Had a great interview a few weeks ago with producer Elsie Nolan of WBZ-TV, the Boston area’s CBS affiliate, all about how to recognize an impending downsizing and what to do about it.

Article and video clip here.

The bottom line, from my perspective, is that you always need to be alert to what’s happening in your department, at your company, in your industry, and in the economy in general. A downsizing or layoff shouldn’t come as a surprise. But regardless, if you lay the groundwork for long-term success throughout your career, you’ll find the landing much softer and the bounceback much quicker.

Things you should always be doing:

• Stay active in professional associations to build a network of contacts in your profession and/or industry.
• Create visibility for yourself by taking on leadership roles in those organizations and/or reaching out to leaders with feedback, ideas, comments, and compliments.
• Create visibility for yourself at work by volunteering for the tough assignments (and, of course, succeeding at them).
• Share your expertise – whatever it is – with others in your company, your industry, and the whole wide world through articles, comments, blogs, etc.
• Do your job really well! Track and measure your performance so when you say, “I’ve done a great job,” you can support that statement with facts and figures.
• Update your resume every 6 months or so. Be ready for opportunities that will come your way.

I’m a bit late to the party, finally getting around to reading Never Eat Alone, the consummate book on networking by Keith Ferrazzi. Lots of valuable information here – especially pertaining to long-term career management and the value of relationship-building.

I came across a concise summation of the value of branding:

“Good personal brands do three highly significant things for your network of contacts: They provide a credible, distinctive, and trustworthy entity. They project a compelling message. They attract more and more people to you and your cause, as you’ll stand out in an increasingly cluttered world.”

In a nutshell, there’s your rationale for clarifying and communicating your brand in your resume and other career marketing messages. Too many people try to create a resume with all the “right” information when instead it should contain “your” information. What makes you unique and distinctive? Shout it out!

Even though 3 inches of new snow are covering my world, it still feels like spring. Birds are chirping, the sun feels warm, and psychologically I am uplifted by knowing that another winter is all but over. As a result, I’m humming as I sweep snow off the steps and grinning at the sales clerk as I try on new golf shoes.

Which brings me to my point: How you feel about the economy, your career prospects, your financial future, and your job search has a huge impact on how you behave and the image you project to others. If you’re secretly convinced that things are hopeless – that you might as well hang up the interview suit and spend the day in your bathrobe – it will be hard to hide that feeling.  And while you can’t force yourself to change your feelings, you can think positive thoughts, read positive facts and stories, and spend time with positive people to counteract the downweight of negativity.

So in the interests of lifting your spirits, here are a few positive thoughts and facts:

• Just this week I’ve had three calls for interview coaching, as my clients (all senior executives) are landing interviews.
• People are finding creative, low-cost ways to get what they need and enjoy themselves. What kinds of opportunities might this present to you?
• Federal stimulus money will breathe life into construction, green energy, financial services, and other industries.
• I wrote a resume for my brother in response to a specific job opening. He emailed it and had a phone call within an hour, an interview later that day, and a job offer four days later.

Look for signs of life, and you’ll find them even beneath the snow.

It’s not much fun reading the business pages of the newspaper today, or watching the nightly news or finance/business news shows. Page after page, story after story, it’s about layoffs, business closings, lack of capital, shrinkage of VC funding, and so forth. If you’re looking for a job, the future can seem bleak indeed!

I admit I am a bit of a Pollyanna, but I refuse to buy into the general gloom and doom. I know from my clients that companies ARE hiring, businesses ARE growing, and those that will succeed are not throwing in the towel – they are looking for leaders who will help them recognize and seize opportunities.

Make sure your message is all about opportunities spotted, costs controlled, smart expansion, vision and execution, and outperforming the competition. Be the astute leader who can steer a company through the rough waters and prepare for the economic upturn that will – undoubtedly – come.

If you’re unemployed, or even employed and actively looking for a new job, are you REALLY putting in the effort it takes to succeed?

If you’re like most Americans and Europeans, the answer is “no.”

Reported in Weddle’s excellent newsletter are the following statistics from a 2008 survey reported recently in  The Economist:

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 Length of time Unemployed Workers Spend Looking for a Job (per day)

• U.K.: 10 minutes
• Sweden: 10 minutes
• Germany: 10 minutes
• Spain: 20-30 minutes
• France: 20-30 minutes
• U.S.: 40 minutes

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In 10-40 minutes per day, what can you accomplish? Surf the web for the latest postings… dash off a couple of resumes… call one contact and give up when he or she has no leads for you.But just think what you could do if you devoted 2, 4, 6, or even 8 hours of your day to your job search – strategies and activities that will expand your horizons, your opportunities, and your results.

• Prepare and practice your “elevator pitch” so you can smoothly and confidently deliver it during an interview, at a formal networking event, or to a casually met acquaintance.
• Write out your greatest career “success stories” and practice relating them in a clear, compelling manner.
• Create a list of 50 people you can contact and make 10 phone calls per day to complete the list in a week. (Use your new elevator pitch for best results.) Make a new list next week.
• Review your resume and cover letters and edit/polish to perfection.
• Identify and research 10 companies that might be a good fit for you. Use LinkedIn and/or your personal network to connect to decision makers (or anyone) at those companies.
• Pick up the phone and call them! Use your referral as an introduction, then deliver a brief message about your potential value to the company. Ask for a meeting.
• Start a new list of companies next week.
• Read a book or online articles about trends in interviewing. Think about how you’ll respond, and practice your answers to tough questions.
• Review your interview wardrobe and replace, repair, polish, mend, or iron anything that looks less than perfect.
• Identify your top value points that you’ll want to communicate in your next interview. Focus on value to the company, not interest to you.
• Make an interview “cheat cheat” of your top value points and keywords for your success stories. Practice your interview responses using just the crib sheet.
• Call someone you know who’s unemployed and ask if you can be of help.

I could go on, but you get the point. Work the process and you’ll reap the rewards.

In a recent conversation with a client I advised him to create a profile on LinkedIn – not only to reap the networking opportunities there, but to build his online presence as an essential tool in today’s world of executive search. He was openly skeptical – “I don’t think many people at my level are doing that.” (He’s a CEO.) OK, I said, but check it out anyway.

A few weeks later, he told me, “I’m a convert.” Not only was “everyone” he knew on LinkedIn (including the most tech-savvy and best-connected senior people), but he had learned first-hand that the tool was actively used by recruiters to “check him out” prior to a meeting – even when there was a personal referral or prior relationship. He definitely wanted them to find him – and to find information that is congruent, on-brand, and consistent with the value messages he’s delivering in his resume and interviews.

So … don’t get caught with the equivalent of your pants down! Build your LinkedIn profile NOW, update and improve it over time, and “be there” when recruiters are looking for someone like you.

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter over at the Career Management Alliance blog provides some EXCELLENT resources on blogging, twittering, and other online tools – all as related to job seeking.

It’s easy to feel like you’re behind the curve on all of this stuff. (I freely admit, I have never “tweeted” and don’t follow anyone on Twitter.) But at the very least, learn about it so you can appear to be up to date with technology. And who knows, you might find a whole new pastime, news source, circle of friends, or even a job!

Meg Guiseppi over at the Executive Resume Branding Blog has a terrific post on this topic… with some expert opinions, thoughtful analysis, and great advice.

The bottom line: You need to be visible online. You need to have a compelling and up-to-date LinkedIn profile with some pertinent, stellar recommendations.  You should take the time to create a VisualCV to present a rich picture of yourself beyond your resume. All of this is vitally important both during a job search and for ongoing career management.

But…. you still need a resume. In fact, all of these pieces should go hand-in-hand to present a powerful, cohesive, on-brand message about you and your value.

At the Kennedy Recruiting Conference I attended some interesting presentations and – of even more value – had the chance to speak with a number of recruiters, both internal and external. One theme that cropped up over and over is – despite the economic downturn and relatively high unemployment -  the challenge of finding good candidates.

Despite sophisticated applicant tracking systems, countless job posting opportunities, recruiter sourcing through social networks, and enormous data-finding capabilities, recruiters still have a hard time finding enough candidates and the right candidates for specific jobs. What this means for you, the job seeker:

• Be specific about your expertise. Vague, general overviews don’t tell recruiters enough about you to conclude that you have what they need.
• Be visible in your areas of expertise. Attend and speak at professional association meetings. Write articles and blog postings. Comment on others’ blogs. Share your expertise and your opinions… and let the recruiters find you.
• Research where your expertise and interests might lead you. For example, if you are a clinical practitioner (maybe a nurse), have some knowledge of hospital technology systems, love to travel, and are eager to move away from direct patient care, you could have a satisfying and lucrative new career as a technology implementation consultant to healthcare systems. Bottom line: look for needs that intersect with your knowledge, experience, and personal interests, then find companies that respond to those needs.

One disturbing trend I noticed is the continued preference for passive job seekers. There is still tremendous bias towards those who are employed and lingering beliefs that “the best people don’t get laid off.” Having worked with extremely talented professionals who were, in fact, affected by corporate downsizing, I know this is nonsense. Plus, there are so many reasons that an individual might be unemployed that using this as a recruiting criterion seems extremely silly.

My final thought about recruiting: It needs a shot in the arm from the marketing department. In fact, successful companies need to market themselves to future employees just as seriously as they market their products or services to consumers. Yet most HR people are not marketing oriented, and despite the ubiquitous trend toward employment branding, most companies don’t invest the resources and talent necessary to make their recruiting function as vibrant as their marketing area. Those that do make the investment will reap the rewards – a more talented, more engaged workforce that creates and supports a winning culture.

I’m attending the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Orlando this week and I’ll let you know what’s new when I return!

I always enjoy this opportunity to experience “the other side of the table” – the recruiter/employer perspective. It’s immensely valuable for me to learn about recruiters’ current challenges and some emerging solutions It certainly helps me give better advice to my clients. So check back next week when I’ll share the highlights of my learning experience.