Between the Trapezes - On Job Search! | August 2022
Help for when you’re between two career certainties
August 2022

It was a sultry August day many years ago now, south of Boston when storms rolled through my town - and lightning hit my house.

It first hit the ground next to a cluster of trees about 40 feet behind the house, then followed rock just under the surface until it emerged out of a garden wall, blowing small boulders everywhere and making a bee line for the corner of the attached garage. 

Immediately setting it on fire. Fortunately, the fire department arrived in time to save the house. And yes, insurance kicked in and the new garage was bigger and better, so in the end, it was not as bad as it could have been.

So yes, when every August rolls around, I remember that event, and still maintain a healthy respect for lightning. 

Here’s hoping the most exciting thing for YOU this August is finding a parking spot at your state fair, or perhaps even a vacation away from home. You deserve it!

Joanne
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Enjoy your local events as summer winds down -
it goes by too fast, doesn’t it?!
Joanne Meehl
Resume expert whose resumes land interviews. Holds "The Resume Queen"® trademark, lives up to the title.
LinkedIn profile creator if you want yours to be an employer magnet. Double your profile views.
Networking guru who coaches you in elegant (not needy, gimme gimme) networking, finding hidden leads.
Interview prep that puts you at ease matching what they need and describing why they need you.

BA, MS, IJCDC
Photos in this Between the Trapezes courtesy of Shutterstock.com
unless it's flowers or memes, which are by Joanne

Your Career Is The Treasury of Your Life ©
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Fried tacos on a stick!
3 must-dos between accepting the offer AND your first day on the job
 
Hooray, you’re landed your new job – fantastic! And congratulations! You’ve signed the written offer, passed all the tests, and you have a start date. What’s to do now? Coast until your start date, right? 

Not really. Certainly, celebrate. But also enhance your professional career by doing these 3 things, and you will be the one everyone will want to hire, now and in years ahead: 
 
1. Be grateful. Publicly. First, say thank you to your family: to your spouse/partner, and your kids. They’ve stuck with you throughout the process. If you’re a new college grad, thank your parents if they have funded you and supported you; if you paid your own way, thank yourself for sticking with it. Say thank you to everyone who helped you: recruiters, friends, extended family members, neighbors, coaches, contacts.

But do more than that: Don’t keep your thanks to others quiet. Do it in public! Do it on LinkedIn in particular, for your business contacts. Say something like: “I want to thank Pete Smith for taking the time from his busy schedule to give me helpful advice about networking. Your tips made me feel much more comfortable and I believe they were critical to my success. I look forward to somehow helping you in the near future!” Be sure to link to Pete’s profile so people can just click on it to see him. He will very much appreciate it!

And everyone who reads your thank-you will think you are classy and cool – because doing this means exactly that!

2. Arrange to meet with your new boss even BEFORE you start your new job. Do so in their office, saying you’d like half an hour or so, so you can get oriented even before the official orientation. (Ask for a security clearance for the day, so that you're in the building "legally". You could even offer to do all of your "first day" orientation before you start.) If you'll all be working remotely only, do this meeting via Zoom.

But here’s what you’re really after in this meeting: finding out exactly why s/he actually hired YOU. They may have told you something vague like “You’re the right fit” or “You showed the best experience match”. When I asked one of my managers at Xerox who had an team opening I was going for, “You had three great candidates, why did you choose me?” he answered, “The way you thoughtfully answered each question is exactly the way I want my team members to be with our clients.” That told me a lot about his priorities, very early in our time working together, adding to my successes there. It will work the same way for you.

3. Now is the time to plan the next step in your career.
Huh? You’re thinking: Joanne, I just landed this job, and you’re asking me “What’s next?”?!  

Yes, and it’s called career management.

What I'm urging you to do before you start your new job, and once you are in it and doing well, is to begin thinking about your next step. What will your next title be, what will your new skills be and how will you achieve them, how will you bring value to your next manager or next company? Then find ways in your new, current job to learn AND do those things. 

For example, it could mean learning that new, in-demand software tool now that will not only help you in your current role, but will help you set a path to your next one. Or you’ll go for more projects that are enterprise wide because you want a lot of this in your next role. Or you start an initiative that makes your company a leader in the news, with the idea of repeatedly having such impact in your next role. In short, you’ll be creating your successes now and paving the way for them in your next position.

A Final Word
Doing these 3 things will make you will feel great AND they’ll come back to you in good ways.

You deserve that.

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This month’s Tip from Joanne:

Fonts to use on your resume

Calibri, Verdana, Arial and Tahoma are my current favorites.

This is because they are made to be read on the screen, thus are easy on the eyes.

I avoid Times New Roman because that was invented for printing on paper, and isn’t as easy to read on your device’s screen. However, many federal government job applications ASK you to use Times or Times New Roman, so in those cases, definitely use it.

Remember, anyone reading your resume at their computer can zoom in at 150% or 200% to see the text "bigger", so use 10 point type size (not 12) which will give YOU more flexibility as you add content.

Thought of the Month

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.

— Wayne Dyer, author and speaker
Joanne Meehl Career Services LLC | Zoom or 612.440.6765 (by appt) | Joanne@TheJobSearchQueen.com