Job Search Blog

we hear that least three or four times a day…” I can do that job … just get me in front of them ” or  ” I can’t believe you don’t get me that interview, you and I both know  I can do the job… ” or ” you know I’ve been an excellent performer and I am an excellent employee, if you just get me in front of them, I’ll get the job… ”

Most job seekers simply don’t have realized that hiring authorities are looking to hire people with experience in exactly what they do … with a documentable, provable track record … and there are so many qualified candidates available to  hiring authorities, that  they don’t have to hire even the ” best athlete “…they have available to them at a phenomenal number, a wealth of well qualified candidates who can prove they have experience in what the employer is looking to do

There’s a big difference between being able to do the job and being able to get the job… they’re almost two different issues… most job  seekers need to be aware that in today’s job market, with employers still operating under doubt, uncertainty and fear,  they’re going to hire a candidate with as much experience and background as they can find… they aren’t willing to take any risks

Job seekers have  no idea how stiff their competition is … they look at a job posting and think, “well certainly I can do the job… ” and maybe they can … but it’s not likely they’ll get the chance simply because there are other  candidates available with documentable  and verifiable experience in what the hiring authority is looking to do…

So, the next time you see a job posting and you think, ” I know I can do that job” realized that a hring authority is looking for somebody with as much exact experience in what they do as they can get and in this market, they can find it … and, yes, even when your experience fits exactly what the hiring authority is looking for, you’re competing with at least five others that have the same kind of background and track record

we hear this statement at least once a week in our company..and it usually comes from a candidate who gets an offer much lower than they had expected..

this statement came, this week, from a guy who has been out of work for four months…he has only had two interviews in that time and, frankly, he was quite fortunate to get the offer..

he is ‘thinking about it’ over the weekend..but, are you kidding me..he is totally off base to say something so inane…he is lucky to have received an offer, let alone a good one..but he is hung up on what he use to make…

who ever got the idea that the longer they work the more they are gonna make?..the last three or four years has proven to all of us that there is no ‘normal’…there are very few absolutes and this market is unpredictable…what was, isn’t…what you use to earn has nothing to do with what your might earn today…

the most important issue is finding a good job in this market…especially if you are out of work for any length of time…remember money and title are effected by performance…focus on the job and the opportunity..don’t sell yourself short, but likewise, judge the job by today’s market…yesterday’s money is just that

i don’t want to use this example as a universal ‘always and forever’…but it is sure indicative of why lots of people can’t find work..here is what happened.

i run an advertisement on CareerBuilder every day…it is an ad for a placement manager…a recruiter here in our company..at the end of the ad it says CALL ME…DO NOT SEND A RESUME…CALL ME…

i do this for a number of reasons..first, i want too see if people have the courage to pick up the phone and CALL ME…we are in the kind of business that requires tons of phone calls…so people have to ‘smile and dial’..it they can’t pick up the phone, they can’t make a living here..it is that simple..

the second reason is that i want to see if people follow instructions…simple enough

here is the issue..in the last three weeks 322 people have sent me a resume..only ONE person has called me…ONE…i don’t even look at the resumes of people who send them…first, they obviously aren’t aggressive enough and two, they don’t pay attention…

people are so use to simply hitting that ‘send’ button and think that they are ‘looking for a job’….they then complain that no one wants to interview them..no wonder…

PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL A HIRING MANAGER…too many people are simply sending resumes and expecting interviews…every job posting gets an average of 118 resumes….and some think they are going to get an interview that way…if you want an interview, find who the hiring manager is and CALL  him or her,  present yourself and ask for an interview…

this is why so many people can’t find work…

So you’re asking yourself “what does humility have  to do with a job search?… Well it has plenty to do with the job search..it is accepting things in a non-proudful manner… humility keeps your ego from getting ahead of your game… not letting your ego be hurt by the rejection and refusal you’ll experience.

I often get asked… or should I say, challenged… that my recommended approach to interviewing… that is selling yourself really hard… is rather egotistical and downright bodacious… there is a big preference between presenting your skills and your abilities in a humble manner than in an egotistical, in-your-face, “I’m the best you’ve ever seen” manner.

Interviewing correctly…  selling your skills and your abilities in a balanced manner,  takes practice… on the one hand, you want to sell yourself forcefully but on the other hand you don’t want to come across as egotistical or too proud… outstanding skills and attributes can be presented actually with humility…. it is a fine art.

Another application of humility is the acceptance of a large number of  rejections and refusals you will experience… this is one of the hardest parts of the job search process… never hearing from prospective employers when they tell you they are going to be back in touch with you, being ignored and even being treated rudely are things that most job candidates have a hard time getting used to… and that’s where you can apply humility.

Your humble reaction to this kind treatment makes a big difference… if you take things personally and spend time ruminating over how you were treated etc.,  you will expend a phenomenal amount of emotional energy that does you absolutely no good at all… if you accept these kinds of treatment with humility, you are left with more energy to be focused on getting more interviews and selling yourself really well… humility frees up emotional energy to be directed in the right way.

Michael had been on six interviews with one company… just like we talked about last time, a company that was full of doubt and uncertainty and fear… he gets down to the last interview with the hiring authority’s boss who is the last step… the hiring authority did a good job coaching Michael about what his boss was going to be looking for… in fact, he “overcoached” just a bit… he gave Michael so many “watch out for this”  that Michael, who up until this point  had been stellar, poised and confident… all of a sudden became a little nervous.

When he interviewed with the hiring authority’s boss, he was so self-conscious about getting everything in the conversation he thought he needed to that when he was asked a question he went on and on and on and on… it was like the guy who, when asked what time it was, told the time, how the watch was made and what places in Switzerland would be good to visit.

The result was that Michael didn’t let the interviewing authority get much of a word in edgewise… it so happens that the hiring authority’s boss was also a big talker and he wanted to do most of the talking… guys like that get frustrated when they can’t talk and somebody else goes on and on and on.

Michael was an excellent candidate and so the hiring authority’s boss didn’t want to totally eliminate him, but wasn’t very happy, so he instructed Michael to do a few more due diligence type things and therefore extended the interviewing process longer… at that point Michael called was just a bit irritated because the interviewing process had already gone way longer than anybody thought it would… but here is the beauty of what Michael did.

When the hiring authority told Michael that he really didn’t listen to his boss  like he should, that he ran off at the mouth and that he really didn’t give his boss a chance to have a give and take conversation, instead of getting pissed and justifying what he did… which most candidates would do… Michael said “you know, I was trying so hard to do it right… I was trying so hard to answer every question with everything I knew…I ran off at the mouth… I’m really sorry… if  I had it to do again I would’ve done it differently”.

As I say, most candidates would’ve gotten all pissed off and justified what they did… Michael however, acknowledged his mistake, asked for forgiveness and moved on to the next subject… brilliant!!!

The hiring authority even commented about how gracefully Michael accepted the criticism… it’s really easy to get defensive in situations like this… Michael showed his professionalism by accepting responsibility for what he did, apologizing and asking for forgiveness… brilliant!!!

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.