Well, here’s the next one. This met all of my criteria for doing a new thing (complement the other stuff? Check. Fun? Check. Rewarding? Check.) Let me tell you how this all started.
Alison Doyle is the Job Search Expert at About.com. When she comes to Park City with her man, who is the Ski Expert at About.com, she lets me know so we can hopefully have lunch together. About a year ago I went to lunch with Mark Newman, CEO of Hirevue (a very cool company) and we were just chatting… no agenda, nothing planned, just chatting.
Somehow we got the idea to start an industry blog/site that talks about the plethora of job search tools (and stuff)… new ones, old ones, etc. The idea was to create a place where we talk about what there is, what we think of it, how they could improve, and stuff like this. Something like TechCrunch for the job search world.
Of course, we are not going to be, or compete with, TechCrunch. But we thought there was an opportunity to fill a gap. We were SO EXCITED!
And then we all went back to our day jobs and got busy :p
Until recently… we finally pulled it together and decided to make it happen. This week we came up with the name Job Search Talk, bought the domain, set up the blog, and started moving forward.
We’re jazzed, and hope to be able to provide value to people in the job search space (HR, job seekers, recruiters, software developers, etc.) – but we don’t want to (or, can’t) write all of it! So, if you have any opinions on what is out there, or what should be out there, let us know – we’d love to have experts (whether you are a job seeker with expertise as a product user or a career coach or a software vendor) help us put up information and opinions about what is available… !
I have a question for you Jason … and if anyone can answer, you can, seeing as how you have an IT background. Do you know how long it took for the IT industry to realign when that bubble burst? I’m sure there wasn’t 15 million IT professionals (was there?) unemployed back then, but …
Very interesting! I remember the time well but I was in a secluded little town with a nice stable job… I could essentially watch from the sidelines and be glad I didn’t pursue my original dream of heading straight to Austin, Texas to work at Dell or something like that (I heard there were a ton of unemployed IT people in Austin during that time).
I asked my friend Heather Gardner, who is a recruiting professional in the Silicon Valley and Bay Area – she gets a terrific perspective of what’s going on in the job search world from that perspective. Here’s what she had to say:
I’m not sure what the “right” answer is to Teena’s question, but here’s what I would say if we were having a chat. First, there has never been such economic downsizing since I became a recruiter…. Even the dot.com bust does not compare with what we are currently experiencing.
Unemployment is high, job losses are growing with more to come and what’s not being reported but has an effect on the economy is the companies cutting back on people’s hours (furloughs) not only in State & local government but the private sector. This drastically affects a household on the financial edge to begin with….. regardless of what happened with the dot.com bust, this is much different.
Okay, now for the good news. Just because it’s bad out there doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find a job. There ARE people getting jobs, finding multiple opportunities for employment and entrepreneurs who are thriving in this market, yep, thriving.
What I see working for job hunters who are successful is that they think outside of the box, understand that they are in a sales role now and they don’t give up. If something’s not working they make changing, they qualify openings to make sure they can position themselves as the “right” candidate and they are stealth networkers. The IT Manager who just got laid off, he/she needs to have several versions of his/her resume:
A resume to position himself/herself as the perfect candidate for another IT Manager position
Another resume to position himself as a software developer – something he/she has experience in and can do again. This resume now downplays the management background so that he/she can easily be considered for another completely different role.
A resume that might be geared towards IT project management. He/She many have done it in their IT Manager role, but not necessarily had the title.
Now this IT Manager can open up doors for a variety of different career roles. The good news now is that this IT Manager that just got laid off has increased his/her chances of landing a role that they are perfectly qualified to do.
I think the best approach to this job market is NOT to compare to anything we’ve experienced before, but rather think outside the box. The more resourceful you are the better your odds are of landing that perfect role, even in this down economy.
I know people getting jobs right now…. I know companies that are hiring…. It’s possible!
My friend Randi Bussin is a Personal Branding Strategist and is putting on some very affordable personal branding webinars this Fall. Click here to learn more info, or register at her site.
I had NO personal brand when I was looking for a job and quickly realized that if I had been working on it, I would not have been “Jason WHO??,” instead I would have had people who knew me and my strengths before I got to an interview.
If you want a strong, intentional personal brand, I recommend checking out Randi’s webinars!
I was talking to my unemployed cousin about doing this and I said:
I guarantee you, as you knock on doors, whether you get the job cleaning the garbage can or not, people will ask you what kind of work you are looking for.
Think about it… if you do this you are showing a good, strong attitude, work ethic, creativity, humility, etc. These are things that employers look for. I’d gladly introduce someone like this to a networking contact. I’m not positive that this person would be the right hire, but this person is out doing something to make it happen, rather than wait for the job to come in.
This might be one of the best networking tactics you employ – and you can make some serious money each day!
I was checking out some local Utah business blogs and read one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Jeremy Hanks. I’ve met Jeremy on a number of occasions and love watching the progress of his super-cool company. He has achieved a lot and I look up to him as an example.
A couple days ago, I got a knock on my door, and a guy that was wearing blue rubber gloves was there when I opened it. He said something like: “I lost my job a while back, and got sick of not working, so I’m out providing a service today. I’ll clean out your garbage cans for $10 each, or two for $15. I use a pressure washer and industrial strength bleach and I literally climb inside them and scrub them by hand.”
I hired him on the spot, for two reasons: 1. my garbage cans were nasty; 2. I’d have hired him anyway, because here’s a guy down on his luck making his own.
The story is awesome… remember the Thom Singer post where I talk about pride and humility? I doubt this guy is too proud… don’t you think? In the next paragraph it says:
He says a lot of days, he makes $300-$400…
Can you believe this? I absolutely love this.
$300 – $400 – that is a lot of money. Here’s the math:
$300 * 5 days = $1,500/week
$1,500 * 4.33 weeks in a month (avg) = $6,495/month
$6,495 * 12 months = $77,940/year
That is a LOT of money.
In my neighborhood we have a ton of people who want to mow our lawn, or do our carpets. But never have I had anyone come up to wash my garbage cans for $10. I would pay it on the spot.
Why am I sharing this with you? Some of you are beyond getting anywhere with your job search. This is an idea that can help you pay your bills… even save your house from foreclosure.
Want a bonus idea? Check the blog on Monday and I’ll share why this business idea is the bomb.
I should have run this on Monday (Labor Day), but oh well…
I saw an article on cnn/Time.com called For Unemployed, Labor Day Another Stressful Day. Yup, I’d have to agree. I want to pull out some parts of the article and comment on them. Sorry for the negative post and thoughts… I guarantee tomorrow will be 1,000% positive!
>> The nearly 15 million unemployed Americans won’t enjoy Labor Day as a relaxing respite from work
Ah, there you go – how many competitors do you have? 15M.
>> “It’s hard to maintain your focus that you’re a valuable member of society when you go three months and nobody really wants to employ you,” says…
Try being unemployed for 4 months. Or 10. Or 24. Won’t happen to you? Perhaps not, but I’d suggest a healthy dose of career preparation.
>> The economy is showing signs of being on the mend. Yet that’s hardly reassuring to the unemployed this Labor Day weekend. The job market is in lousy shape and will stay that way for a while.
Absolutely right. Economists are optimistic that good stuff is coming… but if you think good stuff is going to happen the day they say it will, you are mistaken. Check out my webinar with Mark Hovind where he talks about the idea of when the recession is over, and when we can feel the effects of not being in a recession anymore. These two things don’t happen on the same day.
>> And it could take four years or more for the unemployment rate to fall back down to a normal level of about 5 percent.
Ah yes, now we are talking sensibly. Let me put this into perspective – are you ready for a crappy 4 years, with so many unemployed, companies not investing or spending, etc.? Waiting for the economy to correct itself might not be a strong job search strategy.
>> Labor Secretary Hilda Solis’ advice to the unemployed: “I would tell those workers and families not to lose sight of hope.” She urges them to seek the skills, education and training needed for new jobs. But she acknowledges these are tough times.
Thanks for the advice Hilda. Attitude is critical – but many are beyond “losing sight of hope.”
Thom Singer has a great post with his job search advice. Thom is not a job search or career coach, but he is a networking expert (he has multiple books on networking) and a really keen networker who actually meets people and tries to nurture relationships (not common amongst networking authors, I’ve found).
Thom has four points that he calls “four common job hunting mistakes.” Here they are (in red) with MY commentary (in black)… read his full post for Thom’s no-nonsense thoughts. Of course, he’s spot on.
1. Pride Kills Opportunities. Never be afraid to reach out to your network. If you have properly invested in establishing real “mutually beneficial” relationships with others, they will be there to help you in your hour of need.
When I sat down with a job counselor, after I finally admitted I couldn’t do this job search on my own (it was about a month into my job search), he asked “who do you know?” I had mentally disqualified everyone (family can’t help, friends can’t help, past coworkers can’t help, I can’t reach out to past clients, etc.) and said “no one.”
I was so wrong to think that… but I was also too scared/proud to approach those people. Humility will go a long ways in your job search, and pride will allow you to see all of the fake barriers that prevent you from moving forward. Read Thom’s comments on this point.
2. Blindly sending resumes does not work. No matter how good you are, a blind inquiry will most likely not produce interviews.
Getting your resume (or LinkedIn Profile, or business card, or whatever) is going to be a lot more effective if you have someone hand it to the hiring manager or decision-maker – as opposed to a cold email. There is one tactic I’m exploring that might produce different results, and that is having a targeted resume distribution sent out to recruiters and HR who are in your space… more on that later.
I was amazed that I sent out dozens and dozens and dozens of recruiters and got NO response. It’s like my email was directed to the BLACK HOLE.
Then I came to understand that recruiters can get hundreds of resumes a day… what set mine apart from all of the others? NOTHING.
Network your way into the job!
3. A bad attitude will keep you unemployed. How you think about your own situation will have an impact on your success.
SImilar to #1, of course… your attitude will have a huge, significant impact on your success. Have a bad attitude? No one you network with will want to introduce you to the person you need to talk to. They don’t want to risk their “relationship capital” by sending someone so negative and hurt to their contact.
The perfect post to read with regard to your attitude is also one of my favorites: I Smell Blood is where I share a time when I had a bad attitude and an HR exec called me on it. Favorite line? “HR can smell blood from a mile away!”
4. Don’t just focus on yourself. Help others. Even when you are having a tough time, finding ways to helps others can make you feel good and bring good karma.
I stopped focusing on myself after I had read Keith Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone.
Know what?
That’s when my job search got FUN. Seriously. The stress started melting away as I focused more on helping others, and feeling the rewards from that type of service. Try it – it’s almost magical.
I retired the You Get It Personal Branding Awards a few months ago but said I’d highlight awesome examples that would have one. Here’s one – David Kearsley’s website. You can read David’s guest post at JobMob where he breaks down the anatomy of his website… it’s an interesting post.
Here are my thoughts on David’s online strategy and use of DavidKearsley.com:
He did it right with the domain – he owns his name!! Do you! You must! I even ate my own dog food and bought JasonAlba.com – I really think this is critical. Good job.
Typically I don’t like dark background with light font, but this one does it for me. I don’t know why… David is a senior level executive, and this site just looks classy, professional, competent, polished… just like him.
The logo and header are really cool – at the top his name is branded, and the tagline is Igniting > Vision | Solutions | Results … I know he’s series about CxO stuff.
Based on his picture (gray hair), I’m guessing that David is someone who could be facing age discrimination (I write about that a lot on this blog). But he looks very with-it and current as he has ways to connect with him including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Right off the bat you get the impression that he’s current with these things, which probably means he’s quite current with anything he should be.
The About page is standard, and it’s fine. But I’m in love with the Expertise page… read the first paragraph and the first line of the second paragraph – this guy is awesome, competent and has terrific experience! I really like how he broke this out from his About page.
I think I get what he’s doing with the “Of Interest” section – something like the You Get It perhaps? If so, I like it. I’m excited to see his BLOG get up and running…
I asked David Kearsley if he was happy he was getting famous (there was a lot of buzz when the post went up on JobMob) and his reply was:
Famous – no, but I want to be “memorable and remembered”
I’ve remembered it since I saw it – so that objective is being met.
I really didn’t know we could do this until I saw an email from my Customer Support team … my first response was to write back to Customer Support and say: Really? REALLY??
I had always wanted to do this but figured it would take too much time….
In order to improve transparency into government expenditures Kansas recently put a database of the salaries of all state employees on its Web Site. While I understand the need to…
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