4 Questions Experts Can Answer Without Thinking

by Scott James, Greenleaf Book Group

This spring, I spent a lot of time at happy hours during SXSW Interactive, and while the venues changed, many things stayed the same: Smart people wearing clunky lanyards, sipping free drinks and talking about the future. The energy was electric, and everyone was there to learn, meet interesting people, and grow.

I got to talk to a lot of established experts as well as a lot of people building a platform and reputation around their expertise. In many ways, my SXSW conversations weren’t all that different from the conversations I have everyday with authors about brand strategy around their books.

As I talked to people, it struck me that there was a clear line between experts who have built a platform and brand around their expertise and experts who are great at their work but haven’t figured out how to launch that one big idea or build a truly successful platform.

I think there’s indeed a “secret sauce,” and it’s simple yet profound. Experts know the answers to questions like these:

• What are you doing right now that’s working?


• What is it about what you say that makes people care?


• What are you doing next?

Experts who have built a platform around their expertise are ready to talk about these things at the drop of a hat. Their answers, at any given moment, may be trending positive or negative, but the telling fact for me is that experts with big ideas think about specific, high level gauges of success, progress and growth all the time and guide their actions and initiative accordingly.

If you’re building your own platform as an expert or have a big idea you’re looking to launch in the not too distant future, here’s your chance to test yourself on where you’re at with these questions.

1. What’s working? Experts know. Why? Because they measure. This is true in every aspect of what’s happening, whether it be on the web, in print, or in person.

Experts who build a business around their expertise know which email approach adds the most to their bottom line, they know which events get them more clients, and they know if flying to a certain city for a certain client is the right move. They know this because they have a system in place to keep track, and they take the time to assess and understand. They take the guesswork out of trying new things. Every successful expert I talk to can tell me the two or three things they do that drives their business and expands their audience—and they can tell me without thinking about it too hard. It’s part of everything they do and how they do it. Can you tell me the two or three most effective things you did last year?

2. What is making you stand out? This is always compelling to hear from someone who knows. If an expert understands his or her differentiator and personal brand, it sounds simple and obvious—of course, that’s because they’ve done the work.

Most people just stumble through an answer and talk about what they themselves like about what they do, or what they are excited about. This misses the point. Experts with strong personal brands know that they are swimming in a crowded ocean, and they can pinpoint what it is about what they do that other people get excited about, and they know how to talk about what they do in a way that honors their uniqueness and targets the specific needs of the people they want to influence. Can you tell me how the essence of what you do will change my day to day life?

3. What’s next? Experts have a long-term plan, but they also know the specific project (or projects) they are doing next.

Experts think several steps ahead, and that ability to be deeply in the project that is happening now but also already be thinking at 50,000 feet and how today is laying a foundation for three years from now is a difficult mental tightrope to walk. But where some people get buried in the details of their current project and let everything else go, missing the forest for the tree, experts can walk that tightrope because they know it’s critical. Experts can’t afford to wait until after their current project to think about what’s next. And really, none of us can. Can you tell me the next big idea you’re launching?

4. What do you want to be doing in 5 years? This may feel like cheating because it sounds similar to #3, but I think of it as distinctly different. I’m talking about what you want to be actively doing day-to-day, not which accomplishments you want to check off.

This is a key nuanced difference I see over and over in the way experts who are making it happen talk about their future vs. those who are still looking for the right way forward. Successful experts build a community that they can work and grow within, so the question becomes how they want to be doing their work and with whom, rather than what award do they want to win or what endgame they want to pursue. Do you have a vision for how you want to be spending your time 5 years from now?

Scott James is the manager of brand strategy at Greenleaf Book Group, a publisher and distributor best known for its innovative business model, distribution power and award-winning designs.

10 Tips to Working With Executive Recruiters

Let's make one thing clear right from the start - executive search firms, recruiters and employment agencies are not in business to help you land a job. These firms work for the employers, not for you - and they are merely channels through which you may secure an employment opportunity.

Placement agencies that charge a fee should be avoided completely. Contingency-fee recruiters are paid a percentage of the candidate's salary - but only if they actually place a new employee.  Retained executive search firms are the classic "headhunters," who are granted an exclusive right to conduct a search on behalf of their client company and are paid their consulting fee (or at least some of it) even if the search is unsuccessful.

"When working with any type of executive search firm or recruiter, you must maintain control of them and their activities. In fact, even though the search firm is not working for you, I tell my clients to 'supervise' the work of recruiters as though they were managing a group of employees," adds Ford R. Myers, Career Coach, Speaker and Author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring," (John Wiley & Sons, http://www.getthejobbook.com). This means following some important guidelines:

1.      Be careful and selective in choosing which recruiters you want to work with, and politely decline to work with those who don't appeal to you or are inappropriate for your situation.

2.      When speaking with external search firms (not "recruiters" who work inside the human resource departments of the companies where you want to work), be totally honest and direct about your job objectives, past compensation, desired salary, geographical preferences and other details.

3.      Never pay any sort of "registration fee" or any other money - for anything in the whole recruiting process! All the search firm's fees should be paid by the employer.

4.      When interviewing, make sure that the job is exactly what the recruiter described. Confirm (and re-confirm, if necessary) the salient job details, responsibilities and compensation.

5.      Remember that you are the source of the recruiter's income (indirectly). You are entitled to courtesy and respect, as well as honest and prompt answers to your questions.

6.      Do not sign any contract or make any agreement that obligates you to work exclusively with one search agency. Have all forms from the search firms reviewed by an employment attorney (not a "general" attorney).

7.      Ask that your resume and other information not be forwarded to any prospective employer without your prior approval.

8.      Be sure that the recruiter does not edit your resume or any other documents without your permission.

9.      At the point of negotiating your compensation for a new position, do not rely on the recruiter. You must either conduct the negotiations yourself, or at least be actively involved in the negotiation process.

10.     Focus only 5-10% of your job-search energies on recruiters. You must not "absolve yourself of responsibility" and rely on recruiters to find you a job. Remember that most of your job-search time should be spent on more productive activities, such as professional networking.

"Some Executive Search Consultants will also provide vital information about such things as industry conditions and local business trends, as well as insightful feedback about your campaign strategy, your compensation level, etc. However, never confuse Executive Search Consultants with Career Coaches - they play very different roles," adds Myers.

If you don't know which search firms to contact yet, the best research tool by far is "The Directory of Executive and Professional Recruiters." It is published by Kennedy Information, and you can find this book at most libraries.

Once you have a basic understanding of how the search industry works, and follow the guidelines above, you will find that search firms and recruiters can serve an important role in your successful job search or career transition!

For more information and other useful tips for achieving career success, visit http://www.getthejobbook.com .

Copyright (C) 2015, Career Potential, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it includes the following attribution: Reprinted by permission of Ford R. Myers, a nationally-known Career Coach and author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring." Download your free bonuses now at http://www.careerbookbonuses.com .

Career Coach Lisa Quast Turns Job Searching Upside Down with New Book

Women’s career coach and expert Lisa Quast has seen and heard it all when it comes to the crazy things people do to get jobs – from auctioning themselves off on eBay to purchasing ads boasting their work skills to sending a YouTube video featuring a musical resume. Launching today, Quast’s new book Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach tells job seekers that these flashy tactics don’t work, and that it’s time for them to get to work mastering the job searching basics.

In the book, Quast shares the secrets she’s been divulging to her coaching clients, which have had a 100% success rate in getting them a job they want – every time. Seeing this success, she wanted to share these tactics on a broader scale, helping women everywhere achieve their career aspirations.

What makes her process so successful? Climbing the corporate ladder from entry-level to executive and acting as a hiring manager herself, Quast has experienced every aspect of this process and understands everything a person needs to do to find and get a job.  She knows what works, and just as importantly, what doesn’t.

“We see these over-the-top job search tactics getting covered in the news and attention in social media, which gives job seekers the false impression that they always work,” said Quast. “In reality, the success of job seekers who use these techniques is rare, and what always works is having a sound strategy for getting a job that includes practicing and mastering the basics like interview skills, writing cover letters and acquiring stand out recommendations.”

In Secrets of a Hiring Manager…Quast starts at the very beginning of the job searching process, helping the reader understand if they even need a new job, and if yes, why. From then on, she carefully walks them through every step needed to successfully find a job, apply for it, ace the interview, negotiate a starting salary, gracefully quit their previous job and more.

“This book features everything I’d share with one of my career coaching clients for her to succeed in getting a job she loves,” said Quast. “It’s like having your own personal career coach at your fingertips 24/7.”

Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach is available in paperback and e-book formats at Amazon.com