What is network marketing?

I’ve had a bunch of questions about what network marketing is…Here’s an interview with motivational speaker, Les Brown, brilliantly explaining network marketing and how it can offer people in transition after a layoff an interim or long-term solution for their employment challenge…You can also find many brief videos on you tube explaining network marketing by prominent and respected people including:  Bill Clinton, Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump…and a great inspirational way to look at it from Kevin Spacey…as depicted in the movie “Pay it Forward.”

Ask the Experts: What do I do with my 401(k)? Am I stuck with COBRA? How do I make my money last until I find work?

It’s the Layoff BounceBack FREE June Teleseminar for Job Seekers

June 1, 2009
9am sharp Pacific Time
Sponsored by Sharon Rich and Layoff BounceBack

Join me at my monthly free teleseminar as I welcome a panel of financial experts to answer your burning questions: Justin Krane of Krane Financial Solutions on managing your money, Colleen King founder of Colleen King Insurance Agency on alternatives to COBRA, and Miriam Levy, Financial Services Specialist with ICM on what to do with your 401(k) if you’ve been laid off.

Register to receive dial-in information at www.layoffbounceback.com.

Network Marketing Paradigm Shift

Just got off the phone with my networking buddy Ak Bulcha who said something that made me shift my paradigm. He said “Everybody should have a network marketing business on the side.”

I recently added a World Ventures business to my entrepreneurial ventures because what that company is doing blew me away and I saw lots and lots of potential both in terms of lifestyle and income. Never thought I would sign on for a multi-level marketing thing. For one thing, the way some MLMs train their reps gives all network marketing a bad name. Also I always thought, hey I already have a business, the last thing I need is another.

Now seeing that differently. This is something I can do for fun WHILE doing business consulting and coaching. I love the idea that everyone can have something on the side to set them up for retirement. Obviously, we can’t count on employers, or 401Ks or stocks exclusively to be there for us. This is another way to diversify. And it can be a heck of a lot of fun!

Who knew???!!!

Just be sure to pick a product and company that you can believe in and feel good about. And realize that it’s not a get rich quick scheme, but rather something that if you invest a little time in consistently and intelligently that over time, it could be the thing that you depend on most of all…and in surprising ways.

10 Steps for More Effective Responding to Job Posts

Been working with a lot of people lately who come in with the complaint that all the resumes they send out in response to postings on job boards disappear into the internet black hole never to be heard from again. Here are some tips for increasing your response:

1. Read the post carefully. Select which posts to respond to thoughtfully.

2. Highlight keywords that describe skills, style or competencies.

3. Make sure you understand each point. Research to close any gaps. Being resourceful goes far with potential employers.

4. Point by point find real stories from your work/life experience which demonstrate your ability to meet their need.

5. Get resume support, if you need it to set up the basic foundation of your resume. Then tweak your resume for each response, making sure that your work experience is not a generic description of the responsibilities that anyone in your job could use. Rather, make it about YOUR specific accomplishments in that position, using specific numbers wherever possible.

6. As you write, include the keywords you highlighted in the job description. (Resume scanning systems are programmed to look for a high percentage of matches to employer keywords. They also look for frequency, so don’t be afraid to use a keyword more than once…within reason.)

7. Keep your cover letter VERY short and to the point. Be sure to begin with the name of anyone who referred you to them. Next, include the job title for which you are applying.

8. Finally, develop your follow-up skills and have a multi-touch, follow-up strategy. Get to the hiring manager. This is the piece that many overlook and that makes all the difference between no response and landing the job.

9. Get on to the next thing. Don’t sit around waiting for the response. This is a numbers game. Reach out. Follow-up. Repeat.

10. Create your own opportunities. Don’t put all your eggs in the job post basket. Less than 20% of hires happen as the result of a job post. If your entire focus in on looking for advertised jobs, you’re missing 80% or more of the opportunities out there.

Laid off or taking a sabbatical. You choose.

Check out this excellent employment blog by Los Angeles power recruiter Patricia Romboletti.

http://sageconnection.blogspot.com/

And check out her source material, by Elizabeth and Barbara Pagano, authors of Your Sabbatical.

http://yoursabbatical.com/people/my-sabbatical/

Another way of empowering ourselves by the story we tell…and I don’t just mean the one we tell others. The reality may be that you are not working right now. The story “I’m unemployed” leads to a very different experience than the story “I’m on sabbatical.”

A great opportunity for employers as well.

Thanks, Patricia.

Recession is a state of mind. (Not mine.)

Met a guy at Friday’s Pink Slip Mixer who says he retired at age 23. “Retired,” he said “is a state of mind.”

Couldn’t agree more.

Also states of mind: rich, poor, unemployed, out of work, and recession.

Job Seeker Tip: Don’t let recruiters send your resume without permission

This suggestion from the in-house recruiters at a client currently supporting their exiting employees  with resume support and transition coaching from Layoff Bounceback. When a recruiter gets a good resume, one strategy they use is to send it out to everyone they can possibly think of to ensure their right to the commission if you’re hired there. Right now with budgets so tight many companies who are hiring aren’t using third party recruiters. If your resume comes in through a recruiter, that alone could result in getting dinged. This doesn’t mean don’t allow recruiters to send your resume. Rather, ask them to always check with you first. Then before granting permission, find out what their relationship is with the company. How recently have they placed someone there? Is there a real job there right now? If they are likely to help you to get in somewhere you wouldn’t have gotten in on your own, by all means, go for it. If not, you’d do better finding a contact through LinkedIn and getting in on your own power.

Resume tip: What jobseekers can learn from Obama

Just reviewed a resume in which the jobseeker had written all about herself and what she wants. Her objective. Her skills and accomplishments. Isn’t this what a resume is for? Well, yes and no. You certainly want to tell your story, but here we can learn something from Barack Obama. He never talks about what he wants…he talks about what you want. He speaks to the desired outcomes. Your most powerful resume will address what the hiring manager in your field is looking for. Rather than your objective at the top, put a title that she or he will recognize as meeting their needs. Put a summary of what you have to bring rather than what you want to get. Focus the skills and accomplishments you feature on what is likely to solve the problems they need solved. Shift to seeing your resume through their eyes for a resume that will capture their imagination and break through the clutter.

How to recession-proof your life, step 2

Find the abundance in your life and put your attention there.

I know so many people who live in their own homes, who drive nice cars, whose children are in private school, who are clothed, have food on their tables, families and friends who suppot them, and who are freaking out right now.

Poor is a state of mind.

Yes, our stock portfolios are worth less than they were 6 months or a year ago. And less than they will be in the future.

Take a moment to remember a time before you had a portfolio or savings, before you lived where you live now, before you made what you make now (or were making before you were laid off)? Did you feel poor then?

Here’s the thing: when we walk around feeling poor, broke, in trouble, hopeless, how do you think that impacts our ability to recover? What might become possible if in these same circumstances we felt gratitude for being where we are and having all we have, if we knew that as in challenging times past, things will improve?

Does freaking out get you to a financial recovery faster?

What will get you to the recovery faster? Identify that and then—this is key— start taking action to create that now.

how to recession proof your life: step 1

Choose not to participate in this recession (or depression.)

It may sound crazy at first, but recession or depression is a personal choice. Even if you’ve been affected by the mass layoffs and are looking for work right now. Even if you feel like you’re starting over financially. Even if you are rethinking your career. Even if you’re “in debt.” You can choose to approach your situation from lack or you can choose to come from abundance. You can tell yourself and others stories of how awful it is out there and live in fear. Or you can tell yourself and others stories of all the possibility and opportunity that’s out there. (It really is, you just have to look for it!) You can wait for the government and banks to get their acts together and bail you out.  Or you can choose to come to your own rescue. Which path is more likely to lead you where you want to go?

I’ll be posting different ways to do this. So keep checking back.

I’m declaring officially that I am not participating in this recession. I invite you to join me.