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1ST STEPS IN THE HUNT
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Face 2 Face
September 10, 1999
Jobs are won or lost at the gut level, during the Interview.
It's the face to face contact that really matters to recruiters, hiring managers, and Employers. Unfortunately, most Jobhunters put most of their effort into resumes, either online or print. It's easy to understand why - selling yourself is easier done from a distance. When you don't have to watch someone reject you, you can lull yourself into the false belief that "I'm trying as hard as I can to find a Job - I'm sending out resumes!"
The reality is much different.
Job Boards are not the best use of the Internet in Jobhunting. They are useful in locating Jobs, but they can only do so much in your search. Use the Net as a source of information about
Employers won't be 'wowed' by the mere fact that you found them on the web. What will impress them is your effort to gain knowledge about the Industry they are in, their relative place in that Industry, and the position itself. All this shows your desire and passion for the Job - something they can't train you to have. Everyone loves to be flattered and knowing a Company like the back of your hand gives an Employer that warm fuzzy feeling you want them to have during the Interview.
The Employer's gut level decision making process is less rational then you might think. Once you've made it into the 'accepatable candidate pool', getting the Job is a matter of striking the right chords with the Hiring Manager. And most of them will be looking you in the eye and asking 'Can you do the Job?', all the while wondering whether they can trust your answer - or you.
Half of your time Jobhunting should be devoted to researching (see numbered items above) and practicing your face to face Interview style. Not getting Interviewed is depressing, but even more depressing is getting rejected frequently at the Interview stage. This is where lack of research really shows.
Two Tales
September 09, 1999
For Jobhunters, it is the best of times and the worst of times.
On one hand, Unemployment figures from the blind bean counters at the Labor
Dept have held steady at some of the lowest rates in the last thirty years.
Unemployment rates in the lower half of the four to five percent range haven't
been seen since the last of the baby boomers was born. New Jobs are being
created in droves - some estimates show an average of almost 200,000 new Jobs
being created every month.
The newest fad on the web is talent auctions, which allows Jobseekers to sell
their talents to the highest bidders. Which works fine when there is more than
one bidder, but not so well when no one is bidding (or a single bidder can set
an arbitrarily low value to labor). So far the workers who have successfully
used any of these talent auctions are few and far between.
So, what's wrong?
On the downside, worker's earnings are not matching pace with even the
nominal increases in inflation. On average, workers now earn less, after
adjusting for inflation, than they did ten years ago. With all the talk about
workers becoming free agents who can sell their labor to the highest bidder, how
come the average schmoe is still taking it on the chin?
A recent AFL-CIO poll (I'm sure They don't have any axes to grind!) shows
that half of the 18 to 34 year old workers they surveyed think the Economic
Engine is 'just fair', 'not so good', or 'poor'. Fifty-five percent of the
respondents think that most of the new Jobs available are low paying with few
(if any) benefits, and little chance for advancement. Most of these younger
workers are not covered by any health plan, the survey indicates.
The New Economy is based on turnover of credit, goods, ideas, and labor. By
now you've probably realized that you won't be working for any firm for more
than a few years, maybe five at tops. And Employers will be shedding workers as
soon as they begin to impact the bottom line negatively. Jobhunting will become
a lifelong task, so the sooner you can get comfortable selling your self as a
readily marketable quick learning commodity, the better.
Work Ethic
September 08, 1999
Employers are eager for skilled Job Candidates, just not in the categories
Jobhunters are accustomed to fitting themselves into. To succeed in the Jobhunt
today, you need to be very flexible in your approach to Employers. Because so
many of these newly created Jobs have no history to them, few Job Candidates can
be expected to have any experience in them. How many Jobseekers have two years
experience as 'Lead Internet Surfer?' Not many.
The trick is to read the Job Postings carefully and think about the Keywords
Employers and Recruiters are looking for. Are any of your skills transferable to
these Job Functions? HR Managers are looking for Job Candidates that are ready
and willing to learn new tasks. Consider tailoring your resume (and subsequent
Interview) to show that you have always been eager to try new things, and that
you adapt and learn new tasks quickly.
Employers in the Information Economy are hiring intellectual capital rather
than experience, which can be a good change if you know how to present your
skill set. The focus is going to be less on what you've done in the past, and
more on what you're capable of doing in the future.
The over-hyped labor shortage in the workplace today is not a shortage of
bodies. Generation Y (or Next) is larger than the baby boom crowd, and high
schools, tech schools, and colleges will be producing a glut of potential
workers for the foreseeable future. This upcoming glut is masked by the
continuing expansion in the US economy. When the bubble bursts things will
change.
The real shortage is in Jobhunters willing to work for ridiculously low wages
when they can live quite comfortably off the wealth their parents and
grandparents have accumulated. Even young workers who don't have a parental nest
egg to rely on can do better in the underground economy than they can at minimum
wage levels (minus taxes!!). Do you know many parents that are encouraging their
offspring to work at fast food restaurants? A generation or two ago there might
have been a moral incentive like "Work your way up the Company ladder" or "Hard
work builds character".
Well, few people believe that crap anymore. The real world has a different
message for Jobhunters - get it while you can, cause everything is up for grabs
and nothing is certain. Surveys show that roughly half of all Generation Y
respondents expect to be millionaires by age thirty-five. "Lotto Fever" is the
new work motto, and the number of companies that now offer stock options in lieu
of pay highlights this change in work ethics.
Office Romance
September 07, 1999
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - Resumes suck. They are a poor representation of who you are, what skills and talents you
bring to the Job, and rarely bring out the intangible qualities that employees
emanate in the workplace, changing a collection of individuals into productive
work teams. Employees and Employers alike despise resumes, the latter because of
their inefficacy as a tool in finding Job candidates that will 'fit in' with the
company and adequately perform the Job duties at hand. However, for the immediate future, they are still one of the primary means by
which Employers find and screen Job candidates. You probably have yours posted
with several of the Job Boards, perhaps having gone to the trouble of posting
slightly different ones that emphasize your various skills. This can be a useful
test to find out which of your skills are currently in demand. There are a number of services that are willing to assist you in reworking
your resume so that it attracts, rather than repels, attention from the right
group of people.
Take a look at the Resume Makeover (possible topic for an upcoming Jenny Jones episode?) that Peter did for the Marketing Manager at Headhunter.net. While I am wary of the marketing/spin/lying that seems endemic to resume rewrites, you have to play the game by the rules of the powers that be, and selling yourself by way of eye-catching resumes is part of it. Note in particular the change in fonts and emphasis in the new and improved resume.
Peter's site has links to other databases as well, with one (resume express) that will shoot your resume off to over 3500 different sites for posting. Alas, it comes with a fee that is far more than nominal, in my opinion. Your best bet is to search around and see what advice and services are free, and determine if they are worth what you paid for them.
Remember, more expensive is not necessarily better. Likewise, free may be too small an investment.
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September 05, 1999
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Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.