Whether this is your first job search or you are an experienced careerist odds are that you'll have several opportunities to get good at "The Hunt" over the course of your career. After all, "
The Cheese Keeps Moving." We all need to be prepared for the unexpected.
I spent the first 15 years of my career working in a perceived secure environment. I never had to really sell myself to a prospective employer. I was in the military for 4 years, and then went to work for my dad for 11 year. One day my dad and I had a difference in opinions and he decided it was a good time for me to pursue new opportunities. In an instant, I found myself searching for "New Cheese." This was an unexpected surprise, and since that first transition I've experienced several other opportunities to "Move with the Cheese." I hope by sharing what I've learned through my experience can help others who might be facing the stress of job change. If you have never been "freed up to pursue new opportunities" that just means you have not been in the workforce very long. This post is about how to find work after the inevitable happens. You will need to search for work someday, I hope these 3 steps help.
Tip 1: Meet face-to-face with as many people as possible. You can't get a job without meeting face-to-face with real-live-people. Unfortunately, many people start by getting online and searching job boards. Technology has made it easy to look for jobs without meeting people face-to-face. However, it has been my experience that applying for positions online rarely lead to offer letters. It's like doing research instead of actually writing the paper, or shuffling sales leads instead of making the prospecting calls. If you are a door-to-door sales person you can't sell very much without going door-to-door and asking for the order. We must realize that a job search is very similar to being a door-to-door sales person. You must meet face-to-face with real-live-people.
Learn how to network. during my first job search I met a man named Bob Rule. He wrote a short simple book called "
The Hunt For Green October.". I recommend this book to everyone I meet. In his book, he clearly describes the job search as a sales process. That's what it is, searching for a job is a full-time job. Sales people have to talk with lots of people, they have to communicate the value of their product, they have to ask for the order, and they have to stay positive and fight against discouragement. Some will buy, some won't, "so-what," next prospect. Set a goal for how many people you will call each day. Use a tool like
Nimble to track your interactions with each person. Network, Network, Network. Offer letters only come from face-to-face meetings with real-live people. Remember you're not unemployed, you're underemployed. Your current job title is Sales Representative for You Inc. Find more great networking tips in Keith Ferrazi's book "
Never Eat Alone."
Tip 2: Discover Your Strengths, Know Thyself, Communicate Your Value.
In his great book "
Go Put Your Strengths To Work" Marcus Buckingham explains, you might not know exactly what your passionate about, but chances are good that you can identify what it's not.
In the back of the book, he gives you some simple 3x5 tear-out cards. The cards are labeled "like-it", "loathed-it". The ideas is to jot down experiences throughout your day. Identify experiences that really energizes you and experiences that leaves you feeling drained. This process helps you understand what you are good at. You are good at a lot of stuff. Don't let a layoff experience determine your value.
You Matter.
Tip 3: "
Crash The Chatterbox," "
Stop Worrying And Start Living"
There are two common reason people have trouble communicating their value, and I've struggled with both.
- They are not clear on what they are good at.
- They need to "Crash The Chatterbox."
Establish a "
Zero Tolerance On Negative Thinking" policy. We all hear voices, sometimes we hear positive voices and often we hear negative voices, black dog, white dog, which dog are you feeding. Jim Palmer calls it
getting rid of head trash. Change your self-talk, People like to help people. Your best resource when searching for a job is the people you already know. Make a list of everyone you know. Start calling everyone on the list. Lastly, help yourself by helping others. Join a work-search team and start contributing.
Resources for Houston Job Seekers:
http://www.nwbc.org/betweenjobsministry/
https://sites.google.com/site/forestgreenjswt/
http://jobsupportministry.publishpath.com/
