If you’re going through Hell, Keep going.
-Winston Churchill
Several folks have suggested the need for an article of this type.
The Opportunity
The following will try to expose the hype, (while not providing any…) and make suggestions to enhance your possibilities of successful (and hopefully short!) job hunt.
I have changed jobs on average every two to two and half years. Quite a number of these changes required a relocation – typically paid for by the acquiring company. The lessons I have learned, experiences I have had are fairly typical. This from having compared “notes” with many of my coworkers, and others I have helped to find work.
In our present economy, jobs are more difficult to acquire. In part this is due to technology, in part, lack of integrity, lack of trust, and insecure managers. Also, it is due to the wrong people in the Human Resource department of most corporations (see HR as a Competitive Advantage, Rather than a Roadblock.)
First, a brief word about the most sweeping change in the job hunting experience- technology. It helps because of email. You can get résumés, cover letters, etc. to the desk of the hiring manager – sometimes bypassing HR, or at least having made it through HR. But the downside of technology (read Internet) is that enterprising individuals have learned to “broadcast” that is transmit copies of résumés (for a fee) to a database of managers all over the US (and Europe.) Even the known websites such as Monster, Hotjobs, etc are fraught with problems they try very hard to overcome.
In this article, I cover three of the common pitfalls that face job hunters, and conclude with some suggestions on how to successfully get yourself employed.
The Problem – Résumé Broadcasting Services
There are a lot of less-than-reputable résumé posting services on the Internet that sound like a dream come true to the beleaguered (and possibly desperate) job hunter. They use different wording, but the basic premise is that they provide your résumé to hiring managers that are inaccessible to you without their help.
Oh, they will all say that these are current managers that are looking for your skills… but the truth is a little different. They have searched various free public databases that list corporate officers and senior managers complete with their email addresses, phone numbers, etc. The only “trimming” they do is to route IT résumés to IT managers, or accounting résumés to accounting managers, etc. For this service, you will pay as high as $100.00 or more, with an average of about $69.00
On the surface, this sounds like a very good thing – but at last count, several hundred “companies” that perform this function… for several thousand folks looking for jobs… that means that these “selected hiring managers” receive hundreds, if not thousands of resumes in their email boxes daily. If that were your problem, how would you resolve it? If you took the time to look through those, you would glance at the first few lines of the résumé to see which one is the closest fit, or give up and hire a recruiting firm.
Resolution
Contract with these firms carefully, unless the amount of money is insignificant to your budget. These folks will typically lure clients with marketing hype such as “millions of jobs available…” on their web sites. But when you try to use them, they require subscription or a fee for broadcasting or other usage.
Stick with the known websites such as Hotjobs, Monster, etc. Most reputable companies that use the Web will use a well-known service.
The Problem – Monstrous Information Overload
Monster, Hotjobs, and other well known websites of this caliber are have a revolutionary approach, that is great in theory but fraught with problems they are trying diligently to fix. The most serious is that by the time a posting from a corporation is released on Monster, Hotjobs and others, the company has already filled it. I have spoken with the HR departments of several companies that use these job related websites about this problem. They apologize, but “things move slowly…” etc.
In actuality, companies are quick to post for jobs, but slower to remove old ads. Getting a person when you need one is a pressing “must do now” task for the HR department. Cleaning house and removing old ads gets relegated to a once-a-week (if that often!) piece of meaningless paperwork for HR professionals that they “get around to” when they can.
Resolution
Respond to ads as quickly as possible. Also, do not use this as your only method of search. It is not as reliable as it once was.
The Problem – Employment Counseling Services
This is one that I find particularly disgusting, because they are very expensive. These are companies that offer “placement counseling,” invite you to motivational seminars, and they send you books – sometimes more than one – full of hype about building résumés, about how to market yourself with a résumé, etc. But they tell you nothing of value in the books.
They will tell you there is a very lucrative part of the job market that most folks don’t use. That is, they are in constant contact with hiring managers of the Fortune 100 firms or something just as ludicrous… they will help you modify your résumé, and provide you with a database of managers names, addresses linked with corporations, etc.
The fees for this service start at about $5,000.00 and go up. The “qualify” an individual based on amount of salary they currently or last had, money invested, and so forth. Then they decide what to charge.
What they fail to tell you is that this is perhaps 1% of the market. A very small market percentage for such a large investment.
Resolution
Again, contract with these folks carefully, unless the amount of money is insignificant to your budget. These folks will typically lure clients with marketing hype such as “our last client signed with XXX Corporation for 76% more that he was making in his previous job. And the job was never advertised.”
In spite of what all the spam and hype would lead the typical job-seeker to believe, there are two tools available to everyone that work better than anything else. A majority of the jobs in the world are filled by one or both of these methods.
Networking
The best (and quickest) method to find the job that you will enjoy the most is networking. No matter what you espouse, or think, or your personal philosophy is concerning ‘good ole boy networks,’ most jobs are filled through personal contacts. It is still the best and sometimes only way to find a job, even and especially in today’s economy.
Try to place yourself in the managers’ place. You, the manager, have somehow managed to keep your job in the turmoil of today. You cannot afford to hire someone that you don’t know. If you look at the various poles on the major résumé web sites such as Monster or Hotjobs to name the popular ones, the majority of respondents indicated that they have “enhanced” their résumés in some manner. The reason given – everyone does it, and they do it to be competitive. Is this the type of person you would want to work for you?
If the manager finds someone through his or her network of friends and associates that may not be exactly what he needs, but the person is trusted by his network or is part of his network, he will choose this person over an unknown that he must try to find through résumés that are broadcast to everyone, and that probably have been “enhanced.” And so would you or I.
If you have not done so, clean your desk, place a blank piece of paper and pen or pencil on the desk, and sit back and think about all of the people you know, and what they do. This is a beginning of the definition of your network. If you have stayed with one company for many years, include all of your peers, supervisors and others that you have worked with and for. Also, include those contacts that you may have made in the course of business that may be outside of your company. You never know which contact will be the one that helps the most.
If you’ve had several jobs, list all of your past supervisors, peers and others in each of those companies. Maybe you helped someone in another department when you were in between tasks or taking a break. These folks can be very helpful as well.
Try talking to different folks within the last company that you worked for. Just ask them for ideas or advice on where you should look, or whom you should talk with. As you continue to define your network, then begin to ‘work’ it, you will be surprised at where you will be lead by following suggestions, ideas and advice of those you contact.
Also, by using your network, you will be given a positive, upbeat introduction to whomever you will be interviewing for the prospective job.
No matter how you look at it, networking has more positives than negatives. It is also how the world works.
Another note- you can (and probably should) do this exercise even if you are currently employed. Get in touch with people you haven’t heard from in awhile, find out what they’re up to, where they’re working, how things are going for them. Send them birthday and holiday cards. Have coffee or lunch with people to catch up on old times. If anyone needs a favor and you have the ability to help, by all means do it. Keep the karma stacked in your favor. This does more than improve your social life. Your network is more effective if you’ve had frequent and regular contact with people before you need their help!
Finally, the best time to look for a job is while you are employed and happy with the job that you have. You should always be looking. If offered another position, you can always turn it down politely. Or it may be the ultimate dream job you have always wanted! If so, take it, and exit your current company politely and with plenty of notice. Offer to help find a replacement, and become part of another network!
Persistence
A final note: concerning persistence – the following experience illustrates how sometimes good old-fashioned persistence is a way in the door. I was the hiring manager in this particular scenario.
I had open requisitions for two folks, each with identical qualifications. Because of company policy and the need for corporate security, the HR department of this firm would let me review résumés for 1 hour only. I was provided with about 250 résumés. This particular firm refused to pay for outside recruiting assistance. That means that I had to look at about 4 résumés per minute, or I had about 15 seconds to review each résumé for relevant experience.
The result of this was that I brought in 3 folks to interview, and ultimately hired 1. The day he started work, I received a call from another person that had also submitted his résumé to our firm. This person had previously been a coworker of the person that I had just hired.
The caller wanted to know why I had selected his associate, and not him. Upon further questioning, I determined that each of these two folks had the same education, background and experience, and not only that, they worked side by side in the same department doing the same job for the same company!
My response was that I had not seen his résumé.
I subsequently contacted HR and requested the caller’s résumé. When I reviewed his résumé, I could clearly see why I had previously rejected it. (The format was not conducive to my 15-second search!) But, because of his persistence, and appropriate background, I interviewed and hired this person as well.
Résumé format is a separate topic, and not covered here – but one that must be researched carefully. I related this story to point out that if I have an opening, and if the person is qualified, I am far more likely to hire an applicant who has the gumption to call me and persist in his pursuit of the position, than to continue reviewing résumés and conducting interviews.
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