Monthly Archives: May 2014

How to find out what you want to be, do, or pursue

Posted on May 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

I went to a Boy Scout camp where a fire company put on a rescue demonstration.  They had 3 cars.  One by one they ripped them apart using hydraulic tools.  Right then I decided that I want to be a fireman when I grow up.  I was 49 and ineligible, but I’m willing to dream.

A friend told me that he was the fastest machine operator at the plant where he worked.  They always put him in the job that would challenge him the most. If there was a bottleneck, he’d clear it up.  He also cried at times because he hated the work so much.  He studied to take up a different profession for 8 years.  He struggled with very low paying jobs, serious health problems, and a wife and kids he solely supported.  Finally he started working as a Mechanical Engineer at a major DOD contractor.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.  (Aristotle)

Why do people stay in jobs they hate? No one is legally bound as an indentured servant or slave anymore.  Why do people need help finding what they like to do?  There are a lot of reasons.  Fear, money, social pressure and unexplored possibilities can all be reasons.

You are a slave if you believe you cannot change.  You are free when you think about, study for, and work towards a change for the better.  So take a little time today and write down a list of things you always wanted to do.  Make a list of jobs and careers you might enjoy.

Need help? Every university has a department to help students discover what they would like to study. The internet has sites to help you choose a career.  Every state run job center will give you interest and aptitude tests for free.  Friends and family are always happy to tell you where to go and what to do when you get there.

You may want to consult a career coach or a consulting coach.  For example, I work with people who want to be consultants to help them have a viable business without worrying about where the next client is coming from. Others help you figure out and pursue your best and happiest career.

It is worth taking time to find out if you really want to be a fireman, mechanic, professor or plumber.  If you start working towards a career goal you can always turn back later and be better off for trying.  However, you will never get anywhere without taking the first steps to think about, study for and work towards a change.

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Something To Do Today

Make a list of every hobby you have attempted.  List every subject you have studied.  Rank them all as “liked”, “don’t care” and “disliked.”  Look for a pattern.  You may be surprised.  Take an interest test or two.  They’re actually fun.  Many are free.  Contact me.  I can help too.

Next:  Mortal combat: win every time

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Posted in Attitude, Focus, Perseverance, Quitting or Fired, talent

Find out if you have Olympic Class job talent

Posted on May 27, 2014 | Leave a comment

We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess. (Mark Twain)

It doesn’t matter how hard I practice, I will never be an Olympic class sprinter.  My muscles aren’t built for it.  If I had large, efficient lungs, I might be an Olympic marathon runner.  I don’t.  My talents are the natural advantages I have over others.

I have a lot of talents.  I’m good with computers.  I’m a decent salesman.  People trust me.  Some things just aren’t my talents.  I like running and physics, but they are not my talents.  How do I know?  I am slow at learning the basics.  I’m always in the bottom third when I run.  There are many things I like.  Some things I am good at.  My talents are the things I learn more quickly and do better than the average person, like working with computers.

Some talents are difficult to develop.  They require years of effort.  The average professional concert musician practices their instrument 5000 hours before getting good enough to regularly solo professionally. The book Outliers claims the number is 10,000 hours.  Louis L’Amour, a prolific writer, submitted story after story at the beginning of his career and very few were published. He developed his talent until he sold over 100 million books.

So how do you discover your talents? 

Take an aptitude test online.  They also give them at job centers and military recruiting centers.  They are designed to find out what you do well, not what you like.  If the test asks a lot of questions about what you like the most, it is NOT an aptitude test.

Honestly assess what you found easiest in school.  Where did you get by with the least effort?  What teachers liked your attitude the most?  When did others come to you with questions?

At work you have probably been given some particular tasks.  Is it because you are better at those things?  Maybe that’s a talent of yours.  Do other people have trouble seeing answers that seem obvious to you?  That could point to a talent.

Discover your talents and you can use the gifts you’ve been given to excel.  That’s what Olympic athletes do.   You will find work more interesting when you are flexing a talent.

You will also be paid better.  Talents are worth discovering.

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Something To Do Today

Write down what you can do easily or what you excel at.  What do you pick up more quickly than others?

Tomorrow:  I want to be a fireman when I grow up.

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How to find the most jobs, that pay the best, and hire fastest

Posted on May 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

What is hot today? Follow the money.  To which industries is money flowing the most heavily?  What are people investing in?  Where is the greatest potential for growth?  Where will it be the easiest to get hired and promoted?

If you really want to know, you need to go to Investor’s Business Daily. The chart is called, “IBD’s 197 Industry Group Rankings”. The latest copy is http://www.investors.com/pdf/IBD197_052214.pdf.  It wasn’t in their paper today, so I had to go online and get a free 4 week subscription to see it. Go to http://news.investors.com/otheribddata.aspx and look under the link for “197 Industries Table” I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if they put it in the papers on only some days.

The chart lists all the major industry sectors in the USA.  Then it ranks them according to how well stocks have performed in the last 6 months.  The industries at the top of the chart are the ones everyone is investing in.  The ones at the end are the ones being abandoned.

It says that the medical software industry is the biggest loser.  Oil & gas transport is the biggest winner.

Just because money is flowing out of an industry does not mean it is doomed.  It does mean that it will be hard to find a new job in that industry.  It means that you have to show a strong ability to save big money or make big profits to get hired. In the losers, being a bankruptcy specialist guarantees a job.

I always try to fish where the fish are abundant.  I hunt where the animals I seek are the thickest.  I job search where the jobs and promotions are plentiful.  Time to do a little research to make sure you are looking where the jobs are plentiful.

The contest does not always go to the strong, nor the race to the swift, but that’s the way to place your bet.

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Something To Do Today

Print out or cut out the 197 Industry Group Rankings chart and pin it to your wall.  Study it so that you understand each column.  Compare what is hot today to what was hot a year ago.  Are you hunting where the jobs are thickest?

Tomorrow:  Olympic class talent

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Posted in Economy, Finding jobs

“Ash breeze” can fix your job search

Posted on May 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

Sometimes your job search just isn’t working.  Fix your job search using what the old sailors called “ash breeze”.

You won’t go anywhere in your sailboat if you are becalmed, no wind.  Sailors on the old 3 mast boats used to dread finding themselves where there was no wind.  There are places in the ocean where you can go weeks without a breeze.  The old mariners often had only one way out, “ash breeze.”

When becalmed, a rowboat full of men would be sent out tied to the front of the ship.  They would take their ash wood oars and start rowing.  Progress was always painfully slow.  Any breeze would move a ship faster, but “ash breeze” was better than dying becalmed.

Are you becalmed?  Are you stuck in a company or job that just isn’t getting you anywhere?  The book, Carry On Mr. Bowditch, is the story of one of the greatest mariners of our age.

Bowditch was stuck in a nowhere job.  Born in 1773, with little formal education and  apprenticed to a storeowner, Bowditch became an expert bookkeeper.  He wasn’t where he wanted to be.  He studied mathematics and astronomy on his own.  Eventually he became a sea captain, author and educator.  He received an honorary PhD for his accomplishments.  His book on celestial navigation is still used at the US Naval Academy.

The most important thing you have is your attitude.  Couple attitude with an intense desire to better yourself and you cannot be stopped.  Start preparing now for the job you want to have in five years.  Learn what you need to learn.  The more you work on YOU, the better your life will get.

The harder I work on me, the better my life gets.

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Something To Do Today

Read the book, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Latham.

Tomorrow:  IBD and what’s hot

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Perseverance, talent, Time management, Training

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Is your job search evolving or going nowhere?

Posted on May 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

If you kill time, you’ll murder your future. In your job search, are you comfortable doing the same thing over and over?  If you are getting interviews, you are doing a lot right.  If you are not getting interviews, you need to add something different.

Here is an example of people with potential dying early because they weren’t challenged.  You won’t die from boredom, but I bet you can learn new skills and look for jobs in a new way.

Down Syndrome vs down syndrome part 3

Up until the 1980’s it was common to put babies with Down Syndrome into asylums.  They never learned to read, talk, be toilet trained or do much of anything.  They seemed to be content.  They would sit in the corner and rock or wiggle their fingers in front of their eyes.  Most died before the age of 21.

The singing cowboy Roy Rogers and his wife Dale Evans had a baby with Down Syndrome, which they refused to put in an asylum.  Dale Evans wrote a book about the child’s two years of life.  She began a revolution.   Most kids with Down Syndrome, like my daughter Merrilee, now learn to read to a fifth grade level, are toilet trained, and live to be at least 50.

Merrilee would sit in a corner and rock or wiggle her fingers in front of her face if she didn’t have something more interesting to do. We have to purposely work at it.  We have to provide something better than rocking in the corner. Are you doing the same for yourself?

Job seekers with down syndrome often end up doing something equivalent to rocking in a corner.  They find an essentially useless, brainless task and concentrate on it.  They don’t want to think.  They just want to be doing SOMETHING. Or they find a task that looks like it should be useful, but is producing absolutely nothing, and they do that.

Do you keep submitting the same resume online to hundreds of jobs with no result?  Do you mail a resume to all the ads in the paper without getting an interview? Do you scan websites for jobs and never find one?  Do you just watch TV because it is less painful than trying to get a job?

You really do have amazing potential.  Sometimes discovering your talents is painful and difficult.  Worse, trying to get paid for those talents the first time, before you have “experience”, can take the wind right out of your sails.

Try something new.  Make a completely different resume and submit it a few places.  Call a few companies and ask for the person who would be your new supervisor.  Do some serious networking by having friends critique your resume for you.  Study interviewing skills at the library.  Read, “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.  Read “Acres of Diamonds” by Russell Conwell (Google for it)

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Something To Do Today

Try something new.

Tomorrow:  Ash wind and sailing

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Job Boards

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You’ll get the job if you focus on the right stuff

Posted on May 19, 2014 | Leave a comment

Understand the emotions and actions, ignore the words.

Down Syndrome vs down syndrome part 2

Merrilee has Down Syndrome, a medical condition.  At 9 years old she could read 150 words. At 18 she can now read maybe 300 words. She understands only very simple sentences.  Yet, she’s brilliant.  She understands very clearly what people are doing and feeling.  She is not distracted by their words, clothing or cars. Merrilee is not distracted by her own expectations.

Job seekers with down syndrome, a perception condition, communicate verbally and in writing much better than Merrilee.  Their down syndrome, however, makes it very difficult for them to understand, interpret and act on the emotions and actions of others.  They interpret everything through their biased perception filter.

Attitude really is everything in job hunting.  A hiring authority told me, “I hire almost entirely on attitude.  It’s easy to train someone if they have a good attitude.”  If a job hunter has down syndrome it doesn’t matter what they know, they will be a problem employee.

Job seekers with down syndrome assume the people around them are mean spirited, harsh, cruel, difficult and/or unfeeling.  When an HR department fails to respond to their resume, they assume rudeness.  When no one gets back to them after an interview they figure the interviewer is a rude jerk.  When they are probed about why they left their last job they think it’s an unnecessary mean streak. Having down syndrome causes you to find the worst no matter what happens.

When Merrilee, with Down Syndrome, is told, “No,” she understands the word.  She doesn’t understand explanations so she figures out what the other person’s real emotions are.  She understands that mostly “no” means not now.  She can feel when “no” means not for a long time.  She gets it when “no” means she could get seriously injured.

Your job hunting will be much more successful if you focus on what people are feeling and watch what they are actually doing.  Make it a habit to never take offense.  That company may literally have 500 worthless applications for one job and cannot reply to each applicant.  Your interviewer may be impressed, but unable to hire you.  He probably told HR that you have been turned down and HR is swamped with other work so they didn’t call to let you know.

Keep trying to get into the jobs and companies you are most interested in.  I called a manager about a job he filled the previous month.  He said, “That job is open again.  Can you help me fill it?”  One month later someone new will be hired.  Those who already gave up are out of the running.  His previous “no” meant “not now.”

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Something To Do Today

If it has been over 3 months since you talked to someone at a target company, time to get back in touch.  Things change.  Find out what is happening there today.

Next  Down Syndrome vs down syndrome part 3

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Posted in Attitude, Followup, Perseverance

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How to promote yourself at work

Posted on May 19, 2014 | Leave a comment

This slideshow is aimed at women, but very applicable for men.  You need to learn the best way to promote yourself.  No one wants to be called “A legend in his own mind.”  But you want to be noticed and rewarded for all the things you make work.

Here are some hints on how to do it.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Promotions, Raises

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How to get that job they don’t want to give you or don’t have

Posted on May 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

You may get a job by thorough persistence.  Don’t be pestilential and persistent, be pleasant, nice and thoroughly persistent.  Let me demonstrate.

My daughter Merrilee has Down Syndrome.  Her IQ is 43.  She has a lot of advantages over job seekers with down syndrome.  Job seekers with down syndrome accept what happens to them fatalistically.  My daughter with Down Syndrome got an extra half chromosome that makes it impossible for her to be fatalistic.  For example:

Merrilee loves cartoon videos.  We limited the time she spends watching them.  We locked them in the boys’ room so she couldn’t get them.  Yet she showed up with a cartoon video in her hand while I was at the computer or reading and handed it to me almost every day.

How did she get the video?  She knew that eventually one of her brothers would leave the door unlocked or the key down where she could get it.  She checked the door several times a day.  Not obsessively, just whenever she went by their room.

She can’t talk clearly, but I knew when she handed me a video that she wanted me to play it.  She gave it to me when I was busy so I wouldn’t go upstairs to lock the room.  I would hand it back and say, put it on the TV stand.  She did.   10 or 20 minutes later she brought another.  This went on until I played a video for her or put the videos away and locked the boys’ door.

She is how you should be in your job search. If I tell her, “No,” she’ll be back.  If I lock the boys’ door, she’ll be back.  She’s gentle and loving.  She’s quietly persistent.  She’s not unreasonable.  I want to help her.  She does what I ask when I tell her to put the video on the TV stand.

A job seeker with down syndrome sadly lacks Merrilee’s gentle persistence. Job seekers who feel down, just give up at the first, “No.”  There may not be a job today, but there might literally be one tomorrow.

Be persistent.  Don’t give up on the job or promotion you want.  Figure out how to gently and kindly get your qualifications before the decision maker.  Be reasonable, persistent, helpful and nice.  Take your resume to HR every time they ask.  Ask what you can do to qualify for and get the job.  Then do what they say.  After a month or two, try again.

If you make yourself qualified and have a great attitude, eventually someone will leave the door unlocked.  Someone will quit or the department will expand.  If you are kindly persistent and not irritatingly pestilent, you’ll have a great shot at the job.

You can’t have the blessing of the extra half chromosome that Merrilee has.  However, you can develop her persistence, love and patience.

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.  (Coolidge)

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Something To Do Today

Is there a promotion you really want?  Are there companies you really want to work for?  Go to your job journal and write a plan for getting what you want by being persistent in a nice way.  Decide how often you can try again.  Set appointments on your calendar to try again.

Tomorrow:  Down Syndrome vs down syndrome part 2

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Followup, Networking, Perseverance, Promotions, Raises

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What if you are getting NO response to your resume? 6 fixes

Posted on May 13, 2014 | Leave a comment

If they can’t see you, you aren’t there.  If they can’t take their eyes off you, there’s no competition.

What is the difference between these three scenarios?

  1. You send out 100 resumes in an hour and get no response.
  2. You spend two days deciding who to send resumes to, send out 3 resumes, and get no response.
  3. You go fishing.

From a job search perspective, there isn’t much difference.  If you are getting absolutely no response from your job search efforts, change something.  Experiment.  What can it really hurt if you completely change what you are doing 10% of the time?  Can the response get any worse? 

Get creative.  Here are some things others have tried:

Make a trial resume each week.  Do severe changes or just rearrange the bullets.  Send your normal resume out to most jobs.  Send your trial resume to 5 or 10 companies.  Do you get a response? 

Call up 10 friends and ask them to critique your resume, before you send it.  Send them a copy and find out what they think.  You don’t have to make the changes they suggest.  In addition to getting some good and bad help, you’ll be networking.  They’ll know exactly what you can do and be looking for an opportunity to help you.

Call half the companies you want to send a resume to.  Ask for the person who would be your supervisor.  If you get HR (Human Resources) that’s okay.  Whoever you get, ask them what skills they are having the hardest time finding.  If you have the skills, make them the first line in your resume, in bold print.

Once a week walk down the street in a business park and ask for the owner of each business.  Whether you talk to the owner or the receptionist, tell them you are looking for a job.  Take a resume and a sincere desire to help.  It can’t hurt.  Ask everyone you meet who they know that can use you.

Add a recommendation letter to your resume.  Get your last boss or a coworker to write a letter telling how hard you work and how much you help.  Make it the first page of your resume.  It’s bragging when you say it, it’s proof when someone else says it.

Think. Earl Nightingale suggests spending an hour each day with a pencil and a pad of paper just thinking and listing ideas of how to reach your goal. Exercise your brain. You’ll throw most of the ideas away, but you’ll also come up with some gems.  Think.  What can you change that will make you stand out?  What can you do that will draw positive attention to yourself?  Is there any REAL risk?  Probably not.  So try it a few times.  See what the response is. 

Learn.  Do better each week.

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Something To Do Today

Decide what you will do different.  What will you change?  Try your experiment out 5 or 10 times and see what happens.  

Tomorrow:  Down Syndrome vs down syndrome

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Posted in Finding jobs, Resumes

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Resumes and levers and elephant guns

Posted on May 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

Want a job interview with a great company? Find a lever.

Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the world.  (Archimedes)

Or a big gun

In the old Tarzan movies a “great white hunter” is walking through the African plains followed by a couple of trusty gun bearers.  Suddenly, out of the trees, an elephant charges.  He reaches back and his huge elephant gun is placed in his hands.  He takes aim and waits.  When the elephant is a mere 30 yards away he fires.  The elephant falls to the ground at his feet.

What would happen if the hunter reached back and a bow and arrow were placed in his hands?   Well, there wouldn’t be enough left of the hunter to have a funeral.

For every job there are a few key experiences that will get you an interview.  They are the elephant guns in your job hunt.  If you have those experiences, you will get an interview.

Before you submit your resume for any job you have to ask yourself, “What is the elephant gun for this job?  Is there one? Is there a lever?”  You may have to read the job description two or three times before you know.  If you are still confused, call up the company and find out.  Ask for the person in charge of that job.  Whether you get HR (Human Resources) or the hiring manager, ask what the most difficult to find skills for that job are.

We submitted one resume for a job using an elephant gun.  The candidate did not have the college degree necessary.  He was not a CPA and had never been an auditor.   Still, the company phoned back immediately.  They were excited that we had found a candidate with the one skill they absolutely had to have.  He had several years of experience collecting the data to fill out a particular set of government forms.

We knew what the elephant gun for the job was.  The candidate got the interview.

Are you using a bow and arrow resume when you could be using an elephant gun?  You need a lever and a place to stand to move the world. Find out what the elephant gun is for the job.

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Something To Do Today

Find an ad that is picky, an ad that asks for 10 different skills and a lot of experience.  Find out what the elephant gun is for that ad.  Call the company and ask what the most important skill sets are and which are not essential. Find out where the lever can be placed.                

Tomorrow:  Am I showing up?

Coming up:  Down Syndrome vs down syndrome

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Posted in Accomplishments, Perseverance, Resumes

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