Passive or Proactive Job Search?

The challenges job seekers face who want to find a job are difficult whether they are going it alone, using career services resource from their school or if they have sought other help. There is a lot to consider. While no one really wants to hear why they have a problem, understanding the cause helps to see what the solution is to the problem.


The competition for positions is very high. Not only does every job seekers compete with the other 35 million unemployed, they compete with all the graduating students coming out of every community college, every four-year college and university. I addition, there are those who are employed who are looking for a new position.

The practice of create a resume, send a resume, and wait for a response only compounds the difficulties. Regardless of how good the resume it has to be noticed in a group of hundreds if not thousands in some instances. The odds of receiving a response, let alone a positive response are very slim. The practice has failed those using it. That practice does not require any skills other than the ability to electronically send out a resume.

It is a very passive practice that places the company that received the resume in charge of the job seekers search.

Another source of frustration for any job seeker is that the number of positions that are advertised in some manner is about one third of the total available. Most individuals are not aware of unadvertised positions and if they are have been poor and ineffective information about how to identify them. The majority of the networking information available has little effect and becomes another passive activity.

Success in a job search requires a proactive, hands-on approach. It requires specific skills executed in a sequence that provides progress and success in each step.

Here is what the outline of the steps should look like:

1st Series of Steps: Pre-Interview Practices, Skills Self-Assessment • Create presentation materials • Develop references • Research the industries that you know • Research other industries that you want to consider your qualifications • Create a script for initial contacts • Develop responses to objections • Social Networking Best Practices (Face Book, LinkedIn, Etc.) • Plan your call performance plan

2nd Series of Steps: Creating Interviews Execute Your Calls • Establish rapport • Set appointments to follow up • Develop insights • Create assessments • Refine contacts network • Interacting with 3rd party recruiters • Perform follow up calls • Re-assess contacts • Establish meetings/interviews

3rd Series of Steps: Preparation for Interviews • Pre-Interview Actions • Determining your “Candidate Valuation” • Working with recruiters to prepare for the interview • Interview techniques and tactics • Discovering leverage points and overcoming objections

4th Series of Steps: Post Interview Action Steps. The Follow Up Plan • Researching position location and needs • Continued action calls to contact network • Dealing with alternative interviews and recruiters • Seizing secondary interviews • Follow up procedures • Early negotiation techniques • Pre-offer research steps

5th Series of Steps: Gaining the Offer & Opportunity You Deserve, Negotiation Technique Application • Managing acceptance/rejection of an offer • Post offer follow through • Resignation process management • Post resignation techniques and procedures • Starting your new position with your new employer

The Career Matrix - A Powerful Credential Presentation – While most employers are looking for a resume, they take immediate notice of the candidate that also presents the Career Matrix. For a total of 50 years hiring managers have made decisions on whether to interview a candidate or not using this tool. It has provided them with immediate information about how you can help them in the position you are considering.

These are all actionable steps that put the job seeker in charge of their search continually moving forward toward the sustainable job they want.

Please go to: www.CareerTalkGuys.com for more information how you can learn the right skills for a proactive, in-charge job search.

The Hidden Job Market, What is it and What Does a Job Seeker Do to Get a Job?

Today, job seekers are lured to advertising, books, DVD’s and webinars on the so called hidden job market. Let’s bring this out into the light so it is not hidden anymore.

The people who are peddling the information on the hidden job market want it to stay hidden so more will participate in whatever they are peddling. Otherwise, if it is brought into the light, they have nothing to sell. The allure of something that you need which is portrayed as hidden is deceptive but commonly used.

What are people talking about when they say there is a hidden” job market? Is there a deliberate conspiracy to keep people from finding jobs? The answer is no.  I am sure they truly mean well bus like most advise that is where it ends.  Let’s start with what hidden jobs are in general.

I will not speak for those who are talking about hidden job markets but I will speak for my partner and I who have a combined 50 years in talent acquisition. On a daily basis, we have talked with companies of all sizes in many industries. What we learned a very long time ago is that many jobs are not advertised by companies. A logical question is why would companies not take advantage of advertising a position? There are numerous reasons.

One reason why jobs may not be advertised is that they get too many responses by people who are not qualified for their positions. The problem for the company is it creates an administrative nightmare. Imagine having to sort through hundreds if not thousands of resumes. This has become widely problematic due to the fact that over 35million Americans are desperately seeking sustainable employment or just a paycheck. Others choose not to advertise as they feel that networking within their industry or industry associations is the best way for them to find the qualified people they want. Still others do not want to expose to the public and competitors that they are lacking a certain talent or experience base.

There are other reasons that could be listed but that is not the point of the article. The point of the article is what should you do with this information and what does it mean to you? It can mean the difference between getting a job and not getting a job.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows there are approximately 3 plus million open positions in the United States. Add to that the hidden jobs you have heard about. Again, from our experience over the last 50 years and 5 recessions, we know there are approximately 6 million open positions that are not advertised right now. That means if you have been spending all of your time with job postings you have missed twice as many open jobs.

How do you uncover these jobs? Is there a secret? It is not a secret. It is a learned skill. It is true that with the Internet it is much easier to find them but, it still requires the ability to effectively talk with people.

The basic steps are:

1.After you have determined your skills, experiences and accomplishments from your career and education, consider what industries you either have come from and/or those in which you want to work.

2.Today, the American economy is recovering but not as the economy that went south two years back. You will also need to determine what other sectors and industries will value your skills and accomplishments.

3.Conduct research in those industries and find companies that you feel may be a fit. The research is done through the Internet and using databases such as Reference USA or Hoovers or similar data bases. Most public libraries have such a database. They are searchable by SIC codes, NAICS, key word, or other criteria.

4.Take the list of companies you come up with that you feel might be a fit for you and then do what most are reluctant to do…pick up the telephone and call them.

5.Do not call HR but an open department of the company such as sales and marketing, investor relations, procurement, etc. They have people who are used to open outside dialogs.

6.Discuss with them the state of the industry, their company, what the outlook is and other questions.

7.Eventually you will get to a point of asking if they know if there is any hiring going on in the area where you would work. They may not know. Do the obvious; ask who is in charge over that area and ask for their extension. Most people are very willing to provide that information.

8.Call that person and do the same with them and ask questions that relate to what you do. Eventually you will get to a point where you can ask what needs they have now or in the near future. They will tell you.

9.If they have none, nothing is lost, as you have a good contact for the future there.

10.If they have an opening, discuss it with them. It can lead to you offering or them asking for you to provide information directly to them.

These steps are the very basics of finding the so-called hidden jobs. Not very glamorous nor is it very complicated. They really are not hidden, you just have not acquired the skills to find them and make the most of them. There are skills to learn that will refine that process greatly and make it very effective. Remember, if you find five companies where you are talking to a hiring manager about a real opening, you stand a good chance to gain an interview. That is better than a boatload of resumes sent blindly to job postings or even worse, unsolicited to companies.

The broken system of Get a Resume-Send a Resume-Hope fails in all ways in finding a job where they are posted somewhere. This very ill advised practice is the worst way to discover positions that are not publicly posted.

Keep in mind; this is only one of the many steps and skills required for gaining a sustainable job. To learn more go to http://www.careertalkguys.com/. We have real training that is not create a resume, send a resume, and hope for the best.  Who is in charge of your job search?  Is it the company that will probably never look at your resume?  Or, is it you becoming proactive and in charge of your search because you learned the skills that will create success?

Job Search Success Stories

It may come to you as a shock, but I am always amazed with the success people have when we train them to conduct their own successful job search.

My amazement is not that they were successful. I always expect success. My amazement is even the most skeptical people who are adamant about the traditional process of send a resume and wait, will eventually come to the conclusion there is a better way.

Here is a difficult situation with a great ending that illustrates what I mean. I recently met with an individual who wanted me to help him individually. I usually recommend either the live webinar or the streaming webinar due to the great price difference of $250 per man hour versus $299 for the live webinar (five hours) or $69 for the streaming webinar (also 5 hours). They all teach exactly the same skills the same way.

Anyway, he was adamant about private help. I was happy to provide the training to him. His background was a bit different, but most people have something that makes them unique. Tim, had only three jobs in his life. They were all in the same industry and he had had success with each company. He did construction supervision (an hourly position) and was very good at it.

Unfortunately, during work hours on company business, almost a year ago he was in a bad car accident. He suffered severe injuries to his back. Fortunately, he did not have any paralysis. He had surgery twice to correct his injuries and had the usual fights with Workers' Compensation and his company. His company fired him due to his injury (I won't pretend to understand that). Keep in mind he was not at fault for the accident. Now he had to find work while wrestling legally with the company for a settlement.

He came to me after reading some of the articles and reviewing the website outline of the course. He was very concerned that while he was now physically able to do what he had always done, companies would not want to hire him because of his injuries, surgeries and year off work.

I spent the entire five hours teaching the skills we teach to him and showing him how to apply them to his particular situation since that was his major concern. He also opted to have me teach him how to create powerful credential presentation materials that we teach in our webinar, The Secrets of Powerful Resume Creation.

From the training he set off to find a new position with a new company. It only took three weeks and he was made an offer with a company he wanted to work for in the position he wanted.

What amazed me about this particular individual was he was so skeptical at the beginning, yet willing to invest in individual training versus an equally effective, less expensive option. Every step of the way his favorite comment was, this can't work. His only positive comments were, this certainly is different than anything I have ever seen. My concern was he was spending a considerable amount of money and with his negative comments he would not follow through.

When he started talking with prospective employers he started to change his comments. By the time he had interviewed with a couple of companies that were a fit for him he was now saying, I see why following your process brings results.

He admitted the only reason he came to me for the training was he concluded that if my partner, Doug Beabout and I have been using the same skills we teach for years with success, there had to be something to it. Now he tells everyone he meets about his skill at finding a job. We are thrilled for him.

By the way, the fact that he was out of work for an entire year did not have a negative effect with any of the companies he interviewed with. He did not have to relocate which was a goal of his even though I cautioned him he might have to consider it.

I love happy endings, don't you?

New Jobs Bill - Help for the Unemployed (Not)

Why are we doing another jobs bill? Last year a $154 billion bill was passed. It hasn't made a bit of difference. Now, we are doing it again with a bill of only$15 billion. I guess that means less is more? I thought if a lot did little then a little will do less.

Once again, job seekers will read about the bill and get optimistic their situation will change. The President and Congress have done it again. They are playing on the hopes and fears of the people to spend more money they don't have. What is the saying, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." Who is fooling who?

Elementary economics taught to freshmen is that job creation is a result of savings and investing. Who is foolish enough to believe that taking tax dollars from some one's pocket and printing money to spend will create a job. The only job it creates is for the printer and the IRS. If they are government jobs they are not producing any goods or services that are paid for by a buyer and a profit is made to be reinvested. Did the WPA work during the Depression? No. Why is the government foolish enough now to think it will work now? For that matter why would they think any of the policies started by Hoover, adopted by Roosevelt and advanced by him would work when they prolonged the Depression? We are going down that very same path. I thought we were supposed to learn from history?

Let's stop the nonsense. Let's tell the emperor we actually know he doesn't have any clothes on. We were just being polite and his cronies are just yes men (and women).

Let's help the unemployed in real terms. Let's have a sound monetary and fiscal policy that takes the power to regulate interest rates and puts it where it works best, in the market place. Let's stop propping up bad businesses and let their assets go to companies that are well managed and wants to buy them with real money. Then the workers can go to work with an ease of mind. Let's stop the printing presses so our money does not devalue. Finally, let's stop spending money we don't have so we don't have to continue to sell the country to China tomorrow.

All of that would help those unemployed by allowing for real job creation not smoke and mirrors. Then the unemployed would consist of former politicians and bad business managers.

Wow, glad I got that off my chest. Seriously, this is what it takes. Career Talk Guys know what we offer helps individuals in good and bad economic times . We created our program from what we have been doing for others for years because of the severity of the times. We know to really end the problem it will take courage and efforts of the great people of this nation to say enough to bad politics, bad economics and the government's self interest disguised as being in our best interest.

In the mean time we will continue to help those who want to gain employment learn the skills that will create their success. You can see other articles at our site and our programs at http://www.careertalkguys.com/.

The Resume and CV - Exposed

Everyone who really likes their resume raise your hands. Now, everyone who feels theirs is really better and different from everyone else’s raise your hands.

When those two questions are asked, the results are always the same. A fair number will raise their hand in response to the first question. A few or less will raise their hand to the second. Isn’t that odd in this day and age when you can find truckloads of information about that special resume, or advice from experts, all claiming your resume will be special, unique to you?

Resumes have been around for decades. Resumes are the accepted and habitual standard for presenting your credentials in a potential employment situation. Everybody uses them. Everybody is continually trying to find the best one that will get the attention they want from a potential employer.

There is a complete industry of those who believe they are experts in writing resumes, and they probably are experts in that traditional format. At the same time, they simply take the same information you had on your previous resume and rearrange it in another format. They may change some wording to make it read better or make suggestions about how to express your experience better. Some may go as far as to replace the standard format with one built on action terms or vague suggestions. The bottom line is it is still the same, a resume. It does not express your qualifications in a different light that a hiring manager would sit up and take notice.

The problem is a two way street. Hiring managers and HR professionals would love to see something that would make their task easier. For decades we have heard a continual cry of dissatisfaction with “resumes”. To review mountains of resumes that very quickly all start to look alike is not advantageous to anyone. You and all other job seekers get frustrated with the lack of response and the negative responses received. The prospective employers get frustrated, because the start to believe there is no well qualified individual that will solve their problem.

When an interview is obtained, it is difficult for those conducting the interview to look carefully at the resume and ask effective questions. Too many times the questions asked can be answered by the resume had the interviewer read it. Time may have been a factor, but the information may have been a factor as well. The information did not tell them anything different than the prior resume.

How do you change this? Can it be changed? It would appear that decades of use have cemented resumes to be the credential presentation tool forever. It has conditioned job seekers and prospective employers both into expecting a resume, in the expected format, with the expected information. And, no one is really excited about any of it.

There are a couple of factors that can show the resume trap can be changed and a welcome change it is!

The first factor is that job seekers want to send their resume to anything that remotely looks like a potential job for them. They know very little real facts about the position other than what a job posting explains or what a job description reveals. Ask yourself the question; “How can a hiring manager get anything concrete out of a generic resume that is sent for any job?” Sure, you can tailor to the position description as some would advise you. However, it is still only a resume for any job no matter what anyone tries to claim. You know that to be true, because you get the same results, little or no response.

This leads to the question of how do you change that situation? Before we answer that, consider the potential employer.

The second factor is the employer’s perspective. The hiring manager is expected to ferret out of a sea of sameness the one or two that meet the multi-dimensions of their unique position. Every position is different from every other regardless that the title may be the same and the job description is very similar. The challenges are different and the culture is different among other factors. How can a hiring manager know anything about a candidate, if all they see is a resume based on a one dimensional description? This one dimensional resume causes a lack of response. If there is a response it may be an unproductive (dreaded by everyone) telephone interview.

How do you resolve this situation? It has to happen like this:

The job seeker needs to know to what industry and companies are they best suited and therefore should contact.
Skilled research is required to learn and understand what might be a fit.
Effectively executed contact with companies and associations is necessary to learn important information that focuses your search.
Developing a presentation format of your credentials that matches a company’s needs for the position you want.
Finally, you now stand out among others in the industry where you will be best recognized for your talents and accomplishments.

There is a great deal more to this, but to be very elaborate would take volumes of pages.

What this type of strategy does is change the process completely. It puts you in charge. It empowers you to present what the prospective employer wants (provided you match, and your research will tell you that).

Career Talk Guys have decades of success helping candidates master this process and get the job they want. This process places you in the position the obtain job you want with the employer who most values your abilities to contribute.

We teach people the skills to present their professional abilities in the manner the hiring manager desperately wants to see. This revolutionary, but highly effective means of presentation creates a confidence in gaining results you simply lack when suing a standard resume We train you in the skills to conduct the process of a job search throughout the process and ending in your first day with your new employer. But, if you do not choose us, find someone that can teach you these skills. You will never regret it and it will change your odds dramatically and positively impact those to whom you present your credentials.

Career Talk Guys are not resume writers. We have 50 years of combined experience of learning what employers seek in a qualified candidate. We are masters at conducting skilled research into new opportunities. Our experience is unmatched at the creation of interviews. We know what it takes to prepare the professional and employer to meet and achieve mutual success. Now, we are making those skills and techniques available to anyone who is tired of a lack of results applying old school, worn-out practices centering on a resume.

We changed the process for your success.