Tag: job hunting

A job search is a sales activity.  You are selling yourself and trying to persuade a company to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for your time and effort.  You need to present an advertising, marketing and sales material to get land an interview and need to make a better sales presentation than your competition.  If you don’t, someone else will land the sale and get hired.

There are a lot of people who detest sales.  They think it’s dishonest and unethical.  This view is completely wrong, but it exists in our society.  If you hold this view and refuse to try to sell yourself in your job search, you will be placing a huge obstacle in your path.  Selling is an activity that helps the buyer.  Buyers are not experts on the products they are buying – the sales people are.  A good sales person will help a person find the right product or service to buy.  You need to do the same in your job search.

A hiring manager is a buyer.  The hiring process is designed to assess candidates, learning as much as possible, so the hiring manager can make the best decision.  You need to make sure you are providing the information the hiring manager needs and show them the value you offer.  If you don’t do this, you won’t get hired.  There are a few key steps in the sales process you need to execute effectively:

Give a Reason To Buy:  The number one task in your job search is to give a hiring manager a reason to hire you.  This may seem obvious, but it is amazing how few people actually do this.  You need to show very clearly why you will provide more value to the hiring manager and employer than your competition.  Imagine going into a car dealer and the sales person shows you a car.  You ask why you should buy it, and the only answer is the car drives and will get you places.  This is what many job seekers do.  Their sales pitch is that they can do the job.  Meeting the absolute minimum requirements is not a sales pitch.  This is essentially saying “I offer the least value possible while still being able to do the job.”  Not very impressive.

Know Your Limitations:  You are not an ideal fit for every job.  There are plenty of positions where other candidates have a better combination of skills and abilities.  This isn’t a bad thing.  You can’t bet the best at everything.  You need to be the best at something.  Too many people try to cover every base possible.  Focus on what you are truly good at doing.  If a hiring manager wants someone with a different skill set, be honest.  You won’t land that job, but your honesty can make an impression and lead you to other positions with an organization.  The hiring manager may have the perfect job for you.  If you aren’t honest about your strengths and weaknesses, you may never discover this position.

Focus on Benefits:  One of the most basic lessons taught in sales courses is to focus on benefits not features.  In a job search, this is showing the contributions you will make.  To do this, you need to show the hiring manager similar contributions you have made in the past.  For example, in some cereal ads, the actors talk about how after eating one type of cereal, their cholesterol was lower, and their family was happier as a result.  Can you show how you exceed the expectations of a former boss and delivered specific results to the company?  This is what a hiring manager wants – the results that will allow them beat their budget and goals.  If you show how you will do this, you will be much more likely to get hired.

Listen:  Great sales people listen much more than they talk.  They learn as much about the needs of the customer as they can.  Because interviews are typically a series of questions by the interviewer and answers by the job seeker, it may seem difficult to listen to the needs of the hiring manager.  It’s much easier to learn what a hiring manager wants if you put forth a little effort.  The first step is to network with people who understand the company and job and learn as much as you can.  This will give you insight into the hiring manager’s perspective.  During the interview, pay attention to the type of questions being asked and ask questions to learn about the position.  For example:

• What are your goals for this position?
• What is the biggest challenge for this position?
• What do you want to see a person in this role accomplish in the first 3 months? 6 months? Year?
• How will I be assessed and evaluated in this role?

Answers to these questions will show you what a hiring manager wants.  Listen closely to the answers and show how you will meet these needs.

Follow Up:  Good sales people follow up, even after being rejected.  Make sure you send thank you notes after interviews, and stay in touch with hiring managers.  It may take months or years, but each relationship you develop and maintain has the potential to lead to offer. 

If you focus on selling your potential, you will maximize your chance of success.  If you don’t want to do this, you will help your competition gain the edge over you.

There was a time when advertising jobs was expensive and extremely difficult to do.  This led to the rule of thumb that 80% of jobs are unpublished and make up the “hidden job market.”  The job market was never hidden.  The logistics of advertising jobs was difficult and job seekers did not have a simple way to search efficiently.

Today, all a company needs is a webpage and they can start promoting their jobs around the world.  Companies want to hire the best people and actively try to attract these individuals.  Few jobs today are kept secret and typically these are only senior level positions.  The reason the company doesn’t disclose the search is usually because there is only one person in the position in the company and that person is going to be replaced. 

The vast majority of jobs are actively advertised by companies.  This doesn’t make it easy to find all the opportunities.  There are so many advertised jobs and places to look it can be overwhelming just sorting through the listings. 

When companies advertise jobs, they will usually use a number of tools.  The company website is the first place jobs appear.  After that, the jobs may be posted on community sites, niche job boards and the big job boards.  Many of these sites charge significant fees to post jobs, so it is rare for a company to post on all the big job sites.  This makes it essential for a job seeker to use a variety of sites to find a position. 

Two of the tools to make the process easier for job seekers are Indeed and SimplyHired.  Both sites are job aggregators.  They search the web for jobs listed on other sites and repost them.  The search functions have some limitations because the jobs come from such varied sources, but this is more than made up for by the ease of searching so many sources at once. 

Active job seekers should use one of these tools.  Both have email alerts and RSS feeds to update the job seeker about new jobs that fit saved searches.  This can help ensure the job seeker does not miss a good opportunity. 

Using these tools should not replace all other job search tools.  As broad as the selection of jobs is, no tool is completely comprehensive.  Using a job aggregator along with a variety of job sites that suit the specific goals of the job seeker can provide a comprehensive approach to finding opportunities.

Networking is the most effective job search technique.  All other techniques will take more time and have a lower success rate.  Unfortunately, many job seekers fail to use their network.

There are three reasons job seekers don’t network.  First, many job seekers that are unemployed withdraw from friends and associates.  Whether it is motivated by a lack of confidence, depression or embarrassment, many people hide their job search from the people they know.  Second, job seekers often fail to recognize the relationships they can use to help their search.  Third, many job seekers don’t know what help they can get from people they know.

To maximize your job search success, you need to overcome these three obstacles. 

A lack of confidence can be very difficult to get over.  Getting fired or laid off does nothing to change the accomplishments you had.  Focus on your successes.  This is good advice for anyone.  Your resume should emphasize accomplishments, and you should talk about your past successes in interviews.  Preparing to do these two things can help you restore your confidence.

Most job seekers consider very few people in their network as resources for their job search.  The truth is you have hundreds or thousands of potential allies that can help you.  Let’s look at the math.  A person with just 10 friends and associates has access to a team of more than 100 that can help.  The reason this works is that each of your ten friends has 10 other friends.  If you asked everyone you know if they know anyone at a particular company, you will probably cast a net in the hundreds or thousands. 

One pitfall job seekers often fall into is only asking for help from people that are in a position to hire them.  Any employee of a company can help you get noticed by their employer.  Asking for help and getting help are easy if you are willing to ask and know what to ask.

The key benefit to using your network is learning as much about the company as you can.  The more you understand the priorities, values and hiring process of a company, the better you can tailor your approach.  Once you identify someone you can talk with about an employer, ask the following three questions:

• Can you tell me how the hiring process at your company works?

• Can you describe what makes someone successful at your company?
• How did you get your job at…

Your goal in asking these questions is twofold.  First, you want to gather intelligence on the company that you can use to best sell your background and potential.  Second, the person helping you may offer to recommend you to a hiring manager.  Many companies offer referral bonuses to employees that recommend people that are hired.  This can turn your contact into a significant advocate for you.

You can take this process to another level by reaching out to people in your online social network.  Contacts on Twitter or LinkedIn and be very helpful – even if you have never actually talked with these individuals.  The key is asking for help that the individual can provide.  Asking if they can give you a job will rarely lead to anything.  Asking what makes a person successful in their company is likely to yield and answer that you can use to tailor your resume and interview answers.

Many companies have increased the emphasis on cost cutting with the economy declining.  Lower sales makes it much more difficult to remain profitable.  For some companies, cutting expenses is necessary to stay in business.

The emphasis on cost savings will drive the decision making of hiring managers.  A few years ago, a key priority might have been increasing volumes, adding new products or adding more staff.  Today, the same hiring managers are focused on shrinking the organization to maintain profitability.  You need to adjust your job search approach accordingly.

You need to show your experience adjusting to a declining business.  For many job seekers, this is uncharted territory.  They have written their resume and prepared to interview with great examples of growth.  As impressive as these accomplishments may be, they may not be the best for landing a job today.  Focus on showing your experience adapting and overcoming challenging situations. 

To prepare to discuss your cost cutting experience, prepare answers to the questions below.  Although you may not be asked any of these questions specifically, preparing answers to the questions will make it easier to address your cost cutting experience. 

• How have you reacted to declining volumes?
• Tell me about a time when you knew you were going to miss your budget.
• Tell me about a time when you encountered forecasts that were significant wrong.
• Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to the loss of a key customer.
• If you had to cut expenses immediately, what would you do?
• Tell me about a time when you automated a process without a significant capital expenditure.
• Tell me about a time when you eliminated a process or step in a process that was unnecessary. 

You can expect that many companies will look for employees that can step in and make an impact immediately.  In a recession, a company can’t afford to hire and train someone that won’t be productive for months or years.  The company will expect the new hire to generate income or cost savings to more than pay for their salary. If you can show your ability to pay for your salary and increase bottom line profits, you will have a greater chance of getting hired.

It has been said that many armies prepare to fight the last war instead of the next one. This was true in World War II in France. The French built a line of heavily fortified defenses designed for the type of trench warfare in World War I. When WWII broke out, the Germans utilized highly mobile tanks to simply drive around the French defenses.

Your job search poses similar challenges. It is likely the economy was good the last time you looked for a job. Today, the situation is different. The tactics that worked so well a few years will be less effective today. You need to adapt.

In a booming economy, many people are directly recruited before they start a formal job search. Companies can’t sit by and wait for candidates to come to them. Posting a resume online could yield phone screens within hours. Hiring managers aggressively sought talent.

Today, the situation is different. Companies can sit back passively and wait for job seekers to come to them. Hiring managers know they can be selective and look for the perfect the fit.

You cannot sit idly and hope companies will call you. You need to be proactive. Just as companies aggressive sought candidates in the past, you need to aggressively seek out opportunities. It sounds easy, but in practice can be difficult.

Many people assume an aggressive job search means sending your resume to everyone. It doesn’t. The key is getting someone to read your resume thoroughly. Blasting your resume to every address on the net is not going to get many people to read your resume. Resume submissions online have increased significantly and your resume may never get read. Large companies often use software to screen resumes before a person takes a look.

To be successful, you need to stand out from the mass of resumes a company receives. There are ways you can customize your approach to a company to improve your chances:

1. Tailor Your Terminology – Research the company and identify the key terminology the company uses. Revise your resume to use the terms the company prefers instead of alternatives.

2. Learn the Company’s Priorities – Each company has its own set of values and priorities. Learn what is important. Does the company value consensus building and supporting group results or value individual achievement more? Does the company pursue cutting edge technology, or prefer applying older, proven solutions?  After you lean what is important, emphasize your experience in this area.

3. Get Referred In – When a job seeker is referred to a hiring manager, whether referral comes from an employee or a recruiter, the hiring manager will usually spend significantly more time reviewing the resume and considering the candidate.

A few years ago, these tactics were not necessary.  They would have been effective, but job seekers didn't need to do them.  Today, you need to adapt and manage your search based on the current challenges.