Highly Effective Job Search

If someone calls you on the phone and says, “I can guarantee you a better new job at a higher salary in three weeks or less,” please don’t give them your money. Hang up the phone. Walk away.

As you know, finding a new job takes some effort. Very few people really enjoy the entire process. Most would love to have some surefire shortcuts.  All of which opens the door for people selling “solutions” of all kinds.

In my 30 years in job search assistance, I’ve seen hundreds of excellent career consultants provide very useful services. I’ve also seen a wide range of scams.  Many promise to deliver huge career improvements very fast.

Let’s start with the “Fast!” part. If you’re qualified and sober, you might very well land a minimum wage job in a three-week job search. But any experienced professional in the career services field will tell you that job searches for educated managers and professionals usually take longer than three weeks.

How long? It depends on your qualifications, the condition of your personal job market, and most of all, how effective you are in job search.

The good news is that once you’re defined your personal job market and begun exploring it, you can make a pretty good guess on whether your search will take more or less than the average time. And, of course, those who plan and organize the search succeed more quickly than those who don’t – regardless of the condition of their personal job market.

While the “super-fast job search” is a myth, a “better job at higher pay” is very often possible. But no one can guarantee it, since it depends heavily on your effort, your last compensation, and the condition of your personal job market.

Your knowledge of salary negotiations helps, but the truth is that you need to do reasonably well at all elements of the search, from start to finish in order to take a step up. How you present yourself will convince people you’re worth more money — or not. The good news is that people with only average qualifications can often make a very good move if they understand how to play the job search game, and talk about themselves in the right way.

I guess that covers the “guarantee” part, too. Even the person doing the hiring usually has to check with others before making any promises, much less any guarantees. So in the end, you are your own best guarantee of career advancement.

The bottom line? There are scams in the job search assistance field, ranging from lousy CDs, books and websites to shoddy “services” costing thousands of dollars. Anyone who puts their resume out on the Internet could get a call from a salesperson hawking one of these.

Follow the same rule you use in avoiding any scam: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

I’ve suggested resources for job hunters on my website. None are expensive. If you use some of them, you can learn to play the job search game better than average, and that plus persistent effort add up to the best guarantee of success that you can get.

People who easily found jobs last time around may be more likely to have trouble this time. Or so it seems, based on a study of people in career transition.

A doctoral candidate studying career transition methods conducted in-depth interviews with people in a career transition program. He used the research as the centerpiece of his doctoral dissertation.

One of the things he found was a correlation between a highly successful job search – an “easy” one — the last time around and a current job search not going well at all. People who had an easy last search seemed prone this time around to negative attitudes, a less effective approach to search, and complaining– about their last employer as well as the lack of job security in America. And, by their own account, they didn’t use many of the free career transition services available to them.

Now I’m not a social scientist and I may not be quoting the study with any kind of scientific accuracy, But I was struck by the dramatic difference in attitude between the two groups – those that reported an easy last search, and those that didn’t. Why would the first group perform so poorly this time around? And why would they have such a negative attitude?

After thinking it over, I’m guessing that it was mostly about expectations. You get started on a job hunting project that you think is going to be easy, so you don’t plan it and maybe don’t work too hard. You figure you’ll be back at work in no time.

But then time goes by and nothing happens. And then more nothing. Maybe you start to get discouraged, even sour.

Try it the other way. Suppose you’re expecting job search to be an arduous project, long and difficult. You believe you’ll have to talk to dozens of hiring managers. You’re thinking it’ll take months to get your first interview and that you’ll need 10 interviews to get an offer.

So you plan carefully, gird your loins and go into battle. You work hard.

But then you get an interview in the first month! You’re talking to two new hiring managers a week! You get another interview in the second month. You’re getting excellent feedback. You have some setbacks, but all-in-all, you’re on a roll. This is easier than you figured. Encouraged, you work harder than ever. You have a positive attitude, and you beat the averages to find a great new job.

All of this is probably more my musings than it is social science. But maybe it’s worth thinking about: what your expectations are and how that affects your work on the project and your attitude.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, the dissertation was accepted and that guy did get his doctorate.

Over the years, I compiled a list of the ten top reasons why it takes people too long to find a job. That list is reprinted here — with proper permissions of course — from my first book, The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search.

The Ten Top Reasons Why It Takes People Too Long To Find A Job

1. They don’t put much time or effort into job hunting.

2. They waste time on unproductive activities.

3. They have no way of measuring their progress.

4. They’re not sure what kind of work they’re looking for.

5. They don’t make a list of prospective employers – or it’s not long enough.

6. They don’t define and analyze their own personal job market.

7. They have no systematic approach to the job search project.

8. They only pursue announced job openings and use no proactive approaches.

9. They don’t realize that search is a numbers game – or they seriously underestimate the numbers needed.

10. They go it alone, without any objective advice or support.

My book, of course, was written to help job hunters avoid all ten of those. But in case you haven’t read it, I’ll give you the short version of the solution to all ten right here: Create a Marketing Plan and a Target List of at least 40 organizations you will proactively pursue. Use objective numerical measures to gauge your progress in search each week. Remember, it’s not about how many hours you devote to job hunting, it’s about what you do with those hours. Effective job hunters have a lot of real time conversations every week with a wide range of people.

Use networking as well as Internet postings and recruiters. Talk to other job hunters as you go to compare notes and get better at the job search project. Do this on a Job Search Work Team if possible, or simply do it informally with job hunters you meet at networking groups.

May you have a highly effective job search.

Have you found an insurance policy that covers you if your job search takes too long? How much would you pay for that kind of coverage? Have you talked to Lloyds of London yet?

So far as I know, you can’t buy one. But you can create one for yourself by paying particular attention to managing three areas of your search project. The following are three questions to guide you. The third one is the most difficult and probably the most important.

1. How good is your overall plan?

Any project works better when you have a good plan, and the central plan for job search is your marketing plan, the one you developed in Milestone Four, right?

In product marketing, you need to know exactly who your prospective buyers are and what they need. Then you offer to fill those needs, talking about the product in terms that your market will understand and appreciate.

Job search is no different - except for the very good news that you only need to close one sale.

2. Is your target market large enough?

“I’m not sure” is not an acceptable answer to this question. Not if you’re serious about getting a good job any time soon. Working a market that’s too small is one of the top reasons job searches don’t go well.

If you haven’t done the exercise called “Evaluating Your Target Market” please go do it right now. In order to do it, of course, you’ll need a marketing plan and a written target list.

3. What is your job market telling you?

In a job search, you are in a conversation with a particular job market, the one described by your marketing plan. If your networking is even halfway effective (and that’s all it needs to be), you are talking a number of people about a small group of organizations – probably less than 50, and almost certainly less than 100. You’re researching that same job market using the Internet and printed materials. And you’re talking to people currently employed by that group of organizations.

If you ask the right questions and are able to stay objective, you can ascertain the needs of that market well enough to see where you would best fit in. In the course of your dialog with your personal job market, you may find that you need to adjust your plan. You may need to shift the mix of organizations, expand their number, adjust your message about yourself, or even go back to the drawing board on your marketing plan.

In order to stay objective, it helps to discuss your progress with other people from time to time.

Paying attention to these three areas – and of course doing enough networking every week — is what makes your job search unusually effective. It might not be quite as good as a million dollar policy, but it’s as close as you can get.

Maybe. I’ve been a program designer in job search assistance for 30 years, so I pay a lot of attention to meeting designs used by job hunters.

These things called networking groups actually have a number of different designs. It looks to me like the most common design is a Cocktail Party design, without the drinks. You put a bunch of unemployed people in a room. They’re supposed to mix, mingle and talk to each other about finding jobs.

For highly skilled networkers – sales professionals, for example – this design works very well. But for less skilled networkers, those who are not practiced at “working the room” the way politicians do, it’s tough. And for the 50% of us who are more inclined toward introversion than extraversion, this process can be downright painful.

A variation is the Bring-A-Job-Lead approach. Here, all attendees are expected to bring information on a current job opening, usually one “that is not posted,” to the meeting. Participants introduce themselves to the whole group and share the job leads. I like the organized introductions, because they are a very effective way of letting people know who they should meet. When the introductions include target list information, that’s even better.

But I don’t think the job lead part works. If I could find those magical unlisted jobs, I wouldn’t need the meeting. And the primary focus on job openings rather than organizations is minimally effective.

Another variation is organizing by industry groups: Banking to the left, chemicals to the right, healthcare in the back of the room, and like that. While this can get conversations – including target list conversations — started because of the common interests, it ignores the fact that it’s sometimes a good idea to change industries. And it’s still a cocktail party format.

If you decide to use networking groups, here are some suggestions for making them work better for you:

1. Take your target list as well as your resume. You won’t necessarily hand them out wholesale, but you’ll make more progress talking about targets than about your resume.

2. Look for common interests of any kind, professional or personal. The more of these you find, the easier it is to continue the conversation outside of the room. If the group is sponsored by your church or synagogue, that opens up a whole realm of common interests beyond jobs.

3. Don’t try to get it all done at the event. See how many comfortable connections you can make. It’s not about getting dozens of names of people who are still total strangers. Better to make one or two stronger connections where there is a real interest on both sides in talking further and continuing to exchange information in search.

Finally, you might want to try a Job Search Work Teams. These teams serve as powerful core networks because participants get to know each other well, sometimes building professional relationships that continue long after job search ends. If team participation interests you and you can’t find one, you can start your own, using the instructions in the last chapter of my book, The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search.

You Google employers. And sooner or later they will probably Google you. When they do, what will they find?

Sometimes employers source candidates on the Internet. Headhunters do the same. An even wider array of employers will check finalists on the Internet. So when you’re job hunting, your presence on the Internet, positive or negative, can make a difference.

If you haven’t already done so, please go Google yourself right now. I’ll wait right here.

OK, what did you find? What will an employer learn about you on the Internet? Will they find anything that confirms what you have on your resume? Anything that contradicts it? Anything that makes you look incompetent, dangerous, immature, or just plain silly?

Let’s start with negatives. If you found things that you posted that maybe aren’t what you want an employer to see, now would be a good time to take them down. Like those Facebook photos of you in a bar in New Zealand, maybe? Or the anti-Microsoft rant you posted in your blog. And while we’re at it, what impression does your e-mail name make? If you find incorrect or negative information about you posted by others, e-mail them and ask them to remove it.

What if you tried a number of different search engines and websites and found nothing about yourself at all? While that does no harm, it doesn’t do any good either.

Should you have a page on a social networking site, like Linked In? Yes. Having a page on a work-related site is essential these days, and you want to go with the sites most used by employment professions — and the ones that have the largest number of total users. A social networking site makes it easier for people to find you and check you out. It also helps you with your networking by giving you access to maps of the networks of other people you know.

Want to go farther?

I recently talked to an unemployed CIO who decided to start a blog during his job search. He’d never done anything like that before, but now he had time. He gave it some real thought and checked into other blogs. He decided to concentrate on topics inside of his profession.

He’s employed now. Did the blog help him find the job? We may never know. But, along the way, he got such a good reaction from other C-level executives — in and out of his field — that he decided to continue the blog while employed. It looked to me like he enhanced his reputation in the field, provided some free professional development for his readers and expanded the circle of people who are aware of his expertise.

Should everyone try this? Definitely not. It’s only for those who are established as writers and far enough along in their careers to be seen as experts. And you need to know how to get your blog noticed, since there are zillions of them. It’s all very time-consuming.

Which reminds me to add one more thing before I sign off:

I’ve talked to dozens of excellent career consultants who say that the Internet is the job hunter’s biggest timewaster. And I agree. So I want to be absolutely clear that I am not suggesting that you spend 10 hours a week reading and posting things on the Internet. But one hour might be an hour well spent.

You certainly can. While it’s not as effective as networking, it’s a whole lot more effective than nothing. If you do it well, it can produce interviews and offers. Like everything in job search, it’s all about the quality and quantity of your efforts. You’ve got to make enough contacts. That’s first. And second, you’ve got to make them effectively.

Lets talk about both of those, starting with what does “enough contacts” mean.

Let’s start with direct mail. It’s defined as mailing or e-mailing cover letters with resumes to organizations who have not advertised openings, organizations where you have no introduction of any kind. With this approach, there’s good reason to believe that your success rate will be in the general range of one interview for every 1000 sent. That’s right, one thousand, with three zeros. After all, when people use that same procedure with you, you call it junk mail or spam and rarely read it, much less buy anything. It does work, but it takes large numbers.

Don’t get discouraged. Please keep reading. The news gets better.

I haven’t seen studies on doing the same thing on the phone – telephoning strangers. This, of course, is what’s called telemarketing.  My educated guess is that it would take a smaller number of these to get an interview – something between dozens and a hundred or two, maybe. And I’m very clear that the lower the level of the position and the lower the compensation, the smaller the number needed for success. I often recommend this approach for hourly or entry level jobs.

The other thing I’m very clear about is that your success in using telemarketing is heavily dependent on your skill in making this kind of phone call. Are you comfortable with it? Do you have a good script? Can you use it in a way it doesn’t sound like a script — and sometimes even turn it into a real conversation?

The same is true of direct mail. It depends on your skill in writing the resume and letter. Sometimes a letter alone, one that encapsulates the resume, is better than a cover letter plus resume. And it depends on the quality of your mailing list. Do you have the right titles and names, spelled right? Does it look personal, rather than like a mass mailing? It’s entirely possible to beat the averages.

In short, when using direct mail or telemarketing in job search, it helps to do them more like the marketing professionals do them. That includes trying different approaches and tracking your success rate to see which gets the best results.

Here’s one last suggestion that most job search experts would agree with: Combine the direct mail with telephone follow-up. Send out a small batch of letters each week. Follow up on all of them on the telephone next week – and the week after. Hit each target with more than one piece of mail or email interspersed with repeated well-planned phone calls. It still takes some effort to get an interview, but the odds are much better than a single phone call or letter to each target. Persistence pays. I’ve seen people get jobs this way.

So if you’re not yet doing as much networking as you’d like, you can supplement it with some direct mail and telephone work – at least until you get your networking numbers up. And if you enjoy it and are getting interviews, then why not continue?

Sometimes it’s like a tsunami. Layoffs sweep through an industry and a lot of people in a lot of companies are swept out of jobs.

You may remember when it happened in the steel industry in the 1980’s. I do. I was one of the many people providing career transition services in that one. In the end, much of our steel production was swept offshore, and tens of thousands of jobs were swept away.

The layoffs and ensuing changes were massive. Bethlehem Steel, one of the top employers of the 20th century, ceased to exist. Another storied industrial giant, U.S. Steel, released thousands of employees and also disappeared, replaced by a repositioned company, USX.

But this kind of tsunami doesn’t kill people. And you don’t need to let it kill your career either. If you’re willing to make the effort, you can and will get re-employed in a good new position, even if the industry where you’re accustomed to working is not doing so well. You might decide to start a new career, and it might even be better than your last one. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Two things are essential. You need to understand the career transition game, top to bottom. Completely. No kidding. And you will need to put in a lot of hours at a difficult and sometimes unpleasant job called job hunting.

If you’re willing to do that, I know that you will get re-employed in a job you like. How do I know?  I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. Lee Hecht Harrison, the company where I work, has been doing it even longer. Over the years, LHH has assisted over a million people as they went through it. We know how the career transition game works. It’s not that complicated.

After a massive layoff in a single industry, the job market in that industry is flooded with candidates and short on jobs. That does not mean there are no opportunities, since massive change always creates opportunities. But it does mean that you will need to be better than the average job hunter in the areas of career change and industry change, because you may need to do one of those.

Here are two places you can get started.

Reading. I’ve written two books on job hunting. But I’m not the only career author. There are – no kidding – thousands of books on the topic. Please do examine the author’s credentials before using a book. Read several books, just as you would when undertaking any important project in an area where your experience is limited. And don’t rely solely on information on the Internet. It’s fragmented and you don’t always know who wrote it. Or why.

Talking. Talk to other job hunters – but not about how bad the job market is or how difficult unemployment is. Those conversations don’t make things any better. Why not start a conversation about how to be really effective in job hunting in a tough market?  See if you can find a job search networking group that you like. Or you could start a Job Search Work Team.

You will also need to make sure your finances are under control, since you may have limited income for a while. And you may need to work on getting your emotions under control because you have important work to do.

You’re going to get a great new job with a great new employer. Millions have done it before you, some in ordinary times, some in tsunamis. They got jobs. You will too, if you work on it.

Steel industry employees found new jobs and careers. And, in case you didn’t notice, U.S. Steel staged a comeback.

So can you. And a lot faster.