Tag: career

Yoga Mantra for January 2020: Set an Intention for the New Year

Welcome to a new decade and my first article in a monthly series, Off the Mat: Yoga Mantras for the Modern Career.

Through this new series, I am creating a space in which I can support clients and readers who are interested in and receptive to furthering their yogic wisdom by providing a means to translate yoga principles to their careers.

This month’s mantra is fitting for the New Year and often incorporated into yoga classes during the first few days of the year (and other times): set an intention.

Yoga Mantras for the Modern Career

Welcome to a new decade and my first article in a monthly series, Off the Mat: Yoga Mantras for the Modern Career.

WHY I AM WRITING THIS SERIES

When I work with clients, I often incorporate wisdom accessed from my yoga training – I became a certified yoga teacher in 2012 – and ongoing practice.

I am not always explicit about yoga as the source of such wisdom, however, because not everyone finds yoga accessible or personally meaningful to their own lives.

Through this new series, I am creating a space in which I can support clients and readers – among those who are interested in and receptive to furthering their yoga wisdom – by providing a means to translate yoga principles to their careers.

Essentially, in this series I bring yoga to the foreground. Yet these aren’t yoga lessons in the traditional sense. I won’t teach half moon pose, alternate nostril breathing or how to flip your dog. In Yoga Mantras for the Modern Career, we are explicitly taking our yoga off the mat.

How can a (new or existing) yoga practice enlighten your career? How can you integrate what you learn on the mat into your personal or professional life?

This series is my gift to you. In the spirit of yoga, take what serves you and leave the rest.

YOGA MANTRAS

There are traditional yoga mantras straight from the Upanishads, such as Lokah samastah sukinoh bhavantu (translation: may all beings everywhere be happy and free), and more contemporary mantras based on yoga principles.

In Yoga Mantras for the Modern Career, I am building on the idea that every action in our lives can be a meditation and every instruction in a yoga class, however small, can become a mantra.

More specifically, since this site is about leadership, professional development and related areas, the mantras in this series will be in support of your life and career. 

THIS MONTH’S YOGA MANTRA:
SETTING AN INTENTION

This month’s mantra is fitting for the New Year and often incorporated into yoga classes during the first few days of the year (and other times): set an intention.

When we set an intention in yoga practice, we do it in present tense, such as:

I live in the present moment.

The goal is not simply to have your intention on the mat (while practicing yoga) but to take it with you as you move off the mat (into the rest of your life). In the context of your personal and professional life, you might set another intention that serves you:

I have a great career.

I speak fluent Spanish.

I live in New York City.

An intention is stated in present tense, even if it is not your current state. By wording it in the present, you can see yourself as if you have already achieved – and thereby activate the power of – your intention.

Once articulated, your vision is transformed into action through:

  1. continuing to bring your awareness back to the intention,
  2. maintaining a commitment to the intention (for yogis, this is the tapas or fiery discipline of the Niyamas),
  3. holding a confident belief you can achieve it, and
  4. taking active steps to realize your intention.

When clients come to me seeking a career change, promotion or new job, for example, we work (explicitly or implicitly) on some or all aspects of the above.

First, I help them clarify, articulate and prioritize their intention.

On a very granular level, what does it mean to you to have a great career? (This is a version of the classic coaching question, “What does success look like for you?”) 

What is working in your professional life, what needs to change and what specifically would that change look like?

What are the obvious and not so obvious things that would need to shift?

What would you be doing on a day-to-day level (which type of projects, what type of team or individual work, what working environment, how much oversight, etc.)?

The more you can clarify your intention, the more effectively you can keep it on the front burner and take concrete steps to realize it. You may also find that a more specific career or other intention will not only enable a richer and more robust visualization but also increase your ability to keep your awareness on the intention rather than giving way to the inevitable distractions that each moment presents.

Second, we work on increasing their confidence. 

You may have confidence across many aspects of your life, but to achieve your intention you need to have the confidence that you can actually bring it to fruition and maintain that confidence through the process of creating the reality your intention represents.

Third, we devise active, effective steps to realize their intention.

This third aspect works in tandem with the second one, as your confidence will increase as you outline and begin to take active steps to put your intention into action. This may include, for example, moving out of your comfort zone, acquiring new skills or meeting people who can help you realize your goal.

Since the steps to creating a great career may be very specific to your individual case, let’s take a look at the implementation plan for a more universal intention, like foreign language acquisition. If your intention is to be fluent in Spanish, you may decide to take some or all of the following steps:

  • launch a weekly “Spanish table”  lunch group or other gatherings among friends or colleagues,
  • find and listen to Spanish-language podcasts or songs during your morning commute, 
  • engage in community service that exposes you to native Spanish speakers,
  • make a list of and watch top or classic movies or TV shows in Spanish (with or without English subtitles), from an Almodovar classic to Roma or even Jane the Virgin (which is partially in Spanish),
  • hire (or barter English lessons with) a Spanish tutor,
  • get and use magnets and/or flashcards with words and pictures in Spanish,
  • keep a diary in Spanish,
  • read books or magazines in Spanish,
  • do yoga in Spanish (hint: you can get your perro hacia abajo (down dog) going with a plethora of YouTube videos for every range of fitness level and special interest), and/or
  • prepare for and take one or more trips to Spain or Latin America during the year.

The overarching theme is to come at the same intention from a variety of perspectives – in this case, to create an immersion in the Spanish language – which is the same advice I would give for your career or any other aspect of your life.

Remember that part of the wisdom of putting your intention in the present tense is to recognize that you may not need to start from scratch or make a 180-degree turn to realize your goal. If your intention is to have a great career, you may start with recognizing what is already “great” about the current state of your professional life. Do you hold a leadership role? Have a great team? Relish the intellectual challenge? Make a lasting contribution to a cause you support?

If your intention is to be fluent in Spanish, build on what you already do and cherish in your life. So if you are an avid cook, you can start to follow recipes from cookbooks written in Spanish or talk yourself through the steps of your cooking in Spanish and explore any words you are missing. For example, in the phrase “ahora, voy a poner el agua a hervir….” if you don’t know the word for boil (hervir) or always forget that water (agua) uses the article “el” rather than “la,” you can remember both in the context of the sentence.

Although I spend a lot of time above giving examples of steps to illustrate the importance of putting your intention into action, the execution process is not more important than the setting of the intention in the first place. (It simply has more steps, as an intention by its nature is short and sweet.)

You can have the best implementation plan in the world, but if you don’t keep your intention alive and continue to bring your awareness back to it, outlining the steps will get you nowhere. We will meet here again month after month, New Year after New Year, and you will ask me why you have not (sufficiently) progressed. I am certain that is not what you seek!

Instead, post your intention at the top of your mat or on your bathroom mirror – literally, with a sticker or sticky note – and return to it every day.

MY OWN INTENTION FOR 2020

My own intention for the New Year is the first one written above:

I live in the present moment.

Carter at the Beach for New Year's

At Compo Beach for New Year's

Yesterday, on January 1, I took my dog (Carter) to Compo Beach for the first time. It was windy and cold but lovely nonetheless. Carter was ecstatic, and I had lot of fun keeping pace as he raced and frolicked across the beach.

Today is a new day and another chance to reset or refine my intention. 

Happy New Year! What’s your intention?


Anne Marie Segal is an executive coach, resume writer and author of two well-received books on interviewing and career development. She served as a corporate attorney for 15 years, including roles at White & Case LLP and a prominent hedge and private equity fund manager, before launching her coaching practice. In addition to her career coach and resume writer certifications, she is a certified yoga teacher. 

Based in Connecticut not far from New York City, Anne Marie partners with clients internationally on executive presence, impactful communications, graceful transitions and other aspects of professional and personal development. 

Second and third images above copyright 2020 Anne Marie Segal. All rights reserved.

Four Leadership Traits of High-Performing General Counsel (Women GC’s Speak)

This week I attended “Women GC’s Speak,” a New York City Bar Association panel moderated by Debbie Epstein Henry. Among the four General Counsel panelists, the leadership message was exceedingly clear:

Take on challenges,

find opportunities,

push yourself to be a little uncomfortable,

fill leadership gaps, and

figure it out.

 

Women GC's Panel image - 11-6-19 - NYC Bar.jpg

Panelists and moderator, from left to right: Ayssa Harvey Dawson, Cari Robinson, Debbie Epstein Henry (moderator), Romy Horn and Sonia Low. Photograph copyright 2019 Anne Marie Segal. All rights reserved.

Here are four specific insights the panelists shared that echo and underscore the coaching work I do with my General Counsel clients:

Romy Horn, General Counsel of the W2O Group, suggested that among the business aspects a law firm attorney (for example) needs to learn to transition into a GC role, there is one key aspect that many would-be General Counsel fail to grasp:

“Finance. [To be a trusted advisor and excel in a GC role], lawyers in companies need to understand the financial aspects of what they are doing.”

Sonia Low, VP, General Counsel and Secretary of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, reminded the audience that GCs are valued not for reciting the law but for helping senior leaders and others meet their business goals. To be a problem solver and transcend the legal function, don’t be afraid to ask:

“Can I come with you to these conventions? I’d like to meet more CEOs and CFOs, so I can better understand what drives them.”

Ayssa Harvey Dawson, General Counsel, Head of Legal, Privacy and Data Governance of Sidewalk Labs, shared that too many attorneys are caught in the “qualifications” trap and talk themselves out of opportunities as a result.

“Qualifications are subjective. When my last company was bought, I thought to myself, what do I want to do next? What I have learned from that is to never be afraid to embrace change.”

Cari Robinson, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Revlon, echoed that advice, adding that you are never going to know everything about a business, especially if you change industries, so:

“You can’t be bashful about asking people to slow down and explain things to you.”

Robinson also shared two essential factors that have helped her succeed as a GC:

first, her global litigation background, which showed her “a little piece of a lot of things” that collectively taught her “how to think about business” and made her a very nimble attorney, ready to face any opportunity, challenge or crisis situation; and

second, her evolution from a focus on building her own career to supporting and building out her team.

For more information about this panel and the sponsoring committees, click here.

Anne Marie Segal is a career and leadership coach, writer and resume writer for attorneys, executives and entrepreneurs. In her practice serving lawyers, she coaches General Counsels, law firm partners, counsel and associates, as well as government, academic and non-profit attorneys.

 

Should You Attach Your Resume to Your LinkedIn Profile?

Have you often wondered if you should attach your resume to your LinkedIn profile? Maybe it would help boost your job search?

Don’t.

Why not?

1) If your home address is on it – which it shouldn’t be; only use city, state and zip or equivalent – you are putting your information at risk for identity theft.

2) You also may find (or never know) that people are borrowing your information and creating a resume that is essentially a copy of yours with another name on it. Because they do not need to post that publicly – unlike a LI profile – they can secretly trade on your goodwill and dilute your brand.

3) If you have one form of resume posted on LinkedIn and bring another (targeted) resume to an interview, you may compromise your credibility (i.e., if the two versions do not to match).

In other words, you will have less control of your personal branding in the interview because your audience will have already seen your resume. They may not even read a new one.

Instead of attaching a resume, put the important information and keywords directly into your profile, so the LinkedIn algorithm can do its work to match you to the right jobs.

Website Anne Marie Segal 2019 Barragan Square Say CheeseFor more LinkedIn tips, click here.

To find or follow me on LinkedIn, click here.

– Anne Marie Segal, Executive Coach

Image of Anne Marie: Copyright 2019 Alejandro Barragan IV. All rights reserved. 

Remaining images: Adobe Images.

What to Write (and Avoid) in Work Emails to Advance Your Career

I was honored to be quoted recently by Daniel Bortz, a contributor to Monster.com, in “13 things you should never write in a work email.”

Ah, the many thoughts and human interchanges that should never be reduced to email, and the myriad of ways you can be too casual (or not enough). Bortz captures a good many of them in his article.

Woman typing on laptop at workplace working in home office hand keyboard.

Conducting the interview for Bortz’s article, and reading it in print, brought me back to my former life as an attorney. At one point, I was tasked with reviewing a large set office correspondence. I skimmed through tons of emails. Thousands, in fact.

While the vast majority were innocuous – as boring as a string of indecisive lunch plans – I saw firsthand more than once how damaging certain private exchanges could be if they ever saw the light of day. 

A quick and poorly thought (or worded) email can do a lot of damage, while a strategic one can enhance your credibility and grow your career.

Bortz is not the first, nor will he be the last, to sound the alarm on the damage – indeed, at times, the unending vortex of negative results – that a quick and poorly thought (or worded) email can do. 

On the other hand, the goal with email is not only to avoid the downsides, but also to communicate, inviting others to respond and take action. So after you check out what to avoid in Bortz’s article, you can read what to include in mine: Four Steps to Creating Emails that Prompt Action and Get Results.

Anne Marie Segal 2019 Web Image Square #2 Copyright Barragan
Anne Marie Segal is an executive coach, author and resume writer. She works with executives, senior attorneys and other leaders to clarify and heighten their personal branding, increase their impact and accelerate professional goals such as Board or C-Suite candidacy, other leadership advancement, career pivots and job transitions.

Image above: Adobe Stock.
Image at left: © 2019 Alejandro Barragan IV. All rights reserved.

 

Executive Interview Preparation: The Checklist

If you are a typical executive, it’s a challenge to find time on your calendar to prepare for interviews. When you do carve out that space, here’s a checklist of what you should cover.

Businesswoman working in the office

Due diligence – know as much as you can about the target organization and management beforehand, including what they do, why and who else is in the game

If you are extra short on time and not familiar with the market, management team, products or other other important data points, check if there are videos online that you can watch or hear while going about your other activities. 

Common ground – find out what you have in common with your interviewers and who else you might know (or can get to know) at the company; use LinkedIn® and other resources; reach out to colleagues and their networks where appropriate

Posture / Energy – plan how you can gear up on interview day with a power pose; watch your body language in the room (eat well the night before and that morning!)

Confidence – “I can handle it. Here’s what I’ve done that’s analogous….”

Concise, targeted value proposition – why should they hire you? what do you offer?

For phone interviews, you can have this in front of you, with a page for each of your three to five most important points and examples that support each.

Edge – what’s unique about you that others won’t bring to the role?

Curiosity – ask light, open-ended questions to get better answers

Story / Narrative – who are you as a candidate and a person? why is this organization a fit?

Accomplishments – have accomplishments ready to discuss that fit what you will be asked to do in the role; give examples (without revealing proprietary information)

Behavioral or hypothetical questions – be ready for “what would you do if…?” e.g., if the organization is expanding into new markets or lines of business and they hit a snag (legally, reputation-related or otherwise), if an employee came to you with a certain problem or opportunity, how you would handle a poor judgment call by the Board or another senior leader, etc. 

About you – be ready for “tell me about a time when…” e.g., work style, challenges, successes, etc.; have a short list of versatile examples prepared for these questions

Reason for leaving current role – have a positive way to tell the story; negativity doesn’t sell; give a concise answer and move to why current role excites you

Organizational vision – if you will be leading a company or team, share your vision

Resume – know your experience cold, be open to discuss anything on your resume

Gaps – if you have any that are key to the job, be ready to address them head on

Weaknesses – prepare for the ubiquitous “strengths and weaknesses” type questions

Follow-up – ask intelligent questions to determine if it’s a fit, tailored by interviewer

If you falter, do it gracefully – have a plan to recover from surprises

Interview them back – it’s a conversation, not an interrogation

Compensation – be ready to “talk comp” if they ask; know how you’ll approach this conversation and deflect tough questions

Red flags – save the toughest questions for when you have the offer letter in hand, but note them so you don’t forget

Re-read the job description (if any): prepare for any point that might come up; research terms you don’t know, so you can sound intelligent on what you might be asked

Concise answers – answer the questions asked; avoid tangents; speak to your value

Close well – find out next steps on their end; know yours; if you want the job, make it known

If you need help formulating a personal value proposition, check out my worksheets here.

Congratulations on your interview! Best of luck!

Anne Marie Segal - Web Image (Credit Alejandro Barragan IV)

Anne Marie Segal is an executive coach, resume writer, Forbes Coaches Council member and author of two well-received books on interviewing and career development. She was a corporate attorney for 15 years before launching her coaching practice.

Image above: Adobe Stock.

April and May 2019: Upcoming Events at Segal Coaching LLC

Teamwork

Thanks to those who joined the webinar I presented to The University of Chicago Alumni Association webinar. Here are the slides and replay, if you missed it or would like to review parts or all of the presentation.

If you are seeking out Board positions, straddling between multiple audiences or currently unemployed, check out the Q&A at the end of the webinar.

Here are some upcoming workshops, webinars and events in April and May 2019. Please click through each link for more information, and you may email any questions to knowyourself@segalcoaching.com.

Workshops

Leveraging LinkedIn®: One-Day Workshop

Friday, April 12, 2019

A unique feature of this collaborative workshop is the opportunity for group feedback on your writing efforts to further develop your ideas.

network abstract

Webinars

From Scratch to Finish: Crafting a Compelling LinkedIn® Profile

Multiple Dates: Tuesdays, April 9, 16 and 23, 2019

Getting More Mileage Out of the LinkedIn® Platform

Multiple Dates: Tuesdays, May 7, 14 and 21, 2019

Anne Marie Segal, executive coach and Nationally Certified Online Profile Expert, will guide the workshop and webinars with content-rich handouts and real-time advice. Her clients are executives, attorneys and board candidates,and she has written and reviewed hundreds of LinkedIn profiles.

Her recent Forbes article, “15 Ways to Boost Your LinkedIn Profile,” is available here.

Photography Event

LinkedIn Headshot Photography Sessions

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Held in collaboration with the photographer, Alejandro Barragan IV.

Images above: Adobe Images.

 

 

Three Types of Resumes that People Don’t Want to Read

Your resume is a communication tool that tells people why they should refer, recommend or hire you. It is not a cruel ritual meant to torment you, and neither should you torment your readers.

When smart people write bad resumes, they waste weeks and months wondering why the phone doesn’t ring. This unhappy result further leads them to putting their energies into thinking about their own situations and insecurities instead of the greater perspective of how to best present themselves to achieve their goals.

Your resume is a communication tool that tells people why they should refer, recommend or hire you. It is not a cruel ritual meant to torment you, and neither should you torment your readers.

In the countless resumes that I have reviewed over the years, and in those I have rewritten for clients, there are a few major flaws that stand out so often they merit their own post. These common resume mistakes aren’t limited to the folks who are unsuccessful in their careers. In fact, they are so ubiquitous among those who “should know better” that it prompts me to ask: why do smart people write dumb resumes?

Keep your city clean!

Beyond poor writing and lazy proofreading, here are three of the most common culprits in bad resume land:

The “Sherman Tank” Resume

Otherwise known as “let me put all of my accomplishments down on a page so I don’t miss anything someone might want.” An alternate description of this type of resume could be ClutterFest. The Sherman Tank or ClutterFest writer thinks he or she is sharing a diverse celebration of achievements, while the reader feels like it’s an exercise in sorting prized antiques in someone else’s dusty attic.

The Sherman Tank resume – durable and bulletproof but too bulky to zip around curves – doesn’t put a candidate in the best light. In fact, it doesn’t cast any light in any direction at all, so no depth or differentiation can be seen, only too many words on a page (and often in too tiny a font). 

Put yourself in the shoes of the reader. How much work would you want to put into deciphering if a candidate was a good fit for your open role (especially if it seems that he or she hasn’t bothered to do it either)? How hard would you squint to read past the first few words?

In my most extreme example to date, I turned a client’s five page resume into two pages.

Truth be told, she was an awesome candidate for her target job. She just couldn’t figure out how to edit her own experience or what to emphasize, so a reader couldn’t “get there” to see it. She had never given thought to what an employer might be looking for, focused only on the trees in her own forest. In addition, because of her inability to edit her own experience, she had included some very detracting information alongside the helpful points, which further diluted the effectiveness of her message.

The “Barely There” Resume

The opposite of the Sherman Tank is the Barely There resume. When I have worked with clients who have this type of resume, I spend a lot of time asking the same question: “And what else did you do?” They have great experience, but somehow they can’t seem to get it down on the page. They leave out key details, such as skill sets they possess – and can demonstrate – that are important for their target job.

Like the Sherman Tank writers, who are focused on their own experience, the Barely There writers have not put themselves in the position of an employer and asked what they can offer that would be valuable for the target position. In one recent case with a client, for example, we pulled out four different skill sets that she would need for a job transition and were not on her resume, without stretching beyond her legitimate experience.

In that case, the client hadn’t presented herself as a well-rounded generalist with a specialization, which was required for her target positions, because her current firm had pushed her in a single direction without valuing all she could offer. Although this push and the associated stress were the major reasons the candidate was seeking a change, she had internalized the pigeonholing by her current firm and was unable to see beyond it when it came planning (and drafting) her great escape.

The “Showed Up and Did My Job” Resume

A corollary to the Barely There is the resume that simply lists what a person did at a job, with no thought to prioritization or differentiation from other candidates in similar roles. Unlike the Barely There, which lacks enough detail, the Showed Up and Did My Job resume might be an appropriate length, and even look “right” at first glance, but ultimately the narrative is not compelling enough to prompt the next step: a job interview.

In many cases, my clients who have a Showed Up and Did My Job resume list tasks that were simply “part of the job” but indicate nothing that showcases particular sets of skills. As we talk through their major projects and accomplishments on the job, or how they pushed the envelope in the position, they realize that the resume is missing critical points because they had not put enough thought into the value they actually bring, as opposed to the tasks that a job entails. Often these clients are looking for a new job because the current one feels like they are on autopilot. But having a Showed Up and Did My Job resume is like putting your centerpiece job-search marketing document on autopilot navigation as well, with a few missed stop signs and on-ramps along the way.

If you are reading this post closely, you see a theme emerging:

Smart people write dumb resumes because they too heavily rely on their intelligence and natural instincts in the writing process (which serve them so well in other contexts), hoping that the reader will fill in the gaps when needed.

Then they waste weeks and months wondering why the phone doesn’t ring, putting their energies into thinking about their own situations and insecurities instead of the greater perspective of how to best present themselves to achieve their goals.

Instead, the smart resume writer steps back to reframe his or her experience so that the reader (recruiter, potential interviewer, friend of a friend, etc.) is enticed and excited about the potential fit between the individual as a candidate and the new role.

As I consistently say to clients, your resume is not an obituary, it’s a marketing document. I make this point with the full knowledge that these words may take some time to resonate:

Smart people can write smart resumes by thinking of them in terms of what the resume vehicle is meant to do – transport them from Point A to Point B – rather than getting caught up in their own discomfort with self-marketing or treating the resume as a retrospective or roadmap of their careers to date.

In short, writing is only the final iteration of creating an effective resume. Find your target, take aim, gather your arrows (of experience) and then write.

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn Pulse as “Why Do Smart People Write Dumb Resumes?” Photo credit: Adobe Images.