Isn't life amazing? After two days, I received a phone
call from a recruiter who had received your mailer.
Anyone who does not take advantage of your contacts, your knowledge of the body - moving business, and your seemingly endless resources, is a fool. You are so much more than a resume service.
I am so very grateful to both Jane and Jeanine for the
professional, high - quality resume service, but the
TRUE secret of what makes you so excellent at what you do is to handle the whole exposure and distribution process. THIS is where you shine. I would NEVER have found the contact that is a PERFECT fit for my talents and interests, if I had chosen to go my own way, hunt and peck through hundreds of companies, email, fax, and mail my own resume, which is a full - time job of its own. You accomplished all of that with state - of - the - art software and a mailing list that you had
compiled that was truly amazing and effective.
I work with a lot of job seekers and every once in a while get a message that is amazingly rude. It isn’t common, and it’s not a significant portion of my overall feedback, but every once in a while I have someone vent. It is usually way off-base, but I do hate being the cause of any negative feelings, so it usually bothers me the rest of the day.
To keep my sanity I usually assume the person who is venting has other major issues (being unemployed and the stress that brings is a factor, I’m sure). I once had a very nice person blow up at me without any reason, and I somehow concluded that he had a mental condition and missed his medication (not an uncommon thing).
These experiences completely burn me, and I want NOTHING to do with those people.
I wonder if you, as a job seeker, have done anything that burns people you are around, or want to be around, to the point where they want nothing to do with you?
Here are five questions I have for you to consider – think about them honestly and perhaps you’ll find some behaviors that need to be adjusted.
Do you feel you need to vent and “tell it like it is” to anyone in your network? I don’t expect you to be fake, chipper and Polyanna all the time, but you also don’t need to bring everyone down with “reality” you are living.
Do you ever give anything to your network? Gracing them with your presence doesn’t count – I’m talking about giving them leads, network contacts, advice, help, or just a listening ear.
When you meet with potential decision-makers (recruiters, HR, hiring managers, influencers, gatekeepers, etc.), are you kind and respectful? Or are you much better than they are and you need to go a few levels up to talk to someone who is the real decision-maker (and make it very clear to them that you are just trying to get around them)?
Do you go out of your way to help others, even when you don’t really know them? I am always looking for team players, and people I’d like to work with – I want to see that you are contributing to move some work forward… even if that means you help people that you don’t really know. Think about the last network meeting you went to – did you offer to help someone who you haven’t gotten to know yet?
Are you rude to restaurant servers? When I’m at a lunch with job seekers (or anyone, for that matter) and the person I’m eating with is rude or sarcastic to the server, that is a huge red flag. Better than them because of what they are doing for a first or second job? I won’t trust you with an introduction to anyone in my network… I don’t want you to treat my contacts they way you treated the server!
Just because you are in a job search, and it sucks, doesn’t mean you have a free ticket to make others feel bad. In the end it will not benefit you at all.
Figure skating is a good example. I figure skated for ten years. I was good, until I went through puberty and then was clearly the wrong body type to be doing double flips. I should have been a basketball player. Maybe.
My kids are at that age where they are doing stuff – skating, basketball, singing, piano, etc. We shell out the money to get them lessons.
I didn’t have these lessons because I came from a big family, and those things were not a priority. But we are helping our kids get this type of training (and our oldest is actually paying for some of it). Since it’s money out, I like to analyze the value of this spend.
Penelope gives a subtle message that even though she spent ten years figure skating perhaps she should have pursued something else.
I feel like that, sometimes… since I wasn’t uber-successful in something, perhaps I wasted my time and should have done something I could have been better at (like curling?)
At my age I can reflect on all of the things I have done… even though I played basketball for a few years, and really enjoyed volleyball, I never went on to play professional basketball or volleyball. Even though I enjoyed weigh lifting I never went on to be a professional body builder.
But I don’t think that those were wasted years, or wasted effort, or a wasted experience. Instead of having laser focus, like an olympic athlete might have, I enjoyed a plethora of things. For me, the time spent on those activities made up who I am today, and I don’t look back thinking “if only I spent all that time curling, I could really be someone today.”
Can you related this to your career path?
Perhaps you majored in something and you work in a totally different field.
Or your internship was in one industry but you have really gravitated towards a different industry.
Or you worked in different fields for the last 20 years and still aren’t sure what you want to be when you grow up.
Yes, you can think “If only I knew what I wanted to do when I was 45, then I could have started at 20 and not wasted so much time.”
I think this is flawed thinking. Instead of regretting what you spent time on, think about how those things built up who you are now. Think about the relationships you realized outside of your current industry. You should have a broad, open way of thinking because of the diversity you bring to your current role.
All of the journey contributes to where you are now. You can regret it but you can’t do anything about past decisions, except accept them, learn from them, appreciate what you got from them, and figure out how to use them to build on.
(this idea reminds me of my LinkedIn post about channel vs. destination… not totally related but enough that it keeps nagging at me)
Sidestepping the question of “are resumes relevant,” I want to talk about something else: what is the purpose of a resume?
In my job search I thought my resume was to help me get branded, and help me in my networking efforts.
It was also to impress people that I gave the resume to.
I think that those are secondary or tertiary purposes a resume, but the primary purpose of your resume is to GET A JOB INTERVIEW.
That’s it – that is the number one purpose of your resume.
It’s not a brag sheet that you should hang on your wall, nor is it an over-sized business card. It is a document that should get you closer to a job interview.
So here’s something I didn’t understand: If you are not getting interviews, you have to figure out if your resume is KEEPING YOU OUT of interviews!
My resume WAS keeping me out of interviews. I wrote it myself, thought it was awesome, and even got lots of positive feedback from hiring managers and HR and other professionals telling me how great it was.
But when the decision-makers of jobs I was applying to looked at my resume, they saw something completely different.
My friends-and-family feedback looked at the resume and saw ME, and my accomplishments, and they were proud.
The decision-makers saw a professional and wondered why in the world he had certain job titles on the resume but was applying to other types of jobs. There was a major disconnect, and I didn’t understand it until I had sent out well over 100 resumes.
Are you getting interviews? If not, check your resume first. Career Resumes does free resume evaluations.
I’ve had to lead a self-directed day since I got laid off, and I’ve found I am really good at putting things off.
There are always priorities, and always new little fires. There are always things I want to do, and things I DO NOT want to do.
What I’ve learned in the four years since I’ve been self-directed is that I have to do the things I don’t want to do first, or else they get pushed back.
First they get pushed back until the afternoon, then the next day, then the next week, and before I know it, I have tasks that just aren’t getting done.
Unfortunately, these tasks are usually important tasks. Many times they are critical. But I still figure out a reason to put them off.
If I get them out of the way as early in the day as possible then I can move through the rest of the day easier, faster, and seemingly more productive.
Put me on the spot and ask me what job seekers will think their #1 dreaded task is and I have to say:
Calling someone on the phone.
Okay, perhaps it’s not dreaded to call a networking contact on the phone. But once that “someone” is a hiring manager, HR, or someone you are trying to network into, the phone suddenly weighs 500 pounds and it seems like you’ll never be able to pick it up.
Do it first. Get it over with.
Here’s a salesperson’s secret: Call before business hours. You’ll either get the person at their desk, with time to talk (no other interruptions), or you’ll get their voice mail, where you can leave a great voice message that they’ll start their day with.
Whatever your thing is that you’ve been putting of, readjust your schedule so that you do it first… I bet your entire day will change!
Remember the first networking event you went to – you know, the one where you were really going to network?
I remember mine. It was shortly after I lost my job. I was really concerned about networking with other job seekers. I judged them to be broken, problematic and useless to me in my job search.
Little did I know.
For a few weeks I would arrive late and leave early. I went for the speaker, really. Networking was not happening.
Until I read Keith Ferrazzi’s book Never Eat Alone. This really changed my life, and it especially changed how I treated those networking events.
Before I go on, I have to say, I think networking with job seekers is more productive than networking with many other types of professionals!!
Okay, not that I got that bias out of the way, and clarified, let me introduce another resource to check out. Sandy Jones-Kaminski wrote a book called I’m at a Networking Event — Now What???
Disclaimer: You may recognize the “Now What???” as part of my series – I am the executive editor of this series…
Sandy did a wonderful job helping lay out strategies and tactics for anyone going to a networking event – whether you are networking with other unemployed professionals or are a salesperson at a Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Don’t let the event happen to you! Sandy helps you understand how you can prepare before the event, what to do at the event, and how to follow-up after the event.
They say you’ll network into your next job, right? You can network on LinkedIn or Twitter. You can network into a blogger… but you should not neglect face-to-face networking.
I need this book. You need this book. You can get the ebook for 11.95 or the paperback for a little more than $20 (which includes S&H).
Click here to see the table of contents, or order.
And then see the results from networking events increase – that’s what you need, isn’t it?
This week I read something from Richard Bolles (Author of What Color is your Parachute). He said the job search is not a science, it is an art. This is what has bugged me about a lot of job search advice – the advice comes across like a science (”do these 13 things and you’ll land your job!”). However, even artists, with all their artistic freedom, know they have to do things based on certain principles. Or, at least they must understand the principles so they can know how to manipulate their medium.
I say YOU must understand your medium, and your principles, so you can understand how to apply job search advice. Your circumstances might be different based on your profession (actuaries probably find jobs differently than PR people), your industry (is it huge or tiny, growing or shrinking, high-margin or tight-margin, etc.), location (small town, big city, global, or focused on certain countries/states).
Understand your own circumstances and then you can measure job search advice against it.
So with that, I’ll tell you, I can’t tell you how to find a job fast. Not many people can – UNLESS you find a real job search coach who understands you, your industry, your profession, your targeted geography, etc.
Otherwise, it’s up to you to figure it out. And you SHOULD.
There are, however, principles in the job search, just like there are principles in any science or discipline. Here’s a great post by Thom Singer on how to find a job search fast. He has the main points and a bonus point.
Otherwise you’ll find advice on AOL, CareerBuilder, Monster, HotJobs, etc. on how to find jobs. Make sure what you are reading is principle-based. Some of that stuff is written by people who have no idea how you should find a job (they either haven’t ever had to do it, or they haven’t done it in a long time).
Too bad it’s not as easy as science, where you could get a simple recipe… you know, add this much stuff, use this much heat, for this long… that would be too easy… this job search stuff is more of an art.
One day I was talking about networking with a fellow job seeker. John was an amazing networker and probably had “lunches” and “breakfasts” about 4 times a day. He didn’t eat much, but he was using his time effectively to get in front of a network contact, just him and them, with no interruptions.
During our conversation John and I both commented on how we LOVED the job search – it was FUN. I had gotten to the point where I almost dreaded the thought of having another cubicle-job again… secluded, doing work, etc.
Don’t get me wrong – my job search was a failure, and usually I was miserable. But something had clicked somewhere along the line and it changed. It happened after I understood what Keith Ferrazzi was talking about in Never Eat Alone. When I really started networking – for relationships, not numbers, I was much less miserable.
I went from a lonely, secluded and miserable in my job search to doing something I learned I really enjoyed. It wasn’t just meeting and talking with people, it was helping people.
If you are at the bottom of despair in your job search, let me suggest you get Ferrazzi’s book and figure out how to network.
If you are networking now, and you still feel like the job search is still lonely, let me suggest that perhaps you aren’t networking the right way.
I’m guessing you haven’t heard of GarVee. That’s okay, it’s not necessary to know who he is to get value out of his book.
I want you to get (library, buy, borrow, steal, whatever) his book: Crush It. Okay, don’t steal it, but somehow get it.
And read chapter 1. Really, that’s all I want you to do (you can read the rest if you want).
Gary talks to people who want to be successful (which, in a large part, means very, very happy). I’m reading his book as an entrepreneur… but this book speaks to me when I was unhappily employed. Gary talks about how to be happy. With his down-to-earth language, and passion that jumps off the page, I get huge, huge messages, just out of chapter 1.
Are you in a job search? Read this book. In Chapter 1 Gary talks to YOU, the job seeker.
Are you happily employed? Read this book. In Chapter 1 Gary talks to YOU, the professional.
Are you unhappily employed? Skip work today and digest this book.
Do you have a hobby you love… something you are passionate about? Read this book, because it’s all about passion. Well, 33% is about passion, the other 66% is other stuff, but passion is KEY.
I don’t know if other are touting this as a career book, but I am. This is one of the most significant career books you’ll read – ever.
I’m not telling you to read this book because it will make you cry. I can’t sleep as I think about some of the message.
Okay, enough … you get my point. Get the book.
Oh yeah, and here’s a tip … if you want to get into the spirit of reading this book, spend some time watching some of Gary’s videos. I’ve watched him enough that when I read the book I can picture him onstage, or at his computer on a webcam, talking to me. His book talks to me… how cool is that?
Oh sure, there are lots of resolutions to make. Some are fans of making them, some are not fans.
Perhaps your job search resolution is to find your dream job.
Perhaps your career resolution is to get out of a dead-end job and move into a real career – again, your dream job.
Perhaps you resolve to network more, update your resume, figure out your personal brand, etc.
As I’ve thought about all of the different things I’d want people to have as resolutions I can really only think of one thing. It is the product of my layoff, my horrible job search, and then my almost 4 years in this job search industry. It is this:
I resolve to figure out that my career success depends on ME. Not HR, not my company, not my boss, not the economy, not my status, race, education, religion, or anything else. My career success depends on me.
Because of this, I need to proactively manage my career. I am done being reactive about it. I will do “all the right things” that I should do in my career management. Waiting for others, depending on others, wishing others would step in – that’s reactive. I’m moving forward, and I’m going to have a successful career – starting this year!
That’s it. That’s the resolution that I think is most important with regard to your career.
Some things you can do to proactively manage your career:
Manage and enhance your network relationships. Get started by signing up on JibberJobber.com.
Figure out LinkedIn - not just “be there” but actually have a strategy so you are findable, and so you can find key contacts. Check out the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD.
Have a running list of “Target Companies“ – not to paint yourself into a corner and limit yourself, but to help you target your efforts and have something to talk about with others.
