My good friends Drs. Randall and Katharine Hansen at QuintessentialCareers.com have declared today, November 3, 2008, as “Job Action Day 2008,” and asked a bunch of us long-time career folks to add our bit to making this world work better these days. I am happy to participate.
You can see the host of blogs and articles at the links below, but first let’s talk about what you’re going to do after reading all this wisdom. You’re going to take ACTION with at least 3 things you learn.
All the wisdom from all the career gurus on the planet won’t avail you anything without ACTION. The problem many folks searching for a new job run into is that today, with the wealth of advice on the internet, they get overwhelmed and simply just do things the same way–or only slightly differently–than they have in the past. Take on a commitment that today, just for today, you’re going to swing out and do something different.
Take, for example, why you’re going to contact someone today, whether by phone, email, or letter. What if you didn’t even mention that you were looking for a job? What if, instead, you authentically found a reason that you wanted to talk to them outside of your pressing need for a job?
Why do that, you ask? Because you’ll stand a lot better chance of actually getting to meet up with this person, that’s why. As much as you want to keep things quick and to the point by getting right down to the facts of your job search, telling folks on the phone that you’re looking and to “keep their eyes open,” you’re shooting yourself in the foot in multiple ways:
1. Whether you already know the person on the phone or they are someone you were referred to, talking on the phone is the most impersonal and ineffective way to ever really connect with someone. People are social animals. We travelled in tribes in cave man times, and in most ways we still do. People need to be in the energy and flesh-to-flesh presence of one another for the unseen affinities to catch hold. It’s these unseen affinities that you want working for you as you venture out to find your next great opportunity.
2. Telling someone you need a job, again whether it’s someone you know already or not, is the best way to ensure that you won’t get those face-to-face affinities cooking on your behalf. Why? Because they don’t want to be put in a position where they will be in the same room as a desperate person, and definitely don’t want to set themselves up where they might have to say the “n” word: NO.
Think about it: how do you feel, what are the energies it brings into your own day of challenges ahead, when you sit down with someone scared and searching, or even desperate? Look, we all want to help each other, that goes without question. But in challenging times, when you have to maintain your own sense of positivity about the issues you’re facing in your own day, you’ll tend to limit the amount of meetings that can put you into your own concerns.
Everybody out there is facing concerns all the time, good economy or bad, so don’t put people into the position of magnifying them. Rather, find something other than the challenge you are facing (getting a job) to interact with them about. How about a “research project?”
What if you found people to speak with who are in the fields and doing the things that interest you and simply created probing questions so as to learn more about that? And, better yet, rather than simply rattling off a list of questions when you meet them, what if you got all of those questions answered inside of merely asking them to talk about themselves and their experience.
Now that is an effective way to job search. You don’t even mention anything about needing a job. You stand a way better chance of actually meeting people, and you ingratiate yourself to this person by giving them an avenue to validate themselves and their experience by being interested in them. Always better to be interested than interesting.
Look, people aren’t dummies. If you’re out there doing research projects in the areas that fascinate you, they can only figure that you must be considering making a career move at some point. So you don’t even need to say it. And, they’re also not dummies in the sense that, if they see something in you that could help them or someone they know (like a “job” you could do), they’re going to tell you. So, you don’t have to promote “Hire me! Hire me! Hire me!”
Drs. Randell and Katharine Hansen asked each of us career guides to answer a simple question for one of their Job Action Day 2008 blogs. We were asked to finish the question: “If you could offer one piece of advice for how workers and job-seekers can be proactive regarding their jobs and careers at this difficult time, it would be ________________________.”
Now you know why I said:
“Do something different from everyone else! Be contrarian. Everyone else (95 percent of job-seekers) will be looking to see what other opportunities are available through front-door means (e.g., ads, online job boards, headhunters, etc.). The best way to ensure your ongoing job security, in bad times and good, is to always build and nurture a career tribe through back-door means, which means building relationships outside of needing a job. If you currently need a job, that’s fine…you just can’t use that to meet people, because they won’t meet you! Nobody wants to be put in a position to possibly have to say “no.” You have to find reasons, such as research projects, to create the necessary willingness for people to meet you. … This method is not about tricking anyone and done well, can serve as the door opener to opportunities and entire career changes you would have never imagined. I know; I’ve done it and taught it for years!”
See all the expert responses at www.quintcareers.com/attacking_job_market.html and the one above, in particular, under the subsection entitled “Market and Differentiate Yourself.”
For the entire Job Action Day 2008 plethora of articles, advice and ACTION-able wisdom, go to www.quintcareers.com/Job_Action_Day/2008.html.
When you’re done, before overwhelm kicks in, make sure you write down at least 3 ACTIONS you’ll take, and remember to always keep yourself effectively In The Line of Hire!
