The Landing Expert

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a tool in your career search

There are a number of very good tests of personality type on the market, and as a career coach I always recommend that people in transition explore the results of such tests and apply those results in their decision-making processes. Being in transition is an opportune time to assess where you are and what you want to pursue in the future. For the purpose of this article, I focus on one of the most popular tests: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI.

Let’s face it: we are what we do. When casually asked, “So, what do you do?” we typically answer with our title or we identify our industry. We reply, “I’m a vice president at XYZ Bank,” or, “I teach in special ed.” However, neither answer gives a clue about whether the person is good at the job or enjoys doing it. If you probe a bit further with a second question, ”How did you get into that profession?” the answer in most cases proves that it was a coincidence. When deciding on a profession, we took into consideration what we thought we could do, what others such as parents and friends thought we should do, and what our own intuition said regarding what we wanted to do.

A few years ago, I took the opportunity to sit for several personality tests, and while all of them gave me clues and insights beyond what I see every morning in the mirror, I found the MBTI intriguing. Most of us are not clear regarding what it is that satisfies us, but we know well what we don’t like doing. The MBTI personality test can reveal the secret of which career choice might fulfill and satisfy you and enhance the quality of your life.

The traditional approach we take in selecting a career path focuses on our values, interests, and abilities based on skills. None of those assures us that we’ll enjoy what we’ll do and that we’ll have fun with it. Each person has an individual personality type—an issue that usually is neither recognized nor properly addressed in the choosing of a career path. The MBTI deals with personality types. It deals with how we interact with the world, how we focus our energy, the kind of information we instinctively notice, the ways we make decisions, and whether we prefer more structure versus spontaneity.

The MBTI suggests that there are 16 personality types. It differentiates between extroverts and introverts, between people who sense and those who make decisions on intuition, between those who are thinkers and those who are more gut-feeling types, and between those who judge and those who perceive. The completed test needs to be interpreted by a qualified person for a nominal fee. My results were pretty accurate, but the likely profession that the MBTI recommended I would enjoy was a far cry from what I can associate myself with.

Alex Freund is the founder of Landing Expert–Career Coaching. His Web site includes a current and comprehensive list of job search networking groups in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the city of New York, and the site is visited by thousands of people every month. Landing Expert is a premier career-coaching service with the objective of preparing job seekers for interviews. Alex’s clients are gaining knowledge, receiving marketing material, and acquiring the know-how to beat the competition.

Alex can be reached at:

609-333-8866

Monday, February 15, 2010

Why Don't You Understand Your Compensation?

Indeed, most people don’t understand their compensation. That’s amazing, since after all, compensation is the main purpose for having a job. Don’t misunderstand me: most people know their salary, but salary is only a part of total compensation. There’s a lot more that you should know about this subject so that when you’re in the compensation negotiation stage of your interview, you’ll be equipped with the ammo necessary to win. There are two major parts to compensation: the money you make (income) and the money you save (assets). The two parts are analogous to a checking account and a savings account, respectively, at the bank.

The Money You Make

The money you make typically falls into a range based on historical data. But how does your potential employer determine what you should be paid?

In large companies, the process is complex and involved, and certain people in the human resources department work full-time—and exclusively—on determinations of pay ranges. They gather information from a wide variety of external and internal sources to ensure that the company stays competitive. The overall, company-wide compensation policy is determined by a compensation committee, which is a team made up of members of the board of directors.

In small companies, of which there are about 7 million with 25 employees or fewer in the United States, compensation packages are derived simplistically and by whatever the market bears.

In both cases, though, whether a large or small company, two components make up the bottom line: (1) market pricing, or the going rate, and (2) job content evaluation, which is a correlation with other, similar, internal jobs. On top of salary there might be other sources of income in the form of bonuses such as cash payouts, profit sharing, commissions, stock purchases, and stock options. Job candidates are advised to research compensation via a variety of Web-based sources before negotiations start. If relocation is involved, it’s always advisable to think of the cliché “It’s not the money you make but the money you keep.” The cost of living varies widely of course in different parts of the country.

The Money You Save

By means of tax-sheltered plans, many employers encourage their employees to save a portion of their income for retirement. Some employers contribute to such savings by matching employees’ contributions at various percentage ratios. Tax-sheltered plans fall into two categories: before-tax (pretax) savings and after-tax (posttax) savings, as defined by the Internal Revenue Code. For example, the 401(k), which went into effect on January 1, 1980, is a before-tax plan. Some employers also give employees the option to contribute very favorably with after-tax dollars. In that case, too, employers sometimes contribute, and employees become vested, which means that an employee is entitled to the employer’s contribution at a progressive rate within a stipulated period of time. In some cases, vesting could begin immediately. Delayed full vesting has the purpose of incentivizing employees to stay with the company.

In addition, both an executive and a rank-and-file employee may be offered a deferred compensation plan, a stock bonus plan, a stock options plan, a stock purchase plan, and/or an employee stock ownership plan.

Additional Types of Compensation

Beyond the benefit that employees see in their paychecks, employers offer additional benefits. Some of them are mandated by federal or state laws, and others involve voluntary participation. In either case, employees may or may not have to contribute. Examples are workers’ compensation, disability income, unemployment insurance, and accident insurance. There are many others. And some employers offer a variety of insurance plans at reduced premium rates. Some such plans are medical insurance, dependent care plans, long-term-care plans, life insurance, and accidental death insurance. At times an employer might pay for an employee’s relocation and offer other kinds of perquisites.

The best thing a candidate can do in order to achieve a successful compensation negotiation is to learn about this complex subject, perform due diligence, and above all, acquire the skills of the art of compensation negotiation. Working on this subject with a career coach and role playing in mock negotiations most often make up severalfold for the fee paid for such coaching.

Alex can be reached at:

609-333-8866

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Are you like me? - Hired!

It’s probably happened to you a hundred times: you go to a major store, hoping to find that specific item you’re after, and you have to walk away disappointed. Either the item was not available or, most likely, you were looking for something uncommon or unusual that the store didn’t have. Such a scenario often occurs in interview situations: You as a candidate seemed very prepared, and when someone asks you later how the interview went, you reply positively and with confidence. After all, you have every required skill the interviewer was looking for, you have plenty of experience, and you were able to answer smartly all of the interviewer’s questions. So, why didn’t you hear back? What went wrong?

The answers to those questions are repeats of answers to the shopping situation—when you couldn’t find that specific item. Evidently, the interviewer, too, was looking for something specific that you did not surface and demonstrate. In this case, it’s likely the interviewer was looking for something totally unrelated to skills or experience. So, what is that something, and how can the interviewer find out you have it?

It’s all about compatibility, or so-called chemistry, which is a very heavily weighted element in the hirer’s decision-making process. Many call it the fit factor, and it could easily be by far the decisive issue in the entire interview. As a career coach, I work with my clients and prepare them to learn to how to “read” interviewers so they can discern that fit factor.

There are many well-known, documented, and respected studies about types of people. Some of the studies find that if a candidate is unable to align with the interviewer—sometimes an impossibility—then the chances of being considered for the position are minimized. That’s the reason someone else gets the job.

You may have heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the DISC assessment, and other personality tests. I’m familiar with another, called MBS, or Management By Strengths. The MBS Survey is a self-assessment that attempts to align relationships and communications between parties. It deals with understanding the decision-making process, whether the process is based on facts or on gut feelings. For more information on the MBS test of personality type, visit www.strengths.com.

In summary, in an interview situation it’s hugely to your benefit if you’re able to “read” the interviewer and adapt to the interviewer’s style, because it’s well-known that hirers like to hire people like themselves.

Alex can be reached at:

609-333-8866

Saturday, February 6, 2010

In Transition? Confused? What's Next?

The vast majority of my career coaching involves clients who contact me while they’re feeling perplexed about their personal circumstances. About 70 percent of them have been out of work for some time, and the rest only recently became jobless. Some of them are desperate to make a change because of a difficult boss or too much pressure on the job. Can you identify with this? All of these people have one thing in common: confusion over how to go about making it happen. Most of them are adjusting their résumés but deploying the same techniques that got them jobs in the past. However, that doesn’t work in today’s extreme job market. Many ask for advice from well-meaning friends. Unfortunately, they’re only friends desiring to help but not professionals with expertise.

Regrettably, even career coaches don’t have all of the desired solutions, but they know how to go about finding them. After years of experience and dozens of clients, I became able to put together a straightforward plan that appears to be working. The material that needs to be covered during coaching sessions is vast. In addition to that, I found out from experience that it takes a minimum of three to five hours of mock interviewing for a client to get sufficient practice and become proficient at interviewing. It’s an absolute necessity to be capable of showing the hiring manager that you have not only the knowledge but also the confidence to do the job well. After all, what hiring manager sets out to hire someone who appears to be lacking confidence?

Typically, I meet with a client five times. Each session is at least two hours long, and the second hour of each is devoted to practicing mock interviews. The first session is dedicated to agreeing on career plan objectives, creating a strategy, and defining target jobs in the right salary range, geography, industry, and sector. The second session focuses on the résumé. The objective here is to make it billboardlike attractive. The résumé has to have eye appeal, contain the right keywords, and show that the candidate will deliver. By now the client possesses the right tools.

The third session focuses on job search. Together we work not only on networking techniques but also on making sure the techniques are effective and not a waste of time. At this point, we are also practicing how to overcome liabilities, and we’re developing tools to track and measure job search productivity. The fourth session is all about communication and projecting the right image verbally—both in writing and over the Internet. We wrap up the process by practicing mock negotiation techniques, acquiring the tools for working with recruiters, and learning to uncover the hidden job market.

This is career coaching in a nutshell. An actual career coaching program is rigorous and systematic and requires persistence and a lot of hard work. Given a little time, in most cases it works.

Alex Freund is the founder of Landing Expert–Career Coaching. His Web site includes a current--and comprehensive--list of job search networking groups in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the city of New York, and the site is visited by thousands of people every month. Landing Expert is a premier career-coaching service with the objective of preparing job seekers for interviews. Alex’s clients are gaining knowledge, receiving marketing material, and acquiring the know-how to beat the competition.

Alex can be reached at:

609-333-8866