Professional Coaching in a Job Search by Greg David of Gregory Laka and Company

How to Present the Best Version of
Yourself in the Interview Process.
Professional Coaching in a Job
Search.
Copyright 2012Greg David
Laka & Company

What is Professional Coaching?

• Wikipedia defines Professional Coaching
as a teaching or training process in which
an individual gets support while learning to
achieve a specific personal or professional
result or goal.

• Focuses on increased career success.
• Helps you avoid common career pitfalls.
• NOT life coaching which concentrates on
personal development.
What is Professional Career
Coaching?

The Savvy Professional Engages Coaches in These Areas When Needed:
Different Types of Coaching.
LIFE COACHING: Focuses on personal development.
SPIRITUAL COACHING: Focuses on spiritual growth.
CAREER COACHING: Focuses on work and career issues.
SYSTEMIC COACHING: Focuses on problem resolution.
FINANCIAL COACHING: Focuses on financial goals.
HEALTH COACHING: Focuses on health and wellness.
CONFLICT COACHING: Focuses on relationship betterment.
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Job Search Coaching.
Focuses Specifically on Job Search Success.
It used to be that you focused on a job search, only when you
were conducting one.
Not so anymore. Today’s savvy professional has to be ready for a
job search at any moment.
To avoid long periods of unemployment or being stuck in a dead
end job, you need to have a large active network and be widely
known as a Subject Matter Expert (SME).

•In a job search for more than 90 days.
•Not averaging 3 new interviews weekly.
•Not able to ‘get to offer’ for a PERM role 33-50% of the
time.
•LinkedIn profile has less than 20 views per day.
•When interviewing, keep coming in ‘number 2’ or worse.
Signs You Need a Job Search Coach.

• Prior job searches were uni-directional.
• You were a moth flocking to lights (jobs).
• You relied on responding to postings or want ads.
• You relied on recruiters and employment agencies.
But I Have Never Needed a Job
Search Coach Before.

Uni-directional Job Searches Don’t Work Today.
They are highly competitive.
You never hear back.
You have no control.
They are frustrating.
They significantly lengthen the search
cycle.

UNI-DIRECTIONAL JOB SEARCH MEANS
ONE THING.

• Trial and error=long learning curve.
• Today’s job search is BI-DIRECTIONAL.
• You are the light. Jobs are moths. You make them
come to you.
– See my other PowerPoint entitled ‘Personal Branding in a Job Search’
attached to my LinkedIn profile.
Not Having a Career Coach Means
You’ll Rely on Trial & Error.

BI-DIRECTIONAL JOB SEARCHES
ARE FAST!

BI-DIRECTIONAL JOB SEARCHES
ARE FUN!

What is The Role of a Job Search
Coach?

Role of a Job Search Coach.
Helps you radiate that BEST version
of yourself, while eliminating typical
job search ERRORS.
MOTIVATE.
EDUCATE.
Identify your
GAPS.

• Gaps are personal weaknesses.
• Gaps are performance weaknesses.
• Gaps are skill weaknesses.
• Gaps are competitive weaknesses.
What are ‘GAPS’?

Let’s Examine Common Gaps on
LinkedIn (just as one example).

• 1) Not being on LinkedIn. Game Over.
Common LinkedIn ‘kiss
of death’ GAPS:

• 2) No profile pic.
of death’ GAPS:

• 3) Not using ‘pipes’ in your headline.
of death’ GAPS:

• 4) Not having your phone number in your
headline.
of death’ GAPS:

• 5) Not having “Available” in the headline.
of death’ GAPS:

• 6) Not posting Subject Matter Expert
articles daily.
of death’ GAPS:

• 7) Not starting SME discussions in
GROUPS weekly.
of death’ GAPS:

• 8) Not having a summary of ‘keywords” to
SEO your profile.
of death’ GAPS:

• 9) Not having at least 500 connections.
of death’ GAPS:

• 10) Not adding 2-10+ contacts daily.
of death’ GAPS:

• 11) Not having 10+ recommendations.
of death’ GAPS:

• 12) Not having skill endorsements with
ranking of 50 or higher.
of death’ GAPS:

• 13) Not having the ‘right’ groups.
of death’ GAPS:

• 14) Not having a resume attached to
your profile.
of death’ GAPS:

• 15) Not having SME documents
attached to your profile.
of death’ GAPS:

• 16) Not using the RFI feature to get
introductions.
of death’ GAPS:

• 17) Using the ‘free’ version of LI.
of death’ GAPS:

• 18) Not knowing ‘when’ to share.
of death’ GAPS:

• 19) Not inviting others to GROUPS.
of death’ GAPS:

• 20) Not having TWITTER & LI ‘linked’.
of death’ GAPS:

• 21) Not performing activity on others
activity.
of death’ GAPS:

• 22) Using LI InMail to communicate with
people when you have their email.
of death’ GAPS:

Let’s Get Back to the Role of a Job Search
Coach.
Helps you radiate that BEST version
of yourself, while eliminating typical
job search ERRORS.
MOTIVATE.
EDUCATE.
Identify your
GAPS.

What Does a Coach Focus On?
ACTIVITY.
GOALS.
ATTITUDE.
STRUCTURE.
METRICS.
CONSTANT
IMPROVEMENT.

What Will A Coach Focus On?
SOCIAL MEDIA.
RESUME.
PERSONAL
BRANDING.
ACTIVITY
AUTOMATION.
INTERVIEWS.
GETTING TO
OFFER.

Maslow’s Competency Model.
A coach helps you determine your levels of competency in a job
search, and is able to provide tangible ways to improve quickly.

Coaches Drive Your Success Up and
Weaknesses Down.
This is a model you can use daily, weekly,
monthly to SPIKE your success.

Success Comes When You Focus On:
Attitude.
Skill.
Activity.

• It is human nature to think you can do it on
your own, but you cannot.
• It is the human condition to:
– Resist change.
– Seek out complacency.
– Avoid metrics and accountability.
– Avoid focusing on weakness or ‘hard’ things.
Wait. Why Can’t I Do This on My
Own?

• Have less than 10%W-5%M body fat.
• Have no debt.
• Be able to retire by the time they are 50.
• Speak more than one language.
• Have 0 divorces in their family tree.
• Have kids that all earn academic
scholarships.
If This Was True, Most People You
Know Would:

• Even if you could overcome the human condition
barriers, the time it would take you to learn all
the job search “secrets” would be time and cost
prohibitive.
• A qualified job search coach has more than 10
years of experience and has worked through at
least two recessions.
Don’t Play Doctor!

• Testing to foster insight into you, your
personality, strengths, areas for
improvement, and generally assess
performance ability and preferences.
• This is a very positive and meaningful step
in the process.
Step One.

• GOALS. You will go through a process to
define, detail, and document your short,
medium, and long term goals.
• Once defined, this will become a
continuously nurtured process serving as
the blueprint for all of your activity.
Step 2.

• Reading program: You’ll read to target
your strengths, areas of improvement, and
necessary skill/techniques.
• You’ll read, often to ‘plant seeds’ that will
take root later, or to prepare a ‘foundation’
for topics that are to come.
Step 3.

• Resume, handbill, bio evaluation and tune-
up.
• More than 85% of resumes have typos---
this gets you ruled out at the gate.
• Ho hum content does the same.
• Only 5% of resumes are written
successfully.
Step 4.

• Designing, developing, and documenting
your Subject Matter Expertise (SME):
– Resume, handbill, business card, bio, etc.
– PowerPoints, white papers, video
presentations, blogs, vlogs.
– Uploading your SME portfolio to virtual
sharing sites.
Step 5.

– LinkedIn.
– Twitter.
– Slideshare.
– Facebook.
– Google+.
– Tier two sites.
Step 6.
Designing, developing, and implementing your
social/virtual footprint:

• Automating your job search:
– Automating resume distribution.
– Automating the manual job posting search
process.
Step 7.

• Interview coaching to improve your
performance.
– Begins with a list of “do’s” and “don’ts”.
– Educates on techniques.
– Educates to improve performance.
Step 8.

• Activity, structure, and metrics:
– What do you do?
– When do you do it?
– Measurable outcome?
– Creating regular, consistent change.
– Knowledge transfer to drive progress quickly.
Step 9.

• Knowledge transfer and ongoing
education:
– Implement best practices.
– Enhance strengths.
– Minimize weaknesses.
– Learn strategic “chess playing”---stop playing
checkers.
Step 10.

• Offer selection and negotiation.
• Onboarding.
• Goal design, documentation.
• Preparing for your annual review.
• Passively nurture your virtual SME weekly
and monthly.
Step 11.

• Tailor your resume to their job specs while
eliminating data that is not applicable.
• Eliminate objective, summary, more senior
titles, and make it appear to be as close to
a scope to scope match as you are able.
Coaching Tip 1.

• Use the empty space on your resume to add
keywords, buzzwords, etc.
• Block that text and turn font color to white so it is
not viewable with the human eye.
• Will cause the resume search results to bring
your resume closer to the top, and give it a
higher numeric qualifier.
Coaching Tip 2.

• Perform “HISTORICAL RECOLLECTION”: Identify the probable
criteria that the firm will evaluate you against.
• At the top of each page of a legal pad, list a single criteria that you
feel you’ll be measured against.
• Under each criteria, ‘brainstorm’ about useful examples to cite
during the interview (i.e. figures, facts, etc.).
• You shorten the time it takes to respond, and intensify the substance
that you reference.
Coaching Tip 3.

• All is fair in love, war, and job search:
– Use the ‘follow’ feature in LinkedIn to follow people
with your near identical skill set.
– They will follow firms they are applying at.
– It is called ‘telegraphing’ and it is a way to increase
your job leads.
Coaching Tip 4.

• Use a PULL APPROACH instead of a
PUSH APPROACH.
– Use data (3rd party articles, white papers, examples of
your work, etc.) to pull people towards you.
– Anything that will be seen as ‘pushy’ by the recipient
is the kiss of death.
Coaching Tip 5.

• Mirroring. Work to make yourself appear to be an exact
reflection of what they want.
• FOCUS ON MIRRORING when you apply, tailor your
resume, cover letter, complete application, email, and
interview.
• This will radically enhance the odds you keep “making
the cut” at each turn of the interview process.
Coaching Tip 6.

• Use the STAR technique in behavioral
interviews.
– Describe the Situation or Task.
– Describe the Action you took in response.
– Describe the Results (data driven answer).
Coaching Tip 7.

• Don’t ‘choke the baby’ or alienate others.
• Anxiety over ‘waiting’ is really your psyche telling
you that you do not have enough going.
• Resist the urge to ‘follow up’ and instead put
your energy into tasks to generate new activity.
Coaching Tip 8.

• When interviewing, BEWARE of CHECKLIST
questions.
• They require a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response—ONLY!
• Offer more & you’ll eat up valuable time.
• When in doubt, ask if they want more info.
Coaching Tip 9.

• Have 25 pre-written questions ready.
• Some are to actually gather data.
• Others are to ‘wow’ them with your
‘smarts’.
Coaching Tip 10.

• Send a THANK YOU EMAIL within 24
hours of the interview. Make it GOLDEN.
• Make sure a 2nd set of eyes proof reads it.
• If it gets competitive, this might be what
you need to sway opinion.
Coaching Tip 11.

• Use their language every where you can.
• Get it from their web site, annual report, LinkedIn
or Facebook page.
• Think resume, cover letter, emails, interviews,
examples of work, SME info, etc.
Coaching Tip 12.

• Don’t play hot potato with hand grenades.
• Most job seekers cause themselves to be
ruled out by using poor techniques or
outdated methods.
• There are a million ways people do this.
Coaching Tip 13.

I Can’t Afford to Spend Money in a Job
Search.

• If you earn $50K annually that is $4166.66 you
are losing monthly ($100K=$8333.33).
• Coaching is the best investment you can make
to SPIKE your hiring activity.
• Coaching is the best way to eliminate playing
hot potato with hand grenades.
You Cannot Afford NOT TO!

1. Attitude: Bringing out
the BEST in YOU.
2. Skill: Teaching you
BEST PRACTICES.
3. Activity: Doing the
RIGHT things, at the
RIGHT time, the RIGHT
way. And doing enough
of them to generate
positive results.
A Job Coach Helps You Channel and
Succeed.
Attitude
ActivitySkill

Month 6Month 5Month 4Month 3Month 1
3
5
1 2
4
6
It is all about JOB SEARCH
BEST PRACTICES!
IMPROVEMENTTHROUGH
COACHINGACTIVITY.
Coaching Shortens Your Job Search.
Month 2

A Coach Keeps You Balanced.
Having a coach
takes the worry out
of balancing the 3
critical areas.
A coach has
experience
assessing,
strategizing, and
knowing the best
approach to take.
Attitude.
Skill.
Activity.

Greg David 708-620-8277
Laka & Company www.laka.com greg.david@laka.com
Even
Michael
needed
one.

Professional Coaching in a Job Search by Greg David of Gregory Laka and Company

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Professional Coaching in a Job Search by Greg David of Gregory Laka and Company