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Looking for work is hard work

For those of you that visit hn.com and don’t know I am currently seeking employment. Once you get past the fear it actually is very cool. I now have the freedom to go after the career of my dreams. Plus, every time I have had a similar life change my income dramatically increases and I find better jobs. I have no doubt that will happen again. Over the last two years I turned down several jobs with well over six figure salary. Yesterday I had two phone interviews and one offered a similar compensation.

Thing is, money is not what drives me and anyone who knows me will tell you that if I just stopped being so generous, I could easily be debt free. When seeking a new job it is far more important to me to be able to make a difference, to build something from nothing and to make the remarkable happen. Happiness is also not that much of a driving factor. Work is not to provide happiness, which is why we call it work and attach money to it. Yes you can have fun at work, but work is not to make you happy.

Too me, the main driving force in accepting a new job is if at the end of the day I can honestly say I did something. Something HUGE that was done with excellence!

Here are some things I learned these last few weeks:

Chances are you will be job hunting soon: Be prepared for the inevitable even if you think it is not probable. The days of “cradle to grave” employers are long behind us, and with the growth of offshoring, stats show people under age 35 will change jobs every 2 – 3 years, and people over age 35 every 5 – 8 years.

Don’t fear it – embrace it: Business, management and marketing gurus Tom Peters and Seth Godin both echo that a job change is one of the best things that can happen to a person, especially if it is unexpected.

Triple check and go back and check again: Early this week I went after a few really amazing jobs, however, after review I made some dumb mistakes on the package/letter/resume. I try and customize each mailing to target the position I am applying for. Since I am presenting myself as a person who strives for excellence I fail miserably if my cover letter/resume lists information for a different position. This should be second nature to those of us who work in marketing or another creative field, but we all get rushed and forget to check. As a little add on, if you work in donor development handle the mailings to your major donors directly. Do not delegate – it is too important. You DO NOT want Mrs. Jane Smith receiving a letter addressed to Mr. John Doe.

A job search is like fishing: The more you cast your line out the better your chances of catching a fish. In other words – TAKE ACTION AND DO IT! The word search is not a passive word.

Motivate yourself: For me this is the hardest part. I usually have no problem finding motivation and I sincerely love to work. The harder the task the more reward! The thing is with a job hunt, you face rejection after rejection after rejection. It is not easy! I literally have to force myself to stay on it and even more importantly, to stay positive! The trick I am using is I reward myself. I set a goal of what I want to accomplish in a given amount of time and when complete I treat myself to a movie.

Target your search: I don’t just apply anywhere and everywhere. I research and go after positions in organizations I want to work for. Also, if you really desire to work someplace don’t wait until there is an opening. The very last thing an employer will do is place an ad. Find out who is the hiring manager for the position you are seeking and get their attention. Here is a great book that will help tremendously: Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters: 400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job

Network Network Network: One of the best ways to tap into the hidden job market is by simply asking everyone you know. I have several extremely famous people helping me because I just asked. Not that these people have not already impressed me enough, or that they have any spare time! The thing is I am blown away by the support I am receiving from some really cool people with really big hearts. Now every position I have accepted was presented to me usually by normal everyday folk. The point I am trying to make is get out your contact list and start networking. You will be surprised by the support you’ll receive.

Don’t stop after a good interview: Several years ago I was flown in to a dream organization to be interviewed for a dream job. It was amazing! I thought I did great and I received very positive feedback from everyone that day. I was filled with so much faith that the job was mine I started to collect boxes to move. I prayed, I sowed, I had faith – it was a done deal the job was mine! Well, a few months later I did not hear back so I called. The job was still open, but they didn’t want me! Because I was so sure, I stopped looking for work and I lost a whole lot of valuable time, however, I learned an invaluable lesson.

Stretch yourself and your career: Truth is, everyone looking for work is filled with fear. Fear that they cannot do the job, fear that they will be found out to be a fake, fear they are making a mistake – just fear fear fear! Fear during such a life change is normal, but you CANNOT allow fear to stop you from going after a job that will challenge you and stretch you. The main reason for my success is I go after jobs that are scary. Each one presents a challenge and once I conquer that challenge I increase my self-worth and professional value. A few very respectable people have told me that my career has just begun. That is hard for me to believe, although 5 years ago I made $25 a week and now I am turning down six figure jobs. If you go after a job that is “above you” the worst that can happen is you hear the word “no”! Go after many of these jobs and you will eventually hear the words “you are hired”!

Read blogs: My fav is Brazen Careerist.

Read books: I already mentioned the best book I have found but here are two more that helped: What Color Is Your Parachute? 2008: A Practical Manual for Job-hunters and Career-Changers and The About.com Guide to Job Searching: Tools and Tactics to Help You Get the Job You Want

The jobs are there – don’t stop looking: I have always heard how hard it is to find work. Yes, it is hard. VERY HARD! But the jobs are there. All you have to do is take some action. I empathize with those who have been out of work for a long time and I honestly understand that every situation is different. All I know is that every time I have been faced with an extreme life change such as an employment search I found work in a relatively short period of time. Studies show that there are more unemployed PHD’s then high school dropouts, and I believe that is because people with higher education’s are more picky whereas a person with no or little education will take any job. Maybe that is why studies show the higher your education the less chance you have of becoming a millionaire!

Of course, the above is not a complete “how to” job seeking list. Just a couple of notes off the top of my head that hopefully will encourage someone that may be going through a similar situation.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Just Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Pam

    I think as an hr professional, one of the things that i would add is that we should learn to diversify our income just as we learn to diversify investments. in this day and age where we do change jobs and sometimes professions multiple times in our lives we need to not rely on just one source of income – we should have multiple funding streams. one of the smartest things that we could do – while employed – is set up smaller part-time businesses. as we do this we increase our networks of support and become less emotionally attached to our ‘major’ source of income – our ‘day’ job. in becoming less emotionally attached we become more objective and our perspective shifts from ‘employee’ to contracted service provider or entrepreneur.

    about mistakes on sending things out — i have done the same thing and it is extremely embarrassing – at least if you actually do it yourself you can quickly send out a ‘recognition’ and ‘correction’ acknowledging that you did it personally and made a mistake — this is actually appealing to some people who are so accustomed to receiving ‘personal’ correspondence that we all know was a form letter with an electronic signature sent by someone’s admin assistant – this shows your human side. i guess for some of us who have just about reached our limit with talking to the assistant’s assistant or worse yet multiple electronic voice systems – actually corresponding directly with another real human being is comforting -

    I suggest sending correspondence to a trusted friend to review first – then forward – it is a bit of a hassle but is usually the best way to catch those little mistakes. i just sent out resume packets for a friend lately and reversed the fax cover sheets — meaning my friend got a call saying his USPS packet went to FAA. he called me questioning what had happened. yes, i was embarrassed, had to call the FAA HR person, gave the explanation, and refaxed both packets. only benefit was that the FAA person and i started talking, i explained how i got involved in the first place, then she gave me some helpful hints to make sure that the packet got to an actual reviewer rather than getting tossed out in the first selection round by clerical staff whose only job is to look for things that really have nothing to do with qualifications for the position.

  • http://hardlynormal.com Mark

    Thanks Pam,

    I especially like your comments on thinking as an independent contractor because in today’s job market that is exactly how we must think if we are to survive.

    I know I will never be caught off guard ever again! After reading a bunch of research I will now always have the mindset that I am self-employed, and that no matter how good my future looks at any given organization, I will be ready for change!

    When this first hit me I looked at my recent work history and saw a pattern. Too me, that pattern did not look like a good thing. I have over 30 years of management experience in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors and I (used to) look for pervious employment longevity in a potential new hire. I have now found out that changing jobs, and even changing careers every few years, is absolutely normal.

    Both my father and my stepfather worked for the same companies all their lives. I guess I have always thought that is how it is supposed to be. Truth is, times have changed and continue to change fast. If a person actually embraces change it can be a great benefit instead of a hindrance. Of course, we all seek security and normalcy, but is real security even attainable anymore? And what is normal?

    I know looking at my own experience I greatly benefited at each career jump. If I stayed at any given employer, even though I am sure there would be some growth, I would eventually settle in and become stagnant. As I think about it I have found that most employees who have worked for a long period of time in the same place, who have seniority or tenure, work very hard to resist change. They hate change because they are comfortable with the world they have created. There is nothing wrong with that if you are ok with being mediocre. The point I am trying to make is that now looking at it from an employer’s perspective, new faces bring new ideas and a new momentum. New is good.

    In addition, and this is a key point yet I do not hear much about it, if you want or even deserve a raise from your current employer chances are you will never see it, or you may be lucky to get 10% every five years or so. Even when being promoted to a new position with more responsibility you are lucky to see any real increase. It is not that any employer is bad, or that they don’t care, it is just the way it is. The ONLY time you have any real leverage to negotiate compensation is when you first start a new job. You can dream all you want, but if you want more the only way is to jump jobs.

    My paradigm regarding employment has really changed. These last two weeks I have learned to accept that I will now always be an independent contractor – and that is a very good thing!