Finding a Job: Appraise Yourself

by Lee Hudspeth
(This article appears in The Naked PC #6.02, January 16, 2003)

** 02. Finding a Job: Appraise Yourself (by Lee Hudspeth)

While in a strategic planning class in business school I learned 
of a tool called WOTS-UP Inventory (pronounced "what's up"). The 
acronym stands for Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, and 
Strengths. The idea is simple but powerful: examine and document 
any opportunity or situation across those four dimensions and 
you'll see the big picture and better understand the details too. 
This tool is the first one I turned to when beginning my own job 
search. If you're going to use this tool, I suggest you take the 
time to methodically and honestly work your way through it. Let 
me stress the honesty part; for example, if you really don't like 
working inside and prefer to always be outdoors, recognize the 
truth of that for you and don't settle for a job that keeps you 
inside all day. You're creating your future, so you owe it to 
yourself to do it with your eyes wide open.

When typing up the inventory, use Word in outline format with 
each of these four dimensions as a Heading 1 style. Then in 
Heading 2 and lower (subordinate) paragraphs, cite the necessary 
supporting details.

Tips: in Word select View, Outline to display Word's Outlining 
toolbar. For more help on Word's outline mode (a very powerful 
feature), search for help on "outline". To see a list of all the 
keyboard shortcut keys relevant to outlining, search on "keyboard 
shortcuts" then follow the "Viewing and printing shortcut keys" 
link then "View text in an outline".

Keep in mind that as you progress towards creating or refining 
your resume and your interview scripts, you'll be looking at each 
weakness in a special light. In fact, in lists of "the 100 most 
common interview questions" you'll always find this one, "What is 
your greatest weakness?" You want to understand how you can--or 
already have--improve that characteristic and turn it into a 
story about self-awareness, open-mindedness, learning, and self-
improvement. Here's the answer I give to that question during an 
interview, "Recognizing a weakness, and working to improve 
oneself, is an important skill. Over the past several years I've 
worked hard to recognize the value in being a perfectionist, and 
to keep all the good aspects of that characteristic: attention to 
detail, recognizing the optimum flow for a task, wanting to put 
the best foot forward in any situation, appreciating a skilled 
performance. At the same time I've worked hard to let go of the 
parts that are alienating. Instead of lecturing, I am an 
attentive listener. I embrace alternate ways of getting a job 
done that fulfill other people's need for autonomy. I am 
flexible."

You may want to break the Strengths section up into three 
sections, personality/behavioral strengths, functional strengths 
(basically a list of what technical skills you're good at; list 
certifications here too so you can cross-reference these against 
what you have included--or forgot to include--in your resume), 
and accomplishments. There are plenty of books out there on self-
assessment, but one online resource I found to be thorough, 
relatively quick to fill out, and free is the "Values in Action" 
(VIA) Strengths Scale. The questionnaire includes 278 questions 
which take 30-45 minutes to complete (you must complete the 
questionnaire in a single session). Upon completion, you get 
feedback about your most notable strengths.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/602/tr.cgi?lee1

For more information, check out the book "Now, Discover Your 
Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/602/tr.cgi?lee2

Although all of these individual topics warrant extensive 
coverage, let me focus the spotlight on the area of 
accomplishments. Make sure you take the time to list all your 
career accomplishments (shoot for 50, 100 even, and then keep 
going). You'll end up with a complete inventory of the ways you 
have concretely added value to a work situation. The number of 
accomplishments isn't important, it's just a reach-for-it goal to 
make sure you enumerate every single accomplishment. You don't 
want to leave any off the list because that one forgotten or 
overlooked accomplishment could be the story that sets you apart 
from the rest, that makes you shine. You can rank each of these 
accomplishments on whatever "benefits" scale fits the need: 
financial, interpersonal, spiritual, environmental, and so forth. 
You may even want to write these accomplishments onto flash cards 
to help you practice reciting the story behind each one in your 
mock interviews, but that's for another article.

I wanted to try to put my entire vision about the job search 
process down into one short list. Here it is. I call it my master 
plan. Maybe there's a better name for it, but I hope you find 
value in it. It helps me stay focused and balanced.

a) Take Notes

Keep a daily journal. Log everything you do (within reason, be 
your own judge here), with the notion that later review may yield 
fresh ideas, reinforce good ideas, and help identify tactics that 
aren't working.

b) Monitor How You're Doing

Establish metrics for resumes sent, resume feedback status, 
networking contacts made, clubs joined, events attended, 
recruiter effectiveness. Evaluate performance on these metrics 
weekly, preferably with someone instead of by yourself: brutal 
honesty can be hard to come by when you're solo.

c) Know What You Want In Your Career

Identify what about a job(s) has satisfied you the most in the 
past, and what you want for your future.

d) Think Like a Hiring Manager (Match Employer's Needs Now)

Constantly be thinking about how you, the candidate, can meet the 
needs of a hiring manager and ultimately the employer. I got this 
idea from Gary Ames, Managing Director, ActiveJobSearch.com. 
Gary's career advancement/counseling site is chock-full of 
intelligent, effective, concise, and heart-felt advice. As you 
read his material you can tell that he will be the quintessential 
ally to have on your job search team. Stop by his site and I 
predict you'll have the same experience I did: you'll get SUPER-
CHARGED.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/602/tr.cgi?lee3

e) Open New Doors

Seek out new activities, new people, and new philosophies. 
Everything you do doesn't have to be saturated with your job 
search, but of course be prepared to network with new people you 
meet.

f) Listen

Listen effectively and attentively to others. Then, when the time 
is right to tell your story, do so briefly, and then make your 
request (for input and referrals; do NOT ask for a job... more on 
this in a subsequent article).

g) Enjoy Life

Enjoy life, family, and friends: after 5:00 PM turn the "job 
search" switch off and relax. (Note: keep business cards handy 
when socializing after hours, and be willing to listen to people 
and also ask for their inputs, guidance, and referrals.)

Got some ideas, anecdotes, guidelines, or dreams you want to 
share? Email me.

If you represent a company with IT management openings in the 
Southern California area (Los Angeles and surrounding counties), 
and think there may be a match between my skills and your 
requirements, I'd like to hear from you.

(c) 2003, Lee Hudspeth
You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

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