Casual vs Serious Job Seeker

What are you? Are you a casual job seeker or one who is serious about it?

Casual job seekers are really twisting the statistics on what the best way to find a job is. Here are the differences:

A casual seeker is currently working but is looking for something else. They might be telling a few friends about their plans and sending some resumes to online postings they see while on the job. The majority of job seekers are looking for opportunities this way. Many of them get a hit here or there and some do actually find new opportunities.

A serious seeker is one who is out of work and really feeling the pain to locate an opportunity, any opportunity, no matter what. They need the money to survive. The serious job seeker is probably doing the same things but with a bit of hesitation as not to look like they are begging. Many of them are feeling their confidence waver and resort to the casual approach too.

The problem with the casual approach is that if it is used by the serious job seeker, it fails most of the time. This approach by the serious seeker is started initially shortly after they loose their job. They tweak their resume, send it to job postings and hope for the best. After a few days or weeks they do some more of the same activities and then really start feeling the pain of being out of work with no end in sight.

The serious seeker reads and hears through the media that times are tough or use a certain job board and you will find a job just like he did or she did. The confusion the serious seeker feels is due to the "mis-messaging" they receive which is really intended for the casual seeker.

So what is a serious job seeker to do? I believe if you are serious about your job search you should take it on as a project with short and long term goals and various stages. This type of mentality will help you focus your efforts and provide you a way to assess what activities produce the greatest results. If online job applying is getting you interviews, keep doing it. If that technique is not working, try a different one.

More on thinking about your job search as a project to manage in the next post. Stay tuned...

Let's Get Started!

Jeff

Online Job Search

STOP SEARCHING ONLY ONLINE FOR JOBS!

I have decided after a lot of analysis, talking to friends, family and clients, reading, trial, error and more that if you are spending 75% of your time using job posting websites like Monster, CareerBuilder and other you are WASTING YOUR TIME.

Now there are some job titles typically below $36,000 where internet searching is a great way to find leads. But most of the others should NOT be spending very much time on it. If you have sent 50 to 100 resumes to job postings and received no response, THAT TECHNIQUE IS NOT WORKING. Have you ever heard the old adage that says the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Don't go mad doing things that are not working. Try one of these other techniques:

1. Use the library's database and find 20 companies you want to work for and call or email the person who can hire you...The Hiring Manager.

2. Show your friends and family a list of 20 companies you want to work for and see if they know of anyone you can talk to.

3. Send letters to the hiring managers at the top 20 companies showing them you have reviewed their organization and have an idea on how to make a process better and how you are the right person for the job.

4. Contact Staffing Firms in your industry and Recruiters

5. Walk into smaller, local companies who do work in the industry you are looking for and request a brief introduction.

There are many challenging ways to locate job leads. Don't just try one and then decide the economy sucks and you are never going to find what you are looking for. Find jobs before they are listed and you will find the pot of gold you are looking for and leave everyone else in the dust.

Let's Get Started!

Jeff

You Singing The Blues?

Today I want to suggest an approach to keeping you mentally in the job search process. Stop whining! The definition of whining is "belly aching to people who don't really want to hear it."

Now there is a difference between genuine airing out your feelings and whining about a your job search (or any situation for that matter). Whining sounds like this: "The economy is horrible and I cannot find a job" or "I cannot believe I sent over 100 resumes to job postings and I got no responses" or "My friend said she was going to get my resume in the hands of the hiring manager; its been a week and I haven't heard anything". All of these are whining statements. They don't do ANYTHING to the listener except beg the listener to think of statements they cannot say such as: "Maybe if you stop whining someone would hire you" or "Maybe you are job searching wrong". These statements many times are held back by your listeners because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

I am here to hurt your feelings...STOP WHINING! Instead of the above mentioned statements, think along the lines of this: "I am having a tough time with my job search, do you have any suggestions" or "Hey hone, what do you think I am doing wrong with my job search" or even better yet "Am I coming across desperate or frustrated?" Asking for someone's ideas or suggestions might reveal some issues within your personality you never knew existed.

I asked my wife a question like that this weekend and heard a few statements SHE HAS NEVER SAID TO ME. I was not shocked because I was in that mood where she could say anything and I would listen. That mood is not always around. She taught me a few things about how people perceive me. Your spouse, family member or close friend might help you. Stop singing the blues or whining and grow a little today.

Let's Get Started!

Jeff

Age Discrimination in Every Form

We work with all ages on job search projects. We have worked with the 20 year old just completing college and entering the workforce, the 30 year old who is looking to move up the ladder, the 40 year old who is wondering what the rest of his/her working life will look like, the 50 year old who is strong on the inside but on the outside is showing some wear and tear, and lastly the 60+ year old who is seasoned and frustrated they don't get a second look.

Everyone of those age brackets mentioned gets age discriminated against. The 20 year old doesn't have enough experience. The 30 year old has job hopped and needs to be more specialized. The 40 year old needs to be less specialized; they need to be more mold-able. The 50+ year old has too much experience. EVERYONE gets discriminated against. It doesn't matter and it is an EASY reason to not hire someone.

Keep in mind there may be good reasons for not hiring the young with limited experience or the older workers who may not be as flexible or controllable as the young. These pseudo-discriminations are all around us but not the only ones. There are many of us (including myself) who don't give certain people a second chance. It is safe to say that this is human nature. We categorize people without even knowing it.

So what is a job seeker to do? Realize this practice exists but you are not allowed to use it as an excuse. Using any pseudo or true discrimination in most cases as an excuse is just that, an excuse. Fight the age, gender, experience, look, color, and race issues in all of us and you will never stop. I am NOT saying you should never fight those issues but when you don't get your way with a job prospect, don't make this your excuse. Otherwise you will miss a very important piece to your job search....self realization.

Self realization comes from learning from mistakes and missteps. When you get stuck in your job search, start asking the question: "What am I doing wrong?" I know this is a negative way to look at yourself but what it does is ask yourself to help you solve the puzzle. Where are you getting stuck? You may be getting telephone interviews but no face to face ones. You may be sending your resumes to online postings with no response. Wherever you are getting stuck, ask yourself "what am I doing wrong?" to help you get unstuck.

If you are only getting telephone interviews, then consider how you are speaking to people on the phone...are you rushed, not relaxed, frustrated, tired, etc. Have a friend call you at an unplanned time from an unknown number and see how you pick up the phone. Maybe you are alienating people from the first word "Hello".

Find out what you might be doing wrong and change. I love the old adage that says something like "Insanity is defined by people doing the same things over and over and EXPECTING a different result"...don't be insane.

Let's Get Started!

Jeff

Summer Slump

There is no slump when job searching. Don't fall into the trap that you cannot find a job during the summer or before a holiday or at the end of the year. It is all bogus! These are just reasons not to work hard to find an opportunity.

Yes things can slow down during these times but it should not for you. I was a sales person for a number of years. We all know by now that job searching is somewhat of a sales and marketing activity. When I was selling my products, the best conversations were when the office was the slowest. You never know who has already taken vacation or has to catch up on finding just the right candidate.

Don't slow down EVER! When you are job searching you work hard during your waking hours so you can sleep better every night knowing you did everything you could during the day.

Let's Get Started!

Jeff

Craigslist VS TheLadders

I have heard from a number of you on many of my posts but the ones on Craigslist and TheLadders seems to be the most popular. I think most of the comments about TheLadders have been negative EXCEPT for the experience one of my clients had in locating a job via their site. This story is true and I can give you the reference if needed. Most of the comments posted and not posted about Craigslist have been somewhat positive which is on the opposite spectrum.

In thinking about the two service, I have to admit that maybe the costs involved and the perceived value a user places on a service has an effect on their feelings about is it "worth it". TheLadders does charge a fee and because of this I suspect (as I would think) that you should receive a greater value than a free service like Craigslist. Since Craigslist is free, should the opposite value be placed on the postings? Evidently not because so many people love Craigslist.

As I have mentioned in many postings of days gone past...every tactic works some of the time and every tactic works none of the time. Unfortunately we cannot predetermine the right timing in locating a job. So how does one decide on which tactic to use for a given job search? I say don't ask the career coaches but ask who you know this very question...or a tweaking of it. For the next few days ask everyone you see this question: "How did you get your last 2 or 3 jobs?" Ask them how they found out about the opening and how they applied for it. You will be surprised at the answers.

I asked a group of 12 men at a job seekers group meeting in Denver two weeks ago this very question. Of the 12 men, 10 have had at least 3 previous jobs. If we take those 10 guys and multiply by 3 previous jobs we get 30 job searches. Of those 30 job searches about 22 were found by the help of friends, family and acquaintances. The other 8 were found by other means such as the newspaper, internet postings and university career centers. That means almost 75% of the jobs were found by connecting with others and NOT emailing resumes to posting found on TheLadders or Craigslist.

Do what works most often and you will have success. Do what doesn't work very often and you have a long waiting game ahead of you. Food for thought...

Let's Get Started!

Jeff

Don't Look Back

A quirky, cool poem today...

I do, You do.
What you want to do?
Why do not do
Be not who you
Want to be.

Too short on time
To not do what
You want to do.
Find it. Do it.
Don't look back.

Let's Get Started!

Jeff