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You’ve Been Hired, Now What?

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The job search is daunting — at times, it can feel hopeless, frustrating, and downright exhausting. And when you do land the job, challenges arise that the best of us need help to navigate.

Career books are a great source to turn to, no matter what stage of your career you’re in — whether you’re decades in at your organization or are looking to start a new career path altogether.

Here are 10 of the best career books to help you think about your career in a new way and get ahead:

1. The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels: By Michael D. Watkins
If you’re in a transitional period of your career, this is for you. Watkins focuses on the challenges of moving into a new role and knowing how to navigate the first three months of a new job. This book serves as your guide to every aspect of your transition scenario.
2. So Good They Can’t Ignore You: By Cal Newport
This is an eye-opening book that discuses the notion that you should follow your passion in your career, rather than what you’re innately good at. Newport sets out to discover how people end up loving what they do — he can change the way you think about your career and how you go about creating a career you love.
3. Second-Act Careers: By Nancy Collamer
This is for those who are at retirement age, but aren’t quite ready to live their lives work-free. Collamer looks at this period of life as an opportunity to pursue a new passion while continuing to make an income. Read this book before you embark on your golden years.
4. The Pathfinder: By Nicholas Lore
This book is a considered a classic for a reason. For everyone from college graduates to someone considering a mid-life career change, this book can help you choose a new career — or look at your current one through a completely new lens.
5. How to Win Friends and Influence People: By Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie’s book will teach you how to make people like you — an essential part of climbing the ladder of success in both your professional and personal life. You’ll learn how to win people to your way of thinking and how to get what you want in your career.
6. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: By Stephen R. Covey
This book encourages internal changes that can completely change how you operate day-to-day. As people have claimed it as one of the most powerful books they’ve ever read, this can be beneficial for anyone on any career path.
7. The Third Door: By Alex Banayan
From Bill Gates to Lady Gaga to Larry King, this book has incredible one-on-one interviews with some of the world’s most successful people, with invaluable information on how they got there.
8. Crushing It: By Gary Vaynerchuk
Nowadays, more and more people are rejecting a traditional, corporate career path to try their hand at entrepreneurship. This book explores the lives of people who have made it on their own, and how creating a personal brand is vital to success.
9. Willpower Doesn’t Work: By Benjamin Hardy
Benjamin Hardy presents a unique argument against willpower and for altering your surroundings to achieve the success you’re seeking. This book will give you guidance on how to make the biggest decisions of your life, and how to invest in yourself to upgrade your life and happiness.
10. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing: By Daniel H. Pink
It’s a common belief that timing is everything, but how do we act on that notion without leaving it up to fate? Pink dives into the science of timing, and how to take the guesswork out of the “when” aspect of decisions.

BONUS: If federal is your interest, please check out my books, published by FEDweek: The Complete Guide to Writing a Federal Resume, The Complete Guide to Interviewing for a Federal Job, and Making a Federal Career Transition.

Handbooks and guides here: FW books

Are You a Program or Project Manager?

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There are thousands of program managers / project managers in the federal government! If you are one of them (or want to be one of them), you should know about the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act (PMIAA). The PMIAA requires, in part, that most federal agencies designate a senior executive as their Program Management Improvement Officer (PMIO); in turn, the PMIO should implement a program for enhancing the role of program managers.

That program includes improved career paths and training.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued guidance that identified the key skills and competencies for program managers. The competencies were created based on focus groups that included more than 7,000 employees across government. These competencies are expected to form the frame for training and development of program and project managers going forward.

As an existing or aspirational program / project manager, think about your existing skills and experience in this framework; if you have gaps, and these competencies are relevant to your specific position, you may want to address any gaps through your Individual Development Plan (IDP).

I would also encourage you to think about these competencies as key words to be sure to include in your resume!

General Competencies

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Conflict Management
• Creative Thinking
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• External Awareness
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Information Management
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership
• Legal, Government and Jurisprudence
• Manages Human Resources
• Manages Resources
• Oral Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Partnering
• Planning and Evaluating
• Political Savvy
• Problem Solving
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Strategic Thinking
• Teaching Others
• Team Building
• Teamwork
• Technical Competence
• Technical Credibility
• Technology Application
• Writing

Technical Competencies

• Acquisition Strategy
• Business Process Reengineering
• Capital Planning and Investment Assessment
• Change Management
• Compliance
• Contracting/Procurement
• Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Financial Management
• Knowledge Management
• Performance Measurement
• Program Management
• Project Management
• Quality Management
• Requirements Management
• Risk Management
• Schedule Management
• Scope Management
• Stakeholder Management

More information about the program and project management competencies can be found here: https://www.chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/PMIAA%20Competency%20Memorandum%20Attachment%20for%20CXO%20Councils.pdf.

How to Write Accomplishments & Show Your Value

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There are many people, sometimes 1,000 or more, applying for the same job. As an applicant, it is critical that you know how to differentiate yourself from others. There are lots of ways you can demonstrate your value—in a cover letter, in your resume, in your interview, and through your thank you note. No matter which way or ways you choose to show your value-add, the “how” is pretty consistent.

Follow these steps:

Track your achievements. Get in the habit of writing down (or using an electronic format) for your accomplishments throughout the year. Spend 5 minutes a week to make some notes. Not only will those notes be useful when you prepare your resume, they will be useful in writing your annual accomplishment report for your performance evaluation, preparing for interviews, etc. In that file, keep a copy of “kudos” received from customers, team members, and your boss, as well as awards and other recognition you have received.

Keep your numbers. In addition to tracking achievements, be sure to quantify those achievements. It’s one thing to say you saved money or increased productivity, using a number to describe the savings or productivity takes that achievements to a whole new level. When think about numbers, think: how many, how much, and how often.

Use strong language to describe your success.
There are lots of powerful verbs out there; use them! Some of the words you might use include:

  • Improved
  • Enhanced
  • Saved
  • Created
  • Developed
  • Reduced
  • Achieved
  • Identified

Think CCAR. CCAR (context, challenge, action, result) is a powerful way to frame your achievements and tell your story. CCAR can be used for resume accomplishments, as well as in your performance self-assessment and in interviews. Here is what it means:

Context.  Describe the individuals and groups you worked with, and/or the environment in which you worked, to address a particular challenge (e.g., complexity, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale, impossibly short deadlines). Make sure this is at the executive level. Think about examples where you were the initiator of an idea that had enterprise-wide impact.

Challenge.  Describe a specific problem that needed to be solved. Remember to think as holistically as possible. Think about the large-scale project/problem, if you have suitable examples.

Action.  Discuss the specific actions YOU took to address a challenge. Use “I” not “we” even if you were part of a team.

Result.  Give specific examples of measures/outcomes that had some impact on the organization. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your work toward organizational goals. Metrics always help support your results. If your result was qualitative, how can you show it was substantial? Perhaps a quotation from an award recommendation or performance evaluation, or a comparison to a prior situation.

Here’s what it looks like in response to an interview question:

Context: “I work as an IT specialist at a small local government agency.  About a year after I started, the Director decided to update the agency’s website, my job was to test and launch the new website after it had been designed and developed.”

Challenge: “This was challenging because the website was 5 years old, used old technology, and no updates had been made since the original launch.  In addition, I was given only 2 weeks for testing and launching—there was a lot of pressure.”

Action: “I created a comprehensive testing strategy and schedule for reviewing all of the new website’s content and graphics.  I established daily check-ins with testers to ensure all timelines were met and all issues were identified and addressed.”

Result: “As a result of these efforts, I launched a new website within the timeframe allotted to update it.  Hits to the site have increased by 25% and our agency receives a lot of positive feedback on the new website. I have received requests from other local government agencies for advice on how they could update their sites.”

In an interview, using “I” is critical; if you were writing the above achievement for inclusion in your resume, it might look something like this:

In just 2 weeks [challenge], updated, tested, and launched a new website, overhauling a site [actions] that had not been updated in 5 years [challenge]. Hits to the site increased 25% within 90 days of launch [result].

Are You Ready to be a Government Leader?

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The penultimate leadership opportunity in the career federal service is the Senior Executive Service (SES). While we all know people who are in the SES that perhaps shouldn’t be, ideally, the SES represents the best of the best the government has to offer.

Read more

Preparing Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ)

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You’ve examined your qualifications and interest, and made the decision to apply for the Senior Executive Service (SES). It is time to start working on your ECQs. Don’t wait until you have a specific SES posting. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot work on your ECQs now.

Not Job Specific

ECQs are NOT job specific; instead, they are about your leadership. Getting your ECQs prepared ahead of time will allow you the necessary time to prepare your executive resume and any Technical Qualifications (TQ) associated with an individual posting. Once you have a strong set of ECQs, you can use them across multiple postings.

What goes into ECQs?

ECQs include specific evidence of your possession of the each of the 5 executive competencies (leading change, leading people, results driven, business acumen, and building coalitions). In addition to the 5 ECQs, there are also 28 sub-competencies embedded within the ECQs and an additional 6 cross-cutting competencies that should be clearly exhibited throughout your ECQ document.

What is CCAR and why does it matter?

CCAR (challenge, context, action, result) is the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rubric that must be used for your ECQs. Using this rubric will help readers of your ECQs understand your stories. The CHALLENGE is the specific problem you faced, the CONTEXT tells the reader about the people involved, the organization, the larger climate, and other details that demonstrate the executive nature and complexity of the challenge. ACTIONS are the things that you personally did (or that you directed others to do) to address the challenge. And of course, RESULTS are proof that you solved the challenge. In a perfect world, results should be demonstrate using qualifiable metrics; it’s not enough to say “things improved…” you need to prove that they improved.

What are your ECQ stories?

Before starting to write, you should identify your ECQ stories. Your stories need to be executive (rather than transactional) and ideally show enterprise-wide impact. Examples should be from the past 10 years (5-7 years is better if possible). Your examples should have an ending so that you can demonstrate results. If your specific example has not yet fully concluded, provide a specific metric to demonstrate progress. And obtaining a degree or talking about your philosophy will not be considered executive. Focus on specific leadership achievements.

How can you identify your stories?

There are two ways to go about identifying your stories; the first way is to identify when you led change, led people, etc. The second way is to identify your most significant achievements from the past 10 years and then match them to a specific ECQ. Both ways work; you need to figure out what works bet for YOU. It is not unusual to have more stories than you need for Results Driven and not enough for another ECQ. If that is a situation you face, review the underlying competencies for the ECQs and see if you can tell your story in that frame. For example, if you have too many Results Driven stories and not enough Leading Change, look at the underlying competencies for leading change (vision, strategic thinking, innovation/creativity, external awareness, flexibility, and resilience) and see if you can think about how to tell one of the results driven stories through the leading change lens.

Other things to keep in mind:

Review OPM Guidance on preparing ECQs (see: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf.) Try to have at least one action for each underlying competency in every ECQ (and keep the underlying competencies in the right ECQ). Use as many numbers as possible throughout your ECQs—numbers of people, dollar value of budgets / projects / contracts, timeframes, etc.

These numbers provide context to your stories and the ultimate readers of your ECQs is the Qualifications Review Board (QRB) at OPM—they will not know your agency or your job. Focus on your leadership, not your technical acumen. Be prepared to spend the necessary time to put together a good package; in my view, this is 40-60 hours.

And if you’re struggling with your package, get help! No one does this alone.

Make the Interviewers Love You! Part 1 of 2

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We all get nervous when it comes to interviewing. And if you are one of those who say that if you could just get the interview, you’ll ace it, you should be nervous! Interviews are not the time to wing it; preparation and planning is the key.

Interviews, whether in person, via videoconference, or on the phone, all require that you promote yourself, your qualifications, and your accomplishments. Here are 5 tips to make the interviewers love you:

Tip #1: Show your interest in the organization and the job. Be ready to articulate why the specific job and organization are a fit for you; know why you are applying (and saying you want a promotion is not the right answer!) and how this particular position leverages your skills, experience, and interests.

Tip #2: Research the organization, the position, interview panel members, and hiring manager. Google the organization; review their website, recent press, and strategic plan, as well as how the position fits into the organization’s strategy and mission. Check out your interview panel and hiring manager on LinkedIn so you can learn a little bit about their background and use that information to connect with them. This is not stalking—this is doing your research!

Tip #3: Be ready for “tell me about yourself,” and recognize that this is not a chance to share your biography. This is your opportunity to highlight your skills, experience, and accomplishments in a couple of pithy sentences. Of course, you want to tailor your response to the specific job you’re interviewing for. Practice your answer out loud and time it; aim for 45 – 60 seconds.

Tip #4: Have CCAR stories ready. You want to answer interview questions with specific examples / stories of your experience. The best framework to use for telling your stories is CCAR: context, challenge, action, result. Here’s an example:

Context: “I work as an IT specialist at a small local government agency. About a year after I started, the Director decided to update the agency’s website, my job was to test and launch the new website after it had been designed and developed.”

Challenge: “This was challenging because the website was 5 years old, used old technology, and no updates had been made since the original launch. In addition, I was given only 2 weeks for testing and launching—there was a lot of pressure.”

Action: “First, I created a comprehensive testing strategy and schedule for reviewing all of the new website’s content and graphics. I established daily check-ins with testers to ensure all timelines were met and all issues were identified and addressed. I also did a “soft launch,” to ensure that the new website worked in real time. To ensure user feedback during the soft launch, I added a pop-up short survey to encourage input from actual customers. Finally, I drafted a regular update schedule so that the new website would remain fresh in terms of content, as well as programming.”

Result: “As a result of these efforts, I launched a new website within the timeframe allotted to update it. Our agency receives a lot of positive feedback on the new website and it now serves as a model for other local government agencies’ websites. In addition, use of the updated website increased 20% within 6 months of updating.”

Tip #5: Use “I” when answering questions: While most of us grew up hearing that it is wrong to brag, there’s no “I” in team, etc., an interview is not the time to be self-effacing. Even though most of us operate as part of a larger team, most interviewers want to know about your personal contributions. You’ll need to temper your use of “I” so that you don’t off as a braggart and give credit to a group effort when due, but don’t forget that hiring managers are hiring YOU, and not your team.