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

Land the Job You Love: Talk to Close Friends & Family

This continues our series outlining actions that will help you get the job you love

Linda graduated with a degree in accounting. She worked two internships between her sophomore and junior year, and between her junior and senior year. She experienced difficulty getting interviews. She hesitated asking her father or family members for help. She didn’t know what to say other than”Can you help me get a job?” We coached her to create questions to ask family members. All of the companies her relatives worked for had accounting departments (What company doesn’t?) She found a job 2 weeks later from information provided by a family member.

Why We Hesitate to Talk to Family and Friends

You may resist talking to family members about looking for a job for several reasons:

• Ashamed that you have to look for a job
• Feel awkward “hitting them up for a job”
• Don’t know what to say
• Don’t perceive that they work in the field you do
• Already asked them for help once, don’t know what to say the second time

Questions You Can Ask Family and Friends

You can to ask family and friends questions that will not irritate them. For example:

• Questions about where they work
  • “How many people are in the YY division?”
  • “What are the key projects and goals at work?”
  • “What do you like about your company?”
  • “What are your biggest frustrations at the company?”
  • “Who else would you suggest I talk to?”
• Questions about specific companies or situations
  • You can ask the same questions that you asked about where they work except preface them with
  • “What can you tell me about YY company?”
  • “What experience have you had with YY company?”
  • “Do you know anyone at the YY company?”
  • “Do you know any one who does business or buys from the YY company?”
• Questions about industry trends
  • “What do you see happening in the YY industry?”
  • “What improvements do you see coming?”
  • “What problems or challenges do you see coming?”
  • “What else should I ask?”

Monday we highlight what to do with the information you gather from your network

Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware 3: Careful with Promotions & Contests

Saturdays we share tips or cautions to facilitate getting scholarships or avoid problems

Promotions Masquerade as Scholarships

I repeat what I’ve said earlier. Most of the scholarship search engines we will share with you do not cost you anything. They receive their funding from banner ads, selling emails, and other sources. Their biggest source of income, however, has become promotions, contests, and surveys.

Promotions appear on your lists of results for many search engines. They typically announce their intent to promote a specific product or service. Frequently, the search engine itself sponsors the contest. You need to read the fine print to determine how safe the promotion is. For example, I copied this phrase from one particular promotion “If you express interest in particular schools or affiliates, College Prowler Inc. may sell or transfer your personal information to those schools or affiliates accordingly.”

Of course, the search engines put a positive spin. Fastweb.com, for example, states

“While it seems that the overachievers eventually get cash from somewhere — be it their school or an independent scholarship donor — the “B” and “C” students are often overlooked.

That’s why promotional scholarships are more important than ever. Let’s face it, promotional awards may not challenge your intellect like writing an essay, but contests like FastWeb’s Why I Deserve a Scholarship video contest, Create Your Own Scholarship and Scholarship BootCamp can still earn you valuable cash for school. Most don’t have strict terms or require essays and there are lots of them out there.”

You read the warnings and fine print. You decide.

 

Legitimate and Illegitimate Contests

Contests are a closely related cousin to the promotional scholarships. Some contests legitimately create situations for you to compete against others based on the skills of the applicant. For example,

• Film contests for the student that produces and submits the best video based on a theme
• Piano contests for the person who submits the best tape or live piano performance

Illegitimate contests will ask you to do something or submit something that enters you in a drawing.

Tuesday we will review the scholarship search engine www.backtoschool.com

Land the Job You Love: How to Identify 10 People to Call

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

I taught nursing students how to find a job during the last semester of their bachelor’s program. During the class, I asked them to make a list of people they could talk to about job possibilities. I asked them to prioritize their list indicating people who A) worked for companies that could hire them, B) knew people who worked for companies that could hire them, and C) who knew lots of people. Most would list 7-8 B’s out of 75 people on the list. I concluded the exercise by highlighting that they were saying that only 7-8 people on their list knew a doctor.

Where to Identify People You Could Call

First, do not limit the people you call to those who know of current openings. You want to gather information and identify needs that you can solve. Second, do not eliminate people just because you don’t know what to say. Third, remember that 35% of all jobs are found through word-of-mouth. These phone calls help you tap into that word-of-mouth network. Contacting companies directly accounts for 31% of jobs. (Statistics provided by JIST Works) You can find people through a variety of sources. For example search through your

• Address book whether it’s in Outlook or a spiral bound notebook in a drawer
• Contacts on your smart phone and email list
• Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others
• Lists of companies with contact names (www.careeronestop.com or others)
• Association web sites that list company members (www.SHRM.org, www.PRSA.org)
• Alumni association contacts or network (www.alumni.usc.edu)
• Job boards (www.Indeed.com, www.Monster.com, www.ratracerebellion.com)

Reasons You May Discount Some People

You may not call your uncle, cousin, family, or friends because you don’t know what to say to them when you call. You don’t want to offend, irritate, or annoy them. You know they don’t work for a company or have an open job you can fill. So you don’t call them. So, you ignore them.

Friday we will discuss what to say and ask when you call close relatives for help

Land the Job You Love: Fight Isolation—Talk to People!

This continues our series outlining concept to help you land the job you love

Nancy lost her job 8 months ago. She worked hard to find a job. Unfortunately, she spent 8 hours a day on the computer looking up job postings, sending emails, and tinkering with her resume. She rarely talked to anyone by phone, Skype, or in person. Continued computer work depressed her as did the lack of personal contact. She kept working to get a job, but her despair robbed her conviction. She attended a job search workshop and learned to call 10 people a day and schedule 10 meetings a week. Her attitude improved. She regained hope. She found a great job within 3 weeks.

Isolation and Finding a Job

Consider how traditional job seeking activities isolate you. You spend the majority of your time sitting in front of a computer

• Searching job boards and want ads
• Completing online job applications
• Tinkering with your resume and cover letters
• Sending email with resumes attached
• Checking your emails for response to the ones you sent
• Talking to 1-2 people a week
• Interviewing maybe 2 people a month

You perform most of those activities alone—isolated. Continued isolation, coupled with frequent rejection, brings despair and low self-esteem.

Talking to People Lifts Your Spirits

We encourage you to call 10 people a day if you are looking for a job and schedule 10 meetings a week. Remember, the 10 people do not need to have a current job opening.

People will energize your job search. Talking to people stimulates your thinking. Especially if you discuss something better than “I’m looking for work. Do you know of any job openings?” Instead, you may consider talking to people about:

• Their projects, goals, and challenges
• New software releases, bugs, and fixes
• Economic and industry trends
• Company’s growth and decline
• Ask them if they have information you are seeking about a company
• Ask them if they can recommend other people you can talk to
• Thank them for information or referrals they shared

Wednesday we explore how to identify 10 people to talk to each day

Land the Job You Love: Avoid Ineffective Actions

This continues our posts describing how to land the job you love faster with better pay

Darrin had spent 18 months looking for a job. He spent 6-8 hours a day at his computer looking for job postings and fiddling with his resume. He emailed 1,965 resumes in that time, a little over 100 a month. He never had an interview in the 18 months. Most of the resumes received no response. The few hundred that responded politely thanked him for applying, but expressed no interest. So, he would edit his resume again. Finally, he took a job search workshop that focused on calling people rather than emailing resumes. He started telephoning 10 people a day. He scheduled 10 meetings a week. He had a great job offer in 3 weeks.

Making a Phone Call Terrifies Job Seekers

I’ve helped people find jobs since 1976. They included teens looking for their first job to retired professionals looking to make retirement more interesting. The salaries ranged from minimum wage to $250,000 with a $60K signing bonus and a million dollar annual performance bonus.

The majority resisted our teaching to call 10 people a day and schedule 10 meetings/interviews a week. I don’t understand why, but, the thought of telephoning someone terrifies them. Too many job seekers will do almost anything to avoid opening their cell phone.

Tactics People Use to Avoid Telephoning Someone

Many job seekers work hard to find a job—in the beginning. They refine their resume, send off emails, and scout the job boards. After a few weeks, they despair because they get poor results. Soon, they spend 1-2 hours a day looking for work.

They employ a variety of tactics to avoid phone calls. They include:

• Writing and rewriting their resume for months
• Editing cover letters and standard emails until they “are perfect”
• Sending emails to jobs they found on the Internet
• Looking at job boards for good job postings
• Taking care of children
• Completing projects and making repairs around the house

Monday we outline how to trade the isolation of a job search for talking to people

Land the Job You Love: Doubt or Self-Confidence

This continues our tips to land the job you love faster and with better pay

Pablo managed 200 properties for a US company in Latin America. He ensured preventative maintenance on equipment and custodial care of buildings. He coordinated the purchase of millions of dollars worth of property and construction of new stores. He came to the US legally and in his 50’s received a master’s degree. With all of these accomplishments, he doubted himself and his worth as an employee. That doubt drove him to look for low paying jobs. As a result, he could not find a job. Once he regained his self-confidence, he landed the job he loves,  in three weeks.

Constant Rejection Develops Self-Doubt

Looking for a job can demoralize you. You offer yourself to an employer, which makes you feel quite vulnerable. You describe the skills and abilities you think will impress them. Perhaps they invite you to interview with them. Perhaps they send a nicely worded rejection. Perhaps they never respond. Two out of the three responses hurt.

If your phone call goes very well, you get to interview for the job. Once again, you try to demonstrate your worth to the company. Yet, you may still get rejected. Rejection after rejection attacks your self-confidence. Continued rejection breaks your spirit. Soon, you doubt your worth and your skills. You believe you deserve the rejections. You quit trying or worse accept a job significantly lower than you should.

Replacing Doubt with Self-Confidence

You must regain your self-confidence in order to successfully complete your job search and gain the caliber of job you deserve. I propose the following actions:

• Stop spending the majority of your time in isolation by yourself
• Stop spending your time sending emails and resumes
• Attend professional or trade association meetings and talk shop, not job search
• Talk to 10 people a day to gather information, set appointments with hiring authorities, or follow-up on meetings and interviews
• Meet 10 people a week to gather information and impress hiring authorities

Friday we analyze ineffective activities job seekers use to delay doing what works