Project U. Blog

Feeling anxious?  One of my favorite authors, Seth Godin wrote this in a blog post:

“Perhaps your anxiety is specific to artists or musicians or to anyone who has to stand up and stand out and stand for something.

It turns out that your anxiety isn't specific at all. Perhaps it is due to the fact that you're trying to control things that you can't possibly control.

Your anxiety might merely be a sign that you care deeply about your work.

Anxiety is almost never a useful emotion to carry around. Even for magicians.

Now that you've been reminded that you care, it pays to let the anxiety go. Good riddance.”

I agree with Godin: anxiety is not useful and it’s good to let it go – but how?  How do you do it?  Three steps that work for me are mindful breathing, gathering information and taking action.  Here’s more:

BREATHE DEEPLY.   Number one, take a deep breath.  Literally.  Breathing deeply is an almost instant pathway to calm.  Simply stop what you are doing and breathe in and out through your nose for 30 seconds to a minute.  Make the length of your inhales equal to the length of your exhales and try to make each one last at least four seconds.

GATHER INFORMATION. Next, take stock of the source of your anxiety.   Get clear about what is troubling you.  Ask yourself to explore the thoughts behind the feeling.  You may need professional help to do that – a coach, a therapist, or perhaps not.  Sometimes a wise, trustworthy friend, a session of journaling, or a favorite inspirational book will do the trick.

TAKE ACTION. Once you understand specifically what’s troubling you, what can you do about it?  You may just need a new perspective.  As Godin mentions, are there things that you have no control over, like how people react or think about you that you can accept? Are you able to make your best effort and leave the results to providence? 

On the other hand, if the source of your anxiety is overwhelm or lack of information - it’s usually helpful to take even one small step to overcome it.  Make a phone call, develop a plan, write in a journal or just decide its okay not to decide about something troubling you.

In short, decide to make a small step, whatever it is (as long as it’s not unhealthy) that will let a little pressure out of the overfilled anxiety balloon in your belly.  

Now, take another set of long inhales and exhales… and sit quietly for a few moments. Start to let your anxiety go – and to quote Godin, “Good riddance.”

When you interview, one of the most important questions you can answer is “Tell me about yourself.”  This is not a warm up question.  According to author and recruiter Skip Freeman, your answer to this question is critical.  He recommends (and I agree) that you can handle this question like a star, if you  use a three-part, 90-second elevator speech.

So to get you prepared, I’ve summarized Freeman’s tips here and illustrated my own take on a less formal approach that may be appropriate, depending on the kind of culture to which you are applying. In addition, I recommend that you customize all of your answers according to the specific job for which you are applying. 

How to Construct a Three-Part Elevator Speech

• Part one

Prepare a one or two-sentence statement of your career history, for example:

“I am a five-year veteran of LAN/WAN administration and systems engineering, with substantial experience using Novell, NT, Cisco and Lotus Notes/Domino.”

Or, my suggestion:

“As you know from my resume, I’ve been a marketing executive for over seven years, focusing on driving consumer traffic and sales performance in a variety of industries, including food service and health and beauty.  My specialty is leveraging limited resources to get the job done most cost-effectively, including social media.”

• Part two

Freeman suggests that part two consists of a one- OR two-sentence summary of a single career accomplishment that you are especially proud of and one that can reasonably be expected to capture the potential employer’s attention.

“Recently, as a long-term contract employee at a local regional bank, I learned that the bank was about to install Lotus Notes/Domino and they were planning to use outside consultants for the project. I let them know that I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how we could get the job done with in-house staff and successfully complete the installation for $55-$65K less than it would have cost with outside consultants.”

Alternatively, my version highlights and illustrates one of your strengths that the hiring company seeks.  This may take some research about the position and its goals so you can choose which of your strengths is the best fit for what they need: 

“I love analyzing brand opportunities and have a great track record of doing so.  One of my favorite projects was when I brought a cross promotion to XXXX that increased awareness by 15% and traffic by 8%, but we were able to spend only a third of the media budget to create the program– by leveraging the media clout of our cross promotional partner.”

• Part three

Freeman suggests that this segment should be customized to fit the particular career opportunity being sought.  He says it should be a one- OR two-sentence summary of specifically what you want to do in your next career move AND it must be relevant to the position being sought. Here is an example of how Part-three might be constructed:

“For the next step in my career, I would like to move away from contract work and find myself as a direct employee of a large firm where I can join a substantial IT team and be involved with a group that focuses on email and network security applications, while having access to the knowledge base that would come with a large, diverse IT group.”

 Or, my take – what excites you about this opportunity and what do you offer?

“The reason I am so excited about this position is that I see there is a huge opportunity to bring all of my experience to bear. I see the possibility of bringing new products to market, while maximizing sales of the ZZZZ product line.  Here at YYY Company, you have sufficient resources so that I can really have fun building the brand to its full potential.” 

Clearly, different endings are possible, but the goal is to try to match what you want to what an employer is looking for in a candidate.

Freeman concludes that by using a three-part approach, you can brand yourself as a true professional who will stand out from the competition by demonstrating the value of what you have to offer in a very short amount of time.  

Read Freeman's  full article here.

Happy Hunting!