The new online CV: Your website

Recently, one of my blog readers Daniel Afiakurue asked me:  “I don't have a problem getting noticed wherever I go, but i want to know how to get hired via applications where the HR manager or employer is not in contact with me. I really dont know if its the cover letters or the CVs. “

First, I hear you Daniel. Recently I was asked to submit a CV for a fellowship I was already accepted to. I haven’t updated my CV since my business school summer internship. I was like..really? I’m in and you still need my CV? I realized how resistant I was to sending it.

Why send them a boring one piece of paper when I can send them my website?—where I carefully show my complete offerings, my creds, my writing? Why make myself look like ‘everyone else’ in that plain one sheet of paper?

Large companies like McKinsey and Goldman have already set up structures for CVs and cover letters to be sent..and then ignored. They use a machine to sift through thousands of CVs and cover letters only to pick candidates out that have ‘skill’ matches with what the company needs.

The truth is –there is a lot more that could be done to show who you are and what you truly care about in order to not get confined by the walls of what others perceive.

When you want to get hired, don’t waste all your time on a CV—that makes you look like everyone else. Find a way to stand out, send them an article you wrote, a website or blog you have, setup a call with someone on their team, just call them directly, go to their networking reception, or find another way for them to get to know a little more about who you REALLY are, rather than what they interpret on a page about you. 

How to Ask for Help

In my last Forbes piece on How to Get Noticed, Get Hired or Just About Anything Else You Want Too, a big outcome was that many Gen Y leaders resonated with the need to ask for help to unleash their career potential. Sometimes they didn't want to bothers others or take time out of other people's days because it felt selfish. They didn't know how to engage or write the email to connect with someone else in an authentic way.

What do I think? This emotion is all driven by the fear of connecting and limits our collective capacity to come together. And that fear is the opposite of what we need in today's world. So I decided to write a follow up on a critical step in the process of asking for help: 5 tips on how to write an email that people actually read. Check out my most recent Amex OPEN Forum blog post here to learn how to make your email stand out in the crowd, in a way that matters to others and contributes to the world. Be sure to ask a specific question, honor their contribution, and offer ways to give back. 

So go out there and send your pitch email —and let us know how it goes! Get Noticed! 

Monday Inspiration: Becoming More

“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity,

and responsibility to give something back by becoming

more” -Anthony Robbins

 

How will you become more today?

What’s beneath that?

Everyday we hear or share worries, concerns, frustrations in the workplace and in our personal lives.  We spend countless hours thinking or diving into blame for what “others” could do differently.

 

Well…..

What's beneath that?

It’s usually the deeper question that gets us to the answer.

Inspired by Lois Kelly of Rebels At Work.

Monday Inspiration: J.K. Rowling

This week, I am thrilled to be launching the Monday Inspiration series, a blog post every Monday morning with the goal to bring you some energy and inspiration to get you moving on the work that matters most to you. The Weekly Inspiration will be a mix of inspirational quotes and poems ready to read when you wake up Monday! And they always end with one question to get you thinking and making bold moves each week. Enjoy!

 

"It is impossible to live without

failing at something, unless you live

so cautiously that you might as well

not have lived at all – in which case,

you fail by default."

‐ J.K Rowling

 

When was the last time you failed? When is the next time you can try and learn, with the risk of failure?