My Favorite Resume Loophole

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Writing a resume can be challenging. My clients often come to me with these three common concerns:

• Is it too long? If I delete something that’s less relevant to save space, will employers think there’s a gap?

• I do have an employment gap. How do I make it less noticeable?

• I’m changing roles/fields and something from years ago is now more relevant than my most recent work experience. How do I get that to stand out more?

There is, amazingly, ONE solution for all three of these. The answer, and my favorite resume loophole, is this:

Divide your experience into multiple sections, so you can work around the rule that everything has to be in reverse chronological order.

For example, imagine you’re applying for a research role and want to highlight the job you held two positions prior to your current role. You could have “Research Experience” and “Additional Experience” as your two sections, include the older role in “Research Experience” and your current role in “Additional Experience” (research is just one example, but you can put whatever field/industry you’re targeting in the title).

Side note: the word “additional” reads better than “other” as the latter implies the experience is not really relevant.  

This brings the more related experience up the page on the resume, helping it be seen by employers during their first quick glance. It also changes around the order of the dates, so the employer would have to spend more time looking at each date to check for a gap.

Try this simple yet effective trick and you’ll notice how much more creative you can be on your resume!

Was this helpful? Here are more ways working with a career coach can help you land work you love.

Flow + All About Aspire

I'm working on something REALLY exciting that I'm planning to launch this fall, and because of that I'll be doing a few blog posts per month instead of a weekly edition.

When I started to put pen to paper on this new idea for Aspire with Aileen, I found I was completely enthralled and in a total state of flow (and I'm not talking about a "yoga flow" in this case!).

If you've never heard of this concept, here are two great articles to get you up to speed:

• Your Ideal Career is the Intersection Between Flow and Meaning

• Find Your Flow and Success Will Follow

Do you experience this in your career? In your personal life? How can you make changes, personally or professionally, if not?

Photo from article linked above

Finally, I recently realized I never shared an interview I did with Just Us Gals Boston. If you're new to this page or want to better understand why I focus on helping clients with both personal and professional goals, click here to read the full article. And if you already know you're going to be working on a career goal, here are 4 ways to work towards it without sacrificing your physical or mental health. 

Want to stay informed about this upcoming announcement? Members of my monthly newsletter will be the first to know and you can sign up here! 

Job Search Resilience

Other than balancing a job search with everything else going on in your life, one of the hardest parts of looking for a new position is keeping your spirits up throughout the duration of the often-tedious process.

Whether it’s deafening silence from employers or making it to the final round of interviews only to not be selected, the experience can certainly take a toll on your confidence.

Those examples are (unfortunately!) a normal part of looking for a job whether you’re highly qualified for what you’re applying to or not. From political hiring decisions, technical interference causing your application to never be seen by a human, or simply an extremely competitive market, there are a handful of challenging layers that have nothing to do with your competency levels (let that sink in!)… yet, the longer you spend applying, the more likely you are to start to doubt yourself.

So, how do you keep your spirits up?

I heard this definition from Jennifer Racioppi while listening to a webinar on emotional resilience

As with many challenges in life, it comes back to resilience. There are countless definitions and studies about this concept, but two of my favorites include: “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness” and meeting life exactly as it is and being able to thrive anyway. Some believe that “more than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, it’s true in the Olympics, and it’s true in the boardroom.”

Below are a few of the strategies I’ve found help job seekers recover from the challenges and setbacks that come with the territory.

Talk to people.

This will sound like the last thing you want to do when your confidence is tanking or you’re doubting yourself, but trust me on this. Networking not only increases your likelihood of landing a position, it also can do a myriad of things to get you out of the job search rut. For example, people in your field can:

• Validate that your background is impressive/you do have valuable and relevant skills. You can get this information through asking questions such as “What skills do you think make someone stand out in this field/role?” or “What qualities make someone most successful in this position?”  

• Help you see your blind spots and where you may be lacking competitiveness. That may sound like bad news, but this insight can show you where to seek out development and growth to proactively increase your ability to compete.

• Give you ideas about other companies, job titles, or openings to look at that you may not know about.

Any of these outcomes can serve to reinvigorate you and the energy you need to keep plugging away.

Look in your happy-face-folder 

This may sound weird if you don’t have one, so let me explain. Every time I get a thoughtful thank you email or positive feedback after an event, I file them into a folder aptly titled “😊.” If I have a really challenging day or am doubting myself (in the life of an entrepreneur it happens often!), I skim through and am reminded of my skills, value-add, and the positive impact I’ve had on other people’s lives. If you don’t save these types of emails, I recommend that you start!

If you don’t have these emails, you can still seek out this kind of info from other sources. Old performance reviews are a good place to look. Chatting with any colleagues you’ve let in on your search, checking in with your references, and reviewing former letters of recommendation can all raise your spirits too.

Take Care of Yourself

When in doubt, taking extra care of yourself is always a good idea. It may sound counterintuitive to step away from applications, but restoring your energy and mindset will ultimately make you much more productive. That renewed confidence will translate in your application materials. You have permission to take this space. Often a short stint away, or coming back to an application after a restorative activity is all you need to reframe your perspective.

This comes back to stress and the impact it can have on our personal and professional well-being. Clinical psychologist George Bonanno has been studying resilience for over 25 years and he says the following: “All of us possess the same fundamental stress-response system, which has evolved over millions of years and which we share with other animals. The vast majority of people are pretty good at using that system to deal with stress. When it comes to resilience, the question is: Why do some people use the system so much more frequently or effectively than others? One of the central elements of resilience, Bonanno has found, is perception: Do you conceptualize an event as traumatic, or as an opportunity to learn and grow?”

Taking time to take care of yourself and counter job search stressors can make it easier to view whatever challenges have come up in your process as opportunities to grow, and you can use this resilience to handle other life hurtles with more grace and ease.  

• What are some examples of challenges you’ve faced in your life that you see as teaching moments or times of great personal growth?

• How can you reframe your perspective of your job search to meet it where it is and yet thrive anyway?

• Where can you apply these mindset shifts to other areas of your life to restore your energy and get back to feeling like your best self?

Answering Negative Interview Questions

Interviewing can be stressful enough, let alone when a prospective employer asks you a question that brings up some negative emotions.

Common interview questions where this may happen include:

• Why are you leaving your current position?

• What did you like least about your most recent role/company?

• Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a colleague/client/customer.

• Tell me about a time when you failed.

• What’s a weakness of yours?

Fun list of topics, eh?

The basic strategy for these questions is this: provide an adequate and truthful answer without sharing too many dramatic details and while keeping a professional, calm tone.

Sounds manageable, but if you’re caught off guard by a negative question or you’re describing a situation that involved particularly high emotions, it can be quite challenging. When I do mock interviews with clients, I point out how even just one word choice can make a difference in how polarizing an example can sound (for example: That made me so furious vs That made me so frustrated. One word, big difference!).

So, what do you do?

Use the PAR approach.

This strategy works when answering any behavioral interview question because it gives you a framework for what information is most critical to include, along with how to organize it. People tend to be most long-winded when answering this style of question, and this method can help to weed out extraneous details. PAR stands for problem, action, result – a similar acronym is STAR which stands for situation, task, action, result. In short, you want to assess what problem or situation you’re going to describe, what action YOU took, and the conclusion (or the goal of your action if you didn’t see the conclusion/get the result you anticipated).

Practice out loud.

This aligns with previous interview prep tips I’ve shared, and it’s because I can’t emphasize it enough. You’ll notice how delicate the word choice is, and it’s better to stumble over it on your own than in front of the employer. Ideally, have a friend or career coach listen to your answer and give you feedback as to how it translated.

Choose your examples carefully.

If you get feedback that your answer is still a little bit touchy, or you’re continuously struggling with getting it to a place where you feel like it's a strong answer, choose a new example if possible. Those are signs that the situation was too complicated to describe easily or that you’re still feeling too strongly about it to share it with an employer in an interview.

a simple (and silly) example to help illustrate these practices

...fun fact, this is a true story from the job I held at Super Kmart at 16 years old!

Question: Can you tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult person (client/customer/colleague)?

Answer: While working as a cashier at Super Kmart, a middle-aged gentleman tried to purchase cigarettes from me. The strict store policy required employees to ask for ID from everyone, even if they appeared to be well over the legal purchasing age. The gentleman forgot his ID so I politely informed him that unfortunately I couldn’t complete the sale. He became extremely agitated and began yelling. I calmly replied that I’d be happy to refer him to my manager if he’d like to continue the discussion, as there was nothing I could do to change the policy. He agreed, I brought in my manager, and they sorted out a solution together so I could move on to serve the next customer.

In reality, I thought this man was completely inappropriate and rude, and that the policy was a bit extreme, but those stronger feelings aren't present in this response.  

Use these tips and you’ll feel more confident when answering negative questions during your next interview!

Want a deeper dive into the strategies behind answering the two most dreaded interview questions (including the infamous weakness question)? Download my guide which includes a bonus: the simple but often forgotten tactic to nailing an interview.

Interviewing Tips

Helping people prepare for interviews is one of my FAVORITE things to do (yes, I realize how nerdy this makes me sound, but I’m okay with that).

There's so much anxiety and fear that comes along with the excitement of landing this precious time with an employer. One of the reasons why I love it so much is because it's so rewarding to use my holistic perspective and coaching skills to move people through those feelings to a place of confidence.

If you're battling a bout of the pre-interview scaries, read on to get moving!

The first thing to do is remember that there's a reason why you're being interviewed!

Really, that’s step one. It sounds simple, but my clients often get swept up in the overwhelm and overlook this critical information. Employers go through hundreds or thousands of applications before narrowing the pile down to a first round of interviews. They don't have the time or resources to interview you just for fun. Something in your application materials made them interested enough in you to connect.

Use that not only as a confidence building tool, but also as guidance on how to prepare. Go through all of your application materials and know them like the back of your hand. Assess what you think, from their perspective, is most attractive about you and practice speaking to those things.

This may sound obvious, but so many people have information on their resume that’s from a few years ago and when I ask them to tell me about it they fumble with remembering what they actually did.

Take a peek at your resume right now and skim to one of your oldest bullets – is that true for you, too?

Don’t let this happen with an employer. You may think the older information has nothing to do with the prospective job, and you may be right, but sometimes they’re intrigued to learn more for exactly that reason. It can break up the monotony for them when reading resumes of candidates with very similar backgrounds and experiences.

In summary: be able to speak to every single line on your resume.

The more you “overprepare” for an interview, the less anxiety surrounds it and the more you’ll be able to start off the conversation from a place of confidence.

Continue to use the clues you have in front of you to keep plugging away, instead of jumping over and Googling “interview questions.” If you followed my exercise for how to write a cover letter, you’ve already dissected the job description (if you haven’t, download my free guide to help make cover letter writing less painful while simultaneously setting yourself up to be ahead in your interviewing prep work). Based on the themes you’ve noticed in the post, you can anticipate what types of questions you’ll be asked, and then practice them out loud. You can also find sample interview questions on recruiting or career services sites with a quick Google search.

It will likely be uncomfortable practicing out loud, but it’s always worth it.

The way you think you’ll answer something in your head often translates very differently when it comes out of your mouth. Notice what part of the job or skills you feel weakest in and spend extra energy practicing how you’ll approach those instead of just hoping they won’t ask you about them.

Next, scour the company website, Glassdoor, and the news to be as informed as possible about how they’re branding themselves and what information is widely known about them.

Lastly, ask for information if you don’t have it.

I’ve had clients get so excited to be asked to interview that only later do they realize they don’t have very important information. One extreme example is when a client of mine didn’t even have a job description! He’d done an informational interview and they asked him to come in and interview the next day for a position that hadn’t even been posted yet. He accepted the interview and then had no idea how to prepare. When I asked him if he asked them for the details he said no. It’s a completely reasonable thing to ask for, and after some encouragement he realized he had nothing to be afraid of and sure enough they sent it his way when he asked.

Consider: Who will you be meeting with? How many people and at what times (and if it's a full-day interview, what snacks will you bring?)? What are the details of the job? Can you confirm the location, especially if they have multiple locations?

I can go on, but these guidelines should get you off to a very comprehensive start.

One last thing... If you’re nervous, don’t forget to breathe!

Deep belly breaths will help trigger your relaxation response to counter that stress. There’s debate about some other more holistic approaches to your mindset and physiology, but breathing should definitely be on your to-do list.

If you’re on a roll and want more tips, read on for how to answer negative interview questions or strategize your “What’s your weakness?” answer instead of just dreading being asked it!

For personalized support on thank you note etiquette, navigating the salary conversation, managing energy when interviewing back to back, and everything else… reach out or send this along to a friend who is job searching. Good luck!

Should You Quit Your Dream Job?

Dream Job. What’s yours?

I was looking back over old emails when I saw what I wrote to a reference of mine a few years ago. “eeeee this is my dream job!!” …yes, I wrote “eee” and no I don’t recommend you do that in your emails to your references, unless you’re very close to them like I was in this case!

Considering I'd left that job to start career coaching on my own full-time, it got me wondering if I’d labeled any other former jobs the same way. Sure enough, after some digging, I found older emails about other jobs I’d held where I described them in just the same way.

Now, maybe my 20-something-year-old self just had a tendency to overuse the phrase, but it got me thinking about our development and how it shapes our perspective of what our “dream” is…

In my opinion, one of the keys to both our personal and professional success is the ability to continuously reevaluate the things that matter to us.

But it can’t stop there and happen in a vacuum.

We then have to look at how our life is, or isn’t, providing space for us to experience those things.

So often, we don’t take the time to slow down long enough to do this reevaluation (in either a formal or informal way).

When I led a work life balance workshop recently, I invited participants to do a pen-and-paper version of this exercise. Once they completed it, and looked truthfully at their lives, they were shocked to see how little overlap there was between their values and their daily actions.

When we name what these disconnects are, it helps us to understand where possible sources of anxiety and frustration may come from.

For example, let’s say one of your values is spending time with friends and family, but work is so busy that that’s been more of an afterthought. If there’s no indication you’re going to be less busy any time soon, you may understand why you’ve been getting cranky on Sunday nights before the workweek begins.  

So, what changed for me 10 years after initially using this "dream job" phrasing?

My passion for career coaching remained strong, but my interests and skills expanded to include corporate wellness. The combination of some changes in my office, coupled with an unanticipated spike in clients, led me to feel pulled in too many directions. I had a check-in with myself (and my husband!) to assess it all and realized that I valued the success of my business, and the ability to tap into these newer skillsets, more than the work environment of higher education I'd previously adored. It took some time to process the notion of leaving this previous dream behind for a newer one, but I haven't looked back since.   

How can we be proactive about making sure we’re living in alignment with our values, before too much time passes and stress builds to scary levels?

Here are some ideas:

• Prioritize bringing more awareness into your life, in general. Continuous awareness of how you’re feeling and what you’re thinking will make it less likely that you’ll wake up one day wondering how you ended up wherever you are. Meditation (especially apps like Headspace!) can be a great way to increase awareness while decreasing stress.

• Schedule check-ins with yourself. Just like many employers have performance reviews, you could set up an annual or semi-annual values review.

• If you need extra accountability, schedule a check-in with a friend, colleague, or career coach. It doesn’t have to be anything formal but some people need this kind of structure for it to actually happen. It can also be helpful simply to get out of your own head.

These are just a few ideas. In what other ways can you bring more self-reflection into your life?

Make a commitment to put these practices into place now, so that if life moves along and you notice your dream job is no longer fulfilling you in the same way it used to, you’ll be empowered and informed enough to take action.

P.S.

I'll be talking more about self-reflection and mindfulness as it relates to the way we eat our food in a blog post soon. If you're interested in the topic, I'm hosting a free "Mindful Eating" talk in Boston in just 2 weeks too!  

The Biggest Advantage of Writing a Cover Letter

True or false: you rolled your eyes at the thought of writing a cover letter, or perhaps let out an audible sigh?

Cover letters are one of the biggest sources of frustration my clients have - before they start working with me. I empathize with them and acknowledge that this isn't a fun activity, but after we cover what they're really all about, along with some strategies to figuring out what employers want to read, it's much less painful of a process. 

So, what's the biggest advantage writing a letter will give you?

The space to show your knowledge of and passion for the organization.

Sound obvious?

Maybe, but OVER 80% of my clients don’t address this at all in their letters. The most interesting part is that they often think they do. When applying to mission-driven organizations, it's even more critical.

For example: One client was applying for a competitive role without much full-time experience. The global health organization described itself as "relentlessly committed to improving the health of poor and marginalized people." She highlighted founding a national HIV/AIDS awareness group as well as her four health-focused internships abroad. She also spoke to her commitment to the mission and the passion she'd bring to the role and ended up landing it. If the employer was just using her resume, she wouldn’t have looked as qualified.

One other advantage... 

It's extremely hard for your personality to shine on your resume, but you can begin to show it in your cover letter.

With so many places hiring based not only the skills you have, but also your fit with the office culture, this is a big chance to shed some light on that side of yourself and demonstrate how it aligns.

Thinking you need to start writing cover letters, or revamping your current approach to them? Get my full FREE guide to writing cover letters. Here's what one client had to say about the guide:

“I now use Aileen’s “Cover Writing Guide” every time I write a cover letter, and its the single best resource I’ve found in my job searching process. Honestly, she has unlocked the mystery for me in cover letter writing and more importantly, how to decipher a job description so you can really understand what the potential employer is looking for. Its like magic but way simpler!”

— Amanda S.

It includes tips on how to figure out what you can just rely on your resume for, examples of when you don't need to write one, how to get past writer's block, and more. Enjoy!

Aspire with Aileen Manifesto

In case you're new to my website, my manifesto is one of the best ways I know how to introduce myself. It encapsulates the three areas of my business (career counseling, health coaching, and yoga) and hopefully helps you get a sense of what perspective I bring to my work with my clients. 

I believe life is short, but the days are long if you’re not happy with what you’re doing or if you’re uncomfortable in your own skin.

I believe we hold more power over our paths than we typically imagine. Our original circumstances are certainly out of our control, but if we ask the right questions of ourselves, we often find that opportunities to ignite change are plentiful.  

I believe laughter and food are both medicine.

I believe that our breathing can be an amazing instrument of change.

When I wake up in the morning, my very first thought is how grateful I am for my health and how excited I am to be spending my day doing what I love. It breaks my heart knowing some people feel nothing but dread from the moment their alarm goes off until their head hits the pillow again.

I believe we often get in our own way, unintentionally, and that the power of human connection can be a magnificent force in helping us shift our perspective.

I believe in my mantra “To know even one life has breathed easier because you’ve lived- this is to have succeeded” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) and hope to help you breathe easier. 

Photo by Pure Style Photography

I couldn't find a way to incorporate my assistant, Buster, into my manifesto so I'm sharing a photo of him with me to make my introduction complete! (It may not look like it in this photo but I swear he loves me too.)

More on Analysis Paralysis

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about what I do. When I describe it, some people seem surprised to see a passion for both career and health coaching while others realize how interrelated the two are.

One commonality I've noticed is that in both areas, I see “analysis paralysis” because of a tendency to rely a lot on other people and sources for making decisions instead of turning inward.

I see this in career coaching when people ask everyone (including Google) to tell them what to do with their lives. They’re left with a million opinions that are all based on the values of the people giving the advice. Every person has a different perspective because of their differing values and that, coupled with using the interwebs to get advice, leads to lots of conflicting information and overwhelm. 

In health coaching, this shows up when my clients try to follow all of the latest diet and fitness trends. The recommendations from one source are typically the opposite from another (For example: Fat is your friend! Fat is the devil!) and can lead to instant confusion and frustration. While there's a lot of good information out there, a lot of it assumes that what worked for one person will work identically for another and ignores the important concept of bio-individuality. 

This makes sense when you think about how we’re typically taught about wellness –  we often eat the way our families or the government has told us to, based on their traditions or definitions of healthy. With exercise, many people stick with the sports that were required in school or the general guidelines given by medical providers or social media.

So, what do I recommend people do differently?

The answer in both cases is essentially the same:

Stop. Slow Down. Breathe. Turn Inward. 

In career coaching, I always advocate for people to make decisions based on their internal drivers. Specifically, using their VIPS (values, interests, personality, and skills) to guide them can increase their likelihood of being satisfied with their jobs. Many people come to me when they’re finally ready to do this. They admit that they've had a nagging feeling in their gut all along that something was off, but they just followed the advice or expectations others put upon them.

In health coaching, I help people learn how to quiet the noise and chaos of the wellness world. I share ways to pay attention to not only what they eat, but also the way they eat it, and how they feel afterwards. I also encourage them to find the type of movement they actually enjoy.

When people change things up and eat the foods they feel nourished by, and exercise in the ways that their individual body craves, they're much more likely to continue than when they just go through the motions of following what they've been told they're "supposed” to do.

This may sound so obvious, but can you think back on a time when you behaved differently than this? Maybe it’s still going on in some areas of your life today? 

These are just two examples of how I see people tune out what their intuition has to say about the career move that will make them happiest or the foods that actually make them feel good. By solely looking externally, people get so much more overwhelmed by all of the options available and that’s often what makes them too afraid to make changes or take any action.

I didn't know what graphic to use for this post, so this my best attempt at an "I'm thinking" photo. Image by Pure Style Photography

Though career and health coaching are indeed very different, in both areas I help people slow down, cut through all of the information overload, and see that it really can be as simple as turning inward to find the answers. It all comes back to asking the right questions and taking the time to do the work.

If you’re interested in learning more about either of these areas of coaching, reach out here for a free 30-minute consultation!

Simple Resume Writing Tips

Has it been a while since you last updated your resume? Or perhaps you want a quick "how-to" on approaching this thing that has potentially been on your to-do list for ages? Below is my attempt to succinctly share how to navigate this process. 

Overall Strategy/Approach 

1. Always, always, keep it updated

This one is hard to stick to, but so worth it if you do. If you haven’t and want to start now, go back and take a look at past performance reviews, your job description, or even your work calendar for the last few months (or years!) to jog your memory of not only what you do, but also what you’ve accomplished.

Similar to what I discuss in my cover letter guide (grab it at the bottom of the page!), some people get paralyzed by perfection. Start where you are instead of feeling like you need to have the most beautiful phrasing in the world. You can edit and refine later but begin by pretending you’re telling a friend what it is you do on a day to day basis, season to season. This simple exercise has helped hundreds of my clients move from a blank page to a full resume.

2. Don’t have someone else do the entire thing for you

I’m an advocate for asking for guidance on your resume, but having someone else put it all together for you is completely different. The ability to use your own voice to describe your experience is such a critical skill to have in your life. You know your story best, and employers will want to hear the version of the story they read in your application materials. Make it your own.

I’ve worked with clients who have to go back to the person they paid to write their resume every time they want to change it. For everything... even a tiny tweak in formatting or the use of one new word. You want to be able to make tailored versions of your resume for every application you have, and having to go to someone for this every time will slow things down (and out of pocket costs will go up!).

Getting tactical 

1. Looks matter      

There’s debate about how long employers spend actually reading your resume. It’s safe to assume if they’re feeling generous, the maximum amount of time you’ll get on a first read is 30 seconds. So, while it may sound shallow, the aesthetics of your resume really matter. If you give them any reason not to want to read it (it’s too busy, it’s too long, and so on) they just won’t. Along the same lines, think about the way we read (left to right, top to bottom) and use the prime real estate on your resume accordingly!

2. Top 3 rules to follow no matter what industry you're applying to

I could write 100 pages on resumes and still not cover everything. This is how I summarize the most important criteria for content to everyone, no matter their industry:

• Be results-oriented: say what you did AND why it matters

• Quantify when possible: Taught 450 elementary students vs. Taught students makes a big difference

• Use bullets and start them with strong and varied action verbs: paragraph format takes too long for employers to read + the thesaurus in MS Word is a goldmine

3. General Housekeeping:

• Your margins should NEVER be smaller than .5 on all sides (at the smallest!)

• Always send your resume as a PDF when possible

• Be mindful of the file name for your resume – If you accidentally apply to Starbucks with “My Dunkin Donuts Resume” it’s going in the trash. “Resume Version 284” isn’t the best look either.

• Use spellcheck, but have someone else (like me or a friend) take a look at it – asses and assess are both words, but you’re a lot more likely to use one of those on a resume over another!

I hope this helps you get started on updating your resume, which is often the hardest part. Next up is deciding what to include in a cover letter.

If you have questions or need help, as always I'm available for a free 30 minute consultation, and resume writing is one of my favorite things to help clients through (nerdy, but true).  If you’d like to take an even bigger picture look at what it’s like to work with a career coach, the linked post goes into a lot of depth on that as well. Good luck!

How to Fit Your Full-Time Job Search into Your Full-Time Life

“Looking for a job is like a full-time job!” 

... says every job seeker ever. Whether this expectation is present when going into the process or not, the amount of time and energy needed to land a new position is often still surprising. For people who hold full-time jobs already, finding extra time for job-seeking in an already packed day can be a true challenge. This doesn't mean unemployed people have it easy; they can become overwhelmed by having too many options and not enough structure or guidance on how to focus their energy.  If either of these scenarios resonates with you, here are some tips for organizing and fitting your efforts into your schedule, no matter what it looks like.

Set Goals

This is the foundation. Submitting applications and never hearing back, sending thank you emails after interviewing and receiving cryptic replies, or refreshing your inbox every few minutes to find out whether or not you have been selected can certainly make you feel helpless. On the flip side, setting continuous goals and taking proactive steps to reach them can lead to feeling energized and, most importantly, empowered. The more you operate from this position of strength when searching, the more motivated you'll be to take time to do the work.

Use a two-pronged approach to determine what kind of goals to set: proactive and reactive.

Proactive goals include researching new companies to add to your target list and sending out informational interview requests.  Reactive goals include applying to vacant positions that are already being publicly advertised. The overarching guideline for both of these is quality over quantity. Instead of applying to a job you are not really interested in just to go through the motions, find someone with a background similar to yours at a company you admire and learn from him or her about the hiring process. You'll get more out of that conversation than you will from any application you submit when your heart isn't in it, as your passion (or lack thereof) will be evident in either scenario.

Prioritize Where You Spend Your Energy

This is similar to goal setting but relates to the bigger picture of assessing when you'll be able to do this work. If step one is clarifying your goals, step two is taking a realistic look at opportunities to introduce tiny shifts in your routine to make space for progressing forward. To keep yourself from getting overwhelmed, start by looking at one week at a time. If that feels like too much, try just two days and then build from there.

First, write down all of your responsibilities for that duration of time. Place meetings/appointments on the days they are scheduled, but then plug in your other responsibilities including everything from meal preparation to the job-search goals you want to achieve.

This kind of prioritization sounds so simple, perhaps even obvious, but many people don't spend time on these little actions, or they write things down but never look at them again. The result is decreased productivity and increased frustration. People typically in this culture of “busy” look at one day, one hour, or one task at a time without considering the landscape of the rest of the upcoming days. The days and responsibilities can swiftly get away from anyone.

For example, you may set a goal to craft and submit an application “this week,” but then you work late two nights, have a commitment another evening, and spend one night cooking meals, and suddenly you're left with one weeknight to complete your entire application.

If you put that pressure on yourself to get everything done in one sitting, you risk setting yourself up for failure.

Applications can take longer than anticipated, whether due to writer’s block or more documents and forms to complete than assumed. Leave space for multiple drafts, edits, and opportunities to walk away and return with fresh eyes. It may seem like you're spending more time overall on the application, but in reality, you're just dividing your efforts differently and giving yourself a chance to bring more attention to the process.

To make space for this, find the non-negotiables of your schedule (such as childcare, train times, or standing appointments) and decide where, outside of those, you can create buckets of time for yourself in 30-to-60-minute increments throughout the week.

Next, add those to your calendar just like any of your other standing appointments. Then...

Show Up for Yourself!

Do you notice that the busier you are, the harder it is to commit to your self-care activities?

Finding a job that gratifies you is a form of self-care.

The more responsibilities you have on your plate, the more likely it is that these seemingly “non-mandatory” activities will continue to be delayed. Just like you avoid being a no-show for a meeting with a friend or a doctor’s appointment, honor the commitment you make to yourself and your goals in the same way.

If you need help holding yourself accountable, ask for help!

Reach out to a friend or family member for - the simple act of sharing your goals with others will facilitate a deeper sense of obligation to seeing them through. Working with a career coach can help you be held accountable, too!

Remember that you have more power over the process than you think, and that there are many people who will be happy to support you on your journey. 

My content and the first photo were originally shared on SharpHeels.com: Prioritizing a Job Search

You Can Talk Yourself Into or Out of Anything

When I was deciding whether or not to quit my job to scale up my business full-time, my friend and fellow coach Stephanie said something so beautiful and incredibly helpful:

For a decision like this you’ll be able to talk yourself into it or out of it a million times over. So, you want to get out of your own way. Give it up and ask for guidance. Set the intention to be guided to the right decision and then commit to actually listening to your intuition and not second guessing it.

Fear isn’t a sign that it’s the wrong decision. Fear is healthy.

The answer is already inside of you and you just need to slow down, let go, and listen for it. Then act on it.

The reminder that my gut already knew what to do, and the comforting insight that fear is not a bad thing, were exactly what I needed to finally get out of my own way and move forward with Aspire with Aileen.

When I work with both my career and health coaching clients, I truly believe that they too have the answers inside of them, they just need some space and guidance to find them.

On the career side, clients will come to me with the hope that I will just tell them which careers to go for (I don’t blame them, when I decided my SENIOR year of college that I didn’t want to pursue what I’d studied for 4 years, I wanted someone to do the same!). On the surface that doesn’t seem too outrageous, but when you think about the fact that you would trust a stranger over yourself for your life’s direction, that’s a pretty big deal!

For health coaching, clients want meal plans handed to them and to know which foods are “good” and “bad,” but ultimately even something as healthy as broccoli can be nourishing for one person and harmful for another. We instinctively know what foods and habits will serve us best, but don’t always take the time to slow down and listen or make changes.

There are a variety of reasons why we avoid taking action. At times, it’s because there aren’t obvious answers to these decisions/challenges. In these situations, how can you take action?

Similar to what Stephanie said, start by turning inward.

When it comes to career exploration, I encourage clients to explore their VIPS: Values, Interests, Personality, and Skills (more on this later when I release my self-assessment guide- stay tuned!). Use this framework to get clarity on what your drivers are, and how realistic the paths you’re exploring are as well. There are TONS of free online questionnaires and assessments to prompt you into delving deeper into these, but here’s one site that touches on a handful.

As for the healthy foods and habits exploration, start by taking stock of what you already do.

Try keeping a food journal for even just a few days – you’d be amazed by how much that can illuminate for you especially if you track how you feel physically after each meal. You may even notice you only drink one glass of water per day, a habit that is definitely important to change. When I have my initial consult with clients, I ask about everything from that water intake to how many times a day they check their email.  From there, we build awareness of what foods and habits may be interfering with their wellbeing and create a plan to make lasting change. Sounds much better than just being told to eat kale, right?

Another thing you can do is poll the audience*

This has an * because in the end, you know yourself best. If you really want something, don’t rely on validation from others to feel you have the permission to go for it. Sometimes, however, we’re so immersed in our own ways of thinking that it can be helpful when others give us their perspective. Talking with friends and family may bring up insights like “You haven’t sounded excited about your work in months…” or “Every time you talk about xyz your face just lights up!”

Notice your reaction to any input from others.

Even more telling than what they say can be how you react. That’s because you know deep down in your gut what’s best for you and your gut will chime in if you’re being steered in a different direction.

If you’re dissatisfied in your work and thinking of making a change and someone were to say “No way, you’re crazy for even thinking of leaving that job” – Do you feel disappointed? Does your stomach sink? You may find clues to what you really want by looking at how you feel when someone tells you that you can or can’t have it. 

Ask for help

One other option is continuing to have conversations, but with an unbiased party (like a therapist, health or career coach!). This can provide a safe space to really be heard without expectations or judgment. By the end of some of our sessions, I’ve had clients say “After talking through things a bit more and thinking out loud with you, I think I may have just answered my own question.”

These conversations, no matter who you decide to have them with (including with just yourself!), provide you with the space to step back, slow down, and evaluate your options to get to a place of confidence and clarity.

What decisions have you been grappling with and which of these tools can you implement to move forward?

In the image above, the words are an excerpt from a quote by Victoria Erickson. Full quote and link to her work here. 

The Top 8 Mistakes Job Seekers Make and How to Recover from Them

The job-search process can often leave candidates feeling frustrated and powerless. Not being selected or never hearing back from employers after submitting applications can only exacerbate these feelings.

Discovering that you’ve been doing something “wrong” can actually be good news.

It means there’s room to improve the process and yield different results. If you’re doing everything perfectly and still not making any headway in your search, it would be much more frustrating.

These are the eight common mistakes I've seen job seekers make over the last 10 years of being a career coach. If any of these sound like you, modify your approach and you’ll notice the difference!

1) You spend all of your time applying to jobs posted online or waiting for things to open.

While it’s a necessary step in the process, many jobs that are posted are actually either already filled (HR has a legal obligation to post) or nearly filled (the employer already has someone in mind). There are times when you might apply to something randomly and be hired, but up to 85% of jobs are offered to people with a pre-existing connection to the hiring organization. 

To increase your network, schedule informational interviews with people at the companies where you want to work. These individuals can alert you to future job openings, and perhaps even allow you to mention their names in your cover letter, which will make your application stand out in the stack of résumés.

2) You don’t manage your time efficiently or know how to spend your energy.

Whether you’re balancing a job search while holding another job or if searching for work is your full-time focus, this is challenging! I can’t tell you how many times this scenario rings true for my clients: You sit down in front of your computer thinking, “Okay here we go, job search time!” and then three hours and 30 open browser tabs later you are left questioning what you’ve accomplished. Maybe you started with clicking a link for an open position, which led you to look up the company on LinkedIn, which led you to click on an employee profile to learn more, which brought you to another company page, which…. you get the point. The remedy for this related to mistake #3…

3) You don’t set goals.

I’m a big advocate for goal setting in both personal and professional matters (you might have guessed by the name Aspire!). The job search process is enough of an overwhelming black hole on its own, and failing to concretize what you want to accomplish only exacerbates that sensation. Life happens, so even if you plan to send three informational interview requests in one week and you only get to two, it’s still a step forward. Be proactive in planning what deliverables you want to achieve and you’ll be more likely to get there!

4) You don’t hold yourself accountable.

But Aileen, you just said life happens!?! Yes, it does. There’s a difference, however, between when something major comes up or you misjudge how long a task will take versus just making excuses. Create structure and show up for yourself in the same way you’d show up for others because if you don’t prioritize your success why will anyone else?

5) You don’t customize or perfect your application materials.

This may sound dramatic but I’d rather see someone apply to 0 jobs (and focus on networking) than submit 30 applications that aren’t tailored for the employer/role specifically… that’s how strongly I believe in the power of thoughtfully reframing your experience every time. You may be wondering how to know what language will resonate with the employer—the answers lie in the job description, the company website, and in what you hear from people who work there.  It may not be realistic to speak with someone before every application, but do these three things:

• Pick apart the post and look for themes

• Comb through the website extensively to find additional terminology

• Read a few LinkedIn profiles of people working there (bonus points if they’ve had the job you’re applying for!). Use all of this information to customize your cover letter and résumé for that particular employer.

6) You submit materials with errors or typos.

Perhaps you recycled some language from one cover letter to another and forgot to change the company name, or maybe you said fiancé instead of finance and spellcheck didn’t warn you. No one submits typos on purpose, and no one thinks it’ll ever be them, so to keep that the case, here are some pointers:

Print out what you’ve written and read it aloud in advance - this will help with words that spellcheck doesn’t catch!

Have someone else (a mentor, friend, or me!) take a peek for you since you know what you’re trying to say and your brain may skip over the details.

 

7) You don’t prepare for interviews properly.

This usually happens more by accident than because of a lack of effort. Maybe you thought you were going to have a casual conversation and then all of a sudden you’re getting grilled. Maybe you planned for a certain line of questioning and then what you’re presented with is completely different.

Whatever the case may be, there is nothing worse than that sinking feeling in your gut when you feel the conversation slipping away from you. I have another post completely dedicated to interviewing tips, but my abbreviated tips to prevent the conversation from slipping away from you are:

1. Research, research, and then research some more.

2. Remember that there is a reason you’re being interviewed. Study all of the materials you submitted and be able to explain them in greater detail.

3. Prepare questions for your interviewers in advance that are thoughtful and showcase all of the research you’ve done.

8) You don’t know what you want.

Whoa. What?! Yep, this one’s the doozy. To clarify, it isn’t a mistake not to know what you want, but it makes your job search much more difficult. There are a variety of reasons why you may be uncertain of your next step, but if you’re not convinced that you genuinely want to work somewhere, it will show in your application materials and in how you come across in your interviews.

Check in with yourself.

If you’re reading a job description and you feel that it would be difficult to write a cover letter for the position, you’re either not excited or not qualified (or both). If you assess what you want and apply for roles that align with your goals, you’ll be more energized and excited about the opportunity and that passion will shine in your writing and in your interview.

Hopefully being aware of these common job-seeking mistakes, and how to avoid them, will help you see more progress in your job search. If you need that extra pair of eyes on your applications, help creating and being held accountable to goals, or guidance towards figuring out what you really want to do, request your free career consultation with me today!

My content and this photo were originally shared on SharpHeels.com: Job Seeking Missteps

How to Get Unstuck

Do you ever notice that sometimes the things that are of greatest importance to us are also the things we put off the most?

Here are some examples:

• Maybe it started in school: that 15-page research paper that’s worth 35% of your grade (or that personal statement for grad school) that you leave until the night before it's due

• It continues in the workplace:  settling in a job you don’t love because deciding what the ideal next step is for you along your career path feels too hard to take on

• In relationships:  avoiding having that difficult talk with someone you’re close to that you know will make your relationship stronger

• And finally, in our wellness: getting into an exercise routine or tackling why you’ve had no energy to do so

For me, I saw this crop up when trying to start this blog. While blogging isn’t the center of my professional world, it’s part of my business and the success of that is important to me. Yet, I hit the snooze button on this for… about a year now.

Why has this been staring at me in the face on my to-do list for months only to continually get shuffled around and added to different agendas? Or, perhaps the more important question is:

why do we self-sabotage so often?

Many of the examples above are ways of delaying the inevitable - dragging things out that we know in our gut we’ll have to deal with eventually. After working with many clients who’ve felt “stuck” in their career or health for months, or even years, before taking action, I have some ideas for both why this happens and how to change it:

We’re busy

An obvious answer, but take a moment to think about the culture around you. Busy is expected and praised. When someone asks you how you’ve been, I invite you to notice how often your reply includes “Busy, but...” I’ll do another post all about the glorification of busy, but for now my point is that we’re so accustomed to filling our schedules to the brim that it seems like we don’t have room to do these things that require extra energy, time, effort, and maybe even a little discomfort.

We don’t set goals

I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but there’s lots of research showing you’re a bazillion* times more likely to achieve something if you set concrete and measurable goals (*slight statistic exaggeration). We know this, yet we still don’t do this or perhaps only do it on January 1st and barely look back. What keeps you from setting, or checking in on, goals? Is it too hard to concretize them or remember to come back to them? Are you afraid you just won’t meet them?

We’re afraid, overwhelmed, or paralyzed by perfectionism

When I get down to the root cause with my career and health coaching clients, it’s often actually because of one of these reasons. Thoughts, loaded with self-doubt, like “What if no one will want to hire me?” or “What if I’ll never be able to lose weight?” can be paralyzing.  What type of negative self-talk goes on in your brain and how do you let your fear talk you out of taking action?

Whatever the reason for interference, how can we break this habit of procrastination and work towards our goals in a more proactive way to live more satisfying lives? The answer is actually quite simple.

Start talking. 

It can be that easy.

Share your aspirations with your friends and family (or start with yourself by answering the questions I asked earlier- what do you want to do and what’s getting in your way?). That simple action, first and foremost, makes it all much more real. The process of talking through things can spark new ideas, help you visualize what you’re really trying to achieve, and at the least will be a way to have some accountability. If someone follows up with you to ask how you’re doing on _____, you’ll feel more of a commitment to follow through.

Marie Forleo sums it up well when she emphasizes the importance of progress, not perfection. Even if you realize you need to completely change your approach, trying is the only way of knowing and nothing will ever get done without taking that first step.

Hope this helps you to feel a little less stuck, and able to start tackling whatever may be lurking on your perpetual to-do list!

Pure Style Photography

P.S.

If you’re looking for someone to help you both set and work consistently on your career and/or wellness related goals, feel free to reach out for a complimentary consultation! I’m passionate about helping people move forward in their lives. I’m a career coach who helps clients find jobs they love, and corporate wellness speaker who helps companies teach employees sustainable ways to feel healthier.

I joined these two services into a single practice, knowing that often, when we feel stuck in one area of our lives we very likely feel stuck in other ways too.

With a one-on-one tailored approach, I’ve worked with thousands of people to help them achieve their personal and professional goals. Stay tuned on here for posts where I’ll share recipes, healthy life hacks, and job search and career management advice from my 10 years in this field.