If George Hood can hold a plank for +8 hours (and he did), what is every international student now on North American soil capable of? Here’s a thing in common between a physical feat and getting a job: It’s this experience of improving. It’s that experience that I curate for my students each day within The Career Accelerator Program - that great feeling. Job hunting is no longer that depressing thing!

Afraid to start? Here is what George says:

"Everybody has to start somewhere," Hood said.

"Every tree that's planted has roots. Once that tree is planted and those roots start to grow, whether it be 30 seconds or a minute or 5 minutes or an hour (of holding a plank), you start repeating the process and taking care of your tree, it will grow and you will improve and you will actually get better."

If your roots are planted in quicksand [online applications] they won’t sprout and grow. Find something more solid. Find a community in a dependable process. Then you’ll start to love this not just th...

This summer in #Wuhan, I broke down the 3 dimensions of a #successful job search: focus, mindset, and method. In my so-so Mandarin, I tried to lay it out clearly here - sorry for any errors. Do you have these 3 aspects properly locked in?
If yes, great! If not, your job search will be long and winding and not end the way you want. How do I know this? My own experiences of trial and error and by observing thousands of people.

#internationalstudents #summer2020 #canadajobs #usajobs #careeraccelerator #students #wuhan #stuartsystem #jobhunting #career #chineseeconomy #chinese

Where are you and your job search now in this chart? Applying online is within the “Comfort Zone”. Getting the offer is at the “Growth Zone”.

In between, we have following up on applications, networking and generating interviews; getting better at each is in the “Learning Zone”.

The good news is that any failure you’ve experienced is a success - success in seeing how certain approaches didn’t work until now.

The other good news is that there still is enough time and there are still many companies out there.

We want to work with professionals and bosses in a fun office.

If we avoid meeting potential professionals and bosses to make that happen, we know the Fear Zone is still stopping us.

A lot of times it’s NOT the lack of willingness to move beyond the comfort zone but just not knowing how.

Rather than cater to your fear (remote internships or “trainings” that allow one to stay in your dorm and speak to no one do that), travel on the straight white line and let’s get a great (real) offe...

This individual took a LOOONG winter holiday break, so I’ve been on his case to get going again in his job hunt. But whether it’s the accountability we provide or the method, we call this training Career Accelerator™ for a reason. This program brings rapid access to senior executives on your terms and as you define it. And we focus on senior executives because they are the only ones who can offer a proper referral and MAKE A DECISION to HIRE YOU. Don’t necessarily avoid junior employees, but don’t confuse reaching out to junior employees with the most effective application of your limited networking time.

#networking #executive #hiring #decision #careeraccelerator #stuartsystem #jstuartbradley

A career accelerator touring a chocolate factory today, I was thinking as always about how to help international students find success. How does a piece of chocolate candy end up tasting so good? Why do I chose that candy over another? And why do firms choose one candidate over another even when “Yes, needs sponsorship”.

Harvard’s Michael Porter has an explanation. He defines competitive advantage as layers of different individual things done well.

When it comes to the job search, that’s the #resume done well, networking done well,
#interviewing done well - layer-upon-layer, moving in sync, making that candidate the most desirable.

When training international students to be successful in getting jobs, we must teach to achieve competitive advantage, not to just one thing. Every “one thing” has to become amazing.

That has to be the standard.

In the case of networking, helping with #networking means teaching what to say, when to say it and with whom to say it so that it produces the intended re...

🙇“It’s difficult for an international student”: not true - it’s hard for us all alike

🤦‍♀️“My English is not good enough”: but here you are speaking to me in great English and reading it as well.

🤷🏼‍♂️“Most companies won’t sponsor”: not true, they just won’t sponsor your resume. Go out and meet people.

🙅🏽‍♀️“It’s too hard to network”: Let us review what is your goal: talk to colleagues and bosses all day and get paid. THAT Sounds like you you ARE interested in networking, in meeting potential colleagues and bosses now. What holds you back?

💁🏻“I tried and failed”: good. Did that stop you from learning how to ride a bicycle?

🤦🏻“I am not getting interviews”: This happens when applying online and hoping to hear back. I know we’ve been told to do that but that is not how the job hunt works. You’ve been trapped by the algorithm!

“Career center says it's impossible”: they are wrong. Career centers care about % placement. % placement increases when you go back home, so it’s easy to just say “give u...

As international students, we work really really hard. If you are a job seeker now, this quote above has special relevance: the GPA, the long hours of study, those things that got you to where you are now: those are exactly the things you have to loosen up about if you want to make progress.

It’s a hard thing to give up because traditionally “education” has been one thing about human fate that was deemed to be controllable when everything else was my last fixed according to ancient wisdom.

Today, a perfect GPA alone will do nothing to get you hired. Technology has made applying so easy, your perfect resume is lost in the noise.

Even if it gets found, who cares? Are you also supported by a solid referral? Do you understand the problems of the company and have suggestions on how to solve them?

In the past, when we kept our heads down and worked hard in class good things happened. There was a grace and a certainty associated with that that was so comforting.

This does not mean that getting a ...

On #ValentinesDay, it helps to see the connection between #jobhunting and #dating.

The month of May / internship season / graduation is ~ 50 business days away.

It is an exciting time!

You want the results to come quickly.

So, what is the best way to achieve that?

See the connection between job-hunting and dating.

Let’s imagine you go out with someone on a first date and they tell you:

“I don’t care who I date, actually. I just want to date anyone. ”

How would you feel if you heard that?

Not good, right?

The same holds true in the job search.

If we just “want a job”, we are not positioning ourself for success.

Think about the fit. Think about how to convey you are a good fit.

Without experience, the biggest reasons to hire us are:

hungry to learn
eager to make a difference
easy to be trained.

But, if we don’t become sensitive to the goals of the company, if we don’t position ourselves as a problem solver, we still send the same weak message!

Do job hunters really just want to “date anyone“?

No!

They want ...

My Wuhan family’s newest orders from the government:

1. Fencing to cordon off all roads. Zero foot or vehicle traffic
2. No shopping. All food to be centrally prepared and delivered
3. No excursions outside of the home. No gathering. Daily reporting of body temperature via messaging to local authority
4. Observe coordinated disinfection of public and private living quarters.

#coronavirus #disinfection #lockdown #wuhan #who #ifc #economy #health #quarantine #community #food #security #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus

What if you told your date that you didn’t care WHO you dated. THAT YOU JUST WANTED TO DATE ANYONE. This is the message we send when we apply online and have a really broad search / cast a wide net.

Do the people in this picture really just want to “date anyone“?

No!

They want a job that:

• Honors what they’ve learned
• Challenges them to learn more
• Makes them feel heard
• Considers them a part of the team.

What is the impression you would like to deposit in the mind of a hiring manager?

• Focused
• Dedicated
• Perfect fit

#dating #jobhunt #valentine2020 #careercoach #joboffer #careeraccelerator #resume #focus #dedication #fit #firstjob