Category Archives: Finding jobs

Halloween and your job search

Posted on October 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

Tips for job seekers and Halloween trick or treaters are just about the same.  Think about how each of these directly applies to looking for a job.

  1. If you are scared, get your dad (a coach) to help on a few doors.
  2. Dress for success.  Look the part from your hair to your shoes, bag and greeting.
  3. The neighborhood you call on defines the size of the treats you get.
  4. Not everyone is giving out one pound candy bars, but they are all worth visiting.
  5. The more houses you call on, the more likely you will get a one pound candy bar.
  6. Go BACK to the biggest house with the best candy later.
  7. The most successful trick or treaters plan their routes and run from door to door.
  8. If you don’t knock, they won’t answer.
  9. If the porch light is out, you won’t get any candy, but you may get advice.
  10. Some of the scariest houses give the best treats.
  11. You get more treats if you start early and work late.
  12. Asking for candy in the traditional way works, ingenuity may get you more.
  13. Helping a little kid can double your take.
  14. Always say thank you.
  15. Sometimes they just ran out of treats, sorry.
  16. Going with friends (groups and social media) can make a scary neighborhood safer.
  17. It is a night of cold calling, even if you know the people.
  18. Trade candy (leads) afterwards to get what you really want.
  19. If you go to a party instead, and complain, you won’t get a big bag of candy.
  20. Don’t blow out the candle in the pumpkin.
  21. Do it again next year, only better, now that you have experience.

Wow!  I could write 21 articles based on those points.  Let me make a few quick points instead.

  1. Planning and preparation. If you want the best chance of quick success, take 15 minutes each day and an additional 4 hours each week to review results, make lists, THINK, and plan for the coming week.  And make sure you have resumes that are attractive so people to call you back.
  2. Work hard and fast. Actually do what you plan.  Make calls and contacts daily.  It is amazing how often luck follows hard work.
  3. Go back again. You should be talking to your best prospects at least monthly.  If you spend 15 minutes thinking and looking for a reason to call, you can usually come up with a helpful reason to call almost anyone.
  4. Work together. Share leads.  Offer to critique other’s resumes.  Suggest websites, books, and other job search ideas.  A lot of people find the perfect job in the castoffs and contacts from someone else’s search. Go to someone else’s house and both of you make calls at the same time.
  5. Be polite. Just because they say “No” doesn’t mean they hate you.  Say thank you and contact them again if it is a company you really want to join.  Never burn bridges or “blow out the candle” with anyone.

Have a great Halloween, and an even better job search.  Good luck finding that one pound candy bar!

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Networking, Perseverance, Resumes, Time management

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7 Ways To Get A Job You Are Not Qualified For

Posted on October 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.  (Hoffer)

Many people say Saddam Hussein was the foremost expert in hiding what is not there.  Rather than argue the facts, let’s exploit his methods.  It works when you are trying to get a job or promotion to do something you have never done before.

Saddam showed great enthusiasm for the weapons he was not supposed to have.  He built expertise in their design, construction and use. He got hold of parts of the technologies required to build the weapons and made sure the world knew it.  Tests were done openly with related weapons and delivery systems.  His experts visited seminars, arms factories and suppliers of illegal goods.  There were even articles published by “insiders” who “blew the cover” of the program. Last of all, he refused to prove he didn’t have the expertise.

Here is how to apply Saddam’s tricks towards getting a job or promotion you have no experience for:

  1. Show enthusiasm for the job.
  2. Learn on your own.  Get certifications.  Join societies.  Read related magazines.
  3. Start doing what you can.  Programmers (to be) can create games and databases.  Salesmanagers (to be) can lead popcorn sales for the Boy Scouts that gross a quarter million dollars. A computer technician (to be) can put together a network in his basement.
  4. Get a job in or volunteer to work somewhere that is doing what you want to do, even if you are not directly involved.
  5. Talk to people doing what you want to do.  Attend their seminars and trade shows.  Discuss the latest ideas in the field with people in that field.
  6. Start a blog.  Write articles for trade publications–they are always starved for good thoughtful articles.  Call reporters with ideas and quotes.
  7. List what you have done in your resume or job review.  Do NOTapologize for lack of experience.  Emphasize what you have done.

In order to get the first shot at your future, you have to prepare. Eventually your enthusiasm and persistence will get you an opportunity.

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Networking, Resumes

Great And Glorious Campaigns – the job search

Posted on October 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today, I knew it then as purpose.  (Davis)

“We all thought Richmond, protected as it was by our splendid fortifications and defended by our army of veteran, could not be taken.  Yet Grant turned his face to our Capital, and never turned it away until we had surrendered,” reminisced Robert E. Lee.

Abraham Lincoln was strongly urged to remove Ulysses S. Grant from command by Grant’s two senior leaders.  Lincoln replied,  “I cannot spare this man, he fights.”

Grant’s first army unit as a General had driven away two other Generals in the previous month.  The unit was insubordinate, untrained and outright rebellious.  Yet they followed Grant.

The year before the US Civil War, Grant was an alcohol abusing store clerk who only kept his job because he worked for his father-in-law.

What changed in Grant? Passion, focus, and high purpose.

Do you have a career plan? A job search plan? One that really suits your talents and skills?  If one plan of attack fails are you willing to immediately switch to another?  As the job market changes are you ready to take advantage of previously unseen opportunities?  Are you constantly preparing?

Your passion may be your family, church, job or club. It is probably a combination of them.  If you take the time you spend on your job, concentrate, plan and execute, you can do wonders.  If you slackly follow orders, give the minimal possible and expect to get a raise before you work harder, you will stagnate.

Where can you go to succeed?  What can you do?  Do you have to relocate your family? Do you need a new job?  A new career path? What can be your great purpose at work?

Acres of Diamonds can give you some directions along that path.

Click on this link and I will send you a free copy of Acres of Diamonds.  I need your full ground mail address.  Tell your friends to ask for a copy.  They’ll enjoy it too.

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Perseverance, Time management, Uncategorized

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New Networking Techniques

Posted on October 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s not who you know, it’s who will help you that counts.

I tripled the effectiveness of my networking.  At times I have gotten more referrals than I have been able to process.  Here are the basics:

Yesterday I blogged about Nebraskan networking.  Key points are:

1. Ask the right question

Always ask:  Who do you know that can get me closer to the individual I need to talk to?

People want to help.  This is a non-threatening way to give help without being 100% correct. You will be surprised how this gets people to relax and help you.

2. You get more help from higher income people

Ask for help from people above the level you are working at.  Managers, experts, directors and CEO’s use networking every day.  They know the importance of sharing help. Often they will do much more for you than you ever expected.

3. A driving purpose or important result is necessary

In the Milgram study an extremely impressive document was being sent.  The perceived importance made people want to help.  Carefully script your request.  Make sure your need is important for others to help with and non-threatening.  Make sure they know that the next person in their network chain will feel honored to help.

4. Give people a way to report back

Make sure the person you ask for help has a way to tell you how they helped.  Send them an email with your thanks after you make the request.

Here=s an example of an email I have sent that got me more help than I have been able to keep up with:

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Subject: I need your help …

I need your assistance.  I know you’re not geographically placed right for all these, but you know people.

If you don’t know of someone you can refer to me, would you pass this on to a friend, colleague or associate whom you consider to be closer to this person? Then they can open the door of opportunity for the right person.

Two of my top clients are looking to expand their sales channel by hiring three people:

a long term care software and services salesperson out of Harrisburg, PA;

a hospital CE salesperson in the western PA/Ohio/western NY area;

and a computer services salesperson in Philadelphia.

Sales opportunities are “teed up” for these salespeople by a great reputation and a strong list of well known clients. These salespeople can expect to be earning over $100,000 a year by the end of the second year.  Base salary, benefits, etc. are what you would expect.

Can you get this request closer to the right person?

I sure appreciate your help.

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That is a simple letter and has been extremely effective.  You can create one as effective for your urgent need.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Networking

Nebraskan Networking

Posted on October 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s not who you know, it’s who will help you that counts.

196 people in Nebraska were sent a package and asked to forward it to anyone who might be able get it closer to a named stockbroker living near Boston. All they had was a name, an occupation, and a very general location. Milgram, a researcher, assumed: 1. Nebraskans know no one in Boston, 2. they would never complete the task.  Amazingly, those Nebraskans eventually got the packages to the stockbroker.

It took an average of 5 mailings to get each package to the right place.  Each mailing was to someone they thought might be closer to the final intended recipient.  That step is called a degree of separation.  This experiment is the basis that people use to claim you can get to anyone in the world in 6 steps.

Here is some more information that makes this study usable in a job search, sales or your career.

Milgram stacked the deck in his studies.  In previous experiments, lower income people often ended sending chains. Milgram recruited higher income people to start these chains. He made the package as impressive as possible by using a fancy Harvard document richly signed.  He asked each person in each step to send a reply card to him to track progress.  This was an experiment in getting strangers to help.

Tomorrow I will show you how I have been using these facts and results to expand my network dramatically.

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Something To Do Today

Go over your network list.  Who do you know.  How many people do you know.   Tomorrow I will show you how to dramatically increase your network effectiveness.

You might have fun reading  about Milgram’s studies. This article is the closest to the original documents that I can find. I got a free copy by googling milgram study original documentation. For some reason I can’t reproduce the link.

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The Phantom Girl Scout Networking Mistake

Posted on September 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Last night my wife Laura got a call.  A woman called Laura’s cell phone, and Laura’s number is rarely given out.  The caller said, “I’m a Girl Scout raising money for a trip.” Laura heard something about cookies and knew that Girl Scouts don’t sell cookies in September.  The Caller-ID was blocked. The woman never identified herself. Hmm.  It sounded like a crank call or a con job.  So Laura firmly told the caller,  “Girl Scouts don’t sell cookies this time of year, I’m not interested.” Laura hung up.

A minute later Laura’s cell phone rang again with the same blocked ID.  Laura let it ring.  No reason to encourage crank calls.  When she got a voice message she listened.  An upset mother, who never identified herself, told Laura that she had no excuse to be so rude to her daughter.

So now we are trying to figure out who we offended. At this point we are not even sure cookies were mentioned.  Maybe Laura just assumed she said “cookies”.

The Job Search Application

You are a potential crank caller or con job when you call a hiring manager you don’t know.

That Girl Scout made a few critical mistakes:

  1. She didn’t identify herself
  2. She didn’t identify the person who sent her
  3. Her starting point was ambiguous
  4. She was calling at the wrong time of year
  5. She was “not human”

Number 5 is the real problem.  By having a problem with the first 4, she guaranteed that Laura did not see her as a human, but as a threat, crank call, or con artist.

When you are calling to network, be very clear who you are and who sent you.  Let the person know exactly why you are making this particular call.  Realize that they probably do not have a job for you – it is the wrong time of year.

To turn yourself into a human.  First say in 10 seconds or less you are job hunting.  Less is better. They will tell you if they have a job opening. Then give them something they can easily help you with.  Ask them to recommend a business association, certification, trade publication, online community, or to link to you in LinkedIn. Get their email so you can send them contact information in case they think of something else.

Thank them for their time and hang up.

Send them a thank you email.  Now put them on your list.  Make a few notes so that they are human to you too.  Figure out what would interest them that you can do for them every 2 to 3 weeks.  Every time they see an email or hear from you, you become more human.  Every time you help them, they want to help back.

Don’t be a Phantom Girl Scout.  Be a human.  Get them to like you and want to help you.

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Polar Bear Testicles and your job search

Posted on September 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

CNN had a story on shrinking polar bear testicles.  They went into detail about how it was an indicator of global warming destroying the earth.  I would hate to be the scientist with a bag of bear treats trying to make that measurement.  Then there was a brief blurb about the lowest SAT college exam scores in 30 years.  The SAT scores were just barely worth mentioning.

Which of the two stories caught your attention?  Shrinking polar bear testicles.  It was improbable, bizarre, and got you worried about vague worldwide problems.

Which story was really the most significant for your personal prosperity?  The SAT scores.  It affects every company in the USA.  More money, focus, worry, and concern are being focused on polar bear testicles than on why SAT scores are dropping.

Everything is not of equal importance.  The biggest problem that most job seekers have is that they are very focused on the wrong thing.

Are you focusing on these things?

  1. Finding jobs on job boards
  2. Sending out resumes
  3. Perfecting your cover letter
  4. Creating one perfect resume
  5. New ways to search Indeed.com
  6. Sending out more resumes

They are the wrong thing. Sorry.

You should focus on….

  1. Talking to hiring managers
  2. Talking to the bosses of hiring managers

Those are the only things that count.  If you are talking to one hiring manager a day, you are outperforming someone who sends out 50 resumes to qualified jobs every day.

Networking is the most effective way to talk to hiring managers.

No. Asking someone to introduce you to a hiring manager is not what I mean.  That is great,  but it is also a distraction.  The IMPORTANT networking you can do every day is to find hiring managers, ask them for some help they can easily give, and then stay in touch occasionally.

I haven’t got time to go over the details today.  I’ve done seminars and a hundred articles on how to do that.  I’ll try to publish a slew of them in the next couple of weeks.

Don’t get distracted by polar bear testicles.  Focus on talking to hiring managers every day and staying in contact with them until you have that new job.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Perseverance, Resumes, Time management

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Motivating Recruiters

Posted on September 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score.  The real excitement is playing the game.  (Trump)

Many recruiting offices have a button that rings a bell.  You can only push the button when you make a placement.  Some recruiters live only to press that button.  When they do press it, they keep their finger down for a full minute.  It drives everyone else nuts….with envy.  Recruiters are competitive people.

Placing someone in a job motivates recruiters.  Sure recruiters want money.  That is not their base motivation.  Their whole job is centered on making placements.

Want to motivate a recruiter?  Convince them they can place you quickly.

Some things that help:

  1. A great resume showing accomplishments, not responsibilities
  2. A positive attitude
  3. Talents that are in strong demand
  4. Winning interview skills
  5. Reasonable salary expectations
  6. Motivation to take a new job
  7. Little job hunting done on your part already
  8. A list of companies you would like to work for
  9. An exclusive relationship with the recruiter
  10. Your spouse and kids back you in the move
  11. Willingness to relocate or commute
  12. Ability to interview at a moment’s notice
  13. Great references that can be checked immediately or that are already on LinkedIn
  14. A current job

If you bring me all of the things above, I will start salivating.  I will drop everything I am doing and find you a job.  So will any other recruiter worth his salt. With that list, you should find a recruiter who will market you.  Get his commitment to report back how his marketing is going. If he won’t commit, he is the wrong recruiter.

The way to motivate a recruiter is to be a great candidate.  If you have a motivated recruiter, soon you’ll have a new job.

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Something To Do Today

Go back over that list.  Can you figure out how to line up more of those things for your next job hunt?  Ask a recruiter for his honest opinion, “How marketable am I and what can I do to make myself irresistible to you?”

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Focus, Quitting or Fired, Recruiters, Resumes, Training

Reverse Resume Blasting

Posted on August 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

Reverse engineering is taking something that works and figuring out 10 ways it can’t possibly be done.

Us recruiters do a lot of reverse lookups.  We have paid for training in how to get information from the wrong source.  We x-ray websites.  Yes, that is what it is called.  We use social media sites to find companies.  We use resumes to find job openings.

How to use ResumeRabbit without paying for it

You may get more good from ResumeRabbit by not paying them a cent.

Here’s how:

They like to brag about the 85 websites they can send your resume to for you. They list them.  They send your resume to the sites that are the most popular with hiring companies.  Almost all those sites will show you lists of jobs and employers for free.  Go take a look at them.

And in case you haven’t heard, my favorite website for finding jobs is www.indeed.com .   They are an aggregator.  They go out to company and job board websites and scour them for jobs.

Go take a look at every website you are on today.  See if there is a way to get unintended information.  Like the list of job boards ResumeRabbit posts to.  I bet you can find a job opening in a way you never tried before.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards

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Resume blasting – cockroaches, paper, and email carpet bombing

Posted on August 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways. (Crothers)  Yet often we fail our way to success.

An 18 inch cockroach is the best resume I’ve seen. A friend of mine was applying for a job as a programmer of railroad simulators. He knew that many programmers could do the technical part.  He also knew that the artistic part was just as important. Drawing is difficult, but sculpture is even tougher.  He sent a giant cockroach sculpted in great detail as his resume. He got a call back, the interview and the job.

A good resume gets you an interview. Electronic, paper, CD, metal, cloth or clay.  If it gets you an interview, it is a success.

Sometimes I hate success.  Every time I get a paper resume I like, I have to ask for an electronic one.  I hate it.  Those few paper resumes are successes.  They get a call from me.  I hate those successes. The candidates love them because they work.

Should you send out paper resumes?  That depends.  Some places automatically trash paper resumes. At those companies paper is a waste.  How about a multimedia CD?  I get the resume off and then throw them away.  I don’t like those either.  But that isn’t the criteria.  Does it get you an interview?  If it does, it is a great resume.  And notice I said I get the resume off the CD’s.

I suggest you send paper or CD resumes out in small quantities only.  Target your recipient. Follow up closely in case they require a different format.

Some people strongly disagree.  They will ask you to pay them a few thousand dollars to send out a huge postal or email blast of resumes for you.  I just heard sending out thousands of resumes called “carpet bombing.” Some services carpet bomb recruiters.  Others carpet bomb companies. I receive carpet bomb resumes every day.  I’ve never made a placement from one, but I will admit I at least glance at them whether they are paper, faxed, or by email.

I do think ResumeRabbit is a good way to get your resume on a lot of internet job boards, if you really want broad exposure and know the downside. ResumeSpider is a service that sends me a daily email with a few resumes.  I do look at those.  There is no other carpet bombing/resume blasting service in paper, electronic or fax media that I recommend.  Before I would spend money on that, I’d spend it on getting another certification to help my job search.  But I’m not you.  Just be careful with your money.

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Something To Do Today

Go through the list of companies you sent a resume to.  Are there some that really should have contacted you but didn’t?  Can you do anything to your resume to get a call back from them?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Resumes

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