Author Archives: bryandilts

14 ways to job hunt like a kid

Posted on September 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Kids can be a practically irresistible force.  I have 10 children.  Usually I can resist them.  Not always.  Here’s how they win.

  1. Be totally, irresistibly and eternally committed to a world changing idea
  2. Jump up and down with enthusiasm
  3. “No” means not now
  4. “Not now” means try again in 5 minutes
  5. Laugh, smile and tickle your dad
  6. Run around and get all the other kids excited out of their minds
  7. Ask dad for help to figure out how to do it
  8. Cry if dad is not listening
  9. See if you can turn it into a school project
  10. Ask mom to talk to dad about it
  11. Bring a partially completed task to dad to be fixed
  12. Change your plans and try again in an hour
  13. A small explosion in the yard will get dad’s attention
  14. Make it a game

Kids win because they are too excited to accept defeat.  They are willing to try every possible way around an obstacle.  When I am the obstacle and they are really really determined, they know they can win. One man described that level of enthusiam and determination this way:

The ability to understand a question from all sides meant one was totally unfit for action.  Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of the real man.  (Thucydides)

Is there a job you really really want?  Why not job hunt like a kid?

Something to do today

Take a pen and paper and translate each of those 14 things into something you can use for job hunting or working for a promotion in real life.

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Tomorrow:     Fingerprint locks and getting hired

Picking up a hundred dollar bill

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Get a job by using a cockroach’s friends

Posted on September 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

To stop a giant cockroach from leaving the earth, one of the heroes in Men In Black steps on some earth sized bugs. They are relatives of the big one.  The giant one comes back down and “engages” the hero.  “Hiring managers are like giant cockroaches. They just want to hide in their offices and get away from you.”

If you can get a relative, friend or recruiter to help you, you multiply your chances of getting a job instead of a rejection from that hiring manager.

Let’s start the way we did last time.  First, make sure you want the job and that you are a decent fit.  You can only use friends and relatives two or three times.  They are the big guns to use when you really are well qualified and motivated.  If you are not qualified for the job, just send a resume through Monster. That way it only takes you 10 seconds to send it and the computer will delete it for them.  Relatives and friends are too important to over use. A recruiter won’t let you overuse him, so use recruiters as heavily as you can.

Once you identify the job you would be excellent for, you need to figure out a plan of attack.

First: who really respects you that can help?  A recruiter who respects you is a much better reference than a brother who thinks you would bomb.  The person who you know directly will hand your resume to someone you don’t know.  The enthusiasm that is passed on with your resume is the big advantage you get from a friend, relative, or recruiter handing over your resume.

Second:  figure out the final target who will be given your resume. Particularly if your friend works there or is a recruiter, they will have several options.  If possible have them give it directly to the hiring manager or his boss.  If you cannot get it directly to someone making the decision, figure out who else it will be given to.  Just handing your resume to the HR department may do nothing for you in a huge company.

Third: follow up.  If you know the hiring manager or his boss got your resume, give them a quick call to verify they got it and see if they have any questions.  You may only get their secretary, but you can still ask her if she has any questions.  This is where you can reinforce your advantage.  If a recruiter handed in your resume, ask the recruiter to follow up, and then you can follow up with the recruiter to ask what the manager thought.

Using a friend, relative or recruiter can get your resume put on the top of the pile of applicants.  It will not guarantee you a job, but it will sure help you get an interview.

Use friends, relatives, and recruiters when you are prepared and the stakes are high.  That is the best way to get a cockroaches attention.

Something to do today

Networking time.  Identify the 5 companies and jobs you best fit and most want to fill.  Start asking people you know, who they know who works there.  You can invite that stranger to lunch with your friend.  Scary? That’s okay.  Invite them out to lunch anyway. With the friend along it will be more comfortable.

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Later: Job hunt like a kid

Fingerprint locks and getting hired

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How to get hiring manager cockroaches to talk to you

Posted on September 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

The heroes in Men In Black have to stop a giant cockroach from leaving the earth.  If it leaves, the earth will be destroyed.  They are able to engage it in a conversation, sort of. They find out what is interesting enough to get the cockroach to come down and interact with (try to kill) them.

“Hiring managers are like giant cockroaches. They just want to hide in their offices and get away from you.”  If you can engage the manager or his assistant cockroach in a conversation you will multiply your chances of getting an interview or a job.  Here is how you do it:

First, make sure you want the job and that you are a decent fit.  The Men In Black were the guys in charge of saving the earth.  They were motivated and had the tools, they just had to figure out how to do it.  If you are qualified to become a computer technician, audit manager or director of international sales, engage the hiring manager in a conversation.  If you are not qualified for the job, just send him a resume through Monster. That way it only takes you 10 seconds to send it and the computer will automatically delete it for them.  Conversation only works if you really want the job and really are qualified.

Now, write down the titles the hiring manager may have.  Then call up the company and ask for that person.  You may get through to him or you may get routed to someone else.  If you get routed to someone else ask, “Are you helping (title) find the person for (job name)?”  Push your way through until you get to someone who actually is helping him find a new employee.  It doesn’t matter if it is him, the HR department or a receptionist.  It has to be someone directly involved with the hiring process for that particular job.

When you get to the right person, say, “You are looking for a (job name). What has been the hardest thing for you to find in the right person?”  Then wait. Engage them in a discussion of what they are having a hard time finding in a new hire.  Make sure and ask, “Is there anything else you have a hard time finding?”  Ask that last question again and again.  Probe their answers.  Find out what the problem is that they have to solve.

Another good question is, “For the (job name), what is causing you to throw away most of the resumes that you get?”  Then probe that too.  Add, “Is there anything else?”  Listen.  Ask more questions.  Find out what can disqualify you.

Be helpful.  If you find out you are the wrong person, offer to tell someone else who is qualified about the job.  If you are the right person say, “I really fit that job, what is your email address so that I can send you my resume directly?”  You have a 50-50 chance of getting their direct email address, and that will get your resume right on top of the pile.  If you really are qualified, that is a great place to be.  And you get there by engaging them in a conversation.

Don’t forget to specifically change your resume and cover letter to match their needs.  Then call up an hour later and ask, “Did you get my resume?  What more do you need to know?”  You may just end up having a phone interview right then and there.

That is how you get a hiring manager cockroach to talk to you.

Something to do today

Make a list of the 5 jobs that you really want and are qualified for that you have not already interviewed for.  Whether or not your resume has been sent in, call them up and try this out.  Change your resume after your conversation and highlight things you didn’t know were so important.  You just may get that job.

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Next:               Getting eaten by aliens – A relative or friend can help

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The right words catch hiring manager cockroaches

Posted on September 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Last time I proved beyond a reasonable doubt that hiring managers are NOT God.  I even said, “Hiring managers are like giant cockroaches. They just want to hide in their offices and get away from you.  You are a waste of their time unless you tell them something that proves they need you.  They would rather have their receptionist shred your resume than take the time to talk to you.”

Are you like the little kid in this story?

A grandfather was walking through his yard when he heard his granddaughter repeating the alphabet in a tone of voice that sounded like a prayer.  He asked her what she was doing.  The little girl explained, “I’m praying, but I can’t think of exactly the right words, so I’m just saying all the letters, and God will put them together for me, because he knows what I’m thinking.  (Charles B. Vaughan)

The hiring manager is not God.  He is a giant cockroach.

You cannot assume that a hiring manager will glean 4 key words and 2 key points out of a 3 page resume.  You get no points for length and thoroughness.  You get no points for briefness.  You get points, or an interview, for saying the key words and phrases that the hiring manager wants to hear. If you don’t  shout those key words and phrases, the manager’s receptionist will shred your resume.  Then the cockroach can hide in his office where you can’t get to him. (I wonder if the light goes off when he shuts the door?)

To find the right words and phrases you need to do some forensic language work.  Like a crime scene investigator.  Take 3 or 4 job listings or newspaper ads for different jobs with the same company. Place them all side by side.  With a blue highlighter mark all the phrases that are identical.  Identify the stuff the human resources department puts around the description the hiring manager wrote.  That fluff may possibly be necessary to get you past the HR department, but it won’t get you a job.

Now take your yellow highlighter.  Mark every misused acronym, word, technical term or technical phrase.  Those are the words the HR person didn’t understand.  They could very well be critical.  You need to have an exact match on those words in your resume.

Continue marking with an orange highlighter.  Again look for all the technical terms and acronyms.   Mark them all.  The orange words are the most likely to be used by a computer or receptionist to screen out resumes.

Finally, go back over the resume with a pink highlighter.  Mark the skills that are the most difficult to find.  What are the things in the ad that everyone wants and nobody has?

I bet those ads look terrible.  That’s good.  It means you have taken the time to study the exact words that will get you an interview.  You need to include those words and technical phrases in your resume.  They will force the screener to pass your resume on to the hiring manager.  He will have to call you in order to see if you can do the job.  You will prevent him from closing his door and hiding from you.  (And if someone does know, does the light go off in his office when he shuts the door?)

 

Something to do today

Get some highlighters and go through ads on the internet or in the newspaper.  Find the really key words and phrases.  Alter your resume before you send it out.  Make it so they cannot miss the things that are important to them.

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Later:              Getting eaten by aliens – Engage them in conversation

A relative or friend can help

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Hiring managers are like giant cockroaches

Posted on September 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

A giant cockroach steals the hero’s gun and swallows it.  So the hero taunts the cockroach until it eats him.  A few minutes later the cockroach explodes and our hero is standing there holding the huge gun the monster ate a few minutes before.  Men In Black was a lot of fun.  In that case the only way to save the world was to survive in the stomach of a giant bug.

There has to be at least 5 great job hunting analogies there.  Create your own, then read mine.  I bet mine is different.

The giant bug wants nothing more than to get into its spaceship and get away.  Of course the earth will be destroyed if it gets away, but that is not the bug’s problem.  So the two puny humans must do everything they can to keep it from leaving.  They taunt it, harass it, insult it, and step on small earthly cockroaches (relatives and friends) to get it to delay its departure.  They figure out what the bug can’t ignore and get it to come back and deal with them.

Don’t show this to any of my clients please.  They won’t like it, but I have to say this.

Hiring managers really are like giant cockroaches. They just want to hide in their offices and get away from you.  You are a waste of their time unless you tell them something that proves they need you.  They would rather have their receptionist shred your resume than take the time to talk to you.  So take three lessons from the way the Men In Black fought the giant bug:

  1. You have to find the right words
  2. You have to engage them in conversation
  3. A relative or friend may be able to get them to talk to you

Over the next three days I will show you how to do each of these things.  The giant cockroach, I mean the hiring manager, will give you all the hints you need.  I’ll show you what those hints are.

Something to do today

There really are at least 5 other analogies from my opening paragraph.  Have some fun and talk about it with a friend.  Just make sure your  manager is not around.

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Later:                    Getting eaten by aliens – the right words

Engage them in conversation

A relative or friend can help

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The attention business – connectedness and your job search

Posted on September 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Google put first things first. They figured out how to rank pages by connectedness.  They put the page that will be the most useful to you at the top of your list.  That saved so much time that people abandoned the other search engines.

Connectedness is a simple idea on the web.  It is how often your web page is referred to by other web pages and how many web pages link to the ones that link to your web page.

There are simple and complex strategies to be ranked highly by Google.  All of them are forms of networking.  The two most common strategies are: 1) you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, and 2) become the expert.

You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours

You offer to list their web page on yours if they list your web page on theirs.  That way you both get a lot of recognition.

Guess what?  It works in job hunting too!  Okay, not that easily.  The basic idea is to help as many people as you can, and they will help you.

Getting articles published in trade journals is one example.  There are literally thousands of local, state, regional and national associations and publications that need authors.  Call up one and tell them you want to write an article.  Local newsletters are especially useful.  If you do a great job, they’ll publish it.  And the people who get those newsletters will then consider you an expert.  They may just call you to help them with a question.  They may offer you a job.

If you have something interesting to say, and already know you are a good speaker, contact your chamber of commerce and get on their speaker list. If you would like to be a great speaker, contact Toastmasters.  I know there is a club near you.  Go to www.toastmasters.org .  They are the best speaker trainers in the country.

Become the expert

When you are the expert, everyone seeks to be connected to you.  You can get to be known as an expert by getting certifications or doing consulting work.

Certifications are available for almost every field: sales, HR, accounting, real estate management, security, law, computers, etc.  Often hirers search resume databases for the certifications and assume a good person will be attached to them.

Consulting work can really mean just getting a temporary job in the field.  If you are unemployed, you have little to lose.  Contact all the temporary staffing agencies and ask them if they place people with your skills on temp jobs as well as permanent ones.  If they don’t, ask them who does.  I was surprised that there is a market for temporary doctors in Antarctica, temporary electrical linemen in Alaska, and temporary environmentalists in Butte, Montana.

Figure out how to get connected to as many people as possible.  It is a Google job search method that gets you in front of the competition.  It could eliminate all your competition.

Something to do today

Make a list of ways other people have connected to you in your job.  People who have not worked directly with you have wormed their way into your mind.  How did they do it?  Are they trainers, writers, consultants, speakers or something else?  Track down how they got connected to you.  Can you do the same?

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It’s scary, Your job search means you are in the attention business

Posted on September 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Google is one of the most outrageously priced stocks in the market today.  They give away services that competitors charge an arm and a leg for, and they make a profit.  Google is the best company in the world that is in the attention business. If you are looking for a job or a promotion, you are in the attention business too.

Google started out as a search engine.  It was a simple catalog.  Then the owners started selling simple ads, but in a different way.  That difference changed the internet.

Go out and Google “jobs”.  Everything you see on that first page is a response to your attention.  There are a few ads at the top and to the right of your results. The results you see on the first page were also paid for by savvy marketers.  Your interest and attention to “jobs” is a valuable commodity.  Google is in the business of finding out what you will pay attention to, and serving it up with the least fuss and the most profitability. Google finds out what interests you and then shows you ads you really want to see.  Their ads solve your problems.

Now the scary part. Can anyone find you?  My query about “jobs” produced 3,420,000 hits this morning.  Two years ago it was 91,900,000. Four years ago it was over a billion places (1,400,000,000)  the word “jobs” was referenced.  Even Google is getting more selective about the information they present to me.  They sell more by presenting less information.

Let’s cut down the competition.  Google “biomechanical engineer” in quotes and you get 35,600 hits, and a lot of the ads disappear. Google your name inside quote marks. I get 5590 hits on “Bryan Dilts” because I am a blogger and businessman. Can anyone find you? Google is expert at finding what interests me and presenting the most important information in the first page. People can find me, can they find you?

Why you are in the attention business. To get a job, you have to get a hiring manager’s attention. You have to be at the top of his employee search.  There is a huge amount of competition for his attention.  He has to stop and look at you as a person.  He has to call you, bring you in for an interview, and introduce you to the team.  Then he has to decide to stake his career on hiring you. He has to pay a lot of attention to you.  Are you doing what is necessary to be at the top of his search?

The next few days are about getting the attention of people who will hire you.  Google is going to play a big part in the discussion, so go out and have some fun with it.

Something to do today

Cut a paragraph or phrase out of your resume and Google it.  Do the same with a job ad.  Have some fun.

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Tomorrow:     The attention business – connectedness

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How to get cleat marks up your back

Posted on September 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

“I want to find a place where I don’t have to work so hard anymore.  I’m 6 years from retirement. With my experience, I should be able to get top dollar for my next job.”

Do you see the absolute logical disasters in that statement?  He wants to work less, slow down preparing for retirement, and be paid as much as ever. I hear these words at least once a week.  They are the prelude to disaster.  This guy may get another job, but he will be fired.

No one wants to pay you to relax and take it easy.  They want your best effort.  They want miracles.  If you decide it is time to slow down, then step down too.  If not, someone who wants to work hard is going to leave cleat marks up your back. He will run right over you to climb his career ladder.  Your boss will cheer him on and give him your chair.

A lot of people complain about age discrimination.  There is a fair amount of it.  More often the problem is that the young guy is obviously determined to excel.  He commits to hard work. His record shows 50, 60 and 70 hour weeks. The older person literally says in an interview, “I’ve learned how to work smart and not hard.  I don’t need to put in more than 40 hours a week anymore.”  The boss who is putting in 70 hours a week will not believe the old guy can do it.  What is worse, often the older guy has a history of declining output.

“In accordance with our principles of free enterprise and healthy competition, I’m going to ask you two to fight to the death for it.”  (Monty Python)

Who would you hire? The person whose output is increasing, or decreasing?

Especially if you are over 40, like me, you have to show in every second of your interview that you can outwork, outlast and out perform any of those young guys.  Your message is that they don’t know the meaning of accomplishment.  If you prove you won’t relax and take it easy, you’ll get the job. It doesn’t matter who you are competing against. If you relax, you’ll get cleat marks up your back.

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Next:         The attention business

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You can grow as a diamond in the rough job candidate

Posted on September 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

Every few years a hiker in the United States finds a large raw diamond. Usually it was carried down by glaciers from Canada when sheet ice covered the north.  A raw diamond is interesting, but not exciting.  To reach its true value that stone must be turned over to an expert.  It will have scores of facets polished into it until it catches the light and sparkles with fire.  It is the expert polishing that makes people cherish diamonds.  Diamonds in the rough don’t stay that way for long after they are discovered.

My old partner got a Thank You note from a candidate she first placed 20 years ago.  She convinced a bank to take a chance on him.  He has worked his way up the corporate ladder and gotten promotion after promotion.  He was a diamond in the rough.

At the bank he first decided to stand out less while working more.  He watched closely how others dressed and acted.  How did they succeed in the sales and politics?  Banks are calm on the outside, but full of opportunity and excitement behind the façade. Mentors appeared as he looked for them.  Some were his managers, some were higher up or lateral to him.  They gave him advice and helped him acquire polish.  Over the years he kept on polishing new shining facets into his skills and character. He learned management and leadership.  He figured out ways to fix problems instead of just endure them.  Instead of being noticed for his rough exterior, he now stands out for his ability to make things happen and his polish.

If you get a job based on being a diamond in the rough you will only progress a little if you don’t acquire some polish.  You may have to get rid of the nose stud or the blue jeans you always wear.  It may be your technical skills that need work.  Effective management and leadership abilities need training and practice.  Look for mentors, people above you who can lift you up.  Move away from the group that is stuck in a rut.  Find the stars that are rising and do what they do.  Learn constantly.

You can tell a human diamond in the rough from an average person.  If you truly are a diamond in the rough, you will embrace change.  You will actively seek polish and improvement.

About Today

This series is about what makes or breaks a job hunt.  Reality and the real world.  My list of the reasons people get a new job or struggle includes:

  1. Nothing beats a positive unstoppable Helium II attitude.
  2. People who are hurting are terrible employees and everyone knows it.
  3. You have to know your advantages and ruthlessly exploit them.
  4. The people competing against you must be known, measured, and either beaten, eliminated or enticed elsewhere.
  5. You can’t make a silk purse out of a buggy whip.
  6. You have to be worth more than you are being paid
  7. A man dying of thirst will still want a bargain on a bottle of water
  8. Perception isn’t important, it is everything
  9. Character really counts
  10. Diamonds in the rough don’t stay that way
  11. Relax and get cleat marks up your back

Think about your job search. Just think.  And then take notes about your conclusions.

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For this week:     Zen and the art of getting a job

Tomorrow:           Cleat marks up your back

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Are you a character? Or do you have it?

Posted on August 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

A woman teaching my daughters held up a copy of a magazine with scantily dressed women on the cover.  She asked, “What do you expect to find inside?”  The answer was, “Pictures and articles about sexy dressing and attracting men.”

She handed the magazine to a girl and said, “Open it and read from any page.”  Inside those covers was a religious magazine.  The teacher made the comment, “If you dress on the outside like the women on the cover of this magazine, no one will bother to find out that inside you are a woman of character. They won’t even consider it a possibility.”

Yesterday I wrote that perception really is everything. How you are perceived is always critical, especially to yourself. Over time your character is altered by all the little things you do.  At first you act to give an impression, but eventually you act from the bone deep character you have developed while impressing others.

Benjamin Franklin was brought up short one day when he realized he had developed a less than brilliant character.  He was a smart, hard working man, and becoming successful.  He was noticed that some people would cross the street to the other side when they saw him coming.  He realized he had a poor reputation in many things. In his autobiography he describes his plan to improve his character.  The simple device he used thrust him forward to prominence in the fields of writing, science, diplomacy and politics.

As Benjamin Franklin started working on his character he wrote, “I was surpris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish.”  He found that if he pretended to have a virtue long enough, he developed it as a part of his character.

I strongly recommend reading and re-reading Benjamin Franklin’s short autobiography.

Become the person you would admire.

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For this week:     Zen and the art of getting a job

Tomorrow:           Diamonds in the rough

Later:                    Cleat marks up your back

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Posted in Attitude