jobsearch

A-Z of interim: V is for…Volunteering

/ Lisa Bondesio / Leave a comment

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Change happens in increments.

Which is probably why it’s taken me about three years to commit fully to living – and working – in Belgium. It’s not easy saying ‘cheers‘ to a cherished interim career in the UK, and ‘aangenaam kennis te maken‘ to an unknown future in a flat, foreign land…even though I’ve relocated to one of the nicest cities in the world and have never had a bad business lunch – the cuisine is truly great!

The trouble always is that just as I mentally commit to becoming gainfully employed in Belgium, some wonderful assignment pops up and whoosh, I’m off. This year work has taken me to Berlin, Tbilisi and New York. My laptop is well-travelled!

So when my assignment concluded and summer rolled around, I decided to take some time off before deciding how and where I wanted to establish myself. Instead of pounding pavements in Brussels, I decided to put myself to the test and volunteered to work for two small local charities.

No good deed goes unpunished, or so they say…

Here’s what I learned:

Double Dutch! Belgians are amazing. They speak three languages so they switch fluently between French, Dutch and English to accommodate visitors. I’m now at the point that my husband and I confuse waiters in restaurants by speaking Dutch to them, and English to each other. Still, I felt I needed more practice. So, I transcribed textbooks for blind and partially sighted children at De-Kade. After 300 pages of religion, I know know more about Dutch Jesus than I will ever need to, and after 650 pages of Dutch grammar, I can safely say that my language skills are ‘redelijk goed’.

Using your skills to help others is fun. My hobby is photography so I also volunteered to photograph toys for the Speel-o-Theek, a toy lending library for children and adults with disabilities. They are updating their website and needed 2000 good quality shots to advertise their catalogue of games, puzzles and educational toys. I approach my shoots with the same mindset as my assignments. Get in, do a great job, and leave something good behind. This time, I even have the photographic evidence to show for it. It feels good to help people who appreciate what you do.

A change is as good as a holiday. I love being a change agent, but I must admit after 17 years of delivering complex transformation, it was useful to switch gears for a few months. It’s given me the mental whitespace to plan the next stage of my interim career. It’s given me a feel for Belgian culture, because I’ve got to know people who wouldn’t normally be in my professional orbit. And it’s allowed me to take that first, scary step to find work in another country.

If you’d like to know more about the charities I’ve supported, you can follow the embedded links in the blog.

And yes, I’m job hunting, so if you’d interested in how I build and deliver transformation programmes with real staying power, please connect with me via my professional profile, here: Lisa Bondesio

K is for…KLOUT

/ Lisa Bondesio / Leave a comment

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Do you have Klout?   And no, I’m not referring to that meeting where you went 6 rounds with a particularly difficult CEO.  As regular readers of this blog will know, the 21st century Interim has a good grasp of all things social media. So, once you’ve mastered the basics of Twitter, Linked-In and Facebook, it’s time to get really serious about your online presence.

Founded in 2008, KLOUT is a website and mobile app that uses social media analytics to rank it’s users according to their online social influence. Eh? Social Media Analytics?  Yes people, that’s the technical term for the practice of gathering and analyzing the data from those clever algorithms which power search engines like Google. It’s most commonly used by brands to identify customer preference, in order to find out what they like, and then sell more stuff!

Klout uses analytics to measure the size of a user’s social media network.  A social ‘aggregator’, it works by correlating the content created and measuring how other users interact with that content. In other words, how influential you are online. Your ‘Klout Score’ is a number from 1 to 100. In case you think this isn’t really important, here are some other numbers:

  • Over 200,000 businesses use Klout across the globe
  • Each day Klout analyses around 12 billion social signals
  • There are over 620 million ‘scored’ users. That’s the population of China’s top 15 cities!

Klout is rapidly becoming the global standard by which both brands and individuals measure their social influence. So how does this relate to being an interim?  Well, every time you post on Linked-In, enter a search term in Google or tweet, you are creating social media content.  So far, so Google+…However, it’s not just your contribution to social media that matters – increasingly your influence – i.e. your Klout Score – is an important factor in your job search. Creating and sharing content is a means of marketing your brand as an interim.  But, by providing useful content you are effectively increasing your visibility and establishing thought leadership.  And engaging with your online network can put you front of the queue when opportunity comes knocking!

For example, my Klout scores indicate that I am in the top 1.0% of people talking about Consulting, the top 0.2% of people mentioning Management, and the top 1.2% of people whose topic du jour is Leadership.  As an interim specializing in Transformation, it’s important that I’m seen as an expert in the fields that matter.  The app also lets me see which of my tweets and blogs have garnered the most interactions, so I can keep track of the content that is genuinely connecting with people in my network.

Savvy companies are also actively using social media as a means to vet potential candidates. Yes, now really is the time to unfriend your former client on Facebook and restrict all professional connections to Linked-In!   Of course, an arbitrary number isn’t necessarily going to indicate whether you are worthier than another person with similar skills and background, but it can give you the edge.  In life and in business, we all want to know whether the people we interact with (and their digital persona) are credible and can be trusted.

As with all internet based tools, the decision whether to use Klout is entirely up to you. I find it useful, but I’d love to know what you think?  Comments on the blog, please.

J is for…Jobhunt

/ Lisa Bondesio / 2 Comments

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Being an interim has definitely got it’s perks, but there is one inevitable aspect of this lifestyle choice that must be addressed. Job hunting. Unlike those colleagues who reside in the world of permanent work, interims often find themselves in one of two modes: 1) Working like a whirling dervish to deliver on assignment…or …2) not working, but actively looking for the next assignment so you can deliver like a whirling dervish…

Realistically, you should expect to have anything between 3 and 5 months as down time between interim assignments. Of course, if you’ve been following this series you will know that building and maintaining good client relationships is vital if you are to maximise your income potential and avoid prolonged periods on the bench.

In spite of this, there may well be times when the transition from one project to another is protracted and serious searching becomes the requirement if you are to keep yourself in beer money.  Here are my top tips:

1. Job-hunting is a job!  You wouldn’t dream of showing up late to a client meeting wearing inappropriate clothing. Just because you’re back at home, there is no excuse to show up late to your laptop wearing pyjamas!  Schedule time to job-hunt.  Decide up-front how much you want to invest in the process, diarise it, and stick to it.  It’s far too easy to get distracted by the laundry or the gardening or Candy Crush..that way madness lies!

A sensible rule of thumb is to set aside 4 hours, 3 days per week.   This gives you a spare 2 days to schedule meetings or interviews, and sufficient time to make calls, adjust your CV and reach out to your network via email. Of course, if another pattern works for you, then do that!

2. Focus your efforts.  A week flies by, especially if you are waiting to find the next piece of work. As time goes on without a contract in the offing, you might increasingly feel pressure to find something, anything.  It’s tempting to want to pursue every opportunity you spot, but being discerning pays dividends. Ernest Hemingway urged us ‘never to mistake motion for action’ and he’s right – just because you are doing lots of things, doesn’t mean they are the right things.

Focused activity will yield results, but you must be very clear on what you are looking for, and what you will say yes to.  If Enterprise Architecture is your bag, for goodness sake stop applying for jobs as a sous chef! Same things goes for blanket bombing your CV to every interim provider in town.  You are a professional interim, not a mailshot. Target your search and build strong relationships with a small number of providers who operate in your field. And be realistic. A very small percentage of the job market for interims is advertised.  Using your personal and business network wisely can be a good way to be in the know when the right thing comes along.

3. Practice intense self care. Desperation isn’t a good look on anyone. Extended periods of unemployment can make you feel undervalued and underconfident, so it’s important that you build in ‘me-time’ when you are job searching. Repeated rejection is demoralising, and you need to be strong of mind and heart to persist – and ultimately – to secure the next piece of work.   A good support network helps, but using the additional time  to do something fun can lift your spirits, help you maintain equilibrium, and make you appear more rounded in interviews. Personally, I relish my down time – in my 7 years as an interim, I’ve been able to renovate a crumbling wreck, pursue my creative hobbies (printmaking and pottery) and begin training for a 10k race.  My running ability is totally remedial but at least it gets the blood flowing to my brain while I’m pounding the pavement!

Job hunting can be tough, but it needn’t be tiresome. How do you do it?  I’d love to know what your top tips are.  Answers on the blog please!

Lisa Bondesio is a career interim. She She delivers common sense and change consultancy to clients in times of transition. When she is not working she can be found on the coastal reaches swinging a sledgehammer!