Simple Advice - Is There Any in a Job Search?

I have been writing a series of articles that are on our web site, http://www.careertrackexperts.com/. It is a series of 7 articles and I am on the fifth article. I have had many comments on the articles. What most find them interesting and insightful, many are looking for a quick fix to their employment issue. I understand that. If one is looking for new employment they want to get back to work now. It is urgent and a high priority in most cases. The problem is since there is too little information to properly guide them. I see several problems with a quick fix.

One problem is a quick answer addresses only what is conveyed as the problem. The real problem may not be known without asking numerous questions. Another problem is even if the answer is a help it may not provide enough to help the person to the ultimate objective they have in mind. One last problem I see is that while the objective may be securing new employment, the successful path to that objective may not be known by the person asking for help.

Most advice I read is aimed at the quick fix and they come in several forms. One is the titles that list a number of things to do that will supposedly solve the problem. The other is the focus on one thing. The author tells the reader to do this one thing and it will cure their problem.

The problems with these are:

• They are incomplete and focus on only part of the process to find a new job
• They tell the person what to do, rarely how to do it so the reader is still in the dark
• They rarely deal with reality only with history
• They generalize too much
• Not necessarily proven to be consistent effectively

I am sure there are others but these are the issues that come to mind at the moment. Most of the advice I read is not helpful. Helpful advice is typically:

• An understanding of the current situation
• Provides a complete process that helps from start to finish not just at one point as the reader may not know how to get to the point where they decided to ask a question.
• Provides skills to accomplish the task not, telling what to do assuming the person knows how to execute
• Information that is proven to be consistently effective

I know that most of the advice is sincere and well-meaning. An additional problem with that type of advice is it increases frustration, anxiousness, confusion, skepticism and it generally makes people unsure of who to listen to or what is true advice and help.

My best advice is when asking for advice about something as important as the next employment, find a true expert that has real knowledge and a track record of success. Make sure they have a complete process not just clever, or pat advice. Make sure they are not willing to shoot from the hip but want to learn all the facts first about the specific situation. If they do want to generalize make sure they state up front they are generalizing and it may not fit the particular situation without all the facts. Finally, if they are teaching something to groups make sure what they teach will apply to the vast majority not to a small few. If not, the money spent may not be an investment.

What Are Friends For?

You know how sometimes with friends and particularly spouses choose not to listen to sound logic unless someone else offers it (no comments on that please as I recognize I am as guilty of that as my spouse). A similar situation occurred with a close friend of mine recently.

My friend has been seeking a new opportunity for the last 7 months. In today's economy it is not that unusual. However, what was unusual for him is that he has a long employment history, solid advancement in the few companies he has worked for. He also has outstanding accomplishments in each position he has had. He is almost a legend at one company for all the right reasons. He has not followed the process we teach at Career Track Experts. It isn't that he didn't think it would work because he found his last position following it and that only took a month or less.

He chose not to follow it this time because he rationalized it would not take long based on the last experience. Even though I reminded him how obtained his last position, he chose to ignore it. He followed the typical path most follow and most don't possess the kind of accomplishments he has or his long employment history. As he was getting more and more frustrated with dealing with recruiters that we not helpful and answering postings that were unproductive, he would ask what he was doing wrong. Oh, don't misunderstand, he was getting interviews. With his employment history I described above, companies wanted to interview him quickly. The problem lay in the fact the situations always turned out to not be the type of positions, type of future opportunity, company cultures or locations he wanted. So, he turned them all down.

Finally after repeating myself way too often, he listened. He soon correctly networked with a friend who put him in touch with a hiring manager of a company. They were having problems with a location in the US. They wanted someone to turn it around. He handled the research as I suggested. He handled the interview as I suggested and during the first interview they made an offer that was well within what he would accept.

Everything is as he expected and as he wanted. He will formally accept the offer the first couple weeks in January, 2010.

So what's my point? The 7 months would have been shortened by probably 6 months. His frustration level would have been very low. His financial loss due to not working would have been negligible.

No, I didn't say, "I told you so." I am just happy he is on his way to the next chapter in his career with a very bright future. He already knows there are opportunities in the future with the kind of performance he has done in the past.

Perhaps I should have asked someone he didn't know to suggest to him our process. He might have followed it sooner. Who knows.

Strong Emotions

I know there are a lot of different emotions that a person feels when they are without a job and are looking.

A client who was let go recently by his employer told me his strongest emotion was fear. Initially I was surprised. He is a strong, confident, accomplished individual. He explained that for him it was the fear of change; a new job, new culture, and potentially a new location. Immediately I understood his point.

There can a wide range of emotions. Some emotions besides fear could be, embarrassment, anger, confusion, and others. All are understandable.

Please feel free to comment about what your emotions are revolving around your current job search.

Advice Exposed

I recently read a brief article about how to find a job and the article directed me to a video for advice. The video was done by the head of a company that is essentially a “job board.” The gentleman spoke about networking, recruiters, career marketing companies and resume distribution firms as help.

The consistent problem with advice like this is that it only tells the job seeker what services are available, not how to find a job with any of these. He didn’t even say if the tactics or services would actually provide success for the job seeker.

This type of advice simply tells the job seeker to "talk to" people, go to recruiters, career marketing firms, and resume distribution companies. It never tells the job seeker:
· HOW to talk to individuals they network with effectively
· WHY recruiters aren't going to help them get a job
· WHY career marketers only help a few and it can be expensive
· HOW frustrating it will be throwing hundreds, possibly thousands of resumes at companies the candidate may not even know

ENOUGH!

Job seekers, if you truly want to SUCCESSFULLY find a job, contact Career Track Experts at http://www.careertrackexperts.com/. Eliminate the frustration and learn how to effectively find the job and position you want.

Questions About Conducting a Job Search

There are typically two groups seeking a new job opportunity:

• Those currently unemployed seeking new employment
• Those currently employed but want to make a change whether for career change, changing companies or other reasons

What questions do you have about your current job search or in considering starting a job search? I suspect there are common themes for both groups.

Please feel free to submit a question under the comments or send it directly to me and I will respond here. You can also go to http://www.careertrackexperts.com/ for other contact information.

How to Stand Out, No Really!

I recently read an article in my local newspaper about how to stand out to perspective employers. It consisted of the usual information and advice. It suggested a “polished” resume, good interview skills, and networking. It even mentioned getting to know someone at a company, because some companies have employee referral programs. The conclusion was they would be referred and the employee would get the referral money. The networking suggestion reminded me more of stalking based on some of the stories they printed of how others had networked.

There were other suggestions with the final one of, “don’t give up”. That did not seem very helpful! It is particularly troubling to continually see the same advice by so-called experts. They show up on TV, newspaper, and everywhere else. It would seem that there should only be one person speaking for all the experts, so those seeking a job only have to read or listen to it once. It all adds up to very ineffective, frustrating advice and the 20 million unemployed can attest to it. Most have tried every piece of advice they could find.

So how DO your really stand out? I will illustrate a couple of actions that have to be taken.

Do research, research, and research. However, it has to be the right research done in a proven manner. It cannot be superficial research like looking at a company website. It actually takes a telephone, talking to those who know about the company including hiring managers. There is a correct way to do that too.

Learn what the hiring manager wants; that means asking intelligent questions and possessing credibility by knowing about the company and/or department (see research). It may not start with talking with the hiring manager. Intermediary contacts may be the best first contact.

Learn what the critical qualifiers are based on what the hiring manager wants, not a job description. It also means presenting the qualifying information directly to the hiring manager in such a compelling way; he or she does not really want to consider anyone else. It is another learnable skill one must have to do that.

Doing these actions in appropriate detail can result in a hiring manager saying, “When can I meet with you?” When this has been accomplished effectively, and those words are said, then you will Really Stand Out.

Learn the details of how to gain these skills and others that will provide any individual with how to conduct the most successful job search ever. Go to http://www.careertrackexperts.com/ to see our 5 module webinar, Opportunity Acquisition Training System, (O.A.T.S.). Register to learn how to “feel your oats”. Also, consider our webinar, The Secrets of Powerful Resume Creation.