A life changing event is a terrible thing to waste. Face your fear and get ready to take some risks in 2013.
Holiday Job Search Tips
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Many people ask if they can actually find a job during the holidays. My answer is always Y-E-S! I always think any time and any situation is good for job searching…but especially during the holidays. One of the main reasons why job searching during the holidays is effective is because it tends to be a more “social” time. There are holiday parties, get-togethers, family events and dinners, as well as gift giving. All those are social events that allow for unique types of engagements. Those engagements are technically networking events.
Holiday Job Search Tip #1: Accept invitations to all parties. No matter if you like the people or not, a party is a great time to meet new people. Job leads are found many times from casual acquaintances. Meeting new people at parties is a great way to get to know new people. If you are uncomfortable introducing yourself at parties, find the person/people who are trying not to talk to anyone and say hi…talk about the weather and get a conversation going. They are probably more nervous than you are.
Holiday Job Search Tip #2: Invite others to your house…have your own parties. Don’t wait for people to invite you. Invite them. And don’t try to match your friends together for the perfect night. Invite a whole range of people over and encourage them to invite someone else. Have someone help you out at the party so you are not hiding behind all you have to do but enjoying meeting everyone.
Holiday Job Search Tip #3: Realize companies need to fill open positions for the new year. Many companies are thinking about the new year during the holidays. Hiring managers are wondering if or when they will receive approval to make a hire on their team. Sometimes they get the approval just before the new year. The holidays might slow down the communications around a new hire but the need is still there. Be patient with the process but don’t count yourself out of any opportunity.
These are just a few holiday job search tips to keep in mind during this season. Get out there and meet more new people. There are also plenty of ways you can volunteer and meet new people. Getting out there means helping others and them helping you.
Let’s Get Started!
Job Layoff and 5 What To Do Next Tips
Well I have been out of commission for a little while and haven’t posted much lately. My summer hiatus is over now and back to connecting with you all once again. Today’s topic is centered around what are the first things you should do after you are laid off from your job. I am not going to suggest you not panic or going to tell you “maybe it is for the better” or some catch phrase like that. Instead I am going to share with you the realities of what to do first and why.
Here are five things you should focus your efforts on:
1. Start learning how to conduct an online job search. I don’t advocate this approach as your only approach to finding a new job BUT it should be the place you start to explore the “low hanging fruit” opportunities. This is where many (not all) employers go to start their own search for new employees. This is also where many recruiters go to start looking for potential candidates in tough markets.
Learning how to conduct an online job search is a bit different and for another post. But start adding this activity to your daily to-do list when the hint of job layoffs are in the air.
2. Get your resume up-to-date. Don’t wait too long on this one. Find someone who can help you craft a new resume. Always keep in mind a new resume needs to have flexibility built into it so you can tailor it to meet the needs of online job postings you find or connections you make in the near future. Tweaking resume content for EVERY job opportunity is very important…so start thinking that way about your resume.
3. Commit to an amount of time each day you will be job searching. I personally don’t think you should search eight or 10 hours a day. That is an easy way to get burned out. Searching for three to five hours, five to six days a week is plenty. You will be searching when you meet people in other activities so don’t worry, you will get a lot of time in.
4. Find a new hobby or activity. After a job layoff it is important to make sure you are accomplishing things along the way. Volunteering once or twice a week in virtually any capacity will help you stay “connected” to the world in general. Don’t worry if it doesn’t help you find a job. Instead think of it as your investment time into other people. You will benefit from it every time you do it.
5. Start thinking about your financial future. This is a great time for you and your spouse (if you have one) to start prioritizing your bills and how you are going to try to pay them all. You might come to realize you need to find a part time job to bring in some income while you are searching. That is also why I don’t think job searching should be done all day, every day. You can find time to make some additional money along the way. Your finances will help dictate how much and for how long. Having those talks along the way will help keep the “monkey on your back” in check.
There are a lot of thing to consider when your job is eliminated by a layoff. These top five will help you focus some of your efforts in the right direction. A new job can be found with consistency…do a little each day and it will pay off for you eventually. These things to keep in mine will help you stay in the job search game for the long haul if it goes that way. There is a pretty good chance it will turn into a marathon job search. You can do it. You just need to be consistent.
Let’s Get Started!
Jeff
Don’t Blame The Resume
So many times I hear job seekers say something like: ”If I only had a great resume, then…” The … can be any number of things from “I would get the job”, “I would get noticed”, or “they would give me a call back”. None of those statements are actually true. Resumes don’t think, feel, talk or produce anything. Resumes are just pieces of paper (wood or electronic) that many job seekers use as a crutch. NEWS FLASH: Resumes Don’t Get You A Job!
Blaming your resume is just an excuse to not finding a job. You don’t need an excuse anymore. What you need is a swift kick in the butt. So what is a resume good for anyways? Here are the top three things a resume can do for you:
1. Provide background information on your experience level AFTER you make initial contact. This is one of the biggest things job seekers ignore. A resume should be used after you speak with someone, after the initial call/discussion. The reason it is used after is so it can support your conversation and support the goal you are trying to accomplish with that person. If you are talking to a hiring manager about a particular job opportunity, you can tailor the resume for the requirements of the job. This type of resume showcases your depth of experience in a particular area. If you spoke with someone who is going to pass your resume along to a hiring manager at their company, you would need a more general resume to demonstrate your breath (wide/general) of experience. The main reason is you don’t know what the hiring manager is looking for.
2. Resumes are good if there is no other way to introduce yourself. Some online postings only allow you to submit a resume and there is no contact information. This is a time to submit your resume that is very specific demonstrating your depth of experience based on (relevant to) the job description. Never send a general resume to these postings otherwise you are wasting your time. You might be wasting your time anyways because you should be out looking in-person or meeting people (networking) first. Sending a general resume (the kind you always send) doesn’t get you noticed. You need to demonstrate a reason for the person on the other end to contact you to talk.
3. Resumes are good for hiding behind if you are scared to get out and meet people. Don’t ever use this excuse anymore. I have called you out so you can stop hiding. Go out and meet people doing things you like to do or want to learn. Learn how to introduce yourself and ask good questions of other people. Learn about what they have done to find a new job or their current one. Ask what they like and hate about it. Help them out if they need it. Genuinely invest in other people and they will invest in you.
A resume is your experience packaged in a one or two page overview. It is not what you are good at, what defines you or how you think and feel. Resumes can only lay there and look pretty…you need more guts than that.
Stop blaming your resume on why you are not finding a job. Go hunt for jobs with a big gun…your mouth.
Let’s Get Started!
Jeff
Job Search Blunders
Ok…I interviewed a guy for an opportunity I had available on my team. He claimed to be a specialist at his craft and may have been. The problem I had is I could not get past the BS he was shoveling. He had a business on the side (for the past 11 years) but had been full time at other companies during the same time. Something was not right. In addition, he seemed to job hop a little but not too bad.
So as I dove into his current work experience, I asked him about his clients in his business. He said to me: ”I make $80k to $90k per year with them currently.” That prompted me to ask him why he was looking for a full time position that paid much less than that. His answer was not well thought out and included the phrase: ”I don’t really need to work. I do it to have fun and gain new experiences.” This floored me and I almost didn’t know what to say. He was not the right guy for the job and it was obvious.
So what is the lesson…was he just being honest? If so, I really should have appreciated it, right? My gut was telling me he wasn’t though. He seemed to be just trying to demonstrate he was successful in the craft I was interviewing him for. But what he got was the person on the other end not being sure if he was telling the truth or not. So the lesson is to always be honest with your answers BUT don’t paint yourself into a corner and not think ahead on how you will answer obvious questions an interviewer will have based on your background/resume. You don’t want to be telling the truth but sound like you are lying. That is a bad combination.
If a hiring authority sees you job hopped ever 18 months for the past six or seven years, of course they are going to wonder if you will just be around for a year or so. During the interview, be confident and prepared to answer that type of “obvious” questioning so you don’t sound like you are stretching the truth too much.
In addition, if you have run your own business for a number of years, it is imperative you don’t treat an interviewer like someone who is a potential client. You should instead demonstrate your personality as one who is willing to get in there and do the tough work to get the job YOU ARE INTERVIEWING FOR done. That type of attitude is what hiring managers are looking for. They don’t need friends, they need people on their team willing to work hard and provide value to the company.
There are so many more blunders to highlight in a post like this. They include things like saying “I am a people-person” in a sales interview. Hiring managers have heard it and it has now become a negative statement when seeking a sales position. Other blunders include trying to hit-on the interviewer or disrespecting them. Try to stand out from the other people who the hiring manager will see that day. Don’t do what everyone else does…but don’t be weird.
Lastly, do your homework on the company you are interviewing at. If you don’t prepare yourself ahead of time, it will show through in the interview.
Let’s Get Started!
Jeff
Job Search Drudgery
I really enjoy reading a marketing/life change artist blog by a guy named Seth Godin. Seth has a very unique way of telling a great story that gets into the deepest parts of your psyche. His blog post today is about change and want to repost it here for you:
Extending the narrative
Did you wake up fresh today, a new start, a blank slate with resources and opportunities… or is today yet another day of living out the narrative you’ve been engaged in for years?
For all of us, it’s the latter. We maintain our worldview, our biases, our grudges and our affections. We nurse our grudges and see the very same person (and situation) in the mirror today that we did yesterday. We may have a tiny break, a bit of freshness, but no, there’s no complete fresh start available to us.
Marketers have been using this persistence to their advantage forever. They sell us a car or a trip or a service that fits the story we tell ourselves. I don’t buy it because it’s the right thing for everyone, I buy it because it’s right for me, the us I invented, the I that’s part of the story I’ve been telling myself for a long time.
The socialite walks into the ski shop and buys a $3000 ski jacket she’ll wear once. Why? Not because she’ll stay warmer in it more than a different jacket, but because that’s what someone like her does. It’s part of her story. In fact, it’s easier for her to buy the jacket than it is to change her story.
If you went to bed as a loyal company man or an impatient entrepreneur or as the put-upon retiree or the lady who lunches, chances are you woke up that way as well. Which is certainly safe and easy and consistent and non-confusing. But is it helping?
We dismiss the mid-life crisis as an aberration to be avoided or ridiculed, as a dangerous blip in a consistent narrative. But what if we had them all the time? What if we took the resources and trust and momentum that helps us but decided to let the other stuff go?
It’s painful to even consider giving up the narrative we use to navigate our life. We vividly remember the last time we made an investment that didn’t match our self-story, or the last time we went to the ‘wrong’ restaurant or acted the ‘wrong’ way in a sales call. No, that’s too risky, especially now, in this economy.
So we play it safe and go back to our story.
The truth though, is that doing what you’ve been doing is going to get you what you’ve been getting. If the narrative is getting in the way, if the archetypes you’ve been modeling and the worldview you’ve been nursing no longer match the culture, the economy or your goals, something’s got to give.
When decisions roll around–from what to have for breakfast, to whether or not to make that investment to what TV show (or none) to watch on TV tonight, the question to ask is: Is this a reflex that’s part of my long-told story, or is this actually a good decision? When patterns in engagments with the people around you become well-worn and ineffective, are they persistent because they have to be, or because the story demands it?
Let’s Get Started!
Jeff
5 Job Searching Tips
The following 5 job searching tips are not your traditional tips. They are intended to shake your core a little and get you moving. If offensive, I apologize ahead of time. But (there is always a but isn’t there?) remember sometimes the toughest thing to hear is what makes you change and succeed.
Job Searching Tip #1: You are LAZY…stop being lazy. Most job seekers I meet are really not that hungry for a new job. They are searching online four, five and even six hours a day. They say things like: “I sent out 500 resumes and haven’t heard a thing….no responses. There are no jobs out there. The economy sucks and …” When you hear yourself say this or others, get mad and call yourself or them L-A-Z-Y because you are. You are lazy because you spend so much time doing things that don’t get results and then you blame “outside forces” beyond your control so you don’t have to look at why you are not succeeding. Get off your butt and get out there. Your new job is searching for another one and you can’t do that by being lazy and making excuses.
Job Searching Tip #2: You must put in overtime on this, your new job. When it gets down to it, a job search can take anywhere from 150 to 500+ hours to complete. When I had my consulting business, I actually job searched for individuals. They paid me a fee to do the work for them because they were too busy (or just scared). Why I could not make a lot of money at it was because of the time required to find leads, connect with the hiring manager and get an interview. This took a lot of focused energy. I calculated it took between 150 and 500+ hours to find what was needed to get interviews. If you are not willing to put in 10 to 12 hour a day on your job search, it will take months and months to complete. So you have to plan ahead of time to work 50 to 60 hours a week if you want to really find something fast. It is not just putting in the time. Instead it is taking the time to hit walls and figure out ways to get over them, put your own feelings on the back burner and do the right activities to find the right opportunities. It is focused time in the right directions that produces results.
Job Searching Tip #3: It is NOT a “numbers game”. Those of you who think if I just send out enough resumes eventually one will work. I am here to tell you that you should not look at job searching that way. It really is not a numbers game with resumes. Yes you might eventually find a job this way so it has a little merit. However, a numbers game is what should be termed “a gamble”. Do you really want to gamble with your job searching activities? I am here to tell you shouldn’t. It won’t get the job done and you are just fooling yourself. Gambling is for those who have time and money on their side, not the beginners.
Job Searching Tip #4: You are an immature baby, scared of your own shadow. You really are. You ignore good teaching on how to find a job because you won’t let your brain be open to ideas and things that make you nervous. Just admit it, you are scared. Yes you are…you are scared. Don’t shy away from it. Instead recognize you are scared and find ways to help smooth out your fears. Most of us get nervous in interviews, in tense situations when everything is on the line and some people are just plain nervous in social situations. Ok, I get that…now you need to get it too. Know thyself first and find tools and techniques for you to get past Y-O-U. So you are scared, big freakin’ deal. Stop being a baby and running away from your fears. We all have them. Embrace, develop technique to minimize your nervousness and move forward.
Job Searching Tip #5 (my personal favorite) – STOP telling yourself you are not going to find a new job and other stupid things you say to yourself in the shower, dark of night, when you are driving, etc. You are your own enemy when it comes to keeping your head in this job searching game. You struggle between good thoughts and bad thoughts with the bad ones winning out most of the time. They start in small ways but then they seep deeper and deeper into your head like a constant dripping. Turn the faucet off. You have very important skills, experience, drive, passion and heart. You do…your really do. Everyone has something to give in this world even you. Stop bringing yourself down with your constant dripping of negative words and thoughts. Changing this requires you to mechanically remind yourself of what you offer. Putting motivating quotes up in the bathroom, listening to motivational audio products, watching motivating video products, and others activities like it are all ways to mechanically change your thinking.
These job searching tips are so crucial to being successful in your job search. Stop whining and start working.
Let’s Get Started!
Jeff
