Category Archives: Finding jobs

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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A genius’ resume – Leonardo da Vinci

Posted on April 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Even Leonardo da Vinci needed to look for a job.

Here’s the resume and story of one part of his job search.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, References, Resumes

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How to motivate your friends to help you find a great job

Posted on March 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with enthusiasm.  (Winston Churchill)

Would you recommend someone for a job if you were sure they would fail miserably?

Do you want to work with someone who is unable to deal with problems?

No one else does either.

On the other hand, it is fun working with someone who is trying to learn, who goes the extra mile on the job, and who wants to do what they have studied.

If you are excited by your possibilities, your friends will be also. That’s how you motivate your friends, be excited.  For example:

We place a lot of programmers in new jobs.  The ones who are so excited that they create programs in their spare time always find jobs.  It doesn’t matter if they ever went to college.  Their enthusiasm gets them jobs. They love programming.  Employers love them. Everyone who knows them is going to bat for them.  People they don’t know call them up to see if they can help them find a job.  Their enthusiasm is contagious.

On the other hand are programmers who took courses in programming in college.  They passed their courses. Programming doesn’t excite them. It’s just a job. If their college degree can’t get them a job in programming, they’ll never look at a computer again.  For them there is nothing exciting.  Their friends and contacts hear them complaining about the jobs they supposedly turned down.  There is no way they are going to get a strong recommendation for a job.  Sure enough, the job market stinks for them.

Motivate your friends.  Find out what is exciting about the jobs you are applying for.  Do the job for free for a charity.  If you are a computer technician, go looking for broken computers and tear them apart.  Put together a network in your basement. Offer to teach at your library or a nursing home.  Salesperson? Do what my partner did, became a charity “hit woman”.  Get the job of calling on businesses for donations.  You will talk to a lot of leaders of industry.  And guess what?  If you do a good job, they’ll be impressed.  Your friends, family and acquaintances will see what you are doing.  They’ll tell other people.

Be excited.  Do your job for free because you love it. Help others and demonstrate your love of your desired job.  You will motivate your friends and mere acquaintances to help you.

Something To Do Today  

Really evaluate how you have been acting.  Are you a member of the “beef and whine club”?   Find something you enjoy doing that is related to the job you want.  Do it with enthusiasm for free.

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Networking, Perseverance, References, talent

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Talent war heats up in Silicon Valley

Posted on March 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Yes, talent wars are starting again.  See this article about Silicon Valley.

Are you prepared to be stolen away?  Programmers and accountants are being snatched everywhere.

Can you protect your teammates from being pilfered at a critical point in your project?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Networking, Quitting or Fired, Recruiters, talent, Uncategorized

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Resume search optimization – how to get found

Posted on March 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

How to get your resume seen online could be a book.  That book hasn’t changed in the last 5 years.  Here are the basics:

  1. Include every keyword that is in the job listing
  2. Figure out a way to repeat the most important key words
  3. Resubmit your changed resume occasionally

Keywords are critical

Computerized filters are being used more often. Monster.com has them available for all employers who pay a slight premium.  If your resume does not have every important keyword or acronym, the computer eats it and spits out a form letter. No human sees your resume.

Put a list of certifications, education, software used, tools mastered and techniques employed at the end of the resume.  Include every abbreviation or keyword in the ad.  If you are missing a minor keyword, consider saying at the end of your resume, “I understand CDF and JCL but have never used them.  It may get you past the computer filter.  If you are submitting your resume directly to the hiring manager, you might take the list off.

Repeat important keywords

Your resume will be ranked by keyword usage.  When my query brings back 300 hits, I want to see the most likely resumes first.  I sort on “relevance” and cherry pick the top resumes.  The best way to be ranked highly is to intelligently use the keywords multiple times.

Resubmit your resume

Job boards usually show the most recently submitted resumes first.  If your resume has not been submitted for 3 months, it is at the bottom.  Worse, recruiters may assume you have a job if your resume is that old.  They won’t call you. Refresh your resume every week or two.

Just these three changes may change your invisible resume to a real interview magnet.

Something To Do Today

Go read the job description of the last job you submitted your resume for.  Did your resume have all the keywords?  Did it repeat the most important keywords?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Resumes

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The war for talent is starting, it is getting ugly.

Posted on March 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

The talent war is starting up again.  I’ve been seeing it this month as I try to find highly qualified programmers and accountants.  Click here for an article about how it will destroy many teams and employers.

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Posted in Economy, Finding jobs, talent

Why not go for the CEO job? Really, here’s why NOT to

Posted on February 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

Too many people climb the ladder of success, only to find it is leaning against the wrong wall. (unkn)

Why not go for the CEO job?

Jim just took a job as a manager of a small company.  He’s been a CEO before.  He took the lowly manager’s job because he likes it better than being CEO.  He didn’t even put his CEO experience on his resume. He got the “lowly”  job he really wants because he left the word CEO off his resume.

I can tell you the same story, with the exact opposite twist, of technicians and engineers who worked their way up the technical ladder, only to finally figure out that they should have quit and gone to work as the CEO of a small company.  These are guys making $150,000+ as technicians.  Not bad money at all.

There’s a way to find out if you really, truly, in your gut would like to be a CEO.  Get a couple of practice jobs.  First, become a team leader or manager where you are. Also get involved in your local or national trade association.  While you are at it, volunteer to head a charity organization.  Your local school has a PTO, swim team boosters, band boosters, etc.  The YMCA, Boys and Girls Club and Scouts all need people who are leaders. Another great way is to run for the school board, town council or state legislature.

Leading any of these organizations will help you see if you like management.  In them you need to set your own goals and agenda.  You need to persuade people to work with you.  Selling others on your ideas is essential. You’ll also build a network of people who can help you become a CEO.  You’ll get to show true executive leadership.

If you talk to CEO’s, you’ll find that many of them evaluate executives in their own and in supplier companies by how they perform in volunteer posts.  Being a CEO isn’t just telling people what to do.  It also includes creating a network that will draw talent and contracts to your company.

If you want to be a CEO, get started now.  There are teams, associations, charitable organizations and political organizations looking for leaders.

Something To Do Today

If you have any desire to be a manager or a leader, make a list of places where your leadership could have an effect.  Go out and get started in those organizations.  You could easily be the “CEO” in 2 years.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Focus, Promotions, talent

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Wrestlers in feather boas and getting the right job

Posted on February 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

It is wonderful how quickly you get used to things, even the most astonishing. (Edith Nesbitt)

What does being unusual have to do with getting a job?  A lot. Because everyone is unusual in some way.

Everyone knows you can’t run for Governor and expect to win if you are a professional wrestler who wears feather boas. It is worse if you are a radio talk show host who is conservative AND liberal at the same time. Jesse Ventura became a Governor by being all these things. He got a lot of politicians upset and confused. He also did a great job of running the state. But, less than half the people voted for him.

My partner and I offend some people. We do it by being ourselves. We are not purposely obnoxious. We are friendly and inoffensive by our standards. We just believe in being open, honest, and having fun. We have a theory that we can either try to be bland inoffensive gray, or we can enjoy work being just who we are. We can’t do both. We have found a LOT of people who like it when we are ourselves. Even the candidates who literally leave our office in tears because we are candid with them, send their friends to us. But some people refuse to do business with us. We choose to pay that price.

We don’t set out to be obnoxious. Neither should you. If that nose jewel is just an accessory, don’t wear it to the interview. If you will not work without it, wear it. The same thing goes for a beard. Dress up in the best way you know how for an interview. Make your resume as professional AND personal as possible. Use good manners always. Be honest. Be yourself. Also understand that whether you dress very conservatively or outrageously, you will be judged as a bad fit for some jobs. Just make the choice consciously.

There are jobs for programmers, salespeople, bankers and accountants in very conservative companies. The jobs also exist in companies that have bizarre office paint jobs, people with pink hair and pierced tongues, and parking lot hockey games at lunch. I can point out such companies deep in Amish country in Lancaster, PA. All companies want team players who fit into their very different cultures.

Let’s be honest. The more unusual you are, the more exceptional your accomplishments have to be. Don’t set out to offend or shock people. Be as nice and sociable as you can. Fit in with company culture wherever possible. Just don’t be afraid to be a little different, to be yourself.

Something To Do Today

Call my office after 6 pm and go to my voice mail. (717)975-9001. Bryan Dilts is the name. I change my message occassionally. My message is “very unprofessional” according to many. It also sets me apart in the minds of people who hear it.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Interviews, References

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Top 2 areas banks are growing for IT

Posted on January 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Here is a hint about your future job: Banks are not spending on core systems.

Banks spend money on IT where they expect to get the biggest return. This article plows thrugh the 6 main areas where banks will spend their IT dollars in 2012.

If you want a job or promotion in a bank, make yourself irresistible because you are an expert at Regulatory compliance or customer experience/channel optimization.  Those are two areas that can apply to other places besides banks.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Uncategorized

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The 2 best places to find the hottest industries

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

The hottest industries, the startups, the best employers, and the places where people are way ahead of the rest of the world are easy to find.

In the last few years a handful of people I know have become multimillionaires. They set out to do it.  People I have placed at their companies have gotten bonuses as high as half a million dollars.  These companies were started and sold after only a few years.  One was for $200 million, the other for $400 million.  Not bad money if you can get it.

One company sells ads on the internet.  The other started out processing healthcare claims but quickly changed to selling prepaid credit card processing.  The company founders and key employees made a lot of money because they found “the next big thing.”

For each company that reaches this level a hundred startups fail.  Still, half of the startups are absorbed into the successful companies that put them out of business.  The best people in ALL of the failing companies find jobs in the best companies.  People with experience in “the next big thing” are rare and not wasted by their industry. Failure is actually seen as a mark of accomplishments in hot new companies.

The best way to find what “the next big thing” is in your field is to ask.  When you have one minute alone with managers, top technicians and salespeople, ask them.  I guarantee that they have spent a few minutes trying to figure it out themselves.  They also will want to show their expertise by sharing their vision of the future with you.  In your job journal write down what you are told.  You can review the lists you come up with occasionally and extract some gems.

Another way to find the next big thing is to subscribe to weekly and monthly trade journals.  Many are free.  Again, go to the managers, top technicians and salespeople.  Ask them, “Which trade magazines do you read?”  Have them give you the web address or the “free subscription” card that is included with the latest issue.  Get your own subscription.

Once you have a few choices for the next big thing, exploit your knowledge.  If you are an adventurer, get involved in the beginning stages of “the next big thing.”  If you are more security oriented, look for an opening where there is already solid revenue, but lots of growth potential left.   The job you take could be at your present company.  Find out if they are planning to fund a startup division or if they already have something going.   The other alternative is to get a job in another company.

Chasing “the next big thing” is not an easy life.  There are fantastic rewards and great challenges.  There are also company bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions and layoffs.  But, I’ll say it again, the best people in those hot expanding fields are always absorbed into the competitors.  It is scary, but not as dangerous as it sounds.

Now, go do some dreaming.  It never hurts.  In your field what is “the next big thing?”
Something To Do Today

Do a survey.  Ask everyone you have a one minute conversation with what “the next big thing” will be.

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, talent

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