Underemployed and Looking For a Better Job

Q. I’m currently one of those who is underemployed. I’m considering looking for a better job and would like to know the best way to go about it while working?

I would start with your current employer. Situations like yours often happen when a candidate is in need of a job. That is generally why they accepted a lower position in the first place. So I believe some level of loyalty should be given to a company that helped you when you needed it. You might check to see if a position will open up as the economy continues to improve? Are they open to expanding your role in the company? Converting you from part-time to full-time? If you haven’t already, you might consider giving them this opportunity before throwing in the towel.

If you still decide it is best to move, then you will have to conduct a search. Many candidates search while working. Start by building or updating your LinkedIn profile, post your resume on the job boards, let people you trust know you are open to something different, attend networking meetings before or after work hours, check the Web sites of potential employers in your industry to see if they post open positions and when appropriate engage a recruiter and respond to ads. Most companies are willing to conduct interviews during off hours for those people working.  You basically have to get out and let people know you are open to referrals or find a position via job postings.

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

How effective is your job search?  If you are not sure, download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Is There A Better Way to Find Job Leads?

Question: There must be a better way to find job leads than networking. After attending so many networking events with little to show for it I’m burned out.

I firmly believe networking is the key to finding a new position. I find that most candidates don’t network the right way. Candidates too often view networking as attending a lot of meetings and meeting a lot of people. They somehow think the more people they know the better the odds are of finding a job. Sorry, this just isn’t the right way to network.

First of all, networking isn’t about how many people you know. How many people you know is completely irrelevant. What really matters is how many people know you. One hundred great relationships are far more valuable than a thousand business cards stacked on your desk. Good networking should be about building strong relationships. This ensures people know you and will refer you.

Secondly, you should always network with a purpose. Why are you going to so many networking meetings, if you aren’t getting anything out of them? What are your expectations by attending these meetings? Instead of attending so many meetings, I suggest identifying three or four networking groups, then go deep in those groups. Serve on the board or committees or be a greeter. Build relationships with all the members of these groups. If each group has fifty members that is 150 – 200 relationships you have developed. That is powerful networking.

Finally, know why you are meeting someone. You don’t have to meet everyone. Be selective with your time, just as you are when working. Always have a reason for meeting with someone. Remember, it is all about networking with a purpose.

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

How effective is your job search?  If you are not sure, download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Starting a Job Search? Start By Knowing The Three Required “P’s”

Q. I’m just starting my job search after working for the same company for the last 20 years. What tips can you give me to help me get started and do it right?

I would start by knowing the three P’s required for an effective job search.

1) Presentation. I speak on this all the time. Candidates so often down play this or take it for granted. For some reason candidates just don’t focus enough energy here.  This is the most basic of basics. Remember, the most qualified person doesn’t always get the job. The person with the best presentation and some minimum level of qualification will often get the job.

2) Preparation. If the presentation is working, now it is time to start preparing. This is a big job and again so often taken for granted by candidates.

Prepare your marketing plan. Are you in the right networking groups? Maybe it is time to change the groups you are attending. Are you meeting the right people? Look back over the people you met within the last 3 months and evaluate who and what types of people have been helpful and those that didn’t provide any assistance. Identify companies and people you want to meet. Set up a plan to meet them. If you contacted a company 6–8 months ago things may have changed, so consider reconnecting or finding another way into the company.

3) Practice. This is probably the most important of the three “P’s.” Everyone has heard, “Practice makes perfect.” Well this applies in a job search. Practice your body language, how you use your voice to stress points, answering succinctly, and the important questions you want ask.

Practice exactly how you are going to answer the standard questions asked in just about every interview. I always have the candidates I coach write out complete answers to these. Then we practice them until the candidate has succinct answers. These should be so well rehearsed that they come off as if it is the first time you answered the question.

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

How effective is your job search?  If you are not sure download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Getting An Accountability Partner May Change Your Search – Part One

As the  new year starts, many will be either restarting or launching a job search. One thing missing from so many in the job hunting mode is accountability.

We see this all the time in our job search coaching practice. Most candidates go it alone.  If 2011 was a go it alone year for you, I might suggest that 2012 be get a partner year. Not just any partner but an accountability partner.

Let’s look at what an accountability partner is and is not:

1. It is not your spouse or close friend. I know they hold you accountable in many ways, but this is not the right person. They are too close to the situation and not objective.

2. They will support you. Not financially. Rather emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. You trust them and they will listen to you.

3. They don’t feel your pain. They understand your pain. There is a big difference. Understanding, rather than feeling, keeps them objective and they don’t become emotionally attached.

4. They understand  your history. They must understand your background, strengths, accomplishments, what you’ve done to date  in your search, and also what not so obvious talents and strengths you have that might be transferable. They also understand the flip side – where you don’t excel and even your weaknesses.

5. They are not your therapist. If you need a therapist, get one, but that is not the purpose of an accountability partner.

6. They are open,  honest and tough. An accountability partner must be capable of telling you exactly what you are and are not doing. Many people can’t be this direct.  Sometimes it is necessary to tell someone that they aren’t doing enough or that they need to step it up. This can be even more difficult  for candidates that have been looking for some time.

7. They need to be knowledgeable. They should be someone that understands a job search process or methodology. If they aren’t very knowledgeable in helping those in a job search, then helping you might be difficult. This is particularly true if your job search is stalled. You don’t hire a law clerk when you need a lawyer and amateur golf instructors make amateur golfers.

8. Experience. A little different than knowledgeable, in that this is hands-on experience in helping people in a job search. We all thought we knew everything when we graduated from college, but once we had some experience most discovered something different. This is the knowledge versus experience that I’m referring to.

There are others, but when you find these in an accountability partner, you are starting 2012 on the right foot.

Some other things you can do to start on the right foot are:

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

If you would like to know if your job search is fully utilized and you are doing the right things, download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self- Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resource link.

Part 2 will be about what to expect from an accountability partner.

If this was helpful, then please help others by forwarding it on to your network, posting on your Facebook page, Tweeting with the link, posting to your Linkedin groups or status update.  Let’s all do everything we can to help those looking for employment.

I welcome your comments.

Brad Remillard

2 Major Job Search Problems You Can Fix This Week

A lot of my ideas come from personal experience.  Some directly as a part of my 2007 job search experience, some from my 18 years as a hiring manager and some that originate in life and remind me of either of those two.

Here is an example of the last one from this morning.

I woke to the sound of a beeping smoke alarm.  Now if this has happened at your home, you know that it likely is a battery issue.   And you know how frustrating it can be to stand under each detector waiting for it to beep.

That way you know which battery to change.  Before you pull your hair out.

Not only is it annoying to wait.  It is also incredibly inefficient.

And job seekers are making these same mistakes.  Every day.

Job seekers have two major problems.   They wait for others.  And they act with a surprising lack of efficiency.

Having been there, I know.  And meeting with 10-12 job seekers a week, I see it.  So today my goal is to alert you to the problems.  And then point you to some resources to help you solve them.

Problem #1 – Job Seekers Are Waiting

Just like my waiting under each smoke detector for the beep, job seekers spend too much time waiting.  Waiting for others to impact their search.

Waiting for:

–   recruiters to find them a job
–    a job search engine to return a relevant result
–    the blind resume blitz to turn up a hidden job

In my experience, successful job search isn’t about waiting.  It’s about taking action.  And while there are times in job search when patience pays off, generally you are rewarded for constant and smart activity.

Problem #2 – Job Seekers Are Inefficient

Most job seekers I meet with don’t have specific goals.  They act with impulse.  And do what feels right each day.  They apply for jobs even if not qualified, they socialize at networking events and, while they have a profile on LinkedIn, they don’t actually use the tool for what it is intended.

So set goals for your job search process.  Monthly, weekly daily goals to keep you focused.  And measure your ability to stay on track.

If you are on LinkedIn, use it to find key people in your extended network who work for your target companies.  Don’t have target companies?

Someone asked me once: “what can I do to get my resume noticed?”  My answer was to apply for jobs for which you are really well qualified.

As a hiring manager, I paid attention to resumes that included jobs, companies and experience and accomplishments that fit my needs (i.e. the job description).  So while there are great things you can do to improve your resume and cover letter, nothing is better than being a good fit.

Career networking is essential in today’s job market.  It is the single biggest reason I see some people landing new jobs and others struggling.  But it’s not just career networking.  It’s career networking with a purpose .  It is specifically identifying who you need to meet and acting with purpose to find them online and at events you attend locally.

So if you are looking for a boost in your job search success, stop waiting for others and begin working with goals and a sense of purpose.

It will increase your confidence.  And will stop that annoying beep

About the author:

Tim Tyrell-Smith is the founder of Tim’s Strategy: Ideas for Job Search Career and Life, a fast growing blog and website. Tim is also the author of: 30 Ideas. The Ideas of Successful Job Search. Download the book and other free tools at http://www.timsstrategy.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimsStrategy

Is Your Job Search Focused On Employment or Employability?

My experience from speaking with tens of thousands of candidates over the last 30 years as an executive recruiter is that most candidates focus like a laser beam on employment. Finding that next job is all they think about.  Not bad, but I have found that those that find a job fastest focus on employability first.

Changing the focus will change your search. When candidates focus on only finding a job, they often lose sight of why they are employable. This focus changes how they interview, where they look, the process for finding a job, and ultimately leads to accepting the wrong job, which results in returning to the job market sooner than expected.

Focusing on employment can also lead to desperation in a job search. Download a FREE copy of the “Circle Of Transition” CLICK HERE. This shows up in the interview as fear, poor body language, lack of energy, incomplete answers or rambling answers. It impacts the job search as candidates try to demonstrate how they can do everything, in every industry, and regardless of whether they are a 10% or 100% fit for the job, they scramble after it. This only dilutes their search, sends them on wild goose chases, increases the many highs and lows of a search, and in the end gets the candidate no closer to getting a job.

Instead, what if you changed the focus to employability? This will alter how you view yourself and what you have to offer. It starts the process of realizing you have value, you are good at what you do, the company will be better off because they hired you, your boss will look better to their boss for hiring you, and you know you can and will do a great job.

Employability is about what you bring to the party. It is about focusing on what makes  you better than others. What is it about  you that this employer can’t live without? Every person they interview will probably have the same skills and experience to do the job, so why should they hire you?  It puts you in a position of strength.

Employability will expand your job search, not reduce it. It may eliminate some of the long shots that frustrate many candidates and at the same time it will increase the exposure to positions that have a higher probability of success.  I firmly believe one of the main reasons candidates we coach find jobs faster than most is because we work to change their focus to employability and away from employment.

Employability will help you create a job where jobs don’t yet exist. My last article was about finding the true hidden job market before others and recruiters. Employability helps you to not only tap into the hidden job market but it gets employers thinking about why they need you and your unique set of skills and experiences. Employers start to think about how much better they will perform with you on board. They begin to realize the solutions to their issues of growth, expansion, cost reduction, process improvement, etc, isn’t inside company. You become the savior to these problems. Employability turns you into a solution rather than just another candidate applying for a job.

Focusing on employability is much like what a CEO of a public company said to me many years ago. He said, “The focus of many public companies is the stock price and hitting the quarterly numbers. That will never be ours. We focus on building great products, innovation, customer service, and high quality. If we do that, the stock price and quarterly earnings will take care of themselves.”

If you focus on employability, employment will take care of itself.

To help you focus on employability be sure to download our free radio show recordings. They are in our candidate audio library. CLICK HERE to enter the library.

To validate whether or not your job search is effective, we have put together a job search self assessment scorecard. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. This free download will help you identify weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to download your free copy.

Tired of sending resumes and hearing nothing back? Try this cover letter. It has proven over many years to increase responses from recruiters and companies. Download a sample by CLICKING HERE

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

How To Find The Hidden Jobs Before Recruiters and Others Do

What does the term “hidden job market” mean to you? Where do you think this hidden job market exists? How do you tap into this hidden job market?

To many candidates, I believe the “hidden job market”  means those jobs not listed with recruiters or posted on the Internet, either on a job board or a company’s website. Candidates tend to think that this means that HR or a hiring manager may be networking to fill the open jobs. HR or the hiring manager may be contacting trusted advisors, past employees, friends and family, or trying to fill the job by word of mouth. It really isn’t blasted out for everyone to find. It takes some digging, networking, and even some luck to locate.

If this is what you think  of as the “hidden job market,” I believe that you are completely missing the real hidden job market.

Good recruiters know that once a job opening hits the streets, in any form, it is no longer hidden. It may be harder to find than jobs  posted on the Internet, but they aren’t hidden. In many cases the jobs are hidden in plain sight. Just having a good network of people will help you find these.

The real hidden job market takes time and, as Julie LaCroix of Power Connections preaches with her clients, “research” to find the true hidden job market.

Hidden jobs are the jobs that haven’t been posted, haven’t been circulated, and in fact may not even exist. Hidden jobs are the jobs companies are anticipating hiring or thinking they may need in the next couple of months. These are the jobs that a growing company knows it will need to hire, the positions that a company expanding into new markets needs, the jobs that a company just moving to the area will be hiring, or the jobs that if the right person came along they would create a position. The hidden jobs also include those positions that become available because some quits, retires, or is fired. This is the true hidden job market.

I started recruiting 30 years ago and this was part of Recruiting 101 training. For years I read the section “People On Move” in our local business journal. I would call the company that the person left to see if I could present them with a candidate. I wanted to engage them before they put it out on the street, or in those days, the newspaper.

Candidates waste too much time conducting worthless networking, going to meetings, coffees, lunches, and so on. Sooner or later they get burned out on networking. Most will let this often meaningless activity occupy 75% of their time.  For most, this is a lot of time with little or no results to show for it.  Julie makes a great point that instead of spending 75% of your time networking,  change the mix to 50% of your time spent doing research to find the hidden job market and 25% networking.  This is such a great concept that I wish I could take credit for it.

Julie was a Wall Street recruiter for almost a decade and she knows this from personal experience. One more reason I believe that the best coaches you can work with in your job search are current or past recruiters. Recruiters live job searching. That is what we do. After 10 years we are as good at what we do, as you are at what you do.  If  you are ever going to pay someone to help you with any aspect of your job search, my recommendation is always find a person that was a SUCCESSFUL recruiter. They know the tricks of the trade just like Julie.

Here are some suggestions to help:

1 .Subscribe to your local business journal. This is a must. Read it weekly for tips on what companies are doing in your area.  This is research. You will discover companies that discuss how they are rapidly growing, sales are increasing, or you might read about a company looking to outsource in China. A company may announce that they are opening a new facility in your area, or many will reveal in their articles new systems they are implementing, expansion plans in Europe, the need for new distribution facility, and so on.

These are all great tips that you should take advantage of. These companies are going to have a need for a person with your skills and experience. This is your chance to engage them before they go to market and hundreds of other candidates start contacting them.

2. Don’t forget the People On The Move section. Most companies don’t hire from within. Often because they are too small to have people in place ready to go if someone leaves. Also, few companies can fill a position within the two or three week notice period given by the departing employee.

3. The business journals will discuss the hottest industries in your community. Then you can do some simple research in your community to find businesses in these industries.

Now you can send these companies a targeted letter introducing yourself and how your experience will benefit them as they tackle these issues. You are ahead of the hiring curve,  not behind it as most candidates are.

The other great benefit to the method is that you are not competing against 500 other resumes received, 300 candidates sending emails, 100 candidates searching for connections on LinkedIn or 50 candidates calling the hiring manager or stopping by the company.

You have the exclusive on these hidden jobs.

Consider changing your strategy to 50% of your time researching the hidden job market and 25% networking.

Would you like to know if your job search is effective? If you would, then download our free Job Search Self Assessment Scorecard and rate your job search. This will also help you find any weaknesses in your job search so you can fix them. CLICK HERE to download.

If you need to make sure that your Linkedin profile is outstanding and compelling, our LinkedIn Assessment will definitely help you. It is free to download. CLICK HERE.

Finally, cover letters can be tricky. We have a sample cover letter that is proven to align your background with the job. Recruiters and HR like this style as it makes their job easier. CLICK HERE for your free sample.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

How To Get Job Lead Referrals. 3 Simple Steps

I preach all the time how important it is in a job search to have a steady stream of job lead referrals coming from your network. Few disagree with this.  Few also do much about it.  Oh they go through the motions, they generate a lot of activity, they meet a lot of people, and they go to so many networking groups they have lost count. Yes, even after all that activity, one of the biggest issues I have to help candidates with is getting referrals from their network. In fact, most of the people that come to me requesting job search help, this is the catalyst that starts our relationship.

The conversation often begins,”I have been looking for X number of months with very little results. I’m actively networking, meeting people all the time and just not getting the right referrals or leads. Can you help me?”

This person hasn’t built a sales force. They’ve built a lot of contacts, but every top sales person knows few contacts buy anything. Connections and a relationship often result in a sale.

So here is the proverbial $64,000 question for you, “How many sales reps do you have out in the field selling you?” If you answered 50 or more you can move on to the next article. If you answered, “I don’t know.” Here is how to find out, “Are you happy with the quality and quantity of the job lead referrals you are getting?” If no, read on. If yes, move on.

I find that most job seekers have less than 15 (usually around 10) really solid job lead referral sources  in their network. Most are getting referrals to other people, usually service providers, but not job leads. Few are tapping into the hidden job market.

The people I work with have a goal of 50 sales reps. I call them sales reps, because every candidate needs to have at least 50 people in the market place promoting and selling them every time a job lead or potential job lead comes up. The larger the geographical area, the larger the number of sales reps required.

My all time favorite line that best describes effective networking was given to me years ago by a person that understood networking before networking was even a word. Bill Ellermeyer said to me,”You have to take a contact and turn it into a connection.” Read it again if you didn’t pick up on what real networking is all about. This hits the problem square on the head.

Job seekers are not making connections, most are making contacts. Many don’t even know if the contact is willing to refer them or not.

So start turning all those contacts into connections. 50 great connections are worth more to you than 500 contacts. So start focusing on getting the 50.

Some ways to do that include:

1. Network with a purpose. Stop going to every networking meeting on the planet. Stop meeting every person referred to you. Start going to networking meetings that will provided you the connections you need to get job leads. If the meeting isn’t going to meet this goal, why go? Do your homework before spending a lot of time with someone. Ask the referring sources some qualifying questions about the person and why they think this person would be a good referral source for you. Don’t just run off and spend all that time meeting a bunch of people.
2. Select or target the people that can help you and eventually you can help them. Generally, if it is a service provider you are trying to make your sales rep,  they want business referrals. They want to meet decision makers. So you should have a list of people you are relying on for help and find out from them exactly what types of business referrals they want. Stop asking the question, “How can I help you?” Every service knows that rarely leads to anything. You want referrals so do they. So ask them, “What business introductions can I make for you?” Have your rolodex with you. Open it up right there and give a good referral. They now owe you.
3. Follow-up with these people regularly. Every sales manager knows you have to keep in-touch with your sales reps and with the customer. So you need to do the same thing.  Since you know the backgrounds of the people they want to meet invite them to meetings, introduce them to a potential referral  over coffee with you there to make the introduction, call and inquire if hey would be interested in meeting this person or that person, invite them to a social event, golf, sporting event, drinks, conference.  Maybe they would like to meet one of your other 50 sales people so they can network together. Why not set up  a small group meeting.  There are so many opportunities to take this contact and turn it into a connection once  you start thinking about it. The problem is very few think about it.

It only takes the ability to focus on the right things that will lead to quality job leads. I can tell you from personal experience, when I can get the candidates I work with in this mode most see quality job leads start coming in. Having a sales force is critical to a successful job search.

So please go out today and start building your sales team.

For a FREE example of a cover letter CLICK HERE.

For a FREE example of a Thank You letter CLICK HERE.

For many more FREE resources and articles, join our Job Search Networking Group on LinkedIn. 5200 people have done this. CLICK HERE to join.

If your LinkedIn profile doesn’t demonstrate you are the expert in your field you may be missing opportunities. Recruiters, HR and hiring authorities often start looking on Linkedin. This tool is critical in a job search. CLICK HERE to learn  how you can build an outstanding Linkedin Profile.

I welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions and ideas.

Brad Remillard

The Hot Potato Method vs. the Swarming Method of Applying for a Job

We discussed the Hot Potato Method of responding to a job advertisement in my last blog post. Everyone recognizes it’s both dysfunctional and ineffective – so why does everyone keep doing it? The other day on our once-a-month candidate open forum – this exact issue came up. The participant indicated that they keep applying for jobs – but are getting no responses – Duh!

A much better approach is what I would like to term “The Swarming Method” of responding to a job advertisement.

Back to basketball metaphors. My HS team plays an upbeat, fast-paced pressure style of basketball. We press constantly. In one of our presses, we swarm the ball handler to the point where they are so overwhelmed they almost just hand us the ball on a silver platter. You want to accomplish the same outcome when applying for a job – your campaign is so intense and overwhelming to the company/hiring manager, they have no choice but to grant you the interview.

The Swarming Method of Applying for a Job combines an effective cover letter, a strong resume, social media leverage, and deep networking to produce the desired result – GIVE me an interview!

We could extend the same metaphor to football where the defensive line charges the quarterback and tries to “sack” him before he can run or throw a pass. The pressure applied to the opposing team is overwhelming. The same strategy needs to be applied to your responses to job advertisements.

From this point forward, I would like you to make me a promise: No more passive job responses, no more walking away and forgetting about your response to an advertisement has a campaign, a blitz, a press, an overwhelming amount of pressure brought forward in the goal of securing an interview.

I thrown out some ideas you could use in the press or blitz attack on a response to an advertisement. Let’s hear from our subscribers and readers:

What do you do that’s most effective in obtaining an interview?

What tactics have you not yet applied to your job responses?

How effective is your network, social media activity, and connectivity to hiring managers/executives, HR professionals, and recruiters? For example, have you downloaded our FREE LinkedIn Profile Assessment to discover if your Profile is effective in capturing the attention of hiring managers and executives, HR professionals, and recruiters?

When was the last time you tweaked your resume for a specific job and wrote a well-thought through custom cover letter?

Brad and I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas – we’re preparing a special report on the Swarming the Job Response Approach. Perhaps, we’ll feature your idea as a best practice suggestion.

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Discussion Job Search Discussion Group to learn more about the Swarming the Job Response Approach.

picture courtesy of kmc14kmc

The Hot Potato Method of Applying to a Job Opening

I touched on this idea the other day in a blog article when I mentioned the idea that you should have a plan for how to attack or blitz a job opening. Let’s explore this idea a little further.

Most candidates treat responding to job advertisements like they are a hot potato – touch and get rid of it. Some of the girls on my HS basketball team play basketball in this same manner. OMG – somebody threw me the ball – I better get rid of it quickly. I’ll treat the basketball like it’s a hot potato.

Why does this happen – even after I suggest ever so politely to the young ladies on my basketball team that we are NOT playing hot potato basketball. It happens due to a lack of knowledge in what to do with the basketball, fear of screwing up, fear of being embarrassed, just plain “freaking-out” over the pressure of having to do something.

Why do so many candidates play hot potato with their responses to job openings? They respond frequently with a standard resume and a standard cover letter and that is the extent of their effort in applying for a job – let’s call this method “Hot Potato Job Responding”. The overall process of responding to a job opening takes perhaps 3 seconds – much like tossing the proverbial hot potato.

You’ll never get a job using the Hot Potato method unless random luck intervenes in the process. It’s passive! You sit by the phone praying it will ring. Your investment of 3 seconds yields nothing!

STOP playing “Hot Potato Job Responding!”

It’s depressing, dysfunctional, and reeks of desperation.

Start creating a campaign around every job response: custom cover letters, custom resumes that address the job requirements, targeting the hiring manager, connecting through social media, beating the bushes in your network for referrals and introductions. Imagine yourself as a linebacker rushing the quarter on a blitz. The same strategy should apply for every job opening.

Don’t be the one who waits helplessly like a victim for the phone to ring. Make the phone ring by shifting your approach to answering ads from “”Hot Potato Job Responding” to the football “blitzing” approach.

Brad and I explore the various methods of responding to ads in our Home Study Job Search Kit. We also have a wealth of FREE Content on our website in the form of templates, audio programs, and examples.

Are you doing everything you can to conduct an effective job search? Have you taken our self-assessment scorecard to determine if you are conducting a job search that will reduce the time in half it takes to find a great opportunity?

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to participate in our LinkedIn Job Search Group and join the discussion on how to get a call back for an interview after you respond to a job advertisement.