Category Archives: Time management

A new way to find a job: Spaghetti networking

Posted on April 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare, now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.  (Robert Wilensky)  Sending a million random emails is not networking either.

A new way to find a job: Spaghetti networking

Take the box of spaghetti in your kitchen.  The spaghetti is hard, aligned in rows, carefully packed, ready for a mission.  Now throw it in a big pot of boiling water.  Stir it up.  Keep it stirred. In ten minutes you have noodles ready to eat.  Now put it all back in the box.  It doesn’t work, does it?   Try to get all those noodles aligned again. What a mess. If you add some more uncooked spaghetti and cook the two together you get a mess with some pasta that is ready to fall apart and the rest ready to eat.  So start a new pot instead.

How is this mess like networking?

  1. Plan your networking.  Write a plan. Figure out who should be contacted.  Practice what you will say.
  2. Now start networking. Like cooking spaghetti, every lead will do something different.  Each one will take its own path and change over time.
  3. Give your network 10 days to work.  Check it and stir it up with phone calls halfway through.  Make more phone calls, and where it makes sense, personal visits after 10 days.
  4. Figure out what happened.  Where did the leads go?  Some got you closer, some didn’t.  Investigate the noodles or network contacts.  Why are the starts and ends different?  Are there patterns you can exploit? This really is like investigating cooked spaghetti noodles.  It seems useless, but in this case an evaluation can give great insights.
  5. Follow through with all leads that are working.  Eat the pasta.  Keep working with the networks you have started that are going somewhere. Set a plan when to follow up.  Don’t let that network turn into a congealed mass of pasta left out in the bottom of a strainer with no water.
  6. Take what you learned.  Plan a new network.  Avoid the temptation to wing it.  Write a plan.  Get a fresh pot of water boiling.  Write down what you will do different.  Who is on the new list?  Practice being different. Learn. Do better.
  7. Do it all again.

Networking is not easy.  It always starts out neat and planned.  It always ends up going all over the place, where you least expect it to.  Don’t try to randomly network.  Sure it may work, but it will take a lot longer than it needs to and you will drop a lot of promising leads. The trick is to learn, continue to plan, and make it work.

Something To Do Today

Make a networking plan.  If you need more networking hints, look up “networking” at

http://www.howtoreallygetagreatjob.com/blog/archives.aspx .

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Tomorrow:     Calls to companies

Later:              Intelligent use of recruiters

Get famous, get a job

Sneaky no good cops set a trap for me

Katrina, FEMA and who’s in charge of you

A surprisingly great trumpet appeared

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Networking, Time management

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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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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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Goals that make the world bend around you

Posted on August 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.  (unkn)

Are goals useful?

One famous study showed that people with written goals coming out of college earned several times more than people without written goals. But, look at yourself.  If you still have the same written or unwritten goals you had 10 years ago, you are the exception.

Goals change. The real secret is to have specific written goals and expect them to change.

Goals that make the world bend around you

You will do better if you are striving to BECOME something much greater than you are now.  The world reshapes itself around you when you refuse to take the path of least resistance.  If you set 20 year goals that inspire you today, you will enjoy life more today and next year.  Your goals will change because you have grown to the point that you can see more important goals.  You will develop a vision of your future that is clearer and brighter than you have today. That is a good reason to change your goals.

A part of the goals secret is to have goals in the areas of your life that matter most.  Money is important. Job and career goals are essential for progress.  You also need goals about your family growth, social maturity, physical fitness, emotional strength and spiritual development.

For example, your goal could be to run 2 miles in 15 minutes in 2031.  If you really think about that goal, you need to strengthen your legs and knees, not pound them into arthritis.  That goal could inspire you to include bicycling, swimming or rowing in your fitness regime so that your knees will last throughout your life. That goal may change to being able to swim a mile in 2031 because of changes in your health.

A social goal could be to have a network of 1000 people who are leaders in their own field in 2031.  To get there you will have to have intermediate goals of recognizing, getting to know, helping, tracking and staying in contact with those people.  A goal like that would also be a great help to a career goal to become CEO of a company. Later your social goal may change to having a network of 2000 people who will help you fund medical research, and it may include all the same people as your original goal.

Remember, goals change.  The 20 year goals I just mentioned would be great goals for a computer technician, salesperson or CEO.  If you open your mind and see into the future, you will be able to pick out goals for the year 2031 that will help you now, and still matter in 2031.  If your goals are important to you, you will find you achieve most of them in much less than the 20 year, 5 year or 1 year horizon you set.

Something To Do Today

In your journal first make a list of the most important overall aspects of life.  I suggest: money, career, social, physical fitness, emotional and spiritual.  Then list a goal you can work towards BEING in 20 years, 5 years and 1 year.  Each goal should fit in with all the others.  Goals are about becoming better as the world shifts around you.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Perseverance, Time management

How to decide what NOT to do

Posted on August 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Are you trying to be successful doing the work that successful people throw out? This true story is about more than salespeople. It is about accountants, programmers and managers too.

Paul, beginning his job in sales, told me, “My manager seems to be able to make a sale every time we go on a call together.  All the people we visit want to buy.  He sells as much as everyone else in the office put together.  When I take the leads he gives me, I can’t get them interested at all.  What am I doing wrong?”

Paul was doing nothing wrong.  His manager was visiting only high quality leads.  Paul was visiting everyone that his manager didn’t pick for himself.  His manager got the golden leads and Paul got the brass. Worse, Paul refused to look for the best quality leads in what he was given.  He just went out and visited everyone.

Successful salespeople, accountants, programmers, managers, secretaries and septic tank cleaners all know what sales leads, jobs, duties and knowledge are most important.

Pick out the most successful person you know who is doing the job you want.  Invite him out to lunch.  Ask him, “What do you do that is different from less successful people?”  Take notes.  Don’t let him stop with one quick answer.  Ask about what he reads, what he does, and the jobs he refuses to do.

If you really pry, you will find out that he no longer does a lot of things he used to do.  Ask him, “What have you stopped doing because you no longer have the time to do it?”  You’ll find that successful people really do work differently.  They are picky.  They find ways to get drudge work assigned to others.  They study particularly difficult problems so that they are assigned the most interesting projects.  They also invite themselves into meetings where thorny issues are discussed.  They go prepared with fresh information.  That’s how they get reputations as problem solvers.

If you want to become a guru, act like one.  Do what the gurus do.  Just as important, find a way to get out of the work that successful people throw away.

Something To Do Today

Make that call to a successful person doing the job you want next.  Find out what they attribute their success to.  Also find out what they no longer are doing.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Promotions, Time management

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The Bamboo example will not get you a job

Posted on March 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Don’t listen to the folks who tell you about growing bamboo.  It is a TERRIBLE way to look for a job.  Here is what you should do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YovuWdXTAxM

 

 

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Posted in Attitude, Focus, Time management

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Your New Career Is Only 3 or 4 Steps Away

Posted on February 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

There are no secrets to success.  It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. (Powell)

Gary decided the world needed a better way to pay insurance claims in 1996. He made a plan and took a step.  Then he planned and took the next step, over and over. Along the way he picked up investors, technicians, sales people and managers.   The company changed into a stored value credit card company.  A few years ago he sold his company for over $200,000,000.  

Did you notice that his company is not the same as it started out in 1996?  There was a problem with the payment method they wanted to use.  When they solved that problem, they found the possibilities in the payment solution were greater than in their original plan.

Let’s not concentrate on Gary.  Let’s concentrate on the people who work for him, the people who do what you do.  He has accountants, programmers, lawyers, salespeople, managers and secretaries who all took a chance.  They found someone who could daydream.  It was Gary.  They believed in his daydream.  They hitched their careers to his star and away the whole team went.

If you are doing exactly what you like, stay there.  If you want to do something else, look for someone who can help you achieve that dream.  You may first have to hitch your career to a place that will help you pay for the school education you need.  The time will come when you are too constricted there.  You will have the school education.  Next you need hands on experience.  First try to grow where you are.  If you can’t grow, start looking for the next place you can grow.

Your career will be a set of steps.  Your initial plan will undoubtedly change.  Plan three or four steps out and execute the next step.  Then when you accomplish that first step, re-plan.

The world changes incredibly quickly.  Plan to change your plans.  Now, work the next step and cause your future to change.

Write out your plan.  What do you want to do?  Then plan 4 major steps to get where you want to be. 

Being a business owner, consultant programmer or the number one salesperson in your field may be right for you.  Or you may find that being a great mother or father is even more important.

Make sure your plan gets you to what will really make you happy, not just to where other people will worship you.

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Posted in Attitude, Perseverance, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, talent, Time management, Training

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