Another Bang at FENG

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

Last night, I visited the 101 Corridor chapter of FENG (Financial Executives Networking Group) in Woodland Hills. It’s wonderful to see these high-level CFOs’ faces light up when they realize there are ways to introduce themselves beyond simply their title and industry!

The title of my talk was “Personally Branded: Designing Your Memorable 30-Second Pitch.” Before we could design the pitch, however, I had everyone do a little exercise on outlining their top accomplishments in life.

How shocking (but not to me, because I see it all the time) it was for them to be faced with the need to spell out 7 of their major accomplishments. Most people never take the time to look deeply into their past to see the patterns of their success, but it is an absolutely critical part of personal branding, as well as overall career transition.

You have to know yourself better than anyone else when you’re out in the market…and a comprehensive “career inventory” is as critical to you knowing your own assets as a regular inventory is for any business.

Summer Group Webinar Launched!

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

I started new group tonight in an 8-week Career Transformation Program to end in early August. They will be going through three phases of alchemy to come out pure gold at the end.

1) Learning how to distinguish themselves from others based on their unique patterns of success. Did you know that everyone has a unique way of doing things? Being able to identify that gives you the beginnings of “personal branding.”

2) Packaging their unique “brand” in their written and spoken presentations of themselves. Think about it: what do you say about yourself? You’ll always give your verbal “resume” more than you’ll give a written one.

3) Backdoor networking training, where they will learn how to create connections out of thin air with the people they most want to know in the places they most want to get. Yes, they become magicians!

See the details of this program at www.CareerGuy.com/program. Not sure of Fall dates yet…but stay tuned!

We Swam With the Sharks! Harvey Mackay Teleseminar

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

Wow! Monday night I hosted an incredible teleseminar with Harvey Mackay, author of “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive” and his newest career-oriented bestseller, “Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door.”

Harvey answered our subscribers TOP career networking questions. Because our lines maxed out and I know many of you were highly anticipating this call, I’m making it available for you for a few days at www.CareerGuy.com/program.

Views from the Top!

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

I was a guest for a full 90-minutes on Adrienne Graham’s “Views From the Top” BlogTalkRadio show. What a gob of information covered in only an hour and a half!

We discussed “Tactical Career Planning,” including how to position yourself to stand out from the crowd, plan for (and land) that ideal job, and create your own opportunities. Myself and another guest also shared best practices for job hunting and career planning in the age of social media.

If you missed that call, you can hear the full, information-packed 90-minutes here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/viewsfromthetop/2010/04/16/tactical-career-planning

(Video) Making a Bang at FENG

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

I spoke this morning at the Orange County Chapter of FENG (Financial Executives Networking Group) on the power of knowing and owning your personal “brand.”

What a behive of activity once I set them loose on a cool exercise to begin developing their unique branded 30-second pitch!

Actually, I call it a 30-second “HELLO” which stands for Helping Everyone Locate and Land Opportunities!™ We all know that networking works best when it’s all about service, right?

[youtube height=”360″ width=”600″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4p3Y0PTT0Bw[/youtube]

LinkedIn for Job Search (Recorded Webinar)

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

Hosted a webinar with Dean Lisle from Forward Progress this evening on using LinkedIn to support a job search.

For a short time, you can still access the webinar at this link:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/124748835

Dean offered an immense amount of info, and made a really sweet offer for those wanting more support in his upcoming class at the end of April. (Though the deadline was last Friday, the special offer seems to still be working!) Check it out, and I hope it supports you!

Please pass on to those it can help!

(Video) One Thing Leads to Another: Kendra Followed by More “Reality”

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

Those lyrics from the 1983 song by The Fixx capture the essence of getting out there and just talking to people and finding reasons to be known (e.g., a backdoor, vs frontdoor, method of locating opportunities.

Case in point: the Kendra interview didn’t “turn out” with me being the pick for her mom to go out with, but…

I was contacted and just shot a little segment for a reality show being created to help people in dire straits turn their lives around.  It’s called “Reinvention” and I’ll be the career specialist.

I firmly believe that if you set something in your mind that you want, and work “the numbers” to get out and connect with as many people as possible, there’s always a way: sometimes completely out of NO way.

See more clips here:
http://www.youtube.com/careerguydotcom

Boohoo! I Didn’t Get the Job!

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

Just got an email from the producer of the Kendra show:

—–Original Message—–
From: G R
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:45 AM
To: Darrell W. Gurney
Subject: Thank you

Hi Darrell!

Thank you so much for participating in our show.  I hope you had fun doing it.  Unfortunately Kendra did not choose you for the final date with her mom.  But she did enjoy your company 🙂

Thanks again,
G R

Oh well, all is fair in love and interviewing, right?

Folks, there are SO MANY parallels between dating and job search it’s ridiculous!  The moral of the story here: stick your neck out, get “on the court” (even if it’s outside your comfort zone), and just focus on meeting people.  The requirements for the jobs will always be there, but it’s those personal connections where you will either “click” or “flick” to the next possibility.  Just stay in the game and be making connections!  You never know where they will lead.

Who knows: I might get round 2 with “mom” or, perhaps, this will prepare me in some way for my own reality show I want to get on the air soon!

The Interview Approaches…and I’m Out of My Element!

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

I found out that I’d be interviewing for the “job” for a date with Kendra’s mom on a basketball court–and I’ve always stunk at basketball! I had put in my vote with the producer for ideally the beach shot and, secondly, the barbecue shot…but got hoops!

Called a friend who put me in a right frame of mind: it’s who I’m BEING a lot more than what I’m doing. This relates so well to the real world of job interviews.

Though the basic skills for a job are necessary, it’s that “chemistry” thing that carries so much of the weight. Moral of the story: be in your most amenable and confident disposition for interviews, even if not in your element or ideal “environment.” As the old saying goes: People will forget what you say, and they’ll forget what you do…but they’ll never forget how you make them FEEL.

First Step of Interview Preparation: RESEARCH!

By Darrell Gurney | Blog

So, call me checked out, but prior to a few days ago, I had no idea who Kendra was! I actually don’t watch much TV other than PBS or CNN and had not heard of the series “The Girls Next Door” with Hugh Hefner and his three live-in girlfriends…of which Kendra was one.

So, step one in preparing for any interview is information gathering–and good to start with folks around you.

I started asking my friends if they knew of someone named “Kendra” and found out that many did. They told me to be careful because she pulls no punches and holds nothing back (my kind of gal!).

I was basically just planning to go into the interview with only my authenticity and boyish charm…but those I spoke with gave me enough to realize that I needed to sit down and really study my potential “employer”–so I spent three hours on the internet tonight doing just that! I also found out that the three interviewees will meet Kendra on either 1) the beach, 2) around a barbecue pit, or 3) on a basketball court.  My elements are great at the beach and I stunk at basketball…so I’m putting in for the beach shot!

Job search related points for today: RESEARCH…and know your interview environments beforehand. For example, can you get the full name of your interviewers BEFORE you go in? It’s amazing how much you can find out about someone online prior to meeting them…virtually anybody!