Entries tagged with “jobs”.
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Posted by Mitchell York under Career Coaching
The Times reports today that job seekers outnumber job openings by six to one, the worst ratio since the Labor Department started tracking this statistic in 2000. I coach many people who are part of that job-seeking group. My clients are getting jobs faster than their competition even in a worsening environment. Here are just a few of the things they are doing, which you can also do, to speed up the process toward your next opportunity. The good news is that out of the six people competing for each job, 5.99999 of them have no idea how to properly look for a job. If you are in the group of 0.00001 who read this, your chances just improved a lot.
1. Looking for a job is a full-time job. You need to spend 35 hours a week on your job search. Allow yourself about three hours a week for fun. Most people are not nearly disciplined enough to do this and even those who are spend the time doing the wrong things, like answering ads on job boards. If you’re employed but the handwriting is on the wall, you should be spending at least 10 hours a week on your search.
2. You have to have 6-10 things in the works at all times. If you are working two or three job leads and are waiting by the phone for a positive outcome, you may also be the type of person who buys Lotto tickets and believes you’ll win. Success in getting a job is a function of high numbers. You have to get, and keep, many opportunities going at all times because most of them will not materialize.
3. Focus on getting meetings, not job interviews. Are you old enough to remember Bill Bradley when he played for the New York Knicks? Great basketball players know how and where to move on the court even when (make that especially when) they don’t have the ball. It’s the same with job seekers. Your objective should be to have meetings, as many as possible, so that you can become known to an organization even when there is no job currently available. But there could be one next month, or next week, or tomorrow. And there you’ll be, fresh in their minds.
4. Position yourself as a consultant. Too many people approach job interviews as applicants, or worse, supplicants. Your neediness is really unattractive. Employers want solutions to walk in the door. So position yourself as a problem solver. Instead of thinking you are applying for a $50,000 or $150,000 job, your mindset should be that you’re pitching a $50,000 or $150,000 consulting assignment. Uncover needs, ask excellent questions, take really good notes for your follow up.
5. Value-added follow up. Enough with the thank-you cards. If you meet with a potential hiring manager, you need to send a letter after a meeting that she absolutely can’t ignore or toss, because your information is too valuable. Your insight will require another meeting to get into more detail. And then another meeting. And that just might result in a job offer.
These are just a few of the things my coaching clients do differently from most other people.Contact me you’d like to know more.
Posted by Mitchell York under Career Coaching
Some interesting info for job seekers:
This is from a New York Times interview in yesterday’s paper with Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft:
Q. How do you assess job candidates?
A. If they come from inside the business, the best predictor of future success is past success. It’s not 100 percent, but it’s a reasonable predictor. For an external candidate, what I’ve found is that reference checks are super-important. I didn’t used to believe so much in reference checks. You can always get somebody to say something nice about you. But the truth is, if you ask enough questions and you ask around, you can really get a profile of who’s accomplished various things and who hasn’t.
And I try to figure out sort of a combination of I.Q. and passion. I just ask somebody to tell me what they’ve done that they are really proud of and tell me about it. And if it’s something you are proud of, you should be able to answer any question I can come up with, at least at a level that would satisfy my interest. I ought to be able to see your passion. It might be quiet passion; it might be bubbly passion. But I should be able to sense that you are one of those people who just sort of throws themselves into things.
So how do you manage what references are going to say about you? The clearest method I can think of is to make sure you can articulate your most important accomplishments clearly and concisely–not only to people who are interviewing you for a job, but to people you have worked for in the past. They need to be reminded of your accomplishments in your former jobs.
Also in the Times this weekend: an article about a woman in her 40s who changed careers, from journalism to nursing. You’ll see that the shift wasn’t as radical as you might think. She was able to transfer her skills as a reporter–taking copious notes, staying focused, finishing what she started. The article is inspiring and fascinating. It shows that you can reinvent yourself in midlife, or beyond.
Posted by Mitchell York under Career Coaching
In addition to being an entrepreneurship coach I work at the Five O’Clock Club with people looking for jobs and career change. Because of the economy, the Club has expanded its New York City meetings to three nights a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and now Thursdays. I coach every Thursday evening at the CUNY Graduate Center on Fifth Avenue and 34th St. If you’d like to join us, let me know.
My new group met for the first time last Thursday and we dove into assessing where everyone stood in their search. While each person had a different career interest and expertise, there were common denominators that defined the current status of everyone’s search. If you or someone you know is looking for a job this may resonate with you. Here’s what I emailed the group after our meeting:
1. Everyone needs to have a crystal clear focus of who you are, what you offer the world uniquely, and what you want. The Club calls this your 2-Minute-Pitch. To get the pitch right, you have to lay the foundation: that’s why it’s vital to do the 7-Stories Exercise and the 40-Year Vision. [These are two assessments we use at the Club. If you'd like to know more about them, get in touch with me.]
2. Activity level needs to be higher. If you are employed, you need to carve our at least 12 hours a week to have a good search going. If you are not employed, 35 hours. Keep track, do a time sheet. Make believe looking for a job is a job–because it is.
3.Targets need to be deeper. Most people are not yet targeting 200 positions (not actual job openings–but positions you would qualify for). You need to do this so that you will always have 6-10 things in the works, which is critical because 5 of them will fall away through no fault of your own. It’s a numbers game. Target more companies and industries and get more velocity in your search.
There are so many career coaching organizations out there, but as far I know from my research, only the Five O’Clock Club has created a unifying methodology that works. Have job-search tips to share? Please comment.
