Five Tips for Smart Job Seekers

My PsychologyToday.com article today, Five Tips for Smart Job Seekers, 

is part of a four-part series of tips for smart people. 

The others are: 
Five Tips for Smart People in a Not-So-Smart World

Six Dating Tips for Smart People


Ten Tips for Parenting a Smart Child.  (It will be published 1/11/18 at around 9 PM Pacific time.)

Google’s head of human resources, Laszlo Bock, reported that in choosing employees, they greatly value reasoning ability: “The second-best predictors of performance (next to job-task simulations) are tests of general cognitive ability.” While perhaps not stating that publicly, many of my clients who hire agree.

Most employers don’t give tests of cognitive ability. How can a high-ability job seeker best reveal it? My PsychologyToday.com article today offers tactics that my clients have found helpful.

Come to the Free Class I'll be Teaching: How to Land a Good Job in a Bad Market

I'll be teaching a free class, How to Land a Good Job in a Bad Market at Berkeley Adult School this Saturday, Sep. 7 from 10 AM to 1 PM. For information, click HERE.

Long-Shot Strategies for Landing a Job

For some reason, I was more uninhibited than usual in this radio interview.

It's on long-shot strategies for landing a job. HERE is the link.

Job Search Shortcuts

The process of looking for a job can be daunting. Sometimes there are shortcuts. My AOL post today offers shortcuts.

CareerSonar: An easy way to find job openings where you have a connection

CareerSonar is an easy, free way to find job leads at organizations where your Facebook and LinkedIn connections work

I'll be Making Five Presentations at The Commonwealth Club's Future of Work Series

The Commonwealth Club is America's oldest and largest public affairs forum. I'm honored that it has invited me to return for my fourth speaking engagement there.

This time it's five presentations in its Future of Work series:

Aug 1. What Every Career-Minded Person Should Know for 2013 and beyond.

Aug. 2: Ahead of the Pack Job Search Strategies

Aug 9: Keys to Beating the Odds in Starting a Business

Aug. 16: Getting Promoted (or at least not laid off)

Aug. 23: When Should and Shouldn't You Follow Your Passion?

For info and tickets, click on the previous links.

The Commonwealth Club has issued a press release with information on all the Future of Work series presentations. HERE it is.

A Plan for the Long-Term Unemployed to Find Work

You're long-term unemployed and perhaps scared you'll never work again, at least not at the level you used to.

Here's a potent plan for moving forward and finding good work:

1. Do a personal audit. Sure, some people are long-term unemployed just because of bad luck, but the pool of people who are long-term unemployed, is, on average, not as bright, knowledgeable, hard-working, reliable, and enjoyable to work with as is the pool of employed people.

So imagine that all the people who know your work well were in a room. For each of the above attributes, what would be the average report card grade they'd give you. If you're not sure, ask people, perhaps anonymously, perhaps using www.checkster.com. In light of that feedback, do you need to make changes in yourself to avoid being quickly fired or laid off again? To become prouder of yourself?

2. Contact your existing network. They're the most likely to be willing to hire or give a good lead to a long-term unemployed person.

3. Cold-contact realistic employers. A brand-name company or a company in a popular field, for example, fashion, entertainment, or the environment, is too unlikely to have to hire a long-term unemployed person--they usually receive plenty applications from the currently well-employed. You may eventually get to work for a highly selective employer but, as a long-term unemployed person, you probably should, for now, focus on landing a job at a company with less stringent hiring requirements. Here's how:

• Make a list of 20-50 less-competitive employers: non-sexy industries, smaller companies, temp agencies, etc. Don't worry whether an employer lists an appropriate job opening. You're mainly trying to get a job/project created for you so you don't have to compete with hordes for an advertised job. HERE are some sources of employers.
  
• Find the name and contact info of people with the power to hire you: by Googling, databases like Jigsaw, the company operator, etc.
• Phone those employers, or even walk in. Leaving voice-mail is okay. Don't send your resume unless asked--The resume of a long-term-unemployed person highlights that ugly gap in your employment.

4. Consider starting your own very simple business. If I were long-term unemployed and broke, I might, for example, start a shoeshine stand on a busy downtown street. I'd have prominent signage with a catchy name like Shine On, Rise and Shine, Dianne FeinShine, or So Fine Shoe Shine. Once I learned the art and business of shoeshining, I'd set up a trusted friend with another shoeshine stand, asking for a small percentage of sales. I'd keep cloning that business until I was making enough money. Then I'd sell the business and use the proceeds to start another simple business, for example, a soup cart chain called Souper. As a long-term unemployed person, in the above situation, I'm likely to more quickly and probably enjoyably make a middle-class living or even get wealthy doing that than if I tried to convince an employer to pay me a middle-class salary.

5. Go back to school to prepare for a new career. A community college training program can give you a fresh start. Already have a degree? Remember that many people with bachelor's and even graduate degrees return to a community college for practical career training.

But most important, could your being long-term unemployed be a needed wake-up call? What should you do differently on your next job to avoid being dumped again?

How to Land a Good Job in a Bad Market

Here's my next column for the Mensa periodical, The Intelligencer. I thought you might like a look:

Landing a Good Job in a Bad Market

Of course, most want ads get hordes of applicants but most of those don't stand a chance: They're jargon-filled, generic, utterly undistinguished. I'm certainly not advocating silly ploys like including a jar of jalapeno preserves saying, "I can get you out of the hottest jam."

I'm asking you to create an above-average application. Start by playing detective on the employer's site: That's a way to learn its priorities and how it likes to portray itself. Dirt on the employer is more likely found by Googling it--Don't forget Google's blog and news searches. Use LinkedIn, your alumni directory, etc., to find people at the organization with whom you're connected. Try to set up an in-person or phone chat on what the employer is like and what to emphasize in an application.

In applying, if your resume is unlikely to be top-of-the-heap, for example, you're a career changer or have a gap in employment, consider substituting a bio. That allows you to highlight only what you want. A resume is a tool to help employers--it lays all of you bare. As with clothing, most of us look better with some parts hidden.

Your cover letter and resume should be devoid of clichéd job-seeker language such as "I'm a self-starter seeking an opportunity with a dynamic company." That leaches all chemistry and credibility from your application: The employer will feel s/he's reading from a job-hunting book not from the candidate. Do tell PAR stories: a problem you faced, how you approached it, and its positive resolution. Choose stories that would impress your target employer. That's a key rule: Everything you do in the job search should be subjected to this test: "Would this make this employer more likely to hire me?"

Do put your Mensa membership on your resume. The right employers will like it; the wrong ones won't.

If possible, with your application, include one or more pieces of collateral material . One of my clients applied for a sales job with a government contractor. He included a list of 50 federal decisionmakers he'd call if he got the job. Another client, a career changer, to show the employer that he knew a lot about hospital management, wrote a three-page White Paper called, Keys to Effective Hospital Management in 2012 and Beyond. He did the research for that paper just as he might have a term paper in school: by synthesizing articles he found on Google.

Of course, at least half of jobs are obtained through a connection. List the people in your network. Twenty-five is good, 50 is better. Next to each name, decide if it's best to just email them, invite them for coffee, dinner, to a party, visit them at their office, etc. When you contact them, ask if your resume makes them want to hire you. Then ask if they know of anyone you should talk with. If not, ask if they'd keep their ears open and if you're still looking in a month, would they mind if you followed up. That recruits them as a scout--they're more likely to hear of something during the month than just when you contacted them.

If your network is paltry or used up, you'll need to expand it. Could you volunteer somewhere you'd have face-time with potential employers, for example, on a non-profit board? Get active in a church? Join a service club such as Rotary? A hobby group such as an investment club or dog-owner's meetup? A political organization? Of course, go to more Mensa events--Hey, even the Intelligencer Peel-and-Stick party might help!

Importantly, even in a lousy job market, it's important to vet potential employers. During the interview, ask questions such as, "Why is this position vacant?," "What kind of problems would you most hope I'd solve?," "What would you hope I'd accomplish in the first 90 days that would help my boss get a gold star?" After being offered the job, ask to visit the workplace. There, assess the vibe: Do most employees seem content? Hang out in the break room. Ask questions like, "What should I know about working here that might not appear in the employee handbook?

Especially in this job market, there sure are no guarantees, but those are my best bets for landing a good job in a bad market.

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.

The Career Advice I Offered on the Ronn Owens Program

This morning, I made one of my every-three-months appearances on the Ronn Owens Program, (he's pictured right.) It's one of the most listened-to radio shows on the West Coast.

The foci were: choosing a career, landing a job, and being successfully self-employed in these tough times. The show is archived HERE. for one week only.

Most of the program consisted of my answering questions from listeners but Ronn asked me some good questions. Here are the ones I recall and a paraphrased and sometimes expanded version of my answers:

If you had an adult child facing this job market, what advice would you give?

If my child wanted the false security of a paycheck, I'd have him or her work for a top company, for example, P&G, Google, GE, Infosys--even if he had to start in the mail room. I'd teach him how to build relationships with higher-ups so he could move up.

But if my kid showed even the slightest potential for being able to run his or her own business, I'd have my child get an internship at the elbow of a successful ethical entrepreneur and then start a simple, offshoreproof business: for example, selling Harry Potter paraphernalia out of a box near movie theatres. Simple, cloneable, not-offshoreable businesses, especially low-status ones, may be the surest route to successful employment in the coming decades.

Relatedly, a caller asked for advice about how to start a simple healthy food business.

I suggested he have a soup cart called Souper, in which he sold organic, low-sodium, delicious minestrone, clam chowder, and--Jewish penicillin--chicken soup, located in the best location the police department, which issues the permits, will allow.

Let's say your brother or sister were in his 40s and just laid-off. What would be your advice?

You've been around a while so you've met lots of people. You don't need to be close. They only need to have liked you. Tell them what you're looking for or your best couple of skills and ask if they know someone you should talk with about a job or consultancy. Don't be too picky about the field. Be pickier about the boss and that it will be moderately challenging.

If your brother were 60, would your advice be any different?

Well, maybe it would be interesting to hear what I myself would do if I were 60 and looking for work. I'd run for office on a radical honesty platform:

• There will be ever fewer good-paying jobs, so it's wise to find contentment in a materially simpler life. Look to relationships, creativity, beauty, etc.
• Let's stop spending so much on education, including HeadStart. Education accomplishes far less than we wish it would. The money is better in your pocket.
• America has neither the guts nor the money to win wars nor be the world's policeman. We need to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and become a more typical member of the world of nations. I'd return that money to the taxpayer. You will better spend the money than we in the government would. Your expenditures will create more jobs than the shovel-ready jobs that weren't, the stimulus that didn't.

I no doubt couldn't get elected to high office so, for starters, I'd try to get a city council job--It's often not that difficult to land such a job in a small city, and while they don't pay big, they often do pay and offer benefits. And in running for office, you meet lots of people, perhaps one who'd be interested in hiring you.

You always have at least one under-the-radar career you're bullish on. What do you have for us today?

With ever fewer people affording to buy a home, more people are renting. So if I were a blue-collar guy, I'd look for a job with a property management firm or for a developer that rehabbed distressed apartment buildings. If I were more entrepreneurial, I'd find some small apartment building that the tenants had ruined, get some friends or others to invest in my syndicate, we'd buy it, clean it up, and sell it.

The New York Times reported that people are staying put in their current job, afraid they won't find a better one. Do you have any new strategies for landing a job that are likely to work, even in these tough times?

One of my favorites is to interview biggies for an article you'd write for a trade publication. I had a client in finance. He got to interview a half dozen luminaries for the article, and at the end of each interview, he said he'd love to work for that person. One of them offered him a job.

Another strategy is to add ahead-of-the-pack collateral material to your applications for jobs. My favorite is a White Paper. Say you want a job in the fuel cell industry. Write a 2-to-5-page paper outlining core issues in the fuel cell field for 2012. That can give you an edge over most applicants, who just submit a sterile resume and cover letter.

Only Build Your Network When Employed

Yes, it's worth spending the time to build your network when you're employed.

But when unemployed, trying to build a network, including on LinkedIn, usually takes too long to turn nascent connections into even one that gets you an on-target job.

And that assumes the job seeker has the far-from-trivial ability to convert even one percent of such people into a such a powerful and motivated advocate.

Job seekers start out with a full tank of gas, a certain amount of energy they'll put into a job search before they give up. In attempting to convert strangers into even one powerful, motivated advocate, most job seekers will, before landing a good job, run out of gas.

The way for unemployed job seekers to not run out of gas is to do a great job of pitching their existing network and to write top-of-the-heap applications for on-target advertised jobs.