Handicapping the Job Hunt: A Talent Recruiter Shares Tactics to Stand Out

As the economy emerges from the shadows of the so-called “Great Recession,” a great number of us — employed and unemployed, alike — have allowed ourselves to exhale and our focus to shift from the dire uncertainties of the last five years, to the promising signs that dot the road ahead.

In an ironic twist, however, the collective breathing-out of stress is followed by a collective breathing-in of those no-longer-dormant anxieties linked to the process of job-seeking — especially now in our increasingly digitized, globalized and high-velocity economy.

According to a recent report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment nationwide has fallen to a five-year low of 6.1%, with the U.S. economy absorbing roughly 290,000 new employees in the month of June 2014 alone. The upward trend in hiring is particularly sharp in the fields of professional and business services, which have witnessed a 25% rise in employment during the same period.

This is all comforting news, to be sure — but that’s just part of the story. For just as prospective employers must now compete for new talent, prospective employees must now compete for new jobs. And standing at the threshold of this business battlefield are the ranks of talent recruiters — those men and women tasked with identifying, recruiting and vetting qualified applicants.

Who are these gatekeepers, what exactly do they seek, and how might candidates distinguish themselves from the pack? If you’ve ever contemplated any these questions, you’re not alone. That’s precisely why creative.reconstruction sat down with Abby Kohut, a seasoned staffing professional, author of “Absolutely Abby’s 101 Job-Search Secrets” — and career consultant with roughly 25 years of experience — to better understand the art, science and intangibles of employee recruitment.

CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: For starters, how would you define “talent recruitment,” and in what ways might it differ from the functions performed by headhunters?

ABBY KOHUT: Talent recruitment is a strategic approach to identifying, attracting and onboarding top talent to efficiently and effectively meet dynamic business needs. Headhunters, by slight contrast, provide a supplemental service — augmenting the work of in-house corporate recruiters who may be having difficulty in filling particular positions. When both parties work together, the end result is frequently top-notch candidates are placed into top-notch companies.

What are some of the standard metrics that recruiters use to evaluate a candidate’s suitability for a given opportunity — both pre- and post-interview?

In my experience, the key recruiting metrics for larger and more formal employers tend to be more related to factors like allotted recruitment time-frames, the costs associated with filling particular positions, the general characteristics of the applicant pool of applicants, etc., and aren’t necessarily related to qualifications of the individual candidates, per se.

At what point in the evaluation process can you confidently determine whether a candidate might be a good fit for a specific role or organization? Is that generally a factor of your intuition, the actions of the candidate — or both?

It’s usually intuition, and it usually happens within the first few minutes of meeting a candidate. That being said, however, a good recruiter will not be biased by their intuition, and will continue the interview to determine if it was in fact correct. After the interview, a candidate’s actions also come into play. If they follow up too aggressively, or not enough, a recruiter and hiring manager may make determinations about fit from their actions. For example, if a candidate uses emoticons and “LOL”s in their follow-up emails, a hiring manager might deem that person too casual for the company culture.

What are some strategies or tactics that a candidate can use to enhance her appeal — and effectively differentiate herself from others under consideration — in the eyes of recruiters?

Differentiating yourself is about being able to demonstrate capabilities and skills by providing concrete past examples or stories. But in order to get to that phase, you have to find a way in the door. These days, the candidates who have the strongest networks are recommended to hiring managers and essentially bypass many of the earlier steps. Building your network via LinkedIn is absolutely critical to your success in this job market. At the same time, forwarding your résumé to a hiring manager by (e)mail, or just dropping it off at company headquarters, can also differentiate you from the competition.

In evaluating candidates, how much of a premium do you place on an applicant’s ability to “fit in” at a given organization? To the extent possible, should applicants themselves be mindful of that concern and self-select accordingly?

My recommendation to job seekers is to apply to jobs where they match or possess at least 70% of skills articulated in the given job description. Everything beyond that is culture fit, personality, chemistry and sometimes even personal interests. A recruiter is always responsible for evaluating culture fit. You should certainly do intense research on the company and the interviewers to be sure that you are making the right choice for yourself. Being miserable in a job because of a poor fit can be worse than having no job at all. It can affect your health, your happiness and your work history should the employment terminate prematurely.

What are among the most common errors of judgment, communication, or self-presentation that you encounter among job candidates during the vetting process? What are the three most critical things for any applicant to get right during the process? 

I could literally write a book about this — and did!

Résumés often include formatting, grammatical, and spelling errors. Cover letters are fairly generic and are addressed to “Dear Sir or Madam,” or to “Dear John Doe,” instead of to “Dear John,” or “Dear Mr. Doe.” During interviews, candidates frequently have difficulty answering basic interview questions because they may be insufficiently prepared, or are getting incorrect advice.

The three most critical things for any job candidate to get right are:

• A positive attitude;
• An ability to accurately describe your strengths and value; and
• An ability to network with peers and professionals in your field.

Overzealousness or underzealousness — which do you tend to encounter more frequently, and which is the more problematic tendency for a job seeker?

In truth, they are both problematic, and they both seem to be happening quite a bit these days — albeit for different reasons.

Some job seekers have no idea how to sell themselves. They don’t want to come across as bragging so they omit details about their strengths and positive attributes. If job seekers speak with confidence and competence, it doesn’t come across as bragging.

Overzealousness is frequently a response to the challenges of the job market. Job seekers are feeling somewhat desperate, and as a result they call recruiters incessantly to find out the status of their application. Companies want to hire people that have a strong desire to work for them, but desire is very different than desperation.  It’s best that a job seeker have multiple employee prospects at any given time so that they don’t focus on any single opportunity so intensely that it works to his or her detriment.

Have you noticed meaningful differences in the job-seeking approaches or expectations of candidates from Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials? If no, what may have “standardized” the mentalities? If yes, what are among the more significant differences, what might be the sources of the differences, and in what ways have employers sought to adapt?

The proliferation and popularity of social media and smart phones have created a huge generation gap between Gen X & the others. Recruiters are using social media to recruit and many Gen X’ers are uncomfortable sharing their personal information with the world in the manner — and to the extent — that members of later generations do. For example, some companies only recruit via Twitter, meaning well-developed Twitter profile becomes a prerequisite for employment. Social media, smart phones and texting are here to stay, so if you want to compete in the contemporary job market, becoming comfortable with these new tools and platforms is essential.

Do you find there to be any biases — age, gender, ethnic — that persist, or have emerged, among employers or job-seekers in specific sectors, or the employment landscape at large? If no, what might be responsible for the reforms? If yes, what can job-seekers do to minimize these bias effects?

There have always been biases, but they seem to be more pronounced these days. Many of the unemployed people are fortysomething or older, and they are interested in taking a lower-level position for a variety of reasons. Employers believe that “overqualified” employees are likely to leave the company when the market improves, which is not necessarily going to happen. If overqualified candidates demonstrate a faster learning curve, a genuine interest in the company and the job, and a more substantial ROI, in my opinion employers need to give them genuine consideration.

There are also biases towards the long-term unemployed. These are people whose departments were completely eliminated, who worked for companies that were acquired or were simply poorly funded. Their being laid-off had nothing to with their performance, and they come equipped with references to prove that. Some of these people were fortunate enough to receive a severance package and decided to enjoy life for a while and live off their severance. Employers need to seriously consider the reasons why someone is unemployed. Is it due to their lack of job-performance skills, or is it due to their lack of job-search skills?

Are they any parting words of advice or wisdom that you would offer to prospective job seekers and employers?

Job-seeking skills are not innate; they can be taught and they can be learned. Everyone has a chance to land a desirable position if they learn to play the game effectively. At the same time, employers need to open their minds up to hiring long-term unemployed people who may have been laid off due to no fault of their own. More often than not, those candidates still have a wealth of knowledge and skills to contribute.

---

An edited version of this article was originally published on Learnvest.com and Forbes.com in January 2015.

Money and the Human Mind: 10 Questions for a Financial Therapist

All across the country, people are sacrificing their lunch hours and rushing from work to make it to their therapist appointments. But in today’s uncertain economic times, some of these sessions have taken on a decidedly unique focus: tackling financial baggage.

The licensed professionals who offer this type of counseling are known as financial therapists, and they’re tasked with unearthing the emotional triggers and psychological underpinnings that can lead people to make bad — and often habitually so — money decisions.

If you haven’t heard of this curious branch of therapy, you’re not alone. The Financial Therapy Association was only established in 2010 — yet it counted nearly 300 members by 2011.

We were intrigued by this fast-growing field of holistic treatment, so creative.reconstruction took a seat at the couch of Amanda Clayman — a New York–based financial therapist who’s spent the better part of the last 10 years unraveling the mysteries of financial psychology — to find out what the profession is all about.

CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: So how is “financial therapy” different from traditional therapy?

AMANDA CLAYMAN: Financial therapy differs from general psychotherapy only in that it’s focused on enhancing financial well-being through the study of the emotional, behavioral, cognitive, relational, economic and integrative aspects of financial health. In practice, it integrates financial counseling and planning with personal counseling, marriage and family therapy, sociology, social work, and, of course, psychology. Also, good financial therapy happens in collaboration with finance professionals, such as tax experts and investment advisers.

What types of financial-psychological problems do you typically encounter in your work?

With my clients, some of the most common issues that come up center around problems with managing cash flow and debt, chronic under-earning or overspending, making emotion- and anxiety-based financial choices, as well as allowing money to become a source of conflict in relationships.

The issues themselves are fairly classic in that whatever is happening inside a person will find expression in how they think about and use money. So my approach is to focus on behavioral change — actually altering what patients do with money, rather than just look at how they feel or think about it.

How can you tell if someone might need financial therapy? Are there certain red flags?

Warning signs occur with regularity and include committed relationships that routinely end due to money conflicts; talented individuals who are incapable of supporting themselves, despite all logical advantages; and people who diligently pay down debt — only to start incurring it again.

The manner in which someone approaches financial decisions can also be a warning sign. For example, is money management a consistent part of a person’s life — or does she only deal with money when a crisis arises? Is she able to tolerate the emotions that arise when she’s trying to process options, make choices and follow through?

Are there any personality types that tend to be more susceptible to financial-psychological issues?

It’s important to note that no one is perfectly balanced or completely rational when it comes to money — and that isn’t unhealthy. However, highly anxious people often have a hard time building calm, deliberate money-management habits. To act reasonably, you must first neutralize the effects of stress — you can’t work through money challenges in the throes of anxiety because you aren’t thinking rationally.

That being said, people who have difficulty with self-regulation are also more prone to financial issues. Money can easily become one of the various tools — just like food, alcohol, drugs, sex and exercise — that enable dysregulation. In the case of money, that can mean spending too much and saving too little. The difference with money is that there’s no such thing as total financial “abstinence,” so these tendencies need to be treated much like any other process disorder to return to a healthy balance.

Is financial therapy recognized by the psychiatric establishment?

Currently, most financial issues in the DSM would go under Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental Problems. Issues with money aren’t considered a discrete mental health disorder, so they’re not subject to diagnosis and treatment — unless they are tied to another issue, like a mood disorder.

The field of financial therapy is still very much in its infancy, especially in terms of its relationship to other mental-health professions. And there’s considerable debate within the field about who should be able to call themselves a financial therapist, and whether we need a separate credentialing process and code of ethics.

What about financial-literacy education? Could that work as a substitute for financial therapy?

Financial literacy cannot be separated from financial therapy. Sound choices can only proceed from accurate information. However, financial literacy programs rarely focus on behavior, resistance to change, or relationship issues.

Financial literacy is certainly helpful, but a thorough understanding of compound interest will be of little help in treating a compulsive shopping addiction — or in aiding a person who sabotages her financial security because she was raised to believe that wealth is evil. Financial behaviors tend to be more emotional than rational. So we need to be more emotionally literate in addition to being more financially literate.

Are there risks in allowing financial-psychological issues to go untreated?

Psychological problems often manifest in money: An issue with self-worth will often show up as under-earning. Someone with narcissistic tendencies might assume an unsupportable amount of debt — and then resent having to be responsible for it. Money’s prominence means that, in some form or another, financial behavior becomes an expression of our internal psychology.

And in much the same way that money problems arise from a series of small hurts and disappointments that accumulate over time, the consequences of these problems build in a similar way. One of particular note? Relationship issues.

A fair percentage of my practice is couples-based, and there’s typically a clashing of viewpoints that they can’t resolve on their own. As a financial therapist, I seek to uncover underlying tensions. It’s in times of stress or conflict, when the couple isn’t sure how to use their strengths in better harmony, that the process of compromise breaks down.

Can you share an example of how you helped a patient overcome psychological issues related to money?

I worked with a client who struggled with anxiety and questions of self-worth. She felt deeply ashamed if she spent money on anything for herself — behavior that stemmed from issues related to her upbringing. So we worked on creating order and safety in her financial system by helping her to better manage cash-flow and debt obligations. Once we established stability, we adjusted her spending to include planned indulgences, which reinforced that it was OK to use money as a means of self-care.

Are there any strategies that people can use to strengthen their own financial psychology?

I’d recommend being attentive to your money-management practices and financial “hygiene.” In the same way that sleep can be improved with a consistent bedtime, you can decrease money anxieties by having a regular, orderly financial routine.

Also, try to create a framework for as many financial decisions as you can before you find yourself in a bad situation. If you have a friend who undermines your efforts to live on a budget, have a plan in place for what to say to that friend before the conflict occurs. If you’re expecting a tax refund, draft a plan for how to spend the refund before the money is in your hand. We all behave differently under pressure, so rehearsing a response can be extremely helpful in managing that situation.

What, to your mind, constitutes a healthy approach to finances?

My goal is to promote a client’s financial wellness, which I define as understanding and accepting the role that money plays in everyday life. That includes feeling competent in making money decisions, having financial integrity when it comes to personal relationships, and, most important, possessing financial awareness. Ignoring or behaving impulsively with money is at the root of many financial issues. Sound financial health isn’t about building wealth, per se, but about self-care and self-determination.

For more information on the field of financial therapy, or to find a list of registered financial therapists in your area, visit the website of the Financial Therapy Association (and click on the “FTA Network” tab).

---

An edited version of this article was originally published on Learnvest.com and Forbes.com in October 2013.

Defying the Debt: Secrets of a Student Loan Consultant

Ever since he was a kid, John Smith knew that his calling was in medicine. But while Smith didn’t have to struggle with the ubiquitous “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?” question, the newly minted M.D. has struggled to pay off his high-interest-rate student loans.

The problem? Although Smith never missed a payment on his student loans, he was frequently unable to make the entire monthly minimum payment. And whenever he asked his lender to consider renegotiating that amount, the answer was no — and the lender eventually turned his account over to a collections agency that began making threatening calls to his dad, who’d co-signed the loans.

If his student loans had been issued by the federal government, Smith would have had the option to make affordable, income-based payments until he finished his training and his salary increased. Unfortunately, his loans were issued by private lenders, and they rarely agree to reduced payments — even temporarily.

Heather Jarvis knows these stories all too well. The North Carolina–based attorney and student-loan consultant has spent the last ten years advocating for — and educating — student borrowers. And given that interest rates on federal Stafford loans doubled to 6.8% on July 1, 2013, there’s likely be a lot more advocating and educating in her future. creative.reconstruction sat down with Jarvis to learn more about student loan consultants — a profession that, not surprisingly, is in high demand.

CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: What exactly is a student loan consultant?

HEATHER JARVIS: As many of us know, the earlier that students and families start to think about how to manage college costs, the better, but my focus is to help people figure out how to deal with the student loans they have already accumulated. I do this by, among other things, educating universities, associations and professional advisors about student-loan repayment and forgiveness programs.

Although my focus is on training student loan officers, student loan consultants work one-on-one with borrowers to create customized repayment plans. Their advice and advocacy can be valuable, but I encourage people to carefully evaluate their options before hiring someone. There are an increasing number of businesses that are preying on borrowers’  anxieties and fears by charging them for so-called “special” programs that are actually open to everyone. So be sure to ask questions about a consultant’s education, experience and compensation — as well as investigating their track record with the Better Business Bureau.

How does a student loan consultant differ from a student loan officer who works for a college?

For one, advisors who are independent of a particular university are more likely to point out the importance of considering cost when choosing a school. Also, compared to a student loan consultant, university-employed financial-aid professionals are busy administering the financial-aid programs (including student loans) that people will use to cover their educational expenses, so they’re not typically as focused on helping students or graduates deal with how they’ll repay those loans once they finish school.

Private vs. federal loans: What’s better for the typical borrower?

Definitely federal. Private student loans [those issued by private banks or lending institutions] are typically more expensive and risky for student-loan borrowers because they lack the borrower protections and flexible repayment provisions of federal student loans. And although some borrowers with excellent credit might find private loans with lower interest rates, those rates are often variable and are almost certain to go up over time — sometimes without any cap. Additionally, the most generous debt-relief programs, like income-based repayment and public-service loan forgiveness, are only available to recipients of federal student loans.

Is there ever a point at which you advise people to forgo additional student loans to avoid taking on more debt? 

I don’t look to establish an absolute threshold with my clients, but I do advise them to consider two key things: The first is that many experts caution strongly against borrowing more than you expect to earn in your first year of postgraduate employment. And the second is that borrowing over the limit on federal student-loan programs — up to $57,500 for undergrads and $138,500 for graduate and professional students taking out Perkins and Stafford loans — usually means not just greater debt, but worse debt that lacks the flexible payment provisions and protections of federal student loans.

What percentage of a person’s gross income is a reasonable amount to pay each month toward a student loan? 

In general, the longer it takes to repay debt, the more the debt will cost over time, so there are distinct advantages to repaying debt fast … if you can. That said, you need a monthly payment amount that you can afford, and determining which repayment strategy is best for your circumstances depends on a lot of different factors, including total debt burden, income and projected future earnings.

Income-based repayment plans can help a lot of people with federal student loans, and they are surprisingly underutilized, in part because they can be tricky to navigate. These “pay-as-you-earn” plans set monthly payments at 10 or 15 percent of someone’s “discretionary income,” which is calculated based on adjusted gross income and family size. They are particularly good options for people who have relatively high debt-to-income ratios, and for people who may benefit from the relief afforded by public-service loan forgiveness, such as borrowers working in government and the nonprofit world.

Are there any instances when deliberately defaulting on a loan can work to a borrower’s benefit?

Not many. Defaulting on federal student loans triggers the government’s significant collection powers: wage garnishment, tax-refund intercepts, social security seizure, and huge penalties and fees.

You won’t hear this from your lender, but I can imagine scenarios in which it makes sense to stop paying a private student loan. If a person simply can’t pay every bill that’s due, it makes sense to first cover basic needs like housing, food and utilities. With the exception of the special treatment that private student loans enjoy in bankruptcy proceedings—in 2005, the bankruptcy restrictions that were conferred upon federal student loans were expanded to cover private ones, as well — these loans aren’t much different than other unsecured consumer debt.

Is it ever worth it to take on a big amount of student debt today for the promise of higher earnings tomorrow?

Debt is not to be taken lightly — it has significant and lasting consequences. However, education is highly valuable and arguably more important than ever — people with post-secondary degrees continue to have lower rates of unemployment and higher earnings over time. Of course, for many Americans, higher education is impossible without taking on debt, so I encourage clients to carefully consider what they can afford, borrow only what’s necessary, and look at federal loans first.

Do you believe the student lending industry is broken — and, if so, can it be fixed?

We have a debt-based system of access to higher education, and I’m concerned that students and families are assuming unmanageable student loan burdens that make it hard to save for retirement, qualify for a mortgage or start a new business.

So I’d like to see an increased emphasis on improving affordable educational alternatives (such as innovations that leverage technology, like Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs), a simplification of federal student-aid programs, and better accountability in the student loan “servicing” provided by companies that handle billing and are usually prone to error. Although I’m encouraged to see increased interest in these policy issues among elected leaders, I haven’t started holding my breath yet. But over time, and with continued commitment, I believe that meaningful reform is possible.

Are there any resources, strategies and tools that you’d recommend to borrowers who are deep in student loan debt?

There is nearly always something that can be done to fix a federal student-loan problem, but the system is overly complicated — and the details matter.

Everyone should start by getting a clear inventory of their loans. For federal student loans, you can check out the National Student Loan Data System. And for private loans, you can consult AnnualCreditReport.com.

Other great resources to explore include  StudentAid.ed.gov and StudentLoans.gov, which are both managed by the U.S. Department of Education and provide descriptions of the various federal-loan repayment plans, as well as offer calculator tools to help estimate future payments. And StudentLoanBorrowerAssistance.org, managed by the National Consumer Law Center, is especially useful for borrowers facing financial distress, student-loan default or collections issues.

In your experience, are college-bound students today any more aware of the perils of taking out student loans?

Yes, I find that students and families tend to be more committed to evaluating their options for financing higher education. But it remains the case that student loans are excessively convoluted — even the most sophisticated students and graduates struggle to navigate the system. So increased awareness of the perils doesn’t necessarily mean an increased ability to avoid the perils.

---

This article was originally published on Learnvest.com and Forbes.com in July 2013.

 

Motivating a Team of One: 10 Questions for a Career Coach

It’s no secret that it’s still a pretty tough job market out there—both for people who are completely without work and those who have jobs but certainly not the dream careers that they desire.

For some perspective, according to the latest unemployment data, some 11.8 million people are out of work in the U.S. And although there are no real stats to measure these folks, there are likely millions more who have gigs that they’d very much like to leave. Yes, that kind of tough.

Fortunately, there are a growing number of professionals out there who can help make your search a bit easier—people like Donna Sweidan, a certified career coach with over 15 years of experience in the field and the founder of careerfolk.com.

Creative.reconstruction sat down with Sweidan to uncover the art and science of career counseling—as well as to better understand how a career coach can help prep you to compete against those millions of fellow job-seekers.

CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: First off, what exactly is career coaching?

DSWEIDEN: In my work, I approach it as a discipline comprised of two similar but distinct tracks: coaching and counseling. The goal is to support people in making informed decisions about their career development and trajectory, as well as offer various tools that they can use—résumés, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles—to meet those goals.

Although not all career coaches have clinical training, as I do, definitions of the field—and the work—may still vary among more conventionally trained coaches. In general, “coaching” tends to be a solution-oriented approach, which involves working with clients to see what concrete steps they can take to achieve career objectives. “Counseling,” however, is more process driven—you look at whether there are any behavioral, emotional or psychological issues that could be impeding a person’s desired career ambitions.

But the core virtue of career coaching is to help people assess their professional situations with a greater degree of honesty, curiosity, empathy and compassion.

What are the most common misconceptions about career coaching?

My top three? That a well-done résumé is all you need to conduct an effective job search—and that career coaches will actually find you a job. There’s also the popular notion that you only have to attend a single career-coaching session … and your job challenges will be resolved. It actually takes about eight to 10 hours of counseling for the typical client to begin internalizing the key benefits of coaching.

What can the average person expect to get from working with a career coach?

By and large, clients can reasonably expect to gain career confidence, insight, encouragement and inspiration. They should also feel as if the coaching relationship grants them some permission to relax a bit. The job search can create a fair amount of anxiety, fear and vulnerability in people, and I often work with clients to unwrap those emotions so they can better understand how these factors may be keeping them stuck in their careers.

A recent client of mine couldn’t break the pattern of just submitting resumes to online job postings—even though little came of it. After some prodding, she revealed that, because her parents both had bold personalities, it was her tendency to hold back. She struggled with being assertive, she was reluctant to ask for help and she was scared of rejection. I had to encourage her to develop the confidence that’s essential for networking—the piece of the job search that she was avoiding.

There are also a number of assessments that career coaches can use to help clients, such as personality tests, interest inventories, accomplishment exercises that identify what people are most proud of and job-description analyses that can pinpoint the kind of work and workplaces that are the best fit for someone.

I also use what I call “360s,” which involves getting constructive feedback from family and friends. I often ask clients to circulate a list of questions to colleagues and loved ones, and then I have the replies sent directly to me, so I can compile a report for the client to review—and hopefully contemplate.

At what point in a person’s professional life is career coaching likely to be most useful?

While I believe that career coaching can be helpful at every point of someone’s professional path, I would say that good career coaching in the early years of college or immediately post-college can put individuals on more solid footing—not just with a well-crafted résumé and a suitable career path, but also with a mindset that helps them understand that the career path of today is not as direct as it might have been in previous generations.

Are there certain career frustrations that you hear most often from clients?

It should come as no surprise that I hear, “I hate my job, but I don’t know what else I can do!” But what might be a bit surprising to some is that I also tend to hear things along the lines of “I have no idea what I can do with these skills,” and “I need help pinpointing what exactly I want to do—and how to get there.”

Job-search anxiety is also something that I frequently encounter. And, as of late, an ever-increasing number of clients express frustration with using social media, especially LinkedIn, as an aid in their career goals.

Take a recent client of mine—a former stay-at-home mom who was motivated to return to work, but was reluctant to use social media in her job search because she doubted its usefulness. After a few sessions of showing her how a community of like-minded people used such networks to get their message out, she came around to the idea. Within a year of working together, she landed a coveted job as a national outreach director—and she attributes it largely to her social network.

Organizational culture or employee attitude—which bears more on a person’s sense of job satisfaction?

In my opinion, organizational culture is the greater factor. Zappos, LinkedIn and Google are all organizations that are proactive in fostering a positive, relaxed, non-hierarchical and generally enjoyable work environment. These companies encourage employees to do things beyond the work, whether it’s active volunteering, getting coaching or simply creating better work-life balance. All of these factors are bound to improve a person’s sense of work satisfaction, provided that they are in the right job to begin with.

Be honest: Who’s your dream client?

Someone who is open to new ideas, willing to step out of his or her comfort zone and motivated to embark on the work that makes up the job-search-and-career-change process. What’s more, a good client allows the coach to be a partner in that process. It’s actually essential because there are so many tricky steps along the way, whether it’s the tough job market or a very lengthy career change. So clients should reach out for as much help as possible—from the coach and from everyone else in their personal or professional networks—in order to succeed.

At what point might the usefulness of career coaching diminish?

There are certain factors that can impede the utility of the career-coaching process from the outset, like unchecked anxiety, depression, low self-confidence, fear or general resistance to change. I will often ask, “Do you think that you may be depressed?” And the person will acknowledge it—often for the first time. I had one client whose spouse didn’t even recognize the severity of his depression! I recommended that he seek medical attention, and within about a month, he was truly motivated to focus on his career.

Aside from those things, if and when—for whatever reason—clients are no longer doing the work required to conduct a thorough job search or make the desired change, the utility of career coaching will also decrease.

I have a client who’s currently in this situation. He knows what he wants to do, but for some reason, he’s sabotaging the process by not heeding my advice to revamp his résumé and network effectively. He applied to what he considered to be his ideal job, but because he failed to follow up and network, the opportunity disappeared.

What brings you the most satisfaction as a coach?

Nothing compares to having clients gradually recognize that there’s hope in their situation, particularly after having started the process feeling lost and hopeless. I’ve seen people go from feeling completely disenchanted with their career or job prospects—even apathetic and unmotivated to change their circumstances—to feeling freshly inspired and motivated to move forward with new ideas.

If you could identify a “Golden Rule” of career satisfaction, what would it be?

If you are doing something you really, truly enjoy, it shouldn’t feel like work at all. Ideally, you should feel a sense of alignment between your work and your values.  It’s only in that space of overlap—which may or may not relate to your sense of purpose in the world—that a genuine sense of career gratification or fulfillment becomes possible. If you want a job that brings fulfillment, then aligning your work with your values is essential. If you already derive fulfillment from work, then your work is probably already an extension of your values.

---

This article was originally published on Learnvest.com and Forbes.com in July 2013.

What Happens After Retirement? Setting the Stage for a Second Act

As America’s celebrated “Boomer” generation nears retirement age in the aftermath of a historic economic downturn, the process of shifting into an unfamiliar, post-career stage of life is certain to become a subject of heightened interest and no small measure of national concern.

In homage to this phenomenon, Nancy Collamer has recently published Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions during Semi-Retirement, a thoughtful, thorough primer on the rich landscape of opportunities that await Boomers in post-retirement — and strategies they can use to ease the transition by making the most of their pre-retirement careers.

Ms. Collamer spoke recently with creative.reconstruction about researching the book and some of the truths she uncovered in the process.

CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: What was it that initially inspired you to write a book about semi-retirement careers?

NANCY COLLAMER: There were two major factors: personal and professional. On a personal level, after losing my mother and settling her estate, my husband and I decided to meet with a financial planner. This was not long after the ‘08 financial crisis, and our savings portfolio had been severely impacted. Despite the fact that we’d always done what the experts had advised — living below our means, maximizing our 401k contributions, etc. — we learned that under certain circumstances, we could conceivably run out of money in our later years. That got me to wondering about the circumstances of average Americans. I did a bit of research and was pretty shocked to discover just how many people will need to work well past the traditional retirement age of 65. I realized then that the need for a book like this one was very strong.

On a professional level, I’d been a career-coach for over 15 years and my specialty was the area of flexible work — i.e., generating income by using your skills and talents on a part-time or flexible basis. When I took a look at what was being generally recommended for Boomers, I was seeing one or two lines of thinking: Either the “go buy a vineyard and live off the land” type of dream – not realistic for most folks; or the “be an usher at a movie theater/greeter at WalMart” type advice . I thought to myself that there are so many other things that people could be doing to generate additional income during retirement, and the book was born.

What were some of the more persistent individual anxieties and insecurities that you encountered in your research for the book?

Probably the most overriding feeling I encountered was fear. Fear is just part of change; it’s commonplace for people going through some type of transition to feel anxiety or fear. But as a therapist once explained, fear is oftentimes just an acronym for “false evidence appearing real.” What I discovered in the more successful “second-act”-ers was that, even though they felt as much fear as the next person, that they didn’t let the fear stop them from moving forward. They overcame their fear by taking small steps — gaining skills and knowledge. As they gained competency in their new worlds that gave them confidence that helped them overcome their fears.

Another anxiety I heard expressed was rooted in the reluctance people tend to have of letting go of their old roles and identities — to go from being a VP with certain level of prestige to, for example, starting your own business from scratch takes a bit of an ego-adjustment for most people.

Are there any patterns or traits — behavioral, mental — that you’ve detected among the more successful “second-act”ers?

The first would be that willingness to move past old roles. They were the ones who’d achieved some measure of success in the first-act and were more willing to explore long-held interests with less concern about whether the new course was as prestigious as the old course. Another would be a willingness to ask for help. One of the challenges in getting into a second-act career is that you sometimes have to take a step backwards. People that succeeded at transitioning saw that as an opportunity to learn; they embraced that new challenge. These people recognized that risk is part of transition, and failure is oftentimes part of the process. And with these people, there were failures. But these failures were learning experiences and they moved on from that.

To what extent might those tendencies be intrinsic? Are you confident that that the bulk of them can be learned — even later in life?

Certain people are more inclined to think positively than others. An optimistic outlook on life is partly determined by one’s genetics. It’s also clear that there are things that all of us can do to help improve our attitudes: exercising, getting outdoors to enjoy the sunshine — and this next one’s really key — limiting one’s daily intake of negative news and media. Try to focus on the positive news and stories that are out there — in the book I outline a number of resources one can turn to — read stories about people who have successfully created their second-acts. These stories help to create a feeling of possibility and probability that you, too, can be successful at this. So people can, with just small behavioral changes, really increase the odds of creating a positive attitude which in turn helps increase the odds of having a favorable outcome.

The book is filled with actionable suggestions for individuals who might want to consider specific second-act careers. Broadly speaking, which would you identify as the three suggestions most vital to a successful, late-stage career transition?

Invest in your success. Recognize that the process is going to take time and money, but keep in mind that the second-act could easily last for 20 years. Think about what you spent on your children’s education or on your last vacation and just put a tiny portion of that into your own personal-investment fund.

Surround yourself with support. It’s an effective way to learn about ideas and opportunities. There’s no bigger dream-killer than isolation.

Focus less on finding a job and more on filling a need. Many of the opportunities aren’t necessarily things you’ll find in a job listing; they’re things you’ll create on your own, project work you do for others. The latest statistics show that about a third of Americans are working in something other than a full-time job; they’re working part-time, consulting, freelance, running their own business, etc. It’s very clear that over time those numbers are going to increase.

Of all the subjects you interviewed and personal stories you recounted for the book, are there any that struck you as being particularly instructional or inspiring?

I had to pick one, it would be the story about Joe Adamson — the man from Oklahoma who became the power-seller on eBay and now teaches other people how to earn a living on eBay. He was an executive and became disabled literally overnight. He spent months doing nothing because he was paralyzed with fear and didn’t know what to do next. Eventually he said “I’ve got to pull it together.” And he did it by analyzing his skills and focusing on what he could do as opposed to his limitations. Once he started selling via eBay he become more involved in the eBay community — taking online courses, joining forums, attending conferences, etc. He’s someone who’s successfully used online and in-person methods to build a community and grow his business. I also love the fact that he now dedicates some of his practice to helping others in difficult situations to get back on their feet through sharing his knowledge, expertise and resources.

At what point in a person’s “first-act” career trajectory — be it chronological, financial or psychological — would you say is the ideal time to begin contemplating and exploring second-act career possibilities?

Ideally, I’d say three to five years before you’re getting ready to retire is a great time to begin this process. That might seem like an over-long time-frame, but the reality is that the more time you allow, the more flexibility you’ll have to explore, research, test-out and refine your plan. It’s also important to keep in mind that it may be a while until you can generate meaningful income via a new career. The more time you allow yourself to save money, the more time and flexibility you’ll have to retool and retrain. Also, if you start thinking about the process and decide what it is you want to do while you’re still employed, you might be able to take advantage of employee-sponsored training programs, workshops and conferences, and that can be of great benefit in helping you get that new career off the ground.

In reading the book, I found myself thinking that much of your advice was transferable to anyone seeking a career-change, regardless of their life stage. Would you agree?

I agree. I think that the five-step career-reinvention process that I outline in the second-half of the book is as applicable to someone in their 20s as it is to someone in their 50s. That said, I don’t want to be misleading: ideas for generating part-time or supplemental income aren’t likely to be feasible for younger people. But certainly the reinvention process itself is absolutely applicable.

In your research, have you found any specific industries or sectors to be more receptive to semi-retired/retired persons?

I think any of the sectors where the characteristics of being someone older — experience, maturity, strong work-ethic — can play in your favor will be more receptive. The healthcare industry would qualify, as would sectors that seek tour directors — many of the tour-goers will be older people. I’ve devoted a full chapter of the book to identifying various service industries where age can play into one’s favor. Education, to some degree, is another. A teacher who brings 20–25 years of life-experience to the table can be helpful. But the main thing is to remember that there are many different types of jobs and businesses where your maturity, contacts, accomplishments, and range of experiences will be attractive to a lot of clients.

What parting words of advice or encouragement do you have for readers?

Thing big, but act small. Start by creating a big picture of what you want your life to look like in semi-retirement, and then take small actions on a regular basis — signing up for a workshop, taking a class, brainstorming with friends, volunteering — to begin to build that dream. Regular, consistent, small actions over time add-up to big change. As you begin to take those actions and put yourself out there, you’ll see reinvention magic really will happen.

---

An edited version of this article was originally published on Learnvest.com and FoxBusiness.com in March 2013.

The Psychology of Corporate Culture: A Conversation with Rand Gruen, PhD

Rand Gruen, PhD, President and Founder of Rand Gruen Associates, Inc., and architect of the recent Nickelodeon Business and Legal Affairs (BALA) Group climate survey, speaks to creative.reconstruction about the discipline of psychometrics, the intrinsic nature of organizations, and the impossible possibility of an ideal work environment.

---

CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: By way of background, can you talk a little about what drew you to psychology and psychometrics?

RAND GRUEN: I’ve always had an interest in psychology. Since childhood I’ve always been interested in why people do what they do. When I began studying psych in college, I discovered that it was organized into six different sub-disciplines [clinical psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, organization development psychology, biological/physiological psychology and developmental psychology]. I became interested in the assessment aspects in addition to the philosophy of psych, so I pursued expertise in both areas.

The assessment side is interesting because it provides a way to operationalize constructs that you’re interested in without having to use your armchair judgment. I came to consulting via academics, and part of what you do in research psychology is develop different types of instruments — instruments to measure stress-related emotion, corporate strategies, support processes in networks as related to depression, etc. When I came to consulting it seemed to me that there were gaps in the field both at the 360-level [wherein reviews are provided from both sides of the managerial line], and also at the climate-survey level. So we developed our own multi-dimensional 360 and climate-survey instruments that break down the climate of an organization into what we think are the main functional dimensions: communication, decision-making, reward, etc., and we created items for BALA based on those dimensions.

The climate survey we completed was customized to Nick BALA?

Yes. We always customize the climate surveys we utilize. We reuse the systems, but we recognize that corporate climates vary from company to company. MTVN (MTV Networks) is very different from Goldman Sachs, for instance.

The questions comprising the diversity survey, were they also customized to our culture?

The Nick BALA Diversity Team came up with all the questions on that survey. I had no role in creating that instrument — initially. They then asked me for some help. I made some comments on the question block. I felt there were a number of places where they were potentially going to create problems for themselves. They were asking 15-20 open-ended questions and they would potentially get 200 responses for each of those questions — an overwhelming amount of data. I suggested that they ask basic questions in an open-ended format, and then quantify and scale other questions from the original set. That’s how the transformation took place and yielded scaled responses.

Can you speak a bit about survey development and the relation of psychometrics to that process?

In developing a survey, you first you want to identify the universe of dimensions that you want to sample; then a set of items related to each of those dimensions and can be used to assess them. Question items should be relatively short and easily understood. You also want to minimize “doubled” items (items that ask two questions) that are related to a subject. Psychometrics then enables you to assess how well your scales work. You can measure internal-consistency reliability (how internally correlated the items are to each other) within a given scale, and you can measure the validity of those scales by correlating them with other outside dimensions.

For instance, one objective of the Diversity Survey was to gauge whether satellite offices looked or functioned differently from the NY offices. Another was whether people that had been at MTVN longer responded differently than shorter-term employees. A prime component of psychometrics is to use statistical techniques to compare whether the differences in averages or means are actually scientifically different — whether those differences are due purely to chance or whether the differences are, in fact, real.

What do you perceive as some of the limitations of psychometrics?

Statistics require that you be clear on what survey information means and doesn’t mean. Take for instance the response to the question about the effectiveness of future “off-sites” in promoting communication. Regional-office participants said that ‘yes,’ off-sites would be useful; NY-office people also said ‘yes,’ but less so. The differences were significant. But that doesn’t mean the NY people believe future off-sites wouldn’t be helpful. Psychometrics helps you assess whether these differences are due to chance. We’ll still get some error, but it enables us to limit it to a degree — five percent — that we’re comfortable with. Psychometrics enables us to say that the differences are real, but the magnitude of those differences is another question. Psychometrics doesn’t address the magnitude.

Psychometrics is also based on asking the proper questions. Any survey will provide data, but it doesn’t mean the data — or the questions — are useful.

You’ve mentioned that corporate cultures differ between industries — might there be any unique cultural challenges one would find in a “creative” environment?

BALA is a whole separate issue from MTV. In my experience, there are some issues that are shared by legal departments across the board. Where the culture enters the question — and this speaks more to your question — is that the kinds of things that people value and believe to be important varies between cultures, and that affects the lens through which they determine what is and isn’t problematic. A financial institution isn’t necessarily as team-oriented or diversity-focused as an MTV might be. There’s a tremendous emphasis on inclusion at an MTV. Other organizations are much more opaque and hierarchical: your boss tells you to execute something and that’s it. Consequently, someone from that culture probably wouldn’t feel that opacity is as much of a problem. There can be a lack of inclusion in both environments, but it only shows up on the problem radar in one of them.

Can you speak a little about the problems specific to legal departments at large?

In my experience, one thing legal departments struggle with is that they don’t bring in money; they provide services to other Groups that bring in money. Another is that lawyers have to determine whether initiatives or actions that these client groups seek to pursue put the company at risk. From the business-line perspective, the agenda is to take action that will further revenues. These two mindframes aren’t necessarily congruent. The business people want to do “X” and the lawyers say that you can’t do “X.” There’s the potential for them to develop an image as “foilers.”

Another is that the legal community is stratified: there are lawyers and there are non-lawyers. The combination of people with different backgrounds creates a level of tension within any organization. One of challenges is to acknowledge that the tension exists, to make everyone aware of it (people sometimes aren’t), and teach people to interact in a manner that alleviates or minimizes those tensions and differences as opposed to exacerbating them.

To what extent do you believe that “Diversity” effects managerial competency?

Keep in mind that I’m not a “Diversity” expert. Diversity often factors into the kinds of studies that we do, so I’m familiar with its organizational implications, but I want to make clear what subjects I have expertise in and which I don’t. That being said, it’s important to note that in my world, “Diversity” means something more than just ethnic or racial diversity. The challenges lawyers face in communicating with others — that’s a diversity issue. Assuming that you have good people that know the business, having a wider mix of potential influence on the decision-making and execution side of things can only strengthen an organization’s ability to develop good ideas — that would be true in any environment. If you’re a scientist looking at a disease, one could argue that you have the same issue: you want biologists, psychologists, sociologists and internal medicine people evaluating that disease. So on that level, I think that diversity is a good thing.

Can you speak a bit about the future of your field and how it will relate to organizational behavior and psychology?

One of the challenges at MTVN, to use a pertinent example, is to create good assessment instruments that tap important questions. That takes some refining over time. You also want to do periodic assessments of the same environment over time. We can find that situation “X” exists now, but the real question is: “What have we done about it, and has anything changed?”

Another challenge for the field is getting the go-ahead from an organization to dig in and do the dirty work, because it’s not a quick and easy thing.

You also want to be very clear with the entire organization as to what steps have been taken to address the problems that have been agreed upon as problems. So: good instruments, change measurement, and progressive steps towards improvement. I think these will be the core relation areas of my field and organizations going forward.

One of the risks and challenges in doing these kinds of surveys is lack of honesty or outright refusal to participate. Convincing respondents to be as honest and open as possible was a major challenge I noticed in BALA — and it’s a problem with psychometrics in general. There was clearly some trepidation within BALA around that issue. I’m not assuming that people were completely honest in the climate survey or any survey; that’s been my experience in organizations, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it can function to make the flaws of an organization worse; it can create the impression that things are OK, and consequently no resources are expended against the problem(s). I don’t think that people fully appreciate that. Respondents have to be comfortable taking the risk of being honest. Respondents need to learn that it’s OK to be honest. They’re not going to be penalized; there won’t be any repercussions. Exploit the opportunity to improve the organizational culture, but fully appreciating that it takes time.

My hope is that people will see that with the general survey we will be very forthright in communicating the results in a systematic and constructive way, that action will be taken to address any problems that are identified, and that we’ll go back in, and measure, again, whether there’s any change that’s taken place. That’s the challenge in surveying any organization: for people to become more honest over time.

Is the corporate utopia ever a realistic possibility?

The reality of the situation is that there are always problems in organizations: there are always good managers and bad managers; there always the tensions that exist between people with different backgrounds; there’s always the tensions between people at different title levels; there’s always the tension between someone who’s the CEO, or EVP, or SVP, or VP, and someone whose an administrator. Some people can navigate those disparities better than others. It’s the nature of human beings to have difficulty communicating. The challenge is to be honest with the problems that exist, and chip away at them. There’s no such thing as a perfect work environment; it’s not the nature of human beings. But to the extent that organizations are willing to acknowledge where their limitations are in a very direct and clear way — and to address them — I think that’s the best you can hope for. Because if that’s done earnestly, the organization will improve itself over time.

So the responsibility falls equally then on the managers and those managed?

Absolutely.

---

An edited version of this article was originally published in the Summer 2005 edition of RUFUS — MTV Networks’ intra-organizational newsletter.