Dear Friends:

Well this has certainly been an interesting January and February. The media is spewing doom and gloom, on Wall Street the sky is falling, layoffs continue, and the unemployment rate is rising. All that being said, you must be proactive in your career endeavors. If you are gainfully employed, try to make yourself invaluable…put in the extra effort and volunteer to assist others. Learn new skills that can benefit your employer and expand your knowledge base. If you are out of work, maximize your ability to find a new position. Don’t just post to job boards. Answer specific ads, don’t wait for companies to find you. Newspapers are not dead…look at the help wanted ads. Send your resumes to recruiters that specialize in your field and please network, network, network – that is still the number one way to find your next job.

This issue of the Gazette features timely articles and the innovative Job-Search Tele-Summit, featuring renowned career experts.

1. Job-Search Tele-Summit
2. Networking Purposefully
3. Demand for CFOs on the Rise
4. Alternative Job Search Methodologies

Job-Search Tele-Summit

The spring 2009 Jumpstart Your Job Search Tele-Summit is a day-long educational and inspirational event created to give job seekers all the tools, knowledge, and resources to create an effective job-search plan, land interviews, and get job offers. What makes this program so unique is that job seekers “attend” simply by listening over their computers or telephones. The summit covers all key phases of a job search from personal branding and resume writing to social networking, interviewing, salary negotiations, and tapping into the “hidden” job market.

The courses are taught by leaders and experts in the career-services industry including top career book authors, interview specialists, resume writers, career coaches, and recruiters. The summit takes place on March 21st from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 P.M. Eastern. All you need is a computer or a phone, and you will have access to the latest, cutting-edge information on how to stand out from the competition. And if you can’t make it to a course – don’t worry. You will receive links to all the recordings after the summit.

And you can be confident that you will receive a lot of value from the summit. There is a 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee if you feel otherwise.

For more information, visit:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?af=945875
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Networking Purposefully – Emphasize Connections Over Job Vacancies and HR Opportunities
By Debra Feldman

The heart of Debra’s approach is purposeful networking, because it’s not just what you know, but whom you know – and who knows you – that truly matters.

Review your own pattern of advancement over the years, and think about how you recruited people for your own teams. Did you choose from a stack of résumés, or fill a vital position with a person from a recruitment service? Or did you call upon your own established connections, relying on those trusted sources for recommendations? You’ve probably helped friends and colleagues get where they are today with similar tactics that thrive on strong, qualified relationships. Debra creates life-changing connections for you so when opportunity knocks, your door swings wide open.

Debra starts you off with a comprehensive telephone consultation, and performs a rigorous assessment to determine how best to position you, how to most clearly state the unique value you provide, and how to create a campaign strategy that uses your values and your positioning to their best advantage.

Once you’ve worked with Debra to identify companies you want to target, Debra uses her expertise, her databases, and her own network to identify the people who need to know about you. Then she breaks the ice for you by making the phone calls, sending correspondence, and getting you connected. She doesn’t rest until those key contacts are primed to talk to you. And with a success rate of over 95% on targeted contacts, you know your mission is being executed with brilliant results.

With the focus firmly set on pitching your singular abilities and making choice connections – NOT thrusting you into pre-fab positions – Debra orchestrates the introductions, so that you can concentrate on building your network. These contacts provide opportunities to generously share resources, ideas, and insights. This is how you get yourself on the inside track for unadvertised job leads – for your next job, and every job thereafter.
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Amid Recession Demand for Skilled CFOs on the Rise

Chief Financial Officers and senior-level executive CPAs now say the U.S. economic downturn will last longer than previously expected. According to a new survey of 1,183 CPAs who hold leadership positions as chief executives, COOs, and CFOs conducted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, the majority of those polled expect no turnaround in the economy before 2010 – six months longer than previously estimated. “As the recession has deepened and pessimism solidified, a majority of CPAs working in business and industry now don’t expect an economic recovery before 2010,” said Arleen Thomas, AICPA’s SVP for Member Competency and Development.

The AICPA/UNC study did offer one glimmer of hope: about 25% of companies still expect some growth in the next 12 months. But as the majority of executives brace for continued turmoil, CFOs are facing increasing pressure to make the best of a bad situation, according to CFO.com. CEOs are increasingly leaning on their Finance Chiefs to better understand their companies’ liquidity position and come up with a strategy for the months ahead. The question is: do they have what it takes?

CFOs Face Unprecedented Circumstances

A growing number of CFOs will find themselves running the finance function of an insolvent business as the downturn continues to take its toll, according to CFO.com. The report states that Euler Hermes, a credit insurance company, predicts the number of insolvencies worldwide will rise by 25% this year following a similar increase in 2008. Moreover, in Western Europe the firm predicts a 34% rise this year following a 25% jump in 2008. In France and Germany, Euler Hermes forecasts a rise in insolvencies of around 12%. The Netherlands could also see a surge of 38%.

A recent Deloitte paper argues that the combination of the worldwide credit crunch and a recession with possible deflation creates a unique and unprecedented set of circumstances for CFOs. Deloitte concludes CFOs will have to navigate two distinct challenges: they must manage their short-term credit, cash and performance needs – despite receding pricing power and they must efficiently position and utilize assets with an eye toward post-recession growth. Ajit Kambil, Global Director of Deloitte Research, says “The challenge for CFOs will be to read the signals and discern the shape and structure of the recovery.”

Skills of the Ideal CFO

Though a daunting prospect for most Finance Chiefs, CFO.com says the “burgeoning corporate rescue culture means that there is greater scope for effecting a turnaround than in the past.” So what does it take for CFOs to hold it together even as their companies are falling apart? CFO.com says the basic skills needed from Finance Execs during administration are the same everywhere.

The report states that insolvency practitioners and restructuring experts list the following three skills which characterize their ideal CFO:

1. A perfect grasp of up-to-date figures. Particularly if there’s been a high turnover in the executive team, the challenge to stay on top of the numbers for new CFOs much harder. At a minimum, however, up-to-date numbers give CFOs a better chance of mapping out a contingency plan.

2. The ability to plan for every eventuality. Administrators say a “plan-for-the-worst” approach say makes the difference between a good CFO and an excellent one in distressed situations.

3. A strong enough voice to ensure that when you speak, your board listens. CFO.com quotes Alan Hudson, a Partner at Ernst & Young, as saying that CFOs should stick to the facts, however painful they might be for members of the board to hear, and the sooner they are made known, the better. “It’s no good after the event saying, ‘I always knew we were destined to fail,’” says Hudson.

Another key area of focus for CFOs concerns reporting practices. Finance Chiefs must provide the right information at the right time. CFO.com quotes Neil Griffiths, a Partner in the restructuring team at law firm Denton Wilde Sapte, as saying, “If you’re in distress you want daily [rather than monthly or quarterly] information coming through so you can see how close to the edge you are. The CFO becomes absolutely critical in all of that.”

CFO.com adds that if a CFO can manage to demonstrate these key skills during troubled times, there is a good chance there will be a job awaiting them at companies that survive. The report states, “A Finance Chief who can confidently and quickly provide full visibility on deteriorating cash positions, identify where the company is being squeezed and articulate what to do about it is more impressive to an administrator than one whose leadership flourishes in good times, but withers in bad times.”

Looking Ahead…

Much has been written about the fact that greater CFO accountability is contributing to a high rate of turnover. Recent KPMG research suggests that CFOs are, in fact, moving on to new opportunities for which their particular talents are best-suited.

Indeed they are. Executive search firm, A.E. Feldman, reports that CFO jobs are opening up as a growing number of companies are now looking for finance chiefs with treasury and capital- markets skills. The firm adds that Finance Chiefs who understand and can manage enterprise-wide risk, who can get funding for growth opportunities, who know the debt markets and who are strong on valuing assets are in demand. Flexibility and the ability to adapt to the dynamics of the market as the crisis unfolds are also critical.

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Alternative Job Search Methodologies, Netshare

Have you been exploring alternatives to traditional job search methods? If you have, congratulations! You are on your way to greatly increasing your results and response rates!

I believe you will find this does wonders not only for reaching your job search goals, but also in keeping up your excitement and confidence in the process.

Developing the right list of target companies for you is so important because, done right, it’s going to save you a tremendous amount of time, increase your interviews and save you from the frustration of doing it wrong, which can create an illusion that the reason you are not getting enough quality interviews is because there is something wrong with you or your resume.

So here are 5 tips on how you can get started developing your own amazing list of target companies today:

Tip #1: Focus – Example A

Let’s say for example you want to stay in the state of Georgia and you would like to remain in the field of Academia. Your challenge is to find the institutions potentially suited for you in your state. You need to identify where these lists of institutions are AND you need to track where the movement or growth is with these individual institutions. Your best bet is to check out your trade and association journals for these lists and late breaking news like campus growth, appropriated funds, and promotions etc… anything that might indicate growth or development and a great reason for you to connect. Start by Googling Academia+Georgia or Associations+Higher Education+Georgia.

Tip#2: Focus Example B

Perhaps you are in sales and marketing of consumer goods and you want to move into a senior sales role for the “green” market. You are open to relocating anywhere in the US. In order to not spread yourself too thin, you must come up with a nice handful of portals you can use to find emerging or developed companies that specialize in your “green” market of choice. Begin by Googling Green jobs+products. Interested in wind farms or solar? Google green jobs+wind farms and wind farms+USA. You can also try Googling wind energy+investors. These are just a few examples. Not only will you find companies and contact decision maker names this way, but you will also find articles and information on companies that are growing and developing new products and services. Any and all companies that you like should make your list!

To supplement this information I also highly recommend using Manta.com. Manta provides free company profiles and company information on US and International companies, including market research reports, business news, contact information and key contact names.

Tip #3: Create an Abundant List

The general rule of thumb is: the smaller your geographic parameters are, the more you really need to dig to add anyone and everyone that meets your career focus parameters to your list. If your list is too small, you minimize your responses. Try to begin with 30 to 50 companies, ideally.

Conversely, you may develop over 150 potential company picks in your industryof choice. If this is you, then consider sending your mailings out in phases or hiring a printer (I like Insty Prints) to help you with your mailings.

There is another industry school of thought that touts concentrating on just a few companies at a time. If you are not in a hurry and are willing to i nvest in learning about, and networking with, key decision makers in each of these companies then I would agree this method is also effective.

Tip#4: Get To the Decision Maker

Sending all of your correspondence to the human resource department will get you far less valuable connections and interviews – primarily because unless HR has been handed a job description that closely matches your qualifications at the exact time you send them your resume, they are probably not going to be interested in you.

So, don’t gamble your confidence away! Though rarely you might hit the jackpot, these just aren’t very good odds. Get to the decision maker… the person two to four levels above your ideal position that is going to be interested to hear about your successes in productivity, profitability and problem s olving. No offense to my human resource friends that serve a valuable and honorable function.

Tip #5: Follow Up

You have to be prepared to follow up with a phone call once you have sent out your correspondence. I know, you are thinking, “but it is so uncomfortable to follow up with someone I don’t know and ask them for a job!” Good news! You don’t have to (and shouldn’t) come right out and ask them for a job.

As a professional, one of the things you must do in your job is learning the basics of networking. We ALL have to do it, so let’s discuss for a moment the value of learning how to network in a way that is comfortable and breeds confidence.

Here is a technique that I use: when I network, I think about it in a way that does not put undue pressure on myself or the immediate outcome.In other words, when you follow up, don’t set yourself up by rationalizing that the only acceptable outcome is a job interview. Here is your realistic goal: to make an introduction, either personally or via voice mail that you feel good about. That’s it. When you go on a first date do you berate yourself that no one got married at the end of it? Of course not! So just take a deep breath and give the situation a chance to materialize into something positive.

Okay, so here is how to leave a nice message you can feel good about. Try something like this: “Hi this is ____, perhaps my name sounds familiar – I sent you some correspondence last week and indicated I would be following up with you. Its Wednesday, 10am and I will be in the office all day. Please feel free to call me back at ____ and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.” This is a nice general introduction. Not to short and not too long.

If you connect with your contact live, this is even better! Say hello, inform him or her why you are calling and then share what you specialize in. Perhaps you increased revenue in your division by 57% last year, or you are a turnaround expert or you just lead your corporation through a very successful merger. Whatever your latest and greatest achievement is, this is what you lead with.

State your achievement in just a sentence or two and then say that you greatly admire their company and for these reasons you wanted to introduce yourself and find out if he/she might have an interest in learning more. This structure concentrates on your quantifiable achievements, is short and is flattering – a recipe for success!

Using these simple tips will put your job search focus in order and allow for a smooth transition from one objective to the other so in no time at all you will have garnered positive results from.

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GILBERT GAZETTE

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