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1ST STEPS IN THE HUNT
- An online column for the online candidate
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Net Research (From the Vault)
January 07, 2000
The Net is a tool.
For Jobhunters, what is the best use for this particular tool right now?
Researching your target companies.
While I'd love to say that you can quickly and efficiently look up whatever information you need on the Net, it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes the information you want is not available either on or off the Net. Other times it is not indexed in a way that search engines can easily locate it. And sometimes the information you want has not yet been transformed from its present incarnation as a wood byproduct into electronic impulses.
And you should be very familiar with Internet searches that look more like a wild goose chase than a Sherlock Holmes investigation. You can get lost (or sidetracked) easily, and some of the links you pull up sure don't seem to have anything to do with your search terms. There are a few sites that can be a big help in researching these companies - like Big Yellow, 411, and InfoUSA.
Big Yellow uses phone directories as it's primary database, which covers almost all companies and a wide range of people throughout most industrialized countries. You can search for email addresses and by topic as well. This is one of the first places that many people start their search for company information. The list of Top 300 business categories helps pinpoint where you might begin.
411 is part of Yahoo!, and searches for names and email addresses that you input. As one of the largest search engines Yahoo! gives you access to hundreds of millions of people and businesses. It also uses telephone directories as one of its main sources of data. InfoUSA has bundled lots of useful links into topics on starting and managing a business, conducting marketing, sales, etc. Its nationwide directory assistance includes searches for company name, individual name, and the very useful reverse lookup. The only problem here is that you might forget that you are looking for info on a target company and start researching a few things for your own business (someday!).As usual, these are only the tip of the information iceberg. On the Net there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
Competitive Bids
January 06, 2000
There are a number of critical decisions that successful Jobhunters need to make at some point during their Jobsearch. Some of these choices are fairly obvious, and others are relatively easy ones.
The easiest decision for most people is quitting their present Job (that's why they're in the Jobhunt to begin with). The hard part is realizing that you probably need to remain in your current Job until you've found the Job you really want. Harder questions require more soul searching, and sound more like this:
After due diligence in the Jobhunt, you will have narrowed your target companies and preferred Jobs to a select few. Networking your way into informal, then formal Interviews should generate (eventually!) Job Offers. This is where Jobhunters often make their most egregious errors - they are so happy to get an offer after months of rejection that they jump at the first offer they get.
A well-executed Jobsearch could yield the best offer from the best company for the Job you really want. But don't count on this result, and hesitate when you get a Job offer. There is rarely any harm in telling a Hiring Manager, "I need to consider your offer and will be ready to discuss it with you tomorrow." They've taken weeks to figure out whom they should offer the Job to, and at what salary - now it's your turn to evaluate their offer.
When you hire someone to complete some work for you, do you accept the first bid you get? Wisdom suggests that you get competitive bids for the service you want performed, or else you'll have to suffer the consequences of your impatience. The same holds true when you sell your labor to an Employer. Competitive bids indicate what your market value is and allow you to make better career decisions.
The first offer you get is rarely the best offer, whether you are negotiating with one firm or evaluating several offers from different companies.
Age Bias (From the Vault)
January 05, 2000
Age Bias is something that we all face in the Job Market. And it is something that we will likely have to deal with throughout out careers as we move from Job to Job. Most of the protection afforded by the legal system covers only the most egregious examples of age discrimination - and even then widespread discriminatory policies are required to prove intent. (HR-Guide discusses the issue in detail if you think your case merits legal action.)
Younger workers are often grouped together based on stereotypes, and mistreated accordingly. You may be accused of being disrespectful of the corporate culture, unable to concentrate for longer than thirty seconds, or unwilling to listen to others and join in working in a team environment. Older workers are suspects for other reasons: They are more likely to miss work due to illness, they can't learn new skills as quickly as younger workers (they're set in their ways), and their productivity levels are steadily declining.
These are tendencies that are at best misleading, and at worst, damaging to your career chances.
The sad fact is that workers are discriminated against from day one until they retire, so the real question is how do you overcome it in a pragmatic manner? First, by recognizing that stereotypes may be true for small classes of people, but are not valid to prejudge an individual. If you go into an Interview believing some of the myths about your particular age group, your Interviewer is likely to come away with those myths reinforced, rather than rebutted.
It is usually necessary for you to take the time to confront the bias that your age group faces, and confront it with assertive arguments to the contrary. If you lack experience, show how the experience you have is sufficient to do the Job satisfactorily, and that you have the desire and ambition to learn and improve. Temper your opinions with well-thought out ideas. If you think that you are looked down on because of your age, stress your experience, perspective, openness to new ideas, and willingness to mentor younger workers.
Studies indicate that a mix of age groups in the workplace increases productivity, which just goes to show you that it takes all kinds.
Promises, Promises
January 04, 2000
Some of the ads for the larger Job Boards promise the sun and the moon to Jobhunters. After watching them you'd think they were going to hand you a fat signing bonus, your dream Job (filling your life with meaning), and a long vacation before you start to savor your new life.
Should we really expect our Jobs to fill us with purpose? To give meaning to our lives? It seems like work takes so much out of us that little is left over for our family and social relationships. Some studies (the proverbial "some studies") indicate that as our social fabric unravels, workers are turning more frequently to their workplace for fulfillment.
There is nothing inherently wrong with seeking approval and recognition at work. We spend a lot of time at our workplace - making friends, learning about our strengths and weaknesses, falling in love, suffering emotional pain, and experiencing the joys of triumph and recognition for a Job well done. The problem is that our preoccupation with our occupation has gone overboard.
Our identity is composed of a myriad of factors and relationships - work is only one factor, composed of a handful of those relationships. Your identity is reflected in your family of friends and loved ones, in your community of neighbors and social contacts, in your shared hopes and interests online and off.
If you depend on your Job for identity then you run the risk of psychological collapse when your work relationship comes to an end, as it inevitably will. Work can be, and at its best should be, a source of recognition, respect, and positive self-esteem. But it should never be the sole source for these things. If you find that work has become your end all, then you need to step back, re-evaluate who you are, and rebuild other social organisms to reaffirm your identity.
You only have your self to lose.
OB (Organizational Behaviour) (From the Vault)
January 3, 2000
Working in an office can be a trying experience.
Often the easiest part of the Job is the actual work. The trouble comes in trying to get along with your supervisors and co-workers. And how they behave is often a function of the corporate culture, company ethos, and the subsequent behavior of individuals within the organization. There are a myriad of methods that you can use to adjust to the seemingly bizarre behaviors that confront you in the workplace, and how well you adapt depends on who you are, and how you perceive yourself.
Some people isolate themselves as much as possible, realizing that they get more work completed without interruptions - and limit their chances for negative interaction with colleagues. They regard work and home as separated entities, and try not to confuse the two. They tend to avoid revealing much about their life outside of work to people they work with, and are unlikely to join in workplace gossip or games. They may realize that substantial interaction under stress at work causes them to blow up at co-workers (and supervisors!).
Other workers need the support, advice, interaction, and camaraderie of not only their peers, but supervisors as well. They want (maybe even need) to have fun at work, and many of their friends started out as co-workers first. Self described "people persons" (ugh) live for the hustle and bustle that makes an office seem more like a home away from home. Interoffice gossip, email jokes, and goofing on friends at work makes their day go by quicker, and may (arguably) prolong their productivity and tenure at the firm.
To survive (and thrive) in the workplace you need to come to grips with the corporate culture that predates your arrival on the Job, and integrate it with your personal idiosyncrasies.
LISTS:
Last Week On 1st Steps
- Organizational Types
RESOURCES:
- Industry News
- 1999 Top 100
- 1997 Top 100
- 1996 Top 25
January 02, 2000
- Comfort Level
- Behavioral Interviews
Public Companies
in Electronic Recruiting
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Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.