Career Services for AUS Alumni

Did you know that since 1994, AUS has partnered with Centerpoint Institute for Life and Career Renewal to provide Career Services on the Antioch campus. Antioch has extended some of these services to alumni as well. Come back to campus and get the support you need!

Are You Unemployed and Seeking a Position in Your Antioch Field of Study?

You are eligible for two free individual career coaching sessions per quarter. Vickie Chaffin, a Centerpoint core faculty member and, herself, a graduate of Antioch’s MA Psychology Program, is the main career coach for the AUS community. She truly understands what you’re experiencing! She has hours at the AUS campus each Friday from 3 to 6 PM. Email or call her to set up an appointment: careerservices.aus@antioch.edu or 206.268.4026.

Are You Looking to Build or Upgrade Your Career?

Attend the upcoming free workshop on Wednesday, November 3, 2010, from 6 to 9 PM:

Clarify and Communicate Your Vision
There is one, essential thing you need for success. Some call it an elevator speech, others call it a mission or vision statement; no matter what you call it, your success hinges on delivering it effectively.

Who Should Attend?
Anyone who would like to develop and articulate more clarity in their life and work, whether you know exactly what you want or are still searching.

You Will…
• Leave with clarity around how this strategy can effectively work for you.
• Create an actual draft of your own vision statement.
• Practice using your vision statement to communicate with others.

Register Today!
RSVP with your name, graduation year, degree/program, and contact info including email address through careerservices.aus@antioch.edu

And There’s More!

In addition to the above, AUS Alumni can also take advantage of the many resources and services (with discounts!) at Centerpoint. For example, listen to this podcast (http://www1.cpinst.org/?q=node/179) on Conducting a Creative Job Search at the Centerpoint website. Visit www.centerpointseattle.org for lots more resources.

Don’t Just Apply For A Job - Campaign For It!

This spring is a very challenging time to be graduating into the job market.  Here are some thoughts from Pres Winslow, Antioch Seattle, MA Psychology ‘93.  Pres is now a volunteer career counselor and educational advisor in Winslow, Arizona, a diverse, under-resourced rural community about an hour’s drive east of Flagstaff.  These comments were presented at an Idealist.org career fair in the fall of 2001.  The use of a political campaign analogy is even more relevant to Pres today, as he has just entered the race for the Arizona House of Representatives.

Don’t Just Apply for a Job — Campaign for It!
Notes for presentation by Pres Winslow at Non-Profit Career Fair, 11-7-01

FIRST THINGS FIRST

1. What’s important to you in life: family, friendships, travel, adventure, personal growth, spirituality, hobbies, independence, variety, security, social justice?

Assignment: Write up a description of your life once you’ve got it the way you want it. This will help you see whether a particular career path or specific job opportunity supports or undermines what’s important to you, both at work and outside of work.

2. What type of work do you feel called to do? Be as specific as possible. How do you know that to be true about yourself?

Assignment: Write up a description of your ideal employment situation. Be sure to include practical things like commute time, out-of-town travel, regular daily schedule, flextime for attending children’s events, evening and weekend work, pay and benefits, employer support for professional development.

Common objection/question: That sounds like a lot of work. Can’t I skip this part? Answer: Campaigning for a job may involve a lot of time and effort, and even some discomfort. If the prize is not really important to you, you may not have the motivation to compete to win.

CLEAR THE DECKS EMOTIONALLY AND KEEP THEM CLEAR

Job-hunting is not necessarily a fair process. If you are still getting over a bad workplace experience (or other bad experience), make sure you have a plan to continue your recovery from that experience. Don’t inadvertently sabotage your job-search campaign by having unresolved bitterness or other negative feelings leak out into your campaign activities.
Quick reality check: What questions about past work experiences do you most fear in a future job interview? (Examples: Have you ever been fired?, Why did you leave your last job?, Describe a conflict with a past supervisor or co-worker and how you resolved it.)

HOPE FOR A SHORT CAMPAIGN, PREPARE FOR A LONG CAMPAIGN

Unlike political campaigns, a job-search campaign involves running for multiple offices simultaneously, with moving targets for election dates. Preparing for the possibility of a long campaign does not mean you are being pessimistic. If you are not now working, develop a plan for financial security, estimating how long you can get by without steady earned income. Do a little bit of contingency planning, like checking into survival jobs (part-time or full-time), but don’t divert too much energy and focus from the main mission.
Note: Don’t assume your campaign will be short or long. It’s like trying to time the stock market: futile!

RECRUIT AND ORGANIZE YOUR CORE SUPPORTERS AHEAD OF TIME (AND KEEP ADDING TO THEM)

Supporters can include contacts, esteem-builders, general advisors, technical advisors, sponsors, constructive critics, mentors. Some will also play the role of job reference. Pay special attention to selecting and cultivating references.

Idea: Have a kick-off party for your job-search campaign. Invite members of your network. Hand out a résumé or other brief document which describes what you are campaigning for and why.

Warning: Beware of the job-search support group which has degenerated into a gripe session. Effective support groups create a place on their agenda for venting frustrations. After that, the focus must be on the positive.

Side note: What goes around, comes around. Become a link in the chain of helpfulness. Realize that many others, including some of your key supporters, may be running their own job-search campaigns. Collect and repay favors. Contribute to the success of new job-search acquaintances. It’s the right thing to do, and it may bring you a positive surprise someday.

BE SELECTIVE, BUT NOT TOO NARROW

Unless you are desperate, don’t apply for jobs you don’t want. Do apply for jobs you might want, and if you get a job offer, learn more before making a final decision. Evaluate jobs and job offers both in terms of immediate satisfaction and positioning for even more-satisfying positions.

COMPETE TO WIN FOR EVERY JOB YOU APPLY FOR

• Do creative detective work to find out what the employer is really looking for. For advertised positions, begin with getting a complete job description. Make a walk-in cold call to check out the location, work environment, agency brochures, newsletters, annual reports. If the organization has a Website, study every page. Ask members of your network if they know anyone who works there or used to work there. If possible, arrange to speak with someone who works in the program (a future co-worker or boss). Get name recognition ahead of time.

• Once you have a clear picture of what the employer wants (and the job still appeals to you!), review everything you have to offer which speaks to what they want. Doing this part of the process involves a lot of work, especially if you have never approached job searching in this way. Don’t begin your résumé, cover letter, or interview prep until you have completed this process. This is where you test your motivation to do the target job.

• Tip: Begin with the job-interview preparation process. Analyze the job description and prepare a set of detailed questions that would probe an applicant’s qualifications for the position. Write out the answers. Can you make a good case for getting the job offer? If not, consider which of the following is at play: Lack of self-confidence, lack of concrete evidence (from self-inventory above), or poor fit for the job. If you can’t convince yourself that you are a good fit, how will you convince an employer?

• If you feel confident you are a strong candidate, prepare a customized résumé and cover letter, using raw material from your self-inventory. Make yourself look like the good fit you believe yourself to be. These are your written campaign brochures. If you lack experience with writing résumés and cover letters, look at some books, attend a workshop or two, get some individual advice. Do not give up final control of your written materials to an outside “expert.” You, not the expert, will have to “defend” your résumé at job interviews.

• When you make it to the interview stage, pull out the interview preparation materials you did earlier and review and update them. Decide on your agenda for the interview. Let the interviewers control the process, but work in the selling points and stories you want to include. Be more responsive to questions than most politicians, but work in the “answers” that showcase your strengths in relation to the employer’s needs.

• Mock interviews. Recruit someone you trust (it could be a job-search buddy) and practice answering the questions you think will be asked. It doesn’t matter whether your sample questions are exactly the same as the ones you will be asked. You are practicing presenting your interview agenda, especially the stories you will tell that document your key skills and personal qualities. Master the art of storytelling.

• At the interview, be your best, true self. Show up as yourself, not as someone you imagine to be their ideal candidate. Believe that who you are is good enough.

• At the end of each interview, hand over your list of references. Some employers check references as part of the process for selecting the top candidate. Others make their final selection and then check references of that one candidate. In either case, contact your references after the interview and give them a heads up. Don’t be timid about asking your references to speak to certain strengths that you know the employer is looking for. In the analogy of campaigning, your references are your key endorsers. Don’t hesitate to use them on your behalf.

• Follow up the interview with a self-marketing thank you letter which says a lot more than thank you. Mention why you are even more interested in the job now that you know more about it. Summarize why you would be a great fit. Include any key points you didn’t get to mention during the interview. This follow-up letter should have real substance to it.

• No news is no news. Don’t play mind games with yourself about why you haven’t heard from the employer (or why your references haven’t been called). If the employer said you would be told one way or the other by a certain time and you haven’t received a call by that time, wait a day or two and call them. Don’t criticize them for not calling you as promised. Just ask how they are coming with the process of making a final selection. Be proactive without becoming a pest.

CELEBRATE OR BE DISAPPOINTED, BUT DO EACH WITH GUSTO

If you get (and accept) the job offer, share your joy with those who helped you get there. Thank them for their contribution to your successful campaign. Offer to assist them in the future. If you don’t get the job offer, allow yourself to feel intensely disappointed for a short period of time. (Of course, if you don’t feel disappointed, that may be a clue that you aren’t being honest with yourself about what you really want.)

Idea: If you had a job-search campaign kick-off party (or even if you didn’t), have a victory party after you land the job you want.

BE A GRACIOUS “SILVER MEDALIST”

If you didn’t get the job offer, you didn’t lose. The employer chose a person that seemed to them to be the best fit for the position at this point in the organization’s development. If you made it to the interview stage, you were not rejected. You are on the right track. Follow up with a thank-you letter to the main interviewer, expressing your continued interest in working for their organization. If possible, ask for suggestions (by phone) on what you could do to become a more competitive candidate in the future. Add this person to your professional network; keep in touch from time to time by sending a letter or e-mail speaking briefly about what you are currently doing and/or mentioning an interesting resource you discovered.

REVISE YOUR STRATEGY, IF NECESSARY, AND KEEP CAMPAIGNING

Through job-search experiences, you may learn that you are not yet competitive enough for the jobs you really want. Review the suggestions from interviewers and members of your own network. Do you need additional formal education and training? If so, check out affordable training programs. Do you need deeper experience related to your target job? If so, consider strategic volunteering in duties identical to those of your desired job (e.g., fund-raising, event planning, outreach, program coordination, direct service, public speaking, group facilitation, etc.). Serve on a board or committee related to your target career field (e.g., domestic violence, at-risk youth, family literacy, neighborhood planning). Join, or become more active in, a professional association related to your target field.

FINAL THOUGHTS

These suggestions are the ideal. The closer your job-search campaign is to the ideal the better, but you may very well get a good job without following all of these recommendations. Choose campaign elements that you can fully commit to. There is no single best way to get a good job.

BEST WISHES FOR A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN!

10 Top Social Media Sites For Finding Employment

Perhaps this would be useful in the Antioch Alumni Blog; some neat ways of using web 2.0 for securing employment.

http://mashable.com/2009/02/24/top-10-social-sites-for-finding-a-job/#disqus_thread

Michelle Wilkinson, CFRE
Director of Development
Antioch University Seattle
206-268-4114 Direct

Because the world needs you now.

Four Words That Must Be On Your Resume

I learned this AM on the morning TV that the following four key words are “musts” on everyone’s resume if they want to be seriously considered:  1)  teamwork;  2) flexible;  3)  detail oriented;  and 4) self-motivated.  Interesting!! 

Warmly,

Eric Warn
Alumni Director
Antioch University Seattle

Career Services for Antioch Alumni

Free individual career counseling hour (one per quarter) on the Antioch campus (or by telephone if you live outside the greater Puget Sound area) if you are:

• Two or fewer years beyond graduation, or
• Currently unemployed in the field of your Antioch degree

Extremely reduced career counseling rate ($60 per hour) on the Antioch campus (or by telephone if you live outside the greater Puget Sound area) if you:

• Want more than one session per quarter and/or
• Are more than two years beyond graduation and are employed in your field

Appointments can be in person on the Antioch campus by telephone or email. Regular office hours are held on Mondays from 2 to 5 p.m. Additional hours before or after those hours can be arranged. Contact Vickie Chaffin by phone 206.268.4026 or email career_services@antiochseattle.edu to set up your appointment.

For a list of current job openings at over 200 companies and organizations go to: http://www.antiochseattle.edu/alumni/jobs_various.html