#readmorebooks

Ray Dalio's "Principles: Life and Work" (Book #3 in 2018)

This is one of those books that will make you smarter! Reading it feels like getting an MBA and a Philosophy degree simultaneously. Ray Dalio is the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds on the planet. In Principles: Life and Work, Ray shares in detail what has made him successful. Below are my top 7 takeaways from this terrific book:

1. Write down your Principles. Ray advocates writing down your principles for your own life and work. He believes writing down our principles helps us create an operating system for our lives that can help us live life fully and successfully. After reading this book, I am inspired to write down my life and work principles. Maybe this blog is part of how I'll do it.

2. Face Reality and Deal With It. Ray is a strong proponent of the "Confront the Brutal Facts" principle that I first read about in Jim Collin's epic book, Good to Great. Ray and Jim both advocate being absolutely clear about a situation so that you can do something about it. If you're being too positive or too negative about something, you'll miss the clear next step to take.

3. Be Radically Open-Minded. Ray believes, rightly, that none of us know everything. We always need to continue learning. However, we can often be our own worst enemy by believing that we do indeed know everything about a subject. We need to cultivate a "beginner's mind" and always remain open to learning.

4. Trust in Radical Truth and Radical Transparency. Ray leads his company by being as open as he possibly can with his employees. He doesn't try to spin a situation to make it seem more positive than reality. If things are not going well, he communicates it. He has found in his career that being truthful and transparent with his employees has helped build a successful company and team over the years.

5. Create a culture in which it is okay to make mistakes and unacceptable not to learn from them. I really like this principle. We all make mistakes in life and work. And that should be okay. (Within reason and boundaries, such as laws.) However, if we don't learn from our mistakes then we've truly failed. We need to be okay with our employees making mistakes, as long and they learn and grow from the mistakes.

6. Diagnose Problems to get at their Root Cause. Ray believes that we often stop short of getting to the root cause of a problem by not asking enough "Why" questions. When you have a problem in work or life, it is a great idea to ask "Why" you have that problem. But don't stop there. One you answer the first why, ask another why about that answer. And another why, and so on, until you truly get to the root cause of the problem. We too often stop after asking just the first "Why" as if we don't really want to know or go to the true root cause.

7. Ray Dalio's TED Talk titled "How to build a company where the best ideas win" gives a nice snapshot of some of his principles in this book:

These are some quick takeaways from a 592-page book. I will say that you could skim or skip the first part of the book where Ray shares his autobiography. Part two of the book is where Ray details his life principles and part three is where he details his work principles. These are the two must-read sections of this great book.

I'm curious if anyone else has read this book and what are your takeaways? Did this book leave you inspired to write down your life and work principles? Please share in the Comments section below!

Be well,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog about Work-Life Happiness at least weekly in 2018. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails on my website at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

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Posted on 02/01/2018 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0)

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying (Book #2 in 2018)

I have heard great reviews about this book for years and am so glad that I finally read it! This book will bring you to tears, in a very good way, and make you think deeply about your life. Bronnie Ware was a palliative care nurse in Australia for 8 years and spent countless hours taking care of people who were dying. Bronnie beautifully documents the top 5 regrets of the dying, which I'll share with you below.

In sharing the top 5 regrets of the dying, let me encourage you to actually read this book so that you can let the full weight of these regrets sink in. Bronnie does a terrific job of sharing several life stories and honoring the dying individuals that taught her so much. Here are the top 5 regrets:

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I hadn't worked so much.
I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Let me encourage you right now to take a few minutes to read through these top 5 regrets again and think about how you are living your life today. Is there any chance you might end up with one of these top 5 regrets at the end of your life? If so, what can you do now to make changes to your life?

The wonderful writer Anne Lamott poignantly said at a book signing event at the Tattered Cover I attended years ago: "100 years from now? All new people." She gets a laugh when she says this line, but it also highlights for us all the brevity of life. We'll each be incredibly blessed if we live to 100, but odds are we'll live to more like 80, God willing. Your and my life is flying by quickly. Pick up The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware and ponder how you can live a life so you don't have regrets on your death bed.

If you're not familiar with palliative care nursing, let me share with you below this beautiful TED Talk by BJ Miller titled What Really Matters at the End of Life:

Mary Oliver wrote a wonderful poem, The Summer Day, where she poignantly asks each of us: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Be well,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog about Work-Life Happiness at least weekly in 2018. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails on my website at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

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Posted on 01/30/2018 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0)

Email Inbox Zero in 2019! Is it possible? 15 tips.

Quick! We're still in the first month of 2019. You still have time to achieve email inbox zero on your 2019 emails! You may need to declare "email bankruptcy" or archive emails in your inbox from 2018 or earlier - see tip #13 below. Will you join me in committing to email inbox zero in 2019?

Not replying to important emails in a timely manner can negatively affect your career and your life. Why should we even desire email inbox zero? I think the answer is simple. It is common courtesy to your coworkers and your family/friends to reply to their emails in a timely manner. If you take weeks or months to reply to an email (or never reply...), it can make the other person feel like you don't value them. Over my career I have not done a great job with email inbox zero, and I have occasionally heard from coworkers or friends who have been disappointed by my lack of a timely response. On the other side of this coin, when I reply to important emails quickly, I often hear "thanks for the quick reply!" My coworkers share that they appreciate the great customer service when I reply quickly to emails. This is why I am committing to email inbox zero in 2019, and I hope you will join me too.

How many emails do you have in your inbox right now? I'd wager it is more than zero. :) Probably a lot more. I know that is the case for me. I've decided that in 2019 I want to pursue the mythical unicorn known as "Email Inbox Zero." I share 15 tips with you below, but would also really like to read your tips in the Comments section too. Have you ever achieved Email Inbox Zero? How?

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In our modern world of work and in our personal lives, emails come in fast and furiously all.of.the.time. They never stop. Yet, I have heard there are a select few of us walking the earth that have tamed our email inboxes. Here are 15 tips I'm working to put in practice in 2019:

1. Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe. I used to get dozens of emails daily from news websites that screamed “Breaking News." This was an incredible distraction and it took me forever to go back and delete hundreds of those emails that I never read. I have now become a master of Unsubscribe and it has been so relieving to see my number of incoming daily emails reduced dramatically.

2. Set Rules to Filter Incoming Email. There are still a few news websites whose emails I want to receive. However, I don't want their incoming emails to be a distraction for me. So I set a Rule on these news emails to go automatically into a News email folder. I then occasionally read those emails during downtime, but often find myself never reading them. Out of sight, out of mind.

3. Close your Email client when working so you can focus. When you are working on a project, close down all potential distractions. For many of us this means closing down Outlook. I'd also recommend putting your smart phone on airplane mode so you won't get distracted. I realize this tip doesn't necessarily get you closer to inbox zero, but it does take away the distraction of incoming emails.

4. Batch process your emails. Ideally you should only check your email a few scheduled times per day. And during those times crank through your emails. This helps email not be a 24 x 7 distraction.

5. Delete. Many emails should simply be deleted quickly. They don't need a response from you. Spam emails should be deleted immediately and marketing/sales emails often don't need a response and should simply be deleted.

6. Reply. If you can type a reply to an email in less than 3 minutes, do it.

7. Defer. If an incoming email requires you to do more than 3 minutes of work, you may want to defer it until you've batch processed your other emails, and then come back to the more time consuming email replies.

8. Prioritize. You're going to want to respond to your boss or colleagues or top client's emails before you reply to less important emails. Don't defer emails that are important.

9. Delegate. For some incoming emails you're not the best person to respond. Forward them along to someone else on your team who can best respond.

10. Create templates of frequent email replies. If you find that you receive a lot of the same types of emails that have basically the same reply, then create and save a template for these situations. You can simply create a series of Word documents that have template replies that you can quickly copy, paste, edit slightly (if needed), and reply. You can save a ton of time with templated email replies.

11. Don't over organize your email with folders. This is a hard tip for me to follow. I'm an accountant so I like files and organization. However, many email inbox productivity articles I've read say that it's not worth the time to create dozens of different folders to organize all of your email. Simple Archive your emails or create a very few folders to store old email. Most email clients, like Outlook, have robust search functionality so you can find old emails quickly. Without the zillion folders.

12. Don't "Reply-All" to emails, unless absolutely necessary. Too often we hit Reply-All to an email, when we don't need to. We typically can just reply to the initial sender. Even if you simply want to say "Thanks," just reply to the sender and don't Reply-All. Worst case scenario is when someone hits Reply-All with something like, "I am not sure if this email was intended for me?" And then a chain reaction of emails of Reply-All emails ensues. Trust me. The less you Reply-All, the less emails you will receive. :)

13. Declare Email Bankruptcy? I honestly have not done this yet, but I have friends who have done so. Email Bankruptcy is where you simply delete all of your old emails in your inbox and then work to achieve email inbox zero going forward. The theory is that if an older email was important enough that you should have responded, then that person will email you again. I am committed to email inbox zero in 2019, but don't feel comfortable deleting emails from 2018 or earlier that are still in my inbox. I likely will move these older emails into a folder, so I can still get to them if needed.

14. Sign off on all of your emails with a simple "Thanks." If you have trouble figuring out how to best sign off on your emails, I have good news for you. A data scientist analyzed 35,000 emails and learned this: "Emails that closed with “thank you,” “thanks,” or “thanks in advance” received a relative 36 percent increase in responses, whereas closing like “cheers” or “best regards” only received around 11 to 14 percent." {Quote is from this helpful article.) Having a simple way to start and finish your emails will save you processing time and can even help you get a better response rate!

15. Don't forget to reply quickly to important Voicemails, Texts, and Messages on LinkedIn / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram etc. We live in an age where people communicate to us using so many different channels. While email inbox zero is a great goal, don't neglect replying quickly to important messages that come to you from other channels of communication.

What tips am I missing for achieving Email Inbox Zero? Please share in the Comments section below!

Be well,
Mike

p.s. I blog about Priorities + Productivity = Happiness regulary. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails on my website at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

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Posted on 01/28/2018 in Work | Permalink | Comments (4)

Have you met Brad Feld? Here's your chance! + Brad's great blog.

Do you know who Brad Feld is? You should. He is one of my favorite bloggers and favorite Coloradans. Brad is co-founder of the venture capital firm Foundry Group, based in Boulder.

Brad will be speaking about about his own mental health experience and how leaders have the power to drive cultural change and reduce stigma at AllHealth Network's fundraising event on Wednesday, January 31, from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. at History Colorado. I am attending the event and hope you will too. You can get more details and register now at this link. I'll tell you more about Brad and his terrific blog below.

LikeMinds-LeaderTakeAction-Brad-Feld-showcase

Brad's blog is called FeldThoughts (www.feld.com) and it is one of the few blogs that I read regularly. Brad is an amazing entrepreneur and, even more so, he is an amazing human, as you'll learn reading his blog. Don't get me wrong, Brad's not perfect. (none of us are) And that's the beauty of his blog. He's real. He often writes about the hard parts of life and how he navigates them.

He also reads a ton of books (100 books a year is his goal) and he blogs book reviews, which of course I love. I just read Why We Sleep and Ray Dalio's Principles based on Brad blogging about these two books recently. Brad is also an author of several books, which I plan to read.

Last, but not least, Brad’s blogging helped inspire me to start my blog here in 2018. Thank you, Brad!

Below are a few of my favorite recent blog posts of Brad's:

@bfeld v52.0 - A wonderful reflection on Brad's 52nd birthday.
Do You Reduce Stress Or Increase Stress?
It Can All Change In A Day

If you're not yet subscribed to Brad's blog's emails, I encourage you to do so now at this link.

I hope I've inspired you to follow Brad's blog and I hope to see you at the AllHealth Network event on January 31st!

UPDATE: I met Brad at the event! Photo below. Told him he’s like Bono to me. He replied, “well, a nerdy Bono.” :)

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Be well,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog about Work-Life Happiness at least weekly in 2018. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails on my website at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

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Posted on 01/24/2018 in Events | Permalink | Comments (2)

Got 2018 Goals? Advice here! 10 tips.

Happy New Year! It is now January 2018, which is the ideal month to set goals for the year ahead. Have you set your 2018 goals yet? I'll share 10 goal setting tips below, including the simple and very effective "one word for the year" strategy (tip #9).

Goals 2018

First, let me share that I prefer the concept of goals better than resolutions. Resolutions seem like more of a wish or promise, whereas goals have a definite purpose that can be backed up with plans. If you prefer the term resolutions, great. In either case, make sure you write down your goals or resolutions this week, and then review them at least weekly in 2018. Reviewing your goals daily is even better, if possible.

Goals are a great way to distill your hopes and dreams into a few concrete focal points for 2018. I find it helpful to put goals into categories or values, which can then be prioritized. I also believe that "less is more" when it comes to goal setting. If you have just 3 goals for 2018 and achieve them, that is much better than having 25 goals and achieving none of them. Less is more.

Below are my top 10 goal setting tips, which I encourage you to use as they suit your needs:

Write down your values. What is most important to you in life? Family, health, faith, career, community, friends, education, etc.? Write down somewhere between 3 to 10 values. Again, less is more.
Prioritize your values. Based on the values you wrote down in step #1 above, prioritize them. Which value is the top priority for you? #2? And so on. Then, as you make decisions in your daily life, make sure a lower priority never eclipses a higher priority. For example, if family is a higher priority than friends, then maybe you should not be hanging out with X, Y, Z friend all of the time, but should be spending that time with your family. Of course, you probably do want to see friends too. Just make sure the balance leans toward the priorities in your life.
Write down 1 to 2 goals for each value. Based on your prioritized values in step #2 above, write down 1 to 2 goals for each value for 2018. Goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time-based. Also, Michael Hyatt has a great book titled Your Best Year Ever that advocates for SMARTER goals, which you can learn more about here.
Develop brief action plans to achieve each goal. Writing down goals in step #3 above is great and will likely give you some good results. However, you'll get much better results if you write down a brief action plan for each goal. Write down the steps will you need to take to achieve each goal.
Take one step toward each goal today! It can be a small step. But just take a step on each of your goals today or tomorrow at the latest. Get momentum going. Step by step will get you to your goal.
Review your goals at least weekly. Make time to review your goals weekly. Sunday afternoon can be a great time to do this review. Ideally, write down your goals on paper again weekly. This really helps cement your goals into your subconscious mind. If you can review your goals daily, even better.
Allow your goals to evolve over the course of the year. You'll achieve goals as the year progresses, which then may naturally create some new goals for you. Or, you'll pivot away from some goals that you thought were important early in the year that aren't so important after all. Don't worry about your goals changing. This is normal. Often, when doing your weekly review in step #6 above, you'll notice your goals are evolving.
Find a Goal Buddy. It is a very good idea to find someone you can share your goals with and who can help keep you accountable. Ideally they'll have goals they can share with you too. I have seen many friends lose weight or read books based on doing the activity together with others.
Find your "One Word" for 2018. If the 8 points above seem too cumbersome to you, don't worry. You're not alone. Let me encourage you to at least identify "one word" for 2018 that can be your guiding intention or goal for the year. For example, in 2017 I determined my one word would be "health" and I ended up dropping 20 pounds in 2017. In 2018 my one word is "writer" and so I've launched this blog. What might your "one word" be for 2018? Take some time to think about it. Come up with a strong word and let it guide your actions daily in 2018.
Lastly, here are a few resources to further fuel your goal setting in 2018:

The book Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want -- Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy is the goal setting 101 book that you should read and implement its advice.
A book that can help you identify your "one word" for 2018 is the wonderful book The ONE Thing by Gary Keller. This was one of my top 4 reads in 2017.
My favorite book for setting and implementing goals for a team at work is The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Chris McChesney.
Way of Life is a terrific App for your phone to help track your daily habits. You give yourself green check marks when you do a habit, and red X's when you don't. It sounds simple, which it is, and it works! Check it out here: http://wayoflifeapp.com/

It is not rocket science to set and achieve goals, but it does take intent and discipline. What advice on goal setting am I missing or what questions do you have? Please share your goal setting tips in the comments section below. Also, please share this post with your network. Thanks!

Be well,
Mike

Posted on 01/22/2018 in Life | Permalink | Comments (2)

Book: Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt (Book #1 in 2018)

Could 2018 be your best year ever? This brand new book can help you make it so! It is one of the best goal setting books I've ever read because it goes deep into why you have not historically set or achieved goals due to limiting beliefs. The book then walks you through how to design your future and make it happen. Below are my 5 key takeaways from this terrific book.

1. Michael Hyatt is an author you can trust. I have followed Michael Hyatt and his terrific blog at www.michaelhyatt.com for the past decade. He is an authentic leader who has had tremendous success professionally and personally. I am often skeptical of authors of books like this. I want to know that they walk the talk and have really put their principals into practice. Michael Hyatt is the real deal. You can learn more about him at this link.

2. Your Best Year Ever is an actionable book. Michael gives you action steps to take at the end of each chapter to make sure you immediately put into practice what you've learned.

3. Your Best Year Ever walks you through the process of documenting your past limiting beliefs and then replacing them with empowering beliefs.

4. Your Best Year Ever takes the concept of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, Time-Bound) goals to the next level. Michael advocates for and details how to set SMARTER goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Risky, Time-Keyed, Exciting, Relevant.

5. Your Best Year Ever provides simple-to-use goal templates. Additionally, Michael has created The Full Focus Planner, which works off the same principles in the book.

I highly recommend you read this book to make 2018 your best year ever! You can learn more about this book at www.yourbestyeareverbook.com.

What is a favorite goal setting book of yours? Please share in the Comments section below!

Be well,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog about Work-Life Happiness weekly in 2018. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails on my website at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

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Posted on 01/18/2018 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0)

28 books I read in 2017. Top 3. Reading tips. 2018 recommendations?

I read 28 books in 2017. My top 2 books, reading tips and the full list of 28 books are detailed below. What do you recommend I read in 2018?

"Readers Lead and Leaders Read" is one of my favorite quotes about books. If you want to grow as a leader in your professional or personal life, you should read more. I hope this blog post will encourage you to read more in 2018.

Here are a few tips to help you read more books in 2018:

Audible.com. Listen to audiobooks on your smartphone when driving, working out or even doing chores around the house. I personally find that audiobooks are a better use of my time when compared to listening to talk radio or news when driving.
Kindle. Read a book on your smartphone or iPad anytime you're waiting in a long line or even running on a treadmill.
Set a reading goal for 2018. How many books did you read in 2017? Do you want to read more books in 2018? How many? What does that equate to how many books you'll read per month and per week? You may want to watch less TV and/or spend less time on social media to find more time to read books.

The top 2 books I read in 2017:

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller. This book inspired me to launch this blog in 2018. It is a terrific book by the founder of Keller Williams Realtors about focusing on one major goal at a time. It is a fun, quick and easy read with a lot of practicality to your life. If you read only one book in this blog, start with this one.
Deep Work by Cal Newport. This is a wonderful manifesto about doing "deep work" in a world of far too much "shallow work" and distractions. Deep work is focused work and something that only you can do to truly make an impact on your organization Cal recommends that we have a goal of 4 hours of "deep work" each work day. As Cal says in this book, "a deep life is a good life." I agree.

Here are the 30 books I read in 2017, in chronological order and linked to their Amazon pages:

1: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
2: Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson
3: Blood Sugar Solution by Mark Hyman
4: Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
5: Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman
6: Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
7: Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
8: Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers
9: Option B by Sheryl Sandberg
10: 5 AM Miracle by Jeff Sanders
11: Habit Stacking by S.J. Scott
12 Make Your Bed by William McRaven
13: Staying Focused in Hyper World by John Gray
14: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
15: Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids by Rob Elliott
16: 7 intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty by Heather Younger
17: Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton
18: Real Work by Jenn Peppers
19: Whole Foods Diet by John Mackey
20: You Must Write a Book by Honoree Corder
21: Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
22: The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
23: On Writing Well by William Zinsser
24: Alzheimer’s Prevention Food Guide by Sue Stillman Linja
25: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
26: Deep Work by by Cal Newport
27: Platform by by Michael Hyatt
28: You are a Writer by Jeff Goins

Do you have any favorite books not listed above that I should add to my 2018 reading list? Please share your book recommendations with me in the Comments section below!

What books are you planning to read in 2018? Do you have a goal on the number of books you'll read in 2018? Might I be able to encourage you to read at least one book a month, or 12 books total, in 2018?

Be well,
Mike

Posted on 01/15/2018 in Books | Permalink | Comments (2)

Welcome!

The goal of this blog is to write about Work-Life Happiness. Meaning, how do we not just "get by" or "survive" but actually thrive and enjoy both our work and personal lives. I hope to post on this blog weekly. Please do "Subscribe" so that you'll automatically receive an email anytime I have a new post. Note that any opinions expressed on this blog are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

I'm a mid-40s professional living in Denver, Colorado. My career has been primarily in Colorado’s nonprofit sector, serving in various financial and development positions with the University of Colorado Foundation, Goodwill Industries of Denver, Mile High United Way, Family Tree, Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center and Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver.

I am a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, where I majored in accounting and received a degree in business administration. I began my career as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche LLP.

My wife, Marcia, and I have two daughters, adopted from Ethiopia.

You can learn more about me and connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelpritchard/

Posted on 01/05/2018 in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Job Search in Denver Tips! Nonprofits & More.

I've been blessed to work in the nonprofit sector in Denver for the past 23 years. I suppose because of this longevity, I'm approached for advice from someone looking to either transition into the nonprofit field or someone simply looking for a great job in Denver. I do love helping others find great jobs! In 2012, I helped 11 folks find great jobs during that year.

I've been wanting to document all of my job search tips in a blog post, so here it goes. I will likely be editing and augmenting this post over time. Also, I'd love to get your job search tips for others in the comments link below too! Thanks.

1. My three favorite job boards in Denver for finding nonprofit jobs are:
https://www.coloradononprofits.org/careers/nonprofit-jobs
http://andrewhudsonsjobslist.com/
https://www.voacolorado.org/careers (where I work - join me at a great nonprofit!)
I will say you should not just limit yourself to these job boards. Check out all the other biggees: Indeed, CareerBuilder, Monster, Idealist and I've heard Craig's List too. Also, I've found over the years that not every nonprofit posts their jobs on these boards listed above. So, you may want to find the top 10 nonprofits you'd like to work for and bookmark their job postings link on their websites. Then check out their job postings links about once a week when you're in the job search. (Three more of my favorite job boards, not necessarily nonprofit related are CU's job board: www.cu.edu/cu-careers and Lew's List for finance jobs: www.lewslist.com and Connecting Colorado: www.connectingcolorado.com)

2. Colorado Nonprofit Association job board posts new jobs generally Monday through Friday at about 5 p.m. If you're actively in the job search, I recommend you check it each weekday evening for new postings. Andrew Hudson's job list posts a ton of new jobs each Monday at about Noon. I highly recommend you subscribe to his weekly email to alert you to new job postings. Also, he posts a lot of new jobs throughout the week under his "Jobs that Can't Wait" link. Andrew is also simply a great guy. I highly recommend you attend one of his job seeker boot camps or seminars if you get a chance.

3. My biggest piece of advice for job seeking is: APPLY FAST! Be one of the first resumes & cover letters in for a new job posting. I have found personally when I post a new job opening as a hiring manager, I tend to review the first resumes and cover letters that come in more thoroughly then later resumes. This is human nature. You're excited about your new job posting. If you're one of the first resumes and cover letters in, you'll have a better chance of getting reviewed and getting an interview. If you apply a week or two down the road, the hiring manager may have already filled their allotted interview slots and you may be simply too late.

4. Have a strong customized cover letter! This I think is critical these days. Even if a job posting doesn't explicitly ask for a cover letter, I highly recommend you put one together for each and every job. Customize the cover letter as follows:
A. First paragraph should talk about your interest/passion for the nonprofit/company's mission. They want to know you did some homework/research and you know who they are and what they do! I've seen too many generic cover letters from job applicants where I'm quite sure they have no idea what Goodwill does - which makes me wonder if they really want the job.
B. Second paragraph should talk about your skill set and how it matches up with the job opening. If you're transitioning to the nonprofit field for the first time then you'll want to talk about your past volunteer or other nonprofit experiences, or how your for-profit experiences will translate well into the nonprofit world.
C. Keep your cover letter to one page. Don't overdo it with content.
D. It might be a very good investment to hire a professional to help you update and format your resume and/or cover letter. Here's one highly recommended professional to consider: www.gabbycommunications.com

5. Reach out to your network after applying for a job you really want and see if anyone knows someone at the nonprofit/company. If so, ask them if they would put in a good word for you. I do this often for job seekers. If I know the job seeker and know someone at the nonprofit they applied to, I'll ask the job seeker to email me their resume and cover letter. I then forward along this email with the resume and cover letter attached to my contact at the nonprofit and put in a good word for the job seeker. My goal here is to help the job seeker at least get an interview. Once they are at the interview stage, it's then all up to the job seeker! Occasionally I am called for a reference check too, which I'm of course happy to do if I know the job seeker.

6. Build your network and meet with them. There is no better time than NOW to start building your network, even if you're happily employed. If you're job seeking now, then now is a great time to let your network know you're job seeking and ask for coffees or lunches or meetings. Don't be bashful about connecting with folks you haven't seen in years. There is power in "loose ties." Sometimes folks in your network that you haven't seen in years might be the exact people that will help you find your next great job!

7. Update your LinkedIn Profile details and have a professional head shot photo. LinkedIn is where many hiring managers go first to learn more about you. Make sure your LinkedIn profile job experience matches what's on your resume. And I highly recommend investing in a professional head shot photo. It looks so much more professional than a cropped photo.

8. Volunteer. If you're wanting to work for a specific nonprofit, there is no better way to show that you support their mission than by volunteering with them. Also, volunteering with any/many nonprofits while you're in between jobs shows good initiative. I also think volunteering will help keep your confidence up and spirits high in the sometimes discouraging journey of job seeking.

9. Read this terrific article in the Denver Post about job seeking in Denver for some more advice: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/08/how-to-get-a-job-in-denver/

10. If you're in accounting or finance, reach out to this terrific recruiter below. Julie will help place you in a job at no cost to you! Let her know I sent you.
Julie Sorensen
Senior Managing Division Director, Business Development
Creative Financial Staffing (CFS)
303.831.5003 | [email protected]

What piece of advice for job seekers am I missing? Please post up in the comments below. Thanks! I hope this post has been or will be helpful to many job seekers! -Mike

Posted on 12/16/2014 in Work | Permalink | Comments (1)