinkedIn to see if I was connected to anyone. A friend introduced me to my informational interviewee, who was a college alum, and she talked about her experience and the company culture. This was two weeks after I had seen the posting, so I assumed the position had been filled or was close to being filled, but figured if I was interested in working for this company down the line, an informational was still useful. I mentioned the position I was interested in, and my interviewee passed my resume to a recruiter for future consideration since it was indeed close to being filled. I sent her a nice thank you note and offered any assistance in the near future. She sent me the recruiter’s info and said I could contact her directly if I saw any postings down the line. Less than a month later, I saw the same job posted again and contacted the recruiter directly on day one. Three months and 7 interviews later I got the job!

4. What do you think were the secrets to your success?

Patience and persistence are definitely key. Networking and referrals are also par for the course. Every interview except for one was through a referral. Setting up informationals for San Francisco-based jobs from New York was crucial because I wasn’t physically close enough to meet up or attend local networking events so you need to find a way to bridge the gap.

5. What advice do you have for jobseekers out there?

Know the difference between the right opportunity and the next opportunity, particularly if you’re in a job that you really don’t like. There will be times when it seems like anything would be better than your current situation. But during my long and grueling search, I realized that if I didn’t hold out for the right job, I’d have to start the process all over again.

Know when to say “time out.” Job searches can be extremely discouraging at times, so it’s important to take a break and refresh and recharge for the next round.

Know when to start networking. Don’t wait until you’re miserable at your current job to start looking for a new one.

Know that people’s time is valuable. Informational interviews should be treated like real interviews. It’s important to be genuine and appreciative toward your interviewee and to thank them for their advice. In fact, I’m taking my referral out to lunch next week to thank her for helping me get my current job!

Resume Q&A with Career Expert Vicki Salemi

LYJ friend Vicki Salemi is a career expert with 15 years of corporate recruiting experience. She is a national public speaker and the author of Big Career in the Big City. Here are Vicki’s tips for creating a stand out resume:

1. When revising a resume, what do you tend to focus on most?

Clarity. I revise a resume from a recruiter’s perspective in terms of the questions candidates will get asked. Are there any red flags? Any gaps and are they explainable? Then I focus on cohesiveness and if it makes sense in terms of their specific skill set and how it’s marketable/applicable/relevant for the position they’re pursuing.

2. What are your preferences on formatting?

I love a chronological resume that’s crisp and easy to read. No funky fonts, no weird margins, just very standard. Sometimes it takes me all of two seconds to review a resume to see if it’s a viable candidate so the format should not jump out at the recruiter; rather, it should be easy on the eyes.

3. One page or two?

It doesn’t matter. I’ve seen three pages actually, too and as long as the resume explains itself to the recruiter and serves as talking points for the interview, two pages are completely fine. In most cases I almost expect it because top notch candidates should have enough robust experiences to not squeeze into one little page!

4. As a recruiter, what’s the number one mistake you see when it comes to resumes?

Unclear resumes in terms of what they’ve done and their skill set.

5. On the flip side, which resumes stand out and why?

Ones which are extremely succinct in terms of what they did. I also like quantifiable bullets such as “Managed a budget of $2 million annually” versus managed an annual budget. Or, “Supervised a staff of 8 people” instead of supervised a staff. Make it easy for the recruiter to ask questions and inquire further about the “talking points” you’ve outlined on the resume.

See http://www.vickisalemi.com for more career tips and information on Vicki’s upcoming Career Boot Camp for College Grads.

Affirmations for Jobseekers

In my LYJ (Love Your Job) Search Class, I like to provide participants with a list of affirmations to choose from while we’re working together. Affirmations can be powerful tools to make sure your inner mindset matches your external actions. If the voice in your head is telling you it’s a terrible economy, there are no jobs anywhere, and you’ll never find the right job for you, it’s time to start replacing those thoughts with positive ones. Take 5 index cards and write out your favorite affirmations to review in the morning and before going to sleep. For maximum effect, pick one to write 10x per day for 30 days. Here are affirmations to get you started:

I NOW HAVE CRYSTAL CLEAR CLARITY ON THE JOB OF MY DREAMS.

DOORS ARE FLYING OPEN FOR ME EVERYWHERE I GO.

I HAVE A NEW JOB BY SEPTEMBER 1, AND IT’S FUN!  (OR JANUARY 1, ETC.)

WONDERFUL, LUCRATIVE JOB OPPORTUNITIES ARE OPENING FOR ME EVERYWHERE.

I NOW HAVE AN EXCITING ENGAGING CAREER.

I NOW RELEASE ___________ JOB (WITH LOVE) AND MAKE SPACE FOR MY NEXT NEW EXCITING OPPORTUNITY.

I NOW LET GO AND TRUST ALL THINGS ARE COMING TOGETHER FOR ME.

I DESERVE MEANINGFUL FULFILLING WORK THAT PAYS ME WELL TOO AND IT IS COMING TO ME NOW.

I HAVE A POWERFUL UNWAVERING BELIEF IN MYSELF.

THE PERFECT JOB IS LOOKING FOR ME, AND WE ARE BEING BROUGHT TOGETHER NOW.

For those who find networking to be difficult, as many people do, here are a few around that:

NETWORKING IS EASY FOR ME.

I FEEL ENTITLED AND DESERVING OF RECEIVING HELP WITH MY JOB SEARCH.

PEOPLE LOVE HELPING ME WITH MY JOB SEARCH.

IT’S EASY FOR ME TO ASK FOR WHAT I NEED.

I LOVE NETWORKING.

For more on affirmations, see the websites of Louise Hay, Shakti Gawain and Jennifer Macaluso-Gilmore.

Career Lessons Learned in Yoga Class: Stay Focused on Your Mat

In yoga class, it’s easy to get caught up in what other people are doing on their mats.  When you let your eyes stray, you might see that the person next to you is doing a terrific handstand or triangle pose and feel a twinge of envy. On the flip side, you might see someone struggling with a pose that comes easily to you and feel a sense of pride.

But the beauty of yoga is that it’s a space to get away from competition, that it recognizes that we all come to our practice with different abilities, strengths, and flexibility. In fact, the time of day or day of the week may determine what our bodies are capable of doing, where we feel more tightness versus openness, and our level of energy.

One of my previous yoga teachers always started class encouraging us to “check our egos at the door.” This mantra often pops up when I’m inclined to compare myself to others. Ultimately, the end goal is not to do a series of poses flawlessly (or to look like your neighbor), but to listen to your body and to find balance and centering at your own pace. After practicing yoga for a number of years, I still haven’t done a handstand. My inner voice cautions me that I’m not quite ready (matched with a discomfort of being inverted). Thankfully, the preparation for that pose is supposedly just as important.

In our careers, as in yoga, there’s a tendency to let our ambition—and our own egos—guide our decisions according to other people’s success. It’s one thing to look to others for inspiration, but we have to be careful not to measure our worth based on others’ accomplishments.

If it becomes difficult to stay focused on your own progress and to be present with where you are in your life (the great yoga mat), do what yoga teachers recommend during a balancing pose: pick a spot on the wall and stare at it. Your eyes will soon adjust to tune everyone else out.

What’s Your Career Fear?

Do you know what thoughts and beliefs are unconsciously sabotaging your career dreams? Discover your career fear, the biggest free-floating anxiety churning through your mind. The scenario you want to avoid. Flip the fear around and create a powerful statement that affirms its opposite.

I recently asked LYJ client Marina to look five years into the future and name the situation she didn’t want to find herself in. She described a state of aimlessness, where she was without a solid skill or profession because she hadn’t lived up to her potential. This was her worst-case scenario. I asked her to flip this around and think of what the best-case scenario might be. Marina then described: “In five years, I’m realizing my potential. I’ve cultivated a skill set, doing work I enjoy that fulfills me. I’m on a path to advancement, and am able to support myself financially and securely.” The new version is a much more powerful vision and suggests actions to take.

In my early twenties, when I was unclear about my career path and lacking in confidence, I went through similar exercises in Jinny Ditzler’s Your Best Year Yet. The exercises ultimately helped me create a career affirmation, which read: “I know exactly what I want to do with my life, and I have the necessary tools to go do it.” Did I totally believe this? Not at the time. But when I pulled out the affirmation (or new paradigm as Ditzler calls it) many years later, I realized that within six months of writing it, I had secured a job that had put me on my path toward doing meaningful work.

Once you unearth your career fear and flip it around into a positive statement, print it out and display it where you can regularly see it. Your new statement will nourish new thoughts that will help you take active steps toward a meaningful career.

Need a Favor? Ask For It! Job Search Help From Your Network

Women love to help others, but often find it difficult to ask for help themselves. But if you’re looking for a new job, it’s time to get over that fear: Enlisting others in the hunt is much more effective than going at it alone.

The easiest way to begin is to send a friendly (read: not desperate) email to your friends and former colleagues asking for job leads and professional contacts. While this can be scary, I’ve found that almost everyone who musters up the courage to ask for help reports back positive results.

Not sure where to begin? There are some basic do’s and don’ts of asking your network for help—for example, do ask about informational interviews, don’t send a broadcast email with your résumé. The key is to be specific: the more details you provide, the easier it is for others to help you. Include the names of actual companies you might want to work for and corresponding job functions.

The template below is a great place to start. After you’ve filled in your own specifics and adapted it to your circumstances, send the email out in bcc format to your broad network of trusted friends and acquaintances. Don’t, however, include former bosses, higher-level mentors, or people who you know have connections at your dream companies. To those people, send an individual, more personalized message.

Sample Email

Subject: “Need a Favor” or “Seeking New Opportunity”

Dear friends and colleagues:

I hope this email finds you well.

I am reaching out to ask for your help with any leads or contacts toward finding a great job in [insert your city]. As many of you know, I have been [summarize your education, experience, or current job title], which has helped me to [list specific skills you have gained or milestones you have achieved].

Now, I am interested in finding a position at an organization or company where I can [state your goals].
I am interested in speaking with someone who can provide insight into a position as a [note desired position], especially at [specify type of company], though I would also be interested in [list secondary companies of interest] in [insert your city]. I would like something that emphasizes [note sample job functions, like writing, marketing, or sales] in a [describe your ideal working environment, such as collaborative or creative] atmosphere. If you have any leads or connections that you might be able to share with me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Please also feel free to forward me any [list desired types of job, such as full-time, part-time, or freelance] job postings or opportunities that come across your radar during the next [state your desired job search time frame]. Below I have included a list of my previous experience, as well as several “dream” organizations. I am also happy to forward my résumé if it would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for your help. Please contact me if you have any suggestions or require additional information. I hope to catch up with you individually soon!

Best wishes,

[Your Name]

[Your Phone Number]

[Your Email Address]

[Any other relevant contact information, such as website, LinkedIn page, or Twitter handle]

Previous Work Experience:

* Company 1 – Short description of company (if not well known), your title, and brief details on your role
* Company 2 – Same as above
* Company 3 – Same as above

Educational Background:

* Degree 1
* Degree 2
* Related organizations or accomplishments

Ideal Position:

* Title / job function example 1 (Marketing Assistant, etc.)
* Title / job function example 2
* Title / job function example 3

Dream Organizations:

(There are countless companies out there doing great work, and I am open to all suggestions; below are just some of the types of organizations I am currently pursuing.)

1. Organization Type 1 focused on [insert more detailed explanation here].
Examples include:

* Example 1
* Example 2
* Example 3 or more

2. Organization Type 2 focused on [insert more detailed explanation here].
Examples include:

* Example 1
* Example 2
* Example 3 or more

3. Organization Type 3 focused on [insert more detailed explanation here].
Examples include:

* Example 1
* Example 2
* Example 3 or more

Consulting Expertise:

I would be open to freelance or consulting work in the following areas:

* Specialized skill you possess 1
* Specialized skill you possess 2
* Specialized skill you possess 3

Even if no one responds right away, trust that it’s been read and registered. (And know that next month, when that job at your dream company comes across your former colleague’s radar, you will be the first person she thinks of!) Armed with your network, you’ll be spending much less time browsing online job boards and much more getting applications out the door.

This post originally appeared on Pretty Young Professional: Smart Content for Smart Women.