Job Search Blog

Things are going to go wrong in your job search. On average you’re going to have 15 or 16 negative things happen for every one positive thing that happens. Now, unfortunately, there are times in your job search where the wheels really fall off. You get into a terrible slump. Not only do you get two or three rejections in a row but your interviews seem to dry up and you can’t seem to find anybody that will even listen to you, let alone interview you. We all go through this. Slumps are part of every business and game. Winning wouldn’t be as sweet if these kinds of events weren’t so devastating.

It’s really easy to say that this kind of thing isn’t any big deal and that we all go through it when we’re talking about the other guy. It’s really hard to do when you are experiencing it yourself. So, the first thing to do is to heed my warning and expect these things.

The most important thing you can do, and I really want to emphasize “most important thing you can do”, is to rely on the “system.” I go through slumps in my profession all of the time. I’ve seen some in the last few years, but I always know that the downs eventually create ups, and I just need to keep hanging in there and working my system.

My system and process centers around making calls to clients or potential clients. I know that if I make 100 calls either to existing or potential clients, I’m going to get to two hiring authorities that are going to be interested in the candidate I present. Of the two that call me back, only one of them is going to have a job opportunity in Dallas that one of my candidates might be interested in. In one week, I get two to three job opportunities. I’m going to have to send nine candidates out on interviews…either nine candidates to that one opportunity or nine candidates to nine different opportunities or five candidates to one opportunity and four candidates to three or four other opportunities. My “ratio” is nine appointments to make one placement. I average 3.5 initial appointments per candidates a day. You can take the math from there.

I know that no matter what, as long as I keep working my “system,” my process, I’m going to be able to place people. No matter how difficult and challenging it is, the numbers are always going to work for me. There are years where it has taken 14 appointments to make one placement and years where it has taken only four. I know that I can’t control the economy but I can control my activity.

I place sales people, marketing professionals, VPs and folks on just about every level in the IT products and services arena. Last week I read some advice, promoted by an authority, or presumed one about getting a job. This guy was discussing the situation of when you’re asked to give advice or provide a 30-60-90 day plan, or a marketing plan or any kind of business plan during the interviewing process. He was recommending that the candidate should refuse to do it. His claim was that you don’t want other people to steal your ideas and use them. He was advising candidates to explain to prospective employers that their advice was proprietary to them and, if they wish to get the candidate’s advice they should hire the candidate. This guy’s comment was that there is no reason a candidate should Give to a prospective employer their business solutions and their “secret sauce.”

I’ve written about this before, but there’s so much junk out there on the Internet written by people who never found anybody a job. There are a lot of these career advisors out there. Many of them post all kinds of awards on their websites and I guess that’s okay. But my rough estimate is that 30% of what they tell people is just junk.

Here is the answer. When someone asks you to provide any kind of 30-60-90 day plan, or any kind of detailed solution to their problem… do it! First of all, you don’t really have much choice. If you take this career coaches advice and tell people that you won’t do it, who will promptly be eliminated. Don’t think that you, or anyone, has that much political capital to be able to refuse doing this and still be considered as a candidate. You gotta bet they have three or four other candidates who will accommodate their wishes in a heartbeat.

The second, and probably just as important reason is that even if they have your brilliant solution to their problem doesn’t mean that they could execute on it. Here’s the analogy. Everyone in basketball knows the theory of the triangle offense that was made so popular by the Los Angeles Lakers. Most every high school player knows it. But just because you know the theory doesn’t mean you can execute it. Unless you have a Kobe Bryant on your team as well as a few others of the same caliber, knowing the theory and executing it well are really two different things.

So, don’t get all upset and agonize over being asked for your ideas or your solutions. Give a lot of thought to the answer and realize that you are going to be judged by it. Don’t spend any time or effort agonizing over whether it’s right or not to ask it and focus on a quality answer.

I’ve heard this three or four times over the last few weeks. It was the response that a number of millennial’s gave me when I explained to them that they didn’t interview very well and they needed to change the way they approach things in the interviewing process. Not only did they not seem to care, they took a very nonchalant attitude towards the whole process. When these kids is been out of work for almost 3 months and says he really needs to go to work. He then gives me the “whatever” sarcasm and informs me, or, rather, should I say, tells me that there’ll be another one just around the corner.

One of these kids doesn’t seem to answer voicemails, but responds to texts all day. I tried to explain to him, when it first happened, that I can’t easily communicate feeling with a text and that it works much better when we can talk on the phone. He reluctantly calls me back maybe a day later.

I’ve also noticed with this “whatever” group That where they work i.e. how close to home workplace is makes it bigger difference than to most folks. “I’m just not willing to drive an hour to work every day,” is something I seem to hear more from these kids then I hear from other generations. One told me the other day that he shoots pool every Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the group starts there tournament training at 6:30 PM and if he got a job in Frisco when he lives in uptown he would miss the first half-hour of their practice programs every Tuesday and Thursday evening. The pool was more important than a job.

There is also a hint with these kids that since they been to college and gotten a degree they have a (confidence?) bit of an “entitlement” attitude toward the kind of job they can get. They seem to be rather shocked at the kinds of jobs that are available to them, that seemed to be “below” the expectations they were given when they graduated. Unfortunately they didn’t start thinking about their career and job when they were sophomores like they should have.

These are smarter kids then probably the last two generations, boomers and GenXers, but, no pun intended, it seems to have gone to their head just a bit. My sense is that after a few years in the workplace their expectations will be level set and they will get on with their career the way the rest of us did. Gallup tells us that most of these kids are in jobs that have nothing to do with their degree. Interestingly enough, that may be true for most of us. The differences, I think, is that most of us took what we could get and made the best of it .( my PhD is in higher education administration. I spent three years on a college campus and administrative role and decided that, although I loved students, I hated, literally hated committees. So I got in the placement business! Go figure!)

Our 30-year-old son, James, who founded a startup in California and got funded by Andreessen Horowitz happen to be home visiting and just read this. He’s hired as many as 96 very technical millennial’s in the heart of Silicon Valley. He laughed about what I was writing. He reminded me that it’s only the past 25 years or so that we have defined these “generations.” He claims that there are just as many people in each generation that have, in their own times, the same group of people that were really interested in working very hard and those that weren’t. Maybe because of technology we are more aware of our “labels.” He mentioned that maybe, just maybe, we like to “label” people and then look for the definitions of the labels.

Whatever!

working with a pretty solid candidate with some reasonable skills. I sent him on an interview. It would be a really good job for him and it’s a wonderful company. He doesn’t do very well on the interview. He calls me to check in to see how he did and I explained to him that they’re not having him back because he didn’t interview very well. He says, “Well, if it’s God’s will.”

I hear this kind of thing at least three or four times a month. Now, I deal with a lot of candidates and it might be that three or four times a month isn’t all that great of a percentage relative to the number of candidates I work with. But it absolutely drives me stark raving NUTS when people blame their not getting a job because they interview poorly on “God’s will.”

The guy didn’t do one iota of preparatio. I gave him access to our interview tutorial, which we do for every candidate we get an interview for (it’s outstanding I might add!) and the guy doesn’t even take the course. He says he was just too busy. He doesn’t do any research on the company or the person that he was interviewing with… a VP I might add. He doesn’t sell himself and he doesn’t give the people he was interviewing with reasons why they should hire him. In short, he did a really lousy job of interviewing… really lousy!. And he’s telling me that it wasn’t “God’s will?” He then had the gall to ask me if I had another opportunity for him.

I was raised to have a very healthy fear of the Lord. I do my best to keep my prayer life up, go to Mass every Sunday and receive the sacraments as often as possible. I’m humbled, joyful and awed about my relationship with God, but, come on, are you kidding me? Forget blaming the fact that you didn’t get a job because you performed so poorly on an interview on “God’s will.” Stop it! I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s absurd!

Lots of bad things happen in all of our lives. I don’t know which of it is God’s will. I guess I don’t know God that well. My non-theological sense would be that God would want the best for me and my family. When bad things happen, I ask for His graces and love to help me deal with whatever happens. But when someone doesn’t get a job because they didn’t even try very hard, it’s hard to imagine that God had anything to do with it.

If the guy had worked really hard and was trying to do well at the interview and tried real hard to do everything he could to get the job and then he didn’t, I might have more empathy for him. I might’ve even let the comment pass. But to blame God when the guy didn’t work very hard is the demeaning to, well,… even God.

There are some people who see the world this way, I guess. But it’s not reality. I believe that the only thing that God might do regarding anyone’s interviewing is to give them the graces and determination to do their best and accept the results no matter what they are.

Outside of my profession I hear people talk about “God’s will” all the time. It becomes an excuse for not doing well and psychologically lets them off the hook of responsibility. I’m reminded of the old story about the preacher who was driving through the country and stopped at farmer Brown’s house. He got out of his car to greet farmer Brown, and in the exchange, wanted to give praise to the Lord. The preacher said to the farmer, “Farmer Brown aren’t you just emotionally and spiritually moved beyond yourself to give praise to the Lord when you look around your wonderful farm here, green, lush and beautiful for as far as the eye can see?” Farmer Brown paused a minute and thoughtfully looked at the preacher and said, “Well, preacher you should’ve seen it when God had it all to himself.”

Mama used to say, “God helps those who help themselves.”

I’m not sure anybody can personally know God’s will in their own life. Maybe they can. But using it for an excuse as to why they didn’t really try to perform well on an interview or why they didn’t get a job seems mighty unfair… to God

Can’t tell you the number of very educated candidates over the years that in their speaking, become fond of metaphors…which is OK…however…they mangle the metaphor.

They say things like “pass mustard“, instead of “pass muster”…”took off like haywire”…instead of “wildfire”…”preaching to the congregation“…instead of “choir”…I have had different candidates tell me they wanted to “hit the ball running,” “give their best foot forward,” or said, ”I’m living fat on the hog” and the “cream will rise to the crop”…”you are barking up the wrong dog”…”eats at my crawl”…”brightest block in the box ”…

I could go on, but you get the message. We have all heard folks do this at times…we are amused and kind of laugh. But in the interviewing situation, they can be disastrous. This is especially true if they are repeated. They are distracting and, in most cases, don’t reflect well on the person being interviewed. Soooo, practice interviewing. If you have a tendency to mangle your metaphors or misapply your analogies, have someone help you or get yourself some and google a few. If you are going to lose a deal, don’t let it be over something so simple to correct. So, keep your nose to the ground and your ear to the grindstone…practice interviewing…watch the pictures you describe…

As long as we are at it, here are some others:

“As long as that dog hunts, we’ll ride him,”

“It’s the best thing since sliced Spam.”

“Never judge a book by its title.”

“Never put all your eggs in one omelet.”

“The guy just couldn’t cut the custard.”

“That guy is a wolf in cheap clothing.”

Oh, brother…

My wife, Chrissy, loves Shark Tank. It is probably one of the most popular shows on television although most people probably won’t admit it. Chrissy not only watches it on Friday night where most of the new episodes appear, but also three or four other nights a week where they do reruns. There are some of these we’ve seen at least three times. I’ve often thought that it would be a good idea for every job seeker in America to watch Shark Tank. Here are some of the lessons:

The first lesson is to look and be likable. When people come out on shark tank dressed nicely, smiling, looking sincere, like they’re there to help other people with their product or service, and come across as simply nice always have an advantage. The ones that come out looking like they think the world revolves around them, overdressed, trying to look sexy, communicating, “Im da’ bomb,” or a guy who communicates, “I’m a stud,” already have a strike against them. You could almost see the sharks bristle when they walk into the “tank”. First lesson: look and be likeable!(It is amazing to me how many seemingly poor ventures get funded by the Sharks when they are presented by a really likable person. If you ever watch the show, see how many times one of those sharks says, “… I really like you” and then offers to back the person in spite of the product’s flaws.)

The second lesson is to have something clear,different, even if simple, to say. So many people get on Shark Tank and really don’t know how to tell a simple story about what they do and what they’re about. Often, they get through with their presentation and the sharks have to ask them, “we don’t really understand… what are you trying to do?” The Sharks get lost in some roundabout, unclear story about what they are being asked to invest in. Second lesson: keep it simple!

The third lesson is to know exactly what benefits your product or service providing others. A product or service that, “revolutionizes the world in 10 different ways” never sells. A person only needs two or three features, advantages and benefits in order to make a sale. They have to be very important features advantages benefits i.e. ones that can’t be found any other way. Over the years both Chrissy and I have noticed that the most popular Shark Tank products have been targeted toward one simple problem. They seem to be the quickest to get funded by the sharks, and also the most successful. Third lesson: know what you’re selling!

The fourth lesson is to anticipate objections. Often it only takes the sharks a few questions to reveal that the presenters don’t appear to have been totally “truthful” with the sharks. By asking questions, the sharks discover credit issues, debt issues, partner issues, etc. they didn’t reveal in their presentation. When this happens, the sharks feel deceived, like the seekers of the investment are trying to “put one over on them.” Most of the time these folks get sent packing rather rudely. Fourth lesson: know what the objections to you being hired are and reveal them, so to speak, in your presentation.

The fifth lesson is to have a simple solution to a difficult problem, demonstrate how it works, then ask for the order. No matter how complicated the product might be, the most successful Shark Tank solicitors present their solution in a simple manner, demonstrate it, the ask for the investment. Candidates interviewing need to do the same thing. “The companies that I’ve worked for in the past had a problem with…..(accounting, IT, sales, customer support, marketing,Production, manufacturing, etc.). And here is how I helped solve the problem….I can do the same for you. Now, when can I go to work?” Here is where the specific features of your ability become advantages to the company you have worked for and how those companies benefited from them. This communicates to a prospective employer that since you’ve done that for past employers, you will do it for them. You then, simply ask for the job.Fifth lesson: sell features, advantages and benefits, then ask for the order.

Shark Tank lessons for the job seeker!

This is an email that I got back from where my candidates when I wrote them and told them that the organization that we had been to three interviews with was going to pass. They stated they were going to hire someone else and that my candidate wouldn’t be considered. The hiring manager gave me some really weak reasons as to why my candidate didn’t do well in the interviews. I related these to my candidate and not only did he deny them but explained to me that the hiring manager totally missed one of the points that my candidate had made.

I understand my candidate’s feelings and the graphic expression of his frustration. I am somewhat biased, but my candidate has been tremendously successful in just about everything that he has ever done and the reasons our client was passing pretty weak. Based on what I could see, the candidate was a better performer than the guy doing the interviewing and the hiring authority was likely afraid Of the candidate.

Regardless of the reasons, however, the attitude of my candidate is not good. Getting mad and telling them to f’off isn’t going to create a situation where the candidate is going to learn from the interview. We all realize that it is an emotional reaction to being rejected. And being rejected is never fun. But whenever this happens, we have to take as much of a positive attitude towards it as we can and be open to learning from it. It is very hard to learn from this kind of situation when you’re all pissed off, mad and angry.

So before you “f’em,” calm down and think, “I don’t like the results of this a bit, but what could I have done differently to get a different outcome? What have I learned? How can I do better?”

Just read a great book, Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. It chronicles ancient as well as modern historical disasters as a result of leaders’ big egos. It reminded me of the Sanskrit quote that, “ego is a mistake of the intellect.”

It also reminded me of the interviewing situation… on both sides of the desk. All of us will admit that there are some pretty phenomenally big egos out there in business. Some people feel that in order to be successful they have to be the center of attention. For whatever inadequacy they may have in their personality makeup, they feel the best way to offset their inadequacy is to be particularly egotistical. (I worked with the hiring authority some years back who actually told candidates that his job was to hire people to make “him look good.” And it would be their job to do the same.)

Many job candidates feel as though they must assert their ego in the interviewing situation. “After all,” they say, “if I don’t toot my own horn in the interview, no one will pay attention to me.” And hiring authorities often want to communicate that they are just that, the “authority.” These kind of managers are phenomenally difficult to interview with, much less work for. And, frankly, there is very little a candidate can do about it when interviewing. If you’re a job candidate, and you are offered the opportunity to work with such a person, you’d best ask a lot of questions of the people who presently work there  to see if you can work for this kind of personality. Sometimes, managers come across much more egotistically in the interviewing environment than they really are. Often, this kind of ego can be worked “with” rather than “for.”

As a job candidate, however, there is a great deal you can do about taming your ego. There’s a really big difference between having a healthy ego and a big ego. A person with a healthy ego puts their accomplishments in the light of how they helped their previous company or their previous customers succeed. They couch their successes in terms of others rather than themselves. You hear them using the terms “we” and “fortunate,” and “blessed” as well as “the team” and “great clients.” They connect their successes of the past to the great mentors they had. They recall their “wins” with the same humility as their experience of failure. They put failure in the context of what they learned and take full, personal responsibility for outcomes. They focus on process rather than results. They take what they do seriously but not themselves too seriously. They accept failure as well as success with the same grateful attitude. They sell their strengths with humility and readily admit their weaknesses with humor and a smile.

Many candidates, because they are nervous and anxious about interviewing, go overboard in the ego department. Because they are nervous and insecure they feel compelled to push what “they” have done. “I…I…I…” becomes their mantra.

Interviewing in this manner takes practice.