Work Babble

Interview – Pamme Boutselis of career and education social site Track Ahead.com

By Tony Deblauwe

I had a chance to catch up with Pamme Boutselis, Director of Programs and Content for TrackAhead.com an education and career-focused social network dedicated to offering choice, not chance, for success(TM). As the economy picks up and the job market opens a bit, it’s important for young job seekers to get as much information as possible to head into the right career.

1. What got you interested in Track Ahead?

Chris Gray, the CEO/President of Track Ahead, contacted me late in 2008 with this concept which he had been working on for a while. Chris had worked in consumer products in the corporate world, but he had also worked for many years alongside his parents in their non-profit SAT prep service. He clearly understood many of the challenges out there with regard to the achievement of higher education and career goals, and had some interesting ideas on using technology to advance those goals.

I was intrigued by the possibilities that this concept could offer, and we had many conversations which led to my commitment to help Chris make this happen. I have a strong history of community involvement, and I particularly liked the idea of incorporating the role of service to others into the Track Ahead platform. Together, we realized that education, career and community were what we wanted to really focus on. From the beginning, however, Chris always had a vision of  creating a Track Ahead foundation when the company became successful to assist underserved individuals achieve their goals which is still very much a part of the plan.

2. How big is the community and what are the key topics discussed?

Thus far we are at approximately 450 members, and we are very excited, given that our launch was so recent. We are in the process of partnering with a large nonprofit that is sure to grow the site as well.

An important component of Track Ahead is our willingness and desire to partner with nonprofit organizations to serve as a positive communication platform for their members. We have the resources to strengthen and enhance their existing efforts to assist their members in planning for and reaching their higher education and career goals.

There are four basic comprehensive topics that are addressed regularly through our content which consists of over 160 articles, 300+ videos, blogs, discussion forums and groups: Education, Career, Life Skills and Athletics (particularly as they pertain to student-athletes). We also focus strongly on Community Service and how service opportunities are available at schools, in the workplace and within your own community.

3. Where do you see this going?

We see Track Ahead moving forward in a strong and positive way throughout educational, nonprofit and corporate settings. This is a site that encourages all of its members to put their best foot forward, and to showcase the good things about who they are. For many young people, this is their first experience in establishing a professional presence online.

However, the site is not just for students. It's for their parents as well, and their teachers, their coaches, their community organization mentors, their boss,  and for anyone who has a sincere interest in what Track Ahead is all about.

We learned early on in our research that there was an inherent fear for educators and community leaders in particular to interact and 'friend' young people on many of the existing social networks due to the content in many profiles.

At Track Ahead, we ask our members to uphold the guidelines, which clearly ask that people maintain a respectful, professional demeanor and presence at all times on our site. There's plenty of room for the respectful exchange of ideas and experiences. We can all benefit from that.  It's all about moving forward towards your goals. Even our "My Page" profile status asks, "What are you doing to Track Ahead?"

Track Ahead is a place that one can begin their journey as a student seeking advice and information while in high school, continue finding valuable resources throughout their college and grad school years, and still find even more value throughout their career.  Our dynamic multi-dimensional online e-folio can serve as a virtual file cabinet throughout those years as well, enabling a member to keep track of all of the important documents, videos, presentations and more that they may choose to share with a potential college or career contact.

4. Where can folks get info or to join?

A quick view of Track Ahead’s home page provides a great overview of what Track Ahead is all about. We have a rotating feature listing that shows which articles, videos, blogs, groups and discussions we're featuring that particular week. It changes out each Monday. Our home page also offers a glimpse of featured members, blogs, discussion forums, a weekly poll, and more.

There's opportunity on our home page to become a fan of our Facebook page and to follow us on Twitter. As for joining, it's a quick and easy sign-up procedure. Anyone that is already a member of a Ning network can use that same log in information and join us on Track Ahead even quicker. Visit www.TrackAhead.com.

Thanks Pamme. I can see where Track Ahead is really helpful I offering a platform to people seeking career guidance. I have enjoyed being a contributor on Track Ahead as well. There are so many smart folks on the site doing exciting things for their career and community

Client Services and Job Search – An Interview with Kathy Simmons, CEO of NETSHARE

By Tony Deblauwe

I recently had a chance to speak with Kathy on her views regarding the executive job market.  Kathy is a veteran in the career services industry and understands that the current economic climate poses particular issues for high level job seekers (those seeking executive roles above $100K USD). That’s why Kathy has adopted a closer, more personalized approach to act as a conduit between job seekers and employers through personal service, networking introductions and ongoing education.  (NETSHARE also has current, “real”, senior level positions with a minimum base compensation of $100K, specifically for their members.)

We talked about the state of retention and its influence on the job market. She agrees that there is activity picking up in many areas and employers need to be engaged and involved with their talent. People continue to seek challenging roles and opportunities to gain professional growth, not just financial return. Companies that do nothing about talent management might find themselves stuck.  In today’s environment, there is research that indicates that employed executives are less than happy with their current employer and looking to make a change as soon as the market opens up.

In NETSHARE’S weekly “Ask the Coach” program, executives can ask their career management or job search questions of a vetted, professional executive coach.  One of the areas Kathy focuses on is choosing the right career coach to get the right results on a timely basis.  She knows that many people, desperate for a job or a change, could gravitate to people who don’t offer the right guidance based on the person’s job seeking goals. Bringing this wisdom to the NETSHARE membership adds a leg up to an already stressful process. In a recent blog post Kathy writes, “An effective career coach can help you make the most of yourself… when seeking help with your career, be sure you are shopping for a coach and not a crutch.”

Thanks Kathy for the great service you offer and your industry perspective. For more information on NETSHARE, please visit www.netshare.com. Check out Kathy’s blog at http://blog.netshare.com

Finding a Job in January – GMA story

By Tony Deblauwe

A follow up to the Good Morning America interview with Tory Johnson, the following areas were pulled out as areas to look at in job search:

Temporary Jobs (as in temp-to-perm)

Jobs in Healthcare
Federal Law Enforcement
Startups

Based on my recent survey of where people see job growth in 2010, some of these areas are better than others for search. I agree that government sector jobs, including law enforcement or federal government based jobs, is one area to see the beginning of a spike. Much of the retail based temporary assignments referred to are not really in high kick off mode in January but will grow steadily in another 3 months.

Healthcare continues to have the same needs mainly in administrative posts and nursing care whether in hospitals or in private practice. As for the startup environments – remember that the VC community is looking at consolidation this year more than growth. That means that the VC market will continue to try and do more with less as more entrepreneurs seek private funding to get ideas off the ground. That said of the funding going into startups in the technology sector, look for the Q2 pop.  

 

My advice is to use January as a planning month. Identify core strengths, look for networking opportunities and secure informational interviews if you can, but most importantly, talk with people and announce your search. Outside of a great resume and focused search plan, find as many opportunities to talk to people who could be potential employers. Who you know is still paramount to career success.

Is Your Executive Brand Digitally Distinct?

Guest post by Meg Guiseppi, CPBS, MRW, CPRW

Do you Google "your name" regularly to monitor your online identity? You should.

In executive job search, having accurate, brand-supporting search results associated with you is essential. Recruiters and hiring decision makers rely on online searches to uncover and qualify candidates like you.

If they can't find you online, they may never find you, and you may miss the chance to be considered for those jobs.

Conversely, if they find anything to discredit you, you're probably dead in the water, too. But don’t worry. You can work to build up positive results which will push those disreputable ones down to page 3, 4, or lower of results for your name, rendering them ineffectual. But remember that nothing on the Web is ever permanently deleted.

William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, Reach Personal Branding founders, broke out 5 possible online profiles in their book Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand:

Digitally disguised

Your vanity search does not match any web pages. There is absolutely nothing about you on the Web - you have no online identity. You’re hidden from those who may be looking for you.

Digitally dissed

There is little on the Web about you, and what is there is either negative or inconsistent with how you want to be known – your personal brand.

Digitally disastrous

You have plenty of search results, but they have little relevance to what you want to express about yourself. Results for others sharing your name may be in the mix, too.

Digitally dabbling

There are some on-brand results for you. Even though there aren’t many results, the information about you is relevant and on-brand - nothing negative. From here, you can easily move to the next level.

Digitally distinct

There are lots of results about you that reinforce your brand – the right message about you is out there. This is the nirvana of online identity! You’re among or approaching the superstars in the world of online identity. But your work isn't done. Google results can (and do) change overnight. You need to keep an eye on your online identity and keep building up the good stuff. There’s always room for improvement.

To quickly run your own digital check-up, try the Reach Personal Branding’s Online Identity Calculator. It’s a nifty little tool to assess how strong your online presence is.

When you take the quiz, you'll be asked to type "your name" in a Google search and note the total number of search results, how many are NOT about you, and how many accurate, on-brand results ARE about you in the first 3 pages.

Among the 7 questions provided, you're asked which statement best describes the career level for which you are aiming:

        ■   University/College Student or Recent Graduate

        ■   Entry-level (1-5 years' experience) or Individual Contributor

        ■   Manager with 5-10 years' experience, Director, Consultant or Small Business Owner

        ■   VP, Highly-regarded Consultant or Acknowledged Thought Leader

        ■   C-level Executive, Partner, Board Member, Celebrity, Renowned Consultant or Expert

When you submit your answers, your digital ranking compared to the expected number of accurate results for the career level you chose is revealed – digitally disastrous, digitally distinct, or somewhere in between.

The quiz is free and takes about 5 minutes to complete. The results can be eye-opening and impel you to get busy. And if you “pass” the quiz, you’ll be given the code for the “I’m digitally distinct” badge shown above to place on your website or blog.

Need some help building your online brand identity and positioning your unique value proposition? Check out my posts:

The Personal Branding Worksheet: 10 Steps to Defining Your Authentic Personal Brand

Health Insurance for Your Personal Brand – The 3 Cs

2010 Top 10 Executive Personal Branding and Job Search Trends

© Copyright Meg Guiseppi, 2010. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

About Meg

An Executive Personal Branding, Online Identity and Job Search Strategist, Meg is a 20-year careers industry professional and one of only a handful of people worldwide to hold the Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategist and Master Resume Writer credentials, both gold standards.

"I love my work collaborating with savvy corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who know where they're going, but need help differentiating their unique promise of value in the new world of work and executive job search, and positioning themselves to work their passion. My clients are typically c-suite, senior-level executives and rising stars."

 

Find out more about Meg at Executive Career Brand, and by viewing her LinkedIn profile and following her on Twitter.

Personality Tests And Job Search

Feature post from the Jan 18, 2010 article by Debra Donston-Miller of TheLadders.com

When you are being considered for a job, your potential employer evaluates several factors: your education, your experience and your successes, to name just a few. How about your personality?

Increasingly, organizations are turning to personality assessments to hire more effectively and avoid expensive and potentially embarrassing hiring errors, especially at the executive level.

"Testing is the application of science to the prediction of fit and success to the job," said John Fennig, a licensed psychologist and managing partner of DRI Consulting, a management and organization consulting firm that administers pre- and post-hire testing. "There are two issues: Is the person the best fit, ideally, to the pool of other candidates — and how likely are they going to succeed at the job?"

Fennig said that in today's tight job market, job seekers can expect closer scrutiny in the form of personality testing, as well as behavioral and cognitive testing. "Especially with the pools being bigger — it's a buyer's market, not a seller's market, right now — job seekers are going to see more scrutiny, and they have to be cool with that."

Tony Deblauwe, a workplace expert and founder of consulting firm HR4Change, said there are certain types of positions that lend themselves to personality testing, including sales jobs and customer-service jobs — jobs that tend to draw on personality as well as a certain skill set. Companies often administer personality tests for positions that require strategic thinking and complex decision-making.

According to experts interviewed for this article, some of the most commonly used tests on the hiring side of the house are the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF); Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness (DISC); Caliper Profile and California Psychological Inventory. (See Top Personality Tests on Page 3.) Myers-Briggs, one of the most well-known personality tests, is rarely used by hiring professionals, they said.

The overall point of performing these tests and others like them, Deblauwe said, is to go deeper than any job interview ever could. "If I can map exactly what I know is the gold standard for the position and what this company needs to have done against where you the candidate naturally lean, it's another point in the decision-making process."

And few if any rely solely on psychological tests to survey a job applicant. It is just one of several data points used to make a hiring decision.

"Testing should never weigh more than a third in the hiring process — it is being mis-used if it is pass/fail," Fennig said. "What you ( the job hunter) have control over is two-thirds of the process — namely, your resume, your work history, your interviewing skills and the performance skills the interviewing panel may put you through to show your stuff."

Gaming the tests

Up against stiff competition for a position, job seekers may be tempted to try and “beat the test” to optimize their results.

That’s the wrong thing to do, according to the experts interviewed for this story.

"There's really no way to beat the test, or any of these tests," said Justin Tobin, a psychotherapist in private practice in Chicago. "You just have to be yourself. It's not just one question that's going to figure out who you are. There are a lot of questions and a lot of information embedded in these questions. So you may not even be picking up on what the question is trying to get at."

There's actually very little people can do before taking a validated, reliable assessment, said Connie Kernen, business development manager at recruiting and research firm JMJ Phillip.

"The best advice is, and always has been, to simply answer the questions as candidly and as openly as possible," Kernen said. "Generally, the first answer which 'pops' into the candidate’s mind is the best answer. Lying or exaggerating on an assessment can potentially result in two things applicants want to avoid: being dropped from consideration or ending up in a job they hate."

Many tests are designed to pick up on dishonesty or disingenuousness. And even if you do game a test, you're not necessarily doing yourself any favors.

"Be honest when you're taking (these tests )," said Abby Kohut, president and staffing consultant with Staffing Symphony. "If you try to fool the test or to make the test think that you're something other than what you are, you're not going to fool the test because the test is smart.” Worse, even if you were able to beat the test and receive a job offer, you might end up in a job for which you aren't suited.

Know thyself, relax thyself

Recruiters and human-resources managers generally prefer to perform psychological tests early in the selection process, and many are now conducted online, before an initial interview.

But no matter where or when you take a test, taking stock of yourself before you answer the first question will help you relax and present yourself as honestly and effectively as possible, psychotherapist Tobin said.

"Before you take one of these tests, the most important thing is to know who you are and to be in touch with your own core values, your own strengths, your own limitations," he said. "That can make you feel more comfortable taking the test and more confident to just be in the moment. A lot of these tests take you to hypothetical questions, like, what would you do if someone was yelling at you in the middle of a store? Don't try and overanalyze what you think the answer is supposed to be. Just go with what you would really do in that situation."

While experts say that you shouldn't — and really can't — study for a personality test, some recommend using the results from sample tests online or from past testing to add weight and balance to discussions about your strengths and weaknesses.

"Self-awareness is one of the elements of good leadership," Fennig said. "Take assessments: One, (you’ll) be comfortable with the process of taking assessments; and two, more importantly, to know yourself will make people more informed job hunters. There's probably no downside (to taking a sample test)."

What type of test to expect?

Just as there are many different kinds of tests, regulation of pre-employment testing varies across states and industries. In general, employment law in most states requires that testing be relevant to a position, and must be administered consistently across all candidates. Most states also require that the test meet professional standards. Unlike background checks, there are no laws entitling a job seeker to view the results of a psychological exam, but some employers and some tests in particular give job seekers access to the results.

DRI Consulting, for instance, gives all applicants copies of their results, plus graphed reports, and invites them to comment before the report is sent to the hiring organization.

"It's like a good performance review; you get to read and sign off on the accuracy of it," Fennig said. " (Candidates) can't change the numbers, but they can add stuff, they can comment, and then we submit that verbatim to the hiring organization. This has been hugely, hugely popular and effective."

Fennig added that the testing is seen as informing not just the hiring organization but also the candidate about how and where they fit: "It helps the job seeker to say, 'Oh, you know, maybe I'm not cut out to manage, and this is a management job.' ... The hope is that the testing informs in both directions."

If test results are not supplied to you automatically, as they are with DRI Consulting, it's a good idea to ask for them anyway, as it shows you are engaged and proactive every step of the process, Fennig said.

"The best candidates are clued into the decision path, and they know where they stand at each point," he said. "So knowing that is a sign of leadership, a sign of power, a sign of confidence."

First refusal

Can you refuse to take a personality test? Yes, said Deblauwe, and he's seen it done, but saying no is not a good idea if you really want the job.

The law is different in every state. Generally, however, if the test meets the professional standards defined by the state and is relevant to the job in question, it is permissible to make it a mandatory part of the job application, according to the American Psychological Association.

While it’s not likely to be told that you didn't get a job because you refused to take a test, "unless you're really, really good, the last thing recruiters or HR people want is someone who is creates process blocks for them. Good economy, bad economy — play ball," he said.

Fennig agreed, adding, "Most execs who we work with have come to expect to be tested. They appreciate being tested because they are able to put their best foot forward."

For more information and tips about job searching or to find jobs, visit www.theladders.com