Mediocre Networking equals Failed Job Search

I just published a blog on our HIRE and RETAIN Top Talent Blog aimed at hiring executives and managers on the subject of networking.

You can read this blog posting on networking for Executives and Managers by CLICKING HERE.

Outrageous Claim ? Networking is Critical to a Career

In this blog posting, I made the outrageous claim that Networking can make or break a career. As I was writing the post which was focused on employed executives and managers, the issue struck me that most candidates take too long to conduct a job search because:

Networking Efforts are INADEQUATE OR INEFFECTIVE

The Fundamental Problem of Job Search

One of the services we provide for executive and managerial job search candidates is job search coaching. We also have a specific project for developingNetworking Strategic Plan.

The first thing we notice is a woefully inadequate network and ineffective methods to build, grow, sustain, nurture, develop, enhance the network. Its no wonder the most common complaints about networking is that for the time investment it doesnt yield enough job leads and referrals.

If I approached networking the way most candidates approach it in their job search, I would consider it random luck if I got a job lead or referral.

Weve touched on Networking in the past and the importance of it for your job search. In my article addressed to employed hiring executives and managers, I claim its one of the most important skills they can possess and one of the most important activities they must do on a daily basis.

In a job search ? it is not just one of the important things you should be doing ? JOB SEARCH NETWORKING is the most important thing you should be doing ? without exception.

Here are few articles where weve touched upon the importance of networking:

CLICK HERE to Read How Recruiters Search on LinkedIn and What We Look For

CLICK HERE to Learn How to Stand Out at a Networking Event

Im writing an article series on 101 Job Search Tactics. A large percentage of those tactics are going to be centered around effective networking. Ive already described some of the networking tactics job search candidates should be trying on LinkedIn. Here are links to a few of those blog postings:

CLICK HERE to Read – Cares What Your Status is On LinkedIn?

CLICK HERE to Read ? 101 Job Search Tactics to Find a Job Now

Questions for Candidates Who Dont Network?

Why are you not networking?

What dont you know about networking that you must learn?

What are top 10 books youve recently read on networking?

What workshops/seminars/webinars have you recently attended to improve your skills at networking?

What blogs are you reading that offer great tips on how to network in your job search?

Whats holding you back?

Shouldnt you be investing heavily in time (and funds) everything you can to learn how to become a master networker in your job search?

If 80% or more of all jobs are not posted, in the hidden job market, and can only be found through networking ? why are you only focusing on the 20% that are advertised on job boards?

Resources for Job Search Networking

Basing your job search on answering job board advertisements instead of concentrating on effective job search networking is like betting your savings on the crap tables. Only if random luck intervenes do you stand a chance of succeeding.

Here is a list of a few resources that might help you in networking:

CLICK HERE to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group ? many good conversations on how to network effectively

CLICK HERE to see our Job Search Workbook that contains our focused chapter on how to network

CLICK HERE to Learn about our services for Executive and Managerial Job Seekers including Job Coaching and Networking Strategic Planning.

CLICK HERE to download some of our archived FREE radio show broadcasts on the subject of Job Search Networking

CLICK HERE to download the FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard to determine if your networking approach is effective

CLICK HERE to visit our Job Search FREE Resources Portal where we bring together the blog feeds from some of the very best bloggers on the Internet focused on Networking techniques.

Barry Deutsch

Establish Your Job Search Credibility on LinkedIn – Job Search Tactic #6

Did you know LinkedIn provides an instant credibility building tool for developing your personal brand?

Did you know that within just a few weeks you have an ability to rise to the top of recruiters, hr professionals, and hiring manager radar screens?

Combine the Question and Answer element of LinkedIn with the other recommendations we’ve made in this series of Job Search Tips on LinkedIn:

Everyone Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn – CLICK HERE TO READ

Who Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn – CLICK HERE TO READ

Don’t Be Like Groucho Marx on LinkedIn – CLICK HERE TO READ

The Instant Credibility Tool on LinkedIn

It’s called Questions and Answers.

You can find at the top of screen on the horizontal navigation menu. Click on “More” and then click on “Answers”.

Look at the questions being asked in a variety of categories where you have an expertise:

• Your job search
• Fund raising for your local soccer non-profit organization
• Industry trends
• Functional issues such as marketing or financial management
• Working with Recruiters
• Using LinkedIn

What expertise do you bring to the job search party?

Step 1: It’s Okay to be a Temporary LinkedIn Lurker

Pick a subject area in which you are most comfortable

Lurk a little to see what type of questions are asked and what type of answers are given. (I know – I know – I told you a few blog postings ago NOT to be a lurker on LinkedIn! Let’s suspend that request for a few minutes). Get a feel for the give and take of asking a question, getting responses, and responding to the responses.

This is what Social Media and Social Networking is all about. Here is the basic core element – engaging in discussion and conversation with others. Giving value back through your contributions and receiving value by taking the bits and pieces others offer.

This element of questions and answers is at a very basic level one of the most important aspects of networking. In the old days – you did this in-person or by phone.

LinkedIn gives you a platform of leverage which is extraordinary for the speed, efficiency, and exposure.

Step 2: Answer a few questions on LinkedIn

Observe, lurk, kibbutz, peek and then after playing LinkedIn Peeping Tom over 24-48 hours, post a few replies to questions you’re most comfortable answering.

Wait for a response – or perhaps someone else besides the original question poser will raise a question, challenge your idea, or build upon your recommendation.

Respond to the responder.

Engage in a conversation.

Pretend it’s a friendly dialogue.

Couple of Ground Rules – Both Negative and Positive

You might call this section – social etiquette on LinkedIn:

• Never put someone else down in public
• Never insult another poster
• Don’t try to dominate the conversation
• Don’t act arrogant or be a know-it-all
• Avoid sarcasm – it’s easy to misinterpret little jokes or having some fun at other’s expense
• Be positive
• Say Positive things
• Give praise frequently
• Recognize when someone has made a great contribution to the discussion – give them an on-line pat on the back. Everyone wants a little recognition when they do something great.

Step 3 – Pose Your Own Questions on LinkedIn

After you’re comfortable answering a few questions, try posting a few questions.

Be a little controversial.

Take a contrarian point of view.

Don’t hesitate to offer your opinion or ideas.

Be yourself.

Stimulate a discussion.

Tie your question to an area of your expertise.

Track your questions -  do certain questions generate a larger response?

Step 4 – Who’s behind the questions and answers?

After responding to a question, look at the profile of the poster. Is this someone you would like to connect with and get to know better? Send him/her an invite to connect on LinkedIn.

When people respond to your questions, check out their profiles. Should you be connecting to them also through an invitation.

Can you imagine how much leverage this is going to bring to your networking efforts? Visualize all those connections and their connections – WOW – it’s as if the old saying is coming true that “we’re all connected to Kevin Bacon through 6 levels of referrals.

We’ll get into how to leverage your network’s connections in a future post in this series.

Action Steps on LinkedIn

As soon as you finish reading this article, go straight to the questions and answers area on LinkedIn. Begin step 1.

Within 24-48 hours I expect to see you responding to questions and posting a few of your own.

Shoot a comment back on this blog post or drop me a note and let me know how this is working out for you.

Before you know it – you’ll have established your credibility. The recruiters, hr folks, and hiring managers lurking in the background will begin to see you, hear you, recognize you for for your expertise, knowledge, and radiating personal brand.

You’ll start getting inquiries, others will look forward to your comments, and you’ll start to generate a decent following of dedicated fans.

It’s so easy I’m practically dumbfounded that more managerial and executive job seekers don’t do this as part of their daily dozen on-line social media and networking activities.

Barry Deutsch

P.S.: I hope you didn’t miss the How to Find your Next Job on LinkedIn Webinar we conducted today.

Mark your calendar NOW for our next webinar on April 30th – Giving Your Job Search a Boost Through Social Media. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements of this program. Just like our Webinar on LinkedIn today, we expect to sell out quickly for this value-packed inexpensive Job Search Social Media Webinar.

Everyone Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn – Job Search Tactic #5

In our last blog post, we built the foundation for why it’s important to update your status on LinkedIn You can read the previous blog post, by CLICKING HERE.

Let’s take the conversation down from 40,000 ft. to ground level.

As a job seeker, how can you effectively use status updates on LinkedIn for your job search?

Let’s take your example as a management/executive job seeker:

You just responded to a job advertisement at XYZ company.Why not tell your network and ask if anyone knows someone at the company?

Amazing – 4 people in your network knew an executive at the company and would be happy to call on your behalf. Two were vendors, one was a former employee, and one was a key customer. In addition, two people raised their hands and shared with you that they used to work at XYZ company and know the executive in charge of hiring for this position.

You just received a phone call and the company would like you to interview for a position.

Amazing – 3 people in your network have interviewed with that executive before and all had the same type of interview- right down to the 15th question. Now you’re prepared for what may be asked.

You would like to connect with a particular Retained Executive Recruiter – you’ve tried, but you cannot break through the steel door protecting the inner sanctum.

Amazing – you post a status update that you are trying to connect with Barry Deutsch. Within 48 hours, 15 members of your network have responded – 4 executives have used Barry on a search, 7 executives have been placed in key roles by Barry, and 8 executives in your network are customers of IMPACT Hiring Solutions, having bought products and services in the past.

Within 24 hours, 19 people have raised their hands and offered to provide a strong, intimate, hot personal referral to Barry Deutsch that is guaranteed to not only have  Barry return the call – but he’ll probably proactively pick up the phone and call you!

This list is endless in the ways you can leverage your LinkedIn Status Updates to communicate and share with your network. Perhaps, most importantly you keep a top-of-the-mind presence with your entire network.

What could be easier – 30 seconds a day each day – and now your name – your brand -  is once again in front of your entire network.

I try to vary my status updates. I achieve freshness, interest, and variation through breaking my status updates down into 3 categories

1. Sharing something I did that is relevant to my network (by describing what I am doing professionally – not personally such as “Now I’m brushing my teeth” or “Grandma made a mean meatloaf tonight”.
2. Sharing something someone else in my network mentioned and I thought it was worthy of sharing with my entire network
3. Sharing a link to a great blog post, web page, tool, download, upcoming webinar – something that you felt might be useful to your network.

Remember – one of the basic fundamental elements of effective networking is helping your network – giving back. Status updates is a powerful tool to give back to your network and to be seen as “useful” and “helpful”. This is social networking  and social media 101.

Finally, once you’ve done this on LinkedIn, you can extend the same strategies to all the other social media and networking sites. Do you use Google Buzz/Reader to share information with your network? Are you on Facebook and continually updating your status? Twitter is the extreme example of status updating for your network. And there are many other sites.

If you’re not leveraging the real power of social media and networking through status updates – you’re working way too hard to sustain communication with your network.

What was the last status update you did on LinkedIn? When was it – 1 week ago, a month ago, 3 months?

Barry Deutsch

My partner, Brad Remillard, will be leading a powerful webinar on March 26th to teach you how to leverage all the LinkedIn tools  to find your next job through LinkedIn.

Are you leaving opportunities on the table because you don’t know how to effectively leverage the tools LinkedIn provides for job seekers?

CLICK HERE to sign up right now for this unique LinkedIn Job Search webinar.

(NO ONE else is teaching anything remotely like this webinar, which is crammed with so many valuable LinkedIn Job Search Action Items that you will not be able to write them down fast enough).

Who Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn? Job Search Tactic #4

Lots of people care!

Your network wants to be given an opportunity to clap for you!

That’s why you should be updating your status every 24-48 hours.

• Your network wants to know how your job search is progressing
• Your network wants to know the type of companies with whom you’re interviewing
• Your network wants to know the executives with whom you’re interviewing
• Your network wants to know the techniques you’re using to generate job leads and referrals

They want to hear about the silly interview questions you’ve been asked, the most intelligent questions, the ones that were easy and ones that stumped you.

Your network wants to be able to support you in your job search. If they don’t know what you’re doing, how could they possibly support you?

Status updates are the amazing simple short statements about what you’re doing that you feel is important to share with you network. You have 140 characters to type a status update. Each time you type a status update, everyone in your network will see it on their home screen when they view network status updates.

This is one of the most powerful tools LinkedIn offers and yet, very few networkers use it – forget effectively – they don’t bother to update their status at all – what a waste of a free networking tool.

I am a master networker. Many of you know that I am a LinkedIn Networking Expert. I teach and coach networking to some of the most successful coaches, CEOs, Presidents, and senior executives. How does a master networker and LinkedIn Networking Expert use status updates in social networking?

SECRET HINT: Think of your status updates as frequent alerts to keep your network aware of what you’re doing, how it might impact them personally, and as a “marketing” tool to keep your “brand” in a top-of-mind presence with them every single time they log onto LinkedIn.

Every day or two, I take a moment and I type a short statement about something I think a large portion of my network on LinkedIn might like to hear about.

• Have I just written an interesting new blog post
• Have i just attended a life-altering workshop on self-motivation
• Did I just read a passage from Daniel Pink’s new book, Linchpin, that I wanted to share before I forget it

Are the 3 ideas I got out of the on-line webinar this morning that Brad Remillard taught on Leveraging LinkedIn in your job search (you like the way I worked that shameless plug into my blog post?) valuable to share with others?

All kidding aside,

My partner, Brad Remillard, will be leading a powerful webinar on March 26th to teach you how to leverage all the LinkedIn tools  to find your next job through LinkedIn.

CLICK HERE to sign up right now for this unique LinkedIn Job Search webinar.

Only our private job search network of loyal readers here on our blog, in our LinkedIn Discussion Group, and those who have downloaded our FREE Job Search Tools will receive this special discount.

If you get ONE great idea from this webinar on how to improve your job search, it will have been worth the investment of time. NOT ONLY will you get one idea, I’ll guarantee you’ll get a dozen ideas that you can immediately implement within hours of completing the webinar.

After you finish the webinar, Brad and I would love to hear about the 12 different things you started doing on LinkedIn, such as updating your status more frequently, and which ones immediately started to work for you.

Barry Deutsch

PS – would it help if we put together a status update checklist (like a daily dozen status update ideas) that you could use every day to go down the list and say “I did #2 yesterday, today I’ll do #9)?

Don’t Be Like Groucho Marx – Job Search Tactic #2

Groucho Marx once said “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member.”

Groucho must not have been conducting a job search when he made that comment.

Joining Groups (like clubs) on LinkedIn is an excellent way to engage with people who hold a similar interest, make new contacts, network, and discover hidden job opportunities.

Your groups display on your LinkedIn Profile. When I click your profile, I can see which groups we have in common. As a recruiter, I usually focus on searches within groups first due to the ease of contacting other group members.

Here are some of the parameters on joining groups on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn allows you to join 50 groups

You can post roughly 7500 news feed items per 24 hour period. These can be multiple feeds within the same 24 hour period into the same group. I have not yet done a test to ascertain the precise number.

You can post unlimited discussions (I have not come across a limit yet within a 24 hours period. Again, I’ve not tried to test the system by posting more than 50 in a 24 hour period.

You can send messages to other group members without using your valuable inmails nor do you have to know the email address. I’m not sure if there is a limit on the number of messages you can send directly to group members. I have yet to hit it if there is a limit.

What groups should I join you might ask?

• Your alumni group
• Geographically based network groups for individuals in your city
• Association or trade groups that focus on your industry, such as Construction or Telecommunications
• Functional specialty groups, such as those for VPs of Marketing or CFOs
• Charitable groups that focus on causes you support
• Job Search Groups, such as the IMPACT Hiring Job Search Discussion Group

Now that I’ve joined a few groups, what should I do next?

Even though in a previous post I suggested you not be a lurker, I give you permission to do short-term lurking. Gain a sense of the culture of the group. Review the other messages in the group first.

• Are group members discussing job search related issues?
• Are group members supportive of each other?
• What type of news feeds are being posted into the group?
• Are there job leads being posted by group members under the jobs tab?
• How passionate are group members in responding to questions or discussion points?

You’ve lurked long enough – it’s time to jump in and become a valuable and active member of the group.

What kind of benefits might I expect from the time investment of doing all these activities within all my groups:

• You’ll be enhancing your PERSONAL BRAND by establishing your involvement, focus, and expertise in the various groups.
• Others will be attracted to you and want to connect with you on LinkedIn directly
• As Hiring Managers and Executives frequent these groups, you’ll become noticed by the individuals who may someday hire you
• You’ll be starting to dramatically expand your connections and the massive net it takes to capture hidden job market leads and referrals.

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget about the Webinar my partner, Brad Remillard is teaching on March 26th, titled “How to Find Your Next Job on LinkedIn”. See the promotion for the Webinar in our right-hand sidebar.

Stop Being a LinkedIn Lurker: Job Search Tactic #3

Sounds like something you could be arrested for – maybe even a felony conviction.

Seriously, if you want to take your job search to another level, you’ve got to engage in communicating and interacting on the primary social media forum for professionals, managers, and executives.

Studies show that 90% or more of all users of social media (including LinkedIn) are lurkers.

What the heck is a LinkedIn Lurker?

A lurker is someone who reads the news feeds in groups, reads the questions in groups, reads the questions and answers in the Q&A section, and observes the status updates of those to whom they share a 1st degree connection.

Are you a LinkedIn Lurker?

YOU CANNOT CONDUCT AN EFFECTIVE JOB SEARCH BY LURKING?

Lurking is like hiding behind your mother’s skirt when you were 3 years old. Why do we do this as intelligent, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, confident adults? I wrote another article a few months ago on this same subject titled “STOP Being A Job Search Voyeur – Let Your Voice Be Heard“

I don’t get it.

I don’t even buy the introversion excuse since you’re not having to meet these people on-line or build a deep relationship. There is no rejection phobia here either.

Engaging in the conversation on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter is just about the most friendly, safest environment to give your job search a little booster shot in the arm.

Here’s a few simple things you could start doing right now:

• How many of you are posting questions in our LinkedIn Discussion Forum and how many of you are helping others in the Group by answering/commenting on the discussions they started?
• Are you looking at the wealth of news feeds in our LinkedIn Discussion Group and commenting on those valuable links?
• When was the last time you commented on a connection’s status update?

We’ll tackle further engagement on LinkedIn in future tactics.

By the way, My Partner, Brad Remillard, will be leading a webinar on March 26th on how to leverage ALL the different elements of LinkedIn to conduct an effective job search.

Click on the link in our sidebar to learn about this very popular webinar.

If there was one place you could invest your time and get the biggest bang for the buck, it would on LinkedIn. Sadly, most job seekers are not leveraging even 10% of the tools, personal branding, engagement opportunities, and other inexpensive techniques to help themselves be found.

Brad and I did a couple of Programs on LinkedIn in our Weekly Radio Show. You can download these from our FREE Job Search Audio Library.

You know it’s much easier to be found than to find the right job.

What’s holding you back right now from signing up for a one-hour webinar (from one of the top experts in this country on using LinkedIn) in which you’ll learn at least a dozen core tactics that you’ll use every day in your job search?

Barry Deutsch

If you’re NOT a member of our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group, JOIN US NOW to start your engagement process and move beyond lurking.

How to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile: Job Search Tactic #1

Brad and I have talked endlessly about how much easier your job search is to found than to find a job. I recently wrote a post on this exact subject.

We did a radio broadcast on how to improve your LinkedIn Profile. We posted our LinkedIn Self-Assessment Scorecard on our site a few months ago -  a download that has become one our all-time most popular downloads. You can get the download and quickly understand how to improve your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search.

Not only is building an outstanding LinkedIn Profile a job search best practice, but it is also an integral part of personal branding (another key element of an effective job search).

More importantly, every recruiter, HR pro, and hiring manager will google your name and look up on LinkedIn BEFORE they decide to grant you an interview.

Google Profiles will be the focus of our next blog article, Job Search Tactic Number 2.

• Does your LinkedIn Profile capture a viewer’s attention?
• What elements of your Profile are they drawn to?
• Would I as recruiter feel that I just had to call you after viewing your profile?
• Does your profile scream “you’re not going to find a better person” at me?
• What are the steps in creating an effective job search LinkedIn Profile?

Below we’ll list the key elements of creating an effective profile. We could probably spend an entire blog post series on each element of your LinkedIn Profile.

Here are the LinkedIn Profile Best Practices (in no particular order)”:

1. Use a compelling headline
2. Complete all the details of your entire career
3. List all your accomplishments in detail with as much quantification as possible
4. Get a lot of recommendations
5. Recommend others
6. Include Slideshare Powerpoint presentations of your accomplishments
7. List the books you’re ready/comment on other book lists
8. Incorporate Your Twitter Feed and Link
9. Include a link to your blog
10. Include a link to your on-line resume
11. Pull your blog’s feed onto your profile using Wordpress
12. Include links for audio/video files of you talking about your accomplishments and achievements.
13. Join Groups that are professionally/geographically appropriate
14. Update your status frequently – as in daily
15. Dramatically build your network with appropriate contacts
16. Make it easy to connect with you – phone #s and email

These are the elements of your LinkedIn Profile that will differentiate you from your peers. Read a couple of our other blog posts on this subject of leveraging your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search, including an article titled “Become a Beacon in Your Job Search” and “Are You Difficult to Connect With on LinkedIn in Your Job Search?“

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to learn more about leveraging your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search.

101 Job Search Tactics to Find a Job NOW!

I’m boiling mad!

I’m offended.

Brad and I put in an effort that exceeds most experts in the job search space. Do we deserve grief and abuse for it?

A recent commenter on my last blog posting inferred that Brad and I publish “fluff” and DO NOT provide specific tactics, techniques, tips, tools, and methods to improve your job search. He inferred that we spout theory, but don’t offer practical advice.

This commenter had the audacity to suggest that Brad and I were in a game of playing bait and switch – which infers I sell you one thing (which I don’t have and then try to convince you to buy a more expensive item).

Brad and I make an extraordinary effort to offer FREE audio, tools, templates, samples, examples, illustrations, and other material that might cost you hundreds of dollars – we give it away. Yes – we do ask that you register on our site to receive these FREE items. Yes – we do send you on-going emails to share with you other products, services, new FREE items, and updates to our offerings.

Here’s some examples of FREE job search tools, information, learning that we offer:

Job Search Preparation Self-Assessment

LinkedIn Profile for Job Search Scorecard

Audio Program on the most common Job Search Mistakes

Sample Cover Letter

LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group

Best Practices and Job Resources from across the Internet

We’re trying to make a living from our expertise – this is our business – it’s not our hobby. We offer our products and services to those individuals who have expressed an interest in our content and find it valuable. At no time have we EVER sent spam, or made inappropriate recommendations.

Maybe the commenter was just mad at me because I “called him out” or folks like him on conducting an INEFFECTIVE JOB SEARCH. Perhaps, he took the message too personal.

However, to respond to these comments, I’m going to start publishing 101 blog articles on job search tactics – might take me a while to do this. These job search tactics and activities will be specific, precise, executable, realistic, action-oriented, time-based, outcome driven, metric capable, measurable, and achievable.

Then, I’m going to put them all in a self-assessment for you to check off how well you’re doing against each one.

It’s not one particular tactic is absolutely critical – it’s the combination of doing all 101 job tactics or activities concurrently that adds up to something quite powerful.

So, like Bobby Flay on the Food Network, I’m throwing down a challenge to our entire job search community:

Offer your job search tactics up in a comment and I’ll let you know if it falls in the 101 or you’ve come up with something even I didn’t consider (as hard as that might be to accept) and I’ll feature your idea in an upcoming blog post.

Secondly, take the challenge of doing every one of the 101 job search tactics and then let us know if one or more contributed to you finding your next great opportunity.

DO YOU ACCEPT THIS JOB SEARCH CHALLENGE?

Brad and I look forward to hearing from about your best job search tactic and how the execution of 101 job search tactics is helping your job hunt.

Barry Deutsch

If you can’t wait for the entire 101 blog article series, quickly jump over to our FREE Resources Library, our other Blog on Job Search Best Practices and Resources, or our LinkedIn Discussion Group. Just those few sources should keep you plenty busy until we finish the 101 articles on job search tactics and activities.

Is Your Job Search Stuck in High School Time Warp?

Is Your Job Search an Extension of High School?

One of my favorite bloggers, writers, speakers – Seth Godin, published a blog titled “On Self-determination”. After reading the article, I realized, there was a frightening metaphor for most job seekers. I wrote a previous article about this syndrome on our blog titled “Hope and Luck are NOT Job Search Strategies”

I’ll share the example Seth used in his blog article that literally rocked me back on my heels:

Anyway, they asked for my advice in finding marketing jobs. When I shared my views (go to a small company, work for the CEO, get a job where you actually get to make mistakes and do something) one woman professed to agree with me, but then explained, “But those companies don’t interview on campus.”

Those companies don’t interview on campus. Hmmm. She has just spent $100,000 in cash and another $150,000 in opportunity cost to get an MBA, but…

A little later in his blog post, Seth made the comment:

Do you work with people who are still in high school? Job seekers only willing to interview with the folks who come on campus?

This approach of being a “victim” stems from high school where we let events and others dictate what we do, when we do it, how we do it.

I call it the “High School Time Warp Syndrome”.

If we screw up, we could always blame it on others – my coach, my parents, the administration, my teachers, my classmates. As Seth indicates, for many individuals, this “victim” approach – or what he terms a lack of “self-determination” becomes a guiding principle throughout your life.

Brad and I did one of our Radio Programs on how this syndrome of “playing the victim” or “lacking self-determination” in your job search plays itself out every day. The Radio Show was titled “Job Search Mistakes – Part 2”. You can download it from our FREE Job Search Audio Library.

YOU HAVE COMPLETE self-determination in your job search. STOP pretending your still in high school and others are dictating your actions. You have complete freedom to control, change, improve, evolve, learn, grow, and develop an effective job search.

Most candidates Brad and I meet conduct a job search at about the bottom 5% level. Why? Because they pretend they are back in high school where they never grew past a lack of self-determination or being the victim of circumstances. This is exhibited in the excuses, explanations, and rationalizations of why their job search is not working:

• I don’t do well meeting other people
• I don’t know what to do
• That seems like too much work
• I’m too busy answering job applications on job boards
• I’m waiting for the phone to ring
• I’m not really into networking
• My resume speaks for itself
• Why should I invest time to prepare for an interview, doesn’t my background speak for itself?
• The recruiter didn’t call me back – all recruiters are idiots
• The hiring manager didn’t call me back – all hiring managers are idiots
• I sent my resume in – but no one followed up with me

Stop complaining, kvetching, whining, crying, fussing, and acting like you’re back in high school. Like Seth Godin suggests, become Self-Determinant!  Take your job search effectiveness from the bottom 5% into the top 5% and finish your job search. Apply yourself. Reach past your comfort zone in your job search and do something different tomorrow.

Have you even bothered yet to download our Job Search Effectiveness Self-Assessment to determine if you’re in the top 5% or the bottom 5%? Brad and I have talked about this popular self-assessment over and over on our blog. Thousands of job seekers have taken it and dramatically improved their job hunting plans and success.

I spoke with a Senior Sales Executive yesterday in a phone interview and asked him why he had been out of work for a year. His story (and he stuck to it) was that the economy was tough (victim disorder – lack of self-determination – high school time warp dysfunction).

I can’t present a candidate to my client that has been out of work for a year.  They would slap me so hard my head would spin around.

Don’t let this happen to you. Start down the path of Self-Determination in your job search TODAY!

Learn everything you can about job search best practices. Follow the top bloggers on job search – get an new idea every day. (We’re writing another blog featuring the very best bloggers from across the Internet sharing FREE Job Search Resources and Best Practices – subscribe to all their feeds).

Your effort, intensity, focus, learning, trying different tactics all help move beyond the “lack of self-determination” and victimization that categorizes most job searches. It’s NOT one big thing that will make the difference in your job search – it’s the hundreds of little things you do that are different from what you’ve done before.

STOP being caught up in the HIGH SCHOOL TIME WARP DYSFUNCTION!

Barry Deutsch

Join our rapidly growing LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to engage in great discussions around job search best practices and how to conduct a more effective job search.

Are You Competing at an Olympic Level in Your Job Search?

Many job search bloggers (and almost everyone else in the blogosphere) have been  making Olympic metaphors for the past two weeks.

So why can’t I try my metaphor? Here goes:

Is your job search like Olympic Competition?

I touched on this subject on our FREE Job Search Resources Blog, where today we named Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers as a Job Search Best Practice Blogger. We’re on a search to profile the the very best job search best practice bloggers from across the Internet in our FREE Job Search Resources Blog. Miriam is our first recommendation.

Here in this blog – our Career and Job Search Blog – we focus on sharing the wealth of knowledge Brad and I have accumulated on the frontlines of recruiting top talent over the last 25 years together.

Imagine over 1000 searches, 200,000 interviews, millions of resumes reviewed. Looking back over the past quarter of a century is almost mind-boggling when you consider the vast amount of job search data we’ve collected – mistakes made by candidates, mistakes made by hiring managers, best practices, new technologies, and changing the tribal method of job search one candidate at a time.

Miriam just published a Job Search/Olympics comparison on her blog (which we’ve been impressed by for a long time and have now put up on a pedestal) and it triggered some additional thoughts.

So, back to our original subject – How is your job search like being a top tier athlete at the Olympics?

Top tier athletes prepare long in advance for the actual competition (interview). Your job search is similar – most candidates DO NOT prepare adequately!

Top tier athletes research and study every element of their sport down to the finest detail. Your job search is similar – most candidates DO NOT conduct effective research prior to an interview! Most candidates don’t spend the time on their job to become the best at what they did. Most candidates DO NOT even attempt to master conducting an effective job search – they’re doing it the same way the masses have done it for the last decade and they wonder why mediocre results occur.

Top tier candidates train, learn, have coaches to push them, set high goals, and keep moving to a higher and higher performance level prior to the main event (Olympics – Job Interview). Your job search is similar – Most candidates did not do this prior to needing to look for a job and find themselves unable to compete with candidates who’ve done this for the past 4 years. In addition, most job search candidates don’t take the time to learn about conducting a job search, don’t hire a professional job search coach, and don’t set adequate goals to achieve their desired outcomes.

The actual competition at an Olympic event is anti-climatic. It’s not the ability to perform in that situation. It’s the execution of years or a lifetime of practicing, learning, preparing. Job search is a lot like high level athletic competition. It’s not what you do in that final interview, it’s all the hard work that preceded that final step.

What’s your plan – either in your job right now – or in your job search right now – to become the very best at what you do? What’s your learning, development, reading, training, preparation plan that will enable you to “win” that next great opportunity?

Here’s a start: Have you downloaded our FREE Job Search Preparation Self-Assessment to determine where the gap is in your job search and how you can quickly turn it around to begin conducting an effective job search?

We talked about some of the reasons why most job searches are taking longer – and the key issue was NOT the economy – it was the fact that most job seekers don’t invest the time in job search planning and preparation. Take a look at this previous article we wrote about how you keep landing back at Square One in your job search.

Barry Deutsch

Join our rapidly growing LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to engage in great discussions around job search best practices and how to conduct a more effective job search.