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.