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Before we go on to
talk about The New Interview? let's blow away three of the
bugaboos that really hurt job hunters: the job market, want ads,
and resumes. These can kill you.
I. Analyzing the job market
Here's the news --
downsizing is up. 7,000 laid off at a transportation company. A
bank cans 2,000. An airline boots 4,000. A communications
company drops 8,500. Jobless claims are on a seesaw ride. The
state of the job market makes people worry, and that makes them
terrible job hunters.
Headhunters
couldn't care less what the job market is doing. Their power
stems from their ability to solve a company's problem. They look
for employers that need help. When downsizings result in masses
of people changing jobs, companies rely on headhunters even
more, because it's harder to weed through all those desperate,
inappropriate candidates when you're trying to fill a few
important positions. In many cases, the same companies that are
firing people out one door are hiring people through another and
paying fees for help to do so.
Don't waste time
fretting over the news. If headhunters did that, they'd go out
of business. Spend your time finding managers who have work that
needs to be done. Don't make assumptions about what jobs are not
available.
Which brings us to
the single largest directory of jobs that are not available...
II. Poring over the want ads
Job hunters look
at the classifieds and see opportunities beckoning. Headhunters
see a big sump, where the troublesome masses collect and spiral
away. And that's where headhunters like to see their
competition: out of the way, getting processed by personnel
jockeys.
When I lived near
San Francisco, I had to explain to my frequent East Coast guests
that the one place they hoped to visit was the one place we
would avoid: Fisherman's Wharf. Like the want ads, Fisherman's
Wharf is a sump. It's the place San Francisco has set aside to
corral loud, unruly, bothersome tourists. It keeps them off the
streets. And the city goes to lengths to convince outsiders that
this is the best place to go when you visit. No self-respecting
San Franciscan would waste his or her time at Fisherman's Wharf.
It's a pit.
So are the want
ads. When 2,500 people apply for a job, the job is hardly
"available". Simple statistics will tell you that even an
outstanding candidate can slip through the cracks while
unsophisticated personnel jockeys are screening thousands of
applicants. (And that's before they get around to actually
interviewing a few hundred.)
Like that little
post card says, "Thank you for submitting your resume. We are
currently evaluating your qualifications. Due to the large
number of responses, we will not be able to get back to you any
time soon. If ever." Do you really consider that job available?
Go buy a lottery ticket.
The other reason
these jobs are not really available is because while Personnel
is reading resumes, some headhunter has met with the hiring
manager, submitted three candidates, and is helping one of them
evaluate an offer. Personnel doesn't even know this is
happening. Beep! Time's up. On to the next ad.
III. Over-emphasizing your resume
When you want a
promotion, do you give your boss a resume? Of course not. You
walk into his office and convince him you can do the work.
Then, why would
you do any less to win a new job with your future boss?
Your resume is not
your ambassador. Ever try to get a date by mailing out a resume?
It's tough enough competing with the hordes of job hunters. Why
put such a weak foot forward? It's a piece of paper! Among
thousands! Are you willing to trust your future to it?
Ever hear that a
company you sent your resume to got 8,000 resumes for that one
job? Do you really think anyone read your resume? As carefully
as you constructed it?
Then there's that
firm in Kansas that mass-mails thousands of people's resumes to
thousands of companies. That's who you're competing with. Pity
the poor manager who has to read resumes from people who don't
even know they sent him their resume. Maybe not today, but soon,
that manager will tell his personnel department to screw off and
he will bring in a headhunter to fill the position.
Headhunters avoid
giving clients resumes because they know the resume can only
hurt a candidate about whom an employer already has all the
information he needs. Print up about 25 copies of your resume.
Give it only to managers who request it after you have talked or
met with them. And make sure your resume commits ?
Okay. Let's get on
to what you can do to make your job hunt wildly successful.
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