Monthly Archives: May 2013

I can’t tell you how important it is to maintain a daily routine… even a highly regimented schedule while looking for a job is best…there is so much doubt uncertainty and fear involved in looking for a job that a highly regimented schedule gives you the comfort of process.

If you’ve followed anything that I have ever written, you know that I want people to focus on the process of getting a job rather than just the result… focusing on the result of getting a job, by itself,  is too difficult to do… but focusing on the process of getting a job, that is, doing all the things they need to do to get a job, is much more controllable.

So, I recommend that, if you are out of work and able to look for a job full-time, which sometimes gives you a lot more focus than having to look for a job while you were keeping one, develop a strict daily route that you religiously follow… for instance, wake up every morning at exactly the same time, dress in business attire just as though you were going to a job and lay out a structured day.

www.thejobsearchsolution.com provides a very specific regimented daily plan that people can follow… for those who are looking for a job on a full-time basis and those that have a job.

A highly regimented schedule saves time for thinking and allows the job seeker to focus their energy on the most important aspect of the job search, getting and performing well on interviews… set aside the first two or three hours of the morning, when you don’t have interviews, to cold calling and sending resumes as well as following up those resumes with phone calls… try to schedule interviews at about the same time every day… a few weeks ago in this blog, I wrote about the best and worst times to interview as well as the best and worst places to interview… so try to avoid those.

Microsoft Outlook provides a great daily calendar and it’s very easy to use… it creates a situation where you don’t have to rely on your memory… this is a different discussion, but worrying about the things you need to remember uses up a tremendous amount of emotional and physical energy.

Over the past numbers of years various researchers have shown that making conscious decisions… any kind of conscious decision from “which shirt should I wear?” As well as “what should I eat?” tire your brain, much as a muscle fatigues from exercise. So keeping  a daily routine keeps you from having to make conscious decisions about trivial things tiring your brain out and depleting energy for the most important things getting and doing well on interviews… even having the same thing for breakfast every morning helps.

So, developed a very strict routine… save your emotional and mental energy for the most important things in your job search.

It’s not uncommon for candidates who are out of work to take “bridge” jobs… these are jobs that people take out of necessity, to earn quick money but they don’t plan to stay at them for very long.

I understand the need to eat, pay the mortgage or rent, car payment etc. but be aware that often times… very often these “bridge” jobs get in the way of finding a more professional, permanent job.

The problem I have with these kinds of jobs is that they actually get in the way of the candidate’s ability to interview… they get an interview, but can’t go because of their own bridge job… their attitude is “Tony, I have to be able to keep this job in order to pay the rent and an interview for me with having to take off work, would interfere with that”… okay, I get it but if you can’t make interviews you can’t get hired and most employers have so many candidates to choose from these days, rearranging an interview specifically for you isn’t likely to happen.

So, if you have to take a “bridge” job get one either for the first half of the day, the last half of the day or maybe waiting tables, bartending etc. in the evening so you have the daytime to be able to interview… getting a retail job during the day isn’t going to help you to get normal interview cycles… selling cars with its long hours, is going to get in the way of your interviewing.

I can’t tell you the number of candidates that I have seen over the years whose “bridge” jobs, that they took, thinking it was going to be for a very short period of time found themselves in these jobs for six or seven months and then they have the additional problem of trying to explain to a prospective employer why they take a job for six or seven months and are now looking for a more professional one… no matter what anyone says, a hiring authority is going to wonder about this.

When a candidate tries to explain that they took their present job as a “bridge” job and it has lasted for six or seven months, that they didn’t have any idea it was going to wind up having to last that long and they are  still serious about finding a more “professional” job, it just becomes another hurdle that they have to overcome with a prospective employer… and then to make matters worse, candidates will get frustrated and downright mad saying things like, “can’t they understand that a person has to have a source of income,” etc… bluntly it’s a no win argument.

So, take a “bridge” job if you must, but do it wisely realize the consequences.

In the past two weeks our organization has interviewed at least 200 candidates face-to-face… admittedly, that’s quite a number of candidates and, obviously, many of them are very unenlightened… and some stuff is understandable when it comes to looking for a job… I personally, interviewed 30 people in those two weeks…I place professional sales people everywhere from 2 years of sales experience to the VP level… salary ranges from $30,000 a year to more than $1 million a year.

Over just the last two weeks these are some of the reasons that I heard as to why my candidates need to change jobs:

-I just need to make money

-my husband told me that I am worth more money

-it’s just time for me and my company to part ways

-my unemployment has run out so I need to find a job

-I haven’t had a raise in two years

-my neighbor got a new job and he’s a real doofus… so if he can get a new job and a raise so  should I

-now that I have an MBA, my school says I should be making $50,000 more

-I got a kid going off to college and need to make more money

-I’ve been underpaid for three years

-I need an exciting job

-my mother-in-law moved in with us so I need to make more money

-I’ve been out of work for a year, I guess it’s time to get back in the swing of things

-my company cheated me

Well, I’m sure you get the message… saying stupid stuff like this as to why you are looking for a job doesn’t come across very well at all.. every candidate who is looking for a job has to think about, “How does what I’m saying come across?…Does my reason for changing jobs make business sense for a hiring authority?”

Answering any question in the interviewing situation has to make good business sense… who would want to hire some whose spouse thinks they should be making more money… what kind of business person would hire someone just because they say they need more money?… Think, think, think!

Never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
They’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing done

—Kenny Rogers, 1978

Okay, so I am reliving Kenny Rogers for a couple weeks… countin’ money when you’re sitting at the table reminds me of all the candidates I’ve known over the years who thought they were going to get a job offer and then didn’t… in fact, I can’t even count the number of times my candidates have been told they were going to get an offer… promised they were going to get an offer… and then never got one.

I have candidates that assume they are going to be hired when they’re invited back for just a second interview…oh, brother

You can never, ever, ever, ever assume you are going to get a job offer until you do… and even then, until you actually show up for work and earn your first paycheck, don’t plan on spending it… even this week, one of our candidates who accepted a job offer, quit her present job wednesday was called today by the VP who hired her to be told that her job she was supposed to start Monday had been eliminated… so you say, “how can that happen when she had an offer and the start date?”… And I say, “it can happen really easily… they simply eliminated the job”… the VP even called us and told us that he was worried about his job being eliminated…

The lesson is, that while you’re interviewing, never count on getting an offer or being hired… if you think about countin’ money or spending your first paycheck you won’t be focused on interviewing well and even when you interview well you can’t assume you’re going to get an offer until you actually do… if you start countin’ your money before you play your cards, you’re not likely to win… don’t count on an offer while you’re interviewing.

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run

—Kenny Rogers, 1978

The subject comes up daily on the part of candidates about how long they should keep pursuing an opportunity when they don’t hear from the hiring authority… and I have to admit that even as a professional recruiter since 1973, I’m never quite sure of when to keep pushing or when to “fold ’em” and move on to another deal…

I often think that candidates give up too easily and stop calling or e-mailing a prospective employer too soon.

I know it gets frustrating to think that you are being considered for a job or told that you are being considered and then never hear from anyone..It is an emotional strain more than anything else…

So here is what I recommend… never take it personally …it is simply a business deal… most of the time they don’t  back to you when they say they are  going  to isn’t because of a personal issue with you, there’s a lot more going on than hiring… now I would call and leave a message as many as 10 or 12 times… e-mail 10 or 12 times… being proactive…

Make the  phone calls very nice and the e-mails very nice… never get mad or angry ..after that if  you don’t hear from hiring authority then I would tell you to “fold ’em”…

In case you haven’t caught on already, the hiring process never goes as fast as people tell you it will… by gently and nicely reminding them of your candidacy by email and phone… encourage them to call you back, but don’t take it personally when they don’t… just remember to be nice…when they call you back you will be pleasantly surprised