Author Archives: bryandilts

Job search networking and Christmas tree lights

Posted on April 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. (Jane Howard)

I plug in a string of Christmas tree lights and they shine.   The next set of lights plugs into that string, and they shine.  String by string I build the decorations for a tree, the outside of my home or a wedding reception.  If one string isn’t working, I replace it with another.  I won’t hurt the feelings of the string of lights that is not working.

Three things are relevant to your job search:

  1. You plug in strings of lights until you get the coverage you need.
  2. Just because the lights worked last year doesn’t mean they work this year.
  3. Replace the strings that aren’t working.

Your network needs to be big enough to get you a job.  Your network starts with your friends.  Ask each one, individually, for help. Next come your acquaintances.  Next are the people you work with or have worked with.  Finally come all the people you meet while job hunting.  For each one figure out exactly who they know at companies that might give you jobs.

There’s a time and place for everything.  The time to ask someone who is interviewing you about other jobs is when they have told you that you are not suited for their job.  They may tell you to apply for a different job in their company, or at a friend’s company.  Build your network until you have the coverage you need.

Last time you looked for a job, it may have been someone from the synagogue or the Elks Club who helped you find it.  Definitely try that approach again.  Keep asking people about who they know.  Don’t rely solely on that single group of people this time.  Be sure and expand your network.  Use all your contacts.

Sometimes people refuse to help or can’t help.  So what?  Go on.  Find the next network starting point.  Plug in that network.  Try another and another.  Don’t let one person’s refusal stop you.  For example:  Our recruiting agency refuses to help half the people who contact us.  That just means you contacted the wrong agency.  We have a narrow focus on banking, accounting, computers and sales.  We just couldn’t help the two rocket scientists who applied for a job over the years.

You need to plug in enough networks to show a bunch of jobs to apply for.  It is hard work for most people.  It also pays great dividends.  It helps you get into that huge pool of jobs that are never advertised anywhere.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of companies you would like to work for.

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Tomorrow:     Spaghetti networking

Later:              Calls to companies

Intelligent use of recruiters

Get famous, get a job

Sneaky no good cops set a trap for me

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Posted in Finding jobs, Networking

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Waiting for the “Help Wanted” sign

Posted on April 24, 2012 | 1 comment

Are you like this friend of mine?

A dishwashing job.  My friend hopes he can get a dishwashing job.  He is afraid to go into any restaurant unless it has a “Help Wanted” sign.  He just can’t bring himself to even talk to them unless he knows they need help right now.  I have explained that most restaurants have a stack of applications and just pick someone out of the pile for a dishwashing job.  Still, he can’t bring himself to walk in and apply.

I need to take him into some of those restaurants.  We’ll talk to the managers and fill out some applications.  He just needs someone to help. He’s not like you.  He doesn’t use computers at all.  He is in his 20’s and struggling to earn a High School equivalency diploma. You are light years ahead of him in most ways.

Do you have his same fears? Are you waiting for a “Help Wanted” sign?

Applying for jobs at companies that advertise in the newspaper or on the internet is a good idea.  Too bad that most jobs are never advertised.  Do you want to find the jobs that are never advertised, and be considered for them? Then you need to learn good ways to find jobs when there is no “Help Wanted” sign.

Over the next few days I’ll talk about ways to get a job at companies that have NOT put out the “Help Wanted” sign.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of companies you would like to work for.

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Tomorrow:     Networking

Later:              Calls to companies

Intelligent use of recruiters

Get famous, get a job

Sneaky no good cops set a trap for me

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs

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How to motivate yourself to search EFFECTIVELY

Posted on April 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

An actor asks himself, “What is my motivation?”  The rest of us laugh at him.  He’s trying to figure out which way to face on a stage.

Ice cream used to motivate me. I’d walk on hot coals to get it.  I still like ice cream, but it won’t get me to detour 100 yards to a store now.  Sometimes leaving work early is a great motivator.  Some days a chance to go for a walk will get me to work hard.  Winning is a great motivator at times.  Sometimes letting my kid just barely win is a motivator. What motivates me changes hourly, daily, weekly and monthly.

Getting a job is often not enough of a motivator in your job search.  To avoid pain, unmotivated people spend hours in front of a computer “playing” with job boards. There is no need to call people and admit you want a new job. Lack of real motivation is behind taking friends out to eat instead of creating a network by eating with more helpful strangers.

I have come to the conclusion that my subjective account of my motivation is largely mythical on almost all occasions. I don’t know why I do things. (Lloyd Dobens)

Use motivation in two ways.

  1. Figure out what motivates you to avoid a job hunting method
  2. Use motivation to get you to work harder.

Real networking is difficult for many.  Calling up a company and asking for the manager, VP, CFO or President is impossible for many people. Try to figure out why that call is difficult, while a call to HR (Human Resources) is easy.  HR knows less about jobs than the VP of Operations does.  If fear or embarrassment keeps you from making calls to real decision makers, admit it.  Talk about it with someone.  Make some commitments and work your way through it.

Making a few MORE contacts can also be difficult.  Find rewards that will get you to make a few more calls and submit more resumes.  It can be that you will only watch your TV show if you get 3 more resumes out or make 3 more calls.  Set a goal of only going golfing if you are taking a potential hiring manager from another company.  Decide you won’t turn on the computer until you have made 4 follow up calls where you have submitted your resume.

Think of what motivates you today.  Admit roadblocks and work around them.  Find little incentives you can give yourself to do just a little more in your job search.

Something To Do Today

Choose one activity you avoid.  Give yourself an incentive to do it.  Now do it.

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Tomorrow:           Waiting for the “help wanted” sign

Later:                    Networking

Calls to companies

Intelligent use of recruiters

Get famous, get a job

Sneaky no good cops set a trap for me

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance, Time management

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Short term rewards for your job search

Posted on April 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

I couldn’t force myself to do this job. You do the same thing for hours on end, sitting on a bar stool or standing. You insert a small disk, pull a lever, and then do a quality check. It sounds horrible to me.

How do they get people to do it?

The way they get people to do it is by paying them over short intervals. They give them free drinks, breaks, flashing lights, and short term rewards.  As a matter of fact, people pay to do the job. It is more commonly known as playing the slot machines at a casino.

How does this apply to my job search? My life?

No one would play a slot machine if they were paid nothing and got negative feedback and only frustration all day.  Your job search wears you down if you only give yourself negative feedback all day.

In your job search, figure out how to reward yourself for a job well done.  A job well done can be calling 5 businesses, sending out 7 resumes, going on one interview or having lunch with someone. Don’t wait until you get a job to celebrate. Reward yourself for small victories.

I am a professional job hunter. Every time I make a call to a brand new person, I get to toss a dollar coin into a cup and hear the ring of the coin. I really do. I get to go for a walk when I hit 20 coins.  When I get to 30 coins, I have hit my goal for the day.  I celebrate.  No kidding.  Every day.

Pick the hardest part of job searching.  Reward yourself for doing something essential that you would rather avoid.  You may not be able to make it fun and exciting, but I bet you can at least make it tolerable.  Short term rewards can help you break through walls of resistance in your job search.

Something To Do Today

In your job journal make a list of things you need to do, but sometimes avoid.

Now make a list of rewards to make those activities more palatable.

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Next:     What motivates me

Later:              Waiting for the “help wanted” sign

Networking

Calls to companies

Intelligent use of recruiters

Get famous, get a job

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Posted in Attitude, Perseverance, Time management

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Your scarcest resource hunting a job or working

Posted on April 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.  (Will Rogers)

Time.

Studies show that the Japanese “salaryman” puts in more time at the office than American “workers”.  They also show that American “workers” spend more time working. The “salaryman” spends a LOT of time around the water cooler and playing solitaire.  Americans work.

Time is your scarcest resource.  Every minute you use or waste is gone forever. You can’t save time and use it later.  The next hour will be gone in 60 minutes no matter what you do.  That’s a scarce resource.

In your job search are you a “salaryman” or a “worker”?  The “salaryman” job hunter spends his time seeking out new internet job boards and looking for new newspaper ads. It isn’t a total waste of time.  But it quickly becomes redundant.  The same jobs and agencies seem to be in all the boards and ads.

The “worker” job hunter uses the internet job boards and newspapers as a part of his job campaign.  Some researchers say that between the job boards and newspapers, only 25% of jobs are filled.  So spending 25% of your time on those methods makes sense.  The rest of the jobs are filled before they are advertised. So if you want to get a really great job you have to look where most of the really great jobs are filled.

Most really great jobs are filled by networking, calls to managers at companies that aren’t advertising, recruiters, and getting famous.  I’ll be talking about these methods in a few days.

Something To Do Today

In your job search are you spinning your wheels?  Keep track of what your job search time is spent at, and what you find.  If you keep turning up the same useless leads over and over, you need to change your attack.  Time is too precious to waste in ineffective repetitive motions.

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Tomorrow:     Short term rewards

Later:              What motivates me

Waiting for the “help wanted” sign

Networking

Calls to companies

Intelligent use of recruiters

Get famous, get a job

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Focus, Job Boards, Promotions, Time management

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Politics (is networking)

Posted on April 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.  (Henry Kissinger)

You have to understand office politics to understand networking.  Here is an example.

“Don’t get Joe in the IT planning office upset.  He can delay any project by 6 months.  Now that I think of it, he can kill any project.  He’s politically connected to everyone in the company.”

Everyone, including the boss, who lets Joe “get away with it” think they are doing what is best for the company.  And they really may be.  Often you don’t see the power struggles at upper levels.  When someone becomes the traffic cop and decides which projects get done and which get delayed, it is because of their networking ability. They know how important each person and project is.  They know the alliances between leaders and departments.  They know who has the “golden” projects that take precedence over all else.  They know what combinations of projects are also essential.  These political “beasts” are the ultimate networkers.

CEO’s cannot take the time to make decisions on every project.  They tell others to make decisions.  Those people, in turn, tell others to make decisions.  Inevitably resources become scarce.  The scarce resources can be clerks, programmers, salespeople, floor space or money.  The person who controls the scarce resources becomes the center of a very strong network.  They have to bow to the will of many people, but control the projects of others.  They are often the most abused figure in a company.  Occasionally they are the most abusive, for a while.

There are several things to learn from these people.

  1. Controlling scarce resources gives you power
  2. Dealing with that power can get you entrenched, promoted or fired
  3. You always control one scarce resource, your time

The first two have just been discussed.  The third point is fodder for several more days. Politics may get ugly, petty and mean.  It may also preserve the company you work for.  Instead of avoiding politics, network.  Through building a network you will find out who to worry about and who to avoid. Politics always includes networking.  Networking can help you rise above petty politics.  Networking can help you get your projects done.

Something To Do Today

If you dare, ask around.  Find out who the political masters are.  Ask them to lunch and find out why they got their reputation and power.  You may be surprised at their attitude.  They may be visionary, vindictive, or both.

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Tomorrow: Your scarcest resource

Later:  Short term rewards

What motivates me

Waiting for the “help wanted” sign

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Posted in Focus, Networking, Promotions, References, talent

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How to read a useful book

Posted on April 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

In school I always felt guilty if I skipped one sentence in a reading assignment. Books must be read in their entirety.  I got the message.  Too bad it was the wrong lesson.

In a college class I only needed to get two answers right on an extra credit test about a book to convert my grade to a solid “A”.  There were 10 questions.  I picked up the book and looked at the cover.  I realized I had heard a review of the book and its contrarian theme the week before.  I decided to take the test without ever opening the book.  I got 6 questions right. It was an easy “A”.

Did I cheat?  No!  I knew the author’s bias.  I knew what he would say about historical events.  I didn’t even need the “Cliff Notes” to get what I needed out of the book.  I only needed two correct test answers for an “A”.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read. (G.K. Chesterton)

You are out of school. Now you need to learn for a living.  You need to learn things that will help you financially.  You need to be effective and efficient. Your next pay raise depends on it.

Before you read a book, read the cover and intro.  Read the table of contents.  If you are not sure you will get much out of the book, read the first and last paragraph of each chapter.  Look at any charts or illustrations.  Go back and only read the chapters that you will learn the most from.  Don’t be afraid to use your time wisely.

Time is a precious commodity.  Every hour you spend learning about your career will pay off in the long run.  Spending those hours carefully will give you a much greater reward than slogging through books that aren’t really going to help you.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of books that will help your career.  Get the first one today.  Preview it.  Read the book, or the parts of it that you can learn from.

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Tomorrow:     Politics (is networking)

Later:              Short term rewards

What motivates me

Waiting for the “help wanted” sign

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Posted in Promotions, talent, Time management, Training

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How to make your boss really happy when he fires you

Posted on April 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

Make your boss really happy when he fires you.  Tell him, “You can’t fire me, I quit!”  Then sign the papers that say you resigned.  He’ll soberly say, “That really hurts to hear you say that.”  As you leave the building he will take your papers, kiss them and pump his arms in the air in a victory dance.

Instead, if you can, insist on being fired.  If you quit you could be signing away your rights to unemployment compensation.  At the very least you are guaranteeing that you will have to defend your right to unemployment checks at a hearing.

If you are being fired, don’t resign.  If a prospective employer calls your old company, they will either tell all about why they fired you, or merely give the dates of your employment.  They won’t say, “He resigned right before we fired him.” That wouldn’t help your job search anyway.

There is one situation in which it is better to quit.  That is when you are being offered a sweet severance package and the company guarantees in writing to allow you to receive unemployment checks. That’s it. I suggest in that case you get a lawyer to check the agreement.  It will be $100 well spent.

Get fired with enthusiasm.  It pays better than quitting with enthusiasm.

Something To Do Today

Do you expect to be fired or laid off?  Start searching for a job now.

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Tomorrow:     How to read a book or magazine

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Posted in Quitting or Fired

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I just quit and my old boss wants me back

Posted on April 13, 2012 | 2 comments

Counteroffer!  You quit and your old boss wants you to stay.  They’ll pay way more than your new job.  You’ll get an office instead of a cubicle.  The actual President came to ask you to stay.  It just makes sense to stay, right?

Don’t do it.  Sever a snakes head with one blow and it dies.  Slowly cut off the tip of its tail and it will turn and bite you.

This is a “Fear Factor” moment. You’ve been eating cockroach puree for years.  Now they want to give you a 20% raise and an office.  Will that make the cockroach puree taste better?

In the last month we have seen two people, who stayed because of fabulous counteroffers, soon leave their old company. We are talking amazing counteroffers:  raises, promotions, new responsibilities, respect.

They quit again, even for lower pay.  The reason is that the old company didn’t really change.  The opportunities didn’t really change.  Their bosses treated them nicely only under blackmail.

Yes, I just wrote about how to “blackmail” your boss without quitting.  What I really wrote was “How to ask for a raise or promotion.”  If you are seriously underpaid or under appreciated and they won’t change, don’t go back to them if they promise to do what is right only when someone else wants to hire you away.

90% of people who take a counteroffer are looking for a new job in 6 months.  The rate approaches 100% after a year.  That’s because counteroffers are forced.  Your old boss feels betrayed.  He needs you for one more quarter and is looking hard for your replacement. You just gave up a great opportunity and he only wants to replace you without a disruption.  Who wins?  Not you!

I must admit, I see some counteroffers and say, “How can they refuse to stay?”  Inevitably that person is soon gone. Why? Their job was so bad that it took a huge bribe to get them to stay.  The size of the bribe indicates the true foulness of the position.

Think about it. If you are offered a huge reward to stay, you were robbed for the previous year.  Will they also offer a year’s back pay as an immediate bonus?  If they do, how about for the year before that?  How guilty is their conscience?

Don’t accept a counteroffer.  The chances are less than 1 in 30 that it will work out.  No matter how much they pay you, a cockroach milkshake is still a cockroach milkshake.

Something To Do Today

Ask your boss for a raise or promotion if that is what would keep you there.  If they don’t give it to you freely, don’t accept it as the fruits of blackmail.

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Next:     Quit or be fired?

How to read a book or magazine (you don’t have to finish)

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Posted in Quitting or Fired

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Blackmail your boss?

Posted on April 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

Progress always involves risk, you can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first base. (Frederick Wilcox)

While I worked at EDS a man quit three different times.  Twice he actually left the building and went to work for someone else for a week or two.  He resigned but let his boss know he didn’t want to leave and could be enticed to stay or return.  Each time his boss finally gave him the raise and promotion he wanted. It was blackmail, pure and simple.

By the way, what do you think it did to morale?  Well, everyone started saying, “I’ll have to quit to get a raise or a promotion.”  Some just quietly started looking for another job, never to come back.

So blackmail works. Right?  Sort of.  If you want to work for a company where you have to threaten your boss, yes it works.

Try something a little different.

Get together proof that you deserve a raise.  Put together a dynamite resume that is a list of accomplishments.  Assume your boss knows your responsibilities.  Make a list of provable accomplishments.  Put together a portfolio if you can.  Do a salary survey.  Make sure you believe in it and can prove it.  Get 5 people to write references saying how well you do your job.

With this project you have gathered proof that your boss would hire you for more than he is paying you now.  Go present the proof to your boss and put it in those terms.  Tell him he would have to pay more to hire a replacement, so please pay me more right now. Don’t threaten to quit.  Give him a chance to do the right thing.  No blackmail.

See what he says.  Give him a month or two to come up with a raise and promotion.  If you don’t get it, go ask your boss, again, what he intends to do.  Don’t threaten or plead.  Just find out his intentions.

If he’s not moving, use all that material you gathered to look for a new job.  Don’t blackmail your boss.  Give him a real opportunity to reward you.  If he won’t give you what you deserve, look for a new job. Don’t look back.

Something To Do Today

Start your employment upgrade project.

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Tomorrow:     I just quit and my old boss wants me back!

Quit or be fired?

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Quitting or Fired, References, Resumes

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