The Hardest Job You’ll Ever Have

Over the last three months, there has been an uptick in the number of people attending my presentations at various job seekers groups. That may be good news for professional resume writers and outplacement firms, but not so much for the general workforce. 

Where there were 6 to 8 people in attendance during the majority of programs I presented in 2014 and 2015, my audiences this year thus far have numbered between 10 and 15 to close to 50.

Another disturbing trend I’ve seen is that many of these people seem stunned that they were laid off/lost their jobs. 

Really? 

Having an “it can’t/won’t happen to me” attitude is unrealistic and has been so for the last three decades. What is stunning to most job seekers, who have not had to look for employment for the last 15 – 20+ years, is just how dramatically the job search landscape has changed. New job seekers are discovering a significant amount of tools, which they can use – most of which are related to technology, that were not available or being used by employers and job seekers even as recently as 6 – 8 years ago.

LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, writing blogs, personal websites, vendors providing blast email platforms…this is the “new normal” for job seekers, as is the fact that hundreds of resumes are submitted today for just about any job opening vs. what used to be maybe a dozen or so. Having candidates take some type of personality and skills/aptitude/behavioral testing is relatively commonplace today vs. being somewhat of a rarity just a few years back.

What does this all mean if you are emerging from the “cave” of not having to look for a job for the last 15 or 20 some years?

To do it right, to search efficiently and effectively so as to have the gap between employers be as short as possible, takes a significant investment of your time and effort and a willingness/strong commitment to change paradigms. As most people in transition are likely to hear at some point, “Searching for a new job is the hardest job you’ll ever have”.

I’ve been writing posts for this blog covering a wide variety of job-search related topics for nearly six years. But, every now and then I think it is a good idea to get back to basics in order to help kick start a job search for readers who have not had to do so for a couple of decades. So, here are some tips, from a hiring manager’s perspective – a hiring manager who was himself laid off from a large company and has walked in the job seeker’s shoes (during a recession):

Figure out what you want to do/be when you “grow up” – OK, here you are at a crossroads…You’ve just spent 15, 20 or 30+ years working for possibly one or two employers and maybe doing somewhat of the same type of work during that period. NOW what do you do? What do you WANT to do? What are you passionate about doing? Are there employers offering the type of job you are seeking for the type of compensation you need? Do you need to relocate to find that employer? Do you know anyone who works or used to work for the employer offering your dream job?

Do a skills inventory – Once you pretty well determine WHAT you want to do and possibly for WHOM, you’ll need to figure out if you have the skill set being sought by that respective employer (i.e., different employers often have different priorities when it comes to “key skills/areas of expertise” – even for the same type of job). Research to find at least six different employers seeking what you feel would be your dream job. Break down the job description from each of those employers onto a spreadsheet, listing each of the required skills/traits/education items included in the document. Compare the results to find commonalities. These common skills/traits/educational requirements will be the basis for comparison when you do an inventory of YOUR skills, traits, education and professional development.

Know your personal brand – Cultural fit is significantly important to an employer. They’ll accept fewer skills as long as they believe a candidate is a great fit to the company’s culture/brand. A candidate needs to be perceived to be a “square peg - square hole” cultural fit with a proven ability to learn new things quickly.

Communicate why I should hire you – Everything you write, that is written about you, that you say and that is said about you MUST answer the following two questions for the prospective employer and hiring manager, or they will move on to the next candidate: (1) Why am I going to look like a genius for hiring you? (2) How are you going to make my team go from ‘good to great’? Think about it, if you were the one tasked with hiring a game-changing employee, would you want someone who was not able to make you look like a genius for hiring them or significantly improve your team’s overall performance? A hiring manager only gets so many opportunities to hire great talent. Thus, each hire needs to be a shining star.

Come to know everything possible about the prospective employer – If you want to make a hiring manager believe that adding you to his/her team would make him/her look really smart for doing so, you’ll need to invest a lot of time researching that respective company to learn everything you can about their culture (in order to be able to project how and why you’d be a great fit for such), their history, financials (if available) and the employee environment. Most of this research can be done online through the organization’s website, company LinkedIn and/or Facebook page, Glassdoor.com, Yahoo Finance of MSN.com, etc. The more you know and understand about the prospective employer, the more focused and effective can be your message.

Network, Network, Network – This is the key, once you’ve constructed your message/pitch/value proposition. You need others to tell your story for you. When you are involved in a job search, EVERYONE you know can be part of your “sales team”. And, all effective sales teams are well trained, so you must help the folks you are relying on to spread your message ( in a manner that will attract interest in you as a potential ideal candidate), help you. Your message/pitch/value statement can only be delivered effectively if YOU are truly passionate about such. If you are, your “sales team” will also be.  And, passion exudes confidence. Remember that networking can be done whether you are in a crowded social function, on the phone or communicating via social media channels.

Interview like you are the best candidate – Your self-confidence in an interview is a direct result of great preparation and practice. Be the aspirin for the hiring manager’s/company’s “headache”. Again, why am I going to look really smart for hiring you? Make sure you are well prepared to speak specifically to your accomplishments and thus do not focus on what you DID, but HOW WELL you performed using the key skills identified in the job description. 

Provide a context of comparison to help quantify accomplishments. For example, tell the interviewer that the 30% increase in sales you generated was recognized as the highest annual increase in that market in the last thirty years. Metrics by themselves can be somewhat meaningless without a historical comparison or ranking. If I said that I ran the 100-meter dash in 9.57 seconds, would that mean anything to most people? Probably not. If I added that, with that time, I broke the world record of 9.58 seconds, which was established in 2009, would that be more impressive? Of course! Just a few more words can make all the difference. 

To do this right, you’ll quickly discover that there is a lot to do. Great candidates embrace the many challenges and the hard work involved in finding and landing a new job (basically – the same way they approached their assigned tasks/projects when employed). If it were easy, everyone would be an ideal candidate…and, that is just not the case.

Are you up to the challenge?

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