via MSNBC.com

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See the lineup via Newsweek (wish it were a police lineup, but wishful thinking...)
What They Got Away With: A look at the CEOs who walk off with mountains of money

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For example, a friend of mine told me recently that she doesn't like to "brag" about herself during an interview. She felt that talking about her skills and accomplishments was a bad thing.

Sounds silly, doesn't it? But, how many of us have done this? I plead guilty. Not so any more, but in the past I've been reluctant to "brag" about myself. Think about why you might do this.

By the way, do you think my friend got the job?

We play all kinds of mind games with ourselves before, during, and after the interview. What questions will they ask me. Gosh, did I blow the answer to that one! How did I do? Will they call me? Why aren't they calling me? You can drive yourself crazy thinking like that.

Make no mistake, the interview is where you either get the job or you don't. It can be grueling, intimidating, humiliating, nerve-wracking, and even sometimes enjoyable. And the great thing is, you'll never know what kind of experience you're in for until you get there.

To interview successfully, you've got to have the right mindset and be prepared. The best way to prepare is to know yourself - really know yourself.

The subject of interviews is so vast that thousands of books have been written about it (and possibly thousands of blogs, too, including this one!). An entire industry of coaches, counselors, and lecturers earn a respectable living helping people through this often frightening and confusing jungle. Because of this wealth of information, I'll be discussing various aspects of the interview process in future posts. These will draw upon my own experience (personal and professional) and the experiences of others.

Oh, and if you haven't guessed it yet, my friend did not get the job.

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1) I'm looking to change direction, and have been applying for jobs. I'm think I have the skills for them, but I'm not sure, and

2) I don't know what I want to do.

These are very common dilemmas to be in (I've been there and done that many times). So, don't feel you are alone in this. But, you can feel stuck in this uncertainty and doubt.

If you're feeling like this, there are two exercises I'd like you to do.

1) Take an inventory of your current skills, knowledge, and abilities (KSAs). These are defined by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management as:

* Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA's) - The attributes required to perform a job and are generally demonstrated through qualifying service, education, or training.
* Knowledge - Is a body of information applied directly to the performance of a function.
* Skill - Is an observable competence to perform a learned psychomotor act.
* Ability - Is competence to perform an observable behavior or a behavior that results in an observable product.

For example, you could have knowledge of plumbing, the ability (competence) to install a water pipe, and the skills to use the tools and methods necessary to install a water pipe.

What you want to do is brainstorm ALL your KSAs (in no particular order) that you have. It doesn't matter how insignificant or silly you may think they are. Your task right now is to just list them. then, prioritize them in order of importance or significance. We'll get to what to do with them in subsequent Fight Club meetings.

2) Brainstorm your passions! What do you love to do? What would you do for free because you love it soooo much? Again, it doesn't matter if you think it's silly or weird - it's what you love to do. There's something you love - even if you don't think you do.

Throughout these two exercises, don't be worrying about what other people might think of your list. Who cares? This is about you and you alone. This is about your life. No one is going to live it for you. So, you get to decide how you are going to live your future.

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The article is slanted toward college students (as this is a college town). It only mentions one non-student, giving the impression that mostly students are affected. Memo to the article's writer, Brittany Anas: A lot of older workers in Boulder County are experiencing "giganomics" as well.

Career counselors see 'giganomics' as new job trend

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The "CareerXroads 8th Annual Source of Hire Study" found the following:

• Internal Transfers and Promotions were 38.8% of ALL the F/T positions a companyfills.
• Referrals (employee, alumni, vendor, etc.) make up 27.3% of all external hires and is arguably the number one external source. Employee referrals make up most of this category but Alumni referrals are growing. The efficiency of referrals is one of the single most important characteristics of US hiring practices. More than 17,000 positions were filled from just fewer than 200,000 referrals or 1 hire for every 11.2 referrals!
• Hires attributed to Job Boards (not including the company site) represent 12.3% of external hires. We believe this SOH has indeed peaked and predict it will diminish in the future. Within the category, Monster has lost ground to CareerBuilder. The two of them account for half the job board hires but both are losing ground to the “long-tail” of niche sites, social networks and other online search engine marketing capabilities that are expanding their reach.
• Hires attributed to the Company Website are a problem for us (we maintain that the company web site is a destination not a source) and essentially represents one of every five external hires.

According to this report, the largest source of hires is internal, that is, derived from the pool of existing employees. This is not very surprising. Current employees have the advantage of already being on the inside - they know the culture, the way things get done, who is who. They've already passed the acid test of getting hired in the first place. They've shown at the very least that they're good enough to work for the organization and survive.

The next largest source of hires is from referrals, from those who have varying degrees of familiarity with the organization. Again, nothing surprising here. Would you trust a movie recommendation more from a friend or a stranger? The same goes for a potential hire.

Together, these two sources - internal and external referrals - lead to two-thirds of all organizational hires. This means that someone has networked themselves into these jobs.

Now, this doesn't mean that they went to those "networking" events attended only by others looking for a job. That is not a networking group - it's a support group. I'm not against support groups at all. In fact, they can be an extremely helpful resource in the discouraging grind that a job search can become. But do not confuse them with networking!

So, what is networking? According to Dictionary.com, it's

"a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest..."

This means that networking is not just about finding a job. It's about "sharing" with others who have a "common interest" with you.

So, networking is about giving and receiving. But really more about the giving. Because if you are only focused on getting something, then people will sense that and you'll wind up alienating the very people you may need to help you find a job.

So, how do you network? that's a subject I'll cover that in future posts. Stay tuned.

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• 8 Sites For Beating The Job Hunting Blues (makeuseof.com)
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