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Forget job searching... Start selling! Right now, it's the most effective way to land a job.

Charlie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:21:50 +0000

Word on the street is that there aren't many jobs out there right now.

Common knowledge, right?

Well, how can you tell? That's easy... just check the job boards. Not only does it anecdotally feel like there are less jobs out there, revenues at the big job boards are down 25-30% in the last quarter alone. Companies just aren't paying to post jobs anymore.

But does that mean they don't need anyone?

Actually, quite the opposite. Companies still have the same basic needs as they always had--to get people that help them make money, to get people who help them operate more efficiently, and to get people who give them an advantage over their competitors. In fact, many of the companies laying people off in the last year didn't cut back because of the economy--they cut back using the economy as an excuse to upgrade their people. Why pay good people at 2007 salaries, when you can get awesome people at 2009 salaries, which are much less?

That means that there are still lots of opportunities to join companies and help them succeed--but you're just not going to find them on a job board. You have to think of yourself less like a searcher looking for job listings and more like a salesperson offering a product--yourself! You need to get out there and pitch your skills to companies, whether or not they have listed "openings", because waiting for that perfect opening, and hoping to be picked out from the thousands of people that are undoubtedly applying is a recipe for frustration and failure.

How many times have you bought something you didn't know you were looking for because of a compelling sales pitch? Well, it works the same way for companies. Even companies that supposedly have a hiring freeze will try to find ways to get good people on board if they feel that the person can add to the bottom line. Let's face it--all of these cuts were made in the first place because of the bottom line, so you need to position yourself as someone who helps the company make money, not costs it more.

So how do you conduct your job search like a salesperson selling a product?

Identify your customer base

Job listings are a start, but every company who could use someone like you is a potential employer. Salespeople start off with every possible customer and call them leeds. Then they systematically qualify them to see if they're worth pursuing. That's the "sales pipeline."

So, if you're applying to work for an insurance company, make sure you meet every single last insurance company with an office anywhere near you--because they probably need someone for the same exact position. Maybe they don't right now, but they probably will in the next few months. Get to know all of them and their needs.

Ask questions like:

What are your most pressing needs?

What's the liklihood of you hiring someone with my skillset in the next six months?

What's your current experience with the team you have doing what I can do? Any best practices I can learn from them or skills I'm missing if that team grew?

If you had an unlimited budget, who would your next 5 hires be?

Basically, when you apply to one company, you should be finding at least 10 others to talk to and introduce yourself. Why? Because the odds are against you with any open position, so it's a bit of a numbers game. If you get out ahead of an opening, by meeting companies with similar needs, you could guarantee yourself an interview and an inside track if the company gets to know you.

Know your pitch

What do you offer? How are you going to either make this company money or save them money--because that's really all they're concerned about in this kind of economy. You need to understand how your position contributes to the bottom line in terms of real numbers--and help the employer quantify how you're not really a cost, but a net gain. Will you bring in clients? Help upsell existing ones with your great customer service skills? Will you help free up other resources in a support role so they can bring in revenues?

The company has to walk away from an interview beliving that you are the best possible person at something that is critical to them otherwise they're simply not going to make room in the budget at this time.

Prepare your materials

This is where you can really stand out. When you reach out to a potential employer to introduce yourself, what are you sending? Just a resume? What is someone finding when they Google you? Just your Facebook profile.

No matter what your position, you can impress someone by preparing "materials", which in 2009 means a digital presence. Even if you're applying for an adminsitrator position, if you write the "Executive Administrator Organizing Tips Blog" each day or a few times a week, you're going to stand out in a big way.

Find a champion

Somebody needs to go to bat for you--someone who has influence over the budget. That's where networking and relationships come in. At the end of the day, you have to build a relationship with someone who is going to fight to get you hired, otherwise, you'll just get lost in a sea of resumes.

Get more leads

Companies actively participate in conferences and professional groups to meet more people and generate more sales opportunities for themselves and that's what you should be doing, too. Are you an active member of a relevent professional group? Maybe there isn't one locally and you should start it. Do you go to events where your customers (i.e. future employers) are likely to be?

The basic idea here is 1) Know what you're offering and 2) Hit the streets. Informational interviews, networking meetings and informal outreach should be part of your outreach--not just uploading and e-mailing your resume into the abyss.

Lindsay Pollak's Tips for a Jobless Summer

Charlie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:43:28 +0000

Great advice from Lindsay Pollak...

"...college students and recent grads can still improve their resumes without a traditionally “good” summer job or internship...

Volunteer. ...Although future employers will understand why you might not have a superstar internship on your resume for the infamous summer of 2009, they won’t understand why you don’t have any volunteer experience during that time period. Volunteer for Meals on Wheels, a political candidate, a soup kitchen, a Little League team, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, an animal shelter, anything. Search for thousands of opportunities at Idealist.org.

Take on a Project. I just finished reading the memoir Julie and Julia, which has been made into an upcoming movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The book is about a young woman with a boring temp job and dreams of becoming an actress who decides on a whim to spend a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writing a blog about it. A little weird? Check. A challenging, unique project that takes commitment, determination, creativity and confidence? Also check. If I were a recruiter for a cookbook publisher, restaurant chain or the Food Network, I’d call Julie in for an interview.

Can you spend the summer taking on a project related to your area of career interest? A business major could read through every book on the summer’s Wall Street Journal business best seller list and review each book on Amazon.com. An aspiring film industry worker could watch every film on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 best films of all time. An aspiring curator could tour every museum in a 200 mile radius. If you choose a worthwhile, valuable project, it could lead to a job (or a book deal)."

Is Social Media the Microsoft Office of Job Skills? Which skills will get you ahead and which will become the standard?

Charlie — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:02:08 +0000

Someone asked a question on the Path101.com Advice Network yesterday that made me think of trends on the demand side for certain skills:

"Who is hiring social media experts...is this field something being pursued in corporate America?" (Want to weigh in? Click here.)

It's an interesting question, but it also says a lot about the tough time candidates have trying to figure out what to learn next. According to Indeed.com, "social media" "twitter" and "blogs" are all skills growing in importance, but what does this mean?

Will this be a skill that everyone should know about, or will it only be an important skill for marketers? Is it a job in and of itself or will it be part of another job?

Path 101 is crawling millions of resumes from across the web to determine true career paths. Know what the most widely featured skill is? Microsoft Word (as if that wasn't obvious from the fact that you built a resume) In 1993, when Word was duking it out with WordPerfect, it might have been appropriate, but now it's pretty meaningless. You can't really rest your career on knowing Word these days, but there was probably a window for that at one time.

Is social media the same way? How long is the window? Will it be a "need to know" skill for everyone?

Got questions about what specific skills are viable in your field? Ask the Path101.com Advice Network.

Five ways to reinvent your career

Charlie — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:55:44 +0000

Someone just asked this question on Path101.com's career advice network:

"How to get through the bottleneck after 10 years working experience? I met the career bottleneck, there is little space for further development in my current job, to change a direction in this period is so difficult."

Switching careers isn't easy, so if you have any advice of your own, definitely let them know.

Here are some tips that we came up with:

1) Don't forget to be awesome at your current job. This is the #1 mistake career changers make. They are unhappy, don't like what they're doing and lack motivation, so they sometimes slack off--mailing it in a bit while they look elsewhere. That makes it really difficult to build up a good reputation in your company, which is crucial. If you are absolutely amazing at your job, but want to do something else, most companies would rather find something new for you to do and transition you over than completely lose you.

2) Have an constantly open dialogue with your supervisor about your career goals. If there are skills that you want to improve that would be important for a career shift, make sure your boss knows about them. People are pretty realistic. They know you're not going to stay in your job forever, so it shouldn't come as a surprise when you have long term goals that branch out from where you are. If you're getting your current work done, your supervisor can actually be an ally and a champion for you when it comes to helping you transition to other types of roles.

3) Find a stepping stone job--one that blends the job you have and the one you want. Try not to completely abandon the experience you already have. Let's say you are an accountant and you want to go into publishing. Working as an editor of accounting textbooks would enable you to make important publishing contacts that you might need and learn about the industry. Seeing where people go next can help you figure out a long term strategy. Try our Path 101 Resume Analysis tool to plot out some potential directions.

4) Become a resource to others. Anyone can start a blog about any topic. If you want to work in another industry, start an interview blog. You don't have to know anything--just be able to ask great questions and network. A few interviews a week with other bloggers in your target industry as well as notables that you're able to reach out to would enable you to build a presence and learn a lot. This works especially well when you're learning a new skill, like programming. A "Learning PHP" blog would be a great way to journal your progress and ultimately build your own brand.

5) Get ahead of the industry by getting experience that no one else has. It's really hard to break into an industry later on in life after everyone else has gotten a head start. However, in every industry, there is going to be some new trend in the next five years that, right now, no one really has any expertise in. Many times, it is around innovation and technology--or perhaps some analytical approaches to problems. Bill James and baseball is a great example. Now a special advisor to the Boston Red Sox, Bill James pioneered analytical approaches to evaluating players, even though he had no experience and was working as a nightwatchman at a pork and beans factory. If you try to figure out what the next trend is, you'll be starting out on the same page as everyone else--versus trying to mask your inexperience or trying to dress up your background too much. Not sure what's coming next? Ask industry experts, like the ones in our Path 101 Career Advice Network.

Will LinkedIn Help Me Find a Job?

Charlie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:40:42 +0000

"LinkedIn itself is merely a database. You signed up for it, so what? Did you fill out your profile? Invite people? Join groups? Did you actively network? You see, LinkedIn is merely a tool in your arsenal to assist you in finding a job and nothing more. After all, LinkedIn isnt hiring you, but companies and recruiters are. And companies and recruiters also have their own web sites. And they advertise on other sites. Some are starting to Twitter. So LinkedIn is not the only game in town."

nealschaffer shared http://linkedinquestions.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/will-linkedin-help-me-find-a-job/

Five tips for parents who have unemployed kids just out of college

Charlie — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:46:13 +0000

So you paid six figures in college tuition to get your kid back at home exactly the same way they left you--unemployed. Now what?

Here are a few suggestions to help your son or daughter take their first step--out of your house.

1) Don't put too much pressure on them. After all these years, you have to have learned as a parent that just yelling or pointing out problems doesn't exactly motivate your kids to solve them. Not only that, I'm sure your kids are pretty stressed out about the situation already. What they really need from you now is support and positive encouragement, because it's easy to let a frustrating job search get you down.

2) Open up your network to them. Are you on LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a site for managing your professional network. Since you probably have a much larger network than your kid, getting on there (here's how) can help them seek out industry professionals that can help them. Rather than you forcing them to meet your contacts, let them choose who they wanted to be introduced to from among your network. Encourage as many informational interviews as possible, but set the expectation that few of these meetings will turn into real job leads. Right now, they should simply be learning about what opportunities are out there and building their connections.

3) Support additional job-specific education. I know you've already spent a boatload on their education, but an additional class or two or professional certification might go a long way--especially if it's for a highly sought after skill that companies are looking for right now. Professional skills are always helpful as well, like public speaking or networking.

4) Give them some work. Maybe you've had a business idea that needs some researching, or there's some new innovation popping up in your industry that you've needed to get up to speed on. Hire them on as an unpaid consultant to you or others at your job. Maybe your business needs to improve its youth marketing strategy, or needs to work better with local business. Anything project work that allows your children to meet a lot of people and take ownership over a professionally useful result is good for their resume.

5) Introduce them to professional organizations and groups that need some young energy. Chances are, you belong to some kind of professional group or alumni association whose meetings are getting a little long in the tooth. They mean well, but they're often run by successful professionals who just don't have the time to do the heavy lifting. Getting a young professional involved to do some of the footwork and help execute some of these ideas--impressing all these senior folks, might be a win-win all around.

Bonus: In the NYC area? Path 101 is running a job search seminar for young grads and students on Wednesday, June 10th at 6:30PM.

You've graduated and you don't have a job. Now what? Five keys to your job search approach.

Charlie — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:40:23 +0000

A couple of weeks ago you graduated. You packed up all your stuff, moved home, and you've been catching up with friends for the last couple of weeks. You had a great Memorial Day weekend--BBQs, beach maybe.

But today is a new day--the first day of the rest of the summer. You have no job. You haven't heard back from most of the resumes you sent out before graduation. Frankly, in this economy, you have no idea what you're going to do.

Freaking out in 3... 2... 1...

You need to get serious about that job search. But, where and how do you start?

First off, if you're in the NYC area, Path 101 is running two intense job search workshops in June and spots are going quick. These won't be a waste of your time--where you pay for someone to tell you about resume buzzwords. You've got those. You know that. These will be about real strategies to get in the door and get noticed that are more than worth the price of admission (only $40).

So let's start with five basic principals to your approach--things that most students graduates tend to get wrong in their search.

1) Forget "I'm willing to do anything": No one wants an entry-level generalist.

This is a buyer's market. There is already someone out there who is exceedingly passionate about the exact job that I've just posted--in fact, probably two people. I have nearly zero incentive to hire someone who just sort of wants to get anything, because there's no chance that you're going to be better than someone who is really psyched. Here's the problem--you're honestly not sure what you want to do. Pick something and go with it. You don't have to live with this job or career path for the rest of your life. But for now, try and actually focus on something to learn about and make connections to. Be flexible enough to change that as you learn more, but without a specific goal, employers and networking connections will not only not know what do to with you, but they're just not going to perceive you to have the potential as someone with clear goals.

2) Most jobs aren't listed.

If all you're doing is looking on Monster or Indeed.com and applying to as many jobs as you can find, you're missing out on MOST of the jobs. Indeed has nearly every job on the web, but the reality is that most job opportunities just aren't listed. Jobs fall into three categories. First are the jobs that are actually listed. The bar to getting into this category is pretty high because it costs money to post a job. Therefore, it often feels easier for companies to just dive into a database of resumes, look at Facebook or LinkedIn or just use their own network to fill a position because they can do that for free. So, you've got a bunch of job opportunities that are open, where someone is looking, and maybe they've e-mailed people about them, but that you cannot find on any job board. I'd say that there's probably at least 4 unlisted jobs for every listed one--at least!

An even bigger pool is the group of potential jobs you could have if you convinced someone that you could make a positive impact at their company. Companies are always looking for amazing people. The trouble is, there aren't as many amazing people out there as you'd like, and companies don't find out about them often enough. When it happens, they'll do what it takes to find room in the budget and in the office for them. Hiring freeze? Not for everyone! Imagine if the very best freelance PR person in the industry decided that they wanted to go corporate and work for a firm. Don't you think that even if there was a companywide hiring freeze that the CEO of that company wouldn't trip over themselves to get them on board? It's not easy, but if you're dealing with someone high up enough and you're awesome enough, there's a spot for you at any company. You just have to know how to prove it and find the right connection.

3) Don't stop working or learning.

Think it's hard to get a job now? Try going into an interview six months from now when the person asks you "What have you been doing for the last six months?" and you're best answer is "Looking for a job." The next worst answer is "bartending". Don't get me wrong, bartending can pay the bills in a big way, but that's not the only thing you want on your resume this summer (and you probably don't want it on there at all).

It might take a lot of creativity on your part, perhaps financially, but you absolutely need to figure out something to do with your time that moves your career forward, even slowly. That can mean taking a class--not just any class but a class or workshop directly relevant to learning a skill that people list as important job requirements, like Excel, or a language, or sales training.

4) Publish, publish, publish... through any medium possible.

You need to standout. Thought leaders are writing, speaking, appearing on video everyday. If you're going to get yourself out there and get judged over and above your resume, you need to maintain an active online presence in the form of a blog. You can do videos, you can do essays, you can do interviews--it doesn't matter. The point is that you're using the internet to convey that a) you have communication skills, b) you're interested enough in an area to participate in the community of other passionate people who are doing this and c) you're innovative. If you're writing everyday about your interests, you'll learn more, because you'll research and interact with others more, and you'll sharpen your thinking.

5) Everyone can help you.

Any weekday that you are job searching that you haven't made at least three calls or taken three meetings is a failure. You need to get out there and meet and learn from as many people as possible. Why? Your networking contacts become deputy job searchers for you because they'll have their ear to the ground on your behalf based on the impression you made with them. Also, most students don't know very much about their industry of interest, so the more people talk to, the more you're going to get a sense of what the opportunities are and where you might get hired. Plus, an interview is an interview is an interview. Forget the fact that there may not be a specific job opportunity attached to all of them. Interviews are a chance for both people to get to know each other better--and the more interviews you go on, the more chances you have of making a hire-worthy impression. Some interviews you get by submitting your resume to a job post, but you can get lost more by just asking people to meet with you casually, but still professionally.

How to get these interviews, the best practices for a digital presence, and how to find jobs that aren't listed are all things we'll be covering at "GET HIRED - The best techniques to get your first job or your next internship"

From work to play (for your cause): Doing good and having fun with Zogsports founder Robert Herzog

Charlie — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:10:24 +0000

ZogSports is a charity-focused, co-ed, social sports club that promotes charity and social action amongst young professionals in New York (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens).

ZogSports organizes intramural sports leagues (touch football, outdoor and indoor soccer, volleyball, kickball, softball, dodgeball, basketball, touch rugby, floor hockey and whiffleball), trips, classes, clinics, social events and volunteer opportunities for young professionals. ZogSports donates a portion of all proceeds to charity and helps participants "Play For Your Cause" through charitable donations to winning teams’ charities of choice. In five years, ZogSports has over 55,000 people participating in their activities and has donated over $525,000 to charity.

ZogSports was conceived by Robert Herzog after his close call on 9/11. He decided to build on the tremendous human charity he witnessed post 9/11 and foster community in New York. Through ZogSports’ athletic, social and social action opportunities, we encourage members to maintain perspective and a more balanced lifestyle by having fun while also giving something back to the community. Robert holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics from Brown University.

It doesn't hurt to ask: Top 10 ways to ask smart questions

Charlie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:00:08 +0000

There's only one surefire way to increase your intelligence. It isn't a brain exercise or a special vitamin. The best way to get smarter is simple:

Ask questions.

These days it seems like everyone is Tweeting, blogging, podcasting. You're supposed to have something thoughtful to say and share all the time.

Admitting that you don't know something and asking a question has largely become a lost art. However, asking questions--smart, well thought out questions--can be an important habit to develop for your career. A good informational interview, for example, can impress someone enough for them to hire you. It can also shed some light on new approaches or career strategies that you haven't thought of.

Yet, people are still afraid to ask questions for fear of sounding unintelligent--asking the "stupid question". They have an unreasonably high expectation of what they think they're supposed to know and they overestimate what everyone else knows.

Therefore, the most important information we can provide may very well be a guide to get you more information on your own...

Here are the top 10 ways we know to ask smart questions:

1) Ask questions that give you insight into someone's thought process, not just the result they came up with, like "How did you figure that out?"

2) Follow up. A good follow up question shows that you're thinking on your own, and able to come up with things on the fly--not just reading off a list of questions. Following up after you meet someone, like a day later, means that you continued to think about what they had to say, and that makes someone feel better about giving you information.

3) Asking where and how someone learned something is better than just asking for the learned information outright--this way it puts the onus on you to teach yourself.

4) Listen first, and establish that you're at the point of not getting the answer unless you ask. Before you pepper someone with questions after step two of a ten step process, try to get a sense of whether the person has moved on to the next step and that they won't get to the info you need to know before asking. Sometimes, this means just waiting 30 seconds.

5) Describe your goal. Perhaps you're not asking the right question. If you're trying to build a rocket car, before you start asking someone about wheels and brakes, tell someone what you're trying to do so they can stop you and say, "You know rocket cars aren't legal to drive in street, right?"

6) Avoid questions about finding "the best" of something. "What's the best way to get an internship?" may result an in answer that isn't appropriate for you, or for the kind of internship you were trying to get. A much better question would be, "I'm trying to get an internship in finance. I'm an undergrad. If you were me, what would be some ways that you would get started?"

7) Don't be too open-ended. The worst question in the world is "How can I get a job?" The answer to that question is a whole book--maybe even a row of books in Barnes & Noble. Instead, narrow the focus to things that your source can reasonably answer like, "How have you seen people you know successfully getting jobs lately?" or "How should I spend a typical day, in terms of dividing up my time, job searching?" If you're too specific, you can always ask additional questions, but if you're too general, your source might skip important details.

8) Get additional sources. "Who else would be able to answer this question?" "Where else can I go for more information?"

9) Don't be a defeatist! When someone comes to me and says, "No one likes me... how do I get someone to like me?" they've answered their own question--it's their attitude. Someone who says, "I've tried everything to grow my business, what can I do to get more revenues?" has already conceded the fact that everything they do has and will be a failure. No one wants to give advice to someone who won't be optimistic about taking it.

10) Don't be afraid to ask! Even ask other people for questions if you have to. In fact, start right now! Go to the Path 101 career advice section and ask a question. Your question will get sent out to 5-10 professionals in an industry you choose, and you'll get notified when people answer if you create an account. Follow up with additional questions after you've learned something. There's nothing to lose and if you ask a few, you'll get better and better at figuring out what kinds of questions get you the best results.

Quit your high paying job as a software developer and become a musician? The Jonathan Coulton career plan

Charlie — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:55:05 +0000

Jonathan Coulton is a Yale graduate who left his day-job as a computer programmer to stay home and write songs. Isn't this the "living the dream" scenario that BTO sung about?

"If it were easy as fishin'
You could be a musician
If you could make sounds loud or mellow
Get a second-hand guitar
Chances are you'll go far
If you get in with the right bunch of fellows"

It sure sounded better than getting "to work by nine and start your slaving job to get your pay."

It certainly wasn't easy, though. Between 2005 and 2006 he wrote, recorded, and published a new song every week as a free podcast project called “Thing a Week.” This year-long experiment produced 52 consistently well-written and solidly produced songs, and he soon became an internet sensation.

Today, he actually makes more money as a fulltime musician than he ever made as a software developer. That's not to say he's abandonded his geek roots, though. Coulton releases all his music under a Creative Commons license that allows for legal file sharing and copying, as well as non-commercial derivative works. Avoiding traditional record label routes and using technology has paid off tremendously for Jonathan. His worldwide community of fans has rallied around him to generate airplay on hundreds of podcasts, create a library of music videos, and arrange gigs around the United States.

So how did he do it? Was it a scary proposition to quit his job and dive into his music? How did he inspire a community and generate a viable business when so many other musicians are struggling?

You can ask him live on April 16th, 2009 at 2PM Eastern on our Path 101 Career Chat on BlogTalkRadio.

You can also listen right here and dial-in at (646) 929-1686: