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Sep
13
Advice for Job Seekers
Filed Under Wisdom
One of my younger brothers sent me his résumé earlier this week. He wanted me to look it over and help sharpen it up a bit. He’s been working the same job for the past several years and has moved up in title and responsibility, but he’s just not feeling his stride. He lives in New York City and is a lethal mix of creativity and dependability. Those two strengths are not often found in the same person, but for my brother, he’s got it. His challenge is getting that message across to potential employers.
A one-page résumé has got to be one of the worst methods ever invented for being able to show who you are, what you’re made of, and why someone should hire you.
For the most part, I’m convinced that employers want to see passion and then profession. I want to work with people that want to work with me. If someone is just looking for a job, I’m not interested. But if you’re looking for a place to grow, a place to bring your A-game, a place to collaborate with others and move closer to world domination, I want to talk.
A résumé is not going to do all of this for job seekers. I suggest you spend less of your time cleaning up your past and instead focus on getting the attention of your next employer. Consider:
- Jumping out of a cake
- Posting a video appeal on YouTube
- Writing a song about you and the new company
- Have ten friends hand-write a letter suggesting you
- Send a link to a mock-up of how you’d design things
- Hold a sign outside as people enter the office in the morning
This is not about gimmicks or being obnoxious. This about connecting the passion you have to work there with the passion they have to find the right people.
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5 Responses to “Advice for Job Seekers”
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Good words. When my wife applied for her current teaching job she faced a glut of well-qualified applicants and not a lot of open positions.
When she found a kindergarten job that sounded like a perfect fit, we put together a pack of crayons and re-labeled them to talk about Abby’s experience, credentials, etc.–essentially why she’d be great for the job.
It was kind of cheesy, yes, but the interview committee loved it. Her first week or so everyone commented about how ‘you were the one with the crayons, right?’
Impression made. Job filled.
This last time I found myself with an unplanned opportunity for change I
aggressively and creatively entered the job hunt. I bought the book Gorilla
Marketing for Job Hunters and read a story of pizza persistence that can be
found here:
http://guerrillajobhunting.typepad.com/guerrilla_job_hunting/2006/02/pizza_persistan.html
I loved the story and sought out new and creative ways to attract attention and
show my passion to targeted employers. Excitement I had plenty of because I
“knew” this was the path to my future employer and career jump. At one point I
was sending expensive gift baskets to CEOs along with my gorgeous resume package
in an attempt to bypass the entry level employees most HR departments use to
screen. I wanted to guarantee my well crafted resume on crazy expensive paper at
least reached a decision maker.
Thousands of dollars later spent on a creative job search I did land the perfect
job. However, the initial contact was my resume attached to an email. I probably
would have shipped a gift basket yet by this time I was broke and just applied
for food stamps. Personally, I hate food stamps. They are always sticking to the
roof of my mouth!
Here is a little of my insight from this last challenge:
• Don’t fear it – embrace it: a job change is one of the best
things that can happen to a person, especially if it is unexpected.
• Triple check your communications: I tried to customize my
packages and on several occasions they were mailed with huge mistakes. Not good
when you are claiming to have a “passion for excellence”
• Motivate yourself: this is the hard one. When looking for
work you face rejections after rejection. I would set a goal of how many
packages to mail in a week and then treat myself to a movie.
• Network, Network, Network: a friend emailed me a link to the
job I eventually landed. I once read a study that most jobs are found through
your indirect contacts. The very last stage for an employer is to advertise open
positions. Networking with everyone you know should be your primary strategy.
• Don’t stop after a good interview: years ago I had a dream
interview at a dream job. I had so much faith I started to pack moving boxes and
I stopped my job search. Two months later they hired someone else and I lost two
months.
• Stretch yourself and your career: I always try and go after
employment that normally would be above my “pay grade”. If your next position
doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable professionally you are not moving forward.
• A job search is like fishing: The more you cast your line out
the better your chances of catching a fish. In other words – TAKE ACTION AND DO
IT! The word search is not a passive word.
Too me endurance is the key attribute needed for a successful job search. You
just can’t give up no matter how bad it looks.
I was lead to this website by Kevin D. Weeks’ website. I was at Kevin’s website because of an article someone wrote where he paraphrased Kevin’s “How to hire a programmer”. It caught my eye because I have all five desirable qualities.
Right now, I’m looking for a job, and I’m having difficulty because I haven’t figured out how to inform people about this article, convince them that these qualities are what matter, and offer these qualities to them in the form of myself. Employers seem to be interested in only introduction by resume, and though mine starts with a preamble of where I’ve been and what I’m looking for (which at least two reviewers appreciated), I don’t see a place where I can introduce the significance and availability of Kevin’s observed, seemingly not computer related attributes.
Otherwise, you mention a desire for passion, and I have to tell you, having done this sort of thing for 25+ years and noticing that at least 98% of the work out there follows the incredibly boring and uninteresting movement of money, I can’t get all that excited about it. Additionally, no matter how much I might love the company I work for, I know that if they need to let people go, loyalty matters little.
If I can do the job very, very well, care about doing the job very, very well, am inherently unable to do the job less than very, very well, and can adapt to any change in technology, isn’t that good enough? Look, I’ve been around. I’m deathly bored. I’d rather be doing something else. But I need the money, and I will very, very likely do the job better than 99% of the people employers have met. Any passion is in “how” I do the work, not “what” is being done (unless, of course, by some freak of nature, it actually is interesting).
Oh, and personally, people tend to think I’m a fairly nice guy besides – but that doesn’t reveal itself until the seemingly elusive interview.
I was recently contacted by a church here in Tulsa about a creative position at their church. They found my resume online at a staffing site and I had coffee with the head of the creative department this week. No decision was made, but we are going to speak again. After reading your article and the comments so far I know that I need to pursue this position harder if I really want it. If it is a creative job that I want then I should probably do something creative prove that I am the best and most passionate person for the position.
Thanks for the inspiration and motivation guys.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.