Job Hunting Advice for a Midlifer

One of my clients is a midlife guy whose resume makes him look unqualified for the position he aspires to: operations manager at a 10-50-employee high-tech company.

Here are a few of the strategies I offered him:

• With your networking contacts, use a one-page bio rather than your resume. The bio allows you to highlight your strengths. Your resume lays too much bare for everyone to see.
• Like most geek types, indeed most men, you've put all your work effort into working and into getting more skilled, and no time building what alas seems more required than ability: a network. So rather than continue only to tap your existing network, which you describe as having already been queried enough, you must take the time to build a new network, which includes, not just formal networking events, joining clubs, taking positions on small boards, etc, but making conversation with people you meet everywhere, from the supermarket line to the people waiting at the barber shop.
• Having limited experience in your aspired-to job, you must do some reading and informational interviews with respected people in those positions. That way, you'll be able to discuss how the job is well-conducted. For example, as an operations manager, you should be able to richly discuss the ways in which you'd manage upward and downward, your approaches to getting buy-in on technical implementations from the not-very-technical people who will be using it, etc.

Job Hunting Advice for New Graduates

A friend of mine asked for my advice for his son. The situation is prototypical, so I thought I'd share his situation and my suggestion.

The son is a new college graduate with a BA in psychology from a reasonably regarded but not prestigious state university. He's tried to land a job for a year but can only land something he could have gotten with a high school diploma. He asked if I had any advice. I suggested he try one or more of these strategies:

• Identify one company, govt office, or non-profit at which you''d most like to work. Read up on it and then talk to one, or better, two or three people there, explaining why you'd love to work there, and what are some of his better skills and abilities. If necessary, it could be an internship or low-pay job as a launchpad.
• Ask relatives, friends, parents of friends, etc. Usually only people who love you will--especially in this job market--give you even a strong lead on a good job. Be sure to tout your transferable skills--for example, the leadership and organizational skills you acquired as your fraternity's activities chair.
• If you've tapped out your network, you must build a new one. Volunteer at places likely to give you face time with people who could employ you. Create deep connection: listen to them, offer to help them, tactfully teach them something, be pleasant.
• Start a low-cost, simple, non-trendy business, replicating a successful formula, for example, a coffee/dessert cart in the lobby of a large hospital or office building. Status is the enemy of contentment. After the first cart is successful, establish a second one and hire trusted people to staff both. Keep expanding until you've netted $200,000 a year. More than that and the quality control often goes down or the workload expands too much. $200,000 is more than enough to live well on.

If that advice is inadequate, your son might read one or more of these:

• What Career to Pursue
• Top Careers for the Coming Decade
• Developing Drive
• Finding a Good Job in a Bad Market
  

Only if all that is unsuccessful, would I recommend his seeing a career counselor. If he needs to do that, he might ask who the best career counselor is in the career office at his alma mater.

How to Get Hired in the C-Suite: CEO, CFO, COO, CIO.

I just finished a session with a client who is looking for a CEO or COO job. I told him these ways of landing one:

• Using the Red Book or your connections, identify the key 20 retained headhunters who specialize in C-Suite biotech companies and get your high-level connections to tout you to them.
• Email, phone, and/or meet with all your colleagues who are or are connected to C-Suite or corporate board members. Tell them the sort of position you're best at. (In his case it's mid-stage startup neurobiology-centric companies.)
  
• Do high-level volunteerism, for example, join a board.
  
• Write an article for a leading industry publication, especially an article that includes interviews with industry leaders.
  
• Give a presentation at an industry conference, perhaps co-presenting with an industry leader.
• Throw a party in which your connections plus others are invited.