Burning Question for Job Seekers #7

“Do you know the next call you need to make?”

Over the years, I’ve consistently made the claim that “job hunting is simple, it’s just not easy.”  No matter what anybody tells you, or tries to sell you, the truth of the matter is that looking for a job is not rocket surgery (to combine two of my favorite cliches) and is, in fact, a disarmingly straightforward exercise.  Once you’ve figured out the type of work you plan to target, your next step is simply to identify the set of employers and individuals most likely to hear about (or have) openings in your field, then start reaching out to as many of these targets as possible, on a daily basis, to uncover opportunities.

Of course, this is not how most job hunters proceed.  In an effort to avoid rejection, many professionals in transition will “complicate” the process or indulge in the fantasy that there might be some magic beans out there (or a recruiter, perhaps) that will spare them the indignity of having to actually go out and sell themselves.  As a career coach, I see this behavior every day.  People spend weeks agonizing over what resume format to use or which networking events to attend or whether they should call somebody they used to work with years ago or not.  Or they’ll spend two hours monkeying around drafting a cover letter to somebody, when they could actually just pick up the phone and make a quick two-minute call, asking the person for an appointment.  Again, while these small-scale decisions do play some role in the strategy of the typical job search, they shouldn’t be confused for a moment with the main activity that leads to success — which is to engage in an aggressive, structured barrage of outbound activity on a daily basis in order to promote your credentials to as many relevant companies and contacts as possible.

So the burning question I’d ask those of my readers looking for work is this: “Do you know the next call you need to make?”

The question is binary.  There’s either a “yes” or “no” answer.  If you DO know the call or calls you should be making next, based on the type of work you’re targeting, then you should go make them — right now!  Don’t wait.  Don’t make excuses.  Don’t stall until after Thanksgiving or rationalize that you should wait until a Thursday since some studies suggest people are in a better frame of mind on Thursdays.  In all of these cases, your brain is simply trying to trick you (darn you, brain!) into avoiding some short-term potential pain in the form of a negative employer response.  But this immediate pain avoidance will almost certainly lead to greater pain, down the road, since it will become a major barrier to your ability to find work in a competitive market.  So buckle down, dust off your to-do list, and go make 5 calls today to pitch yourself to a set of appropriate companies and hiring managers — or to recapture “top of mind” status with some of the folks in your network.  Heck, while you’re at it, make 10 calls.  Or 15.  Again, making these contacts may not be easy if you don’t have a natural sales bent to your personality, but job hunting is undeniably a “numbers game” in many respects and you’ll get better at pitching yourself, faster than you think, if you just make the effort.

And if your answer to the above question is negative — and you DON’T know which call or calls you need to make next — well, that’s a slightly different problem.  This suggests that you may not yet be familiar with the amazing array of tools out there today (e.g. LinkedIn, Zoominfo, Indeed, etc.) that can be used to turn up potential prospects related to one’s line of work or industry preferences.  Honestly, barring only a few exceptions, I’ve yet to meet the job hunter who isn’t able to generate an almost endless stream of useful prospects to contact when they put their mind to it.  So if truly feel you’re at a standstill, and don’t know who else you could possibly contact as part of your search, it might be time to get some help with that issue — whether from me or another coaching professional.  Compared to certain other challenges of career transition, “dry funnel syndrome” is a problem that can easily be fixed.

Again, though, the point is that jobs are really hiding these days.  You can’t wait for them to find you; you’ve got to go hunting for them.  As one successful client of mine recently put it:  “The only tip I can give to your clients is to be consistently diligent in their search every day.  It got really boring and depressing, at times, but I just perservered through it.”  Along those same lines, I’ve heard a friend in the recruiting business tell people repeatedly over the years that if they just were to “pick up the phone and call 100 relevant companies, pitching themselves, they’re bound to find at least one company that happens to have a suitable need at the moment– and bingo, end of job search.”

Now I don’t know whether this advice needs to be adjusted a little bit for inflation, given current market conditions, but either way, the principle still holds true.  Timing is everything and you need to create your own luck by being methodical, persuasive, and proactive.  Along these lines, the indefatigable Tom Peters describes the job search process (or any sales-based process) as one of “no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no YES!”  He then points out that winning job hunters (and salespeople) rush to get through this predictable string of “nos” as fast as possible, in order to get to the prize, whereas less successful folks sit at home trying to concoct a way to leapfrog past all of the rejection — and avoid having a single door slammed in their face, literally or figuratively.

So again, when somebody comes to me and claims to be at an impasse, in terms of finding work, my first order of business is to figure out whether they are truly out of ideas in terms of what companies to call — or who to contact next — or whether they are instead clouding their job search with a smokescreen of excuses to avoid putting their ego in harm’s way.  The results are usually around 50/50.  Half of the people I meet have their heels dug in the sand, and simply won’t take the actions needed to find work in a competitive market, while the other half are those who simply need to be pointed in the right direction — and shown how to research and build a suitable pipeline of targets to go after.  The process, again, is fairly simple.  It’s just not easy.  So figure out the next call (or 20) you need to make, do whatever it takes to switch off your cerebral defense mechanisms, and go for it!  THAT’S WHAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE JOB HUNTERS DO.

Book Review: Peaks & Valleys (Spencer Johnson)

Maybe I’m just in a “valley” today as I write this, but I’m afraid I can only offer a lukewarm recommendation of the latest career-related book I’ve read — Peaks & Valleys — which is the newest installment from Spencer Johnson, the best-selling author of The One-Minute Manager, The Gift, and Who Moved My Cheese?

Is it that I’m getting burnt out on the genre of “life lesson” advice packaged in short, allegorical, fairy-tale form?  Is it that we’ve all heard this same basic advice (i.e. “we all have good days and bad days; that’s life”) many times before?  Is it because I spent $20 on a book that literally took me less than 30 minutes to read?

I’m not sure what the reasons are, exactly, but this book isn’t one that I think will stick with me as much, emotionally, as several other books I’ve read on the same subject — or even any of Mr. Johnson’s earlier works.  Ironically, though, P&V is the book of his that’s arguably the most relevant to members of the Career Horizons community, since it directly deals with the subject of career transition and discusses the experience of going through various setbacks and successes in the course of one’s working life.  So in that sense, despite my own personal feelings about it, I WOULD recommend this book strongly to anybody who has gone through a recent layoff or found themselves in a bit of a funk with regards to their career future.

Among the various nuggets the author passes along in Peaks & Valleys is the idea that “the pain you experience in the valley (of a career or life setback) can wake you up to a truth you have been ignoring” about yourself.  And to those people going through tough times, he suggests that they “Relax, knowing the valleys end.  Do the opposite of what put you in the Valley.  Get outside of yourself.  Be of more service at work and more loving in life.  Uncover the good that is hidden in a bad time and use it to your advantage.”  Quoted in isolation, these statements may sound a bit silly or shopworn.  When you weave them into the context and storyline of the book, however, they definitely make you think about times in your life that you’ve faced adversity — and how you might have dealt with such times more appropriately and productively.

As for the price tag, well, I guess I’d rather pay $20 for a short book that contains a few pearls of wisdom versus a long book that doesn’t say anything all that meaningful.  But if you’re interested in adding this title to your library, it might be wise to track down a used copy via the web or your local second-hand bookstore.  For example, I spotted a copy on Half.com currently selling for $3.08 plus shipping…

Networking Insights from Virginia Kirn

While the phrase “it’s not what you know, but who you know” has floated around for decades in the business world, I think people these days are sensing (accurately, in my opinion) that relationships have become even more important in the career/business success equation than they ever have been before.  Arguably, more important by a whole order of magnitude, especially now that social networking technologies have become commonplace and people are able to connect in a  wide variety of new and creative ways.

Could this be an overstatement of things?  Or a convenient whitewash of history and the important role relationships have always played in business endeavors?  Perhaps.  But either way, there’s no question that networking is a crucial part of job hunting success — and that everybody stands to gain by getting better at it.

For this reason, I thought I’d take a moment to share some great networking tips and insights that were passed along to me by my good friend, Virginia Kirn, over at Ajilon Finance.  Virginia has been an executive recruiter in the accounting and finance field for many years — and is one of those “added value” recruiters who doesn’t just always focus on making a buck, but also tends to dispense great job search advice and try to help people be successful, even if she can’t directly place them in a job, herself.  As part of this commitment, she devotes a lot of time to coaching the candidates she meets about the networking process, since (please excuse the gross generalization) most accounting professionals tend to be pretty introverted — and may not be quite as savvy about the relationship management process as, say, their counterparts in the sales and marketing world.

So without further ado, here are some specific pointers that Virginia was kind enough to let me pass along:

– When attending professional and industry events, try to go as someone’s guest whenever possible.  If you don’t know a member of the group in question that you can ask for this favor, reach out to the Membership VP of the association (you’ll almost always find this person listed on the organization’s website) and ask them to bring you as their guest.  They should be happy to do this for you, since it’s their job to welcome new members to the club, after all!

– When introducing yourself to people, say something along the lines of “I’ve been doing ABC for the last x number of years.  For my next career step I’d like to do XYZ.  Who do you know in that line of work?”  If they’re able to think of somebody in the room that meets that description, ask them to introduce you to that individual.  If the person in question isn’t in attendance,  ask if they’d mind sharing their contact info and having you get a hold of them, using their name as a reference point.  And if things are going really well, shoot for the moon and ask “is there anybody else you know that might be useful for me to contact?”  Try to get two names from each person, if possible.

– If you’re conducting an informational interview, and seeking to learn more about a new career field, some good questions to ask are 1) How did you get your start in this industry?; 2) What professional associations do you belong to?; 3) What would you recommend to me at this stage in my career?; 4) What is fun/difficult/satisfying about this line of work?; and 5) What professional certifications are most valuable in this particular career field?

– In every networking situation, make a point to circle back around to the person who originally introduced you and thank them for the referral.  Say something along the lines of “I met with so and so.  It was great!  I learned about this and that and the other thing.  Thank you for opening your network to me.”  Following up in this manner is extremely important because 1) It is professional courtesy; 2) It gives them a chance to give you another name, in case they’ve met someone else for you to talk to; and 3) It keeps you top of mind.  As part of this step, you can also offer to open your professional network to them by saying something like: “What kind of people would you like to be connected to?  Perhaps I can return the favor.”

Wrapping up, on the subject of networking as a whole, Virginia’s point-of-view is that: “Networking is fun, powerful, and a great way to recession-proof your career.  It is an essential part of finding work that you feel passionate about.  Whether it’s connecting with hiring managers, candidates, customers or quality vendors, networking is how business gets done.”

Great advice, Virginia, and if anybody has some follow-up comments they’d like to share — or better yet, some accounting/finance needs in their organization they’d like some help filling — Virginia can be reached here and I’m sure would love to hear from you!

Soul-Searching vs. Shrewd Market Analysis

I’ve been meaning to write a posting on this for a while now — and I think it’s time to do so, since I’ve had three clients call me today with questions/concerns that relate closely to this issue.

Basically, here’s what’s on the table.  Millions of Americans have been thrust out of work over this past year and have been profoundly frustrated to discover that the typical job search process isn’t working very well right now.  Despite years of documented career success, and little or no trouble in the past at finding employment, many of the folks I encounter (mostly white-collar, middle-aged professionals) are finding it extremely difficult to land a decent interview these days, much less snag themselves a viable job offer.  But to be fair, it’s not like there’s zero hiring going on right now.  As bleak as the picture may be, compared to historical hiring levels, there ARE still people getting jobs out there.  I’ve had several clients land opportunities just this past week alone, in fact, which has been wonderful to see.  On the whole, though, there’s no question about it: things are tighter than they’ve ever been and there are tons of worried souls out there trying to figure out how they’re going to weather this recession in one piece, both emotionally and financially.

So where are these current conditions leading some folks?  To the idea of career change.  I’m getting an increased number of calls from people who have convinced themselves that the best avenue to getting hired is to break completely from the past and re-invent themselves into a new occupational niche.  And many of these people are channeling week or months of time into taking assessment tests, hiring coaches, reading books, and “following their passions” in the hopes that this is going to lead them to the promised land of a new job.  While these introspective activities can be valuable, however, I honestly believe they represent only half of the equation.  To me, the solution for many individuals in transition is to not think so much about jobs, careers, or transferable skills, but to think in terms of MARKETS.

What’s a market, exactly?  A layman’s definition might be something along the lines of “Markets represent things (products or services) people are willing to pay money for in the hopes of achieving want/need satisfaction.”  Some markets have existed since the dawn of time and will always be around to a healthy degree, such as the market for food, clothing, or housing.   Or even sex, since I’d imagine the pornography industry is holding steady and raking in billions of dollars, as always.   Other markets are extremely fleeting — such as the market for pet rocks or the short-lived demand for the musical stylings of William Hung, if you recall that former contestant on American Idol whose version of the song “She Bang” could curdle milk.

At the end of the day, however, everything that is bought or sold, including employee talent, is subject to the laws of supply and demand.  It’s a job MARKET, after all.  And right now, with both companies and consumers hoarding their cash, employers are only willing to fork out funds (i.e. extend job offers) to those candidates who are able to satisfy their non-negotiable needs, versus their nice-to-have wants.  This is the critical factor that one should consider in evaluating a new career direction, in my opinion, especially if your focus needs to be on the short-term.  You can’t just rely on your internal compass to guide you.  You have to look externally, as well, and scout for pockets of market demand.  It’s not all about you.

For example, if you’re contemplating a new career direction or some fresh possibilities, make sure to ask questions like these:

•  What critical problems are companies experiencing right now or will they likely experience one, three, or five years from now?
•  What pain points are hiring managers feeling as a result of this economy?  What would “pain relief” to these people look like?
•  What new markets are being created as a result of the recession and the ways the business world has changed in recent years?
•  What’s the supply/demand curve for your current career path?  Are there occupational niches out there right now that offer a more promising ratio of openings to available candidates?
•  Are the jobs you want adequately available in your local market or are there “greener pastures” in other locations you should consider?
•  Are consumers or businesses facing any new problems or challenges that you could address in a self-employment capacity?
•  And most importantly, do you have ACTUAL EVIDENCE to support your answers to each question above, or are you just guessing?

Sounds like a lot of hard work, I know, but this kind of focused research is the only way I know to make a smart choice (i.e. remove risk from the equation) whether you’re a potential career-changer or a budding entrepreneur.  You need to exhibit fierce curiosity about the problems companies are facing these days.  You need to talk to as many business owners and executive decision-makers as possible to ask them “what’s not working?” and find out what they’re willing to pay for right now.  These are your customers.  And as much as we might wish otherwise, uncovering something you really WANT to do doesn’t automatically solve your problem — unless you can find somebody willing to pay you for it.  Hopefully, though, your research leads you down a productive path and you discover an exciting market niche (there are thousands of them out there) that works well on BOTH sides of the equation, both internal and external.

One other thought, too.  If you’re creative enough to envision a market for something that doesn’t really seem to exist, right now, this might be a rich vein of inspiration to follow, as well.  Many of the greatest companies in history, in fact, were started during recessionary times by people who spotted a consumer itch that wasn’t effectively being scratched.  If you want to read an inspiring book on this subject, discussing companies that created entirely new markets that didn’t exist before, check out Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.   And if you want to know (drum roll please!) what sectors of the labor market are red-hot, and what jobs are in MOST demand right now, I posted a LinkedIn question up a few days ago to this effect.  I’ll confess, I wasn’t terribly satisfied with the answers that have been posted so far, but it’s an interesting thread of dialogue, if nothing else.  You’ll find it here.

Does Talent Always Speak For Itself?

While this particular article appears to have already made the rounds around much of cyberspace, I can’t resist joining the party and passing it along since I a) find the whole thing fascinating and b) I think it relates, in some small way, to the modern interview process and how employers may be so “rigid” in terms of their hiring criteria right now that they’re missing out on some terrific talent, right before their eyes.

At any rate here’s the posting.  Enjoy it if you haven’t already seen it, somewhere else, and many thanks to the client (you know who you are!) who sent it along to me in the first place…

———————–

The scene — a Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.

The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.  After 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing.  He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

At 4 minutes:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..

At 6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly.  The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time.  This action was repeated by several other children.  Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:

The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

After one hour:

He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed.  No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million.  Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story.  Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.  The questions raised: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?  Do we stop to appreciate it?  Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?

Thanks Monsoon! (for Taking Pride in Your Work)

Among many possible things I might enjoy having be part of my epitaph, one day, the label of “loyal customer” would probably be up there in the top ten somewhere.  Not being a very outgoing or assertive shopper, I’ve always paid close attention to how companies treat their customers and have tried to throw business to those places (especially service companies) that bend over backwards to provide a positive and professional experience.

Along these lines, I think I’ve found my latest “customer for life” destination.  This past week, my quest was to locate a restaurant/bar on the Eastside that would be able to accommodate about 20-25 business acquaintances Career Horizons was inviting to a special function.  After checking in with 3-4 fairly well-known establishments in Bellevue, however, it was clear that NONE of them really cared much about our business or was willing to make any special arrangements for our group.  Then, thankfully, we stumbled across Monsoon East.  Have you heard of it?  Or eaten there?  From the outset, they seemed genuinely excited to have us host our function there, and made all kinds of concessions (e.g. offering special food prices, reserving part of the bar area, etc.) to make sure our evening was successful.

What’s more, they treated us like royalty during the evening itself.  The appetizers kept on coming, hot from the kitchen, and both the restaurant manager and bar manager constantly checked in on us — and even “watched our back” in terms of making sure any non-guests didn’t try to jump on our tab!  More than anything, though, what struck me was how much these two individuals (neither of whom was an owner, I believe) took pride in their work.  During an era when many service workers seem to be just going through the motions, in zombie-like fashion, or acting as if good customer service is somehow “beneath” them, these two fine fellows (Gene and Niles, I believe their names were) seemed to truly enjoy their work and were hell-bent on making sure their customers had a terrific experience.

We need more of this attitude in the world, I believe.  We need to recognize that ALL work has inherent nobility to it, and that while people have every right to try to maximize their potential, and move up the ladder, each of us is still intrinsically responsible for giving our best to the jobs we do, every day.  If this idea intrigues you, or you need a “pep talk” in this regard, I’d highly recommend you pick up a copy of Ayn Rand’s classic book The Fountainhead.  Or on a more local level, try reading When Fish Fly, which discusses the customer service transformation that helped make Pike Place Fish Market a world-famous institution.  Both books discuss the concepts of pride and craftsmanship as they relate to the workplace, and I certainly know that I, for one, tend to really take note of the presence (or absence) of such things during my adventures as a consumer.

Heck, I still recall one time years ago when my wife and I were driving over to Spokane and stopped to grab dinner at a McDonalds located in downtown Ellensburg.  The kid working behind the counter that night can’t have been more than 16 or 17 years old, but I still remember my incredible surprise when he said: “I’ll bring your burgers and drinks out to you in just a second, but why don’t I keep the apple pies you ordered here in the oven, where they’ll stay warm until you’re done with your meal?”  If I’d had a job to offer, I would have hired that kid on the spot!

At any rate, just a few thoughts I wanted to share on a rainy November Sunday, since I’m still basking in the glow of the great customer experience we had the other night.  Here’s a link to the Monsoon East site, if anybody wants to check them out based on my recommendation.  Their Vietnamese-inspired menu is not only delicious, but their prices are quite reasonable, as well.  And unless I caught them uncharacteristically “in the zone” one night, you now know what you can expect, in terms of service…

Website Review: JobNob.com

Remember yesterday’s post, when I discussed how the vast majority of “new” employment sites that are sprouting up out there aren’t all that valuable to the average job seeker?  And how most of them simply recycle the same old tired job leads you’ve already seen, trying to attract a new audience for advertising purposes?

Well, every now and then, an effective new job website truly does materialize — or at least I finally discover it, if it’s been around for a while.  I’m not sure which of these scenarios is the case with JobNob, but after some initial testing and evaluation, it looks to be a very legitimate resource.  As you’ll learn, if you click on it, the site is focused exclusively on listing opportunities within the start-up world.  We’re talking really early-stage stuff here, including opportunities for jobs that don’t pay a salary, but instead offer “alternative” compensation in the form of (I’m assuming) stock options, equity, and such things.

After running some searches for the Seattle area, proper, I’ll admit I was a little annoyed that the site would also bring up a ton of jobs categorized as being available in “any location” by default.  Making matters worse, you can’t even click on the “Location” column to get all of the Seattle ones lined up in a row.  This is a pretty elementary programming feature, so I have a hunch this decision was an intentional one on JobNob’s part to make it appear “larger” than it actually is in terms of the number of leads available in a given geography.  Oh well.  It’s bothersome, but we won’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.  If you take the time to scroll down manually, and review those assignments listed as being strictly in Seattle (or whatever city you might be targeting) you’ll find some pretty interesting opportunities — and when I cross-referenced these leads against the big daddy sites like Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com, I was pleased to find almost zero duplication.  Again, as stated yesterday, this is the sign of a “winning” and worthwhile employment site.  It offers original content you can’t find elsewhere.

So for those of you interested in getting in on the ground floor with a potential organization, and who might have the “reserves” in place to work for options, instead of cold hard cash, JobNob is a site you definitely should add to your arsenal.   Lest there be any confusion, too, the leads on this site AREN’T strictly limited to high-tech and programming jobs.  In scanning through the Seattle-area listings, I saw opportunities for marketing folks, business planners, consumer product experts, and other occupational niches.  Granted, there are a few “false positives” you’ll come across (ads for State Farm Insurance agents, that sort of thing) that suggest this site is using artificial intelligence of some kind to “find” potential openings out there on the web at large, but at the end of the day, the ratio of appropriate content to junk is still pretty good.  Enjoy!

Check Out This Cool New Job Website! No, Wait…

As legend has it, job leads used to be found in some mysterious medium called…a newspaper.  Hearkening back, one’s job search during those days largely consisted of waking up on a Sunday, pouring a copy of coffee, and spending a leisurely hour looking through the classified section of the paper and circling any applicable positions with a red ballpoint pen.  If that step failed, well, aside from some light networking here and there, or perhaps dropping off a few resumes in person to companies of interest, you basically just waited until the following weekend to see what NEW job listings got posted.

Ah, to be back in those simpler and more civilized times!  These days, there are estimated to be over 48,000 employment websites floating around in cyberspace where job hunters can search for leads — and it’s worth noting that this number only encompasses paid listing sites, such as Monster.com, as opposed to the millions of corporate websites, themselves, that list opportunities.  What many rookie job hunters don’t realize, however, is that the vast majority of the 48,000 job sites out there (at least 98% of them, conservatively) are utterly worthless — and not worth spending an iota of time on if you’re already consulting the “holy trinity” of job websites on a regular basis: Indeed.com, Simplyhired.com, and Craigslist.com.

So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?  It’s pretty easy to do, actually.  Any time you come across a new job-related website that sounds promising, simply run it through the following paces:

1.  First see how many TOTAL jobs the site has in your target geographical area. For example, I recently came across a neat-sounding website called SchoolSpring.com that focuses on jobs for educational professionals.  This site sounds great, in theory, but upon running an initial search using “WA” in the location box, and no other parameters, I discovered that there was only a single listing in the site’s database for the entire state of Washington!  The one lead they had posted was for a superintendent position in a city called Mabton, Washington.  Anybody heard of it?  Apparently it’s in the Yakima Valley somewhere.  And it might be downright lovely.  But if a site contains only a single listing for AN ENTIRE STATE it’s probably not worth a repeat visit.  Remember, in this example, we didn’t even code for any of the different types of educational positions; we were simply getting a count of how many total jobs the site had in the state as a whole, which was more than zero, but less than two.

2.  See if the site is powered by another, bigger job search site. Many new employment websites these days contain ZERO original content, but are simply recycling jobs from other major employment sites and putting a fancy new “shell” on them to make them more appealing and to attract new eyeballs — and advertisers.  It’s a slick marketing maneuver, but represents a huge waste of time for the average job hunter unless the site in question offers some truly unique content or functionality.  For example, if you look closely at the sexy new GoingGreenJobs.com website, focused on environmentally-friendly career opportunities, you’ll notice the tagline says “powered by CareerBuilder”.  What this means is that if you’re already checking on CareerBuilder for leads — or using an aggregator site like Indeed or Simplyhired that picks up CareerBuilder listings — this site is going to be a “dry hole” for you.  You won’t find a single new listing on it you haven’t seen before.  So always look for clues that the site is “powered by” another site or is simply regurgitating content from somewhere else, versus attracting fresh listings in its own right.

3.  If a site charges for job listings, buyer beware! I know they’re tempting.  I know the idea one could pay for “exclusive” job listings is hard to resist.  But having evaluated such sites for years (e.g. TheLadders.com, Execunet.com, Netshare.com, Hound.com) and had dozens of clients subscribe to them, to see if they added value beyond the free sites available, the answer has been resoundingly negative.  Not only do most employers WANT their openings circulated far and wide, as opposed to an exclusive audience, but many of the jobs on these sites appear not to be real in the first place.  And yet, the million-dollar marketing efforts of these sites blare incessantly, convincing thousands of unwary job hunters to sign up for them.  So while I can’t rule out that somebody will invent a fee-based site, someday, that provides ROI to the average professional in transition, I haven’t seen one yet — especially for those job hunters who are solely targeting jobs in Seattle, or a single city, versus the country at large.

So if you’re fairly new to the modern job hunting process, take these guidelines to heart, since they will help ensure your journey is a successful one and that you don’t waste any more time than necessary on sub-par website offerings.  Ultimately, almost all of the published jobs on the web can be found via the three “headwater” sites mentioned in the second paragraph, above, so if you’re using these sites successfully, you’re most likely in pretty good shape.

Does this mean that you won’t EVER find a new niche job site that adds value — or that you should consider adding to your ongoing search regimen?  Not at all!  In fact, we just discovered one, ourselves, that looks very promising.  We’ll be reviewing it here on the blog tomorrow, so stay tuned…

Career Q&A: “Will dropping my price help me find a job?”

“Matt: I’m getting pretty anxious to find work and have toyed with the idea of dropping my ‘price’ to employers in terms of the salary I’m asking for.  Do you think this would help me land offers?  I mean, after all, by hiring me an employer could get somebody with Director-level experience at a Management-level salary…”

Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?  If the labor market is a cold, calculated world that revolves around the laws of supply and demand, just like any other market, you’d think that a company would jump at the chance to snag some top talent at a fraction of the price it would normally cost them, wouldn’t you?

Ah, but my readers tend to be pretty savvy business folks, and I’m sure already realize full well that there’s FAR from a perfect correlation between the price of an item and the resulting consumer purchasing behavior!  Numerous studies have revealed, in fact, that lowering the price of an item can greatly reduce the value we perceive we will get from it — even if the item itself doesn’t change one iota.  So as a job hunter, you need to think twice about using “price” as a competitive sales strategy.  In most cases, based on what I’ve witnessed, there’s an awfully good chance such an approach will backfire.

Before I go further, however, and share my own thoughts on the matter, let me first invite you all to review three on-line articles I’ve come across lately that relate to the issue in question.  They’re pretty enlightening.  First, I’d suggest you visit LinkedIn Answer Thread #1, where you’ll find a series of responses to a question one LinkedIn user asked along the lines of “What does lowering salary expectations say to potential employers?”  Secondly, you should direct your browsers to LinkedIn Answer Thread #2, where you’ll enjoy some additional dialogue generated by a NASA Propulsion Engineer who submitted the question “Why does offering to work for less money not help in landing a job?”  And lastly, check out what Nick Corcodilos has to say about the current talent market and the short-sightedness he feels many employers are displaying in terms of not recognizing talent bargains when they see them.  As usual, he makes some great points that are highly contrary to the “conventional wisdom” around this issue.

Have you finished reading the above articles?  What do you think?  Personally, I tend to agree that slashing one’s price tag tends to be a losing strategy in most job search situations.  It reminds me of when I see a grocery cart full of bargain wine in the supermarket, marked down to a few bucks a bottle.  I can’t help but think “this stuff must be terrible, if they’re trying this hard to get rid of it!”  Along the same lines, a professional-level candidate who seems eager to work for much less than his/her competition gives off a similar vibe.  Even if the person has terrific credentials, it’s hard not to question their competency level or get suspicious if they don’t seem to be valuing their talents appropriately, themselves.  It’s one thing if a person offers to do a pro bono “trial run” project or perhaps work at a reduced rate, initially, to prove themselves or help accommodate an employer’s budget.  But if they’re offering to permanently mark down their compensation requirements, that’s a big red flag.

Please note, though, that the concept we’re talking about here is completely different from another salary-related snafu that often takes place in the negotiation process.  We’ve been talking about whether a job seeker should consciously drop their price, and offer to work for less money, as a strategy for incenting employers to hire them over the competition.  This is NOT the same thing as lowering your salary requirements because they’re out of touch with the going market rate in the first place!  So if you’ve been telling employers you want $120,000 a year as a technical writer, and nobody’s biting, you might need to adjust your expectations and start telling employers you’re looking for something in the neighborhood of $50-60K, which is the approximate national median (Seattle figures would be a bit higher) for folks in this field, according to the Payscale.com salary survey tool.  Again, adjusting your expectations is different than using price to try to gain a strategic sales advantage, which would be the case if you said something like “While most people in this field seem to be looking for a package in the neighborhood of $60,000, I’m highly motivated to find work right now, and would be willing to work for $45,000.”

At the end of the day, while I realize it can be tempting to reduce your compensation requirements in an effort to land more offers, employers perceive “value” largely the same way consumers do — and tend to look for confident, self-assured people who value their skills and act like they’re worth every penny of what they’re asking for.  So rather than trying to compete on price, I’d suggest you sweeten the pot by working on other factors that can give you an advantage, such as sharpening up your relevant skill sets or offering some tangible forms of proof that demonstrate how quickly you can solve an employer’s problems and produce the results they need.

This are just my two cents on the matter, however, so feel free to take them for whatever you perceive them to be worth…

Book Review: Shop Class as Soulcraft (Matthew Crawford)

“The question of what a good job looks like — of what sort of work is both secure and worthy of being honored — is more open now than it has been for a long time.  Wall Street in particular has lost its luster as a destination for smart and ambitious young people.  Out of the current confusion of ideals and confounding of career hopes, a calm recognition may yet emerge that productive labor is the foundation of all prosperity.  The meta-work of trafficking in the surplus skimmed from other peoples’ work suddenly appears as what it is, and it becomes possible once again to think the thought ‘let me make myself useful’.”

This quote, taken from page 9 of Shop Class as Soulcraft, sums up the book’s compelling premise.  In thought-provoking fashion, the author discusses the various forms of fulfillment he’s gained from being a practicing electrician and motorcycle mechanic, versus the less satisfying experiences he’s had as a “knowledge worker” in various office settings.  He’s eminently qualified to perform this analysis, as well, given his PhD in Philosophy and the fact he’s far from a misfit who couldn’t “make it” in corporate America — but actually spent several years leading a political think tank in Washington DC before deciding to shift back to a more vocational career setting.

Certainly, other authors have tackled this same ground and questioned whether something precious and irreplaceable has been lost in the world of white-collar employment today.  Many of these books never pursue the debate beyond a superficial level, however, and seem ragingly biased, idealistic, and anti-corporate.  Mr. Crawford’s work is the exception.  He doesn’t necessarily seem to have an axe to grind — and he raises numerous thoughtful points that I haven’t seen brought up before.  I’ll leave it to the potential reader to discover most of these, for themselves, but he raises issues such as whether most blue-collar work (so to speak) is inherently more cerebral than office work, due to the “real” problem-solving and troubleshooting required.  Or whether many college graduates are struggling to find meaning in their work since they’re exposed to few, if any, objective measurements of achievement — unlike a mechanic, who knows he’s “been useful” and “done good” the moment the dead machine he’s working on roars back to life!

Here’s another quote, from page 126: “The popularity of Dilbert, The Office, and any number of other pop-culture windows on cubicle life attests to the dark absurdism with which many Americans have come to view their white-collar work.”  I like that one, too.

Granted, while the book does drag a little bit during its more philosophical passages, it’s also studded with a number of juicy historical tidbits that remind us that the “workplace” as we know it is a relatively recent creation.  For example, one could easily forget that it was only 100 years ago or so that the idea of “management science” and the “division of labor” really took off.  In fact, in Henry Ford’s first automobile factories, we’re told that he had to hire 963 men to fill every 100 jobs, since the vast majority of workers hired quit almost immediately once they realized they would be assigned to perform only a single task every day, over and over again.  Apparently this notion was shocking to the sensibilities of the time, where workers were steeped in a tradition of craftsmanship and expected to have a direct hand in seeing products (or projects) through from start to finish.

In sum, whether you agree or disagree with Mr. Crawford’s conclusions, Shop Class as Soulcraft is an intellectually engaging piece of writing that will be enjoyed by anybody at a career crossroads — especially those folks who haven’t felt particularly satisfied at any point during their corporate career.  One shouldn’t mistake it for a “tactical” career blueprint of any kind, or something that will aid job hunters with their day-to-day activities, but if you’re interested in philosophy, history, and big ideas, this book will be right up your alley!