Hail "the Green Movement"

Seeking jobs of the futures in trades and in other occupations? Then, look to those occupations that embrace “the green economy”.

We can now see a strong movement toward creating environmentally sustainable energy sources.

Yes, you can meld a strong economy with a healthy environment- they can coexist quite well with strategic planning and collaboration from all parties and stakeholders.

In the field of trades, the green movement will open up a lot of jobs for electricians, iron and steel workers, construction workers, and sheet metal workers.

The Future is Green

On October 20th, 2008, I attended the Toronto Small Business Forum 2008 at the Delta Chelsea Hotel that featured renowned key note speakers and their presentations, such as Laurie Simmonds’ “ Green Enterprise”- President of Green Living Enterprises, and “Lessons Learned from Building a Green Business by Tom Heintzman- President of Bullfrog Power, stressing the global concern for environmental issues and eco-friendly products.

The emergence of” green marketing”, and “green businesses and enterprise” was indeed a prevalent theme for this year’s Forum. It seems that “ green” is now the primary foundation colour for building any current and future successful career and business venture.

The Future is Now

No one can accurately or consistently predict the future. That said, it is important ,like Richard Worzel- known as “The Futurist “(futurist@futuresearch.com), recommends that you have plan B and even C ready to be implemented, especially when it comes to your career.

For instance, whether we like to acknowledge it or not, the Canadian economy is affected by the American one- more than 70 % of Canadian Trade is with the US and so our economy is very much interconnected .

With respect to career planning, it is best to use scenario planning in order to have Plan B, and C ready to go , if necessary. Use different scenarios based on your research and development, and professional network and memberships to help design your career plan strategies. This is one way of being “ proactively creative” in a very difficult market place..

List all your skills and competencies and see how they can be transferred to different fields. You will quite impressed to know that your skills can fit in with many other professional fields, particularly if you have to change fields due a layoff or a restructuring process.

Personally, to maintain “the future is now” mentality, I try to keep up on the trends -looking for declining sectors and future areas of growth by watching the channel- CP24, reading the online version and e-updates from the Canadian Business magazine ,Business Week, Globe and Mail, and Macleans.

Watching the Business News Network or subscribing to their e-newsletter/updates can also keep you in the “know”. You can also subscribe to the e-updates/ newsletter for Money Sense, and Profit magazines that can get you up -to -speed with what is happening in the economic world.. Other sites like Statistics Canada and Manpower can give you current information on various sectors and demographics for doing your scenario planning.

Successful Interview Planning

This week, I thought I would return to my thoughts on interviews and tips for preparation.


Successful interview planning is marketing put into practice based on the market research of the companies/ organizations you want to work for , and their needs and wants by doing an in-depth analysis of such needs and wants, and of how to meet those needs to impress them.

The principles of successful interview planning are similar to that of marketing and promotion:

1- Product: - you are the product that is being offered and that you passionately believe in .

2- Pre- planning – you do a needs assessment/ analysis and the due diligence required for the orchestration of the finest details of that interview.

3- Promotion -you promote “You” -the product, through results-oriented social media applications i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MeetUp, Plaxo, etc.. to get the word out about your skills, and competencies.. You can also post testimonials, and video clips and audio clips on some of these sites to heighten interest in your professional profile. But, do this professionally and tastefully, self-promotion is not about broadcasting, spamming or shouting. Using social media applications is about creating and fostering vital one –to- one relationships that will help attain your career goals.

4- Personal Touch- you develop a personal connection with the interviewers . For example, never forget to include the authentic and professional touch by addressing the needs of the company to create a fit that is right for you and for them.

5- Strategic Implementation- you follow through on a well structured plan- including all parties involved- for different scenario planning( have numerous back-up plans) to cover the Murphy’s Law aspect. Do an assessment with a SWOT analysis ( strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats for yourself and for the company to address specifically related questions that may be asked at the interview) to develop these scenarios for the interviews.

6- Perseverance in Follow up- you follow up after the interview with the prospective employer using a phone conversation, and personal thank you letter and/or email. As part of the follow- up stage, have a debriefing process/ meeting with yourself by creating an interview journal . In this interview journal, you also do a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) as part of this post -planning portion to improve the quality of your next interview and its success.

You basically have to consider the interview as a project and apply project management techniques with a strong commitment to maintaining a genuine and professional connection.

Social media applications and your career

I am taking a break from strategies for interviews by visiting a subject that is very "hot" today-- the use of social media applications in career management.

Recently, I got a reality check re: blogs, social networking sites, and social bookmarking sites ( e..g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Meetup, Twitter, Plaxo, Digg, Delicious, etc.) and their ability to significantly impact our career development and our professional lives.

If you fail to connect and interact with these sites, you are missing the opportunity to leverage their tremendous power to promote yourself ,your key skills/ competencies, and talents to the targeted companies in your job search/career plan. By making full use of these sites, you are truly optimizing your competitive advantage, because they are the primary results-oriented, self- marketing tools of the 21st century for all “careerpreneurs”, particularly for those who wish to be proactive about implementing a well-designed strategic career plan.

More on Interviews.. the First Critical Minutes

e) Breath- I recommend my clients to always carry and use breath mints or breath spray. Don’t use gum to freshen your breath as you can forget you have it in your mouth.
f) Grooming- try to be impeccably turned out at all times
g) Tone of voice- watch that your voice is even tone- not harsh or anxious.
h) Posture- don’t hunch over or slouch. Don’t cross your legs. Your posture gives away your attitude and confidence level.
i) Confidence- remember that your stance is portrays how you feel about yourself.
j) Content- try to be articulate and not ramble on. Say what you have to in a concise manner.
k) Listening.- shut off your own noisy thoughts in your mind and focus on their words and issues of concern- not yours.

More on Interviews.. the First Critical Minutes

From a personal perspective, I now these make the following recommendations :

a) Clothing-wear the high -end clothing from your wardrobe. Prior to the interview, try the outfit on first and wear it front of a full-length mirror… Practice sitting down and shaking hands as well in front of this mirror to see how your clothing presents itself. Women, please bring, if you are wearing nylons, an extra pair of panty hose/ nylons in case of accidents. Also, men and women, bring a stain away pen for emergencies to remove stains and spills on your clothing.

b) Smile, but not excessively during your interview. Please check a pocket mirror or car mirror to see that nothing is between your teeth , and that there are not any pen marks, dust particles, etc.. are on your face.

c) Eye contact- I suggest you try to not to stare intensely( eyeball- to- eyeball), but focus on the space between the eye brows.

d) Body scents- I coach my clients both men and women not to wear any scented deodorant, cologne or perfume as a lot of people have allergies/ chemical intolerance these days.