Employment

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Landing that Job

7 June, 2010 in The Story | 16 comments

It was mid-February and it had been a while since I had any interviews, The Search. Nothing happens in the Australian summer, everybody is on holidays as school children get 6 weeks for their summer holidays. And then it takes a month or so to get back into full gear when hiring.

Days had been very hot and humid, nothing to do but sit in front of the fan and not move :-( . Then one week it felt like everybody was having a say about my situation. My mother had a go, as mother’s do :roll: ; a note from a friend commenting I needed to look within myself, not the first one I had received; a comment from a friend whom I had only recently met saying, “are you even trying”, I lost count how many times I heard that; and then another note. I love my friends dearly and they know that I am grateful for all their support but there are some things an unemployed person does not want to hear.

The final note did it to me. I did not know this person in real life, we had worked at the same office but our paths had never crossed. I had connected to this person when I started my campaign as I could see we had many shared connections, all ex-colleagues. (This is why I am against people hiding their connections as we are here to be social and sharing). She had asked me to join a group she managed. Reached out to me and helped with my postings in the group, which many group managers have been very supportive of my postings and others not so :-|

This person was “curious” and was “puzzled” as to why I had not found work. Well, that was it. I listed everything and every reason and then ended it with “it is extremely depressing when…”. I was rude :-( .

The return note was so nice, reaching out to me, giving me direction and asked what type of role and company I was looking for. I felt sooo… bad. I was extremely apologetic about my rude note. They didn’t think I was rude, “just frank”. Then offered an opportunity working for them at Cisco. Extremely excited or what! :razz:

We met and she was very pleased with the interview. But I had many interviews to go before anything was going to happen. I had a panel interview with 4, and a dotted-line report interview. If I got through those, then another 2 interviews. Ok, long interview process. After the first 3 interviews, it was down to me and another. I was getting excited and was given a date and time for my 4th interview.

We had been doing all our communicating through the email and the recruiter. When I received a call from her, calls are not good before the interview process has finished. 

“I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news first, I have chosen the other candidate because … The good news is everybody that has interviewed you liked you so much that we have been searching for another opportunity for you and we have found another role which is better for you and no boring bits. Your resume is being forwarded now“.

Didn’t hear a word after, ”I have chosen the other…”. I got off the phone and had a cry, the process had already taken over 4 weeks, very straining, including nightmares :cry: . Although after a few of hours of disappointment, I realised situations weren’t as bad as I had thought. I still had another opportunity at Cisco and another opportunity from my favourite recruiter. I was happy again, sort of. Just had to let the disappointment fade away but another series of interviews :-( .

There is a scene from a sitcom, the woman is looking for work. She receives a call from a hiring manager and assumes she has the job. She puts down the phone before he has finished his sentence, dancing with her arms in the air and screaming, “Whoohoo!” She has heard incorrectly. This is how excited I thought I would be when I would receive an offer but I was not. When I was offered the role at Cisco, I had to think about it as I had another opportunity. When I finally made my decision, I spoke to the recruiter at Cisco and her reaction was similar to that of the woman in the sitcom. She was so excited that after the excitement had faded, she had to ask to make sure that I was accepting the offer :D .

I felt relief, this was a day before my birthday, I could not have asked for a better birthday present. All this weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I finally had a closing chapter for the job hunt. I had a job which I received the following comments;

I’m glad you did not settle for something mediocre just to end the search.
What a great role you have – well worth the wait!
It was always in the cards. :-?

So how did I land that job?

  1. A failed job opportunity which leads me to start social networking.
  2. Finding a conference that had a presenter who had connections to ex-colleagues.
  3. Winning My Personal Brand so I would have something to post about in my groups.
  4. People reaching out to me after my first posting in groups.
  5. Communicating with those who have reached out to me.
  6. Having one of these people convince me that I could write and people would be interested in what was coming out of my head. My blog is born.
  7. Reaching out to others who had connections to ex-colleagues.
  8. A failed job opportunity that leads me to start writing about data analytics, showing that there was something in my brain other than my “fluffy stuff”.
  9. Having many group managers reach out to me and give direction, the ongoing support from my connections and followers which keeps me upbeat and the blog continuing throughout this very awful period ;-) .
  10. One of these people has worked with an ex-colleague who has given me a recommendation.
  11. This person opens the doors for me at Cisco.

My journey has been very long and difficult. I pulled through with a lot of help from people who reached out to me, people who came from nowhere to encourage me in my quest. I have been blessed and am very grateful to be touched by so many selfless people. Thank you. 

How is my job at Cisco? I have only been here for about a month and has taken time to settle in. Most of my team, including manager, and the people I deal with on a daily basis are not in Australia. There is a lot to learn and I am very excited about the global projects I am working on. Though global does mean we have to share the hours, I had a 2 hour call the other night that started at 11pm or the early evening meetings with the Europeans and my lunch time meetings with the Asians. But is certainly better than the endless interviews I went to over the past 16 months or so.

Is this the end of my story? Definitely not! I still have a continuing social media story to tell ;-) . I will be taking a break from The Story to concentrate on my Data Analytics and being a business analyst.

Thank you! Thank you! To everybody who has been reading my story to find that job. I hope the story will continue to be read by others looking for work and inspire them to think differently about their personal brand. The image you perceive to others, those you have worked with and those you want to work with, is important if you want to stand out from all the other candidates and have people approach you with opportunities. Building a personal brand is like any brand image, not only glossy but must also have substance and quality.

Good luck if you are looking for work. To others, I hope that you also think about your own personal brand. Not that I would wish unemployment on anybody but you don’t know what is going to happen next. Our destinies’ are controlled by what is happening in the global sphere, our disasters – the natural ones and our many, many man made ones.

I hope you will continue to follow The Story when I start again after my break. Until then…A BIG CHEERS!!! :-D

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The Search

2 May, 2010 in The Story | 19 comments

Over the past months you have been reading about my journey through social networking, social media and creating an Online Presence to find that job. But how did I get that job using this medium that everybody is talking about, social networking. Is there anything to all this hype?  Believe the hype, social networking does work. I was a non-believer but now a true believer of social networking. This is my story of finding that job, which includes the “real world crap” as quoted in the thread, My Personal Brand, by my friend, Ken. Be warned, some of it does get ugly but in the real world, nothing is ever as pretty as it seems :roll: .

There I was unemployed with GFC in full flight. I had no choice but to social network as I had been told it was the only way to find work through these tough economic times.  I have to tell everybody I know that I am looking for work so people can help me. I join LinkedIn, The Story Begins… and win my personal brand advertisement at JobCAMP.  

I received one direct interview, with a recruitment agency, from the ad. This was extremely disappointing especially after all the hype at JobCAMP. The recruiter, who interviewed me was “let go” a week after, due to the GFC. He has since called and met with me again with another opportunity but did not eventuate.

The response could have been due to a couple of factors. The ad placement, it was great that I got such a high profile spot in the newspaper and the job boards but don’t believe they were the right places as these are places where job seekers are looking and not potential employees. I was looking for work, I believe placement in the Business section of the newspaper or the Executive Style section of the website would have been a better choice. An Australian connection, living overseas, had trouble recalling the ad then the posting of My Personal Brand he recalled it but thought it had been misplaced and ignored it :-( . The other reason of course was that we were in the middle of the GFC.

It was really quiet for weeks. I was forced to start blogging, I had my hands tired behind my back, I had no choice as there was nothing else to do. It was a real struggle starting and continuing the blog during this time. I was also talking to a lot of recruiters who were not allowed to use social networks to find candidates or even knew what a blog was, like me at the beginning. Very disheartening, this is when I nearly stopped blogging, Becoming a Blogger.

I keep on doing what I learnt a JobCAMP, keep networking. So I do. We were told that “every connection is a good connection”.  I start surfing my network, reaching out to people I believe maybe able to help me in my quest. Though at the time I was getting confused at who I was surfing for? Connections to understand social media in more depth, other social networkers, connections who share many, many of my connections, recruiters and more recruiters, and accepting every invitation that was sent to me.

After networking for the past 12 months, I believe that this statement is only true for some and not for others. I do not believe that every connection I have made has brought me the benefits that social networking has to bring. Only unwanted invitations onto networks that have no association with being a business analyst or related work, or recruiters that do not live in Australia or those who do not want to learn from my experiences, which is always disappointing and many hanger-on-er’s.

I received many interviews with recruiters who in turn did not return calls after the interview. Even though during the interview they were very enthusiastic about meeting and future prospects they had for me. One recruitment company had very stringent rules with the handling of their candidates. I ended up with a recruiter from the public sector. She knew it was not right but she did try to help me and did go to at least one interview, though I did get a rant out of it :oops: . In general, the recruiters were very good, they are trying to do the best they can do in very hard situations and some I developed a great rapport with.

So many consulting companies that I lost count, some short term, some long term contracts and even some full time work but…

  1. the firm would not get the contract so I would not get the job
  2. I am a data analytics BA not an IT BA, so many times…
  3. worked too much corporate, and one basically said I would a princess and would not know how to work in a small firm, maybe a little bit true, only sometimes, but is expected in corporate life, :-?  and,
  4. many that did not suit me.

I also received opportunities from some corporates, through them searching their networks. One had done all reference checks before they contacted me with an interview. Went to the interview, but you know when you step into an interview and you know and they know. Forty minute interview, with an answer at the 30min mark but the HR person had not looked at my blog at all, even though the other that reached out to me looked at my profile :-| .

Before my journey began, I was hitting the job boards. Everything and anything, one of these was a role I did not have enough experience but my resume was passed onto another recruiter in this very large recruiting agency. This recruiter became one of my best leads. I never met her and we spoke on a very regular basis, I did eventually meet with one of her colleagues but the opportunity did not eventuate. Every opportunity she had, was passed onto me, some did not suit but she sent me to interviews.

One of these was an interview with a very large Japanese company. They did not give me any notice. The recruiter rang in the late afternoon, with a one paragraph JD and 2 interviews the next day. The first with the C-Level and the next with the hiring manager in 2 suburbs, not close by.

I was not prepared. After the interviews, I believe the hiring manger liked me but the C-level did not. I did not have my left-of-centre personality out there, I was very conservative and also very nervous. Though, after 2½ hrs of interviews, I was very excited about the opportunity. But in the end, I did not receive any feedback. The recruiter rang so many times to reach the HR people but no response at all. That is just so poor.

So how do I get their attention? I know it was not me in the interviews. My first thought was to use my network to try and reach out to this C-level. I received some feedback from my network but it didn’t work. I have a blog, I can show them what I can do. Operations Dashboard for a Matrix Organisation was born, my first theoretical data analytics post.

The response from my data analytics posts has been well received and continues to appear in search engines. With these analytics posts, I received offers to speak overseas, in Asia and the US, at conferences and training programs. They would list out the people that had previously spoken at these events and I was extremely flattered that they would consider me in that league. I would write back to these people and received an offer from one of these events. It did put a smile on my face, in times when I would say was one of my low moments.

My recruiter was very pleased that I had gone to the effort to write the post and said no other candidate she had come across had written a post for an opportunity. She had tried to contact the HR person but no response, she contacted the C-level directly, and again no response.

Time lapses, I had an interview with a consulting company, they really wanted to hire me but did not have a role for me. The consultant said I would not have liked the culture of the Japanese company, the left-of-centre in me, so no great loss but it certainly didn’t feel like it at the time.

Sigh… :cry:

  

Next post in The Story -> Landing that Job

 

 

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Stating the Obvious

8 October, 2009 in Rant | No comments

What is it with junk mail and spamming? They fill our mail boxes full of rubbish, they may think it is not rubbish but with the amount we receive daily it all becomes rubbish as there is so much to sort through.

Our poor letter boxes sitting outside our homes or stacked up in towers in front of an apartment blocks. These letter box droppers continually ram paper into the boxes to the extent the letter box looks like it has bitten off more than it can chew so you have dig through the mail to find your the real stuff, usually bills :-| . Or when you see the letter box droppers walking along streets with terraces and their tiny front porches or gardens not even bothering to put the junk into the box but just to walk pass and throw it into their areas which becomes rubbish.

My letter box in the past 2 days, this would be a smaller sample than any other week as we are currently in school holidays. Two department store catalogues, 5 menus, 4 real estate pamphlets, 2 cleaning services, 1 medical centre, 1 hotel, and the local paper, approximately weighing 250gms. I am not working so I have no use for any, other than the local paper. I am one apartment in 2 blocks with over 200 mailboxes, there are also another 4 smaller blocks in the area. How much paper is that just for one area in a suburb? My suburb is high density living, we are looking at lots of letter boxes. How many trees and how much of that goes into the recycle bin?

Since I have been networking I have been able to avoid spammers. Then I started blogging. Initially it was only a few a week and I could handle it, then I added a plug-in into the site to filter the spam but it made it worse I was receiving about 20 a day. I unplugged the plug-in and the spamming slowed again but not back at the levels it was at in the beginning. This continues for a couple of weeks, there are always 2 common links and email. But then it starts getting worse. So I decide to blacklist these sites and email addresses, the ones I had received that day. As I was doing this I was hit by a bot, I had heard about bots some sort of spamming thing. Then I see email coming in, over 30 spam’s all containing more than 2 different URL’s and 1 email address, not one word made any sense, all just gibberish, all received in less than a minute.

Find another plug-in, quickly. Oh… Is that why you have to put in a code for comments? To stop bots. In the time it took me to install the plug-in I received another 15 emails. Majority of all spamming starts at 10pm Sydney time and continues through the morning but then stops and starts up again at 10pm. I had caught this bot at 11pm, imagine what I would have woken up to if I did not put the plug-in. Computer time, bandwidth, generation of email accounts, URL’s, power, time retrieving and deleting and now additional plug-ins to protect yourself from spam. What do spammers expect to achieve?

This junk that fills our letter/mail boxes must employee many people, letter box droppers, printers, marketing, designers of all sorts from graphic to web and writers. We have a businesses based on annoying people. The return must be beneficial to these companies otherwise it would not be done. But what a waste of resources and the carbon footprint left from these activities.

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The Campaign

22 September, 2009 in The Story | 8 comments

It is Friday evening and I am feeling very anxious. I had been an extremely private person in the past and was very reluctant in the beginning to even join LinkedIn and now I was having a complete campaign focused on my personal brand. :-?

I start uploading all my stuff on to my profile. My new head shot, new headliner, my personal brand and my resume has been summarised into my LinkedIn profile.

Now I am ready to post a new discussion on all my group boards. You can imagine how nervous I was feeling. I was already overwhelmed with the response to my original discussion and now the whole campaign was going to be there for all to see. My stomach was churning. You know what I really wanted to do was to turn the clock back and be a vegetable about the whole situation but no chance of that happening. You can see how my brain was not functioning correctly through this blog and all the emoticons.

My discussion announcing the launch of the campaign.

Over the past few days some of you would have seen my discussion on personal branding. Is it going to work? Will I have a career self destructing moment like an Australian football star? Will I get my 15 minutes like the British lady on a reality talent show? Or will I float away like a leaf in the autumn breeze?

You be the judge.

Tomorrow, 23rd May, there will be 2 campaigns running concurrently.

1. Paper campaign. There will be an ad in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald, general news section.

2. Digital media campaign. From Saturday through to Monday (local Sydney time), the campaign will be on the home page of www.MyCareer.com.au

I would like thank Job Camp, ‘Getting Australia Working” for inspiring me to think differently about my career and work, The Face Euro RSCG for the campaign and to the sponsors MyCareer.com.au.

And thank you to all who have taken an interest in my campaign.

Please check out my campaign, “Check with Chan”.

The online campaign was to begin at midnight which means the rest of the world is still awake or even just starting their day. I wake in the morning and head to the corner shop for the weekend paper. I am excited wondering what the campaign looks like in the paper and the placement of the ad. This is the whole of the SMH page 4 for the 23rd May. The young man says, “This is only the beginning, you will be on page 1″, yeah right :-| .

The email inbox is next. I am not overwhelmed there are a few comments on my discussions and they were all new people, nobody from my previous discussion. I start getting emails, text messages from my friends, a couple of recruiters and a call from one very excited gentleman from our southern highlands who was very animated about the ad in the paper. I now had 2 online ads, a paper ad and my online discussions but compared to the posting of my first discussion the response was quiet.

Saturday passes, Sunday comes along, something is not right but I don’t know what. I feel like I am floating away like a leaf in the autumn breeze. Sitting, waiting, waiting for something to happen. It is late Sunday afternoon, then, it all of a sudden dawns upon me, OMG! 8O I know it was the dumbest thing I have done since being on my journey. You know when they talk about people talking to themselves, well, the swear words just flowed. I could not believe want I had done. I had deleted the first discussion! So all those people following my discussions were all gone! :x

I don’t know what was in my head when I was deleting the original discussion. I had stopped at one stage but thought ‘why do I need this first discussion?’ I did not think about when I posted my first failed comment I received email for comments following mine. What was I going to do! :cry: I pace and pace and pace then I realise I have the LinkedIn emails from those who posted or wrote to me offline, I can save some :| .

I spent Sunday night sending a personal LinkedIn note to all those who posted a comment or sent me a thread offline. The following grovelling personalised email was sent to everybody.

I must apologise for deleting my initial discussion. It was very rude of me especially when you had taken an interest and had gone into the effort to write something on my discussion.

I am very new to networking no MySpace, Facebook, Twitter or anything else like that. LinkedIn is the first network group I have joined and only since the end of March. But have now realised the benefits of connecting.

I did not realise the payback of adding onto my original discussion and how it would always be on top if there was enough interest, hits or comments.

So please accept my apology and I hope you still get a chance to catch my campaign at www.mycareer.com.au , homepage, the ad is in an advertisement box on the right hand side, the ad may take a bit of time to stream through.

I would love your feedback and thank you for taking an interest in my campaign.

Since the campaign was running until Monday midnight (it was only extended a further 24hrs on Monday), many people would not see the note until after it had finished. So I had a strategy, if they answered and saw the online ad, they got a generic invitation and then a thank you note afterwards.

Then there were those who answered after the online ad ended. I sent them a following note but it was even more personalised with their name in the middle of the paragraph and a generic invitation to my network. I start copying, pasting, send the notes and then the invitations to my network. Copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, then I realise I have personalised the note in the middle as well. So all these people are getting notes with the name ‘Tim’ in the middle of the paragraph :oops: . So I have to send another apologetic note, saying this is what happens when you do a copy and paste.

Out of all the notes I sent, only 2 did not accept my invitation. I realise now I should have sent a personalised invitation after they answered but because I was new, everybody answered my note accepted my invitation. How do I know this? I was told by many. But since then I have accepted many generic invitations myself, I believe in expanding my professional network and sharing my network with others. Though I do like the personalised invitations, it does make one remember who one is. :-)

I have sort of saved the connections that I have reached out to through my discussions. But where are the people wanting to hire? Was it because I stuffed up the original discussion note. This should not be a reason as the original campaign was only based on the local paper advertisement. The week begins and I get further feedback from those who saw the ad in the paper. I also have a couple of interviews with recruiters but none with direct leads :-| .

What I do find out though, much later, like weeks and weeks, is that people have written about the campaign. This is what happens when you google your name which I had not done until well after the campaign launch. Mentions in comments on other blogs, and the following and surprising links about the campaign.

 
Bandt.com – cutting edge, must read news that the advertising and marketing professional cannot live without, Jobseeker becomes the brand, on page 3.

Turning Leaf Blog, Fantastic Marketing – Of A Person!

My friend, Dr Nancy Dailey, Bragging Rights, Women and Personal Branding, where I also receive a mention in the Future Women Leaders blog. :?

 
From my friends at JobCAMP :

Raz Chorev, JobCAMP supervisor, Check With Chan – Personal Branding Campaign;

Luke Harvey-Palmer, JobCAMP creator, JobCAMP WIN a Personal Brand Campaign;

The Face, which I only found today, the Check with Chan campaign including complete Sydney Morning Herald advertisement and placement.

 
Notice I have not commented on any of the blogs or any others where I should have to get more coverage. I didn’t know how to. Not like I didn’t know how to type in the square. It was that fact that I had never encountered web 2.0 and just didn’t know what do to. Like what I did with my first discussions :-? .

Time passes, I have learnt from my faux pas and I am still working my network. I have my coverage with the help of my JobCAMP family, I have my growing connections and I have many interviews but no job. I arrive at another, ‘But what now?’ point.

 

Next post in The Story -> Online Presence

 

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My Personal Brand

12 September, 2009 in The Story, Web 2.0 tips | 14 comments

My personal brand has been made so much easier with the help of many people. I have to say a big thank you to The Face for producing a fantastic campaign, to Raz Chorev, My Personal Marketer, for all his support, to Louise Pope and Kim Seeling-Smith for pointing me in the right direction and a ‘Big Cheers’, :-) , to my colleagues and friends for all their support and feedback over the years otherwise there would be no personal brand for the Business Analyst.

My personal brand has slightly changed since JobCAMP as I have been discovering the BA but that is all part of the journey.

My Personal Brand…

1. Headliner
Who am I? What is the first thing I want people to think about me? True to me so my friends and colleagues can automatically identify as Colleen Chan. My second attempt at the headliner was again a very poor effort as noted by the same person who mentioned it the first time, :-| . The headliner is the attention grabber as recruiters scan through many profiles of potential candidates.

Colleen Chan, ‘Colleen’ in Irish means girl then ‘Chan’, Chinese. People who meet me for the first time or I know as a connection, ask how long have I been in the country and where I am from originally. If they have only heard my voice over the phone, then I am Anglo-Saxon with a strange surname or I did not keep my maiden name. This happens often, doesn’t matter who or which continent, it puts a smile on my face. I am unexpected.

One of the hardest myths to overcome is the stereotype of a boring Business Analyst sitting in front of a computer looking at their numbers or being pedantic about some process flow. When recruiters advertise for roles they ask for personality, interpersonal skills and you have to put that through a cover letter and resume. I have a very Australian sense of humour and I like to share my thoughts and sometimes it puts a smile on a face. I like telling stories like this one I am sharing now. Experiences are there to be shared so we all can learn and funny ones are there so we can have a smile.

Raz, introduced me as the Business Analyst with a Difference to his twitter followers.

So here I am,

Business Analyst with a Difference.

2. Elevator Pitch
The one statement that describes what I can do for a business.

I can measure and understand an organisation’s ambiguous and complex data so they can make concise decisions for the business.

This statement is not seen on my profile but if I had only a brief moment to impress somebody, what would I say to them so they would not forget me.

3. Target Audience
Who do I want to work for? I think back at the jobs in the past and find the people I enjoyed working for were C-level executives. I learnt from these people and discovered different views that allowed me to understand the business and added to my knowledge base making me more qualified for my job.

I have a unique career DNA, statistician meets business analyst. This means I am the go-to person for C-level executives who need data transformed into insightful advice right across their business.

What makes me stand out? I have a “Unique Career DNA” as I am a statistician with post graduate education in accounting & finance and have a good business acumen working in the corporate environment.

What can I do for them? “Insightful advice right across your business.” I provide quality information for decisions to be made in all areas of the business.

4. Sell items
Why would a company want to hire me? Will I fit into their organisational culture? The people that know me should be able to see the person they work with on a day to day basis in my personal brand. How do these people perceive me? When I have been given a problem, my conclusions and approach to my work?

I’m a logical thinker and have a heightened awareness. I’m about details and am results driven. I’m smart, confident, nice and personable. My style maybe a bit left-of-centre but I am great to be around and you’ll really like working with me!

How do I consider a problem? “I’m a logical thinker and have a heightened awareness”. As a business analyst I have to understand the data flows where the data begins and where data flows intercept. The end point of the data flow is management where I have to understand the decision they are trying to achieve.

My conclusions are “about details and results driven”. Decisions can be made through the data with the knowledge the analysis can be understood and is motivated to attain business goals.

How do I deliver my work? “I’m smart, confident, nice and personable”. I am an Excel master with a ”Unique Career DNA”, I am logical and detailed so I am confident of my conclusions, I am nice and personable as I am approachable and modest when understanding or explaining the data.

How do my colleagues perceive me as a work mate? “A bit left-of-centre but I am great to be around and you’ll really like working with me!” I am not a typical business analyst but my traits are not a reflection of my work or who I am, you will enjoy working with me.

5. Creative Proposition
What can I do for your business?

I can take complex problems and make them simple. I can understand and measure the ambiguous!

Data problems may come from any number of sources, not digestible in its current format and appears to have no solution. I can take the ambiguity out of the data so precise decisions can be made.

6. Creative work
Why should your business have me as a part your team?

I am a visual person so I can take all kinds of complex data and make it understandable not only to financial people but to everyone in the business. That makes me a critical part of every decision making process.

In fact, no organisation should do business until they…Check with Chan

I have worked in many areas over my career and many different people with different types of education, engineers, accountants, sales and even doctors so everybody has been taught differently how they perceive the numbers. I can visualise the data in all aspects of the business so everybody can understand, that is why nobody should make a decision until they… ;-)

7. Check with Chan
The online campaign would click through to the full page ad which was also the one that appeared on page 4, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 23rd May. The online campaign ran from midnight Friday night to midnight Tuesday night on the home pages of MyCareer.com.au and TheBigChair.com.au

Check with Chan

8. Is it Me?
Can I achieve all that I have stated above? Do I have the personality that is expressed in my personal brand? My resume, my profile on LinkedIn, my connections and the recommendations I have from my colleagues prove my experience and who I am.

Am I bragging? Yeah, I’m bragging, :-o . But I have to demonstrate I am the best candidate. My personal brand has to describe who I am, what I have accomplished and what I can accomplish. I am competing against other candidates.

My Personal Brand is an important part of my identity. I must be able to maintain my identity not only to find work and at work but also my friends and my connections must be able to identify with me.

But now I am an occasional blogger and not just a business analyst, :-| . There are two “About” pages, a page for the business analyst, which is why I am here, to find a job for the BA and a page for the blogger with a different profile picture. Hmm… I am sure my personal brand will change over time as my journey into web 2.0 continues. I know if I keep real and true to my personal brand then I will continue to enjoy my social networking experience and all that it has brought me :-) .

 

Next post in The Story -> The Campaign

 

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The Campaign Begins

2 September, 2009 in The Story, Web 2.0 tips | 2 comments

I’m getting ready for my week ahead, listing all the things that have to be done.

  1. My headliner has to be changed.
  2. Daily status updates on my LinkedIn profile.
  3. New head shot as my profile photo was the only recent one I had and had been cut out from a distant sisters’ shot. (Thanks Jai for sneakily taking that photo at Chinese New Year otherwise I would have had none).
  4. Posting discussions on all my group boards.
  5. My Personal Brand.

1.  Headliner
Currently my headliner is boring, Business Analyst seeking Opportunities. I have to make the title so it attracts people to my profile. I take slices out of the introduction that The Face had produced for the advertisement. “Analyst, can take complex problems and data, making them understandable to financial people and to everyone in the business”.

2. Daily Status Updates
I can be a very talkative person but I am not the type of person who is likely to tell all my connections what I am doing on a daily basis. It is to remind my connections that I am around and something is about to happen. So I do daily update status reminding my connections I have won a personal branding campaign and that it will be launched on Saturday in the SMH.

3. Profile Photo
Isn’t it always the way it goes. I am so stressed about the campaign I have a giant pimple in the middle of my cheek! I can’t even remember the last time I had a pimple on my face and it has to come up the only time when I don’t want one to! Photographer, Paul Kennedy, whom I met at JobCAMP, made the session fun. I usually feel very self conscious when posing for photos but we had laughable moments. Ok, I admit to photoshop but only the pimple was removed and now longer exists :-) . Paul would not photoshop anything else as he said it would take the character out of the photo. Oh, so I can’t remove the bags under my eyes and my freckles… ok… :-(

4. Group Discussion Boards
I’m ready to be a content creator, not really. Then I realise there is only an ad in the local paper therefore only the essence of the personal brand campaign will be in my LinkedIn profile and not the complete campaign with the ad. Thought I could get away with it but it was confirmed that MyCareer.com.au who were sponsoring the ad were also going to include an online campaign on their homepage and the homepage of TheBigChair.com.au.

Now I have to create a discussion. I am very scared. I see all the discussions on the group boards, sometimes the discussions get heated and sometimes there are no comments at all. What do I write about so I can get people’s attention and not be beleaguered or left feeling unnoticed.

Below, my very first posting on a discussion board.

Personal Branding. What is it? How does it apply to me?

These are the exact questions that have been haunting me since the GFC. All the recruiters are talking about it, now it is not good enough just to have a good resume but now you need a Personal Brand! But how?

So off I headed to JobCamp, “Getting Australia Working”. JobCamp is the idea of Luke Harvey-Palmer, to inspire people to think differently when it comes to career and work.

The conference was fantastic with speakers including Iggy Pintado, author of “Connection Generation”, Laurel Papworth also known as SilkCharm and the most connected in AP, Stan Relihan.

So what does this all have to do with personal branding? I won my own personal branding campaign by The Face!

So how will The Face give someone in my line of work a personal brand? My job title isn’t the most exciting job title in the world, business analyst.

To see what The Face can do for my personal brand stay tuned, my campaign will begin on the 23rd May.

I was overwhelmed by the response. I received at least one comment online or offline from each group and more than 5 in some, some 50 responses. I had never posted anything on the internet before and did not know what to do with it all. Comments were all very heartening, with good advice, requiring deep thought, asking friends and knowing oneself. I had not thought about my personal brand other than the flurry at JobCAMP. I replied the best I could and very poorly at that, I know now.

There were 2 comments that stood out though. One person sent me a link to Gary Vaynerchuk, Building Personal Brand within the Social Media Landscape at the Web 2.0 Expo. First thing I thought was check out his last name out I am never going to forget that. I watch the video and was left in awe with his enthusiasm, he was so passionate about personal branding and building a business with a good brand. I do occasional go back to watch this video when I need some inspiration.

The other comment mentioned my headliner which was my first attempt at my personal brand. Hmmm, first attempt not very successful :-(   The person said the title appeared as if I was bragging that I was smarter than management as I could talk to everybody in the business about their business. This is not what I am like at all and actually had a chuckle when I read the comment. I can understand the numbers for you to make the right decisions for your business. Have to redo my headliner before the launch. I suppose without the rest of the personal branding, it didn’t work.

Last thing to do before the launch is My Personal Brand…

 

Next post in The Story -> My Personal Brand

 

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JobCAMP

25 August, 2009 in The Story, Web 2.0 tips | 5 comments

It was the morning of JobCAMP, a beautiful autumnal day in Sydney, the sun was out and the sky was clear and crisp. I arrive at Luna Park, the big smiling face under the iconic Harbour Bridge. The conference room over look’s the harbour water across at the Sydney Opera House. I could not think of anything more invigorating. It was disappointing the rest of the unemployed in Sydney did not feel the same way. There were a handful of people who made the effort to get out of bed at such an early hour to learn something new.

JobCAMP was the idea of Luke Harvey-Palmer, to inspire people to think differently when it comes to career and work. I wanted to learn how to think differently as my current methods were not getting anyway with my job search. He asks “Who has a profile in Plaxo, Friendster, in a blog…?” Who? What? Where? …the list goes on. LinkedIn, finally I get to put my hand up. Have I been missing out on something?

Adam Shay from The Face, steps up to speak about personal branding and to announce the winner of the prize, me. Luke also adds that I was the only one who sent anything in. My first thought was opportunity lost but my opportunity gained. I was surprised no one else wanted to take this opportunity in their hand. Maybe the thought of a half page ad in the Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) had put people off.

So there I am in front of a group of strangers and most are used to talking in front of other strangers. Yeah, I’m feeling really comfortable, not. And I have to talk about myself…

First question, “What type of working environment appeals to you?” I think back to the organisations I enjoyed working for. They would have to be like myself with their work values. The friendships I built while I was working in these environments are enduring. LinkedIn connections, which organisations had I connected the most with.

Next, “5 things your colleagues would say about you?” It’s not everyday you go around asking your colleagues what they think of you, you don’t know what you might get back! I had my recommendations to fall back on and they were all very nice, lucky. I had feedback from my agent, career consultant, interviews and those comments your colleagues make off handily.

Next…, “What can you do for the organisation?” This was the hardest question. I know what I do but it is translating my numbers into words. When I search for job advertisements, what do I look for, what words have to be on the advertisement for me to apply for the role?

It was the end, finally. Adam asks, “Did Colleen sound obnoxious?” No, everybody agrees. Phew… Maybe because I was nearly peeing myself like my nephew the day before.

What I learnt at the 2 days at JobCAMP, speakers: Every connection is a good connection, Keep on moving, Give to get – random acts of kindness, Machine cannot replace man in all situations, eg, my hairdresser and from Heidi Dening, personal health, do anything for 21 days and it becomes a habit. To rid yourself of a habit, don’t do it for 21 days.

Most importantly, I learnt I needed to change my banner title to something that stands out from the crowd. I had “Business Analyst seeking Opportunities”. No. A potential employee will see that I am looking for work in my current work status. Another part of my personal branding that must be included in my profile.

The last speaker of the 2 days was introduced as Social Networks Strategist. (Who? What?) Australia’s top blogger had been blogging before it was ‘hip’ to blog and global power150 blogger, Laurel Papworth, also known as SilkCharm. The first thing I thought was blog? The only blogs I had read were on the news sites and all they did was rant about something boring. What could one write about for all those years? I was soon to learn that there is more to blogging than ranting.

After the 2 days my head is a buzz with all the new information. The personal branding campaign is all go ahead with the ad going into the SMH the following Saturday. I have a week to prepare and do what I said I would in my initial competition story.

 

Next post in The Story -> The Campaign Begins

 

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After Sales Service…

22 August, 2009 in Rant | 6 comments

What has happened to Customer service? Has it disappeared forever? Is it because we rely so much on companies for their services that they can treat their customers with no respect?

I am adverse at using customer service centre for any issues. When you get to the point of needing to use customer service it is a problem you cannot solve by yourself so you want help. But they will give you more anxiety than the initial problem. I have not had one positive customer service experience in the recent past.

Is there anybody real out there? Companies are using computer generated questionnaires to try and solve our problems. You answer a series of questions, “yes”, “no”, “I don’t know”, “when”, “what date”, “what time”…..and the list goes on. You submit your questionnaire. “Was this helpful?” No. Can I write a comment? No. You get a reply that the questionnaire needed more details. You re-do your questionnaire and re-submit. You get a reply saying the issue has been cleared but it has not. Re-do questionnaire, re-submit and still no resolution. “Was this helpful?” No, Can I write a comment? No.

Companies have one contact phone number then you have to speak to a computer for the service you require. “What was it you said”, “I did not understand you”, “Please repeat again”, “What is your inquiry?” When you finally get through to a person, they cannot solve the problem and pass you onto somebody else. This is maybe due to miscommunication or the computer directing to the wrong service area. Recently, after the computer had connected me to a person, I was transferred to 4 customer service reps. After explaining the problem on all 4 occasions, the last one wanted to transfer me back to the first one. This occurred in a single call.

This rant was not generated by the previous issues. It was a bank. Human error that could not be explained which in turn caused a chain reaction in my accounts within the bank. You have one end of the bank kow-towing for their error and the other end chasing you being extremely rude asking why automatic payments have not been made!

We would all like to leave our service providers. But we cannot as we are all so time poor. It costs us financially and mentally to transfer their income. Something is wrong!

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First Impressions

3 August, 2009 in The Story | No comments

Personal Branding, I know corporate branding, Coca-cola specialist in FMCG, IBM – corporate computer solutions, Disney – family entertainment. Colleen Chan – Business Analyst, brand? Hmmm….

I began with my story, the number of connections I had made and how many groups I had joined. Being a statistician the story was based on the number of 2nd and 3rd degree connections, the locations and the industries. I was pretty proud of my networking efforts for somebody who had never networked before with my 60, 1st degree connections.

One day while I was surfing my network I found Barrack Obama’s profile then realised he was 3rd degrees away from me. I thought that was pretty exciting so I include this in my story. My exhilaration was let down at the conference when I heard that Barrack has many, many, many 1st degree connections so is not that tough to achieve but now I am only 2nd degrees away.

During this time my mother was rushed to the emergency rooms so no time to write. I start thinking about why I should win the prize. The campaign ad was let The Face sex-up your brand. Sex-up a business analyst, how are they going to achieve that. Business analysts are known as one of the most boring people, they look at their spreadsheets all day. Make me sexy, right.

I had found a role in LinkedIn jobs but could not apply as it was not feasible. I had all the experience and knowledge but believed my profile did not show my full potential to accomplish this role. How could a personal brand help me reach my goal? I just could not understand how they could brand me, other than with a soldering iron and a logo on my forehead. I have more questions than answers while I was thinking about what to write. Though, I did remember that I would be posting discussions on all my group boards if I won the prize.

It was the day before JobCAMP. I had to pick up my nephew from school and take him to my parents place. Ok, I still have time to get back and finish my words. When we get there, the little one comes running out expecting his mother and there are tears. I pick him up and sit on the lounge. The older one points to the ground and says the little one has done a wee wee. I get up, look down at my jeans and there is a stream of wee going down my leg! Can’t leave now, I have to wait until my sister gets back. Mum has recovered but not to look after a crying child. Eventually I sent my story in late that night. I mean, who works 9 to 5, I certainly hadn’t for many years.

JobCAMP, camping in a tent means casual and it does say casual but I was going to be networking, so smart casual. Smart casual is too hard so a suit, much easier.

I’m ready for JobCAMP. The only thing was to make sure I get there on time. Registration time was at 7am for 7.30am start. That means my alarm has to go off at 5am! I am just not a morning person at all and I have been unemployed so there is no rush in the mornings. Just hope that alarm screams at me in the morning.

 

Next post in The Story -> JobCamp

 

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Being Proactive

27 July, 2009 in The Story | No comments

I had been in LinkedIn for about a month and was getting very disheartened by it all. I had dug into the deep, dark recesses of my brain to remember names from the past. Oh, I remember that person, they were really nice. What was their last name? How do I spell it? I had maxed out my connections at 60.

My career consultant suggests I start being active in my discussion groups. Discussion groups? That means I have to write, I’m a numbers person, I don’t write. I couldn’t even do my own resume and that is about me. How was I going to participate in discussion groups? So I start scouring my groups for a topic I could write about. I search and search, I find topics from statistics, IT processes to personal development and so many acronyms but nothing that I could write about. I know I was just avoiding the writing.

I finally find a topic I could understand ‘Non – IT Projects’. I am a non-IT BA so I’ll put up a comment. I started my comment by saying this was the first ever comment I had posted on a discussion board, I think I was doing the ‘please be kind’. I did not answer the question, I answered the question relating to my previous role which was not project driven. Over excitement about the topic.

Great, the first comment I post has made me look silly! Oh well, its all out there in ether land and nobody has said I didn’t answer the question. Phew! Then somebody answers my comment privately, they actually took notice of what I had to say and had sent me an invitation to join their network! Wow, my first outside network connection. We continued the discussion offline and agreed that we agreed.

I recently wrote to this connection asking why they had sent me the invitation even though I had not answered the question. The reasoning was my “jump in and splash approach” in a “normative behaviour surrounding it”. The approach was similar to themselves, whom they hadn’t thought about for 20 years. They had also told me they had been following along (the campaign) as a lurker. Every connect can bring a smile to your face whether just as a connection or in general conversation.

Elbow on table, head on hand, I scour some more. There in the corner advertising box is a conference ‘JobCamp – Getting Australia Working’, Win Personal Branding Campaign. Let’s look at the speakers, the only speaker I knew was Iggy Pintado, author of the Connection Generation, we had more than 10 shared connections, through colleagues in my previous role but we did not know each other. Conferences, expensive, price $495 but due to the Global Financial Crisis nominal contribution. Ok, this sounds good, This will be a good chance to meet with a shared connection, allow me to network with more people and be able to create my own discussion for my groups if I can win the prize.

I have registered for the conference, now I have to put something together to try and win the prize. Personal branding, I had been hearing about it since I had been out of work but what was it and what could I say to win the prize? I had to write again! What was I going to write about!!??

 

Next post in The Story -> First Impressions

 

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