by Angela Copeland | Apr 21, 2014 | Advice, Media
In my recent Memphis Daily News article, “The Grey Ceiling: Beating Ageism,” I wrote about how to avoid being discriminated against during your job search. This is a very important topic for many who find themselves searching for work as they age.
A reader wrote in with one of her concerns. Below, I will share my answer to her question, and additional suggestions.
If you ever have a question that I can help you to address about your job search, or an article topic that you’d like me to cover, please contact me here. I’d love to help!
QUESTION:
Dear Angela,
What should one do about the graduation years on Linked In? I completely understand your advice about working to look as youthful and technologically savvy as possible. And since employers are forbidden to actually ask your age, your advice to control signals so that the interviewer does not guess your age sounds good at first blush. But what about LinkedIn? Birth years on Facebook can be concealed, but if you try to obscure graduation dates on Facebook or LinkedIn, then your actual classmates are confused. Also, if you don’t put graduation dates on LinkedIn, you look as if you are hiding. Suggestions? I know that you are technologically sophisticated, so maybe you have suggestions.
Thanks for your consideration,
Memphis Mary
ANSWER:
Dear Memphis Mary,
Thanks for your e-mail! It’s great to hear from you! I appreciate you taking the time to send me your question.
If you’re concerned about your age impacting your job search, my recommendation is to remove it from all social media, including LinkedIn and Facebook. This means that you should consider leaving off your birth year on your birthday, and your graduation year on your education.
I can understand your concern about confusing others, but after changing my own profiles a few years ago, I found that nobody noticed the difference. By now, I’m fairly well connected to my school contacts on LinkedIn and Facebook, so it’s unlikely I will miss a new connection due to not having the year included.
In addition, many people remove their graduation years from LinkedIn, so I don’t believe an employer would assume you were hiding something. Try looking up a few of the top executives at your current or past jobs, and you may find that at least 50% of the time, they’ve omitted their years as well.
You might try removing the years for a month and see if anyone asks you about it. My guess is that nobody will notice, and future employers will no longer have access to the information.
My thought is that as long as you focus on keeping your birth year off the major sites (like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter), you will be covered.
I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Angela
* Note: The reader’s name has been changed to protect their privacy.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 21, 2014 | Advice, Newsletter
If you’ve been thinking of abandoning your current career path, you’re not alone. Many people decide to switch careers for similar reasons. Either they’re not happy with the type of work they’re doing, they want to make more money, or they want a better work life balance.
Transitioning your career can feel hard. In fact, it can often feel impossible. Even after you’ve gone back to school to learn a new trade, it’s difficult to get new potential employers to see you beyond the walls of your old box.
The first thing to consider is the type of leap you’re trying to make. If you want to change both the type of industry you work in, and the type of job you have, it can be a bit more challenging. To make the fastest change, try either finding a new role in the same industry or sticking with the same role in a new industry.
For example, if you’re currently in event sales, but you want to move into the medical industry, you might try medical sales. Alternatively, if you’re in event sales, you could also try moving into an operations role within event planning. As you can imagine, it would be much more difficult to transition into an operations role in the medical industry.
If you’re interested to leap into both a new industry and a new job function, it’s not impossible, but it will take a bit more work. Here are a few suggestions for steps to follow when you’re facing such a challenge.
- Identify transferable skills – Consider all the skills you use in your current role. Which of these apply to other jobs or industries? Your transferable skills can be as simple as project management, organization, and leadership.
- Get experience – Look for opportunities to gain experience on your own. For example, work as a consultant on the side in your new field. You can also volunteer your time at a non-profit doing the new type of work you’d like to do in the future. Either way, ensure you document this new experience on both your resume and your LinkedIn profile.
- Further your education – Find classes you can take related to your new career field. This doesn’t have to mean enrolling in an entirely new college program. There are often courses you can take one at a time that will add to your understanding. These classes are also great to highlight on your resume and your LinkedIn profile.
- Rebrand yourself – Begin to update your resume and LinkedIn to reflect your new career goals. Keep your current job and experience, but start to integrate in your new future career.
- Practice your pitch – Most importantly, you should practice your elevator pitch. Be able to easily describe what you’re looking for next. During a transition, it often helps to also explain (at a high level) the background behind your desire to change careers. This can help the person you’re talking to see the logical progression from your current role to your next job.
One of the most important things to remember when transitioning careers is that it takes time. As you make the changes above, pay attention to the feedback you receive from those currently working in your new career field.
For example, if you hear something indicating you’re being unclear, be open to modifying your pitch or your brand. At the end of the day, you just need one person to take a chance on you in order to switch your career – but you’ve got to carefully communicate in order for them to want to take the leap with you.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Apr 21, 2014 | Networking
The Hospitality HUB is holding a fundraiser on Thursday, April 24th in Memphis.
Support Hospitality Hub, a resource for the homeless in Memphis, at a wine tasting 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Robinson Gallery, 44 Huling. Tickets are $50 per person.
Learn more and purchase tickets at Hospitality Hub.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 21, 2014 | Job Posting
Hilton is searching for a Director of Mobile Product Delivery in Memphis TN, Dallas TX, Miami FL, Los Angeles CA, or McLean VA.
The Director of Mobile Product Delivery will be responsible for developing, establishing, executing, and leading the Product Management functions that support the global mobile sites and applications. The Team Member will provide direct leadership to direct reports, Team Members, external vendors and agency partners in the strategic development, testing, delivery, maintenance and business performance of the collective products featured on the brand mobile sites and apps, which is growing at 100% year over year.
To learn more or to apply online, visit the Hilton website here.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 20, 2014 | Job Posting
Dell is seeking a Program Management Senior Consultant in Austin, Texas.
Manage Customer Solution Teams (CST) focused on DataCenter Solutions (DCS) working directly with DCS customers and Dell account teams. This covers initial engagement, samples, pricing and proposals, order fulfillment and issue resolution. Require several years of experience managing cross functional teams (core teams) for long term programs.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the Dell website here.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 19, 2014 | Job Posting
Methodist Healthcare is looking for a Manager of their Project Management Office in Memphis, TN.
This person provides leadership, organization and coordination to support the Methodist Project Management Office (PMO) key activities, encompassing program planning, governance and project management. The Manager, PMO will ensure all projects administered by the PMO adhere to the best practices and standard approaches for program and project management. Manages change and promotes the continuous improvement of project management related processes. PMO manager is expected to lead and facilitate project stakeholders in defining project scope and ensuring the effective utilization of resources. Models behaviors as characterized in Leadership the Methodist Way competencies.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the Methodist Healthcare website here.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 18, 2014 | Advice, Media
My latest Memphis Daily News column is out, “Unconventional Career Advice.” In it, I give tips on trying something a little different in your job search – to hopefully help you to avoid burnout.
Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that the steps to finding a new job are writing a resume, and then applying to job postings online. Soon after, every company will contact you for an interview and after one meeting, you’ll get a great offer and start just a few weeks later. Months after trying this method, jobseekers feel frustrated and confused.
To avoid this job search burnout, try something a little different. First, start out by doing more than looking for the quick fix. Establish relationships within companies you’re interested in – whether or not they have an open position today. This boils down to expanding your network, so when a position does come open down the road, the company will already know you. They may even approach you with a job opportunity before you hear about it.
To read my entire article, and learn about how you can be more creative in your job search, visit the Memphis Daily News site here.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 18, 2014 | Job Posting
Intuit is seeking a Senior Interaction Designer in Plano, Texas.
This person will work with the TurboTax CPA Select business and development teams in the process of discovery, competitive analysis, usability research, and visual design. You create templates, wire frames, mock-ups and prototypes. You deliver high-quality, on-brand, best practice interaction and web design to help take us to the next level. You have a very good understanding of the metrics that are applied to measure the success of your designs. You use usability research (questionnaires, usability sessions – in persona and online–and other appropriate formats) to inform and validate your design. You solve problems from a customer-backed perspective––always stepping back to understand the customer needs and desires, and champion the customer at all times. You are able to derive your design approach from customer needs, and present and defend your design strategy to business and technology stakeholders.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the Intuit website here.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 18, 2014 | Networking
The Collierville Young Professional Counsel will host their April Mixer on Tuesday, April 22nd from 5-7 PM.
The Eye Specialty Group will be hosting the Collierville YPC event for April. Come out for free cocktails, food and other great door prizes and also to see Dr. Ann’s new office.
To learn more, or to RSVP, visit the event invitation here.
by Angela Copeland | Apr 17, 2014 | Job Posting
Medtronic is seeking a Senior Product Specialist Core Spine in Memphis, TN.
This person is responsible for continuous analysis of industry trends, treatment pathways, and competitive information to help fuel and prioritize the deformity pipeline. Collaboration with and research through marketing counterparts, sales personnel, and surgeons from various countries to develop and help implement commercialization plans and activities for prioritized launch(es). Designing a comprehensive global marketing plan which may include business plans, competitive strategies, pricing analyses, sales/revenue forecasts, analysis of distribution/channel issues, training plans, and inventory management. Interaction with internal and external customers for training, education, and research.
To learn more or to apply online, visit the Medtronic website here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.