Land the Job You Love: How to Use Gathered Information

This continues our series describing what you can do to get a great job and salary

Carl worked for the same company for 17 years. When an out-of-state company purchased his employer and moved all the jobs to another state, Carl decided to leave the company rather than move. He found a new job within 6 months, but did not like the company. He lost the job within 18 months. He lost three more jobs in 4 years. Either he left or was asked to leave. He wanted a job just like the one he had for 17 years. He never explored whether he would like the job before accepting one.

Compare Information to What You Want in the Job

Make a list of what you want on the job. Gather information about those issues. For example, discover the:

• Percent of the time you will perform certain tasks or use certain skills on the job
• Projects you can help them achieve, or problems you can help them resolve
• Metrics used to measure—and reward—performance, effectiveness & efficiency
• Teams you will work on: size, personalities, cohesiveness, and collaborative nature
• Corporate culture, written and unwritten rules, after hour activities and expectations

Compare what you want with the information you gather about what they want.

Use Information to Impress Decision Makers

Introduce yourself to the decision maker, and answer questions in interviews, using the information you gather to focus on their needs. Consider the following example telephone conversation:

• “Mr. Hamilton, Paul and Jane on your staff told me that you want to increase sales by $20 million dollars over the next 2 years by improving your market share in Latin America. Is that correct?”
• “Paul and Jane recommended I call you because they know that I helped open 22 sales offices in 9 Latin American countries. These offices generated an additional $4.3 million in sales. Is that the kind of increases you want? When can we meet to discuss how I can help you achieve your sales goal?”

Wednesday we outline different kinds of phone calls you can make to 10 people a day